CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Old Man Jones' Story

The next morning, Sunday morning, Huckleberry returned to Mr Jones' home and knocked softly.

"Well, it's Huckleberry Finn again! Come on in, boy!"

It was strange for Huckleberry to hear someone be so nice to him.

Once he entered the home, Mr Jones said to him:

"We were hoping you'd come back last night. When the sun finishes rising we'll all sit down to a nice hot breakfast."

"I'm sorry that I disappeared last night. I heard the guns and became frightened. I ran as far and as fast as I could. I came back now to find out what happened. And I didn't wait until sunrise because I feared those two men might see me."

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you that they're still alive. They saw us and then ran. After that we went to get some of our friends in the village to help look for them. We've got people looking down by the river and out in the forest. My sons and I are going to join them after breakfast. I just wish that we knew what they looked like. Do you know?"

"Well, one of them has long white hair, and most people think that he can't hear or speak, but he really can." After he'd described the other man's face and clothing, Mr Jones' two sons left the house to tell the others what the men looked like while the information was still clear in their minds. When Mr Jones asked Huckleberry why he'd been following those two men, he told him that one of them was Indian Joe, so he had known that they were going to do something bad. He didn't mention the money at all.

Huck stayed at Mr Jones' during this period of time for safety. When people began coming to the house, Huck hid from them.

Mrs Douglas came over to thank Mr Jones for chasing those men away.

"Actually, it's not me you should thank. I wouldn't have known anything if someone else hadn't told me. But I can't tell you who he is. He doesn't want you to know."

Everyone was talking about the two men the next day at church.

As they left the church, Mrs Thatcher said to Mrs Harper, "Those children must have really had fun yesterday. I can't believe Becky and Susy are still sleeping at your home!"

"You mean, Becky, your daughter?"

"Yes. She told me that she was going to stay at your home last night. She did stay there, didn't she?"

"No."

Suddenly, Mrs Thatcher stopped, her eyes filled with water.

And at that moment Aunt Polly joined them saying, "Good morning, ladies! Mrs Harper, Tom didn't come home last night. I assume that he just stayed at your home and he didn't come to church this morning for fear that I'd be angry."

"No. He didn't come to our home." She too had turned white now.

They called Joe Harper over to them and asked him when he last had seen Tom and Becky, but he couldn't remember.

Soon everybody at the church knew that Tom and Becky were missing. All of the children who'd gone to the picnic were asked if they'd seen them on the boat, but no one remembered because it had been dark. Then one of them said that it was possible that they might still be inside the cave.

Mrs Thatcher and Aunt Polly both began to cry.

And within 30 minutes every man in the village was searching for the missing children.

The women of the town gathered together to try to comfort Aunt Polly and Mrs Thatcher. They all cried together while waiting for news from the men. But all that came was a message saying: "We'll be needing more food and lights."

When Old Man Jones returned home from looking for the children, he found that Huck was ill. Mrs Douglas, when she heard the news that Huck was feeling bad, came to care for him.

Soon, many of the men were too tired to look any further, but some of the stronger men kept looking. They went deep inside the cave to places they'd never known were there before. They shouted for the children to answer and shot their guns in the air for them to hear, but no reply ever came. One man found "Becky and Tom" written on one of the walls. After three days there was still no word of anyone having found the children.

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