THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER

By Mark Twain
(Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. "Y-o-u-u Tom"—Aunt Polly Decides Upon Her Duty—Tom Practices Music—The Challenge—A Private Entrance

CHAPTER II. Strong Temptations—Strategic Movements—The Innocents Fooled

CHAPTER III. Tom as a General—Triumph and Reward—Gloomy Happiness—Orders Given and Orders Forgotten

CHAPTER IV. Mental Gymnastics—Attending Sunday School—The Superintendent—"Showing Off"—Tom Becomes a Celebrity

CHAPTER V. A Useful Minister—In Church—The Climax

CHAPTER VI. Self-Examination—Dentistry—The Midnight Charm—Witches and Devils—Cautious Approaches—Happy Hours

CHAPTER VII. A Treaty Made—Early Lessons—A Mistake Made

CHAPTER VIII. Tom Decides on His Course—Old Scenes Replayed

CHAPTER IX. A Solemn Situation—Grave Subjects Introduced—Injun Joe Explains

CHAPTER X. The Solemn Oath—Fear Brings Regret—Mental Punishment

CHAPTER XI. Muff Potter Arrives—Tom's Conscience at Work

CHAPTER XII. Tom Shows His Generosity—Aunt Polly Softens

CHAPTER XIII. The Young Pirates—Going to the Meeting Place—The Campfire Talk

CHAPTER XIV. Camp Life—A Sensation—Tom Sneaks Away from Camp

CHAPTER XV. Tom Scouts Ahead—Learns the Situation—Reports at Camp

CHAPTER XVI. A Day's Amusements—Tom Reveals a Secret—The Pirates Take a Lesson—A Night Surprise—An Indian War

CHAPTER XVII. Memories of the Lost Heroes—The Point in Tom's Secret

CHAPTER XVIII. Tom's Feelings Examined—A Wonderful Dream—Becky Thatcher Overshadowed—Tom Becomes Jealous—Dark Revenge

CHAPTER XIX. Tom Tells the Truth

CHAPTER XX. Becky in a Bind—Tom's Noble Side Comes Out

CHAPTER XXI. Youthful Eloquence—Essays by the Young Ladies—A Long Vision—The Boy's Revenge Satisfied

CHAPTER XXII. Tom's Trust Betrayed—Expects Serious Punishment

CHAPTER XXIII. Old Muff's Friends—Muff Potter in Court—Muff Potter Saved

CHAPTER XXIV. Tom as the Village Hero—Days of Glory and Nights of Terror—The Hunt for Injun Joe

CHAPTER XXV. About Kings and Diamonds—Search for the Treasure—Dead People and Ghosts

CHAPTER XXVI. The Haunted House—Sleepy Ghosts—A Box of Gold—Bitter Luck

CHAPTER XXVII. Doubts to Be Settled—The Young Detectives

CHAPTER XXVIII. A Second Attempt—Huck Stands Guard

CHAPTER XXIX. The Picnic—Huck Follows Injun Joe—The "Revenge" Plot—Help for the Widow

CHAPTER XXX. The Welshman Reports—Huck Under Pressure—The Story Spreads—A New Sensation—Hope Turns to Despair

CHAPTER XXXI. An Exploring Trip—Trouble Begins—Lost in the Cave—Total Darkness—Found but Not Saved

CHAPTER XXXII. Tom Tells the Story of Their Escape—Tom's Enemy in Safe Hands

CHAPTER XXXIII. The Fate of Injun Joe—Huck and Tom Compare Notes—A Trip to the Cave—Protection Against Ghosts—"An Awful Snug Place"—A Welcome at Widow Douglas's

CHAPTER XXXIV. Springing a Secret—Mr. Jones's Surprise Falls Flat

CHAPTER XXXV. A New Order of Things—Poor Huck—New Adventures Planned

PREFACE

Most of the adventures in this book really happened. One or two were things I experienced myself; the rest belonged to boys who were my schoolmates. Huck Finn is based on a real person. So is Tom Sawyer, though not on one single boy—he's a blend of three boys I knew, so he's a "composite" character, built from several real people combined into one.

The unusual superstitions mentioned in the story were common among children and enslaved people in the West at the time this story takes place—that is, thirty or forty years before this was written.

Although I wrote this book mainly to entertain boys and girls, I hope adults won't avoid it for that reason. Part of my goal was to remind grown-ups, in a pleasant way, of what they themselves were like as children—how they felt, thought, and talked, and what strange schemes they sometimes got into.

THE AUTHOR
HARTFORD, 1876

CHAPTER I

"Tom!"

No answer.

"TOM!"

No answer.

"What's gotten into that boy, I wonder? You, TOM!"

No answer.

The old woman pulled her glasses down and peered over them around the room. Then she pushed them back up and looked out from underneath them. She rarely looked through them to find something as small as a boy—these were her fancy pair, kept for show rather than actual use. She could have seen just as well through a couple of stove lids. For a moment she looked puzzled, then said—not angrily, but loud enough for the furniture to hear:

"Well, if I get my hands on you, I'll—"

She didn't finish the sentence. By then she was bent over, poking under the bed with a broom, and needed her breath for the effort. All she found was the cat.

"I never did see the likes of that boy!"

She walked to the open door and looked out over the tomato plants and weeds that made up the garden. No Tom. So she raised her voice to carry a good distance and shouted:

"Y-o-u-u TOM!"

She heard a small noise behind her and turned just in time to grab a boy by the back of his jacket before he could escape.

"There! I should have thought of that closet. What were you doing in there?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What is that stuff?"

"I don't know, Aunt."

"Well, I know. It's jam—that's what it is. I've told you forty times that if you didn't leave that jam alone, I'd skin you alive. Hand me that switch."

The switch hung in the air—danger was near—

"My! Look behind you, Aunt!"

The old woman spun around, yanking her skirts out of the way. In that instant, the boy dashed off, scrambled up the tall board fence, and vanished over the top.

His Aunt Polly stood there, startled for a moment—then broke into a soft laugh.

"Darn that boy, will I never learn? Hasn't he pulled tricks like that on me plenty of times by now? But old fools are the biggest fools of all, they say—you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But my goodness, he never repeats a trick two days running, so how am I supposed to guess what's coming? He seems to know exactly how long he can push me before I lose my temper, and he knows that if he can stall me for a minute or make me laugh, all is forgiven and I can't lay a hand on him. I'm not doing right by that boy, and that's the plain truth. Spare the rod and spoil the child, as the Good Book says. I'm storing up trouble for both of us, I know it. He's full of mischief, but heavens, he's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and somehow I just don't have the heart to punish him. Every time I let him off, my conscience aches, and every time I do punish him, my old heart nearly breaks. Well, well—man born of woman has but a short life full of trouble, as Scripture says, and I suppose that's true enough. He'll skip school this afternoon, and I'll just have to make him work tomorrow to punish him for it. It's hard to make him work on Saturdays when all the other boys have the day off, but he hates work more than anything else in the world, and I've got to do my duty by him, or I'll end up ruining the child completely."

Tom did skip school, and he had a wonderful time doing it. He got home just in time to help Jim, the young Black boy who worked for the family, saw the next day's firewood and split kindling before supper—or rather, he was there in time to tell Jim about his adventures while Jim did three-quarters of the work. Tom's younger brother (actually his half-brother), Sid, had already finished his own chore of picking up wood chips, since he was a quiet, well-behaved boy who never got into any trouble.

While Tom ate supper, sneaking sugar whenever he got the chance, Aunt Polly asked him questions that were sly and carefully thought out—she wanted to trick him into giving himself away. Like many simple, good-hearted people, she took secret pride in believing she had a talent for clever scheming, and she loved to think of her most obvious tricks as brilliant strategy. She said:

"Tom, it was pretty warm at school today, wasn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Really warm, wasn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Didn't you want to go swimming, Tom?"

A flicker of fear shot through Tom—a hint of uneasy suspicion. He studied Aunt Polly's face, but it gave nothing away. So he answered:

"No, ma'am—well, not really."

The old woman reached out and felt his shirt.

"But you're not too warm now, though." She was pleased with herself for discovering the shirt was dry, thinking no one had noticed what she was really checking for. But Tom had already caught on to her plan. So he headed off her next move:

"Some of us poured water on our heads. Mine's still damp—see?"

Aunt Polly was annoyed that she'd overlooked that piece of evidence and lost a point in the game. Then a new idea struck her:

"Tom, you didn't have to unpick your shirt collar—the one I sewed shut—just to pour water on your head, did you? Unbutton your jacket!"

The worry vanished from Tom's face. He opened his jacket. His shirt collar was still stitched tightly shut.

"Well, fine. Go on, then. I'd—"