On Jackson’s Island
The summer holidays came and there was no school. Tom didn’t want to think about Muff Potter and Injun Joe, but it wasn’t easy. At night, when he was in bed, he saw Injun Joe’s face in the dark and he couldn’t sleep. But he couldn’t talk to anyone about it.
One hot summer’s day he and Joe Harper were down by the Mississipi River. They sat and watched the boats, and fished and talked.
‘Let’s get away from here!’ said Tom, suddenly. ‘Let’s go and do something exciting somewhere.’
‘OK,’ said Joe. ‘But what? And where?’
‘I know,’ Tom said. ‘Let’s run away. Let’s go and live in Jackson’s Island. We can sleep out, under the trees.’
Jackson’s Island was in the Mississipi, three miles south of St Petersburg. Nobody lived there.
‘Let’s ask Huck Finn too,’ said Tom. ‘But don’t tell your mother or father or anyone. Go home and get some things to eat, and meet me here at midnight.’
