Now Tom shivered from head to heel;for his eye fell upon the stolid face of Injun Joe.At this moment the crowd began to sway and struggle,and voices shouted,“It's him!it's him!he's coming himself!”
“Who?Who?”from twenty voices.
“Muff Potter!”
“Hallo,he's stopped!—Look out,he's turning!Don't let him get away!”
People in the branches of the trees over Tom's head said he wasn't trying to get away—he only looked doubtful and perplexed.
“Infernal impudence!”said a bystander;“Wanted to come and take a quiet look at his work,I reckon—didn't expect any company.”
The crowd fell apart,now,and the Sheriff came through,ostentatiously leading Potter by the arm.The poor fellow's face was haggard,and his eyes showed the fear that was upon him.
When he stood before the murdered man,he shook as with a palsy,and he put his face in his hands and burst into tears.
“I didn't do it,friends,”he sobbed;“'pon my word and honor I never done it.”
“Who's accused you?”shouted a voice.
This shot seemed to carry home.Potter lifted his face and looked around him with a pathetic hopelessness in his eyes.He saw Injun Joe,and exclaimed:
“Oh,Injun Joe,you promised me you'd never—”
“Is that your knife?”and it was thrust before him by the Sheriff.
Potter would have fallen if they had not caught him and eased him to the ground.Then he said:
“Something told me't if I didn't come back and get—”He shuddered;then waved his nerveless hand with a vanquished gesture and said,“Tell'em,Joe,tell'em— it ain't any use any more.”
Then Huckleberry and Tom stood dumb and staring,and heard the stonyhearted liar reel off his serene statement,they expecting every moment that the clear sky would deliver God's lightnings upon his head,and wondering to see how long the stroke was delayed.And when he had finished and still stood alive and whole,their wavering impulse to break their oath and save the poor betrayed prisoner's life faded and vanished away,for plainly this miscreant had sold himself to Satan and it would be fatal to meddle with the property of such a power as that.
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