CHAPTER XIV
WHEN Tom awoke in the morning, he wondered where he was. He sat up andrubbed his eyes and looked around. Then he comprehended. It was the coolgray dawn, and there was a delicious sense of repose and peace in thedeep pervading calm and silence of the woods. Not a leaf stirred; nota sound obtruded upon great Nature's meditation. Beaded dewdrops stoodupon the leaves and grasses. A white layer of ashes covered the fire,and a thin blue breath of smoke rose straight into the air. Joe and Huckstill slept.
Now, far away in the woods a bird called; another answered; presentlythe hammering of a woodpecker was heard. Gradually the cool dim grayof the morning whitened, and as gradually sounds multiplied and lifemanifested itself. The marvel of Nature shaking off sleep and goingto work unfolded itself to the musing boy. A little green worm camecrawling over a dewy leaf, lifting two-thirds of his body into the airfrom time to time and "sniffing around," then proceeding again--for hewas measuring, Tom said; and when the worm approached him, of its ownaccord, he sat as still as a stone, with his hopes rising and falling,by turns, as the creature still came toward him or seemed inclined togo elsewhere; and when at last it considered a painful moment with itscurved body in the air and then came decisively down upon Tom's leg andbegan a journey over him, his whole heart was glad--for that meant thathe was going to have a new suit of clothes--without the shadow of adoubt a gaudy piratical uniform. Now a procession of ants appeared,from nowhere in particular, and went about their labors; one struggledmanfully by with a dead spider five times as big as itself in its arms,and lugged it straight up a tree-trunk. A brown spotted lady-bug climbedthe dizzy height of a grass blade, and Tom bent down close to it andsaid, "Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home, your house is on fire, yourchildren's alone," and she took wing and went off to see about it--whichdid not surprise the boy, for he knew of old that this insect wascredulous about conflagrations, and he had practised upon its simplicitymore than once. A tumblebug came next, heaving sturdily at its ball, andTom touched the creature, to see it shut its legs against its bodyand pretend to be dead. The birds were fairly rioting by this time. Acatbird, the Northern mocker, lit in a tree over Tom's head, and trilledout her imitations of her neighbors in a rapture of enjoyment; thena shrill jay swept down, a flash of blue flame, and stopped on a twigalmost within the boy's reach, cocked his head to one side and eyed thestrangers with a consuming curiosity; a gray squirrel and a big fellowof the "fox" kind came skurrying along, sitting up at intervals toinspect and chatter at the boys, for the wild things had probably neverseen a human being before and scarcely knew whether to be afraid or not.All Nature was wide awake and stirring, now; long lances of sunlightpierced down through the dense foliage far and near, and a fewbutterflies came fluttering upon the scene.
Tom stirred up the other pirates and they all clattered away witha shout, and in a minute or two were stripped and chasing after andtumbling over each other in the shallow limpid water of the whitesandbar. They felt no longing for the little village sleeping in thedistance beyond the majestic waste of water. A vagrant current or aslight rise in the river had carried off their raft, but this onlygratified them, since its going was something like burning the bridgebetween them and civilization.
They came back to camp wonderfully refreshed, glad-hearted, andravenous; and they soon had the camp-fire blazing up again. Huck found aspring of clear cold water close by, and the boys made cups of broad oakor hickory leaves, and felt that water, sweetened with such a wildwoodcharm as that, would be a good enough substitute for coffee. While Joewas slicing bacon for breakfast, Tom and Huck asked him to hold on aminute; they stepped to a promising nook in the river-bank and threw intheir lines; almost immediately they had reward. Joe had not had timeto get impatient before they were back again with some handsome bass,a couple of sun-perch and a small catfish--provisions enough for quite afamily. They fried the fish with the bacon, and were astonished; forno fish had ever seemed so delicious before. They did not know that thequicker a fresh-water fish is on the fire after he is caught the betterhe is; and they reflected little upon what a sauce open-air sleeping,open-air exercise, bathing, and a large ingredient of hunger make, too.
They lay around in the shade, after breakfast, while Huck had a smoke,and then went off through the woods on an exploring expedition. Theytramped gayly along, over decaying logs, through tangled underbrush,among solemn monarchs of the forest, hung from their crowns to theground with a drooping regalia of grape-vines. Now and then they cameupon snug nooks carpeted with grass and jeweled with flowers.
They found plenty of things to be delighted with, but nothing to beastonished at. They discovered that the island was about three mileslong and a quarter of a mile wide, and that the shore it lay closest towas only separated from it by a narrow channel hardly two hundred yardswide. They took a swim about every hour, so it was close upon the middleof the afternoon when they got back to camp. They were too hungry tostop to fish, but they fared sumptuously upon cold ham, and then threwthemselves down in the shade to talk. But the talk soon began to drag,and then died. The stillness, the solemnity that brooded in the woods,and the sense of loneliness, began to tell upon the spirits of the boys.They fell to thinking. A sort of undefined longing crept upon them. Thistook dim shape, presently--it was budding homesickness. Even Finn theRed-Handed was dreaming of his doorsteps and empty hogsheads. But theywere all ashamed of their weakness, and none was brave enough to speakhis thought.
For some time, now, the boys had been dully conscious of a peculiarsound in the distance, just as one sometimes is of the ticking of aclock which he takes no distinct note of. But now this mysterious soundbecame more pronounced, and forced a recognition. The boys started,glanced at each other, and then each assumed a listening attitude. Therewas a long silence, profound and unbroken; then a deep, sullen boom camefloating down out of the distance.
"What is it!" exclaimed Joe, under his breath.
"I wonder," said Tom in a whisper.
"'Tain't thunder," said Huckleberry, in an awed tone, "becuz thunder--"
"Hark!" said Tom. "Listen--don't talk."
They waited a time that seemed an age, and then the same muffled boomtroubled the solemn hush.
"Let's go and see."
They sprang to their feet and hurried to the shore toward the town. Theyparted the bushes on the bank and peered out over the water. The littlesteam ferry-boat was about a mile below the village, drifting with thecurrent. Her broad deck seemed crowded with people. There were a greatmany skiffs rowing about or floating with the stream in the neighborhoodof the ferryboat, but the boys could not determine what the men inthem were doing. Presently a great jet of white smoke burst from theferryboat's side, and as it expanded and rose in a lazy cloud, that samedull throb of sound was borne to the listeners again.
"I know now!" exclaimed Tom; "somebody's drownded!"
"That's it!" said Huck; "they done that last summer, when Bill Turnergot drownded; they shoot a cannon over the water, and that makeshim come up to the top. Yes, and they take loaves of bread and putquicksilver in 'em and set 'em afloat, and wherever there's anybodythat's drownded, they'll float right there and stop."
"Yes, I've heard about that," said Joe. "I wonder what makes the breaddo that."
"Oh, it ain't the bread, so much," said Tom; "I reckon it's mostly whatthey _say_ over it before they start it out."
"But they don't say anything over it," said Huck. "I've seen 'em andthey don't."
"Well, that's funny," said Tom. "But maybe they say it to themselves. Of_course_ they do. Anybody might know that."
The other boys agreed that there was reason in what Tom said, becausean ignorant lump of bread, uninstructed by an incantation, could notbe expected to act very intelligently when set upon an errand of suchgravity.
"By jings, I wish I was over there, now," said Joe.
"I do too" said Huck "I'd give heaps to know who it is."
The boys still listened and watched. Presently a revealing thoughtflash
ed through Tom's mind, and he exclaimed:
"Boys, I know who's drownded--it's us!"
They felt like heroes in an instant. Here was a gorgeous triumph; theywere missed; they were mourned; hearts were breaking on their account;tears were being shed; accusing memories of unkindness to these poorlost lads were rising up, and unavailing regrets and remorse were beingindulged; and best of all, the departed were the talk of the whole town,and the envy of all the boys, as far as this dazzling notoriety wasconcerned. This was fine. It was worth while to be a pirate, after all.
As twilight drew on, the ferryboat went back to her accustomed businessand the skiffs disappeared. The pirates returned to camp. They werejubilant with vanity over their new grandeur and the illustrious troublethey were making. They caught fish, cooked supper and ate it, and thenfell to guessing at what the village was thinking and saying about them;and the pictures they drew of the public distress on their account weregratifying to look upon--from their point of view. But when the shadowsof night closed them in, they gradually ceased to talk, and sat gazinginto the fire, with their minds evidently wandering elsewhere. Theexcitement was gone, now, and Tom and Joe could not keep back thoughtsof certain persons at home who were not enjoying this fine frolic asmuch as they were. Misgivings came; they grew troubled and unhappy; asigh or two escaped, unawares. By and by Joe timidly ventured upon aroundabout "feeler" as to how the others might look upon a return tocivilization--not right now, but--
Tom withered him with derision! Huck, being uncommitted as yet, joinedin with Tom, and the waverer quickly "explained," and was glad to getout of the scrape with as little taint of chicken-hearted home-sicknessclinging to his garments as he could. Mutiny was effectually laid torest for the moment.
As the night deepened, Huck began to nod, and presently to snore.Joe followed next. Tom lay upon his elbow motionless, for some time,watching the two intently. At last he got up cautiously, on his knees,and went searching among the grass and the flickering reflections flungby the campfire. He picked up and inspected several large semi-cylindersof the thin white bark of a sycamore, and finally chose two which seemedto suit him. Then he knelt by the fire and painfully wrote somethingupon each of these with his "red keel"; one he rolled up and put in hisjacket pocket, and the other he put in Joe's hat and removed it to alittle distance from the owner. And he also put into the hat certainschoolboy treasures of almost inestimable value--among them a lump ofchalk, an India-rubber ball, three fishhooks, and one of that kindof marbles known as a "sure 'nough crystal." Then he tiptoed his waycautiously among the trees till he felt that he was out of hearing, andstraightway broke into a keen run in the direction of the sandbar.