The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (the false prince .txt) đ
- Author: Mark Twain
Book online «The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (the false prince .txt) đ». Author Mark Twain
He looked pretty uneasy, and didnât say nothing for a minute. Then he says:
âMaybe I better not tell.â
âWhy, Jim?â
âWell, deyâs reasons. But you wouldnâ tell on me ef I uz to tell you, would you, Huck?â
âBlamed if I would, Jim.â
âWell, I bâlieve you, Huck. Iâ âI run off.â
âJim!â
âBut mind, you said you wouldnâ tellâ âyou know you said you wouldnâ tell, Huck.â
âWell, I did. I said I wouldnât, and Iâll stick to it. Honest injun, I will. People would call me a lowdown Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mumâ âbut that donât make no difference. I ainât a-going to tell, and I ainât a-going back there, anyways. So, now, leâs know all about it.â
âWell, you see, it âuz dis way. Ole missusâ âdatâs Miss Watsonâ âshe pecks on me all de time, en treats me pooty rough, but she awluz said she wouldnâ sell me down to Orleans. But I noticed dey wuz a nigger trader rounâ de place considable lately, en I begin to git oneasy. Well, one night I creeps to de doâ pooty late, en de doâ warnât quite shet, en I hear old missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orleans, but she didnâ want to, but she could git eight hundâd dollars for me, en it âuz sich a big stack oâ money she couldnâ resisâ. De widder she try to git her to say she wouldnâ do it, but I never waited to hear de resâ. I lit out mighty quick, I tell you.
âI tuck out en shin down de hill, en âspec to steal a skift âlong de shoâ somâers âbove de town, but dey wuz people a-stirring yit, so I hid in de ole tumbledown cooper-shop on de bank to wait for everybody to go âway. Well, I wuz dah all night. Dey wuz somebody rounâ all de time. âLong âbout six in de mawninâ skifts begin to go by, en âbout eight er nine every skift dat went âlong wuz talkinâ âbout how yoâ pap come over to de town en say youâs killed. Dese lasâ skifts wuz full oâ ladies en genlmen a-goinâ over for to see de place. Sometimes deyâd pull up at de shoâ en take a resâ bâfoâ dey started acrost, so by de talk I got to know all âbout de killinâ. I âuz powerful sorry youâs killed, Huck, but I ainât no moâ now.
âI laid dah under de shavinâs all day. I âuz hungry, but I warnât afeard; bekase I knowed ole missus en de widder wuz goinâ to start to de camp-meetânâ right arter breakfasâ en be gone all day, en dey knows I goes off wid de cattle âbout daylight, so dey wouldnâ âspec to see me rounâ de place, en so dey wouldnâ miss me tell arter dark in de eveninâ. De yuther servants wouldnâ miss me, kase deyâd shin out en take holiday soon as de ole folks âuz outân de way.
âWell, when it come dark I tuck out up de river road, en went âbout two mile er more to whah dey warnât no houses. Iâd made up my mine âbout what Iâs agwyne to do. You see, ef I kepâ on tryinâ to git away afoot, de dogs âud track me; ef I stole a skift to cross over, deyâd miss dat skift, you see, en deyâd know âbout whah Iâd lanâ on de yuther side, en whah to pick up my track. So I says, a raff is what Iâs arter; it doanâ make no track.
âI see a light a-cominâ rounâ de pâint bymeby, so I wadeâ in en shoveâ a log ahead oâ me en swum moreân half way acrost de river, en got in âmongst de driftwood, en kepâ my head down low, en kinder swum agin de current tell de raff come along. Den I swum to de stern uv it en tuck a-holt. It clouded up en âuz pooty dark for a little while. So I clumb up en laid down on de planks. De men âuz all âway yonder in de middle, whah de lantern wuz. De river wuz a-risinâ, en dey wuz a good current; so I reckânâd âat by foâ in de mawninâ Iâd be twenty-five mile down de river, en den Iâd slip in jis bâfoâ daylight en swim ashoâ, en take to de woods on de Illinois side.
âBut I didnâ have no luck. When we âuz mosâ down to de head er de islanâ a man begin to come aft wid de lantern, I see it warnât no use fer to wait, so I slid overboard en struck out fer de islanâ. Well, I had a notion I could lanâ mosâ anywhers, but I couldnâtâ âbank too bluff. I âuz mosâ to de foot er de islanâ bâfoâ I foundâ a good place. I went into de woods en jedged I wouldnâ fool wid raffs no moâ, long as dey move de lantern rounâ so. I had my pipe en a plug er dogleg, en some matches in my cap, en dey warnât wet, so I âuz all right.â
âAnd so you ainât had no meat nor bread to eat all this time? Why didnât you get mud-turkles?â
âHow you gwyne to git âm? You canât slip up on um en grab um; en howâs a body gwyne to hit um wid a rock? How could a body do it in de night? En I warnât gwyne to show mysef on de bank in de daytime.â
âWell, thatâs so. Youâve had to keep in the woods all the time, of course. Did you hear âem shooting the cannon?â
âOh, yes. I knowed dey was arter you. I see um go by heahâ âwatched um thoo de bushes.â
Some young birds come along, flying a yard or two at a time and lighting. Jim said it was a sign it was going to rain. He said it was a sign when young chickens flew that way, and so he reckoned it was the same way
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