"Wake up! What are you doing?"
Huck Finn opened his eyes and looked around. The sun was already up. Huck Finn had been sound asleep for a long time. Pap stood over him. Pap looked angry and sick.
"What are you doing with this gun?" Pap asked.
Huck Finn knew that Pap did not remember the night before. Huck Finn said, "Someone tried to come inside. I was waiting for him with the gun."
Pap asked why Huck Finn did not wake him up. Huck Finn said he tried, but Pap did not move. Pap told Huck Finn to stop talking. He told Huck Finn to go to the river. Pap wanted to see if there were any fish for breakfast.
Pap unlocked the door. Huck Finn went to the river bank. He saw pieces of wood and bark floating in the water. He knew the river was rising. This was a good time for Huck Finn. He could catch the wood and sell it to the people in town.
Huck Finn looked for fish and wood. Suddenly, he saw a canoe (a long, narrow boat for one or two people). It was beautiful and very long. Huck Finn jumped into the river with his clothes on. He swam to the boat and climbed inside.
Huck Finn thought a person was hiding inside, but the boat was empty. He moved the boat to the shore. He wanted to show Pap because the boat was worth ten dollars. Then Huck Finn had a new idea. He decided to hide the boat in a gully (a small valley made by water).
Huck Finn hid the boat behind some trees and vines. He wanted to use the boat to run away. He would go fifty miles down the river. Then he would find a place to live. He would not have to walk through the woods.
Huck Finn went back to the river. He saw Pap with his gun. Pap did not see Huck Finn with the boat. Huck Finn told Pap he was slow because he fell in the river. They took five fish from the lines and went home.
After breakfast, Huck Finn and Pap wanted to sleep. Huck Finn thought about a plan to leave. He did not want Pap or Widow Douglas to find him. Pap woke up to drink some water. He told Huck Finn to wake him if the man came back.
This gave Huck Finn a great idea. He could make everyone think he was dead. Then nobody would follow him. At twelve o'clock, Huck Finn and Pap went back to the river. They found a raft (a flat boat made of many logs tied together).
Pap wanted to sell the logs in the town. He locked Huck Finn in the house. Pap left at three o'clock and pulled the raft behind his boat. Huck Finn knew Pap would stay in town all night. Huck Finn waited until Pap was far away.
Huck Finn used his saw to make the hole in the wall again. He climbed out of the hole. Pap and his raft were very small on the water. Huck Finn began to move his things to the hidden canoe.
Huck Finn took a sack of corn and some meat. He took the whiskey, the coffee, and the sugar. He took the ammunition (bullets for a gun) and the blankets. He took the pots and the fish lines. Huck Finn took everything of value.
Huck Finn cleaned the ground outside the hole. He put the piece of log back in its place. He used rocks to hold the log. No person could see the hole from the outside. The back of the house looked normal.
Huck Finn walked on the grass to the boat. He did not want to leave tracks on the ground. He went into the woods with the gun. He saw a wild pig and he shot it. Huck Finn took the pig back to the house.
Huck Finn used an axe to break the door of the house. He used the axe to cut the throat of the pig. The blood went on the floor. Then Huck Finn put many heavy rocks in a sack. He dragged the sack from the pig to the river.
Huck Finn threw the rocks into the water. It looked like someone dragged a dead body to the river. Huck Finn wished his friend Tom Sawyer was there. Tom Sawyer loved to make plans like this. Tom Sawyer would add more details.
Huck Finn put some of his hair on the axe. Then he threw the axe in a corner. He carried the pig to the river and threw it in. Then Huck Finn took the sack of corn meal. He made a hole in the sack and walked to a lake.
The meal fell out and made a track. It looked like robbers stole the food and went to the lake. Huck Finn also dropped a tool for sharpening knives. Then he went back to the canoe. He was ready to leave.
It was dark now. Huck Finn moved the boat under some trees and waited for the moon. He ate some food and made a plan. He thought people would look for his body in the river. They would never find him on Jackson’s Island.
Huck Finn fell asleep for a short time. When he woke up, the moon was very bright. He heard a sound on the water. It was the sound of oars. A man was in a small boat. It was Pap, but he was not drunk.
Pap passed very close to Huck Finn. Huck Finn waited for Pap to pass. Then Huck Finn moved his boat quietly down the river. He went to the middle of the river. He did not want people at the ferry to see him.
Huck Finn laid down in the boat and let the water carry him. He rested and looked at the deep sky. He heard people talking at the ferry landing. He could hear every word they said. One man said the nights were getting short.
The men laughed and talked for a long time. Then the voices became quiet. Huck Finn was far away from the ferry now. He saw Jackson’s Island. It was big and dark in the middle of the river.
The water was moving very fast. Huck Finn moved his boat into a safe place behind the trees. No person could see the boat from the outside. Huck Finn felt safe. He was finally free from Pap and Widow Douglas.
Huck Finn sat on a log and looked at the river. He saw lights in the town far away. He saw a big raft with a lantern. He heard a man shout to the other workers. Huck Finn went into the woods and went to sleep.