The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Chapter 9

That night, Tom pretends to go to sleep. After eleven, when he hears Huck outside his window, he sneaks out. They go to the graveyard together.

When Tom and Huck get to the graveyard, they hide by the grave of the recently dead Hoss Williams, who Huck believes the devil will be collecting that night. Instead of devils, however, they soon see three men approaching: Dr. Robinson, Muff Potter, and Injun Joe.

The men arrive at Hoss Williams' grave and Potter and Joe begin to dig. Dr. Robinson sits by a tree and instructs them to hurry. They load the body into a wheelbarrow and tie it down. Potter, his knife in hand, then tells Dr. Robinson that he owes them more money for digging up the body. When Dr. Robinson objects, Injun Joe begins to shout at him about revenge.

"Five years ago you drove me away from your father's kitchen one night, when I come to ask for something to eat, and you said I warn't there for any good; and when I swore I'd get even with you if it took a hundred years, your father had me jailed for a vagrant. Did you think I'd forget. The Injun blood ain't in me for nothing. And now I've got you, and you got to settle, you know!" Chapter 9, pg. 61

The doctor punches Injun Joe and knocks him down. Potter drops the knife and pulls the doctor to the ground. Injun Joe grabs the knife, and as Dr. Robinson hits Potter in the head with a board, Injun Joe stabs him in the chest. Dr. Robinson falls, dead, onto Potter's unconscious body. Tom and Huck, scared to death, run away as fast as possible.

Topic Tracking: Growing Up 4

Injun Joe doesn't notice them. Instead, he robs Dr. Robinson's body and puts the knife in Muff Potter's hand. When Potter awakes, Injun Joe lies and tells him that the doctor hit Potter in the head, and then Potter stabbed him while dazed. Potter begs him not to tell anyone, and then runs away, leaving the bloody knife. Injun Joe, knowing that the knife will be found and Muff Potter blamed, leaves it on the ground.