We went tip-toeingⒶalteration in the MS along a path amongst the trees back towards the end of the widow’s garden, stooping down so as the branches wouldn’t scrape our heads. When we was passing by the kitchen,Ⓐhistorical collation I fell over a root and made a noise. We scrouched down and laid still. Miss Watson’sⒶalteration in the MS big nigger, named JimⒺexplanatory note, was settingⒶalteration in the MS in the kitchen door; we could see him pretty clear,Ⓐalteration in the MS because there was a light behind him. He got up and stretched his neck out about a minute, listeningⒶalteration in the MS. Then he says,
“Who dah?”Ⓐalteration in the MS
HeⒶalteration in the MS listened some more; then he comeⒶemendation tip-toeingⒶalteration in the MS down and stood right between us; we could a touchedⒶalteration in the MS him, nearly.Ⓐalteration in the MS Well, likely it was minutes and minutes that there warn’t a sound, and we all there so close together. There was a place on my ancleⒶhistorical collation that got to itching;Ⓐalteration in the MS but I dasn’tⒶemendation scratch it; and then my ear begun to itch; and next my back, right between my shouldersⒶemendation. Seemed like I’d die if I couldn’t scratch. Well, I’ve noticed that thing plentyⒶalteration in the MS of times,Ⓐhistorical collation since. If you are with the quality,Ⓐalteration in the MS or at a funeral, or trying to go to sleep when you ain’t sleepyⒶalteration in the MS—if you are anywheresⒶalteration in the MS Ⓐemendation where it won’t do for you to scratch, why you willⒶalteration in the MS itch all over in upwards of a thousand placesⒶemendation. PrettyⒶalteration in the MS soon Jim says:
“Say—who is you? WharⒶemendation is you?Ⓐemendation DogⒶalteration in the MS my cats efⒶemendation I didn’Ⓐemendation hear sumf’n.Ⓐemendation Well, I knows what I’sⒶalteration in the MS gwyne to do. I’s gwyne to set down here and listen tell I hears it agin.”
[begin page 7] So he set down on the ground betwixtⒶalteration in the MS me and Tom. He leaned his back up against a tree, and stretched his legs out till one of them most touched one of mine. My nose begun to itch. It itched till the tears come into my eyes. But I dasn’tⒶemendation scratch. ThenⒶemendation it begun to itch on the inside. Next I got to itching underneath. I didn’tⒶemendation know how I was goingⒶalteration in the MS to setⒶemendation still. This miserableness went on as much as six or seven minutes; but it seemed a sight longer than that. I was itching in elevenⒶalteration in the MS different places,Ⓐhistorical collation now. IⒶemendation reckoned I couldn’t stand it more’nⒶalteration in the MS a minute longer, but I set my teeth hard and got ready to try. Just then Jim begun to breathe heavy; next he begun to snore—and then I was pretty soon comfortable again.Ⓐalteration in the MS
Tom he made a sign to me,Ⓐhistorical collation —kind of a little noise with his mouth—andⒶalteration in the MS we went creepingⒶalteration in the MS away on our hands and knees. When we was ten footⒶemendation off, Tom whispered to me and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun; but I said no; he might wakeⒶemendation and make a disturbance,Ⓐalteration in the MS and then they’d find out I warn’t in. Then Tom said he hadn’t got candles enough, and he would slip in the kitchen and get some more. I didn’t want him to try. I said Jim might wake up and come. But Tom wanted to reskⒶemendation it; so we slid in there and got three candles, and Tom laid fiveⒶalteration in the MS cents on the table for pay. Then we got out, and I was in a sweat to get away; but nothing would do Tom but he must crawl to where Jim was, on his hands and knees, and play something on him. I waited, and it seemed a good while, everything was so still and lonesome.
As soon as Tom was back, we cut along the path, around the garden fenceⒶhistorical collation and by and byⒶhistorical collation fetched up on the steep top of the hill the other side of the house. Tom said he slipped Jim’s hatⒶalteration in the MS off of his head and hung it on a limb right over him, and Jim stirred a little, but he didn’t wake. Afterwards Jim said the witches bewitched him and put him in a trance, and rodeⒶalteration in the MS him all over the StateⒺexplanatory note,Ⓐalteration in the MS and then set him under the treesⒶemendation again and hung his hat on a limb to show who done it. And next time Jim told it he said they rode him down to New Orleans; and after that, every time he told it he spread it more and more, till by and byⒶhistorical collation he said they rode him all over the world, and tired him most to death, and his back was all over saddle-boils. Jim was monstrous proud about it, and he got so he wouldn’t hardly notice the other niggers. Niggers would come miles to hear Jim tell about it, and he was more looked up to than any nigger in [begin page 8] that country. Strange niggers would stand with their mouths open and look him all over, same as if he was a wonder. Niggers is always talking about witches in the dark by the kitchen fire; but whenever one was talking and letting on to know all about such things, Jim would happen in and say, “Hm! whatⒶhistorical collation youⒶemendation know ’bout witches?”—Ⓐhistorical collationand that nigger was corked up and had to take a back seat. Jim always kept that five-center piece around his neck with a string and said it was a charm the devil giveⒶalteration in the MS to him with his own hands and told him he could cure anybody with it and fetch witchesⒺexplanatory note whenever he wanted to, just by saying something to it; but he never told what it was he said to it. Niggers would come from all around there and give Jim anything they had, just for a sight of that five-center piece; but they wouldn’t touch it, because the devil had had his hands on it. JimⒶemendation was most ruined, for a servant, because he gotⒶalteration in the MS so stuck up on account of having seen the devil and been rode by witches.
Well, when Tom and me got to the edge of the hill-topⒶemendation, we looked away down intoⒶemendation the villageⒺexplanatory note and could see three or four lights twinklingⒶalteration in the MS, where there was sick folks, maybeⒶhistorical collation; and the stars over us was sparklingⒶalteration in the MS ever so fine; and down by the village was the river, a whole mile broad, and awful still and grand. We went down the hill and found Jo Harper, and Ben RogersⒺexplanatory note, and two or three more of the boys, hid in the old tan yardⒶhistorical collation. So we unhitched a skiff and pulled down the river two mileⒶalteration in the MS and a half, to the big scar on the hill sideⒶhistorical collation, and went ashore.
We went to a clump of bushes, and Tom made everybody swear to keep the secret, and then showed them a holeⒶalteration in the MS in the hill, right in the thickest part of the bushes. Then we lit the candles and crawled [begin page 9] in on our hands and knees. We went about two hundred yards, and then the cave opened up. Tom poked about amongst the passages and pretty soon duckedⒶalteration in the MS under a wall where you wouldn’t a noticedⒶemendation that there was a hole.Ⓐalteration in the MS We went along a narrow place and got into a kind of room, all damp and sweaty and cold, and there we stopped. Tom says:
“Now we’ll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer’s Gang.Ⓐalteration in the MS Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood.”
Everybody was willing. So Tom got out a sheet of paper that he had wrote the oath on, and read it. It swore every boy to stick to the band, and never tell any of the secrets; and if anybody done anything to any boy in the band, whichever boy was ordered to kill that person and his family must do it, and he mustn’t eat and he mustn’t sleep till heⒶalteration in the MS had killed them and hacked a cross in their breastsⒺexplanatory note, which was the sign of the band. And nobody that didn’t belong to the band could use that mark, and if he did he must be sued; and if he done it againⒶemendation he must be killed. And if anybody that belonged to the band told the secrets, he must haveⒶalteration in the MS his throat cut, and thenⒶalteration in the MS have his carcaseⒶhistorical collation burnt up and the ashes scattered all around, and his name blotted off of the list with blood and never mentioned again by the GangⒶhistorical collation, but have a curse put on it and be forgot,Ⓐalteration in the MS forever.Ⓐalteration in the MS
[begin page 10] Everybody said it was a real beautifulⒶemendation oath, and asked Tom if he got it out of his own head. He said, some of it, but the rest was out of pirate books, and robber books, and every GangⒶhistorical collation that was high-toned had it.
SomeⒶalteration in the MS thought it would be good to kill the families Ⓐemendation of boys that told the secrets. Tom said it was a good idea, so he took a pencil and wrote it in. Then Ben Rogers says:
“Here’s Huck Finn, he hain’t got no family—what you going to do ’bout him?”
“Well, hain’tⒶemendation he got a father?” says Tom Sawyer.
“Yes, he’s got a father, but you can’t never find him, these days. He usedⒶalteration in the MS to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyardⒺexplanatory note, but he hain’t beenⒶalteration in the MS seen in these parts for a year orⒶemendation more.”
They talked it over, and they was goingⒶalteration in the MS to rule me out, because they said every boy must have a family or somebody to kill, or else it wouldn’t be fair and square for the others. Well, nobody could think of anything to do—everybody was stumped, and set still. I was most ready to cry; but all at once I thought of a way, and so I offered them Miss Watson—they could kill her.Ⓐalteration in the MS Everybody said:
“OⒶhistorical collation, she’ll do, she’ll do. That’s all right. Huck can come in.”
Then they all stuck a pin in their fingers to get blood to sign with, and I made my mark on the paper.
“Now,” says Ben Rogers,Ⓐalteration in the MS “what’s the line of business of this Gang?”
“Nothing only robbery and murder,” Tom said.
“But whoⒶemendation are we going to rob? HousesⒶhistorical collation—or cattle—or—Ⓐhistorical collation”
“StuffⒶemendation!Ⓐalteration in the MS stealing cattle and such things ain’t robbery, it’s burglary,” says Tom Sawyer. “We ain’t burglars. That ain’t no sort of style. We are highwaymen. We stop stages and carriages on the road, with masks on, and kill the people and take their watches and money.”
“Must we always kill the people?”
“OⒶhistorical collation, certainly. It’s best. Some authorities thinkⒶemendation different, but mostly it’s considered best to kill them. Except some that you bring to the cave here and keep them till they’re ransomed.”
“Ransomed? What’s that?”
“I don’t know. But that’s what they do. I’ve seen it in books; and so of course that’s what we’veⒶalteration in the MS Ⓐemendation got to do.”
[begin page 11] “But how can we do it if we don’t know what it is?”
“Why blame it all, we’ve got to do it. Don’t I tell you it’s in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what’s in the books, and get things all muddled up?”
“OⒶhistorical collation, that’s all very fineⒶalteration in the MS to say, Tom Sawyer, but how in the nationⒶalteration in the MS Ⓐemendation are these fellowsⒶemendation going to be ransomed if we don’t know how to do it to them? That’sⒶhistorical collation the thingⒶemendation I want to get at. Now what do you reckon it is?”
“Well I don’t know. But per’aps if we keep them till they’re ransomed, it means that we keep them till they’re dead.”
“ Now,Ⓐalteration in the MS that’sⒶemendation something like Ⓐemendation. That’ll answer. Why couldn’t you said that before?Ⓐalteration in the MS We’llⒶemendation keep them till they’re ransomed to death—Ⓐalteration in the MS and aⒶalteration in the MS bothersome lot they’ll be, too, eating up everything and always trying to get looseⒶemendation.”
“How you talk, Ben Rogers.Ⓐalteration in the MS How can they get looseⒶemendation when there’s a guard over them, ready to shoot them down if they move a peg?”
“A guard. WellⒶhistorical collation that is Ⓐalteration in the MS good. So somebody’s got to set up all night and never get any sleep, just so as to watch them. I think that’sⒶalteration in the MS foolishness. Why can’t a body take a club and ransom them asⒶalteration in the MS soon as they get here?”
“Because it ain’t in the books so—that’s why. Now Ben Rogers,Ⓐalteration in the MS do you want to do things regular, or don’t you?—Ⓐemendationthat’s the idea. Don’t you reckon that the people that madeⒶalteration in the MS the books knowsⒶalteration in the MS what’s the correct thing to do? Do you reckon you can learn ’em anything? Not by a good deal. NoⒶhistorical collation sir, we’ll just go on and ransom them in the regular way.”
“All right. I don’t mind; but I say it’s a foolⒶalteration in the MS way, anyhow. Say—do we kill the women, too?”
“ WellⒶhistorical collation Ben Rogers,Ⓐalteration in the MS if I was as ignorant as you I wouldn’t let on. Kill the women? No—nobody ever saw anything in the books like that. You fetch them to the cave, and you’re always as polite as pie to them; and by and byⒶhistorical collation they fall in love with you and never want to go home any more.”
“Well, if that’s the way, I’m agreed, but I don’t take no stock in it. Mighty soon we’ll have the cave so cluttered up with women, and fellows waiting to be ransomedⒶhistorical collation that there won’t be no place for the robbers. But go ahead, I ain’t got nothing to say.”
Little Tommy Barnes was asleep, now, and when they waked him [begin page 12] up he was scared, and cried, and saidⒶemendation he wanted to go home to his ma, and didn’t want to be a robber any more.
So they all made fun of him, and called him cry-baby, and that made him mad, and he said he would go straight and tell all the secrets. But Tom give him five cents to keep quiet, and said we would all go home and meet next week and rob somebody and kill some people.
Ben Rogers said he couldn’t get out much, only Sundays, and so he wanted to begin next Sunday; but all the boys said it would be wicked to do it on Sunday, and that settled the thing. They agreed to get togetherⒶalteration in the MS and fix a day as soonⒶalteration in the MS as they could, and then we elected Tom SawyerⒶalteration in the MS first captain and Jo Harper second captain of the Gang, and so started home.
I clumb up the shed and crept intoⒶalteration in the MS Ⓐemendation my window just before day was breakingⒶalteration in the MS. My newⒶalteration in the MS clothes was all greased up and clayeyⒶhistorical collation and I was dog-tired.
Jim] In 1897, recalling the summers he spent as a boy at his uncle John Quarles’s farm, Mark Twain said:
All the negroes were friends of ours, & with those of our own age we were in effect comrades. I say, in effect, using the phrase as a modification. We were comrades, & yet not comrades; color & condition interposed a subtle line which both parties were conscious of, & which rendered complete fusion impossible. We had a faithful & affectionate good friend, ally & adviser in “Uncle Dan’l,” a middle-aged slave whose head was the best one in the negro-quarter, whose sympathies were wide & warm, & whose heart was honest & simple & knew no guile. He has served me well, these many, many years. I have not seen him for half a century, & yet spiritually I have had his welcome company a good part of that time, & have staged him in books under his own name & as “Jim,” & carted him all around—to Hannibal, down the Mississippi on a raft, & even across the Desert of Sahara in a balloon [in Tom Sawyer Abroad]—& he has endured it all with the patience & friendliness & loyalty which were his birthright. It was on the farm that I got my strong liking for his race & my appreciation of certain of its fine qualities. This feeling & this estimate have stood the test of fifty years & have suffered no impairment. (SLC 1897–98, 44–46)
[begin page 386] Daniel, or “Dann,” was “in the fiftieth year of his age” when John Quarles freed him in 1855, two years after Clemens had left Missouri (Quarles). For an argument that two other black men Clemens knew well—John T. Lewis (1835–1906), who worked on Quarry Farm, and George Griffin, the family butler in Hartford—were also important as models for Jim, see Pettit, 95–106.