Tom Sawyer – Part Forty-two

Before you read the text, read the following comprehension questions.

1. What did Tom decide to do while he was walking to school?

2. What did Tom use to dry his eyes?

3. Why did Joe’s mother hit him?

4. Where was Joe thinking of going to live before he spoke to Tom?

5. What had the three boys, Tom, Joe and Huckleberry Finn, decided to do?

Now read the text and answer the questions.

Tom's mind was made up now. He was unhappy and desperate. He was a forgotten boy with no friends. Nobody loved him. When they found out what they made him do, perhaps they would be sorry.

He had tried to do right and fit in, but they would not let him. They wanted to get rid of him, so be it. Let them blame him for the consequences. Why shouldn't they? What right had a friendless boy to complain? Yes, they had forced him to it at last: he would lead a life of crime. There was no choice.

By this time, he was far down Meadow Lane, and the bell to start school sounded in his ear. He started crying. To think he should never, never hear that old familiar sound any more - it was very hard, but it was forced on him. He was sent out into the cold world and he must accept it. Even so, he forgave them.

Then he cried even more. Just at this point he met his soulmate, Joe Harper. His eyes looked hard and he seemed very sad. Obviously, here were "two souls with one single thought."

Tom, drying his eyes with his sleeve, began to say something about a decision to escape from a hard life and lack of sympathy at home by going abroad into the great world never to return. He ended by hoping that Joe would not forget him.

But that this was a request which Joe had just been going to make of Tom, and had been looking for him for that reason. His mother had hit him for drinking some cream which he had never had and knew nothing about. It was obvious that she was tired of him and wanted him to go. if she felt that way, there was nothing for him to do but agree. He hoped she would be happy, and never regret having sent her poor boy out into the unfeeling world to suffer and die.

As the two boys walked sadly along, they agreed to stand by each other and be brothers and never separate till death relieved them of their troubles.

Then they began to make their plans. Joe was for being a hermit, and living on old pieces of bread in a remote cave, and dying, eventually, of cold and starvation and sadness. However, after listening to Tom, he admitted that there were some definite advantages from a life of crime, and so he agreed to be a pirate.Diccionario online

Three miles below St. Petersburg, at a point where the Mississippi River was a little over a mile wide, there was a long, narrow island, full of trees and it was a good place for a rendezvous.

It was on the other side of the river and it was not inhabited and full of thick forest. So, Jackson's Island was chosen. Who were to be the subjects of their piracies was a matter that did not occur to them. They went to find Huckleberry Finn, and he joined them immediately. He didn’t care what they had decided to do with the rest of their lives.

... to be continued!

* The text has been adapted from the Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain


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Tom Sawyer – Part Forty-three

Before you read the text, read the following comprehension questions.
 

1. What did Tom bring for the boys to eat?

2. What password did the boys use?

3. Who was ‘The Terror of the Seas’?

4. Which ‘pirate’ smoked??

5. Why wasn’t it necessary for the boys to be quiet and talk in whispers?
   

Now read the text and answer the questions.
 
They separated and agreed to meet at a lonely spot on the river-bank two miles above the village at midnight. There was a small wooden raft there which they intended to capture.

Each boy would bring hooks and rope, and anything else that they could steal in the most dark and mysterious way – now that they had become outlaws!

Before the afternoon was over, they had all managed to enjoy the sweet glory of spreading the fact that very soon the town would "hear something." Everone who got this vague message was cautioned to "be quiet and wait."

About midnight Tom arrived with a boiled ham and a few trifles, and stopped in thick grass and bushes on a small hill overlooking the meeting place. There were stars in the sky and it was very still.

The mighty river was like an ocean at rest. Tom listened for a moment, but no sound disturbed the quiet. Then he gave a low, distinct whistle. It was answered from the bottom of the hill. Tom whistled twice more and these signals were answered in the same way. Then a voice said:

"Who goes there?"
"Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main. Name your names."
"Huck Finn the Red-Handed, and Joe Harper the Terror of the Seas." Tom had taken these names, from his favorite books.
"'All is well. Give the password."
Two whispers delivered the same awful word simultaneously to the quiet dark night:
"Blood!"

Then Tom threw his ham down the hill and ran after it, tearing both skin and clothes a little bit in the effort.

There was an easy, comfortable path along the shore at the bottom of the hill, but it lacked the advantages of difficulty and danger so valued by a pirate.

The Terror of the Seas had brought a side of bacon, and had just about tired himself out getting it there.

Finn the Red-Handed had stolen a frying pan and some tobacco leaves, and had also brought a few corn-cobs to make pipes with. However, he was the only pirate who smoked. Diccionario online

The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main said they could not start without some fire. That was a wise thought. Matches were difficult to find in those days. They saw a fire on a big raft a hundred metres away and quietly went and took some.

They made an impressive adventure of it, saying, "Shhh!" every now and then, and suddenly stopping with finger on lip, moving with hands on imaginary knives in their belts and giving orders in whispers that if "the enemy" moved, to "let him have it," because "dead men tell no tales."

They knew well enough that the raftsmen were all down at the village resting or drinking, but still that was no excuse for their doing this thing in an unpiratical way.

... to be continued!

* The text has been adapted from the Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain


  Download the original book for free
 

*Consulta un PDF con la información y resumen de 100 libros en inglés
que puedes descargar en 1 único archivo.

 

  Haz click para comprobar las soluciones

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