Everybody said it was a real beautiful oath, and asked Tom if he got 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[10] had it.
Some thought it would be good to kill the FAMILIES of boys that told the secrets. Tom said it was a good idea, so he took a pencil and wrote it in. Then Ben Rogers says:
Heres Huck Finn, he haint got no family; what you going to do bout him?
Well, haint he got a father? says Tom Sawyer.
Yes, hes got a father, but you cant never find him these days. He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard, but he haint been seen in these parts for a year or more.
They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out, because they said every boy must have a family or somebody to kill, or else it wouldnt be fair and square for the others[11]. Well, nobody could think of anything to do everybody was stumped, and set still. I was most ready to cry; but all at once I thought of a way, and so I offered them Miss Watson they could kill her. Everybody said:
Oh, shell do. Thats all right. Huck can come in.
Then they all stuck a pin in their fingers to get blood to sign with, and I made my mark on the paper.
Now, says Ben Rogers, whats the line of business of this Gang?
Nothing only robbery and murder, Tom said.
But who are we going to rob? houses, or cattle, or
Stuff![12] stealing cattle and such things aint robbery; its burglary, says Tom Sawyer. We aint burglars. That aint no sort of style. We are highwaymen. We stop stages and carriages on the road, with masks on, and kill the people and take their watches and money.
Must we always kill the people?
Oh, certainly. Its best. Some authorities think different, but mostly its considered best to kill them except some that you bring to the cave here, and keep them till theyre ransomed.
Ransomed? Whats that?
I dont know. But thats what they do. Ive seen it in books; and so of course thats what weve got to do.
But how can we do it if we dont know what it is?
Why, blame it all, weve GOT to do it. Dont I tell you its in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from whats in the books, and get things all muddled up?
Oh, thats all very fine to SAY, Tom Sawyer, but how in the nation are these fellows going to be ransomed if we dont know how to do it to them? thats the thing I want to get at. Now, what do you reckon it is?
Well, I dont know. But peraps if we keep them till theyre ransomed, it means that we keep them till theyre dead.
Now, thats something LIKE. Thatll answer. Why couldnt you said that before? Well keep them till theyre ransomed to death; and a bothersome lot theyll be, too eating up everything, and always trying to get loose.
How you talk, Ben Rogers. How can they get loose when theres a guard over them, ready to shoot them down if they move a peg[13]?
A guard! Well, that IS good. So somebodys got to set up all night and never get any sleep, just so as to watch them. I think thats foolishness. Why cant a body take a club and ransom them as soon as they get here?
Because it aint in the books so thats why. Now, Ben Rogers, do you want to do things regular, or dont you? thats the idea. Dont you reckon that the people that made the books knows whats the correct thing to do? Do you reckon YOU can learn em anything? Not by a good deal.[14] No, sir, well just go on and ransom them in the regular way.
All right. I dont mind; but I say its a fool way, anyhow. Say, do we kill the women, too?
Well, Ben Rogers, if I was as ignorant as you I wouldnt let on. Kill the women? No; nobody ever saw anything in the books like that. You fetch them to the cave, and youre always as polite as pie[15] to them; and by and by they fall in love with you, and never want to go home any more.
Well, if thats the way Im agreed, but I dont take no stock in it. Mighty soon well have the cave so cluttered up with women, and fellows waiting to be ransomed, that there wont be no place for the robbers. But go ahead, I aint got nothing to say.
Little Tommy Barnes was asleep now, and when they waked him up he was scared, and cried, and said he wanted to go home to his ma, and didnt want to be a robber any more.
So they all made fun of him, and called him cry-baby, and that made him mad, and he said he would go straight and tell all the secrets. But Tom give him five cents to keep quiet, and said we would all go home and meet next week, and rob somebody and kill some people.
Ben Rogers said he couldnt get out much, only Sundays, and so he wanted to begin next Sunday; but all the boys said it would be wicked to do it on Sunday, and that settled the thing. They agreed to get together and fix a day as soon as they could, and then we elected Tom Sawyer first captain[16] and Jo Harper second captain of the Gang, and so started home.
I clumb up the shed and crept into my window just before day was breaking. My new clothes was all greased up and clayey, and I was dog-tired.
Chapter III
Well, I got a good going-over in the morning from old Miss Watson on account of my clothes; but the widow she didnt scold, but only cleaned off the grease and clay, and looked so sorry that I thought I would behave awhile if I could. Then Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warnt so. I tried it. Once I got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warnt any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldnt make it work. By and by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but she said I was a fool. She never told me why, and I couldnt make it out no way[17].
I set down one time back in the woods, and had a long think about it. I says to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why dont Deacon Winn get back the money he lost on pork? Why cant the widow get back her silver snuffbox that was stole? Why cant Miss Watson fat up? No, says I to my self, there aint nothing in it. I went and told the widow about it, and she said the thing a body could get by praying for it was spiritual gifts. This was too many for me, but she told me what she meant I must help other people, and do everything I could for other people, and look out for them all the time, and never think about myself. This was including Miss Watson, as I took it. I went out in the woods and turned it over in my mind a long time, but I couldnt see no advantage about it except for the other people; so at last I reckoned I wouldnt worry about it any more, but just let it go. Sometimes the widow would take me one side and talk about Providence in a way to make a bodys mouth water; but maybe next day Miss Watson would take hold and knock it all down again[18]. I judged I could see that there was two Providences, and a poor chap would stand considerable show with the widows Providence, but if Miss Watsons got him there warnt no help for him any more. I thought it all out, and reckoned I would belong to the widows if he wanted me, though I couldnt make out how he was a-going to be any better off then than what he was before, seeing I was so ignorant, and so kind of low-down and ornery.