Tom got his lantern, lit it in the hogshead, wrapped
it closely in the towel, and the two adventurers
crept in the gloom toward the tavern. Huck stood
sentry and Tom felt his way into the alley. Then
there was a season of waiting anxiety that weighed
upon Huck's spirits like a mountain. He began
to wish he could see a flash from the lantern--
it would frighten him, but it would at least tell
him that Tom was alive yet. It seemed hours since
Tom had disappeared. Surely he must have fainted;
maybe he was dead; maybe his heart had burst
under terror and excitement. In his uneasiness
Huck found himself drawing closer and closer to
the alley; fearing all sorts of dreadful things, and
momentarily expecting some catastrophe to happen
that would take away his breath. There was not
much to take away, for he seemed only able to
inhale it by thimblefuls, and his heart would soon
wear itself out, the way it was beating. Suddenly
there was a flash of light and Tom came tearing
by him:

"Run!" said he; "run for your life!"

He needn't have repeated it; once was enough;
Huck was making thirty or forty miles an hour
before the repetition was uttered. The boys never
stopped till they reached the shed of a deserted
slaughter-house at the lower end of the village. Just
as they got within its shelter the storm burst and
the rain poured down. As soon as Tom got his
breath he said:

"Hurck, it was awful! I tried two of the keys,
just as soft as I could; but they seemed to make

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