Tom woke up first, and he wondered where he was.
Then he remembered: he was a pirate on Jackson Island.
The dawn was cool and gray, and there were dewdrops on the grass.
Their campfire was almost out; only smoke rose from the ashes.
Tom woke the other boys up, and they went for a swim in the river.
They came back to camp happy and refreshed. They restarted the campfire.
Joe made hickory tea, and Huck and Tom both caught some fish.
After a delicious fish fry breakfast, Tom said, "Let's really find that buried treasure!"
Huck and Joe were eager to follow.
They looked in less obvious places—inside hollow logs and under the roots of old trees.
Soon the boys were hot, so they took another swim.
Although they hadn't found any treasure, the boys were too happy to care.
Even without a treasure, the boys felt rich.
The island seemed like a large kingdom to them.
However, after a second failed treasure hunt, the boys began to feel a kind of homesickness growing inside them.
Tom and Joe missed their families, and all three missed their friends.
During lunch the boys heard a loud noise coming from up the river.
"What's that?" asked Joe.
"Can't be thunder," said Huck.
"Shh!" said Tom. "Listen."
The boys listened, and soon they heard another boom!
"Let's see what's making that noise," said Tom.
The boys watched a ferry chugging its way slowly down the river.
First, they saw a burst of black smoke from the ferry's deck, and then they heard boom again!
"I know!" shouted Tom. "Somebody's drowned."
"Yes," said Huck. "They did this last summer when Bill Turner drowned.
They're shooting cannonballs into the water to make the body come up."
"Really?" said Joe. "I wonder who's drowned."
The boys continued to watch and listen.
Then Tom said suddenly, "I know who's drowned! It's us!"
"You're right," agreed Huck.
"We're heroes," said Joe.
The boys were pleased because they knew they were missed.
They also knew that they must be the talk of the town.
Being a pirate was wonderful.
By evening the ferry had stopped searching.
The boys ate supper around the campfire, and they tried to guess what people were saying about them.
Tom thought about Aunt Polly and Joe thought about his mother.
"Maybe it's time to go back," said Joe softly.
Although Tom and Huck were thinking the same thing, they both said they didn't want to go home.
Tom couldn't sleep. He decided to leave his aunt a message.
He wrote a note on a piece of bark, and then rowed the raft down the river and back into town.
When he got to his house, he saw that the lights were still on.
Aunt Polly was talking to Joe's mother.
Tom sneaked into the house and hid under a bed.
From under the bed, Tom could see and hear everything.
"What's making the candle flicker?" asked Aunt Polly.
She looked and saw the door was open.
"Strange things are happening here," said Joe's mother.
Tom could see that her eyes were red, and she had been crying.
"Well, our boys are better off in heaven than here," said Aunt Polly.
Aunt Polly cried, and Tom felt awful.
"My Joe was a good boy," said Joe's mother.
"He was always up to mischief, but he had a good heart."
Aunt Polly nodded, and she said between her cries, "My Tom was the same.
I've been too strict with him recently.
I even gave him medicine that wasn't fit for a cat."
Joe's mother then shook her head and said, "I haven't been nice to Joe either.
I punished him for drinking cream that I had thrown out because it was sour!
Now I'll never see him again."
"They must have drowned," Aunt Polly said tearfully.
"If they don't turn up by tomorrow, the pastor says we'll hold funerals for them on Sunday."
The two women cried.
Tom almost cried too, but what his aunt had just said made him think.
Soon the crying stopped, and Joe's mother said good-night and left.
Aunt Polly knelt beside her bed and prayed.
Her prayers were full of kind words for her nephew.
When Aunt Polly fell asleep, Tom looked at his aunt for awhile.
Then he bent down and kissed her on her cheek.
Tom didn't leave the note because now he had a better idea.
He rowed back to the island.
When he arrived, he woke his fellow pirates and told them about his adventure.
Joe asked lots of questions about his mother, and Tom patiently told his friends everything.
But he kept his newest plan to himself.