THEY asked us considerable many questions; wanted to know what we covered up the raft that way for, and laid by in the daytime instead of running -- was Jim a runaway1 nigger? Says I:
"Goodness sakes! would a runaway nigger run SOUTH?"
No, they allowed he wouldn't. I had to account for things some way, so I says:
"My folks was living in Pike County, in Missouri, where I was born, and they all died off but me and pa and my brother Ike. Pa, he 'lowed he'd break up and go down and live with Uncle Ben, who's got a little one-horse place on the river, forty-four mile below Orleans. Pa was pretty poor, and had some debts; so when he'd squared up there warn't nothing left but sixteen dollars and our nigger, Jim. That warn't enough to take us fourteen hundred mile, deck passage nor no other way. Well, when the river rose pa had a streak2 of luck one day; he ketched this piece of a raft; so we reckoned we'd go down to Orleans on it. Pa's luck didn't hold out; a steamboat run over the forrard corner of the raft one night, and we all went overboard and dove under the wheel; Jim and me come up all right, but pa was drunk, and Ike was only four years old, so they never come up no more. Well, for the next day or two we had considerable trouble, because people was always coming out in skiffs and trying to take Jim away from me, saying they believed he was a runaway nigger. We don't run daytimes no more now; nights they don't bother us."
The duke says:
"Leave me alone to cipher3 out a way so we can run in the daytime if we want to. I'll think the thing over -- I'll invent a plan that'll fix it. We'll let it alone for to-day, because of course we don't want to go by that town yonder in daylight -- it mightn't be healthy."
Towards night it begun to darken up and look like rain; the heat lightning was squirting around low down in the sky, and the leaves was beginning to shiver -- it was going to be pretty ugly, it was easy to see that. So the duke and the king went to overhauling4 our wigwam, to see what the beds was like. My bed was a straw tick裝etter than Jim's, which was a cornshuck tick; there's always cobs around about in a shuck tick, and they poke5 into you and hurt; and when you roll over the dry shucks sound like you was rolling over in a pile of dead leaves; it makes such a rustling6 that you wake up. Well, the duke allowed he would take my bed; but the king allowed he wouldn't. He says:
"I should a reckoned the difference in rank would a sejested to you that a corn-shuck bed warn't just fitten for me to sleep on. Your Grace 'll take the shuck bed yourself."
Jim and me was in a sweat again for a minute, being afraid there was going to be some more trouble amongst them; so we was pretty glad when the duke says:
"'Tis my fate to be always ground into the mire7 under the iron heel of oppression. Misfortune has broken my once haughty8 spirit; I yield, I submit; 'tis my fate. I am alone in the world -- let me suffer; can bear it."
We got away as soon as it was good and dark. The king told us to stand well out towards the middle of the river, and not show a light till we got a long ways below the town. We come in sight of the little bunch of lights by and by -- that was the town, you know -- and slid by, about a half a mile out, all right. When we was three-quarters of a mile below we hoisted10 up our signal lantern; and about ten o'clock it come on to rain and blow and thunder and lighten like everything; so the king told us to both stay on watch till the weather got better; then him and the duke crawled into the wigwam and turned in for the night. It was my watch below till twelve, but I wouldn't a turned in anyway if I'd had a bed, because a body don't see such a storm as that every day in the week, not by a long sight. My souls, how the wind did scream along! And every second or two there'd come a glare that lit up the white-caps for a half a mile around, and you'd see the islands looking dusty through the rain, and the trees thrashing around in the wind; then comes a H-WHACK! -- bum11! bum! bumble-umble-um-bum-bum-bum-bum -- and the thunder would go rumbling12 and grumbling13 away, and quit -- and then RIP comes another flash and another sockdolager. The waves most washed me off the raft sometimes, but I hadn't any clothes on, and didn't mind. We didn't have no trouble about snags; the lightning was glaring and flittering around so constant that we could see them plenty soon enough to throw her head this way or that and miss them.
I had the middle watch, you know, but I was pretty sleepy by that time, so Jim he said he would stand the first half of it for me; he was always mighty14 good that way, Jim was. I crawled into the wigwam, but the king and the duke had their legs sprawled15 around so there warn't no show for me; so I laid outside -- I didn't mind the rain, because it was warm, and the waves warn't running so high now. About two they come up again, though, and Jim was going to call me; but he changed his mind, because he reckoned they warn't high enough yet to do any harm; but he was mistaken about that, for pretty soon all of a sudden along comes a regular ripper and washed me overboard. It most killed Jim a-laughing. He was the easiest nigger to laugh that ever was, anyway.
I took the watch, and Jim he laid down and snored away; and by and by the storm let up for good and all; and the first cabin-light that showed I rousted him out, and we slid the raft into hiding quarters for the day.
The king got out an old ratty deck of cards after breakfast, and him and the duke played seven-up a while, five cents a game. Then they got tired of it, and allowed they would "lay out a campaign," as they called it. The duke went down into his carpetbag, and fetched up a lot of little printed bills and read them out loud. One bill said, "The celebrated17 Dr. Armand de Montalban, of Paris," would "lecture on the Science of Phrenology" at such and such a place, on the blank day of blank, at ten cents admission, and "furnish charts of character at twenty-five cents apiece." The duke said that was HIM. In another bill he was the "world-renowned Shakespearian tragedian, Garrick the Younger, of Drury Lane, London." In other bills he had a lot of other names and done other wonderful things, like finding water and gold with a "divining-rod," "dissipating witch spells," and so on. By and by he says:
"But the histrionic muse18 is the darling. Have you ever trod the boards, Royalty19?"
"No," says the king.
"You shall, then, before you're three days older, Fallen Grandeur," says the duke. "The first good town we come to we'll hire a hall and do the sword fight in Richard III. and the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. How does that strike you?"
"I'm in, up to the hub, for anything that will pay, Bilgewater; but, you see, I don't know nothing about play-actin', and hain't ever seen much of it. I was too small when pap used to have 'em at the palace. Do you reckon you can learn me?"
"Easy!"
"All right. I'm jist a-freezn' for something fresh, anyway. Le's commence right away."
So the duke he told him all about who Romeo was and who Juliet was, and said he was used to being Romeo, so the king could be Juliet.
"But if Juliet's such a young gal20, duke, my peeled head and my white whiskers is goin' to look oncommon odd on her, maybe."
"No, don't you worry; these country jakes won't ever think of that. Besides, you know, you'll be in costume, and that makes all the difference in the world; Juliet's in a balcony, enjoying the moonlight before she goes to bed, and she's got on her nightgown and her ruffled21 nightcap. Here are the costumes for the parts."
He got out two or three curtain-calico suits, which he said was meedyevil armor for Richard III. and t'other chap, and a long white cotton nightshirt and a ruffled nightcap to match. The king was satisfied; so the duke got out his book and read the parts over in the most splendid spread-eagle way, prancing22 around and acting23 at the same time, to show how it had got to be done; then he give the book to the king and told him to get his part by heart.
There was a little one-horse town about three mile down the bend, and after dinner the duke said he had ciphered out his idea about how to run in daylight without it being dangersome for Jim; so he allowed he would go down to the town and fix that thing. The king allowed he would go, too, and see if he couldn't strike something. We was out of coffee, so Jim said I better go along with them in the canoe and get some.
When we got there there warn't nobody stirring; streets empty, and perfectly24 dead and still, like Sunday. We found a sick nigger sunning himself in a back yard, and he said everybody that warn't too young or too sick or too old was gone to campmeeting, about two mile back in the woods. The king got the directions, and allowed he'd go and work that camp-meeting for all it was worth, and I might go, too.
The duke said what he was after was a printing-office. We found it; a little bit of a concern, up over a carpenter shop -- carpenters and printers all gone to the meeting, and no doors locked. It was a dirty, littered-up place, and had ink marks, and handbills with pictures of horses and runaway niggers on them, all over the walls. The duke shed his coat and said he was all right now. So me and the king lit out for the camp-meeting.
We got there in about a half an hour fairly dripping, for it was a most awful hot day. There was as much as a thousand people there from twenty mile around. The woods was full of teams and wagons25, hitched27 everywheres, feeding out of the wagon26-troughs and stomping28 to keep off the flies. There was sheds made out of poles and roofed over with branches, where they had lemonade and gingerbread to sell, and piles of watermelons and green corn and such-like truck.
The preaching was going on under the same kinds of sheds, only they was bigger and held crowds of people. The benches was made out of outside slabs29 of logs, with holes bored in the round side to drive sticks into for legs. They didn't have no backs. The preachers had high platforms to stand on at one end of the sheds. The women had on sun-bonnets; and some had linsey-woolsey frocks, some gingham ones, and a few of the young ones had on calico. Some of the young men was barefooted, and some of the children didn't have on any clothes but just a towlinen shirt. Some of the old women was knitting, and some of the young folks was courting on the sly.
The first shed we come to the preacher was lining30 out a hymn31. He lined out two lines, everybody sung it, and it was kind of grand to hear it, there was so many of them and they done it in such a rousing way; then he lined out two more for them to sing -- and so on. The people woke up more and more, and sung louder and louder; and towards the end some begun to groan32, and some begun to shout. Then the preacher begun to preach, and begun in earnest, too; and went weaving first to one side of the platform and then the other, and then a-leaning down over the front of it, with his arms and his body going all the time, and shouting his words out with all his might; and every now and then he would hold up his Bible and spread it open, and kind of pass it around this way and that, shouting, "It's the brazen33 serpent in the wilderness34! Look upon it and live!" And people would shout out, "Glory! -- A-a-MEN!" And so he went on, and the people groaning35 and crying and saying amen:
"Oh, come to the mourners' bench! come, black with sin! (AMEN!) come, sick and sore! (AMEN!) come, lame36 and halt and blind! (AMEN!) come, pore and needy37, sunk in shame! (A-A-MEN!) come, all that's worn and soiled and suffering! -- come with a broken spirit! come with a contrite38 heart! come in your rags and sin and dirt! the waters that cleanse39 is free, the door of heaven stands open -- oh, enter in and be at rest!" (A-A-MEN! GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH!)
And so on. You couldn't make out what the preacher said any more, on account of the shouting and crying. Folks got up everywheres in the crowd, and worked their way just by main strength to the mourners' bench, with the tears running down their faces; and when all the mourners had got up there to the front benches in a crowd, they sung and shouted and flung themselves down on the straw, just crazy and wild.
Well, the first I knowed the king got a-going, and you could hear him over everybody; and next he went a-charging up on to the platform, and the preacher he begged him to speak to the people, and he done it. He told them he was a pirate -- been a pirate for thirty years out in the Indian Ocean -- and his crew was thinned out considerable last spring in a fight, and he was home now to take out some fresh men, and thanks to goodness he'd been robbed last night and put ashore40 off of a steamboat without a cent, and he was glad of it; it was the blessedest thing that ever happened to him, because he was a changed man now, and happy for the first time in his life; and, poor as he was, he was going to start right off and work his way back to the Indian Ocean, and put in the rest of his life trying to turn the pirates into the true path; for he could do it better than anybody else, being acquainted with all pirate crews in that ocean; and though it would take him a long time to get there without money, he would get there anyway, and every time he convinced a pirate he would say to him, "Don't you thank me, don't you give me no credit; it all belongs to them dear people in Pokeville campmeeting, natural brothers and benefactors41 of the race, and that dear preacher there, the truest friend a pirate ever had!"
And then he busted42 into tears, and so did everybody. Then somebody sings out, "Take up a collection for him, take up a collection!" Well, a half a dozen made a jump to do it, but somebody sings out, "Let HIM pass the hat around!" Then everybody said it, the preacher too.
So the king went all through the crowd with his hat swabbing his eyes, and blessing43 the people and praising them and thanking them for being so good to the poor pirates away off there; and every little while the prettiest kind of girls, with the tears running down their cheeks, would up and ask him would he let them kiss him for to remember him by; and he always done it; and some of them he hugged and kissed as many as five or six times -- and he was invited to stay a week; and everybody wanted him to live in their houses, and said they'd think it was an honor; but he said as this was the last day of the camp-meeting he couldn't do no good, and besides he was in a sweat to get to the Indian Ocean right off and go to work on the pirates.
When we got back to the raft and he come to count up he found he had collected eighty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents. And then he had fetched away a three-gallon jug44 of whisky, too, that he found under a wagon when he was starting home through the woods. The king said, take it all around, it laid over any day he'd ever put in in the missionarying line. He said it warn't no use talking, heathens don't amount to shucks alongside of pirates to work a camp-meeting with.
The duke was thinking HE'D been doing pretty well till the king come to show up, but after that he didn't think so so much. He had set up and printed off two little jobs for farmers in that printing-office -- horse bills -- and took the money, four dollars. And he had got in ten dollars' worth of advertisements for the paper, which he said he would put in for four dollars if they would pay in advance -- so they done it. The price of the paper was two dollars a year, but he took in three subscriptions45 for half a dollar apiece on condition of them paying him in advance; they were going to pay in cordwood and onions as usual, but he said he had just bought the concern and knocked down the price as low as he could afford it, and was going to run it for cash. He set up a little piece of poetry, which he made, himself, out of his own head -- three verses -- kind of sweet and saddish -- the name of it was, "Yes, crush, cold world, this breaking heart" -- and he left that all set up and ready to print in the paper, and didn't charge nothing for it. Well, he took in nine dollars and a half, and said he'd done a pretty square day's work for it.
Then he showed us another little job he'd printed and hadn't charged for, because it was for us. It had a picture of a runaway nigger with a bundle on a stick over his shoulder, and "$200 reward" under it. The reading was all about Jim, and just described him to a dot. It said he run away from St. Jacques' plantation46, forty mile below New Orleans, last winter, and likely went north, and whoever would catch him and send him back he could have the reward and expenses.
"Now," says the duke, "after to-night we can run in the daytime if we want to. Whenever we see anybody coming we can tie Jim hand and foot with a rope, and lay him in the wigwam and show this handbill and say we captured him up the river, and were too poor to travel on a steamboat, so we got this little raft on credit from our friends and are going down to get the reward. Handcuffs and chains would look still better on Jim, but it wouldn't go well with the story of us being so poor. Too much like jewelry47. Ropes are the correct thing -- we must preserve the unities48, as we say on the boards."
We all said the duke was pretty smart, and there couldn't be no trouble about running daytimes. We judged we could make miles enough that night to get out of the reach of the powwow we reckoned the duke's work in the printing office was going to make in that little town; then we could boom right along if we wanted to.
We laid low and kept still, and never shoved out till nearly ten o'clock; then we slid by, pretty wide away from the town, and didn't hoist9 our lantern till we was clear out of sight of it.
When Jim called me to take the watch at four in the morning, he says:
"Huck, does you reck'n we gwyne to run acrost any mo' kings on dis trip?"
"No," I says, "I reckon not."
"Well," says he, "dat's all right, den16. I doan' mine one er two kings, but dat's enough. Dis one's powerful drunk, en de duke ain' much better."
I found Jim had been trying to get him to talk French, so he could hear what it was like; but he said he had been in this country so long, and had so much trouble, he'd forgot it.
他们问了我很多问题，想知道我们为什么大白天要把木排盖上收起来却不去赶路，莫非吉姆是个逃跑的黑奴吗？我说："我的天哪，逃跑的黑奴会向南方逃吗？"对呀，他们认为他也不会朝南方逃。不过我还得说出一些理由来，所以，我说："我的亲人住在密苏里州派克县，我在那儿出生，他们全死了，就剩下我和爸，还有弟弟艾克。爸觉得他已经垮了，想到下游去和本叔叔一起住，本叔叔在河边上有一小块地，在奥尔良下边40 英里的地方。爸很穷，还欠着帐；所以，等他还清了帐，只剩16 块钱和我们的黑奴吉姆。这一点也不够我们一千四百英里的路费，不论是坐最便宜的统舱，还是其他什么都不够。这样，当河水上涨时，爸有一天交了好运，他捞着了这个木排，因此，我们想着可以坐这木排顺水漂到奥尔良。爸的好运没交多长时间，一条轮船在一个晚上撞翻了木排，辗着木排的前面一角开了过去，我们全落到水里，钻到了舵轮下面，我和吉姆出来了，没什么事，可是爸喝醉了，艾克才四岁，所以他们都没再爬上来。接下去的几天，我们碰上很多麻烦，因为人们总是乘快船过来，想把吉姆从我身边抢走，都说他们相信他是一个逃跑黑奴。因此，我们再也不白天赶路了，夜里他们不会来找我们的麻烦。"公爵说："让我一个人琢磨出一个办法来，这样我们可以白天赶路，只要我们愿意。我要把这事儿好好想想--我会想出个计划来把它办妥。我们今天要把它放一放，因为我们当然不乐意在白天经过下面那座小镇，那或许不大稳当。"到晚上，开已黑起来，象是要下雨，在低低的天空下，闪电四处迸射，树叶也开始颤抖，来势十分凶猛，一眼就能看出来。于是，公爵和国王就去查看我们的窝棚，看看床怎么样。我的床是一个草垫，比吉姆的好，他的床则是个玉米穗皮的垫子，这种垫子里总是有碎玉米粒，它们会轧得你很痛，你一旦翻身，干玉米穗皮就会响，好像你是躺在一堆枯树叶上一般，吱吱吵吵地乱响，你就很容易醒过来。这样，公爵认为他该睡我的铺，而国王认为他不该。他说："我有理由认为，等级的不同会提醒你，一个玉米穗皮搭的铺是不应该由我睡在上面的。阁下你自己来睡这个玉米穗铺吧。"我和吉姆又感到紧张了，有一分钟的时间，唯恐他们之间再闹什么冲突。后来我们都非常高兴，因为公爵说道："这就是我的命运，总是有压迫的铁蹄把我践踏入泥沼之中。不幸已击碎了我曾经高傲的灵魂，我屈服，我认输，这就是我的命运。我一人孤单单地在这个世界上，让我痛苦吧，我可以忍受。"天一黑透，我们就上路了。国王告诉我们要离河岸远些。向河中心撑木排，等我们过了那个镇子很远之后才准点灯。渐渐地，我们看到一簇簇灯光，那就是那座小镇，你知道吧，静静地过去了半英里开外，平安无事。我们又朝前漂了四分之三英里，就挂起了我们的信号灯；十点左右，天开始下雨刮风，电闪雷鸣，十分吓人。国王告诉我们两个都别睡觉，一直守到天色好转。然后，他和公爵爬到窝棚睡觉去了。下面该我值班，要守到12 点，但是我可不会去睡觉，就算我有张床的话，因为在一个星期里也不是天天都能看到这么猛的狂风暴雨，绝对不行。我的天，风尖叫着呼啸而过，刮得多急呀！每一两秒钟，就会有一道耀眼的闪电划过，照亮方圆半英里以内的一片白浪。穿过大雨，你看到那些岛屿好似尘土飞扬，树木在风中东倒西歪。接着传来一声咔嚓！轰轰！轰隆隆！轰隆隆！轰轰！轰轰！雷声轰隆隆咕咚咚走远了，停了，接着哗又一道闪电掠过，又一声劈雳雷鸣。有时，大浪几乎要把我掀下木排，但是我没穿什么衣服，也就不大在意。我们没有撞上河里冒出来的树枝，没出什么意外；闪电闪着耀眼的光亮，不住在四周跳动，因此，我们可以很快看清楚那些树枝，来得及东躲西避，让开它们。我正值夜班，你知道，到了那个时候我是十分困的，于是，吉姆说他替我值前半班，他总是那么好，那么关心我，吉姆真是的。我钻进窝棚，但是，国王和公爵四条腿乱伸乱蹬，我连个插脚的地都没有。因此，我就躺在外面，我不怎么在乎大雨，因为天很暖，现在浪头掀得也不那么高了。可大约两点钟，风浪又起了，吉姆打算叫我，但他又改变了主意，因为他觉得浪头还不算高，不至于对我有什么危险。不过，这回他估计错了。不久，一个巨浪突然掀起，一下子便把我冲到河里去了。这险些把吉姆给笑死，他可是个最爱笑的黑人。
我接着值班，吉姆躺下，打着呼噜睡着了；渐渐地，风平浪静，第一个小屋的灯光出现了，我喊醒吉姆，我们悄悄地将木排撑到隐蔽处，躲过白天。
早饭之后，国王取出一副破旧的脏纸牌，他和公爵打了一会儿"接七点"，五分钱一局输赢。后来，他们玩儿腻了，认为他们应该"订出个行动计划"，他们是这么说的。公爵翻翻他的旅行包，找出来很多印刷好的小传单，大声读起来。一张传单上说"享誉巴黎的阿蒙·德·蒙特尔帮博士"将于某月某日在某个地点"讲解骨相学"，入场费一毛，并"提供骨相图解，每份两毛五分"。公爵说那就是他本人。另外一张传单上，他是"闻名世界的莎士比亚悲剧名星，小加里克，来自伦敦特鲁利街戏院区。" 在别的传单上，他又有一大堆别的名字，干的全是了不起的事情，象用一根"占卜杖"找水源探黄金啦，"驱巫辟邪"啦，诸如此类的。过了一阵，他说："伟大的缪斯才最受宠爱。您有没有登台表演过，陛下？""没。" 国王说。
"您会的。那么，用不了三天，落难的君王。" 公爵说，"在我们将会到达的下一个像样的小镇上，我们就租个大厅，表演《查理三世》中的斗剑，另外，还有《罗密欧与朱丽叶》中的阳台相会。这对您是否有些吸引力？""只要有人给钱，我啥都愿干，比尔奇沃特。只是，你看，我对舞台表演可是一窍不通，也看得不是很多。先父常在宫里看戏之时，我还太小。你看你能教会我吗？""容易！""那好吧。反正不管有什么新玩意儿，我心里就直发痒。我们现在就开始吧。"因此，公爵给他从头到尾说了罗密欧是谁，朱丽叶是谁，还说他习惯扮演罗密欧，所以，国王就来演朱丽叶。
"不过，要是朱丽叶是个那么年轻的姑娘，公爵，我这光头和白胡子装扮成她也许看上去会显得十分古怪吧。""不，你用不着为此担心。这些乡巴佬决不可能想到这一点。再说了，你知道，你要穿上戏装，那可就完全两样啦。朱丽叶是在阳台上，她睡觉前正欣赏月光，她穿着她的睡衣，戴她的褶边儿睡帽。这个就是那些角色的戏装。"他取出两三套窗帘印花棉布做的衣服，他说那是为查理三世和另一个家伙置备的中古时代的铠甲，再配上一件长长的白棉布睡衣和一顶褶边儿睡帽。国王同意了。于是，公爵翻出他的书本，反复读那几段台词，读得神气活现，非常夸张，并且还昂首阔步不停地转，表演剧情，教国王怎么来演，后来，他就把书本递给了国王，告诉他把他的角色台词记住。
河湾前大约三英里有一个小小的镇子，吃过午饭，公爵说他已琢磨出他的办法了，既可白天赶路，也不会对吉姆有什么危险。他说他要到镇上去办妥那件事。国王说他也要去，看看他能不能碰上点儿什么事。我们的咖啡快喝完了，吉姆说我最好划上独木舟，同他们一起去买些回来。
我们到了小镇上，没看到有人在走动，街上空空如也，寂然无声，好像是星期天。我们看到一个生病的黑人正在后院里晒太阳，他说除了小的不会走的，病了不能走的，老了走不动的除外，人人都去野营布道会了，在离这儿大约两英里地远的树林里。国王问明白了方向路线，他说他要走上一圈，利用那个布道会能捞便捞，我也可以跟着去。
公爵说他要寻的是个印刷室。我们找到一个；地方很小，在一家木匠铺的楼上--木匠和印刷工都上那个布道会了，门也没锁。那地方又脏又乱，满墙涂的全是油墨，还有画着逃跑黑奴和丢失马匹的传单。公爵脱掉上衣，他说现在可以动手了。而我和国王就出去找那个野营布道会。
半小时之后，我们去了那里，浑身大汗淋漓，因为那天简直要热死人。大会有一千人，全是从方圆20 英里赶来的。那片树林里都是牲口和大车，拴得四处都是，牲口在大车饲料槽里喂着，一边吃草，一边抬腿赶苍蝇。还有拿几根木棍支着搭起来的小棚子，顶上盖着树枝，他们在那底下卖柠檬水和姜饼，还有一大堆的西瓜、嫩玉米穗之类吃的东西。
布道在一样的棚子下面进行，只是棚子更大点，里面一大群的人。凳子是用原木的板皮做的，圆的那一边钻了几个孔，将木棍儿钉进去当板凳腿。凳子都没靠背。讲道的人站在棚子一端高高的平台上。妇女戴着太阳帽，有的穿着麻毛混纺的罩衣，有的穿方格布，还有几个年轻姑娘穿的衣服是印花布做的。几个年轻人光着脚，有的小孩儿除了一件粗麻布衫，啥也没穿。有些上年纪的妇女在编织衣服，年轻人在谈情说爱。
我们来到第一个棚子里，讲道人正带着大家唱赞美诗，他领头唱两行，大家跟着唱，听起来还真有些庄严气氛，这么多人在唱，唱得又这样起劲儿，然后他再领唱两行，大家又跟着唱，一直这么唱下去。人们情绪日益激昂起来；歌声也越唱越高，到最后，有人开始呻吟，有人开始哭喊。接着，讲道人开始讲道，讲得还挺严肃认真，他先走到平台这一边，又跨步到平台另一边，然后在平台前面，他弯下了腰，手和身体一直不住地动弹，使足了全部气力大声吼着他的布道词，还经常举起他的《圣经》，把它摊开来来回回递给大家看，嘴里嚷着：" 这就是荒野里的铜蛇！抬头看看，可以活命！" 人群就高声喊道："荣耀归主！阿--门！" 就这样，他接着讲，人群呻吟哭叫喊着阿门。
"啊，快到公开忏悔席上来！来吧，罪孽深重的人！(阿门！)来吧，生病痛苦的人！(阿门！)来吧，瘸腿残疾和失明的人！(阿门！)来吧，贫穷无助的人，蒙受羞辱的人！(阿- 阿-门！)来呀，所有那些疲惫的、堕落的和受苦受难的人！--来呀，带着一颗破碎的灵魂！来呀，带着你们忏悔的心！来呀，穿着你们的破衣烂衫，带着你们的罪孽与污秽！清洁的圣水任意取用，天堂的大门永远敞开--啊！跨进来，让灵魂安宁吧！"(阿- 阿- 门！感谢上帝，哈利路亚！)。
就这么一直吼下去。你再也听不明白讲道人说什么了，因为人群不住地叫嚷哭喊。人群中四处都有人站起来，全凭着力气向前挤，挤到忏悔席那边。那些人的眼泪顺着脸向下流，当所有忏悔的人都站到了前排的忏悔席那边，他们围在一块儿唱歌喊叫，扑倒在草垫上，简直是愚蠢又疯癫。
嘿，一眼我就看到，国王跑上去了。你能听得到他的声音比谁都高，接着，他猛冲向平台，讲道人就请他对人群讲话，他就讲了。他告诉大家他是个海盗--在印度洋上当了30 多年海盗。去年春天，在一次战斗中，他的同伴死了许多，他现在回家来了，想挑选一批新人。感谢主，他昨天晚上遭人抢劫，从一条轮船上被赶上岸，身上一个子儿也不剩，可是，他为这件事感到很高兴，这是他碰上的最有福的事，因为他如今是个改过的人了，有生以来第一回这么幸福。虽然他一无所有，他还是想马上动身，返回印度洋，把他的余生都用在引导海盗走正道上来，因为他比任何人都能做好这件事，他和那个大洋上所有的海盗都熟悉。尽管他身无分文，尽管路途遥远，需要走很长时间，他迟早要走到目的地。并且每当他说服了一个海盗，他都会对他说：" 不必感谢我，不要赞扬我，这都归功于普克维尔野营布道会上那些亲爱的人们，他们是人类真正的兄弟和恩人--还有那里那位敬爱的讲道人，他是一个海盗曾经交过的最真诚的朋友！"接着，他放声大声，人人都跟着他哭。这时有人喊道："为他募捐吧，募捐吧！" 很快就有五六个人跳起来捐钱，又有人喊：" 让他把帽子传过来！" 大家都跟着叫，讲道人也这么说。
这样，国王手托帽子在人群中走了个遍，擦着他的眼睛，祝福他们，表扬他们，感谢他们对远方那些可怜的海盗这样善良慷慨。还不时有些十分漂亮的姑娘，脸颊上流着泪水，挤上来问他愿不愿意让她们吻他，做个纪念，他一一答应，他搂着有的姑娘亲了五六次。还有人请他到家里住上一星期，每个人都想让他住在自己家，说他们认为这是很大的光荣，但他说，因为这是野营布道会的最后一天，他对大家不再有用了，另外，他也急着要立刻动身去印度洋，到那里去规劝海盗。
我们返回了木排上，他开始数钱，他总共募捐到八十七块七角五分钱。他还顺手牵羊带回来三加仑威士忌酒，那是他穿过树林回家的路上在一辆马车底下发现的。国王说，总体算下来，他干传教这一行这么多年来，这一次比哪一回都强。他说，空口说白话没用，要让一个布道会上当，说自己不信教，跟假装海盗，那是没法儿比的。
公爵还以为他干得已经相当不错了呢，可后来，等国王回来一炫耀，他就不再那么认为了。在那个印刷室，他替两个农夫制版印刷了两份小东西--寻马启事，他收了钱，四块整。他还替那份报纸收了广告费，本来应该卖十块，他说要是他们能先付钱，他就作价为四块。因此，他们把钱给了他。那份报纸一年定价两块，可他按优惠价每份半块，收了三份订报费。他们想用烧炭材和洋葱折价，跟平时的做法一样，可他说他刚买下这份生意，尽力把报价定低，要把它办下去收取现金。他排制了一首小诗，那是他自己费心思做出来的，分三节，有点儿好听，又有点儿伤心，它叫做"啊，冷酷的世界，捣碎这颗破碎的心吧。" 他把这首诗全部排好版，随时都能在报纸上印出来，他分文未取。这样，他收进九块五毛钱，他说这是他靠一天辛苦的劳动挣来的。
然后，他给我们看他印刷的另一份东西，他不收钱，由于这是为我们几个人干的。它印着一个逃跑黑人的画像，肩膀上拿木棍扛个包袱，下面写着"悬赏200 元"。上边印的字都是指吉姆的，把他描绘得维妙维肖。它说他是去年冬天，从新奥尔良下边40 英里远的圣雅克种植园逃走的，打算逃往北部，不管谁能抓到他并将其送回，即可领取赏金并报销路费。
"这样，"公爵说，" 今晚过后，要是我们愿意，我们就可以在白天赶路了。无论什么时候我们看到有人过来，我们都可以拿绳子捆住吉姆的手脚，把他放在窝棚里，拿这个传单给人看，说我们在上游抓到他，只是太穷，没钱乘轮船，因此才从朋友那里借钱买了这个小木排，要去下游领赏。用手铐和铁链套在吉姆身上看起来会更合适，不过那样就跟我们太穷的说法不相符了，像是戴了珠宝首饰，太不塔配了。用绳捆就可以了，我们必须遵守'三一律'，像我们评论舞台演出那么着。"我们都认为公爵很聪明，白天赶路不会再有什么麻烦了。我们估计那天晚上我们能走出好远，这样，公爵在小镇上印刷室里惹的事情即使闹翻天，也对我们没什么防碍了。然后，我们就能顺流急下，只要我们乐意那么做。
我们静静地藏着，一声不响，将近十点才撑出木排，远远地躲着那个小镇，偷偷地划过去，直到完全看不见它了，才敢挂起灯。
清晨四点，当吉姆喊我值班的时候，他说："哈克，你想这一路我们还会碰上什么国王吗？""不，"我说，" 我估计不会。""唉，"他说，" 那就好。我不在乎一两个国王。可这已经足够啦。这个国王真够胡闹的，那个公爵也好不到哪儿去。"我看得出来，吉姆一直想让他说法国话，这样他好听听法国话什么样；可是他说他在这个国家这么长了，又经历了这么多的磨难，法国话早给忘光了。
收听单词发音 |
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runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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overhauling
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| n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bum
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| n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨 | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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prancing
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| v.（马）腾跃( prance的现在分词 ) | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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stomping
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| v.跺脚，践踏，重踏( stomp的现在分词 ) | |
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slabs
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| n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片 | |
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lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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contrite
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| adj.悔悟了的，后悔的，痛悔的 | |
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cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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busted
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| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
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43
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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subscriptions
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| n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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unities
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| n.统一体( unity的名词复数 )；（艺术等） 完整；（文学、戏剧） （情节、时间和地点的）统一性；团结一致 | |
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