The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chapter 31

Chapter 24

Next evening we stopped under a little willow-grown sandbank in the middle of the river, and there was a town on either side of the river, and the duke and king began to plan to cheat both towns.Jim told the duke he hoped they wouldn't spend too much time, more than a few hours, because he was so boring and hard stuffed up in the shack.Well, we had to tie him up when we left him alone on the raft, because if anyone came by here by chance and saw him untied, he couldn't help but think him a runaway nigger , isn't it?The Duke said that it was really hard to be tied up with a rope for a day, and he wanted to find another way to prevent him from suffering like this again.

The duke was a very clever man, and he quickly figured out a way.He put King Lear on Jim—a robe of curtain calico, with a ponytail wig and beard; and he painted Jim's face, hands, ears, The make-up paint used in acting is an ugly grayish blue, like a person who has been drowned for eight or nine days.It's the scariest costume I've ever seen in my life.Then the duke wrote on a sign:

Sick Arabs are harmless when they are not insane

He nailed the sign to a piece of wood, and set it up four or five feet outside the shed.Jim felt quite satisfied.He said that this appearance was much better than being tied up and lying in the shack before. The situation in the past was like a year, and every time he heard a sound, he would tremble with fright.The duke told him he could go about as he pleased, and that if anyone came here to cause trouble, he could jump out of the hut and roar like a wild animal once or twice, and he was sure the person would have to get out of his way and leave him alone.This kind of judgment is reasonable, if an ordinary person came, he would definitely escape without shouting.Needless to say, he was much more frightening in this way than dead.

The two villains also planned to try "Royal Beasts" because it would bring in a lot of money, but they didn't think it was safe, because by this time, the word might have spread downstream.They couldn't think of a very suitable idea for a while, and the duke said he'd lie down and think about it for an hour or two, and see how he could make some money in this Arkansas town.Said the king, he wasn't going to think of anything first, but he was going to try his luck in another town, and let God lead him in the way of riches--the devil, I think he meant.We bought some ready-made clothes when we last landed, and the king had dressed him in his new clothes, and asked me to wear them too.Of course I'd love to wear it.The king's clothes were all black, and he looked very handsome in them.It never occurred to me that clothes could change people.He'd been a dirty, dirty old man before, but now, when he took off his white otter hat, bowed and smiled, he looked magnanimous and phony, as if he was Mr. Leviticus himself, who just stepped out of Noah's Ark.Jim cleaned the boat and got the oars ready.At a wharf three miles up the river from town there was a freighter where she had been for a couple of hours--loading.King said:

"Since I'm so well dressed, I might as well say I got off St. Louis, or Cincinnati, or some other big place. Row toward the steamer, Huckleberry, Let's take this boat to town."

Thinking of going to have a steamboat ride, I don't need to listen to people's orders a second time.I rowed the boat half a mile upstream from the town, and then got close to the bank, paddling easily in the still water on the steep bank.Soon, we met a good-looking and honest young man from the country.He was sitting on a log and was wiping his sweat because it was a hot day.Beside him were two coarse cloth bags.

"Pull the boat toward the shore," said the king.I did. "Young man, where are you going?"

"To get on a steamer and take a boat to Orleans."

"Come aboard," said the king. "Wait a moment, my servant will help you bring up the bag. Jump down and help this gentleman, Adolphus"—I understood that was calling me.

I did as he was told, and the three of us rowed on.The young man thanked us very much and said it was hard work carrying our luggage on such a hot day.He asked the King where he was going, and the King told him that he had come from upriver, had been in the town across the river this morning, and was going to see a friend on a farm a few miles upriver.The young man said:

"When I saw you just now, I thought, 'This must be Mr. Wilkes, he's about in time.' But then I thought, 'No, it's not him, he's not going against the tide. up.' You're not Mr. Wilkes, are you?"

"No. My name is Reverend Blodgett-Alexander? Blodgett-Alexander? Still sorry Mr. Wilkes wasn't on time, and I hope he hasn't been late for anything." "Well, he didn't lose any property by being late, because he got it; but he missed To die for his brother Peter—who knows, he may not have cared about it—but his brother wanted to see him before he died, and he would give everything he had to anyone who would let him see his brother. To this man. That's what he's been talking about for the past three weeks. They've parted since they were children and haven't seen each other since, nor the deaf-mute The younger brother, William, is only in his thirties. Only two brothers, Peter and George, have left home to make a living here. George is the married one. He and his wife died last year. Harvey and William are their brothers. The two who are still alive here, as I said just now, they didn't make it in time."

"Has anyone sent them a letter?"

"Well, yes, it was a month or two ago when Peter was just sick, because Peter said he seemed to think he was too sick this time to get better. George was very old, and his daughters were too young, He had no one by his side but his red-haired daughter, Mary Jane; and when George and his wife died he felt so alone that he didn't want to live. He was crazy to see Harvey— Wanted to see William too—because he was one of those soft-hearted people who couldn't bear the thought of writing a will. He left a letter for Harvey telling him where his money was hidden and what he hoped it would be. Divide the rest of the property so that George's young daughter can live well--because George died leaving nothing. People urged him to write a will, and this is the only letter he wrote."

"Why don't you say Harvey didn't come? Where does he live?"

"Well, he lives in Sheffield, England—is a missionary there—never been to America. He doesn't have much time, and besides, he probably never got that letter at all, don't you think?"

"Too bad he didn't live to see his brother. Too bad, poor fellow. You say you're going to Orleans?"

"Yes, but that's not my final destination. Next Wednesday, I'm taking a steamer to Rio de Janeiro. My uncle lives there."

"It's a long ride. But it's fun, and I really want to. Is Mary? Jane the eldest? How old are the others?"

"Mary? Jane was nineteen, Susan was fifteen, Joanna was about fourteen—the girl was bickering, and she had a cleft lip."

"Poor children! To be left so helpless in the cruel world."

"They're not bad at all. Old Peter has friends they won't let them suffer. Among his friends are the Reverend Hobson the Baptist, Deacon Lott Howe, Ben Rucker, Abner? Shackleford, Levi Bell, Dr. Robinson, and their wives, and the Widow Bartley, and—a lot. These were Peter's best friends, and when he wrote he always Mention them. That way Harvey will know where to find his friends when he comes."

The old man kept asking this and that, and finally got almost everything the young man knew.It would be odd if he didn't ask everyone and everything and everything about the Wilkeses in that hapless town.He found out that Peter's trade was a tanner's, George's a carpenter, Harvey was a Protestant clergyman, and so on.Later he asked:
"How did you go so far upriver to catch a steamer?"

"Because it's a big ship going to Orleans. I was worried at first that the ship wouldn't stop there. The deep-draft ships don't stop when you call them. The ships from Cincinnati stop when they are called, but this is St. Louis' ship."

"Peter? Wilkes is well off, isn't he?"

"Ah, yes, quite good. He has a house and land, and people estimate that he left three or four thousand yuan in cash, hidden somewhere."

"When did you say he died?"

"I didn't say it just now, but he died last night."

"Maybe the funeral is tomorrow, isn't it?"

"Yes, about noon tomorrow."

"Well, it's very sad, but we're all going to die sooner or later. So, if you're all ready, it won't feel too bad."

"Yes, sir, it's the best way. That's what my mother used to say."

By the time we rowed up to the steamer it was nearly loaded, and soon she set sail.The king never mentioned the matter of going on board again, and as a result I lost the pleasure of sailing.When the boat was gone, the king bade me row up another mile, and when I got to a deserted place, he came ashore and said:
"Now, you row back and get the duke here, with those two new bags. If he's on the other side of the river, you row over and get him. You tell him to come anyway. .Row quickly."

I guessed what he was going to do, but of course I didn't say anything.When I got the duke, we hid the boat, and they sat on a log, and the king told him all, just as the young man did.When he spoke, he always tried to imitate the English accent, and although he was so stupid, he did it well enough.I couldn't imitate his accent, so I didn't want to learn it, but he was pretty good at it.He said:
"How about you pretend to be a deaf-mute, Bridgewater?"

The duke said he would be safe with the part, and that he had actually played a deaf-mute in a play before.Then they began to wait for a ship.

In the middle of the afternoon, two small steamers came, but they did not come very far upstream.At last a big boat came, and they called to it to stop.A sampan was put down on the big boat to pick us up.This boat came from Cincinnati, and the people on board heard that we had only traveled four or five miles, and they were so mad with anger, that they cursed at us, and wouldn't let us go ashore when we got there.But the king was calm.He said:
"If some gentlemen would pay a dollar a mile apiece, plus a sampan, it would be a good deal to take them on the steamer, wouldn't it?"

This made them kinder, and said yes, and we got to the edge of town, and they put us ashore in a sampan.About twenty people on the shore saw us coming in a sampan, and they all surrounded us.The king asked:

"Can any of you tell me, Peter? Where does Mr. Wilkes live?" There was an exchange of glances and nods, as if to say: 'I'm right? ’ Then a man said kindly and quietly:

"It's a pity, sir, that we can only tell you where he lived before last night."

In an instant, the old rascal's whole body went limp, and he collapsed on the man's body, resting his chin on the man's shoulder, facing his back and crying loudly:
"Dear, dear, my poor brother—didn't think he was gone, and we hadn't had time to see him again; it's so sad, so sad!"

Then he turned around, weeping, and made many inexplicable gestures with his hands to the Duke. He threw the bag on the ground and burst into tears.Never in my life have I seen such a phony cry of grief.

Those people gathered around, expressed sympathy for them, and said all kinds of comforting words to them, and helped them carry their bags up the slope, let them both cry on their shoulders, and told the king that his brother was dying. As in the case before, the king signaled to tell the duke what they had said, and the two fellows wept again for the tanner who had just died, as if all the twelve disciples of Jesus were dead.If I've seen this before, I'm not human.This kind of thing really makes people ashamed for the whole human being.

(End of this chapter)