I asked Buck whether any Grangerfords and Shepherdsons had been killed in the past few months.
"Oh, yes," he replied calmly, "one of ours and one of theirs. We have a lot of funerals."
He went on to tell me that both his brothers and his father had been wounded in battles with the Shepherdsons.
On Sunday, I went to church with the Grangerfords.
The sermon was about brotherly love, but all the Grangerford men had their guns with them, and so did the Shepherdson men.
It was the strangest church service I had ever attended.
Later that afternoon, when I was going upstairs to my room, Miss Sophia came out of her room.
She told me in a whisper that she had forgotten her Bible in the church.
"Would you please go to the church and get it for me?" she said.
Then she added, "Please don't tell anyone."
I found the book, but it seemed odd that Miss Sophia was so nervous about a Bible, so I shook it to see if anything was inside.
A note fluttered out that said, "Two-thirty."
I tucked the note back in the Bible and, when I returned, gave the book to Miss Sophia without saying anything.
She gave me a hug and told me I was the best boy in the world.
Later I decided to go for a walk by the river.
I soon noticed that one of the house slaves, a man named Jack, was following me.
He asked me if I'd like to go down to the swamp and see some snakes.
I thought this was strange, but I agreed and followed him into the swamp.
We were ankle-deep in water for a while, and then we came to a dry place.
Jack said that I should go ahead while he went back to the house.
I took a few steps, pushing aside some vines, and there was Jim! I was so happy to see him.
Jim explained that he had managed to swim to shore a little while after I did.
When he saw me go into the house, he hid in the woods nearby.
The next day, he went up to some of the Grangerfords' slaves working in the fields and asked for their help.
They showed him a hiding place in the swamp.
And then Jim told me the best news of all.
The raft hadn't been completely destroyed by the steamboat.
He'd been repairing it, and it would be ready for travel in a couple of days.
When I woke up the next morning, the house was strangely quiet.
I went downstairs and Jack told me the terrible news.
Miss Sophia had run away to marry Harney Shepherdson.
The Grangerford women had gone to a relative's house to get more help, while Colonel Grangerford and his three sons had rode off with their guns.
They intended to kill Harney and bring Miss Sophia back.
I ran down the road after them as fast as I could, and before long I heard shooting.
I snuck through the trees until I came to the riverbank near a store that sold supplies to people traveling on the river.
Men were shooting at each other along the shore and from inside the store.
I could see Buck and an older boy who was his cousin hiding behind a big woodpile.
It was too dangerous to stay where I was, so I climbed a tree and hid there.
I saw several men shot dead on both sides, and then the Shepherdson men rode away.
I called out to Buck from the tree.
Crying and cursing the Shepherdsons, he told me that his father and both his older brothers had been killed.
I asked Buck what had happened to Harney and Miss Sophia, and he said they had gotten away.
He asked me to stay in the tree and watch for the Shepherdsons to ride back, and I said I would.
But suddenly gunfire broke out again. The Shepherdsons had circled back and snuck up on Buck and his cousin.
What happened next made me feel so sick I almost fell out of the tree.
I still have nightmares about it. The Shepherdsons killed Buck and his cousin. Then they fled.
I was so scared that I waited until it was dark before I climbed down from the tree.
I never wanted to see the Grangerford house again.
I blamed myself because I had brought the note to Miss Sophia.
Maybe if she hadn't received it, she wouldn't have run away.
I ran back to the dry spot in the swamp to find Jim—but he wasn't there!
I scrambled down to the riverbank, yelling his name.
Then I heard a soft voice: "Is that you, Huck? Don't make any noise."
It was Jim's voice—and nothing had ever sounded so good to me.
I ran a little way along the bank until I came to the raft and scrambled aboard.
Jim and I hugged each other. Once again, he had thought I was dead.
Jack had told him about the gun battle, and that I hadn't come home.
"Let's just leave, Jim, as fast as we can," I said.
When we were about three kilometers down the river, I began to feel safer.
We hung up our lantern and ate some supper.
I was very happy to get away from the feud, and Jim was happy to get away from the swamp.
We agreed there was no home as good as our raft.