It seems as though the whole focus of the book changes when Huck and Jim help two men who are being chased by some other men and their dogs. The two men come aboard ship, one is about 30, and he claims to be the Duke of Bridgewater, the other is about 70 and he claims to be the Dauphin of France.
The Duke and the Dauphin then decide to perform Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet, and they pool their resources to do so. They also go ashore and pull a couple scams to get money, one such scam was the King pretends to be a reformed pirate, and swindles 80 some dollars from the group by doing so. At the same time the Duke goes to the printing office and get's a handbill saying the Jim is a runaway slave, and he intends to keep it just in case anybody question's Jim's being there.
While the Duke and Dauphin rehearse Shakespeare, Mark Twain interjects a little story in which Huck observes Colonel Sherburn and a town drunk named Boggs. In the story Boggs, goes into the saloon, and get's drunk, and says he is going to kill Colonel Sherburn, after which Colonel Sherburn kills him. Then a man named Buck Harkness gathers a mob together to kill Sherburn, but then when they reach Sherburn, he tells the crowd that they are cowards, and eventually, they go away crying.
After that wonderful event, Huck goes to a circus, then to the Duke and Dauphin's Shakespearing play. The first night bombs, so they change it so women and children cannot enter, this raises interest, however, the crowd feeling let down, get's angered and they go to tar and feather the Duke and Dauphin, however, they are too late as they get on the raft and take off.
The next scam of the Duke and Dauphin is to rip off the Wilks. Peter Wilks has recently died, and the Duke and Dauphin show up in the town to try to fake being the brothers of Peter Wilks. For the most part it fools the nieces and they hand over the almost 3000 dollars that was set aside for the brothers of Pete Wilks. The Duke and Dauphin give the money to the girls as a kind gesture, which woos everybody except for Dr. Robinson who distrust the Duke and Dauphin. Later on, one of the nieces, Joanna, starts to question Huck, and he almost gives away the identities of the Duke and Dauphin.
He didn't, however, give away their identities, but his conscious kicks in and Huck grabs the money that the Duke and Dauphin get, and he hides it in a coffin. He later confronts Mary Jane another niece, and confesses everything to her, however, to give him time to get away, Huck makes sure Mary Jane does nothing for a day.
In the next day, a new set of Wilks brothers comes in on a steamship, the real set, and they come in contact with the Duke and Dauphin. To find out which is the real set of Wilks brothers they must identify a tattoo on Peter Wilk's body, and in doing so they find the money their, and the Duke and Dauphin and Huck run back to the raft and take off again.
After a couple days, the Dauphin sells Jim as a runaway slave. Huck is angered at them both for selling Jim, and decides to write a letter to Mrs. Watson, so that she will take he and Jim back, but he decides to tear up the letter and he finds out that Jim is at a nearby plantation, and decides to free him.