Chapter 15 Chapter Thirteen "Pirate" set sail, ready to sail

Tom made up his mind now.He was melancholy and hopeless.He said that he had become a friendless, abandoned child, and no one loved him.Maybe those people will feel guilty when they find out that they have driven the land into such a field.He's been trying so hard to make no mistakes and be good, but people just don't let him; since they're all about avoiding him, let it be; let them blame him for what's going to happen ——That's their virtue, let them go!Then again, how can a person like him who has no relatives and no reason have the right to blame others?Yes, they forced him to take the risk: he had no choice but to live a criminal life.

At this moment, he had almost reached the end of Lawn Lane, and the school bell rang faintly in his ears.He sobbed at the thought that he would never, never hear that familiar voice—how could the cruel truth not be painful, but it was forced.Since they meant to throw him into the ice cave, he had no choice but to accept his fate—but he forgave them.Thinking of this, he cried even more sadly. Just at this time, he met his iron buddy Joe Harper - his eyes are straight, obviously ulterior motives.Needless to say, the two of them are friends who are "on the same road".Tom wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and wept and said that he was determined to leave this ghost school with inhuman life and his unsympathetic family, wandering around the world, and never returning.At last he said he hoped Joe would not forget him.

Coincidentally, Joe had come to bid farewell to Tom and made such a request to him.His mother beat him up for stealing the cheese, when he never drank it, never tasted it, and had no idea of ​​it.Obviously, she hated him and longed for him to go away.Since she thought so, what else could he do but obey?I hope she can be happy and never regret that she drove her poor son out of the house and left him in the cruel world to suffer and die. As the two children traveled sadly, they made a new covenant, vowing to help each other, to be brothers and sisters, and never to be separated, unless the god of death insisted on breaking them up and giving them complete relief.Then, they began to draw up an action plan.Joe proposed to become a hermit, away from people, living in caves in the wild, living on dry bread, and waiting to die of freezing, starving, and heartbroken one day at last.However, after hearing Tom's words, he also thought that criminal business was not bad, so he readily agreed to be a pirate.

Three miles below the town of St. Petersburg, where the Mississippi River is more than a mile wide, there is a long, narrow, forested island.There is a very shallow sandy beach in front of the island, which is a treasured Fengshui place for secret meetings.The island is uninhabited, very close to the opposite bank, and there is a lush forest next to the river bank, which is rarely visited by people.So they fell in love with this Jackson Island.As for who should be robbed after becoming pirates, they didn't even think about it.Then they found Huckleberry Finn, and he was on board right away, because he was so used to going with the situation, he didn't care anyway.They parted soon after, and made an appointment to meet at their favorite hour, midnight, in a secluded spot on the river bank two miles above town.There was a little raft there, and they meant to keep it for themselves.Each has to bring a hook and line for fishing, and to equip himself with his own secret tricks—that is, to steal things like the robbers.As soon as it was dark, they were blaring the word through the town that people would soon be "hearing big news," and they couldn't have been happier with that.Anyone who got this kind of hint was told to "keep quiet and wait and see".

About midnight Tom arrived with a cooked ham and some small things.He was standing in a thick low woods on a small cliff.Looking down from the cliff, you can see the place where they agreed to meet.It was a starry night, and all was silent.The wide river lies still like an ocean.Tom listened for a while, but there was no sound to disturb the silence.So he whistled, although the voice was low, but it was clearly recognizable.Someone immediately responded under the cliff.Tom blew twice more and got the same response.Then he heard a wary voice ask: "Who is coming?" "I am the Black Bandit of the Spanish Sea, Tom Sawyer. Who are you waiting for?"

"Huck Finn the Red Hand, Joe Harper the Death of the Seas." These two titles were given to them by Tom from among his favorite books. "Okay, password?" In the silence, two hoarse voices uttered a terrifying word almost simultaneously: "Blood!" So Tom threw his ham over the cliff, and slid down with him, ruining his clothes and his flesh.In fact, there is a straight path leading directly to the bottom of the cliff, but the pirates find it uninspiring to take that path that is too flat and not dangerous. The death of the sea brought a hunk of bacon, which nearly exhausted him.The Red-Handed Finn stole a frying pan, some half-cured tobacco leaves, and a few corn cobs to make pipes.But none of the pirates smoked or chewed tobacco except himself.The black-clothed bandit of the Spanish Sea said that nothing can be achieved without fire.It was a brilliant idea, and matches were hardly known in those days.They saw a smoking fire on a great raft a hundred yards upriver, and slipped across to fetch kindling.They deliberately pretended to be alarmed, and said from time to time: "Hush!" Suddenly, they stopped with their fingers pressed to their lips.They advanced with imaginary knife handles in their hands, and issued orders in low voices with sullen faces, saying that as long as the "enemy" dared to move, they would be "killed without mercy" and wiped out, so that "the dead will not make irresponsible remarks."They knew that the rafters had gone to the town to shop for goods or drink for fun, but they still stole the ship according to the usual thieving routine.

They soon cast off, with Tom at command, Huck at the right oar, and Jo at the fore oar.Tom stood in the middle of the boat, with his brows furrowed, arms crossed, and he issued the password in a low and majestic voice: "Turn the rudder and steer into the wind!" "Yes—yes, Captain!" "Make sure, go straight!" "Yes, go straight ahead, Captain!" "Turn out a little?" "Over, Captain!" Steady and consistent, the boys rowed the raft midstream.These passwords are just for show and don't mean anything special, that's all.

"What sail is hoisting now?" "Brigand, topsail, and jib, Captain." "Pull up the topsail! Up to the top of the mast, hey, all six of you - up the fore-topsail! Go hard, hey!" "Yes—yes, Captain!" "Head up the second topsail! Haleage and rigging! Hey, boys!" "Yes—yes, Captain!" "It's going to be a gale--turn the rudder! When the wind comes, go with the wind! Turn left, turn left! Come on guys!Go straight - go! " "Yes, go straight ahead, Captain!" As the raft passed mid-stream, the boys turned the bows and continued to paddle furiously.The current was not rushing, only two or three miles, and almost no one made a sound for the next three quarters of an hour.Now the raft was passing the looming town.Two or three lights flickered, showing the direction of the town. It lay peacefully and serenely on the other side of the star-studded, sparkling river, unaware of what an astonishing event was happening under its nose.The black-clothed rogue stood motionless on the raft with his arms folded.He is taking one last look at the place that brought him joy and distress, and hopes that "she" can see him facing danger and death on the white waves at this moment, without fear, with a sneer on his face, Die calmly.With a little use of his imagination, he has moved Jackson Island out of sight, so that his "one last look" at the town is not lacking in solace, though sad.The other two pirates were also saying goodbye to their homeland, and they watched so long that they nearly let the raft carry the raft across the island, but they saw the danger just in time and managed to stop it.About two o'clock in the morning the raft ran aground on the sand two hundred yards in front of the island.So they waded up and down in the water and carried all the things they had brought ashore.Among the original things on the raft was an old sail, with which they pitched a tent in a sheltered place in the undergrowth.They put their things in their tents, but they themselves slept outside, as the pirates did, when the weather was fine.

At a distance of twenty or thirty paces deep in the woods, they built a fire next to a fallen tree trunk, and cooked some bacon for their supper in a frying pan, and ate the cornbread they had brought. Half off.Far from the crowds, living on a deserted island, picnicking freely in such a virgin forest seems to be so fun, they say they don't plan to go back to the civilized world.The flames blazed in their faces, and in the woods sanctuary they had propped up on their trunks, and gilded the smooth painted leaves and the flowered vines. superior. After eating the last piece of crispy bacon and some cornbread, the children fell contentedly on the grass.They could have found a cooler place, but it was hard for them to let go of such a hot campfire and such a romantic atmosphere.

"Isn't it pretty fun?" said Joe. "Better the gods!" said Tom. "What'd the boys say if they could see us?" "What do you say? Why, they'll be fascinated--well, don't you, Huck!" "I suppose so," said Huckleberry, "I like it here, anyway. I don't think it's any better than that. I don't usually have a full meal--and here's No one will bully you." "I like it, too," said Tom. "You don't have to get up early in the morning, and you don't have to go to school, and you don't have to wash your face, and you don't have to do any goddamn troubles. You know, Joe, the pirates are on shore When he was a hermit, he didn't have to do anything, but when he was a hermit, he always had to say prayers and prayers, so that he had no joy at all, and was always alone."

"Well, yes, that's what it is," said Joe, "but you know, I didn't think much of it. Now that I've tried, I'd rather be a pirate." "You know," said Tom, "hermits aren't very popular these days, like they used to be, but pirates have never been underestimated. And to be a hermit, you have to find the hardest place to sleep, your head Wrapped in burlap and dusted and standing outside in the rain and—" Huck asked, "What are they doing with burlap and ashes on their heads?" "I don't know. But they've got to do it. Hermits have to. If you're a hermit, you have to." "I'm not doing it," Huck said. "Then what do you do?" "I don't know, I'm not doing it anyway." "Hmph, Huck, you must do this. There is no escape." "Hey, I just don't want to suffer that, I'll just walk away." "Go away! Hmph, that's really good, then you will become a down-and-out lazy hermit, it's too embarrassing." The red-handed thief was busy with other things and didn't answer.He had just hollowed out a corn cob, and now he was busy fitting a reed stalk to make a pipe barrel, and he filled it with tobacco leaves, lit the tobacco leaves with a large piece of fiery coal, and then took a puff and exhaled a fragrant scent. The smoke came—at this moment, he felt very relaxed and happy, very comfortable.The two pirates next to him looked at his imposing ruffian, envied him very much, and made up their minds to learn this trick as soon as possible.Hack said: "What do pirates usually do?" Tom said: "Why, they live a fairy life--take their boats and burn them, and take the money and bury them in those dark places on their island where ghosts haunt them. And they take all the people in the boats Kill them all—blindfold them and let them fall into the sea." "And they bring the women back to the island," said Jo, "and they don't kill the women." "Yes," Tom agreed, "they don't kill the women--that's great! And the women were often pretty women, too. " "They're always well dressed, too! Oh, and that's not all! They wear gold and silver," said Jo cheerily. "Who is it?" Huck asked. "Hey, those pirates." Huck glanced pitifully at his clothes. "I don't think I'm good enough to be a pirate in the way I'm dressed," he said, with palpable frustration. "But I have no clothes but this one." But the other two partners reassured him that as long as they acted, the good clothes would be available soon.They told him that, although it is customary for rich pirates to start out smart, it was permissible for him to start out in ragged clothes. Gradually their conversation died down, and the little bums were sleepy, and their eyelids were fighting.The red-handed thief's pipe slipped from his hands to the floor, and he fell asleep carefree and exhausted.The Reaper of the Sea and the Spanish Bandit in Black couldn't sleep for a long time.Since no one there forced them to kneel and pray aloud, they lay on the ground and prayed silently in their hearts.In fact, they don't want to pray at all in their hearts, but they are afraid that if they don't, God will be angry and send a thunderbolt from the sky.Soon they also became drowsy, but there was something "tricking" to prevent them from falling asleep.That's the guy with conscience.They were frightened, and had a vague feeling that it had been a mistake to run away from home.The thought of stealing meat made them even more uncomfortable.They tried to appease their consciences by saying that they had stolen candy and apples many times in the past, but their consciences did not buy it.In the end, they seem to feel that there is no getting around the fact that stealing sweets and the like is nothing more than "hand-in-hand," while stealing such valuables as bacon and ham is quite theft.—The Bible " have expressly prohibited this.So they made up their minds that as long as they were still pirates, they would not allow the crime of stealing to tarnish their reputation as pirates.Then conscience agreed to reconcile with them, and the two puzzling and contradictory pirates fell asleep with peace of mind.