There was one hour before breakfast. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer went into the woods. Tom Sawyer wanted to find some fox-fire (pieces of rotten wood that glow in the dark).
This wood gave a soft light. They did not want to use a lantern. A lantern was too bright and dangerous. They found an armful of the wood and hid it.
Tom Sawyer was not happy. He said the escape was too easy. There was no guard to watch Jim. There were no dogs to give medicine to so they would sleep.
Tom Sawyer said Uncle Silas was too kind. He trusted everyone. Uncle Silas even sent the key to the servant without any guards.
Tom Sawyer said they must invent their own difficulties. He said there is more honor in a difficult escape. He wanted the escape to be like the stories in his books.
Tom Sawyer wanted to find a saw. Huckleberry Finn asked why they needed a saw. Tom Sawyer said they must saw the leg of Jim’s bed.
Huckleberry Finn said they could just lift the bed and pull the chain off. Tom Sawyer got angry. He said Huckleberry Finn did not know anything about books.
Tom Sawyer said real heroes always saw the bed-leg in half. Then they hide the sawdust. They use dirt and grease to hide the cut so no one can see it.
When the prisoner is ready to escape, he kicks the leg and it falls. Then the prisoner can escape. Tom Sawyer wished there was a moat (a deep hole filled with water around a building).
Huckleberry Finn asked why they needed a moat. He said they were digging Jim out from under the cabin. Tom Sawyer did not listen. He was thinking very hard.
Tom Sawyer said they could not saw Jim’s leg off. Huckleberry Finn was shocked. He asked why Tom Sawyer would want to do that.
Tom Sawyer said some heroes in books cut off their own hands to escape. But he said Jim would not understand that. Jim did not know the customs of Europe.
Tom Sawyer said Jim must have a rope ladder. They could make it from bed sheets. They could hide the ladder in a pie and give it to Jim.
Huckleberry Finn said Jim did not need a ladder. Tom Sawyer said all prisoners have ladders. He said the ladder would be a clue for the police after Jim escaped.
Huckleberry Finn was worried about Aunt Sally. He said she would be angry if they used her sheets. He wanted to use a ladder made of tree bark instead.
Tom Sawyer said a bark ladder was ridiculous. He told Huckleberry Finn to steal a sheet from the clothes-line. He also told Huckleberry Finn to steal a white shirt.
Tom Sawyer wanted Jim to keep a journal (a book where a person writes about their daily life). Huckleberry Finn said Jim could not write.
Tom Sawyer said Jim could make marks on the shirt. He said Jim must make a pen from an old spoon. Tom Sawyer said Jim must use his own blood for ink.
Tom Sawyer said prisoners must always use the hardest tools. He said Jim could write messages on tin plates. Then Jim could throw the plates out the window.
Huckleberry Finn said Jim did not have tin plates. He said Jim ate from a pan. Tom Sawyer said they would get him some plates.
Then the breakfast-horn blew. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer ran to the house. Huckleberry Finn took a sheet and a shirt from the clothes-line.
Huckleberry Finn called it borrowing. Tom Sawyer said it was stealing. But Tom Sawyer said it was okay to steal things for a prisoner.
Tom Sawyer said a prisoner has a right to steal what he needs to escape. He said it was not a crime. He said they could steal everything they needed.
One day, Huckleberry Finn stole a watermelon to eat. Tom Sawyer was very angry. He made Huckleberry Finn pay the servants for it.
Tom Sawyer said Huckleberry Finn did not need the watermelon for the escape. He said you can only steal things to help the prisoner. Huckleberry Finn did not agree, but he said nothing.
They waited until the yard was quiet. Tom Sawyer took the things into the shed. Then they sat down to talk. Tom Sawyer said they needed tools for digging.
Huckleberry Finn wanted to use the old tools in the shed. Tom Sawyer said no. He said real prisoners never use shovels.
Tom Sawyer said they must use case-knives (small knives used for eating dinner). Huckleberry Finn said that was foolish. He said the cabin had a dirt foundation.
Tom Sawyer said prisoners in books dig through solid rock with knives. He said one prisoner dug for thirty-seven years. That prisoner came out in China.
Huckleberry Finn said Jim was too old to wait thirty-seven years. Tom Sawyer agreed that they did not have much time. Uncle Silas might hear the truth about Jim soon.
Tom Sawyer said they would dig very fast. But they would pretend it took thirty-seven years. Huckleberry Finn liked this idea because pretending was easy.
Huckleberry Finn told Tom Sawyer about an old saw-blade behind the smoke-house. Tom Sawyer was discouraged. He said Huckleberry Finn did not understand the rules.
Tom Sawyer told Huckleberry Finn to go and get three knives. Huckleberry Finn went to the house and got them.