No Spaniard had been seen.

Nobody had entered or left the alley.

Everything was auspicious.

The blackness of darkness reigned, the perfect stillness was interrupted only by occasional mutterings of distant thunder.
Tom got his lantern, lit it in the hogshead, wrapped it closely in the towel, and the two adventurers crept in the gloom toward the tavern.
Huck stood sentry and Tom felt his way into the alley.

Then there was a season of waiting anxiety that weighed upon Huck's spirits like a mountain.