| WELL, three or four months run along, and it was well into the winter now. I had been to school most all the time and could spell and read and write just a little, and could say the multiplication table up to six times seven is thirty-five, and I don’t reckon I could ever get any further than that if I was to live forever. I don’t take no stock in mathematics, anyway. At first I hated the school, but by and by I got so I could stand it. Whenever I got uncommon tired I played hookey, and the hiding I got next day done me good and cheered me up. So the longer I went to school the easier it got to be. I was getting sort of used to the widow’s ways, too, and they warn’t so raspy on me. Living in a house and sleeping in a bed pulled on me pretty tight mostly, but before the cold weather I used to slide out and sleep in the woods sometimes, and so that was a rest to me. I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit. The widow said I was coming along slow but sure, and doing very satisfactory. She said she warn’t ashamed of me.
One morning I happened to turn over the salt-cellar at breakfast. I reached for some of it as quick as I could to throw over my left shoulder and keep off the bad luck, but Miss Watson was in ahead of me, and crossed me off. She says, “Take your hands away, Huckleberry; what a mess you are always making!” The widow put in a good word for me, but that warn’t going to keep off the bad luck, I knowed that well enough. I started out, after breakfast, feeling worried and shaky, and wondering where it was going to fall on me, and what it was going to be. There is ways to keep off some kinds of bad luck, but this wasn’t one of them kind; so I never tried to do anything, but just poked along low-spirited and on the watch-out.
I went down to the front garden and clumb over the stile where you go through the high board fence. There was an inch of new snow on the ground, and I seen somebody’s tracks. They had come up from the quarry and stood around the stile a while, and then went on around the garden fence. It was funny they hadn’t come in, after standing around so. I couldn’t make it out. It was very curious, somehow. I was going to follow around, but I stooped down to look at the tracks first. I didn’t notice anything at first, but next I did. There was a cross in the left boot-heel made with big nails, to keep off the devil. I was up in a second and shinning down the hill. I looked over my shoulder every now and then, but I didn’t see nobody. I was at Judge Thatcher’s as quick as I could get there. He said:
“Why, my boy, you are all out of breath. Did you come for your interest?”
“No, sir,” I says; “is there some for me?”
“Oh, yes, a half-yearly is in last night—over a hundred and fifty dollars. Quite a fortune for you. You had better let me invest it along with your six thousand, because if you take it you’ll spend it.”
“No, sir,” I says, “I don’t want to spend it. I don’t want it at all—nor the six thousand, nuther. I want you to take it; I want to give it to you—the six thousand and all.”
He looked surprised. He couldn’t seem to make it out. He says:
“Why, what can you mean, my boy?”
I says, “Don’t you ask me no questions about it, please. You’ll take it—won’t you?”
He says:
“Well, I’m puzzled. Is something the matter?”
“Please take it,” says I, “and don’t ask me nothing—then I won’t have to tell no lies.”
He studied a while, and then he says:
“Oho-o! I think I see. You want to sell all your property to me—not give it. That’s the correct idea.”
Then he wrote something on a paper and read it over, and says:
“There; you see it says ‘for a consideration.’ That means I have bought it of you and paid you for it. Here’s a dollar for you. Now you sign it.”
So I signed it, and left.
Miss Watson’s nigger, Jim, had a hair-ball as big as your fist, which had been took out of the fourth stomach of an ox, and he used to do magic with it. He said there was a spirit inside of it, and it knowed everything. So I went to him that night and told him pap was here again, for I found his tracks in the snow. What I wanted to know was, what he was going to do, and was he going to stay? Jim got out his hair-ball and said something over it, and then he held it up and dropped it on the floor. It fell pretty solid, and only rolled about an inch. Jim tried it again, and then another time, and it acted just the same. Jim got down on his knees, and put his ear against it and listened. But it warn’t no use; he said it wouldn’t talk. He said sometimes it wouldn’t talk without money. I told him I had an old slick counterfeit quarter that warn’t no good because the brass showed through the silver a little, and it wouldn’t nohow, even if the brass didn’t show, because it was so slick it felt greasy, and so that would tell on it every time. (I reckoned I wouldn’t say nothing about the dollar I got from the judge.) I said it was pretty bad money, but maybe the hair-ball would take it, because maybe it wouldn’t know the difference. Jim smelt it and bit it and rubbed it, and said he would manage so the hair-ball would think it was good. He said he would split open a raw Irish potato and stick the quarter in between and keep it there all night, and next morning you couldn’t see no brass, and it wouldn’t feel greasy no more, and so anybody in town would take it in a minute, let alone a hair-ball. Well, I knowed a potato would do that before, but I had forgot it.
Jim put the quarter under the hair-ball, and got down and listened again. This time he said the hair-ball was all right. He said it would tell my whole fortune if I wanted it to. I says, go on. So the hair-ball talked to Jim, and Jim told it to me. He says:
“Yo’ ole father doan’ know yit what he’s a-gwyne to do. Sometimes he spec he’ll go ‘way, en den agin he spec he’ll stay. De bes’ way is to res’ easy en let de ole man take his own way. Dey’s two angels hoverin’ roun’ ‘bout him. One uv ‘em is white en shiny, en t’other one is black. De white one gits him to go right a little while, den de black one sail in en bust it all up. A body can’t tell yit which one gwyne to fetch him at de las’. But you is all right. You gwyne to have considable trouble in yo’ life, en considable joy. Sometimes you gwyne to git hurt, en sometimes you gwyne to git sick; but every time you’s gwyne to git well agin. Dey’s two gals flyin’ ‘bout you in yo’ life. One uv ‘em’s light en t’other one is dark. One is rich en t’other is po’. You’s gwyne to marry de po’ one fust en de rich one by en by. You wants to keep ‘way fum de water as much as you kin, en don’t run no resk, ‘kase it’s down in de bills dat you’s gwyne to git hung.”
When I lit my candle and went up to my room that night there sat pap his own self! |
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Bueno, pasaron tres o cuatro meses y ya estaba bien entrado el invierno. Haba ido a la escuela casi todo el tiempo, me saba las letras y leer y escribir un poco y me saba la tabla de multiplicar hasta seis por siete treinta y cinco, y pensaba que nunca llegara ms all aunque viviera eternamente. De todas formas, las matemticas no me gustan mucho.
Al principio me fastidiaba la escuela, pero poco a poco aprend a aguantarla. Cuando me cansaba demasiado haca novillos, y la paliza que me daban al da siguiente me sentaba bien y me animaba. As que cuanto ms tiempo iba a la escuela, ms fcil me resultaba. Tambin me estaba empezando a acostumbrar a las cosas de la viuda, que ya no me molestaban tanto. El vivir en una casa y dormir en una cama me resulta-taba casi siempre molesto, pero antes de que empezara a hacer fro sola escaparme a dormir en el bosque, de forma que me vala de descanso. Me gustaban ms las cosas de antes, pero tambin me estaban empezando a gustar las nuevas un poco. La viuda deca que yo progresaba lento pero seguro y que lo haca muy bien. Dijo que no se senta avergonzada de m.
Una maana por casualidad volqu el salero a la hora del desayuno. Pesqu un poco de sal en cuanto pude para tirarla por encima del hombro izquierdo y alejar la mala suerte, pero la seorita Watson se me adelant para impedrmelo. Va y me dice: Quita esas manos, Huckleberry; te pasas la vida ensucindolo todo! La viuda trat de excusarme, pero aquello no iba a alejar la mala suerte, y yo lo saba. Despus de desayunar me fui, preocupado y temblando, preguntndome dnde me iba a caer y qu iba a hacer. Hay formas de escapar a algunos tipos de mala suerte, pero sta no era una de ellas, as que no trat de hacer nada, sino que segu adelante, muy desanimado y alerta a lo que pasaba.
Baj por el jardn delantero y salt la puertecita por donde se pasa la valla alta. Haba en el suelo una pulgada de nieve recin cada y vi las huellas de alguien. Venan de la cantera, se detenan ante la portezuela y despus le daban la vuelta a la valla del jardn. Era curioso que no hubieran pasado despus de haberse quedado all. No lo entenda. En todo caso, resultaba extrao. Iba a seguirlas, pero primero me par a examinarlas. Al principio no vi nada; despus s. En el tacn de la bota izquierda haba una cruz hecha con clavos para que no se acercara el diablo.
En un segundo me levant y baj corriendo el cerro. De vez en cuando miraba por encima del hombro, pero no vi a nadie. Llegu a casa del juez Thatcher en cuanto pude. Me dijo: ––Pero, chico, ests sin aliento. Has venido a buscar los intereses?
––No, seor ––respond––; me los tiene usted?
––Ah, s, anoche llegaron los del semestre: ms de ciento cincuenta dlares. Para ti, toda una fortuna. Ms vale que me dejes invertirlos con tus seis mil, porque si te los doy te los vas a gastar.
––No, seor ––dije––. No quiero gastrmelos. No los quiero para nada; y tampoco los seis mil. Quiero que se los quede usted; quiero drselos a usted: los seis mil y todo.
Pareci sorprenderse. Era como si no lo pudiera comprender. Va y dice:
––Pero, qu quieres decir, muchacho?
Y voy y le digo:
––Por favor, no me pregunte nada. Se lo queda usted; verdad?
Y va y dice:
––Bueno, no s qu hacer. Pasa algo?
––Por favor, qudeselo y no me pregunte nada... as no tendr que contar mentiras.
Se lo pens un rato y despus dijo:
––Ah, ah! Creo que ya entiendo. Quieres venderme todos tus bienes; no drmelos. Eso es lo correcto.
Despus escribi algo en un papel, que me ley y que deca:
––Mira; vers que dice por la suma convenida. Eso significa que te lo he comprado y te lo he pagado. Ten un dlar. Ahora frmalo.
As que lo firm y me fui.
Jim, el negro de la seorita Watson, tena una bola de pelo del tamao de un puo que haban sacado del cuarto estmago de un buey, y haca cosas de magia con ella. Deca que dentro haba un espritu que lo saba todo. As que aquella noche fui a verlo yle dije que haba vuelto padre, porque haba visto sus huellas en la nieve. Lo que quera saber yo era qu iba a hacer y dnde pensaba dormir. Jim sac su bola de pelo y dijo algo por encima de ella, y despus la levant y la dej caer al suelo. Cay de un solo golpe y no rod ms que una pulgada. Jim volvi a probar una vez y otra vez, siempre lo mismo. Se arrodill y acerc la oreja para escuchar. Pero nada; no quera hablar. Jim dijo que no hablara si no le dbamos dinero. Le dije que tena un viejo cuarto de dlar falso y liso que no vala nada porque se le vea un poco el cobre por debajo de la plata y nadie lo aceptara, aunque no se le viera el cobre, porque estaba tan liso que se resbalaba y todo el mundo lo notaba (pens no decirle nada del dlar que me haba dado el juez). Le dije que era un dinero muy malo, pero que quiz la bola de pelo lo aceptara, porque a lo mejor no entenda la diferencia. Jim lo oli, lo mordi, lo frot y dijo que conseguira que la bola de pelo creyese que era bueno porque iba a partir por la mitad una patata irlandesa cruda y a meter en medio la moneda y dejarla toda la noche, que a la maana siguiente no se podra ver el cobre y ya no estara tan resbaladiza, de forma que cualquiera del pueblo la aceptara, conque ms una bola de pelo. Bueno, yo ya saba que las patatas valan para eso, pero se me haba olvidado. Jim coloc la moneda debajo de la bola de pelo, se agach y volvi a escuchar. Esta vez dijo que la bola de pelo estaba bien. Dijo que me dira la buenaventura si yo quera. Voy y le digo que adelante. Entonces la bola de pelo le habl a Jim, y Jim me lo cont. Va y dice:
––Tu padre no sabe entodava lo que va a hacer. A veces piensa que se va a ir y aluego va y piensa que se queda. Lo mejor es dejar las cosas y que el viejo haga lo que quiera. Hay dos ngeles que le dan geltas. Uno de ellos es blanco y resplandeciente y el otro es negro. El blanco le hace ir por el buen camino un rato y despus viene el negro y lo fastidia to. No se puede saber cul va a ser el ltimo que lo coja. Pero a ti te ir bien. Vas a tener muchos problemas en la vida y muchas alegras. A veces te lo vas a pasar mal y a veces te vas a poner malo, pero cada vez te vas a poner bueno. Hay dos hembras que importan en tu vida. Una es clara y la otra oscura. Una es rica y la otra es probe. T te vas a casar primero con la probe y luego con la rica. Tienes que tener mucho cuidado con el agua y no tener aventuras, porque est escrito que te van a ahorcar.
Aquella noche, cuando encend la vela y sub a mi habitacin, all estaba padre, en persona! |
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