The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chapter 39

Chapter 30
When they were on the raft, the king came up to me, took me by the collar, shook me, and said:
"Trying to slip away without us, you boy! Tired of staying with us, huh?"

I say:

"No, Sire, that's not what we meant—please don't, Sire!"

"Then tell me quickly, what are you going to do, or I'll shake out all your intestines and stomachs!"

"I tell the truth, I say it all as it is, Your Majesty. The man who held me was kind to me, and he kept saying that he had a son who died last year, about my age. He said he saw a doll meet I was very sorry to be in such great danger. When they found the bag of gold, they were all startled, and they all rushed towards the coffin, and he let me go, and said in a low voice, 'Run, Or they'll hang you!' and I slipped out. I don't seem to be doing any good staying there--I can't help anything, and I don't want to be hanged if I could have escaped. Die. So I ran on and on till I found a boat. As soon as I got on the raft I told Jim to go or they'd take me up and hang me, and I said, I'm worried for you and the duke, lest you Dead, and I'm sad as hell. Jim's sad too. We're so glad to see you come over, ask Jim if that's the case."

Jim said it was true, and the king told him to shut up, and said, "Ah, it's all made up like that!" And he started shaking me up and down again, and said he'd throw me in the river and be drowned. .But the duke said:

"Let go of the boy, you old fool! Wouldn't you run away if you were him? Did you ask him when you escaped? I don't think you ever did."

Then the king let me go and started cursing everyone in that town.But the duke said:

"You should fucking scold yourself first, because you are the one who deserves the most scolding. You didn't do a single intelligent thing all the time, but just quietly said that blue little thing that was made out of nothing. Arrows aren't too bad. That's a good idea--a good one, that's how we got our lives back. Otherwise, they'd lock us up until the Englishman's luggage let us go. We'd be in jail when it was brought in! But that trick sent people to the graveyard, and the bag of gold coins helped us a lot, too, if it wasn't for those fools who flocked up to get a better look. If we don't get caught, we're going to sleep with that tie on tonight - sure it's a strong tie - and we won't be able to get it off."

They were silent for a while—thinking about it—and then the King said absently:

"Hmph! Let's think it was stolen by black people!"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but shiver in my heart.

"Yes," said the duke slowly, deliberately sarcastically, "we really thought that."

After half a minute the king said slowly:
"At least that's what I thought."

The duke also said slowly:

"On the contrary, that's what I thought."

The king got a little angry and said:

"Hey, Bridgewater, what do you mean?"

Not to be outdone, the Duke said:
"Since you ask that, I'd like to ask you, what do you mean?"

"Bah!" said the king sarcastically, "how should I know, perhaps you are dreaming, and have no idea what you have done."

The duke was furious now, and said:

"Shut up your damn nonsense, you think I'm a fool? You think I don't know who hid the money in the coffin?"

"Yes, sir, I do understand that you do, for it was you who hid the money!"

"Nonsense!" the Duke sprang at him.The king cried out:
"Let go! Don't pinch my neck, even if I didn't say anything!"

duke said:
"Hmph, you have to admit that you hid the money there first. You want to get rid of me one day and dig out the money yourself."

"Wait a minute, duke—you just have to answer me honestly. If you didn't put the money there, tell me, and I'll believe you, and I'll ignore what I just said."

"You old bastard, I didn't do that, you know that. Well, I'll give you something to try!" "Okay, okay, I believe it. But answer one more question-don't be crazy. You Did it ever cross your mind to take the money away and hide it?"

The duke said nothing for a while, then said:
"Hmph, I thought about it without you, I didn't do it anyway. But you thought about it again and did it again."

"If I do it I'll live forever, that's the truth. I'm not saying I didn't think about it, because I did think about it, but you—no, I mean a—someone got me It's been done before."

"Lie! It's obviously you who did it. If you don't admit it, I will..."

The king's throat began to rattle, and at last he said out of breath:

"No!—I admit it!"

I was very happy to hear him say that, and I felt much better than before.The duke let go of his hand and said:
"If you don't admit it, I'll throw you in the river and drown you. You deserve it when you sit there crying like a little baby and do that goddamn thing. I've never seen you like that." You old bastard, trying to take everything for yourself, but I still trust you so much, treat you like my own father. You heard people put it all on those poor black people, and you don’t have a good word I should be ashamed to say it for others. It's funny to think how easy it is for me to believe your bullshit. You bloody bastard, now I know why you were in such a hurry to get that money together—you were trying to put All the money I earned in 'Royal Beasts' and elsewhere!"

The king twitched and said timidly:
"What's the matter with you, duke, it's you who said you'd make up that sum, not me."

"Shut your mouth! I won't listen to your nonsense anymore!" said the duke. "Now you have your reward. Not only did they take back all their money, but they also took all ours. There are only one or two small coins left. Go to sleep, and don’t play my idea when you want to raise money in the future, always remember!"

The king sneaked into the hut and drank to amuse himself.Not long after, the duke also opened his own bottle.Within half an hour the two of them were as intimate as thieves accomplices, and the more drunken they became, the more intimate they became.Later, they hugged each other, snored and fell asleep.They were both very drunk, but I could tell the king wasn't drunk enough to admit he had hidden the money.That made me really comfortable and happy.Of course, when they were both snoring, Jim and I chatted for a long time, and I told Jim everything that happened.

(End of this chapter)