Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the twenty-eighth chapter of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
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Take it chapter by chapter, one bite at a time so many adventures and mountains we can climb take it word for wordline by.
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One bite at a time.
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Today we'll be continuing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.
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Chapter 28 that night, Tom and Huck.
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Were ready for their adventure.
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They hung about the neighborhood of the tavern until after nine, one watching the alley at a distance and the other the tavern door.
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Nobody entered the alley or left it.
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Nobody resembling the spaniard enter or left the tavern door.
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The night promised to be a fair one.
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So Tom went home with the understanding that if a considerable degree of darkness came on, Huck was to come and meow.
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Whereupon he would slip out and try the keys.
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But the night remained clear, and Huck.
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Closed his watch and retired to bed in an empty sugar hogset.
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About twelve Tuesday.
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The boys had the same ill luck also Wednesday.
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But Thursday night promised better.
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Tom slipped out in good season with his anselled tin lantern and a large towel to blindfold it with.
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He hid the lantern and Hucked sugar hog's head and the watch began.
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An hour before midnight the tavern closed.
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Up in its lights.
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The only ones thereabouts were put out.
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No spaniard had been seen, nobody had.
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Entered or left the alley.
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Everything was auspicious.
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The blackness of darkness reigned.
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The perfect stillness was interrupted only by occasional mutterings of distant thunder.
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Tom got his lantern, lit it in.
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The hog's head, wrapped it closely in the towel, and the two adventures crept in the gloom.
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Toward the tavern huck stood century, and Tom felt his way into the alley.
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Then there was a season of waiting.
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Anxiety that weighed upon Huck's spirits like a mountain.
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He began to wish he could see a flash from the lantern.
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It would frighten him, but it would at least tell him that Tom was alive.
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Yet.
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Seemed hours since Tom had disappeared.
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Surely he must have fainted.
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Maybe he was dead.
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Maybe his heart had burst under terror and excitement.
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In his uneasiness, Huck found himself drawing closer and closer to the alley, hearing all sorts of dreadful things and momentarily expecting some catastrophe to happen that would take away his breath.
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There was not much to take away, for he seemed only able to inhale by thimble fools, and his heart would soon wear itself out the way it was beating.
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Suddenly there was a flash of light, and Tom came tearing by him.
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Run, said he.
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Run for your life.
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He needn't have repeated it.
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Once was enough.
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Huck was making 30 or 40 miles an hour before the repetition was uttered.
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The boys never stopped till they reached the shed of a deserted slaughterhouse at the lower end of the village.
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Just as they got within its shelter, the storm burst and the rain poured down.
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As soon as Tom got his breath, he said, Huck.
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It was awful.
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I tried two of the keys just as soft as I could, but they seemed to make such a power of racket that I couldn't hardly get my breath.
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I was so scared they wouldn't turn in the lock, either.
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Well, without noticing what I was doing, I took hold of the knob and open comes the door.
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It weren't locked.
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I hopped in and shook off the towel, and great Caesar's ghost.
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What?
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What did you see, Tom?
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Huck, I most stepped onto Joe's hand.
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No.
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Yes.
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He was lying there sound asleep on the floor with his old patch on his eye and his arm spread out.
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Lordy, what did you do?
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Did he wake up?
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No, never budged.
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Drunk, I reckon.
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I just grabbed that towel and started.
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I never thought of the towel.
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I bet.
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Well, I would.
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My aunt would make me mighty sick if I lost it.
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Say, Tom, did you see that box?
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Huck, I didn't wait to look around.
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I didn't see the box.
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I didn't see the cross.
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I didn't see anything but a bottle and a tin cup on the floor by Joe.
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Yes, I saw two barrels and lots more bottles in the room.
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Don't you see?
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Now what's the matter with that haunted room?
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How?
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Why, it's haunted with whiskey.
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Maybe all the temperance taverns have got a haunted room, hey, Huck?
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Well, I reckon maybe that's so.
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Who'da thought such a thing?
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But say, Tom, now's a mighty good time to get that box if Joe's drunk.
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It.
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Is that you?
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Try it.
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Huck shuddered.
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Well.
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No, I reckon not.
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And I reckon not, Huck.
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Only one bottle alongside of Joe ain't enough.
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If there'd been three, he'd be drunk enough, and I'd do it.
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There was a long pause for reflection, and then Tom said, looky here, Huck, let's not try that thing anymore till we know Joe's not in there.
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It's too scary.
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Now, if we watch every night, we'll be dead sure to see him go out sometime or other.
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And then we'll s***** that box quicker and lightning.
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Well, I'm agreed.
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I'll watch the whole night long.
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And I'll do it every night, too, if you'll do the other part of the job.
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All right, I will.
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All you got to do is trot up Hooper Street a block and meow.
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And if I'm asleep, you throw some gravel at the window, and that'll fetch me.
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Agreed?
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And good as wheat.
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Now, Huck, the storm's over and I'll go home.
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It'll begin to be daylight in a couple of hours.
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You go back and watch that long, will you?
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I said I would, Tom, and I will.
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I'll haunt that tavern every night for a year.
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I'll sleep all day and I'll stand watch all night.
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That's all right.
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Now, where are you going to sleep.
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And Ben Rogers.
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Hayloft.
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He lets me, and so does his paps.
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Man uncle Jake.
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I tote water for Uncle Jake whenever he wants me to.
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And anytime I ask him, he gives me a little something to eat, if he can spare it.
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That's a mighty good man, Tom.
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He likes me because I don't ever act as if I was above him.
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Sometimes I sit right down and eat with him.
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But you needn't tell that a body's got to do things when he's awful hungry.
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He wouldn't want to do as a steady thing.
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Well, if I don't want you in the daytime, I'll let you sleep.
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I won't come bothering around.
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Anytime you see something's up in the night, just skip right around and meow.
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Thank you for joining Bite at a Time Books today while we read a bite of one of your favorite classics.
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Again, my name is Brie Carlyle, and I hope you come back tomorrow for.
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The next bite of the adventures of Tom Sawyer.
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Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter at Bite at a Timebooks.com and check out the shop.
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You can check out the show notes or our website, Bite at a Timebooks.com.
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Our show, we'd love to hear from you on social media as well.
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Take a look in the book and let's see what we can find.
