After dozing in the street, James wakes more determined than ever to run, though Huck’s head on his shoulder keeps him from slipping away alone. The Duke and the King emerge from the saloon drunk and tired, march James and Huck to a livery, and wake an elderly Black blacksmith named Easter. Over Huck’s protests, the Duke orders Easter to shackle James by his injured leg, then takes the key for himself.

The chaining shocks James at a bodily level and makes his desire for freedom even more urgent. Once the con men leave, Easter quietly apologizes and, after noticing Huck’s loyalty, reveals that he has another key that fits the lock. Easter tells James and Huck to sleep on the hay and promises to lock James up again in the morning, giving James temporary relief and showing covert solidarity within slavery’s constraints.

Huck quickly falls asleep, but James cannot rest because he keeps thinking about escape. In the dark, Easter warns James that he cannot outrun anyone with the injured, shackled leg and asks what Huck is to him. James says Huck is his friend and is trying to help him escape, and Easter responds with skepticism, asking whether Huck is really white and remarking that white people do not see the world the way Black people do.

After Easter leaves, Huck reveals that he has been awake and listening. Huck says he noticed that James spoke differently with Easter than he does with Huck, and he takes that difference as a sign that James may not fully trust him. James reassures Huck that he does trust him with his life. As he drifts back to sleep, Huck says he understands why James talks that way, and James recognizes that Huck has grasped an important truth about the masks James must wear to survive.