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So he done it; and it satisfied him; and he was that glad to see me again, he

didn't know what to do. And he wanted to know all about it right off; because

it was a grand adventure, and mysterious, and so it hit him where he lived. But

I said, leave it alone till by-and-by; and told his driver to wait, and we drove off

a little piece, and I told him the kind of a fix I was in, and what did he reckon

we better do? He said, let him alone a minute, and don't disturb him. So he

thought and thought, and pretty soon he says:

"It's all right, I've got it. Take my trunk in your wagon, and let on it's

your'n; and you turn back and fool along slow, so as to get to the house about the

time you ought to; and I'll go towards town a piece, and take a fresh start, and

get there a quarter or a half an hour after you; and you needn't let on to know

me, at first." ssssssssss

I says: ssssssssss

"All right; but wait a minute. There's one more thing -- a thing that no-

body don't know but me. And that is, there's a nigger here that I'm a trying to

steal out of slavery -- and his name is Jim -- old Miss Watson's Jim."

He says: ssssssssss

"What! Why Jim is"

He stopped and went to studying. I says:

"I know what you'll say. You'll say it's dirty low-down business; but what

if it is? -- I'm low down; and I'm agoing to steal him, and I want you to keep

mum and not let on. Will you?" ssssssssss

His eye lit up, and he says:

"I'll help you steal him!"

Well, I let go all holts then, like I was shot. It was the most astonishing

speech I ever heard -- and I'm bound to say Tom Sawyer fell, considerable, in my

estimation. Only I couldn't believe it. Tom Sawyer a nigger stealer!

"Oh, shucks," I says, "you're joking."

"I ain't joking, either."

"Well, then," I says, "joking or no joking, if you hear anything said about

a runaway nigger, don't forget to remember that you don't know nothing about

him, and I don't know nothing about him." ssssssssss

ssssssssss

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