As Huck and Tom sneak off from the Widow Douglas’ house, Huck trips, and the noise alerts Miss Watson’s slave, Jim. Jim tries to find what made the noise and almost discovers the boys, but after a while he falls asleep. While Jim is sleeping, Tom takes Jim’s hat and hangs it on a tree-limb. Afterwards, Jim tells everyone that witches put a spell on him and took him all over the state. Jim’s story grows with each telling until finally slaves come from all over to hear Jim’s tale of being bewitched. After this episode, he is considered an authority on witches.
Huck and Tom meet the rest of the town boys, and they all go to a hidden cave two miles down the river. In the cave, Tom declares that the band of robbers will be called “Tom Sawyer’s Gang” and “Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood.” The boys all swear that, if a gang member tells the gang’s secrets, they will cut his throat and then kill that boy’s family. One of the boys says the oath is not fair because Huck Finn does not have a family unless you count a father who can never be found. A solution is found when Huck offers Miss Watson as his family and says, “they could kill her.”
Using pirate books as a reference, Tom describes the future business of the gang as robbery and murder. The other boys wonder why everything must be so complicated and involve ransoms and guards, and Tom replies that he’s “seen it in books; and so of course that’s what we’ve got to do.”
