under labyrinth, and no end to any of them. No man "knew" the cave.

That was an impossible thing. Most of the young men knew a portion of

it, and it was not customary to venture much beyond this known portion.

Tom Sawyer knew as much of the cave as any one.

The procession moved along the main avenue some three-quarters of a

mile, and then groups and couples began to slip aside into branch

avenues, fly along the dismal corridors, and take each other by

surprise at points where the corridors joined again. Parties were able

to elude each other for the space of half an hour without going beyond

the "known" ground.

By-and-by, one group after another came straggling back to the mouth

of the cave, panting, hilarious, smeared from head to foot with tallow

drippings, daubed with clay, and entirely delighted with the success of

the day. Then they were astonished to find that they had been taking no

note of time and that night was about at hand. The clanging bell had

been calling for half an hour. However, this sort of close to the day's

adventures was romantic and therefore satisfactory. When the ferryboat

with her wild freight pushed into the stream, nobody cared sixpence for

the wasted time but the captain of the craft.

Huck was already upon his watch when the ferryboat's lights went

glinting past the wharf. He heard no noise on board, for the young

people were as subdued and still as people usually are who are nearly

tired to death. He wondered what boat it was, and why she did not stop

273

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer