around and come back. It s so in all the books.
Why, it s real bully, Tom. I believe it s better n to be a pirate.
Yes, it s better in some ways, because it s close to home and circuses
and all that.
By this time everything was ready and the boys entered the hole, Tom in
the lead. They toiled their way to the farther end of the tunnel, then
made their spliced kite-strings fast and moved on. A few steps brought
them to the spring, and Tom felt a shudder quiver all through him.
He showed Huck the fragment of candle-wick perched on a lump of clay
against the wall, and described how he and Becky had watched the flame
struggle and expire.
The boys began to quiet down to whispers, now, for the stillness and
gloom of the place oppressed their spirits. They went on, and presently
entered and followed Tom s other corridor until they reached the
jumping-off place. The candles revealed the fact that it was not
really a precipice, but only a steep clay hill twenty or thirty feet
high. Tom whispered:
Now I ll show you something, Huck.
He held his candle aloft and said:
Look as far around the corner as you can. Do you see that? There on the
big rock over yonder done with candle-smoke.
Tom, it s a _cross_!
_Now_ where s your Number Two? _under the cross_, hey? Right yonder s
where I saw Injun Joe poke up his candle, Huck!
Huck stared at the mystic sign awhile, and then said with a shaky voice:
Tom, less git out of here!
What! and leave the treasure?
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