Chapter 2. Island Adventures
As I go down the river I make a plan. I decide to go to Jackson's Island. I know it quite well and nobody ever goes there. When I get to the island, I fall asleep on the riverbank.
When I wake up the sun is high in the sky. I'm comfortable on the grass. Then I hear a loud noise, a “boom!” I sit up and listen. I get up and look through the trees. I see the ferryboat on the river. There are a lot of people on it. There's another “boom!” and I see smoke. They are firing the cannon, trying to find my body!
When the boat comes close, I see Pap, Judge Thatcher, Tom Sawyer and his Aunt Polly. I hear them talking about my murder! The boat goes to the other end of the island. I watch it go past then go back to the town. I'm safe now!
Then I make a tent with my blankets. I go fishing. Then, when it's dark, I make my camp fire and have supper. I go to bed happy.
I live like this for three days and three nights. Then on the fourth day, I go exploring around the island. I find strawberries, grapes and other fruit. Then I go into the woods. I have my gun. I see a camp fire. There's smoke. I'm scared. I run back to my camp and climb a tree. I stay up there for about two hours but I don't see anybody or hear anything.
I don't sleep much that night, so I decide to explore some more. I take my gun with me and go into the woods. I find the camp fire again and this time there's a man asleep on the ground. There's a blanket over his head. I watch him until the sun comes up. Then the man wakes up and I see his face. It's Jim, Miss Watson's slave!
I'm so happy to see him. I shout, “Hello Jim!”
He stares at me then he falls to his knees and says, “Don't hurt me!”
Jim thinks I'm a ghost!
“No, Jim, I'm not dead!” I say, “I'm alive!” I tell him the story. Then I catch some fish and we have breakfast.
“Why are you here?” I ask Jim.
“Please don't tell anybody...”, he says. “...I escaped too!”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because Miss Watson wants to sell me. I'm scared,” he says, “I swam across the river and hid on the island.”
We talk and talk for a long time. Jim knows lots of things.
Jim sees some birds flying low in the sky and says, “The birds know the weather is changing. Let's find a dry place to camp.” So we go to the place I know in the middle of the island. We climb the hill and find a cave. It's a big cave. Jim can stand up in it. It's cool too.
We put the canoe in a safe place and we put the blankets on the ground. Then we make dinner. The sky is dark now. It starts to rain, then there's a storm.
Jim is right about the birds. We watch the storm and have dinner. It's very windy and it rains and rains. It's a bad storm but I'm happy and comfortable in the cave with Jim.
The storm continues for ten or twelve days. The river gets bigger and bigger until it comes over the bank. There's water on the island so sometimes we take the canoe to get around. We see rabbits and snakes and turtles. One day we see a raft. We catch it and put it in a tree.
Then another night, a wooden house comes down the river. We go up to it but we can't see anything. It's too dark. So we wait in the canoe till morning.
When the sun comes up, we go back to the house. We look in the window. There's a bed, a table and two old chairs. There are lots of things on the floor. There are some clothes too. Then we see something in the corner. It's a man.
“Hello!” Jim shouts.
The man doesn't move. I shout, too, but there's no answer.
“The man's dead,” Jim says. “Stay here and let me see.”
Jim goes to the man.
“There's a bullet in his back” he says.
Jim puts a blanket over the man.
“Don't look,” he says. “It isn't nice.”
I don't want to look. We find some things in the house – some clothes, a knife, some candles, some blankets, some medicine and some money – and we take them all and put them in the canoe. Then we go back to our cave.
After breakfast the next day, I ask Jim about the dead man. But Jim doesn't want to talk. He says it's bad luck. He says the dead man can haunt us. So I don't say anymore.
The days go by and the river goes back to normal. We fish again and hunt rabbits. Then I decide to go over the river and see what's happening in town. Jim says to go at night and to dress as a girl because people think I'm dead.
I think this is a good idea. So I get one of the dresses from the house and put on a sun hat. Jim says I look like a girl. “Nobody can see you're Huckleberry Finn,” he says.
I practise walking like a girl for a few hours, then I get in the canoe when it's dark.
I go across the river to the town. I see a light in a house by the river. I look in the window. There's a woman knitting by candlelight. I don't know her face. I knock on the door.
“Come in,” says the woman. “What's your name?” she asks.
“Sarah Williams,” I reply.
“And where do you live?” she asks.
“In Hookerville. I came here on foot and I'm tired now.”
“Let me find you something to eat,” she says. We sit and talk.
“I don't know many people here,” she says. “We came here two weeks ago.”
Then she talks about my Pap and the “murder”. She talks about Tom Sawyer too. She says people think Jim the slave is my murderer.
“He ran away the night of Huckleberry Finn's murder,” she says, “so everyone thinks it's him. There's a reward now – three hundred dollars – for the person who finds him. And there's a reward for Finn too – two hundred dollars. Everyone thinks the man is around here somewhere.”
“Really?” I say.
“Yes, and I think he's on that island – Jackson Island. I see smoke over there some days, so my husband's going over tonight to see.”
I'm scared now. I want to tell Jim.
Then she says, “What's your name?”
“Mary Williams,” I reply.
She looks at me and continues talking, “Come on, what's your real name?”
I stare at her. “Tell me your secret,” she says.
So I tell her my mother and father are dead. I make up a story. “I'm going to Goshen,” I say. So she makes me some food and I leave her house.
I jump in the canoe and go back to the island.
“Get up, Jim!” I shout. “They're coming for you!”
Jim jumps up and we quickly put everything on the raft. Then we start down the river.
