Huck Finn Chapter Summaries
Chapter 24
-Duke and the King prepare to tie up the raft to go and work over another
town
-Jim complains that he has to stay in the boat tied up while the others are
away
-Duke disguises Jim with a robe and blue face paint and a sign—“Sick Arab—
but harmless when not out of his head”
-King and Huck take steamboat to make big entrance
-King meets man who tells him of a recently deceased local man—Peter Wilks
-Wilks recently sent for his 2 brothers from Sheffield, Eng
-Harvey, whom Peter hasn’t seen since they were very young
-William, who is deaf and mute
-Wilks left much of his property to these bros when died, but they haven’t
arrived
-King talks to young man about details of the family
-When they arrive in Wilks hometown, duke and king ask for the Wilks and
pretend to be sad when told of his death
-King even fakes sign language—the whole scene makes Huck “ashamed of
the human race”
Chapter 25
-entire town gathers around the Wilks’ home to watch Wilks’ 3 nieces greet
the duke and the king, whom they believe to be their English uncles
-Huck again says “he has never seen anything so disgusting”
-In his will, Wilks give house and $3000 to nieces, brothers are to get
$3000 along with more than $6000 in real estate
-Duke and king get the money and hand it over to Wilks nieces in a show
before the entire town
-Dr. Robinson, an old friend of Wilks, interrupts to say duke and king are
frauds—accents are very phony
-He asks Mary Jane, oldest Wilks sister, to listen to him
-She then gives king the $6000 back to invest as he sees fit
Chapter 26
-King arranges to stay in Wilks house
-Huck has supper with youngest sister Joanna
-She tests Huck’s knowledge of England, he makes several slips
-forgets that he is supposedly from Sheffield and King is supposed to
be a protestant minister
-Joanna asks if he has made entire thing up
-Other 2 sisters, Mary Jane and Susan, interrupt and tell Joanna to be nice
to their guest—she apologizes
-Huck feels awful about letting these sweet women be swindled and decides
he is going to get their money back
-Huck goes to duke and king’s room to search for money, they come in, Huck
hides in amongst some clothes
-duke wants to leave town that night, but king convinces him to stay till they
have stolen all family’s property
-after they leave, Huck finds the $6000 in the mattress, takes it with him,
and sneaks out
Chapter 27
-Huck hides money in Peter Wilks coffin
-Huck doesn’t get another opportunity to remove money safely—worries
about what will happen to it
-At funeral, coffin is sealed with money in there
-Huck wonders if he should write to Mary Jane after he has left town to tell
her to have coffin dug up
-King tells Wilks girls he will take them to England (which the girls feel fine
about), then sells off the estate and the slaves
-sends slave mother to New Orleans and her 2 sons to Memphis
-Everyone, especially Huck and Wilks women are upset at family separation
-Huck tells himself that slave family will be reunited shortly when duke and
king are exposed
-Duke and king question Huck about missing money, he convinces them that
Wilks’ family slaves were responsible for disappearance
Chapter 28
-next morning, Huck finds Mary Jane crying in her bedroom
-she is upset at the separation of slave family
-Huck accidentally blurts out that the family will be reunited in less than 2
weeks
-Mary Jane is excited and asks Huck to explain
-Huck tells Mary Jane the truth but asks her to wait at a friend’s house
until later that night so he can get away, because the fate of another
person (Jim) also hangs in the balance
-Huck leaves a note with the location of the money
-She promises to remember him forever and to pray for him—Huck tells us
in retrospect that he thinks of MJ often
-As Huck is leaving house, he runs into Joanna and Susan—tells them their
sis has gone to see a sick friend—they cross-examine him but he
tricks them into staying quiet about the whole thing
-Later that day, family is auctioning off the possessions—interrupted by 2
men who claim to be real Harvey and William Wilks
Chapter 29
-real Harvey Wilks explains reasons he and brother William were delayed
-luggage was misdirected, and his mute brother broke his arm, leaving
him unable to sign
-everyone goes to the tavern for an examination
-duke and king draw suspicion when they cannot produce $6000 from Wilks
inheritance
-lawyer friend of deceased asks duke, king, and real Harvey to sign piece of
paper
-lawyer compares writing samples to letters he has from the real Harvey,
the frauds are exposed
-King refuses to give up and claims that duke is playing joke on everyone by
disguising his handwriting
-because the real William serves as a scribe for real Harvey and can’t write
due to broken arm, crowd cannot prove who is really the real Wilks
-to put an end to situation, real Harvey declares he knows of a tattoo on
brother’s chest (Peter), asking undertaker who dressed the body to
back him up
-king and Harvey each offer a different version of tattoo, undertaker drops
the bombshell that he saw no tattoo
-crowd of people wants all 4 men to die, but lawyer wants to exhume body
and check for tattoo themselves
-crowd is in uproar when $6000 is discovered in coffin
-in excitement, Huck escapes
-Huck steals a canoe and makes his way to raft, he and Jim shove off once
again
-Huck is very happy, but then his heart sinks when duke and king approach in
a boat