Page 267 - the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer

‘No, not always. Hive them in the cave till they raise a
ransom.’
‘What’s a ransom?’
‘Money. You make them raise all they can, off’n their
friends; and after you’ve kept them a year, if it ain’t raised
then you kill them. That’s the general way. Only you don’t
kill the women. You shut up the women, but you don’t kill
them. They’re always beautiful and rich, and awfully scared.
You take their watches and things, but you always take your
hat off and talk polite. They ain’t anybody as polite as rob-
bers — you’ll see that in any book. Well, the women get to
loving you, and after they’ve been in the cave a week or two
weeks they stop crying and after that you couldn’t get them
to leave. If you drove them out they’d turn right around and
come back. It’s so in all the books.’
‘Why, it’s real bully, Tom. I believe it’s better’n to be a
pirate.’
‘Yes, it’s better in some ways, because it’s close to home
and circuses and all that.’
By this time everything was ready and the boys entered
the hole, Tom in the lead. They toiled their way to the far-
ther end of the tunnel, then made their spliced kite-strings
fast and moved on. A few steps brought them to the spring,
and Tom felt a shudder quiver all through him. He showed
Huck the fragment of candle-wick perched on a lump of
clay against the wall, and described how he and Becky had
watched the flame struggle and expire.
The boys began to quiet down to whispers, now, for
the stillness and gloom of the place oppressed their spir-

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer