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 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 Duke and king plan a performance of Shakespeare Claim to be escorting Jim to turn him in for a reward

Chapter 21 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 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 Beat his daughter Lizabeth for not obeying Found out later that Lizabeth was deaf

Chapter 24 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 The duke and king enter town, posing as the brothers.

Chapter 25 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 The duke, king, and Huck have dinner at the Wilks home Three nieces: Mary Jane, Susan, Joanna (the “hare-lip”) 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 Separates the Wilks’s slaves: a mother and her two sons Huck makes the con men think that the slaves took the money when questioned.

Chapter 28 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 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.