The ignorance and gullibility of the farmers is easily seen as they try to reconstruct and understand the escape. Although the doctor is somewhat suspicious of Huck's story, when Huck returns to the farm, he finds that the entire community has been drawn into Tom's fanciful escape. Instead of listening to Tom's intricate plan to fetch a doctor, Huck trusts his own ability to tell lies and control the situation. With Tom unable to direct the plans, Huck again takes control of the story and makes decisions based on his common sense and logic. At that moment, Aunt Polly arrives, and Tom and Huck are forced to reveal their true identities. Tom rises up in bed and demands that they free Jim because he has known all along that Miss Watson had died and set Jim free in her will. Tom relishes the retelling until he hears that Jim is still in captivity. The next morning Tom wakes up and begins to tell Aunt Sally how he and 'Tom' (Huck) orchestrated the entire escape. The men argue whether or not to hang Jim, and the doctor explains how Jim helped with Tom instead of running away. Tom is on a mattress and Jim has his hands tied. The next day, Tom and Jim arrive at the Phelps' with the doctor and several of the farmers. The farmers decide that Jim must have been helped by several slaves and the writing is some sort of 'secret African' language. When he wakes up, he runs into Uncle Silas, and the two of them go back to the Phelps farm, which is full of local men discussing the strange cabin and its contents. Exhausted, Huck falls asleep until the next morning.

and it shot him.' The doctor heads for the raft but will not let Huck come along because the canoe is too small. Huck quickly locates a doctor and tells him that his brother 'had a dream.

Tom in huckleberry finn