12 Huck’s a Hero

CHAPTER 12 Huck's a Hero The first thing Tom heard on Friday morning was a glad piece of news—Becky Thatcher and her family had finally come back to town from their summer holiday. Tom saw Becky right away, and they had a great time playing games with their schoolmates. Becky then convinced her mother to choose the next day for a long- promised and long-delayed school picnic. Next morning a rowdy group of youngsters gathered outside Judge Thatcher's house. An old steamboat had been chartered for the all- day trip and, presently, the happy throng of

children, laden with baskets of food, made their way to the boat. "You'll not get back till late," Mrs.Thatcher said to Becky, as the children prepared to leave. "You'd better stay the night with some of the girls who live near the ferry landing." "I'll stay with Susie Harper, Mamma." "Very well. And mind you don't be any trouble." As Tom raced along with Becky and the other children toward the ferry, he thought suddenly of Huck, that he might come that very night and give Tom a signal that Injun Joe's room was empty. Still, the signal hadn't come the night before, so why should it be any more likely to come tonight? Three miles below town, the ferryboat stopped at the mouth of a woody hollow. The crowd of happy children swarmed ashore, and soon the forest distances and

rocky heights echoed far and near with shouting and laughter. All the different ways of getting hot and tired were fully explored before the picnickers straggled back to the camp with mighty appetites. After much feasting, it now was time to explore McDougal's cave. Candles were brought, and the whole group scampered up the hill. The cave's entrance was up the hillside, and its massive oak door stood wide open. It was breathtaking to stand there in the deep gloom at the cave's mouth and look out upon the green valley shining in the sun.

By and by the procession of children began filing down the steep descent of the cave's main passage, their flickering rank of lights dimly revealing the lofty walls of rock surrounding them. It was no more than ten feet wide, and narrower crevices branched off it every few feet. It was said that one might

wander days and nights through this vast tangle of rifts and chasms and never find the end of it. After a while, some of the children began to sneak away from the larger group and play hide and seek in the explored areas of the cave before straggling back toward the mouth of the cavern, panting for breath, laughing, smeared head to toe with candle drippings, daubed with clay, and delighted with their adventure. They arrived just in time; the bell had been clanging, and the ferry-boat was set to return to town. An hour later, Huck was just starting on his watch when he saw the ferryboat's lights go glinting past the wharf. He wondered what boat it was and why it didn't stop at the wharf. But he didn't wonder long. The night was growing dark, and he had business to attend to.

Ten o'clock came, and the noise of vehicles ceased. Scattered lights also began to go out, and the streets grew empty. By eleven o'clock, darkness was everywhere. Huck waited for what seemed like a weary long time, but nothing happened. Was there really any use in staying longer? He wondered. Why not give it up and turn in? Then a noise fell upon his ear. The alley door closed softly. Huck sprang to the corner of a closed barbershop. The next moment two men brushed by him, and one seemed to have something under his arm. The box! They were going to remove the treasure! Huck's mind was racing. The men would get away with the box and never be found again. No, he would follow them him self. Huck stepped out and glided behind the men, catlike, with bare feet, allowing them to keep just far enough ahead so as not to be invisible.