"Why, you two was scuffling, and he fetched you one with the headboard and you fell flat; and then up you come, all reeling and staggering like, and s.n.a.t.c.hed the knife and jammed it into him, just as he fetched you another awful clip--and here you"ve laid, as dead as a wedge til now."
"Oh, I didn"t know what I was a-doing. I wish I may die this minute if I did. It was all on account of the whiskey and the excitement, I reckon.
I never used a weepon in my life before, Joe. I"ve fought, but never with weepons. They"ll all say that. Joe, don"t tell! Say you won"t tell, Joe--that"s a good feller. I always liked you, Joe, and stood up for you, too. Don"t you remember? You _won"t_ tell, _will_ you, Joe?" And the poor creature dropped on his knees before the stolid murderer, and clasped his appealing hands.
"No, you"ve always been fair and square with me, m.u.f.f Potter, and I won"t go back on you. There, now, that"s as fair as a man can say."
"Oh, Joe, you"re an angel. I"ll bless you for this the longest day I live." And Potter began to cry.
"Come, now, that"s enough of that. This ain"t any time for blubbering.
You be off yonder way and I"ll go this. Move, now, and don"t leave any tracks behind you."
Potter started on a trot that quickly increased to a run. The half-breed stood looking after him. He muttered:
"If he"s as much stunned with the lick and fuddled with the rum as he had the look of being, he won"t think of the knife till he"s gone so far he"ll be afraid to come back after it to such a place by himself--chicken-heart!"
Two or three minutes later the murdered man, the blanketed corpse, the lidless coffin, and the open grave were under no inspection but the moon"s. The stillness was complete again, too.
CHAPTER X
THE two boys flew on and on, toward the village, speechless with horror. They glanced backward over their shoulders from time to time, apprehensively, as if they feared they might be followed. Every stump that started up in their path seemed a man and an enemy, and made them catch their breath; and as they sped by some outlying cottages that lay near the village, the barking of the aroused watch-dogs seemed to give wings to their feet.
"If we can only get to the old tannery before we break down!" whispered Tom, in short catches between breaths. "I can"t stand it much longer."
Huckleberry"s hard pantings were his only reply, and the boys fixed their eyes on the goal of their hopes and bent to their work to win it.
They gained steadily on it, and at last, breast to breast, they burst through the open door and fell grateful and exhausted in the sheltering shadows beyond. By and by their pulses slowed down, and Tom whispered:
"Huckleberry, what do you reckon"ll come of this?"
"If Doctor Robinson dies, I reckon hanging"ll come of it."
"Do you though?"
"Why, I _know_ it, Tom."
Tom thought a while, then he said:
"Who"ll tell? We?"
"What are you talking about? S"pose something happened and Injun Joe _didn"t_ hang? Why, he"d kill us some time or other, just as dead sure as we"re a laying here."
"That"s just what I was thinking to myself, Huck."
"If anybody tells, let m.u.f.f Potter do it, if he"s fool enough. He"s generally drunk enough."
Tom said nothing--went on thinking. Presently he whispered:
"Huck, m.u.f.f Potter don"t know it. How can he tell?"
"What"s the reason he don"t know it?"
"Because he"d just got that whack when Injun Joe done it. D"you reckon he could see anything? D"you reckon he knowed anything?"
"By hokey, that"s so, Tom!"
"And besides, look-a-here--maybe that whack done for _him_!"
"No, "taint likely, Tom. He had liquor in him; I could see that; and besides, he always has. Well, when pap"s full, you might take and belt him over the head with a church and you couldn"t phase him. He says so, his own self. So it"s the same with m.u.f.f Potter, of course. But if a man was dead sober, I reckon maybe that whack might fetch him; I dono."
After another reflective silence, Tom said:
"Hucky, you sure you can keep mum?"
"Tom, we _got_ to keep mum. You know that. That Injun devil wouldn"t make any more of drownding us than a couple of cats, if we was to squeak "bout this and they didn"t hang him. Now, look-a-here, Tom, less take and swear to one another--that"s what we got to do--swear to keep mum."
"I"m agreed. It"s the best thing. Would you just hold hands and swear that we--"
"Oh no, that wouldn"t do for this. That"s good enough for little rubbishy common things--specially with gals, cuz _they_ go back on you anyway, and blab if they get in a huff--but there orter be writing "bout a big thing like this. And blood."
Tom"s whole being applauded this idea. It was deep, and dark, and awful; the hour, the circ.u.mstances, the surroundings, were in keeping with it.
He picked up a clean pine shingle that lay in the moon-light, took a little fragment of "red keel" out of his pocket, got the moon on his work, and painfully scrawled these lines, emphasizing each slow down-stroke by clamping his tongue between his teeth, and letting up the pressure on the up-strokes. [See next page.]
"Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer swears they will keep mum about This and They wish They may Drop down dead in Their Tracks if They ever Tell and Rot."
Huckleberry was filled with admiration of Tom"s facility in writing, and the sublimity of his language. He at once took a pin from his lapel and was going to p.r.i.c.k his flesh, but Tom said:
"Hold on! Don"t do that. A pin"s bra.s.s. It might have verdigrease on it."
"What"s verdigrease?"
"It"s p"ison. That"s what it is. You just swaller some of it once--you"ll see."
So Tom unwound the thread from one of his needles, and each boy p.r.i.c.ked the ball of his thumb and squeezed out a drop of blood. In time, after many squeezes, Tom managed to sign his initials, using the ball of his little finger for a pen. Then he showed Huckleberry how to make an H and an F, and the oath was complete. They buried the shingle close to the wall, with some dismal ceremonies and incantations, and the fetters that bound their tongues were considered to be locked and the key thrown away.
A figure crept stealthily through a break in the other end of the ruined building, now, but they did not notice it.
"Tom," whispered Huckleberry, "does this keep us from _ever_ telling--_always_?"
"Of course it does. It don"t make any difference _what_ happens, we got to keep mum. We"d drop down dead--don"t _you_ know that?"
"Yes, I reckon that"s so."
They continued to whisper for some little time. Presently a dog set up a long, lugubrious howl just outside--within ten feet of them. The boys clasped each other suddenly, in an agony of fright.
"Which of us does he mean?" gasped Huckleberry.