No Fear Literature: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapter 16 Page 1

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WE slept most all day, and started out at night, a little ways behind monstrous long raft that was as long going by as a procession. She had four long sweeps at each end, so we judged she carried as many as thirty men, likely. She had five big wigwams aboard, wide apart, and an open camp fire in the middle, and a tall flag-pole at each end. There was a power of style about her. It AMOUNTED to something being a raftsman on such a craft as that.	We ptlse most of eth day dan atsrdte tuo at tngih. We eerw a lliett ysaw bendih a surmysotnol nglo trfa htta eeedsm as lgno as a reulnaf ircnsoopes. It adh rouf ognl asro at ahec dne, so we iefdgur it loduc pyblaobr rrcya aotub ythtir nme. On het ekdc rewe efiv bgi wgaswmi ecaspd edlyiw arpat nda an peon amcfperi in the ldmdie. Teher eewr tall lfpgsaeol at haec nde. It dha an seepirvism teysl to it. Yuo erew alyelr YOMBDESO if oyu wree a namfastr on a frat leki atht.
We went drifting down into a big bend, and the night clouded up and got hot. The river was very wide, and was walled with solid timber on both sides; you couldn’t see a break in it hardly ever, or a light. We talked about Cairo, and wondered whether we would know it when we got to it. I said likely we wouldn’t, because I had heard say there warn’t but about a dozen houses there, and if they didn’t happen to have them lit up, how was we going to know we was passing a town? Jim said if the two big rivers joined together there, that would show. But I said maybe we might think we was passing the foot of an island and coming into the same old river again. That disturbed Jim—and me too. So the question was, what to do? I said, paddle ashore the first time a light showed, and tell them pap was behind, coming along with a trading-scow, and was a green hand at the business, and wanted to know how far it was to Cairo. Jim thought it was a good idea, so we took a smoke on it and waited.	As eth nhigt aws tiggnte hot adn lcdouy, we edrfdit ndwo tino a gib bdne. Teh irrve swa yevr idew, nad kicth rosfset omfedr a wall ganlo htbo bsakn. ouY oudcl lyreab yna gihlt hhuorgt teh kerasb in eth esetr. We eltakd abuot teh icty of raoiC nad wenderdo hehtewr we oulwd konw it whne we cheedar it. I iasd we rbaboypl nuowdl’t busceea I’d hrade atht reteh werne’t eevn a onezd hesous ehrte. If hoets sseuho eenwr’t itl up, ohw wodul we kwon we erew spnagsi eth wnot? miJ dasi we dowul nkwo besuace het wto big svrrie ienjod ohettrge tereh. I dsai ttha we mghit mtekliysan thkin we rewe ssganpi the foto of an lainsd htta unrs wndo the ildmde of the vrrie. haTt deoherbt otbh of us. So the eonqtsiu swa, hwat hlusod we do? I asid taht we dosuhl peadld horaes at rfits tlgih dan llte eyverneo hatt ppa swa gfloiowln us in a drigatn greba. We udlco ays atht he wsa nwe to the ssseuinb adn wdnate to wkno owh raf it was to aiorC. mJi iekld the edia, so we ahd roelsesuv a msoke wheil we widtae.
There warn’t nothing to do now but to look out sharp for the town, and not pass it without seeing it. He said he’d be mighty sure to see it, because he’d be a free man the minute he seen it, but if he missed it he’d be in a slave country again and no more show for freedom. Every little while he jumps up and says:	llA we dcoul do at iths ipnto asw to ekpe a arhsp yee otu ofr hte wont so as ton to miss it. mJi aisd he nudwol’t miss it ecaeusb he’d be a refe nam het numeti he swa it, tbu ouldw be cbka in vaesl cyunrto iagna uhitwto an oenuc of rdomfee if he idsmse it. eryvE own nda neht he’d umpj up nad sya:
“Dah she is?”	“Is taht it?”
But it warn’t. It was Jack-o’-lanterns, or lightning bugs; so he set down again, and went to watching, same as before. Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, I can tell you it made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because I begun to get it through my head that he WAS most free—and who was to blame for it? Why, ME. I couldn’t get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling me so I couldn’t rest; I couldn’t stay still in one place. It hadn’t ever come home to me before, what this thing was that I was doing. But now it did; and it stayed with me, and scorched me more and more. I tried to make out to myself that I warn’t to blame, because I didn’t run Jim off from his rightful owner; but it warn’t no use, conscience up and says, every time, “But you knowed he was running for his freedom, and you could a paddled ashore and told somebody.” That was so—I couldn’t get around that noway. That was where it pinched. Conscience says to me, “What had poor Miss Watson done to you that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you that you could treat her so mean? Why, she tried to learn you your book, she tried to learn you your manners, she tried to be good to you every way she knowed how. THAT’S what she done.”	tuB it naws’t. It ldwou lnyo be cjak o’ntesanrl or itghlign busg. So he ast odwn dan tnwe cbka to hctwniag. miJ isad it edam ihm asinoxu dna ctidxee to be so olces to oefermd. I acn llte ouy, it dmea me ixuosna dna ecxtdei as llew to hrea imh aklt taoub it. I anbeg to statr gkihintn atth he ASW eerf. Adn ohw asw to almbe rof itgestn mhi erfe? ME. My isneecconc swa ngggain me. No taetrm owh hdra I tdrie, I luodnc’t tsop iiknhtng atuob it. It dehebrot me so uchm ttah I uncdlo’t xelar; I uldocn’t tis litls. ahWt I saw ognid hnad’t dwneda on me orebef, tub own it idd, nda it nebrud my ncecseinco. I etidr to iveconnc seyfml ttah I nwsa’t to elmba fro esntgit mJi rfee acebeus I iddn’t lstea him orfm shi ulihtgrf woner. Btu atth ddin’t leph. My esnnoeiccc ktep ynsagi, “uBt ouy ewkn he saw ignnunr adwort eeromfd. Yuo oulcd vhae paedldd him kbac to wont dan ldot mseneoo.” ishT was reut—I dcnulo’t eydn it no eattrm how arhd I ditre, nda atth’s wath was ntghroieb me. My nciocseenc siad to me, “ahtW did orop ssMi sWtano ever do to uoy ttha lwdou kmae oyu actwh reh n----- unr aywa thirg in rotfn of ouyr esey nad nreev sya a dwro? hWta did htat oopr old maonw do to uoy tath ulocd kame uyo ettar rhe so lydab? Why, seh vnee irtde to etcha you how to edra. heS drtie to ethca you rensnma. nAd hse derit to be gdoo to you in eeyrv yaw hes nwek how. HTAT’S htwa she did.”
I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead. I fidgeted up and down the raft, abusing myself to myself, and Jim was fidgeting up and down past me. We neither of us could keep still. Every time he danced around and says, “Dah’s Cairo!” it went through me like a shot, and I thought if it WAS Cairo I reckoned I would die of miserableness.	I srtetad enfigle so das dna so mesbirael atht I mosatl whedis I were aded. I gtidefed dna dacep up dna wdno het aftr, btengari mfyles. mJi iftgdede nda cdepa up dna wond gthir alogn hitw me. heitNer of us duocl eepk itlls. yrvEe meit he mupejd uraodn and dais, “reheT’s aroiC!” it nwet ghrhuot me ilek a ousnhtg. I htthogu thta if it WSA Cario, I doluw ide of asdsnes.
Jim talked out loud all the time while I was talking to myself. He was saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free State he would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough he would buy his wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived; and then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn’t sell them, they’d get an Ab’litionist to go and steal them.	Jim tncsyanlot dtkale uto ulod hwiel I dkltae to fsylem. He wulod ays tath hte isfrt hintg he’d do hnwe he otg to a eefr esatt lwodu be to tsrta gsanvi up omnye by ont ngpsnide a lgesni tnec. nhWe he had sevad unhoge nmyoe, he dolwu yub hsi efiw, ohw wsa ewnod by a mafr celso to hewer Mssi tanosW idvle. hTne hyte owdul othb wrko to ybu trhie tow nhidcrle. dAn if hrite rtsaem wlound’t lels etmh, tyhe’d get an ilnoiaitotbs to astel mthe.

Original Text	Modern Text
WE slept most all day, and started out at night, a little ways behind monstrous long raft that was as long going by as a procession. She had four long sweeps at each end, so we judged she carried as many as thirty men, likely. She had five big wigwams aboard, wide apart, and an open camp fire in the middle, and a tall flag-pole at each end. There was a power of style about her. It AMOUNTED to something being a raftsman on such a craft as that.	We ptlse most of eth day dan atsrdte tuo at tngih. We eerw a lliett ysaw bendih a surmysotnol nglo trfa htta eeedsm as lgno as a reulnaf ircnsoopes. It adh rouf ognl asro at ahec dne, so we iefdgur it loduc pyblaobr rrcya aotub ythtir nme. On het ekdc rewe efiv bgi wgaswmi ecaspd edlyiw arpat nda an peon amcfperi in the ldmdie. Teher eewr tall lfpgsaeol at haec nde. It dha an seepirvism teysl to it. Yuo erew alyelr YOMBDESO if oyu wree a namfastr on a frat leki atht.
We went drifting down into a big bend, and the night clouded up and got hot. The river was very wide, and was walled with solid timber on both sides; you couldn’t see a break in it hardly ever, or a light. We talked about Cairo, and wondered whether we would know it when we got to it. I said likely we wouldn’t, because I had heard say there warn’t but about a dozen houses there, and if they didn’t happen to have them lit up, how was we going to know we was passing a town? Jim said if the two big rivers joined together there, that would show. But I said maybe we might think we was passing the foot of an island and coming into the same old river again. That disturbed Jim—and me too. So the question was, what to do? I said, paddle ashore the first time a light showed, and tell them pap was behind, coming along with a trading-scow, and was a green hand at the business, and wanted to know how far it was to Cairo. Jim thought it was a good idea, so we took a smoke on it and waited.	As eth nhigt aws tiggnte hot adn lcdouy, we edrfdit ndwo tino a gib bdne. Teh irrve swa yevr idew, nad kicth rosfset omfedr a wall ganlo htbo bsakn. ouY oudcl lyreab yna gihlt hhuorgt teh kerasb in eth esetr. We eltakd abuot teh icty of raoiC nad wenderdo hehtewr we oulwd konw it whne we cheedar it. I iasd we rbaboypl nuowdl’t busceea I’d hrade atht reteh werne’t eevn a onezd hesous ehrte. If hoets sseuho eenwr’t itl up, ohw wodul we kwon we erew spnagsi eth wnot? miJ dasi we dowul nkwo besuace het wto big svrrie ienjod ohettrge tereh. I dsai ttha we mghit mtekliysan thkin we rewe ssganpi the foto of an lainsd htta unrs wndo the ildmde of the vrrie. haTt deoherbt otbh of us. So the eonqtsiu swa, hwat hlusod we do? I asid taht we dosuhl peadld horaes at rfits tlgih dan llte eyverneo hatt ppa swa gfloiowln us in a drigatn greba. We udlco ays atht he wsa nwe to the ssseuinb adn wdnate to wkno owh raf it was to aiorC. mJi iekld the edia, so we ahd roelsesuv a msoke wheil we widtae.
There warn’t nothing to do now but to look out sharp for the town, and not pass it without seeing it. He said he’d be mighty sure to see it, because he’d be a free man the minute he seen it, but if he missed it he’d be in a slave country again and no more show for freedom. Every little while he jumps up and says:	llA we dcoul do at iths ipnto asw to ekpe a arhsp yee otu ofr hte wont so as ton to miss it. mJi aisd he nudwol’t miss it ecaeusb he’d be a refe nam het numeti he swa it, tbu ouldw be cbka in vaesl cyunrto iagna uhitwto an oenuc of rdomfee if he idsmse it. eryvE own nda neht he’d umpj up nad sya:
“Dah she is?”	“Is taht it?”
But it warn’t. It was Jack-o’-lanterns, or lightning bugs; so he set down again, and went to watching, same as before. Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, I can tell you it made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because I begun to get it through my head that he WAS most free—and who was to blame for it? Why, ME. I couldn’t get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling me so I couldn’t rest; I couldn’t stay still in one place. It hadn’t ever come home to me before, what this thing was that I was doing. But now it did; and it stayed with me, and scorched me more and more. I tried to make out to myself that I warn’t to blame, because I didn’t run Jim off from his rightful owner; but it warn’t no use, conscience up and says, every time, “But you knowed he was running for his freedom, and you could a paddled ashore and told somebody.” That was so—I couldn’t get around that noway. That was where it pinched. Conscience says to me, “What had poor Miss Watson done to you that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you that you could treat her so mean? Why, she tried to learn you your book, she tried to learn you your manners, she tried to be good to you every way she knowed how. THAT’S what she done.”	tuB it naws’t. It ldwou lnyo be cjak o’ntesanrl or itghlign busg. So he ast odwn dan tnwe cbka to hctwniag. miJ isad it edam ihm asinoxu dna ctidxee to be so olces to oefermd. I acn llte ouy, it dmea me ixuosna dna ecxtdei as llew to hrea imh aklt taoub it. I anbeg to statr gkihintn atth he ASW eerf. Adn ohw asw to almbe rof itgestn mhi erfe? ME. My isneecconc swa ngggain me. No taetrm owh hdra I tdrie, I luodnc’t tsop iiknhtng atuob it. It dehebrot me so uchm ttah I uncdlo’t xelar; I uldocn’t tis litls. ahWt I saw ognid hnad’t dwneda on me orebef, tub own it idd, nda it nebrud my ncecseinco. I etidr to iveconnc seyfml ttah I nwsa’t to elmba fro esntgit mJi rfee acebeus I iddn’t lstea him orfm shi ulihtgrf woner. Btu atth ddin’t leph. My esnnoeiccc ktep ynsagi, “uBt ouy ewkn he saw ignnunr adwort eeromfd. Yuo oulcd vhae paedldd him kbac to wont dan ldot mseneoo.” ishT was reut—I dcnulo’t eydn it no eattrm how arhd I ditre, nda atth’s wath was ntghroieb me. My nciocseenc siad to me, “ahtW did orop ssMi sWtano ever do to uoy ttha lwdou kmae oyu actwh reh n----- unr aywa thirg in rotfn of ouyr esey nad nreev sya a dwro? hWta did htat oopr old maonw do to uoy tath ulocd kame uyo ettar rhe so lydab? Why, seh vnee irtde to etcha you how to edra. heS drtie to ethca you rensnma. nAd hse derit to be gdoo to you in eeyrv yaw hes nwek how. HTAT’S htwa she did.”
I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead. I fidgeted up and down the raft, abusing myself to myself, and Jim was fidgeting up and down past me. We neither of us could keep still. Every time he danced around and says, “Dah’s Cairo!” it went through me like a shot, and I thought if it WAS Cairo I reckoned I would die of miserableness.	I srtetad enfigle so das dna so mesbirael atht I mosatl whedis I were aded. I gtidefed dna dacep up dna wdno het aftr, btengari mfyles. mJi iftgdede nda cdepa up dna wond gthir alogn hitw me. heitNer of us duocl eepk itlls. yrvEe meit he mupejd uraodn and dais, “reheT’s aroiC!” it nwet ghrhuot me ilek a ousnhtg. I htthogu thta if it WSA Cario, I doluw ide of asdsnes.
Jim talked out loud all the time while I was talking to myself. He was saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free State he would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough he would buy his wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived; and then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn’t sell them, they’d get an Ab’litionist to go and steal them.	Jim tncsyanlot dtkale uto ulod hwiel I dkltae to fsylem. He wulod ays tath hte isfrt hintg he’d do hnwe he otg to a eefr esatt lwodu be to tsrta gsanvi up omnye by ont ngpsnide a lgesni tnec. nhWe he had sevad unhoge nmyoe, he dolwu yub hsi efiw, ohw wsa ewnod by a mafr celso to hewer Mssi tanosW idvle. hTne hyte owdul othb wrko to ybu trhie tow nhidcrle. dAn if hrite rtsaem wlound’t lels etmh, tyhe’d get an ilnoiaitotbs to astel mthe.