Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy

Tom Sawyer: Hero of Middle America 223
hght and presently "pushed his head and shoulders through a smaU hole
and saw the broad Mississippi rolling by!"
is saved by Tom, by
Tom is thus saved, and Becky
a hght vouchsafed to him far within the innermost
recesses of the cave, at a point where the probabUity of finding light or of
hght finding him was the most remote, if not most unreasonable. Tom
thus becomes an authentic hero of that new Calvinism in which grace
comes, not by works or faith, but by the spirit of utter and indefeasible
self-reliance. Tom, we may say, is saved by the Lord because the Lord
finds merit in the fact that it had never occurred to Tom to ask for help.
Tom may have appeared as a clever and lucky trickster hitherto. But he
wUl emerge with a new aura of authenticity and legitimacy. The highest
principle of the old order has now anointed the leader of the new. Tom's
education and the formation of his character have been completed deep
within the earth. Tom Sawyer's Gang is now ready for the hght of the
sun.
Huck meanwlule has kept his own faithful vigil. On the night that Tom
and Becky are wandering ever deeper into the cave, Huck foUows Joe
and his companion as they leave their lair. But they carry a box with them,
which Huck mistakenly believes is the treasure. There is no time to go for
Tom. The men pursue a course toward the Widow Douglas's, and follow
ing closely in the dark, Huck discovers the evU nature of their mission.
But the widow has company, and the men lurk under cover waiting for
the lights to go out. Then Huck runs for help. The Welshman and his sons
arrive with guns. Joe and his confederate are driven off, but not captured.
Huck is terrified and is taken into the Welshman's house,
seized with a fever and for a long
where he is
time loses consciousness. When he
comes to himself again, he too wiU taste, but without pleasure, the glory
of a hero.
Before Huck recovers, Tom and Becky triumphantly return. Judge
Thatcher has the mouth of the cave sealed, not knowing that Joe is within.
And Joe dies of thirst and starvation before Tom discovers what the
Judge had done. The hght that had been vouchsafed to Tom has been
denied to Joe.
Now the boys are safe, and when Huck is well enough, Tom takes him
aside and imparts his secret. Number Two is in the cave, and Tom knows
an easy way to get there. He is sure that that is where the treasure is kept.
They gather up provisions and two bags to carry the treasure. Then they
head for the secret place five miles below the mouth of the cave from
which he and Becky had emerged to safety. Exploring the chamber where
Tom had nearly stumbled upon Joe, they discover a cross, done with
candle smoke on a big
the treasure must be "under the
rock. This without doubt is "Number Two,"
cross."
and
But Huck is again struck with
terror. Injun Joe's ghost must be nearby. Tom remonstrates that the ghost
must surely be at the mouth of the cave, where Joe had died, rather than
here. But Huck disagrees, "No, Tom, it wouldn't. It would hang around