1885+THE+ADVENTURES+OF+HUCKLEBERRY+FINN+by+Mark+Twain+-+chapter+16

**we** **you** **he** **she** **they** **his** **its** **me** **us** **him** **her** **them**

  CHAPTER 16 CHAPTER SIXTEEN** We ** slept most all day, and started out at night, a little ways behind a monstrous long raft that was as long going by as a procession. ** She ** had four long sweeps at each end, so ** we ** judged ** she ** carried as many as thirty men, likely. ** She ** had five big wigwams aboard, wide apart, and an open camp fire in the middle, and a tall flag-pole at each end. There was a power of style about ** her **. It amounted to something being a raftsman on such a craft as that. There warn't nothing to do, now, but to look out sharp for the town, and not pass it without seeing it. ** He ** said ** he **'d be mighty sure to see it, because ** he **'d be a free man the minute ** he ** seen it, but if ** he ** missed it ** he **'d be in the slave country again and no more show for freedom. Every little while ** he ** jumps up and says: "Dah ** she ** is!" But it warn't. It was Jack-o-lanterns, or lightning-bugs; so ** he ** set down again, and went to watching, same as before. Jim said it made ** him ** all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, I can tell ** you ** it made ** me ** all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear ** him **, because I begun to get it through my head that ** he ** was most free- and who was to blame for it? Why, ** me **. I couldn't get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling ** me ** so I couldn't rest; I couldn't stay still in one place. It hadn't ever come home to ** me ** before, what this thing was that I was doing. But now it did; and it staid with ** me **, and scorched ** me **more and more. I tried to make out to myself that I warn't to blame, because I didn't run Jim off from ** his ** rightful owner; but it warn't no use, conscience up and says, every time, "But ** you ** knowed ** he ** was running for ** his ** freedom, and ** you ** could a paddled ashore and told somebody." That was so- I couldn't get around that, no way. That was where it pinched. Conscience says to ** me **, "What had poor Miss Watson done to ** you **, that ** you ** could see ** her ** nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to ** you **, that ** you ** could treat ** her ** so mean? Why, ** she ** tried to learn ** you ** your book, ** she **tried to learn ** you ** your manners, ** she ** tried to be good to ** you ** every way ** she ** knowed how. That's what ** she ** done." I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead. I fidgeted up and down the raft, abusing myself to myself, and Jim was fidgeting up and down past ** me **. ** We ** neither of ** us ** could keep still. Every time ** he ** danced around and says, "Dah's Cairo!" it went through ** me ** like a shot, and I thought if it was Cairo I reckoned I would die of miserableness. Jim talked out loud all the time while I was talking to myself. ** He ** was saying how the first thing ** he ** would do when ** he ** got to a free State ** he ** would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when ** he ** got enough ** he ** would buy ** his ** wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived; and then ** they ** would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn't sell ** them **, ** they **'d get an Ab'litionist to go and steal ** them **. It most froze ** me ** to hear such talk. ** He ** wouldn't ever dared to talk such talk in ** his ** life before. Just see what a difference it made in** him ** the minute ** he ** judged ** he ** was about free. It was according to the old saying, "give a nigger an inch and ** he **'ll take an ell." Thinks I, this is what comes of my not thinking. Here was this nigger which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying ** he ** would steal ** his ** children- children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done ** me **no harm. I was sorry to hear Jim say that, it was such a lowering of ** him **. My conscience got to stirring ** me ** up hotter than ever, until at last I says to it, "Let up on ** me **- it ain't too late, yet- I'll paddle ashore at the first light and tell." I felt easy, and happy, and light as a feather, right off. All my troubles was gone. I went to looking out sharp for a light, and sort of singing to myself. By-and-by one showed. Jim sings out: "We's safe, Huck, we's safe! Jump up and crack yo' heels, dat's de good ole Cairo at las', I jis knows it!" I says: "I'll take the canoe and go see, Jim. It mightn't be, ** you ** know." "Pooty soon I'll be a-shout'n for joy, en I'll say, it's all on accounts o' Huck; I's a free man, en I couldn't ever ben free ef it hadn't ben for Huck; Huck done it. Jim won't ever forgit ** you **, Huck; you's de bes' fren' Jim's ever had; en you's de only fren' ole Jim's got now." I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on ** him **; but when ** he ** says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of ** me **. I went along slow then, and I warn't right down certain whether I was glad I started or whether I warn't. When I was fifty yards off, Jim says: "Dah ** you ** goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman dat ever kep' ** his ** promise to ole Jim." Well, I just felt sick. But I says, I got to do it- I can't get out of it. Right then, along comes a skiff with two men in it, with guns, and** they ** stopped and I stopped. One of ** them ** says: "What's that, yonder?" "A piece of a raft," I says. "So ** you ** belong on it?" "Yes, sir." "Any men on it?" "Only one, sir." "Well, there's five niggers run off to-night, up yonder above the head of the bend. Is your man white or black?" I didn't answer up prompt. I tried to, but the words wouldn't come. I tried, for a second or two, to brace up and out with it, but I warn't man enough- hadn't the spunk of a rabbit. I see I was weakening; so I just give up trying, and up and says- "He's white." "I reckon ** we **'ll go and see for ourselves." "I wish ** you ** would," says I, "because it's pap that's there, and maybe ** you **'d help ** me ** tow the raft ashore where the light is. He's sick- and so is mam and Mary Ann." "Oh, the devil! ** we **'re in a hurry, boy. But I s'pose ** we **'ve got to. Come- buckle to your paddle, and let's get along." I buckled to my paddle and ** they ** laid to their oars. When ** we ** had made a stroke or two, I says: "Pap'll be mighty much obleeged to ** you **, I can tell ** you **. Everybody goes away when I want ** them ** to help ** me ** tow the raft ashore, and I can't do it by myself." "Well, that's infernal mean. Odd, too. Say, boy, what's the matter with your father?" "It's the- a- the- well, it ain't anything, much." "Boy, that's a lie. What is the matter with your pap? Answer up square, now, and it'll be the better for ** you **." "I will, sir, I will, honest- but don't leave ** us **, please. It's the- the- gentlemen, if ** you **'ll only pull ahead, and let ** me ** heave ** you ** the head-line, ** you ** won't have to come a-near the raft- please do." "Set ** her ** back, John, set ** her ** back!" says one. ** They ** backed water. "Keep away, boy- keep to looard. Confound it, I just expect the wind has blowed it to ** us **. Your pap's got the smallpox, and ** you ** know it precious well. Why didn't ** you ** come out and say so? Do ** you **want to spread it all over?" "Well," says I, a-blubbering, "I've told everybody before, and then ** they ** just went away and left ** us **." "Poor devil, there's something in that. ** We ** are right down sorry for ** you **, but ** we **- well, hang it, ** we ** don't want the smallpox, ** you **see. Look here, I'll tell ** you ** what to do. Don't ** you ** try to land by yourself, and ** you **'ll smash everything to pieces. ** You ** float along down about twenty miles and ** you **'ll come to a town on the left-hand side of the river. It will be long after sun-up, then, and when** you ** ask for help, ** you ** tell ** them ** your folks are all down with chills and fever. Don't be a fool again, and let people guess what is the matter. Now ** we **'re trying to do ** you ** a kindness; so ** you ** just put twenty miles between ** us **, that's a good boy. It wouldn't do any good to land yonder where the light is- it's only a wood-yard. Say- I reckon your father's poor, and I'm bound to say he's in pretty hard luck. Here- I'll put a twenty dollar gold piece on this board, and ** you ** get it when it floats by. I feel mighty mean to leave ** you **, but my kingdom! it won't do to fool with smallpox, don't ** you ** see?" "Hold on, Parker," says the other man, "here's a twenty to put on the board for ** me **. Good-bye, boy, ** you ** do as Mr. Parker told ** you **, and ** you **'ll be all right." "That's so, my boy- good-bye, good-bye. If ** you ** see any runaway niggers, ** you ** get help and nab ** them **, and ** you ** can make some money by it." "Good-bye, sir," says I, "I won't let no runaway niggers get by ** me ** if I can help it." I went into the wigwam; Jim warn't there. I looked all around; ** he ** warn't anywhere. I says: "Jim!" "Here I is, Huck. Is dey out o' sight yit? Don't talk loud." "I was a-listenin' to all de talk, en I slips into de river en was gwyne to shove for sho' if dey come aboard. Den I was gwyne to swim to de raf' agin when dey was gone. But lawsy, how ** you ** did fool 'em, Huck! Dat wuz de smartes' dodge! tell ** you **, chile, I 'speck it save' ole Jim- ole Jim ain' gwyne to forgit ** you ** for dat, honey." Then ** we ** talked about the money. It was a pretty good raise, twenty dollars apiece. Jim said ** we ** could take deck passage on a steamboat now, and the money would last ** us ** as far as ** we ** wanted to go in the free States. ** He ** said twenty mile more warn't far for the raft to go, but ** he ** wished ** we ** was already there. Towards daybreak ** we ** tied up, and Jim was mighty particular about hiding the raft good. Then ** he ** worked all day fixing things in bundles, and getting all ready to quit rafting. That night about ten ** we ** hove in sight of the lights of a town away down in a left-hand bend. I went off in the canoe, to ask about it. Pretty soon I found a man out in the aver with a skiff, setting a trot-line. I ranged up and says: "Mister, is that town Cairo?" "Cairo? no. ** You ** must be a blame' fool." "What town is it, mister?" "If ** you ** want to know, go and find out. If ** you ** stay here botherin' around ** me ** for about a half minute longer, ** you **'ll get something** you ** won't want." I paddled to the raft. Jim was awful disappointed, but I said never mind, Cairo would be the next place, I reckoned. "Maybe ** we ** went by Cairo in the fog that night." "Doan' less' talk about it, Huck. Po' niggers can't have no luck. I awluz 'spected dat rattle-snake skin warn't done wid ** its ** work." "I wish I'd never seen that snake-skin, Jim- I do wish I'd never laid eyes on it." "It ain't yo' fault, Huck; ** you ** didn' know. Don't ** you ** blame yo'self 'bout it." When it was daylight, here was the clear Ohio water in shore, sure enough, and outside was the old regular Muddy! So it was all up with Cairo. By-and-by ** we ** talked about what ** we ** better do, and found there warn't no way but just to go along down with the raft till ** we ** got a chance to buy a canoe to go back in. ** We ** warn't going to borrow it when there warn't anybody around, the way pap would do, for that might set people after ** us **. So ** we ** shoved out, after dark, on the raft. Anybody that don't believe yet, that it's foolishness to handle a snake-skin, after all that snake-skin done for ** us **, will believe it now, if** they ** read on and see what more it done for ** us **. The place to buy canoes is off of rafts laying at shore. But ** we ** didn't see no rafts laying up; so ** we ** went along during three hours and more. Well, the night got gray, and ruther thick, which is the next meanest thing to fog. ** You ** can't tell the shape of the river, and ** you ** can't see no distance. It got to be very late and still, and then along comes a steamboat up the river. ** We ** lit the lantern, and judged ** she ** would see it. Up-stream boats didn't generly come close to ** us **; ** they ** go out and follow the bars and hunt for easy water under the reefs; but nights like this ** they ** bull right up the channel against the whole river. I dived- and I aimed to find the bottom, too, for a thirty-foot wheel had got to go over ** me **, and I wanted it to have plenty of room. I could always stay under water a minute; this time I reckon I staid under water a minute and a half. Then I bounced for the top in a hurry, for I was nearly busting. I popped out to my arm-pits and blowed the water out of my nose, and puffed a bit. Of course there was a booming current; and of course that boat started ** her ** engines again ten seconds after ** she ** stopped ** them **, for ** they ** never cared much for raftsmen; so now ** she ** was churning along up the river, out of sight in the thick weather, though I could hear ** her **. I sung out for Jim about a dozen times, but I didn't get any answer; so I grabbed a plank that touched ** me ** while I was "treading water," and struck out for shore, shoving it ahead of ** me **. But I made out to see that the drift of the current was towards the left-hand shore, which meant that I was in a crossing; so I changed off and went that way. It was one of these long, slanting, two-mile crossings; so I was a good long time in getting over. I made a safe landing, and clum up the bank. I couldn't see but a little ways, but I went poking along over rough ground for a quarter of a mile or more, and then I run across a big old-fashioned double log house before I noticed it. I was going to rush by and get away, but a lot of dogs jumped out and went to howling and barking at ** me **, and I knowed better than to move another peg.
 * We ** went drifting down into a big bend, and the night clouded up and got hot. The river was very wide, and was walled with solid timber on both sides; ** you ** couldn't see a break in it hardly ever, or a light. ** We ** talked about Cairo, and wondered whether ** we ** would know it when ** we ** got to it. I said likely ** we ** wouldn't, because I had heard say there warn't but about a dozen houses there, and if ** they ** didn't happen to have ** them ** lit up, how was ** we ** going to know ** we ** was passing a town? Jim said if the two big rivers joined together there, that would show. But I said maybe ** we ** might think ** we ** was passing the foot of an island and coming into the same old river again. That disturbed Jim- and ** me ** too. So the question was, what to do? I said, paddle ashore the first time a light showed, and tell ** them ** pap was behind, coming along with a trading-scow, and was a green hand at the business, and wanted to know how far it was to Cairo. Jim thought it was a good idea, so ** we ** took a smoke on it and waited.
 * He ** jumped and got the canoe ready, and put ** his ** old coat in the bottom for ** me ** to set on, and give ** me ** the paddle; and as I shoved off, ** he ** says:
 * They ** stopped pulling. It warn't but a mighty little waysto the raft, now. One says:
 * They ** went off, and I got aboard the raft, feeling bad and low, because I knowed very well I had done wrong, and I see it warn't no use for ** me ** to try to learn to do right; a body that don't get started right when he's little, ain't got no show- when the pinch comes there ain't nothing to back ** him ** up and keep ** him ** to ** his ** work, and so ** he ** gets beat. Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on- s'pose ** you **'d a done right and give Jim up; would ** you ** felt better than what ** you ** do now? No, says I, I'd feel bad- I'd feel just the same way I do now. Well, then, says I, what's the use ** you ** learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? I was stuck. I couldn't answer that. So I reckoned I wouldn't bother no more about it, but after this always do whichever comes handiest at the time.
 * He ** was in the river, under the stern oar, with just ** his ** nose out. I told ** him ** ** they ** was out of sight, so ** he ** come aboard. ** He ** says:
 * We ** passed another town before daylight, and I was going out again; but it was high ground, so I didn't go. No high ground about Cairo, Jim said. I had forgot it. ** We ** laid up for the day, on a tow-head tolerable close to the left-hand bank. I begun to suspicion something. So did Jim. I says:
 * He ** says:
 * We ** talked it all over. It wouldn't do to take to the shore; ** we ** couldn't take the raft up the stream, of course. There warn't no way but to wait for dark, and start back in the canoe and take the chances. So ** we ** slept all day amongst the cotton-wood thicket, so as to be fresh for the work, and when ** we ** went back to the raft about dark the canoe was gone!
 * We ** didn't say a word for a good while. There warn't anything to say. ** We ** both knowed well enough it was some more work of the rattle-snake skin; so what was the use to talk about it? It would only look like ** we ** was finding fault, and that would be bound to fetch more bad luck- and keep on fetching it, too, till ** we ** knowed enough to keep still.
 * We ** could hear ** her ** pounding along, but ** we ** didn't see ** her ** good till ** she ** was close. ** She ** aimed right for ** us **. Often ** they ** do that and try to see how close ** they ** can come without touching; sometimes the wheel bites off a sweep, and then the pilot sticks ** his ** head out and laughs, and thinks he's mighty smart. Well, here ** she ** comes, and ** we ** said ** she ** was going to try to shave ** us **; but ** she ** didn't seem to be sheering off a bit. ** She ** was a big one, and ** she ** was coming in a hurry, too, looking like a black cloud with rows of glow-worms around it; but all of a sudden ** she ** laughed out, big and scary, with a long row of wide-open furnace doors shining like red-hot teeth, and ** her ** monstrous bows and guards hanging right over ** us **. There was a yell at ** us **, and a jingling of bells to stop the engines, a pow-wow of cussing, and whistling of steam- and as Jim went overboard on one side and I on the other, ** she ** come smashing straight through the raft.

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