Tom was lying awake in the dark in the bedroom he shared with Sid.
He couldn't understand Becky's anger.
Suddenly he heard a familiar "me-e-e-ow-w" coming from outside.
As planned, Huck had arrived at Tom's house a little before midnight, and he'd given the secret call.
Tom meowed back.
Tom climbed out his bedroom window and joined Huck on the street.
The two boys then hurried to the graveyard to cure their warts.
The graveyard was on a hill about a mile and a half from the town.
It was quiet, except for the wind whistling through the trees.
"Here is Hoss' grave," said Huck.
"Shouldn't we call him Mr. Williams?" asked Tom.
Tom wasn't sure if it was polite for kids to call a dead man by his first name.
"You're right," said Huck. "The dead should be respected."
"What do we use to cure our warts?" asked Tom.
"Indian herbs, and they're over there," said Huck, pointing to a large tree.
Tom followed Huck over to the large tree.
Suddenly Tom and Huck heard muffled voices.
The boys froze, sure that the voices belonged to dead spirits who were angry.
"I've heard that spirits can see in the dark, like cats," whispered Huck.
"What should we do?"
There was a light, and the voices grew louder.
"Huck, they're not spirits, they're people," whispered Tom.
"And I know them. One is Muff Potter, another is Injun Joe, and there's Doc Robinson!"
Tom and Huck hid in the shadow of the big tree, and watched.
"Hurry, men," said Doc Robinson. "The moon might come out."
Muff Potter and Injun Joe began digging as Doc Robinson held the lantern.
It didn't take long before one of the shovels hit the coffin.
Muff and Injun Joe used their shovels to open the coffin.
"You'd better give us another five dollars," said Muff Potter.
"Or the body stays here."
The doctor was angry. "Look here," he said. "I paid you in advance."
Injun Joe approached him and said, "Your father put me in jail, and I swore I'd get even. Did you think I'd forget?"
Injun Joe threatened the doctor with his fist.
Doc Robinson slowly put the lantern down, and then turned suddenly and hit Injun Joe in the face.
Muff ran to help his friend, but he was too drunk to hurt Doc Robinson.
Muff took a swing at the doctor, missed, and lost his balance.
Doc Robinson picked up a rock and hit the stumbling Muff on the head.
As Muff fell to the ground, Injun Joe pulled out a knife and drove it into the doctor's chest.
Injun Joe then took the knife and put it in Muff Potter's hand.
Finally he robbed Doc Robinson's dead body.
The boys couldn't believe what they had seen.
The graveyard was an evil place, and they ran from it.
In the dark the boys thought for sure that the spirits of the dead were chasing them.
"We've got to make it to the old barn!" shouted Tom between breaths.
There was no answer. Huck could only gasp for breath.
The boys kept running and soon they burst through the open barn door.
"Huck, what's going to happen?" asked Tom.
"Doc Robinson is dead, so there will be a hanging," replied Huck.
"And if Injun Joe finds out we saw, he'll kill us for sure!"
"There will be a hanging only if we tell," said Tom.
"Muff was knocked out. He didn't see what happened."
"Tom, that's it," said Huck.
"If we swear to keep quiet, Injun Joe won't kill us."
It was almost morning when Tom got home and crawled into bed.
Huck had no home to go to so he slept inside an empty barrel.
The next morning everyone heard the news that the doctor was dead.
A public hearing was scheduled, and the sheriff and mayor asked people what they knew.
Both Muff Potter and Injun Joe were questioned.
Muff said he was too drunk to remember what happened.
But he admitted going to the graveyard to rob the grave.
When Injun Joe was questioned, he said that it was Muff who had killed the doctor.
So the sheriff took Muff Potter to jail, and Injun Joe remained free.
Huck and Tom couldn't believe that Injun Joe could tell such lies, and Tom often had nightmares.
He dreamed of the murder, and of Injun Joe coming after him in his dreams.
Later Tom remembered that he and Huck had left something behind in the graveyard—the bag of Indian herbs.