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diff --git a/27780-h/27780-h.htm b/27780-h/27780-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ba55ac --- /dev/null +++ b/27780-h/27780-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9392 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} + body > p {text-indent: 1em;} + h1,h2,hr {clear: both;} + h2 {line-height: 1.5em; font-weight: normal;} + hr {width: 65%; margin: 2em auto;} + table {margin: 1em auto; width: 32em;} + td {vertical-align: top;} + .td1,.td5 {text-align: left; padding-right: 4em; text-indent: -1em;} + .td5,.sp2 {padding-left: 1em;} + .td1 {padding-left: 2em;} + .td2,.td6 {text-align: right;} + .td6 {vertical-align: bottom;} + .td3 {padding-top: 2em; font-size: large;} + .td4 {padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .75em; font-size: large;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: small; font-style: normal; text-align: right; text-indent: 0em;} + .blockquot {margin: 1em 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .blockquot p {margin: .5em 0;} + .center,.hd1,.hd2,.figr,.td3,.td4,h1,h2 {text-align: center;} + .smcap,.hd1,.td4 {font-variant: small-caps;} + .figc {margin: 1em auto; width: 268px;} + .figt {margin: 2em auto; width: 262px;} + .figr {float: right; clear: right; margin: 1em 0 1em 1em; padding: 0; width: 343px; font-weight: bold;} + .figr img {border: solid 2px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: 0.25em; font-size: .8em;} + .poem {margin: 0 auto; text-align: left; width: 19em;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: .75em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 2em 15% 0; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + img {border: none;} + a:link,a:visited {text-decoration: none;} + .hd1 {font-size: x-large; margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + .hd2 {font-size: x-large; margin-top: 1.5em;} + .bk1 {margin: 1em auto; width: 30em;} + .bk1 p,.figr {font-size: small;} + .bk2 p {margin: 0;} + .sp1 {padding: 2em 0 1em 4em;} + .sp2 {text-indent: 1em;} + .sp3 {padding-left: 3em;} +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Treasure Island + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Illustrator: Milo Winter + +Release Date: January 12, 2009 [EBook #27780] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TREASURE ISLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Stephen Blundell and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figc" style="width: 403px;"> +<img src="images/001.jpg" width="403" height="550" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<hr /> + +<div class="hd1"><b>The Illustrated Children's Library</b></div> + +<h1><i><big>Treasure Island</big></i></h1> + +<h2><big>Robert Louis Stevenson</big></h2> + +<div class="hd2"><i><small>Illustrated by</small></i><br /> +<b>Milo Winter</b></div> + +<div class="figt" style="width: 262px;"> +<img src="images/002.png" width="262" height="237" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<div class="hd2"><small><b><span class="smcap">Gramercy Books<br /> +New York</span></b></small></div> + +<hr /> + +<div class="bk1"><p>Foreword copyright © 1986 by Random House Value Publishing<br /> +Color Illustrations by Milo Winter copyright © 1915, 1943 by Rand McNally & Company<br /> +All rights reserved.</p> + +<p>This 2002 edition published by Gramercy Books, an imprint of Random +House Value Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc., 280 Park +Avenue, New York, NY 10017.</p> + +<p>Gramercy is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of +Random House, Inc.</p> + +<p>Printed and bound in the United States of America</p> + +<p>Cover design by Judy Fucci, Studio Graphix, Inc.</p> + +<p>Random House<br /> +New York · Toronto · London · Sydney · Auckland<br /> +www.randomhouse.com</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="sp1">Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data</p> + +<p>Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894.</p> + +<p class="sp2">Treasure Island/Robert Louis Stevenson; illustrated in color by Milo Winter.</p> + +<p class="sp3">p. cm.—(Illustrated children's library)</p> + +<p class="sp2">Originally published: New York: Children's classics, 1986.</p> + +<p class="sp2">Summary: While going through the possessions of a deceased guest +who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a +treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune.</p> + +<p class="sp2">ISBN 0-517-22114-4</p> + +<p class="sp2">[1. Buried treasure—Fiction. 2. Pirates—Fiction. 3. Adventure +and adventures—Fiction. 4. Caribbean Area—History—18th +century—Fiction.] I. Winter, Milo, 1888-1956, ill. II. Title. +III. Series.</p></div> + +<p>PZ7.S8482 Tr 2002<br /> +[Fic]—dc21</p> + +<p class="td2">2002023301</p> + +<p>9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1</p></div> + +<div class="trn"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> +Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without +note. Dialect and variant spellings have been retained, whilst +inconsistent hyphenation has been standardised. Color plates have +been repositioned according to their captions; the 'Color Plates' +listing remains as printed to indicate the original locations.</div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td class="td2" colspan="3"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5" colspan="2"><i>To the Hesitating Purchaser</i></td><td class="td6"><i><a href="#Page_viii">viii</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5" colspan="2"><i>List of Color Plates</i></td><td class="td6"><i><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5" colspan="2"><i>Dedication</i></td><td class="td6"><i><a href="#Page_x">x</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">PART I</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td4" colspan="3">The Old Buccaneer</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td class="td2" colspan="2"></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">I.</td><td class="td1">At the "Admiral Benbow"</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">II.</td><td class="td1">Black Dog Appears and Disappears</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">III.</td><td class="td1">The Black Spot</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">IV.</td><td class="td1">The Sea-Chest</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">V.</td><td class="td1">The Last of the Blind Man</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">VI.</td><td class="td1">The Captain's Papers</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">PART II</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td4" colspan="3">The Sea-Cook</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">VII.</td><td class="td1">I Go to Bristol</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">VIII.</td><td class="td1">At the Sign of the "Spy-Glass"</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">IX.</td><td class="td1">Powder and Arms</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">X.</td><td class="td1">The Voyage</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XI.</td><td class="td1">What I Heard in the Apple Barrel</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XII.</td><td class="td1">Council of War</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">PART III<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td4" colspan="3">My Shore Adventure</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XIII.</td><td class="td1">How My Shore Adventure Began</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XIV.</td><td class="td1">The First Blow</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XV.</td><td class="td1">The Man of the Island</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">PART IV</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td4" colspan="3">The Stockade</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XVI.</td><td class="td1">Narrative Continued by the Doctor—How the Ship was Abandoned</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XVII.</td><td class="td1">Narrative Continued by the Doctor—The Jolly-Boat's Last Trip</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XVIII.</td><td class="td1">Narrative Continued by the Doctor—End of the First Day's Fighting</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XIX.</td><td class="td1">Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins—The Garrison in the Stockade</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XX.</td><td class="td1">Silver's Embassy</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXI.</td><td class="td1">The Attack</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">PART V</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td4" colspan="3">My Sea Adventure</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXII.</td><td class="td1">How My Sea Adventure Began</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXIII.</td><td class="td1">The Ebb-Tide Runs</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXIV.</td><td class="td1">The Cruise of the Coracle</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXV.</td><td class="td1">I Strike the Jolly Roger</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXVI.</td><td class="td1">Israel Hands</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXVII.</td><td class="td1">"Pieces of Eight"</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">PART VI<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td4" colspan="3">Captain Silver</td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXVIII.</td><td class="td1">In the Enemy's Camp</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXIX.</td><td class="td1">The Black Spot Again</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXX.</td><td class="td1">On Parole</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXXI.</td><td class="td1">The Treasure-Hunt—Flint's Pointer</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXXII.</td><td class="td1">The Treasure-Hunt—The Voice among the Trees</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXXIII.</td><td class="td1">The Fall of a Chieftain</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XXXIV.</td><td class="td1">And Last</td><td class="td6"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></p> +<h2>TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER</h2> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If sailor tales to sailor tunes,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Storm and adventure, heat and cold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If schooners, islands, and maroons<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And Buccaneers and buried Gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the old romance, retold<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Exactly in the ancient way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can please, as me they pleased of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The wiser youngsters of to-day:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—So be it, and fall on! If not,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">If studious youth no longer crave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His ancient appetites forgot,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or Cooper of the wood and wave:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So be it, also! And may I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all my pirates share the grave<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where these and their creations lie!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> +<h2>COLOR PLATES</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td class="td6" colspan="2"><small>OPPOSITE PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5">I remember him as if it were yesterday as he came +plodding to the inn door</td><td class="td6"><a href="#cpa">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5">"Pew!" he cried, "they've been before us"</td><td class="td6"><a href="#cpb">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5">"Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly, "you never +clapped your eyes on that Black Dog before, did you, +now?"</td><td class="td6"><a href="#cpc">82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5">It was something to see him get on with his cooking +like someone safe ashore</td><td class="td6"><a href="#cpd">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5">They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the +swivel</td><td class="td6"><a href="#cpe">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5">In a moment the four pirates had swarmed up the mound +and were upon us</td><td class="td6"><a href="#cpf">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5">Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds</td><td class="td6"><a href="#cpg">210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td5">Nearly every variety of money in the world must have +found a place in that collection</td><td class="td6"><a href="#cph">211</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><i>To</i><br /> +LLOYD OSBOURNE<br /> +An American Gentleman<br /> +In accordance with whose classic taste<br /> +The following narrative has been designed<br /> +It is now, in return for numerous delightful hours<br /> +And with the kindest wishes, dedicated<br /> +By his affectionate friend<br /> +<i>THE AUTHOR</i></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figc"> +<img src="images/003.png" width="268" height="302" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<hr /> +<h2><small>PART I</small><br /> +THE OLD BUCCANEER</h2> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER I<br /> +<small>AT THE "ADMIRAL BENBOW"</small></h2> + +<p>Squire Trelawney, Doctor Livesey, and the rest of these +gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole +particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning +to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the +island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet +lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17—, and +go back to the time when my father kept the "Admiral +Benbow" Inn, and the brown old seaman, with the saber +cut, first took up his lodging under our roof.</p> + +<p>I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came +plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind +him in a hand-barrow; a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown +man; his tarry pig-tail falling over the shoulders of his +soiled blue coat; his hands ragged and scarred, with black, +broken nails, and the saber cut across one cheek, a dirty, +livid white. I remember him looking round the cove +and whistling to himself as he did so, and then breaking +out in that old sea-song that he sang so often afterwards:</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figr" style="width: 346px;"><a name="cpa" id="cpa"></a> +<img src="images/004.jpg" width="346" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<div class="td2">Page 3</div> +<i>I remember him as if it were yesterday as he came plodding to the inn door</i></div> + +<p class="noin">in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been +tuned and broken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +on the door with a bit of stick like a handspike that he +carried, and when my father appeared, called roughly +for a glass of rum. This, when it was brought to him, +he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the +taste, and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at +our signboard.</p> + +<p>"This is a handy cove," says he, at length; "and a +pleasant sittyated grog-shop. Much company, mate?"</p> + +<p>My father told him no, very little company, the more +was the pity.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said he, "this is the berth for me. Here +you, matey," he cried to the man who trundled the barrow; +"bring up alongside and help up my chest. I'll +stay here a bit," he continued. "I'm a plain man; rum +and bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up +there for to watch ships off. What you mought call me? +You mought call me captain. Oh, I see what you're at—there"; +and he threw down three or four gold pieces +on the threshold. "You can tell me when I've worked +through that," said he, looking as fierce as a commander.</p> + +<p>And, indeed, bad as his clothes were, and coarsely as +he spoke, he had none of the appearance of a man who +sailed before the mast, but seemed like a mate or skipper, +accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. The man who came +with the barrow told us the mail had set him down the +morning before at the "Royal George"; that he had +inquired what inns there were along the coast, and hearing +ours well spoken of, I suppose, and described as lonely, +had chosen it from the others for his place of residence. +And that was all we could learn of our guest.</p> + +<p>He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung +round the cove, or upon the cliffs, with a brass telescope;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +all evening he sat in a corner of the parlor next the fire, +and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly he would +not speak when spoken to; only look up sudden and fierce, +and blow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and +the people who came about our house soon learned to +let him be. Every day, when he came back from his stroll, +he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the +road. At first we thought it was the want of company of +his own kind that made him ask this question; but at last +we began to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a +seaman put up at the "Admiral Benbow" (as now and +then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol), he +would look in at him through the curtained door before +he entered the parlor; and he was always sure to be as +silent as a mouse when any such was present. For me, +at least, there was no secret about the matter; for I was, +in a way, a sharer in his alarms.</p> + +<p>He had taken me aside one day and promised me a +silver fourpenny on the first of every month if I would +only keep my "weather eye open for a seafaring man +with one leg," and let him know the moment he appeared. +Often enough when the first of the month came round, +and I applied to him for my wage, he would only blow +through his nose at me, and stare me down; but before +the week was out he was sure to think better of it, bring +me my fourpenny piece, and repeat his orders to look out +for "the seafaring man with one leg."</p> + +<p>How that personage haunted my dreams, I need +scarcely tell you. On stormy nights, when the wind shook +the four corners of the house, and the surf roared along +the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in a thousand +forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions. Now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +the leg would be cut off at the knee, now at the hip; +now he was a monstrous kind of a creature who had never +had but one leg, and that in the middle of his body. To +see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge and +ditch, was the worst of nightmares. And altogether I +paid pretty dear for my monthly fourpenny piece, in the +shape of these abominable fancies.</p> + +<p>But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring +man with one leg, I was far less afraid of the +captain himself than anybody else who knew him. There +were nights when he took a deal more rum and water +than his head would carry; and then he would sometimes +sit and sing his wicked, old, wild sea-songs, minding +nobody; but sometimes he would call for glasses round, +and force all the trembling company to listen to his stories +or bear a chorus to his singing. Often I have heard the +house shaking with "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum," all +the neighbors joining in for dear life, with the fear of +death upon them, and each singing louder than the other +to avoid remark. For in these fits he was the most overriding +companion ever known; he would slap his hand +on the table for silence all around; he would fly up in a +passion of anger at a question, or sometimes because none +was put, and so he judged the company was not following +his story. Nor would he allow anyone to leave the inn +till he had drunk himself sleepy and reeled off to bed.</p> + +<p>His stories were what frightened people worst of all. +Dreadful stories they were; about hanging, and walking +the plank, and storms at sea, and the Dry Tortugas, and +wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main. By his own +account, he must have lived his life among some of the +wickedest men that God ever allowed upon the sea; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +the language in which he told these stories shocked our +plain country people almost as much as the crimes that +he described. My father was always saying the inn would +be ruined, for people would soon cease coming there to +be tyrannized over and put down and sent shivering to +their beds; but I really believe his presence did us good. +People were frightened at the time, but on looking back +they rather liked it; it was a fine excitement in a quiet +country life; and there was even a party of the younger +men who pretended to admire him, calling him a "true +sea-dog," and a "real old salt," and such like names, and +saying there was the sort of man that made England +terrible at sea.</p> + +<p>In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept +on staying week after week, and at last month after month, +so that all the money had been long exhausted, and still my +father never plucked up the heart to insist on having more. +If ever he mentioned it, the captain blew through his nose +so loudly that you might say he roared, and stared my poor +father out of the room. I have seen him wringing his +hands after such a rebuff, and I am sure the annoyance +and the terror he lived in must have greatly hastened his +early and unhappy death.</p> + +<p>All the time he lived with us the captain made no +change whatever in his dress but to buy some stockings +from a hawker. One of the cocks of his hat having fallen +down, he let it hang from that day forth, though it was a +great annoyance when it blew. I remember the appearance +of his coat, which he patched himself upstairs in his +room, and which, before the end, was nothing but patches. +He never wrote or received a letter, and he never spoke +with any but the neighbors, and with these, for the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +part, only when drunk on rum. The great sea-chest none +of us had ever seen open.</p> + +<p>He was only once crossed, and that was toward the end, +when my poor father was far gone in a decline that took +him off. Doctor Livesey came late one afternoon to see +the patient, took a bit of dinner from my mother, and +went into the parlor to smoke a pipe until his horse should +come down from the hamlet, for we had no stabling at the +old "Benbow." I followed him in, and I remember +observing the contrast the neat, bright doctor, with his +powder as white as snow, and his bright, black eyes and +pleasant manners, made with the coltish country folk, and +above all, with that filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of a +pirate of ours, sitting far gone in rum, with his arms on +the table. Suddenly he—the captain, that is—began +to pipe up his eternal song:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink and the devil had done for the rest—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At first I had supposed "the dead man's chest" to be +that identical big box of his upstairs in the front room, and +the thought had been mingled in my nightmares with that +of the one-legged seafaring man. But by this time we had +all long ceased to pay any particular notice to the song; it +was new, that night, to nobody but Doctor Livesey, and +on him I observed it did not produce an agreeable effect, +for he looked up for a moment quite angrily before he +went on with his talk to old Taylor, the gardener, on a +new cure for rheumatics. In the meantime the captain +gradually brightened up at his own music, and at last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +flapped his hand upon the table before him in a way we +all knew to mean—silence. The voices stopped at once, +all but Doctor Livesey's; he went on as before, speaking +clear and kind, and drawing briskly at his pipe between +every word or two. The captain glared at him for a while, +flapped his hand again, glared still harder, and at last +broke out with a villainous oath: "Silence, there, between +decks!"</p> + +<p>"Were you addressing me, sir?" said the doctor; and +when the ruffian had told him, with another oath, that +this was so, replied, "I have only one thing to say to you, +sir, that if you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon +be quit of a very dirty scoundrel!"</p> + +<p>The old fellow's fury was awful. He sprang to his feet, +drew and opened a sailor's clasp-knife, and balancing it +open on the palm of his hand, threatened to pin the doctor +to the wall.</p> + +<p>The doctor never so much as moved. He spoke to him, +as before, over his shoulder, and in the same tone of voice, +rather high, so that all the room might hear, but perfectly +calm and steady:</p> + +<p>"If you do not put that knife this instant into your +pocket, I promise, upon my honor, you shall hang at the +next assizes."</p> + +<p>Then followed a battle of looks between them; but the +captain soon knuckled under, put up his weapon, and +resumed his seat, grumbling like a beaten dog.</p> + +<p>"And now, sir," continued the doctor, "since I now +know there's such a fellow in my district, you may count +I'll have an eye upon you day and night. I'm not a doctor +only, I'm a magistrate; and if I catch a breath of complaint +against you, if it's only for a piece of incivility like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +to-night's, I'll take effectual means to have you hunted +down and routed out of this. Let that suffice."</p> + +<p>Soon after Doctor Livesey's horse came to the door and +he rode away, but the captain held his peace that evening, +and for many evenings to come.</p> + +<div class="figc" style="width: 331px;"> +<img src="images/005.png" width="331" height="327" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II<br /> +<small>BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS</small></h2> + +<p>It was not very long after this that there occurred the +first of the mysterious events that rid us at last of the +captain, though not, as you will see, of his affairs. It was +a bitter cold winter, with long, hard frosts and heavy +gales; and it was plain from the first that my poor father +was little likely to see the spring. He sank daily, and my +mother and I had all the inn upon our hands, and were +kept busy enough without paying much regard to our +unpleasant guest.</p> + +<p>It was one January morning, very early—a pinching, +frosty morning—the cove all gray with hoar-frost, the +ripple lapping softly on the stones, the sun still low, and +only touching the hill-tops and shining far to seaward. +The captain had risen earlier than usual, and set out down +the beach, his cutlass swinging under the broad skirts of +the old blue coat, his brass telescope under his arm, his hat +tilted back upon his head. I remember his breath hanging +like smoke in his wake as he strode off, and the last +sound I heard of him, as he turned the big rock, was a +loud snort of indignation, as though his mind was still +running upon Doctor Livesey.</p> + +<p>Well, mother was upstairs with father, and I was laying +the breakfast table against the captain's return, when +the parlor door opened and a man stepped in on whom I +had never set my eyes before. He was a pale, tallowy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +creature, wanting two fingers of the left hand; and, +though he wore a cutlass, he did not look much like a +fighter. I had always my eyes open for seafaring men, +with one leg or two, and I remember this one puzzled me. +He was not sailorly, and yet he had a smack of the sea +about him too.</p> + +<p>I asked him what was for his service, and he said he +would take rum, but as I was going out of the room to +fetch it he sat down upon a table and motioned to me to +draw near. I paused where I was, with my napkin in my +hand.</p> + +<p>"Come here, sonny," said he. "Come nearer here."</p> + +<p>I took a step nearer.</p> + +<p>"Is this here table for my mate Bill?" he asked, with +a kind of leer.</p> + +<p>I told him I did not know his mate Bill, and this was +for a person who stayed at our house, whom we called the +captain.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "my mate Bill would be called the +captain, as like as not. He has a cut on one cheek, and a +mighty pleasant way with him, particularly in drink, has +my mate Bill. We'll put it, for argument like, that your +captain has a cut on one cheek—and we'll put it, if you +like, that that cheek's the right one. Ah, well! I told +you. Now, is my mate Bill in this here house?"</p> + +<p>I told him he was out walking.</p> + +<p>"Which way, sonny? Which way is he gone?"</p> + +<p>And when I had pointed out the rock and told him +how the captain was likely to return, and how soon, and +answered a few other questions, "Ah," said he, "this'll +be as good as drink to my mate Bill."</p> + +<p>The expression of his face as he said these words was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +not at all pleasant, and I had my own reasons for thinking +that the stranger was mistaken, even supposing he +meant what he said. But it was no affair of mine, +I thought; and, besides, it was difficult to know what +to do.</p> + +<p>The stranger kept hanging about just inside the inn +door, peering round the corner like a cat waiting for a +mouse. Once I stepped out myself into the road, but he +immediately called me back, and, as I did not obey quick +enough for his fancy, a most horrible change came over his +tallowy face, and he ordered me in with an oath that made +me jump. As soon as I was back again he returned to his +former manner, half-fawning, half-sneering, patted me on +the shoulder, told me I was a good boy, and he had taken +quite a fancy to me. "I have a son of my own," said he, +"as like you as two blocks, and he's all the pride of my +'art. But the great thing for boys is discipline, sonny—discipline. +Now, if you had sailed along of Bill, you +wouldn't have stood there to be spoke to twice—not you. +That was never Bill's way, nor the way of sich as sailed +with him. And here, sure enough, is my mate Bill, with +a spy-glass under his arm, bless his old 'art, to be sure. +You and me'll just go back into the parlor, sonny, and get +behind the door, and we'll give Bill a little surprise—bless +his 'art, I say again."</p> + +<p>So saying, the stranger backed along with me into the +parlor, and put me behind him into the corner, so that we +were both hidden by the open door. I was very uneasy +and alarmed, as you may fancy, and it rather added to my +fears to observe that the stranger was certainly frightened +himself. He cleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened +the blade in the sheath, and all the time we were waiting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +there he kept swallowing as if he felt what we used to call +a lump in the throat.</p> + +<p>At last in strode the captain, slammed the door behind +him, without looking to the right or left, and marched +straight across the room to where his breakfast awaited +him.</p> + +<p>"Bill," said the stranger, in a voice that I thought he +had tried to make bold and big.</p> + +<p>The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us; all +the brown had gone out of his face, and even his nose was +blue; he had the look of a man who sees a ghost, or the Evil +One, or something worse, if anything can be; and, upon +my word, I felt sorry to see him, all in a moment, turn +so old and sick.</p> + +<p>"Come, Bill, you know me; you know an old shipmate, +Bill, surely," said the stranger.</p> + +<p>The captain made a sort of gasp.</p> + +<p>"Black Dog!" said he.</p> + +<p>"And who else?" returned the other, getting more at +his ease. "Black Dog as ever was, come for to see his +old shipmate, Billy, at the 'Admiral Benbow' Inn. Ah, +Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two, since I +lost them two talons," holding up his mutilated hand.</p> + +<p>"Now, look here," said the captain; "you've run me +down; here I am; well, then, speak up; what is it?"</p> + +<p>"That's you, Bill," returned Black Dog; "you're in the +right of it, Billy. I'll have a glass of rum from this dear +child here, as I've took such a liking to; and we'll sit +down, if you please, and talk square, like old shipmates."</p> + +<p>When I returned with the rum they were already +seated on either side of the captain's breakfast table—Black +Dog next to the door, and sitting sideways, so as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +to have one eye on his old shipmate and one, as I thought, +on his retreat.</p> + +<p>He bade me go and leave the door wide open. "None +of your keyholes for me, sonny," he said, and I left them +together and retired into the bar.</p> + +<p>For a long time, though I certainly did my best to listen, +I could hear nothing but a low gabbling; but at last the +voices began to grow higher, and I could pick up a word +or two, mostly oaths, from the captain.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no, no; and an end of it!" he cried once. And +again, "If it comes to swinging, swing all, say I."</p> + +<p>Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous explosion +of oaths and other noises; the chair and table went over +in a lump, a clash of steel followed, and then a cry of +pain, and the next instant I saw Black Dog in full flight, +and the captain hotly pursuing, both with drawn cutlasses, +and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder. +Just at the door the captain aimed at the fugitive one last +tremendous cut, which would certainly have split him to +the chin had it not been intercepted by our big signboard +of "Admiral Benbow." You may see the notch on the +lower side of the frame to this day.</p> + +<p>That blow was the last of the battle. Once out upon +the road, Black Dog, in spite of his wound, showed a +wonderful clean pair of heels, and disappeared over the +edge of the hill in half a minute. The captain, for his +part, stood staring at the signboard like a bewildered man. +Then he passed his hand over his eyes several times, and +at last turned back into the house.</p> + +<p>"Jim," says he, "rum"; and as he spoke he reeled a +little, and caught himself with one hand against the wall.</p> + +<p>"Are you hurt?" cried I.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Rum," he repeated. "I must get away from here. +Rum! rum!"</p> + +<p>I ran to fetch it, but I was quite unsteadied by all that +had fallen out, and I broke one glass and fouled the tap, +and while I was still getting in my own way, I heard a +loud fall in the parlor, and, running in, beheld the captain +lying full length upon the floor. At the same instant my +mother, alarmed by the cries and fighting, came running +downstairs to help me. Between us we raised his head. +He was breathing very loud and hard, but his eyes were +closed and his face was a horrible color.</p> + +<p>"Dear, deary me!" cried my mother, "what a disgrace +upon the house! And your poor father sick!"</p> + +<p>In the meantime we had no idea what to do to help the +captain, nor any other thought but that he had got his +death-hurt in the scuffle with the stranger. I got the rum, +to be sure, and tried to put it down his throat, but his +teeth were tightly shut, and his jaws as strong as iron. It +was a happy relief for us when the door opened and Doctor +Livesey came in, on his visit to my father.</p> + +<p>"Oh, doctor," we cried, "what shall we do? Where +is he wounded?"</p> + +<p>"Wounded? A fiddlestick's end!" said the doctor. +"No more wounded than you or I. The man has had +a stroke, as I warned him. Now, Mrs. Hawkins, just +you run upstairs to your husband and tell him, if possible, +nothing about it. For my part, I must do my best to save +this fellow's trebly worthless life; and, Jim, you get me a +basin."</p> + +<p>When I got back with the basin the doctor had already +ripped up the captain's sleeve and exposed his great +sinewy arm. It was tattooed in several places. "Here's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +luck," "A fair wind," and "Billy Bones, his fancy," were +very neatly and clearly executed on the forearm; and up +near the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a +man hanging from it—done, as I thought, with great +spirit.</p> + +<p>"Prophetic," said the doctor, touching this picture with +his finger. "And now, Master Billy Bones, if that be your +name, we'll have a look at the color of your blood. Jim," +he said, "are you afraid of blood?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said I.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said he, "you hold the basin," and with +that he took his lancet and opened a vein.</p> + +<p>A great deal of blood was taken before the captain +opened his eyes and looked mistily about him. First he +recognized the doctor with an unmistakable frown; then +his glance fell upon me, and he looked relieved. But +suddenly his color changed, and he tried to raise himself, +crying:</p> + +<p>"Where's Black Dog?"</p> + +<p>"There is no Black Dog here," said the doctor, "except +what you have on your own back. You have been drinking +rum; you have had a stroke precisely as I told you; +and I have just, very much against my own will, dragged +you headforemost out of the grave. Now, Mr. Bones—"</p> + +<p>"That's not my name," he interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Much I care," returned the doctor. "It's the name +of a buccaneer of my acquaintance, and I call you by it +for the sake of shortness, and what I have to say to you is +this: One glass of rum won't kill you, but if you take one +you'll take another and another, and I stake my wig if you +don't break off short, you'll die—do you understand that?—die, +and go to your own place, like the man in the Bible.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +Come, now, make an effort. I'll help you to your bed for +once."</p> + +<p>Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist +him upstairs, and laid him on his bed, where his head fell +back on the pillow, as if he were almost fainting.</p> + +<p>"Now, mind you," said the doctor, "I clear my conscience—the +name of rum for you is death."</p> + +<p>And with that he went off to see my father, taking me +with him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"This is nothing," he said, as soon as he had closed +the door. "I have drawn blood enough to keep him quiet +awhile; he should lie for a week where he is—that is the +best thing for him and you, but another stroke would settle +him."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III<br /> +<small>THE BLACK SPOT</small></h2> + +<p>About noon I stopped at the captain's door with some +cooling drinks and medicines. He was lying very much +as we had left him, only a little higher, and he seemed +both weak and excited.</p> + +<p>"Jim," he said, "you're the only one here that's worth +anything; and you know I've always been good to you. +Never a month but I've given you a silver fourpenny for +yourself. And now you see, mate, I'm pretty low, and +deserted by all; and, Jim, you'll bring me one noggin of +rum, now, won't you, matey?"</p> + +<p>"The doctor—" I began.</p> + +<p>But he broke in, cursing the doctor in a feeble voice, but +heartily. "Doctors is all swabs," he said; "and that +doctor there, why, what do he know about seafaring men? +I been in places hot as pitch, and mates dropping round +with yellow jack, and the blessed land a-heaving like the +sea with earthquakes—what do the doctor know of lands +like that?—and I lived on rum, I tell you. It's been meat +and drink, and man and wife, to me; and if I am not to +have my rum now I'm a poor old hulk on a lee shore. My +blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab," and he +ran on again for a while with curses. "Look, Jim, how +my fingers fidges," he continued in the pleading tone. +"I can't keep 'em still, not I. I haven't had a drop this +blessed day. That doctor's a fool, I tell you. If I don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +have a drain o' rum, Jim, I'll have the horrors; I seen +some on 'em already. I seen old Flint in the corner there, +behind you; as plain as print, I seen him; and if I get the +horrors, I'm a man that has lived rough, and I'll raise +Cain. Your doctor hisself said one glass wouldn't hurt +me. I'll give you a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim."</p> + +<p>He was growing more and more excited, and this +alarmed me, for my father, who was very low that day, +needed quiet; besides, I was reassured by the doctor's +words, now quoted to me, and rather offended by the offer +of a bribe.</p> + +<p>"I want none of your money," said I, "but what you +owe my father. I'll get you one glass and no more."</p> + +<p>When I brought it to him he seized it greedily and +drank it out.</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay," said he, "that's some better, sure enough. +And now, matey, did that doctor say how long I was to +lie here in this old berth?"</p> + +<p>"A week at least," said I.</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; +they'd have the black spot on me by then. The lubbers +is going about to get the wind of me this blessed moment; +lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to nail +what is another's. Is that seamanly behavior, now, I want +to know? But I'm a saving soul. I never wasted good +money of mine, nor lost it neither; and I'll trick 'em again. +I'm not afraid on 'em. I'll shake out another reef, matey, +and daddle 'em again."</p> + +<p>As he was thus speaking, he had risen from bed with +great difficulty, holding to my shoulder with a grip +that almost made me cry out, and moving his legs like so +much dead weight. His words, spirited as they were in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of the voice +in which they were uttered. He paused when he had +got into a sitting position on the edge.</p> + +<p>"That doctor's done me," he murmured. "My ears +is singing. Lay me back."</p> + +<p>Before I could do much to help him he had fallen back +again to his former place, where he lay for a while silent.</p> + +<p>"Jim," he said, at length, "you saw that seafaring man +to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Black Dog?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Black Dog," said he. "<i>He's</i> a bad 'un; but +there's worse that put him on. Now, if I can't get away +nohow, and they tip me the black spot, mind you, it's my +old sea-chest they're after; you get on a horse—you can, +can't you? Well, then, you get on a horse and go to—well, +yes, I will!—to that eternal doctor swab, and tell +him to pipe all hands—magistrates and sich—and he'll +lay 'em aboard at the 'Admiral Benbow'—all old Flint's +crew, man and boy, all on 'em that's left. I was first mate, +I was, old Flint's first mate, and I'm the on'y one as knows +the place. He gave it me at Savannah, when he lay +a-dying, like as if I was to now, you see. But you won't +peach unless they get the black spot on me, or unless you +see that Black Dog again, or a seafaring man with one +leg, Jim—him above all."</p> + +<p>"But what is the black spot, captain?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"That's a summons, mate. I'll tell you if they get that. +But you keep your weather-eye open, Jim, and I'll share +with you equals, upon my honor."</p> + +<p>He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; +but soon after I had given him his medicine, which he +took like a child, with the remark, "If ever a seaman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +wanted drugs, it's me," he fell at last into a heavy, swoon-like +sleep, in which I left him. What I should have done +had all gone well I do not know. Probably I should have +told the whole story to the doctor; for I was in mortal +fear lest the captain should repent of his confessions and +make an end of me. But as things fell out, my poor father +died quite suddenly that evening, which put all other matters +on one side. Our natural distress, the visits of the +neighbors, the arranging of the funeral, and all the work +of the inn to be carried on in the meanwhile, kept me so +busy that I had scarcely time to think of the captain, far +less to be afraid of him.</p> + +<p>He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and had +his meals as usual, though he ate little, and had more, I +am afraid, than his usual supply of rum, for he helped +himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing through his +nose, and no one dared to cross him. On the night before +the funeral he was as drunk as ever; and it was shocking, +in that house of mourning, to hear him singing away his +ugly old sea-song; but, weak as he was, we were all in fear +of death for him, and the doctor was suddenly taken up +with a case many miles away, and was never near the house +after my father's death. I have said the captain was weak, +and indeed he seemed rather to grow weaker than to regain +his strength. He clambered up and down stairs, and went +from the parlor to the bar and back again, and sometimes +put his nose out of doors to smell the sea, holding on to +the walls as he went for support, and breathing hard and +fast, like a man on a steep mountain. He never particularly +addressed me, and it is my belief he had as good as +forgotten his confidences; but his temper was more flighty, +and, allowing for his bodily weakness, more violent than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +ever. He had an alarming way now when he was drunk +of drawing his cutlass and laying it bare before him on +the table. But, with all that, he minded people less, and +seemed shut up in his own thoughts and rather wandering. +Once, for instance, to our extreme wonder, he piped up to +a different air, a kind of country love-song, that he must +have learned in his youth before he had begun to follow +the sea.</p> + +<p>So things passed until the day after the funeral and +about three o'clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I +was standing at the door for a moment, full of sad thoughts +about my father, when I saw someone drawing slowly +near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped +before him with a stick, and wore a great green shade over +his eyes and nose; and he was hunched, as if with age or +weakness, and wore a huge old tattered sea-cloak with a +hood that made him appear positively deformed. I never +saw in my life a more dreadful-looking figure. He +stopped a little from the inn and, raising his voice in an +odd sing-song, addressed the air in front of him:</p> + +<p>"Will any kind friend inform a poor blind man, who +has lost the precious sight of his eyes in the gracious +defense of his native country, England, and God bless +King George!—where or in what part of this country +he may now be?"</p> + +<p>"You are at the 'Admiral Benbow,' Black Hill Cove, +my good man," said I.</p> + +<p>"I hear a voice," said he, "a young voice. Will you +give me your hand, my kind young friend, and lead me +in?"</p> + +<p>I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, eyeless +creature gripped it in a moment like a vise. I was so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +much startled that I struggled to withdraw, but the blind +man pulled me close up to him with a single action of his +arm.</p> + +<p>"Now, boy," he said, "take me in to the captain."</p> + +<p>"Sir," said I, "upon my word I dare not."</p> + +<p>"Oh," he sneered, "that's it! Take me in straight, or +I'll break your arm."</p> + +<p>He gave it, as he spoke, a wrench that made me cry out.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said I, "it is for yourself I mean. The captain +is not what he used to be. He sits with a drawn cutlass. +Another gentleman—"</p> + +<p>"Come, now, march," interrupted he, and I never +heard a voice so cruel, and cold, and ugly as that blind +man's. It cowed me more than the pain, and I began to +obey him at once, walking straight in at the door and +towards the parlor, where the sick old buccaneer was sitting, +dazed with rum. The blind man clung close to me, +holding me in one iron fist, and leaning almost more of +his weight on me than I could carry. "Lead me straight +up to him, and when I'm in view, cry out, 'Here's a friend +for you, Bill.' If you don't, I'll do this," and with that +he gave me a twitch that I thought would have made me +faint. Between this and that, I was so utterly terrified +by the blind beggar that I forgot my terror of the captain, +and as I opened the parlor door, cried out the words he +had ordered in a trembling voice.</p> + +<p>The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look the +rum went out of him and left him staring sober. The +expression of his face was not so much of terror as of +mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but I do +not believe he had enough force left in his body.</p> + +<p>"Now, Bill, sit where you are," said the beggar. "If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +I can't see, I can hear a finger stirring. Business is +business. Hold out your left hand. Boy, take his left +hand by the wrist and bring it near to my right."</p> + +<p>We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass +something from the hollow of the hand that held his stick +into the palm of the captain's, which closed upon it +instantly.</p> + +<p>"And now that's done," said the blind man, and at the +words he suddenly left hold of me, and with incredible +accuracy and nimbleness, skipped out of the parlor and +into the road, where, as I stood motionless, I could hear +his stick go tap-tap-tapping into the distance.</p> + +<p>It was some time before either I or the captain seemed +to gather our senses; but at length, and about the same +moment, I released his wrist, which I was still holding, +and he drew in his hand, and looked sharply into the palm.</p> + +<p>"Ten o'clock!" he cried. "Six hours! We'll do them +yet!" and he sprang to his feet.</p> + +<p>Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, +stood swaying for a moment, and then, with a peculiar +sound, fell from his whole height face foremost to the +floor.</p> + +<p>I ran to him at once, calling to my mother. But haste +was all in vain. The captain had been struck dead by +thundering apoplexy. It is a curious thing to understand, +for I had certainly never liked the man, though of late I +had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was +dead I burst into a flood of tears. It was the second death +I had known, and the sorrow of the first was still fresh in +my heart.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<small>THE SEA-CHEST</small></h2> + +<p>I lost no time, of course, in telling my mother all that +I knew, and perhaps should have told her long before, and +we saw ourselves at once in a difficult and dangerous +position. Some of the man's money—if he had any—was +certainly due to us, but it was not likely that our captain's +shipmates, above all the two specimens seen by me—Black +Dog and the blind beggar—would be inclined +to give up their booty in payment of the dead man's debts. +The captain's order to mount at once and ride for Doctor +Livesey would have left my mother alone and unprotected, +which was not to be thought of. Indeed, it seemed impossible +for either of us to remain much longer in the house; +the fall of coals in the kitchen grate, the very ticking of +the clock, filled us with alarm. The neighborhood, to +our ears, seemed haunted by approaching footsteps; and +what between the dead body of the captain on the parlor +floor and the thought of that detestable blind beggar +hovering near at hand and ready to return, there were +moments when, as the saying goes, I jumped in my skin +for terror. Something must speedily be resolved upon, +and it occurred to us at last to go forth together and seek +help in the neighboring hamlet. No sooner said than +done. Bareheaded as we were, we ran out at once in the +gathering evening and the frosty fog.</p> + +<p>The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +out of view, on the other side of the next cove; and what +greatly encouraged me, it was in an opposite direction +from that whence the blind man had made his appearance, +and whither he had presumably returned. We were not +many minutes on the road, though we sometimes stopped +to lay hold of each other and hearken. But there was no +unusual sound—nothing but the low wash of the ripple +and the croaking of the inmates of the wood.</p> + +<p>It was already candle-light when we reached the hamlet, +and I shall never forget how much I was cheered to +see the yellow shine in doors and windows; but that, as it +proved, was the best of the help we were likely to get in +that quarter. For—you would have thought men would +have been ashamed of themselves—no soul would consent +to return with us to the "Admiral Benbow." The +more we told of our troubles, the more—man, woman, +and child—they clung to the shelter of their houses. +The name of Captain Flint, though it was strange to me, +was well enough known to some there, and carried a great +weight of terror. Some of the men who had been to field-work +on the far side of the "Admiral Benbow" remembered, +besides, to have seen several strangers on the road, +and, taking them to be smugglers, to have bolted away; +and one at least had seen a little lugger in what we called +Kitt's Hole. For that matter, anyone who was a comrade +of the captain's was enough to frighten them to death. +And the short and the long of the matter was, that while +we could get several who were willing enough to ride +to Doctor Livesey's, which lay in another direction, not +one would help us to defend the inn.</p> + +<p>They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument +is, on the other hand, a great emboldener; and so when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +each had said his say, my mother made them a speech. She +would not, she declared, lose money that belonged to her +fatherless boy. "If none of the rest of you dare," she said, +"Jim and I dare. Back we will go, the way we came, and +small thanks to you big, hulking, chicken-hearted men! +We'll have that chest open, if we die for it. And I'll thank +you for that bag, Mrs. Crossley, to bring back our lawful +money in."</p> + +<p>Of course I said I would go with my mother; and +of course they all cried out at our foolhardiness; but +even then not a man would go along with us. All they +would do was to give me a loaded pistol, lest we were +attacked; and to promise to have horses ready saddled, +in case we were pursued on our return; while one lad +was to ride forward to the doctor's in search of armed +assistance.</p> + +<p>My heart was beating fiercely when we two set forth +in the cold night upon this dangerous venture. A full +moon was beginning to rise and peered redly through the +upper edges of the fog, and this increased our haste, for +it was plain, before we came forth again, that all would +be bright as day, and our departure exposed to the eyes +of any watchers. We slipped along the hedges, noiseless +and swift, nor did we see or hear anything to increase our +terrors till, to our huge relief, the door of the "Admiral +Benbow" had closed behind us.</p> + +<p>I slipped the bolt at once, and we stood and panted for +a moment in the dark, alone in the house with the dead +captain's body. Then my mother got a candle in the bar, +and, holding each other's hands, we advanced into the +parlor. He lay as we had left him, on his back, with his +eyes open, and one arm stretched out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Draw down the blind, Jim," whispered my mother; +"they might come and watch outside. And now," said +she, when I had done so, "we have to get the key off <i>that</i>; +and who's to touch it, I should like to know!" and she +gave a kind of sob as she said the words.</p> + +<p>I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close +to his hand there was a little round of paper, blackened +on one side. I could not doubt that this was the <i>black spot</i>; +and, taking it up, I found written on the other side, in a +very good, clear hand, this short message, "You have till +ten to-night."</p> + +<p>"He had till ten, mother," said I; and, just as I said it, +our old clock began striking. This sudden noise startled +us shockingly; but the news was good, for it was only six.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jim," she said, "that key!"</p> + +<p>I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few small +coins, a thimble, and some thread and big needles, a piece +of pig-tail tobacco bitten away at the end, his gully with +the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and a tinder-box, +were all that they contained, and I began to despair.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's round his neck," suggested my mother.</p> + +<p>Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open his shirt +at the neck, and there, sure enough, hanging to a bit of +tarry string, which I cut with his own gully, we found the +key. At this triumph we were filled with hope, and +hurried upstairs, without delay, to the little room where +he had slept so long, and where his box had stood since +the day of his arrival.</p> + +<p>It was like any other seaman's chest on the outside, the +initial "B" burned on the top of it with a hot iron, and +the corners somewhat smashed and broken as by long, +rough usage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Give me the key," said my mother, and though the +lock was very stiff, she had turned it and thrown back the +lid in a twinkling.</p> + +<p>A strong smell of tobacco and tar arose from the +interior, but nothing was to be seen on the top except a suit +of very good clothes, carefully brushed and folded. They +had never been worn, my mother said. Under that the +miscellany began—a quadrant, a tin cannikin, several +sticks of tobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols, a +piece of bar silver, an old Spanish watch, and some other +trinkets of little value and mostly of foreign make, a pair +of compasses mounted with brass, and five or six curious +West Indian shells. I have often wondered since why +he should have carried about these shells with him in his +wandering, guilty, and hunted life.</p> + +<p>In the meantime we found nothing of any value but +the silver and the trinkets, and neither of these were in +our way. Underneath there was an old boat-cloak, +whitened with sea-salt on many a harbor-bar. My +mother pulled it up with impatience, and there lay before +us, the last things in the chest, a bundle tied up in oilcloth, +and looking like papers, and a canvas bag that gave forth, +at a touch, the jingle of gold.</p> + +<p>"I'll show those rogues that I'm an honest woman," +said my mother. "I'll have my dues and not a farthing +over. Hold Mrs. Crossley's bag." And she began to +count over the amount of the captain's score from the +sailor's bag into the one that I was holding.</p> + +<p>It was a long, difficult business, for the coins were of all +countries and sizes—doubloons, and louis-d'ors, and +guineas, and pieces of eight, and I know not what besides, +all shaken together at random. The guineas, too, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +about the scarcest, and it was with these only that my +mother knew how to make her count.</p> + +<p>When we were about halfway through, I suddenly put +my hand upon her arm, for I had heard in the silent, frosty +air, a sound that brought my heart into my mouth—the +tap-tapping of the blind man's stick upon the frozen road. +It drew nearer and nearer, while we sat holding our +breath. Then it struck sharp on the inn door, and then we +could hear the handle being turned, and the bolt rattling +as the wretched being tried to enter; and then there was a +long time of silence both within and without. At last the +tapping recommenced, and to our indescribable joy and +gratitude, died slowly away again until it ceased to be +heard.</p> + +<p>"Mother," said I, "take the whole and let's be going"; +for I was sure the bolted door must have seemed suspicious, +and would bring the whole hornet's nest about our ears; +though how thankful I was that I had bolted it, none +could tell who had never met that terrible blind man.</p> + +<p>But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent +to take a fraction more than was due to her, and was +obstinately unwilling to be content with less. It was not +yet seven, she said, by a long way; she knew her rights +and she would have them; and she was still arguing with +me, when a little low whistle sounded a good way off upon +the hill. That was enough, and more than enough, for +both of us.</p> + +<p>"I'll take what I have," she said, jumping to her feet.</p> + +<p>"And I'll take this to square the count," said I, picking +up the oilskin packet.</p> + +<p>Next moment we were both groping downstairs, leaving +the candle by the empty chest; and the next we had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +opened the door and were in full retreat. We had not +started a moment too soon. The fog was rapidly dispersing; +already the moon shone quite clear on the high +ground on either side, and it was only in the exact bottom +of the dell and round the tavern door that a thin veil still +hung unbroken to conceal the first steps of our escape. +Far less than halfway to the hamlet, very little beyond +the bottom of the hill, we must come forth into the moonlight. +Nor was this all; for the sound of several footsteps +running came already to our ears, and as we looked back +in their direction, a light, tossing to and fro, and still +rapidly advancing, showed that one of the new-comers +carried a lantern.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said my mother, suddenly, "take the money +and run on. I am going to faint."</p> + +<p>This was certainly the end for both of us, I thought. +How I cursed the cowardice of the neighbors! how I +blamed my poor mother for her honesty and her greed, +for her past foolhardiness and present weakness! We +were just at the little bridge, by good fortune, and I +helped her, tottering as she was, to the edge of the bank, +where, sure enough, she gave a sigh and fell on my +shoulder. I do not know how I found the strength to do +it all, and I am afraid it was roughly done, but I managed +to drag her down the bank and a little way under the arch. +Farther I could not move her, for the bridge was too low +to let me do more than crawl below it. So there we had +to stay—my mother almost entirely exposed, and both +of us within earshot of the inn.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V<br /> +<small>THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN</small></h2> + +<p>My curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear; for +I could not remain where I was, but crept back to the +bank again, whence, sheltering my head behind a bush +of broom, I might command the road before our door. +I was scarcely in position ere my enemies began to arrive, +seven or eight of them, running hard, their feet beating +out of time along the road, and the man with the lantern +some paces in front. Three men ran together, hand in +hand; and I made out, even through the mist, that the +middle man of this trio was the blind beggar. The next +moment his voice showed me that I was right.</p> + +<p>"Down with the door!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, sir!" answered two or three; and a rush was +made upon the "Admiral Benbow," the lantern-bearer +following; and then I could see them pause, and hear +speeches passed in a lower key, as if they were surprised +to find the door open. But the pause was brief, for the +blind man again issued his commands. His voice sounded +louder and higher, as if he were afire with eagerness and +rage.</p> + +<p>"In, in, in!" he shouted, and cursed them for their +delay.</p> + +<p>Four or five of them obeyed at once, two remaining on +the road with the formidable beggar. There was a pause,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +then a cry of surprise, and then a voice shouting from +the house:</p> + +<p>"Bill's dead!"</p> + +<p>But the blind man swore at them again for their delay.</p> + +<p>"Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the +rest of you aloft and get the chest," he cried.</p> + +<p>I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so +that the house must have shook with it. Promptly afterward +fresh sounds of astonishment arose; the window of +the captain's room was thrown open with a slam and a +jingle of broken glass, and a man leaned out into the +moonlight, head and shoulders, and addressed the blind +beggar on the road below him.</p> + +<div class="figr"><a name="cpb" id="cpb"></a> +<img src="images/006.jpg" width="343" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<div class="td2">Page 34</div> +<i>"Pew!" he cried, "they've been before us"</i></div> + +<p>"Pew!" he cried, "they've been before us. Someone's +turned the chest out alow and aloft."</p> + +<p>"Is it there?" roared Pew.</p> + +<p>"The money's there."</p> + +<p>The blind man cursed the money.</p> + +<p>"Flint's fist, I mean," he cried.</p> + +<p>"We don't see it here, nohow," returned the man.</p> + +<p>"Here, you below there, is it on Bill?" cried the blind +man again.</p> + +<p>At that, another fellow, probably he who had remained +below to search the captain's body, came to the door of +the inn. "Bill's been overhauled a'ready," said he, +"nothin' left."</p> + +<p>"It's these people of the inn—it's that boy. I wish I +had put his eyes out!" cried the blind man, Pew. "They +were here no time ago—they had the door bolted when +I tried it. Scatter, lads, and find 'em."</p> + +<p>"Sure enough, they left their glim here," said the +fellow from the window.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Scatter and find 'em! Rout the house out!" reiterated +Pew, striking with his stick upon the road.</p> + +<p>Then there followed a great to-do through all our old +inn, heavy feet pounding to and fro, furniture all thrown +over, doors kicked in, until the very rocks re-echoed, and +the men came out again, one after another, on the road, +and declared that we were nowhere to be found. And +just then the same whistle that had alarmed my mother +and myself over the dead captain's money was once more +clearly audible through the night, but this time twice +repeated. I had thought it to be the blind man's trumpet, +so to speak, summoning his crew to the assault; but I now +found that it was a signal from the hillside toward the +hamlet, and, from its effect upon the buccaneers, a signal +to warn them of approaching danger.</p> + +<p>"There's Dirk again," said one. "Twice! We'll have +to budge, mates."</p> + +<p>"Budge, you skulk!" cried Pew. "Dirk was a fool +and a coward from the first—you wouldn't mind him. +They must be close by; they can't be far; you have your +hands on it. Scatter and look for them, dogs. Oh, shiver +my soul," he cried, "if I had eyes!"</p> + +<p>This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two +of the fellows began to look here and there among the +lumber, but half-heartedly, I thought, and with half an +eye to their own danger all the time, while the rest stood +irresolute on the road.</p> + +<p>"You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and you +hang a leg! You'd be as rich as kings if you could find it, +and you know it's here, and you stand there skulking. +There wasn't one of you dared face Bill, and I did it—a +blind man! And I'm to lose my chance for you! I'm to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +be a poor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I +might be rolling in a coach! If you had the pluck of a +weevil in a biscuit, you would catch them still."</p> + +<p>"Hang it, Pew, we've got the doubloons!" grumbled +one.</p> + +<p>"They might have hid the blessed thing," said another. +"Take the Georges, Pew, and don't stand here squalling."</p> + +<p>Squalling was the word for it; Pew's anger rose so high +at these objections; till at last, his passion completely +taking the upper hand, he struck at them right and left +in his blindness, and his stick sounded heavily on more +than one.</p> + +<p>These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant, +threatened him in horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch +the stick and wrest it from his grasp.</p> + +<p>This quarrel was the saving of us; for while it was still +raging, another sound came from the top of the hill on +the side of the hamlet—the tramp of horses galloping. +Almost at the same time a pistol-shot, flash, and report +came from the hedge side. And that was plainly the last +signal of danger, for the buccaneers turned at once and +ran, separating in every direction, one seaward along the +cove, one slant across the hill, and so on, so that in half a +minute not a sign of them remained but Pew. Him they +had deserted, whether in sheer panic or out of revenge +for his ill words and blows, I know not; but there he +remained behind, tapping up and down the road in a +frenzy, and groping and calling for his comrades. Finally +he took the wrong turn, and ran a few steps past me, +towards the hamlet, crying:</p> + +<p>"Johnny, Black Dog, Dirk," and other names, "you +won't leave old Pew, mates—not old Pew?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just then the noise of horses topped the rise, and four +or five riders came in sight in the moonlight, and swept +at full gallop down the slope.</p> + +<p>At this Pew saw his error, turned with a scream, and +ran straight for the ditch, into which he rolled. But he +was on his feet again in a second, and made another dash, +now utterly bewildered, right under the nearest of the +coming horses.</p> + +<p>The rider tried to save him, but in vain. Down went +Pew with a cry that rang high into the night, and the +four hoofs trampled and spurned him and passed by. He +fell on his side, then gently collapsed upon his face, and +moved no more.</p> + +<p>I leaped to my feet and hailed the riders. They were +pulling up, at any rate, horrified at the accident, and I +soon saw what they were. One, tailing out behind the +rest, was a lad that had gone from the hamlet to Doctor +Livesey's; the rest were revenue officers, whom he had +met by the way, and with whom he had had the intelligence +to return at once. Some news of the lugger in Kitt's +Hole had found its way to Supervisor Dance, and set him +forth that night in our direction, and to that circumstance +my mother and I owed our preservation from death.</p> + +<p>Pew was dead, stone dead. As for my mother, when +we had carried her up to the hamlet, a little cold water +and salts very soon brought her back again, and she was +none the worse for her terror, though she still continued +to deplore the balance of the money.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the supervisor rode on, as fast as he +could, to Kitt's Hole; but his men had to dismount and +grope down the dingle, leading, and sometimes supporting, +their horses, and in continual fear of ambushes; so it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +was no great matter for surprise that when they got down +to the Hole the lugger was already under way, though still +close in. He hailed her. A voice replied, telling him to +keep out of the moonlight, or he would get some lead in +him, and at the same time a bullet whistled close by his +arm. Soon after, the lugger doubled the point and disappeared. +Mr. Dance stood there, as he said, "like a fish +out of water," and all he could do was to dispatch a man +to B—— to warn the cutter. "And that," said he, "is +just about as good as nothing. They've got off clean, and +there's an end. Only," he added, "I'm glad I trod on +Master Pew's corns"; for by this time he had heard my +story.</p> + +<p>I went back with him to the "Admiral Benbow," and +you cannot imagine a house in such a state of smash; the +very clock had been thrown down by these fellows in their +furious hunt after my mother and myself; and though +nothing had actually been taken away except the captain's +money-bag and a little silver from the till, I could see at +once that we were ruined. Mr. Dance could make nothing +of the scene.</p> + +<p>"They got the money, you say? Well, then, Hawkins, +what in fortune were they after? More money, I +suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir; not money, I think," replied I. "In fact, sir, +I believe I have the thing in my breast-pocket; and, to tell +you the truth, I should like to get it put in safety."</p> + +<p>"To be sure, boy; quite right," said he. "I'll take it, +if you like."</p> + +<p>"I thought, perhaps, Doctor Livesey—" I began.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly right," he interrupted, very cheerily, "perfectly +right—a gentleman and a magistrate. And, now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +I come to think of it, I might as well ride round there +myself and report to him or squire. Master Pew's dead, +when all's done; not that I regret it, but he's dead, you +see, and people will make it out against an officer of his +Majesty's revenue, if make it out they can. Now, I'll tell +you, Hawkins, if you like, I'll take you along."</p> + +<p>I thanked him heartily for the offer, and we walked +back to the hamlet where the horses were. By the time +I had told mother of my purpose they were all in the +saddle.</p> + +<p>"Dogger," said Mr. Dance, "you have a good horse; +take up this lad behind you."</p> + +<p>As soon as I was mounted, holding on to Dogger's belt, +the supervisor gave the word, and the party struck out +at a bouncing trot on the road to Doctor Livesey's house.</p> + +<div class="figc" style="width: 397px;"> +<img src="images/007.png" width="397" height="284" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<small>THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS</small></h2> + +<p>We rode hard all the way, till we drew up before +Doctor Livesey's door. The house was all dark to the +front.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dance told me to jump down and knock, and +Dogger gave me a stirrup to descend by. The door was +opened almost at once by the maid.</p> + +<p>"Is Doctor Livesey in?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No," she said. He had come home in the afternoon, +but had gone up to the Hall to dine and pass the evening +with the squire.</p> + +<p>"So there we go, boys," said Mr. Dance.</p> + +<p>This time, as the distance was short, I did not mount, +but ran with Dogger's stirrup-leather to the lodge gates, +and up the long, leafless, moonlit avenue to where the +white line of the Hall buildings looked on either hand +on great old gardens. Here Mr. Dance dismounted and, +taking me along with him, was admitted at a word into +the house.</p> + +<p>The servant led us down a matted passage, and showed +us at the end into a great library, all lined with bookcases +and busts upon top of them, where the squire and +Doctor Livesey sat, pipe in hand, on either side of a +bright fire.</p> + +<p>I had never seen the squire so near at hand. He was +a tall man, over six feet high, and broad in proportion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +and he had a bluff, rough-and-ready face, all roughened +and reddened and lined in his long travels. His eyebrows +were very black, and moved readily, and this gave him a +look of some temper, not bad, you would say, but quick +and high.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Mr. Dance," said he, very stately and condescending.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Dance," said the doctor, with a nod. +"And good evening to you, friend Jim. What good wind +brings you here?"</p> + +<p>The supervisor stood up straight and stiff, and told his +story like a lesson; and you should have seen how the two +gentlemen leaned forward and looked at each other, and +forgot to smoke in their surprise and interest. When +they heard how my mother went back to the inn, Doctor +Livesey fairly slapped his thigh, and the squire cried +"Bravo!" and broke his long pipe against the grate. +Long before it was done, Mr. Trelawney (that, you will +remember, was the squire's name) had got up from his +seat, and was striding about the room, and the doctor, as +if to hear the better, had taken off his powdered wig, and +sat there, looking very strange indeed with his own close-cropped, +black poll.</p> + +<p>At last Mr. Dance finished the story.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dance," said the squire, "you are a very noble +fellow. And as for riding down that black, atrocious +miscreant, I regard it as an act of virtue, sir, like stamping +on a cockroach. This lad Hawkins is a trump, I +perceive. Hawkins, will you ring that bell? Mr. Dance +must have some ale."</p> + +<p>"And so, Jim," said the doctor, "you have the thing +that they were after, have you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Here it is, sir," said I, and gave him the oilskin packet.</p> + +<p>The doctor looked it all over, as if his fingers were +itching to open it; but, instead of doing that, he put it +quietly in the pocket of his coat.</p> + +<p>"Squire," said he, "when Dance has had his ale he +must, of course, be off on his Majesty's service; but I +mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep at my house, and, +with your permission, I propose we should have up the +cold pie, and let him sup."</p> + +<p>"As you will, Livesey," said the squire; "Hawkins +has earned better than cold pie."</p> + +<p>So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a side-table, +and I made a hearty supper, for I was as hungry +as a hawk, while Mr. Dance was further complimented, +and at last dismissed.</p> + +<p>"And now, squire," said the doctor.</p> + +<p>"And now, Livesey," said the squire, in the same +breath.</p> + +<p>"One at a time, one at a time," laughed Doctor Livesey. +"You have heard of this Flint, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Heard of him!" cried the squire. "Heard of him, +you say! He was the blood-thirstiest buccaneer that +sailed. Blackbeard was a child to Flint. The Spaniards +were so prodigiously afraid of him that, I tell you, sir, I +was sometimes proud he was an Englishman. I've seen +his topsails with these eyes, off Trinidad, and the cowardly +son of a rum-puncheon that I sailed with put back—put +back, sir, into Port of Spain."</p> + +<p>"Well, I've heard of him myself, in England," said +the doctor. "But the point is, had he money?"</p> + +<p>"Money!" cried the squire. "Have you heard the +story? What were these villains after but money? What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +do they care for but money? For what would they risk +their rascal carcasses but money?"</p> + +<p>"That we shall soon know," replied the doctor. "But +you are so confoundedly hot-headed and exclamatory that +I cannot get a word in. What I want to know is this: +Supposing that I have here in my pocket some clue to +where Flint buried his treasure, will that treasure amount +to much?"</p> + +<p>"Amount, sir!" cried the squire. "It will amount to +this: If we have the clue you talk about, I'll fit out a ship +in Bristol dock, and take you and Hawkins here along, and +I'll have that treasure if I search a year."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the doctor. "Now, then, if Jim is +agreeable, we'll open the packet," and he laid it before +him on the table.</p> + +<p>The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had to +get out his instrument case and cut the stitches with his +medical scissors. It contained two things—a book and a +sealed paper.</p> + +<p>"First of all we'll try the book," observed the doctor.</p> + +<p>The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder +as he opened it, for Doctor Livesey had kindly motioned +me to come round from the side-table, where I had been +eating, to enjoy the sport of the search. On the first page +there were only some scraps of writing, such as a man +with a pen in his hand might make for idleness or practice. +One was the same as the tattoo mark, "Billy Bones his +fancy"; then there was "Mr. W. Bones, mate," "No more +rum," "Off Palm Key he got itt," and some other snatches, +mostly single words and unintelligible. I could not help +wondering who it was that had "got itt," and what "itt" +was that he got. A knife in his back as like as not.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not much instruction there," said Doctor Livesey, as +he passed on.</p> + +<p>The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a curious +series of entries. There was a date at one end of the line +and at the other a sum of money, as in common account-books; +but instead of explanatory writing, only a varying +number of crosses between the two. On the 12th of June, +1745, for instance, a sum of seventy pounds had plainly +become due to someone, and there was nothing but six +crosses to explain the cause. In a few cases, to be sure, +the name of a place would be added, as "Offe Caraccas"; +or a mere entry of latitude and longitude, as "62° 17′ 20″, +19° 2′ 40″."</p> + +<p>The record lasted over nearly twenty years, the amount +of the separate entries growing larger as time went on, and +at the end a grand total had been made out, after five or +six wrong additions, and these words appended, "Bones, +his pile."</p> + +<p>"I can't make head or tail of this," said Doctor Livesey.</p> + +<p>"The thing is as clear as noonday," cried the squire. +"This is the black-hearted hound's account-book. These +crosses stand for the names of ships or towns that they sank +or plundered. The sums are the scoundrel's share, and +where he feared an ambiguity, you see he added something +clearer. 'Offe Caraccas,' now; you see, here was +some unhappy vessel boarded off that coast. God help the +poor souls that manned her—coral long ago."</p> + +<p>"Right!" said the doctor. "See what it is to be a +traveler. Right! And the amounts increase, you see, as +he rose in rank."</p> + +<p>There was little else in the volume but a few bearings +of places noted in the blank leaves toward the end, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +a table for reducing French, English, and Spanish moneys +to a common value.</p> + +<p>"Thrifty man!" cried the doctor. "He wasn't the one +to be cheated."</p> + +<p>"And now," said the squire, "for the other."</p> + +<p>The paper had been sealed in several places with a +thimble by way of seal; the very thimble, perhaps, that +I had found in the captain's pocket. The doctor opened +the seals with great care, and there fell out the map of +an island, with latitude and longitude, soundings, names +of hills and bays and inlets, and every particular that +would be needed to bring a ship to a safe anchorage upon +its shores. It was about nine miles long and five across, +shaped, you might say, like a fat dragon standing up, and +had two fine landlocked harbors, and a hill in the center +part marked "The Spy-glass." There were several additions +of a later date; but, above all, three crosses of red +ink—two on the north part of the island, one in the +southwest, and, beside this last, in the same red ink, and +in a small, neat hand, very different from the captain's +tottery characters, these words: "Bulk of treasure here."</p> + +<p>Over on the back the same hand had written this further +information:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E.</p> + +<p>"Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.</p> + +<p>"Ten feet.</p> + +<p>"The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find it by the trend +of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of the black crag with the +face on it.</p> + +<p>"The arms are easy found, in the sandhill, N. point of north inlet +cape, bearing E. and a quarter N.</p> + +<p class="td2">"J. F."</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> + +<p>That was all, but brief as it was, and, to me, incomprehensible, +it filled the squire and Doctor Livesey with +delight.</p> + +<p>"Livesey," said the squire, "you will give up this +wretched practice at once. To-morrow I start for Bristol. +In three weeks' time—three weeks!—two weeks—ten +days—we'll have the best ship, sir, and the choicest crew +in England. Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy. You'll +make a famous cabin-boy, Hawkins. You, Livesey, are +ship's doctor; I am admiral. We'll take Redruth, Joyce, +and Hunter. We'll have favorable winds, a quick passage, +and not the least difficulty in finding the spot, and money +to eat—to roll in—to play duck and drake with ever +after."</p> + +<p>"Trelawney," said the doctor, "I'll go with you; and +I'll go bail for it, so will Jim, and be a credit to the undertaking. +There's only one man I'm afraid of."</p> + +<p>"And who's that?" cried the squire. "Name the dog, +sir!"</p> + +<p>"You," replied the doctor, "for you cannot hold your +tongue. We are not the only men who know of this paper. +These fellows who attacked the inn to-night—bold, desperate +blades, for sure—and the rest who stayed aboard +that lugger, and more, I dare say, not far off, are, one and +all, through thick and thin, bound that they'll get that +money. We must none of us go alone till we get to sea. +Jim and I shall stick together in the meanwhile; you'll +take Joyce and Hunter when you ride to Bristol, and, from +first to last, not one of us must breathe a word of what +we've found."</p> + +<p>"Livesey," returned the squire, "you are always in the +right of it. I'll be as silent as the grave."</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><small>PART II</small><br /> +THE SEA-COOK</h2> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<small>I GO TO BRISTOL</small></h2> + +<p>It was longer than the squire imagined ere we were +ready for the sea, and none of our first plans—not even +Doctor Livesey's, of keeping me beside him—could be +carried out as we intended. The doctor had to go to +London for a physician to take charge of his practice; the +squire was hard at work at Bristol; and I lived on at the +Hall under the charge of old Redruth, the gamekeeper, +almost a prisoner, but full of sea-dreams and the most +charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures. +I brooded by the hour together over the map, all the details +of which I well remembered. Sitting by the fire in the +housekeeper's room, I approached that island, in my fancy, +from every possible direction; I explored every acre of its +surface; I climbed a thousand times to that tall hill they +call the Spy-glass, and from the top enjoyed the most wonderful +and changing prospects. Sometimes the isle was +thick with savages, with whom we fought; sometimes full +of dangerous animals that hunted us; but in all my fancies +nothing occurred to me so strange and tragic as our actual +adventures.</p> + +<p>So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there came a +letter addressed to Doctor Livesey, with this addition, "To +be opened in the case of his absence, by Tom Redruth or +Young Hawkins." Obeying this order, we found, or +rather I found—for the gamekeeper was a poor hand at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +reading anything but print—the following important +news:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="td2">"<i>Old Anchor Inn, Bristol, March 1, 17—.</i></p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Livesey</span>: As I do not know whether you are at the Hall or +still in London, I send this in double to both places.</p> + +<p>"The ship is bought and fitted. She lies at anchor, ready for sea. +You never imagined a sweeter schooner—a child might sail her—two +hundred tons; name, <i>Hispaniola</i>.</p> + +<p>"I got her through my old friend, Blandly, who has proved himself +throughout the most surprising trump. The admirable fellow literally +slaved in my interest, and so, I may say, did every one in Bristol, as soon +as they got wind of the port we sailed for—treasure, I mean."</p></div> + +<p>"Redruth," said I, interrupting the letter, "Doctor +Livesey will not like that. The squire has been talking, +after all."</p> + +<p>"Well, who's a better right?" growled the gamekeeper. +"A pretty rum go if Squire ain't to talk for Doctor Livesey, +I should think."</p> + +<p>At that I gave up all attempt at commentary, and read +straight on:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Blandly himself found the <i>Hispaniola</i>, and by the most admirable +management got her for the merest trifle. There is a class of men in +Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. They go the length +of declaring that this honest creature would do anything for money; +that the <i>Hispaniola</i> belonged to him, and that he sold to me absurdly +high—the most transparent calumnies. None of them dare, however, +to deny the merits of the ship.</p> + +<p>"So far there was not a hitch. The workpeople, to be sure—riggers +and what not—were most annoyingly slow, but time cured that. It +was the crew that troubled me.</p> + +<p>"I wished a round score of men—in case of natives, buccaneers, or +the odious French—and I had the worry of the deuce itself to find so +much as half a dozen, till the most remarkable stroke of fortune brought +me the very man that I required.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in +talk with him. I found he was an old sailor, kept a public house, knew +all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his health ashore, and wanted +a good berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled down there +that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt.</p> + +<p>"I was monstrously touched—so would you have been—and, out +of pure pity, I engaged him on the spot to be ship's cook. Long John +Silver he is called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as a recommendation, +since he lost it in his country's service, under the immortal +Hawke. He has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable age +we live in!</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, but it was a crew +I had discovered. Between Silver and myself we got together in a few +days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable—not pretty to look +at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit. I declare +we could fight a frigate.</p> + +<p>"Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven I had already +engaged. He showed me in a moment that they were just the sort of +fresh-water swabs we had to fear in an adventure of importance.</p> + +<p>"I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eating like a bull, +sleeping like a tree, yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I hear my old +tarpaulins tramping round the capstan. Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! +It's the glory of the sea that has turned my head. So now, Livesey, come +post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me.</p> + +<p>"Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with Redruth for +a guard, and then both come full speed to Bristol.</p> + +<p class="td2">"<span class="smcap">John Trelawney.</span></p> + +<p>"P.S.—I did not tell you that Blandly, who, by the way, is to send +a consort after us if we don't turn up by the end of August, had found +an admirable fellow for sailing-master—a stiff man, which I regret, +but, in all other respects, a treasure. Long John Silver unearthed a very +competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have a boatswain +who pipes, Livesey; so things shall go man-o'-war fashion on board the +good ship <i>Hispaniola</i>.</p> + +<p>"I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of my +own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never been +overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; and as she is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +woman of color, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be excused +for guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the health, that sends +him back to roving.</p> + +<p class="td2">"J. T.</p> + +<p>"P.P.S.—Hawkins may stay one night with his mother.</p> + +<p class="td2">"J. T."</p></div> + +<p>You can fancy the excitement into which that letter put +me. I was half beside myself with glee, and if ever I +despised a man, it was old Tom Redruth, who could do +nothing but grumble and lament. Any of the under-gamekeepers +would gladly have changed places with him; but +such was not the squire's pleasure, and the squire's pleasure +was like law among them all. Nobody but old Redruth +would have dared so much as even to grumble.</p> + +<p>The next morning he and I set out on foot for the +"Admiral Benbow," and there I found my mother in +good health and spirits. The captain, who had so long +been a cause of so much discomfort, was gone where the +wicked cease from troubling. The squire had had everything +repaired, and the public rooms and the sign +repainted, and had added some furniture—above all a +beautiful armchair for mother in the bar. He had found +her a boy as an apprentice also, so that she should not +want help while I was gone.</p> + +<p>It was on seeing that boy that I understood, for the +first time, my situation. I had thought up to that moment +of the adventures before me, not at all of the home that +I was leaving; and now at sight of this clumsy stranger, +who was to stay here in my place beside my mother, I +had my first attack of tears. I am afraid I led that boy +a dog's life; for as he was new to the work, I had a hundred +opportunities of setting him right and putting him +down, and I was not slow to profit by them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>The night passed, and the next day, after dinner, +Redruth and I were afoot again and on the road. I said +good-by to mother and the cove where I had lived since +I was born, and the dear old "Admiral Benbow"—since +he was repainted, no longer quite so dear. One +of my last thoughts was of the captain, who had so often +strode along the beach with his cocked hat, his saber-cut +cheek, and his old brass telescope. Next moment we had +turned the corner, and my home was out of sight.</p> + +<p>The mail picked us up about dusk at the "Royal +George" on the heath. I was wedged in between Redruth +and a stout old gentleman, and in spite of the swift motion +and the cold night air, I must have dozed a great deal +from the very first, and then slept like a log up hill and +down dale, through stage after stage; for when I was +awakened at last, it was by a punch in the ribs, and I +opened my eyes to find that we were standing still before +a large building in a city street, and that the day had +already broken a long time.</p> + +<p>"Where are we?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Bristol," said Tom. "Get down."</p> + +<p>Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn +far down the docks, to superintend the work upon the +schooner. Thither we had now to walk, and our way, +to my great delight, lay along the quays and beside the +great multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations. +In one, sailors were singing at their work; in another, +there were men aloft, high over my head, hanging to +threads that seemed no thicker than a spider's. Though +I had lived by the shore all my life, I seemed never to +have been near the sea till then. The smell of tar and +salt was something new. I saw the most wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +figureheads, that had all been far over the ocean. I saw, +besides, many old sailors, with rings in their ears, and +whiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pig-tails, and their +swaggering, clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many +kings or archbishops I could not have been more delighted.</p> + +<p>And I was going to sea myself; to sea in a schooner, +with a piping boatswain, and pig-tailed singing seamen; +to sea, bound for an unknown island, and to seek for +buried treasure.</p> + +<p>While I was still in this delightful dream, we came +suddenly in front of a large inn, and met Squire Trelawney, +all dressed out like a sea officer, in stout blue cloth, +coming out of the door with a smile on his face, and a +capital imitation of a sailor's walk.</p> + +<p>"Here you are!" he cried; "and the doctor came last +night from London. Bravo!—the ship's company complete."</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir," cried I, "when do we sail?"</p> + +<p>"Sail!" says he. "We sail to-morrow."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<small>AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS"</small></h2> + +<p>When I had done breakfasting, the squire gave me a +note addressed to John Silver, at the sign of the "Spy-glass," +and told me I should easily find the place by following +the line of the docks, and keeping a bright +lookout for a little tavern with a large brass telescope +for a sign. I set off, overjoyed at this opportunity to see +some more of the ships and seamen, and picked my way +among a great crowd of people and carts and bales, for +the dock was now at its busiest, until I found the tavern +in question.</p> + +<p>It was a bright enough little place of entertainment. +The sign was newly painted; the windows had neat red +curtains; the floor was cleanly sanded. There was a +street on each side, and an open door on both, which +made the large, low room pretty clear to see in, in spite +of clouds of tobacco smoke.</p> + +<p>The customers were mostly seafaring men, and they +talked so loudly that I hung at the door, almost afraid +to enter.</p> + +<p>As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, +and at a glance I was sure he must be Long John. His +left leg was cut off close by the hip, and under the left +shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with +wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. +He was very tall and strong, with a face as big as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +ham—plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling. Indeed, +he seemed in the most cheerful spirits, whistling +as he moved about among the tables, with a merry word +or a slap on the shoulder for the more favored of his +guests.</p> + +<p>Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first mention +of Long John in Squire Trelawney's letter, I had taken +a fear in my mind that he might prove to be the very +one-legged sailor whom I had watched for so long at +the old "Benbow." But one look at the man before me +was enough. I had seen the captain, and Black Dog, and +the blind man Pew, and I thought I knew what a buccaneer +was like—a very different creature, according to +me, from this clean and pleasant-tempered landlord.</p> + +<p>I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, +and walked right up to the man where he stood, propped +on his crutch, talking to a customer.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Silver, sir?" I asked, holding out the note.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my lad," said he; "such is my name, to be sure. +And who may you be?" And when he saw the squire's +letter he seemed to me to give something almost like a +start.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said he, quite aloud, and offering his hand, +"I see. You are our new cabin-boy; pleased I am to +see you."</p> + +<p>And he took my hand in his large firm grasp.</p> + +<p>Just then one of the customers at the far side rose +suddenly and made for the door. It was close by him, +and he was out in the street in a moment. But his hurry +had attracted my notice, and I recognized him at a glance. +It was the tallow-faced man, wanting two fingers, who +had come first to the "Admiral Benbow."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh," I cried, "stop him! it's Black Dog!"</p> + +<p>"I don't care two coppers who he is," cried Silver, +"but he hasn't paid his score. Harry, run and catch +him."</p> + +<p>One of the others who was nearest the door leaped +up and started in pursuit.</p> + +<p>"If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score," +cried Silver; and then, relinquishing my hand, "Who +did you say he was?" he asked. "Black what?"</p> + +<p>"Dog, sir," said I. "Has Mr. Trelawney not told you +of the buccaneers? He was one of them."</p> + +<p>"So?" cried Silver. "In my house! Ben, run and +help Harry. One of those swabs, was he? Was that +you drinking with him, Morgan? Step up here."</p> + +<p>The man whom he called Morgan—an old, gray-haired, +mahogany-faced sailor—came forward pretty +sheepishly, rolling his quid.</p> + +<div class="figr" style="width: 344px;"><a name="cpc" id="cpc"></a> +<img src="images/008.jpg" width="344" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<div class="td2">Page 57</div> +<i>"Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly, "you never clapped your eyes +on that Black Dog before, did you, now?"</i></div> + +<p>"Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly, "you +never clapped your eyes on that Black—Black Dog +before, did you, now?"</p> + +<p>"Not I, sir," said Morgan, with a salute.</p> + +<p>"You didn't know his name, did you?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"By the powers, Tom Morgan, it's as good for you!" +exclaimed the landlord. "If you had been mixed up +with the like of that, you would never have put another +foot in my house, you may lay to that. And what was +he saying to you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't rightly know, sir," answered Morgan.</p> + +<p>"Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a +blessed dead-eye?" cried Long John. "Don't rightly +know, don't you? Perhaps you don't happen to rightly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +know who you was speaking to, perhaps? Come, now, +what was he jawing—v'yages, cap'ns, ships? Pipe up! +What was it?"</p> + +<p>"We was a-talkin' of keel-hauling," answered Morgan.</p> + +<p>"Keel-hauling, was you? and a mighty suitable thing, +too, and you may lay to that. Get back to your place for +a lubber, Tom."</p> + +<p>And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat, Silver +added to me, in a confidential whisper, that was very +flattering, as I thought:</p> + +<p>"He's quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on'y stupid. +And now," he ran on again, aloud, "let's see—Black +Dog? No, I don't know the name, not I. Yet I kind +of think I've—yes, I've seen the swab. He used to +come here with a blind beggar, he used."</p> + +<p>"That he did, you may be sure," said I. "I knew +that blind man, too. His name was Pew."</p> + +<p>"It was!" cried Silver, now quite excited. "Pew! +That were his name for certain. Ah, he looked a shark, +he did! If we run down this Black Dog now, there'll +be news for Cap'n Trelawney! Ben's a good runner; +few seamen run better than Ben. He should run him +down, hand over hand, by the powers! He talked o' +keel-hauling, did he? <i>I'll</i> keel-haul him!"</p> + +<p>All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was +stumping up and down the tavern on his crutch, slapping +tables with his hand, and giving such a show of +excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge +or a Bow Street runner. My suspicions had been +thoroughly reawakened on finding Black Dog at the +"Spy-glass," and I watched the cook narrowly. But he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and +by the time the two men had come back out of breath, +and confessed that they had lost the track in a crowd, +and been scolded like thieves, I would have gone bail +for the innocence of Long John Silver.</p> + +<p>"See here, now, Hawkins," said he, "here's a blessed +hard thing on a man like me, now, ain't it? There's +Cap'n Trelawney—what's he to think? Here I have +this confounded son of a Dutchman sitting in my own +house, drinking of my own rum! Here you comes and +tells me of it plain; and here I let him give us all the +slip before my blessed deadlights! Now, Hawkins, you +do me justice with the cap'n. You're a lad, you are, but +you're as smart as paint. I see that when you first came +in. Now, here it is: What could I do, with this old +timber I hobble on? When I was an A B master mariner +I'd have come up alongside of him, hand over hand, and +broached him to in a brace of old shakes, I would; and +now—"</p> + +<p>And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw +dropped as though he had remembered something.</p> + +<p>"The score!" he burst out. "Three goes o' rum! +Why, shiver my timbers, if I hadn't forgotten my score!"</p> + +<p>And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears +ran down his cheeks. I could not help joining, and we +laughed together, peal after peal, until the tavern rang +again.</p> + +<p>"Why, what a precious old sea-calf I am!" he said, +at last, wiping his cheeks. "You and me should get +on well, Hawkins, for I'll take my davy I should be rated +ship's boy. But, come, now, stand by to go about. This +won't do. Dooty is dooty, messmates. I'll put on my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +old cocked hat and step along of you to Cap'n Trelawney, +and report this here affair. For, mind you, it's serious, +young Hawkins; and neither you nor me's come out of +it with what I should make so bold as to call credit. Nor +you neither, says you; not smart—none of the pair of +us smart. But dash my buttons! that was a good 'un about +my score."</p> + +<p>And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that +though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged +to join him in his mirth.</p> + +<p>On our little walk along the quays he made himself +the most interesting companion, telling me about the +different ships that we passed by, their rig, tonnage, and +nationality, explaining the work that was going forward—how +one was discharging, another taking in cargo, and +a third making ready for sea; and every now and then +telling me some little anecdote of ships or seamen, or +repeating a nautical phrase till I had learned it perfectly. +I began to see that here was one of the best of possible +shipmates.</p> + +<p>When we got to the inn, the squire and Doctor Livesey +were seated together, finishing a quart of ale with a +toast in it, before they should go aboard the schooner on +a visit of inspection.</p> + +<p>Long John told the story from first to last, with a great +deal of spirit and the most perfect truth. "That was +how it were, now, weren't it, Hawkins?" he would say, +now and again, and I could always bear him entirely out.</p> + +<p>The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had got +away, but we all agreed there was nothing to be done, and +after he had been complimented, Long John took up his +crutch and departed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"All hands aboard by four this afternoon!" shouted +the squire after him.</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, sir," cried the cook, in the passage.</p> + +<p>"Well, squire," said Doctor Livesey, "I don't put +much faith in your discoveries, as a general thing, but I +will say this—John Silver suits me."</p> + +<p>"That man's a perfect trump," declared the squire.</p> + +<p>"And now," added the doctor, "Jim may come on +board with us, may he not?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure he may," said the squire. "Take your +hat, Hawkins, and we'll see the ship."</p> + +<div class="figc" style="width: 334px;"> +<img src="images/009.png" width="334" height="299" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<small>POWDER AND ARMS</small></h2> + +<p>The <i>Hispaniola</i> lay some way out, and we went under +the figureheads and around the sterns of many other +ships, and their cables sometimes grated beneath our +keel, and sometimes swung above us. At last, however, +we swung alongside, and were met and saluted as we +stepped aboard by the mate, Mr. Arrow, a brown old +sailor, with earrings in his ears and a squint. He and +the squire were very thick and friendly, but I soon +observed that things were not the same between Mr. +Trelawney and the captain.</p> + +<p>This last was a sharp-looking man, who seemed angry +with everything on board, and was soon to tell us why, +for we had hardly got down into the cabin when a sailor +followed us.</p> + +<p>"Captain Smollett, sir, axing to speak with you," +said he.</p> + +<p>"I am always at the captain's orders. Show him in," +said the squire.</p> + +<p>The captain, who was close behind his messenger, +entered at once, and shut the door behind him.</p> + +<p>"Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say? All +well, I hope; all shipshape and seaworthy?"</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," said the captain, "better speak plain, I +believe, at the risk of offense. I don't like this cruise;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +I don't like the men; and I don't like my officer. That's +short and sweet."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, sir, you don't like the ship?" inquired the +squire, very angry, as I could see.</p> + +<p>"I can't speak as to that, sir, not having seen her tried," +said the captain. "She seems a clever craft; more I +can't say."</p> + +<p>"Possibly, sir, you may not like your employer, either?" +said the squire.</p> + +<p>But here Doctor Livesey cut in.</p> + +<p>"Stay a bit," said he, "stay a bit. No use of such +questions as that but to produce ill-feeling. The captain +has said too much or he has said too little, and I'm bound +to say that I require an explanation of his words. You +don't, you say, like this cruise. Now, why?"</p> + +<p>"I was engaged, sir, on what we call sealed orders, to +sail this ship for that gentleman where he should bid me," +said the captain. "So far so good. But now I find +that every man before the mast knows more than I do. I +don't call that fair, now, do you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Doctor Livesey, "I don't."</p> + +<p>"Next," said the captain, "I learn we are going after +treasure—hear it from my own hands, mind you. Now, +treasure is ticklish work; I don't like treasure voyages +on any account; and I don't like them, above all, when +they are secret, and when (begging your pardon, Mr. +Trelawney) the secret has been told to the parrot."</p> + +<p>"Silver's parrot?" asked the squire.</p> + +<p>"It's a way of speaking," said the captain. "Blabbed, +I mean. It's my belief neither of you gentlemen know +what you are about; but I'll tell you my way of it—life +or death, and a close run."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That is all clear, and, I dare say, true enough," replied +Doctor Livesey. "We take the risk, but we are not so +ignorant as you believe us. Next, you say you don't like +the crew. Are they not good seamen?"</p> + +<p>"I don't like them, sir," returned Captain Smollett. +"And I think I should have had the choosing of my own +hands, if you go to that."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you should," replied the doctor. "My friend +should, perhaps, have taken you along with him; but the +slight, if there be one, was unintentional. And you don't +like Mr. Arrow?"</p> + +<p>"I don't, sir. I believe he's a good seaman, but he's +too free with the crew to be a good officer. A mate +should keep himself to himself—shouldn't drink with +the men before the mast."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean he drinks?" cried the squire.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," replied the captain; "only that he's too +familiar."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, and the short and long of it, captain?" +asked the doctor. "Tell us what you want."</p> + +<p>"Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on this +cruise?"</p> + +<p>"Like iron," answered the squire.</p> + +<p>"Very good," said the captain. "Then, as you've +heard me very patiently, saying things that I could not +prove, hear me a few words more. They are putting the +powder and the arms in the fore hold. Now, you have +a good place under the cabin; why not put them there?—first +point. Then you are bringing four of your own +people with you, and they tell me some of them are to +be berthed forward. Why not give them the berths +here beside the cabin?—second point."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Any more?" asked Mr. Trelawney.</p> + +<p>"One more," said the captain. "There's been too much +blabbing already."</p> + +<p>"Far too much," agreed the doctor.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what I've heard myself," continued Captain +Smollett; "that you have a map of an island; that +there's crosses on the map to show where treasure is; and +that the island lies—" And then he named the latitude +and longitude exactly.</p> + +<p>"I never told that," cried the squire, "to a soul."</p> + +<p>"The hands know it, sir," returned the captain.</p> + +<p>"Livesey, that must have been you or Hawkins," cried +the squire.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't much matter who it was," replied the +doctor. And I could see that neither he nor the captain +paid much regard to Mr. Trelawney's protestations. +Neither did I, to be sure, he was so loose a talker; yet +in this case I believe he was really right, and that nobody +had told the situation of the island.</p> + +<p>"Well, gentlemen," continued the captain, "I don't +know who has this map, but I make it a point it shall be +kept secret even from me and Mr. Arrow. Otherwise I +would ask you to let me resign."</p> + +<p>"I see," said the doctor. "You wish us to keep this +matter dark, and to make a garrison of the stern part of +the ship, manned with my friend's own people, and +provided with all the arms and powder on board. In +other words, you fear a mutiny."</p> + +<p>"Sir," said Captain Smollett, "with no intention to +take offense, I deny your right to put words into my +mouth. No captain, sir, would be justified in going to +sea at all if he had ground enough to say that. As for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +Mr. Arrow, I believe him thoroughly honest; some of +the men are the same; all may be for what I know. But +I am responsible for the ship's safety and the life of every +man Jack aboard of her. I see things going, as I think, +not quite right; and I ask you to take certain precautions, +or let me resign my berth. And that's all."</p> + +<p>"Captain Smollett," began the doctor, with a smile, +"did ever you hear the fable of the mountain and the +mouse? You'll excuse me, I dare say, but you remind +me of that fable. When you came in here I'll stake my +wig you meant more than this."</p> + +<p>"Doctor," said the captain, "you are smart. When +I came in here I meant to get discharged. I had no +thought that Mr. Trelawney would hear a word."</p> + +<p>"No more I would," cried the squire. "Had Livesey +not been here I should have seen you to the deuce. As +it is, I have heard you. I will do as you desire, but I +think the worse of you."</p> + +<p>"That's as you please, sir," said the captain. "You'll +find I do my duty."</p> + +<p>And with that he took his leave.</p> + +<p>"Trelawney," said the doctor, "contrary to all my +notions, I believe you have managed to get two honest +men on board with you—that man and John Silver."</p> + +<p>"Silver, if you like," cried the squire, "but as for +that intolerable humbug, I declare I think his conduct +unmanly, unsailorly, and downright un-English."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the doctor, "we shall see."</p> + +<p>When we came on deck the men had begun already +to take out the arms and powder, yo-ho-ing at their work, +while the captain and Mr. Arrow stood by superintending.</p> + +<p>The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +whole schooner had been overhauled; six berths had been +made astern, out of what had been the after-part of the +main hold, and this set of cabins was only joined to the +galley and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port +side. It had been originally meant that the captain, Mr. +Arrow, Hunter, Joyce, the doctor, and the squire were +to occupy these six berths. Now Redruth and I were to +get two of them, and Mr. Arrow and the captain were +to sleep on deck in the companion, which had been +enlarged on each side till you might almost have called +it a round-house. Very low it was still, of course, but +there was room to swing two hammocks, and even the +mate seemed pleased with the arrangement. Even he, +perhaps, had been doubtful as to the crew, but that is +only guess, for, as you shall hear, we had not long the +benefit of his opinion.</p> + +<p>We were all hard at work changing the powder and +the berths, when the last man or two, and Long John +along with them, came off in a shore-boat.</p> + +<p>The cook came up the side like a monkey for cleverness, +and, as soon as he saw what was doing, "So ho, mates!" +said he, "what's this!"</p> + +<p>"We're a-changing the powder, Jack," answers one.</p> + +<p>"Why, by the powers," cried Long John, "if we do, +we'll miss the morning tide!"</p> + +<p>"My orders!" said the captain, shortly. "You may +go below, my man. Hands will want supper."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, sir," answered the cook; and, touching his +forelock, he disappeared at once in the direction of his +galley.</p> + +<p>"That's a good man, captain," said the doctor.</p> + +<p>"Very likely, sir," replied Captain Smollett. "Easy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +with that, men—easy," he ran on, to the fellows who +were shifting the powder; and then suddenly observing +me examining the swivel we carried amidships, a long +brass nine—"Here, you ship's boy," he cried, "out o' +that! Off with you to the cook and get some work."</p> + +<p>And then as I was hurrying off I heard him say, quite +loudly, to the doctor:</p> + +<p>"I'll have no favorites on my ship."</p> + +<p>I assure you I was quite of the squire's way of thinking, +and hated the captain deeply.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X<br /> +<small>THE VOYAGE</small></h2> + +<p>All that night we were in a great bustle getting things +stowed in their place, and boatfuls of the squire's friends, +Mr. Blandly and the like, coming off to wish him a good +voyage and a safe return. We never had a night at the +"Admiral Benbow" when I had half the work; and I +was dog-tired when, a little before dawn, the boatswain +sounded his pipe, and the crew began to man the capstan bars. +I might have been twice as weary, yet I would not +have left the deck, all was so new and interesting to me—the +brief commands, the shrill notes of the whistle, the +men bustling to their places in the glimmer of the ship's +lanterns.</p> + +<p>"Now, Barbecue, tip us a stave," cried one voice.</p> + +<p>"The old one," cried another.</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, mates," said Long John, who was standing +by, with his crutch under his arm, and at once broke out +in the air and words I knew so well:</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest"—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And then the whole crew bore chorus:</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And at the third "ho!" drove the bars before them +with a will.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<p>Even at that exciting moment it carried me back to +the old "Admiral Benbow" in a second, and I seemed +to hear the voice of the captain piping in the chorus. But +soon the anchor was short up; soon it was hanging +dripping at the bows; soon the sails began to draw, and +the land and shipping to flit by on either side, and before +I could lie down to snatch an hour of slumber the +<i>Hispaniola</i> had begun her voyage to the Isle of Treasure.</p> + +<p>I am not going to relate the voyage in detail. It was +fairly prosperous. The ship proved to be a good ship, +the crew were capable seamen, and the captain thoroughly +understood his business. But before we came the length +of Treasure Island, two or three things had happened +which require to be known.</p> + +<p>Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than +the captain had feared. He had no command among the +men, and people did what they pleased with him. But +that was by no means the worst of it; for after a day or +two at sea he began to appear on deck with hazy eye, +red cheeks, stuttering tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. +Time after time he was ordered below in disgrace. +Sometimes he fell and cut himself; sometimes he lay all +day long in his little bunk at one side of the companion; +sometimes for a day or two he would be almost sober and +attend to his work at least passably.</p> + +<p>In the meantime we could never make out where he +got the drink. That was the ship's mystery. Watch him +as we pleased, we could do nothing to solve it, and when +we asked him to his face, he would only laugh, if he were +drunk, and if he were sober, deny solemnly that he ever +tasted anything but water.</p> + +<p>He was not only useless as an officer, and a bad influence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +among the men, but it was plain that at this rate he must +soon kill himself outright, so nobody was much surprised, +nor very sorry, when one dark night, with a head sea, he +disappeared entirely and was seen no more.</p> + +<p>"Overboard!" said the captain. "Well, gentlemen, +that saves the trouble of putting him in irons."</p> + +<p>But there we were, without a mate, and it was necessary, +of course, to advance one of the men. The boatswain, +Job Anderson, was the likeliest man aboard, and though +he kept his old title, he served in a way as mate. Mr. +Trelawney had followed the sea, and his knowledge made +him very useful, for he often took a watch himself in +easy weather. And the coxswain, Israel Hands, was a +careful, wily, old, experienced seaman, who could be +trusted at a pinch with almost anything.</p> + +<p>He was a great confidant of Long John Silver, and +so the mention of his name leads me on to speak of our +ship's cook, Barbecue, as the men called him.</p> + +<div class="figr"><a name="cpd" id="cpd"></a> +<img src="images/010.jpg" width="343" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<div class="td2">Page 71</div> +<i>It was something to see him get on with his cooking like someone safe ashore</i></div> + +<p>Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round +his neck, to have both hands as free as possible. It was +something to see him wedge the foot of the crutch +against a bulkhead, and, propped against it, yielding to +every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking +like someone safe ashore. Still more strange was it to +see him in the heaviest of weather cross the deck. He +had a line or two rigged up to help him across the widest +spaces—Long John's earrings, they were called—and +he would hand himself from one place to another, now +using the crutch, now trailing it alongside by the lanyard, +as quickly as another man could walk. Yet some of the +men who had sailed with him before expressed their pity +to see him so reduced.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He's no common man, Barbecue," said the coxswain +to me. "He had good schooling in his young days, and +can speak like a book when so minded; and brave—a +lion's nothing alongside of Long John! I seen him +grapple four and knock their heads together—him +unarmed."</p> + +<p>All the crew respected and even obeyed him. He had +a way of talking to each, and doing everybody some +particular service. To me he was unweariedly kind, and +always glad to see me in the galley, which he kept as +clean as a new pin; the dishes hanging up burnished, and +his parrot in a cage in the corner.</p> + +<p>"Come away, Hawkins," he would say; "come and +have a yarn with John. Nobody more welcome than +yourself, my son. Sit you down and hear the news. Here's +Cap'n Flint—I calls my parrot Cap'n Flint, after the +famous buccaneer—here's Cap'n Flint predicting success +to our v'yage. Wasn't you, Cap'n?"</p> + +<p>And the parrot would say, with great rapidity: "Pieces +of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight!" till you wondered +that it was not out of breath or till John threw his +handkerchief over the cage.</p> + +<p>"Now, that bird," he would say, "is, may be, two +hundred years old, Hawkins—they live forever mostly, +and if anybody's seen more wickedness it must be the +devil himself. She's sailed with England—the great +Cap'n England, the pirate. She's been at Madagascar, +and at Malabar, and Surinam, and Providence, and +Portobello. She was at the fishing up of the wrecked +plate ships. It's there she learned 'Pieces of eight,' and +little wonder; three hundred and fifty thousand of 'em, +Hawkins! She was at the boarding of the <i>Viceroy of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +the Indies</i> out of Goa, she was, and to look at her you +would think she was a babby. But you smelt powder—didn't +you, cap'n?"</p> + +<p>"Stand by to go about," the parrot would scream.</p> + +<p>"Ah, she's a handsome craft, she is," the cook would +say, and give her sugar from his pocket, and then the +bird would peck at the bars and swear straight on, passing +belief for wickedness. "There," John would add, "you +can't touch pitch and not be mucked, lad. Here's this +poor old innocent bird of mine swearing blue fire and +none the wiser, you may lay to that. She would swear the +same, in a manner of speaking, before the chaplain." And +John would touch his forelock with a solemn way he had, +that made me think he was the best of men.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the squire and Captain Smollett were +still on pretty distant terms with one another. The squire +made no bones about the matter; he despised the captain. +The captain, on his part, never spoke but when he was +spoken to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not a +word wasted. He owned, when driven into a corner, that +he seemed to have been wrong about the crew; that some +of them were as brisk as he wanted to see, and all had +behaved fairly well. As for the ship, he had taken a +downright fancy to her. "She'll lie a point nearer the +wind than a man has a right to expect of his own married +wife, sir. But," he would add, "all I say is, we're not +home again, and I don't like the cruise."</p> + +<p>The squire, at this, would turn away and march up +and down the deck, chin in air.</p> + +<p>"A trifle more of that man," he would say, "and I +should explode."</p> + +<p>We had some heavy weather, which only proved the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +qualities of the <i>Hispaniola</i>. Every man on board seemed +well content, and they must have been hard to please if +they had been otherwise, for it is my belief there was +never a ship's company so spoiled since Noah put to sea. +Double grog was going on the least excuse; there was duff +on odd days, as, for instance, if the squire heard it was +any man's birthday; and always a barrel of apples standing +broached in the waist, for anyone to help himself that +had a fancy.</p> + +<p>"Never knew good to come of it yet," the captain said +to Doctor Livesey. "Spoil foc's'le hands, make devils. +That's my belief."</p> + +<p>But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall +hear, for if it had not been for that we should have had +no note of warning and might all have perished by the +hand of treachery.</p> + +<p>This is how it came about.</p> + +<p>We had run up the trades to get the wind of the island +we were after—I am not allowed to be more plain—and +now we were running down for it with a bright lookout +day and night. It was about the last day of our outward +voyage, by the largest computation; some time that night, +or, at latest, before noon of the morrow, we should sight +the Treasure Island. We were heading south-southwest, +and had a steady breeze abeam and a quiet sea. The +<i>Hispaniola</i> rolled steadily, dipping her bowsprit now and +then with a whiff of spray. All was drawing alow and +aloft; everyone was in the bravest spirits, because we +were now so near an end of the first part of our adventure.</p> + +<p>Now, just after sundown, when all my work was over +and I was on my way to my berth, it occurred to me that +I should like an apple. I ran on deck. The watch was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +all forward looking out for the island. The man at the +helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away +gently to himself, and that was the only sound excepting +the swish of the sea against the bows and around the sides +of the ship.</p> + +<p>In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there +was scarce an apple left; but, sitting down there in the +dark, what with the sound of the waters and the rocking +movement of the ship, I had either fallen asleep, or was +on the point of doing so, when a heavy man sat down +with rather a clash close by. The barrel shook as he +leaned his shoulders against it, and I was just about to +jump up when the man began to speak. It was Silver's +voice, and, before I had heard a dozen words, I would +not have shown myself for all the world, but lay there, +trembling and listening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity; +for from these dozen words I understood that the +lives of all the honest men aboard depended upon me +alone.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<small>WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL</small></h2> + +<p>"No, not I," said Silver. "Flint was cap'n; I was +quartermaster, along of my timber leg. The same broadside +I lost my leg, old Pew lost his deadlights. It was a +master surgeon, him that ampytated me—out of college +and all—Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was +hanged like a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso +Castle. That was Roberts' men, that was, and comed of +changing names to their ships—<i>Royal Fortune</i> and so +on. Now, what a ship was christened, so let her stay, I +says. So it was with the <i>Cassandra</i>, as brought us all +safe home from Malabar, after England took the <i>Viceroy +of the Indies</i>; so it was with the old <i>Walrus</i>, Flint's old +ship, as I've seen a-muck with the red blood and fit to +sink with gold."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" cried another voice, that of the youngest hand +on board, and evidently full of admiration, "he was the +flower of the flock, was Flint!"</p> + +<p>"Davis was a man, too, by all accounts," said Silver. +"I never sailed along of him; first with England, then +with Flint, that's my story; and now here on my own +account, in a manner of speaking. I laid by nine hundred +safe, from England, and two thousand after Flint. That +ain't bad for a man before the mast—all safe in bank. +'Tain't earning now, it's saving does it, you may lay to +that. Where's all England's men now? I dunno. Where's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +Flint's? Why, most of 'em aboard here, and glad to get +the duff—been begging before that, some of 'em. Old +Pew, as had lost his sight, and might have thought shame, +spends twelve hundred pounds in a year, like a lord in +Parliament. Where is he now? Well, he's dead now and +under hatches; but for two years before that, shiver my +timbers! the man was starving. He begged, and he stole, +and he cut throats, and starved at that, by the powers!"</p> + +<p>"Well, it ain't much use, after all," said the young +seaman.</p> + +<p>"'Tain't much use for fools, you may lay to it—that, +nor nothing," cried Silver. "But now, you look here; +you're young, you are, but you're as smart as paint. I +see that when I set my eyes on you, and I'll talk to you +like a man."</p> + +<p>You can imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable +old rogue addressing another in the very same +words of flattery as he had used to myself. I think, if +I had been able, that I would have killed him through +the barrel. Meantime he ran on, little supposing he was +overheard.</p> + +<p>"Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives +rough, and they risk swinging, but they eat and drink +like fighting-cocks, and when a cruise is done, why it's +hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthings in +their pockets. Now, the most goes for rum and a good +fling, and to sea again in their shirts. But that's not the +course I lay. I puts it all away, some here, some there, +and none too much anywheres, by reason of suspicion. +I'm fifty, mark you; once back from this cruise I set up +gentleman in earnest. Time enough, too, says you. Ah, +but I've lived easy in the meantime; never denied myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +o' nothing heart desires, and slept soft and ate dainty all +my days, but when at sea. And how did I begin? Before +the mast, like you!"</p> + +<p>"Well," said the other, "but all the other money's gone +now, ain't it? You daren't show face in Bristol after this."</p> + +<p>"Why, where might you suppose it was?" asked Silver, +derisively.</p> + +<p>"At Bristol, in banks and places," answered his companion.</p> + +<p>"It were," said the cook; "it were when we weighed +anchor. But my old missis has it all by now. And the +'Spy-glass' is sold, lease and good will and rigging; and +the old girl's off to meet me. I would tell you where, for +I trust you; but it 'ud make jealousy among the mates."</p> + +<p>"And you can trust your missis?" asked the other.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen of fortune," returned the cook, "usually +trust little among themselves, and right they are, you +may lay to it. But I have a way with me, I have. When +a mate brings a slip on his cable—one as knows me, I +mean—it won't be in the same world with old John. +There was some that was feared of Pew, and some that +was feared of Flint; but Flint his own self was feared +of me. Feared he was, and proud. They was the roughest +crew afloat, was Flint's; the devil himself would have +been feared to go to sea with them. Well, now, I tell you, +I'm not a boasting man, and you seen yourself how easy I +keep company; but when I was quartermaster, <i>lambs</i> +wasn't the word for Flint's old buccaneers. Ah, you may +be sure of yourself in old John's ship."</p> + +<p>"Well, I tell you now," replied the lad, "I didn't half +a quarter like the job till I had this talk with you, John, +but there's my hand on it now."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And a brave lad you were, and smart, too," answered +Silver, shaking hands so heartily that all the barrel shook, +"and a finer figurehead for a gentleman of fortune I never +clapped my eyes on."</p> + +<p>By this time I had begun to understand the meaning +of their terms. By a "gentleman of fortune" they plainly +meant neither more nor less than a common pirate, and +the little scene that I had overheard was the last act +in the corruption of one of the honest hands—perhaps of +the last one left aboard. But on this point I was soon to +be relieved, for, Silver giving a little whistle, a third man +strolled up and sat down by the party.</p> + +<p>"Dick's square," said Silver.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know'd Dick was square," returned the voice +of the coxswain, Israel Hands. "He's no fool, is Dick." +And he turned his quid and spat. "But, look here," he +went on, "here's what I want to know, Barbecue—how +long are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed +bumboat? I've had a'most enough o' Cap'n Smollett; +he's hazed me long enough, by thunder! I want to go into +that cabin, I do. I want their pickles and wines, and +that."</p> + +<p>"Israel," said Silver, "your head ain't much account, +nor never was. But you're able to hear, I reckon; leastways +your ears is big enough. Now, here's what I say—you'll +berth forward, and you'll live hard, and you'll +speak soft, and you'll keep sober, till I give the word; and +you may lay to that, my son."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't say no, do I?" growled the coxswain. +"What I say is, when? That's what I say."</p> + +<p>"When! by the powers!" cried Silver. "Well, now, +if you want to know, I'll tell you when. The last moment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +I can manage; and that's when. Here's a first-rate seaman, +Cap'n Smollett, sails the blessed ship for us. Here's +this squire and doctor with a map and such—I don't +know where it is, do I? No more do you, says you. Well, +then, I mean this squire and doctor shall find the stuff, and +help us to get it aboard, by the powers! Then we'll see. +If I was sure of you all, sons of double Dutchmen, I'd have +Cap'n Smollett navigate us halfway back again before I +struck."</p> + +<p>"Why, we're all seamen aboard here, I should think," +said the lad Dick.</p> + +<p>"We're all foc's'le hands, you mean," snapped Silver. +"We can steer a course, but who's to set one? That's +what all you gentlemen split on, first and last. If I had +my way, I'd have Cap'n Smollett work us back into the +trades at least; then we'd have no blessed miscalculations +and a spoonful of water a day. But I know the sort you +are. I'll finish with 'em at the island, as soon's the blunt's +on board, and a pity it is. But you're never happy till +you're drunk. Split my sides, I've a sick heart to sail +with the likes of you!"</p> + +<p>"Easy all, Long John," cried Israel. "Who's a-crossin' +of you?"</p> + +<p>"Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I +seen laid aboard? and how many brisk lads drying in +the sun at Execution Dock?" cried Silver; "and all for +this same hurry and hurry and hurry. You hear me? +I seen a thing or two at sea, I have. If you would on'y +lay your course, and a p'int to windward, you would ride +in carriages, you would. But not you! I know you. +You'll have your mouthful of rum to-morrow, and go +hang."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Everybody know'd you was a kind of a chapling, +John; but there's others as could hand and steer as well +as you," said Israel. "They liked a bit o' fun, they did. +They wasn't so high and dry, nohow, but took their fling, +like jolly companions, everyone."</p> + +<p>"So?" said Silver. "Well, and where are they now? +Pew was that sort, and he died a beggar-man. Flint was, +and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah, they was a sweet +crew, they was! on'y, where are they?"</p> + +<p>"But," asked Dick, "when we do lay 'em athwart, what +are we to do with 'em, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"There's the man for me!" cried the cook, admiringly. +"That's what I call business. Well, what would you +think? Put 'em ashore like maroons? That would have +been England's way. Or cut 'em down like that much +pork? That would have been Flint's or Billy Bones's."</p> + +<p>"Billy was the man for that," said Israel. "'Dead +men don't bite,' says he. Well, he's dead now, hisself; he +knows the long and short on it now; and if ever a rough +hand come to port, it was Billy."</p> + +<p>"Right you are," said Silver, "rough and ready. But +mark you here: I'm an easy man—I'm quite the gentleman, +says you; but this time it's serious. Dooty is dooty, +mates. I give my vote—death. When I'm in Parlyment, +and riding in my coach, I don't want none of these sea-lawyers +in the cabin a-coming home, unlooked for, like +the devil at prayers. Wait is what I say; but when the +time comes, why let her rip!"</p> + +<p>"John," cried the coxswain, "you're a man!"</p> + +<p>"You'll say so, Israel, when you see," said Silver. +"Only one thing I claim—I claim Trelawney. I'll +wring his calf's head off his body with these hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +Dick!" he added, breaking off, "you must jump up, like +a sweet lad, and get me an apple, to wet my pipe like."</p> + +<p>You may fancy the terror I was in! I should have +leaped out and run for it, if I had found the strength; +but my limbs and heart alike misgave me. I heard Dick +begin to rise, and then some one seemingly stopped him, +and the voice of Hands exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Oh, stow that! Don't you get sucking of that bilge, +John. Let's have a go of the rum."</p> + +<p>"Dick," said Silver, "I trust you. I've a gauge on the +keg, mind. There's the key; you fill a pannikin and bring +it up."</p> + +<p>Terrified as I was, I could not help thinking to myself +that this must have been how Mr. Arrow got the strong +waters that destroyed him.</p> + +<p>Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence +Israel spoke straight on in the cook's ear. It was but a +word or two that I could catch, and yet I gathered some +important news; for, besides other scraps that tended to +the same purpose, this whole clause was audible: "Not +another man of them'll jine." Hence there were still faithful +men on board.</p> + +<p>When Dick returned, one after another of the trio took +the pannikin and drank—one "To luck"; another with +a "Here's to old Flint," and Silver himself saying, in a +kind of song, "Here's to ourselves, and hold your luff, +plenty of prizes and plenty of duff."</p> + +<p>Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel, +and, looking up, I found the moon had risen, and was +silvering the mizzen-top and shining white on the luff +of the foresail, and almost at the same time the voice +on the lookout shouted, "Land ho!"</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<small>COUNCIL OF WAR</small></h2> + +<p>There was a great rush of feet across the deck. I could +hear people tumbling up from the cabin and the foc's'le; +and slipping in an instant outside my barrel, I dived +behind the foresail, made a double towards the stern, and +came out upon the open deck in time to join Hunter and +Doctor Livesey in the rush for the weather bow.</p> + +<p>There all hands were already congregated. A belt of +fog had lifted almost simultaneously with the appearance +of the moon. Away to the southwest of us we saw two +low hills, about a couple of miles apart, and rising behind +one of them a third and higher hill, whose peak was still +buried in the fog. All three seemed sharp and conical in +figure.</p> + +<p>So much I saw almost in a dream, for I had not yet +recovered from my horrid fear of a minute or two before. +And then I heard the voice of Captain Smollett issuing +orders. The <i>Hispaniola</i> was laid a couple of points +nearer the wind, and now sailed a course that would just +clear the island on the east.</p> + +<p>"And now, men," said the captain, when all was +sheeted home, "has any one of you ever seen that land +ahead?"</p> + +<p>"I have, sir," said Silver. "I've watered there with +a trader I was cook in."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I +fancy?" asked the captain.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a +main place for pirates once, and a hand we had on +board knowed all their names for it. That hill to the +nor'ard they calls the Foremast Hill; there are three +hills in a row running south'ard—fore, main, and mizzen, +sir. But the main—that's the big 'un, with the +cloud on it—they usually calls the Spy-glass, by reason +of a lookout they kept when they was in the anchorage +cleaning; for it's there they cleaned their ships, sir, asking +your pardon."</p> + +<p>"I have a chart here," said Captain Smollett. "See +if that's the place."</p> + +<p>Long John's eyes burned in his head as he took the +chart, but, by the fresh look of the paper, I knew he was +doomed to disappointment. This was not the map we +found in Billy Bones's chest, but an accurate copy, complete +in all things—names, and heights, and soundings—with +the single exception of the red crosses and the written +notes. Sharp as must have been his annoyance, Silver had +the strength of mind to hide it.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said he, "this is the spot, to be sure, and +very prettily drawed out. Who might have done that, I +wonder? The pirates were too ignorant, I reckon. Ay, +here it is: 'Captain Kidd's Anchorage'—just the name +my shipmate called it. There's a strong current runs +along the south, and then away nor'ard up the west coast. +Right you was, sir," said he, "to haul your wind and +keep the weather of the island. Leastways, if such was +your intention as to enter and careen, and there ain't no +better place for that in these waters."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Thank you, my man," said Captain Smollett. "I'll +ask you, later on, to give us a help. You may go."</p> + +<p>I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed +his knowledge of the island, and I own I was half-frightened +when I saw him drawing nearer to myself. He +did not know, to be sure, that I had overheard his council +from the apple barrel, and yet I had, by this time, taken +such a horror of his cruelty, duplicity, and power, that I +could scarce conceal a shudder when he laid his hand +upon my arm.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said he, "this here is a sweet spot, this island—a +sweet spot for a lad to get ashore on. You'll bathe, and +you'll climb trees, and you'll hunt goats, you will, and +you'll get aloft on them hills like a goat yourself. Why, +it makes me young again. I was going to forget my timber +leg, I was. It's a pleasant thing to be young, and have +ten toes, and you may lay to that. When you want to go +a bit of exploring, you just ask old John and he'll put up +a snack for you to take along."</p> + +<p>And clapping me in the friendliest way upon the shoulder, +he hobbled off forward and went below.</p> + +<p>Captain Smollett, the squire, and Doctor Livesey were +talking together on the quarter-deck, and anxious as I +was to tell them my story, I durst not interrupt them +openly. While I was still casting about in my thoughts +to find some probable excuse, Doctor Livesey called me to +his side. He had left his pipe below, and being a slave +to tobacco, had meant that I should fetch it; but as soon +as I was near enough to speak and not be overheard, I +broke out immediately: "Doctor, let me speak. Get +the captain and squire down to the cabin, and then make +some pretense to send for me. I have terrible news."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + +<p>The doctor changed countenance a little, but next +moment he was master of himself.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Jim," said he, quite loudly; "that was all +I wanted to know," as if he had asked me a question.</p> + +<p>And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined the +other two. They spoke together for a little, and though +none of them started, or raised his voice, or so much as +whistled, it was plain enough that Doctor Livesey had +communicated my request, for the next thing that I heard +was the captain giving an order to Job Anderson, and all +hands were piped on deck.</p> + +<p>"My lads," said Captain Smollett, "I've a word to say +to you. This land that we have sighted is the place we +have been sailing to. Mr. Trelawney, being a very open-handed +gentleman, as we all know, has just asked me a +word or two, and as I was able to tell him that every man +on board had done his duty, alow and aloft, as I never ask +to see it done better, why, he and I and the doctor are +going below to the cabin to drink <i>your</i> health and luck, +and you'll have grog served out for you to drink <i>our</i> health +and luck. I'll tell you what I think of this: I think it +handsome. And if you think as I do, you'll give a good +sea cheer for the gentleman that does it."</p> + +<p>The cheer followed—that was a matter of course—but +it rang out so full and hearty, that I confess I could +hardly believe these same men were plotting for our blood.</p> + +<p>"One more cheer for Cap'n Smollett!" cried Long +John, when the first had subsided.</p> + +<p>And this also was given with a will.</p> + +<p>On the top of that the three gentlemen went below, +and not long after, word was sent forward that Jim +Hawkins was wanted in the cabin.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> + +<p>I found them all three seated around the table, a bottle +of Spanish wine and some raisins before them, and +the doctor smoking away, with his wig on his lap, +and that, I knew, was a sign that he was agitated. The +stern window was open, for it was a warm night, and +you could see the moon shining behind on the ship's +wake.</p> + +<p>"Now, Hawkins," said the squire, "you have something +to say. Speak up."</p> + +<p>I did as I was bid, and, as short as I could make it, +told the whole details of Silver's conversation. Nobody +interrupted me till I was done, nor did anyone of the +three of them make so much as a movement, but they +kept their eyes upon my face from first to last.</p> + +<p>"Jim," said Doctor Livesey, "take a seat."</p> + +<p>And they made me sit down at a table beside them, +poured me out a glass of wine, filled my hands with +raisins, and all three, one after the other, and each with +a bow, drank my good health, and their service to me, for +my luck and courage.</p> + +<p>"Now, captain," said the squire, "you were right and +I was wrong. I own myself an ass, and I await your +orders."</p> + +<p>"No more an ass than I, sir," returned the captain. "I +never heard of a crew that meant to mutiny but what +showed signs before, for any man that had an eye in his +head to see the mischief and take steps according. But +this crew," he added, "beats me."</p> + +<p>"Captain," said the doctor, "with your permission, +that's Silver. A very remarkable man."</p> + +<p>"He'd look remarkably well from a yardarm, sir," +returned the captain. "But this is talk; this don't lead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +to anything. I see three or four points, and with Mr. +Trelawney's permission I'll name them."</p> + +<p>"You, sir, are the captain. It is for you to speak," said +Mr. Trelawney, grandly.</p> + +<p>"First point," began Mr. Smollett, "we must go on +because we can't turn back. If I gave the word to turn +about, they would rise at once. Second point, we have +time before us—at least until this treasure's found. +Third point, there are faithful hands. Now, sir, it's got +to come to blows sooner or later, and what I propose is +to take time by the forelock, as the saying is, and come to +blows some fine day when they least expect it. We can +count, I take it, on your own home servants, Mr. Trelawney?"</p> + +<p>"As upon myself," declared the squire.</p> + +<p>"Three," reckoned the captain; "ourselves make seven, +counting Hawkins here. Now, about the honest hands?"</p> + +<p>"Most likely Trelawney's own men," said the doctor; +"those he picked up for himself before he lit on Silver."</p> + +<p>"Nay," replied the squire, "Hands was one of mine."</p> + +<p>"I did think I could have trusted Hands," added the +captain.</p> + +<p>"And to think that they're all Englishmen!" broke out +the squire. "Sir, I could find it in my heart to blow the +ship up."</p> + +<p>"Well, gentlemen," said the captain, "the best that I +can say is not much. We must lay to, if you please, and +keep a bright lookout. It's trying on a man, I know. It +would be pleasanter to come to blows. But there's no +help for it till we know our men. Lay to and whistle for +a wind; that's my view."</p> + +<p>"Jim here," said the doctor, "can help us more than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +anyone. The men are not shy with him and Jim is a +noticing lad."</p> + +<p>"Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you," added the +squire.</p> + +<p>I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt altogether +helpless; and yet, by an odd train of circumstances, +it was indeed through me that safety came. In +the meantime, talk as we pleased, there were only seven +out of the twenty-six on whom we knew we could rely, +and out of these seven one was a boy, so that the grown +men on our side were six to their nineteen.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><small>PART III</small><br /> +MY SHORE ADVENTURE</h2> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<small>HOW MY SHORE ADVENTURE BEGAN</small></h2> + +<p>The appearance of the island when I came on deck next +morning was altogether changed. Although the breeze +had now utterly ceased, we had made a great deal of way +during the night and were now lying becalmed about half +a mile to the southeast of the low eastern coast. Gray-colored +woods covered a large part of the surface. This +even tint was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sand-break +in the lower lands and by many tall trees of the pine +family, out-topping the others—some singly, some in +clumps; but the general coloring was uniform and sad. +The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of +naked rock. All were strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass, +which was by three or four hundred feet the tallest on the +island, was likewise the strangest in configuration, running +up sheer from almost every side and then suddenly cut +off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on.</p> + +<p>The <i>Hispaniola</i> was rolling scuppers under in the ocean +swell. The booms were tearing at the blocks, the rudder +was banging to and fro, and the whole ship creaking, +groaning, and jumping like a manufactory. I had to cling +tight to the backstay and the world turned giddily before +my eyes; for though I was a good enough sailor when +there was way on, this standing still and being rolled +about like a bottle was a thing I never learned to stand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +without a qualm or so, above all in the morning, on an +empty stomach.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was this—perhaps it was the look of the +island, with its gray, melancholy woods, and wild stone +spires, and the surf that we could both see and hear +foaming and thundering on the steep beach—at least, +although the sun shone bright and hot, and the shore +birds were fishing and crying all around us, and you would +have thought anyone would have been glad to get to land +after being so long at sea, my heart sank, as the saying is, +into my boots, and from that first look onward I hated the +very thought of Treasure Island.</p> + +<p>We had a dreary morning's work before us, for there +was no sign of any wind, and the boats had to be got out +and manned, and the ship warped three or four miles +round the corner of the island and up the narrow passage +to the haven behind Skeleton Island. I volunteered for +one of the boats, where I had, of course, no business. The +heat was sweltering and the men grumbled fiercely over +their work. Anderson was in command of my boat, and +instead of keeping the crew in order he grumbled as loud +as the worst.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, with an oath, "it's not forever."</p> + +<p>I thought this was a very bad sign, for, up to that day, +the men had gone briskly and willingly about their +business, but the very sight of the island had relaxed the +cords of discipline.</p> + +<p>All the way in, Long John stood by the steersman and +conned the ship. He knew the passage like the palm of +his hand; and though the man in the chains got everywhere +more water than was down in the chart, John never +hesitated once.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There's a strong scour with the ebb," he said, "and +this here passage has been dug out, in a manner of +speaking, with a spade."</p> + +<p>We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart, +about a third of a mile from each shore, the mainland on +one side and Skeleton Island on the other. The bottom +was clean sand. The plunge of our anchor sent up clouds +of birds wheeling and crying over the woods, but in less +than a minute they were down again, and all was once +more silent.</p> + +<p>The place was entirely landlocked, buried in woods, +the trees coming right down to high-water mark, the +shores mostly flat, and the hill-tops standing round at a +distance in a sort of amphitheater, one here, one there. +Two little rivers, or rather two swamps, emptied out into +this pond, as you might call it and the foliage round that +part of the shore had a kind of poisonous brightness. From +the ship we could see nothing of the house or stockade, +for they were quite buried among trees; and if it had not +been for the chart on the companion, we might have been +the first that had ever anchored there since the islands +arose out of the seas.</p> + +<p>There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound but +that of the surf booming half a mile away along the +beaches and against the rocks outside. A peculiar stagnant +smell hung over the anchorage—a smell of sodden +leaves and rotting tree trunks. I observed the doctor +sniffing and sniffing, like someone tasting a bad egg.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about treasure," he said, "but I'll stake +my wig there's fever here."</p> + +<p>If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the +boat, it became truly threatening when they had come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +aboard. They lay about the deck, growling together in +talk. The slightest order was received with a black look, +and grudgingly and carelessly obeyed. Even the honest +hands must have caught the infection, for there was not +one man aboard to mend another. Mutiny, it was plain, +hung over us like a thundercloud.</p> + +<p>And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived +the danger. Long John was hard at work going +from group to group, spending himself in good advice, +and as for example no man could have shown a better. He +fairly outstripped himself in willingness and civility; he +was all smiles to everyone. If an order were given, +John would be on his crutch in an instant, with the +cheeriest "Ay, ay, sir!" in the world; and when there +was nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another, +as if to conceal the discontent of the rest.</p> + +<p>Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon, +this obvious anxiety on the part of Long John appeared +the worst.</p> + +<p>We held a council in the cabin.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said the captain, "if I risk another order, the +whole ship'll come about our ears by the run. You see, +sir, here it is. I get a rough answer, do I not? Well, if I +speak back, pikes will be going in two shakes; if I don't, +Silver will see there's something under that, and the +game's up. Now, we've only one man to rely on."</p> + +<p>"And who is that?" asked the squire.</p> + +<p>"Silver, sir," returned the captain; "he's as anxious +as you and I to smother things up. This is a tiff; he'd +soon talk 'em out of it if he had the chance, and what I +propose to do is to give him the chance. Let's allow the +men an afternoon ashore. If they all go, why, we'll fight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +the ship. If they none of them go, well, then, we hold +the cabin, and God defend the right. If some go, you +mark my words, sir, Silver'll bring 'em aboard again as +mild as lambs."</p> + +<p>It was so decided; loaded pistols were served out to all +the sure men. Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth were taken +into our confidence, and received the news with less surprise +and a better spirit than we had looked for, and then +the captain went on deck and addressed the crew.</p> + +<p>"My lads," said he, "we've had a hot day, and are all +tired and out of sorts. A turn ashore'll hurt nobody; the +boats are still in the water; you can take the gigs, and as +many as please can go ashore for the afternoon. I'll fire +a gun half an hour before sundown."</p> + +<p>I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would +break their shins over treasure as soon as they were landed; +for they all came out of their sulks in a moment, and gave +a cheer that started the echo in a far-away hill, and sent +the birds once more flying and squalling round the +anchorage.</p> + +<p>The captain was too bright to be in the way. He +whipped out of sight in a moment, leaving Silver to +arrange the party, and I fancy it was as well he did so. +Had he been on deck he could no longer so much as have +pretended not to understand the situation. It was as plain +as day. Silver was the captain, and a mighty rebellious +crew he had of it. The honest hands—and I was soon to +see it proved that there were such on board—must have +been very stupid fellows. Or, rather, I suppose the truth +was this, that all hands were disaffected by the example +of the ringleaders—only some more, some less; and a few, +being good fellows in the main, could neither be led nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +driven any farther. It is one thing to be idle and skulk, +and quite another to take a ship and murder a number of +innocent men.</p> + +<p>At last, however, the party was made up. Six fellows +were to stay on board, and the remaining thirteen, including +Silver, began to embark.</p> + +<p>Then it was that there came into my head the first of +the mad notions that contributed so much to save our lives. +If six men were left by Silver, it was plain our party +could not take and fight the ship; and since only six were +left, it was equally plain that the cabin party had no +present need of my assistance. It occurred to me at once +to go ashore. In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and +curled up in the foresheets of the nearest boat, and almost +at the same moment she shoved off.</p> + +<p>No one took notice of me, only the bow oar saying, "Is +that you, Jim? Keep your head down." But Silver, from +the other boat, looked sharply over and called out to +know if that were me; and from that moment I began to +regret what I had done.</p> + +<p>The crews raced for the beach, but the boat I was in, +having some start, and being at once the lighter and the +better manned, shot far ahead of her consort, and the bow +had struck among the shore-side trees, and I had caught +a branch and swung myself out, and plunged into the +nearest thicket, while Silver and the rest were still a +hundred yards behind.</p> + +<p>"Jim, Jim!" I heard him shouting.</p> + +<p>But you may suppose I paid no heed; jumping, ducking, +and breaking through, I ran straight before my nose, till +I could run no longer.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<small>THE FIRST BLOW</small></h2> + +<p>I was so pleased at having given the slip to Long John, +that I began to enjoy myself and look around me with +some interest on the strange land that I was in. I had +crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes, and +odd, outlandish, swampy trees; and had now come out +upon the skirts of an open piece of undulating, sandy +country, about a mile long, dotted with a few pines, and +a great number of contorted trees, not unlike the oak in +growth, but pale in the foliage, like willows. On the far +side of the open stood one of the hills, with two quaint, +craggy peaks, shining vividly in the sun.</p> + +<p>I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration. The +isle was uninhabited; my shipmates I had left behind, +and nothing lived in front of me but dumb brutes and +fowls. I turned hither and thither among the trees. Here +and there were flowering plants, unknown to me; here +and there I saw snakes, and one raised his head from a +ledge of rock and hissed at me with a noise not unlike the +spinning of a top. Little did I suppose that he was a +deadly enemy, and that the noise was the famous rattle.</p> + +<p>Then I came to a long thicket of these oak-like trees—live, +or evergreen, oaks, I heard afterward they should +be called—which grew low along the sand like brambles, +the boughs curiously twisted, the foliage compact, like +thatch. The thicket stretched down from the top of one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +of the sandy knolls, spreading and growing taller as it +went, until it reached the margin of the broad, reedy fen, +through which the nearest of the little rivers soaked its +way into the anchorage. The marsh was steaming in the +strong sun, and the outline of the Spy-glass trembled +through the haze.</p> + +<p>All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among +the bulrushes; a wild duck flew up with a quack, another +followed, and soon over the whole surface of the marsh +a great cloud of birds hung screaming and circling in the +air. I judged at once that some of my shipmates must be +drawing near along the borders of the fen. Nor was I +deceived, for soon I heard the very distant and low tones +of a human voice, which, as I continued to give ear, grew +steadily louder and nearer.</p> + +<p>This put me in great fear, and I crawled under cover +of the nearest live-oak, and squatted there, hearkening, +as silent as a mouse.</p> + +<p>Another voice answered; and then the first voice, which +I now recognized to be Silver's, once more took up the +story, and ran on for a long while in a stream, only now +and again interrupted by the other. By the sound they +must have been talking earnestly, and almost fiercely, but +no distinct word came to my hearing.</p> + +<p>At last the speakers seemed to have paused, and perhaps +to have sat down, for not only did they cease to draw any +nearer, but the birds themselves began to grow more +quiet, and to settle again to their places in the swamp.</p> + +<p>And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my +business; that since I had been so foolhardy as to come +ashore with these desperadoes, the least I could do was +to overhear them at their councils, and that my plain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +and obvious duty was to draw as close as I could manage, +under the favorable ambush of the crouching trees.</p> + +<p>I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly, +not only by the sound of their voices, but by the behavior +of the few birds that still hung in alarm above the heads +of the intruders.</p> + +<p>Crawling on all-fours, I made steadily but slowly +towards them, till at last, raising my head to an aperture +among the leaves, I could see clear down into a little +green dell beside the marsh, and closely set about with +trees, where Long John Silver and another of the crew +stood face to face in conversation.</p> + +<p>The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown his +hat beside him on the ground, and his great, smooth, +blonde face, all shining with heat, was lifted to the other +man's in a kind of appeal.</p> + +<p>"Mate," he was saying, "it's because I thinks gold dust +of you—gold dust, and you may lay to that! If I hadn't +took to you like pitch, do you think I'd have been here +a-warning of you? All's up—you can't make nor mend; +it's to save your neck that I'm a-speaking, and if one of +the wild 'uns knew it, where 'ud I be, Tom—now tell +me, where 'ud I be?"</p> + +<p>"Silver," said the other man—and I observed he was +not only red in the face, but spoke as hoarse as a crow, +and his voice shook, too, like a taut rope—"Silver," +says he, "you're old, and you're honest, or has the name +for it; and you've money, too, which lots of poor sailors +hasn't; and you're brave, or I'm mistook. And will you +tell me you'll let yourself be led away with that kind of +a mess of swabs? Not you! As sure as God sees me, I'd +sooner lose my hand. If I turn agin my dooty—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise. +I had found one of the honest hands—well, here, at that +same moment, came news of another. Far away out in +the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound like the +cry of anger, then another on the back of it, and then one +horrid, long-drawn scream. The rocks of the Spy-glass +re-echoed it a score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds +rose again, darkening heaven with a simultaneous +whir; and long after that death-yell was still ringing +in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, +and only the rustle of the redescending birds and the +boom of the distant surges disturbed the languor of the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur; +but Silver had not winked an eye. He stood where he +was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching his companion +like a snake about to spring.</p> + +<p>"John!" said the sailor, stretching out his hand.</p> + +<p>"Hands off!" cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it +seemed to me, with the speed and security of a trained +gymnast.</p> + +<p>"Hands off, if you like, John Silver," said the other. +"It's a black conscience that can make you feared of me. +But, in heaven's name, tell me what was that?"</p> + +<p>"That?" returned Silver, smiling away, but warier +than ever, his eye a mere pin-point in his big face, but +gleaming like a crumb of glass. "That? Oh, I reckon +that'll be Alan."</p> + +<p>And at this poor Tom flashed out like a hero.</p> + +<p>"Alan!" he cried. "Then rest his soul for a true +seaman! And as for you, John Silver, long you've been +a mate of mine, but you're mate of mine no more. If I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +die like a dog I'll die in my dooty. You've killed Alan, +have you? Kill me, too, if you can. But I defies you."</p> + +<p>And with that this brave fellow turned his back +directly on the cook and set off walking for the beach. +But he was not destined to go far. With a cry John +seized the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of +his armpit, and sent that uncouth missile hurling through +the air. It struck poor Tom, point foremost, and with +stunning violence, right between the shoulders in the +middle of his back. His hands flew up, he gave a sort of +gasp and fell.</p> + +<p>Whether he was injured much or little, none could ever +tell. Like enough, to judge from the sound, his back was +broken on the spot. But he had no time given him to +recover. Silver, agile as a monkey, even without leg or +crutch, was on the top of him next moment, and had twice +buried his knife up to the hilt in that defenseless body. +From my place of ambush I could hear him pant aloud +as he struck the blows.</p> + +<p>I do not know what it rightly is to faint, but I do know +that for the next little while the whole world swam away +from before me in a whirling mist; Silver and the birds +and the tall Spy-glass hilltop going round and round and +topsy-turvy before my eyes, and all manner of bells +ringing, and distant voices shouting in my ear.</p> + +<p>When I came again to myself the monster had pulled +himself together, his crutch under his arm, his hat upon +his head. Just before him Tom lay motionless upon the +sward; but the murderer minded him not a whit, cleansing +his blood-stained knife the while upon a whisp of grass. +Everything else was unchanged, the sun still shining mercilessly +upon the steaming marsh and the tall pinnacle of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +the mountain, and I could scarce persuade myself that +murder had actually been done and a human life cruelly +cut short a moment since, before my eyes.</p> + +<p>But now John put his hand into his pocket, brought out +a whistle, and blew upon it several modulated blasts, that +rang far across the heated air. I could not tell, of course, +the meaning of the signal, but it instantly awoke my fears. +More men would be coming. I might be discovered. +They had already slain two of the honest people; after +Tom and Alan, might not I come next?</p> + +<p>Instantly I began to extricate myself and crawl back +again, with what speed and silence I could manage, to +the more open portion of the wood. As I did so I could +hear hails coming and going between the old buccaneer +and his comrades, and this sound of danger lent me wings. +As soon as I was clear of the thicket, I ran as I never ran +before, scarce minding the direction of my flight, so long +as it led me from the murderers, and as I ran, fear grew +and grew upon me, until it turned into a kind of frenzy.</p> + +<p>Indeed, could anyone be more entirely lost than I? +When the gun fired, how should I dare to go down to +the boats among those fiends, still smoking from their +crime? Would not the first of them who saw me wring +my neck like a snipe's? Would not my absence itself be +an evidence to them of my alarm, and therefore of my +fatal knowledge? It was all over, I thought. Good-by +to the <i>Hispaniola</i>, good-by to the squire, the doctor, and +the captain. There was nothing left for me but death by +starvation, or death by the hands of the mutineers.</p> + +<p>All this while, as I say, I was still running, and, without +taking any notice, I had drawn near to the foot of +the little hill with the two peaks, and had got into a part<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +of the island where the wild oaks grew more widely apart, +and seemed more like forest trees in their bearing and +dimensions. Mingled with these were a few scattered +pines, some fifty, some nearer seventy, feet high. The air, +too, smelled more fresh than down beside the marsh.</p> + +<p>And here a fresh alarm brought me to a standstill with +a thumping heart.</p> + +<div class="figc" style="width: 408px;"> +<img src="images/011.png" width="408" height="441" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<small>THE MAN OF THE ISLAND</small></h2> + +<p>From the side of the hill, which was here steep and +stony, a spout of gravel was dislodged, and fell rattling +and bounding through the trees. My eyes turned instinctively +in that direction, and I saw a figure leap with great +rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was, whether +bear, or man, or monkey, I could in nowise tell. It seemed +dark and shaggy; more I knew not. But the terror of this +new apparition brought me to a stand.</p> + +<p>I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides: behind +me the murderers, before me this lurking nondescript. +And immediately I began to prefer the dangers that I +knew to those I knew not. Silver himself appeared less +terrible in contrast with this creature of the woods, and +I turned on my heel, and, looking sharply behind me +over my shoulder, began to retrace my steps in the +direction of the boats.</p> + +<p>Instantly the figure reappeared, and, making a wide +circuit, began to head me off. I was tired, at any rate, +but had I been as fresh as when I rose, I could see it was +in vain for me to contend in speed with such an adversary. +From trunk to trunk the creature flitted like a deer, running +man-like on two legs, but unlike any man that I had +ever seen, stooping almost double as it ran. Yet a man +it was! I could no longer be in doubt about that.</p> + +<p>I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +was within an ace of calling for help. But the mere fact +that he was a man, however wild, had somewhat reassured +me, and my fear of Silver began to revive in proportion. +I stood still, therefore, and cast about for some method of +escape, and as I was so thinking, the recollection of my +pistol flashed into my mind. As soon as I remembered +I was not defenseless, courage glowed again in my heart, +and I set my face resolutely for this man of the island, and +walked briskly toward him.</p> + +<p>He was concealed by this time, behind another tree-trunk, +but he must have been watching me closely, for as +soon as I began to move in his direction he reappeared +and took a step to meet me. Then he hesitated, drew +back, came forward again, and, at last, to my wonder +and confusion, threw himself on his knees and held out +his clasped hands in supplication.</p> + +<p>At that I once more stopped.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Ben Gunn," he answered, and his voice sounded +hoarse and awkward, like a rusty lock. "I'm poor Ben +Gunn, I am; and I haven't spoke with a Christian these +three years."</p> + +<p>I could now see that he was a white man like myself, +and that his features were even pleasing. His skin, wherever +it was exposed, was burned by the sun; even his lips +were black, and his fair eyes looked quite startling in so +dark a face. Of all the beggar-men that I had seen or +fancied, he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed +with tatters of old ships' canvas and old sea-cloth, and +this extraordinary patchwork was all held together +by a system of the most various and incongruous fastenings, +brass buttons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +gaskin. About his waist he wore an old brass-buckled +leather belt, which was the one thing solid in his whole +accouterment.</p> + +<p>"Three years!" I cried. "Were you shipwrecked?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, mate," said he, "marooned."</p> + +<p>I had heard the word and I knew it stood for a horrible +kind of punishment common enough among the buccaneers, +in which the offender is put ashore with a little +powder and shot and left behind on some desolate and +distant island.</p> + +<p>"Marooned three years agone," he continued, "and +lived on goats since then, and berries and oysters. Wherever +a man is, says I, a man can do for himself. But, +mate, my heart is sore for Christian diet. You mightn't +happen to have a piece of cheese about you, now? No? +Well, many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese—toasted, +mostly—and woke up again, and here I were."</p> + +<p>"If ever I can get aboard again," said I, "you shall +have cheese by the stone."</p> + +<p>All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my jacket, +smoothing my hands, looking at my boots, and generally, +in the intervals of his speech, showing a childish pleasure +in the presence of a fellow-creature. But at my last words +he perked up into a kind of startled slyness.</p> + +<p>"If ever you get aboard again, says you?" he repeated. +"Why, now, who's to hinder you?"</p> + +<p>"Not you, I know," was my reply.</p> + +<p>"And right you was," he cried. "Now you—what +do you call yourself, mate?"</p> + +<p>"Jim," I told him.</p> + +<p>"Jim, Jim," says he, quite pleased, apparently. "Well, +now, Jim, I've lived that rough as you'd be ashamed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +hear of. Now, for instance, you wouldn't think I had +had a pious mother—to look at me?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, no, not in particular," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Ah, well," said he, "but I had—remarkable pious. +And I was a civil, pious boy, and could rattle off my +catechism that fast as you couldn't tell one word from +another. And here's what it come to, Jim, and it begun +with chuck-farthen on the blessed gravestones! That's +what it begun with, but it went further'n that, and so +my mother told me, and predicked the whole, she did, +the pious woman. But it were Providence that put me +here. I've thought it all out in this here lonely island +and I'm back on piety. You can't catch me tasting rum +so much, but just a thimbleful for luck, of course, the +first chance I have. I'm bound I'll be good, and I see +the way to. And, Jim"—looking all round him and +lowering his voice to a whisper—"I'm rich."</p> + +<p>I now felt sure that the poor fellow had gone crazy +in his solitude, and I suppose I must have shown +the feeling in my face, for he repeated the statement +hotly:</p> + +<p>"Rich! rich! I says. And I'll tell you what, I'll make +a man of you, Jim. Ah, Jim, you'll bless your stars, you +will, you was the first that found me!"</p> + +<p>And at this there came suddenly a lowering shadow +over his face and he tightened his grasp upon my hand +and raised a forefinger threateningly before my eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jim, you tell me true; that ain't Flint's ship?" +he asked.</p> + +<p>At this I had a happy inspiration. I began to believe +that I had found an ally and I answered him at once.</p> + +<p>"It's not Flint's ship and Flint is dead, but I'll tell you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +true, as you ask me—there are some of Flint's hands +aboard; worse luck for the rest of us."</p> + +<p>"Not a man—with one—leg?" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"Silver?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Silver!" says he, "that were his name."</p> + +<p>"He's the cook, and the ringleader, too."</p> + +<p>He was still holding me by the wrist, and at that he +gave it quite a wring. "If you was sent by Long John," +he said, "I'm as good as pork and I know it. But where +was you, do you suppose?"</p> + +<p>I had made my mind up in a moment, and by way of +answer told him the whole story of our voyage and the +predicament in which we found ourselves. He heard +me with the keenest interest, and when I had done he +patted me on the head.</p> + +<p>"You're a good lad, Jim," he said, "and you're all in +a clove hitch, ain't you? Well, you just put your trust +in Ben Gunn—Ben Gunn's the man to do it. Would +you think it likely, now, that your squire would prove +a liberal-minded one in case of help—him being in a +clove hitch, as you remark?"</p> + +<p>I told him the squire was the most liberal of men.</p> + +<p>"Ay, but you see," returned Ben Gunn, "I didn't mean +giving me a gate to keep and a suit of livery clothes, and +such; that's not my mark, Jim. What I mean is, would +he be likely to come down to the toon of, say one thousand +pounds out of money that's as good as a man's own +already?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure he would," said I. "As it was, all hands +were to share."</p> + +<p>"<i>And</i> a passage home?" he added, with a look of great +shrewdness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why," I cried, "the squire's a gentleman. And, besides, +if we got rid of the others, we should want you +to help work the vessel home."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said he, "so you would." And he seemed very +much relieved.</p> + +<p>"Now, I'll tell you what," he went on. "So much I'll +tell you, and no more. I were in Flint's ship when he +buried the treasure; he and six along—six strong seamen. +They was ashore nigh on a week, and us standing off and +on in the old <i>Walrus</i>. One fine day up went the signal, +and here come Flint by himself in a little boat, and his +head done up in a blue scarf. The sun was getting up, and +mortal white he looked about the cutwater. But, there he +was, you mind, and the six all dead—dead and buried. +How had he done it, not a man aboard us could make out. +It was battle, murder, and sudden death, leastways—him +against six. Billy Bones was the mate; Long John, he was +quartermaster; and they asked him where the treasure was. +'Ah,' says he, 'you can go ashore, if you like, and stay,' +he says; 'but as for the ship, she'll beat up for more, by +thunder!' That's what he said.</p> + +<p>"Well, I was in another ship three years back, and we +sighted this island. 'Boys,' said I, 'here's Flint's treasure; +let's land and find it.' The cap'n was displeased at that; +but my messmates were all of a mind, and landed. Twelve +days they looked for it, and every day they had the worse +word for me, until one fine morning all hands went aboard. +'As for you, Benjamin Gunn,' says they, 'here's a musket,' +they says, 'and a spade, and a pickax. You can stay here +and find Flint's money for yourself,' they says.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jim, three years have I been here, and not a bite +of Christian diet from that day to this. But now, you look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +here; look at me. Do I look like a man before the mast? +No, says you. Nor I weren't, neither, I says."</p> + +<p>And with that he winked and pinched me hard.</p> + +<p>"Just you mention them words to your squire, Jim," +he went on. "Nor he weren't neither—that's the words. +Three years he were the man of this island, light and dark, +fair and rain; and sometimes he would, may be, think +upon a prayer (says you), and sometimes he would, may +be, think of his old mother, so be as she's alive (you'll +say); but the most part of Gunn's time (this is what you'll +say)—the most part of his time was took up with another +matter. And then you'll give him a nip, like I do."</p> + +<p>And he pinched me again, in the most confidential +manner.</p> + +<p>"Then," he continued, "then you'll up, and you'll say +this: Gunn is a good man (you'll say), and he puts a +precious sight more confidence—a precious sight, mind +that—in a gen'leman born than in these gen'lemen of +fortune, having been one hisself."</p> + +<p>"Well," I said, "I don't understand one word that +you've been saying. But that's neither here nor there; for +how am I to get on board?"</p> + +<p>"Ah," said he, "that's the hitch, for sure. Well, there's +my boat that I made with my two hands. I keep her +under the white rock. If the worst come to the worst, we +might try that after dark. Hi!" he broke out, "what's +that?"</p> + +<p>For just then, although the sun had still an hour or two +to run, all the echoes of the island awoke and bellowed to +the thunder of a cannon.</p> + +<p>"They have begun to fight!" I cried. "Follow me!"</p> + +<p>And I began to run toward the anchorage, my terrors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +all forgotten; while, close at my side, the marooned man +in his goat-skins trotted easily and lightly.</p> + +<p>"Left, left," says he; "keep to your left hand, mate +Jim! Under the trees with you! There's where I killed +my first goat. They don't come down here now; they're +all mastheaded on them mountings for the fear of Benjamin +Gunn. Ah! and there's the cetemery"—cemetery +he must have meant. "You see the mounds? I come +here and prayed, nows and thens, when I thought maybe a +Sunday would be about doo. It weren't quite a chapel, +but it seemed more solemn like; and then, says you, Ben +Gunn was shorthanded—no chapling, nor so much as a +Bible and a flag, you says."</p> + +<p>So he kept talking as I ran, neither expecting nor receiving +any answer.</p> + +<p>The cannon-shot was followed, after a considerable +interval, by a volley of small arms.</p> + +<p>Another pause, and then, not a quarter of a mile in front +of me, I beheld the Union Jack flutter in the air above +a wood.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><small>PART IV</small><br /> +THE STOCKADE</h2> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<small>NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR—HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED</small></h2> + +<p>It was about half-past one—three bells in the sea +phrase—that the two boats went ashore from the +<i>Hispaniola</i>. The captain, the squire, and I were talking +matters over in the cabin. Had there been a breath of +wind, we should have fallen on the six mutineers who +were left aboard with us, slipped our cable, and away to +sea. But the wind was wanting; and, to complete our +helplessness, down came Hunter with the news that Jim +Hawkins had slipped into a boat and was gone ashore +with the rest.</p> + +<p>It had never occurred to us to doubt Jim Hawkins, +but we were alarmed for his safety. With the men in the +temper they were in, it seemed an even chance if we +should see the lad again. We ran on deck. The pitch +was bubbling in the seams; the nasty stench of the place +turned me sick; if ever a man smelled fever and dysentery +it was in that abominable anchorage. The six scoundrels +were sitting grumbling under a sail in the forecastle; +ashore we could see the gigs made fast, and a man sitting +in each, hard by where the river runs in. One of them +was whistling "Lillibullero."</p> + +<p>Waiting was a strain, and it was decided that Hunter +and I should go ashore with the jolly-boat, in quest of +information.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<p>The gigs had leaned to their right, but Hunter and I +pulled straight in, in the direction of the stockade upon +the chart. The two who were left guarding their boats +seemed in a bustle at our appearance; "Lillibullero" +stopped off, and I could see the pair discussing what they +ought to do. Had they gone and told Silver, all might +have turned out differently; but they had their orders, +I suppose, and decided to sit quietly where they were +and hark back again to "Lillibullero."</p> + +<p>There was a slight bend in the coast, and I steered so +as to put it between us. Even before we landed we had +thus lost sight of the gigs; I jumped out and came as near +running as I durst, with a big silk handkerchief under +my hat for coolness' sake, and a brace of pistols ready +primed for safety.</p> + +<p>I had not gone a hundred yards when I came on the +stockade.</p> + +<p>This was how it was: A spring of clear water arose +at the top of a knoll. Well, on the knoll, and inclosing +the spring, they had clapped a stout log house, fit to hold +two-score people on a pinch, and loopholed for musketry +on every side. All around this they had cleared a wide +space, and then the thing was completed by a paling six +feet high, without door or opening, too strong to pull +down without time and labor, and too open to shelter the +besiegers. The people in the log house had them in every +way; they stood quiet in the shelter and shot the others +like partridges. All they wanted was a good watch and +food; for, short of a complete surprise, they might have +held the place against a regiment.</p> + +<p>What particularly took my fancy was the spring. For, +though we had a good place of it in the cabin of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +<i>Hispaniola</i>, with plenty of arms and ammunition, and +things to eat, and excellent wines, there had been one thing +overlooked—we had no water. I was thinking this over, +when there came ringing over the island the cry of a man +at the point of death. I was not new to violent death—I +have served his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, +and got a wound myself at Fontenoy—but I know my +pulse went dot and carry one. "Jim Hawkins is gone," +was my first thought.</p> + +<p>It is something to have been an old soldier, but more +still to have been a doctor. There is no time to dilly-dally +in our work. And so now I made up my mind instantly, +and with no time lost returned to the shore and jumped +on board the jolly-boat.</p> + +<p>By good fortune Hunter pulled a good oar. We made +the water fly, and the boat was soon alongside and I aboard +the schooner.</p> + +<p>I found them all shaken, as was natural. The squire +was sitting down, as white as a sheet, thinking of the harm +he had led us to, the good soul! and one of the six forecastle +hands was little better.</p> + +<p>"There's a man," said Captain Smollett, nodding +toward him, "new to this work. He came nigh-hand +fainting, doctor, when he heard the cry. Another touch +of the rudder and that man would join us."</p> + +<p>I told my plan to the captain, and between us we settled +on the details of its accomplishment.</p> + +<p>We put old Redruth in the gallery between the cabin +and the forecastle, with three or four loaded muskets +and a mattress for protection. Hunter brought the boat +round under the stern port, and Joyce and I set to work +loading her with powder, tins, muskets, bags of biscuits,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +kegs of pork, a cask of cognac, and my invaluable medicine +chest.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the squire and the captain stayed on +deck, and the latter hailed the coxswain, who was the principal +man aboard.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hands," he said, "here are two of us with a brace +of pistols each. If any one of you six make a signal of +any description, that man's dead."</p> + +<p>They were a good deal taken aback; and, after a little +consultation, one and all tumbled down the fore companion, +thinking, no doubt, to take us on the rear. But +when they saw Redruth waiting for them in the sparred +gallery, they went about ship at once, and a head popped +out again on deck.</p> + +<p>"Down, dog!" cried the captain.</p> + +<p>And the head popped back again, and we heard no +more for the time of these six very faint-hearted seamen.</p> + +<p>By this time, tumbling things in as they came, we had +the jolly-boat loaded as much as we dared. Joyce and I +got out through the stern port, and we made for shore +again, as fast as oars could take us.</p> + +<p>This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along shore. +"Lillibullero" was dropped again, and just before we +lost sight of them behind the little point, one of them +whipped ashore and disappeared. I had half a mind to +change my plan and destroy their boats, but I feared that +Silver and the others might be close at hand, and all might +very well be lost by trying for too much.</p> + +<p>We had soon touched land in the same place as before +and set to work to provision the blockhouse. All three +made the first journey, heavily laden, and tossed our stores +over the palisade. Then, leaving Joyce to guard them—one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +man, to be sure, but with half a dozen muskets—Hunter +and I returned to the jolly-boat, and loaded ourselves +once more. So we proceeded, without pausing to +take breath, till the whole cargo was bestowed, when the +two servants took up their position in the blockhouse, and +I, with all my power, sculled back to the <i>Hispaniola</i>.</p> + +<p>That we should have risked a second boat load seems +more daring than it really was. They had the advantage +of numbers, of course, but we had the advantage of arms. +Not one of the men ashore had a musket, and before they +could get within range for pistol shooting, we flattered +ourselves we should be able to give a good account of a +half dozen at least.</p> + +<p>The squire was waiting for me at the stern window, +all his faintness gone from him. He caught the painter +and made it fast, and we fell to loading the boat for our +very lives. Pork, powder, and biscuit was the cargo, with +only a musket and a cutlass apiece for squire and me and +Redruth and the captain. The rest of the arms and powder +we dropped overboard in two fathoms and a half of water, +so that we could see the bright steel shining far below us +in the sun on the clean, sandy bottom.</p> + +<p>By this time the tide was beginning to ebb, and the ship +was swinging round to her anchor. Voices were heard +faintly halloaing in the direction of the two gigs; and +though this reassured us for Joyce and Hunter, who were +well to the eastward, it warned our party to be off.</p> + +<p>Redruth retreated from his place in the gallery and +dropped into the boat, which we then brought round +to the ship's counter, to be handier for Captain Smollett.</p> + +<p>"Now, men," said he, "do you hear me?"</p> + +<p>There was no answer from the forecastle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's to you, Abraham Gray—it's to you I am +speaking."</p> + +<p>Still no reply.</p> + +<p>"Gray," resumed Mr. Smollett, a little louder, "I am +leaving this ship, and I order you to follow your captain. +I know you are a good man at bottom, and I dare say not +one of the lot of you's as bad as he makes out. I have my +watch here in my hand; I give you thirty seconds to join +me in."</p> + +<p>There was a pause.</p> + +<p>"Come, my fine fellow," continued the captain, "don't +hang so long in stays. I'm risking my life and the lives +of these good gentlemen every second."</p> + +<p>There was a sudden scuffle, a sound of blows, and out +burst Abraham Gray with a knife-cut on the side of the +cheek, and came running to the captain, like a dog to the +whistle.</p> + +<p>"I'm with you, sir," said he.</p> + +<p>And the next moment he and the captain had dropped +aboard of us, and we had shoved off and given way.</p> + +<p>We were clear out of the ship, but not yet ashore in +our stockade.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<small>NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR—THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP</small></h2> + +<p>This fifth trip was quite different from any of the +others. In the first place, the little gallipot of a boat that +we were in was gravely overloaded. Five grown men, and +three of them—Trelawney, Redruth, and the captain—over +six feet high, was already more than she was meant +to carry. Add to that the powder, pork, and the bread-bags. +The gunwale was lipping astern. Several times we +shipped a little water, and my breeches and the tails of +my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a hundred +yards.</p> + +<p>The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to +lie a little more evenly. All the same, we were afraid to +breathe.</p> + +<p>In the second place, the ebb was now making—a strong, +rippling current running westward through the basin, and +then south'ard and seaward down the straits by which we +had entered in the morning. Even the ripples were a +danger to our overloaded craft, but the worst of it was that +we were swept out of our true course, and away from our +proper landing-place behind the point. If we let the current +have its way we should come ashore beside the gigs, +where the pirates might appear at any moment.</p> + +<p>"I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir," said I +to the captain. I was steering, while he and Redruth, two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +fresh men, were at the oars. "The tide keeps washing +her down. Could you pull a little stronger?"</p> + +<p>"Not without swamping the boat," said he. "You must +bear up, sir, if you please—bear up until you see you're +gaining."</p> + +<p>I tried, and found by experiment that the tide kept +sweeping us westward until I had laid her head due east, +or just about right angles to the way we ought to go.</p> + +<p>"We'll never get ashore at this rate," said I.</p> + +<p>"If it's the only course that we can lie, sir, we must +even lie it," returned the captain. "We must keep upstream. +You see, sir," he went on, "if once we dropped +to leeward of the landing-place, it's hard to say where we +should get ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by +the gigs; whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, +and then we can dodge back along the shore."</p> + +<p>"The current's less a'ready, sir," said the man Gray, +who was sitting in the foresheets; "you can ease her off +a bit."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my man," said I, quite as if nothing had +happened, for we had all quietly made up our minds to +treat him like one of ourselves.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I thought his +voice was a little changed.</p> + +<p>"The gun!" said he.</p> + +<p>"I have thought of that," said I, for I made sure he was +thinking of a bombardment of the fort. "They could +never get the gun ashore, and if they did, they could never +haul it through the woods."</p> + +<p>"Look astern, doctor," replied the captain.</p> + +<p>We had entirely forgotten the long nine; and there, to +our horror, were the five rogues busy about her, getting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +off her jacket, as they called the stout tarpaulin cover under +which she sailed. Not only that, but it flashed into my +mind at the same moment that the round shot and the +powder for the gun had been left behind, and a stroke +with an ax would put it all into the possession of the evil +ones aboard.</p> + +<p>"Israel was Flint's gunner," said Gray, hoarsely.</p> + +<p>At any risk, we put the boat's head direct for the landing-place. +By this time we had got so far out of the run +of the current that we kept steerage way even at our +necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I could keep her +steady for the goal. But the worst of it was, that with the +course I now held, we turned our broadside instead of our +stern to the <i>Hispaniola</i>, and offered a target like a barn +door.</p> + +<p>I could hear, as well as see, that brandy-faced rascal, +Israel Hands, plumping down a round shot on the deck.</p> + +<p>"Who's the best shot?" asked the captain.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Trelawney, out and away," said I.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of +those men, sir? Hands, if possible," said the captain.</p> + +<p>Trelawney was as cold as steel. He looked to the priming +of his gun.</p> + +<p>"Now," cried the captain, "easy with that gun, sir, or +you'll swamp the boat. All hands stand by to trim her +when he aims."</p> + +<p>The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and we +leaned over to the other side to keep the balance, and all +was so nicely contrived that we did not ship a drop.</p> + +<div class="figr"><a name="cpe" id="cpe"></a> +<img src="images/012.jpg" width="343" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<div class="td2">Page 125</div><i>They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the swivel</i></div> + +<p>They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the +swivel, and Hands, who was at the muzzle, with the rammer, +was, in consequence, the most exposed. However,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +we had no luck; for just as Trelawney fired, down he +stooped, the ball whistling over him, and it was one of +the other four who fell.</p> + +<p>The cry he gave was echoed, not only by his companions +on board, but by a great number of voices from the shore, +and looking in that direction I saw the other pirates trooping +out from among the trees and tumbling into their +places in the boats.</p> + +<p>"Here come the gigs, sir," said I.</p> + +<p>"Give way, then," said the captain. "We mustn't +mind if we swamp her now. If we can't get ashore, +all's up."</p> + +<p>"Only one of the gigs is being manned, sir," I added; +"the crew of the other is most likely going around by +shore to cut us off."</p> + +<p>"They'll have a hot run, sir," returned the captain. +"Jack ashore, you know. It's not them I mind; it's the +round shot. Carpet bowls! My lady's maid couldn't +miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we'll +hold water."</p> + +<p>In the meantime we had been making headway at a +good pace for a boat so overloaded, and we had shipped +but little water in the process. We were now close in; +thirty or forty strokes and we should beach her, for the +ebb had already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below +the clustering trees. The gig was no longer to be feared; +the little point had already concealed it from our eyes. +The ebb-tide, which had so cruelly delayed us, was now +making reparation, and delaying our assailants. The one +source of danger was the gun.</p> + +<p>"If I durst," said the captain, "I'd stop and pick off +another man."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay +their shot. They had never so much as looked at their +fallen comrade, though he was not dead, and I could +see him trying to crawl away.</p> + +<p>"Ready!" cried the squire.</p> + +<p>"Hold!" cried the captain, quick as an echo.</p> + +<p>And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that +sent her astern bodily under water. The report fell in at +the same instant of time. This was the first that Jim +heard, the sound of the squire's shot not having reached +him. When the ball passed, not one of us precisely knew, +but I fancy it must have been over our heads, and that +the wind of it may have contributed to our disaster.</p> + +<p>At any rate the boat sunk by the stern, quite gently, in +three feet of water, leaving the captain and myself, facing +each other, on our feet. The other three took complete +headers, and came up again, drenched and bubbling.</p> + +<p>So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, +and we could wade ashore in safety. But there were all +our stores at the bottom, and, to make things worse, only +two guns out of five remained in a state for service. Mine +I had snatched from my knees, and held over my head, +by a sort of instinct. As for the captain, he had carried +his over his shoulder by a bandoleer, and, like a wise man, +lock uppermost. The other three had gone down with +the boat. To add to our concern, we heard voices already +drawing near us in the woods along the shore; and we had +not only the danger of being cut off from the stockade in +our half-crippled state, but the fear before us whether, +if Hunter and Joyce were attacked by half a dozen, they +would have the sense and conduct to stand firm. Hunter +was steady, that we knew; Joyce was a doubtful case—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +pleasant, polite man for a valet, and to brush one's +clothes, but not entirely fitted for a man-of-war.</p> + +<p>With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as fast +as we could, leaving behind us the poor jolly-boat, and +a good half of all our powder and provisions.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<small>NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR—END OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING</small></h2> + +<p>We made our best speed across the strip of wood that +now divided us from the stockade, and at every step we +took the voices of the buccaneers rang nearer. Soon we +could hear their footfalls as they ran, and the cracking +of the branches as they breasted across a bit of thicket.</p> + +<p>I began to see we should have a brush for it in earnest, +and looked to my priming.</p> + +<p>"Captain," said I, "Trelawney is the dead shot. Give +him your gun; his own is useless."</p> + +<p>They exchanged guns, and Trelawney, silent and cool, +as he had been since the beginning of the bustle, hung a +moment on his heel to see that all was fit for service. At +the same time, observing Gray to be unarmed, I handed +him my cutlass. It did all our hearts good to see him +spit in his hand, knit his brows, and make the blade sing +through the air. It was plain from every line of his +body that our new hand was worth his salt.</p> + +<p>Forty paces farther we came to the edge of the wood +and saw the stockade in front of us. We struck the +inclosure about the middle of the south side, and, almost +at the same time, seven mutineers—Job Anderson, the +boatswain, at their head—appeared in full cry at the +southwestern corner.</p> + +<p>They paused, as if taken aback, and before they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +recovered, not only the squire and I, but Hunter and Joyce +from the blockhouse, had time to fire.</p> + +<p>The four shots came in rather a scattering volley, but +they did the business; one of the enemy actually fell, +and the rest, without hesitation, turned and plunged into +the trees.</p> + +<p>After reloading we walked down the outside of the +palisade to see to the fallen enemy. He was stone dead—shot +through the heart.</p> + +<p>We began to rejoice over our good success, when just +at that moment a pistol cracked in the bush, a ball whistled +close past my ear and poor Tom Redruth stumbled and +fell his length on the ground. Both the squire and I +returned the shot, but as we had nothing to aim at, it +is probable we only wasted powder. Then we reloaded +and turned our attention to poor Tom.</p> + +<p>The captain and Gray were already examining him, +and I saw with half an eye that all was over.</p> + +<p>I believe the readiness of our return volley had scattered +the mutineers once more, for we were suffered +without further molestation to get the poor old gamekeeper +hoisted over the stockade, and carried, groaning +and bleeding, into the log-house.</p> + +<p>Poor old fellow, he had not uttered one word of surprise, +complaint, fear, or even acquiescence, from the +very beginning of our troubles till now, when we had +laid him down in the log-house to die! He had lain +like a Trojan behind his mattress in the gallery; he had +followed every order silently, doggedly, and well; he +was the oldest of our party by a score of years; and +now, sullen, old, serviceable servant, it was he that was +to die.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> + +<p>The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and +kissed his hand, crying like a child.</p> + +<p>"Be I going, doctor?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Tom, my man," said I, "you're going home."</p> + +<p>"I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first," +he replied.</p> + +<p>"Tom," said the squire, "say you forgive me, won't +you?"</p> + +<p>"Would that be respectful like, from me to you, +squire?" was the answer. "Howsoever, so be it, amen!"</p> + +<p>After a little while of silence he said he thought somebody +might read a prayer. "It's the custom, sir," he +added, apologetically. And not long after, without +another word, he passed away.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the captain, whom I had observed +to be wonderfully swollen about the chest and pockets, +had turned out a great many various stores—the British +colors, a Bible, a coil of stoutish rope, pen, ink, the log-book, +and pounds of tobacco. He had found a longish +fir tree lying felled and cleared in the inclosure, and, +with the help of Hunter, he had set it up at the corner +of the log-house, where the trunks crossed and made an +angle. Then, climbing on the roof, he had with his own +hand bent and run up the colors.</p> + +<p>This seemed mightily to relieve him. He re-entered +the log-house and set about counting up the stores, as +if nothing else existed. But he had an eye on Tom's +passage for all that, and as soon as all was over came +forward with another flag and reverently spread it on +the body.</p> + +<p>"Don't you take on, sir," he said, shaking the squire's +hand. "All's well with him; no fear for a hand that's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +been shot down in his duty to captain and owner. It +mayn't be good divinity, but it's a fact."</p> + +<p>Then he pulled me aside.</p> + +<p>"Doctor Livesey," he said, "in how many weeks do +you and squire expect the consort?"</p> + +<p>I told him it was a question, not of weeks, but of +months; that if we were not back by the end of August +Blandly was to send to find us, but neither sooner nor +later. "You can calculate for yourself," I said.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," returned the captain, scratching his head, +"and making a large allowance, sir, for all the gifts of +Providence, I should say we were pretty close hauled."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It's a pity, sir, we lost that second load. That's what +I mean," replied the captain. "As for powder and shot, +we'll do. But the rations are short, very short—so short, +Doctor Livesey, that we're perhaps as well without that +extra mouth."</p> + +<p>And he pointed to the dead body under the flag.</p> + +<p>Just then, with a roar and a whistle, a round shot +passed high above the roof of the log-house and plumped +far beyond us in the wood.</p> + +<p>"Oho!" said the captain. "Blaze away! You've +little enough powder already, my lads."</p> + +<p>At the second trial the aim was better and the ball +descended inside the stockade, scattering a cloud of sand, +but doing no further damage.</p> + +<p>"Captain," said the squire, "the house is quite invisible +from the ship. It must be the flag they are aiming at. +Would it not be wiser to take it in?"</p> + +<p>"Strike my colors!" cried the captain. "No, sir, not +I," and as soon as he had said the words I think we all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +agreed with him. For it was not only a piece of stout, +seamanly good feeling; it was good policy besides, and +showed our enemies that we despised their cannonade.</p> + +<p>All through the evening they kept thundering away. +Ball after ball flew over or fell short, or kicked up the +sand in the inclosure; but they had to fire so high that +the shot fell dead and buried itself in the soft sand. We +had no ricochet to fear; and though one popped in +through the roof of the log-house and out again through +the floor, we soon got used to that sort of horse-play and +minded it no more than cricket.</p> + +<p>"There is one thing good about all this," observed the +captain; "the wood in front of us is likely clear. The ebb +has made a good while; our stores should be uncovered. +Volunteers to go and bring in pork."</p> + +<p>Gray and Hunter were the first to come forward. Well +armed, they stole out of the stockade, but it proved a +useless mission. The mutineers were bolder than we +fancied, or they put more trust in Israel's gunnery, for +four or five of them were busy carrying off our stores +and wading out with them to one of the gigs that lay +close by, pulling an oar or so to hold her steady against +the current. Silver was in the stern-sheets in command, +and every man of them was now provided with a musket +from some secret magazine of their own.</p> + +<p>The captain sat down to his log, and here is the beginning +of the entry:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Alexander Smollett, master; David Livesey, ship's doctor; Abraham +Gray, carpenter's mate; John Trelawney, owner; John Hunter and +Richard Joyce, owner's servants, landsmen—being all that is left faithful +of the ship's company—with stores for ten days at short rations, came +ashore this day and flew British colors on the log-house in Treasure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +Island. Thomas Redruth, owner's servant, landsman, shot by the mutineers; +James Hawkins, cabin-boy—"</p></div> + +<p>And at the same time I was wondering over poor Jim +Hawkins' fate.</p> + +<p>A hail on the land side.</p> + +<p>"Somebody hailing us," said Hunter, who was on +guard.</p> + +<p>"Doctor! squire! captain! Hallo, Hunter, is that +you?" came the cries.</p> + +<p>And I ran to the door in time to see Jim Hawkins, safe +and sound, come climbing over the stockade.</p> + +<div class="figc" style="width: 399px;"> +<img src="images/013.png" width="399" height="325" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<small>NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS—THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE</small></h2> + +<p>As soon as Ben Gunn saw the colors he came to a +halt, stopped me by the arm and sat down.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, "there's your friends, sure enough."</p> + +<p>"Far more likely it's the mutineers," I answered.</p> + +<p>"That!" he cried. "Why, in a place like this, where +nobody puts in but gen'lemen of fortune, Silver would +fly the Jolly Roger, you don't make no doubt of that. No, +that's your friends. There's been blows, too, and I reckon +your friends has had the best of it; and here they are +ashore in the old stockade, as was made years and years +ago by Flint. Ah, he was the man to have a headpiece, +was Flint! Barring rum, his match was never seen. He +were afraid of none, not he; on'y Silver—Silver was +that genteel."</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "that may be so, and so be it; all the +more reason that I should hurry on and join my friends."</p> + +<p>"Nay, mate," returned Ben, "not you. You're a good +boy, or I'm mistook; but you're on'y a boy, all told. Now +Ben Gunn is fly. Rum wouldn't bring me there, where +you're going—not rum wouldn't, till I see your born +gen'leman, and gets it on his word of honor. And you +won't forget my words: 'A precious sight' (that's what +you'll say), 'a precious sight more confidence'—and +then nips him."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<p>And he pinched me the third time with the same air +of cleverness.</p> + +<p>"And when Ben Gunn is wanted you know where to +find him, Jim. Just where you found him to-day. And +him that comes is to have a white thing in his hand; +and he's to come alone. Oh! and you'll say this: 'Ben +Gunn,' says you, 'has reasons of his own.'"</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "I believe I understand. You have +something to propose, and you wish to see the squire or +the doctor, and you're to be found where I found you. +Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"And when? says you," he added. "Why, from about +noon observation to about six bells."</p> + +<p>"Good," says I, "and now may I go?"</p> + +<p>"You won't forget?" he inquired, anxiously. "Precious +sight, and reasons of his own, says you. Reasons of +his own; that's the mainstay; as between man and man. +Well, then"—still holding me—"I reckon you can +go, Jim. And, Jim, if you was to see Silver, you wouldn't +go for to sell Ben Gunn? wild horses wouldn't draw it +from you? No, says you. And if them pirates came +ashore, Jim, what would you say but there'd be widders +in the morning?"</p> + +<p>Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a cannon +ball came tearing through the trees and pitched in the +sand, not a hundred yards from where we two were talking. +The next moment each of us had taken to our heels +in a different direction.</p> + +<p>For a good hour to come frequent reports shook the +island, and balls kept crashing through the woods. I +moved from hiding-place to hiding-place, always pursued, +or so it seemed to me, by these terrifying missiles. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +toward the end of the bombardment, though still I durst +not venture in the direction of the stockade, where the +balls fell oftenest, I had begun, in a manner, to pluck up +my heart again; and after a long detour to the east, crept +down among the shore-side trees.</p> + +<p>The sun had just set, the sea breeze was rustling and +tumbling in the woods, and ruffling the gray surface of +the anchorage; the tide, too, was far out, and great tracts +of sand lay uncovered; the air, after the heat of the day, +chilled me through my jacket.</p> + +<p>The <i>Hispaniola</i> still lay where she had anchored; but, +sure enough, there was the Jolly Roger—the black flag +of piracy—flying from her peak. Even as I looked there +came another red flash and another report, that sent the +echoes clattering, and one more round shot whistled +through the air. It was the last of the cannonade.</p> + +<p>I lay for some time, watching the bustle which succeeded +the attack. Men were demolishing something +with axes on the beach near the stockade—the poor jolly-boat, +I afterwards discovered. Away, near the mouth +of the river, a great fire was glowing among the trees, and +between that point and the ship one of the gigs kept +coming and going, the men, whom I had seen so gloomy, +shouting at the oars like children. But there was a sound +in their voices which suggested rum.</p> + +<p>At length I thought I might return towards the +stockade. I was pretty far down on the low, sandy spit +that incloses the anchorage to the east, and is joined at +half-water to Skeleton Island; and now, as I rose to my +feet, I saw, some distance farther down the spit, and +rising from among low bushes, an isolated rock, pretty +high, and peculiarly white in color. It occurred to me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +that this might be the white rock of which Ben Gunn +had spoken, and that some day or other a boat might be +wanted, and I should know where to look for one.</p> + +<p>Then I skirted among the woods until I had regained +the rear, or shoreward side, of the stockade, and was soon +warmly welcomed by the faithful party.</p> + +<p>I had soon told my story, and began to look about me. +The log-house was made of unsquared trunks of pine—roof, +walls, and floor. The latter stood in several places +as much as a foot or a foot and a half above the surface +of the sand. There was a porch at the door, and under +this porch the little spring welled up into an artificial +basin of a rather odd kind—no other than a great ship's +kettle of iron, with the bottom knocked out, and sunk +"to her bearings," as the captain said, among the sand.</p> + +<p>Little had been left beside the framework of the house, +but in one corner there was a stone slab laid down by +way of hearth, and an old rusty iron basket to contain +the fire.</p> + +<p>The slopes of the knoll and all the inside of the stockade +had been cleared of timber to build the house, and we +could see by the stumps what a fine and lofty grove had +been destroyed. Most of the soil had been washed away +or buried in drift after the removal of the trees; only +where the streamlet ran down from the kettle a thick +bed of moss and some ferns and little creeping bushes +were still green among the sand. Very close around the +stockade—too close for defense, they said—the wood +still flourished high and dense, all of fir on the land side, +but toward the sea with a large admixture of live-oaks.</p> + +<p>The cold evening breeze, of which I have spoken, +whistled through every chink of the rude building, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +sprinkled the floor with a continual rain of fine sand. +There was sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth, sand in our +suppers, sand dancing in the spring at the bottom of the +kettle, for all the world like porridge beginning to boil. +Our chimney was a square hole in the roof; it was but a +little part of the smoke that found its way out, and the +rest eddied about the house, and kept us coughing and +piping the eye.</p> + +<p>Add to this that Gray, the new man, had his face tied +up in a bandage for a cut he had got in breaking away +from the mutineers; and that poor old Tom Redruth, still +unburied, lay along the wall, stiff and stark, under the +Union Jack.</p> + +<p>If we had been allowed to sit idle, we should all have +fallen in the blues, but Captain Smollett was never the +man for that. All hands were called up before him, and +he divided us into watches. The doctor, and Gray, and +I, for one; the squire, Hunter, and Joyce upon the other. +Tired as we all were, two were sent out for firewood, +two more were sent to dig a grave for Redruth, the doctor +was named cook, I was put sentry at the door, and the +captain himself went from one to another, keeping up +our spirits and lending a hand wherever it was wanted.</p> + +<p>From time to time the doctor came to the door for a +little air and to rest his eyes, which were almost smoked +out of his head, and whenever he did so, he had a word +for me.</p> + +<p>"That man Smollett," he said once, "is a better man +than I am. And when I say that it means a deal, Jim."</p> + +<p>Another time he came and was silent for a while. Then +he put his head on one side, and looked at me.</p> + +<p>"Is this Ben Gunn a man?" he asked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do not know, sir," said I. "I am not very sure +whether he's sane."</p> + +<p>"If there's any doubt about the matter, he is," returned +the doctor. "A man who has been three years biting his +nails on a desert island, Jim, can't expect to appear as +sane as you or me. It doesn't lie in human nature. Was +it cheese you said he had a fancy for?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, cheese," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jim," says he, "just see the good that comes of +being dainty in your food. You've seen my snuff-box, +haven't you? And you never saw me take snuff; the +reason being that in my snuff-box I carry a piece of +Parmesan cheese—a cheese made in Italy, very nutritious. +Well, that's for Ben Gunn!"</p> + +<p>Before supper was eaten we buried old Tom in the +sand, and stood round him for a while bare-headed in the +breeze. A good deal of firewood had been got in, but +not enough for the captain's fancy, and he shook his head +over it, and told us we "must get back to this to-morrow +rather livelier." Then, when we had eaten our pork, +and each had a good stiff glass of brandy grog, the three +chiefs got together in a corner to discuss our prospects.</p> + +<p>It appears they were at their wits' end what to do, the +stores being so low that we must have been starved into +surrender long before help came. But our best hope, it +was decided, was to kill off the buccaneers until they +either hauled down their flag or ran away with the +<i>Hispaniola</i>. From nineteen they were already reduced +to fifteen, two others were wounded, and one, at least—the +man shot beside the gun—severely wounded, if he +were not dead. Every time we had a crack at them, we +were to take it, saving our own lives, with the extremest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +care. And, beside that, we had two able allies—rum +and the climate.</p> + +<p>As for the first, though we were about half a mile away, +we could hear them roaring and singing late into the night; +and as for the second, the doctor staked his wig, that +camped where they were in the marsh, and unprovided +with remedies, the half of them would be on their backs +before a week.</p> + +<p>"So," he added, "if we are not all shot down first, +they'll be glad to be packing in the schooner. It's always +a ship, and they can get to buccaneering again, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"First ship that I ever lost," said Captain Smollett.</p> + +<p>I was dead tired, as you may fancy, and when I got +to sleep, which was not till after a great deal of tossing, +I slept like a log of wood.</p> + +<p>The rest had long been up, and had already breakfasted +and increased the pile of firewood by about half +as much again, when I was awakened by a bustle and the +sound of voices.</p> + +<p>"Flag of truce!" I heard someone say, and then, +immediately after, with a cry of surprise, "Silver himself!"</p> + +<p>And, at that, up I jumped, and, rubbing my eyes, ran +to a loophole in the wall.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<small>SILVER'S EMBASSY</small></h2> + +<p>Sure enough, there were two men just outside the stockade, +one of them waving a white cloth; the other, no less +a person than Silver himself, standing placidly by.</p> + +<p>It was still quite early, and the coldest morning that I +think I ever was abroad in; a chill that pierced into the +marrow. The sky was bright and cloudless overhead, +and the tops of the trees shone rosily in the sun. But +where Silver stood with his lieutenant all was still in +shadow, and they waded knee-deep in a low, white vapor +that had crawled during the night out of the morass. The +chill and the vapor taken together told a poor tale of the +island. It was plainly a damp, feverish, unhealthy spot.</p> + +<p>"Keep indoors, men," said the captain. "Ten to one +this is a trick."</p> + +<p>Then he hailed the buccaneer.</p> + +<p>"Who goes? Stand, or we fire."</p> + +<p>"Flag of truce!" cried Silver.</p> + +<p>The captain was in the porch, keeping himself carefully +out of the way of a treacherous shot, should any be intended. +He turned and spoke to us.</p> + +<p>"Doctor's watch on the lookout. Doctor Livesey, take +the north side, if you please; Jim the east; Gray, west. +The watch below, all hands to load muskets. Lively, men, +and careful."</p> + +<p>And then he turned again to the mutineers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And what do you want with your flag of truce?" he +cried.</p> + +<p>This time it was the other man who replied.</p> + +<p>"Cap'n Silver, sir, to come on board and make terms," +he shouted.</p> + +<p>"Cap'n Silver! Don't know him. Who's he?" cried +the captain. And we could hear him adding to himself: +"Cap'n, is it? My heart, and here's promotion!"</p> + +<p>Long John answered for himself.</p> + +<p>"Me, sir. These poor lads have chosen me cap'n, after +your desertion, sir"—laying a particular emphasis upon +the word "desertion." "We're willing to submit, if we +can come to terms, and no bones about it. All I ask is +your word, Cap'n Smollett, to let me safe and sound out +of this here stockade, and one minute to get out o' shot +before a gun is fired."</p> + +<p>"My man," said Captain Smollett, "I have not the +slightest desire to talk to you. If you wish to talk to +me, you can come, that's all. If there's any treachery, +it'll be on your side, and the Lord help you."</p> + +<p>"That's enough, cap'n," shouted Long John cheerily. +"A word from you's enough. I know a gentleman, and +you may lay to that."</p> + +<p>We could see the man who carried the flag of truce +attempting to hold Silver back. Nor was that wonderful, +seeing how cavalier had been the captain's answer. But +Silver laughed at him aloud, and slapped him on the +back, as if the idea of alarm had been absurd. Then he +advanced to the stockade, threw over his crutch, got a +leg up, and with great vigor and skill succeeded in surmounting +the fence and dropping safely to the other side.</p> + +<p>I will confess that I was far too much taken up with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +what was going on to be of the slightest use as sentry; +indeed, I had already deserted my eastern loophole and +crept up behind the captain, who had now seated himself +on the threshold, with his elbows on his knees, his head +in his hands, and his eyes fixed on the water as it bubbled +out of the old iron kettle in the sand. He was whistling to +himself, "Come, Lasses and Lads."</p> + +<p>Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll. +What with the steepness of the incline, the thick tree-stumps, +and the soft sand, he and his crutch were as +helpless as a ship in stays. But he stuck to it like a +man, in silence, and at last arrived before the captain, +whom he saluted in the handsomest style. He was tricked +out in his best; an immense blue coat, thick with brass +buttons, hung as low as to his knees, and a fine laced hat +was set on the back of his head.</p> + +<p>"Here you are, my man," said the captain, raising his +head. "You had better sit down."</p> + +<p>"You ain't a-going to let me inside, cap'n?" complained +Long John. "It's a main cold morning, to be sure, sir, +to sit outside upon the sand."</p> + +<p>"Why, Silver," said the captain, "if you had pleased +to be an honest man you might have been sitting in your +galley. It's your own doing. You're either my ship's +cook—and then you were treated handsome—or Cap'n +Silver, a common mutineer and pirate, and then you can +go hang!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, cap'n," returned the sea-cook, sitting down +as he was bidden on the sand, "you'll have to give me a +hand up again, that's all. A sweet, pretty place you have +of it here. Ah, there's Jim! The top of the morning to +you, Jim. Doctor, here's my service. Why, there you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +all are together like a happy family, in a manner of +speaking."</p> + +<p>"If you have anything to say, my man, better say it," +said the captain.</p> + +<p>"Right you are, Cap'n Smollett," replied Silver. +"Dooty is dooty, to be sure. Well, now, you look here, +that was a good lay of yours last night. I don't deny it +was a good lay. Some of you pretty handy with a handspike-end. +And I'll not deny neither but what some of +my people was shook—maybe all was shook; maybe I +was shook myself; maybe that's why I'm here for terms. +But you mark me, cap'n, it won't do twice, by thunder! +We'll have to do sentry-go, and ease off a point or so +on the rum. Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the +wind's eye. But I'll tell you I was sober; I was on'y dog +tired; and if I'd awoke a second sooner I'd 'a' caught you +at the act, I would. He wasn't dead when I got round to +him, not he."</p> + +<p>"Well?" says Captain Smollett, as cool as can be.</p> + +<p>All that Silver said was a riddle to him, but you would +never have guessed it from his tone. As for me, I began +to have an inkling. Ben Gunn's last words came back to +my mind. I began to suppose that he had paid the buccaneers +a visit while they all lay drunk together round their +fire, and I reckoned up with glee that we had only fourteen +enemies to deal with.</p> + +<p>"Well, here it is," said Silver. "We want that treasure, +and we'll have it—that's our point! You would just as +soon save your lives, I reckon; and that's yours. You +have a chart, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"That's as may be," replied the captain.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, you have, I know that," returned Long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +John. "You needn't be so husky with a man; there ain't +a particle of service in that, and you may lay to it. What +I mean is, we want your chart. Now, I never meant you +no harm, myself."</p> + +<p>"That won't do with me, my man," interrupted the +captain. "We know exactly what you meant to do, and +we don't care; for now, you see, you can't do it."</p> + +<p>And the captain looked at him calmly, and proceeded +to fill a pipe.</p> + +<p>"If Abe Gray—" Silver broke out.</p> + +<p>"Avast there!" cried Mr. Smollett. "Gray told me +nothing, and I asked him nothing; and what's more, I +would see you and him and this whole island blown clean +out of the water into blazes first. So there's my mind for +you, my man, on that."</p> + +<p>This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver down. +He had been growing nettled before, but now he pulled +himself together.</p> + +<p>"Like enough," said he. "I would set no limits to what +gentlemen might consider shipshape, or might not, as the +case were. And, seein' as how you are about to take a +pipe, cap'n, I'll make so free as do likewise."</p> + +<p>And he filled a pipe and lighted it; and the two men +sat silently smoking for quite a while, now looking each +other in the face, now stopping their tobacco, now leaning +forward to spit. It was as good as the play to see them.</p> + +<p>"Now," resumed Silver, "here it is. You give us the +chart to get the treasure by, and drop shooting poor seamen, +and stoving of their heads in while asleep. You do +that and we'll offer you a choice. Either you come aboard +along of us, once the treasure shipped, and then I'll give +you my affy-davy, upon my word of honor, to clap you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +somewhere safe ashore. Or, if that ain't to your fancy, +some of my hands being rough, and having old scores, on +account of hazing, then you can stay here, you can. We'll +divide stores with you, man for man; and I'll give +my affy-davy, as before, to speak the first ship I sight, and +send 'em here to pick you up. Now you'll own that's +talking. Handsomer you couldn't look to get, not you. +And I hope"—raising his voice—"that all hands in +this here blockhouse will overhaul my words, for what +is spoke to one is spoke to all."</p> + +<p>Captain Smollett rose from his seat and knocked out +the ashes of his pipe in the palm of his left hand.</p> + +<p>"Is that all?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Every last word, by thunder!" answered John. +"Refuse that and you've seen the last of me but musket-balls."</p> + +<p>"Very good," said the captain. "Now you'll hear me. +If you'll come up one by one, unarmed, I'll engage to +clap you all in irons, and to take you home to a fair +trial in England. If you won't, my name is Alexander +Smollett, I've flown my sovereign's colors, and I'll see +you all to Davy Jones. You can't find the treasure. You +can't sail the ship—there's not a man among you fit to +sail the ship. You can't fight us—Gray, there, got away +from five of you. Your ship's in irons, Master Silver; +you're on a lee shore, and so you'll find. I stand here and +tell you so, and they're the last good words you'll get from +me; for, in the name of heaven, I'll put a bullet in your +back when next I meet you. Tramp, my lad. Bundle +out of this, please, hand over hand, and double quick."</p> + +<p>Silver's face was a picture; his eyes started in his head +with wrath. He shook the fire out of his pipe.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Give me a hand up!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Not I," returned the captain.</p> + +<p>"Who'll give me a hand up?" he roared.</p> + +<p>Not a man among us moved. Growling the foulest +imprecations, he crawled along the sand till he got hold +of the porch and could hoist himself again upon his +crutch. Then he spat into the spring.</p> + +<p>"There!" he cried, "that's what I think of ye. Before +an hour's out, I'll stove in your old blockhouse like a rum +puncheon. Laugh, by thunder, laugh! Before an hour's +out, ye'll laugh upon the other side. Them that die'll be +the lucky ones."</p> + +<p>And with a dreadful oath he stumbled off, plowed +down the sand, was helped across the stockade, after +four or five failures, by the man with the flag of truce, +and disappeared in an instant afterward among the trees.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<small>THE ATTACK</small></h2> + +<p>As soon as Silver disappeared, the captain, who had +been closely watching him, turned toward the interior +of the house, and found not a man of us at his post but +Gray. It was the first time we had ever seen him angry.</p> + +<p>"Quarters!" he roared. And then, as we slunk back +to our places, "Gray," he said, "I'll put your name in the +log; you've stood by your duty like a seaman. Mr. Trelawney, +I'm surprised at you, sir. Doctor, I thought you +had worn the king's coat! If that was how you served +at Fontenoy, sir, you'd have been better in your berth."</p> + +<p>The doctor's watch were all back at their loopholes, +the rest were busy loading the spare muskets, and everyone +with a red face, you may be certain, and a flea in his +ear, as the saying is.</p> + +<p>The captain looked on for a while in silence. Then he +spoke.</p> + +<p>"My lads," he said, "I've given Silver a broadside. I +pitched it in red-hot on purpose; and before the hour's +out, as he said, we shall be boarded. We're outnumbered, +I needn't tell you that, but we fight in shelter; and, a minute +ago, I should have said we fought with discipline. I've +no manner of doubt that we can drub them, if you choose."</p> + +<p>Then he went the rounds, and saw, as he said, that all +was clear.</p> + +<p>On the two short sides of the house, east and west, there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +were only two loopholes; on the south side where the +porch was, two again; and on the north side, five. There +was a round score of muskets for the seven of us; the firewood +had been built into four piles—tables, you might +say—one about the middle of each side, and on each of +these tables some ammunition and four loaded muskets +were laid ready to the hand of the defenders. In the +middle, the cutlasses lay ranged.</p> + +<p>"Toss out the fire," said the captain; "the chill is +past, and we mustn't have smoke in our eyes."</p> + +<p>The iron fire basket was carried bodily out by Mr. +Trelawney, and the embers smothered among sand.</p> + +<p>"Hawkins hasn't had his breakfast. Hawkins, help +yourself, and back to your post to eat it," continued Captain +Smollett. "Lively, now, my lad; you'll want it +before you've done. Hunter, serve out a round of brandy +to all hands."</p> + +<p>And while this was going on the captain completed, in +his own mind, the plan of the defense.</p> + +<p>"Doctor, you will take the door," he resumed. "See +and don't expose yourself; keep within, and fire through +the porch. Hunter, take the east side, there. Joyce, you +stand by the west, my man. Mr. Trelawney, you are the +best shot—you and Gray will take this long north side, +with the five loopholes; it's there the danger is. If they +can get up to it, and fire in upon us through our own +ports, things would begin to look dirty. Hawkins, neither +you nor I are much account at the shooting; we'll stand +by to load and bear a hand."</p> + +<p>As the captain had said, the chill was past. As soon +as the sun had climbed above our girdle of trees, it fell +with all its force upon the clearing, and drank up the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +vapors at a draught. Soon the sand was baking, and the +resin melting in the logs of the blockhouse. Jackets and +coats were flung aside; shirts were thrown open at the +neck, and rolled up to the shoulders; and we stood there, +each at his post, in a fever of heat and anxiety.</p> + +<p>An hour passed away.</p> + +<p>"Hang them!" said the captain. "This is as dull as +the doldrums. Gray, whistle for a wind."</p> + +<p>And just at that moment came the first news of the +attack.</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir," said Joyce, "if I see anyone, am +I to fire?"</p> + +<p>"I told you so!" cried the captain.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir," returned Joyce, with the same quiet +civility.</p> + +<p>Nothing followed for a time, but the remark had set +us all on the alert, straining ears and eyes—the musketeers +with their pieces balanced in their hands, the captain out +in the middle of the blockhouse, with his mouth very tight +and a frown on his face.</p> + +<p>So some seconds passed, till suddenly Joyce whipped +up his musket and fired. The report had scarcely died +away ere it was repeated and repeated from without in a +scattering volley, shot behind shot, like a string of geese, +from every side of the inclosure. Several bullets struck +the log-house, but not one entered; and, as the smoke +cleared away and vanished, the stockade and the woods +around it looked as quiet and empty as before. Not a +bough waved, not the gleam of a musket-barrel betrayed +the presence of our foes.</p> + +<p>"Did you hit your man?" asked the captain.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," replied Joyce. "I believe not, sir."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Next best thing to tell the truth," muttered Captain +Smollett. "Load his gun, Hawkins. How many should +you say there were on your side, doctor?"</p> + +<p>"I know precisely," said Doctor Livesey. "Three shots +were fired on this side. I saw the three flashes—two close +together—one farther to the west."</p> + +<p>"Three!" repeated the captain. "And how many on +yours, Mr. Trelawney?"</p> + +<p>But this was not so easily answered. There had come +many from the north—seven, by the squire's computation; +eight or nine, according to Gray. From the east +and west only a single shot had been fired. It was plain, +therefore, that the attack would be developed from the +north, and that on the other three sides we were only to +be annoyed by a show of hostilities. But Captain Smollett +made no change in his arrangements. If the mutineers +succeeded in crossing the stockade, he argued, they would +take possession of any unprotected loophole, and shoot us +down like rats in our own stronghold.</p> + +<p>Nor had we much time left to us for thought. Suddenly, +with a loud huzza, a little cloud of pirates leaped +from the woods on the north side, and ran straight on the +stockade. At the same moment, the fire was once more +opened from the woods, and a rifle-ball sang through the +doorway, and knocked the doctor's musket into bits.</p> + +<p>The boarders swarmed over the fence, like monkeys. +Squire and Gray fired again and yet again; three men +fell, one forward into the inclosure, two back on the outside. +But of these, one was evidently more frightened +than hurt, for he was on his feet again in a crack, and +instantly disappeared among the trees.</p> + +<p>Two had bit the dust, one had fled, four had made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +good their footing inside our defenses; while from the +shelter of the woods seven or eight men, each evidently +supplied with several muskets, kept up a hot though useless +fire on the log-house.</p> + +<div class="figr" style="width: 346px;"><a name="cpf" id="cpf"></a> +<img src="images/014.jpg" width="346" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<div class="td2">Page 153</div><i>In a moment the four pirates had swarmed up the mound and were upon us</i></div> + +<p>The four who had boarded made straight before them +for the building, shouting as they ran, and the men among +the trees shouted back to encourage them. Several shots +were fired, but such was the hurry of the marksmen, that +not one appeared to have taken effect. In a moment the +four pirates had swarmed up the mound and were upon us.</p> + +<p>The head of Job Anderson, the boatswain, appeared at +the middle loophole.</p> + +<p>"At 'em, all hands—all hands!" he roared, in a voice +of thunder.</p> + +<p>At the same moment another pirate grasped Hunter's +musket by the muzzle, wrenched it from his hands, +plucked it through the loophole, and, with one stunning +blow, laid the poor fellow senseless on the floor. Meanwhile +a third, running unharmed all round the house, +appeared suddenly in the doorway, and fell with his cutlass +on the doctor.</p> + +<p>Our position was utterly reversed. A moment since we +were firing, under cover, at an exposed enemy; now it +was we who lay uncovered, and could not return a blow.</p> + +<p>The log-house was full of smoke, to which we owed our +comparative safety. Cries and confusion, the flashes and +reports of pistol-shots, and one loud groan, rang in my ears.</p> + +<p>"Out, lads, out and fight 'em in the open! Cutlasses!" +cried the captain.</p> + +<p>I snatched a cutlass from the pile, and someone, at the +same time snatching another, gave me a cut across the +knuckles which I hardly felt. I dashed out of the door<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +into the clear sunlight. Someone was close behind, I +knew not whom. Right in front, the doctor was pursuing +his assailant down the hill, and, just as my eyes fell +upon him, beat down his guard, and sent him sprawling +on his back, with a great slash across his face.</p> + +<p>"Round the house, lads! round the house!" cried the +captain, and even in the hurly-burly I perceived a change +in his voice.</p> + +<p>Mechanically I obeyed, turned eastward, and, with my +cutlass raised, ran round the corner of the house. Next +moment I was face to face with Anderson. He roared +aloud, and his hanger went up above his head, flashing in +the sunlight. I had not time to be afraid, but, as the +blow still hung impending, leaped in a trice upon one side, +and missing my footing in the soft sand, rolled headlong +down the slope.</p> + +<p>When I had first sallied from the door, the other mutineers +had been already swarming up the palisade to make +an end of us. One man, in a red nightcap, with his cutlass +in his mouth, had even got upon the top and thrown a leg +across. Well, so short had been the interval, that when I +found my feet again all was in the same posture, the fellow +with the red nightcap still halfway over, another still +just showing his head above the top of the stockade. And +yet, in this breath of time, the fight was over, and the +victory ours.</p> + +<p>Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the +big boatswain ere he had time to recover from his lost +blow. Another had been shot at a loophole in the very +act of firing into the house, and now lay in agony, the +pistol still smoking in his hand. A third, as I had seen, +the doctor had disposed of at a blow. Of the four who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +had scaled the palisade, one only remained unaccounted +for, and he, having left his cutlass on the field, was now +clambering out again with the fear of death upon him.</p> + +<p>"Fire—fire from the house!" cried the doctor. "And +you, lads, back into cover."</p> + +<p>But his words were unheeded, no shot was fired, and +the last boarder made good his escape and disappeared +with the rest into the wood. In three seconds nothing +remained of the attacking party but the five who had +fallen, four on the inside and one on the outside of the +palisade.</p> + +<p>The doctor and Gray and I ran full speed for shelter. +The survivors would soon be back where they had left +their muskets, and at any moment the fire might recommence.</p> + +<p>The house was by this time somewhat cleared of smoke, +and we saw at a glance the price we had paid for victory. +Hunter lay beside his loophole, stunned; Joyce by his, shot +through the head, never to move again; while right in +the center the squire was supporting the captain, one as +pale as the other.</p> + +<p>"The captain's wounded," said Mr. Trelawney.</p> + +<p>"Have they run?" asked Mr. Smollett.</p> + +<p>"All that could, you may be bound," returned the doctor; +"but there's five of them will never run again."</p> + +<p>"Five!" cried the captain. "Come, that's better. Five +against three leaves us four to nine. That's better odds +than we had at starting. We were seven to nineteen then, +or thought we were, and that's as bad to bear."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The mutineers were soon only eight in number, for the man shot by +Mr. Trelawney on board the schooner died that same evening of his +wound. But this was, of course, not known till after by the faithful +party.</p></div> + +<hr /> +<h2><small>PART V</small><br /> +MY SEA ADVENTURE</h2> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<small>HOW MY SEA ADVENTURE BEGAN</small></h2> + +<p>There was no return of the mutineers—not so much +as another shot out of the woods. They had "got their +rations for that day," as the captain put it, and we had +the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul the +wounded and get dinner. Squire and I cooked outside, +in spite of the danger, and even outside we could hardly +tell what we were at, for the horror of the loud groans that +reached us from the doctor's patients.</p> + +<p>Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action only +three still breathed—that one of the pirates who had +been shot at the loophole, Hunter, and Captain Smollett—and +of these the first two were as good as dead; the +mutineer, indeed, died under the doctor's knife, and Hunter, +do what we could, never recovered consciousness in +this world. He lingered all day, breathing loudly like +the old buccaneer at home in his apoplectic fit; but the +bones of his chest had been crushed by the blow and his +skull fractured in falling, and some time in the following +night, without sign or sound, he went to his Maker.</p> + +<p>As for the captain, his wounds were grievous indeed, +but not dangerous. No organ was fatally injured. Anderson's +ball—for it was Job that shot him first—had +broken his shoulder-blade and touched the lung, not +badly; the second had only torn and displaced some muscles +in the calf. He was sure to recover, the doctor said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +but in the meantime, and for weeks to come, he must not +walk nor move his arm, nor so much as speak when he +could help it.</p> + +<p>My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a flea-bite. +Doctor Livesey patched it up with plaster, and +pulled my ears for me into the bargain.</p> + +<p>After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the captain's +side awhile in consultation; and when they had +talked to their heart's content, it being then a little past +noon, the doctor took up his hat and pistols, girt on a +cutlass, put the chart in his pocket, and with a musket +over his shoulder, crossed the palisade on the north side +and set off briskly through the trees.</p> + +<p>Gray and I were sitting together at the far end of the +blockhouse, to be out of earshot of our officers, consulting, +and Gray took his pipe out of his mouth and fairly forgot +to put it back again, so thunderstruck he was at this +occurrence.</p> + +<p>"Why, in the name of Davy Jones," said he, "is Doctor +Livesey mad?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no," says I. "He's about the last of this crew +for that, I take it."</p> + +<p>"Well, shipmate," said Gray, "mad he may not be, +but if <i>he's</i> not, mark my words, <i>I</i> am."</p> + +<p>"I take it," replied I, "the doctor has his idea, and if +I am right, he's going now to see Ben Gunn."</p> + +<p>I was right, as appeared later; but in the meantime, +the house being stifling hot, and the little patch of sand +inside the palisade ablaze with midday sun, I began to +get another thought into my head which was not by any +means so right. What I began to do was to envy the doctor, +walking in the cool shadow of the woods, with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +birds about him and the pleasant smell of the pines, while +I sat grilling, with my clothes stuck to the hot resin, and +so much blood about me, and so many poor dead bodies +lying all around, that I took a disgust of the place that +was almost as strong as fear.</p> + +<p>All the time I was washing out the blockhouse, and +then washing up the things from dinner, this disgust and +envy kept growing stronger and stronger, till at last, being +near a bread-bag, and no one then observing me, I took +the first step toward my escapade and filled both pockets +of my coat with biscuit.</p> + +<p>I was a fool, if you like, and certainly I was going to +do a foolish, over-bold act, but I was determined to do it +with all the precautions in my power. These biscuits, +should anything befall me, would keep me at least from +starving till far on in the next day.</p> + +<p>The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols, +and as I already had a powder-horn and bullets, I felt +myself well supplied with arms.</p> + +<p>As for the scheme I had in my head, it was not a bad +one in itself. It was to go down the sandy spit that divides +the anchorage on the east from the open sea, find the +white rock I had observed last evening, and ascertain +whether it was there or not that Ben Gunn had hidden +his boat—a thing quite worth doing, as I still believe. +But as I was certain I should not be allowed to leave the +inclosure, my only plan was to take French leave and slip +out when nobody was watching, and that was so bad a +way of doing it as made the thing itself wrong. But I +was only a boy and I had made my mind up.</p> + +<p>Well, as things at last fell out, I found an admirable +opportunity. The squire and Gray were busy helping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +the captain with his bandages; the coast was clear; I made +a bolt for it over the stockade and into the thickest of the +trees, and before my absence was observed I was out of +cry of my companions.</p> + +<p>This was my second folly, far worse than the first, as +I left but two sound men to guard the house; but, like +the first, it was a help toward saving all of us.</p> + +<p>I took my way straight for the east coast of the island, +for I was determined to go down the seaside of the spit +to avoid all chance of observation from the anchorage. It +was already late in the afternoon, although still warm +and sunny. As I continued to thread the tall woods I +could hear from far before me not only the continuous +thunder of the surf, but a certain tossing of foliage and +grinding of boughs which showed me the sea breeze set +in higher than usual. Soon cool draughts of air began to +reach me, and a few steps farther I came forth into the +open borders of the grove and saw the sea lying blue and +sunny to the horizon and the surf tumbling and tossing its +foam along the beach.</p> + +<p>I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure Island. +The sun might blaze overhead, the air be without a breath, +the surface smooth and blue, but still these great rollers +would be running along all the external coast, thundering +and thundering by day and night, and I scarce believe +there is one spot in the island where a man would be out +of earshot of their noise.</p> + +<p>I walked along beside the surf with great enjoyment, +till, thinking I was now got far enough to the south, I took +the cover of some thick bushes and crept warily up to the +ridge of the spit.</p> + +<p>Behind me was the sea; in front, the anchorage. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +sea-breeze, as though it had the sooner blown itself out +by its unusual violence, was already at an end; it had been +succeeded by light, variable airs from the south and southeast, +carrying great banks of fog; and the anchorage, under +lee of Skeleton Island, lay still and leaden as when first +we entered it. The <i>Hispaniola</i>, in that unbroken mirror, +was exactly portrayed from the truck to the water-line, the +Jolly Roger hanging from her peak.</p> + +<p>Alongside lay one of the gigs, Silver in the stern-sheets—him +I could always recognize—while a couple of +men were leaning over the stern bulwarks, one of them +with a red cap—the very rogue that I had seen some hours +before stride-legs upon the palisade. Apparently they +were talking and laughing, though at that distance—upward +of a mile—I could of course hear no word of what +was said.</p> + +<p>All at once there began the most horrid, unearthly +screaming, which at first startled me badly, though I had +soon remembered the voice of Captain Flint, and even +thought I could make out the bird by her bright plumage +as she sat perched upon her master's wrist.</p> + +<p>Soon after the jolly-boat shoved off and pulled for +shore, and the man with the red cap and his comrade went +below by the cabin companion.</p> + +<p>Just about the same time the sun had gone down behind +the Spy-glass, and as the fog was collecting rapidly, it +began to grow dark in earnest. I saw I must lose no time +if I were to find the boat that evening.</p> + +<p>The white rock, visible enough above the brush, was +still some eighth of a mile farther down the spit, and it +took me a goodish while to get up with it, crawling, often +on all-fours, among the scrub. Night had almost come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +when I laid my hand on its rough sides. Right below +it there was an exceedingly small hollow of green turf, +hidden by banks and a thick underwood about knee-deep, +that grew there very plentifully; and in the center of the +dell, sure enough, a little tent of goat-skins, like what the +gypsies carry about with them in England.</p> + +<p>I dropped into the hollow, lifted the side of the tent, +and there was Ben Gunn's boat—homemade if ever anything +was homemade—a rude, lopsided framework of +tough wood, and stretched upon that a covering of goat-skin, +with the hair inside. The thing was extremely small, +even for me, and I can hardly imagine that it could have +floated with a full-sized man. There was one thwart set +as low as possible, a kind of stretcher in the bows, and +a double paddle for propulsion.</p> + +<p>I had not then seen a coracle, such as the ancient +Britons made, but I have seen one since, and I can give +you no fairer idea of Ben Gunn's boat than by saying it +was like the first and the worst coracle ever made by man. +But the great advantage of the coracle it certainly possessed, +for it was exceedingly light and portable.</p> + +<p>Well, now that I had found the boat, you would have +thought I had had enough of truantry for once; but in +the meantime I had taken another notion, and become so +obstinately fond of it that I would have carried it out, I +believe, in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself. This +was to slip out under cover of the night, cut the <i>Hispaniola</i> +adrift, and let her go ashore where she fancied. I had +quite made up my mind that the mutineers, after their +repulse of the morning, had nothing nearer their hearts +than to up anchor and away to sea; this, I thought, it would +be a fine thing to prevent, and now that I had seen how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +they left their watchman unprovided with a boat, I +thought it might be done with little risk.</p> + +<p>Down I sat to wait for darkness, and made a hearty +meal of biscuit. It was a night out of ten thousand for +my purpose. The fog had now buried all heaven. As +the last rays of daylight dwindled and disappeared, absolute +blackness settled down on Treasure Island. And +when, at last, I shouldered the coracle, and groped my +way stumblingly out of the hollow where I had supped, +there were but two points visible on the whole anchorage.</p> + +<p>One was the great fire on shore, by which the defeated +pirates lay carousing in the swamp. The other, a mere +blur of light upon the darkness, indicated the position of +the anchored ship. She had swung round to the ebb—her +bow was now toward me—the only lights on board +were in the cabin; and what I saw was merely a reflection +on the fog of the strong rays that flowed from the stern +window.</p> + +<p>The ebb had already run some time, and I had to wade +through a long belt of swampy sand, where I sank several +times above the ankle, before I came to the edge of the +retreating water, and wading a little way in, with some +strength and dexterity, set my coracle, keel downward, on +the surface.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<small>THE EBB-TIDE RUNS</small></h2> + +<p>The coracle—as I had ample reason to know before I +was done with her—was a very safe boat for a person of +my height and weight, both buoyant and clever in a sea-way; +but she was the most cross-grained, lopsided craft +to manage. Do as you pleased, she always made more +leeway than anything else, and turning round and round +was the maneuver she was best at. Even Ben Gunn himself +has admitted that she was "queer to handle till you +knew her way."</p> + +<p>Certainly I did not know her way. She turned in +every direction but the one I was bound to go; the most +part of the time we were broadside on, and I am very +sure I never should have made the ship at all but for the +tide. By good fortune, paddle as I pleased, the tide was +still sweeping me down; and there lay the <i>Hispaniola</i> +right in the fairway, hardly to be missed.</p> + +<p>First she loomed before me like a blot of something +yet blacker than darkness, then her spars and hull began +to take shape, and the next moment, as it seemed (for the +further I went the brisker grew the current of the ebb), +I was alongside of her hawser, and had laid hold.</p> + +<p>The hawser was as taut as a bowstring and the current +so strong she pulled upon her anchor. All round the +hull, in the blackness, the rippling current bubbled and +chattered like a little mountain stream. One cut with my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +sea gully, and the <i>Hispaniola</i> would go humming down +the tide.</p> + +<p>So far so good; but it next occurred to my recollection +that a taut hawser, suddenly cut, is a thing as dangerous +as a kicking horse. Ten to one, if I were so foolhardy +as to cut the <i>Hispaniola</i> from her anchor, I and the coracle +would be knocked clean out of the water.</p> + +<p>This brought me to a full stop, and if fortune had not +again particularly favored me, I should have had to +abandon my design. But the light airs which had begun +blowing from the southeast and south had hauled round +after nightfall into the southwest. Just while I was meditating, +a puff came, caught the <i>Hispaniola</i>, and forced +her up into the current; and, to my great joy, I felt the +hawser slacken in my grasp, and the hand by which I +held it dip for a second under water.</p> + +<p>With that I made my mind up, took out my gully, +opened it with my teeth, and cut one strand after another, +till the vessel swung only by two. Then I lay quiet, waiting +to sever these last when the strain should be once +more lightened by a breath of wind.</p> + +<p>All this time I had heard the sound of loud voices from +the cabin; but, to say truth, my mind had been so entirely +taken up with other thoughts that I had scarcely given +ear. Now, however, when I had nothing else to do, I +began to pay more heed.</p> + +<p>One I recognized for the coxswain's, Israel Hands, +that had been Flint's gunner in former days. The other +was, of course, my friend of the red nightcap. Both men +were plainly the worse of drink, and they were still drinking; +for, even while I was listening, one of them, with a +drunken cry, opened the stern window and threw out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +something, which I divined to be an empty bottle. But +they were not only tipsy; it was plain that they were +furiously angry. Oaths flew like hailstones, and every +now and then there came forth such an explosion as I +thought was sure to end in blows. But each time the +quarrel passed off, and the voices grumbled lower for +a while, until the next crisis came, and, in its turn, passed +away without result.</p> + +<p>On shore, I could see the glow of the great camp fire +burning warmly through the shore-side trees. Someone +was singing a dull, old droning sailor's song, with a droop +and a quaver at the end of every verse, and seemingly +no end to it at all but the patience of the singer. I had +heard it on the voyage more than once, and remembered +these words:</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But one man of the crew alive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What put to sea with seventy-five."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully appropriate +for a company that had met such cruel losses in +the morning. But, indeed, from what I saw, all these +buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed on.</p> + +<p>At last the breeze came; the schooner sidled and drew +nearer in the dark; I felt the hawser slacken once more, +and with a good, tough effort, cut the last fibers through.</p> + +<p>The breeze had but little action on the coracle, and I +was almost instantly swept against the bows of the <i>Hispaniola</i>. +At the same time the schooner began to turn +upon her heel, spinning slowly, end for end, across the +current.</p> + +<p>I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every moment +to be swamped; and since I found I could not push the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +coracle directly off, I now shoved straight astern. At +length I was clear of my dangerous neighbor, and just +as I gave the last impulsion, my hands came across a +light cord that was trailing overboard across the stern +bulwarks. Instantly I grasped it.</p> + +<p>Why I should have done so I can hardly say. It was +at first mere instinct, but once I had it in my hands and +found it fast, curiosity began to get the upper hand, and +I determined I should have one look through the cabin +window.</p> + +<p>I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and, when I +judged myself near enough, rose at infinite risk to about +half my height, and thus commanded the roof and a slice +of the interior of the cabin.</p> + +<p>By this time the schooner and her little consort were +gliding pretty swiftly through the water; indeed, we had +already fetched up level with the camp fire. The ship +was talking, as sailors say, loudly, treading the innumerable +ripples with an incessant weltering splash; and +until I got my eye above the window sill I could not comprehend +why the watchmen had taken no alarm. One +glance, however, was sufficient; and it was only one +glance that I durst take from that unsteady skiff. It +showed me Hands and his companion locked together +in deadly wrestle, each with a hand upon the other's +throat.</p> + +<p>I dropped upon the thwart again, none too soon, for I +was near overboard. I could see nothing for the moment +but these two furious, encrimsoned faces, swaying together +under the smoky lamp; and I shut my eyes to let them +grow once more familiar with the darkness.</p> + +<p>The endless ballad had come to an end at last, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +whole diminished company about the camp fire had broken +into the chorus I had heard so often:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink and the devil had done for the rest—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were +at that very moment in the cabin of the <i>Hispaniola</i>, when +I was surprised by a sudden lurch of the coracle. At the +same moment she yawed sharply and seemed to change +her course. The speed in the meantime had strangely +increased.</p> + +<p>I opened my eyes at once. All around me were little +ripples, combing over with a sharp, bristling sound and +slightly phosphorescent. The <i>Hispaniola</i> herself, a few +yards in whose wake I was still being whirled along, +seemed to stagger in her course, and I saw her spars toss +a little against the blackness of the night; nay, as I looked +longer, I made sure she also was wheeling to the southward.</p> + +<p>I glanced over my shoulder and my heart jumped +against my ribs. There, right behind me, was the glow +of the camp fire. The current had turned at right angles, +sweeping round along with it the tall schooner and the +little dancing coracle; ever quickening, ever bubbling +higher, ever muttering louder, it went spinning through +the narrows for the open sea.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the schooner in front of me gave a violent +yaw, turning, perhaps, through twenty degrees; and almost +at the same moment one shout followed another from +on board. I could hear feet pounding on the companion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +ladder, and I knew that the two drunkards had at last +been interrupted in their quarrel and awakened to a sense +of their disaster.</p> + +<p>I lay down flat in the bottom of that wretched skiff +and devoutly recommended my spirit to its Maker. At +the end of the straits I made sure we must fall into some +bar of raging breakers, where all my troubles would be +ended speedily; and though I could perhaps bear to die, +I could not bear to look upon my fate as it approached.</p> + +<p>So I must have lain for hours, continually beaten to +and fro upon the billows, now and again wetted with +flying sprays, and never ceasing to expect death at the next +plunge. Gradually weariness grew upon me; a numbness, +an occasional stupor, fell upon my mind even in the midst +of my terrors, until sleep at last intervened, and in my +sea-tossed coracle I lay and dreamed of home and the old +"Admiral Benbow."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<small>THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE</small></h2> + +<p>It was broad day when I awoke and found myself +tossing at the southwest end of Treasure Island. The sun +was up, but was still hid from me behind the great bulk +of the Spy-glass, which on this side descended almost to +the sea in formidable cliffs.</p> + +<p>Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at my +elbow, the hill bare and dark, the head bound with cliffs +forty or fifty feet high and fringed with great masses of +fallen rock. I was scarce a quarter of a mile to seaward, +and it was my first thought to paddle in and land.</p> + +<p>That notion was soon given over. Among the fallen +rocks the breakers spouted and bellowed; loud reverberations, +heavy sprays flying and falling, succeeded one +another from second to second; and I saw myself, if I +ventured nearer, dashed to death upon the rough shore +or spending my strength in vain to scale the beetling crags.</p> + +<p>Nor was that all, for crawling together on flat tables +of rock, or letting themselves drop into the sea with loud +reports, I beheld huge slimy monsters—soft snails, as +it were, of incredible bigness—two or three score of them +together, making the rocks to echo with their barkings.</p> + +<p>I have understood since that they were sea lions, and +entirely harmless. But the look of them, added to the +difficulty of the shore and the high running of the surf,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +was more than enough to disgust me of that landing-place. +I felt willing rather to starve at sea than to confront +such perils.</p> + +<p>In the meantime I had a better chance, as I supposed, +before me. North of Haulbowline Head the land runs +in a long way, leaving, at low tide, a long stretch of +yellow sand. To the north of that, again, there comes +another cape—Cape of the Woods, as it was marked +upon the chart—buried in tall green pines, which +descended to the margin of the sea.</p> + +<p>I remembered what Silver had said about the current +that sets northward along the whole west coast of Treasure +Island; and seeing from my position that I was already +under its influence, I preferred to leave Haulbowline +Head behind me, and reserve my strength for an attempt +to land upon the kindlier-looking Cape of the Woods.</p> + +<p>There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. The +wind blowing steady and gentle from the south, there +was no contrariety between that and the current, and the +billows rose and fell unbroken.</p> + +<p>Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have perished; +but as it was, it is surprising how easily and securely my +little and light boat could ride. Often, as I still lay at +the bottom, and kept no more than an eye above the gunwale, +I would see a big blue summit heaving close above +me; yet the coracle would but bounce a little, dance as +if on springs, and subside on the other side into the trough +as lightly as a bird.</p> + +<p>I began after a little to grow very bold, and sat up to +try my skill at paddling. But even a small change in +the disposition of the weight will produce violent changes +in the behavior of a coracle. And I had hardly moved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +before the boat, giving up at once her gentle, dancing +movement, ran straight down a slope of water so steep +that it made me giddy, and struck her nose, with a spout +of spray, deep into the side of the next wave.</p> + +<p>I was drenched and terrified, and fell instantly back +into my old position, whereupon the coracle seemed to +find her head again, and led me softly as before among +the billows. It was plain she was not to be interfered +with, and at that rate, since I could in no way influence +her course, what hope had I left of reaching land?</p> + +<p>I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, +for all that. First, moving with all care, I gradually +bailed out the coracle with my sea cap; then getting my +eye once more above the gunwale, I set myself to study +how it was she managed to slip so quietly through the +rollers.</p> + +<p>I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth, glossy +mountain it looks from shore, or from a vessel's deck, +was for all the world like any range of hills on the dry +land, full of peaks and smooth places and valleys. The +coracle, left to herself, turning from side to side, threaded, +so to speak, her way through these lower parts, and +avoided the steep slopes and higher toppling summits of +the wave.</p> + +<p>"Well, now," thought I to myself, "it is plain I must +lie where I am, and not disturb the balance; but it is plain, +also, that I can put the paddle over the side, and from +time to time, in smooth places, give her a shove or two +towards land." No sooner thought upon than done. +There I lay on my elbows, in the most trying attitude, and +every now and again gave a weak stroke or two to turn +her head to shore.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was very tiring and slow work, yet I did visibly gain +ground; and, as we drew near the Cape of the Woods, +though I saw I must infallibly miss that point, I had still +made some hundred yards of easting. I was, indeed, close +in. I could see the cool, green tree-tops swaying together +in the breeze, and I felt sure I should make the next +promontory without fail.</p> + +<p>It was high time, for I now began to be tortured with +thirst. The glow of the sun from above, its thousand-fold +reflection from the waves, the sea water that fell and +dried upon me, caking my very lips with salt, combined +to make my throat burn and my brain ache. The sight +of the trees so near at hand had almost made me sick with +longing; but the current had soon carried me past the +point; and, as the next reach of sea opened out, I beheld +a sight that changed the nature of my thoughts.</p> + +<p>Right in front of me, not half a mile away, I beheld +the <i>Hispaniola</i> under sail. I made sure, of course, that +I should be taken, but I was so distressed for want of +water, that I scarce knew whether to be glad or sorry at +the thought; and, long before I had come to a conclusion, +surprise had taken possession of my mind, and I could +do nothing but stare and wonder.</p> + +<p>The <i>Hispaniola</i> was under her mainsail and two jibs, +and the beautiful white canvas shone in the sun like snow +or silver. When I first sighted her, all her sails were +drawing, she was laying a course about northwest, and +I presumed the men on board were going round the +island on their way back to the anchorage. Presently she +began to fetch more and more to the westward, so that +I thought they had sighted me and were going about in +chase. At last, however, she fell right into the wind's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +eye, was taken dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, +with her sails shivering.</p> + +<p>"Clumsy fellows," said I, "they must still be drunk +as owls." And I thought how Captain Smollett would +have set them skipping.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off, and filled +again upon another tack, sailed swiftly for a minute or +so, and brought up once more dead in the wind's eye. +Again and again was this repeated. To and fro, up and +down, north, south, east, and west, the <i>Hispaniola</i> sailed +by swoops and dashes, and at each repetition ended as +she had begun, with idly flapping canvas. It became +plain to me that nobody was steering. And, if so, where +were the men? Either they were dead drunk, or had +deserted her, I thought, and perhaps if I could get on +board, I might return the vessel to her captain.</p> + +<p>The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward +at an equal rate. As for the latter's sailing, it was +so wild and intermittent, and she hung each time so long +in irons, that she certainly gained nothing, if she did not +even lose. If I only dared to sit up and paddle, I made +sure that I could overhaul her. The scheme had an air +of adventure that inspired me, and the thought of the +water breaker beside the fore companion doubled my +growing courage.</p> + +<p>Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by another +cloud of spray, but this time stuck to my purpose and +set myself with all my strength and caution to paddle +after the unsteered <i>Hispaniola</i>. Once I shipped a sea +so heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heart fluttering +like a bird, but gradually I got into the way of the +thing and guided my coracle among the waves, with only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +now and then a blow upon her bows and a dash of foam +in my face.</p> + +<p>I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner. I could +see the brass glisten on the tiller as it banged about, and +still no soul appeared upon her decks. I could not choose +but suppose she was deserted. If not, the men were lying +drunk below, where I might batten them down, perhaps, +and do what I chose with the ship.</p> + +<p>For some time she had been doing the worst thing +possible for me—standing still. She headed nearly due +south, yawing, of course, all the time. Each time she +fell off her sails partly filled, and these brought her, in +a moment, right to the wind again. I have said this was +the worst thing possible for me; for, helpless as she looked +in this situation, with the canvas crackling like cannon, +and the blocks trundling and banging on the deck, she +still continued to run away from me, not only with the +speed of the current, but by the whole amount of her +leeway, which was naturally great.</p> + +<p>But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell, +for some seconds, very low, and the current gradually +turning her, the <i>Hispaniola</i> revolved slowly round her +center and at last presented me her stern, with the cabin +window still gaping open and the lamp over the table +still burning on into the day. The mainsail hung drooped +like a banner. She was stock-still but for the current.</p> + +<p>For the last little while I had even lost, but now, +redoubling my efforts, I began once more to overhaul the +chase.</p> + +<p>I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind +came again in a clap; she filled on the port tack and was +off again, stooping and skimming like a swallow.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>My first impulse was one of despair, but my second was +towards joy. Round she came, till she was broadside +on to me—round still till she had covered a half, and +then two-thirds, and then three-quarters of the distance +that separated us. I could see the waves boiling white +under her forefoot. Immensely tall she looked to me +from my low station in the coracle.</p> + +<p>And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I had +scarce time to think—scarce time to act and save myself. +I was on the summit of one swell when the schooner came +stooping over the next. The bowsprit was over my head. +I sprang to my feet and leaped, stamping the coracle under +water. With one hand I caught the jib-boom, while my +foot was lodged between the stay and the brace, and as I +still clung there panting, a dull blow told me that the +schooner had charged down upon and struck the coracle +and that I was left without retreat on the <i>Hispaniola</i>.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<small>I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER</small></h2> + +<p>I had scarce gained a position on the bowsprit when +the flying jib flapped and filled upon the other tack with +a report like a gun. The schooner trembled to her keel +under the reverse, but next moment, the other sails still +drawing, the jib flapped back again and hung idle.</p> + +<p>This had nearly tossed me off into the sea, and now I +lost no time, crawled back along the bowsprit and tumbled +headforemost on the deck.</p> + +<p>I was on the lee side of the forecastle, and the mainsail, +which was still drawing, concealed from me a certain +portion of the after-deck. Not a soul was to be seen. The +planks, which had not been swabbed since the mutiny, +bore the print of many feet; and an empty bottle, broken +by the neck, tumbled to and fro like a live thing in the +scuppers.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the <i>Hispaniola</i> came right into the wind. +The jibs behind me cracked aloud; the rudder slammed +to; the whole ship gave a sickening heave and shudder; +and at the same moment the main-boom swung inboard, +the sheet groaning in the blocks, and showed me the lee +after-deck.</p> + +<p>There were the two watchmen, sure enough; Red-cap +on his back, as stiff as a handspike, with his arms stretched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +out like those of a crucifix, and his teeth showing through +his open lips; Israel Hands propped against the bulwarks, +his chin on his chest, his hands lying open before him on +the deck, his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow +candle.</p> + +<p>For a while the ship kept bucking and sidling like a +vicious horse, the sails filling, now on one tack, now on +another, and the boom swinging to and fro till the mast +groaned aloud under the strain. Now and again, too, +there would come a cloud of light sprays over the bulwark, +and a heavy blow of the ship's bows against the +swell—so much heavier weather was made of it by this +great rigged ship than by my homemade, lopsided coracle, +now gone to the bottom of the sea.</p> + +<p>At every jump of the schooner, Red-cap slipped to and +fro; but—what was ghastly to behold—neither his attitude +nor his fixed teeth-disclosing grin was any way disturbed +by this rough usage. At every jump, too, Hands +appeared still more to sink into himself and settle down +upon the deck, his feet sliding ever the farther out, and +the whole body canting toward the stern, so that his face +became, little by little, hid from me; and at last I could +see nothing beyond his ear and the frayed ringlet of one +whisker.</p> + +<p>At the same time I observed, around both of them, +splashes of dark blood upon the planks, and began to feel +sure that they had killed each other in their drunken wrath.</p> + +<p>While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calm +moment when the ship was still, Israel Hands turned +partly round, and with a low moan, writhed himself back +to the position in which I had seen him first. The moan, +which told of pain and deadly weakness, and the way in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +which his jaw hung open, went right to my heart. But +when I remembered the talk I had overheard from the +apple barrel, all pity left me.</p> + +<p>I walked aft until I reached the mainmast.</p> + +<p>"Come aboard, Mr. Hands," I said, ironically.</p> + +<p>He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too far +gone to express surprise. All he could do was to utter one +word, "Brandy."</p> + +<p>It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and +dodging the boom as it once more lurched across the +deck, I slipped aft and down the companion-stairs into +the cabin.</p> + +<p>It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy. +All the lock-fast places had been broken open in quest of +the chart. The floor was thick with mud, where the +ruffians had sat down to drink or consult after wading in +the marshes round their camp. The bulkheads, all painted +in clear white, and beaded round with gilt, bore a pattern +of dirty hands. Dozens of empty bottles clinked together +in corners to the rolling of the ship. One of the doctor's +medical books lay open on the table, half of the leaves +gutted out, I suppose, for pipe-lights. In the midst of all +this the lamp still cast a smoky glow, obscure and brown +as umber.</p> + +<p>I went into the cellar; all the barrels were gone, and +of the bottles a most surprising number had been drunk +out and thrown away. Certainly, since the mutiny began, +not a man of them could ever have been sober.</p> + +<p>Foraging about I found a bottle with some brandy left, +for Hands; and for myself I routed out some biscuit, +some pickled fruits, a great bunch of raisins, and a piece +of cheese. With these I came on deck, put down my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +own stock behind the rudder-head, and well out of the +coxswain's reach, went forward to the water-breaker, and +had a good, deep drink of water, and then, and not until +then, gave Hands the brandy.</p> + +<p>He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle +from his mouth.</p> + +<p>"Ay," said he, "by thunder, but I wanted some o' that!"</p> + +<p>I had sat down already in my own corner and begun to +eat.</p> + +<p>"Much hurt?" I asked him.</p> + +<p>He grunted, or, rather, I might say, he barked.</p> + +<p>"If that doctor was aboard," he said, "I'd be right +enough in a couple of turns; but I don't have no manner +of luck, you see, and that's what's the matter with me. As +for that swab, he's good and dead, he is," he added, indicating +the man with the red cap. "He warn't no seaman, +anyhow. And where mought you have come from?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "I've come aboard to take possession +of this ship, Mr. Hands, and you'll please regard me as +your captain until further notice."</p> + +<p>He looked at me sourly enough, but said nothing. +Some of the color had come back into his cheeks, though +he still looked very sick and still continued to slip out and +settle down as the ship banged about.</p> + +<p>"By the by," I continued, "I can't have these colors, +Mr. Hands; and by your leave I'll strike 'em. Better +none than these."</p> + +<p>And, again dodging the boom, I ran to the color lines, +hauled down their cursed black flag, and chucked it overboard.</p> + +<p>"God save the king!" said I, waving my cap; "and +there's an end to Captain Silver."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the while +on his breast.</p> + +<p>"I reckon," he said at last—"I reckon, Cap'n Hawkins, +you'll kind o' want to get ashore, now. S'pose we +talks."</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," says I, "with all my heart, Mr. Hands. +Say on." And I went back to my meal with a good +appetite.</p> + +<p>"This man," he began, nodding feebly at the corpse—"O'Brien +were his name—a rank Irelander—this +man and me got the canvas on her, meaning for to sail +her back. Well, <i>he's</i> dead now, he is—as dead as bilge; +and who's to sail this ship, I don't see. Without I give +you a hint, you ain't that man, as far's I can tell. Now, +look here, you gives me food and drink, and a old scarf +or ankercher to tie my wound up, you do; and I'll tell +you how to sail her; and that's about square all round, +I take it."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you one thing," says I; "I'm not going back +to Captain Kidd's anchorage. I mean to get into North +Inlet, and beach her quietly there."</p> + +<p>"To be sure you did," he cried. "Why, I ain't sich an +infernal lubber, after all. I can see, can't I? I've tried +my fling, I have, and I've lost, and it's you has the wind +of me. North Inlet? Why, I haven't no ch'ice, not I. +I'd help you sail her up to Execution Dock, by thunder! +so I would."</p> + +<p>Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this. +We struck our bargain on the spot. In three minutes +I had the <i>Hispaniola</i> sailing easily before the wind along +the coast of Treasure Island, with good hopes of turning +the northern point ere noon, and beating down again as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +far as North Inlet before high water, when we might +beach her safely, and wait till the subsiding tide permitted +us to land.</p> + +<p>Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own +chest, where I got a soft silk handkerchief of my mother's. +With this, and with my aid, Hands bound up the great +bleeding stab he had received in the thigh, and after he +had eaten a little and had a swallow or two more of the +brandy, he began to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, +spoke louder and clearer, and looked in every way another +man.</p> + +<p>The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed before +it like a bird, the coast of the island flashing by, and the +view changing every minute. Soon we were past the +high lands and bowling beside low, sandy country, sparsely +dotted with dwarf pines, and soon we were beyond that +again, and had turned the corner of the rocky hill that +ends the island on the north.</p> + +<p>I was greatly elated with my new command, and pleased +with the bright, sunshiny weather and these different +prospects of the coast. I had now plenty of water and +good things to eat, and my conscience, which had smitten +me hard for my desertion, was quieted by the great conquest +I had made. I should, I think, have had nothing +left me to desire but for the eyes of the coxswain as they +followed me derisively about the deck, and the odd smile +that appeared continually on his face. It was a smile +that had in it something both of pain and weakness—a +haggard, old man's smile; but there was, besides that, +a grain of derision, a shadow of treachery, in his expression +as he craftily watched, and watched, and watched +me at my work.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +<small>ISRAEL HANDS</small></h2> + +<p>The wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into the +west. We could run so much easier from the northeast +corner of the island to the mouth of the North Inlet. +Only, as we had no power to anchor, and dared not +beach her until the tide had flowed a good deal farther, +time hung on our hands. The coxswain told me how +to lay the ship to; after a good many trials I succeeded, +and we both sat in silence over another meal.</p> + +<p>"Cap'n," said he, at length, with that same uncomfortable +smile, "here's my old shipmate, O'Brien; s'pose +you was to heave him overboard. I ain't partic'lar, as +a rule, and I don't take no blame for settling his hash; +but I don't reckon him ornamental, now, do you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not strong enough, and I don't like the job; and +there he lies, for me," said I.</p> + +<p>"This here's an unlucky ship—the <i>Hispaniola</i>, Jim," +he went on, blinking. "There's a power of men been +killed in this <i>Hispaniola</i>—a sight o' poor seamen dead +and gone since you and me took ship to Bristol. I never +seen such dirty luck, not I. There was this here O'Brien, +now—he's dead, ain't he? Well, now, I'm no scholar, +and you're a lad as can read and figure; and, to put it +straight, do you take it as a dead man is dead for good, +or do he come alive again?"</p> + +<p>"You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +you must know that already," I replied. "O'Brien, there, +is in another world, and may be watching us."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" says he. "Well, that's unfort'nate—appears +as if killing parties was a waste of time. Howsomever, +sperrits don't reckon for much, by what I've seen. I'll +chance it with the sperrits, Jim. And now you've spoke +up free, and I'll take it kind if you'd step down into that +there cabin and get me a—well, a—shiver my timbers! +I can't hit the name on't. Well, you get me a +bottle of wine, Jim—this here brandy's too strong for +my head."</p> + +<p>Now the coxswain's hesitation seemed to be unnatural; +and as for the notion of his preferring wine to brandy, +I entirely disbelieved it. The whole story was a pretext. +He wanted me to leave the deck—so much was +plain, but with what purpose I could in no way imagine. +His eyes never met mine; they kept wandering to and +fro, up and down, now with a look to the sky, now with +a flitting glance upon the dead O'Brien. All the time he +kept smiling and putting his tongue out in the most +guilty, embarrassed manner, so that a child could have +told that he was bent on some deception. I was prompt +with my answer, however, for I saw where my advantage +lay, and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could +easily conceal my suspicions to the end.</p> + +<p>"Some wine?" I said. "Far better. Will you have +white or red?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I reckon it's about the blessed same to me, +shipmate," he replied; "so it's strong, and plenty of it, +what's the odds?"</p> + +<p>"All right," I answered. "I'll bring you port, Mr. +Hands. But I'll have to dig for it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> + +<p>With that I scuttled down the companion with all the +noise I could, slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along the +sparred gallery, mounted the forecastle ladder and popped +my head out of the fore companion. I knew he would +not expect to see me there, yet I took every precaution +possible, and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved +too true.</p> + +<p>He had risen from his position to his hands and knees, +and though his leg obviously hurt him pretty sharply +when he moved—for I could hear him stifle a groan—yet +it was at a good, rattling rate that he trailed himself +across the deck. In half a minute he had reached the +port scuppers, and picked out of a coil of rope a long +knife, or rather a short dirk, discolored to the hilt with +blood. He looked upon it for a moment, thrusting forth +his under jaw, tried the point upon his hand, and then +hastily concealing it in the bosom of his jacket, trundled +back again into his old place against the bulwark.</p> + +<p>This was all that I required to know. Israel could +move about; he was now armed, and if he had been at +so much trouble to get rid of me, it was plain that I was +meant to be the victim. What he would do afterward—whether +he would try to crawl right across the island +from North Inlet to the camp among the swamps, or +whether he would fire Long Tom, trusting that his own +comrades might come first to help him, was, of course, +more than I could say.</p> + +<p>Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, +since in that our interests jumped together, and that was +in the disposition of the schooner. We both desired to +have her stranded safe enough, in a sheltered place, and +so that when the time came, she could be got off again<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +with as little labor and danger as might be; and until +that was done I considered that my life would certainly +be spared.</p> + +<p>While I was thus turning the business over in my +mind I had not been idle with my body. I had stolen back +to the cabin, slipped once more into my shoes and laid +my hand at random on a bottle of wine, and now with +this for an excuse, I made my reappearance on the deck.</p> + +<p>Hands lay as I had left him, all fallen together in a +bundle, and with his eyelids lowered as though he were +too weak to bear the light. He looked up, however, at +my coming, knocked the neck off the bottle like a man +who had done the same thing often, and took a good +swig, with his favorite toast of "Here's luck!" Then he +lay quiet for a little, and then, pulling out a stick of +tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid.</p> + +<p>"Cut me a junk o' that," says he, "for I haven't no +knife, and hardly strength enough, so be as I had. Ah, +Jim, Jim, I reckon I've missed stays! Cut me a quid +as'll likely be the last, lad; for I'm for my long home, and +no mistake."</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "I'll cut you some tobacco, but if I +was you and thought myself so badly, I would go to my +prayers, like a Christian man."</p> + +<p>"Why?" said he. "Now you tell me why."</p> + +<p>"Why?" I cried. "You were asking me just now +about the dead. You've broken your trust; you've lived +in sin and lies and blood; there's a man you killed lying +at your feet this moment; and you ask me why! For +God's mercy, Mr. Hands, that's why."</p> + +<p>I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody dirk +he had hidden in his pocket, and designed, in his ill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +thoughts, to end me with. He, for his part, took a great +draught of the wine and spoke with the most unusual +solemnity.</p> + +<p>"For thirty year," he said, "I've sailed the seas and +seen good and bad, better and worse, fair weather and +foul, provisions running out, knives going, and what not. +Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness +yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; +them's my views—amen, so be it. And now, you look +here," he added, suddenly changing his tone, "we've had +about enough of this foolery. The tide's made good +enough by now. You just take my orders, Cap'n Hawkins, +and we'll sail slap in and be done with it."</p> + +<p>All told, we had scarce two miles to run, but the +navigation was delicate, the entrance to this northern +anchorage was not only narrow and shoal, but lay east +and west, so that the schooner must be nicely handled +to be got in. I think I was a good, prompt subaltern, and +I am very sure that Hands was an excellent pilot; for we +went about and about, and dodged in, shaving the banks, +with a certainty and a neatness that were a pleasure to +behold.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had we passed the head before the land closed +around us. The shores of North Inlet were as thickly +wooded as those of the southern anchorage, but the space +was longer and narrower, and more like, what in truth +it was, the estuary of a river. Right before us, at the +southern end, we saw the wreck of a ship in the last stages +of dilapidation. It had been a great vessel of three masts, +but had lain so long exposed to the injuries of the weather +that it was hung about with great webs of dripping seaweed, +and on the deck of it shore bushes had taken root,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +and now flourished thick with flowers. It was a sad sight, +but it showed us that the anchorage was calm.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Hands, "look there; there's a pet bit for +to beach a ship in. Fine flat sand, never a catspaw, trees +all around of it, and flowers a-blowing like a garding on +that old ship."</p> + +<p>"And, once beached," I inquired, "how shall we get +her off again?"</p> + +<p>"Why, so," he replied; "you take a line ashore there +on the other side at low water; take a turn about one o' +them big pines; bring it back, take a turn around the +capstan and lie-to for the tide. Come high water, all +hands take a pull upon the line, and off she comes as +sweet as natur'. And now, boy, you stand by. We're +near the bit now, and she's too much way on her. Starboard +a little—so—steady—starboard—larboard a +little—steady—steady!"</p> + +<p>So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly +obeyed; till, all of a sudden, he cried: "Now, my hearty, +luff!" And I put the helm hard up, and the <i>Hispaniola</i> +swung round rapidly and ran stem on for the low wooded +shore.</p> + +<p>The excitement of these last maneuvers had somewhat +interfered with the watch I had kept hitherto, sharply +enough, upon the coxswain. Even then I was still so +much interested, waiting for the ship to touch, that I +had quite forgot the peril that hung over my head, and +stood craning over the starboard bulwarks and watching +the ripples spreading wide before the bows. I might +have fallen without a struggle for my life, had not a +sudden disquietude seized upon me and made me turn +my head. Perhaps I had heard a creak or seen his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +shadow moving with the tail of my eye; perhaps it was +an instinct like a cat's; but, sure enough, when I looked +round, there was Hands, already halfway toward me, +with the dirk in his right hand.</p> + +<p>We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes +met, but while mine was the shrill cry of terror, his was +a roar of fury like a charging bull's. At the same instant +he threw himself forward and I leaped sideways toward +the bows. As I did so I let go of the tiller, which sprung +sharp to leeward; and I think this saved my life, for it +struck Hands across the chest, and stopped him, for the +moment, dead.</p> + +<p>Before he could recover I was safe out of the corner +where he had me trapped, with all the deck to dodge +about. Just forward of the mainmast I stopped, drew +a pistol from my pocket, took a cool aim, though he +had already turned and was once more coming directly +after me, and drew the trigger. The hammer fell, but +there followed neither flash nor sound; the priming was +useless with sea water. I cursed myself for my neglect. +Why had not I, long before, reprimed and reloaded my +only weapons? Then I should not have been as now, a +mere fleeing sheep before this butcher.</p> + +<p>Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he +could move, his grizzled hair tumbling over his face and +his face itself as red as a red ensign with his haste and +fury. I had no time to try my other pistol, nor, indeed, +much inclination, for I was sure it would be useless. One +thing I saw plainly: I must not simply retreat before +him, or he would speedily hold me boxed into the bows, +as a moment since he had so nearly boxed me in the +stern. Once so caught, and nine or ten inches of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +blood-stained dirk would be my last experience on this +side of eternity. I placed my palms against the mainmast, +which was of a goodish bigness, and waited, every +nerve upon the stretch.</p> + +<p>Seeing that I meant to dodge he also paused, and a +moment or two passed in feints on his part and corresponding +movements upon mine. It was such a game as +I had often played at home about the rocks of Black Hill +Cove; but never before, you may be sure, with such a +wildly beating heart as now. Still, as I say it, it was a +boy's game, and I thought I could hold my own at it +against an elderly seaman with a wounded thigh. Indeed, +my courage had begun to rise so high that I allowed +myself a few darting thoughts on what would be the end +of the affair; and while I saw certainly that I could spin +it out for long, I saw no hope of any ultimate escape.</p> + +<p>Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the <i>Hispaniola</i> +struck, staggered, ground for an instant in the sand, and +then, swift as a blow, canted over to the port side, till the +deck stood at an angle of forty-five degrees, and about a +puncheon of water splashed into the scupper holes, and +lay in a pool between the deck and bulwark.</p> + +<p>We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of +us rolled, almost together, into the scuppers, the dead +Red-cap, with his arms still spread out, tumbling stiffly +after us. So near were we, indeed, that my head came +against the coxswain's foot with a crack that made my +teeth rattle. Blow and all, I was the first afoot again, +for Hands had got involved with the dead body. The +sudden canting of the ship had made the deck no place +for running on; I had to find some new way of escape, +and that upon the instant, for my foe was almost touching<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +me. Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds, +rattled up hand over hand, and did not draw a breath +till I was seated on the crosstrees.</p> + +<div class="figr"><a name="cpg" id="cpg"></a> +<img src="images/015.jpg" width="343" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<div class="td2">Page 193</div><i>Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds</i></div> + +<p>I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had struck +not half a foot below me as I pursued my upward flight; +and there stood Israel Hands with his mouth open and +his face upturned to mine, a perfect statue of surprise +and disappointment.</p> + +<p>Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time in +changing the priming of my pistol, and then, having one +ready for service, and to make assurance doubly sure, I +proceeded to draw the load of the other, and recharge +it afresh from the beginning.</p> + +<p>My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; he +began to see the dice going against him, and after an +obvious hesitation, he also hauled himself heavily into +the shrouds, and, with the dirk in his teeth, began slowly +and painfully to mount. It cost him no end of time and +groans to haul his wounded leg behind him; and I had +quietly finished my arrangements before he was much +more than a third of the way up. Then, with a pistol in +either hand, I addressed him:</p> + +<p>"One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow +your brains out! Dead men don't bite, you know," I +added, with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>He stopped instantly. I could see by the workings of +his face that he was trying to think, and the process was +so slow and laborious that, in my new-found security, +I laughed aloud. At last, with a swallow or two, he +spoke, his face still wearing the same expression of extreme +perplexity. In order to speak he had to take the dagger +from his mouth, but, in all else, he remained unmoved.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Jim," says he, "I reckon we're fouled, you and me, +and we'll have to sign articles. I'd have had you but for +that there lurch; but I don't have no luck, not I; and I +reckon I'll have to strike, which comes hard, you see, for +a master mariner to a ship's younker like you, Jim."</p> + +<p>I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as conceited +as a cock upon a walk, when, all in a breath, back +went his right hand over his shoulder. Something sang +like an arrow through the air; I felt a blow and then +a sharp pang, and there I was pinned by the shoulder +to the mast. In the horrid pain and surprise of the +moment—I scarce can say it was by my own volition, +and I am sure it was without a conscious aim—both +my pistols went off, and both escaped out of my hands. +They did not fall alone; with a choked cry the coxswain +loosed his grasp upon the shrouds, and plunged head first +into the water.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +<small>"PIECES OF EIGHT"</small></h2> + +<p>Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far +out over the water, and from my perch on the crosstrees +I had nothing below me but the surface of the bay. Hands, +who was not so far up, was, in consequence, nearer to +the ship, and fell between me and the bulwarks. He +rose once to the surface in a lather of foam and blood, +and then sank again for good. As the water settled, +I could see him lying huddled together on the clean, +bright sand in the shadow of the vessel's sides. A fish +or two whipped past his body. Sometimes, by the quivering +of the water, he appeared to move a little, as if he +were trying to rise. But he was dead enough, for all +that, being both shot and drowned, and was food for fish +in the very place where he had designed my slaughter.</p> + +<p>I was no sooner certain of this than I began to feel +sick, faint, and terrified. The hot blood was running +over my back and chest. The dirk, where it had pinned +my shoulder to the mast, seemed to burn like a hot iron; +yet it was not so much these real sufferings that distressed +me, for these, it seemed to me, I could bear without a +murmur; it was the horror I had upon my mind of falling +from the crosstree into that still, green water beside the +body of the coxswain.</p> + +<p>I clung with both hands till my nails ached, and I +shut my eyes as if to cover up the peril. Gradually my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +mind came back again, my pulses quieted down to a more +natural time, and I was once more in possession of myself.</p> + +<p>It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk; but +either it stuck too hard or my nerve failed me, and I +desisted with a violent shudder. Oddly enough, that +very shudder did the business. The knife, in fact, had +come the nearest in the world to missing me altogether; +it held me by a mere pinch of skin, and this the shudder +tore away. The blood ran down the faster, to be sure, +but I was my own master again, and only tacked to the +mast by my coat and shirt.</p> + +<p>These last I broke through with a sudden jerk, and +then regained the deck by the starboard shrouds. For +nothing in the world would I have again ventured, +shaken as I was, upon the overhanging port shrouds, +from which Israel had so lately fallen.</p> + +<p>I went below and did what I could for my wound; +it pained me a good deal, and still bled freely, but it +was neither deep nor dangerous, nor did it greatly gall +me when I used my arm. Then I looked around me, and +as the ship was now, in a sense, my own, I began to think +of clearing it from its last passenger—the dead man, +O'Brien.</p> + +<p>He had pitched, as I have said, against the bulwarks, +where he lay like some horrid, ungainly sort of puppet; +life-size, indeed, but how different from life's color or +life's comeliness! In that position, I could easily have +my way with him, and as the habit of tragical adventures +had worn off almost all my terror for the dead, I took +him by the waist as if he had been a sack of bran, and, +with one good heave, tumbled him overboard. He went +in with a sounding plunge; the red cap came off, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +remained floating on the surface; and as soon as the +splash subsided, I could see him and Israel lying side by +side, both wavering with the tremulous movement of the +water. O'Brien, though still quite a young man, was very +bald. There he lay with that bald head across the knees +of the man who killed him, and the quick fishes steering +to and fro over both.</p> + +<p>I was now alone upon the ship; the tide had just turned. +The sun was within so few degrees of setting that already +the shadow of the pines upon the western shore began +to reach right across the anchorage and fall in patterns +on the deck. The evening breeze had sprung up, and +though it was well warded off by the hill with the two +peaks upon the east, the cordage had begun to sing a little +softly to itself and the idle sails to rattle to and fro.</p> + +<p>I began to see a danger to the ship. The jibs I speedily +doused and brought tumbling to the deck, but the mainsail +was a harder matter. Of course, when the schooner +canted over, the boom had swung outboard, and the cap +of it and a foot or two of sail hung even under water. +I thought this made it still more dangerous, yet the strain +was so heavy that I half feared to meddle. At last I got +my knife and cut the halyards. The peak dropped instantly, +a great belly of loose canvas floated broad upon +the water; and since, pull as I liked, I could not budge +the downhaul, that was the extent of what I could +accomplish. For the rest, the <i>Hispaniola</i> must trust to +luck, like myself.</p> + +<p>By this time the whole anchorage had fallen into +shadow—the last rays, I remember, falling through a +glade of the wood, and shining bright as jewels on the +flowery mantle of the wreck. It began to be chill, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling +more and more on her beam-ends.</p> + +<p>I scrambled forward and looked over. It seemed +shallow enough, and holding the cut hawser in both hands +for a last security, I let myself drop softly overboard. +The water scarcely reached my waist; the sand was firm +and covered with ripple-marks, and I waded ashore in +great spirits, leaving the <i>Hispaniola</i> on her side, with her +mainsail trailing wide upon the surface of the bay. About +the same time the sun went fairly down, and the breeze +whistled low in the dusk among the tossing pines.</p> + +<p>At least, and at last, I was off the sea, nor had I returned +thence empty-handed. There lay the schooner, clear at +last from buccaneers and ready for our own men to board +and get to sea again. I had nothing nearer my fancy than +to get home to the stockade and boast of my achievements. +Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the +recapture of the <i>Hispaniola</i> was a clinching answer, and +I hoped that even Captain Smollett would confess I had +not lost my time.</p> + +<p>So thinking, and in famous spirits, I began to set my +face homeward for the blockhouse and my companions. +I remembered that the most easterly of the rivers which +drain into Captain Kidd's anchorage ran from the two-peaked +hill upon my left; and I bent my course in that +direction that I might pass the stream while it was +small. The wood was pretty open, and keeping along +the lower spurs, I had soon turned the corner of that hill, +and not long after waded to the mid-calf across the +watercourse.</p> + +<p>This brought me near to where I had encountered Ben +Gunn, the maroon, and I walked more circumspectly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +keeping an eye on every side. The dusk had come nigh +hand completely, and, as I opened out the cleft between +the two peaks, I became aware of a wavering glow against +the sky, where, as I judged, the man of the island was +cooking his supper before a roaring fire. And yet I wondered, +in my heart, that he should show himself so careless. +For if I could see this radiance, might it not reach +the eye of Silver himself where he camped upon the +shore among the marshes?</p> + +<p>Gradually the night fell blacker; it was all I could do +to guide myself even roughly toward my destination; the +double hill behind me and the Spy-glass on my right hand +loomed faint and fainter, the stars were few and pale, +and in the low ground where I wandered I kept tripping +among bushes and rolling into sandy pits.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a kind of brightness fell about me. I looked +up; a pale glimmer of moonbeams had alighted on the +summit of the Spy-glass, and soon after I saw something +broad and silvery moving low down behind the trees, and +knew the moon had risen.</p> + +<p>With this to help me, I passed rapidly over what remained +to me of my journey; and, sometimes walking, +sometimes running, impatiently drew near to the stockade. +Yet, as I began to thread the grove that lies before it, I +was not so thoughtless but that I slacked my pace and +went a trifle warily. It would have been a poor end of +my adventures to get shot down by my own party in +mistake.</p> + +<p>The moon was climbing higher and higher; its light +began to fall here and there in masses through the more +open districts of the wood, and right in front of me a glow +of a different color appeared among the trees. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +red and hot, and now and again it was a little darkened—as +it were the embers of a bonfire smoldering.</p> + +<p>For the life of me I could not think what it might be.</p> + +<p>At last I came right down upon the borders of the +clearing. The western end was already steeped in moon-shine; +the rest, and the blockhouse itself, still lay in a +black shadow, chequered with long, silvery streaks of +light. On the other side of the house an immense fire +had burned itself into clear embers and shed a steady, +red reverberation, contrasting strongly with the mellow +paleness of the moon. There was not a soul stirring, nor +a sound beside the noises of the breeze.</p> + +<p>I stopped, with much wonder in my heart, and perhaps +a little terror also. It had not been our way to build great +fires; we were, indeed, by the captain's orders, somewhat +niggardly of firewood, and I began to fear that something +had gone wrong while I was absent.</p> + +<p>I stole round by the eastern end, keeping close in +shadow, and at a convenient place, where the darkness +was thickest, crossed the palisade.</p> + +<p>To make assurance surer, I got upon my hands and +knees, and crawled, without a sound, toward the corner +of the house. As I drew nearer, my heart was suddenly +and greatly lightened. It was not a pleasant noise in +itself, and I have often complained of it at other times, +but just then it was like music to hear my friends snoring +together so loud and peaceful in their sleep. The sea-cry +of the watch, that beautiful "All's well," never fell +more reassuringly on my ear.</p> + +<p>In the meantime there was no doubt of one thing; +they kept an infamous bad watch. If it had been Silver +and his lads that were now creeping in on them, not a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +soul would have seen daybreak. That was what it was, +thought I, to have the captain wounded; and again I +blamed myself sharply for leaving them in that danger +with so few to mount guard.</p> + +<p>By this time I had got to the door and stood up. All +was dark within, so that I could distinguish nothing by +the eye. As for sounds, there was the steady drone of the +snorers, and a small occasional noise, a flickering or pecking +that I could in no way account for.</p> + +<p>With my arms before me I walked steadily in. I +should lie down in my own place (I thought, with a silent +chuckle) and enjoy their faces when they found me in +the morning. My foot struck something yielding—it +was a sleeper's leg, and he turned and groaned, but without +awaking.</p> + +<p>And then, all of a sudden, a shrill voice broke forth +out of the darkness:</p> + +<p>"Pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces +of eight! pieces of eight!" and so forth, without pause or +change, like the clacking of a tiny mill.</p> + +<p>Silver's green parrot, Captain Flint! It was she +whom I had heard pecking at a piece of bark; it was +she, keeping better watch than any human being, +who thus announced my arrival with her wearisome +refrain.</p> + +<p>I had no time left me to recover. At the sharp clipping +tone of the parrot, the sleepers awoke and sprang up, +and with a mighty oath the voice of Silver cried:</p> + +<p>"Who goes?"</p> + +<p>I turned to run, struck violently against one person, +recoiled, and ran full into the arms of a second, who, for +his part, closed upon and held me tight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Bring a torch, Dick," said Silver, when my capture +was thus assured.</p> + +<p>And one of the men left the log-house, and presently +returned with a lighted brand.</p> + +<div class="figc"> +<img src="images/003.png" width="268" height="302" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<hr /> +<h2><small>PART VI</small><br /> +CAPTAIN SILVER</h2> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +<small>IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP</small></h2> + +<p>The red glare of the torch lighting up the interior of +the blockhouse showed me the worst of my apprehensions +realized. The pirates were in possession of the house +and stores; there was the cask of cognac, there were the +pork and bread, as before; and, what tenfold increased +my horror, not a sign of any prisoner. I could only judge +that all had perished, and my heart smote me sorely that +I had not been there to perish with them.</p> + +<p>There were six of the buccaneers, all told; not another +man was left alive. Five of them were on their feet, +flushed and swollen, suddenly called out of the first sleep +of drunkenness. The sixth had only risen upon his elbow; +he was deadly pale, and the blood-stained bandage round +his head told that he had recently been wounded, and still +more recently dressed. I remembered the man who had +been shot and run back among the woods in the great +attack, and doubted not that this was he.</p> + +<p>The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long John's +shoulder. He himself, I thought, looked somewhat paler +and more stern than I was used to. He still wore his +fine broadcloth suit in which he had fulfilled his mission, +but it was bitterly the worse for wear, daubed with clay +and torn with sharp briers of the wood.</p> + +<p>"So," said he, "here's Jim Hawkins, shiver my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +timbers! dropped in, like, eh? Well, come, I take that +friendly."</p> + +<p>And thereupon he sat down across the brandy-cask, and +began to fill a pipe.</p> + +<p>"Give me the loan of a link, Dick," said he; and +then, when he had a good light, "That'll do, my lad," he +added, "stick the glim in the wood heap; and you, gentlemen, +bring yourselves to!—you needn't stand up for Mr. +Hawkins; <i>he'll</i> excuse you, you may lay to that. And so, +Jim"—stopping the tobacco—"here you are, and quite +a pleasant surprise for poor old John. I see you were +smart when first I set my eyes on you, but this here gets +away from me clean, it do."</p> + +<p>To all this, as may be well supposed, I made no answer. +They had set me with my back against the wall, and I +stood there, looking Silver in the face, pluckily enough, +I hope, to all outward appearance, but with black despair +in my heart.</p> + +<p>Silver took a whiff or two of his pipe with great composure, +and then ran on again:</p> + +<p>"Now, you see, Jim, so be as you <i>are</i> here," says he, +"I'll give you a piece of my mind. I've always liked +you, I have, for a lad of spirit, and the picter of my own +self when I was young and handsome. I always wanted +you to jine and take your share, and die a gentleman, +and now, my cock, you've got to. Cap'n Smollett's a +fine seaman, as I'll own up to any day, but stiff on +discipline. 'Dooty is dooty,' says he, and right he is. Just +you keep clear of the cap'n. The doctor himself is gone +dead again you—'ungrateful scamp' was what he said; +and the short and long of the whole story is about here: +You can't go back to your own lot, for they won't have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +you; and, without you start a third ship's company all by +yourself, which might be lonely, you'll have to jine with +Cap'n Silver."</p> + +<p>So far so good. My friends, then, were still alive, and +though I partly believed the truth of Silver's statement, +that the cabin party were incensed at me for my desertion, +I was more relieved than distressed by what I heard.</p> + +<p>"I don't say nothing as to your being in our hands," +continued Silver, "though there you are, and you may +lay to it. I'm all for argyment; I never seen good come +out o' threatening. If you like the service, well, you'll +jine; and if you don't, Jim, why, you're free to answer +no—free and welcome, shipmate; and if fairer can be +said by mortal seaman, shiver my sides!"</p> + +<p>"Am I to answer, then?" I asked, with a very tremulous +voice. Through all this sneering talk I was made +to feel the threat of death that overhung me, and my +cheeks burned and my heart beat painfully in my breast.</p> + +<p>"Lad," said Silver, "no one's a-pressing of you. Take +your bearings. None of us won't hurry you, mate; time +goes so pleasant in your company, you see."</p> + +<p>"Well," says I, growing a bit bolder, "if I'm to choose, +I declare I have a right to know what's what, and why +you're here, and where my friends are."</p> + +<p>"Wot's wot?" repeated one of the buccaneers, in a +deep growl. "Ah, he'd be a lucky one as knowed that!"</p> + +<p>"You'll, perhaps, batten down your hatches till you're +spoke to, my friend," cried Silver, truculently, to this +speaker. And then, in his first gracious tones, he replied +to me: "Yesterday morning, Mr. Hawkins," said he, +"in the dogwatch, down came Doctor Livesey with a +flag of truce. Says he: 'Cap'n Silver, you're sold out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +Ship's gone!' Well, maybe we'd been taking a glass, +and a song to help it round. I won't say no. Leastways, +none of us had looked out. We looked out, and, by thunder! +the old ship was gone. I never seen a pack o' fools +look fishier; and you may lay to that, if I tells you that I +looked the fishiest. 'Well,' says the doctor, 'let's bargain.' +We bargained, him and I, and here we are; stores, +brandy, blockhouse, the firewood you was thoughtful +enough to cut, and, in a manner of speaking, the whole +blessed boat, from crosstrees to keelson. As for them, +they've tramped; I don't know where's they are."</p> + +<p>He drew again quietly at his pipe.</p> + +<p>"And lest you should take it into that head of yours," +he went on, "that you was included in the treaty, here's +the last word that was said: 'How many are you,' says +I, 'to leave?' 'Four,' says he—'four, and one of us +wounded. As for that boy, I don't know where he is, +confound him,' says he, 'nor I don't much care. We're +about sick of him.' These was his words."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's all you're to hear, my son," returned Silver.</p> + +<p>"And now I am to choose?"</p> + +<p>"And now you are to choose, and you may lay to that," +said Silver.</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "I am not such a fool but I know +pretty well what I have to look for. Let the worst come +to the worst, it's little I care. I've seen too many die since +I fell in with you. But there's a thing or two I have to +tell you," I said, and by this time I was quite excited; +"and the first is this: Here you are, in a bad way; ship +lost, treasure lost, men lost; your whole business gone to +wreck; and if you want to know who did it—it was I!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +I was in the apple barrel the night we sighted land, and +I heard you, John, and you, Dick Johnson, and Hands, +who is now at the bottom of the sea, and told every word +you said before the hour was out. And as for the +schooner, it was I who cut her cable, and it was I who +killed the men you had aboard of her, and it was I who +brought her where you'll never see her more, not one of +you. The laugh's on my side; I've had the top of this +business from the first; I no more fear you than I fear +a fly. Kill me, if you please, or spare me. But one thing +I'll say, and no more; if you spare me, bygones are bygones, +and when you fellows are in court for piracy, I'll +save you all I can. It is for you to choose. Kill another +and do yourselves no good, or spare me and keep a witness +to save you from the gallows."</p> + +<p>I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath, and, to +my wonder, not a man of them moved, but all sat staring +at me like as many sheep. And while they were still staring +I broke out again:</p> + +<p>"And now, Mr. Silver," I said, "I believe you're the +best man here, and if things go to the worst, I'll take it +kind of you to let the doctor know the way I took it."</p> + +<p>"I'll bear it in mind," said Silver, with an accent so +curious that I could not, for the life of me, decide whether +he were laughing at my request or had been favorably +affected by my courage.</p> + +<p>"I'll put one to that," cried the old mahogany-faced +seaman—Morgan by name—whom I had seen in Long +John's public-house upon the quays of Bristol. "It was +him that knowed Black Dog."</p> + +<p>"Well, and see here," added the sea-cook, "I'll put +another again to that, by thunder! for it was this same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +boy that faked the chart from Billy Bones. First and +last we've split upon Jim Hawkins!"</p> + +<p>"Then here goes!" said Morgan, with an oath.</p> + +<p>And he sprang up, drawing his knife as if he had been +twenty.</p> + +<p>"Avast, there!" cried Silver. "Who are you, Tom +Morgan? Maybe you thought you were captain here, +perhaps. By the powers, but I'll teach you better! Cross +me and you'll go where many a good man's gone before +you, first and last, these thirty year back—some to the +yardarm, shiver my sides! and some by the board, and all +to feed the fishes. There's never a man looked me between +the eyes and seen a good day a'terward, Tom Morgan, you +may lay to that."</p> + +<p>Morgan paused, but a hoarse murmur rose from the +others.</p> + +<p>"Tom's right," said one.</p> + +<p>"I stood hazing long enough from one," added another. +"I'll be hanged if I'll be hazed by you, John Silver."</p> + +<p>"Did any of you gentlemen want to have it out with +<i>me</i>?" roared Silver, bending far forward from his position +on the keg, with his pipe still glowing in his right +hand. "Put a name on what you're at; you ain't dumb, +I reckon. Him that wants shall get it. Have I lived +this many years to have a son of a rum puncheon cock +his hat athwart my hawser at the latter end of it? You +know the way; you're all gentlemen o' fortune, by your +account. Well, I'm ready. Take a cutlass, him that +dares, and I'll see the color of his inside, crutch and all, +before that pipe's empty."</p> + +<p>Not a man stirred; not a man answered.</p> + +<p>"That's your sort, is it?" he added, returning his pipe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +to his mouth. "Well, you're a gay lot to look at, any +way. Not worth much to fight, you ain't. P'r'aps you +can understand King George's English. I'm cap'n here +by 'lection. I'm cap'n here because I'm the best man by +a long sea-mile. You won't fight, as gentlemen o' fortune +should; then, by thunder, you'll obey, and you may lay to +it! I like that boy, now; I never seen a better boy than +that. He's more a man than any pair of rats of you in +this here house, and what I say is this: Let me see him +that'll lay a hand on him—that's what I say, and you +may lay to it."</p> + +<p>There was a long pause after this. I stood straight +up against the wall, my heart still going like a sledgehammer, +but with a ray of hope now shining in my +bosom. Silver leant back against the wall, his arms +crossed, his pipe in the corner of his mouth, as calm as +though he had been in church; yet his eye kept wandering +furtively, and he kept the tail of it on his unruly followers. +They, on their part, drew gradually together +toward the far end of the blockhouse, and the low hiss +of their whispering sounded in my ears continuously, like +a stream. One after another they would look up, and the +red light of the torch would fall for a second on their +nervous faces; but it was not toward me, it was toward +Silver that they turned their eyes.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have a lot to say," remarked Silver, +spitting far into the air. "Pipe up and let me hear it, +or lay to."</p> + +<p>"Ax your pardon, sir," returned one of the men; +"you're pretty free with some of the rules, maybe you'll +kindly keep an eye upon the rest. This crew's dissatisfied; +this crew don't vally bullying a marlinspike; this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +crew has its rights like other crews, I'll make so free as +that; and by your own rules I take it we can talk together. +I ax your pardon, sir, acknowledging you for to be capting +at this present, but I claim my right and steps outside +for a council."</p> + +<p>And with an elaborate sea-salute this fellow, a long, +ill-looking, yellow-eyed man of five-and-thirty, stepped +coolly toward the door and disappeared out of the house. +One after another the rest followed his example, each +making a salute as he passed, each adding some apology. +"According to rules," said one. "Foc's'le council," said +Morgan. And so with one remark or another, all marched +out and left Silver and me alone with the torch.</p> + +<p>The sea-cook instantly removed his pipe.</p> + +<p>"Now, look you here, Jim Hawkins," he said in a +steady whisper that was no more than audible, "you're +within half a plank of death, and, what's a long sight +worse, of torture. They're going to throw me off. But +you mark, I stand by you through thick and thin. I +didn't mean to; no, not till you spoke up. I was about +desperate to lose that much blunt, and be hanged into +the bargain. But I see you was the right sort. I says +to myself: You stand by Hawkins, John, and Hawkins'll +stand by you. You're his last card, and by the living +thunder, John, he's yours! Back to back, says I. You +save your witness and he'll save your neck!"</p> + +<p>I began dimly to understand.</p> + +<p>"You mean all's lost?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Ay, by gum, I do!" he answered. "Ship gone, neck +gone—that's the size of it. Once I looked into that bay, +Jim Hawkins, and seen no schooner—well, I'm tough, +but I gave out. As for that lot and their council, mark<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +me, they're outright fools and cowards. I'll save your +life—if so be as I can—from them. But see here, Jim—tit +for tat—you save Long John from swinging."</p> + +<p>I was bewildered; it seemed a thing so hopeless he was +asking—he, the old buccaneer, the ringleader throughout.</p> + +<p>"What I can do, that I'll do," I said.</p> + +<p>"It's a bargain!" cried Long John. "You speak up +plucky, and by thunder, I've a chance."</p> + +<p>He hobbled to the torch, where it stood propped +among the firewood, and took a fresh light to his pipe.</p> + +<p>"Understand me, Jim," he said, returning. "I've a +head on my shoulders, I have. I'm on squire's side now. +I know you've got that ship safe somewheres. How you +done it I don't know, but safe it is. I guess Hands and +O'Brien turned soft. I never much believed in neither +of <i>them</i>. Now you mark me. I ask no questions, nor I +won't let others. I know when a game's up, I do; and I +know a lad that's stanch. Ah, you that's young—you and +me might have done a power of good together!"</p> + +<p>He drew some cognac from the cask into a tin cannikin.</p> + +<p>"Will you taste, messmate?" he asked, and when I had +refused, "Well, I'll take a drain myself, Jim," said he. "I +need a caulker, for there's trouble on hand. And, talking +o' trouble, why did that doctor give me the chart, Jim?"</p> + +<p>My face expressed a wonder so unaffected that he saw +the needlessness of further questions.</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, he did, though," said he. "And there's +something under that, no doubt—something, surely, +under that, Jim—bad or good."</p> + +<p>And he took another swallow of the brandy, shaking +his great fair head like a man who looks forward to the +worst.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +<small>THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN</small></h2> + +<p>The council of the buccaneers had lasted some time, +when one of them re-entered the house, and with a repetition +of the same salute, which had in my eyes an ironical +air, begged for a moment's loan of the torch. Silver +briefly agreed, and this emissary retired again, leaving +us together in the dark.</p> + +<p>"There's a breeze coming, Jim," said Silver, who had +by this time adopted quite a friendly and familiar tone.</p> + +<p>I turned to the loophole nearest me and looked out. +The embers of the great fire had so far burned themselves +out, and now glowed so low and duskily, that I understood +why these conspirators desired a torch. About +halfway down the slope to the stockade they were collected +in a group; one held the light; another was on his +knees in their midst, and I saw the blade of an open knife +shine in his hand with varying colors, in the moon and +torchlight. The rest were all somewhat stooping, as +though watching the maneuvers of this last. I could just +make out that he had a book as well as a knife in his hand; +and was still wondering how anything so incongruous had +come in their possession, when the kneeling figure rose +once more to his feet, and the whole party began to move +together toward the house.</p> + +<p>"Here they come," said I; and I returned to my former<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +position, for it seemed beneath my dignity that they should +find me watching them.</p> + +<p>"Well, let 'em come, lad—let 'em come," said Silver, +cheerily. "I've still a shot in my locker."</p> + +<p>The door opened, and the five men, standing huddled +together just inside, pushed one of their number forward. +In any other circumstances it would have been comical to +see his slow advance, hesitating as he set down each foot, +but holding his closed right hand in front of him.</p> + +<p>"Step up, lad," cried Silver. "I won't eat you. Hand +it over, lubber. I know the rules, I do; I won't hurt a +depytation."</p> + +<p>Thus encouraged the buccaneer stepped forth more +briskly, and having passed something to Silver, from hand +to hand, slipped yet more smartly back again to his companions.</p> + +<p>The sea-cook looked at what had been given him.</p> + +<p>"The black spot! I thought so," he observed. "Where +might you have got the paper? Why, hello! look here, +now; this ain't lucky! You've gone and cut this out of a +Bible. What fool's cut a Bible?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, there," said Morgan, "there! Wot did I say? +No good'll come o' that, I said."</p> + +<p>"Well, you've about fixed it now, among you," continued +Silver. "You'll all swing now, I reckon. What +soft-headed lubber had a Bible?"</p> + +<p>"It was Dick," said one.</p> + +<p>"Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers," said +Silver. "He's seen his slice of luck, has Dick, and you +may lay to that."</p> + +<p>But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck in.</p> + +<p>"Belay that talk, John Silver," he said. "This crew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +has tipped you the black spot in full council, as in dooty +bound; just you turn it over, as in dooty bound, and see +what's wrote there. Then you can talk."</p> + +<p>"Thanky, George," replied the sea-cook. "You always +was brisk for business, and has the rules by heart, George, +as I'm pleased to see. Well, what is it, anyway? Ah! +'Deposed'—that's it, is it? Very pretty wrote, to be +sure; like print, I swear. Your hand o' write, George? +Why, you was gettin' quite a leadin' man in this here +crew. You'll be cap'n next, I shouldn't wonder. Just +oblige me with that torch again, will you? this pipe don't +draw."</p> + +<p>"Come, now," said George, "you don't fool this crew +no more. You're a funny man, by your account; but +you're over now, and you'll maybe step down off that +barrel, and help vote."</p> + +<p>"I thought you said you knowed the rules," returned +Silver, contemptuously. "Leastways, if you don't, I do; +and I wait here—and I'm still your cap'n, mind—till +you outs with your grievances, and I reply; in the meantime, +your black spot ain't worth a biscuit. After that +we'll see."</p> + +<p>"Oh," replied George, "you don't be under no kind of +apprehension; <i>we're</i> all square, we are. First, you've +made a hash of this cruise—you'll be a bold man to say +no to that. Second, you let the enemy out o' this here +trap for nothing. Why did they want out? I dunno, but +it's pretty plain they wanted it. Third, you wouldn't let +us go at them upon the march. Oh, we see through you, +John Silver; you want to play booty, that's what's wrong +with you. And then, fourth, there's this here boy."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?" asked Silver, quietly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Enough, too," retorted George. "We'll all swing +and sun-dry for your bungling."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, look here, I'll answer these four p'ints; +one after another I'll answer 'em. I made a hash o' +this cruise, did I? Well, now, you all know what I +wanted; and you all know, if that had been done, that +we'd 'a' been aboard the <i>Hispaniola</i> this night as ever +was, every man of us alive, and fit, and full of good +plum-duff, and the treasure in the hold of her, by thunder! +Well, who crossed me? Who forced my hand, as +was the lawful cap'n? Who tipped me the black spot the +day we landed, and began this dance? Ah, it's a fine +dance—I'm with you there—and looks mighty like a +hornpipe in a rope's end at Execution Dock by London +town, it does. But who done it? Why, it was Anderson, +and Hands, and you, George Merry! And you're +the last above board of that same meddling crew; and +you have the Davy Jones insolence to up and stand for +cap'n over me—you, that sunk the lot of us! By the +powers! but this tops the stiffest yarn to nothing."</p> + +<p>Silver paused, and I could see by the faces of George +and his late comrades that these words had not been said +in vain.</p> + +<p>"That's for number one," cried the accused, wiping +the sweat from his brow, for he had been talking with a +vehemence that shook the house. "Why, I give you my +word, I'm sick to speak to you. You've neither sense nor +memory, and I leave it to fancy where your mothers was +that let you come to sea. Sea! Gentlemen o' fortune! +I reckon tailors is your trade."</p> + +<p>"Go on, John," said Morgan. "Speak up to the +others."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah, the others!" returned John. "They're a nice +lot, ain't they? You say this cruise is bungled. Ah! by +gum, if you could understand how bad it's bungled, you +would see! We're that near the gibbet that my neck's +stiff with thinking on it. You've seen 'em, maybe, hanged +in chains, birds about 'em, seamen p'inting 'em out as +they go down with the tide. 'Who's that?' says one. +'That! Why, that's John Silver. I knowed him well,' +says another. And you can hear the chains a-jangle as +you go about and reach for the other buoy. Now, that's +about where we are, every mother's son of us, thanks to +him, and Hands, and Anderson, and other ruination fools +of you. And if you want to know about number four, and +that boy, why, shiver my timbers! isn't he a hostage? Are +we a-going to waste a hostage? No, not us; he might be +our last chance, and I shouldn't wonder. Kill that boy? +not me, mates! And number three? Ah, well, there's a +deal to say to number three. Maybe you don't count it +nothing to have a real college doctor come to see you every +day—you, John, with your head broke—or you, George +Merry, that had the ague shakes upon you not six hours +agone, and has your eyes the color of lemon peel to this +same moment on the clock? And maybe, perhaps, you +didn't know there was a consort coming, either? But +there is, and not so long till then; and we'll see who'll be +glad to have a hostage when it comes to that. And as for +number two, and why I made a bargain—well, you come +crawling on your knees to me to make it—on your knees +you came, you was that downhearted—and you'd have +starved, too, if I hadn't—but that's a trifle! you look +there—that's why!"</p> + +<p>And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +recognized—none other than the chart on yellow paper, +with the three red crosses, that I had found in the oilcloth +at the bottom of the captain's chest. Why the doctor +had given it to him was more than I could fancy.</p> + +<p>But if it were inexplicable to me, the appearance of the +chart was incredible to the surviving mutineers. They +leaped upon it like cats upon a mouse. It went from hand +to hand, one tearing it from another; and by the oaths and +the cries and the childish laughter with which they accompanied +their examination, you would have thought, not +only they were fingering the very gold, but were at sea +with it, besides, in safety.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said one, "that's Flint, sure enough. J. F., and +a score below, with a close hitch to it, so he done ever."</p> + +<p>"Mighty pretty," said George. "But how are we to +get away with it, and us no ship?"</p> + +<p>Silver suddenly sprang up, and supporting himself +with a hand against the wall: "Now, I give you warning, +George," he cried. "One more word of your sauce, and +I'll call you down and fight you. How? Why, how do +I know? You had ought to tell me that—you and the +rest, that lost me my schooner, with your interference, +burn you! But not you, you can't; you ain't got the +invention of a cockroach. But civil you can speak, and +shall, George Merry, you may lay to that."</p> + +<p>"That's fair enow," said the old man Morgan.</p> + +<p>"Fair! I reckon so," said the sea-cook. "You lost the +ship; I found the treasure. Who's the better man at that? +And now I resign, by thunder! Elect whom you please +to be your cap'n now; I'm done with it."</p> + +<p>"Silver!" they cried. "Barbecue forever! Barbecue +for cap'n!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So that's the toon, is it?" cried the cook. "George, +I reckon you'll have to wait another turn, friend, and +lucky for you as I'm not a revengeful man. But that was +never my way. And now, shipmates, this black spot? +'Tain't much good now, is it? Dick's crossed his luck and +spoiled his Bible, and that's about all."</p> + +<p>"It'll do to kiss the book on still, won't it?" growled +Dick, who was evidently uneasy at the curse he had +brought upon himself.</p> + +<p>"A Bible with a bit cut out!" returned Silver, derisively. +"Not it. It don't bind no more'n a ballad-book."</p> + +<p>"Don't it, though?" cried Dick, with a sort of joy. +"Well, I reckon that's worth having, too."</p> + +<p>"Here, Jim—here's a cur'osity for you," said Silver, +and he tossed me the paper.</p> + +<p>It was a round about the size of a crown piece. One +side was blank, for it had been the last leaf; the other +contained a verse or two of Revelation—these words +among the rest, which struck sharply home upon my +mind: "Without are dogs and murderers." The printed +side had been blackened with wood ash, which already +began to come off and soil my fingers; on the blank side +had been written with the same material the one word +"Deposed." I have that curiosity beside me at this moment; +but not a trace of writing now remains beyond a +single scratch, such as a man might make with his thumb-nail.</p> + +<p>That was the end of the night's business. Soon after, +with a drink all round, we lay down to sleep, and the +outside of Silver's vengeance was to put George Merry +up for sentinel, and threaten him with death if he should +prove unfaithful.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was long ere I could close an eye, and heaven knows +I had matter enough for thought in the man whom I +had slain that afternoon, in my own most perilous position, +and, above all, in the remarkable game that I saw +Silver now engaged upon—keeping the mutineers together +with one hand, and grasping, with the other, after +every means, possible and impossible, to make his peace +and save his miserable life. He himself slept peacefully, +and snored aloud; yet my heart was sore for him, wicked +as he was, to think on the dark perils that environed, and +the shameful gibbet that awaited him.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX<br /> +<small>ON PAROLE</small></h2> + +<p>I was wakened—indeed, we were all wakened, for I +could see even the sentinel shake himself together from +where he had fallen against the doorpost—by a clear, +hearty voice hailing us from the margin of the wood:</p> + +<p>"Blockhouse, ahoy!" it cried. "Here's the doctor."</p> + +<p>And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear +the sound, yet my gladness was not without admixture. I +remembered with confusion my insubordinate and stealthy +conduct; and when I saw where it had brought me—among +what companions and surrounded by what dangers—I +felt ashamed to look him in the face.</p> + +<p>He must have risen in the dark, for the day had hardly +come; and when I ran to a loophole and looked out, I saw +him standing, like Silver once before, up to the mid-leg in +creeping vapor.</p> + +<p>"You, doctor! Top o' the morning to you, sir!" cried +Silver, broad awake and beaming with good nature in a +moment. "Bright and early, to be sure; and it's the early +bird, as the saying goes, that gets the rations. George, +shake up your timbers, son, and help Doctor Livesey over +the ship's side. All a-doin' well, your patients was—all +well and merry."</p> + +<p>So he pattered on, standing on the hilltop, with his +crutch under his elbow, and one hand upon the side of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +the log-house—quite the old John in voice, manner, and +expression.</p> + +<p>"We've quite a surprise for you, too, sir," he continued. +"We've a little stranger here—he! he! A noo +boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fit and taut as a fiddle; +slep' like a supercargo, he did, right alongside of John—stem +to stem we was, all night."</p> + +<p>Doctor Livesey was by this time across the stockade and +pretty near the cook, and I could hear the alteration in +his voice as he said:</p> + +<p>"Not Jim?"</p> + +<p>"The very same Jim as ever was," says Silver.</p> + +<p>The doctor stopped outright, although he did not speak, +and it was some seconds before he seemed able to move on.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," he said at last, "duty first and pleasure +afterwards, as you might have said yourself, Silver. Let +us overhaul these patients of yours."</p> + +<p>A moment afterwards he had entered the blockhouse, +and, with one grim nod to me, proceeded with his work +among the sick. He seemed under no apprehension, +though he must have known that his life, among these +treacherous demons, depended on a hair, and he rattled +on to his patients as if he were paying an ordinary professional +visit in a quiet English family. His manner, I +suppose, reacted on the men, for they behaved to him as +if nothing had occurred—as if he were still ship's doctor, +and they still faithful hands before the mast.</p> + +<p>"You're doing well, my friend," he said to the fellow +with the bandaged head, "and if ever any person had a +close shave, it was you; your head must be as hard as +iron. Well, George, how goes it? You're a pretty color, +certainly; why, your liver, man, is upside down. Did you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +take that medicine? Did he take that medicine, men?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, sir, he took it sure enough," returned Morgan.</p> + +<p>"Because, you see, since I am mutineers' doctor, or +prison doctor, as I prefer to call it," says Doctor Livesey, +in his pleasantest way, "I make it a point of honor not to +lose a man for King George (God bless him!) and the +gallows."</p> + +<p>The rogues looked at each other, but swallowed the +home-thrust in silence.</p> + +<p>"Dick don't feel well, sir," said one.</p> + +<p>"Don't he?" replied the doctor. "Well, step up here, +Dick, and let me see your tongue. No, I should be surprised +if he did; the man's tongue is fit to frighten the +French. Another fever."</p> + +<p>"Ah, there," said Morgan, "that comed of sp'iling +Bibles."</p> + +<p>"That comed—as you call it—of being arrant asses," +retorted the doctor, "and not having sense enough to know +honest air from poison, and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous +slough. I think it most probable—though, of +course, it's only an opinion—that you'll all have the +deuce to pay before you get that malaria out of your +systems. Camp in a bog, would you? Silver, I'm surprised +at you. You're less of a fool than many, take you +all round; but you don't appear to me to have the rudiments +of a notion of the rules of health.</p> + +<p>"Well," he added, after he had dosed them round, and +they had taken his prescriptions, with really laughable +humility, more like charity school-children than blood-guilty +mutineers and pirates, "well, that's done for +to-day. And now I should wish to have a talk with that +boy, please."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly.</p> + +<p>George Merry was at the door, spitting and spluttering +over some bad-tasted medicine; but at the first word of +the doctor's proposal he swung round with a deep flush, +and cried, "No!" and swore.</p> + +<p>Silver struck the barrel with his open hand.</p> + +<p>"Si-lence!" he roared, and looked about him positively +like a lion. "Doctor," he went on, in his usual tones, +"I was thinking of that, knowing as how you had a fancy +for the boy. We're all humbly grateful for your kindness, +and, as you see, puts faith in you, and takes the drugs +down like that much grog. And I take it I've found a +way as'll suit all. Hawkins, will you give me your word +of honor as a young gentleman—for a young gentleman +you are, although poor born—your word of honor not +to slip your cable?"</p> + +<p>I readily gave the pledge required.</p> + +<p>"Then, doctor," said Silver, "you just step outside o' +that stockade, and once you're there, I'll bring the boy +down on the inside, and I reckon you can yarn through +the spars. Good-day to you, sir, and all our dooties to +the squire and Cap'n Smollett."</p> + +<p>The explosion of disapproval, which nothing but Silver's +black looks had restrained, broke out immediately +the doctor had left the house. Silver was roundly accused +of playing double—of trying to make a separate peace +for himself—of sacrificing the interests of his accomplices +and victims; and, in one word, of the identical, exact thing +that he was doing. It seemed to me so obvious, in this +case, that I could not imagine how he was to turn their +anger. But he was twice the man the rest were, and his +last night's victory had given him a huge preponderance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +on their minds. He called them all the fools and dolts +you can imagine, said it was necessary I should talk to +the doctor, fluttered the chart in their faces, asked them +if they could afford to break the treaty the very day they +were bound a-treasure-hunting.</p> + +<p>"No, by thunder!" he cried, "it's us must break the +treaty when the time comes; and till then I'll gammon +that doctor, if I have to ile his boots with brandy."</p> + +<p>And then he bade them get the fire lit, and stalked out +upon his crutch, with his hand on my shoulder, leaving +them in a disarray, and silenced by his volubility rather +than convinced.</p> + +<p>"Slow, lad, slow," he said. "They might round upon +us in a twinkle of an eye if we was seen to hurry."</p> + +<p>Very deliberately, then, did we advance across the sand +to where the doctor awaited us on the other side of the +stockade, and as soon as we were within easy speaking +distance, Silver stopped.</p> + +<p>"You'll make a note of this here also, doctor," said he, +"and the boy'll tell you how I saved his life, and were +deposed for it, too, and you may lay to that. Doctor, when +a man's steering as near to the wind as me—playing +chuck-farthing with the last breath in his body, like—you +wouldn't think it too much, mayhap, to give him one good +word! You'll please bear in mind it's not my life only +now—it's that boy's into the bargain; and you'll speak +me fair, doctor, and give me a bit o' hope to go on, for the +sake of mercy."</p> + +<p>Silver was a changed man, once he was out there and +had his back to his friends and the blockhouse; his cheeks +seemed to have fallen in, his voice trembled; never was a +soul more dead in earnest.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, John, you're not afraid?" asked Doctor +Livesey.</p> + +<p>"Doctor, I'm no coward; no, not I—not <i>so</i> much!" +and he snapped his fingers. "If I was I wouldn't say it. +But I'll own up fairly, I've the shakes upon me for the +gallows. You're a good man and a true; I never seen a +better man! And you'll not forget what I done good, +not any more than you'll forget the bad, I know. And I +step aside—see here—and leave you and Jim alone. +And you'll put that down for me, too, for it's a long +stretch, is that!"</p> + +<p>So saying, he stepped back a little way till he was out +of earshot, and there sat down upon a tree-stump and +began to whistle, spinning round now and again upon +his seat so as to command a sight, sometimes of me and +the doctor, and sometimes of his unruly ruffians as they +went to and fro in the sand, between the fire—which +they were busy rekindling—and the house, from which +they brought forth pork and bread to make the breakfast.</p> + +<p>"So, Jim," said the doctor, sadly, "here you are. As +you have brewed, so shall you drink, my boy. Heaven +knows I cannot find it in my heart to blame you; but this +much I will say, be it kind or unkind: when Captain +Smollett was well you dared not have gone off, and when +he was ill, and couldn't help it by George, it was downright +cowardly!"</p> + +<p>I will own that I here began to weep. "Doctor," I +said, "you might spare me. I have blamed myself +enough; my life's forfeit anyway, and I should have been +dead now if Silver hadn't stood for me; and, doctor, +believe this, I can die—and I dare say I deserve it—but +what I fear is torture. If they come to torture me—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Jim," the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite +changed, "Jim, I can't have this. Whip over, and we'll +run for it."</p> + +<p>"Doctor," said I, "I passed my word."</p> + +<p>"I know, I know," he cried. "We can't help that, +Jim, now. I'll take it on my shoulders, holus-bolus, blame +and shame, my boy; but stay here, I cannot let you. Jump! +One jump and you're out, and we'll run for it like antelopes."</p> + +<p>"No," I replied, "you know right well you wouldn't +do the thing yourself; neither you, nor squire, nor captain, +and no more will I. Silver trusted me; I passed my word, +and back I go. But, doctor, you did not let me finish. If +they come to torture me, I might let slip a word of where +the ship is; for I got the ship, part by luck and part by +risking, and she lies in North Inlet, on the southern beach, +and just below high water. At half-tide she must be high +and dry."</p> + +<p>"The ship!" exclaimed the doctor.</p> + +<p>Rapidly I described to him my adventures, and he +heard me out in silence.</p> + +<p>"There's a kind of fate in this," he observed, when I +had done. "Every step it's you that save our lives, and +do you suppose by any chance that we are going to let you +lose yours? That would be a poor return, my boy. You +found out the plot; you found Ben Gunn—the best deed +that ever you did, or will do, though you live to ninety. +Oh, by Jupiter! and talking of Ben Gunn, why, this is +the mischief in person. Silver!" he cried, "Silver! +I'll give you a piece of advice," he continued, as the cook +drew near again; "don't you be in any great hurry after +that treasure."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, sir, I do my possible, which that ain't," said +Silver. "I can only, asking your pardon, save my life +and the boy's by seeking for that treasure; and you may +lay to that."</p> + +<p>"Well, Silver," replied the doctor, "if that is so, I'll go +one step farther; look out for squalls when you find it!"</p> + +<p>"Sir," said Silver, "as between man and man, that's +too much and too little. What you're after, why you left +the blockhouse, why you've given me that there chart, I +don't know, now, do I? and yet I done your bidding with +my eyes shut and never a word of hope! But no, this +here's too much. If you won't tell me what you mean +plain out, just say so, and I'll leave the helm."</p> + +<p>"No," said the doctor, musingly, "I've no right to say +more; it's not my secret, you see, Silver, or, I give you +my word, I'd tell it you. But I'll go as far with you as +I dare go, and a step beyond, for I'll have my wig sorted +by the captain, or I'm mistaken! And first, I'll give you +a bit of hope. Silver, if we both get out alive out of this +wolf-trap, I'll do my best to save you, short of perjury."</p> + +<p>Silver's face was radiant. "You couldn't say more, +I am sure, sir, not if you was my mother," he cried.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's my first concession," added the doctor. +"My second is a piece of advice. Keep the boy close +beside you, and when you need help, halloo. I'm off to +seek it for you, and that itself will show you if I speak at +random. Good-by, Jim."</p> + +<p>And Doctor Livesey shook hands with me through the +stockade, nodded to Silver, and set off at a brisk pace into +the wood.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> +<small>THE TREASURE-HUNT—FLINT'S POINTER</small></h2> + +<p>"Jim," said Silver, when we were alone, "if I saved +your life, you saved mine, and I'll not forget it. I seen +the doctor waving you to run for it—with the tail of my +eye, I did—and I seen you say no, as plain as hearing. +Jim, that's one to you. This is the first glint of hope I +had since the attack failed, and I owe it to you. And +now, Jim, we're to go in for this here treasure-hunting, +with sealed orders, too, and I don't like it; and you and +me must stick close, back to back like, and we'll save our +necks in spite o' fate and fortune."</p> + +<p>Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast +was ready, and we were soon seated here and there about +the sand over biscuit and fried junk. They had lighted +a fire fit to roast an ox; and it was now grown so hot that +they could only approach it from the windward, and +even there not without precaution. In the same wasteful +spirit, they had cooked, I suppose, three times more than +we could eat; and one of them, with an empty laugh, +threw what was left into the fire, which blazed and roared +again over this unusual fuel. I never in my life saw men +so careless of the morrow; hand to mouth is the only word +that can describe their way of doing; and what with +wasted food and sleeping sentries, though they were bold +enough for a brush and be done with it, I could see their +entire unfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<p>Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon his +shoulder, had not a word of blame for their recklessness. +And this the more surprised me, for I thought he had +never showed himself so cunning as he did then.</p> + +<p>"Ay, mates," said he, "it's lucky you have Barbecue +to think for you with this here head. I got what I +wanted, I did. Sure enough, they have the ship. Where +they have it, I don't know yet; but once we hit the treasure, +we'll have to jump about and find out. And then, mates, +us that has the boats, I reckon, has the upper hand."</p> + +<p>Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of the +hot bacon; thus he restored their hope and confidence, +and, I more than suspect, repaired his own at the same +time.</p> + +<p>"As for hostage," he continued, "that's his last talk, +I guess, with them he loves so dear. I've got my piece +o' news, and thanky to him for that; but it's over and +done. I'll take him in a line when we go treasure-hunting, +for we'll keep him like so much gold, in case of accidents, +you mark, and in the meantime. Once we got the +ship and treasure both, and off to sea like jolly companions, +why, then we'll talk Mr. Hawkins over, we +will, and we'll give him his share, to be sure, for all his +kindness."</p> + +<p>It was no wonder the men were in a good humor now. +For my part, I was horribly cast down. Should the +scheme he had now sketched prove feasible, Silver, +already doubly a traitor, would not hesitate to adopt it. +He had still a foot in either camp, and there was no doubt +he would prefer wealth and freedom with the pirates to +a bare escape from hanging, which was the best he had +to hope on our side.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was forced +to keep his faith with Doctor Livesey, even then what +danger lay before us! What a moment that would be +when the suspicions of his followers turned to certainty, +and he and I should have to fight for dear life—he, a +cripple, and I, a boy—against five strong and active seamen!</p> + +<p>Add to this double apprehension the mystery that still +hung over the behavior of my friends; their unexplained +desertion of the stockade; their inexplicable cession of +the chart; or, harder still to understand, the doctor's last +warning to Silver, "Look out for squalls when you find +it"; and you will readily believe how little taste I found +in my breakfast, and with how uneasy a heart I set forth +behind my captors on the quest for treasure.</p> + +<p>We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to +see us; all in soiled sailor clothes, and all but me armed +to the teeth. Silver had two guns slung about him, one +before and one behind—besides the great cutlass at his +waist, and a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. +To complete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat +perched upon his shoulder and gabbled odds and ends of +purposeless sea-talk. I had a line about my waist, and +followed obediently after the sea-cook, who held the loose +end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between his +powerful teeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing +bear.</p> + +<p>The other men were variously burdened; some carrying +picks and shovels—for that had been the very first +necessary they brought ashore from the <i>Hispaniola</i>—others +laden with pork, bread, and brandy for the midday +meal. All the stores, I observed, came from our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +stock, and I could see the truth of Silver's words the night +before. Had he not struck a bargain with the doctor, he +and his mutineers, deserted by the ship, must have been +driven to subsist on clear water, and the proceeds of their +hunting. Water would have been little to their taste; a +sailor is not usually a good shot; and, besides all that, +when they were so short of eatables, it was not likely they +would be very flush of powder.</p> + +<p>Well, thus equipped, we all set out—even the fellow +with the broken head, who should certainly have kept in +shadow—and straggled, one after another, to the beach, +where the two gigs awaited us. Even these bore trace of +the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, +and both in their muddied and unbailed condition. Both +were to be carried along with us, for the sake of safety; +and so, with our numbers divided between them, we set +forth upon the bosom of the anchorage.</p> + +<p>As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the +chart. The red cross was, of course, far too large to be +a guide; and the terms of the note on the back, as you will +hear, admitted of some ambiguity. They ran, the reader +may remember, thus:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E.</p> + +<p>"Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.</p> + +<p>"Ten feet."</p></div> + +<p>A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right +before us, the anchorage was bounded by a plateau from +two to three hundred feet high, adjoining on the north +the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glass, and rising +again toward the south into the rough, cliffy eminence +called the Mizzen-mast Hill. The top of the plateau<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +was dotted thickly with pine trees of varying height. +Every here and there, one of a different species rose forty +or fifty feet clear above its neighbors, and which of these +was the particular "tall tree" of Captain Flint could +only be decided on the spot, and by the readings of the +compass.</p> + +<p>Yet, although that was the case, every man on board +the boats had picked a favorite of his own ere we were +halfway over, Long John alone shrugging his shoulders +and bidding them wait till they were there.</p> + +<p>We pulled easily, by Silver's directions, not to weary +the hands prematurely; and, after quite a long passage, +landed at the mouth of the second river—that which +runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-glass. Thence, bending +to our left, we began to ascend the slope towards the +plateau.</p> + +<p>At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted, +marsh vegetation greatly delayed our progress; but by +little and little the hill began to steepen and become +stony under foot, and the wood to change its character +and to grow in a more open order. It was, indeed, a +most pleasant portion of the island that we were now +approaching. A heavy-scented broom and many flowering +shrubs had almost taken the place of grass. Thickets +of green nutmeg-trees were dotted here and there with +the red columns and the broad shadow of the pines, and +the first mingled their spice with the aroma of the others. +The air, besides, was fresh and stirring, and this, under +the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderful refreshment to our +senses.</p> + +<p>The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, shouting +and leaping to and fro. About the center, and a good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +way behind the rest, Silver and I followed—I tethered +by my rope, he plowing, with deep pants, among the +sliding gravel. From time to time, indeed, I had to lend +him a hand, or he must have missed his footing and fallen +backward down the hill.</p> + +<p>We had thus proceeded for about half a mile, and were +approaching the brow of the plateau, when the man upon +the farthest left began to cry aloud, as if in terror. Shout +after shout came from him, and the others began to run +in his direction.</p> + +<p>"He can't 'a' found the treasure," said old Morgan, +hurrying past us from the right, "for that's clean a-top."</p> + +<p>Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it +was something very different. At the foot of a pretty big +pine, and involved in a green creeper, which had even +partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human skeleton +lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I +believe a chill struck for a moment to every heart.</p> + +<p>"He was a seaman," said George Merry, who, bolder +than the rest, had gone up close, and was examining the +rags of clothing. "Leastways, this is good sea-cloth."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay," said Silver, "like enough; you wouldn't look +to find a bishop here, I reckon. But what sort of a way +is that for bones to lie? 'Tain't in natur'."</p> + +<p>Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to +fancy that the body was in a natural position. But for +some disarray (the work, perhaps, of the birds that had +fed upon him, or of the slow-growing creeper that had +gradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly +straight—his feet pointing in one direction, his hands +raised above his head like a diver's, pointing directly in +the opposite.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I've taken a notion into my old numskull," observed +Silver. "Here's the compass; there's the tip-top p'int of +Skeleton Island, stickin' out like a tooth. Just take a bearing, +will you, along the line of them bones."</p> + +<p>It was done. The body pointed straight in the direction +of the island, and the compass read duly E.S.E. by E.</p> + +<p>"I thought so," cried the cook; "this here is a p'inter. +Right up there is our line for the Pole Star and the jolly +dollars. But, by thunder! if it don't make me cold inside +to think of Flint. This is one of <i>his</i> jokes, and no mistake. +Him and these six was alone here; he killed 'em, every +man; and this one he hauled here and laid down by compass, +shiver my timbers! They're long bones, and the +hair's been yellow. Ay, that would be Allardyce. You +mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay," returned Morgan, "I mind him; he owed +me money, he did, and took my knife ashore with him."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of knives," said another, "why don't we find +his'n lying round? Flint warn't the man to pick a seaman's +pocket; and the birds, I guess, would leave it be."</p> + +<p>"By the powers and that's true!" cried Silver.</p> + +<p>"There ain't a thing left here," said Merry, still feeling +round among the bones; "not a copper doit nor a +baccy box. It don't look nat'ral to me."</p> + +<p>"No, by gum, it don't," agreed Silver; "not nat'ral, +nor not nice, says you. Great guns, messmates, but if Flint +was living this would be a hot spot for you and me! Six +they were, and six are we; and bones is what they are +now."</p> + +<p>"I saw him dead with these here deadlights," said +Morgan. "Billy took me in. There he laid, with penny-pieces +on his eyes."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dead—ay, sure enough he's dead and gone below," +said the fellow with the bandage; "but if ever sperrit +walked it would be Flint's. Dear heart, but he died bad, +did Flint!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, that he did," observed another; "now he raged +and now he hollered for the rum, and now he sang. +'Fifteen Men' were his only song, mates; and I tell you +true, I never rightly liked to hear it since. It was main +hot and the windy was open, and I hear that old song +comin' out as clear as clear—and the death-haul on the +man already."</p> + +<p>"Come, come," said Silver, "stow this talk. He's dead, +and he don't walk, that I know; leastways he won't walk +by day, and you may lay to that. Care killed a cat. Fetch +ahead for the doubloons."</p> + +<p>We started, certainly, but in spite of the hot sun and +the staring daylight, the pirates no longer ran separate +and shouting through the wood, but kept side by side and +spoke with bated breath. The terror of the dead buccaneer +had fallen on their spirits.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII<br /> +<small>THE TREASURE-HUNT—THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES</small></h2> + +<p>Partly from the damping influence of this alarm, partly +to rest Silver and the sick folk, the whole party sat down +as soon as they had gained the brow of the ascent.</p> + +<p>The plateau being somewhat tilted toward the west, +this spot on which we had paused commanded a wide +prospect on either hand. Before us, over the tree-tops, +we beheld the Cape of the Woods fringed with surf; +behind, we not only looked down upon the anchorage and +Skeleton Island, but saw—clear across the spit and the +eastern lowlands—a great field of open sea upon the east. +Sheer above us rose the Spy-glass, here dotted with single +pines, there black with precipices. There was no sound +but that of the distant breakers mounting from all around, +and the chirp of countless insects in the brush. Not a man, +not a sail upon the sea; the very largeness of the view +increased the sense of solitude.</p> + +<p>Silver, as he sat, took certain bearings with his compass.</p> + +<p>"There are three 'tall trees,'" said he, "about in the +right line from Skeleton Island. 'Spy-glass Shoulder,' +I take it, means that lower p'int there. It's child's play +to find the stuff now. I've half a mind to dine first."</p> + +<p>"I don't feel sharp," growled Morgan. "Thinkin' o' +Flint—I think it were—as done me."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he's dead," +said Silver.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He was an ugly devil," cried a third pirate, with a +shudder; "that blue in the face, too!"</p> + +<p>"That was how the rum took him," added Merry. +"Blue! well I reckon he was blue. That's a true word."</p> + +<p>Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon +this train of thought, they had spoken lower and lower, +and they had almost got to whispering by now, so that +the sound of their talk hardly interrupted the silence of +the wood. All of a sudden, out of the middle of the trees +in front of us, a thin, high, trembling voice struck up the +well-known air and words:</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than +the pirates. The color went from their six faces like +enchantment; some leaped to their feet, some clawed hold +of others; Morgan groveled on the ground.</p> + +<p>"It's Flint, by ——!" cried Merry.</p> + +<p>The song had stopped as suddenly as it began—broken +off, you would have said, in the middle of a note, +as though someone had laid his hand upon the singer's +mouth. Coming so far through the clear, sunny atmosphere +among the green tree-tops, I thought it had sounded +airily and sweetly, and the effect on my companions was +the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Come," said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to +get the word out, "that won't do. Stand by to go about. +This is a rum start, and I can't name the voice, but it's +someone skylarking—someone that's flesh and blood, and +you may lay to that."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<p>His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of +the color to his face along with it. Already the others +had begun to lend an ear to this encouragement, and were +coming a little to themselves, when the same voice broke +out again—not this time singing, but in a faint, distant +hail, that echoed yet fainter among the clefts of the Spy-glass.</p> + +<p>"Darby M'Graw," it wailed—for that is the word +that best describes the sound—"Darby M'Graw! Darby +M'Graw!" again and again and again; and then rising a +little higher, and with an oath that I leave out: "Fetch +aft the rum, Darby!"</p> + +<p>The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their +eyes starting from their heads. Long after the voice had +died away they still stared in silence, dreadfully, before +them.</p> + +<p>"That fixes it!" gasped one. "Let's go."</p> + +<p>"They was his last words," moaned Morgan, "his last +words above-board."</p> + +<p>Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly. He +had been well brought up, had Dick, before he came to +sea and fell among bad companions.</p> + +<p>Still, Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth +rattle in his head, but he had not yet surrendered.</p> + +<p>"Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby," +he muttered; "not one but us that's here." And then, +making a great effort: "Shipmates," he cried, "I'm here +to get that stuff, and I'll not be beat by man nor devil. I +never was feared of Flint in his life, and, by the powers, +I'll face him dead. There's seven hundred thousand +pound not a quarter of a mile from here. When did ever +a gentleman o' fortune show his stern to that much dollars<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +for a boozy old seaman with a blue mug—and him dead, +too?"</p> + +<p>But there was no sign of reawakening courage in his +followers; rather, indeed, of growing terror at the irreverence +of his words.</p> + +<p>"Belay there, John!" said Merry. "Don't you cross a +sperrit."</p> + +<p>And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They +would have run away severally had they dared, but fear +kept them together, and kept them close by John, as if his +daring helped them. He, on his part, had pretty well +fought his weakness down.</p> + +<p>"Sperrit? Well, maybe," he said. "But there's one +thing not clear to me. There was an echo. Now, no man +ever seen a sperrit with a shadow. Well, then, what's he +doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? That +ain't in natur', surely."</p> + +<p>This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you +can never tell what will affect the superstitious, and, to +my wonder, George Merry was greatly relieved.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's so," he said. "You've a head upon your +shoulders, John, and no mistake. 'Bout ship, mates! +This here crew is on a wrong tack, I do believe. And +come to think on it, it was like Flint's voice, I grant you, +but not just so clear away like it, after all. It was liker +somebody else's voice now—it was liker—"</p> + +<p>"By the powers, Ben Gunn!" roared Silver.</p> + +<p>"Ay, and so it were," cried Morgan, springing on his +knees. "Ben Gunn it were!"</p> + +<p>"It don't make much odds, do it, now?" asked Dick. +"Ben Gunn's not here in the body, any more'n Flint."</p> + +<p>But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn," cried Merry; "dead +or alive, nobody minds him!"</p> + +<p>It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned, +and how the natural color had revived in their faces. +Soon they were chatting together, with intervals of listening; +and not long after, hearing no further sound, they +shouldered the tools and set forth again, Merry walking +first with Silver's compass to keep them on the right line +with Skeleton Island. He had said the truth; dead or +alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn.</p> + +<p>Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him +as he went, with fearful glances; but he found no sympathy, +and Silver even joked him on his precautions.</p> + +<p>"I told you," said he, "I told you you had sp'iled your +Bible. If it ain't no good to swear by, what do you suppose +a sperrit would give for it? Not that!" and he +snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on his crutch.</p> + +<p>But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon +plain to me that the lad was falling sick; hastened by heat, +exhaustion, and the shock of his alarm, the fever, predicted +by Doctor Livesey, was evidently growing swiftly +higher.</p> + +<p>It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our +way lay a little downhill, for, as I have said, the plateau +tilted toward the west. The pines, great and small, grew +wide apart; and even between the clumps of nutmeg and +azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. Striking, +as we did, pretty near northwest across the island, we +drew, on the one hand, ever nearer under the shoulders +of the Spy-glass, and on the other, looked ever wider over +that western bay where I had once tossed and trembled +in the coracle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> + +<p>The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearing, +proved the wrong one. So with the second. The +third rose nearly two hundred feet into the air above a +clump of underwood; a giant of a vegetable, with a red +column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in +which a company could have maneuvered. It was conspicuous +far to sea, both on the east and west, and might +have been entered as a sailing mark upon the chart.</p> + +<p>But it was not its size that now impressed my companions; +it was the knowledge that seven hundred thousand +pounds in gold lay somewhere buried below its +spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they +drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their +eyes burned in their heads; their feet grew speedier and +lighter; their whole soul was bound up in that fortune, +that whole lifetime of extravagance and pleasure, that lay +waiting there for each of them.</p> + +<p>Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils +stood out and quivered; he cursed like a madman when +the flies settled on his hot and shiny countenance; he +plucked furiously at the line that held me to him, and, +from time to time, turned his eyes upon me with a deadly +look. Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts; +and certainly I read them like print. In the immediate +nearness of the gold, all else had been forgotten; his promise +and the doctor's warning were both things of the past; +and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the +treasure, find and board the <i>Hispaniola</i> under cover of +night, cut every honest throat about that island, and sail +away as he had at first intended, laden with crimes and +riches.</p> + +<p>Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +to keep up with the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. +Now and again I stumbled, and it was then that Silver +plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me his +murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us, +and now brought up the rear, was babbling to himself +both prayers and curses, as his fever kept rising. This +also added to my wretchedness, and, to crown all, I was +haunted by the thought of the tragedy that had once been +acted on that plateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with +the blue face—he who had died at Savannah, singing and +shouting for drink—had there, with his own hand, cut +down his six accomplices. This grove, that was now +so peaceful, must then have rung with cries, I thought; +and even with the thought I could believe I heard it ringing +still.</p> + +<p>We were now at the margin of the thicket.</p> + +<p>"Huzza, mates, altogether!" shouted Merry, and the +foremost broke into a run.</p> + +<p>And suddenly, not ten yards farther, we beheld them +stop. A low cry arose. Silver doubled his pace, digging +away with the foot of his crutch like one possessed, and +next moment he and I had come also to a dead halt.</p> + +<p>Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for +the sides had fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom. +In this were the shaft of a pick broken in two and +the boards of several packing cases strewn around. On +one of these boards I saw branded with a hot iron, the +name <i>Walrus</i>—the name of Flint's ship.</p> + +<p>All was clear to probation. The <i>cache</i> had been found +and rifled—the seven hundred thousand pounds were +gone!</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII<br /> +<small>THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN</small></h2> + +<p>There never was such an overturn in this world. Each +of these six men was as though he had been struck. But +with Silver the blow passed almost instantly. Every +thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like a racer, +on that money; well, he was brought up in a single second, +dead; and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed +his plan before the others had had time to realize the disappointment.</p> + +<p>"Jim," he whispered, "take that, and stand by for +trouble."</p> + +<p>And he passed me a double-barreled pistol.</p> + +<p>At the same time he began quietly moving northward, +and in a few steps had put the hollow between us two and +the other five. Then he looked at me and nodded, as much +as to say: "Here is a narrow corner," as, indeed, I +thought it was. His looks were now quite friendly, and +I was so revolted at these constant changes that I could not +forbear whispering: "So you've changed sides again."</p> + +<p>There was no time left for him to answer in. The +buccaneers, with oaths and cries, began to leap, one after +another, into the pit, and to dig with their fingers, throwing +the boards aside as they did so. Morgan found a piece +of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. It +was a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand +among them for a quarter of a minute.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Two guineas!" roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. +"That's your seven hundred thousand pounds, is it? +You're the man for bargains, ain't you? You're him that +never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!"</p> + +<p>"Dig away, boys," said Silver, with the coolest insolence; +"you'll find some pig-nuts, and I shouldn't wonder."</p> + +<p>"Pig-nuts!" repeated Merry, in a scream. "Mates, +do you hear that? I tell you now, that man there knew +it all along. Look in the face of him, and you'll see it +wrote there."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Merry," remarked Silver, "standing for cap'n +again? You're a pushing lad, to be sure."</p> + +<p>But this time every one was entirely in Merry's favor. +They began to scramble out of the excavation, darting +furious glances behind them. One thing I observed, +which looked well for us; they all got out upon the opposite +side from Silver.</p> + +<p>Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, +the pit between us, and nobody screwed up high enough +to offer the first blow. Silver never moved; he watched +them, very upright on his crutch, and looked as cool as +ever I saw him. He was brave, and no mistake.</p> + +<p>At last, Merry seemed to think a speech might help +matters.</p> + +<p>"Mates," says he, "there's two of them alone there; +one's the old cripple that brought us all here and blundered +us down to this; the other's that cub that I mean to +have the heart of. Now, mates—"</p> + +<p>He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant +to lead a charge. But just then—crack! crack! crack!—three +musket-shots flashed out of the thicket. Merry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +tumbled headforemost into the excavation; the man with +the bandage spun round like a teetotum, and fell all his +length upon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; +and the other three turned and ran for it with all +their might.</p> + +<p>Before you could wink Long John had fired two barrels +of a pistol into the struggling Merry; and as the man +rolled up his eyes at him in the last agony, "George," +said he, "I reckon I settled you."</p> + +<p>At the same moment the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn +joined us, with smoking muskets, from among the nutmeg-trees.</p> + +<p>"Forward!" cried the doctor. "Double quick, my +lads. We must head 'em off the boats."</p> + +<p>And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging +through the bushes to the chest.</p> + +<p>I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. +The work that man went through, leaping on his crutch +till the muscles of his chest were fit to burst, was work +no sound man ever equaled; and so thinks the doctor. As +it was, he was already thirty yards behind us, and on the +verge of strangling, when we reached the brow of the +slope.</p> + +<p>"Doctor," he hailed, "see there! no hurry!"</p> + +<p>Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open part +of the plateau we could see the three survivors still running +in the same direction as they had started, right for +Mizzen-mast Hill. We were already between them and +the boats, and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long +John, mopping his face, came slowly up with us.</p> + +<p>"Thank ye kindly, doctor," says he. "You came in in +about the nick, I guess, for me and Hawkins. And so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +it's you, Ben Gunn!" he added. "Well, you're a nice one, +to be sure."</p> + +<p>"I'm Ben Gunn, I am," replied the maroon, wriggling +like an eel in his embarrassment. "And," he added, after +a long pause, "how do, Mr. Silver! Pretty well, I thank +ye, says you."</p> + +<p>"Ben, Ben," murmured Silver, "to think as you've +done me!"</p> + +<p>The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pickaxes deserted, +in their flight, by the mutineers; and then as we +proceeded leisurely downhill to where the boats were lying, +related, in a few words, what had taken place. It was +a story that profoundly interested Silver, and Ben Gunn, +the half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end.</p> + +<p>Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, +had found the skeleton. It was he that had rifled it; he +had found the treasure; he had dug it up (it was the haft +of his pickax that lay broken in the excavation); he had +carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, from the +foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed +hill at the northeast angle of the island, and there it had +lain stored in safety since two months before the arrival +of the <i>Hispaniola</i>.</p> + +<p>When the doctor had wormed this secret from him, on +the afternoon of the attack, and when, next morning, he +saw the anchorage deserted, he had gone to Silver, given +him the chart, which was now useless; given him the +stores, for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goats' +meat salted by himself; given anything and everything +to get a chance of moving in safety from the stockade to +the two-pointed hill, there to be clear of malaria and +keep a guard upon the money.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>"As for you, Jim," he said, "it went against my heart, +but I did what I thought best for those who had stood by +their duty; and if you were not one of these, whose fault +was it?"</p> + +<p>That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the +horrid disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, +he had run all the way to the cave, and, leaving squire to +guard the captain, had taken Gray and the maroon, and +started, making the diagonal across the island, to be at +hand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our +party had the start of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of +foot, had been dispatched in front to do his best alone. +Then it had occurred to him to work upon the superstitions +of his former shipmates; and he was so far successful +that Gray and the doctor had come up and were +already ambushed before the arrival of the treasure-hunters.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Silver, "it was fortunate for me that I had +Hawkins here. You would have let old John be cut to +bits, and never given it a thought, doctor."</p> + +<p>"Not a thought," replied Doctor Livesey, cheerily.</p> + +<p>And by this time we had reached the gigs. The doctor, +with the pickax, demolished one of them, and then we all +got aboard the other, and set out to go round by the sea +for North Inlet.</p> + +<p>This was a run of eight or nine miles. Silver, though +he was almost killed already with fatigue, was set to an +oar, like the rest of us, and we were soon skimming swiftly +over a smooth sea. Soon we passed out of the straits and +doubled the southeast corner of the island, round which, +four days ago, we had towed the <i>Hispaniola</i>.</p> + +<p>As we passed the two-pointed hill we could see the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +black mouth of Ben Gunn's cave, and a figure standing +by it, leaning on a musket. It was the squire, and we +waved a handkerchief and gave him three cheers, in +which the voice of Silver joined as heartily as any.</p> + +<p>Three miles farther, just inside the mouth of North +Inlet, what should we meet but the <i>Hispaniola</i>, cruising +by herself! The last flood had lifted her, and had there +been much wind, or a strong tide current, as in the southern +anchorage, we should never have found her more, or +found her stranded beyond help. As it was, there was +little amiss, beyond the wreck of the mainsail. Another +anchor was got ready, and dropped in a fathom and a half +of water. We all pulled round again to Rum Cove, the +nearest point for Ben Gunn's treasure-house; and then +Gray, single-handed, returned with the gig to the <i>Hispaniola</i>, +where he was to pass the night on guard.</p> + +<p>A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance +of the cave. At the top, the squire met us. To me he was +cordial and kind, saying nothing of my escapade, either +in the way of blame or praise. At Silver's polite salute +he somewhat flushed.</p> + +<p>"John Silver," he said, "you're a prodigious villain +and impostor—a monstrous impostor, sir. I am told I +am not to prosecute you. Well, then, I will not. But the +dead men, sir, hang about your neck like millstones."</p> + +<p>"Thank you kindly, sir," replied Long John, again +saluting.</p> + +<p>"I dare you to thank me!" cried the squire. "It is a +gross dereliction of my duty. Stand back!"</p> + +<p>And thereupon we all entered the cave. It was a large, +airy place, with a little spring and a pool of clear water, +overhung with ferns. The floor was sand. Before a big<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +fire lay Captain Smollett; and in a far corner, only duskily +flickered over by the blaze, I beheld great heaps of coin +and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold. That was Flint's +treasure that we had come so far to seek, and that had cost +already the lives of seventeen men from the <i>Hispaniola</i>. +How many it had cost in the amassing, what blood and +sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep, what brave +men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon, +what shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive +could tell. Yet there were still three upon that island—Silver, +and old Morgan, and Ben Gunn—who had each +taken his share in these crimes, as each had hoped in vain +to share in the reward.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Jim," said the captain. "You're a good boy +in your line, Jim; but I don't think you and me'll go to +sea again. You're too much of the born favorite for me. +Is that you, John Silver? What brings you here, man?"</p> + +<p>"Come back to my dooty, sir," returned Silver.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the captain, and that was all he said.</p> + +<p>What a supper I had of it that night, with all my +friends around me; and what a meal it was, with Ben +Gunn's salted goat, and some delicacies and a bottle of +old wine from the <i>Hispaniola</i>. Never, I am sure, were +people gayer or happier. And there was Silver, sitting +back almost out of the firelight, but eating heartily, +prompt to spring forward when anything was wanted, +even joining quietly in our laughter—the same bland, +polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV<br /> +<small>AND LAST</small></h2> + +<p>The next morning we fell early to work, for the transportation +of this great mass of gold near a mile by land +to the beach, and thence three miles by boat to the <i>Hispaniola</i>, +was a considerable task for so small a number of +workmen. The three fellows still abroad upon the island +did not greatly trouble us; a single sentry on the shoulder +of the hill was sufficient to insure us against any sudden +onslaught, and we thought, besides, they had had more +than enough of fighting.</p> + +<p>Therefore the work was pushed on briskly. Gray and +Ben Gunn came and went with the boat, while the rest +during their absences piled treasure on the beach. Two +of the bars, slung in a rope's end, made a good load for a +grown man—one that he was glad to walk slowly with. +For my part, as I was not much use at carrying, I was +kept busy all day in the cave, packing the minted money +into bread-bags.</p> + +<p>It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones's hoard for +the diversity of coinage, but so much larger and so much +more varied that I think I never had more pleasure than +in sorting them. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, +Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and +moidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of +Europe for the last hundred years, strange oriental pieces +stamped with what looked like wisps of string or bits of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +spider's web, round pieces and square pieces, and pieces +bored through the middle, as if to wear them round your +neck—nearly every variety of money in the world must, +I think, have found a place in that collection; and for +number, I am sure they were like autumn leaves, so that +my back ached with stooping and my fingers with sorting +them out.</p> + +<div class="figr" style="width: 341px;"><a name="cph" id="cph"></a> +<img src="images/016.jpg" width="341" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +<div class="td2">Page 253</div><i>Nearly every variety of money in the world must have found a place in +that collection</i></div> + +<p>Day after day this work went on; by every evening a +fortune had been stowed aboard, but there was another +fortune waiting for the morrow; and all this time we heard +nothing of the three surviving mutineers.</p> + +<p>At last—I think it was on the third night—the doctor +and I were strolling on the shoulder of the hill where it +overlooks the lowlands of the isle, when, from out the thick +darkness below, the wind brought us a noise between +shrieking and singing. It was only a snatch that reached +our ears, followed by the former silence.</p> + +<p>"Heaven forgive them," said the doctor; "'tis the +mutineers!"</p> + +<p>"All drunk, sir," struck in the voice of Silver from +behind us.</p> + +<p>Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty, and, +in spite of daily rebuffs, seemed to regard himself once +more as quite a privileged and friendly dependent. +Indeed, it was remarkable how well he bore these slights, +and with what unwearying politeness he kept at trying +to ingratiate himself with all. Yet, I think, none treated +him better than a dog, unless it was Ben Gunn, who was +still terribly afraid of his old quartermaster, or myself, +who had really something to thank him for; although for +that matter, I suppose, I had reason to think even worse +of him than anybody else, for I had seen him meditating a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +fresh treachery upon the plateau. Accordingly, it was +pretty gruffly that the doctor answered him.</p> + +<p>"Drunk or raving," said he.</p> + +<p>"Right you were, sir," replied Silver; "and precious +little odds which, to you and me."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you would hardly ask me to call you a +humane man," returned the doctor, with a sneer, "and so +my feelings may surprise you, Master Silver. But if I +were sure they were raving—as I am morally certain +one, at least, of them is down with fever—I should leave +this camp, and, at whatever risk to my own carcass, take +them the assistance of my skill."</p> + +<p>"Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong," +quoth Silver. "You would lose your precious life, and +you may lay to that. I'm on your side now, hand and +glove; and I shouldn't wish for to see the party weakened, +let alone yourself, seeing as I know what I owes you. But +these men down there, they couldn't keep their word—no, +not supposing they wished to—and what's more, they +couldn't believe as you could."</p> + +<p>"No," said the doctor. "You're the man to keep your +word, we know that."</p> + +<p>Well, that was about the last news we had of the three +pirates. Only once we heard a gunshot a great way off, +and supposed them to be hunting. A council was held +and it was decided that we must desert them on the island—to +the huge glee, I must say, of Ben Gunn, and with +the strong approval of Gray. We left a good stock of +powder and shot, the bulk of the salt goat, a few medicines +and some other necessaries, tools, clothing, a spare +sail, a fathom or two of rope, and, by the particular desire +of the doctor, a handsome present of tobacco.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> + +<p>That was about our last doing on the island. Before +that we had got the treasure stowed and had shipped +enough water and the remainder of the goat meat, in case +of any distress; and at last, one fine morning, we weighed +anchor, which was about all that we could manage, and +stood out of North Inlet, the same colors flying that the +captain had flown and fought under at the palisade.</p> + +<p>The three fellows must have been watching us closer +than we thought for, as we soon had proved. For, coming +through the narrows we had to lie very near the southern +point, and there we saw all three of them kneeling together +on a spit of sand with their arms raised in supplication. +It went to all our hearts, I think, to leave them in that +wretched state, but we could not risk another mutiny, and +to take them home for the gibbet would have been a cruel +sort of kindness. The doctor hailed them and told them +of the stores we had left, and where they were to find them, +but they continued to call us by name and appeal to us for +God's sake to be merciful and not leave them to die in such +a place.</p> + +<p>At last, seeing the ship still bore on her course, and was +now swiftly drawing out of earshot, one of them—I know +not which it was—leaped to his feet with a hoarse cry, +whipped his musket to his shoulder, and sent a shot +whistling over Silver's head and through the mainsail.</p> + +<p>After that we kept under cover of the bulwarks, and +when next I looked out they had disappeared from the +spit, and the spit itself had almost melted out of sight in +the growing distance. That was, at least, the end of that; +and before noon, to my inexpressible joy, the highest rock +of Treasure Island had sunk into the blue round of sea.</p> + +<p>We were so short of men that everyone on board had to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +bear a hand—only the captain lying on a mattress in +the stern and giving his orders, for though greatly recovered +he was still in want of quiet. We laid her head +for the nearest port in Spanish America, for we could +not risk the voyage home without fresh hands; and as it +was, what with baffling winds and a couple of fresh gales, +we were all worn out before we reached it.</p> + +<p>It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a most +beautiful landlocked gulf, and were immediately surrounded +by shore boats full of negroes and Mexican +Indians and half-bloods, selling fruits and vegetables, and +offering to dive for bits of money. The sight of so many +good-humored faces (especially the blacks), the taste of +the tropical fruits, and above all, the lights that began to +shine in the town, made a most charming contrast to our +dark and bloody sojourn on the island; and the doctor +and the squire, taking me along with them, went ashore +to pass the early part of the night. Here they met the +captain of an English man-of-war, fell in talk with him, +went on board his ship, and in short, had so agreeable a +time that day was breaking when we came alongside the +<i>Hispaniola</i>.</p> + +<p>Ben Gunn was on deck alone, and as soon as we came +on board he began, with wonderful contortions, to make +us a confession. Silver was gone. The maroon had connived +at his escape in a shore boat some hours ago, and +he now assured us he had only done so to preserve our +lives, which would certainly have been forfeited if "that +man with the one leg had stayed aboard." But this was +not all. The sea-cook had not gone empty-handed. He +had cut through a bulkhead unobserved, and had removed +one of the sacks of coin, worth, perhaps, three or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +four hundred guineas, to help him on his further wanderings.</p> + +<p>I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit of him.</p> + +<p>Well, to make a long story short, we got a few hands +on board, made a good cruise home, and the <i>Hispaniola</i> +reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandly was beginning to +think of fitting out her consort. Five men only of those +who had sailed returned with her. "Drink and the devil +had done for the rest" with a vengeance, although, to be +sure, we were not quite in so bad a case as that other ship +they sang about:</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"With one man of the crew alive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What put to sea with seventy-five."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>All of us had an ample share of the treasure, and used it +wisely or foolishly, according to our natures. Captain +Smollett is now retired from the sea. Gray not only +saved his money, but, being suddenly smit with the desire +to rise, also studied his profession, and he is now mate and +part owner of a fine full-rigged ship; married besides, +and the father of a family. As for Ben Gunn, he got a +thousand pounds, which he spent or lost in three weeks, +or, to be more exact, in nineteen days, for he was back +begging on the twentieth. Then he was given a lodge to +keep, exactly as he had feared upon the island; and he +still lives, a great favorite, though something of a butt +with the country boys, and a notable singer in church on +Sundays and saints' days.</p> + +<p>Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable +seafaring man with one leg has at last gone clean out of +my life, but I dare say he met his old negress, and perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint. It is to +be hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in +another world are very small.</p> + +<p>The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know, +where Flint buried them; and certainly they shall lie +there for me. Oxen and wain-ropes would not bring me +back again to that accursed island, and the worst dreams +that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about +its coasts, or start upright in bed, with the sharp voice of +Captain Flint still ringing in my ears: "Pieces of eight! +pieces of eight!"</p> + +<div class="figc" style="width: 262px;"> +<img src="images/002.png" width="262" height="237" alt="" title="" /></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TREASURE ISLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 27780-h.htm or 27780-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/7/8/27780/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Stephen Blundell and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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