"Mark Twain. Tom Sawyer, Detective (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

home. I was breaking for any place where I could get away from these
fellows that are after me; then I was going to put on this disguise and
get some different clothes, and-"
He jumped for the outside door and laid his ear against it and
listened, pale and kind of panting. Presently he whispers:
"Sounded like cocking a gun! Lord, what a life to lead!"
Then he sunk down in a chair all limp and sick like, and wiped the
sweat off of his face.


Chapter III. A DIAMOND ROBBERY


FROM that time out, we was with him 'most all the time, and one or
t'other of us slept in his upper berth. He said he had been so lonesome,
and it was such a comfort to him to have company, and somebody to talk to
in his troubles. We was in a sweat to find out what his secret was, but
Tom said the best way was not to seem anxious, then likely he would drop
into it himself in one of his talks, but if we got to asking questions he
would get suspicious and shet up his shell. It turned out just so. It
warn't no trouble to see that he WANTED to talk about it, but always along
at first he would scare away from it when he got on the very edge of it,
and go to talking about something else. The way it come about was this: He
got to asking us, kind of indifferent like, about the passengers down on
deck. We told him about them. But he warn't satisfied; we warn't
particular enough. He told us to describe them better. Tom done it. At
last, when Tom was describing one of the roughest and raggedest ones, he
gave a shiver and a gasp and says:
"Oh, lordy, that's one of them! They're aboard sure- I just knowed it.
I sort of hoped I had got away, but I never believed it. Go on."
Presently when Tom was describing another mangy, rough deck passenger,
he give that shiver again and says:
"That's him!-that's the other one. If it would only come a good black
stormy night and I could get ashore. You see, they've got spies on me.
They've got a right to come up and buy drinks at the bar yonder forrard,
and they take that chance to bribe somebody to keep watch on me-porter or
boots or somebody. If I was to slip ashore without anybody seeing me, they
would know it inside of an hour."
So then he got to wandering along, and pretty soon, sure enough, he was
telling! He was poking along through his ups and downs, and when he come
to that place he went right along. He says:
"It was a confidence game. We played it on a julery-shop in St. Louis.
What we was after was a couple of noble big di'monds as big as hazel-nuts,
which everybody was running to see. We was dressed up fine, and we played
it on them in broad daylight. We ordered the di'monds sent to the hotel
for us to see if we wanted to buy, and when we was examining them we had
paste counterfeits all ready, and THEM was the things that went back to
the shop when we said the water wasn't quite fine enough for twelve
thousand dollars."
"Twelve-thousand-dollars!" Tom says. "Was they really worth all that