Huckleberry Finn Page 136-163

           Jim and Huck worry that they will miss Cairo, the town at the mouth of the Ohio River, which runs into the free states. Meanwhile, Huck’s conscience troubles him deeply about helping Jim escape from his “rightful owner,” Miss Watson. When Huck and Jim think they see Cairo, Huck goes out on the canoe to check, having secretly resolved to give Jim up. But Huck’s heart softens when he hears Jim call out that Huck is his only friend, the only one to keep a promise to him. Some men on the river, want to search Huck and Jim's canoe, to check and see if there are any runaway slaves. Huck then says that his family is aboard the ship and that they are infected with smallpox, the men fearing the infection back away and give Huck 40 dollars in gold for help. Huck then feels that he has done something wrong by not giving Jim up. However he feels that he would have felt just as bad if he had given his friend up. They stop for the night and resolve to take the canoe upriver but in the morning discover that it has been stolen. They attribute the canoe’s disappearance to continued bad luck from the snakeskin on Jackson’s Island. Jim and Huck dive off their raft before it got hit by a steamboat but are separated. Huck makes it ashore, but a pack of dogs corners him. A man calls off the dogs, saving Huck, who introduces himself as “George Jackson.” Then Huck is invited into his house. Huck innocently admires the house and its humorously tacky finery. Settling in with the Grangerfords and enjoying their kindness, Huck thinks that “nothing couldn’t be better” than life at the comfortable house.

          I thought that Huck had some quick thinking and when he told the men that his family had small pox and it was best if they had stayed away before they caught anything. I also, wonder if Huck was worrying about Jim's safety while Huck was inside of the stranger's house. I think that Huck and Jim should have stayed closer together so that they did not get separated. Also, they should have someone keeping a watch on the canoe so that it did not get stolen.