The next day, the duke paints Jim’s face solid blue so they can navigate the river during the day. To complete the disguise, the duke posts a sign on the raft reading “Sick Arab — but harmless when not out of his head.”
The two con men decide to scout the surrounding towns, and while the king and Huck are heading to the steamboat, they pick up a young boy in their canoe. The king questions the talkative boy thoroughly about the town and discovers a local man, Peter Wilks, has just died and left all his fortune to his English brothers.
After learning the details of the Wilks family and its friends, the king sends Huck to fetch the duke, and the con men pose as Peter Wilks’ English brothers, Harvey and William. They enter the town and begin to cry and moan when they hear of their “brothers” death. The cruel approach of the scam surprises even Huck, and he comments that “it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.”
