Huck's New Life

Tom found Huck hiding behind an old barrel at the edge of town, dirty and content.

"I can't go back, Tom," Huck said. "The widow means well, but it's too much. You have to get up at a fixed time, eat at a fixed time, go to bed at a fixed time. You have to wash. The clothes feel like iron. I don't belong in a house."

Tom sat down beside him. "Huck, listen. I'm forming a band of robbers — a real one, with a proper name and secret signs. But you have to be respectable to join. You have to go back to the widow's."

Huck stared at him. He thought it over for a long time.

"All right," he said at last. "I'll go back. For a month, anyway. But it has to be a really good band."

Tom grinned and put out his hand. They shook on it.

The two boys walked back into town together as the sun went down over the Mississippi River, the same river that had carried them away on a raft and brought them back again, the same river that had run past their whole lives without ever stopping or asking any questions at all.

*— The End —*

---VOCABULARY---

**to whitewash** — to paint something white using a special white liquid called whitewash

**reluctance** — the feeling of not wanting to do something; showing reluctance means acting as if you do not want to do something, even if you do

**engaged** — formally promised to marry someone

**oath** — a serious, formal promise, often made in front of other people or with a ceremony

**solemn** — very serious and important, without any jokes or lightness

**unconscious** — in a state where you are not awake and cannot feel, see, or hear anything

**congregation** — all the people gathered together in a church for a service

**evidence** — facts, objects, or signs that help show whether something is true

**obsession** — something you think about so much that you cannot focus on anything else

**abandoned** — left empty and no longer used or looked after

**branching** — dividing into separate paths or directions, like the branches of a tree

**formation** — a natural shape made in rock, ice, or other material over a long time

**to endure** — to accept and survive something painful or difficult without giving up

**revenge** — harm that you do to someone because they harmed you first

**to humiliate** — to make someone feel ashamed or embarrassed in front of others

---QUESTIONS---

**Chapters –: Tom and the Fence** . Why did Aunt Polly decide to punish Tom on Saturday? . How did Tom persuade other boys to do his work for him? . What did Tom learn about human nature from the fence trick?

**Chapters –: Becky and Huck** . Why did Becky stop speaking to Tom after they became engaged? . Why did all the mothers in town tell their children to stay away from Huck Finn? . Why did Tom and Huck go to the graveyard at midnight?

**Chapters –: The Murder** . Who were the three men that Tom and Huck saw in the graveyard? . What did Injun Joe do after he killed Dr. Robinson? . Why did Tom and Huck decide not to tell anyone what they had seen?

**Chapters –: The Island and the Funeral** . Why did Tom, Huck, and Joe Harper run away to the island? . What did Tom hear when he secretly returned to Aunt Polly's house? . Tom left a note for his aunt, then took it back. Why? . How did the congregation react when the three boys walked into the church?

**Chapters –: The Trial and the Treasure** . What did Tom say at Muff Potter's trial, and what happened immediately after? . What did Tom and Huck discover when Injun Joe dug in the haunted house? . Why did Injun Joe decide not to leave the gold in the house?

**Chapters –: Huck Keeps Watch and the Cave** . What was Injun Joe planning to do to the Widow Douglas, and why? . How did Huck save the widow? . How did Tom and Becky get lost in the cave? . How did Tom find the way out?

**Chapters –: The Gold and the New Life** . How did Injun Joe die? . Where exactly was the gold hidden inside the cave? . Why did Huck run away from the Widow Douglas after three weeks? . What reason did Tom give Huck to persuade him to go back?