When I came down to breakfast, Uncle Silas and Aunt Sally were sitting at the table, looking sad.
Then, we all heard noises in the yard and ran outside.
It was Tom! The doctor and some other men were carrying him on a mattress.
Jim was there, too, with his hands tied behind his back.
He was surrounded by the men who had chased us two nights ago.
Aunt Sally became very busy, giving orders to servants and getting a bed ready for Tom.
Meanwhile, the men were treating Jim roughly.
One of them even said he should be hanged because of the trouble he had caused.
But another man said, no, the slave didn't belong to them, and his owner would be very angry if he didn't get his property back.
Jim pretended that he didn't know me. I felt terribly sad that I couldn't help him.
I was very relieved when the doctor told the men to treat him kindly.
"He's a good man," the doctor said. "He could have run away, but he stayed with me the whole time.
He was a good nurse to that boy and helped me save his life."
After that the men were kinder to Jim, but they still put chains on him and locked him in the shed again.
The doctor told me that Tom was going to be fine.
But I knew I still had a lot to worry about.
How would I explain why I didn't tell the Phelpses that Sid was shot? How could I help to free Jim?
The next day, Tom was so much better that I was allowed to go see him in his room.
He was sitting up in bed, and he began to talk to me and Aunt Sally.
He was not very alert after his gunshot wound and his fever.
I quickly realized he had forgotten that we were keeping many things secret.
"How's Jim?" he said to me.
"He's fine," I said quietly, frowning at him to show that he should be quiet. But he kept on talking.
"Have you told Aunt Sally how we did everything?" continued Tom.
"Did what?" asked Aunt Sally, looking suspicious.
Then, Tom told the whole story: the escape plan, the things we borrowed, the tunnel we had dug.
Aunt Sally was astonished. When she realized how much trouble we had caused, she started to look angry.
But Tom kept smiling. ". . . and so we helped the runaway slave get away," he finished.
"But he didn't get away," said Aunt Sally.
"He's locked in the shed right now."
Tom's face grew red. "No, that's not right! You have to let him go.
Old Mrs. Watson died two months ago, and in her will, she set Jim free.
He's a free man, as free as you and me!"
Aunt Sally opened her mouth to speak, when someone else hurried into the room.
"Why, sister!" she exclaimed. I turned to look, and there was Tom's Aunt Polly!
While the two sisters were hugging, I hid under the bed.
"Come out from there, Huck Finn!" commanded Aunt Polly.
"What mischief have you and Tom been making now?"
Aunt Sally was very confused. "But that's Tom under the bed, and Sid in the bed!"
"I certainly know my own nephew Tom—I've looked after him since he was a baby," said Aunt Polly.
"And I know Huckleberry, too! When I got that letter from you saying Sid was visiting, I had to come and see what was wrong.
Sid is safe at home, where he should be."
The first chance I got to talk to Tom by himself, I asked him why he never told us that Jim was a free man.
"I wanted to have adventures," Tom said. "I wanted to free him from prison.
Then, I wanted to go down the Mississippi on the raft with you and him.
I planned to wait until we got to New Orleans and then tell Jim the truth."
Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas freed Jim from the shed as soon as they heard Tom's story.
They fed him a good meal and gave him some clean clothes.
Then Tom gave Jim forty dollars to start his new life.
"Remember what I told you, Huck?" Jim said to me.
"If a man has hair on his chest like me, it means he is going to be rich some day. And now I am!"
Once Tom was feeling better, he wanted Jim to stay for a few days.
"We could dress up and pretend to be pirates," Tom suggested.
"I don't have any money for pirate clothes.
I guess by now Pap got all our money from Judge Thatcher," I said.
"No, he hasn't," said Tom. "We still have our six thousand dollars.
Pap hasn't come back—at least, he hadn't when I left home."
Then, Jim said in a serious voice, "Your Pap isn't ever coming back, Huck. You don't have to worry about that."
At first, he didn't want to explain how he knew this, but I wouldn't stop asking questions.
Finally Jim said, "Do you remember that house that we found, floating down the river?"
I nodded.
"Do you remember that there was a body inside, and I told you not to look?
Well, I recognized his face—it was your Pap."
Well, now I've finished everything I wanted to write.
Tom's leg has healed. And he kept the bullet for a souvenir.
Aunt Sally wants to adopt me and civilize me. But I might run away.
I've already been civilized once, and I don't think I like it.
[caption_out@