The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chapter 8 (1)
Chapter 8 (1)
When I woke up, the sun had already risen, and it seemed that it was past eight o'clock.I lay in a shady place on the grass, thinking about things in my mind, and felt that I had enough rest, and my heart was comfortable and satisfied.I could see the sun in the sky through one or two holes in the dense leaves above my head, but there were big trees all around, and it was so dark inside that it was a bit suffocating.In some places on the grass, the sunlight leaking from the leaves made bright spots. These bright spots are still shaking slightly, and it seems that there is a little wind blowing on the treetops.A pair of squirrels were sitting on a branch, chattering affectionately at me.

I feel lazy all over, which is quite comfortable-too lazy to make breakfast.Just like this, I was confused for a while, and suddenly felt that I heard a "bang", which was very dull, and it came from far away on the river.I awoke with a start, and leaning on my elbows, I listened carefully; after a while I heard another noise.I jumped up and went, and looked out through the slits of the leaves, and saw a cloud of smoke rising far up the river, about where the ferry dock was.The ferry boat was coming down, and it was full of people.Now I understand what's going on. "Boom!" I saw the cloud of white smoke spray out from the side of the ferry.Look, they're firing cannons over the water, trying to blow my dead body up to the top of the water.

My stomach growled with hunger, but I dared not light a fire for fear they would see smoke rising from it.I just sat there watching the smoke from the cannons and listening to the boom of the cannons.The big river is a mile wide here, and it's always a pretty sight on a summer morning--so I'm glad to be facing the big river, and watch them pick up my body, and it'd be nice to have something to eat.After a while, it occurred to me that people always put quicksilver in their bread and throw it into the water, because when the quicksilver bread floated near the drowning man, it stopped moving.So I said to myself, I gotta watch out, if there's any bread that floats to me, it's pretty.I came to the Illinois side to try my luck, and it paid off.A rather large double loaf floated toward me, and I nearly reached it with a long stick, but a slip of my foot made it drift a little farther away.Of course, I was standing as close to the water as I could—I knew that.After a while, another one floated over, and this time I caught it.I pulled the cork off the bread, shook out the little mercury inside, put it in my mouth and bit it.It was good bakery bread, rich people's kind, not cornmeal coarse bread.

I found a good place under the shade of the leaves, and sat down on a log, and munching my bread noisily, watching the ferryboat, with great satisfaction.Suddenly another thing occurred to me, and I thought to myself that the widow and the pastor or someone else must be praying that this piece of bread would find me, and it did float here and find me.Yes, this thing is really a bit famous.That is to say, when the widow and the pastor prayed, they were really a little spirited, but it happened that when it was my turn to pray, they didn't work.It seems that this matter is the genius of the spirit.

I lit a pipe and smoked for a while, then looked over the river.The ferry is coming down the current, and I guess I'll see who's on it when it gets past here, because it's going to be pretty close, like that loaf of bread.When it came close to me, I put out my pipe, went to the place where I scooped up the bread, and crouched behind a big log, peeping out from where the log forked.

After a while, the ferry was really close, so close that if the people on the boat put down a step, they could almost go ashore.Almost everyone I knew was on board, Dad, Judge Thatcher, Bessie?Thatcher, Joe?Harper, Tom?Sawyer and his old Aunt Polly and Sid and Mary and lots of others.Everyone was talking about the murder, but the captain suddenly interrupted:
"Look, the current is closest to the shore here, and maybe he'll wash it up and get caught in the bushes by the water's edge. Anyway, I hope so."

I don't want that to be the case.The people on the boat crowded towards this side together, leaning on the railing of the boat and leaning over to look out, they were almost looking at my face, without making a sound, staring at me desperately.I can see them clearly, but they can't see me.Then I heard the captain shout loudly:
"Get away!" As soon as the voice fell, I heard a loud bang in my ears. The sound of the guns almost deafened my ears, and the smoke almost blinded my eyes. I thought I was done for now.If there were shells in that cannon, they'd find my body, and it wouldn't be a waste of time.Hey, thank God, I found myself in good shape, not a single hair was hurt.The ferry went straight down and disappeared around a corner of the island.I could hear a cannon shot or two now and then, which grew farther and farther away, and died away after an hour.The island is three miles long, and I reckon they're at the end of it, and they're going to give up.But it's not enough yet.They turned the boat on the other side of the island, started the machine, and went up the Missouri side, up the current, firing a shot in a moment.I went over there and looked at them.When they got to the far end of the island they stopped firing, and sailed ashore on the Missouri side, and the men disembarked for town and went home.

I know I'm safe now.No one will come to me again.I took what I had brought with me from the canoe, and made myself a comfortable nest in the dense woods.I built a crooked tent with blankets and put everything under it, so that if it rained, the things would not get wet.I caught a catfish and hacked it up with the saw, and at sundown I made a campfire and made a supper.Then I put a line in the water, intending to catch some fish for breakfast to-morrow.

When it was getting dark, I sat by the campfire and smoked, feeling very satisfied; but after a while, I felt a little lonely again, so I went to sit by the water and listen to the sound of running water, counting the stars in the sky, counting Driftwood and rafts that float down the water, and go to sleep when you are tired; when you feel lonely, this is a good way to pass the time; this feeling of loneliness will not last long, and it will not be long before it is gone.

Three days and three nights passed like this.Nothing has changed—it's always the same.But on the fourth day, I went to observe the surrounding situation and turned around the island.I have become the master of this island, so to speak, the whole island belongs to me. I want to know everything about the island, but mainly to pass the time.I found quite a few strawberries, all ripe, and wild fruits like green grapes and blackberries.The blue-coloured blackberries are just coming out, and it doesn't look like the wild berries will be long enough to pick and eat.

I wandered around in the deep woods, and then I figured I was almost on the other side of the island.I came out with a gun, but I didn't shoot anything along the way; I had a gun for self-defense; I was planning to hunt some game around the place where I lived.At this moment, I almost stepped on a big snake, and it got into the flowers and grass, and I planned to catch up and give it a shot.I galloped forward with all my might, and stepped on a pile of ashes from the campfire, which was still smoking.

My heart almost jumped out of my chest, and I didn't even delay to take another look. I slammed the bolt of the gun and slipped back quickly on tiptoe.Every now and then I would stop and listen among the thick leaves, but my panting was so loud that I could not hear anything else.I ran forward for a while, and then stopped and listened for a while; I kept running and stopping like this, and when I saw a tree stump, I would take it as a person; when I stepped on a branch, it felt like someone was choking my throat , I only took a half breath, and I couldn't catch that half breath.

I ran back to my camping place, but I didn't have the energy at all, and I was terrified, but I said to myself that this is not a waste of time.So I put all my stuff in the canoe again, out of sight, and put out the campfire, and scattered the ashes, so that it looked like it was the same place where somebody camped last year, and when I was done, I climbed into a up a tree.

I was about two hours in that tree, but saw nothing, heard nothing--only imagined hearing and seeing a thousand things.Well, staying in the tree all the time is not an option, so I had to come down, but I have been staying in the dense woods, always paying attention to the movement outside.The only things I could eat were strawberries and what was left of my breakfast.

By the time it got dark, I was terribly hungry.When it was pretty dark, and the moon was still out, I got in a canoe and slipped out from the shore and paddled across to the Illinois shore—about a quarter of a mile.I went ashore and ran into the woods, and had a supper, and was about to make up my mind to spend the night there, when I heard a rattling sound, which I thought was someone riding up.Then I heard someone talking again, and I quickly moved all my things into the canoe, and then I crawled through the woods to see what was going on.Before I had climbed far, I heard a man say:
"Let's rest here. This place is not bad. Marco is tired. Let's take a look around first."

Without delay, I immediately pushed out the small canoe and gently opened it.I tied the small boat to the old place again, thinking I might as well just sleep in the boat.

I didn't sleep much all night, and I couldn't fall asleep anyway, thinking about things all the time.Every time I wake up, I always feel that someone is strangling my neck.It's better to sleep like this than not to sleep.Later, I thought I couldn't go on living in such fear all the time.I need to find out who that guy is on this island.Either find him, or be unlucky.Thinking of this made me feel better.

So I took the oars, took a step or two out from the bank, and then let the canoe slip sideways and down under the shade of the trees.The moon was shining brightly, and it was as bright as day outside the shade of the trees.I rowed quietly for a few hours, everything was still as quiet as a stone, and I slept deeply.Yo, at this point, I'm almost at the other end of the island.There was a cool wind blowing in the air, which meant that the night was drawing to a close.I took the oars and turned the canoe around and headed for the shore, then took the gun and jumped ashore and went into the woods.There I sat down on a big log and looked through the leaves.After a while, I saw a pale light on the top of the tree, and I knew it was almost dawn.So I picked up the gun and slipped quietly towards the place where I met the campfire, and stopped after a few steps to listen to the movement.But I don't know how, unfortunately, I can't seem to find that place.But later, I saw a fire among those trees from a distance.I walked cautiously towards the fire.When I got closer, I saw a man lying on the ground, which almost made me faint from fright.A blanket was over his head, and his head was almost thrown into the fire.I sat down behind a clump of trees about six feet from him and stared at him.By this time it was already daylight.After a while, he yawned, stretched himself, and threw off the blanket, ah, it was Miss Watson's Jim!I couldn't tell how happy I was to see him.I say:
"Hi, Jim!" and jumped out from behind the bushes.

He jumped up and stared at me in panic.Then he knelt down towards me, put his hands together, and said to me:

"Don't hurt me, don't! We've never offended a ghost in our life. We've always liked dead people, and we'd do anything for them. You live in the river, go back to the river, and don't mess with old Jim, We have always been your old friends!"

Not bad, it didn't take me much to get him to understand that I wasn't dead.I couldn't be happier to have met Jim, and now I'm not alone.I told him I wasn't afraid of him telling people where I was.I kept talking to him, on and on, but he didn't say a word, just sat there looking at me.Later I said:
"It's broad daylight, let's make breakfast and keep your campfire alive."

(End of this chapter)