I WANTED to go and look at a place right about the middle of the island that I'd found when I was exploring; so we started and soon got to it, because the island was only three miles long and a quarter of a mile wide.

This place was a tolerable long, steep hill or ridge¹ about forty foot high. We had a rough time getting to the top, the sides was so steep and the bushes so thick. We tramped and clumb around all over it, and by and by found a good big cavern² in the rock, most up to the top on the side towards Illinois. The cavern was as big as two or three rooms bunched together, and Jim could stand up straight in it. It was cool in there. Jim was for putting our traps in there right away, but I said we didn't want to be climbing up and down there all the time.

Jim said if we had the canoe hid in a good place, and had all the traps in the cavern, we could rush there if anybody was to come to the island, and they would never find us without dogs. And, besides, he said them little birds had said it was going to rain, and did I want the things to get wet?

So we went back and got the canoe, and paddled up abreast³ the cavern, and lugged⁴ all the traps up there. Then we hunted up a place close by to hide the canoe in, amongst the thick willows⁵. We took some fish off of the lines and set them again, and begun to get ready for dinner.

The door of the cavern was big enough to roll a hogshead in, and on one side of the door the floor stuck out a little bit, and was flat and a good place to build a fire on. So we built it there and cooked dinner.

We spread the blankets inside for a carpet, and eat our dinner in there. We put all the other things handy at the back of the cavern. Pretty soon it darkened up, and begun to thunder and lighten; so the birds was right about it. Directly it begun to rain, and it rained like all fury, too, and I never see the wind blow so. It was one of these regular summer storms. It would get so dark that it looked all blue-black outside, and lovely; and the rain would thrash along by so thick that the trees off a little ways looked dim and spiderwebby; and here would come a blast of wind that would bend the trees down and turn up the pale underside of the leaves; and then a perfect ripper of a gust⁶ would follow along and set the branches to tossing their arms as if they was just wild; and next, when it was just about the bluest and blackest -- FST! it was as bright as glory, and you'd have a little glimpse of treetops a-plunging about away off yonder in the storm, hundreds of yards further than you could see before; dark as sin again in a second, and now you'd hear the thunder let go with an awful crash, and then go rumbling⁷, grumbling⁸, tumbling, down the sky towards the under side of the world, like rolling empty barrels down stairs -- where it's long stairs and they bounce a good deal, you know.

"Jim, this is nice," I says. "I wouldn't want to be nowhere else but here. Pass me along another hunk of fish and some hot corn-bread."

"Well, you wouldn't a ben here 'f it hadn't a ben for Jim. You'd a ben down dah in de woods widout any dinner, en gittn' mos' drownded, too; dat you would, honey. Chickens knows when it's gwyne to rain, en so do de birds, chile."

The river went on raising and raising for ten or twelve days, till at last it was over the banks. The water was three or four foot deep on the island in the low places and on the Illinois bottom. On that side it was a good many miles wide, but on the Missouri side it was the same old distance across -- a half a mile -- because the Missouri shore was just a wall of high bluffs⁹.

Daytimes we paddled all over the island in the canoe, It was mighty¹⁰ cool and shady in the deep woods, even if the sun was blazing outside. We went winding¹¹ in and out amongst the trees, and sometimes the vines hung so thick we had to back away and go some other way. Well, on every old broken-down tree you could see rabbits and snakes and such things; and when the island had been overflowed¹² a day or two they got so tame, on account of being hungry, that you could paddle right up and put your hand on them if you wanted to; but not the snakes and turtles -- they would slide off in the water. The ridge our cavern was in was full of them. We could a had pets enough if we'd wanted them.

One night we catched a little section of a lumber¹³ raft -- nice pine planks¹⁴. It was twelve foot wide and about fifteen or sixteen foot long, and the top stood above water six or seven inches -- a solid, level floor. We could see saw-logs go by in the daylight sometimes, but we let them go; we didn't show ourselves in daylight.

Another night when we was up at the head of the island, just before daylight, here comes a frame-house down, on the west side. She was a two-story, and tilted¹⁵ over considerable. We paddled out and got aboard -- clumb in at an upstairs window. But it was too dark to see yet, so we made the canoe fast and set in her to wait for daylight.

The light begun to come before we got to the foot of the island. Then we looked in at the window. We could make out a bed, and a table, and two old chairs, and lots of things around about on the floor, and there was clothes hanging against the wall. There was something laying on the floor in the far corner that looked like a man. So Jim says:

"Hello, you!"

But it didn't budge¹⁶. So I hollered again, and then Jim says:

"De man ain't asleep -- he's dead. You hold still -- I'll go en see."

He went, and bent¹⁷ down and looked, and says:

"It's a dead man. Yes, indeedy; naked, too. He's ben shot in de back. I reck'n he's ben dead two er three days. Come in, Huck, but doan' look at his face -- it's too gashly."

I didn't look at him at all. Jim throwed some old rags over him, but he needn't done it; I didn't want to see him. There was heaps of old greasy¹⁸ cards scattered¹⁹ around over the floor, and old whisky bottles, and a couple of masks made out of black cloth; and all over the walls was the ignorantest kind of words and pictures made with charcoal²⁰. There was two old dirty calico dresses, and a sun-bonnet, and some women's underclothes hanging against the wall, and some men's clothing, too. We put the lot into the canoe -- it might come good. There was a boy's old speckled straw hat on the floor; I took that, too. And there was a bottle that had had milk in it, and it had a rag stopper for a baby to suck. We would a took the bottle, but it was broke. There was a seedy old chest, and an old hair trunk with the hinges broke. They stood open, but there warn't nothing left in them that was any account. The way things was scattered about we reckoned the people left in a hurry, and warn't fixed²¹ so as to carry off most of their stuff.

We got an old tin lantern, and a butcher-knife without any handle, and a bran-new Barlow knife worth two bits in any store, and a lot of tallow candles, and a tin candlestick, and a gourd²², and a tin cup, and a ratty old bedquilt off the bed, and a reticule with needles and pins and beeswax and buttons and thread and all such truck in it, and a hatchet²³ and some nails, and a fishline as thick as my little finger with some monstrous²⁴ hooks on it, and a roll of buckskin, and a leather dog-collar, and a horseshoe, and some vials of medicine that didn't have no label on them; and just as we was leaving I found a tolerable good curry-comb, and Jim he found a ratty old fiddle-bow, and a wooden leg. The straps²⁵ was broke off of it, but, barring that, it was a good enough leg, though it was too long for me and not long enough for Jim, and we couldn't find the other one, though we hunted all around.

And so, take it all around, we made a good haul. When we was ready to shove off we was a quarter of a mile below the island, and it was pretty broad day; so I made Jim lay down in the canoe and cover up with the quilt, because if he set up people could tell he was a nigger a good ways off. I paddled over to the Illinois shore, and drifted down most a half a mile doing it. I crept up the dead water under the bank, and hadn't no accidents and didn't see nobody. We got home all safe.

我打算到岛中央一处地方去细看一下，那是我最初察看的时候便发现了的。我们就出发
了，一会儿就到了那里，因为这个岛不过三英里长、四分之一英里宽嘛。
    这个地方是个相当长相当陡的小山头，或者说山脊。有四十英尺高。我们爬到了顶顶上
也够累人的。两侧的坡坡也挺陡，矮树丛生得密密的。我们围着这处地方爬上爬下，终于发
现了山岩里有一个大山洞，是对着伊利诺斯州那一边的，快到山顶了。山洞里边有两三间房
子合起来那么大，杰姆能直起了身子走动。里边阴凉得很。杰姆主张把我们的什物立刻搬进
去。不过我说，我们可不愿意因此一天到晚爬上爬下的。
    杰姆说，要是我们能把独木小舟找到一个很好的去处给藏起来，然后把什物放在山洞
里，一旦有人到岛上来，我们就能直奔那边。除非带狗来，人家永远也别想能发现我们。再
说，他说过，小鸟已经告诉我们说，天快下雨了，难道我乐意叫东西给淋湿么？
    这样，我们便往回走，找到了独木小舟，划到了和山洞成一直线的地方，把什物都推进
了山洞。等下来，在附近找到了一个地方，把划子藏在密密的柳树丛下。我们从钓鱼竿上取
下了几条鱼，再把鱼竿放好，就开始弄中饭。
    洞口很宽，连一只大木桶都能滚进去。洞口的一边朝外突出了一小块地方，地势平坦，
倒是生火的好地方。我们便在那里生火做饭。
    我们在里边铺了些毯子作为地毯，就在那里吃饭。我们把其余的东西放在山洞紧里边顺
手拿得到的地方。过了不多久，天黑下来了，只见雪电交作，可见鸟儿的话有道理。接下
来，下起了雨。好个倾盆大雨！风又吹得如此猛烈，可是我从没有见到过的。夏天的雷阵
雨，就是这样的阵势。天变得一片黑漆漆的，洞外又青又黑，十分好看。雨又急又密，斜打
过去，不远处的树木看起来朦朦胧胧，仿佛给一张张蜘蛛网罩住了。突然吹来一阵狂风，把
树木吹弯了腰，又把树叶背面苍白的一片片朝天翻起。接着又一阵狂风，但见树枝猛烈摇
撼，简直象发了疯的一般。说话间，正当最青最黑的一刹那——唰！天亮得耀眼，只见千万
棵树梢在暴风雨中翻滚，和往常不同，连几百码以外也看得清清楚楚。再一刹那间，又是一
片漆黑。这时只听得雷声猛烈地炸开，轰隆隆、呼噜噜从天上滚下来，朝地底下滚过去，活
象一批空空的木桶在楼梯上往下滚，而且楼梯又长，知道吧，就连滚带跳，不亦乐乎。
    “杰姆，这有多痛快！”我说，“我什么地方也不想去了，就爱这里。再递给我一块
鱼，还要一点儿热的玉米饼。”
    “啊，要不是杰姆，你就不会得（耽）在这里，你就会留在林子里，没有饭吃，还会给
淋得半死，真是这样，乖乖。鸡知道天什么时候下雨，鸟也知道，伙计。”
    大河在十天到十二天中不停地涨水，后来淹没了河岸。岛上低洼处水深三四英尺，还有
伊利诺斯州河边低地上也是这样。在这一边，河面有好几英里路宽。不过在伊利诺斯州那一
边，还是原来那样的距离——半英里路宽——因为在伊利诺斯州那一边，沿岸尽是一堵堵高
墙似的峭壁。
    在大白天，我们坐了划子划遍了岛上各处。即使大太阳在外面晒得热辣辣的，密林深处
还是到处树荫，一片阴凉。我们在树丛里穿进穿出。有些地方，藤蔓长得过密，我们得退回
来，另找路走。啊，每一棵吹断倒下的老树，都能见到兔子和蛇这类东西，水漫全岛的一两
天中，它们因为饿得慌，就变得那么驯顺，你简直可以划近了，高兴的话，可以用手摸它们
身子。不过，蛇和鳖可不行——这些东西往往一溜就溜进了水里。我们那个山洞所在的山脊
那里，到处是这类东西，你要是高兴的话，可以捉到好多这类玩物。
    有一个晚上，我们截到了一小节木筏子——九块松木板。有十二英尺宽，十五六英尺
长，筏面露出水面六七英寸，就好象一片结实、平滑的地板。在白昼，有时可以见到锯成的
一根根木头淌过，我们听任它们漂去，因为我们白天不露面。
    另一个晚上，天快蒙蒙亮了，我们正在岛尖，上游漂来一座木头房子，是在西边的一
头。房子有两层，只见歪歪倒倒的。我们划了过去，爬了上去——从楼上窗口里爬了进去。
    可是天太黑，看不清楚。我们便把小舟系好，等着天明。
    我们到岛尾以前，天开始亮了起来。我们就窗口朝里边一望，看得清有一张床，一张桌
子，还有两张椅子，地板上各处还有些什物，墙上还挂着几件衣服。屋角里地板上仿佛躺着
什么东西，看上去象是一个男子模样。杰姆就说：
    “哈啰，你好啊！”
    可是他并不动弹。我便也喊了一声，杰姆接下来说：
    “这人并非是睡着了，——他死了。你别动——让我去看。”
    他去了，弯下身子，细看以后说：
    “是个死了的男子。是啊，正是这样，而且还光着身子。是背后开枪打死的。估摸着，
死了有两三天了。哈克，你进来，可是别看他的脸——样子太可怕了。”
    我根本没有看他的脸。杰姆扔了几件旧衣服，遮住了他的脸。其实他不需要这么干，我
不想看他。油腻腻的纸牌，这儿一堆，那儿一堆，散遍了地板各处。还有威士忌酒瓶，还有
黑皮做成的几个面罩。墙上到处都是用木炭涂的字和画，尽是最愚蠢无聊的那一类。还有两
件脏旧不堪的花洋布衣服，还有一顶太阳帽和几件女人的内衣，都挂在墙上。墙上还挂着几
件男人的衣服。我们把一些东西放到了独木舟里。也许会有用得着的地方吧。地板上有一顶
男孩子戴的带花点儿的旧草帽，我把这个也拣了。还有一只瓶子，里面还有牛奶，上面还有
一个布奶头，是给婴儿咂奶用的。我们本想把瓶子带走，可是瓶子破了。还有一只破旧的木
柜，一只带毛的皮箱，上面的合叶都已经裂开了。皮箱没有上锁，是敞开着的，不过里面并
没有什么值钱的东西。从东西凌乱散了一地来看，我们估计，人家是匆匆忙忙离开的，没有
来得及定下主意把哪些东西带走。
    我们找到了一盏旧的白铁皮灯盏，一把铁把子的割肉刀。还有一把崭新的巴罗牌大折
刀，在随便哪家铺子里卖，也值两毛五分钱。还有不少牛油蜡烛，一个白铁烛台，还有一把
葫芦瓢，一只白铁杯子，一条破烂的旧被子丢在床边，一只手提包，里边装着针线、黄蜡、
钮扣等等东西。还有一把斧头和一些钉子。还有一根钓鱼竿，跟我的个指头一般粗细，上面
还系着几只特别大号的鱼钩。还有一卷鹿皮，一只牛皮做的狗项圈，一只马蹄铁。还有几只
没有标签的药瓶。正要离开的时候，我找到了一只马梳子，东西还可以。杰姆找到了一把破
旧的提琴弓，还有一只木制假腿。上面的皮带已经裂开了，不过除此以外倒是好好的一条
腿。只是对我来说嫌太长，对杰姆来说嫌太短，那另外的一条呢，我们找遍了，也没有找到。
    这样，整个儿算起来，我们发了一笔大财。我们准备划走的时候，已经是在小岛下游四
分之一英里的地段。已是大白天了。所以我让杰姆躺在小舟里，用被子蒙上。因为如果他一
坐起来，人家老远就能认出是个黑奴。我们划到了伊利诺斯州岸边，接着往下淌了半英里，
我沿着岸边静水往上划，一路之上，没有发生什么意外，也没有见到什么人。我们太太平平
回到了家。