Huck Finn
Chapters 19-30 Summary
Chapter 19
► Continue
Journey down the river
► Huck goes ashore and meets two
men who are running from
trouble
► Both men are con men and are
escaping angry townspeople
► They fool Huck and Jim by saying
that they are an English Duke
and the heir to the throne in
France (dauphin)
Chapter 20
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Huck tells the duke and king that he
is orphaned
The duke and king take Huck and
Jim’s beds and make them stand
watch during a storm
New con: fool townspeople during a
revival
 King says he’s a pirate who has
been reformed
 People take up a collection for him
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Duke and king plan a performance
of Shakespeare
Claim to be escorting Jim to turn
him in for a reward
Chapter 21
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Duke and king practice scenes
from Romeo and Juliet,
Richard III, and Hamlet
They obviously don’t know the
plays, but Huck thinks the
duke is very talented
Town in Arkansas
 Post handbills for performance
 Huck witnesses the shooting of a
drunk by Sherburn
 People decide to hang Sherburn
Chapter 22
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After giving a speech about
mob mentality with a rifle in
hand, Sherburn is spared by the
lynch mob.
Huck goes to the circus but
can’t bear to watch the
performers in “danger.”
Only 12 people come to the
duke and king’s first
performance and jeer.
Duke prints a new
advertisement, saying women
and children are not admitted to
the performance
Chapter 23
The next performance of “The Royal Nonesuch” is sold out.
► The duke and king put on only a brief show, which upsets
the audience
► People want everyone to get ripped off, so they say the
show was excellent
► Knowing on the third night that the townspeople are going
to get their revenge, the duke, king, and Huck leave with
the $465 they have earned
► Jim tells Huck about his family that he misses
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 Beat his daughter Lizabeth for not obeying
 Found out later that Lizabeth was deaf
Chapter 24
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Jim is scared to be left alone on
the raft during trips to town, so
the duke paints his face blue and
calls him a “Sick Arab.”
The king hears about a recently
deceased man named Peter
Wilks, who had sent for his two
English brothers before he died.
 Wilks left a lot of money to these
brothers
 One brother is deaf and mute
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The duke and king enter town,
posing as the brothers.
Chapter 25
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Wilks’s nieces and the town tearfully
great the duke and the king
The nieces are left $3,000 in the will; the
brothers are left another $3,000
Duke and king find the money. Since it is
short of the promised $6,000, they add in
some of their own money.
With a great show for the town, the duke
and king give the nieces the entire $6,000
Dr. Robinson, an old friend of Wilks, calls
the men frauds and urges Mary Jane, one
of Wilks’s nieces, to see this.
Mary Jane gives the entire $6,000 to the
duke and king to invest how they choose
Chapter 26
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The duke, king, and Huck
have dinner at the Wilks
home
Three nieces: Mary Jane,
Susan, Joanna (the “harelip”)
Huck resolves to get the
money back for the girls
Huck sneaks into the duke
and king’s room, takes the
$6,000 in gold, and sneaks
out
Chapter 27
Interrupted by Mary Jane,
Huck hides the money in
Peter Wilks’s coffin.
► The money gets sealed
inside the coffin before Huck
can get back to it
► The king sells off the Wilks’s
estate, saying he’s going to
take the girls to England
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 Separates the Wilks’s slaves: a
mother and her two sons
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Huck makes the con men
think that the slaves took the
money when questioned.
Chapter 28
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Huck finds Mary Jane crying,
sad over the separation of
the slave family
Huck tells her the truth and
then instructs her to stay
with friends until he is sure
Jim can be safe
Huck leaves her a note with
the location of the money
The next day, a mob
interrupts the auction of the
Wilks’s belongings. Two
men arrive who claim to be
Peter Wilks’s actual brothers
Chapter 29
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The real brothers explain why they
were late arriving, and the doctor
declares the duke and the king are
frauds. However, the duke and the
king cannot produce the $6,000.
A series of tests are done to see
who the real brothers are
The body of Peter Wilks is exhumed
to check for a tattoo, and the
money is found.
Huck escapes and sails with Jim
down the river.
The duke and king catch up to them
in a boat.
Chapter 30
► The
men are angry with
Huck for leaving them.
► The duke and the king
each suspect that the
other hid the money to
take it later.
► They almost fight over
it, but go to sleep.