More guests came, and the story had to be told
again and again for two more hours. There was no Sunday-school during school
break, but everyone went to church early. The exciting event was well talked
about. News came that no sign of the two bad men had been found yet. When the
sermon was over, Judge Thatcher’s wife came next to Mrs. Harper as she moved
down the aisle with the crowd and said:![](http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/cuaderno_mes/imagenes/16_jun/imagen04.jpg)
“Is my Becky going to sleep all day? I thought
she would be very tired.” “Your Becky?” “Yes,” with a surprised look, “didn’t
she stay with you last night?” “Why, no.” Mrs. Thatcher turned white, and sat
down, just as Aunt Polly, chatting happily with a friend, passed by. Aunt Polly
said:
“Good-morning, Mrs. Thatcher. Good-morning,
Mrs. Harper. I’ve got a boy that’s gone missing. I guess my Tom stayed at your
house last night; one of you. And now he’s scared to come to church. I’ve got to
deal with him.” Mrs. Thatcher shook her head weakly and turned whiter than ever.
“He didn’t stay with us,” said Mrs. Harper, starting to look worried. A worried
look was on Aunt Polly’s face.
“Joe Harper, have you seen my Tom this morning?”
“No ma’am.”
“When did you see him last?”
Joe tried to remember, but was not sure. The
people had stopped leaving church. Whispers went along, and a scary nervousness
took over every face. Children were asked carefully, and young teachers. They
all said they had not noticed if Tom and Becky were on the boat on the way back;
it was dark; no one thought of asking if anyone was missing. One young man
finally said his fear that they were still in the cave! Mrs. Thatcher fainted.
Aunt Polly started crying and twisting her hands.
The fear spread from mouth to mouth, from
group to group, from street to street, and within five minutes the bells were
ringing loudly and the whole town was awake!
The Cardiff Hill event became unimportant
right away, the robbers were forgotten, horses were ready, boats were filled,
the ferryboat was called out, and before the horror was half an hour old, two
hundred men were rushing down road and river toward the cave.![Diccionario online](http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/cuaderno_mes/imagenes/diccionario.gif)
All the long afternoon the village seemed
empty and quiet. Many women visited Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher and tried to
make them feel better. They cried with them, too, and that was more helpful than
words. All the long night the town waited for news; but when the morning came at
last, all the word that came was, “Send more candles–and send food.” Mrs.
Thatcher was almost crazy; and Aunt Polly, too. Judge Thatcher sent messages of
hope and support from the cave, but they did not make anyone happy.
... to be continued!
* The text has been adapted from the Adventures
of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
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