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- 2026-01-28T02:27:56.148Z
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- By this time everything was ready and the boys entered the hole, Tom in
the lead. They toiled their way to the farther end of the tunnel, then
made their spliced kite-strings fast and moved on. A few steps brought
them to the spring, and Tom felt a shudder quiver all through him.
He showed Huck the fragment of candle-wick perched on a lump of clay
against the wall, and described how he and Becky had watched the flame
struggle and expire.
The boys began to quiet down to whispers, now, for the stillness and
gloom of the place oppressed their spirits. They went on, and presently
entered and followed Tom’s other corridor until they reached the
“jumping-off place.” The candles revealed the fact that it was not
really a precipice, but only a steep clay hill twenty or thirty feet
high. Tom whispered:
“Now I’ll show you something, Huck.”
He held his candle aloft and said:
“Look as far around the corner as you can. Do you see that? There—on the
big rock over yonder—done with candle-smoke.”
“Tom, it’s a _cross_!”
“_Now_ where’s your Number Two? ‘_under the cross_,’ hey? Right yonder’s
where I saw Injun Joe poke up his candle, Huck!”
Huck stared at the mystic sign awhile, and then said with a shaky voice:
“Tom, less git out of here!”
“What! and leave the treasure?”
“Yes—leave it. Injun Joe’s ghost is round about there, certain.”
“No it ain’t, Huck, no it ain’t. It would ha’nt the place where he
died—away out at the mouth of the cave—five mile from here.”
“No, Tom, it wouldn’t. It would hang round the money. I know the ways of
ghosts, and so do you.”
Tom began to fear that Huck was right. Misgivings gathered in his mind.
But presently an idea occurred to him—
“Lookyhere, Huck, what fools we’re making of ourselves! Injun Joe’s
ghost ain’t a going to come around where there’s a cross!”
The point was well taken. It had its effect.
“Tom, I didn’t think of that. But that’s so. It’s luck for us, that
cross is. I reckon we’ll climb down there and have a hunt for that box.”
Tom went first, cutting rude steps in the clay hill as he descended.
Huck followed. Four avenues opened out of the small cavern which the
great rock stood in. The boys examined three of them with no result.
They found a small recess in the one nearest the base of the rock, with
a pallet of blankets spread down in it; also an old suspender, some
bacon rind, and the well-gnawed bones of two or three fowls. But there
was no moneybox. The lads searched and researched this place, but in
vain. Tom said:
“He said _under_ the cross. Well, this comes nearest to being under the
cross. It can’t be under the rock itself, because that sets solid on the
ground.”
They searched everywhere once more, and then sat down discouraged. Huck
could suggest nothing. By-and-by Tom said:
“Lookyhere, Huck, there’s footprints and some candle-grease on the clay
about one side of this rock, but not on the other sides. Now, what’s
that for? I bet you the money _is_ under the rock. I’m going to dig in
the clay.”
“That ain’t no bad notion, Tom!” said Huck with animation.
Tom’s “real Barlow” was out at once, and he had not dug four inches
before he struck wood.
“Hey, Huck!—you hear that?”
Huck began to dig and scratch now. Some boards were soon uncovered and
removed. They had concealed a natural chasm which led under the rock.
Tom got into this and held his candle as far under the rock as he
could, but said he could not see to the end of the rift. He proposed
to explore. He stooped and passed under; the narrow way descended
gradually. He followed its winding course, first to the right, then to
the left, Huck at his heels. Tom turned a short curve, by-and-by, and
exclaimed:
“My goodness, Huck, lookyhere!”
- title
- Chunk 4