L'aventura del dia turmentà poderosament els somnis de Tom, aquella nit. Quatre vegades ficà la mà en aquell ric tresor, i quatre vegades se li convertí en no-res entre els dits, en desapoderar-se d'ell el son, en recordar-li el desvetllament l'aspra realitat de son infortuni. Tot jaient, a la matinada, recordava els passos de la seva gran aventura, i reparà que semblaven curiosament velats i llunyans, una mica com si haguessin succeït en un altre món, o fossin de qui-sap-lo temps. Després se li acudí que la mateixa gran aventura podia ésser un somni! Hi havia un argument molt fort a favor d'aquesta idea, i era que la quantitat de moneda que havia vist era molt massa gran per a ésser real. Mai no havia vist sinó cinquanta dòlars amuntegats al davant seu, i, com tots els minyons de la seva edat i estament, imaginava que totes les referències a cents i a mils eren simples maneres fantàstiques de parlar, i que semblants quantitats no existien en el món. Mai no havia suposat per un moment que una quantitat tan gran com cent dòlars fos trobada, en veritable moneda, en possessió de ningú. Si les seves nocions de tresors amagats haguessin estat analitzades, haurien resultat consistir en un grapat de peces de deu cèntims, i uns quants picotins de peces vagues, esplèndides, incopsables.
THE adventure of the day mightily tormented Tom's dreams that night. Four times he had his hands on that rich treasure and four times it wasted to nothingness in his fingers as sleep forsook him and wakefulness brought back the hard reality of his misfortune. As he lay in the early morning recalling the incidents of his great adventure, he noticed that they seemed curiously subdued and far away--somewhat as if they had happened in another world, or in a time long gone by. Then it occurred to him that the great adventure itself must be a dream! There was one very strong argument in favor of this idea--namely, that the quantity of coin he had seen was too vast to be real. He had never seen as much as fifty dollars in one mass before, and he was like all boys of his age and station in life, in that he imagined that all references to "hundreds" and "thousands" were mere fanciful forms of speech, and that no such sums really existed in the world. He never had supposed for a moment that so large a sum as a hundred dollars was to be found in actual money in any one's possession. If his notions of hidden treasure had been analyzed, they would have been found to consist of a handful of real dimes and a bushel of vague, splendid, ungraspable dollars.
Però els incidents de la seva aventura esdevingueren sensiblement més aguts i més clars, en anar refregant-los amb el seu magí, de manera que al cap de poca estona cregué que es decantava a la impressió que, al capdavall, podien no haver estat un somni. Aquesta incertesa havia d'ésser esvaïda. Es desdejunà amb una esgarrapada, i anà a trobar Huck. Huck seia damunt la borda d'una barca plana, amb els peus que li penjaven distretament dins de l'aigua i amb posat de gran melangia. Tom va decidir-se a deixar que Huck abordés el tema. Si no ho feia, aleshores, palesament, l'aventura no hauria estat altra cosa que un somni.
But the incidents of his adventure grew sensibly sharper and clearer under the attrition of thinking them over, and so he presently found himself leaning to the impression that the thing might not have been a dream, after all. This uncertainty must be swept away. He would snatch a hurried breakfast and go and find Huck. Huck was sitting on the gunwale of a flatboat, listlessly dangling his feet in the water and looking very melancholy. Tom concluded to let Huck lead up to the subject. If he did not do it, then the adventure would be proved to have been only a dream.
-Hola, Huck.
"Hello, Huck!"
-Hola, tu.
"Hello, yourself."
Silenci per un minut.
Silence, for a minute.
-Tom, si haguéssim deixat les eines endiastrades a l'arbre mort, hauríem arreplegat el diner. Oh! No és cosa feresta!
"Tom, if we'd 'a' left the blame tools at the dead tree, we'd 'a' got the money. Oh, ain't it awful!"
-No és un somni, doncs; no és un somni! Tanmateix em plauria que ho fos. Mal m'escanyi, si no és veritat, Huck!
"'Tain't a dream, then, 'tain't a dream! Somehow I most wish it was. Dog'd if I don't, Huck."
-Què és, això que no és un somni?
"What ain't a dream?"
-Oh! Això d'ahir. Mig m'havia pensat que ho era.
"Oh, that thing yesterday. I been half thinking it was."
-Somni! Si l'escala no s'hagués enfonsat, hauríeu vist si n'era gaire, de somni. Tota la nit hi he estat somniant, en aquest maleït espanyol d'ulls tapats que venia a haver-se-les amb mi cada vegada! Mal llamp l'arbori!
"Dream! If them stairs hadn't broke down you'd 'a' seen how much dream it was! I've had dreams enough all night--with that patch-eyed Spanish devil going for me all through 'em--rot him!"
-No, que no l'arbori! Cal trobar-lo i trobar la pista del diner.
"No, not rot him. Find him! Track the money!"
-Tom, ja no l'haurem mai. Un hom no té sinó una avinentesa d'arreplegar un munt com aquell, i l'hem perduda. Em sentiria bastant aclotellat, si l'hagués de veure a Joe, ça com lla.
"Tom, we'll never find him. A feller don't have only one chance for such a pile--and that one's lost. I'd feel mighty shaky if I was to see him, anyway."
-Bé, jo també; però m'agradaria de veure'l, tanmateix, i seguir-li la pista fins al seu Número 2.
"Well, so'd I; but I'd like to see him, anyway--and track him out--to his Number Two."
-Número 2, sí, aquest és. Hi he estat pensant, en això; però no en puc treure l'aigua clara. Què us penseu que és?
"Number Two--yes, that's it. I been thinking 'bout that. But I can't make nothing out of it. What do you reckon it is?"
-Poc ho sé: és massa pregon. Escolteu, Huck: potser és la xifra d'una casa.
"I dono. It's too deep. Say, Huck--maybe it's the number of a house!"
-Angela!... No, Tom, no és això. I, si ho és, no és en aquest escrupoló de poble: no n'hi ha, de xifres, aquí.
"Goody!... No, Tom, that ain't it. If it is, it ain't in this one-horse town. They ain't no numbers here."
-Sí, teniu raó. Deixeu-me pensar un minut. Ah!... És la xifra d'una cambra... en una taverna: sabeu?
"Well, that's so. Lemme think a minute. Here--it's the number of a room--in a tavern, you know!"
-Oh! Aquest, és el truc! Només hi ha que dues tavernes: podem esbrinar-ho tot seguit.
"Oh, that's the trick! They ain't only two taverns. We can find out quick."
-Espereu-vos aquí, Huck, fins que jo torni.
"You stay here, Huck, till I come."
Tom se n'anà tot d'una. No li interessava, la companyia de Huck a les bandes públiques. Estigué fora dos quarts. Trobà que a la millor taverna, el Número 2 havia estat ocupat de qui-sap-lo temps per un jove advocat, i ho estava encara. En la casa més senzilla, el fill del taverner digué que el Número 2 estava tancat a totes hores, i que mai veia que ningú hi entrés o n'eixís si no era de nit; no sabia que hi hagués cap motiu especial per a aquest estat de coses; sentia una mica de tafaneria, però bastant feble; s'havia explicat la major part del misteri amb la idea que a la cambra hi «sortia por», i havia reparat que hi havia llum la nit abans.
Tom was off at once. He did not care to have Huck's company in public places. He was gone half an hour. He found that in the best tavern, No. 2 had long been occupied by a young lawyer, and was still so occupied. In the less ostentatious house, No. 2 was a mystery. The tavern-keeper's young son said it was kept locked all the time, and he never saw anybody go into it or come out of it except at night; he did not know any particular reason for this state of things; had had some little curiosity, but it was rather feeble; had made the most of the mystery by entertaining himself with the idea that that room was "ha'nted"; had noticed that there was a light in there the night before.
-Això és el que he esbrinat, Huck. Em penso que aquest és el Número 2 que empaitem.
"That's what I've found out, Huck. I reckon that's the very No. 2 we're after."
-Em penso que l'és, Tom. I, ara, què farem?
"I reckon it is, Tom. Now what you going to do?"
-Deixeu-me pensar.
"Lemme think."
Tom pensà d'allò més estona. Després va dir:
Tom thought a long time. Then he said:
-Ja us ho diré. La porta del darrera d'aquell Número 2 és la porta que dóna al caminet sense eixida que hi ha entre la taverna i el clos atrotinat del dipòsit de rajoles. Vós agafareu totes les claus de portes que pogueu trobar, i jo afanaré totes les de la tieta, i la primera nit fosca que faci hi anirem i les provarem. I penseu a sotjar l'Indi, perquè digué que es deixaria caure al poble i espiaria els encontorns, cercant l'avinentesa de revenjar-se. Si el veieu, el seguireu; i si no va a aquell Número 2, és que l'indret no és aquell.
"I'll tell you. The back door of that No. 2 is the door that comes out into that little close alley between the tavern and the old rattle trap of a brick store. Now you get hold of all the doorkeys you can find, and I'll nip all of auntie's, and the first dark night we'll go there and try 'em. And mind you, keep a lookout for Injun Joe, because he said he was going to drop into town and spy around once more for a chance to get his revenge. If you see him, you just follow him; and if he don't go to that No. 2, that ain't the place."
-En nom de Déu! Poc en tinc cap taleia, d'anar-li al darrera!
"Lordy, I don't want to foller him by myself!"
-Oh! Serà de nit, ben segur. Ni tan solament us podrà veure; i, si us veiés, potser no pensaria res de mal.
"Why, it'll be night, sure. He mightn't ever see you--and if he did, maybe he'd never think anything."
-Bé, si és ben fosc em sembla que la hi seguiré, la pista. No vull... no vull... Ho provaré.
"Well, if it's pretty dark I reckon I'll track him. I dono--I dono. I'll try."
-Em jugo qualsevol cosa que el seguireu, si hi ha fosca, Huck! Ves, podria descobrir que no hi havia manera de revenjar-se, i anar-se'n de dret cap al diner.
"You bet I'll follow him, if it's dark, Huck. Why, he might 'a' found out he couldn't get his revenge, and be going right after that money."
-Oi, Tom, oi. El seguiré, sí, malvinatge!
"It's so, Tom, it's so. I'll foller him; I will, by jingoes!"
-Això és parlar! No us acovardiu, Huck, que jo no m'acovardiré.
"Now you're talking! Don't you ever weaken, Huck, and I won't."