CHAPTER ELEVEN

Potter's Capture

At 12 o'clock, the teacher told his students that school was closing early for the day. All of the children were surprised and excited by the news, except for Tom. He knew it was because the doctor's body had been found and that the whole village was talking about it now.

Tom heard some people saying that the police found Potter's knife next to the body. And someone had said that they'd seen Potter washing himself in the river this morning and that he'd run away when he noticed he was being watched. This surprised most people because Muff never seemed to care about washing himself before today.

Tom found many people gathered at the graveyard. He felt uncomfortable there, and he felt even worse when he saw Huckleberry there. They tried not to look at each other for fear that someone might suspect them of knowing something.

Then Tom saw Indian Joe. He was surprised to see him at the scene of the crime.

A group of policemen soon appeared, and with them they had Muff Potter. Potter looked frightened. When they brought him to the grave where the murder happened he fell to the ground crying: "Please, I'm telling you I didn't do it! I could never kill a man."

"No one said you did," someone from the crowd said.

Potter realized that it was Indian Joe who had spoken.

"But you told me you wouldn't tell ... Indian Joe?"

The police showed Potter the knife and asked him if it was his. He dropped his head and admitted that it was. He started shaking and looked up at Indian Joe again: "You know I didn't do it, Indian Joe. You were there. Tell them I didn't do it!"

The police asked Indian Joe what he knew. He told them what he saw, and Tom expected God would kill Indian Joe right there for lying, but nothing happened. Tom wanted to tell the truth, but he knew he'd be killed if he did.

It bothered Tom that an innocent man was going to be punished and that he couldn't do anything about it. This idea stayed in his mind all week. He couldn't sleep at night, and if he did sleep, he had terrible dreams and he said things out loud. Sid said he'd heard Tom, one night, saying, "Blood! Blood! Please don't kill me! Please!"

"What's upsetting you, Tom?" asked Aunt Polly. "Something's on your mind and you need to talk about it."

"It's nothing, Auntie." But Tom's face had turned white when she asked him this question.

During this period of time, Tom visited Potter's window at the jail everyday and gave him a small gift to try to make him feel better. He wasn't sure if it helped Potter, but certainly helped Tom.

Because Indian Joe had been digging up Hoss Williams' grave, most of the people of the village wanted to put him in jail too. But they feared that this would just anger him, and he might, later on, punish those who'd put him in jail a second time. So Indian Joe remained free.

(end of section)