AFTER breakfast I wanted to talk about the dead man and guess out how he come to be killed, but Jim didn't want to. He said it would fetch bad luck; and besides, he said, he might come and ha'nt us; he said a man that warn't buried was more likely to go aha'nting around than one that was planted and comfortable. That sounded pretty reasonable, so I didn't say no more; but I couldn't keep from studying over it and wishing I knowed who shot the man, and what they done it for.

We rummaged¹ the clothes we'd got, and found eight dollars in silver sewed up in the lining² of an old blanket overcoat. Jim said he reckoned the people in that house stole the coat, because if they'd a knowed the money was there they wouldn't a left it. I said I reckoned they killed him, too; but Jim didn't want to talk about that. I says:

"Now you think it's bad luck; but what did you say when I fetched in the snake-skin that I found on the top of the ridge³ day before yesterday? You said it was the worst bad luck in the world to touch a snake-skin with my hands. Well, here's your bad luck! We've raked in all this truck and eight dollars besides. I wish we could have some bad luck like this every day, Jim."

"Never you mind, honey, never you mind. Don't you git too peart. It's a-comin'. Mind I tell you, it's a-comin'."

It did come, too. It was a Tuesday that we had that talk. Well, after dinner Friday we was laying around in the grass at the upper end of the ridge, and got out of tobacco. I went to the cavern⁴ to get some, and found a rattlesnake in there. I killed him, and curled him up on the foot of Jim's blanket, ever so natural, thinking there'd be some fun when Jim found him there. Well, by night I forgot all about the snake, and when Jim flung himself down on the blanket while I struck a light the snake's mate was there, and bit him.

He jumped up yelling, and the first thing the light showed was the varmint curled up and ready for another spring. I laid him out in a second with a stick, and Jim grabbed pap's whisky-jug⁶ and begun to pour it down.

He was barefooted, and the snake bit him right on the heel. That all comes of my being such a fool as to not remember that wherever you leave a dead snake its mate always comes there and curls around it. Jim told me to chop off the snake's head and throw it away, and then skin the body and roast a piece of it. I done it, and he eat it and said it would help cure him. He made me take off the rattles⁵ and tie them around his wrist, too. He said that that would help. Then I slid out quiet and throwed the snakes clear away amongst the bushes; for I warn't going to let Jim find out it was all my fault, not if I could help it.

Jim sucked and sucked at the jug, and now and then he got out of his head and pitched around and yelled; but every time he come to himself he went to sucking at the jug again. His foot swelled⁷ up pretty big, and so did his leg; but by and by the drunk begun to come, and so I judged he was all right; but I'd druther been bit with a snake than pap's whisky.

Jim was laid up for four days and nights. Then the swelling⁸ was all gone and he was around again. I made up my mind I wouldn't ever take a-holt of a snake-skin again with my hands, now that I see what had come of it. Jim said he reckoned I would believe him next time. And he said that handling a snakeskin was such awful bad luck that maybe we hadn't got to the end of it yet. He said he druther see the new moon over his left shoulder as much as a thousand times than take up a snake-skin in his hand. Well, I was getting to feel that way myself, though I've always reckoned that looking at the new moon over your left shoulder is one of the carelessest and foolishest things a body can do. Old Hank Bunker done it once, and bragged⁹ about it; and in less than two years he got drunk and fell off of the shot-tower, and spread himself out so that he was just a kind of a layer, as you may say; and they slid him edgeways between two barn doors for a coffin¹⁰, and buried him so, so they say, but I didn't see it. Pap told me. But anyway it all come of looking at the moon that way, like a fool.

Well, the days went along, and the river went down between its banks again; and about the first thing we done was to bait one of the big hooks with a skinned rabbit and set it and catch a catfish¹¹ that was as big as a man, being six foot two inches long, and weighed over two hundred pounds. We couldn't handle him, of course; he would a flung us into Illinois. We just set there and watched him rip and tear around till he drownded. We found a brass¹² button in his stomach and a round ball, and lots of rubbage. We split the ball open with the hatchet¹³, and there was a spool¹⁴ in it. Jim said he'd had it there a long time, to coat it over so and make a ball of it. It was as big a fish as was ever catched in the Mississippi, I reckon. Jim said he hadn't ever seen a bigger one. He would a been worth a good deal over at the village. They peddle¹⁵ out such a fish as that by the pound in the markethouse there; everybody buys some of him; his meat's as white as snow and makes a good fry.

Next morning I said it was getting slow and dull, and I wanted to get a stirring up some way. I said I reckoned I would slip over the river and find out what was going on. Jim liked that notion; but he said I must go in the dark and look sharp. Then he studied it over and said, couldn't I put on some of them old things and dress up like a girl? That was a good notion, too. So we shortened up one of the calico gowns, and I turned up my trouser-legs to my knees and got into it. Jim hitched¹⁶ it behind with the hooks, and it was a fair fit. I put on the sun-bonnet and tied it under my chin, and then for a body to look in and see my face was like looking down a joint¹⁷ of stovepipe. Jim said nobody would know me, even in the daytime, hardly. I practiced around all day to get the hang of the things, and by and by I could do pretty well in them, only Jim said I didn't walk like a girl; and he said I must quit pulling up my gown to get at my britches-pocket. I took notice, and done better.

I started up the Illinois shore in the canoe just after dark.

I started across to the town from a little below the ferry-landing, and the drift of the current fetched me in at the bottom of the town. I tied up and started along the bank. There was a light burning in a little shanty¹⁸ that hadn't been lived in for a long time, and I wondered who had took up quarters there. I slipped up and peeped in at the window. There was a woman about forty year old in there knitting by a candle that was on a pine table. I didn't know her face; she was a stranger, for you couldn't start a face in that town that I didn't know. Now this was lucky, because I was weakening; I was getting afraid I had come; people might know my voice and find me out. But if this woman had been in such a little town two days she could tell me all I wanted to know; so I knocked at the door, and made up my mind I wouldn't forget I was a girl.

吃过早饭以后，我本想讲讲有关死人的事，猜猜他是怎样会被杀害的，不过杰姆不乐意
谈，他说，这会带来恶运。他还说，再说他也可能会来，给我们作祟。他说，一个人要是没
有入土埋葬，那么与平常埋葬的人比起来，更会到处游荡。这话听起来也很在理，我便没有
再说什么了。不过呢，我不由得不想到要琢磨琢磨这回事，心里总希望能弄清开枪打死那个
男子的是谁，又究竟为了什么缘故。
    我们把搞来的衣服翻了一遍，在一条旧呢毯大衣的里子里找到了八块大洋。杰姆说，他
推想，是那间屋子里的人偷了这件大衣，因为如果他们知道里边有钱，便不会把衣服留在那
里。我呢？我说，我琢磨起来，是他们杀了他的。不过，杰姆不愿多谈这件事。我说：
    “你啊，以为这是件倒霉的事。可是前两天我摸了我在山脊上发现的蛇皮壳的时候，你
是怎么说的呢？你说，我用手去摸蛇皮，那是会遭到世界上最倒霉的恶运的。好啊，如今是
你所说的最倒霉的恶运啦。我们拣到了一大堆东西，还有那八块大洋。杰姆，我但愿每天都
遭到什么恶运才好呢。”
    “别忙啊，乖乖，别忙啊。先别太高兴啦。眼看恶运要临头了，听我说，眼看恶运要临
头了。”
    真是恶运临头了。我们说这番话的时候，那是星期二。啊，星期五，吃过晚饭，我们躺
在山脊顶的草地上。我的烟草抽光了，我到山洞里去取一些，发现那里有一条响尾蛇。我把
它打死了。我把死蛇卷了起来，放在杰姆的毯子脚跟头，就象一条活生生的蛇。心想，等到
杰姆猛一见，会有好玩的事可看的。啊，到晚上，我压根儿把蛇的事全给忘了。我点灯的时
候，杰姆往毯子上一躺，那条蛇的老伴正在那里，咬了他一口。
    他大吼一声跳将起来。灯光照处，照见的第一件事是那条可恶的东西昂起头来，正要再
窜一回。我抄起一根棍子，一刹那间打死了它。只见杰姆抓起爸爸那个酒罐，大口往嘴里灌。
    他是光着脚的，蛇就对准了他脚跟咬了一口。就是我这个傻瓜蛋忘了那里有死蛇，它的
老伴就会游过来，盘在上面。杰姆要我把蛇头砍下来，给扔了，然后把皮剥掉，把蛇肉烤一
段吃。我照着做了。他吃了，还说这能治病。他叫我取下尾巴上的响鳞，他缠到了他的手腕
子上。他说这也管用。随后我悄悄地溜了出去，把死蛇扔到了矮树丛里。我不打算告诉杰姆
说，那都是我的过错。只要做得到，我就不对他说实话。
    杰姆对着酒罐呷了又呷。时不时的神志不清，跳来跳去，高声叫唤。每一回醒过来，便
又去对着酒罐呷酒喝。他那只脚肿得好粗，小腿也肿得厉害。不过，慢慢地酒力见效了，我
断定他没有事了。不过，我宁愿给蛇咬，也不愿意喝爸爸的酒。
    杰姆躺了四天四夜，肿全消了，他又活动起来了。我打定了主意，从此不说什么用我的
手摸蛇皮的话了。惹了这场大祸，不是很清楚了么？杰姆说，他估摸，下回我会信他的话。
他还说，摸蛇皮的恶运非同小可，说不定我们遭到的灾祸还没有尽头呢。他说，他宁愿朝左
肩后望新月一千遍，也不愿手摸蛇皮一回。是啊，我也开始觉得我自己在这么想了，尽管我
一向认为，往左肩后边望新月，可说是一个人最抽劣、最愚蠢的事了。老汉克·朋格这么干
过一回，还大吹大擂的，不到两年，他喝醉后，从制弹塔上摔下来，摔得简直可说是象一张
薄饼，摊在地上。人家把仓房的两扇门板作为棺材，把他的尸体给塞了进去。这是人家这么
说的，我没有亲见。是爸爸对我说了的。不过，不管怎么说吧，这么傻呼呼地张望新月，就
得了这么个下场。
    日子一天天过去了，大河河水又往下回落，在两岸当中流淌。我们干的第一件事，大概
就是把一只兔子剥了皮系在大鱼钩上，放下去，结果钓到了一条大鲶鱼，简直象一个人那么
大，长六英尺两英寸，重两百磅以上。我们当然对付不了它，它会把我们一下子扔到伊利诺
斯州那边去。我们便光是坐着，看着它又蹦又跳，直到死在水里。我们在它的胃子里找到一
只铜扣子和一只圆球，还有不少杂七杂八的东西。我们用斧头把那个圆球劈了开来，里边有
一个线轴儿。杰姆说，线轴儿耽得时间久了，外面裹上了各样东西，成了个圆球。我看，这
么大的一条鱼，是密西西比河上钓到的最大的鱼了。要是在村子里的话，能值很多钱。人家
会在市场上论磅出售，每个人都会买一点。肉象雪一般白，煎着吃美味可口。
    第二天早上，我说，日子过得太慢，太沉闷，我要来点儿热闹的。我说，不妨由我偷偷
渡过河去，打听打听各方面的情况。这个主意杰姆很听得进。不过他说我必须晚上去，眼睛
又要放得尖一些才行。接着，他端详了一番。然后说我能不能穿上旧衣服，打扮得象一个姑
娘家呢？这可是个好主意。我们就动手把一件印花布衫子剪短，我把我的裤腿卷到膝盖上，
穿上了衫子。杰姆用钩子替我在背后收紧了些，就弄得合身了。我带上了女用的遮阳大草
帽，系到我的下巴颏儿上，这样，人家要细看我的脸，就好比要从火炉筒子往下看一样的
难。杰姆说没有人能认出我来，即使是白天也难。我操练了一整天，让自己能掌握一些诀
窍，慢慢地也就相当熟练了。不过杰姆说，我走起路来，还不象姑娘家的样子。他还说，我
千万不可以把衣衫一提，把手插进裤子口袋，这个习惯必须改掉。这一点我注意到了，就有
些进步了。
    天黑以后，我便坐划子前往伊利诺斯州的河岸那边。
    我在渡口下面不远处朝镇子划去。水流把我带到了镇梢头。我把独木舟系好了，沿着河
岸往前走。有一间小小的草屋，已经好久没有人住了，如今点着亮亮的灯光。我心想，不知
道是谁住在那里。我轻手轻脚走过去，从窗口朝里偷偷一望。只见有一位妇女，四十岁上
下，正就着一张松木桌上的蜡烛光做针线活。她的脸我没有见过。她是个外乡人。镇上人的
脸没有我不认识的，这也是该我的运气好。当时我正在心虚，开始懊悔这回该不该来。人家
也许会听出我说话的声音，就会识破真相。不过嘛，如果这个妇女到小镇上来了两天了，那
我想知道的一切，她准能告诉我。这样，我便敲了敲门，并且打定主意，要自己千万别忘了
自己是个姑娘家。