{"id":"01KG2TSH3AF37QTB95EZ1TM4WA","cid":"bafkreigh7ityok2ssj4e2xtutchyfvlnxemrh3rioe7twaeh7kg2zbsimq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3271,"extracted_at":"2026-01-28T17:35:34.192Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8","start_line":3158,"text":"   They wish They may Drop down dead in Their Tracks if They ever Tell\r\n   and Rot.”\r\n\r\nHuckleberry was filled with admiration of Tom’s facility in writing, and\r\nthe sublimity of his language. He at once took a pin from his lapel and\r\nwas going to prick his flesh, but Tom said:\r\n\r\n“Hold on! Don’t do that. A pin’s brass. It might have verdigrease on\r\nit.”\r\n\r\n“What’s verdigrease?”\r\n\r\n“It’s p’ison. That’s what it is. You just swaller some of it once—you’ll\r\nsee.”\r\n\r\nSo Tom unwound the thread from one of his needles, and each boy pricked\r\nthe ball of his thumb and squeezed out a drop of blood. In time, after\r\nmany squeezes, Tom managed to sign his initials, using the ball of his\r\nlittle finger for a pen. Then he showed Huckleberry how to make an H and\r\nan F, and the oath was complete. They buried the shingle close to the\r\nwall, with some dismal ceremonies and incantations, and the fetters\r\nthat bound their tongues were considered to be locked and the key thrown\r\naway.\r\n\r\nA figure crept stealthily through a break in the other end of the ruined\r\nbuilding, now, but they did not notice it.\r\n\r\n“Tom,” whispered Huckleberry, “does this keep us from _ever_\r\ntelling—_always_?”\r\n\r\n“Of course it does. It don’t make any difference _what_ happens, we got\r\nto keep mum. We’d drop down dead—don’t _you_ know that?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, I reckon that’s so.”\r\n\r\nThey continued to whisper for some little time. Presently a dog set up\r\na long, lugubrious howl just outside—within ten feet of them. The boys\r\nclasped each other suddenly, in an agony of fright.\r\n\r\n“Which of us does he mean?” gasped Huckleberry.\r\n\r\n“I dono—peep through the crack. Quick!”\r\n\r\n“No, _you_, Tom!”\r\n\r\n“I can’t—I can’t _do_ it, Huck!”\r\n\r\n“Please, Tom. There ’tis again!”\r\n\r\n“Oh, lordy, I’m thankful!” whispered Tom. “I know his voice. It’s Bull\r\nHarbison.” *\r\n\r\n[* If Mr. Harbison owned a slave named Bull, Tom would have spoken of\r\nhim as “Harbison’s Bull,” but a son or a dog of that name was “Bull\r\nHarbison.”]\r\n\r\n“Oh, that’s good—I tell you, Tom, I was most scared to death; I’d a bet\r\nanything it was a _stray_ dog.”\r\n\r\nThe dog howled again. The boys’ hearts sank once more.\r\n\r\n“Oh, my! that ain’t no Bull Harbison!” whispered Huckleberry. “_Do_,\r\nTom!”\r\n\r\nTom, quaking with fear, yielded, and put his eye to the crack. His\r\nwhisper was hardly audible when he said:\r\n\r\n“Oh, Huck, _it’s a stray dog_!”\r\n\r\n“Quick, Tom, quick! Who does he mean?”\r\n\r\n“Huck, he must mean us both—we’re right together.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, Tom, I reckon we’re goners. I reckon there ain’t no mistake ’bout\r\nwhere _I’ll_ go to. I been so wicked.”\r\n\r\n“Dad fetch it! This comes of playing hookey and doing everything a\r\nfeller’s told _not_ to do. I might a been good, like Sid, if I’d a\r\ntried—but no, I wouldn’t, of course. But if ever I get off this time,\r\nI lay I’ll just _waller_ in Sunday-schools!” And Tom began to snuffle a\r\nlittle.\r\n\r\n“_You_ bad!” and Huckleberry began to snuffle too. “Consound it, Tom\r\nSawyer, you’re just old pie, ’long-side o’ what I am. Oh, _lordy_,\r\nlordy, lordy, I wisht I only had half your chance.”\r\n\r\nTom choked off and whispered:\r\n\r\n“Look, Hucky, look! He’s got his _back_ to us!”\r\n\r\nHucky looked, with joy in his heart.\r\n\r\n“Well, he has, by jingoes! Did he before?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, he did. But I, like a fool, never thought. Oh, this is bully, you\r\nknow. _Now_ who can he mean?”\r\n\r\nThe howling stopped. Tom pricked up his ears.\r\n\r\n“Sh! What’s that?” he whispered.\r\n\r\n“Sounds like—like hogs grunting. No—it’s somebody snoring, Tom.”\r\n\r\n“That _is_ it! Where ’bouts is it, Huck?”\r\n\r\n“I bleeve it’s down at ’tother end. Sounds so, anyway. Pap used to sleep\r\nthere, sometimes, ’long with the hogs, but laws bless you, he just lifts\r\nthings when _he_ snores. Besides, I reckon he ain’t ever coming back to\r\nthis town any more.”\r\n\r\nThe spirit of adventure rose in the boys’ souls once more.\r\n\r\n“Hucky, do you das’t to go if I lead?”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG2TRBGFH676ZTRND3V1WZN1","peer_label":"CHAPTER X","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8","peer_label":"tom_sawyer.txt","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_label":"Test Collection","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG2TSH17E58GGSKSQEYTYM22","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG2TSH48GAWNCFEZ4N5HPK6Q","peer_label":"Chunk 3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-28T17:35:34.782Z","ts":"2026-01-28T17:35:35.616Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}