Feeling forsaken and friendless and like a “boy el [whom] nobody loved,” Tom decides to turn to a life of crime. He meets Joe Harper, “his soul’s sworn comrade,” and they begin to lay their plans and decide to include Huck Finn as a member of their gang of pirates. Huck, having no qualms about which life of crime is the best, readily agrees, and the three plan to meet that night.
When they meet at the appointed place, each boy identifies himself by his assumed pirate name; then they “borrow” (or capture) a small log raft to take them to Jackson’s Island where they make camp. The following afternoon, the boys hear an unusual sound—a “deep, sullen boom came floating down out of the distance”—and see a ferry crowded with townspeople. Tom realizes that “somebody’s drowned.” After spending a few moments wondering who, the boys realize that the townspeople think they have drowned. All three are excited and overjoyed at the thought that they are the center of attention and will be the envy of all of their companions. When Joe vaguely hints that maybe they should go home because of the grief their families must be feeling, Huck and Tom ridicule him. When Huck and Joe go to sleep, however, Tom writes two notes; he leaves one note in Joe’s hat; he keeps the other note and wends his way to the sandbar.
