THE doctor was an old man; a very nice, kind-looking old man when I got him up. I told him me and my brother was over on Spanish Island hunting yesterday afternoon, and camped on a piece of a raft we found, and about midnight he must a kicked his gun in his dreams, for it went off and shot him in the leg, and we wanted him to go over there and fix it and not say nothing about it, nor let anybody know, because we wanted to come home this evening and surprise the folks.

"Who is your folks?" he says.

"The Phelpses, down yonder."

"Oh," he says. And after a minute, he says:

"How'd you say he got shot?"

"He had a dream," I says, "and it shot him."

"Singular dream," he says.

So he lit up his lantern, and got his saddle-bags, and we started. But when he sees the canoe he didn't like the look of her -- said she was big enough for one, but didn't look pretty safe for two. I says:

"Oh, you needn't be afeard, sir, she carried the three of us easy enough."

"What three?"

"Why, me and Sid, and -- and -- and THE GUNS; that's what I mean."

"Oh," he says.

But he put his foot on the gunnel and rocked her, and shook his head, and said he reckoned he'd look around for a bigger one. But they was all locked and chained; so he took my canoe, and said for me to wait till he come back, or I could hunt around further, or maybe I better go down home and get them ready for the surprise if I wanted to. But I said I didn't; so I told him just how to find the raft, and then he started.

I struck an idea pretty soon. I says to myself, spos'n he can't fix that leg just in three shakes of a sheep's tail, as the saying is? spos'n it takes him three or four days? What are we going to do? -- lay around there till he lets the cat out of the bag? No, sir; I know what I'LL do. I'll wait, and when he comes back if he says he's got to go any more I'll get down there, too, if I swim; and we'll take and tie him, and keep him, and shove out down the river; and when Tom's done with him we'll give him what it's worth, or all we got, and then let him get ashore.

So then I crept into a lumber-pile to get some sleep; and next time I waked up the sun was away up over my head! I shot out and went for the doctor's house, but they told me he'd gone away in the night some time or other, and warn't back yet. Well, thinks I, that looks powerful bad for Tom, and I'll dig out for the island right off. So away I shoved, and turned the corner, and nearly rammed my head into Uncle Silas's stomach! He says:

"Why, TOM! Where you been all this time, you rascal?"

"I hain't been nowheres," I says, "only just hunting for the runaway nigger -- me and Sid."

"Why, where ever did you go?" he says. "Your aunt's been mighty uneasy."

"She needn't," I says, "because we was all right. We followed the men and the dogs, but they outrun us, and we lost them; but we thought we heard them on the water, so we got a canoe and took out after them and crossed over, but couldn't find nothing of them; so we cruised along up-shore till we got kind of tired and beat out; and tied up the canoe and went to sleep, and never waked up till about an hour ago; then we paddled over here to hear the news, and Sid's at the post-office to see what he can hear, and I'm a-branching out to get something to eat for us, and then we're going home."

So then we went to the post-office to get "Sid"; but just as I suspicioned, he warn't there; so the old man he got a letter out of the office, and we waited awhile longer, but Sid didn't come; so the old man said, come along, let Sid foot it home, or canoe it, when he got done fooling around -- but we would ride. I couldn't get him to let me stay and wait for Sid; and he said there warn't no use in it, and I must come along, and let Aunt Sally see we was all right.

When we got home Aunt Sally was that glad to see me she laughed and cried both, and hugged me, and give me one of them lickings of hern that don't amount to shucks, and said she'd serve Sid the same when he come.

And the place was plum full of farmers and farmers' wives, to dinner; and such another clack a body never heard. Old Mrs. Hotchkiss was the worst; her tongue was a-going all the time. She says:

"Well, Sister Phelps, I've ransacked that-air cabin over, an' I b'lieve the nigger was crazy. I says to Sister Damrell -- didn't I, Sister Damrell? -- s'I, he's crazy, s'I -- them's the very words I said. You all hearn me: he's crazy, s'I; everything shows it, s'I. Look at that-air grindstone, s'I; want to tell ME't any cretur 't's in his right mind 's a goin' to scrabble all them crazy things onto a grindstone, s'I? Here sich 'n' sich a person busted his heart; 'n' here so 'n' so pegged along for thirty-seven year, 'n' all that -- natcherl son o' Louis somebody, 'n' sich everlast'n rubbage. He's plumb crazy, s'I; it's what I says in the fust place, it's what I says in the middle, 'n' it's what I says last 'n' all the time -- the nigger's crazy -- crazy 's Nebokoodneezer, s'I."

"An' look at that-air ladder made out'n rags, Sister Hotchkiss," says old Mrs. Damrell; "what in the name o' goodness COULD he ever want of --"

"The very words I was a-sayin' no longer ago th'n this minute to Sister Utterback, 'n' she'll tell you so herself. Sh-she, look at that-air rag ladder, sh-she; 'n' s'I, yes, LOOK at it, s'I -- what COULD he a-wanted of it, s'I. Sh-she, Sister Hotchkiss, sh-she --"

"But how in the nation'd they ever GIT that grindstone IN there, ANYWAY? 'n' who dug that-air HOLE? 'n' who --"

"My very WORDS, Brer Penrod! I was a-sayin' -- pass that-air sasser o' m'lasses, won't ye? -- I was a-sayin' to Sister Dunlap, jist this minute, how DID they git that grindstone in there, s'I. Without HELP, mind you -- 'thout HELP! THAT'S wher 'tis. Don't tell ME, s'I; there WUZ help, s'I; 'n' ther' wuz a PLENTY help, too, s'I; ther's ben a DOZEN a-helpin' that nigger, 'n' I lay I'd skin every last nigger on this place but I'D find out who done it, s'I; 'n' moreover, s'I --"

"A DOZEN says you! -- FORTY couldn't a done every thing that's been done. Look at them case-knife saws and things, how tedious they've been made; look at that bed-leg sawed off with 'm, a week's work for six men; look at that nigger made out'n straw on the bed; and look at --"

"You may WELL say it, Brer Hightower! It's jist as I was a-sayin' to Brer Phelps, his own self. S'e, what do YOU think of it, Sister Hotchkiss, s'e? Think o' what, Brer Phelps, s'I? Think o' that bed-leg sawed off that a way, s'e? THINK of it, s'I? I lay it never sawed ITSELF off, s'I -- somebody SAWED it, s'I; that's my opinion, take it or leave it, it mayn't be no 'count, s'I, but sich as 't is, it's my opinion, s'I, 'n' if any body k'n start a better one, s'I, let him DO it, s'I, that's all. I says to Sister Dunlap, s'I --"

"Why, dog my cats, they must a ben a house-full o' niggers in there every night for four weeks to a done all that work, Sister Phelps. Look at that shirt -- every last inch of it kivered over with secret African writ'n done with blood! Must a ben a raft uv 'm at it right along, all the time, amost. Why, I'd give two dollars to have it read to me; 'n' as for the niggers that wrote it, I 'low I'd take 'n' lash 'm t'll --"

"People to HELP him, Brother Marples! Well, I reckon you'd THINK so if you'd a been in this house for a while back. Why, they've stole everything they could lay their hands on -- and we a-watching all the time, mind you. They stole that shirt right off o' the line! and as for that sheet they made the rag ladder out of, ther' ain't no telling how many times they DIDN'T steal that; and flour, and candles, and candlesticks, and spoons, and the old warming-pan, and most a thousand things that I disremember now, and my new calico dress; and me and Silas and my Sid and Tom on the constant watch day AND night, as I was a-telling you, and not a one of us could catch hide nor hair nor sight nor sound of them; and here at the last minute, lo and behold you, they slides right in under our noses and fools us, and not only fools US but the Injun Territory robbers too, and actuly gets AWAY with that nigger safe and sound, and that with sixteen men and twentytwo dogs right on their very heels at that very time! I tell you, it just bangs anything I ever HEARD of. Why, SPERITS couldn't a done better and been no smarter. And I reckon they must a BEEN sperits -- because, YOU know our dogs, and ther' ain't no better; well, them dogs never even got on the TRACK of 'm once! You explain THAT to me if you can! -- ANY of you!"

"Well, it does beat --"

"Laws alive, I never --"

"So help me, I wouldn't a be --"

"HOUSE-thieves as well as --"

"Goodnessgracioussakes, I'd a ben afeard to live in sich a --"

"'Fraid to LIVE! -- why, I was that scared I dasn't hardly go to bed, or get up, or lay down, or SET down, Sister Ridgeway. Why, they'd steal the very -- why, goodness sakes, you can guess what kind of a fluster I was in by the time midnight come last night. I hope to gracious if I warn't afraid they'd steal some o' the family! I was just to that pass I didn't have no reasoning faculties no more. It looks foolish enough NOW, in the daytime; but I says to myself, there's my two poor boys asleep, 'way up stairs in that lonesome room, and I declare to goodness I was that uneasy 't I crep' up there and locked 'em in! I DID. And anybody would. Because, you know, when you get scared that way, and it keeps running on, and getting worse and worse all the time, and your wits gets to addling, and you get to doing all sorts o' wild things, and by and by you think to yourself, spos'n I was a boy, and was away up there, and the door ain't locked, and you --" She stopped, looking kind of wondering, and then she turned her head around slow, and when her eye lit on me -- I got up and took a walk.

Says I to myself, I can explain better how we come to not be in that room this morning if I go out to one side and study over it a little. So I done it. But I dasn't go fur, or she'd a sent for me. And when it was late in the day the people all went, and then I come in and told her the noise and shooting waked up me and "Sid," and the door was locked, and we wanted to see the fun, so we went down the lightningrod, and both of us got hurt a little, and we didn't never want to try THAT no more. And then I went on and told her all what I told Uncle Silas before; and then she said she'd forgive us, and maybe it was all right enough anyway, and about what a body might expect of boys, for all boys was a pretty harum-scarum lot as fur as she could see; and so, as long as no harm hadn't come of it, she judged she better put in her time being grateful we was alive and well and she had us still, stead of fretting over what was past and done. So then she kissed me, and patted me on the head, and dropped into a kind of a brown study; and pretty soon jumps up, and says:

"Why, lawsamercy, it's most night, and Sid not come yet! What HAS become of that boy?"

I see my chance; so I skips up and says:

"I'll run right up to town and get him," I says.

"No you won't," she says. "You'll stay right wher' you are; ONE'S enough to be lost at a time. If he ain't here to supper, your uncle 'll go."

Well, he warn't there to supper; so right after supper uncle went.

He come back about ten a little bit uneasy; hadn't run across Tom's track. Aunt Sally was a good DEAL uneasy; but Uncle Silas he said there warn't no occasion to be -- boys will be boys, he said, and you'll see this one turn up in the morning all sound and right. So she had to be satisfied. But she said she'd set up for him a while anyway, and keep a light burning so he could see it.

And then when I went up to bed she come up with me and fetched her candle, and tucked me in, and mothered me so good I felt mean, and like I couldn't look her in the face; and she set down on the bed and talked with me a long time, and said what a splendid boy Sid was, and didn't seem to want to ever stop talking about him; and kept asking me every now and then if I reckoned he could a got lost, or hurt, or maybe drownded, and might be laying at this minute somewheres suffering or dead, and she not by him to help him, and so the tears would drip down silent, and I would tell her that Sid was all right, and would be home in the morning, sure; and she would squeeze my hand, or maybe kiss me, and tell me to say it again, and keep on saying it, because it done her good, and she was in so much trouble. And when she was going away she looked down in my eyes so steady and gentle, and says:

"The door ain't going to be locked, Tom, and there's the window and the rod; but you'll be good, WON'T you? And you won't go? For MY sake."

Laws knows I WANTED to go bad enough to see about Tom, and was all intending to go; but after that I wouldn't a went, not for kingdoms.

But she was on my mind and Tom was on my mind, so I slept very restless. And twice I went down the rod away in the night, and slipped around front, and see her setting there by her candle in the window with her eyes towards the road and the tears in them; and I wished I could do something for her, but I couldn't, only to swear that I wouldn't never do nothing to grieve her any more. And the third time I waked up at dawn, and slid down, and she was there yet, and her candle was most out, and her old gray head was resting on her hand, and she was asleep.

　　大夫是个老年人，我喊醒他时，一眼就看出来这老人面善心慈。我告诉他，我跟弟弟昨天下午去西班牙岛上打猎，在我们找到的一个木排上过夜，大约正半夜时，他准是在梦中踹了他的枪，枪走火了，打中了他的腿，我们想请他过去包扎一下，啥都别说，也别让人知道，由于我们想今晚回家，让家人吓一跳。

　　"谁是你家里人？"他问。

　　"斐尔普斯家，就在下边住。""噢，"他说。停了一分钟，他又问：" 你说他是怎样被枪打的？""他做了梦，"我说，" 梦里挨了枪。""少有的梦。" 他说了一句。

　　于是，他点上手提灯，带好药包，我们上路了。可是，当他看到了那个独木舟，他不怎么喜欢它的样子--他说这上面坐一个人是够的，坐两个人有些不大安全。我就说："啊，您不必担心，大夫，它载我们三个，也很轻松。""哪三个？""噢，我，席德，还有--还有--还有枪，我说的就这个意思。""啊。" 他说。

　　可是，他把脚踩到船帮上，晃了几下，又摇摇头，他说他觉得还是找一个大点儿的船。只是我等他回来，或者我也四下去再找找看，如果我愿意，也许我最好是先回家，让家里人有个思想准备。但是我说我不回去，我就告诉了他怎样才会找到木排，然后他动身走了。

　　我马上有了个新主意。我想，假如他不像通常说的那样手到病除治好那条腿呢？假如他要花上三四天呢？我们该怎么办？就干躺在那里等他走漏风声吗？不，先生，我知道我得怎么做。我要等着，等他回来，如果他说还得再去，我就跟着去，游泳去也可以。我们就把他捆住，扣下来，把木排撑到河下面，等他把汤姆的伤治好。我们就把可以应得的报酬付给他，或者把钱全给他，再放他上岸去。

　　于是我爬到一个木头堆里去睡了一会儿，等醒来一看，太阳早过头顶了！我一路飞奔，往大夫家跑去，人说他夜里不知啥时候出诊了，还没回来。啊，我心想，看来汤姆伤势还挺重，我立刻赶回岛上。于是我就跑开了，转过一个拐角，险些把我的头撞到赛拉斯姨父的肚子里去！他说："嘿，汤姆！你上哪儿去了，这么久，你这个小坏蛋？""我没去哪儿，"我说，" 就去追那个逃跑的黑人了--我跟席德。""嘿，你究竟上哪儿去了？"他说，" 你姨一直担心得要死。""她用不着担心，"我说，" 我们全没事儿。我们跟在那群人和狗后面跑，可是他们跑过了我们，我们俩没追上。不过，我们好像听到他们在河上，我们就找了只独木舟在后面追，都快划到河对岸去了，可什么也没找到，我向上划，找地方睡了一阵，一个小时前才醒了过来，然后又划到这边来听消息。席德在邮局看能不能听到点什么，我跑回来弄些吃的，然后就回家。

　　这样，我们就去邮局找"席德"。不过，正如我猜测的那样，他不在那里。于是，老先生到邮局取了一封信，我们又等了一阵，席德还没来，老先生就说走吧，叫席德步行回家，或划独木舟吧，谁让他这么瞎逛荡呢--我们可要坐车回家。我不能说服他，让我留下来等着席德。他说那没什么用，我们得一块儿走，让莎丽姨看看我们没出事儿。

　　我们回到家时，莎丽姨见了我高兴得连哭带笑，搂住我，又揍我几下，那根本算不了什么，她说等席德回来她也会来这么犒劳他。

　　屋里挤满了农夫和他们的妻子，都是过来吃午饭的，他们喋喋不休，唠唠叨叨简直没完没了。..我就站起来身，出去走走走。

　　我心里想，如果我到外面躲在一边，稍稍把这事儿想一想，就能想出个理由解释明白我们今天早上为什么没在房间里。我就这么办。只是我不敢走远，怕她叫人找我。等到天色晚了，客人们全走了，我才进来，告诉她吵闹声和枪声惊醒了我和"席德"，门锁着，我们又想过去看热闹，于是就顺避雷针下来了，我们俩都受了点儿伤，我们以后决不会那样做了。接着我把对赛拉斯姨父说过的话又给她讲了一遍。后来她说她愿意原谅我们，接着她吻了我一下，在我头上拍拍，不知不觉想起了心事儿，不久，她跳了起来，说："哎呀天哪，天都要黑了，席德还没回来！那孩子究竟怎么啦？"我一看来机会了，就蹦起来说："我这就到镇上去把他找回来。""不，你不能去，"她说，" 你该待哪儿还待哪儿，丢一个就够叫人着急了。他要不回来吃晚饭，你姨父会去找。"他当然没回来吃晚饭，所以晚饭一吃完，姨父就出去了。他回来的时候，大约有十点了，有些不放心，连汤姆的影子没碰着。莎丽姨更是着急，可是赛拉斯姨父说大可不必，孩子到底是孩子。他说，早上你就会看见这个小调皮露面了，啥事儿也不会有。于是，她只好同意。不过她说，不管怎么样，她要坐着等他一阵，还要点着灯，好让他看到。

　　后来我上楼去睡觉时，她陪我上去，带着蜡烛，给我掖好被子，就跟慈母一样，我感到很过意不去，简直不敢去看她的脸。她在床沿儿上坐下，和我聊了好长时间。她说席德是个多好多好的孩子，好像根本没打算停止谈他，隔一会儿便问我是不是觉得他会迷路或者受伤，再不就是淹死了，或许这阵子正在什么地方躺着受罪或死了，她不在他身边，不能照顾他，说着说着眼泪滴下来，默不吱声。我就对她说席德好好的，早上准能回到家，她就捏捏我的手，要不就吻我，叫我再说一遍，不住地重复，因为这话让她好受，她心里有众多的苦恼。临走的时候，她弯下腰看着我的眼睛，神态那么认真柔和，她说："门就不上锁了，汤姆，那边是窗户还有避雷针，不过你会好好的，对不对？你不会跑出去吧？替我想想呀。"天知道，我的确想跑，很想出去看看汤姆的情况，一心想着要出去，可是听了这话，我不出去了，不为了别的。

　　不过，我心里想着她，也想着汤姆，因此，我睡得很不踏实。那天夜里，有两次我都顺避雷针下去，悄悄绕到前面，看见她坐在靠窗的蜡烛旁，两眼望着大路，含着泪水，我真想帮她做点事儿，可我又不能，只好暗自发誓，决不再干让她伤心的事儿了。第三次，我醒来时，天已拂晓，我悄悄儿下去，她还守在那儿，蜡烛快点完了，她头靠在手背上，满头苍老的灰发，睡着了。

 

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