湯姆東躲西閃地穿過幾條巷子，離開了同學們返校的路，然後就鬱鬱不歡地慢慢走着。他在一條小溪流上來回跨過兩三次，因為孩子們普遍迷信來回跨水就會讓人追不上。半小時後，他漸漸消失在卡第夫山上道格拉斯家那幢大房子後面，身後山谷裡的學校只是隱約可見。他走進一片茂密的森林，披荊斬棘，闖出一條路，來到林中深處，在一棵枝葉茂盛的橡樹下，一屁股坐到青苔地上。樹林裡紋絲不動，中午的悶熱，令人窒息，連樹上的鳥兒都停止了歌唱。大地一片昏睡，只有遠處偶爾才傳來一兩聲啄木鳥啄木的得得聲，這使得原本寂靜的森林顯得更加寂然無聲，湯姆也更加覺得孤獨無援。他心灰意冷，他的情緒和這裡的環境正合拍。他雙手托着下巴，兩肘撐在膝蓋上，沉思着在那兒坐了很長時間。在他看來，活着充其量不過是受罪。想到這，他越發羡慕新近故去的吉米·赫傑斯。他想伴隨着風聲颯颯的樹林和墳頭搖曳的花草，人要是能無憂無慮地躺在那兒長眠不醒，美夢不斷，那一定很愜意。這時他真心希望以前在主日學校裡表現得清清白白。那樣的話，他這回就可以無所牽掛地去了，一死百了。至于那個姑娘，他到底幹了什麼呢？什麼也沒幹。他本來出於善意的目的，可她卻像對待狗那樣對待他——簡直就拿他當狗待。總有一天她會後悔的。到那時，她後悔也來不及了。他要是能暫時地死一會兒，那該有多好啊！
TOM dodged hither and thither through lanes until he was well out of the track of returning scholars, and then fell into a moody jog. He crossed a small "branch" two or three times, because of a prevailing juvenile superstition that to cross water baffled pursuit. Half an hour later he was disappearing behind the Douglas mansion on the summit of Cardiff Hill, and the school-house was hardly distinguishable away off in the valley behind him. He entered a dense wood, picked his pathless way to the centre of it, and sat down on a mossy spot under a spreading oak. There was not even a zephyr stirring; the dead noonday heat had even stilled the songs of the birds; nature lay in a trance that was broken by no sound but the occasional far-off hammering of a wood-pecker, and this seemed to render the pervading silence and sense of loneliness the more profound. The boy's soul was steeped in melancholy; his feelings were in happy accord with his surroundings. He sat long with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, meditating. It seemed to him that life was but a trouble, at best, and he more than half envied Jimmy Hodges, so lately released; it must be very peaceful, he thought, to lie and slumber and dream forever and ever, with the wind whispering through the trees and caressing the grass and the flowers over the grave, and nothing to bother and grieve about, ever any more. If he only had a clean Sunday-school record he could be willing to go, and be done with it all. Now as to this girl. What had he done? Nothing. He had meant the best in the world, and been treated like a dog--like a very dog. She would be sorry some day--maybe when it was too late. Ah, if he could only die temporarily!
年青人天性輕鬆愉快，想長久地壓抑它是不可能的。不久，湯姆不知不覺地關心起眼前的現實來。他要是調頭就走，人不知鬼不覺地消失了，那會有什麼後果呢？他要是到海外無人知曉的地方去，一去不回，那又怎樣呢？而她又作何感想呢？當小丑的念頭又在他腦海閃現，結果弄得他很難受。試想一想在湯姆的潛意識中，他已隱隱約約來到了神聖而浪漫的國度，這哪能容得下小丑的那些打諢插科、花花綠綠的緊身衣之類的東西。得了，他更願意當一名士兵，待到傷痕纍纍，名噪天下時再返歸故里。這不行，最好還是與印第安人為伍，和他們一起捕殺野牛，在崇山峻嶺和西部人跡罕至的大平原上作戰。等將來當上酋長時再回來。到那時，頭上插着羽毛，身上塗滿嚇人的花紋，再找一個夏日清晨，乘大家昏昏欲睡的時候，昂首闊步，大模大樣地走進主日學校並發出令人毛骨悚然的吶喊聲，好讓同伴們按捺不住羡慕之情，看得兩眼直髮獃。這不還不夠勁，還有比這更神氣的事情，他要去當海盜！對，就這樣！現在，未來就在眼前並閃爍着異光。瞧吧，他將聞名天下，令聞者顫慄。他將乘坐那條長長的黑色“風暴神”號快艇，船頭插上嚇人的旗幟，披風斬浪航行在浪花翻滾的大海上，這該有多麼威風！等到了名聲齊天，那時候，你再瞧他回來的樣子吧！他將突然出現在鄉裡故居，昂首闊步地走進教堂。他臉色黝黑，一副飽經風霜的樣子。只見他上身穿件黑色絨布緊身衣，下身是條寬大短褲，腳蹬肥大長統靴，還背着大紅肩帶，腰帶上掛着馬槍，身邊還別了把用損了的短劍。那頂垂邊的帽子上飄着翎毛，黑旗迎風招展，上面交叉着骷髏頭和白骨。聽到別人悄聲低語：“這就是海盜湯姆·索亞——西班牙海面上的黑衣俠盜！”湯姆心裡一陣又一陣地狂喜。
But the elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time. Tom presently began to drift insensibly back into the concerns of this life again. What if he turned his back, now, and disappeared mysteriously? What if he went away--ever so far away, into unknown countries beyond the seas--and never came back any more! How would she feel then! The idea of being a clown recurred to him now, only to fill him with disgust. For frivolity and jokes and spotted tights were an offense, when they intruded themselves upon a spirit that was exalted into the vague august realm of the romantic. No, he would be a soldier, and return after long years, all war-worn and illustrious. No--better still, he would join the Indians, and hunt buffaloes and go on the warpath in the mountain ranges and the trackless great plains of the Far West, and away in the future come back a great chief, bristling with feathers, hideous with paint, and prance into Sunday-school, some drowsy summer morning, with a blood-curdling war-whoop, and sear the eyeballs of all his companions with unappeasable envy. But no, there was something gaudier even than this. He would be a pirate! That was it! now his future lay plain before him, and glowing with unimaginable splendor. How his name would fill the world, and make people shudder! How gloriously he would go plowing the dancing seas, in his long, low, black-hulled racer, the Spirit of the Storm, with his grisly flag flying at the fore! And at the zenith of his fame, how he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk into church, brown and weather-beaten, in his black velvet doublet and trunks, his great jack-boots, his crimson sash, his belt bristling with horse-pistols, his crime-rusted cutlass at his side, his slouch hat with waving plumes, his black flag unfurled, with the skull and crossbones on it, and hear with swelling ecstasy the whisperings, "It's Tom Sawyer the Pirate!--the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main!"
對，就這麼辦，他決定這麼辦：從家裡逃走，去過這種生活，並打算第二天早晨就開始行動。因此他必須現在就着手準備。他將帶上他所有的家當。他走到近處的一根爛樹幹旁邊，開始用他的巴露折刀在一頭開挖起來。不一會兒就傳來了空木頭的聲音。他把手按在那兒，嘴裡咕噥着咒語，樣子令人難忘：
Yes, it was settled; his career was determined. He would run away from home and enter upon it. He would start the very next morning. Therefore he must now begin to get ready. He would collect his resources together. He went to a rotten log near at hand and began to dig under one end of it with his Barlow knife. He soon struck wood that sounded hollow. He put his hand there and uttered this incantation impressively:
沒有來的，快來！ 在這兒的，留下來！
"What hasn't come here, come! What's here, stay here!"
接着他刨去泥土，下面露出一塊松木瓦塊。他把它拿開，露出一個底和四周是松木瓦塊的小寶箱來。小寶箱很精緻，裡面有一個彈子。湯姆驚訝不已！他迷惑不解地撓着頭說：
Then he scraped away the dirt, and exposed a pine shingle. He took it up and disclosed a shapely little treasure-house whose bottom and sides were of shingles. In it lay a marble. Tom's astonishment was bound-less! He scratched his head with a perplexed air, and said:
“嘿，怎麼不靈了！”
"Well, that beats anything!"
於是他一氣之下扔掉那個彈子，站在那兒沉思。原來他的迷信沒有靈驗。他和所有的夥伴一向都認為它是萬無一失的，可是這次卻沒有。埋下一個彈子時，你要是念上幾句有關的咒語，等兩周後再用湯姆剛說過的咒語，去挖彈子，你會發現：原來丟失、散落到各地的彈子都聚到了這裡。可是現在，它千真萬確地失敗了。湯姆的全部信心從根本上發生了動搖。他以前多次聽說過的都是成功的例子，根本沒聽說過哪次不靈驗。他百思不得其解，最後認定有妖魔插了一杠子，破了咒語。他覺得這樣解釋可以讓他聊以自慰。於是他在周圍找到一個小沙堆，沙堆中間有一個漏斗形凹陷處。他撲到地上，嘴緊貼著凹陷處喊道：
Then he tossed the marble away pettishly, and stood cogitating. The truth was, that a superstition of his had failed, here, which he and all his comrades had always looked upon as infallible. If you buried a marble with certain necessary incantations, and left it alone a fortnight, and then opened the place with the incantation he had just used, you would find that all the marbles you had ever lost had gathered themselves together there, meantime, no matter how widely they had been separated. But now, this thing had actually and unquestionably failed. Tom's whole structure of faith was shaken to its foundations. He had many a time heard of this thing succeeding but never of its failing before. It did not occur to him that he had tried it several times before, himself, but could never find the hiding-places afterward. He puzzled over the matter some time, and finally decided that some witch had interfered and broken the charm. He thought he would satisfy himself on that point; so he searched around till he found a small sandy spot with a little funnel-shaped depression in it. He laid himself down and put his mouth close to this depression and called--
“小甲蟲，小甲蟲，告訴我這究竟是怎麼回事！小甲蟲，小甲蟲，請告訴我這究竟是怎麼回事呀！”
"Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know! Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know!"
沙子開始動起來，一隻黑色小甲蟲很快鑽出來，可是剛一出現，又被嚇得縮了回去。
The sand began to work, and presently a small black bug appeared for a second and then darted under again in a fright.
“它不說！我知道了，一定有妖魔在搗鬼。”
"He dasn't tell! So it was a witch that done it. I just knowed it."
他十分清楚和巫婆鬥沒什麼好處，於是他垂頭喪氣，不得不讓了步。但是他忽然又想起他剛纔扔掉的那顆石子，何不再把它找回來呢？於是他就邊走邊耐心地找了起來。可是他沒找到。他又回到他的小寶箱旁邊，原封不動地站在剛纔扔彈子的地方。接着他從口袋裏又掏出一個彈子，朝同一個方向扔去，嘴裡還說道：
He well knew the futility of trying to contend against witches, so he gave up discouraged. But it occurred to him that he might as well have the marble he had just thrown away, and therefore he went and made a patient search for it. But he could not find it. Now he went back to his treasure-house and carefully placed himself just as he had been standing when he tossed the marble away; then he took another marble from his pocket and tossed it in the same way, saying:
“老兄，去找你的兄弟吧！”
"Brother, go find your brother!"
彈子落地後，他走過去找起來。但是彈子可能扔得不是太近就是太遠，因此他又試了兩回。最後一次成功了。兩個彈子相距不到一英呎。
He watched where it stopped, and went there and looked. But it must have fallen short or gone too far; so he tried twice more. The last repetition was successful. The two marbles lay within a foot of each other.
就在這時，樹林裡綠色的林蔭道上隱隱約約傳來一聲錫皮玩具喇叭聲。湯姆迅速地脫掉上衣和褲子，把背帶改成腰帶，撥開朽木後面的灌木叢，找出一副簡陋的弓箭，一把木片的劍和一隻錫皮喇叭。片刻之間他就抓着這些東西，赤着腳，敝着懷，跳出去了。他很快在一顆大榆樹底下停下來，也吹了一聲喇叭作為回應，然後踮着腳警覺地東張張西望望，他謹慎地——對想象中的同伴說：
Just here the blast of a toy tin trumpet came faintly down the green aisles of the forest. Tom flung off his jacket and trousers, turned a suspender into a belt, raked away some brush behind the rotten log, disclosing a rude bow and arrow, a lath sword and a tin trumpet, and in a moment had seized these things and bounded away, barelegged, with fluttering shirt. He presently halted under a great elm, blew an answering blast, and then began to tiptoe and look warily out, this way and that. He said cautiously--to an imaginary company:
“穩住，好漢們！聽號聲再行動。”
"Hold, my merry men! Keep hid till I blow."
這時，喬·哈帕出現了。和湯姆一樣，他精心裝備，輕裝上陣。 湯姆喊道：
Now appeared Joe Harper, as airily clad and elaborately armed as Tom. Tom called:
“站住！來者何人，來經許可，竟敢闖進謝伍德森林？”
"Hold! Who comes here into Sherwood Forest without my pass?"
“我乃皇家衛士戈次勃恩的至友，走遍天下，所向無阻。 你是何人，竟敢——竟敢……”
"Guy of Guisborne wants no man's pass. Who art thou that--that--"
“竟敢口出狂言，”湯姆說。他是在提示哈帕，因為他們全憑記憶，在背這些話。
"Dares to hold such language," said Tom, prompting--for they talked "by the book," from memory.
“你是何人，竟敢口出狂言？”
"Who art thou that dares to hold such language?"
“我嗎？我乃羅賓漢是也，你這匹夫馬上就會知道我的厲害。”
"I, indeed! I am Robin Hood, as thy caitiff carcase soon shall know."
“這麼說來，你真的是那位名揚四海的綠林好漢嘍？我正想與你較量較量，看看這林中樂士歸誰所有。接招！”
"Then art thou indeed that famous outlaw? Right gladly will I dispute with thee the passes of the merry wood. Have at thee!"
他們各持一把木片的劍，把身上多餘的東西都扔到地上，兩人腳對腳呈對峙狀站立，開始了一場“兩上兩下”的酣戰。 湯姆說：
They took their lath swords, dumped their other traps on the ground, struck a fencing attitude, foot to foot, and began a grave, careful combat, "two up and two down." Presently Tom said:
“聽著，你要是懂得劍法，我們就痛痛快快地比一比吧！”
"Now, if you've got the hang, go it lively!"
於是他們就“痛痛快快地比一比”了，結果比得兩個人氣喘吁吁、汗流浹背。後來湯姆嚷道：
So they "went it lively," panting and perspiring with the work. By and by Tom shouted:
“倒下！倒下！你怎麼不倒下呀？”
"Fall! fall! Why don't you fall?"
“我不幹！你自己怎麼不倒下呀？你招架不住了。”
"I sha'n't! Why don't you fall yourself? You're getting the worst of it."
“倒不倒沒什麼關係。可書上說我不能倒下去，書上還說‘接着反手一劍，他就把可憐的戈次勃恩的至友刺死了。’，你應該轉過身去，讓我一劍刺中你的後背才對。”
"Why, that ain't anything. I can't fall; that ain't the way it is in the book. The book says, 'Then with one back-handed stroke he slew poor Guy of Guisborne.' You're to turn around and let me hit you in the back."
喬沒法子，只好轉過身去，挨了重重的一刺，倒在地上。
There was no getting around the authorities, so Joe turned, received the whack and fell.
“聽著，”喬從地上爬起來說，“你得讓我把你殺掉，那才公平。”
"Now," said Joe, getting up, "you got to let me kill you. That's fair."
“嘿，那怎麼行呢？書上又沒這麼說。”
"Why, I can't do that, it ain't in the book."
“得了，你真他媽的太小氣了——拉倒吧。”
"Well, it's blamed mean--that's all."
“喂，我說喬，你可以扮演達克修士或是磨坊主的兒子馬奇，拿一根鐵頭木棍打我一頓，或者我來扮諾丁漢的行政司法官，你扮一會兒羅賓漢，把我殺死也行。”
"Well, say, Joe, you can be Friar Tuck or Much the miller's son, and lam me with a quarter-staff; or I'll be the Sheriff of Nottingham and you be Robin Hood a little while and kill me."
這主意倒令人滿意，於是他們就這麼辦了。後來湯姆又扮演了起初的角色羅賓漢，他讓那個背信棄義的尼姑給害了。由於傷口沒有得到照顧，他失血太多，耗盡了精力。最後喬扮演了一夥綠林好漢，哭哭啼啼，悲傷地拖着他前進，把他的弓遞到他那雙軟弱無力的手裡，湯姆就說了： “箭落之地，綠林成蔭，可憐的羅賓漢葬那裡。”說完他射出那支箭，身體往後一仰，準備倒地而死，可偏巧倒在有刺的草上。他猛地跳起來，那活蹦亂跳的樣子簡直不像是在裝死。
This was satisfactory, and so these adventures were carried out. Then Tom became Robin Hood again, and was allowed by the treacherous nun to bleed his strength away through his neglected wound. And at last Joe, representing a whole tribe of weeping outlaws, dragged him sadly forth, gave his bow into his feeble hands, and Tom said, "Where this arrow falls, there bury poor Robin Hood under the greenwood tree." Then he shot the arrow and fell back and would have died, but he lit on a nettle and sprang up too gaily for a corpse.
兩個孩子穿戴好衣帽，把他們的行頭藏起來就走了，他們很傷心現在已經沒有綠林好漢了，很想知道現代文明中有什麼可以彌補這一缺陷。他們說寧可在謝伍德森林裡當一年綠林好漢，也不願意當一輩子的美國總統。
The boys dressed themselves, hid their accoutrements, and went off grieving that there were no outlaws any more, and wondering what modern civilization could claim to have done to compensate for their loss. They said they would rather be outlaws a year in Sherwood Forest than President of the United States forever.