11 On the Trail of Injun Joe

CHAPTER 11 On the Trail of Injun Joe The adventure of the day tormented Tom's dreams that night. Four times he laid his hands on that rich treasure, and four times it slipped away. When he woke up, Tom decided maybe it was just a dream. As soon as he finished breakfast, Tom went to find Huck Finn. If it was a dream, Huck would know for sure. Tom found his friend sitting on the deck of a boat, dangling his feet in the water and looking quite sad. "Hello, Huck!" Tom said cheerfully.

"Hello, yourself." Silence for a minute. "Tom, if we'd a' left the blame tools at the dead tree, we'd a' got the money. Oh, ain't it awful!" "'Tain't a dream then, 't ain't a dream! Some how I wished it was." "What ain't a dream?" "Oh, that whole thing yesterday. I half figured it was." "A dream! If them stairs hadn't broke down you'd a' seen how much of a dream it was. I've been dreaming of that devil Injun Joe all night. Curse him!" "No, Huck, not curse him. Find him. We've got to find him and track him out to his 'Number Two.'" "I been thinking about that. But I can't make anything out of it. What do you reckon

it is?" "I don't know. It's too deep. Say, Huck, maybe it's the number of a house." "No, Tom. That ain't it. There ain't no numbers in this one-horse town." "Wait now, lemme think a minute. It's the number of a room—in an inn, you know!" "Oh, that's the trick! They ain't only two inns. We can find out quick." A half hour later, the boys had been to both places. In the best inn, a young lawyer had long occupied room number 2. In the shabbier lodge, room number 2 was a mystery. The innkeeper's young son said it was locked all the time, and nobody came in or out of it except at night. The boys decided that this must be the place they were looking for. Tom quickly came up with a plan. They would get hold of all the door keys they could find and wait for

a dark night to try them. As simple as that, the treasure would be theirs. That night Tom and Huck hung about in the neighborhood of the inn until after nine, one watching the alley and the other the inn door. No one who looked like the "Spaniard" entered or left. Tuesday and Wednesday brought the same poor luck. But Thursday night promised better. Tom slipped out of his house with Aunt Polly's old tin lantern and a large towel to blindfold it with. An hour before midnight, the inn closed up and its lights were put out. Nobody had entered or left the alley. The black of night was all around, the perfect stillness interrupted only by the mutter of distant thunder. Tom lit his lantern and wrapped it closely in the towel. The boys crept silently in the gloom toward the inn. Huck stood guard as

Tom felt his way into the pitch-black alley. Some minutes passed as Huck kept watch, but there was no sight of Tom. Huck found himself drifting closer and closer to the alley, fearing all sorts of dreadful things. Suddenly there was a flash of light and Tom came tearing by him: "Run!" he said. "Run for your life!' The two boys didn't stop running until they reached a deserted barn. As soon as Tom got his breath, he said: "Huck, it was awful! I tried two of the keys just as quiet as I could! But they made such a racket that I couldn't hardly breathe. Without even noticing what I was doing, I took hold of the knob, and open comes the door! It wasn't even locked. I hopped in, shook off the towel, and great Caesar's ghost!" "What—what'd you see, Tom?"

"Huck, I almost stepped onto Injun Joe's hand!" "No!" "Yes! He was laying there, sound asleep on the floor with his arms spread out." "Did he wake up?" "No, never budged." "Say, Tom, did you see that box?" "Huck, I didn't wait to look around. I didn't see the box. I didn't see the cross. I didn't see anything but a tin cup on the floor by Injun Joe." After thinking for a moment, Tom continued: "Looky-here, Huck. Let's not try anything else until we know Injun Joe's not in there. It's too scary. If we watch every night, we'll be sure to see him go out sometime or another and then we'll snatch that box