On Tuesday morning, Tom woke late. He got dressed
quickly. Aunt Polly was eating her breakfast.
Aunt Polly looked at Tom and she started to cry.
‘You’re a bad boy,’ she said. ‘You went out last
night, didn’t you? I worry and worry about you. But
you don’t care about me.’
Tom started to cry.
‘I won’t go out at night again, Aunt Polly. I won’t,’ he said.
‘I’m very sorry.’
Soon the people of St Petersburg were talking about Doctor
Robinson’s death. Had Muff Potter murdered him? The
morning after the murder, somebody had found Muff Potter
in a barn. Muff was drunk. And his knife was beside the
doctor’s body in the graveyard. There was blood on the
knife.
Injun Joe told lies to the sheriff. ‘Muff Potter killed the
doctor,’ he said.
The sheriff put Muff Potter in the jail. There was going to be
a trial – a trial for murder.
Tom was very worried. He spoke to Huck.
‘Huck, have you talked about the murder?’ he asked.
‘No, I haven’t,’ replied Huck. ‘I’m frightened of Injun Joe.
He’ll kill us.’
‘Huck, let’s swear again!’ said Tom. ‘We won’t tell anybody!’
Huck and Tom swore again. They spoke together. ‘Huck
Finn and Tom Sawyer swear this – they won’t tell anybody
about the murder.’
The days passed. Tom was unhappy. He did not speak to
his friends at school. He did not speak to Becky. He did not
speak to Aunt Polly. He only spoke to Huck.
Becky was unhappy. She wanted Tom to speak to her.