汤姆·索亚历险记》（The Adventures of Tom Sawyer）是美国小说家马克·吐温1876年发表的长篇小说。

小说的故事发生在19世纪上半世纪美国密西西比河畔的一个普通小镇上。主人公汤姆·索亚天真活泼、敢于探险、追求自由，不堪忍受束缚个性、枯燥乏味的生活，幻想干一番英雄事业。

小说的时代在南北战争前，写的虽是圣彼得堡小镇，但该镇某种程度上可以说是当时美国社会的缩影。小说通过主人公的冒险经历，对美国虚伪庸俗的社会习俗、伪善的宗教仪式和刻板陈腐的学校教育进行了讽刺和批判，以欢快的笔调描写了少年儿童自由活泼的心灵。

第二十四章 白天神气十足，夜里提心吊担

汤姆和哈克在说出那场谋杀案的真相后都很怕印第安人乔祖再回来谋杀他们，他们白天在波得的感谢中很高兴说出了真相，但夜晚就变得很恐惧，害怕印第安人乔祖再来找他们，但法庭仍然没有抓到这个逃亡的杀人罪犯。

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The Old House on Cardiff Hill

The boys met at the dead tree on Saturday. And again, before starting work, they sat under the tree and relaxed for a while. When they got up to enter the old house, they found that they felt more frightened than they thought they would in the daytime. It was such a lonely, quiet and old home.

Looking inside the door, they saw a dirty floor and everything covered in dust. They walked slowly and silently through the front entrance, listening carefully for the slightest sound that might mean something was in there waiting for them.

But the house remained quiet and they became less afraid, so they started to look around. They looked around every room, and once they'd finished with the first floor, they walked upstairs to the second.

They didn't find anything and were going to return to the first floor, when Tom suddenly turned to Huckleberry and said:

"What was that?"

"What! I didn't hear anything!"

"There it is again! Do you hear it?"

"Oh my God, Tom! I hear it. Let's hide!"

"If we hide now, they'll hear us. See, they're right at the front door."

Through a hole in the floor, the boys saw two men enter the room below. They recognized one of them from their village. He looked old, and had long, white hair. People knew him as the man who couldn't speak or hear. The other man they didn't seem to know. He wore old clothing and looked very unfriendly. As they sat down on the ground, the unfriendly looking one said:

"I'm very worried that we'll be caught. I think we should change our plan."

And suddenly the man who they believed couldn't hear or speak—spoke:

"You're just afraid!"

Then the boys became even more frightened when they recognized the man's voice. It was Indian Joe. He continued speaking:

"Relax! They didn't catch us before."

"Well, things were different then. I'm afraid they may find us here."

"I'd planned to leave yesterday, but those two boys might have seen us. You remember, we saw them playing on Cardiff Hill."

The boys heard this and started to shake even more. They were lucky they hadn't come to this house the day before. But now they wished they hadn't come at all.

The two men got out some food they'd brought with them and started eating.

Then Indian Joe spoke: "All right, here's the plan. You go back home after the sun goes down. Stay there until I come for you. Then we'll do one final job and run away. I'm going to rest now ... Why don't you stay awake and watch for anyone who might come looking around here."

But soon both men were sleeping.

"OK, Huck. This is our chance to get out of here."

"Sorry, Tom. I can't. I'm afraid they'll hear us and ... "

"Fine. I'll go by myself." But when he started to move, the floors made too much noise, and he stopped immediately, fearing he might have already woken the men up. But, luckily, they were still asleep.

Just as night was beginning, Indian Joe woke up and shook the other man awake. "Hey, we've got to get going soon. Where do you think we should keep the money? I can't carry six hundred dollars around with me everywhere. Let's bury it."

Then he got on his feet and went over to a place in the room where there were several large rocks on the floor. He lifted one of them and from underneath took what looked like a bag of money.

Seeing the money, the boys suddenly forgot about the danger of their situation. This was the kind of treasure they'd been looking for. It didn't matter that it was Indian Joe's treasure. Then Indian Joe took out his knife and began to dig a hole in one of the corners of the room. The boys gave each other a look that seemed to mean: "How lucky we are to have come here today!"

Then there was the sound of Indian Joe's knife hitting something hard.

"Hey, look at this!" he said.

"What?" asked the other.

"It's ... Why don't you help me here ... Wait ... No, I've got it. It seems to be a box." Indian Joe pulled the box out of the hole and opened it. "Hey, there's money here! It's gold!" Just then the other man came running over to Joe to see what exactly had been found.

"There must be several thousands of dollars here," said Indian Joe.

"That's great! Now we don't have to do that job in the village!" said the other.

Indian Joe looked at him seriously and said, "I don't care about the money we'd get for doing that job. I just want to hurt the people who put me in jail before. Now, if you're going to help me, you need to go home and wait until I come and get you."

"But what about this money? Do you want to bury it again?"

"Yes ... Wait ... Maybe not," Indian Joe suddenly stopped when he saw the boys' gardening tools in the room. "Where did those come from? That dirt on them looks kind of new. I think someone's been here. We'll have to put the money in the special hiding place, under the cross."

Then Indian Joe stood up again and looked out all of the windows. "Whoever put these tools here may still be here. They may be in the room above us." Then he picked up his knife and started walking toward the stairs. The boys didn't know what to do. They thought that this would be the last minute of their lives. With each step Indian Joe took on the stairs, the boys felt more and more afraid. But then came the sound of wood breaking and through the hole in the floor, the boys saw Joe fall to the ground.

"Damned old house!" he said, getting back on his feet. "No, no one could have walked up there. I guess they must have seen us and quickly left."

The men gathered the gold and put it into the bag with the rest of their money and left the house. The boys just stayed where they were until the men were far away. They didn't even speak while they waited for the right moment to go back downstairs. They were afraid, but they wanted that money, so they agreed to find Indian Joe when he returned to the village and then they'd follow him to the secret hiding place he'd mentioned.

Tom wondered whom it was that Indian Joe wanted to hurt. He wasn't sure if it was he or someone else. He would find out soon.