Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (free children's ebooks pdf .txt) đ
- Author: Mark Twain
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âWhy didnât you tell my Jack to fetch me here sooner, Jim?â
âWell, âtwarnât no use to âsturb you, Huck, tell we could do sumfnâbut weâs all right now. I ben a-buyinâ pots en pans en vittles, as I got a chanst, en a-patchinâ up de rafâ nights whenââ
âWhat raft, Jim?â
âOur ole rafâ.â
âYou mean to say our old raft warnât smashed all to flinders?â
âNo, she warnât. She was tore up a good dealâone enâ of her was; but dey warnât no great harm done, onây our traps was mosâ all losâ. Ef we hadnâ diveâ so deep en swum so fur under water, en de night hadnâ ben so dark, en we warnât so skâyerd, en ben sich punkin-heads, as de sayinâ is, weâd a seed de rafâ. But itâs jisâ as well we didnât, âkase now sheâs all fixed up agin mosâ as good as new, en weâs got a new lot oâ stuff, in de place oâ what âuz losâ.â
âWhy, how did you get hold of the raft again, Jimâdid you catch her?â
âHow I gwyne to ketch her en I out in de woods? No; some er de niggers founâ her ketched on a snag along heah in de benâ, en dey hid her in a crick âmongst de willows, en dey wuz so much jawinâ âbout which un âum she bâlong to de mosâ dat I come to heah âbout it pooty soon, so I ups en settles de trouble by tellinâ âum she donât bâlong to none uv um, but to you en me; en I ast âm if dey gwyne to grab a young white genlmanâs propaty, en git a hidân for it? Den I gin âm ten cents apiece, en dey âuz mighty well satisfied, en wisht some moâ rafâs âud come along en make âm rich agin. Deyâs mighty good to me, dese niggers is, en whatever I wants âm to do fur me I doanâ have to ast âm twice, honey. Dat Jackâs a good nigger, en pooty smart.â
âYes, he is. He ainât ever told me you was here; told me to come, and heâd show me a lot of water-moccasins. If anything happens he ainât mixed up in it. He can say he never seen us together, and it âll be the truth.â
I donât want to talk much about the next day. I reckon Iâll cut it pretty short. I waked up about dawn, and was a-going to turn over and go to sleep again when I noticed how still it wasâdidnât seem to be anybody stirring. That warnât usual. Next I noticed that Buck was up and gone. Well, I gets up, a-wondering, and goes down stairsânobody around; everything as still as a mouse. Just the same outside. Thinks I, what does it mean? Down by the wood-pile I comes across my Jack, and says:
âWhatâs it all about?â
Says he:
âDonât you know, Mars Jawge?â
âNo,â says I, âI donât.â
âWell, den, Miss Sophiaâs run off! âdeed she has. She run off in de night some timeânobody donât know jisâ when; run off to get married to dat young Harney Shepherdson, you knowâleastways, so dey âspec. De fambly founâ it out âbout half an hour agoâmaybe a little moââenâ I tell you dey warnât no time losâ. Sich another hurryinâ up guns en hosses you never see! De women folks has gone for to stir up de relations, en ole Mars Saul en de boys tuck dey guns en rode up de river road for to try to ketch dat young man en kill him âfoâ he kin git acrost de river wid Miss Sophia. I reckân deyâs gwyne to be mighty rough times.â
âBuck went off âthout waking me up.â
âWell, I reckân he did! Dey warnât gwyne to mix you up in it. Mars Buck he loaded up his gun en âlowed heâs gwyne to fetch home a Shepherdson or bust. Well, deyâll be plenty un âm dah, I reckân, en you bet you heâll fetch one ef he gits a chanst.â
I took up the river road as hard as I could put. By and by I begin to hear guns a good ways off. When I come in sight of the log store and the woodpile where the steamboats lands I worked along under the trees and brush till I got to a good place, and then I clumb up into the forks of a cottonwood that was out of reach, and watched. There was a wood-rank four foot high a little ways in front of the tree, and first I was going to hide behind that; but maybe it was luckier I didnât.
There was four or five men cavorting around on their horses in the open place before the log store, cussing and yelling, and trying to get at a couple of young chaps that was behind the wood-rank alongside of the steamboat landing; but they couldnât come it. Every time one of them showed himself on the river side of the woodpile he got shot at. The two boys was squatting back to back behind the pile, so they could watch both ways.
By and by the men stopped cavorting around and yelling. They started riding towards the store; then up gets one of the boys, draws a steady bead over the wood-rank, and drops one of them out of his saddle. All the men jumped off of their horses and grabbed the hurt one and started to carry him to the store; and that minute the two boys started on the run. They got half way to the tree I was in before the men noticed. Then the men see them, and jumped on their horses and took out after them. They gained on the boys, but it didnât do no good, the boys had too good a start; they got to the woodpile that was in front of my tree, and slipped in behind it, and so they had the bulge on the men again. One of the boys was Buck, and the other was a slim young chap about nineteen years old.
The men ripped around awhile, and then rode away. As soon as they was out of sight I sung out to Buck and told him. He didnât know what to make of my voice coming out of the tree at first. He was awful surprised. He told me to watch out sharp and let him know when the men come in sight again; said they was up to some devilment or otherâwouldnât be gone long. I wished I was out of that tree, but I dasnât come down. Buck begun to cry and rip, and âlowed that him and his cousin Joe (that was the other young chap) would make up for this day yet. He said his father and his two brothers was killed, and two or three of the enemy. Said the Shepherdsons laid for them in ambush. Buck said his father and brothers ought to waited for their relationsâthe Shepherdsons was too strong for them. I asked him what was become of young Harney and Miss Sophia. He said theyâd got across the river and was safe. I was glad of that; but the way Buck did take on because he didnât manage to kill Harney that day he shot at himâI hainât ever heard anything like it.
All of a sudden, bang! bang! bang! goes three or four gunsâthe men had slipped around through the woods and come in from behind without their horses! The boys jumped for the riverâboth of them hurtâand as they swum down the current the men run along the bank shooting at them and singing out, âKill them, kill them!â It made me so sick I most fell out of the tree. I ainât a-going to tell all that happenedâit would make me sick again if I was to do that. I wished I hadnât ever come ashore that night to see such things. I ainât ever going to get shut of themâlots of times I dream about them.
I stayed in the tree till it begun to get dark, afraid to come down. Sometimes I heard guns away off in the woods; and twice I seen little gangs of men gallop past the log store with guns; so I reckoned the trouble was still a-going on. I was mighty downhearted; so I made up my mind I wouldnât ever go anear that house again, because I reckoned I was to blame, somehow. I judged that that piece of paper meant that Miss Sophia was to meet Harney somewheres at half-past two and run off; and I judged I ought to told her father about that paper and the curious way she acted, and then maybe he would a locked her up, and this awful mess wouldnât ever happened.
When I got down out of the tree I crept along down the river bank a piece, and found the two bodies laying in the edge of the water, and tugged at them till I got them ashore; then I covered up their faces, and got away as quick as I could. I cried a little when I was covering up Buckâs face, for he was mighty good to me.
It was just dark now. I never went near the house, but struck through the woods and made for the swamp. Jim warnât on his island, so I tramped off in a hurry for the crick, and crowded through the willows, red-hot to jump aboard and get out of that awful country. The raft was gone! My souls, but I was scared! I couldnât get my breath for most a minute. Then I raised a yell. A voice not twenty-five foot from me says:
âGood lanâ! is dat you, honey? Doanâ make no noise.â
It was Jimâs voiceânothing ever sounded so good before. I run along the bank a piece and got aboard, and Jim he grabbed me and hugged me, he was so glad to see me. He says:
âLaws bless you, chile, I âuz right down shoâ youâs dead agin. Jackâs been heah; he say he reckân youâs ben shot, kase you didnâ come home no moâ; so Iâs jesâ dis minute a startinâ de rafâ down towards de mouf er de crick, soâs to be all ready for to shove out en leave soon as Jack comes agin en tells me for certain you is dead. Lawsy, Iâs mighty glad to git you back again, honey.â
I says:
âAll rightâthatâs mighty good; they wonât find me, and theyâll think Iâve been killed, and floated down the riverâthereâs something up there that âll help them think soâso donât you lose no time, Jim, but just shove off for the big water as fast as ever you can.â
I never felt easy till the raft was two mile below there and out in the middle of the Mississippi. Then we hung up our signal lantern, and judged that we was free and safe once more. I hadnât had a bite to eat since yesterday, so Jim he got out some corn-dodgers and buttermilk, and pork and cabbage and greensâthere ainât nothing in the world so good when itâs cooked rightâand whilst I eat my supper we talked and had a good time. I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warnât no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft donât. You feel mighty free and
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