Plot Summary
Chapter 29 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn opens with the arrival of two new men in town who claim to be the real Harvey and William Wilks. The new Harvey speaks with an authentic English accent and explains that their baggage was misdirected and that his brother William broke his right arm, leaving him unable to communicate through signs. The king laughs off their claim, mocking the convenient excuse of the broken arm, and the townspeople initially side with the established frauds. However, Dr. Robinson and the newly returned lawyer Levi Bell insist that all four claimants be taken to the tavern for a formal investigation, with Huck dragged along as a witness.
The Tavern Investigation
At the hotel, Dr. Robinson demands that the king produce the bag of gold Peter Wilks left behind. The king claims the money was stolen by the enslaved people he had already sold, and Huck is forced to corroborate the lie. The investigation intensifies when Huck is questioned about his English origins and laughed at for his unconvincing performance. Levi Bell devises a handwriting test, asking both sets of claimants to write samples for comparison against letters from the real Harvey Wilks. Neither the king nor the duke's writing matches, and though the new claimant's handwriting also fails to match, he explains that his brother William always copied his letters for him—and William cannot now write with his left hand.
The Tattoo Test and the Graveyard
With the handwriting test inconclusive, the new Harvey proposes a decisive challenge: he asks what was tattooed on the dead Peter Wilks's breast. The king, caught off guard, bluffs that it was a small blue arrow. The real Harvey asserts it was the initials P—B—W. When the men who prepared the body—Ab Turner and his partner—testify they saw no mark at all, the crowd erupts, ready to lynch all four men. The lawyer Levi Bell leaps onto a table and proposes the only remaining solution: dig up the corpse and check for themselves. The frenzied mob seizes all four claimants and Huck, and marches them a mile and a half to the graveyard in gathering darkness.
Huck's Escape and the King's Return
At the graveyard, the crowd digs furiously by the flicker of lightning as a violent thunderstorm rolls in. When the coffin lid is pried open, a flash of lightning reveals the bag of gold resting on Peter Wilks's breast—the money Huck had hidden there in an earlier chapter. The man gripping Huck's wrist, Hines, drops his hold in astonishment, and Huck bolts into the darkness. He sprints through the storm-swept town, steals an unchained canoe, and paddles desperately to the raft where Jim waits. The two push off in euphoric relief, believing they are finally free of the con men. But their joy is short-lived: the next flash of lightning reveals a skiff bearing the king and the duke, rowing hard toward the raft. Huck collapses onto the planks, nearly in tears, as the swindlers catch up once again.