Chapter 1.
Scene.
The Mississippi Valley, 40 to 50 years ago.
1835 to 1845.
Tom and the Widow.
You don't know about me unless you've read a book called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
But that doesn't matter.
That book was written by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.
There were some things he stretched, though.
That's nothing.
I've never met anyone who hadn't lied at one time or another except Aunt Polly or the widow.
That's Tom's Aunt Polly.
She and the widow Douglas are both in that book, which is mostly a true book, as I said before.
The way that book ends.
Tom and I found the money that the robbers had hidden in the cave, and it made us rich.
Six thousand dollars each, all in gold.
Judge Thatcher put it in the bank for us and we could each get a dollar a day.
We didn't know what to do with all that money anyway.
"'The widow Douglas took me in as a son and promised to civilize me.
"'It was rough living in the house all the time.
"'The widow was so regular and decent in all of her ways.
"'When I couldn't stand it any longer, I ran away.
"'I got into my old rags and felt free and satisfied.'
But Tom Sawyer hunted me down and said he was planning to start a gang, a band of robbers.
He said I might join in if I went back to the Witta and acted properly.
So I went back.
The widow cried over me and called me a poor lost lamb.
She called me a lot of other names too, but she never meant any harm.
She put me in some new clothes again and I couldn't do anything but sweat and feel all cramped up.
Then the old things started up again.
The widow rang a bell for supper and I had to come in on time.
When I got to the table, I couldn't start eating right away.
I had to wait for the widow to lower her head and grumble a little over the food.
There was nothing wrong with the food, except that everything was separate.
I was used to eating a stew full of odds and ends.
Things in a stew get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and everything goes better.
The widow's sister, Miss Watson, had just come to live with her.
She set after me on my first night back with the spelling book.
She worked with me for about an hour until the widow made her ease up.
I couldn't stand it much longer.
I went up to my room, sat by the window and tried to think of something cheerful, but it was no use.
I got so downhearted and lonesome, I wished I had some company.
Pretty soon I heard a twig snap down into the dark.
I sat still and listened.
I could just barely hear a meow, meow.
I said meow as softly as I could, and then I put out the light and climbed out of the window onto the shed.
I slipped down to the ground and crawled in among the trees and, sure enough, there was Tom waiting for me.
We went along a short path.
Just as we passed the kitchen, I fell over a root and made a noise.
We crouched down and laid still.
Miss Watson's slave, Jim, was sitting at the kitchen door.
"'Who's there?' he said."
He listened some more and walked near us.
For minutes and minutes there wasn't a sound.
He couldn't see us, but he must have known someone was nearby.
He sat down on the ground near me and Tom and said he knew someone was there.
He told us he would wait until we showed ourselves.
He leaned against a tree and stretched his legs out until one of them almost touched mine.
Soon he began to breathe heavily and then he started snoring so Tom and I could finally get away.
When Tom and I got to the edge of the hilltop, we looked down into the village and could see three or four lights twinkling.
Stars over us were sparkling.
Down by the village was the river.
It was a whole mile wide and awfully still and grand.
We found Joe Harper and Ben Rogers and two or three more of the boys.
We untied a little boat, floated down the river to the big scar on the hillside and went ashore.
We went to a clump of bushes where Tom made everybody swear to keep the place a secret.
Then he showed us a hole in the hill, right in the thickest part of the bushes.
We lit candles and crawled in on our hands and knees.
After a minute or two, the cave opened up.
Tom ducked under a wall in the cave and crawled into another hole.
We followed along the narrow path until we got into a kind of room, all damp and sweating and cold.
Tom said, Now, we'll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer's Gang.
Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath.
We were willing, so Tom got out a sheet of paper with the oath written on it.
It swore everybody to stick to the gang and never tell any of its secrets.
If anybody did anything wrong to any boy in the band, one of the other boys would be ordered to get, even with that person and his family, and he would have to do it.
Everybody said it was a great oath and asked Tom if he made it up himself.
He said some of it, but the rest was out of pirate books and robber books.
He told us that every important gang had an oath like it.
Wait, Huck Finn doesn't have a family, Ben Rogers said.
How could we get even with him if he doesn't have a family?
What are you going to do about him?
Well, doesn't he have a father, Tom asked.
Yeah, but you can't ever find him these days.
He used to get in a lot of trouble around town, but he hadn't been seen in these parts for a year or more.
They talked it over, and they weren't going to let me in the gang.
Nobody could think of anything to do.
I was almost ready to cry, but all at once I thought of a way.
I offered them Miss Watson.
They could get even with her if they wanted.
That satisfied everyone, and they let me in.
Then Tom told us we would be highwaymen.
We'll stop stagecoaches and carriages on the road.
We'll wear masks and take people's watches and money.
We'll bring some of the people to the cave here and keep them until they're ransomed.
Ransomed?
What's that? asked Ben Rogers.
I don't know, Tom said, but that's what they do.
I've seen it in books, so of course that's what we've got to do.
But how can we do it if we don't know what it is?
We've just got to do it, Tom said.
Didn't I tell you it's in the books?
Do you want to do things differently from the books and get things all messed up?
That's fine to say, said Ben, but how are these people going to be ransomed if we don't know how to do it to them?
Well, I don't know, Tom said.
Maybe if we keep them until the ransomed, it means we keep them here a long, long time.
Now, that's something, Ben said.
Why couldn't you say that before?
We'll keep them until they're ransomed a good long time.
Boy, that'll be bothersome.
They'll be eating up everything and always trying to get loose.
How could they get loose if there's a guard watching over them, Tom asked.
A guard?
Well, that is good, Ben said.
So somebody's got to sit up all night, never get any sleep, just to watch them.
I think that's foolish.
I don't see why we have to do that.
"'Cause it's in the books, that's why,' Tom said.
"'Now, Ben, do you want to do things the right way or not?
Don't you think the people who made the books know the right way to do things?
Do you think you can teach them anything?'
"'Not at all.
No, sir, we'll just go on and ransom them in the regular way.'
Little Tommy Barnes was asleep now and when they woke him up, he was scared and started to cry.
He said he wanted to go home to his ma.
He didn't want to be a robber anymore.
They all made fun of him for that, which made him mad, and he said he would tell everyone our secrets.
Tom gave him five cents to keep quiet and said we would meet again next week to plan our first robberies.
After the walk home, I climbed back up the shed and crept into my window just before dawn.
My new clothes were all greased up and covered with clay, and I was dog tired.
