I wanted to get away that very night.
I hoped to rejoin Jim so we could continue down the river.
Later, after the king and the duke had gone away, I would send all the money back to Mary Jane.
I waited until the house was quiet, except for the snores coming from the king's room.
I crept downstairs and passed by the parlor door.
One candle was burning in there, and I could see the coffin.
I tried to open the front door, but it was locked and I didn't have the key.
While I was thinking about what to do next, I heard someone coming down the stairs.
I hurried into the parlor. Where could I hide the money bag?
The coffin lid was partly open, so I shoved the bag in there.
I accidentally touched Peter's cold hands, which made me shiver.
I quickly hid behind the door just as Mary Jane came into the room.
She sat beside the coffin and cried softly.
Her back was to me, and I snuck out of the room.
I couldn't get out of the house now, so I went back up to bed.
I felt very worried, but if the money stayed where it was, everything would be all right.
I would run away tomorrow and go back to Jim.
When we were a hundred kilometers down the river, I could write a letter to Mary Jane and tell her the money was buried with her uncle.
But I didn't think things would go that smoothly.
What if someone at the funeral decided to take a last look at Peter and noticed the money bag?
Then the king and the duke would find a way to steal it from Mary Jane again.
All through the funeral the next morning, I was scared.
Would someone find the money bag in the coffin?
But no one did, and Peter Wilks was buried in the cemetery.
I just wished I could be sure the money was really in the coffin with him.
I worried that someone might have gone into the parlor late in the night and taken it.
Meanwhile, the king announced that he would be holding an auction of Peter Wilks' property in two days.
He and his brother had to get back to England, he said.
The lying scoundrel also said that he would take the sisters to England with him.
Poor Mary Jane and her sisters began to pack.
I knew he wouldn't be taking them anywhere, that he and the duke would run away as soon as the auction was over.
I longed to tell Mary Jane the truth, but I was afraid of what the king and the duke would do to me.
Then something even worse happened. Two slave traders arrived in town.
The king sold the family's black slaves to them.
He sold two sons to one trader and their mother to the other trader.
The slaves were very upset as they were being taken away.
Mary Jane and her sisters cried and cried.
Many people in town said that it was a terrible thing to separate a slave family this way.
They began to think that Harvey and William weren't as nice as they had thought.
The next morning, the king and the duke came up to the attic and shook me awake.
"Were you in my room last night or the night before?" the king demanded.
I understood at once that they knew the money bag was gone.
"Why no, Your Majesty!" I said.
"Did you see anyone else go in there?"
"Well, I might have seen the slaves go in there to clean up," I lied, thinking fast.
After that, the king and the duke believed that the slaves had stolen the money and they stopped searching for it.
I knew the black slaves were already far away, where the king couldn't harm them.
As I went downstairs for breakfast, I saw Mary Jane packing her trunk.
She looked so unhappy that I couldn't bear it any longer.
I decided to tell her the truth.
I told her how the king and the duke had met the young man on the boat and how,
after listening to him, they had decided to pretend to be Peter's brothers.
I told her they were thieves and liars.
She believed me and her eyes blazed with anger.
She wanted to have them arrested right away, but I asked her to wait until the next day.
I explained that I needed to get away first.
I couldn't tell her why, but said that I had to help another person who needed me.
I was pretty sure that when Mary Jane told the townspeople about the scoundrels, they would believe her.
But, in case she needed more proof, I told her she could write to the mayor of Bricksville
and tell him that the men who had staged the Royal Nonesuch were in her town.
The mayor would be happy to tell everyone that the two men were crooks.
"And there's one more thing," I said. "The bag of money."
"Well, those scoundrels have that," she said. "I was foolish, and I gave it to them."
"No, they don't have it," I said. "I took it from them to give to you.
I don't have it now, but I know where it is."
At that point, Mary Jane gave me a big hug, which made my face go red.