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1The Project Gutenberg EBook of Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
2
3This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
4almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
5re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
6with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
7
8
9Title: Treasure Island
10
11Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
12
13Illustrator: Milo Winter
14
15Release Date: January 12, 2009 [EBook #27780]
16
17Language: English
18
19Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
20
21*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TREASURE ISLAND ***
22
23
24
25
26Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Stephen Blundell and the
27Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37 THE ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN'S LIBRARY
38
39
40 _Treasure Island_
41
42 Robert Louis Stevenson
43
44 _Illustrated by_
45 Milo Winter
46
47
48 [Illustration]
49
50
51 GRAMERCY BOOKS
52 NEW YORK
53
54
55
56
57 Foreword copyright © 1986 by Random House Value Publishing
58 Color Illustrations by Milo Winter copyright © 1915, 1943 by Rand
59 McNally & Company
60 All rights reserved.
61
62 This 2002 edition published by Gramercy Books, an imprint of Random
63 House Value Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc., 280 Park
64 Avenue, New York, NY 10017.
65
66 Gramercy is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of
67 Random House, Inc.
68
69 Printed and bound in the United States of America
70
71 Cover design by Judy Fucci, Studio Graphix, Inc.
72
73 Random House
74 New York · Toronto · London · Sydney · Auckland
75 www.randomhouse.com
76
77
78 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
79
80 Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894.
81 Treasure Island/Robert Louis Stevenson; illustrated in color by
82 Milo Winter.
83 p. cm.--(Illustrated children's library)
84 Originally published: New York: Children's classics, 1986.
85 Summary: While going through the possessions of a deceased guest
86 who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a
87 treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune.
88 ISBN 0-517-22114-4
89 [1. Buried treasure--Fiction. 2. Pirates--Fiction. 3. Adventure
90 and adventures--Fiction. 4. Caribbean Area--History--18th
91 century--Fiction.] I. Winter, Milo, 1888-1956, ill. II. Title.
92 III. Series.
93
94 PZ7.S8482 Tr 2002
95 [Fic]--dc21
96
97 2002023301
98 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
99
100
101Transcriber's Note:
102
103 Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without
104 note. Dialect and variant spellings have been retained, whilst
105 inconsistent hyphenation has been standardised. Color plates have
106 been repositioned according to their captions; the 'Color Plates'
107 listing remains as printed to indicate the original locations.
108
109
110
111
112CONTENTS
113
114
115 PAGE
116 _To the Hesitating Purchaser_ _viii_
117 _List of Color Plates_ _ix_
118 _Dedication_ _x_
119
120
121 PART I
122 THE OLD BUCCANEER
123
124 CHAPTER
125 I. At the "Admiral Benbow" 3
126 II. Black Dog Appears and Disappears 11
127 III. The Black Spot 19
128 IV. The Sea-Chest 26
129 V. The Last of the Blind Man 33
130 VI. The Captain's Papers 40
131
132
133 PART II
134 THE SEA-COOK
135
136 VII. I Go to Bristol 49
137 VIII. At the Sign of the "Spy-Glass" 55
138 IX. Powder and Arms 62
139 X. The Voyage 69
140 XI. What I Heard in the Apple Barrel 76
141 XII. Council of War 83
142
143
144 PART III
145 MY SHORE ADVENTURE
146
147 XIII. How My Shore Adventure Began 93
148 XIV. The First Blow 99
149 XV. The Man of the Island 106
150
151
152 PART IV
153 THE STOCKADE
154
155 XVI. Narrative Continued by the Doctor--How the Ship
156 was Abandoned 117
157 XVII. Narrative Continued by the Doctor--The
158 Jolly-Boat's Last Trip 123
159 XVIII. Narrative Continued by the Doctor--End of the
160 First Day's Fighting 129
161 XIX. Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins--The Garrison
162 in the Stockade 135
163 XX. Silver's Embassy 142
164 XXI. The Attack 149
165
166
167 PART V
168 MY SEA ADVENTURE
169
170 XXII. How My Sea Adventure Began 159
171 XXIII. The Ebb-Tide Runs 166
172 XXIV. The Cruise of the Coracle 172
173 XXV. I Strike the Jolly Roger 179
174 XXVI. Israel Hands 185
175 XXVII. "Pieces of Eight" 195
176
177
178 PART VI
179 CAPTAIN SILVER
180
181 XXVIII. In the Enemy's Camp 205
182 XXIX. The Black Spot Again 214
183 XXX. On Parole 222
184 XXXI. The Treasure-Hunt--Flint's Pointer 230
185 XXXII. The Treasure-Hunt--The Voice among the Trees 238
186 XXXIII. The Fall of a Chieftain 245
187 XXXIV. And Last 252
188
189
190
191
192TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER
193
194
195 If sailor tales to sailor tunes,
196 Storm and adventure, heat and cold,
197 If schooners, islands, and maroons
198 And Buccaneers and buried Gold,
199 And all the old romance, retold
200 Exactly in the ancient way,
201 Can please, as me they pleased of old,
202 The wiser youngsters of to-day:
203
204 --So be it, and fall on! If not,
205 If studious youth no longer crave,
206 His ancient appetites forgot,
207 Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,
208 Or Cooper of the wood and wave:
209 So be it, also! And may I
210 And all my pirates share the grave
211 Where these and their creations lie!
212
213
214
215
216COLOR PLATES
217
218
219 OPPOSITE PAGE
220
221 I remember him as if it were yesterday as he came
222 plodding to the inn door 50
223
224 "Pew!" he cried, "they've been before us" 51
225
226 "Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly, "you never
227 clapped your eyes on that Black Dog before, did you,
228 now?" 82
229
230 It was something to see him get on with his cooking
231 like someone safe ashore 83
232
233 They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the
234 swivel 178
235
236 In a moment the four pirates had swarmed up the mound
237 and were upon us 179
238
239 Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds 210
240
241 Nearly every variety of money in the world must have
242 found a place in that collection 211
243
244
245
246
247 _To_
248 LLOYD OSBOURNE
249 An American Gentleman
250 In accordance with whose classic taste
251 The following narrative has been designed
252 It is now, in return for numerous delightful hours
253 And with the kindest wishes, dedicated
254 By his affectionate friend
255 _THE AUTHOR_
256
257
258
259
260[Illustration]
261
262
263
264
265PART I
266
267THE OLD BUCCANEER
268
269
270
271
272CHAPTER I
273
274AT THE "ADMIRAL BENBOW"
275
276
277Squire Trelawney, Doctor Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having
278asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from
279the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the
280island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I
281take up my pen in the year of grace 17--, and go back to the time when
282my father kept the "Admiral Benbow" Inn, and the brown old seaman, with
283the saber cut, first took up his lodging under our roof.
284
285[Illustration: _I remember him as if it were yesterday as he came
286plodding to the inn door_ (Page 3)]
287
288I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn
289door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow; a tall,
290strong, heavy, nut-brown man; his tarry pig-tail falling over the
291shoulders of his soiled blue coat; his hands ragged and scarred, with
292black, broken nails, and the saber cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid
293white. I remember him looking round the cove and whistling to himself as
294he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang so
295often afterwards:
296
297 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest,
298 Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"
299
300in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and
301broken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door with a bit of
302stick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared,
303called roughly for a glass of rum. This, when it was brought to him, he
304drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste, and still
305looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.
306
307"This is a handy cove," says he, at length; "and a pleasant sittyated
308grog-shop. Much company, mate?"
309
310My father told him no, very little company, the more was the pity.
311
312"Well, then," said he, "this is the berth for me. Here you, matey," he
313cried to the man who trundled the barrow; "bring up alongside and help
314up my chest. I'll stay here a bit," he continued. "I'm a plain man; rum
315and bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch
316ships off. What you mought call me? You mought call me captain. Oh, I
317see what you're at--there"; and he threw down three or four gold pieces
318on the threshold. "You can tell me when I've worked through that," said
319he, looking as fierce as a commander.
320
321And, indeed, bad as his clothes were, and coarsely as he spoke, he had
322none of the appearance of a man who sailed before the mast, but seemed
323like a mate or skipper, accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. The man
324who came with the barrow told us the mail had set him down the morning
325before at the "Royal George"; that he had inquired what inns there were
326along the coast, and hearing ours well spoken of, I suppose, and
327described as lonely, had chosen it from the others for his place of
328residence. And that was all we could learn of our guest.
329
330He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove, or
331upon the cliffs, with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a corner
332of the parlor next the fire, and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly
333he would not speak when spoken to; only look up sudden and fierce, and
334blow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who came
335about our house soon learned to let him be. Every day, when he came back
336from his stroll, he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the
337road. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind
338that made him ask this question; but at last we began to see he was
339desirous to avoid them. When a seaman put up at the "Admiral Benbow" (as
340now and then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol), he would
341look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the parlor;
342and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such was
343present. For me, at least, there was no secret about the matter; for I
344was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms.
345
346He had taken me aside one day and promised me a silver fourpenny on the
347first of every month if I would only keep my "weather eye open for a
348seafaring man with one leg," and let him know the moment he appeared.
349Often enough when the first of the month came round, and I applied to
350him for my wage, he would only blow through his nose at me, and stare me
351down; but before the week was out he was sure to think better of it,
352bring me my fourpenny piece, and repeat his orders to look out for "the
353seafaring man with one leg."
354
355How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. On
356stormy nights, when the wind shook the four corners of the house, and
357the surf roared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in a
358thousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions. Now the leg
359would be cut off at the knee, now at the hip; now he was a monstrous
360kind of a creature who had never had but one leg, and that in the middle
361of his body. To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge and ditch,
362was the worst of nightmares. And altogether I paid pretty dear for my
363monthly fourpenny piece, in the shape of these abominable fancies.
364
365But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man with one
366leg, I was far less afraid of the captain himself than anybody else who
367knew him. There were nights when he took a deal more rum and water than
368his head would carry; and then he would sometimes sit and sing his
369wicked, old, wild sea-songs, minding nobody; but sometimes he would call
370for glasses round, and force all the trembling company to listen to his
371stories or bear a chorus to his singing. Often I have heard the house
372shaking with "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum," all the neighbors joining
373in for dear life, with the fear of death upon them, and each singing
374louder than the other to avoid remark. For in these fits he was the most
375overriding companion ever known; he would slap his hand on the table for
376silence all around; he would fly up in a passion of anger at a question,
377or sometimes because none was put, and so he judged the company was not
378following his story. Nor would he allow anyone to leave the inn till he
379had drunk himself sleepy and reeled off to bed.
380
381His stories were what frightened people worst of all. Dreadful stories
382they were; about hanging, and walking the plank, and storms at sea, and
383the Dry Tortugas, and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main. By his
384own account, he must have lived his life among some of the wickedest men
385that God ever allowed upon the sea; and the language in which he told
386these stories shocked our plain country people almost as much as the
387crimes that he described. My father was always saying the inn would be
388ruined, for people would soon cease coming there to be tyrannized over
389and put down and sent shivering to their beds; but I really believe his
390presence did us good. People were frightened at the time, but on looking
391back they rather liked it; it was a fine excitement in a quiet country
392life; and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to
393admire him, calling him a "true sea-dog," and a "real old salt," and
394such like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England
395terrible at sea.
396
397In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept on staying week
398after week, and at last month after month, so that all the money had
399been long exhausted, and still my father never plucked up the heart to
400insist on having more. If ever he mentioned it, the captain blew through
401his nose so loudly that you might say he roared, and stared my poor
402father out of the room. I have seen him wringing his hands after such a
403rebuff, and I am sure the annoyance and the terror he lived in must have
404greatly hastened his early and unhappy death.
405
406All the time he lived with us the captain made no change whatever in his
407dress but to buy some stockings from a hawker. One of the cocks of his
408hat having fallen down, he let it hang from that day forth, though it
409was a great annoyance when it blew. I remember the appearance of his
410coat, which he patched himself upstairs in his room, and which, before
411the end, was nothing but patches. He never wrote or received a letter,
412and he never spoke with any but the neighbors, and with these, for the
413most part, only when drunk on rum. The great sea-chest none of us had
414ever seen open.
415
416He was only once crossed, and that was toward the end, when my poor
417father was far gone in a decline that took him off. Doctor Livesey came
418late one afternoon to see the patient, took a bit of dinner from my
419mother, and went into the parlor to smoke a pipe until his horse should
420come down from the hamlet, for we had no stabling at the old "Benbow." I
421followed him in, and I remember observing the contrast the neat, bright
422doctor, with his powder as white as snow, and his bright, black eyes and
423pleasant manners, made with the coltish country folk, and above all,
424with that filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of a pirate of ours, sitting
425far gone in rum, with his arms on the table. Suddenly he--the captain,
426that is--began to pipe up his eternal song:
427
428 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--
429 Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
430 Drink and the devil had done for the rest--
431 Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"
432
433At first I had supposed "the dead man's chest" to be that identical big
434box of his upstairs in the front room, and the thought had been mingled
435in my nightmares with that of the one-legged seafaring man. But by this
436time we had all long ceased to pay any particular notice to the song; it
437was new, that night, to nobody but Doctor Livesey, and on him I observed
438it did not produce an agreeable effect, for he looked up for a moment
439quite angrily before he went on with his talk to old Taylor, the
440gardener, on a new cure for rheumatics. In the meantime the captain
441gradually brightened up at his own music, and at last flapped his hand
442upon the table before him in a way we all knew to mean--silence. The
443voices stopped at once, all but Doctor Livesey's; he went on as before,
444speaking clear and kind, and drawing briskly at his pipe between every
445word or two. The captain glared at him for a while, flapped his hand
446again, glared still harder, and at last broke out with a villainous
447oath: "Silence, there, between decks!"
448
449"Were you addressing me, sir?" said the doctor; and when the ruffian had
450told him, with another oath, that this was so, replied, "I have only one
451thing to say to you, sir, that if you keep on drinking rum, the world
452will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel!"
453
454The old fellow's fury was awful. He sprang to his feet, drew and opened
455a sailor's clasp-knife, and balancing it open on the palm of his hand,
456threatened to pin the doctor to the wall.
457
458The doctor never so much as moved. He spoke to him, as before, over his
459shoulder, and in the same tone of voice, rather high, so that all the
460room might hear, but perfectly calm and steady:
461
462"If you do not put that knife this instant into your pocket, I promise,
463upon my honor, you shall hang at the next assizes."
464
465Then followed a battle of looks between them; but the captain soon
466knuckled under, put up his weapon, and resumed his seat, grumbling like
467a beaten dog.
468
469"And now, sir," continued the doctor, "since I now know there's such a
470fellow in my district, you may count I'll have an eye upon you day and
471night. I'm not a doctor only, I'm a magistrate; and if I catch a breath
472of complaint against you, if it's only for a piece of incivility like
473to-night's, I'll take effectual means to have you hunted down and routed
474out of this. Let that suffice."
475
476Soon after Doctor Livesey's horse came to the door and he rode away, but
477the captain held his peace that evening, and for many evenings to come.
478
479[Illustration]
480
481
482
483
484CHAPTER II
485
486BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS
487
488
489It was not very long after this that there occurred the first of the
490mysterious events that rid us at last of the captain, though not, as you
491will see, of his affairs. It was a bitter cold winter, with long, hard
492frosts and heavy gales; and it was plain from the first that my poor
493father was little likely to see the spring. He sank daily, and my mother
494and I had all the inn upon our hands, and were kept busy enough without
495paying much regard to our unpleasant guest.
496
497It was one January morning, very early--a pinching, frosty morning--the
498cove all gray with hoar-frost, the ripple lapping softly on the stones,
499the sun still low, and only touching the hill-tops and shining far to
500seaward. The captain had risen earlier than usual, and set out down the
501beach, his cutlass swinging under the broad skirts of the old blue coat,
502his brass telescope under his arm, his hat tilted back upon his head. I
503remember his breath hanging like smoke in his wake as he strode off, and
504the last sound I heard of him, as he turned the big rock, was a loud
505snort of indignation, as though his mind was still running upon Doctor
506Livesey.
507
508Well, mother was upstairs with father, and I was laying the breakfast
509table against the captain's return, when the parlor door opened and a
510man stepped in on whom I had never set my eyes before. He was a pale,
511tallowy creature, wanting two fingers of the left hand; and, though he
512wore a cutlass, he did not look much like a fighter. I had always my
513eyes open for seafaring men, with one leg or two, and I remember this
514one puzzled me. He was not sailorly, and yet he had a smack of the sea
515about him too.
516
517I asked him what was for his service, and he said he would take rum, but
518as I was going out of the room to fetch it he sat down upon a table and
519motioned to me to draw near. I paused where I was, with my napkin in my
520hand.
521
522"Come here, sonny," said he. "Come nearer here."
523
524I took a step nearer.
525
526"Is this here table for my mate Bill?" he asked, with a kind of leer.
527
528I told him I did not know his mate Bill, and this was for a person who
529stayed at our house, whom we called the captain.
530
531"Well," said he, "my mate Bill would be called the captain, as like as
532not. He has a cut on one cheek, and a mighty pleasant way with him,
533particularly in drink, has my mate Bill. We'll put it, for argument
534like, that your captain has a cut on one cheek--and we'll put it, if you
535like, that that cheek's the right one. Ah, well! I told you. Now, is my
536mate Bill in this here house?"
537
538I told him he was out walking.
539
540"Which way, sonny? Which way is he gone?"
541
542And when I had pointed out the rock and told him how the captain was
543likely to return, and how soon, and answered a few other questions,
544"Ah," said he, "this'll be as good as drink to my mate Bill."
545
546The expression of his face as he said these words was not at all
547pleasant, and I had my own reasons for thinking that the stranger was
548mistaken, even supposing he meant what he said. But it was no affair of
549mine, I thought; and, besides, it was difficult to know what to do.
550
551The stranger kept hanging about just inside the inn door, peering round
552the corner like a cat waiting for a mouse. Once I stepped out myself
553into the road, but he immediately called me back, and, as I did not obey
554quick enough for his fancy, a most horrible change came over his tallowy
555face, and he ordered me in with an oath that made me jump. As soon as I
556was back again he returned to his former manner, half-fawning,
557half-sneering, patted me on the shoulder, told me I was a good boy, and
558he had taken quite a fancy to me. "I have a son of my own," said he, "as
559like you as two blocks, and he's all the pride of my 'art. But the great
560thing for boys is discipline, sonny--discipline. Now, if you had sailed
561along of Bill, you wouldn't have stood there to be spoke to twice--not
562you. That was never Bill's way, nor the way of sich as sailed with him.
563And here, sure enough, is my mate Bill, with a spy-glass under his arm,
564bless his old 'art, to be sure. You and me'll just go back into the
565parlor, sonny, and get behind the door, and we'll give Bill a little
566surprise--bless his 'art, I say again."
567
568So saying, the stranger backed along with me into the parlor, and put me
569behind him into the corner, so that we were both hidden by the open
570door. I was very uneasy and alarmed, as you may fancy, and it rather
571added to my fears to observe that the stranger was certainly frightened
572himself. He cleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in
573the sheath, and all the time we were waiting there he kept swallowing
574as if he felt what we used to call a lump in the throat.
575
576At last in strode the captain, slammed the door behind him, without
577looking to the right or left, and marched straight across the room to
578where his breakfast awaited him.
579
580"Bill," said the stranger, in a voice that I thought he had tried to
581make bold and big.
582
583The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us; all the brown had
584gone out of his face, and even his nose was blue; he had the look of a
585man who sees a ghost, or the Evil One, or something worse, if anything
586can be; and, upon my word, I felt sorry to see him, all in a moment,
587turn so old and sick.
588
589"Come, Bill, you know me; you know an old shipmate, Bill, surely," said
590the stranger.
591
592The captain made a sort of gasp.
593
594"Black Dog!" said he.
595
596"And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his ease. "Black Dog
597as ever was, come for to see his old shipmate, Billy, at the 'Admiral
598Benbow' Inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two,
599since I lost them two talons," holding up his mutilated hand.
600
601"Now, look here," said the captain; "you've run me down; here I am;
602well, then, speak up; what is it?"
603
604"That's you, Bill," returned Black Dog; "you're in the right of it,
605Billy. I'll have a glass of rum from this dear child here, as I've took
606such a liking to; and we'll sit down, if you please, and talk square,
607like old shipmates."
608
609When I returned with the rum they were already seated on either side of
610the captain's breakfast table--Black Dog next to the door, and sitting
611sideways, so as to have one eye on his old shipmate and one, as I
612thought, on his retreat.
613
614He bade me go and leave the door wide open. "None of your keyholes for
615me, sonny," he said, and I left them together and retired into the bar.
616
617For a long time, though I certainly did my best to listen, I could hear
618nothing but a low gabbling; but at last the voices began to grow higher,
619and I could pick up a word or two, mostly oaths, from the captain.
620
621"No, no, no, no; and an end of it!" he cried once. And again, "If it
622comes to swinging, swing all, say I."
623
624Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous explosion of oaths and other
625noises; the chair and table went over in a lump, a clash of steel
626followed, and then a cry of pain, and the next instant I saw Black Dog
627in full flight, and the captain hotly pursuing, both with drawn
628cutlasses, and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder. Just
629at the door the captain aimed at the fugitive one last tremendous cut,
630which would certainly have split him to the chin had it not been
631intercepted by our big signboard of "Admiral Benbow." You may see the
632notch on the lower side of the frame to this day.
633
634That blow was the last of the battle. Once out upon the road, Black Dog,
635in spite of his wound, showed a wonderful clean pair of heels, and
636disappeared over the edge of the hill in half a minute. The captain, for
637his part, stood staring at the signboard like a bewildered man. Then he
638passed his hand over his eyes several times, and at last turned back
639into the house.
640
641"Jim," says he, "rum"; and as he spoke he reeled a little, and caught
642himself with one hand against the wall.
643
644"Are you hurt?" cried I.
645
646"Rum," he repeated. "I must get away from here. Rum! rum!"
647
648I ran to fetch it, but I was quite unsteadied by all that had fallen
649out, and I broke one glass and fouled the tap, and while I was still
650getting in my own way, I heard a loud fall in the parlor, and, running
651in, beheld the captain lying full length upon the floor. At the same
652instant my mother, alarmed by the cries and fighting, came running
653downstairs to help me. Between us we raised his head. He was breathing
654very loud and hard, but his eyes were closed and his face was a horrible
655color.
656
657"Dear, deary me!" cried my mother, "what a disgrace upon the house! And
658your poor father sick!"
659
660In the meantime we had no idea what to do to help the captain, nor any
661other thought but that he had got his death-hurt in the scuffle with the
662stranger. I got the rum, to be sure, and tried to put it down his
663throat, but his teeth were tightly shut, and his jaws as strong as iron.
664It was a happy relief for us when the door opened and Doctor Livesey
665came in, on his visit to my father.
666
667"Oh, doctor," we cried, "what shall we do? Where is he wounded?"
668
669"Wounded? A fiddlestick's end!" said the doctor. "No more wounded than
670you or I. The man has had a stroke, as I warned him. Now, Mrs. Hawkins,
671just you run upstairs to your husband and tell him, if possible, nothing
672about it. For my part, I must do my best to save this fellow's trebly
673worthless life; and, Jim, you get me a basin."
674
675When I got back with the basin the doctor had already ripped up the
676captain's sleeve and exposed his great sinewy arm. It was tattooed in
677several places. "Here's luck," "A fair wind," and "Billy Bones, his
678fancy," were very neatly and clearly executed on the forearm; and up
679near the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging from
680it--done, as I thought, with great spirit.
681
682"Prophetic," said the doctor, touching this picture with his finger.
683"And now, Master Billy Bones, if that be your name, we'll have a look at
684the color of your blood. Jim," he said, "are you afraid of blood?"
685
686"No, sir," said I.
687
688"Well, then," said he, "you hold the basin," and with that he took his
689lancet and opened a vein.
690
691A great deal of blood was taken before the captain opened his eyes and
692looked mistily about him. First he recognized the doctor with an
693unmistakable frown; then his glance fell upon me, and he looked
694relieved. But suddenly his color changed, and he tried to raise himself,
695crying:
696
697"Where's Black Dog?"
698
699"There is no Black Dog here," said the doctor, "except what you have on
700your own back. You have been drinking rum; you have had a stroke
701precisely as I told you; and I have just, very much against my own will,
702dragged you headforemost out of the grave. Now, Mr. Bones--"
703
704"That's not my name," he interrupted.
705
706"Much I care," returned the doctor. "It's the name of a buccaneer of my
707acquaintance, and I call you by it for the sake of shortness, and what I
708have to say to you is this: One glass of rum won't kill you, but if you
709take one you'll take another and another, and I stake my wig if you
710don't break off short, you'll die--do you understand that?--die, and go
711to your own place, like the man in the Bible. Come, now, make an
712effort. I'll help you to your bed for once."
713
714Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him upstairs, and
715laid him on his bed, where his head fell back on the pillow, as if he
716were almost fainting.
717
718"Now, mind you," said the doctor, "I clear my conscience--the name of
719rum for you is death."
720
721And with that he went off to see my father, taking me with him by the
722arm.
723
724"This is nothing," he said, as soon as he had closed the door. "I have
725drawn blood enough to keep him quiet awhile; he should lie for a week
726where he is--that is the best thing for him and you, but another stroke
727would settle him."
728
729
730
731
732CHAPTER III
733
734THE BLACK SPOT
735
736
737About noon I stopped at the captain's door with some cooling drinks and
738medicines. He was lying very much as we had left him, only a little
739higher, and he seemed both weak and excited.
740
741"Jim," he said, "you're the only one here that's worth anything; and you
742know I've always been good to you. Never a month but I've given you a
743silver fourpenny for yourself. And now you see, mate, I'm pretty low,
744and deserted by all; and, Jim, you'll bring me one noggin of rum, now,
745won't you, matey?"
746
747"The doctor--" I began.
748
749But he broke in, cursing the doctor in a feeble voice, but heartily.
750"Doctors is all swabs," he said; "and that doctor there, why, what do he
751know about seafaring men? I been in places hot as pitch, and mates
752dropping round with yellow jack, and the blessed land a-heaving like the
753sea with earthquakes--what do the doctor know of lands like that?--and I
754lived on rum, I tell you. It's been meat and drink, and man and wife, to
755me; and if I am not to have my rum now I'm a poor old hulk on a lee
756shore. My blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab," and he ran on
757again for a while with curses. "Look, Jim, how my fingers fidges," he
758continued in the pleading tone. "I can't keep 'em still, not I. I
759haven't had a drop this blessed day. That doctor's a fool, I tell you.
760If I don't have a drain o' rum, Jim, I'll have the horrors; I seen some
761on 'em already. I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; as
762plain as print, I seen him; and if I get the horrors, I'm a man that has
763lived rough, and I'll raise Cain. Your doctor hisself said one glass
764wouldn't hurt me. I'll give you a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim."
765
766He was growing more and more excited, and this alarmed me, for my
767father, who was very low that day, needed quiet; besides, I was
768reassured by the doctor's words, now quoted to me, and rather offended
769by the offer of a bribe.
770
771"I want none of your money," said I, "but what you owe my father. I'll
772get you one glass and no more."
773
774When I brought it to him he seized it greedily and drank it out.
775
776"Ay, ay," said he, "that's some better, sure enough. And now, matey, did
777that doctor say how long I was to lie here in this old berth?"
778
779"A week at least," said I.
780
781"Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; they'd have the black
782spot on me by then. The lubbers is going about to get the wind of me
783this blessed moment; lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to
784nail what is another's. Is that seamanly behavior, now, I want to know?
785But I'm a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine, nor lost it
786neither; and I'll trick 'em again. I'm not afraid on 'em. I'll shake out
787another reef, matey, and daddle 'em again."
788
789As he was thus speaking, he had risen from bed with great difficulty,
790holding to my shoulder with a grip that almost made me cry out, and
791moving his legs like so much dead weight. His words, spirited as they
792were in meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of the voice in
793which they were uttered. He paused when he had got into a sitting
794position on the edge.
795
796"That doctor's done me," he murmured. "My ears is singing. Lay me back."
797
798Before I could do much to help him he had fallen back again to his
799former place, where he lay for a while silent.
800
801"Jim," he said, at length, "you saw that seafaring man to-day?"
802
803"Black Dog?" I asked.
804
805"Ah! Black Dog," said he. "_He's_ a bad 'un; but there's worse that put
806him on. Now, if I can't get away nohow, and they tip me the black spot,
807mind you, it's my old sea-chest they're after; you get on a horse--you
808can, can't you? Well, then, you get on a horse and go to--well, yes, I
809will!--to that eternal doctor swab, and tell him to pipe all
810hands--magistrates and sich--and he'll lay 'em aboard at the 'Admiral
811Benbow'--all old Flint's crew, man and boy, all on 'em that's left. I
812was first mate, I was, old Flint's first mate, and I'm the on'y one as
813knows the place. He gave it me at Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as
814if I was to now, you see. But you won't peach unless they get the black
815spot on me, or unless you see that Black Dog again, or a seafaring man
816with one leg, Jim--him above all."
817
818"But what is the black spot, captain?" I asked.
819
820"That's a summons, mate. I'll tell you if they get that. But you keep
821your weather-eye open, Jim, and I'll share with you equals, upon my
822honor."
823
824He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after I
825had given him his medicine, which he took like a child, with the remark,
826"If ever a seaman wanted drugs, it's me," he fell at last into a heavy,
827swoon-like sleep, in which I left him. What I should have done had all
828gone well I do not know. Probably I should have told the whole story to
829the doctor; for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of
830his confessions and make an end of me. But as things fell out, my poor
831father died quite suddenly that evening, which put all other matters on
832one side. Our natural distress, the visits of the neighbors, the
833arranging of the funeral, and all the work of the inn to be carried on
834in the meanwhile, kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think of
835the captain, far less to be afraid of him.
836
837He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and had his meals as usual,
838though he ate little, and had more, I am afraid, than his usual supply
839of rum, for he helped himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing
840through his nose, and no one dared to cross him. On the night before the
841funeral he was as drunk as ever; and it was shocking, in that house of
842mourning, to hear him singing away his ugly old sea-song; but, weak as
843he was, we were all in fear of death for him, and the doctor was
844suddenly taken up with a case many miles away, and was never near the
845house after my father's death. I have said the captain was weak, and
846indeed he seemed rather to grow weaker than to regain his strength. He
847clambered up and down stairs, and went from the parlor to the bar and
848back again, and sometimes put his nose out of doors to smell the sea,
849holding on to the walls as he went for support, and breathing hard and
850fast, like a man on a steep mountain. He never particularly addressed
851me, and it is my belief he had as good as forgotten his confidences; but
852his temper was more flighty, and, allowing for his bodily weakness, more
853violent than ever. He had an alarming way now when he was drunk of
854drawing his cutlass and laying it bare before him on the table. But,
855with all that, he minded people less, and seemed shut up in his own
856thoughts and rather wandering. Once, for instance, to our extreme
857wonder, he piped up to a different air, a kind of country love-song,
858that he must have learned in his youth before he had begun to follow the
859sea.
860
861So things passed until the day after the funeral and about three o'clock
862of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the door for a
863moment, full of sad thoughts about my father, when I saw someone drawing
864slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped before
865him with a stick, and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose;
866and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a huge old
867tattered sea-cloak with a hood that made him appear positively deformed.
868I never saw in my life a more dreadful-looking figure. He stopped a
869little from the inn and, raising his voice in an odd sing-song,
870addressed the air in front of him:
871
872"Will any kind friend inform a poor blind man, who has lost the precious
873sight of his eyes in the gracious defense of his native country,
874England, and God bless King George!--where or in what part of this
875country he may now be?"
876
877"You are at the 'Admiral Benbow,' Black Hill Cove, my good man," said I.
878
879"I hear a voice," said he, "a young voice. Will you give me your hand,
880my kind young friend, and lead me in?"
881
882I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, eyeless creature
883gripped it in a moment like a vise. I was so much startled that I
884struggled to withdraw, but the blind man pulled me close up to him with
885a single action of his arm.
886
887"Now, boy," he said, "take me in to the captain."
888
889"Sir," said I, "upon my word I dare not."
890
891"Oh," he sneered, "that's it! Take me in straight, or I'll break your
892arm."
893
894He gave it, as he spoke, a wrench that made me cry out.
895
896"Sir," said I, "it is for yourself I mean. The captain is not what he
897used to be. He sits with a drawn cutlass. Another gentleman--"
898
899"Come, now, march," interrupted he, and I never heard a voice so cruel,
900and cold, and ugly as that blind man's. It cowed me more than the pain,
901and I began to obey him at once, walking straight in at the door and
902towards the parlor, where the sick old buccaneer was sitting, dazed with
903rum. The blind man clung close to me, holding me in one iron fist, and
904leaning almost more of his weight on me than I could carry. "Lead me
905straight up to him, and when I'm in view, cry out, 'Here's a friend for
906you, Bill.' If you don't, I'll do this," and with that he gave me a
907twitch that I thought would have made me faint. Between this and that, I
908was so utterly terrified by the blind beggar that I forgot my terror of
909the captain, and as I opened the parlor door, cried out the words he had
910ordered in a trembling voice.
911
912The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look the rum went out of
913him and left him staring sober. The expression of his face was not so
914much of terror as of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but I
915do not believe he had enough force left in his body.
916
917"Now, Bill, sit where you are," said the beggar. "If I can't see, I can
918hear a finger stirring. Business is business. Hold out your left hand.
919Boy, take his left hand by the wrist and bring it near to my right."
920
921We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass something from the
922hollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain's,
923which closed upon it instantly.
924
925"And now that's done," said the blind man, and at the words he suddenly
926left hold of me, and with incredible accuracy and nimbleness, skipped
927out of the parlor and into the road, where, as I stood motionless, I
928could hear his stick go tap-tap-tapping into the distance.
929
930It was some time before either I or the captain seemed to gather our
931senses; but at length, and about the same moment, I released his wrist,
932which I was still holding, and he drew in his hand, and looked sharply
933into the palm.
934
935"Ten o'clock!" he cried. "Six hours! We'll do them yet!" and he sprang
936to his feet.
937
938Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swaying
939for a moment, and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his whole
940height face foremost to the floor.
941
942I ran to him at once, calling to my mother. But haste was all in vain.
943The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy. It is a curious
944thing to understand, for I had certainly never liked the man, though of
945late I had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was dead I
946burst into a flood of tears. It was the second death I had known, and
947the sorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart.
948
949
950
951
952CHAPTER IV
953
954THE SEA-CHEST
955
956
957I lost no time, of course, in telling my mother all that I knew, and
958perhaps should have told her long before, and we saw ourselves at once
959in a difficult and dangerous position. Some of the man's money--if he
960had any--was certainly due to us, but it was not likely that our
961captain's shipmates, above all the two specimens seen by me--Black Dog
962and the blind beggar--would be inclined to give up their booty in
963payment of the dead man's debts. The captain's order to mount at once
964and ride for Doctor Livesey would have left my mother alone and
965unprotected, which was not to be thought of. Indeed, it seemed
966impossible for either of us to remain much longer in the house; the fall
967of coals in the kitchen grate, the very ticking of the clock, filled us
968with alarm. The neighborhood, to our ears, seemed haunted by approaching
969footsteps; and what between the dead body of the captain on the parlor
970floor and the thought of that detestable blind beggar hovering near at
971hand and ready to return, there were moments when, as the saying goes, I
972jumped in my skin for terror. Something must speedily be resolved upon,
973and it occurred to us at last to go forth together and seek help in the
974neighboring hamlet. No sooner said than done. Bareheaded as we were, we
975ran out at once in the gathering evening and the frosty fog.
976
977The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, though out of view, on the
978other side of the next cove; and what greatly encouraged me, it was in
979an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had made his
980appearance, and whither he had presumably returned. We were not many
981minutes on the road, though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of each
982other and hearken. But there was no unusual sound--nothing but the low
983wash of the ripple and the croaking of the inmates of the wood.
984
985It was already candle-light when we reached the hamlet, and I shall
986never forget how much I was cheered to see the yellow shine in doors and
987windows; but that, as it proved, was the best of the help we were likely
988to get in that quarter. For--you would have thought men would have been
989ashamed of themselves--no soul would consent to return with us to the
990"Admiral Benbow." The more we told of our troubles, the more--man,
991woman, and child--they clung to the shelter of their houses. The name of
992Captain Flint, though it was strange to me, was well enough known to
993some there, and carried a great weight of terror. Some of the men who
994had been to field-work on the far side of the "Admiral Benbow"
995remembered, besides, to have seen several strangers on the road, and,
996taking them to be smugglers, to have bolted away; and one at least had
997seen a little lugger in what we called Kitt's Hole. For that matter,
998anyone who was a comrade of the captain's was enough to frighten them to
999death. And the short and the long of the matter was, that while we could
1000get several who were willing enough to ride to Doctor Livesey's, which
1001lay in another direction, not one would help us to defend the inn.
1002
1003They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the other
1004hand, a great emboldener; and so when each had said his say, my mother
1005made them a speech. She would not, she declared, lose money that
1006belonged to her fatherless boy. "If none of the rest of you dare," she
1007said, "Jim and I dare. Back we will go, the way we came, and small
1008thanks to you big, hulking, chicken-hearted men! We'll have that chest
1009open, if we die for it. And I'll thank you for that bag, Mrs. Crossley,
1010to bring back our lawful money in."
1011
1012Of course I said I would go with my mother; and of course they all cried
1013out at our foolhardiness; but even then not a man would go along with
1014us. All they would do was to give me a loaded pistol, lest we were
1015attacked; and to promise to have horses ready saddled, in case we were
1016pursued on our return; while one lad was to ride forward to the doctor's
1017in search of armed assistance.
1018
1019My heart was beating fiercely when we two set forth in the cold night
1020upon this dangerous venture. A full moon was beginning to rise and
1021peered redly through the upper edges of the fog, and this increased our
1022haste, for it was plain, before we came forth again, that all would be
1023bright as day, and our departure exposed to the eyes of any watchers. We
1024slipped along the hedges, noiseless and swift, nor did we see or hear
1025anything to increase our terrors till, to our huge relief, the door of
1026the "Admiral Benbow" had closed behind us.
1027
1028I slipped the bolt at once, and we stood and panted for a moment in the
1029dark, alone in the house with the dead captain's body. Then my mother
1030got a candle in the bar, and, holding each other's hands, we advanced
1031into the parlor. He lay as we had left him, on his back, with his eyes
1032open, and one arm stretched out.
1033
1034"Draw down the blind, Jim," whispered my mother; "they might come and
1035watch outside. And now," said she, when I had done so, "we have to get
1036the key off _that_; and who's to touch it, I should like to know!" and
1037she gave a kind of sob as she said the words.
1038
1039I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to his hand there
1040was a little round of paper, blackened on one side. I could not doubt
1041that this was the _black spot_; and, taking it up, I found written on
1042the other side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message, "You
1043have till ten to-night."
1044
1045"He had till ten, mother," said I; and, just as I said it, our old clock
1046began striking. This sudden noise startled us shockingly; but the news
1047was good, for it was only six.
1048
1049"Now, Jim," she said, "that key!"
1050
1051I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few small coins, a thimble,
1052and some thread and big needles, a piece of pig-tail tobacco bitten away
1053at the end, his gully with the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and a
1054tinder-box, were all that they contained, and I began to despair.
1055
1056"Perhaps it's round his neck," suggested my mother.
1057
1058Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open his shirt at the neck, and
1059there, sure enough, hanging to a bit of tarry string, which I cut with
1060his own gully, we found the key. At this triumph we were filled with
1061hope, and hurried upstairs, without delay, to the little room where he
1062had slept so long, and where his box had stood since the day of his
1063arrival.
1064
1065It was like any other seaman's chest on the outside, the initial "B"
1066burned on the top of it with a hot iron, and the corners somewhat
1067smashed and broken as by long, rough usage.
1068
1069"Give me the key," said my mother, and though the lock was very stiff,
1070she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling.
1071
1072A strong smell of tobacco and tar arose from the interior, but nothing
1073was to be seen on the top except a suit of very good clothes, carefully
1074brushed and folded. They had never been worn, my mother said. Under that
1075the miscellany began--a quadrant, a tin cannikin, several sticks of
1076tobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols, a piece of bar silver, an
1077old Spanish watch, and some other trinkets of little value and mostly of
1078foreign make, a pair of compasses mounted with brass, and five or six
1079curious West Indian shells. I have often wondered since why he should
1080have carried about these shells with him in his wandering, guilty, and
1081hunted life.
1082
1083In the meantime we found nothing of any value but the silver and the
1084trinkets, and neither of these were in our way. Underneath there was an
1085old boat-cloak, whitened with sea-salt on many a harbor-bar. My mother
1086pulled it up with impatience, and there lay before us, the last things
1087in the chest, a bundle tied up in oilcloth, and looking like papers, and
1088a canvas bag that gave forth, at a touch, the jingle of gold.
1089
1090"I'll show those rogues that I'm an honest woman," said my mother. "I'll
1091have my dues and not a farthing over. Hold Mrs. Crossley's bag." And she
1092began to count over the amount of the captain's score from the sailor's
1093bag into the one that I was holding.
1094
1095It was a long, difficult business, for the coins were of all countries
1096and sizes--doubloons, and louis-d'ors, and guineas, and pieces of eight,
1097and I know not what besides, all shaken together at random. The guineas,
1098too, were about the scarcest, and it was with these only that my mother
1099knew how to make her count.
1100
1101When we were about halfway through, I suddenly put my hand upon her arm,
1102for I had heard in the silent, frosty air, a sound that brought my heart
1103into my mouth--the tap-tapping of the blind man's stick upon the frozen
1104road. It drew nearer and nearer, while we sat holding our breath. Then
1105it struck sharp on the inn door, and then we could hear the handle being
1106turned, and the bolt rattling as the wretched being tried to enter; and
1107then there was a long time of silence both within and without. At last
1108the tapping recommenced, and to our indescribable joy and gratitude,
1109died slowly away again until it ceased to be heard.
1110
1111"Mother," said I, "take the whole and let's be going"; for I was sure
1112the bolted door must have seemed suspicious, and would bring the whole
1113hornet's nest about our ears; though how thankful I was that I had
1114bolted it, none could tell who had never met that terrible blind man.
1115
1116But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent to take a
1117fraction more than was due to her, and was obstinately unwilling to be
1118content with less. It was not yet seven, she said, by a long way; she
1119knew her rights and she would have them; and she was still arguing with
1120me, when a little low whistle sounded a good way off upon the hill. That
1121was enough, and more than enough, for both of us.
1122
1123"I'll take what I have," she said, jumping to her feet.
1124
1125"And I'll take this to square the count," said I, picking up the oilskin
1126packet.
1127
1128Next moment we were both groping downstairs, leaving the candle by the
1129empty chest; and the next we had opened the door and were in full
1130retreat. We had not started a moment too soon. The fog was rapidly
1131dispersing; already the moon shone quite clear on the high ground on
1132either side, and it was only in the exact bottom of the dell and round
1133the tavern door that a thin veil still hung unbroken to conceal the
1134first steps of our escape. Far less than halfway to the hamlet, very
1135little beyond the bottom of the hill, we must come forth into the
1136moonlight. Nor was this all; for the sound of several footsteps running
1137came already to our ears, and as we looked back in their direction, a
1138light, tossing to and fro, and still rapidly advancing, showed that one
1139of the new-comers carried a lantern.
1140
1141"My dear," said my mother, suddenly, "take the money and run on. I am
1142going to faint."
1143
1144This was certainly the end for both of us, I thought. How I cursed the
1145cowardice of the neighbors! how I blamed my poor mother for her honesty
1146and her greed, for her past foolhardiness and present weakness! We were
1147just at the little bridge, by good fortune, and I helped her, tottering
1148as she was, to the edge of the bank, where, sure enough, she gave a sigh
1149and fell on my shoulder. I do not know how I found the strength to do it
1150all, and I am afraid it was roughly done, but I managed to drag her down
1151the bank and a little way under the arch. Farther I could not move her,
1152for the bridge was too low to let me do more than crawl below it. So
1153there we had to stay--my mother almost entirely exposed, and both of us
1154within earshot of the inn.
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159CHAPTER V
1160
1161THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN
1162
1163
1164My curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear; for I could not
1165remain where I was, but crept back to the bank again, whence, sheltering
1166my head behind a bush of broom, I might command the road before our
1167door. I was scarcely in position ere my enemies began to arrive, seven
1168or eight of them, running hard, their feet beating out of time along the
1169road, and the man with the lantern some paces in front. Three men ran
1170together, hand in hand; and I made out, even through the mist, that the
1171middle man of this trio was the blind beggar. The next moment his voice
1172showed me that I was right.
1173
1174"Down with the door!" he cried.
1175
1176"Ay, ay, sir!" answered two or three; and a rush was made upon the
1177"Admiral Benbow," the lantern-bearer following; and then I could see
1178them pause, and hear speeches passed in a lower key, as if they were
1179surprised to find the door open. But the pause was brief, for the blind
1180man again issued his commands. His voice sounded louder and higher, as
1181if he were afire with eagerness and rage.
1182
1183"In, in, in!" he shouted, and cursed them for their delay.
1184
1185Four or five of them obeyed at once, two remaining on the road with the
1186formidable beggar. There was a pause, then a cry of surprise, and then
1187a voice shouting from the house:
1188
1189"Bill's dead!"
1190
1191But the blind man swore at them again for their delay.
1192
1193"Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest of you aloft and
1194get the chest," he cried.
1195
1196I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so that the house
1197must have shook with it. Promptly afterward fresh sounds of astonishment
1198arose; the window of the captain's room was thrown open with a slam and
1199a jingle of broken glass, and a man leaned out into the moonlight, head
1200and shoulders, and addressed the blind beggar on the road below him.
1201
1202[Illustration: _"Pew!" he cried, "they've been before us"_ (Page 34)]
1203
1204"Pew!" he cried, "they've been before us. Someone's turned the chest out
1205alow and aloft."
1206
1207"Is it there?" roared Pew.
1208
1209"The money's there."
1210
1211The blind man cursed the money.
1212
1213"Flint's fist, I mean," he cried.
1214
1215"We don't see it here, nohow," returned the man.
1216
1217"Here, you below there, is it on Bill?" cried the blind man again.
1218
1219At that, another fellow, probably he who had remained below to search
1220the captain's body, came to the door of the inn. "Bill's been overhauled
1221a'ready," said he, "nothin' left."
1222
1223"It's these people of the inn--it's that boy. I wish I had put his eyes
1224out!" cried the blind man, Pew. "They were here no time ago--they had
1225the door bolted when I tried it. Scatter, lads, and find 'em."
1226
1227"Sure enough, they left their glim here," said the fellow from the
1228window.
1229
1230"Scatter and find 'em! Rout the house out!" reiterated Pew, striking
1231with his stick upon the road.
1232
1233Then there followed a great to-do through all our old inn, heavy feet
1234pounding to and fro, furniture all thrown over, doors kicked in, until
1235the very rocks re-echoed, and the men came out again, one after another,
1236on the road, and declared that we were nowhere to be found. And just
1237then the same whistle that had alarmed my mother and myself over the
1238dead captain's money was once more clearly audible through the night,
1239but this time twice repeated. I had thought it to be the blind man's
1240trumpet, so to speak, summoning his crew to the assault; but I now found
1241that it was a signal from the hillside toward the hamlet, and, from its
1242effect upon the buccaneers, a signal to warn them of approaching danger.
1243
1244"There's Dirk again," said one. "Twice! We'll have to budge, mates."
1245
1246"Budge, you skulk!" cried Pew. "Dirk was a fool and a coward from the
1247first--you wouldn't mind him. They must be close by; they can't be far;
1248you have your hands on it. Scatter and look for them, dogs. Oh, shiver
1249my soul," he cried, "if I had eyes!"
1250
1251This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two of the fellows began
1252to look here and there among the lumber, but half-heartedly, I thought,
1253and with half an eye to their own danger all the time, while the rest
1254stood irresolute on the road.
1255
1256"You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and you hang a leg! You'd
1257be as rich as kings if you could find it, and you know it's here, and
1258you stand there skulking. There wasn't one of you dared face Bill, and I
1259did it--a blind man! And I'm to lose my chance for you! I'm to be a
1260poor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in a
1261coach! If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit, you would catch
1262them still."
1263
1264"Hang it, Pew, we've got the doubloons!" grumbled one.
1265
1266"They might have hid the blessed thing," said another. "Take the
1267Georges, Pew, and don't stand here squalling."
1268
1269Squalling was the word for it; Pew's anger rose so high at these
1270objections; till at last, his passion completely taking the upper hand,
1271he struck at them right and left in his blindness, and his stick sounded
1272heavily on more than one.
1273
1274These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant, threatened him
1275in horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch the stick and wrest it from
1276his grasp.
1277
1278This quarrel was the saving of us; for while it was still raging,
1279another sound came from the top of the hill on the side of the
1280hamlet--the tramp of horses galloping. Almost at the same time a
1281pistol-shot, flash, and report came from the hedge side. And that was
1282plainly the last signal of danger, for the buccaneers turned at once and
1283ran, separating in every direction, one seaward along the cove, one
1284slant across the hill, and so on, so that in half a minute not a sign of
1285them remained but Pew. Him they had deserted, whether in sheer panic or
1286out of revenge for his ill words and blows, I know not; but there he
1287remained behind, tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping
1288and calling for his comrades. Finally he took the wrong turn, and ran a
1289few steps past me, towards the hamlet, crying:
1290
1291"Johnny, Black Dog, Dirk," and other names, "you won't leave old Pew,
1292mates--not old Pew?"
1293
1294Just then the noise of horses topped the rise, and four or five riders
1295came in sight in the moonlight, and swept at full gallop down the slope.
1296
1297At this Pew saw his error, turned with a scream, and ran straight for
1298the ditch, into which he rolled. But he was on his feet again in a
1299second, and made another dash, now utterly bewildered, right under the
1300nearest of the coming horses.
1301
1302The rider tried to save him, but in vain. Down went Pew with a cry that
1303rang high into the night, and the four hoofs trampled and spurned him
1304and passed by. He fell on his side, then gently collapsed upon his face,
1305and moved no more.
1306
1307I leaped to my feet and hailed the riders. They were pulling up, at any
1308rate, horrified at the accident, and I soon saw what they were. One,
1309tailing out behind the rest, was a lad that had gone from the hamlet to
1310Doctor Livesey's; the rest were revenue officers, whom he had met by the
1311way, and with whom he had had the intelligence to return at once. Some
1312news of the lugger in Kitt's Hole had found its way to Supervisor Dance,
1313and set him forth that night in our direction, and to that circumstance
1314my mother and I owed our preservation from death.
1315
1316Pew was dead, stone dead. As for my mother, when we had carried her up
1317to the hamlet, a little cold water and salts very soon brought her back
1318again, and she was none the worse for her terror, though she still
1319continued to deplore the balance of the money.
1320
1321In the meantime the supervisor rode on, as fast as he could, to Kitt's
1322Hole; but his men had to dismount and grope down the dingle, leading,
1323and sometimes supporting, their horses, and in continual fear of
1324ambushes; so it was no great matter for surprise that when they got
1325down to the Hole the lugger was already under way, though still close
1326in. He hailed her. A voice replied, telling him to keep out of the
1327moonlight, or he would get some lead in him, and at the same time a
1328bullet whistled close by his arm. Soon after, the lugger doubled the
1329point and disappeared. Mr. Dance stood there, as he said, "like a fish
1330out of water," and all he could do was to dispatch a man to B---- to
1331warn the cutter. "And that," said he, "is just about as good as nothing.
1332They've got off clean, and there's an end. Only," he added, "I'm glad I
1333trod on Master Pew's corns"; for by this time he had heard my story.
1334
1335I went back with him to the "Admiral Benbow," and you cannot imagine a
1336house in such a state of smash; the very clock had been thrown down by
1337these fellows in their furious hunt after my mother and myself; and
1338though nothing had actually been taken away except the captain's
1339money-bag and a little silver from the till, I could see at once that we
1340were ruined. Mr. Dance could make nothing of the scene.
1341
1342"They got the money, you say? Well, then, Hawkins, what in fortune were
1343they after? More money, I suppose?"
1344
1345"No, sir; not money, I think," replied I. "In fact, sir, I believe I
1346have the thing in my breast-pocket; and, to tell you the truth, I should
1347like to get it put in safety."
1348
1349"To be sure, boy; quite right," said he. "I'll take it, if you like."
1350
1351"I thought, perhaps, Doctor Livesey--" I began.
1352
1353"Perfectly right," he interrupted, very cheerily, "perfectly right--a
1354gentleman and a magistrate. And, now I come to think of it, I might as
1355well ride round there myself and report to him or squire. Master Pew's
1356dead, when all's done; not that I regret it, but he's dead, you see, and
1357people will make it out against an officer of his Majesty's revenue, if
1358make it out they can. Now, I'll tell you, Hawkins, if you like, I'll
1359take you along."
1360
1361I thanked him heartily for the offer, and we walked back to the hamlet
1362where the horses were. By the time I had told mother of my purpose they
1363were all in the saddle.
1364
1365"Dogger," said Mr. Dance, "you have a good horse; take up this lad
1366behind you."
1367
1368As soon as I was mounted, holding on to Dogger's belt, the supervisor
1369gave the word, and the party struck out at a bouncing trot on the road
1370to Doctor Livesey's house.
1371
1372[Illustration]
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377CHAPTER VI
1378
1379THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS
1380
1381
1382We rode hard all the way, till we drew up before Doctor Livesey's door.
1383The house was all dark to the front.
1384
1385Mr. Dance told me to jump down and knock, and Dogger gave me a stirrup
1386to descend by. The door was opened almost at once by the maid.
1387
1388"Is Doctor Livesey in?" I asked.
1389
1390"No," she said. He had come home in the afternoon, but had gone up to
1391the Hall to dine and pass the evening with the squire.
1392
1393"So there we go, boys," said Mr. Dance.
1394
1395This time, as the distance was short, I did not mount, but ran with
1396Dogger's stirrup-leather to the lodge gates, and up the long, leafless,
1397moonlit avenue to where the white line of the Hall buildings looked on
1398either hand on great old gardens. Here Mr. Dance dismounted and, taking
1399me along with him, was admitted at a word into the house.
1400
1401The servant led us down a matted passage, and showed us at the end into
1402a great library, all lined with bookcases and busts upon top of them,
1403where the squire and Doctor Livesey sat, pipe in hand, on either side of
1404a bright fire.
1405
1406I had never seen the squire so near at hand. He was a tall man, over six
1407feet high, and broad in proportion, and he had a bluff, rough-and-ready
1408face, all roughened and reddened and lined in his long travels. His
1409eyebrows were very black, and moved readily, and this gave him a look of
1410some temper, not bad, you would say, but quick and high.
1411
1412"Come in, Mr. Dance," said he, very stately and condescending.
1413
1414"Good evening, Dance," said the doctor, with a nod. "And good evening to
1415you, friend Jim. What good wind brings you here?"
1416
1417The supervisor stood up straight and stiff, and told his story like a
1418lesson; and you should have seen how the two gentlemen leaned forward
1419and looked at each other, and forgot to smoke in their surprise and
1420interest. When they heard how my mother went back to the inn, Doctor
1421Livesey fairly slapped his thigh, and the squire cried "Bravo!" and
1422broke his long pipe against the grate. Long before it was done, Mr.
1423Trelawney (that, you will remember, was the squire's name) had got up
1424from his seat, and was striding about the room, and the doctor, as if to
1425hear the better, had taken off his powdered wig, and sat there, looking
1426very strange indeed with his own close-cropped, black poll.
1427
1428At last Mr. Dance finished the story.
1429
1430"Mr. Dance," said the squire, "you are a very noble fellow. And as for
1431riding down that black, atrocious miscreant, I regard it as an act of
1432virtue, sir, like stamping on a cockroach. This lad Hawkins is a trump,
1433I perceive. Hawkins, will you ring that bell? Mr. Dance must have some
1434ale."
1435
1436"And so, Jim," said the doctor, "you have the thing that they were
1437after, have you?"
1438
1439"Here it is, sir," said I, and gave him the oilskin packet.
1440
1441The doctor looked it all over, as if his fingers were itching to open
1442it; but, instead of doing that, he put it quietly in the pocket of his
1443coat.
1444
1445"Squire," said he, "when Dance has had his ale he must, of course, be
1446off on his Majesty's service; but I mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to
1447sleep at my house, and, with your permission, I propose we should have
1448up the cold pie, and let him sup."
1449
1450"As you will, Livesey," said the squire; "Hawkins has earned better than
1451cold pie."
1452
1453So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a side-table, and I made a
1454hearty supper, for I was as hungry as a hawk, while Mr. Dance was
1455further complimented, and at last dismissed.
1456
1457"And now, squire," said the doctor.
1458
1459"And now, Livesey," said the squire, in the same breath.
1460
1461"One at a time, one at a time," laughed Doctor Livesey. "You have heard
1462of this Flint, I suppose?"
1463
1464"Heard of him!" cried the squire. "Heard of him, you say! He was the
1465blood-thirstiest buccaneer that sailed. Blackbeard was a child to Flint.
1466The Spaniards were so prodigiously afraid of him that, I tell you, sir,
1467I was sometimes proud he was an Englishman. I've seen his topsails with
1468these eyes, off Trinidad, and the cowardly son of a rum-puncheon that I
1469sailed with put back--put back, sir, into Port of Spain."
1470
1471"Well, I've heard of him myself, in England," said the doctor. "But the
1472point is, had he money?"
1473
1474"Money!" cried the squire. "Have you heard the story? What were these
1475villains after but money? What do they care for but money? For what
1476would they risk their rascal carcasses but money?"
1477
1478"That we shall soon know," replied the doctor. "But you are so
1479confoundedly hot-headed and exclamatory that I cannot get a word in.
1480What I want to know is this: Supposing that I have here in my pocket
1481some clue to where Flint buried his treasure, will that treasure amount
1482to much?"
1483
1484"Amount, sir!" cried the squire. "It will amount to this: If we have the
1485clue you talk about, I'll fit out a ship in Bristol dock, and take you
1486and Hawkins here along, and I'll have that treasure if I search a year."
1487
1488"Very well," said the doctor. "Now, then, if Jim is agreeable, we'll
1489open the packet," and he laid it before him on the table.
1490
1491The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had to get out his
1492instrument case and cut the stitches with his medical scissors. It
1493contained two things--a book and a sealed paper.
1494
1495"First of all we'll try the book," observed the doctor.
1496
1497The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder as he opened it,
1498for Doctor Livesey had kindly motioned me to come round from the
1499side-table, where I had been eating, to enjoy the sport of the search.
1500On the first page there were only some scraps of writing, such as a man
1501with a pen in his hand might make for idleness or practice. One was the
1502same as the tattoo mark, "Billy Bones his fancy"; then there was "Mr. W.
1503Bones, mate," "No more rum," "Off Palm Key he got itt," and some other
1504snatches, mostly single words and unintelligible. I could not help
1505wondering who it was that had "got itt," and what "itt" was that he got.
1506A knife in his back as like as not.
1507
1508"Not much instruction there," said Doctor Livesey, as he passed on.
1509
1510The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a curious series of
1511entries. There was a date at one end of the line and at the other a sum
1512of money, as in common account-books; but instead of explanatory
1513writing, only a varying number of crosses between the two. On the 12th
1514of June, 1745, for instance, a sum of seventy pounds had plainly become
1515due to someone, and there was nothing but six crosses to explain the
1516cause. In a few cases, to be sure, the name of a place would be added,
1517as "Offe Caraccas"; or a mere entry of latitude and longitude, as "62°
151817' 20", 19° 2' 40"."
1519
1520The record lasted over nearly twenty years, the amount of the separate
1521entries growing larger as time went on, and at the end a grand total had
1522been made out, after five or six wrong additions, and these words
1523appended, "Bones, his pile."
1524
1525"I can't make head or tail of this," said Doctor Livesey.
1526
1527"The thing is as clear as noonday," cried the squire. "This is the
1528black-hearted hound's account-book. These crosses stand for the names of
1529ships or towns that they sank or plundered. The sums are the scoundrel's
1530share, and where he feared an ambiguity, you see he added something
1531clearer. 'Offe Caraccas,' now; you see, here was some unhappy vessel
1532boarded off that coast. God help the poor souls that manned her--coral
1533long ago."
1534
1535"Right!" said the doctor. "See what it is to be a traveler. Right! And
1536the amounts increase, you see, as he rose in rank."
1537
1538There was little else in the volume but a few bearings of places noted
1539in the blank leaves toward the end, and a table for reducing French,
1540English, and Spanish moneys to a common value.
1541
1542"Thrifty man!" cried the doctor. "He wasn't the one to be cheated."
1543
1544"And now," said the squire, "for the other."
1545
1546The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble by way of
1547seal; the very thimble, perhaps, that I had found in the captain's
1548pocket. The doctor opened the seals with great care, and there fell out
1549the map of an island, with latitude and longitude, soundings, names of
1550hills and bays and inlets, and every particular that would be needed to
1551bring a ship to a safe anchorage upon its shores. It was about nine
1552miles long and five across, shaped, you might say, like a fat dragon
1553standing up, and had two fine landlocked harbors, and a hill in the
1554center part marked "The Spy-glass." There were several additions of a
1555later date; but, above all, three crosses of red ink--two on the north
1556part of the island, one in the southwest, and, beside this last, in the
1557same red ink, and in a small, neat hand, very different from the
1558captain's tottery characters, these words: "Bulk of treasure here."
1559
1560Over on the back the same hand had written this further information:
1561
1562 "Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E.
1563
1564 "Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.
1565
1566 "Ten feet.
1567
1568 "The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find it by the trend
1569 of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of the black crag with the
1570 face on it.
1571
1572 "The arms are easy found, in the sandhill, N. point of north inlet
1573 cape, bearing E. and a quarter N.
1574
1575 "J. F."
1576
1577That was all, but brief as it was, and, to me, incomprehensible, it
1578filled the squire and Doctor Livesey with delight.
1579
1580"Livesey," said the squire, "you will give up this wretched practice at
1581once. To-morrow I start for Bristol. In three weeks' time--three
1582weeks!--two weeks--ten days--we'll have the best ship, sir, and the
1583choicest crew in England. Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy. You'll make a
1584famous cabin-boy, Hawkins. You, Livesey, are ship's doctor; I am
1585admiral. We'll take Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter. We'll have favorable
1586winds, a quick passage, and not the least difficulty in finding the
1587spot, and money to eat--to roll in--to play duck and drake with ever
1588after."
1589
1590"Trelawney," said the doctor, "I'll go with you; and I'll go bail for
1591it, so will Jim, and be a credit to the undertaking. There's only one
1592man I'm afraid of."
1593
1594"And who's that?" cried the squire. "Name the dog, sir!"
1595
1596"You," replied the doctor, "for you cannot hold your tongue. We are not
1597the only men who know of this paper. These fellows who attacked the inn
1598to-night--bold, desperate blades, for sure--and the rest who stayed
1599aboard that lugger, and more, I dare say, not far off, are, one and all,
1600through thick and thin, bound that they'll get that money. We must none
1601of us go alone till we get to sea. Jim and I shall stick together in the
1602meanwhile; you'll take Joyce and Hunter when you ride to Bristol, and,
1603from first to last, not one of us must breathe a word of what we've
1604found."
1605
1606"Livesey," returned the squire, "you are always in the right of it. I'll
1607be as silent as the grave."
1608
1609
1610
1611
1612PART II
1613
1614THE SEA-COOK
1615
1616
1617
1618
1619CHAPTER VII
1620
1621I GO TO BRISTOL
1622
1623
1624It was longer than the squire imagined ere we were ready for the sea,
1625and none of our first plans--not even Doctor Livesey's, of keeping me
1626beside him--could be carried out as we intended. The doctor had to go to
1627London for a physician to take charge of his practice; the squire was
1628hard at work at Bristol; and I lived on at the Hall under the charge of
1629old Redruth, the gamekeeper, almost a prisoner, but full of sea-dreams
1630and the most charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures. I
1631brooded by the hour together over the map, all the details of which I
1632well remembered. Sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room, I
1633approached that island, in my fancy, from every possible direction; I
1634explored every acre of its surface; I climbed a thousand times to that
1635tall hill they call the Spy-glass, and from the top enjoyed the most
1636wonderful and changing prospects. Sometimes the isle was thick with
1637savages, with whom we fought; sometimes full of dangerous animals that
1638hunted us; but in all my fancies nothing occurred to me so strange and
1639tragic as our actual adventures.
1640
1641So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there came a letter addressed
1642to Doctor Livesey, with this addition, "To be opened in the case of his
1643absence, by Tom Redruth or Young Hawkins." Obeying this order, we found,
1644or rather I found--for the gamekeeper was a poor hand at reading
1645anything but print--the following important news:
1646
1647 "_Old Anchor Inn, Bristol, March 1, 17--._
1648
1649 "DEAR LIVESEY: As I do not know whether you are at the Hall or still
1650 in London, I send this in double to both places.
1651
1652 "The ship is bought and fitted. She lies at anchor, ready for sea.
1653 You never imagined a sweeter schooner--a child might sail her--two
1654 hundred tons; name, _Hispaniola_.
1655
1656 "I got her through my old friend, Blandly, who has proved himself
1657 throughout the most surprising trump. The admirable fellow literally
1658 slaved in my interest, and so, I may say, did every one in Bristol,
1659 as soon as they got wind of the port we sailed for--treasure, I
1660 mean."
1661
1662"Redruth," said I, interrupting the letter, "Doctor Livesey will not
1663like that. The squire has been talking, after all."
1664
1665"Well, who's a better right?" growled the gamekeeper. "A pretty rum go
1666if Squire ain't to talk for Doctor Livesey, I should think."
1667
1668At that I gave up all attempt at commentary, and read straight on:
1669
1670 "Blandly himself found the _Hispaniola_, and by the most admirable
1671 management got her for the merest trifle. There is a class of men in
1672 Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. They go the length
1673 of declaring that this honest creature would do anything for money;
1674 that the _Hispaniola_ belonged to him, and that he sold to me
1675 absurdly high--the most transparent calumnies. None of them dare,
1676 however, to deny the merits of the ship.
1677
1678 "So far there was not a hitch. The workpeople, to be sure--riggers
1679 and what not--were most annoyingly slow, but time cured that. It was
1680 the crew that troubled me.
1681
1682 "I wished a round score of men--in case of natives, buccaneers, or
1683 the odious French--and I had the worry of the deuce itself to find
1684 so much as half a dozen, till the most remarkable stroke of fortune
1685 brought me the very man that I required.
1686
1687 "I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in
1688 talk with him. I found he was an old sailor, kept a public house,
1689 knew all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his health ashore,
1690 and wanted a good berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled
1691 down there that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt.
1692
1693 "I was monstrously touched--so would you have been--and, out of pure
1694 pity, I engaged him on the spot to be ship's cook. Long John Silver
1695 he is called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as a
1696 recommendation, since he lost it in his country's service, under the
1697 immortal Hawke. He has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable
1698 age we live in!
1699
1700 "Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, but it was a crew I
1701 had discovered. Between Silver and myself we got together in a few
1702 days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable--not pretty to
1703 look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable
1704 spirit. I declare we could fight a frigate.
1705
1706 "Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven I had already
1707 engaged. He showed me in a moment that they were just the sort of
1708 fresh-water swabs we had to fear in an adventure of importance.
1709
1710 "I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eating like a
1711 bull, sleeping like a tree, yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I
1712 hear my old tarpaulins tramping round the capstan. Seaward ho! Hang
1713 the treasure! It's the glory of the sea that has turned my head. So
1714 now, Livesey, come post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me.
1715
1716 "Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with Redruth for a
1717 guard, and then both come full speed to Bristol.
1718
1719 "JOHN TRELAWNEY.
1720
1721 "P.S.--I did not tell you that Blandly, who, by the way, is to send
1722 a consort after us if we don't turn up by the end of August, had
1723 found an admirable fellow for sailing-master--a stiff man, which I
1724 regret, but, in all other respects, a treasure. Long John Silver
1725 unearthed a very competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have
1726 a boatswain who pipes, Livesey; so things shall go man-o'-war
1727 fashion on board the good ship _Hispaniola_.
1728
1729 "I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of
1730 my own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never
1731 been overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; and as she is
1732 a woman of color, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be
1733 excused for guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the
1734 health, that sends him back to roving.
1735
1736 "J. T.
1737
1738 "P.P.S.--Hawkins may stay one night with his mother.
1739
1740 "J. T."
1741
1742You can fancy the excitement into which that letter put me. I was half
1743beside myself with glee, and if ever I despised a man, it was old Tom
1744Redruth, who could do nothing but grumble and lament. Any of the
1745under-gamekeepers would gladly have changed places with him; but such
1746was not the squire's pleasure, and the squire's pleasure was like law
1747among them all. Nobody but old Redruth would have dared so much as even
1748to grumble.
1749
1750The next morning he and I set out on foot for the "Admiral Benbow," and
1751there I found my mother in good health and spirits. The captain, who had
1752so long been a cause of so much discomfort, was gone where the wicked
1753cease from troubling. The squire had had everything repaired, and the
1754public rooms and the sign repainted, and had added some furniture--above
1755all a beautiful armchair for mother in the bar. He had found her a boy
1756as an apprentice also, so that she should not want help while I was
1757gone.
1758
1759It was on seeing that boy that I understood, for the first time, my
1760situation. I had thought up to that moment of the adventures before me,
1761not at all of the home that I was leaving; and now at sight of this
1762clumsy stranger, who was to stay here in my place beside my mother, I
1763had my first attack of tears. I am afraid I led that boy a dog's life;
1764for as he was new to the work, I had a hundred opportunities of setting
1765him right and putting him down, and I was not slow to profit by them.
1766
1767The night passed, and the next day, after dinner, Redruth and I were
1768afoot again and on the road. I said good-by to mother and the cove where
1769I had lived since I was born, and the dear old "Admiral Benbow"--since
1770he was repainted, no longer quite so dear. One of my last thoughts was
1771of the captain, who had so often strode along the beach with his cocked
1772hat, his saber-cut cheek, and his old brass telescope. Next moment we
1773had turned the corner, and my home was out of sight.
1774
1775The mail picked us up about dusk at the "Royal George" on the heath. I
1776was wedged in between Redruth and a stout old gentleman, and in spite of
1777the swift motion and the cold night air, I must have dozed a great deal
1778from the very first, and then slept like a log up hill and down dale,
1779through stage after stage; for when I was awakened at last, it was by a
1780punch in the ribs, and I opened my eyes to find that we were standing
1781still before a large building in a city street, and that the day had
1782already broken a long time.
1783
1784"Where are we?" I asked.
1785
1786"Bristol," said Tom. "Get down."
1787
1788Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn far down the docks,
1789to superintend the work upon the schooner. Thither we had now to walk,
1790and our way, to my great delight, lay along the quays and beside the
1791great multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations. In one,
1792sailors were singing at their work; in another, there were men aloft,
1793high over my head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than a
1794spider's. Though I had lived by the shore all my life, I seemed never to
1795have been near the sea till then. The smell of tar and salt was
1796something new. I saw the most wonderful figureheads, that had all been
1797far over the ocean. I saw, besides, many old sailors, with rings in
1798their ears, and whiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pig-tails, and
1799their swaggering, clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings or
1800archbishops I could not have been more delighted.
1801
1802And I was going to sea myself; to sea in a schooner, with a piping
1803boatswain, and pig-tailed singing seamen; to sea, bound for an unknown
1804island, and to seek for buried treasure.
1805
1806While I was still in this delightful dream, we came suddenly in front of
1807a large inn, and met Squire Trelawney, all dressed out like a sea
1808officer, in stout blue cloth, coming out of the door with a smile on his
1809face, and a capital imitation of a sailor's walk.
1810
1811"Here you are!" he cried; "and the doctor came last night from London.
1812Bravo!--the ship's company complete."
1813
1814"Oh, sir," cried I, "when do we sail?"
1815
1816"Sail!" says he. "We sail to-morrow."
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821CHAPTER VIII
1822
1823AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS"
1824
1825
1826When I had done breakfasting, the squire gave me a note addressed to
1827John Silver, at the sign of the "Spy-glass," and told me I should easily
1828find the place by following the line of the docks, and keeping a bright
1829lookout for a little tavern with a large brass telescope for a sign. I
1830set off, overjoyed at this opportunity to see some more of the ships and
1831seamen, and picked my way among a great crowd of people and carts and
1832bales, for the dock was now at its busiest, until I found the tavern in
1833question.
1834
1835It was a bright enough little place of entertainment. The sign was newly
1836painted; the windows had neat red curtains; the floor was cleanly
1837sanded. There was a street on each side, and an open door on both, which
1838made the large, low room pretty clear to see in, in spite of clouds of
1839tobacco smoke.
1840
1841The customers were mostly seafaring men, and they talked so loudly that
1842I hung at the door, almost afraid to enter.
1843
1844As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, and at a glance I was
1845sure he must be Long John. His left leg was cut off close by the hip,
1846and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with
1847wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very tall
1848and strong, with a face as big as a ham--plain and pale, but
1849intelligent and smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheerful spirits,
1850whistling as he moved about among the tables, with a merry word or a
1851slap on the shoulder for the more favored of his guests.
1852
1853Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first mention of Long John in
1854Squire Trelawney's letter, I had taken a fear in my mind that he might
1855prove to be the very one-legged sailor whom I had watched for so long at
1856the old "Benbow." But one look at the man before me was enough. I had
1857seen the captain, and Black Dog, and the blind man Pew, and I thought I
1858knew what a buccaneer was like--a very different creature, according to
1859me, from this clean and pleasant-tempered landlord.
1860
1861I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, and walked right up
1862to the man where he stood, propped on his crutch, talking to a customer.
1863
1864"Mr. Silver, sir?" I asked, holding out the note.
1865
1866"Yes, my lad," said he; "such is my name, to be sure. And who may you
1867be?" And when he saw the squire's letter he seemed to me to give
1868something almost like a start.
1869
1870"Oh!" said he, quite aloud, and offering his hand, "I see. You are our
1871new cabin-boy; pleased I am to see you."
1872
1873And he took my hand in his large firm grasp.
1874
1875Just then one of the customers at the far side rose suddenly and made
1876for the door. It was close by him, and he was out in the street in a
1877moment. But his hurry had attracted my notice, and I recognized him at a
1878glance. It was the tallow-faced man, wanting two fingers, who had come
1879first to the "Admiral Benbow."
1880
1881"Oh," I cried, "stop him! it's Black Dog!"
1882
1883"I don't care two coppers who he is," cried Silver, "but he hasn't paid
1884his score. Harry, run and catch him."
1885
1886One of the others who was nearest the door leaped up and started in
1887pursuit.
1888
1889"If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score," cried Silver; and
1890then, relinquishing my hand, "Who did you say he was?" he asked. "Black
1891what?"
1892
1893"Dog, sir," said I. "Has Mr. Trelawney not told you of the buccaneers?
1894He was one of them."
1895
1896"So?" cried Silver. "In my house! Ben, run and help Harry. One of those
1897swabs, was he? Was that you drinking with him, Morgan? Step up here."
1898
1899The man whom he called Morgan--an old, gray-haired, mahogany-faced
1900sailor--came forward pretty sheepishly, rolling his quid.
1901
1902[Illustration: _"Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly, "you never
1903clapped your eyes on that Black Dog before, did you, now?"_ (Page 57)]
1904
1905"Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly, "you never clapped your
1906eyes on that Black--Black Dog before, did you, now?"
1907
1908"Not I, sir," said Morgan, with a salute.
1909
1910"You didn't know his name, did you?"
1911
1912"No, sir."
1913
1914"By the powers, Tom Morgan, it's as good for you!" exclaimed the
1915landlord. "If you had been mixed up with the like of that, you would
1916never have put another foot in my house, you may lay to that. And what
1917was he saying to you?"
1918
1919"I don't rightly know, sir," answered Morgan.
1920
1921"Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a blessed dead-eye?"
1922cried Long John. "Don't rightly know, don't you? Perhaps you don't
1923happen to rightly know who you was speaking to, perhaps? Come, now,
1924what was he jawing--v'yages, cap'ns, ships? Pipe up! What was it?"
1925
1926"We was a-talkin' of keel-hauling," answered Morgan.
1927
1928"Keel-hauling, was you? and a mighty suitable thing, too, and you may
1929lay to that. Get back to your place for a lubber, Tom."
1930
1931And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat, Silver added to me, in a
1932confidential whisper, that was very flattering, as I thought:
1933
1934"He's quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on'y stupid. And now," he ran on
1935again, aloud, "let's see--Black Dog? No, I don't know the name, not I.
1936Yet I kind of think I've--yes, I've seen the swab. He used to come here
1937with a blind beggar, he used."
1938
1939"That he did, you may be sure," said I. "I knew that blind man, too. His
1940name was Pew."
1941
1942"It was!" cried Silver, now quite excited. "Pew! That were his name for
1943certain. Ah, he looked a shark, he did! If we run down this Black Dog
1944now, there'll be news for Cap'n Trelawney! Ben's a good runner; few
1945seamen run better than Ben. He should run him down, hand over hand, by
1946the powers! He talked o' keel-hauling, did he? _I'll_ keel-haul him!"
1947
1948All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was stumping up and
1949down the tavern on his crutch, slapping tables with his hand, and giving
1950such a show of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge or
1951a Bow Street runner. My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened on
1952finding Black Dog at the "Spy-glass," and I watched the cook narrowly.
1953But he was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and by the
1954time the two men had come back out of breath, and confessed that they
1955had lost the track in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would
1956have gone bail for the innocence of Long John Silver.
1957
1958"See here, now, Hawkins," said he, "here's a blessed hard thing on a man
1959like me, now, ain't it? There's Cap'n Trelawney--what's he to think?
1960Here I have this confounded son of a Dutchman sitting in my own house,
1961drinking of my own rum! Here you comes and tells me of it plain; and
1962here I let him give us all the slip before my blessed deadlights! Now,
1963Hawkins, you do me justice with the cap'n. You're a lad, you are, but
1964you're as smart as paint. I see that when you first came in. Now, here
1965it is: What could I do, with this old timber I hobble on? When I was an
1966A B master mariner I'd have come up alongside of him, hand over hand,
1967and broached him to in a brace of old shakes, I would; and now--"
1968
1969And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw dropped as though he
1970had remembered something.
1971
1972"The score!" he burst out. "Three goes o' rum! Why, shiver my timbers,
1973if I hadn't forgotten my score!"
1974
1975And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks.
1976I could not help joining, and we laughed together, peal after peal,
1977until the tavern rang again.
1978
1979"Why, what a precious old sea-calf I am!" he said, at last, wiping his
1980cheeks. "You and me should get on well, Hawkins, for I'll take my davy I
1981should be rated ship's boy. But, come, now, stand by to go about. This
1982won't do. Dooty is dooty, messmates. I'll put on my old cocked hat and
1983step along of you to Cap'n Trelawney, and report this here affair. For,
1984mind you, it's serious, young Hawkins; and neither you nor me's come out
1985of it with what I should make so bold as to call credit. Nor you
1986neither, says you; not smart--none of the pair of us smart. But dash my
1987buttons! that was a good 'un about my score."
1988
1989And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that though I did not
1990see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.
1991
1992On our little walk along the quays he made himself the most interesting
1993companion, telling me about the different ships that we passed by, their
1994rig, tonnage, and nationality, explaining the work that was going
1995forward--how one was discharging, another taking in cargo, and a third
1996making ready for sea; and every now and then telling me some little
1997anecdote of ships or seamen, or repeating a nautical phrase till I had
1998learned it perfectly. I began to see that here was one of the best of
1999possible shipmates.
2000
2001When we got to the inn, the squire and Doctor Livesey were seated
2002together, finishing a quart of ale with a toast in it, before they
2003should go aboard the schooner on a visit of inspection.
2004
2005Long John told the story from first to last, with a great deal of spirit
2006and the most perfect truth. "That was how it were, now, weren't it,
2007Hawkins?" he would say, now and again, and I could always bear him
2008entirely out.
2009
2010The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had got away, but we all
2011agreed there was nothing to be done, and after he had been complimented,
2012Long John took up his crutch and departed.
2013
2014"All hands aboard by four this afternoon!" shouted the squire after him.
2015
2016"Ay, ay, sir," cried the cook, in the passage.
2017
2018"Well, squire," said Doctor Livesey, "I don't put much faith in your
2019discoveries, as a general thing, but I will say this--John Silver suits
2020me."
2021
2022"That man's a perfect trump," declared the squire.
2023
2024"And now," added the doctor, "Jim may come on board with us, may he
2025not?"
2026
2027"To be sure he may," said the squire. "Take your hat, Hawkins, and we'll
2028see the ship."
2029
2030[Illustration]
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035CHAPTER IX
2036
2037POWDER AND ARMS
2038
2039
2040The _Hispaniola_ lay some way out, and we went under the figureheads and
2041around the sterns of many other ships, and their cables sometimes grated
2042beneath our keel, and sometimes swung above us. At last, however, we
2043swung alongside, and were met and saluted as we stepped aboard by the
2044mate, Mr. Arrow, a brown old sailor, with earrings in his ears and a
2045squint. He and the squire were very thick and friendly, but I soon
2046observed that things were not the same between Mr. Trelawney and the
2047captain.
2048
2049This last was a sharp-looking man, who seemed angry with everything on
2050board, and was soon to tell us why, for we had hardly got down into the
2051cabin when a sailor followed us.
2052
2053"Captain Smollett, sir, axing to speak with you," said he.
2054
2055"I am always at the captain's orders. Show him in," said the squire.
2056
2057The captain, who was close behind his messenger, entered at once, and
2058shut the door behind him.
2059
2060"Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say? All well, I hope; all
2061shipshape and seaworthy?"
2062
2063"Well, sir," said the captain, "better speak plain, I believe, at the
2064risk of offense. I don't like this cruise; I don't like the men; and I
2065don't like my officer. That's short and sweet."
2066
2067"Perhaps, sir, you don't like the ship?" inquired the squire, very
2068angry, as I could see.
2069
2070"I can't speak as to that, sir, not having seen her tried," said the
2071captain. "She seems a clever craft; more I can't say."
2072
2073"Possibly, sir, you may not like your employer, either?" said the
2074squire.
2075
2076But here Doctor Livesey cut in.
2077
2078"Stay a bit," said he, "stay a bit. No use of such questions as that but
2079to produce ill-feeling. The captain has said too much or he has said too
2080little, and I'm bound to say that I require an explanation of his words.
2081You don't, you say, like this cruise. Now, why?"
2082
2083"I was engaged, sir, on what we call sealed orders, to sail this ship
2084for that gentleman where he should bid me," said the captain. "So far so
2085good. But now I find that every man before the mast knows more than I
2086do. I don't call that fair, now, do you?"
2087
2088"No," said Doctor Livesey, "I don't."
2089
2090"Next," said the captain, "I learn we are going after treasure--hear it
2091from my own hands, mind you. Now, treasure is ticklish work; I don't
2092like treasure voyages on any account; and I don't like them, above all,
2093when they are secret, and when (begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney) the
2094secret has been told to the parrot."
2095
2096"Silver's parrot?" asked the squire.
2097
2098"It's a way of speaking," said the captain. "Blabbed, I mean. It's my
2099belief neither of you gentlemen know what you are about; but I'll tell
2100you my way of it--life or death, and a close run."
2101
2102"That is all clear, and, I dare say, true enough," replied Doctor
2103Livesey. "We take the risk, but we are not so ignorant as you believe
2104us. Next, you say you don't like the crew. Are they not good seamen?"
2105
2106"I don't like them, sir," returned Captain Smollett. "And I think I
2107should have had the choosing of my own hands, if you go to that."
2108
2109"Perhaps you should," replied the doctor. "My friend should, perhaps,
2110have taken you along with him; but the slight, if there be one, was
2111unintentional. And you don't like Mr. Arrow?"
2112
2113"I don't, sir. I believe he's a good seaman, but he's too free with
2114the crew to be a good officer. A mate should keep himself to
2115himself--shouldn't drink with the men before the mast."
2116
2117"Do you mean he drinks?" cried the squire.
2118
2119"No, sir," replied the captain; "only that he's too familiar."
2120
2121"Well, now, and the short and long of it, captain?" asked the doctor.
2122"Tell us what you want."
2123
2124"Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on this cruise?"
2125
2126"Like iron," answered the squire.
2127
2128"Very good," said the captain. "Then, as you've heard me very patiently,
2129saying things that I could not prove, hear me a few words more. They are
2130putting the powder and the arms in the fore hold. Now, you have a good
2131place under the cabin; why not put them there?--first point. Then you
2132are bringing four of your own people with you, and they tell me some of
2133them are to be berthed forward. Why not give them the berths here beside
2134the cabin?--second point."
2135
2136"Any more?" asked Mr. Trelawney.
2137
2138"One more," said the captain. "There's been too much blabbing already."
2139
2140"Far too much," agreed the doctor.
2141
2142"I'll tell you what I've heard myself," continued Captain Smollett;
2143"that you have a map of an island; that there's crosses on the map to
2144show where treasure is; and that the island lies--" And then he named
2145the latitude and longitude exactly.
2146
2147"I never told that," cried the squire, "to a soul."
2148
2149"The hands know it, sir," returned the captain.
2150
2151"Livesey, that must have been you or Hawkins," cried the squire.
2152
2153"It doesn't much matter who it was," replied the doctor. And I could see
2154that neither he nor the captain paid much regard to Mr. Trelawney's
2155protestations. Neither did I, to be sure, he was so loose a talker; yet
2156in this case I believe he was really right, and that nobody had told the
2157situation of the island.
2158
2159"Well, gentlemen," continued the captain, "I don't know who has this
2160map, but I make it a point it shall be kept secret even from me and Mr.
2161Arrow. Otherwise I would ask you to let me resign."
2162
2163"I see," said the doctor. "You wish us to keep this matter dark, and to
2164make a garrison of the stern part of the ship, manned with my friend's
2165own people, and provided with all the arms and powder on board. In other
2166words, you fear a mutiny."
2167
2168"Sir," said Captain Smollett, "with no intention to take offense, I deny
2169your right to put words into my mouth. No captain, sir, would be
2170justified in going to sea at all if he had ground enough to say that. As
2171for Mr. Arrow, I believe him thoroughly honest; some of the men are the
2172same; all may be for what I know. But I am responsible for the ship's
2173safety and the life of every man Jack aboard of her. I see things going,
2174as I think, not quite right; and I ask you to take certain precautions,
2175or let me resign my berth. And that's all."
2176
2177"Captain Smollett," began the doctor, with a smile, "did ever you hear
2178the fable of the mountain and the mouse? You'll excuse me, I dare say,
2179but you remind me of that fable. When you came in here I'll stake my wig
2180you meant more than this."
2181
2182"Doctor," said the captain, "you are smart. When I came in here I meant
2183to get discharged. I had no thought that Mr. Trelawney would hear a
2184word."
2185
2186"No more I would," cried the squire. "Had Livesey not been here I should
2187have seen you to the deuce. As it is, I have heard you. I will do as you
2188desire, but I think the worse of you."
2189
2190"That's as you please, sir," said the captain. "You'll find I do my
2191duty."
2192
2193And with that he took his leave.
2194
2195"Trelawney," said the doctor, "contrary to all my notions, I believe you
2196have managed to get two honest men on board with you--that man and John
2197Silver."
2198
2199"Silver, if you like," cried the squire, "but as for that intolerable
2200humbug, I declare I think his conduct unmanly, unsailorly, and downright
2201un-English."
2202
2203"Well," said the doctor, "we shall see."
2204
2205When we came on deck the men had begun already to take out the arms and
2206powder, yo-ho-ing at their work, while the captain and Mr. Arrow stood
2207by superintending.
2208
2209The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The whole schooner had been
2210overhauled; six berths had been made astern, out of what had been the
2211after-part of the main hold, and this set of cabins was only joined to
2212the galley and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port side. It had
2213been originally meant that the captain, Mr. Arrow, Hunter, Joyce, the
2214doctor, and the squire were to occupy these six berths. Now Redruth and
2215I were to get two of them, and Mr. Arrow and the captain were to sleep
2216on deck in the companion, which had been enlarged on each side till you
2217might almost have called it a round-house. Very low it was still, of
2218course, but there was room to swing two hammocks, and even the mate
2219seemed pleased with the arrangement. Even he, perhaps, had been doubtful
2220as to the crew, but that is only guess, for, as you shall hear, we had
2221not long the benefit of his opinion.
2222
2223We were all hard at work changing the powder and the berths, when the
2224last man or two, and Long John along with them, came off in a
2225shore-boat.
2226
2227The cook came up the side like a monkey for cleverness, and, as soon as
2228he saw what was doing, "So ho, mates!" said he, "what's this!"
2229
2230"We're a-changing the powder, Jack," answers one.
2231
2232"Why, by the powers," cried Long John, "if we do, we'll miss the morning
2233tide!"
2234
2235"My orders!" said the captain, shortly. "You may go below, my man. Hands
2236will want supper."
2237
2238"Ay, ay, sir," answered the cook; and, touching his forelock, he
2239disappeared at once in the direction of his galley.
2240
2241"That's a good man, captain," said the doctor.
2242
2243"Very likely, sir," replied Captain Smollett. "Easy with that,
2244men--easy," he ran on, to the fellows who were shifting the powder; and
2245then suddenly observing me examining the swivel we carried amidships, a
2246long brass nine--"Here, you ship's boy," he cried, "out o' that! Off
2247with you to the cook and get some work."
2248
2249And then as I was hurrying off I heard him say, quite loudly, to the
2250doctor:
2251
2252"I'll have no favorites on my ship."
2253
2254I assure you I was quite of the squire's way of thinking, and hated the
2255captain deeply.
2256
2257
2258
2259
2260CHAPTER X
2261
2262THE VOYAGE
2263
2264
2265All that night we were in a great bustle getting things stowed in their
2266place, and boatfuls of the squire's friends, Mr. Blandly and the like,
2267coming off to wish him a good voyage and a safe return. We never had a
2268night at the "Admiral Benbow" when I had half the work; and I was
2269dog-tired when, a little before dawn, the boatswain sounded his pipe,
2270and the crew began to man the capstan bars. I might have been twice as
2271weary, yet I would not have left the deck, all was so new and
2272interesting to me--the brief commands, the shrill notes of the whistle,
2273the men bustling to their places in the glimmer of the ship's lanterns.
2274
2275"Now, Barbecue, tip us a stave," cried one voice.
2276
2277"The old one," cried another.
2278
2279"Ay, ay, mates," said Long John, who was standing by, with his crutch
2280under his arm, and at once broke out in the air and words I knew so
2281well:
2282
2283 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest"--
2284
2285And then the whole crew bore chorus:
2286
2287 "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"
2288
2289And at the third "ho!" drove the bars before them with a will.
2290
2291Even at that exciting moment it carried me back to the old "Admiral
2292Benbow" in a second, and I seemed to hear the voice of the captain
2293piping in the chorus. But soon the anchor was short up; soon it was
2294hanging dripping at the bows; soon the sails began to draw, and the land
2295and shipping to flit by on either side, and before I could lie down to
2296snatch an hour of slumber the _Hispaniola_ had begun her voyage to the
2297Isle of Treasure.
2298
2299I am not going to relate the voyage in detail. It was fairly prosperous.
2300The ship proved to be a good ship, the crew were capable seamen, and the
2301captain thoroughly understood his business. But before we came the
2302length of Treasure Island, two or three things had happened which
2303require to be known.
2304
2305Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than the captain had
2306feared. He had no command among the men, and people did what they
2307pleased with him. But that was by no means the worst of it; for after a
2308day or two at sea he began to appear on deck with hazy eye, red cheeks,
2309stuttering tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. Time after time he
2310was ordered below in disgrace. Sometimes he fell and cut himself;
2311sometimes he lay all day long in his little bunk at one side of the
2312companion; sometimes for a day or two he would be almost sober and
2313attend to his work at least passably.
2314
2315In the meantime we could never make out where he got the drink. That was
2316the ship's mystery. Watch him as we pleased, we could do nothing to
2317solve it, and when we asked him to his face, he would only laugh, if he
2318were drunk, and if he were sober, deny solemnly that he ever tasted
2319anything but water.
2320
2321He was not only useless as an officer, and a bad influence among the
2322men, but it was plain that at this rate he must soon kill himself
2323outright, so nobody was much surprised, nor very sorry, when one dark
2324night, with a head sea, he disappeared entirely and was seen no more.
2325
2326"Overboard!" said the captain. "Well, gentlemen, that saves the trouble
2327of putting him in irons."
2328
2329But there we were, without a mate, and it was necessary, of course, to
2330advance one of the men. The boatswain, Job Anderson, was the likeliest
2331man aboard, and though he kept his old title, he served in a way as
2332mate. Mr. Trelawney had followed the sea, and his knowledge made him
2333very useful, for he often took a watch himself in easy weather. And the
2334coxswain, Israel Hands, was a careful, wily, old, experienced seaman,
2335who could be trusted at a pinch with almost anything.
2336
2337He was a great confidant of Long John Silver, and so the mention of his
2338name leads me on to speak of our ship's cook, Barbecue, as the men
2339called him.
2340
2341[Illustration: _It was something to see him get on with his cooking like
2342someone safe ashore_ (Page 71)]
2343
2344Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round his neck, to have
2345both hands as free as possible. It was something to see him wedge the
2346foot of the crutch against a bulkhead, and, propped against it, yielding
2347to every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking like someone safe
2348ashore. Still more strange was it to see him in the heaviest of weather
2349cross the deck. He had a line or two rigged up to help him across the
2350widest spaces--Long John's earrings, they were called--and he would hand
2351himself from one place to another, now using the crutch, now trailing it
2352alongside by the lanyard, as quickly as another man could walk. Yet some
2353of the men who had sailed with him before expressed their pity to see
2354him so reduced.
2355
2356"He's no common man, Barbecue," said the coxswain to me. "He had good
2357schooling in his young days, and can speak like a book when so minded;
2358and brave--a lion's nothing alongside of Long John! I seen him grapple
2359four and knock their heads together--him unarmed."
2360
2361All the crew respected and even obeyed him. He had a way of talking to
2362each, and doing everybody some particular service. To me he was
2363unweariedly kind, and always glad to see me in the galley, which he kept
2364as clean as a new pin; the dishes hanging up burnished, and his parrot
2365in a cage in the corner.
2366
2367"Come away, Hawkins," he would say; "come and have a yarn with John.
2368Nobody more welcome than yourself, my son. Sit you down and hear the
2369news. Here's Cap'n Flint--I calls my parrot Cap'n Flint, after the
2370famous buccaneer--here's Cap'n Flint predicting success to our v'yage.
2371Wasn't you, Cap'n?"
2372
2373And the parrot would say, with great rapidity: "Pieces of eight! pieces
2374of eight! pieces of eight!" till you wondered that it was not out of
2375breath or till John threw his handkerchief over the cage.
2376
2377"Now, that bird," he would say, "is, may be, two hundred years old,
2378Hawkins--they live forever mostly, and if anybody's seen more wickedness
2379it must be the devil himself. She's sailed with England--the great Cap'n
2380England, the pirate. She's been at Madagascar, and at Malabar, and
2381Surinam, and Providence, and Portobello. She was at the fishing up of
2382the wrecked plate ships. It's there she learned 'Pieces of eight,' and
2383little wonder; three hundred and fifty thousand of 'em, Hawkins! She was
2384at the boarding of the _Viceroy of the Indies_ out of Goa, she was, and
2385to look at her you would think she was a babby. But you smelt
2386powder--didn't you, cap'n?"
2387
2388"Stand by to go about," the parrot would scream.
2389
2390"Ah, she's a handsome craft, she is," the cook would say, and give her
2391sugar from his pocket, and then the bird would peck at the bars and
2392swear straight on, passing belief for wickedness. "There," John would
2393add, "you can't touch pitch and not be mucked, lad. Here's this poor old
2394innocent bird of mine swearing blue fire and none the wiser, you may lay
2395to that. She would swear the same, in a manner of speaking, before the
2396chaplain." And John would touch his forelock with a solemn way he had,
2397that made me think he was the best of men.
2398
2399In the meantime the squire and Captain Smollett were still on pretty
2400distant terms with one another. The squire made no bones about the
2401matter; he despised the captain. The captain, on his part, never spoke
2402but when he was spoken to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not a
2403word wasted. He owned, when driven into a corner, that he seemed to have
2404been wrong about the crew; that some of them were as brisk as he wanted
2405to see, and all had behaved fairly well. As for the ship, he had taken a
2406downright fancy to her. "She'll lie a point nearer the wind than a man
2407has a right to expect of his own married wife, sir. But," he would add,
2408"all I say is, we're not home again, and I don't like the cruise."
2409
2410The squire, at this, would turn away and march up and down the deck,
2411chin in air.
2412
2413"A trifle more of that man," he would say, "and I should explode."
2414
2415We had some heavy weather, which only proved the qualities of the
2416_Hispaniola_. Every man on board seemed well content, and they must have
2417been hard to please if they had been otherwise, for it is my belief
2418there was never a ship's company so spoiled since Noah put to sea.
2419Double grog was going on the least excuse; there was duff on odd days,
2420as, for instance, if the squire heard it was any man's birthday; and
2421always a barrel of apples standing broached in the waist, for anyone to
2422help himself that had a fancy.
2423
2424"Never knew good to come of it yet," the captain said to Doctor Livesey.
2425"Spoil foc's'le hands, make devils. That's my belief."
2426
2427But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall hear, for if it had
2428not been for that we should have had no note of warning and might all
2429have perished by the hand of treachery.
2430
2431This is how it came about.
2432
2433We had run up the trades to get the wind of the island we were after--I
2434am not allowed to be more plain--and now we were running down for it
2435with a bright lookout day and night. It was about the last day of our
2436outward voyage, by the largest computation; some time that night, or, at
2437latest, before noon of the morrow, we should sight the Treasure Island.
2438We were heading south-southwest, and had a steady breeze abeam and a
2439quiet sea. The _Hispaniola_ rolled steadily, dipping her bowsprit now
2440and then with a whiff of spray. All was drawing alow and aloft; everyone
2441was in the bravest spirits, because we were now so near an end of the
2442first part of our adventure.
2443
2444Now, just after sundown, when all my work was over and I was on my way
2445to my berth, it occurred to me that I should like an apple. I ran on
2446deck. The watch was all forward looking out for the island. The man at
2447the helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gently to
2448himself, and that was the only sound excepting the swish of the sea
2449against the bows and around the sides of the ship.
2450
2451In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there was scarce an
2452apple left; but, sitting down there in the dark, what with the sound of
2453the waters and the rocking movement of the ship, I had either fallen
2454asleep, or was on the point of doing so, when a heavy man sat down with
2455rather a clash close by. The barrel shook as he leaned his shoulders
2456against it, and I was just about to jump up when the man began to speak.
2457It was Silver's voice, and, before I had heard a dozen words, I would
2458not have shown myself for all the world, but lay there, trembling and
2459listening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity; for from these dozen
2460words I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard depended
2461upon me alone.
2462
2463
2464
2465
2466CHAPTER XI
2467
2468WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL
2469
2470
2471"No, not I," said Silver. "Flint was cap'n; I was quartermaster, along
2472of my timber leg. The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his
2473deadlights. It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me--out of
2474college and all--Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was hanged
2475like a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso Castle. That was
2476Roberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to their
2477ships--_Royal Fortune_ and so on. Now, what a ship was christened, so
2478let her stay, I says. So it was with the _Cassandra_, as brought us all
2479safe home from Malabar, after England took the _Viceroy of the Indies_;
2480so it was with the old _Walrus_, Flint's old ship, as I've seen a-muck
2481with the red blood and fit to sink with gold."
2482
2483"Ah!" cried another voice, that of the youngest hand on board, and
2484evidently full of admiration, "he was the flower of the flock, was
2485Flint!"
2486
2487"Davis was a man, too, by all accounts," said Silver. "I never sailed
2488along of him; first with England, then with Flint, that's my story; and
2489now here on my own account, in a manner of speaking. I laid by nine
2490hundred safe, from England, and two thousand after Flint. That ain't bad
2491for a man before the mast--all safe in bank. 'Tain't earning now, it's
2492saving does it, you may lay to that. Where's all England's men now? I
2493dunno. Where's Flint's? Why, most of 'em aboard here, and glad to get
2494the duff--been begging before that, some of 'em. Old Pew, as had lost
2495his sight, and might have thought shame, spends twelve hundred pounds in
2496a year, like a lord in Parliament. Where is he now? Well, he's dead now
2497and under hatches; but for two years before that, shiver my timbers! the
2498man was starving. He begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, and
2499starved at that, by the powers!"
2500
2501"Well, it ain't much use, after all," said the young seaman.
2502
2503"'Tain't much use for fools, you may lay to it--that, nor nothing,"
2504cried Silver. "But now, you look here; you're young, you are, but you're
2505as smart as paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I'll talk
2506to you like a man."
2507
2508You can imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable old rogue
2509addressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had used to
2510myself. I think, if I had been able, that I would have killed him
2511through the barrel. Meantime he ran on, little supposing he was
2512overheard.
2513
2514"Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough, and they risk
2515swinging, but they eat and drink like fighting-cocks, and when a cruise
2516is done, why it's hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthings in
2517their pockets. Now, the most goes for rum and a good fling, and to sea
2518again in their shirts. But that's not the course I lay. I puts it all
2519away, some here, some there, and none too much anywheres, by reason of
2520suspicion. I'm fifty, mark you; once back from this cruise I set up
2521gentleman in earnest. Time enough, too, says you. Ah, but I've lived
2522easy in the meantime; never denied myself o' nothing heart desires, and
2523slept soft and ate dainty all my days, but when at sea. And how did I
2524begin? Before the mast, like you!"
2525
2526"Well," said the other, "but all the other money's gone now, ain't it?
2527You daren't show face in Bristol after this."
2528
2529"Why, where might you suppose it was?" asked Silver, derisively.
2530
2531"At Bristol, in banks and places," answered his companion.
2532
2533"It were," said the cook; "it were when we weighed anchor. But my old
2534missis has it all by now. And the 'Spy-glass' is sold, lease and good
2535will and rigging; and the old girl's off to meet me. I would tell you
2536where, for I trust you; but it 'ud make jealousy among the mates."
2537
2538"And you can trust your missis?" asked the other.
2539
2540"Gentlemen of fortune," returned the cook, "usually trust little among
2541themselves, and right they are, you may lay to it. But I have a way with
2542me, I have. When a mate brings a slip on his cable--one as knows me, I
2543mean--it won't be in the same world with old John. There was some that
2544was feared of Pew, and some that was feared of Flint; but Flint his own
2545self was feared of me. Feared he was, and proud. They was the roughest
2546crew afloat, was Flint's; the devil himself would have been feared to go
2547to sea with them. Well, now, I tell you, I'm not a boasting man, and you
2548seen yourself how easy I keep company; but when I was quartermaster,
2549_lambs_ wasn't the word for Flint's old buccaneers. Ah, you may be sure
2550of yourself in old John's ship."
2551
2552"Well, I tell you now," replied the lad, "I didn't half a quarter like
2553the job till I had this talk with you, John, but there's my hand on it
2554now."
2555
2556"And a brave lad you were, and smart, too," answered Silver, shaking
2557hands so heartily that all the barrel shook, "and a finer figurehead for
2558a gentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on."
2559
2560By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of their terms. By a
2561"gentleman of fortune" they plainly meant neither more nor less than a
2562common pirate, and the little scene that I had overheard was the last
2563act in the corruption of one of the honest hands--perhaps of the last
2564one left aboard. But on this point I was soon to be relieved, for,
2565Silver giving a little whistle, a third man strolled up and sat down by
2566the party.
2567
2568"Dick's square," said Silver.
2569
2570"Oh, I know'd Dick was square," returned the voice of the coxswain,
2571Israel Hands. "He's no fool, is Dick." And he turned his quid and spat.
2572"But, look here," he went on, "here's what I want to know, Barbecue--how
2573long are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat? I've had
2574a'most enough o' Cap'n Smollett; he's hazed me long enough, by thunder!
2575I want to go into that cabin, I do. I want their pickles and wines, and
2576that."
2577
2578"Israel," said Silver, "your head ain't much account, nor never was. But
2579you're able to hear, I reckon; leastways your ears is big enough. Now,
2580here's what I say--you'll berth forward, and you'll live hard, and
2581you'll speak soft, and you'll keep sober, till I give the word; and you
2582may lay to that, my son."
2583
2584"Well, I don't say no, do I?" growled the coxswain. "What I say is,
2585when? That's what I say."
2586
2587"When! by the powers!" cried Silver. "Well, now, if you want to know,
2588I'll tell you when. The last moment I can manage; and that's when.
2589Here's a first-rate seaman, Cap'n Smollett, sails the blessed ship for
2590us. Here's this squire and doctor with a map and such--I don't know
2591where it is, do I? No more do you, says you. Well, then, I mean this
2592squire and doctor shall find the stuff, and help us to get it aboard, by
2593the powers! Then we'll see. If I was sure of you all, sons of double
2594Dutchmen, I'd have Cap'n Smollett navigate us halfway back again before
2595I struck."
2596
2597"Why, we're all seamen aboard here, I should think," said the lad Dick.
2598
2599"We're all foc's'le hands, you mean," snapped Silver. "We can steer a
2600course, but who's to set one? That's what all you gentlemen split on,
2601first and last. If I had my way, I'd have Cap'n Smollett work us back
2602into the trades at least; then we'd have no blessed miscalculations and
2603a spoonful of water a day. But I know the sort you are. I'll finish with
2604'em at the island, as soon's the blunt's on board, and a pity it is. But
2605you're never happy till you're drunk. Split my sides, I've a sick heart
2606to sail with the likes of you!"
2607
2608"Easy all, Long John," cried Israel. "Who's a-crossin' of you?"
2609
2610"Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I seen laid aboard? and
2611how many brisk lads drying in the sun at Execution Dock?" cried Silver;
2612"and all for this same hurry and hurry and hurry. You hear me? I seen a
2613thing or two at sea, I have. If you would on'y lay your course, and a
2614p'int to windward, you would ride in carriages, you would. But not you!
2615I know you. You'll have your mouthful of rum to-morrow, and go hang."
2616
2617"Everybody know'd you was a kind of a chapling, John; but there's others
2618as could hand and steer as well as you," said Israel. "They liked a bit
2619o' fun, they did. They wasn't so high and dry, nohow, but took their
2620fling, like jolly companions, everyone."
2621
2622"So?" said Silver. "Well, and where are they now? Pew was that sort, and
2623he died a beggar-man. Flint was, and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah,
2624they was a sweet crew, they was! on'y, where are they?"
2625
2626"But," asked Dick, "when we do lay 'em athwart, what are we to do with
2627'em, anyhow?"
2628
2629"There's the man for me!" cried the cook, admiringly. "That's what I
2630call business. Well, what would you think? Put 'em ashore like maroons?
2631That would have been England's way. Or cut 'em down like that much pork?
2632That would have been Flint's or Billy Bones's."
2633
2634"Billy was the man for that," said Israel. "'Dead men don't bite,' says
2635he. Well, he's dead now, hisself; he knows the long and short on it now;
2636and if ever a rough hand come to port, it was Billy."
2637
2638"Right you are," said Silver, "rough and ready. But mark you here: I'm
2639an easy man--I'm quite the gentleman, says you; but this time it's
2640serious. Dooty is dooty, mates. I give my vote--death. When I'm in
2641Parlyment, and riding in my coach, I don't want none of these
2642sea-lawyers in the cabin a-coming home, unlooked for, like the devil at
2643prayers. Wait is what I say; but when the time comes, why let her rip!"
2644
2645"John," cried the coxswain, "you're a man!"
2646
2647"You'll say so, Israel, when you see," said Silver. "Only one thing I
2648claim--I claim Trelawney. I'll wring his calf's head off his body with
2649these hands. Dick!" he added, breaking off, "you must jump up, like a
2650sweet lad, and get me an apple, to wet my pipe like."
2651
2652You may fancy the terror I was in! I should have leaped out and run for
2653it, if I had found the strength; but my limbs and heart alike misgave
2654me. I heard Dick begin to rise, and then some one seemingly stopped him,
2655and the voice of Hands exclaimed:
2656
2657"Oh, stow that! Don't you get sucking of that bilge, John. Let's have a
2658go of the rum."
2659
2660"Dick," said Silver, "I trust you. I've a gauge on the keg, mind.
2661There's the key; you fill a pannikin and bring it up."
2662
2663Terrified as I was, I could not help thinking to myself that this must
2664have been how Mr. Arrow got the strong waters that destroyed him.
2665
2666Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence Israel spoke
2667straight on in the cook's ear. It was but a word or two that I could
2668catch, and yet I gathered some important news; for, besides other scraps
2669that tended to the same purpose, this whole clause was audible: "Not
2670another man of them'll jine." Hence there were still faithful men on
2671board.
2672
2673When Dick returned, one after another of the trio took the pannikin and
2674drank--one "To luck"; another with a "Here's to old Flint," and Silver
2675himself saying, in a kind of song, "Here's to ourselves, and hold your
2676luff, plenty of prizes and plenty of duff."
2677
2678Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel, and, looking
2679up, I found the moon had risen, and was silvering the mizzen-top and
2680shining white on the luff of the foresail, and almost at the same time
2681the voice on the lookout shouted, "Land ho!"
2682
2683
2684
2685
2686CHAPTER XII
2687
2688COUNCIL OF WAR
2689
2690
2691There was a great rush of feet across the deck. I could hear people
2692tumbling up from the cabin and the foc's'le; and slipping in an instant
2693outside my barrel, I dived behind the foresail, made a double towards
2694the stern, and came out upon the open deck in time to join Hunter and
2695Doctor Livesey in the rush for the weather bow.
2696
2697There all hands were already congregated. A belt of fog had lifted
2698almost simultaneously with the appearance of the moon. Away to the
2699southwest of us we saw two low hills, about a couple of miles apart, and
2700rising behind one of them a third and higher hill, whose peak was still
2701buried in the fog. All three seemed sharp and conical in figure.
2702
2703So much I saw almost in a dream, for I had not yet recovered from my
2704horrid fear of a minute or two before. And then I heard the voice of
2705Captain Smollett issuing orders. The _Hispaniola_ was laid a couple of
2706points nearer the wind, and now sailed a course that would just clear
2707the island on the east.
2708
2709"And now, men," said the captain, when all was sheeted home, "has any
2710one of you ever seen that land ahead?"
2711
2712"I have, sir," said Silver. "I've watered there with a trader I was cook
2713in."
2714
2715"The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I fancy?" asked the
2716captain.
2717
2718"Yes, sir, Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a main place for
2719pirates once, and a hand we had on board knowed all their names for it.
2720That hill to the nor'ard they calls the Foremast Hill; there are three
2721hills in a row running south'ard--fore, main, and mizzen, sir. But the
2722main--that's the big 'un, with the cloud on it--they usually calls the
2723Spy-glass, by reason of a lookout they kept when they was in the
2724anchorage cleaning; for it's there they cleaned their ships, sir, asking
2725your pardon."
2726
2727"I have a chart here," said Captain Smollett. "See if that's the place."
2728
2729Long John's eyes burned in his head as he took the chart, but, by the
2730fresh look of the paper, I knew he was doomed to disappointment. This
2731was not the map we found in Billy Bones's chest, but an accurate copy,
2732complete in all things--names, and heights, and soundings--with the
2733single exception of the red crosses and the written notes. Sharp as must
2734have been his annoyance, Silver had the strength of mind to hide it.
2735
2736"Yes, sir," said he, "this is the spot, to be sure, and very prettily
2737drawed out. Who might have done that, I wonder? The pirates were too
2738ignorant, I reckon. Ay, here it is: 'Captain Kidd's Anchorage'--just the
2739name my shipmate called it. There's a strong current runs along the
2740south, and then away nor'ard up the west coast. Right you was, sir,"
2741said he, "to haul your wind and keep the weather of the island.
2742Leastways, if such was your intention as to enter and careen, and there
2743ain't no better place for that in these waters."
2744
2745"Thank you, my man," said Captain Smollett. "I'll ask you, later on, to
2746give us a help. You may go."
2747
2748I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed his knowledge of
2749the island, and I own I was half-frightened when I saw him drawing
2750nearer to myself. He did not know, to be sure, that I had overheard his
2751council from the apple barrel, and yet I had, by this time, taken such a
2752horror of his cruelty, duplicity, and power, that I could scarce conceal
2753a shudder when he laid his hand upon my arm.
2754
2755"Ah," said he, "this here is a sweet spot, this island--a sweet spot for
2756a lad to get ashore on. You'll bathe, and you'll climb trees, and you'll
2757hunt goats, you will, and you'll get aloft on them hills like a goat
2758yourself. Why, it makes me young again. I was going to forget my timber
2759leg, I was. It's a pleasant thing to be young, and have ten toes, and
2760you may lay to that. When you want to go a bit of exploring, you just
2761ask old John and he'll put up a snack for you to take along."
2762
2763And clapping me in the friendliest way upon the shoulder, he hobbled off
2764forward and went below.
2765
2766Captain Smollett, the squire, and Doctor Livesey were talking together
2767on the quarter-deck, and anxious as I was to tell them my story, I durst
2768not interrupt them openly. While I was still casting about in my
2769thoughts to find some probable excuse, Doctor Livesey called me to his
2770side. He had left his pipe below, and being a slave to tobacco, had
2771meant that I should fetch it; but as soon as I was near enough to speak
2772and not be overheard, I broke out immediately: "Doctor, let me speak.
2773Get the captain and squire down to the cabin, and then make some
2774pretense to send for me. I have terrible news."
2775
2776The doctor changed countenance a little, but next moment he was master
2777of himself.
2778
2779"Thank you, Jim," said he, quite loudly; "that was all I wanted to
2780know," as if he had asked me a question.
2781
2782And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined the other two. They
2783spoke together for a little, and though none of them started, or raised
2784his voice, or so much as whistled, it was plain enough that Doctor
2785Livesey had communicated my request, for the next thing that I heard was
2786the captain giving an order to Job Anderson, and all hands were piped on
2787deck.
2788
2789"My lads," said Captain Smollett, "I've a word to say to you. This land
2790that we have sighted is the place we have been sailing to. Mr.
2791Trelawney, being a very open-handed gentleman, as we all know, has just
2792asked me a word or two, and as I was able to tell him that every man on
2793board had done his duty, alow and aloft, as I never ask to see it done
2794better, why, he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin to
2795drink _your_ health and luck, and you'll have grog served out for you to
2796drink _our_ health and luck. I'll tell you what I think of this: I think
2797it handsome. And if you think as I do, you'll give a good sea cheer for
2798the gentleman that does it."
2799
2800The cheer followed--that was a matter of course--but it rang out so full
2801and hearty, that I confess I could hardly believe these same men were
2802plotting for our blood.
2803
2804"One more cheer for Cap'n Smollett!" cried Long John, when the first had
2805subsided.
2806
2807And this also was given with a will.
2808
2809On the top of that the three gentlemen went below, and not long after,
2810word was sent forward that Jim Hawkins was wanted in the cabin.
2811
2812I found them all three seated around the table, a bottle of Spanish wine
2813and some raisins before them, and the doctor smoking away, with his wig
2814on his lap, and that, I knew, was a sign that he was agitated. The stern
2815window was open, for it was a warm night, and you could see the moon
2816shining behind on the ship's wake.
2817
2818"Now, Hawkins," said the squire, "you have something to say. Speak up."
2819
2820I did as I was bid, and, as short as I could make it, told the whole
2821details of Silver's conversation. Nobody interrupted me till I was done,
2822nor did anyone of the three of them make so much as a movement, but they
2823kept their eyes upon my face from first to last.
2824
2825"Jim," said Doctor Livesey, "take a seat."
2826
2827And they made me sit down at a table beside them, poured me out a glass
2828of wine, filled my hands with raisins, and all three, one after the
2829other, and each with a bow, drank my good health, and their service to
2830me, for my luck and courage.
2831
2832"Now, captain," said the squire, "you were right and I was wrong. I own
2833myself an ass, and I await your orders."
2834
2835"No more an ass than I, sir," returned the captain. "I never heard of a
2836crew that meant to mutiny but what showed signs before, for any man that
2837had an eye in his head to see the mischief and take steps according. But
2838this crew," he added, "beats me."
2839
2840"Captain," said the doctor, "with your permission, that's Silver. A very
2841remarkable man."
2842
2843"He'd look remarkably well from a yardarm, sir," returned the captain.
2844"But this is talk; this don't lead to anything. I see three or four
2845points, and with Mr. Trelawney's permission I'll name them."
2846
2847"You, sir, are the captain. It is for you to speak," said Mr. Trelawney,
2848grandly.
2849
2850"First point," began Mr. Smollett, "we must go on because we can't turn
2851back. If I gave the word to turn about, they would rise at once. Second
2852point, we have time before us--at least until this treasure's found.
2853Third point, there are faithful hands. Now, sir, it's got to come to
2854blows sooner or later, and what I propose is to take time by the
2855forelock, as the saying is, and come to blows some fine day when they
2856least expect it. We can count, I take it, on your own home servants, Mr.
2857Trelawney?"
2858
2859"As upon myself," declared the squire.
2860
2861"Three," reckoned the captain; "ourselves make seven, counting Hawkins
2862here. Now, about the honest hands?"
2863
2864"Most likely Trelawney's own men," said the doctor; "those he picked up
2865for himself before he lit on Silver."
2866
2867"Nay," replied the squire, "Hands was one of mine."
2868
2869"I did think I could have trusted Hands," added the captain.
2870
2871"And to think that they're all Englishmen!" broke out the squire. "Sir,
2872I could find it in my heart to blow the ship up."
2873
2874"Well, gentlemen," said the captain, "the best that I can say is not
2875much. We must lay to, if you please, and keep a bright lookout. It's
2876trying on a man, I know. It would be pleasanter to come to blows. But
2877there's no help for it till we know our men. Lay to and whistle for a
2878wind; that's my view."
2879
2880"Jim here," said the doctor, "can help us more than anyone. The men are
2881not shy with him and Jim is a noticing lad."
2882
2883"Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you," added the squire.
2884
2885I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt altogether
2886helpless; and yet, by an odd train of circumstances, it was indeed
2887through me that safety came. In the meantime, talk as we pleased, there
2888were only seven out of the twenty-six on whom we knew we could rely, and
2889out of these seven one was a boy, so that the grown men on our side were
2890six to their nineteen.
2891
2892
2893
2894
2895PART III
2896
2897MY SHORE ADVENTURE
2898
2899
2900
2901
2902CHAPTER XIII
2903
2904HOW MY SHORE ADVENTURE BEGAN
2905
2906
2907The appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning was
2908altogether changed. Although the breeze had now utterly ceased, we had
2909made a great deal of way during the night and were now lying becalmed
2910about half a mile to the southeast of the low eastern coast.
2911Gray-colored woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tint
2912was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sand-break in the lower lands
2913and by many tall trees of the pine family, out-topping the others--some
2914singly, some in clumps; but the general coloring was uniform and sad.
2915The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of naked rock. All
2916were strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass, which was by three or four
2917hundred feet the tallest on the island, was likewise the strangest in
2918configuration, running up sheer from almost every side and then suddenly
2919cut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on.
2920
2921The _Hispaniola_ was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell. The
2922booms were tearing at the blocks, the rudder was banging to and fro, and
2923the whole ship creaking, groaning, and jumping like a manufactory. I had
2924to cling tight to the backstay and the world turned giddily before my
2925eyes; for though I was a good enough sailor when there was way on, this
2926standing still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I never
2927learned to stand without a qualm or so, above all in the morning, on an
2928empty stomach.
2929
2930Perhaps it was this--perhaps it was the look of the island, with its
2931gray, melancholy woods, and wild stone spires, and the surf that we
2932could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach--at
2933least, although the sun shone bright and hot, and the shore birds were
2934fishing and crying all around us, and you would have thought anyone
2935would have been glad to get to land after being so long at sea, my heart
2936sank, as the saying is, into my boots, and from that first look onward I
2937hated the very thought of Treasure Island.
2938
2939We had a dreary morning's work before us, for there was no sign of any
2940wind, and the boats had to be got out and manned, and the ship warped
2941three or four miles round the corner of the island and up the narrow
2942passage to the haven behind Skeleton Island. I volunteered for one of
2943the boats, where I had, of course, no business. The heat was sweltering
2944and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. Anderson was in command
2945of my boat, and instead of keeping the crew in order he grumbled as loud
2946as the worst.
2947
2948"Well," he said, with an oath, "it's not forever."
2949
2950I thought this was a very bad sign, for, up to that day, the men had
2951gone briskly and willingly about their business, but the very sight of
2952the island had relaxed the cords of discipline.
2953
2954All the way in, Long John stood by the steersman and conned the ship. He
2955knew the passage like the palm of his hand; and though the man in the
2956chains got everywhere more water than was down in the chart, John never
2957hesitated once.
2958
2959"There's a strong scour with the ebb," he said, "and this here passage
2960has been dug out, in a manner of speaking, with a spade."
2961
2962We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart, about a third of a
2963mile from each shore, the mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on
2964the other. The bottom was clean sand. The plunge of our anchor sent up
2965clouds of birds wheeling and crying over the woods, but in less than a
2966minute they were down again, and all was once more silent.
2967
2968The place was entirely landlocked, buried in woods, the trees coming
2969right down to high-water mark, the shores mostly flat, and the hill-tops
2970standing round at a distance in a sort of amphitheater, one here, one
2971there. Two little rivers, or rather two swamps, emptied out into this
2972pond, as you might call it and the foliage round that part of the shore
2973had a kind of poisonous brightness. From the ship we could see nothing
2974of the house or stockade, for they were quite buried among trees; and if
2975it had not been for the chart on the companion, we might have been the
2976first that had ever anchored there since the islands arose out of the
2977seas.
2978
2979There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound but that of the surf
2980booming half a mile away along the beaches and against the rocks
2981outside. A peculiar stagnant smell hung over the anchorage--a smell of
2982sodden leaves and rotting tree trunks. I observed the doctor sniffing
2983and sniffing, like someone tasting a bad egg.
2984
2985"I don't know about treasure," he said, "but I'll stake my wig there's
2986fever here."
2987
2988If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the boat, it became truly
2989threatening when they had come aboard. They lay about the deck,
2990growling together in talk. The slightest order was received with a black
2991look, and grudgingly and carelessly obeyed. Even the honest hands must
2992have caught the infection, for there was not one man aboard to mend
2993another. Mutiny, it was plain, hung over us like a thundercloud.
2994
2995And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived the danger. Long
2996John was hard at work going from group to group, spending himself in
2997good advice, and as for example no man could have shown a better. He
2998fairly outstripped himself in willingness and civility; he was all
2999smiles to everyone. If an order were given, John would be on his crutch
3000in an instant, with the cheeriest "Ay, ay, sir!" in the world; and when
3001there was nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another, as if
3002to conceal the discontent of the rest.
3003
3004Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon, this obvious
3005anxiety on the part of Long John appeared the worst.
3006
3007We held a council in the cabin.
3008
3009"Sir," said the captain, "if I risk another order, the whole ship'll
3010come about our ears by the run. You see, sir, here it is. I get a rough
3011answer, do I not? Well, if I speak back, pikes will be going in two
3012shakes; if I don't, Silver will see there's something under that, and
3013the game's up. Now, we've only one man to rely on."
3014
3015"And who is that?" asked the squire.
3016
3017"Silver, sir," returned the captain; "he's as anxious as you and I to
3018smother things up. This is a tiff; he'd soon talk 'em out of it if he
3019had the chance, and what I propose to do is to give him the chance.
3020Let's allow the men an afternoon ashore. If they all go, why, we'll
3021fight the ship. If they none of them go, well, then, we hold the cabin,
3022and God defend the right. If some go, you mark my words, sir, Silver'll
3023bring 'em aboard again as mild as lambs."
3024
3025It was so decided; loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men.
3026Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth were taken into our confidence, and received
3027the news with less surprise and a better spirit than we had looked for,
3028and then the captain went on deck and addressed the crew.
3029
3030"My lads," said he, "we've had a hot day, and are all tired and out of
3031sorts. A turn ashore'll hurt nobody; the boats are still in the water;
3032you can take the gigs, and as many as please can go ashore for the
3033afternoon. I'll fire a gun half an hour before sundown."
3034
3035I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would break their
3036shins over treasure as soon as they were landed; for they all came out
3037of their sulks in a moment, and gave a cheer that started the echo in a
3038far-away hill, and sent the birds once more flying and squalling round
3039the anchorage.
3040
3041The captain was too bright to be in the way. He whipped out of sight in
3042a moment, leaving Silver to arrange the party, and I fancy it was as
3043well he did so. Had he been on deck he could no longer so much as have
3044pretended not to understand the situation. It was as plain as day.
3045Silver was the captain, and a mighty rebellious crew he had of it. The
3046honest hands--and I was soon to see it proved that there were such on
3047board--must have been very stupid fellows. Or, rather, I suppose the
3048truth was this, that all hands were disaffected by the example of the
3049ringleaders--only some more, some less; and a few, being good fellows in
3050the main, could neither be led nor driven any farther. It is one thing
3051to be idle and skulk, and quite another to take a ship and murder a
3052number of innocent men.
3053
3054At last, however, the party was made up. Six fellows were to stay on
3055board, and the remaining thirteen, including Silver, began to embark.
3056
3057Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad notions
3058that contributed so much to save our lives. If six men were left by
3059Silver, it was plain our party could not take and fight the ship; and
3060since only six were left, it was equally plain that the cabin party had
3061no present need of my assistance. It occurred to me at once to go
3062ashore. In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and curled up in the
3063foresheets of the nearest boat, and almost at the same moment she shoved
3064off.
3065
3066No one took notice of me, only the bow oar saying, "Is that you, Jim?
3067Keep your head down." But Silver, from the other boat, looked sharply
3068over and called out to know if that were me; and from that moment I
3069began to regret what I had done.
3070
3071The crews raced for the beach, but the boat I was in, having some start,
3072and being at once the lighter and the better manned, shot far ahead of
3073her consort, and the bow had struck among the shore-side trees, and I
3074had caught a branch and swung myself out, and plunged into the nearest
3075thicket, while Silver and the rest were still a hundred yards behind.
3076
3077"Jim, Jim!" I heard him shouting.
3078
3079But you may suppose I paid no heed; jumping, ducking, and breaking
3080through, I ran straight before my nose, till I could run no longer.
3081
3082
3083
3084
3085CHAPTER XIV
3086
3087THE FIRST BLOW
3088
3089
3090I was so pleased at having given the slip to Long John, that I began to
3091enjoy myself and look around me with some interest on the strange land
3092that I was in. I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes,
3093and odd, outlandish, swampy trees; and had now come out upon the skirts
3094of an open piece of undulating, sandy country, about a mile long, dotted
3095with a few pines, and a great number of contorted trees, not unlike the
3096oak in growth, but pale in the foliage, like willows. On the far side of
3097the open stood one of the hills, with two quaint, craggy peaks, shining
3098vividly in the sun.
3099
3100I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration. The isle was
3101uninhabited; my shipmates I had left behind, and nothing lived in front
3102of me but dumb brutes and fowls. I turned hither and thither among the
3103trees. Here and there were flowering plants, unknown to me; here and
3104there I saw snakes, and one raised his head from a ledge of rock and
3105hissed at me with a noise not unlike the spinning of a top. Little did I
3106suppose that he was a deadly enemy, and that the noise was the famous
3107rattle.
3108
3109Then I came to a long thicket of these oak-like trees--live, or
3110evergreen, oaks, I heard afterward they should be called--which grew low
3111along the sand like brambles, the boughs curiously twisted, the foliage
3112compact, like thatch. The thicket stretched down from the top of one of
3113the sandy knolls, spreading and growing taller as it went, until it
3114reached the margin of the broad, reedy fen, through which the nearest of
3115the little rivers soaked its way into the anchorage. The marsh was
3116steaming in the strong sun, and the outline of the Spy-glass trembled
3117through the haze.
3118
3119All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among the bulrushes; a
3120wild duck flew up with a quack, another followed, and soon over the
3121whole surface of the marsh a great cloud of birds hung screaming and
3122circling in the air. I judged at once that some of my shipmates must be
3123drawing near along the borders of the fen. Nor was I deceived, for soon
3124I heard the very distant and low tones of a human voice, which, as I
3125continued to give ear, grew steadily louder and nearer.
3126
3127This put me in great fear, and I crawled under cover of the nearest
3128live-oak, and squatted there, hearkening, as silent as a mouse.
3129
3130Another voice answered; and then the first voice, which I now recognized
3131to be Silver's, once more took up the story, and ran on for a long while
3132in a stream, only now and again interrupted by the other. By the sound
3133they must have been talking earnestly, and almost fiercely, but no
3134distinct word came to my hearing.
3135
3136At last the speakers seemed to have paused, and perhaps to have sat
3137down, for not only did they cease to draw any nearer, but the birds
3138themselves began to grow more quiet, and to settle again to their places
3139in the swamp.
3140
3141And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my business; that since I
3142had been so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, the
3143least I could do was to overhear them at their councils, and that my
3144plain and obvious duty was to draw as close as I could manage, under
3145the favorable ambush of the crouching trees.
3146
3147I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly, not only by
3148the sound of their voices, but by the behavior of the few birds that
3149still hung in alarm above the heads of the intruders.
3150
3151Crawling on all-fours, I made steadily but slowly towards them, till at
3152last, raising my head to an aperture among the leaves, I could see clear
3153down into a little green dell beside the marsh, and closely set about
3154with trees, where Long John Silver and another of the crew stood face to
3155face in conversation.
3156
3157The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown his hat beside him on the
3158ground, and his great, smooth, blonde face, all shining with heat, was
3159lifted to the other man's in a kind of appeal.
3160
3161"Mate," he was saying, "it's because I thinks gold dust of you--gold
3162dust, and you may lay to that! If I hadn't took to you like pitch, do
3163you think I'd have been here a-warning of you? All's up--you can't make
3164nor mend; it's to save your neck that I'm a-speaking, and if one of the
3165wild 'uns knew it, where 'ud I be, Tom--now tell me, where 'ud I be?"
3166
3167"Silver," said the other man--and I observed he was not only red in the
3168face, but spoke as hoarse as a crow, and his voice shook, too, like a
3169taut rope--"Silver," says he, "you're old, and you're honest, or has the
3170name for it; and you've money, too, which lots of poor sailors hasn't;
3171and you're brave, or I'm mistook. And will you tell me you'll let
3172yourself be led away with that kind of a mess of swabs? Not you! As sure
3173as God sees me, I'd sooner lose my hand. If I turn agin my dooty--"
3174
3175And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise. I had found one
3176of the honest hands--well, here, at that same moment, came news of
3177another. Far away out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound
3178like the cry of anger, then another on the back of it, and then one
3179horrid, long-drawn scream. The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it a
3180score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose again, darkening
3181heaven with a simultaneous whir; and long after that death-yell was
3182still ringing in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, and
3183only the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant
3184surges disturbed the languor of the afternoon.
3185
3186Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur; but Silver had
3187not winked an eye. He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch,
3188watching his companion like a snake about to spring.
3189
3190"John!" said the sailor, stretching out his hand.
3191
3192"Hands off!" cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me, with
3193the speed and security of a trained gymnast.
3194
3195"Hands off, if you like, John Silver," said the other. "It's a black
3196conscience that can make you feared of me. But, in heaven's name, tell
3197me what was that?"
3198
3199"That?" returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than ever, his eye a
3200mere pin-point in his big face, but gleaming like a crumb of glass.
3201"That? Oh, I reckon that'll be Alan."
3202
3203And at this poor Tom flashed out like a hero.
3204
3205"Alan!" he cried. "Then rest his soul for a true seaman! And as for you,
3206John Silver, long you've been a mate of mine, but you're mate of mine no
3207more. If I die like a dog I'll die in my dooty. You've killed Alan,
3208have you? Kill me, too, if you can. But I defies you."
3209
3210And with that this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook and
3211set off walking for the beach. But he was not destined to go far. With a
3212cry John seized the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of his
3213armpit, and sent that uncouth missile hurling through the air. It struck
3214poor Tom, point foremost, and with stunning violence, right between the
3215shoulders in the middle of his back. His hands flew up, he gave a sort
3216of gasp and fell.
3217
3218Whether he was injured much or little, none could ever tell. Like
3219enough, to judge from the sound, his back was broken on the spot. But he
3220had no time given him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey, even
3221without leg or crutch, was on the top of him next moment, and had twice
3222buried his knife up to the hilt in that defenseless body. From my place
3223of ambush I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the blows.
3224
3225I do not know what it rightly is to faint, but I do know that for the
3226next little while the whole world swam away from before me in a whirling
3227mist; Silver and the birds and the tall Spy-glass hilltop going round
3228and round and topsy-turvy before my eyes, and all manner of bells
3229ringing, and distant voices shouting in my ear.
3230
3231When I came again to myself the monster had pulled himself together, his
3232crutch under his arm, his hat upon his head. Just before him Tom lay
3233motionless upon the sward; but the murderer minded him not a whit,
3234cleansing his blood-stained knife the while upon a whisp of grass.
3235Everything else was unchanged, the sun still shining mercilessly upon
3236the steaming marsh and the tall pinnacle of the mountain, and I could
3237scarce persuade myself that murder had actually been done and a human
3238life cruelly cut short a moment since, before my eyes.
3239
3240But now John put his hand into his pocket, brought out a whistle, and
3241blew upon it several modulated blasts, that rang far across the heated
3242air. I could not tell, of course, the meaning of the signal, but it
3243instantly awoke my fears. More men would be coming. I might be
3244discovered. They had already slain two of the honest people; after Tom
3245and Alan, might not I come next?
3246
3247Instantly I began to extricate myself and crawl back again, with what
3248speed and silence I could manage, to the more open portion of the wood.
3249As I did so I could hear hails coming and going between the old
3250buccaneer and his comrades, and this sound of danger lent me wings. As
3251soon as I was clear of the thicket, I ran as I never ran before, scarce
3252minding the direction of my flight, so long as it led me from the
3253murderers, and as I ran, fear grew and grew upon me, until it turned
3254into a kind of frenzy.
3255
3256Indeed, could anyone be more entirely lost than I? When the gun fired,
3257how should I dare to go down to the boats among those fiends, still
3258smoking from their crime? Would not the first of them who saw me wring
3259my neck like a snipe's? Would not my absence itself be an evidence to
3260them of my alarm, and therefore of my fatal knowledge? It was all over,
3261I thought. Good-by to the _Hispaniola_, good-by to the squire, the
3262doctor, and the captain. There was nothing left for me but death by
3263starvation, or death by the hands of the mutineers.
3264
3265All this while, as I say, I was still running, and, without taking any
3266notice, I had drawn near to the foot of the little hill with the two
3267peaks, and had got into a part of the island where the wild oaks grew
3268more widely apart, and seemed more like forest trees in their bearing
3269and dimensions. Mingled with these were a few scattered pines, some
3270fifty, some nearer seventy, feet high. The air, too, smelled more fresh
3271than down beside the marsh.
3272
3273And here a fresh alarm brought me to a standstill with a thumping heart.
3274
3275[Illustration]
3276
3277
3278
3279
3280CHAPTER XV
3281
3282THE MAN OF THE ISLAND
3283
3284
3285From the side of the hill, which was here steep and stony, a spout of
3286gravel was dislodged, and fell rattling and bounding through the trees.
3287My eyes turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leap
3288with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was, whether
3289bear, or man, or monkey, I could in nowise tell. It seemed dark and
3290shaggy; more I knew not. But the terror of this new apparition brought
3291me to a stand.
3292
3293I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides: behind me the murderers,
3294before me this lurking nondescript. And immediately I began to prefer
3295the dangers that I knew to those I knew not. Silver himself appeared
3296less terrible in contrast with this creature of the woods, and I turned
3297on my heel, and, looking sharply behind me over my shoulder, began to
3298retrace my steps in the direction of the boats.
3299
3300Instantly the figure reappeared, and, making a wide circuit, began to
3301head me off. I was tired, at any rate, but had I been as fresh as when I
3302rose, I could see it was in vain for me to contend in speed with such an
3303adversary. From trunk to trunk the creature flitted like a deer, running
3304man-like on two legs, but unlike any man that I had ever seen, stooping
3305almost double as it ran. Yet a man it was! I could no longer be in doubt
3306about that.
3307
3308I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals. I was within an ace of
3309calling for help. But the mere fact that he was a man, however wild, had
3310somewhat reassured me, and my fear of Silver began to revive in
3311proportion. I stood still, therefore, and cast about for some method of
3312escape, and as I was so thinking, the recollection of my pistol flashed
3313into my mind. As soon as I remembered I was not defenseless, courage
3314glowed again in my heart, and I set my face resolutely for this man of
3315the island, and walked briskly toward him.
3316
3317He was concealed by this time, behind another tree-trunk, but he must
3318have been watching me closely, for as soon as I began to move in his
3319direction he reappeared and took a step to meet me. Then he hesitated,
3320drew back, came forward again, and, at last, to my wonder and confusion,
3321threw himself on his knees and held out his clasped hands in
3322supplication.
3323
3324At that I once more stopped.
3325
3326"Who are you?" I asked.
3327
3328"Ben Gunn," he answered, and his voice sounded hoarse and awkward, like
3329a rusty lock. "I'm poor Ben Gunn, I am; and I haven't spoke with a
3330Christian these three years."
3331
3332I could now see that he was a white man like myself, and that his
3333features were even pleasing. His skin, wherever it was exposed, was
3334burned by the sun; even his lips were black, and his fair eyes looked
3335quite startling in so dark a face. Of all the beggar-men that I had seen
3336or fancied, he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed with tatters
3337of old ships' canvas and old sea-cloth, and this extraordinary patchwork
3338was all held together by a system of the most various and incongruous
3339fastenings, brass buttons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry gaskin.
3340About his waist he wore an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was the
3341one thing solid in his whole accouterment.
3342
3343"Three years!" I cried. "Were you shipwrecked?"
3344
3345"Nay, mate," said he, "marooned."
3346
3347I had heard the word and I knew it stood for a horrible kind of
3348punishment common enough among the buccaneers, in which the offender is
3349put ashore with a little powder and shot and left behind on some
3350desolate and distant island.
3351
3352"Marooned three years agone," he continued, "and lived on goats since
3353then, and berries and oysters. Wherever a man is, says I, a man can do
3354for himself. But, mate, my heart is sore for Christian diet. You
3355mightn't happen to have a piece of cheese about you, now? No? Well,
3356many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese--toasted, mostly--and woke
3357up again, and here I were."
3358
3359"If ever I can get aboard again," said I, "you shall have cheese by the
3360stone."
3361
3362All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my jacket, smoothing my
3363hands, looking at my boots, and generally, in the intervals of his
3364speech, showing a childish pleasure in the presence of a
3365fellow-creature. But at my last words he perked up into a kind of
3366startled slyness.
3367
3368"If ever you get aboard again, says you?" he repeated. "Why, now, who's
3369to hinder you?"
3370
3371"Not you, I know," was my reply.
3372
3373"And right you was," he cried. "Now you--what do you call yourself,
3374mate?"
3375
3376"Jim," I told him.
3377
3378"Jim, Jim," says he, quite pleased, apparently. "Well, now, Jim, I've
3379lived that rough as you'd be ashamed to hear of. Now, for instance, you
3380wouldn't think I had had a pious mother--to look at me?" he asked.
3381
3382"Why, no, not in particular," I answered.
3383
3384"Ah, well," said he, "but I had--remarkable pious. And I was a civil,
3385pious boy, and could rattle off my catechism that fast as you couldn't
3386tell one word from another. And here's what it come to, Jim, and it
3387begun with chuck-farthen on the blessed gravestones! That's what it
3388begun with, but it went further'n that, and so my mother told me, and
3389predicked the whole, she did, the pious woman. But it were Providence
3390that put me here. I've thought it all out in this here lonely island and
3391I'm back on piety. You can't catch me tasting rum so much, but just a
3392thimbleful for luck, of course, the first chance I have. I'm bound I'll
3393be good, and I see the way to. And, Jim"--looking all round him and
3394lowering his voice to a whisper--"I'm rich."
3395
3396I now felt sure that the poor fellow had gone crazy in his solitude, and
3397I suppose I must have shown the feeling in my face, for he repeated the
3398statement hotly:
3399
3400"Rich! rich! I says. And I'll tell you what, I'll make a man of you,
3401Jim. Ah, Jim, you'll bless your stars, you will, you was the first that
3402found me!"
3403
3404And at this there came suddenly a lowering shadow over his face and he
3405tightened his grasp upon my hand and raised a forefinger threateningly
3406before my eyes.
3407
3408"Now, Jim, you tell me true; that ain't Flint's ship?" he asked.
3409
3410At this I had a happy inspiration. I began to believe that I had found
3411an ally and I answered him at once.
3412
3413"It's not Flint's ship and Flint is dead, but I'll tell you true, as
3414you ask me--there are some of Flint's hands aboard; worse luck for the
3415rest of us."
3416
3417"Not a man--with one--leg?" he gasped.
3418
3419"Silver?" I asked.
3420
3421"Ah, Silver!" says he, "that were his name."
3422
3423"He's the cook, and the ringleader, too."
3424
3425He was still holding me by the wrist, and at that he gave it quite a
3426wring. "If you was sent by Long John," he said, "I'm as good as pork and
3427I know it. But where was you, do you suppose?"
3428
3429I had made my mind up in a moment, and by way of answer told him the
3430whole story of our voyage and the predicament in which we found
3431ourselves. He heard me with the keenest interest, and when I had done he
3432patted me on the head.
3433
3434"You're a good lad, Jim," he said, "and you're all in a clove hitch,
3435ain't you? Well, you just put your trust in Ben Gunn--Ben Gunn's the man
3436to do it. Would you think it likely, now, that your squire would prove a
3437liberal-minded one in case of help--him being in a clove hitch, as you
3438remark?"
3439
3440I told him the squire was the most liberal of men.
3441
3442"Ay, but you see," returned Ben Gunn, "I didn't mean giving me a gate to
3443keep and a suit of livery clothes, and such; that's not my mark, Jim.
3444What I mean is, would he be likely to come down to the toon of, say one
3445thousand pounds out of money that's as good as a man's own already?"
3446
3447"I am sure he would," said I. "As it was, all hands were to share."
3448
3449"_And_ a passage home?" he added, with a look of great shrewdness.
3450
3451"Why," I cried, "the squire's a gentleman. And, besides, if we got rid
3452of the others, we should want you to help work the vessel home."
3453
3454"Ah," said he, "so you would." And he seemed very much relieved.
3455
3456"Now, I'll tell you what," he went on. "So much I'll tell you, and no
3457more. I were in Flint's ship when he buried the treasure; he and six
3458along--six strong seamen. They was ashore nigh on a week, and us
3459standing off and on in the old _Walrus_. One fine day up went the
3460signal, and here come Flint by himself in a little boat, and his head
3461done up in a blue scarf. The sun was getting up, and mortal white he
3462looked about the cutwater. But, there he was, you mind, and the six all
3463dead--dead and buried. How had he done it, not a man aboard us could
3464make out. It was battle, murder, and sudden death, leastways--him
3465against six. Billy Bones was the mate; Long John, he was quartermaster;
3466and they asked him where the treasure was. 'Ah,' says he, 'you can go
3467ashore, if you like, and stay,' he says; 'but as for the ship, she'll
3468beat up for more, by thunder!' That's what he said.
3469
3470"Well, I was in another ship three years back, and we sighted this
3471island. 'Boys,' said I, 'here's Flint's treasure; let's land and find
3472it.' The cap'n was displeased at that; but my messmates were all of a
3473mind, and landed. Twelve days they looked for it, and every day they had
3474the worse word for me, until one fine morning all hands went aboard. 'As
3475for you, Benjamin Gunn,' says they, 'here's a musket,' they says, 'and a
3476spade, and a pickax. You can stay here and find Flint's money for
3477yourself,' they says.
3478
3479"Well, Jim, three years have I been here, and not a bite of Christian
3480diet from that day to this. But now, you look here; look at me. Do I
3481look like a man before the mast? No, says you. Nor I weren't, neither, I
3482says."
3483
3484And with that he winked and pinched me hard.
3485
3486"Just you mention them words to your squire, Jim," he went on. "Nor he
3487weren't neither--that's the words. Three years he were the man of this
3488island, light and dark, fair and rain; and sometimes he would, may be,
3489think upon a prayer (says you), and sometimes he would, may be, think of
3490his old mother, so be as she's alive (you'll say); but the most part of
3491Gunn's time (this is what you'll say)--the most part of his time was
3492took up with another matter. And then you'll give him a nip, like I do."
3493
3494And he pinched me again, in the most confidential manner.
3495
3496"Then," he continued, "then you'll up, and you'll say this: Gunn is a
3497good man (you'll say), and he puts a precious sight more confidence--a
3498precious sight, mind that--in a gen'leman born than in these gen'lemen
3499of fortune, having been one hisself."
3500
3501"Well," I said, "I don't understand one word that you've been saying.
3502But that's neither here nor there; for how am I to get on board?"
3503
3504"Ah," said he, "that's the hitch, for sure. Well, there's my boat that I
3505made with my two hands. I keep her under the white rock. If the worst
3506come to the worst, we might try that after dark. Hi!" he broke out,
3507"what's that?"
3508
3509For just then, although the sun had still an hour or two to run, all the
3510echoes of the island awoke and bellowed to the thunder of a cannon.
3511
3512"They have begun to fight!" I cried. "Follow me!"
3513
3514And I began to run toward the anchorage, my terrors all forgotten;
3515while, close at my side, the marooned man in his goat-skins trotted
3516easily and lightly.
3517
3518"Left, left," says he; "keep to your left hand, mate Jim! Under the
3519trees with you! There's where I killed my first goat. They don't come
3520down here now; they're all mastheaded on them mountings for the fear of
3521Benjamin Gunn. Ah! and there's the cetemery"--cemetery he must have
3522meant. "You see the mounds? I come here and prayed, nows and thens, when
3523I thought maybe a Sunday would be about doo. It weren't quite a chapel,
3524but it seemed more solemn like; and then, says you, Ben Gunn was
3525shorthanded--no chapling, nor so much as a Bible and a flag, you says."
3526
3527So he kept talking as I ran, neither expecting nor receiving any answer.
3528
3529The cannon-shot was followed, after a considerable interval, by a volley
3530of small arms.
3531
3532Another pause, and then, not a quarter of a mile in front of me, I
3533beheld the Union Jack flutter in the air above a wood.
3534
3535
3536
3537
3538PART IV
3539
3540THE STOCKADE
3541
3542
3543
3544
3545CHAPTER XVI
3546
3547NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED
3548
3549
3550It was about half-past one--three bells in the sea phrase--that the two
3551boats went ashore from the _Hispaniola_. The captain, the squire, and I
3552were talking matters over in the cabin. Had there been a breath of wind,
3553we should have fallen on the six mutineers who were left aboard with us,
3554slipped our cable, and away to sea. But the wind was wanting; and, to
3555complete our helplessness, down came Hunter with the news that Jim
3556Hawkins had slipped into a boat and was gone ashore with the rest.
3557
3558It had never occurred to us to doubt Jim Hawkins, but we were alarmed
3559for his safety. With the men in the temper they were in, it seemed an
3560even chance if we should see the lad again. We ran on deck. The pitch
3561was bubbling in the seams; the nasty stench of the place turned me sick;
3562if ever a man smelled fever and dysentery it was in that abominable
3563anchorage. The six scoundrels were sitting grumbling under a sail in the
3564forecastle; ashore we could see the gigs made fast, and a man sitting in
3565each, hard by where the river runs in. One of them was whistling
3566"Lillibullero."
3567
3568Waiting was a strain, and it was decided that Hunter and I should go
3569ashore with the jolly-boat, in quest of information.
3570
3571The gigs had leaned to their right, but Hunter and I pulled straight in,
3572in the direction of the stockade upon the chart. The two who were left
3573guarding their boats seemed in a bustle at our appearance;
3574"Lillibullero" stopped off, and I could see the pair discussing what
3575they ought to do. Had they gone and told Silver, all might have turned
3576out differently; but they had their orders, I suppose, and decided to
3577sit quietly where they were and hark back again to "Lillibullero."
3578
3579There was a slight bend in the coast, and I steered so as to put it
3580between us. Even before we landed we had thus lost sight of the gigs; I
3581jumped out and came as near running as I durst, with a big silk
3582handkerchief under my hat for coolness' sake, and a brace of pistols
3583ready primed for safety.
3584
3585I had not gone a hundred yards when I came on the stockade.
3586
3587This was how it was: A spring of clear water arose at the top of a
3588knoll. Well, on the knoll, and inclosing the spring, they had clapped a
3589stout log house, fit to hold two-score people on a pinch, and loopholed
3590for musketry on every side. All around this they had cleared a wide
3591space, and then the thing was completed by a paling six feet high,
3592without door or opening, too strong to pull down without time and labor,
3593and too open to shelter the besiegers. The people in the log house had
3594them in every way; they stood quiet in the shelter and shot the others
3595like partridges. All they wanted was a good watch and food; for, short
3596of a complete surprise, they might have held the place against a
3597regiment.
3598
3599What particularly took my fancy was the spring. For, though we had a
3600good place of it in the cabin of the _Hispaniola_, with plenty of arms
3601and ammunition, and things to eat, and excellent wines, there had been
3602one thing overlooked--we had no water. I was thinking this over, when
3603there came ringing over the island the cry of a man at the point of
3604death. I was not new to violent death--I have served his Royal Highness
3605the Duke of Cumberland, and got a wound myself at Fontenoy--but I know
3606my pulse went dot and carry one. "Jim Hawkins is gone," was my first
3607thought.
3608
3609It is something to have been an old soldier, but more still to have been
3610a doctor. There is no time to dilly-dally in our work. And so now I made
3611up my mind instantly, and with no time lost returned to the shore and
3612jumped on board the jolly-boat.
3613
3614By good fortune Hunter pulled a good oar. We made the water fly, and the
3615boat was soon alongside and I aboard the schooner.
3616
3617I found them all shaken, as was natural. The squire was sitting down, as
3618white as a sheet, thinking of the harm he had led us to, the good soul!
3619and one of the six forecastle hands was little better.
3620
3621"There's a man," said Captain Smollett, nodding toward him, "new to this
3622work. He came nigh-hand fainting, doctor, when he heard the cry. Another
3623touch of the rudder and that man would join us."
3624
3625I told my plan to the captain, and between us we settled on the details
3626of its accomplishment.
3627
3628We put old Redruth in the gallery between the cabin and the forecastle,
3629with three or four loaded muskets and a mattress for protection. Hunter
3630brought the boat round under the stern port, and Joyce and I set to work
3631loading her with powder, tins, muskets, bags of biscuits, kegs of pork,
3632a cask of cognac, and my invaluable medicine chest.
3633
3634In the meantime the squire and the captain stayed on deck, and the
3635latter hailed the coxswain, who was the principal man aboard.
3636
3637"Mr. Hands," he said, "here are two of us with a brace of pistols each.
3638If any one of you six make a signal of any description, that man's
3639dead."
3640
3641They were a good deal taken aback; and, after a little consultation, one
3642and all tumbled down the fore companion, thinking, no doubt, to take us
3643on the rear. But when they saw Redruth waiting for them in the sparred
3644gallery, they went about ship at once, and a head popped out again on
3645deck.
3646
3647"Down, dog!" cried the captain.
3648
3649And the head popped back again, and we heard no more for the time of
3650these six very faint-hearted seamen.
3651
3652By this time, tumbling things in as they came, we had the jolly-boat
3653loaded as much as we dared. Joyce and I got out through the stern port,
3654and we made for shore again, as fast as oars could take us.
3655
3656This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along shore. "Lillibullero"
3657was dropped again, and just before we lost sight of them behind the
3658little point, one of them whipped ashore and disappeared. I had half a
3659mind to change my plan and destroy their boats, but I feared that Silver
3660and the others might be close at hand, and all might very well be lost
3661by trying for too much.
3662
3663We had soon touched land in the same place as before and set to work to
3664provision the blockhouse. All three made the first journey, heavily
3665laden, and tossed our stores over the palisade. Then, leaving Joyce to
3666guard them--one man, to be sure, but with half a dozen muskets--Hunter
3667and I returned to the jolly-boat, and loaded ourselves once more. So we
3668proceeded, without pausing to take breath, till the whole cargo was
3669bestowed, when the two servants took up their position in the
3670blockhouse, and I, with all my power, sculled back to the _Hispaniola_.
3671
3672That we should have risked a second boat load seems more daring than it
3673really was. They had the advantage of numbers, of course, but we had the
3674advantage of arms. Not one of the men ashore had a musket, and before
3675they could get within range for pistol shooting, we flattered ourselves
3676we should be able to give a good account of a half dozen at least.
3677
3678The squire was waiting for me at the stern window, all his faintness
3679gone from him. He caught the painter and made it fast, and we fell to
3680loading the boat for our very lives. Pork, powder, and biscuit was the
3681cargo, with only a musket and a cutlass apiece for squire and me and
3682Redruth and the captain. The rest of the arms and powder we dropped
3683overboard in two fathoms and a half of water, so that we could see the
3684bright steel shining far below us in the sun on the clean, sandy bottom.
3685
3686By this time the tide was beginning to ebb, and the ship was swinging
3687round to her anchor. Voices were heard faintly halloaing in the
3688direction of the two gigs; and though this reassured us for Joyce and
3689Hunter, who were well to the eastward, it warned our party to be off.
3690
3691Redruth retreated from his place in the gallery and dropped into the
3692boat, which we then brought round to the ship's counter, to be handier
3693for Captain Smollett.
3694
3695"Now, men," said he, "do you hear me?"
3696
3697There was no answer from the forecastle.
3698
3699"It's to you, Abraham Gray--it's to you I am speaking."
3700
3701Still no reply.
3702
3703"Gray," resumed Mr. Smollett, a little louder, "I am leaving this ship,
3704and I order you to follow your captain. I know you are a good man at
3705bottom, and I dare say not one of the lot of you's as bad as he makes
3706out. I have my watch here in my hand; I give you thirty seconds to join
3707me in."
3708
3709There was a pause.
3710
3711"Come, my fine fellow," continued the captain, "don't hang so long in
3712stays. I'm risking my life and the lives of these good gentlemen every
3713second."
3714
3715There was a sudden scuffle, a sound of blows, and out burst Abraham Gray
3716with a knife-cut on the side of the cheek, and came running to the
3717captain, like a dog to the whistle.
3718
3719"I'm with you, sir," said he.
3720
3721And the next moment he and the captain had dropped aboard of us, and we
3722had shoved off and given way.
3723
3724We were clear out of the ship, but not yet ashore in our stockade.
3725
3726
3727
3728
3729CHAPTER XVII
3730
3731NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP
3732
3733
3734This fifth trip was quite different from any of the others. In the first
3735place, the little gallipot of a boat that we were in was gravely
3736overloaded. Five grown men, and three of them--Trelawney, Redruth, and
3737the captain--over six feet high, was already more than she was meant to
3738carry. Add to that the powder, pork, and the bread-bags. The gunwale was
3739lipping astern. Several times we shipped a little water, and my breeches
3740and the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a
3741hundred yards.
3742
3743The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little more
3744evenly. All the same, we were afraid to breathe.
3745
3746In the second place, the ebb was now making--a strong, rippling current
3747running westward through the basin, and then south'ard and seaward down
3748the straits by which we had entered in the morning. Even the ripples
3749were a danger to our overloaded craft, but the worst of it was that we
3750were swept out of our true course, and away from our proper
3751landing-place behind the point. If we let the current have its way we
3752should come ashore beside the gigs, where the pirates might appear at
3753any moment.
3754
3755"I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir," said I to the captain. I
3756was steering, while he and Redruth, two fresh men, were at the oars.
3757"The tide keeps washing her down. Could you pull a little stronger?"
3758
3759"Not without swamping the boat," said he. "You must bear up, sir, if you
3760please--bear up until you see you're gaining."
3761
3762I tried, and found by experiment that the tide kept sweeping us westward
3763until I had laid her head due east, or just about right angles to the
3764way we ought to go.
3765
3766"We'll never get ashore at this rate," said I.
3767
3768"If it's the only course that we can lie, sir, we must even lie it,"
3769returned the captain. "We must keep upstream. You see, sir," he went on,
3770"if once we dropped to leeward of the landing-place, it's hard to say
3771where we should get ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by the
3772gigs; whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then we can
3773dodge back along the shore."
3774
3775"The current's less a'ready, sir," said the man Gray, who was sitting in
3776the foresheets; "you can ease her off a bit."
3777
3778"Thank you, my man," said I, quite as if nothing had happened, for we
3779had all quietly made up our minds to treat him like one of ourselves.
3780
3781Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I thought his voice was a
3782little changed.
3783
3784"The gun!" said he.
3785
3786"I have thought of that," said I, for I made sure he was thinking of a
3787bombardment of the fort. "They could never get the gun ashore, and if
3788they did, they could never haul it through the woods."
3789
3790"Look astern, doctor," replied the captain.
3791
3792We had entirely forgotten the long nine; and there, to our horror, were
3793the five rogues busy about her, getting off her jacket, as they called
3794the stout tarpaulin cover under which she sailed. Not only that, but it
3795flashed into my mind at the same moment that the round shot and the
3796powder for the gun had been left behind, and a stroke with an ax would
3797put it all into the possession of the evil ones aboard.
3798
3799"Israel was Flint's gunner," said Gray, hoarsely.
3800
3801At any risk, we put the boat's head direct for the landing-place. By
3802this time we had got so far out of the run of the current that we kept
3803steerage way even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I could
3804keep her steady for the goal. But the worst of it was, that with the
3805course I now held, we turned our broadside instead of our stern to the
3806_Hispaniola_, and offered a target like a barn door.
3807
3808I could hear, as well as see, that brandy-faced rascal, Israel Hands,
3809plumping down a round shot on the deck.
3810
3811"Who's the best shot?" asked the captain.
3812
3813"Mr. Trelawney, out and away," said I.
3814
3815"Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of those men, sir?
3816Hands, if possible," said the captain.
3817
3818Trelawney was as cold as steel. He looked to the priming of his gun.
3819
3820"Now," cried the captain, "easy with that gun, sir, or you'll swamp the
3821boat. All hands stand by to trim her when he aims."
3822
3823The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and we leaned over to the
3824other side to keep the balance, and all was so nicely contrived that we
3825did not ship a drop.
3826
3827[Illustration: _They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the
3828swivel_ (Page 125)]
3829
3830They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the swivel, and
3831Hands, who was at the muzzle, with the rammer, was, in consequence, the
3832most exposed. However, we had no luck; for just as Trelawney fired,
3833down he stooped, the ball whistling over him, and it was one of the
3834other four who fell.
3835
3836The cry he gave was echoed, not only by his companions on board, but by
3837a great number of voices from the shore, and looking in that direction I
3838saw the other pirates trooping out from among the trees and tumbling
3839into their places in the boats.
3840
3841"Here come the gigs, sir," said I.
3842
3843"Give way, then," said the captain. "We mustn't mind if we swamp her
3844now. If we can't get ashore, all's up."
3845
3846"Only one of the gigs is being manned, sir," I added; "the crew of the
3847other is most likely going around by shore to cut us off."
3848
3849"They'll have a hot run, sir," returned the captain. "Jack ashore, you
3850know. It's not them I mind; it's the round shot. Carpet bowls! My lady's
3851maid couldn't miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we'll
3852hold water."
3853
3854In the meantime we had been making headway at a good pace for a boat so
3855overloaded, and we had shipped but little water in the process. We were
3856now close in; thirty or forty strokes and we should beach her, for the
3857ebb had already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below the clustering
3858trees. The gig was no longer to be feared; the little point had already
3859concealed it from our eyes. The ebb-tide, which had so cruelly delayed
3860us, was now making reparation, and delaying our assailants. The one
3861source of danger was the gun.
3862
3863"If I durst," said the captain, "I'd stop and pick off another man."
3864
3865But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay their shot. They
3866had never so much as looked at their fallen comrade, though he was not
3867dead, and I could see him trying to crawl away.
3868
3869"Ready!" cried the squire.
3870
3871"Hold!" cried the captain, quick as an echo.
3872
3873And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that sent her astern bodily
3874under water. The report fell in at the same instant of time. This was
3875the first that Jim heard, the sound of the squire's shot not having
3876reached him. When the ball passed, not one of us precisely knew, but I
3877fancy it must have been over our heads, and that the wind of it may have
3878contributed to our disaster.
3879
3880At any rate the boat sunk by the stern, quite gently, in three feet of
3881water, leaving the captain and myself, facing each other, on our feet.
3882The other three took complete headers, and came up again, drenched and
3883bubbling.
3884
3885So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, and we could wade
3886ashore in safety. But there were all our stores at the bottom, and, to
3887make things worse, only two guns out of five remained in a state for
3888service. Mine I had snatched from my knees, and held over my head, by a
3889sort of instinct. As for the captain, he had carried his over his
3890shoulder by a bandoleer, and, like a wise man, lock uppermost. The other
3891three had gone down with the boat. To add to our concern, we heard
3892voices already drawing near us in the woods along the shore; and we had
3893not only the danger of being cut off from the stockade in our
3894half-crippled state, but the fear before us whether, if Hunter and Joyce
3895were attacked by half a dozen, they would have the sense and conduct to
3896stand firm. Hunter was steady, that we knew; Joyce was a doubtful
3897case--a pleasant, polite man for a valet, and to brush one's clothes,
3898but not entirely fitted for a man-of-war.
3899
3900With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as fast as we could, leaving
3901behind us the poor jolly-boat, and a good half of all our powder and
3902provisions.
3903
3904
3905
3906
3907CHAPTER XVIII
3908
3909NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--END OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING
3910
3911
3912We made our best speed across the strip of wood that now divided us from
3913the stockade, and at every step we took the voices of the buccaneers
3914rang nearer. Soon we could hear their footfalls as they ran, and the
3915cracking of the branches as they breasted across a bit of thicket.
3916
3917I began to see we should have a brush for it in earnest, and looked to
3918my priming.
3919
3920"Captain," said I, "Trelawney is the dead shot. Give him your gun; his
3921own is useless."
3922
3923They exchanged guns, and Trelawney, silent and cool, as he had been
3924since the beginning of the bustle, hung a moment on his heel to see that
3925all was fit for service. At the same time, observing Gray to be unarmed,
3926I handed him my cutlass. It did all our hearts good to see him spit in
3927his hand, knit his brows, and make the blade sing through the air. It
3928was plain from every line of his body that our new hand was worth his
3929salt.
3930
3931Forty paces farther we came to the edge of the wood and saw the stockade
3932in front of us. We struck the inclosure about the middle of the south
3933side, and, almost at the same time, seven mutineers--Job Anderson, the
3934boatswain, at their head--appeared in full cry at the southwestern
3935corner.
3936
3937They paused, as if taken aback, and before they recovered, not only the
3938squire and I, but Hunter and Joyce from the blockhouse, had time to
3939fire.
3940
3941The four shots came in rather a scattering volley, but they did the
3942business; one of the enemy actually fell, and the rest, without
3943hesitation, turned and plunged into the trees.
3944
3945After reloading we walked down the outside of the palisade to see to the
3946fallen enemy. He was stone dead--shot through the heart.
3947
3948We began to rejoice over our good success, when just at that moment a
3949pistol cracked in the bush, a ball whistled close past my ear and poor
3950Tom Redruth stumbled and fell his length on the ground. Both the squire
3951and I returned the shot, but as we had nothing to aim at, it is probable
3952we only wasted powder. Then we reloaded and turned our attention to poor
3953Tom.
3954
3955The captain and Gray were already examining him, and I saw with half an
3956eye that all was over.
3957
3958I believe the readiness of our return volley had scattered the mutineers
3959once more, for we were suffered without further molestation to get the
3960poor old gamekeeper hoisted over the stockade, and carried, groaning and
3961bleeding, into the log-house.
3962
3963Poor old fellow, he had not uttered one word of surprise, complaint,
3964fear, or even acquiescence, from the very beginning of our troubles till
3965now, when we had laid him down in the log-house to die! He had lain like
3966a Trojan behind his mattress in the gallery; he had followed every order
3967silently, doggedly, and well; he was the oldest of our party by a score
3968of years; and now, sullen, old, serviceable servant, it was he that was
3969to die.
3970
3971The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and kissed his hand,
3972crying like a child.
3973
3974"Be I going, doctor?" he asked.
3975
3976"Tom, my man," said I, "you're going home."
3977
3978"I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first," he replied.
3979
3980"Tom," said the squire, "say you forgive me, won't you?"
3981
3982"Would that be respectful like, from me to you, squire?" was the answer.
3983"Howsoever, so be it, amen!"
3984
3985After a little while of silence he said he thought somebody might read a
3986prayer. "It's the custom, sir," he added, apologetically. And not long
3987after, without another word, he passed away.
3988
3989In the meantime the captain, whom I had observed to be wonderfully
3990swollen about the chest and pockets, had turned out a great many various
3991stores--the British colors, a Bible, a coil of stoutish rope, pen, ink,
3992the log-book, and pounds of tobacco. He had found a longish fir tree
3993lying felled and cleared in the inclosure, and, with the help of Hunter,
3994he had set it up at the corner of the log-house, where the trunks
3995crossed and made an angle. Then, climbing on the roof, he had with his
3996own hand bent and run up the colors.
3997
3998This seemed mightily to relieve him. He re-entered the log-house and set
3999about counting up the stores, as if nothing else existed. But he had an
4000eye on Tom's passage for all that, and as soon as all was over came
4001forward with another flag and reverently spread it on the body.
4002
4003"Don't you take on, sir," he said, shaking the squire's hand. "All's
4004well with him; no fear for a hand that's been shot down in his duty to
4005captain and owner. It mayn't be good divinity, but it's a fact."
4006
4007Then he pulled me aside.
4008
4009"Doctor Livesey," he said, "in how many weeks do you and squire expect
4010the consort?"
4011
4012I told him it was a question, not of weeks, but of months; that if we
4013were not back by the end of August Blandly was to send to find us, but
4014neither sooner nor later. "You can calculate for yourself," I said.
4015
4016"Why, yes," returned the captain, scratching his head, "and making a
4017large allowance, sir, for all the gifts of Providence, I should say we
4018were pretty close hauled."
4019
4020"How do you mean?" I asked.
4021
4022"It's a pity, sir, we lost that second load. That's what I mean,"
4023replied the captain. "As for powder and shot, we'll do. But the rations
4024are short, very short--so short, Doctor Livesey, that we're perhaps as
4025well without that extra mouth."
4026
4027And he pointed to the dead body under the flag.
4028
4029Just then, with a roar and a whistle, a round shot passed high above the
4030roof of the log-house and plumped far beyond us in the wood.
4031
4032"Oho!" said the captain. "Blaze away! You've little enough powder
4033already, my lads."
4034
4035At the second trial the aim was better and the ball descended inside the
4036stockade, scattering a cloud of sand, but doing no further damage.
4037
4038"Captain," said the squire, "the house is quite invisible from the ship.
4039It must be the flag they are aiming at. Would it not be wiser to take it
4040in?"
4041
4042"Strike my colors!" cried the captain. "No, sir, not I," and as soon as
4043he had said the words I think we all agreed with him. For it was not
4044only a piece of stout, seamanly good feeling; it was good policy
4045besides, and showed our enemies that we despised their cannonade.
4046
4047All through the evening they kept thundering away. Ball after ball flew
4048over or fell short, or kicked up the sand in the inclosure; but they had
4049to fire so high that the shot fell dead and buried itself in the soft
4050sand. We had no ricochet to fear; and though one popped in through the
4051roof of the log-house and out again through the floor, we soon got used
4052to that sort of horse-play and minded it no more than cricket.
4053
4054"There is one thing good about all this," observed the captain; "the
4055wood in front of us is likely clear. The ebb has made a good while; our
4056stores should be uncovered. Volunteers to go and bring in pork."
4057
4058Gray and Hunter were the first to come forward. Well armed, they stole
4059out of the stockade, but it proved a useless mission. The mutineers were
4060bolder than we fancied, or they put more trust in Israel's gunnery, for
4061four or five of them were busy carrying off our stores and wading out
4062with them to one of the gigs that lay close by, pulling an oar or so to
4063hold her steady against the current. Silver was in the stern-sheets in
4064command, and every man of them was now provided with a musket from some
4065secret magazine of their own.
4066
4067The captain sat down to his log, and here is the beginning of the entry:
4068
4069 "Alexander Smollett, master; David Livesey, ship's doctor; Abraham
4070 Gray, carpenter's mate; John Trelawney, owner; John Hunter and
4071 Richard Joyce, owner's servants, landsmen--being all that is left
4072 faithful of the ship's company--with stores for ten days at short
4073 rations, came ashore this day and flew British colors on the
4074 log-house in Treasure Island. Thomas Redruth, owner's servant,
4075 landsman, shot by the mutineers; James Hawkins, cabin-boy--"
4076
4077And at the same time I was wondering over poor Jim Hawkins' fate.
4078
4079A hail on the land side.
4080
4081"Somebody hailing us," said Hunter, who was on guard.
4082
4083"Doctor! squire! captain! Hallo, Hunter, is that you?" came the cries.
4084
4085And I ran to the door in time to see Jim Hawkins, safe and sound, come
4086climbing over the stockade.
4087
4088[Illustration]
4089
4090
4091
4092
4093CHAPTER XIX
4094
4095NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS--THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE
4096
4097
4098As soon as Ben Gunn saw the colors he came to a halt, stopped me by the
4099arm and sat down.
4100
4101"Now," said he, "there's your friends, sure enough."
4102
4103"Far more likely it's the mutineers," I answered.
4104
4105"That!" he cried. "Why, in a place like this, where nobody puts in but
4106gen'lemen of fortune, Silver would fly the Jolly Roger, you don't make
4107no doubt of that. No, that's your friends. There's been blows, too, and
4108I reckon your friends has had the best of it; and here they are ashore
4109in the old stockade, as was made years and years ago by Flint. Ah, he
4110was the man to have a headpiece, was Flint! Barring rum, his match was
4111never seen. He were afraid of none, not he; on'y Silver--Silver was that
4112genteel."
4113
4114"Well," said I, "that may be so, and so be it; all the more reason that
4115I should hurry on and join my friends."
4116
4117"Nay, mate," returned Ben, "not you. You're a good boy, or I'm mistook;
4118but you're on'y a boy, all told. Now Ben Gunn is fly. Rum wouldn't bring
4119me there, where you're going--not rum wouldn't, till I see your born
4120gen'leman, and gets it on his word of honor. And you won't forget my
4121words: 'A precious sight' (that's what you'll say), 'a precious sight
4122more confidence'--and then nips him."
4123
4124And he pinched me the third time with the same air of cleverness.
4125
4126"And when Ben Gunn is wanted you know where to find him, Jim. Just where
4127you found him to-day. And him that comes is to have a white thing in his
4128hand; and he's to come alone. Oh! and you'll say this: 'Ben Gunn,' says
4129you, 'has reasons of his own.'"
4130
4131"Well," said I, "I believe I understand. You have something to propose,
4132and you wish to see the squire or the doctor, and you're to be found
4133where I found you. Is that all?"
4134
4135"And when? says you," he added. "Why, from about noon observation to
4136about six bells."
4137
4138"Good," says I, "and now may I go?"
4139
4140"You won't forget?" he inquired, anxiously. "Precious sight, and reasons
4141of his own, says you. Reasons of his own; that's the mainstay; as
4142between man and man. Well, then"--still holding me--"I reckon you can
4143go, Jim. And, Jim, if you was to see Silver, you wouldn't go for to sell
4144Ben Gunn? wild horses wouldn't draw it from you? No, says you. And if
4145them pirates came ashore, Jim, what would you say but there'd be widders
4146in the morning?"
4147
4148Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a cannon ball came tearing
4149through the trees and pitched in the sand, not a hundred yards from
4150where we two were talking. The next moment each of us had taken to our
4151heels in a different direction.
4152
4153For a good hour to come frequent reports shook the island, and balls
4154kept crashing through the woods. I moved from hiding-place to
4155hiding-place, always pursued, or so it seemed to me, by these terrifying
4156missiles. But toward the end of the bombardment, though still I durst
4157not venture in the direction of the stockade, where the balls fell
4158oftenest, I had begun, in a manner, to pluck up my heart again; and
4159after a long detour to the east, crept down among the shore-side trees.
4160
4161The sun had just set, the sea breeze was rustling and tumbling in the
4162woods, and ruffling the gray surface of the anchorage; the tide, too,
4163was far out, and great tracts of sand lay uncovered; the air, after the
4164heat of the day, chilled me through my jacket.
4165
4166The _Hispaniola_ still lay where she had anchored; but, sure enough,
4167there was the Jolly Roger--the black flag of piracy--flying from her
4168peak. Even as I looked there came another red flash and another report,
4169that sent the echoes clattering, and one more round shot whistled
4170through the air. It was the last of the cannonade.
4171
4172I lay for some time, watching the bustle which succeeded the attack. Men
4173were demolishing something with axes on the beach near the stockade--the
4174poor jolly-boat, I afterwards discovered. Away, near the mouth of the
4175river, a great fire was glowing among the trees, and between that point
4176and the ship one of the gigs kept coming and going, the men, whom I had
4177seen so gloomy, shouting at the oars like children. But there was a
4178sound in their voices which suggested rum.
4179
4180At length I thought I might return towards the stockade. I was pretty
4181far down on the low, sandy spit that incloses the anchorage to the east,
4182and is joined at half-water to Skeleton Island; and now, as I rose to my
4183feet, I saw, some distance farther down the spit, and rising from among
4184low bushes, an isolated rock, pretty high, and peculiarly white in
4185color. It occurred to me that this might be the white rock of which Ben
4186Gunn had spoken, and that some day or other a boat might be wanted, and
4187I should know where to look for one.
4188
4189Then I skirted among the woods until I had regained the rear, or
4190shoreward side, of the stockade, and was soon warmly welcomed by the
4191faithful party.
4192
4193I had soon told my story, and began to look about me. The log-house was
4194made of unsquared trunks of pine--roof, walls, and floor. The latter
4195stood in several places as much as a foot or a foot and a half above the
4196surface of the sand. There was a porch at the door, and under this porch
4197the little spring welled up into an artificial basin of a rather odd
4198kind--no other than a great ship's kettle of iron, with the bottom
4199knocked out, and sunk "to her bearings," as the captain said, among the
4200sand.
4201
4202Little had been left beside the framework of the house, but in one
4203corner there was a stone slab laid down by way of hearth, and an old
4204rusty iron basket to contain the fire.
4205
4206The slopes of the knoll and all the inside of the stockade had been
4207cleared of timber to build the house, and we could see by the stumps
4208what a fine and lofty grove had been destroyed. Most of the soil had
4209been washed away or buried in drift after the removal of the trees; only
4210where the streamlet ran down from the kettle a thick bed of moss and
4211some ferns and little creeping bushes were still green among the sand.
4212Very close around the stockade--too close for defense, they said--the
4213wood still flourished high and dense, all of fir on the land side, but
4214toward the sea with a large admixture of live-oaks.
4215
4216The cold evening breeze, of which I have spoken, whistled through every
4217chink of the rude building, and sprinkled the floor with a continual
4218rain of fine sand. There was sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth, sand
4219in our suppers, sand dancing in the spring at the bottom of the kettle,
4220for all the world like porridge beginning to boil. Our chimney was a
4221square hole in the roof; it was but a little part of the smoke that
4222found its way out, and the rest eddied about the house, and kept us
4223coughing and piping the eye.
4224
4225Add to this that Gray, the new man, had his face tied up in a bandage
4226for a cut he had got in breaking away from the mutineers; and that poor
4227old Tom Redruth, still unburied, lay along the wall, stiff and stark,
4228under the Union Jack.
4229
4230If we had been allowed to sit idle, we should all have fallen in the
4231blues, but Captain Smollett was never the man for that. All hands were
4232called up before him, and he divided us into watches. The doctor, and
4233Gray, and I, for one; the squire, Hunter, and Joyce upon the other.
4234Tired as we all were, two were sent out for firewood, two more were sent
4235to dig a grave for Redruth, the doctor was named cook, I was put sentry
4236at the door, and the captain himself went from one to another, keeping
4237up our spirits and lending a hand wherever it was wanted.
4238
4239From time to time the doctor came to the door for a little air and to
4240rest his eyes, which were almost smoked out of his head, and whenever he
4241did so, he had a word for me.
4242
4243"That man Smollett," he said once, "is a better man than I am. And when
4244I say that it means a deal, Jim."
4245
4246Another time he came and was silent for a while. Then he put his head on
4247one side, and looked at me.
4248
4249"Is this Ben Gunn a man?" he asked.
4250
4251"I do not know, sir," said I. "I am not very sure whether he's sane."
4252
4253"If there's any doubt about the matter, he is," returned the doctor. "A
4254man who has been three years biting his nails on a desert island, Jim,
4255can't expect to appear as sane as you or me. It doesn't lie in human
4256nature. Was it cheese you said he had a fancy for?"
4257
4258"Yes, sir, cheese," I answered.
4259
4260"Well, Jim," says he, "just see the good that comes of being dainty in
4261your food. You've seen my snuff-box, haven't you? And you never saw me
4262take snuff; the reason being that in my snuff-box I carry a piece of
4263Parmesan cheese--a cheese made in Italy, very nutritious. Well, that's
4264for Ben Gunn!"
4265
4266Before supper was eaten we buried old Tom in the sand, and stood round
4267him for a while bare-headed in the breeze. A good deal of firewood had
4268been got in, but not enough for the captain's fancy, and he shook his
4269head over it, and told us we "must get back to this to-morrow rather
4270livelier." Then, when we had eaten our pork, and each had a good stiff
4271glass of brandy grog, the three chiefs got together in a corner to
4272discuss our prospects.
4273
4274It appears they were at their wits' end what to do, the stores being so
4275low that we must have been starved into surrender long before help came.
4276But our best hope, it was decided, was to kill off the buccaneers until
4277they either hauled down their flag or ran away with the _Hispaniola_.
4278From nineteen they were already reduced to fifteen, two others were
4279wounded, and one, at least--the man shot beside the gun--severely
4280wounded, if he were not dead. Every time we had a crack at them, we were
4281to take it, saving our own lives, with the extremest care. And, beside
4282that, we had two able allies--rum and the climate.
4283
4284As for the first, though we were about half a mile away, we could hear
4285them roaring and singing late into the night; and as for the second, the
4286doctor staked his wig, that camped where they were in the marsh, and
4287unprovided with remedies, the half of them would be on their backs
4288before a week.
4289
4290"So," he added, "if we are not all shot down first, they'll be glad to
4291be packing in the schooner. It's always a ship, and they can get to
4292buccaneering again, I suppose."
4293
4294"First ship that I ever lost," said Captain Smollett.
4295
4296I was dead tired, as you may fancy, and when I got to sleep, which was
4297not till after a great deal of tossing, I slept like a log of wood.
4298
4299The rest had long been up, and had already breakfasted and increased the
4300pile of firewood by about half as much again, when I was awakened by a
4301bustle and the sound of voices.
4302
4303"Flag of truce!" I heard someone say, and then, immediately after, with
4304a cry of surprise, "Silver himself!"
4305
4306And, at that, up I jumped, and, rubbing my eyes, ran to a loophole in
4307the wall.
4308
4309
4310
4311
4312CHAPTER XX
4313
4314SILVER'S EMBASSY
4315
4316
4317Sure enough, there were two men just outside the stockade, one of them
4318waving a white cloth; the other, no less a person than Silver himself,
4319standing placidly by.
4320
4321It was still quite early, and the coldest morning that I think I ever
4322was abroad in; a chill that pierced into the marrow. The sky was bright
4323and cloudless overhead, and the tops of the trees shone rosily in the
4324sun. But where Silver stood with his lieutenant all was still in shadow,
4325and they waded knee-deep in a low, white vapor that had crawled during
4326the night out of the morass. The chill and the vapor taken together told
4327a poor tale of the island. It was plainly a damp, feverish, unhealthy
4328spot.
4329
4330"Keep indoors, men," said the captain. "Ten to one this is a trick."
4331
4332Then he hailed the buccaneer.
4333
4334"Who goes? Stand, or we fire."
4335
4336"Flag of truce!" cried Silver.
4337
4338The captain was in the porch, keeping himself carefully out of the way
4339of a treacherous shot, should any be intended. He turned and spoke to
4340us.
4341
4342"Doctor's watch on the lookout. Doctor Livesey, take the north side, if
4343you please; Jim the east; Gray, west. The watch below, all hands to load
4344muskets. Lively, men, and careful."
4345
4346And then he turned again to the mutineers.
4347
4348"And what do you want with your flag of truce?" he cried.
4349
4350This time it was the other man who replied.
4351
4352"Cap'n Silver, sir, to come on board and make terms," he shouted.
4353
4354"Cap'n Silver! Don't know him. Who's he?" cried the captain. And we
4355could hear him adding to himself: "Cap'n, is it? My heart, and here's
4356promotion!"
4357
4358Long John answered for himself.
4359
4360"Me, sir. These poor lads have chosen me cap'n, after your desertion,
4361sir"--laying a particular emphasis upon the word "desertion." "We're
4362willing to submit, if we can come to terms, and no bones about it. All I
4363ask is your word, Cap'n Smollett, to let me safe and sound out of this
4364here stockade, and one minute to get out o' shot before a gun is fired."
4365
4366"My man," said Captain Smollett, "I have not the slightest desire to
4367talk to you. If you wish to talk to me, you can come, that's all. If
4368there's any treachery, it'll be on your side, and the Lord help you."
4369
4370"That's enough, cap'n," shouted Long John cheerily. "A word from you's
4371enough. I know a gentleman, and you may lay to that."
4372
4373We could see the man who carried the flag of truce attempting to hold
4374Silver back. Nor was that wonderful, seeing how cavalier had been the
4375captain's answer. But Silver laughed at him aloud, and slapped him on
4376the back, as if the idea of alarm had been absurd. Then he advanced to
4377the stockade, threw over his crutch, got a leg up, and with great vigor
4378and skill succeeded in surmounting the fence and dropping safely to the
4379other side.
4380
4381I will confess that I was far too much taken up with what was going on
4382to be of the slightest use as sentry; indeed, I had already deserted my
4383eastern loophole and crept up behind the captain, who had now seated
4384himself on the threshold, with his elbows on his knees, his head in his
4385hands, and his eyes fixed on the water as it bubbled out of the old iron
4386kettle in the sand. He was whistling to himself, "Come, Lasses and
4387Lads."
4388
4389Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll. What with the
4390steepness of the incline, the thick tree-stumps, and the soft sand, he
4391and his crutch were as helpless as a ship in stays. But he stuck to it
4392like a man, in silence, and at last arrived before the captain, whom he
4393saluted in the handsomest style. He was tricked out in his best; an
4394immense blue coat, thick with brass buttons, hung as low as to his
4395knees, and a fine laced hat was set on the back of his head.
4396
4397"Here you are, my man," said the captain, raising his head. "You had
4398better sit down."
4399
4400"You ain't a-going to let me inside, cap'n?" complained Long John. "It's
4401a main cold morning, to be sure, sir, to sit outside upon the sand."
4402
4403"Why, Silver," said the captain, "if you had pleased to be an honest man
4404you might have been sitting in your galley. It's your own doing. You're
4405either my ship's cook--and then you were treated handsome--or Cap'n
4406Silver, a common mutineer and pirate, and then you can go hang!"
4407
4408"Well, well, cap'n," returned the sea-cook, sitting down as he was
4409bidden on the sand, "you'll have to give me a hand up again, that's all.
4410A sweet, pretty place you have of it here. Ah, there's Jim! The top of
4411the morning to you, Jim. Doctor, here's my service. Why, there you all
4412are together like a happy family, in a manner of speaking."
4413
4414"If you have anything to say, my man, better say it," said the captain.
4415
4416"Right you are, Cap'n Smollett," replied Silver. "Dooty is dooty, to be
4417sure. Well, now, you look here, that was a good lay of yours last night.
4418I don't deny it was a good lay. Some of you pretty handy with a
4419handspike-end. And I'll not deny neither but what some of my people was
4420shook--maybe all was shook; maybe I was shook myself; maybe that's why
4421I'm here for terms. But you mark me, cap'n, it won't do twice, by
4422thunder! We'll have to do sentry-go, and ease off a point or so on the
4423rum. Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the wind's eye. But I'll
4424tell you I was sober; I was on'y dog tired; and if I'd awoke a second
4425sooner I'd 'a' caught you at the act, I would. He wasn't dead when I got
4426round to him, not he."
4427
4428"Well?" says Captain Smollett, as cool as can be.
4429
4430All that Silver said was a riddle to him, but you would never have
4431guessed it from his tone. As for me, I began to have an inkling. Ben
4432Gunn's last words came back to my mind. I began to suppose that he had
4433paid the buccaneers a visit while they all lay drunk together round
4434their fire, and I reckoned up with glee that we had only fourteen
4435enemies to deal with.
4436
4437"Well, here it is," said Silver. "We want that treasure, and we'll have
4438it--that's our point! You would just as soon save your lives, I reckon;
4439and that's yours. You have a chart, haven't you?"
4440
4441"That's as may be," replied the captain.
4442
4443"Oh, well, you have, I know that," returned Long John. "You needn't be
4444so husky with a man; there ain't a particle of service in that, and you
4445may lay to it. What I mean is, we want your chart. Now, I never meant
4446you no harm, myself."
4447
4448"That won't do with me, my man," interrupted the captain. "We know
4449exactly what you meant to do, and we don't care; for now, you see, you
4450can't do it."
4451
4452And the captain looked at him calmly, and proceeded to fill a pipe.
4453
4454"If Abe Gray--" Silver broke out.
4455
4456"Avast there!" cried Mr. Smollett. "Gray told me nothing, and I asked
4457him nothing; and what's more, I would see you and him and this whole
4458island blown clean out of the water into blazes first. So there's my
4459mind for you, my man, on that."
4460
4461This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver down. He had been
4462growing nettled before, but now he pulled himself together.
4463
4464"Like enough," said he. "I would set no limits to what gentlemen might
4465consider shipshape, or might not, as the case were. And, seein' as how
4466you are about to take a pipe, cap'n, I'll make so free as do likewise."
4467
4468And he filled a pipe and lighted it; and the two men sat silently
4469smoking for quite a while, now looking each other in the face, now
4470stopping their tobacco, now leaning forward to spit. It was as good as
4471the play to see them.
4472
4473"Now," resumed Silver, "here it is. You give us the chart to get the
4474treasure by, and drop shooting poor seamen, and stoving of their heads
4475in while asleep. You do that and we'll offer you a choice. Either you
4476come aboard along of us, once the treasure shipped, and then I'll give
4477you my affy-davy, upon my word of honor, to clap you somewhere safe
4478ashore. Or, if that ain't to your fancy, some of my hands being rough,
4479and having old scores, on account of hazing, then you can stay here, you
4480can. We'll divide stores with you, man for man; and I'll give my
4481affy-davy, as before, to speak the first ship I sight, and send 'em here
4482to pick you up. Now you'll own that's talking. Handsomer you couldn't
4483look to get, not you. And I hope"--raising his voice--"that all hands in
4484this here blockhouse will overhaul my words, for what is spoke to one is
4485spoke to all."
4486
4487Captain Smollett rose from his seat and knocked out the ashes of his
4488pipe in the palm of his left hand.
4489
4490"Is that all?" he asked.
4491
4492"Every last word, by thunder!" answered John. "Refuse that and you've
4493seen the last of me but musket-balls."
4494
4495"Very good," said the captain. "Now you'll hear me. If you'll come up
4496one by one, unarmed, I'll engage to clap you all in irons, and to take
4497you home to a fair trial in England. If you won't, my name is Alexander
4498Smollett, I've flown my sovereign's colors, and I'll see you all to Davy
4499Jones. You can't find the treasure. You can't sail the ship--there's not
4500a man among you fit to sail the ship. You can't fight us--Gray, there,
4501got away from five of you. Your ship's in irons, Master Silver; you're
4502on a lee shore, and so you'll find. I stand here and tell you so, and
4503they're the last good words you'll get from me; for, in the name of
4504heaven, I'll put a bullet in your back when next I meet you. Tramp, my
4505lad. Bundle out of this, please, hand over hand, and double quick."
4506
4507Silver's face was a picture; his eyes started in his head with wrath. He
4508shook the fire out of his pipe.
4509
4510"Give me a hand up!" he cried.
4511
4512"Not I," returned the captain.
4513
4514"Who'll give me a hand up?" he roared.
4515
4516Not a man among us moved. Growling the foulest imprecations, he crawled
4517along the sand till he got hold of the porch and could hoist himself
4518again upon his crutch. Then he spat into the spring.
4519
4520"There!" he cried, "that's what I think of ye. Before an hour's out,
4521I'll stove in your old blockhouse like a rum puncheon. Laugh, by
4522thunder, laugh! Before an hour's out, ye'll laugh upon the other side.
4523Them that die'll be the lucky ones."
4524
4525And with a dreadful oath he stumbled off, plowed down the sand, was
4526helped across the stockade, after four or five failures, by the man with
4527the flag of truce, and disappeared in an instant afterward among the
4528trees.
4529
4530
4531
4532
4533CHAPTER XXI
4534
4535THE ATTACK
4536
4537
4538As soon as Silver disappeared, the captain, who had been closely
4539watching him, turned toward the interior of the house, and found not a
4540man of us at his post but Gray. It was the first time we had ever seen
4541him angry.
4542
4543"Quarters!" he roared. And then, as we slunk back to our places, "Gray,"
4544he said, "I'll put your name in the log; you've stood by your duty like
4545a seaman. Mr. Trelawney, I'm surprised at you, sir. Doctor, I thought
4546you had worn the king's coat! If that was how you served at Fontenoy,
4547sir, you'd have been better in your berth."
4548
4549The doctor's watch were all back at their loopholes, the rest were busy
4550loading the spare muskets, and everyone with a red face, you may be
4551certain, and a flea in his ear, as the saying is.
4552
4553The captain looked on for a while in silence. Then he spoke.
4554
4555"My lads," he said, "I've given Silver a broadside. I pitched it in
4556red-hot on purpose; and before the hour's out, as he said, we shall be
4557boarded. We're outnumbered, I needn't tell you that, but we fight in
4558shelter; and, a minute ago, I should have said we fought with
4559discipline. I've no manner of doubt that we can drub them, if you
4560choose."
4561
4562Then he went the rounds, and saw, as he said, that all was clear.
4563
4564On the two short sides of the house, east and west, there were only two
4565loopholes; on the south side where the porch was, two again; and on the
4566north side, five. There was a round score of muskets for the seven of
4567us; the firewood had been built into four piles--tables, you might
4568say--one about the middle of each side, and on each of these tables some
4569ammunition and four loaded muskets were laid ready to the hand of the
4570defenders. In the middle, the cutlasses lay ranged.
4571
4572"Toss out the fire," said the captain; "the chill is past, and we
4573mustn't have smoke in our eyes."
4574
4575The iron fire basket was carried bodily out by Mr. Trelawney, and the
4576embers smothered among sand.
4577
4578"Hawkins hasn't had his breakfast. Hawkins, help yourself, and back to
4579your post to eat it," continued Captain Smollett. "Lively, now, my lad;
4580you'll want it before you've done. Hunter, serve out a round of brandy
4581to all hands."
4582
4583And while this was going on the captain completed, in his own mind, the
4584plan of the defense.
4585
4586"Doctor, you will take the door," he resumed. "See and don't expose
4587yourself; keep within, and fire through the porch. Hunter, take the east
4588side, there. Joyce, you stand by the west, my man. Mr. Trelawney, you
4589are the best shot--you and Gray will take this long north side, with the
4590five loopholes; it's there the danger is. If they can get up to it, and
4591fire in upon us through our own ports, things would begin to look dirty.
4592Hawkins, neither you nor I are much account at the shooting; we'll stand
4593by to load and bear a hand."
4594
4595As the captain had said, the chill was past. As soon as the sun had
4596climbed above our girdle of trees, it fell with all its force upon the
4597clearing, and drank up the vapors at a draught. Soon the sand was
4598baking, and the resin melting in the logs of the blockhouse. Jackets and
4599coats were flung aside; shirts were thrown open at the neck, and rolled
4600up to the shoulders; and we stood there, each at his post, in a fever of
4601heat and anxiety.
4602
4603An hour passed away.
4604
4605"Hang them!" said the captain. "This is as dull as the doldrums. Gray,
4606whistle for a wind."
4607
4608And just at that moment came the first news of the attack.
4609
4610"If you please, sir," said Joyce, "if I see anyone, am I to fire?"
4611
4612"I told you so!" cried the captain.
4613
4614"Thank you, sir," returned Joyce, with the same quiet civility.
4615
4616Nothing followed for a time, but the remark had set us all on the alert,
4617straining ears and eyes--the musketeers with their pieces balanced in
4618their hands, the captain out in the middle of the blockhouse, with his
4619mouth very tight and a frown on his face.
4620
4621So some seconds passed, till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket and
4622fired. The report had scarcely died away ere it was repeated and
4623repeated from without in a scattering volley, shot behind shot, like a
4624string of geese, from every side of the inclosure. Several bullets
4625struck the log-house, but not one entered; and, as the smoke cleared
4626away and vanished, the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet
4627and empty as before. Not a bough waved, not the gleam of a musket-barrel
4628betrayed the presence of our foes.
4629
4630"Did you hit your man?" asked the captain.
4631
4632"No, sir," replied Joyce. "I believe not, sir."
4633
4634"Next best thing to tell the truth," muttered Captain Smollett. "Load
4635his gun, Hawkins. How many should you say there were on your side,
4636doctor?"
4637
4638"I know precisely," said Doctor Livesey. "Three shots were fired on this
4639side. I saw the three flashes--two close together--one farther to the
4640west."
4641
4642"Three!" repeated the captain. "And how many on yours, Mr. Trelawney?"
4643
4644But this was not so easily answered. There had come many from the
4645north--seven, by the squire's computation; eight or nine, according to
4646Gray. From the east and west only a single shot had been fired. It was
4647plain, therefore, that the attack would be developed from the north, and
4648that on the other three sides we were only to be annoyed by a show of
4649hostilities. But Captain Smollett made no change in his arrangements. If
4650the mutineers succeeded in crossing the stockade, he argued, they would
4651take possession of any unprotected loophole, and shoot us down like rats
4652in our own stronghold.
4653
4654Nor had we much time left to us for thought. Suddenly, with a loud
4655huzza, a little cloud of pirates leaped from the woods on the north
4656side, and ran straight on the stockade. At the same moment, the fire was
4657once more opened from the woods, and a rifle-ball sang through the
4658doorway, and knocked the doctor's musket into bits.
4659
4660The boarders swarmed over the fence, like monkeys. Squire and Gray fired
4661again and yet again; three men fell, one forward into the inclosure, two
4662back on the outside. But of these, one was evidently more frightened
4663than hurt, for he was on his feet again in a crack, and instantly
4664disappeared among the trees.
4665
4666Two had bit the dust, one had fled, four had made good their footing
4667inside our defenses; while from the shelter of the woods seven or eight
4668men, each evidently supplied with several muskets, kept up a hot though
4669useless fire on the log-house.
4670
4671[Illustration: _In a moment the four pirates had swarmed up the mound
4672and were upon us_ (Page 153)]
4673
4674The four who had boarded made straight before them for the building,
4675shouting as they ran, and the men among the trees shouted back to
4676encourage them. Several shots were fired, but such was the hurry of the
4677marksmen, that not one appeared to have taken effect. In a moment the
4678four pirates had swarmed up the mound and were upon us.
4679
4680The head of Job Anderson, the boatswain, appeared at the middle
4681loophole.
4682
4683"At 'em, all hands--all hands!" he roared, in a voice of thunder.
4684
4685At the same moment another pirate grasped Hunter's musket by the muzzle,
4686wrenched it from his hands, plucked it through the loophole, and, with
4687one stunning blow, laid the poor fellow senseless on the floor.
4688Meanwhile a third, running unharmed all round the house, appeared
4689suddenly in the doorway, and fell with his cutlass on the doctor.
4690
4691Our position was utterly reversed. A moment since we were firing, under
4692cover, at an exposed enemy; now it was we who lay uncovered, and could
4693not return a blow.
4694
4695The log-house was full of smoke, to which we owed our comparative
4696safety. Cries and confusion, the flashes and reports of pistol-shots,
4697and one loud groan, rang in my ears.
4698
4699"Out, lads, out and fight 'em in the open! Cutlasses!" cried the
4700captain.
4701
4702I snatched a cutlass from the pile, and someone, at the same time
4703snatching another, gave me a cut across the knuckles which I hardly
4704felt. I dashed out of the door into the clear sunlight. Someone was
4705close behind, I knew not whom. Right in front, the doctor was pursuing
4706his assailant down the hill, and, just as my eyes fell upon him, beat
4707down his guard, and sent him sprawling on his back, with a great slash
4708across his face.
4709
4710"Round the house, lads! round the house!" cried the captain, and even in
4711the hurly-burly I perceived a change in his voice.
4712
4713Mechanically I obeyed, turned eastward, and, with my cutlass raised, ran
4714round the corner of the house. Next moment I was face to face with
4715Anderson. He roared aloud, and his hanger went up above his head,
4716flashing in the sunlight. I had not time to be afraid, but, as the blow
4717still hung impending, leaped in a trice upon one side, and missing my
4718footing in the soft sand, rolled headlong down the slope.
4719
4720When I had first sallied from the door, the other mutineers had been
4721already swarming up the palisade to make an end of us. One man, in a red
4722nightcap, with his cutlass in his mouth, had even got upon the top and
4723thrown a leg across. Well, so short had been the interval, that when I
4724found my feet again all was in the same posture, the fellow with the red
4725nightcap still halfway over, another still just showing his head above
4726the top of the stockade. And yet, in this breath of time, the fight was
4727over, and the victory ours.
4728
4729Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the big boatswain ere he
4730had time to recover from his lost blow. Another had been shot at a
4731loophole in the very act of firing into the house, and now lay in agony,
4732the pistol still smoking in his hand. A third, as I had seen, the doctor
4733had disposed of at a blow. Of the four who had scaled the palisade, one
4734only remained unaccounted for, and he, having left his cutlass on the
4735field, was now clambering out again with the fear of death upon him.
4736
4737"Fire--fire from the house!" cried the doctor. "And you, lads, back into
4738cover."
4739
4740But his words were unheeded, no shot was fired, and the last boarder
4741made good his escape and disappeared with the rest into the wood. In
4742three seconds nothing remained of the attacking party but the five who
4743had fallen, four on the inside and one on the outside of the palisade.
4744
4745The doctor and Gray and I ran full speed for shelter. The survivors
4746would soon be back where they had left their muskets, and at any moment
4747the fire might recommence.
4748
4749The house was by this time somewhat cleared of smoke, and we saw at a
4750glance the price we had paid for victory. Hunter lay beside his
4751loophole, stunned; Joyce by his, shot through the head, never to move
4752again; while right in the center the squire was supporting the captain,
4753one as pale as the other.
4754
4755"The captain's wounded," said Mr. Trelawney.
4756
4757"Have they run?" asked Mr. Smollett.
4758
4759"All that could, you may be bound," returned the doctor; "but there's
4760five of them will never run again."
4761
4762"Five!" cried the captain. "Come, that's better. Five against three
4763leaves us four to nine. That's better odds than we had at starting. We
4764were seven to nineteen then, or thought we were, and that's as bad to
4765bear."[1]
4766
4767 [1] The mutineers were soon only eight in number, for the man shot
4768 by Mr. Trelawney on board the schooner died that same evening of his
4769 wound. But this was, of course, not known till after by the faithful
4770 party.
4771
4772
4773
4774
4775PART V
4776
4777MY SEA ADVENTURE
4778
4779
4780
4781
4782CHAPTER XXII
4783
4784HOW MY SEA ADVENTURE BEGAN
4785
4786
4787There was no return of the mutineers--not so much as another shot out of
4788the woods. They had "got their rations for that day," as the captain put
4789it, and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul the
4790wounded and get dinner. Squire and I cooked outside, in spite of the
4791danger, and even outside we could hardly tell what we were at, for the
4792horror of the loud groans that reached us from the doctor's patients.
4793
4794Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action only three still
4795breathed--that one of the pirates who had been shot at the loophole,
4796Hunter, and Captain Smollett--and of these the first two were as good as
4797dead; the mutineer, indeed, died under the doctor's knife, and Hunter,
4798do what we could, never recovered consciousness in this world. He
4799lingered all day, breathing loudly like the old buccaneer at home in his
4800apoplectic fit; but the bones of his chest had been crushed by the blow
4801and his skull fractured in falling, and some time in the following
4802night, without sign or sound, he went to his Maker.
4803
4804As for the captain, his wounds were grievous indeed, but not dangerous.
4805No organ was fatally injured. Anderson's ball--for it was Job that shot
4806him first--had broken his shoulder-blade and touched the lung, not
4807badly; the second had only torn and displaced some muscles in the calf.
4808He was sure to recover, the doctor said, but in the meantime, and for
4809weeks to come, he must not walk nor move his arm, nor so much as speak
4810when he could help it.
4811
4812My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a flea-bite. Doctor
4813Livesey patched it up with plaster, and pulled my ears for me into the
4814bargain.
4815
4816After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the captain's side awhile
4817in consultation; and when they had talked to their heart's content, it
4818being then a little past noon, the doctor took up his hat and pistols,
4819girt on a cutlass, put the chart in his pocket, and with a musket over
4820his shoulder, crossed the palisade on the north side and set off briskly
4821through the trees.
4822
4823Gray and I were sitting together at the far end of the blockhouse, to be
4824out of earshot of our officers, consulting, and Gray took his pipe out
4825of his mouth and fairly forgot to put it back again, so thunderstruck he
4826was at this occurrence.
4827
4828"Why, in the name of Davy Jones," said he, "is Doctor Livesey mad?"
4829
4830"Why, no," says I. "He's about the last of this crew for that, I take
4831it."
4832
4833"Well, shipmate," said Gray, "mad he may not be, but if _he's_ not, mark
4834my words, _I_ am."
4835
4836"I take it," replied I, "the doctor has his idea, and if I am right,
4837he's going now to see Ben Gunn."
4838
4839I was right, as appeared later; but in the meantime, the house being
4840stifling hot, and the little patch of sand inside the palisade ablaze
4841with midday sun, I began to get another thought into my head which was
4842not by any means so right. What I began to do was to envy the doctor,
4843walking in the cool shadow of the woods, with the birds about him and
4844the pleasant smell of the pines, while I sat grilling, with my clothes
4845stuck to the hot resin, and so much blood about me, and so many poor
4846dead bodies lying all around, that I took a disgust of the place that
4847was almost as strong as fear.
4848
4849All the time I was washing out the blockhouse, and then washing up the
4850things from dinner, this disgust and envy kept growing stronger and
4851stronger, till at last, being near a bread-bag, and no one then
4852observing me, I took the first step toward my escapade and filled both
4853pockets of my coat with biscuit.
4854
4855I was a fool, if you like, and certainly I was going to do a foolish,
4856over-bold act, but I was determined to do it with all the precautions in
4857my power. These biscuits, should anything befall me, would keep me at
4858least from starving till far on in the next day.
4859
4860The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols, and as I already
4861had a powder-horn and bullets, I felt myself well supplied with arms.
4862
4863As for the scheme I had in my head, it was not a bad one in itself. It
4864was to go down the sandy spit that divides the anchorage on the east
4865from the open sea, find the white rock I had observed last evening, and
4866ascertain whether it was there or not that Ben Gunn had hidden his
4867boat--a thing quite worth doing, as I still believe. But as I was
4868certain I should not be allowed to leave the inclosure, my only plan was
4869to take French leave and slip out when nobody was watching, and that was
4870so bad a way of doing it as made the thing itself wrong. But I was only
4871a boy and I had made my mind up.
4872
4873Well, as things at last fell out, I found an admirable opportunity. The
4874squire and Gray were busy helping the captain with his bandages; the
4875coast was clear; I made a bolt for it over the stockade and into the
4876thickest of the trees, and before my absence was observed I was out of
4877cry of my companions.
4878
4879This was my second folly, far worse than the first, as I left but two
4880sound men to guard the house; but, like the first, it was a help toward
4881saving all of us.
4882
4883I took my way straight for the east coast of the island, for I was
4884determined to go down the seaside of the spit to avoid all chance of
4885observation from the anchorage. It was already late in the afternoon,
4886although still warm and sunny. As I continued to thread the tall woods I
4887could hear from far before me not only the continuous thunder of the
4888surf, but a certain tossing of foliage and grinding of boughs which
4889showed me the sea breeze set in higher than usual. Soon cool draughts of
4890air began to reach me, and a few steps farther I came forth into the
4891open borders of the grove and saw the sea lying blue and sunny to the
4892horizon and the surf tumbling and tossing its foam along the beach.
4893
4894I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure Island. The sun might
4895blaze overhead, the air be without a breath, the surface smooth and
4896blue, but still these great rollers would be running along all the
4897external coast, thundering and thundering by day and night, and I scarce
4898believe there is one spot in the island where a man would be out of
4899earshot of their noise.
4900
4901I walked along beside the surf with great enjoyment, till, thinking I
4902was now got far enough to the south, I took the cover of some thick
4903bushes and crept warily up to the ridge of the spit.
4904
4905Behind me was the sea; in front, the anchorage. The sea-breeze, as
4906though it had the sooner blown itself out by its unusual violence, was
4907already at an end; it had been succeeded by light, variable airs from
4908the south and southeast, carrying great banks of fog; and the anchorage,
4909under lee of Skeleton Island, lay still and leaden as when first we
4910entered it. The _Hispaniola_, in that unbroken mirror, was exactly
4911portrayed from the truck to the water-line, the Jolly Roger hanging from
4912her peak.
4913
4914Alongside lay one of the gigs, Silver in the stern-sheets--him I could
4915always recognize--while a couple of men were leaning over the stern
4916bulwarks, one of them with a red cap--the very rogue that I had seen
4917some hours before stride-legs upon the palisade. Apparently they were
4918talking and laughing, though at that distance--upward of a mile--I could
4919of course hear no word of what was said.
4920
4921All at once there began the most horrid, unearthly screaming, which at
4922first startled me badly, though I had soon remembered the voice of
4923Captain Flint, and even thought I could make out the bird by her bright
4924plumage as she sat perched upon her master's wrist.
4925
4926Soon after the jolly-boat shoved off and pulled for shore, and the man
4927with the red cap and his comrade went below by the cabin companion.
4928
4929Just about the same time the sun had gone down behind the Spy-glass, and
4930as the fog was collecting rapidly, it began to grow dark in earnest. I
4931saw I must lose no time if I were to find the boat that evening.
4932
4933The white rock, visible enough above the brush, was still some eighth of
4934a mile farther down the spit, and it took me a goodish while to get up
4935with it, crawling, often on all-fours, among the scrub. Night had almost
4936come when I laid my hand on its rough sides. Right below it there was
4937an exceedingly small hollow of green turf, hidden by banks and a thick
4938underwood about knee-deep, that grew there very plentifully; and in the
4939center of the dell, sure enough, a little tent of goat-skins, like what
4940the gypsies carry about with them in England.
4941
4942I dropped into the hollow, lifted the side of the tent, and there was
4943Ben Gunn's boat--homemade if ever anything was homemade--a rude,
4944lopsided framework of tough wood, and stretched upon that a covering of
4945goat-skin, with the hair inside. The thing was extremely small, even for
4946me, and I can hardly imagine that it could have floated with a
4947full-sized man. There was one thwart set as low as possible, a kind of
4948stretcher in the bows, and a double paddle for propulsion.
4949
4950I had not then seen a coracle, such as the ancient Britons made, but I
4951have seen one since, and I can give you no fairer idea of Ben Gunn's
4952boat than by saying it was like the first and the worst coracle ever
4953made by man. But the great advantage of the coracle it certainly
4954possessed, for it was exceedingly light and portable.
4955
4956Well, now that I had found the boat, you would have thought I had had
4957enough of truantry for once; but in the meantime I had taken another
4958notion, and become so obstinately fond of it that I would have carried
4959it out, I believe, in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself. This was to
4960slip out under cover of the night, cut the _Hispaniola_ adrift, and let
4961her go ashore where she fancied. I had quite made up my mind that the
4962mutineers, after their repulse of the morning, had nothing nearer their
4963hearts than to up anchor and away to sea; this, I thought, it would be a
4964fine thing to prevent, and now that I had seen how they left their
4965watchman unprovided with a boat, I thought it might be done with little
4966risk.
4967
4968Down I sat to wait for darkness, and made a hearty meal of biscuit. It
4969was a night out of ten thousand for my purpose. The fog had now buried
4970all heaven. As the last rays of daylight dwindled and disappeared,
4971absolute blackness settled down on Treasure Island. And when, at last, I
4972shouldered the coracle, and groped my way stumblingly out of the hollow
4973where I had supped, there were but two points visible on the whole
4974anchorage.
4975
4976One was the great fire on shore, by which the defeated pirates lay
4977carousing in the swamp. The other, a mere blur of light upon the
4978darkness, indicated the position of the anchored ship. She had swung
4979round to the ebb--her bow was now toward me--the only lights on board
4980were in the cabin; and what I saw was merely a reflection on the fog of
4981the strong rays that flowed from the stern window.
4982
4983The ebb had already run some time, and I had to wade through a long belt
4984of swampy sand, where I sank several times above the ankle, before I
4985came to the edge of the retreating water, and wading a little way in,
4986with some strength and dexterity, set my coracle, keel downward, on the
4987surface.
4988
4989
4990
4991
4992CHAPTER XXIII
4993
4994THE EBB-TIDE RUNS
4995
4996
4997The coracle--as I had ample reason to know before I was done with
4998her--was a very safe boat for a person of my height and weight, both
4999buoyant and clever in a sea-way; but she was the most cross-grained,
5000lopsided craft to manage. Do as you pleased, she always made more leeway
5001than anything else, and turning round and round was the maneuver she was
5002best at. Even Ben Gunn himself has admitted that she was "queer to
5003handle till you knew her way."
5004
5005Certainly I did not know her way. She turned in every direction but the
5006one I was bound to go; the most part of the time we were broadside on,
5007and I am very sure I never should have made the ship at all but for the
5008tide. By good fortune, paddle as I pleased, the tide was still sweeping
5009me down; and there lay the _Hispaniola_ right in the fairway, hardly to
5010be missed.
5011
5012First she loomed before me like a blot of something yet blacker than
5013darkness, then her spars and hull began to take shape, and the next
5014moment, as it seemed (for the further I went the brisker grew the
5015current of the ebb), I was alongside of her hawser, and had laid hold.
5016
5017The hawser was as taut as a bowstring and the current so strong she
5018pulled upon her anchor. All round the hull, in the blackness, the
5019rippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream.
5020One cut with my sea gully, and the _Hispaniola_ would go humming down
5021the tide.
5022
5023So far so good; but it next occurred to my recollection that a taut
5024hawser, suddenly cut, is a thing as dangerous as a kicking horse. Ten to
5025one, if I were so foolhardy as to cut the _Hispaniola_ from her anchor,
5026I and the coracle would be knocked clean out of the water.
5027
5028This brought me to a full stop, and if fortune had not again
5029particularly favored me, I should have had to abandon my design. But the
5030light airs which had begun blowing from the southeast and south had
5031hauled round after nightfall into the southwest. Just while I was
5032meditating, a puff came, caught the _Hispaniola_, and forced her up into
5033the current; and, to my great joy, I felt the hawser slacken in my
5034grasp, and the hand by which I held it dip for a second under water.
5035
5036With that I made my mind up, took out my gully, opened it with my teeth,
5037and cut one strand after another, till the vessel swung only by two.
5038Then I lay quiet, waiting to sever these last when the strain should be
5039once more lightened by a breath of wind.
5040
5041All this time I had heard the sound of loud voices from the cabin; but,
5042to say truth, my mind had been so entirely taken up with other thoughts
5043that I had scarcely given ear. Now, however, when I had nothing else to
5044do, I began to pay more heed.
5045
5046One I recognized for the coxswain's, Israel Hands, that had been Flint's
5047gunner in former days. The other was, of course, my friend of the red
5048nightcap. Both men were plainly the worse of drink, and they were still
5049drinking; for, even while I was listening, one of them, with a drunken
5050cry, opened the stern window and threw out something, which I divined
5051to be an empty bottle. But they were not only tipsy; it was plain that
5052they were furiously angry. Oaths flew like hailstones, and every now and
5053then there came forth such an explosion as I thought was sure to end in
5054blows. But each time the quarrel passed off, and the voices grumbled
5055lower for a while, until the next crisis came, and, in its turn, passed
5056away without result.
5057
5058On shore, I could see the glow of the great camp fire burning warmly
5059through the shore-side trees. Someone was singing a dull, old droning
5060sailor's song, with a droop and a quaver at the end of every verse, and
5061seemingly no end to it at all but the patience of the singer. I had
5062heard it on the voyage more than once, and remembered these words:
5063
5064 "But one man of the crew alive,
5065 What put to sea with seventy-five."
5066
5067And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully appropriate for a
5068company that had met such cruel losses in the morning. But, indeed, from
5069what I saw, all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed
5070on.
5071
5072At last the breeze came; the schooner sidled and drew nearer in the
5073dark; I felt the hawser slacken once more, and with a good, tough
5074effort, cut the last fibers through.
5075
5076The breeze had but little action on the coracle, and I was almost
5077instantly swept against the bows of the _Hispaniola_. At the same time
5078the schooner began to turn upon her heel, spinning slowly, end for end,
5079across the current.
5080
5081I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every moment to be swamped; and
5082since I found I could not push the coracle directly off, I now shoved
5083straight astern. At length I was clear of my dangerous neighbor, and
5084just as I gave the last impulsion, my hands came across a light cord
5085that was trailing overboard across the stern bulwarks. Instantly I
5086grasped it.
5087
5088Why I should have done so I can hardly say. It was at first mere
5089instinct, but once I had it in my hands and found it fast, curiosity
5090began to get the upper hand, and I determined I should have one look
5091through the cabin window.
5092
5093I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and, when I judged myself near
5094enough, rose at infinite risk to about half my height, and thus
5095commanded the roof and a slice of the interior of the cabin.
5096
5097By this time the schooner and her little consort were gliding pretty
5098swiftly through the water; indeed, we had already fetched up level with
5099the camp fire. The ship was talking, as sailors say, loudly, treading
5100the innumerable ripples with an incessant weltering splash; and until I
5101got my eye above the window sill I could not comprehend why the watchmen
5102had taken no alarm. One glance, however, was sufficient; and it was only
5103one glance that I durst take from that unsteady skiff. It showed me
5104Hands and his companion locked together in deadly wrestle, each with a
5105hand upon the other's throat.
5106
5107I dropped upon the thwart again, none too soon, for I was near
5108overboard. I could see nothing for the moment but these two furious,
5109encrimsoned faces, swaying together under the smoky lamp; and I shut my
5110eyes to let them grow once more familiar with the darkness.
5111
5112The endless ballad had come to an end at last, and the whole diminished
5113company about the camp fire had broken into the chorus I had heard so
5114often:
5115
5116 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--
5117 Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
5118 Drink and the devil had done for the rest--
5119 Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"
5120
5121I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were at that very
5122moment in the cabin of the _Hispaniola_, when I was surprised by a
5123sudden lurch of the coracle. At the same moment she yawed sharply and
5124seemed to change her course. The speed in the meantime had strangely
5125increased.
5126
5127I opened my eyes at once. All around me were little ripples, combing
5128over with a sharp, bristling sound and slightly phosphorescent. The
5129_Hispaniola_ herself, a few yards in whose wake I was still being
5130whirled along, seemed to stagger in her course, and I saw her spars toss
5131a little against the blackness of the night; nay, as I looked longer, I
5132made sure she also was wheeling to the southward.
5133
5134I glanced over my shoulder and my heart jumped against my ribs. There,
5135right behind me, was the glow of the camp fire. The current had turned
5136at right angles, sweeping round along with it the tall schooner and the
5137little dancing coracle; ever quickening, ever bubbling higher, ever
5138muttering louder, it went spinning through the narrows for the open sea.
5139
5140Suddenly the schooner in front of me gave a violent yaw, turning,
5141perhaps, through twenty degrees; and almost at the same moment one shout
5142followed another from on board. I could hear feet pounding on the
5143companion ladder, and I knew that the two drunkards had at last been
5144interrupted in their quarrel and awakened to a sense of their disaster.
5145
5146I lay down flat in the bottom of that wretched skiff and devoutly
5147recommended my spirit to its Maker. At the end of the straits I made
5148sure we must fall into some bar of raging breakers, where all my
5149troubles would be ended speedily; and though I could perhaps bear to
5150die, I could not bear to look upon my fate as it approached.
5151
5152So I must have lain for hours, continually beaten to and fro upon the
5153billows, now and again wetted with flying sprays, and never ceasing to
5154expect death at the next plunge. Gradually weariness grew upon me; a
5155numbness, an occasional stupor, fell upon my mind even in the midst of
5156my terrors, until sleep at last intervened, and in my sea-tossed coracle
5157I lay and dreamed of home and the old "Admiral Benbow."
5158
5159
5160
5161
5162CHAPTER XXIV
5163
5164THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE
5165
5166
5167It was broad day when I awoke and found myself tossing at the southwest
5168end of Treasure Island. The sun was up, but was still hid from me behind
5169the great bulk of the Spy-glass, which on this side descended almost to
5170the sea in formidable cliffs.
5171
5172Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at my elbow, the hill bare
5173and dark, the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high and
5174fringed with great masses of fallen rock. I was scarce a quarter of a
5175mile to seaward, and it was my first thought to paddle in and land.
5176
5177That notion was soon given over. Among the fallen rocks the breakers
5178spouted and bellowed; loud reverberations, heavy sprays flying and
5179falling, succeeded one another from second to second; and I saw myself,
5180if I ventured nearer, dashed to death upon the rough shore or spending
5181my strength in vain to scale the beetling crags.
5182
5183Nor was that all, for crawling together on flat tables of rock, or
5184letting themselves drop into the sea with loud reports, I beheld huge
5185slimy monsters--soft snails, as it were, of incredible bigness--two or
5186three score of them together, making the rocks to echo with their
5187barkings.
5188
5189I have understood since that they were sea lions, and entirely harmless.
5190But the look of them, added to the difficulty of the shore and the high
5191running of the surf, was more than enough to disgust me of that
5192landing-place. I felt willing rather to starve at sea than to confront
5193such perils.
5194
5195In the meantime I had a better chance, as I supposed, before me. North
5196of Haulbowline Head the land runs in a long way, leaving, at low tide, a
5197long stretch of yellow sand. To the north of that, again, there comes
5198another cape--Cape of the Woods, as it was marked upon the chart--buried
5199in tall green pines, which descended to the margin of the sea.
5200
5201I remembered what Silver had said about the current that sets northward
5202along the whole west coast of Treasure Island; and seeing from my
5203position that I was already under its influence, I preferred to leave
5204Haulbowline Head behind me, and reserve my strength for an attempt to
5205land upon the kindlier-looking Cape of the Woods.
5206
5207There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. The wind blowing steady
5208and gentle from the south, there was no contrariety between that and the
5209current, and the billows rose and fell unbroken.
5210
5211Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have perished; but as it was, it
5212is surprising how easily and securely my little and light boat could
5213ride. Often, as I still lay at the bottom, and kept no more than an eye
5214above the gunwale, I would see a big blue summit heaving close above me;
5215yet the coracle would but bounce a little, dance as if on springs, and
5216subside on the other side into the trough as lightly as a bird.
5217
5218I began after a little to grow very bold, and sat up to try my skill at
5219paddling. But even a small change in the disposition of the weight will
5220produce violent changes in the behavior of a coracle. And I had hardly
5221moved before the boat, giving up at once her gentle, dancing movement,
5222ran straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy, and
5223struck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side of the next
5224wave.
5225
5226I was drenched and terrified, and fell instantly back into my old
5227position, whereupon the coracle seemed to find her head again, and led
5228me softly as before among the billows. It was plain she was not to be
5229interfered with, and at that rate, since I could in no way influence her
5230course, what hope had I left of reaching land?
5231
5232I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, for all that.
5233First, moving with all care, I gradually bailed out the coracle with my
5234sea cap; then getting my eye once more above the gunwale, I set myself
5235to study how it was she managed to slip so quietly through the rollers.
5236
5237I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth, glossy mountain it looks
5238from shore, or from a vessel's deck, was for all the world like any
5239range of hills on the dry land, full of peaks and smooth places and
5240valleys. The coracle, left to herself, turning from side to side,
5241threaded, so to speak, her way through these lower parts, and avoided
5242the steep slopes and higher toppling summits of the wave.
5243
5244"Well, now," thought I to myself, "it is plain I must lie where I am,
5245and not disturb the balance; but it is plain, also, that I can put the
5246paddle over the side, and from time to time, in smooth places, give her
5247a shove or two towards land." No sooner thought upon than done. There I
5248lay on my elbows, in the most trying attitude, and every now and again
5249gave a weak stroke or two to turn her head to shore.
5250
5251It was very tiring and slow work, yet I did visibly gain ground; and, as
5252we drew near the Cape of the Woods, though I saw I must infallibly miss
5253that point, I had still made some hundred yards of easting. I was,
5254indeed, close in. I could see the cool, green tree-tops swaying together
5255in the breeze, and I felt sure I should make the next promontory without
5256fail.
5257
5258It was high time, for I now began to be tortured with thirst. The glow
5259of the sun from above, its thousand-fold reflection from the waves, the
5260sea water that fell and dried upon me, caking my very lips with salt,
5261combined to make my throat burn and my brain ache. The sight of the
5262trees so near at hand had almost made me sick with longing; but the
5263current had soon carried me past the point; and, as the next reach of
5264sea opened out, I beheld a sight that changed the nature of my thoughts.
5265
5266Right in front of me, not half a mile away, I beheld the _Hispaniola_
5267under sail. I made sure, of course, that I should be taken, but I was so
5268distressed for want of water, that I scarce knew whether to be glad or
5269sorry at the thought; and, long before I had come to a conclusion,
5270surprise had taken possession of my mind, and I could do nothing but
5271stare and wonder.
5272
5273The _Hispaniola_ was under her mainsail and two jibs, and the beautiful
5274white canvas shone in the sun like snow or silver. When I first sighted
5275her, all her sails were drawing, she was laying a course about
5276northwest, and I presumed the men on board were going round the island
5277on their way back to the anchorage. Presently she began to fetch more
5278and more to the westward, so that I thought they had sighted me and were
5279going about in chase. At last, however, she fell right into the wind's
5280eye, was taken dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, with her
5281sails shivering.
5282
5283"Clumsy fellows," said I, "they must still be drunk as owls." And I
5284thought how Captain Smollett would have set them skipping.
5285
5286Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off, and filled again upon another
5287tack, sailed swiftly for a minute or so, and brought up once more dead
5288in the wind's eye. Again and again was this repeated. To and fro, up and
5289down, north, south, east, and west, the _Hispaniola_ sailed by swoops
5290and dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idly
5291flapping canvas. It became plain to me that nobody was steering. And, if
5292so, where were the men? Either they were dead drunk, or had deserted
5293her, I thought, and perhaps if I could get on board, I might return the
5294vessel to her captain.
5295
5296The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate.
5297As for the latter's sailing, it was so wild and intermittent, and she
5298hung each time so long in irons, that she certainly gained nothing, if
5299she did not even lose. If I only dared to sit up and paddle, I made sure
5300that I could overhaul her. The scheme had an air of adventure that
5301inspired me, and the thought of the water breaker beside the
5302fore companion doubled my growing courage.
5303
5304Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by another cloud of spray, but
5305this time stuck to my purpose and set myself with all my strength and
5306caution to paddle after the unsteered _Hispaniola_. Once I shipped a sea
5307so heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heart fluttering like a
5308bird, but gradually I got into the way of the thing and guided my
5309coracle among the waves, with only now and then a blow upon her bows
5310and a dash of foam in my face.
5311
5312I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner. I could see the brass glisten
5313on the tiller as it banged about, and still no soul appeared upon her
5314decks. I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the men
5315were lying drunk below, where I might batten them down, perhaps, and do
5316what I chose with the ship.
5317
5318For some time she had been doing the worst thing possible for
5319me--standing still. She headed nearly due south, yawing, of course, all
5320the time. Each time she fell off her sails partly filled, and these
5321brought her, in a moment, right to the wind again. I have said this was
5322the worst thing possible for me; for, helpless as she looked in this
5323situation, with the canvas crackling like cannon, and the blocks
5324trundling and banging on the deck, she still continued to run away from
5325me, not only with the speed of the current, but by the whole amount of
5326her leeway, which was naturally great.
5327
5328But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell, for some seconds,
5329very low, and the current gradually turning her, the _Hispaniola_
5330revolved slowly round her center and at last presented me her stern,
5331with the cabin window still gaping open and the lamp over the table
5332still burning on into the day. The mainsail hung drooped like a banner.
5333She was stock-still but for the current.
5334
5335For the last little while I had even lost, but now, redoubling my
5336efforts, I began once more to overhaul the chase.
5337
5338I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind came again in a clap;
5339she filled on the port tack and was off again, stooping and skimming
5340like a swallow.
5341
5342My first impulse was one of despair, but my second was towards joy.
5343Round she came, till she was broadside on to me--round still till she
5344had covered a half, and then two-thirds, and then three-quarters of the
5345distance that separated us. I could see the waves boiling white under
5346her forefoot. Immensely tall she looked to me from my low station in the
5347coracle.
5348
5349And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I had scarce time to
5350think--scarce time to act and save myself. I was on the summit of one
5351swell when the schooner came stooping over the next. The bowsprit was
5352over my head. I sprang to my feet and leaped, stamping the coracle under
5353water. With one hand I caught the jib-boom, while my foot was lodged
5354between the stay and the brace, and as I still clung there panting, a
5355dull blow told me that the schooner had charged down upon and struck the
5356coracle and that I was left without retreat on the _Hispaniola_.
5357
5358
5359
5360
5361CHAPTER XXV
5362
5363I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER
5364
5365
5366I had scarce gained a position on the bowsprit when the flying jib
5367flapped and filled upon the other tack with a report like a gun. The
5368schooner trembled to her keel under the reverse, but next moment, the
5369other sails still drawing, the jib flapped back again and hung idle.
5370
5371This had nearly tossed me off into the sea, and now I lost no time,
5372crawled back along the bowsprit and tumbled headforemost on the deck.
5373
5374I was on the lee side of the forecastle, and the mainsail, which was
5375still drawing, concealed from me a certain portion of the after-deck.
5376Not a soul was to be seen. The planks, which had not been swabbed since
5377the mutiny, bore the print of many feet; and an empty bottle, broken by
5378the neck, tumbled to and fro like a live thing in the scuppers.
5379
5380Suddenly the _Hispaniola_ came right into the wind. The jibs behind me
5381cracked aloud; the rudder slammed to; the whole ship gave a sickening
5382heave and shudder; and at the same moment the main-boom swung inboard,
5383the sheet groaning in the blocks, and showed me the lee after-deck.
5384
5385There were the two watchmen, sure enough; Red-cap on his back, as stiff
5386as a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix,
5387and his teeth showing through his open lips; Israel Hands propped
5388against the bulwarks, his chin on his chest, his hands lying open before
5389him on the deck, his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow candle.
5390
5391For a while the ship kept bucking and sidling like a vicious horse, the
5392sails filling, now on one tack, now on another, and the boom swinging to
5393and fro till the mast groaned aloud under the strain. Now and again,
5394too, there would come a cloud of light sprays over the bulwark, and a
5395heavy blow of the ship's bows against the swell--so much heavier weather
5396was made of it by this great rigged ship than by my homemade, lopsided
5397coracle, now gone to the bottom of the sea.
5398
5399At every jump of the schooner, Red-cap slipped to and fro; but--what was
5400ghastly to behold--neither his attitude nor his fixed teeth-disclosing
5401grin was any way disturbed by this rough usage. At every jump, too,
5402Hands appeared still more to sink into himself and settle down upon the
5403deck, his feet sliding ever the farther out, and the whole body canting
5404toward the stern, so that his face became, little by little, hid from
5405me; and at last I could see nothing beyond his ear and the frayed
5406ringlet of one whisker.
5407
5408At the same time I observed, around both of them, splashes of dark blood
5409upon the planks, and began to feel sure that they had killed each other
5410in their drunken wrath.
5411
5412While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calm moment when the ship
5413was still, Israel Hands turned partly round, and with a low moan,
5414writhed himself back to the position in which I had seen him first. The
5415moan, which told of pain and deadly weakness, and the way in which his
5416jaw hung open, went right to my heart. But when I remembered the talk I
5417had overheard from the apple barrel, all pity left me.
5418
5419I walked aft until I reached the mainmast.
5420
5421"Come aboard, Mr. Hands," I said, ironically.
5422
5423He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too far gone to express
5424surprise. All he could do was to utter one word, "Brandy."
5425
5426It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and dodging the boom as it
5427once more lurched across the deck, I slipped aft and down the
5428companion-stairs into the cabin.
5429
5430It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy. All the
5431lock-fast places had been broken open in quest of the chart. The floor
5432was thick with mud, where the ruffians had sat down to drink or consult
5433after wading in the marshes round their camp. The bulkheads, all painted
5434in clear white, and beaded round with gilt, bore a pattern of dirty
5435hands. Dozens of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the
5436rolling of the ship. One of the doctor's medical books lay open on the
5437table, half of the leaves gutted out, I suppose, for pipe-lights. In the
5438midst of all this the lamp still cast a smoky glow, obscure and brown as
5439umber.
5440
5441I went into the cellar; all the barrels were gone, and of the bottles a
5442most surprising number had been drunk out and thrown away. Certainly,
5443since the mutiny began, not a man of them could ever have been sober.
5444
5445Foraging about I found a bottle with some brandy left, for Hands; and
5446for myself I routed out some biscuit, some pickled fruits, a great bunch
5447of raisins, and a piece of cheese. With these I came on deck, put down
5448my own stock behind the rudder-head, and well out of the coxswain's
5449reach, went forward to the water-breaker, and had a good, deep drink of
5450water, and then, and not until then, gave Hands the brandy.
5451
5452He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle from his mouth.
5453
5454"Ay," said he, "by thunder, but I wanted some o' that!"
5455
5456I had sat down already in my own corner and begun to eat.
5457
5458"Much hurt?" I asked him.
5459
5460He grunted, or, rather, I might say, he barked.
5461
5462"If that doctor was aboard," he said, "I'd be right enough in a couple
5463of turns; but I don't have no manner of luck, you see, and that's what's
5464the matter with me. As for that swab, he's good and dead, he is," he
5465added, indicating the man with the red cap. "He warn't no seaman,
5466anyhow. And where mought you have come from?"
5467
5468"Well," said I, "I've come aboard to take possession of this ship, Mr.
5469Hands, and you'll please regard me as your captain until further
5470notice."
5471
5472He looked at me sourly enough, but said nothing. Some of the color had
5473come back into his cheeks, though he still looked very sick and still
5474continued to slip out and settle down as the ship banged about.
5475
5476"By the by," I continued, "I can't have these colors, Mr. Hands; and by
5477your leave I'll strike 'em. Better none than these."
5478
5479And, again dodging the boom, I ran to the color lines, hauled down their
5480cursed black flag, and chucked it overboard.
5481
5482"God save the king!" said I, waving my cap; "and there's an end to
5483Captain Silver."
5484
5485He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the while on his breast.
5486
5487"I reckon," he said at last--"I reckon, Cap'n Hawkins, you'll kind o'
5488want to get ashore, now. S'pose we talks."
5489
5490"Why, yes," says I, "with all my heart, Mr. Hands. Say on." And I went
5491back to my meal with a good appetite.
5492
5493"This man," he began, nodding feebly at the corpse--"O'Brien were his
5494name--a rank Irelander--this man and me got the canvas on her, meaning
5495for to sail her back. Well, _he's_ dead now, he is--as dead as bilge;
5496and who's to sail this ship, I don't see. Without I give you a hint, you
5497ain't that man, as far's I can tell. Now, look here, you gives me food
5498and drink, and a old scarf or ankercher to tie my wound up, you do; and
5499I'll tell you how to sail her; and that's about square all round, I take
5500it."
5501
5502"I'll tell you one thing," says I; "I'm not going back to Captain Kidd's
5503anchorage. I mean to get into North Inlet, and beach her quietly there."
5504
5505"To be sure you did," he cried. "Why, I ain't sich an infernal lubber,
5506after all. I can see, can't I? I've tried my fling, I have, and I've
5507lost, and it's you has the wind of me. North Inlet? Why, I haven't no
5508ch'ice, not I. I'd help you sail her up to Execution Dock, by thunder!
5509so I would."
5510
5511Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this. We struck our
5512bargain on the spot. In three minutes I had the _Hispaniola_ sailing
5513easily before the wind along the coast of Treasure Island, with good
5514hopes of turning the northern point ere noon, and beating down again as
5515far as North Inlet before high water, when we might beach her safely,
5516and wait till the subsiding tide permitted us to land.
5517
5518Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own chest, where I got a
5519soft silk handkerchief of my mother's. With this, and with my aid, Hands
5520bound up the great bleeding stab he had received in the thigh, and after
5521he had eaten a little and had a swallow or two more of the brandy, he
5522began to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer,
5523and looked in every way another man.
5524
5525The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed before it like a bird, the
5526coast of the island flashing by, and the view changing every minute.
5527Soon we were past the high lands and bowling beside low, sandy country,
5528sparsely dotted with dwarf pines, and soon we were beyond that again,
5529and had turned the corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on the
5530north.
5531
5532I was greatly elated with my new command, and pleased with the bright,
5533sunshiny weather and these different prospects of the coast. I had now
5534plenty of water and good things to eat, and my conscience, which had
5535smitten me hard for my desertion, was quieted by the great conquest I
5536had made. I should, I think, have had nothing left me to desire but for
5537the eyes of the coxswain as they followed me derisively about the deck,
5538and the odd smile that appeared continually on his face. It was a smile
5539that had in it something both of pain and weakness--a haggard, old man's
5540smile; but there was, besides that, a grain of derision, a shadow of
5541treachery, in his expression as he craftily watched, and watched, and
5542watched me at my work.
5543
5544
5545
5546
5547CHAPTER XXVI
5548
5549ISRAEL HANDS
5550
5551
5552The wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into the west. We could run
5553so much easier from the northeast corner of the island to the mouth of
5554the North Inlet. Only, as we had no power to anchor, and dared not beach
5555her until the tide had flowed a good deal farther, time hung on our
5556hands. The coxswain told me how to lay the ship to; after a good many
5557trials I succeeded, and we both sat in silence over another meal.
5558
5559"Cap'n," said he, at length, with that same uncomfortable smile, "here's
5560my old shipmate, O'Brien; s'pose you was to heave him overboard. I ain't
5561partic'lar, as a rule, and I don't take no blame for settling his hash;
5562but I don't reckon him ornamental, now, do you?"
5563
5564"I'm not strong enough, and I don't like the job; and there he lies, for
5565me," said I.
5566
5567"This here's an unlucky ship--the _Hispaniola_, Jim," he went on,
5568blinking. "There's a power of men been killed in this _Hispaniola_--a
5569sight o' poor seamen dead and gone since you and me took ship to
5570Bristol. I never seen such dirty luck, not I. There was this here
5571O'Brien, now--he's dead, ain't he? Well, now, I'm no scholar, and you're
5572a lad as can read and figure; and, to put it straight, do you take it as
5573a dead man is dead for good, or do he come alive again?"
5574
5575"You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit; you must know
5576that already," I replied. "O'Brien, there, is in another world, and may
5577be watching us."
5578
5579"Ah!" says he. "Well, that's unfort'nate--appears as if killing parties
5580was a waste of time. Howsomever, sperrits don't reckon for much, by what
5581I've seen. I'll chance it with the sperrits, Jim. And now you've spoke
5582up free, and I'll take it kind if you'd step down into that there cabin
5583and get me a--well, a--shiver my timbers! I can't hit the name on't.
5584Well, you get me a bottle of wine, Jim--this here brandy's too strong
5585for my head."
5586
5587Now the coxswain's hesitation seemed to be unnatural; and as for the
5588notion of his preferring wine to brandy, I entirely disbelieved it. The
5589whole story was a pretext. He wanted me to leave the deck--so much was
5590plain, but with what purpose I could in no way imagine. His eyes never
5591met mine; they kept wandering to and fro, up and down, now with a look
5592to the sky, now with a flitting glance upon the dead O'Brien. All the
5593time he kept smiling and putting his tongue out in the most guilty,
5594embarrassed manner, so that a child could have told that he was bent on
5595some deception. I was prompt with my answer, however, for I saw where my
5596advantage lay, and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could easily
5597conceal my suspicions to the end.
5598
5599"Some wine?" I said. "Far better. Will you have white or red?"
5600
5601"Well, I reckon it's about the blessed same to me, shipmate," he
5602replied; "so it's strong, and plenty of it, what's the odds?"
5603
5604"All right," I answered. "I'll bring you port, Mr. Hands. But I'll have
5605to dig for it."
5606
5607With that I scuttled down the companion with all the noise I could,
5608slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along the sparred gallery, mounted the
5609forecastle ladder and popped my head out of the fore companion. I knew
5610he would not expect to see me there, yet I took every precaution
5611possible, and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true.
5612
5613He had risen from his position to his hands and knees, and though his
5614leg obviously hurt him pretty sharply when he moved--for I could hear
5615him stifle a groan--yet it was at a good, rattling rate that he trailed
5616himself across the deck. In half a minute he had reached the port
5617scuppers, and picked out of a coil of rope a long knife, or rather a
5618short dirk, discolored to the hilt with blood. He looked upon it for a
5619moment, thrusting forth his under jaw, tried the point upon his hand,
5620and then hastily concealing it in the bosom of his jacket, trundled back
5621again into his old place against the bulwark.
5622
5623This was all that I required to know. Israel could move about; he was
5624now armed, and if he had been at so much trouble to get rid of me, it
5625was plain that I was meant to be the victim. What he would do
5626afterward--whether he would try to crawl right across the island from
5627North Inlet to the camp among the swamps, or whether he would fire Long
5628Tom, trusting that his own comrades might come first to help him, was,
5629of course, more than I could say.
5630
5631Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, since in that our
5632interests jumped together, and that was in the disposition of the
5633schooner. We both desired to have her stranded safe enough, in a
5634sheltered place, and so that when the time came, she could be got off
5635again with as little labor and danger as might be; and until that was
5636done I considered that my life would certainly be spared.
5637
5638While I was thus turning the business over in my mind I had not been
5639idle with my body. I had stolen back to the cabin, slipped once more
5640into my shoes and laid my hand at random on a bottle of wine, and now
5641with this for an excuse, I made my reappearance on the deck.
5642
5643Hands lay as I had left him, all fallen together in a bundle, and with
5644his eyelids lowered as though he were too weak to bear the light. He
5645looked up, however, at my coming, knocked the neck off the bottle like a
5646man who had done the same thing often, and took a good swig, with his
5647favorite toast of "Here's luck!" Then he lay quiet for a little, and
5648then, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid.
5649
5650"Cut me a junk o' that," says he, "for I haven't no knife, and hardly
5651strength enough, so be as I had. Ah, Jim, Jim, I reckon I've missed
5652stays! Cut me a quid as'll likely be the last, lad; for I'm for my long
5653home, and no mistake."
5654
5655"Well," said I, "I'll cut you some tobacco, but if I was you and thought
5656myself so badly, I would go to my prayers, like a Christian man."
5657
5658"Why?" said he. "Now you tell me why."
5659
5660"Why?" I cried. "You were asking me just now about the dead. You've
5661broken your trust; you've lived in sin and lies and blood; there's a man
5662you killed lying at your feet this moment; and you ask me why! For God's
5663mercy, Mr. Hands, that's why."
5664
5665I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody dirk he had hidden in
5666his pocket, and designed, in his ill thoughts, to end me with. He, for
5667his part, took a great draught of the wine and spoke with the most
5668unusual solemnity.
5669
5670"For thirty year," he said, "I've sailed the seas and seen good and bad,
5671better and worse, fair weather and foul, provisions running out, knives
5672going, and what not. Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o'
5673goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite;
5674them's my views--amen, so be it. And now, you look here," he added,
5675suddenly changing his tone, "we've had about enough of this foolery. The
5676tide's made good enough by now. You just take my orders, Cap'n Hawkins,
5677and we'll sail slap in and be done with it."
5678
5679All told, we had scarce two miles to run, but the navigation was
5680delicate, the entrance to this northern anchorage was not only narrow
5681and shoal, but lay east and west, so that the schooner must be nicely
5682handled to be got in. I think I was a good, prompt subaltern, and I am
5683very sure that Hands was an excellent pilot; for we went about and
5684about, and dodged in, shaving the banks, with a certainty and a neatness
5685that were a pleasure to behold.
5686
5687Scarcely had we passed the head before the land closed around us. The
5688shores of North Inlet were as thickly wooded as those of the southern
5689anchorage, but the space was longer and narrower, and more like, what in
5690truth it was, the estuary of a river. Right before us, at the southern
5691end, we saw the wreck of a ship in the last stages of dilapidation. It
5692had been a great vessel of three masts, but had lain so long exposed to
5693the injuries of the weather that it was hung about with great webs of
5694dripping seaweed, and on the deck of it shore bushes had taken root,
5695and now flourished thick with flowers. It was a sad sight, but it showed
5696us that the anchorage was calm.
5697
5698"Now," said Hands, "look there; there's a pet bit for to beach a ship
5699in. Fine flat sand, never a catspaw, trees all around of it, and flowers
5700a-blowing like a garding on that old ship."
5701
5702"And, once beached," I inquired, "how shall we get her off again?"
5703
5704"Why, so," he replied; "you take a line ashore there on the other side
5705at low water; take a turn about one o' them big pines; bring it back,
5706take a turn around the capstan and lie-to for the tide. Come high water,
5707all hands take a pull upon the line, and off she comes as sweet as
5708natur'. And now, boy, you stand by. We're near the bit now, and she's
5709too much way on her. Starboard a little--so--steady--starboard--larboard
5710a little--steady--steady!"
5711
5712So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly obeyed; till, all of a
5713sudden, he cried: "Now, my hearty, luff!" And I put the helm hard up,
5714and the _Hispaniola_ swung round rapidly and ran stem on for the low
5715wooded shore.
5716
5717The excitement of these last maneuvers had somewhat interfered with the
5718watch I had kept hitherto, sharply enough, upon the coxswain. Even then
5719I was still so much interested, waiting for the ship to touch, that I
5720had quite forgot the peril that hung over my head, and stood craning
5721over the starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading wide
5722before the bows. I might have fallen without a struggle for my life, had
5723not a sudden disquietude seized upon me and made me turn my head.
5724Perhaps I had heard a creak or seen his shadow moving with the tail of
5725my eye; perhaps it was an instinct like a cat's; but, sure enough, when
5726I looked round, there was Hands, already halfway toward me, with the
5727dirk in his right hand.
5728
5729We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met, but while mine was
5730the shrill cry of terror, his was a roar of fury like a charging bull's.
5731At the same instant he threw himself forward and I leaped sideways
5732toward the bows. As I did so I let go of the tiller, which sprung sharp
5733to leeward; and I think this saved my life, for it struck Hands across
5734the chest, and stopped him, for the moment, dead.
5735
5736Before he could recover I was safe out of the corner where he had me
5737trapped, with all the deck to dodge about. Just forward of the mainmast
5738I stopped, drew a pistol from my pocket, took a cool aim, though he had
5739already turned and was once more coming directly after me, and drew the
5740trigger. The hammer fell, but there followed neither flash nor sound;
5741the priming was useless with sea water. I cursed myself for my neglect.
5742Why had not I, long before, reprimed and reloaded my only weapons? Then
5743I should not have been as now, a mere fleeing sheep before this butcher.
5744
5745Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he could move, his grizzled
5746hair tumbling over his face and his face itself as red as a red ensign
5747with his haste and fury. I had no time to try my other pistol, nor,
5748indeed, much inclination, for I was sure it would be useless. One thing
5749I saw plainly: I must not simply retreat before him, or he would
5750speedily hold me boxed into the bows, as a moment since he had so nearly
5751boxed me in the stern. Once so caught, and nine or ten inches of the
5752blood-stained dirk would be my last experience on this side of eternity.
5753I placed my palms against the mainmast, which was of a goodish bigness,
5754and waited, every nerve upon the stretch.
5755
5756Seeing that I meant to dodge he also paused, and a moment or two passed
5757in feints on his part and corresponding movements upon mine. It was such
5758a game as I had often played at home about the rocks of Black Hill Cove;
5759but never before, you may be sure, with such a wildly beating heart as
5760now. Still, as I say it, it was a boy's game, and I thought I could hold
5761my own at it against an elderly seaman with a wounded thigh. Indeed, my
5762courage had begun to rise so high that I allowed myself a few darting
5763thoughts on what would be the end of the affair; and while I saw
5764certainly that I could spin it out for long, I saw no hope of any
5765ultimate escape.
5766
5767Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the _Hispaniola_ struck,
5768staggered, ground for an instant in the sand, and then, swift as a blow,
5769canted over to the port side, till the deck stood at an angle of
5770forty-five degrees, and about a puncheon of water splashed into the
5771scupper holes, and lay in a pool between the deck and bulwark.
5772
5773We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of us rolled, almost
5774together, into the scuppers, the dead Red-cap, with his arms still
5775spread out, tumbling stiffly after us. So near were we, indeed, that my
5776head came against the coxswain's foot with a crack that made my teeth
5777rattle. Blow and all, I was the first afoot again, for Hands had got
5778involved with the dead body. The sudden canting of the ship had made the
5779deck no place for running on; I had to find some new way of escape, and
5780that upon the instant, for my foe was almost touching me. Quick as
5781thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds, rattled up hand over hand,
5782and did not draw a breath till I was seated on the crosstrees.
5783
5784[Illustration: _Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds_
5785(Page 193)]
5786
5787I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had struck not half a foot
5788below me as I pursued my upward flight; and there stood Israel Hands
5789with his mouth open and his face upturned to mine, a perfect statue of
5790surprise and disappointment.
5791
5792Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time in changing the
5793priming of my pistol, and then, having one ready for service, and to
5794make assurance doubly sure, I proceeded to draw the load of the other,
5795and recharge it afresh from the beginning.
5796
5797My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; he began to see the dice
5798going against him, and after an obvious hesitation, he also hauled
5799himself heavily into the shrouds, and, with the dirk in his teeth, began
5800slowly and painfully to mount. It cost him no end of time and groans to
5801haul his wounded leg behind him; and I had quietly finished my
5802arrangements before he was much more than a third of the way up. Then,
5803with a pistol in either hand, I addressed him:
5804
5805"One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow your brains out! Dead
5806men don't bite, you know," I added, with a chuckle.
5807
5808He stopped instantly. I could see by the workings of his face that he
5809was trying to think, and the process was so slow and laborious that, in
5810my new-found security, I laughed aloud. At last, with a swallow or two,
5811he spoke, his face still wearing the same expression of extreme
5812perplexity. In order to speak he had to take the dagger from his mouth,
5813but, in all else, he remained unmoved.
5814
5815"Jim," says he, "I reckon we're fouled, you and me, and we'll have to
5816sign articles. I'd have had you but for that there lurch; but I don't
5817have no luck, not I; and I reckon I'll have to strike, which comes hard,
5818you see, for a master mariner to a ship's younker like you, Jim."
5819
5820I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as conceited as a cock
5821upon a walk, when, all in a breath, back went his right hand over his
5822shoulder. Something sang like an arrow through the air; I felt a blow
5823and then a sharp pang, and there I was pinned by the shoulder to the
5824mast. In the horrid pain and surprise of the moment--I scarce can say it
5825was by my own volition, and I am sure it was without a conscious
5826aim--both my pistols went off, and both escaped out of my hands. They
5827did not fall alone; with a choked cry the coxswain loosed his grasp upon
5828the shrouds, and plunged head first into the water.
5829
5830
5831
5832
5833CHAPTER XXVII
5834
5835"PIECES OF EIGHT"
5836
5837
5838Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water,
5839and from my perch on the crosstrees I had nothing below me but the
5840surface of the bay. Hands, who was not so far up, was, in consequence,
5841nearer to the ship, and fell between me and the bulwarks. He rose once
5842to the surface in a lather of foam and blood, and then sank again for
5843good. As the water settled, I could see him lying huddled together on
5844the clean, bright sand in the shadow of the vessel's sides. A fish or
5845two whipped past his body. Sometimes, by the quivering of the water, he
5846appeared to move a little, as if he were trying to rise. But he was dead
5847enough, for all that, being both shot and drowned, and was food for fish
5848in the very place where he had designed my slaughter.
5849
5850I was no sooner certain of this than I began to feel sick, faint, and
5851terrified. The hot blood was running over my back and chest. The dirk,
5852where it had pinned my shoulder to the mast, seemed to burn like a hot
5853iron; yet it was not so much these real sufferings that distressed me,
5854for these, it seemed to me, I could bear without a murmur; it was the
5855horror I had upon my mind of falling from the crosstree into that still,
5856green water beside the body of the coxswain.
5857
5858I clung with both hands till my nails ached, and I shut my eyes as if to
5859cover up the peril. Gradually my mind came back again, my pulses
5860quieted down to a more natural time, and I was once more in possession
5861of myself.
5862
5863It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk; but either it stuck too
5864hard or my nerve failed me, and I desisted with a violent shudder. Oddly
5865enough, that very shudder did the business. The knife, in fact, had come
5866the nearest in the world to missing me altogether; it held me by a mere
5867pinch of skin, and this the shudder tore away. The blood ran down the
5868faster, to be sure, but I was my own master again, and only tacked to
5869the mast by my coat and shirt.
5870
5871These last I broke through with a sudden jerk, and then regained the
5872deck by the starboard shrouds. For nothing in the world would I have
5873again ventured, shaken as I was, upon the overhanging port shrouds, from
5874which Israel had so lately fallen.
5875
5876I went below and did what I could for my wound; it pained me a good
5877deal, and still bled freely, but it was neither deep nor dangerous, nor
5878did it greatly gall me when I used my arm. Then I looked around me, and
5879as the ship was now, in a sense, my own, I began to think of clearing it
5880from its last passenger--the dead man, O'Brien.
5881
5882He had pitched, as I have said, against the bulwarks, where he lay like
5883some horrid, ungainly sort of puppet; life-size, indeed, but how
5884different from life's color or life's comeliness! In that position, I
5885could easily have my way with him, and as the habit of tragical
5886adventures had worn off almost all my terror for the dead, I took him by
5887the waist as if he had been a sack of bran, and, with one good heave,
5888tumbled him overboard. He went in with a sounding plunge; the red cap
5889came off, and remained floating on the surface; and as soon as the
5890splash subsided, I could see him and Israel lying side by side, both
5891wavering with the tremulous movement of the water. O'Brien, though still
5892quite a young man, was very bald. There he lay with that bald head
5893across the knees of the man who killed him, and the quick fishes
5894steering to and fro over both.
5895
5896I was now alone upon the ship; the tide had just turned. The sun was
5897within so few degrees of setting that already the shadow of the pines
5898upon the western shore began to reach right across the anchorage and
5899fall in patterns on the deck. The evening breeze had sprung up, and
5900though it was well warded off by the hill with the two peaks upon the
5901east, the cordage had begun to sing a little softly to itself and the
5902idle sails to rattle to and fro.
5903
5904I began to see a danger to the ship. The jibs I speedily doused and
5905brought tumbling to the deck, but the mainsail was a harder matter. Of
5906course, when the schooner canted over, the boom had swung outboard, and
5907the cap of it and a foot or two of sail hung even under water. I thought
5908this made it still more dangerous, yet the strain was so heavy that I
5909half feared to meddle. At last I got my knife and cut the halyards. The
5910peak dropped instantly, a great belly of loose canvas floated broad upon
5911the water; and since, pull as I liked, I could not budge the downhaul,
5912that was the extent of what I could accomplish. For the rest, the
5913_Hispaniola_ must trust to luck, like myself.
5914
5915By this time the whole anchorage had fallen into shadow--the last rays,
5916I remember, falling through a glade of the wood, and shining bright as
5917jewels on the flowery mantle of the wreck. It began to be chill, the
5918tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and more
5919on her beam-ends.
5920
5921I scrambled forward and looked over. It seemed shallow enough, and
5922holding the cut hawser in both hands for a last security, I let myself
5923drop softly overboard. The water scarcely reached my waist; the sand was
5924firm and covered with ripple-marks, and I waded ashore in great spirits,
5925leaving the _Hispaniola_ on her side, with her mainsail trailing wide
5926upon the surface of the bay. About the same time the sun went fairly
5927down, and the breeze whistled low in the dusk among the tossing pines.
5928
5929At least, and at last, I was off the sea, nor had I returned thence
5930empty-handed. There lay the schooner, clear at last from buccaneers and
5931ready for our own men to board and get to sea again. I had nothing
5932nearer my fancy than to get home to the stockade and boast of my
5933achievements. Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the
5934recapture of the _Hispaniola_ was a clinching answer, and I hoped that
5935even Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time.
5936
5937So thinking, and in famous spirits, I began to set my face homeward for
5938the blockhouse and my companions. I remembered that the most easterly of
5939the rivers which drain into Captain Kidd's anchorage ran from the
5940two-peaked hill upon my left; and I bent my course in that direction
5941that I might pass the stream while it was small. The wood was pretty
5942open, and keeping along the lower spurs, I had soon turned the corner of
5943that hill, and not long after waded to the mid-calf across the
5944watercourse.
5945
5946This brought me near to where I had encountered Ben Gunn, the maroon,
5947and I walked more circumspectly, keeping an eye on every side. The dusk
5948had come nigh hand completely, and, as I opened out the cleft between
5949the two peaks, I became aware of a wavering glow against the sky, where,
5950as I judged, the man of the island was cooking his supper before a
5951roaring fire. And yet I wondered, in my heart, that he should show
5952himself so careless. For if I could see this radiance, might it not
5953reach the eye of Silver himself where he camped upon the shore among the
5954marshes?
5955
5956Gradually the night fell blacker; it was all I could do to guide myself
5957even roughly toward my destination; the double hill behind me and the
5958Spy-glass on my right hand loomed faint and fainter, the stars were few
5959and pale, and in the low ground where I wandered I kept tripping among
5960bushes and rolling into sandy pits.
5961
5962Suddenly a kind of brightness fell about me. I looked up; a pale glimmer
5963of moonbeams had alighted on the summit of the Spy-glass, and soon after
5964I saw something broad and silvery moving low down behind the trees, and
5965knew the moon had risen.
5966
5967With this to help me, I passed rapidly over what remained to me of my
5968journey; and, sometimes walking, sometimes running, impatiently drew
5969near to the stockade. Yet, as I began to thread the grove that lies
5970before it, I was not so thoughtless but that I slacked my pace and went
5971a trifle warily. It would have been a poor end of my adventures to get
5972shot down by my own party in mistake.
5973
5974The moon was climbing higher and higher; its light began to fall here
5975and there in masses through the more open districts of the wood, and
5976right in front of me a glow of a different color appeared among the
5977trees. It was red and hot, and now and again it was a little
5978darkened--as it were the embers of a bonfire smoldering.
5979
5980For the life of me I could not think what it might be.
5981
5982At last I came right down upon the borders of the clearing. The western
5983end was already steeped in moon-shine; the rest, and the blockhouse
5984itself, still lay in a black shadow, chequered with long, silvery
5985streaks of light. On the other side of the house an immense fire had
5986burned itself into clear embers and shed a steady, red reverberation,
5987contrasting strongly with the mellow paleness of the moon. There was not
5988a soul stirring, nor a sound beside the noises of the breeze.
5989
5990I stopped, with much wonder in my heart, and perhaps a little terror
5991also. It had not been our way to build great fires; we were, indeed, by
5992the captain's orders, somewhat niggardly of firewood, and I began to
5993fear that something had gone wrong while I was absent.
5994
5995I stole round by the eastern end, keeping close in shadow, and at a
5996convenient place, where the darkness was thickest, crossed the palisade.
5997
5998To make assurance surer, I got upon my hands and knees, and crawled,
5999without a sound, toward the corner of the house. As I drew nearer, my
6000heart was suddenly and greatly lightened. It was not a pleasant noise in
6001itself, and I have often complained of it at other times, but just then
6002it was like music to hear my friends snoring together so loud and
6003peaceful in their sleep. The sea-cry of the watch, that beautiful "All's
6004well," never fell more reassuringly on my ear.
6005
6006In the meantime there was no doubt of one thing; they kept an infamous
6007bad watch. If it had been Silver and his lads that were now creeping in
6008on them, not a soul would have seen daybreak. That was what it was,
6009thought I, to have the captain wounded; and again I blamed myself
6010sharply for leaving them in that danger with so few to mount guard.
6011
6012By this time I had got to the door and stood up. All was dark within, so
6013that I could distinguish nothing by the eye. As for sounds, there was
6014the steady drone of the snorers, and a small occasional noise, a
6015flickering or pecking that I could in no way account for.
6016
6017With my arms before me I walked steadily in. I should lie down in my own
6018place (I thought, with a silent chuckle) and enjoy their faces when they
6019found me in the morning. My foot struck something yielding--it was a
6020sleeper's leg, and he turned and groaned, but without awaking.
6021
6022And then, all of a sudden, a shrill voice broke forth out of the
6023darkness:
6024
6025"Pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight!
6026pieces of eight!" and so forth, without pause or change, like the
6027clacking of a tiny mill.
6028
6029Silver's green parrot, Captain Flint! It was she whom I had heard
6030pecking at a piece of bark; it was she, keeping better watch than any
6031human being, who thus announced my arrival with her wearisome refrain.
6032
6033I had no time left me to recover. At the sharp clipping tone of the
6034parrot, the sleepers awoke and sprang up, and with a mighty oath the
6035voice of Silver cried:
6036
6037"Who goes?"
6038
6039I turned to run, struck violently against one person, recoiled, and ran
6040full into the arms of a second, who, for his part, closed upon and held
6041me tight.
6042
6043"Bring a torch, Dick," said Silver, when my capture was thus assured.
6044
6045And one of the men left the log-house, and presently returned with a
6046lighted brand.
6047
6048[Illustration]
6049
6050
6051
6052
6053PART VI
6054
6055CAPTAIN SILVER
6056
6057
6058
6059
6060CHAPTER XXVIII
6061
6062IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP
6063
6064
6065The red glare of the torch lighting up the interior of the blockhouse
6066showed me the worst of my apprehensions realized. The pirates were in
6067possession of the house and stores; there was the cask of cognac, there
6068were the pork and bread, as before; and, what tenfold increased my
6069horror, not a sign of any prisoner. I could only judge that all had
6070perished, and my heart smote me sorely that I had not been there to
6071perish with them.
6072
6073There were six of the buccaneers, all told; not another man was left
6074alive. Five of them were on their feet, flushed and swollen, suddenly
6075called out of the first sleep of drunkenness. The sixth had only risen
6076upon his elbow; he was deadly pale, and the blood-stained bandage round
6077his head told that he had recently been wounded, and still more recently
6078dressed. I remembered the man who had been shot and run back among the
6079woods in the great attack, and doubted not that this was he.
6080
6081The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long John's shoulder. He
6082himself, I thought, looked somewhat paler and more stern than I was used
6083to. He still wore his fine broadcloth suit in which he had fulfilled his
6084mission, but it was bitterly the worse for wear, daubed with clay and
6085torn with sharp briers of the wood.
6086
6087"So," said he, "here's Jim Hawkins, shiver my timbers! dropped in,
6088like, eh? Well, come, I take that friendly."
6089
6090And thereupon he sat down across the brandy-cask, and began to fill a
6091pipe.
6092
6093"Give me the loan of a link, Dick," said he; and then, when he had a
6094good light, "That'll do, my lad," he added, "stick the glim in the wood
6095heap; and you, gentlemen, bring yourselves to!--you needn't stand up for
6096Mr. Hawkins; _he'll_ excuse you, you may lay to that. And so,
6097Jim"--stopping the tobacco--"here you are, and quite a pleasant surprise
6098for poor old John. I see you were smart when first I set my eyes on you,
6099but this here gets away from me clean, it do."
6100
6101To all this, as may be well supposed, I made no answer. They had set me
6102with my back against the wall, and I stood there, looking Silver in the
6103face, pluckily enough, I hope, to all outward appearance, but with black
6104despair in my heart.
6105
6106Silver took a whiff or two of his pipe with great composure, and then
6107ran on again:
6108
6109"Now, you see, Jim, so be as you _are_ here," says he, "I'll give you a
6110piece of my mind. I've always liked you, I have, for a lad of spirit,
6111and the picter of my own self when I was young and handsome. I always
6112wanted you to jine and take your share, and die a gentleman, and now, my
6113cock, you've got to. Cap'n Smollett's a fine seaman, as I'll own up to
6114any day, but stiff on discipline. 'Dooty is dooty,' says he, and right
6115he is. Just you keep clear of the cap'n. The doctor himself is gone dead
6116again you--'ungrateful scamp' was what he said; and the short and long
6117of the whole story is about here: You can't go back to your own lot, for
6118they won't have you; and, without you start a third ship's company all
6119by yourself, which might be lonely, you'll have to jine with Cap'n
6120Silver."
6121
6122So far so good. My friends, then, were still alive, and though I partly
6123believed the truth of Silver's statement, that the cabin party were
6124incensed at me for my desertion, I was more relieved than distressed by
6125what I heard.
6126
6127"I don't say nothing as to your being in our hands," continued Silver,
6128"though there you are, and you may lay to it. I'm all for argyment; I
6129never seen good come out o' threatening. If you like the service, well,
6130you'll jine; and if you don't, Jim, why, you're free to answer no--free
6131and welcome, shipmate; and if fairer can be said by mortal seaman,
6132shiver my sides!"
6133
6134"Am I to answer, then?" I asked, with a very tremulous voice. Through
6135all this sneering talk I was made to feel the threat of death that
6136overhung me, and my cheeks burned and my heart beat painfully in my
6137breast.
6138
6139"Lad," said Silver, "no one's a-pressing of you. Take your bearings.
6140None of us won't hurry you, mate; time goes so pleasant in your company,
6141you see."
6142
6143"Well," says I, growing a bit bolder, "if I'm to choose, I declare I
6144have a right to know what's what, and why you're here, and where my
6145friends are."
6146
6147"Wot's wot?" repeated one of the buccaneers, in a deep growl. "Ah, he'd
6148be a lucky one as knowed that!"
6149
6150"You'll, perhaps, batten down your hatches till you're spoke to, my
6151friend," cried Silver, truculently, to this speaker. And then, in his
6152first gracious tones, he replied to me: "Yesterday morning, Mr.
6153Hawkins," said he, "in the dogwatch, down came Doctor Livesey with a
6154flag of truce. Says he: 'Cap'n Silver, you're sold out. Ship's gone!'
6155Well, maybe we'd been taking a glass, and a song to help it round. I
6156won't say no. Leastways, none of us had looked out. We looked out, and,
6157by thunder! the old ship was gone. I never seen a pack o' fools look
6158fishier; and you may lay to that, if I tells you that I looked the
6159fishiest. 'Well,' says the doctor, 'let's bargain.' We bargained, him
6160and I, and here we are; stores, brandy, blockhouse, the firewood you was
6161thoughtful enough to cut, and, in a manner of speaking, the whole
6162blessed boat, from crosstrees to keelson. As for them, they've tramped;
6163I don't know where's they are."
6164
6165He drew again quietly at his pipe.
6166
6167"And lest you should take it into that head of yours," he went on, "that
6168you was included in the treaty, here's the last word that was said: 'How
6169many are you,' says I, 'to leave?' 'Four,' says he--'four, and one of us
6170wounded. As for that boy, I don't know where he is, confound him,' says
6171he, 'nor I don't much care. We're about sick of him.' These was his
6172words."
6173
6174"Is that all?" I asked.
6175
6176"Well, it's all you're to hear, my son," returned Silver.
6177
6178"And now I am to choose?"
6179
6180"And now you are to choose, and you may lay to that," said Silver.
6181
6182"Well," said I, "I am not such a fool but I know pretty well what I have
6183to look for. Let the worst come to the worst, it's little I care. I've
6184seen too many die since I fell in with you. But there's a thing or two I
6185have to tell you," I said, and by this time I was quite excited; "and
6186the first is this: Here you are, in a bad way; ship lost, treasure lost,
6187men lost; your whole business gone to wreck; and if you want to know who
6188did it--it was I! I was in the apple barrel the night we sighted land,
6189and I heard you, John, and you, Dick Johnson, and Hands, who is now at
6190the bottom of the sea, and told every word you said before the hour was
6191out. And as for the schooner, it was I who cut her cable, and it was I
6192who killed the men you had aboard of her, and it was I who brought her
6193where you'll never see her more, not one of you. The laugh's on my side;
6194I've had the top of this business from the first; I no more fear you
6195than I fear a fly. Kill me, if you please, or spare me. But one thing
6196I'll say, and no more; if you spare me, bygones are bygones, and when
6197you fellows are in court for piracy, I'll save you all I can. It is for
6198you to choose. Kill another and do yourselves no good, or spare me and
6199keep a witness to save you from the gallows."
6200
6201I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath, and, to my wonder, not
6202a man of them moved, but all sat staring at me like as many sheep. And
6203while they were still staring I broke out again:
6204
6205"And now, Mr. Silver," I said, "I believe you're the best man here, and
6206if things go to the worst, I'll take it kind of you to let the doctor
6207know the way I took it."
6208
6209"I'll bear it in mind," said Silver, with an accent so curious that I
6210could not, for the life of me, decide whether he were laughing at my
6211request or had been favorably affected by my courage.
6212
6213"I'll put one to that," cried the old mahogany-faced seaman--Morgan by
6214name--whom I had seen in Long John's public-house upon the quays of
6215Bristol. "It was him that knowed Black Dog."
6216
6217"Well, and see here," added the sea-cook, "I'll put another again to
6218that, by thunder! for it was this same boy that faked the chart from
6219Billy Bones. First and last we've split upon Jim Hawkins!"
6220
6221"Then here goes!" said Morgan, with an oath.
6222
6223And he sprang up, drawing his knife as if he had been twenty.
6224
6225"Avast, there!" cried Silver. "Who are you, Tom Morgan? Maybe you
6226thought you were captain here, perhaps. By the powers, but I'll teach
6227you better! Cross me and you'll go where many a good man's gone before
6228you, first and last, these thirty year back--some to the yardarm, shiver
6229my sides! and some by the board, and all to feed the fishes. There's
6230never a man looked me between the eyes and seen a good day a'terward,
6231Tom Morgan, you may lay to that."
6232
6233Morgan paused, but a hoarse murmur rose from the others.
6234
6235"Tom's right," said one.
6236
6237"I stood hazing long enough from one," added another. "I'll be hanged if
6238I'll be hazed by you, John Silver."
6239
6240"Did any of you gentlemen want to have it out with _me_?" roared Silver,
6241bending far forward from his position on the keg, with his pipe still
6242glowing in his right hand. "Put a name on what you're at; you ain't
6243dumb, I reckon. Him that wants shall get it. Have I lived this many
6244years to have a son of a rum puncheon cock his hat athwart my hawser at
6245the latter end of it? You know the way; you're all gentlemen o' fortune,
6246by your account. Well, I'm ready. Take a cutlass, him that dares, and
6247I'll see the color of his inside, crutch and all, before that pipe's
6248empty."
6249
6250Not a man stirred; not a man answered.
6251
6252"That's your sort, is it?" he added, returning his pipe to his mouth.
6253"Well, you're a gay lot to look at, any way. Not worth much to fight,
6254you ain't. P'r'aps you can understand King George's English. I'm cap'n
6255here by 'lection. I'm cap'n here because I'm the best man by a long
6256sea-mile. You won't fight, as gentlemen o' fortune should; then, by
6257thunder, you'll obey, and you may lay to it! I like that boy, now; I
6258never seen a better boy than that. He's more a man than any pair of rats
6259of you in this here house, and what I say is this: Let me see him
6260that'll lay a hand on him--that's what I say, and you may lay to it."
6261
6262There was a long pause after this. I stood straight up against the wall,
6263my heart still going like a sledgehammer, but with a ray of hope now
6264shining in my bosom. Silver leant back against the wall, his arms
6265crossed, his pipe in the corner of his mouth, as calm as though he had
6266been in church; yet his eye kept wandering furtively, and he kept the
6267tail of it on his unruly followers. They, on their part, drew gradually
6268together toward the far end of the blockhouse, and the low hiss of their
6269whispering sounded in my ears continuously, like a stream. One after
6270another they would look up, and the red light of the torch would fall
6271for a second on their nervous faces; but it was not toward me, it was
6272toward Silver that they turned their eyes.
6273
6274"You seem to have a lot to say," remarked Silver, spitting far into the
6275air. "Pipe up and let me hear it, or lay to."
6276
6277"Ax your pardon, sir," returned one of the men; "you're pretty free with
6278some of the rules, maybe you'll kindly keep an eye upon the rest. This
6279crew's dissatisfied; this crew don't vally bullying a marlinspike; this
6280crew has its rights like other crews, I'll make so free as that; and by
6281your own rules I take it we can talk together. I ax your pardon, sir,
6282acknowledging you for to be capting at this present, but I claim my
6283right and steps outside for a council."
6284
6285And with an elaborate sea-salute this fellow, a long, ill-looking,
6286yellow-eyed man of five-and-thirty, stepped coolly toward the door and
6287disappeared out of the house. One after another the rest followed his
6288example, each making a salute as he passed, each adding some apology.
6289"According to rules," said one. "Foc's'le council," said Morgan. And so
6290with one remark or another, all marched out and left Silver and me alone
6291with the torch.
6292
6293The sea-cook instantly removed his pipe.
6294
6295"Now, look you here, Jim Hawkins," he said in a steady whisper that was
6296no more than audible, "you're within half a plank of death, and, what's
6297a long sight worse, of torture. They're going to throw me off. But you
6298mark, I stand by you through thick and thin. I didn't mean to; no, not
6299till you spoke up. I was about desperate to lose that much blunt, and be
6300hanged into the bargain. But I see you was the right sort. I says to
6301myself: You stand by Hawkins, John, and Hawkins'll stand by you. You're
6302his last card, and by the living thunder, John, he's yours! Back to
6303back, says I. You save your witness and he'll save your neck!"
6304
6305I began dimly to understand.
6306
6307"You mean all's lost?" I asked.
6308
6309"Ay, by gum, I do!" he answered. "Ship gone, neck gone--that's the size
6310of it. Once I looked into that bay, Jim Hawkins, and seen no
6311schooner--well, I'm tough, but I gave out. As for that lot and their
6312council, mark me, they're outright fools and cowards. I'll save your
6313life--if so be as I can--from them. But see here, Jim--tit for tat--you
6314save Long John from swinging."
6315
6316I was bewildered; it seemed a thing so hopeless he was asking--he, the
6317old buccaneer, the ringleader throughout.
6318
6319"What I can do, that I'll do," I said.
6320
6321"It's a bargain!" cried Long John. "You speak up plucky, and by thunder,
6322I've a chance."
6323
6324He hobbled to the torch, where it stood propped among the firewood, and
6325took a fresh light to his pipe.
6326
6327"Understand me, Jim," he said, returning. "I've a head on my shoulders,
6328I have. I'm on squire's side now. I know you've got that ship safe
6329somewheres. How you done it I don't know, but safe it is. I guess Hands
6330and O'Brien turned soft. I never much believed in neither of _them_. Now
6331you mark me. I ask no questions, nor I won't let others. I know when a
6332game's up, I do; and I know a lad that's stanch. Ah, you that's
6333young--you and me might have done a power of good together!"
6334
6335He drew some cognac from the cask into a tin cannikin.
6336
6337"Will you taste, messmate?" he asked, and when I had refused, "Well,
6338I'll take a drain myself, Jim," said he. "I need a caulker, for there's
6339trouble on hand. And, talking o' trouble, why did that doctor give me
6340the chart, Jim?"
6341
6342My face expressed a wonder so unaffected that he saw the needlessness of
6343further questions.
6344
6345"Ah, well, he did, though," said he. "And there's something under that,
6346no doubt--something, surely, under that, Jim--bad or good."
6347
6348And he took another swallow of the brandy, shaking his great fair head
6349like a man who looks forward to the worst.
6350
6351
6352
6353
6354CHAPTER XXIX
6355
6356THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN
6357
6358
6359The council of the buccaneers had lasted some time, when one of them
6360re-entered the house, and with a repetition of the same salute, which
6361had in my eyes an ironical air, begged for a moment's loan of the torch.
6362Silver briefly agreed, and this emissary retired again, leaving us
6363together in the dark.
6364
6365"There's a breeze coming, Jim," said Silver, who had by this time
6366adopted quite a friendly and familiar tone.
6367
6368I turned to the loophole nearest me and looked out. The embers of the
6369great fire had so far burned themselves out, and now glowed so low and
6370duskily, that I understood why these conspirators desired a torch. About
6371halfway down the slope to the stockade they were collected in a group;
6372one held the light; another was on his knees in their midst, and I saw
6373the blade of an open knife shine in his hand with varying colors, in the
6374moon and torchlight. The rest were all somewhat stooping, as though
6375watching the maneuvers of this last. I could just make out that he had a
6376book as well as a knife in his hand; and was still wondering how
6377anything so incongruous had come in their possession, when the kneeling
6378figure rose once more to his feet, and the whole party began to move
6379together toward the house.
6380
6381"Here they come," said I; and I returned to my former position, for it
6382seemed beneath my dignity that they should find me watching them.
6383
6384"Well, let 'em come, lad--let 'em come," said Silver, cheerily. "I've
6385still a shot in my locker."
6386
6387The door opened, and the five men, standing huddled together just
6388inside, pushed one of their number forward. In any other circumstances
6389it would have been comical to see his slow advance, hesitating as he set
6390down each foot, but holding his closed right hand in front of him.
6391
6392"Step up, lad," cried Silver. "I won't eat you. Hand it over, lubber. I
6393know the rules, I do; I won't hurt a depytation."
6394
6395Thus encouraged the buccaneer stepped forth more briskly, and having
6396passed something to Silver, from hand to hand, slipped yet more smartly
6397back again to his companions.
6398
6399The sea-cook looked at what had been given him.
6400
6401"The black spot! I thought so," he observed. "Where might you have got
6402the paper? Why, hello! look here, now; this ain't lucky! You've gone and
6403cut this out of a Bible. What fool's cut a Bible?"
6404
6405"Ah, there," said Morgan, "there! Wot did I say? No good'll come o'
6406that, I said."
6407
6408"Well, you've about fixed it now, among you," continued Silver. "You'll
6409all swing now, I reckon. What soft-headed lubber had a Bible?"
6410
6411"It was Dick," said one.
6412
6413"Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers," said Silver. "He's seen
6414his slice of luck, has Dick, and you may lay to that."
6415
6416But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck in.
6417
6418"Belay that talk, John Silver," he said. "This crew has tipped you the
6419black spot in full council, as in dooty bound; just you turn it over, as
6420in dooty bound, and see what's wrote there. Then you can talk."
6421
6422"Thanky, George," replied the sea-cook. "You always was brisk for
6423business, and has the rules by heart, George, as I'm pleased to see.
6424Well, what is it, anyway? Ah! 'Deposed'--that's it, is it? Very pretty
6425wrote, to be sure; like print, I swear. Your hand o' write, George? Why,
6426you was gettin' quite a leadin' man in this here crew. You'll be cap'n
6427next, I shouldn't wonder. Just oblige me with that torch again, will
6428you? this pipe don't draw."
6429
6430"Come, now," said George, "you don't fool this crew no more. You're a
6431funny man, by your account; but you're over now, and you'll maybe step
6432down off that barrel, and help vote."
6433
6434"I thought you said you knowed the rules," returned Silver,
6435contemptuously. "Leastways, if you don't, I do; and I wait here--and I'm
6436still your cap'n, mind--till you outs with your grievances, and I reply;
6437in the meantime, your black spot ain't worth a biscuit. After that we'll
6438see."
6439
6440"Oh," replied George, "you don't be under no kind of apprehension;
6441_we're_ all square, we are. First, you've made a hash of this
6442cruise--you'll be a bold man to say no to that. Second, you let the
6443enemy out o' this here trap for nothing. Why did they want out? I dunno,
6444but it's pretty plain they wanted it. Third, you wouldn't let us go at
6445them upon the march. Oh, we see through you, John Silver; you want to
6446play booty, that's what's wrong with you. And then, fourth, there's this
6447here boy."
6448
6449"Is that all?" asked Silver, quietly.
6450
6451"Enough, too," retorted George. "We'll all swing and sun-dry for your
6452bungling."
6453
6454"Well, now, look here, I'll answer these four p'ints; one after another
6455I'll answer 'em. I made a hash o' this cruise, did I? Well, now, you all
6456know what I wanted; and you all know, if that had been done, that we'd
6457'a' been aboard the _Hispaniola_ this night as ever was, every man of us
6458alive, and fit, and full of good plum-duff, and the treasure in the hold
6459of her, by thunder! Well, who crossed me? Who forced my hand, as was the
6460lawful cap'n? Who tipped me the black spot the day we landed, and began
6461this dance? Ah, it's a fine dance--I'm with you there--and looks mighty
6462like a hornpipe in a rope's end at Execution Dock by London town, it
6463does. But who done it? Why, it was Anderson, and Hands, and you, George
6464Merry! And you're the last above board of that same meddling crew; and
6465you have the Davy Jones insolence to up and stand for cap'n over
6466me--you, that sunk the lot of us! By the powers! but this tops the
6467stiffest yarn to nothing."
6468
6469Silver paused, and I could see by the faces of George and his late
6470comrades that these words had not been said in vain.
6471
6472"That's for number one," cried the accused, wiping the sweat from his
6473brow, for he had been talking with a vehemence that shook the house.
6474"Why, I give you my word, I'm sick to speak to you. You've neither sense
6475nor memory, and I leave it to fancy where your mothers was that let you
6476come to sea. Sea! Gentlemen o' fortune! I reckon tailors is your trade."
6477
6478"Go on, John," said Morgan. "Speak up to the others."
6479
6480"Ah, the others!" returned John. "They're a nice lot, ain't they? You
6481say this cruise is bungled. Ah! by gum, if you could understand how bad
6482it's bungled, you would see! We're that near the gibbet that my neck's
6483stiff with thinking on it. You've seen 'em, maybe, hanged in chains,
6484birds about 'em, seamen p'inting 'em out as they go down with the tide.
6485'Who's that?' says one. 'That! Why, that's John Silver. I knowed him
6486well,' says another. And you can hear the chains a-jangle as you go
6487about and reach for the other buoy. Now, that's about where we are,
6488every mother's son of us, thanks to him, and Hands, and Anderson, and
6489other ruination fools of you. And if you want to know about number four,
6490and that boy, why, shiver my timbers! isn't he a hostage? Are we a-going
6491to waste a hostage? No, not us; he might be our last chance, and I
6492shouldn't wonder. Kill that boy? not me, mates! And number three? Ah,
6493well, there's a deal to say to number three. Maybe you don't count it
6494nothing to have a real college doctor come to see you every day--you,
6495John, with your head broke--or you, George Merry, that had the ague
6496shakes upon you not six hours agone, and has your eyes the color of
6497lemon peel to this same moment on the clock? And maybe, perhaps, you
6498didn't know there was a consort coming, either? But there is, and not so
6499long till then; and we'll see who'll be glad to have a hostage when it
6500comes to that. And as for number two, and why I made a bargain--well,
6501you come crawling on your knees to me to make it--on your knees you
6502came, you was that downhearted--and you'd have starved, too, if I
6503hadn't--but that's a trifle! you look there--that's why!"
6504
6505And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly
6506recognized--none other than the chart on yellow paper, with the three
6507red crosses, that I had found in the oilcloth at the bottom of the
6508captain's chest. Why the doctor had given it to him was more than I
6509could fancy.
6510
6511But if it were inexplicable to me, the appearance of the chart was
6512incredible to the surviving mutineers. They leaped upon it like cats
6513upon a mouse. It went from hand to hand, one tearing it from another;
6514and by the oaths and the cries and the childish laughter with which they
6515accompanied their examination, you would have thought, not only they
6516were fingering the very gold, but were at sea with it, besides, in
6517safety.
6518
6519"Yes," said one, "that's Flint, sure enough. J. F., and a score below,
6520with a close hitch to it, so he done ever."
6521
6522"Mighty pretty," said George. "But how are we to get away with it, and
6523us no ship?"
6524
6525Silver suddenly sprang up, and supporting himself with a hand against
6526the wall: "Now, I give you warning, George," he cried. "One more word of
6527your sauce, and I'll call you down and fight you. How? Why, how do I
6528know? You had ought to tell me that--you and the rest, that lost me my
6529schooner, with your interference, burn you! But not you, you can't; you
6530ain't got the invention of a cockroach. But civil you can speak, and
6531shall, George Merry, you may lay to that."
6532
6533"That's fair enow," said the old man Morgan.
6534
6535"Fair! I reckon so," said the sea-cook. "You lost the ship; I found the
6536treasure. Who's the better man at that? And now I resign, by thunder!
6537Elect whom you please to be your cap'n now; I'm done with it."
6538
6539"Silver!" they cried. "Barbecue forever! Barbecue for cap'n!"
6540
6541"So that's the toon, is it?" cried the cook. "George, I reckon you'll
6542have to wait another turn, friend, and lucky for you as I'm not a
6543revengeful man. But that was never my way. And now, shipmates, this
6544black spot? 'Tain't much good now, is it? Dick's crossed his luck and
6545spoiled his Bible, and that's about all."
6546
6547"It'll do to kiss the book on still, won't it?" growled Dick, who was
6548evidently uneasy at the curse he had brought upon himself.
6549
6550"A Bible with a bit cut out!" returned Silver, derisively. "Not it. It
6551don't bind no more'n a ballad-book."
6552
6553"Don't it, though?" cried Dick, with a sort of joy. "Well, I reckon
6554that's worth having, too."
6555
6556"Here, Jim--here's a cur'osity for you," said Silver, and he tossed me
6557the paper.
6558
6559It was a round about the size of a crown piece. One side was blank, for
6560it had been the last leaf; the other contained a verse or two of
6561Revelation--these words among the rest, which struck sharply home upon
6562my mind: "Without are dogs and murderers." The printed side had been
6563blackened with wood ash, which already began to come off and soil my
6564fingers; on the blank side had been written with the same material the
6565one word "Deposed." I have that curiosity beside me at this moment; but
6566not a trace of writing now remains beyond a single scratch, such as a
6567man might make with his thumb-nail.
6568
6569That was the end of the night's business. Soon after, with a drink all
6570round, we lay down to sleep, and the outside of Silver's vengeance was
6571to put George Merry up for sentinel, and threaten him with death if he
6572should prove unfaithful.
6573
6574It was long ere I could close an eye, and heaven knows I had matter
6575enough for thought in the man whom I had slain that afternoon, in my own
6576most perilous position, and, above all, in the remarkable game that I
6577saw Silver now engaged upon--keeping the mutineers together with one
6578hand, and grasping, with the other, after every means, possible and
6579impossible, to make his peace and save his miserable life. He himself
6580slept peacefully, and snored aloud; yet my heart was sore for him,
6581wicked as he was, to think on the dark perils that environed, and the
6582shameful gibbet that awaited him.
6583
6584
6585
6586
6587CHAPTER XXX
6588
6589ON PAROLE
6590
6591
6592I was wakened--indeed, we were all wakened, for I could see even the
6593sentinel shake himself together from where he had fallen against the
6594doorpost--by a clear, hearty voice hailing us from the margin of the
6595wood:
6596
6597"Blockhouse, ahoy!" it cried. "Here's the doctor."
6598
6599And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear the sound, yet my
6600gladness was not without admixture. I remembered with confusion my
6601insubordinate and stealthy conduct; and when I saw where it had brought
6602me--among what companions and surrounded by what dangers--I felt ashamed
6603to look him in the face.
6604
6605He must have risen in the dark, for the day had hardly come; and when I
6606ran to a loophole and looked out, I saw him standing, like Silver once
6607before, up to the mid-leg in creeping vapor.
6608
6609"You, doctor! Top o' the morning to you, sir!" cried Silver, broad awake
6610and beaming with good nature in a moment. "Bright and early, to be sure;
6611and it's the early bird, as the saying goes, that gets the rations.
6612George, shake up your timbers, son, and help Doctor Livesey over the
6613ship's side. All a-doin' well, your patients was--all well and merry."
6614
6615So he pattered on, standing on the hilltop, with his crutch under his
6616elbow, and one hand upon the side of the log-house--quite the old John
6617in voice, manner, and expression.
6618
6619"We've quite a surprise for you, too, sir," he continued. "We've a
6620little stranger here--he! he! A noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking
6621fit and taut as a fiddle; slep' like a supercargo, he did, right
6622alongside of John--stem to stem we was, all night."
6623
6624Doctor Livesey was by this time across the stockade and pretty near the
6625cook, and I could hear the alteration in his voice as he said:
6626
6627"Not Jim?"
6628
6629"The very same Jim as ever was," says Silver.
6630
6631The doctor stopped outright, although he did not speak, and it was some
6632seconds before he seemed able to move on.
6633
6634"Well, well," he said at last, "duty first and pleasure afterwards, as
6635you might have said yourself, Silver. Let us overhaul these patients of
6636yours."
6637
6638A moment afterwards he had entered the blockhouse, and, with one grim
6639nod to me, proceeded with his work among the sick. He seemed under no
6640apprehension, though he must have known that his life, among these
6641treacherous demons, depended on a hair, and he rattled on to his
6642patients as if he were paying an ordinary professional visit in a quiet
6643English family. His manner, I suppose, reacted on the men, for they
6644behaved to him as if nothing had occurred--as if he were still ship's
6645doctor, and they still faithful hands before the mast.
6646
6647"You're doing well, my friend," he said to the fellow with the bandaged
6648head, "and if ever any person had a close shave, it was you; your head
6649must be as hard as iron. Well, George, how goes it? You're a pretty
6650color, certainly; why, your liver, man, is upside down. Did you take
6651that medicine? Did he take that medicine, men?"
6652
6653"Ay, ay, sir, he took it sure enough," returned Morgan.
6654
6655"Because, you see, since I am mutineers' doctor, or prison doctor, as I
6656prefer to call it," says Doctor Livesey, in his pleasantest way, "I make
6657it a point of honor not to lose a man for King George (God bless him!)
6658and the gallows."
6659
6660The rogues looked at each other, but swallowed the home-thrust in
6661silence.
6662
6663"Dick don't feel well, sir," said one.
6664
6665"Don't he?" replied the doctor. "Well, step up here, Dick, and let me
6666see your tongue. No, I should be surprised if he did; the man's tongue
6667is fit to frighten the French. Another fever."
6668
6669"Ah, there," said Morgan, "that comed of sp'iling Bibles."
6670
6671"That comed--as you call it--of being arrant asses," retorted the
6672doctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and
6673the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough. I think it most
6674probable--though, of course, it's only an opinion--that you'll all have
6675the deuce to pay before you get that malaria out of your systems. Camp
6676in a bog, would you? Silver, I'm surprised at you. You're less of a fool
6677than many, take you all round; but you don't appear to me to have the
6678rudiments of a notion of the rules of health.
6679
6680"Well," he added, after he had dosed them round, and they had taken his
6681prescriptions, with really laughable humility, more like charity
6682school-children than blood-guilty mutineers and pirates, "well, that's
6683done for to-day. And now I should wish to have a talk with that boy,
6684please."
6685
6686And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly.
6687
6688George Merry was at the door, spitting and spluttering over some
6689bad-tasted medicine; but at the first word of the doctor's proposal he
6690swung round with a deep flush, and cried, "No!" and swore.
6691
6692Silver struck the barrel with his open hand.
6693
6694"Si-lence!" he roared, and looked about him positively like a lion.
6695"Doctor," he went on, in his usual tones, "I was thinking of that,
6696knowing as how you had a fancy for the boy. We're all humbly grateful
6697for your kindness, and, as you see, puts faith in you, and takes the
6698drugs down like that much grog. And I take it I've found a way as'll
6699suit all. Hawkins, will you give me your word of honor as a young
6700gentleman--for a young gentleman you are, although poor born--your word
6701of honor not to slip your cable?"
6702
6703I readily gave the pledge required.
6704
6705"Then, doctor," said Silver, "you just step outside o' that stockade,
6706and once you're there, I'll bring the boy down on the inside, and I
6707reckon you can yarn through the spars. Good-day to you, sir, and all our
6708dooties to the squire and Cap'n Smollett."
6709
6710The explosion of disapproval, which nothing but Silver's black looks had
6711restrained, broke out immediately the doctor had left the house. Silver
6712was roundly accused of playing double--of trying to make a separate
6713peace for himself--of sacrificing the interests of his accomplices and
6714victims; and, in one word, of the identical, exact thing that he was
6715doing. It seemed to me so obvious, in this case, that I could not
6716imagine how he was to turn their anger. But he was twice the man the
6717rest were, and his last night's victory had given him a huge
6718preponderance on their minds. He called them all the fools and dolts
6719you can imagine, said it was necessary I should talk to the doctor,
6720fluttered the chart in their faces, asked them if they could afford to
6721break the treaty the very day they were bound a-treasure-hunting.
6722
6723"No, by thunder!" he cried, "it's us must break the treaty when the time
6724comes; and till then I'll gammon that doctor, if I have to ile his boots
6725with brandy."
6726
6727And then he bade them get the fire lit, and stalked out upon his crutch,
6728with his hand on my shoulder, leaving them in a disarray, and silenced
6729by his volubility rather than convinced.
6730
6731"Slow, lad, slow," he said. "They might round upon us in a twinkle of an
6732eye if we was seen to hurry."
6733
6734Very deliberately, then, did we advance across the sand to where the
6735doctor awaited us on the other side of the stockade, and as soon as we
6736were within easy speaking distance, Silver stopped.
6737
6738"You'll make a note of this here also, doctor," said he, "and the boy'll
6739tell you how I saved his life, and were deposed for it, too, and you may
6740lay to that. Doctor, when a man's steering as near to the wind as
6741me--playing chuck-farthing with the last breath in his body, like--you
6742wouldn't think it too much, mayhap, to give him one good word! You'll
6743please bear in mind it's not my life only now--it's that boy's into the
6744bargain; and you'll speak me fair, doctor, and give me a bit o' hope to
6745go on, for the sake of mercy."
6746
6747Silver was a changed man, once he was out there and had his back to his
6748friends and the blockhouse; his cheeks seemed to have fallen in, his
6749voice trembled; never was a soul more dead in earnest.
6750
6751"Why, John, you're not afraid?" asked Doctor Livesey.
6752
6753"Doctor, I'm no coward; no, not I--not _so_ much!" and he snapped his
6754fingers. "If I was I wouldn't say it. But I'll own up fairly, I've the
6755shakes upon me for the gallows. You're a good man and a true; I never
6756seen a better man! And you'll not forget what I done good, not any more
6757than you'll forget the bad, I know. And I step aside--see here--and
6758leave you and Jim alone. And you'll put that down for me, too, for it's
6759a long stretch, is that!"
6760
6761So saying, he stepped back a little way till he was out of earshot, and
6762there sat down upon a tree-stump and began to whistle, spinning round
6763now and again upon his seat so as to command a sight, sometimes of me
6764and the doctor, and sometimes of his unruly ruffians as they went to and
6765fro in the sand, between the fire--which they were busy rekindling--and
6766the house, from which they brought forth pork and bread to make the
6767breakfast.
6768
6769"So, Jim," said the doctor, sadly, "here you are. As you have brewed, so
6770shall you drink, my boy. Heaven knows I cannot find it in my heart to
6771blame you; but this much I will say, be it kind or unkind: when Captain
6772Smollett was well you dared not have gone off, and when he was ill, and
6773couldn't help it by George, it was downright cowardly!"
6774
6775I will own that I here began to weep. "Doctor," I said, "you might spare
6776me. I have blamed myself enough; my life's forfeit anyway, and I should
6777have been dead now if Silver hadn't stood for me; and, doctor, believe
6778this, I can die--and I dare say I deserve it--but what I fear is
6779torture. If they come to torture me--"
6780
6781"Jim," the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite changed, "Jim, I
6782can't have this. Whip over, and we'll run for it."
6783
6784"Doctor," said I, "I passed my word."
6785
6786"I know, I know," he cried. "We can't help that, Jim, now. I'll take it
6787on my shoulders, holus-bolus, blame and shame, my boy; but stay here, I
6788cannot let you. Jump! One jump and you're out, and we'll run for it like
6789antelopes."
6790
6791"No," I replied, "you know right well you wouldn't do the thing
6792yourself; neither you, nor squire, nor captain, and no more will I.
6793Silver trusted me; I passed my word, and back I go. But, doctor, you did
6794not let me finish. If they come to torture me, I might let slip a word
6795of where the ship is; for I got the ship, part by luck and part by
6796risking, and she lies in North Inlet, on the southern beach, and just
6797below high water. At half-tide she must be high and dry."
6798
6799"The ship!" exclaimed the doctor.
6800
6801Rapidly I described to him my adventures, and he heard me out in
6802silence.
6803
6804"There's a kind of fate in this," he observed, when I had done. "Every
6805step it's you that save our lives, and do you suppose by any chance that
6806we are going to let you lose yours? That would be a poor return, my boy.
6807You found out the plot; you found Ben Gunn--the best deed that ever you
6808did, or will do, though you live to ninety. Oh, by Jupiter! and talking
6809of Ben Gunn, why, this is the mischief in person. Silver!" he cried,
6810"Silver! I'll give you a piece of advice," he continued, as the cook
6811drew near again; "don't you be in any great hurry after that treasure."
6812
6813"Why, sir, I do my possible, which that ain't," said Silver. "I can
6814only, asking your pardon, save my life and the boy's by seeking for that
6815treasure; and you may lay to that."
6816
6817"Well, Silver," replied the doctor, "if that is so, I'll go one step
6818farther; look out for squalls when you find it!"
6819
6820"Sir," said Silver, "as between man and man, that's too much and too
6821little. What you're after, why you left the blockhouse, why you've given
6822me that there chart, I don't know, now, do I? and yet I done your
6823bidding with my eyes shut and never a word of hope! But no, this here's
6824too much. If you won't tell me what you mean plain out, just say so, and
6825I'll leave the helm."
6826
6827"No," said the doctor, musingly, "I've no right to say more; it's not my
6828secret, you see, Silver, or, I give you my word, I'd tell it you. But
6829I'll go as far with you as I dare go, and a step beyond, for I'll have
6830my wig sorted by the captain, or I'm mistaken! And first, I'll give you
6831a bit of hope. Silver, if we both get out alive out of this wolf-trap,
6832I'll do my best to save you, short of perjury."
6833
6834Silver's face was radiant. "You couldn't say more, I am sure, sir, not
6835if you was my mother," he cried.
6836
6837"Well, that's my first concession," added the doctor. "My second is a
6838piece of advice. Keep the boy close beside you, and when you need help,
6839halloo. I'm off to seek it for you, and that itself will show you if I
6840speak at random. Good-by, Jim."
6841
6842And Doctor Livesey shook hands with me through the stockade, nodded to
6843Silver, and set off at a brisk pace into the wood.
6844
6845
6846
6847
6848CHAPTER XXXI
6849
6850THE TREASURE-HUNT--FLINT'S POINTER
6851
6852
6853"Jim," said Silver, when we were alone, "if I saved your life, you saved
6854mine, and I'll not forget it. I seen the doctor waving you to run for
6855it--with the tail of my eye, I did--and I seen you say no, as plain as
6856hearing. Jim, that's one to you. This is the first glint of hope I had
6857since the attack failed, and I owe it to you. And now, Jim, we're to go
6858in for this here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders, too, and I don't
6859like it; and you and me must stick close, back to back like, and we'll
6860save our necks in spite o' fate and fortune."
6861
6862Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready, and we
6863were soon seated here and there about the sand over biscuit and fried
6864junk. They had lighted a fire fit to roast an ox; and it was now grown
6865so hot that they could only approach it from the windward, and even
6866there not without precaution. In the same wasteful spirit, they had
6867cooked, I suppose, three times more than we could eat; and one of them,
6868with an empty laugh, threw what was left into the fire, which blazed and
6869roared again over this unusual fuel. I never in my life saw men so
6870careless of the morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can describe
6871their way of doing; and what with wasted food and sleeping sentries,
6872though they were bold enough for a brush and be done with it, I could
6873see their entire unfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign.
6874
6875Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had not
6876a word of blame for their recklessness. And this the more surprised me,
6877for I thought he had never showed himself so cunning as he did then.
6878
6879"Ay, mates," said he, "it's lucky you have Barbecue to think for you
6880with this here head. I got what I wanted, I did. Sure enough, they have
6881the ship. Where they have it, I don't know yet; but once we hit the
6882treasure, we'll have to jump about and find out. And then, mates, us
6883that has the boats, I reckon, has the upper hand."
6884
6885Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of the hot bacon; thus he
6886restored their hope and confidence, and, I more than suspect, repaired
6887his own at the same time.
6888
6889"As for hostage," he continued, "that's his last talk, I guess, with
6890them he loves so dear. I've got my piece o' news, and thanky to him for
6891that; but it's over and done. I'll take him in a line when we go
6892treasure-hunting, for we'll keep him like so much gold, in case of
6893accidents, you mark, and in the meantime. Once we got the ship and
6894treasure both, and off to sea like jolly companions, why, then we'll
6895talk Mr. Hawkins over, we will, and we'll give him his share, to be
6896sure, for all his kindness."
6897
6898It was no wonder the men were in a good humor now. For my part, I was
6899horribly cast down. Should the scheme he had now sketched prove
6900feasible, Silver, already doubly a traitor, would not hesitate to adopt
6901it. He had still a foot in either camp, and there was no doubt he would
6902prefer wealth and freedom with the pirates to a bare escape from
6903hanging, which was the best he had to hope on our side.
6904
6905Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was forced to keep his faith
6906with Doctor Livesey, even then what danger lay before us! What a moment
6907that would be when the suspicions of his followers turned to certainty,
6908and he and I should have to fight for dear life--he, a cripple, and I, a
6909boy--against five strong and active seamen!
6910
6911Add to this double apprehension the mystery that still hung over the
6912behavior of my friends; their unexplained desertion of the stockade;
6913their inexplicable cession of the chart; or, harder still to understand,
6914the doctor's last warning to Silver, "Look out for squalls when you find
6915it"; and you will readily believe how little taste I found in my
6916breakfast, and with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my captors on
6917the quest for treasure.
6918
6919We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us; all in soiled
6920sailor clothes, and all but me armed to the teeth. Silver had two guns
6921slung about him, one before and one behind--besides the great cutlass at
6922his waist, and a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. To
6923complete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon his
6924shoulder and gabbled odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. I had a line
6925about my waist, and followed obediently after the sea-cook, who held the
6926loose end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between his powerful
6927teeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear.
6928
6929The other men were variously burdened; some carrying picks and
6930shovels--for that had been the very first necessary they brought ashore
6931from the _Hispaniola_--others laden with pork, bread, and brandy for the
6932midday meal. All the stores, I observed, came from our stock, and I
6933could see the truth of Silver's words the night before. Had he not
6934struck a bargain with the doctor, he and his mutineers, deserted by the
6935ship, must have been driven to subsist on clear water, and the proceeds
6936of their hunting. Water would have been little to their taste; a sailor
6937is not usually a good shot; and, besides all that, when they were so
6938short of eatables, it was not likely they would be very flush of powder.
6939
6940Well, thus equipped, we all set out--even the fellow with the broken
6941head, who should certainly have kept in shadow--and straggled, one after
6942another, to the beach, where the two gigs awaited us. Even these bore
6943trace of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, and
6944both in their muddied and unbailed condition. Both were to be carried
6945along with us, for the sake of safety; and so, with our numbers divided
6946between them, we set forth upon the bosom of the anchorage.
6947
6948As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the chart. The red cross
6949was, of course, far too large to be a guide; and the terms of the note
6950on the back, as you will hear, admitted of some ambiguity. They ran, the
6951reader may remember, thus:
6952
6953 "Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E.
6954
6955 "Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.
6956
6957 "Ten feet."
6958
6959A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right before us, the
6960anchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high,
6961adjoining on the north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glass,
6962and rising again toward the south into the rough, cliffy eminence called
6963the Mizzen-mast Hill. The top of the plateau was dotted thickly with
6964pine trees of varying height. Every here and there, one of a different
6965species rose forty or fifty feet clear above its neighbors, and which of
6966these was the particular "tall tree" of Captain Flint could only be
6967decided on the spot, and by the readings of the compass.
6968
6969Yet, although that was the case, every man on board the boats had picked
6970a favorite of his own ere we were halfway over, Long John alone
6971shrugging his shoulders and bidding them wait till they were there.
6972
6973We pulled easily, by Silver's directions, not to weary the hands
6974prematurely; and, after quite a long passage, landed at the mouth of the
6975second river--that which runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-glass.
6976Thence, bending to our left, we began to ascend the slope towards the
6977plateau.
6978
6979At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted, marsh vegetation
6980greatly delayed our progress; but by little and little the hill began to
6981steepen and become stony under foot, and the wood to change its
6982character and to grow in a more open order. It was, indeed, a most
6983pleasant portion of the island that we were now approaching. A
6984heavy-scented broom and many flowering shrubs had almost taken the place
6985of grass. Thickets of green nutmeg-trees were dotted here and there with
6986the red columns and the broad shadow of the pines, and the first mingled
6987their spice with the aroma of the others. The air, besides, was fresh
6988and stirring, and this, under the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderful
6989refreshment to our senses.
6990
6991The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, shouting and leaping to
6992and fro. About the center, and a good way behind the rest, Silver and I
6993followed--I tethered by my rope, he plowing, with deep pants, among the
6994sliding gravel. From time to time, indeed, I had to lend him a hand, or
6995he must have missed his footing and fallen backward down the hill.
6996
6997We had thus proceeded for about half a mile, and were approaching the
6998brow of the plateau, when the man upon the farthest left began to cry
6999aloud, as if in terror. Shout after shout came from him, and the others
7000began to run in his direction.
7001
7002"He can't 'a' found the treasure," said old Morgan, hurrying past us
7003from the right, "for that's clean a-top."
7004
7005Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it was something very
7006different. At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a green
7007creeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human
7008skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I believe a
7009chill struck for a moment to every heart.
7010
7011"He was a seaman," said George Merry, who, bolder than the rest, had
7012gone up close, and was examining the rags of clothing. "Leastways, this
7013is good sea-cloth."
7014
7015"Ay, ay," said Silver, "like enough; you wouldn't look to find a bishop
7016here, I reckon. But what sort of a way is that for bones to lie? 'Tain't
7017in natur'."
7018
7019Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to fancy that the body
7020was in a natural position. But for some disarray (the work, perhaps, of
7021the birds that had fed upon him, or of the slow-growing creeper that had
7022gradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly straight--his
7023feet pointing in one direction, his hands raised above his head like a
7024diver's, pointing directly in the opposite.
7025
7026"I've taken a notion into my old numskull," observed Silver. "Here's the
7027compass; there's the tip-top p'int of Skeleton Island, stickin' out like
7028a tooth. Just take a bearing, will you, along the line of them bones."
7029
7030It was done. The body pointed straight in the direction of the island,
7031and the compass read duly E.S.E. by E.
7032
7033"I thought so," cried the cook; "this here is a p'inter. Right up there
7034is our line for the Pole Star and the jolly dollars. But, by thunder! if
7035it don't make me cold inside to think of Flint. This is one of _his_
7036jokes, and no mistake. Him and these six was alone here; he killed 'em,
7037every man; and this one he hauled here and laid down by compass, shiver
7038my timbers! They're long bones, and the hair's been yellow. Ay, that
7039would be Allardyce. You mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?"
7040
7041"Ay, ay," returned Morgan, "I mind him; he owed me money, he did, and
7042took my knife ashore with him."
7043
7044"Speaking of knives," said another, "why don't we find his'n lying
7045round? Flint warn't the man to pick a seaman's pocket; and the birds, I
7046guess, would leave it be."
7047
7048"By the powers and that's true!" cried Silver.
7049
7050"There ain't a thing left here," said Merry, still feeling round among
7051the bones; "not a copper doit nor a baccy box. It don't look nat'ral to
7052me."
7053
7054"No, by gum, it don't," agreed Silver; "not nat'ral, nor not nice, says
7055you. Great guns, messmates, but if Flint was living this would be a hot
7056spot for you and me! Six they were, and six are we; and bones is what
7057they are now."
7058
7059"I saw him dead with these here deadlights," said Morgan. "Billy took me
7060in. There he laid, with penny-pieces on his eyes."
7061
7062"Dead--ay, sure enough he's dead and gone below," said the fellow with
7063the bandage; "but if ever sperrit walked it would be Flint's. Dear
7064heart, but he died bad, did Flint!"
7065
7066"Ay, that he did," observed another; "now he raged and now he hollered
7067for the rum, and now he sang. 'Fifteen Men' were his only song, mates;
7068and I tell you true, I never rightly liked to hear it since. It was main
7069hot and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin' out as clear
7070as clear--and the death-haul on the man already."
7071
7072"Come, come," said Silver, "stow this talk. He's dead, and he don't
7073walk, that I know; leastways he won't walk by day, and you may lay to
7074that. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons."
7075
7076We started, certainly, but in spite of the hot sun and the staring
7077daylight, the pirates no longer ran separate and shouting through the
7078wood, but kept side by side and spoke with bated breath. The terror of
7079the dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits.
7080
7081
7082
7083
7084CHAPTER XXXII
7085
7086THE TREASURE-HUNT--THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES
7087
7088
7089Partly from the damping influence of this alarm, partly to rest Silver
7090and the sick folk, the whole party sat down as soon as they had gained
7091the brow of the ascent.
7092
7093The plateau being somewhat tilted toward the west, this spot on which we
7094had paused commanded a wide prospect on either hand. Before us, over the
7095tree-tops, we beheld the Cape of the Woods fringed with surf; behind, we
7096not only looked down upon the anchorage and Skeleton Island, but
7097saw--clear across the spit and the eastern lowlands--a great field of
7098open sea upon the east. Sheer above us rose the Spy-glass, here dotted
7099with single pines, there black with precipices. There was no sound but
7100that of the distant breakers mounting from all around, and the chirp of
7101countless insects in the brush. Not a man, not a sail upon the sea; the
7102very largeness of the view increased the sense of solitude.
7103
7104Silver, as he sat, took certain bearings with his compass.
7105
7106"There are three 'tall trees,'" said he, "about in the right line from
7107Skeleton Island. 'Spy-glass Shoulder,' I take it, means that lower p'int
7108there. It's child's play to find the stuff now. I've half a mind to dine
7109first."
7110
7111"I don't feel sharp," growled Morgan. "Thinkin' o' Flint--I think it
7112were--as done me."
7113
7114"Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he's dead," said Silver.
7115
7116"He was an ugly devil," cried a third pirate, with a shudder; "that blue
7117in the face, too!"
7118
7119"That was how the rum took him," added Merry. "Blue! well I reckon he
7120was blue. That's a true word."
7121
7122Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon this train of
7123thought, they had spoken lower and lower, and they had almost got to
7124whispering by now, so that the sound of their talk hardly interrupted
7125the silence of the wood. All of a sudden, out of the middle of the trees
7126in front of us, a thin, high, trembling voice struck up the well-known
7127air and words:
7128
7129 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--
7130 Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"
7131
7132I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the pirates. The
7133color went from their six faces like enchantment; some leaped to their
7134feet, some clawed hold of others; Morgan groveled on the ground.
7135
7136"It's Flint, by ----!" cried Merry.
7137
7138The song had stopped as suddenly as it began--broken off, you would have
7139said, in the middle of a note, as though someone had laid his hand upon
7140the singer's mouth. Coming so far through the clear, sunny atmosphere
7141among the green tree-tops, I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly,
7142and the effect on my companions was the stranger.
7143
7144"Come," said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to get the word out,
7145"that won't do. Stand by to go about. This is a rum start, and I can't
7146name the voice, but it's someone skylarking--someone that's flesh and
7147blood, and you may lay to that."
7148
7149His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of the color to his face
7150along with it. Already the others had begun to lend an ear to this
7151encouragement, and were coming a little to themselves, when the same
7152voice broke out again--not this time singing, but in a faint, distant
7153hail, that echoed yet fainter among the clefts of the Spy-glass.
7154
7155"Darby M'Graw," it wailed--for that is the word that best describes the
7156sound--"Darby M'Graw! Darby M'Graw!" again and again and again; and then
7157rising a little higher, and with an oath that I leave out: "Fetch aft
7158the rum, Darby!"
7159
7160The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their eyes starting from
7161their heads. Long after the voice had died away they still stared in
7162silence, dreadfully, before them.
7163
7164"That fixes it!" gasped one. "Let's go."
7165
7166"They was his last words," moaned Morgan, "his last words above-board."
7167
7168Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly. He had been well brought
7169up, had Dick, before he came to sea and fell among bad companions.
7170
7171Still, Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth rattle in his
7172head, but he had not yet surrendered.
7173
7174"Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby," he muttered; "not one
7175but us that's here." And then, making a great effort: "Shipmates," he
7176cried, "I'm here to get that stuff, and I'll not be beat by man nor
7177devil. I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, by the powers, I'll
7178face him dead. There's seven hundred thousand pound not a quarter of a
7179mile from here. When did ever a gentleman o' fortune show his stern to
7180that much dollars for a boozy old seaman with a blue mug--and him dead,
7181too?"
7182
7183But there was no sign of reawakening courage in his followers; rather,
7184indeed, of growing terror at the irreverence of his words.
7185
7186"Belay there, John!" said Merry. "Don't you cross a sperrit."
7187
7188And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They would have run away
7189severally had they dared, but fear kept them together, and kept them
7190close by John, as if his daring helped them. He, on his part, had pretty
7191well fought his weakness down.
7192
7193"Sperrit? Well, maybe," he said. "But there's one thing not clear to me.
7194There was an echo. Now, no man ever seen a sperrit with a shadow. Well,
7195then, what's he doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? That
7196ain't in natur', surely."
7197
7198This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you can never tell what will
7199affect the superstitious, and, to my wonder, George Merry was greatly
7200relieved.
7201
7202"Well, that's so," he said. "You've a head upon your shoulders, John,
7203and no mistake. 'Bout ship, mates! This here crew is on a wrong tack, I
7204do believe. And come to think on it, it was like Flint's voice, I grant
7205you, but not just so clear away like it, after all. It was liker
7206somebody else's voice now--it was liker--"
7207
7208"By the powers, Ben Gunn!" roared Silver.
7209
7210"Ay, and so it were," cried Morgan, springing on his knees. "Ben Gunn it
7211were!"
7212
7213"It don't make much odds, do it, now?" asked Dick. "Ben Gunn's not here
7214in the body, any more'n Flint."
7215
7216But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn.
7217
7218"Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn," cried Merry; "dead or alive, nobody minds
7219him!"
7220
7221It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned, and how the natural
7222color had revived in their faces. Soon they were chatting together, with
7223intervals of listening; and not long after, hearing no further sound,
7224they shouldered the tools and set forth again, Merry walking first with
7225Silver's compass to keep them on the right line with Skeleton Island. He
7226had said the truth; dead or alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn.
7227
7228Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him as he went, with
7229fearful glances; but he found no sympathy, and Silver even joked him on
7230his precautions.
7231
7232"I told you," said he, "I told you you had sp'iled your Bible. If it
7233ain't no good to swear by, what do you suppose a sperrit would give for
7234it? Not that!" and he snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on his
7235crutch.
7236
7237But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon plain to me that
7238the lad was falling sick; hastened by heat, exhaustion, and the shock of
7239his alarm, the fever, predicted by Doctor Livesey, was evidently growing
7240swiftly higher.
7241
7242It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way lay a little
7243downhill, for, as I have said, the plateau tilted toward the west. The
7244pines, great and small, grew wide apart; and even between the clumps of
7245nutmeg and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. Striking,
7246as we did, pretty near northwest across the island, we drew, on the one
7247hand, ever nearer under the shoulders of the Spy-glass, and on the
7248other, looked ever wider over that western bay where I had once tossed
7249and trembled in the coracle.
7250
7251The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearing, proved the
7252wrong one. So with the second. The third rose nearly two hundred feet
7253into the air above a clump of underwood; a giant of a vegetable, with a
7254red column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in which a
7255company could have maneuvered. It was conspicuous far to sea, both on
7256the east and west, and might have been entered as a sailing mark upon
7257the chart.
7258
7259But it was not its size that now impressed my companions; it was the
7260knowledge that seven hundred thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere
7261buried below its spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they
7262drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their eyes burned in
7263their heads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul was
7264bound up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and
7265pleasure, that lay waiting there for each of them.
7266
7267Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils stood out and
7268quivered; he cursed like a madman when the flies settled on his hot and
7269shiny countenance; he plucked furiously at the line that held me to him,
7270and, from time to time, turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look.
7271Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts; and certainly I read
7272them like print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had
7273been forgotten; his promise and the doctor's warning were both things of
7274the past; and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the
7275treasure, find and board the _Hispaniola_ under cover of night, cut
7276every honest throat about that island, and sail away as he had at first
7277intended, laden with crimes and riches.
7278
7279Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me to keep up with
7280the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. Now and again I stumbled, and it
7281was then that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me
7282his murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us, and now brought
7283up the rear, was babbling to himself both prayers and curses, as his
7284fever kept rising. This also added to my wretchedness, and, to crown
7285all, I was haunted by the thought of the tragedy that had once been
7286acted on that plateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with the blue
7287face--he who had died at Savannah, singing and shouting for drink--had
7288there, with his own hand, cut down his six accomplices. This grove, that
7289was now so peaceful, must then have rung with cries, I thought; and even
7290with the thought I could believe I heard it ringing still.
7291
7292We were now at the margin of the thicket.
7293
7294"Huzza, mates, altogether!" shouted Merry, and the foremost broke into a
7295run.
7296
7297And suddenly, not ten yards farther, we beheld them stop. A low cry
7298arose. Silver doubled his pace, digging away with the foot of his crutch
7299like one possessed, and next moment he and I had come also to a dead
7300halt.
7301
7302Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had
7303fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom. In this were the shaft
7304of a pick broken in two and the boards of several packing cases strewn
7305around. On one of these boards I saw branded with a hot iron, the name
7306_Walrus_--the name of Flint's ship.
7307
7308All was clear to probation. The _cache_ had been found and rifled--the
7309seven hundred thousand pounds were gone!
7310
7311
7312
7313
7314CHAPTER XXXIII
7315
7316THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN
7317
7318
7319There never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six men
7320was as though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost
7321instantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like a
7322racer, on that money; well, he was brought up in a single second, dead;
7323and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed his plan before the
7324others had had time to realize the disappointment.
7325
7326"Jim," he whispered, "take that, and stand by for trouble."
7327
7328And he passed me a double-barreled pistol.
7329
7330At the same time he began quietly moving northward, and in a few steps
7331had put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked at
7332me and nodded, as much as to say: "Here is a narrow corner," as, indeed,
7333I thought it was. His looks were now quite friendly, and I was so
7334revolted at these constant changes that I could not forbear whispering:
7335"So you've changed sides again."
7336
7337There was no time left for him to answer in. The buccaneers, with oaths
7338and cries, began to leap, one after another, into the pit, and to dig
7339with their fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. Morgan
7340found a piece of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. It
7341was a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for a
7342quarter of a minute.
7343
7344"Two guineas!" roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. "That's your seven
7345hundred thousand pounds, is it? You're the man for bargains, ain't you?
7346You're him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!"
7347
7348"Dig away, boys," said Silver, with the coolest insolence; "you'll find
7349some pig-nuts, and I shouldn't wonder."
7350
7351"Pig-nuts!" repeated Merry, in a scream. "Mates, do you hear that? I
7352tell you now, that man there knew it all along. Look in the face of him,
7353and you'll see it wrote there."
7354
7355"Ah, Merry," remarked Silver, "standing for cap'n again? You're a
7356pushing lad, to be sure."
7357
7358But this time every one was entirely in Merry's favor. They began to
7359scramble out of the excavation, darting furious glances behind them. One
7360thing I observed, which looked well for us; they all got out upon the
7361opposite side from Silver.
7362
7363Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the pit
7364between us, and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow.
7365Silver never moved; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, and
7366looked as cool as ever I saw him. He was brave, and no mistake.
7367
7368At last, Merry seemed to think a speech might help matters.
7369
7370"Mates," says he, "there's two of them alone there; one's the old
7371cripple that brought us all here and blundered us down to this; the
7372other's that cub that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates--"
7373
7374He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead a
7375charge. But just then--crack! crack! crack!--three musket-shots flashed
7376out of the thicket. Merry tumbled headforemost into the excavation; the
7377man with the bandage spun round like a teetotum, and fell all his length
7378upon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the other
7379three turned and ran for it with all their might.
7380
7381Before you could wink Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into
7382the struggling Merry; and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the
7383last agony, "George," said he, "I reckon I settled you."
7384
7385At the same moment the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us, with
7386smoking muskets, from among the nutmeg-trees.
7387
7388"Forward!" cried the doctor. "Double quick, my lads. We must head 'em
7389off the boats."
7390
7391And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through the bushes to
7392the chest.
7393
7394I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that man
7395went through, leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest were
7396fit to burst, was work no sound man ever equaled; and so thinks the
7397doctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us, and on the
7398verge of strangling, when we reached the brow of the slope.
7399
7400"Doctor," he hailed, "see there! no hurry!"
7401
7402Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open part of the plateau we
7403could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as
7404they had started, right for Mizzen-mast Hill. We were already between
7405them and the boats, and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John,
7406mopping his face, came slowly up with us.
7407
7408"Thank ye kindly, doctor," says he. "You came in in about the nick, I
7409guess, for me and Hawkins. And so it's you, Ben Gunn!" he added. "Well,
7410you're a nice one, to be sure."
7411
7412"I'm Ben Gunn, I am," replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in his
7413embarrassment. "And," he added, after a long pause, "how do, Mr. Silver!
7414Pretty well, I thank ye, says you."
7415
7416"Ben, Ben," murmured Silver, "to think as you've done me!"
7417
7418The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pickaxes deserted, in their
7419flight, by the mutineers; and then as we proceeded leisurely downhill to
7420where the boats were lying, related, in a few words, what had taken
7421place. It was a story that profoundly interested Silver, and Ben Gunn,
7422the half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end.
7423
7424Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found the
7425skeleton. It was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; he
7426had dug it up (it was the haft of his pickax that lay broken in the
7427excavation); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, from
7428the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at
7429the northeast angle of the island, and there it had lain stored in
7430safety since two months before the arrival of the _Hispaniola_.
7431
7432When the doctor had wormed this secret from him, on the afternoon of the
7433attack, and when, next morning, he saw the anchorage deserted, he had
7434gone to Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless; given him
7435the stores, for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goats' meat
7436salted by himself; given anything and everything to get a chance of
7437moving in safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be
7438clear of malaria and keep a guard upon the money.
7439
7440"As for you, Jim," he said, "it went against my heart, but I did what I
7441thought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were not
7442one of these, whose fault was it?"
7443
7444That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horrid
7445disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he had run all the way
7446to the cave, and, leaving squire to guard the captain, had taken Gray
7447and the maroon, and started, making the diagonal across the island, to
7448be at hand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had the
7449start of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been dispatched in
7450front to do his best alone. Then it had occurred to him to work upon the
7451superstitions of his former shipmates; and he was so far successful that
7452Gray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the
7453arrival of the treasure-hunters.
7454
7455"Ah," said Silver, "it was fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here. You
7456would have let old John be cut to bits, and never given it a thought,
7457doctor."
7458
7459"Not a thought," replied Doctor Livesey, cheerily.
7460
7461And by this time we had reached the gigs. The doctor, with the pickax,
7462demolished one of them, and then we all got aboard the other, and set
7463out to go round by the sea for North Inlet.
7464
7465This was a run of eight or nine miles. Silver, though he was almost
7466killed already with fatigue, was set to an oar, like the rest of us, and
7467we were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea. Soon we passed out of
7468the straits and doubled the southeast corner of the island, round which,
7469four days ago, we had towed the _Hispaniola_.
7470
7471As we passed the two-pointed hill we could see the black mouth of Ben
7472Gunn's cave, and a figure standing by it, leaning on a musket. It was
7473the squire, and we waved a handkerchief and gave him three cheers, in
7474which the voice of Silver joined as heartily as any.
7475
7476Three miles farther, just inside the mouth of North Inlet, what should
7477we meet but the _Hispaniola_, cruising by herself! The last flood had
7478lifted her, and had there been much wind, or a strong tide current, as
7479in the southern anchorage, we should never have found her more, or found
7480her stranded beyond help. As it was, there was little amiss, beyond the
7481wreck of the mainsail. Another anchor was got ready, and dropped in a
7482fathom and a half of water. We all pulled round again to Rum Cove, the
7483nearest point for Ben Gunn's treasure-house; and then Gray,
7484single-handed, returned with the gig to the _Hispaniola_, where he was
7485to pass the night on guard.
7486
7487A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance of the cave. At the
7488top, the squire met us. To me he was cordial and kind, saying nothing of
7489my escapade, either in the way of blame or praise. At Silver's polite
7490salute he somewhat flushed.
7491
7492"John Silver," he said, "you're a prodigious villain and impostor--a
7493monstrous impostor, sir. I am told I am not to prosecute you. Well,
7494then, I will not. But the dead men, sir, hang about your neck like
7495millstones."
7496
7497"Thank you kindly, sir," replied Long John, again saluting.
7498
7499"I dare you to thank me!" cried the squire. "It is a gross dereliction
7500of my duty. Stand back!"
7501
7502And thereupon we all entered the cave. It was a large, airy place, with
7503a little spring and a pool of clear water, overhung with ferns. The
7504floor was sand. Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett; and in a far
7505corner, only duskily flickered over by the blaze, I beheld great heaps
7506of coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold. That was Flint's
7507treasure that we had come so far to seek, and that had cost already the
7508lives of seventeen men from the _Hispaniola_. How many it had cost in
7509the amassing, what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the
7510deep, what brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon,
7511what shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell. Yet
7512there were still three upon that island--Silver, and old Morgan, and Ben
7513Gunn--who had each taken his share in these crimes, as each had hoped in
7514vain to share in the reward.
7515
7516"Come in, Jim," said the captain. "You're a good boy in your line, Jim;
7517but I don't think you and me'll go to sea again. You're too much of the
7518born favorite for me. Is that you, John Silver? What brings you here,
7519man?"
7520
7521"Come back to my dooty, sir," returned Silver.
7522
7523"Ah!" said the captain, and that was all he said.
7524
7525What a supper I had of it that night, with all my friends around me; and
7526what a meal it was, with Ben Gunn's salted goat, and some delicacies and
7527a bottle of old wine from the _Hispaniola_. Never, I am sure, were
7528people gayer or happier. And there was Silver, sitting back almost out
7529of the firelight, but eating heartily, prompt to spring forward when
7530anything was wanted, even joining quietly in our laughter--the same
7531bland, polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out.
7532
7533
7534
7535
7536CHAPTER XXXIV
7537
7538AND LAST
7539
7540
7541The next morning we fell early to work, for the transportation of this
7542great mass of gold near a mile by land to the beach, and thence three
7543miles by boat to the _Hispaniola_, was a considerable task for so small
7544a number of workmen. The three fellows still abroad upon the island did
7545not greatly trouble us; a single sentry on the shoulder of the hill was
7546sufficient to insure us against any sudden onslaught, and we thought,
7547besides, they had had more than enough of fighting.
7548
7549Therefore the work was pushed on briskly. Gray and Ben Gunn came and
7550went with the boat, while the rest during their absences piled treasure
7551on the beach. Two of the bars, slung in a rope's end, made a good load
7552for a grown man--one that he was glad to walk slowly with. For my part,
7553as I was not much use at carrying, I was kept busy all day in the cave,
7554packing the minted money into bread-bags.
7555
7556It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones's hoard for the diversity
7557of coinage, but so much larger and so much more varied that I think I
7558never had more pleasure than in sorting them. English, French, Spanish,
7559Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and
7560moidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the
7561last hundred years, strange oriental pieces stamped with what looked
7562like wisps of string or bits of spider's web, round pieces and square
7563pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to wear them round
7564your neck--nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think,
7565have found a place in that collection; and for number, I am sure they
7566were like autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping and my
7567fingers with sorting them out.
7568
7569[Illustration: _Nearly every variety of money in the world must have
7570found a place in that collection_ (Page 253)]
7571
7572Day after day this work went on; by every evening a fortune had been
7573stowed aboard, but there was another fortune waiting for the morrow; and
7574all this time we heard nothing of the three surviving mutineers.
7575
7576At last--I think it was on the third night--the doctor and I were
7577strolling on the shoulder of the hill where it overlooks the lowlands of
7578the isle, when, from out the thick darkness below, the wind brought us a
7579noise between shrieking and singing. It was only a snatch that reached
7580our ears, followed by the former silence.
7581
7582"Heaven forgive them," said the doctor; "'tis the mutineers!"
7583
7584"All drunk, sir," struck in the voice of Silver from behind us.
7585
7586Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty, and, in spite of
7587daily rebuffs, seemed to regard himself once more as quite a privileged
7588and friendly dependent. Indeed, it was remarkable how well he bore these
7589slights, and with what unwearying politeness he kept at trying to
7590ingratiate himself with all. Yet, I think, none treated him better than
7591a dog, unless it was Ben Gunn, who was still terribly afraid of his old
7592quartermaster, or myself, who had really something to thank him for;
7593although for that matter, I suppose, I had reason to think even worse of
7594him than anybody else, for I had seen him meditating a fresh treachery
7595upon the plateau. Accordingly, it was pretty gruffly that the doctor
7596answered him.
7597
7598"Drunk or raving," said he.
7599
7600"Right you were, sir," replied Silver; "and precious little odds which,
7601to you and me."
7602
7603"I suppose you would hardly ask me to call you a humane man," returned
7604the doctor, with a sneer, "and so my feelings may surprise you, Master
7605Silver. But if I were sure they were raving--as I am morally certain
7606one, at least, of them is down with fever--I should leave this camp,
7607and, at whatever risk to my own carcass, take them the assistance of my
7608skill."
7609
7610"Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong," quoth Silver. "You
7611would lose your precious life, and you may lay to that. I'm on your side
7612now, hand and glove; and I shouldn't wish for to see the party weakened,
7613let alone yourself, seeing as I know what I owes you. But these men down
7614there, they couldn't keep their word--no, not supposing they wished
7615to--and what's more, they couldn't believe as you could."
7616
7617"No," said the doctor. "You're the man to keep your word, we know that."
7618
7619Well, that was about the last news we had of the three pirates. Only
7620once we heard a gunshot a great way off, and supposed them to be
7621hunting. A council was held and it was decided that we must desert them
7622on the island--to the huge glee, I must say, of Ben Gunn, and with the
7623strong approval of Gray. We left a good stock of powder and shot, the
7624bulk of the salt goat, a few medicines and some other necessaries,
7625tools, clothing, a spare sail, a fathom or two of rope, and, by the
7626particular desire of the doctor, a handsome present of tobacco.
7627
7628That was about our last doing on the island. Before that we had got the
7629treasure stowed and had shipped enough water and the remainder of the
7630goat meat, in case of any distress; and at last, one fine morning, we
7631weighed anchor, which was about all that we could manage, and stood out
7632of North Inlet, the same colors flying that the captain had flown and
7633fought under at the palisade.
7634
7635The three fellows must have been watching us closer than we thought for,
7636as we soon had proved. For, coming through the narrows we had to lie
7637very near the southern point, and there we saw all three of them
7638kneeling together on a spit of sand with their arms raised in
7639supplication. It went to all our hearts, I think, to leave them in that
7640wretched state, but we could not risk another mutiny, and to take them
7641home for the gibbet would have been a cruel sort of kindness. The doctor
7642hailed them and told them of the stores we had left, and where they were
7643to find them, but they continued to call us by name and appeal to us for
7644God's sake to be merciful and not leave them to die in such a place.
7645
7646At last, seeing the ship still bore on her course, and was now swiftly
7647drawing out of earshot, one of them--I know not which it was--leaped to
7648his feet with a hoarse cry, whipped his musket to his shoulder, and sent
7649a shot whistling over Silver's head and through the mainsail.
7650
7651After that we kept under cover of the bulwarks, and when next I looked
7652out they had disappeared from the spit, and the spit itself had almost
7653melted out of sight in the growing distance. That was, at least, the end
7654of that; and before noon, to my inexpressible joy, the highest rock of
7655Treasure Island had sunk into the blue round of sea.
7656
7657We were so short of men that everyone on board had to bear a hand--only
7658the captain lying on a mattress in the stern and giving his orders, for
7659though greatly recovered he was still in want of quiet. We laid her head
7660for the nearest port in Spanish America, for we could not risk the
7661voyage home without fresh hands; and as it was, what with baffling winds
7662and a couple of fresh gales, we were all worn out before we reached it.
7663
7664It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a most beautiful
7665landlocked gulf, and were immediately surrounded by shore boats full of
7666negroes and Mexican Indians and half-bloods, selling fruits and
7667vegetables, and offering to dive for bits of money. The sight of so many
7668good-humored faces (especially the blacks), the taste of the tropical
7669fruits, and above all, the lights that began to shine in the town, made
7670a most charming contrast to our dark and bloody sojourn on the island;
7671and the doctor and the squire, taking me along with them, went ashore to
7672pass the early part of the night. Here they met the captain of an
7673English man-of-war, fell in talk with him, went on board his ship, and
7674in short, had so agreeable a time that day was breaking when we came
7675alongside the _Hispaniola_.
7676
7677Ben Gunn was on deck alone, and as soon as we came on board he began,
7678with wonderful contortions, to make us a confession. Silver was gone.
7679The maroon had connived at his escape in a shore boat some hours ago,
7680and he now assured us he had only done so to preserve our lives, which
7681would certainly have been forfeited if "that man with the one leg had
7682stayed aboard." But this was not all. The sea-cook had not gone
7683empty-handed. He had cut through a bulkhead unobserved, and had removed
7684one of the sacks of coin, worth, perhaps, three or four hundred
7685guineas, to help him on his further wanderings.
7686
7687I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit of him.
7688
7689Well, to make a long story short, we got a few hands on board, made a
7690good cruise home, and the _Hispaniola_ reached Bristol just as Mr.
7691Blandly was beginning to think of fitting out her consort. Five men only
7692of those who had sailed returned with her. "Drink and the devil had done
7693for the rest" with a vengeance, although, to be sure, we were not quite
7694in so bad a case as that other ship they sang about:
7695
7696 "With one man of the crew alive,
7697 What put to sea with seventy-five."
7698
7699All of us had an ample share of the treasure, and used it wisely or
7700foolishly, according to our natures. Captain Smollett is now retired
7701from the sea. Gray not only saved his money, but, being suddenly smit
7702with the desire to rise, also studied his profession, and he is now mate
7703and part owner of a fine full-rigged ship; married besides, and the
7704father of a family. As for Ben Gunn, he got a thousand pounds, which he
7705spent or lost in three weeks, or, to be more exact, in nineteen days,
7706for he was back begging on the twentieth. Then he was given a lodge to
7707keep, exactly as he had feared upon the island; and he still lives, a
7708great favorite, though something of a butt with the country boys, and a
7709notable singer in church on Sundays and saints' days.
7710
7711Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable seafaring man with one
7712leg has at last gone clean out of my life, but I dare say he met his old
7713negress, and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint.
7714It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in another
7715world are very small.
7716
7717The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know, where Flint
7718buried them; and certainly they shall lie there for me. Oxen and
7719wain-ropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island, and
7720the worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about
7721its coasts, or start upright in bed, with the sharp voice of Captain
7722Flint still ringing in my ears: "Pieces of eight! pieces of eight!"
7723
7724[Illustration]
7725
7726
7727
7728
7729
7730End of Project Gutenberg's Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
7731
7732*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TREASURE ISLAND ***
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