Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer stopped talking and started to think. After a while, Tom Sawyer spoke. He told Huckleberry Finn that he knew where Jim was.
Tom Sawyer explained his idea. He saw a man carry food to a small hut on the farm. The food included watermelon. Tom Sawyer knew that dogs do not eat watermelon.
The man used a key to open a padlock (a removable lock with a U-shaped bar). Then the man locked the door again when he left. Tom Sawyer was sure that Jim was the prisoner in that hut.
Tom Sawyer wanted to use a smart plan to find Jim. He did not want a simple plan. Huckleberry Finn thought Tom Sawyer was very brave and clever.
Huckleberry Finn told Tom Sawyer his plan. He wanted to steal the key from Uncle Silas’s pants at night. Then they could unlock the door and take Jim to the raft. They could hide during the day and travel at night.
Tom Sawyer did not like this plan. He said the plan was too easy. Tom Sawyer wanted a plan that was more difficult and mysterious. He wanted the escape to be like a story in a book.
Huckleberry Finn was surprised that Tom Sawyer wanted to help. Tom Sawyer came from a good family and had a good reputation. Helping a slave was a big risk for Tom Sawyer. Huckleberry Finn did not understand it, but he agreed to help.
At night, the two boys went to the hut. The dogs did not bark because they knew the boys. They saw a small window with a board nailed across it. Huckleberry Finn wanted to pull the board off.
Tom Sawyer said that was too simple. He wanted to find a more difficult way. They looked around and found a small shed next to the hut. They opened the door of the shed.
Inside the shed, they found some spades (tools used for digging) and some picks (heavy metal tools used to break hard ground). Tom Sawyer was very happy. He said they would dig a hole under the wall to get Jim out.
Tom Sawyer said the digging would take a week. Then they went back to the house. Huckleberry Finn went through the door. But Tom Sawyer wanted to climb the lightning-rod (a metal pole on the side of a building).
Tom Sawyer fell down three times. On the fourth try, he reached the top and went into the house. The next morning, they went to visit the huts where the slaves lived.
They met a man named Nat who fed Jim. Nat had many small pieces of thread in his hair. He did this to keep away witches (people with magic powers who do bad things).
Nat was very nervous. He said the witches were bothering him and making him hear strange noises. Tom Sawyer asked Nat if they could see the "dog" in the hut. Nat said yes and took them inside.
It was very dark inside the hut. Jim saw the boys and shouted their names. Nat was very surprised. He asked if the prisoner knew the two boys.
Tom Sawyer pretended he was confused. He asked Nat who was talking. Huckleberry Finn also said he did not hear anything. They told Nat that he was imagining things.
Nat was very afraid. He believed the witches made him hear the voices. Tom Sawyer gave Nat a dime (a small silver coin) to buy more thread. Nat was happy and looked at the coin.
While Nat was busy, Tom Sawyer whispered to Jim. He told Jim to pretend he did not know them. He told Jim that they were going to dig a hole to set him free. Jim was very happy and squeezed their hands.
Nat came back and the boys left the hut. Nat told them to come back again when it was dark. He felt safer from the witches when other people were with him.