“I’ll help you. You go over that way and I’ll hunt around by the spring. No, you needn’t come, Huck—we can find it.”
So Huck sat down again, and waited an hour. Then he found it lonesome, and went to find his comrades. They were wide apart in the woods, both very pale, both fast asleep. But something informed him that if they had had any trouble they had got rid of it.
They were not talkative at supper that night. They had a humble look, and when Huck prepared his pipe after the meal and was going to prepare theirs, they said no, they were not feeling very well—something they ate at dinner had disagreed with them.
FROM “THE STOLEN WHITE ELEPHANT” (1878)
Describing an Elephant
“There are cases in detective history to show that criminals have been detected through peculiarities in their appetites. Now, what does this elephant eat? and how much?”
“Well, as to what he eats—he will eat anything. He will eat a man, he will eat a Bible—he will eat anything between a man and a Bible.”
“Good—very good, indeed, but too general. Details are necessary—details are the only valuable thing in our trade. Very well—as to men: At one meal—or, if you prefer, during one day—how many men will he eat, if fresh?”
“He would not care whether they were fresh or not; at a single meal he would eat five ordinary men.”
“Very good; five men; we will put that down. What nationalities would he prefer?”