那天晚上，湯姆一夜都沒睡好，白天的歷險也被帶入夢鄉。他夢中抓住了寶箱有四次，可是當睡夢消失，他醒後面對的還是那不幸的嚴酷現實：寶箱化為烏有，他仍是兩手空空。一大早，他躺在那兒，回想著偉大的冒險經歷，覺得那些事件越來越模糊，越來越遠——有點像是在另一個世界裡發生的，或者是很久很久以前發生過的事情。於是他突然意識到這次大冒險本身一定是一場夢！這種想法強有力的論點就是他見到的金幣數量太多，不敢當真，以前他從沒有一下子看過五十塊。他和同年孩子們一樣，認為什麼幾萬元、成千上萬元，只不過是談談而已，根本不存在這麼大數目的錢。他一刻也沒有認為，哪個人真擁有一百美元這樣大數目的錢。如果分析一下，他認為埋藏的那部分財寶，只不過是一把真分幣和一大堆可觀不可及、光亮閃閃的塊票而已。
THE adventure of the day mightily tormented Tom's dreams that night. Four times he had his hands on that rich treasure and four times it wasted to nothingness in his fingers as sleep forsook him and wakefulness brought back the hard reality of his misfortune. As he lay in the early morning recalling the incidents of his great adventure, he noticed that they seemed curiously subdued and far away--somewhat as if they had happened in another world, or in a time long gone by. Then it occurred to him that the great adventure itself must be a dream! There was one very strong argument in favor of this idea--namely, that the quantity of coin he had seen was too vast to be real. He had never seen as much as fifty dollars in one mass before, and he was like all boys of his age and station in life, in that he imagined that all references to "hundreds" and "thousands" were mere fanciful forms of speech, and that no such sums really existed in the world. He never had supposed for a moment that so large a sum as a hundred dollars was to be found in actual money in any one's possession. If his notions of hidden treasure had been analyzed, they would have been found to consist of a handful of real dimes and a bushel of vague, splendid, ungraspable dollars.
可是他越想，冒險的事情就越歷歷在目，他倒覺得這也許不是夢，是真的。他一定要弄個水落石出，於是他三口兩口吃完早飯後就去找哈克。 哈克坐在一條平底船的船舷上邊，兩隻腳沒精打采地放在水裡，看上去憂心忡忡。湯姆決定讓哈克先開口談這個問題。他要是不提這事，那足以證明上次的冒險只是場夢。
But the incidents of his adventure grew sensibly sharper and clearer under the attrition of thinking them over, and so he presently found himself leaning to the impression that the thing might not have been a dream, after all. This uncertainty must be swept away. He would snatch a hurried breakfast and go and find Huck. Huck was sitting on the gunwale of a flatboat, listlessly dangling his feet in the water and looking very melancholy. Tom concluded to let Huck lead up to the subject. If he did not do it, then the adventure would be proved to have been only a dream.
“哈克，你好！”
"Hello, Huck!"
“喂，你好。”
"Hello, yourself."
一陣沉默。
Silence, for a minute.
“湯姆，要是把那該死的工具放在枯樹那邊，我們就拿到錢了，唉，你說糟糕不糟糕！”
"Tom, if we'd 'a' left the blame tools at the dead tree, we'd 'a' got the money. Oh, ain't it awful!"
“不是夢，是真的嘍！不知怎的，我倒希望它是個夢。騙人是小狗，哈克。”
"'Tain't a dream, then, 'tain't a dream! Somehow I most wish it was. Dog'd if I don't, Huck."
“什麼不是夢呀？”
"What ain't a dream?"
“歐，就是昨天那件事，我剛纔還半信半疑那是個夢。”
"Oh, that thing yesterday. I been half thinking it was."
“夢！要不是那樓梯倒了，你會做更多的夢！我一夜夢得夠多的，那個獨眼的西班牙鬼子一直追着我——該死的傢伙！”
"Dream! If them stairs hadn't broke down you'd 'a' seen how much dream it was! I've had dreams enough all night--with that patch-eyed Spanish devil going for me all through 'em--rot him!"
“不不，不要咒他死，要找到活人！把錢追出來！”
"No, not rot him. Find him! Track the money!"
“湯姆，我們不會找到他，人發財的機會又不多，而這次發大財的機會又錯過了。不管怎麼說，要是見到他，我非發抖不可。”
"Tom, we'll never find him. A feller don't have only one chance for such a pile--and that one's lost. I'd feel mighty shaky if I was to see him, anyway."
“對，我也會發抖，不過無論如何得見到他，就是到二號去也要把他挖出來。”
"Well, so'd I; but I'd like to see him, anyway--and track him out--to his Number Two."
“二號，對，就是嘛，我也在想這事，可理不出頭緒來，你有何高招？”
"Number Two--yes, that's it. I been thinking 'bout that. But I can't make nothing out of it. What do you reckon it is?"
“我也不知道那是個什麼地方。太難了，想不出來。哈克，那要麼是門牌號碼？”
"I dono. It's too deep. Say, Huck--maybe it's the number of a house!"
“太對了！……不，湯姆，那不是門牌號，這個巴掌大的小鎮，這城裡就這麼巴掌大一塊，根本用不着什麼門牌號。”
"Goody!... No, Tom, that ain't it. If it is, it ain't in this one-horse town. They ain't no numbers here."
“對，這話不假。讓我再想想，這是房間號，是客棧裡的，你知道吧。”
"Well, that's so. Lemme think a minute. Here--it's the number of a room--in a tavern, you know!"
“噢，你說對了！這兒只有兩家客棧，會弄明白的。”
"Oh, that's the trick! They ain't only two taverns. We can find out quick."
“哈克，獃在這兒，等我回來。”
"You stay here, Huck, till I come."
湯姆立刻出去了，他不喜歡在大眾場合下和哈克在一塊。他去了有半個小時，他發現在那家較好的客棧裡，一個年青的律師長期住在二號，現在也沒走。可是那家較差的客棧，二號卻是個謎。客棧老闆那年青的兒子說，二號一直鎖着，除了晚上，從來沒有人進出，他也不知道為什麼會這樣，只覺得略有點好奇，以那房子“閙鬼”為由來滿足自己的好奇心。 他還曾注意到前天晚上，二號裡有燈光。
Tom was off at once. He did not care to have Huck's company in public places. He was gone half an hour. He found that in the best tavern, No. 2 had long been occupied by a young lawyer, and was still so occupied. In the less ostentatious house, No. 2 was a mystery. The tavern-keeper's young son said it was kept locked all the time, and he never saw anybody go into it or come out of it except at night; he did not know any particular reason for this state of things; had had some little curiosity, but it was rather feeble; had made the most of the mystery by entertaining himself with the idea that that room was "ha'nted"; had noticed that there was a light in there the night before.
“哈克，這就是我調查的結果。我想我們要找的就是這個二號。”
"That's what I've found out, Huck. I reckon that's the very No. 2 we're after."
“我想是的，湯姆。你打算怎麼辦？”
"I reckon it is, Tom. Now what you going to do?"
“讓我想想。”
"Lemme think."
想了很久之後，湯姆說：
Tom thought a long time. Then he said:
“聽著，二號後門通着客棧和舊輪窯廠之間的小窄巷子。你去把所有能找到的門鑰匙全弄到手，我去偷姨媽的，等天一黑我們就去試門。提醒你注意印第安·喬的動靜，他說過要溜回城裡打探虛實以便伺機報復。你如果看見他，就跟蹤他；他要不進二號，那就不是這個地方。”
"I'll tell you. The back door of that No. 2 is the door that comes out into that little close alley between the tavern and the old rattle trap of a brick store. Now you get hold of all the doorkeys you can find, and I'll nip all of auntie's, and the first dark night we'll go there and try 'em. And mind you, keep a lookout for Injun Joe, because he said he was going to drop into town and spy around once more for a chance to get his revenge. If you see him, you just follow him; and if he don't go to that No. 2, that ain't the place."
“乖乖，一個人跟着他，我不幹！”
"Lordy, I don't want to foller him by myself!"
“是晚上去，他肯定看不見你——就是看見了，也不會多想的。”
"Why, it'll be night, sure. He mightn't ever see you--and if he did, maybe he'd never think anything."
“好，如果確確實實是晚上去，我想我去，不過說不准，說不准，試試吧。”
"Well, if it's pretty dark I reckon I'll track him. I dono--I dono. I'll try."
“要是天黑的話，哈克，我準會跟着他。他也許看到復仇無望，不如去把錢先弄到手。”
"You bet I'll follow him, if it's dark, Huck. Why, he might 'a' found out he couldn't get his revenge, and be going right after that money."
“說得對，湯姆，說得對，我去盯着他，一定去，敲定了。”
"It's so, Tom, it's so. I'll foller him; I will, by jingoes!"
“這才是好樣的！別動搖呀，哈克，我是不會動搖的。”
"Now you're talking! Don't you ever weaken, Huck, and I won't."