哈克贝里·芬历险记（The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn）第六

WELL, pretty soon the old man was up and around again, and then he went for Judge Thatcher in the courts to make him give up that money, and he went for me, too, for not stopping school. He catched me a couple of times and thrashed me, but I went to school just the same, and dodged him or outrun him most of the time. I didn't want to go to school much before, but I reckoned I'd go now to spite pap. That law trial was a slow business -- appeared like they warn't ever going to get started on it; so every now and then I'd borrow two or three dollars off of the judge for him, to keep from getting a cowhiding. Every time he got money he got drunk; and every time he got drunk he raised Cain around town; and every time he raised Cain he got jailed. He was just suited -- this kind of thing was right in his line.

He got to hanging around the widow's too much and so she told him at last that if he didn't quit using around there she would make trouble for him. Well, WASN'T he mad? He said he would show who was Huck Finn's boss. So he watched out for me one day in the spring, and catched me, and took me up the river about three mile in a skiff, and crossed over to the Illinois shore where it was woody and there warn't no houses but an old log hut in a place where the timber was so thick you couldn't find it if you didn't know where it was.

He kept me with him all the time, and I never got a chance to run off. We lived in that old cabin, and he always locked the door and put the key under his head nights. He had a gun which he had stole, I reckon, and we fished and hunted, and that was what we lived on. Every little while he locked me in and went down to the store, three miles, to the ferry, and traded fish and game for whisky, and fetched it home and got drunk and had a good time, and licked me. The widow she found out where I was by and by, and she sent a man over to try to get hold of me; but pap drove him off with the gun, and it warn't long after that till I was used to being where I was, and liked it -- all but the cowhide part.

It was kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishing, and no books nor study. Two months or more run along, and my clothes got to be all rags and dirt, and I didn't see how I'd ever got to like it so well at the widow's, where you had to wash, and eat on a plate, and comb up, and go to bed and get up regular, and be forever bothering over a book, and have old Miss Watson pecking at you all the time. I didn't want to go back no more. I had stopped cussing, because the widow didn't like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn't no objections. It was pretty good times up in the woods there, take it all around.

But by and by pap got too handy with his hick'ry, and I couldn't stand it. I was all over welts. He got to going away so much, too, and locking me in. Once he locked me in and was gone three days. It was dreadful lonesome. I judged he had got drowned, and I wasn't ever going to get out any more. I was scared. I made up my mind I would fix up some way to leave there. I had tried to get out of that cabin many a time, but I couldn't find no way. There warn't a window to it big enough for a dog to get through. I couldn't get up the chimbly; it was too narrow. The door was thick, solid oak slabs. Pap was pretty careful not to leave a knife or anything in the cabin when he was away; I reckon I had hunted the place over as much as a hundred times; well, I was most all the time at it, because it was about the only way to put in the time. But this time I found something at last; I found an old rusty wood-saw without any handle; it was laid in between a rafter and the clapboards of the roof. I greased it up and went to work. There was an old horse-blanket nailed against the logs at the far end of the cabin behind the table, to keep the wind from blowing through the chinks and putting the candle out. I got under the table and raised the blanket, and went to work to saw a section of the big bottom log out -- big enough to let me through. Well, it was a good long job, but I was getting towards the end of it when I heard pap's gun in the woods. I got rid of the signs of my work, and dropped the blanket and hid my saw, and pretty soon pap come in.

Pap warn't in a good humor -- so he was his natural self. He said he was down town, and everything was going wrong. His lawyer said he reckoned he would win his lawsuit and get the money if they ever got started on the trial; but then there was ways to put it off a long time, and Judge Thatcher knowed how to do it And he said people allowed there'd be another trial to get me away from him and give me to the widow for my guardian, and they guessed it would win this time. This shook me up considerable, because I didn't want to go back to the widow's any more and be so cramped up and sivilized, as they called it. Then the old man got to cussing, and cussed everything and everybody he could think of, and then cussed them all over again to make sure he hadn't skipped any, and after that he polished off with a kind of a general cuss all round, including a considerable parcel of people which he didn't know the names of, and so called them what's-his-name when he got to them, and went right along with his cussing.

He said he would like to see the widow get me. He said he would watch out, and if they tried to come any such game on him he knowed of a place six or seven mile off to stow me in, where they might hunt till they dropped and they couldn't find me. That made me pretty uneasy again, but only for a minute; I reckoned I wouldn't stay on hand till he got that chance.

The old man made me go to the skiff and fetch the things he had got. There was a fifty-pound sack of corn meal, and a side of bacon, ammunition, and a four-gallon jug of whisky, and an old book and two newspapers for wadding, besides some tow. I toted up a load, and went back and set down on the bow of the skiff to rest. I thought it all over, and I reckoned I would walk off with the gun and some lines, and take to the woods when I run away. I guessed I wouldn't stay in one place, but just tramp right across the country, mostly night times, and hunt and fish to keep alive, and so get so far away that the old man nor the widow couldn't ever find me any more. I judged I would saw out and leave that night if pap got drunk enough, and I reckoned he would. I got so full of it I didn't notice how long I was staying till the old man hollered and asked me whether I was asleep or drownded.

I got the things all up to the cabin, and then it was about dark. While I was cooking supper the old man took a swig or two and got sort of warmed up, and went to ripping again. He had been drunk over in town, and laid in the gutter all night, and he was a sight to look at. A body would a thought he was Adam -- he was just all mud. Whenever his liquor begun to work he most always went for the govment. his time he says:

"Call this a govment! why, just look at it and see what it's like. Here's the law a-standing ready to take a man's son away from him -- a man's own son, which he has had all the trouble and all the anxiety and all the expense of raising. Yes, just as that man has got that son raised at last, and ready to go to work and begin to do suthin' for HIM and give him a rest, the law up and goes for him. And they call THAT govment! That ain't all, nuther. The law backs that old Judge Thatcher up and helps him to keep me out o' my property. Here's what the law does: The law takes a man worth six thousand dollars and up'ards, and jams him into an old trap of a cabin like this, and lets him go round in clothes that ain't fitten for a hog. They call that govment! A man can't get his rights in a govment like this. Sometimes I've a mighty notion to just leave the country for good and all. Yes, and I TOLD 'em so; I told old Thatcher so to his face. Lots of 'em heard me, and can tell what I said. Says I, for two cents I'd leave the blamed country and never come a-near it agin. Them's the very words. I says look at my hat -- if you call it a hat -- but the lid raises up and the rest of it goes down till it's below my chin, and then it ain't rightly a hat at all, but more like my head was shoved up through a jint o' stovepipe. Look at it, says I -- such a hat for me to wear -- one of the wealthiest men in this town if I could git my rights.

"Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful. Why, looky here. There was a free nigger there from Ohio -- a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane -- the awfulest old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think? They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where they'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never vote agin. Them's the very words I said; they all heard me; and the country may rot for all me -- I'll never vote agin as long as I live. And to see the cool way of that nigger -- why, he wouldn't a give me the road if I hadn't shoved him out o' the way. I says to the people, why ain't this nigger put up at auction and sold? -- that's what I want to know. And what do you reckon they said? Why, they said he couldn't be sold till he'd been in the State six months, and he hadn't been there that long yet. There, now -- that's a specimen. They call that a govment that can't sell a free nigger till he's been in the State six months. Here's a govment that calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment, and thinks it is a govment, and yet's got to set stock-still for six whole months before it can take a hold of a prowling, thieving, infernal, white-shirted free nigger, and --"

Pap was agoing on so he never noticed where his old limber legs was taking him to, so he went head over heels over the tub of salt pork and barked both shins, and the rest of his speech was all the hottest kind of language -- mostly hove at the nigger and the govment, though he give the tub some, too, all along, here and there. He hopped around the cabin considerable, first on one leg and then on the other, holding first one shin and then the other one, and at last he let out with his left foot all of a sudden and fetched the tub a rattling kick. But it warn't good judgment, because that was the boot that had a couple of his toes leaking out of the front end of it; so now he raised a howl that fairly made a body's hair raise, and down he went in the dirt, and rolled there, and held his toes; and the cussing he done then laid over anything he had ever done previous. He said so his own self afterwards. He had heard old Sowberry Hagan in his best days, and he said it laid over him, too; but I reckon that was sort of piling it on, maybe.

After supper pap took the jug, and said he had enough whisky there for two drunks and one delirium tremens. That was always his word. I judged he would be blind drunk in about an hour, and then I would steal the key, or saw myself out, one or t'other. He drank and drank, and tumbled down on his blankets by and by; but luck didn't run my way. He didn't go sound asleep, but was uneasy. He groaned and moaned and thrashed around this way and that for a long time. At last I got so sleepy I couldn't keep my eyes open all I could do, and so before I knowed what I was about I was sound asleep, and the candle burning.

I don't know how long I was asleep, but all of a sudden there was an awful scream and I was up. There was pap looking wild, and skipping around every which way and yelling about snakes. He said they was crawling up his legs; and then he would give a jump and scream, and say one had bit him on the cheek -- but I couldn't see no snakes. He started and run round and round the cabin, hollering "Take him off! take him off! he's biting me on the neck!" I never see a man look so wild in the eyes. Pretty soon he was all fagged out, and fell down panting; then he rolled over and over wonderful fast, kicking things every which way, and striking and grabbing at the air with his hands, and screaming and saying there was devils a-hold of him. He wore out by and by, and laid still a while, moaning. Then he laid stiller, and didn't make a sound. I could hear the owls and the wolves away off in the woods, and it seemed terrible still. He was laying over by the corner. By and by he raised up part way and listened, with his head to one side. He says, very low:

"Tramp -- tramp -- tramp; that's the dead; tramp -- tramp -- tramp; they're coming after me; but I won't go. Oh, they're here! don't touch me -- don't! hands off -- they're cold; let go. Oh, let a poor devil alone!"

Then he went down on all fours and crawled off, begging them to let him alone, and he rolled himself up in his blanket and wallowed in under the old pine table, still a-begging; and then he went to crying. I could hear him through the blanket.

By and by he rolled out and jumped up on his feet looking wild, and he see me and went for me. He chased me round and round the place with a claspknife, calling me the Angel of Death, and saying he would kill me, and then I couldn't come for him no more. I begged, and told him I was only Huck; but he laughed SUCH a screechy laugh, and roared and cussed, and kept on chasing me up. Once when I turned short and dodged under his arm he made a grab and got me by the jacket between my shoulders, and I thought I was gone; but I slid out of the jacket quick as lightning, and saved myself. Pretty soon he was all tired out, and dropped down with his back against the door, and said he would rest a minute and then kill me. He put his knife under him, and said he would sleep and get strong, and then he would see who was who.

So he dozed off pretty soon. By and by I got the old split-bottom chair and clumb up as easy as I could, not to make any noise, and got down the gun. I slipped the ramrod down it to make sure it was loaded, then I laid it across the turnip barrel, pointing towards pap, and set down behind it to wait for him to stir. And how slow and still the time did drag along.

时隔不久，老头儿伤好了，又到处转游了。接着，他上法庭控告法官撒切尔，要他把钱
交出来。他也来找过我，是为了我没有停止上学的事。他把我促住了几回，还揍了我。不过
我还是我上我的学。多半的时间能躲过了他，或是抢到了他的前边。早先，我本来不怎么愿
意上学。不过，我看啊，我如今上学，是为了偏偏要气气我爸爸。法律诉讼是件慢吞吞的
事，仿佛永远也不存心开审。这样，为了免得挨鞭子，三天两头，我得为了他向法官借两三
块钱。而每回拿到了钱，他就喝得烂醉，每次烂醉，便闹得全镇不得安生。每次在镇上胡
闹，就每次给关押起来。这也合他的心意——这类把戏正是他的拿手好戏。
    他在寡妇家那边转游得也太勤了些，她终于正告他，要是他还上她那儿去，她可要对他
不客气了。啊，难道他不是疯了么？他扬言说，他要让大家知道，究竟谁是哈克·芬的主
子。因此，春天里有一天，他守候着，把我逮住了，划着一只小艇，把我带到上游三英里左
右的大河之上，然后过河到了伊利诺斯州的岸边。那里树林茂密，没有人家，只有一间旧木
棚，那是在密林深处，不知道的人是无法找到那里的。
    他整天看住了我，我捞不到机会逃跑。我们就住在这个木棚里。他总是把木棚锁起来，
一到晚上，就把钥匙放在他枕头下面。他有一枝枪，我想是偷来的吧。我们钓鱼、打猎，我
们的生活就是如此这般。每每隔不多久，他就把我锁在木棚里，到下游三英里外的店里去，
渡口去，把钓的鱼、打的猎物换来威士忌，回转家来，喝个烂醉，快活一场，并且揍我一
顿。再说那寡妇呢，后来她知道了我的下落，她派了一个男人来，想要找我回去，可是我爸
爸拿出枪来，把他赶了回去。在这以后不久，我对这种生活也习惯了，也爱上了这样的生
活，除了挨皮鞭子这当子事。
    生活过得懒洋洋的，快快活活的。整天舒舒服服躺着。抽抽烟，钓钓鱼。没有书，不用
学习。两个多月就这么过去了。我的衣服全都又烂又脏。我看啊，在寡妇家那套生活我是不
会喜欢的了。在那里，你得洗这个洗那个，你得就着盘子进食，你得梳理好头发，每天得准
时睡觉、起身，你得每天为了一本书惹出种种烦恼，还得无时无刻不遭到华珍小姐的挑剔。
我再也不愿意回去了。我原本再也不是一开口就骂人了，因为寡妇不爱听。可如今旧病又犯
了，因为我爸爸并不反对。
    总而言之，在树林子里，日子过得挺称心如意的。
    不过，我爸爸操起木棍就打，打得太顺手了，我实在受不住。我全身都是伤痕。再说，
他如今出去得太勤了，每次都把我锁在里边。有一回，他把我锁在里边，一锁就锁了三天。
我太孤单了。我推断，他是淹死了，这样，我就永远无法出去了。这下子我可吓坏了。我下
了决心，怎么也得想方设法逃离这里。我曾经好多回试着逃出这木棚，可就是不成功。木棚
有一扇窗，大小能容一只狗进出。我无法从烟囱里爬出去，烟囱口子太窄。门是又厚又结实
的橡木做的。我爸爸出去的时候总是很小心，木棚里决不留下一把小刀之类的东西。我在屋
里也找遍了，前前后后找了总有上百遍了。我把时间都用在这上面了，因为这是我唯一可以
消磨时间的办法。不过这一回啊，我终于找到了一样东西。我找到了一把生满了锈的旧锯
子，连把子也没有。是搁在一根缘子和屋顶板中间的。我在上面抹了油，就动手干了起来。
有一块用来遮马的旧毯子，原钉在桌子后面木屋尽头的一根圆木上，是为了免得风从木头缝
缝里钻进来，把蜡烛给吹熄了。我爬到桌子下边，把毯子掀了起来，动手锯起来，要把床底
下那根大木头锯掉一节，大小能容得下我爬进爬出。不错，这工程得花些时间，不过，正当
我干得差不多了，我听到了我爸爸的枪声在林子里响了起来。我赶快把锯木屑收拾干净，把
毯子放下来，把锯子藏起来，不一会儿，爸爸就走了进来。
    爸爸今天脾气不好——他就是这么个生性。他说他今天到了镇上去，一切都是颠三倒四
的。他的律师说，他估摸着他会打赢这场官司，拿到这笔钱，只要人家能动手审理。可就是
人家有的是办法，能把案子一拖再拖，拖很长时间，何况撒切尔法官懂得种种的门道。他还
说，人家又说，眼下又生出了另外一个案子，要叫我跟他脱离父子关系，由寡妇做我的监护
人。人家还说，猜想起来，这一回啊，她能赢。我吓得吃了一惊，因为我怎么也不愿意回到
寡妇家，那么受拘束，还得象人家所说的那样守文明规矩。接着，老头子开腔骂起人来，不
论什么人，什么事，只要是他能想得到的，一概都骂。接着，又一个不漏地重新咒骂一遍，
好能确保没有漏掉任何一个，包括了连他们的姓名他都叫不上来的人。点到这些人的时候，
就说那个叫什么什么的，然后一直骂开去。
    他说，他可要瞧一瞧，看寡妇怎样能把我弄到她手心里。他说他可要提防着点。他还
说，要是他们对他耍什么花招，他知道六七英里外有个去处，好把我藏在那里，人家怎么搜
寻也搜不出来，无法找到我，最后只好歇手。这又叫我心慌了起来。不过，这种感觉，一刹
那间也就过去了。我估摸着，在这个时刻来临的时候，我早已不在了①。
    老头儿叫我到小艇上去搬他带来的东西。有五十镑一袋玉米，一大块腌猪肉，有火药和
四加仑一罐威士忌酒。还有一本书，两张装火药时用的报纸②，还有一些粗麻绳③。我挑回
了一批，回来在船头上坐着歇口气。我把一切在心里过了一遍，我思量着，我逃往林子里去
时，不妨把那杆枪和几根钓鱼竿一起带走。我估计，我也不会固定耽在一处地方，肯定会周
游各地到处流浪，多半是在晚上走动，靠了打猎、钓鱼维持生计，并且会走得好远好远，老
头儿也好，寡妇也好，永远也不会找到我。我估摸，今晚上，爸爸会酩酊大醉，他一醉，我
就锯断木头逃出去。我一心一意想着这一些，竟然忘掉了我已耽了多少时间，后来爸爸吼了
起来，骂我是睡着了，还是淹死了。    ①诺顿版注：哈克不愿受到镇上生活中的种种限制，喜欢林中自由自在的生活。但当时尚未决意出逃，后来因为担心自己有生命危险，这才决心出走。这也表明了这本小说中描绘的自由这个概念中的一个方面。②诺顿版注：指当时用以包装枪和火药等物件的东西。③诺顿版注：指由亚麻或大麻做成的一股一股的绳子。

①《文库》本注：俄亥俄在１８０３年成为美国的一个州。在这以前，根据１７８７年的西北法令，当地已禁止蓄奴，但黑人无选举权。选举权只有白人男子才有。②诺顿版注：据《汉尼拔的赛姆·克莱门斯》的作者狄克逊·威克特说，在十九世纪四十年代，在密苏里州还有身份自由的黑人。

①《文库》本注：以下几段被认为马克·吐温写发酒疯的名篇，作者非常熟悉当时戒酒运动中对发酒疯的描述。