Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (free children's ebooks pdf .txt) š
- Author: Mark Twain
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āYou and your brother please write a line or two and sign your names.ā
The old gentleman wrote, but nobody couldnāt read it. The lawyer looked powerful astonished, and says:
āWell, it beats meāāand snaked a lot of old letters out of his pocket, and examined them, and then examined the old manās writing, and then them again; and then says: "These old letters is from Harvey Wilks; and hereās these two handwritings, and anybody can see they didnāt write themā (the king and the duke looked sold and foolish, I tell you, to see how the lawyer had took them in), āand hereās this old gentlemanās hand writing, and anybody can tell, easy enough, he didnāt write themāfact is, the scratches he makes aināt properly writing at all. Now, hereās some letters fromāā
The new old gentleman says:
āIf you please, let me explain. Nobody can read my hand but my brother thereāso he copies for me. Itās his hand youāve got there, not mine.ā
āWell!ā says the lawyer, āthis is a state of things. Iāve got some of Williamās letters, too; so if youāll get him to write a line or so we can comāā
āHe canāt write with his left hand,ā says the old gentleman. "If he could use his right hand, you would see that he wrote his own letters and mine too. Look at both, pleaseātheyāre by the same hand.ā
The lawyer done it, and says:
āI believe itās soāand if it aināt so, thereās a heap stronger resemblance than Iād noticed before, anyway. Well, well, well! I thought we was right on the track of a solution, but itās gone to grass, partly. But anyway, one thing is provedāthese two aināt either of āem Wilksesāāand he wagged his head towards the king and the duke.
Well, what do you think? That muleheaded old fool wouldnāt give in then! Indeed he wouldnāt. Said it warnāt no fair test. Said his brother William was the cussedest joker in the world, and hadnāt tried to writeāhe see William was going to play one of his jokes the minute he put the pen to paper. And so he warmed up and went warbling and warbling right along till he was actuly beginning to believe what he was saying himself; but pretty soon the new gentleman broke in, and says:
āIāve thought of something. Is there anybody here that helped to lay out my brāhelped to lay out the late Peter Wilks for burying?ā
āYes,ā says somebody, āme and Ab Turner done it. Weāre both here.ā
Then the old man turns towards the king, and says:
āPerhaps this gentleman can tell me what was tattooed on his breast?ā
Blamed if the king didnāt have to brace up mighty quick, or heād a squshed down like a bluff bank that the river has cut under, it took him so sudden; and, mind you, it was a thing that was calculated to make most anybody sqush to get fetched such a solid one as that without any notice, because how was he going to know what was tattooed on the man? He whitened a little; he couldnāt help it; and it was mighty still in there, and everybody bending a little forwards and gazing at him. Says I to myself, now heāll throw up the spongeāthere aināt no more use. Well, did he? A body canāt hardly believe it, but he didnāt. I reckon he thought heād keep the thing up till he tired them people out, so theyād thin out, and him and the duke could break loose and get away. Anyway, he set there, and pretty soon he begun to smile, and says:
āMf! Itās a very tough question, aināt it! yes, sir, I kān tell you whatās tattooed on his breast. Itās jest a small, thin, blue arrowāthatās what it is; and if you donāt look clost, you canāt see it. now what do you sayāhey?ā
Well, I never see anything like that old blister for clean out-and-out cheek.
The new old gentleman turns brisk towards Ab Turner and his pard, and his eye lights up like he judged heād got the king this time, and says:
āThereāyouāve heard what he said! Was there any such mark on Peter Wilksā breast?ā
Both of them spoke up and says:
āWe didnāt see no such mark.ā
āGood!ā says the old gentleman. "Now, what you did see on his breast was a small dim P, and a B (which is an initial he dropped when he was young), and a W, with dashes between them, so: PāBāWāāand he marked them that way on a piece of paper. "Come, aināt that what you saw?ā
Both of them spoke up again, and says:
āNo, we didnāt. We never seen any marks at all.ā
Well, everybody was in a state of mind now, and they sings out:
āThe whole bilinā of ām ās frauds! Leās duck āem! leās drown āem! leās ride āem on a rail!ā and everybody was whooping at once, and there was a rattling powwow. But the lawyer he jumps on the table and yells, and says:
āGentlemenāgentlemen! Hear me just a wordājust a single wordāif you please! Thereās one way yetāletās go and dig up the corpse and look.ā
That took them.
āHooray!ā they all shouted, and was starting right off; but the lawyer and the doctor sung out:
āHold on, hold on! Collar all these four men and the boy, and fetch them along, too!ā
āWeāll do it!ā they all shouted; āand if we donāt find them marks weāll lynch the whole gang!ā
I was scared, now, I tell you. But there warnāt no getting away, you know. They gripped us all, and marched us right along, straight for the graveyard, which was a mile and a half down the river, and the whole town at our heels, for we made noise enough, and it was only nine in the evening.
As we went by our house I wished I hadnāt sent Mary Jane out of town; because now if I could tip her the wink sheād light out and save me, and blow on our dead-beats.
Well, we swarmed along down the river road, just carrying on like wildcats; and to make it more scary the sky was darking up, and the lightning beginning to wink and flitter, and the wind to shiver amongst the leaves. This was the most awful trouble and most dangersome I ever was in; and I was kinder stunned; everything was going so different from what I had allowed for; stead of being fixed so I could take my own time if I wanted to, and see all the fun, and have Mary Jane at my back to save me and set me free when the close-fit come, here was nothing in the world betwixt me and sudden death but just them tattoo-marks. If they didnāt find themā
I couldnāt bear to think about it; and yet, somehow, I couldnāt think about nothing else. It got darker and darker, and it was a beautiful time to give the crowd the slip; but that big husky had me by the wristāHinesāand a body might as well try to give Goliar the slip. He dragged me right along, he was so excited, and I had to run to keep up.
When they got there they swarmed into the graveyard and washed over it like an overflow. And when they got to the grave they found they had about a hundred times as many shovels as they wanted, but nobody hadnāt thought to fetch a lantern. But they sailed into digging anyway by the flicker of the lightning, and sent a man to the nearest house, a half a mile off, to borrow one.
So they dug and dug like everything; and it got awful dark, and the rain started, and the wind swished and swushed along, and the lightning come brisker and brisker, and the thunder boomed; but them people never took no notice of it, they was so full of this business; and one minute you could see everything and every face in that big crowd, and the shovelfuls of dirt sailing up out of the grave, and the next second the dark wiped it all out, and you couldnāt see nothing at all.
At last they got out the coffin and begun to unscrew the lid, and then such another crowding and shouldering and shoving as there was, to scrouge in and get a sight, you never see; and in the dark, that way, it was awful. Hines he hurt my wrist dreadful pulling and tugging so, and I reckon he clean forgot I was in the world, he was so excited and panting.
All of a sudden the lightning let go a perfect sluice of white glare, and somebody sings out:
āBy the living jingo, hereās the bag of gold on his breast!ā
Hines let out a whoop, like everybody else, and dropped my wrist and give a big surge to bust his way in and get a look, and the way I lit out and shinned for the road in the dark there aināt nobody can tell.
I had the road all to myself, and I fairly flewāleastways, I had it all to myself except the solid dark, and the now-and-then glares, and the buzzing of the rain, and the thrashing of the wind, and the splitting of the thunder; and sure as you are born I did clip it along!
When I struck the town I see there warnāt nobody out in the storm, so I never hunted for no back streets, but humped it straight through the main one; and when I begun to get towards our house I aimed my eye and set it. No light there; the house all darkāwhich made me feel sorry and disappointed, I didnāt know why. But at last, just as I was sailing by, flash comes the light in Mary Janeās window! and my heart swelled up sudden, like to bust; and the same second the house and all was behind me in the dark, and wasnāt ever going to be before me no more in this world. She was the best girl I ever see, and had the most sand.
The minute I was far enough above the town to see I could make the towhead, I begun to look sharp for a boat to borrow, and the first time the lightning showed me one that wasnāt chained I snatched it and shoved. It was a canoe, and warnāt fastened with nothing but a rope. The towhead was a rattling big distance off, away out there in the middle of the river, but I didnāt lose no time; and when I struck the raft at last I was so fagged I would a just laid down to blow and gasp if I could afforded it. But I didnāt. As I sprung aboard I sung out:
āOut with you, Jim, and set her loose! Glory be to goodness, weāre shut of them!ā
Jim lit out, and was a-coming for me with both arms spread, he was so full of joy; but when I glimpsed him in the lightning my heart shot up in my mouth and I went overboard backwards; for I forgot he was old King Lear and a drownded A-rab all in one, and it most scared the livers and lights out of me. But Jim fished me out, and was going to hug me and bless me, and so on, he was so glad I was back and we was shut of the king and the duke, but I says:
āNot now; have it for breakfast, have it for breakfast! Cut loose and let her slide!ā
So in two seconds away we went a-sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us. I
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