The news about the gold made a big stir in the village of St. Petersburg. Everyone talked about the money. People thought it was incredible. Many men started looking for more treasure in old houses. They dug up the floors of many buildings. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were famous now. People listened to everything they said. Everything the boys did seemed important. The village newspaper wrote biographical sketches (stories about the lives of the boys).
The Widow Douglas and Judge Thatcher helped the boys with their money. The boys had a lot of income (money that a person receives regularly). Each boy got a dollar every day. This was a lot of money in those days. A boy could buy food and clothes for only a dollar and a quarter a week. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were as rich as the minister.
Judge Thatcher liked Tom Sawyer very much. Becky Thatcher told her father a secret. She told him that Tom Sawyer took a whipping for her at school. Judge Thatcher was very happy. He said it was a noble lie. He compared Tom Sawyer to George Washington. Judge Thatcher wanted Tom Sawyer to become a great lawyer or a soldier one day. He wanted Tom Sawyer to go to the best schools.
Huck Finn was rich now. He lived with the Widow Douglas. He was part of society (a group of people who live together with rules). But Huck Finn was not happy. The servants kept him clean. He had to eat with a fork and a knife. He had to use a napkin. He had to go to church and school. He had to talk very politely. He felt like he was in prison because of civilization (a society with many rules and modern ways of living).
Huck Finn was brave for three weeks. Then he ran away. The Widow Douglas looked everywhere for him. Everyone in the town was worried. On the third morning, Tom Sawyer went to an old house. He looked inside an old hogshead (a very large wooden barrel). He found Huck Finn inside the barrel. Huck Finn was wearing his old rags. He was smoking his pipe and he looked comfortable.
Tom Sawyer told Huck Finn to come home. Huck Finn was very sad. "I cannot do it, Tom Sawyer," Huck Finn said. "I am not used to it. The Widow Douglas is good to me, but I hate her rules. I have to get up at the same time every morning. I have to wash and they comb my hair. I cannot sleep in the woodshed."
"Everybody lives that way, Huck Finn," Tom Sawyer said.
"I am not everybody!" Huck Finn cried. "I have to ask to go fishing. I have to ask to go swimming. I have to wear shoes all Sunday. The Widow Douglas does everything when a bell rings. It is too regular. And she prays all the time! Being rich is just worry and trouble. I like my old clothes and my barrel. Please take my money and tell the widow I am not coming back."
Tom Sawyer saw a way to help. "Huck Finn, being rich will not stop me from being a robber," Tom Sawyer said.
"Really? Are you serious, Tom Sawyer?" Huck Finn asked.
"I am very serious," Tom Sawyer said. "But you cannot be in the gang if you are not respectable. A robber is a high-toned person. Robbers are like kings and dukes. People will say bad things about my gang if you are a dirty boy. You must stay with the widow."
Huck Finn was silent for a while. He thought about the gang. He wanted to be a robber very much. "Well, I will go back to the widow for one month," Huck Finn said. "I will try to stay there if I can belong to the gang, Tom Sawyer."
"That is a deal!" Tom Sawyer said. "I will ask the Widow Douglas to be kind to you."
"Thank you, Tom Sawyer," Huck Finn said. "When will we start the gang?"
"Right away," Tom Sawyer said. "We will have an initiation (a special ceremony for new members of a group) tonight. We will swear to help each other. We will promise never to tell the gang's secrets. We will do it at midnight in a scary place. We will sign our names with blood."
"That sounds great!" Huck Finn said. "I will stay with the widow. Maybe one day she will be proud of me because I am a famous robber."