sweat to get a sight of him because they hadn't ever seen a deef and
dummy in their lives, and it made a powerful excitement.

Tom said it was tough to have to keep mum now; said we would be heroes if
we could come out and tell all we knowed; but after all, it was still
more heroic to keep mum, there warn't two boys in a million could do it.
That was Tom Sawyer's idea about it, and reckoned there warn't anybody
could better it.




CHAPTER IX. FINDING OF JUBITER DUNLAP

IN the next two or three days Dummy he got to be powerful popular. He
went associating around with the neighbors, and they made much of him,
and was proud to have such a rattling curiosity among them. They had him
to breakfast, they had him to dinner, they had him to supper; they kept
him loaded up with hog and hominy, and warn't ever tired staring at him
and wondering over him, and wishing they knowed more about him, he was so
uncommon and romantic. His signs warn't no good; people couldn't
understand them and he prob'ly couldn't himself, but he done a sight of
goo-gooing, and so everybody was satisfied, and admired to hear him go
it. He toted a piece of slate around, and a pencil; and people wrote
questions on it and he wrote answers; but there warn't anybody could read
his writing but Brace Dunlap. Brace said he couldn't read it very good,
but he could manage to dig out the meaning most of the time. He said
Dummy said he belonged away off somers and used to be well off, but got
busted by swindlers which he had trusted, and was poor now, and hadn't
any way to make a living.