When the boat arrived back in St Petersburg, it was dark. Huck Finn saw the boat, but he did not know about the picnic. He did not go to birthday picnics, of course, because the mothers of St Petersburg did not like him. But tonight Huck was only interested in treasure – Injun Joe’s treasure. Injun Joe was in an old building near the river, and Huck waited in the street near the building.
‘Perhaps,’ he thought, ‘Injun Joe’s cross is in there. And the box of money. I must wait and watch. I can tell Tom about it tomorrow.’
But Injun Joe didn’t come out. At midnight it began to rain, and Huck waited all night in the cold street. In the morning he could not move and he could not speak. He felt cold, then hot, then cold, then hot again. Mrs Douglas, a woman from the church, found him in the street. She took him to her home and put him to bed. And there he stayed for two weeks. He was very ill, and so he did not hear about Tom and Becky.
But on Sunday morning all St Petersburg knew about Tom and Becky – because they were not on the boat when it came back to the village. Where were they? Were they lost in the cave? And were they alive or dead?
