Summary Chapter 16

They shove off at night and see a large raft that is part of a procession. Huck and Jim worry they won’t recognize the small town of Cairo. They keep a sharp eye out for it. Jim is anxious. He’ll be a free man in Cairo.

Huck is also anxious. He feels guilty for helping Jim run off after Miss Watson had taught him to read. Jim talks about his plans as a free man. He plans to save his money and liberate a wife and some children. Huck disapproves, feeling Jim is getting full of himself.

Huck tells Jim he thinks he sees Cairo. He is thinking about turning Jim over. Jim tells Huck he is a true friend who helped him escape. Huck starts feeling guilty about his plans.

Huck encounters two men in a skiff. They are interested in looking at the raft, for there are some blacks who have escaped. Huck scares them away by saying that his father is on the raft, and he has smallpox. The men tell him to go to the neighboring town. They give him some money.

Huck returns to the raft. Jim is hiding in the water.

They start to suspect that they have missed Cairo. They lose the canoe while they rest. Huck and Jim believe it is the bad luck from the snake skin still plaguing them.

A steamboat smashes through the raft. Jim and Huck go overboard. Huck swims to shore. There is a log cabin. A bunch of dogs start howling at him.