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
TREASURE ISLAND
PART ONE—The Old Buccaneer
1
The Old Seadog at the Admiral Benbow
SQUIRE TRELAWNEY Dr Livesey and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island from the beginning to the end keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted I take up my pen in the year of grace 17__ and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof
I remember him as if it were yesterday as he came plodding to the inn door his seachest following behind him in a handbarrow—a tall strong heavy nutbrown man his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulder of his soiled blue coat his hands ragged and scarred with black broken nails and the sabre cut across one cheek a dirty livid white I remember him looking round the cover and whistling to himself as he did so and then breaking out in that old seasong that he sang so often afterwards
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest—
Yohoho and a bottle of rum
in the high old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and broken at the capstan bars Then he rapped on the door with a bit of stick like a handspike that he carried and when my father appeared called roughly for a glass of rum This when it was brought to him he drank slowly like a connoisseur lingering on the taste and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard
This is a handy cove says he at length and a pleasant sittyated grogshop Much company mate
My father told him no very little company the more was the pity
Well then said he this is the berth for me Here you matey he cried to the man who trundled the barrow bring up alongside and help up my chest Ill stay here a bit he continued Im a plain man rum and bacon and eggs is what I want and that head up there for to watch ships off What you mought call me You mought call me captain Oh I see what youre at—there and he threw down three or four gold pieces on the threshold You can tell me when Ive worked through that says he looking as fierce as a commander
And indeed bad as his clothes were and coarsely as he spoke he had none of the appearance of a man who sailed before the mast but seemed like a mate or skipper accustomed to be obeyed or to strike The man who came with the barrow told us the mail had set him down the morning before at the Royal George that he had inquired what inns there were along the coast and hearing ours well spoken of I suppose and described as lonely had chosen it from the others for his place of residence And that was all we could learn of our guest
He was a very silent man by custom All day he hung round the cove or upon the cliffs with a brass telescope all evening he sat in a corner of the parlour next the fire and drank rum and water very strong Mostly he would not speak when spoken to only look up sudden and fierce and blow through his nose like a foghorn and we and the people who came about our house soon learned to let him be Every day when he came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that made him ask this question but at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them When a seaman did put up at the Admiral Benbow as now and then some did making by the coast road for Bristol he would look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the parlour and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such was present For me at least there was no secret about the matter for I was in a way a sharer in his alarms He had taken me aside one day and promised me a silver fourpenny on the first of every month if I would only keep my weathereye open for a seafaring man with one leg and let him know the moment he appeared Often enough when the first of the month came round and I applied to him for my wage he would only blow through his nose at me and stare me down but before the week was out he was sure to think better of it bring me my fourpenny piece and repeat his orders to look out for the seafaring man with one leg
How that personage haunted my dreams I need scarcely tell you On stormy nights when the wind shook the four corners of the house and the surf roared along the cove and up the cliffs I would see him in a thousand forms and with a thousand diabolical expressions Now the leg would be cut off at the knee now at the hip now he was a monstrous kind of a creature who had never had but the one leg and that in the middle of his body To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge and ditch was the worst of nightmares And altogether I paid pretty dear for my monthly fourpenny piece in the shape of these abominable fancies
But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man with one leg I was far less afraid of the captain himself than anybody else who knew him There were nights when he took a deal more rum and water than his head would carry and then he would sometimes sit and sing his wicked old wild seasongs minding nobody but sometimes he would call for glasses round and force all the trembling company to listen to his stories or bear a chorus to his singing Often I have heard the house shaking with Yohoho and a bottle of rum all the neighbours joining in for dear life with the fear of death upon them and each singing louder than the other to avoid remark For in these fits he was the most overriding companion ever known he would slap his hand on the table for silence all round he would fly up in a passion of anger at a question or sometimes because none was put and so he judged the company was not following his story Nor would he allow anyone to leave the inn till he had drunk himself sleepy and reeled off to bed
His stories were what frightened people worst of all Dreadful stories they were—about hanging and walking the plank and storms at sea and the Dry Tortugas and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main By his own account he must have lived his life among some of the wickedest men that God ever allowed upon the sea and the language in which he told these stories shocked our plain country people almost as much as the crimes that he described My father was always saying the inn would be ruined for people would soon cease coming there to be tyrannized over and put down and sent shivering to their beds but I really believe his presence did us good People were frightened at the time but on looking back they rather liked it it was a fine excitement in a quiet country life and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him calling him a true seadog and a real old salt and such like names and saying there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea
In one way indeed he bade fair to ruin us for he kept on staying week after week and at last month after month so that all the money had been long exhausted and still my father never plucked up the heart to insist on having more If ever he mentioned it the captain blew through his nose so loudly that you might say he roared and stared my poor father out of the room I have seen him wringing his hands after such a rebuff and I am sure the annoyance and the terror he lived in must have greatly hastened his early and unhappy death
All the time he lived with us the captain made no change whatever in his dress but to buy some stockings from a hawker One of the cocks of his hat having fallen down he let it hang from that day forth though it was a great annoyance when it blew I remember the appearance of his coat which he patched himself upstairs in his room and which before the end was nothing but patches He never wrote or received a letter and he never spoke with any but the neighbours and with these for the most part only when drunk on rum The great seachest none of us had ever seen open
He was only once crossed and that was towards the end when my poor father was far gone in a decline that took him off Dr Livesey came late one afternoon to see the patient took a bit of dinner from my mother and went into the parlour to smoke a pipe until his horse should come down from the hamlet for we had no stabling at the old Benbow I followed him in and I remember observing the contrast the neat bright doctor with his powder as white as snow and his bright black eyes and pleasant manners made with the coltish country folk and above all with that filthy heavy bleared scarecrow of a pirate of ours sitting far gone in rum with his arms on the table Suddenly he—the captain that is—began to pipe up his eternal song
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest—
Yohoho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest—
Yohoho and a bottle of rum
At first I had supposed the dead mans chest to be that identical big box of his upstairs in the front room and the thought had been mingled in my nightmares with that of the onelegged seafaring man But by this time we had all long ceased to pay any particular notice to the song it was new that night to nobody but Dr Livesey and on him I observed it did not produce an agreeable effect for he looked up for a moment quite angrily before he went on with his talk to old Taylor the gardener on a new cure for the rheumatics In the meantime the captain gradually brightened up at his own music and at last flapped his hand upon the table before him in a way we all knew to mean silence The voices stopped at once all but Dr Liveseys he went on as before speaking clear and kind and drawing briskly at his pipe between every word or two The captain glared at him for a while flapped his hand again glared still harder and at last broke out with a villainous low oath Silence there between decks
Were you addressing me sir says the doctor and when the ruffian had told him with another oath that this was so I have only one thing to say to you sir replies the doctor that if you keep on drinking rum the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel
The old fellows fury was awful He sprang to his feet drew and opened a sailors claspknife and balancing it open on the palm of his hand threatened to pin the doctor to the wall
The doctor never so much as moved He spoke to him as before over his shoulder and in the same tone of voice rather high so that all the room might hear but perfectly calm and steady If you do not put that knife this instant in your pocket I promise upon my honour you shall hang at the next assizes
Then followed a battle of looks between them but the captain soon knuckled under put up his weapon and resumed his seat grumbling like a beaten dog
And now sir continued the doctor since I now know theres such a fellow in my district you may count Ill have an eye upon you day and night Im not a doctor only Im a magistrate and if I catch a breath of complaint against you if its only for a piece of incivility like tonights Ill take effectual means to have you hunted down and routed out of this Let that suffice
Soon after Dr Liveseys horse came to the door and he rode away but the captain held his peace that evening and for many evenings to come
2
Black Dog Appears and Disappears
IT was not very long after this that there occurred the first of the mysterious events that rid us at last of the captain though not as you will see of his affairs It was a bitter cold winter with long hard frosts and heavy gales and it was plain from the first that my poor father was little likely to see the spring He sank daily and my mother and I had all the inn upon our hands and were kept busy enough without paying much regard to our unpleasant guest
It was one January morning very early—a pinching frosty morning—the cove all grey with hoarfrost the ripple lapping softly on the stones the sun still low and only touching the hilltops and shining far to seaward The captain had risen earlier than usual and set out down the beach his cutlass swinging under the broad skirts of the old blue coat his brass telescope under his arm his hat tilted back upon his head I remember his breath hanging like smoke in his wake as he strode off and the last sound I heard of him as he turned the big rock was a loud snort of indignation as though his mind was still running upon Dr Livesey
Well mother was upstairs with father and I was laying the breakfasttable against the captains return when the parlour door opened and a man stepped in on whom I had never set my eyes before He was a pale tallowy creature wanting two fingers of the left hand and though he wore a cutlass he did not look much like a fighter I had always my eye open for seafaring men with one leg or two and I remember this one puzzled me He was not sailorly and yet he had a smack of the sea about him too
I asked him what was for his service and he said he would take rum but as I was going out of the room to fetch it he sat down upon a table and motioned me to draw near I paused where I was with my napkin in my hand
Come here sonny says he Come nearer here
I took a step nearer
Is this here table for my mate Bill he asked with a kind of leer
I told him I did not know his mate Bill and this was for a person who stayed in our house whom we called the captain
Well said he my mate Bill would be called the captain as like as not He has a cut on one cheek and a mighty pleasant way with him particularly in drink has my mate Bill Well put it for argument like that your captain has a cut on one cheek—and well put it if you like that that cheeks the right one Ah well I told you Now is my mate Bill in this here house
I told him he was out walking
Which way sonny Which way is he gone
And when I had pointed out the rock and told him how the captain was likely to return and how soon and answered a few other questions Ah said he thisll be as good as drink to my mate Bill
The expression of his face as he said these words was not at all pleasant and I had my own reasons for thinking that the stranger was mistaken even supposing he meant what he said But it was no affair of mine I thought and besides it was difficult to know what to do The stranger kept hanging about just inside the inn door peering round the corner like a cat waiting for a mouse Once I stepped out myself into the road but he immediately called me back and as I did not obey quick enough for his fancy a most horrible change came over his tallowy face and he ordered me in with an oath that made me jump As soon as I was back again he returned to his former manner half fawning half sneering patted me on the shoulder told me I was a good boy and he had taken quite a fancy to me I have a son of my own said he as like you as two blocks and hes all the pride of my art But the great thing for boys is discipline sonny—discipline Now if you had sailed along of Bill you wouldnt have stood there to be spoke to twice—not you That was never Bills way nor the way of sich as sailed with him And here sure enough is my mate Bill with a spyglass under his arm bless his old art to be sure You and mell just go back into the parlour sonny and get behind the door and well give Bill a little surprise—bless his art I say again
So saying the stranger backed along with me into the parlour and put me behind him in the corner so that we were both hidden by the open door I was very uneasy and alarmed as you may fancy and it rather added to my fears to observe that the stranger was certainly frightened himself He cleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in the sheath and all the time we were waiting there he kept swallowing as if he felt what we used to call a lump in the throat
At last in strode the captain slammed the door behind him without looking to the right or left and marched straight across the room to where his breakfast awaited him
Bill said the stranger in a voice that I thought he had tried to make bold and big
The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us all the brown had gone out of his face and even his nose was blue he had the look of a man who sees a ghost or the evil one or something worse if anything can be and upon my word I felt sorry to see him all in a moment turn so old and sick
Come Bill you know me you know an old shipmate Bill surely said the stranger
The captain made a sort of gasp
Black Dog said he
And who else returned the other getting more at his ease Black Dog as ever was come for to see his old shipmate Billy at the Admiral Benbow inn Ah Bill Bill we have seen a sight of times us two since I lost them two talons holding up his mutilated hand
Now look here said the captain youve run me down here I am well then speak up what is it
Thats you Bill returned Black Dog youre in the right of it Billy Ill have a glass of rum from this dear child here as Ive took such a liking to and well sit down if you please and talk square like old shipmates
When I returned with the rum they were already seated on either side of the captains breakfasttable—Black Dog next to the door and sitting sideways so as to have one eye on his old shipmate and one as I thought on his retreat
He bade me go and leave the door wide open None of your keyholes for me sonny he said and I left them together and retired into the bar
For a long time though I certainly did my best to listen I could hear nothing but a low gattling but at last the voices began to grow higher and I could pick up a word or two mostly oaths from the captain
No no no no and an end of it he cried once And again If it comes to swinging swing all say I
Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous explosion of oaths and other noises—the chair and table went over in a lump a clash of steel followed and then a cry of pain and the next instant I saw Black Dog in full flight and the captain hotly pursuing both with drawn cutlasses and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder Just at the door the captain aimed at the fugitive one last tremendous cut which would certainly have split him to the chine had it not been intercepted by our big signboard of Admiral Benbow You may see the notch on the lower side of the frame to this day
That blow was the last of the battle Once out upon the road Black Dog in spite of his wound showed a wonderful clean pair of heels and disappeared over the edge of the hill in half a minute The captain for his part stood staring at the signboard like a bewildered man Then he passed his hand over his eyes several times and at last turned back into the house
Jim says he rum and as he spoke he reeled a little and caught himself with one hand against the wall
Are you hurt cried I
Rum he repeated I must get away from here Rum Rum
I ran to fetch it but I was quite unsteadied by all that had fallen out and I broke one glass and fouled the tap and while I was still getting in my own way I heard a loud fall in the parlour and running in beheld the captain lying full length upon the floor At the same instant my mother alarmed by the cries and fighting came running downstairs to help me Between us we raised his head He was breathing very loud and hard but his eyes were closed and his face a horrible colour
Dear deary me cried my mother what a disgrace upon the house And your poor father sick
In the meantime we had no idea what to do to help the captain nor any other thought but that he had got his deathhurt in the scuffle with the stranger I got the rum to be sure and tried to put it down his throat but his teeth were tightly shut and his jaws as strong as iron It was a happy relief for us when the door opened and Doctor Livesey came in on his visit to my father
Oh doctor we cried what shall we do Where is he wounded
Wounded A fiddlesticks end said the doctor No more wounded than you or I The man has had a stroke as I warned him Now Mrs Hawkins just you run upstairs to your husband and tell him if possible nothing about it For my part I must do my best to save this fellows trebly worthless life Jim you get me a basin
When I got back with the basin the doctor had already ripped up the captains sleeve and exposed his great sinewy arm It was tattooed in several places Heres luck A fair wind and Billy Bones his fancy were very neatly and clearly executed on the forearm and up near the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging from it—done as I thought with great spirit
Prophetic said the doctor touching this picture with his finger And now Master Billy Bones if that be your name well have a look at the colour of your blood Jim he said are you afraid of blood
No sir said I
Well then said he you hold the basin and with that he took his lancet and opened a vein
A great deal of blood was taken before the captain opened his eyes and looked mistily about him First he recognized the doctor with an unmistakable frown then his glance fell upon me and he looked relieved But suddenly his colour changed and he tried to raise himself crying Wheres Black Dog
There is no Black Dog here said the doctor except what you have on your own back You have been drinking rum you have had a stroke precisely as I told you and I have just very much against my own will dragged you headforemost out of the grave Now Mr Bones—
Thats not my name he interrupted
Much I care returned the doctor Its the name of a buccaneer of my acquaintance and I call you by it for the sake of shortness and what I have to say to you is this one glass of rum wont kill you but if you take one youll take another and another and I stake my wig if you dont break off short youll die—do you understand that—die and go to your own place like the man in the Bible Come now make an effort Ill help you to your bed for once
Between us with much trouble we managed to hoist him upstairs and laid him on his bed where his head fell back on the pillow as if he were almost fainting
Now mind you said the doctor I clear my conscience—the name of rum for you is death
And with that he went off to see my father taking me with him by the arm
This is nothing he said as soon as he had closed the door I have drawn blood enough to keep him quiet awhile he should lie for a week where he is—that is the best thing for him and you but another stroke would settle him
3
The Black Spot
ABOUT noon I stopped at the captains door with some cooling drinks and medicines He was lying very much as we had left him only a little higher and he seemed both weak and excited
Jim he said youre the only one here thats worth anything and you know Ive been always good to you Never a month but Ive given you a silver fourpenny for yourself And now you see mate Im pretty low and deserted by all and Jim youll bring me one noggin of rum now wont you matey
The doctor— I began
But he broke in cursing the doctor in a feeble voice but heartily Doctors is all swabs he said and that doctor there why what do he know about seafaring men I been in places hot as pitch and mates dropping round with Yellow Jack and the blessed land aheaving like the sea with earthquakes—what to the doctor know of lands like that—and I lived on rum I tell you Its been meat and drink and man and wife to me and if Im not to have my rum now Im a poor old hulk on a lee shore my bloodll be on you Jim and that doctor swab and he ran on again for a while with curses Look Jim how my fingers fidges he continued in the pleading tone I cant keep em still not I I havent had a drop this blessed day That doctors a fool I tell you If I dont have a drain o rum Jim Ill have the horrors I seen some on em already I seen old Flint in the corner there behind you as plain as print I seen him and if I get the horrors Im a man that has lived rough and Ill raise Cain Your doctor hisself said one glass wouldnt hurt me Ill give you a golden guinea for a noggin Jim
He was growing more and more excited and this alarmed me for my father who was very low that day and needed quiet besides I was reassured by the doctors words now quoted to me and rather offended by the offer of a bribe
I want none of your money said I but what you owe my father Ill get you one glass and no more
When I brought it to him he seized it greedily and drank it out
Aye aye said he thats 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 cant do that theyd have the black spot on me by then The lubbers is going about to get the wind of me this blessed moment lubbers as couldnt keep what they got and want to nail what is anothers Is that seamanly behaviour now I want to know But Im a saving soul I never wasted good money of mine nor lost it neither and Ill trick em again Im not afraid on em Ill shake out another reef matey and daddle em again
As he was thus speaking he had risen from bed with great difficulty holding to my shoulder with a grip that almost made me cry out and moving his legs like so much dead weight His words spirited as they were in meaning contrasted sadly with the weakness of the voice in which they were uttered He paused when he had got into a sitting position on the edge
That doctors done me he murmured My ears is singing Lay me back
Before I could do much to help him he had fallen back again to his former place where he lay for a while silent
Jim he said at length you saw that seafaring man today
Black Dog I asked
Ah Black Dog says he HES a bad un but theres worse that put him on Now if I cant get away nohow and they tip me the black spot mind you its my old seachest theyre after you get on a horse—you can cant you Well then you get on a horse and go to—well yes I will—to that eternal doctor swab and tell him to pipe all hands—magistrates and sich—and hell lay em aboard at the Admiral Benbow—all old Flints crew man and boy all on em thats left I was first mate I was old Flints first mate and Im the ony one as knows the place He gave it me at Savannah when he lay adying like as if I was to now you see But you wont peach unless they get the black spot on me or unless you see that Black Dog again or a seafaring man with one leg Jim—him above all
But what is the black spot captain I asked
Thats a summons mate Ill tell you if they get that But you keep your weathereye open Jim and Ill share with you equals upon my honour
He wandered a little longer his voice growing weaker but soon after I had given him his medicine which he took like a child with the remark If ever a seaman wanted drugs its me he fell at last into a heavy swoonlike sleep in which I left him What I should have done had all gone well I do not know Probably I should have told the whole story to the doctor for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of his confessions and make an end of me But as things fell out my poor father died quite suddenly that evening which put all other matters on one side Our natural distress the visits of the neighbours the arranging of the funeral and all the work of the inn to be carried on in the meanwhile kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think of the captain far less to be afraid of him
He got downstairs next morning to be sure and had his meals as usual though he ate little and had more I am afraid than his usual supply of rum for he helped himself out of the bar scowling and blowing through his nose and no one dared to cross him On the night before the funeral he was as drunk as ever and it was shocking in that house of mourning to hear him singing away at his ugly old seasong but weak as he was we were all in the fear of death for him and the doctor was suddenly taken up with a case many miles away and was never near the house after my fathers death I have said the captain was weak and indeed he seemed rather to grow weaker than regain his strength He clambered up and down stairs and went from the parlour to the bar and back again and sometimes put his nose out of doors to smell the sea holding on to the walls as he went for support and breathing hard and fast like a man on a steep mountain He never particularly addressed me and it is my belief he had as good as forgotten his confidences but his temper was more flighty and allowing for his bodily weakness more violent than ever He had an alarming way now when he was drunk of drawing his cutlass and laying it bare before him on the table But with all that he minded people less and seemed shut up in his own thoughts and rather wandering Once for instance to our extreme wonder he piped up to a different air a kind of country lovesong that he must have learned in his youth before he had begun to follow the sea
So things passed until the day after the funeral and about three oclock of a bitter foggy frosty afternoon I was standing at the door for a moment full of sad thoughts about my father when I saw someone drawing slowly near along the road He was plainly blind for he tapped before him with a stick and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose and he was hunched as if with age or weakness and wore a huge old tattered seacloak with a hood that made him appear positively deformed I never saw in my life a more dreadfullooking figure He stopped a little from the inn and raising his voice in an odd singsong addressed the air in front of him Will any kind friend inform a poor blind man who has lost the precious sight of his eyes in the gracious defence of his native country England—and God bless King George—where or in what part of this country he may now be
You are at the Admiral Benbow Black Hill Cove my good man said I
I hear a voice said he a young voice Will you give me your hand my kind young friend and lead me in
I held out my hand and the horrible softspoken eyeless creature gripped it in a moment like a vise I was so much startled that I struggled to withdraw but the blind man pulled me close up to him with a single action of his arm
Now boy he said take me in to the captain
Sir said I upon my word I dare not
Oh he sneered thats it Take me in straight or Ill break your arm
And he gave it as he spoke a wrench that made me cry out
Sir said I it is for yourself I mean The captain is not what he used to be He sits with a drawn cutlass Another gentleman—
Come now march interrupted he and I never heard a voice so cruel and cold and ugly as that blind mans It cowed me more than the pain and I began to obey him at once walking straight in at the door and towards the parlour where our sick old buccaneer was sitting dazed with rum The blind man clung close to me holding me in one iron fist and leaning almost more of his weight on me than I could carry Lead me straight up to him and when Im in view cry out Heres a friend for you Bill If you dont Ill do this and with that he gave me a twitch that I thought would have made me faint Between this and that I was so utterly terrified of the blind beggar that I forgot my terror of the captain and as I opened the parlour door cried out the words he had ordered in a trembling voice
The poor captain raised his eyes and at one look the rum went out of him and left him staring sober The expression of his face was not so much of terror as of mortal sickness He made a movement to rise but I do not believe he had enough force left in his body
Now Bill sit where you are said the beggar If I cant see I can hear a finger stirring Business is business Hold out your left hand Boy take his left hand by the wrist and bring it near to my right
We both obeyed him to the letter and I saw him pass something from the hollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captains which closed upon it instantly
And now thats done said the blind man and at the words he suddenly left hold of me and with incredible accuracy and nimbleness skipped out of the parlour and into the road where as I still stood motionless I could hear his stick go taptaptapping into the distance
It was some time before either I or the captain seemed to gather our senses but at length and about at the same moment I released his wrist which I was still holding and he drew in his hand and looked sharply into the palm
Ten oclock he cried Six hours Well do them yet and he sprang to his feet
Even as he did so he reeled put his hand to his throat stood swaying for a moment and then with a peculiar sound fell from his whole height face foremost to the floor
I ran to him at once calling to my mother But haste was all in vain The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy It is a curious thing to understand for I had certainly never liked the man though of late I had begun to pity him but as soon as I saw that he was dead I burst into a flood of tears It was the second death I had known and the sorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart
4
The Seachest
I LOST no time of course in telling my mother all that I knew and perhaps should have told her long before and we saw ourselves at once in a difficult and dangerous position Some of the mans money—if he had any—was certainly due to us but it was not likely that our captains shipmates above all the two specimens seen by me Black Dog and the blind beggar would be inclined to give up their booty in payment of the dead mans debts The captains order to mount at once and ride for Doctor Livesey would have left my mother alone and unprotected which was not to be thought of Indeed it seemed impossible for either of us to remain much longer in the house the fall of coals in the kitchen grate the very ticking of the clock filled us with alarms The neighbourhood to our ears seemed haunted by approaching footsteps and what between the dead body of the captain on the parlour floor and the thought of that detestable blind beggar hovering near at hand and ready to return there were moments when as the saying goes I jumped in my skin for terror Something must speedily be resolved upon and it occurred to us at last to go forth together and seek help in the neighbouring hamlet No sooner said than done Bareheaded as we were we ran out at once in the gathering evening and the frosty fog
The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away though out of view on the other side of the next cove and what greatly encouraged me it was in an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had made his appearance and whither he had presumably returned We were not many minutes on the road though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of each other and hearken But there was no unusual sound—nothing but the low wash of the ripple and the croaking of the inmates of the wood
It was already candlelight when we reached the hamlet and I shall never forget how much I was cheered to see the yellow shine in doors and windows but that as it proved was the best of the help we were likely to get in that quarter For—you would have thought men would have been ashamed of themselves—no soul would consent to return with us to the Admiral Benbow The more we told of our troubles the more—man woman and child—they clung to the shelter of their houses The name of Captain Flint though it was strange to me was well enough known to some there and carried a great weight of terror Some of the men who had been to fieldwork on the far side of the Admiral Benbow remembered besides to have seen several strangers on the road and taking them to be smugglers to have bolted away and one at least had seen a little lugger in what we called Kitts Hole For that matter anyone who was a comrade of the captains was enough to frighten them to death And the short and the long of the matter was that while we could get several who were willing enough to ride to Dr Liveseys which lay in another direction not one would help us to defend the inn
They say cowardice is infectious but then argument is on the other hand a great emboldener and so when each had said his say my mother made them a speech She would not she declared lose money that belonged to her fatherless boy If none of the rest of you dare she said Jim and I dare Back we will go the way we came and small thanks to you big hulking chickenhearted men Well have that chest open if we die for it And Ill thank you for that bag Mrs Crossley to bring back our lawful money in
Of course I said I would go with my mother and of course they all cried out at our foolhardiness but even then not a man would go along with us All they would do was to give me a loaded pistol lest we were attacked and to promise to have horses ready saddled in case we were pursued on our return while one lad was to ride forward to the doctors in search of armed assistance
My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the cold night upon this dangerous venture A full moon was beginning to rise and peered redly through the upper edges of the fog and this increased our haste for it was plain before we came forth again that all would be as bright as day and our departure exposed to the eyes of any watchers We slipped along the hedges noiseless and swift nor did we see or hear anything to increase our terrors till to our relief the door of the Admiral Benbow had closed behind us
I slipped the bolt at once and we stood and panted for a moment in the dark alone in the house with the dead captains body Then my mother got a candle in the bar and holding each others hands we advanced into the parlour He lay as we had left him on his back with his eyes open and one arm stretched out
Draw down the blind Jim whispered my mother they might come and watch outside And now said she when I had done so we have to get the key off THAT and whos to touch it I should like to know and she gave a kind of sob as she said the words
I went down on my knees at once On the floor close to his hand there was a little round of paper blackened on the one side I could not doubt that this was the BLACK SPOT and taking it up I found written on the other side in a very good clear hand this short message You have till ten tonight
He had till ten Mother said I and just as I said it our old clock began striking This sudden noise startled us shockingly but the news was good for it was only six
Now Jim she said that key
I felt in his pockets one after another A few small coins a thimble and some thread and big needles a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away at the end his gully with the crooked handle a pocket compass and a tinder box were all that they contained and I began to despair
Perhaps its round his neck suggested my mother
Overcoming a strong repugnance I tore open his shirt at the neck and there sure enough hanging to a bit of tarry string which I cut with his own gully we found the key At this triumph we were filled with hope and hurried upstairs without delay to the little room where he had slept so long and where his box had stood since the day of his arrival
It was like any other seamans chest on the outside the initial B burned on the top of it with a hot iron and the corners somewhat smashed and broken as by long rough usage
Give me the key said my mother and though the lock was very stiff she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling
A strong smell of tobacco and tar rose from the interior but nothing was to be seen on the top except a suit of very good clothes carefully brushed and folded They had never been worn my mother said Under that the miscellany began—a quadrant a tin canikin several sticks of tobacco two brace of very handsome pistols a piece of bar silver an old Spanish watch and some other trinkets of little value and mostly of foreign make a pair of compasses mounted with brass and five or six curious West Indian shells I have often wondered since why he should have carried about these shells with him in his wandering guilty and hunted life
In the meantime we had found nothing of any value but the silver and the trinkets and neither of these were in our way Underneath there was an old boatcloak whitened with seasalt on many a harbourbar My mother pulled it up with impatience and there lay before us the last things in the chest a bundle tied up in oilcloth and looking like papers and a canvas bag that gave forth at a touch the jingle of gold
Ill show these rogues that Im an honest woman said my mother Ill have my dues and not a farthing over Hold Mrs Crossleys bag And she began to count over the amount of the captains score from the sailors bag into the one that I was holding
It was a long difficult business for the coins were of all countries and sizes—doubloons and louis dors and guineas and pieces of eight and I know not what besides all shaken together at random The guineas too were about the scarcest and it was with these only that my mother knew how to make her count
When we were about halfway through I suddenly put my hand upon her arm for I had heard in the silent frosty air a sound that brought my heart into my mouth—the taptapping of the blind mans stick upon the frozen road It drew nearer and nearer while we sat holding our breath Then it struck sharp on the inn door and then we could hear the handle being turned and the bolt rattling as the wretched being tried to enter and then there was a long time of silence both within and without At last the tapping recommenced and to our indescribable joy and gratitude died slowly away again until it ceased to be heard
Mother said I take the whole and lets be going for I was sure the bolted door must have seemed suspicious and would bring the whole hornets nest about our ears though how thankful I was that I had bolted it none could tell who had never met that terrible blind man
But my mother frightened as she was would not consent to take a fraction more than was due to her and was obstinately unwilling to be content with less It was not yet seven she said by a long way she knew her rights and she would have them and she was still arguing with me when a little low whistle sounded a good way off upon the hill That was enough and more than enough for both of us
Ill take what I have she said jumping to her feet
And Ill take this to square the count said I picking up the oilskin packet
Next moment we were both groping downstairs leaving the candle by the empty chest and the next we had opened the door and were in full retreat We had not started a moment too soon The fog was rapidly dispersing already the moon shone quite clear on the high ground on either side and it was only in the exact bottom of the dell and round the tavern door that a thin veil still hung unbroken to conceal the first steps of our escape Far less than halfway to the hamlet very little beyond the bottom of the hill we must come forth into the moonlight Nor was this all for the sound of several footsteps running came already to our ears and as we looked back in their direction a light tossing to and fro and still rapidly advancing showed that one of the newcomers carried a lantern
My dear said my mother suddenly take the money and run on I am going to faint
This was certainly the end for both of us I thought How I cursed the cowardice of the neighbours how I blamed my poor mother for her honesty and her greed for her past foolhardiness and present weakness We were just at the little bridge by good fortune and I helped her tottering as she was to the edge of the bank where sure enough she gave a sigh and fell on my shoulder I do not know how I found the strength to do it at all and I am afraid it was roughly done but I managed to drag her down the bank and a little way under the arch Farther I could not move her for the bridge was too low to let me do more than crawl below it So there we had to stay—my mother almost entirely exposed and both of us within earshot of the inn
5
The Last of the Blind Man
MY curiosity in a sense was stronger than my fear for I could not remain where I was but crept back to the bank again whence sheltering my head behind a bush of broom I might command the road before our door I was scarcely in position ere my enemies began to arrive seven or eight of them running hard their feet beating out of time along the road and the man with the lantern some paces in front Three men ran together hand in hand and I made out even through the mist that the middle man of this trio was the blind beggar The next moment his voice showed me that I was right
Down with the door he cried
Aye aye sir answered two or three and a rush was made upon the Admiral Benbow the lanternbearer following and then I could see them pause and hear speeches passed in a lower key as if they were surprised to find the door open But the pause was brief for the blind man again issued his commands His voice sounded louder and higher as if he were afire with eagerness and rage
In in in he shouted and cursed them for their delay
Four or five of them obeyed at once two remaining on the road with the formidable beggar There was a pause then a cry of surprise and then a voice shouting from the house Bills dead
But the blind man swore at them again for their delay
Search him some of you shirking lubbers and the rest of you aloft and get the chest he cried
I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs so that the house must have shook with it Promptly afterwards fresh sounds of astonishment arose the window of the captains room was thrown open with a slam and a jingle of broken glass and a man leaned out into the moonlight head and shoulders and addressed the blind beggar on the road below him
Pew he cried theyve been before us Someones turned the chest out alow and aloft
Is it there roared Pew
The moneys there
The blind man cursed the money
Flints fist I mean he cried
We dont see it here nohow returned the man
Here you below there is it on Bill cried the blind man again
At that another fellow probably him who had remained below to search the captains body came to the door of the inn Bills been overhauled aready said he nothin left
Its these people of the inn—its that boy I wish I had put his eyes out cried the blind man Pew There were no time ago—they had the door bolted when I tried it Scatter lads and find em
Sure enough they left their glim here said the fellow from the window
Scatter and find em Rout the house out reiterated Pew striking with his stick upon the road
Then there followed a great todo through all our old inn heavy feet pounding to and fro furniture thrown over doors kicked in until the very rocks reechoed and the men came out again one after another on the road and declared that we were nowhere to be found And just the same whistle that had alarmed my mother and myself over the dead captains money was once more clearly audible through the night but this time twice repeated I had thought it to be the blind mans trumpet so to speak summoning his crew to the assault but I now found that it was a signal from the hillside towards the hamlet and from its effect upon the buccaneers a signal to warn them of approaching danger
Theres Dirk again said one Twice Well have to budge mates
Budge you skulk cried Pew Dirk was a fool and a coward from the first—you wouldnt mind him They must be close by they cant be far you have your hands on it Scatter and look for them dogs Oh shiver my soul he cried if I had eyes
This appeal seemed to produce some effect for two of the fellows began to look here and there among the lumber but halfheartedly I thought and with half an eye to their own danger all the time while the rest stood irresolute on the road
You have your hands on thousands you fools and you hang a leg Youd be as rich as kings if you could find it and you know its here and you stand there skulking There wasnt one of you dared face Bill and I did it—a blind man And Im to lose my chance for you Im to be a poor crawling beggar sponging for rum when I might be rolling in a coach If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit you would catch them still
Hang it Pew weve got the doubloons grumbled one
They might have hid the blessed thing said another Take the Georges Pew and dont stand here squalling
Squalling was the word for it Pews anger rose so high at these objections till at last his passion completely taking the upper hand he struck at them right and left in his blindness and his stick sounded heavily on more than one
These in their turn cursed back at the blind miscreant threatened him in horrid terms and tried in vain to catch the stick and wrest it from his grasp
This quarrel was the saving of us for while it was still raging another sound came from the top of the hill on the side of the hamlet—the tramp of horses galloping Almost at the same time a pistolshot flash and report came from the hedge side And that was plainly the last signal of danger for the buccaneers turned at once and ran separating in every direction one seaward along the cove one slant across the hill and so on so that in half a minute not a sign of them remained but Pew Him they had deserted whether in sheer panic or out of revenge for his ill words and blows I know not but there he remained behind tapping up and down the road in a frenzy and groping and calling for his comrades Finally he took a wrong turn and ran a few steps past me towards the hamlet crying Johnny Black Dog Dirk and other names you wont leave old Pew mates—not old Pew
Just then the noise of horses topped the rise and four or five riders came in sight in the moonlight and swept at full gallop down the slope
At this Pew saw his error turned with a scream and ran straight for the ditch into which he rolled But he was on his feet again in a second and made another dash now utterly bewildered right under the nearest of the coming horses
The rider tried to save him but in vain Down went Pew with a cry that rang high into the night and the four hoofs trampled and spurned him and passed by He fell on his side then gently collapsed upon his face and moved no more
I leaped to my feet and hailed the riders They were pulling up at any rate horrified at the accident and I soon saw what they were One tailing out behind the rest was a lad that had gone from the hamlet to Dr Liveseys the rest were revenue officers whom he had met by the way and with whom he had had the intelligence to return at once Some news of the lugger in Kitts Hole had found its way to Supervisor Dance and set him forth that night in our direction and to that circumstance my mother and I owed our preservation from death
Pew was dead stone dead As for my mother when we had carried her up to the hamlet a little cold water and salts and that soon brought her back again and she was none the worse for her terror though she still continued to deplore the balance of the money In the meantime the supervisor rode on as fast as he could to Kitts Hole but his men had to dismount and grope down the dingle leading and sometimes supporting their horses and in continual fear of ambushes so it was no great matter for surprise that when they got down to the Hole the lugger was already under way though still close in He hailed her A voice replied telling him to keep out of the moonlight or he would get some lead in him and at the same time a bullet whistled close by his arm Soon after the lugger doubled the point and disappeared Mr Dance stood there as he said like a fish out of water and all he could do was to dispatch a man to B—— to warn the cutter And that said he is just about as good as nothing Theyve got off clean and theres an end Only he added Im glad I trod on Master Pews corns for by this time he had heard my story
I went back with him to the Admiral Benbow and you cannot imagine a house in such a state of smash the very clock had been thrown down by these fellows in their furious hunt after my mother and myself and though nothing had actually been taken away except the captains moneybag and a little silver from the till I could see at once that we were ruined Mr Dance could make nothing of the scene
They got the money you say Well then Hawkins what in fortune were they after More money I suppose
No sir not money I think replied I In fact sir I believe I have the thing in my breast pocket and to tell you the truth I should like to get it put in safety
To be sure boy quite right said he Ill take it if you like
I thought perhaps Dr Livesey— I began
Perfectly right he interrupted very cheerily perfectly right—a gentleman and a magistrate And now I come to think of it I might as well ride round there myself and report to him or squire Master Pews dead when alls done not that I regret it but hes dead you see and people will make it out against an officer of his Majestys revenue if make it out they can Now Ill tell you Hawkins if you like Ill take you along
I thanked him heartily for the offer and we walked back to the hamlet where the horses were By the time I had told mother of my purpose they were all in the saddle
Dogger said Mr Dance you have a good horse take up this lad behind you
As soon as I was mounted holding on to Doggers belt the supervisor gave the word and the party struck out at a bouncing trot on the road to Dr Liveseys house
6
The Captains Papers
WE rode hard all the way till we drew up before Dr Liveseys door The house was all dark to the front
Mr Dance told me to jump down and knock and Dogger gave me a stirrup to descend by The door was opened almost at once by the maid
Is Dr Livesey in I asked
No she said he had come home in the afternoon but had gone up to the hall to dine and pass the evening with the squire
So there we go boys said Mr Dance
This time as the distance was short I did not mount but ran with Doggers stirrupleather to the lodge gates and up the long leafless moonlit avenue to where the white line of the hall buildings looked on either hand on great old gardens Here Mr Dance dismounted and taking me along with him was admitted at a word into the house
The servant led us down a matted passage and showed us at the end into a great library all lined with bookcases and busts upon the top of them where the squire and Dr Livesey sat pipe in hand on either side of a bright fire
I had never seen the squire so near at hand He was a tall man over six feet high and broad in proportion and he had a bluff roughandready face all roughened and reddened and lined in his long travels His eyebrows were very black and moved readily and this gave him a look of some temper not bad you would say but quick and high
Come in Mr Dance says he very stately and condescending
Good evening Dance says the doctor with a nod And good evening to you friend Jim What good wind brings you here
The supervisor stood up straight and stiff and told his story like a lesson and you should have seen how the two gentlemen leaned forward and looked at each other and forgot to smoke in their surprise and interest When they heard how my mother went back to the inn Dr Livesey fairly slapped his thigh and the squire cried Bravo and broke his long pipe against the grate Long before it was done Mr Trelawney that you will remember was the squires name had got up from his seat and was striding about the room and the doctor as if to hear the better had taken off his powdered wig and sat there looking very strange indeed with his own closecropped black poll
At last Mr Dance finished the story
Mr Dance said the squire you are a very noble fellow And as for riding down that black atrocious miscreant I regard it as an act of virtue sir like stamping on a cockroach This lad Hawkins is a trump I perceive Hawkins will you ring that bell Mr Dance must have some ale
And so Jim said the doctor you have the thing that they were after have you
Here it is sir said I and gave him the oilskin packet
The doctor looked it all over as if his fingers were itching to open it but instead of doing that he put it quietly in the pocket of his coat
Squire said he when Dance has had his ale he must of course be off on his Majestys service but I mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep at my house and with your permission I propose we should have up the cold pie and let him sup
As you will Livesey said the squire Hawkins has earned better than cold pie
So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a sidetable and I made a hearty supper for I was as hungry as a hawk while Mr Dance was further complimented and at last dismissed
And now squire said the doctor
And now Livesey said the squire in the same breath
One at a time one at a time laughed Dr Livesey You have heard of this Flint I suppose
Heard of him cried the squire Heard of him you say He was the bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed Blackbeard was a child to Flint The Spaniards were so prodigiously afraid of him that I tell you sir I was sometimes proud he was an Englishman Ive seen his topsails with these eyes off Trinidad and the cowardly son of a rumpuncheon that I sailed with put back—put back sir into Port of Spain
Well Ive heard of him myself in England said the doctor But the point is had he money
Money cried the squire Have you heard the story What were these villains after but money What do they care for but money For what would they risk their rascal carcasses but money
That we shall soon know replied the doctor But you are so confoundedly hotheaded and exclamatory that I cannot get a word in What I want to know is this Supposing that I have here in my pocket some clue to where Flint buried his treasure will that treasure amount to much
Amount sir cried the squire It will amount to this If we have the clue you talk about I fit out a ship in Bristol dock and take you and Hawkins here along and Ill have that treasure if I search a year
Very well said the doctor Now then if Jim is agreeable well open the packet and he laid it before him on the table
The bundle was sewn together and the doctor had to get out his instrument case and cut the stitches with his medical scissors It contained two things—a book and a sealed paper
First of all well try the book observed the doctor
The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder as he opened it for Dr Livesey had kindly motioned me to come round from the sidetable where I had been eating to enjoy the sport of the search On the first page there were only some scraps of writing such as a man with a pen in his hand might make for idleness or practice One was the same as the tattoo mark Billy Bones his fancy then there was Mr W Bones mate No more rum Off Palm Key he got itt and some other snatches mostly single words and unintelligible I could not help wondering who it was that had got itt and what itt was that he got A knife in his back as like as not
Not much instruction there said Dr Livesey as he passed on
The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a curious series of entries There was a date at one end of the line and at the other a sum of money as in common accountbooks but instead of explanatory writing only a varying number of crosses between the two On the 12th of June 1745 for instance a sum of seventy pounds had plainly become due to someone and there was nothing but six crosses to explain the cause In a few cases to be sure the name of a place would be added as Offe Caraccas or a mere entry of latitude and longitude as 62o 17 20 19o 2 40
The record lasted over nearly twenty years the amount of the separate entries growing larger as time went on and at the end a grand total had been made out after five or six wrong additions and these words appended Bones his pile
I cant make head or tail of this said Dr Livesey
The thing is as clear as noonday cried the squire This is the blackhearted hounds accountbook These crosses stand for the names of ships or towns that they sank or plundered The sums are the scoundrels share and where he feared an ambiguity you see he added something clearer Offe Caraccas now you see here was some unhappy vessel boarded off that coast God help the poor souls that manned her—coral long ago
Right said the doctor See what it is to be a traveller Right And the amounts increase you see as he rose in rank
There was little else in the volume but a few bearings of places noted in the blank leaves towards the end and a table for reducing French English and Spanish moneys to a common value
Thrifty man cried the doctor He wasnt the one to be cheated
And now said the squire for the other
The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble by way of seal the very thimble perhaps that I had found in the captains pocket The doctor opened the seals with great care and there fell out the map of an island with latitude and longitude soundings names of hills and bays and inlets and every particular that would be needed to bring a ship to a safe anchorage upon its shores It was about nine miles long and five across shaped you might say like a fat dragon standing up and had two fine landlocked harbours and a hill in the centre part marked The Spyglass There were several additions of a later date but above all three crosses of red ink—two on the north part of the island one in the southwest—and beside this last in the same red ink and in a small neat hand very different from the captains tottery characters these words Bulk of treasure here
Over on the back the same hand had written this further information
Tall tree Spyglass shoulder bearing a point to
the N of NNE
Skeleton Island ESE 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 sandhill N
point of north inlet cape bearing E and a
quarter N
JF
That was all but brief as it was and to me incomprehensible it filled the squire and Dr Livesey with delight
Livesey said the squire you will give up this wretched practice at once Tomorrow I start for Bristol In three weeks time—three weeks—two weeks—ten days—well have the best ship sir and the choicest crew in England Hawkins shall come as cabinboy Youll make a famous cabinboy Hawkins You Livesey are ships doctor I am admiral Well take Redruth Joyce and Hunter Well have favourable winds a quick passage and not the least difficulty in finding the spot and money to eat to roll in to play duck and drake with ever after
Trelawney said the doctor Ill go with you and Ill go bail for it so will Jim and be a credit to the undertaking Theres only one man Im afraid of
And whos that cried the squire Name the dog sir
You replied the doctor for you cannot hold your tongue We are not the only men who know of this paper These fellows who attacked the inn tonight—bold desperate blades for sure—and the rest who stayed aboard that lugger and more I dare say not far off are one and all through thick and thin bound that theyll get that money We must none of us go alone till we get to sea Jim and I shall stick together in the meanwhile youll take Joyce and Hunter when you ride to Bristol and from first to last not one of us must breathe a word of what weve found
Livesey returned the squire you are always in the right of it Ill be as silent as the grave
PART TWO—The Seacook
7
I Go to Bristol
IT was longer than the squire imagined ere we were ready for the sea and none of our first plans—not even Dr Liveseys of keeping me beside him—could be carried out as we intended The doctor had to go to London for a physician to take charge of his practice the squire was hard at work at Bristol and I lived on at the hall under the charge of old Redruth the gamekeeper almost a prisoner but full of seadreams and the most charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures I brooded by the hour together over the map all the details of which I well remembered Sitting by the fire in the housekeepers room I approached that island in my fancy from every possible direction I explored every acre of its surface I climbed a thousand times to that tall hill they call the Spyglass and from the top enjoyed the most wonderful and changing prospects Sometimes the isle was thick with savages with whom we fought sometimes full of dangerous animals that hunted us but in all my fancies nothing occurred to me so strange and tragic as our actual adventures
So the weeks passed on till one fine day there came a letter addressed to Dr Livesey with this addition To be opened in the case of his absence by Tom Redruth or young Hawkins Obeying this order we found or rather I found—for the gamekeeper was a poor hand at reading anything but print—the following important news
Old Anchor Inn Bristol March 1 17—
Dear Livesey—As I do not know whether you
are at the hall or still in London I send this in
double to both places
The ship is bought and fitted She lies at
anchor ready for sea You never imagined a
sweeter schooner—a child might sail her—two
hundred tons name HISPANIOLA
I got her through my old friend Blandly who
has proved himself throughout the most surprising
trump The admirable fellow literally slaved in
my interest and so I may say did everyone in
Bristol as soon as they got wind of the port we
sailed for—treasure I mean
Redruth said I interrupting the letter Dr Livesey will not like that The squire has been talking after all
Well whos a better right growled the gamekeeper A pretty rum go if squire aint 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 publichouse 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 ships 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
countrys 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 freshwater
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 Its 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 dont 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 manowar 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 bankers 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
PPS—Hawkins may stay one night with his
mother
J T
You can fancy the excitement into which that letter put me I was half beside myself with glee and if ever I despised a man it was old Tom Redruth who could do nothing but grumble and lament Any of the undergamekeepers would gladly have changed places with him but such was not the squires pleasure and the squires pleasure was like law among them all Nobody but old Redruth would have dared so much as even to grumble
The next morning he and I set out on foot for the Admiral Benbow and there I found my mother in good health and spirits The captain who had so long been a cause of so much discomfort was gone where the wicked cease from troubling The squire had had everything repaired and the public rooms and the sign repainted and had added some furniture—above all a beautiful armchair for mother in the bar He had found her a boy as an apprentice also so that she should not want help while I was gone
It was on seeing that boy that I understood for the first time my situation I had thought up to that moment of the adventures before me not at all of the home that I was leaving and now at sight of this clumsy stranger who was to stay here in my place beside my mother I had my first attack of tears I am afraid I led that boy a dogs life for as he was new to the work I had a hundred opportunities of setting him right and putting him down and I was not slow to profit by them
The night passed and the next day after dinner Redruth and I were afoot again and on the road I said goodbye to Mother and the cove where I had lived since I was born and the dear old Admiral Benbow—since he was repainted no longer quite so dear One of my last thoughts was of the captain who had so often strode along the beach with his cocked hat his sabrecut cheek and his old brass telescope Next moment we had turned the corner and my home was out of sight
The mail picked us up about dusk at the Royal George on the heath I was wedged in between Redruth and a stout old gentleman and in spite of the swift motion and the cold night air I must have dozed a great deal from the very first and then slept like a log up hill and down dale through stage after stage for when I was awakened at last it was by a punch in the ribs and I opened my eyes to find that we were standing still before a large building in a city street and that the day had already broken a long time
Where are we I asked
Bristol said Tom Get down
Mr Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn far down the docks to superintend the work upon the schooner Thither we had now to walk and our way to my great delight lay along the quays and beside the great multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations In one sailors were singing at their work in another there were men aloft high over my head hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than a spiders Though I had lived by the shore all my life I seemed never to have been near the sea till then The smell of tar and salt was something new I saw the most wonderful figureheads that had all been far over the ocean I saw besides many old sailors with rings in their ears and whiskers curled in ringlets and tarry pigtails and their swaggering clumsy seawalk and if I had seen as many kings or archbishops I could not have been more delighted
And I was going to sea myself to sea in a schooner with a piping boatswain and pigtailed singing seamen to sea bound for an unknown island and to seek for buried treasure
While I was still in this delightful dream we came suddenly in front of a large inn and met Squire Trelawney all dressed out like a seaofficer in stout blue cloth coming out of the door with a smile on his face and a capital imitation of a sailors walk
Here you are he cried and the doctor came last night from London Bravo The ships company complete
Oh sir cried I when do we sail
Sail says he We sail tomorrow
8
At the Sign of the Spyglass
WHEN I had done breakfasting the squire gave me a note addressed to John Silver at the sign of the Spyglass and told me I should easily find the place by following the line of the docks and keeping a bright lookout for a little tavern with a large brass telescope for sign I set off overjoyed at this opportunity to see some more of the ships and seamen and picked my way among a great crowd of people and carts and bales for the dock was now at its busiest until I found the tavern in question
It was a bright enough little place of entertainment The sign was newly painted the windows had neat red curtains the floor was cleanly sanded There was a street on each side and an open door on both which made the large low room pretty clear to see in in spite of clouds of tobacco smoke
The customers were mostly seafaring men and they talked so loudly that I hung at the door almost afraid to enter
As I was waiting a man came out of a side room and at a glance I was sure he must be Long John His left leg was cut off close by the hip and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch which he managed with wonderful dexterity hopping about upon it like a bird He was very tall and strong with a face as big as a ham—plain and pale but intelligent and smiling Indeed he seemed in the most cheerful spirits whistling as he moved about among the tables with a merry word or a slap on the shoulder for the more favoured of his guests
Now to tell you the truth from the very first mention of Long John in Squire Trelawneys letter I had taken a fear in my mind that he might prove to be the very onelegged sailor whom I had watched for so long at the old Benbow But one look at the man before me was enough I had seen the captain and Black Dog and the blind man Pew and I thought I knew what a buccaneer was like—a very different creature according to me from this clean and pleasanttempered landlord
I plucked up courage at once crossed the threshold and walked right up to the man where he stood propped on his crutch talking to a customer
Mr Silver sir I asked holding out the note
Yes my lad said he such is my name to be sure And who may you be And then as he saw the squires letter he seemed to me to give something almost like a start
Oh said he quite loud and offering his hand I see You are our new cabinboy pleased I am to see you
And he took my hand in his large firm grasp
Just then one of the customers at the far side rose suddenly and made for the door It was close by him and he was out in the street in a moment But his hurry had attracted my notice and I recognized him at glance It was the tallowfaced man wanting two fingers who had come first to the Admiral Benbow
Oh I cried stop him Its Black Dog
I dont care two coppers who he is cried Silver But he hasnt paid his score Harry run and catch him
One of the others who was nearest the door leaped up and started in pursuit
If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score cried Silver and then relinquishing my hand Who did you say he was he asked Black what
Dog sir said I Has Mr Trelawney not told you of the buccaneers He was one of them
So cried Silver In my house Ben run and help Harry One of those swabs was he Was that you drinking with him Morgan Step up here
The man whom he called Morgan—an old greyhaired mahoganyfaced sailor—came forward pretty sheepishly rolling his quid
Now Morgan said Long John very sternly you never clapped your eyes on that Black—Black Dog before did you now
Not I sir said Morgan with a salute
You didnt know his name did you
No sir
By the powers Tom Morgan its as good for you exclaimed the landlord If you had been mixed up with the like of that you would never have put another foot in my house you may lay to that And what was he saying to you
I dont rightly know sir answered Morgan
Do you call that a head on your shoulders or a blessed deadeye cried Long John Dont rightly know dont you Perhaps you dont happen to rightly know who you was speaking to perhaps Come now what was he jawing—vyages capns ships Pipe up What was it
We was atalkin of keelhauling answered Morgan
Keelhauling was you And a mighty suitable thing too and you may lay to that Get back to your place for a lubber Tom
And then as Morgan rolled back to his seat Silver added to me in a confidential whisper that was very flattering as I thought Hes quite an honest man Tom Morgan ony stupid And now he ran on again aloud lets see—Black Dog No I dont know the name not I Yet I kind of think Ive—yes Ive seen the swab He used to come here with a blind beggar he used
That he did you may be sure said I I knew that blind man too His name was Pew
It was cried Silver now quite excited Pew That were his name for certain Ah he looked a shark he did If we run down this Black Dog now therell be news for Capn Trelawney Bens a good runner few seamen run better than Ben He should run him down hand over hand by the powers He talked o keelhauling did he ILL keelhaul him
All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was stumping up and down the tavern on his crutch slapping tables with his hand and giving such a show of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge or a Bow Street runner My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened on finding Black Dog at the Spyglass and I watched the cook narrowly But he was too deep and too ready and too clever for me and by the time the two men had come back out of breath and confessed that they had lost the track in a crowd and been scolded like thieves I would have gone bail for the innocence of Long John Silver
See here now Hawkins said he heres a blessed hard thing on a man like me now aint it Theres Capn Trelawney—whats he to think Here I have this confounded son of a Dutchman sitting in my own house drinking of my own rum Here you comes and tells me of it plain and here I let him give us all the slip before my blessed deadlights Now Hawkins you do me justice with the capn Youre a lad you are but youre as smart as paint I see that when you first come in Now here it is What could I do with this old timber I hobble on When I was an A B master mariner Id have come up alongside of him hand over hand and broached him to in a brace of old shakes I would but now—
And then all of a sudden he stopped and his jaw dropped as though he had remembered something
The score he burst out Three goes o rum Why shiver my timbers if I hadnt 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 seacalf I am he said at last wiping his cheeks You and me should get on well Hawkins for Ill take my davy I should be rated ships boy But come now stand by to go about This wont do Dooty is dooty messmates Ill put on my old cockerel hat and step along of you to Capn Trelawney and report this here affair For mind you its serious young Hawkins and neither you nor mes come out of it with what I should make so bold as to call credit Nor you neither says you not smart—none of the pair of us smart But dash my buttons That was a good un about my score
And he began to laugh again and that so heartily that though I did not see the joke as he did I was again obliged to join him in his mirth
On our little walk along the quays he made himself the most interesting companion telling me about the different ships that we passed by their rig tonnage and nationality explaining the work that was going forward—how one was discharging another taking in cargo and a third making ready for sea—and every now and then telling me some little anecdote of ships or seamen or repeating a nautical phrase till I had learned it perfectly I began to see that here was one of the best of possible shipmates
When we got to the inn the squire and Dr Livesey were seated together finishing a quart of ale with a toast in it before they should go aboard the schooner on a visit of inspection
Long John told the story from first to last with a great deal of spirit and the most perfect truth That was how it were now werent it Hawkins he would say now and again and I could always bear him entirely out
The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had got away but we all agreed there was nothing to be done and after he had been complimented Long John took up his crutch and departed
All hands aboard by four this afternoon shouted the squire after him
Aye aye sir cried the cook in the passage
Well squire said Dr Livesey I dont put much faith in your discoveries as a general thing but I will say this John Silver suits me
The mans a perfect trump declared the squire
And now added the doctor Jim may come on board with us may he not
To be sure he may says squire Take your hat Hawkins and well see the ship
9
Powder and Arms
THE HISPANIOLA lay some way out and we went under the figureheads and round the sterns of many other ships and their cables sometimes grated underneath our keel and sometimes swung above us At last however we got alongside and were met and saluted as we stepped aboard by the mate Mr Arrow a brown old sailor with earrings in his ears and a squint He and the squire were very thick and friendly but I soon observed that things were not the same between Mr Trelawney and the captain
This last was a sharplooking man who seemed angry with everything on board and was soon to tell us why for we had hardly got down into the cabin when a sailor followed us
Captain Smollett sir axing to speak with you said he
I am always at the captains orders Show him in said the squire
The captain who was close behind his messenger entered at once and shut the door behind him
Well Captain Smollett what have you to say All well I hope all shipshape and seaworthy
Well sir said the captain better speak plain I believe even at the risk of offence I dont like this cruise I dont like the men and I dont like my officer Thats short and sweet
Perhaps sir you dont like the ship inquired the squire very angry as I could see
I cant speak as to that sir not having seen her tried said the captain She seems a clever craft more I cant say
Possibly sir you may not like your employer either says the squire
But here Dr Livesey cut in
Stay a bit said he stay a bit No use of such questions as that but to produce ill feeling The captain has said too much or he has said too little and Im bound to say that I require an explanation of his words You dont you say like this cruise Now why
I was engaged sir on what we call sealed orders to sail this ship for that gentleman where he should bid me said the captain So far so good But now I find that every man before the mast knows more than I do I dont call that fair now do you
No said Dr Livesey I dont
Next said the captain I learn we are going after treasure—hear it from my own hands mind you Now treasure is ticklish work I dont like treasure voyages on any account and I dont like them above all when they are secret and when begging your pardon Mr Trelawney the secret has been told to the parrot
Silvers parrot asked the squire
Its a way of speaking said the captain Blabbed I mean Its my belief neither of you gentlemen know what you are about but Ill tell you my way of it—life or death and a close run
That is all clear and I dare say true enough replied Dr Livesey We take the risk but we are not so ignorant as you believe us Next you say you dont like the crew Are they not good seamen
I dont like them sir returned Captain Smollett And I think I should have had the choosing of my own hands if you go to that
Perhaps you should replied the doctor My friend should perhaps have taken you along with him but the slight if there be one was unintentional And you dont like Mr Arrow
I dont sir I believe hes a good seaman but hes too free with the crew to be a good officer A mate should keep himself to himself—shouldnt drink with the men before the mast
Do you mean he drinks cried the squire
No sir replied the captain only that hes 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 youve heard me very patiently saying things that I could not prove hear me a few words more They are putting the powder and the arms in the fore hold Now you have a good place under the cabin why not put them there—first point Then you are bringing four of your own people with you and they tell me some of them are to be berthed forward Why not give them the berths here beside the cabin—second point
Any more asked Mr Trelawney
One more said the captain Theres been too much blabbing already
Far too much agreed the doctor
Ill tell you what Ive heard myself continued Captain Smollett that you have a map of an island that theres crosses on the map to show where treasure is and that the island lies— And then he named the latitude and longitude exactly
I never told that cried the squire to a soul
The hands know it sir returned the captain
Livesey that must have been you or Hawkins cried the squire
It doesnt much matter who it was replied the doctor And I could see that neither he nor the captain paid much regard to Mr Trelawneys protestations Neither did I to be sure he was so loose a talker yet in this case I believe he was really right and that nobody had told the situation of the island
Well gentlemen continued the captain I dont know who has this map but I make it a point it shall be kept secret even from me and Mr Arrow Otherwise I would ask you to let me resign
I see said the doctor You wish us to keep this matter dark and to make a garrison of the stern part of the ship manned with my friends own people and provided with all the arms and powder on board In other words you fear a mutiny
Sir said Captain Smollett with no intention to take offence I deny your right to put words into my mouth No captain sir would be justified in going to sea at all if he had ground enough to say that As for Mr Arrow I believe him thoroughly honest some of the men are the same all may be for what I know But I am responsible for the ships safety and the life of every man Jack aboard of her I see things going as I think not quite right And I ask you to take certain precautions or let me resign my berth And thats all
Captain Smollett began the doctor with a smile did ever you hear the fable of the mountain and the mouse Youll excuse me I dare say but you remind me of that fable When you came in here Ill stake my wig you meant more than this
Doctor said the captain you are smart When I came in here I meant to get discharged I had no thought that Mr Trelawney would hear a word
No more I would cried the squire Had Livesey not been here I should have seen you to the deuce As it is I have heard you I will do as you desire but I think the worse of you
Thats as you please sir said the captain Youll find I do my duty
And with that he took his leave
Trelawney said the doctor contrary to all my notions I believed you have managed to get two honest men on board with you—that man and John Silver
Silver if you like cried the squire but as for that intolerable humbug I declare I think his conduct unmanly unsailorly and downright unEnglish
Well says the doctor we shall see
When we came on deck the men had begun already to take out the arms and powder yohoing at their work while the captain and Mr Arrow stood by superintending
The new arrangement was quite to my liking The whole schooner had been overhauled six berths had been made astern out of what had been the afterpart of the main hold and this set of cabins was only joined to the galley and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port side It had been originally meant that the captain Mr Arrow Hunter Joyce the doctor and the squire were to occupy these six berths Now Redruth and I were to get two of them and Mr Arrow and the captain were to sleep on deck in the companion which had been enlarged on each side till you might almost have called it a roundhouse Very low it was still of course but there was room to swing two hammocks and even the mate seemed pleased with the arrangement Even he perhaps had been doubtful as to the crew but that is only guess for as you shall hear we had not long the benefit of his opinion
We were all hard at work changing the powder and the berths when the last man or two and Long John along with them came off in a shoreboat
The cook came up the side like a monkey for cleverness and as soon as he saw what was doing So ho mates says he Whats this
Were achanging of the powder Jack answers one
Why by the powers cried Long John if we do well miss the morning tide
My orders said the captain shortly You may go below my man Hands will want supper
Aye aye sir answered the cook and touching his forelock he disappeared at once in the direction of his galley
Thats a good man captain said the doctor
Very likely sir replied Captain Smollett Easy with that men—easy he ran on to the fellows who were shifting the powder and then suddenly observing me examining the swivel we carried amidships a long brass nine Here you ships boy he cried out o that Off with you to the cook and get some work
And then as I was hurrying off I heard him say quite loudly to the doctor Ill have no favourites on my ship
I assure you I was quite of the squires way of thinking and hated the captain deeply
10
The Voyage
ALL that night we were in a great bustle getting things stowed in their place and boatfuls of the squires friends Mr Blandly and the like coming off to wish him a good voyage and a safe return We never had a night at the Admiral Benbow when I had half the work and I was dogtired when a little before dawn the boatswain sounded his pipe and the crew began to man the capstanbars I might have been twice as weary yet I would not have left the deck all was so new and interesting to me—the brief commands the shrill note of the whistle the men bustling to their places in the glimmer of the ships lanterns
Now Barbecue tip us a stave cried one voice
The old one cried another
Aye aye mates said Long John who was standing by with his crutch under his arm and at once broke out in the air and words I knew so well
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest—
And then the whole crew bore chorus—
Yohoho and a bottle of rum
And at the third Ho drove the bars before them with a will
Even at that exciting moment it carried me back to the old Admiral Benbow in a second and I seemed to hear the voice of the captain piping in the chorus But soon the anchor was short up soon it was hanging dripping at the bows soon the sails began to draw and the land and shipping to flit by on either side and before I could lie down to snatch an hour of slumber the HISPANIOLA had begun her voyage to the Isle of Treasure
I am not going to relate that voyage in detail It was fairly prosperous The ship proved to be a good ship the crew were capable seamen and the captain thoroughly understood his business But before we came the length of Treasure Island two or three things had happened which require to be known
Mr Arrow first of all turned out even worse than the captain had feared He had no command among the men and people did what they pleased with him But that was by no means the worst of it for after a day or two at sea he began to appear on deck with hazy eye red cheeks stuttering tongue and other marks of drunkenness Time after time he was ordered below in disgrace Sometimes he fell and cut himself sometimes he lay all day long in his little bunk at one side of the companion sometimes for a day or two he would be almost sober and attend to his work at least passably
In the meantime we could never make out where he got the drink That was the ships mystery Watch him as we pleased we could do nothing to solve it and when we asked him to his face he would only laugh if he were drunk and if he were sober deny solemnly that he ever tasted anything but water
He was not only useless as an officer and a bad influence amongst the men but it was plain that at this rate he must soon kill himself outright so nobody was much surprised nor very sorry when one dark night with a head sea he disappeared entirely and was seen no more
Overboard said the captain Well gentlemen that saves the trouble of putting him in irons
But there we were without a mate and it was necessary of course to advance one of the men The boatswain Job Anderson was the likeliest man aboard and though he kept his old title he served in a way as mate Mr Trelawney had followed the sea and his knowledge made him very useful for he often took a watch himself in easy weather And the coxswain Israel Hands was a careful wily old experienced seaman who could be trusted at a pinch with almost anything
He was a great confidant of Long John Silver and so the mention of his name leads me on to speak of our ships cook Barbecue as the men called him
Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round his neck to have both hands as free as possible It was something to see him wedge the foot of the crutch against a bulkhead and propped against it yielding to every movement of the ship get on with his cooking like someone safe ashore Still more strange was it to see him in the heaviest of weather cross the deck He had a line or two rigged up to help him across the widest spaces—Long Johns earrings they were called and he would hand himself from one place to another now using the crutch now trailing it alongside by the lanyard as quickly as another man could walk Yet some of the men who had sailed with him before expressed their pity to see him so reduced
Hes no common man Barbecue said the coxswain to me He had good schooling in his young days and can speak like a book when so minded and brave—a lions nothing alongside of Long John I seen him grapple four and knock their heads together—him unarmed
All the crew respected and even obeyed him He had a way of talking to each and doing everybody some particular service To me he was unweariedly kind and always glad to see me in the galley which he kept as clean as a new pin the dishes hanging up burnished and his parrot in a cage in one corner
Come away Hawkins he would say come and have a yarn with John Nobody more welcome than yourself my son Sit you down and hear the news Heres Capn Flint—I calls my parrot Capn Flint after the famous buccaneer—heres Capn Flint predicting success to our vyage Wasnt you capn
And the parrot would say with great rapidity Pieces of eight Pieces of eight Pieces of eight till you wondered that it was not out of breath or till John threw his handkerchief over the cage
Now that bird he would say is maybe two hundred years old Hawkins—they live forever mostly and if anybodys seen more wickedness it must be the devil himself Shes sailed with England the great Capn England the pirate Shes been at Madagascar and at Malabar and Surinam and Providence and Portobello She was at the fishing up of the wrecked plate ships Its there she learned Pieces of eight and little wonder three hundred and fifty thousand of em Hawkins She was at the boarding of the viceroy of the Indies out of Goa she was and to look at her you would think she was a babby But you smelt powder—didnt you capn
Stand by to go about the parrot would scream
Ah shes a handsome craft she is the cook would say and give her sugar from his pocket and then the bird would peck at the bars and swear straight on passing belief for wickedness There John would add you cant touch pitch and not be mucked lad Heres this poor old innocent bird o mine swearing blue fire and none the wiser you may lay to that She would swear the same in a manner of speaking before chaplain And John would touch his forelock with a solemn way he had that made me think he was the best of men
In the meantime the squire and Captain Smollett were still on pretty distant terms with one another The squire made no bones about the matter he despised the captain The captain on his part never spoke but when he was spoken to and then sharp and short and dry and not a word wasted He owned when driven into a corner that he seemed to have been wrong about the crew that some of them were as brisk as he wanted to see and all had behaved fairly well As for the ship he had taken a downright fancy to her Shell lie a point nearer the wind than a man has a right to expect of his own married wife sir But he would add all I say is were not home again and I dont like the cruise
The squire at this would turn away and march up and down the deck chin in air
A trifle more of that man he would say and I shall explode
We had some heavy weather which only proved the qualities of the HISPANIOLA Every man on board seemed well content and they must have been hard to please if they had been otherwise for it is my belief there was never a ships 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 mans birthday and always a barrel of apples standing broached in the waist for anyone to help himself that had a fancy
Never knew good come of it yet the captain said to Dr Livesey Spoil forecastle hands make devils Thats my belief
But good did come of the apple barrel as you shall hear for if it had not been for that we should have had no note of warning and might all have perished by the hand of treachery
This was how it came about
We had run up the trades to get the wind of the island we were after—I am not allowed to be more plain—and now we were running down for it with a bright lookout day and night It was about the last day of our outward voyage by the largest computation some time that night or at latest before noon of the morrow we should sight the Treasure Island We were heading SSW and had a steady breeze abeam and a quiet sea The HISPANIOLA rolled steadily dipping her bowsprit now and then with a whiff of spray All was drawing alow and aloft everyone was in the bravest spirits because we were now so near an end of the first part of our adventure
Now just after sundown when all my work was over and I was on my way to my berth it occurred to me that I should like an apple I ran on deck The watch was all forward looking out for the island The man at the helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gently to himself and that was the only sound excepting the swish of the sea against the bows and around the sides of the ship
In I got bodily into the apple barrel and found there was scarce an apple left but sitting down there in the dark what with the sound of the waters and the rocking movement of the ship I had either fallen asleep or was on the point of doing so when a heavy man sat down with rather a clash close by The barrel shook as he leaned his shoulders against it and I was just about to jump up when the man began to speak It was Silvers voice and before I had heard a dozen words I would not have shown myself for all the world but lay there trembling and listening in the extreme of fear and curiosity for from these dozen words I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard depended upon me alone
11
What I Heard in the Apple Barrel
NO not I said Silver Flint was capn I was quartermaster along of my timber leg The same broadside I lost my leg old Pew lost his deadlights It was a master surgeon him that ampytated me—out of college and all—Latin by the bucket and what not but he was hanged like a dog and sundried like the rest at Corso Castle That was Roberts men that was and comed of changing names to their ships—ROYAL FORTUNE and so on Now what a ship was christened so let her stay I says So it was with the CASSANDRA as brought us all safe home from Malabar after England took the viceroy of the Indies so it was with the old WALRUS Flints old ship as Ive seen amuck with the red blood and fit to sink with gold
Ah cried another voice that of the youngest hand on board and evidently full of admiration He was the flower of the flock was Flint
Davis was a man too by all accounts said Silver I never sailed along of him first with England then with Flint thats my story and now here on my own account in a manner of speaking I laid by nine hundred safe from England and two thousand after Flint That aint bad for a man before the mast—all safe in bank Taint earning now its saving does it you may lay to that Wheres all Englands men now I dunno Wheres Flints Why most on em aboard here and glad to get the duff—been begging before that some on em Old Pew as had lost his sight and might have thought shame spends twelve hundred pound in a year like a lord in Parliament Where is he now Well hes dead now and under hatches but for two year before that shiver my timbers the man was starving He begged and he stole and he cut throats and starved at that by the powers
Well it aint much use after all said the young seaman
Taint much use for fools you may lay to it—that nor nothing cried Silver But now you look here youre young you are but youre as smart as paint I see that when I set my eyes on you and Ill talk to you like a man
You may imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable old rogue addressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had used to myself I think if I had been able that I would have killed him through the barrel Meantime he ran on little supposing he was overheard
Here it is about gentlemen of fortune They lives rough and they risk swinging but they eat and drink like fightingcocks and when a cruise is done why its hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthings in their pockets Now the most goes for rum and a good fling and to sea again in their shirts But thats not the course I lay I puts it all away some here some there and none too much anywheres by reason of suspicion Im fifty mark you once back from this cruise I set up gentleman in earnest Time enough too says you Ah but Ive lived easy in the meantime never denied myself o nothing heart desires and slep soft and ate dainty all my days but when at sea And how did I begin Before the mast like you
Well said the other but all the other moneys gone now aint it You darent show face in Bristol after this
Why where might you suppose it was asked Silver derisively
At Bristol in banks and places answered his companion
It were said the cook it were when we weighed anchor But my old missis has it all by now And the Spyglass is sold lease and goodwill and rigging and the old girls off to meet me I would tell you where for I trust you but itd make jealousy among the mates
And can you trust your missis asked the other
Gentlemen of fortune returned the cook usually trusts little among themselves and right they are you may lay to it But I have a way with me I have When a mate brings a slip on his cable—one as knows me I mean—it wont be in the same world with old John There was some that was feared of Pew and some that was feared of Flint but Flint his own self was feared of me Feared he was and proud They was the roughest crew afloat was Flints the devil himself would have been feared to go to sea with them Well now I tell you Im not a boasting man and you seen yourself how easy I keep company but when I was quartermaster LAMBS wasnt the word for Flints old buccaneers Ah you may be sure of yourself in old Johns ship
Well I tell you now replied the lad I didnt half a quarter like the job till I had this talk with you John but theres my hand on it now
And a brave lad you were and smart too answered Silver shaking hands so heartily that all the barrel shook and a finer figurehead for a gentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on
By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of their terms By a gentleman of fortune they plainly meant neither more nor less than a common pirate and the little scene that I had overheard was the last act in the corruption of one of the honest hands—perhaps of the last one left aboard But on this point I was soon to be relieved for Silver giving a little whistle a third man strolled up and sat down by the party
Dicks square said Silver
Oh I knowd Dick was square returned the voice of the coxswain Israel Hands Hes no fool is Dick And he turned his quid and spat But look here he went on heres what I want to know Barbecue how long are we agoing to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat Ive had amost enough o Capn Smollett hes hazed me long enough by thunder I want to go into that cabin I do I want their pickles and wines and that
Israel said Silver your head aint much account nor ever was But youre able to hear I reckon leastways your ears is big enough Now heres what I say youll berth forward and youll live hard and youll speak soft and youll keep sober till I give the word and you may lay to that my son
Well I dont say no do I growled the coxswain What I say is when Thats what I say
When By the powers cried Silver Well now if you want to know Ill tell you when The last moment I can manage and thats when Heres a firstrate seaman Capn Smollett sails the blessed ship for us Heres this squire and doctor with a map and such—I dont know where it is do I No more do you says you Well then I mean this squire and doctor shall find the stuff and help us to get it aboard by the powers Then well see If I was sure of you all sons of double Dutchmen Id have Capn Smollett navigate us halfway back again before I struck
Why were all seamen aboard here I should think said the lad Dick
Were all forecastle hands you mean snapped Silver We can steer a course but whos to set one Thats what all you gentlemen split on first and last If I had my way Id have Capn Smollett work us back into the trades at least then wed have no blessed miscalculations and a spoonful of water a day But I know the sort you are Ill finish with em at the island as soons the blunts on board and a pity it is But youre never happy till youre drunk Split my sides Ive a sick heart to sail with the likes of you
Easy all Long John cried Israel Whos acrossin of you
Why how many tall ships think ye now have I seen laid aboard And how many brisk lads drying in the sun at Execution Dock cried Silver And all for this same hurry and hurry and hurry You hear me I seen a thing or two at sea I have If you would ony lay your course and a pint to windward you would ride in carriages you would But not you I know you Youll have your mouthful of rum tomorrow and go hang
Everybody knowed you was a kind of a chapling John but theres others as could hand and steer as well as you said Israel They liked a bit o fun they did They wasnt so high and dry nohow but took their fling like jolly companions every one
So says Silver Well and where are they now Pew was that sort and he died a beggarman Flint was and he died of rum at Savannah Ah they was a sweet crew they was Ony where are they
But asked Dick when we do lay em athwart what are we to do with em anyhow
Theres the man for me cried the cook admiringly Thats what I call business Well what would you think Put em ashore like maroons That would have been Englands way Or cut em down like that much pork That would have been Flints or Billy Boness
Billy was the man for that said Israel Dead men dont bite says he Well hes 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 Im an easy man—Im quite the gentleman says you but this time its serious Dooty is dooty mates I give my vote—death When Im in Parlyment and riding in my coach I dont want none of these sealawyers in the cabin acoming 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 youre a man
Youll say so Israel when you see said Silver Only one thing I claim—I claim Trelawney Ill wring his calfs head off his body with these hands Dick he added breaking off You just jump up like a sweet lad and get me an apple to wet my pipe like
You may fancy the terror I was in I should have leaped out and run for it if I had found the strength but my limbs and heart alike misgave me I heard Dick begin to rise and then someone seemingly stopped him and the voice of Hands exclaimed Oh stow that Dont you get sucking of that bilge John Lets have a go of the rum
Dick said Silver I trust you Ive a gauge on the keg mind Theres the key you fill a pannikin and bring it up
Terrified as I was I could not help thinking to myself that this must have been how Mr Arrow got the strong waters that destroyed him
Dick was gone but a little while and during his absence Israel spoke straight on in the cooks ear It was but a word or two that I could catch and yet I gathered some important news for besides other scraps that tended to the same purpose this whole clause was audible Not another man of themll jine Hence there were still faithful men on board
When Dick returned one after another of the trio took the pannikin and drank—one To luck another with a Heres to old Flint and Silver himself saying in a kind of song Heres to ourselves and hold your luff plenty of prizes and plenty of duff
Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel and looking up I found the moon had risen and was silvering the mizzentop and shining white on the luff of the foresail and almost at the same time the voice of the lookout shouted Land ho
12
Council of War
THERE was a great rush of feet across the deck I could hear people tumbling up from the cabin and the forecastle and slipping in an instant outside my barrel I dived behind the foresail made a double towards the stern and came out upon the open deck in time to join Hunter and Dr Livesey in the rush for the weather bow
There all hands were already congregated A belt of fog had lifted almost simultaneously with the appearance of the moon Away to the southwest of us we saw two low hills about a couple of miles apart and rising behind one of them a third and higher hill whose peak was still buried in the fog All three seemed sharp and conical in figure
So much I saw almost in a dream for I had not yet recovered from my horrid fear of a minute or two before And then I heard the voice of Captain Smollett issuing orders The HISPANIOLA was laid a couple of points nearer the wind and now sailed a course that would just clear the island on the east
And now men said the captain when all was sheeted home has any one of you ever seen that land ahead
I have sir said Silver Ive watered there with a trader I was cook in
The anchorage is on the south behind an islet I fancy asked the captain
Yes sir Skeleton Island they calls it It were a main place for pirates once and a hand we had on board knowed all their names for it That hill to the norard they calls the Foremast Hill there are three hills in a row running southard—fore main and mizzen sir But the main—thats the big un with the cloud on it—they usually calls the Spyglass by reason of a lookout they kept when they was in the anchorage cleaning for its there they cleaned their ships sir asking your pardon
I have a chart here says Captain Smollett See if thats the place
Long Johns eyes burned in his head as he took the chart but by the fresh look of the paper I knew he was doomed to disappointment This was not the map we found in Billy Boness chest but an accurate copy complete in all things—names and heights and soundings—with the single exception of the red crosses and the written notes Sharp as must have been his annoyance Silver had the strength of mind to hide it
Yes sir said he this is the spot to be sure and very prettily drawed out Who might have done that I wonder The pirates were too ignorant I reckon Aye here it is Capt Kidds Anchorage—just the name my shipmate called it Theres a strong current runs along the south and then away norard up the west coast Right you was sir says he to haul your wind and keep the weather of the island Leastways if such was your intention as to enter and careen and there aint no better place for that in these waters
Thank you my man says Captain Smollett Ill ask you later on to give us a help You may go
I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed his knowledge of the island and I own I was halffrightened when I saw him drawing nearer to myself He did not know to be sure that I had overheard his council from the apple barrel and yet I had by this time taken such a horror of his cruelty duplicity and power that I could scarce conceal a shudder when he laid his hand upon my arm
Ah says he this here is a sweet spot this island—a sweet spot for a lad to get ashore on Youll bathe and youll climb trees and youll hunt goats you will and youll get aloft on them hills like a goat yourself Why it makes me young again I was going to forget my timber leg I was Its a pleasant thing to be young and have ten toes and you may lay to that When you want to go a bit of exploring you just ask old John and hell put up a snack for you to take along
And clapping me in the friendliest way upon the shoulder he hobbled off forward and went below
Captain Smollett the squire and Dr Livesey were talking together on the quarterdeck and anxious as I was to tell them my story I durst not interrupt them openly While I was still casting about in my thoughts to find some probable excuse Dr Livesey called me to his side He had left his pipe below and being a slave to tobacco had meant that I should fetch it but as soon as I was near enough to speak and not to be overheard I broke immediately Doctor let me speak Get the captain and squire down to the cabin and then make some pretence to send for me I have terrible news
The doctor changed countenance a little but next moment he was master of himself
Thank you Jim said he quite loudly that was all I wanted to know as if he had asked me a question
And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined the other two They spoke together for a little and though none of them started or raised his voice or so much as whistled it was plain enough that Dr Livesey had communicated my request for the next thing that I heard was the captain giving an order to Job Anderson and all hands were piped on deck
My lads said Captain Smollett Ive a word to say to you This land that we have sighted is the place we have been sailing for Mr Trelawney being a very openhanded gentleman as we all know has just asked me a word or two and as I was able to tell him that every man on board had done his duty alow and aloft as I never ask to see it done better why he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin to drink YOUR health and luck and youll have grog served out for you to drink OUR health and luck Ill tell you what I think of this I think it handsome And if you think as I do youll give a good seacheer for the gentleman that does it
The cheer followed—that was a matter of course but it rang out so full and hearty that I confess I could hardly believe these same men were plotting for our blood
One more cheer for Capn Smollett cried Long John when the first had subsided
And this also was given with a will
On the top of that the three gentlemen went below and not long after word was sent forward that Jim Hawkins was wanted in the cabin
I found them all three seated round the table a bottle of Spanish wine and some raisins before them and the doctor smoking away with his wig on his lap and that I knew was a sign that he was agitated The stern window was open for it was a warm night and you could see the moon shining behind on the ships wake
Now Hawkins said the squire you have something to say Speak up
I did as I was bid and as short as I could make it told the whole details of Silvers conversation Nobody interrupted me till I was done nor did any one of the three of them make so much as a movement but they kept their eyes upon my face from first to last
Jim said Dr Livesey take a seat
And they made me sit down at table beside them poured me out a glass of wine filled my hands with raisins and all three one after the other and each with a bow drank my good health and their service to me for my luck and courage
Now captain said the squire you were right and I was wrong I own myself an ass and I await your orders
No more an ass than I sir returned the captain I never heard of a crew that meant to mutiny but what showed signs before for any man that had an eye in his head to see the mischief and take steps according But this crew he added beats me
Captain said the doctor with your permission thats Silver A very remarkable man
Hed look remarkably well from a yardarm sir returned the captain But this is talk this dont lead to anything I see three or four points and with Mr Trelawneys permission Ill name them
You sir are the captain It is for you to speak says Mr Trelawney grandly
First point began Mr Smollett We must go on because we cant turn back If I gave the word to go about they would rise at once Second point we have time before us—at least until this treasures found Third point there are faithful hands Now sir its got to come to blows sooner or later and what I propose is to take time by the forelock as the saying is and come to blows some fine day when they least expect it We can count I take it on your own home servants Mr Trelawney
As upon myself declared the squire
Three reckoned the captain ourselves make seven counting Hawkins here Now about the honest hands
Most likely Trelawneys own men said the doctor those he had picked up for himself before he lit on Silver
Nay replied the squire Hands was one of mine
I did think I could have trusted Hands added the captain
And to think that theyre all Englishmen broke out the squire Sir I could find it in my heart to blow the ship up
Well gentlemen said the captain the best that I can say is not much We must lay to if you please and keep a bright lookout Its trying on a man I know It would be pleasanter to come to blows But theres no help for it till we know our men Lay to and whistle for a wind thats my view
Jim here said the doctor can help us more than anyone The men are not shy with him and Jim is a noticing lad
Hawkins I put prodigious faith in you added the squire
I began to feel pretty desperate at this for I felt altogether helpless and yet by an odd train of circumstances it was indeed through me that safety came In the meantime talk as we pleased there were only seven out of the twentysix on whom we knew we could rely and out of these seven one was a boy so that the grown men on our side were six to their nineteen
PART THREE—My Shore Adventure
13
How My Shore Adventure Began
THE appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning was altogether changed Although the breeze had now utterly ceased we had made a great deal of way during the night and were now lying becalmed about half a mile to the southeast of the low eastern coast Greycoloured woods covered a large part of the surface This even tint was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sandbreak in the lower lands and by many tall trees of the pine family outtopping the others—some singly some in clumps but the general colouring was uniform and sad The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of naked rock All were strangely shaped and the Spyglass which was by three or four hundred feet the tallest on the island was likewise the strangest in configuration running up sheer from almost every side and then suddenly cut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on
The HISPANIOLA was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell The booms were tearing at the blocks the rudder was banging to and fro and the whole ship creaking groaning and jumping like a manufactory I had to cling tight to the backstay and the world turned giddily before my eyes for though I was a good enough sailor when there was way on this standing still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I never learned to stand without a qualm or so above all in the morning on an empty stomach
Perhaps it was this—perhaps it was the look of the island with its grey melancholy woods and wild stone spires and the surf that we could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach—at least although the sun shone bright and hot and the shore birds were fishing and crying all around us and you would have thought anyone would have been glad to get to land after being so long at sea my heart sank as the saying is into my boots and from the first look onward I hated the very thought of Treasure Island
We had a dreary mornings work before us for there was no sign of any wind and the boats had to be got out and manned and the ship warped three or four miles round the corner of the island and up the narrow passage to the haven behind Skeleton Island I volunteered for one of the boats where I had of course no business The heat was sweltering and the men grumbled fiercely over their work Anderson was in command of my boat and instead of keeping the crew in order he grumbled as loud as the worst
Well he said with an oath its not forever
I thought this was a very bad sign for up to that day the men had gone briskly and willingly about their business but the very sight of the island had relaxed the cords of discipline
All the way in Long John stood by the steersman and conned the ship He knew the passage like the palm of his hand and though the man in the chains got everywhere more water than was down in the chart John never hesitated once
Theres a strong scour with the ebb he said and this here passage has been dug out in a manner of speaking with a spade
We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart about a third of a mile from each shore the mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on the other The bottom was clean sand The plunge of our anchor sent up clouds of birds wheeling and crying over the woods but in less than a minute they were down again and all was once more silent
The place was entirely landlocked buried in woods the trees coming right down to highwater mark the shores mostly flat and the hilltops standing round at a distance in a sort of amphitheatre one here one there Two little rivers or rather two swamps emptied out into this pond as you might call it and the foliage round that part of the shore had a kind of poisonous brightness From the ship we could see nothing of the house or stockade for they were quite buried among trees and if it had not been for the chart on the companion we might have been the first that had ever anchored there since the island arose out of the seas
There was not a breath of air moving nor a sound but that of the surf booming half a mile away along the beaches and against the rocks outside A peculiar stagnant smell hung over the anchorage—a smell of sodden leaves and rotting tree trunks I observed the doctor sniffing and sniffing like someone tasting a bad egg
I dont know about treasure he said but Ill stake my wig theres fever here
If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the boat it became truly threatening when they had come aboard They lay about the deck growling together in talk The slightest order was received with a black look and grudgingly and carelessly obeyed Even the honest hands must have caught the infection for there was not one man aboard to mend another Mutiny it was plain hung over us like a thundercloud
And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived the danger Long John was hard at work going from group to group spending himself in good advice and as for example no man could have shown a better He fairly outstripped himself in willingness and civility he was all smiles to everyone If an order were given John would be on his crutch in an instant with the cheeriest Aye aye sir in the world and when there was nothing else to do he kept up one song after another as if to conceal the discontent of the rest
Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon this obvious anxiety on the part of Long John appeared the worst
We held a council in the cabin
Sir said the captain if I risk another order the whole shipll come about our ears by the run You see sir here it is I get a rough answer do I not Well if I speak back pikes will be going in two shakes if I dont Silver will see theres something under that and the games up Now weve only one man to rely on
And who is that asked the squire
Silver sir returned the captain hes as anxious as you and I to smother things up This is a tiff hed soon talk em out of it if he had the chance and what I propose to do is to give him the chance Lets allow the men an afternoon ashore If they all go why well fight the ship If they none of them go well then we hold the cabin and God defend the right If some go you mark my words sir Silverll bring em aboard again as mild as lambs
It was so decided loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men Hunter Joyce and Redruth were taken into our confidence and received the news with less surprise and a better spirit than we had looked for and then the captain went on deck and addressed the crew
My lads said he weve had a hot day and are all tired and out of sorts A turn ashorell hurt nobody—the boats are still in the water you can take the gigs and as many as please may go ashore for the afternoon Ill fire a gun half an hour before sundown
I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would break their shins over treasure as soon as they were landed for they all came out of their sulks in a moment and gave a cheer that started the echo in a faraway hill and sent the birds once more flying and squalling round the anchorage
The captain was too bright to be in the way He whipped out of sight in a moment leaving Silver to arrange the party and I fancy it was as well he did so Had he been on deck he could no longer so much as have pretended not to understand the situation It was as plain as day Silver was the captain and a mighty rebellious crew he had of it The honest hands—and I was soon to see it proved that there were such on board—must have been very stupid fellows Or rather I suppose the truth was this that all hands were disaffected by the example of the ringleaders—only some more some less and a few being good fellows in the main could neither be led nor driven any further It is one thing to be idle and skulk and quite another to take a ship and murder a number of innocent men
At last however the party was made up Six fellows were to stay on board and the remaining thirteen including Silver began to embark
Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad notions that contributed so much to save our lives If six men were left by Silver it was plain our party could not take and fight the ship and since only six were left it was equally plain that the cabin party had no present need of my assistance It occurred to me at once to go ashore In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and curled up in the foresheets of the nearest boat and almost at the same moment she shoved off
No one took notice of me only the bow oar saying Is that you Jim Keep your head down But Silver from the other boat looked sharply over and called out to know if that were me and from that moment I began to regret what I had done
The crews raced for the beach but the boat I was in having some start and being at once the lighter and the better manned shot far ahead of her consort and the bow had struck among the shoreside trees and I had caught a branch and swung myself out and plunged into the nearest thicket while Silver and the rest were still a hundred yards behind
Jim Jim I heard him shouting
But you may suppose I paid no heed jumping ducking and breaking through I ran straight before my nose till I could run no longer
14
The First Blow
I WAS so pleased at having given the slip to Long John that I began to enjoy myself and look around me with some interest on the strange land that I was in
I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows bulrushes and odd outlandish swampy trees and I had now come out upon the skirts of an open piece of undulating sandy country about a mile long dotted with a few pines and a great number of contorted trees not unlike the oak in growth but pale in the foliage like willows On the far side of the open stood one of the hills with two quaint craggy peaks shining vividly in the sun
I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration The isle was uninhabited my shipmates I had left behind and nothing lived in front of me but dumb brutes and fowls I turned hither and thither among the trees Here and there were flowering plants unknown to me here and there I saw snakes and one raised his head from a ledge of rock and hissed at me with a noise not unlike the spinning of a top Little did I suppose that he was a deadly enemy and that the noise was the famous rattle
Then I came to a long thicket of these oaklike trees—live or evergreen oaks I heard afterwards they should be called—which grew low along the sand like brambles the boughs curiously twisted the foliage compact like thatch The thicket stretched down from the top of one of the sandy knolls spreading and growing taller as it went until it reached the margin of the broad reedy fen through which the nearest of the little rivers soaked its way into the anchorage The marsh was steaming in the strong sun and the outline of the Spyglass trembled through the haze
All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among the bulrushes a wild duck flew up with a quack another followed and soon over the whole surface of the marsh a great cloud of birds hung screaming and circling in the air I judged at once that some of my shipmates must be drawing near along the borders of the fen Nor was I deceived for soon I heard the very distant and low tones of a human voice which as I continued to give ear grew steadily louder and nearer
This put me in a great fear and I crawled under cover of the nearest liveoak and squatted there hearkening as silent as a mouse
Another voice answered and then the first voice which I now recognized to be Silvers once more took up the story and ran on for a long while in a stream only now and again interrupted by the other By the sound they must have been talking earnestly and almost fiercely but no distinct word came to my hearing
At last the speakers seemed to have paused and perhaps to have sat down for not only did they cease to draw any nearer but the birds themselves began to grow more quiet and to settle again to their places in the swamp
And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my business that since I had been so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes the least I could do was to overhear them at their councils and that my plain and obvious duty was to draw as close as I could manage under the favourable ambush of the crouching trees
I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly not only by the sound of their voices but by the behaviour of the few birds that still hung in alarm above the heads of the intruders
Crawling on all fours I made steadily but slowly towards them till at last raising my head to an aperture among the leaves I could see clear down into a little green dell beside the marsh and closely set about with trees where Long John Silver and another of the crew stood face to face in conversation
The sun beat full upon them Silver had thrown his hat beside him on the ground and his great smooth blond face all shining with heat was lifted to the other mans in a kind of appeal
Mate he was saying its because I thinks gold dust of you—gold dust and you may lay to that If I hadnt took to you like pitch do you think Id have been here awarning of you Alls up—you cant make nor mend its to save your neck that Im aspeaking and if one of the wild uns knew it whered I be Tom—now tell me whered I be
Silver said the other man—and I observed he was not only red in the face but spoke as hoarse as a crow and his voice shook too like a taut rope—Silver says he youre old and youre honest or has the name for it and youve money too which lots of poor sailors hasnt and youre brave or Im mistook And will you tell me youll let yourself be led away with that kind of a mess of swabs Not you As sure as God sees me Id sooner lose my hand If I turn agin my dooty—
And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise I had found one of the honest hands—well here at that same moment came news of another Far away out in the marsh there arose all of a sudden a sound like the cry of anger then another on the back of it and then one horrid longdrawn scream The rocks of the Spyglass reechoed it a score of times the whole troop of marshbirds rose again darkening heaven with a simultaneous whirr and long after that death yell was still ringing in my brain silence had reestablished its empire and only the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the languor of the afternoon
Tom had leaped at the sound like a horse at the spur but Silver had not winked an eye He stood where he was resting lightly on his crutch watching his companion like a snake about to spring
John said the sailor stretching out his hand
Hands off cried Silver leaping back a yard as it seemed to me with the speed and security of a trained gymnast
Hands off if you like John Silver said the other Its a black conscience that can make you feared of me But in heavens name tell me what was that
That returned Silver smiling away but warier than ever his eye a mere pinpoint in his big face but gleaming like a crumb of glass That Oh I reckon thatll 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 youve been a mate of mine but youre mate of mine no more If I die like a dog Ill die in my dooty Youve killed Alan have you Kill me too if you can But I defies you
And with that this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook and set off walking for the beach But he was not destined to go far With a cry John seized the branch of a tree whipped the crutch out of his armpit and sent that uncouth missile hurtling through the air It struck poor Tom point foremost and with stunning violence right between the shoulders in the middle of his back His hands flew up he gave a sort of gasp and fell
Whether he were injured much or little none could ever tell Like enough to judge from the sound his back was broken on the spot But he had no time given him to recover Silver agile as a monkey even without leg or crutch was on the top of him next moment and had twice buried his knife up to the hilt in that defenceless body From my place of ambush I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the blows
I do not know what it rightly is to faint but I do know that for the next little while the whole world swam away from before me in a whirling mist Silver and the birds and the tall Spyglass hilltop going round and round and topsyturvy before my eyes and all manner of bells ringing and distant voices shouting in my ear
When I came again to myself the monster had pulled himself together his crutch under his arm his hat upon his head Just before him Tom lay motionless upon the sward but the murderer minded him not a whit cleansing his bloodstained knife the while upon a wisp of grass Everything else was unchanged the sun still shining mercilessly on the steaming marsh and the tall pinnacle of the mountain and I could scarce persuade myself that murder had been actually done and a human life cruelly cut short a moment since before my eyes
But now John put his hand into his pocket brought out a whistle and blew upon it several modulated blasts that rang far across the heated air I could not tell of course the meaning of the signal but it instantly awoke my fears More men would be coming I might be discovered They had already slain two of the honest people after Tom and Alan might not I come next
Instantly I began to extricate myself and crawl back again with what speed and silence I could manage to the more open portion of the wood As I did so I could hear hails coming and going between the old buccaneer and his comrades and this sound of danger lent me wings As soon as I was clear of the thicket I ran as I never ran before scarce minding the direction of my flight so long as it led me from the murderers and as I ran fear grew and grew upon me until it turned into a kind of frenzy
Indeed could anyone be more entirely lost than I When the gun fired how should I dare to go down to the boats among those fiends still smoking from their crime Would not the first of them who saw me wring my neck like a snipes Would not my absence itself be an evidence to them of my alarm and therefore of my fatal knowledge It was all over I thought Goodbye to the HISPANIOLA goodbye to the squire the doctor and the captain There was nothing left for me but death by starvation or death by the hands of the mutineers
All this while as I say I was still running and without taking any notice I had drawn near to the foot of the little hill with the two peaks and had got into a part of the island where the liveoaks grew more widely apart and seemed more like forest trees in their bearing and dimensions Mingled with these were a few scattered pines some fifty some nearer seventy feet high The air too smelt more freshly than down beside the marsh
And here a fresh alarm brought me to a standstill with a thumping heart
15
The Man of the Island
FROM the side of the hill which was here steep and stony a spout of gravel was dislodged and fell rattling and bounding through the trees My eyes turned instinctively in that direction and I saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine What it was whether bear or man or monkey I could in no wise tell It seemed dark and shaggy more I knew not But the terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand
I was now it seemed cut off upon both sides behind me the murderers before me this lurking nondescript And immediately I began to prefer the dangers that I knew to those I knew not Silver himself appeared less terrible in contrast with this creature of the woods and I turned on my heel and looking sharply behind me over my shoulder began to retrace my steps in the direction of the boats
Instantly the figure reappeared and making a wide circuit began to head me off I was tired at any rate but had I been as fresh as when I rose I could see it was in vain for me to contend in speed with such an adversary From trunk to trunk the creature flitted like a deer running manlike on two legs but unlike any man that I had ever seen stooping almost double as it ran Yet a man it was I could no longer be in doubt about that
I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals I was within an ace of calling for help But the mere fact that he was a man however wild had somewhat reassured me and my fear of Silver began to revive in proportion I stood still therefore and cast about for some method of escape and as I was so thinking the recollection of my pistol flashed into my mind As soon as I remembered I was not defenceless courage glowed again in my heart and I set my face resolutely for this man of the island and walked briskly towards him
He was concealed by this time behind another tree trunk but he must have been watching me closely for as soon as I began to move in his direction he reappeared and took a step to meet me Then he hesitated drew back came forward again and at last to my wonder and confusion threw himself on his knees and held out his clasped hands in supplication
At that I once more stopped
Who are you I asked
Ben Gunn he answered and his voice sounded hoarse and awkward like a rusty lock Im poor Ben Gunn I am and I havent spoke with a Christian these three years
I could now see that he was a white man like myself and that his features were even pleasing His skin wherever it was exposed was burnt by the sun even his lips were black and his fair eyes looked quite startling in so dark a face Of all the beggarmen that I had seen or fancied he was the chief for raggedness He was clothed with tatters of old ships canvas and old seacloth and this extraordinary patchwork was all held together by a system of the most various and incongruous fastenings brass buttons bits of stick and loops of tarry gaskin About his waist he wore an old brassbuckled leather belt which was the one thing solid in his whole accoutrement
Three years I cried Were you shipwrecked
Nay mate said he marooned
I had heard the word and I knew it stood for a horrible kind of punishment common enough among the buccaneers in which the offender is put ashore with a little powder and shot and left behind on some desolate and distant island
Marooned three years agone he continued and lived on goats since then and berries and oysters Wherever a man is says I a man can do for himself But mate my heart is sore for Christian diet You mightnt happen to have a piece of cheese about you now No Well manys the long night Ive dreamed of cheese—toasted mostly—and woke up again and here I were
If ever I can get aboard again said I you shall have cheese by the stone
All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my jacket smoothing my hands looking at my boots and generally in the intervals of his speech showing a childish pleasure in the presence of a fellow creature But at my last words he perked up into a kind of startled slyness
If ever you can get aboard again says you he repeated Why now whos 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 Ive lived that rough as youd be ashamed to hear of Now for instance you wouldnt 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 couldnt tell one word from another And heres what it come to Jim and it begun with chuckfarthen on the blessed gravestones Thats what it begun with but it went furthern that and so my mother told me and predicked the whole she did the pious woman But it were Providence that put me here Ive thought it all out in this here lonely island and Im back on piety You dont catch me tasting rum so much but just a thimbleful for luck of course the first chance I have Im bound Ill be good and I see the way to And Jim—looking all round him and lowering his voice to a whisper—Im rich
I now felt sure that the poor fellow had gone crazy in his solitude and I suppose I must have shown the feeling in my face for he repeated the statement hotly Rich Rich I says And Ill tell you what Ill make a man of you Jim Ah Jim youll bless your stars you will you was the first that found me
And at this there came suddenly a lowering shadow over his face and he tightened his grasp upon my hand and raised a forefinger threateningly before my eyes
Now Jim you tell me true that aint Flints ship he asked
At this I had a happy inspiration I began to believe that I had found an ally and I answered him at once
Its not Flints ship and Flint is dead but Ill tell you true as you ask me—there are some of Flints hands aboard worse luck for the rest of us
Not a man—with one—leg he gasped
Silver I asked
Ah Silver says he That were his name
Hes the cook and the ringleader too
He was still holding me by the wrist and at that he give it quite a wring
If you was sent by Long John he said Im as good as pork and I know it But where was you do you suppose
I had made my mind up in a moment and by way of answer told him the whole story of our voyage and the predicament in which we found ourselves He heard me with the keenest interest and when I had done he patted me on the head
Youre a good lad Jim he said and youre all in a clove hitch aint you Well you just put your trust in Ben Gunn—Ben Gunns the man to do it Would you think it likely now that your squire would prove a liberalminded one in case of help—him being in a clove hitch as you remark
I told him the squire was the most liberal of men
Aye but you see returned Ben Gunn I didnt mean giving me a gate to keep and a suit of livery clothes and such thats not my mark Jim What I mean is would he be likely to come down to the toon of say one thousand pounds out of money thats as good as a mans 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 squires a gentleman And besides if we got rid of the others we should want you to help work the vessel home
Ah said he so you would And he seemed very much relieved
Now Ill tell you what he went on So much Ill tell you and no more I were in Flints ship when he buried the treasure he and six along—six strong seamen They was ashore nigh on a week and us standing off and on in the old WALRUS One fine day up went the signal and here come Flint by himself in a little boat and his head done up in a blue scarf The sun was getting up and mortal white he looked about the cutwater But there he was you mind and the six all dead—dead and buried How he done it not a man aboard us could make out It was battle murder and sudden death leastways—him against six Billy Bones was the mate Long John he was quartermaster and they asked him where the treasure was Ah says he you can go ashore if you like and stay he says but as for the ship shell beat up for more by thunder Thats what he said
Well I was in another ship three years back and we sighted this island Boys said I heres Flints treasure lets land and find it The capn was displeased at that but my messmates were all of a mind and landed Twelve days they looked for it and every day they had the worse word for me until one fine morning all hands went aboard As for you Benjamin Gunn says they heres a musket they says and a spade and pickaxe You can stay here and find Flints money for yourself they says
Well Jim three years have I been here and not a bite of Christian diet from that day to this But now you look here look at me Do I look like a man before the mast No says you Nor I werent neither I says
And with that he winked and pinched me hard
Just you mention them words to your squire Jim he went on Nor he werent neither—thats the words Three years he were the man of this island light and dark fair and rain and sometimes he would maybe think upon a prayer says you and sometimes he would maybe think of his old mother so be as shes alive youll say but the most part of Gunns time this is what youll say—the most part of his time was took up with another matter And then youll give him a nip like I do
And he pinched me again in the most confidential manner
Then he continued then youll up and youll say this Gunn is a good man youll say and he puts a precious sight more confidence—a precious sight mind that—in a genleman born than in these genleman of fortune having been one hisself
Well I said I dont understand one word that youve been saying But thats neither here nor there for how am I to get on board
Ah said he thats the hitch for sure Well theres my boat that I made with my two hands I keep her under the white rock If the worst come to the worst we might try that after dark Hi he broke out Whats that
For just then although the sun had still an hour or two to run all the echoes of the island awoke and bellowed to the thunder of a cannon
They have begun to fight I cried Follow me
And I began to run towards the anchorage my terrors all forgotten while close at my side the marooned man in his goatskins trotted easily and lightly
Left left says he keep to your left hand mate Jim Under the trees with you Theers where I killed my first goat They dont come down here now theyre all mastheaded on them mountings for the fear of Benjamin Gunn Ah And theres the cetemery—cemetery he must have meant You see the mounds I come here and prayed nows and thens when I thought maybe a Sunday would be about doo It werent quite a chapel but it seemed more solemn like and then says you Ben Gunn was shorthanded—no chapling nor so much as a Bible and a flag you says
So he kept talking as I ran neither expecting nor receiving any answer
The cannonshot was followed after a considerable interval by a volley of small arms
Another pause and then not a quarter of a mile in front of me I beheld the Union Jack flutter in the air above a wood
PART FOUR—The Stockade
16
Narrative Continued by the Doctor How the Ship Was Abandoned
IT was about half past one—three bells in the sea phrase—that the two boats went ashore from the HISPANIOLA The captain the squire and I were talking matters over in the cabin Had there been a breath of wind we should have fallen on the six mutineers who were left aboard with us slipped our cable and away to sea But the wind was wanting and to complete our helplessness down came Hunter with the news that Jim Hawkins had slipped into a boat and was gone ashore with the rest
It never occurred to us to doubt Jim Hawkins but we were alarmed for his safety With the men in the temper they were in it seemed an even chance if we should see the lad again We ran on deck The pitch was bubbling in the seams the nasty stench of the place turned me sick if ever a man smelt fever and dysentery it was in that abominable anchorage The six scoundrels were sitting grumbling under a sail in the forecastle ashore we could see the gigs made fast and a man sitting in each hard by where the river runs in One of them was whistling Lillibullero
Waiting was a strain and it was decided that Hunter and I should go ashore with the jollyboat in quest of information
The gigs had leaned to their right but Hunter and I pulled straight in in the direction of the stockade upon the chart The two who were left guarding their boats seemed in a bustle at our appearance Lillibullero stopped off and I could see the pair discussing what they ought to do Had they gone and told Silver all might have turned out differently but they had their orders I suppose and decided to sit quietly where they were and hark back again to Lillibullero
There was a slight bend in the coast and I steered so as to put it between us even before we landed we had thus lost sight of the gigs I jumped out and came as near running as I durst with a big silk handkerchief under my hat for coolness sake and a brace of pistols ready primed for safety
I had not gone a hundred yards when I reached the stockade
This was how it was a spring of clear water rose almost at the top of a knoll Well on the knoll and enclosing the spring they had clapped a stout loghouse fit to hold two score of people on a pinch and loopholed for musketry on either side All round this they had cleared a wide space and then the thing was completed by a paling six feet high without door or opening too strong to pull down without time and labour and too open to shelter the besiegers The people in the loghouse had them in every way they stood quiet in shelter and shot the others like partridges All they wanted was a good watch and food for short of a complete surprise they might have held the place against a regiment
What particularly took my fancy was the spring For though we had a good enough place of it in the cabin of the HISPANIOLA with plenty of arms and ammunition and things to eat and excellent wines there had been one thing overlooked—we had no water I was thinking this over when there came ringing over the island the cry of a man at the point of death I was not new to violent death—I have served his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland and got a wound myself at Fontenoy—but I know my pulse went dot and carry one Jim Hawkins is gone was my first thought
It is something to have been an old soldier but more still to have been a doctor There is no time to dillydally in our work And so now I made up my mind instantly and with no time lost returned to the shore and jumped on board the jollyboat
By good fortune Hunter pulled a good oar We made the water fly and the boat was soon alongside and I aboard the schooner
I found them all shaken as was natural The squire was sitting down as white as a sheet thinking of the harm he had led us to the good soul And one of the six forecastle hands was little better
Theres a man says Captain Smollett nodding towards him new to this work He came nighhand fainting doctor when he heard the cry Another touch of the rudder and that man would join us
I told my plan to the captain and between us we settled on the details of its accomplishment
We put old Redruth in the gallery between the cabin and the forecastle with three or four loaded muskets and a mattress for protection Hunter brought the boat round under the sternport and Joyce and I set to work loading her with powder tins muskets bags of biscuits kegs of pork a cask of cognac and my invaluable medicine chest
In the meantime the squire and the captain stayed on deck and the latter hailed the coxswain who was the principal man aboard
Mr Hands he said here are two of us with a brace of pistols each If any one of you six make a signal of any description that mans dead
They were a good deal taken aback and after a little consultation one and all tumbled down the fore companion thinking no doubt to take us on the rear But when they saw Redruth waiting for them in the sparred galley they went about ship at once and a head popped out again on deck
Down dog cries the captain
And the head popped back again and we heard no more for the time of these six very fainthearted seamen
By this time tumbling things in as they came we had the jollyboat loaded as much as we dared Joyce and I got out through the sternport and we made for shore again as fast as oars could take us
This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along shore Lillibullero was dropped again and just before we lost sight of them behind the little point one of them whipped ashore and disappeared I had half a mind to change my plan and destroy their boats but I feared that Silver and the others might be close at hand and all might very well be lost by trying for too much
We had soon touched land in the same place as before and set to provision the block house All three made the first journey heavily laden and tossed our stores over the palisade Then leaving Joyce to guard them—one man to be sure but with half a dozen muskets—Hunter and I returned to the jollyboat and loaded ourselves once more So we proceeded without pausing to take breath till the whole cargo was bestowed when the two servants took up their position in the block house and I with all my power sculled back to the HISPANIOLA
That we should have risked a second boat load seems more daring than it really was They had the advantage of numbers of course but we had the advantage of arms Not one of the men ashore had a musket and before they could get within range for pistol shooting we flattered ourselves we should be able to give a good account of a halfdozen at least
The squire was waiting for me at the stern window all his faintness gone from him He caught the painter and made it fast and we fell to loading the boat for our very lives Pork powder and biscuit was the cargo with only a musket and a cutlass apiece for the squire and me and Redruth and the captain The rest of the arms and powder we dropped overboard in two fathoms and a half of water so that we could see the bright steel shining far below us in the sun on the clean sandy bottom
By this time the tide was beginning to ebb and the ship was swinging round to her anchor Voices were heard faintly halloaing in the direction of the two gigs and though this reassured us for Joyce and Hunter who were well to the eastward it warned our party to be off
Redruth retreated from his place in the gallery and dropped into the boat which we then brought round to the ships counter to be handier for Captain Smollett
Now men said he do you hear me
There was no answer from the forecastle
Its to you Abraham Gray—its to you I am speaking
Still no reply
Gray resumed Mr Smollett a little louder I am leaving this ship and I order you to follow your captain I know you are a good man at bottom and I dare say not one of the lot of yous as bad as he makes out I have my watch here in my hand I give you thirty seconds to join me in
There was a pause
Come my fine fellow continued the captain dont hang so long in stays Im risking my life and the lives of these good gentlemen every second
There was a sudden scuffle a sound of blows and out burst Abraham Gray with a knife cut on the side of the cheek and came running to the captain like a dog to the whistle
Im with you sir said he
And the next moment he and the captain had dropped aboard of us and we had shoved off and given way
We were clear out of the ship but not yet ashore in our stockade
17
Narrative Continued by the Doctor The Jollyboats Last Trip
THIS fifth trip was quite different from any of the others In the first place the little gallipot of a boat that we were in was gravely overloaded Five grown men and three of them—Trelawney Redruth and the captain—over six feet high was already more than she was meant to carry Add to that the powder pork and breadbags The gunwale was lipping astern Several times we shipped a little water and my breeches and the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a hundred yards
The captain made us trim the boat and we got her to lie a little more evenly All the same we were afraid to breathe
In the second place the ebb was now making—a strong rippling current running westward through the basin and then southard and seaward down the straits by which we had entered in the morning Even the ripples were a danger to our overloaded craft but the worst of it was that we were swept out of our true course and away from our proper landingplace behind the point If we let the current have its way we should come ashore beside the gigs where the pirates might appear at any moment
I cannot keep her head for the stockade sir said I to the captain I was steering while he and Redruth two fresh men were at the oars The tide keeps washing her down Could you pull a little stronger
Not without swamping the boat said he You must bear up sir if you please—bear up until you see youre gaining
I tried and found by experiment that the tide kept sweeping us westward until I had laid her head due east or just about right angles to the way we ought to go
Well never get ashore at this rate said I
If its 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 landingplace its hard to say where we should get ashore besides the chance of being boarded by the gigs whereas the way we go the current must slacken and then we can dodge back along the shore
The currents less aready sir said the man Gray who was sitting in the foresheets you can ease her off a bit
Thank you my man said I quite as if nothing had happened for we had all quietly made up our minds to treat him like one of ourselves
Suddenly the captain spoke up again and I thought his voice was a little changed
The gun said he
I have thought of that said I for I made sure he was thinking of a bombardment of the fort They could never get the gun ashore and if they did they could never haul it through the woods
Look astern doctor replied the captain
We had entirely forgotten the long nine and there to our horror were the five rogues busy about her getting off her jacket as they called the stout tarpaulin cover under which she sailed Not only that but it flashed into my mind at the same moment that the roundshot and the powder for the gun had been left behind and a stroke with an axe would put it all into the possession of the evil ones abroad
Israel was Flints gunner said Gray hoarsely
At any risk we put the boats head direct for the landingplace By this time we had got so far out of the run of the current that we kept steerage way even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing and I could keep her steady for the goal But the worst of it was that with the course I now held we turned our broadside instead of our stern to the HISPANIOLA and offered a target like a barn door
I could hear as well as see that brandyfaced rascal Israel Hands plumping down a roundshot on the deck
Whos 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 youll swamp the boat All hands stand by to trim her when he aims
The squire raised his gun the rowing ceased and we leaned over to the other side to keep the balance and all was so nicely contrived that we did not ship a drop
They had the gun by this time slewed round upon the swivel and Hands who was at the muzzle with the rammer was in consequence the most exposed However we had no luck for just as Trelawney fired down he stooped the ball whistled over him and it was one of the other four who fell
The cry he gave was echoed not only by his companions on board but by a great number of voices from the shore and looking in that direction I saw the other pirates trooping out from among the trees and tumbling into their places in the boats
Here come the gigs sir said I
Give way then cried the captain We mustnt mind if we swamp her now If we cant get ashore alls up
Only one of the gigs is being manned sir I added the crew of the other most likely going round by shore to cut us off
Theyll have a hot run sir returned the captain Jack ashore you know Its not them I mind its the roundshot Carpet bowls My ladys maid couldnt miss Tell us squire when you see the match and well hold water
In the meanwhile we had been making headway at a good pace for a boat so overloaded and we had shipped but little water in the process We were now close in thirty or forty strokes and we should beach her for the ebb had already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below the clustering trees The gig was no longer to be feared the little point had already concealed it from our eyes The ebbtide which had so cruelly delayed us was now making reparation and delaying our assailants The one source of danger was the gun
If I durst said the captain Id stop and pick off another man
But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay their shot They had never so much as looked at their fallen comrade though he was not dead and I could see him trying to crawl away
Ready cried the squire
Hold cried the captain quick as an echo
And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that sent her stern bodily under water The report fell in at the same instant of time This was the first that Jim heard the sound of the squires shot not having reached him Where the ball passed not one of us precisely knew but I fancy it must have been over our heads and that the wind of it may have contributed to our disaster
At any rate the boat sank by the stern quite gently in three feet of water leaving the captain and myself facing each other on our feet The other three took complete headers and came up again drenched and bubbling
So far there was no great harm No lives were lost and we could wade ashore in safety But there were all our stores at the bottom and to make things worse only two guns out of five remained in a state for service Mine I had snatched from my knees and held over my head by a sort of instinct As for the captain he had carried his over his shoulder by a bandoleer and like a wise man lock uppermost The other three had gone down with the boat
To add to our concern we heard voices already drawing near us in the woods along shore and we had not only the danger of being cut off from the stockade in our halfcrippled state but the fear before us whether if Hunter and Joyce were attacked by half a dozen they would have the sense and conduct to stand firm Hunter was steady that we knew Joyce was a doubtful case—a pleasant polite man for a valet and to brush ones clothes but not entirely fitted for a man of war
With all this in our minds we waded ashore as fast as we could leaving behind us the poor jollyboat and a good half of all our powder and provisions
18
Narrative Continued by the Doctor End of the First Days Fighting
WE made our best speed across the strip of wood that now divided us from the stockade and at every step we took the voices of the buccaneers rang nearer Soon we could hear their footfalls as they ran and the cracking of the branches as they breasted across a bit of thicket
I began to see we should have a brush for it in earnest and looked to my priming
Captain said I Trelawney is the dead shot Give him your gun his own is useless
They exchanged guns and Trelawney silent and cool as he had been since the beginning of the bustle hung a moment on his heel to see that all was fit for service At the same time observing Gray to be unarmed I handed him my cutlass It did all our hearts good to see him spit in his hand knit his brows and make the blade sing through the air It was plain from every line of his body that our new hand was worth his salt
Forty paces farther we came to the edge of the wood and saw the stockade in front of us We struck the enclosure about the middle of the south side and almost at the same time seven mutineers—Job Anderson the boatswain at their head—appeared in full cry at the southwestern corner
They paused as if taken aback and before they recovered not only the squire and I but Hunter and Joyce from the block house had time to fire The four shots came in rather a scattering volley but they did the business one of the enemy actually fell and the rest without hesitation turned and plunged into the trees
After reloading we walked down the outside of the palisade to see to the fallen enemy He was stone dead—shot through the heart
We began to rejoice over our good success when just at that moment a pistol cracked in the bush a ball whistled close past my ear and poor Tom Redruth stumbled and fell his length on the ground Both the squire and I returned the shot but as we had nothing to aim at it is probable we only wasted powder Then we reloaded and turned our attention to poor Tom
The captain and Gray were already examining him and I saw with half an eye that all was over
I believe the readiness of our return volley had scattered the mutineers once more for we were suffered without further molestation to get the poor old gamekeeper hoisted over the stockade and carried groaning and bleeding into the loghouse
Poor old fellow he had not uttered one word of surprise complaint fear or even acquiescence from the very beginning of our troubles till now when we had laid him down in the loghouse to die He had lain like a Trojan behind his mattress in the gallery he had followed every order silently doggedly and well he was the oldest of our party by a score of years and now sullen old serviceable servant it was he that was to die
The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and kissed his hand crying like a child
Be I going doctor he asked
Tom my man said I youre 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 wont you
Would that be respectful like from me to you squire was the answer Howsoever so be it amen
After a little while of silence he said he thought somebody might read a prayer Its the custom sir he added apologetically And not long after without another word he passed away
In the meantime the captain whom I had observed to be wonderfully swollen about the chest and pockets had turned out a great many various stores—the British colours a Bible a coil of stoutish rope pen ink the logbook and pounds of tobacco He had found a longish firtree lying felled and trimmed in the enclosure and with the help of Hunter he had set it up at the corner of the loghouse where the trunks crossed and made an angle Then climbing on the roof he had with his own hand bent and run up the colours
This seemed mightily to relieve him He reentered the loghouse and set about counting up the stores as if nothing else existed But he had an eye on Toms passage for all that and as soon as all was over came forward with another flag and reverently spread it on the body
Dont you take on sir he said shaking the squires hand Alls well with him no fear for a hand thats been shot down in his duty to captain and owner It maynt be good divinity but its a fact
Then he pulled me aside
Dr Livesey he said in how many weeks do you and squire expect the consort
I told him it was a question not of weeks but of months that if we were not back by the end of August Blandly was to send to find us but neither sooner nor later You can calculate for yourself I said
Why yes returned the captain scratching his head and making a large allowance sir for all the gifts of Providence I should say we were pretty close hauled
How do you mean I asked
Its a pity sir we lost that second load Thats what I mean replied the captain As for powder and shot well do But the rations are short very short—so short Dr Livesey that were perhaps as well without that extra mouth
And he pointed to the dead body under the flag
Just then with a roar and a whistle a roundshot passed high above the roof of the loghouse and plumped far beyond us in the wood
Oho said the captain Blaze away Youve little enough powder already my lads
At the second trial the aim was better and the ball descended inside the stockade scattering a cloud of sand but doing no further damage
Captain said the squire the house is quite invisible from the ship It must be the flag they are aiming at Would it not be wiser to take it in
Strike my colours cried the captain No sir not I and as soon as he had said the words I think we all agreed with him For it was not only a piece of stout seamanly good feeling it was good policy besides and showed our enemies that we despised their cannonade
All through the evening they kept thundering away Ball after ball flew over or fell short or kicked up the sand in the enclosure but they had to fire so high that the shot fell dead and buried itself in the soft sand We had no ricochet to fear and though one popped in through the roof of the loghouse and out again through the floor we soon got used to that sort of horseplay and minded it no more than cricket
There is one good thing about all this observed the captain the wood in front of us is likely clear The ebb has made a good while our stores should be uncovered Volunteers to go and bring in pork
Gray and Hunter were the first to come forward Well armed they stole out of the stockade but it proved a useless mission The mutineers were bolder than we fancied or they put more trust in Israels gunnery For four or five of them were busy carrying off our stores and wading out with them to one of the gigs that lay close by pulling an oar or so to hold her steady against the current Silver was in the sternsheets in command and every man of them was now provided with a musket from some secret magazine of their own
The captain sat down to his log and here is the beginning of the entry
Alexander Smollett master David Livesey ships
doctor Abraham Gray carpenters mate John
Trelawney owner John Hunter and Richard Joyce
owners servants landsmen—being all that is left
faithful of the ships company—with stores for ten
days at short rations came ashore this day and flew
British colours on the loghouse in Treasure Island
Thomas Redruth owners servant landsman shot by the
mutineers James Hawkins cabinboy—
And at the same time I was wondering over poor Jim Hawkins fate
A hail on the land side
Somebody hailing us said Hunter who was on guard
Doctor Squire Captain Hullo Hunter is that you came the cries
And I ran to the door in time to see Jim Hawkins safe and sound come climbing over the stockade
19
Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins The Garrison in the Stockade
AS soon as Ben Gunn saw the colours he came to a halt stopped me by the arm and sat down
Now said he theres your friends sure enough
Far more likely its the mutineers I answered
That he cried Why in a place like this where nobody puts in but genlemen of fortune Silver would fly the Jolly Roger you dont make no doubt of that No thats your friends Theres been blows too and I reckon your friends has had the best of it and here they are ashore in the old stockade as was made years and years ago by Flint Ah he was the man to have a headpiece was Flint Barring rum his match were never seen He were afraid of none not he ony Silver—Silver was that genteel
Well said I that may be so and so be it all the more reason that I should hurry on and join my friends
Nay mate returned Ben not you Youre a good boy or Im mistook but youre ony a boy all told Now Ben Gunn is fly Rum wouldnt bring me there where youre going—not rum wouldnt till I see your born genleman and gets it on his word of honour And you wont forget my words A precious sight thats what youll say a precious sight more confidence—and then nips him
And he pinched me the third time with the same air of cleverness
And when Ben Gunn is wanted you know where to find him Jim Just wheer you found him today And him that comes is to have a white thing in his hand and hes to come alone Oh And youll say this Ben Gunn says you has reasons of his own
Well said I I believe I understand You have something to propose and you wish to see the squire or the doctor and youre to be found where I found you Is that all
And when says you he added Why from about noon observation to about six bells
Good said I and now may I go
You wont forget he inquired anxiously Precious sight and reasons of his own says you Reasons of his own thats the mainstay as between man and man Well then—still holding me—I reckon you can go Jim And Jim if you was to see Silver you wouldnt go for to sell Ben Gunn Wild horses wouldnt draw it from you No says you And if them pirates camp ashore Jim what would you say but thered be widders in the morning
Here he was interrupted by a loud report and a cannonball came tearing through the trees and pitched in the sand not a hundred yards from where we two were talking The next moment each of us had taken to his heels in a different direction
For a good hour to come frequent reports shook the island and balls kept crashing through the woods I moved from hidingplace to hidingplace always pursued or so it seemed to me by these terrifying missiles But towards the end of the bombardment though still I durst not venture in the direction of the stockade where the balls fell oftenest I had begun in a manner to pluck up my heart again and after a long detour to the east crept down among the shoreside trees
The sun had just set the sea breeze was rustling and tumbling in the woods and ruffling the grey surface of the anchorage the tide too was far out and great tracts of sand lay uncovered the air after the heat of the day chilled me through my jacket
The HISPANIOLA still lay where she had anchored but sure enough there was the Jolly Roger—the black flag of piracy—flying from her peak Even as I looked there came another red flash and another report that sent the echoes clattering and one more roundshot whistled through the air It was the last of the cannonade
I lay for some time watching the bustle which succeeded the attack Men were demolishing something with axes on the beach near the stockade—the poor jollyboat I afterwards discovered Away near the mouth of the river a great fire was glowing among the trees and between that point and the ship one of the gigs kept coming and going the men whom I had seen so gloomy shouting at the oars like children But there was a sound in their voices which suggested rum
At length I thought I might return towards the stockade I was pretty far down on the low sandy spit that encloses the anchorage to the east and is joined at halfwater to Skeleton Island and now as I rose to my feet I saw some distance further down the spit and rising from among low bushes an isolated rock pretty high and peculiarly white in colour It occurred to me that this might be the white rock of which Ben Gunn had spoken and that some day or other a boat might be wanted and I should know where to look for one
Then I skirted among the woods until I had regained the rear or shoreward side of the stockade and was soon warmly welcomed by the faithful party
I had soon told my story and began to look about me The loghouse was made of unsquared trunks of pine—roof walls and floor The latter stood in several places as much as a foot or a foot and a half above the surface of the sand There was a porch at the door and under this porch the little spring welled up into an artificial basin of a rather odd kind—no other than a great ships kettle of iron with the bottom knocked out and sunk to her bearings as the captain said among the sand
Little had been left besides the framework of the house but in one corner there was a stone slab laid down by way of hearth and an old rusty iron basket to contain the fire
The slopes of the knoll and all the inside of the stockade had been cleared of timber to build the house and we could see by the stumps what a fine and lofty grove had been destroyed Most of the soil had been washed away or buried in drift after the removal of the trees only where the streamlet ran down from the kettle a thick bed of moss and some ferns and little creeping bushes were still green among the sand Very close around the stockade—too close for defence they said—the wood still flourished high and dense all of fir on the land side but towards the sea with a large admixture of liveoaks
The cold evening breeze of which I have spoken whistled through every chink of the rude building and sprinkled the floor with a continual rain of fine sand There was sand in our eyes sand in our teeth sand in our suppers sand dancing in the spring at the bottom of the kettle for all the world like porridge beginning to boil Our chimney was a square hole in the roof it was but a little part of the smoke that found its way out and the rest eddied about the house and kept us coughing and piping the eye
Add to this that Gray the new man had his face tied up in a bandage for a cut he had got in breaking away from the mutineers and that poor old Tom Redruth still unburied lay along the wall stiff and stark under the Union Jack
If we had been allowed to sit idle we should all have fallen in the blues but Captain Smollett was never the man for that All hands were called up before him and he divided us into watches The doctor and Gray and I for one the squire Hunter and Joyce upon the other Tired though we all were two were sent out for firewood two more were set to dig a grave for Redruth the doctor was named cook I was put sentry at the door and the captain himself went from one to another keeping up our spirits and lending a hand wherever it was wanted
From time to time the doctor came to the door for a little air and to rest his eyes which were almost smoked out of his head and whenever he did so he had a word for me
That man Smollett he said once is a better man than I am And when I say that it means a deal Jim
Another time he came and was silent for a while Then he put his head on one side and looked at me
Is this Ben Gunn a man he asked
I do not know sir said I I am not very sure whether hes sane
If theres any doubt about the matter he is returned the doctor A man who has been three years biting his nails on a desert island Jim cant expect to appear as sane as you or me It doesnt lie in human nature Was it cheese you said he had a fancy for
Yes sir cheese I answered
Well Jim says he just see the good that comes of being dainty in your food Youve seen my snuffbox havent you And you never saw me take snuff the reason being that in my snuffbox I carry a piece of Parmesan cheese—a cheese made in Italy very nutritious Well thats for Ben Gunn
Before supper was eaten we buried old Tom in the sand and stood round him for a while bareheaded in the breeze A good deal of firewood had been got in but not enough for the captains fancy and he shook his head over it and told us we must get back to this tomorrow rather livelier Then when we had eaten our pork and each had a good stiff glass of brandy grog the three chiefs got together in a corner to discuss our prospects
It appears they were at their wits end what to do the stores being so low that we must have been starved into surrender long before help came But our best hope it was decided was to kill off the buccaneers until they either hauled down their flag or ran away with the HISPANIOLA From nineteen they were already reduced to fifteen two others were wounded and one at least—the man shot beside the gun—severely wounded if he were not dead Every time we had a crack at them we were to take it saving our own lives with the extremest care And besides that we had two able allies—rum and the climate
As for the first though we were about half a mile away we could hear them roaring and singing late into the night and as for the second the doctor staked his wig that camped where they were in the marsh and unprovided with remedies the half of them would be on their backs before a week
So he added if we are not all shot down first theyll be glad to be packing in the schooner Its always a ship and they can get to buccaneering again I suppose
First ship that ever I lost said Captain Smollett
I was dead tired as you may fancy and when I got to sleep which was not till after a great deal of tossing I slept like a log of wood
The rest had long been up and had already breakfasted and increased the pile of firewood by about half as much again when I was wakened by a bustle and the sound of voices
Flag of truce I heard someone say and then immediately after with a cry of surprise Silver himself
And at that up I jumped and rubbing my eyes ran to a loophole in the wall
20
Silvers Embassy
SURE enough there were two men just outside the stockade one of them waving a white cloth the other no less a person than Silver himself standing placidly by
It was still quite early and the coldest morning that I think I ever was abroad in—a chill that pierced into the marrow The sky was bright and cloudless overhead and the tops of the trees shone rosily in the sun But where Silver stood with his lieutenant all was still in shadow and they waded kneedeep in a low white vapour that had crawled during the night out of the morass The chill and the vapour taken together told a poor tale of the island It was plainly a damp feverish unhealthy spot
Keep indoors men said the captain Ten to one this is a trick
Then he hailed the buccaneer
Who goes Stand or we fire
Flag of truce cried Silver
The captain was in the porch keeping himself carefully out of the way of a treacherous shot should any be intended He turned and spoke to us Doctors watch on the lookout Dr Livesey take the north side if you please Jim the east Gray west The watch below all hands to load muskets Lively men and careful
And then he turned again to the mutineers
And what do you want with your flag of truce he cried
This time it was the other man who replied
Capn Silver sir to come on board and make terms he shouted
Capn Silver Dont know him Whos he cried the captain And we could hear him adding to himself Capn is it My heart and heres promotion
Long John answered for himself Me sir These poor lads have chosen me capn after your desertion sir—laying a particular emphasis upon the word desertion Were willing to submit if we can come to terms and no bones about it All I ask is your word Capn Smollett to let me safe and sound out of this here stockade and one minute to get out o shot before a gun is fired
My man said Captain Smollett I have not the slightest desire to talk to you If you wish to talk to me you can come thats all If theres any treachery itll be on your side and the Lord help you
Thats enough capn shouted Long John cheerily A word from yous enough I know a gentleman and you may lay to that
We could see the man who carried the flag of truce attempting to hold Silver back Nor was that wonderful seeing how cavalier had been the captains answer But Silver laughed at him aloud and slapped him on the back as if the idea of alarm had been absurd Then he advanced to the stockade threw over his crutch got a leg up and with great vigour and skill succeeded in surmounting the fence and dropping safely to the other side
I will confess that I was far too much taken up with what was going on to be of the slightest use as sentry indeed I had already deserted my eastern loophole and crept up behind the captain who had now seated himself on the threshold with his elbows on his knees his head in his hands and his eyes fixed on the water as it bubbled out of the old iron kettle in the sand He was whistling Come Lasses and Lads
Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll What with the steepness of the incline the thick tree stumps and the soft sand he and his crutch were as helpless as a ship in stays But he stuck to it like a man in silence and at last arrived before the captain whom he saluted in the handsomest style He was tricked out in his best an immense blue coat thick with brass buttons hung as low as to his knees and a fine laced hat was set on the back of his head
Here you are my man said the captain raising his head You had better sit down
You aint agoing to let me inside capn complained Long John Its a main cold morning to be sure sir to sit outside upon the sand
Why Silver said the captain if you had pleased to be an honest man you might have been sitting in your galley Its your own doing Youre either my ships cook—and then you were treated handsome—or Capn Silver a common mutineer and pirate and then you can go hang
Well well capn returned the seacook sitting down as he was bidden on the sand youll have to give me a hand up again thats all A sweet pretty place you have of it here Ah theres Jim The top of the morning to you Jim Doctor heres my service Why there you all are together like a happy family in a manner of speaking
If you have anything to say my man better say it said the captain
Right you were Capn Smollett replied Silver Dooty is dooty to be sure Well now you look here that was a good lay of yours last night I dont deny it was a good lay Some of you pretty handy with a handspikeend And Ill not deny neither but what some of my people was shook—maybe all was shook maybe I was shook myself maybe thats why Im here for terms But you mark me capn it wont do twice by thunder Well have to do sentrygo and ease off a point or so on the rum Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the winds eye But Ill tell you I was sober I was ony dog tired and if Id awoke a second sooner Id a caught you at the act I would He wasnt dead when I got round to him not he
Well says Captain Smollett as cool as can be
All that Silver said was a riddle to him but you would never have guessed it from his tone As for me I began to have an inkling Ben Gunns last words came back to my mind I began to suppose that he had paid the buccaneers a visit while they all lay drunk together round their fire and I reckoned up with glee that we had only fourteen enemies to deal with
Well here it is said Silver We want that treasure and well have it—thats our point You would just as soon save your lives I reckon and thats yours You have a chart havent you
Thats as may be replied the captain
Oh well you have I know that returned Long John You neednt be so husky with a man there aint a particle of service in that and you may lay to it What I mean is we want your chart Now I never meant you no harm myself
That wont do with me my man interrupted the captain We know exactly what you meant to do and we dont care for now you see you cant do it
And the captain looked at him calmly and proceeded to fill a pipe
If Abe Gray— Silver broke out
Avast there cried Mr Smollett Gray told me nothing and I asked him nothing and whats more I would see you and him and this whole island blown clean out of the water into blazes first So theres my mind for you my man on that
This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver down He had been growing nettled before but now he pulled himself together
Like enough said he I would set no limits to what gentlemen might consider shipshape or might not as the case were And seein as how you are about to take a pipe capn Ill make so free as do likewise
And he filled a pipe and lighted it and the two men sat silently smoking for quite a while now looking each other in the face now stopping their tobacco now leaning forward to spit It was as good as the play to see them
Now resumed Silver here it is You give us the chart to get the treasure by and drop shooting poor seamen and stoving of their heads in while asleep You do that and well offer you a choice Either you come aboard along of us once the treasure shipped and then Ill give you my affydavy upon my word of honour to clap you somewhere safe ashore Or if that aint to your fancy some of my hands being rough and having old scores on account of hazing then you can stay here you can Well divide stores with you man for man and Ill give my affydavy as before to speak the first ship I sight and send em here to pick you up Now youll own thats talking Handsomer you couldnt look to get now you And I hope—raising his voice—that all hands in this here block house will overhaul my words for what is spoke to one is spoke to all
Captain Smollett rose from his seat and knocked out the ashes of his pipe in the palm of his left hand
Is that all he asked
Every last word by thunder answered John Refuse that and youve seen the last of me but musketballs
Very good said the captain Now youll hear me If youll come up one by one unarmed Ill engage to clap you all in irons and take you home to a fair trial in England If you wont my name is Alexander Smollett Ive flown my sovereigns colours and Ill see you all to Davy Jones You cant find the treasure You cant sail the ship—theres not a man among you fit to sail the ship You cant fight us—Gray there got away from five of you Your ships in irons Master Silver youre on a lee shore and so youll find I stand here and tell you so and theyre the last good words youll get from me for in the name of heaven Ill put a bullet in your back when next I meet you Tramp my lad Bundle out of this please hand over hand and double quick
Silvers face was a picture his eyes started in his head with wrath He shook the fire out of his pipe
Give me a hand up he cried
Not I returned the captain
Wholl give me a hand up he roared
Not a man among us moved Growling the foulest imprecations he crawled along the sand till he got hold of the porch and could hoist himself again upon his crutch Then he spat into the spring
There he cried Thats what I think of ye Before an hours out Ill stove in your old block house like a rum puncheon Laugh by thunder laugh Before an hours out yell laugh upon the other side Them that diell be the lucky ones
And with a dreadful oath he stumbled off ploughed down the sand was helped across the stockade after four or five failures by the man with the flag of truce and disappeared in an instant afterwards among the trees
21
The Attack
AS soon as Silver disappeared the captain who had been closely watching him turned towards the interior of the house and found not a man of us at his post but Gray It was the first time we had ever seen him angry
Quarters he roared And then as we all slunk back to our places Gray he said Ill put your name in the log youve stood by your duty like a seaman Mr Trelawney Im surprised at you sir Doctor I thought you had worn the kings coat If that was how you served at Fontenoy sir youd have been better in your berth
The doctors watch were all back at their loopholes the rest were busy loading the spare muskets and everyone with a red face you may be certain and a flea in his ear as the saying is
The captain looked on for a while in silence Then he spoke
My lads said he Ive given Silver a broadside I pitched it in redhot on purpose and before the hours out as he said we shall be boarded Were outnumbered I neednt tell you that but we fight in shelter and a minute ago I should have said we fought with discipline Ive no manner of doubt that we can drub them if you choose
Then he went the rounds and saw as he said that all was clear
On the two short sides of the house east and west there were only two loopholes on the south side where the porch was two again and on the north side five There was a round score of muskets for the seven of us the firewood had been built into four piles—tables you might say—one about the middle of each side and on each of these tables some ammunition and four loaded muskets were laid ready to the hand of the defenders In the middle the cutlasses lay ranged
Toss out the fire said the captain the chill is past and we mustnt have smoke in our eyes
The iron firebasket was carried bodily out by Mr Trelawney and the embers smothered among sand
Hawkins hasnt had his breakfast Hawkins help yourself and back to your post to eat it continued Captain Smollett Lively now my lad youll want it before youve done Hunter serve out a round of brandy to all hands
And while this was going on the captain completed in his own mind the plan of the defence
Doctor you will take the door he resumed See and dont expose yourself keep within and fire through the porch Hunter take the east side there Joyce you stand by the west my man Mr Trelawney you are the best shot—you and Gray will take this long north side with the five loopholes its there the danger is If they can get up to it and fire in upon us through our own ports things would begin to look dirty Hawkins neither you nor I are much account at the shooting well stand by to load and bear a hand
As the captain had said the chill was past As soon as the sun had climbed above our girdle of trees it fell with all its force upon the clearing and drank up the vapours at a draught Soon the sand was baking and the resin melting in the logs of the block house Jackets and coats were flung aside shirts thrown open at the neck and rolled up to the shoulders and we stood there each at his post in a fever of heat and anxiety
An hour passed away
Hang them said the captain This is as dull as the doldrums Gray whistle for a wind
And just at that moment came the first news of the attack
If you please sir said Joyce if I see anyone am I to fire
I told you so cried the captain
Thank you sir returned Joyce with the same quiet civility
Nothing followed for a time but the remark had set us all on the alert straining ears and eyes—the musketeers with their pieces balanced in their hands the captain out in the middle of the block house with his mouth very tight and a frown on his face
So some seconds passed till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket and fired The report had scarcely died away ere it was repeated and repeated from without in a scattering volley shot behind shot like a string of geese from every side of the enclosure Several bullets struck the loghouse but not one entered and as the smoke cleared away and vanished the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet and empty as before Not a bough waved not the gleam of a musketbarrel betrayed the presence of our foes
Did you hit your man asked the captain
No sir replied Joyce I believe not sir
Next best thing to tell the truth muttered Captain Smollett Load his gun Hawkins How many should say there were on your side doctor
I know precisely said Dr Livesey Three shots were fired on this side I saw the three flashes—two close together—one farther to the west
Three repeated the captain And how many on yours Mr Trelawney
But this was not so easily answered There had come many from the north—seven by the squires computation eight or nine according to Gray From the east and west only a single shot had been fired It was plain therefore that the attack would be developed from the north and that on the other three sides we were only to be annoyed by a show of hostilities But Captain Smollett made no change in his arrangements If the mutineers succeeded in crossing the stockade he argued they would take possession of any unprotected loophole and shoot us down like rats in our own stronghold
Nor had we much time left to us for thought Suddenly with a loud huzza a little cloud of pirates leaped from the woods on the north side and ran straight on the stockade At the same moment the fire was once more opened from the woods and a rifle ball sang through the doorway and knocked the doctors musket into bits
The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys Squire and Gray fired again and yet again three men fell one forwards into the enclosure two back on the outside But of these one was evidently more frightened than hurt for he was on his feet again in a crack and instantly disappeared among the trees
Two had bit the dust one had fled four had made good their footing inside our defences while from the shelter of the woods seven or eight men each evidently supplied with several muskets kept up a hot though useless fire on the loghouse
The four who had boarded made straight before them for the building shouting as they ran and the men among the trees shouted back to encourage them Several shots were fired but such was the hurry of the marksmen that not one appears to have taken effect In a moment the four pirates had swarmed up the mound and were upon us
The head of Job Anderson the boatswain appeared at the middle loophole
At em all hands—all hands he roared in a voice of thunder
At the same moment another pirate grasped Hunters musket by the muzzle wrenched it from his hands plucked it through the loophole and with one stunning blow laid the poor fellow senseless on the floor Meanwhile a third running unharmed all around the house appeared suddenly in the doorway and fell with his cutlass on the doctor
Our position was utterly reversed A moment since we were firing under cover at an exposed enemy now it was we who lay uncovered and could not return a blow
The loghouse was full of smoke to which we owed our comparative safety Cries and confusion the flashes and reports of pistolshots and one loud groan rang in my ears
Out lads out and fight em in the open Cutlasses cried the captain
I snatched a cutlass from the pile and someone at the same time snatching another gave me a cut across the knuckles which I hardly felt I dashed out of the door into the clear sunlight Someone was close behind I knew not whom Right in front the doctor was pursuing his assailant down the hill and just as my eyes fell upon him beat down his guard and sent him sprawling on his back with a great slash across the face
Round the house lads Round the house cried the captain and even in the hurlyburly I perceived a change in his voice
Mechanically I obeyed turned eastwards and with my cutlass raised ran round the corner of the house Next moment I was face to face with Anderson He roared aloud and his hanger went up above his head flashing in the sunlight I had not time to be afraid but as the blow still hung impending leaped in a trice upon one side and missing my foot in the soft sand rolled headlong down the slope
When I had first sallied from the door the other mutineers had been already swarming up the palisade to make an end of us One man in a red nightcap with his cutlass in his mouth had even got upon the top and thrown a leg across Well so short had been the interval that when I found my feet again all was in the same posture the fellow with the red nightcap still halfway over another still just showing his head above the top of the stockade And yet in this breath of time the fight was over and the victory was ours
Gray following close behind me had cut down the big boatswain ere he had time to recover from his last blow Another had been shot at a loophole in the very act of firing into the house and now lay in agony the pistol still smoking in his hand A third as I had seen the doctor had disposed of at a blow Of the four who had scaled the palisade one only remained unaccounted for and he having left his cutlass on the field was now clambering out again with the fear of death upon him
Fire—fire from the house cried the doctor And you lads back into cover
But his words were unheeded no shot was fired and the last boarder made good his escape and disappeared with the rest into the wood In three seconds nothing remained of the attacking party but the five who had fallen four on the inside and one on the outside of the palisade
The doctor and Gray and I ran full speed for shelter The survivors would soon be back where they had left their muskets and at any moment the fire might recommence
The house was by this time somewhat cleared of smoke and we saw at a glance the price we had paid for victory Hunter lay beside his loophole stunned Joyce by his shot through the head never to move again while right in the centre the squire was supporting the captain one as pale as the other
The captains wounded said Mr Trelawney
Have they run asked Mr Smollett
All that could you may be bound returned the doctor but theres five of them will never run again
Five cried the captain Come thats better Five against three leaves us four to nine Thats better odds than we had at starting We were seven to nineteen then or thought we were and thats as bad to bear
The mutineers were soon only eight in number for the man shot by Mr Trelawney on board the schooner died that same evening of his wound But this was of course not known till after by the faithful party
PART FIVE—My Sea Adventure
22
How My Sea Adventure Began
THERE was no return of the mutineers—not so much as another shot out of the woods They had got their rations for that day as the captain put it and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul the wounded and get dinner Squire and I cooked outside in spite of the danger and even outside we could hardly tell what we were at for horror of the loud groans that reached us from the doctors patients
Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action only three still breathed—that one of the pirates who had been shot at the loophole Hunter and Captain Smollett and of these the first two were as good as dead the mutineer indeed died under the doctors knife and Hunter do what we could never recovered consciousness in this world He lingered all day breathing loudly like the old buccaneer at home in his apoplectic fit but the bones of his chest had been crushed by the blow and his skull fractured in falling and some time in the following night without sign or sound he went to his Maker
As for the captain his wounds were grievous indeed but not dangerous No organ was fatally injured Andersons ball—for it was Job that shot him first—had broken his shoulderblade and touched the lung not badly the second had only torn and displaced some muscles in the calf He was sure to recover the doctor said but in the meantime and for weeks to come he must not walk nor move his arm nor so much as speak when he could help it
My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a fleabite Doctor Livesey patched it up with plaster and pulled my ears for me into the bargain
After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the captains side awhile in consultation and when they had talked to their hearts content it being then a little past noon the doctor took up his hat and pistols girt on a cutlass put the chart in his pocket and with a musket over his shoulder crossed the palisade on the north side and set off briskly through the trees
Gray and I were sitting together at the far end of the block house to be out of earshot of our officers consulting and Gray took his pipe out of his mouth and fairly forgot to put it back again so thunderstruck he was at this occurrence
Why in the name of Davy Jones said he is Dr Livesey mad
Why no says I Hes about the last of this crew for that I take it
Well shipmate said Gray mad he may not be but if HES not you mark my words I am
I take it replied I the doctor has his idea and if I am right hes going now to see Ben Gunn
I was right as appeared later but in the meantime the house being stifling hot and the little patch of sand inside the palisade ablaze with midday sun I began to get another thought into my head which was not by any means so right What I began to do was to envy the doctor walking in the cool shadow of the woods with the birds about him and the pleasant smell of the pines while I sat grilling with my clothes stuck to the hot resin and so much blood about me and so many poor dead bodies lying all around that I took a disgust of the place that was almost as strong as fear
All the time I was washing out the block house and then washing up the things from dinner this disgust and envy kept growing stronger and stronger till at last being near a breadbag and no one then observing me I took the first step towards my escapade and filled both pockets of my coat with biscuit
I was a fool if you like and certainly I was going to do a foolish overbold act but I was determined to do it with all the precautions in my power These biscuits should anything befall me would keep me at least from starving till far on in the next day
The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols and as I already had a powderhorn and bullets I felt myself well supplied with arms
As for the scheme I had in my head it was not a bad one in itself I was to go down the sandy spit that divides the anchorage on the east from the open sea find the white rock I had observed last evening and ascertain whether it was there or not that Ben Gunn had hidden his boat a thing quite worth doing as I still believe But as I was certain I should not be allowed to leave the enclosure my only plan was to take French leave and slip out when nobody was watching and that was so bad a way of doing it as made the thing itself wrong But I was only a boy and I had made my mind up
Well as things at last fell out I found an admirable opportunity The squire and Gray were busy helping the captain with his bandages the coast was clear I made a bolt for it over the stockade and into the thickest of the trees and before my absence was observed I was out of cry of my companions
This was my second folly far worse than the first as I left but two sound men to guard the house but like the first it was a help towards saving all of us
I took my way straight for the east coast of the island for I was determined to go down the sea side of the spit to avoid all chance of observation from the anchorage It was already late in the afternoon although still warm and sunny As I continued to thread the tall woods I could hear from far before me not only the continuous thunder of the surf but a certain tossing of foliage and grinding of boughs which showed me the sea breeze had set in higher than usual Soon cool draughts of air began to reach me and a few steps farther I came forth into the open borders of the grove and saw the sea lying blue and sunny to the horizon and the surf tumbling and tossing its foam along the beach
I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure Island The sun might blaze overhead the air be without a breath the surface smooth and blue but still these great rollers would be running along all the external coast thundering and thundering by day and night and I scarce believe there is one spot in the island where a man would be out of earshot of their noise
I walked along beside the surf with great enjoyment till thinking I was now got far enough to the south I took the cover of some thick bushes and crept warily up to the ridge of the spit
Behind me was the sea in front the anchorage The sea breeze as though it had the sooner blown itself out by its unusual violence was already at an end it had been succeeded by light variable airs from the south and southeast carrying great banks of fog and the anchorage under lee of Skeleton Island lay still and leaden as when first we entered it The HISPANIOLA in that unbroken mirror was exactly portrayed from the truck to the waterline the Jolly Roger hanging from her peak
Alongside lay one of the gigs Silver in the sternsheets—him I could always recognize—while a couple of men were leaning over the stern bulwarks one of them with a red cap—the very rogue that I had seen some hours before stridelegs upon the palisade Apparently they were talking and laughing though at that distance—upwards of a mile—I could of course hear no word of what was said All at once there began the most horrid unearthly screaming which at first startled me badly though I had soon remembered the voice of Captain Flint and even thought I could make out the bird by her bright plumage as she sat perched upon her masters wrist
Soon after the jollyboat shoved off and pulled for shore and the man with the red cap and his comrade went below by the cabin companion
Just about the same time the sun had gone down behind the Spyglass and as the fog was collecting rapidly it began to grow dark in earnest I saw I must lose no time if I were to find the boat that evening
The white rock visible enough above the brush was still some eighth of a mile further down the spit and it took me a goodish while to get up with it crawling often on all fours among the scrub Night had almost come when I laid my hand on its rough sides Right below it there was an exceedingly small hollow of green turf hidden by banks and a thick underwood about kneedeep that grew there very plentifully and in the centre of the dell sure enough a little tent of goatskins like what the gipsies carry about with them in England
I dropped into the hollow lifted the side of the tent and there was Ben Gunns boat—homemade if ever anything was homemade a rude lopsided framework of tough wood and stretched upon that a covering of goatskin with the hair inside The thing was extremely small even for me and I can hardly imagine that it could have floated with a fullsized man There was one thwart set as low as possible a kind of stretcher in the bows and a double paddle for propulsion
I had not then seen a coracle such as the ancient Britons made but I have seen one since and I can give you no fairer idea of Ben Gunns boat than by saying it was like the first and the worst coracle ever made by man But the great advantage of the coracle it certainly possessed for it was exceedingly light and portable
Well now that I had found the boat you would have thought I had had enough of truantry for once but in the meantime I had taken another notion and become so obstinately fond of it that I would have carried it out I believe in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself This was to slip out under cover of the night cut the HISPANIOLA adrift and let her go ashore where she fancied I had quite made up my mind that the mutineers after their repulse of the morning had nothing nearer their hearts than to up anchor and away to sea this I thought it would be a fine thing to prevent and now that I had seen how they left their watchmen unprovided with a boat I thought it might be done with little risk
Down I sat to wait for darkness and made a hearty meal of biscuit It was a night out of ten thousand for my purpose The fog had now buried all heaven As the last rays of daylight dwindled and disappeared absolute blackness settled down on Treasure Island And when at last I shouldered the coracle and groped my way stumblingly out of the hollow where I had supped there were but two points visible on the whole anchorage
One was the great fire on shore by which the defeated pirates lay carousing in the swamp The other a mere blur of light upon the darkness indicated the position of the anchored ship She had swung round to the ebb—her bow was now towards me—the only lights on board were in the cabin and what I saw was merely a reflection on the fog of the strong rays that flowed from the stern window
The ebb had already run some time and I had to wade through a long belt of swampy sand where I sank several times above the ankle before I came to the edge of the retreating water and wading a little way in with some strength and dexterity set my coracle keel downwards on the surface
23
The Ebbtide Runs
THE coracle—as I had ample reason to know before I was done with her—was a very safe boat for a person of my height and weight both buoyant and clever in a seaway but she was the most crossgrained lopsided craft to manage Do as you pleased she always made more leeway than anything else and turning round and round was the manoeuvre she was best at Even Ben Gunn himself has admitted that she was queer to handle till you knew her way
Certainly I did not know her way She turned in every direction but the one I was bound to go the most part of the time we were broadside on and I am very sure I never should have made the ship at all but for the tide By good fortune paddle as I pleased the tide was still sweeping me down and there lay the HISPANIOLA right in the fairway hardly to be missed
First she loomed before me like a blot of something yet blacker than darkness then her spars and hull began to take shape and the next moment as it seemed for the farther I went the brisker grew the current of the ebb I was alongside of her hawser and had laid hold
The hawser was as taut as a bowstring and the current so strong she pulled upon her anchor All round the hull in the blackness the rippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream One cut with my seagully and the HISPANIOLA would go humming down the tide
So far so good but it next occurred to my recollection that a taut hawser suddenly cut is a thing as dangerous as a kicking horse Ten to one if I were so foolhardy as to cut the HISPANIOLA from her anchor I and the coracle would be knocked clean out of the water
This brought me to a full stop and if fortune had not again particularly favoured me I should have had to abandon my design But the light airs which had begun blowing from the southeast and south had hauled round after nightfall into the southwest Just while I was meditating a puff came caught the HISPANIOLA and forced her up into the current and to my great joy I felt the hawser slacken in my grasp and the hand by which I held it dip for a second under water
With that I made my mind up took out my gully opened it with my teeth and cut one strand after another till the vessel swung only by two Then I lay quiet waiting to sever these last when the strain should be once more lightened by a breath of wind
All this time I had heard the sound of loud voices from the cabin but to say truth my mind had been so entirely taken up with other thoughts that I had scarcely given ear Now however when I had nothing else to do I began to pay more heed
One I recognized for the coxswains Israel Hands that had been Flints gunner in former days The other was of course my friend of the red nightcap Both men were plainly the worse of drink and they were still drinking for even while I was listening one of them with a drunken cry opened the stern window and threw out something which I divined to be an empty bottle But they were not only tipsy it was plain that they were furiously angry Oaths flew like hailstones and every now and then there came forth such an explosion as I thought was sure to end in blows But each time the quarrel passed off and the voices grumbled lower for a while until the next crisis came and in its turn passed away without result
On shore I could see the glow of the great campfire burning warmly through the shoreside trees Someone was singing a dull old droning sailors song with a droop and a quaver at the end of every verse and seemingly no end to it at all but the patience of the singer I had heard it on the voyage more than once and remembered these words
But one man of her crew alive
What put to sea with seventyfive
And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully appropriate for a company that had met such cruel losses in the morning But indeed from what I saw all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed on
At last the breeze came the schooner sidled and drew nearer in the dark I felt the hawser slacken once more and with a good tough effort cut the last fibres through
The breeze had but little action on the coracle and I was almost instantly swept against the bows of the HISPANIOLA At the same time the schooner began to turn upon her heel spinning slowly end for end across the current
I wrought like a fiend for I expected every moment to be swamped and since I found I could not push the coracle directly off I now shoved straight astern At length I was clear of my dangerous neighbour and just as I gave the last impulsion my hands came across a light cord that was trailing overboard across the stern bulwarks Instantly I grasped it
Why I should have done so I can hardly say It was at first mere instinct but once I had it in my hands and found it fast curiosity began to get the upper hand and I determined I should have one look through the cabin window
I pulled in hand over hand on the cord and when I judged myself near enough rose at infinite risk to about half my height and thus commanded the roof and a slice of the interior of the cabin
By this time the schooner and her little consort were gliding pretty swiftly through the water indeed we had already fetched up level with the campfire The ship was talking as sailors say loudly treading the innumerable ripples with an incessant weltering splash and until I got my eye above the windowsill I could not comprehend why the watchmen had taken no alarm One glance however was sufficient and it was only one glance that I durst take from that unsteady skiff It showed me Hands and his companion locked together in deadly wrestle each with a hand upon the others throat
I dropped upon the thwart again none too soon for I was near overboard I could see nothing for the moment but these two furious encrimsoned faces swaying together under the smoky lamp and I shut my eyes to let them grow once more familiar with the darkness
The endless ballad had come to an end at last and the whole diminished company about the campfire had broken into the chorus I had heard so often
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest—
Yohoho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest—
Yohoho and a bottle of rum
I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were at that very moment in the cabin of the HISPANIOLA when I was surprised by a sudden lurch of the coracle At the same moment she yawed sharply and seemed to change her course The speed in the meantime had strangely increased
I opened my eyes at once All round me were little ripples combing over with a sharp bristling sound and slightly phosphorescent The HISPANIOLA herself a few yards in whose wake I was still being whirled along seemed to stagger in her course and I saw her spars toss a little against the blackness of the night nay as I looked longer I made sure she also was wheeling to the southward
I glanced over my shoulder and my heart jumped against my ribs There right behind me was the glow of the campfire The current had turned at right angles sweeping round along with it the tall schooner and the little dancing coracle ever quickening ever bubbling higher ever muttering louder it went spinning through the narrows for the open sea
Suddenly the schooner in front of me gave a violent yaw turning perhaps through twenty degrees and almost at the same moment one shout followed another from on board I could hear feet pounding on the companion ladder and I knew that the two drunkards had at last been interrupted in their quarrel and awakened to a sense of their disaster
I lay down flat in the bottom of that wretched skiff and devoutly recommended my spirit to its Maker At the end of the straits I made sure we must fall into some bar of raging breakers where all my troubles would be ended speedily and though I could perhaps bear to die I could not bear to look upon my fate as it approached
So I must have lain for hours continually beaten to and fro upon the billows now and again wetted with flying sprays and never ceasing to expect death at the next plunge Gradually weariness grew upon me a numbness an occasional stupor fell upon my mind even in the midst of my terrors until sleep at last supervened and in my seatossed coracle I lay and dreamed of home and the old Admiral Benbow
24
The Cruise of the Coracle
IT was broad day when I awoke and found myself tossing at the southwest end of Treasure Island The sun was up but was still hid from me behind the great bulk of the Spyglass which on this side descended almost to the sea in formidable cliffs
Haulbowline Head and Mizzenmast Hill were at my elbow the hill bare and dark the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high and fringed with great masses of fallen rock I was scarce a quarter of a mile to seaward and it was my first thought to paddle in and land
That notion was soon given over Among the fallen rocks the breakers spouted and bellowed loud reverberations heavy sprays flying and falling succeeded one another from second to second and I saw myself if I ventured nearer dashed to death upon the rough shore or spending my strength in vain to scale the beetling crags
Nor was that all for crawling together on flat tables of rock or letting themselves drop into the sea with loud reports I beheld huge slimy monsters—soft snails as it were of incredible bigness—two or three score of them together making the rocks to echo with their barkings
I have understood since that they were sea lions and entirely harmless But the look of them added to the difficulty of the shore and the high running of the surf was more than enough to disgust me of that landingplace I felt willing rather to starve at sea than to confront such perils
In the meantime I had a better chance as I supposed before me North of Haulbowline Head the land runs in a long way leaving at low tide a long stretch of yellow sand To the north of that again there comes another cape—Cape of the Woods as it was marked upon the chart—buried in tall green pines which descended to the margin of the sea
I remembered what Silver had said about the current that sets northward along the whole west coast of Treasure Island and seeing from my position that I was already under its influence I preferred to leave Haulbowline Head behind me and reserve my strength for an attempt to land upon the kindlierlooking Cape of the Woods
There was a great smooth swell upon the sea The wind blowing steady and gentle from the south there was no contrariety between that and the current and the billows rose and fell unbroken
Had it been otherwise I must long ago have perished but as it was it is surprising how easily and securely my little and light boat could ride Often as I still lay at the bottom and kept no more than an eye above the gunwale I would see a big blue summit heaving close above me yet the coracle would but bounce a little dance as if on springs and subside on the other side into the trough as lightly as a bird
I began after a little to grow very bold and sat up to try my skill at paddling But even a small change in the disposition of the weight will produce violent changes in the behaviour of a coracle And I had hardly moved before the boat giving up at once her gentle dancing movement ran straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy and struck her nose with a spout of spray deep into the side of the next wave
I was drenched and terrified and fell instantly back into my old position whereupon the coracle seemed to find her head again and led me as softly as before among the billows It was plain she was not to be interfered with and at that rate since I could in no way influence her course what hope had I left of reaching land
I began to be horribly frightened but I kept my head for all that First moving with all care I gradually baled out the coracle with my seacap then getting my eye once more above the gunwale I set myself to study how it was she managed to slip so quietly through the rollers
I found each wave instead of the big smooth glossy mountain it looks from shore or from a vessels deck was for all the world like any range of hills on dry land full of peaks and smooth places and valleys The coracle left to herself turning from side to side threaded so to speak her way through these lower parts and avoided the steep slopes and higher toppling summits of the wave
Well now thought I to myself it is plain I must lie where I am and not disturb the balance but it is plain also that I can put the paddle over the side and from time to time in smooth places give her a shove or two towards land No sooner thought upon than done There I lay on my elbows in the most trying attitude and every now and again gave a weak stroke or two to turn her head to shore
It was very tiring and slow work yet I did visibly gain ground and as we drew near the Cape of the Woods though I saw I must infallibly miss that point I had still made some hundred yards of easting I was indeed close in I could see the cool green treetops swaying together in the breeze and I felt sure I should make the next promontory without fail
It was high time for I now began to be tortured with thirst The glow of the sun from above its thousandfold reflection from the waves the seawater that fell and dried upon me caking my very lips with salt combined to make my throat burn and my brain ache The sight of the trees so near at hand had almost made me sick with longing but the current had soon carried me past the point and as the next reach of sea opened out I beheld a sight that changed the nature of my thoughts
Right in front of me not half a mile away I beheld the HISPANIOLA under sail I made sure of course that I should be taken but I was so distressed for want of water that I scarce knew whether to be glad or sorry at the thought and long before I had come to a conclusion surprise had taken entire possession of my mind and I could do nothing but stare and wonder
The HISPANIOLA was under her mainsail and two jibs and the beautiful white canvas shone in the sun like snow or silver When I first sighted her all her sails were drawing she was lying a course about northwest and I presumed the men on board were going round the island on their way back to the anchorage Presently she began to fetch more and more to the westward so that I thought they had sighted me and were going about in chase At last however she fell right into the winds eye was taken dead aback and stood there awhile helpless with her sails shivering
Clumsy fellows said I they must still be drunk as owls And I thought how Captain Smollett would have set them skipping
Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off and filled again upon another tack sailed swiftly for a minute or so and brought up once more dead in the winds eye Again and again was this repeated To and fro up and down north south east and west the HISPANIOLA sailed by swoops and dashes and at each repetition ended as she had begun with idly flapping canvas It became plain to me that nobody was steering And if so where were the men Either they were dead drunk or had deserted her I thought and perhaps if I could get on board I might return the vessel to her captain
The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate As for the latters sailing it was so wild and intermittent and she hung each time so long in irons that she certainly gained nothing if she did not even lose If only I dared to sit up and paddle I made sure that I could overhaul her The scheme had an air of adventure that inspired me and the thought of the water breaker beside the fore companion doubled my growing courage
Up I got was welcomed almost instantly by another cloud of spray but this time stuck to my purpose and set myself with all my strength and caution to paddle after the unsteered HISPANIOLA Once I shipped a sea so heavy that I had to stop and bail with my heart fluttering like a bird but gradually I got into the way of the thing and guided my coracle among the waves with only now and then a blow upon her bows and a dash of foam in my face
I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner I could see the brass glisten on the tiller as it banged about and still no soul appeared upon her decks I could not choose but suppose she was deserted If not the men were lying drunk below where I might batten them down perhaps and do what I chose with the ship
For some time she had been doing the worse thing possible for me—standing still She headed nearly due south yawing of course all the time Each time she fell off her sails partly filled and these brought her in a moment right to the wind again I have said this was the worst thing possible for me for helpless as she looked in this situation with the canvas cracking like cannon and the blocks trundling and banging on the deck she still continued to run away from me not only with the speed of the current but by the whole amount of her leeway which was naturally great
But now at last I had my chance The breeze fell for some seconds very low and the current gradually turning her the HISPANIOLA revolved slowly round her centre and at last presented me her stern with the cabin window still gaping open and the lamp over the table still burning on into the day The mainsail hung drooped like a banner She was stockstill but for the current
For the last little while I had even lost but now redoubling my efforts I began once more to overhaul the chase
I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind came again in a clap she filled on the port tack and was off again stooping and skimming like a swallow
My first impulse was one of despair but my second was towards joy Round she came till she was broadside on to me—round still till she had covered a half and then two thirds and then three quarters of the distance that separated us I could see the waves boiling white under her forefoot Immensely tall she looked to me from my low station in the coracle
And then of a sudden I began to comprehend I had scarce time to think—scarce time to act and save myself I was on the summit of one swell when the schooner came stooping over the next The bowsprit was over my head I sprang to my feet and leaped stamping the coracle under water With one hand I caught the jibboom while my foot was lodged between the stay and the brace and as I still clung there panting a dull blow told me that the schooner had charged down upon and struck the coracle and that I was left without retreat on the HISPANIOLA
25
I Strike the Jolly Roger
I HAD scarce gained a position on the bowsprit when the flying jib flapped and filled upon the other tack with a report like a gun The schooner trembled to her keel under the reverse but next moment the other sails still drawing the jib flapped back again and hung idle
This had nearly tossed me off into the sea and now I lost no time crawled back along the bowsprit and tumbled head foremost on the deck
I was on the lee side of the forecastle and the mainsail which was still drawing concealed from me a certain portion of the afterdeck Not a soul was to be seen The planks which had not been swabbed since the mutiny bore the print of many feet and an empty bottle broken by the neck tumbled to and fro like a live thing in the scuppers
Suddenly the HISPANIOLA came right into the wind The jibs behind me cracked aloud the rudder slammed to the whole ship gave a sickening heave and shudder and at the same moment the mainboom swung inboard the sheet groaning in the blocks and showed me the lee afterdeck
There were the two watchmen sure enough redcap on his back as stiff as a handspike with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix and his teeth showing through his open lips Israel Hands propped against the bulwarks his chin on his chest his hands lying open before him on the deck his face as white under its tan as a tallow candle
For a while the ship kept bucking and sidling like a vicious horse the sails filling now on one tack now on another and the boom swinging to and fro till the mast groaned aloud under the strain Now and again too there would come a cloud of light sprays over the bulwark and a heavy blow of the ships bows against the swell so much heavier weather was made of it by this great rigged ship than by my homemade lopsided coracle now gone to the bottom of the sea
At every jump of the schooner redcap slipped to and fro but—what was ghastly to behold—neither his attitude nor his fixed teethdisclosing grin was anyway disturbed by this rough usage At every jump too Hands appeared still more to sink into himself and settle down upon the deck his feet sliding ever the farther out and the whole body canting towards the stern so that his face became little by little hid from me and at last I could see nothing beyond his ear and the frayed ringlet of one whisker
At the same time I observed around both of them splashes of dark blood upon the planks and began to feel sure that they had killed each other in their drunken wrath
While I was thus looking and wondering in a calm moment when the ship was still Israel Hands turned partly round and with a low moan writhed himself back to the position in which I had seen him first The moan which told of pain and deadly weakness and the way in which his jaw hung open went right to my heart But when I remembered the talk I had overheard from the apple barrel all pity left me
I walked aft until I reached the mainmast
Come aboard Mr Hands I said ironically
He rolled his eyes round heavily but he was too far gone to express surprise All he could do was to utter one word Brandy
It occurred to me there was no time to lose and dodging the boom as it once more lurched across the deck I slipped aft and down the companion stairs into the cabin
It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy All the lockfast places had been broken open in quest of the chart The floor was thick with mud where ruffians had sat down to drink or consult after wading in the marshes round their camp The bulkheads all painted in clear white and beaded round with gilt bore a pattern of dirty hands Dozens of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the rolling of the ship One of the doctors medical books lay open on the table half of the leaves gutted out I suppose for pipelights In the midst of all this the lamp still cast a smoky glow obscure and brown as umber
I went into the cellar all the barrels were gone and of the bottles a most surprising number had been drunk out and thrown away Certainly since the mutiny began not a man of them could ever have been sober
Foraging about I found a bottle with some brandy left for Hands and for myself I routed out some biscuit some pickled fruits a great bunch of raisins and a piece of cheese With these I came on deck put down my own stock behind the rudder head and well out of the coxswains reach went forward to the waterbreaker and had a good deep drink of water and then and not till then gave Hands the brandy
He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle from his mouth
Aye said he by thunder but I wanted some o that
I had sat down already in my own corner and begun to eat
Much hurt I asked him
He grunted or rather I might say he barked
If that doctor was aboard he said Id be right enough in a couple of turns but I dont have no manner of luck you see and thats whats the matter with me As for that swab hes good and dead he is he added indicating the man with the red cap He warnt no seaman anyhow And where mought you have come from
Well said I Ive come aboard to take possession of this ship Mr Hands and youll please regard me as your captain until further notice
He looked at me sourly enough but said nothing Some of the colour had come back into his cheeks though he still looked very sick and still continued to slip out and settle down as the ship banged about
By the by I continued I cant have these colours Mr Hands and by your leave Ill strike em Better none than these
And again dodging the boom I ran to the colour lines handed down their cursed black flag and chucked it overboard
God save the king said I waving my cap And theres an end to Captain Silver
He watched me keenly and slyly his chin all the while on his breast
I reckon he said at last I reckon Capn Hawkins youll kind of want to get ashore now Spose we talks
Why yes says I with all my heart Mr Hands Say on And I went back to my meal with a good appetite
This man he began nodding feebly at the corpse —OBrien were his name a rank Irelander—this man and me got the canvas on her meaning for to sail her back Well HES dead now he is—as dead as bilge and whos to sail this ship I dont see Without I gives you a hint you aint that man as fars I can tell Now look here you gives me food and drink and a old scarf or ankecher to tie my wound up you do and Ill tell you how to sail her and thats about square all round I take it
Ill tell you one thing says I Im not going back to Captain Kidds anchorage I mean to get into North Inlet and beach her quietly there
To be sure you did he cried Why I aint sich an infernal lubber after all I can see cant I Ive tried my fling I have and Ive lost and its you has the wind of me North Inlet Why I havent no chice not I Id help you sail her up to Execution Dock by thunder So I would
Well as it seemed to me there was some sense in this We struck our bargain on the spot In three minutes I had the HISPANIOLA sailing easily before the wind along the coast of Treasure Island with good hopes of turning the northern point ere noon and beating down again as far as North Inlet before high water when we might beach her safely and wait till the subsiding tide permitted us to land
Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own chest where I got a soft silk handkerchief of my mothers With this and with my aid Hands bound up the great bleeding stab he had received in the thigh and after he had eaten a little and had a swallow or two more of the brandy he began to pick up visibly sat straighter up spoke louder and clearer and looked in every way another man
The breeze served us admirably We skimmed before it like a bird the coast of the island flashing by and the view changing every minute Soon we were past the high lands and bowling beside low sandy country sparsely dotted with dwarf pines and soon we were beyond that again and had turned the corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on the north
I was greatly elated with my new command and pleased with the bright sunshiny weather and these different prospects of the coast I had now plenty of water and good things to eat and my conscience which had smitten me hard for my desertion was quieted by the great conquest I had made I should I think have had nothing left me to desire but for the eyes of the coxswain as they followed me derisively about the deck and the odd smile that appeared continually on his face It was a smile that had in it something both of pain and weakness—a haggard old mans smile but there was besides that a grain of derision a shadow of treachery in his expression as he craftily watched and watched and watched me at my work
26
Israel Hands
THE wind serving us to a desire now hauled into the west We could run so much the easier from the northeast corner of the island to the mouth of the North Inlet Only as we had no power to anchor and dared not beach her till the tide had flowed a good deal farther time hung on our hands The coxswain told me how to lay the ship to after a good many trials I succeeded and we both sat in silence over another meal
Capn said he at length with that same uncomfortable smile heres my old shipmate OBrien spose you was to heave him overboard I aint particlar as a rule and I dont take no blame for settling his hash but I dont reckon him ornamental now do you
Im not strong enough and I dont like the job and there he lies for me said I
This heres an unlucky ship this HISPANIOLA Jim he went on blinking Theres a power of men been killed in this HISPANIOLA—a sight o poor seamen dead and gone since you and me took ship to Bristol I never seen sich dirty luck not I There was this here OBrien now—hes dead aint he Well now Im no scholar and youre a lad as can read and figure and to put it straight do you take it as a dead man is dead for good or do he come alive again
You can kill the body Mr Hands but not the spirit you must know that already I replied OBrien there is in another world and may be watching us
Ah says he Well thats unfortnate—appears as if killing parties was a waste of time Howsomever sperrits dont reckon for much by what Ive seen Ill chance it with the sperrits Jim And now youve spoke up free and Ill take it kind if youd step down into that there cabin and get me a—well a—shiver my timbers I cant hit the name on t well you get me a bottle of wine Jim—this here brandys too strong for my head
Now the coxswains hesitation seemed to be unnatural and as for the notion of his preferring wine to brandy I entirely disbelieved it The whole story was a pretext He wanted me to leave the deck—so much was plain but with what purpose I could in no way imagine His eyes never met mine they kept wandering to and fro up and down now with a look to the sky now with a flitting glance upon the dead OBrien All the time he kept smiling and putting his tongue out in the most guilty embarrassed manner so that a child could have told that he was bent on some deception I was prompt with my answer however for I saw where my advantage lay and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could easily conceal my suspicions to the end
Some wine I said Far better Will you have white or red
Well I reckon its about the blessed same to me shipmate he replied so its strong and plenty of it whats the odds
All right I answered Ill bring you port Mr Hands But Ill have to dig for it
With that I scuttled down the companion with all the noise I could slipped off my shoes ran quietly along the sparred gallery mounted the forecastle ladder and popped my head out of the fore companion I knew he would not expect to see me there yet I took every precaution possible and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true
He had risen from his position to his hands and knees and though his leg obviously hurt him pretty sharply when he moved—for I could hear him stifle a groan—yet it was at a good rattling rate that he trailed himself across the deck In half a minute he had reached the port scuppers and picked out of a coil of rope a long knife or rather a short dirk discoloured to the hilt with blood He looked upon it for a moment thrusting forth his under jaw tried the point upon his hand and then hastily concealing it in the bosom of his jacket trundled back again into his old place against the bulwark
This was all that I required to know Israel could move about he was now armed and if he had been at so much trouble to get rid of me it was plain that I was meant to be the victim What he would do afterwards—whether he would try to crawl right across the island from North Inlet to the camp among the swamps or whether he would fire Long Tom trusting that his own comrades might come first to help him—was of course more than I could say
Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point since in that our interests jumped together and that was in the disposition of the schooner We both desired to have her stranded safe enough in a sheltered place and so that when the time came she could be got off again with as little labour and danger as might be and until that was done I considered that my life would certainly be spared
While I was thus turning the business over in my mind I had not been idle with my body I had stolen back to the cabin slipped once more into my shoes and laid my hand at random on a bottle of wine and now with this for an excuse I made my reappearance on the deck
Hands lay as I had left him all fallen together in a bundle and with his eyelids lowered as though he were too weak to bear the light He looked up however at my coming knocked the neck off the bottle like a man who had done the same thing often and took a good swig with his favourite toast of Heres luck Then he lay quiet for a little and then pulling out a stick of tobacco begged me to cut him a quid
Cut me a junk o that says he for I havent no knife and hardly strength enough so be as I had Ah Jim Jim I reckon Ive missed stays Cut me a quid asll likely be the last lad for Im for my long home and no mistake
Well said I Ill cut you some tobacco but if I was you and thought myself so badly I would go to my prayers like a Christian man
Why said he Now you tell me why
Why I cried You were asking me just now about the dead Youve broken your trust youve lived in sin and lies and blood theres a man you killed lying at your feet this moment and you ask me why For Gods mercy Mr Hands thats why
I spoke with a little heat thinking of the bloody dirk he had hidden in his pocket and designed in his ill thoughts to end me with He for his part took a great draught of the wine and spoke with the most unusual solemnity
For thirty years he said Ive sailed the seas and seen good and bad better and worse fair weather and foul provisions running out knives going and what not Well now I tell you I never seen good come o goodness yet Him as strikes first is my fancy dead men dont bite thems my views—amen so be it And now you look here he added suddenly changing his tone weve had about enough of this foolery The tides made good enough by now You just take my orders Capn Hawkins and well sail slap in and be done with it
All told we had scarce two miles to run but the navigation was delicate the entrance to this northern anchorage was not only narrow and shoal but lay east and west so that the schooner must be nicely handled to be got in I think I was a good prompt subaltern and I am very sure that Hands was an excellent pilot for we went about and about and dodged in shaving the banks with a certainty and a neatness that were a pleasure to behold
Scarcely had we passed the heads before the land closed around us The shores of North Inlet were as thickly wooded as those of the southern anchorage but the space was longer and narrower and more like what in truth it was the estuary of a river Right before us at the southern end we saw the wreck of a ship in the last stages of dilapidation It had been a great vessel of three masts but had lain so long exposed to the injuries of the weather that it was hung about with great webs of dripping seaweed and on the deck of it shore bushes had taken root and now flourished thick with flowers It was a sad sight but it showed us that the anchorage was calm
Now said Hands look there theres a pet bit for to beach a ship in Fine flat sand never a cats paw trees all around of it and flowers ablowing like a garding on that old ship
And once beached I inquired how shall we get her off again
Why so he replied you take a line ashore there on the other side at low water take a turn about one of them big pines bring it back take a turn around the capstan and lie to for the tide Come high water all hands take a pull upon the line and off she comes as sweet as natur And now boy you stand by Were near the bit now and shes too much way on her Starboard a little—so—steady—starboard—larboard a little—steady—steady
So he issued his commands which I breathlessly obeyed till all of a sudden he cried Now my hearty luff And I put the helm hard up and the HISPANIOLA swung round rapidly and ran stem on for the low wooded shore
The excitement of these last manoeuvres had somewhat interfered with the watch I had kept hitherto sharply enough upon the coxswain Even then I was still so much interested waiting for the ship to touch that I had quite forgot the peril that hung over my head and stood craning over the starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading wide before the bows I might have fallen without a struggle for my life had not a sudden disquietude seized upon me and made me turn my head Perhaps I had heard a creak or seen his shadow moving with the tail of my eye perhaps it was an instinct like a cats but sure enough when I looked round there was Hands already halfway towards me with the dirk in his right hand
We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met but while mine was the shrill cry of terror his was a roar of fury like a charging bullys At the same instant he threw himself forward and I leapt sideways towards the bows As I did so I let go of the tiller which sprang sharp to leeward and I think this saved my life for it struck Hands across the chest and stopped him for the moment dead
Before he could recover I was safe out of the corner where he had me trapped with all the deck to dodge about Just forward of the mainmast I stopped drew a pistol from my pocket took a cool aim though he had already turned and was once more coming directly after me and drew the trigger The hammer fell but there followed neither flash nor sound the priming was useless with seawater I cursed myself for my neglect Why had not I long before reprimed and reloaded my only weapons Then I should not have been as now a mere fleeing sheep before this butcher
Wounded as he was it was wonderful how fast he could move his grizzled hair tumbling over his face and his face itself as red as a red ensign with his haste and fury I had no time to try my other pistol nor indeed much inclination for I was sure it would be useless One thing I saw plainly I must not simply retreat before him or he would speedily hold me boxed into the bows as a moment since he had so nearly boxed me in the stern Once so caught and nine or ten inches of the bloodstained dirk would be my last experience on this side of eternity I placed my palms against the mainmast which was of a goodish bigness and waited every nerve upon the stretch
Seeing that I meant to dodge he also paused and a moment or two passed in feints on his part and corresponding movements upon mine It was such a game as I had often played at home about the rocks of Black Hill Cove but never before you may be sure with such a wildly beating heart as now Still as I say it was a boys game and I thought I could hold my own at it against an elderly seaman with a wounded thigh Indeed my courage had begun to rise so high that I allowed myself a few darting thoughts on what would be the end of the affair and while I saw certainly that I could spin it out for long I saw no hope of any ultimate escape
Well while things stood thus suddenly the HISPANIOLA struck staggered ground for an instant in the sand and then swift as a blow canted over to the port side till the deck stood at an angle of fortyfive degrees and about a puncheon of water splashed into the scupper holes and lay in a pool between the deck and bulwark
We were both of us capsized in a second and both of us rolled almost together into the scuppers the dead redcap with his arms still spread out tumbling stiffly after us So near were we indeed that my head came against the coxswains foot with a crack that made my teeth rattle Blow and all I was the first afoot again for Hands had got involved with the dead body The sudden canting of the ship had made the deck no place for running on I had to find some new way of escape and that upon the instant for my foe was almost touching me Quick as thought I sprang into the mizzen shrouds rattled up hand over hand and did not draw a breath till I was seated on the crosstrees
I had been saved by being prompt the dirk had struck not half a foot below me as I pursued my upward flight and there stood Israel Hands with his mouth open and his face upturned to mine a perfect statue of surprise and disappointment
Now that I had a moment to myself I lost no time in changing the priming of my pistol and then having one ready for service and to make assurance doubly sure I proceeded to draw the load of the other and recharge it afresh from the beginning
My new employment struck Hands all of a heap he began to see the dice going against him and after an obvious hesitation he also hauled himself heavily into the shrouds and with the dirk in his teeth began slowly and painfully to mount It cost him no end of time and groans to haul his wounded leg behind him and I had quietly finished my arrangements before he was much more than a third of the way up Then with a pistol in either hand I addressed him
One more step Mr Hands said I and Ill blow your brains out Dead men dont bite you know I added with a chuckle
He stopped instantly I could see by the working of his face that he was trying to think and the process was so slow and laborious that in my newfound security I laughed aloud At last with a swallow or two he spoke his face still wearing the same expression of extreme perplexity In order to speak he had to take the dagger from his mouth but in all else he remained unmoved
Jim says he I reckon were fouled you and me and well have to sign articles Id have had you but for that there lurch but I dont have no luck not I and I reckon Ill have to strike which comes hard you see for a master mariner to a ships younker like you Jim
I was drinking in his words and smiling away as conceited as a cock upon a wall when all in a breath back went his right hand over his shoulder Something sang like an arrow through the air I felt a blow and then a sharp pang and there I was pinned by the shoulder to the mast In the horrid pain and surprise of the moment—I scarce can say it was by my own volition and I am sure it was without a conscious aim—both my pistols went off and both escaped out of my hands They did not fall alone with a choked cry the coxswain loosed his grasp upon the shrouds and plunged head first into the water
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 crosstrees I had nothing below me but the surface of the bay Hands who was not so far up was in consequence nearer to the ship and fell between me and the bulwarks He rose once to the surface in a lather of foam and blood and then sank again for good As the water settled I could see him lying huddled together on the clean bright sand in the shadow of the vessels sides A fish or two whipped past his body Sometimes by the quivering of the water he appeared to move a little as if he were trying to rise But he was dead enough for all that being both shot and drowned and was food for fish in the very place where he had designed my slaughter
I was no sooner certain of this than I began to feel sick faint and terrified The hot blood was running over my back and chest The dirk where it had pinned my shoulder to the mast seemed to burn like a hot iron yet it was not so much these real sufferings that distressed me for these it seemed to me I could bear without a murmur it was the horror I had upon my mind of falling from the crosstrees into that still green water beside the body of the coxswain
I clung with both hands till my nails ached and I shut my eyes as if to cover up the peril Gradually my mind came back again my pulses quieted down to a more natural time and I was once more in possession of myself
It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk but either it stuck too hard or my nerve failed me and I desisted with a violent shudder Oddly enough that very shudder did the business The knife in fact had come the nearest in the world to missing me altogether it held me by a mere pinch of skin and this the shudder tore away The blood ran down the faster to be sure but I was my own master again and only tacked to the mast by my coat and shirt
These last I broke through with a sudden jerk and then regained the deck by the starboard shrouds For nothing in the world would I have again ventured shaken as I was upon the overhanging port shrouds from which Israel had so lately fallen
I went below and did what I could for my wound it pained me a good deal and still bled freely but it was neither deep nor dangerous nor did it greatly gall me when I used my arm Then I looked around me and as the ship was now in a sense my own I began to think of clearing it from its last passenger—the dead man OBrien
He had pitched as I have said against the bulwarks where he lay like some horrible ungainly sort of puppet lifesize indeed but how different from lifes colour or lifes comeliness In that position I could easily have my way with him and as the habit of tragical adventures had worn off almost all my terror for the dead I took him by the waist as if he had been a sack of bran and with one good heave tumbled him overboard He went in with a sounding plunge the red cap came off and remained floating on the surface and as soon as the splash subsided I could see him and Israel lying side by side both wavering with the tremulous movement of the water OBrien though still quite a young man was very bald There he lay with that bald head across the knees of the man who had killed him and the quick fishes steering to and fro over both
I was now alone upon the ship the tide had just turned The sun was within so few degrees of setting that already the shadow of the pines upon the western shore began to reach right across the anchorage and fall in patterns on the deck The evening breeze had sprung up and though it was well warded off by the hill with the two peaks upon the east the cordage had begun to sing a little softly to itself and the idle sails to rattle to and fro
I began to see a danger to the ship The jibs I speedily doused and brought tumbling to the deck but the mainsail was a harder matter Of course when the schooner canted over the boom had swung outboard and the cap of it and a foot or two of sail hung even under water I thought this made it still more dangerous yet the strain was so heavy that I half feared to meddle At last I got my knife and cut the halyards The peak dropped instantly a great belly of loose canvas floated broad upon the water and since pull as I liked I could not budge the downhall that was the extent of what I could accomplish For the rest the HISPANIOLA must trust to luck like myself
By this time the whole anchorage had fallen into shadow—the last rays I remember falling through a glade of the wood and shining bright as jewels on the flowery mantle of the wreck It began to be chill the tide was rapidly fleeting seaward the schooner settling more and more on her beamends
I scrambled forward and looked over It seemed shallow enough and holding the cut hawser in both hands for a last security I let myself drop softly overboard The water scarcely reached my waist the sand was firm and covered with ripple marks and I waded ashore in great spirits leaving the HISPANIOLA on her side with her mainsail trailing wide upon the surface of the bay About the same time the sun went fairly down and the breeze whistled low in the dusk among the tossing pines
At least and at last I was off the sea nor had I returned thence emptyhanded There lay the schooner clear at last from buccaneers and ready for our own men to board and get to sea again I had nothing nearer my fancy than to get home to the stockade and boast of my achievements Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry but the recapture of the HISPANIOLA was a clenching answer and I hoped that even Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time
So thinking and in famous spirits I began to set my face homeward for the block house and my companions I remembered that the most easterly of the rivers which drain into Captain Kidds anchorage ran from the twopeaked hill upon my left and I bent my course in that direction that I might pass the stream while it was small The wood was pretty open and keeping along the lower spurs I had soon turned the corner of that hill and not long after waded to the midcalf across the watercourse
This brought me near to where I had encountered Ben Gunn the maroon and I walked more circumspectly keeping an eye on every side The dusk had come nigh hand completely and as I opened out the cleft between the two peaks I became aware of a wavering glow against the sky where as I judged the man of the island was cooking his supper before a roaring fire And yet I wondered in my heart that he should show himself so careless For if I could see this radiance might it not reach the eyes of Silver himself where he camped upon the shore among the marshes
Gradually the night fell blacker it was all I could do to guide myself even roughly towards my destination the double hill behind me and the Spyglass on my right hand loomed faint and fainter the stars were few and pale and in the low ground where I wandered I kept tripping among bushes and rolling into sandy pits
Suddenly a kind of brightness fell about me I looked up a pale glimmer of moonbeams had alighted on the summit of the Spyglass and soon after I saw something broad and silvery moving low down behind the trees and knew the moon had risen
With this to help me I passed rapidly over what remained to me of my journey and sometimes walking sometimes running impatiently drew near to the stockade Yet as I began to thread the grove that lies before it I was not so thoughtless but that I slacked my pace and went a trifle warily It would have been a poor end of my adventures to get shot down by my own party in mistake
The moon was climbing higher and higher its light began to fall here and there in masses through the more open districts of the wood and right in front of me a glow of a different colour appeared among the trees It was red and hot and now and again it was a little darkened—as it were the embers of a bonfire smouldering
For the life of me I could not think what it might be
At last I came right down upon the borders of the clearing The western end was already steeped in moonshine the rest and the block house itself still lay in a black shadow chequered with long silvery streaks of light On the other side of the house an immense fire had burned itself into clear embers and shed a steady red reverberation contrasted strongly with the mellow paleness of the moon There was not a soul stirring nor a sound beside the noises of the breeze
I stopped with much wonder in my heart and perhaps a little terror also It had not been our way to build great fires we were indeed by the captains orders somewhat niggardly of firewood and I began to fear that something had gone wrong while I was absent
I stole round by the eastern end keeping close in shadow and at a convenient place where the darkness was thickest crossed the palisade
To make assurance surer I got upon my hands and knees and crawled without a sound towards the corner of the house As I drew nearer my heart was suddenly and greatly lightened It is not a pleasant noise in itself and I have often complained of it at other times but just then it was like music to hear my friends snoring together so loud and peaceful in their sleep The seacry of the watch that beautiful Alls well never fell more reassuringly on my ear
In the meantime there was no doubt of one thing they kept an infamous bad watch If it had been Silver and his lads that were now creeping in on them not a soul would have seen daybreak That was what it was thought I to have the captain wounded and again I blamed myself sharply for leaving them in that danger with so few to mount guard
By this time I had got to the door and stood up All was dark within so that I could distinguish nothing by the eye As for sounds there was the steady drone of the snorers and a small occasional noise a flickering or pecking that I could in no way account for
With my arms before me I walked steadily in I should lie down in my own place I thought with a silent chuckle and enjoy their faces when they found me in the morning
My foot struck something yielding—it was a sleepers leg and he turned and groaned but without awaking
And then all of a sudden a shrill voice broke forth out of the darkness
Pieces of eight Pieces of eight Pieces of eight Pieces of eight Pieces of eight and so forth without pause or change like the clacking of a tiny mill
Silvers green parrot Captain Flint It was she whom I had heard pecking at a piece of bark it was she keeping better watch than any human being who thus announced my arrival with her wearisome refrain
I had no time left me to recover At the sharp clipping tone of the parrot the sleepers awoke and sprang up and with a mighty oath the voice of Silver cried Who goes
I turned to run struck violently against one person recoiled and ran full into the arms of a second who for his part closed upon and held me tight
Bring a torch Dick said Silver when my capture was thus assured
And one of the men left the loghouse and presently returned with a lighted brand
PART SIX—Captain Silver
28
In the Enemys Camp
THE red glare of the torch lighting up the interior of the block house showed me the worst of my apprehensions realized The pirates were in possession of the house and stores there was the cask of cognac there were the pork and bread as before and what tenfold increased my horror not a sign of any prisoner I could only judge that all had perished and my heart smote me sorely that I had not been there to perish with them
There were six of the buccaneers all told not another man was left alive Five of them were on their feet flushed and swollen suddenly called out of the first sleep of drunkenness The sixth had only risen upon his elbow he was deadly pale and the bloodstained bandage round his head told that he had recently been wounded and still more recently dressed I remembered the man who had been shot and had run back among the woods in the great attack and doubted not that this was he
The parrot sat preening her plumage on Long Johns shoulder He himself I thought looked somewhat paler and more stern than I was used to He still wore the fine broadcloth suit in which he had fulfilled his mission but it was bitterly the worse for wear daubed with clay and torn with the sharp briers of the wood
So said he heres Jim Hawkins shiver my timbers Dropped in like eh Well come I take that friendly
And thereupon he sat down across the brandy cask and began to fill a pipe
Give me a loan of the link Dick said he and then when he had a good light Thatll do lad he added stick the glim in the wood heap and you gentlemen bring yourselves to You neednt stand up for Mr Hawkins HELL excuse you you may lay to that And so Jim—stopping the tobacco—here you were and quite a pleasant surprise for poor old John I see you were smart when first I set my eyes on you but this here gets away from me clean it do
To all this as may be well supposed I made no answer They had set me with my back against the wall and I stood there looking Silver in the face pluckily enough I hope to all outward appearance but with black despair in my heart
Silver took a whiff or two of his pipe with great composure and then ran on again
Now you see Jim so be as you ARE here says he Ill give you a piece of my mind Ive always liked you I have for a lad of spirit and the picter of my own self when I was young and handsome I always wanted you to jine and take your share and die a gentleman and now my cock youve got to Capn Smolletts a fine seaman as Ill own up to any day but stiff on discipline Dooty is dooty says he and right he is Just you keep clear of the capn The doctor himself is gone dead again you—ungrateful scamp was what he said and the short and the long of the whole story is about here you cant go back to your own lot for they wont have you and without you start a third ships company all by yourself which might be lonely youll have to jine with Capn Silver
So far so good My friends then were still alive and though I partly believed the truth of Silvers statement that the cabin party were incensed at me for my desertion I was more relieved than distressed by what I heard
I dont say nothing as to your being in our hands continued Silver though there you are and you may lay to it Im all for argyment I never seen good come out o threatening If you like the service well youll jine and if you dont Jim why youre free to answer no—free and welcome shipmate and if fairer can be said by mortal seaman shiver my sides
Am I to answer then I asked with a very tremulous voice Through all this sneering talk I was made to feel the threat of death that overhung me and my cheeks burned and my heart beat painfully in my breast
Lad said Silver no ones apressing of you Take your bearings None of us wont hurry you mate time goes so pleasant in your company you see
Well says I growing a bit bolder if Im to choose I declare I have a right to know whats what and why youre here and where my friends are
Wots wot repeated one of the buccaneers in a deep growl Ah hed be a lucky one as knowed that
Youll perhaps batten down your hatches till youre spoke to my friend cried Silver truculently to this speaker And then in his first gracious tones he replied to me Yesterday morning Mr Hawkins said he in the dogwatch down came Doctor Livesey with a flag of truce Says he Capn Silver youre sold out Ships gone Well maybe wed been taking a glass and a song to help it round I wont say no Leastways none of us had looked out We looked out and by thunder the old ship was gone I never seen a pack o fools look fishier and you may lay to that if I tells you that looked the fishiest Well says the doctor lets bargain We bargained him and I and here we are stores brandy block house the firewood you was thoughtful enough to cut and in a manner of speaking the whole blessed boat from crosstrees to kelson As for them theyve tramped I dont know wheres they are
He drew again quietly at his pipe
And lest you should take it into that head of yours he went on that you was included in the treaty heres the last word that was said How many are you says I to leave Four says he four and one of us wounded As for that boy I dont know where he is confound him says he nor I dont much care Were about sick of him These was his words
Is that all I asked
Well its all that youre to hear my son returned Silver
And now I am to choose
And now you are to choose and you may lay to that said Silver
Well said I I am not such a fool but I know pretty well what I have to look for Let the worst come to the worst its little I care Ive seen too many die since I fell in with you But theres a thing or two I have to tell you I said and by this time I was quite excited and the first is this here you are in a bad way—ship lost treasure lost men lost your whole business gone to wreck and if you want to know who did it—it was I I was in the apple barrel the night we sighted land and I heard you John and you Dick Johnson and Hands who is now at the bottom of the sea and told every word you said before the hour was out And as for the schooner it was I who cut her cable and it was I that killed the men you had aboard of her and it was I who brought her where youll never see her more not one of you The laughs on my side Ive had the top of this business from the first I no more fear you than I fear a fly Kill me if you please or spare me But one thing Ill say and no more if you spare me bygones are bygones and when you fellows are in court for piracy Ill save you all I can It is for you to choose Kill another and do yourselves no good or spare me and keep a witness to save you from the gallows
I stopped for I tell you I was out of breath and to my wonder not a man of them moved but all sat staring at me like as many sheep And while they were still staring I broke out again And now Mr Silver I said I believe youre the best man here and if things go to the worst Ill take it kind of you to let the doctor know the way I took it
Ill bear it in mind said Silver with an accent so curious that I could not for the life of me decide whether he were laughing at my request or had been favourably affected by my courage
Ill put one to that cried the old mahoganyfaced seaman—Morgan by name—whom I had seen in Long Johns publichouse upon the quays of Bristol It was him that knowed Black Dog
Well and see here added the seacook Ill put another again to that by thunder For it was this same boy that faked the chart from Billy Bones First and last weve split upon Jim Hawkins
Then here goes said Morgan with an oath
And he sprang up drawing his knife as if he had been twenty
Avast there cried Silver Who are you Tom Morgan Maybe you thought you was capn here perhaps By the powers but Ill teach you better Cross me and youll go where many a good mans gone before you first and last these thirty year back—some to the yardarm shiver my timbers and some by the board and all to feed the fishes Theres never a man looked me between the eyes and seen a good day aterwards Tom Morgan you may lay to that
Morgan paused but a hoarse murmur rose from the others
Toms right said one
I stood hazing long enough from one added another Ill be hanged if Ill be hazed by you John Silver
Did any of you gentlemen want to have it out with ME roared Silver bending far forward from his position on the keg with his pipe still glowing in his right hand Put a name on what youre at you aint dumb I reckon Him that wants shall get it Have I lived this many years and a son of a rum puncheon cock his hat athwart my hawse at the latter end of it You know the way youre all gentlemen o fortune by your account Well Im ready Take a cutlass him that dares and Ill see the colour of his inside crutch and all before that pipes empty
Not a man stirred not a man answered
Thats your sort is it he added returning his pipe to his mouth Well youre a gay lot to look at anyway Not much worth to fight you aint Praps you can understand King Georges English Im capn here by lection Im capn here because Im the best man by a long seamile You wont fight as gentlemen o fortune should then by thunder youll obey and you may lay to it I like that boy now I never seen a better boy than that Hes more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house and what I say is this let me see him thatll lay a hand on him—thats 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 sledgehammer but with a ray of hope now shining in my bosom Silver leant back against the wall his arms crossed his pipe in the corner of his mouth as calm as though he had been in church yet his eye kept wandering furtively and he kept the tail of it on his unruly followers They on their part drew gradually together towards the far end of the block house and the low hiss of their whispering sounded in my ear continuously like a stream One after another they would look up and the red light of the torch would fall for a second on their nervous faces but it was not towards me it was towards Silver that they turned their eyes
You seem to have a lot to say remarked Silver spitting far into the air Pipe up and let me hear it or lay to
Ax your pardon sir returned one of the men youre pretty free with some of the rules maybe youll kindly keep an eye upon the rest This crews dissatisfied this crew dont vally bullying a marlinspike this crew has its rights like other crews Ill make so free as that and by your own rules I take it we can talk together I ax your pardon sir acknowledging you for to be captaing at this present but I claim my right and steps outside for a council
And with an elaborate seasalute this fellow a long illlooking yelloweyed man of five and thirty stepped coolly towards the door and disappeared out of the house One after another the rest followed his example each making a salute as he passed each adding some apology According to rules said one Forecastle council said Morgan And so with one remark or another all marched out and left Silver and me alone with the torch
The seacook instantly removed his pipe
Now look you here Jim Hawkins he said in a steady whisper that was no more than audible youre within half a plank of death and whats a long sight worse of torture Theyre going to throw me off But you mark I stand by you through thick and thin I didnt mean to no not till you spoke up I was about desperate to lose that much blunt and be hanged into the bargain But I see you was the right sort I says to myself you stand by Hawkins John and Hawkinsll stand by you Youre his last card and by the living thunder John hes yours Back to back says I You save your witness and hell save your neck
I began dimly to understand
You mean alls lost I asked
Aye by gum I do he answered Ship gone neck gone—thats the size of it Once I looked into that bay Jim Hawkins and seen no schooner—well Im tough but I gave out As for that lot and their council mark me theyre outright fools and cowards Ill save your life—if so be as I can—from them But see here Jim—tit for tat—you save Long John from swinging
I was bewildered it seemed a thing so hopeless he was asking—he the old buccaneer the ringleader throughout
What I can do that Ill do I said
Its a bargain cried Long John You speak up plucky and by thunder Ive a chance
He hobbled to the torch where it stood propped among the firewood and took a fresh light to his pipe
Understand me Jim he said returning Ive a head on my shoulders I have Im on squires side now I know youve got that ship safe somewheres How you done it I dont know but safe it is I guess Hands and OBrien turned soft I never much believed in neither of THEM Now you mark me I ask no questions nor I wont let others I know when a games up I do and I know a lad thats staunch Ah you thats young—you and me might have done a power of good together
He drew some cognac from the cask into a tin cannikin
Will you taste messmate he asked and when I had refused Well Ill take a drain myself Jim said he I need a caulker for theres trouble on hand And talking o trouble why did that doctor give me the chart Jim
My face expressed a wonder so unaffected that he saw the needlessness of further questions
Ah well he did though said he And theres something under that no doubt—something surely under that Jim—bad or good
And he took another swallow of the brandy shaking his great fair head like a man who looks forward to the worst
29
The Black Spot Again
THE council of buccaneers had lasted some time when one of them reentered the house and with a repetition of the same salute which had in my eyes an ironical air begged for a moments loan of the torch Silver briefly agreed and this emissary retired again leaving us together in the dark
Theres a breeze coming Jim said Silver who had by this time adopted quite a friendly and familiar tone
I turned to the loophole nearest me and looked out The embers of the great fire had so far burned themselves out and now glowed so low and duskily that I understood why these conspirators desired a torch About halfway down the slope to the stockade they were collected in a group one held the light another was on his knees in their midst and I saw the blade of an open knife shine in his hand with varying colours in the moon and torchlight The rest were all somewhat stooping as though watching the manoeuvres of this last I could just make out that he had a book as well as a knife in his hand and was still wondering how anything so incongruous had come in their possession when the kneeling figure rose once more to his feet and the whole party began to move together towards the house
Here they come said I and I returned to my former position for it seemed beneath my dignity that they should find me watching them
Well let em come lad—let em come said Silver cheerily Ive still a shot in my locker
The door opened and the five men standing huddled together just inside pushed one of their number forward In any other circumstances it would have been comical to see his slow advance hesitating as he set down each foot but holding his closed right hand in front of him
Step up lad cried Silver I wont eat you Hand it over lubber I know the rules I do I wont hurt a depytation
Thus encouraged the buccaneer stepped forth more briskly and having passed something to Silver from hand to hand slipped yet more smartly back again to his companions
The seacook looked at what had been given him
The black spot I thought so he observed Where might you have got the paper Why hillo Look here now this aint lucky Youve gone and cut this out of a Bible What fools cut a Bible
Ah there said Morgan There Wot did I say No goodll come o that I said
Well youve about fixed it now among you continued Silver Youll all swing now I reckon What softheaded lubber had a Bible
It was Dick said one
Dick was it Then Dick can get to prayers said Silver Hes seen his slice of luck has Dick and you may lay to that
But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck in
Belay that talk John Silver he said This crew has tipped you the black spot in full council as in dooty bound just you turn it over as in dooty bound and see whats wrote there Then you can talk
Thanky George replied the seacook You always was brisk for business and has the rules by heart George as Im pleased to see Well what is it anyway Ah Deposed—thats it is it Very pretty wrote to be sure like print I swear Your hand o write George Why you was gettin quite a leadin man in this here crew Youll be capn next I shouldnt wonder Just oblige me with that torch again will you This pipe dont draw
Come now said George you dont fool this crew no more Youre a funny man by your account but youre over now and youll maybe step down off that barrel and help vote
I thought you said you knowed the rules returned Silver contemptuously Leastways if you dont I do and I wait here—and Im still your capn mind—till you outs with your grievances and I reply in the meantime your black spot aint worth a biscuit After that well see
Oh replied George you dont be under no kind of apprehension WERE all square we are First youve made a hash of this cruise—youll be a bold man to say no to that Second you let the enemy out o this here trap for nothing Why did they want out I dunno but its pretty plain they wanted it Third you wouldnt let us go at them upon the march Oh we see through you John Silver you want to play booty thats whats wrong with you And then fourth theres this here boy
Is that all asked Silver quietly
Enough too retorted George Well all swing and sundry for your bungling
Well now look here Ill answer these four pints one after another Ill answer em I made a hash o this cruise did I Well now you all know what I wanted and you all know if that had been done that wed a been aboard the HISPANIOLA this night as ever was every man of us alive and fit and full of good plumduff and the treasure in the hold of her by thunder Well who crossed me Who forced my hand as was the lawful capn Who tipped me the black spot the day we landed and began this dance Ah its a fine dance—Im with you there—and looks mighty like a hornpipe in a ropes end at Execution Dock by London town it does But who done it Why it was Anderson and Hands and you George Merry And youre the last above board of that same meddling crew and you have the Davy Joness insolence to up and stand for capn over me—you that sank the lot of us By the powers But this tops the stiffest yarn to nothing
Silver paused and I could see by the faces of George and his late comrades that these words had not been said in vain
Thats for number one cried the accused wiping the sweat from his brow for he had been talking with a vehemence that shook the house Why I give you my word Im sick to speak to you Youve neither sense nor memory and I leave it to fancy where your mothers was that let you come to sea Sea Gentlemen o fortune I reckon tailors is your trade
Go on John said Morgan Speak up to the others
Ah the others returned John Theyre a nice lot aint they You say this cruise is bungled Ah By gum if you could understand how bad its bungled you would see Were that near the gibbet that my necks stiff with thinking on it Youve seen em maybe hanged in chains birds about em seamen pinting em out as they go down with the tide Whos that says one That Why thats John Silver I knowed him well says another And you can hear the chains ajangle as you go about and reach for the other buoy Now thats about where we are every mothers son of us thanks to him and Hands and Anderson and other ruination fools of you And if you want to know about number four and that boy why shiver my timbers isnt he a hostage Are we agoing to waste a hostage No not us he might be our last chance and I shouldnt wonder Kill that boy Not me mates And number three Ah well theres a deal to say to number three Maybe you dont count it nothing to have a real college doctor to see you every day—you John with your head broke—or you George Merry that had the ague shakes upon you not six hours agone and has your eyes the colour of lemon peel to this same moment on the clock And maybe perhaps you didnt know there was a consort coming either But there is and not so long till then and well see wholl be glad to have a hostage when it comes to that And as for number two and why I made a bargain—well you came crawling on your knees to me to make it—on your knees you came you was that downhearted—and youd have starved too if I hadnt—but thats a trifle You look there—thats why
And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly recognized—none other than the chart on yellow paper with the three red crosses that I had found in the oilcloth at the bottom of the captains chest Why the doctor had given it to him was more than I could fancy
But if it were inexplicable to me the appearance of the chart was incredible to the surviving mutineers They leaped upon it like cats upon a mouse It went from hand to hand one tearing it from another and by the oaths and the cries and the childish laughter with which they accompanied their examination you would have thought not only they were fingering the very gold but were at sea with it besides in safety
Yes said one thats Flint sure enough J F and a score below with a clove hitch to it so he done ever
Mighty pretty said George But how are we to get away with it and us no ship
Silver suddenly sprang up and supporting himself with a hand against the wall Now I give you warning George he cried One more word of your sauce and Ill call you down and fight you How Why how do I know You had ought to tell me that—you and the rest that lost me my schooner with your interference burn you But not you you cant you haint got the invention of a cockroach But civil you can speak and shall George Merry you may lay to that
Thats fair enow said the old man Morgan
Fair I reckon so said the seacook You lost the ship I found the treasure Whos the better man at that And now I resign by thunder Elect whom you please to be your capn now Im done with it
Silver they cried Barbecue forever Barbecue for capn
So thats the toon is it cried the cook George I reckon youll have to wait another turn friend and lucky for you as Im not a revengeful man But that was never my way And now shipmates this black spot Taint much good now is it Dicks crossed his luck and spoiled his Bible and thats about all
Itll do to kiss the book on still wont it growled Dick who was evidently uneasy at the curse he had brought upon himself
A Bible with a bit cut out returned Silver derisively Not it It dont bind no moren a balladbook
Dont it though cried Dick with a sort of joy Well I reckon thats worth having too
Here Jim—heres a curosity for you said Silver and he tossed me the paper
It was around about the size of a crown piece One side was blank for it had been the last leaf the other contained a verse or two of Revelation—these words among the rest which struck sharply home upon my mind Without are dogs and murderers The printed side had been blackened with wood ash which already began to come off and soil my fingers on the blank side had been written with the same material the one word Depposed I have that curiosity beside me at this moment but not a trace of writing now remains beyond a single scratch such as a man might make with his thumbnail
That was the end of the nights business Soon after with a drink all round we lay down to sleep and the outside of Silvers vengeance was to put George Merry up for sentinel and threaten him with death if he should prove unfaithful
It was long ere I could close an eye and heaven knows I had matter enough for thought in the man whom I had slain that afternoon in my own most perilous position and above all in the remarkable game that I saw Silver now engaged upon—keeping the mutineers together with one hand and grasping with the other after every means possible and impossible to make his peace and save his miserable life He himself slept peacefully and snored aloud yet my heart was sore for him wicked as he was to think on the dark perils that environed and the shameful gibbet that awaited him
30
On Parole
I WAS wakened—indeed we were all wakened for I could see even the sentinel shake himself together from where he had fallen against the doorpost—by a clear hearty voice hailing us from the margin of the wood
Block house ahoy it cried Heres the doctor
And the doctor it was Although I was glad to hear the sound yet my gladness was not without admixture I remembered with confusion my insubordinate and stealthy conduct and when I saw where it had brought me—among what companions and surrounded by what dangers—I felt ashamed to look him in the face
He must have risen in the dark for the day had hardly come and when I ran to a loophole and looked out I saw him standing like Silver once before up to the midleg in creeping vapour
You doctor Top o the morning to you sir cried Silver broad awake and beaming with good nature in a moment Bright and early to be sure and its the early bird as the saying goes that gets the rations George shake up your timbers son and help Dr Livesey over the ships side All adoin well your patients was—all well and merry
So he pattered on standing on the hilltop with his crutch under his elbow and one hand upon the side of the loghouse—quite the old John in voice manner and expression
Weve quite a surprise for you too sir he continued Weve a little stranger here—he he A noo boarder and lodger sir and looking fit and taut as a fiddle slep like a supercargo he did right alongside of John—stem to stem we was all night
Dr Livesey was by this time across the stockade and pretty near the cook and I could hear the alteration in his voice as he said Not Jim
The very same Jim as ever was says Silver
The doctor stopped outright although he did not speak and it was some seconds before he seemed able to move on
Well well he said at last duty first and pleasure afterwards as you might have said yourself Silver Let us overhaul these patients of yours
A moment afterwards he had entered the block house and with one grim nod to me proceeded with his work among the sick He seemed under no apprehension though he must have known that his life among these treacherous demons depended on a hair and he rattled on to his patients as if he were paying an ordinary professional visit in a quiet English family His manner I suppose reacted on the men for they behaved to him as if nothing had occurred as if he were still ships doctor and they still faithful hands before the mast
Youre doing well my friend he said to the fellow with the bandaged head and if ever any person had a close shave it was you your head must be as hard as iron Well George how goes it Youre a pretty colour certainly why your liver man is upside down Did you take that medicine Did he take that medicine men
Aye aye sir he took it sure enough returned Morgan
Because you see since I am mutineers doctor or prison doctor as I prefer to call it says Doctor Livesey in his pleasantest way I make it a point of honour not to lose a man for King George God bless him and the gallows
The rogues looked at each other but swallowed the homethrust in silence
Dick dont feel well sir said one
Dont he replied the doctor Well step up here Dick and let me see your tongue No I should be surprised if he did The mans tongue is fit to frighten the French Another fever
Ah there said Morgan that comed of spiling Bibles
That comes—as you call it—of being arrant asses retorted the doctor and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison and the dry land from a vile pestiferous slough I think it most probable—though of course its only an opinion—that youll all have the deuce to pay before you get that malaria out of your systems Camp in a bog would you Silver Im surprised at you Youre less of a fool than many take you all round but you dont appear to me to have the rudiments of a notion of the rules of health
Well he added after he had dosed them round and they had taken his prescriptions with really laughable humility more like charity schoolchildren than bloodguilty mutineers and pirates—well thats done for today And now I should wish to have a talk with that boy please
And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly
George Merry was at the door spitting and spluttering over some badtasted medicine but at the first word of the doctors proposal he swung round with a deep flush and cried No and swore
Silver struck the barrel with his open hand
Silence he roared and looked about him positively like a lion Doctor he went on in his usual tones I was athinking of that knowing as how you had a fancy for the boy Were all humbly grateful for your kindness and as you see puts faith in you and takes the drugs down like that much grog And I take it Ive found a way asll suit all Hawkins will you give me your word of honour as a young gentleman—for a young gentleman you are although poor born—your word of honour not to slip your cable
I readily gave the pledge required
Then doctor said Silver you just step outside o that stockade and once youre there Ill bring the boy down on the inside and I reckon you can yarn through the spars Good day to you sir and all our dooties to the squire and Capn Smollett
The explosion of disapproval which nothing but Silvers black looks had restrained broke out immediately the doctor had left the house Silver was roundly accused of playing double—of trying to make a separate peace for himself of sacrificing the interests of his accomplices and victims and in one word of the identical exact thing that he was doing It seemed to me so obvious in this case that I could not imagine how he was to turn their anger But he was twice the man the rest were and his last nights victory had given him a huge preponderance on their minds He called them all the fools and dolts you can imagine said it was necessary I should talk to the doctor fluttered the chart in their faces asked them if they could afford to break the treaty the very day they were bound atreasurehunting
No by thunder he cried Its us must break the treaty when the time comes and till then Ill gammon that doctor if I have to ile his boots with brandy
And then he bade them get the fire lit and stalked out upon his crutch with his hand on my shoulder leaving them in a disarray and silenced by his volubility rather than convinced
Slow lad slow he said They might round upon us in a twinkle of an eye if we was seen to hurry
Very deliberately then did we advance across the sand to where the doctor awaited us on the other side of the stockade and as soon as we were within easy speaking distance Silver stopped
Youll make a note of this here also doctor says he and the boyll tell you how I saved his life and were deposed for it too and you may lay to that Doctor when a mans steering as near the wind as me—playing chuckfarthing with the last breath in his body like—you wouldnt think it too much mayhap to give him one good word Youll please bear in mind its not my life only now—its that boys into the bargain and youll speak me fair doctor and give me a bit o hope to go on for the sake of mercy
Silver was a changed man once he was out there and had his back to his friends and the block house his cheeks seemed to have fallen in his voice trembled never was a soul more dead in earnest
Why John youre not afraid asked Dr Livesey
Doctor Im no coward no not I—not SO much and he snapped his fingers If I was I wouldnt say it But Ill own up fairly Ive the shakes upon me for the gallows Youre a good man and a true I never seen a better man And youll not forget what I done good not any more than youll forget the bad I know And I step aside—see here—and leave you and Jim alone And youll put that down for me too for its a long stretch is that
So saying he stepped back a little way till he was out of earshot and there sat down upon a treestump and began to whistle spinning round now and again upon his seat so as to command a sight sometimes of me and the doctor and sometimes of his unruly ruffians as they went to and fro in the sand between the fire—which they were busy rekindling—and the house from which they brought forth pork and bread to make the breakfast
So Jim said the doctor sadly here you are As you have brewed so shall you drink my boy Heaven knows I cannot find it in my heart to blame you but this much I will say be it kind or unkind when Captain Smollett was well you dared not have gone off and when he was ill and couldnt help it by George it was downright cowardly
I will own that I here began to weep Doctor I said you might spare me I have blamed myself enough my lifes forfeit anyway and I should have been dead by now if Silver hadnt stood for me and doctor believe this I can die—and I dare say I deserve it—but what I fear is torture If they come to torture me—
Jim the doctor interrupted and his voice was quite changed Jim I cant have this Whip over and well run for it
Doctor said I I passed my word
I know I know he cried We cant help that Jim now Ill take it on my shoulders holus bolus blame and shame my boy but stay here I cannot let you Jump One jump and youre out and well run for it like antelopes
No I replied you know right well you wouldnt do the thing yourself—neither you nor squire nor captain and no more will I Silver trusted me I passed my word and back I go But doctor you did not let me finish If they come to torture me I might let slip a word of where the ship is for I got the ship part by luck and part by risking and she lies in North Inlet on the southern beach and just below high water At half tide she must be high and dry
The ship exclaimed the doctor
Rapidly I described to him my adventures and he heard me out in silence
There is a kind of fate in this he observed when I had done Every step its you that saves our lives and do you suppose by any chance that we are going to let you lose yours That would be a poor return my boy You found out the plot you found Ben Gunn—the best deed that ever you did or will do though you live to ninety Oh by Jupiter and talking of Ben Gunn Why this is the mischief in person Silver he cried Silver Ill give you a piece of advice he continued as the cook drew near again dont you be in any great hurry after that treasure
Why sir I do my possible which that aint said Silver I can only asking your pardon save my life and the boys by seeking for that treasure and you may lay to that
Well Silver replied the doctor if that is so Ill go one step further look out for squalls when you find it
Sir said Silver as between man and man thats too much and too little What youre after why you left the block house why you given me that there chart I dont know now do I And yet I done your bidding with my eyes shut and never a word of hope But no this heres too much If you wont tell me what you mean plain out just say so and Ill leave the helm
No said the doctor musingly Ive no right to say more its not my secret you see Silver or I give you my word Id tell it you But Ill go as far with you as I dare go and a step beyond for Ill have my wig sorted by the captain or Im mistaken And first Ill give you a bit of hope Silver if we both get alive out of this wolftrap Ill do my best to save you short of perjury
Silvers face was radiant You couldnt say more Im sure sir not if you was my mother he cried
Well thats my first concession added the doctor My second is a piece of advice keep the boy close beside you and when you need help halloo Im off to seek it for you and that itself will show you if I speak at random Goodbye Jim
And Dr Livesey shook hands with me through the stockade nodded to Silver and set off at a brisk pace into the wood
31
The Treasurehunt—Flints Pointer
JIM said Silver when we were alone if I saved your life you saved mine and Ill not forget it I seen the doctor waving you to run for it—with the tail of my eye I did and I seen you say no as plain as hearing Jim thats one to you This is the first glint of hope I had since the attack failed and I owe it you And now Jim were to go in for this here treasurehunting with sealed orders too and I dont like it and you and me must stick close back to back like and well save our necks in spite o fate and fortune
Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready and we were soon seated here and there about the sand over biscuit and fried junk They had lit a fire fit to roast an ox and it was now grown so hot that they could only approach it from the windward and even there not without precaution In the same wasteful spirit they had cooked I suppose three times more than we could eat and one of them with an empty laugh threw what was left into the fire which blazed and roared again over this unusual fuel I never in my life saw men so careless of the morrow hand to mouth is the only word that can describe their way of doing and what with wasted food and sleeping sentries though they were bold enough for a brush and be done with it I could see their entire unfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign
Even Silver eating away with Captain Flint upon his shoulder had not a word of blame for their recklessness And this the more surprised me for I thought he had never shown himself so cunning as he did then
Aye mates said he its lucky you have Barbecue to think for you with this here head I got what I wanted I did Sure enough they have the ship Where they have it I dont know yet but once we hit the treasure well have to jump about and find out And then mates us that has the boats I reckon has the upper hand
Thus he kept running on with his mouth full of the hot bacon thus he restored their hope and confidence and I more than suspect repaired his own at the same time
As for hostage he continued thats his last talk I guess with them he loves so dear Ive got my piece o news and thanky to him for that but its over and done Ill take him in a line when we go treasurehunting for well keep him like so much gold in case of accidents you mark and in the meantime Once we got the ship and treasure both and off to sea like jolly companions why then well talk Mr Hawkins over we will and well give him his share to be sure for all his kindness
It was no wonder the men were in a good humour now For my part I was horribly cast down Should the scheme he had now sketched prove feasible Silver already doubly a traitor would not hesitate to adopt it He had still a foot in either camp and there was no doubt he would prefer wealth and freedom with the pirates to a bare escape from hanging which was the best he had to hope on our side
Nay and even if things so fell out that he was forced to keep his faith with Dr Livesey even then what danger lay before us What a moment that would be when the suspicions of his followers turned to certainty and he and I should have to fight for dear life—he a cripple and I a boy—against five strong and active seamen
Add to this double apprehension the mystery that still hung over the behaviour of my friends their unexplained desertion of the stockade their inexplicable cession of the chart or harder still to understand the doctors last warning to Silver Look out for squalls when you find it and you will readily believe how little taste I found in my breakfast and with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my captors on the quest for treasure
We made a curious figure had anyone been there to see us—all in soiled sailor clothes and all but me armed to the teeth Silver had two guns slung about him—one before and one behind—besides the great cutlass at his waist and a pistol in each pocket of his squaretailed coat To complete his strange appearance Captain Flint sat perched upon his shoulder and gabbling odds and ends of purposeless seatalk I had a line about my waist and followed obediently after the seacook who held the loose end of the rope now in his free hand now between his powerful teeth For all the world I was led like a dancing bear
The other men were variously burthened some carrying picks and shovels—for that had been the very first necessary they brought ashore from the HISPANIOLA—others laden with pork bread and brandy for the midday meal All the stores I observed came from our stock and I could see the truth of Silvers words the night before Had he not struck a bargain with the doctor he and his mutineers deserted by the ship must have been driven to subsist on clear water and the proceeds of their hunting Water would have been little to their taste a sailor is not usually a good shot and besides all that when they were so short of eatables it was not likely they would be very flush of powder
Well thus equipped we all set out—even the fellow with the broken head who should certainly have kept in shadow—and straggled one after another to the beach where the two gigs awaited us Even these bore trace of the drunken folly of the pirates one in a broken thwart and both in their muddy and unbailed condition Both were to be carried along with us for the sake of safety and so with our numbers divided between them we set forth upon the bosom of the anchorage
As we pulled over there was some discussion on the chart The red cross was of course far too large to be a guide and the terms of the note on the back as you will hear admitted of some ambiguity They ran the reader may remember thus
Tall tree Spyglass shoulder bearing a point to
the N of NNE
Skeleton Island ESE and by E
Ten feet
A tall tree was thus the principal mark Now right before us the anchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high adjoining on the north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spyglass and rising again towards the south into the rough cliffy eminence called the Mizzenmast Hill The top of the plateau was dotted thickly with pinetrees of varying height Every here and there one of a different species rose forty or fifty feet clear above its neighbours and which of these was the particular tall tree of Captain Flint could only be decided on the spot and by the readings of the compass
Yet although that was the case every man on board the boats had picked a favourite of his own ere we were halfway over Long John alone shrugging his shoulders and bidding them wait till they were there
We pulled easily by Silvers directions not to weary the hands prematurely and after quite a long passage landed at the mouth of the second river—that which runs down a woody cleft of the Spyglass Thence bending to our left we began to ascend the slope towards the plateau
At the first outset heavy miry ground and a matted marish vegetation greatly delayed our progress but by little and little the hill began to steepen and become stony under foot and the wood to change its character and to grow in a more open order It was indeed a most pleasant portion of the island that we were now approaching A heavyscented broom and many flowering shrubs had almost taken the place of grass Thickets of green nutmegtrees were dotted here and there with the red columns and the broad shadow of the pines and the first mingled their spice with the aroma of the others The air besides was fresh and stirring and this under the sheer sunbeams was a wonderful refreshment to our senses
The party spread itself abroad in a fan shape shouting and leaping to and fro About the centre and a good way behind the rest Silver and I followed—I tethered by my rope he ploughing with deep pants among the sliding gravel From time to time indeed I had to lend him a hand or he must have missed his footing and fallen backward down the hill
We had thus proceeded for about half a mile and were approaching the brow of the plateau when the man upon the farthest left began to cry aloud as if in terror Shout after shout came from him and the others began to run in his direction
He cant a found the treasure said old Morgan hurrying past us from the right for thats clean atop
Indeed as we found when we also reached the spot it was something very different At the foot of a pretty big pine and involved in a green creeper which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones a human skeleton lay with a few shreds of clothing on the ground I believe a chill struck for a moment to every heart
He was a seaman said George Merry who bolder than the rest had gone up close and was examining the rags of clothing Leastways this is good seacloth
Aye aye said Silver like enough you wouldnt look to find a bishop here I reckon But what sort of a way is that for bones to lie Taint in natur
Indeed on a second glance it seemed impossible to fancy that the body was in a natural position But for some disarray the work perhaps of the birds that had fed upon him or of the slowgrowing creeper that had gradually enveloped his remains the man lay perfectly straight—his feet pointing in one direction his hands raised above his head like a divers pointing directly in the opposite
Ive taken a notion into my old numbskull observed Silver Heres the compass theres the tiptop pint o Skeleton Island stickin out like a tooth Just take a bearing will you along the line of them bones
It was done The body pointed straight in the direction of the island and the compass read duly ESE and by E
I thought so cried the cook this here is a pinter Right up there is our line for the Pole Star and the jolly dollars But by thunder If it dont make me cold inside to think of Flint This is one of HIS jokes and no mistake Him and these six was alone here he killed em every man and this one he hauled here and laid down by compass shiver my timbers Theyre long bones and the hairs been yellow Aye that would be Allardyce You mind Allardyce Tom Morgan
Aye aye returned Morgan I mind him he owed me money he did and took my knife ashore with him
Speaking of knives said another why dont we find hisn lying round Flint warnt the man to pick a seamans pocket and the birds I guess would leave it be
By the powers and thats true cried Silver
There aint a thing left here said Merry still feeling round among the bones not a copper doit nor a baccy box It dont look natral to me
No by gum it dont agreed Silver not natral nor not nice says you Great guns Messmates but if Flint was living this would be a hot spot for you and me Six they were and six are we and bones is what they are now
I saw him dead with these here deadlights said Morgan Billy took me in There he laid with pennypieces on his eyes
Dead—aye sure enough hes dead and gone below said the fellow with the bandage but if ever sperrit walked it would be Flints Dear heart but he died bad did Flint
Aye that he did observed another now he raged and now he hollered for the rum and now he sang Fifteen Men were his only song mates and I tell you true I never rightly liked to hear it since It was main hot and the windy was open and I hear that old song comin out as clear as clear—and the deathhaul on the man already
Come come said Silver stow this talk Hes dead and he dont walk that I know leastways he wont walk by day and you may lay to that Care killed a cat Fetch ahead for the doubloons
We started certainly but in spite of the hot sun and the staring daylight the pirates no longer ran separate and shouting through the wood but kept side by side and spoke with bated breath The terror of the dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits
32
The Treasurehunt—The Voice Among the Trees
PARTLY from the damping influence of this alarm partly to rest Silver and the sick folk the whole party sat down as soon as they had gained the brow of the ascent
The plateau being somewhat tilted towards the west this spot on which we had paused commanded a wide prospect on either hand Before us over the treetops we beheld the Cape of the Woods fringed with surf behind we not only looked down upon the anchorage and Skeleton Island but saw—clear across the spit and the eastern lowlands—a great field of open sea upon the east Sheer above us rose the Spyglass here dotted with single pines there black with precipices There was no sound but that of the distant breakers mounting from all round and the chirp of countless insects in the brush Not a man not a sail upon the sea the very largeness of the view increased the sense of solitude
Silver as he sat took certain bearings with his compass
There are three tall trees said he about in the right line from Skeleton Island Spyglass shoulder I take it means that lower pint there Its childs play to find the stuff now Ive half a mind to dine first
I dont feel sharp growled Morgan Thinkin o Flint—I think it were—as done me
Ah well my son you praise your stars hes dead said Silver
He were an ugly devil cried a third pirate with a shudder that blue in the face too
That was how the rum took him added Merry Blue Well I reckon he was blue Thats a true word
Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon this train of thought they had spoken lower and lower and they had almost got to whispering by now so that the sound of their talk hardly interrupted the silence of the wood All of a sudden out of the middle of the trees in front of us a thin high trembling voice struck up the wellknown air and words
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest—
Yohoho and a bottle of rum
I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the pirates The colour went from their six faces like enchantment some leaped to their feet some clawed hold of others Morgan grovelled on the ground
Its Flint by —— cried Merry
The song had stopped as suddenly as it began—broken off you would have said in the middle of a note as though someone had laid his hand upon the singers mouth Coming through the clear sunny atmosphere among the green treetops I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly and the effect on my companions was the stranger
Come said Silver struggling with his ashen lips to get the word out this wont do Stand by to go about This is a rum start and I cant name the voice but its someone skylarking—someone thats flesh and blood and you may lay to that
His courage had come back as he spoke and some of the colour to his face along with it Already the others had begun to lend an ear to this encouragement and were coming a little to themselves when the same voice broke out again—not this time singing but in a faint distant hail that echoed yet fainter among the clefts of the Spyglass
Darby MGraw it wailed—for that is the word that best describes the sound—Darby MGraw Darby MGraw again and again and again and then rising a little higher and with an oath that I leave out Fetch aft the rum Darby
The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground their eyes starting from their heads Long after the voice had died away they still stared in silence dreadfully before them
That fixes it gasped one Lets go
They was his last words moaned Morgan his last words above board
Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly He had been well brought up had Dick before he came to sea and fell among bad companions
Still Silver was unconquered I could hear his teeth rattle in his head but he had not yet surrendered
Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby he muttered not one but us thats here And then making a great effort Shipmates he cried Im here to get that stuff and Ill not be beat by man or devil I never was feared of Flint in his life and by the powers Ill face him dead Theres seven hundred thousand pound not a quarter of a mile from here When did ever a gentleman o fortune show his stern to that much dollars for a boozy old seaman with a blue mug—and him dead too
But there was no sign of reawakening courage in his followers rather indeed of growing terror at the irreverence of his words
Belay there John said Merry Dont you cross a sperrit
And the rest were all too terrified to reply They would have run away severally had they dared but fear kept them together and kept them close by John as if his daring helped them He on his part had pretty well fought his weakness down
Sperrit Well maybe he said But theres one thing not clear to me There was an echo Now no man ever seen a sperrit with a shadow well then whats he doing with an echo to him I should like to know That aint in natur surely
This argument seemed weak enough to me But you can never tell what will affect the superstitious and to my wonder George Merry was greatly relieved
Well thats so he said Youve a head upon your shoulders John and no mistake Bout ship mates This here crew is on a wrong tack I do believe And come to think on it it was like Flints voice I grant you but not just so clearaway like it after all It was liker somebody elses voice now—it was liker—
By the powers Ben Gunn roared Silver
Aye and so it were cried Morgan springing on his knees Ben Gunn it were
It dont make much odds do it now asked Dick Ben Gunns not here in the body any moren Flint
But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn
Why nobody minds Ben Gunn cried Merry dead or alive nobody minds him
It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned and how the natural colour had revived in their faces Soon they were chatting together with intervals of listening and not long after hearing no further sound they shouldered the tools and set forth again Merry walking first with Silvers compass to keep them on the right line with Skeleton Island He had said the truth dead or alive nobody minded Ben Gunn
Dick alone still held his Bible and looked around him as he went with fearful glances but he found no sympathy and Silver even joked him on his precautions
I told you said he—I told you you had spiled your Bible If it aint no good to swear by what do you suppose a sperrit would give for it Not that and he snapped his big fingers halting a moment on his crutch
But Dick was not to be comforted indeed it was soon plain to me that the lad was falling sick hastened by heat exhaustion and the shock of his alarm the fever predicted by Dr Livesey was evidently growing swiftly higher
It was fine open walking here upon the summit our way lay a little downhill for as I have said the plateau tilted towards the west The pines great and small grew wide apart and even between the clumps of nutmeg and azalea wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine Striking as we did pretty near northwest across the island we drew on the one hand ever nearer under the shoulders of the Spyglass and on the other looked ever wider over that western bay where I had once tossed and trembled in the coracle
The first of the tall trees was reached and by the bearings proved the wrong one So with the second The third rose nearly two hundred feet into the air above a clump of underwood—a giant of a vegetable with a red column as big as a cottage and a wide shadow around in which a company could have manoeuvred It was conspicuous far to sea both on the east and west and might have been entered as a sailing mark upon the chart
But it was not its size that now impressed my companions it was the knowledge that seven hundred thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere buried below its spreading shadow The thought of the money as they drew nearer swallowed up their previous terrors Their eyes burned in their heads their feet grew speedier and lighter their whole soul was found up in that fortune that whole lifetime of extravagance and pleasure that lay waiting there for each of them
Silver hobbled grunting on his crutch his nostrils stood out and quivered he cursed like a madman when the flies settled on his hot and shiny countenance he plucked furiously at the line that held me to him and from time to time turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts and certainly I read them like print In the immediate nearness of the gold all else had been forgotten his promise and the doctors warning were both things of the past and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the treasure find and board the HISPANIOLA under cover of night cut every honest throat about that island and sail away as he had at first intended laden with crimes and riches
Shaken as I was with these alarms it was hard for me to keep up with the rapid pace of the treasurehunters Now and again I stumbled and it was then that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me his murderous glances Dick who had dropped behind us and now brought up the rear was babbling to himself both prayers and curses as his fever kept rising This also added to my wretchedness and to crown all I was haunted by the thought of the tragedy that had once been acted on that plateau when that ungodly buccaneer with the blue face—he who died at Savannah singing and shouting for drink—had there with his own hand cut down his six accomplices This grove that was now so peaceful must then have rung with cries I thought and even with the thought I could believe I heard it ringing still
We were now at the margin of the thicket
Huzza mates all together shouted Merry and the foremost broke into a run
And suddenly not ten yards further we beheld them stop A low cry arose Silver doubled his pace digging away with the foot of his crutch like one possessed and next moment he and I had come also to a dead halt
Before us was a great excavation not very recent for the sides had fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom In this were the shaft of a pick broken in two and the boards of several packingcases strewn around On one of these boards I saw branded with a hot iron the name WALRUS—the name of Flints ship
All was clear to probation The CACHE had been found and rifled the seven hundred thousand pounds were gone
33
The Fall of a Chieftain
THERE never was such an overturn in this world Each of these six men was as though he had been struck But with Silver the blow passed almost instantly Every thought of his soul had been set fullstretch like a racer on that money well he was brought up in a single second dead and he kept his head found his temper and changed his plan before the others had had time to realize the disappointment
Jim he whispered take that and stand by for trouble
And he passed me a doublebarrelled pistol
At the same time he began quietly moving northward and in a few steps had put the hollow between us two and the other five Then he looked at me and nodded as much as to say Here is a narrow corner as indeed I thought it was His looks were not quite friendly and I was so revolted at these constant changes that I could not forbear whispering So youve changed sides again
There was no time left for him to answer in The buccaneers with oaths and cries began to leap one after another into the pit and to dig with their fingers throwing the boards aside as they did so Morgan found a piece of gold He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths It was a twoguinea piece and it went from hand to hand among them for a quarter of a minute
Two guineas roared Merry shaking it at Silver Thats your seven hundred thousand pounds is it Youre the man for bargains aint you Youre him that never bungled nothing you woodenheaded lubber
Dig away boys said Silver with the coolest insolence youll find some pignuts and I shouldnt wonder
Pignuts repeated Merry in a scream Mates do you hear that I tell you now that man there knew it all along Look in the face of him and youll see it wrote there
Ah Merry remarked Silver standing for capn again Youre a pushing lad to be sure
But this time everyone was entirely in Merrys favour They began to scramble out of the excavation darting furious glances behind them One thing I observed which looked well for us they all got out upon the opposite side from Silver
Well there we stood two on one side five on the other the pit between us and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow Silver never moved he watched them very upright on his crutch and looked as cool as ever I saw him He was brave and no mistake
At last Merry seemed to think a speech might help matters
Mates says he theres two of them alone there ones the old cripple that brought us all here and blundered us down to this the others that cub that I mean to have the heart of Now mates—
He was raising his arm and his voice and plainly meant to lead a charge But just then—crack crack crack—three musketshots flashed out of the thicket Merry tumbled head foremost into the excavation the man with the bandage spun round like a teetotum and fell all his length upon his side where he lay dead but still twitching and the other three turned and ran for it with all their might
Before you could wink Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into the struggling Merry and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the last agony George said he I reckon I settled you
At the same moment the doctor Gray and Ben Gunn joined us with smoking muskets from among the nutmegtrees
Forward cried the doctor Double quick my lads We must head em off the boats
And we set off at a great pace sometimes plunging through the bushes to the chest
I tell you but Silver was anxious to keep up with us The work that man went through leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest were fit to burst was work no sound man ever equalled and so thinks the doctor As it was he was already thirty yards behind us and on the verge of strangling when we reached the brow of the slope
Doctor he hailed see there No hurry
Sure enough there was no hurry In a more open part of the plateau we could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as they had started right for Mizzenmast Hill We were already between them and the boats and so we four sat down to breathe while Long John mopping his face came slowly up with us
Thank ye kindly doctor says he You came in in about the nick I guess for me and Hawkins And so its you Ben Gunn he added Well youre a nice one to be sure
Im Ben Gunn I am replied the maroon wriggling like an eel in his embarrassment And he added after a long pause how do Mr Silver Pretty well I thank ye says you
Ben Ben murmured Silver to think as youve done me
The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pickaxes deserted in their flight by the mutineers and then as we proceeded leisurely downhill to where the boats were lying related in a few words what had taken place It was a story that profoundly interested Silver and Ben Gunn the halfidiot maroon was the hero from beginning to end
Ben in his long lonely wanderings about the island had found the skeleton—it was he that had rifled it he had found the treasure he had dug it up it was the haft of his pickaxe that lay broken in the excavation he had carried it on his back in many weary journeys from the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the twopointed hill at the northeast angle of the island and there it had lain stored in safety since two months before the arrival of the HISPANIOLA
When the doctor had wormed this secret from him on the afternoon of the attack and when next morning he saw the anchorage deserted he had gone to Silver given him the chart which was now useless—given him the stores for Ben Gunns cave was well supplied with goats meat salted by himself—given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in safety from the stockade to the twopointed hill there to be clear of malaria and keep a guard upon the money
As for you Jim he said it went against my heart but I did what I thought best for those who had stood by their duty and if you were not one of these whose fault was it
That morning finding that I was to be involved in the horrid disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers he had run all the way to the cave and leaving the squire to guard the captain had taken Gray and the maroon and started making the diagonal across the island to be at hand beside the pine Soon however he saw that our party had the start of him and Ben Gunn being fleet of foot had been dispatched in front to do his best alone Then it had occurred to him to work upon the superstitions of his former shipmates and he was so far successful that Gray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the arrival of the treasurehunters
Ah said Silver it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here You would have let old John be cut to bits and never given it a thought doctor
Not a thought replied Dr Livesey cheerily
And by this time we had reached the gigs The doctor with the pickaxe demolished one of them and then we all got aboard the other and set out to go round by sea for North Inlet
This was a run of eight or nine miles Silver though he was almost killed already with fatigue was set to an oar like the rest of us and we were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea Soon we passed out of the straits and doubled the southeast corner of the island round which four days ago we had towed the HISPANIOLA
As we passed the twopointed hill we could see the black mouth of Ben Gunns cave and a figure standing by it leaning on a musket It was the squire and we waved a handkerchief and gave him three cheers in which the voice of Silver joined as heartily as any
Three miles farther just inside the mouth of North Inlet what should we meet but the HISPANIOLA cruising by herself The last flood had lifted her and had there been much wind or a strong tide current as in the southern anchorage we should never have found her more or found her stranded beyond help As it was there was little amiss beyond the wreck of the mainsail Another anchor was got ready and dropped in a fathom and a half of water We all pulled round again to Rum Cove the nearest point for Ben Gunns treasurehouse and then Gray singlehanded returned with the gig to the HISPANIOLA where he was to pass the night on guard
A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance of the cave At the top the squire met us To me he was cordial and kind saying nothing of my escapade either in the way of blame or praise At Silvers polite salute he somewhat flushed
John Silver he said youre a prodigious villain and imposter—a monstrous imposter sir I am told I am not to prosecute you Well then I will not But the dead men sir hang about your neck like millstones
Thank you kindly sir replied Long John again saluting
I dare you to thank me cried the squire It is a gross dereliction of my duty Stand back
And thereupon we all entered the cave It was a large airy place with a little spring and a pool of clear water overhung with ferns The floor was sand Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett and in a far corner only duskily flickered over by the blaze I beheld great heaps of coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold That was Flints treasure that we had come so far to seek and that had cost already the lives of seventeen men from the HISPANIOLA How many it had cost in the amassing what blood and sorrow what good ships scuttled on the deep what brave men walking the plank blindfold what shot of cannon what shame and lies and cruelty perhaps no man alive could tell Yet there were still three upon that island—Silver and old Morgan and Ben Gunn—who had each taken his share in these crimes as each had hoped in vain to share in the reward
Come in Jim said the captain Youre a good boy in your line Jim but I dont think you and mell go to sea again Youre too much of the born favourite for me Is that you John Silver What brings you here man
Come back to my dooty sir returned Silver
Ah said the captain and that was all he said
What a supper I had of it that night with all my friends around me and what a meal it was with Ben Gunns salted goat and some delicacies and a bottle of old wine from the HISPANIOLA Never I am sure were people gayer or happier And there was Silver sitting back almost out of the firelight but eating heartily prompt to spring forward when anything was wanted even joining quietly in our laughter—the same bland polite obsequious seaman of the voyage out
34
And Last
THE next morning we fell early to work for the transportation of this great mass of gold near a mile by land to the beach and thence three miles by boat to the HISPANIOLA was a considerable task for so small a number of workmen The three fellows still abroad upon the island did not greatly trouble us a single sentry on the shoulder of the hill was sufficient to ensure us against any sudden onslaught and we thought besides they had had more than enough of fighting
Therefore the work was pushed on briskly Gray and Ben Gunn came and went with the boat while the rest during their absences piled treasure on the beach Two of the bars slung in a ropes end made a good load for a grown man—one that he was glad to walk slowly with For my part as I was not much use at carrying I was kept busy all day in the cave packing the minted money into breadbags
It was a strange collection like Billy Boness hoard for the diversity of coinage but so much larger and so much more varied that I think I never had more pleasure than in sorting them English French Spanish Portuguese Georges and Louises doubloons and double guineas and moidores and sequins the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the last hundred years strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked like wisps of string or bits of spiders web round pieces and square pieces and pieces bored through the middle as if to wear them round your neck—nearly every variety of money in the world must I think have found a place in that collection and for number I am sure they were like autumn leaves so that my back ached with stooping and my fingers with sorting them out
Day after day this work went on by every evening a fortune had been stowed aboard but there was another fortune waiting for the morrow and all this time we heard nothing of the three surviving mutineers
At last—I think it was on the third night—the doctor and I were strolling on the shoulder of the hill where it overlooks the lowlands of the isle when from out the thick darkness below the wind brought us a noise between shrieking and singing It was only a snatch that reached our ears followed by the former silence
Heaven forgive them said the doctor tis the mutineers
All drunk sir struck in the voice of Silver from behind us
Silver I should say was allowed his entire liberty and in spite of daily rebuffs seemed to regard himself once more as quite a privileged and friendly dependent Indeed it was remarkable how well he bore these slights and with what unwearying politeness he kept on trying to ingratiate himself with all Yet I think none treated him better than a dog unless it was Ben Gunn who was still terribly afraid of his old quartermaster or myself who had really something to thank him for although for that matter I suppose I had reason to think even worse of him than anybody else for I had seen him meditating a fresh treachery upon the plateau Accordingly it was pretty gruffly that the doctor answered him
Drunk or raving said he
Right you were sir replied Silver and precious little odds which to you and me
I suppose you would hardly ask me to call you a humane man returned the doctor with a sneer and so my feelings may surprise you Master Silver But if I were sure they were raving—as I am morally certain one at least of them is down with fever—I should leave this camp and at whatever risk to my own carcass take them the assistance of my skill
Ask your pardon sir you would be very wrong quoth Silver You would lose your precious life and you may lay to that Im on your side now hand and glove and I shouldnt wish for to see the party weakened let alone yourself seeing as I know what I owes you But these men down there they couldnt keep their word—no not supposing they wished to and whats more they couldnt believe as you could
No said the doctor Youre the man to keep your word we know that
Well that was about the last news we had of the three pirates Only once we heard a gunshot a great way off and supposed them to be hunting A council was held and it was decided that we must desert them on the island—to the huge glee I must say of Ben Gunn and with the strong approval of Gray We left a good stock of powder and shot the bulk of the salt goat a few medicines and some other necessaries tools clothing a spare sail a fathom or two of rope and by the particular desire of the doctor a handsome present of tobacco
That was about our last doing on the island Before that we had got the treasure stowed and had shipped enough water and the remainder of the goat meat in case of any distress and at last one fine morning we weighed anchor which was about all that we could manage and stood out of North Inlet the same colours flying that the captain had flown and fought under at the palisade
The three fellows must have been watching us closer than we thought for as we soon had proved For coming through the narrows we had to lie very near the southern point and there we saw all three of them kneeling together on a spit of sand with their arms raised in supplication It went to all our hearts I think to leave them in that wretched state but we could not risk another mutiny and to take them home for the gibbet would have been a cruel sort of kindness The doctor hailed them and told them of the stores we had left and where they were to find them But they continued to call us by name and appeal to us for Gods sake to be merciful and not leave them to die in such a place
At last seeing the ship still bore on her course and was now swiftly drawing out of earshot one of them—I know not which it was—leapt to his feet with a hoarse cry whipped his musket to his shoulder and sent a shot whistling over Silvers head and through the mainsail
After that we kept under cover of the bulwarks and when next I looked out they had disappeared from the spit and the spit itself had almost melted out of sight in the growing distance That was at least the end of that and before noon to my inexpressible joy the highest rock of Treasure Island had sunk into the blue round of sea
We were so short of men that everyone on board had to bear a hand—only the captain lying on a mattress in the stern and giving his orders for though greatly recovered he was still in want of quiet We laid her head for the nearest port in Spanish America for we could not risk the voyage home without fresh hands and as it was what with baffling winds and a couple of fresh gales we were all worn out before we reached it
It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a most beautiful landlocked gulf and were immediately surrounded by shore boats full of Negroes and Mexican Indians and halfbloods selling fruits and vegetables and offering to dive for bits of money The sight of so many goodhumoured faces especially the blacks the taste of the tropical fruits and above all the lights that began to shine in the town made a most charming contrast to our dark and bloody sojourn on the island and the doctor and the squire taking me along with them went ashore to pass the early part of the night Here they met the captain of an English manofwar fell in talk with him went on board his ship and in short had so agreeable a time that day was breaking when we came alongside the HISPANIOLA
Ben Gunn was on deck alone and as soon as we came on board he began with wonderful contortions to make us a confession Silver was gone The maroon had connived at his escape in a shore boat some hours ago and he now assured us he had only done so to preserve our lives which would certainly have been forfeit if that man with the one leg had stayed aboard But this was not all The seacook had not gone emptyhanded He had cut through a bulkhead unobserved and had removed one of the sacks of coin worth perhaps three or four hundred guineas to help him on his further wanderings
I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit of him
Well to make a long story short we got a few hands on board made a good cruise home and the HISPANIOLA reached Bristol just as Mr Blandly was beginning to think of fitting out her consort Five men only of those who had sailed returned with her Drink and the devil had done for the rest with a vengeance although to be sure we were not quite in so bad a case as that other ship they sang about
With one man of her crew alive
What put to sea with seventyfive
All of us had an ample share of the treasure and used it wisely or foolishly according to our natures Captain Smollett is now retired from the sea Gray not only saved his money but being suddenly smit with the desire to rise also studied his profession and he is now mate and part owner of a fine fullrigged ship married besides and the father of a family As for Ben Gunn he got a thousand pounds which he spent or lost in three weeks or to be more exact in nineteen days for he was back begging on the twentieth Then he was given a lodge to keep exactly as he had feared upon the island and he still lives a great favourite though something of a butt with the country boys and a notable singer in church on Sundays and saints days
Of Silver we have heard no more That formidable seafaring man with one leg has at last gone clean out of my life but I dare say he met his old Negress and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint It is to be hoped so I suppose for his chances of comfort in another world are very small
The bar silver and the arms still lie for all that I know where Flint buried them and certainly they shall lie there for me Oxen and wainropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island and the worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about its coasts or start upright in bed with the sharp voice of Captain Flint still ringing in my ears Pieces of eight Pieces of eight