Part 1 (2/2)

niggers would co they had, just for a sight of that five-center piece; but they wouldn't touch it, because the devil had had his hands on it Jiot stuck up on account of having seen the devil and been rode by witches

Well, when Toe of the hilltop we looked away down into the village and could see three or four lights twinkling, where there was sick folks,ever so fine; and down by the village was the river, a whole rand We went down the hill and found Jo Harper and Ben Rogers, and two or three more of the boys, hid in the old tanyard

So we unhitched a skiff and pulled down the river twoscar on the hillside, and went ashore

We went to a clump of bushes, and Tom made everybody swear to keep the secret, and then showed theht in the thickest part of the bushes Then we lit the candles, and crawled in on our hands and knees We went about two hundred yards, and then the cave opened up Toes, and pretty soon ducked under a here you wouldn't a noticed that there was a hole We went along a narrow place and got into a kind of room, all damp and sweaty and cold, and there we stopped Tom says:

”Noe'll start this band of robbers and call it Toot to take an oath, and write his naot out a sheet of paper that he had wrote the oath on, and read it It swore every boy to stick to the band, and never tell any of the secrets; and if anybody done anything to any boy in the band, whichever boy was ordered to kill that person and his family must do it, and he mustn't eat and he mustn't sleep till he had killed then of the band And nobody that didn't belong to the band could use that ain he ed to the band told the secrets, he must have his throat cut, and then have his carcass burnt up and the ashes scattered all around, and his naain by the gang, but have a curse put on it and be forgot forever

Everybody said it was a real beautiful oath, and asked Toot it out of his own head He said, some of it, but the rest was out of pirate-books and robber-books, and every gang that was high-toned had it

Soood to kill the _faood idea, so he took a pencil and wrote it in Then Ben Rogers says:

”Here's Huck Finn, he hain't got no fa to do 'bout hiot a father?” says Toot a father, but you can't never find his in the tanyard, but he hain't been seen in these parts for a year orto rule me out, because they said every boy must have a family or somebody to kill, or else it wouldn't be fair and square for the others Well, nobody could think of anything to do?everybody was stumped, and set still I was ht of a way, and so I offered them Miss Watson?they could kill her Everybody said:

”Oh, she'll do That's all right Huck can coet blood to sign with, and I ers, ”what's the line of business of this Gang?”

”Nothing only robbery andto rob??houses, or cattle, or?”

”Stuff! stealing cattle and such things ain't robbery; it's burglary,”

says Tolars That ain't no sort of style We are highwayes on the road, with masks on, and kill the people and take their watches and money”

”Must ays kill the people?”

”Oh, certainly It's best Some authorities think different, but mostly it's considered best to kill the to the cave here, and keep them till they're ransomed”

”Ransomed? What's that?”

”I don't know But that's what they do I've seen it in books; and so of course that's e've got to do”

”But how can we do it if we don't knohat it is?”

”Why, blaot_ to do it Don't I tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing different fros all muddled up?”