On Jackson Island, James and Huck live off a trotline full of catfish, berries, and a cave that lets them keep a fire at night. James briefly imagines whether he, Sadie, and Lizzie could survive there, but he knows life as fugitives hiding from white people would be even harsher than enslavement. Huck, feeling safer away from Pap, asks why his father hates him and then questions how one person can own another, prompting James to answer plainly about the total power enslavers claim.

As Huck talks about signs and superstitions, James remains distracted by worry for Sadie and Lizzie. Still, James reads the natural world closely and predicts a major storm from the behavior of hawks and ants. Because James trusts that warning, he gathers extra wood before Huck falls asleep, preparing for days when they may not be able to relight the fire.

The storm arrives far worse than James expected. Heavy rain and flooding swallow much of the island, and James saves their trotline before it is lost. When a house floats down the channel and catches in the trees, James and Huck paddle out to search it for provisions, hoping the wreck might hold food or other useful supplies.

Inside the half-submerged house, Huck finds bacon, but James spots a dead white man pinned near the stove. James is shaken and urgently orders Huck not to look, wanting to protect him from the sight. Before they leave, James quietly takes a stack of papers and a bottle of ink from a shelf, and they escape just before the house breaks free and floats away.

Back in the cave, James and Huck chew the bad bacon while Huck wonders about the dead man. James reflects on the danger of Huck's faked death: white people may decide James murdered Huck simply because James is a runaway slave. During the storm, James reaches for wood and is bitten by a rattlesnake hiding in the cave. He cuts the wound, sucks out blood, packs it with clay, and has Huck tie a rag around it, ending the chapter with uncertainty over whether the treatment will save him by morning.