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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-04-01 07:21:11 -0700 |
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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-04-01 07:21:11 -0700 |
| commit | ffea308a748c41e8f14854e806edefdc22804d00 (patch) | |
| tree | 85f24759a9ba7f94c62c673ceb5536fa63c2516e /old/120-0.txt | |
| parent | 91c7c2a9cb70e44cd5b1137e7980c7e91c6f12f1 (diff) | |
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diff --git a/old/120-0.txt b/old/120-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index edce9a0..0000000 --- a/old/120-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7482 +0,0 @@ -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 120 *** -TREASURE ISLAND - -by Robert Louis Stevenson - - - - -TREASURE ISLAND - -To S.L.O., an American gentleman in accordance with whose classic taste -the following narrative has been designed, it is now, in return for -numerous delightful hours, and with the kindest wishes, dedicated by his -affectionate friend, the author. - - - - TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER - - If sailor tales to sailor tunes, - Storm and adventure, heat and cold, - If schooners, islands, and maroons, - And buccaneers, and buried gold, - And all the old romance, retold - Exactly in the ancient way, - Can please, as me they pleased of old, - The wiser youngsters of today: - - --So be it, and fall on! If not, - If studious youth no longer crave, - His ancient appetites forgot, - Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, - Or Cooper of the wood and wave: - So be it, also! And may I - And all my pirates share the grave - Where these and their creations lie! - - - CONTENTS - - PART ONE - The Old Buccaneer - - I. THE OLD SEA-DOG AT THE ADMIRAL BENBOW . . . . 11 - II. BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS . . . . . . 17 - III. THE BLACK SPOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 - IV. THE SEA-CHEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 - V. THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN . . . . . . . . . . 36 - VI. THE CAPTAIN’S PAPERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 - - PART TWO - The Sea Cook - - VII. I GO TO BRISTOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 - VIII. AT THE SIGN OF THE SPY-GLASS . . . . . . . 54 - IX. POWDER AND ARMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 - X. THE VOYAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 - XI. WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE-BARREL . . . . . . 70 - XII. COUNCIL OF WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 - - PART THREE - My Shore Adventure - - XIII. HOW I BEGAN MY SHORE ADVENTURE . . . . . . 82 - XIV. THE FIRST BLOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 - XV. THE MAN OF THE ISLAND. . . . . . . . . . . . 93 - - PART FOUR - The Stockade - - XVI. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: - HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED . . . . . . . . 100 - XVII. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: - THE JOLLY-BOAT’S LAST TRIP . . . . . . . . 105 - XVIII. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: - END OF THE FIRST DAY’S FIGHTING . . . . . 109 - XIX. NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS: - THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE . . . . . . . 114 - XX. SILVER’S EMBASSY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 - XXI. THE ATTACK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 - - PART FIVE - My Sea Adventure - - XXII. HOW I BEGAN MY SEA ADVENTURE . . . . . . . 132 - XXIII. THE EBB-TIDE RUNS . . . . . . . . . . . 138 - XXIV. THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE . . . . . . . . 143 - XXV. I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER . . . . . . . . . 148 - XXVI. ISRAEL HANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 - XXVII. “PIECES OF EIGHT” . . . . . . . . . . . 161 - - PART SIX - Captain Silver - - XXVIII. IN THE ENEMY’S CAMP . . . . . . . . . . 168 - XXIX. THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN . . . . . . . . . . . 176 - XXX. ON PAROLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 - XXXI. THE TREASURE-HUNT--FLINT’S POINTER . . . . 189 - XXXII. THE TREASURE-HUNT--THE VOICE AMONG - THE TREES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 - XXXIII. THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN . . . . . . . . 201 - XXXIV. AND LAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 - - - - -TREASURE ISLAND - - - - -PART ONE--The Old Buccaneer - - - - -I -The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow - - -Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having -asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from -the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the -island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I -take up my pen in the year of grace 17—, and go back to the time when -my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the -sabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof. - -I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the -inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow--a -tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling over the -shoulder of his soiled blue coat, his hands ragged and scarred, with -black, broken nails, and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid -white. I remember him looking round the cove and whistling to himself -as he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang so -often afterwards: - - “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” - -in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and -broken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door with a bit of -stick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared, -called roughly for a glass of rum. This, when it was brought to him, -he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste and still -looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard. - -“This is a handy cove,” says he at length; “and a pleasant sittyated -grog-shop. Much company, mate?” - -My father told him no, very little company, the more was the pity. - -“Well, then,” said he, “this is the berth for me. Here you, matey,” he -cried to the man who trundled the barrow; “bring up alongside and help -up my chest. I’ll stay here a bit,” he continued. “I’m a plain man; rum -and bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch -ships off. What you mought call me? You mought call me captain. Oh, I -see what you’re at--there”; and he threw down three or four gold pieces -on the threshold. “You can tell me when I’ve worked through that,” says -he, looking as fierce as a commander. - -And indeed bad as his clothes were and coarsely as he spoke, he had none -of the appearance of a man who sailed before the mast, but seemed like -a mate or skipper accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. The man who came -with the barrow told us the mail had set him down the morning before at -the Royal George, that he had inquired what inns there were along the -coast, and hearing ours well spoken of, I suppose, and described as -lonely, had chosen it from the others for his place of residence. And -that was all we could learn of our guest. - -He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove or -upon the cliffs with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a corner -of the parlour next the fire and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly -he would not speak when spoken to, only look up sudden and fierce and -blow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who came -about our house soon learned to let him be. Every day when he came back -from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the -road. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind -that made him ask this question, but at last we began to see he was -desirous to avoid them. When a seaman did put up at the Admiral Benbow -(as now and then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol) he -would look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the -parlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such -was present. For me, at least, there was no secret about the matter, for -I was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms. He had taken me aside one day -and promised me a silver fourpenny on the first of every month if I -would only keep my “weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg” - and let him know the moment he appeared. Often enough when the first -of the month came round and I applied to him for my wage, he would only -blow through his nose at me and stare me down, but before the week was -out he was sure to think better of it, bring me my four-penny piece, and -repeat his orders to look out for “the seafaring man with one leg.” - -How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. On -stormy nights, when the wind shook the four corners of the house and -the surf roared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in a -thousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions. Now the leg -would be cut off at the knee, now at the hip; now he was a monstrous -kind of a creature who had never had but the one leg, and that in the -middle of his body. To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge and -ditch was the worst of nightmares. And altogether I paid pretty dear for -my monthly fourpenny piece, in the shape of these abominable fancies. - -But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man with one -leg, I was far less afraid of the captain himself than anybody else who -knew him. There were nights when he took a deal more rum and water -than his head would carry; and then he would sometimes sit and sing his -wicked, old, wild sea-songs, minding nobody; but sometimes he would call -for glasses round and force all the trembling company to listen to his -stories or bear a chorus to his singing. Often I have heard the house -shaking with “Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum,” all the neighbours joining -in for dear life, with the fear of death upon them, and each singing -louder than the other to avoid remark. For in these fits he was the most -overriding companion ever known; he would slap his hand on the table for -silence all round; he would fly up in a passion of anger at a question, -or sometimes because none was put, and so he judged the company was not -following his story. Nor would he allow anyone to leave the inn till he -had drunk himself sleepy and reeled off to bed. - -His stories were what frightened people worst of all. Dreadful stories -they were--about hanging, and walking the plank, and storms at sea, and -the Dry Tortugas, and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main. By his -own account he must have lived his life among some of the wickedest men -that God ever allowed upon the sea, and the language in which he told -these stories shocked our plain country people almost as much as the -crimes that he described. My father was always saying the inn would be -ruined, for people would soon cease coming there to be tyrannized over -and put down, and sent shivering to their beds; but I really believe his -presence did us good. People were frightened at the time, but on looking -back they rather liked it; it was a fine excitement in a quiet country -life, and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to -admire him, calling him a “true sea-dog” and a “real old salt” and -such like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England -terrible at sea. - -In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us, for he kept on staying week -after week, and at last month after month, so that all the money had -been long exhausted, and still my father never plucked up the heart to -insist on having more. If ever he mentioned it, the captain blew through -his nose so loudly that you might say he roared, and stared my poor -father out of the room. I have seen him wringing his hands after such a -rebuff, and I am sure the annoyance and the terror he lived in must have -greatly hastened his early and unhappy death. - -All the time he lived with us the captain made no change whatever in his -dress but to buy some stockings from a hawker. One of the cocks of his -hat having fallen down, he let it hang from that day forth, though it -was a great annoyance when it blew. I remember the appearance of his -coat, which he patched himself upstairs in his room, and which, before -the end, was nothing but patches. He never wrote or received a letter, -and he never spoke with any but the neighbours, and with these, for the -most part, only when drunk on rum. The great sea-chest none of us had -ever seen open. - -He was only once crossed, and that was towards the end, when my poor -father was far gone in a decline that took him off. Dr. Livesey came -late one afternoon to see the patient, took a bit of dinner from my -mother, and went into the parlour to smoke a pipe until his horse should -come down from the hamlet, for we had no stabling at the old Benbow. I -followed him in, and I remember observing the contrast the neat, bright -doctor, with his powder as white as snow and his bright, black eyes and -pleasant manners, made with the coltish country folk, and above all, -with that filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of a pirate of ours, sitting, -far gone in rum, with his arms on the table. Suddenly he--the captain, -that is--began to pipe up his eternal song: - - “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! - Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” - -At first I had supposed “the dead man’s chest” to be that identical big -box of his upstairs in the front room, and the thought had been mingled -in my nightmares with that of the one-legged seafaring man. But by this -time we had all long ceased to pay any particular notice to the song; it -was new, that night, to nobody but Dr. Livesey, and on him I observed it -did not produce an agreeable effect, for he looked up for a moment quite -angrily before he went on with his talk to old Taylor, the gardener, on -a new cure for the rheumatics. In the meantime, the captain gradually -brightened up at his own music, and at last flapped his hand upon -the table before him in a way we all knew to mean silence. The voices -stopped at once, all but Dr. Livesey’s; he went on as before speaking -clear and kind and drawing briskly at his pipe between every word or -two. The captain glared at him for a while, flapped his hand again, -glared still harder, and at last broke out with a villainous, low oath, -“Silence, there, between decks!” - -“Were you addressing me, sir?” says the doctor; and when the ruffian had -told him, with another oath, that this was so, “I have only one thing to -say to you, sir,” replies the doctor, “that if you keep on drinking rum, -the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel!” - -The old fellow’s fury was awful. He sprang to his feet, drew and opened -a sailor’s clasp-knife, and balancing it open on the palm of his hand, -threatened to pin the doctor to the wall. - -The doctor never so much as moved. He spoke to him as before, over his -shoulder and in the same tone of voice, rather high, so that all the -room might hear, but perfectly calm and steady: “If you do not put that -knife this instant in your pocket, I promise, upon my honour, you shall -hang at the next assizes.” - -Then followed a battle of looks between them, but the captain soon -knuckled under, put up his weapon, and resumed his seat, grumbling like -a beaten dog. - -“And now, sir,” continued the doctor, “since I now know there’s such a -fellow in my district, you may count I’ll have an eye upon you day and -night. I’m not a doctor only; I’m a magistrate; and if I catch a breath -of complaint against you, if it’s only for a piece of incivility like -tonight’s, I’ll take effectual means to have you hunted down and routed -out of this. Let that suffice.” - -Soon after, Dr. Livesey’s horse came to the door and he rode away, but -the captain held his peace that evening, and for many evenings to come. - - - - -II -Black Dog Appears and Disappears - - -It was not very long after this that there occurred the first of the -mysterious events that rid us at last of the captain, though not, as you -will see, of his affairs. It was a bitter cold winter, with long, hard -frosts and heavy gales; and it was plain from the first that my poor -father was little likely to see the spring. He sank daily, and my mother -and I had all the inn upon our hands, and were kept busy enough without -paying much regard to our unpleasant guest. - -It was one January morning, very early--a pinching, frosty morning--the -cove all grey with hoar-frost, the ripple lapping softly on the stones, -the sun still low and only touching the hilltops and shining far to -seaward. The captain had risen earlier than usual and set out down the -beach, his cutlass swinging under the broad skirts of the old blue coat, -his brass telescope under his arm, his hat tilted back upon his head. I -remember his breath hanging like smoke in his wake as he strode off, and -the last sound I heard of him as he turned the big rock was a loud snort -of indignation, as though his mind was still running upon Dr. Livesey. - -Well, mother was upstairs with father and I was laying the -breakfast-table against the captain’s return when the parlour door -opened and a man stepped in on whom I had never set my eyes before. He -was a pale, tallowy creature, wanting two fingers of the left hand, and -though he wore a cutlass, he did not look much like a fighter. I -had always my eye open for seafaring men, with one leg or two, and I -remember this one puzzled me. He was not sailorly, and yet he had a -smack of the sea about him too. - -I asked him what was for his service, and he said he would take rum; but -as I was going out of the room to fetch it, he sat down upon a table -and motioned me to draw near. I paused where I was, with my napkin in my -hand. - -“Come here, sonny,” says he. “Come nearer here.” - -I took a step nearer. - -“Is this here table for my mate Bill?” he asked with a kind of leer. - -I told him I did not know his mate Bill, and this was for a person who -stayed in our house whom we called the captain. - -“Well,” said he, “my mate Bill would be called the captain, as like -as not. He has a cut on one cheek and a mighty pleasant way with him, -particularly in drink, has my mate Bill. We’ll put it, for argument -like, that your captain has a cut on one cheek--and we’ll put it, if you -like, that that cheek’s the right one. Ah, well! I told you. Now, is my -mate Bill in this here house?” - -I told him he was out walking. - -“Which way, sonny? Which way is he gone?” - -And when I had pointed out the rock and told him how the captain was -likely to return, and how soon, and answered a few other questions, -“Ah,” said he, “this’ll be as good as drink to my mate Bill.” - -The expression of his face as he said these words was not at all -pleasant, and I had my own reasons for thinking that the stranger was -mistaken, even supposing he meant what he said. But it was no affair of -mine, I thought; and besides, it was difficult to know what to do. The -stranger kept hanging about just inside the inn door, peering round the -corner like a cat waiting for a mouse. Once I stepped out myself into -the road, but he immediately called me back, and as I did not obey quick -enough for his fancy, a most horrible change came over his tallowy face, -and he ordered me in with an oath that made me jump. As soon as I -was back again he returned to his former manner, half fawning, half -sneering, patted me on the shoulder, told me I was a good boy and he had -taken quite a fancy to me. “I have a son of my own,” said he, “as like -you as two blocks, and he’s all the pride of my ’art. But the great -thing for boys is discipline, sonny--discipline. Now, if you had sailed -along of Bill, you wouldn’t have stood there to be spoke to twice--not -you. That was never Bill’s way, nor the way of sich as sailed with him. -And here, sure enough, is my mate Bill, with a spy-glass under his arm, -bless his old ’art, to be sure. You and me’ll just go back into the -parlour, sonny, and get behind the door, and we’ll give Bill a little -surprise--bless his ’art, I say again.” - -So saying, the stranger backed along with me into the parlour and put me -behind him in the corner so that we were both hidden by the open door. I -was very uneasy and alarmed, as you may fancy, and it rather added to my -fears to observe that the stranger was certainly frightened himself. He -cleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in the sheath; -and all the time we were waiting there he kept swallowing as if he felt -what we used to call a lump in the throat. - -At last in strode the captain, slammed the door behind him, without -looking to the right or left, and marched straight across the room to -where his breakfast awaited him. - -“Bill,” said the stranger in a voice that I thought he had tried to make -bold and big. - -The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us; all the brown had -gone out of his face, and even his nose was blue; he had the look of a -man who sees a ghost, or the evil one, or something worse, if anything -can be; and upon my word, I felt sorry to see him all in a moment turn -so old and sick. - -“Come, Bill, you know me; you know an old shipmate, Bill, surely,” said -the stranger. - -The captain made a sort of gasp. - -“Black Dog!” said he. - -“And who else?” returned the other, getting more at his ease. “Black -Dog as ever was, come for to see his old shipmate Billy, at the Admiral -Benbow inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two, since -I lost them two talons,” holding up his mutilated hand. - -“Now, look here,” said the captain; “you’ve run me down; here I am; -well, then, speak up; what is it?” - -“That’s you, Bill,” returned Black Dog, “you’re in the right of it, -Billy. I’ll have a glass of rum from this dear child here, as I’ve took -such a liking to; and we’ll sit down, if you please, and talk square, -like old shipmates.” - -When I returned with the rum, they were already seated on either side -of the captain’s breakfast-table--Black Dog next to the door and -sitting sideways so as to have one eye on his old shipmate and one, as I -thought, on his retreat. - -He bade me go and leave the door wide open. “None of your keyholes for -me, sonny,” he said; and I left them together and retired into the bar. - -For a long time, though I certainly did my best to listen, I could hear -nothing but a low gattling; but at last the voices began to grow higher, -and I could pick up a word or two, mostly oaths, from the captain. - -“No, no, no, no; and an end of it!” he cried once. And again, “If it -comes to swinging, swing all, say I.” - -Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous explosion of oaths and -other noises--the chair and table went over in a lump, a clash of steel -followed, and then a cry of pain, and the next instant I saw Black -Dog in full flight, and the captain hotly pursuing, both with drawn -cutlasses, and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder. Just -at the door the captain aimed at the fugitive one last tremendous -cut, which would certainly have split him to the chine had it not been -intercepted by our big signboard of Admiral Benbow. You may see the -notch on the lower side of the frame to this day. - -That blow was the last of the battle. Once out upon the road, Black -Dog, in spite of his wound, showed a wonderful clean pair of heels and -disappeared over the edge of the hill in half a minute. The captain, for -his part, stood staring at the signboard like a bewildered man. Then he -passed his hand over his eyes several times and at last turned back into -the house. - -“Jim,” says he, “rum”; and as he spoke, he reeled a little, and caught -himself with one hand against the wall. - -“Are you hurt?” cried I. - -“Rum,” he repeated. “I must get away from here. Rum! Rum!” - -I ran to fetch it, but I was quite unsteadied by all that had fallen -out, and I broke one glass and fouled the tap, and while I was still -getting in my own way, I heard a loud fall in the parlour, and running -in, beheld the captain lying full length upon the floor. At the same -instant my mother, alarmed by the cries and fighting, came running -downstairs to help me. Between us we raised his head. He was breathing -very loud and hard, but his eyes were closed and his face a horrible -colour. - -“Dear, deary me,” cried my mother, “what a disgrace upon the house! And -your poor father sick!” - -In the meantime, we had no idea what to do to help the captain, nor any -other thought but that he had got his death-hurt in the scuffle with -the stranger. I got the rum, to be sure, and tried to put it down his -throat, but his teeth were tightly shut and his jaws as strong as iron. -It was a happy relief for us when the door opened and Doctor Livesey -came in, on his visit to my father. - -“Oh, doctor,” we cried, “what shall we do? Where is he wounded?” - -“Wounded? A fiddle-stick’s end!” said the doctor. “No more wounded than -you or I. The man has had a stroke, as I warned him. Now, Mrs. Hawkins, -just you run upstairs to your husband and tell him, if possible, nothing -about it. For my part, I must do my best to save this fellow’s trebly -worthless life; Jim, you get me a basin.” - -When I got back with the basin, the doctor had already ripped up the -captain’s sleeve and exposed his great sinewy arm. It was tattooed -in several places. “Here’s luck,” “A fair wind,” and “Billy Bones his -fancy,” were very neatly and clearly executed on the forearm; and up -near the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging from -it--done, as I thought, with great spirit. - -“Prophetic,” said the doctor, touching this picture with his finger. -“And now, Master Billy Bones, if that be your name, we’ll have a look at -the colour of your blood. Jim,” he said, “are you afraid of blood?” - -“No, sir,” said I. - -“Well, then,” said he, “you hold the basin”; and with that he took his -lancet and opened a vein. - -A great deal of blood was taken before the captain opened his eyes -and looked mistily about him. First he recognized the doctor with -an unmistakable frown; then his glance fell upon me, and he looked -relieved. But suddenly his colour changed, and he tried to raise -himself, crying, “Where’s Black Dog?” - -“There is no Black Dog here,” said the doctor, “except what you have -on your own back. You have been drinking rum; you have had a stroke, -precisely as I told you; and I have just, very much against my own will, -dragged you headforemost out of the grave. Now, Mr. Bones--” - -“That’s not my name,” he interrupted. - -“Much I care,” returned the doctor. “It’s the name of a buccaneer of my -acquaintance; and I call you by it for the sake of shortness, and what I -have to say to you is this; one glass of rum won’t kill you, but if -you take one you’ll take another and another, and I stake my wig if you -don’t break off short, you’ll die--do you understand that?--die, and go -to your own place, like the man in the Bible. Come, now, make an effort. -I’ll help you to your bed for once.” - -Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him upstairs, and -laid him on his bed, where his head fell back on the pillow as if he -were almost fainting. - -“Now, mind you,” said the doctor, “I clear my conscience--the name of -rum for you is death.” - -And with that he went off to see my father, taking me with him by the -arm. - -“This is nothing,” he said as soon as he had closed the door. “I have -drawn blood enough to keep him quiet awhile; he should lie for a week -where he is--that is the best thing for him and you; but another stroke -would settle him.” - - - - -III -The Black Spot - - -About noon I stopped at the captain’s door with some cooling drinks -and medicines. He was lying very much as we had left him, only a little -higher, and he seemed both weak and excited. - -“Jim,” he said, “you’re the only one here that’s worth anything, and you -know I’ve been always good to you. Never a month but I’ve given you a -silver fourpenny for yourself. And now you see, mate, I’m pretty low, -and deserted by all; and Jim, you’ll bring me one noggin of rum, now, -won’t you, matey?” - -“The doctor--” I began. - -But he broke in cursing the doctor, in a feeble voice but heartily. -“Doctors is all swabs,” he said; “and that doctor there, why, what do -he know about seafaring men? I been in places hot as pitch, and mates -dropping round with Yellow Jack, and the blessed land a-heaving like the -sea with earthquakes--what to the doctor know of lands like that?--and I -lived on rum, I tell you. It’s been meat and drink, and man and wife, -to me; and if I’m not to have my rum now I’m a poor old hulk on a lee -shore, my blood’ll be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab”; and he ran on -again for a while with curses. “Look, Jim, how my fingers fidges,” - he continued in the pleading tone. “I can’t keep ’em still, not I. I -haven’t had a drop this blessed day. That doctor’s a fool, I tell you. -If I don’t have a dram o’ rum, Jim, I’ll have the horrors; I seen some -on ’em already. I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; as -plain as print, I seen him; and if I get the horrors, I’m a man that -has lived rough, and I’ll raise Cain. Your doctor hisself said one glass -wouldn’t hurt me. I’ll give you a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim.” - -He was growing more and more excited, and this alarmed me for my father, -who was very low that day and needed quiet; besides, I was reassured by -the doctor’s words, now quoted to me, and rather offended by the offer -of a bribe. - -“I want none of your money,” said I, “but what you owe my father. I’ll -get you one glass, and no more.” - -When I brought it to him, he seized it greedily and drank it out. - -“Aye, aye,” said he, “that’s some better, sure enough. And now, matey, -did that doctor say how long I was to lie here in this old berth?” - -“A week at least,” said I. - -“Thunder!” he cried. “A week! I can’t do that; they’d have the black -spot on me by then. The lubbers is going about to get the wind of me -this blessed moment; lubbers as couldn’t keep what they got, and want to -nail what is another’s. Is that seamanly behaviour, now, I want to know? -But I’m a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine, nor lost it -neither; and I’ll trick ’em again. I’m not afraid on ’em. I’ll shake out -another reef, matey, and daddle ’em again.” - -As he was thus speaking, he had risen from bed with great difficulty, -holding to my shoulder with a grip that almost made me cry out, and -moving his legs like so much dead weight. His words, spirited as they -were in meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of the voice in -which they were uttered. He paused when he had got into a sitting -position on the edge. - -“That doctor’s done me,” he murmured. “My ears is singing. Lay me back.” - -Before I could do much to help him he had fallen back again to his -former place, where he lay for a while silent. - -“Jim,” he said at length, “you saw that seafaring man today?” - -“Black Dog?” I asked. - -“Ah! Black Dog,” says he. “_He’s_ a bad ’un; but there’s worse that put him -on. Now, if I can’t get away nohow, and they tip me the black spot, mind -you, it’s my old sea-chest they’re after; you get on a horse--you can, -can’t you? Well, then, you get on a horse, and go to--well, yes, -I will!--to that eternal doctor swab, and tell him to pipe all -hands--magistrates and sich--and he’ll lay ’em aboard at the Admiral -Benbow--all old Flint’s crew, man and boy, all on ’em that’s left. I was -first mate, I was, old Flint’s first mate, and I’m the on’y one as knows -the place. He gave it me at Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as if I -was to now, you see. But you won’t peach unless they get the black spot -on me, or unless you see that Black Dog again or a seafaring man with -one leg, Jim--him above all.” - -“But what is the black spot, captain?” I asked. - -“That’s a summons, mate. I’ll tell you if they get that. But you keep -your weather-eye open, Jim, and I’ll share with you equals, upon my -honour.” - -He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after I -had given him his medicine, which he took like a child, with the remark, -“If ever a seaman wanted drugs, it’s me,” he fell at last into a heavy, -swoon-like sleep, in which I left him. What I should have done had all -gone well I do not know. Probably I should have told the whole story to -the doctor, for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of -his confessions and make an end of me. But as things fell out, my poor -father died quite suddenly that evening, which put all other matters -on one side. Our natural distress, the visits of the neighbours, the -arranging of the funeral, and all the work of the inn to be carried on -in the meanwhile kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think of -the captain, far less to be afraid of him. - -He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and had his meals as usual, -though he ate little and had more, I am afraid, than his usual supply of -rum, for he helped himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing through -his nose, and no one dared to cross him. On the night before the funeral -he was as drunk as ever; and it was shocking, in that house of mourning, -to hear him singing away at his ugly old sea-song; but weak as he was, -we were all in the fear of death for him, and the doctor was suddenly -taken up with a case many miles away and was never near the house after -my father’s death. I have said the captain was weak, and indeed he -seemed rather to grow weaker than regain his strength. He clambered up -and down stairs, and went from the parlour to the bar and back again, -and sometimes put his nose out of doors to smell the sea, holding on to -the walls as he went for support and breathing hard and fast like a man -on a steep mountain. He never particularly addressed me, and it is my -belief he had as good as forgotten his confidences; but his temper was -more flighty, and allowing for his bodily weakness, more violent than -ever. He had an alarming way now when he was drunk of drawing his -cutlass and laying it bare before him on the table. But with all that, -he minded people less and seemed shut up in his own thoughts and rather -wandering. Once, for instance, to our extreme wonder, he piped up to a -different air, a kind of country love-song that he must have learned in -his youth before he had begun to follow the sea. - -So things passed until, the day after the funeral, and about three -o’clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the door -for a moment, full of sad thoughts about my father, when I saw someone -drawing slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped -before him with a stick and wore a great green shade over his eyes and -nose; and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a huge -old tattered sea-cloak with a hood that made him appear positively -deformed. I never saw in my life a more dreadful-looking figure. -He stopped a little from the inn, and raising his voice in an odd -sing-song, addressed the air in front of him, “Will any kind friend -inform a poor blind man, who has lost the precious sight of his eyes in -the gracious defence of his native country, England--and God bless King -George!--where or in what part of this country he may now be?” - -“You are at the Admiral Benbow, Black Hill Cove, my good man,” said I. - -“I hear a voice,” said he, “a young voice. Will you give me your hand, -my kind young friend, and lead me in?” - -I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, eyeless creature -gripped it in a moment like a vise. I was so much startled that I -struggled to withdraw, but the blind man pulled me close up to him with -a single action of his arm. - -“Now, boy,” he said, “take me in to the captain.” - -“Sir,” said I, “upon my word I dare not.” - -“Oh,” he sneered, “that’s it! Take me in straight or I’ll break your -arm.” - -And he gave it, as he spoke, a wrench that made me cry out. - -“Sir,” said I, “it is for yourself I mean. The captain is not what he -used to be. He sits with a drawn cutlass. Another gentleman--” - -“Come, now, march,” interrupted he; and I never heard a voice so cruel, -and cold, and ugly as that blind man’s. It cowed me more than the pain, -and I began to obey him at once, walking straight in at the door and -towards the parlour, where our sick old buccaneer was sitting, dazed -with rum. The blind man clung close to me, holding me in one iron fist -and leaning almost more of his weight on me than I could carry. “Lead me -straight up to him, and when I’m in view, cry out, ‘Here’s a friend -for you, Bill.’ If you don’t, I’ll do this,” and with that he gave me a -twitch that I thought would have made me faint. Between this and that, I -was so utterly terrified of the blind beggar that I forgot my terror of -the captain, and as I opened the parlour door, cried out the words he -had ordered in a trembling voice. - -The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look the rum went out of -him and left him staring sober. The expression of his face was not so -much of terror as of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but I -do not believe he had enough force left in his body. - -“Now, Bill, sit where you are,” said the beggar. “If I can’t see, I can -hear a finger stirring. Business is business. Hold out your left hand. -Boy, take his left hand by the wrist and bring it near to my right.” - -We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass something from the -hollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain’s, -which closed upon it instantly. - -“And now that’s done,” said the blind man; and at the words he suddenly -left hold of me, and with incredible accuracy and nimbleness, -skipped out of the parlour and into the road, where, as I still stood -motionless, I could hear his stick go tap-tap-tapping into the distance. - -It was some time before either I or the captain seemed to gather our -senses, but at length, and about at the same moment, I released his -wrist, which I was still holding, and he drew in his hand and looked -sharply into the palm. - -“Ten o’clock!” he cried. “Six hours. We’ll do them yet,” and he sprang -to his feet. - -Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swaying -for a moment, and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his whole -height face foremost to the floor. - -I ran to him at once, calling to my mother. But haste was all in vain. -The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy. It is a curious -thing to understand, for I had certainly never liked the man, though of -late I had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was dead, I -burst into a flood of tears. It was the second death I had known, and -the sorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart. - - - - -IV -The Sea-chest - - -I lost no time, of course, in telling my mother all that I knew, and -perhaps should have told her long before, and we saw ourselves at once -in a difficult and dangerous position. Some of the man’s money--if -he had any--was certainly due to us, but it was not likely that our -captain’s shipmates, above all the two specimens seen by me, Black -Dog and the blind beggar, would be inclined to give up their booty in -payment of the dead man’s debts. The captain’s order to mount at -once and ride for Doctor Livesey would have left my mother alone -and unprotected, which was not to be thought of. Indeed, it seemed -impossible for either of us to remain much longer in the house; the fall -of coals in the kitchen grate, the very ticking of the clock, filled -us with alarms. The neighbourhood, to our ears, seemed haunted by -approaching footsteps; and what between the dead body of the captain -on the parlour floor and the thought of that detestable blind beggar -hovering near at hand and ready to return, there were moments when, as -the saying goes, I jumped in my skin for terror. Something must speedily -be resolved upon, and it occurred to us at last to go forth together -and seek help in the neighbouring hamlet. No sooner said than done. -Bare-headed as we were, we ran out at once in the gathering evening and -the frosty fog. - -The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, though out of view, on the -other side of the next cove; and what greatly encouraged me, it was -in an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had made his -appearance and whither he had presumably returned. We were not many -minutes on the road, though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of each -other and hearken. But there was no unusual sound--nothing but the low -wash of the ripple and the croaking of the inmates of the wood. - -It was already candle-light when we reached the hamlet, and I shall -never forget how much I was cheered to see the yellow shine in doors and -windows; but that, as it proved, was the best of the help we were likely -to get in that quarter. For--you would have thought men would have been -ashamed of themselves--no soul would consent to return with us to the -Admiral Benbow. The more we told of our troubles, the more--man, woman, -and child--they clung to the shelter of their houses. The name of -Captain Flint, though it was strange to me, was well enough known to -some there and carried a great weight of terror. Some of the men who -had been to field-work on the far side of the Admiral Benbow remembered, -besides, to have seen several strangers on the road, and taking them to -be smugglers, to have bolted away; and one at least had seen a little -lugger in what we called Kitt’s Hole. For that matter, anyone who was a -comrade of the captain’s was enough to frighten them to death. And the -short and the long of the matter was, that while we could get several -who were willing enough to ride to Dr. Livesey’s, which lay in another -direction, not one would help us to defend the inn. - -They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the other -hand, a great emboldener; and so when each had said his say, my mother -made them a speech. She would not, she declared, lose money that -belonged to her fatherless boy; “If none of the rest of you dare,” - she said, “Jim and I dare. Back we will go, the way we came, and small -thanks to you big, hulking, chicken-hearted men. We’ll have that chest -open, if we die for it. And I’ll thank you for that bag, Mrs. Crossley, -to bring back our lawful money in.” - -Of course I said I would go with my mother, and of course they all cried -out at our foolhardiness, but even then not a man would go along with -us. All they would do was to give me a loaded pistol lest we were -attacked, and to promise to have horses ready saddled in case we were -pursued on our return, while one lad was to ride forward to the doctor’s -in search of armed assistance. - -My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the cold night upon -this dangerous venture. A full moon was beginning to rise and peered -redly through the upper edges of the fog, and this increased our haste, -for it was plain, before we came forth again, that all would be as -bright as day, and our departure exposed to the eyes of any watchers. -We slipped along the hedges, noiseless and swift, nor did we see or hear -anything to increase our terrors, till, to our relief, the door of the -Admiral Benbow had closed behind us. - -I slipped the bolt at once, and we stood and panted for a moment in the -dark, alone in the house with the dead captain’s body. Then my mother -got a candle in the bar, and holding each other’s hands, we advanced -into the parlour. He lay as we had left him, on his back, with his eyes -open and one arm stretched out. - -“Draw down the blind, Jim,” whispered my mother; “they might come and -watch outside. And now,” said she when I had done so, “we have to get -the key off _that;_ and who’s to touch it, I should like to know!” and she -gave a kind of sob as she said the words. - -I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to his hand there -was a little round of paper, blackened on the one side. I could not -doubt that this was the _black spot;_ and taking it up, I found written -on the other side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message: “You -have till ten tonight.” - -“He had till ten, Mother,” said I; and just as I said it, our old clock -began striking. This sudden noise startled us shockingly; but the news -was good, for it was only six. - -“Now, Jim,” she said, “that key.” - -I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few small coins, a thimble, -and some thread and big needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away -at the end, his gully with the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and a -tinder box were all that they contained, and I began to despair. - -“Perhaps it’s round his neck,” suggested my mother. - -Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open his shirt at the neck, and -there, sure enough, hanging to a bit of tarry string, which I cut with -his own gully, we found the key. At this triumph we were filled with -hope and hurried upstairs without delay to the little room where he had -slept so long and where his box had stood since the day of his arrival. - -It was like any other seaman’s chest on the outside, the initial “B” - burned on the top of it with a hot iron, and the corners somewhat -smashed and broken as by long, rough usage. - -“Give me the key,” said my mother; and though the lock was very stiff, -she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling. - -A strong smell of tobacco and tar rose from the interior, but nothing -was to be seen on the top except a suit of very good clothes, carefully -brushed and folded. They had never been worn, my mother said. Under -that, the miscellany began--a quadrant, a tin canikin, several sticks of -tobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols, a piece of bar silver, an -old Spanish watch and some other trinkets of little value and mostly of -foreign make, a pair of compasses mounted with brass, and five or six -curious West Indian shells. I have often wondered since why he should -have carried about these shells with him in his wandering, guilty, and -hunted life. - -In the meantime, we had found nothing of any value but the silver and -the trinkets, and neither of these were in our way. Underneath there -was an old boat-cloak, whitened with sea-salt on many a harbour-bar. My -mother pulled it up with impatience, and there lay before us, the last -things in the chest, a bundle tied up in oilcloth, and looking like -papers, and a canvas bag that gave forth, at a touch, the jingle of -gold. - -“I’ll show these rogues that I’m an honest woman,” said my mother. “I’ll -have my dues, and not a farthing over. Hold Mrs. Crossley’s bag.” And -she began to count over the amount of the captain’s score from the -sailor’s bag into the one that I was holding. - -It was a long, difficult business, for the coins were of all countries -and sizes--doubloons, and louis d’ors, and guineas, and pieces of eight, -and I know not what besides, all shaken together at random. The guineas, -too, were about the scarcest, and it was with these only that my mother -knew how to make her count. - -When we were about half-way through, I suddenly put my hand upon her -arm, for I had heard in the silent frosty air a sound that brought my -heart into my mouth--the tap-tapping of the blind man’s stick upon the -frozen road. It drew nearer and nearer, while we sat holding our breath. -Then it struck sharp on the inn door, and then we could hear the handle -being turned and the bolt rattling as the wretched being tried to enter; -and then there was a long time of silence both within and without. -At last the tapping recommenced, and, to our indescribable joy and -gratitude, died slowly away again until it ceased to be heard. - -“Mother,” said I, “take the whole and let’s be going,” for I was sure -the bolted door must have seemed suspicious and would bring the whole -hornet’s nest about our ears, though how thankful I was that I had -bolted it, none could tell who had never met that terrible blind man. - -But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent to take a -fraction more than was due to her and was obstinately unwilling to be -content with less. It was not yet seven, she said, by a long way; she -knew her rights and she would have them; and she was still arguing with -me when a little low whistle sounded a good way off upon the hill. That -was enough, and more than enough, for both of us. - -“I’ll take what I have,” she said, jumping to her feet. - -“And I’ll take this to square the count,” said I, picking up the oilskin -packet. - -Next moment we were both groping downstairs, leaving the candle by -the empty chest; and the next we had opened the door and were in full -retreat. We had not started a moment too soon. The fog was rapidly -dispersing; already the moon shone quite clear on the high ground on -either side; and it was only in the exact bottom of the dell and round -the tavern door that a thin veil still hung unbroken to conceal the -first steps of our escape. Far less than half-way to the hamlet, very -little beyond the bottom of the hill, we must come forth into the -moonlight. Nor was this all, for the sound of several footsteps running -came already to our ears, and as we looked back in their direction, a -light tossing to and fro and still rapidly advancing showed that one of -the newcomers carried a lantern. - -“My dear,” said my mother suddenly, “take the money and run on. I am -going to faint.” - -This was certainly the end for both of us, I thought. How I cursed the -cowardice of the neighbours; how I blamed my poor mother for her honesty -and her greed, for her past foolhardiness and present weakness! We were -just at the little bridge, by good fortune; and I helped her, tottering -as she was, to the edge of the bank, where, sure enough, she gave a sigh -and fell on my shoulder. I do not know how I found the strength to do it -at all, and I am afraid it was roughly done, but I managed to drag her -down the bank and a little way under the arch. Farther I could not move -her, for the bridge was too low to let me do more than crawl below it. -So there we had to stay--my mother almost entirely exposed and both of -us within earshot of the inn. - - - - -V -The Last of the Blind Man - - -My curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear, for I could not -remain where I was, but crept back to the bank again, whence, sheltering -my head behind a bush of broom, I might command the road before our -door. I was scarcely in position ere my enemies began to arrive, seven -or eight of them, running hard, their feet beating out of time along -the road and the man with the lantern some paces in front. Three men ran -together, hand in hand; and I made out, even through the mist, that the -middle man of this trio was the blind beggar. The next moment his voice -showed me that I was right. - -“Down with the door!” he cried. - -“Aye, aye, sir!” answered two or three; and a rush was made upon the -Admiral Benbow, the lantern-bearer following; and then I could see -them pause, and hear speeches passed in a lower key, as if they were -surprised to find the door open. But the pause was brief, for the blind -man again issued his commands. His voice sounded louder and higher, as -if he were afire with eagerness and rage. - -“In, in, in!” he shouted, and cursed them for their delay. - -Four or five of them obeyed at once, two remaining on the road with the -formidable beggar. There was a pause, then a cry of surprise, and then a -voice shouting from the house, “Bill’s dead.” - -But the blind man swore at them again for their delay. - -“Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest of you aloft and -get the chest,” he cried. - -I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so that the -house must have shook with it. Promptly afterwards, fresh sounds of -astonishment arose; the window of the captain’s room was thrown open -with a slam and a jingle of broken glass, and a man leaned out into the -moonlight, head and shoulders, and addressed the blind beggar on the -road below him. - -“Pew,” he cried, “they’ve been before us. Someone’s turned the chest out -alow and aloft.” - -“Is it there?” roared Pew. - -“The money’s there.” - -The blind man cursed the money. - -“Flint’s fist, I mean,” he cried. - -“We don’t see it here nohow,” returned the man. - -“Here, you below there, is it on Bill?” cried the blind man again. - -At that another fellow, probably him who had remained below to search -the captain’s body, came to the door of the inn. “Bill’s been overhauled -a’ready,” said he; “nothin’ left.” - -“It’s these people of the inn--it’s that boy. I wish I had put his eyes -out!” cried the blind man, Pew. “There were no time ago--they had the -door bolted when I tried it. Scatter, lads, and find ’em.” - -“Sure enough, they left their glim here,” said the fellow from the -window. - -“Scatter and find ’em! Rout the house out!” reiterated Pew, striking -with his stick upon the road. - -Then there followed a great to-do through all our old inn, heavy feet -pounding to and fro, furniture thrown over, doors kicked in, until the -very rocks re-echoed and the men came out again, one after another, on -the road and declared that we were nowhere to be found. And just -the same whistle that had alarmed my mother and myself over the dead -captain’s money was once more clearly audible through the night, -but this time twice repeated. I had thought it to be the blind man’s -trumpet, so to speak, summoning his crew to the assault, but I now found -that it was a signal from the hillside towards the hamlet, and from its -effect upon the buccaneers, a signal to warn them of approaching danger. - -“There’s Dirk again,” said one. “Twice! We’ll have to budge, mates.” - -“Budge, you skulk!” cried Pew. “Dirk was a fool and a coward from the -first--you wouldn’t mind him. They must be close by; they can’t be far; -you have your hands on it. Scatter and look for them, dogs! Oh, shiver -my soul,” he cried, “if I had eyes!” - -This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two of the fellows began -to look here and there among the lumber, but half-heartedly, I thought, -and with half an eye to their own danger all the time, while the rest -stood irresolute on the road. - -“You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and you hang a leg! You’d -be as rich as kings if you could find it, and you know it’s here, and -you stand there skulking. There wasn’t one of you dared face Bill, and -I did it--a blind man! And I’m to lose my chance for you! I’m to be a -poor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in a -coach! If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit you would catch -them still.” - -“Hang it, Pew, we’ve got the doubloons!” grumbled one. - -“They might have hid the blessed thing,” said another. “Take the -Georges, Pew, and don’t stand here squalling.” - -Squalling was the word for it; Pew’s anger rose so high at these -objections till at last, his passion completely taking the upper hand, -he struck at them right and left in his blindness and his stick sounded -heavily on more than one. - -These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant, threatened him -in horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch the stick and wrest it from -his grasp. - -This quarrel was the saving of us, for while it was still raging, -another sound came from the top of the hill on the side of the -hamlet--the tramp of horses galloping. Almost at the same time a -pistol-shot, flash and report, came from the hedge side. And that was -plainly the last signal of danger, for the buccaneers turned at once -and ran, separating in every direction, one seaward along the cove, one -slant across the hill, and so on, so that in half a minute not a sign of -them remained but Pew. Him they had deserted, whether in sheer panic -or out of revenge for his ill words and blows I know not; but there he -remained behind, tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping -and calling for his comrades. Finally he took a wrong turn and ran a few -steps past me, towards the hamlet, crying, “Johnny, Black Dog, Dirk,” - and other names, “you won’t leave old Pew, mates--not old Pew!” - -Just then the noise of horses topped the rise, and four or five riders -came in sight in the moonlight and swept at full gallop down the slope. - -At this Pew saw his error, turned with a scream, and ran straight for -the ditch, into which he rolled. But he was on his feet again in a -second and made another dash, now utterly bewildered, right under the -nearest of the coming horses. - -The rider tried to save him, but in vain. Down went Pew with a cry that -rang high into the night; and the four hoofs trampled and spurned him -and passed by. He fell on his side, then gently collapsed upon his face -and moved no more. - -I leaped to my feet and hailed the riders. They were pulling up, at any -rate, horrified at the accident; and I soon saw what they were. One, -tailing out behind the rest, was a lad that had gone from the hamlet to -Dr. Livesey’s; the rest were revenue officers, whom he had met by the -way, and with whom he had had the intelligence to return at once. Some -news of the lugger in Kitt’s Hole had found its way to Supervisor Dance -and set him forth that night in our direction, and to that circumstance -my mother and I owed our preservation from death. - -Pew was dead, stone dead. As for my mother, when we had carried her up -to the hamlet, a little cold water and salts and that soon brought her -back again, and she was none the worse for her terror, though she still -continued to deplore the balance of the money. In the meantime the -supervisor rode on, as fast as he could, to Kitt’s Hole; but his men -had to dismount and grope down the dingle, leading, and sometimes -supporting, their horses, and in continual fear of ambushes; so it was -no great matter for surprise that when they got down to the Hole the -lugger was already under way, though still close in. He hailed her. A -voice replied, telling him to keep out of the moonlight or he would get -some lead in him, and at the same time a bullet whistled close by his -arm. Soon after, the lugger doubled the point and disappeared. Mr. Dance -stood there, as he said, “like a fish out of water,” and all he could do -was to dispatch a man to B---- to warn the cutter. “And that,” said he, -“is just about as good as nothing. They’ve got off clean, and there’s -an end. Only,” he added, “I’m glad I trod on Master Pew’s corns,” for by -this time he had heard my story. - -I went back with him to the Admiral Benbow, and you cannot imagine a -house in such a state of smash; the very clock had been thrown down -by these fellows in their furious hunt after my mother and myself; -and though nothing had actually been taken away except the captain’s -money-bag and a little silver from the till, I could see at once that we -were ruined. Mr. Dance could make nothing of the scene. - -“They got the money, you say? Well, then, Hawkins, what in fortune were -they after? More money, I suppose?” - -“No, sir; not money, I think,” replied I. “In fact, sir, I believe I -have the thing in my breast pocket; and to tell you the truth, I should -like to get it put in safety.” - -“To be sure, boy; quite right,” said he. “I’ll take it, if you like.” - -“I thought perhaps Dr. Livesey--” I began. - -“Perfectly right,” he interrupted very cheerily, “perfectly right--a -gentleman and a magistrate. And, now I come to think of it, I might as -well ride round there myself and report to him or squire. Master Pew’s -dead, when all’s done; not that I regret it, but he’s dead, you see, and -people will make it out against an officer of his Majesty’s revenue, -if make it out they can. Now, I’ll tell you, Hawkins, if you like, I’ll -take you along.” - -I thanked him heartily for the offer, and we walked back to the hamlet -where the horses were. By the time I had told mother of my purpose they -were all in the saddle. - -“Dogger,” said Mr. Dance, “you have a good horse; take up this lad -behind you.” - -As soon as I was mounted, holding on to Dogger’s belt, the supervisor -gave the word, and the party struck out at a bouncing trot on the road -to Dr. Livesey’s house. - - - - -VI -The Captain’s Papers - - -We rode hard all the way till we drew up before Dr. Livesey’s door. The -house was all dark to the front. - -Mr. Dance told me to jump down and knock, and Dogger gave me a stirrup -to descend by. The door was opened almost at once by the maid. - -“Is Dr. Livesey in?” I asked. - -No, she said, he had come home in the afternoon but had gone up to the -hall to dine and pass the evening with the squire. - -“So there we go, boys,” said Mr. Dance. - -This time, as the distance was short, I did not mount, but ran with -Dogger’s stirrup-leather to the lodge gates and up the long, leafless, -moonlit avenue to where the white line of the hall buildings looked on -either hand on great old gardens. Here Mr. Dance dismounted, and taking -me along with him, was admitted at a word into the house. - -The servant led us down a matted passage and showed us at the end into a -great library, all lined with bookcases and busts upon the top of them, -where the squire and Dr. Livesey sat, pipe in hand, on either side of a -bright fire. - -I had never seen the squire so near at hand. He was a tall man, over six -feet high, and broad in proportion, and he had a bluff, rough-and-ready -face, all roughened and reddened and lined in his long travels. His -eyebrows were very black, and moved readily, and this gave him a look of -some temper, not bad, you would say, but quick and high. - -“Come in, Mr. Dance,” says he, very stately and condescending. - -“Good evening, Dance,” says the doctor with a nod. “And good evening to -you, friend Jim. What good wind brings you here?” - -The supervisor stood up straight and stiff and told his story like a -lesson; and you should have seen how the two gentlemen leaned forward -and looked at each other, and forgot to smoke in their surprise and -interest. When they heard how my mother went back to the inn, Dr. -Livesey fairly slapped his thigh, and the squire cried “Bravo!” and -broke his long pipe against the grate. Long before it was done, Mr. -Trelawney (that, you will remember, was the squire’s name) had got up -from his seat and was striding about the room, and the doctor, as if to -hear the better, had taken off his powdered wig and sat there looking -very strange indeed with his own close-cropped black poll. - -At last Mr. Dance finished the story. - -“Mr. Dance,” said the squire, “you are a very noble fellow. And as for -riding down that black, atrocious miscreant, I regard it as an act of -virtue, sir, like stamping on a cockroach. This lad Hawkins is a trump, -I perceive. Hawkins, will you ring that bell? Mr. Dance must have some -ale.” - -“And so, Jim,” said the doctor, “you have the thing that they were -after, have you?” - -“Here it is, sir,” said I, and gave him the oilskin packet. - -The doctor looked it all over, as if his fingers were itching to open -it; but instead of doing that, he put it quietly in the pocket of his -coat. - -“Squire,” said he, “when Dance has had his ale he must, of course, be -off on his Majesty’s service; but I mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to -sleep at my house, and with your permission, I propose we should have up -the cold pie and let him sup.” - -“As you will, Livesey,” said the squire; “Hawkins has earned better than -cold pie.” - -So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a sidetable, and I made -a hearty supper, for I was as hungry as a hawk, while Mr. Dance was -further complimented and at last dismissed. - -“And now, squire,” said the doctor. - -“And now, Livesey,” said the squire in the same breath. - -“One at a time, one at a time,” laughed Dr. Livesey. “You have heard of -this Flint, I suppose?” - -“Heard of him!” cried the squire. “Heard of him, you say! He was the -bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed. Blackbeard was a child to Flint. -The Spaniards were so prodigiously afraid of him that, I tell you, sir, -I was sometimes proud he was an Englishman. I’ve seen his top-sails with -these eyes, off Trinidad, and the cowardly son of a rum-puncheon that I -sailed with put back--put back, sir, into Port of Spain.” - -“Well, I’ve heard of him myself, in England,” said the doctor. “But the -point is, had he money?” - -“Money!” cried the squire. “Have you heard the story? What were these -villains after but money? What do they care for but money? For what -would they risk their rascal carcasses but money?” - -“That we shall soon know,” replied the doctor. “But you are so -confoundedly hot-headed and exclamatory that I cannot get a word in. -What I want to know is this: Supposing that I have here in my pocket -some clue to where Flint buried his treasure, will that treasure amount -to much?” - -“Amount, sir!” cried the squire. “It will amount to this: If we have the -clue you talk about, I fit out a ship in Bristol dock, and take you and -Hawkins here along, and I’ll have that treasure if I search a year.” - -“Very well,” said the doctor. “Now, then, if Jim is agreeable, we’ll -open the packet”; and he laid it before him on the table. - -The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had to get out his -instrument case and cut the stitches with his medical scissors. It -contained two things--a book and a sealed paper. - -“First of all we’ll try the book,” observed the doctor. - -The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder as he opened -it, for Dr. Livesey had kindly motioned me to come round from the -side-table, where I had been eating, to enjoy the sport of the search. -On the first page there were only some scraps of writing, such as a man -with a pen in his hand might make for idleness or practice. One was the -same as the tattoo mark, “Billy Bones his fancy”; then there was “Mr. W. -Bones, mate,” “No more rum,” “Off Palm Key he got itt,” and some other -snatches, mostly single words and unintelligible. I could not help -wondering who it was that had “got itt,” and what “itt” was that he got. -A knife in his back as like as not. - -“Not much instruction there,” said Dr. Livesey as he passed on. - -The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a curious series of -entries. There was a date at one end of the line and at the other a -sum of money, as in common account-books, but instead of explanatory -writing, only a varying number of crosses between the two. On the 12th -of June, 1745, for instance, a sum of seventy pounds had plainly become -due to someone, and there was nothing but six crosses to explain the -cause. In a few cases, to be sure, the name of a place would be added, -as “Offe Caraccas,” or a mere entry of latitude and longitude, as “62o -17′ 20″, 19o 2′ 40″.” - -The record lasted over nearly twenty years, the amount of the separate -entries growing larger as time went on, and at the end a grand total -had been made out after five or six wrong additions, and these words -appended, “Bones, his pile.” - -“I can’t make head or tail of this,” said Dr. Livesey. - -“The thing is as clear as noonday,” cried the squire. “This is the -black-hearted hound’s account-book. These crosses stand for the names of -ships or towns that they sank or plundered. The sums are the scoundrel’s -share, and where he feared an ambiguity, you see he added something -clearer. ‘Offe Caraccas,’ now; you see, here was some unhappy vessel -boarded off that coast. God help the poor souls that manned her--coral -long ago.” - -“Right!” said the doctor. “See what it is to be a traveller. Right! And -the amounts increase, you see, as he rose in rank.” - -There was little else in the volume but a few bearings of places noted -in the blank leaves towards the end and a table for reducing French, -English, and Spanish moneys to a common value. - -“Thrifty man!” cried the doctor. “He wasn’t the one to be cheated.” - -“And now,” said the squire, “for the other.” - -The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble by way of -seal; the very thimble, perhaps, that I had found in the captain’s -pocket. The doctor opened the seals with great care, and there fell out -the map of an island, with latitude and longitude, soundings, names of -hills and bays and inlets, and every particular that would be needed -to bring a ship to a safe anchorage upon its shores. It was about nine -miles long and five across, shaped, you might say, like a fat dragon -standing up, and had two fine land-locked harbours, and a hill in the -centre part marked “The Spy-glass.” There were several additions of a -later date, but above all, three crosses of red ink--two on the north -part of the island, one in the southwest--and beside this last, in -the same red ink, and in a small, neat hand, very different from the -captain’s tottery characters, these words: “Bulk of treasure here.” - -Over on the back the same hand had written this further information: - - Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to - the N. of N.N.E. - - Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E. - - Ten feet. - - The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find - it by the trend of the east hummock, ten fathoms - south of the black crag with the face on it. - - The arms are easy found, in the sand-hill, N. - point of north inlet cape, bearing E. and a - quarter N. - J.F. - -That was all; but brief as it was, and to me incomprehensible, it filled -the squire and Dr. Livesey with delight. - -“Livesey,” said the squire, “you will give up this wretched practice -at once. Tomorrow I start for Bristol. In three weeks’ time--three -weeks!--two weeks--ten days--we’ll have the best ship, sir, and the -choicest crew in England. Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy. You’ll make -a famous cabin-boy, Hawkins. You, Livesey, are ship’s doctor; I am -admiral. We’ll take Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter. We’ll have favourable -winds, a quick passage, and not the least difficulty in finding the -spot, and money to eat, to roll in, to play duck and drake with ever -after.” - -“Trelawney,” said the doctor, “I’ll go with you; and I’ll go bail for -it, so will Jim, and be a credit to the undertaking. There’s only one -man I’m afraid of.” - -“And who’s that?” cried the squire. “Name the dog, sir!” - -“You,” replied the doctor; “for you cannot hold your tongue. We are not -the only men who know of this paper. These fellows who attacked the -inn tonight--bold, desperate blades, for sure--and the rest who stayed -aboard that lugger, and more, I dare say, not far off, are, one and all, -through thick and thin, bound that they’ll get that money. We must none -of us go alone till we get to sea. Jim and I shall stick together in the -meanwhile; you’ll take Joyce and Hunter when you ride to Bristol, and -from first to last, not one of us must breathe a word of what we’ve -found.” - -“Livesey,” returned the squire, “you are always in the right of it. I’ll -be as silent as the grave.” - - - - -PART TWO--The Sea-cook - - - - -VII -I Go to Bristol - - -It was longer than the squire imagined ere we were ready for the sea, -and none of our first plans--not even Dr. Livesey’s, of keeping me -beside him--could be carried out as we intended. The doctor had to go -to London for a physician to take charge of his practice; the squire was -hard at work at Bristol; and I lived on at the hall under the charge of -old Redruth, the gamekeeper, almost a prisoner, but full of sea-dreams -and the most charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures. -I brooded by the hour together over the map, all the details of which -I well remembered. Sitting by the fire in the housekeeper’s room, I -approached that island in my fancy from every possible direction; I -explored every acre of its surface; I climbed a thousand times to that -tall hill they call the Spy-glass, and from the top enjoyed the most -wonderful and changing prospects. Sometimes the isle was thick with -savages, with whom we fought, sometimes full of dangerous animals that -hunted us, but in all my fancies nothing occurred to me so strange and -tragic as our actual adventures. - -So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there came a letter addressed -to Dr. Livesey, with this addition, “To be opened, in the case of his -absence, by Tom Redruth or young Hawkins.” Obeying this order, we -found, or rather I found--for the gamekeeper was a poor hand at reading -anything but print--the following important news: - - _Old Anchor Inn, Bristol, March 1, 17--._ - - Dear Livesey--As I do not know whether you - are at the hall or still in London, I send this in - double to both places. - - The ship is bought and fitted. She lies at - anchor, ready for sea. You never imagined a - sweeter schooner--a child might sail her--two - hundred tons; name, HISPANIOLA. - - I got her through my old friend, Blandly, who - has proved himself throughout the most surprising - trump. The admirable fellow literally slaved in - my interest, and so, I may say, did everyone in - Bristol, as soon as they got wind of the port we - sailed for--treasure, I mean. - -“Redruth,” said I, interrupting the letter, “Dr. Livesey will not like -that. The squire has been talking, after all.” - -“Well, who’s a better right?” growled the gamekeeper. “A pretty rum go -if squire ain’t to talk for Dr. Livesey, I should think.” - -At that I gave up all attempts at commentary and read straight on: - - Blandly himself found the HISPANIOLA, and - by the most admirable management got her for the - merest trifle. There is a class of men in Bristol - monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. They go - the length of declaring that this honest creature - would do anything for money, that the HISPANIOLA - belonged to him, and that he sold it me absurdly - high--the most transparent calumnies. None of them - dare, however, to deny the merits of the ship. - - So far there was not a hitch. The - workpeople, to be sure--riggers and what not--were - most annoyingly slow; but time cured that. It was - the crew that troubled me. - - I wished a round score of men--in case of - natives, buccaneers, or the odious French--and I - had the worry of the deuce itself to find so much - as half a dozen, till the most remarkable stroke - of fortune brought me the very man that I - required. - - I was standing on the dock, when, by the - merest accident, I fell in talk with him. I found - he was an old sailor, kept a public-house, knew - all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his - health ashore, and wanted a good berth as cook to - get to sea again. He had hobbled down there that - morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt. - - I was monstrously touched--so would you have - been--and, out of pure pity, I engaged him on the - spot to be ship’s cook. Long John Silver, he is - called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as - a recommendation, since he lost it in his - country’s service, under the immortal Hawke. He - has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable - age we live in! - - Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, - but it was a crew I had discovered. Between - Silver and myself we got together in a few days a - company of the toughest old salts imaginable--not - pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of - the most indomitable spirit. I declare we could - fight a frigate. - - Long John even got rid of two out of the six - or seven I had already engaged. He showed me in a - moment that they were just the sort of fresh-water - swabs we had to fear in an adventure of - importance. - - I am in the most magnificent health and - spirits, eating like a bull, sleeping like a tree, - yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I hear my old - tarpaulins tramping round the capstan. Seaward, - ho! Hang the treasure! It’s the glory of the sea - that has turned my head. So now, Livesey, come - post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me. - - Let young Hawkins go at once to see his - mother, with Redruth for a guard; and then both - come full speed to Bristol. - John Trelawney - - _Postscript._--I did not tell you that Blandly, - who, by the way, is to send a consort after us if - we don’t turn up by the end of August, had found - an admirable fellow for sailing master--a stiff - man, which I regret, but in all other respects a - treasure. Long John Silver unearthed a very - competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I - have a boatswain who pipes, Livesey; so things - shall go man-o’-war fashion on board the good ship - HISPANIOLA. - - I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of - substance; I know of my own knowledge that he has - a banker’s account, which has never been - overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; - and as she is a woman of colour, a pair of old - bachelors like you and I may be excused for - guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the - health, that sends him back to roving. - J. T. - - P.P.S.--Hawkins may stay one night with his - mother. - J. T. - -You can fancy the excitement into which that letter put me. I was half -beside myself with glee; and if ever I despised a man, it was old -Tom Redruth, who could do nothing but grumble and lament. Any of the -under-gamekeepers would gladly have changed places with him; but such -was not the squire’s pleasure, and the squire’s pleasure was like law -among them all. Nobody but old Redruth would have dared so much as even -to grumble. - -The next morning he and I set out on foot for the Admiral Benbow, and -there I found my mother in good health and spirits. The captain, who had -so long been a cause of so much discomfort, was gone where the wicked -cease from troubling. The squire had had everything repaired, and the -public rooms and the sign repainted, and had added some furniture--above -all a beautiful armchair for mother in the bar. He had found her a boy -as an apprentice also so that she should not want help while I was gone. - -It was on seeing that boy that I understood, for the first time, my -situation. I had thought up to that moment of the adventures before me, -not at all of the home that I was leaving; and now, at sight of this -clumsy stranger, who was to stay here in my place beside my mother, I -had my first attack of tears. I am afraid I led that boy a dog’s life, -for as he was new to the work, I had a hundred opportunities of setting -him right and putting him down, and I was not slow to profit by them. - -The night passed, and the next day, after dinner, Redruth and I were -afoot again and on the road. I said good-bye to Mother and the -cove where I had lived since I was born, and the dear old Admiral -Benbow--since he was repainted, no longer quite so dear. One of my last -thoughts was of the captain, who had so often strode along the beach -with his cocked hat, his sabre-cut cheek, and his old brass telescope. -Next moment we had turned the corner and my home was out of sight. - -The mail picked us up about dusk at the Royal George on the heath. I was -wedged in between Redruth and a stout old gentleman, and in spite of the -swift motion and the cold night air, I must have dozed a great deal from -the very first, and then slept like a log up hill and down dale through -stage after stage, for when I was awakened at last it was by a punch -in the ribs, and I opened my eyes to find that we were standing still -before a large building in a city street and that the day had already -broken a long time. - -“Where are we?” I asked. - -“Bristol,” said Tom. “Get down.” - -Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn far down the docks to -superintend the work upon the schooner. Thither we had now to walk, and -our way, to my great delight, lay along the quays and beside the great -multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations. In one, sailors -were singing at their work, in another there were men aloft, high over -my head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than a spider’s. -Though I had lived by the shore all my life, I seemed never to have been -near the sea till then. The smell of tar and salt was something new. -I saw the most wonderful figureheads, that had all been far over the -ocean. I saw, besides, many old sailors, with rings in their ears, and -whiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pigtails, and their swaggering, -clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings or archbishops I could -not have been more delighted. - -And I was going to sea myself, to sea in a schooner, with a piping -boatswain and pig-tailed singing seamen, to sea, bound for an unknown -island, and to seek for buried treasure! - -While I was still in this delightful dream, we came suddenly in front -of a large inn and met Squire Trelawney, all dressed out like a -sea-officer, in stout blue cloth, coming out of the door with a smile on -his face and a capital imitation of a sailor’s walk. - -“Here you are,” he cried, “and the doctor came last night from London. -Bravo! The ship’s company complete!” - -“Oh, sir,” cried I, “when do we sail?” - -“Sail!” says he. “We sail tomorrow!” - - - - -VIII -At the Sign of the Spy-glass - - -When I had done breakfasting the squire gave me a note addressed to John -Silver, at the sign of the Spy-glass, and told me I should easily -find the place by following the line of the docks and keeping a bright -lookout for a little tavern with a large brass telescope for sign. I -set off, overjoyed at this opportunity to see some more of the ships and -seamen, and picked my way among a great crowd of people and carts and -bales, for the dock was now at its busiest, until I found the tavern in -question. - -It was a bright enough little place of entertainment. The sign was -newly painted; the windows had neat red curtains; the floor was cleanly -sanded. There was a street on each side and an open door on both, which -made the large, low room pretty clear to see in, in spite of clouds of -tobacco smoke. - -The customers were mostly seafaring men, and they talked so loudly that -I hung at the door, almost afraid to enter. - -As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, and at a glance I was -sure he must be Long John. His left leg was cut off close by the hip, -and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with -wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very tall -and strong, with a face as big as a ham--plain and pale, but intelligent -and smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheerful spirits, whistling -as he moved about among the tables, with a merry word or a slap on the -shoulder for the more favoured of his guests. - -Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first mention of Long John in -Squire Trelawney’s letter I had taken a fear in my mind that he might -prove to be the very one-legged sailor whom I had watched for so long at -the old Benbow. But one look at the man before me was enough. I had seen -the captain, and Black Dog, and the blind man, Pew, and I thought I knew -what a buccaneer was like--a very different creature, according to me, -from this clean and pleasant-tempered landlord. - -I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, and walked right up -to the man where he stood, propped on his crutch, talking to a customer. - -“Mr. Silver, sir?” I asked, holding out the note. - -“Yes, my lad,” said he; “such is my name, to be sure. And who may you -be?” And then as he saw the squire’s letter, he seemed to me to give -something almost like a start. - -“Oh!” said he, quite loud, and offering his hand. “I see. You are our -new cabin-boy; pleased I am to see you.” - -And he took my hand in his large firm grasp. - -Just then one of the customers at the far side rose suddenly and made -for the door. It was close by him, and he was out in the street in a -moment. But his hurry had attracted my notice, and I recognized him at -glance. It was the tallow-faced man, wanting two fingers, who had come -first to the Admiral Benbow. - -“Oh,” I cried, “stop him! It’s Black Dog!” - -“I don’t care two coppers who he is,” cried Silver. “But he hasn’t paid -his score. Harry, run and catch him.” - -One of the others who was nearest the door leaped up and started in -pursuit. - -“If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score,” cried Silver; and -then, relinquishing my hand, “Who did you say he was?” he asked. “Black -what?” - -“Dog, sir,” said I. “Has Mr. Trelawney not told you of the buccaneers? -He was one of them.” - -“So?” cried Silver. “In my house! Ben, run and help Harry. One of those -swabs, was he? Was that you drinking with him, Morgan? Step up here.” - -The man whom he called Morgan--an old, grey-haired, mahogany-faced -sailor--came forward pretty sheepishly, rolling his quid. - -“Now, Morgan,” said Long John very sternly, “you never clapped your eyes -on that Black--Black Dog before, did you, now?” - -“Not I, sir,” said Morgan with a salute. - -“You didn’t know his name, did you?” - -“No, sir.” - -“By the powers, Tom Morgan, it’s as good for you!” exclaimed the -landlord. “If you had been mixed up with the like of that, you would -never have put another foot in my house, you may lay to that. And what -was he saying to you?” - -“I don’t rightly know, sir,” answered Morgan. - -“Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a blessed dead-eye?” - cried Long John. “Don’t rightly know, don’t you! Perhaps you don’t -happen to rightly know who you was speaking to, perhaps? Come, now, what -was he jawing--v’yages, cap’ns, ships? Pipe up! What was it?” - -“We was a-talkin’ of keel-hauling,” answered Morgan. - -“Keel-hauling, was you? And a mighty suitable thing, too, and you may -lay to that. Get back to your place for a lubber, Tom.” - -And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat, Silver added to me in a -confidential whisper that was very flattering, as I thought, “He’s -quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on’y stupid. And now,” he ran on again, -aloud, “let’s see--Black Dog? No, I don’t know the name, not I. Yet I -kind of think I’ve--yes, I’ve seen the swab. He used to come here with a -blind beggar, he used.” - -“That he did, you may be sure,” said I. “I knew that blind man too. His -name was Pew.” - -“It was!” cried Silver, now quite excited. “Pew! That were his name for -certain. Ah, he looked a shark, he did! If we run down this Black Dog, -now, there’ll be news for Cap’n Trelawney! Ben’s a good runner; few -seamen run better than Ben. He should run him down, hand over hand, by -the powers! He talked o’ keel-hauling, did he? I’LL keel-haul him!” - -All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was stumping up and -down the tavern on his crutch, slapping tables with his hand, and giving -such a show of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge -or a Bow Street runner. My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened on -finding Black Dog at the Spy-glass, and I watched the cook narrowly. But -he was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and by the time -the two men had come back out of breath and confessed that they had lost -the track in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would have gone -bail for the innocence of Long John Silver. - -“See here, now, Hawkins,” said he, “here’s a blessed hard thing on a -man like me, now, ain’t it? There’s Cap’n Trelawney--what’s he to think? -Here I have this confounded son of a Dutchman sitting in my own house -drinking of my own rum! Here you comes and tells me of it plain; and -here I let him give us all the slip before my blessed deadlights! Now, -Hawkins, you do me justice with the cap’n. You’re a lad, you are, but -you’re as smart as paint. I see that when you first come in. Now, here -it is: What could I do, with this old timber I hobble on? When I was an -A B master mariner I’d have come up alongside of him, hand over hand, -and broached him to in a brace of old shakes, I would; but now--” - -And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw dropped as though he -had remembered something. - -“The score!” he burst out. “Three goes o’ rum! Why, shiver my timbers, -if I hadn’t forgotten my score!” - -And falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. -I could not help joining, and we laughed together, peal after peal, -until the tavern rang again. - -“Why, what a precious old sea-calf I am!” he said at last, wiping his -cheeks. “You and me should get on well, Hawkins, for I’ll take my davy -I should be rated ship’s boy. But come now, stand by to go about. This -won’t do. Dooty is dooty, messmates. I’ll put on my old cockerel hat, -and step along of you to Cap’n Trelawney, and report this here affair. -For mind you, it’s serious, young Hawkins; and neither you nor me’s come -out of it with what I should make so bold as to call credit. Nor you -neither, says you; not smart--none of the pair of us smart. But dash my -buttons! That was a good un about my score.” - -And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that though I did not -see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth. - -On our little walk along the quays, he made himself the most interesting -companion, telling me about the different ships that we passed by, -their rig, tonnage, and nationality, explaining the work that was going -forward--how one was discharging, another taking in cargo, and a third -making ready for sea--and every now and then telling me some little -anecdote of ships or seamen or repeating a nautical phrase till I had -learned it perfectly. I began to see that here was one of the best of -possible shipmates. - -When we got to the inn, the squire and Dr. Livesey were seated together, -finishing a quart of ale with a toast in it, before they should go -aboard the schooner on a visit of inspection. - -Long John told the story from first to last, with a great deal of spirit -and the most perfect truth. “That was how it were, now, weren’t it, -Hawkins?” he would say, now and again, and I could always bear him -entirely out. - -The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had got away, but we all -agreed there was nothing to be done, and after he had been complimented, -Long John took up his crutch and departed. - -“All hands aboard by four this afternoon,” shouted the squire after him. - -“Aye, aye, sir,” cried the cook, in the passage. - -“Well, squire,” said Dr. Livesey, “I don’t put much faith in your -discoveries, as a general thing; but I will say this, John Silver suits -me.” - -“The man’s a perfect trump,” declared the squire. - -“And now,” added the doctor, “Jim may come on board with us, may he -not?” - -“To be sure he may,” says squire. “Take your hat, Hawkins, and we’ll see -the ship.” - - - - -IX -Powder and Arms - - -The Hispaniola lay some way out, and we went under the figureheads and -round the sterns of many other ships, and their cables sometimes grated -underneath our keel, and sometimes swung above us. At last, however, -we got alongside, and were met and saluted as we stepped aboard by the -mate, Mr. Arrow, a brown old sailor with earrings in his ears and a -squint. He and the squire were very thick and friendly, but I soon -observed that things were not the same between Mr. Trelawney and the -captain. - -This last was a sharp-looking man who seemed angry with everything on -board and was soon to tell us why, for we had hardly got down into the -cabin when a sailor followed us. - -“Captain Smollett, sir, axing to speak with you,” said he. - -“I am always at the captain’s orders. Show him in,” said the squire. - -The captain, who was close behind his messenger, entered at once and -shut the door behind him. - -“Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say? All well, I hope; all -shipshape and seaworthy?” - -“Well, sir,” said the captain, “better speak plain, I believe, even at -the risk of offence. I don’t like this cruise; I don’t like the men; and -I don’t like my officer. That’s short and sweet.” - -“Perhaps, sir, you don’t like the ship?” inquired the squire, very -angry, as I could see. - -“I can’t speak as to that, sir, not having seen her tried,” said the -captain. “She seems a clever craft; more I can’t say.” - -“Possibly, sir, you may not like your employer, either?” says the -squire. - -But here Dr. Livesey cut in. - -“Stay a bit,” said he, “stay a bit. No use of such questions as that but -to produce ill feeling. The captain has said too much or he has said too -little, and I’m bound to say that I require an explanation of his words. -You don’t, you say, like this cruise. Now, why?” - -“I was engaged, sir, on what we call sealed orders, to sail this ship -for that gentleman where he should bid me,” said the captain. “So far -so good. But now I find that every man before the mast knows more than I -do. I don’t call that fair, now, do you?” - -“No,” said Dr. Livesey, “I don’t.” - -“Next,” said the captain, “I learn we are going after treasure--hear -it from my own hands, mind you. Now, treasure is ticklish work; I don’t -like treasure voyages on any account, and I don’t like them, above all, -when they are secret and when (begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney) the -secret has been told to the parrot.” - -“Silver’s parrot?” asked the squire. - -“It’s a way of speaking,” said the captain. “Blabbed, I mean. It’s my -belief neither of you gentlemen know what you are about, but I’ll tell -you my way of it--life or death, and a close run.” - -“That is all clear, and, I dare say, true enough,” replied Dr. Livesey. -“We take the risk, but we are not so ignorant as you believe us. Next, -you say you don’t like the crew. Are they not good seamen?” - -“I don’t like them, sir,” returned Captain Smollett. “And I think I -should have had the choosing of my own hands, if you go to that.” - -“Perhaps you should,” replied the doctor. “My friend should, perhaps, -have taken you along with him; but the slight, if there be one, was -unintentional. And you don’t like Mr. Arrow?” - -“I don’t, sir. I believe he’s a good seaman, but he’s too free with -the crew to be a good officer. A mate should keep himself to -himself--shouldn’t drink with the men before the mast!” - -“Do you mean he drinks?” cried the squire. - -“No, sir,” replied the captain, “only that he’s too familiar.” - -“Well, now, and the short and long of it, captain?” asked the doctor. -“Tell us what you want.” - -“Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on this cruise?” - -“Like iron,” answered the squire. - -“Very good,” said the captain. “Then, as you’ve heard me very patiently, -saying things that I could not prove, hear me a few words more. They are -putting the powder and the arms in the fore hold. Now, you have a good -place under the cabin; why not put them there?--first point. Then, you -are bringing four of your own people with you, and they tell me some of -them are to be berthed forward. Why not give them the berths here beside -the cabin?--second point.” - -“Any more?” asked Mr. Trelawney. - -“One more,” said the captain. “There’s been too much blabbing already.” - -“Far too much,” agreed the doctor. - -“I’ll tell you what I’ve heard myself,” continued Captain Smollett: -“that you have a map of an island, that there’s crosses on the map to -show where treasure is, and that the island lies--” And then he named -the latitude and longitude exactly. - -“I never told that,” cried the squire, “to a soul!” - -“The hands know it, sir,” returned the captain. - -“Livesey, that must have been you or Hawkins,” cried the squire. - -“It doesn’t much matter who it was,” replied the doctor. And I could -see that neither he nor the captain paid much regard to Mr. Trelawney’s -protestations. Neither did I, to be sure, he was so loose a talker; yet -in this case I believe he was really right and that nobody had told the -situation of the island. - -“Well, gentlemen,” continued the captain, “I don’t know who has this -map; but I make it a point, it shall be kept secret even from me and Mr. -Arrow. Otherwise I would ask you to let me resign.” - -“I see,” said the doctor. “You wish us to keep this matter dark and to -make a garrison of the stern part of the ship, manned with my friend’s -own people, and provided with all the arms and powder on board. In other -words, you fear a mutiny.” - -“Sir,” said Captain Smollett, “with no intention to take offence, I -deny your right to put words into my mouth. No captain, sir, would be -justified in going to sea at all if he had ground enough to say that. As -for Mr. Arrow, I believe him thoroughly honest; some of the men are the -same; all may be for what I know. But I am responsible for the ship’s -safety and the life of every man Jack aboard of her. I see things going, -as I think, not quite right. And I ask you to take certain precautions -or let me resign my berth. And that’s all.” - -“Captain Smollett,” began the doctor with a smile, “did ever you hear -the fable of the mountain and the mouse? You’ll excuse me, I dare say, -but you remind me of that fable. When you came in here, I’ll stake my -wig, you meant more than this.” - -“Doctor,” said the captain, “you are smart. When I came in here I meant -to get discharged. I had no thought that Mr. Trelawney would hear a -word.” - -“No more I would,” cried the squire. “Had Livesey not been here I should -have seen you to the deuce. As it is, I have heard you. I will do as you -desire, but I think the worse of you.” - -“That’s as you please, sir,” said the captain. “You’ll find I do my -duty.” - -And with that he took his leave. - -“Trelawney,” said the doctor, “contrary to all my notions, I believed -you have managed to get two honest men on board with you--that man and -John Silver.” - -“Silver, if you like,” cried the squire; “but as for that intolerable -humbug, I declare I think his conduct unmanly, unsailorly, and downright -un-English.” - -“Well,” says the doctor, “we shall see.” - -When we came on deck, the men had begun already to take out the arms and -powder, yo-ho-ing at their work, while the captain and Mr. Arrow stood -by superintending. - -The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The whole schooner had been -overhauled; six berths had been made astern out of what had been the -after-part of the main hold; and this set of cabins was only joined to -the galley and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port side. It had -been originally meant that the captain, Mr. Arrow, Hunter, Joyce, the -doctor, and the squire were to occupy these six berths. Now Redruth and -I were to get two of them and Mr. Arrow and the captain were to sleep -on deck in the companion, which had been enlarged on each side till you -might almost have called it a round-house. Very low it was still, of -course; but there was room to swing two hammocks, and even the mate -seemed pleased with the arrangement. Even he, perhaps, had been doubtful -as to the crew, but that is only guess, for as you shall hear, we had -not long the benefit of his opinion. - -We were all hard at work, changing the powder and the berths, when -the last man or two, and Long John along with them, came off in a -shore-boat. - -The cook came up the side like a monkey for cleverness, and as soon as -he saw what was doing, “So ho, mates!” says he. “What’s this?” - -“We’re a-changing of the powder, Jack,” answers one. - -“Why, by the powers,” cried Long John, “if we do, we’ll miss the morning -tide!” - -“My orders!” said the captain shortly. “You may go below, my man. Hands -will want supper.” - -“Aye, aye, sir,” answered the cook, and touching his forelock, he -disappeared at once in the direction of his galley. - -“That’s a good man, captain,” said the doctor. - -“Very likely, sir,” replied Captain Smollett. “Easy with that, -men--easy,” he ran on, to the fellows who were shifting the powder; and -then suddenly observing me examining the swivel we carried amidships, -a long brass nine, “Here you, ship’s boy,” he cried, “out o’ that! Off -with you to the cook and get some work.” - -And then as I was hurrying off I heard him say, quite loudly, to the -doctor, “I’ll have no favourites on my ship.” - -I assure you I was quite of the squire’s way of thinking, and hated the -captain deeply. - - - - -X -The Voyage - - -All that night we were in a great bustle getting things stowed in their -place, and boatfuls of the squire’s friends, Mr. Blandly and the like, -coming off to wish him a good voyage and a safe return. We never had -a night at the Admiral Benbow when I had half the work; and I was -dog-tired when, a little before dawn, the boatswain sounded his pipe -and the crew began to man the capstan-bars. I might have been twice -as weary, yet I would not have left the deck, all was so new and -interesting to me--the brief commands, the shrill note of the whistle, -the men bustling to their places in the glimmer of the ship’s lanterns. - -“Now, Barbecue, tip us a stave,” cried one voice. - -“The old one,” cried another. - -“Aye, aye, mates,” said Long John, who was standing by, with his crutch -under his arm, and at once broke out in the air and words I knew so -well: - -“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest--” - -And then the whole crew bore chorus:-- - -“Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” - -And at the third “Ho!” drove the bars before them with a will. - -Even at that exciting moment it carried me back to the old Admiral -Benbow in a second, and I seemed to hear the voice of the captain piping -in the chorus. But soon the anchor was short up; soon it was hanging -dripping at the bows; soon the sails began to draw, and the land and -shipping to flit by on either side; and before I could lie down to -snatch an hour of slumber the HISPANIOLA had begun her voyage to the -Isle of Treasure. - -I am not going to relate that voyage in detail. It was fairly -prosperous. The ship proved to be a good ship, the crew were capable -seamen, and the captain thoroughly understood his business. But before -we came the length of Treasure Island, two or three things had happened -which require to be known. - -Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than the captain had -feared. He had no command among the men, and people did what they -pleased with him. But that was by no means the worst of it, for after a -day or two at sea he began to appear on deck with hazy eye, red cheeks, -stuttering tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. Time after time -he was ordered below in disgrace. Sometimes he fell and cut himself; -sometimes he lay all day long in his little bunk at one side of the -companion; sometimes for a day or two he would be almost sober and -attend to his work at least passably. - -In the meantime, we could never make out where he got the drink. That -was the ship’s mystery. Watch him as we pleased, we could do nothing to -solve it; and when we asked him to his face, he would only laugh if -he were drunk, and if he were sober deny solemnly that he ever tasted -anything but water. - -He was not only useless as an officer and a bad influence amongst -the men, but it was plain that at this rate he must soon kill himself -outright, so nobody was much surprised, nor very sorry, when one dark -night, with a head sea, he disappeared entirely and was seen no more. - -“Overboard!” said the captain. “Well, gentlemen, that saves the trouble -of putting him in irons.” - -But there we were, without a mate; and it was necessary, of course, to -advance one of the men. The boatswain, Job Anderson, was the likeliest -man aboard, and though he kept his old title, he served in a way as -mate. Mr. Trelawney had followed the sea, and his knowledge made him -very useful, for he often took a watch himself in easy weather. And the -coxswain, Israel Hands, was a careful, wily, old, experienced seaman who -could be trusted at a pinch with almost anything. - -He was a great confidant of Long John Silver, and so the mention of -his name leads me on to speak of our ship’s cook, Barbecue, as the men -called him. - -Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round his neck, to have -both hands as free as possible. It was something to see him wedge the -foot of the crutch against a bulkhead, and propped against it, yielding -to every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking like someone safe -ashore. Still more strange was it to see him in the heaviest of weather -cross the deck. He had a line or two rigged up to help him across the -widest spaces--Long John’s earrings, they were called; and he would hand -himself from one place to another, now using the crutch, now trailing it -alongside by the lanyard, as quickly as another man could walk. Yet some -of the men who had sailed with him before expressed their pity to see -him so reduced. - -“He’s no common man, Barbecue,” said the coxswain to me. “He had good -schooling in his young days and can speak like a book when so minded; -and brave--a lion’s nothing alongside of Long John! I seen him grapple -four and knock their heads together--him unarmed.” - -All the crew respected and even obeyed him. He had a way of talking -to each and doing everybody some particular service. To me he was -unweariedly kind, and always glad to see me in the galley, which he kept -as clean as a new pin, the dishes hanging up burnished and his parrot in -a cage in one corner. - -“Come away, Hawkins,” he would say; “come and have a yarn with John. -Nobody more welcome than yourself, my son. Sit you down and hear the -news. Here’s Cap’n Flint--I calls my parrot Cap’n Flint, after the -famous buccaneer--here’s Cap’n Flint predicting success to our v’yage. -Wasn’t you, Cap’n?” - -And the parrot would say, with great rapidity, “Pieces of eight! Pieces -of eight! Pieces of eight!” till you wondered that it was not out of -breath, or till John threw his handkerchief over the cage. - -“Now, that bird,” he would say, “is, maybe, two hundred years -old, Hawkins--they live forever mostly; and if anybody’s seen more -wickedness, it must be the devil himself. She’s sailed with England, -the great Cap’n England, the pirate. She’s been at Madagascar, and at -Malabar, and Surinam, and Providence, and Portobello. She was at the -fishing up of the wrecked plate ships. It’s there she learned ‘Pieces -of eight,’ and little wonder; three hundred and fifty thousand of ’em, -Hawkins! She was at the boarding of the _Viceroy of the Indies_ out of -Goa, she was; and to look at her you would think she was a babby. But -you smelt powder--didn’t you, Cap’n?” - -“Stand by to go about,” the parrot would scream. - -“Ah, she’s a handsome craft, she is,” the cook would say, and give her -sugar from his pocket, and then the bird would peck at the bars and -swear straight on, passing belief for wickedness. “There,” John would -add, “you can’t touch pitch and not be mucked, lad. Here’s this poor old -innocent bird o’ mine swearing blue fire, and none the wiser, you may -lay to that. She would swear the same, in a manner of speaking, before -chaplain.” And John would touch his forelock with a solemn way he had -that made me think he was the best of men. - -In the meantime, the squire and Captain Smollett were still on pretty -distant terms with one another. The squire made no bones about the -matter; he despised the captain. The captain, on his part, never spoke -but when he was spoken to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not a -word wasted. He owned, when driven into a corner, that he seemed to have -been wrong about the crew, that some of them were as brisk as he wanted -to see and all had behaved fairly well. As for the ship, he had taken a -downright fancy to her. “She’ll lie a point nearer the wind than a man -has a right to expect of his own married wife, sir. But,” he would add, -“all I say is, we’re not home again, and I don’t like the cruise.” - -The squire, at this, would turn away and march up and down the deck, -chin in air. - -“A trifle more of that man,” he would say, “and I shall explode.” - -We had some heavy weather, which only proved the qualities of the -HISPANIOLA. Every man on board seemed well content, and they must have -been hard to please if they had been otherwise, for it is my belief -there was never a ship’s company so spoiled since Noah put to sea. -Double grog was going on the least excuse; there was duff on odd days, -as, for instance, if the squire heard it was any man’s birthday, and -always a barrel of apples standing broached in the waist for anyone to -help himself that had a fancy. - -“Never knew good come of it yet,” the captain said to Dr. Livesey. -“Spoil forecastle hands, make devils. That’s my belief.” - -But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall hear, for if it had -not been for that, we should have had no note of warning and might all -have perished by the hand of treachery. - -This was how it came about. - -We had run up the trades to get the wind of the island we were after--I -am not allowed to be more plain--and now we were running down for it -with a bright lookout day and night. It was about the last day of our -outward voyage by the largest computation; some time that night, or at -latest before noon of the morrow, we should sight the Treasure Island. -We were heading S.S.W. and had a steady breeze abeam and a quiet sea. -The HISPANIOLA rolled steadily, dipping her bowsprit now and then with -a whiff of spray. All was drawing alow and aloft; everyone was in the -bravest spirits because we were now so near an end of the first part of -our adventure. - -Now, just after sundown, when all my work was over and I was on my way -to my berth, it occurred to me that I should like an apple. I ran on -deck. The watch was all forward looking out for the island. The man at -the helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gently -to himself, and that was the only sound excepting the swish of the sea -against the bows and around the sides of the ship. - -In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there was scarce an -apple left; but sitting down there in the dark, what with the sound of -the waters and the rocking movement of the ship, I had either fallen -asleep or was on the point of doing so when a heavy man sat down with -rather a clash close by. The barrel shook as he leaned his shoulders -against it, and I was just about to jump up when the man began to speak. -It was Silver’s voice, and before I had heard a dozen words, I would -not have shown myself for all the world, but lay there, trembling and -listening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity, for from these dozen -words I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard depended -upon me alone. - - - - -XI -What I Heard in the Apple-Barrel - - -“No, not I,” said Silver. “Flint was cap’n; I was quartermaster, along -of my timber leg. The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his -deadlights. It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me--out of -college and all--Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was hanged -like a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso Castle. That was -Roberts’ men, that was, and comed of changing names to their -ships--ROYAL FORTUNE and so on. Now, what a ship was christened, so let -her stay, I says. So it was with the CASSANDRA, as brought us all safe -home from Malabar, after England took the _Viceroy of the Indies;_ so -it was with the old WALRUS, Flint’s old ship, as I’ve seen amuck with -the red blood and fit to sink with gold.” - -“Ah!” cried another voice, that of the youngest hand on board, and -evidently full of admiration. “He was the flower of the flock, was -Flint!” - -“Davis was a man too, by all accounts,” said Silver. “I never sailed -along of him; first with England, then with Flint, that’s my story; -and now here on my own account, in a manner of speaking. I laid by nine -hundred safe, from England, and two thousand after Flint. That ain’t bad -for a man before the mast--all safe in bank. ’Tain’t earning now, it’s -saving does it, you may lay to that. Where’s all England’s men now? I -dunno. Where’s Flint’s? Why, most on ’em aboard here, and glad to get -the duff--been begging before that, some on ’em. Old Pew, as had lost -his sight, and might have thought shame, spends twelve hundred pound in -a year, like a lord in Parliament. Where is he now? Well, he’s dead now -and under hatches; but for two year before that, shiver my timbers, -the man was starving! He begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, and -starved at that, by the powers!” - -“Well, it ain’t much use, after all,” said the young seaman. - -“’Tain’t much use for fools, you may lay to it--that, nor nothing,” - cried Silver. “But now, you look here: you’re young, you are, but you’re -as smart as paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I’ll talk -to you like a man.” - -You may imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable old rogue -addressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had used -to myself. I think, if I had been able, that I would have killed -him through the barrel. Meantime, he ran on, little supposing he was -overheard. - -“Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough, and they risk -swinging, but they eat and drink like fighting-cocks, and when a cruise -is done, why, it’s hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthings -in their pockets. Now, the most goes for rum and a good fling, and to -sea again in their shirts. But that’s not the course I lay. I puts it -all away, some here, some there, and none too much anywheres, by reason -of suspicion. I’m fifty, mark you; once back from this cruise, I set up -gentleman in earnest. Time enough too, says you. Ah, but I’ve lived easy -in the meantime, never denied myself o’ nothing heart desires, and slep’ -soft and ate dainty all my days but when at sea. And how did I begin? -Before the mast, like you!” - -“Well,” said the other, “but all the other money’s gone now, ain’t it? -You daren’t show face in Bristol after this.” - -“Why, where might you suppose it was?” asked Silver derisively. - -“At Bristol, in banks and places,” answered his companion. - -“It were,” said the cook; “it were when we weighed anchor. But my old -missis has it all by now. And the Spy-glass is sold, lease and goodwill -and rigging; and the old girl’s off to meet me. I would tell you where, -for I trust you, but it’d make jealousy among the mates.” - -“And can you trust your missis?” asked the other. - -“Gentlemen of fortune,” returned the cook, “usually trusts little among -themselves, and right they are, you may lay to it. But I have a way with -me, I have. When a mate brings a slip on his cable--one as knows me, I -mean--it won’t be in the same world with old John. There was some that -was feared of Pew, and some that was feared of Flint; but Flint his own -self was feared of me. Feared he was, and proud. They was the roughest -crew afloat, was Flint’s; the devil himself would have been feared to go -to sea with them. Well now, I tell you, I’m not a boasting man, and you -seen yourself how easy I keep company, but when I was quartermaster, -LAMBS wasn’t the word for Flint’s old buccaneers. Ah, you may be sure of -yourself in old John’s ship.” - -“Well, I tell you now,” replied the lad, “I didn’t half a quarter like -the job till I had this talk with you, John; but there’s my hand on it -now.” - -“And a brave lad you were, and smart too,” answered Silver, shaking -hands so heartily that all the barrel shook, “and a finer figurehead for -a gentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on.” - -By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of their terms. By a -“gentleman of fortune” they plainly meant neither more nor less than a -common pirate, and the little scene that I had overheard was the last -act in the corruption of one of the honest hands--perhaps of the last -one left aboard. But on this point I was soon to be relieved, for Silver -giving a little whistle, a third man strolled up and sat down by the -party. - -“Dick’s square,” said Silver. - -“Oh, I know’d Dick was square,” returned the voice of the coxswain, -Israel Hands. “He’s no fool, is Dick.” And he turned his quid and spat. -“But look here,” he went on, “here’s what I want to know, Barbecue: how -long are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat? I’ve had -a’most enough o’ Cap’n Smollett; he’s hazed me long enough, by thunder! -I want to go into that cabin, I do. I want their pickles and wines, and -that.” - -“Israel,” said Silver, “your head ain’t much account, nor ever was. But -you’re able to hear, I reckon; leastways, your ears is big enough. -Now, here’s what I say: you’ll berth forward, and you’ll live hard, and -you’ll speak soft, and you’ll keep sober till I give the word; and you -may lay to that, my son.” - -“Well, I don’t say no, do I?” growled the coxswain. “What I say is, -when? That’s what I say.” - -“When! By the powers!” cried Silver. “Well now, if you want to know, -I’ll tell you when. The last moment I can manage, and that’s when. -Here’s a first-rate seaman, Cap’n Smollett, sails the blessed ship for -us. Here’s this squire and doctor with a map and such--I don’t know -where it is, do I? No more do you, says you. Well then, I mean this -squire and doctor shall find the stuff, and help us to get it aboard, -by the powers. Then we’ll see. If I was sure of you all, sons of double -Dutchmen, I’d have Cap’n Smollett navigate us half-way back again before -I struck.” - -“Why, we’re all seamen aboard here, I should think,” said the lad Dick. - -“We’re all forecastle hands, you mean,” snapped Silver. “We can steer -a course, but who’s to set one? That’s what all you gentlemen split on, -first and last. If I had my way, I’d have Cap’n Smollett work us back -into the trades at least; then we’d have no blessed miscalculations and -a spoonful of water a day. But I know the sort you are. I’ll finish with -’em at the island, as soon’s the blunt’s on board, and a pity it is. But -you’re never happy till you’re drunk. Split my sides, I’ve a sick heart -to sail with the likes of you!” - -“Easy all, Long John,” cried Israel. “Who’s a-crossin’ of you?” - -“Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I seen laid aboard? And -how many brisk lads drying in the sun at Execution Dock?” cried Silver. -“And all for this same hurry and hurry and hurry. You hear me? I seen -a thing or two at sea, I have. If you would on’y lay your course, and a -p’int to windward, you would ride in carriages, you would. But not you! -I know you. You’ll have your mouthful of rum tomorrow, and go hang.” - -“Everybody knowed you was a kind of a chapling, John; but there’s others -as could hand and steer as well as you,” said Israel. “They liked a bit -o’ fun, they did. They wasn’t so high and dry, nohow, but took their -fling, like jolly companions every one.” - -“So?” says Silver. “Well, and where are they now? Pew was that sort, -and he died a beggar-man. Flint was, and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah, -they was a sweet crew, they was! On’y, where are they?” - -“But,” asked Dick, “when we do lay ’em athwart, what are we to do with -’em, anyhow?” - -“There’s the man for me!” cried the cook admiringly. “That’s what I call -business. Well, what would you think? Put ’em ashore like maroons? That -would have been England’s way. Or cut ’em down like that much pork? That -would have been Flint’s, or Billy Bones’s.” - -“Billy was the man for that,” said Israel. “‘Dead men don’t bite,’ says -he. Well, he’s dead now hisself; he knows the long and short on it now; -and if ever a rough hand come to port, it was Billy.” - -“Right you are,” said Silver; “rough and ready. But mark you here, -I’m an easy man--I’m quite the gentleman, says you; but this time it’s -serious. Dooty is dooty, mates. I give my vote--death. When I’m in -Parlyment and riding in my coach, I don’t want none of these sea-lawyers -in the cabin a-coming home, unlooked for, like the devil at prayers. -Wait is what I say; but when the time comes, why, let her rip!” - -“John,” cries the coxswain, “you’re a man!” - -“You’ll say so, Israel when you see,” said Silver. “Only one thing I -claim--I claim Trelawney. I’ll wring his calf’s head off his body with -these hands, Dick!” he added, breaking off. “You just jump up, like a -sweet lad, and get me an apple, to wet my pipe like.” - -You may fancy the terror I was in! I should have leaped out and run for -it if I had found the strength, but my limbs and heart alike misgave me. -I heard Dick begin to rise, and then someone seemingly stopped him, and -the voice of Hands exclaimed, “Oh, stow that! Don’t you get sucking of -that bilge, John. Let’s have a go of the rum.” - -“Dick,” said Silver, “I trust you. I’ve a gauge on the keg, mind. -There’s the key; you fill a pannikin and bring it up.” - -Terrified as I was, I could not help thinking to myself that this must -have been how Mr. Arrow got the strong waters that destroyed him. - -Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence Israel spoke -straight on in the cook’s ear. It was but a word or two that I could -catch, and yet I gathered some important news, for besides other scraps -that tended to the same purpose, this whole clause was audible: “Not -another man of them’ll jine.” Hence there were still faithful men on -board. - -When Dick returned, one after another of the trio took the pannikin and -drank--one “To luck,” another with a “Here’s to old Flint,” and Silver -himself saying, in a kind of song, “Here’s to ourselves, and hold your -luff, plenty of prizes and plenty of duff.” - -Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel, and looking -up, I found the moon had risen and was silvering the mizzen-top and -shining white on the luff of the fore-sail; and almost at the same time -the voice of the lookout shouted, “Land ho!” - - - - -XII -Council of War - - -There was a great rush of feet across the deck. I could hear people -tumbling up from the cabin and the forecastle, and slipping in an -instant outside my barrel, I dived behind the fore-sail, made a double -towards the stern, and came out upon the open deck in time to join -Hunter and Dr. Livesey in the rush for the weather bow. - -There all hands were already congregated. A belt of fog had lifted -almost simultaneously with the appearance of the moon. Away to the -south-west of us we saw two low hills, about a couple of miles apart, -and rising behind one of them a third and higher hill, whose peak was -still buried in the fog. All three seemed sharp and conical in figure. - -So much I saw, almost in a dream, for I had not yet recovered from my -horrid fear of a minute or two before. And then I heard the voice of -Captain Smollett issuing orders. The HISPANIOLA was laid a couple of -points nearer the wind and now sailed a course that would just clear the -island on the east. - -“And now, men,” said the captain, when all was sheeted home, “has any -one of you ever seen that land ahead?” - -“I have, sir,” said Silver. “I’ve watered there with a trader I was cook -in.” - -“The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I fancy?” asked the -captain. - -“Yes, sir; Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a main place for -pirates once, and a hand we had on board knowed all their names for it. -That hill to the nor’ard they calls the Foremast Hill; there are three -hills in a row running south’ard--fore, main, and mizzen, sir. But the -main--that’s the big un, with the cloud on it--they usually calls -the Spy-glass, by reason of a lookout they kept when they was in the -anchorage cleaning, for it’s there they cleaned their ships, sir, asking -your pardon.” - -“I have a chart here,” says Captain Smollett. “See if that’s the place.” - -Long John’s eyes burned in his head as he took the chart, but by the -fresh look of the paper I knew he was doomed to disappointment. This -was not the map we found in Billy Bones’s chest, but an accurate copy, -complete in all things--names and heights and soundings--with the single -exception of the red crosses and the written notes. Sharp as must have -been his annoyance, Silver had the strength of mind to hide it. - -“Yes, sir,” said he, “this is the spot, to be sure, and very prettily -drawed out. Who might have done that, I wonder? The pirates were too -ignorant, I reckon. Aye, here it is: ‘Capt. Kidd’s Anchorage’--just -the name my shipmate called it. There’s a strong current runs along the -south, and then away nor’ard up the west coast. Right you was, sir,” - says he, “to haul your wind and keep the weather of the island. -Leastways, if such was your intention as to enter and careen, and there -ain’t no better place for that in these waters.” - -“Thank you, my man,” says Captain Smollett. “I’ll ask you later on to -give us a help. You may go.” - -I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed his knowledge -of the island, and I own I was half-frightened when I saw him drawing -nearer to myself. He did not know, to be sure, that I had overheard his -council from the apple barrel, and yet I had by this time taken such a -horror of his cruelty, duplicity, and power that I could scarce conceal -a shudder when he laid his hand upon my arm. - -“Ah,” says he, “this here is a sweet spot, this island--a sweet spot for -a lad to get ashore on. You’ll bathe, and you’ll climb trees, and you’ll -hunt goats, you will; and you’ll get aloft on them hills like a goat -yourself. Why, it makes me young again. I was going to forget my timber -leg, I was. It’s a pleasant thing to be young and have ten toes, and you -may lay to that. When you want to go a bit of exploring, you just ask -old John, and he’ll put up a snack for you to take along.” - -And clapping me in the friendliest way upon the shoulder, he hobbled off -forward and went below. - -Captain Smollett, the squire, and Dr. Livesey were talking together on -the quarter-deck, and anxious as I was to tell them my story, I durst -not interrupt them openly. While I was still casting about in my -thoughts to find some probable excuse, Dr. Livesey called me to his -side. He had left his pipe below, and being a slave to tobacco, had -meant that I should fetch it; but as soon as I was near enough to speak -and not to be overheard, I broke immediately, “Doctor, let me speak. Get -the captain and squire down to the cabin, and then make some pretence to -send for me. I have terrible news.” - -The doctor changed countenance a little, but next moment he was master -of himself. - -“Thank you, Jim,” said he quite loudly, “that was all I wanted to know,” - as if he had asked me a question. - -And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined the other two. They -spoke together for a little, and though none of them started, or raised -his voice, or so much as whistled, it was plain enough that Dr. Livesey -had communicated my request, for the next thing that I heard was the -captain giving an order to Job Anderson, and all hands were piped on -deck. - -“My lads,” said Captain Smollett, “I’ve a word to say to you. This -land that we have sighted is the place we have been sailing for. Mr. -Trelawney, being a very open-handed gentleman, as we all know, has just -asked me a word or two, and as I was able to tell him that every man on -board had done his duty, alow and aloft, as I never ask to see it done -better, why, he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin to -drink YOUR health and luck, and you’ll have grog served out for you to -drink OUR health and luck. I’ll tell you what I think of this: I think -it handsome. And if you think as I do, you’ll give a good sea-cheer for -the gentleman that does it.” - -The cheer followed--that was a matter of course; but it rang out so full -and hearty that I confess I could hardly believe these same men were -plotting for our blood. - -“One more cheer for Cap’n Smollett,” cried Long John when the first had -subsided. - -And this also was given with a will. - -On the top of that the three gentlemen went below, and not long after, -word was sent forward that Jim Hawkins was wanted in the cabin. - -I found them all three seated round the table, a bottle of Spanish wine -and some raisins before them, and the doctor smoking away, with his wig -on his lap, and that, I knew, was a sign that he was agitated. The stern -window was open, for it was a warm night, and you could see the moon -shining behind on the ship’s wake. - -“Now, Hawkins,” said the squire, “you have something to say. Speak up.” - -I did as I was bid, and as short as I could make it, told the whole -details of Silver’s conversation. Nobody interrupted me till I was done, -nor did any one of the three of them make so much as a movement, but -they kept their eyes upon my face from first to last. - -“Jim,” said Dr. Livesey, “take a seat.” - -And they made me sit down at table beside them, poured me out a glass of -wine, filled my hands with raisins, and all three, one after the other, -and each with a bow, drank my good health, and their service to me, for -my luck and courage. - -“Now, captain,” said the squire, “you were right, and I was wrong. I own -myself an ass, and I await your orders.” - -“No more an ass than I, sir,” returned the captain. “I never heard of a -crew that meant to mutiny but what showed signs before, for any man that -had an eye in his head to see the mischief and take steps according. But -this crew,” he added, “beats me.” - -“Captain,” said the doctor, “with your permission, that’s Silver. A very -remarkable man.” - -“He’d look remarkably well from a yard-arm, sir,” returned the captain. -“But this is talk; this don’t lead to anything. I see three or four -points, and with Mr. Trelawney’s permission, I’ll name them.” - -“You, sir, are the captain. It is for you to speak,” says Mr. Trelawney -grandly. - -“First point,” began Mr. Smollett. “We must go on, because we can’t turn -back. If I gave the word to go about, they would rise at once. Second -point, we have time before us--at least until this treasure’s found. -Third point, there are faithful hands. Now, sir, it’s got to come -to blows sooner or later, and what I propose is to take time by the -forelock, as the saying is, and come to blows some fine day when they -least expect it. We can count, I take it, on your own home servants, Mr. -Trelawney?” - -“As upon myself,” declared the squire. - -“Three,” reckoned the captain; “ourselves make seven, counting Hawkins -here. Now, about the honest hands?” - -“Most likely Trelawney’s own men,” said the doctor; “those he had picked -up for himself before he lit on Silver.” - -“Nay,” replied the squire. “Hands was one of mine.” - -“I did think I could have trusted Hands,” added the captain. - -“And to think that they’re all Englishmen!” broke out the squire. “Sir, -I could find it in my heart to blow the ship up.” - -“Well, gentlemen,” said the captain, “the best that I can say is not -much. We must lay to, if you please, and keep a bright lookout. It’s -trying on a man, I know. It would be pleasanter to come to blows. But -there’s no help for it till we know our men. Lay to, and whistle for a -wind, that’s my view.” - -“Jim here,” said the doctor, “can help us more than anyone. The men are -not shy with him, and Jim is a noticing lad.” - -“Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you,” added the squire. - -I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt altogether -helpless; and yet, by an odd train of circumstances, it was indeed -through me that safety came. In the meantime, talk as we pleased, there -were only seven out of the twenty-six on whom we knew we could rely; and -out of these seven one was a boy, so that the grown men on our side were -six to their nineteen. - - - - -PART THREE--My Shore Adventure - - - - -XIII -How I Began My Shore Adventure - - -The appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning was -altogether changed. Although the breeze had now utterly ceased, we had -made a great deal of way during the night and were now lying becalmed -about half a mile to the south-east of the low eastern coast. -Grey-coloured woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tint -was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sand-break in the lower lands, -and by many tall trees of the pine family, out-topping the others--some -singly, some in clumps; but the general colouring was uniform and sad. -The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of naked rock. -All were strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass, which was by three or four -hundred feet the tallest on the island, was likewise the strangest in -configuration, running up sheer from almost every side and then suddenly -cut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on. - -The HISPANIOLA was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell. The booms -were tearing at the blocks, the rudder was banging to and fro, and the -whole ship creaking, groaning, and jumping like a manufactory. I had -to cling tight to the backstay, and the world turned giddily before my -eyes, for though I was a good enough sailor when there was way on, this -standing still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I never -learned to stand without a qualm or so, above all in the morning, on an -empty stomach. - -Perhaps it was this--perhaps it was the look of the island, with its -grey, melancholy woods, and wild stone spires, and the surf that we -could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach--at -least, although the sun shone bright and hot, and the shore birds were -fishing and crying all around us, and you would have thought anyone -would have been glad to get to land after being so long at sea, my heart -sank, as the saying is, into my boots; and from the first look onward, I -hated the very thought of Treasure Island. - -We had a dreary morning’s work before us, for there was no sign of any -wind, and the boats had to be got out and manned, and the ship warped -three or four miles round the corner of the island and up the narrow -passage to the haven behind Skeleton Island. I volunteered for one of -the boats, where I had, of course, no business. The heat was sweltering, -and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. Anderson was in command -of my boat, and instead of keeping the crew in order, he grumbled as -loud as the worst. - -“Well,” he said with an oath, “it’s not forever.” - -I thought this was a very bad sign, for up to that day the men had gone -briskly and willingly about their business; but the very sight of the -island had relaxed the cords of discipline. - -All the way in, Long John stood by the steersman and conned the ship. -He knew the passage like the palm of his hand, and though the man in the -chains got everywhere more water than was down in the chart, John never -hesitated once. - -“There’s a strong scour with the ebb,” he said, “and this here passage -has been dug out, in a manner of speaking, with a spade.” - -We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart, about a third of -a mile from each shore, the mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on -the other. The bottom was clean sand. The plunge of our anchor sent up -clouds of birds wheeling and crying over the woods, but in less than a -minute they were down again and all was once more silent. - -The place was entirely land-locked, buried in woods, the trees coming -right down to high-water mark, the shores mostly flat, and the hilltops -standing round at a distance in a sort of amphitheatre, one here, one -there. Two little rivers, or rather two swamps, emptied out into this -pond, as you might call it; and the foliage round that part of the shore -had a kind of poisonous brightness. From the ship we could see nothing -of the house or stockade, for they were quite buried among trees; and if -it had not been for the chart on the companion, we might have been the -first that had ever anchored there since the island arose out of the -seas. - -There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound but that of the -surf booming half a mile away along the beaches and against the rocks -outside. A peculiar stagnant smell hung over the anchorage--a smell of -sodden leaves and rotting tree trunks. I observed the doctor sniffing -and sniffing, like someone tasting a bad egg. - -“I don’t know about treasure,” he said, “but I’ll stake my wig there’s -fever here.” - -If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the boat, it became truly -threatening when they had come aboard. They lay about the deck growling -together in talk. The slightest order was received with a black look and -grudgingly and carelessly obeyed. Even the honest hands must have caught -the infection, for there was not one man aboard to mend another. Mutiny, -it was plain, hung over us like a thunder-cloud. - -And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived the danger. Long -John was hard at work going from group to group, spending himself in -good advice, and as for example no man could have shown a better. He -fairly outstripped himself in willingness and civility; he was all -smiles to everyone. If an order were given, John would be on his crutch -in an instant, with the cheeriest “Aye, aye, sir!” in the world; and -when there was nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another, as -if to conceal the discontent of the rest. - -Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon, this obvious -anxiety on the part of Long John appeared the worst. - -We held a council in the cabin. - -“Sir,” said the captain, “if I risk another order, the whole ship’ll -come about our ears by the run. You see, sir, here it is. I get a rough -answer, do I not? Well, if I speak back, pikes will be going in two -shakes; if I don’t, Silver will see there’s something under that, and -the game’s up. Now, we’ve only one man to rely on.” - -“And who is that?” asked the squire. - -“Silver, sir,” returned the captain; “he’s as anxious as you and I to -smother things up. This is a tiff; he’d soon talk ’em out of it if he -had the chance, and what I propose to do is to give him the chance. -Let’s allow the men an afternoon ashore. If they all go, why we’ll fight -the ship. If they none of them go, well then, we hold the cabin, and God -defend the right. If some go, you mark my words, sir, Silver’ll bring -’em aboard again as mild as lambs.” - -It was so decided; loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men; -Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth were taken into our confidence and received -the news with less surprise and a better spirit than we had looked for, -and then the captain went on deck and addressed the crew. - -“My lads,” said he, “we’ve had a hot day and are all tired and out of -sorts. A turn ashore’ll hurt nobody--the boats are still in the water; -you can take the gigs, and as many as please may go ashore for the -afternoon. I’ll fire a gun half an hour before sundown.” - -I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would break their -shins over treasure as soon as they were landed, for they all came out -of their sulks in a moment and gave a cheer that started the echo in a -faraway hill and sent the birds once more flying and squalling round the -anchorage. - -The captain was too bright to be in the way. He whipped out of sight -in a moment, leaving Silver to arrange the party, and I fancy it was as -well he did so. Had he been on deck, he could no longer so much as -have pretended not to understand the situation. It was as plain as day. -Silver was the captain, and a mighty rebellious crew he had of it. The -honest hands--and I was soon to see it proved that there were such on -board--must have been very stupid fellows. Or rather, I suppose the -truth was this, that all hands were disaffected by the example of the -ringleaders--only some more, some less; and a few, being good fellows in -the main, could neither be led nor driven any further. It is one thing -to be idle and skulk and quite another to take a ship and murder a -number of innocent men. - -At last, however, the party was made up. Six fellows were to stay on -board, and the remaining thirteen, including Silver, began to embark. - -Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad notions -that contributed so much to save our lives. If six men were left by -Silver, it was plain our party could not take and fight the ship; and -since only six were left, it was equally plain that the cabin party -had no present need of my assistance. It occurred to me at once to go -ashore. In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and curled up in the -fore-sheets of the nearest boat, and almost at the same moment she -shoved off. - -No one took notice of me, only the bow oar saying, “Is that you, Jim? -Keep your head down.” But Silver, from the other boat, looked sharply -over and called out to know if that were me; and from that moment I -began to regret what I had done. - -The crews raced for the beach, but the boat I was in, having some start -and being at once the lighter and the better manned, shot far ahead of -her consort, and the bow had struck among the shore-side trees and I -had caught a branch and swung myself out and plunged into the nearest -thicket while Silver and the rest were still a hundred yards behind. - -“Jim, Jim!” I heard him shouting. - -But you may suppose I paid no heed; jumping, ducking, and breaking -through, I ran straight before my nose till I could run no longer. - - - - -XIV -The First Blow - - -I was so pleased at having given the slip to Long John that I began to -enjoy myself and look around me with some interest on the strange land -that I was in. - -I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes, and odd, -outlandish, swampy trees; and I had now come out upon the skirts of an -open piece of undulating, sandy country, about a mile long, dotted with -a few pines and a great number of contorted trees, not unlike the oak -in growth, but pale in the foliage, like willows. On the far side of -the open stood one of the hills, with two quaint, craggy peaks shining -vividly in the sun. - -I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration. The isle was -uninhabited; my shipmates I had left behind, and nothing lived in front -of me but dumb brutes and fowls. I turned hither and thither among the -trees. Here and there were flowering plants, unknown to me; here and -there I saw snakes, and one raised his head from a ledge of rock and -hissed at me with a noise not unlike the spinning of a top. Little did -I suppose that he was a deadly enemy and that the noise was the famous -rattle. - -Then I came to a long thicket of these oaklike trees--live, or -evergreen, oaks, I heard afterwards they should be called--which grew -low along the sand like brambles, the boughs curiously twisted, the -foliage compact, like thatch. The thicket stretched down from the top of -one of the sandy knolls, spreading and growing taller as it went, until -it reached the margin of the broad, reedy fen, through which the nearest -of the little rivers soaked its way into the anchorage. The marsh was -steaming in the strong sun, and the outline of the Spy-glass trembled -through the haze. - -All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among the bulrushes; -a wild duck flew up with a quack, another followed, and soon over the -whole surface of the marsh a great cloud of birds hung screaming and -circling in the air. I judged at once that some of my shipmates must be -drawing near along the borders of the fen. Nor was I deceived, for soon -I heard the very distant and low tones of a human voice, which, as I -continued to give ear, grew steadily louder and nearer. - -This put me in a great fear, and I crawled under cover of the nearest -live-oak and squatted there, hearkening, as silent as a mouse. - -Another voice answered, and then the first voice, which I now recognized -to be Silver’s, once more took up the story and ran on for a long while -in a stream, only now and again interrupted by the other. By the sound -they must have been talking earnestly, and almost fiercely; but no -distinct word came to my hearing. - -At last the speakers seemed to have paused and perhaps to have sat down, -for not only did they cease to draw any nearer, but the birds themselves -began to grow more quiet and to settle again to their places in the -swamp. - -And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my business, that since -I had been so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, the -least I could do was to overhear them at their councils, and that my -plain and obvious duty was to draw as close as I could manage, under the -favourable ambush of the crouching trees. - -I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly, not only by -the sound of their voices but by the behaviour of the few birds that -still hung in alarm above the heads of the intruders. - -Crawling on all fours, I made steadily but slowly towards them, till at -last, raising my head to an aperture among the leaves, I could see clear -down into a little green dell beside the marsh, and closely set about -with trees, where Long John Silver and another of the crew stood face to -face in conversation. - -The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown his hat beside him on the -ground, and his great, smooth, blond face, all shining with heat, was -lifted to the other man’s in a kind of appeal. - -“Mate,” he was saying, “it’s because I thinks gold dust of you--gold -dust, and you may lay to that! If I hadn’t took to you like pitch, do -you think I’d have been here a-warning of you? All’s up--you can’t make -nor mend; it’s to save your neck that I’m a-speaking, and if one of the -wild uns knew it, where’d I be, Tom--now, tell me, where’d I be?” - -“Silver,” said the other man--and I observed he was not only red in the -face, but spoke as hoarse as a crow, and his voice shook too, like a -taut rope--“Silver,” says he, “you’re old, and you’re honest, or has the -name for it; and you’ve money too, which lots of poor sailors hasn’t; -and you’re brave, or I’m mistook. And will you tell me you’ll let -yourself be led away with that kind of a mess of swabs? Not you! As sure -as God sees me, I’d sooner lose my hand. If I turn agin my dooty--” - -And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise. I had found -one of the honest hands--well, here, at that same moment, came news of -another. Far away out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound -like the cry of anger, then another on the back of it; and then one -horrid, long-drawn scream. The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it a -score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose again, darkening -heaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after that death yell was -still ringing in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, and -only the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant -surges disturbed the languor of the afternoon. - -Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur, but Silver had -not winked an eye. He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch, -watching his companion like a snake about to spring. - -“John!” said the sailor, stretching out his hand. - -“Hands off!” cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me, with -the speed and security of a trained gymnast. - -“Hands off, if you like, John Silver,” said the other. “It’s a black -conscience that can make you feared of me. But in heaven’s name, tell -me, what was that?” - -“That?” returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than ever, his eye -a mere pin-point in his big face, but gleaming like a crumb of glass. -“That? Oh, I reckon that’ll be Alan.” - -And at this point Tom flashed out like a hero. - -“Alan!” he cried. “Then rest his soul for a true seaman! And as for you, -John Silver, long you’ve been a mate of mine, but you’re mate of mine -no more. If I die like a dog, I’ll die in my dooty. You’ve killed Alan, -have you? Kill me too, if you can. But I defies you.” - -And with that, this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook -and set off walking for the beach. But he was not destined to go far. -With a cry John seized the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of -his armpit, and sent that uncouth missile hurtling through the air. -It struck poor Tom, point foremost, and with stunning violence, right -between the shoulders in the middle of his back. His hands flew up, he -gave a sort of gasp, and fell. - -Whether he were injured much or little, none could ever tell. Like -enough, to judge from the sound, his back was broken on the spot. But he -had no time given him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey even without -leg or crutch, was on the top of him next moment and had twice buried -his knife up to the hilt in that defenceless body. From my place of -ambush, I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the blows. - -I do not know what it rightly is to faint, but I do know that for the -next little while the whole world swam away from before me in a whirling -mist; Silver and the birds, and the tall Spy-glass hilltop, going -round and round and topsy-turvy before my eyes, and all manner of bells -ringing and distant voices shouting in my ear. - -When I came again to myself the monster had pulled himself together, -his crutch under his arm, his hat upon his head. Just before him Tom -lay motionless upon the sward; but the murderer minded him not a whit, -cleansing his blood-stained knife the while upon a wisp of grass. -Everything else was unchanged, the sun still shining mercilessly on the -steaming marsh and the tall pinnacle of the mountain, and I could scarce -persuade myself that murder had been actually done and a human life -cruelly cut short a moment since before my eyes. - -But now John put his hand into his pocket, brought out a whistle, and -blew upon it several modulated blasts that rang far across the heated -air. I could not tell, of course, the meaning of the signal, but -it instantly awoke my fears. More men would be coming. I might be -discovered. They had already slain two of the honest people; after Tom -and Alan, might not I come next? - -Instantly I began to extricate myself and crawl back again, with what -speed and silence I could manage, to the more open portion of the -wood. As I did so, I could hear hails coming and going between the old -buccaneer and his comrades, and this sound of danger lent me wings. As -soon as I was clear of the thicket, I ran as I never ran before, scarce -minding the direction of my flight, so long as it led me from the -murderers; and as I ran, fear grew and grew upon me until it turned into -a kind of frenzy. - -Indeed, could anyone be more entirely lost than I? When the gun fired, -how should I dare to go down to the boats among those fiends, still -smoking from their crime? Would not the first of them who saw me wring -my neck like a snipe’s? Would not my absence itself be an evidence to -them of my alarm, and therefore of my fatal knowledge? It was all over, -I thought. Good-bye to the HISPANIOLA; good-bye to the squire, the -doctor, and the captain! There was nothing left for me but death by -starvation or death by the hands of the mutineers. - -All this while, as I say, I was still running, and without taking any -notice, I had drawn near to the foot of the little hill with the two -peaks and had got into a part of the island where the live-oaks grew -more widely apart and seemed more like forest trees in their bearing and -dimensions. Mingled with these were a few scattered pines, some fifty, -some nearer seventy, feet high. The air too smelt more freshly than down -beside the marsh. - -And here a fresh alarm brought me to a standstill with a thumping heart. - - - - -XV -The Man of the Island - - -From the side of the hill, which was here steep and stony, a spout of -gravel was dislodged and fell rattling and bounding through the trees. -My eyes turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leap -with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was, whether -bear or man or monkey, I could in no wise tell. It seemed dark and -shaggy; more I knew not. But the terror of this new apparition brought -me to a stand. - -I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides; behind me the murderers, -before me this lurking nondescript. And immediately I began to prefer -the dangers that I knew to those I knew not. Silver himself appeared -less terrible in contrast with this creature of the woods, and I turned -on my heel, and looking sharply behind me over my shoulder, began to -retrace my steps in the direction of the boats. - -Instantly the figure reappeared, and making a wide circuit, began to -head me off. I was tired, at any rate; but had I been as fresh as when I -rose, I could see it was in vain for me to contend in speed with such an -adversary. From trunk to trunk the creature flitted like a deer, running -manlike on two legs, but unlike any man that I had ever seen, stooping -almost double as it ran. Yet a man it was, I could no longer be in doubt -about that. - -I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals. I was within an ace of -calling for help. But the mere fact that he was a man, however wild, -had somewhat reassured me, and my fear of Silver began to revive in -proportion. I stood still, therefore, and cast about for some method of -escape; and as I was so thinking, the recollection of my pistol flashed -into my mind. As soon as I remembered I was not defenceless, courage -glowed again in my heart and I set my face resolutely for this man of -the island and walked briskly towards him. - -He was concealed by this time behind another tree trunk; but he must -have been watching me closely, for as soon as I began to move in his -direction he reappeared and took a step to meet me. Then he hesitated, -drew back, came forward again, and at last, to my wonder and -confusion, threw himself on his knees and held out his clasped hands in -supplication. - -At that I once more stopped. - -“Who are you?” I asked. - -“Ben Gunn,” he answered, and his voice sounded hoarse and awkward, -like a rusty lock. “I’m poor Ben Gunn, I am; and I haven’t spoke with a -Christian these three years.” - -I could now see that he was a white man like myself and that his -features were even pleasing. His skin, wherever it was exposed, was -burnt by the sun; even his lips were black, and his fair eyes looked -quite startling in so dark a face. Of all the beggar-men that I had seen -or fancied, he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed with tatters -of old ship’s canvas and old sea-cloth, and this extraordinary patchwork -was all held together by a system of the most various and incongruous -fastenings, brass buttons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry gaskin. -About his waist he wore an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was the -one thing solid in his whole accoutrement. - -“Three years!” I cried. “Were you shipwrecked?” - -“Nay, mate,” said he; “marooned.” - -I had heard the word, and I knew it stood for a horrible kind of -punishment common enough among the buccaneers, in which the offender -is put ashore with a little powder and shot and left behind on some -desolate and distant island. - -“Marooned three years agone,” he continued, “and lived on goats since -then, and berries, and oysters. Wherever a man is, says I, a man can -do for himself. But, mate, my heart is sore for Christian diet. You -mightn’t happen to have a piece of cheese about you, now? No? Well, -many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese--toasted, mostly--and woke -up again, and here I were.” - -“If ever I can get aboard again,” said I, “you shall have cheese by the -stone.” - -All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my jacket, smoothing -my hands, looking at my boots, and generally, in the intervals of -his speech, showing a childish pleasure in the presence of a fellow -creature. But at my last words he perked up into a kind of startled -slyness. - -“If ever you can get aboard again, says you?” he repeated. “Why, now, -who’s to hinder you?” - -“Not you, I know,” was my reply. - -“And right you was,” he cried. “Now you--what do you call yourself, -mate?” - -“Jim,” I told him. - -“Jim, Jim,” says he, quite pleased apparently. “Well, now, Jim, I’ve -lived that rough as you’d be ashamed to hear of. Now, for instance, you -wouldn’t think I had had a pious mother--to look at me?” he asked. - -“Why, no, not in particular,” I answered. - -“Ah, well,” said he, “but I had--_re_markable pious. And I was a civil, -pious boy, and could rattle off my catechism that fast, as you couldn’t -tell one word from another. And here’s what it come to, Jim, and it -begun with chuck-farthen on the blessed grave-stones! That’s what it -begun with, but it went further’n that; and so my mother told me, and -predicked the whole, she did, the pious woman! But it were Providence -that put me here. I’ve thought it all out in this here lonely island, -and I’m back on piety. You don’t catch me tasting rum so much, but just -a thimbleful for luck, of course, the first chance I have. I’m bound -I’ll be good, and I see the way to. And, Jim”--looking all round him and -lowering his voice to a whisper--“I’m rich.” - -I now felt sure that the poor fellow had gone crazy in his solitude, and -I suppose I must have shown the feeling in my face, for he repeated the -statement hotly: “Rich! Rich! I says. And I’ll tell you what: I’ll make -a man of you, Jim. Ah, Jim, you’ll bless your stars, you will, you was -the first that found me!” - -And at this there came suddenly a lowering shadow over his face, and he -tightened his grasp upon my hand and raised a forefinger threateningly -before my eyes. - -“Now, Jim, you tell me true: that ain’t Flint’s ship?” he asked. - -At this I had a happy inspiration. I began to believe that I had found -an ally, and I answered him at once. - -“It’s not Flint’s ship, and Flint is dead; but I’ll tell you true, as -you ask me--there are some of Flint’s hands aboard; worse luck for the -rest of us.” - -“Not a man--with one--leg?” he gasped. - -“Silver?” I asked. - -“Ah, Silver!” says he. “That were his name.” - -“He’s the cook, and the ringleader too.” - -He was still holding me by the wrist, and at that he give it quite a -wring. - -“If you was sent by Long John,” he said, “I’m as good as pork, and I -know it. But where was you, do you suppose?” - -I had made my mind up in a moment, and by way of answer told him -the whole story of our voyage and the predicament in which we found -ourselves. He heard me with the keenest interest, and when I had done he -patted me on the head. - -“You’re a good lad, Jim,” he said; “and you’re all in a clove hitch, -ain’t you? Well, you just put your trust in Ben Gunn--Ben Gunn’s the man -to do it. Would you think it likely, now, that your squire would prove -a liberal-minded one in case of help--him being in a clove hitch, as you -remark?” - -I told him the squire was the most liberal of men. - -“Aye, but you see,” returned Ben Gunn, “I didn’t mean giving me a gate -to keep, and a suit of livery clothes, and such; that’s not my mark, -Jim. What I mean is, would he be likely to come down to the toon of, say -one thousand pounds out of money that’s as good as a man’s own already?” - -“I am sure he would,” said I. “As it was, all hands were to share.” - -“AND a passage home?” he added with a look of great shrewdness. - -“Why,” I cried, “the squire’s a gentleman. And besides, if we got rid of -the others, we should want you to help work the vessel home.” - -“Ah,” said he, “so you would.” And he seemed very much relieved. - -“Now, I’ll tell you what,” he went on. “So much I’ll tell you, and no -more. I were in Flint’s ship when he buried the treasure; he and -six along--six strong seamen. They was ashore nigh on a week, and us -standing off and on in the old WALRUS. One fine day up went the signal, -and here come Flint by himself in a little boat, and his head done up in -a blue scarf. The sun was getting up, and mortal white he looked about -the cutwater. But, there he was, you mind, and the six all dead--dead -and buried. How he done it, not a man aboard us could make out. It was -battle, murder, and sudden death, leastways--him against six. Billy -Bones was the mate; Long John, he was quartermaster; and they asked him -where the treasure was. ‘Ah,’ says he, ‘you can go ashore, if you like, -and stay,’ he says; ‘but as for the ship, she’ll beat up for more, by -thunder!’ That’s what he said. - -“Well, I was in another ship three years back, and we sighted this -island. ‘Boys,’ said I, ‘here’s Flint’s treasure; let’s land and find -it.’ The cap’n was displeased at that, but my messmates were all of a -mind and landed. Twelve days they looked for it, and every day they had -the worse word for me, until one fine morning all hands went aboard. ‘As -for you, Benjamin Gunn,’ says they, ‘here’s a musket,’ they says, ‘and -a spade, and pick-axe. You can stay here and find Flint’s money for -yourself,’ they says. - -“Well, Jim, three years have I been here, and not a bite of Christian -diet from that day to this. But now, you look here; look at me. Do I -look like a man before the mast? No, says you. Nor I weren’t, neither, I -says.” - -And with that he winked and pinched me hard. - -“Just you mention them words to your squire, Jim,” he went on. “Nor he -weren’t, neither--that’s the words. Three years he were the man of this -island, light and dark, fair and rain; and sometimes he would maybe -think upon a prayer (says you), and sometimes he would maybe think of -his old mother, so be as she’s alive (you’ll say); but the most part -of Gunn’s time (this is what you’ll say)--the most part of his time was -took up with another matter. And then you’ll give him a nip, like I do.” - -And he pinched me again in the most confidential manner. - -“Then,” he continued, “then you’ll up, and you’ll say this: Gunn is a -good man (you’ll say), and he puts a precious sight more confidence--a -precious sight, mind that--in a gen’leman born than in these gen’leman -of fortune, having been one hisself.” - -“Well,” I said, “I don’t understand one word that you’ve been saying. -But that’s neither here nor there; for how am I to get on board?” - -“Ah,” said he, “that’s the hitch, for sure. Well, there’s my boat, that -I made with my two hands. I keep her under the white rock. If the worst -come to the worst, we might try that after dark. Hi!” he broke out. -“What’s that?” - -For just then, although the sun had still an hour or two to run, all the -echoes of the island awoke and bellowed to the thunder of a cannon. - -“They have begun to fight!” I cried. “Follow me.” - -And I began to run towards the anchorage, my terrors all forgotten, -while close at my side the marooned man in his goatskins trotted easily -and lightly. - -“Left, left,” says he; “keep to your left hand, mate Jim! Under the -trees with you! Theer’s where I killed my first goat. They don’t come -down here now; they’re all mastheaded on them mountings for the fear -of Benjamin Gunn. Ah! And there’s the cetemery”--cemetery, he must have -meant. “You see the mounds? I come here and prayed, nows and thens, when -I thought maybe a Sunday would be about doo. It weren’t quite a chapel, -but it seemed more solemn like; and then, says you, Ben Gunn was -short-handed--no chapling, nor so much as a Bible and a flag, you says.” - -So he kept talking as I ran, neither expecting nor receiving any answer. - -The cannon-shot was followed after a considerable interval by a volley -of small arms. - -Another pause, and then, not a quarter of a mile in front of me, I -beheld the Union Jack flutter in the air above a wood. - - - - -PART FOUR--The Stockade - - - - -XVI -Narrative Continued by the Doctor: How the Ship Was Abandoned - - -It was about half past one--three bells in the sea phrase--that the two -boats went ashore from the HISPANIOLA. The captain, the squire, and I -were talking matters over in the cabin. Had there been a breath of wind, -we should have fallen on the six mutineers who were left aboard with -us, slipped our cable, and away to sea. But the wind was wanting; and -to complete our helplessness, down came Hunter with the news that Jim -Hawkins had slipped into a boat and was gone ashore with the rest. - -It never occurred to us to doubt Jim Hawkins, but we were alarmed for -his safety. With the men in the temper they were in, it seemed an even -chance if we should see the lad again. We ran on deck. The pitch was -bubbling in the seams; the nasty stench of the place turned me sick; -if ever a man smelt fever and dysentery, it was in that abominable -anchorage. The six scoundrels were sitting grumbling under a sail in the -forecastle; ashore we could see the gigs made fast and a man sitting -in each, hard by where the river runs in. One of them was whistling -“Lillibullero.” - -Waiting was a strain, and it was decided that Hunter and I should go -ashore with the jolly-boat in quest of information. - -The gigs had leaned to their right, but Hunter and I pulled straight in, -in the direction of the stockade upon the chart. The two who were -left guarding their boats seemed in a bustle at our appearance; -“Lillibullero” stopped off, and I could see the pair discussing what -they ought to do. Had they gone and told Silver, all might have turned -out differently; but they had their orders, I suppose, and decided to -sit quietly where they were and hark back again to “Lillibullero.” - -There was a slight bend in the coast, and I steered so as to put it -between us; even before we landed we had thus lost sight of the gigs. -I jumped out and came as near running as I durst, with a big silk -handkerchief under my hat for coolness’ sake and a brace of pistols -ready primed for safety. - -I had not gone a hundred yards when I reached the stockade. - -This was how it was: a spring of clear water rose almost at the top of a -knoll. Well, on the knoll, and enclosing the spring, they had clapped a -stout loghouse fit to hold two score of people on a pinch and loopholed -for musketry on either side. All round this they had cleared a wide -space, and then the thing was completed by a paling six feet high, -without door or opening, too strong to pull down without time and labour -and too open to shelter the besiegers. The people in the log-house had -them in every way; they stood quiet in shelter and shot the others like -partridges. All they wanted was a good watch and food; for, short of a -complete surprise, they might have held the place against a regiment. - -What particularly took my fancy was the spring. For though we had a good -enough place of it in the cabin of the HISPANIOLA, with plenty of arms -and ammunition, and things to eat, and excellent wines, there had been -one thing overlooked--we had no water. I was thinking this over when -there came ringing over the island the cry of a man at the point of -death. I was not new to violent death--I have served his Royal Highness -the Duke of Cumberland, and got a wound myself at Fontenoy--but I know -my pulse went dot and carry one. “Jim Hawkins is gone,” was my first -thought. - -It is something to have been an old soldier, but more still to have been -a doctor. There is no time to dilly-dally in our work. And so now I made -up my mind instantly, and with no time lost returned to the shore and -jumped on board the jolly-boat. - -By good fortune Hunter pulled a good oar. We made the water fly, and the -boat was soon alongside and I aboard the schooner. - -I found them all shaken, as was natural. The squire was sitting down, as -white as a sheet, thinking of the harm he had led us to, the good soul! -And one of the six forecastle hands was little better. - -“There’s a man,” says Captain Smollett, nodding towards him, “new to -this work. He came nigh-hand fainting, doctor, when he heard the cry. -Another touch of the rudder and that man would join us.” - -I told my plan to the captain, and between us we settled on the details -of its accomplishment. - -We put old Redruth in the gallery between the cabin and the forecastle, -with three or four loaded muskets and a mattress for protection. Hunter -brought the boat round under the stern-port, and Joyce and I set to work -loading her with powder tins, muskets, bags of biscuits, kegs of pork, a -cask of cognac, and my invaluable medicine chest. - -In the meantime, the squire and the captain stayed on deck, and the -latter hailed the coxswain, who was the principal man aboard. - -“Mr. Hands,” he said, “here are two of us with a brace of pistols each. -If any one of you six make a signal of any description, that man’s -dead.” - -They were a good deal taken aback, and after a little consultation one -and all tumbled down the fore companion, thinking no doubt to take us -on the rear. But when they saw Redruth waiting for them in the sparred -galley, they went about ship at once, and a head popped out again on -deck. - -“Down, dog!” cries the captain. - -And the head popped back again; and we heard no more, for the time, of -these six very faint-hearted seamen. - -By this time, tumbling things in as they came, we had the jolly-boat -loaded as much as we dared. Joyce and I got out through the stern-port, -and we made for shore again as fast as oars could take us. - -This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along shore. “Lillibullero” - was dropped again; and just before we lost sight of them behind the -little point, one of them whipped ashore and disappeared. I had half a -mind to change my plan and destroy their boats, but I feared that Silver -and the others might be close at hand, and all might very well be lost -by trying for too much. - -We had soon touched land in the same place as before and set to -provision the block house. All three made the first journey, heavily -laden, and tossed our stores over the palisade. Then, leaving Joyce to -guard them--one man, to be sure, but with half a dozen muskets--Hunter -and I returned to the jolly-boat and loaded ourselves once more. So -we proceeded without pausing to take breath, till the whole cargo was -bestowed, when the two servants took up their position in the block -house, and I, with all my power, sculled back to the HISPANIOLA. - -That we should have risked a second boat load seems more daring than it -really was. They had the advantage of numbers, of course, but we had the -advantage of arms. Not one of the men ashore had a musket, and before -they could get within range for pistol shooting, we flattered ourselves -we should be able to give a good account of a half-dozen at least. - -The squire was waiting for me at the stern window, all his faintness -gone from him. He caught the painter and made it fast, and we fell to -loading the boat for our very lives. Pork, powder, and biscuit was the -cargo, with only a musket and a cutlass apiece for the squire and me -and Redruth and the captain. The rest of the arms and powder we dropped -overboard in two fathoms and a half of water, so that we could see -the bright steel shining far below us in the sun, on the clean, sandy -bottom. - -By this time the tide was beginning to ebb, and the ship was swinging -round to her anchor. Voices were heard faintly halloaing in the -direction of the two gigs; and though this reassured us for Joyce and -Hunter, who were well to the eastward, it warned our party to be off. - -Redruth retreated from his place in the gallery and dropped into the -boat, which we then brought round to the ship’s counter, to be handier -for Captain Smollett. - -“Now, men,” said he, “do you hear me?” - -There was no answer from the forecastle. - -“It’s to you, Abraham Gray--it’s to you I am speaking.” - -Still no reply. - -“Gray,” resumed Mr. Smollett, a little louder, “I am leaving this ship, -and I order you to follow your captain. I know you are a good man at -bottom, and I dare say not one of the lot of you’s as bad as he makes -out. I have my watch here in my hand; I give you thirty seconds to join -me in.” - -There was a pause. - -“Come, my fine fellow,” continued the captain; “don’t hang so long in -stays. I’m risking my life and the lives of these good gentlemen every -second.” - -There was a sudden scuffle, a sound of blows, and out burst Abraham -Gray with a knife cut on the side of the cheek, and came running to the -captain like a dog to the whistle. - -“I’m with you, sir,” said he. - -And the next moment he and the captain had dropped aboard of us, and we -had shoved off and given way. - -We were clear out of the ship, but not yet ashore in our stockade. - - - - -XXVII -Narrative Continued by the Doctor: The Jolly-boat’s Last Trip - - -This fifth trip was quite different from any of the others. In the -first place, the little gallipot of a boat that we were in was gravely -overloaded. Five grown men, and three of them--Trelawney, Redruth, and -the captain--over six feet high, was already more than she was meant -to carry. Add to that the powder, pork, and bread-bags. The gunwale was -lipping astern. Several times we shipped a little water, and my breeches -and the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a -hundred yards. - -The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little more -evenly. All the same, we were afraid to breathe. - -In the second place, the ebb was now making--a strong rippling current -running westward through the basin, and then south’ard and seaward down -the straits by which we had entered in the morning. Even the ripples -were a danger to our overloaded craft, but the worst of it was that we -were swept out of our true course and away from our proper landing-place -behind the point. If we let the current have its way we should come -ashore beside the gigs, where the pirates might appear at any moment. - -“I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir,” said I to the captain. -I was steering, while he and Redruth, two fresh men, were at the oars. -“The tide keeps washing her down. Could you pull a little stronger?” - -“Not without swamping the boat,” said he. “You must bear up, sir, if you -please--bear up until you see you’re gaining.” - -I tried and found by experiment that the tide kept sweeping us westward -until I had laid her head due east, or just about right angles to the -way we ought to go. - -“We’ll never get ashore at this rate,” said I. - -“If it’s the only course that we can lie, sir, we must even lie it,” - returned the captain. “We must keep upstream. You see, sir,” he went on, -“if once we dropped to leeward of the landing-place, it’s hard to say -where we should get ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by the -gigs; whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then we can -dodge back along the shore.” - -“The current’s less a’ready, sir,” said the man Gray, who was sitting in -the fore-sheets; “you can ease her off a bit.” - -“Thank you, my man,” said I, quite as if nothing had happened, for we -had all quietly made up our minds to treat him like one of ourselves. - -Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I thought his voice was a -little changed. - -“The gun!” said he. - -“I have thought of that,” said I, for I made sure he was thinking of a -bombardment of the fort. “They could never get the gun ashore, and if -they did, they could never haul it through the woods.” - -“Look astern, doctor,” replied the captain. - -We had entirely forgotten the long nine; and there, to our horror, were -the five rogues busy about her, getting off her jacket, as they called -the stout tarpaulin cover under which she sailed. Not only that, but -it flashed into my mind at the same moment that the round-shot and the -powder for the gun had been left behind, and a stroke with an axe would -put it all into the possession of the evil ones abroad. - -“Israel was Flint’s gunner,” said Gray hoarsely. - -At any risk, we put the boat’s head direct for the landing-place. By -this time we had got so far out of the run of the current that we kept -steerage way even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I could -keep her steady for the goal. But the worst of it was that with the -course I now held we turned our broadside instead of our stern to the -HISPANIOLA and offered a target like a barn door. - -I could hear as well as see that brandy-faced rascal Israel Hands -plumping down a round-shot on the deck. - -“Who’s the best shot?” asked the captain. - -“Mr. Trelawney, out and away,” said I. - -“Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of these men, sir? -Hands, if possible,” said the captain. - -Trelawney was as cool as steel. He looked to the priming of his gun. - -“Now,” cried the captain, “easy with that gun, sir, or you’ll swamp the -boat. All hands stand by to trim her when he aims.” - -The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and we leaned over to the -other side to keep the balance, and all was so nicely contrived that we -did not ship a drop. - -They had the gun, by this time, slewed round upon the swivel, and Hands, -who was at the muzzle with the rammer, was in consequence the most -exposed. However, we had no luck, for just as Trelawney fired, down he -stooped, the ball whistled over him, and it was one of the other four -who fell. - -The cry he gave was echoed not only by his companions on board but by a -great number of voices from the shore, and looking in that direction -I saw the other pirates trooping out from among the trees and tumbling -into their places in the boats. - -“Here come the gigs, sir,” said I. - -“Give way, then,” cried the captain. “We mustn’t mind if we swamp her -now. If we can’t get ashore, all’s up.” - -“Only one of the gigs is being manned, sir,” I added; “the crew of the -other most likely going round by shore to cut us off.” - -“They’ll have a hot run, sir,” returned the captain. “Jack ashore, you -know. It’s not them I mind; it’s the round-shot. Carpet bowls! My lady’s -maid couldn’t miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we’ll -hold water.” - -In the meanwhile we had been making headway at a good pace for a boat so -overloaded, and we had shipped but little water in the process. We were -now close in; thirty or forty strokes and we should beach her, for the -ebb had already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below the clustering -trees. The gig was no longer to be feared; the little point had already -concealed it from our eyes. The ebb-tide, which had so cruelly delayed -us, was now making reparation and delaying our assailants. The one -source of danger was the gun. - -“If I durst,” said the captain, “I’d stop and pick off another man.” - -But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay their shot. They -had never so much as looked at their fallen comrade, though he was not -dead, and I could see him trying to crawl away. - -“Ready!” cried the squire. - -“Hold!” cried the captain, quick as an echo. - -And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that sent her stern bodily -under water. The report fell in at the same instant of time. This was -the first that Jim heard, the sound of the squire’s shot not having -reached him. Where the ball passed, not one of us precisely knew, but I -fancy it must have been over our heads and that the wind of it may have -contributed to our disaster. - -At any rate, the boat sank by the stern, quite gently, in three feet of -water, leaving the captain and myself, facing each other, on our feet. -The other three took complete headers, and came up again drenched and -bubbling. - -So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, and we could wade -ashore in safety. But there were all our stores at the bottom, and to -make things worse, only two guns out of five remained in a state for -service. Mine I had snatched from my knees and held over my head, by -a sort of instinct. As for the captain, he had carried his over his -shoulder by a bandoleer, and like a wise man, lock uppermost. The other -three had gone down with the boat. - -To add to our concern, we heard voices already drawing near us in the -woods along shore, and we had not only the danger of being cut off from -the stockade in our half-crippled state but the fear before us whether, -if Hunter and Joyce were attacked by half a dozen, they would have the -sense and conduct to stand firm. Hunter was steady, that we knew; Joyce -was a doubtful case--a pleasant, polite man for a valet and to brush -one’s clothes, but not entirely fitted for a man of war. - -With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as fast as we could, leaving -behind us the poor jolly-boat and a good half of all our powder and -provisions. - - - - -XVIII -Narrative Continued by the Doctor: End of the First Day’s Fighting - - -We made our best speed across the strip of wood that now divided us from -the stockade, and at every step we took the voices of the buccaneers -rang nearer. Soon we could hear their footfalls as they ran and the -cracking of the branches as they breasted across a bit of thicket. - -I began to see we should have a brush for it in earnest and looked to my -priming. - -“Captain,” said I, “Trelawney is the dead shot. Give him your gun; his -own is useless.” - -They exchanged guns, and Trelawney, silent and cool as he had been since -the beginning of the bustle, hung a moment on his heel to see that all -was fit for service. At the same time, observing Gray to be unarmed, I -handed him my cutlass. It did all our hearts good to see him spit in his -hand, knit his brows, and make the blade sing through the air. It was -plain from every line of his body that our new hand was worth his salt. - -Forty paces farther we came to the edge of the wood and saw the stockade -in front of us. We struck the enclosure about the middle of the south -side, and almost at the same time, seven mutineers--Job Anderson, the -boatswain, at their head--appeared in full cry at the southwestern -corner. - -They paused as if taken aback, and before they recovered, not only the -squire and I, but Hunter and Joyce from the block house, had time to -fire. The four shots came in rather a scattering volley, but they did -the business: one of the enemy actually fell, and the rest, without -hesitation, turned and plunged into the trees. - -After reloading, we walked down the outside of the palisade to see to -the fallen enemy. He was stone dead--shot through the heart. - -We began to rejoice over our good success when just at that moment a -pistol cracked in the bush, a ball whistled close past my ear, and poor -Tom Redruth stumbled and fell his length on the ground. Both the squire -and I returned the shot, but as we had nothing to aim at, it is probable -we only wasted powder. Then we reloaded and turned our attention to poor -Tom. - -The captain and Gray were already examining him, and I saw with half an -eye that all was over. - -I believe the readiness of our return volley had scattered the mutineers -once more, for we were suffered without further molestation to get the -poor old gamekeeper hoisted over the stockade and carried, groaning and -bleeding, into the log-house. - -Poor old fellow, he had not uttered one word of surprise, complaint, -fear, or even acquiescence from the very beginning of our troubles till -now, when we had laid him down in the log-house to die. He had lain like -a Trojan behind his mattress in the gallery; he had followed every order -silently, doggedly, and well; he was the oldest of our party by a score -of years; and now, sullen, old, serviceable servant, it was he that was -to die. - -The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and kissed his hand, -crying like a child. - -“Be I going, doctor?” he asked. - -“Tom, my man,” said I, “you’re going home.” - -“I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first,” he replied. - -“Tom,” said the squire, “say you forgive me, won’t you?” - -“Would that be respectful like, from me to you, squire?” was the answer. -“Howsoever, so be it, amen!” - -After a little while of silence, he said he thought somebody might read -a prayer. “It’s the custom, sir,” he added apologetically. And not long -after, without another word, he passed away. - -In the meantime the captain, whom I had observed to be wonderfully -swollen about the chest and pockets, had turned out a great many various -stores--the British colours, a Bible, a coil of stoutish rope, pen, ink, -the log-book, and pounds of tobacco. He had found a longish fir-tree -lying felled and trimmed in the enclosure, and with the help of Hunter -he had set it up at the corner of the log-house where the trunks crossed -and made an angle. Then, climbing on the roof, he had with his own hand -bent and run up the colours. - -This seemed mightily to relieve him. He re-entered the log-house and set -about counting up the stores as if nothing else existed. But he had an -eye on Tom’s passage for all that, and as soon as all was over, came -forward with another flag and reverently spread it on the body. - -“Don’t you take on, sir,” he said, shaking the squire’s hand. “All’s -well with him; no fear for a hand that’s been shot down in his duty to -captain and owner. It mayn’t be good divinity, but it’s a fact.” - -Then he pulled me aside. - -“Dr. Livesey,” he said, “in how many weeks do you and squire expect the -consort?” - -I told him it was a question not of weeks but of months, that if we -were not back by the end of August Blandly was to send to find us, but -neither sooner nor later. “You can calculate for yourself,” I said. - -“Why, yes,” returned the captain, scratching his head; “and making a -large allowance, sir, for all the gifts of Providence, I should say we -were pretty close hauled.” - -“How do you mean?” I asked. - -“It’s a pity, sir, we lost that second load. That’s what I mean,” - replied the captain. “As for powder and shot, we’ll do. But the rations -are short, very short--so short, Dr. Livesey, that we’re perhaps as well -without that extra mouth.” - -And he pointed to the dead body under the flag. - -Just then, with a roar and a whistle, a round-shot passed high above the -roof of the log-house and plumped far beyond us in the wood. - -“Oho!” said the captain. “Blaze away! You’ve little enough powder -already, my lads.” - -At the second trial, the aim was better, and the ball descended inside -the stockade, scattering a cloud of sand but doing no further damage. - -“Captain,” said the squire, “the house is quite invisible from the ship. -It must be the flag they are aiming at. Would it not be wiser to take it -in?” - -“Strike my colours!” cried the captain. “No, sir, not I”; and as soon -as he had said the words, I think we all agreed with him. For it was -not only a piece of stout, seamanly, good feeling; it was good policy -besides and showed our enemies that we despised their cannonade. - -All through the evening they kept thundering away. Ball after ball flew -over or fell short or kicked up the sand in the enclosure, but they had -to fire so high that the shot fell dead and buried itself in the soft -sand. We had no ricochet to fear, and though one popped in through the -roof of the log-house and out again through the floor, we soon got used -to that sort of horse-play and minded it no more than cricket. - -“There is one good thing about all this,” observed the captain; “the -wood in front of us is likely clear. The ebb has made a good while; our -stores should be uncovered. Volunteers to go and bring in pork.” - -Gray and Hunter were the first to come forward. Well armed, they stole -out of the stockade, but it proved a useless mission. The mutineers were -bolder than we fancied or they put more trust in Israel’s gunnery. For -four or five of them were busy carrying off our stores and wading out -with them to one of the gigs that lay close by, pulling an oar or so to -hold her steady against the current. Silver was in the stern-sheets in -command; and every man of them was now provided with a musket from some -secret magazine of their own. - -The captain sat down to his log, and here is the beginning of the entry: - - Alexander Smollett, master; David Livesey, ship’s - doctor; Abraham Gray, carpenter’s mate; John - Trelawney, owner; John Hunter and Richard Joyce, - owner’s servants, landsmen--being all that is left - faithful of the ship’s company--with stores for ten - days at short rations, came ashore this day and flew - British colours on the log-house in Treasure Island. - Thomas Redruth, owner’s servant, landsman, shot by the - mutineers; James Hawkins, cabin-boy-- - -And at the same time, I was wondering over poor Jim Hawkins’ fate. - -A hail on the land side. - -“Somebody hailing us,” said Hunter, who was on guard. - -“Doctor! Squire! Captain! Hullo, Hunter, is that you?” came the cries. - -And I ran to the door in time to see Jim Hawkins, safe and sound, come -climbing over the stockade. - - - - -XIX -Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins: The Garrison in the Stockade - - -As soon as Ben Gunn saw the colours he came to a halt, stopped me by the -arm, and sat down. - -“Now,” said he, “there’s your friends, sure enough.” - -“Far more likely it’s the mutineers,” I answered. - -“That!” he cried. “Why, in a place like this, where nobody puts in but -gen’lemen of fortune, Silver would fly the Jolly Roger, you don’t make -no doubt of that. No, that’s your friends. There’s been blows too, and I -reckon your friends has had the best of it; and here they are ashore in -the old stockade, as was made years and years ago by Flint. Ah, he was -the man to have a headpiece, was Flint! Barring rum, his match were -never seen. He were afraid of none, not he; on’y Silver--Silver was that -genteel.” - -“Well,” said I, “that may be so, and so be it; all the more reason that -I should hurry on and join my friends.” - -“Nay, mate,” returned Ben, “not you. You’re a good boy, or I’m mistook; -but you’re on’y a boy, all told. Now, Ben Gunn is fly. Rum wouldn’t -bring me there, where you’re going--not rum wouldn’t, till I see your -born gen’leman and gets it on his word of honour. And you won’t forget -my words; ‘A precious sight (that’s what you’ll say), a precious sight -more confidence’--and then nips him.” - -And he pinched me the third time with the same air of cleverness. - -“And when Ben Gunn is wanted, you know where to find him, Jim. Just -wheer you found him today. And him that comes is to have a white thing -in his hand, and he’s to come alone. Oh! And you’ll say this: ‘Ben -Gunn,’ says you, ‘has reasons of his own.’” - -“Well,” said I, “I believe I understand. You have something to propose, -and you wish to see the squire or the doctor, and you’re to be found -where I found you. Is that all?” - -“And when? says you,” he added. “Why, from about noon observation to -about six bells.” - -“Good,” said I, “and now may I go?” - -“You won’t forget?” he inquired anxiously. “Precious sight, and reasons -of his own, says you. Reasons of his own; that’s the mainstay; as -between man and man. Well, then”--still holding me--“I reckon you can -go, Jim. And, Jim, if you was to see Silver, you wouldn’t go for to sell -Ben Gunn? Wild horses wouldn’t draw it from you? No, says you. And if -them pirates camp ashore, Jim, what would you say but there’d be widders -in the morning?” - -Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a cannonball came tearing -through the trees and pitched in the sand not a hundred yards from where -we two were talking. The next moment each of us had taken to his heels -in a different direction. - -For a good hour to come frequent reports shook the island, and -balls kept crashing through the woods. I moved from hiding-place to -hiding-place, always pursued, or so it seemed to me, by these terrifying -missiles. But towards the end of the bombardment, though still I durst -not venture in the direction of the stockade, where the balls fell -oftenest, I had begun, in a manner, to pluck up my heart again, and -after a long detour to the east, crept down among the shore-side trees. - -The sun had just set, the sea breeze was rustling and tumbling in the -woods and ruffling the grey surface of the anchorage; the tide, too, was -far out, and great tracts of sand lay uncovered; the air, after the heat -of the day, chilled me through my jacket. - -The HISPANIOLA still lay where she had anchored; but, sure enough, there -was the Jolly Roger--the black flag of piracy--flying from her peak. -Even as I looked, there came another red flash and another report that -sent the echoes clattering, and one more round-shot whistled through the -air. It was the last of the cannonade. - -I lay for some time watching the bustle which succeeded the attack. Men -were demolishing something with axes on the beach near the stockade--the -poor jolly-boat, I afterwards discovered. Away, near the mouth of the -river, a great fire was glowing among the trees, and between that point -and the ship one of the gigs kept coming and going, the men, whom I -had seen so gloomy, shouting at the oars like children. But there was a -sound in their voices which suggested rum. - -At length I thought I might return towards the stockade. I was pretty -far down on the low, sandy spit that encloses the anchorage to the east, -and is joined at half-water to Skeleton Island; and now, as I rose to my -feet, I saw, some distance further down the spit and rising from among -low bushes, an isolated rock, pretty high, and peculiarly white in -colour. It occurred to me that this might be the white rock of which Ben -Gunn had spoken and that some day or other a boat might be wanted and I -should know where to look for one. - -Then I skirted among the woods until I had regained the rear, or -shoreward side, of the stockade, and was soon warmly welcomed by the -faithful party. - -I had soon told my story and began to look about me. The log-house was -made of unsquared trunks of pine--roof, walls, and floor. The latter -stood in several places as much as a foot or a foot and a half above the -surface of the sand. There was a porch at the door, and under this porch -the little spring welled up into an artificial basin of a rather odd -kind--no other than a great ship’s kettle of iron, with the bottom -knocked out, and sunk “to her bearings,” as the captain said, among the -sand. - -Little had been left besides the framework of the house, but in one -corner there was a stone slab laid down by way of hearth and an old -rusty iron basket to contain the fire. - -The slopes of the knoll and all the inside of the stockade had been -cleared of timber to build the house, and we could see by the stumps -what a fine and lofty grove had been destroyed. Most of the soil had -been washed away or buried in drift after the removal of the trees; only -where the streamlet ran down from the kettle a thick bed of moss and -some ferns and little creeping bushes were still green among the sand. -Very close around the stockade--too close for defence, they said--the -wood still flourished high and dense, all of fir on the land side, but -towards the sea with a large admixture of live-oaks. - -The cold evening breeze, of which I have spoken, whistled through every -chink of the rude building and sprinkled the floor with a continual rain -of fine sand. There was sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth, sand in our -suppers, sand dancing in the spring at the bottom of the kettle, for all -the world like porridge beginning to boil. Our chimney was a square hole -in the roof; it was but a little part of the smoke that found its way -out, and the rest eddied about the house and kept us coughing and piping -the eye. - -Add to this that Gray, the new man, had his face tied up in a bandage -for a cut he had got in breaking away from the mutineers and that poor -old Tom Redruth, still unburied, lay along the wall, stiff and stark, -under the Union Jack. - -If we had been allowed to sit idle, we should all have fallen in the -blues, but Captain Smollett was never the man for that. All hands were -called up before him, and he divided us into watches. The doctor and -Gray and I for one; the squire, Hunter, and Joyce upon the other. Tired -though we all were, two were sent out for firewood; two more were set to -dig a grave for Redruth; the doctor was named cook; I was put sentry at -the door; and the captain himself went from one to another, keeping up -our spirits and lending a hand wherever it was wanted. - -From time to time the doctor came to the door for a little air and to -rest his eyes, which were almost smoked out of his head, and whenever he -did so, he had a word for me. - -“That man Smollett,” he said once, “is a better man than I am. And when -I say that it means a deal, Jim.” - -Another time he came and was silent for a while. Then he put his head on -one side, and looked at me. - -“Is this Ben Gunn a man?” he asked. - -“I do not know, sir,” said I. “I am not very sure whether he’s sane.” - -“If there’s any doubt about the matter, he is,” returned the doctor. “A -man who has been three years biting his nails on a desert island, Jim, -can’t expect to appear as sane as you or me. It doesn’t lie in human -nature. Was it cheese you said he had a fancy for?” - -“Yes, sir, cheese,” I answered. - -“Well, Jim,” says he, “just see the good that comes of being dainty in -your food. You’ve seen my snuff-box, haven’t you? And you never saw me -take snuff, the reason being that in my snuff-box I carry a piece of -Parmesan cheese--a cheese made in Italy, very nutritious. Well, that’s -for Ben Gunn!” - -Before supper was eaten we buried old Tom in the sand and stood round -him for a while bare-headed in the breeze. A good deal of firewood had -been got in, but not enough for the captain’s fancy, and he shook his -head over it and told us we “must get back to this tomorrow rather -livelier.” Then, when we had eaten our pork and each had a good stiff -glass of brandy grog, the three chiefs got together in a corner to -discuss our prospects. - -It appears they were at their wits’ end what to do, the stores being so -low that we must have been starved into surrender long before help came. -But our best hope, it was decided, was to kill off the buccaneers until -they either hauled down their flag or ran away with the HISPANIOLA. From -nineteen they were already reduced to fifteen, two others were wounded, -and one at least--the man shot beside the gun--severely wounded, if he -were not dead. Every time we had a crack at them, we were to take it, -saving our own lives, with the extremest care. And besides that, we had -two able allies--rum and the climate. - -As for the first, though we were about half a mile away, we could hear -them roaring and singing late into the night; and as for the second, -the doctor staked his wig that, camped where they were in the marsh -and unprovided with remedies, the half of them would be on their backs -before a week. - -“So,” he added, “if we are not all shot down first they’ll be glad to -be packing in the schooner. It’s always a ship, and they can get to -buccaneering again, I suppose.” - -“First ship that ever I lost,” said Captain Smollett. - -I was dead tired, as you may fancy; and when I got to sleep, which was -not till after a great deal of tossing, I slept like a log of wood. - -The rest had long been up and had already breakfasted and increased the -pile of firewood by about half as much again when I was wakened by a -bustle and the sound of voices. - -“Flag of truce!” I heard someone say; and then, immediately after, with -a cry of surprise, “Silver himself!” - -And at that, up I jumped, and rubbing my eyes, ran to a loophole in the -wall. - - - - -XX -Silver’s Embassy - - -Sure enough, there were two men just outside the stockade, one of them -waving a white cloth, the other, no less a person than Silver himself, -standing placidly by. - -It was still quite early, and the coldest morning that I think I ever -was abroad in--a chill that pierced into the marrow. The sky was bright -and cloudless overhead, and the tops of the trees shone rosily in -the sun. But where Silver stood with his lieutenant, all was still in -shadow, and they waded knee-deep in a low white vapour that had crawled -during the night out of the morass. The chill and the vapour taken -together told a poor tale of the island. It was plainly a damp, -feverish, unhealthy spot. - -“Keep indoors, men,” said the captain. “Ten to one this is a trick.” - -Then he hailed the buccaneer. - -“Who goes? Stand, or we fire.” - -“Flag of truce,” cried Silver. - -The captain was in the porch, keeping himself carefully out of the way -of a treacherous shot, should any be intended. He turned and spoke to -us, “Doctor’s watch on the lookout. Dr. Livesey take the north side, -if you please; Jim, the east; Gray, west. The watch below, all hands to -load muskets. Lively, men, and careful.” - -And then he turned again to the mutineers. - -“And what do you want with your flag of truce?” he cried. - -This time it was the other man who replied. - -“Cap’n Silver, sir, to come on board and make terms,” he shouted. - -“Cap’n Silver! Don’t know him. Who’s he?” cried the captain. And we -could hear him adding to himself, “Cap’n, is it? My heart, and here’s -promotion!” - -Long John answered for himself. “Me, sir. These poor lads have chosen me -cap’n, after your desertion, sir”--laying a particular emphasis upon the -word “desertion.” “We’re willing to submit, if we can come to terms, -and no bones about it. All I ask is your word, Cap’n Smollett, to let me -safe and sound out of this here stockade, and one minute to get out o’ -shot before a gun is fired.” - -“My man,” said Captain Smollett, “I have not the slightest desire to -talk to you. If you wish to talk to me, you can come, that’s all. If -there’s any treachery, it’ll be on your side, and the Lord help you.” - -“That’s enough, Cap’n,” shouted Long John cheerily. “A word from you’s -enough. I know a gentleman, and you may lay to that.” - -We could see the man who carried the flag of truce attempting to hold -Silver back. Nor was that wonderful, seeing how cavalier had been the -captain’s answer. But Silver laughed at him aloud and slapped him on the -back as if the idea of alarm had been absurd. Then he advanced to the -stockade, threw over his crutch, got a leg up, and with great vigour -and skill succeeded in surmounting the fence and dropping safely to the -other side. - -I will confess that I was far too much taken up with what was going on -to be of the slightest use as sentry; indeed, I had already deserted -my eastern loophole and crept up behind the captain, who had now seated -himself on the threshold, with his elbows on his knees, his head in his -hands, and his eyes fixed on the water as it bubbled out of the old iron -kettle in the sand. He was whistling “Come, Lasses and Lads.” - -Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll. What with the -steepness of the incline, the thick tree stumps, and the soft sand, he -and his crutch were as helpless as a ship in stays. But he stuck to it -like a man in silence, and at last arrived before the captain, whom -he saluted in the handsomest style. He was tricked out in his best; -an immense blue coat, thick with brass buttons, hung as low as to his -knees, and a fine laced hat was set on the back of his head. - -“Here you are, my man,” said the captain, raising his head. “You had -better sit down.” - -“You ain’t a-going to let me inside, Cap’n?” complained Long John. “It’s -a main cold morning, to be sure, sir, to sit outside upon the sand.” - -“Why, Silver,” said the captain, “if you had pleased to be an honest -man, you might have been sitting in your galley. It’s your own doing. -You’re either my ship’s cook--and then you were treated handsome--or -Cap’n Silver, a common mutineer and pirate, and then you can go hang!” - -“Well, well, Cap’n,” returned the sea-cook, sitting down as he was -bidden on the sand, “you’ll have to give me a hand up again, that’s all. -A sweet pretty place you have of it here. Ah, there’s Jim! The top of -the morning to you, Jim. Doctor, here’s my service. Why, there you all -are together like a happy family, in a manner of speaking.” - -“If you have anything to say, my man, better say it,” said the captain. - -“Right you were, Cap’n Smollett,” replied Silver. “Dooty is dooty, to be -sure. Well now, you look here, that was a good lay of yours last -night. I don’t deny it was a good lay. Some of you pretty handy with a -handspike-end. And I’ll not deny neither but what some of my people was -shook--maybe all was shook; maybe I was shook myself; maybe that’s -why I’m here for terms. But you mark me, Cap’n, it won’t do twice, by -thunder! We’ll have to do sentry-go and ease off a point or so on the -rum. Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the wind’s eye. But I’ll -tell you I was sober; I was on’y dog tired; and if I’d awoke a second -sooner, I’d ’a caught you at the act, I would. He wasn’t dead when I got -round to him, not he.” - -“Well?” says Captain Smollett as cool as can be. - -All that Silver said was a riddle to him, but you would never have -guessed it from his tone. As for me, I began to have an inkling. Ben -Gunn’s last words came back to my mind. I began to suppose that he had -paid the buccaneers a visit while they all lay drunk together round -their fire, and I reckoned up with glee that we had only fourteen -enemies to deal with. - -“Well, here it is,” said Silver. “We want that treasure, and we’ll have -it--that’s our point! You would just as soon save your lives, I reckon; -and that’s yours. You have a chart, haven’t you?” - -“That’s as may be,” replied the captain. - -“Oh, well, you have, I know that,” returned Long John. “You needn’t be -so husky with a man; there ain’t a particle of service in that, and you -may lay to it. What I mean is, we want your chart. Now, I never meant -you no harm, myself.” - -“That won’t do with me, my man,” interrupted the captain. “We know -exactly what you meant to do, and we don’t care, for now, you see, you -can’t do it.” - -And the captain looked at him calmly and proceeded to fill a pipe. - -“If Abe Gray--” Silver broke out. - -“Avast there!” cried Mr. Smollett. “Gray told me nothing, and I asked -him nothing; and what’s more, I would see you and him and this whole -island blown clean out of the water into blazes first. So there’s my -mind for you, my man, on that.” - -This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver down. He had been -growing nettled before, but now he pulled himself together. - -“Like enough,” said he. “I would set no limits to what gentlemen might -consider shipshape, or might not, as the case were. And seein’ as how -you are about to take a pipe, Cap’n, I’ll make so free as do likewise.” - -And he filled a pipe and lighted it; and the two men sat silently -smoking for quite a while, now looking each other in the face, now -stopping their tobacco, now leaning forward to spit. It was as good as -the play to see them. - -“Now,” resumed Silver, “here it is. You give us the chart to get the -treasure by, and drop shooting poor seamen and stoving of their heads in -while asleep. You do that, and we’ll offer you a choice. Either you come -aboard along of us, once the treasure shipped, and then I’ll give you my -affy-davy, upon my word of honour, to clap you somewhere safe ashore. Or -if that ain’t to your fancy, some of my hands being rough and having -old scores on account of hazing, then you can stay here, you can. We’ll -divide stores with you, man for man; and I’ll give my affy-davy, as -before to speak the first ship I sight, and send ’em here to pick you -up. Now, you’ll own that’s talking. Handsomer you couldn’t look to get, -now you. And I hope”--raising his voice--“that all hands in this here -block house will overhaul my words, for what is spoke to one is spoke to -all.” - -Captain Smollett rose from his seat and knocked out the ashes of his -pipe in the palm of his left hand. - -“Is that all?” he asked. - -“Every last word, by thunder!” answered John. “Refuse that, and you’ve -seen the last of me but musket-balls.” - -“Very good,” said the captain. “Now you’ll hear me. If you’ll come up -one by one, unarmed, I’ll engage to clap you all in irons and take you -home to a fair trial in England. If you won’t, my name is Alexander -Smollett, I’ve flown my sovereign’s colours, and I’ll see you all -to Davy Jones. You can’t find the treasure. You can’t sail the -ship--there’s not a man among you fit to sail the ship. You can’t fight -us--Gray, there, got away from five of you. Your ship’s in irons, Master -Silver; you’re on a lee shore, and so you’ll find. I stand here and tell -you so; and they’re the last good words you’ll get from me, for in the -name of heaven, I’ll put a bullet in your back when next I meet you. -Tramp, my lad. Bundle out of this, please, hand over hand, and double -quick.” - -Silver’s face was a picture; his eyes started in his head with wrath. He -shook the fire out of his pipe. - -“Give me a hand up!” he cried. - -“Not I,” returned the captain. - -“Who’ll give me a hand up?” he roared. - -Not a man among us moved. Growling the foulest imprecations, he crawled -along the sand till he got hold of the porch and could hoist himself -again upon his crutch. Then he spat into the spring. - -“There!” he cried. “That’s what I think of ye. Before an hour’s out, -I’ll stove in your old block house like a rum puncheon. Laugh, by -thunder, laugh! Before an hour’s out, ye’ll laugh upon the other side. -Them that die’ll be the lucky ones.” - -And with a dreadful oath he stumbled off, ploughed down the sand, was -helped across the stockade, after four or five failures, by the man with -the flag of truce, and disappeared in an instant afterwards among the -trees. - - - - -XXI -The Attack - - -As soon as Silver disappeared, the captain, who had been closely -watching him, turned towards the interior of the house and found not a -man of us at his post but Gray. It was the first time we had ever seen -him angry. - -“Quarters!” he roared. And then, as we all slunk back to our places, -“Gray,” he said, “I’ll put your name in the log; you’ve stood by your -duty like a seaman. Mr. Trelawney, I’m surprised at you, sir. Doctor, -I thought you had worn the king’s coat! If that was how you served at -Fontenoy, sir, you’d have been better in your berth.” - -The doctor’s watch were all back at their loopholes, the rest were busy -loading the spare muskets, and everyone with a red face, you may be -certain, and a flea in his ear, as the saying is. - -The captain looked on for a while in silence. Then he spoke. - -“My lads,” said he, “I’ve given Silver a broadside. I pitched it in -red-hot on purpose; and before the hour’s out, as he said, we shall be -boarded. We’re outnumbered, I needn’t tell you that, but we fight in -shelter; and a minute ago I should have said we fought with discipline. -I’ve no manner of doubt that we can drub them, if you choose.” - -Then he went the rounds and saw, as he said, that all was clear. - -On the two short sides of the house, east and west, there were only two -loopholes; on the south side where the porch was, two again; and on the -north side, five. There was a round score of muskets for the seven -of us; the firewood had been built into four piles--tables, you might -say--one about the middle of each side, and on each of these tables some -ammunition and four loaded muskets were laid ready to the hand of the -defenders. In the middle, the cutlasses lay ranged. - -“Toss out the fire,” said the captain; “the chill is past, and we -mustn’t have smoke in our eyes.” - -The iron fire-basket was carried bodily out by Mr. Trelawney, and the -embers smothered among sand. - -“Hawkins hasn’t had his breakfast. Hawkins, help yourself, and back to -your post to eat it,” continued Captain Smollett. “Lively, now, my lad; -you’ll want it before you’ve done. Hunter, serve out a round of brandy -to all hands.” - -And while this was going on, the captain completed, in his own mind, the -plan of the defence. - -“Doctor, you will take the door,” he resumed. “See, and don’t expose -yourself; keep within, and fire through the porch. Hunter, take the east -side, there. Joyce, you stand by the west, my man. Mr. Trelawney, you -are the best shot--you and Gray will take this long north side, with the -five loopholes; it’s there the danger is. If they can get up to it and -fire in upon us through our own ports, things would begin to look dirty. -Hawkins, neither you nor I are much account at the shooting; we’ll stand -by to load and bear a hand.” - -As the captain had said, the chill was past. As soon as the sun had -climbed above our girdle of trees, it fell with all its force upon the -clearing and drank up the vapours at a draught. Soon the sand was baking -and the resin melting in the logs of the block house. Jackets and coats -were flung aside, shirts thrown open at the neck and rolled up to the -shoulders; and we stood there, each at his post, in a fever of heat and -anxiety. - -An hour passed away. - -“Hang them!” said the captain. “This is as dull as the doldrums. Gray, -whistle for a wind.” - -And just at that moment came the first news of the attack. - -“If you please, sir,” said Joyce, “if I see anyone, am I to fire?” - -“I told you so!” cried the captain. - -“Thank you, sir,” returned Joyce with the same quiet civility. - -Nothing followed for a time, but the remark had set us all on the alert, -straining ears and eyes--the musketeers with their pieces balanced in -their hands, the captain out in the middle of the block house with his -mouth very tight and a frown on his face. - -So some seconds passed, till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket -and fired. The report had scarcely died away ere it was repeated and -repeated from without in a scattering volley, shot behind shot, like -a string of geese, from every side of the enclosure. Several bullets -struck the log-house, but not one entered; and as the smoke cleared away -and vanished, the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet and -empty as before. Not a bough waved, not the gleam of a musket-barrel -betrayed the presence of our foes. - -“Did you hit your man?” asked the captain. - -“No, sir,” replied Joyce. “I believe not, sir.” - -“Next best thing to tell the truth,” muttered Captain Smollett. “Load -his gun, Hawkins. How many should say there were on your side, doctor?” - -“I know precisely,” said Dr. Livesey. “Three shots were fired on this -side. I saw the three flashes--two close together--one farther to the -west.” - -“Three!” repeated the captain. “And how many on yours, Mr. Trelawney?” - -But this was not so easily answered. There had come many from the -north--seven by the squire’s computation, eight or nine according to -Gray. From the east and west only a single shot had been fired. It was -plain, therefore, that the attack would be developed from the north and -that on the other three sides we were only to be annoyed by a show of -hostilities. But Captain Smollett made no change in his arrangements. If -the mutineers succeeded in crossing the stockade, he argued, they would -take possession of any unprotected loophole and shoot us down like rats -in our own stronghold. - -Nor had we much time left to us for thought. Suddenly, with a loud -huzza, a little cloud of pirates leaped from the woods on the north side -and ran straight on the stockade. At the same moment, the fire was once -more opened from the woods, and a rifle ball sang through the doorway -and knocked the doctor’s musket into bits. - -The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys. Squire and Gray fired -again and yet again; three men fell, one forwards into the enclosure, -two back on the outside. But of these, one was evidently more frightened -than hurt, for he was on his feet again in a crack and instantly -disappeared among the trees. - -Two had bit the dust, one had fled, four had made good their footing -inside our defences, while from the shelter of the woods seven or eight -men, each evidently supplied with several muskets, kept up a hot though -useless fire on the log-house. - -The four who had boarded made straight before them for the building, -shouting as they ran, and the men among the trees shouted back to -encourage them. Several shots were fired, but such was the hurry of the -marksmen that not one appears to have taken effect. In a moment, the -four pirates had swarmed up the mound and were upon us. - -The head of Job Anderson, the boatswain, appeared at the middle -loophole. - -“At ’em, all hands--all hands!” he roared in a voice of thunder. - -At the same moment, another pirate grasped Hunter’s musket by the -muzzle, wrenched it from his hands, plucked it through the loophole, -and with one stunning blow, laid the poor fellow senseless on the floor. -Meanwhile a third, running unharmed all around the house, appeared -suddenly in the doorway and fell with his cutlass on the doctor. - -Our position was utterly reversed. A moment since we were firing, under -cover, at an exposed enemy; now it was we who lay uncovered and could -not return a blow. - -The log-house was full of smoke, to which we owed our comparative -safety. Cries and confusion, the flashes and reports of pistol-shots, -and one loud groan rang in my ears. - -“Out, lads, out, and fight ’em in the open! Cutlasses!” cried the -captain. - -I snatched a cutlass from the pile, and someone, at the same time -snatching another, gave me a cut across the knuckles which I hardly -felt. I dashed out of the door into the clear sunlight. Someone was -close behind, I knew not whom. Right in front, the doctor was pursuing -his assailant down the hill, and just as my eyes fell upon him, beat -down his guard and sent him sprawling on his back with a great slash -across the face. - -“Round the house, lads! Round the house!” cried the captain; and even in -the hurly-burly, I perceived a change in his voice. - -Mechanically, I obeyed, turned eastwards, and with my cutlass raised, -ran round the corner of the house. Next moment I was face to face -with Anderson. He roared aloud, and his hanger went up above his head, -flashing in the sunlight. I had not time to be afraid, but as the blow -still hung impending, leaped in a trice upon one side, and missing my -foot in the soft sand, rolled headlong down the slope. - -When I had first sallied from the door, the other mutineers had been -already swarming up the palisade to make an end of us. One man, in a red -night-cap, with his cutlass in his mouth, had even got upon the top and -thrown a leg across. Well, so short had been the interval that when I -found my feet again all was in the same posture, the fellow with the red -night-cap still half-way over, another still just showing his head above -the top of the stockade. And yet, in this breath of time, the fight was -over and the victory was ours. - -Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the big boatswain ere -he had time to recover from his last blow. Another had been shot at a -loophole in the very act of firing into the house and now lay in agony, -the pistol still smoking in his hand. A third, as I had seen, the doctor -had disposed of at a blow. Of the four who had scaled the palisade, one -only remained unaccounted for, and he, having left his cutlass on the -field, was now clambering out again with the fear of death upon him. - -“Fire--fire from the house!” cried the doctor. “And you, lads, back into -cover.” - -But his words were unheeded, no shot was fired, and the last boarder -made good his escape and disappeared with the rest into the wood. In -three seconds nothing remained of the attacking party but the five who -had fallen, four on the inside and one on the outside of the palisade. - -The doctor and Gray and I ran full speed for shelter. The survivors -would soon be back where they had left their muskets, and at any moment -the fire might recommence. - -The house was by this time somewhat cleared of smoke, and we saw at -a glance the price we had paid for victory. Hunter lay beside his -loophole, stunned; Joyce by his, shot through the head, never to move -again; while right in the centre, the squire was supporting the captain, -one as pale as the other. - -“The captain’s wounded,” said Mr. Trelawney. - -“Have they run?” asked Mr. Smollett. - -“All that could, you may be bound,” returned the doctor; “but there’s -five of them will never run again.” - -“Five!” cried the captain. “Come, that’s better. Five against three -leaves us four to nine. That’s better odds than we had at starting. We -were seven to nineteen then, or thought we were, and that’s as bad to -bear.” * - -*The mutineers were soon only eight in number, for the man shot by Mr. -Trelawney on board the schooner died that same evening of his wound. But -this was, of course, not known till after by the faithful party. - - - - -PART FIVE--My Sea Adventure - - - - -XXII -How I Began My Sea Adventure - - -There was no return of the mutineers--not so much as another shot out of -the woods. They had “got their rations for that day,” as the captain put -it, and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul the -wounded and get dinner. Squire and I cooked outside in spite of the -danger, and even outside we could hardly tell what we were at, for -horror of the loud groans that reached us from the doctor’s patients. - -Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action, only three still -breathed--that one of the pirates who had been shot at the loophole, -Hunter, and Captain Smollett; and of these, the first two were as good -as dead; the mutineer indeed died under the doctor’s knife, and Hunter, -do what we could, never recovered consciousness in this world. He -lingered all day, breathing loudly like the old buccaneer at home in his -apoplectic fit, but the bones of his chest had been crushed by the -blow and his skull fractured in falling, and some time in the following -night, without sign or sound, he went to his Maker. - -As for the captain, his wounds were grievous indeed, but not dangerous. -No organ was fatally injured. Anderson’s ball--for it was Job that -shot him first--had broken his shoulder-blade and touched the lung, not -badly; the second had only torn and displaced some muscles in the calf. -He was sure to recover, the doctor said, but in the meantime, and for -weeks to come, he must not walk nor move his arm, nor so much as speak -when he could help it. - -My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a flea-bite. Doctor -Livesey patched it up with plaster and pulled my ears for me into the -bargain. - -After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the captain’s side awhile -in consultation; and when they had talked to their hearts’ content, it -being then a little past noon, the doctor took up his hat and pistols, -girt on a cutlass, put the chart in his pocket, and with a musket over -his shoulder crossed the palisade on the north side and set off briskly -through the trees. - -Gray and I were sitting together at the far end of the block house, to -be out of earshot of our officers consulting; and Gray took his pipe out -of his mouth and fairly forgot to put it back again, so thunder-struck -he was at this occurrence. - -“Why, in the name of Davy Jones,” said he, “is Dr. Livesey mad?” - -“Why no,” says I. “He’s about the last of this crew for that, I take -it.” - -“Well, shipmate,” said Gray, “mad he may not be; but if HE’S not, you -mark my words, I am.” - -“I take it,” replied I, “the doctor has his idea; and if I am right, -he’s going now to see Ben Gunn.” - -I was right, as appeared later; but in the meantime, the house being -stifling hot and the little patch of sand inside the palisade ablaze -with midday sun, I began to get another thought into my head, which was -not by any means so right. What I began to do was to envy the doctor -walking in the cool shadow of the woods with the birds about him and the -pleasant smell of the pines, while I sat grilling, with my clothes -stuck to the hot resin, and so much blood about me and so many poor -dead bodies lying all around that I took a disgust of the place that was -almost as strong as fear. - -All the time I was washing out the block house, and then washing up -the things from dinner, this disgust and envy kept growing stronger -and stronger, till at last, being near a bread-bag, and no one then -observing me, I took the first step towards my escapade and filled both -pockets of my coat with biscuit. - -I was a fool, if you like, and certainly I was going to do a foolish, -over-bold act; but I was determined to do it with all the precautions in -my power. These biscuits, should anything befall me, would keep me, at -least, from starving till far on in the next day. - -The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols, and as I already -had a powder-horn and bullets, I felt myself well supplied with arms. - -As for the scheme I had in my head, it was not a bad one in itself. I -was to go down the sandy spit that divides the anchorage on the east -from the open sea, find the white rock I had observed last evening, and -ascertain whether it was there or not that Ben Gunn had hidden his boat, -a thing quite worth doing, as I still believe. But as I was certain I -should not be allowed to leave the enclosure, my only plan was to take -French leave and slip out when nobody was watching, and that was so bad -a way of doing it as made the thing itself wrong. But I was only a boy, -and I had made my mind up. - -Well, as things at last fell out, I found an admirable opportunity. The -squire and Gray were busy helping the captain with his bandages, the -coast was clear, I made a bolt for it over the stockade and into the -thickest of the trees, and before my absence was observed I was out of -cry of my companions. - -This was my second folly, far worse than the first, as I left but two -sound men to guard the house; but like the first, it was a help towards -saving all of us. - -I took my way straight for the east coast of the island, for I was -determined to go down the sea side of the spit to avoid all chance of -observation from the anchorage. It was already late in the afternoon, -although still warm and sunny. As I continued to thread the tall woods, -I could hear from far before me not only the continuous thunder of the -surf, but a certain tossing of foliage and grinding of boughs which -showed me the sea breeze had set in higher than usual. Soon cool -draughts of air began to reach me, and a few steps farther I came forth -into the open borders of the grove, and saw the sea lying blue and sunny -to the horizon and the surf tumbling and tossing its foam along the -beach. - -I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure Island. The sun might -blaze overhead, the air be without a breath, the surface smooth and -blue, but still these great rollers would be running along all the -external coast, thundering and thundering by day and night; and I scarce -believe there is one spot in the island where a man would be out of -earshot of their noise. - -I walked along beside the surf with great enjoyment, till, thinking -I was now got far enough to the south, I took the cover of some thick -bushes and crept warily up to the ridge of the spit. - -Behind me was the sea, in front the anchorage. The sea breeze, as though -it had the sooner blown itself out by its unusual violence, was already -at an end; it had been succeeded by light, variable airs from the south -and south-east, carrying great banks of fog; and the anchorage, under -lee of Skeleton Island, lay still and leaden as when first we entered -it. The HISPANIOLA, in that unbroken mirror, was exactly portrayed from -the truck to the waterline, the Jolly Roger hanging from her peak. - -Alongside lay one of the gigs, Silver in the stern-sheets--him I could -always recognize--while a couple of men were leaning over the stern -bulwarks, one of them with a red cap--the very rogue that I had seen -some hours before stride-legs upon the palisade. Apparently they were -talking and laughing, though at that distance--upwards of a mile--I -could, of course, hear no word of what was said. All at once there began -the most horrid, unearthly screaming, which at first startled me badly, -though I had soon remembered the voice of Captain Flint and even thought -I could make out the bird by her bright plumage as she sat perched upon -her master’s wrist. - -Soon after, the jolly-boat shoved off and pulled for shore, and the man -with the red cap and his comrade went below by the cabin companion. - -Just about the same time, the sun had gone down behind the Spy-glass, -and as the fog was collecting rapidly, it began to grow dark in earnest. -I saw I must lose no time if I were to find the boat that evening. - -The white rock, visible enough above the brush, was still some eighth of -a mile further down the spit, and it took me a goodish while to get up -with it, crawling, often on all fours, among the scrub. Night had almost -come when I laid my hand on its rough sides. Right below it there was -an exceedingly small hollow of green turf, hidden by banks and a thick -underwood about knee-deep, that grew there very plentifully; and in the -centre of the dell, sure enough, a little tent of goat-skins, like what -the gipsies carry about with them in England. - -I dropped into the hollow, lifted the side of the tent, and there was -Ben Gunn’s boat--home-made if ever anything was home-made; a rude, -lop-sided framework of tough wood, and stretched upon that a covering of -goat-skin, with the hair inside. The thing was extremely small, even -for me, and I can hardly imagine that it could have floated with a -full-sized man. There was one thwart set as low as possible, a kind of -stretcher in the bows, and a double paddle for propulsion. - -I had not then seen a coracle, such as the ancient Britons made, but -I have seen one since, and I can give you no fairer idea of Ben Gunn’s -boat than by saying it was like the first and the worst coracle ever -made by man. But the great advantage of the coracle it certainly -possessed, for it was exceedingly light and portable. - -Well, now that I had found the boat, you would have thought I had had -enough of truantry for once, but in the meantime I had taken another -notion and become so obstinately fond of it that I would have carried -it out, I believe, in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself. This was -to slip out under cover of the night, cut the HISPANIOLA adrift, and let -her go ashore where she fancied. I had quite made up my mind that the -mutineers, after their repulse of the morning, had nothing nearer their -hearts than to up anchor and away to sea; this, I thought, it would be -a fine thing to prevent, and now that I had seen how they left their -watchmen unprovided with a boat, I thought it might be done with little -risk. - -Down I sat to wait for darkness, and made a hearty meal of biscuit. It -was a night out of ten thousand for my purpose. The fog had now buried -all heaven. As the last rays of daylight dwindled and disappeared, -absolute blackness settled down on Treasure Island. And when, at last, -I shouldered the coracle and groped my way stumblingly out of the hollow -where I had supped, there were but two points visible on the whole -anchorage. - -One was the great fire on shore, by which the defeated pirates lay -carousing in the swamp. The other, a mere blur of light upon the -darkness, indicated the position of the anchored ship. She had swung -round to the ebb--her bow was now towards me--the only lights on board -were in the cabin, and what I saw was merely a reflection on the fog of -the strong rays that flowed from the stern window. - -The ebb had already run some time, and I had to wade through a long belt -of swampy sand, where I sank several times above the ankle, before I -came to the edge of the retreating water, and wading a little way in, -with some strength and dexterity, set my coracle, keel downwards, on the -surface. - - - - -XXIII -The Ebb-tide Runs - - -The coracle--as I had ample reason to know before I was done with -her--was a very safe boat for a person of my height and weight, both -buoyant and clever in a seaway; but she was the most cross-grained, -lop-sided craft to manage. Do as you pleased, she always made more -leeway than anything else, and turning round and round was the manoeuvre -she was best at. Even Ben Gunn himself has admitted that she was “queer -to handle till you knew her way.” - -Certainly I did not know her way. She turned in every direction but the -one I was bound to go; the most part of the time we were broadside on, -and I am very sure I never should have made the ship at all but for the -tide. By good fortune, paddle as I pleased, the tide was still sweeping -me down; and there lay the HISPANIOLA right in the fairway, hardly to be -missed. - -First she loomed before me like a blot of something yet blacker than -darkness, then her spars and hull began to take shape, and the next -moment, as it seemed (for, the farther I went, the brisker grew the -current of the ebb), I was alongside of her hawser and had laid hold. - -The hawser was as taut as a bowstring, and the current so strong she -pulled upon her anchor. All round the hull, in the blackness, the -rippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream. -One cut with my sea-gully and the HISPANIOLA would go humming down the -tide. - -So far so good, but it next occurred to my recollection that a taut -hawser, suddenly cut, is a thing as dangerous as a kicking horse. Ten to -one, if I were so foolhardy as to cut the HISPANIOLA from her anchor, I -and the coracle would be knocked clean out of the water. - -This brought me to a full stop, and if fortune had not again -particularly favoured me, I should have had to abandon my design. But -the light airs which had begun blowing from the south-east and south -had hauled round after nightfall into the south-west. Just while I was -meditating, a puff came, caught the HISPANIOLA, and forced her up into -the current; and to my great joy, I felt the hawser slacken in my grasp, -and the hand by which I held it dip for a second under water. - -With that I made my mind up, took out my gully, opened it with my teeth, -and cut one strand after another, till the vessel swung only by two. -Then I lay quiet, waiting to sever these last when the strain should be -once more lightened by a breath of wind. - -All this time I had heard the sound of loud voices from the cabin, but -to say truth, my mind had been so entirely taken up with other thoughts -that I had scarcely given ear. Now, however, when I had nothing else to -do, I began to pay more heed. - -One I recognized for the coxswain’s, Israel Hands, that had been Flint’s -gunner in former days. The other was, of course, my friend of the red -night-cap. Both men were plainly the worse of drink, and they were still -drinking, for even while I was listening, one of them, with a drunken -cry, opened the stern window and threw out something, which I divined to -be an empty bottle. But they were not only tipsy; it was plain that they -were furiously angry. Oaths flew like hailstones, and every now and -then there came forth such an explosion as I thought was sure to end -in blows. But each time the quarrel passed off and the voices grumbled -lower for a while, until the next crisis came and in its turn passed -away without result. - -On shore, I could see the glow of the great camp-fire burning warmly -through the shore-side trees. Someone was singing, a dull, old, droning -sailor’s song, with a droop and a quaver at the end of every verse, -and seemingly no end to it at all but the patience of the singer. I had -heard it on the voyage more than once and remembered these words: - - “But one man of her crew alive, - What put to sea with seventy-five.” - -And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully appropriate for a -company that had met such cruel losses in the morning. But, indeed, from -what I saw, all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed -on. - -At last the breeze came; the schooner sidled and drew nearer in the -dark; I felt the hawser slacken once more, and with a good, tough -effort, cut the last fibres through. - -The breeze had but little action on the coracle, and I was almost -instantly swept against the bows of the HISPANIOLA. At the same time, -the schooner began to turn upon her heel, spinning slowly, end for end, -across the current. - -I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every moment to be swamped; and -since I found I could not push the coracle directly off, I now shoved -straight astern. At length I was clear of my dangerous neighbour, and -just as I gave the last impulsion, my hands came across a light cord -that was trailing overboard across the stern bulwarks. Instantly I -grasped it. - -Why I should have done so I can hardly say. It was at first mere -instinct, but once I had it in my hands and found it fast, curiosity -began to get the upper hand, and I determined I should have one look -through the cabin window. - -I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and when I judged myself near -enough, rose at infinite risk to about half my height and thus commanded -the roof and a slice of the interior of the cabin. - -By this time the schooner and her little consort were gliding pretty -swiftly through the water; indeed, we had already fetched up level with -the camp-fire. The ship was talking, as sailors say, loudly, treading -the innumerable ripples with an incessant weltering splash; and until I -got my eye above the window-sill I could not comprehend why the watchmen -had taken no alarm. One glance, however, was sufficient; and it was -only one glance that I durst take from that unsteady skiff. It showed me -Hands and his companion locked together in deadly wrestle, each with a -hand upon the other’s throat. - -I dropped upon the thwart again, none too soon, for I was near -overboard. I could see nothing for the moment but these two furious, -encrimsoned faces swaying together under the smoky lamp, and I shut my -eyes to let them grow once more familiar with the darkness. - -The endless ballad had come to an end at last, and the whole diminished -company about the camp-fire had broken into the chorus I had heard so -often: - - “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! - Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” - -I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were at that very -moment in the cabin of the HISPANIOLA, when I was surprised by a sudden -lurch of the coracle. At the same moment, she yawed sharply and seemed -to change her course. The speed in the meantime had strangely increased. - -I opened my eyes at once. All round me were little ripples, combing -over with a sharp, bristling sound and slightly phosphorescent. The -HISPANIOLA herself, a few yards in whose wake I was still being whirled -along, seemed to stagger in her course, and I saw her spars toss a -little against the blackness of the night; nay, as I looked longer, I -made sure she also was wheeling to the southward. - -I glanced over my shoulder, and my heart jumped against my ribs. There, -right behind me, was the glow of the camp-fire. The current had turned -at right angles, sweeping round along with it the tall schooner and -the little dancing coracle; ever quickening, ever bubbling higher, ever -muttering louder, it went spinning through the narrows for the open sea. - -Suddenly the schooner in front of me gave a violent yaw, turning, -perhaps, through twenty degrees; and almost at the same moment one -shout followed another from on board; I could hear feet pounding on -the companion ladder and I knew that the two drunkards had at last been -interrupted in their quarrel and awakened to a sense of their disaster. - -I lay down flat in the bottom of that wretched skiff and devoutly -recommended my spirit to its Maker. At the end of the straits, I -made sure we must fall into some bar of raging breakers, where all my -troubles would be ended speedily; and though I could, perhaps, bear to -die, I could not bear to look upon my fate as it approached. - -So I must have lain for hours, continually beaten to and fro upon the -billows, now and again wetted with flying sprays, and never ceasing to -expect death at the next plunge. Gradually weariness grew upon me; a -numbness, an occasional stupor, fell upon my mind even in the midst of -my terrors, until sleep at last supervened and in my sea-tossed coracle -I lay and dreamed of home and the old Admiral Benbow. - - - - -XXIV -The Cruise of the Coracle - - -It was broad day when I awoke and found myself tossing at the south-west -end of Treasure Island. The sun was up but was still hid from me behind -the great bulk of the Spy-glass, which on this side descended almost to -the sea in formidable cliffs. - -Haulbowline Head and Mizzenmast Hill were at my elbow, the hill bare -and dark, the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high and -fringed with great masses of fallen rock. I was scarce a quarter of a -mile to seaward, and it was my first thought to paddle in and land. - -That notion was soon given over. Among the fallen rocks the breakers -spouted and bellowed; loud reverberations, heavy sprays flying and -falling, succeeded one another from second to second; and I saw myself, -if I ventured nearer, dashed to death upon the rough shore or spending -my strength in vain to scale the beetling crags. - -Nor was that all, for crawling together on flat tables of rock or -letting themselves drop into the sea with loud reports I beheld huge -slimy monsters--soft snails, as it were, of incredible bigness--two -or three score of them together, making the rocks to echo with their -barkings. - -I have understood since that they were sea lions, and entirely harmless. -But the look of them, added to the difficulty of the shore and the -high running of the surf, was more than enough to disgust me of that -landing-place. I felt willing rather to starve at sea than to confront -such perils. - -In the meantime I had a better chance, as I supposed, before me. North -of Haulbowline Head, the land runs in a long way, leaving at low tide -a long stretch of yellow sand. To the north of that, again, there comes -another cape--Cape of the Woods, as it was marked upon the chart--buried -in tall green pines, which descended to the margin of the sea. - -I remembered what Silver had said about the current that sets northward -along the whole west coast of Treasure Island, and seeing from my -position that I was already under its influence, I preferred to leave -Haulbowline Head behind me and reserve my strength for an attempt to -land upon the kindlier-looking Cape of the Woods. - -There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. The wind blowing steady -and gentle from the south, there was no contrariety between that and the -current, and the billows rose and fell unbroken. - -Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have perished; but as it was, -it is surprising how easily and securely my little and light boat could -ride. Often, as I still lay at the bottom and kept no more than an eye -above the gunwale, I would see a big blue summit heaving close above me; -yet the coracle would but bounce a little, dance as if on springs, and -subside on the other side into the trough as lightly as a bird. - -I began after a little to grow very bold and sat up to try my skill at -paddling. But even a small change in the disposition of the weight will -produce violent changes in the behaviour of a coracle. And I had hardly -moved before the boat, giving up at once her gentle dancing movement, -ran straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy, and -struck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side of the next -wave. - -I was drenched and terrified, and fell instantly back into my old -position, whereupon the coracle seemed to find her head again and led -me as softly as before among the billows. It was plain she was not to be -interfered with, and at that rate, since I could in no way influence her -course, what hope had I left of reaching land? - -I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, for all that. -First, moving with all care, I gradually baled out the coracle with my -sea-cap; then, getting my eye once more above the gunwale, I set myself -to study how it was she managed to slip so quietly through the rollers. - -I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth glossy mountain it looks -from shore or from a vessel’s deck, was for all the world like any range -of hills on dry land, full of peaks and smooth places and valleys. The -coracle, left to herself, turning from side to side, threaded, so to -speak, her way through these lower parts and avoided the steep slopes -and higher, toppling summits of the wave. - -“Well, now,” thought I to myself, “it is plain I must lie where I am and -not disturb the balance; but it is plain also that I can put the paddle -over the side and from time to time, in smooth places, give her a shove -or two towards land.” No sooner thought upon than done. There I lay on -my elbows in the most trying attitude, and every now and again gave a -weak stroke or two to turn her head to shore. - -It was very tiring and slow work, yet I did visibly gain ground; and as -we drew near the Cape of the Woods, though I saw I must infallibly -miss that point, I had still made some hundred yards of easting. I was, -indeed, close in. I could see the cool green tree-tops swaying together -in the breeze, and I felt sure I should make the next promontory without -fail. - -It was high time, for I now began to be tortured with thirst. The glow -of the sun from above, its thousandfold reflection from the waves, the -sea-water that fell and dried upon me, caking my very lips with salt, -combined to make my throat burn and my brain ache. The sight of the -trees so near at hand had almost made me sick with longing, but the -current had soon carried me past the point, and as the next reach of sea -opened out, I beheld a sight that changed the nature of my thoughts. - -Right in front of me, not half a mile away, I beheld the HISPANIOLA -under sail. I made sure, of course, that I should be taken; but I was -so distressed for want of water that I scarce knew whether to be glad -or sorry at the thought, and long before I had come to a conclusion, -surprise had taken entire possession of my mind and I could do nothing -but stare and wonder. - -The HISPANIOLA was under her main-sail and two jibs, and the beautiful -white canvas shone in the sun like snow or silver. When I first -sighted her, all her sails were drawing; she was lying a course about -north-west, and I presumed the men on board were going round the island -on their way back to the anchorage. Presently she began to fetch more -and more to the westward, so that I thought they had sighted me and were -going about in chase. At last, however, she fell right into the wind’s -eye, was taken dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, with her -sails shivering. - -“Clumsy fellows,” said I; “they must still be drunk as owls.” And I -thought how Captain Smollett would have set them skipping. - -Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off and filled again upon another -tack, sailed swiftly for a minute or so, and brought up once more dead -in the wind’s eye. Again and again was this repeated. To and fro, up and -down, north, south, east, and west, the HISPANIOLA sailed by swoops -and dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idly -flapping canvas. It became plain to me that nobody was steering. And if -so, where were the men? Either they were dead drunk or had deserted her, -I thought, and perhaps if I could get on board I might return the vessel -to her captain. - -The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate. -As for the latter’s sailing, it was so wild and intermittent, and she -hung each time so long in irons, that she certainly gained nothing, if -she did not even lose. If only I dared to sit up and paddle, I made -sure that I could overhaul her. The scheme had an air of adventure -that inspired me, and the thought of the water breaker beside the fore -companion doubled my growing courage. - -Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by another cloud of spray, but -this time stuck to my purpose and set myself, with all my strength and -caution, to paddle after the unsteered HISPANIOLA. Once I shipped a sea -so heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heart fluttering like -a bird, but gradually I got into the way of the thing and guided my -coracle among the waves, with only now and then a blow upon her bows and -a dash of foam in my face. - -I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner; I could see the brass glisten -on the tiller as it banged about, and still no soul appeared upon her -decks. I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the men -were lying drunk below, where I might batten them down, perhaps, and do -what I chose with the ship. - -For some time she had been doing the worse thing possible for -me--standing still. She headed nearly due south, yawing, of course, all -the time. Each time she fell off, her sails partly filled, and these -brought her in a moment right to the wind again. I have said this was -the worst thing possible for me, for helpless as she looked in this -situation, with the canvas cracking like cannon and the blocks trundling -and banging on the deck, she still continued to run away from me, not -only with the speed of the current, but by the whole amount of her -leeway, which was naturally great. - -But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell for some seconds, -very low, and the current gradually turning her, the HISPANIOLA revolved -slowly round her centre and at last presented me her stern, with the -cabin window still gaping open and the lamp over the table still burning -on into the day. The main-sail hung drooped like a banner. She was -stock-still but for the current. - -For the last little while I had even lost, but now redoubling my -efforts, I began once more to overhaul the chase. - -I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind came again in a clap; -she filled on the port tack and was off again, stooping and skimming -like a swallow. - -My first impulse was one of despair, but my second was towards joy. -Round she came, till she was broadside on to me--round still till she -had covered a half and then two thirds and then three quarters of the -distance that separated us. I could see the waves boiling white under -her forefoot. Immensely tall she looked to me from my low station in the -coracle. - -And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I had scarce time to -think--scarce time to act and save myself. I was on the summit of one -swell when the schooner came stooping over the next. The bowsprit was -over my head. I sprang to my feet and leaped, stamping the coracle under -water. With one hand I caught the jib-boom, while my foot was lodged -between the stay and the brace; and as I still clung there panting, a -dull blow told me that the schooner had charged down upon and struck the -coracle and that I was left without retreat on the HISPANIOLA. - - - - -XXV -I Strike the Jolly Roger - - -I had scarce gained a position on the bowsprit when the flying jib -flapped and filled upon the other tack, with a report like a gun. The -schooner trembled to her keel under the reverse, but next moment, the -other sails still drawing, the jib flapped back again and hung idle. - -This had nearly tossed me off into the sea; and now I lost no time, -crawled back along the bowsprit, and tumbled head foremost on the deck. - -I was on the lee side of the forecastle, and the mainsail, which was -still drawing, concealed from me a certain portion of the after-deck. -Not a soul was to be seen. The planks, which had not been swabbed since -the mutiny, bore the print of many feet, and an empty bottle, broken by -the neck, tumbled to and fro like a live thing in the scuppers. - -Suddenly the HISPANIOLA came right into the wind. The jibs behind me -cracked aloud, the rudder slammed to, the whole ship gave a sickening -heave and shudder, and at the same moment the main-boom swung inboard, -the sheet groaning in the blocks, and showed me the lee after-deck. - -There were the two watchmen, sure enough: red-cap on his back, as stiff -as a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix and -his teeth showing through his open lips; Israel Hands propped against -the bulwarks, his chin on his chest, his hands lying open before him on -the deck, his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow candle. - -For a while the ship kept bucking and sidling like a vicious horse, the -sails filling, now on one tack, now on another, and the boom swinging to -and fro till the mast groaned aloud under the strain. Now and again too -there would come a cloud of light sprays over the bulwark and a heavy -blow of the ship’s bows against the swell; so much heavier weather was -made of it by this great rigged ship than by my home-made, lop-sided -coracle, now gone to the bottom of the sea. - -At every jump of the schooner, red-cap slipped to and fro, but--what was -ghastly to behold--neither his attitude nor his fixed teeth-disclosing -grin was anyway disturbed by this rough usage. At every jump too, Hands -appeared still more to sink into himself and settle down upon the -deck, his feet sliding ever the farther out, and the whole body canting -towards the stern, so that his face became, little by little, hid -from me; and at last I could see nothing beyond his ear and the frayed -ringlet of one whisker. - -At the same time, I observed, around both of them, splashes of dark -blood upon the planks and began to feel sure that they had killed each -other in their drunken wrath. - -While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calm moment, when the ship -was still, Israel Hands turned partly round and with a low moan writhed -himself back to the position in which I had seen him first. The moan, -which told of pain and deadly weakness, and the way in which his jaw -hung open went right to my heart. But when I remembered the talk I had -overheard from the apple barrel, all pity left me. - -I walked aft until I reached the main-mast. - -“Come aboard, Mr. Hands,” I said ironically. - -He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too far gone to express -surprise. All he could do was to utter one word, “Brandy.” - -It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and dodging the boom as it -once more lurched across the deck, I slipped aft and down the companion -stairs into the cabin. - -It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy. All the -lockfast places had been broken open in quest of the chart. The floor -was thick with mud where ruffians had sat down to drink or consult after -wading in the marshes round their camp. The bulkheads, all painted in -clear white and beaded round with gilt, bore a pattern of dirty hands. -Dozens of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the rolling of -the ship. One of the doctor’s medical books lay open on the table, half -of the leaves gutted out, I suppose, for pipelights. In the midst of all -this the lamp still cast a smoky glow, obscure and brown as umber. - -I went into the cellar; all the barrels were gone, and of the bottles -a most surprising number had been drunk out and thrown away. Certainly, -since the mutiny began, not a man of them could ever have been sober. - -Foraging about, I found a bottle with some brandy left, for Hands; and -for myself I routed out some biscuit, some pickled fruits, a great bunch -of raisins, and a piece of cheese. With these I came on deck, put down -my own stock behind the rudder head and well out of the coxswain’s -reach, went forward to the water-breaker, and had a good deep drink of -water, and then, and not till then, gave Hands the brandy. - -He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle from his mouth. - -“Aye,” said he, “by thunder, but I wanted some o’ that!” - -I had sat down already in my own corner and begun to eat. - -“Much hurt?” I asked him. - -He grunted, or rather, I might say, he barked. - -“If that doctor was aboard,” he said, “I’d be right enough in a couple -of turns, but I don’t have no manner of luck, you see, and that’s what’s -the matter with me. As for that swab, he’s good and dead, he is,” he -added, indicating the man with the red cap. “He warn’t no seaman anyhow. -And where mought you have come from?” - -“Well,” said I, “I’ve come aboard to take possession of this ship, -Mr. Hands; and you’ll please regard me as your captain until further -notice.” - -He looked at me sourly enough but said nothing. Some of the colour had -come back into his cheeks, though he still looked very sick and still -continued to slip out and settle down as the ship banged about. - -“By the by,” I continued, “I can’t have these colours, Mr. Hands; and by -your leave, I’ll strike ’em. Better none than these.” - -And again dodging the boom, I ran to the colour lines, handed down their -cursed black flag, and chucked it overboard. - -“God save the king!” said I, waving my cap. “And there’s an end to -Captain Silver!” - -He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the while on his breast. - -“I reckon,” he said at last, “I reckon, Cap’n Hawkins, you’ll kind of -want to get ashore now. S’pose we talks.” - -“Why, yes,” says I, “with all my heart, Mr. Hands. Say on.” And I went -back to my meal with a good appetite. - -“This man,” he began, nodding feebly at the corpse “--O’Brien were his -name, a rank Irelander--this man and me got the canvas on her, meaning -for to sail her back. Well, HE’S dead now, he is--as dead as bilge; and -who’s to sail this ship, I don’t see. Without I gives you a hint, you -ain’t that man, as far’s I can tell. Now, look here, you gives me food -and drink and a old scarf or ankecher to tie my wound up, you do, and -I’ll tell you how to sail her, and that’s about square all round, I take -it.” - -“I’ll tell you one thing,” says I: “I’m not going back to Captain Kidd’s -anchorage. I mean to get into North Inlet and beach her quietly there.” - -“To be sure you did,” he cried. “Why, I ain’t sich an infernal lubber -after all. I can see, can’t I? I’ve tried my fling, I have, and I’ve -lost, and it’s you has the wind of me. North Inlet? Why, I haven’t no -ch’ice, not I! I’d help you sail her up to Execution Dock, by thunder! -So I would.” - -Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this. We struck our -bargain on the spot. In three minutes I had the HISPANIOLA sailing -easily before the wind along the coast of Treasure Island, with good -hopes of turning the northern point ere noon and beating down again as -far as North Inlet before high water, when we might beach her safely and -wait till the subsiding tide permitted us to land. - -Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own chest, where I got a -soft silk handkerchief of my mother’s. With this, and with my aid, Hands -bound up the great bleeding stab he had received in the thigh, and after -he had eaten a little and had a swallow or two more of the brandy, he -began to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer, -and looked in every way another man. - -The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed before it like a bird, the -coast of the island flashing by and the view changing every minute. -Soon we were past the high lands and bowling beside low, sandy country, -sparsely dotted with dwarf pines, and soon we were beyond that again -and had turned the corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on the -north. - -I was greatly elated with my new command, and pleased with the bright, -sunshiny weather and these different prospects of the coast. I had now -plenty of water and good things to eat, and my conscience, which had -smitten me hard for my desertion, was quieted by the great conquest I -had made. I should, I think, have had nothing left me to desire but for -the eyes of the coxswain as they followed me derisively about the deck -and the odd smile that appeared continually on his face. It was a smile -that had in it something both of pain and weakness--a haggard old man’s -smile; but there was, besides that, a grain of derision, a shadow of -treachery, in his expression as he craftily watched, and watched, and -watched me at my work. - - - - -XXVI -Israel Hands - - -The wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into the west. We could run -so much the easier from the north-east corner of the island to the mouth -of the North Inlet. Only, as we had no power to anchor and dared not -beach her till the tide had flowed a good deal farther, time hung on our -hands. The coxswain told me how to lay the ship to; after a good many -trials I succeeded, and we both sat in silence over another meal. - -“Cap’n,” said he at length with that same uncomfortable smile, “here’s -my old shipmate, O’Brien; s’pose you was to heave him overboard. I ain’t -partic’lar as a rule, and I don’t take no blame for settling his hash, -but I don’t reckon him ornamental now, do you?” - -“I’m not strong enough, and I don’t like the job; and there he lies, for -me,” said I. - -“This here’s an unlucky ship, this HISPANIOLA, Jim,” he went on, -blinking. “There’s a power of men been killed in this HISPANIOLA--a -sight o’ poor seamen dead and gone since you and me took ship to -Bristol. I never seen sich dirty luck, not I. There was this here -O’Brien now--he’s dead, ain’t he? Well now, I’m no scholar, and you’re a -lad as can read and figure, and to put it straight, do you take it as a -dead man is dead for good, or do he come alive again?” - -“You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit; you must know -that already,” I replied. “O’Brien there is in another world, and may be -watching us.” - -“Ah!” says he. “Well, that’s unfort’nate--appears as if killing parties -was a waste of time. Howsomever, sperrits don’t reckon for much, by what -I’ve seen. I’ll chance it with the sperrits, Jim. And now, you’ve spoke -up free, and I’ll take it kind if you’d step down into that there cabin -and get me a--well, a--shiver my timbers! I can’t hit the name on ’t; -well, you get me a bottle of wine, Jim--this here brandy’s too strong -for my head.” - -Now, the coxswain’s hesitation seemed to be unnatural, and as for the -notion of his preferring wine to brandy, I entirely disbelieved it. The -whole story was a pretext. He wanted me to leave the deck--so much was -plain; but with what purpose I could in no way imagine. His eyes never -met mine; they kept wandering to and fro, up and down, now with a look -to the sky, now with a flitting glance upon the dead O’Brien. All the -time he kept smiling and putting his tongue out in the most guilty, -embarrassed manner, so that a child could have told that he was bent on -some deception. I was prompt with my answer, however, for I saw where -my advantage lay and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could easily -conceal my suspicions to the end. - -“Some wine?” I said. “Far better. Will you have white or red?” - -“Well, I reckon it’s about the blessed same to me, shipmate,” he -replied; “so it’s strong, and plenty of it, what’s the odds?” - -“All right,” I answered. “I’ll bring you port, Mr. Hands. But I’ll have -to dig for it.” - -With that I scuttled down the companion with all the noise I could, -slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along the sparred gallery, mounted the -forecastle ladder, and popped my head out of the fore companion. I -knew he would not expect to see me there, yet I took every precaution -possible, and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true. - -He had risen from his position to his hands and knees, and though his -leg obviously hurt him pretty sharply when he moved--for I could hear -him stifle a groan--yet it was at a good, rattling rate that he trailed -himself across the deck. In half a minute he had reached the port -scuppers and picked, out of a coil of rope, a long knife, or rather a -short dirk, discoloured to the hilt with blood. He looked upon it for -a moment, thrusting forth his under jaw, tried the point upon his hand, -and then, hastily concealing it in the bosom of his jacket, trundled -back again into his old place against the bulwark. - -This was all that I required to know. Israel could move about, he was -now armed, and if he had been at so much trouble to get rid of me, -it was plain that I was meant to be the victim. What he would do -afterwards--whether he would try to crawl right across the island from -North Inlet to the camp among the swamps or whether he would fire Long -Tom, trusting that his own comrades might come first to help him--was, -of course, more than I could say. - -Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, since in that -our interests jumped together, and that was in the disposition of -the schooner. We both desired to have her stranded safe enough, in a -sheltered place, and so that, when the time came, she could be got off -again with as little labour and danger as might be; and until that was -done I considered that my life would certainly be spared. - -While I was thus turning the business over in my mind, I had not been -idle with my body. I had stolen back to the cabin, slipped once more -into my shoes, and laid my hand at random on a bottle of wine, and now, -with this for an excuse, I made my reappearance on the deck. - -Hands lay as I had left him, all fallen together in a bundle and with -his eyelids lowered as though he were too weak to bear the light. He -looked up, however, at my coming, knocked the neck off the bottle like -a man who had done the same thing often, and took a good swig, with his -favourite toast of “Here’s luck!” Then he lay quiet for a little, and -then, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid. - -“Cut me a junk o’ that,” says he, “for I haven’t no knife and hardly -strength enough, so be as I had. Ah, Jim, Jim, I reckon I’ve missed -stays! Cut me a quid, as’ll likely be the last, lad, for I’m for my long -home, and no mistake.” - -“Well,” said I, “I’ll cut you some tobacco, but if I was you and thought -myself so badly, I would go to my prayers like a Christian man.” - -“Why?” said he. “Now, you tell me why.” - -“Why?” I cried. “You were asking me just now about the dead. You’ve -broken your trust; you’ve lived in sin and lies and blood; there’s a man -you killed lying at your feet this moment, and you ask me why! For God’s -mercy, Mr. Hands, that’s why.” - -I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody dirk he had hidden -in his pocket and designed, in his ill thoughts, to end me with. He, -for his part, took a great draught of the wine and spoke with the most -unusual solemnity. - -“For thirty years,” he said, “I’ve sailed the seas and seen good and -bad, better and worse, fair weather and foul, provisions running out, -knives going, and what not. Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come -o’ goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don’t bite; -them’s my views--amen, so be it. And now, you look here,” he added, -suddenly changing his tone, “we’ve had about enough of this foolery. The -tide’s made good enough by now. You just take my orders, Cap’n Hawkins, -and we’ll sail slap in and be done with it.” - -All told, we had scarce two miles to run; but the navigation was -delicate, the entrance to this northern anchorage was not only narrow -and shoal, but lay east and west, so that the schooner must be nicely -handled to be got in. I think I was a good, prompt subaltern, and I am -very sure that Hands was an excellent pilot, for we went about and about -and dodged in, shaving the banks, with a certainty and a neatness that -were a pleasure to behold. - -Scarcely had we passed the heads before the land closed around us. The -shores of North Inlet were as thickly wooded as those of the southern -anchorage, but the space was longer and narrower and more like, what in -truth it was, the estuary of a river. Right before us, at the southern -end, we saw the wreck of a ship in the last stages of dilapidation. It -had been a great vessel of three masts but had lain so long exposed to -the injuries of the weather that it was hung about with great webs of -dripping seaweed, and on the deck of it shore bushes had taken root and -now flourished thick with flowers. It was a sad sight, but it showed us -that the anchorage was calm. - -“Now,” said Hands, “look there; there’s a pet bit for to beach a ship -in. Fine flat sand, never a cat’s paw, trees all around of it, and -flowers a-blowing like a garding on that old ship.” - -“And once beached,” I inquired, “how shall we get her off again?” - -“Why, so,” he replied: “you take a line ashore there on the other side -at low water, take a turn about one of them big pines; bring it back, -take a turn around the capstan, and lie to for the tide. Come high -water, all hands take a pull upon the line, and off she comes as sweet -as natur’. And now, boy, you stand by. We’re near the bit now, and she’s -too much way on her. Starboard a little--so--steady--starboard--larboard -a little--steady--steady!” - -So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly obeyed, till, all of a -sudden, he cried, “Now, my hearty, luff!” And I put the helm hard up, -and the HISPANIOLA swung round rapidly and ran stem on for the low, -wooded shore. - -The excitement of these last manoeuvres had somewhat interfered with the -watch I had kept hitherto, sharply enough, upon the coxswain. Even then -I was still so much interested, waiting for the ship to touch, that I -had quite forgot the peril that hung over my head and stood craning over -the starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading wide before -the bows. I might have fallen without a struggle for my life had not a -sudden disquietude seized upon me and made me turn my head. Perhaps I -had heard a creak or seen his shadow moving with the tail of my eye; -perhaps it was an instinct like a cat’s; but, sure enough, when I looked -round, there was Hands, already half-way towards me, with the dirk in -his right hand. - -We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met, but while mine -was the shrill cry of terror, his was a roar of fury like a charging -bully’s. At the same instant, he threw himself forward and I leapt -sideways towards the bows. As I did so, I let go of the tiller, which -sprang sharp to leeward, and I think this saved my life, for it struck -Hands across the chest and stopped him, for the moment, dead. - -Before he could recover, I was safe out of the corner where he had me -trapped, with all the deck to dodge about. Just forward of the main-mast -I stopped, drew a pistol from my pocket, took a cool aim, though he had -already turned and was once more coming directly after me, and drew the -trigger. The hammer fell, but there followed neither flash nor sound; -the priming was useless with sea-water. I cursed myself for my neglect. -Why had not I, long before, reprimed and reloaded my only weapons? Then -I should not have been as now, a mere fleeing sheep before this butcher. - -Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he could move, his grizzled -hair tumbling over his face, and his face itself as red as a red ensign -with his haste and fury. I had no time to try my other pistol, nor -indeed much inclination, for I was sure it would be useless. One thing I -saw plainly: I must not simply retreat before him, or he would speedily -hold me boxed into the bows, as a moment since he had so nearly boxed -me in the stern. Once so caught, and nine or ten inches of the -blood-stained dirk would be my last experience on this side of eternity. -I placed my palms against the main-mast, which was of a goodish bigness, -and waited, every nerve upon the stretch. - -Seeing that I meant to dodge, he also paused; and a moment or two passed -in feints on his part and corresponding movements upon mine. It was such -a game as I had often played at home about the rocks of Black Hill Cove, -but never before, you may be sure, with such a wildly beating heart as -now. Still, as I say, it was a boy’s game, and I thought I could hold -my own at it against an elderly seaman with a wounded thigh. Indeed my -courage had begun to rise so high that I allowed myself a few darting -thoughts on what would be the end of the affair, and while I saw -certainly that I could spin it out for long, I saw no hope of any -ultimate escape. - -Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the HISPANIOLA struck, -staggered, ground for an instant in the sand, and then, swift as a -blow, canted over to the port side till the deck stood at an angle -of forty-five degrees and about a puncheon of water splashed into the -scupper holes and lay, in a pool, between the deck and bulwark. - -We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of us rolled, almost -together, into the scuppers, the dead red-cap, with his arms still -spread out, tumbling stiffly after us. So near were we, indeed, that my -head came against the coxswain’s foot with a crack that made my teeth -rattle. Blow and all, I was the first afoot again, for Hands had got -involved with the dead body. The sudden canting of the ship had made the -deck no place for running on; I had to find some new way of escape, -and that upon the instant, for my foe was almost touching me. Quick as -thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds, rattled up hand over hand, -and did not draw a breath till I was seated on the cross-trees. - -I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had struck not half a foot -below me as I pursued my upward flight; and there stood Israel Hands -with his mouth open and his face upturned to mine, a perfect statue of -surprise and disappointment. - -Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time in changing the -priming of my pistol, and then, having one ready for service, and to -make assurance doubly sure, I proceeded to draw the load of the other -and recharge it afresh from the beginning. - -My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; he began to see the dice -going against him, and after an obvious hesitation, he also hauled -himself heavily into the shrouds, and with the dirk in his teeth, began -slowly and painfully to mount. It cost him no end of time and groans -to haul his wounded leg behind him, and I had quietly finished my -arrangements before he was much more than a third of the way up. Then, -with a pistol in either hand, I addressed him. - -“One more step, Mr. Hands,” said I, “and I’ll blow your brains out! Dead -men don’t bite, you know,” I added with a chuckle. - -He stopped instantly. I could see by the working of his face that he was -trying to think, and the process was so slow and laborious that, in my -new-found security, I laughed aloud. At last, with a swallow or two, he -spoke, his face still wearing the same expression of extreme perplexity. -In order to speak he had to take the dagger from his mouth, but in all -else he remained unmoved. - -“Jim,” says he, “I reckon we’re fouled, you and me, and we’ll have to -sign articles. I’d have had you but for that there lurch, but I don’t -have no luck, not I; and I reckon I’ll have to strike, which comes hard, -you see, for a master mariner to a ship’s younker like you, Jim.” - -I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as conceited as a cock -upon a wall, when, all in a breath, back went his right hand over his -shoulder. Something sang like an arrow through the air; I felt a blow -and then a sharp pang, and there I was pinned by the shoulder to the -mast. In the horrid pain and surprise of the moment--I scarce can say -it was by my own volition, and I am sure it was without a conscious -aim--both my pistols went off, and both escaped out of my hands. They -did not fall alone; with a choked cry, the coxswain loosed his grasp -upon the shrouds and plunged head first into the water. - - - - -XXVII -“Pieces of Eight” - - -Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water, -and from my perch on the cross-trees I had nothing below me but the -surface of the bay. Hands, who was not so far up, was in consequence -nearer to the ship and fell between me and the bulwarks. He rose once to -the surface in a lather of foam and blood and then sank again for good. -As the water settled, I could see him lying huddled together on the -clean, bright sand in the shadow of the vessel’s sides. A fish or two -whipped past his body. Sometimes, by the quivering of the water, he -appeared to move a little, as if he were trying to rise. But he was dead -enough, for all that, being both shot and drowned, and was food for fish -in the very place where he had designed my slaughter. - -I was no sooner certain of this than I began to feel sick, faint, and -terrified. The hot blood was running over my back and chest. The dirk, -where it had pinned my shoulder to the mast, seemed to burn like a hot -iron; yet it was not so much these real sufferings that distressed me, -for these, it seemed to me, I could bear without a murmur; it was the -horror I had upon my mind of falling from the cross-trees into that -still green water, beside the body of the coxswain. - -I clung with both hands till my nails ached, and I shut my eyes as if to -cover up the peril. Gradually my mind came back again, my pulses quieted -down to a more natural time, and I was once more in possession of -myself. - -It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk, but either it stuck too -hard or my nerve failed me, and I desisted with a violent shudder. Oddly -enough, that very shudder did the business. The knife, in fact, had come -the nearest in the world to missing me altogether; it held me by a mere -pinch of skin, and this the shudder tore away. The blood ran down the -faster, to be sure, but I was my own master again and only tacked to the -mast by my coat and shirt. - -These last I broke through with a sudden jerk, and then regained the -deck by the starboard shrouds. For nothing in the world would I have -again ventured, shaken as I was, upon the overhanging port shrouds from -which Israel had so lately fallen. - -I went below and did what I could for my wound; it pained me a good deal -and still bled freely, but it was neither deep nor dangerous, nor did it -greatly gall me when I used my arm. Then I looked around me, and as the -ship was now, in a sense, my own, I began to think of clearing it from -its last passenger--the dead man, O’Brien. - -He had pitched, as I have said, against the bulwarks, where he lay -like some horrible, ungainly sort of puppet, life-size, indeed, but how -different from life’s colour or life’s comeliness! In that position -I could easily have my way with him, and as the habit of tragical -adventures had worn off almost all my terror for the dead, I took him -by the waist as if he had been a sack of bran and with one good heave, -tumbled him overboard. He went in with a sounding plunge; the red cap -came off and remained floating on the surface; and as soon as the splash -subsided, I could see him and Israel lying side by side, both wavering -with the tremulous movement of the water. O’Brien, though still quite a -young man, was very bald. There he lay, with that bald head across the -knees of the man who had killed him and the quick fishes steering to and -fro over both. - -I was now alone upon the ship; the tide had just turned. The sun was -within so few degrees of setting that already the shadow of the pines -upon the western shore began to reach right across the anchorage and -fall in patterns on the deck. The evening breeze had sprung up, and -though it was well warded off by the hill with the two peaks upon the -east, the cordage had begun to sing a little softly to itself and the -idle sails to rattle to and fro. - -I began to see a danger to the ship. The jibs I speedily doused and -brought tumbling to the deck, but the main-sail was a harder matter. Of -course, when the schooner canted over, the boom had swung out-board, and -the cap of it and a foot or two of sail hung even under water. I thought -this made it still more dangerous; yet the strain was so heavy that I -half feared to meddle. At last I got my knife and cut the halyards. The -peak dropped instantly, a great belly of loose canvas floated broad upon -the water, and since, pull as I liked, I could not budge the downhall, -that was the extent of what I could accomplish. For the rest, the -HISPANIOLA must trust to luck, like myself. - -By this time the whole anchorage had fallen into shadow--the last rays, -I remember, falling through a glade of the wood and shining bright as -jewels on the flowery mantle of the wreck. It began to be chill; the -tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and more -on her beam-ends. - -I scrambled forward and looked over. It seemed shallow enough, and -holding the cut hawser in both hands for a last security, I let myself -drop softly overboard. The water scarcely reached my waist; the sand was -firm and covered with ripple marks, and I waded ashore in great spirits, -leaving the HISPANIOLA on her side, with her main-sail trailing wide -upon the surface of the bay. About the same time, the sun went fairly -down and the breeze whistled low in the dusk among the tossing pines. - -At least, and at last, I was off the sea, nor had I returned thence -empty-handed. There lay the schooner, clear at last from buccaneers -and ready for our own men to board and get to sea again. I had nothing -nearer my fancy than to get home to the stockade and boast of my -achievements. Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the -recapture of the HISPANIOLA was a clenching answer, and I hoped that -even Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time. - -So thinking, and in famous spirits, I began to set my face homeward for -the block house and my companions. I remembered that the most easterly -of the rivers which drain into Captain Kidd’s anchorage ran from the -two-peaked hill upon my left, and I bent my course in that direction -that I might pass the stream while it was small. The wood was pretty -open, and keeping along the lower spurs, I had soon turned the corner -of that hill, and not long after waded to the mid-calf across the -watercourse. - -This brought me near to where I had encountered Ben Gunn, the maroon; -and I walked more circumspectly, keeping an eye on every side. The dusk -had come nigh hand completely, and as I opened out the cleft between the -two peaks, I became aware of a wavering glow against the sky, where, as -I judged, the man of the island was cooking his supper before a roaring -fire. And yet I wondered, in my heart, that he should show himself so -careless. For if I could see this radiance, might it not reach the eyes -of Silver himself where he camped upon the shore among the marshes? - -Gradually the night fell blacker; it was all I could do to guide myself -even roughly towards my destination; the double hill behind me and the -Spy-glass on my right hand loomed faint and fainter; the stars were few -and pale; and in the low ground where I wandered I kept tripping among -bushes and rolling into sandy pits. - -Suddenly a kind of brightness fell about me. I looked up; a pale glimmer -of moonbeams had alighted on the summit of the Spy-glass, and soon after -I saw something broad and silvery moving low down behind the trees, and -knew the moon had risen. - -With this to help me, I passed rapidly over what remained to me of my -journey, and sometimes walking, sometimes running, impatiently drew near -to the stockade. Yet, as I began to thread the grove that lies before -it, I was not so thoughtless but that I slacked my pace and went a -trifle warily. It would have been a poor end of my adventures to get -shot down by my own party in mistake. - -The moon was climbing higher and higher, its light began to fall here -and there in masses through the more open districts of the wood, and -right in front of me a glow of a different colour appeared among -the trees. It was red and hot, and now and again it was a little -darkened--as it were, the embers of a bonfire smouldering. - -For the life of me I could not think what it might be. - -At last I came right down upon the borders of the clearing. The western -end was already steeped in moonshine; the rest, and the block house -itself, still lay in a black shadow chequered with long silvery streaks -of light. On the other side of the house an immense fire had burned -itself into clear embers and shed a steady, red reverberation, -contrasted strongly with the mellow paleness of the moon. There was not -a soul stirring nor a sound beside the noises of the breeze. - -I stopped, with much wonder in my heart, and perhaps a little terror -also. It had not been our way to build great fires; we were, indeed, -by the captain’s orders, somewhat niggardly of firewood, and I began to -fear that something had gone wrong while I was absent. - -I stole round by the eastern end, keeping close in shadow, and at a -convenient place, where the darkness was thickest, crossed the palisade. - -To make assurance surer, I got upon my hands and knees and crawled, -without a sound, towards the corner of the house. As I drew nearer, my -heart was suddenly and greatly lightened. It is not a pleasant noise in -itself, and I have often complained of it at other times, but just -then it was like music to hear my friends snoring together so loud and -peaceful in their sleep. The sea-cry of the watch, that beautiful “All’s -well,” never fell more reassuringly on my ear. - -In the meantime, there was no doubt of one thing; they kept an infamous -bad watch. If it had been Silver and his lads that were now creeping -in on them, not a soul would have seen daybreak. That was what it -was, thought I, to have the captain wounded; and again I blamed myself -sharply for leaving them in that danger with so few to mount guard. - -By this time I had got to the door and stood up. All was dark within, -so that I could distinguish nothing by the eye. As for sounds, there -was the steady drone of the snorers and a small occasional noise, a -flickering or pecking that I could in no way account for. - -With my arms before me I walked steadily in. I should lie down in my own -place (I thought with a silent chuckle) and enjoy their faces when they -found me in the morning. - -My foot struck something yielding--it was a sleeper’s leg; and he turned -and groaned, but without awaking. - -And then, all of a sudden, a shrill voice broke forth out of the -darkness: - -“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! -Pieces of eight!” and so forth, without pause or change, like the -clacking of a tiny mill. - -Silver’s green parrot, Captain Flint! It was she whom I had heard -pecking at a piece of bark; it was she, keeping better watch than any -human being, who thus announced my arrival with her wearisome refrain. - -I had no time left me to recover. At the sharp, clipping tone of the -parrot, the sleepers awoke and sprang up; and with a mighty oath, the -voice of Silver cried, “Who goes?” - -I turned to run, struck violently against one person, recoiled, and ran -full into the arms of a second, who for his part closed upon and held me -tight. - -“Bring a torch, Dick,” said Silver when my capture was thus assured. - -And one of the men left the log-house and presently returned with a -lighted brand. - - - - -PART SIX--Captain Silver - - - - -XXVIII -In the Enemy’s Camp - - -The red glare of the torch, lighting up the interior of the block house, -showed me the worst of my apprehensions realized. The pirates were in -possession of the house and stores: there was the cask of cognac, -there were the pork and bread, as before, and what tenfold increased -my horror, not a sign of any prisoner. I could only judge that all had -perished, and my heart smote me sorely that I had not been there to -perish with them. - -There were six of the buccaneers, all told; not another man was left -alive. Five of them were on their feet, flushed and swollen, suddenly -called out of the first sleep of drunkenness. The sixth had only risen -upon his elbow; he was deadly pale, and the blood-stained bandage round -his head told that he had recently been wounded, and still more recently -dressed. I remembered the man who had been shot and had run back among -the woods in the great attack, and doubted not that this was he. - -The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long John’s shoulder. He -himself, I thought, looked somewhat paler and more stern than I was used -to. He still wore the fine broadcloth suit in which he had fulfilled his -mission, but it was bitterly the worse for wear, daubed with clay and -torn with the sharp briers of the wood. - -“So,” said he, “here’s Jim Hawkins, shiver my timbers! Dropped in, like, -eh? Well, come, I take that friendly.” - -And thereupon he sat down across the brandy cask and began to fill a -pipe. - -“Give me a loan of the link, Dick,” said he; and then, when he had a -good light, “That’ll do, lad,” he added; “stick the glim in the wood -heap; and you, gentlemen, bring yourselves to! You needn’t stand up -for Mr. Hawkins; HE’LL excuse you, you may lay to that. And so, -Jim”--stopping the tobacco--“here you were, and quite a pleasant -surprise for poor old John. I see you were smart when first I set my -eyes on you, but this here gets away from me clean, it do.” - -To all this, as may be well supposed, I made no answer. They had set me -with my back against the wall, and I stood there, looking Silver in the -face, pluckily enough, I hope, to all outward appearance, but with black -despair in my heart. - -Silver took a whiff or two of his pipe with great composure and then ran -on again. - -“Now, you see, Jim, so be as you ARE here,” says he, “I’ll give you a -piece of my mind. I’ve always liked you, I have, for a lad of spirit, -and the picter of my own self when I was young and handsome. I always -wanted you to jine and take your share, and die a gentleman, and now, my -cock, you’ve got to. Cap’n Smollett’s a fine seaman, as I’ll own up to -any day, but stiff on discipline. ‘Dooty is dooty,’ says he, and right -he is. Just you keep clear of the cap’n. The doctor himself is gone dead -again’ you--‘ungrateful scamp’ was what he said; and the short and the -long of the whole story is about here: you can’t go back to your own -lot, for they won’t have you; and without you start a third ship’s -company all by yourself, which might be lonely, you’ll have to jine with -Cap’n Silver.” - -So far so good. My friends, then, were still alive, and though I partly -believed the truth of Silver’s statement, that the cabin party were -incensed at me for my desertion, I was more relieved than distressed by -what I heard. - -“I don’t say nothing as to your being in our hands,” continued Silver, -“though there you are, and you may lay to it. I’m all for argyment; I -never seen good come out o’ threatening. If you like the service, well, -you’ll jine; and if you don’t, Jim, why, you’re free to answer no--free -and welcome, shipmate; and if fairer can be said by mortal seaman, -shiver my sides!” - -“Am I to answer, then?” I asked with a very tremulous voice. Through all -this sneering talk, I was made to feel the threat of death that overhung -me, and my cheeks burned and my heart beat painfully in my breast. - -“Lad,” said Silver, “no one’s a-pressing of you. Take your bearings. -None of us won’t hurry you, mate; time goes so pleasant in your company, -you see.” - -“Well,” says I, growing a bit bolder, “if I’m to choose, I declare I -have a right to know what’s what, and why you’re here, and where my -friends are.” - -“Wot’s wot?” repeated one of the buccaneers in a deep growl. “Ah, he’d -be a lucky one as knowed that!” - -“You’ll perhaps batten down your hatches till you’re spoke to, my -friend,” cried Silver truculently to this speaker. And then, in -his first gracious tones, he replied to me, “Yesterday morning, Mr. -Hawkins,” said he, “in the dog-watch, down came Doctor Livesey with a -flag of truce. Says he, ‘Cap’n Silver, you’re sold out. Ship’s gone.’ -Well, maybe we’d been taking a glass, and a song to help it round. I -won’t say no. Leastways, none of us had looked out. We looked out, and -by thunder, the old ship was gone! I never seen a pack o’ fools look -fishier; and you may lay to that, if I tells you that looked the -fishiest. ‘Well,’ says the doctor, ‘let’s bargain.’ We bargained, him -and I, and here we are: stores, brandy, block house, the firewood you -was thoughtful enough to cut, and in a manner of speaking, the whole -blessed boat, from cross-trees to kelson. As for them, they’ve tramped; -I don’t know where’s they are.” - -He drew again quietly at his pipe. - -“And lest you should take it into that head of yours,” he went on, “that -you was included in the treaty, here’s the last word that was said: ‘How -many are you,’ says I, ‘to leave?’ ‘Four,’ says he; ‘four, and one of us -wounded. As for that boy, I don’t know where he is, confound him,’ says -he, ‘nor I don’t much care. We’re about sick of him.’ These was his -words.” - -“Is that all?” I asked. - -“Well, it’s all that you’re to hear, my son,” returned Silver. - -“And now I am to choose?” - -“And now you are to choose, and you may lay to that,” said Silver. - -“Well,” said I, “I am not such a fool but I know pretty well what I have -to look for. Let the worst come to the worst, it’s little I care. I’ve -seen too many die since I fell in with you. But there’s a thing or two -I have to tell you,” I said, and by this time I was quite excited; “and -the first is this: here you are, in a bad way--ship lost, treasure lost, -men lost, your whole business gone to wreck; and if you want to know who -did it--it was I! I was in the apple barrel the night we sighted land, -and I heard you, John, and you, Dick Johnson, and Hands, who is now at -the bottom of the sea, and told every word you said before the hour was -out. And as for the schooner, it was I who cut her cable, and it was I -that killed the men you had aboard of her, and it was I who brought her -where you’ll never see her more, not one of you. The laugh’s on my side; -I’ve had the top of this business from the first; I no more fear you -than I fear a fly. Kill me, if you please, or spare me. But one thing -I’ll say, and no more; if you spare me, bygones are bygones, and when -you fellows are in court for piracy, I’ll save you all I can. It is for -you to choose. Kill another and do yourselves no good, or spare me and -keep a witness to save you from the gallows.” - -I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath, and to my wonder, not -a man of them moved, but all sat staring at me like as many sheep. And -while they were still staring, I broke out again, “And now, Mr. Silver,” - I said, “I believe you’re the best man here, and if things go to the -worst, I’ll take it kind of you to let the doctor know the way I took -it.” - -“I’ll bear it in mind,” said Silver with an accent so curious that I -could not, for the life of me, decide whether he were laughing at my -request or had been favourably affected by my courage. - -“I’ll put one to that,” cried the old mahogany-faced seaman--Morgan -by name--whom I had seen in Long John’s public-house upon the quays of -Bristol. “It was him that knowed Black Dog.” - -“Well, and see here,” added the sea-cook. “I’ll put another again to -that, by thunder! For it was this same boy that faked the chart from -Billy Bones. First and last, we’ve split upon Jim Hawkins!” - -“Then here goes!” said Morgan with an oath. - -And he sprang up, drawing his knife as if he had been twenty. - -“Avast, there!” cried Silver. “Who are you, Tom Morgan? Maybe you -thought you was cap’n here, perhaps. By the powers, but I’ll teach you -better! Cross me, and you’ll go where many a good man’s gone before you, -first and last, these thirty year back--some to the yard-arm, shiver -my timbers, and some by the board, and all to feed the fishes. There’s -never a man looked me between the eyes and seen a good day a’terwards, -Tom Morgan, you may lay to that.” - -Morgan paused, but a hoarse murmur rose from the others. - -“Tom’s right,” said one. - -“I stood hazing long enough from one,” added another. “I’ll be hanged if -I’ll be hazed by you, John Silver.” - -“Did any of you gentlemen want to have it out with ME?” roared Silver, -bending far forward from his position on the keg, with his pipe still -glowing in his right hand. “Put a name on what you’re at; you ain’t -dumb, I reckon. Him that wants shall get it. Have I lived this many -years, and a son of a rum puncheon cock his hat athwart my hawse at the -latter end of it? You know the way; you’re all gentlemen o’ fortune, by -your account. Well, I’m ready. Take a cutlass, him that dares, and I’ll -see the colour of his inside, crutch and all, before that pipe’s empty.” - -Not a man stirred; not a man answered. - -“That’s your sort, is it?” he added, returning his pipe to his mouth. -“Well, you’re a gay lot to look at, anyway. Not much worth to fight, you -ain’t. P’r’aps you can understand King George’s English. I’m cap’n here -by ’lection. I’m cap’n here because I’m the best man by a long sea-mile. -You won’t fight, as gentlemen o’ fortune should; then, by thunder, -you’ll obey, and you may lay to it! I like that boy, now; I never seen -a better boy than that. He’s more a man than any pair of rats of you in -this here house, and what I say is this: let me see him that’ll lay a -hand on him--that’s what I say, and you may lay to it.” - -There was a long pause after this. I stood straight up against the wall, -my heart still going like a sledge-hammer, but with a ray of hope -now shining in my bosom. Silver leant back against the wall, his arms -crossed, his pipe in the corner of his mouth, as calm as though he had -been in church; yet his eye kept wandering furtively, and he kept the -tail of it on his unruly followers. They, on their part, drew gradually -together towards the far end of the block house, and the low hiss of -their whispering sounded in my ear continuously, like a stream. One -after another, they would look up, and the red light of the torch would -fall for a second on their nervous faces; but it was not towards me, it -was towards Silver that they turned their eyes. - -“You seem to have a lot to say,” remarked Silver, spitting far into the -air. “Pipe up and let me hear it, or lay to.” - -“Ax your pardon, sir,” returned one of the men; “you’re pretty free with -some of the rules; maybe you’ll kindly keep an eye upon the rest. This -crew’s dissatisfied; this crew don’t vally bullying a marlin-spike; this -crew has its rights like other crews, I’ll make so free as that; and by -your own rules, I take it we can talk together. I ax your pardon, sir, -acknowledging you for to be capting at this present; but I claim my -right, and steps outside for a council.” - -And with an elaborate sea-salute, this fellow, a long, ill-looking, -yellow-eyed man of five and thirty, stepped coolly towards the door and -disappeared out of the house. One after another the rest followed his -example, each making a salute as he passed, each adding some apology. -“According to rules,” said one. “Forecastle council,” said Morgan. And -so with one remark or another all marched out and left Silver and me -alone with the torch. - -The sea-cook instantly removed his pipe. - -“Now, look you here, Jim Hawkins,” he said in a steady whisper that was -no more than audible, “you’re within half a plank of death, and what’s -a long sight worse, of torture. They’re going to throw me off. But, you -mark, I stand by you through thick and thin. I didn’t mean to; no, not -till you spoke up. I was about desperate to lose that much blunt, and -be hanged into the bargain. But I see you was the right sort. I says to -myself, you stand by Hawkins, John, and Hawkins’ll stand by you. You’re -his last card, and by the living thunder, John, he’s yours! Back to -back, says I. You save your witness, and he’ll save your neck!” - -I began dimly to understand. - -“You mean all’s lost?” I asked. - -“Aye, by gum, I do!” he answered. “Ship gone, neck gone--that’s the -size of it. Once I looked into that bay, Jim Hawkins, and seen no -schooner--well, I’m tough, but I gave out. As for that lot and their -council, mark me, they’re outright fools and cowards. I’ll save your -life--if so be as I can--from them. But, see here, Jim--tit for tat--you -save Long John from swinging.” - -I was bewildered; it seemed a thing so hopeless he was asking--he, the -old buccaneer, the ringleader throughout. - -“What I can do, that I’ll do,” I said. - -“It’s a bargain!” cried Long John. “You speak up plucky, and by thunder, -I’ve a chance!” - -He hobbled to the torch, where it stood propped among the firewood, and -took a fresh light to his pipe. - -“Understand me, Jim,” he said, returning. “I’ve a head on my shoulders, -I have. I’m on squire’s side now. I know you’ve got that ship safe -somewheres. How you done it, I don’t know, but safe it is. I guess Hands -and O’Brien turned soft. I never much believed in neither of THEM. Now -you mark me. I ask no questions, nor I won’t let others. I know when -a game’s up, I do; and I know a lad that’s staunch. Ah, you that’s -young--you and me might have done a power of good together!” - -He drew some cognac from the cask into a tin cannikin. - -“Will you taste, messmate?” he asked; and when I had refused: “Well, -I’ll take a dram myself, Jim,” said he. “I need a caulker, for there’s -trouble on hand. And talking o’ trouble, why did that doctor give me the -chart, Jim?” - -My face expressed a wonder so unaffected that he saw the needlessness of -further questions. - -“Ah, well, he did, though,” said he. “And there’s something under that, -no doubt--something, surely, under that, Jim--bad or good.” - -And he took another swallow of the brandy, shaking his great fair head -like a man who looks forward to the worst. - - - - -XXIX -The Black Spot Again - - -The council of buccaneers had lasted some time, when one of them -re-entered the house, and with a repetition of the same salute, which -had in my eyes an ironical air, begged for a moment’s loan of the torch. -Silver briefly agreed, and this emissary retired again, leaving us -together in the dark. - -“There’s a breeze coming, Jim,” said Silver, who had by this time -adopted quite a friendly and familiar tone. - -I turned to the loophole nearest me and looked out. The embers of the -great fire had so far burned themselves out and now glowed so low and -duskily that I understood why these conspirators desired a torch. About -half-way down the slope to the stockade, they were collected in a group; -one held the light, another was on his knees in their midst, and I saw -the blade of an open knife shine in his hand with varying colours in -the moon and torchlight. The rest were all somewhat stooping, as though -watching the manoeuvres of this last. I could just make out that he -had a book as well as a knife in his hand, and was still wondering how -anything so incongruous had come in their possession when the kneeling -figure rose once more to his feet and the whole party began to move -together towards the house. - -“Here they come,” said I; and I returned to my former position, for it -seemed beneath my dignity that they should find me watching them. - -“Well, let ’em come, lad--let ’em come,” said Silver cheerily. “I’ve -still a shot in my locker.” - -The door opened, and the five men, standing huddled together just -inside, pushed one of their number forward. In any other circumstances -it would have been comical to see his slow advance, hesitating as he set -down each foot, but holding his closed right hand in front of him. - -“Step up, lad,” cried Silver. “I won’t eat you. Hand it over, lubber. I -know the rules, I do; I won’t hurt a depytation.” - -Thus encouraged, the buccaneer stepped forth more briskly, and having -passed something to Silver, from hand to hand, slipped yet more smartly -back again to his companions. - -The sea-cook looked at what had been given him. - -“The black spot! I thought so,” he observed. “Where might you have got -the paper? Why, hillo! Look here, now; this ain’t lucky! You’ve gone and -cut this out of a Bible. What fool’s cut a Bible?” - -“Ah, there!” said Morgan. “There! Wot did I say? No good’ll come o’ -that, I said.” - -“Well, you’ve about fixed it now, among you,” continued Silver. “You’ll -all swing now, I reckon. What soft-headed lubber had a Bible?” - -“It was Dick,” said one. - -“Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers,” said Silver. “He’s seen -his slice of luck, has Dick, and you may lay to that.” - -But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck in. - -“Belay that talk, John Silver,” he said. “This crew has tipped you the -black spot in full council, as in dooty bound; just you turn it over, as -in dooty bound, and see what’s wrote there. Then you can talk.” - -“Thanky, George,” replied the sea-cook. “You always was brisk for -business, and has the rules by heart, George, as I’m pleased to see. -Well, what is it, anyway? Ah! ‘Deposed’--that’s it, is it? Very pretty -wrote, to be sure; like print, I swear. Your hand o’ write, George? Why, -you was gettin’ quite a leadin’ man in this here crew. You’ll be cap’n -next, I shouldn’t wonder. Just oblige me with that torch again, will -you? This pipe don’t draw.” - -“Come, now,” said George, “you don’t fool this crew no more. You’re a -funny man, by your account; but you’re over now, and you’ll maybe step -down off that barrel and help vote.” - -“I thought you said you knowed the rules,” returned Silver -contemptuously. “Leastways, if you don’t, I do; and I wait here--and I’m -still your cap’n, mind--till you outs with your grievances and I reply; -in the meantime, your black spot ain’t worth a biscuit. After that, -we’ll see.” - -“Oh,” replied George, “you don’t be under no kind of apprehension; WE’RE -all square, we are. First, you’ve made a hash of this cruise--you’ll be -a bold man to say no to that. Second, you let the enemy out o’ this here -trap for nothing. Why did they want out? I dunno, but it’s pretty plain -they wanted it. Third, you wouldn’t let us go at them upon the march. -Oh, we see through you, John Silver; you want to play booty, that’s -what’s wrong with you. And then, fourth, there’s this here boy.” - -“Is that all?” asked Silver quietly. - -“Enough, too,” retorted George. “We’ll all swing and sun-dry for your -bungling.” - -“Well now, look here, I’ll answer these four p’ints; one after another -I’ll answer ’em. I made a hash o’ this cruise, did I? Well now, you all -know what I wanted, and you all know if that had been done that we’d -’a been aboard the HISPANIOLA this night as ever was, every man of us -alive, and fit, and full of good plum-duff, and the treasure in the hold -of her, by thunder! Well, who crossed me? Who forced my hand, as was the -lawful cap’n? Who tipped me the black spot the day we landed and began -this dance? Ah, it’s a fine dance--I’m with you there--and looks mighty -like a hornpipe in a rope’s end at Execution Dock by London town, it -does. But who done it? Why, it was Anderson, and Hands, and you, George -Merry! And you’re the last above board of that same meddling crew; -and you have the Davy Jones’s insolence to up and stand for cap’n over -me--you, that sank the lot of us! By the powers! But this tops the -stiffest yarn to nothing.” - -Silver paused, and I could see by the faces of George and his late -comrades that these words had not been said in vain. - -“That’s for number one,” cried the accused, wiping the sweat from his -brow, for he had been talking with a vehemence that shook the house. -“Why, I give you my word, I’m sick to speak to you. You’ve neither sense -nor memory, and I leave it to fancy where your mothers was that let you -come to sea. Sea! Gentlemen o’ fortune! I reckon tailors is your trade.” - -“Go on, John,” said Morgan. “Speak up to the others.” - -“Ah, the others!” returned John. “They’re a nice lot, ain’t they? You -say this cruise is bungled. Ah! By gum, if you could understand how bad -it’s bungled, you would see! We’re that near the gibbet that my neck’s -stiff with thinking on it. You’ve seen ’em, maybe, hanged in chains, -birds about ’em, seamen p’inting ’em out as they go down with the tide. -‘Who’s that?’ says one. ‘That! Why, that’s John Silver. I knowed him -well,’ says another. And you can hear the chains a-jangle as you go -about and reach for the other buoy. Now, that’s about where we are, -every mother’s son of us, thanks to him, and Hands, and Anderson, and -other ruination fools of you. And if you want to know about number four, -and that boy, why, shiver my timbers, isn’t he a hostage? Are we a-going -to waste a hostage? No, not us; he might be our last chance, and I -shouldn’t wonder. Kill that boy? Not me, mates! And number three? Ah, -well, there’s a deal to say to number three. Maybe you don’t count it -nothing to have a real college doctor to see you every day--you, John, -with your head broke--or you, George Merry, that had the ague shakes -upon you not six hours agone, and has your eyes the colour of lemon peel -to this same moment on the clock? And maybe, perhaps, you didn’t know -there was a consort coming either? But there is, and not so long till -then; and we’ll see who’ll be glad to have a hostage when it comes to -that. And as for number two, and why I made a bargain--well, you came -crawling on your knees to me to make it--on your knees you came, you was -that downhearted--and you’d have starved too if I hadn’t--but that’s a -trifle! You look there--that’s why!” - -And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly -recognized--none other than the chart on yellow paper, with the three -red crosses, that I had found in the oilcloth at the bottom of the -captain’s chest. Why the doctor had given it to him was more than I -could fancy. - -But if it were inexplicable to me, the appearance of the chart was -incredible to the surviving mutineers. They leaped upon it like cats -upon a mouse. It went from hand to hand, one tearing it from another; -and by the oaths and the cries and the childish laughter with which they -accompanied their examination, you would have thought, not only they -were fingering the very gold, but were at sea with it, besides, in -safety. - -“Yes,” said one, “that’s Flint, sure enough. J. F., and a score below, -with a clove hitch to it; so he done ever.” - -“Mighty pretty,” said George. “But how are we to get away with it, and -us no ship.” - -Silver suddenly sprang up, and supporting himself with a hand against -the wall: “Now I give you warning, George,” he cried. “One more word -of your sauce, and I’ll call you down and fight you. How? Why, how do I -know? You had ought to tell me that--you and the rest, that lost me my -schooner, with your interference, burn you! But not you, you can’t; you -hain’t got the invention of a cockroach. But civil you can speak, and -shall, George Merry, you may lay to that.” - -“That’s fair enow,” said the old man Morgan. - -“Fair! I reckon so,” said the sea-cook. “You lost the ship; I found the -treasure. Who’s the better man at that? And now I resign, by thunder! -Elect whom you please to be your cap’n now; I’m done with it.” - -“Silver!” they cried. “Barbecue forever! Barbecue for cap’n!” - -“So that’s the toon, is it?” cried the cook. “George, I reckon you’ll -have to wait another turn, friend; and lucky for you as I’m not a -revengeful man. But that was never my way. And now, shipmates, this -black spot? ’Tain’t much good now, is it? Dick’s crossed his luck and -spoiled his Bible, and that’s about all.” - -“It’ll do to kiss the book on still, won’t it?” growled Dick, who was -evidently uneasy at the curse he had brought upon himself. - -“A Bible with a bit cut out!” returned Silver derisively. “Not it. It -don’t bind no more’n a ballad-book.” - -“Don’t it, though?” cried Dick with a sort of joy. “Well, I reckon -that’s worth having too.” - -“Here, Jim--here’s a cur’osity for you,” said Silver, and he tossed me -the paper. - -It was around about the size of a crown piece. One side was blank, -for it had been the last leaf; the other contained a verse or two of -Revelation--these words among the rest, which struck sharply home upon -my mind: “Without are dogs and murderers.” The printed side had been -blackened with wood ash, which already began to come off and soil my -fingers; on the blank side had been written with the same material the -one word “Depposed.” I have that curiosity beside me at this moment, but -not a trace of writing now remains beyond a single scratch, such as a -man might make with his thumb-nail. - -That was the end of the night’s business. Soon after, with a drink all -round, we lay down to sleep, and the outside of Silver’s vengeance was -to put George Merry up for sentinel and threaten him with death if he -should prove unfaithful. - -It was long ere I could close an eye, and heaven knows I had matter -enough for thought in the man whom I had slain that afternoon, in my own -most perilous position, and above all, in the remarkable game that I saw -Silver now engaged upon--keeping the mutineers together with one hand -and grasping with the other after every means, possible and impossible, -to make his peace and save his miserable life. He himself slept -peacefully and snored aloud, yet my heart was sore for him, wicked as he -was, to think on the dark perils that environed and the shameful gibbet -that awaited him. - - - - -XXX -On Parole - - -I was wakened--indeed, we were all wakened, for I could see even the -sentinel shake himself together from where he had fallen against the -door-post--by a clear, hearty voice hailing us from the margin of the -wood: - -“Block house, ahoy!” it cried. “Here’s the doctor.” - -And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear the sound, yet my -gladness was not without admixture. I remembered with confusion my -insubordinate and stealthy conduct, and when I saw where it had brought -me--among what companions and surrounded by what dangers--I felt ashamed -to look him in the face. - -He must have risen in the dark, for the day had hardly come; and when I -ran to a loophole and looked out, I saw him standing, like Silver once -before, up to the mid-leg in creeping vapour. - -“You, doctor! Top o’ the morning to you, sir!” cried Silver, broad awake -and beaming with good nature in a moment. “Bright and early, to be sure; -and it’s the early bird, as the saying goes, that gets the rations. -George, shake up your timbers, son, and help Dr. Livesey over the ship’s -side. All a-doin’ well, your patients was--all well and merry.” - -So he pattered on, standing on the hilltop with his crutch under his -elbow and one hand upon the side of the log-house--quite the old John in -voice, manner, and expression. - -“We’ve quite a surprise for you too, sir,” he continued. “We’ve a little -stranger here--he! he! A noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fit -and taut as a fiddle; slep’ like a supercargo, he did, right alongside -of John--stem to stem we was, all night.” - -Dr. Livesey was by this time across the stockade and pretty near the -cook, and I could hear the alteration in his voice as he said, “Not -Jim?” - -“The very same Jim as ever was,” says Silver. - -The doctor stopped outright, although he did not speak, and it was some -seconds before he seemed able to move on. - -“Well, well,” he said at last, “duty first and pleasure afterwards, as -you might have said yourself, Silver. Let us overhaul these patients of -yours.” - -A moment afterwards he had entered the block house and with one grim -nod to me proceeded with his work among the sick. He seemed under no -apprehension, though he must have known that his life, among these -treacherous demons, depended on a hair; and he rattled on to his -patients as if he were paying an ordinary professional visit in a quiet -English family. His manner, I suppose, reacted on the men, for they -behaved to him as if nothing had occurred, as if he were still ship’s -doctor and they still faithful hands before the mast. - -“You’re doing well, my friend,” he said to the fellow with the bandaged -head, “and if ever any person had a close shave, it was you; your head -must be as hard as iron. Well, George, how goes it? You’re a pretty -colour, certainly; why, your liver, man, is upside down. Did you take -that medicine? Did he take that medicine, men?” - -“Aye, aye, sir, he took it, sure enough,” returned Morgan. - -“Because, you see, since I am mutineers’ doctor, or prison doctor as I -prefer to call it,” says Doctor Livesey in his pleasantest way, “I make -it a point of honour not to lose a man for King George (God bless him!) -and the gallows.” - -The rogues looked at each other but swallowed the home-thrust in -silence. - -“Dick don’t feel well, sir,” said one. - -“Don’t he?” replied the doctor. “Well, step up here, Dick, and let me -see your tongue. No, I should be surprised if he did! The man’s tongue -is fit to frighten the French. Another fever.” - -“Ah, there,” said Morgan, “that comed of sp’iling Bibles.” - -“That comes--as you call it--of being arrant asses,” retorted the -doctor, “and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, -and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough. I think it most -probable--though of course it’s only an opinion--that you’ll all have -the deuce to pay before you get that malaria out of your systems. Camp -in a bog, would you? Silver, I’m surprised at you. You’re less of a fool -than many, take you all round; but you don’t appear to me to have the -rudiments of a notion of the rules of health. - -“Well,” he added after he had dosed them round and they had taken -his prescriptions, with really laughable humility, more like charity -schoolchildren than blood-guilty mutineers and pirates--“well, that’s -done for today. And now I should wish to have a talk with that boy, -please.” - -And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly. - -George Merry was at the door, spitting and spluttering over some -bad-tasted medicine; but at the first word of the doctor’s proposal he -swung round with a deep flush and cried “No!” and swore. - -Silver struck the barrel with his open hand. - -“Si-lence!” he roared and looked about him positively like a lion. -“Doctor,” he went on in his usual tones, “I was a-thinking of that, -knowing as how you had a fancy for the boy. We’re all humbly grateful -for your kindness, and as you see, puts faith in you and takes the drugs -down like that much grog. And I take it I’ve found a way as’ll suit all. -Hawkins, will you give me your word of honour as a young gentleman--for -a young gentleman you are, although poor born--your word of honour not -to slip your cable?” - -I readily gave the pledge required. - -“Then, doctor,” said Silver, “you just step outside o’ that stockade, -and once you’re there I’ll bring the boy down on the inside, and I -reckon you can yarn through the spars. Good day to you, sir, and all our -dooties to the squire and Cap’n Smollett.” - -The explosion of disapproval, which nothing but Silver’s black looks had -restrained, broke out immediately the doctor had left the house. Silver -was roundly accused of playing double--of trying to make a separate -peace for himself, of sacrificing the interests of his accomplices and -victims, and, in one word, of the identical, exact thing that he was -doing. It seemed to me so obvious, in this case, that I could not -imagine how he was to turn their anger. But he was twice the man -the rest were, and his last night’s victory had given him a huge -preponderance on their minds. He called them all the fools and dolts -you can imagine, said it was necessary I should talk to the doctor, -fluttered the chart in their faces, asked them if they could afford to -break the treaty the very day they were bound a-treasure-hunting. - -“No, by thunder!” he cried. “It’s us must break the treaty when the time -comes; and till then I’ll gammon that doctor, if I have to ile his boots -with brandy.” - -And then he bade them get the fire lit, and stalked out upon his crutch, -with his hand on my shoulder, leaving them in a disarray, and silenced -by his volubility rather than convinced. - -“Slow, lad, slow,” he said. “They might round upon us in a twinkle of an -eye if we was seen to hurry.” - -Very deliberately, then, did we advance across the sand to where the -doctor awaited us on the other side of the stockade, and as soon as we -were within easy speaking distance Silver stopped. - -“You’ll make a note of this here also, doctor,” says he, “and the boy’ll -tell you how I saved his life, and were deposed for it too, and you -may lay to that. Doctor, when a man’s steering as near the wind as -me--playing chuck-farthing with the last breath in his body, like--you -wouldn’t think it too much, mayhap, to give him one good word? You’ll -please bear in mind it’s not my life only now--it’s that boy’s into the -bargain; and you’ll speak me fair, doctor, and give me a bit o’ hope to -go on, for the sake of mercy.” - -Silver was a changed man once he was out there and had his back to his -friends and the block house; his cheeks seemed to have fallen in, his -voice trembled; never was a soul more dead in earnest. - -“Why, John, you’re not afraid?” asked Dr. Livesey. - -“Doctor, I’m no coward; no, not I--not SO much!” and he snapped his -fingers. “If I was I wouldn’t say it. But I’ll own up fairly, I’ve the -shakes upon me for the gallows. You’re a good man and a true; I never -seen a better man! And you’ll not forget what I done good, not any more -than you’ll forget the bad, I know. And I step aside--see here--and -leave you and Jim alone. And you’ll put that down for me too, for it’s a -long stretch, is that!” - -So saying, he stepped back a little way, till he was out of earshot, and -there sat down upon a tree-stump and began to whistle, spinning round -now and again upon his seat so as to command a sight, sometimes of me -and the doctor and sometimes of his unruly ruffians as they went to and -fro in the sand between the fire--which they were busy rekindling--and -the house, from which they brought forth pork and bread to make the -breakfast. - -“So, Jim,” said the doctor sadly, “here you are. As you have brewed, so -shall you drink, my boy. Heaven knows, I cannot find it in my heart to -blame you, but this much I will say, be it kind or unkind: when Captain -Smollett was well, you dared not have gone off; and when he was ill and -couldn’t help it, by George, it was downright cowardly!” - -I will own that I here began to weep. “Doctor,” I said, “you might spare -me. I have blamed myself enough; my life’s forfeit anyway, and I should -have been dead by now if Silver hadn’t stood for me; and doctor, -believe this, I can die--and I dare say I deserve it--but what I fear is -torture. If they come to torture me--” - -“Jim,” the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite changed, “Jim, I -can’t have this. Whip over, and we’ll run for it.” - -“Doctor,” said I, “I passed my word.” - -“I know, I know,” he cried. “We can’t help that, Jim, now. I’ll take it -on my shoulders, holus bolus, blame and shame, my boy; but stay here, -I cannot let you. Jump! One jump, and you’re out, and we’ll run for it -like antelopes.” - -“No,” I replied; “you know right well you wouldn’t do the thing -yourself--neither you nor squire nor captain; and no more will I. Silver -trusted me; I passed my word, and back I go. But, doctor, you did not -let me finish. If they come to torture me, I might let slip a word of -where the ship is, for I got the ship, part by luck and part by risking, -and she lies in North Inlet, on the southern beach, and just below high -water. At half tide she must be high and dry.” - -“The ship!” exclaimed the doctor. - -Rapidly I described to him my adventures, and he heard me out in -silence. - -“There is a kind of fate in this,” he observed when I had done. “Every -step, it’s you that saves our lives; and do you suppose by any chance -that we are going to let you lose yours? That would be a poor return, my -boy. You found out the plot; you found Ben Gunn--the best deed that -ever you did, or will do, though you live to ninety. Oh, by Jupiter, and -talking of Ben Gunn! Why, this is the mischief in person. Silver!” he -cried. “Silver! I’ll give you a piece of advice,” he continued as -the cook drew near again; “don’t you be in any great hurry after that -treasure.” - -“Why, sir, I do my possible, which that ain’t,” said Silver. “I can -only, asking your pardon, save my life and the boy’s by seeking for that -treasure; and you may lay to that.” - -“Well, Silver,” replied the doctor, “if that is so, I’ll go one step -further: look out for squalls when you find it.” - -“Sir,” said Silver, “as between man and man, that’s too much and too -little. What you’re after, why you left the block house, why you given -me that there chart, I don’t know, now, do I? And yet I done your -bidding with my eyes shut and never a word of hope! But no, this here’s -too much. If you won’t tell me what you mean plain out, just say so and -I’ll leave the helm.” - -“No,” said the doctor musingly; “I’ve no right to say more; it’s not my -secret, you see, Silver, or, I give you my word, I’d tell it you. But -I’ll go as far with you as I dare go, and a step beyond, for I’ll have -my wig sorted by the captain or I’m mistaken! And first, I’ll give you a -bit of hope; Silver, if we both get alive out of this wolf-trap, I’ll do -my best to save you, short of perjury.” - -Silver’s face was radiant. “You couldn’t say more, I’m sure, sir, not if -you was my mother,” he cried. - -“Well, that’s my first concession,” added the doctor. “My second is a -piece of advice: keep the boy close beside you, and when you need help, -halloo. I’m off to seek it for you, and that itself will show you if I -speak at random. Good-bye, Jim.” - -And Dr. Livesey shook hands with me through the stockade, nodded to -Silver, and set off at a brisk pace into the wood. - - - - -XXXI -The Treasure-hunt--Flint’s Pointer - - -“Jim,” said Silver when we were alone, “if I saved your life, you saved -mine; and I’ll not forget it. I seen the doctor waving you to run for -it--with the tail of my eye, I did; and I seen you say no, as plain as -hearing. Jim, that’s one to you. This is the first glint of hope I had -since the attack failed, and I owe it you. And now, Jim, we’re to go in -for this here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders too, and I don’t like -it; and you and me must stick close, back to back like, and we’ll save -our necks in spite o’ fate and fortune.” - -Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready, and -we were soon seated here and there about the sand over biscuit and fried -junk. They had lit a fire fit to roast an ox, and it was now grown so -hot that they could only approach it from the windward, and even there -not without precaution. In the same wasteful spirit, they had cooked, -I suppose, three times more than we could eat; and one of them, with an -empty laugh, threw what was left into the fire, which blazed and roared -again over this unusual fuel. I never in my life saw men so careless of -the morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can describe their way -of doing; and what with wasted food and sleeping sentries, though they -were bold enough for a brush and be done with it, I could see their -entire unfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign. - -Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had not -a word of blame for their recklessness. And this the more surprised me, -for I thought he had never shown himself so cunning as he did then. - -“Aye, mates,” said he, “it’s lucky you have Barbecue to think for you -with this here head. I got what I wanted, I did. Sure enough, they have -the ship. Where they have it, I don’t know yet; but once we hit the -treasure, we’ll have to jump about and find out. And then, mates, us -that has the boats, I reckon, has the upper hand.” - -Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of the hot bacon; thus he -restored their hope and confidence, and, I more than suspect, repaired -his own at the same time. - -“As for hostage,” he continued, “that’s his last talk, I guess, with -them he loves so dear. I’ve got my piece o’ news, and thanky to him -for that; but it’s over and done. I’ll take him in a line when we go -treasure-hunting, for we’ll keep him like so much gold, in case of -accidents, you mark, and in the meantime. Once we got the ship and -treasure both and off to sea like jolly companions, why then we’ll talk -Mr. Hawkins over, we will, and we’ll give him his share, to be sure, for -all his kindness.” - -It was no wonder the men were in a good humour now. For my part, I -was horribly cast down. Should the scheme he had now sketched prove -feasible, Silver, already doubly a traitor, would not hesitate to adopt -it. He had still a foot in either camp, and there was no doubt he -would prefer wealth and freedom with the pirates to a bare escape from -hanging, which was the best he had to hope on our side. - -Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was forced to keep his faith -with Dr. Livesey, even then what danger lay before us! What a moment -that would be when the suspicions of his followers turned to certainty -and he and I should have to fight for dear life--he a cripple and I a -boy--against five strong and active seamen! - -Add to this double apprehension the mystery that still hung over the -behaviour of my friends, their unexplained desertion of the stockade, -their inexplicable cession of the chart, or harder still to understand, -the doctor’s last warning to Silver, “Look out for squalls when you -find it,” and you will readily believe how little taste I found in my -breakfast and with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my captors on -the quest for treasure. - -We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us--all in soiled -sailor clothes and all but me armed to the teeth. Silver had two guns -slung about him--one before and one behind--besides the great cutlass -at his waist and a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. -To complete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon his -shoulder and gabbling odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. I had a -line about my waist and followed obediently after the sea-cook, who -held the loose end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between his -powerful teeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear. - -The other men were variously burthened, some carrying picks and -shovels--for that had been the very first necessary they brought ashore -from the HISPANIOLA--others laden with pork, bread, and brandy for the -midday meal. All the stores, I observed, came from our stock, and I -could see the truth of Silver’s words the night before. Had he not -struck a bargain with the doctor, he and his mutineers, deserted by the -ship, must have been driven to subsist on clear water and the proceeds -of their hunting. Water would have been little to their taste; a sailor -is not usually a good shot; and besides all that, when they were so -short of eatables, it was not likely they would be very flush of powder. - -Well, thus equipped, we all set out--even the fellow with the broken -head, who should certainly have kept in shadow--and straggled, one after -another, to the beach, where the two gigs awaited us. Even these bore -trace of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, and -both in their muddy and unbailed condition. Both were to be carried -along with us for the sake of safety; and so, with our numbers divided -between them, we set forth upon the bosom of the anchorage. - -As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the chart. The red cross -was, of course, far too large to be a guide; and the terms of the note -on the back, as you will hear, admitted of some ambiguity. They ran, the -reader may remember, thus: - - Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to - the N. of N.N.E. - Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E. - Ten feet. - -A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right before us the -anchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high, -adjoining on the north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glass -and rising again towards the south into the rough, cliffy eminence -called the Mizzenmast Hill. The top of the plateau was dotted thickly -with pine-trees of varying height. Every here and there, one of a -different species rose forty or fifty feet clear above its neighbours, -and which of these was the particular “tall tree” of Captain Flint could -only be decided on the spot, and by the readings of the compass. - -Yet, although that was the case, every man on board the boats had -picked a favourite of his own ere we were half-way over, Long John alone -shrugging his shoulders and bidding them wait till they were there. - -We pulled easily, by Silver’s directions, not to weary the hands -prematurely, and after quite a long passage, landed at the mouth of -the second river--that which runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-glass. -Thence, bending to our left, we began to ascend the slope towards the -plateau. - -At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted, marish vegetation -greatly delayed our progress; but by little and little the hill began -to steepen and become stony under foot, and the wood to change its -character and to grow in a more open order. It was, indeed, a most -pleasant portion of the island that we were now approaching. A -heavy-scented broom and many flowering shrubs had almost taken the place -of grass. Thickets of green nutmeg-trees were dotted here and there with -the red columns and the broad shadow of the pines; and the first mingled -their spice with the aroma of the others. The air, besides, was fresh -and stirring, and this, under the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderful -refreshment to our senses. - -The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, shouting and leaping to -and fro. About the centre, and a good way behind the rest, Silver and -I followed--I tethered by my rope, he ploughing, with deep pants, among -the sliding gravel. From time to time, indeed, I had to lend him a hand, -or he must have missed his footing and fallen backward down the hill. - -We had thus proceeded for about half a mile and were approaching the -brow of the plateau when the man upon the farthest left began to cry -aloud, as if in terror. Shout after shout came from him, and the others -began to run in his direction. - -“He can’t ’a found the treasure,” said old Morgan, hurrying past us from -the right, “for that’s clean a-top.” - -Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it was something -very different. At the foot of a pretty big pine and involved in a green -creeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human -skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I believe a -chill struck for a moment to every heart. - -“He was a seaman,” said George Merry, who, bolder than the rest, had -gone up close and was examining the rags of clothing. “Leastways, this -is good sea-cloth.” - -“Aye, aye,” said Silver; “like enough; you wouldn’t look to find a -bishop here, I reckon. But what sort of a way is that for bones to lie? -’Tain’t in natur’.” - -Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to fancy that the body -was in a natural position. But for some disarray (the work, perhaps, of -the birds that had fed upon him or of the slow-growing creeper that had -gradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly straight--his -feet pointing in one direction, his hands, raised above his head like a -diver’s, pointing directly in the opposite. - -“I’ve taken a notion into my old numbskull,” observed Silver. “Here’s -the compass; there’s the tip-top p’int o’ Skeleton Island, stickin’ -out like a tooth. Just take a bearing, will you, along the line of them -bones.” - -It was done. The body pointed straight in the direction of the island, -and the compass read duly E.S.E. and by E. - -“I thought so,” cried the cook; “this here is a p’inter. Right up there -is our line for the Pole Star and the jolly dollars. But, by thunder! -If it don’t make me cold inside to think of Flint. This is one of HIS -jokes, and no mistake. Him and these six was alone here; he killed ’em, -every man; and this one he hauled here and laid down by compass, shiver -my timbers! They’re long bones, and the hair’s been yellow. Aye, that -would be Allardyce. You mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?” - -“Aye, aye,” returned Morgan; “I mind him; he owed me money, he did, and -took my knife ashore with him.” - -“Speaking of knives,” said another, “why don’t we find his’n lying -round? Flint warn’t the man to pick a seaman’s pocket; and the birds, I -guess, would leave it be.” - -“By the powers, and that’s true!” cried Silver. - -“There ain’t a thing left here,” said Merry, still feeling round among -the bones; “not a copper doit nor a baccy box. It don’t look nat’ral to -me.” - -“No, by gum, it don’t,” agreed Silver; “not nat’ral, nor not nice, says -you. Great guns! Messmates, but if Flint was living, this would be a hot -spot for you and me. Six they were, and six are we; and bones is what -they are now.” - -“I saw him dead with these here deadlights,” said Morgan. “Billy took me -in. There he laid, with penny-pieces on his eyes.” - -“Dead--aye, sure enough he’s dead and gone below,” said the fellow with -the bandage; “but if ever sperrit walked, it would be Flint’s. Dear -heart, but he died bad, did Flint!” - -“Aye, that he did,” observed another; “now he raged, and now he hollered -for the rum, and now he sang. ‘Fifteen Men’ were his only song, mates; -and I tell you true, I never rightly liked to hear it since. It was -main hot, and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin’ out as -clear as clear--and the death-haul on the man already.” - -“Come, come,” said Silver; “stow this talk. He’s dead, and he don’t -walk, that I know; leastways, he won’t walk by day, and you may lay to -that. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons.” - -We started, certainly; but in spite of the hot sun and the staring -daylight, the pirates no longer ran separate and shouting through the -wood, but kept side by side and spoke with bated breath. The terror of -the dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits. - - - - -XXXII -The Treasure-hunt--The Voice Among the Trees - - -Partly from the damping influence of this alarm, partly to rest Silver -and the sick folk, the whole party sat down as soon as they had gained -the brow of the ascent. - -The plateau being somewhat tilted towards the west, this spot on which -we had paused commanded a wide prospect on either hand. Before us, -over the tree-tops, we beheld the Cape of the Woods fringed with surf; -behind, we not only looked down upon the anchorage and Skeleton Island, -but saw--clear across the spit and the eastern lowlands--a great field -of open sea upon the east. Sheer above us rose the Spy-glass, here dotted -with single pines, there black with precipices. There was no sound but -that of the distant breakers, mounting from all round, and the chirp of -countless insects in the brush. Not a man, not a sail, upon the sea; the -very largeness of the view increased the sense of solitude. - -Silver, as he sat, took certain bearings with his compass. - -“There are three ‘tall trees,’” said he, “about in the right line from -Skeleton Island. ‘Spy-glass shoulder,’ I take it, means that lower p’int -there. It’s child’s play to find the stuff now. I’ve half a mind to dine -first.” - -“I don’t feel sharp,” growled Morgan. “Thinkin’ o’ Flint--I think it -were--as done me.” - -“Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he’s dead,” said Silver. - -“He were an ugly devil,” cried a third pirate with a shudder; “that blue -in the face too!” - -“That was how the rum took him,” added Merry. “Blue! Well, I reckon he -was blue. That’s a true word.” - -Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon this train of -thought, they had spoken lower and lower, and they had almost got to -whispering by now, so that the sound of their talk hardly interrupted -the silence of the wood. All of a sudden, out of the middle of the trees -in front of us, a thin, high, trembling voice struck up the well-known -air and words: - - “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” - -I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the pirates. The -colour went from their six faces like enchantment; some leaped to their -feet, some clawed hold of others; Morgan grovelled on the ground. - -“It’s Flint, by ----!” cried Merry. - -The song had stopped as suddenly as it began--broken off, you would have -said, in the middle of a note, as though someone had laid his hand upon -the singer’s mouth. Coming through the clear, sunny atmosphere among the -green tree-tops, I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly; and the -effect on my companions was the stranger. - -“Come,” said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to get the word out; -“this won’t do. Stand by to go about. This is a rum start, and I can’t -name the voice, but it’s someone skylarking--someone that’s flesh and -blood, and you may lay to that.” - -His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of the colour to his -face along with it. Already the others had begun to lend an ear to this -encouragement and were coming a little to themselves, when the same -voice broke out again--not this time singing, but in a faint distant -hail that echoed yet fainter among the clefts of the Spy-glass. - -“Darby M’Graw,” it wailed--for that is the word that best describes the -sound--“Darby M’Graw! Darby M’Graw!” again and again and again; and then -rising a little higher, and with an oath that I leave out: “Fetch aft -the rum, Darby!” - -The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their eyes starting from -their heads. Long after the voice had died away they still stared in -silence, dreadfully, before them. - -“That fixes it!” gasped one. “Let’s go.” - -“They was his last words,” moaned Morgan, “his last words above board.” - -Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly. He had been well brought -up, had Dick, before he came to sea and fell among bad companions. - -Still Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth rattle in his head, -but he had not yet surrendered. - -“Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby,” he muttered; “not one -but us that’s here.” And then, making a great effort: “Shipmates,” - he cried, “I’m here to get that stuff, and I’ll not be beat by man or -devil. I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, by the powers, I’ll -face him dead. There’s seven hundred thousand pound not a quarter of a -mile from here. When did ever a gentleman o’ fortune show his stern to -that much dollars for a boozy old seaman with a blue mug--and him dead -too?” - -But there was no sign of reawakening courage in his followers, rather, -indeed, of growing terror at the irreverence of his words. - -“Belay there, John!” said Merry. “Don’t you cross a sperrit.” - -And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They would have run away -severally had they dared; but fear kept them together, and kept them -close by John, as if his daring helped them. He, on his part, had pretty -well fought his weakness down. - -“Sperrit? Well, maybe,” he said. “But there’s one thing not clear to me. -There was an echo. Now, no man ever seen a sperrit with a shadow; well -then, what’s he doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? That -ain’t in natur’, surely?” - -This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you can never tell what will -affect the superstitious, and to my wonder, George Merry was greatly -relieved. - -“Well, that’s so,” he said. “You’ve a head upon your shoulders, John, -and no mistake. ’Bout ship, mates! This here crew is on a wrong tack, I -do believe. And come to think on it, it was like Flint’s voice, I -grant you, but not just so clear-away like it, after all. It was liker -somebody else’s voice now--it was liker--” - -“By the powers, Ben Gunn!” roared Silver. - -“Aye, and so it were,” cried Morgan, springing on his knees. “Ben Gunn -it were!” - -“It don’t make much odds, do it, now?” asked Dick. “Ben Gunn’s not here -in the body any more’n Flint.” - -But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn. - -“Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn,” cried Merry; “dead or alive, nobody minds -him.” - -It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned and how the natural -colour had revived in their faces. Soon they were chatting together, -with intervals of listening; and not long after, hearing no further -sound, they shouldered the tools and set forth again, Merry walking -first with Silver’s compass to keep them on the right line with Skeleton -Island. He had said the truth: dead or alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn. - -Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him as he went, with -fearful glances; but he found no sympathy, and Silver even joked him on -his precautions. - -“I told you,” said he--“I told you you had sp’iled your Bible. If it -ain’t no good to swear by, what do you suppose a sperrit would give for -it? Not that!” and he snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on his -crutch. - -But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon plain to me that -the lad was falling sick; hastened by heat, exhaustion, and the shock -of his alarm, the fever, predicted by Dr. Livesey, was evidently growing -swiftly higher. - -It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way lay a little -downhill, for, as I have said, the plateau tilted towards the west. The -pines, great and small, grew wide apart; and even between the clumps of -nutmeg and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. Striking, -as we did, pretty near north-west across the island, we drew, on the -one hand, ever nearer under the shoulders of the Spy-glass, and on the -other, looked ever wider over that western bay where I had once tossed -and trembled in the coracle. - -The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearings proved the -wrong one. So with the second. The third rose nearly two hundred feet -into the air above a clump of underwood--a giant of a vegetable, with -a red column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in which a -company could have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous far to sea both on -the east and west and might have been entered as a sailing mark upon the -chart. - -But it was not its size that now impressed my companions; it was the -knowledge that seven hundred thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere -buried below its spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they -drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their eyes burned in -their heads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul -was bound up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and -pleasure, that lay waiting there for each of them. - -Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils stood out and -quivered; he cursed like a madman when the flies settled on his hot and -shiny countenance; he plucked furiously at the line that held me to -him and from time to time turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look. -Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts, and certainly I read -them like print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had -been forgotten: his promise and the doctor’s warning were both things -of the past, and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the -treasure, find and board the HISPANIOLA under cover of night, cut -every honest throat about that island, and sail away as he had at first -intended, laden with crimes and riches. - -Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me to keep up with -the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. Now and again I stumbled, and it -was then that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me -his murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us and now brought -up the rear, was babbling to himself both prayers and curses as his -fever kept rising. This also added to my wretchedness, and to crown all, -I was haunted by the thought of the tragedy that had once been acted -on that plateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with the blue face--he who -died at Savannah, singing and shouting for drink--had there, with his -own hand, cut down his six accomplices. This grove that was now so -peaceful must then have rung with cries, I thought; and even with the -thought I could believe I heard it ringing still. - -We were now at the margin of the thicket. - -“Huzza, mates, all together!” shouted Merry; and the foremost broke into -a run. - -And suddenly, not ten yards further, we beheld them stop. A low cry -arose. Silver doubled his pace, digging away with the foot of his crutch -like one possessed; and next moment he and I had come also to a dead -halt. - -Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had -fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom. In this were the shaft -of a pick broken in two and the boards of several packing-cases strewn -around. On one of these boards I saw, branded with a hot iron, the name -WALRUS--the name of Flint’s ship. - -All was clear to probation. The CACHE had been found and rifled; the -seven hundred thousand pounds were gone! - - - - -XXXIII -The Fall of a Chieftain - - -There never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six men -was as though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost -instantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like a -racer, on that money; well, he was brought up, in a single second, dead; -and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed his plan before the -others had had time to realize the disappointment. - -“Jim,” he whispered, “take that, and stand by for trouble.” - -And he passed me a double-barrelled pistol. - -At the same time, he began quietly moving northward, and in a few steps -had put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked at -me and nodded, as much as to say, “Here is a narrow corner,” as, indeed, -I thought it was. His looks were not quite friendly, and I was so -revolted at these constant changes that I could not forbear whispering, -“So you’ve changed sides again.” - -There was no time left for him to answer in. The buccaneers, with oaths -and cries, began to leap, one after another, into the pit and to dig -with their fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. Morgan -found a piece of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. It -was a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for a -quarter of a minute. - -“Two guineas!” roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. “That’s your seven -hundred thousand pounds, is it? You’re the man for bargains, ain’t you? -You’re him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!” - -“Dig away, boys,” said Silver with the coolest insolence; “you’ll find -some pig-nuts and I shouldn’t wonder.” - -“Pig-nuts!” repeated Merry, in a scream. “Mates, do you hear that? I -tell you now, that man there knew it all along. Look in the face of him -and you’ll see it wrote there.” - -“Ah, Merry,” remarked Silver, “standing for cap’n again? You’re a -pushing lad, to be sure.” - -But this time everyone was entirely in Merry’s favour. They began to -scramble out of the excavation, darting furious glances behind them. One -thing I observed, which looked well for us: they all got out upon the -opposite side from Silver. - -Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the pit -between us, and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow. -Silver never moved; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, and -looked as cool as ever I saw him. He was brave, and no mistake. - -At last Merry seemed to think a speech might help matters. - -“Mates,” says he, “there’s two of them alone there; one’s the old -cripple that brought us all here and blundered us down to this; the -other’s that cub that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates--” - -He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead a -charge. But just then--crack! crack! crack!--three musket-shots flashed -out of the thicket. Merry tumbled head foremost into the excavation; the -man with the bandage spun round like a teetotum and fell all his length -upon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the other -three turned and ran for it with all their might. - -Before you could wink, Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into -the struggling Merry, and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the -last agony, “George,” said he, “I reckon I settled you.” - -At the same moment, the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us, with -smoking muskets, from among the nutmeg-trees. - -“Forward!” cried the doctor. “Double quick, my lads. We must head ’em -off the boats.” - -And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through the bushes to -the chest. - -I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that man -went through, leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest were -fit to burst, was work no sound man ever equalled; and so thinks the -doctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us and on the -verge of strangling when we reached the brow of the slope. - -“Doctor,” he hailed, “see there! No hurry!” - -Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open part of the plateau, we -could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as -they had started, right for Mizzenmast Hill. We were already between -them and the boats; and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John, -mopping his face, came slowly up with us. - -“Thank ye kindly, doctor,” says he. “You came in in about the nick, I -guess, for me and Hawkins. And so it’s you, Ben Gunn!” he added. “Well, -you’re a nice one, to be sure.” - -“I’m Ben Gunn, I am,” replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in his -embarrassment. “And,” he added, after a long pause, “how do, Mr. Silver? -Pretty well, I thank ye, says you.” - -“Ben, Ben,” murmured Silver, “to think as you’ve done me!” - -The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pick-axes deserted, in their -flight, by the mutineers, and then as we proceeded leisurely downhill to -where the boats were lying, related in a few words what had taken place. -It was a story that profoundly interested Silver; and Ben Gunn, the -half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end. - -Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found the -skeleton--it was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; he -had dug it up (it was the haft of his pick-axe that lay broken in the -excavation); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, from -the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at -the north-east angle of the island, and there it had lain stored in -safety since two months before the arrival of the HISPANIOLA. - -When the doctor had wormed this secret from him on the afternoon of the -attack, and when next morning he saw the anchorage deserted, he had gone -to Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless--given him the -stores, for Ben Gunn’s cave was well supplied with goats’ meat salted -by himself--given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in -safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be clear of -malaria and keep a guard upon the money. - -“As for you, Jim,” he said, “it went against my heart, but I did what I -thought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were not -one of these, whose fault was it?” - -That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horrid -disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he had run all the way -to the cave, and leaving the squire to guard the captain, had taken Gray -and the maroon and started, making the diagonal across the island to be -at hand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had the -start of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been dispatched in -front to do his best alone. Then it had occurred to him to work upon the -superstitions of his former shipmates, and he was so far successful that -Gray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the -arrival of the treasure-hunters. - -“Ah,” said Silver, “it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here. -You would have let old John be cut to bits, and never given it a -thought, doctor.” - -“Not a thought,” replied Dr. Livesey cheerily. - -And by this time we had reached the gigs. The doctor, with the pick-axe, -demolished one of them, and then we all got aboard the other and set out -to go round by sea for North Inlet. - -This was a run of eight or nine miles. Silver, though he was almost -killed already with fatigue, was set to an oar, like the rest of us, and -we were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea. Soon we passed out -of the straits and doubled the south-east corner of the island, round -which, four days ago, we had towed the HISPANIOLA. - -As we passed the two-pointed hill, we could see the black mouth of Ben -Gunn’s cave and a figure standing by it, leaning on a musket. It was the -squire, and we waved a handkerchief and gave him three cheers, in which -the voice of Silver joined as heartily as any. - -Three miles farther, just inside the mouth of North Inlet, what should -we meet but the HISPANIOLA, cruising by herself? The last flood had -lifted her, and had there been much wind or a strong tide current, as -in the southern anchorage, we should never have found her more, or found -her stranded beyond help. As it was, there was little amiss beyond the -wreck of the main-sail. Another anchor was got ready and dropped in a -fathom and a half of water. We all pulled round again to Rum Cove, -the nearest point for Ben Gunn’s treasure-house; and then Gray, -single-handed, returned with the gig to the HISPANIOLA, where he was to -pass the night on guard. - -A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance of the cave. At the -top, the squire met us. To me he was cordial and kind, saying nothing -of my escapade either in the way of blame or praise. At Silver’s polite -salute he somewhat flushed. - -“John Silver,” he said, “you’re a prodigious villain and imposter--a -monstrous imposter, sir. I am told I am not to prosecute you. Well, -then, I will not. But the dead men, sir, hang about your neck like -mill-stones.” - -“Thank you kindly, sir,” replied Long John, again saluting. - -“I dare you to thank me!” cried the squire. “It is a gross dereliction -of my duty. Stand back.” - -And thereupon we all entered the cave. It was a large, airy place, with -a little spring and a pool of clear water, overhung with ferns. The -floor was sand. Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett; and in a far -corner, only duskily flickered over by the blaze, I beheld great heaps -of coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold. That was Flint’s -treasure that we had come so far to seek and that had cost already the -lives of seventeen men from the HISPANIOLA. How many it had cost in the -amassing, what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep, -what brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon, what -shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell. Yet there -were still three upon that island--Silver, and old Morgan, and Ben -Gunn--who had each taken his share in these crimes, as each had hoped in -vain to share in the reward. - -“Come in, Jim,” said the captain. “You’re a good boy in your line, Jim, -but I don’t think you and me’ll go to sea again. You’re too much of the -born favourite for me. Is that you, John Silver? What brings you here, -man?” - -“Come back to my dooty, sir,” returned Silver. - -“Ah!” said the captain, and that was all he said. - -What a supper I had of it that night, with all my friends around me; and -what a meal it was, with Ben Gunn’s salted goat and some delicacies and -a bottle of old wine from the HISPANIOLA. Never, I am sure, were people -gayer or happier. And there was Silver, sitting back almost out of the -firelight, but eating heartily, prompt to spring forward when anything -was wanted, even joining quietly in our laughter--the same bland, -polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out. - - - - -XXXIV -And Last - - -The next morning we fell early to work, for the transportation of this -great mass of gold near a mile by land to the beach, and thence three -miles by boat to the HISPANIOLA, was a considerable task for so small -a number of workmen. The three fellows still abroad upon the island did -not greatly trouble us; a single sentry on the shoulder of the hill was -sufficient to ensure us against any sudden onslaught, and we thought, -besides, they had had more than enough of fighting. - -Therefore the work was pushed on briskly. Gray and Ben Gunn came and -went with the boat, while the rest during their absences piled treasure -on the beach. Two of the bars, slung in a rope’s end, made a good load -for a grown man--one that he was glad to walk slowly with. For my part, -as I was not much use at carrying, I was kept busy all day in the cave -packing the minted money into bread-bags. - -It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones’s hoard for the diversity -of coinage, but so much larger and so much more varied that I think I -never had more pleasure than in sorting them. English, French, Spanish, -Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and -moidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the -last hundred years, strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked -like wisps of string or bits of spider’s web, round pieces and square -pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to wear them round -your neck--nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think, -have found a place in that collection; and for number, I am sure they -were like autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping and my -fingers with sorting them out. - -Day after day this work went on; by every evening a fortune had been -stowed aboard, but there was another fortune waiting for the morrow; and -all this time we heard nothing of the three surviving mutineers. - -At last--I think it was on the third night--the doctor and I were -strolling on the shoulder of the hill where it overlooks the lowlands of -the isle, when, from out the thick darkness below, the wind brought us -a noise between shrieking and singing. It was only a snatch that reached -our ears, followed by the former silence. - -“Heaven forgive them,” said the doctor; “’tis the mutineers!” - -“All drunk, sir,” struck in the voice of Silver from behind us. - -Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty, and in spite of -daily rebuffs, seemed to regard himself once more as quite a privileged -and friendly dependent. Indeed, it was remarkable how well he bore -these slights and with what unwearying politeness he kept on trying to -ingratiate himself with all. Yet, I think, none treated him better than -a dog, unless it was Ben Gunn, who was still terribly afraid of his old -quartermaster, or myself, who had really something to thank him for; -although for that matter, I suppose, I had reason to think even worse of -him than anybody else, for I had seen him meditating a fresh treachery -upon the plateau. Accordingly, it was pretty gruffly that the doctor -answered him. - -“Drunk or raving,” said he. - -“Right you were, sir,” replied Silver; “and precious little odds which, -to you and me.” - -“I suppose you would hardly ask me to call you a humane man,” returned -the doctor with a sneer, “and so my feelings may surprise you, Master -Silver. But if I were sure they were raving--as I am morally certain -one, at least, of them is down with fever--I should leave this camp, -and at whatever risk to my own carcass, take them the assistance of my -skill.” - -“Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong,” quoth Silver. “You -would lose your precious life, and you may lay to that. I’m on your side -now, hand and glove; and I shouldn’t wish for to see the party weakened, -let alone yourself, seeing as I know what I owes you. But these men down -there, they couldn’t keep their word--no, not supposing they wished to; -and what’s more, they couldn’t believe as you could.” - -“No,” said the doctor. “You’re the man to keep your word, we know that.” - -Well, that was about the last news we had of the three pirates. Only -once we heard a gunshot a great way off and supposed them to be hunting. -A council was held, and it was decided that we must desert them on the -island--to the huge glee, I must say, of Ben Gunn, and with the strong -approval of Gray. We left a good stock of powder and shot, the bulk -of the salt goat, a few medicines, and some other necessaries, tools, -clothing, a spare sail, a fathom or two of rope, and by the particular -desire of the doctor, a handsome present of tobacco. - -That was about our last doing on the island. Before that, we had got the -treasure stowed and had shipped enough water and the remainder of the -goat meat in case of any distress; and at last, one fine morning, we -weighed anchor, which was about all that we could manage, and stood out -of North Inlet, the same colours flying that the captain had flown and -fought under at the palisade. - -The three fellows must have been watching us closer than we thought for, -as we soon had proved. For coming through the narrows, we had to -lie very near the southern point, and there we saw all three of -them kneeling together on a spit of sand, with their arms raised in -supplication. It went to all our hearts, I think, to leave them in that -wretched state; but we could not risk another mutiny; and to take them -home for the gibbet would have been a cruel sort of kindness. The doctor -hailed them and told them of the stores we had left, and where they were -to find them. But they continued to call us by name and appeal to us, -for God’s sake, to be merciful and not leave them to die in such a -place. - -At last, seeing the ship still bore on her course and was now swiftly -drawing out of earshot, one of them--I know not which it was--leapt to -his feet with a hoarse cry, whipped his musket to his shoulder, and sent -a shot whistling over Silver’s head and through the main-sail. - -After that, we kept under cover of the bulwarks, and when next I looked -out they had disappeared from the spit, and the spit itself had almost -melted out of sight in the growing distance. That was, at least, the end -of that; and before noon, to my inexpressible joy, the highest rock of -Treasure Island had sunk into the blue round of sea. - -We were so short of men that everyone on board had to bear a hand--only -the captain lying on a mattress in the stern and giving his orders, for -though greatly recovered he was still in want of quiet. We laid her -head for the nearest port in Spanish America, for we could not risk the -voyage home without fresh hands; and as it was, what with baffling winds -and a couple of fresh gales, we were all worn out before we reached it. - -It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a most beautiful -land-locked gulf, and were immediately surrounded by shore boats full -of Negroes and Mexican Indians and half-bloods selling fruits and -vegetables and offering to dive for bits of money. The sight of so many -good-humoured faces (especially the blacks), the taste of the tropical -fruits, and above all the lights that began to shine in the town made a -most charming contrast to our dark and bloody sojourn on the island; -and the doctor and the squire, taking me along with them, went ashore -to pass the early part of the night. Here they met the captain of an -English man-of-war, fell in talk with him, went on board his ship, and, -in short, had so agreeable a time that day was breaking when we came -alongside the HISPANIOLA. - -Ben Gunn was on deck alone, and as soon as we came on board he began, -with wonderful contortions, to make us a confession. Silver was gone. -The maroon had connived at his escape in a shore boat some hours ago, -and he now assured us he had only done so to preserve our lives, which -would certainly have been forfeit if “that man with the one leg -had stayed aboard.” But this was not all. The sea-cook had not gone -empty-handed. He had cut through a bulkhead unobserved and had removed -one of the sacks of coin, worth perhaps three or four hundred guineas, -to help him on his further wanderings. - -I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit of him. - -Well, to make a long story short, we got a few hands on board, made a -good cruise home, and the HISPANIOLA reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandly -was beginning to think of fitting out her consort. Five men only of -those who had sailed returned with her. “Drink and the devil had done -for the rest,” with a vengeance, although, to be sure, we were not quite -in so bad a case as that other ship they sang about: - - With one man of her crew alive, - What put to sea with seventy-five. - -All of us had an ample share of the treasure and used it wisely or -foolishly, according to our natures. Captain Smollett is now retired -from the sea. Gray not only saved his money, but being suddenly smit -with the desire to rise, also studied his profession, and he is now -mate and part owner of a fine full-rigged ship, married besides, and the -father of a family. As for Ben Gunn, he got a thousand pounds, which he -spent or lost in three weeks, or to be more exact, in nineteen days, for -he was back begging on the twentieth. Then he was given a lodge to keep, -exactly as he had feared upon the island; and he still lives, a great -favourite, though something of a butt, with the country boys, and a -notable singer in church on Sundays and saints’ days. - -Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable seafaring man with one -leg has at last gone clean out of my life; but I dare say he met his old -Negress, and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint. -It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in another -world are very small. - -The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know, where -Flint buried them; and certainly they shall lie there for me. Oxen and -wain-ropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island; and -the worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about -its coasts or start upright in bed with the sharp voice of Captain Flint -still ringing in my ears: “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 120 ***
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