“They’re in an awful peck of trouble, and – ”
“WHO is?”
“Why, pap and mam and sis and Miss Hooker; and if you’d take your ferryboat and go up there – ”
“Up where? Where are they?”
“On the wreck.”
– Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 13. Huck makes up a story to the watchman about his own family being trapped on the wrecked steamboat. He feels bad for the robber-murderers stranded on the wreck without any means of escape. Huck has a strong moral center, but is not beyond lying when the situation calls for it.