The youngest son, Buck, is near to Huck's age and they soon become good friends.Īs Huck grows acclimated to his new home, he learns that the family had a younger daughter named Emmeline who passed away several years earlier. The Grangerfords offer him a place in their home and he agrees to stay. Huck tells the family that he is an orphan named George Jackson from down south who has lost everything, and arrived at their home after falling off of a steamboat.
When the Grangerfords recognize that Huck is no relation to the Shepherdsons, they welcome him with open arms. Huck has happened upon the Grangerford household, which is in a drawn out and violent feud with the nearby Shepherdson family. He cautiously enters the house and when the family sees him, they immediately become friendly. After several of the men in the house prepare their rifles, Huck is allowed to approach. Within a few moments, a man calls out to him from the house telling him to be still. Huck knows better than to run when surrounded by dogs, and stands stock still. Huck is soon surrounded by dogs and stands dripping wet and immobilized. Huck emerges and grabs a piece of wood with which he paddles to the shore. Both Huck and Jim are forced to dive overboard.
Instead of getting out of their way as the steamboats usually do, the boat ploughs directly over the raft. While drifting downstream, they encounter an oncoming steamboat. However, the canoe disappears, forcing them to continue downriver in hopes of buying a new canoe. The next night, Huck and Jim start to plan to use the canoe to paddle upriver. After several days, both Huck and Jim begin to suspect that they passed Cairo in the fog several nights prior. They continue watching for Cairo, but are unable to locate it. Huck and Jim are thrilled to have received so much extra money, which is enough for several trips up the river. Huck's ingenious lie fools the men and saves Jim from capture. Each man then puts a twenty dollar coin on a log and floats it over to Huck to avoid any interaction with him, but only after making him promise not to land anywhere near their town. At this news, the men become suspicious and finally conclude that Huck's family must have smallpox. Huck pretends to be eager for their help and tells them no one else has been willing to pull the raft to shore. The men ask him who else is on his raft and rather than telling them about Jim, Huck tells them his Pa, mother, and sister are aboard. On his way to shore, Huck meets two white men searching for runaway slaves.
Huck makes this decision spontaneously, when heading to shore to determine what town they are near and with the intention of reporting Jim. After a great deal of reasoning, Huck realizes he will feel possibly even worse if he turned Jim into the authorities, and decides it would be best to let him escape. Thus, Huck is trapped in a difficult moral dilemma. Huck knows that helping Jim escape is breaking the law, but Jim is also his friend. Each time Jim mentions how soon he will be free, Huck feels increasingly guilty. As Jim and Huck float downriver, Jim restlessly searches the riverbank for the town of Cairo.
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