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Content for Decem's Python course.
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383 kB · 7857 lines
at main
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ISLANDby Robert Louis StevensonTREASURE ISLANDTo S.L.O., an American gentleman in accordance with whose classic tastethe following narrative has been designed, it is now, in return fornumerous delightful hours, and with the kindest wishes, dedicated by hisaffectionate friend, the author. TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER If sailor tales to sailor tunes, Storm and adventure, heat and cold, If schooners, islands, and maroons, And buccaneers, and buried gold, And all the old romance, retold Exactly in the ancient way, Can please, as me they pleased of old, The wiser youngsters of today: --So be it, and fall on! If not, If studious youth no longer crave, His ancient appetites forgot, Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, Or Cooper of the wood and wave: So be it, also! And may I And all my pirates share the grave Where these and their creations lie! CONTENTS PART ONE The Old Buccaneer 1. THE OLD SEA-DOG AT THE ADMIRAL BENBOW 11 2. BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS . . . . 17 3. THE BLACK SPOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 4. THE SEA-CHEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 5. THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN . . . . . . . 36 6. THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS . . . . . . . . . . 41 PART TWO The Sea Cook 7. I GO TO BRISTOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 8. AT THE SIGN OF THE SPY-GLASS . . . . . . . 54 9. POWDER AND ARMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 10. THE VOYAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 11. WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL . . . . 70 12. COUNCIL OF WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 PART THREE My Shore Adventure 13. HOW MY SHORE ADVENTURE BEGAN . . . . . . 82 14. THE FIRST BLOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 15. THE MAN OF THE ISLAND. . . . . . . . . . 93 PART FOUR The Stockade 16. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED . . . . . . 100 17. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP . . . . . . 105 18. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: END OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING . . . 109 19. NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS: THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE . . . . . 114 20. SILVER'S EMBASSY . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 21. THE ATTACK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 PART FIVE My Sea Adventure 22. HOW MY SEA ADVENTURE BEGAN . . . . . . . 132 23. THE EBB-TIDE RUNS . . . . . . . . . . . 138 24. THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE . . . . . . . 143 25. I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER . . . . . . . . 148 26. ISRAEL HANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 27. "PIECES OF EIGHT" . . . . . . . . . . . 161 PART SIX Captain Silver 28. IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP . . . . . . . . . . 168 29. THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN . . . . . . . . . . 176 30. ON PAROLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 31. THE TREASURE-HUNT--FLINT'S POINTER . . . 189 32. THE TREASURE-HUNT--THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 33. THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN . . . . . . . . 201 34. AND LAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207TREASURE ISLANDPART ONE--The Old Buccaneer1The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral BenbowSQUIRE TRELAWNEY, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen havingasked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, fromthe beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of theisland, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, Itake up my pen in the year of grace 17__ and go back to the time whenmy father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with thesabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof.I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to theinn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow--atall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling over theshoulder of his soiled blue coat, his hands ragged and scarred, withblack, broken nails, and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, lividwhite. I remember him looking round the cover and whistling to himselfas he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang sooften afterwards: "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned andbroken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door with a bit ofstick 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 stilllooking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard."This is a handy cove," says he at length; "and a pleasant sittyatedgrog-shop. Much company, mate?"My father told him no, very little company, the more was the pity."Well, then," said he, "this is the berth for me. Here you, matey," hecried to the man who trundled the barrow; "bring up alongside and helpup my chest. I'll stay here a bit," he continued. "I'm a plain man; rumand bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watchships off. What you mought call me? You mought call me captain. Oh, Isee what you're at--there"; and he threw down three or four gold pieceson the threshold. "You can tell me when I've worked through that," sayshe, looking as fierce as a commander.And indeed bad as his clothes were and coarsely as he spoke, he had noneof the appearance of a man who sailed before the mast, but seemed likea mate or skipper accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. The man who camewith the barrow told us the mail had set him down the morning before atthe Royal George, that he had inquired what inns there were along thecoast, and hearing ours well spoken of, I suppose, and described aslonely, had chosen it from the others for his place of residence. Andthat was all we could learn of our guest.He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove orupon the cliffs with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a cornerof the parlour next the fire and drank rum and water very strong. Mostlyhe would not speak when spoken to, only look up sudden and fierce andblow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who cameabout our house soon learned to let him be. Every day when he came backfrom his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along theroad. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kindthat made him ask this question, but at last we began to see he wasdesirous to avoid them. When a seaman did put up at the Admiral Benbow(as now and then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol) hewould look in at him through the curtained door before he entered theparlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any suchwas present. For me, at least, there was no secret about the matter, forI was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms. He had taken me aside one dayand promised me a silver fourpenny on the first of every month if Iwould 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 firstof the month came round and I applied to him for my wage, he would onlyblow through his nose at me and stare me down, but before the week wasout he was sure to think better of it, bring me my four-penny piece, andrepeat his orders to look out for "the seafaring man with one leg."How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. Onstormy nights, when the wind shook the four corners of the house andthe surf roared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in athousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions. Now the legwould be cut off at the knee, now at the hip; now he was a monstrouskind of a creature who had never had but the one leg, and that in themiddle of his body. To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge andditch was the worst of nightmares. And altogether I paid pretty dear formy monthly fourpenny piece, in the shape of these abominable fancies.But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man with oneleg, I was far less afraid of the captain himself than anybody else whoknew him. There were nights when he took a deal more rum and waterthan his head would carry; and then he would sometimes sit and sing hiswicked, old, wild sea-songs, minding nobody; but sometimes he would callfor glasses round and force all the trembling company to listen to hisstories or bear a chorus to his singing. Often I have heard the houseshaking with "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum," all the neighbours joiningin for dear life, with the fear of death upon them, and each singinglouder than the other to avoid remark. For in these fits he was the mostoverriding companion ever known; he would slap his hand on the table forsilence all round; he would fly up in a passion of anger at a question,or sometimes because none was put, and so he judged the company was notfollowing his story. Nor would he allow anyone to leave the inn till hehad drunk himself sleepy and reeled off to bed.His stories were what frightened people worst of all. Dreadful storiesthey were--about hanging, and walking the plank, and storms at sea, andthe Dry Tortugas, and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main. By hisown account he must have lived his life among some of the wickedest menthat God ever allowed upon the sea, and the language in which he toldthese stories shocked our plain country people almost as much as thecrimes that he described. My father was always saying the inn would beruined, for people would soon cease coming there to be tyrannized overand put down, and sent shivering to their beds; but I really believe hispresence did us good. People were frightened at the time, but on lookingback they rather liked it; it was a fine excitement in a quiet countrylife, and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended toadmire him, calling him a "true sea-dog" and a "real old salt" andsuch like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made Englandterrible at sea.In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us, for he kept on staying weekafter week, and at last month after month, so that all the money hadbeen long exhausted, and still my father never plucked up the heart toinsist on having more. If ever he mentioned it, the captain blew throughhis nose so loudly that you might say he roared, and stared my poorfather out of the room. I have seen him wringing his hands after such arebuff, and I am sure the annoyance and the terror he lived in must havegreatly hastened his early and unhappy death.All the time he lived with us the captain made no change whatever in hisdress but to buy some stockings from a hawker. One of the cocks of hishat having fallen down, he let it hang from that day forth, though itwas a great annoyance when it blew. I remember the appearance of hiscoat, which he patched himself upstairs in his room, and which, beforethe end, was nothing but patches. He never wrote or received a letter,and he never spoke with any but the neighbours, and with these, for themost part, only when drunk on rum. The great sea-chest none of us hadever seen open.He was only once crossed, and that was towards the end, when my poorfather was far gone in a decline that took him off. Dr. Livesey camelate one afternoon to see the patient, took a bit of dinner from mymother, and went into the parlour to smoke a pipe until his horse shouldcome down from the hamlet, for we had no stabling at the old Benbow. Ifollowed him in, and I remember observing the contrast the neat, brightdoctor, with his powder as white as snow and his bright, black eyes andpleasant manners, made with the coltish country folk, and above all,with that filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of a pirate of ours, sitting,far gone in rum, with his arms on the table. Suddenly he--the captain,that is--began to pipe up his eternal song: "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"At first I had supposed "the dead man's chest" to be that identical bigbox of his upstairs in the front room, and the thought had been mingledin my nightmares with that of the one-legged seafaring man. But by thistime we had all long ceased to pay any particular notice to the song; itwas new, that night, to nobody but Dr. Livesey, and on him I observed itdid not produce an agreeable effect, for he looked up for a moment quiteangrily before he went on with his talk to old Taylor, the gardener, ona new cure for the rheumatics. In the meantime, the captain graduallybrightened up at his own music, and at last flapped his hand uponthe table before him in a way we all knew to mean silence. The voicesstopped at once, all but Dr. Livesey's; he went on as before speakingclear and kind and drawing briskly at his pipe between every word ortwo. The captain glared at him for a while, flapped his hand again,glared still harder, and at last broke out with a villainous, low oath,"Silence, there, between decks!""Were you addressing me, sir?" says the doctor; and when the ruffian hadtold him, with another oath, that this was so, "I have only one thing tosay to you, sir," replies the doctor, "that if you keep on drinking rum,the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel!"The old fellow's fury was awful. He sprang to his feet, drew and openeda sailor's clasp-knife, and balancing it open on the palm of his hand,threatened to pin the doctor to the wall.The doctor never so much as moved. He spoke to him as before, over hisshoulder and in the same tone of voice, rather high, so that all theroom might hear, but perfectly calm and steady: "If you do not put thatknife this instant in your pocket, I promise, upon my honour, you shallhang at the next assizes."Then followed a battle of looks between them, but the captain soonknuckled under, put up his weapon, and resumed his seat, grumbling likea beaten dog."And now, sir," continued the doctor, "since I now know there's such afellow in my district, you may count I'll have an eye upon you day andnight. I'm not a doctor only; I'm a magistrate; and if I catch a breathof complaint against you, if it's only for a piece of incivility liketonight's, I'll take effectual means to have you hunted down and routedout of this. Let that suffice."Soon after, Dr. Livesey's horse came to the door and he rode away, butthe captain held his peace that evening, and for many evenings to come.2Black Dog Appears and DisappearsIT was not very long after this that there occurred the first of themysterious events that rid us at last of the captain, though not, as youwill see, of his affairs. It was a bitter cold winter, with long, hardfrosts and heavy gales; and it was plain from the first that my poorfather was little likely to see the spring. He sank daily, and my motherand I had all the inn upon our hands, and were kept busy enough withoutpaying much regard to our unpleasant guest.It was one January morning, very early--a pinching, frosty morning--thecove all grey with hoar-frost, the ripple lapping softly on the stones,the sun still low and only touching the hilltops and shining far toseaward. The captain had risen earlier than usual and set out down thebeach, 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. Iremember his breath hanging like smoke in his wake as he strode off, andthe last sound I heard of him as he turned the big rock was a loud snortof indignation, as though his mind was still running upon Dr. Livesey.Well, mother was upstairs with father and I was laying thebreakfast-table against the captain's return when the parlour dooropened and a man stepped in on whom I had never set my eyes before. Hewas a pale, tallowy creature, wanting two fingers of the left hand, andthough he wore a cutlass, he did not look much like a fighter. Ihad always my eye open for seafaring men, with one leg or two, and Iremember this one puzzled me. He was not sailorly, and yet he had asmack of the sea about him too.I asked him what was for his service, and he said he would take rum; butas I was going out of the room to fetch it, he sat down upon a tableand motioned me to draw near. I paused where I was, with my napkin in myhand."Come here, sonny," says he. "Come nearer here."I took a step nearer."Is this here table for my mate Bill?" he asked with a kind of leer.I told him I did not know his mate Bill, and this was for a person whostayed in our house whom we called the captain."Well," said he, "my mate Bill would be called the captain, as likeas 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 argumentlike, that your captain has a cut on one cheek--and we'll put it, if youlike, that that cheek's the right one. Ah, well! I told you. Now, is mymate Bill in this here house?"I told him he was out walking."Which way, sonny? Which way is he gone?"And when I had pointed out the rock and told him how the captain waslikely to return, and how soon, and answered a few other questions,"Ah," said he, "this'll be as good as drink to my mate Bill."The expression of his face as he said these words was not at allpleasant, and I had my own reasons for thinking that the stranger wasmistaken, even supposing he meant what he said. But it was no affair ofmine, I thought; and besides, it was difficult to know what to do. Thestranger kept hanging about just inside the inn door, peering round thecorner like a cat waiting for a mouse. Once I stepped out myself intothe road, but he immediately called me back, and as I did not obey quickenough 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 Iwas back again he returned to his former manner, half fawning, halfsneering, patted me on the shoulder, told me I was a good boy and he hadtaken quite a fancy to me. "I have a son of my own," said he, "as likeyou as two blocks, and he's all the pride of my 'art. But the greatthing for boys is discipline, sonny--discipline. Now, if you had sailedalong of Bill, you wouldn't have stood there to be spoke to twice--notyou. 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 theparlour, sonny, and get behind the door, and we'll give Bill a littlesurprise--bless his 'art, I say again."So saying, the stranger backed along with me into the parlour and put mebehind him in the corner so that we were both hidden by the open door. Iwas very uneasy and alarmed, as you may fancy, and it rather added to myfears to observe that the stranger was certainly frightened himself. Hecleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in the sheath;and all the time we were waiting there he kept swallowing as if he feltwhat we used to call a lump in the throat.At last in strode the captain, slammed the door behind him, withoutlooking to the right or left, and marched straight across the room towhere his breakfast awaited him."Bill," said the stranger in a voice that I thought he had tried to makebold and big.The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us; all the brown hadgone out of his face, and even his nose was blue; he had the look of aman who sees a ghost, or the evil one, or something worse, if anythingcan be; and upon my word, I felt sorry to see him all in a moment turnso old and sick."Come, Bill, you know me; you know an old shipmate, Bill, surely," saidthe stranger.The captain made a sort of gasp."Black Dog!" said he."And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his ease. "BlackDog as ever was, come for to see his old shipmate Billy, at the AdmiralBenbow inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two, sinceI lost them two talons," holding up his mutilated hand."Now, look here," said the captain; "you've run me down; here I am;well, then, speak up; what is it?""That's you, Bill," returned Black Dog, "you're in the right of it,Billy. I'll have a glass of rum from this dear child here, as I've tooksuch a liking to; and we'll sit down, if you please, and talk square,like old shipmates."When I returned with the rum, they were already seated on either sideof the captain's breakfast-table--Black Dog next to the door andsitting sideways so as to have one eye on his old shipmate and one, as Ithought, on his retreat.He bade me go and leave the door wide open. "None of your keyholes forme, sonny," he said; and I left them together and retired into the bar.For a long time, though I certainly did my best to listen, I could hearnothing but a low gattling; but at last the voices began to grow higher,and I could pick up a word or two, mostly oaths, from the captain."No, no, no, no; and an end of it!" he cried once. And again, "If itcomes to swinging, swing all, say I."Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous explosion of oaths andother noises--the chair and table went over in a lump, a clash of steelfollowed, and then a cry of pain, and the next instant I saw BlackDog in full flight, and the captain hotly pursuing, both with drawncutlasses, and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder. Justat the door the captain aimed at the fugitive one last tremendouscut, which would certainly have split him to the chine had it not beenintercepted by our big signboard of Admiral Benbow. You may see thenotch on the lower side of the frame to this day.That blow was the last of the battle. Once out upon the road, BlackDog, in spite of his wound, showed a wonderful clean pair of heels anddisappeared over the edge of the hill in half a minute. The captain, forhis part, stood staring at the signboard like a bewildered man. Then hepassed his hand over his eyes several times and at last turned back intothe house."Jim," says he, "rum"; and as he spoke, he reeled a little, and caughthimself with one hand against the wall."Are you hurt?" cried I."Rum," he repeated. "I must get away from here. Rum! Rum!"I ran to fetch it, but I was quite unsteadied by all that had fallenout, and I broke one glass and fouled the tap, and while I was stillgetting in my own way, I heard a loud fall in the parlour, and runningin, beheld the captain lying full length upon the floor. At the sameinstant my mother, alarmed by the cries and fighting, came runningdownstairs to help me. Between us we raised his head. He was breathingvery loud and hard, but his eyes were closed and his face a horriblecolour."Dear, deary me," cried my mother, "what a disgrace upon the house! Andyour poor father sick!"In the meantime, we had no idea what to do to help the captain, nor anyother thought but that he had got his death-hurt in the scuffle withthe stranger. I got the rum, to be sure, and tried to put it down histhroat, 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 Liveseycame in, on his visit to my father."Oh, doctor," we cried, "what shall we do? Where is he wounded?""Wounded? A fiddle-stick's end!" said the doctor. "No more wounded thanyou 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, nothingabout it. For my part, I must do my best to save this fellow's treblyworthless life; Jim, you get me a basin."When I got back with the basin, the doctor had already ripped up thecaptain's sleeve and exposed his great sinewy arm. It was tattooedin several places. "Here's luck," "A fair wind," and "Billy Bones hisfancy," were very neatly and clearly executed on the forearm; and upnear the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging fromit--done, as I thought, with great spirit."Prophetic," said the doctor, touching this picture with his finger."And now, Master Billy Bones, if that be your name, we'll have a look atthe colour of your blood. Jim," he said, "are you afraid of blood?""No, sir," said I."Well, then," said he, "you hold the basin"; and with that he took hislancet and opened a vein.A great deal of blood was taken before the captain opened his eyesand looked mistily about him. First he recognized the doctor withan unmistakable frown; then his glance fell upon me, and he lookedrelieved. But suddenly his colour changed, and he tried to raisehimself, crying, "Where's Black Dog?""There is no Black Dog here," said the doctor, "except what you haveon your own back. You have been drinking rum; you have had a stroke,precisely as I told you; and I have just, very much against my own will,dragged you headforemost out of the grave. Now, Mr. Bones--""That's not my name," he interrupted."Much I care," returned the doctor. "It's the name of a buccaneer of myacquaintance; and I call you by it for the sake of shortness, and what Ihave to say to you is this; one glass of rum won't kill you, but ifyou take one you'll take another and another, and I stake my wig if youdon't break off short, you'll die--do you understand that?--die, and goto your own place, like the man in the Bible. Come, now, make an effort.I'll help you to your bed for once."Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him upstairs, andlaid him on his bed, where his head fell back on the pillow as if hewere almost fainting."Now, mind you," said the doctor, "I clear my conscience--the name ofrum for you is death."And with that he went off to see my father, taking me with him by thearm."This is nothing," he said as soon as he had closed the door. "I havedrawn blood enough to keep him quiet awhile; he should lie for a weekwhere he is--that is the best thing for him and you; but another strokewould settle him."3The Black SpotABOUT noon I stopped at the captain's door with some cooling drinksand medicines. He was lying very much as we had left him, only a littlehigher, and he seemed both weak and excited."Jim," he said, "you're the only one here that's worth anything, and youknow I've been always good to you. Never a month but I've given you asilver fourpenny for yourself. And now you see, mate, I'm pretty low,and deserted by all; and Jim, you'll bring me one noggin of rum, now,won't you, matey?""The doctor--" I began.But he broke in cursing the doctor, in a feeble voice but heartily."Doctors is all swabs," he said; "and that doctor there, why, what dohe know about seafaring men? I been in places hot as pitch, and matesdropping round with Yellow Jack, and the blessed land a-heaving like thesea with earthquakes--what to the doctor know of lands like that?--and Ilived on rum, I tell you. It's been meat and drink, and man and wife,to me; and if I'm not to have my rum now I'm a poor old hulk on a leeshore, my blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab"; and he ran onagain 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. Ihaven't had a drop this blessed day. That doctor's a fool, I tell you.If I don't have a drain o' rum, Jim, I'll have the horrors; I seen someon 'em already. I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; asplain as print, I seen him; and if I get the horrors, I'm a man thathas lived rough, and I'll raise Cain. Your doctor hisself said one glasswouldn't hurt me. I'll give you a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim."He was growing more and more excited, and this alarmed me for my father,who was very low that day and needed quiet; besides, I was reassured bythe doctor's words, now quoted to me, and rather offended by the offerof a bribe."I want none of your money," said I, "but what you owe my father. I'llget you one glass, and no more."When I brought it to him, he seized it greedily and drank it out."Aye, aye," said he, "that's some better, sure enough. And now, matey,did that doctor say how long I was to lie here in this old berth?""A week at least," said I."Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; they'd have the blackspot on me by then. The lubbers is going about to get the wind of methis blessed moment; lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want tonail what is another's. Is that seamanly behaviour, now, I want to know?But I'm a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine, nor lost itneither; and I'll trick 'em again. I'm not afraid on 'em. I'll shake outanother reef, matey, and daddle 'em again."As he was thus speaking, he had risen from bed with great difficulty,holding to my shoulder with a grip that almost made me cry out, andmoving his legs like so much dead weight. His words, spirited as theywere in meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of the voice inwhich they were uttered. He paused when he had got into a sittingposition on the edge."That doctor's done me," he murmured. "My ears is singing. Lay me back."Before I could do much to help him he had fallen back again to hisformer place, where he lay for a while silent."Jim," he said at length, "you saw that seafaring man today?""Black Dog?" I asked."Ah! Black Dog," says he. "HE'S a bad un; but there's worse that put himon. Now, if I can't get away nohow, and they tip me the black spot, mindyou, 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 allhands--magistrates and sich--and he'll lay 'em aboard at the AdmiralBenbow--all old Flint's crew, man and boy, all on 'em that's left. I wasfirst mate, I was, old Flint's first mate, and I'm the on'y one as knowsthe place. He gave it me at Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as if Iwas to now, you see. But you won't peach unless they get the black spoton me, or unless you see that Black Dog again or a seafaring man withone leg, Jim--him above all.""But what is the black spot, captain?" I asked."That's a summons, mate. I'll tell you if they get that. But you keepyour weather-eye open, Jim, and I'll share with you equals, upon myhonour."He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after Ihad given him his medicine, which he took like a child, with the remark,"If ever a seaman wanted drugs, it's me," he fell at last into a heavy,swoon-like sleep, in which I left him. What I should have done had allgone well I do not know. Probably I should have told the whole story tothe doctor, for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent ofhis confessions and make an end of me. But as things fell out, my poorfather died quite suddenly that evening, which put all other matterson one side. Our natural distress, the visits of the neighbours, thearranging of the funeral, and all the work of the inn to be carried onin the meanwhile kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think ofthe captain, far less to be afraid of him.He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and had his meals as usual,though he ate little and had more, I am afraid, than his usual supply ofrum, for he helped himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing throughhis nose, and no one dared to cross him. On the night before the funeralhe was as drunk as ever; and it was shocking, in that house of mourning,to hear him singing away at his ugly old sea-song; but weak as he was,we were all in the fear of death for him, and the doctor was suddenlytaken up with a case many miles away and was never near the house aftermy father's death. I have said the captain was weak, and indeed heseemed rather to grow weaker than regain his strength. He clambered upand down stairs, and went from the parlour to the bar and back again,and sometimes put his nose out of doors to smell the sea, holding on tothe walls as he went for support and breathing hard and fast like a manon a steep mountain. He never particularly addressed me, and it is mybelief he had as good as forgotten his confidences; but his temper wasmore flighty, and allowing for his bodily weakness, more violent thanever. He had an alarming way now when he was drunk of drawing hiscutlass 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 ratherwandering. Once, for instance, to our extreme wonder, he piped up to adifferent air, a kind of country love-song that he must have learned inhis youth before he had begun to follow the sea.So things passed until, the day after the funeral, and about threeo'clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the doorfor a moment, full of sad thoughts about my father, when I saw someonedrawing slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tappedbefore him with a stick and wore a great green shade over his eyes andnose; and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a hugeold tattered sea-cloak with a hood that made him appear positivelydeformed. I never saw in my life a more dreadful-looking figure.He stopped a little from the inn, and raising his voice in an oddsing-song, addressed the air in front of him, "Will any kind friendinform a poor blind man, who has lost the precious sight of his eyes inthe gracious defence of his native country, England--and God bless KingGeorge!--where or in what part of this country he may now be?""You are at the Admiral Benbow, Black Hill Cove, my good man," said I."I hear a voice," said he, "a young voice. Will you give me your hand,my kind young friend, and lead me in?"I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, eyeless creaturegripped it in a moment like a vise. I was so much startled that Istruggled to withdraw, but the blind man pulled me close up to him witha single action of his arm."Now, boy," he said, "take me in to the captain.""Sir," said I, "upon my word I dare not.""Oh," he sneered, "that's it! Take me in straight or I'll break yourarm."And he gave it, as he spoke, a wrench that made me cry out."Sir," said I, "it is for yourself I mean. The captain is not what heused to be. He sits with a drawn cutlass. Another gentleman--""Come, now, march," interrupted he; and I never heard a voice so cruel,and cold, and ugly as that blind man's. It cowed me more than the pain,and I began to obey him at once, walking straight in at the door andtowards the parlour, where our sick old buccaneer was sitting, dazedwith rum. The blind man clung close to me, holding me in one iron fistand leaning almost more of his weight on me than I could carry. "Lead mestraight up to him, and when I'm in view, cry out, 'Here's a friendfor you, Bill.' If you don't, I'll do this," and with that he gave me atwitch that I thought would have made me faint. Between this and that, Iwas so utterly terrified of the blind beggar that I forgot my terror ofthe captain, and as I opened the parlour door, cried out the words hehad ordered in a trembling voice.The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look the rum went out ofhim and left him staring sober. The expression of his face was not somuch of terror as of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but Ido not believe he had enough force left in his body."Now, Bill, sit where you are," said the beggar. "If I can't see, I canhear a finger stirring. Business is business. Hold out your left hand.Boy, take his left hand by the wrist and bring it near to my right."We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass something from thehollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain's,which closed upon it instantly."And now that's done," said the blind man; and at the words he suddenlyleft hold of me, and with incredible accuracy and nimbleness,skipped out of the parlour and into the road, where, as I still stoodmotionless, I could hear his stick go tap-tap-tapping into the distance.It was some time before either I or the captain seemed to gather oursenses, but at length, and about at the same moment, I released hiswrist, which I was still holding, and he drew in his hand and lookedsharply into the palm."Ten o'clock!" he cried. "Six hours. We'll do them yet," and he sprangto his feet.Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swayingfor a moment, and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his wholeheight face foremost to the floor.I ran to him at once, calling to my mother. But haste was all in vain.The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy. It is a curiousthing to understand, for I had certainly never liked the man, though oflate I had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was dead, Iburst into a flood of tears. It was the second death I had known, andthe sorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart.4The Sea-chestI LOST no time, of course, in telling my mother all that I knew, andperhaps should have told her long before, and we saw ourselves at oncein a difficult and dangerous position. Some of the man's money--ifhe had any--was certainly due to us, but it was not likely that ourcaptain's shipmates, above all the two specimens seen by me, BlackDog and the blind beggar, would be inclined to give up their booty inpayment of the dead man's debts. The captain's order to mount atonce and ride for Doctor Livesey would have left my mother aloneand unprotected, which was not to be thought of. Indeed, it seemedimpossible for either of us to remain much longer in the house; the fallof coals in the kitchen grate, the very ticking of the clock, filledus with alarms. The neighbourhood, to our ears, seemed haunted byapproaching footsteps; and what between the dead body of the captainon the parlour floor and the thought of that detestable blind beggarhovering near at hand and ready to return, there were moments when, asthe saying goes, I jumped in my skin for terror. Something must speedilybe resolved upon, and it occurred to us at last to go forth togetherand seek help in the neighbouring hamlet. No sooner said than done.Bare-headed as we were, we ran out at once in the gathering evening andthe frosty fog.The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, though out of view, on theother side of the next cove; and what greatly encouraged me, it wasin an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had made hisappearance and whither he had presumably returned. We were not manyminutes on the road, though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of eachother and hearken. But there was no unusual sound--nothing but the lowwash of the ripple and the croaking of the inmates of the wood.It was already candle-light when we reached the hamlet, and I shallnever forget how much I was cheered to see the yellow shine in doors andwindows; but that, as it proved, was the best of the help we were likelyto get in that quarter. For--you would have thought men would have beenashamed of themselves--no soul would consent to return with us to theAdmiral Benbow. The more we told of our troubles, the more--man, woman,and child--they clung to the shelter of their houses. The name ofCaptain Flint, though it was strange to me, was well enough known tosome there and carried a great weight of terror. Some of the men whohad 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 tobe smugglers, to have bolted away; and one at least had seen a littlelugger in what we called Kitt's Hole. For that matter, anyone who was acomrade of the captain's was enough to frighten them to death. And theshort and the long of the matter was, that while we could get severalwho were willing enough to ride to Dr. Livesey's, which lay in anotherdirection, not one would help us to defend the inn.They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the otherhand, a great emboldener; and so when each had said his say, my mothermade them a speech. She would not, she declared, lose money thatbelonged 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 smallthanks to you big, hulking, chicken-hearted men. We'll have that chestopen, if we die for it. And I'll thank you for that bag, Mrs. Crossley,to bring back our lawful money in."Of course I said I would go with my mother, and of course they all criedout at our foolhardiness, but even then not a man would go along withus. All they would do was to give me a loaded pistol lest we wereattacked, and to promise to have horses ready saddled in case we werepursued on our return, while one lad was to ride forward to the doctor'sin search of armed assistance.My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the cold night uponthis dangerous venture. A full moon was beginning to rise and peeredredly 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 asbright 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 hearanything to increase our terrors, till, to our relief, the door of theAdmiral Benbow had closed behind us.I slipped the bolt at once, and we stood and panted for a moment in thedark, alone in the house with the dead captain's body. Then my mothergot a candle in the bar, and holding each other's hands, we advancedinto the parlour. He lay as we had left him, on his back, with his eyesopen and one arm stretched out."Draw down the blind, Jim," whispered my mother; "they might come andwatch outside. And now," said she when I had done so, "we have to getthe key off THAT; and who's to touch it, I should like to know!" and shegave a kind of sob as she said the words.I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to his hand therewas a little round of paper, blackened on the one side. I could notdoubt that this was the BLACK SPOT; and taking it up, I found writtenon the other side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message: "Youhave till ten tonight.""He had till ten, Mother," said I; and just as I said it, our old clockbegan striking. This sudden noise startled us shockingly; but the newswas good, for it was only six."Now, Jim," she said, "that key."I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few small coins, a thimble,and some thread and big needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten awayat the end, his gully with the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and atinder box were all that they contained, and I began to despair."Perhaps it's round his neck," suggested my mother.Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open his shirt at the neck, andthere, sure enough, hanging to a bit of tarry string, which I cut withhis own gully, we found the key. At this triumph we were filled withhope and hurried upstairs without delay to the little room where he hadslept so long and where his box had stood since the day of his arrival.It was like any other seaman's chest on the outside, the initial "B" burned on the top of it with a hot iron, and the corners somewhatsmashed and broken as by long, rough usage."Give me the key," said my mother; and though the lock was very stiff,she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling.A strong smell of tobacco and tar rose from the interior, but nothingwas to be seen on the top except a suit of very good clothes, carefullybrushed and folded. They had never been worn, my mother said. Underthat, the miscellany began--a quadrant, a tin canikin, several sticks oftobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols, a piece of bar silver, anold Spanish watch and some other trinkets of little value and mostly offoreign make, a pair of compasses mounted with brass, and five or sixcurious West Indian shells. I have often wondered since why he shouldhave carried about these shells with him in his wandering, guilty, andhunted life.In the meantime, we had found nothing of any value but the silver andthe trinkets, and neither of these were in our way. Underneath therewas an old boat-cloak, whitened with sea-salt on many a harbour-bar. Mymother pulled it up with impatience, and there lay before us, the lastthings in the chest, a bundle tied up in oilcloth, and looking likepapers, and a canvas bag that gave forth, at a touch, the jingle ofgold."I'll show these rogues that I'm an honest woman," said my mother. "I'llhave my dues, and not a farthing over. Hold Mrs. Crossley's bag." Andshe began to count over the amount of the captain's score from thesailor's bag into the one that I was holding.It was a long, difficult business, for the coins were of all countriesand sizes--doubloons, and louis d'ors, and guineas, and pieces of eight,and I know not what besides, all shaken together at random. The guineas,too, were about the scarcest, and it was with these only that my motherknew how to make her count.When we were about half-way through, I suddenly put my hand upon herarm, for I had heard in the silent frosty air a sound that brought myheart into my mouth--the tap-tapping of the blind man's stick upon thefrozen 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 handlebeing 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 andgratitude, died slowly away again until it ceased to be heard."Mother," said I, "take the whole and let's be going," for I was surethe bolted door must have seemed suspicious and would bring the wholehornet's nest about our ears, though how thankful I was that I hadbolted it, none could tell who had never met that terrible blind man.But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent to take afraction more than was due to her and was obstinately unwilling to becontent with less. It was not yet seven, she said, by a long way; sheknew her rights and she would have them; and she was still arguing withme when a little low whistle sounded a good way off upon the hill. Thatwas enough, and more than enough, for both of us."I'll take what I have," she said, jumping to her feet."And I'll take this to square the count," said I, picking up the oilskinpacket.Next moment we were both groping downstairs, leaving the candle bythe empty chest; and the next we had opened the door and were in fullretreat. We had not started a moment too soon. The fog was rapidlydispersing; already the moon shone quite clear on the high ground oneither side; and it was only in the exact bottom of the dell and roundthe tavern door that a thin veil still hung unbroken to conceal thefirst steps of our escape. Far less than half-way to the hamlet, verylittle beyond the bottom of the hill, we must come forth into themoonlight. Nor was this all, for the sound of several footsteps runningcame already to our ears, and as we looked back in their direction, alight tossing to and fro and still rapidly advancing showed that one ofthe newcomers carried a lantern."My dear," said my mother suddenly, "take the money and run on. I amgoing to faint."This was certainly the end for both of us, I thought. How I cursed thecowardice of the neighbours; how I blamed my poor mother for her honestyand her greed, for her past foolhardiness and present weakness! We werejust at the little bridge, by good fortune; and I helped her, totteringas she was, to the edge of the bank, where, sure enough, she gave a sighand fell on my shoulder. I do not know how I found the strength to do itat all, and I am afraid it was roughly done, but I managed to drag herdown the bank and a little way under the arch. Farther I could not moveher, 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 ofus within earshot of the inn.5The Last of the Blind ManMY curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear, for I could notremain where I was, but crept back to the bank again, whence, shelteringmy head behind a bush of broom, I might command the road before ourdoor. I was scarcely in position ere my enemies began to arrive, sevenor eight of them, running hard, their feet beating out of time alongthe road and the man with the lantern some paces in front. Three men rantogether, hand in hand; and I made out, even through the mist, that themiddle man of this trio was the blind beggar. The next moment his voiceshowed me that I was right."Down with the door!" he cried."Aye, aye, sir!" answered two or three; and a rush was made upon theAdmiral Benbow, the lantern-bearer following; and then I could seethem pause, and hear speeches passed in a lower key, as if they weresurprised to find the door open. But the pause was brief, for the blindman again issued his commands. His voice sounded louder and higher, asif he were afire with eagerness and rage."In, in, in!" he shouted, and cursed them for their delay.Four or five of them obeyed at once, two remaining on the road with theformidable beggar. There was a pause, then a cry of surprise, and then avoice shouting from the house, "Bill's dead."But the blind man swore at them again for their delay."Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest of you aloft andget the chest," he cried.I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so that thehouse must have shook with it. Promptly afterwards, fresh sounds ofastonishment arose; the window of the captain's room was thrown openwith a slam and a jingle of broken glass, and a man leaned out into themoonlight, head and shoulders, and addressed the blind beggar on theroad below him."Pew," he cried, "they've been before us. Someone's turned the chest outalow and aloft.""Is it there?" roared Pew."The money's there."The blind man cursed the money."Flint's fist, I mean," he cried."We don't see it here nohow," returned the man."Here, you below there, is it on Bill?" cried the blind man again.At that another fellow, probably him who had remained below to searchthe captain's body, came to the door of the inn. "Bill's been overhauleda'ready," said he; "nothin' left.""It's these people of the inn--it's that boy. I wish I had put his eyesout!" cried the blind man, Pew. "There were no time ago--they had thedoor bolted when I tried it. Scatter, lads, and find 'em.""Sure enough, they left their glim here," said the fellow from thewindow."Scatter and find 'em! Rout the house out!" reiterated Pew, strikingwith his stick upon the road.Then there followed a great to-do through all our old inn, heavy feetpounding to and fro, furniture thrown over, doors kicked in, until thevery rocks re-echoed and the men came out again, one after another, onthe road and declared that we were nowhere to be found. And justthe same whistle that had alarmed my mother and myself over the deadcaptain's money was once more clearly audible through the night,but this time twice repeated. I had thought it to be the blind man'strumpet, so to speak, summoning his crew to the assault, but I now foundthat it was a signal from the hillside towards the hamlet, and from itseffect upon the buccaneers, a signal to warn them of approaching danger."There's Dirk again," said one. "Twice! We'll have to budge, mates.""Budge, you skulk!" cried Pew. "Dirk was a fool and a coward from thefirst--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, shivermy soul," he cried, "if I had eyes!"This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two of the fellows beganto 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 reststood irresolute on the road."You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and you hang a leg! You'dbe as rich as kings if you could find it, and you know it's here, andyou stand there skulking. There wasn't one of you dared face Bill, andI did it--a blind man! And I'm to lose my chance for you! I'm to be apoor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in acoach! If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit you would catchthem still.""Hang it, Pew, we've got the doubloons!" grumbled one."They might have hid the blessed thing," said another. "Take theGeorges, Pew, and don't stand here squalling."Squalling was the word for it; Pew's anger rose so high at theseobjections till at last, his passion completely taking the upper hand,he struck at them right and left in his blindness and his stick soundedheavily on more than one.These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant, threatened himin horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch the stick and wrest it fromhis grasp.This quarrel was the saving of us, for while it was still raging,another sound came from the top of the hill on the side of thehamlet--the tramp of horses galloping. Almost at the same time apistol-shot, flash and report, came from the hedge side. And that wasplainly the last signal of danger, for the buccaneers turned at onceand ran, separating in every direction, one seaward along the cove, oneslant across the hill, and so on, so that in half a minute not a sign ofthem remained but Pew. Him they had deserted, whether in sheer panicor out of revenge for his ill words and blows I know not; but there heremained behind, tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and gropingand calling for his comrades. Finally he took a wrong turn and ran a fewsteps past me, towards the hamlet, crying, "Johnny, Black Dog, Dirk," and other names, "you won't leave old Pew, mates--not old Pew!"Just then the noise of horses topped the rise, and four or five riderscame in sight in the moonlight and swept at full gallop down the slope.At this Pew saw his error, turned with a scream, and ran straight forthe ditch, into which he rolled. But he was on his feet again in asecond and made another dash, now utterly bewildered, right under thenearest of the coming horses.The rider tried to save him, but in vain. Down went Pew with a cry thatrang high into the night; and the four hoofs trampled and spurned himand passed by. He fell on his side, then gently collapsed upon his faceand moved no more.I leaped to my feet and hailed the riders. They were pulling up, at anyrate, 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 toDr. Livesey's; the rest were revenue officers, whom he had met by theway, and with whom he had had the intelligence to return at once. Somenews of the lugger in Kitt's Hole had found its way to Supervisor Danceand set him forth that night in our direction, and to that circumstancemy mother and I owed our preservation from death.Pew was dead, stone dead. As for my mother, when we had carried her upto the hamlet, a little cold water and salts and that soon brought herback again, and she was none the worse for her terror, though she stillcontinued to deplore the balance of the money. In the meantime thesupervisor rode on, as fast as he could, to Kitt's Hole; but his menhad to dismount and grope down the dingle, leading, and sometimessupporting, their horses, and in continual fear of ambushes; so it wasno great matter for surprise that when they got down to the Hole thelugger was already under way, though still close in. He hailed her. Avoice replied, telling him to keep out of the moonlight or he would getsome lead in him, and at the same time a bullet whistled close by hisarm. Soon after, the lugger doubled the point and disappeared. Mr. Dancestood there, as he said, "like a fish out of water," and all he could dowas 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'san end. Only," he added, "I'm glad I trod on Master Pew's corns," for bythis time he had heard my story.I went back with him to the Admiral Benbow, and you cannot imagine ahouse in such a state of smash; the very clock had been thrown downby these fellows in their furious hunt after my mother and myself;and though nothing had actually been taken away except the captain'smoney-bag and a little silver from the till, I could see at once that wewere ruined. Mr. Dance could make nothing of the scene."They got the money, you say? Well, then, Hawkins, what in fortune werethey after? More money, I suppose?""No, sir; not money, I think," replied I. "In fact, sir, I believe Ihave the thing in my breast pocket; and to tell you the truth, I shouldlike to get it put in safety.""To be sure, boy; quite right," said he. "I'll take it, if you like.""I thought perhaps Dr. Livesey--" I began."Perfectly right," he interrupted very cheerily, "perfectly right--agentleman and a magistrate. And, now I come to think of it, I might aswell ride round there myself and report to him or squire. Master Pew'sdead, when all's done; not that I regret it, but he's dead, you see, andpeople 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'lltake you along."I thanked him heartily for the offer, and we walked back to the hamletwhere the horses were. By the time I had told mother of my purpose theywere all in the saddle."Dogger," said Mr. Dance, "you have a good horse; take up this ladbehind you."As soon as I was mounted, holding on to Dogger's belt, the supervisorgave the word, and the party struck out at a bouncing trot on the roadto Dr. Livesey's house.6The Captain's PapersWE rode hard all the way till we drew up before Dr. Livesey's door. Thehouse was all dark to the front.Mr. Dance told me to jump down and knock, and Dogger gave me a stirrupto descend by. The door was opened almost at once by the maid."Is Dr. Livesey in?" I asked.No, she said, he had come home in the afternoon but had gone up to thehall to dine and pass the evening with the squire."So there we go, boys," said Mr. Dance.This time, as the distance was short, I did not mount, but ran withDogger's stirrup-leather to the lodge gates and up the long, leafless,moonlit avenue to where the white line of the hall buildings looked oneither hand on great old gardens. Here Mr. Dance dismounted, and takingme along with him, was admitted at a word into the house.The servant led us down a matted passage and showed us at the end into agreat library, all lined with bookcases and busts upon the top of them,where the squire and Dr. Livesey sat, pipe in hand, on either side of abright fire.I had never seen the squire so near at hand. He was a tall man, over sixfeet high, and broad in proportion, and he had a bluff, rough-and-readyface, all roughened and reddened and lined in his long travels. Hiseyebrows were very black, and moved readily, and this gave him a look ofsome temper, not bad, you would say, but quick and high."Come in, Mr. Dance," says he, very stately and condescending."Good evening, Dance," says the doctor with a nod. "And good evening toyou, friend Jim. What good wind brings you here?"The supervisor stood up straight and stiff and told his story like alesson; and you should have seen how the two gentlemen leaned forwardand looked at each other, and forgot to smoke in their surprise andinterest. When they heard how my mother went back to the inn, Dr.Livesey fairly slapped his thigh, and the squire cried "Bravo!" andbroke his long pipe against the grate. Long before it was done, Mr.Trelawney (that, you will remember, was the squire's name) had got upfrom his seat and was striding about the room, and the doctor, as if tohear the better, had taken off his powdered wig and sat there lookingvery strange indeed with his own close-cropped black poll.At last Mr. Dance finished the story."Mr. Dance," said the squire, "you are a very noble fellow. And as forriding down that black, atrocious miscreant, I regard it as an act ofvirtue, sir, like stamping on a cockroach. This lad Hawkins is a trump,I perceive. Hawkins, will you ring that bell? Mr. Dance must have someale.""And so, Jim," said the doctor, "you have the thing that they wereafter, have you?""Here it is, sir," said I, and gave him the oilskin packet.The doctor looked it all over, as if his fingers were itching to openit; but instead of doing that, he put it quietly in the pocket of hiscoat."Squire," said he, "when Dance has had his ale he must, of course, beoff on his Majesty's service; but I mean to keep Jim Hawkins here tosleep at my house, and with your permission, I propose we should have upthe cold pie and let him sup.""As you will, Livesey," said the squire; "Hawkins has earned better thancold pie."So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a sidetable, and I madea hearty supper, for I was as hungry as a hawk, while Mr. Dance wasfurther complimented and at last dismissed."And now, squire," said the doctor."And now, Livesey," said the squire in the same breath."One at a time, one at a time," laughed Dr. Livesey. "You have heard ofthis Flint, I suppose?""Heard of him!" cried the squire. "Heard of him, you say! He was thebloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed. Blackbeard was a child to Flint.The Spaniards were so prodigiously afraid of him that, I tell you, sir,I was sometimes proud he was an Englishman. I've seen his top-sails withthese eyes, off Trinidad, and the cowardly son of a rum-puncheon that Isailed with put back--put back, sir, into Port of Spain.""Well, I've heard of him myself, in England," said the doctor. "But thepoint is, had he money?""Money!" cried the squire. "Have you heard the story? What were thesevillains after but money? What do they care for but money? For whatwould they risk their rascal carcasses but money?""That we shall soon know," replied the doctor. "But you are soconfoundedly 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 pocketsome clue to where Flint buried his treasure, will that treasure amountto much?""Amount, sir!" cried the squire. "It will amount to this: If we have theclue you talk about, I fit out a ship in Bristol dock, and take you andHawkins here along, and I'll have that treasure if I search a year.""Very well," said the doctor. "Now, then, if Jim is agreeable, we'llopen the packet"; and he laid it before him on the table.The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had to get out hisinstrument case and cut the stitches with his medical scissors. Itcontained two things--a book and a sealed paper."First of all we'll try the book," observed the doctor.The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder as he openedit, for Dr. Livesey had kindly motioned me to come round from theside-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 manwith a pen in his hand might make for idleness or practice. One was thesame 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 othersnatches, mostly single words and unintelligible. I could not helpwondering who it was that had "got itt," and what "itt" was that he got.A knife in his back as like as not."Not much instruction there," said Dr. Livesey as he passed on.The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a curious series ofentries. There was a date at one end of the line and at the other asum of money, as in common account-books, but instead of explanatorywriting, only a varying number of crosses between the two. On the 12thof June, 1745, for instance, a sum of seventy pounds had plainly becomedue to someone, and there was nothing but six crosses to explain thecause. 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 "62o17' 20", 19o 2' 40"."The record lasted over nearly twenty years, the amount of the separateentries growing larger as time went on, and at the end a grand totalhad been made out after five or six wrong additions, and these wordsappended, "Bones, his pile.""I can't make head or tail of this," said Dr. Livesey."The thing is as clear as noonday," cried the squire. "This is theblack-hearted hound's account-book. These crosses stand for the names ofships or towns that they sank or plundered. The sums are the scoundrel'sshare, and where he feared an ambiguity, you see he added somethingclearer. 'Offe Caraccas,' now; you see, here was some unhappy vesselboarded off that coast. God help the poor souls that manned her--corallong ago.""Right!" said the doctor. "See what it is to be a traveller. Right! Andthe amounts increase, you see, as he rose in rank."There was little else in the volume but a few bearings of places notedin the blank leaves towards the end and a table for reducing French,English, and Spanish moneys to a common value."Thrifty man!" cried the doctor. "He wasn't the one to be cheated.""And now," said the squire, "for the other."The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble by way ofseal; the very thimble, perhaps, that I had found in the captain'spocket. The doctor opened the seals with great care, and there fell outthe map of an island, with latitude and longitude, soundings, names ofhills and bays and inlets, and every particular that would be neededto bring a ship to a safe anchorage upon its shores. It was about ninemiles long and five across, shaped, you might say, like a fat dragonstanding up, and had two fine land-locked harbours, and a hill in thecentre part marked "The Spy-glass." There were several additions of alater date, but above all, three crosses of red ink--two on the northpart of the island, one in the southwest--and beside this last, inthe same red ink, and in a small, neat hand, very different from thecaptain's tottery characters, these words: "Bulk of treasure here."Over on the back the same hand had written this further information: Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E. Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E. Ten feet. The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find it by the trend of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of the black crag with the face on it. The arms are easy found, in the sand-hill, N. point of north inlet cape, bearing E. and a quarter N. J.F.That was all; but brief as it was, and to me incomprehensible, it filledthe squire and Dr. Livesey with delight."Livesey," said the squire, "you will give up this wretched practiceat once. Tomorrow I start for Bristol. In three weeks' time--threeweeks!--two weeks--ten days--we'll have the best ship, sir, and thechoicest crew in England. Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy. You'll makea famous cabin-boy, Hawkins. You, Livesey, are ship's doctor; I amadmiral. We'll take Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter. We'll have favourablewinds, a quick passage, and not the least difficulty in finding thespot, and money to eat, to roll in, to play duck and drake with everafter.""Trelawney," said the doctor, "I'll go with you; and I'll go bail forit, so will Jim, and be a credit to the undertaking. There's only oneman I'm afraid of.""And who's that?" cried the squire. "Name the dog, sir!""You," replied the doctor; "for you cannot hold your tongue. We are notthe only men who know of this paper. These fellows who attacked theinn tonight--bold, desperate blades, for sure--and the rest who stayedaboard 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 noneof us go alone till we get to sea. Jim and I shall stick together in themeanwhile; you'll take Joyce and Hunter when you ride to Bristol, andfrom first to last, not one of us must breathe a word of what we'vefound.""Livesey," returned the squire, "you are always in the right of it. I'llbe as silent as the grave."PART TWO--The Sea-cook7I Go to BristolIT was longer than the squire imagined ere we were ready for the sea,and none of our first plans--not even Dr. Livesey's, of keeping mebeside him--could be carried out as we intended. The doctor had to goto London for a physician to take charge of his practice; the squire washard at work at Bristol; and I lived on at the hall under the charge ofold Redruth, the gamekeeper, almost a prisoner, but full of sea-dreamsand the most charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures.I brooded by the hour together over the map, all the details of whichI well remembered. Sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room, Iapproached that island in my fancy from every possible direction; Iexplored every acre of its surface; I climbed a thousand times to thattall hill they call the Spy-glass, and from the top enjoyed the mostwonderful and changing prospects. Sometimes the isle was thick withsavages, with whom we fought, sometimes full of dangerous animals thathunted us, but in all my fancies nothing occurred to me so strange andtragic as our actual adventures.So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there came a letter addressedto Dr. Livesey, with this addition, "To be opened, in the case of hisabsence, by Tom Redruth or young Hawkins." Obeying this order, wefound, or rather I found--for the gamekeeper was a poor hand at readinganything but print--the following important news: Old Anchor Inn, Bristol, March 1, 17-- Dear Livesey--As I do not know whether you are at the hall or still in London, I send this in double to both places. The ship is bought and fitted. She lies at anchor, ready for sea. You never imagined a sweeter schooner--a child might sail her--two hundred tons; name, HISPANIOLA. I got her through my old friend, Blandly, who has proved himself throughout the most surprising trump. The admirable fellow literally slaved in my interest, and so, I may say, did everyone in Bristol, as soon as they got wind of the port we sailed for--treasure, I mean."Redruth," said I, interrupting the letter, "Dr. Livesey will not likethat. The squire has been talking, after all.""Well, who's a better right?" growled the gamekeeper. "A pretty rum goif squire ain't to talk for Dr. Livesey, I should think."At that I gave up all attempts at commentary and read straight on: Blandly himself found the HISPANIOLA, and by the most admirable management got her for the merest trifle. There is a class of men in Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. They go the length of declaring that this honest creature would do anything for money, that the HISPANIOLA belonged to him, and that he sold it me absurdly high--the most transparent calumnies. None of them dare, however, to deny the merits of the ship. So far there was not a hitch. The workpeople, to be sure--riggers and what not--were most annoyingly slow; but time cured that. It was the crew that troubled me. I wished a round score of men--in case of natives, buccaneers, or the odious French--and I had the worry of the deuce itself to find so much as half a dozen, till the most remarkable stroke of fortune brought me the very man that I required. I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in talk with him. I found he was an old sailor, kept a public-house, knew all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his health ashore, and wanted a good berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled down there that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt. I was monstrously touched--so would you have been--and, out of pure pity, I engaged him on the spot to be ship's cook. Long John Silver, he is called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as a recommendation, since he lost it in his country's service, under the immortal Hawke. He has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable age we live in! Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, but it was a crew I had discovered. Between Silver and myself we got together in a few days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable--not pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit. I declare we could fight a frigate. Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven I had already engaged. He showed me in a moment that they were just the sort of fresh-water swabs we had to fear in an adventure of importance. I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eating like a bull, sleeping like a tree, yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I hear my old tarpaulins tramping round the capstan. Seaward, ho! Hang the treasure! It's the glory of the sea that has turned my head. So now, Livesey, come post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me. Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with Redruth for a guard; and then both come full speed to Bristol. John Trelawney Postscript--I did not tell you that Blandly, who, by the way, is to send a consort after us if we don't turn up by the end of August, had found an admirable fellow for sailing master--a stiff man, which I regret, but in all other respects a treasure. Long John Silver unearthed a very competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have a boatswain who pipes, Livesey; so things shall go man-o'-war fashion on board the good ship HISPANIOLA. I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of my own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never been overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; and as she is a woman of colour, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be excused for guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the health, that sends him back to roving. J. T. P.P.S.--Hawkins may stay one night with his mother. J. T.You can fancy the excitement into which that letter put me. I was halfbeside myself with glee; and if ever I despised a man, it was oldTom Redruth, who could do nothing but grumble and lament. Any of theunder-gamekeepers would gladly have changed places with him; but suchwas not the squire's pleasure, and the squire's pleasure was like lawamong them all. Nobody but old Redruth would have dared so much as evento grumble.The next morning he and I set out on foot for the Admiral Benbow, andthere I found my mother in good health and spirits. The captain, who hadso long been a cause of so much discomfort, was gone where the wickedcease from troubling. The squire had had everything repaired, and thepublic rooms and the sign repainted, and had added some furniture--aboveall a beautiful armchair for mother in the bar. He had found her a boyas an apprentice also so that she should not want help while I was gone.It was on seeing that boy that I understood, for the first time, mysituation. 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 thisclumsy stranger, who was to stay here in my place beside my mother, Ihad 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 settinghim right and putting him down, and I was not slow to profit by them.The night passed, and the next day, after dinner, Redruth and I wereafoot again and on the road. I said good-bye to Mother and thecove where I had lived since I was born, and the dear old AdmiralBenbow--since he was repainted, no longer quite so dear. One of my lastthoughts was of the captain, who had so often strode along the beachwith his cocked hat, his sabre-cut cheek, and his old brass telescope.Next moment we had turned the corner and my home was out of sight.The mail picked us up about dusk at the Royal George on the heath. I waswedged in between Redruth and a stout old gentleman, and in spite of theswift motion and the cold night air, I must have dozed a great deal fromthe very first, and then slept like a log up hill and down dale throughstage after stage, for when I was awakened at last it was by a punchin the ribs, and I opened my eyes to find that we were standing stillbefore a large building in a city street and that the day had alreadybroken a long time."Where are we?" I asked."Bristol," said Tom. "Get down."Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn far down the docks tosuperintend the work upon the schooner. Thither we had now to walk, andour way, to my great delight, lay along the quays and beside the greatmultitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations. In one, sailorswere singing at their work, in another there were men aloft, high overmy 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 beennear the sea till then. The smell of tar and salt was something new.I saw the most wonderful figureheads, that had all been far over theocean. I saw, besides, many old sailors, with rings in their ears, andwhiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pigtails, and their swaggering,clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings or archbishops I couldnot have been more delighted.And I was going to sea myself, to sea in a schooner, with a pipingboatswain and pig-tailed singing seamen, to sea, bound for an unknownisland, and to seek for buried treasure!While I was still in this delightful dream, we came suddenly in frontof a large inn and met Squire Trelawney, all dressed out like asea-officer, in stout blue cloth, coming out of the door with a smile onhis face and a capital imitation of a sailor's walk."Here you are," he cried, "and the doctor came last night from London.Bravo! The ship's company complete!""Oh, sir," cried I, "when do we sail?""Sail!" says he. "We sail tomorrow!"8At the Sign of the Spy-glassWHEN I had done breakfasting the squire gave me a note addressed to JohnSilver, at the sign of the Spy-glass, and told me I should easilyfind the place by following the line of the docks and keeping a brightlookout for a little tavern with a large brass telescope for sign. Iset off, overjoyed at this opportunity to see some more of the ships andseamen, and picked my way among a great crowd of people and carts andbales, for the dock was now at its busiest, until I found the tavern inquestion.It was a bright enough little place of entertainment. The sign wasnewly painted; the windows had neat red curtains; the floor was cleanlysanded. There was a street on each side and an open door on both, whichmade the large, low room pretty clear to see in, in spite of clouds oftobacco smoke.The customers were mostly seafaring men, and they talked so loudly thatI hung at the door, almost afraid to enter.As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, and at a glance I wassure 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 withwonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very talland strong, with a face as big as a ham--plain and pale, but intelligentand smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheerful spirits, whistlingas he moved about among the tables, with a merry word or a slap on theshoulder for the more favoured of his guests.Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first mention of Long John inSquire Trelawney's letter I had taken a fear in my mind that he mightprove to be the very one-legged sailor whom I had watched for so long atthe old Benbow. But one look at the man before me was enough. I had seenthe captain, and Black Dog, and the blind man, Pew, and I thought I knewwhat a buccaneer was like--a very different creature, according to me,from this clean and pleasant-tempered landlord.I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, and walked right upto the man where he stood, propped on his crutch, talking to a customer."Mr. Silver, sir?" I asked, holding out the note."Yes, my lad," said he; "such is my name, to be sure. And who may yoube?" And then as he saw the squire's letter, he seemed to me to givesomething almost like a start."Oh!" said he, quite loud, and offering his hand. "I see. You are ournew cabin-boy; pleased I am to see you."And he took my hand in his large firm grasp.Just then one of the customers at the far side rose suddenly and madefor the door. It was close by him, and he was out in the street in amoment. But his hurry had attracted my notice, and I recognized him atglance. It was the tallow-faced man, wanting two fingers, who had comefirst to the Admiral Benbow."Oh," I cried, "stop him! It's Black Dog!""I don't care two coppers who he is," cried Silver. "But he hasn't paidhis score. Harry, run and catch him."One of the others who was nearest the door leaped up and started inpursuit."If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score," cried Silver; andthen, relinquishing my hand, "Who did you say he was?" he asked. "Blackwhat?""Dog, sir," said I. "Has Mr. Trelawney not told you of the buccaneers?He was one of them.""So?" cried Silver. "In my house! Ben, run and help Harry. One of thoseswabs, was he? Was that you drinking with him, Morgan? Step up here."The man whom he called Morgan--an old, grey-haired, mahogany-facedsailor--came forward pretty sheepishly, rolling his quid."Now, Morgan," said Long John very sternly, "you never clapped your eyeson that Black--Black Dog before, did you, now?""Not I, sir," said Morgan with a salute."You didn't know his name, did you?""No, sir.""By the powers, Tom Morgan, it's as good for you!" exclaimed thelandlord. "If you had been mixed up with the like of that, you wouldnever have put another foot in my house, you may lay to that. And whatwas he saying to you?""I don't rightly know, sir," answered Morgan."Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a blessed dead-eye?" cried Long John. "Don't rightly know, don't you! Perhaps you don'thappen to rightly know who you was speaking to, perhaps? Come, now, whatwas he jawing--v'yages, cap'ns, ships? Pipe up! What was it?""We was a-talkin' of keel-hauling," answered Morgan."Keel-hauling, was you? And a mighty suitable thing, too, and you maylay to that. Get back to your place for a lubber, Tom."And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat, Silver added to me in aconfidential whisper that was very flattering, as I thought, "He'squite 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 Ikind of think I've--yes, I've seen the swab. He used to come here with ablind beggar, he used.""That he did, you may be sure," said I. "I knew that blind man too. Hisname was Pew.""It was!" cried Silver, now quite excited. "Pew! That were his name forcertain. 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; fewseamen run better than Ben. He should run him down, hand over hand, bythe powers! He talked o' keel-hauling, did he? I'LL keel-haul him!"All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was stumping up anddown the tavern on his crutch, slapping tables with his hand, and givingsuch a show of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judgeor a Bow Street runner. My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened onfinding Black Dog at the Spy-glass, and I watched the cook narrowly. Buthe was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and by the timethe two men had come back out of breath and confessed that they had lostthe track in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would have gonebail for the innocence of Long John Silver."See here, now, Hawkins," said he, "here's a blessed hard thing on aman 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 housedrinking of my own rum! Here you comes and tells me of it plain; andhere 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, butyou're as smart as paint. I see that when you first come in. Now, hereit is: What could I do, with this old timber I hobble on? When I was anA B master mariner I'd have come up alongside of him, hand over hand,and broached him to in a brace of old shakes, I would; but now--"And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw dropped as though hehad remembered something."The score!" he burst out. "Three goes o' rum! Why, shiver my timbers,if I hadn't forgotten my score!"And falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks.I could not help joining, and we laughed together, peal after peal,until the tavern rang again."Why, what a precious old sea-calf I am!" he said at last, wiping hischeeks. "You and me should get on well, Hawkins, for I'll take my davyI should be rated ship's boy. But come now, stand by to go about. Thiswon't do. Dooty is dooty, messmates. I'll put on my old cockerel hat,and step along of you to Cap'n Trelawney, and report this here affair.For mind you, it's serious, young Hawkins; and neither you nor me's comeout of it with what I should make so bold as to call credit. Nor youneither, says you; not smart--none of the pair of us smart. But dash mybuttons! That was a good un about my score."And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that though I did notsee the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.On our little walk along the quays, he made himself the most interestingcompanion, telling me about the different ships that we passed by,their rig, tonnage, and nationality, explaining the work that was goingforward--how one was discharging, another taking in cargo, and a thirdmaking ready for sea--and every now and then telling me some littleanecdote of ships or seamen or repeating a nautical phrase till I hadlearned it perfectly. I began to see that here was one of the best ofpossible shipmates.When we got to the inn, the squire and Dr. Livesey were seated together,finishing a quart of ale with a toast in it, before they should goaboard the schooner on a visit of inspection.Long John told the story from first to last, with a great deal of spiritand 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 himentirely out.The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had got away, but we allagreed there was nothing to be done, and after he had been complimented,Long John took up his crutch and departed."All hands aboard by four this afternoon," shouted the squire after him."Aye, aye, sir," cried the cook, in the passage."Well, squire," said Dr. Livesey, "I don't put much faith in yourdiscoveries, as a general thing; but I will say this, John Silver suitsme.""The man's a perfect trump," declared the squire."And now," added the doctor, "Jim may come on board with us, may henot?""To be sure he may," says squire. "Take your hat, Hawkins, and we'll seethe ship."9Powder and ArmsTHE HISPANIOLA lay some way out, and we went under the figureheads andround the sterns of many other ships, and their cables sometimes gratedunderneath our keel, and sometimes swung above us. At last, however,we got alongside, and were met and saluted as we stepped aboard by themate, Mr. Arrow, a brown old sailor with earrings in his ears and asquint. He and the squire were very thick and friendly, but I soonobserved that things were not the same between Mr. Trelawney and thecaptain.This last was a sharp-looking man who seemed angry with everything onboard and was soon to tell us why, for we had hardly got down into thecabin when a sailor followed us."Captain Smollett, sir, axing to speak with you," said he."I am always at the captain's orders. Show him in," said the squire.The captain, who was close behind his messenger, entered at once andshut the door behind him."Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say? All well, I hope; allshipshape and seaworthy?""Well, sir," said the captain, "better speak plain, I believe, even atthe risk of offence. I don't like this cruise; I don't like the men; andI don't like my officer. That's short and sweet.""Perhaps, sir, you don't like the ship?" inquired the squire, veryangry, as I could see."I can't speak as to that, sir, not having seen her tried," said thecaptain. "She seems a clever craft; more I can't say.""Possibly, sir, you may not like your employer, either?" says thesquire.But here Dr. Livesey cut in."Stay a bit," said he, "stay a bit. No use of such questions as that butto produce ill feeling. The captain has said too much or he has said toolittle, and I'm bound to say that I require an explanation of his words.You don't, you say, like this cruise. Now, why?""I was engaged, sir, on what we call sealed orders, to sail this shipfor that gentleman where he should bid me," said the captain. "So farso good. But now I find that every man before the mast knows more than Ido. I don't call that fair, now, do you?""No," said Dr. Livesey, "I don't.""Next," said the captain, "I learn we are going after treasure--hearit from my own hands, mind you. Now, treasure is ticklish work; I don'tlike treasure voyages on any account, and I don't like them, above all,when they are secret and when (begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney) thesecret has been told to the parrot.""Silver's parrot?" asked the squire."It's a way of speaking," said the captain. "Blabbed, I mean. It's mybelief neither of you gentlemen know what you are about, but I'll tellyou my way of it--life or death, and a close run.""That is all clear, and, I dare say, true enough," replied Dr. Livesey."We take the risk, but we are not so ignorant as you believe us. Next,you say you don't like the crew. Are they not good seamen?""I don't like them, sir," returned Captain Smollett. "And I think Ishould have had the choosing of my own hands, if you go to that.""Perhaps you should," replied the doctor. "My friend should, perhaps,have taken you along with him; but the slight, if there be one, wasunintentional. And you don't like Mr. Arrow?""I don't, sir. I believe he's a good seaman, but he's too free withthe crew to be a good officer. A mate should keep himself tohimself--shouldn't drink with the men before the mast!""Do you mean he drinks?" cried the squire."No, sir," replied the captain, "only that he's too familiar.""Well, now, and the short and long of it, captain?" asked the doctor."Tell us what you want.""Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on this cruise?""Like iron," answered the squire."Very good," said the captain. "Then, as you've heard me very patiently,saying things that I could not prove, hear me a few words more. They areputting the powder and the arms in the fore hold. Now, you have a goodplace under the cabin; why not put them there?--first point. Then, youare bringing four of your own people with you, and they tell me some ofthem are to be berthed forward. Why not give them the berths here besidethe cabin?--second point.""Any more?" asked Mr. Trelawney."One more," said the captain. "There's been too much blabbing already.""Far too much," agreed the doctor."I'll tell you what I've heard myself," continued Captain Smollett:"that you have a map of an island, that there's crosses on the map toshow where treasure is, and that the island lies--" And then he namedthe latitude and longitude exactly."I never told that," cried the squire, "to a soul!""The hands know it, sir," returned the captain."Livesey, that must have been you or Hawkins," cried the squire."It doesn't much matter who it was," replied the doctor. And I couldsee that neither he nor the captain paid much regard to Mr. Trelawney'sprotestations. Neither did I, to be sure, he was so loose a talker; yetin this case I believe he was really right and that nobody had told thesituation of the island."Well, gentlemen," continued the captain, "I don't know who has thismap; but I make it a point, it shall be kept secret even from me and Mr.Arrow. Otherwise I would ask you to let me resign.""I see," said the doctor. "You wish us to keep this matter dark and tomake a garrison of the stern part of the ship, manned with my friend'sown people, and provided with all the arms and powder on board. In otherwords, you fear a mutiny.""Sir," said Captain Smollett, "with no intention to take offence, Ideny your right to put words into my mouth. No captain, sir, would bejustified in going to sea at all if he had ground enough to say that. Asfor Mr. Arrow, I believe him thoroughly honest; some of the men are thesame; all may be for what I know. But I am responsible for the ship'ssafety 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 precautionsor let me resign my berth. And that's all.""Captain Smollett," began the doctor with a smile, "did ever you hearthe 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 mywig, you meant more than this.""Doctor," said the captain, "you are smart. When I came in here I meantto get discharged. I had no thought that Mr. Trelawney would hear aword.""No more I would," cried the squire. "Had Livesey not been here I shouldhave seen you to the deuce. As it is, I have heard you. I will do as youdesire, but I think the worse of you.""That's as you please, sir," said the captain. "You'll find I do myduty."And with that he took his leave."Trelawney," said the doctor, "contrary to all my notions, I believedyou have managed to get two honest men on board with you--that man andJohn Silver.""Silver, if you like," cried the squire; "but as for that intolerablehumbug, I declare I think his conduct unmanly, unsailorly, and downrightun-English.""Well," says the doctor, "we shall see."When we came on deck, the men had begun already to take out the arms andpowder, yo-ho-ing at their work, while the captain and Mr. Arrow stoodby superintending.The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The whole schooner had beenoverhauled; six berths had been made astern out of what had been theafter-part of the main hold; and this set of cabins was only joined tothe galley and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port side. It hadbeen originally meant that the captain, Mr. Arrow, Hunter, Joyce, thedoctor, and the squire were to occupy these six berths. Now Redruth andI were to get two of them and Mr. Arrow and the captain were to sleepon deck in the companion, which had been enlarged on each side till youmight almost have called it a round-house. Very low it was still, ofcourse; but there was room to swing two hammocks, and even the mateseemed pleased with the arrangement. Even he, perhaps, had been doubtfulas to the crew, but that is only guess, for as you shall hear, we hadnot long the benefit of his opinion.We were all hard at work, changing the powder and the berths, whenthe last man or two, and Long John along with them, came off in ashore-boat.The cook came up the side like a monkey for cleverness, and as soon ashe saw what was doing, "So ho, mates!" says he. "What's this?""We're a-changing of the powder, Jack," answers one."Why, by the powers," cried Long John, "if we do, we'll miss the morningtide!""My orders!" said the captain shortly. "You may go below, my man. Handswill want supper.""Aye, aye, sir," answered the cook, and touching his forelock, hedisappeared at once in the direction of his galley."That's a good man, captain," said the doctor."Very likely, sir," replied Captain Smollett. "Easy with that,men--easy," he ran on, to the fellows who were shifting the powder; andthen suddenly observing me examining the swivel we carried amidships,a long brass nine, "Here you, ship's boy," he cried, "out o' that! Offwith you to the cook and get some work."And then as I was hurrying off I heard him say, quite loudly, to thedoctor, "I'll have no favourites on my ship."I assure you I was quite of the squire's way of thinking, and hated thecaptain deeply.10The VoyageALL that night we were in a great bustle getting things stowed in theirplace, 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 hada night at the Admiral Benbow when I had half the work; and I wasdog-tired when, a little before dawn, the boatswain sounded his pipeand the crew began to man the capstan-bars. I might have been twiceas weary, yet I would not have left the deck, all was so new andinteresting to me--the brief commands, the shrill note of the whistle,the men bustling to their places in the glimmer of the ship's lanterns."Now, Barbecue, tip us a stave," cried one voice."The old one," cried another."Aye, aye, mates," said Long John, who was standing by, with his crutchunder his arm, and at once broke out in the air and words I knew sowell:"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--"And then the whole crew bore chorus:--"Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"And at the third "Ho!" drove the bars before them with a will.Even at that exciting moment it carried me back to the old AdmiralBenbow in a second, and I seemed to hear the voice of the captain pipingin the chorus. But soon the anchor was short up; soon it was hangingdripping at the bows; soon the sails began to draw, and the land andshipping to flit by on either side; and before I could lie down tosnatch an hour of slumber the HISPANIOLA had begun her voyage to theIsle of Treasure.I am not going to relate that voyage in detail. It was fairlyprosperous. The ship proved to be a good ship, the crew were capableseamen, and the captain thoroughly understood his business. But beforewe came the length of Treasure Island, two or three things had happenedwhich require to be known.Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than the captain hadfeared. He had no command among the men, and people did what theypleased with him. But that was by no means the worst of it, for after aday or two at sea he began to appear on deck with hazy eye, red cheeks,stuttering tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. Time after timehe 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 thecompanion; sometimes for a day or two he would be almost sober andattend to his work at least passably.In the meantime, we could never make out where he got the drink. Thatwas the ship's mystery. Watch him as we pleased, we could do nothing tosolve it; and when we asked him to his face, he would only laugh ifhe were drunk, and if he were sober deny solemnly that he ever tastedanything but water.He was not only useless as an officer and a bad influence amongstthe men, but it was plain that at this rate he must soon kill himselfoutright, so nobody was much surprised, nor very sorry, when one darknight, with a head sea, he disappeared entirely and was seen no more."Overboard!" said the captain. "Well, gentlemen, that saves the troubleof putting him in irons."But there we were, without a mate; and it was necessary, of course, toadvance one of the men. The boatswain, Job Anderson, was the likeliestman aboard, and though he kept his old title, he served in a way asmate. Mr. Trelawney had followed the sea, and his knowledge made himvery useful, for he often took a watch himself in easy weather. And thecoxswain, Israel Hands, was a careful, wily, old, experienced seaman whocould be trusted at a pinch with almost anything.He was a great confidant of Long John Silver, and so the mention ofhis name leads me on to speak of our ship's cook, Barbecue, as the mencalled him.Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round his neck, to haveboth hands as free as possible. It was something to see him wedge thefoot of the crutch against a bulkhead, and propped against it, yieldingto every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking like someone safeashore. Still more strange was it to see him in the heaviest of weathercross the deck. He had a line or two rigged up to help him across thewidest spaces--Long John's earrings, they were called; and he would handhimself from one place to another, now using the crutch, now trailing italongside by the lanyard, as quickly as another man could walk. Yet someof the men who had sailed with him before expressed their pity to seehim so reduced."He's no common man, Barbecue," said the coxswain to me. "He had goodschooling 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 grapplefour and knock their heads together--him unarmed."All the crew respected and even obeyed him. He had a way of talkingto each and doing everybody some particular service. To me he wasunweariedly kind, and always glad to see me in the galley, which he keptas clean as a new pin, the dishes hanging up burnished and his parrot ina cage in one corner."Come away, Hawkins," he would say; "come and have a yarn with John.Nobody more welcome than yourself, my son. Sit you down and hear thenews. Here's Cap'n Flint--I calls my parrot Cap'n Flint, after thefamous buccaneer--here's Cap'n Flint predicting success to our v'yage.Wasn't you, cap'n?"And the parrot would say, with great rapidity, "Pieces of eight! Piecesof eight! Pieces of eight!" till you wondered that it was not out ofbreath, or till John threw his handkerchief over the cage."Now, that bird," he would say, "is, maybe, two hundred yearsold, Hawkins--they live forever mostly; and if anybody's seen morewickedness, it must be the devil himself. She's sailed with England,the great Cap'n England, the pirate. She's been at Madagascar, and atMalabar, and Surinam, and Providence, and Portobello. She was at thefishing up of the wrecked plate ships. It's there she learned 'Piecesof eight,' and little wonder; three hundred and fifty thousand of 'em,Hawkins! She was at the boarding of the viceroy of the Indies out ofGoa, she was; and to look at her you would think she was a babby. Butyou smelt powder--didn't you, cap'n?""Stand by to go about," the parrot would scream."Ah, she's a handsome craft, she is," the cook would say, and give hersugar from his pocket, and then the bird would peck at the bars andswear straight on, passing belief for wickedness. "There," John wouldadd, "you can't touch pitch and not be mucked, lad. Here's this poor oldinnocent bird o' mine swearing blue fire, and none the wiser, you maylay to that. She would swear the same, in a manner of speaking, beforechaplain." And John would touch his forelock with a solemn way he hadthat made me think he was the best of men.In the meantime, the squire and Captain Smollett were still on prettydistant terms with one another. The squire made no bones about thematter; he despised the captain. The captain, on his part, never spokebut when he was spoken to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not aword wasted. He owned, when driven into a corner, that he seemed to havebeen wrong about the crew, that some of them were as brisk as he wantedto see and all had behaved fairly well. As for the ship, he had taken adownright fancy to her. "She'll lie a point nearer the wind than a manhas a right to expect of his own married wife, sir. But," he would add,"all I say is, we're not home again, and I don't like the cruise."The squire, at this, would turn away and march up and down the deck,chin in air."A trifle more of that man," he would say, "and I shall explode."We had some heavy weather, which only proved the qualities of theHISPANIOLA. Every man on board seemed well content, and they must havebeen hard to please if they had been otherwise, for it is my beliefthere 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, andalways a barrel of apples standing broached in the waist for anyone tohelp himself that had a fancy."Never knew good come of it yet," the captain said to Dr. Livesey."Spoil forecastle hands, make devils. That's my belief."But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall hear, for if it hadnot been for that, we should have had no note of warning and might allhave perished by the hand of treachery.This was how it came about.We had run up the trades to get the wind of the island we were after--Iam not allowed to be more plain--and now we were running down for itwith a bright lookout day and night. It was about the last day of ouroutward voyage by the largest computation; some time that night, or atlatest before noon of the morrow, we should sight the Treasure Island.We were heading S.S.W. and had a steady breeze abeam and a quiet sea.The HISPANIOLA rolled steadily, dipping her bowsprit now and then witha whiff of spray. All was drawing alow and aloft; everyone was in thebravest spirits because we were now so near an end of the first part ofour adventure.Now, just after sundown, when all my work was over and I was on my wayto my berth, it occurred to me that I should like an apple. I ran ondeck. The watch was all forward looking out for the island. The man atthe helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gentlyto himself, and that was the only sound excepting the swish of the seaagainst the bows and around the sides of the ship.In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there was scarce anapple left; but sitting down there in the dark, what with the sound ofthe waters and the rocking movement of the ship, I had either fallenasleep or was on the point of doing so when a heavy man sat down withrather a clash close by. The barrel shook as he leaned his shouldersagainst 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 wouldnot have shown myself for all the world, but lay there, trembling andlistening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity, for from these dozenwords I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard dependedupon me alone.11What I Heard in the Apple Barrel"NO, not I," said Silver. "Flint was cap'n; I was quartermaster, alongof my timber leg. The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost hisdeadlights. It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me--out ofcollege and all--Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was hangedlike a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso Castle. Thatwas Roberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to theirships--ROYAL FORTUNE and so on. Now, what a ship was christened, so lether stay, I says. So it was with the CASSANDRA, as brought us all safehome from Malabar, after England took the viceroy of the Indies; so itwas with the old WALRUS, Flint's old ship, as I've seen amuck with thered blood and fit to sink with gold.""Ah!" cried another voice, that of the youngest hand on board, andevidently full of admiration. "He was the flower of the flock, wasFlint!""Davis was a man too, by all accounts," said Silver. "I never sailedalong 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 ninehundred safe, from England, and two thousand after Flint. That ain't badfor a man before the mast--all safe in bank. 'Tain't earning now, it'ssaving does it, you may lay to that. Where's all England's men now? Idunno. Where's Flint's? Why, most on 'em aboard here, and glad to getthe duff--been begging before that, some on 'em. Old Pew, as had losthis sight, and might have thought shame, spends twelve hundred pound ina year, like a lord in Parliament. Where is he now? Well, he's dead nowand under hatches; but for two year before that, shiver my timbers,the man was starving! He begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, andstarved at that, by the powers!""Well, it ain't much use, after all," said the young seaman."'Tain't much use for fools, you may lay to it--that, nor nothing," cried Silver. "But now, you look here: you're young, you are, but you'reas smart as paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I'll talkto you like a man."You may imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable old rogueaddressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had usedto myself. I think, if I had been able, that I would have killedhim through the barrel. Meantime, he ran on, little supposing he wasoverheard."Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough, and they riskswinging, but they eat and drink like fighting-cocks, and when a cruiseis done, why, it's hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthingsin their pockets. Now, the most goes for rum and a good fling, and tosea again in their shirts. But that's not the course I lay. I puts itall away, some here, some there, and none too much anywheres, by reasonof suspicion. I'm fifty, mark you; once back from this cruise, I set upgentleman in earnest. Time enough too, says you. Ah, but I've lived easyin the meantime, never denied myself o' nothing heart desires, and slep'soft and ate dainty all my days but when at sea. And how did I begin?Before the mast, like you!""Well," said the other, "but all the other money's gone now, ain't it?You daren't show face in Bristol after this.""Why, where might you suppose it was?" asked Silver derisively."At Bristol, in banks and places," answered his companion."It were," said the cook; "it were when we weighed anchor. But my oldmissis has it all by now. And the Spy-glass is sold, lease and goodwilland rigging; and the old girl's off to meet me. I would tell you where,for I trust you, but it'd make jealousy among the mates.""And can you trust your missis?" asked the other."Gentlemen of fortune," returned the cook, "usually trusts little amongthemselves, and right they are, you may lay to it. But I have a way withme, I have. When a mate brings a slip on his cable--one as knows me, Imean--it won't be in the same world with old John. There was some thatwas feared of Pew, and some that was feared of Flint; but Flint his ownself was feared of me. Feared he was, and proud. They was the roughestcrew afloat, was Flint's; the devil himself would have been feared to goto sea with them. Well now, I tell you, I'm not a boasting man, and youseen yourself how easy I keep company, but when I was quartermaster,LAMBS wasn't the word for Flint's old buccaneers. Ah, you may be sure ofyourself in old John's ship.""Well, I tell you now," replied the lad, "I didn't half a quarter likethe job till I had this talk with you, John; but there's my hand on itnow.""And a brave lad you were, and smart too," answered Silver, shakinghands so heartily that all the barrel shook, "and a finer figurehead fora gentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on."By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of their terms. By a"gentleman of fortune" they plainly meant neither more nor less than acommon pirate, and the little scene that I had overheard was the lastact in the corruption of one of the honest hands--perhaps of the lastone left aboard. But on this point I was soon to be relieved, for Silvergiving a little whistle, a third man strolled up and sat down by theparty."Dick's square," said Silver."Oh, I know'd Dick was square," returned the voice of the coxswain,Israel Hands. "He's no fool, is Dick." And he turned his quid and spat."But look here," he went on, "here's what I want to know, Barbecue: howlong are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat? I've hada'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, andthat.""Israel," said Silver, "your head ain't much account, nor ever was. Butyou'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, andyou'll speak soft, and you'll keep sober till I give the word; and youmay lay to that, my son.""Well, I don't say no, do I?" growled the coxswain. "What I say is,when? That's what I say.""When! By the powers!" cried Silver. "Well now, if you want to know,I'll tell you when. The last moment I can manage, and that's when.Here's a first-rate seaman, Cap'n Smollett, sails the blessed ship forus. Here's this squire and doctor with a map and such--I don't knowwhere it is, do I? No more do you, says you. Well then, I mean thissquire 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 doubleDutchmen, I'd have Cap'n Smollett navigate us half-way back again beforeI struck.""Why, we're all seamen aboard here, I should think," said the lad Dick."We're all forecastle hands, you mean," snapped Silver. "We can steera 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 backinto the trades at least; then we'd have no blessed miscalculations anda 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. Butyou're never happy till you're drunk. Split my sides, I've a sick heartto sail with the likes of you!""Easy all, Long John," cried Israel. "Who's a-crossin' of you?""Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I seen laid aboard? Andhow 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 seena thing or two at sea, I have. If you would on'y lay your course, and ap'int to windward, you would ride in carriages, you would. But not you!I know you. You'll have your mouthful of rum tomorrow, and go hang.""Everybody knowed you was a kind of a chapling, John; but there's othersas could hand and steer as well as you," said Israel. "They liked a bito' fun, they did. They wasn't so high and dry, nohow, but took theirfling, like jolly companions every one.""So?" says Silver. "Well, and where are they now? Pew was that sort,and he died a beggar-man. Flint was, and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah,they was a sweet crew, they was! On'y, where are they?""But," asked Dick, "when we do lay 'em athwart, what are we to do with'em, anyhow?""There's the man for me!" cried the cook admiringly. "That's what I callbusiness. Well, what would you think? Put 'em ashore like maroons? Thatwould have been England's way. Or cut 'em down like that much pork? Thatwould have been Flint's, or Billy Bones's.""Billy was the man for that," said Israel. "'Dead men don't bite,' sayshe. Well, he's dead now hisself; he knows the long and short on it now;and if ever a rough hand come to port, it was Billy.""Right you are," said Silver; "rough and ready. But mark you here,I'm an easy man--I'm quite the gentleman, says you; but this time it'sserious. Dooty is dooty, mates. I give my vote--death. When I'm inParlyment and riding in my coach, I don't want none of these sea-lawyersin the cabin a-coming home, unlooked for, like the devil at prayers.Wait is what I say; but when the time comes, why, let her rip!""John," cries the coxswain, "you're a man!""You'll say so, Israel when you see," said Silver. "Only one thing Iclaim--I claim Trelawney. I'll wring his calf's head off his body withthese hands, Dick!" he added, breaking off. "You just jump up, like asweet lad, and get me an apple, to wet my pipe like."You may fancy the terror I was in! I should have leaped out and run forit if I had found the strength, but my limbs and heart alike misgave me.I heard Dick begin to rise, and then someone seemingly stopped him, andthe voice of Hands exclaimed, "Oh, stow that! Don't you get sucking ofthat bilge, John. Let's have a go of the rum.""Dick," said Silver, "I trust you. I've a gauge on the keg, mind.There's the key; you fill a pannikin and bring it up."Terrified as I was, I could not help thinking to myself that this musthave been how Mr. Arrow got the strong waters that destroyed him.Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence Israel spokestraight on in the cook's ear. It was but a word or two that I couldcatch, and yet I gathered some important news, for besides other scrapsthat tended to the same purpose, this whole clause was audible: "Notanother man of them'll jine." Hence there were still faithful men onboard.When Dick returned, one after another of the trio took the pannikin anddrank--one "To luck," another with a "Here's to old Flint," and Silverhimself saying, in a kind of song, "Here's to ourselves, and hold yourluff, plenty of prizes and plenty of duff."Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel, and lookingup, I found the moon had risen and was silvering the mizzen-top andshining white on the luff of the fore-sail; and almost at the same timethe voice of the lookout shouted, "Land ho!"12Council of WarTHERE was a great rush of feet across the deck. I could hear peopletumbling up from the cabin and the forecastle, and slipping in aninstant outside my barrel, I dived behind the fore-sail, made a doubletowards the stern, and came out upon the open deck in time to joinHunter and Dr. Livesey in the rush for the weather bow.There all hands were already congregated. A belt of fog had liftedalmost simultaneously with the appearance of the moon. Away to thesouth-west of us we saw two low hills, about a couple of miles apart,and rising behind one of them a third and higher hill, whose peak wasstill buried in the fog. All three seemed sharp and conical in figure.So much I saw, almost in a dream, for I had not yet recovered from myhorrid fear of a minute or two before. And then I heard the voice ofCaptain Smollett issuing orders. The HISPANIOLA was laid a couple ofpoints nearer the wind and now sailed a course that would just clear theisland on the east."And now, men," said the captain, when all was sheeted home, "has anyone of you ever seen that land ahead?""I have, sir," said Silver. "I've watered there with a trader I was cookin.""The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I fancy?" asked thecaptain."Yes, sir; Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a main place forpirates once, and a hand we had on board knowed all their names for it.That hill to the nor'ard they calls the Fore-mast Hill; there are threehills in a row running south'ard--fore, main, and mizzen, sir. But themain--that's the big un, with the cloud on it--they usually callsthe Spy-glass, by reason of a lookout they kept when they was in theanchorage cleaning, for it's there they cleaned their ships, sir, askingyour pardon.""I have a chart here," says Captain Smollett. "See if that's the place."Long John's eyes burned in his head as he took the chart, but by thefresh look of the paper I knew he was doomed to disappointment. Thiswas 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 singleexception of the red crosses and the written notes. Sharp as must havebeen his annoyance, Silver had the strength of mind to hide it."Yes, sir," said he, "this is the spot, to be sure, and very prettilydrawed out. Who might have done that, I wonder? The pirates were tooignorant, I reckon. Aye, here it is: 'Capt. Kidd's Anchorage'--justthe name my shipmate called it. There's a strong current runs along thesouth, and then away nor'ard up the west coast. Right you was, sir," says he, "to haul your wind and keep the weather of the island.Leastways, if such was your intention as to enter and careen, and thereain't no better place for that in these waters.""Thank you, my man," says Captain Smollett. "I'll ask you later on togive us a help. You may go."I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed his knowledgeof the island, and I own I was half-frightened when I saw him drawingnearer to myself. He did not know, to be sure, that I had overheard hiscouncil from the apple barrel, and yet I had by this time taken such ahorror of his cruelty, duplicity, and power that I could scarce conceala shudder when he laid his hand upon my arm."Ah," says he, "this here is a sweet spot, this island--a sweet spot fora lad to get ashore on. You'll bathe, and you'll climb trees, and you'llhunt goats, you will; and you'll get aloft on them hills like a goatyourself. Why, it makes me young again. I was going to forget my timberleg, I was. It's a pleasant thing to be young and have ten toes, and youmay lay to that. When you want to go a bit of exploring, you just askold John, and he'll put up a snack for you to take along."And clapping me in the friendliest way upon the shoulder, he hobbled offforward and went below.Captain Smollett, the squire, and Dr. Livesey were talking together onthe quarter-deck, and anxious as I was to tell them my story, I durstnot interrupt them openly. While I was still casting about in mythoughts to find some probable excuse, Dr. Livesey called me to hisside. He had left his pipe below, and being a slave to tobacco, hadmeant that I should fetch it; but as soon as I was near enough to speakand not to be overheard, I broke immediately, "Doctor, let me speak. Getthe captain and squire down to the cabin, and then make some pretence tosend for me. I have terrible news."The doctor changed countenance a little, but next moment he was masterof himself."Thank you, Jim," said he quite loudly, "that was all I wanted to know," as if he had asked me a question.And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined the other two. Theyspoke together for a little, and though none of them started, or raisedhis voice, or so much as whistled, it was plain enough that Dr. Liveseyhad communicated my request, for the next thing that I heard was thecaptain giving an order to Job Anderson, and all hands were piped ondeck."My lads," said Captain Smollett, "I've a word to say to you. Thisland that we have sighted is the place we have been sailing for. Mr.Trelawney, being a very open-handed gentleman, as we all know, has justasked me a word or two, and as I was able to tell him that every man onboard had done his duty, alow and aloft, as I never ask to see it donebetter, why, he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin todrink YOUR health and luck, and you'll have grog served out for you todrink OUR health and luck. I'll tell you what I think of this: I thinkit handsome. And if you think as I do, you'll give a good sea-cheer forthe gentleman that does it."The cheer followed--that was a matter of course; but it rang out so fulland hearty that I confess I could hardly believe these same men wereplotting for our blood."One more cheer for Cap'n Smollett," cried Long John when the first hadsubsided.And this also was given with a will.On the top of that the three gentlemen went below, and not long after,word was sent forward that Jim Hawkins was wanted in the cabin.I found them all three seated round the table, a bottle of Spanish wineand some raisins before them, and the doctor smoking away, with his wigon his lap, and that, I knew, was a sign that he was agitated. The sternwindow was open, for it was a warm night, and you could see the moonshining behind on the ship's wake."Now, Hawkins," said the squire, "you have something to say. Speak up."I did as I was bid, and as short as I could make it, told the wholedetails of Silver's conversation. Nobody interrupted me till I was done,nor did any one of the three of them make so much as a movement, butthey kept their eyes upon my face from first to last."Jim," said Dr. Livesey, "take a seat."And they made me sit down at table beside them, poured me out a glass ofwine, 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, formy luck and courage."Now, captain," said the squire, "you were right, and I was wrong. I ownmyself an ass, and I await your orders.""No more an ass than I, sir," returned the captain. "I never heard of acrew that meant to mutiny but what showed signs before, for any man thathad an eye in his head to see the mischief and take steps according. Butthis crew," he added, "beats me.""Captain," said the doctor, "with your permission, that's Silver. A veryremarkable man.""He'd look remarkably well from a yard-arm, sir," returned the captain."But this is talk; this don't lead to anything. I see three or fourpoints, and with Mr. Trelawney's permission, I'll name them.""You, sir, are the captain. It is for you to speak," says Mr. Trelawneygrandly."First point," began Mr. Smollett. "We must go on, because we can't turnback. If I gave the word to go about, they would rise at once. Secondpoint, we have time before us--at least until this treasure's found.Third point, there are faithful hands. Now, sir, it's got to cometo blows sooner or later, and what I propose is to take time by theforelock, as the saying is, and come to blows some fine day when theyleast expect it. We can count, I take it, on your own home servants, Mr.Trelawney?""As upon myself," declared the squire."Three," reckoned the captain; "ourselves make seven, counting Hawkinshere. Now, about the honest hands?""Most likely Trelawney's own men," said the doctor; "those he had pickedup for himself before he lit on Silver.""Nay," replied the squire. "Hands was one of mine.""I did think I could have trusted Hands," added the captain."And to think that they're all Englishmen!" broke out the squire. "Sir,I could find it in my heart to blow the ship up.""Well, gentlemen," said the captain, "the best that I can say is notmuch. We must lay to, if you please, and keep a bright lookout. It'strying on a man, I know. It would be pleasanter to come to blows. Butthere's no help for it till we know our men. Lay to, and whistle for awind, that's my view.""Jim here," said the doctor, "can help us more than anyone. The men arenot shy with him, and Jim is a noticing lad.""Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you," added the squire.I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt altogetherhelpless; and yet, by an odd train of circumstances, it was indeedthrough me that safety came. In the meantime, talk as we pleased, therewere only seven out of the twenty-six on whom we knew we could rely; andout of these seven one was a boy, so that the grown men on our side weresix to their nineteen.PART THREE--My Shore Adventure13How My Shore Adventure BeganTHE appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning wasaltogether changed. Although the breeze had now utterly ceased, we hadmade a great deal of way during the night and were now lying becalmedabout half a mile to the south-east of the low eastern coast.Grey-coloured woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tintwas 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--somesingly, some in clumps; but the general colouring was uniform and sad.The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of naked rock.All were strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass, which was by three or fourhundred feet the tallest on the island, was likewise the strangest inconfiguration, running up sheer from almost every side and then suddenlycut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on.The HISPANIOLA was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell. The boomswere tearing at the blocks, the rudder was banging to and fro, and thewhole ship creaking, groaning, and jumping like a manufactory. I hadto cling tight to the backstay, and the world turned giddily before myeyes, for though I was a good enough sailor when there was way on, thisstanding still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I neverlearned to stand without a qualm or so, above all in the morning, on anempty stomach.Perhaps it was this--perhaps it was the look of the island, with itsgrey, melancholy woods, and wild stone spires, and the surf that wecould both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach--atleast, although the sun shone bright and hot, and the shore birds werefishing and crying all around us, and you would have thought anyonewould have been glad to get to land after being so long at sea, my heartsank, as the saying is, into my boots; and from the first look onward, Ihated the very thought of Treasure Island.We had a dreary morning's work before us, for there was no sign of anywind, and the boats had to be got out and manned, and the ship warpedthree or four miles round the corner of the island and up the narrowpassage to the haven behind Skeleton Island. I volunteered for one ofthe boats, where I had, of course, no business. The heat was sweltering,and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. Anderson was in commandof my boat, and instead of keeping the crew in order, he grumbled asloud as the worst."Well," he said with an oath, "it's not forever."I thought this was a very bad sign, for up to that day the men had gonebriskly and willingly about their business; but the very sight of theisland had relaxed the cords of discipline.All the way in, Long John stood by the steersman and conned the ship.He knew the passage like the palm of his hand, and though the man in thechains got everywhere more water than was down in the chart, John neverhesitated once."There's a strong scour with the ebb," he said, "and this here passagehas been dug out, in a manner of speaking, with a spade."We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart, about a third ofa mile from each shore, the mainland on one side and Skeleton Island onthe other. The bottom was clean sand. The plunge of our anchor sent upclouds of birds wheeling and crying over the woods, but in less than aminute they were down again and all was once more silent.The place was entirely land-locked, buried in woods, the trees comingright down to high-water mark, the shores mostly flat, and the hilltopsstanding round at a distance in a sort of amphitheatre, one here, onethere. Two little rivers, or rather two swamps, emptied out into thispond, as you might call it; and the foliage round that part of the shorehad a kind of poisonous brightness. From the ship we could see nothingof the house or stockade, for they were quite buried among trees; and ifit had not been for the chart on the companion, we might have been thefirst that had ever anchored there since the island arose out of theseas.There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound but that of thesurf booming half a mile away along the beaches and against the rocksoutside. A peculiar stagnant smell hung over the anchorage--a smell ofsodden leaves and rotting tree trunks. I observed the doctor sniffingand sniffing, like someone tasting a bad egg."I don't know about treasure," he said, "but I'll stake my wig there'sfever here."If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the boat, it became trulythreatening when they had come aboard. They lay about the deck growlingtogether in talk. The slightest order was received with a black look andgrudgingly and carelessly obeyed. Even the honest hands must have caughtthe infection, for there was not one man aboard to mend another. Mutiny,it was plain, hung over us like a thunder-cloud.And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived the danger. LongJohn was hard at work going from group to group, spending himself ingood advice, and as for example no man could have shown a better. Hefairly outstripped himself in willingness and civility; he was allsmiles to everyone. If an order were given, John would be on his crutchin an instant, with the cheeriest "Aye, aye, sir!" in the world; andwhen there was nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another, asif to conceal the discontent of the rest.Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon, this obviousanxiety on the part of Long John appeared the worst.We held a council in the cabin."Sir," said the captain, "if I risk another order, the whole ship'llcome about our ears by the run. You see, sir, here it is. I get a roughanswer, do I not? Well, if I speak back, pikes will be going in twoshakes; if I don't, Silver will see there's something under that, andthe game's up. Now, we've only one man to rely on.""And who is that?" asked the squire."Silver, sir," returned the captain; "he's as anxious as you and I tosmother things up. This is a tiff; he'd soon talk 'em out of it if hehad 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 fightthe ship. If they none of them go, well then, we hold the cabin, and Goddefend the right. If some go, you mark my words, sir, Silver'll bring'em aboard again as mild as lambs."It was so decided; loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men;Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth were taken into our confidence and receivedthe news with less surprise and a better spirit than we had looked for,and then the captain went on deck and addressed the crew."My lads," said he, "we've had a hot day and are all tired and out ofsorts. A turn ashore'll hurt nobody--the boats are still in the water;you can take the gigs, and as many as please may go ashore for theafternoon. I'll fire a gun half an hour before sundown."I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would break theirshins over treasure as soon as they were landed, for they all came outof their sulks in a moment and gave a cheer that started the echo in afaraway hill and sent the birds once more flying and squalling round theanchorage.The captain was too bright to be in the way. He whipped out of sightin a moment, leaving Silver to arrange the party, and I fancy it was aswell he did so. Had he been on deck, he could no longer so much ashave 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. Thehonest hands--and I was soon to see it proved that there were such onboard--must have been very stupid fellows. Or rather, I suppose thetruth was this, that all hands were disaffected by the example of theringleaders--only some more, some less; and a few, being good fellows inthe main, could neither be led nor driven any further. It is one thingto be idle and skulk and quite another to take a ship and murder anumber of innocent men.At last, however, the party was made up. Six fellows were to stay onboard, and the remaining thirteen, including Silver, began to embark.Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad notionsthat contributed so much to save our lives. If six men were left bySilver, it was plain our party could not take and fight the ship; andsince only six were left, it was equally plain that the cabin partyhad no present need of my assistance. It occurred to me at once to goashore. In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and curled up in thefore-sheets of the nearest boat, and almost at the same moment sheshoved off.No one took notice of me, only the bow oar saying, "Is that you, Jim?Keep your head down." But Silver, from the other boat, looked sharplyover and called out to know if that were me; and from that moment Ibegan to regret what I had done.The crews raced for the beach, but the boat I was in, having some startand being at once the lighter and the better manned, shot far ahead ofher consort, and the bow had struck among the shore-side trees and Ihad caught a branch and swung myself out and plunged into the nearestthicket while Silver and the rest were still a hundred yards behind."Jim, Jim!" I heard him shouting.But you may suppose I paid no heed; jumping, ducking, and breakingthrough, I ran straight before my nose till I could run no longer.14The First BlowI WAS so pleased at having given the slip to Long John that I began toenjoy myself and look around me with some interest on the strange landthat I was in.I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes, and odd,outlandish, swampy trees; and I had now come out upon the skirts of anopen piece of undulating, sandy country, about a mile long, dotted witha few pines and a great number of contorted trees, not unlike the oakin growth, but pale in the foliage, like willows. On the far side ofthe open stood one of the hills, with two quaint, craggy peaks shiningvividly in the sun.I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration. The isle wasuninhabited; my shipmates I had left behind, and nothing lived in frontof me but dumb brutes and fowls. I turned hither and thither among thetrees. Here and there were flowering plants, unknown to me; here andthere I saw snakes, and one raised his head from a ledge of rock andhissed at me with a noise not unlike the spinning of a top. Little didI suppose that he was a deadly enemy and that the noise was the famousrattle.Then I came to a long thicket of these oaklike trees--live, orevergreen, oaks, I heard afterwards they should be called--which grewlow along the sand like brambles, the boughs curiously twisted, thefoliage compact, like thatch. The thicket stretched down from the top ofone of the sandy knolls, spreading and growing taller as it went, untilit reached the margin of the broad, reedy fen, through which the nearestof the little rivers soaked its way into the anchorage. The marsh wassteaming in the strong sun, and the outline of the Spy-glass trembledthrough the haze.All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among the bulrushes;a wild duck flew up with a quack, another followed, and soon over thewhole surface of the marsh a great cloud of birds hung screaming andcircling in the air. I judged at once that some of my shipmates must bedrawing near along the borders of the fen. Nor was I deceived, for soonI heard the very distant and low tones of a human voice, which, as Icontinued to give ear, grew steadily louder and nearer.This put me in a great fear, and I crawled under cover of the nearestlive-oak and squatted there, hearkening, as silent as a mouse.Another voice answered, and then the first voice, which I now recognizedto be Silver's, once more took up the story and ran on for a long whilein a stream, only now and again interrupted by the other. By the soundthey must have been talking earnestly, and almost fiercely; but nodistinct word came to my hearing.At last the speakers seemed to have paused and perhaps to have sat down,for not only did they cease to draw any nearer, but the birds themselvesbegan to grow more quiet and to settle again to their places in theswamp.And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my business, that sinceI had been so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, theleast I could do was to overhear them at their councils, and that myplain and obvious duty was to draw as close as I could manage, under thefavourable ambush of the crouching trees.I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly, not only bythe sound of their voices but by the behaviour of the few birds thatstill hung in alarm above the heads of the intruders.Crawling on all fours, I made steadily but slowly towards them, till atlast, raising my head to an aperture among the leaves, I could see cleardown into a little green dell beside the marsh, and closely set aboutwith trees, where Long John Silver and another of the crew stood face toface in conversation.The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown his hat beside him on theground, and his great, smooth, blond face, all shining with heat, waslifted to the other man's in a kind of appeal."Mate," he was saying, "it's because I thinks gold dust of you--golddust, and you may lay to that! If I hadn't took to you like pitch, doyou think I'd have been here a-warning of you? All's up--you can't makenor mend; it's to save your neck that I'm a-speaking, and if one of thewild uns knew it, where'd I be, Tom--now, tell me, where'd I be?""Silver," said the other man--and I observed he was not only red in theface, but spoke as hoarse as a crow, and his voice shook too, like ataut rope--"Silver," says he, "you're old, and you're honest, or has thename 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 letyourself be led away with that kind of a mess of swabs? Not you! As sureas God sees me, I'd sooner lose my hand. If I turn agin my dooty--"And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise. I had foundone of the honest hands--well, here, at that same moment, came news ofanother. Far away out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a soundlike the cry of anger, then another on the back of it; and then onehorrid, long-drawn scream. The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it ascore of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose again, darkeningheaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after that death yell wasstill ringing in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, andonly the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distantsurges disturbed the languor of the afternoon.Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur, but Silver hadnot winked an eye. He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch,watching his companion like a snake about to spring."John!" said the sailor, stretching out his hand."Hands off!" cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me, withthe speed and security of a trained gymnast."Hands off, if you like, John Silver," said the other. "It's a blackconscience that can make you feared of me. But in heaven's name, tellme, what was that?""That?" returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than ever, his eyea mere pin-point in his big face, but gleaming like a crumb of glass."That? Oh, I reckon that'll be Alan."And at this point Tom flashed out like a hero."Alan!" he cried. "Then rest his soul for a true seaman! And as for you,John Silver, long you've been a mate of mine, but you're mate of mineno more. If I die like a dog, I'll die in my dooty. You've killed Alan,have you? Kill me too, if you can. But I defies you."And with that, this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cookand 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 ofhis armpit, and sent that uncouth missile hurtling through the air.It struck poor Tom, point foremost, and with stunning violence, rightbetween the shoulders in the middle of his back. His hands flew up, hegave a sort of gasp, and fell.Whether he were injured much or little, none could ever tell. Likeenough, to judge from the sound, his back was broken on the spot. But hehad no time given him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey even withoutleg or crutch, was on the top of him next moment and had twice buriedhis knife up to the hilt in that defenceless body. From my place ofambush, I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the blows.I do not know what it rightly is to faint, but I do know that for thenext little while the whole world swam away from before me in a whirlingmist; Silver and the birds, and the tall Spy-glass hilltop, goinground and round and topsy-turvy before my eyes, and all manner of bellsringing and distant voices shouting in my ear.When I came again to myself the monster had pulled himself together,his crutch under his arm, his hat upon his head. Just before him Tomlay motionless upon the sward; but the murderer minded him not a whit,cleansing his blood-stained knife the while upon a wisp of grass.Everything else was unchanged, the sun still shining mercilessly on thesteaming marsh and the tall pinnacle of the mountain, and I could scarcepersuade myself that murder had been actually done and a human lifecruelly cut short a moment since before my eyes.But now John put his hand into his pocket, brought out a whistle, andblew upon it several modulated blasts that rang far across the heatedair. I could not tell, of course, the meaning of the signal, butit instantly awoke my fears. More men would be coming. I might bediscovered. They had already slain two of the honest people; after Tomand Alan, might not I come next?Instantly I began to extricate myself and crawl back again, with whatspeed and silence I could manage, to the more open portion of thewood. As I did so, I could hear hails coming and going between the oldbuccaneer and his comrades, and this sound of danger lent me wings. Assoon as I was clear of the thicket, I ran as I never ran before, scarceminding the direction of my flight, so long as it led me from themurderers; and as I ran, fear grew and grew upon me until it turned intoa kind of frenzy.Indeed, could anyone be more entirely lost than I? When the gun fired,how should I dare to go down to the boats among those fiends, stillsmoking from their crime? Would not the first of them who saw me wringmy neck like a snipe's? Would not my absence itself be an evidence tothem of my alarm, and therefore of my fatal knowledge? It was all over,I thought. Good-bye to the HISPANIOLA; good-bye to the squire, thedoctor, and the captain! There was nothing left for me but death bystarvation or death by the hands of the mutineers.All this while, as I say, I was still running, and without taking anynotice, I had drawn near to the foot of the little hill with the twopeaks and had got into a part of the island where the live-oaks grewmore widely apart and seemed more like forest trees in their bearing anddimensions. Mingled with these were a few scattered pines, some fifty,some nearer seventy, feet high. The air too smelt more freshly than downbeside the marsh.And here a fresh alarm brought me to a standstill with a thumping heart.15The Man of the IslandFROM the side of the hill, which was here steep and stony, a spout ofgravel was dislodged and fell rattling and bounding through the trees.My eyes turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leapwith great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was, whetherbear or man or monkey, I could in no wise tell. It seemed dark andshaggy; more I knew not. But the terror of this new apparition broughtme to a stand.I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides; behind me the murderers,before me this lurking nondescript. And immediately I began to preferthe dangers that I knew to those I knew not. Silver himself appearedless terrible in contrast with this creature of the woods, and I turnedon my heel, and looking sharply behind me over my shoulder, began toretrace my steps in the direction of the boats.Instantly the figure reappeared, and making a wide circuit, began tohead me off. I was tired, at any rate; but had I been as fresh as when Irose, I could see it was in vain for me to contend in speed with such anadversary. From trunk to trunk the creature flitted like a deer, runningmanlike on two legs, but unlike any man that I had ever seen, stoopingalmost double as it ran. Yet a man it was, I could no longer be in doubtabout that.I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals. I was within an ace ofcalling 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 inproportion. I stood still, therefore, and cast about for some method ofescape; and as I was so thinking, the recollection of my pistol flashedinto my mind. As soon as I remembered I was not defenceless, courageglowed again in my heart and I set my face resolutely for this man ofthe island and walked briskly towards him.He was concealed by this time behind another tree trunk; but he musthave been watching me closely, for as soon as I began to move in hisdirection he reappeared and took a step to meet me. Then he hesitated,drew back, came forward again, and at last, to my wonder andconfusion, threw himself on his knees and held out his clasped hands insupplication.At that I once more stopped."Who are you?" I asked."Ben Gunn," he answered, and his voice sounded hoarse and awkward,like a rusty lock. "I'm poor Ben Gunn, I am; and I haven't spoke with aChristian these three years."I could now see that he was a white man like myself and that hisfeatures were even pleasing. His skin, wherever it was exposed, wasburnt by the sun; even his lips were black, and his fair eyes lookedquite startling in so dark a face. Of all the beggar-men that I had seenor fancied, he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed with tattersof old ship's canvas and old sea-cloth, and this extraordinary patchworkwas all held together by a system of the most various and incongruousfastenings, brass buttons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry gaskin.About his waist he wore an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was theone thing solid in his whole accoutrement."Three years!" I cried. "Were you shipwrecked?""Nay, mate," said he; "marooned."I had heard the word, and I knew it stood for a horrible kind ofpunishment common enough among the buccaneers, in which the offenderis put ashore with a little powder and shot and left behind on somedesolate and distant island."Marooned three years agone," he continued, "and lived on goats sincethen, and berries, and oysters. Wherever a man is, says I, a man cando for himself. But, mate, my heart is sore for Christian diet. Youmightn'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 wokeup again, and here I were.""If ever I can get aboard again," said I, "you shall have cheese by thestone."All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my jacket, smoothingmy hands, looking at my boots, and generally, in the intervals ofhis speech, showing a childish pleasure in the presence of a fellowcreature. But at my last words he perked up into a kind of startledslyness."If ever you can get aboard again, says you?" he repeated. "Why, now,who's to hinder you?""Not you, I know," was my reply."And right you was," he cried. "Now you--what do you call yourself,mate?""Jim," I told him."Jim, Jim," says he, quite pleased apparently. "Well, now, Jim, I'velived that rough as you'd be ashamed to hear of. Now, for instance, youwouldn't think I had had a pious mother--to look at me?" he asked."Why, no, not in particular," I answered."Ah, well," said he, "but I had--remarkable pious. And I was a civil,pious boy, and could rattle off my catechism that fast, as you couldn'ttell one word from another. And here's what it come to, Jim, and itbegun with chuck-farthen on the blessed grave-stones! That's what itbegun with, but it went further'n that; and so my mother told me, andpredicked the whole, she did, the pious woman! But it were Providencethat put me here. I've thought it all out in this here lonely island,and I'm back on piety. You don't catch me tasting rum so much, but justa thimbleful for luck, of course, the first chance I have. I'm boundI'll be good, and I see the way to. And, Jim"--looking all round him andlowering his voice to a whisper--"I'm rich."I now felt sure that the poor fellow had gone crazy in his solitude, andI suppose I must have shown the feeling in my face, for he repeated thestatement hotly: "Rich! Rich! I says. And I'll tell you what: I'll makea man of you, Jim. Ah, Jim, you'll bless your stars, you will, you wasthe first that found me!"And at this there came suddenly a lowering shadow over his face, and hetightened his grasp upon my hand and raised a forefinger threateninglybefore my eyes."Now, Jim, you tell me true: that ain't Flint's ship?" he asked.At this I had a happy inspiration. I began to believe that I had foundan ally, and I answered him at once."It's not Flint's ship, and Flint is dead; but I'll tell you true, asyou ask me--there are some of Flint's hands aboard; worse luck for therest of us.""Not a man--with one--leg?" he gasped."Silver?" I asked."Ah, Silver!" says he. "That were his name.""He's the cook, and the ringleader too."He was still holding me by the wrist, and at that he give it quite awring."If you was sent by Long John," he said, "I'm as good as pork, and Iknow it. But where was you, do you suppose?"I had made my mind up in a moment, and by way of answer told himthe whole story of our voyage and the predicament in which we foundourselves. He heard me with the keenest interest, and when I had done hepatted me on the head."You're a good lad, Jim," he said; "and you're all in a clove hitch,ain't you? Well, you just put your trust in Ben Gunn--Ben Gunn's the manto do it. Would you think it likely, now, that your squire would provea liberal-minded one in case of help--him being in a clove hitch, as youremark?"I told him the squire was the most liberal of men."Aye, but you see," returned Ben Gunn, "I didn't mean giving me a gateto 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, sayone thousand pounds out of money that's as good as a man's own already?""I am sure he would," said I. "As it was, all hands were to share.""AND a passage home?" he added with a look of great shrewdness."Why," I cried, "the squire's a gentleman. And besides, if we got rid ofthe others, we should want you to help work the vessel home.""Ah," said he, "so you would." And he seemed very much relieved."Now, I'll tell you what," he went on. "So much I'll tell you, and nomore. I were in Flint's ship when he buried the treasure; he andsix along--six strong seamen. They was ashore nigh on a week, and usstanding off and on in the old WALRUS. One fine day up went the signal,and here come Flint by himself in a little boat, and his head done up ina blue scarf. The sun was getting up, and mortal white he looked aboutthe cutwater. But, there he was, you mind, and the six all dead--deadand buried. How he done it, not a man aboard us could make out. It wasbattle, murder, and sudden death, leastways--him against six. BillyBones was the mate; Long John, he was quartermaster; and they asked himwhere 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, bythunder!' That's what he said."Well, I was in another ship three years back, and we sighted thisisland. 'Boys,' said I, 'here's Flint's treasure; let's land and findit.' The cap'n was displeased at that, but my messmates were all of amind and landed. Twelve days they looked for it, and every day they hadthe worse word for me, until one fine morning all hands went aboard. 'Asfor you, Benjamin Gunn,' says they, 'here's a musket,' they says, 'anda spade, and pick-axe. You can stay here and find Flint's money foryourself,' they says."Well, Jim, three years have I been here, and not a bite of Christiandiet from that day to this. But now, you look here; look at me. Do Ilook like a man before the mast? No, says you. Nor I weren't, neither, Isays."And with that he winked and pinched me hard."Just you mention them words to your squire, Jim," he went on. "Nor heweren't, neither--that's the words. Three years he were the man of thisisland, light and dark, fair and rain; and sometimes he would maybethink upon a prayer (says you), and sometimes he would maybe think ofhis old mother, so be as she's alive (you'll say); but the most partof Gunn's time (this is what you'll say)--the most part of his time wastook up with another matter. And then you'll give him a nip, like I do."And he pinched me again in the most confidential manner."Then," he continued, "then you'll up, and you'll say this: Gunn is agood man (you'll say), and he puts a precious sight more confidence--aprecious sight, mind that--in a gen'leman born than in these gen'lemanof fortune, having been one hisself.""Well," I said, "I don't understand one word that you've been saying.But that's neither here nor there; for how am I to get on board?""Ah," said he, "that's the hitch, for sure. Well, there's my boat, thatI made with my two hands. I keep her under the white rock. If the worstcome to the worst, we might try that after dark. Hi!" he broke out."What's that?"For just then, although the sun had still an hour or two to run, all theechoes of the island awoke and bellowed to the thunder of a cannon."They have begun to fight!" I cried. "Follow me."And I began to run towards the anchorage, my terrors all forgotten,while close at my side the marooned man in his goatskins trotted easilyand lightly."Left, left," says he; "keep to your left hand, mate Jim! Under thetrees with you! Theer's where I killed my first goat. They don't comedown here now; they're all mastheaded on them mountings for the fearof Benjamin Gunn. Ah! And there's the cetemery"--cemetery, he must havemeant. "You see the mounds? I come here and prayed, nows and thens, whenI 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 wasshort-handed--no chapling, nor so much as a Bible and a flag, you says."So he kept talking as I ran, neither expecting nor receiving any answer.The cannon-shot was followed after a considerable interval by a volleyof small arms.Another pause, and then, not a quarter of a mile in front of me, Ibeheld the Union Jack flutter in the air above a wood.PART FOUR--The Stockade16Narrative Continued by the Doctor: How the Ship Was AbandonedIT was about half past one--three bells in the sea phrase--that the twoboats went ashore from the HISPANIOLA. The captain, the squire, and Iwere 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 withus, slipped our cable, and away to sea. But the wind was wanting; andto complete our helplessness, down came Hunter with the news that JimHawkins had slipped into a boat and was gone ashore with the rest.It never occurred to us to doubt Jim Hawkins, but we were alarmed forhis safety. With the men in the temper they were in, it seemed an evenchance if we should see the lad again. We ran on deck. The pitch wasbubbling in the seams; the nasty stench of the place turned me sick;if ever a man smelt fever and dysentery, it was in that abominableanchorage. The six scoundrels were sitting grumbling under a sail in theforecastle; ashore we could see the gigs made fast and a man sittingin each, hard by where the river runs in. One of them was whistling"Lillibullero."Waiting was a strain, and it was decided that Hunter and I should goashore with the jolly-boat in quest of information.The gigs had leaned to their right, but Hunter and I pulled straight in,in the direction of the stockade upon the chart. The two who wereleft guarding their boats seemed in a bustle at our appearance;"Lillibullero" stopped off, and I could see the pair discussing whatthey ought to do. Had they gone and told Silver, all might have turnedout differently; but they had their orders, I suppose, and decided tosit quietly where they were and hark back again to "Lillibullero."There was a slight bend in the coast, and I steered so as to put itbetween 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 silkhandkerchief under my hat for coolness' sake and a brace of pistolsready primed for safety.I had not gone a hundred yards when I reached the stockade.This was how it was: a spring of clear water rose almost at the top of aknoll. Well, on the knoll, and enclosing the spring, they had clapped astout loghouse fit to hold two score of people on a pinch and loopholedfor musketry on either side. All round this they had cleared a widespace, and then the thing was completed by a paling six feet high,without door or opening, too strong to pull down without time and labourand too open to shelter the besiegers. The people in the log-house hadthem in every way; they stood quiet in shelter and shot the others likepartridges. All they wanted was a good watch and food; for, short of acomplete surprise, they might have held the place against a regiment.What particularly took my fancy was the spring. For though we had a goodenough place of it in the cabin of the HISPANIOLA, with plenty of armsand ammunition, and things to eat, and excellent wines, there had beenone thing overlooked--we had no water. I was thinking this over whenthere came ringing over the island the cry of a man at the point ofdeath. I was not new to violent death--I have served his Royal Highnessthe Duke of Cumberland, and got a wound myself at Fontenoy--but I knowmy pulse went dot and carry one. "Jim Hawkins is gone," was my firstthought.It is something to have been an old soldier, but more still to have beena doctor. There is no time to dilly-dally in our work. And so now I madeup my mind instantly, and with no time lost returned to the shore andjumped on board the jolly-boat.By good fortune Hunter pulled a good oar. We made the water fly, and theboat was soon alongside and I aboard the schooner.I found them all shaken, as was natural. The squire was sitting down, aswhite as a sheet, thinking of the harm he had led us to, the good soul!And one of the six forecastle hands was little better."There's a man," says Captain Smollett, nodding towards him, "new tothis work. He came nigh-hand fainting, doctor, when he heard the cry.Another touch of the rudder and that man would join us."I told my plan to the captain, and between us we settled on the detailsof its accomplishment.We put old Redruth in the gallery between the cabin and the forecastle,with three or four loaded muskets and a mattress for protection. Hunterbrought the boat round under the stern-port, and Joyce and I set to workloading her with powder tins, muskets, bags of biscuits, kegs of pork, acask of cognac, and my invaluable medicine chest.In the meantime, the squire and the captain stayed on deck, and thelatter hailed the coxswain, who was the principal man aboard."Mr. Hands," he said, "here are two of us with a brace of pistols each.If any one of you six make a signal of any description, that man'sdead."They were a good deal taken aback, and after a little consultation oneand all tumbled down the fore companion, thinking no doubt to take uson the rear. But when they saw Redruth waiting for them in the sparredgalley, they went about ship at once, and a head popped out again ondeck."Down, dog!" cries the captain.And the head popped back again; and we heard no more, for the time, ofthese six very faint-hearted seamen.By this time, tumbling things in as they came, we had the jolly-boatloaded as much as we dared. Joyce and I got out through the stern-port,and we made for shore again as fast as oars could take us.This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along shore. "Lillibullero" was dropped again; and just before we lost sight of them behind thelittle point, one of them whipped ashore and disappeared. I had half amind to change my plan and destroy their boats, but I feared that Silverand the others might be close at hand, and all might very well be lostby trying for too much.We had soon touched land in the same place as before and set toprovision the block house. All three made the first journey, heavilyladen, and tossed our stores over the palisade. Then, leaving Joyce toguard them--one man, to be sure, but with half a dozen muskets--Hunterand I returned to the jolly-boat and loaded ourselves once more. Sowe proceeded without pausing to take breath, till the whole cargo wasbestowed, when the two servants took up their position in the blockhouse, and I, with all my power, sculled back to the HISPANIOLA.That we should have risked a second boat load seems more daring than itreally was. They had the advantage of numbers, of course, but we had theadvantage of arms. Not one of the men ashore had a musket, and beforethey could get within range for pistol shooting, we flattered ourselveswe should be able to give a good account of a half-dozen at least.The squire was waiting for me at the stern window, all his faintnessgone from him. He caught the painter and made it fast, and we fell toloading the boat for our very lives. Pork, powder, and biscuit was thecargo, with only a musket and a cutlass apiece for the squire and meand Redruth and the captain. The rest of the arms and powder we droppedoverboard in two fathoms and a half of water, so that we could seethe bright steel shining far below us in the sun, on the clean, sandybottom.By this time the tide was beginning to ebb, and the ship was swinginground to her anchor. Voices were heard faintly halloaing in thedirection of the two gigs; and though this reassured us for Joyce andHunter, who were well to the eastward, it warned our party to be off.Redruth retreated from his place in the gallery and dropped into theboat, which we then brought round to the ship's counter, to be handierfor Captain Smollett."Now, men," said he, "do you hear me?"There was no answer from the forecastle."It's to you, Abraham Gray--it's to you I am speaking."Still no reply."Gray," resumed Mr. Smollett, a little louder, "I am leaving this ship,and I order you to follow your captain. I know you are a good man atbottom, and I dare say not one of the lot of you's as bad as he makesout. I have my watch here in my hand; I give you thirty seconds to joinme in."There was a pause."Come, my fine fellow," continued the captain; "don't hang so long instays. I'm risking my life and the lives of these good gentlemen everysecond."There was a sudden scuffle, a sound of blows, and out burst AbrahamGray with a knife cut on the side of the cheek, and came running to thecaptain like a dog to the whistle."I'm with you, sir," said he.And the next moment he and the captain had dropped aboard of us, and wehad shoved off and given way.We were clear out of the ship, but not yet ashore in our stockade.17Narrative Continued by the Doctor: The Jolly-boat's Last TripTHIS fifth trip was quite different from any of the others. In thefirst place, the little gallipot of a boat that we were in was gravelyoverloaded. Five grown men, and three of them--Trelawney, Redruth, andthe captain--over six feet high, was already more than she was meantto carry. Add to that the powder, pork, and bread-bags. The gunwale waslipping astern. Several times we shipped a little water, and my breechesand the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone ahundred yards.The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little moreevenly. All the same, we were afraid to breathe.In the second place, the ebb was now making--a strong rippling currentrunning westward through the basin, and then south'ard and seaward downthe straits by which we had entered in the morning. Even the rippleswere a danger to our overloaded craft, but the worst of it was that wewere swept out of our true course and away from our proper landing-placebehind the point. If we let the current have its way we should comeashore beside the gigs, where the pirates might appear at any moment."I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir," said I to the captain.I was steering, while he and Redruth, two fresh men, were at the oars."The tide keeps washing her down. Could you pull a little stronger?""Not without swamping the boat," said he. "You must bear up, sir, if youplease--bear up until you see you're gaining."I tried and found by experiment that the tide kept sweeping us westwarduntil I had laid her head due east, or just about right angles to theway we ought to go."We'll never get ashore at this rate," said I."If it's the only course that we can lie, sir, we must even lie it," returned the captain. "We must keep upstream. You see, sir," he went on,"if once we dropped to leeward of the landing-place, it's hard to saywhere we should get ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by thegigs; whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then we candodge back along the shore.""The current's less a'ready, sir," said the man Gray, who was sitting inthe fore-sheets; "you can ease her off a bit.""Thank you, my man," said I, quite as if nothing had happened, for wehad all quietly made up our minds to treat him like one of ourselves.Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I thought his voice was alittle changed."The gun!" said he."I have thought of that," said I, for I made sure he was thinking of abombardment of the fort. "They could never get the gun ashore, and ifthey did, they could never haul it through the woods.""Look astern, doctor," replied the captain.We had entirely forgotten the long nine; and there, to our horror, werethe five rogues busy about her, getting off her jacket, as they calledthe stout tarpaulin cover under which she sailed. Not only that, butit flashed into my mind at the same moment that the round-shot and thepowder for the gun had been left behind, and a stroke with an axe wouldput it all into the possession of the evil ones abroad."Israel was Flint's gunner," said Gray hoarsely.At any risk, we put the boat's head direct for the landing-place. Bythis time we had got so far out of the run of the current that we keptsteerage way even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I couldkeep her steady for the goal. But the worst of it was that with thecourse I now held we turned our broadside instead of our stern to theHISPANIOLA and offered a target like a barn door.I could hear as well as see that brandy-faced rascal Israel Handsplumping down a round-shot on the deck."Who's the best shot?" asked the captain."Mr. Trelawney, out and away," said I."Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of these men, sir?Hands, if possible," said the captain.Trelawney was as cool as steel. He looked to the priming of his gun."Now," cried the captain, "easy with that gun, sir, or you'll swamp theboat. All hands stand by to trim her when he aims."The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and we leaned over to theother side to keep the balance, and all was so nicely contrived that wedid not ship a drop.They had the gun, by this time, slewed round upon the swivel, and Hands,who was at the muzzle with the rammer, was in consequence the mostexposed. However, we had no luck, for just as Trelawney fired, down hestooped, the ball whistled over him, and it was one of the other fourwho fell.The cry he gave was echoed not only by his companions on board but by agreat number of voices from the shore, and looking in that directionI saw the other pirates trooping out from among the trees and tumblinginto their places in the boats."Here come the gigs, sir," said I."Give way, then," cried the captain. "We mustn't mind if we swamp hernow. If we can't get ashore, all's up.""Only one of the gigs is being manned, sir," I added; "the crew of theother most likely going round by shore to cut us off.""They'll have a hot run, sir," returned the captain. "Jack ashore, youknow. It's not them I mind; it's the round-shot. Carpet bowls! My lady'smaid couldn't miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we'llhold water."In the meanwhile we had been making headway at a good pace for a boat sooverloaded, and we had shipped but little water in the process. We werenow close in; thirty or forty strokes and we should beach her, for theebb had already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below the clusteringtrees. The gig was no longer to be feared; the little point had alreadyconcealed it from our eyes. The ebb-tide, which had so cruelly delayedus, was now making reparation and delaying our assailants. The onesource of danger was the gun."If I durst," said the captain, "I'd stop and pick off another man."But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay their shot. Theyhad never so much as looked at their fallen comrade, though he was notdead, and I could see him trying to crawl away."Ready!" cried the squire."Hold!" cried the captain, quick as an echo.And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that sent her stern bodilyunder water. The report fell in at the same instant of time. This wasthe first that Jim heard, the sound of the squire's shot not havingreached him. Where the ball passed, not one of us precisely knew, but Ifancy it must have been over our heads and that the wind of it may havecontributed to our disaster.At any rate, the boat sank by the stern, quite gently, in three feet ofwater, leaving the captain and myself, facing each other, on our feet.The other three took complete headers, and came up again drenched andbubbling.So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, and we could wadeashore in safety. But there were all our stores at the bottom, and tomake things worse, only two guns out of five remained in a state forservice. Mine I had snatched from my knees and held over my head, bya sort of instinct. As for the captain, he had carried his over hisshoulder by a bandoleer, and like a wise man, lock uppermost. The otherthree had gone down with the boat.To add to our concern, we heard voices already drawing near us in thewoods along shore, and we had not only the danger of being cut off fromthe 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 thesense and conduct to stand firm. Hunter was steady, that we knew; Joycewas a doubtful case--a pleasant, polite man for a valet and to brushone's clothes, but not entirely fitted for a man of war.With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as fast as we could, leavingbehind us the poor jolly-boat and a good half of all our powder andprovisions.18Narrative Continued by the Doctor: End of the First Day's FightingWE made our best speed across the strip of wood that now divided us fromthe stockade, and at every step we took the voices of the buccaneersrang nearer. Soon we could hear their footfalls as they ran and thecracking of the branches as they breasted across a bit of thicket.I began to see we should have a brush for it in earnest and looked to mypriming."Captain," said I, "Trelawney is the dead shot. Give him your gun; hisown is useless."They exchanged guns, and Trelawney, silent and cool as he had been sincethe beginning of the bustle, hung a moment on his heel to see that allwas fit for service. At the same time, observing Gray to be unarmed, Ihanded him my cutlass. It did all our hearts good to see him spit in hishand, knit his brows, and make the blade sing through the air. It wasplain from every line of his body that our new hand was worth his salt.Forty paces farther we came to the edge of the wood and saw the stockadein front of us. We struck the enclosure about the middle of the southside, and almost at the same time, seven mutineers--Job Anderson, theboatswain, at their head--appeared in full cry at the southwesterncorner.They paused as if taken aback, and before they recovered, not only thesquire and I, but Hunter and Joyce from the block house, had time tofire. The four shots came in rather a scattering volley, but they didthe business: one of the enemy actually fell, and the rest, withouthesitation, turned and plunged into the trees.After reloading, we walked down the outside of the palisade to see tothe fallen enemy. He was stone dead--shot through the heart.We began to rejoice over our good success when just at that moment apistol cracked in the bush, a ball whistled close past my ear, and poorTom Redruth stumbled and fell his length on the ground. Both the squireand I returned the shot, but as we had nothing to aim at, it is probablewe only wasted powder. Then we reloaded and turned our attention to poorTom.The captain and Gray were already examining him, and I saw with half aneye that all was over.I believe the readiness of our return volley had scattered the mutineersonce more, for we were suffered without further molestation to get thepoor old gamekeeper hoisted over the stockade and carried, groaning andbleeding, into the log-house.Poor old fellow, he had not uttered one word of surprise, complaint,fear, or even acquiescence from the very beginning of our troubles tillnow, when we had laid him down in the log-house to die. He had lain likea Trojan behind his mattress in the gallery; he had followed every ordersilently, doggedly, and well; he was the oldest of our party by a scoreof years; and now, sullen, old, serviceable servant, it was he that wasto die.The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and kissed his hand,crying like a child."Be I going, doctor?" he asked."Tom, my man," said I, "you're going home.""I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first," he replied."Tom," said the squire, "say you forgive me, won't you?""Would that be respectful like, from me to you, squire?" was the answer."Howsoever, so be it, amen!"After a little while of silence, he said he thought somebody might reada prayer. "It's the custom, sir," he added apologetically. And not longafter, without another word, he passed away.In the meantime the captain, whom I had observed to be wonderfullyswollen about the chest and pockets, had turned out a great many variousstores--the British colours, a Bible, a coil of stoutish rope, pen, ink,the log-book, and pounds of tobacco. He had found a longish fir-treelying felled and trimmed in the enclosure, and with the help of Hunterhe had set it up at the corner of the log-house where the trunks crossedand made an angle. Then, climbing on the roof, he had with his own handbent and run up the colours.This seemed mightily to relieve him. He re-entered the log-house and setabout counting up the stores as if nothing else existed. But he had aneye on Tom's passage for all that, and as soon as all was over, cameforward with another flag and reverently spread it on the body."Don't you take on, sir," he said, shaking the squire's hand. "All'swell with him; no fear for a hand that's been shot down in his duty tocaptain and owner. It mayn't be good divinity, but it's a fact."Then he pulled me aside."Dr. Livesey," he said, "in how many weeks do you and squire expect theconsort?"I told him it was a question not of weeks but of months, that if wewere not back by the end of August Blandly was to send to find us, butneither sooner nor later. "You can calculate for yourself," I said."Why, yes," returned the captain, scratching his head; "and making alarge allowance, sir, for all the gifts of Providence, I should say wewere pretty close hauled.""How do you mean?" I asked."It's a pity, sir, we lost that second load. That's what I mean," replied the captain. "As for powder and shot, we'll do. But the rationsare short, very short--so short, Dr. Livesey, that we're perhaps as wellwithout that extra mouth."And he pointed to the dead body under the flag.Just then, with a roar and a whistle, a round-shot passed high above theroof of the log-house and plumped far beyond us in the wood."Oho!" said the captain. "Blaze away! You've little enough powderalready, my lads."At the second trial, the aim was better, and the ball descended insidethe stockade, scattering a cloud of sand but doing no further damage."Captain," said the squire, "the house is quite invisible from the ship.It must be the flag they are aiming at. Would it not be wiser to take itin?""Strike my colours!" cried the captain. "No, sir, not I"; and as soonas he had said the words, I think we all agreed with him. For it wasnot only a piece of stout, seamanly, good feeling; it was good policybesides and showed our enemies that we despised their cannonade.All through the evening they kept thundering away. Ball after ball flewover or fell short or kicked up the sand in the enclosure, but they hadto fire so high that the shot fell dead and buried itself in the softsand. We had no ricochet to fear, and though one popped in through theroof of the log-house and out again through the floor, we soon got usedto that sort of horse-play and minded it no more than cricket."There is one good thing about all this," observed the captain; "thewood in front of us is likely clear. The ebb has made a good while; ourstores should be uncovered. Volunteers to go and bring in pork."Gray and Hunter were the first to come forward. Well armed, they stoleout of the stockade, but it proved a useless mission. The mutineers werebolder than we fancied or they put more trust in Israel's gunnery. Forfour or five of them were busy carrying off our stores and wading outwith them to one of the gigs that lay close by, pulling an oar or so tohold her steady against the current. Silver was in the stern-sheets incommand; and every man of them was now provided with a musket from somesecret magazine of their own.The captain sat down to his log, and here is the beginning of the entry: Alexander Smollett, master; David Livesey, ship's doctor; Abraham Gray, carpenter's mate; John Trelawney, owner; John Hunter and Richard Joyce, owner's servants, landsmen--being all that is left faithful of the ship's company--with stores for ten days at short rations, came ashore this day and flew British colours on the log-house in Treasure Island. Thomas Redruth, owner's servant, landsman, shot by the mutineers; James Hawkins, cabin-boy--And at the same time, I was wondering over poor Jim Hawkins' fate.A hail on the land side."Somebody hailing us," said Hunter, who was on guard."Doctor! Squire! Captain! Hullo, Hunter, is that you?" came the cries.And I ran to the door in time to see Jim Hawkins, safe and sound, comeclimbing over the stockade.19Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins: The Garrison in the StockadeAS soon as Ben Gunn saw the colours he came to a halt, stopped me by thearm, and sat down."Now," said he, "there's your friends, sure enough.""Far more likely it's the mutineers," I answered."That!" he cried. "Why, in a place like this, where nobody puts in butgen'lemen of fortune, Silver would fly the Jolly Roger, you don't makeno doubt of that. No, that's your friends. There's been blows too, and Ireckon your friends has had the best of it; and here they are ashore inthe old stockade, as was made years and years ago by Flint. Ah, he wasthe man to have a headpiece, was Flint! Barring rum, his match werenever seen. He were afraid of none, not he; on'y Silver--Silver was thatgenteel.""Well," said I, "that may be so, and so be it; all the more reason thatI should hurry on and join my friends.""Nay, mate," returned Ben, "not you. You're a good boy, or I'm mistook;but you're on'y a boy, all told. Now, Ben Gunn is fly. Rum wouldn'tbring me there, where you're going--not rum wouldn't, till I see yourborn gen'leman and gets it on his word of honour. And you won't forgetmy words; 'A precious sight (that's what you'll say), a precious sightmore confidence'--and then nips him."And he pinched me the third time with the same air of cleverness."And when Ben Gunn is wanted, you know where to find him, Jim. Justwheer you found him today. And him that comes is to have a white thingin his hand, and he's to come alone. Oh! And you'll say this: 'BenGunn,' says you, 'has reasons of his own.'""Well," said I, "I believe I understand. You have something to propose,and you wish to see the squire or the doctor, and you're to be foundwhere I found you. Is that all?""And when? says you," he added. "Why, from about noon observation toabout six bells.""Good," said I, "and now may I go?""You won't forget?" he inquired anxiously. "Precious sight, and reasonsof his own, says you. Reasons of his own; that's the mainstay; asbetween man and man. Well, then"--still holding me--"I reckon you cango, Jim. And, Jim, if you was to see Silver, you wouldn't go for to sellBen Gunn? Wild horses wouldn't draw it from you? No, says you. And ifthem pirates camp ashore, Jim, what would you say but there'd be widdersin the morning?"Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a cannonball came tearingthrough the trees and pitched in the sand not a hundred yards from wherewe two were talking. The next moment each of us had taken to his heelsin a different direction.For a good hour to come frequent reports shook the island, andballs kept crashing through the woods. I moved from hiding-place tohiding-place, always pursued, or so it seemed to me, by these terrifyingmissiles. But towards the end of the bombardment, though still I durstnot venture in the direction of the stockade, where the balls felloftenest, I had begun, in a manner, to pluck up my heart again, andafter a long detour to the east, crept down among the shore-side trees.The sun had just set, the sea breeze was rustling and tumbling in thewoods and ruffling the grey surface of the anchorage; the tide, too, wasfar out, and great tracts of sand lay uncovered; the air, after the heatof the day, chilled me through my jacket.The HISPANIOLA still lay where she had anchored; but, sure enough, therewas the Jolly Roger--the black flag of piracy--flying from her peak.Even as I looked, there came another red flash and another report thatsent the echoes clattering, and one more round-shot whistled through theair. It was the last of the cannonade.I lay for some time watching the bustle which succeeded the attack. Menwere demolishing something with axes on the beach near the stockade--thepoor jolly-boat, I afterwards discovered. Away, near the mouth of theriver, a great fire was glowing among the trees, and between that pointand the ship one of the gigs kept coming and going, the men, whom Ihad seen so gloomy, shouting at the oars like children. But there was asound in their voices which suggested rum.At length I thought I might return towards the stockade. I was prettyfar down on the low, sandy spit that encloses the anchorage to the east,and is joined at half-water to Skeleton Island; and now, as I rose to myfeet, I saw, some distance further down the spit and rising from amonglow bushes, an isolated rock, pretty high, and peculiarly white incolour. It occurred to me that this might be the white rock of which BenGunn had spoken and that some day or other a boat might be wanted and Ishould know where to look for one.Then I skirted among the woods until I had regained the rear, orshoreward side, of the stockade, and was soon warmly welcomed by thefaithful party.I had soon told my story and began to look about me. The log-house wasmade of unsquared trunks of pine--roof, walls, and floor. The latterstood in several places as much as a foot or a foot and a half above thesurface of the sand. There was a porch at the door, and under this porchthe little spring welled up into an artificial basin of a rather oddkind--no other than a great ship's kettle of iron, with the bottomknocked out, and sunk "to her bearings," as the captain said, among thesand.Little had been left besides the framework of the house, but in onecorner there was a stone slab laid down by way of hearth and an oldrusty iron basket to contain the fire.The slopes of the knoll and all the inside of the stockade had beencleared of timber to build the house, and we could see by the stumpswhat a fine and lofty grove had been destroyed. Most of the soil hadbeen washed away or buried in drift after the removal of the trees; onlywhere the streamlet ran down from the kettle a thick bed of moss andsome ferns and little creeping bushes were still green among the sand.Very close around the stockade--too close for defence, they said--thewood still flourished high and dense, all of fir on the land side, buttowards the sea with a large admixture of live-oaks.The cold evening breeze, of which I have spoken, whistled through everychink of the rude building and sprinkled the floor with a continual rainof fine sand. There was sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth, sand in oursuppers, sand dancing in the spring at the bottom of the kettle, for allthe world like porridge beginning to boil. Our chimney was a square holein the roof; it was but a little part of the smoke that found its wayout, and the rest eddied about the house and kept us coughing and pipingthe eye.Add to this that Gray, the new man, had his face tied up in a bandagefor a cut he had got in breaking away from the mutineers and that poorold Tom Redruth, still unburied, lay along the wall, stiff and stark,under the Union Jack.If we had been allowed to sit idle, we should all have fallen in theblues, but Captain Smollett was never the man for that. All hands werecalled up before him, and he divided us into watches. The doctor andGray and I for one; the squire, Hunter, and Joyce upon the other. Tiredthough we all were, two were sent out for firewood; two more were set todig a grave for Redruth; the doctor was named cook; I was put sentry atthe door; and the captain himself went from one to another, keeping upour spirits and lending a hand wherever it was wanted.From time to time the doctor came to the door for a little air and torest his eyes, which were almost smoked out of his head, and whenever hedid so, he had a word for me."That man Smollett," he said once, "is a better man than I am. And whenI say that it means a deal, Jim."Another time he came and was silent for a while. Then he put his head onone side, and looked at me."Is this Ben Gunn a man?" he asked."I do not know, sir," said I. "I am not very sure whether he's sane.""If there's any doubt about the matter, he is," returned the doctor. "Aman 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 humannature. Was it cheese you said he had a fancy for?""Yes, sir, cheese," I answered."Well, Jim," says he, "just see the good that comes of being dainty inyour food. You've seen my snuff-box, haven't you? And you never saw metake snuff, the reason being that in my snuff-box I carry a piece ofParmesan cheese--a cheese made in Italy, very nutritious. Well, that'sfor Ben Gunn!"Before supper was eaten we buried old Tom in the sand and stood roundhim for a while bare-headed in the breeze. A good deal of firewood hadbeen got in, but not enough for the captain's fancy, and he shook hishead over it and told us we "must get back to this tomorrow ratherlivelier." Then, when we had eaten our pork and each had a good stiffglass of brandy grog, the three chiefs got together in a corner todiscuss our prospects.It appears they were at their wits' end what to do, the stores being solow 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 untilthey either hauled down their flag or ran away with the HISPANIOLA. Fromnineteen they were already reduced to fifteen, two others were wounded,and one at least--the man shot beside the gun--severely wounded, if hewere not dead. Every time we had a crack at them, we were to take it,saving our own lives, with the extremest care. And besides that, we hadtwo able allies--rum and the climate.As for the first, though we were about half a mile away, we could hearthem roaring and singing late into the night; and as for the second,the doctor staked his wig that, camped where they were in the marshand unprovided with remedies, the half of them would be on their backsbefore a week."So," he added, "if we are not all shot down first they'll be glad tobe packing in the schooner. It's always a ship, and they can get tobuccaneering again, I suppose.""First ship that ever I lost," said Captain Smollett.I was dead tired, as you may fancy; and when I got to sleep, which wasnot till after a great deal of tossing, I slept like a log of wood.The rest had long been up and had already breakfasted and increased thepile of firewood by about half as much again when I was wakened by abustle and the sound of voices."Flag of truce!" I heard someone say; and then, immediately after, witha cry of surprise, "Silver himself!"And at that, up I jumped, and rubbing my eyes, ran to a loophole in thewall.20Silver's EmbassySURE enough, there were two men just outside the stockade, one of themwaving a white cloth, the other, no less a person than Silver himself,standing placidly by.It was still quite early, and the coldest morning that I think I everwas abroad in--a chill that pierced into the marrow. The sky was brightand cloudless overhead, and the tops of the trees shone rosily inthe sun. But where Silver stood with his lieutenant, all was still inshadow, and they waded knee-deep in a low white vapour that had crawledduring the night out of the morass. The chill and the vapour takentogether told a poor tale of the island. It was plainly a damp,feverish, unhealthy spot."Keep indoors, men," said the captain. "Ten to one this is a trick."Then he hailed the buccaneer."Who goes? Stand, or we fire.""Flag of truce," cried Silver.The captain was in the porch, keeping himself carefully out of the wayof a treacherous shot, should any be intended. He turned and spoke tous, "Doctor's watch on the lookout. Dr. Livesey take the north side,if you please; Jim, the east; Gray, west. The watch below, all hands toload muskets. Lively, men, and careful."And then he turned again to the mutineers."And what do you want with your flag of truce?" he cried.This time it was the other man who replied."Cap'n Silver, sir, to come on board and make terms," he shouted."Cap'n Silver! Don't know him. Who's he?" cried the captain. And wecould hear him adding to himself, "Cap'n, is it? My heart, and here'spromotion!"Long John answered for himself. "Me, sir. These poor lads have chosen mecap'n, after your desertion, sir"--laying a particular emphasis upon theword "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 mesafe and sound out of this here stockade, and one minute to get out o'shot before a gun is fired.""My man," said Captain Smollett, "I have not the slightest desire totalk to you. If you wish to talk to me, you can come, that's all. Ifthere's any treachery, it'll be on your side, and the Lord help you.""That's enough, cap'n," shouted Long John cheerily. "A word from you'senough. I know a gentleman, and you may lay to that."We could see the man who carried the flag of truce attempting to holdSilver back. Nor was that wonderful, seeing how cavalier had been thecaptain's answer. But Silver laughed at him aloud and slapped him on theback as if the idea of alarm had been absurd. Then he advanced to thestockade, threw over his crutch, got a leg up, and with great vigourand skill succeeded in surmounting the fence and dropping safely to theother side.I will confess that I was far too much taken up with what was going onto be of the slightest use as sentry; indeed, I had already desertedmy eastern loophole and crept up behind the captain, who had now seatedhimself on the threshold, with his elbows on his knees, his head in hishands, and his eyes fixed on the water as it bubbled out of the old ironkettle in the sand. He was whistling "Come, Lasses and Lads."Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll. What with thesteepness of the incline, the thick tree stumps, and the soft sand, heand his crutch were as helpless as a ship in stays. But he stuck to itlike a man in silence, and at last arrived before the captain, whomhe 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 hisknees, and a fine laced hat was set on the back of his head."Here you are, my man," said the captain, raising his head. "You hadbetter sit down.""You ain't a-going to let me inside, cap'n?" complained Long John. "It'sa main cold morning, to be sure, sir, to sit outside upon the sand.""Why, Silver," said the captain, "if you had pleased to be an honestman, 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--orCap'n Silver, a common mutineer and pirate, and then you can go hang!""Well, well, cap'n," returned the sea-cook, sitting down as he wasbidden 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 ofthe morning to you, Jim. Doctor, here's my service. Why, there you allare together like a happy family, in a manner of speaking.""If you have anything to say, my man, better say it," said the captain."Right you were, Cap'n Smollett," replied Silver. "Dooty is dooty, to besure. Well now, you look here, that was a good lay of yours lastnight. I don't deny it was a good lay. Some of you pretty handy with ahandspike-end. And I'll not deny neither but what some of my people wasshook--maybe all was shook; maybe I was shook myself; maybe that'swhy I'm here for terms. But you mark me, cap'n, it won't do twice, bythunder! We'll have to do sentry-go and ease off a point or so on therum. Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the wind's eye. But I'lltell you I was sober; I was on'y dog tired; and if I'd awoke a secondsooner, I'd 'a caught you at the act, I would. He wasn't dead when I gotround to him, not he.""Well?" says Captain Smollett as cool as can be.All that Silver said was a riddle to him, but you would never haveguessed it from his tone. As for me, I began to have an inkling. BenGunn's last words came back to my mind. I began to suppose that he hadpaid the buccaneers a visit while they all lay drunk together roundtheir fire, and I reckoned up with glee that we had only fourteenenemies to deal with."Well, here it is," said Silver. "We want that treasure, and we'll haveit--that's our point! You would just as soon save your lives, I reckon;and that's yours. You have a chart, haven't you?""That's as may be," replied the captain."Oh, well, you have, I know that," returned Long John. "You needn't beso husky with a man; there ain't a particle of service in that, and youmay lay to it. What I mean is, we want your chart. Now, I never meantyou no harm, myself.""That won't do with me, my man," interrupted the captain. "We knowexactly what you meant to do, and we don't care, for now, you see, youcan't do it."And the captain looked at him calmly and proceeded to fill a pipe."If Abe Gray--" Silver broke out."Avast there!" cried Mr. Smollett. "Gray told me nothing, and I askedhim nothing; and what's more, I would see you and him and this wholeisland blown clean out of the water into blazes first. So there's mymind for you, my man, on that."This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver down. He had beengrowing nettled before, but now he pulled himself together."Like enough," said he. "I would set no limits to what gentlemen mightconsider shipshape, or might not, as the case were. And seein' as howyou are about to take a pipe, cap'n, I'll make so free as do likewise."And he filled a pipe and lighted it; and the two men sat silentlysmoking for quite a while, now looking each other in the face, nowstopping their tobacco, now leaning forward to spit. It was as good asthe play to see them."Now," resumed Silver, "here it is. You give us the chart to get thetreasure by, and drop shooting poor seamen and stoving of their heads inwhile asleep. You do that, and we'll offer you a choice. Either you comeaboard along of us, once the treasure shipped, and then I'll give you myaffy-davy, upon my word of honour, to clap you somewhere safe ashore. Orif that ain't to your fancy, some of my hands being rough and havingold scores on account of hazing, then you can stay here, you can. We'lldivide stores with you, man for man; and I'll give my affy-davy, asbefore to speak the first ship I sight, and send 'em here to pick youup. Now, you'll own that's talking. Handsomer you couldn't look to get,now you. And I hope"--raising his voice--"that all hands in this hereblock house will overhaul my words, for what is spoke to one is spoke toall."Captain Smollett rose from his seat and knocked out the ashes of hispipe in the palm of his left hand."Is that all?" he asked."Every last word, by thunder!" answered John. "Refuse that, and you'veseen the last of me but musket-balls.""Very good," said the captain. "Now you'll hear me. If you'll come upone by one, unarmed, I'll engage to clap you all in irons and take youhome to a fair trial in England. If you won't, my name is AlexanderSmollett, I've flown my sovereign's colours, and I'll see you allto Davy Jones. You can't find the treasure. You can't sail theship--there's not a man among you fit to sail the ship. You can't fightus--Gray, there, got away from five of you. Your ship's in irons, MasterSilver; you're on a lee shore, and so you'll find. I stand here and tellyou so; and they're the last good words you'll get from me, for in thename 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 doublequick."Silver's face was a picture; his eyes started in his head with wrath. Heshook the fire out of his pipe."Give me a hand up!" he cried."Not I," returned the captain."Who'll give me a hand up?" he roared.Not a man among us moved. Growling the foulest imprecations, he crawledalong the sand till he got hold of the porch and could hoist himselfagain upon his crutch. Then he spat into the spring."There!" he cried. "That's what I think of ye. Before an hour's out,I'll stove in your old block house like a rum puncheon. Laugh, bythunder, laugh! Before an hour's out, ye'll laugh upon the other side.Them that die'll be the lucky ones."And with a dreadful oath he stumbled off, ploughed down the sand, washelped across the stockade, after four or five failures, by the man withthe flag of truce, and disappeared in an instant afterwards among thetrees.21The AttackAS soon as Silver disappeared, the captain, who had been closelywatching him, turned towards the interior of the house and found not aman of us at his post but Gray. It was the first time we had ever seenhim angry."Quarters!" he roared. And then, as we all slunk back to our places,"Gray," he said, "I'll put your name in the log; you've stood by yourduty 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 atFontenoy, sir, you'd have been better in your berth."The doctor's watch were all back at their loopholes, the rest were busyloading the spare muskets, and everyone with a red face, you may becertain, and a flea in his ear, as the saying is.The captain looked on for a while in silence. Then he spoke."My lads," said he, "I've given Silver a broadside. I pitched it inred-hot on purpose; and before the hour's out, as he said, we shall beboarded. We're outnumbered, I needn't tell you that, but we fight inshelter; and a minute ago I should have said we fought with discipline.I've no manner of doubt that we can drub them, if you choose."Then he went the rounds and saw, as he said, that all was clear.On the two short sides of the house, east and west, there were only twoloopholes; on the south side where the porch was, two again; and on thenorth side, five. There was a round score of muskets for the sevenof us; the firewood had been built into four piles--tables, you mightsay--one about the middle of each side, and on each of these tables someammunition and four loaded muskets were laid ready to the hand of thedefenders. In the middle, the cutlasses lay ranged."Toss out the fire," said the captain; "the chill is past, and wemustn't have smoke in our eyes."The iron fire-basket was carried bodily out by Mr. Trelawney, and theembers smothered among sand."Hawkins hasn't had his breakfast. Hawkins, help yourself, and back toyour 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 brandyto all hands."And while this was going on, the captain completed, in his own mind, theplan of the defence."Doctor, you will take the door," he resumed. "See, and don't exposeyourself; keep within, and fire through the porch. Hunter, take the eastside, there. Joyce, you stand by the west, my man. Mr. Trelawney, youare the best shot--you and Gray will take this long north side, with thefive loopholes; it's there the danger is. If they can get up to it andfire 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 standby to load and bear a hand."As the captain had said, the chill was past. As soon as the sun hadclimbed above our girdle of trees, it fell with all its force upon theclearing and drank up the vapours at a draught. Soon the sand was bakingand the resin melting in the logs of the block house. Jackets and coatswere flung aside, shirts thrown open at the neck and rolled up to theshoulders; and we stood there, each at his post, in a fever of heat andanxiety.An hour passed away."Hang them!" said the captain. "This is as dull as the doldrums. Gray,whistle for a wind."And just at that moment came the first news of the attack."If you please, sir," said Joyce, "if I see anyone, am I to fire?""I told you so!" cried the captain."Thank you, sir," returned Joyce with the same quiet civility.Nothing followed for a time, but the remark had set us all on the alert,straining ears and eyes--the musketeers with their pieces balanced intheir hands, the captain out in the middle of the block house with hismouth very tight and a frown on his face.So some seconds passed, till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musketand fired. The report had scarcely died away ere it was repeated andrepeated from without in a scattering volley, shot behind shot, likea string of geese, from every side of the enclosure. Several bulletsstruck the log-house, but not one entered; and as the smoke cleared awayand vanished, the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet andempty as before. Not a bough waved, not the gleam of a musket-barrelbetrayed the presence of our foes."Did you hit your man?" asked the captain."No, sir," replied Joyce. "I believe not, sir.""Next best thing to tell the truth," muttered Captain Smollett. "Loadhis gun, Hawkins. How many should say there were on your side, doctor?""I know precisely," said Dr. Livesey. "Three shots were fired on thisside. I saw the three flashes--two close together--one farther to thewest.""Three!" repeated the captain. "And how many on yours, Mr. Trelawney?"But this was not so easily answered. There had come many from thenorth--seven by the squire's computation, eight or nine according toGray. From the east and west only a single shot had been fired. It wasplain, therefore, that the attack would be developed from the north andthat on the other three sides we were only to be annoyed by a show ofhostilities. But Captain Smollett made no change in his arrangements. Ifthe mutineers succeeded in crossing the stockade, he argued, they wouldtake possession of any unprotected loophole and shoot us down like ratsin our own stronghold.Nor had we much time left to us for thought. Suddenly, with a loudhuzza, a little cloud of pirates leaped from the woods on the north sideand ran straight on the stockade. At the same moment, the fire was oncemore opened from the woods, and a rifle ball sang through the doorwayand knocked the doctor's musket into bits.The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys. Squire and Gray firedagain and yet again; three men fell, one forwards into the enclosure,two back on the outside. But of these, one was evidently more frightenedthan hurt, for he was on his feet again in a crack and instantlydisappeared among the trees.Two had bit the dust, one had fled, four had made good their footinginside our defences, while from the shelter of the woods seven or eightmen, each evidently supplied with several muskets, kept up a hot thoughuseless fire on the log-house.The four who had boarded made straight before them for the building,shouting as they ran, and the men among the trees shouted back toencourage them. Several shots were fired, but such was the hurry of themarksmen that not one appears to have taken effect. In a moment, thefour pirates had swarmed up the mound and were upon us.The head of Job Anderson, the boatswain, appeared at the middleloophole."At 'em, all hands--all hands!" he roared in a voice of thunder.At the same moment, another pirate grasped Hunter's musket by themuzzle, wrenched it from his hands, plucked it through the loophole,and with one stunning blow, laid the poor fellow senseless on the floor.Meanwhile a third, running unharmed all around the house, appearedsuddenly in the doorway and fell with his cutlass on the doctor.Our position was utterly reversed. A moment since we were firing, undercover, at an exposed enemy; now it was we who lay uncovered and couldnot return a blow.The log-house was full of smoke, to which we owed our comparativesafety. Cries and confusion, the flashes and reports of pistol-shots,and one loud groan rang in my ears."Out, lads, out, and fight 'em in the open! Cutlasses!" cried thecaptain.I snatched a cutlass from the pile, and someone, at the same timesnatching another, gave me a cut across the knuckles which I hardlyfelt. I dashed out of the door into the clear sunlight. Someone wasclose behind, I knew not whom. Right in front, the doctor was pursuinghis assailant down the hill, and just as my eyes fell upon him, beatdown his guard and sent him sprawling on his back with a great slashacross the face."Round the house, lads! Round the house!" cried the captain; and even inthe hurly-burly, I perceived a change in his voice.Mechanically, I obeyed, turned eastwards, and with my cutlass raised,ran round the corner of the house. Next moment I was face to facewith 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 blowstill hung impending, leaped in a trice upon one side, and missing myfoot in the soft sand, rolled headlong down the slope.When I had first sallied from the door, the other mutineers had beenalready swarming up the palisade to make an end of us. One man, in a rednight-cap, with his cutlass in his mouth, had even got upon the top andthrown a leg across. Well, so short had been the interval that when Ifound my feet again all was in the same posture, the fellow with the rednight-cap still half-way over, another still just showing his head abovethe top of the stockade. And yet, in this breath of time, the fight wasover and the victory was ours.Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the big boatswain erehe had time to recover from his last blow. Another had been shot at aloophole 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 doctorhad disposed of at a blow. Of the four who had scaled the palisade, oneonly remained unaccounted for, and he, having left his cutlass on thefield, was now clambering out again with the fear of death upon him."Fire--fire from the house!" cried the doctor. "And you, lads, back intocover."But his words were unheeded, no shot was fired, and the last boardermade good his escape and disappeared with the rest into the wood. Inthree seconds nothing remained of the attacking party but the five whohad fallen, four on the inside and one on the outside of the palisade.The doctor and Gray and I ran full speed for shelter. The survivorswould soon be back where they had left their muskets, and at any momentthe fire might recommence.The house was by this time somewhat cleared of smoke, and we saw ata glance the price we had paid for victory. Hunter lay beside hisloophole, stunned; Joyce by his, shot through the head, never to moveagain; while right in the centre, the squire was supporting the captain,one as pale as the other."The captain's wounded," said Mr. Trelawney."Have they run?" asked Mr. Smollett."All that could, you may be bound," returned the doctor; "but there'sfive of them will never run again.""Five!" cried the captain. "Come, that's better. Five against threeleaves us four to nine. That's better odds than we had at starting. Wewere seven to nineteen then, or thought we were, and that's as bad tobear." **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. Butthis was, of course, not known till after by the faithful party.PART FIVE--My Sea Adventure22How My Sea Adventure BeganTHERE was no return of the mutineers--not so much as another shot out ofthe woods. They had "got their rations for that day," as the captain putit, and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul thewounded and get dinner. Squire and I cooked outside in spite of thedanger, and even outside we could hardly tell what we were at, forhorror of the loud groans that reached us from the doctor's patients.Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action, only three stillbreathed--that one of the pirates who had been shot at the loophole,Hunter, and Captain Smollett; and of these, the first two were as goodas dead; the mutineer indeed died under the doctor's knife, and Hunter,do what we could, never recovered consciousness in this world. Helingered all day, breathing loudly like the old buccaneer at home in hisapoplectic fit, but the bones of his chest had been crushed by theblow and his skull fractured in falling, and some time in the followingnight, without sign or sound, he went to his Maker.As for the captain, his wounds were grievous indeed, but not dangerous.No organ was fatally injured. Anderson's ball--for it was Job thatshot him first--had broken his shoulder-blade and touched the lung, notbadly; the second had only torn and displaced some muscles in the calf.He was sure to recover, the doctor said, but in the meantime, and forweeks to come, he must not walk nor move his arm, nor so much as speakwhen he could help it.My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a flea-bite. DoctorLivesey patched it up with plaster and pulled my ears for me into thebargain.After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the captain's side awhilein consultation; and when they had talked to their hearts' content, itbeing 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 overhis shoulder crossed the palisade on the north side and set off brisklythrough the trees.Gray and I were sitting together at the far end of the block house, tobe out of earshot of our officers consulting; and Gray took his pipe outof his mouth and fairly forgot to put it back again, so thunder-struckhe was at this occurrence."Why, in the name of Davy Jones," said he, "is Dr. Livesey mad?""Why no," says I. "He's about the last of this crew for that, I takeit.""Well, shipmate," said Gray, "mad he may not be; but if HE'S not, youmark my words, I am.""I take it," replied I, "the doctor has his idea; and if I am right,he's going now to see Ben Gunn."I was right, as appeared later; but in the meantime, the house beingstifling hot and the little patch of sand inside the palisade ablazewith midday sun, I began to get another thought into my head, which wasnot by any means so right. What I began to do was to envy the doctorwalking in the cool shadow of the woods with the birds about him and thepleasant smell of the pines, while I sat grilling, with my clothesstuck to the hot resin, and so much blood about me and so many poordead bodies lying all around that I took a disgust of the place that wasalmost as strong as fear.All the time I was washing out the block house, and then washing upthe things from dinner, this disgust and envy kept growing strongerand stronger, till at last, being near a bread-bag, and no one thenobserving me, I took the first step towards my escapade and filled bothpockets of my coat with biscuit.I was a fool, if you like, and certainly I was going to do a foolish,over-bold act; but I was determined to do it with all the precautions inmy power. These biscuits, should anything befall me, would keep me, atleast, from starving till far on in the next day.The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols, and as I alreadyhad a powder-horn and bullets, I felt myself well supplied with arms.As for the scheme I had in my head, it was not a bad one in itself. Iwas to go down the sandy spit that divides the anchorage on the eastfrom the open sea, find the white rock I had observed last evening, andascertain 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 Ishould not be allowed to leave the enclosure, my only plan was to takeFrench leave and slip out when nobody was watching, and that was so bada way of doing it as made the thing itself wrong. But I was only a boy,and I had made my mind up.Well, as things at last fell out, I found an admirable opportunity. Thesquire and Gray were busy helping the captain with his bandages, thecoast was clear, I made a bolt for it over the stockade and into thethickest of the trees, and before my absence was observed I was out ofcry of my companions.This was my second folly, far worse than the first, as I left but twosound men to guard the house; but like the first, it was a help towardssaving all of us.I took my way straight for the east coast of the island, for I wasdetermined to go down the sea side of the spit to avoid all chance ofobservation 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 thesurf, but a certain tossing of foliage and grinding of boughs whichshowed me the sea breeze had set in higher than usual. Soon cooldraughts of air began to reach me, and a few steps farther I came forthinto the open borders of the grove, and saw the sea lying blue and sunnyto the horizon and the surf tumbling and tossing its foam along thebeach.I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure Island. The sun mightblaze overhead, the air be without a breath, the surface smooth andblue, but still these great rollers would be running along all theexternal coast, thundering and thundering by day and night; and I scarcebelieve there is one spot in the island where a man would be out ofearshot of their noise.I walked along beside the surf with great enjoyment, till, thinkingI was now got far enough to the south, I took the cover of some thickbushes and crept warily up to the ridge of the spit.Behind me was the sea, in front the anchorage. The sea breeze, as thoughit had the sooner blown itself out by its unusual violence, was alreadyat an end; it had been succeeded by light, variable airs from the southand south-east, carrying great banks of fog; and the anchorage, underlee of Skeleton Island, lay still and leaden as when first we enteredit. The HISPANIOLA, in that unbroken mirror, was exactly portrayed fromthe truck to the waterline, the Jolly Roger hanging from her peak.Alongside lay one of the gigs, Silver in the stern-sheets--him I couldalways recognize--while a couple of men were leaning over the sternbulwarks, one of them with a red cap--the very rogue that I had seensome hours before stride-legs upon the palisade. Apparently they weretalking and laughing, though at that distance--upwards of a mile--Icould, of course, hear no word of what was said. All at once there beganthe most horrid, unearthly screaming, which at first startled me badly,though I had soon remembered the voice of Captain Flint and even thoughtI could make out the bird by her bright plumage as she sat perched uponher master's wrist.Soon after, the jolly-boat shoved off and pulled for shore, and the manwith the red cap and his comrade went below by the cabin companion.Just about the same time, the sun had gone down behind the Spy-glass,and as the fog was collecting rapidly, it began to grow dark in earnest.I saw I must lose no time if I were to find the boat that evening.The white rock, visible enough above the brush, was still some eighth ofa mile further down the spit, and it took me a goodish while to get upwith it, crawling, often on all fours, among the scrub. Night had almostcome when I laid my hand on its rough sides. Right below it there wasan exceedingly small hollow of green turf, hidden by banks and a thickunderwood about knee-deep, that grew there very plentifully; and in thecentre of the dell, sure enough, a little tent of goat-skins, like whatthe gipsies carry about with them in England.I dropped into the hollow, lifted the side of the tent, and there wasBen Gunn's boat--home-made if ever anything was home-made; a rude,lop-sided framework of tough wood, and stretched upon that a covering ofgoat-skin, with the hair inside. The thing was extremely small, evenfor me, and I can hardly imagine that it could have floated with afull-sized man. There was one thwart set as low as possible, a kind ofstretcher in the bows, and a double paddle for propulsion.I had not then seen a coracle, such as the ancient Britons made, butI have seen one since, and I can give you no fairer idea of Ben Gunn'sboat than by saying it was like the first and the worst coracle evermade by man. But the great advantage of the coracle it certainlypossessed, for it was exceedingly light and portable.Well, now that I had found the boat, you would have thought I had hadenough of truantry for once, but in the meantime I had taken anothernotion and become so obstinately fond of it that I would have carriedit out, I believe, in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself. This wasto slip out under cover of the night, cut the HISPANIOLA adrift, and lether go ashore where she fancied. I had quite made up my mind that themutineers, after their repulse of the morning, had nothing nearer theirhearts than to up anchor and away to sea; this, I thought, it would bea fine thing to prevent, and now that I had seen how they left theirwatchmen unprovided with a boat, I thought it might be done with littlerisk.Down I sat to wait for darkness, and made a hearty meal of biscuit. Itwas a night out of ten thousand for my purpose. The fog had now buriedall 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 hollowwhere I had supped, there were but two points visible on the wholeanchorage.One was the great fire on shore, by which the defeated pirates laycarousing in the swamp. The other, a mere blur of light upon thedarkness, indicated the position of the anchored ship. She had swunground to the ebb--her bow was now towards me--the only lights on boardwere in the cabin, and what I saw was merely a reflection on the fog ofthe strong rays that flowed from the stern window.The ebb had already run some time, and I had to wade through a long beltof swampy sand, where I sank several times above the ankle, before Icame to the edge of the retreating water, and wading a little way in,with some strength and dexterity, set my coracle, keel downwards, on thesurface.23The Ebb-tide RunsTHE coracle--as I had ample reason to know before I was done withher--was a very safe boat for a person of my height and weight, bothbuoyant and clever in a seaway; but she was the most cross-grained,lop-sided craft to manage. Do as you pleased, she always made moreleeway than anything else, and turning round and round was the manoeuvreshe was best at. Even Ben Gunn himself has admitted that she was "queerto handle till you knew her way."Certainly I did not know her way. She turned in every direction but theone 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 thetide. By good fortune, paddle as I pleased, the tide was still sweepingme down; and there lay the HISPANIOLA right in the fairway, hardly to bemissed.First she loomed before me like a blot of something yet blacker thandarkness, then her spars and hull began to take shape, and the nextmoment, as it seemed (for, the farther I went, the brisker grew thecurrent of the ebb), I was alongside of her hawser and had laid hold.The hawser was as taut as a bowstring, and the current so strong shepulled upon her anchor. All round the hull, in the blackness, therippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream.One cut with my sea-gully and the HISPANIOLA would go humming down thetide.So far so good, but it next occurred to my recollection that a tauthawser, suddenly cut, is a thing as dangerous as a kicking horse. Ten toone, if I were so foolhardy as to cut the HISPANIOLA from her anchor, Iand the coracle would be knocked clean out of the water.This brought me to a full stop, and if fortune had not againparticularly favoured me, I should have had to abandon my design. Butthe light airs which had begun blowing from the south-east and southhad hauled round after nightfall into the south-west. Just while I wasmeditating, a puff came, caught the HISPANIOLA, and forced her up intothe current; and to my great joy, I felt the hawser slacken in my grasp,and the hand by which I held it dip for a second under water.With that I made my mind up, took out my gully, opened it with my teeth,and cut one strand after another, till the vessel swung only by two.Then I lay quiet, waiting to sever these last when the strain should beonce more lightened by a breath of wind.All this time I had heard the sound of loud voices from the cabin, butto say truth, my mind had been so entirely taken up with other thoughtsthat I had scarcely given ear. Now, however, when I had nothing else todo, I began to pay more heed.One I recognized for the coxswain's, Israel Hands, that had been Flint'sgunner in former days. The other was, of course, my friend of the rednight-cap. Both men were plainly the worse of drink, and they were stilldrinking, for even while I was listening, one of them, with a drunkencry, opened the stern window and threw out something, which I divined tobe an empty bottle. But they were not only tipsy; it was plain that theywere furiously angry. Oaths flew like hailstones, and every now andthen there came forth such an explosion as I thought was sure to endin blows. But each time the quarrel passed off and the voices grumbledlower for a while, until the next crisis came and in its turn passedaway without result.On shore, I could see the glow of the great camp-fire burning warmlythrough the shore-side trees. Someone was singing, a dull, old, droningsailor'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 hadheard it on the voyage more than once and remembered these words: "But one man of her crew alive, What put to sea with seventy-five."And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully appropriate for acompany that had met such cruel losses in the morning. But, indeed, fromwhat I saw, all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailedon.At last the breeze came; the schooner sidled and drew nearer in thedark; I felt the hawser slacken once more, and with a good, tougheffort, cut the last fibres through.The breeze had but little action on the coracle, and I was almostinstantly swept against the bows of the HISPANIOLA. At the same time,the schooner began to turn upon her heel, spinning slowly, end for end,across the current.I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every moment to be swamped; andsince I found I could not push the coracle directly off, I now shovedstraight astern. At length I was clear of my dangerous neighbour, andjust as I gave the last impulsion, my hands came across a light cordthat was trailing overboard across the stern bulwarks. Instantly Igrasped it.Why I should have done so I can hardly say. It was at first mereinstinct, but once I had it in my hands and found it fast, curiositybegan to get the upper hand, and I determined I should have one lookthrough the cabin window.I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and when I judged myself nearenough, rose at infinite risk to about half my height and thus commandedthe roof and a slice of the interior of the cabin.By this time the schooner and her little consort were gliding prettyswiftly through the water; indeed, we had already fetched up level withthe camp-fire. The ship was talking, as sailors say, loudly, treadingthe innumerable ripples with an incessant weltering splash; and until Igot my eye above the window-sill I could not comprehend why the watchmenhad taken no alarm. One glance, however, was sufficient; and it wasonly one glance that I durst take from that unsteady skiff. It showed meHands and his companion locked together in deadly wrestle, each with ahand upon the other's throat.I dropped upon the thwart again, none too soon, for I was nearoverboard. I could see nothing for the moment but these two furious,encrimsoned faces swaying together under the smoky lamp, and I shut myeyes to let them grow once more familiar with the darkness.The endless ballad had come to an end at last, and the whole diminishedcompany about the camp-fire had broken into the chorus I had heard sooften: "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were at that verymoment in the cabin of the HISPANIOLA, when I was surprised by a suddenlurch of the coracle. At the same moment, she yawed sharply and seemedto change her course. The speed in the meantime had strangely increased.I opened my eyes at once. All round me were little ripples, combingover with a sharp, bristling sound and slightly phosphorescent. TheHISPANIOLA herself, a few yards in whose wake I was still being whirledalong, seemed to stagger in her course, and I saw her spars toss alittle against the blackness of the night; nay, as I looked longer, Imade sure she also was wheeling to the southward.I glanced over my shoulder, and my heart jumped against my ribs. There,right behind me, was the glow of the camp-fire. The current had turnedat right angles, sweeping round along with it the tall schooner andthe little dancing coracle; ever quickening, ever bubbling higher, evermuttering louder, it went spinning through the narrows for the open sea.Suddenly the schooner in front of me gave a violent yaw, turning,perhaps, through twenty degrees; and almost at the same moment oneshout followed another from on board; I could hear feet pounding onthe companion ladder and I knew that the two drunkards had at last beeninterrupted in their quarrel and awakened to a sense of their disaster.I lay down flat in the bottom of that wretched skiff and devoutlyrecommended my spirit to its Maker. At the end of the straits, Imade sure we must fall into some bar of raging breakers, where all mytroubles would be ended speedily; and though I could, perhaps, bear todie, I could not bear to look upon my fate as it approached.So I must have lain for hours, continually beaten to and fro upon thebillows, now and again wetted with flying sprays, and never ceasing toexpect death at the next plunge. Gradually weariness grew upon me; anumbness, an occasional stupor, fell upon my mind even in the midst ofmy terrors, until sleep at last supervened and in my sea-tossed coracleI lay and dreamed of home and the old Admiral Benbow.24The Cruise of the CoracleIT was broad day when I awoke and found myself tossing at the south-westend of Treasure Island. The sun was up but was still hid from me behindthe great bulk of the Spy-glass, which on this side descended almost tothe sea in formidable cliffs.Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at my elbow, the hill bareand dark, the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high andfringed with great masses of fallen rock. I was scarce a quarter of amile to seaward, and it was my first thought to paddle in and land.That notion was soon given over. Among the fallen rocks the breakersspouted and bellowed; loud reverberations, heavy sprays flying andfalling, succeeded one another from second to second; and I saw myself,if I ventured nearer, dashed to death upon the rough shore or spendingmy strength in vain to scale the beetling crags.Nor was that all, for crawling together on flat tables of rock orletting themselves drop into the sea with loud reports I beheld hugeslimy monsters--soft snails, as it were, of incredible bigness--twoor three score of them together, making the rocks to echo with theirbarkings.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 thehigh running of the surf, was more than enough to disgust me of thatlanding-place. I felt willing rather to starve at sea than to confrontsuch perils.In the meantime I had a better chance, as I supposed, before me. Northof Haulbowline Head, the land runs in a long way, leaving at low tidea long stretch of yellow sand. To the north of that, again, there comesanother cape--Cape of the Woods, as it was marked upon the chart--buriedin tall green pines, which descended to the margin of the sea.I remembered what Silver had said about the current that sets northwardalong the whole west coast of Treasure Island, and seeing from myposition that I was already under its influence, I preferred to leaveHaulbowline Head behind me and reserve my strength for an attempt toland upon the kindlier-looking Cape of the Woods.There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. The wind blowing steadyand gentle from the south, there was no contrariety between that and thecurrent, and the billows rose and fell unbroken.Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have perished; but as it was,it is surprising how easily and securely my little and light boat couldride. Often, as I still lay at the bottom and kept no more than an eyeabove 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, andsubside on the other side into the trough as lightly as a bird.I began after a little to grow very bold and sat up to try my skill atpaddling. But even a small change in the disposition of the weight willproduce violent changes in the behaviour of a coracle. And I had hardlymoved 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, andstruck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side of the nextwave.I was drenched and terrified, and fell instantly back into my oldposition, whereupon the coracle seemed to find her head again and ledme as softly as before among the billows. It was plain she was not to beinterfered with, and at that rate, since I could in no way influence hercourse, what hope had I left of reaching land?I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, for all that.First, moving with all care, I gradually baled out the coracle with mysea-cap; then, getting my eye once more above the gunwale, I set myselfto study how it was she managed to slip so quietly through the rollers.I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth glossy mountain it looksfrom shore or from a vessel's deck, was for all the world like any rangeof hills on dry land, full of peaks and smooth places and valleys. Thecoracle, left to herself, turning from side to side, threaded, so tospeak, her way through these lower parts and avoided the steep slopesand higher, toppling summits of the wave."Well, now," thought I to myself, "it is plain I must lie where I am andnot disturb the balance; but it is plain also that I can put the paddleover the side and from time to time, in smooth places, give her a shoveor two towards land." No sooner thought upon than done. There I lay onmy elbows in the most trying attitude, and every now and again gave aweak stroke or two to turn her head to shore.It was very tiring and slow work, yet I did visibly gain ground; and aswe drew near the Cape of the Woods, though I saw I must infalliblymiss 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 togetherin the breeze, and I felt sure I should make the next promontory withoutfail.It was high time, for I now began to be tortured with thirst. The glowof the sun from above, its thousandfold reflection from the waves, thesea-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 thetrees so near at hand had almost made me sick with longing, but thecurrent had soon carried me past the point, and as the next reach of seaopened out, I beheld a sight that changed the nature of my thoughts.Right in front of me, not half a mile away, I beheld the HISPANIOLAunder sail. I made sure, of course, that I should be taken; but I wasso distressed for want of water that I scarce knew whether to be glador sorry at the thought, and long before I had come to a conclusion,surprise had taken entire possession of my mind and I could do nothingbut stare and wonder.The HISPANIOLA was under her main-sail and two jibs, and the beautifulwhite canvas shone in the sun like snow or silver. When I firstsighted her, all her sails were drawing; she was lying a course aboutnorth-west, and I presumed the men on board were going round the islandon their way back to the anchorage. Presently she began to fetch moreand more to the westward, so that I thought they had sighted me and weregoing about in chase. At last, however, she fell right into the wind'seye, was taken dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, with hersails shivering."Clumsy fellows," said I; "they must still be drunk as owls." And Ithought how Captain Smollett would have set them skipping.Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off and filled again upon anothertack, sailed swiftly for a minute or so, and brought up once more deadin the wind's eye. Again and again was this repeated. To and fro, up anddown, north, south, east, and west, the HISPANIOLA sailed by swoopsand dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idlyflapping canvas. It became plain to me that nobody was steering. And ifso, 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 vesselto her captain.The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate.As for the latter's sailing, it was so wild and intermittent, and shehung each time so long in irons, that she certainly gained nothing, ifshe did not even lose. If only I dared to sit up and paddle, I madesure that I could overhaul her. The scheme had an air of adventurethat inspired me, and the thought of the water breaker beside the forecompanion doubled my growing courage.Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by another cloud of spray, butthis time stuck to my purpose and set myself, with all my strength andcaution, to paddle after the unsteered HISPANIOLA. Once I shipped a seaso heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heart fluttering likea bird, but gradually I got into the way of the thing and guided mycoracle among the waves, with only now and then a blow upon her bows anda dash of foam in my face.I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner; I could see the brass glistenon the tiller as it banged about, and still no soul appeared upon herdecks. I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the menwere lying drunk below, where I might batten them down, perhaps, and dowhat I chose with the ship.For some time she had been doing the worse thing possible forme--standing still. She headed nearly due south, yawing, of course, allthe time. Each time she fell off, her sails partly filled, and thesebrought her in a moment right to the wind again. I have said this wasthe worst thing possible for me, for helpless as she looked in thissituation, with the canvas cracking like cannon and the blocks trundlingand banging on the deck, she still continued to run away from me, notonly with the speed of the current, but by the whole amount of herleeway, which was naturally great.But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell for some seconds,very low, and the current gradually turning her, the HISPANIOLA revolvedslowly round her centre and at last presented me her stern, with thecabin window still gaping open and the lamp over the table still burningon into the day. The main-sail hung drooped like a banner. She wasstock-still but for the current.For the last little while I had even lost, but now redoubling myefforts, I began once more to overhaul the chase.I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind came again in a clap;she filled on the port tack and was off again, stooping and skimminglike a swallow.My first impulse was one of despair, but my second was towards joy.Round she came, till she was broadside on to me--round still till shehad covered a half and then two thirds and then three quarters of thedistance that separated us. I could see the waves boiling white underher forefoot. Immensely tall she looked to me from my low station in thecoracle.And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I had scarce time tothink--scarce time to act and save myself. I was on the summit of oneswell when the schooner came stooping over the next. The bowsprit wasover my head. I sprang to my feet and leaped, stamping the coracle underwater. With one hand I caught the jib-boom, while my foot was lodgedbetween the stay and the brace; and as I still clung there panting, adull blow told me that the schooner had charged down upon and struck thecoracle and that I was left without retreat on the HISPANIOLA.25I Strike the Jolly RogerI HAD scarce gained a position on the bowsprit when the flying jibflapped and filled upon the other tack, with a report like a gun. Theschooner trembled to her keel under the reverse, but next moment, theother sails still drawing, the jib flapped back again and hung idle.This had nearly tossed me off into the sea; and now I lost no time,crawled back along the bowsprit, and tumbled head foremost on the deck.I was on the lee side of the forecastle, and the mainsail, which wasstill 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 sincethe mutiny, bore the print of many feet, and an empty bottle, broken bythe neck, tumbled to and fro like a live thing in the scuppers.Suddenly the HISPANIOLA came right into the wind. The jibs behind mecracked aloud, the rudder slammed to, the whole ship gave a sickeningheave and shudder, and at the same moment the main-boom swung inboard,the sheet groaning in the blocks, and showed me the lee after-deck.There were the two watchmen, sure enough: red-cap on his back, as stiffas a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix andhis teeth showing through his open lips; Israel Hands propped againstthe bulwarks, his chin on his chest, his hands lying open before him onthe deck, his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow candle.For a while the ship kept bucking and sidling like a vicious horse, thesails filling, now on one tack, now on another, and the boom swinging toand fro till the mast groaned aloud under the strain. Now and again toothere would come a cloud of light sprays over the bulwark and a heavyblow of the ship's bows against the swell; so much heavier weather wasmade of it by this great rigged ship than by my home-made, lop-sidedcoracle, now gone to the bottom of the sea.At every jump of the schooner, red-cap slipped to and fro, but--what wasghastly to behold--neither his attitude nor his fixed teeth-disclosinggrin was anyway disturbed by this rough usage. At every jump too, Handsappeared still more to sink into himself and settle down upon thedeck, his feet sliding ever the farther out, and the whole body cantingtowards the stern, so that his face became, little by little, hidfrom me; and at last I could see nothing beyond his ear and the frayedringlet of one whisker.At the same time, I observed, around both of them, splashes of darkblood upon the planks and began to feel sure that they had killed eachother in their drunken wrath.While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calm moment, when the shipwas still, Israel Hands turned partly round and with a low moan writhedhimself back to the position in which I had seen him first. The moan,which told of pain and deadly weakness, and the way in which his jawhung open went right to my heart. But when I remembered the talk I hadoverheard from the apple barrel, all pity left me.I walked aft until I reached the main-mast."Come aboard, Mr. Hands," I said ironically.He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too far gone to expresssurprise. All he could do was to utter one word, "Brandy."It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and dodging the boom as itonce more lurched across the deck, I slipped aft and down the companionstairs into the cabin.It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy. All thelockfast places had been broken open in quest of the chart. The floorwas thick with mud where ruffians had sat down to drink or consult afterwading in the marshes round their camp. The bulkheads, all painted inclear white and beaded round with gilt, bore a pattern of dirty hands.Dozens of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the rolling ofthe ship. One of the doctor's medical books lay open on the table, halfof the leaves gutted out, I suppose, for pipelights. In the midst of allthis the lamp still cast a smoky glow, obscure and brown as umber.I went into the cellar; all the barrels were gone, and of the bottlesa most surprising number had been drunk out and thrown away. Certainly,since the mutiny began, not a man of them could ever have been sober.Foraging about, I found a bottle with some brandy left, for Hands; andfor myself I routed out some biscuit, some pickled fruits, a great bunchof raisins, and a piece of cheese. With these I came on deck, put downmy own stock behind the rudder head and well out of the coxswain'sreach, went forward to the water-breaker, and had a good deep drink ofwater, and then, and not till then, gave Hands the brandy.He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle from his mouth."Aye," said he, "by thunder, but I wanted some o' that!"I had sat down already in my own corner and begun to eat."Much hurt?" I asked him.He grunted, or rather, I might say, he barked."If that doctor was aboard," he said, "I'd be right enough in a coupleof turns, but I don't have no manner of luck, you see, and that's what'sthe matter with me. As for that swab, he's good and dead, he is," headded, indicating the man with the red cap. "He warn't no seaman anyhow.And where mought you have come from?""Well," said I, "I've come aboard to take possession of this ship,Mr. Hands; and you'll please regard me as your captain until furthernotice."He looked at me sourly enough but said nothing. Some of the colour hadcome back into his cheeks, though he still looked very sick and stillcontinued to slip out and settle down as the ship banged about."By the by," I continued, "I can't have these colours, Mr. Hands; and byyour leave, I'll strike 'em. Better none than these."And again dodging the boom, I ran to the colour lines, handed down theircursed black flag, and chucked it overboard."God save the king!" said I, waving my cap. "And there's an end toCaptain Silver!"He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the while on his breast."I reckon," he said at last, "I reckon, Cap'n Hawkins, you'll kind ofwant to get ashore now. S'pose we talks.""Why, yes," says I, "with all my heart, Mr. Hands. Say on." And I wentback to my meal with a good appetite."This man," he began, nodding feebly at the corpse "--O'Brien were hisname, a rank Irelander--this man and me got the canvas on her, meaningfor to sail her back. Well, HE'S dead now, he is--as dead as bilge; andwho's to sail this ship, I don't see. Without I gives you a hint, youain't that man, as far's I can tell. Now, look here, you gives me foodand drink and a old scarf or ankecher to tie my wound up, you do, andI'll tell you how to sail her, and that's about square all round, I takeit.""I'll tell you one thing," says I: "I'm not going back to Captain Kidd'sanchorage. I mean to get into North Inlet and beach her quietly there.""To be sure you did," he cried. "Why, I ain't sich an infernal lubberafter all. I can see, can't I? I've tried my fling, I have, and I'velost, and it's you has the wind of me. North Inlet? Why, I haven't noch'ice, not I! I'd help you sail her up to Execution Dock, by thunder!So I would."Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this. We struck ourbargain on the spot. In three minutes I had the HISPANIOLA sailingeasily before the wind along the coast of Treasure Island, with goodhopes of turning the northern point ere noon and beating down again asfar as North Inlet before high water, when we might beach her safely andwait till the subsiding tide permitted us to land.Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own chest, where I got asoft silk handkerchief of my mother's. With this, and with my aid, Handsbound up the great bleeding stab he had received in the thigh, and afterhe had eaten a little and had a swallow or two more of the brandy, hebegan to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer,and looked in every way another man.The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed before it like a bird, thecoast 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 againand had turned the corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on thenorth.I was greatly elated with my new command, and pleased with the bright,sunshiny weather and these different prospects of the coast. I had nowplenty of water and good things to eat, and my conscience, which hadsmitten me hard for my desertion, was quieted by the great conquest Ihad made. I should, I think, have had nothing left me to desire but forthe eyes of the coxswain as they followed me derisively about the deckand the odd smile that appeared continually on his face. It was a smilethat had in it something both of pain and weakness--a haggard old man'ssmile; but there was, besides that, a grain of derision, a shadow oftreachery, in his expression as he craftily watched, and watched, andwatched me at my work.26Israel HandsTHE wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into the west. We could runso much the easier from the north-east corner of the island to the mouthof the North Inlet. Only, as we had no power to anchor and dared notbeach her till the tide had flowed a good deal farther, time hung on ourhands. The coxswain told me how to lay the ship to; after a good manytrials I succeeded, and we both sat in silence over another meal."Cap'n," said he at length with that same uncomfortable smile, "here'smy old shipmate, O'Brien; s'pose you was to heave him overboard. I ain'tpartic'lar as a rule, and I don't take no blame for settling his hash,but I don't reckon him ornamental now, do you?""I'm not strong enough, and I don't like the job; and there he lies, forme," said I."This here's an unlucky ship, this HISPANIOLA, Jim," he went on,blinking. "There's a power of men been killed in this HISPANIOLA--asight o' poor seamen dead and gone since you and me took ship toBristol. I never seen sich dirty luck, not I. There was this hereO'Brien now--he's dead, ain't he? Well now, I'm no scholar, and you're alad as can read and figure, and to put it straight, do you take it as adead man is dead for good, or do he come alive again?""You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit; you must knowthat already," I replied. "O'Brien there is in another world, and may bewatching us.""Ah!" says he. "Well, that's unfort'nate--appears as if killing partieswas a waste of time. Howsomever, sperrits don't reckon for much, by whatI've seen. I'll chance it with the sperrits, Jim. And now, you've spokeup free, and I'll take it kind if you'd step down into that there cabinand 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 strongfor my head."Now, the coxswain's hesitation seemed to be unnatural, and as for thenotion of his preferring wine to brandy, I entirely disbelieved it. Thewhole story was a pretext. He wanted me to leave the deck--so much wasplain; but with what purpose I could in no way imagine. His eyes nevermet mine; they kept wandering to and fro, up and down, now with a lookto the sky, now with a flitting glance upon the dead O'Brien. All thetime 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 onsome deception. I was prompt with my answer, however, for I saw wheremy advantage lay and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could easilyconceal my suspicions to the end."Some wine?" I said. "Far better. Will you have white or red?""Well, I reckon it's about the blessed same to me, shipmate," hereplied; "so it's strong, and plenty of it, what's the odds?""All right," I answered. "I'll bring you port, Mr. Hands. But I'll haveto dig for it."With that I scuttled down the companion with all the noise I could,slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along the sparred gallery, mounted theforecastle ladder, and popped my head out of the fore companion. Iknew he would not expect to see me there, yet I took every precautionpossible, and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true.He had risen from his position to his hands and knees, and though hisleg obviously hurt him pretty sharply when he moved--for I could hearhim stifle a groan--yet it was at a good, rattling rate that he trailedhimself across the deck. In half a minute he had reached the portscuppers and picked, out of a coil of rope, a long knife, or rather ashort dirk, discoloured to the hilt with blood. He looked upon it fora moment, thrusting forth his under jaw, tried the point upon his hand,and then, hastily concealing it in the bosom of his jacket, trundledback again into his old place against the bulwark.This was all that I required to know. Israel could move about, he wasnow 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 doafterwards--whether he would try to crawl right across the island fromNorth Inlet to the camp among the swamps or whether he would fire LongTom, trusting that his own comrades might come first to help him--was,of course, more than I could say.Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, since in thatour interests jumped together, and that was in the disposition ofthe schooner. We both desired to have her stranded safe enough, in asheltered place, and so that, when the time came, she could be got offagain with as little labour and danger as might be; and until that wasdone I considered that my life would certainly be spared.While I was thus turning the business over in my mind, I had not beenidle with my body. I had stolen back to the cabin, slipped once moreinto my shoes, and laid my hand at random on a bottle of wine, and now,with this for an excuse, I made my reappearance on the deck.Hands lay as I had left him, all fallen together in a bundle and withhis eyelids lowered as though he were too weak to bear the light. Helooked up, however, at my coming, knocked the neck off the bottle likea man who had done the same thing often, and took a good swig, with hisfavourite toast of "Here's luck!" Then he lay quiet for a little, andthen, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid."Cut me a junk o' that," says he, "for I haven't no knife and hardlystrength enough, so be as I had. Ah, Jim, Jim, I reckon I've missedstays! Cut me a quid, as'll likely be the last, lad, for I'm for my longhome, and no mistake.""Well," said I, "I'll cut you some tobacco, but if I was you and thoughtmyself so badly, I would go to my prayers like a Christian man.""Why?" said he. "Now, you tell me why.""Why?" I cried. "You were asking me just now about the dead. You'vebroken your trust; you've lived in sin and lies and blood; there's a manyou killed lying at your feet this moment, and you ask me why! For God'smercy, Mr. Hands, that's why."I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody dirk he had hiddenin his pocket and designed, in his ill thoughts, to end me with. He,for his part, took a great draught of the wine and spoke with the mostunusual solemnity."For thirty years," he said, "I've sailed the seas and seen good andbad, better and worse, fair weather and foul, provisions running out,knives going, and what not. Well, now I tell you, I never seen good comeo' 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. Thetide's made good enough by now. You just take my orders, Cap'n Hawkins,and we'll sail slap in and be done with it."All told, we had scarce two miles to run; but the navigation wasdelicate, the entrance to this northern anchorage was not only narrowand shoal, but lay east and west, so that the schooner must be nicelyhandled to be got in. I think I was a good, prompt subaltern, and I amvery sure that Hands was an excellent pilot, for we went about and aboutand dodged in, shaving the banks, with a certainty and a neatness thatwere a pleasure to behold.Scarcely had we passed the heads before the land closed around us. Theshores of North Inlet were as thickly wooded as those of the southernanchorage, but the space was longer and narrower and more like, what intruth it was, the estuary of a river. Right before us, at the southernend, we saw the wreck of a ship in the last stages of dilapidation. Ithad been a great vessel of three masts but had lain so long exposed tothe injuries of the weather that it was hung about with great webs ofdripping seaweed, and on the deck of it shore bushes had taken root andnow flourished thick with flowers. It was a sad sight, but it showed usthat the anchorage was calm."Now," said Hands, "look there; there's a pet bit for to beach a shipin. Fine flat sand, never a cat's paw, trees all around of it, andflowers a-blowing like a garding on that old ship.""And once beached," I inquired, "how shall we get her off again?""Why, so," he replied: "you take a line ashore there on the other sideat low water, take a turn about one of them big pines; bring it back,take a turn around the capstan, and lie to for the tide. Come highwater, all hands take a pull upon the line, and off she comes as sweetas natur'. And now, boy, you stand by. We're near the bit now, and she'stoo much way on her. Starboard a little--so--steady--starboard--larboarda little--steady--steady!"So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly obeyed, till, all of asudden, he cried, "Now, my hearty, luff!" And I put the helm hard up,and the HISPANIOLA swung round rapidly and ran stem on for the low,wooded shore.The excitement of these last manoeuvres had somewhat interfered with thewatch I had kept hitherto, sharply enough, upon the coxswain. Even thenI was still so much interested, waiting for the ship to touch, that Ihad quite forgot the peril that hung over my head and stood craning overthe starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading wide beforethe bows. I might have fallen without a struggle for my life had not asudden disquietude seized upon me and made me turn my head. Perhaps Ihad heard a creak or seen his shadow moving with the tail of my eye;perhaps it was an instinct like a cat's; but, sure enough, when I lookedround, there was Hands, already half-way towards me, with the dirk inhis right hand.We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met, but while minewas the shrill cry of terror, his was a roar of fury like a chargingbully's. At the same instant, he threw himself forward and I leaptsideways towards the bows. As I did so, I let go of the tiller, whichsprang sharp to leeward, and I think this saved my life, for it struckHands across the chest and stopped him, for the moment, dead.Before he could recover, I was safe out of the corner where he had metrapped, with all the deck to dodge about. Just forward of the main-mastI stopped, drew a pistol from my pocket, took a cool aim, though he hadalready turned and was once more coming directly after me, and drew thetrigger. 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? ThenI should not have been as now, a mere fleeing sheep before this butcher.Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he could move, his grizzledhair tumbling over his face, and his face itself as red as a red ensignwith his haste and fury. I had no time to try my other pistol, norindeed much inclination, for I was sure it would be useless. One thing Isaw plainly: I must not simply retreat before him, or he would speedilyhold me boxed into the bows, as a moment since he had so nearly boxedme in the stern. Once so caught, and nine or ten inches of theblood-stained dirk would be my last experience on this side of eternity.I placed my palms against the main-mast, which was of a goodish bigness,and waited, every nerve upon the stretch.Seeing that I meant to dodge, he also paused; and a moment or two passedin feints on his part and corresponding movements upon mine. It was sucha 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 asnow. Still, as I say, it was a boy's game, and I thought I could holdmy own at it against an elderly seaman with a wounded thigh. Indeed mycourage had begun to rise so high that I allowed myself a few dartingthoughts on what would be the end of the affair, and while I sawcertainly that I could spin it out for long, I saw no hope of anyultimate escape.Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the HISPANIOLA struck,staggered, ground for an instant in the sand, and then, swift as ablow, canted over to the port side till the deck stood at an angleof forty-five degrees and about a puncheon of water splashed into thescupper holes and lay, in a pool, between the deck and bulwark.We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of us rolled, almosttogether, into the scuppers, the dead red-cap, with his arms stillspread out, tumbling stiffly after us. So near were we, indeed, that myhead came against the coxswain's foot with a crack that made my teethrattle. Blow and all, I was the first afoot again, for Hands had gotinvolved with the dead body. The sudden canting of the ship had made thedeck no place for running on; I had to find some new way of escape,and that upon the instant, for my foe was almost touching me. Quick asthought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds, rattled up hand over hand,and did not draw a breath till I was seated on the cross-trees.I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had struck not half a footbelow me as I pursued my upward flight; and there stood Israel Handswith his mouth open and his face upturned to mine, a perfect statue ofsurprise and disappointment.Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time in changing thepriming of my pistol, and then, having one ready for service, and tomake assurance doubly sure, I proceeded to draw the load of the otherand recharge it afresh from the beginning.My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; he began to see the dicegoing against him, and after an obvious hesitation, he also hauledhimself heavily into the shrouds, and with the dirk in his teeth, beganslowly and painfully to mount. It cost him no end of time and groansto haul his wounded leg behind him, and I had quietly finished myarrangements before he was much more than a third of the way up. Then,with a pistol in either hand, I addressed him."One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow your brains out! Deadmen don't bite, you know," I added with a chuckle.He stopped instantly. I could see by the working of his face that he wastrying to think, and the process was so slow and laborious that, in mynew-found security, I laughed aloud. At last, with a swallow or two, hespoke, 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 allelse he remained unmoved."Jim," says he, "I reckon we're fouled, you and me, and we'll have tosign articles. I'd have had you but for that there lurch, but I don'thave no luck, not I; and I reckon I'll have to strike, which comes hard,you see, for a master mariner to a ship's younker like you, Jim."I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as conceited as a cockupon a wall, when, all in a breath, back went his right hand over hisshoulder. Something sang like an arrow through the air; I felt a blowand then a sharp pang, and there I was pinned by the shoulder to themast. In the horrid pain and surprise of the moment--I scarce can sayit was by my own volition, and I am sure it was without a consciousaim--both my pistols went off, and both escaped out of my hands. Theydid not fall alone; with a choked cry, the coxswain loosed his graspupon the shrouds and plunged head first into the water.27"Pieces of Eight"OWING to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water,and from my perch on the cross-trees I had nothing below me but thesurface of the bay. Hands, who was not so far up, was in consequencenearer to the ship and fell between me and the bulwarks. He rose once tothe 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 theclean, bright sand in the shadow of the vessel's sides. A fish or twowhipped past his body. Sometimes, by the quivering of the water, heappeared to move a little, as if he were trying to rise. But he was deadenough, for all that, being both shot and drowned, and was food for fishin the very place where he had designed my slaughter.I was no sooner certain of this than I began to feel sick, faint, andterrified. 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 hotiron; 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 thehorror I had upon my mind of falling from the cross-trees into thatstill green water, beside the body of the coxswain.I clung with both hands till my nails ached, and I shut my eyes as if tocover up the peril. Gradually my mind came back again, my pulses quieteddown to a more natural time, and I was once more in possession ofmyself.It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk, but either it stuck toohard or my nerve failed me, and I desisted with a violent shudder. Oddlyenough, that very shudder did the business. The knife, in fact, had comethe nearest in the world to missing me altogether; it held me by a merepinch of skin, and this the shudder tore away. The blood ran down thefaster, to be sure, but I was my own master again and only tacked to themast by my coat and shirt.These last I broke through with a sudden jerk, and then regained thedeck by the starboard shrouds. For nothing in the world would I haveagain ventured, shaken as I was, upon the overhanging port shrouds fromwhich Israel had so lately fallen.I went below and did what I could for my wound; it pained me a good dealand still bled freely, but it was neither deep nor dangerous, nor did itgreatly gall me when I used my arm. Then I looked around me, and as theship was now, in a sense, my own, I began to think of clearing it fromits last passenger--the dead man, O'Brien.He had pitched, as I have said, against the bulwarks, where he laylike some horrible, ungainly sort of puppet, life-size, indeed, but howdifferent from life's colour or life's comeliness! In that positionI could easily have my way with him, and as the habit of tragicaladventures had worn off almost all my terror for the dead, I took himby 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 capcame off and remained floating on the surface; and as soon as the splashsubsided, I could see him and Israel lying side by side, both waveringwith the tremulous movement of the water. O'Brien, though still quite ayoung man, was very bald. There he lay, with that bald head across theknees of the man who had killed him and the quick fishes steering to andfro over both.I was now alone upon the ship; the tide had just turned. The sun waswithin so few degrees of setting that already the shadow of the pinesupon the western shore began to reach right across the anchorage andfall in patterns on the deck. The evening breeze had sprung up, andthough it was well warded off by the hill with the two peaks upon theeast, the cordage had begun to sing a little softly to itself and theidle sails to rattle to and fro.I began to see a danger to the ship. The jibs I speedily doused andbrought tumbling to the deck, but the main-sail was a harder matter. Ofcourse, when the schooner canted over, the boom had swung out-board, andthe cap of it and a foot or two of sail hung even under water. I thoughtthis made it still more dangerous; yet the strain was so heavy that Ihalf feared to meddle. At last I got my knife and cut the halyards. Thepeak dropped instantly, a great belly of loose canvas floated broad uponthe water, and since, pull as I liked, I could not budge the downhall,that was the extent of what I could accomplish. For the rest, theHISPANIOLA must trust to luck, like myself.By this time the whole anchorage had fallen into shadow--the last rays,I remember, falling through a glade of the wood and shining bright asjewels on the flowery mantle of the wreck. It began to be chill; thetide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and moreon her beam-ends.I scrambled forward and looked over. It seemed shallow enough, andholding the cut hawser in both hands for a last security, I let myselfdrop softly overboard. The water scarcely reached my waist; the sand wasfirm and covered with ripple marks, and I waded ashore in great spirits,leaving the HISPANIOLA on her side, with her main-sail trailing wideupon the surface of the bay. About the same time, the sun went fairlydown and the breeze whistled low in the dusk among the tossing pines.At least, and at last, I was off the sea, nor had I returned thenceempty-handed. There lay the schooner, clear at last from buccaneersand ready for our own men to board and get to sea again. I had nothingnearer my fancy than to get home to the stockade and boast of myachievements. Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but therecapture of the HISPANIOLA was a clenching answer, and I hoped thateven Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time.So thinking, and in famous spirits, I began to set my face homeward forthe block house and my companions. I remembered that the most easterlyof the rivers which drain into Captain Kidd's anchorage ran from thetwo-peaked hill upon my left, and I bent my course in that directionthat I might pass the stream while it was small. The wood was prettyopen, and keeping along the lower spurs, I had soon turned the cornerof that hill, and not long after waded to the mid-calf across thewatercourse.This brought me near to where I had encountered Ben Gunn, the maroon;and I walked more circumspectly, keeping an eye on every side. The duskhad come nigh hand completely, and as I opened out the cleft between thetwo peaks, I became aware of a wavering glow against the sky, where, asI judged, the man of the island was cooking his supper before a roaringfire. And yet I wondered, in my heart, that he should show himself socareless. For if I could see this radiance, might it not reach the eyesof Silver himself where he camped upon the shore among the marshes?Gradually the night fell blacker; it was all I could do to guide myselfeven roughly towards my destination; the double hill behind me and theSpy-glass on my right hand loomed faint and fainter; the stars were fewand pale; and in the low ground where I wandered I kept tripping amongbushes and rolling into sandy pits.Suddenly a kind of brightness fell about me. I looked up; a pale glimmerof moonbeams had alighted on the summit of the Spy-glass, and soon afterI saw something broad and silvery moving low down behind the trees, andknew the moon had risen.With this to help me, I passed rapidly over what remained to me of myjourney, and sometimes walking, sometimes running, impatiently drew nearto the stockade. Yet, as I began to thread the grove that lies beforeit, I was not so thoughtless but that I slacked my pace and went atrifle warily. It would have been a poor end of my adventures to getshot down by my own party in mistake.The moon was climbing higher and higher, its light began to fall hereand there in masses through the more open districts of the wood, andright in front of me a glow of a different colour appeared amongthe trees. It was red and hot, and now and again it was a littledarkened--as it were, the embers of a bonfire smouldering.For the life of me I could not think what it might be.At last I came right down upon the borders of the clearing. The westernend was already steeped in moonshine; the rest, and the block houseitself, still lay in a black shadow chequered with long silvery streaksof light. On the other side of the house an immense fire had burneditself into clear embers and shed a steady, red reverberation,contrasted strongly with the mellow paleness of the moon. There was nota soul stirring nor a sound beside the noises of the breeze.I stopped, with much wonder in my heart, and perhaps a little terroralso. 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 tofear that something had gone wrong while I was absent.I stole round by the eastern end, keeping close in shadow, and at aconvenient place, where the darkness was thickest, crossed the palisade.To make assurance surer, I got upon my hands and knees and crawled,without a sound, towards the corner of the house. As I drew nearer, myheart was suddenly and greatly lightened. It is not a pleasant noise initself, and I have often complained of it at other times, but justthen it was like music to hear my friends snoring together so loud andpeaceful in their sleep. The sea-cry of the watch, that beautiful "All'swell," never fell more reassuringly on my ear.In the meantime, there was no doubt of one thing; they kept an infamousbad watch. If it had been Silver and his lads that were now creepingin on them, not a soul would have seen daybreak. That was what itwas, thought I, to have the captain wounded; and again I blamed myselfsharply for leaving them in that danger with so few to mount guard.By this time I had got to the door and stood up. All was dark within,so that I could distinguish nothing by the eye. As for sounds, therewas the steady drone of the snorers and a small occasional noise, aflickering or pecking that I could in no way account for.With my arms before me I walked steadily in. I should lie down in my ownplace (I thought with a silent chuckle) and enjoy their faces when theyfound me in the morning.My foot struck something yielding--it was a sleeper's leg; and he turnedand groaned, but without awaking.And then, all of a sudden, a shrill voice broke forth out of thedarkness:"Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!Pieces of eight!" and so forth, without pause or change, like theclacking of a tiny mill.Silver's green parrot, Captain Flint! It was she whom I had heardpecking at a piece of bark; it was she, keeping better watch than anyhuman being, who thus announced my arrival with her wearisome refrain.I had no time left me to recover. At the sharp, clipping tone of theparrot, the sleepers awoke and sprang up; and with a mighty oath, thevoice of Silver cried, "Who goes?"I turned to run, struck violently against one person, recoiled, and ranfull into the arms of a second, who for his part closed upon and held metight."Bring a torch, Dick," said Silver when my capture was thus assured.And one of the men left the log-house and presently returned with alighted brand.PART SIX--Captain Silver28In the Enemy's CampTHE red glare of the torch, lighting up the interior of the block house,showed me the worst of my apprehensions realized. The pirates were inpossession of the house and stores: there was the cask of cognac,there were the pork and bread, as before, and what tenfold increasedmy horror, not a sign of any prisoner. I could only judge that all hadperished, and my heart smote me sorely that I had not been there toperish with them.There were six of the buccaneers, all told; not another man was leftalive. Five of them were on their feet, flushed and swollen, suddenlycalled out of the first sleep of drunkenness. The sixth had only risenupon his elbow; he was deadly pale, and the blood-stained bandage roundhis head told that he had recently been wounded, and still more recentlydressed. I remembered the man who had been shot and had run back amongthe woods in the great attack, and doubted not that this was he.The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long John's shoulder. Hehimself, I thought, looked somewhat paler and more stern than I was usedto. He still wore the fine broadcloth suit in which he had fulfilled hismission, but it was bitterly the worse for wear, daubed with clay andtorn with the sharp briers of the wood."So," said he, "here's Jim Hawkins, shiver my timbers! Dropped in, like,eh? Well, come, I take that friendly."And thereupon he sat down across the brandy cask and began to fill apipe."Give me a loan of the link, Dick," said he; and then, when he had agood light, "That'll do, lad," he added; "stick the glim in the woodheap; and you, gentlemen, bring yourselves to! You needn't stand upfor Mr. Hawkins; HE'LL excuse you, you may lay to that. And so,Jim"--stopping the tobacco--"here you were, and quite a pleasantsurprise for poor old John. I see you were smart when first I set myeyes on you, but this here gets away from me clean, it do."To all this, as may be well supposed, I made no answer. They had set mewith my back against the wall, and I stood there, looking Silver in theface, pluckily enough, I hope, to all outward appearance, but with blackdespair in my heart.Silver took a whiff or two of his pipe with great composure and then ranon again."Now, you see, Jim, so be as you ARE here," says he, "I'll give you apiece 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 alwayswanted you to jine and take your share, and die a gentleman, and now, mycock, you've got to. Cap'n Smollett's a fine seaman, as I'll own up toany day, but stiff on discipline. 'Dooty is dooty,' says he, and righthe is. Just you keep clear of the cap'n. The doctor himself is gone deadagain you--'ungrateful scamp' was what he said; and the short and thelong of the whole story is about here: you can't go back to your ownlot, for they won't have you; and without you start a third ship'scompany all by yourself, which might be lonely, you'll have to jine withCap'n Silver."So far so good. My friends, then, were still alive, and though I partlybelieved the truth of Silver's statement, that the cabin party wereincensed at me for my desertion, I was more relieved than distressed bywhat I heard."I don't say nothing as to your being in our hands," continued Silver,"though there you are, and you may lay to it. I'm all for argyment; Inever 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--freeand welcome, shipmate; and if fairer can be said by mortal seaman,shiver my sides!""Am I to answer, then?" I asked with a very tremulous voice. Through allthis sneering talk, I was made to feel the threat of death that overhungme, and my cheeks burned and my heart beat painfully in my breast."Lad," said Silver, "no one's a-pressing of you. Take your bearings.None of us won't hurry you, mate; time goes so pleasant in your company,you see.""Well," says I, growing a bit bolder, "if I'm to choose, I declare Ihave a right to know what's what, and why you're here, and where myfriends are.""Wot's wot?" repeated one of the buccaneers in a deep growl. "Ah, he'dbe a lucky one as knowed that!""You'll perhaps batten down your hatches till you're spoke to, myfriend," cried Silver truculently to this speaker. And then, inhis first gracious tones, he replied to me, "Yesterday morning, Mr.Hawkins," said he, "in the dog-watch, down came Doctor Livesey with aflag of truce. Says he, 'Cap'n Silver, you're sold out. Ship's gone.'Well, maybe we'd been taking a glass, and a song to help it round. Iwon't say no. Leastways, none of us had looked out. We looked out, andby thunder, the old ship was gone! I never seen a pack o' fools lookfishier; and you may lay to that, if I tells you that looked thefishiest. 'Well,' says the doctor, 'let's bargain.' We bargained, himand I, and here we are: stores, brandy, block house, the firewood youwas thoughtful enough to cut, and in a manner of speaking, the wholeblessed boat, from cross-trees to kelson. As for them, they've tramped;I don't know where's they are."He drew again quietly at his pipe."And lest you should take it into that head of yours," he went on, "thatyou was included in the treaty, here's the last word that was said: 'Howmany are you,' says I, 'to leave?' 'Four,' says he; 'four, and one of uswounded. As for that boy, I don't know where he is, confound him,' sayshe, 'nor I don't much care. We're about sick of him.' These was hiswords."Is that all?" I asked."Well, it's all that you're to hear, my son," returned Silver."And now I am to choose?""And now you are to choose, and you may lay to that," said Silver."Well," said I, "I am not such a fool but I know pretty well what I haveto look for. Let the worst come to the worst, it's little I care. I'veseen too many die since I fell in with you. But there's a thing or twoI have to tell you," I said, and by this time I was quite excited; "andthe 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 whodid it--it was I! I was in the apple barrel the night we sighted land,and I heard you, John, and you, Dick Johnson, and Hands, who is now atthe bottom of the sea, and told every word you said before the hour wasout. And as for the schooner, it was I who cut her cable, and it was Ithat killed the men you had aboard of her, and it was I who brought herwhere 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 youthan I fear a fly. Kill me, if you please, or spare me. But one thingI'll say, and no more; if you spare me, bygones are bygones, and whenyou fellows are in court for piracy, I'll save you all I can. It is foryou to choose. Kill another and do yourselves no good, or spare me andkeep a witness to save you from the gallows."I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath, and to my wonder, nota man of them moved, but all sat staring at me like as many sheep. Andwhile they were still staring, I broke out again, "And now, Mr. Silver," I said, "I believe you're the best man here, and if things go to theworst, I'll take it kind of you to let the doctor know the way I tookit.""I'll bear it in mind," said Silver with an accent so curious that Icould not, for the life of me, decide whether he were laughing at myrequest or had been favourably affected by my courage."I'll put one to that," cried the old mahogany-faced seaman--Morganby name--whom I had seen in Long John's public-house upon the quays ofBristol. "It was him that knowed Black Dog.""Well, and see here," added the sea-cook. "I'll put another again tothat, by thunder! For it was this same boy that faked the chart fromBilly Bones. First and last, we've split upon Jim Hawkins!""Then here goes!" said Morgan with an oath.And he sprang up, drawing his knife as if he had been twenty."Avast, there!" cried Silver. "Who are you, Tom Morgan? Maybe youthought you was cap'n here, perhaps. By the powers, but I'll teach youbetter! Cross me, and you'll go where many a good man's gone before you,first and last, these thirty year back--some to the yard-arm, shivermy timbers, and some by the board, and all to feed the fishes. There'snever a man looked me between the eyes and seen a good day a'terwards,Tom Morgan, you may lay to that."Morgan paused, but a hoarse murmur rose from the others."Tom's right," said one."I stood hazing long enough from one," added another. "I'll be hanged ifI'll be hazed by you, John Silver.""Did any of you gentlemen want to have it out with ME?" roared Silver,bending far forward from his position on the keg, with his pipe stillglowing in his right hand. "Put a name on what you're at; you ain'tdumb, I reckon. Him that wants shall get it. Have I lived this manyyears, and a son of a rum puncheon cock his hat athwart my hawse at thelatter end of it? You know the way; you're all gentlemen o' fortune, byyour account. Well, I'm ready. Take a cutlass, him that dares, and I'llsee the colour of his inside, crutch and all, before that pipe's empty."Not a man stirred; not a man answered."That's your sort, is it?" he added, returning his pipe to his mouth."Well, you're a gay lot to look at, anyway. Not much worth to fight, youain't. P'r'aps you can understand King George's English. I'm cap'n hereby '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 seena better boy than that. He's more a man than any pair of rats of you inthis here house, and what I say is this: let me see him that'll lay ahand on him--that's what I say, and you may lay to it."There was a long pause after this. I stood straight up against the wall,my heart still going like a sledge-hammer, but with a ray of hopenow shining in my bosom. Silver leant back against the wall, his armscrossed, his pipe in the corner of his mouth, as calm as though he hadbeen in church; yet his eye kept wandering furtively, and he kept thetail of it on his unruly followers. They, on their part, drew graduallytogether towards the far end of the block house, and the low hiss oftheir whispering sounded in my ear continuously, like a stream. Oneafter another, they would look up, and the red light of the torch wouldfall for a second on their nervous faces; but it was not towards me, itwas towards Silver that they turned their eyes."You seem to have a lot to say," remarked Silver, spitting far into theair. "Pipe up and let me hear it, or lay to.""Ax your pardon, sir," returned one of the men; "you're pretty free withsome of the rules; maybe you'll kindly keep an eye upon the rest. Thiscrew's dissatisfied; this crew don't vally bullying a marlin-spike; thiscrew has its rights like other crews, I'll make so free as that; and byyour own rules, I take it we can talk together. I ax your pardon, sir,acknowledging you for to be captaing at this present; but I claim myright, and steps outside for a council."And with an elaborate sea-salute, this fellow, a long, ill-looking,yellow-eyed man of five and thirty, stepped coolly towards the door anddisappeared out of the house. One after another the rest followed hisexample, each making a salute as he passed, each adding some apology."According to rules," said one. "Forecastle council," said Morgan. Andso with one remark or another all marched out and left Silver and mealone with the torch.The sea-cook instantly removed his pipe."Now, look you here, Jim Hawkins," he said in a steady whisper that wasno more than audible, "you're within half a plank of death, and what'sa long sight worse, of torture. They're going to throw me off. But, youmark, I stand by you through thick and thin. I didn't mean to; no, nottill you spoke up. I was about desperate to lose that much blunt, andbe hanged into the bargain. But I see you was the right sort. I says tomyself, you stand by Hawkins, John, and Hawkins'll stand by you. You'rehis last card, and by the living thunder, John, he's yours! Back toback, says I. You save your witness, and he'll save your neck!"I began dimly to understand."You mean all's lost?" I asked."Aye, by gum, I do!" he answered. "Ship gone, neck gone--that's thesize of it. Once I looked into that bay, Jim Hawkins, and seen noschooner--well, I'm tough, but I gave out. As for that lot and theircouncil, mark me, they're outright fools and cowards. I'll save yourlife--if so be as I can--from them. But, see here, Jim--tit for tat--yousave Long John from swinging."I was bewildered; it seemed a thing so hopeless he was asking--he, theold buccaneer, the ringleader throughout."What I can do, that I'll do," I said."It's a bargain!" cried Long John. "You speak up plucky, and by thunder,I've a chance!"He hobbled to the torch, where it stood propped among the firewood, andtook a fresh light to his pipe."Understand me, Jim," he said, returning. "I've a head on my shoulders,I have. I'm on squire's side now. I know you've got that ship safesomewheres. How you done it, I don't know, but safe it is. I guess Handsand O'Brien turned soft. I never much believed in neither of THEM. Nowyou mark me. I ask no questions, nor I won't let others. I know whena game's up, I do; and I know a lad that's staunch. Ah, you that'syoung--you and me might have done a power of good together!"He drew some cognac from the cask into a tin cannikin."Will you taste, messmate?" he asked; and when I had refused: "Well,I'll take a drain myself, Jim," said he. "I need a caulker, for there'strouble on hand. And talking o' trouble, why did that doctor give me thechart, Jim?"My face expressed a wonder so unaffected that he saw the needlessness offurther questions."Ah, well, he did, though," said he. "And there's something under that,no doubt--something, surely, under that, Jim--bad or good."And he took another swallow of the brandy, shaking his great fair headlike a man who looks forward to the worst.29The Black Spot AgainTHE council of buccaneers had lasted some time, when one of themre-entered the house, and with a repetition of the same salute, whichhad in my eyes an ironical air, begged for a moment's loan of the torch.Silver briefly agreed, and this emissary retired again, leaving ustogether in the dark."There's a breeze coming, Jim," said Silver, who had by this timeadopted quite a friendly and familiar tone.I turned to the loophole nearest me and looked out. The embers of thegreat fire had so far burned themselves out and now glowed so low andduskily that I understood why these conspirators desired a torch. Abouthalf-way down the slope to the stockade, they were collected in a group;one held the light, another was on his knees in their midst, and I sawthe blade of an open knife shine in his hand with varying colours inthe moon and torchlight. The rest were all somewhat stooping, as thoughwatching the manoeuvres of this last. I could just make out that hehad a book as well as a knife in his hand, and was still wondering howanything so incongruous had come in their possession when the kneelingfigure rose once more to his feet and the whole party began to movetogether towards the house."Here they come," said I; and I returned to my former position, for itseemed beneath my dignity that they should find me watching them."Well, let 'em come, lad--let 'em come," said Silver cheerily. "I'vestill a shot in my locker."The door opened, and the five men, standing huddled together justinside, pushed one of their number forward. In any other circumstancesit would have been comical to see his slow advance, hesitating as he setdown each foot, but holding his closed right hand in front of him."Step up, lad," cried Silver. "I won't eat you. Hand it over, lubber. Iknow the rules, I do; I won't hurt a depytation."Thus encouraged, the buccaneer stepped forth more briskly, and havingpassed something to Silver, from hand to hand, slipped yet more smartlyback again to his companions.The sea-cook looked at what had been given him."The black spot! I thought so," he observed. "Where might you have gotthe paper? Why, hillo! Look here, now; this ain't lucky! You've gone andcut this out of a Bible. What fool's cut a Bible?""Ah, there!" said Morgan. "There! Wot did I say? No good'll come o'that, I said.""Well, you've about fixed it now, among you," continued Silver. "You'llall swing now, I reckon. What soft-headed lubber had a Bible?""It was Dick," said one."Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers," said Silver. "He's seenhis slice of luck, has Dick, and you may lay to that."But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck in."Belay that talk, John Silver," he said. "This crew has tipped you theblack spot in full council, as in dooty bound; just you turn it over, asin dooty bound, and see what's wrote there. Then you can talk.""Thanky, George," replied the sea-cook. "You always was brisk forbusiness, 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 prettywrote, 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'nnext, I shouldn't wonder. Just oblige me with that torch again, willyou? This pipe don't draw.""Come, now," said George, "you don't fool this crew no more. You're afunny man, by your account; but you're over now, and you'll maybe stepdown off that barrel and help vote.""I thought you said you knowed the rules," returned Silvercontemptuously. "Leastways, if you don't, I do; and I wait here--and I'mstill your cap'n, mind--till you outs with your grievances and I reply;in the meantime, your black spot ain't worth a biscuit. After that,we'll see.""Oh," replied George, "you don't be under no kind of apprehension; WE'REall square, we are. First, you've made a hash of this cruise--you'll bea bold man to say no to that. Second, you let the enemy out o' this heretrap for nothing. Why did they want out? I dunno, but it's pretty plainthey 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'swhat's wrong with you. And then, fourth, there's this here boy.""Is that all?" asked Silver quietly."Enough, too," retorted George. "We'll all swing and sun-dry for yourbungling.""Well now, look here, I'll answer these four p'ints; one after anotherI'll answer 'em. I made a hash o' this cruise, did I? Well now, you allknow what I wanted, and you all know if that had been done that we'd'a been aboard the HISPANIOLA this night as ever was, every man of usalive, and fit, and full of good plum-duff, and the treasure in the holdof her, by thunder! Well, who crossed me? Who forced my hand, as was thelawful cap'n? Who tipped me the black spot the day we landed and beganthis dance? Ah, it's a fine dance--I'm with you there--and looks mightylike a hornpipe in a rope's end at Execution Dock by London town, itdoes. But who done it? Why, it was Anderson, and Hands, and you, GeorgeMerry! And you're the last above board of that same meddling crew;and you have the Davy Jones's insolence to up and stand for cap'n overme--you, that sank the lot of us! By the powers! But this tops thestiffest yarn to nothing."Silver paused, and I could see by the faces of George and his latecomrades that these words had not been said in vain."That's for number one," cried the accused, wiping the sweat from hisbrow, 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 sensenor memory, and I leave it to fancy where your mothers was that let youcome to sea. Sea! Gentlemen o' fortune! I reckon tailors is your trade.""Go on, John," said Morgan. "Speak up to the others.""Ah, the others!" returned John. "They're a nice lot, ain't they? Yousay this cruise is bungled. Ah! By gum, if you could understand how badit's bungled, you would see! We're that near the gibbet that my neck'sstiff 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 himwell,' says another. And you can hear the chains a-jangle as you goabout 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, andother 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-goingto waste a hostage? No, not us; he might be our last chance, and Ishouldn'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 itnothing to have a real college doctor to see you every day--you, John,with your head broke--or you, George Merry, that had the ague shakesupon you not six hours agone, and has your eyes the colour of lemon peelto this same moment on the clock? And maybe, perhaps, you didn't knowthere was a consort coming either? But there is, and not so long tillthen; and we'll see who'll be glad to have a hostage when it comes tothat. And as for number two, and why I made a bargain--well, you camecrawling on your knees to me to make it--on your knees you came, you wasthat downhearted--and you'd have starved too if I hadn't--but that's atrifle! You look there--that's why!"And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantlyrecognized--none other than the chart on yellow paper, with the threered crosses, that I had found in the oilcloth at the bottom of thecaptain's chest. Why the doctor had given it to him was more than Icould fancy.But if it were inexplicable to me, the appearance of the chart wasincredible to the surviving mutineers. They leaped upon it like catsupon 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 theyaccompanied their examination, you would have thought, not only theywere fingering the very gold, but were at sea with it, besides, insafety."Yes," said one, "that's Flint, sure enough. J. F., and a score below,with a clove hitch to it; so he done ever.""Mighty pretty," said George. "But how are we to get away with it, andus no ship."Silver suddenly sprang up, and supporting himself with a hand againstthe wall: "Now I give you warning, George," he cried. "One more wordof your sauce, and I'll call you down and fight you. How? Why, how do Iknow? You had ought to tell me that--you and the rest, that lost me myschooner, with your interference, burn you! But not you, you can't; youhain't got the invention of a cockroach. But civil you can speak, andshall, George Merry, you may lay to that.""That's fair enow," said the old man Morgan."Fair! I reckon so," said the sea-cook. "You lost the ship; I found thetreasure. Who's the better man at that? And now I resign, by thunder!Elect whom you please to be your cap'n now; I'm done with it.""Silver!" they cried. "Barbecue forever! Barbecue for cap'n!""So that's the toon, is it?" cried the cook. "George, I reckon you'llhave to wait another turn, friend; and lucky for you as I'm not arevengeful man. But that was never my way. And now, shipmates, thisblack spot? 'Tain't much good now, is it? Dick's crossed his luck andspoiled his Bible, and that's about all.""It'll do to kiss the book on still, won't it?" growled Dick, who wasevidently uneasy at the curse he had brought upon himself."A Bible with a bit cut out!" returned Silver derisively. "Not it. Itdon't bind no more'n a ballad-book.""Don't it, though?" cried Dick with a sort of joy. "Well, I reckonthat's worth having too.""Here, Jim--here's a cur'osity for you," said Silver, and he tossed methe paper.It was around about the size of a crown piece. One side was blank,for it had been the last leaf; the other contained a verse or two ofRevelation--these words among the rest, which struck sharply home uponmy mind: "Without are dogs and murderers." The printed side had beenblackened with wood ash, which already began to come off and soil myfingers; on the blank side had been written with the same material theone word "Depposed." I have that curiosity beside me at this moment, butnot a trace of writing now remains beyond a single scratch, such as aman might make with his thumb-nail.That was the end of the night's business. Soon after, with a drink allround, we lay down to sleep, and the outside of Silver's vengeance wasto put George Merry up for sentinel and threaten him with death if heshould prove unfaithful.It was long ere I could close an eye, and heaven knows I had matterenough for thought in the man whom I had slain that afternoon, in my ownmost perilous position, and above all, in the remarkable game that I sawSilver now engaged upon--keeping the mutineers together with one handand grasping with the other after every means, possible and impossible,to make his peace and save his miserable life. He himself sleptpeacefully and snored aloud, yet my heart was sore for him, wicked as hewas, to think on the dark perils that environed and the shameful gibbetthat awaited him.30On ParoleI WAS wakened--indeed, we were all wakened, for I could see even thesentinel shake himself together from where he had fallen against thedoor-post--by a clear, hearty voice hailing us from the margin of thewood:"Block house, ahoy!" it cried. "Here's the doctor."And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear the sound, yet mygladness was not without admixture. I remembered with confusion myinsubordinate and stealthy conduct, and when I saw where it had broughtme--among what companions and surrounded by what dangers--I felt ashamedto look him in the face.He must have risen in the dark, for the day had hardly come; and when Iran to a loophole and looked out, I saw him standing, like Silver oncebefore, up to the mid-leg in creeping vapour."You, doctor! Top o' the morning to you, sir!" cried Silver, broad awakeand beaming with good nature in a moment. "Bright and early, to be sure;and it's the early bird, as the saying goes, that gets the rations.George, shake up your timbers, son, and help Dr. Livesey over the ship'sside. All a-doin' well, your patients was--all well and merry."So he pattered on, standing on the hilltop with his crutch under hiselbow and one hand upon the side of the log-house--quite the old John invoice, manner, and expression."We've quite a surprise for you too, sir," he continued. "We've a littlestranger here--he! he! A noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fitand taut as a fiddle; slep' like a supercargo, he did, right alongsideof John--stem to stem we was, all night."Dr. Livesey was by this time across the stockade and pretty near thecook, and I could hear the alteration in his voice as he said, "NotJim?""The very same Jim as ever was," says Silver.The doctor stopped outright, although he did not speak, and it was someseconds before he seemed able to move on."Well, well," he said at last, "duty first and pleasure afterwards, asyou might have said yourself, Silver. Let us overhaul these patients ofyours."A moment afterwards he had entered the block house and with one grimnod to me proceeded with his work among the sick. He seemed under noapprehension, though he must have known that his life, among thesetreacherous demons, depended on a hair; and he rattled on to hispatients as if he were paying an ordinary professional visit in a quietEnglish family. His manner, I suppose, reacted on the men, for theybehaved to him as if nothing had occurred, as if he were still ship'sdoctor and they still faithful hands before the mast."You're doing well, my friend," he said to the fellow with the bandagedhead, "and if ever any person had a close shave, it was you; your headmust be as hard as iron. Well, George, how goes it? You're a prettycolour, certainly; why, your liver, man, is upside down. Did you takethat medicine? Did he take that medicine, men?""Aye, aye, sir, he took it, sure enough," returned Morgan."Because, you see, since I am mutineers' doctor, or prison doctor as Iprefer to call it," says Doctor Livesey in his pleasantest way, "I makeit a point of honour not to lose a man for King George (God bless him!)and the gallows."The rogues looked at each other but swallowed the home-thrust insilence."Dick don't feel well, sir," said one."Don't he?" replied the doctor. "Well, step up here, Dick, and let mesee your tongue. No, I should be surprised if he did! The man's tongueis fit to frighten the French. Another fever.""Ah, there," said Morgan, "that comed of sp'iling Bibles.""That comes--as you call it--of being arrant asses," retorted thedoctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison,and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough. I think it mostprobable--though of course it's only an opinion--that you'll all havethe deuce to pay before you get that malaria out of your systems. Campin a bog, would you? Silver, I'm surprised at you. You're less of a foolthan many, take you all round; but you don't appear to me to have therudiments of a notion of the rules of health."Well," he added after he had dosed them round and they had takenhis prescriptions, with really laughable humility, more like charityschoolchildren than blood-guilty mutineers and pirates--"well, that'sdone for today. And now I should wish to have a talk with that boy,please."And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly.George Merry was at the door, spitting and spluttering over somebad-tasted medicine; but at the first word of the doctor's proposal heswung round with a deep flush and cried "No!" and swore.Silver struck the barrel with his open hand."Si-lence!" he roared and looked about him positively like a lion."Doctor," he went on in his usual tones, "I was a-thinking of that,knowing as how you had a fancy for the boy. We're all humbly gratefulfor your kindness, and as you see, puts faith in you and takes the drugsdown like that much grog. And I take it I've found a way as'll suit all.Hawkins, will you give me your word of honour as a young gentleman--fora young gentleman you are, although poor born--your word of honour notto slip your cable?"I readily gave the pledge required."Then, doctor," said Silver, "you just step outside o' that stockade,and once you're there I'll bring the boy down on the inside, and Ireckon you can yarn through the spars. Good day to you, sir, and all ourdooties to the squire and Cap'n Smollett."The explosion of disapproval, which nothing but Silver's black looks hadrestrained, broke out immediately the doctor had left the house. Silverwas roundly accused of playing double--of trying to make a separatepeace for himself, of sacrificing the interests of his accomplices andvictims, and, in one word, of the identical, exact thing that he wasdoing. It seemed to me so obvious, in this case, that I could notimagine how he was to turn their anger. But he was twice the manthe rest were, and his last night's victory had given him a hugepreponderance on their minds. He called them all the fools and doltsyou can imagine, said it was necessary I should talk to the doctor,fluttered the chart in their faces, asked them if they could afford tobreak the treaty the very day they were bound a-treasure-hunting."No, by thunder!" he cried. "It's us must break the treaty when the timecomes; and till then I'll gammon that doctor, if I have to ile his bootswith brandy."And then he bade them get the fire lit, and stalked out upon his crutch,with his hand on my shoulder, leaving them in a disarray, and silencedby his volubility rather than convinced."Slow, lad, slow," he said. "They might round upon us in a twinkle of aneye if we was seen to hurry."Very deliberately, then, did we advance across the sand to where thedoctor awaited us on the other side of the stockade, and as soon as wewere within easy speaking distance Silver stopped."You'll make a note of this here also, doctor," says he, "and the boy'lltell you how I saved his life, and were deposed for it too, and youmay lay to that. Doctor, when a man's steering as near the wind asme--playing chuck-farthing with the last breath in his body, like--youwouldn't think it too much, mayhap, to give him one good word? You'llplease bear in mind it's not my life only now--it's that boy's into thebargain; and you'll speak me fair, doctor, and give me a bit o' hope togo on, for the sake of mercy."Silver was a changed man once he was out there and had his back to hisfriends and the block house; his cheeks seemed to have fallen in, hisvoice trembled; never was a soul more dead in earnest."Why, John, you're not afraid?" asked Dr. Livesey."Doctor, I'm no coward; no, not I--not SO much!" and he snapped hisfingers. "If I was I wouldn't say it. But I'll own up fairly, I've theshakes upon me for the gallows. You're a good man and a true; I neverseen a better man! And you'll not forget what I done good, not any morethan you'll forget the bad, I know. And I step aside--see here--andleave you and Jim alone. And you'll put that down for me too, for it's along stretch, is that!"So saying, he stepped back a little way, till he was out of earshot, andthere sat down upon a tree-stump and began to whistle, spinning roundnow and again upon his seat so as to command a sight, sometimes of meand the doctor and sometimes of his unruly ruffians as they went to andfro in the sand between the fire--which they were busy rekindling--andthe house, from which they brought forth pork and bread to make thebreakfast."So, Jim," said the doctor sadly, "here you are. As you have brewed, soshall you drink, my boy. Heaven knows, I cannot find it in my heart toblame you, but this much I will say, be it kind or unkind: when CaptainSmollett was well, you dared not have gone off; and when he was ill andcouldn't help it, by George, it was downright cowardly!"I will own that I here began to weep. "Doctor," I said, "you might spareme. I have blamed myself enough; my life's forfeit anyway, and I shouldhave been dead by now if Silver hadn't stood for me; and doctor,believe this, I can die--and I dare say I deserve it--but what I fear istorture. If they come to torture me--""Jim," the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite changed, "Jim, Ican't have this. Whip over, and we'll run for it.""Doctor," said I, "I passed my word.""I know, I know," he cried. "We can't help that, Jim, now. I'll take iton 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 itlike antelopes.""No," I replied; "you know right well you wouldn't do the thingyourself--neither you nor squire nor captain; and no more will I. Silvertrusted me; I passed my word, and back I go. But, doctor, you did notlet me finish. If they come to torture me, I might let slip a word ofwhere 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 highwater. At half tide she must be high and dry.""The ship!" exclaimed the doctor.Rapidly I described to him my adventures, and he heard me out insilence."There is a kind of fate in this," he observed when I had done. "Everystep, it's you that saves our lives; and do you suppose by any chancethat we are going to let you lose yours? That would be a poor return, myboy. You found out the plot; you found Ben Gunn--the best deed thatever you did, or will do, though you live to ninety. Oh, by Jupiter, andtalking of Ben Gunn! Why, this is the mischief in person. Silver!" hecried. "Silver! I'll give you a piece of advice," he continued asthe cook drew near again; "don't you be in any great hurry after thattreasure.""Why, sir, I do my possible, which that ain't," said Silver. "I canonly, asking your pardon, save my life and the boy's by seeking for thattreasure; and you may lay to that.""Well, Silver," replied the doctor, "if that is so, I'll go one stepfurther: look out for squalls when you find it.""Sir," said Silver, "as between man and man, that's too much and toolittle. What you're after, why you left the block house, why you givenme that there chart, I don't know, now, do I? And yet I done yourbidding with my eyes shut and never a word of hope! But no, this here'stoo much. If you won't tell me what you mean plain out, just say so andI'll leave the helm.""No," said the doctor musingly; "I've no right to say more; it's not mysecret, you see, Silver, or, I give you my word, I'd tell it you. ButI'll go as far with you as I dare go, and a step beyond, for I'll havemy wig sorted by the captain or I'm mistaken! And first, I'll give you abit of hope; Silver, if we both get alive out of this wolf-trap, I'll domy best to save you, short of perjury."Silver's face was radiant. "You couldn't say more, I'm sure, sir, not ifyou was my mother," he cried."Well, that's my first concession," added the doctor. "My second is apiece 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 Ispeak at random. Good-bye, Jim."And Dr. Livesey shook hands with me through the stockade, nodded toSilver, and set off at a brisk pace into the wood.31The Treasure-hunt--Flint's Pointer"JIM," said Silver when we were alone, "if I saved your life, you savedmine; and I'll not forget it. I seen the doctor waving you to run forit--with the tail of my eye, I did; and I seen you say no, as plain ashearing. Jim, that's one to you. This is the first glint of hope I hadsince the attack failed, and I owe it you. And now, Jim, we're to go infor this here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders too, and I don't likeit; and you and me must stick close, back to back like, and we'll saveour necks in spite o' fate and fortune."Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready, andwe were soon seated here and there about the sand over biscuit and friedjunk. They had lit a fire fit to roast an ox, and it was now grown sohot that they could only approach it from the windward, and even therenot without precaution. In the same wasteful spirit, they had cooked,I suppose, three times more than we could eat; and one of them, with anempty laugh, threw what was left into the fire, which blazed and roaredagain over this unusual fuel. I never in my life saw men so careless ofthe morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can describe their wayof doing; and what with wasted food and sleeping sentries, though theywere bold enough for a brush and be done with it, I could see theirentire unfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign.Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had nota word of blame for their recklessness. And this the more surprised me,for I thought he had never shown himself so cunning as he did then."Aye, mates," said he, "it's lucky you have Barbecue to think for youwith this here head. I got what I wanted, I did. Sure enough, they havethe ship. Where they have it, I don't know yet; but once we hit thetreasure, we'll have to jump about and find out. And then, mates, usthat has the boats, I reckon, has the upper hand."Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of the hot bacon; thus herestored their hope and confidence, and, I more than suspect, repairedhis own at the same time."As for hostage," he continued, "that's his last talk, I guess, withthem he loves so dear. I've got my piece o' news, and thanky to himfor that; but it's over and done. I'll take him in a line when we gotreasure-hunting, for we'll keep him like so much gold, in case ofaccidents, you mark, and in the meantime. Once we got the ship andtreasure both and off to sea like jolly companions, why then we'll talkMr. Hawkins over, we will, and we'll give him his share, to be sure, forall his kindness."It was no wonder the men were in a good humour now. For my part, Iwas horribly cast down. Should the scheme he had now sketched provefeasible, Silver, already doubly a traitor, would not hesitate to adoptit. He had still a foot in either camp, and there was no doubt hewould prefer wealth and freedom with the pirates to a bare escape fromhanging, which was the best he had to hope on our side.Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was forced to keep his faithwith Dr. Livesey, even then what danger lay before us! What a momentthat would be when the suspicions of his followers turned to certaintyand he and I should have to fight for dear life--he a cripple and I aboy--against five strong and active seamen!Add to this double apprehension the mystery that still hung over thebehaviour 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 youfind it," and you will readily believe how little taste I found in mybreakfast and with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my captors onthe quest for treasure.We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us--all in soiledsailor clothes and all but me armed to the teeth. Silver had two gunsslung about him--one before and one behind--besides the great cutlassat his waist and a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat.To complete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon hisshoulder and gabbling odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. I had aline about my waist and followed obediently after the sea-cook, whoheld the loose end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between hispowerful teeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear.The other men were variously burthened, some carrying picks andshovels--for that had been the very first necessary they brought ashorefrom the HISPANIOLA--others laden with pork, bread, and brandy for themidday meal. All the stores, I observed, came from our stock, and Icould see the truth of Silver's words the night before. Had he notstruck a bargain with the doctor, he and his mutineers, deserted by theship, must have been driven to subsist on clear water and the proceedsof their hunting. Water would have been little to their taste; a sailoris not usually a good shot; and besides all that, when they were soshort of eatables, it was not likely they would be very flush of powder.Well, thus equipped, we all set out--even the fellow with the brokenhead, who should certainly have kept in shadow--and straggled, one afteranother, to the beach, where the two gigs awaited us. Even these boretrace of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, andboth in their muddy and unbailed condition. Both were to be carriedalong with us for the sake of safety; and so, with our numbers dividedbetween them, we set forth upon the bosom of the anchorage.As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the chart. The red crosswas, of course, far too large to be a guide; and the terms of the noteon the back, as you will hear, admitted of some ambiguity. They ran, thereader may remember, thus: Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E. Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E. Ten feet.A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right before us theanchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high,adjoining on the north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glassand rising again towards the south into the rough, cliffy eminencecalled the Mizzen-mast Hill. The top of the plateau was dotted thicklywith pine-trees of varying height. Every here and there, one of adifferent species rose forty or fifty feet clear above its neighbours,and which of these was the particular "tall tree" of Captain Flint couldonly be decided on the spot, and by the readings of the compass.Yet, although that was the case, every man on board the boats hadpicked a favourite of his own ere we were half-way over, Long John aloneshrugging his shoulders and bidding them wait till they were there.We pulled easily, by Silver's directions, not to weary the handsprematurely, and after quite a long passage, landed at the mouth ofthe 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 theplateau.At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted, marish vegetationgreatly delayed our progress; but by little and little the hill beganto steepen and become stony under foot, and the wood to change itscharacter and to grow in a more open order. It was, indeed, a mostpleasant portion of the island that we were now approaching. Aheavy-scented broom and many flowering shrubs had almost taken the placeof grass. Thickets of green nutmeg-trees were dotted here and there withthe red columns and the broad shadow of the pines; and the first mingledtheir spice with the aroma of the others. The air, besides, was freshand stirring, and this, under the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderfulrefreshment to our senses.The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, shouting and leaping toand fro. About the centre, and a good way behind the rest, Silver andI followed--I tethered by my rope, he ploughing, with deep pants, amongthe sliding gravel. From time to time, indeed, I had to lend him a hand,or he must have missed his footing and fallen backward down the hill.We had thus proceeded for about half a mile and were approaching thebrow of the plateau when the man upon the farthest left began to cryaloud, as if in terror. Shout after shout came from him, and the othersbegan to run in his direction."He can't 'a found the treasure," said old Morgan, hurrying past us fromthe right, "for that's clean a-top."Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it was somethingvery different. At the foot of a pretty big pine and involved in a greencreeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a humanskeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I believe achill struck for a moment to every heart."He was a seaman," said George Merry, who, bolder than the rest, hadgone up close and was examining the rags of clothing. "Leastways, thisis good sea-cloth.""Aye, aye," said Silver; "like enough; you wouldn't look to find abishop here, I reckon. But what sort of a way is that for bones to lie?'Tain't in natur'."Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to fancy that the bodywas in a natural position. But for some disarray (the work, perhaps, ofthe birds that had fed upon him or of the slow-growing creeper that hadgradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly straight--hisfeet pointing in one direction, his hands, raised above his head like adiver's, pointing directly in the opposite."I've taken a notion into my old numbskull," observed Silver. "Here'sthe compass; there's the tip-top p'int o' Skeleton Island, stickin'out like a tooth. Just take a bearing, will you, along the line of thembones."It was done. The body pointed straight in the direction of the island,and the compass read duly E.S.E. and by E."I thought so," cried the cook; "this here is a p'inter. Right up thereis 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 HISjokes, 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, shivermy timbers! They're long bones, and the hair's been yellow. Aye, thatwould be Allardyce. You mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?""Aye, aye," returned Morgan; "I mind him; he owed me money, he did, andtook my knife ashore with him.""Speaking of knives," said another, "why don't we find his'n lyinground? Flint warn't the man to pick a seaman's pocket; and the birds, Iguess, would leave it be.""By the powers, and that's true!" cried Silver."There ain't a thing left here," said Merry, still feeling round amongthe bones; "not a copper doit nor a baccy box. It don't look nat'ral tome.""No, by gum, it don't," agreed Silver; "not nat'ral, nor not nice, saysyou. Great guns! Messmates, but if Flint was living, this would be a hotspot for you and me. Six they were, and six are we; and bones is whatthey are now.""I saw him dead with these here deadlights," said Morgan. "Billy took mein. There he laid, with penny-pieces on his eyes.""Dead--aye, sure enough he's dead and gone below," said the fellow withthe bandage; "but if ever sperrit walked, it would be Flint's. Dearheart, but he died bad, did Flint!""Aye, that he did," observed another; "now he raged, and now he holleredfor 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 wasmain hot, and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin' out asclear as clear--and the death-haul on the man already.""Come, come," said Silver; "stow this talk. He's dead, and he don'twalk, that I know; leastways, he won't walk by day, and you may lay tothat. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons."We started, certainly; but in spite of the hot sun and the staringdaylight, the pirates no longer ran separate and shouting through thewood, but kept side by side and spoke with bated breath. The terror ofthe dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits.32The Treasure-hunt--The Voice Among the TreesPARTLY from the damping influence of this alarm, partly to rest Silverand the sick folk, the whole party sat down as soon as they had gainedthe brow of the ascent.The plateau being somewhat tilted towards the west, this spot on whichwe 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 fieldof open sea upon the east. Sheer above us rose the Spyglass, here dottedwith single pines, there black with precipices. There was no sound butthat of the distant breakers, mounting from all round, and the chirp ofcountless insects in the brush. Not a man, not a sail, upon the sea; thevery largeness of the view increased the sense of solitude.Silver, as he sat, took certain bearings with his compass."There are three 'tall trees'" said he, "about in the right line fromSkeleton Island. 'Spy-glass shoulder,' I take it, means that lower p'intthere. It's child's play to find the stuff now. I've half a mind to dinefirst.""I don't feel sharp," growled Morgan. "Thinkin' o' Flint--I think itwere--as done me.""Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he's dead," said Silver."He were an ugly devil," cried a third pirate with a shudder; "that bluein the face too!""That was how the rum took him," added Merry. "Blue! Well, I reckon hewas blue. That's a true word."Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon this train ofthought, they had spoken lower and lower, and they had almost got towhispering by now, so that the sound of their talk hardly interruptedthe silence of the wood. All of a sudden, out of the middle of the treesin front of us, a thin, high, trembling voice struck up the well-knownair and words: "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the pirates. Thecolour went from their six faces like enchantment; some leaped to theirfeet, some clawed hold of others; Morgan grovelled on the ground."It's Flint, by ----!" cried Merry.The song had stopped as suddenly as it began--broken off, you would havesaid, in the middle of a note, as though someone had laid his hand uponthe singer's mouth. Coming through the clear, sunny atmosphere among thegreen tree-tops, I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly; and theeffect on my companions was the stranger."Come," said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to get the word out;"this won't do. Stand by to go about. This is a rum start, and I can'tname the voice, but it's someone skylarking--someone that's flesh andblood, and you may lay to that."His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of the colour to hisface along with it. Already the others had begun to lend an ear to thisencouragement and were coming a little to themselves, when the samevoice broke out again--not this time singing, but in a faint distanthail that echoed yet fainter among the clefts of the Spy-glass."Darby M'Graw," it wailed--for that is the word that best describes thesound--"Darby M'Graw! Darby M'Graw!" again and again and again; and thenrising a little higher, and with an oath that I leave out: "Fetch aftthe rum, Darby!"The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their eyes starting fromtheir heads. Long after the voice had died away they still stared insilence, dreadfully, before them."That fixes it!" gasped one. "Let's go.""They was his last words," moaned Morgan, "his last words above board."Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly. He had been well broughtup, had Dick, before he came to sea and fell among bad companions.Still Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth rattle in his head,but he had not yet surrendered."Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby," he muttered; "not onebut 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 ordevil. I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, by the powers, I'llface him dead. There's seven hundred thousand pound not a quarter of amile from here. When did ever a gentleman o' fortune show his stern tothat much dollars for a boozy old seaman with a blue mug--and him deadtoo?"But there was no sign of reawakening courage in his followers, rather,indeed, of growing terror at the irreverence of his words."Belay there, John!" said Merry. "Don't you cross a sperrit."And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They would have run awayseverally had they dared; but fear kept them together, and kept themclose by John, as if his daring helped them. He, on his part, had prettywell fought his weakness down."Sperrit? Well, maybe," he said. "But there's one thing not clear to me.There was an echo. Now, no man ever seen a sperrit with a shadow; wellthen, what's he doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? Thatain't in natur', surely?"This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you can never tell what willaffect the superstitious, and to my wonder, George Merry was greatlyrelieved."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, Ido believe. And come to think on it, it was like Flint's voice, Igrant you, but not just so clear-away like it, after all. It was likersomebody else's voice now--it was liker--""By the powers, Ben Gunn!" roared Silver."Aye, and so it were," cried Morgan, springing on his knees. "Ben Gunnit were!""It don't make much odds, do it, now?" asked Dick. "Ben Gunn's not herein the body any more'n Flint."But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn."Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn," cried Merry; "dead or alive, nobody mindshim."It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned and how the naturalcolour had revived in their faces. Soon they were chatting together,with intervals of listening; and not long after, hearing no furthersound, they shouldered the tools and set forth again, Merry walkingfirst with Silver's compass to keep them on the right line with SkeletonIsland. He had said the truth: dead or alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn.Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him as he went, withfearful glances; but he found no sympathy, and Silver even joked him onhis precautions."I told you," said he--"I told you you had sp'iled your Bible. If itain't no good to swear by, what do you suppose a sperrit would give forit? Not that!" and he snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on hiscrutch.But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon plain to me thatthe lad was falling sick; hastened by heat, exhaustion, and the shockof his alarm, the fever, predicted by Dr. Livesey, was evidently growingswiftly higher.It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way lay a littledownhill, for, as I have said, the plateau tilted towards the west. Thepines, great and small, grew wide apart; and even between the clumps ofnutmeg and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. Striking,as we did, pretty near north-west across the island, we drew, on theone hand, ever nearer under the shoulders of the Spy-glass, and on theother, looked ever wider over that western bay where I had once tossedand trembled in the coracle.The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearings proved thewrong one. So with the second. The third rose nearly two hundred feetinto the air above a clump of underwood--a giant of a vegetable, witha red column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in which acompany could have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous far to sea both onthe east and west and might have been entered as a sailing mark upon thechart.But it was not its size that now impressed my companions; it was theknowledge that seven hundred thousand pounds in gold lay somewhereburied below its spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as theydrew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their eyes burned intheir heads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soulwas bound up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance andpleasure, that lay waiting there for each of them.Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils stood out andquivered; he cursed like a madman when the flies settled on his hot andshiny countenance; he plucked furiously at the line that held me tohim 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 readthem like print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else hadbeen forgotten: his promise and the doctor's warning were both thingsof the past, and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon thetreasure, find and board the HISPANIOLA under cover of night, cutevery honest throat about that island, and sail away as he had at firstintended, laden with crimes and riches.Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me to keep up withthe rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. Now and again I stumbled, and itwas then that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at mehis murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us and now broughtup the rear, was babbling to himself both prayers and curses as hisfever 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 actedon that plateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with the blue face--he whodied at Savannah, singing and shouting for drink--had there, with hisown hand, cut down his six accomplices. This grove that was now sopeaceful must then have rung with cries, I thought; and even with thethought I could believe I heard it ringing still.We were now at the margin of the thicket."Huzza, mates, all together!" shouted Merry; and the foremost broke intoa run.And suddenly, not ten yards further, we beheld them stop. A low cryarose. Silver doubled his pace, digging away with the foot of his crutchlike one possessed; and next moment he and I had come also to a deadhalt.Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides hadfallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom. In this were the shaftof a pick broken in two and the boards of several packing-cases strewnaround. On one of these boards I saw, branded with a hot iron, the nameWALRUS--the name of Flint's ship.All was clear to probation. The CACHE had been found and rifled; theseven hundred thousand pounds were gone!33The Fall of a ChieftainTHERE never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six menwas as though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almostinstantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like aracer, 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 theothers had had time to realize the disappointment."Jim," he whispered, "take that, and stand by for trouble."And he passed me a double-barrelled pistol.At the same time, he began quietly moving northward, and in a few stepshad put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked atme and nodded, as much as to say, "Here is a narrow corner," as, indeed,I thought it was. His looks were not quite friendly, and I was sorevolted at these constant changes that I could not forbear whispering,"So you've changed sides again."There was no time left for him to answer in. The buccaneers, with oathsand cries, began to leap, one after another, into the pit and to digwith their fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. Morganfound a piece of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. Itwas a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for aquarter of a minute."Two guineas!" roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. "That's your sevenhundred thousand pounds, is it? You're the man for bargains, ain't you?You're him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!""Dig away, boys," said Silver with the coolest insolence; "you'll findsome pig-nuts and I shouldn't wonder.""Pig-nuts!" repeated Merry, in a scream. "Mates, do you hear that? Itell you now, that man there knew it all along. Look in the face of himand you'll see it wrote there.""Ah, Merry," remarked Silver, "standing for cap'n again? You're apushing lad, to be sure."But this time everyone was entirely in Merry's favour. They began toscramble out of the excavation, darting furious glances behind them. Onething I observed, which looked well for us: they all got out upon theopposite side from Silver.Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the pitbetween us, and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow.Silver never moved; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, andlooked as cool as ever I saw him. He was brave, and no mistake.At last Merry seemed to think a speech might help matters."Mates," says he, "there's two of them alone there; one's the oldcripple that brought us all here and blundered us down to this; theother's that cub that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates--"He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead acharge. But just then--crack! crack! crack!--three musket-shots flashedout of the thicket. Merry tumbled head foremost into the excavation; theman with the bandage spun round like a teetotum and fell all his lengthupon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the otherthree turned and ran for it with all their might.Before you could wink, Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol intothe struggling Merry, and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in thelast agony, "George," said he, "I reckon I settled you."At the same moment, the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us, withsmoking muskets, from among the nutmeg-trees."Forward!" cried the doctor. "Double quick, my lads. We must head 'emoff the boats."And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through the bushes tothe chest.I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that manwent through, leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest werefit to burst, was work no sound man ever equalled; and so thinks thedoctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us and on theverge of strangling when we reached the brow of the slope."Doctor," he hailed, "see there! No hurry!"Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open part of the plateau, wecould see the three survivors still running in the same direction asthey had started, right for Mizzenmast Hill. We were already betweenthem and the boats; and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John,mopping his face, came slowly up with us."Thank ye kindly, doctor," says he. "You came in in about the nick, Iguess, for me and Hawkins. And so it's you, Ben Gunn!" he added. "Well,you're a nice one, to be sure.""I'm Ben Gunn, I am," replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in hisembarrassment. "And," he added, after a long pause, "how do, Mr. Silver?Pretty well, I thank ye, says you.""Ben, Ben," murmured Silver, "to think as you've done me!"The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pick-axes deserted, in theirflight, by the mutineers, and then as we proceeded leisurely downhill towhere the boats were lying, related in a few words what had taken place.It was a story that profoundly interested Silver; and Ben Gunn, thehalf-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end.Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found theskeleton--it was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; hehad dug it up (it was the haft of his pick-axe that lay broken in theexcavation); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, fromthe foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill atthe north-east angle of the island, and there it had lain stored insafety since two months before the arrival of the HISPANIOLA.When the doctor had wormed this secret from him on the afternoon of theattack, and when next morning he saw the anchorage deserted, he had goneto Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless--given him thestores, for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goats' meat saltedby himself--given anything and everything to get a chance of moving insafety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be clear ofmalaria and keep a guard upon the money."As for you, Jim," he said, "it went against my heart, but I did what Ithought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were notone of these, whose fault was it?"That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horriddisappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he had run all the wayto the cave, and leaving the squire to guard the captain, had taken Grayand the maroon and started, making the diagonal across the island to beat hand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had thestart of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been dispatched infront to do his best alone. Then it had occurred to him to work upon thesuperstitions of his former shipmates, and he was so far successful thatGray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before thearrival of the treasure-hunters."Ah," said Silver, "it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here.You would have let old John be cut to bits, and never given it athought, doctor.""Not a thought," replied Dr. Livesey cheerily.And by this time we had reached the gigs. The doctor, with the pick-axe,demolished one of them, and then we all got aboard the other and set outto go round by sea for North Inlet.This was a run of eight or nine miles. Silver, though he was almostkilled already with fatigue, was set to an oar, like the rest of us, andwe were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea. Soon we passed outof the straits and doubled the south-east corner of the island, roundwhich, four days ago, we had towed the HISPANIOLA.As we passed the two-pointed hill, we could see the black mouth of BenGunn's cave and a figure standing by it, leaning on a musket. It was thesquire, and we waved a handkerchief and gave him three cheers, in whichthe voice of Silver joined as heartily as any.Three miles farther, just inside the mouth of North Inlet, what shouldwe meet but the HISPANIOLA, cruising by herself? The last flood hadlifted her, and had there been much wind or a strong tide current, asin the southern anchorage, we should never have found her more, or foundher stranded beyond help. As it was, there was little amiss beyond thewreck of the main-sail. Another anchor was got ready and dropped in afathom and a half of water. We all pulled round again to Rum Cove,the nearest point for Ben Gunn's treasure-house; and then Gray,single-handed, returned with the gig to the HISPANIOLA, where he was topass the night on guard.A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance of the cave. At thetop, the squire met us. To me he was cordial and kind, saying nothingof my escapade either in the way of blame or praise. At Silver's politesalute he somewhat flushed."John Silver," he said, "you're a prodigious villain and imposter--amonstrous imposter, sir. I am told I am not to prosecute you. Well,then, I will not. But the dead men, sir, hang about your neck likemill-stones.""Thank you kindly, sir," replied Long John, again saluting."I dare you to thank me!" cried the squire. "It is a gross derelictionof my duty. Stand back."And thereupon we all entered the cave. It was a large, airy place, witha little spring and a pool of clear water, overhung with ferns. Thefloor was sand. Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett; and in a farcorner, only duskily flickered over by the blaze, I beheld great heapsof coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold. That was Flint'streasure that we had come so far to seek and that had cost already thelives of seventeen men from the HISPANIOLA. How many it had cost in theamassing, what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep,what brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon, whatshame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell. Yet therewere still three upon that island--Silver, and old Morgan, and BenGunn--who had each taken his share in these crimes, as each had hoped invain to share in the reward."Come in, Jim," said the captain. "You're a good boy in your line, Jim,but I don't think you and me'll go to sea again. You're too much of theborn favourite for me. Is that you, John Silver? What brings you here,man?""Come back to my dooty, sir," returned Silver."Ah!" said the captain, and that was all he said.What a supper I had of it that night, with all my friends around me; andwhat a meal it was, with Ben Gunn's salted goat and some delicacies anda bottle of old wine from the HISPANIOLA. Never, I am sure, were peoplegayer or happier. And there was Silver, sitting back almost out of thefirelight, but eating heartily, prompt to spring forward when anythingwas wanted, even joining quietly in our laughter--the same bland,polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out.34And LastTHE next morning we fell early to work, for the transportation of thisgreat mass of gold near a mile by land to the beach, and thence threemiles by boat to the HISPANIOLA, was a considerable task for so smalla number of workmen. The three fellows still abroad upon the island didnot greatly trouble us; a single sentry on the shoulder of the hill wassufficient to ensure us against any sudden onslaught, and we thought,besides, they had had more than enough of fighting.Therefore the work was pushed on briskly. Gray and Ben Gunn came andwent with the boat, while the rest during their absences piled treasureon the beach. Two of the bars, slung in a rope's end, made a good loadfor 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 cavepacking the minted money into bread-bags.It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones's hoard for the diversityof coinage, but so much larger and so much more varied that I think Inever had more pleasure than in sorting them. English, French, Spanish,Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas andmoidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for thelast hundred years, strange Oriental pieces stamped with what lookedlike wisps of string or bits of spider's web, round pieces and squarepieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to wear them roundyour 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 theywere like autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping and myfingers with sorting them out.Day after day this work went on; by every evening a fortune had beenstowed aboard, but there was another fortune waiting for the morrow; andall this time we heard nothing of the three surviving mutineers.At last--I think it was on the third night--the doctor and I werestrolling on the shoulder of the hill where it overlooks the lowlands ofthe isle, when, from out the thick darkness below, the wind brought usa noise between shrieking and singing. It was only a snatch that reachedour ears, followed by the former silence."Heaven forgive them," said the doctor; "'tis the mutineers!""All drunk, sir," struck in the voice of Silver from behind us.Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty, and in spite ofdaily rebuffs, seemed to regard himself once more as quite a privilegedand friendly dependent. Indeed, it was remarkable how well he borethese slights and with what unwearying politeness he kept on trying toingratiate himself with all. Yet, I think, none treated him better thana dog, unless it was Ben Gunn, who was still terribly afraid of his oldquartermaster, or myself, who had really something to thank him for;although for that matter, I suppose, I had reason to think even worse ofhim than anybody else, for I had seen him meditating a fresh treacheryupon the plateau. Accordingly, it was pretty gruffly that the doctoranswered him."Drunk or raving," said he."Right you were, sir," replied Silver; "and precious little odds which,to you and me.""I suppose you would hardly ask me to call you a humane man," returnedthe doctor with a sneer, "and so my feelings may surprise you, MasterSilver. But if I were sure they were raving--as I am morally certainone, 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 myskill.""Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong," quoth Silver. "Youwould lose your precious life, and you may lay to that. I'm on your sidenow, 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 downthere, they couldn't keep their word--no, not supposing they wished to;and what's more, they couldn't believe as you could.""No," said the doctor. "You're the man to keep your word, we know that."Well, that was about the last news we had of the three pirates. Onlyonce 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 theisland--to the huge glee, I must say, of Ben Gunn, and with the strongapproval of Gray. We left a good stock of powder and shot, the bulkof the salt goat, a few medicines, and some other necessaries, tools,clothing, a spare sail, a fathom or two of rope, and by the particulardesire of the doctor, a handsome present of tobacco.That was about our last doing on the island. Before that, we had got thetreasure stowed and had shipped enough water and the remainder of thegoat meat in case of any distress; and at last, one fine morning, weweighed anchor, which was about all that we could manage, and stood outof North Inlet, the same colours flying that the captain had flown andfought under at the palisade.The three fellows must have been watching us closer than we thought for,as we soon had proved. For coming through the narrows, we had tolie very near the southern point, and there we saw all three ofthem kneeling together on a spit of sand, with their arms raised insupplication. It went to all our hearts, I think, to leave them in thatwretched state; but we could not risk another mutiny; and to take themhome for the gibbet would have been a cruel sort of kindness. The doctorhailed them and told them of the stores we had left, and where they wereto 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 aplace.At last, seeing the ship still bore on her course and was now swiftlydrawing out of earshot, one of them--I know not which it was--leapt tohis feet with a hoarse cry, whipped his musket to his shoulder, and senta shot whistling over Silver's head and through the main-sail.After that, we kept under cover of the bulwarks, and when next I lookedout they had disappeared from the spit, and the spit itself had almostmelted out of sight in the growing distance. That was, at least, the endof that; and before noon, to my inexpressible joy, the highest rock ofTreasure Island had sunk into the blue round of sea.We were so short of men that everyone on board had to bear a hand--onlythe captain lying on a mattress in the stern and giving his orders, forthough greatly recovered he was still in want of quiet. We laid herhead for the nearest port in Spanish America, for we could not risk thevoyage home without fresh hands; and as it was, what with baffling windsand a couple of fresh gales, we were all worn out before we reached it.It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a most beautifulland-locked gulf, and were immediately surrounded by shore boats fullof Negroes and Mexican Indians and half-bloods selling fruits andvegetables and offering to dive for bits of money. The sight of so manygood-humoured faces (especially the blacks), the taste of the tropicalfruits, and above all the lights that began to shine in the town made amost charming contrast to our dark and bloody sojourn on the island;and the doctor and the squire, taking me along with them, went ashoreto pass the early part of the night. Here they met the captain of anEnglish 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 camealongside the HISPANIOLA.Ben Gunn was on deck alone, and as soon as we came on board he began,with wonderful contortions, to make us a confession. Silver was gone.The maroon had connived at his escape in a shore boat some hours ago,and he now assured us he had only done so to preserve our lives, whichwould certainly have been forfeit if "that man with the one leghad stayed aboard." But this was not all. The sea-cook had not goneempty-handed. He had cut through a bulkhead unobserved and had removedone of the sacks of coin, worth perhaps three or four hundred guineas,to help him on his further wanderings.I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit of him.Well, to make a long story short, we got a few hands on board, made agood cruise home, and the HISPANIOLA reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandlywas beginning to think of fitting out her consort. Five men only ofthose who had sailed returned with her. "Drink and the devil had donefor the rest," with a vengeance, although, to be sure, we were not quitein so bad a case as that other ship they sang about: With one man of her crew alive, What put to sea with seventy-five.All of us had an ample share of the treasure and used it wisely orfoolishly, according to our natures. Captain Smollett is now retiredfrom the sea. Gray not only saved his money, but being suddenly smitwith the desire to rise, also studied his profession, and he is nowmate and part owner of a fine full-rigged ship, married besides, and thefather of a family. As for Ben Gunn, he got a thousand pounds, which hespent or lost in three weeks, or to be more exact, in nineteen days, forhe 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 greatfavourite, though something of a butt, with the country boys, and anotable singer in church on Sundays and saints' days.Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable seafaring man with oneleg has at last gone clean out of my life; but I dare say he met his oldNegress, and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint.It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in anotherworld are very small.The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know, whereFlint buried them; and certainly they shall lie there for me. Oxen andwain-ropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island; andthe worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming aboutits coasts or start upright in bed with the sharp voice of Captain Flintstill ringing in my ears: "Pieces of eight! 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