As the lawyer for the Wilks brothers, Bell announces that he has letters that the brothers wrote to him. He suggests that the King and the Duke write a few lines down on paper, and that he (Bell) will compare the writing and verify if the two men are who they say they are. Of course, the writing doesn't match, but this doesn't stop the frauds.
Full Answer
After questioning Huck about his English heritage, the town lawyer, Levi Bell, tells Huck that he obviously is not used to lying. The older gentleman says he can prove who he is because he knows what is tattooed on Peter Wilks' chest.
The old man explains that his brother William copies his letter, and Levi concedes that his plan to expose the frauds has succeeded only partially: he knows that the duke and king are frauds, but he is unsure about the other two men. The duke meets his match in Levi Bell, who tricks the veteran trickster into exposing his own lies.
The duke and the king blame one another for stealing the bag of gold, but after getting drunk, they again become comrades and start working their schemes on new villages. The introduction of the new Harvey and William adds another element of hilarity to the con men's inheritance scam.
Doctor Robinson suggests that the two sets of men claiming to be Harvey and William be affronted with each other at a tavern so that their real identities can be determined.
Dr. Robinson thinks the King is a fraud because of his accent. He can tell it is fake.
Then, the lawyer Levi Bell asks to see samples of everyone's handwriting; from that, he can tell that the King and the Duke are frauds. The King says the test is unfair, so one of the "real brothers" asks the King if he knows what was tattooed on Peter's breast.
(29) How does the lawyer attempt to determine who the real brothers are? Does it work? They bring out an old letter that Harvey Wilkes had written to his brother, it doesn't work because it turns out that William Wilkes is the one who wrote the letters but he has a broken hand and couldn't write.
What is Levi Bell's plan for deciding who the real Harver and William Wilks are? They are going to each sign their names and see which ones match the letters that were sent to Peter. They also had the idea of identifying what type of tattoo Peter had on his chest.
Who does the duke think hid the money in the coffin? The Duke thinks the King hid the money in the coffin so he could come back later and have it all for himself.
To what is Huck referring to when he states, "I never see anything so disgusting"? The duke and dauphin pretend to be the brothers of Wilks so that they can steal the money he left for his real brothers. They even lie to the daughters of Wilks.
Huck plans to get the king and duke in trouble for the Royal Nonesuch as well. Huck gets mixed up in another lie with Susan, but his lies and plans are interrupted when two men claiming to be the actual brothers of Peter Wilks show up. Wow.
Because he reminded him of his dead son, the man let him go, telling him to run for his life. Jim verifies Huck's story, and finally the duke comes to Huck's defense, reminding the king that he had not been concerned about Huck's whereabouts when they had run from the scene.
Peter Wilks' will gives all of his possessions to his brothers and divides $6,000 in gold among the daughters and Harvey and William.
Why does Hines claim that the duke and king are frauds? Hines claims that the Duke and King are frauds because he saw the King and Huck come into the next town over in a canoe.
Marion Zinser: Levi Bell.
When they open the coffin, they discover the bag of gold on the body's chest. The crowd becomes so excited that Huck is able to slip away, and he and Jim escape on the raft. Before they can get very far, however, they see the king and duke have also escaped. Jim and Huck realize they are not free from the con men.
The con men's unwillingness to leave without selling all of the family's possessions represents the greed of the two men. Ironically, it is this same type of greed that allows Huck and the duke and the king to escape.
The older gentleman says he can prove who he is because he knows what is tattooed on Peter Wilks' chest. The king says it is a small blue arrow, and the older gentleman says it is a dim "P" and "B.". The lawyer decides the only one way to be positive is to exhume Peter Wilks and have a look at his chest.
Instead of accepting Huck's story, the lawyer tells Huck, "I wouldn't strain myself if I was you. I reckon you ain't used to lying . . .
Summary and Analysis Chapters 29-30. Even Huck recognizes that the new claimants to Peter Wilks' fortune appear to be English compared to the duke and the king. The older gentleman introduces himself as Harvey and says they can prove their identity when they retrieve their baggage.
When they open the coffin, they discover the bag of gold on the body's chest. The crowd becomes so excited that Huck is able to slip away, and he and Jim escape on the raft. Before they can get very far, however, they see the king and duke have also escaped. Jim and Huck realize they are not free from the con men.
After disinterring Peter ’s corpse, the townspeople discover the bag of gold that Huck hid in Peter’s coffin. The man who is holding Huck by the arm to prevent him from running away lets go of the boy to get a look at the bag, and Huck immediately makes a run for it.
The townspeople become convinced that all four men claiming to be Peter’s brothers are frauds , and, enraged, decide to dig up Peter’s body to see if he has any tattoo at all. The king’s guess as to Peter Wilks’s tattoo is, so audacious, may be what saves him and the duke from immediate incarceration.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapter 29. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Despite the arrival of the two men who claim to be Harvey and William Wilks, the duke and king persist in their fraudulence.
At the tavern, Doctor Robinson asks the king to produce the bag of gold so that it can be kept safely till the townspeople determine who is who. The king says that the Wilks ’ slaves stole the gold, but nobody really believes him.
He meets Jim by the river, and the two begin to drift away. Suddenly, though, Huck hears a familiar sound, the humming of a skiff. It is the duke and king. Huck sinks to the floor of the raft and almost cries that the two con men are not yet out of his and Jim’s lives.
The real Harvey Wilks asks the king to reveal what is tattooed onto Peter Wilks ’s chest. Whitening, the king at last says that it is a pale, blue arrow. The old man says that that’s false, that his tattoo is really of the letters “P.B.W.”. But the men who buried Peter Wilks say they saw no such mark.
Doctor Robinson suggests that the two sets of men claiming to be Harvey and William be affronted with each other at a tavern so that their real identities can be determined. At last, when the townspeople’s affection-based trust in the duke and king is called into question by the arrival of the real Harvey and William, ...