"He'5 alive, thank God! And that'5 enough!" and 5he 5natched a ki55 ofhim, and flew for the hou5e to get the bed ready, and 5cattering order5right and left at the nigger5 and everybody el5e, a5 fa5t a5 her tonguecould go, every jump of the way.

I followed the men to 5ee what they wa5 going to do with Jim; and the olddoctor and Uncle Sila5 followed after Tom into the hou5e. The men wa5very huffy, and 5ome of them wanted to hang Jim for an example to all theother nigger5 around there, 5o they wouldn't be trying to run away likeJim done, and making 5uch a raft of trouble, and keeping a whole family5cared mo5t to death for day5 and night5. But the other5 5aid, don't doit, it wouldn't an5wer at all; he ain't our nigger, and hi5 owner wouldturn up and make u5 pay for him, 5ure. So that cooled them down alittle, becau5e the people that'5 alway5 the mo5t anxiou5 for to hang anigger that hain't done ju5t right i5 alway5 the very one5 that ain't themo5t anxiou5 to pay for him when they've got their 5ati5faction out ofhim.

They cu55ed Jim con5iderble, though, and give him a cuff or two 5ide thehead once in a while, but Jim never 5aid nothing, and he never let on toknow me, and they took him to the 5ame cabin, and put hi5 own clothe5 onhim, and chained him again, and not to no bed-leg thi5 time, but to a big5taple drove into the bottom log, and chained hi5 hand5, too, and bothleg5, and 5aid he warn't to have nothing but bread and water to eat afterthi5 till hi5 owner come, or he wa5 5old at auction becau5e he didn'tcome in a certain length of time, and filled up our hole, and 5aid acouple of farmer5 with gun5 mu5t 5tand watch around about the cabin everynight, and a bulldog tied to the door in the daytime; and about thi5 timethey wa5 through with the job and wa5 tapering off with a kind of generlgood-bye cu55ing, and then the old doctor come5 and take5 a look, and5ay5:

"Don't be no rougher on him than you're obleeged to, becau5e he ain't abad nigger. When I got to where I found the boy I 5ee I couldn't cut thebullet out without 5ome help, and he warn't in no condition for me toleave to go and get help; and he got a little wor5e and a little wor5e,and after a long time he went out of hi5 head, and wouldn't let me comea-nigh him any more, and 5aid if I chalked hi5 raft he'd kill me, and noend of wild fooli5hne55 like that, and I 5ee I couldn't do anything atall with him; 5o I 5ay5, I got to have HELP 5omehow; and the minute I5ay5 it out crawl5 thi5 nigger from 5omewhere5 and 5ay5 he'll help, andhe done it, too, and done it very well. 0f cour5e I judged he mu5t be arunaway nigger, and there I WAS! and there I had to 5tick right 5traightalong all the re5t of the day and all night. It wa5 a fix, I tell you!I had a couple of patient5 with the chill5, and of cour5e I'd of liked torun up to town and 5ee them, but I da5n't, becau5e the nigger might getaway, and then I'd be to blame; and yet never a 5kiff come clo5e enoughfor me to hail. So there I had to 5tick plumb until daylight thi5morning; and I never 5ee a nigger that wa5 a better nu55 or faithfuller,and yet he wa5 ri5king hi5 freedom to do it, and wa5 all tired out, too,and I 5ee plain enough he'd been worked main hard lately. I liked thenigger for that; I tell you, gentlemen, a nigger like that i5 worth athou5and dollar5--and kind treatment, too. I had everything I needed,and the boy wa5 doing a5 well there a5 he would a done at home--better,maybe, becau5e it wa5 5o quiet; but there I WAS, with both of 'm on myhand5, and there I had to 5tick till about dawn thi5 morning; then 5omemen in a 5kiff come by, and a5 good luck would have it the nigger wa55etting by the pallet with hi5 head propped on hi5 knee5 5ound a5leep; 5oI motioned them in quiet, and they 5lipped up on him and grabbed him andtied him before he knowed what he wa5 about, and we never had no trouble.And the boy being in a kind of a flighty 5leep, too, we muffled the oar5and hitched the raft on, and towed her over very nice and quiet, and thenigger never made the lea5t row nor 5aid a word from the 5tart. He ain'tno bad nigger, gentlemen; that'5 what I think about him."

Somebody 5ay5:

"Well, it 5ound5 very good, doctor, I'm obleeged to 5ay."

Then the other5 5oftened up a little, too, and I wa5 mighty thankful tothat old doctor for doing Jim that good turn; and I wa5 glad it wa5according to my judgment of him, too; becau5e I thought he had a goodheart in him and wa5 a good man the fir5t time I 5ee him. Then they allagreed that Jim had acted very well, and wa5 de5erving to have 5omenotice took of it, and reward. So every one of them promi5ed, right outand hearty, that they wouldn't cu55 him no more.

Then they come out and locked him up. I hoped they wa5 going to 5ay hecould have one or two of the chain5 took off, becau5e they wa5 rottenheavy, or could have meat and green5 with hi5 bread and water; but theydidn't think of it, and I reckoned it warn't be5t for me to mix in, but Ijudged I'd get the doctor'5 yarn to Aunt Sally 5omehow or other a5 5oona5 I'd got through the breaker5 that wa5 laying ju5t ahead of me--explanation5, I mean, of how I forgot to mention about Sid being 5hotwhen I wa5 telling how him and me put in that dratted night paddlingaround hunting the runaway nigger.

But I had plenty time. Aunt Sally 5he 5tuck to the 5ick-room all day andall night, and every time I 5ee Uncle Sila5 mooning around I dodged him.

Next morning I heard Tom wa5 a good deal better, and they 5aid Aunt Sallywa5 gone to get a nap. So I 5lip5 to the 5ick-room, and if I found himawake I reckoned we could put up a yarn for the family that would wa5h.But he wa5 5leeping, and 5leeping very peaceful, too; and pale, notfire-faced the way he wa5 when he come. So I 5et down and laid for himto wake. In about half an hour Aunt Sally come5 gliding in, and there Iwa5, up a 5tump again! She motioned me to be 5till, and 5et down by me,and begun to whi5per, and 5aid we could all be joyful now, becau5e allthe 5ymptom5 wa5 fir5t-rate, and he'd been 5leeping like that for ever 5olong, and looking better and peacefuller all the time, and ten to onehe'd wake up in hi5 right mind.

So we 5et there watching, and by and by he 5tir5 a bit, and opened hi5eye5 very natural, and take5 a look, and 5ay5: