Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0133/01332.txt

Text File | 1993-07-27 | 18KB | 368 lines

$Unique_ID{bob01332}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, The
The Rattlesnake-Skin Does Its Work}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Twain, Mark}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{says
jim
warn't
raft
right
didn't
get
off
come
cairo}
$Date{}
$Log{}
Title:       Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, The
Author:      Twain, Mark

The Rattlesnake-Skin Does Its Work

     We slept most all day, and started out at night, a little ways behind a
monstrous long raft that was as long going by as a procession.  She had four
long sweeps at each end, so we judged she carried as many as thirty men,
likely.  She had five big wigwams aboard, wide apart, and an open camp-fire
in the middle, and a tall flag-pole at each end.  There was a power of style
about her.  It amounted to something being a raftsman on such a craft as
that.

     We went drifting down into a big bend, and the night clouded up and got
hot.  The river was very wide, and was walled with solid timber on both
sides; you couldn't see a break in it hardly ever, or a light.  We talked
about Cairo, and wondered whether we would know it when we got to it.  I said
likely we wouldn't, because I had heard say there warn't but about a dozen
houses there, and if they didn't happen to have them lit up, how was we going
to know we was passing a town?  Jim said if the two big rivers joined
together there, that would show.  But I said maybe we might think we was
passing the foot of an island and coming into the same old river again.  That
disturbed Jim - and me too.  So the question was, what to do?  I said, paddle
ashore the first time a light showed, and tell them pap was behind, coming
along with a trading-scow, and was a green hand at the business, and wanted
to know how far it was to Cairo.  Jim thought it was a good idea, so we took
a smoke on it and waited.

     There warn't nothing to do now but to look out sharp for the town, and
not pass it without seeing it.  He said he'd be mighty sure to see it,
because he'd be a free man the minute he seen it, but if he missed it he'd be
in a slave country again and no more show for freedom.  Every little while he
jumps up and says:

     "Dah she is!"

     But it warn't.  It was Jack-o'-lanterns, or lightning-bugs; so he set
down again, and went to watching, same as before.  Jim said it made him all
over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom.  Well, I can tell you it
made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because I begun to
get it through my head that he was most free - and who was to blame for it?
Why, me.  I couldn't get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way.  It
got to troubling me so I couldn't rest; I couldn't stay still in one place.
It hadn't ever come home to me before, what this thing was that I was doing.
But now it did; and it stayed with me, and scorched me more and more.  I
tried to make out to myself that I warn't to blame, because I didn't run Jim
off from his rightful owner; but it warn't no use, conscience up and says,
every time, "But you knowed he was running for his freedom, and you could 'a'
paddled ashore and told somebody."  That was so - I couldn't get around that
no way.  That was where it pinched.  Conscience says to me, "What had poor
Miss Watson done to you that you could see her nigger go off right under your
eyes and never say one single word?  What did that poor old woman do to you
that you could treat her so mean?  Why, she tried to learn you your book, she
tried to learn you your manners, she tried to be good to you every way she
knowed how.  That's what she done."

     I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead.  I
fidgeted up and down the raft, abusing myself to myself, and Jim was
fidgeting up and down past me.  We neither of us could keep still.  Every
time he danced around and says, "Dah's Cairo!" it went through me like a
shot, and I thought if it was Cairo I reckoned I would die of miserableness.

     Jim talked out loud all the time while I was talking to myself.  He was
saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free state he would
go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough
he would buy his wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson
lived; and then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their
master wouldn't sell them, they'd get an Ab'litionist to go and steal them.

     It most froze me to hear such talk.  He wouldn't ever dared to talk such
talk in his life before.  Just see what a difference it made in him the
minute he judged he was about free.  It was according to the old saying,
"Give a nigger an inch and he'll take an ell."  Thinks I, this is what comes
of my not thinking.  Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to
run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his
children - children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that
hadn't ever done me no harm.

     I was sorry to hear Jim say that, it was such a lowering of him.  My
conscience got to stirring me up hotter than ever, until at last I says to
it, "Let up on me - it ain't too late yet - I'll paddle ashore at the first
light and tell."  I felt easy and happy and light as a feather right off.
All my troubles was gone.  I went to looking out sharp for a light, and sort
of singing to myself.  By and by one showed.  Jim sings out:

     "We's safe, Huck, we's safe!  Jump up and crack yo' heels!  Dat's de
good old Cairo at las', I jis knows it!"

     I says:

     "I'll take the canoe and go and see, Jim.  It mightn't be, you know."

     He jumped and got the canoe ready, and put his old coat in the bottom
for me to set on, and give me the paddle; and as I shoved off, he says:

     "Pooty soon I'll be a-shout'n' for joy, en I'll say, it's all on
accounts o' Huck; I's a free man, en I couldn't ever ben free ef it hadn' ben
for Huck; Huck done it.  Jim won't ever forgit you, Huck; you's de bes' fren'
Jim's ever had; en you's de only fren' ole Jim's got now."

     I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says
this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me.  I went along slow
then, and I warn't right down certain whether I was glad I started or whether
I warn't.  When I was fifty yards off, Jim says:

     "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman dat ever kep' his
promise to ole Jim."

     Well, I just felt sick.  But I says, I got to do it - I can't get out of
it.  Right then along comes a skiff with two men in it with guns, and they
stopped and I stopped.  One of them says:

     "What's that yonder?"

     "A piece of a raft," I says.

     "Do you belong on it?"

     "Yes, sir."

     "Any men on it?"

     "Only one, sir."

     "Well, there's five niggers run off to-night up yonder above the head of
the bend.  Is your man white or black?"

     I didn't answer up prompt.  I tried to, but the words wouldn't come, I
tried for a second or two to brace up and out with it, but I warn't man
enough - hadn't the spunk of a rabbit.  I see I was weakening; so I just give
up trying, and up and says:

     "He's white."

     "I reckon we'll go and see for ourselves."

     "I wish you would," says I, "because it's pap that's there, and maybe
you'd help me tow the raft ashore where the light is.  He's sick - and so is
mam and Mary Ann."

     "Oh, the devil! we're in a hurry, boy.  But I s'pose we've got to.
Come, buckle to your paddle, and let's get along."

     I buckled to my paddle and they laid to their oars.  When we had made a
stroke or two, I says:

     "Pap 'll be mighty much obleeged to you, I can tell you.  Everybody goes
away when I want them to help me tow the raft ashore, and I can't do it by
myself."

     "Well, that's infernal mean.  Odd, too.  Say, boy, what's the matter
with your father?"

     "It's the - a - the - well, it ain't anything much."

     They stopped pulling.  It warn't but a mighty little ways to the raft
now.  One says:

     "Boy, that's a lie.  What is the matter with your pap?  Answer up square
now, and it 'll be the better for you."

     "I will, sir, I will, honest - but don't leave us, please.  It's
the - the - Gentlemen, if you'll only pull ahead, and let me heave you the
headline, you won't have to come a-near the raft - please do."

     "Set her back, John, set her back!" says one.  They backed water.  "Keep
away, boy - keep to looard.  Confound it, I just expect the wind has blowed
it to us.  Your pap's got the smallpox, and you know it precious well.  Why
didn't you come out and say so?  Do you want to spread it all over?"

     "Well," says I, a-blubbering, "I've told everybody before, and they just
went away and left us."

     "Poor devil, there's something in that.  We are right down sorry for
you, but we - well, hang it, we don't want the smallpox, you see.  Look here,
I'll tell you what to do.  Don't you try to land by yourself, or you'll smash
everything to pieces.  You float along down about twenty miles, and you'll
come to a town on the left-hand side of the river.  It will be long after
sun-up then, and when you ask for help you tell them your folks are all down
with chills and fever.  Don't be a fool again, and let people guess what is
the matter.  Now we're trying to do you a kindness; so you just put twenty
miles between us, that's a good boy.  It wouldn't do any good to land yonder
where the light is - it's only a wood-yard.  Say, I reckon your father's
poor, and I'm bound to say he's in pretty hard luck.  Here, I'll put a
twenty-dollar gold piece on this board, and you get it when it floats by.  I
feel mighty mean to leave you; but my kingdom! it won't do to fool with
smallpox, don't you see?"

     "Hold on, Parker," says the man, "here's a twenty to put on the board
for me.  Good-by, boy; you do as Mr. Parker told you, and you'll be all
right."

     "That's so, my boy - good-by, good-by.  If you see any runaway niggers
you get help and nab them, and you can make some money by it."

     "Good-by sir," says I; "I won't let no runaway niggers get by me if I
can help it."

     They went off and I got aboard the raft, feeling bad and low, because I
knowed very well I had done wrong, and I see it warn't no use for me to try
to learn to do right; a body that don't get started right when he's little
ain't got no show - when the pinch comes there ain't nothing to back him up
and keep him to his work, and so he gets beat.  Then I thought a minute, and
says to myself, hold on; s'pose you'd 'a' done right and give Jim up, would
you felt better than what you do now?  No, says I, I'd feel bad - I'd feel
just the same way I do now.  Well, then says I, what's the use you learning
to do right when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do
wrong, and the wages is just the same?  I was stuck.  I couldn't answer that.
So I reckoned I wouldn't bother no more about it, but after this always do
whichever come handiest at the time.

     I went into the wigwam; Jim warn't there.  I looked all around; he
warn't anywhere.  I says:

     "Jim!"

     "Here I is, Huck.  Is dey out o' sight yit?  Don't talk loud."

     He was in the river under the stern oar, with just his nose out.  I told
him they were out of sight, so he come aboard.  He says:

     "I was a-listenin' to all de talk, en I slips into de river en was gwyne
to shove for sho' if dey come aboard.  Den I was gwyne to swim to de raf'
agin when dey was gone.  But lawsy, how you did fool 'em, Huck!  Dat wuz de
smartes' dodge!  I tell you, chile, I 'spec it save' ole Jim - ole Jim ain't
going to forgit you for dat, honey."

     Then we talked about the money.  It was a pretty good raise - twenty
dollars apiece.  Jim said we could take deck passage on a steamboat now, and
the money would last us as far as we wanted to go in the free states.  He
said twenty mile more warn't far for the raft to go, but he wished we was
already there.

     Towards daybreak we tied up, and Jim was mighty particular about hiding
the raft good.  Then he worked all day fixing things in bundles, and getting
all ready to quit rafting.

     That night about ten we hove in sight of the lights of a town away down
in a left-hand bend.

     I went off in the canoe to ask about it.  Pretty soon I found a man out
in the river with a skiff, setting a trot-line.  I ranged up and says:

     "Mister, is that town Cairo?"

     "Cairo? no.  You must be a blame' fool."

     "What town is it, mister?"

     "If you want to know, go and find out.  If you stay here botherin'
around me for about a half a minute longer you'll get something you won't
want."

     I paddled to the raft.  Jim was awful disappointed, but I said never
mind, Cairo would be the next place, I reckoned.

     We passed another town before daylight, and I was going out again; but
it was high ground, so I didn't go.  No high ground about Cairo, Jim said.  I
had forgot it.  We laid up for the day on a towhead tolerable close to the
left-hand bank.  I begun to suspicion something.  So did Jim.  I says:

     "Maybe we went by Cairo in the fog that night."

     He says:

     "Doan' le's talk about it, Huck.  Po' niggers can't have no luck.  I
awluz 'spected dat rattlesnake-skin warn't done wid its work."

     "I wish I'd never seen that snake-skin, Jim - I do wish I'd never laid
eyes on it."

     "It ain't yo' fault, Huck; you didn't know.  Don't you blame yo'self
'bout it."

     When it was daylight, here was the clear Ohio water inshore, sure
enough, and outside was the old regular Muddy!  So it was all up with Cairo.

     We talked it all over.  It wouldn't do to take to the shore; we couldn't
take the raft up the stream, of course.  There warn't no way but to wait for
dark, and start back in the canoe and take the chances.  So we slept all day
amongst the cotton-wood thicket, so as to be fresh for the work, and when we
went back to the raft about dark the canoe was gone!

     We didn't say a word for a good while.  There warn't anything to say.
We both knowed well enough it was some more work of the rattlesnake-skin; so
what was the use to talk about it?  It would only look like we was finding
fault, and that would be bound to fetch more bad luck - and keep on fetching
it, too, till we knowed enough to keep still.

     By and by we talked about what we better do, and found there warn't no
way but just to go along down with the raft, till we got a chance to buy a
canoe to go back in.  We warn't going to borrow it when there warn't anybody
around, the way pap would do, for that might set people after us.

     So we shoved out after dark on the raft.

     Anybody that don't believe yet that it's foolishness to handle a
snake-skin, after all that that snake-skin done for us, will believe it now
if they read on and see what more it done for us.

     The place to buy canoes is off of rafts laying up at shore.  But we
didn't see no rafts laying up; so we went along during three hours and more.
Well, the night got gray and ruther thick, which is the next meanest thing to
fog.  You can't tell the shape of the river, and you can't see no distance.
It got to be very late and still, and then along comes a steamboat up the
river.  We lit the lantern, and judged she would see it.  Upstream boats
didn't generly come close to us; they go out and follow the bars and hunt for
easy water under the reefs; but nights like this they bull right up the
channel against the whole river.

     We could hear her pounding along, but we didn't see her good till she
was close.  She aimed right for us.  Often they do that and try to see how
close they can come without touching; sometimes the wheel bites off a sweep,
and then the pilot sticks his head out and laughs, and thinks he's mighty
smart.  Well, here she comes, and we said she was going to try and shave us;
but she didn't seem to be sheering off a bit.  She was a high one, and she
was coming in a hurry, too, looking like a black cloud with rows of
glow-worms around it; but all of a sudden she bulged out, big and scary, with
a long row of wide- open furnace doors shining like red-hot teeth, and her
monstrous bows and guards hanging right over us.  There was a yell at us, and
a jingling of bells to stop the engines, a powwow of cussing, and whistling
of steam - and as Jim went overboard on one side and I on the other, she come
smashing straight through the raft.

     I dived - and I aimed to find the bottom, too, for a thirty-foot wheel
had got to go over me, and I wanted it to have plenty of room.  I could
always stay under water a minute; this time I reckon I stayed under a minute
and a half.  Then I bounced for the top in a hurry, for I was nearly busting.
I popped out to my armpits and blowed the water out of my nose, and puffed a
bit.  Of course there was a booming current; and of course that boat started
her engines again ten seconds after she stopped them, for they never cared
much for raftsmen; so now she was churning along up the river, out of sight
in the thick weather, though I could hear her.

     I sung out for Jim about a dozen times, but I didn't get any answer; so
I grabbed a plank that touched me while I was "treading water," and struck
out for shore, shoving it ahead of me.  But I made out to see that the drift
of the current was towards the left-hand shore, which meant that I was in a
crossing; so I changed off and went that way.

     It was one of these long, slanting, two-mile crossings; so I was a good
long time in getting over.  I made a safe landing, and clumb up the bank.  I
couldn't see but a little ways, but I went poking along over rough ground for
a quarter of a mile or more, and then I run across a big old-fashioned double
log house before I noticed it.  I was going to rush by and get away, but a
lot of dogs jumped out and went to howling and barking at me, and I knowed
better than to move another peg.