TUESDAY afternoon came, and waned¹ to the twilight². The village of St. Petersburg still mourned. The lost children had not been found. Public prayers had been offered up for them, and many and many a private prayer that had the petitioner's whole heart in it; but still no good news came from the cave. The majority of the searchers had given up the quest and gone back to their daily avocations³, saying that it was plain the children could never be found. Mrs. Thatcher⁴ was very ill, and a great part of the time delirious⁵. People said it was heartbreaking to hear her call her child, and raise her head and listen a whole minute at a time, then lay it wearily down again with a moan. Aunt Polly had drooped⁶ into a settled melancholy⁷, and her gray hair had grown almost white. The village went to its rest on Tuesday night, sad and forlorn.

Away in the middle of the night a wild peal⁸ burst from the village bells, and in a moment the streets were swarming⁹ with frantic¹⁰ half-clad people, who shouted, "Turn out! turn out! they're found! they're found!" Tin pans and horns were added to the din¹¹, the population massed itself and moved toward the river, met the children coming in an open carriage drawn¹² by shouting citizens, thronged¹³ around it, joined its homeward march, and swept magnificently up the main street roaring huzzah after huzzah!

The village was illuminated¹⁴; nobody went to bed again; it was the greatest night the little town had ever seen. During the first half-hour a procession of villagers filed through Judge Thatcher's house, seized the saved ones and kissed them, squeezed Mrs. Thatcher's hand, tried to speak but couldn't -- and drifted out raining tears all over the place.

Aunt Polly's happiness was complete, and Mrs. Thatcher's nearly so. It would be complete, however, as soon as the messenger dispatched with the great news to the cave should get the word to her husband. Tom lay upon a sofa with an eager auditory about him and told the history of the wonderful adventure, putting in many striking additions to adorn¹⁵ it withal; and closed with a description of how he left Becky and went on an exploring expedition; how he followed two avenues as far as his kite-line would reach; how he followed a third to the fullest stretch of the kite-line, and was about to turn back when he glimpsed a far-off speck¹⁶ that looked like daylight; dropped the line and groped toward it, pushed his head and shoulders through a small hole, and saw the broad Mississippi rolling by! And if it had only happened to be night he would not have seen that speck of daylight and would not have explored that passage any more! He told how he went back for Becky and broke the good news and she told him not to fret¹⁷ her with such stuff, for she was tired, and knew she was going to die, and wanted to. He described how he labored¹⁸ with her and convinced her; and how she almost died for joy when she had groped to where she actually saw the blue speck of daylight; how he pushed his way out at the hole and then helped her out; how they sat there and cried for gladness; how some men came along in a skiff and Tom hailed them and told them their situation and their famished¹⁹ condition; how the men didn't believe the wild tale at first, "because," said they, "you are five miles down the river below the valley the cave is in" -- then took them aboard, rowed to a house, gave them supper, made them rest till two or three hours after dark and then brought them home.

Before day-dawn, Judge Thatcher and the handful of searchers with him were tracked out, in the cave, by the twine²⁰ clews they had strung behind them, and informed of the great news.

Three days and nights of toil²¹ and hunger in the cave were not to be shaken off at once, as Tom and Becky soon discovered. They were bedridden all of Wednesday and Thursday, and seemed to grow more and more tired and worn, all the time. Tom got about, a little, on Thursday, was down-town Friday, and nearly as whole as ever Saturday; but Becky did not leave her room until Sunday, and then she looked as if she had passed through a wasting illness.

Tom learned of Huck's sickness and went to see him on Friday, but could not be admitted to the bedroom; neither could he on Saturday or Sunday. He was admitted daily after that, but was warned to keep still about his adventure and introduce no exciting topic. The Widow Douglas stayed by to see that he obeyed. At home Tom learned of the Cardiff Hill event; also that the "ragged²² man's" body had eventually been found in the river near the ferrylanding; he had been drowned while trying to escape, perhaps.

About a fortnight after Tom's rescue from the cave, he started off to visit Huck, who had grown plenty strong enough, now, to hear exciting talk, and Tom had some that would interest him, he thought. Judge Thatcher's house was on Tom's way, and he stopped to see Becky. The Judge and some friends set Tom to talking, and some one asked him ironically if he wouldn't like to go to the cave again. Tom said he thought he wouldn't mind it. The Judge said:

"Well, there are others just like you, Tom, I've not the least doubt. But we have taken care of that. Nobody will get lost in that cave any more."

"Why?"

"Because I had its big door sheathed²³ with boiler²⁴ iron two weeks ago, and triple-locked -- and I've got the keys."

Tom turned as white as a sheet.

"What's the matter, boy! Here, run, somebody! Fetch a glass of water!"

The water was brought and thrown into Tom's face.

"Ah, now you're all right. What was the matter with you, Tom?"

"Oh, Judge, Injun Joe's in the cave!"

日子到了星期二下午，一直挨到黄昏时刻，圣彼得堡全村仍沉浸在哀悼之中，两个走失
的孩子尚无音讯。大家为他俩举行了公开的祈祷仪式。还有许多私自为他俩祈祷的人，个个
诚心诚意，企望着他俩早日归来，可洞中传来的消息仍然和以前一样。大多数寻找的人都回
家去各干各的事情，他们认为很显然不可能再找到那两个孩子了。撒切尔夫人病得不轻，一
大部分时间烧得她直说胡话。她呼唤着孩子的名字，有时头抬起来整整有一分钟时间那么长
听着，然后无力地呻吟着一头倒在床上。见此情形，大家都说真叫人心碎。波莉姨妈一直愁
云笼罩，那头灰发现在几乎全都变白了。晚上整个村庄在一片悲哀和绝望的氛围里静了下来。
    离半夜时分，村里的钟突然全噹噹地响起来，声音特别大，顷刻之间，街道上就挤满了
人，他们连衣服都没来得及穿好，站在那里大声嚷着：“大家快起来，快起来，孩子找到
了！孩子找到了！”接着还能听见洋铁盆和号角的喧嚣声。人群自动集合起来，朝河那边
走，去迎接那两个孩子。他俩坐在一辆敞篷的人拉着的马车上，周围的人群前呼后拥，再加
上迎车的人，大家浩浩荡荡地涌上大街，欢呼声此起彼伏。
    村子里这下灯火通明，没人还想着回去睡觉，这是他们度过的最壮观的一夜。起初的半
小时里，村民们一个接一个地来到撒切尔法官家里，抱着两个孩子就亲，使劲地握住撒切尔
太太的手，想说点什么，又说不出来——然后他们就涌了出去，泪水洒得满地都是。
    波莉姨妈快活极了。撒切尔夫人也差不多，等到派往洞里报喜的人把这个消息告诉了她
丈夫，他也会快活到极点。汤姆躺在沙发上，周围一群热心的听者听他讲述这次历险的故
事，他不时地添油加醋大肆渲染一番。最后，他描述了他如何离开贝基独自一人去探险；怎
样顺着两个通道一直走到风筝线够不着的地方；然后又是怎样顺着第三个通道往前走，把风
筝线全放开，他刚要返回时却看见远处有个小亮点，看上去像是日光；于是他丢下绳子，朝
小亮点处摸索过去，连头带肩一起伸出小洞，看见了那宽阔的密西西比河滚滚流过。如果当
时是晚上，那他不会发现亮光，更不可能走这条通道。他还讲他是如何回去，把这个好消息
告诉贝基，可她说不要拿这种胡扯来烦她，因为她已经够累的了。她知道她活不长了，也愿
意死去。他描述了他费尽口舌去说服她，等她摸索到能看见蓝色天光的地方，她简直高兴死
了；他是怎样挤到洞外，然后帮忙把她也拉出了洞，他俩怎样坐在那儿，高兴得大喊大叫；
然后有几个人是如何乘小艇经过，汤姆招呼他们，并讲明自己的处境：已经断炊。那几个人
起先如何不相信这荒唐的事，因为他们讲“你们呆的山洞在河下游五英里处”——然后把他
俩弄上小艇，划到一座房子处，让他俩吃了晚饭，天黑后休息了两三个小时，才把他们带回
家。
    天亮之前，送信的人根据撒切尔法官和跟他一起的人留下的麻绳记号找到了他们，告诉
了他们这个重大的消息。
    很快汤姆和贝基明白了：由于呆在洞中三天三夜，又累又饥，身体还不可能一下子恢复
过来。整个星期三和星期四，他们都卧床不起，好像是越睡越困，越休息越乏力。汤姆星期
四稍微活动了一下，星期五就到镇上去了，到星期六几乎完全恢复了原样，可是贝基一直到
星期天才出门，但看上去很瘦，好像害过一场大病似的。
    汤姆听说哈克病了，星期五去看他，可是人家不让他进卧室，星期六和星期天也没能进
去。之后天天都能进去，但不准他提历险的事情或谈什么使人激动的话题；道格拉斯寡妇呆
在卧室里监督汤姆，防止他乱讲乱说。汤姆在家中听到了卡第夫山事件，还知道人们后来在
渡口附近的河里发现了那个“衣衫褴褛”的人的尸体，他也许是想逃跑，结果却被淹死了。
    汤姆从洞中获救后大约两周便去看哈克，这时哈克结实多了，不怕激动了。汤姆想他有
些话会让哈克感兴趣。汤姆路过撒切尔法官家时，就去看了贝基，法官和几个朋友让汤姆打
开话匣子，有个人半开玩笑地问汤姆还愿不愿意旧洞重游。汤姆说再去也没什么关系，法官
就说：
    “是啊，汤姆，我一点也不怀疑，还有你这样的人。但我们现在慎重了，再也不会有人
在洞里迷路。”
    “这是怎么回事呢？”
    “因为两周前我已经用锅炉铁板把大门钉上了一层，上了三道锁——钥匙由我保管。”
    汤姆脸色马上变得煞白。
    “你怎么啦？孩子，喂，快去倒杯水来！”
    有人取来水泼在汤姆的脸上。
    “啊，你现在没事了，汤姆，你到底是怎么啦？”
    “噢，对了，法官大人，印第安·乔还在洞里呐！”