The Haunted House Treasure Hunt

The Haunted House Treasure Hunt is the central action sequence in which Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, pursuing their ambition to dig for hidden treasure, venture into the dilapidated haunted house on Still-House Branch and unexpectedly encounter Injun Joe and his ragged accomplice. The episode transforms the boys' amateur treasure-hunting into a high-stakes confrontation with a murderer, reveals the existence of a substantial cache of gold coins, and forces them to flee for their lives, setting the stage for the final recovery of the treasure in McDougal's Cave.

Setting and Background

The haunted house stood utterly isolated in the middle of a moonlit valley, its fences long gone, rank weeds smothering the very doorsteps, the chimney crumbled to ruin, the window-sashes vacant, and a corner of the roof caved in. The boys had first glimpsed it from Cardiff Hill after their failed dig under a dead-limb tree, and they resolved to tackle it next, despite Huck's deep unease about ghosts. Tom argued that ghosts only traveled at night and would not hinder daytime digging, and that nothing had ever been seen around the house except occasional blue lights slipping by the windows after dark. The house was notorious as the site of a murder, and the boys approached it with quickened pulses, talking in whispers, ears alert for the slightest sound, muscles tense for instant retreat. Once inside, they found a weed-grown, floorless room, an ancient fireplace, vacant windows, a ruinous staircase, and ragged cobwebs everywhere. Familiarity soon modified their fears, and they examined the place critically, admiring their own boldness. They then dared each other to go upstairs, where they found a closet that promised mystery but contained nothing.

The Encounter with Injun Joe

Just as the boys were about to go down and begin digging, Tom hissed a warning. Two men entered the house below. One was the old deaf and dumb Spaniard who had been seen about town; the other was a ragged, unkempt creature with a unpleasant face. The Spaniard was wrapped in a serape, had bushy white whiskers, long white hair flowing from under his sombrero, and wore green goggles. The ragged man spoke in a low voice, complaining that the place was dangerous. To the boys' vast surprise, the "deaf and dumb" Spaniard grunted a reply: "Milksop!" — and his voice made them gasp and quake, for it was Injun Joe's. Joe argued that the job they had done up the river was more dangerous, and that coming to the house in daylight was riskier still. The ragged man said he had wanted to leave the shanty the day before but could not stir out because of "those infernal boys playing over there on the hill right in full view" — a reference that made Tom and Huck quake again, grateful that they had remembered it was Friday and waited a day.

The two men ate a luncheon, and after a long silence Injun Joe told his companion to go back up the river and wait until he heard from him; Joe would take the chances on dropping into town once more for a look, then they would do the "dangerous" job and leg it together for Texas. Both men soon fell to yawning, and Joe curled down in the weeds to sleep, telling his comrade to watch. The watcher soon began to nod, and both men snored. Tom whispered that this was their chance to escape, but Huck was too terrified to move. Tom rose alone, but the first step he made wrung such a hideous creak from the crazy floor that he sank down almost dead with fright. They lay there counting the dragging moments until the sun began to set.

Discovery of the Treasure

When one snore ceased, Injun Joe sat up, stirred his comrade with his foot, and said it was nearly time to move. They discussed what to do with the little swag they had left — six hundred and fifty dollars in silver. Joe's comrade suggested leaving it as usual, but Joe decided they should bury it deep, since the place was not safe. The ragged man walked across the room, knelt down, raised one of the rearward hearthstones, and took out a bag that jingled pleasantly. He subtracted twenty or thirty dollars for himself and as much for Joe, then passed the bag to Joe, who was on his knees in a corner digging with his bowie-knife. The boys forgot all their fears and watched with gloating eyes — six hundred dollars was money enough to make half a dozen boys rich. Joe's knife struck something, and he reached in and drew out a handful of gold coins. The two men examined the treasure in blissful silence. Joe's comrade ran and brought the boys' own pick and shovel from among the weeds, and Joe used them to unearth an iron-bound box. The men contemplated the treasure, and the stranger remarked that it had always been said that Murrel's gang used to be around there one summer. Joe said this looked like it, but when the stranger suggested he would not need to do the "job" now, Joe frowned and said it was not robbery altogether — it was revenge. He would need help, and then Texas.

Flight and Aftermath

Joe decided to take the box to his den, Number Two, under the cross, rather than bury it again, because the pick had fresh earth on it and someone might have brought it. He went about cautiously peeping out of windows, then turned toward the stairway, suspecting the tools' owners might be upstairs. The boys thought of the closet but were paralyzed with fear. The steps came creaking up the stairs, but then there was a crash of rotten timbers and Injun Joe landed on the ground amid the debris of the ruined stairway. His comrade argued that if anyone was up there, they could stay; it would be dark in fifteen minutes, and whoever had brought the tools had likely taken them for ghosts and was running yet. Joe grumbled but agreed, and shortly afterward the two men slipped out of the house in the deepening twilight, moving toward the river with their precious box. Tom and Huck rose up, weak but vastly relieved, and stared after them through the chinks between the logs. They did not follow. They were too absorbed in hating themselves for the ill luck that made them bring the spade and pick there — but for that, Injun Joe would have hidden the silver with the gold and they could have retrieved it later. They resolved to keep a lookout for the Spaniard and follow him to Number Two. A ghastly thought then occurred to Tom: "Revenge? What if he means us, Huck!" They agreed to believe he might mean somebody else, but it was very small comfort to Tom to be alone in danger.