"Hannibal!" "Hannibal, Missouri!" "Hannibal!" "Hannibal, Missouri!" " Hannibal!" "Hannibal, Missouri!" " Hang fast on the bow!" " Next stop, St. Louis!" " Make room for the Hannibal passengers!" "Now get them barrels marked "Cairo" up here!" "Now move that Vicksburg cargo aft!" "Here you are, sir." "Thank you." "All right, now put them Memphis boxes top of the Natchez cargo!" "Get a move on, now!" "Hurry up, or we'll be a day late into New Orleans." "Oh, Huck!" "Huck!" "Huck Finn!" "Oh, it's you, Jim." "The Widow Douglas wants you, Huck." "She got supper on the table." "Tell her I stowed away on the Natchez Queen and I'll probably be going to South America." "I can't tell the widow a stretcher like that, Huck." "They got a river in South America, Jim, and it ain't even been charted yet." "They need folks to help them." "Course, I'll have to go down the river to New Orleans first." "Wouldn't that be the beatenest, Jim?" "New Orleans." "Wouldn't be nothing but trouble." "You'll have enough of that if you don't get home." "You and me both." "Tell the widow and Miss Watson you just couldn't find me, Jim." "It's gonna be dark soon, Huck." "Yep." "It's beginning to smell like evening." "You'll be safe at the widow's." "That's the one place your pap won't come." "Your pap, Huck, he's looking for you." " It's best we go, Huck." "Come on." " All aboard for St. Louis!" "I sure would like to be going somewheres." "Come on, Huck." "Let's go." "All aboard for St. Louis!" " He's barefoot." " Oh, dear." "Huckleberry." "Well, sit down before your food gets cold." "He'll put his shoes on as soon as he's finished his supper." "Amanda, I am not my sister's keeper, as the good book sayeth nor am I the keeper of my sister's house, but..." "That's right, Sarah, you're not." "Well, I suppose you can expect no better for a young'un whose poor mother is lying dead in the churchyard and his father's lying drunk by the riverside." "That's not Huckleberry's fault, Sarah." "He's not responsible." "Dear Lord, we thank thee for this food and for all thy blessings." "And we beg thee to shine thy light before this sinner and make him stop running around town barefoot eating like a pig and not going to school." "Let him see the wisdom of education..." "That he will be able to get a good, steady job when he grows up preferably Tilden's tobacco factory or perhaps even a bank if thee see fit." "We pray that he'll become a good and honorable man..." "So that when the knell of doom sounds, he won't have to burn forever in the eternal fires of hell." " Amen." " Amen." "Amen." "Huckleberry!" "You're smoking." "Well, I got my shoes on, though, ain't I?" "Smoking is a mean practice." "And besides, it's not clean." "Yes'm." "I guess I just wasn't made to be saved or civilized." "Huckleberry, you must try." "If not for my sake, for Miss Watson's." "She worries about you." "About what will become of you when you grow up, and..." "Miss Watson loves you, Huckleberry." "She'd be very unhappy in heaven without you." "Now, then, it's time for a growing boy to be in bed." "Come along." "Pap." "Hello, Pap." "Store-bought shoes, huh?" "Think you're a good deal of a big bug, don't you?" " Maybe I am, maybe I ain't." " Don't you give me none of your lip!" " This yourn?" " Yep." " Can you read it?" " Not so good as I should, Pap." "Don't you "Pap" me." "You ain't no son of mine, wearing store shoes and reading." "And writing too, probably." "Not hardly." "Putting on airs." "Your ma couldn't read nor write." "Her folks couldn't, mine neither." "And I can't, but you think you're better than your own pa, don't you?" "What is it?" "What's the matter?" "I was afraid it would be you, Mr. Finn." "Oh, "Mr. Finn," is it?" "Well, now, ain't that highfalutin?" "So that's where he gets his uppity ways." " My poor lamb." " And his loving hugs and kisses too, I see." "She don't mean no harm by it, Pap." "It ain't right a boy living softer than his own pa." "I gotta have somebody to work and help take care of me." "I'm a sick man." "Of course, if I..." "If I had a bit of money for medicine and such I wouldn't have no need of the young'un." "How much do you want?" " Five hundred dollars." " Five..." " But I'm a poor woman, Mr. Finn." " Well, the way I see it you're a woman of property." "That nigger will fetch 500." " Perhaps even more." " She can't, Pap." "She can't sell Jim." "It ain't fair." "Please don't make her do that, Pap." "The reading and writing weren't enough." "That weren't devilish enough." " You made the boy an abolitionist!" " I ain't no abolitionist." "You shut up!" "Get over there!" "Now, you've got till sundown tomorrow, widow woman and I get the 500 or I'm taking him out of these parts forever!" "Now, you know where my shack's at down by the river." "I'll be waiting." "Come on." "Where's the victuals?" "You said you was gonna bring us some." "Always thinking of yourself." "Well, I ain't brung any." "All's I could do to afford this jug." "Your dang loving widow lady she thinks more of that slave of hers than she does you." "I waited all day for her." "Stood right down there in the center of town just so she wouldn't have to come traipsing all the way out here but she never showed up." "They're trash, rotten trash, all of them." "The more I see of the human race, the less I wanna have to do with them." "I never got nothing nothing but a cuss word or a toe of a boot." "I never had one piece of luck." "And your mother..." "Your mother didn't care." "Nor you neither." "You killed her." "You killed her just getting born!" "Poor man left with a squealing baby that's gotta be brung up, with no wife to help him." "You'd think Providence would throw a creature like me a little helping hand now and again." "I got nothing." "Nothing but to sit here and wait for the Angel of Death to come and get me." "And nobody cares, not one damn soul!" "I swear to God, I don't know how they stood it." "Pap." "I care about you, Pap." "Pap?" "You!" "You..." "I know you." "You're the Angel of Death but I ain't gonna let you." "I'm gonna kill you." "You won't come for me no more!" "Pap, I ain't the Angel of Death." "I'm only Huck." "Please, Pap." "I'll kill you." "No!" "No, Pap!" "No!" "Don't come no closer, Pap." "I kill you, then." "As soon as you're dead, everything will be all right." "That's right, Pap." "If I was dead everything would just be sweet as pie especially for me." "So I reckon I'll have to kill myself." "Blood." "Huck!" "Huck!" "Huck!" "Somebody got my son!" "My son!" "Murder!" "They drowned my young'un!" "Murder!" "Hello, Jim." "Glory be." "You's a ghost!" "I ain't a ghost, Jim." "But you's dead." "Your pap come running into town, yelling that robbers killed you." "Well, I tricked it up so Pap would think I was dead, but I ain't." "Here." "Touch me." "Go ahead, touch me." "It sure was a good trick, eh, Jim?" "Oh, Huck, that was smart." "You smart, all right." "Thank you, Jim." "What is you gonna do now?" "I'm going someplace where they ain't ringing a bell to get up by or eat by and another one to go to bed by." "New Orleans, probably." "Have to go there first to get to South America." "Got a canoe hid over there in a cove." "I'm gonna take her and float down the Mississippi past St. Louis, Cairo..." "Cairo?" "Illinois?" "Then to the big river and right south to New Orleans." "This raft can float you there better than a canoe." "I catched her off the river." "She sure is a beaut, Jim." "She'd be better for sleeping and keeping out of the rain if she had a wigwam." "Yep, a nice dirt floor and she'd be high and dry." "Huck, I got skillets, cups, pans and knives and everything." "All we need is just a little luck." "Where was you going, Jim?" "I run away from the Widow Douglas." "Jim." "Well, she was gonna sell me so she could pay your pap." "You go back to her, Jim." "She owns you, and what's right's right." "Besides, you'll get caught for sure, a slave alone on a raft." "I'd be safe, I was with a white man." "Or a white boy, even." "I couldn't help a runaway slave, Jim." "Why, folks would say I was no better than a low-down abolitionist." "I know, Huck." "I know." "To starboard!" "Current must have took the boy's body down thataway." " They's looking for your body." " They're looking for my corpse, all right." "Put in to shore!" "That Negro slave that killed him is probably on one of these islands!" "They think you killed me." "Of course you didn't, because I ain't dead." "You better get." "Take the raft." " What about you?" " I could go with you, Huck." "I was going down to Cairo, Illinois, to step across into free territory." "What do you take me for, Jim, helping a runaway slave?" "That just wouldn't be right." "I'm sure they're on this one." "Put in to shore." "I'm sorry, Jim." "You know I can't take you and all that." "You just wanna do what's right." "I admire you for that." "Thanks, Jim." "And when they get here, don't you worry about them finding out you ain't dead." "They can whup me or beat me or whatever they want to do." "I won't tell them you's alive." "I promise." "Jumping Jehoshaphat!" "You's the only one that knows, ain't you?" "Especially your pap, Huck..." "I won't tell him especially." "Pap." "As far as me talking in my sleep, I'll go off somewhere by myself so nobody'll hear me." "You talk in your sleep?" "That's a bad thing I do, but not too much." "I gotta take you with me, Jim." " That wouldn't be right." " Don't matter when you got no choice." "Leaving you behind just wouldn't be smart." "Now, come on, Jim." "All right, boys, come on!" "Please, Jim, come with me." "If you think that's a smart thing to do, whatever you say is smart." "All right, let's go." "You got an uncommon level head for a white boy." "Thank you, Jim." "Here." "Give me the pole, Huck." "You just leave this to old Jim." "You take the sweep, and let's go." "All we got to do now is keep from getting caught." "Look at the birds, Huck." "Ain't they pretty?" " Lookie there." " I'm sure hungry." " Sure hope we catch something." " Yeah." "Ain't that a farmer's place over there?" "Jim, if you take something, planning on returning it it ain't stealing, it's just borrowing, huh?" "No, but I'd rather borrow something off the river." "It ain't safe to go ashore." " Are you hungry or ain't you?" " I'm hungry." "All right." "Let's go, Jim." "Come on, Jim." "Your worship, shall we?" "Nothing here." "Somebody's been here." "Ain't but these left." "All the other eggs left's got chickens round them." "Yeah, but we don't want a chicken, huh?" "But Pap always says, "Take a chicken when you get a chance." "If you don't want it, there's always somebody who does and a good deed ain't never forgot."" "There's one over there." "Get him." "Get him." "All right, you no-good, horn-toed weasels..." "One, two, three!" "Your name Grangerford?" "No, sir." "Abner Williams is my name." "This is my lawful manservant here." " We're on our way to..." " Williams?" "Ain't heard that name around these parts." "Well, that don't hardly seem possible." "Grangerfords!" " You a Shepherdson?" " I'm only a boy." "I'd kill you anyway if you was a Shepherdson." "What you want to do that for?" "On account of the Grangerford-Shepherdson feud!" "Now, don't tell me you don't know what a feud is." "Well, a feud is like this." "A man has a quarrel with another man, and he kills him." "Then the other man's brother kills him." "And then all the brothers on both sides joins in." "And then all the cousins chips in." "By and by, everybody's all killed off." "Then there ain't no more feud." " Get out of here!" " Huck, this ain't no place for us when folks don't even know why they's killing!" "Hold on there!" "You don't want me." "I ain't a Grangerford nor a Shepherdson." " Don't matter." "You're a chicken thief!" " Don't shoot, mister!" "Let's get out of here!" "Look, Jim." "Let's go." " Y'all get away from our raft!" " Oh, no." "No, no." "Extend the hand of welcome to our guest." " Him too?" " Why, of course." "He is our guest." "If I had my way, I'd let the both of you drown." "Reckon you got it backwards about who's guests." " This here's our raft." " Yes, and these here's our eggs." "As one man of the world to another, do us the honor of accepting our hospitality." " Sure would go good, all right." " Yeah." "Eggs a la Creole." "A specialty at the Hotel Creole Grande in New Orleans." "You've stayed there often, I suppose?" " No, I ain't." "Not yet, anyhow." " You got to." "It's the only hotel in the Colonies that knows how to see to a gentleman's comforts." "Bed down there the next time you're in New Orleans." "Yeah, I'll do that." "Have your manservant pole us out from shore." "The smell of this ambrosia will fetch every gourmet in the neighborhood." "Go ahead, Jim." "Eggs a la creole, a royal repast." "Delicious." "Well, we'll be in Pikesville by midday tomorrow." "We've got business in Pikesville family business." "Perhaps you'd care to run your lamps over this." "We come across it in a local journal." "I ain't too good at newsprint." ""As Mr. Peter Wilks, leading citizen of Pikesville, is seriously ill he has asked his two brothers Harvey and William clergymen of Sheffield, England and their 13-year-old nephew Percy to come and help him run his business." "Mr. Peter Wilks has not seen his reverend brothers in 28 years."" "I reckon that tells it all." "Excepting who's the reverends?" "We's the reverends." "Who in blazes did you think the reverends was?" "Then where's your nephew Percy?" "We lost poor Percy crossing the great Pacific Ocean from England." "A nasty accident involving a shark." "But I do believe he's been reborn!" "Percy!" "My name ain't Percy." "With him along, folks will know we're bona fide relations." "We's going to Cairo." "Piddling little stopover wouldn't hurt you none." " We'd be ever so much obliged." " What do you want to go to Cairo for?" "There ain't nothing there but runaway slaves and them that's hunting them." "We got business there." "Why, of course, they got business there." "What sort of business would it be?" "Family business, just like yours." "Williams is my name." "Abner Williams." "This here's my lawful manservant, Jim." "We're on our way to claim a land grant that was given to me by the government all on account of my brother Ned got scalped by the Paiute Indians." " That's the business?" " That's right." "You see, my folks was powerful rich before they was all killed off in a feud." "What's he talking about?" "Why, he's talking about fallen grandeur." "Right, boy?" " Yes, sir." " The saddest state mortal man can sink to." " You should know about fallen grandeur." " I should?" "Let us introduce ourselves." "This here is none other than a great nobleman cheated of his rightful title." "He, gents is the duke of Bilgewater." " A duke?" "I am?" "He was untimely ripped from his cradle and was tossed into the world to fend for himself at the tender age of 1." "I was?" "The tragedy has chased the facts from his mind." "Poor little child." "Royalty." "It don't hardly seem possible." "Whoever said the truth is a stranger to fiction knew his apples, all right." "Take myself." "You heard of the lost dolphin, son to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette?" " Of course." " I reckoned you had." "I am he." "I'd be on the throne right now if I hadn't been snaked out of my title by the Corsican." "What's he talking about?" "Well, he's just saying that he's the king of France." " You are?" " I am if justice ever gets done." "What do you say, boy?" "Join the royal party, and there'll be a sizable piece of change forthcoming upwards of $60." "Sixty dollars!" "We's going to Cairo." "You'd be wise to heed the royal whim." " Unless you wanna swim to Cairo." " We'd be suspicious of a boy and a manservant that would turn down $60 in currency." "What do you say, boy?" "The decision's all yours." " Happy to be of service, your kingship." " "Majesty" will do." ""Kingship" ain't for but state occasions." "Huck, is they English reverends or foreign highnesses?" "I swear, Jim, what you don't know about royalty would fill a book." "What these highnesses are doing are one of the things they do most of." "It's called "traveling incognito."" "On to Pikesville, Bilgie, and a little child shall lead them." "Monstrous big sky, ain't it, Jim?" "Did you ever see so blamed many stars?" "Makes you wonder where they all come from." "You reckon the moon could have laid them?" "I seen a frog lay near that many eggs one time." "I think we got nothing but trouble here, Huck." "Dog it, Jim." "You gotta look on the bright side of things." "We's having an adventure." "Besides, one thing I learned out of Pap:" "The best way to get along with them kind is to let them think they got you fooled." "I never seen nobody for praying like you, Jim." "You can't pray too much, not when you is a sinner." "You know it, and the Lord knows it." "You ain't a sinner, Jim." "What sin have you sinned, except for running away from the widow?" "I sin, Huck." "I sin big." "I sin the baddest sin as any man ever did, black or white." "Fiddlesticks." "You know my little girl, my little Elizabeth?" "One time, when she was about 4 years old she had a rough spell with that scarlet fever, but thank goodness, she got well." "One day, we was standing around in the cabin, and the door was open." "I said to her, "Shut the door, baby."" "She didn't do it." "I tell her again, and she never move." "She just kept standing there looking up at me kind of smiling-like." "I say, "I'm gonna teach you to mind your daddy," and I fetch her a slap across the side of her head that sent her sprawling." "And I stepped outside just to kind of cool off a little bit and come back about 10 minutes later, and the door was still open." "The child was almost right in it looking down at the floor and just moaning and the tears were just rolling down her cheeks." "I was mad, and just as I started for her along come a wind and shut the door:" "Ka-blam!" "And the child, she never move." "She didn't even budge." "Huck, she was stone-deaf." "Deaf and dumb from that scarlet fever, and I had been treating her so." "I bust out crying." "I grabbed her up in my arms and prayed, "God Almighty, forgive me because I can't forgive myself."" "Huck, the Lord knows what kind of sinner I is." "He knows I don't deserve nothing but trouble." "Prosperous-looking village." "The leading citizen of such a town must be rich beyond the avaricious dreams of Croesus himself." "Rich folks is suspicious." "Might just be a good idea to get a few facts on dear Peter Wilks." " How you gonna do that, Your Majesty?" " Why, same way you get facts anywhere:" "From the town barber." "You need a shave anyway, Your Majesty." "Ain't he the beatenest?" ""Runaway slave wanted for murder." "Reward $200."" "A young'un by the name of Huckleberry Finn was killed up Hannibal way, cut up and drowned in the river." "Next day, the slave run off." "Poor little chap." "Weren't no older than you are." "Yeah, poor little chap." "Mammy and Pappy must be sorrowing fit to bust." "Yeah, especially his pap." "Runaway slave answers to the name of Jim." "That's your name, ain't it?" "Oh, but the slave they're looking for well, he killed a young'un no older than me." "So it couldn't have been Jim because I ain't dead." "Here." "Touch me." "Go ahead, touch me." "Touch him." "Touch him." "There he is now." "Whatever he tells you to do, you do." "I appreciate your help in this matter." "Allow me to introduce the leading tonsorial wizard of this fair metropolis." "My brother, the Reverend William Wilks our nephew Percy, and that there is our loyal manservant." "You're the one that's afflicted, ain't you?" " Beg pardon?" " The one that's deaf and dumb." " Deaf and dumb?" " Since birth." "Mr. Peter Wilks told us all about his poor brother William." "Deaf and dumb?" "Deaf and dumb." "Now, if your worship will excuse me, I'll go tell..." "What does he...?" "Have you heard?" "The Reverend Wilks and his brother just arrived from England." "From now on, Bilgewater, the hand is quicker than the eye." "Our nieces Mary Jane and Joanna will be expecting us." "Poor fatherless waifs." "The Reverend Wilks and his brother arrived from England." "Dear Peter Wilks give up the ghost at 10 p.m. Last night." "A God-fearing man, who prayed on going to bed getting up at noon every day of his life." "Miss Watson will sure run into him in heaven, all right." "Our dear, sweet nieces got nobody to turn to except their loving uncles and, of course, their cousin Percy." "Here they come now, Miss Mary Jane." "Oh, Joanna, our prayers have been answered." "Our dear uncles are here." "They're here." "They're here." "Them two don't look like any reverends I ever seen." "This is it." " By Jove, you must be Mary Jane." " Uncle Harvey!" "Mary Jane!" "You're a grown young lady." "The very image of my dear brother." "Oh, Mary Jane." "Mary Jane, your uncles are here." "Hello." "Oh, Joanna, isn't this glorious?" "Look at Percy." "He ain't even wearing shoes." "River pirates." "They picked us clean and stole the ecclesiastical yawl a one master lent us for the journey upriver by the bishop of New Orleans a dandy chap." "He's gotta put shoes on before he can be any kinfolk of mine." "Oh, Uncle Harvey if you only could have arrived yesterday before Father..." "Alas!" "Alas!" "After 28 years, to have missed him by a hair." "Your Uncle William got a fierce yen to see the dear departed." "Artheline." "Artheline." "See that their manservant has food and a place to sleep." "This way." "Blessings on you, citizens." "Percy, this is your home." "Hold on there, my dear." "Your Uncle William and me was on our way from England to the deepest jungles of Patagonia for the purpose of converting the heathen there." "We're loaded with legal tender collected from our congregation and what's ours is yours." "No, I insist, my dear." "The heathens can wait." "As the bard said, "Blood is thicker than holy water."" "But, Uncle Harvey, Father left us rich." "We've this house and a prosperous tannery business and $3000 in gold." "Hallelujah." "And he left $3000 in gold to you and Uncle William." "That ain't important." "All that counts is that you two sweet things is provided for." " Father's in there." " Yes." "We must thank our dear brother personal." "Percy?" "Yes, sir." "What's the matter, Percy?" "You scared?" "Nope, but..." "I reckon it'd just be too sad a sight for a boy my age." "I'd best look after Jim." "Yes, do so instanter." "Too late." "Alas!" "Too late!" "Percy?" "You're in an awful fret about that manservant of yours, ain't you?" "Afraid he'll run off?" "Jim?" "Why, he's the loyalest slave a body ever had." "Come along with me, Percy." "Well, come on." "All right." "All right." "See that?" "That's a history book." "I read it, and it says they don't have slaves in England no more." "Well, we didn't get him in England." "We picked him up off some desert island, coming across the ocean." "Desert island?" "In the Atlantic?" "The Pacific." "We come across the Pacific." "This here's a geography book." "I read it too." "The Atlantic is the only ocean between here and England." "I say, Joanna, old girl, who you gonna believe?" "Some old geography book or a chap that's from there, by Jove?" "Come along with me, Percy." "Well, come on." "This here's a Bible." "I keep it handy for making folks swear on it when I think they're telling stretchers." "Now put your hand on it and swear you ain't." "And don't tell me they use a different kind of Bible in England." "Come on." "Father's last wish was to see you and Uncle William." "That he was denied but his last request will be fulfilled." "Then I know he'll rest in peace." "Don't give them the gold, Mary Jane." "Please don't." "That'd be wrong." "No, Joanna's right." "This ain't no time for filthy lucre." "The very sight of that $3000 would sicken your Uncle William and me but we can't be selfish." "Our dear brother's last request comes first." "Open the box." "Let me help you with that." "I'll take care of this, my dear." "May his soul rest in peace." "This will turn many a Patagonian heathen on to the glory road." "Uncle Harvey, I wish I had the goodness of character to sell the house and the tannery and apply the money in your noble works." "No, my dear." "No, I can't allow it." "You and Joanna got to be took care of." "Unless, of course, you'd see fit to accept the hospitality of loving kinfolk and join your Uncle William and me in merry old." " England?" " There's a spare room in the rectory." "Oh, Joanna, think of it." "To go to England and live with our dear uncles." " Well, I ain't going." " Joanna!" "I don't mean to get ate by sharks, crossing the Pacific Ocean." " Who was it told you about sharks, Joanna?" " Percy did." "He says you crossed the Pacific Ocean from England, and I know there's sharks there." "Percy was mistaken." "One crosses the Atlantic from England." "I knew it!" "I knew he was telling stretchers." "Boy, you ain't Percy." "You're a fraud and an impostor!" "And if you're a fraud and impostor, so are they!" " Now, see here, Joanna..." " Joanna, they can't be impostors." "They're clergymen." "All right, don't believe me." "I'm just a girl, but I ain't a dumb bunny." "I'm gonna get that sheriff." "He'll know whether they're frauds or impostors or not." "And he ain't a girl, so maybe you'll take his word for it." "Hallelujah." "Joanna, he's praying for you." "I'm just doing what we do every day at home in England praying at the stroke of noon, like Uncle Peter wrote us he done." "Hallelujah." "The boy's a genius." "Joanna, how could you mistrust such a pious, God-fearing boy?" " I don't believe it!" " Joanna!" " Oh, Uncle Harvey." " Amen." "There, there, my dear." "Things will be much better back home at the rectory." " Oh, how good you are." " Yes." "We'll leave soon as you get rid of the tannery and sell the house." "Tomorrow." "After the funeral." "As soon as possible." "Just leave all them little, picky details to me." "How lucky we are to have such wonderful uncles." "Yes, yes, yes, my dear." "Oh, and poor little Percy." "How unhappy you must be in those awful rags and barefooted." "Come, let me take care of you." "I'll fix you all up." " I have some clothes upstairs that'll fit you." " The dear departed." "Jim." "Jim!" " Huck, honey." " Come on." "What in the world happened to you?" "Uncle Peter's coat and these shoes." "I can't stand it, Jim." "We gotta get." "Now, you go to the raft and float her a half-mile downstream and wait for me." "Besides, it's beginning to smell like trouble." "That Joanna, she's got her heart set on sniffing out royalty." "If she brings that sheriff around, he'll think you're that slave they're looking for." "Well, I is, ain't I?" "Of course." "That's why we can't take no chances." "It's fine of you to help me keep from getting caught even if folks would say you're a low-down abolitionist for doing it." "Now, lookie here, Jim." "If the royalty gets caught for stealing that gold from them poor girls I want folks to know that you and me had nothing to do with it." "And the only way we can do that is to hide the gold so it won't get stole." "Now, you go down to the raft, do you hear?" "And I'll hide the gold." "Get." "Where's the loot?" "A profitable day's work, Regulus, and there'll be more where that come from." "It's almost too easy." "When you got all the fools in town on your side, that's a big enough majority anywheres." "You know, there's another 200 just asking to be picked up." "That slave of the young'un's, answers to Jim just like that runaway they're looking for?" "No." "No, the kid wouldn't take to that kindly." "It'd be cutting off our noses to turn him against us." "Yeah." "The way he saved our lives with that praying stunt, he's got the soul of an artist." "A little experience, proper teaching he could be the greatest grifter this old river's ever seen." "No, we ain't gonna cash in that $200 black chip not till we have to." "Take your shoes off." "I fall asleep." "I heard somebody." "Percy!" "I snaked it from the..." "Your uncles, and..." " I was hiding it for you." " In Father's coffin?" " How could you do such a terrible thing?" " I told you so!" "I can't believe it." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry, Miss Mary Jane." "I put it there when I heard you coming." "Why didn't you just give the gold to me?" "Well, I hid it." "Then I was gonna hide it..." "I mean, not hide it where I hid it, but I mean..." "It don't sound too good, does it?" "On top of everything else, I find you stealing from my father's coffin." " Why, Percy?" "Why?" " It's the brain fever." "Grave robbing is always the first sign." "I told you about him and his stretchers." "Generally, we have to put him in irons till after it passes over." " Nobody believes me, because I'm a girl." " Go to bed." "It's late." " But he's telling..." " Do as I say." "Oh, poor Percy." "My name ain't Percy." "What is it, then?" "Abner." "Abner Williams." "My folks was all killed off by the..." "The Paiute Indians." "Poor little Percy!" "Miss Mary Jane, you've gotta believe me!" "They ain't your uncles." "They ain't Harvey and William..." "Your Uncle William's the only one who can handle him at these times." " Let go!" " My leg..." "Poor William, that the first sound out of him should be a cry of pain." "It is a miracle!" "You've gotta believe me!" " Please, Uncle Harvey, let him speak." " Very well." "All right, Percy." "If we ain't the reverends, then who are we?" "He's the duke of Bilgewater, and you're the king of France." " Oh, Uncle Harvey!" " Miss Mary Jane, you've gotta believe me." "I could hardly believe my eyes." "I thought I was seeing double." "Mary Jane, the emphis Steamer just docked." "Buttercup." "Heaven Rose." "Who in tarnation's Buttercup and Heaven Rose?" "Those were the names Father called Joanna and me when we were little." "They're our real uncles." "Uncle Harvey!" "And, Percy, oh!" "You did it, boy." " You cheated us out of $3000." " Don't." "Please don't." "You know what's gonna happen to you now?" "How could you do this to me?" "I trusted you, and I never trusted nobody afore in my life." "I had plans for you." "We could have trimmed every mark from here to New Orleans but you put a knife in my back." " Let me kill him!" "No, you don't!" "You're in enough trouble as it is." "The people in this town know the truth." "This town's full of fools who'll stand for anything excepting being shown up for the fools they are." "I'm gonna catch you." "Wherever you go, remember that." "The world ain't big enough for you to hide from me." "There ain't a corner of this earth far enough away that I won't find you." "I'll pay you back for your treachery, I swear it." "I swear a oath, boy." "We'll meet again." " Sheriff." " All right..." "Marshal, we's delighted to see you!" " Don't try nothing." " No." "No, my friend." "Trust breeding, marshal." "Goodbye, all." "Goodbye." "Au revoir, sweet ladies." "Percy, wait!" "How can we ever thank you for telling the truth?" "I apologize, Percy, for thinking you were as big a snake as the other two." "My name ain't Percy." "Whoever you are, you're fit to be kinfolk of mine." "And I'll fight anyone who says you ain't." "Come on in here." "Make yourself at home." "He'll stay with us." "He can have Papa's old room." "It's only right, if he's to be the man of the house." " I'm only a boy." " He can go to school right here in Pikesville." "When he grows up, he can take over the tannery." "I ain't worthy." "I can't wait to see him all dressed up in brand-new clothes and fine, black leather shoes and sitting in the family pew in church." "You'll have to go to church, Abner." "Unless you want to burn forever in the eternal fires of hell." "Yes, Miss Watson." "Yes, Miss Joanna." "Black leather shoes and a job in the tannery." "Can you picture it, Jim?" "It put me in a fair sweat, I can tell you." "Coming right on top of His Majesty swearing to get me." "My, but he was a hard lot, near as mean as Pap." "We dang near got caught." "I reckon just ain't no accounting for the ways of royalty, Huck." "Maybe it'd be better to go back to Hannibal and not take no chances on getting caught down here." "What you talking about?" "Well, it'd be better for you to be a slave back where your family is long as you gotta be a slave." "I ain't gotta be a slave, and I ain't gonna be a slave." "I'm gonna be free soon as we get to Cairo." "Know what I'm gonna do soon as we cross that border?" "I'm gonna get me a job, a real job where I gets paid." "In a store, maybe." "Can't you see me, Huck?" ""Yes, ma'am." "These needles is the finest we got, ma'am." "They only 5 cents." "Well, thank you, ma'am."" "Now, won't that be fine, Huck?" "That store of yours don't sound no more fun than a pair of black leather shoes." "I'm gonna make a pile of money so I can buy my wife from that old farmer that owns her." "Then we's gonna work hard and save up and buy the two children." "Oh, Huck, honey, everything's gonna be all right." "It's all on account of you helping old Jim." "I ain't helping you because I wants to be no better than a low-down abolitionist." "It's because the only way I can keep from going back to Pap is to make sure you get free." " I know that, Huck." "I know that." "Consarn it." "One thing and another." "And I'll be lucky if I ever get to New Orleans." "Huck, it's getting too foggy to see where we's going." "Look, Jim!" "A houseboat." "She done kill herself on the rocks." "She looks deserted." "Let's go aboard." "I don't want to go fooling around no wreck." ""Keokuk, Iowa."" "Keokuk, Iowa." "They come from up north." "Who knows?" "Maybe rich folks owned her." "Who knows what they left behind?" " Treasure even, maybe." " Maybe." "Come on!" "Let's go." "Pap!" "Jim!" "Jim!" "Jim!" "Look what I found." "I told you there'd be treasure." " What's in there?" " Don't go in there!" " Why not?" " There's a dead man in there." " For sure?" " Somebody shot him right between the eyes." "Jiminy!" " Let's get out of here." " Are the eyes still open?" "Staring right at you." " Let me see him." " Huck, please don't go in there." " I ain't never seen a dead man before." " You seen Peter Wilks in his coffin." "Yeah, but he weren't murdered." "Looking in the eyes of a dead man is the worst bad luck you can get." "Well, I don't believe in signs." "I'm gonna look." "You listen to me, Huck, you do what I said!" "You hear?" "Don't you go in and look at that man." "Please, Jim, don't hurt me, please." "Oh, Huck." "Oh, honey." "I'm sorry." "Old Jim wouldn't hurt you for nothing in the world." "Oh, my God." "Forgive me for this." "Who's in there?" "Come on out unless you want a load of buckshot in your forward cabin." "Why, ain't but a boy." "What could I do for you gentlemen?" "We's slave catchers." "Looking for runaways." "Who you got aboard there?" "Now, don't you try lying, boy." "We heard you talking." " How many of them is in there?" " Just one other." "White or black?" "White." "I sure am glad you all come along." "You see, it's my cousin Jeb." "Him, he's sick." "I got that raft over there so I could bring him in to shore." "Maybe you gentlemen could help me get Jeb on the raft so I could take him in to shore." " We's in a hurry, boy." " Now, Obie, we gotta help him." "Well, reckon we come aboard and have a look." "Come right in, gentlemen." "Come right in." "Straight ahead." " Well, where's he at?" "In that room there?" " I guess so." "Cousin Jeb will be much obliged." "Everybody else we asked run off." " That's infernal mean." " Odd too." "Lookie here, boy." "What's the matter with your cousin Jeb?" "Well, it's the..." " Nothing much." " You're lying, boy!" " What you keeping such a secret in there?" " Let's have a look." "You won't have to touch Jeb, so there ain't much chance you'll catch it." "Don't you go in there!" "That cousin of yours got the smallpox, and you know it." "Why didn't you just say so?" "Well, when I told folks, they run off." "Let's get out of here." "Don't leave people to guess what's the matter." "Thank you." "Thank you kindly." "Breaking up." "Let's get out of here." "Look!" "Get him!" "I can't see him!" " There!" " Get the skiff!" " Well, we'll tend to him later." " Lf he get away, we lose $500 bounty." " Come on!" " The skiff's done floated off." " Here, hold this." " Get the hook." "Hurry it up." "Jim!" " Wait." "Come on." "Come on." " Go!" "They's over that way." "They's over that way." "I heard them." "Engines full ahead." "From the sound of it, we just chewed up a raft, captain." "No need to stop." "Reverse your engines." "If that was a raft, there might have been men on it." " Reverse engines!" " Yes, sir." "Mighty strange, a little boy alone on a raft with a negro." "Eh, captain?" "Jim here's my lawful manservant." "Williams is my name, captain." "Percy Williams." "And like I said, Jim here's my lawful manservant." "My folks was all killed off by impostors posing as relatives." "We had to run off or get killed." "You see, don't you, captain?" "You're giving me answers to questions I never asked." "I don't care where you've been." "All that concerns me is where this boat's going, and that's all the way to New Orleans." "You got passage money?" "Passengers is the only ones that keep idle aboard my ship, so you've got to work." "There's a fireman needed in the hold, and my cabin boy's run away on another ship." "Me?" "A cabin boy?" "You sent for me, sir?" "Yeah, I got an errand for you." "Yes, sir?" "You wanna take her, boy?" " Do I!" "Sir." " Come along." " Thank you, sir." " Keep her firm but easy." "She's got a will of her own, but you let her know who's the boss." "Don't seem like there's nothing to it at all." "Who'd ever figure piloting the Mississippi was this easy?" "Be careful, boy." "It takes a long time to learn the river and just when you do, she changes on you." "One thing about her never changes." "She can take you anywheres you wanna go in the whole world." "If you know and understand her, she'll do that, but there's another side to her." "She can kill you on a reef, or she can take you straight down to the bottom too." " I don't see no sign of a reef." " Of course you don't." "There's one out there on the portside." "That's a sandbar building up." "I've been expecting that from the kind of spring we had." "Moonlight's showing lines and circles in slack water." "That's a sign of troublesome places shoaling up." "Signs." "That's the only help you get from the river." "Hot sun means there's going to be wind tomorrow." "A floating log means the river's rising." "A silver cloud across the moon shows there's a storm coming and a storm can take you right up onto a snag." "Now, all them's signs, son and you got to learn them if you're going to learn the river." "I always thought them..." "Them signs was so..." " Beautiful?" " Yes, sir." "And now I find out they don't mean nothing but trouble." "But they're still beautiful, boy." "Don't you ever lose sight of that." "The beauty of the river is the first thing a man sees." "Then he learns the orneriness that lurks beneath." "And sometimes, that takes away the beauty, and that's a bad thing." "If it ever happens to you, boy, you get off the river." "Meantime, mind your chores." "One of them is to look to the wants of the officers." "So you step down to the bar and fetch me a pint of spirits." "Yes, sir." "Now, then..." "I'm breaking watch soon and I'll want easing off after this night's work." " Well, go ahead." " Yes, sir." "Pint of spirits for the captain." "Bartender, how about a drink for my lady friend?" "What seems to be the troub...?" "Why, you little..." "It's you!" "I'm gonna kill you, boy." "You know how?" "I'll throw you in that paddle wheel." "Even if they find the pieces the fish don't eat they'll still think it's an accident!" " Now back to the paddle wheel!" " No, no, no, Bilgewater." "That ain't the Christian way." "I didn't mean Your Highnesses no harm." "We know that." "I, by divine right, and Bilgewater here, by his infinite wisdom that concern for them sweet Wilks gals was the only thing in your heart." "We knew." " We did?" " Why, of course." "So we'll just let the dead past bury the bygone." " Will you shake on that, Percy?" " Abner." "Abner." "A $20 gold piece!" "Nothing like coin of the realm to seal up the raveled sleeve of friendship." "Much obliged." "Excuse me, Your Majesty." "I gotta give the captain his pint." "Oh, Abner!" "Tell me how is your African friend?" " Jim?" "He drowned." "Slipped off the raft in a deep sleep." "Never knowed the difference." "I saw to it that he got proper funeral orgies." "That must have made you feel plenty sick." "Nope." "He was talking in his sleep, saying how he was gonna run off to the free states." "No!" "I was so mad." "I was all ready to shove him off the raft." "I would've if he hadn't rolled over and just saved me the job." "Well, I guess it's just for the best somehow." "If he was aboard this steamer, he'd be in plenty hot water." "Tomorrow, we put in to the last town before Cairo." "There'll be slave catchers and law officers all over this old tub looking for runaways." "Well, good night, Abner." "Pleasant dreams." "Come, Bilgewater." "Leave it to me." "Slickers." "Gee, it sure fit me good, but Capt. Sellers he'll need it for the next cabin boy." "Well, you stay here." "I'll go ashore by myself." "It ain't but a little ways to the free territory." "If you get caught, Jim, I'll have to go back to Pap." "But this is your chance." "Capt. Sellers, he be going downriver to New Orleans." " Don't you want me to go with you?" " Of course I do." "Well, then, come on!" " Be careful." " All right." "You too." "It's cold." " You let them get away!" " Easy, easy, Bilgewater." "That $200 is as good as in our pockets right now." "You just leave everything to me." "Carmody's carnival!" "See it now!" "This is our last stop before heading north." "Ten cents!" "The tenth part of a dollar." "No expense has been spared in making this the greatest show on the Mississippi." "See the lions perform!" "Bearded lady!" "Bareback riders!" "You crossing over to Cairo, Illinois, mister?" "Yep!" "Going north tonight." "Today's the last chance to see the show that thrilled the crowned heads of Europe!" "The greatest extravaganza ever seen in these parts." "Come on, Jim." "Boys, over this way." "All right, George, keep them moving." "Catched six of them trying to get across Goodman's Creek into free territory." "They'll be on their way south by the next boat." "You stay here, Jim." "We're gonna join the circus." "Be careful, now." "Oh, Orville, stand up." "You can't learn any new tricks laying down." "Orville!" "Beg pardon, but where can I find Mr. Carmody?" "Here's his dinner." " Orville don't like turnips." " He'll eat the same as me." "But, Mr. Carmody, if he don't get red meat soon I'll be afraid to go in the cage with him." "What happened to that zebra?" "Well, he was pulling the lead wagon the night it rained." "And when we get to Chicago, we'll be living off the fat of the land." "Mr. Carmody." "Ten cents!" "The tenth part of a dollar." "We have spared no expense to give you the greatest show on the Mississippi." " We got a snake handler." " That's me." "A bareback rider that defies death by riding a dangerous African zebra." "And he can get ornery at times." "You don't have an emperor of Patagonia, I suppose?" "Emperor of Patagonia?" "No, we haven't got one of them but we do have a juggler that's A-number-one east or west of the Mississippi." "If I had some oranges, I could show you." "And we've got an honest-to-goodness lion act." "Oh, well, being as how I'm the world's youngest lion tamer myself that wouldn't interest me none." "You're the world's youngest lion tamer?" "Well, that's how I was billed in my folks' circus." "When they had a circus, before they all died off of the smallpox." "The emperor of Patagonia and me, well, we had it before, so naturally we lived." "Well, I ain't never heard of Patagonia, let alone the emperor." "Well, that don't hardly seem possible." "Everybody out West had heard of him." "Folks would come from miles around just to see a genuine piece of royalty." "My folks snaked him out of Patagonia when they was there converting the heathen." "I thought you said they was circus folks." "Well..." "They slid into that when they seen there was no money in heathens." "I see." "And they sure struck it rich with the emperor." "He was our biggest attraction." "I used to get a sore arm, toting them sacks of money to the strongbox." "You're the world's youngest lion tamer?" "We already have a lion tamer." "Me." "I can't take another lion tamer's job." "Well, Orville might not be happy working with anybody but me." "And I might not be happy working with Orville." "He didn't mean that, Orville." "Lion taming's out, but as long as you ain't got another emperor of Patagonia..." "Well, now, if we weren't leaving town tonight, I'd like to talk to him, but..." "It wouldn't do you no good." "Unless you could talk Patagonian, like me." "Well, what if he was to say to you:" ""Gorp gorp figgle-zoop plunk."" "Well, you wouldn't have no notion what he was saying to you." " What would he be asking for?" " For one of them turnips." "Well, you bring him around, and I'll talk to him." "But if I do put him on and he starts drawing crowds he's gotta stay with us till we get to Chicago, and them's my terms." "Well, I'll do my best to convince him but I ain't promising nothing." "He's got an uncommon level head for a Patagonian." "You didn't believe all that, did you, Mr. Carmody?" "Not one single word of it." "But that young'un's got more circus blood in him than you and me put together." "Just hold still, and I'll make the prettiest old zebra out of you you ever did see." "There." "Keep going, Jim." "Just gurgle more." "Huck, honey, I'm grateful for you teaching me Patagonian and all that but how come we just can't wait till it's dark and sneak across the border?" "You'll get caught for sure, Jim." "This way, we get free board and lodging all the way to Chicago." "Them men had their tongues hanging out just to get us to go along with them." "Just think, Jim:" "Carmody's International Carnival and Circus." "Carmody and Finn's International Carnival and Circus." "Finn and Carmody's International Carnival and Circus." "Try it again, Jim." "Ladies and gentlemen, you have all seen the vicious bear the screeching vultures, the African zebra the roaring lion, bearded ladies, bareback riders midgets, animal acts and the like." "And now for the very first time in these parts Carmody's International Carnival and Circus presents accompanied by his friend and interpreter formerly the world's youngest lion tamer His Highness, the emperor of all Patagonia!" "The emperor greets you." "And now, if any of you good people have any questions that you would like to ask the emperor about Patagonian politics or international diplomacy or harem life just speak right up." "Now, are there any questions?" "How much does an emperor get?" " A hundred dollars a month." " A hundred dollars a month." "I'd have never believed it." "Now, are there any other questions?" "Don't he know that keeping a harem is sinful?" "The emperor says he didn't knowed it till he got to this country." "But when he gets his throne back, he's gonna kick out all the harem, excepting one." "Now, there's a fair deal and a big move to make." " Now, are there any more questions?" " Yeah!" "I got a question I'd like to ask the emperor." "Send for the sheriff." "All right, speak right up." "Well, speak up, sir." "Don't be afraid." "Ask the question." "I'd like to ask the emperor what's the penalty in Patagonia for impersonating royalty?" "What do we do?" "Soon, cut out to the river real, real soon." "Man dangerous." "The emperor says that's a very interesting question and he'd like an hour or two to think it over." "Now, if you good people will excuse him." "Come on, Jim." "That ain't the right answer." "Although it's the one you might expect from an impostor." "Impostor?" "Now, just a minute..." "I charge you with harboring a runaway slave!" "A runaway slave?" "!" "That couldn't be!" "Why, the emperor here was brought to me by one of the most respected circus folks in the country." "World's youngest lion tamer?" " That's right." "You recognized him." " No." "But I'd sure like to see him do his stuff." "Matter of fact, I'd give $ 100 American currency to see that young'un jump into the lion's cage." "A hundred dollars?" "Come on, son." "But, Mr. Carmody, I'm only a boy." "That's those darn turnips." "They've made him mad." "Well?" "Is he a lion tamer, or is he a fraud?" "I got $ 100 that says he's a fraud." "I'll split it with you, 50-50." "Are they frauds or ain't they?" "Let them prove it." "We're waiting." "Come on, put up or shut up." "Hold it straight and tight." "And don't be afraid." "Huck, honey, don't go in there." " He's a slave, a runaway slave!" " Run, Jim, run!" " After him!" " That's him!" "That's the one!" "That's him!" " There he is!" "There he is!" " Jim." " Jim." " Huck!" " Huck, honey." " Jim." "You little..." "You're smart, aren't you, boy?" "Too bad you found out how smart you are." "You overreached." "Well, I'm gonna learn you overreaching don't pay." "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Hey, Orville hasn't had red meat in weeks." "Get out of there!" "Come on, get out." "Just relax, sweetheart." "Just calm down, baby." "Who's out there?" "Blackie, Bullet, shut up." "You'll wake up the dead." "Jim." "Huck, honey." " Jim." " I'm sure glad to see you." "We gotta get." "I was so close to freedom, right across them trees." "Wasn't no more than a mile or two, and then there's Goodman's Creek." "Across that creek is the free territory." "Some slaves around here told me..." "I mean, them other slaves." "You could squeeze through here, couldn't you, Jim?" "It ain't no use, Huck." "I'm too big a sinner." "You're always chattering about sin." "You ain't never sinned." "Except for running away from the widow and I ain't even sure that's a sin." "Well, I lied to the best friend I ever had and kept him feared, and that's a sin." "Your pap, Huck, he's dead." "You remember that houseboat and that dead man was on it?" "Well, that was your pap." "Poor Pap." "He never once in his life had any good luck." "And all this time, I been afearing Pap and there weren't no reason to be afeard." "I can't blame the Lord for not helping me, the way I treated you, Huck." "You know who the Lord helps, Jim?" "Them that helps theirself." "Yes?" "I'm Miss Douglas." "You got my runaway slave, name of Jim." "Well, yes, ma'am." "Come in." "Come in." "You're no more than a girl, Miss Douglas." "A mighty pretty one, I might add." "But still no more than a girl." "Jim belongs to my ma." "We were staying at the hotel in town, just visiting here." "You can imagine the fit it put us in when we seen you dragging our slave up the street." "My ma, she took to her bed straight off." "That poor woman." "Sit down." "Thank you." "Thank you kindly." "The quicker she gets that naughty Jim back to Hannibal, the better off she'll be." "Of course." "I'll fetch him." "I almost forgot." "The reward." "The reward?" "Well, $200 your ma offered for the capture of the slave." "I'll have to get the two gentlemen that brought him in afore I turn him over to you." "Ma's in..." "Ma's in an awful sweat to get him home so she can scold him proper for running off." "It won't take but a bit to get the two of them." "If you mind waiting, you can come along." "I'll wait, thank you." "How do you do?" "I thought I heard voices." "The sheriff went to fetch the gentlemen that catched our Jim." "What a pretty dress." "This old thing?" "My niece Betsy's got one an awful lot like it." " She's just about your size too." " Imagine that." "Betsy's staying with us for a few days." "Here?" "Got a new baby over at her house, and her ma's got her hands full." "Ain't no need to whisper." "Betsy could sleep through an earthquake." "Have a chair." "Thank you kindly." "Well, now, what might your name be?" " Sarah." " Pretty name." "My mother's name was Sarah." "I always thought if me and Harlan had us a girl, I'd name her that in memory." "A girl child must be nice to do for to make frilly dresses for her and the like to teach to cook and to sew." "My ma learned me all them things." "Lucky woman, your ma." "We wasn't blessed but the one time." "Harlan." "Named for his pa, of course." "Oh, fiddly-daddle!" "I dropped a stitch." "I don't see it nowhere." "It's all right." "I found it." " What'd you say your name was?" " Mary." "I thought you said it was Sarah before?" "Yes'm, I did." "Sarah Mary." "Some calls me Sarah, and some calls me Mary." " That's the way of it, is it?" " Yes'm." " Do me a favor, would you?" " Yes'm." "Thread a needle for me." "It's in there." "Just..." "That's it." "Open it up." "I could do it if I was alone, but Ma always told me spitting in public weren't proper." "All right, boy, what's your real name?" "Bill or Bob or Tom, or what is it?" "Please don't poke fun at a poor girl like me, ma'am." "Why, you ain't no girl." "You don't catch like a girl." "You don't know nothing about threading a needle." "Imagine holding a thread still and bringing the needle up to it." "You don't wear shoes like a girl." "Fact is, you don't wear no shoes at all." "Trying to hornswoggle me!" "What are you, a runaway apprentice?" "They treated you bad, and you made up your mind to cut." "Is that right?" " Well, what you doing here?" " They..." "They said they'd pay me if I helped slaves get free." "Abolitionists!" "Well, you're honest." "I'll say that." "You just tell the sheriff the truth like you told me, and it won't go hard with you." "Thank you, ma'am." "Could I please have a drink of water?" "I'll get you some lemonade." "Thank you kindly." "I always kept a pitcher of lemonade for Harlan." "I've got the keys, Jim." "You'd do this for me, Huck, after I lied to you about your pap?" "Well, I don't think it was right, Jim but I never known nobody who didn't lie one time or another." "Besides, I'm beholden to you for saving my life." "Let's go." "I can't go, Huck." "It's my leg." "These things hurt." "My leg's too big." "Jim." "Come on, let's go." "Help me." "Come on, let's go." " It weren't a girl." "It was a young boy." " It's him." "Poor thing." "He must have been scared and scooted out." " Well, quick, afore he gets the slave." " Where's he at?" " He's over in the shack." " Listen here, Harlan." "Take it easy with that poor child." "Yes, love, I will." " They're gone." "Get the dogs." " Gone?" " Probably headed to Goodman's Creek." " $200!" "Come on, hurry them up." "Blackie, Bullet, come on." "You two just stay out of the way." " Here, let me help you." "Come on." " How much further?" "You have to try, Jim." "You have to try." "They got the scent, all right." "Those slaves lied, Huck." "Maybe we took the wrong way." "Come on, we're close." "I know it." "Look, Jim." "Goodman's Creek." "I can't make it, Huck." "It's my leg." "You gotta get across." "Go on, Jim." "Go on." "The vest." "Give me the vest." "Thattaboy." "Now get!" "Get, straight thataway." "Good luck, Jim." "Straight thataway, go on." "Over this way!" "We got him!" "We got him, sheriff!" "Sheriff, he done it." "He done it." "He let that slave go free." "All right, boy, where is he?" " He drowned trying to cross the creek." " He's lying!" "I ain't blaming you for getting mad, mister." "The job you gave me was to get him free, and not to get him drowned." " What?" "!" " So it wouldn't be right, keeping this." " Twenty-dollar gold piece?" "Abolitionist!" " Why, you little..." "No, you don't!" " I'll keep this for evidence." " We ain't aboli..." "You shut up." "I reckon I'm as bad as they are, sheriff but what chance has a poor little boy like me got with grown-up slickers?" " I'm gonna kill you." " Here." "The judge ain't gonna like the sound of that kind of talk." "I know this wasn't none of your doing, boy, but you best come along." "Bet you're as hungry as a bear." "I'd like to, sheriff, but I'm worried about my raft." "I left her up on the creek and I'm all in a sweat somebody might have took her." "Nothing's safe with abolitionists around." "Sheriff, don't lis..." "No more of that if you want this buckshot to stay in the barrel." "Soon as you find your raft, you hide her good." "Then come back to the farm." "The missis made huckleberry pie today." "It's my favorite." "Now get moving both of you." "Now you hustle along, boy, or my missis will send me back for you." "Jim!" "Jim!" "Jim!" "Jim, where are you?" "Here I am, Huck!" "Here!" "Look what I found!" "A new raft." " Ain't she a pretty one?" " Sure is pretty, Huck." "Found a good one, didn't I?" " Where'd you ever find it?" " She sure is a nice one." "Bless your little heart." " Am I glad to see you." " Me too." "She ain't as good as ours by a thousand miles." "She needs a wigwam for keeping out the rain." "And a nice dirt floor so she'd be high and dry." "Turns out I wasn't lying to that sheriff." "You better keep out of sight." " They'll be coming back to fetch me." " It don't matter now, Huck." "I'm free." "Me too, and I aim to stay that way." "That nice woman of his probably got her heart set on teaching me how to thread a needle proper." "What you gonna do, Huck?" "I reckon I should go back and show the widow and Miss Watson I'm alive." "That's good." "You do that." "That's what I should do, but I can't float upstream to Hannibal so I'll just have to keep going south for a while." "Might even go as far as New Orleans." " Maybe I better go with you." " Well, I'll be hornswoggled." "After all the pains I've been to." "Then why don't you come with me, Huck?" "We'd get a fine job up north." "Maybe the same store." "We could work hard and save up." "Before you know it, we'd open up our own store." "Oh, lordy, Huck before you know it, we'd be rich, you and me both." "Now, wouldn't that be fine?" "I wouldn't be no good in that store, Jim unless I got all civilized and I been there before." "A steamboat!" "I'm going south, Jim." "Give me a push off." "If I get in the main stream, I can catch her." "Boy, ain't she a beaut, Jim?" "You take care, now, Huck." "Ain't no telling how much mischief you can get into between here and New Orleans." "That's for sure." "I hope you get rich, Jim." "Richer than Croesus himself." "You'll write to me, Huck?" "I can't write too good, Jim." "It don't matter." "I can't read at all." "Bye, Jim." "Bye, Huck, honey." "God bless you." "[ENGLISH]"