What's gone with that boy?

Is this from Tom Sawyer?

If so, I'd venture a guess that was vernacular for "what's going on with that boy"

chai is right, though I never saw that phrase in American literature before.

I had to look it up pan, and it's the opening lines of Tom Sawyer & Huck.

orister - it's a dialect/accent type of thing.

Like someone could say "Oh Law!" and mean "Oh Lord"

Twain was trying to spell the word the way the teacher would have said it.

If I'm being casual, instead of typing "going", I might type goin'.

You're right in your interpretation I think. Tom is a rascal, a troublemaker.
Saying "what's gone w/ that boy" maybe rhymes with "what's wrong with that boy"
Maybe Twain was also making a play on words.

Vernacular, regional, possibly old-fashioned.

"gone with: A southern [US] term meaning "become of," used for people or things; e.g. "What's gone with gentlemen officers and chivalry?"

- The Language Of The Civil War by John D. Wright

The American Civil War, in which the Southern states unsuccessfully fought to preserve their "right" to enslave black people, took place between 1861 and 1865.

Meaning: What's gone (wrong) with that boy (that makes him not reply to me)

Nice post contrex

Thank you all.

To clarify - the apostrophe and s at the end of "What's" is a contraction of "has", so that the fuller form would be "What has gone with that boy?"

Yes it is however I'd venture a guess that was vernacular for "What has gone with that boy"

Yes it is.
I'd venture a guess that was vernacular for "what has gone
with that boy"