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

"But now we was up a stump, for we couldn't go to bed. We had to set up
and watch one another. Pity, that was; pity to put that kind of a strain
on us, because there was bad blood between us from a couple of weeks back,
and we was only friends in the way of business. Bad anyway, seeing there
was only two di'monds betwixt three men. First we had supper, and then
tramped up and down the deck together smoking till most midnight; then we
went and set down in my stateroom and locked the doors and looked in the
piece of paper to see if the di'monds was all right, then laid it on the
lower berth right in full sight; and there we set, and set, and by-and-by
it got to be dreadful hard to keep awake. At last Bud Dixon he dropped
off. As soon as he was snoring a good regular gait that was likely to
last, and had his chin on his breast and looked permanent, Hal Clayton
nodded towards the di'monds and then towards the outside door, and I
understood. I reached and got the paper, and then we stood up and waited
perfectly still; Bud never stirred; I turned the key of the outside door
very soft and slow, then turned the knob the same way, and we went
tiptoeing out onto the guard, and shut the door very soft and gentle.
"There warn't nobody stirring anywhere, and the boat was slipping
along, swift and steady, through the big water in the smoky moonlight. We
never said a word, but went straight up onto the hurricane-deck and plumb
back aft, and set down on the end of the sky-light. Both of us knowed what
that meant, without having to explain to one another. Bud Dixon would wake
up and miss the swag, and would come straight for us, for he ain't afeard
of anything or anybody, that man ain't. He would come, and we would heave
him overboard, or get killed trying. It made me shiver, because I ain't as
brave as some people, but if I showed the white feather-well, I knowed
better than do that. I kind of hoped the boat would land somers, and we
could skip ashore and not have to run the risk of this row, I was so
scared of Bud Dixon, but she was an upper-river tub and there warn't no
real chance of that.
"Well, the time strung along and along, and that fellow never come!
Why, it strung along till dawn begun to break, and still he never come.
'Thunder,' I says, 'what do you make out of this?-ain't it suspicious?'
'Land!' Hal says, 'do you reckon he's playing us?-open the paper!' I done
it, and by gracious there warn't anything in it but a couple of little
pieces of loaf-sugar! THAT'S the reason he could set there and snooze all
night so comfortable. Smart? Well, I reckon! He had had them two papers
all fixed and ready, and he had put one of them in place of t'other right
under our noses.
"We felt pretty cheap. But the thing to do, straight off, was to make a
plan; and we done it. We would do up the paper again, just as it was, and
slip in, very elaborate and soft, and lay it on the bunk again, and let on
WE didn't know about any trick, and hadn't any idea he was a-laughing at
us behind them bogus snores of his'n; and we would stick by him, and the
first night we was ashore we would get him drunk and search him, and get
the di'monds; and DO for him, too, if it warn't too risky. If we got the
swag, we'd GOT to do for him, or he would hunt us down and do for us,
sure. But I didn't have no real hope. I knowed we could get him drunk-he
was always ready for that-but what's the good of it? You might search him
a year and never find-"Well, right there I catched my breath and broke off