He didn’t see a thing.”

“By hokey, that’s so, Tom!” replied Huck. “Let’s swear to keep mum.”

Tom wrote a pledge on a piece of pine shingle.

MAY WE DROP DOWN
DEAD IN OUR TRACKS
IF WE EVER TELL.

The boys pricked their fingers and signed the pledge in blood.

By the time Tom crawled into bed it was almost morning. He fell asleep instantly. Huck slept inside an empty barrel.

The next day everyone heard the shocking news that Muff Potter had murdered the doctor!

The sheriff marched Potter into town. Potter was confused and afraid. He fell down sobbing.

“I never done it, friends, upon my word and honor, I never done it. Tell them, Joe.”

Injun Joe described that night in the graveyard. He said Potter had started the fight. And that Potter had murdered the doctor!

Huck and Tom couldn’t believe Joe could tell such lies. They expected lightning to strike the liar dead!

The townspeople wanted to tar and feather Joe. They wanted to ride him out of town for grave robbery. But he was big and strong. Everyone was a little afraid of him.

Potter was held in jail until the trial. Tom often passed Potter’s window and gave him some treats. It was the least Tom could do. He knew he would never tell what really happened.

Every night after Potter’s arrest, Tom had awful nightmares. He dreamed about the murder—and Joe coming after him!

Chapter Four
Running Away

As the days passed, Tom stopped thinking about the murder. He had other things on his mind. Becky wasn’t coming to school! She was sick. What if she died?

Tom was so worried about Becky that he stopped playing with his friends. He put his hoop away. He put his bat away. He hung around outside Becky’s house at night, feeling sad.

Aunt Polly was worried about Tom. She decided to try out some new cures on him. Aunt Polly read all the health magazines and was a believer in new medicines.

First she tried the new water treatment. She stood Tom in the woodshed and poured a bucket of ice-cold water on him! Then she scrubbed him with a towel. She wrapped him tightly in blankets so he would sweat. The sickness was supposed to leave Tom’s pores. But it didn’t. Tom was quieter and sadder than ever.

Aunt Polly tried hot baths, an oatmeal diet, and blister plasters.