Huckleberry had woken up and had heard a "boom" sound. He noticed that the "boom" was coming from the ferryboat firing cannon over the water, trying to make his caress come to the top. Everyone that Huckleberry knows was in the boat. They were all looking for him. Huckleberry figured that they would give up on searching for him and that way he would be able to move on and do whatever he wanted.
Huckleberry can't seem to understand that their are people that do care about him. He had a chance to go back to the widow and have a better life then what he had with his father or what he is trying to have by himself. Its not right when kids runaway from their homes to try to avoid problems.