{"id":"01KG17A9C4JQY6B3N9BHT1R688","cid":"bafkreigridpbwmfyzojnhraif6hp7v3zhw7wpg22fzm7rg3txyjp7yqkny","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8129,"extracted_at":"2026-01-28T02:35:57.498Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG0K71QZ8KK7RGEGSNTB5534","start_line":8067,"text":"CHAPTER XXXII\r\n\r\n\r\nTuesday afternoon came, and waned to the twilight. The village of St.\r\nPetersburg still mourned. The lost children had not been found. Public\r\nprayers had been offered up for them, and many and many a private prayer\r\nthat had the petitioner’s whole heart in it; but still no good news came\r\nfrom the cave. The majority of the searchers had given up the quest\r\nand gone back to their daily avocations, saying that it was plain the\r\nchildren could never be found. Mrs. Thatcher was very ill, and a great\r\npart of the time delirious. People said it was heartbreaking to hear her\r\ncall her child, and raise her head and listen a whole minute at a time,\r\nthen lay it wearily down again with a moan. Aunt Polly had drooped into\r\na settled melancholy, and her gray hair had grown almost white. The\r\nvillage went to its rest on Tuesday night, sad and forlorn.\r\n\r\nAway in the middle of the night a wild peal burst from the village\r\nbells, and in a moment the streets were swarming with frantic half-clad\r\npeople, who shouted, “Turn out! turn out! they’re found! they’re found!”\r\n Tin pans and horns were added to the din, the population massed itself\r\nand moved toward the river, met the children coming in an open carriage\r\ndrawn by shouting citizens, thronged around it, joined its homeward\r\nmarch, and swept magnificently up the main street roaring huzzah after\r\nhuzzah!\r\n\r\nThe village was illuminated; nobody went to bed again; it was the\r\ngreatest night the little town had ever seen. During the first half-hour\r\na procession of villagers filed through Judge Thatcher’s house, seized\r\nthe saved ones and kissed them, squeezed Mrs. Thatcher’s hand, tried to\r\nspeak but couldn’t—and drifted out raining tears all over the place.\r\n\r\nAunt Polly’s happiness was complete, and Mrs. Thatcher’s nearly so. It\r\nwould be complete, however, as soon as the messenger dispatched with the\r\ngreat news to the cave should get the word to her husband. Tom lay upon\r\na sofa with an eager auditory about him and told the history of the\r\nwonderful adventure, putting in many striking additions to adorn it\r\nwithal; and closed with a description of how he left Becky and went\r\non an exploring expedition; how he followed two avenues as far as his\r\nkite-line would reach; how he followed a third to the fullest stretch\r\nof the kite-line, and was about to turn back when he glimpsed a far-off\r\nspeck that looked like daylight; dropped the line and groped toward it,\r\npushed his head and shoulders through a small hole, and saw the broad\r\nMississippi rolling by!\r\n\r\nAnd if it had only happened to be night he would not have seen that\r\nspeck of daylight and would not have explored that passage any more! He\r\ntold how he went back for Becky and broke the good news and she told\r\nhim not to fret her with such stuff, for she was tired, and knew she was\r\ngoing to die, and wanted to. He described how he labored with her and\r\nconvinced her; and how she almost died for joy when she had groped to\r\nwhere she actually saw the blue speck of daylight; how he pushed his way\r\nout at the hole and then helped her out; how they sat there and cried\r\nfor gladness; how some men came along in a skiff and Tom hailed them\r\nand told them their situation and their famished condition; how the men\r\ndidn’t believe the wild tale at first, “because,” said they, “you are\r\nfive miles down the river below the valley the cave is in”—then took\r\nthem aboard, rowed to a house, gave them supper, made them rest till two\r\nor three hours after dark and then brought them home.\r\n\r\nBefore day-dawn, Judge Thatcher and the handful of searchers with him\r\nwere tracked out, in the cave, by the twine clews they had strung behind\r\nthem, and informed of the great news.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG176GX924PZ3M4VRKXM7XWF","peer_label":"CHAPTER XXXII","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":"01KG17A9BWKX9AN3SK7TBETZY2","peer_label":"Chunk 2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-28T02:35:57.884Z","ts":"2026-01-28T02:35:58.705Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}