Chapters 16 and 17 Summary

The boys feast on scrambled turtle eggs that night and again the next morning. The morning is spent swimming and playing in the water off the sandbar and the young pirates rest naked in the sun when the feeling strikes them. Joe starts to feel homesick and begins to pack up his belongings while Tom taunts him for being a baby. It becomes clear that Huck, too, is ready to go back to town and the two boys leave Tom standing where he is. Finally, Tom has an inspiration and runs after them to tell them a secret which delights them and makes them decide to stay a little longer.

With some time to kill now, they decide that it would be a good time for Huck to teach the other two how to smoke pipes which they had fashioned from...