It surprised me so it kind of
throwed me off, but I pulled myself together again and
says:
"It was when he was spading up some ground along
with you, towards sundown or along there."
He only said, "Um," in a kind of a disappointed
way, and didn't take no more intrust. So I went on.
I says:
"Well, then, as I was a-saying --"
"That'll do, you needn't go no furder." It was
Aunt Sally. She was boring right into me with her
eyes, and very indignant. "Huck Finn," she says,
"how'd them men come to talk about going a-black-
berrying in September -- in THIS region?"
I see I had slipped up, and I couldn't say a word.
She waited, still a-gazing at me, then she says:
"And how'd they come to strike that idiot idea of
going a-blackberrying in the night?"
"Well, m'm, they -- er -- they told us they had a
lantern, and --"
"Oh, SHET up -- do! Looky here; what was they
going to do with a dog? -- hunt blackberries with it?"
"I think, m'm, they --"
"Now, Tom Sawyer, what kind of a lie are you fix-
ing YOUR mouth to contribit to this mess of rubbage?
Speak out -- and I warn you before you begin, that
I don't believe a word of it. You and Huck's been up
to something you no business to -- I know it perfectly
well; I know you, BOTH of you. Now you explain that
dog, and them blackberries, and the lantern, and the
rest of that rot -- and mind you talk as straight as a
string -- do you hear?"
Tom he looked considerable hurt, and says, very
dignified:
"It is a pity if Huck is to be talked to that way, just
for making a little bit of a mistake that anybody could
make.
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