Dreams of a Kitten by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Dreams of a Kitten

Page 579

Injun Joe in disguise. He and his partner plan to bury some

stolen treasure in the house, but inadvertently discover a hoard

of gold coins while doing so. They decide to move it to a new

hiding place, which Huck and I are determined to find. One

night, Huck followed the men, who plan to break into the home of

the wealthy Widow Douglas so Injun Joe can mutilate her face in

revenge for being publicly whipped for vagrancy; a punishment

handed down by her late husband, a justice of the peace. Huck

summoned help and prevented the break-in, but asked that his

name not be made public for fear of retaliation by Injun Joe.

Shortly before Huck stopped the crime, I went on a picnic to a

local cave with Becky and our classmates. Becky and I became

lost and wandered in the cave for days, facing starvation and

dehydration. Becky became severely dehydrated and weak, and my

search for a way out grew more desperate. I encountered Injun

Joe by chance, but was not seen. I eventually found an exit, and

Becky and I are joyfully welcomed back to town, learning that we

had been missing for three days and traveled five miles from the

entrance. Judge Thatcher has the cave's entrance door reinforced

and locked. When I heard of this action two weeks later, I was

horror stricken, knowing that Injun Joe was still inside. I

directed a posse to the cave, where we found Injun Joe dead of

starvation just inside the entrance.