Summary: Chapter 40
Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas, rattled by the mysterious
letter, send Tom and Huck to bed right after supper. Later that
night, Huck sees that fifteen uneasy local farmers with guns have
gathered in the front room of the house. Huck goes to the shed to
warn Jim and Tom, but news of the armed men only excites Tom even
more. Suddenly, the men attack the shed. In the darkness, Tom, Huck,
and Jim escape through the hole they cut in the wall. Tom
makes a noise going over the fence, attracting the attention of
the men, who shoot at the boys and Jim as they run. They make it
to their canoe and set off downstream toward the island where the
raft is hidden. They delight in their success, especially Tom, who
has a bullet in the leg as a souvenir. Huck and Jim are concerned
about Tom’s wound, and Jim says they should get a doctor, since
Tom would if the situation were reversed. Jim’s statement confirms
Huck’s belief that Jim is “white inside.”
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Summary: Chapter 41
Leaving Jim and Tom on the island with the raft, Huck
finds a doctor and sends him to Tom in the canoe, which only holds
one person. The next morning, Huck runs into Silas, who takes him
home. The place is filled with farmers and their wives, all discussing
the bizarre contents of Jim’s shed and the hole. They conclude that
a band of robbers of amazing skill must have tricked not only the
Phelpses and their friends but also the original desperadoes who
sent the letter. Sally refuses to let Huck out to find Tom (who
she still thinks is Sid), since she is so sad to have lost Sid and
does not want to risk another boy. Huck, touched by her concern,
vows never to hurt her again.
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Summary: Chapter 42
Tom does not return, and Silas’s efforts to find him end
in vain. In the meantime, a letter arrives from Aunt Polly, Sally’s
sister. Sally casts the letter aside when she sees Tom, who she
thinks is Sid. The boy is brought in semi-conscious on a mattress,
accompanied by a crowd including Jim, in chains, and the doctor.
Some of the local men would like to hang Jim but are unwilling to
risk having to compensate Jim’s master. They treat Jim roughly and
chain him hand and foot inside the shed. The doctor intervenes,
telling the crowd how Jim has sacrificed his freedom to help nurse
Tom.
Sally, meanwhile, stays at Tom’s bedside, glad that his
condition has improved. Tom wakes and gleefully details how they
set Jim free. Horrified to learn that Jim is now in chains, Tom
explains that Miss Watson died two months ago and that her will
stipulated that Jim should be set free. The old woman regretted
ever having considered selling Jim down the river. Just then, Aunt
Polly walks into the room. She has come to Arkansas from St. Petersburg
after receiving a letter from Sally mentioning that Sid Sawyer—Tom’s
alias—had arrived with “Tom”—who was actually Huck. Tom has been
intercepting communications between the sisters, and Polly has been forced
to appear in person to sort out the confusion. After a tearful reunion
with Sally, she identifies Tom and Huck and yells at both boys for
their misadventures.
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Summary: Chapter 43
But I reckon I got to light out for the
territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt
me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
When Huck asks Tom what he had planned to do
once he had freed the already-freed Jim, Tom replies that he was
planning to repay Jim for his troubles and send him back a hero,
giving him a reception complete with a marching band. When Aunt
Polly and the Phelpses hear about the assistance Jim gave the doctor
in nursing Tom, they immediately unchain him, feed him, and treat
him like a king. Tom gives Jim forty dollars for his troubles, and
Jim declares that the omen of his hairy chest—which was supposed
to bring him fortune—has come true.
Tom makes a full recovery and wears the bullet from his
leg on a watch-guard around his neck. He and Huck would like to
go on another adventure, to “Indian Territory” (present-day Oklahoma). Huck
thinks it quite possible that Pap has taken all his money by now,
but Jim says that could not have happened. Jim tells Huck that the
dead body they found on the floating house during the flood was Pap.
Huck now has nothing more to write about and is “rotten glad” about
that, because writing a book turned out to be quite a task. He does
not plan any future writings. Instead, he plans to head out west
immediately because Aunt Sally is already trying to “sivilize” him.
Huck has had quite enough of that.
