Huckleberry Finn shut the door. He turned around and saw Pap. Huckleberry Finn used to be very afraid of Pap. Pap hit Huckleberry Finn many times in the past. At first, Huckleberry Finn felt a jump of fear. But soon, the fear went away. Huckleberry Finn was not afraid of Pap anymore.
Pap was almost fifty years old. His hair was long and greasy. The hair hung down over his face. You could see his eyes shining behind the hair. His face was very white. It was not a healthy white. It was a sick white, like the belly of a dead fish.
Pap wore clothes that were only rags (old, torn pieces of clothing). He sat in a chair and put one foot on his knee. His boot was broken. Two of his toes came through the hole in the boot. His old black hat was on the floor.
Huckleberry Finn looked at Pap. Pap looked at Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry Finn put the candle down. He saw that the window was open. Pap climbed through the window from the shed outside. Pap looked at the clean clothes of Huckleberry Finn.
"You have very clean clothes," Pap said. "You think you are a big-bug (an important and rich person), don't you?" Huckleberry Finn said maybe he was and maybe he was not. Pap told Huckleberry Finn not to be rude. Pap said he would change the attitude of Huckleberry Finn.
Pap said people told him that Huckleberry Finn was educated. He heard that Huckleberry Finn could read and write. Pap was angry because he could not read. He did not want his son to be better than his father. Pap asked who told Huckleberry Finn to go to school.
Huckleberry Finn said the Widow Douglas told him. Pap said he would teach the Widow Douglas a lesson. Pap told Huckleberry Finn to stop going to school. Pap said no person in their family could read or write. Then Pap told Huckleberry Finn to read to him.
Huckleberry Finn took a book and read about George Washington. After half a minute, Pap hit the book with his hand. The book flew across the room. Pap told Huckleberry Finn to stop showing off. Pap said he would hit Huckleberry Finn if he went to school again.
Pap saw a small picture of some cows and a boy. He asked what it was. Huckleberry Finn said the school gave it to him for being a good student. Pap tore up the picture. Pap said he would give Huckleberry Finn a cowhide (a whip made of leather) instead.
Pap was very angry. He had to sleep with the pigs, but Huckleberry Finn had a bed and a carpet. Pap heard that Huckleberry Finn was rich. He asked Huckleberry Finn if it was true. Huckleberry Finn said it was a lie.
Pap said people in the town told him about the money. He said he wanted the money tomorrow. Huckleberry Finn said he did not have any money. Pap said Judge Thatcher had the money. Huckleberry Finn told Pap to go and ask Judge Thatcher.
Pap asked Huckleberry Finn for the money in his pocket. Huckleberry Finn said he only had one dollar. Pap took the dollar and bit it. He wanted to see if the gold was real. Pap said he was going to buy whisky (a strong alcoholic drink).
Pap climbed out of the window. He shouted at Huckleberry Finn again. He told Huckleberry Finn to stay away from the school. The next day, Pap was drunk. He went to Judge Thatcher and tried to get the money. Judge Thatcher refused to give it to him.
The Widow Douglas and Judge Thatcher went to a judge. they wanted the court to take Huckleberry Finn away from Pap. They wanted one of them to be his guardian (a person who is legally responsible for a child). But there was a new judge in town.
The new judge did not know Pap. He said that courts should not separate families. The new judge did not want to take a child away from his father. So Judge Thatcher and the Widow Douglas could not help Huckleberry Finn.
Pap was very happy. He told Huckleberry Finn he would hit him until he got some money. Huckleberry Finn borrowed three dollars from Judge Thatcher. Pap took the money and got drunk again. He made a lot of noise in the town. The police put Pap in jail for a week.
When Pap left jail, the new judge wanted to help him. He took Pap to his own house. He gave Pap clean clothes. Pap ate breakfast and dinner with the family of the judge. The judge talked to Pap about being a good man.
Pap began to cry. He said he was a fool. He said he wanted to change his life. He said he wanted to be a man that people liked. The judge and his wife cried too. They felt very sorry for Pap.
Pap held out his hand to the judge. Pap said his hand used to be the hand of a bad man. He said it was now a clean hand. He said he would never go back to his old life. Pap signed a pledge (a serious promise to stop doing something bad).
The judge gave Pap a beautiful room in his house. In the middle of the night, Pap got very thirsty for alcohol. He climbed out of the window. He traded his new coat for a bottle of cheap alcohol. He climbed back into his room and got very drunk.
Before the sun came up, Pap climbed out again. He was so drunk that he fell off the roof. He broke his arm in two places. People found him after the sun rose. He was almost frozen to death.
The judge went to Pap's room. The room was a mess and smelled very bad. The judge was very angry at himself. The judge said the only way to change Pap was with a gun. He knew now that Pap would never change.