The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chapter 11

Chapter 10

After breakfast I wanted to talk about the dead man, and guess how he was killed, but Jim didn't want to.He said it would be bad luck to talk about the dead, and besides, he said, the dead ghost might haunt us;This sounded quite reasonable, so I didn't say anything more, but I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I kept trying to figure out who shot that man with a gun and why.

We searched through the clothes we had picked up again, and found eight silver pieces sewn inside a coat made of old blankets.Jim said he thought the coat had been stolen by someone in that house, and if it had been his own, he would have known there was money in it, so he wouldn't have left it there.I said I thought he was killed by those people, but Jim wouldn't talk about it.I say:
"Now you think that talking about dead people will be bad luck, but what did you say when I took back the snake skin I picked up from the top of the mountain the day before yesterday? You said that the most unlucky thing in the world is to touch the snake skin with your hands .Look, here's your bad luck! Get all that stuff, plus eight silver pieces. Jim, it'd be nice if we had that kind of bad luck every day."

"Don't worry, baby, don't worry. Don't get too excited. It'll come. Don't forget what I said, it'll come."

As expected, bad luck came.It was a Tuesday when we spoke.Well, after supper on Friday, we lay resting on the grass over the ridge, and the tobacco ran out, and I went back to the cave to get it, and I came across a rattlesnake.I beat it to death and coiled it up at the foot of Jim's blanket, looking like it was alive, thinking we'd have a good time when Jim came back.Well, at night, I had forgotten all about the snake, and I was striking a match to light a lamp, and Jim plopped down on the blanket, and the dead snake's mate was watching over there, and bit him.

He jumped up with a cry, and as soon as the light came on, he saw the poisonous snake curl up and prepare to attack again.It was too late, then soon, I grabbed a stick and killed it, and Jim grabbed my dad's whiskey jug and poured it down.

He was barefoot and the snake bit right on his heel.It's all my fault, what a fool I was, for forgetting that no matter where you put a dead snake, its mates will come and coil it.Jim told me to chop off the snake's head and throw it away, and skin the snake, and roast a piece of it.I did as he said, and he ate the grilled snake meat, saying that the wound healed quickly after eating this meat.He also asked me to take off the rattle scales of the snake and tie them around his wrist, saying that this would also help the wound heal faster.Then I slipped out and threw the two dead snakes far away in the bushes, so that Jim wouldn't find out what I'd done, and keep it a secret if I could.

Jim held the wine can and kept sucking, and every once in a while he would go crazy, fall over and over, screaming strangely;His feet were pretty swollen, and so were his legs; but the drink helped a little, so I reckon he was all right; but I'd rather be bitten by a snake than drink my father's whiskey.

Jim lay there for four full days and nights before the swelling subsided and he was able to move about again.I made up my mind never to touch snake skin again, because I already knew the result of doing so.Jim said he guessed I'd believe him next time, and said it was bad luck playing with snakeskin, and maybe our luck wasn't enough.He said that he would rather turn his head to the left to look at the moon bud a thousand times than hold the snake skin in his hand.Yeah, I think so myself, but I've always thought looking back at Moon Bud to the left was pretty silly and boring.Once, Hank?That's what old Banker saw, and bragged about it afterwards; but within two years, he was so addicted to the drink, and got so drunk that he fell off the top of the toilet, so to speak, into a piece of flesh. cake.They took two barn doors and nailed a coffin up and shoved him in there, and buried him like that, that's what everybody said, but I didn't see it.This is what my father told me.Anyway, that's the result of looking at the moon like a fool.

Look, the days go by like this.The river receded, and came back to where it was; and the first thing we did after that, was to hang a skinned rabbit on a huge hook for bait in the river, and we caught a man like that Large catfish, six feet two inches long, weigh more than 200 pounds.Of course we couldn't pull it, it was so strong that it seemed as if it could throw us over to Illinois.We had no choice but to sit and watch him toss and roll in the water until he finally died of exhaustion.Inside it we found a brass button, a ball, and a whole lot of mess.We cut open the ball with an axe, and it turned out that there was a winding spool inside. Jim said that the spool had been in the belly of the fish for a long time, and the things inside wrapped it layer by layer, and slowly formed a ball.I reckon it was the biggest fish ever caught from the Mississippi, and Jim said he never saw anything bigger than that.If you get it in town, you can sell it for a good price.

This kind of big fish is sold by the pound in the market, and everyone can buy some. The fish is white and delicious when fried in oil.The next morning, I said that life was slow and boring, and I really wanted to find something interesting to do.I said I wanted to slip across the river and inquire about what was new.Jim thought it was a good idea, but he said I could only go at night, and I had to be careful.Then he thought about it again, and asked if he could put some of those old clothes on and dress up as a girl?This is also a good idea.So we got out a calico skirt, cut it a little shorter, and I rolled up the trouser legs to my knees, and put it on.Jim raised the back with a fishhook and it made for a good fit.I put on my sun hat and fastened the straps under my chin, so that if anyone tried to see my face, it was as difficult as looking in through the mouth of a chimney.Jim said no one would know me, not even in the daytime.I practiced hard all day, looking like a girl, trying to figure out the tricks, and finally got it right, but Jim said I just don't walk like a girl, and said I don't keep pulling up my skirt and pulling out my pants pocket.I kept it in my heart, and it got better later.

As soon as it was dark, I got into the canoe and paddled up the shore on the other side of Illinois.

I paddled towards the town a little below the ferry pier, and the rapids in the river carried me under the town.I tied up the canoe and walked along the bank.There was a light on in a small hut that no one had lived in for a long time. I wanted to see who was in it, so I slipped over and peeked in through the window.Inside was a woman of about forty who was knitting beside an oil lamp on a pine table.I don't know her face, don't ask, it's a stranger, because there isn't a face in the whole town that I don't know.I'm really lucky, and I'm afraid of meeting acquaintances at the moment.I'm really a little scared to come here, people might recognize my voice and recognize me.But if this woman has only lived in this palm-sized town for even two days, I can figure out everything I need to know.So I went up and knocked on the door, making up my mind not to forget that I was a girl.

(End of this chapter)