“Why, Tom, you know we heard –”
“Yes, we didJ– heard a howl or two. Does that
prove anybody was killed? Course it don’t. And we
seen four men run, then this one come walking out and
we took it for a ghost. No more ghost than you are.
It was Jake Dunlap his own self, and it’s Jake Dunlap
now. He’s been and got his hair cropped, the way he
said he would, and he’s playing himself for a stranger,
just the same as he said he would. Ghost? Hum! —
he’s as sound as a nut.”
Then I see it all, and how we had took too much for
granted. I was powerful glad he didn’t get killed, and
so was Tom, and we wondered which he would like the
best — for us to never let on to know him, or how?
Tom reckoned the best way would be to go and ask
him. So he started; but I kept a little behind, because
I didn’t know but it might be a ghost, after all. When
Tom got to where he was, he says:
“Me and Huck’s mighty glad to see you again,
and you needn’t be afeared we’ll tell. And if you
think it’ll be safer for you if we don’t let on to know
you when we run across you, say the word and you’ll
see you can depend on us, and would ruther cut our
hands off than get you into the least little bit of
danger.”
First off he looked surprised to see us, and not very
glad, either; but as Tom went on he looked pleasanter,
and when he was done he smiled, and nodded his head
several times, and made signs with his hands, and says:
“Goo-goo — goo-goo,” the way deef and dummies
does.
Just then we see some of Steve Nickerson’s people
coming that lived t’other side of the prairie, so Tom
says:
“You do it elegant; I never see anybody do it
better. You’re right; play it on us, too; play it on
us same as the others; it’ll keep you in practice and
prevent you making blunders. We’ll keep away from
you and let on we don’t know you, but any time we
can be any help, you just let us know.”
Then we loafed along past the Nickersons, and of
course they asked if that was the new stranger yonder,
and where’d he come from, and what was his name,
and which communion was he, Babtis’ or Methodis’,
and which politics, Whig or Democrat, and how long
is he staying, and all them other questions that humans
always asks when a stranger comes, and animals does,
too. But Tom said he warn’t able to make anything
out of deef and dumb signs, and the same with goo-
gooing. Then we watched them go and bullyrag Jake;
because we was pretty uneasy for him. Tom said it
would take him days to get so he wouldn’t forget he
was a deef and dummy sometimes, and speak out be-
fore he thought. When we had watched long enough
to see that Jake was getting along all right and working
his signs very good, we loafed along again, allowing to
strike the schoolhouse about recess time, which was a
three-mile tramp.
I was so disappointed not to hear Jake tell about the
row in the sycamores, and how near he come to get-
ting killed, that I couldn’t seem to get over it, and
Tom he felt the same, but said if we was in Jake’s fix
we would want to go careful and keep still and not take
any chances.
The boys and girls was all glad to see us again, and
we had a real good time all through recess. Coming
to school the Henderson boys had come across the new
deef and dummy and told the rest; so all the scholars
was chuck full of him and couldn’t talk about anything
else, and was in a sweat to get a sight of him because
they hadn’t ever seen a deef and dummy in their lives,
and it made a powerful excitement.
Tom said it was tough to have to keep mum now;