The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chapter 38 (2)
Chapter 29 (2)
"But he can't write with his left hand," said the old gentleman. "If he could write with his right hand, you'll see that he wrote both his letters and mine. If you compare it, you will know that it was written by one person."

The lawyer looked at it and said:
"I think it is so—and if not, the handwriting of the two letters is so alike that I hadn't noticed it before. Come, come! I thought we were on the right track of the problem. , and now I'm confused again. Anyway, it's been proven that these two aren't Wilkeses at all," he said, wagging his head in the direction of the king and duke.

Hi, guess what? ——That stubborn old fool won't admit defeat even for this sake!He is not reconciled.Said the test was unfair, and said his brother William was a cynical troublemaker, and didn't take it seriously at all.He said he knew William was up to a trick as soon as he saw his pen resting on the paper.His energy picked up, and he began to talk non-stop again, until he almost believed his own nonsense.Presently the new old gentleman interrupted him, saying:

"I remember something. Is there someone here to help my brother... help the dead Peter? Wilkes buried?"

"Yes," said one, "me and Abu Turner buried him. We're both here."

Then the old man turned to the king and said:
"Perhaps this gentleman can tell me what kind of tattoo he has on his breast?"

If the King didn't pull himself together and answer quickly, he would collapse, with a crash like a bank whose foundation has been washed away by the river.You see, it's tempting to be asked, most men would break down in that situation--how did he know what pattern was on that dead man's chest?His face turned pale involuntarily.No one in the room made a sound, just bowed slightly and stared at him.I thought to myself, it's time for him to admit defeat, and it's useless to refuse.So has he conceded?No one believed it, but he just refused to give up.I guess he was trying to wear them all down so that he and the duke could rush out and slip away when they were all gone.In any case, he was sitting comfortably.After a while he smiled and said:

"Well! That's a tough question, isn't it! But I can tell you what tattoo he has on his chest. It's a little thin blue arrow--that's what; if you don't look carefully, Can't tell. Hey, what do you have to say?"

Alas, I have never seen such a rascal like this old guy in my life.

The new old gentleman excitedly turned to Abu?Turner and his companion turned their heads away, his eyes sparkling, as if the king had been caught at this moment.he asks:
"Well, you heard him, Peter? Didn't Wilkes have that pattern on his chest?"

The two said loudly together:

"We haven't seen such a pattern."

"Well!" said the old gentleman, "listen to me, all you can see on his chest is a small, faint 'P', a 'B' (the initial of his name since he was young) No need) There is also a 'W'. The three letters are connected with dashes, like this: 'P-B-W'," he said, writing it out on the paper. "Tell me, is that what you see?"

The two said loudly again:

"No, we didn't see it. We didn't see any marks."

Now, the people were annoyed, and they all shouted together:

"These fellows are liars! Let's throw 'em all in the water! Drown them! Parade them through the streets!" cried the crowd in a terribly loud voice.But the lawyer jumped on the table and cried:
"Gentlemen, gentlemen! Listen to me—just one word—please listen to me! There is another way—let's dig up the body."

This idea aroused everyone's interest.

"Good!" everyone cheered, and set off at once, but the lawyer and the doctor shouted:
"Wait, wait! Grab these four people and that child, and take them away!"

"Leave it to us!" they cried together, "if we can't find the marks, kill them all!"

To tell you the truth, this freaked me out.However, there is no way to escape.They took us all fast and dragged us all the way to the cemetery, which was a mile and a half down the river, with the whole town behind us, because it was only nine o'clock at night. Bell, we made a loud noise.When I passed our house, I really regretted that I should have taken Mary?Jane off, and if she's here, I'll give her a wink and she'll know, and come to my rescue, and expose those two rascals.

We walked along the road by the river in a swarm, like wild cats. The sky was now covered with dark clouds, thunder and lightning flashed from time to time, and the wind blew the leaves away, making people even more frightened. .It was the greatest commotion I ever encountered in my life, and I have never been in such great danger.I was so shocked that all my original plans were in vain. I thought I could stand comfortably and watch the excitement, but in a critical moment, there is Mary?Jane spoke for me and saved me from danger, and now nothing saves me but the tattoos.If they can't find that pattern...

I couldn't bear to think about it, but, somehow, my head couldn't stop thinking about it.It was getting darker and darker, and this was a good opportunity to slip away from the crowd, but that burly man, Hines, was holding on to my wrist, trying to escape from him was like trying to escape from Goliath. (A giant of great strength in the Bible story.) It is as difficult to escape from the hand.He was so energetic, he was pulling me so hard that I had to run to keep up with him.

When people arrived at the cemetery, they poured in like a tide, almost submerging the entire cemetery.It was only then that people discovered that they brought a hundred times more shovels than needed, but no one thought of bringing a lantern.They sent men to neighboring houses to borrow lamps, while the rest dug vigorously in the light of the lightning.

They dug and dug, not to mention the madness.It was dark as hell by this time, and it was raining, the wind was whistling, and the thunder was rumbling and rumbling.But these people were digging desperately, ignoring the weather at all.During the lightning, every face in the crowd could be clearly seen, and spades of soil were thrown up. After the lightning, everything was completely dark and nothing could be seen.

Finally they got the coffin up, and people started to unscrew the screws and open the coffin lid.People pushed shoulders and elbows hard, trying to get a better look ahead. No one had ever seen such a terrible scene in the dark.Hines grabbed my wrist and pushed forward desperately, and it hurt me so much. He gasped and gasped, as if he was so excited. I guess he must have forgotten me.

Suddenly, a bright flash of lightning flashed across, and a person shouted loudly:

"My lord, that bag of gold coins rests on his chest!"

Hines yelled like everyone else, let go of my wrist, and squeezed forward desperately, trying to see what happened.I took advantage of the darkness and ran away immediately, turned onto the main road and ran for my life. No one would have thought that I could run so fast.

There was no one on the road but me, and I was running so fast that I was about to fly.Along the way, I was only accompanied by darkness and flashes of lightning, as well as the rustling rain, the whistling wind, and the frightening thunderclap.It's not false at all, I really want to fly when I run.

When I ran into the town, I saw that there was no one on the road in the strong wind and heavy rain, so I didn't run around the back street, but just ran down the street.When I got near our house, I squinted my eyes and saw the house.The house was pitch dark, with no light at all, and for some reason, I felt uncomfortable and disappointed.But when I ran over, Mary?Jane's window suddenly lit up with a ray of light!My heart was beating wildly, as if it were going to jump out of my chest, but the house was thrown into the darkness behind me, and was never seen again.She's the nicest girl I've ever met, and the gutsiest girl.

I ran a little upstream from the town, and I could see the sandbar in the middle of the river, so I looked around carefully and wanted to borrow a boat.As soon as I saw a boat without chains in the light of lightning, I jumped in and rowed towards the middle of the river.It was a small canoe, fastened roughly with a rope.The sandbar was still far in the middle of the river, but I didn't lose any time.At last I got to the raft and I was terribly tired.If I dared to delay, I should like to take a quick breath, but I dare not rest.As soon as I jumped on the raft, I yelled:

"Jim, come out and put the logs out of the way! Thank goodness we got rid of 'em!"

Jim came out quickly, and welcomed me with open arms, he couldn't be happier.But when I saw him in the lightning, I was so frightened that my heart jumped up to my throat, and I suddenly fell back into the river.I forgot that he was dressed in King Lear's clothes, pretending to be a drowned Arabian, and all of a sudden my soul was out of my shell.Jim fished me up and was about to hug me and bless me.He was overjoyed to see me come back, and get rid of the king and duke again.But I said:

"Don't be busy, don't be busy, let's talk about it during breakfast, let's talk about it during breakfast! Let go of the raft and let it float down!"

So, within two seconds, we were off, drifting down the river.It's just the two of us on the whole river, and no one is making trouble, which feels really good.I couldn't help jumping and jumping on the raft happily.But when I jumped to the third time, I suddenly heard an all-too-familiar voice, and I held my breath and waited to listen carefully—it was them, and when the next lightning burst on the river, I saw them coming! —they're paddling furiously, making the boat creak!It's kings and dukes.

I fell down on the board suddenly, trying to hold back the tears.Later, I had to admit it.

(End of this chapter)