So once again Tom was a hero and his name even appeared in the village newspaper. Tom’s days were filled with happiness and praise, but his nights were dark and terrible. Injun Joe haunted all his dreams, and Tom was too afraid to venture out and meet Huck as he used to do. Poor Huck was in the same state of terror.
The night before the jury was to hand down its decision, Tom had gone to see Muff Potter’s attorney and had told him the whole story. Huck was disappointed with Tom for breaking
Rewards were offered for Injun Joe’s capture, and a detective was even hired, but not a clue was uncovered.
The days drifted on, and eventually Tom and Huck began to relax more and more. Soon they were even ready to start on a new adventure.
One afternoon, Tom suggested to Huck that they try digging for buried treasure. Huck was doubtful, but Tom explained that there was treasure all over the place just waiting to be dug up. He described how robbers hid their stolen money under dead trees and in haunted houses. His descriptions were so convincing that Huck
The boys gathered picks and shovels and began the long, three-mile walk up to Still-House Hill. When they reached the first dead tree, they began to dig. They worked and sweated for half an hour. No result. They toiled another hour. Still nothing.
“Do they always bury it as deep as this?” asked Huck.
“Sometimes, not always,” answered Tom. “Maybe we just haven’t got the right place.”
So they found another dead tree and then another and dug some more, but there was no sign of any treasure. Eventually, the boys began to tire. It was at this point that Tom got another idea.
“Let’s look in the haunted house on Cardiff Hill,” he said.
Huck objected. The house was empty, so everyone assumed it was haunted, but no one
When they reached the house, there was something so weird and grisly about the silence, that they were afraid, for a moment, to venture in. Then they crept to the door and took a trembling peep. They saw a cobwebbed, floorless room overgrown with weeds. It had an old fireplace and open spaces where windows once were.
Tom and Huck entered on tiptoe, their ears alert to catch the slightest sound. When they heard nothing for several minutes, they relaxed and began to explore the place with interest. In one corner, they found a closet. What mystery did it contain?…They turned the knob, the closet squeaked open, and then…nothing! The closet was empty.
They were full of courage now and decided to
“Sh!” said Tom.
“What is it?” whispered Huck.
“Sh!…There!…Hear it?”
“Yes!…Let’s run!”
But they didn’t dare make a sound by running. They stretched themselves out on the floor, glued their eyes to the knotholes in the rotting wood, and lay waiting in misery and fear.
Two men entered the room below. The boys recognized one as an old deaf-and-dumb beggar who had been around town lately. The other man, a ragged, unkempt creature with an unpleasant face, was someone they had never seen before. The two men began to talk.
“No, I thought it over,” said the ragged man, “and I don’t like it. It’s too dangerous.” His voice seemed vaguely familiar to the boys.
“Dangerous?” grunted the deaf-and-dumb beggar. “It is not!”
Suddenly Tom and Huck began to shake. The deaf-and-dumb man could hear and speak! But even worse, they recognized the familiar voice. It was Injun Joe’s! The boys froze, hardly daring to breathe.
The men talked about plans for another “job,” then ate some lunch, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Huck and Tom decided to take this chance to escape. They rose slowly and softly. But their first step made such a hideous creak on the rotted floor that they sank back down, dead with fright.
They lay there, counting the dragging moments until Injun Joe finally awoke. He kicked his partner in the ribs, and the two men began to count their money. They had nearly six hundred dollars which they decided to bury in the room until they were ready to make their
“What’s this?” he muttered as he reached his hand in and pulled out an old rusty box.
The two men pried open the lid, and there before their eyes were hundreds of gold coins and stacks of bills that had to be worth thousands of dollars!
“This must be where old Vic Murrel’s gang hid their loot,” said Injun Joe.
“What luck!” shouted his companion. “Now you won’t have to do that other job.”
Injun Joe frowned. “You don’t know me,” he snapped. “That job isn’t just robbery, it’s revenge! I’ll need your help, and when it’s finished, we can leave for good.”
Tom and Huck began to shake even more. Revenge! That could only mean that Injun Joe was still after them for giving testimony at
“Let’s hide the loot,” said Injun Joe.
“I’ll bury it at number two, under the cross,” said the beggar.
Injun Joe agreed, and the two men left the house with shovels, picks, and their treasure.
Tom and Huck waited a long time before they dared come out of hiding. They had only two things on their minds—Injun’s Joe’s revenge and the treasure hidden at number two, under the cross.