6 Tom Wrestles with His Conscience

CHAPTER 6 Tom Wrestles with His Conscience By lunchtime, news about Dr.Robinson's grisly murder had spread through the whole town. Mr.Dobbins dismissed class for the rest of the day because no one could think about anything else but the gruesome event the night before. Muff Potter's bloody knife had been found close to Robinson's body, and someone had seen Potter washing in the creek at about two o'clock in the morning. The talk was that the town was being turned upside down to find the "murderer."

Slowly, many of the townspeople began drifting to the graveyard, and Tom decided to join the procession. Arriving at the dreadful place, he wormed his way to the front of the crowd. Huckleberry Finn soon pushed his way up to Tom's side. "Poor fellow, poor young fellow!" someone offered. "This ought a be a lesson for grave robbers," another chimed in. Tom looked across the crowd, and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the stony face of Injun Joe. At this moment, a murmur went through the crowd. "There he is!" a voice shouted. "There's Muff Potter!" "Don't let him get away!" Muff Potter just stood there looking confused. When he saw the murdered man, poor Muff started shaking violently.

"I didn't do it, friends," he sobbed. "I swear on my honor I never done it." "Is that not your knife?" the sheriff asked, shoving the blade in front of Potter's face. Muff would have collapsed just then, but some men close by caught him and eased him to the ground. Muff sat there sobbing until he spotted Injun Joe, and his face lit up. "Tell 'em, Joe, tell'em! It ain't no use holding back now." Tom and Huck stood silent and held their breath as they stared at Injun Joe, waiting for him to speak. Calm as he could be, Joe reeled off a tale full of lies. He told how Potter had struggled with Dr.Robinson and then how he'd killed him. "Why didn't you leave?" someone asked, turning back to Muff. "What did you come back here for?" "I-I couldn't help it," Potter moaned. "I

wanted to run away, but I couldn't come anywhere but here." Muff Potter fell to crying again while Injun Joe repeated his story, this time under oath. The boys were stunned both by Injun Joe's lies and by the fact that they'd gone unpunished. But both Tom and Huck were too afraid to tell the truth for fear of Injun Joe's revenge. To make matters even worse, Becky Thatcher had fallen ill and had stopped coming to school. What if she should die! Tom worried so much that he found that he could no longer take an interest in much of anything, not even in becoming a pirate. Every day, he reached school ahead of time. Rather than playing with his friends, he hung about by the school's front gate, his gaze fixed down the road. A group of girls came into view, and Tom

hated each and every one of them for being the wrong one. Giving up hope, he turned to go into the dreary schoolhouse. Just then, another girl appeared in the distance. The next instant Tom was yelling, laughing, and chasing the other boys around. He jumped over the fence—at risk of life and limb— threw handsprings, and stood on his head. Tom did these heroic things all the while keeping a close eye on Becky. Next, he started war whooping, snatched a boy's cap and threw it onto the roof of the schoolhouse, and broke through a group of boys, tumbling them to the ground before he sprawled out directly in front of Becky— nearly knocking her over. "Hmm!" Becky turned with her nose up in the air. "Some people think they're smart— always showing off!" Tom's cheeks burned. He picked himself

up and sneaked off, feeling crushed. At lunch that day, Tom ignored Becky completely. He pretended not to see her tripping happily back and forth, her face flushed, playing with the other classmates and obviously trying to get his attention. He even went so far as to strike up a conversation with Amy Lawrence. At recess, Tom continued to flirt with Amy, doing everything he could to make sure that Becky saw him. But when he finally found her, Becky was sitting cozily on a little bench behind the schoolhouse, looking at a picture book with Alfred Temple. So absorbed were they, so close together were their little heads over the book, that they didn't seem aware of anything else in the whole world, least of all Tom and Amy. Jealousy now ran red-hot through Tom's veins. Unable to bear the sight of Becky and