Pirates on the River

Tom decided to become a pirate. He found two willing companions: Huck Finn and his friend Joe Harper, whose mother had just punished him unjustly. The three boys felt equally rejected by the world.

They gathered some supplies — a small amount of food, a frying pan, some tobacco — and took a raft to a wooded island three miles down the river. They called themselves the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main, the Red-Handed, and the Terror of the Seas.

For the first two days they had a wonderful time — swimming, fishing, and sitting around the campfire at night telling stories. But gradually, homesickness crept in. They heard the sound of a cannon on the river — the town was searching the water for their bodies. The boys were believed to be drowned.

That night, Tom secretly swam back to town. He slipped into his aunt's house and listened from under the bed. Aunt Polly was sitting with Joe Harper's mother, crying. "He wasn't bad," she kept saying. "He was just a boy."

Tom nearly revealed himself. Instead, he left a note saying they were alive — then changed his mind and took the note back. He had a better plan.