Reading Help Adventures of Tom Sawyer Ch.XVI-XXXV
a-smoking, and t'other one wanted a light; so they stopped right before me and `
` the cigars lit up their faces and I see that the big one was the deaf and dumb `
` Spaniard, by his white whiskers and the patch on his eye, and t'other one was a `
` rusty, ragged-looking devil." "Could you see the rags by the light of the `
` cigars?" This staggered Huck for a moment. Then he said: "Well, I don't `
` know--but somehow it seems as if I did." "Then they went on, and you--" `
` "Follered 'em--yes. That was it. I wanted to see what was up--they sneaked `
` along so. I dogged 'em to the widder's stile, and stood in the dark and heard `
` the ragged one beg for the widder, and the Spaniard swear he'd spile her looks `
` just as I told you and your two--" "What! The DEAF AND DUMB man said all that!" `
` Huck had made another terrible mistake! He was trying his best to keep the old `
` man from getting the faintest hint of who the Spaniard might be, and yet his `
` tongue seemed determined to get him into trouble in spite of all he could do. `
` He made several efforts to creep out of his scrape, but the old man's eye was `
` upon him and he made blunder after blunder. Presently the Welshman said: "My `
` boy, don't be afraid of me. I wouldn't hurt a hair of your head for all the `
` world. No--I'd protect you--I'd protect you. This Spaniard is not deaf and `
` dumb; you've let that slip without intending it; you can't cover that up now. `
` You know something about that Spaniard that you want to keep dark. Now trust `
` me--tell me what it is, and trust me --I won't betray you." Huck looked into `
` the old man's honest eyes a moment, then bent over and whispered in his ear: `
` "'Tain't a Spaniard--it's Injun Joe!" The Welshman almost jumped out of his `
` chair. In a moment he said: "It's all plain enough, now. When you talked about `
` notching ears and slitting noses I judged that that was your own embellishment, `
` because white men don't take that sort of revenge. But an Injun! That's a `
` different matter altogether." During breakfast the talk went on, and in the `
` course of it the old man said that the last thing which he and his sons had `
` done, before going to bed, was to get a lantern and examine the stile and its `
` vicinity for marks of blood. They found none, but captured a bulky bundle of-- `
` "Of WHAT?" If the words had been lightning they could not have leaped with a `
` more stunning suddenness from Huck's blanched lips. His eyes were staring wide, `
` now, and his breath suspended--waiting for the answer. The Welshman `
` started--stared in return--three seconds--five seconds--ten --then replied: "Of `
` burglar's tools. Why, what's the MATTER with you?" Huck sank back, panting `
` gently, but deeply, unutterably grateful. The Welshman eyed him gravely, `
` curiously--and presently said: "Yes, burglar's tools. That appears to relieve `
` you a good deal. But what did give you that turn? What were YOU expecting we'd `
` found?" Huck was in a close place--the inquiring eye was upon him--he would `
` have given anything for material for a plausible answer--nothing suggested `
` itself--the inquiring eye was boring deeper and deeper--a senseless reply `
` offered--there was no time to weigh it, so at a venture he uttered it--feebly: `
` "Sunday-school books, maybe." Poor Huck was too distressed to smile, but the `
` old man laughed loud and joyously, shook up the details of his anatomy from `
` head to foot, and ended by saying that such a laugh was money in a-man's `
` pocket, because it cut down the doctor's bill like everything. Then he added: `
` "Poor old chap, you're white and jaded--you ain't well a bit--no wonder you're `
` a little flighty and off your balance. But you'll come out of it. Rest and `
` sleep will fetch you out all right, I hope." Huck was irritated to think he had `
` been such a goose and betrayed such a suspicious excitement, for he had dropped `
` the idea that the parcel brought from the tavern was the treasure, as soon as `
` he had heard the talk at the widow's stile. He had only thought it was not the `
` treasure, however--he had not known that it wasn't--and so the suggestion of a `
` captured bundle was too much for his self-possession. But on the whole he felt `
` glad the little episode had happened, for now he knew beyond all question that `
` that bundle was not THE bundle, and so his mind was at rest and exceedingly `
` comfortable. In fact, everything seemed to be drifting just in the right `
` direction, now; the treasure must be still in No. 2, the men would be captured `
` and jailed that day, and he and Tom could seize the gold that night without any `
` trouble or any fear of interruption. Just as breakfast was completed there was `
` a knock at the door. Huck jumped for a hiding-place, for he had no mind to be `
` connected even remotely with the late event. The Welshman admitted several `
` ladies and gentlemen, among them the Widow Douglas, and noticed that groups of `
` citizens were climbing up the hill--to stare at the stile. So the news had `
` spread. The Welshman had to tell the story of the night to the visitors. The `
` widow's gratitude for her preservation was outspoken. "Don't say a word about `
` it, madam. There's another that you're more beholden to than you are to me and `
` my boys, maybe, but he don't allow me to tell his name. We wouldn't have been `
` there but for him." Of course this excited a curiosity so vast that it almost `
` belittled the main matter--but the Welshman allowed it to eat into the vitals `
` of his visitors, and through them be transmitted to the whole town, for he `
` refused to part with his secret. When all else had been learned, the widow `
` said: "I went to sleep reading in bed and slept straight through all that `
` noise. Why didn't you come and wake me?" "We judged it warn't worth while. `
` Those fellows warn't likely to come again--they hadn't any tools left to work `
` with, and what was the use of waking you up and scaring you to death? My three `
` negro men stood guard at your house all the rest of the night. They've just `
` come back." More visitors came, and the story had to be told and retold for a `
` couple of hours more. There was no Sabbath-school during day-school vacation, `
` but everybody was early at church. The stirring event was well canvassed. News `
` came that not a sign of the two villains had been yet discovered. When the `
` sermon was finished, Judge Thatcher's wife dropped alongside of Mrs. Harper as `
` she moved down the aisle with the crowd and said: "Is my Becky going to sleep `
` all day? I just expected she would be tired to death." "Your Becky?" "Yes," `
` with a startled look--"didn't she stay with you last night?" "Why, no." Mrs. `
` Thatcher turned pale, and sank into a pew, just as Aunt Polly, talking briskly `
` with a friend, passed by. Aunt Polly said: "Good-morning, Mrs. Thatcher. `
` Good-morning, Mrs. Harper. I've got a boy that's turned up missing. I reckon my `
` Tom stayed at your house last night--one of you. And now he's afraid to come to `
` church. I've got to settle with him." Mrs. Thatcher shook her head feebly and `
` turned paler than ever. "He didn't stay with us," said Mrs. Harper, beginning `
` to look uneasy. A marked anxiety came into Aunt Polly's face. "Joe Harper, have `
` you seen my Tom this morning?" "No'm." "When did you see him last?" Joe tried `
` to remember, but was not sure he could say. The people had stopped moving out `
` of church. Whispers passed along, and a boding uneasiness took possession of `
` every countenance. Children were anxiously questioned, and young teachers. They `
` all said they had not noticed whether Tom and Becky were on board the ferryboat `
` on the homeward trip; it was dark; no one thought of inquiring if any one was `
` missing. One young man finally blurted out his fear that they were still in the `
` cave! Mrs. Thatcher swooned away. Aunt Polly fell to crying and wringing her `
` hands. The alarm swept from lip to lip, from group to group, from street to `
` street, and within five minutes the bells were wildly clanging and the whole `
` town was up! The Cardiff Hill episode sank into instant insignificance, the `
` burglars were forgotten, horses were saddled, skiffs were manned, the ferryboat `
` ordered out, and before the horror was half an hour old, two hundred men were `
` pouring down highroad and river toward the cave. All the long afternoon the `
` village seemed empty and dead. Many women visited Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher `
` and tried to comfort them. They cried with them, too, and that was still better `
` than words. All the tedious night the town waited for news; but when the `
` morning dawned at last, all the word that came was, "Send more candles--and `
` send food." Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. Judge `
` Thatcher sent messages of hope and encouragement from the cave, but they `
` conveyed no real cheer. The old Welshman came home toward daylight, spattered `
` with candle-grease, smeared with clay, and almost worn out. He found Huck still `
` in the bed that had been provided for him, and delirious with fever. The `
` physicians were all at the cave, so the Widow Douglas came and took charge of `
` the patient. She said she would do her best by him, because, whether he was `
` good, bad, or indifferent, he was the Lord's, and nothing that was the Lord's `
` was a thing to be neglected. The Welshman said Huck had good spots in him, and `
` the widow said: "You can depend on it. That's the Lord's mark. He don't leave `
` it off. He never does. Puts it somewhere on every creature that comes from his `
` hands." Early in the forenoon parties of jaded men began to straggle into the `
` village, but the strongest of the citizens continued searching. All the news `
` that could be gained was that remotenesses of the cavern were being ransacked `
` that had never been visited before; that every corner and crevice was going to `
` be thoroughly searched; that wherever one wandered through the maze of `
` passages, lights were to be seen flitting hither and thither in the distance, `
` and shoutings and pistol-shots sent their hollow reverberations to the ear down `
` the sombre aisles. In one place, far from the section usually traversed by `
` tourists, the names "BECKY & TOM" had been found traced upon the rocky wall `
` with candle-smoke, and near at hand a grease-soiled bit of ribbon. Mrs. `
` Thatcher recognized the ribbon and cried over it. She said it was the last `
` relic she should ever have of her child; and that no other memorial of her `
` could ever be so precious, because this one parted latest from the living body `
` before the awful death came. Some said that now and then, in the cave, a `
` far-away speck of light would glimmer, and then a glorious shout would burst `
` forth and a score of men go trooping down the echoing aisle--and then a `
` sickening disappointment always followed; the children were not there; it was `
` only a searcher's light. Three dreadful days and nights dragged their tedious `
` hours along, and the village sank into a hopeless stupor. No one had heart for `
` anything. The accidental discovery, just made, that the proprietor of the `
` Temperance Tavern kept liquor on his premises, scarcely fluttered the public `
` pulse, tremendous as the fact was. In a lucid interval, Huck feebly led up to `
` the subject of taverns, and finally asked--dimly dreading the worst--if `
` anything had been discovered at the Temperance Tavern since he had been ill. `
` "Yes," said the widow. Huck started up in bed, wild-eyed: "What? What was it?" `
` "Liquor!--and the place has been shut up. Lie down, child--what a turn you did `
` give me!" "Only tell me just one thing--only just one--please! Was it Tom `
` Sawyer that found it?" The widow burst into tears. "Hush, hush, child, hush! `
` I've told you before, you must NOT talk. You are very, very sick!" Then nothing `
` but liquor had been found; there would have been a great powwow if it had been `
` the gold. So the treasure was gone forever--gone forever! But what could she be `
` crying about? Curious that she should cry. These thoughts worked their dim way `
` through Huck's mind, and under the weariness they gave him he fell asleep. The `
` widow said to herself: "There--he's asleep, poor wreck. Tom Sawyer find it! `
` Pity but somebody could find Tom Sawyer! Ah, there ain't many left, now, that's `
` got hope enough, or strength enough, either, to go on searching." CHAPTER XXXI `
` NOW to return to Tom and Becky's share in the picnic. They tripped along the `
` murky aisles with the rest of the company, visiting the familiar wonders of the `
` cave--wonders dubbed with rather over-descriptive names, such as "The `
` Drawing-Room," "The Cathedral," "Aladdin's Palace," and so on. Presently the `
` hide-and-seek frolicking began, and Tom and Becky engaged in it with zeal until `
` the exertion began to grow a trifle wearisome; then they wandered down a `
` sinuous avenue holding their candles aloft and reading the tangled web-work of `
` names, dates, post-office addresses, and mottoes with which the rocky walls had `
` been frescoed (in candle-smoke). Still drifting along and talking, they `
` scarcely noticed that they were now in a part of the cave whose walls were not `
` frescoed. They smoked their own names under an overhanging shelf and moved on. `
` Presently they came to a place where a little stream of water, trickling over a `
` ledge and carrying a limestone sediment with it, had, in the slow-dragging `
` ages, formed a laced and ruffled Niagara in gleaming and imperishable stone. `
` Tom squeezed his small body behind it in order to illuminate it for Becky's `
` gratification. He found that it curtained a sort of steep natural stairway `
` which was enclosed between narrow walls, and at once the ambition to be a `
` discoverer seized him. Becky responded to his call, and they made a smoke-mark `
` for future guidance, and started upon their quest. They wound this way and `
` that, far down into the secret depths of the cave, made another mark, and `
` branched off in search of novelties to tell the upper world about. In one place `
` they found a spacious cavern, from whose ceiling depended a multitude of `
` shining stalactites of the length and circumference of a man's leg; they walked `
` all about it, wondering and admiring, and presently left it by one of the `
` numerous passages that opened into it. This shortly brought them to a `
` bewitching spring, whose basin was incrusted with a frostwork of glittering `
` crystals; it was in the midst of a cavern whose walls were supported by many `
` fantastic pillars which had been formed by the joining of great stalactites and `
` stalagmites together, the result of the ceaseless water-drip of centuries. `
` Under the roof vast knots of bats had packed themselves together, thousands in `
` a bunch; the lights disturbed the creatures and they came flocking down by `
` hundreds, squeaking and darting furiously at the candles. Tom knew their ways `
` and the danger of this sort of conduct. He seized Becky's hand and hurried her `
` into the first corridor that offered; and none too soon, for a bat struck `
` Becky's light out with its wing while she was passing out of the cavern. The `
` bats chased the children a good distance; but the fugitives plunged into every `
` new passage that offered, and at last got rid of the perilous things. Tom found `
` a subterranean lake, shortly, which stretched its dim length away until its `
` shape was lost in the shadows. He wanted to explore its borders, but concluded `
` that it would be best to sit down and rest awhile, first. Now, for the first `
` time, the deep stillness of the place laid a clammy hand upon the spirits of `
` the children. Becky said: "Why, I didn't notice, but it seems ever so long `
` since I heard any of the others." "Come to think, Becky, we are away down below `
` them--and I don't know how far away north, or south, or east, or whichever it `
` is. We couldn't hear them here." Becky grew apprehensive. "I wonder how long `
`
` the cigars lit up their faces and I see that the big one was the deaf and dumb `
` Spaniard, by his white whiskers and the patch on his eye, and t'other one was a `
` rusty, ragged-looking devil." "Could you see the rags by the light of the `
` cigars?" This staggered Huck for a moment. Then he said: "Well, I don't `
` know--but somehow it seems as if I did." "Then they went on, and you--" `
` "Follered 'em--yes. That was it. I wanted to see what was up--they sneaked `
` along so. I dogged 'em to the widder's stile, and stood in the dark and heard `
` the ragged one beg for the widder, and the Spaniard swear he'd spile her looks `
` just as I told you and your two--" "What! The DEAF AND DUMB man said all that!" `
` Huck had made another terrible mistake! He was trying his best to keep the old `
` man from getting the faintest hint of who the Spaniard might be, and yet his `
` tongue seemed determined to get him into trouble in spite of all he could do. `
` He made several efforts to creep out of his scrape, but the old man's eye was `
` upon him and he made blunder after blunder. Presently the Welshman said: "My `
` boy, don't be afraid of me. I wouldn't hurt a hair of your head for all the `
` world. No--I'd protect you--I'd protect you. This Spaniard is not deaf and `
` dumb; you've let that slip without intending it; you can't cover that up now. `
` You know something about that Spaniard that you want to keep dark. Now trust `
` me--tell me what it is, and trust me --I won't betray you." Huck looked into `
` the old man's honest eyes a moment, then bent over and whispered in his ear: `
` "'Tain't a Spaniard--it's Injun Joe!" The Welshman almost jumped out of his `
` chair. In a moment he said: "It's all plain enough, now. When you talked about `
` notching ears and slitting noses I judged that that was your own embellishment, `
` because white men don't take that sort of revenge. But an Injun! That's a `
` different matter altogether." During breakfast the talk went on, and in the `
` course of it the old man said that the last thing which he and his sons had `
` done, before going to bed, was to get a lantern and examine the stile and its `
` vicinity for marks of blood. They found none, but captured a bulky bundle of-- `
` "Of WHAT?" If the words had been lightning they could not have leaped with a `
` more stunning suddenness from Huck's blanched lips. His eyes were staring wide, `
` now, and his breath suspended--waiting for the answer. The Welshman `
` started--stared in return--three seconds--five seconds--ten --then replied: "Of `
` burglar's tools. Why, what's the MATTER with you?" Huck sank back, panting `
` gently, but deeply, unutterably grateful. The Welshman eyed him gravely, `
` curiously--and presently said: "Yes, burglar's tools. That appears to relieve `
` you a good deal. But what did give you that turn? What were YOU expecting we'd `
` found?" Huck was in a close place--the inquiring eye was upon him--he would `
` have given anything for material for a plausible answer--nothing suggested `
` itself--the inquiring eye was boring deeper and deeper--a senseless reply `
` offered--there was no time to weigh it, so at a venture he uttered it--feebly: `
` "Sunday-school books, maybe." Poor Huck was too distressed to smile, but the `
` old man laughed loud and joyously, shook up the details of his anatomy from `
` head to foot, and ended by saying that such a laugh was money in a-man's `
` pocket, because it cut down the doctor's bill like everything. Then he added: `
` "Poor old chap, you're white and jaded--you ain't well a bit--no wonder you're `
` a little flighty and off your balance. But you'll come out of it. Rest and `
` sleep will fetch you out all right, I hope." Huck was irritated to think he had `
` been such a goose and betrayed such a suspicious excitement, for he had dropped `
` the idea that the parcel brought from the tavern was the treasure, as soon as `
` he had heard the talk at the widow's stile. He had only thought it was not the `
` treasure, however--he had not known that it wasn't--and so the suggestion of a `
` captured bundle was too much for his self-possession. But on the whole he felt `
` glad the little episode had happened, for now he knew beyond all question that `
` that bundle was not THE bundle, and so his mind was at rest and exceedingly `
` comfortable. In fact, everything seemed to be drifting just in the right `
` direction, now; the treasure must be still in No. 2, the men would be captured `
` and jailed that day, and he and Tom could seize the gold that night without any `
` trouble or any fear of interruption. Just as breakfast was completed there was `
` a knock at the door. Huck jumped for a hiding-place, for he had no mind to be `
` connected even remotely with the late event. The Welshman admitted several `
` ladies and gentlemen, among them the Widow Douglas, and noticed that groups of `
` citizens were climbing up the hill--to stare at the stile. So the news had `
` spread. The Welshman had to tell the story of the night to the visitors. The `
` widow's gratitude for her preservation was outspoken. "Don't say a word about `
` it, madam. There's another that you're more beholden to than you are to me and `
` my boys, maybe, but he don't allow me to tell his name. We wouldn't have been `
` there but for him." Of course this excited a curiosity so vast that it almost `
` belittled the main matter--but the Welshman allowed it to eat into the vitals `
` of his visitors, and through them be transmitted to the whole town, for he `
` refused to part with his secret. When all else had been learned, the widow `
` said: "I went to sleep reading in bed and slept straight through all that `
` noise. Why didn't you come and wake me?" "We judged it warn't worth while. `
` Those fellows warn't likely to come again--they hadn't any tools left to work `
` with, and what was the use of waking you up and scaring you to death? My three `
` negro men stood guard at your house all the rest of the night. They've just `
` come back." More visitors came, and the story had to be told and retold for a `
` couple of hours more. There was no Sabbath-school during day-school vacation, `
` but everybody was early at church. The stirring event was well canvassed. News `
` came that not a sign of the two villains had been yet discovered. When the `
` sermon was finished, Judge Thatcher's wife dropped alongside of Mrs. Harper as `
` she moved down the aisle with the crowd and said: "Is my Becky going to sleep `
` all day? I just expected she would be tired to death." "Your Becky?" "Yes," `
` with a startled look--"didn't she stay with you last night?" "Why, no." Mrs. `
` Thatcher turned pale, and sank into a pew, just as Aunt Polly, talking briskly `
` with a friend, passed by. Aunt Polly said: "Good-morning, Mrs. Thatcher. `
` Good-morning, Mrs. Harper. I've got a boy that's turned up missing. I reckon my `
` Tom stayed at your house last night--one of you. And now he's afraid to come to `
` church. I've got to settle with him." Mrs. Thatcher shook her head feebly and `
` turned paler than ever. "He didn't stay with us," said Mrs. Harper, beginning `
` to look uneasy. A marked anxiety came into Aunt Polly's face. "Joe Harper, have `
` you seen my Tom this morning?" "No'm." "When did you see him last?" Joe tried `
` to remember, but was not sure he could say. The people had stopped moving out `
` of church. Whispers passed along, and a boding uneasiness took possession of `
` every countenance. Children were anxiously questioned, and young teachers. They `
` all said they had not noticed whether Tom and Becky were on board the ferryboat `
` on the homeward trip; it was dark; no one thought of inquiring if any one was `
` missing. One young man finally blurted out his fear that they were still in the `
` cave! Mrs. Thatcher swooned away. Aunt Polly fell to crying and wringing her `
` hands. The alarm swept from lip to lip, from group to group, from street to `
` street, and within five minutes the bells were wildly clanging and the whole `
` town was up! The Cardiff Hill episode sank into instant insignificance, the `
` burglars were forgotten, horses were saddled, skiffs were manned, the ferryboat `
` ordered out, and before the horror was half an hour old, two hundred men were `
` pouring down highroad and river toward the cave. All the long afternoon the `
` village seemed empty and dead. Many women visited Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher `
` and tried to comfort them. They cried with them, too, and that was still better `
` than words. All the tedious night the town waited for news; but when the `
` morning dawned at last, all the word that came was, "Send more candles--and `
` send food." Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. Judge `
` Thatcher sent messages of hope and encouragement from the cave, but they `
` conveyed no real cheer. The old Welshman came home toward daylight, spattered `
` with candle-grease, smeared with clay, and almost worn out. He found Huck still `
` in the bed that had been provided for him, and delirious with fever. The `
` physicians were all at the cave, so the Widow Douglas came and took charge of `
` the patient. She said she would do her best by him, because, whether he was `
` good, bad, or indifferent, he was the Lord's, and nothing that was the Lord's `
` was a thing to be neglected. The Welshman said Huck had good spots in him, and `
` the widow said: "You can depend on it. That's the Lord's mark. He don't leave `
` it off. He never does. Puts it somewhere on every creature that comes from his `
` hands." Early in the forenoon parties of jaded men began to straggle into the `
` village, but the strongest of the citizens continued searching. All the news `
` that could be gained was that remotenesses of the cavern were being ransacked `
` that had never been visited before; that every corner and crevice was going to `
` be thoroughly searched; that wherever one wandered through the maze of `
` passages, lights were to be seen flitting hither and thither in the distance, `
` and shoutings and pistol-shots sent their hollow reverberations to the ear down `
` the sombre aisles. In one place, far from the section usually traversed by `
` tourists, the names "BECKY & TOM" had been found traced upon the rocky wall `
` with candle-smoke, and near at hand a grease-soiled bit of ribbon. Mrs. `
` Thatcher recognized the ribbon and cried over it. She said it was the last `
` relic she should ever have of her child; and that no other memorial of her `
` could ever be so precious, because this one parted latest from the living body `
` before the awful death came. Some said that now and then, in the cave, a `
` far-away speck of light would glimmer, and then a glorious shout would burst `
` forth and a score of men go trooping down the echoing aisle--and then a `
` sickening disappointment always followed; the children were not there; it was `
` only a searcher's light. Three dreadful days and nights dragged their tedious `
` hours along, and the village sank into a hopeless stupor. No one had heart for `
` anything. The accidental discovery, just made, that the proprietor of the `
` Temperance Tavern kept liquor on his premises, scarcely fluttered the public `
` pulse, tremendous as the fact was. In a lucid interval, Huck feebly led up to `
` the subject of taverns, and finally asked--dimly dreading the worst--if `
` anything had been discovered at the Temperance Tavern since he had been ill. `
` "Yes," said the widow. Huck started up in bed, wild-eyed: "What? What was it?" `
` "Liquor!--and the place has been shut up. Lie down, child--what a turn you did `
` give me!" "Only tell me just one thing--only just one--please! Was it Tom `
` Sawyer that found it?" The widow burst into tears. "Hush, hush, child, hush! `
` I've told you before, you must NOT talk. You are very, very sick!" Then nothing `
` but liquor had been found; there would have been a great powwow if it had been `
` the gold. So the treasure was gone forever--gone forever! But what could she be `
` crying about? Curious that she should cry. These thoughts worked their dim way `
` through Huck's mind, and under the weariness they gave him he fell asleep. The `
` widow said to herself: "There--he's asleep, poor wreck. Tom Sawyer find it! `
` Pity but somebody could find Tom Sawyer! Ah, there ain't many left, now, that's `
` got hope enough, or strength enough, either, to go on searching." CHAPTER XXXI `
` NOW to return to Tom and Becky's share in the picnic. They tripped along the `
` murky aisles with the rest of the company, visiting the familiar wonders of the `
` cave--wonders dubbed with rather over-descriptive names, such as "The `
` Drawing-Room," "The Cathedral," "Aladdin's Palace," and so on. Presently the `
` hide-and-seek frolicking began, and Tom and Becky engaged in it with zeal until `
` the exertion began to grow a trifle wearisome; then they wandered down a `
` sinuous avenue holding their candles aloft and reading the tangled web-work of `
` names, dates, post-office addresses, and mottoes with which the rocky walls had `
` been frescoed (in candle-smoke). Still drifting along and talking, they `
` scarcely noticed that they were now in a part of the cave whose walls were not `
` frescoed. They smoked their own names under an overhanging shelf and moved on. `
` Presently they came to a place where a little stream of water, trickling over a `
` ledge and carrying a limestone sediment with it, had, in the slow-dragging `
` ages, formed a laced and ruffled Niagara in gleaming and imperishable stone. `
` Tom squeezed his small body behind it in order to illuminate it for Becky's `
` gratification. He found that it curtained a sort of steep natural stairway `
` which was enclosed between narrow walls, and at once the ambition to be a `
` discoverer seized him. Becky responded to his call, and they made a smoke-mark `
` for future guidance, and started upon their quest. They wound this way and `
` that, far down into the secret depths of the cave, made another mark, and `
` branched off in search of novelties to tell the upper world about. In one place `
` they found a spacious cavern, from whose ceiling depended a multitude of `
` shining stalactites of the length and circumference of a man's leg; they walked `
` all about it, wondering and admiring, and presently left it by one of the `
` numerous passages that opened into it. This shortly brought them to a `
` bewitching spring, whose basin was incrusted with a frostwork of glittering `
` crystals; it was in the midst of a cavern whose walls were supported by many `
` fantastic pillars which had been formed by the joining of great stalactites and `
` stalagmites together, the result of the ceaseless water-drip of centuries. `
` Under the roof vast knots of bats had packed themselves together, thousands in `
` a bunch; the lights disturbed the creatures and they came flocking down by `
` hundreds, squeaking and darting furiously at the candles. Tom knew their ways `
` and the danger of this sort of conduct. He seized Becky's hand and hurried her `
` into the first corridor that offered; and none too soon, for a bat struck `
` Becky's light out with its wing while she was passing out of the cavern. The `
` bats chased the children a good distance; but the fugitives plunged into every `
` new passage that offered, and at last got rid of the perilous things. Tom found `
` a subterranean lake, shortly, which stretched its dim length away until its `
` shape was lost in the shadows. He wanted to explore its borders, but concluded `
` that it would be best to sit down and rest awhile, first. Now, for the first `
` time, the deep stillness of the place laid a clammy hand upon the spirits of `
` the children. Becky said: "Why, I didn't notice, but it seems ever so long `
` since I heard any of the others." "Come to think, Becky, we are away down below `
` them--and I don't know how far away north, or south, or east, or whichever it `
` is. We couldn't hear them here." Becky grew apprehensive. "I wonder how long `
`