Three or four months passed. It was now winter. Huckleberry Finn went to school almost every day. He learned to read and write a little. He learned the multiplication table (a list of numbers used to calculate) up to six times seven. Huckleberry Finn did not like math very much.
Huckleberry Finn hated school at first. Later, he could stand it. Sometimes Huckleberry Finn played hooky (stayed away from school without permission). He got a punishment the next day. The punishment made him feel better and cheered him up.
Huckleberry Finn became used to the ways of the Widow Douglas. Life in a house was still difficult. Sometimes Huckleberry Finn went to the woods to sleep. This was a rest for him. The Widow Douglas said Huckleberry Finn was doing well. She said she was not ashamed of him.
One morning, Huckleberry Finn knocked over the salt-cellar (a small container for salt) at breakfast. He tried to throw salt over his left shoulder. He wanted to stop bad luck. But Miss Watson stopped him. Huckleberry Finn felt very worried. He waited for something bad to happen.
Huckleberry Finn went to the garden after breakfast. He climbed over a stile (a set of steps used to climb over a fence). There was new snow on the ground. Huckleberry Finn saw tracks from a person’s boots. The tracks went around the garden fence.
Huckleberry Finn looked closely at the tracks in the snow. He saw a cross in the left heel. The cross was made with big nails. People used a cross like that to keep the devil away. Huckleberry Finn knew those tracks. They belonged to Pap.
Huckleberry Finn ran down the hill very fast. He looked behind him often. He went to the house of Judge Thatcher. Judge Thatcher saw that Huckleberry Finn was out of breath. The Judge said Huckleberry Finn had more than one hundred and fifty dollars in interest money.
Huckleberry Finn did not want the money. He did not want his six thousand dollars either. Huckleberry Finn told Judge Thatcher to take all the money. He wanted to give it to the Judge. Huckleberry Finn said he did not want to tell any lies.
Judge Thatcher was confused, but then he understood. He wrote a message on a piece of paper. The Judge said he bought the money for a consideration (a small amount of money paid to make a contract legal). He gave Huckleberry Finn one dollar. Huckleberry Finn signed the paper and left.
Jim had a hair-ball (a hard ball of hair found in the stomach of an ox). Jim said a spirit lived inside the ball. Jim said the spirit knew everything. Huckleberry Finn went to Jim that night. He told Jim that Pap was back.
Huckleberry Finn wanted to know what Pap would do. Jim dropped the hair-ball on the floor, but it did not talk. Jim said the spirit needed money. Huckleberry Finn had a counterfeit (fake or not real) coin. The coin was made of brass (a yellow metal that looks like gold but is cheaper).
The coin was covered in silver, but it looked old and greasy. Jim said he would fix the coin. Jim said he would put the coin inside a potato all night. Then the coin would look real again. Jim put the coin under the hair-ball and listened.
Jim told Huckleberry Finn his fortune. Jim said Pap did not know what to do. Jim said Pap had two angels near him. One angel was white and good. The other angel was black and bad. No person knew which angel would win.
Jim said Huckleberry Finn would have trouble and joy in his life. He said Huckleberry Finn would get sick, but he would always get well again. Jim said Huckleberry Finn would marry two women. One woman would be poor and the other would be rich.
Jim gave Huckleberry Finn a warning. Jim told Huckleberry Finn to stay away from the water. Jim said there was a risk that Huckleberry Finn would be hanged. Huckleberry Finn went to his room that night. He lit a candle and entered the room. Pap was sitting there in a chair.