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ARRoGANT CoURiERS WiTH ESSaYS
Grade Level: Type of Work Subject/Topic is on:
[ ]6-8 [ ]Class Notes [Seems like a short ]
[x]9-10 [ ]Cliff Notes [Segment from Hucklberry ]
[ ]11-12 [ ]Essay/Report [Finn. ]
[ ]College [x]Misc [ ]
Dizzed: 06/94 # of Words:1603 School: ? State: ?
ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>Chop Here>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ
Then we got out the raft and slipped along down in the shade, past the foot
of the island dead still-never saying a word.
It must a been near six o'clock in the morning the day after we escaped the
slave hunters when Jim come in my tent to wake me up.
"C'mon Huck, git up! Dere's another raft c'min dis way!"
I was up like a shot, and I ran outside to take a good look at this raft.
Since it was spring, the sun was up nice and early, and I could see pretty
clearly. Down river maybe one hundred feet or so war another raft, much
like our own. It 'peared someone was lyin' on it, fast asleep. I couldn't
tell whether it war a man or a boy, but he had nothing on the raft sides
hisself, no clothes, no money, no bag, nuthin.
"Huck, I don' like dis berry much. C'mon, les go on past, and hope he
dasn't wake up and see de raf'." Jim advised.
"Shhh." I said. "Maybe he's from Cairo, or mebbe he can direct us to it."
Jim still didn't like the idea, he went off mumbling about slave hunters
and whatnot, but he didn't give me no more trouble bout it. Well, sure
enough, we moved on by that raft and we sees who's on it, a little boy was
who. Asleep, just lying there, not watching out for no towheads or trees
or rocks. Couldn't a been more than five years, wearing torn overalls and
a straw hat just like mine over yellow hair and blue eyes, with real light
skin.
"Jim, gimme our rope, and quick now." I said.
"But why?" he answered.
"Jes give it here and trust me." Jim sighed as he gave me the rope.
"If I ever git myself off dis raf; I ain' neva gonn trust you agin, Huck.
I been doin too much of it." I laughed softly, and Jim smiled as I slipped
off the boat and into the water. Very slowly like I swam to t'other raft,
and tied on our rope, putting our two rafts together. Then I turned around
and swam back to our raft, where Jim was waiting.
"C'mon Jim, help me pull in this here rope." I said. Jim looked ready to
reply, but he didn't, and instead sighed again and turned his head to
pulling in the rope.
Pretty soon we had the other raft floating along just beside our own, and
the two were tied together. The little boy still hadn't waked up yet, and
went on sleeping just as pleasant as can be. I went back into Jim and my
stuff, and got out Pap's rifle, and went to set by the sleeping boy. Jim
probably wondered what I was doing, and it showed, but he didn't say
nuthin, he was so 'sasperated.
By and by the little boy come to rubbing his eyes and waking up. When he
did, I pointed the rifle at him.
"Git up!" I said, tryin' to make my voice sound real hard and robber like.
"Who are you?" he asked as he stood up, looking not worried at all.
I thought for a second. "You can call me Pat the Pirate, and that there's
my nigger, he's so mean he don't even HAVE a name. You're our prisoner, so
no funny moves."
His eyes went wide with something akin to fear. "Really?!? A real
pirate?"
"Yep." I said. "The most meanest pirate on this part of the Mississippi.
You never aheard of Pat the Pirate?"
He said, "I never heard of no Pat the pirate. You sho you a real pirate?
You look like my brother, and he ain't no pirate."
"Well, I ain't your brother, and if you don't believe me, then I'll just
have to shoot you. Now, c'mon."
He believed me now. He seemed overjoyed. "Can I watch you murder people
and rob and plunder, since I'm your prisoner?"
"No," I answered. "Prisoners don't do any fun stuff. You just set around
and do what we tell you. We're the pirates, we murder and rob and
plunder."
His face fell, but only for the a second. He seemed overjoyed to know a
genuine pirate, and he knew a lot about other pirates, because he never
stopped telling us about them. Jim even listened in, being he liked all
kinds of stories, he learned all the boy's stories, so he could work
towards being the best storyteller in our town, something all the niggers
worked for.
During one of the stories, the boy started talking 'bout his hometown. I
came to wondering what a boy his age was doing alone on this river. So
when he was done I asked, "Hey you, what's your name? We need to know your
name to tell your family we took you."
"You don't need to do that. I run off, Ma was gwyne t' make me eat
broccoli. So I says, I ain't gwyne to eat that stuff. It makes me sick.
But she don' listen, and she tells me to eat it anyway. So I pretends like
I et it, but she whacked me anyway. That's when I run off and steal Pa's
raft so's I can join up with some robbers. And now I met you, he said.
"You run off?" I said. "You best not be running off from this raft, else
Jim'll hafta come after ya. And you can't be a pirate, pirates NEVER run
off, no way no how. If pirates was alluz gonna be running off, they'd be
no good to their captains, now would they? So you ain't no pirate, that's
for sure."
Well, he didn't say nothin, but he looked a little distressed, and his blue
eyes appeared to start to think it over. Then, real quiet, he whispers to
me, "So Jim ain't no runaway nigger? He stuck with his master?"
This took me off guard, and I set to thinking for a moment afore I war able
to reply. I decided I just had to get this boy back to his parents, who
were probably worryin' their heads off about him. "That's most certainly
right. Jim's a pirate for sure. He ain't got no warm blood in him, he's
the worst of the worst. And that took a lot of courage, but he stuck with
me, cuz I'm his master, and he ain't never even thought about running off,
like you done." I tried to sniff with disdain, and turned away and left
him to think about that for a time.
For the rest of the evening, neither Jim nor myself spoke much to the boy,
who's name we still didn't know. Jim, cuz he didn't like this whole
business of foolin' people, and myself, to get the boy to ask us to take
him home. Come nightfall, I made the boy sleep ouside, seein as he warn't
a pirate.
Next morning, we didn't feed the boy neither, and he war getting pretty
hungry.
"Kin I get some of that fish you's cooking?" he asked as the fire smoked on
our little raft.
"No," I said, "Until you're a real pirate, I ain't gonna give you nuthin."
He left again, and went to dragging his legs in the river. Gradually, bout
noontimes, he come up to me real quiet and soft like.
"Pat sir, I don't wanna be no pirate or pirate's captive neither. Kin you
let me off soon and let me go home to my Pa and Ma?"
"Well," I says to him, "Pirates don't jes let their captives go, you know,
they have to git something for them. So I don't think I can let you go,
til I get's a ransom."
He turned around real dejected like, and walked back to his corner. "But,"
I says, "we might be able to make a deal for you. See, Jim went and sent
message to your Pa that we had you here, and he agreed to pay us for you.
But, see, we promised we'd never tell, so don' you be letting on to yer Pa
that we told you he's paying to get you back. So we'll drop you off at the
next station, and then when you go home and don't be runnin off, you can
become a real pirate. When you do, you jes come looking for me, I can
alluz use a good mate."
My, how his eyes did light up. He thanked me more times than I could
count, but he still stayed away from Jim, being as how tough Jim war. So
shortly after, one or two o'clock I reckon, we pulled into the small town
of Carlisle and left him in the care of the town constable. When I told
the story to the constable, he gave me a knowin' look and promised to
deliver the boy home, so's he could become a real pirate. Jim and me, we
just turned around, headed back out on that river, and even Jim laughed a
little at the retelling of the tale, specially when I livened it up a
little. When the first streaks of day began to show we tied up to a
towhead in a big bend on the Illinois side.