{"id":"01KG16RTZTN9QVD2F5WM164B5R","cid":"bafkreigwwy2lphwbjflkbfm7hsjiogwiegpgq6d32jlurcqwdqarqf2vcu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2972,"extracted_at":"2026-01-28T02:26:25.666Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG0K71QZ8KK7RGEGSNTB5534","start_line":2861,"text":"inwardly. Then Tom whispered:\r\n\r\n“Say, Hucky—do you reckon Hoss Williams hears us talking?”\r\n\r\n“O’ course he does. Least his sperrit does.”\r\n\r\nTom, after a pause:\r\n\r\n“I wish I’d said Mister Williams. But I never meant any harm. Everybody\r\ncalls him Hoss.”\r\n\r\n“A body can’t be too partic’lar how they talk ’bout these-yer dead\r\npeople, Tom.”\r\n\r\nThis was a damper, and conversation died again.\r\n\r\nPresently Tom seized his comrade’s arm and said:\r\n\r\n“Sh!”\r\n\r\n“What is it, Tom?” And the two clung together with beating hearts.\r\n\r\n“Sh! There ’tis again! Didn’t you hear it?”\r\n\r\n“I—”\r\n\r\n“There! Now you hear it.”\r\n\r\n“Lord, Tom, they’re coming! They’re coming, sure. What’ll we do?”\r\n\r\n“I dono. Think they’ll see us?”\r\n\r\n“Oh, Tom, they can see in the dark, same as cats. I wisht I hadn’t\r\ncome.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, don’t be afeard. I don’t believe they’ll bother us. We ain’t doing\r\nany harm. If we keep perfectly still, maybe they won’t notice us at\r\nall.”\r\n\r\n“I’ll try to, Tom, but, Lord, I’m all of a shiver.”\r\n\r\n“Listen!”\r\n\r\nThe boys bent their heads together and scarcely breathed. A muffled\r\nsound of voices floated up from the far end of the graveyard.\r\n\r\n“Look! See there!” whispered Tom. “What is it?”\r\n\r\n“It’s devil-fire. Oh, Tom, this is awful.”\r\n\r\nSome vague figures approached through the gloom, swinging an\r\nold-fashioned tin lantern that freckled the ground with innumerable\r\nlittle spangles of light. Presently Huckleberry whispered with a\r\nshudder:\r\n\r\n“It’s the devils sure enough. Three of ’em! Lordy, Tom, we’re goners!\r\nCan you pray?”\r\n\r\n“I’ll try, but don’t you be afeard. They ain’t going to hurt us. ‘Now I\r\nlay me down to sleep, I—’”\r\n\r\n“Sh!”\r\n\r\n“What is it, Huck?”\r\n\r\n“They’re _humans_! One of ’em is, anyway. One of ’em’s old Muff Potter’s\r\nvoice.”\r\n\r\n“No—’tain’t so, is it?”\r\n\r\n“I bet I know it. Don’t you stir nor budge. He ain’t sharp enough to\r\nnotice us. Drunk, the same as usual, likely—blamed old rip!”\r\n\r\n“All right, I’ll keep still. Now they’re stuck. Can’t find it. Here they\r\ncome again. Now they’re hot. Cold again. Hot again. Red hot! They’re\r\np’inted right, this time. Say, Huck, I know another o’ them voices; it’s\r\nInjun Joe.”\r\n\r\n“That’s so—that murderin’ half-breed! I’d druther they was devils a dern\r\nsight. What kin they be up to?”\r\n\r\nThe whisper died wholly out, now, for the three men had reached the\r\ngrave and stood within a few feet of the boys’ hiding-place.\r\n\r\n“Here it is,” said the third voice; and the owner of it held the lantern\r\nup and revealed the face of young Doctor Robinson.\r\n\r\nPotter and Injun Joe were carrying a handbarrow with a rope and a couple\r\nof shovels on it. They cast down their load and began to open the grave.\r\nThe doctor put the lantern at the head of the grave and came and sat\r\ndown with his back against one of the elm trees. He was so close the\r\nboys could have touched him.\r\n\r\n“Hurry, men!” he said, in a low voice; “the moon might come out at any\r\nmoment.”\r\n\r\nThey growled a response and went on digging. For some time there was no\r\nnoise but the grating sound of the spades discharging their freight of\r\nmould and gravel. It was very monotonous. Finally a spade struck upon\r\nthe coffin with a dull woody accent, and within another minute or two\r\nthe men had hoisted it out on the ground. They pried off the lid with\r\ntheir shovels, got out the body and dumped it rudely on the ground. The\r\nmoon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face.\r\nThe barrow was got ready and the corpse placed on it, covered with a\r\nblanket, and bound to its place with the rope. Potter took out a large\r\nspring-knife and cut off the dangling end of the rope and then said:\r\n\r\n“Now the cussed thing’s ready, Sawbones, and you’ll just out with\r\nanother five, or here she stays.”\r\n\r\n“That’s the talk!” said Injun Joe.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG16PT6N8WWRSDYV0NCC3YD3","peer_label":"CHAPTER IX","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG0K71QZ8KK7RGEGSNTB5534","peer_label":"tom_sawyer.txt","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG16RTZQ8AM4QXCHNQZ5BYT1","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG16RTZK01F8K5NQY7CZVGKV","peer_label":"Chunk 3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-28T02:26:26.209Z","ts":"2026-01-28T02:26:26.930Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}