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Show ()6 TIIB ADrE.NTURES OF IIUCI1.LEBERR1- Fllt·:-.~ "v.rr ll, yon must be most . tarvec1, ain't you!->, "I reck,n I could eat a boss. I t hinl · I could. l[ow Ion()' you ben on de i ·Ian' ? " " ince t hP night I got killed .. , •'No! \V,y, what has you lived 011? But you got a gun? Oh, y s, you got a gun. Dat's goocl. Kow you kill un1fn' en rn Jnake up de fire." So we wenl over to where the can e was, and while he buiH a fire in a gra.-sy op n place among--.t the tr es, I fetch <l1neal and bacon nnd cof£ e, and cof£ e-pot and frying-pan, ancl ugar and tin cup.- nncl the nigger was set back ronsiclerabl , b ·cau~e he reckoned it wa al] done ·with ''itchcraft. I catchcd a good big cat-fi. h, too, and Jim cleaned hiu1 with hi ' knife, and fried l1im. vYhen breakfast was ready, we lolled on the grass and cat iL sn1oking hot; Jim laid it in with all hi· might, for he wa,· mot about tarv d. Then when we had got pretty 'vell tuffcd, we laid. off and lazied. By-and-by Jim says : "But looky here, IInck, who wnz it dat 'uz killed in clat shanty, ef it warn't you?" Then 1 told him the whole thing, nnd he said it was sn1art. 1 [e said Tom Rawyer couldn,t get up no b ttcr plan than what I had. 'l'hen I .·ay : "How clo you come to be herr, Jitn, and how\l yon get here?" He look (l pretty uneasy, and didn't say nothing for a minute. Then he says: "J\iaybc I better not tell." "\Vhy, Jim ? " "Well, dey's reasons. Bnt you wouldn' tell on me cf I 'uz to tell you, would you, Huck? " "Blamed if I would, Jitn." JIJ1.'S ESCAJ>L~. '' \Vell, I b'lieve you, IIuck. I-I ?'Un of}." "Jim! " "Hut mind, you said you wouldn,t t 11-you know you aid ynu wouldn't tell, Huck." "'Veil, I did. I said I wouldn't, and I'll tirk to it. ][onest ~njn1~ I will. People would call n1e a low down Ablitioni t and despise · me for keeping mnn1--bnt that don't Illakc no differ nee. I ain't agoing to tell, and I ain't agoing back there anyway . So now, le' know all about it.'' "'Vell, you ee, its 'uz di way. Oh· 1\Ii~sus-dat's ::Hi .' ~ \Yabon-she p cks on me all de tim , en treat, n1P pooty rouglt, but Hhe awluz :aid ·he woulun' s ll me down to ( >rleans. HuL I noticed dey wuz a nigger trader roun' d(• place eonsidable, lately, en I begin to git oneasy. vV 11, one night I ere 'PS to d<} do', pooty late, en de do' warn't qnite shet, en I hear ole 1uissus tell th widd r he gwync to sell 1nP <lown to Orl an ... , hut she didn' want to, but sh could git eight hund'd dollars for me, en iL 'uz sich a big tack o· mon y HhP couldn' rcsi.< ]) widder she try to git her to . ay .'he \Youlclu' do it, but L never \vaitecl to hear de r s'. I lit ut 1nighty quick, I tt-·ll you. " I tuck out en shin down d bill en \;pee to .-teal a . kift 'long de sho' som'ers 'bo\·e de t own, but (.h\y wuz pcopl"' a-tin ·in' yit, so I hid in d ole tunlble-do\vn cooper hop on d.e hank to wait for everybody to go way. \\" \11, I wuz dah all night. Dey wuz som body roun' all de time\. 'Loug ·bout ix in the mawnin', skifts begin to go by, n 'bout \ight r nine every skift dat w nt 'long wuz talkin' 'bout ho\v yo' pap com over to de to,,n en ay you's kill d. J)es la.-, kifts wnz full o' ladies en genlmcn agoin' oy·er for to se l ~ place.'~~ Rotn ti1n s dey'd pull up at de sho' en take a re ' b'fo' d y tart ·d nero t, . o by de talk I got to know all 'bout de killin'. I 'uz powerful sorry you's killed, I--fuck, but I ain't no 1no', now. F 2 |