CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

A Dinner Full of Surprises

Huck ran to the bathroom window and raised it saying, "Here, Tom! We can escape through here!"

"Why?"

"I don't like being around people, Tom. You know that." "Don't worry about it, Huck. They've made a nice dinner for us. It'd be terrible for us to disappear again."

Then Sid came into the bathroom.

"So, tell us, Sid. Why are all of these people here?"

"Oh, Old Man Jones says that he has surprising news for everyone. But actually, we all know what he's going to say. It'll be no surprise at all."

"Well, we don't know. What is it?" asked Tom.

"He thinks that Mrs Douglas doesn't know about Huck following those two men that night, so he's going to tell the story at dinner. But she already knew."

"Well, I can imagine who told her! You! You've never been able to keep a secret since the day you were born. Now get out of here! You've ruined the excitement for everyone tonight!"

A little while later, Tom and Huck joined everyone at the dinner table. When everyone had finished eating, Mr Jones rose to say something. He told the story about Huck and everyone pretended to be surprised. Mrs Douglas couldn't thank Huckleberry enough. This, of course, made him terribly embarrassed. She continued by saying that from now on, since Huckleberry didn't have a family, she would take care of him. He could live with her and after he had finished school she would give him money so that he could go into business for himself.

Hearing this, Tom said, "Oh, don't worry about Huck. He's a wealthy man, now."

Everyone at the table looked confused.

"Really, Huck is rich now. I can prove it. Just wait here and I'll be back." Then Tom went running out the door. Aunt Polly's face turned red with embarrassment again: "What is that boy doing now?" she thought to herself.

When Tom came back in, he was carrying the two heavy bags of money. He put them on the table and opened them, saying, "See, I told you he was rich, and so am I!"

The room was completely silent for a whole minute as everyone stared at the money, not believing what they were seeing. Then the judge spoke.

"Tom, can you tell us where you got all of this money?"

So, Tom told them the whole story. And afterward they all counted the gold and silver together. It came to almost thirteen thousand dollars. Even though there was a room full of adults, none of them, not even the judge, could say they had ever seen that much money at one time before.

(end of section)