WHEN Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn had deter-
mined to rescue Jim by digging under the
cabin where he was confined, it seemed to the unin-
formed lay mind of Huck Finn that some old picks
the boys had found were the proper implements to
use. But Tom knew better. From reading he
knew what was the right course in such cases, and
he called for case-knives. "It doesn't make no dif-
ference," said Tom, "how foolish it is, it's the right
way and it's the regular way. And there ain't no
other way that I ever heard of, and I've read all
the books that gives any information about these
things. They always dig out with a case-knife."
So in deference to the books and to the proprieties
the boys set to work with case-knives. But after
they had dug till nearly midnight and they were
tired and their hands were blistered and they had
made little progress, a light came to Tom's legal
mind. He dropped his knife and, turning to Huck,
said firmly, "Gimme a case-knife." Let Huck tell
the rest:

"He had his own by him, but I handed him mine.
He flung it down and says, 'Gimme a case-knife.'

"I didn't know just what to do--but then I
thought. I scratched around amongst the old tools
and got a pickax and give it to him, and he took it
and went to work and never said a word.

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