TREASURE ISLAND
BY
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
Illustrated \
N.C.WYETH
N EW
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
M C M X I
Copyright, 1911, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Published September, 1911
4042
A\
TO
LLOYD OSBOURNE,
AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN,
IN ACCORDANCE WITH WHOSE CLASSIC TASTE
THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE HAS BEEN DESIGNED,
IT IS NOW, IN RETURN FOR NUMEROUS DELIGHTFUL HOURS,
AND WITH THE KINDEST WISHES,
DefcicatcD
BY HIS AFFECTIONATE FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR
\
TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER
IF sailor tales to sailor tunes,
Storm and adventure, heat and cold,
If schooners, islands, and maroons
And Buccaneers and buried Gold,
And all the old romance, retold
Exactly in the ancient way,
Can please, as me they pleased of old,
The wiser youngsters of to-day:
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!
rviii
CONTENTS
PART I
THE OLD BUCCANEER
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE OLD SEA DOG AT THE "ADMIRAL BENBOW" . . 3
II. BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS 11
III. THE BLACK SPOT 19
IV. THE SEA-CHEST 27
V. THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN 35
VI. THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS . 42
PART II
THE SEA COOK
VII. I GO TO BRISTOL 53
VIII. AT THE SIGN OF THE SPY-GLASS 59
IX. POWDER AND ARMS .... 66
X. THE VOYAGE 73
XI. WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL 80
XII. COUNCIL OF WAR 88
CONTENTS
PART III
MY SHORE ADVENTURE
CHAPTER PAGE
XIII. How MY SHORE ADVENTURE BEGAN 97
XIV. THE FIRST BLOW 104
XV. THE MAN OF THE ISLAND Ill
PART IV
THE STOCKADE
XVI. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: How THE
SHIP WAS ABANDONED . . . 23
XVII. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: THE JOLLY-
BOAT'S LAST TRIP 130
XVIII. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: END OF THE
FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING 136
XIX. NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS: THE GARRISON
IN THE STOCKADE 142
XX. SILVER'S EMBASSY 150
XXI. THE ATTACK 157
PART V
MY SEA ADVENTURE
XXII. How MY SEA ADVENTURE BEGAN . 167
XXIII. THE EBB-TIDE RUNS 175
XXIV. THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE 181
XXV. I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER 188
XXVI. ISRAEL HANDS 195
XXVII. "PIECES OF EIGHT" 205
CONTENTS
PART VI
CAPTAIN SILVER
CHAPTER PAGE
XXVIII. IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP 215
XXIX. THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN 225
XXX. ON PAROLE 233
XXXI. THE TREASURE HUNT FLINT'S POINTER .... 242
XXXII. THE TREASURE HUNT THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES 251
XXXIII. THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN 259
XXXIV. AND LAST 267
[xi]
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING
PAGE
CAPTAIN BILL BONES 4
All day he hung round the cove, or upon the cliffs, with
a brass telescope
CAPTAIN BONES ROUTS BLACK DOG 16
One last tremendous cut which would certainly have split
him to the chin had it not been intercepted by our big
signboard of Admiral Benbow
OLD PEW 38
Tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping
and calling for his comrades
JIM HAWKINS LEAVES HOME 58
I said good-bye to mother and the cove
LONG JOHN SILVER AND HAWKINS 76
To me he was unweariedly kind; and always glad to see
me in the galley
PREPARING FOR THE MUTINY 102
Loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men
BEN GUNN 112
I saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the
trunk of a pine
[Xiii]
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING
PAGE
CAPTAIN SMOLLET DEFIES THE MUTINEERS 138
Then, climbing on the roof, he had with his own hand
bent and run up the colors
THE ATTACK ON THE BLOCK HOUSE 162
The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys
THE FIGHT IN THE CABIN 178
It showed me Hands and his companion locked together
in deadly wrestle
ISRAEL HANDS 204
" One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow
your brains out "
THE BLACK SPOT 226
About half way down the slope to the stockade, they
were collected in a group
THE HOSTAGE 244
For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear
THE TREASURE CAVE! 268
I was kept busy all day in the cave, packing the
minted money into bread-bags
[xiv]
PART I
THE OLD BUCCANEER
CHAPTER I
gra*s^^
THE OLD SEA DOG AT THE
"ADMIRAL BENBOW"
SQUIRE TRELAWNEY, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of
these gentlemen having asked me to write down the
whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the
beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings
of the island, and that only because there is still treasure
not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17 , and
go back to the time when my father kept the "Admiral Ben-
bow" 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 plod-
ding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a
hand-barrow ; a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man ; his tarry
pigtail falling over the shoulders of his soiled blue coat; his
hands ragged ^^ "* ed, with black, broken nails; and the
sabre cut acr< s 3ek, a dirty, livid white. I remember
him looking cove and whistling to himself as he
did so, and t ing out in that old sea-song that he
sang so often ;:
i on the dead man's chest
, and a bottle of rum!"
[3]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 Jaste, and still looking
about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.
"This is a handy cove," says he, at length; "and a pleasant
sittyated grog-shop. Much company, mate?"
My father told him no, very little company, the more was
the pity.
"Well, then," said he, "this is the berth for me. Here
you, matey," he cried to the man who trundled the barrow;
"bring up alongside and help up my chest. I'll stay here a
bit," he continued. "I'm a plain man; rum and bacon and
eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch
ships off. What you mought call me ? You mought call me
captain. Oh, I see what you 're at there;" and he threw
down three or four gold pieces on the threshold. "You can
tell me when I 've worked through that," says he, looking as
fierce as a commander.
And, indeed, bad as his clothes were, and coarsely as he
spoke, he had none of the appearance of a man who sailed
before the mast; but seemed like a mate or skipper, accus-
tomed 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
[41
I
.[spike that I,.
u called roughly for a gta
was brought to him, he drank s?
ing on the taste, and sti>
*t the cliffs and up at our signboard.
handy cove," says he, at length; "and a pit-
d grog-shop. Much company, mate?"
father told him no, very little company, the
then," said he, "this is the berth for
yoi> he cried to the man who trundled the bft;
4p alongside liest. I'll st
All day he hung round the cove, or upon the cliffs,
with a brass telescope
'hat I want, and f <ere for
' ' :.
,-,
as a commander.
And, indeed, bad as ere, a
he had none of the appearai
the mast; but seemed HI
1 or to strike
the mail
THE OLD SEA DOG AT THE "ADMIRAL BENBOW"
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 tejescnpp;
all evening he sat in a corner of the parlour next the fire,
and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly he would
not speak when spoken to; only look up sudden and fierce,
and blow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the
people who came about our house soon learned to let him be.
Every day, when he came back from his stroll, he would ask
if any seafaring men had gone by along the road ? At first
we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that
made him ask this question; but at last we began to see he
was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman 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 four-
penny on the first of every month if I would only keep my
"weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg," and
let him know the moment he appeared. Often enough, when
the first of the month came round, and I applied to him for
my wage, he would only blow through his nose at me, and
stare me down; but before the week was out he was sure
to think better of it, bring me my fourpenny piece, and repeat
his orders to look out for "the seafaring man with one leg."
[5]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 mon-
strous kind of a creature who had never had but the one leg,
and that in the middle of his body. To see him leap and
run and pursue me over hedge and ditch was the worst of
nightmares. And altogether I paid pretty dear for my monthly
fourpenny piece, in the shape of these abominable fancies.
But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring
man with one leg, I was far less afraid of the captain himself
than anybody else who knew him. There were nights when
he took a deal more rum and water than his head would
carry; and then he would sometimes sit and sing his wicked,
old, wild sea-songs, minding nobody; but sometimes he
would call for glasses round, and force all the trembling com-
pany to listen to his stories or bear a chorus to his singing.
Often I have heard the house shaking with "Yo-ho-ho, and
a bottle of rum"; all the neighbours joining in for dear life,
with the fear of death upon them, and each singing louder
than the other, to avoid remark. For in these fits he was
the most overriding companion ever known; he would slap
his hand on the table for silence all round; he would fly up
in a passion of anger at a question, or sometimes because
none was put, and so he judged the company was not following
his story. Nor would he allow any one to leave the inn till
he had drunk himself sleepy and reeled off to bed.
' [6]
THE OLD SEA DOG AT THE "ADMIRAL BENBOW"
rV . &
A 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
yaeeds 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 tyrannised, over and put
down, and sent shivering to their beds ; but I really believe his
presence did us good. People were frightened at the time, but
on looking back they rather liked it; it was a fine excitement in
a quiet country life; and there was even a party of the younger
men who pretended to admire him, calling him a "true sea-dog,"
and a "real old salt," and such like names, and saying there
was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea.
In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept
on staying week after week, and at last month after month,
so that all the money had been long exhausted, and still
my father never plucked up the heart to insist on having
more. If ever he mentioned it, the captain blew through
his nose so loudly, that you might say he roared, and stared
my poor father out of the room. I have seen him wringing
his hands after such a rebuff, and I am sure the annoyance
and the terror he lived in must have greatly hastened his
early and unhappy death.
All the time he lived with us the captain made no change
whatever in his dress but to buy some stockings from a hawker.
[7]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 up-stairs in his room, and which, before the
end, was nothing but patches. He never wrote or received
a letter, and he never spoke with any but the neighbours,
and with these, for the most part, only when drunk on rum.
The great sea-chest none of us had ever seen open.
He was only once crossed, and that was towards the end,
when my poor father was far gone in a decline that took
him off. Dr. Livesey came late one afternoon to see the
patient, took a bit of dinner from my mother, and went into
the parlour to smoke a pipe until his horse should come
down from the hamlet, for we had no stabling at the old
"Benbow." I followed him in, and I remember observing
the contrast the neat, bright doctor, with his powder as white
as snow, and his bright, black eyes and pleasant manners,
made with the coltish country folk, and above all, with that
filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of a pirate of ours, sitting
far gone in rum, with his arms on the table. Suddenly he
the captain, that is began to pipe up his eternal song:
" Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"
At first I had supposed "the dead man's chest" to be that
identical big box of his up-stairs in the front room, and the
thought had been mingled in my nightmares with that of
the one-legged seafaring man. But by this time we had all
[8]
THE OLD SEA DOG AT THE "ADMIRAL BENBOW"
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 rheu-
matics. In the meantime, the captain gradually brightened
up at his own music, and at last flapped his hand upon the
table before him in a way we all knew to mean silence.
The voices stopped at once, all but Dr. Livesey's ; he went on
as before, speaking clear and kind, and drawing briskly at
his pipe between every word or two. The captain glared
at him for awhile, flapped his hand again, glared still harder,
and at last broke out with a villainous, low oath: "Silence
there, between decks!"
"Were you addressing me, sir?" says the doctor; and
when the ruffian had told him, with another oath, that this
was so, "I have only one thing to say to you, sir," replies
the doctor, "that if you keep on drinking rum, the world will
soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel!"
The old fellow's fury was awful. He sprang to his feet,
drew and opened a sailor's clasp-knife, and, balancing it
open on the palm of his hand, threatened to pin the doctor
to the wall.
The doctor never so much as moved. He spoke to him,
as before, over his shoulder, and in the same tone of voice;
rather high, so that all the room might hear, but perfectly
calm and steady:
"If you do not put that knife this instant in your pocket,
I promise, upon my honour, you shall hang at the next assizes."
TREASURE ISLAND
Then followed a battle of looks between them; but the
captain soon knuckled under, put up his weapon, and re-
sumed his seat, grumbling like a beaten dog.
"And now, sir," continued the doctor, "since I now
know there 's such a fellow in my district, you may count
I '11 have an eye upon you day and night. I 'm not a doctor
only; I 'm a magistrate; and if I catch a breath of complaint
against you, if it 's only for a piece of incivility like to-night's,
I '11 take effectual means to have you hunted down and routed
out of this. Let that suffice."
Soon after Dr. Livesey's horse came to the door, and he
rode away; but the captain held his peace that evening,
and for many evenings to come.
[10]
CHAPTER II
BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS
IT was not very long after this that there occurred the first
of the mysterious events that rid us at last of the cap-
tain, though not, as you will see, of his affairs. It was
a bitter cold winter, with long, hard frosts and heavy gales;
and it was plain from the first that my poor father was little
likely to see the spring. He sank daily, and my mother and I
had all the inn upon our hands; and were kept busy enough,
without paying much regard to our unpleasant guest.
It was one January morning, very early a pinching, frosty
morning the cove all grey with hoar-frost, the ripple lapping
softly on the stones, the sun still low and only touching the
hilltops and shining far to seaward. The captain had risen
earlier than usual, and set out down the beach, his cutlass
swinging under the broad skirts of the old blue coat, his brass
telescope under his arm, his hat tilted back upon his head. I
remember his breath hanging like smoke in his wake as he
strode off, and the last sound I heard of him, as he turned the
big rock, was a loud snort of indignation, as though his mind
was still running upon Dr. Livesey.
Well, mother was up-stairs with father; and I was laying
the breakfast-table against the captain's return, when the par-
lour door opened, and a man stepped in on whom I had never
TREASURE ISLAND
set my eyes before. He was a pale, tallowy creature, wanting
two fingers of the left hand; and, though he wore a cutlass,
he did not look much like a fighter. I had always my eye
open for seafaring men, with one leg or two, and I remember
this one puzzled me. He was not sailorly, and yet he had a
smack of the sea about him too.
I asked him what was for his service, and he said he would
take rum; but as I was going out of the room to fetch it he
sat down upon a table, and motioned me to draw near. I
paused where I was, with my napkin in my hand.
"Come here, sonny," says he. "Come nearer here."
I took a step nearer.
"Is this here table for my mate Bill?" he asked, with a
kind of leer.
I told him I did not know his mate Bill; and this was for
a person who stayed in our house, whom we called the captain.
"Well," said he, "my mate Bill would be called the
captain, as like as not. He has a cut on one cheek, and a
mighty pleasant way with him, particularly in drink, has my
mate Bill. We '11 put it, for argument like, that your captain
has a cut on one cheek and we '11 put it, if you like, that
that cheek 's the right one. Ah, well ! I told you. Now, is my
mate Bill in this here house?"
I told him he was out walking.
" Which way, sonny ? Which way is he gone ?"
And when I had pointed out the rock and told him how
the captain was likely to return, and how soon, and answered
a few other questions, "Ah," said he, "this '11 be as good as
drink to my mate Bill."
BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS
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 hang-
ing 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," he said, "as like you as two blocks, and he 's all
the pride of my 'art. But the great thing for boys is discipline,
sonny discipline. Now, if you had sailed along of Bill, you
wouldn't have stood there to be spoke to twice not you.
That was never Bill's way, nor the way of sich as sailed with
him. And here, sure enough, is my mate Bill, with a spy-
glass under his arm, bless his old 'art, to be sure. You and
me '11 just go back into the parlour, sonny, and get behind
the door, and we '11 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.
[13]
4
TREASURE ISLAND
He cleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in the
sheath; and all the time we were waiting there he kept swal-
lowing 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 ship-
mate Billy, at the 'Admiral Benbow' inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we
have seen a sight of times, us two, since I lost them two
talons," holding up his mutilated hand.
"Now, look here," said the captain; "you 've run me
down; here I am; well, then, speak up: what is it?"
"That 's you, Bill," returned Black Dog, "you 're in the
right of it, Billy. I '11 have a glass of rum from this dear
child here, as I 've took such a liking to; and we '11 sit down,
if you please, and talk square, like old shipmates."
[14]
BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS
When I returned with the rum, they were already seated
on either side of the captain's breakfast-table Black Dog
next to the door, and sitting sideways, so as to have one eye
on his old shipmate, and one, as I thought, on his retreat.
He bade me go and leave the door wide open. "None of
your keyholes for me, sonny," he said; and I left them to-
gether, and retired into the bar.
For a long time, though I certainly did my best to listen,
I could hear nothing but a low gabbling; but at last the voices
began to grow higher, and I could pick up a word or two,
mostly oaths, from the captain.
"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
[15]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 down-stairs
to help me. Between us we raised his head. He was breath-
ing very loud and hard; but his eyes were closed, and his
face a horrible colour.
"Dear, deary me," cried my mother, "what a disgrace
upon the house! And your poor father sick!"
In the meantime, we had no idea what to do to help the
captain, nor any other thought but that he had got his death-
hurt in the scuffle with the stranger. I got the rum, to be
sure, and tried to put it down his throat; but his teeth were
tightly shut, and his jaws as strong as iron. It was a happy
relief for us when the door opened and Dr. Livesey came in,
on his visit to my father.
"Oh, doctor," we cried, "what shall we do ? Where is he
wounded?"
"Wounded? A fiddle-stick's end!" said the doctor.
"No more wounded than you or I. The man has had a
[16]
lust tremendous cut which would certainly have split him t<
tin' rliin had it not beta intercepted by our big
signboard of Admiral Kcnboir
to to
BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS
stroke, as I warned him. Now, Mrs. Hawkins, just you run
up-stairs to your husband, and tell him, if possible, nothing
about it. For my part, I must do my best to save this fel-
low's trebly worthless life; and, Jim, you get me a basin."
When I got back with the basin, the doctor had already
ripped up the captain's sleeve, and exposed his great sinewy
arm. It was tattooed in several places. "Here's luck," "A
fair wind," and "Billy Bones his fancy," were very neatly and
clearly executed on the forearm; and up near the shoulder
there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging from it
done, as I thought, with great spirit.
"Prophetic," said the doctor, touching this picture with
his finger. "And now, Master Billy Bones, if that be your
name, we '11 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 recognised
the doctor with an umistakable frown; then his glance fell
upon me, and he looked relieved. But suddenly his colour
changed, and he tried to raise himself, crying:
"Where's Black Dog?"
"There is no Black Dog here," said the doctor, "except
what you have on your own back. You have been drinking
rum; you have had a stroke, precisely as I told you; and I
have just, very much against my own will, dragged you head-
foremost out of the grave. Now, Mr. Bones "
[17]
TREASURE ISLAND
"That 's not my name," he interrupted.
"Much I care," returned the doctor. "It's the name of
a buccaneer of my acquaintance; and I call you by it for the
sake of shortness, and what I have to say to you is this: one
glass of rum won't kill you, but if you take one you '11 take
another and another, and I stake my wig if you don't break
off short, you '11 die do you understand that ? die, and go
to your own place, like the man in the Bible. Come, now,
make an effort. I '11 help you to your bed for once."
Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him
up-stairs, 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."
[18]
CHAPTER III
THE BLACK SPOT
BOUT noon I stopped at the captain's door with some
cooling drinks and medicines. He was lying very
much as we had left him, only a little higher, and
he seemed both weak and excited.
"Jim," he said, "yor. 're the only one here that's worth
anything; and you know I 've been always good to you.
Never a month but I 've given you a silver fourpenny for
yourself. And now you see, mate, I 'm pretty low, and
deserted by all ; and, Jim, you '11 bring me one noggin of
rum, now, won't you, matey?"
"The doctor " I began.
But he broke in, cursing the doctor in a feeble voice,
but heartily. "Doctors is all swabs," he said; "and that
doctor there, why, what do he know about seafaring men ?
I been in places hot as pitch, and mates dropping round with
Yellow Jack, and the blessed land a-heaving like the sea with
earthquakes what do the doctor know of lands like that ?
and I lived on rum, I tell you. It 's been meat and drink,
and man and wife, to me; and if I 'm not to have my rum
now I 'm a poor old hulk on a lee shore, my blood '11 be on
you, Jim, and that doctor swab;" and he ran on again for
awhile with curses. "Look, Jim, how my fingers fidges," he
continued, in the pleading tone. "I can't keep 'em still, not
[19]
TREASURE ISLAND
I. I have n't had a drop this blessed day. That doctor 's
a fool, I tell you. If I don't have a drain o' rum, Jim, I '11
have the horrors; I seen some on 'em already. I seen old
Flint in the corner there, behind you; as plain as print, I
seen him; and if I get the horrors, I 'm a man that has lived
rough, and I '11 raise Cain. Your doctor hisself said one
glass wouldn't hurt me. I '11 give you a golden guinea for
a noggin, Jim."
He was growing more and more excited, and this alarmed
me for my father, who was very low that day, and needed
quiet; besides, I was reassured by the doctor's words, now
quoted to me, and rather offended by the offer of a bribe.
"I want none of your money," said I, "but what you owe
my father. I '11 get you one glass, and no more."
When I brought it to him, he seized it greedily, and drank
it out.
"Ay, ay," said he, "that's some better, sure enough.
And now, matey, did that doctor say how long I was to lie
here in this old berth?"
"A week at least," said I.
"Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; they 'd
have the black spot on me by then. The lubbers is going
about to get the wind of me this blessed moment; lubbers as
could n't keep what they got, and want to nail what is an-
other's. Is that seamanly behaviour, now, I want to know ?
But I 'm a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine,
nor lost it neither; and I '11 trick 'em again. I 'm not afraid
on 'em. I '11 shake out another reef, matey, and daddle 'em
again."
[20]
THE BLACK SPOT
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, con-
trasted sadly with the weakness of the voice in which they
were uttered. He paused when he had got into a sitting
position on the edge.
"That doctor's done me," he murmured. "My ears is
singing. Lay me back."
Before I could do much to help him he had fallen back
again to his former place, where he lay for awhile silent.
"Jim," he said, at length, "you saw that seafaring man
to-day?"
"Black Dog?" I asked, pr
"Ah! Black Dog," says he. " He 's a bad 'un; but
there 's worse that put him on. Now, if I can't get away
~ "how, and they tip me the black spot, mind you, it 's my
sea-chest they're after; you get on a horse you can,
't you ? Well, then, you get on a horse, and go to well,
, I will ! to that eternal doctor swab, and tell him to pipe
hands magistrates and sich and he '11 lay 'em aboard
the * Admiral Benbow' all old Flint's crew, man and
r t all on 'em that 's left. I was first mate, I was, old Flint's
t mate, and I 'm the on'y one as knows the place. He
/e it me at Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as if I was
now, you see. But you won't peach unless they get the
ml- crnit on mo r>^ ,,T>IOOO IT, r-r>*> that Black Dog again,
im above all."
captain?" Tasked.
TREASURE ISLAND
"That 's a summons, mate. I '11 tell you if they get that.
But you keep your weather-eye open, Jim, and I '11 share with
you equals, upon my honour."
He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker;
but soon after I had given him his medicine, which he took
like a child, with the remark, "If ever a seaman wanted drugs,
it 's me," he fell at last into a heavy, swoon-like sleep, in
which I left him. What I should have done had all gone
well I do not know. Probably I should have told the whole
story to the doctor; for I was in mortal fear lest the captain
should repent of his confessions and make an end of me.
But as things fell out, my poor father died quite suddenly that
evening, which put all other matters on one side. Our natu-
ral 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 down-stairs next morning, to be sure, and had his
meals as usual, though he ate little, and had more, I am
afraid, than his usual supply of rum, for he helped himself
out of the bar, scowling and blowing through his nose, and
no one dared to cross him. On the night before the funeral
he was as drunk as ever; and it was shocking, in that house
of mourning, to hear him singing away at his ugly old sea-
song; but, weak as he was, we were all in the fear of death
for him, and the doctor was suddenly taken up with a case
many miles away, and was never near the house after my
father's death. I have said the captain was weak ; and indeed
he seemed rather to grow weaker than regain his strength.
[22]
THE BLACK SPOT
He clambered up and down stairs, and went from the par-
lour to the bar and back again, and sometimes put his nose
out of doors to smell the sea, holding on to the walls as he
went for support, and breathing hard and fast like a man on
a steep mountain. He never particularly addressed me, and
it is my belief he had as good as forgotten his confidences;
but his temper was more flighty, and, allowing for his bodily
weakness, more violent than ever. He had an alarming way
now when he was drunk of drawing his cutlass and laying it
bare before him on the table. But, with all that, he minded
people less, and seemed shut up in his own thoughts and
rather wandering. Once, for instance, to our extreme wonder,
he piped up to a different air, a kind of country love-song, that
he must have learned in his youth before he had begun to
follow the sea.
So things passed until, the day after the funeral, and about
three o'clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was stand-
ing at the door for a moment, full of sad thoughts about my
father, when I saw some one drawing slowly near along the
road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a
stick, and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose;
and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a
huge old tattered sea-cloak with a hood, that made him appear
positively deformed. I never saw in my life a more dreadful
looking figure. He stopped a little from the inn, and, raising
his voice in an odd sing-song, addressed the air in front of
him:
"Will any kind friend inform a poor blind man, who has
lost the precious sight of his eyes in the gracious defence of
[23]
TREASURE ISLAND
his native country, England, and God bless King George!
where or in what part of this country he may now be ?"
"You are at the * Admiral Benbow,' Black Hill Cove, my
good man," said I.
"I hear a voice," said he "a young voice. Will you
give me your hand, my kind young friend, and lead me in."
I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, eyeless
creature gripped it in a moment like a vice. I was so much
startled that I struggled to withdraw; but the blind man
pulled me close up to him with a single action of his arm.
"Now, boy," he said, "take me in to the captain."
Sir," said I, "upon my word I dare not."
"Oh," he sneered, "that's it! Take me in straight, or
I '11 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. An-
other gentleman "
"Come, now, march," interrupted he; and I never heard
a voice so cruel, and cold, and ugly as that blind man's. It
cowed me more than the pain; and I began to obey him at
once, walking straight in at the door and towards the parlour,
where our sick old buccaneer was sitting, dazed with rum.
The blind man clung close to me, holding me in one iron
fist, and leaning almost more of his weight on me than I could
carry. "Lead me straight up to him, and when I 'm in
view, cry out, * Here's a friend for you, Bill.' If you don't
I '11 do this;" and with that he gave me a twitch that I thought
[24]
THE BLACK SPOT
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 expres-
sion of his face was not so much of terror as of mortal sick-
ness. He made a movement to rise, but I do not believe he
had enough force left in his body.
"Now, Bill, sit where you are," said the beggar. "If I
can't see, I can hear a finger stirring. Business is business.
Hold out your left hand. Boy, take his left hand by the
wrist, and bring it near to my right."
We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass
something from the hollow of the hand that held his stick
into the palm of the captain's, which closed upon it in-
stantly.
"And now that's done," said the blind man; and at the
words he suddenly left hold of me, and with incredible accu-
racy and nimbleness, skipped out of the parlour and into the
road, where, as I still stood motionless, I could hear his stick
go tap-tap-tapping into the distance.
It was some time before either I or the captain seemed
to gather our senses; but at length, and about at the same
moment, I released his wrist, which I was still holding, and he
drew in his hand and looked sharply into the palm.
"Ten o'clock!" he cried. "Six hours. We '11 do them
yet;" and he sprang to his feet.
Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat,
[25]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 thun-
dering 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.
[26]
CHAPTEK IV
THE SEA-CHEST
I LOST no time, of course, in telling my mother all that I
knew, and perhaps should have told her long before,
and we saw ourselves at once in a difficult and danger-
ous position. Some of the man's money if he had any
was certainly due to us; but it was not likely that our
captain's shipmates, above all the two specimens seen by me,
Black Dog and the blind beggar, would be inclined to give
up their booty in payment of the dead man's debts. The cap-
tain's order to mount at once and ride for Dr. 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 to-
gether and seek help in the neighbouring hamlet. No sooner
[27]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 croak-
ing of the inmates of the wood.
It was already candle-light when we reached the hamlet,
and I shall never forget how much I was cheered to see the
yellow shine in doors and windows; but that, as it proved,
was the best of the help we were likely to get in that quarter.
For you would have thought men would have been ashamed
of themselves no soul would consent to return with us to
the "Admiral Benbow." The more we told of our troubles,
the more man, woman, and child they clung to the shel-
ter of their houses. The name of Captain Flint, though it
was strange to me, was well enough known to some there,
and carried a great weight of terror. Some of the men who
had been to field-work on the far side of the "Admiral Ben-
bow" remembered, besides, to have seen several strangers on
the road, and, taking them to be smugglers, to have bolted
away; and one at least had seen a little lugger in what we
called Kitt's Hole. For that matter, any one who was a
comrade of the captain's was enough to frighten them to
death. And the short and the long of the matter was, that
[28] '
THE SEA-CHEST
while we could get several who were willing enough to ride
to Dr. Livesey's, which lay in another direction, not one would
help us to defend the inn.
They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is,
on the other hand, a great emboldener; and so when each
had said his say, my mother made them a speech. She would
not, she declared, lose money that belonged to her fatherless
boy; "if none of the rest of you dare," she said, "Jim and I
dare. Back we will go, the way we came, and small thanks
to you big, hulking, chicken-hearted men. We '11 have that
chest open, if we die for it. And I '11 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 f oolhardiness ; but even then
not a man would go along with us. All they would do was to
give me a loaded pistol, lest we were attacked ; and to promise
to have horses ready saddled, in case we were pursued on our
return; while one lad was to ride forward to the doctor's in
search of armed assistance.
My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the
cold night upon this dangerous venture. A full moon was
beginning to rise and peered redly through the upper edges
of the fog, and this increased our haste, for it was plain,
before we came forth again, that all would be as bright as
day, and our departure exposed to the eyes of any watchers.
We slipped along the hedges, noiseless and swift, nor did we
see or hear anything to increase our terrors, till, to our relief,
the door of the "Admiral Benbow" had closed behind us.
I slipoed the bolt at once, and we stood and panted for a
[29]
TREASURE ISLAND
moment in the dark, alone in the house with the dead cap-
tain's body. Then my mother got a candle in the bar, and,
holding each other's hands, we advanced into the parlour.
He lay as we had left him, on his back, with his eyes open,
and one arm stretched out.
"Draw down the blind, Jim," whispered my mother;
"they might come and watch outside. And now," said she,
when I had done so, "we have to get the key off that; and
who 's to touch it, I should like to know!" and she gave a
kind of sob as she said the words.
I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to
his hand there was a little round of paper, blackened on the
one side. I could not doubt that this was the black spot; and
taking it up, I found written on the other side, in a very good,
clear hand, this short message; "You have till ten to-night."
"He had till ten, mother," said I; and just as I said it,
our old clock began striking. This sudden noise startled us
shockingly; but the news was good, for it was only six.
"Now, Jim," she said, "that key."
I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few small
coins, a thimble, and some thread and big needles, a piece of
pigtail tobacco bitten away at the end, his gully with the
crooked handle, a pocket compass, and a tinder-box, were all
that they contained, and I began to despair.
"Perhaps it 's round his neck," suggested my mother.
Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open his shirt at
the neck, and there, sure enough, hanging to a bit of tarry
string, which I cut with his own gully, we found the key.
At this triumph we were filled with hope, and hurried up-
[30]
THE SEA-CHEST
stairs, without delay, to the little room where he had slept
so long, and where his box had stood since the day of his
arrival.
It was like any other seaman's chest on the outside, the
initial "B." burned on the top of it with a hot iron, and the
corners somewhat smashed and broken as by long, rough
usage.
"Give me the key," said my mother; and though the lock
was very stiff, she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a
twinkling.
A strong smell of tobacco and tar rose from the interior,
but nothing was to be seen on the top except a suit of very
good clothes, carefully brushed and folded. They had never
been worn, my mother said. Under that, the miscellany be-
gan a quadrant, a tin canikin, several sticks of tobacco,
two brace of very handsome pistols, a piece of bar silver, an
old Spanish watch and some other trinkets of little value and
mostly of foreign make, a pair of compasses mounted with
brass, and five or six curious West Indian shells. I have often
wondered since why he should have carried about these shells
with him in his wandering, guilty, and hunted life.
In the meantime, we had found nothing of any value but
the silver and the trinkets, and neither of these were in our
way. Underneath there was an old boat-cloak, whitened with
sea-salt on many a harbour-bar. My mother pulled it up
with impatience, and there lay before us, the last things in
the chest, a bundle tied up in oilcloth, and looking like papers,
and a canvas bag, that gave forth, at a touch, the jingle of
TREASURE ISLAND
"I '11 show these rogues that I 'm an honest woman," said
my mother. "I '11 have my dues, and not a farthing over.
Hold Mrs. Crossley's bag." And she began to count over the
amount of the captain's score from the sailor's bag into the
one that I was holding.
It was a long, difficult business, for the coins were of all
countries and sizes doubloons, and louis-d'ors, and guineas,
and pieces of eight, and I know not what besides, all shaken
together at random. The guineas, too, were about the
scarcest, and it was with these only that my mother knew
how to make her count.
When we were about half-way through, I suddenly put my
hand upon her arm; for I had heard in the silent, frosty air,
a sound that brought my heart into my mouth the tap-tap-
ping of the blind man's stick upon the frozen road. It drew
nearer and nearer, while we sat holding our breath. Then
it struck sharp on the inn door, and then we could hear the
handle being turned, and the bolt rattling as the wretched
being tried to enter; and then there was a long time of silence
both within and without. At last the tapping re-commenced,
and, to our indescribable joy and gratitude, died slowly away
again until it ceased to be heard.
"Mother," said I, "take the whole and let's be going";
for I was sure the bolted door must have seemed suspicious,
and would bring the whole hornet's nest about our ears;
though how thankful I was that I had bolted it, none could
tell who had never met that terrible blind man.
But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent
to take a fraction more than was due to her, and was obsti-
[32]
THE SEA-CHEST
nately unwilling to be content with less. It was not yet seven,
she said, by a long way; she knew her rights and she would
have them; and she was still arguing with me, when a little
low whistle sounded a good way off upon the hill. That was
enough, and more than enough, for both of us.
"I '11 take what I have," she said, jumping to her feet.
"And I '11 take this to square the count," said I, picking
up the oilskin packet.
Next moment we were both groping down-stairs, leaving
the candle by the empty chest; and the next we had opened
the door and were in full retreat. We had not started a
moment too soon. The fog was rapidly dispersing; already the
moon shone quite clear on the high ground on either side;
and it was only in the exact bottom of the dell and round the
tavern door that a thin veil still hung unbroken to conceal
the first steps of our escape. Far less than half-way to the
hamlet, very little beyond the bottom of the hill, we must
come forth into the moonlight. Nor was this all; for the
sound of several footsteps running came already to our ears,
and as we looked back in their direction, a light tossing to
and fro and still rapidly advancing, showed that one of the
new-comers 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 fool-
hardiness and present weakness! We were just at the little
bridge, by good fortune; and I helped her, tottering as she
[33]
TREASURE ISLAND
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.
34
CHAPTER V
THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN
MY curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear;
for I could not remain where I was, but crept back
to the bank again, whence, sheltering my head be-
hind 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 beat-
ing 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.
"Ay, ay, sir!" answered two or three; and a rush was
made upon the "Admiral Benbow," the lantern-bearer fol-
lowing; 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:
[35]
TREASURE ISLAND
"Bill 's dead."
But the blind man swore at them again for their delay.
"Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest
of you aloft and get the chest," he cried.
I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so that
the house must have shook with it. Promptly afterwards,
fresh sounds of astonishment arose; the window of the cap-
tain's room was thrown open with a slam and a jingle of
broken glass; and a man leaned out into the moonlight, head
and shoulders, and addressed the blind beggar on the road
below him.
"Pew," he cried, "they 've been before us. Some one 's
turned the chest out alow and aloft."
"Is it there?" roared Pew.
"The money 's there."
The blind man cursed the money.
"Flint's fist, I mean," he cried.
"We don't see it here nohow," returned the man.
"Here, you below there, is it on Bill?" cried the blind
man again.
At that, another fellow, probably he who had remained
below to search the captain's body, came to the door of the
inn. "Bill 's been overhauled a'ready," said he, "nothin' left."
"It's these people of the inn it's that boy. I wish I
had put his eyes out!" cried the blind man, Pew. "They
were here no time ago they had the door bolted when I
tried it. Scatter, lads, and find 'em."
"Sure enough, they left their glim here," said the fellow
from the window.
[36]
THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN
"Scatter and find 'em! Rout the house out!" reiterated
Pew, striking with his stick upon the road.
Then there followed a great to-do through all our old inn,
heavy feet pounding to and fro, furniture thrown over, doors
kicked in, until the very rocks re-echoed, and the men came
out again, one after another, on the road, and declared that
we were nowhere to be found. And just then the same
whistle that had alarmed my mother and myself over the dead
captain's money was once more clearly audible through the
night, but this time twice repeated. I had thought it to be
the blind man's trumpet, so to speak, summoning his crew
to the assault; but I now found that it was a signal from the
hillside towards the hamlet, and, from its effect upon the
buccaneers, a signal to warn them of approaching danger.
"There's Dirk again," said one. "Twice! We'll have
to budge, mates."
"Budge, you skulk!" cried Pew. "Dirk was a fool and
a coward from the first you would n't mind him. They
must be close by; they can't be far; you have your hands
on it. Scatter and look for them, dogs! Oh, shiver my
soul," he cried, "if I had eyes!"
This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two of the
fellows began to look here and there among the lumber, but
half-heartedly, I thought, and with half an eye to their own
danger all the time, while the rest stood irresolute on the
road.
"You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and you
hang a leg ! You 'd be as rich as kings if you could find it,
and you know it 's here, and you stand there skulking. There
[37]
^104-0
TREASURE ISLAND
wasn't one of you dared face Bill, and I did it a blind man !
And I 'm to lose my chance for you! I 'm to be a poor,
crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling
in a coach! If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit
you would catch them still."
"Hang it, Pew, we 've got the doubloons!" grumbled one.
"They might have hid the blessed thing," said another.
"Take the Georges, Pew, and don't stand here squalling."
Squalling was the word for it, Pew's anger rose so high
at these objections; till at last, his passion completely taking
the upper-hand, he struck at them right and left in his blind-
ness, and his stick sounded heavily on more than one.
These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant,
threatened him in horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch
the stick and wrest it from his grasp.
This quarrel was the saving of us; for while it was still
raging, another sound came from the top of the hill on the
side of the hamlet the tramp of horses galloping. Almost
at the same time a pistol-shot, flash and report, came from
the hedge side. And that was plainly the last signal of dan-
ger; 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 ho took the wrong turn, and ran a few
steps past me, towards the hamlet, crying:
[38]
grumble
ailing."
more than one.
at the blind miscreant,
TT*lf*fJ 1T1 VftlTl i"O
Tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping and
calling for his comrades
; for while it was still
'ull on the
. i Hoping. Almost
from
the last sigit
ice and ) rating
a minute
bey had
d, tapping up and
l^^Hftv h- ." '
AST OF THE BLIND MAN
"Johnny, Ei ck Dog, Dirk," and other names, "you
won't lc- ve old Pow, mates not old Pew!"
Just then the noise of horses topped the rise, and four or
five riders came in sight in the moonlight, and swept at full
gallop down the slope.
At this Pew saw his error, turned with a scream, and ran
straight for the ditch, into which he rolled. But he was on
his feet again in a second, and made another dash, now
utterly bewildered, right under the nearest of the coming
horses.
The rider tried to save him, but in vain. Down went
Pew with a cry that rang high into the night; and the four
hoofs trampled and spurned him and passed by. He fell on his
side, then gently collapsed upon his face, and moved no more.
I leaped to my feet and hailed the riders. They were
pulling up, at any rate, horrified at the accident; and I soon
saw what they were. One, tailing out behind the rest, was a
lad that had gone from the hamlet to Dr. Livesey's; the rest
were revenue officers, whom he had met by the way, and
with whom he had had the intelligence to return at once.
Some news of the lugger in Kitt's Hole had found its way to
Supervisor Dance, and set him forth that night in our direc-
tion, 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
[39]
TREASURE ISLAND
on, as fast as he could, to Kitt's Hole; but his men had to
dismount and grope down the dingle, leading, and sometimes
supporting, their horses, and in continual fear of ambushes;
so it was no great matter for surprise that when they got
down to the Hole the lugger was already under way, though
still close in. He hailed her. A voice replied, telling him
to keep out of the moonlight, or he would get some lead in
him, and at the same time a bullet whistled close by his arm.
Soon after, the lugger doubled the point and disappeared.
Mr. Dance stood there, as he said, "like a fish out of water,"
and all he could do was to despatch a man to B to warn
the cutter. "And that," said he, "is just about as good as
nothing. They 've got off clean, and there 's an end. Only,"
he added, "I'm glad I trod on Master Pew's corns;" for
by this time he had heard my story.
I went back with him to the "Admiral Benbow," and you
cannot imagine a house in such a state of smash; the very
clock had been thrown down by these fellows in their furious
hunt after my mother and myself; and though nothing had
actually been taken away except the captain's money-bag
and a little silver from the till, I could see at once that we
were ruined. Mr. Dance could make nothing of the scene.
"They got the money, you say? Well, then, Hawkins,
what in fortune were they after? More money, I suppose?"
"No, sir; not money, I think," replied I. "In fact, sir,
I believe I have the thing in my breast-pocket; and, to tell
you the truth, I should like to get it put in safety."
"To be sure, boy; quite right," said he. "I '11 take it,
if you like."
[40]
THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN
"I thought, perhaps, Dr. Livesey " I began.
"Perfectly right," he interrupted, very cheerily, "perfectly
right a gentleman and a magistrate. And, now I come to
think of it, I might as well ride round there myself and report
to him or squire. Master Pew 's dead, when all 's done; not
that I regret it, but he 's dead, you see, and people will make
it out against an officer of his Majesty's revenue, if make it
out they can. Now, I '11 tell you, Hawkins : if you like, I '11
take you along."
I thanked him heartily for the offer, and we walked back
to the hamlet where the horses were. By the time I had told
mother of my purpose they were all in the saddle.
"Dogger," said Mr. Dance, "you have a good horse; take
up this lad behind you."
As soon as I was mounted, holding on to Dogger's belt,
the supervisor gave the word, and the party struck out at a
bouncing trot on the road to Dr. Livesey's house.
[41
CHAPTER YI
THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS
WE rode hard all the way, till we drew up before Dr.
Livesey's door. The house was all dark to the
front.
Mr. Dance told me to jump down and knock, and Dogger
gave me a stirrup to descend by. The door was opened
almost at once by the maid.
"Is Dr. Livesey in?" I asked.
No, she said; he had come home in the afternoon, but
had gone up to the Hall to dine and pass the evening with
the squire.
"So there we go, boys," said Mr. Dance.
This time, as the distance was short, I did not mount,
but ran with Dogger's stirrup-leather to the lodge gates, and
up the long, leafless, moonlit avenue to where the white line
of the Hall buildings looked on either hand on great old
gardens. Here Mr. Dance dismounted, and, taking me
along with him, was admitted at a word into the house.
The servant led us down a matted passage, and showed
us at the end into a great library, all lined with bookcases
and busts upon the top of them, where the squire and Dr.
Livesey sat, pipe in hand, on either side of a bright fire.
[42}
THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS
I had never seen the squire so near at hand. He was a
tall man, over six feet high, and broad in proportion, and he
had a bluff, rough-and-ready face, all roughened and red-
dened 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 con-
descending.
"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 for-
got to smoke in their surprise and interest. When they heard
how my mother went back to the inn, Dr. Livesey fairly
slapped his thigh, and the squire cried "Bravo"! and broke
his long pipe against the grate. Long before it was done, Mr.
Trelawney (that, you will remember, was the squire's name)
had got up from his seat, and was striding about the room,
and the doctor, as if to hear the better, had taken off his
powdered wig, and sat there, looking very strange indeed with
his own close-cropped, black poll.
At last Mr. Dance finished the story.
"Mr. Dance," said the squire, "you are a very noble fel-
low. And as for riding down that black, atrocious miscreant,
I regard it as an act of virtue, sir, like stamping on a cock-
roach. This lad Hawkins is a trump, I perceive. Hawkins,
will you ring that bell ? Mr. Dance must have some ale."
[43]
TREASURE ISLAND
"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 oil-skin packet.
The doctor looked it all over, as if his fingers were itch-
ing to open it; but, instead of doing that, he put it quietly
in the pocket of his coat.
"Squire," said he, "when Dance has had his ale he must,
of course, be off on his Majesty's service; but I mean to
keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep at my house, and, with your
permission, I propose we should have up the cold pie, and
let him sup."
"As you will, Livesey," said the squire; "Hawkins has
earned better than cold pie."
So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a side-
table, and I made a hearty supper, for I was as hungry as a
hawk, while Mr. Dance was further complimented, and at
last dismissed.
"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 some-
times proud he was an Englishman. I 've seen his top-sails
with these eyes, off Trinidad, and the cowardly son of a rum-
puncheon that I sailed with put back put back, sir, into
Port of Spain."
[44]
THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS
"Well, I've heard of him myself, in England," said the
doctor. "But the point is, had he money?"
"Money!" cried the squire. "Have you heard the story ?
What were these villains after but money? What do they
care for but money? For what would they risk their rascal
carcasses but money?"
"That we shall soon know," replied the doctor. "But
you are so confoundedly hot-headed and exclamatory that I
cannot get a word in. What I want to know is this: Sup-
posing that I have here in my pocket some clue to where
Flint buried his treasure, will that treasure amount to much ?"
"Amount, sir!" cried the squire. "It will amount to
this: if we have the clue you talk about, I fit out a ship in
Bristol dock, and take you and Hawkins here along, and
I '11 have that treasure if I search a year."
"Very well," said the doctor. "Now, then, if Jim is
agreeable, we '11 open the packet;" and he laid it before
him on the table.
The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had to
get out his instrument-case, and cut the stitches with his
medical scissors. It contained two things a book and a
sealed paper.
"First of all we '11 try the book," observed the doctor.
The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder as
he opened it, for Dr. Livesey had kindly motioned me to
come round from the side-table, where I had been eating, to
enjoy the sport of the search. On the first page there were
only some scraps of writing, such as a man with a pen in
his hand might make for idleness or practice. One was the
[45]
TREASURE ISLAND
same as the tattoo mark, "Billy Bones his fancy"; then there
was "Mr. W. Bones, mate." "No more rum." "Off Palm
Key he got itt"; and some other snatches, mostly single
words and unintelligible. I could not help wondering who
it was that had "got itt," and what "itt" was that he got.
A knife in his back as like as not.
"Not much instruction there," said Dr. Livesey, as he
passed on.
The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a curious
series of entries. There was a date at one end of the line
and at the other a sum of money, as in common account-
books ; but instead of explanatory writing, only a varying num-
ber of crosses between the two. On the 12th of June, 1745,
for instance, a sum of seventy pounds had plainly become due
to some one, and there was nothing but six crosses to explain
the cause. In a few cases, to be sure, the name of a place
would be added, as "Offe Caraccas"; or a mere entry of
latitude and longitude, as "62 11' 20", 19 2' 40"."
The record lasted over nearly twenty years, the amount
of the separate entries growing larger as time went on, and
at the end a grand total had been made out after five or six
wrong additions, and these words appended "Bones, his pile."
"I can't make head or tail of this," said Dr. Livesey.
"The thing is as clear as noonday," cried the squire.
"This is the black-hearted hound's account-book. These
crosses stand for the names of ships or towns that they sank
or plundered. The sums are the scoundrel's share, and where
he feared an ambiguity, you see he added something clearer.
'Offe Caraccas/ now; you see, here was some unhappy
[46]
THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS
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 travel-
ler. Right! And the amounts increase, you see, as he rose
in rank."
There was little else in the volume out 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 com-
mon value.
"Thrifty man!" cried the doctor. "He wasn't the one
to be cheated."
"And now," said the squire, "for the other."
The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble
by way of seal; the very thimble, perhaps, that I had found
in the captain's pocket. The doctor opened the seals with
great care, and there fell out the map of an island, with lati-
tude and longitude, soundings, names of hills, and bays and
inlets, and every particular that would be needed to bring a
ship to a safe anchorage upon its shores. It was about nine
miles long and five across, shaped, you might say, like a fat
dragon standing up, and had two fine land-locked harbours,
and a hill in the centre part marked "The Spy-glass." There
were several additions of a later date; but, above all, three
crosses of red ink two on the north part of the island, one
in the south-west, and, beside this last, in the same red ink,
and in a small, neat hand, very different from the captain's
tottery characters, these words: "Bulk of treasure here."
Over on the back the same hand had written this further
information :
[47]
TREASURE ISLAND
"Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N. N. E.
"Skeleton Island E. S. E. and by E.
"Ten feet.
"The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find it by the trend
of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of the black crag with the face
on it.
"The arms are easy found, in the sandhill, N. point of north inlet
cape, bearing E. and a quarter N.
"J. F."
That was all; but brief as it was, and, to me, incompre-
hensible, it filled the squire and Dr. Livesey with delight.
"Livesey," said the squire, "you will give up this wretched
practice at once. To-morrow I start for Bristol. In three
weeks' time three weeks ! two weeks ten days we '11
have the best ship, sir, and the choicest crew in England.
Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy. You '11 make a famous
cabin-boy, Hawkins. You, Livesey, are ship's doctor; I am
admiral. We '11 take Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter. We '11
have favourable winds, a quick passage, and not the least
difficulty in finding the spot, and money to eat to roll in
to play duck and drake with ever after."
"Trelawney," said the doctor, "I'll go with you; and
I '11 go bail for it, so will Jim, and be a credit to the under-
taking. There 's only one man I 'm afraid of."
"And who's that?" cried the squire. "Name the dog,
sir!"
"You," replied the doctor; "for you cannot hold your
tongue. We are not the only men who know of this paper.
These fellows who attacked the inn to-night bold, desper-
ate blades, for sure and the rest who stayed aboard that
[48]
THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS
lugger, and more, I dare say, not far off, are, one and all,
through thick and thin, bound that they '11 get that money.
We must none of us go alone till we get to sea. Jim and I
shall stick together in the meanwhile : you '11 take Joyce and
Hunter when you ride to Bristol, and, from first to last, not
one of us must breathe a word of what we 've found."
"Livesey," returned the squire, "you are always in the
right of it. I '11 be as silent as the grave."
[49]
PART II
THE SEA COOK
CHAPTER VII
I GO TO BRISTOL
IT was longer than the squire imagined ere we were
ready for the sea, and none of our first plans not
even Dr. Livesey's, of keeping me beside him could
be carried out as we intended. The doctor had to go to
London for a physician to take charge of his practice; the
squire was hard at work at Bristol; and I lived on at the
Hall under the charge of old Redruth, the gamekeeper, almost
a prisoner, but full of sea-dreams and the most charming
anticipations of strange islands and adventures. I brooded
by the hour together over the map, all the details of which I
well remembered. Sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's
room, I approached that island in my fancy, from every pos-
sible direction; I explored every acre of its surface; I climbed
a thousand times to that tall hill they call the Spy-glass, and
from the top enjoyed the most wonderful and changing pros-
pects. 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
[53]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 every one in Bristol, as
soon as they got wind of the port we sailed for treasure, I mean."
"Redruth," said I, interrupting the letter, "Dr. Livesey
will not like that. The squire has been talking, after all."
"Well, who 's a better right?" growled the gamekeeper.
"A pretty rum go if squire ain't to talk for Dr. Livesey, I
should think."
At that I gave up all attempt at commentary, and read
straight on:
"Blandly himself found the Hispaniola, and by the most admi-
rable 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 to 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 annoy ingly slow; but time cured that. It
was the crew that troubled me.
[54]
I GO TO BRISTOL
" I wished a round score of men in case of natives, buccaneers,
or the odious French and I had the worry of the deuce itself to find
so much as half a dozen, till the most remarkable stroke of fortune
brought me the very man that I required.
"I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in
talk with him. I found he was an old sailor, kept a public-house, knew
all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his health ashore, and wanted
a good berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled down there
that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt.
"I was monstrously touched so would you have been and, out
of pure pity, I engaged him on the spot to be ship's cook. Long John
Silver he is called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as a recom-
mendation, since he lost it in his country's service, under the immortal
Hawke. He has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable age
we live in!
"Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, but it was a crew
I had discovered. Between Silver and myself we got together in a few
days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable not pretty to
look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit. I
declare we could fight a frigate.
" Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven I had already
engaged. He showed me in a moment that they were just the sort of
fresh-water swabs we had to fear in an adventure of importance.
"I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eating like a bull,
sleeping like a tree, yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I hear my old
tarpaulins tramping round the capstan. Seaward ho! Hang the treas-
ure! It 's the glory of the sea that has turned my head. So now, Live-
sey, come post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me.
"Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with Redruth for
a guard; and then both come full speed to Bristol.
"JOHN TRELAWNEY.
"Postscript. I did not tell you that Blandly, who, by the way, is to
send a consort after us if we don't turn up by the end of August, had found
an admirable fellow for sailing-master a stiff man, which I regret,
but, in all other respects, a treasure. Long John Silver unearthed a
[55]
TREASURE ISLAND
very competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have a boat-
swain who pipes, Livesey; so things shall go man-o'-war fashion on
board the good ship Hispaniola.
"I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of my
own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never been
overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; and as she is a
woman of colour, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be excused
for guessing, that it is the wife, quite as much as the health, that sends
him back to roving.
"J. T.
"P. P. S. Hawkins may stay one night with his mother.
"J. T.'
You can fancy the excitement into which that letter put
me. I was half beside myself with glee; and if ever I de-
spised a man, it was old Tom Redruth, who could do nothing
but grumble and lament. Any of the under-gamekeepers
would gladly have changed places with him; but such was
not the squire's pleasure, and the squire's pleasure was like
law among them all. Nobody but old Redruth would have
dared so much as even to grumble.
The next morning he and I set out on foot for the "Admiral
Benbow," and there I found my mother in good health and
spirits. The captain, who had so long been a cause of so
much discomfort, was gone where the wicked cease from
troubling. The squire had had everything repaired, and the
public rooms and the sign repainted, and had added some
furniture above all a beautiful arm-chair 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
[56]
I GO TO BRISTOL
adventures before me, not at all of the home that I was leav-
ing; and now, at sight of this clumsy stranger, who was to
stay here in my place beside my mother, I had my first attack
of tears. I am afraid I led that boy a dog's life; for as he
was new to the work, I had a hundred opportunities of set-
ting him right and putting him down, and I was not slow to
profit by them.
The night passed, and the next day, after dinner, Red-
ruth and I were afoot again, and on the road. I said good-
bye to mother and the cove where I had lived since I was
born, and the dear old "Admiral Benbow" since he was
repainted, no longer quite so dear. One of my last thoughts
was of the captain, who had so often strode along the beach
with his cocked hat, his sabre-cut cheek, and his old brass
telescope. Next moment we had turned the corner, and my
home was out of sight.
The mail picked us up about dusk at the "Royal George"
on the heath. I was wedged in between Redruth and a
stout old gentleman, and in spite of the swift motion and the
cold night air, I must have dozed a great deal from the very
first, and then slept like a log up hill and down dale through
stage after stage; for when I was awakened, at last, it was
by a punch in the ribs, and I opened my eyes, to find that
we were standing still before a large building in a city street,
and that the day had already broken a long time.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Bristol," said Tom. "Get down."
Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn far
down the docks, to superintend the work upon the schooner.
[57]
TREASURE ISLAND
Thither we had now to walk, and our way, to my great de-
light, lay along the quays and beside the great multitude of
ships of all sizes and rigs and nations. In one, sailors were
singing at their work; in another, there were men aloft, high
over my head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker
than a spider's. Though I had lived by the shore all my
life, I seemed never to have been near the sea till then. The
smell of tar and salt was something new. I saw the most
wonderful figureheads, that had all been far over the ocean.
I saw, besides, many old sailors, with rings in their ears, and
whiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pigtails, and their swag-
gering, clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings
or archbishops I could not have been more delighted.
And I was going to sea myself; to sea in a schooner, with
a piping boatswain, and pig-tailed singing seamen; to sea,
bound for an unknown island, and to seek for buried treasures !
While I was still in this delightful dream, we came sud-
denly in front of a large inn, and met Squire Trelawney, all
dressed out like a sea-officer, in stout blue cloth, coming out
of the door with a smile on his face, and a capital imitation
of a sailor's walk.
"Here you are," he cried, "and the doctor came last night
from London. Bravo! the ship's company complete!"
"Oh, sir," cried I, "when do we sail ?"
"Sail!" says he. "We sail to-morrow!"
[58]
CHAPTER VIII
AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS"
"W '^TT'T^HEN I had done breakfasting the squire gave me a
%/L/ note addressed to John Silver, at the sign of the
: "Spy-glass," and told me I should easily find the
place by following the line of the docks, and keeping a bright
look-out 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,
[59]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 cheer-
ful spirits, whistling as he moved about among the tables,
with a merry word or a slap on the shoulder for the more
favoured of his guests.
Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first mention
of Long John in Squire Trelawney's letter, I had taken a
fear in my mind that he might prove to be the very one-legged
sailor whom I had watched for so long at the old "Benbow."
But one look at the man before me was enough. I had seen
the captain, and Black Dog, and the blind man Pew, and I
thought I knew what a buccaneer was like a very different
creature, according to me, from this clean and pleasant-tem-
pered landlord.
I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, and
walked right up to the man where he stood, propped on his
crutch, talking to a customer.
"Mr. Silver, sir?" I asked, holding out the note.
"Yes, my lad," said he; "such is my name, to be sure.
And who may you be?" And then as he saw the squire's
letter, he seemed to me to give something almost like a start.
"Oh!" said he, quite loud, and offering his hand, "I see.
You are our new cabin-boy; pleased I am to see you."
And he took my hand in his large firm grasp.
Just then one of the customers at the far side rose sud-
denly and made for the door. It was close by him, and he
was out in the street in a moment. But his hurry had at-
tracted my notice, and I recognised him at a glance. It was
[60]
AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS"
the tallow-faced man, wanting two fingers, who had come
first to the "Admiral Benbow."
"Oh," I cried, "stop him! it's Black Dog!"
"I don't care two coppers who he is," cried Silver. "But
he hasn't paid his score. Harry, run and catch him."
One of the others who was nearest the door leaped up,
and started in pursuit.
"If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score," cried
Silver; and then, relinquishing my hand "Who did you
say he was?" he asked. "Black what?"
"Dog, sir," said I. "Has Mr. Trelawney not told you
of the buccaneers ? He was one of them."
"So?" cried Silver. "In my house! Ben, run and help
Harry. One of those swabs, was he ? Was that you drink-
ing with him, Morgan? Step up here."
The man whom he called Morgan an old, grey-haired,
mahogany-faced sailor came forward pretty sheepishly, roll-
ing his quid.
"Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly; "you
never clapped your eyes on that Black Black Dog before,
did you now?"
"Not I, sir," said Morgan, with a salute.
"You didn't know his name, did you?"
"No, sir."
,By the powers, Tom Morgan, it's as good for you!"
exclaimed the landlord. "If you had been mixed up with
the like of that, you would never have put another foot in
my house, you may lay to that. And what was he saying to
you?"
[61]
TREASURE ISLAND
"I don't rightly know, sir," answered Morgan.
"Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a blessed
dead-eye?" cried Long John. "Don't rightly know, don't
you! Perhaps you don't happen to rightly know who you
was speaking to, perhaps? Come, now, what was he jaw-
ing v'yages, cap'ns, ships? Pipe up! What was it?"
"We was a-talkin' of keel-hauling," answered Morgan.
"Keel-hauling, was you? and a mighty suitable thing,
too, and you may lay to that. Get back to your place for
a lubber, Tom."
And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat, Silver added
to me in a confidential whisper, that was very flattering, as I
thought :
He 's quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on'y stupid.
And now," he ran on again, aloud, "let's see Black Dog?
No, I don't know the name, not I. Yet I kind of think I 've
yes, I 've seen the swab. He used to come here with a
blind beggar, he used."
"That he did, you may be sure," said I. "I knew that
blind man, too. His name was Pew."
"It was!" cried Silver, now quite excited. "Pew! That
were his name for certain. Ah, he looked a shark, he did!
If we run down this Black Dog, now, there '11 be news for
Cap'n Trelawney! Ben 's a good runner; few seamen run
better than Ben. He should run him down, hand over hand,
by the powers ! He talked o' keel-hauling, did he ? I 'II
keel-haul him!"
All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was
stumping up and down the tavern on his crutch, slapping
[62]
AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS"
tables with his hand, and giving such a show of excitement
as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge or a Bow Street
runner. My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened on
finding Black Dog at the "Spy-glass," and I watched the
cook narrowly. But he was too deep, and too ready, and
too clever for me, and by the time the two men had come
back out of breath, and confessed that they had lost the track
in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would have gone
bail for the innocence of Long John Silver.
"See here, now, Hawkins," said he, "here's a blessed
hard thing on a man like me, now, ain't it ? There 's Cap'n
Trelaw r ney what 's he to think ? Here I have this con-
founded 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 dead-
lights! Now, Hawkins, you do me justice with the cap'n.
You 're a lad, you are, but you 're as smart as paint. I see
that when you first came in. Now, here it is: What could
I do, with this old timber I hobble on ? When I was an A B
mariner I 'd have come up alongside of him, hand over hand,
and broached him to in a brace of old shakes, I would; but
now "
And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw dropped
as though he had remembered something.
"The score!" he burst out. "Three goes o' rum! Why,
shiver my timbers, if I hadn't forgotten my score!"
And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran
down his cheeks. I could not help joining; and we laughed
together, peal after peal, until the tavern rang again.
[63]
TREASURE ISLAND
"Why, what a precious old sea-calf I am!" he said, at
last, wiping his cheeks. "You and me should get on well,
Hawkins, for I '11 take my davy I should be rated ship's boy.
But, come, now, stand by to go about. This won't do.
Dooty is dooty, messmates. I '11 put on my old cocked hat,
and step along of you to Cap'n Trelawney, and report this
here affair. For, mind you, it's serious, young Hawkins;
and neither you nor me 's come out of it with what I should
make so bold as to call credit. Nor you neither, says you;
not smart none of the pair of us smart. But dash my but-
tons! 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 in-
spection.
Long John told the story from first to last, with a great
deal of spirit and the most perfect truth. "That was how
[64]
AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS"
it were, now, weren't it, Hawkins?" he would say, now and
again, and I could always bear him entirely out.
The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had got
away; but we all agreed there was nothing to be done, and
after he had been complimented, Long John took up his
crutch and departed.
"All hands aboard by four this afternoon," shouted the
squire, after him.
"Ay, ay, sir," cried the cook, in the passage.
"Well, squire," said Dr. Livesey, "I don't put much faith
in your discoveries, as a general thing; but I will say this,
John Silver suits me."
"The man 's a perfect trump," declared the squire.
"And now," added the doctor, "Jim may come on board
with us, may he not?"
"To be sure he may," says squire. "Take your hat,
Hawkins, and we '11 see the ship."
[65]
CHAPTER IX
POWDER AND ARMS
THE Hispaniola lay some way out, and we went under
the figureheads and round the sterns of many other
ships, and their cables sometimes grated underneath
our keel, and sometimes swung above us. At last, however,
we got alongside, and were met and saluted as we stepped
aboard by the mate, Mr. Arrow, a brown old sailor, with
earrings in his ears and a squint. He and the squire were
very thick and friendly, but I soon observed that things were
not the same between Mr. Trelawney and the captain.
This last was a sharp-looking man, who seemed angry
with everything on board, and was soon to tell us why, for
we had hardly got down into the cabin when a sailor followed
us.
"Captain Smollett, sir, axing to speak with you," said he.
"I am always at the captain's orders. Show him in,"
said the squire.
The captain, who was close behind his messenger, entered
at once, and shut the door behind him.
"Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say? All
well, I hope; all shipshape and seaworthy?"
"Well, sir," said the captain, "better speak plain, I be-
lieve, even at the risk of offence. I don't like this cruise;
[66]
POWDER AND ARMS
I don't like the men ; and I don't like my officer. That 's
short and sweet."
"Perhaps, sir, you don't like the ship?" inquired the
squire, very angry, as I could see.
"I can't speak as to that, sir, not having seen her tried,"
said the captain. "She seems a clever craft; more I can't
say."
"Possibly, sir, you may not like your employer, either?"
says the squire.
But here Dr. Livesey cut in.
"Stay a bit," said he, "stay a bit. No use of such ques-
tions as that but to produce ill-feeling. The captain has
said too much or he has said too little, and I 'm bound to
say that I require an explanation of his words. You don't,
you say, like this cruise. Now, why?"
"I was engaged, sir, on what we call sealed orders, to
sail this ship for that gentleman where he should bid me,"
said the captain. "So far so good. But now I find that
every man before the mast knows more than I do. I don't
call that fair, now, do you ?"
"No," said Dr. Livesey, "I don't."
"Next," said the captain, "I learn we are going after
treasure hear it from my own hands, mind you. Now,
treasure is ticklish work; I don't like treasure voyages on
any account; and I don't like them, above all, when they
are secret, and when (begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney)
the secret has been told to the parrot."
"Silver's parrot?" asked the squire.
"It 's a way of speaking," said the captain. "Blabbed, I
[67]
TREASURE ISLAND
mean. It 's my belief neither of you gentlemen know what
you are about; but I '11 tell you my way of it life or death,
and a close run."
"That is all clear, and, I dare say, true enough," replied
Dr. Livesey. "We take the risk; but we are not so ignorant
as you believe us. Next, you say you don't like the crew.
Are they not good seamen?"
"I don't like them, sir," returned Captain Smollett.
"And I think I should have had the choosing of my own
hands, if you go to that."
"Perhaps you should," replied the doctor. "My friend
should, perhaps, have taken you along with him; but the
slight, if there be one, was unintentional. And you don't like
Mr. Arrow?"
"I don't sir. I believe he 's a good seaman; but he 's too
free with the crew to be a good officer. A mate should keep
himself to himself shouldn't drink with the men before the
mast!"
"Do you mean he drinks ?" cried the squire.
"No, sir," replied the captain; "only that he 's too
familiar."
"Well, now, and the short and long of it, captain ?" asked
the doctor. "Tell us what you want."
"Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on this
cruise?"
"Like iron," answered the squire.
"Very good," said the captain. "Then, as you 've heard
me very patiently, saying things that I could not prove, hear
me a few words more. They are putting the powder and the
[68]
POWDER AND ARMS
arms in the fore hold. Now, you have a good place under
the cabin ; why not put them there ? first ' point. Then
you are bringing four of your own people with you, and
they tell me some of them are to be berthed forward. Why not
give them the berths here beside the cabin ? second point."
"Any more?" asked Mr. Trelawney.
"One more," said the captain. "There 's been too much
blabbing already."
"Far too much," agreed the doctor.
"I '11 tell you what I 've heard myself," continued Captain
Smollett: "that you have a map of an island; that there's
crosses on the map to show where treasure is; and that the
island lies And then he named the latitude and
longitude exactly.
"I never told that," cried the squire, "to a soul!"
"The hands know it, sir," returned the captain.
"Livesey, that must have been you or Hawkins," cried
the squire.
"It doesn't much matter who it was," replied the doctor.
And I could see that neither he nor the captain paid much
regard to Mr. Trelawney 's protestations. Neither did I, to
be sure, he was so loose a talker; yet in this case I believe
he was really right, and that nobody had told the situation
of the island.
"Well, gentlemen," continued the captain, "I don't know
who has this map; but I make it a point, it shall be kept
secret even from me and Mr. Arrow. Otherwise I would
ask you to let me resign."
"I see," said the doctor. "You wish us to keep this
[69]
TREASURE ISLAND
matter dark, and to make a garrison of the stern part of the
ship, manned with my friend's own people, and provided with
all the arms and powder on board. In other words, you
fear a mutiny."
"Sir," said Captain Smollett, "with no intention to take
offence, I deny your right to put words into my mouth. No
captain, sir, would be justified in going to sea at all if he had
ground enough to say that. As for Mr. Arrow, I believe
him thoroughly honest; some of the men are the same; all
may be for what I know. But I am responsible for the
ship's safety and the life of every man Jack aboard of her.
I see things going, as I think, not quite right. And I ask
you to take certain precautions, or let me resign my berth.
And that 's all."
"Captain Smollett," began the doctor, with a smile, "did
ever you hear the fable of the mountain and the mouse ?
You '11 excuse me, I dare say, but you remind me of that
fable. When you came in here I '11 stake my wig you meant
more than this."
"Doctor," said the captain, "you are smart. When I
came in here I meant to get discharged. I had no thought
that Mr. Trelawney would hear a word."
"No more I would," cried the squire. "Had Livesey
not been here I should have seen you to the deuce. As it
is, I have heard you. I will do as you desire; but I think
the worse of you."
"That's as you please, sir," said the captain. "You'll
find I do my duty."
And with that he took his leave.
[70]
POWDER AND ARMS
"Trelawney," said the doctor, "contrary to all my no-
tions, I believe you have managed to get two honest men
on board with you that man and John Silver."
"Silver, if you like," cried the squire; "but as for that
intolerable humbug, I declare I think his conduct unmanly,
unsailorly, and downright un-English."
"Well," says the doctor, "we shall see."
When we came on deck, the men had begun already to
take out the arms and powder, yo-hoing at their work, while
the captain and Mr. Arrow stood by superintending.
The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The
whole schooner had been overhauled; six berths had been
made astern, out of what had been the after-part of the main
hold; and this set of cabins was only joined to the galley
and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port side. It had
been originally meant that the captain, Mr. Arrow, Hunter,
Joyce, the doctor, and the squire, were to occupy these six
berths. Now, Redruth and I were to get two of them, and
Mr. Arrow and the captain were to sleep on deck in the
companion, which had been enlarged on each side till you
might almost have called it a round-house. Very low it was
still, of course; but there was room to swing two hammocks,
and even the mate seemed pleased with the arrangement.
Even he, perhaps, had been doubtful as to the crew, but that
is only guess; for, as you shall hear, we had not long the
benefit of his opinion.
We were all hard at work, changing the powder and the
berths, when the last man or two, and Long John along with
them, came off in a shore-boat.
[71]
TREASURE ISLAND
The cook came up the side like a monkey for cleverness,
and, as soon as he saw what was doing, "So ho, mates!" says
he, "what's this?"
"We 're a-changing of the powder, Jack," answers one.
"Why, by the powers," cried Long John, "if we do, we '11
miss the morning tide!"
"My orders!" said the captain shortly. "You may go
below, my man. Hands will want supper."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered the cook; and, touching his fore-
lock, he disappeared at once in the direction of his galley.
"That 's a good man, captain," said the doctor.
"Very likely, sir," replied Captain Smollett. "Easy with
that, men easy," he ran on, to the fellows who were shifting
the powder; and then suddenly observing me examining the
swivel we carried amidships, a long brass nine "Here, you
ship's boy," he cried, "out o' that! Off with you to the cook
and get some work."
And then as I was hurrying off I heard him say, quite
loudly, to the doctor:
"I '11 have no favourites on my ship."
I assure you I was quite of the squire's way of thinking,
and hated the captain deeply.
[72]
CHAPTER X
THE VOYAGE
AL that night we were in a great bustle getting things
stowed in their place, and boatfuls of the squire's
friends, Mr. Blandly and the like, coming off to
wish him a good voyage and a safe return. We never had a
night at the "Admiral Benbow" when I had half the work;
and I was dog-tired when, a little before dawn, the boatswain
sounded his pipe, and the crew began to man the capstan-
bars. I might have been twice as weary, yet I would not.
have left the deck ; all was so new and interesting to me
the brief commands, the shrill note of the whistle, the men
bustling to their places in the glimmer of the ship's lanterns.
"Now, Barbecue, tip us a stave," cried one voice.
"The old one," cried another.
"Ay, ay, mates," said Long John, who was standing by,
with his crutch under his arm, and at once broke out in the
air and words I knew so well
"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest"
And then the whole crew bore chorus
"Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"
And at the third "ho!" drive the bars before them with a will.
Even at that exciting moment it carried me back to the
[73]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 ship-
ping to flit by on either side; and before I could lie down
to snatch an hour of slumber the Hispaniola had begun her
voyage to the Isle of Treasure.
I am not going to relate that voyage in detail. It was fairly
prosperous. The ship proved to be a good ship, the crew
were capable seamen, and the captain thoroughly understood
his business. But before we came the length of Treasure
Island, two or three things had happened which require to
be known.
Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than the
captain had feared. He had no command among the men,
and people did what they pleased with him. But that was
by no means the worst of it; for after a day or two at sea he
began to appear on deck with hazy eye, red cheeks, stuttering
tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. Time after time
he was ordered below in disgrace. Sometimes he fell and
cut himself; sometimes he lay all day long in his little bunk
at one side of the companion ; sometimes for a day or two he
would be almost sober and attend to his work at least passably.
In the meantime, we could never make out where he got
the drink. That was the ship's mystery. Watch him as
we pleased, we could do nothing to solve it; and when we
asked him to his face, he would only laugh, if he were drunk,
and if he were sober, deny solemnly that he ever tasted any-
thing but water.
[74]
THE VOYAGE
f f
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 nian aboard, and, though he kept
his old title, he served in a way as mate. Mr. Trelawney had
followed the sea, and his knowledge made him very useful,
for he often took a watch himself in easy weather. And the
coxswain, Israel Hands, was a careful, wily, old, experienced
seaman, who could be trusted at a pinch with almost anything.
He was a great confidant of Long John Silver, and so
the mention of his name leads me on to speak of our ship's
cook, Barbecue, as the men called him.
Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round
his neck, to have both hands as free as possible. It was
something to see him wedge the foot of the crutch against
a bulkhead, and, propped against it, yielding to every move-
ment of the ship, get on with his cooking, like some one safe
ashore. Still more strange was it to see him in the heaviest
of weather cross the deck. He had a line or two rigged up
to help him across the widest spaces Long John's earrings,
they were called; and he would hand himself from one place
to another, now using the crutch, now trailing it alongside
by the lanyard, as quickly as another man could walk. Yet
[75]
TREASURE ISLAND
some of the men who had sailed with him before expressed
their pity to see him so reduced.
"He 's no common man, Barbecue," said the coxswain
to me. "He had good schooling in his young days, and can
speak like a book when so minded ; and brave a lion 's
nothing alongside of Long John! I seen him grapple four,
and knock their heads together him unarmed."
All the crew respected and even obeyed him. He had a
way of talking to each, and doing everybody some particular
service. To me he was unweariedly kind; and always glad
to see me in the galley, which he kept as clean as a new pin;
the dishes hanging up burnished, and his parrot in a cage in
one corner.
"Come away, Hawkins," he would say; "come and have
a yarn with John. Nobody more welcome than yourself, my
son. Sit you down and hear the news. Here 's Cap'n Flint
I calls my parrot Cap'n Flint, after the famous buccaneer
here 's Cap'n Flint predicting success to our v'yage. Wasn't
you, cap'n?"
And the parrot would say, with great rapidity, "Pieces of
eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight!" till you wondered
that it was not out of breath, or till John threw his handker-
chief over the cage.
"Now, that bird," he would say, "is, maybe, two hundred
years old, Hawkins they lives for ever mostly; and if any-
body's seen more wickedness, it must be the devil himself.
She 's sailed with England, the great Cap'n England, the
pirate. She 's been at Madagascar, and at Malabar, and
Surinam, and Providence, and Portobello. She was at the
[76]
THE VOYAGE
fishing up of the wrecked plate ships. It 's there she learned
'Pieces of eight,' and little wonder; three hundred and fifty
thousand of 'em, Hawkins ! She was at the boarding of the
Viceroy of the Indies out of Goa, she was; and to look at
her you would think she was a babby. But you smelt powder
didn't you, cap'n?"
"Stand by to go about," the parrot would scream.
"Ah, she 's a handsome craft, she is," the cook would
say, and give her sugar from his pocket, and then the bird
would peck at the bars and swear straight on, passing belief
for wickedness. "There," John would add, "you can't touch
pitch and not be mucked, lad. Here 's this poor old innocent
bird o' mine swearing blue fire, and none the wiser, you may
lay to that. She would swear the same, in a manner of speak-
ing, before chaplain." And John would touch his forelock
with a solemn way he had, that made me think he was the
best of men.
In the meantime, the squire and Captain Smollett were
still on pretty distant terms with one another. The squire
made no bones about the matter; he despised the captain.
The captain, on his part, never spoke but when he was spoken
to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not a word wasted.
He owned, when driven into a corner, that he seemed to
have been wrong about the crew, that some of them were
as brisk as he wanted to see, and all had behaved fairly well.
As for the ship, he had taken a downright fancy to her.
"She '11 lie a point nearer the wind than a man has a right
to expect of his own married wife, sir. But," he would add, "all
I say is we 're not home again, and I don't like the cruise."
r 77 i
TREASURE ISLAND
The squire, at this, would turn away and march up and
down the deck, chin in air.
"A trifle more of that man,'* he would say, "and I shall
explode."
We had some heavy weather, which only proved the
qualities of the Hispaniola. Every man on board seemed
well content, and they must have been hard to please if they
had been otherwise; for it is my belief there was never a
ship's company so spoiled since Noah put to sea. Double
grog was going on the least excuse; there was duff on odd
days, as, for instance, if the squire heard it was any man's
birthday; and always a barrel of apples standing broached
in the waist, for any one to help himself that had a fancy.
"Never knew good come of it yet," the captain said to
Dr. Livesey. "Spoil foc's'le hands, make devils. That's
my belief."
But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall hear;
for if it had not been for that, we should have had no note
of warning, and might all have perished by the hand of
treachery.
This was how it came about.
We had run up the trades to get the wind of the island
we were after I am not allowed to be more plain and
now we were running down for it with a bright look-out 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 Treas-
ure Island. We were heading S. S. W., and had a steady
breeze abeam and a quiet sea. The Hispaniola rolled
[78]
THE VOYAGE
steadily, dipping her bowsprit now and then with a whiff of
spray. All was drawing alow and aloft; every one was in
the bravest spirits, because we were now so near an end of
the first part of our adventure.
Now, just after sundown, when all my work was over,
and I was on my way to my berth, it occurred to me that I
should like an apple. I ran on deck. The watch was all
forward looking out for the island. The man at the helm
was watching the luff of the sail, and whistling away gently
to himself; and that was the only sound excepting the swish
of the sea against the bows and around the sides of the ship.
In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there
was scarce an apple left; but, sitting down there in the dark,
what with the sound of the waters and the rocking movement
of the ship, I had either fallen asleep, or was on the point
of doing so, when a heavy man sat down with rather a clash
close by. The barrel shook as he leaned his shoulders against
it, and I was just about to jump up when the man began to
speak. It was Silver's voice, and, before I had heard a
dozen words, I would not have shown myself for all the
world, but lay there, trembling and listening, in the extreme
of fear and curiosity; for from these dozen words I under-
stood that the lives of all the honest men aboard depended
upon me alone.
[79]
CHAPTER XI
WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL
O, not I,^said Silver. "Flint was cap'n; I was
quartermaster, along of my timber leg. The same
broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his dead-
lights. It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me
out of college and all Latin by the bucket, and what not;
but he was hanged like a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at
Corso Castle. That was Roberts* men, that was, and corned
of changing names to their ships Royal Fortune and so on.
Now, what a ship was christened, so let her stay, I says.
So it was with the Cassandra, as brought us all safe home
from Malabar, after England took the Viceroy of the Indies;
so it was with the old Walrus, Flint's old ship, as I 've seen
a-muck with the red blood and fit to sink with gold."
"Ah!" cried another voice, that of the youngest hand on
board, and evidently full of admiration, "he was the flower
of the flock, was Flint!"
"Davis was a man, too, by all accounts," said Silver.
"I never sailed along of him; first with England, then with
Flint, that 's my story ; and now here on my account, in a
manner of speaking. I laid by nine hundred safe, from Eng-
land, and two thousand after Flint. That ain't bad for a
man before the mast all safe in bank. 5 T ain't earning
[80]
WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL
now, it 's saving does it, you may lay to that. Where 's all
England's men now ? I dunno. Where 's Flint's ? Why,
most on 'em aboard here, and glad to get the duff been
begging before that, some on 'em. Old Pew, as had lost his
sight, and might have thought shame, spends twelve hundred
pound in a year, like a lord in Parliament. Where is he now ?
Well, he's dead now and under hatches; but for two year
before that, shiver my timbers! the man was starving. He
begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, and starved at that,
by the powers!"
"Well, it ain't much use, after all," said the young sea-
man.
!< 'T ain't much use for fools, you may lay to it that,
nor nothing," cried Silver. "But now, you look here: you 're
young, you are, but you 're as smart as paint. I see that
when I set my eyes on you, and I '11 talk to you like a man."
You may imagine how I felt when I heard this abomi-
nable 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. Mean-
time, he ran on, little supposing he was overheard.
"Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough,
and they risk swinging, but they eat and drink like fighting-
cocks, and when a cruise is done, why, it 's hundreds of
pounds instead of hundreds of farthings in their pockets.
Now, the most goes for rum and a good fling, and to sea
again in their shirts. But that 's not the course I lay. I
puts it all away, some here, some there, and none too much
anywheres, by reason of suspicion. I'm fifty, mark you;
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TREASURE ISLAND
once back from this cruise, I set up gentleman in earnest.
Time enough, too, says you. Ah, but I 've lived easy in the
meantime; never denied myself o' nothing heart desires, and
slep' soft and ate dainty all my days, but when at sea. And
how did I begin ? Before the mast, like you ! "
"Well," said the other, "but all the other money's gone
now, ain't it ? You daren't show face in Bristol after this."
"Why, where might you suppose it was?" asked Silver,
derisively.
"At Bristol, in banks and places," answered his com-
panion.
"It were," said the cook; "it were when we weighed
anchor. But my old missis has it all by now. And the
'Spy-glass' is sold, lease and goodwill and rigging; and the
old girl 's off to meet me. I would tell you where, for I
trust you; but it 'u'd make jealousy among the mates."
"And can you trust your missis?" asked the other.
"Gentlemen of fortune," returned the cook, "usually
trusts little among themselves, and right they are, you may
lay to it. But I have a way with me, I have. When a mate
brings a slip on his cable one as knows me, I mean it
won't be in the same world with old John. There was some
that was feared of Pew, and some that was feared of Flint;
but Flint his own self was feared of me. Feared he was,
and proud. They was the roughest crew afloat, was Flint's;
the devil himself would have been feared to go to sea with
them. Well, now, I tell you, I 'm not a boasting man, and
you seen yourself how easy I keep company; but when I
was quartermaster, lambs wasn't the word for Flint's old
[82]
WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL
buccaneers. Ah, you may be sure of yourself in old John's
ship."
"Well, I tell you now," replied the lad, "I didn't half a
quarter like the job till I had this talk with you, John; but
there 's my hand on it now."
"And a brave lad you were, and smart, too," answered
Silver, shaking hands so heartily that all the barrel shook,
"and a finer figurehead for a gentleman of fortune I never
clapped my eyes on."
By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of
their terms. By a "gentleman of fortune" they plainly
meant neither more nor less than a common pirate, and the
little scene that I had overheard was the last act in the cor-
ruption of one of the honest hands perhaps of the last
one left aboard. But on this point I was soon to be relieved,
for, Silver giving a little whistle, a third man strolled up and
sat down by the party.
"Dick 's square," said Silver.
"Oh, I know'd Dick was square," returned the voice of
the coxswain, Israel Hands. "He 's no fool is Dick." And
he turned his quid and spat. "But, look here," he went on,
"here's what I want to know, Barbecue: how long are we
a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat ? I 've
had a'most enough o' Cap'n Smollett; he 's hazed me long
enough, by thunder! I want to go into that cabin, I do. I
want their pickles and wines, and that."
Israel," said Silver, "your head ain't much account, nor
ever was. But you 're able to hear, I reckon ; leastways,
your ears is big enough. Now, here 's what I say: you '11
[83]
TREASURE ISLAND
berth forward, and you '11 live hard, and you '11 speak soft,
and you '11 keep sober, till I give the word; and you may lay
to that, my son."
"Well, I don't say no, do I?" growled the coxswain.
" What I say is, when ? That 's what I say."
"When! by the powers!" cried Silver. "Well, now, if
you want to know, I '11 tell you when. The last moment I
can manage; and that's when. Here's a first-rate seaman,
Cap'n Smollett, sails the blessed ship for us. Here 's this
squire and doctor with a map and such I don't know
where it is, do I? No more do you, says you. Well, then,
I mean this squire and doctor shall find the stuff, and help
us to get it aboard, by the powers ! Then we '11 see. If I
was sure of you all, sons of double Dutchmen, I 'd have
Cap'n Smollett navigate us half-way back again before I
struck."
" Why, we 're all seamen aboard here, I should think,"
said the lad Dick.
"We're all foc's'le hands, you mean," snapped Silver.
"We can steer a course, but who 's to set one ? That 's what
all you gentlemen split on, first and last. If I had my way,
I 'd have Cap'n Smollett work us back into the trades at
\ least: then we 'd have no blessed miscalculations and a
spoonful of water a day. But I know the sort you are. I '11
finish with 'em at the island, as soon 's the blunt 's on board,
and a pity it is. But you 're never happy till you 're drunk.
Split my sides, I 've a sick heart to sail with the likes of you!"
"Easy all, Long John," cried Israel. "Who's a-crossin'
of you?"
[84]
WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL
"Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I seen
laid aboard? and how many brisk lads drying in the sun
at Execution Dock?" cried Silver, "and all for this same
hurry and hurry and hurry. You hear me? I seen a thing
or two at sea, I have. If you would on'y lay your course,
and a p'int to windward, you would ride in carriages, you
would. But not you! I know you. You'll have your
mouthful of rum to-morrow, and go hang."
"Everybody know'd you was a kind of a chapling, John;
but there 's others as could hand and steer as well as you,"
said Israel. "They liked a bit o' fun, they did. They
wasn't so high and dry, nohow, but took their fling, like
jolly companions every one."
"So?" says Silver. "Well, and where are they now?
Pew was that sort, and he died a beggar-mam Flint was,
and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah, they was a sweet
crew, they was! on'y, where are they?"
"But," asked Dick, "when do we lay 'em athwart, what
are we to do with 'em, anyhow?"
"There 's the man for me!" cried the cook, admiringly.
"That 's what I call business. Well, what would you think ?
Put 'em ashore like maroons ? That would have been Eng-
land's way. Or cut 'em down like that much pork ? That
would have been Flint's or Billy Bones's."
"Billy was the man for that," said Israel. "Dead men
don't bite,' says he. Well, he 's dead now hisself ; he knows
the long and short on it now ; and if ever a rough hand come
to port, it was Billy."
"Right you are," said Silver, "rough and ready. But
[85]
TREASURE ISLAND
mark you here : I 'm an easy man I'm quite the gentle-
man, says you; but this time it's serious. Dooty is dooty,
mates. I give my vote death. When I 'm in Parlyment,
and riding in my coach, I don't want none of these sea -lawyers
in the cabin a-coming home, unlocked for, like the devil at
prayers. Wait is what I say; but when the time comes, why
let her rip!"
"John," cries the coxswain, "you 're a man!"
"You '11 say so, Israel, when you see," said Silver. "Only
one thing I claim I claim Trelawney. I '11 wring his calf's
head off his body with these hands. Dick!" he added,
breaking off, "you just jump up like a sweet lad, and get me
an apple, to wet my pipe like."
You may fancy the terror I was in ! I should have leaped
out and run for it, if I had found the strength ; but my limbs
and heart alike misgave me. I heard Dick begin to rise, and
then some one seemingly stopped him, and the voice of Hands
exclaimed :
"Oh, stow that! Don't you get sucking of that bilge,
John. Let 's have a go of the rum."
"Dick," said Silver, "I trust you. I 've a gauge on the
keg, mind. There 's the key; you fill a pannikin and bring
it up."
Terrified as I was, I could not help thinking to myself
that this must have been how Mr. Arrow got the strong
waters that destroyed him.
Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence
Israel spoke straight on in the cook's ear. It was but a word
or two that I could catch, and yet I gathered some important
[86]
WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL
news; for, besides other scraps that tended to the same pur-
pose, this whole clause was audible: "Not another man of
them '11 jine." Hence there were still faithful men on board.
When Dick returned, one after another of the trio took
the pannikin and drank one "To luck"; another with a
"Here 's to old Flint"; and Silver himself saying, in a kind
of song, "Here 's to ourselves, and hold your luff, plenty of
prizes and plenty of duff."
Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel,
and, looking up, I found the moon had risen, and was silver-
ing the mizzen-top and shining white on the luff of the fore-
sail; and almost at the same time the voice of the look-out
shouted, "Land ho!"
[87]
CHAPTER XII
COUNCIL OF WAR
THERE was a great rush of feet across the deck. I
could hear people tumbling up from the cabin and
the foc's'le; and, slipping in an instant outside my
barrel, I dived behind the fore-sail, made a double towards
the stern, and came out upon the open deck in time to join
Hunter and Dr. Livesey in the rush for the weather bow.
There all hands were already congregated. A belt of fog
had lifted almost simultaneously with the appearance of the
moon. Away to the 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 re-
covered from my horrid fear of a minute or two before. And
then I heard the voice of Captain Smollett issuing orders.
The Hispaniola was laid a couple of points nearer the wind,
and now sailed a course that would just clear the island on
the east.
"And now, men," said the captain, when all was sheeted
home, "has any one of you ever seen that land ahead?"
"I have, sir," said Silver. "I 've watered there with a
trader I was cook in."
[88]
COUNCIL OF WAR
"The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I fancy ?"
asked the captain.
"Yes, sir; Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a main
place for pirates once, and a hand we had on board knowed
all their names for it. That hill to the nor'ard they calls the
Fore-mast Hill; there are three hills in a row running south-
'ard fore, main, and mizzen, sir. But the main that 's
the big 'un, with the cloud on it they usually calls the
Spy-glass, by reason of a look-out they kept when they was
in the anchorage cleaning; for it's there they cleaned their
ships, sir, asking your pardon."
"I have a chart here," says Captain Smollett. "See if
that 's the place."
Long John's eyes burned in his head as he took the chart;
but, by the fresh look of the paper, I knew he was doomed
to disappointment. This was not the map we found in
Billy Bones's chest, but an accurate copy, complete in all
things names and heights and soundings with the single
exception of the red crosses and the written notes. Sharp
as must have been his annoyance, Silver had the strength of
mind to hide it.
"Yes, sir," said he, "this is the spot, to be sure; and
very prettily drawed out. Who might have done that, I
wonder ? The pirates were too ignorant, I reckon. Ay, here
it is: 'Capt. Kidd's Anchorage' just the name my ship-
mate called it. There 's a strong current runs along the
south, and then away nor'ard up the west coast. Right you
was, sir," says he, "to haul your wind and keep the weather
of the island. Leastways, if such was your intention as to
[89]
TREASURE ISLAND
enter and careen, and there ain't no better place for that in
these waters."
"Thank you, my man," says Captain Smollett. "I '11
ask you, later on, to give us a help. You may go."
I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed
his knowledge of the island ; and I own I was half frightened
when I saw him drawing nearer to myself. He did not know,
to be sure, that I had overheard his council from the apple
barrel, and yet I had, by this time, taken such a horror of
his cruelty, duplicity, and power, that I could scarce conceal
a shudder when he laid his hand upon my arm.
"Ah," says he, "this here is a sweet spot, this island a
sweet spot for a lad to get ashore on. You '11 bathe, and
you '11 climb trees, and you '11 hunt goats, you will ; and you '11
get aloft on them hills like a goat yourself. Why, it makes
me young again. I was going to forget my timber leg, I
was. It 's a pleasant thing to be young, and have ten toes,
and you may lay to that. When you want to go a bit of
exploring, you just ask old John, and he '11 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 talk-
ing together on the quarter-deck, and, anxious as I was to
tell them my story, I durst not interrupt them openly. While
I was still casting about in my thoughts to find some prob-
able 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
[90]
COUNCIL OF WAR
speak and not to be overheard, I broke out 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 com-
municated my request ; for the next thing that I heard was
the captain giving an order to Job Anderson, and all hands
were piped on deck.
"My lads," said Captain Smollett, "I've a word to say
to you. This land that we have sighted is the place we have
been sailing for. Mr. Trelawney, being a very open-handed
gentleman, as we all know, has just asked me a word or two,
and as I was able to tell him that every man on board had
done his duty, alow and aloft, as I never ask to see it done bet-
ter, why, he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin
to drink your health and luck, and you '11 have grog served
out for you to drink our health and luck. I '11 tell you what
I think of this : I think it handsome. And if you think as I
do, you '11 give a good sea cheer for the gentleman that does it."
The cheer followed that was a matter of course ; but
it rang out so full and hearty, that I confess I could hardly
believe these same men were plotting for our blood.
[91]
TREASURE ISLAND
"One more cheer for Cap'n Smollett," cried Long John,
when the first had subsided.
And this also was given with a will.
On the top of that the three gentlemen went below, and
not long after, word was sent forward that Jim Hawkins was
wanted in the cabin.
I found them all three seated round the table, a bottle of
Spanish wine and some raisins before them, and the doctor
smoking away, with his wig on his lap, and that, I knew,
was a sign that he was agitated. The stern window was
open, for it was a warm night, and you could see the moon
shining behind on the ship's wake.
"Now, Hawkins," said the squire, "you have something
to say. Speak up."
I did as I was bid, and as short as I could make it, told
the whole details of Silver's conversation. Nobody inter-
rupted 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
[92]
COUNCIL OF WAR
the mischief and take steps according. But this crew," he
added, "beats me."
"Captain," said the doctor, "with your permission, that 's
Silver. A very remarkable man."
"He'd look remarkably well from a yard-arm, sir," re-
turned the captain. "But this is talk; this don't lead to any-
thing. I see three or four points, and with Mr. Trelawney's
permission, I '11 name them."
"You, sir, are the captain. It is for you to speak," says
Mr. Trelawney, grandly.
"First point," began Mr. Smollett. "We must go on,
because we can't turn back. If I gave the word to go
about, they would rise at once. Second point, we have time
before us at least, until this treasure 's found. Third point,
there are faithful hands. Now, sir, it 's got to come to blows
sooner or later; and what I propose is, to take time by the
forelock, as the saying is, and come to blows some fine day
when they least expect it. We can count, I take it, on your
own home servants, Mr. Trelawney ?"
"As upon myself," declared the squire.
"Three," reckoned the captain, "ourselves make seven,
counting Hawkins, here. Now, about the honest hands."
"Most likely Trelawney's own men," said the doctor;
"those he had picked up for himself, before he lit on Silver."
"Nay," replied the squire, "Hands was one of mine."
"I did think I could have trusted Hands," added the
captain.
"And to think that they're all Englishmen!" broke out the
squire. "Sir, I could find it in my heart to blow the ship up."
[93]
TREASURE ISLAND
"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 look-out. It 's trying on a man, I know. It would
be pleasanter to come to blows. But there 's no help for it
till we know our men. Lay to, and whistle for a wind, that 's
my view."
"Jim here," said the doctor, "can help us more than
any one. The men are not shy with him, and Jim is a no-
ticing lad."
"Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you," added the
squire.
I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt alto-
gether helpless ; and yet, by an odd train of circumstances, it
was indeed through me that safety came. In the meantime,
talk as we pleased, there were only seven out of the twenty-
six on whom we knew we could rely; and out of these seven
one was a boy, so that the grown men on our side were six
to their nineteen.
[94]
PART III
MY SHORE ADVENTURE
CHAPTER XIII
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 be-
calmed about half a mile to the south-east of the low eastern
coast. Grey-coloured woods covered a large part of the sur-
face. 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, out-topping the others some singly,
some in clumps; but the general colouring was uniform and
sad. The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires
of naked rock. All were strangely shaped, and the Spy-
glass, which was by three or four hundred feet the tallest
on the island, was likewise the strangest in configuration, run-
ning 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, groan-
ing, 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
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TREASURE ISLAND
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 any one
would have been glad to get to land after being so long at
sea, my heart sank, as the saying is, into my boots ; and from
that first look onward, I hated the very thought of Treasure
Island.
We had a dreary morning's work before us, for there was
no sign of any wind, and the boats had to be got out and
manned, and the ship warped three or four miles round the
corner of the island, and up the narrow passage to the haven
behind Skeleton Island. I volunteered for one of the boats,
where I had, of course, no business. The heat was swelter-
ing, and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. Ander-
son was in command of my boat, and instead of keeping the
crew in order, he grumbled as loud as the worst.
"Well," he said, with an oath, "it 's not for ever."
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
[98]
HOW MY SHORE ADVENTURE BEGAN
his hand; and though the man in the chains got everywhere
more water than was down in the chart, John never hesitated
once.
"There 's a strong scour with the ebb," he said, "and
this here passage has been dug out, in a manner of speaking,
with a spade."
We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart,
about a third of a mile from each shore, the mainland on one
side, and Skeleton Island on the other. The bottom was
clean sand. The plunge of our anchor sent up clouds of
birds wheeling and crying over the woods; but in less than a
minute they were down again, and all was once more silent.
The place was entirely land-locked, buried in woods,
the trees coming right down to high-water mark, the shores
mostly flat, and the hilltops standing round at a distance in
a sort of amphitheatre, one here, one there. Two little
rivers, or, rather, two swamps, emptied out into this pond,
as you might call it; and the foliage round that part of the
shore had a kind of poisonous brightness. From the ship,
we could see nothing of the house or stockade, for they were
quite buried among trees; and if it had not been for the
chart on the companion, we might have been the first that
had ever anchored there since the island arose out of the seas.
There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound but
that of the surf booming half a mile away along the beaches
and against the rocks outside. A peculiar stagnant smell
hung over the anchorage a smell of sodden leaves and rot-
ting tree trunks. I observed the doctor sniffing and sniffing,
like some one tasting a bad egg.
[99]
TREASURE ISLAND
"I don't know about treasure," he said, "but I '11 stake
my wig there 's fever here."
If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the boat,
it became truly threatening when they had come aboard.
They lay about the deck growling together in talk. The
slightest order was received with a black look, and grudg-
ingly and carelessly obeyed. Even the honest hands must
have caught the infection, for there was not one man aboard
to mend another. Mutiny, it was plain, hung over us like a
thunder-cloud.
And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived
the danger. Long John was hard at work going from group
to group, spending himself in good advice, and as for example
no man could have shown a better. He fairly outstripped
himself in willingness and civility; he was all smiles to every
one. If an order were given, John would be on his crutch
in an instant, with the cheeriest "Ay, ay, sir!" in the world;
and when there was nothing else to do, he kept up one song
after another, as if to conceal the discontent of the rest.
Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon, this
obvious anxiety on the part of Long John appeared the worst.
We held a council in the cabin.
"Sir," said the captain, "if I risk another order, the
whole ship '11 come about our ears by the run. You see,
sir, here it is. I get a rough answer, do I not? Well, if I
speak back, pikes will be going in two shakes; if I don't,
Silver will see there 's something under that, and the game 's
up. Now, we 've only one man to rely on."
"And who is that?" asked the squire.
[100]
HOW MY SHORE ADVENTURE BEGAN
"Silver, sir," returned the captain: "he's as anxious as
you and I to smother things up. This is a tiff; he'd soon
talk 'em out of it if he had the chance, and what I propose
to do is give him the chance. Let 's allow the men an after-
noon ashore. If they all go, why, we '11 fight the ship. If
they none of them go, well, then, we hold the cabin, and
God defend the right. If some go, you mark my words, sir,
Silver '11 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 cap-
tain went on deck and addressed the crew.
"My lads," said he, "we've had a hot day, and are all
tired and out of sorts. A turn ashore '11 hurt nobody the
boats are still in the water; you can take the gigs, and as
many as please may go ashore for the afternoon. I '11 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 far-away 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 under-
stand the situation. It was as plain as day. Silver was the
captain, and a mighty rebellious crew he had of it. The
[101]
TREASURE ISLAND
honest hands and I was soon to see it proved that there
were such on board must have been very stupid fellows.
Or, rather, I suppose the truth was this, that all hands were
disaffected by the example of the ringleaders only some
more, some less; and a few, being good fellows in the main,
could neither be led nor driven any further. It is one thing
to be idle and skulk, and quite another to take a ship and
murder a number of innocent men.
At last, however, the party was made up. Six fellows
were to stay on board, and the remaining thirteen, including
Silver, began to embark.
Then it was that there came into my head the first of
the mad notions that contributed so much to save our lives.
If six men were left by Silver, it was plain our party could
not take and fight the ship; and since only six were left, it
was equally plain that the cabin party had no present need
of my assistance. It occurred to me at once to go ashore. In
a jiffy I had slipped over the side, and curled up in the fore-
sheets of the nearest boat, and almost at the same moment she
shoved off.
No one took notice of me, only the bow oar saying, "Is
that you, Jim ? Keep your head down." But Silver, from
the other boat, looked sharply over and called out to know
if that were me; and from that moment I began to regret
what I had done.
The crews raced for the beach; but the boat I was in,
having some start, and being at once the lighter and the
better manned, shot far ahead of her consort, and the bow
had struck among the shore-side trees, and I had caught a
[102]
-H! that there
;pid fellows.
i! hands were
sly some
lows in the main,
. It is one thing
take a ship and
ip. Six fellows
en, including
Loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men
cad the first of
ir party could
re left, it
u present neccf
shore. In
?he fo
moment
ri g
But Silver
er and called out to
me; and from that moment I began to :
\ for the beach; but the boat I v
ind being at once the lighter an
ahead of Ler consort, and tb
1 T bad
HOW MY SHORE ADVENTURE BEGAN
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.
[ 103
CHAPTER XIV
THE FIRST BLOW
I WAS so pleased at having given the slip to Long John,
that I began to enjoy myself and look around me
with some interest on the strange land that I was in.
I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes,
and odd, outlandish, swampy trees; and 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 oak-like trees
live, or evergreen, oaks, I heard afterwards they should be
[104]
THE FIRST BLOW
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 near-
est of the little rivers soaked its way into the anchorage.
The marsh was steaming in the strong sun, and the outline
of the Spy-glass trembled through the haze.
All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among the
bulrushes; a wild duck flew up with a quack, another fol-
lowed, and soon over the whole surface of the marsh a great
cloud of birds hung screaming and circling in the air. I
judged at once that some of my shipmates must be drawing near
along the borders of the fen. Nor was I deceived; for soon
I heard the very distant and low tones of a human voice, which,
as I continued to give ear, grew steadily louder and nearer.
This put me in a great fear, and I crawled under cover
of the nearest live-oak, and squatted there, hearkening, as
silent as a mouse.
Another voice answered ; and then the first voice, which I
now recognised to be Silver's, once more took up the story,
and ran on for a long while in a stream, only now and again
interrupted by the other. By the sound they must have been
talking earnestly, and almost fiercely; but no distinct word
came to my hearing.
At last the speakers seemed to have paused, and perhaps
to have sat down ; for not only did they cease to draw any
nearer, but the birds themselves began to grow more quiet,
and to settle again to their places I the swamp.
[ 105 .
TREASURE ISLAND
And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my busi-
ness; that since I had been so foolhardy as to come ashore
with these desperadoes, the least I could do was to overhear
them at their councils; and that my plain and obvious duty
was to draw as close as I could manage, under the favourable
ambush of the crouching trees.
I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly,
not only by the sound of their voices, but by the behaviour
of the few birds that still hung in alarm above the heads of
the intruders.
Crawling on all-fours, I made steadily but slowly towards
them; till at last, raising my head to an aperture among
the leaves, I could see clear down into a little green dell
beside the marsh, and closely set about with trees, where
Long John Silver and another of the crew stood face to face
in conversation.
The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown his hat
beside him on the ground, and his great, smooth, blond face,
all shining, with heat, was lifted to the other man's in a kind
of appeal.
"Mate," he was saying, "it's because I thinks gold
dust of you gold dust, and you may lay to that! If I
hadn't took to you like pitch, do you think I 'd have been
here a-warning of you ? All 's up you can't make nor
mend ; it 's to save your neck that I 'm a-speaking, and if one
of the wild 'uns knew it, where 'ud I be, Tom now, tell
me, where 'ud 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
[106]
THE FIRST BLOW
his voice shook, too, like a taut rope "Silver," says he,
"you 're old, and you 're honest, or has the name for it;
and you 've money, too, which lots of poor sailors hasn't;
and you 're brave, or I 'm mistook. And will you tell me
you '11 let yourself be led away with that kind of a mess of
swabs ? not you ! As sure as God sees me, I 'd sooner lose
my hand. If I turn agin my dooty "
And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise.
I had found one of the honest hands well, here, at that
same moment, came news of another. Far away out in the
marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound like the cry of
anger, then another on the back of it; and then one horrid,
long-drawn scream. The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it
a score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose again,
darkening heaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after
that death yell was still ringing in my brain, silence had
re-established its empire, and only the rustle of the redescend-
ing birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the
languor of the afternoon.
Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur;
but Silver had not winked an eye. He stood where he was,
resting lightly on his crutch, watching his companion like a
snake about to spring.
"John!" said the sailor, stretching out his hand.
"Hands off!" cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it
seemed to me, with the speed and security of a trained gymnast.
"Hands off, if you like, John Silver," said the other.
"It 's a black conscience that can make you feared of me.
But, in heaven's name, tell me what was that?"
[107]
TREASURE ISLAND
"That?" returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than
ever, his eye a mere pin-point in his big face, but gleaming
like a crumb of glass. "That? Oh, I reckon that'll be
Alan."
And at this poor Tom flashed out like a hero.
"Alan!" he cried. "Then rest his soul for a true sea-
man ! And as for you, John Silver, long you *ve been a
mate of mine, but you 're mate of mine no more. If I die
like a dog, I '11 die in my dooty. You 've killed Alan, have
you ? Kill me, too, if you can. But I defies you."
And with that, this brave fellow turned his back directly
on the cook, and set off walking for the beach. But he was
not destined to go far. With a cry, John seized the branch
of a tree, whipped the crutch out of his armpit, and sent that
uncouth missile hurtling through the air. It struck poor
Tom, point foremost, and with stunning violence, right be-
tween 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 re-
cover. 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
[108]
THE FIRST BLOW
the tall Spy-glass hilltop, going round and round and topsy-
turvy before my eyes, and all manner of bells ringing and
distant voices shouting in my ear.
When I came again to myself, the monster had pulled
himself together, his crutch under his arm, his hat upon
his head. Just before him Tom lay motionless upon the
sward; but the murderer minded him not a whit, cleans-
ing his blood-stained knife the while upon a wisp of grass.
Everything else was unchanged, the sun still shining mer-
cilessly 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.
[109]
TREASURE ISLAND
Indeed, could any one be more entirely lost than I?
When the gun fired, how should I dare to go down to the
boats among those fiends, still smoking from their crime?
Would not the first of them who saw me wring my neck like
a snipe's? Would not my absence itself be an evidence to
them of my alarm, and therefore of my fatal knowledge?
It was all over, I thought. Good-bye to the Hispaniola;
good-bye to the squire, the doctor, and the captain! There
was nothing left for me but death by starvation, or death by
the hands of the mutineers.
All this while, as I say, I was still running, and, without
taking any notice, I had drawn near to the foot of the little
hill with the two peaks, and had got into a part of the island
where the live-oaks grew more widely apart, and seemed
more like forest trees in their bearing and dimensions.
Mingled with these were a few scattered pines, some fifty,
some nearer seventy, feet high. The air, too, smelt more
freshly than down beside the marsh.
And here a fresh alarm brought me to a standstill with a
thumping heart.
[110]
CHAPTER XV
THE MAN OF THE ISLAND
FROM the side of the hill, which was here steep and
stony, a spout of gravel was dislodged, and fell
rattling and bounding through the trees. My eyes
turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leap
with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was,
whether bear or man or monkey, I could in no wise tell.
It seemed dark and shaggy; more I knew not. But the
terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand.
I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides; behind
me the murderers, before me this lurking nondescript. And
immediately I began to prefer the dangers that I knew to
those I knew not. Silver himself appeared less terrible in
contrast with this creature of the woods, and I turned on my
heel, and, looking sharply behind me over my shoulder,
began to retrace my steps in the direction of the boats.
Instantly the figure reappeared, and, making a wide cir-
cuit, began to head me off. I was tired, at any rate; but
had I been as fresh as when I rose, I could see it was in vain
for me to contend in speed with such an adversary. From
trunk to trunk the creature flitted like a deer, running man-
like on two legs, but unlike any man that I had ever seen,
stooping almost double as it ran. Yet a man it was, I could
no longer be in doubt about that.
tin]
TREASURE ISLAND
I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals. I was
within an ace of calling for help. But the mere fact that he
was a man, however wild, had somewhat reassured me, and
my fear of Silver began to revive in proportion. I stood still,
therefore, and cast about for some method of escape; and
as I was so thinking, the recollection of my pistol flashed into
my mind. As soon as I remembered I was not defenceless,
courage glowed again in my heart ; and I set my face resolutely
for this man of the island, and walked briskly towards him.
He was concealed, by this time, behind another tree
trunk; but he must have been watching me closely, for as
soon as I began to move in his direction he reappeared and
took a step to meet me. Then he hesitated, drew back, came
forward again, and at last, to my wonder and confusion,
threw himself on his knees and held out his clasped hands
in supplication.
At that I once more stopped.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Ben Gunn," he answered, and his voice sounded hoarse
and awkward, like a rusty lock. "I 'm poor Ben Gunn, I
am; and I haven't spoke with a Christian these three years."
I could now see that he was a white man like myself,
and that his features were even pleasing. His skin, where-
ever it was exposed, was burnt by the sun; even his lips
were black ; and his fair eyes looked quite startling in so dark
a face. Of all the beggar-men that I had seen or fancied,
he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed with tatters
of old ships' canvas and old sea cloth; and this extraordinary
patchwork was all held together by a system of the most
CD
I began to ; cannibals. I was
within an ac< Bui mere fact that he
was a 11 ^assured me, and
my : v< proportion. I stood still,
' of escape; and
j'tistol flashed into
s not defenceless,
my face resolutely
Jy towards him.
/ saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine
>e closely, fo
'a he reappeared and
drew back, came
<>nder and confusion,
iasped hands
"Bei unded L
and a\vk m poor Ben Gunn, I
,an these three years."
was a white man like myself,
his feat c everi^ pleasing. His skin, where-
was burnt by the sun; even his
ad his fair eyes looked quite startling in so dark
ue beggar-men that I had seen or fan
. ggedness. He was clothed, with fc>
nd old sea cloth; and this extr
ogethcr - f tem of the
THE MAN OF THE ISLAND
various and incongruous fastenings, brass buttons, bits of
stick, and loops of tarry gaskin. About his waist he wore
an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was the one thing
solid in his whole accoutrement.
"Three years!" I cried. " Were you shipwrecked ?"
"Nay, mate," said he "marooned."
I had heard the word, and I knew it stood for a horrible
kind of punishment common enough among the buccaneers,
in which the offender is put ashore with a little powder and
shot, and left behind on some desolate and distant island.
"Marooned three years agone," he continued, "and
lived on goats since then, and berries, and oysters. Where-
ever a man is, says I, a man can do for himself. But, mate,
my heart is sore for Christian diet. You mightn't happen
to have a piece of cheese about you, now ? No ? Well,
many 's the long night I 've dreamed of cheese toasted,
mostly and woke up again, and here I were."
"If ever I can get aboard again," said I, "you shall have
cheese by the stone."
All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my jacket,
smoothing my hands, looking at my boots, and generally,
in the intervals of his speech, showing a childish pleasure in
the presence of a fellow-creature. But at my last words he
perked up into a kind of startled slyness.
"If ever you can get aboard again, says you?" he re-
peated. "Why, now, who 's to hinder you?"
"Not you, I know," was my reply.
"And right you was," he cried. "Now you what do
you call yourself, mate?"
[113]
TREASURE ISLAND
"Jim," I told him.
"Jim, Jim," says he, quite pleased apparently. "Well,
now, Jim, I 've lived that rough as you 'd be ashamed to
hear of. Now, for instance, you wouldn't think I had had
a pious mother to look at me?" he asked.
" Why, no, not in particular," I answered.
"Ah, well," said he, "but I had remarkable pious.
And I was a civil, pious boy, and could rattle off my cate-
chism that fast, as you couldn't tell one word from another.
And here 's what it come to, Jim, and it begun with chuck-
farthen on the blessed grave-stones ! That 's what it begun
with, but it went further 'n that; and so my mother told me,
and predicked the whole, she did, the pious woman! But
it were Providence that put me here. I 've thought it all
out in this here lonely island, and I 'm back on piety. You
don't catch me tasting rum so much; but just a thimbleful
for luck, of course, the first chance I have. I 'm bound I '11
be good, and I see the way to. And, Jim" looking all
round him, and lowering his voice to a whisper "I'm
rich."
I now felt sure that the poor fellow had gone crazy in
his solitude, and I suppose I must have shown the feeling
in my face; for he repeated the statement hotly:
"Rich! rich! I says. And I '11 tell you what: I '11 make
a man of you, Jim. Ah, Jim, you '11 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.
[114] "
THE MAN OF THE ISLAND
"Now, Jim, you tell me true: that ain't Flint's ship ?" he
asked.
At this I had a happy inspiration. I began to believe
that I had found an ally, and I answered him at once.
"It's not Flint's ship, and Flint is dead; but I'll tell
you true, as you ask me there are some of Flint's hands
aboard; worse luck for the rest of us."
"Not a man with one leg ?" he gasped.
"Silver?" I asked.
"Ah, Silver!" says he; "that were his name."
"He's the cook; and the ringleader, too."
He was still holding me by the wrist, and at that he gave
it quite a wring.
"If you was sent by Long John," he said, "I 'm as good
as pork, and I know it. But where was you, do you suppose ?"
I had made my mind up in a moment, and by way of
answer told him the whole story of our voyage, and the pre-
dicament in which we found ourselves. He heard me with
the keenest interest, and when I had done he patted me on
the head.
"You 're a good lad, Jim," he said; "and you 're all in
a clove hitch, ain't you ? Well, you just put your trust in
Ben Gunn Ben Gunn 's the man to do it. Would you
think it likely, now, that your squire would prove a liberal-
minded one in case of help him being in a clove hitch, as
you remark?"
I told him the squire was the most liberal of men.
"Ay, but you see," returned Ben Gunn, "I didn't mean
giving me a gate to keep, and a shuit of livery clothes, and
[115]
TREASURE ISLAND
such ; that 's not my mark, Jim. What I mean is, would
he be likely to come down to the toon of, say one thous-
and pounds out of money that 's as good as a man's own
already?"
"I am sure he would," said I. "As it was, all hands were
to share."
"And a passage home?" he added, with a look of great
shrewdness.
"Why," I cried, "the squire's a gentleman. And be-
sides, if we got rid of the others, we should want you to help
work the vessel home."
"Ah," said he, "so you would." And he seemed very
much relieved.
"Now, I '11 tell you what," he went on. "So much I '11
tell you, and no more. I were in Flint's ship when he buried
the treasure; he and six along six strong seamen. They
were 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 quarter-
master; and they asked him where the treasure was. 'Ah,'
says he, 'you can go ashore, if you like, and stay,' he says;
'but as for the ship, she'll beat up for more, by thunder!'
That 's what he said.
[116]
THE MAN OF THE ISLAND
"Well, I was in another ship three years back, and
we sighted this island. 'Boys,' said I, 'here 's Flint's treas-
ure; let's land and find it.' The cap'n was displeased
at that; but my messmates were all of a mind, and landed.
Twelve days they looked for it, and every day they had
the worse word for me, until one fine morning all hands
went aboard. 'As for you, Benjamin Gunn,' says they,
'here 's a musket,' they says, 'and a spade, and a pickaxe.
You can stay here, and find Flint's money for yourself,'
they says.
"Well, Jim, three years have I been here, and not a bite
of Christian diet from that day to this. But now, you look
here; look at me. Do I look like a man before the mast?
No, says you. Nor I weren't, neither, I says."
And with that he winked and pinched me hard.
"Just you mention them words to your squire, Jim"
he went on: "Nor he weren't neither that's the words.
Three years he were the man of this island, light and dark,
fair and rain; and sometimes he would, maybe, think upon
a prayer (says you), and sometimes he would, maybe, think
of his old mother, so be as she 's alive (you '11 say) ; but
the most part of Gunn's time (this is what you '11 say) the
most part of his time was*took up with another matter. And
then you '11 give him a nip, like I do."
And he pinched me again in the most confidential man-
ner.
"Then," he continued "then you '11 up, and you '11
say this : Gunn is a good man (you '11 say) , and he puts
a precious sight more confidence a precious sight, mind
[117]
TREASURE ISLAND
that in a gen'leman born than in these gen'lemen of for-
tune, having been one hisself."
"Well," I said, "I don't understand one word that you 've
been saying. But that 's neither here nor there, for how am
I to get on board?" >
"Ah," said he, "that 's the hitch, for sure. Well, there 's
my boat, that I made with my two hands. I keep her under
the white rock. If the worst come to the worst, we might
try that after dark. Hi!" he broke out, "what 's that?"
For just then, although the sun had still an hour or two
to run, all the echoes of the island awoke and bellowed to
the thunder of a cannon.
"They have begun to fight!" I cried. "Follow me."
And I began to run towards the anchorage, my terrors
all forgotten; while, close at my side, the marooned man
in his goatskins trotted easily and lightly.
"Left, left," says he; "keep to your left hand, mate
Jim ! Under the trees with you ! Theer 's where I killed
my first goat. They don't come down here now; they 're
all mastheaded on them mountings for the fear of Benjamin
Gunn. Ah! and there's the cetemery" cemetery, he must
have meant. "You see the mounds? I come here and
prayed, nows and thens, when I thought maybe a Sunday
would be about doo. It weren't quite a chapel, but it seemed
more solemn like; and then, says you, Ben Gunn was short-
handed no chapling, nor so much as a Bible and a flag,
you says."
So he kept talking as I ran, neither expecting nor receiving
any answer.
[118]
THE MAN OF THE ISLAND
The cannon-shot was followed, after a considerable in-
terval, 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 hi the air above a
wood.
[119]
PART IV
THE STOCKADE
CHAPTER XVI
NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: HOW
THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED
: 2>
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 abom-
inable anchorage. The six scoundrels were sitting grum-
bling 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 "Lilli-
bullero."
Waiting was a strain; and it was decided that Hunter
[123]
TREASURE ISLAND
and I should go ashore with the jolly-boat, in quest of infor-
mation.
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 "Lilli-
bullero."
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 run-
ning 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 log-house, fit to hold two
score of people on a pinch, and loopholed for musketry on
every side. All round this they had cleared a wide space,
and then the thing was completed by a paling six feet high,
without door or opening, too strong to pull down without
time and labour, and too open to shelter the besiegers. The
people in the log-house had them in every way; they stood
quiet in shelter and shot the others like partridges. All
they wanted was a good watch and food; for, short of a
[ 124 ]
HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED
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 over-
looked we had no water. I was thinking this over, when
there came ringing over the island the cry of a man at the
point of death. I was not new to violent death I have
served his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, and
got a wound myself at Fontenoy but I know my pulse
went dot and carry one. "Jim Hawkins is gone," was my
first thought.
It is something to have been an old soldier, but more
still to have been a doctor. There is no time to dilly-dally
in our work. And so now I made up my mind instantly, and
with no time lost returned to the shore, and jumped on
board the jolly-boat.
By good fortune Hunter pulled a good oar. We made
the water fly ; and the boat was soon alongside, and I aboard
the schooner.
I found them all shaken, as was natural. The squire
was sitting down, as white as a sheet, thinking of the harm
he had led us to, the good soul! and one of the six forecastle
hands was little better.
"There 's a man,'* says Captain Smollett, nodding towards
him, "new to this work. He came nigh-hand fainting,
doctor, when he heard the cry. Another touch of the rudder
and that man would join us."
[125]
TREASURE ISLAND
I told my plan to the captain, and between us we settled
on the details of its accomplishment.
We put old Redruth in the gallery between the cabin
and the forecastle, with three or four loaded muskets and a
mattress for protection. Hunter brought the boat round
under the stern-port, and Joyce and I set to work loading
her with powder-tins, muskets, bags of biscuits, kegs of
pork, a cask of cognac, and my invaluable medicine-chest.
In the meantime, the squire and the captain stayed on
deck, and the latter hailed the coxswain, who was the prin-
cipal man aboard.
"Mr. Hands," he said, "here are two of us with a brace
of pistols each. If any one of you six makes a signal of any
description, that man J s dead."
They were a good deal taken aback; and, after a little
consultation, one and all tumbled down the fore companion,
thinking, no doubt, to take us on the rear. But when they
saw Redruth waiting for them in the sparred gallery, they
went about ship at once, and a head popped out again on
deck.
"Down, dog!" cries the captain.
And the head popped back again ; and we heard no more,
for the time, of these six very faint-hearted seamen.
By this time, tumbling things in as they came, we had
the jolly-boat loaded as much as we dared. Joyce and I got
out through the stern-port, and we made for shore again,
as fast as oars could take us.
This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along shore.
" Lillibullero " was dropped again; and just before we lost
[126]
HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED
sight of them behind the little point, one of them whipped
ashore and disappeared. I had half a mind to change my
plan and destroy their boats, but I feared that Silver and
the others might be close at hand, and all might very well
be lost by trying for too much.
We had soon touched land in the same place as before,
and set to provision the block-house. All three made the
first journey, heavily laden, and tossed our stores over the
palisade. Then, leaving Joyce to guard them one man,
to be sure, but with half a dozen muskets Hunter and I
returned to the jolly-boat, and loaded ourselves once more.
So we proceeded without pausing to take breath, till the
whole cargo was bestowed, when the two servants took up
their position in the block-house, and I, with all my power,
sculled back to the Hispaniola.
That we should have risked a second boat-load seems
more daring than it really was. They had the advantage
of numbers, of course, but we had the advantage of arms.
Not one of the men ashore had a musket, and before they
could get within range for pistol shooting, we flattered our-
selves we should be able to give a good account of a half-
dozen at least.
The squire was waiting for me at the stern window, all
his faintness gone from him. He caught the painter and
made it fast, and we fell to loading the boat for our very
lives. Pork, powder, and biscuit was the cargo, with only a
musket and a cutlass apiece for the squire and me and Red-
ruth and the captain. The rest of the arms and powder we
dropped overboard in two fathoms and a half of water, so
[127]
TREASURE ISLAND
that we could see the bright steel shining far below us in the
sun, on the clean, sandy bottom.
By this time the tide was beginning to ebb, and the ship
was swinging round to her anchor. Voices were heard
faintly halloaing in the direction of the two gigs; and though
this reassured us for Joyce and Hunter, who were well to
the eastward, it warned our party to be off.
Redruth retreated from his place in the gallery, and
dropped into the boat, which we then brought round to the
ship's counter, to be handier for Captain Smollett.
"Now, men," said he, "do you hear me?"
There was no answer from the forecastle.
"It's to you, Abraham Gray it's to you I am speak-
ing."
Still no reply.
"Gray," resumed Mr. Smollett, a little louder, "I am
leaving this ship, and I order you to follow your captain. I
know you are a good man at bottom, and I dare say not
one of the lot of you 's as bad as he makes out. I have my
watch here in my hand; I give you thirty seconds to join me
in."
There was a pause.
"Come, my fine fellow," continued the captain, "don't
hang so long in stays. I 'm risking my life, and the lives of
these good gentlemen, every second."
There was a sudden scuffle, a sound of blows, and out
burst Abraham Gray with a knife-cut on the side of the
cheek, and came running to the captain, like a dog to the
whistle.
[128]
HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED
"I 'm with you, sir," said he.
And the next moment he and the captain had dropped
aboard of us, and we had shoved off and given way.
We were clear out of the ship; but not yet ashore in our
stockade.
[129]
CHAPTER XYII
NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR:
THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP
i ^
THIS fifth trip was quite different from any of the
others. In the first 'place, the little j^allijfot of a
boat that we were in was gravely overloaded. Five
grown men, and three of them Trelawney, Redruth, and
the captain over six feet high, was already more than she
was meant to carry. Add to that the powder, pork, and
bread-bags. The gunwale was lipping astern. Several times
we shipped a little water, and my breeches and the tails of
my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a hundred
yards.
The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to
lie a little more evenly. All the same we were afraid to
breathe.
In the second place, the ebb was now making a strong
rippling current running westward through the basin, and
then south'ard and seaward down the straits by which we
had entered in the morning. Even the ripples were a danger
to our overloaded craft; but the worst of it was that we were
swept out of our true course, and away from our proper
landing-place behind the point. If we let the current have
its way we should come ashore beside the gigs, where the
pirates might appear at any moment.
[130]
THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP
"I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir," said I
to the captain. I was steering, while he and Redruth, two
fresh men, were at the oars. "The tide keeps washing her
down. Could you pull a little stronger?"
"Not without swamping the boat," said he. "You must
bear up, sir, if you please bear up until you see you 're
gaining."
I tried, and found by experiment that the tide kept sweep-
ing us westward until I had laid her head due east, or just
about right angles to the way we ought to go.
"We '11 never get ashore at this rate," said I.
"If it s s the only course that we can lie, sir, we must even
lie it," returned the captain. "We must keep upstream.
You see, sir," he went on, "if once we dropped to leeward
of the landing-place, it 's hard to say where we should get
ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by the gigs;
whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then
we can dodge back along the shore."
"The current 's less a'ready, sir," said the man Gray,
who w r as sitting in the fore-sheets; "you can ease her off a
bit."
"Thank you, my man," said I, quite as if nothing had
happened; for we had all quietly made up our minds to
treat him like one of ourselves.
Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I thought his
voice was a little changed.
"The gun!" said he.
"I have thought of that," said I, for I made sure he was
thinking of a bombardment of the fort. "They could never
[131]
TREASURE ISLAND
get the gun ashore, and if they did, they could never haul it
through the woods."
"Look astern doctor," replied the captain.
We had entirely forgotten the long nine; and there, to
our horror, were the five rogues busy about her, getting off
her jacket, as they called the stout tarpaulin cover under
which she sailed. Not only that, but it flashed into my
mind at the same moment that the round-shot and the powder
for the gun had been left behind, and a stroke with an axe
would put it all into the possession of the evil ones aboard.
"Israel was Flint's gunner," said Gray, hoarsely.
At any risk, we put the boat's head direct for the landing
place. By this time we had got so far out of the run of the
current that we kept steerage way even at our necessarily
gentle rate of rowing, and I could keep her steady for the
goal. But the worst of it was, that with the course I now
held, we turned our broadside instead of our stern to the
Hispaniola, and offered a target like a barn door.
I could hear, as well as see, that brandy-faced rascal,
Israel Hands, plumbing down a round-shot on the deck.
"Who 's the best shot?" asked the captain.
"Mr. Trelawney, out and away," said I.
"Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of these
men, sir ? Hands, if possible," said the captain.
Trelawney was as cool as steel. He looked to the pri-
ming of his gun.
"Now," cried the captain, "easy with that gun, sir, or
you '11 swamp the boat. All hands stand by to trim her when
he aims."
[132]
THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP
The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and we
leaned over to the other side to keep the balance, and all
was so nicely contrived that we did not ship a drop.
They had the gun, by this time, slewed round upon the
swivel, and Hands, who was at the muzzle with the rammer,
was, in consequence, the most exposed. However, we had
no luck; for just as Trelawney fired, down he stooped, the
ball whistled over him, and it was one of the other four who
fell.
The cry he gave was echoed, not only by his companions
on board, but by a great number of voices from the shore,
and looking in that direction I saw the other pirates trooping
out from among the trees and tumbling into their places in
the boats.
"Here come the gigs, sir," said I.
"Give way then," cried the captain. "We mustn't mind
if we swamp her now. If we can't get ashore, all 's up."
"Only one of the gigs is being manned, sir," I added,
"the crew of the other most likely going round by shore to
cut us off."
"They '11 have a hot run, sir," returned the captain.
"Jack ashore, you know. It's not them I mind; it's the
round-shot. Carpet bowls! My lady's maid couldn't miss.
Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we '11 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
[133]
TREASURE ISLAND
already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below the clustering
trees. The gig was no longer to be feared; the little point
had already concealed it from our eyes. The ebb-tide,
which had so cruelly delayed us, was now making repara-
tion, and delaying our assailants. The one source of danger
was the gun.
"If I durst," said the captain, "I'd stop and pick off
another man."
But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay
their shot. They had never so much as looked at their
fallen comrade, though he was not dead, and I could see him
trying to crawl away.
"Ready!" cried the squire.
"Hold!" cried the captain, quick as an echo.
And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that
sent her stern bodily under water. The report fell in at the
same insant of time. This was the first that Jim heard,
the sound of the squire's shot not having reached him. Where
the ball passed, not one of us precisely knew; but I fancy
it must have been over our heads, and that the wind of it
may have contributed to our disaster.
At any rate, the boat sank by the stern, quite gently, in
three feet of water, leaving the captain and myself, facing
each other, on our feet. The other three took complete
headers, and came up again, drenched and bubbling.
So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, and
we could wade ashore in safety. But there were all our stores
at the bottom, and, to make things worse, only two guns out
of five remained in a state for service. Mine I had snatched
[134]
THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP
from my knees and held over my head, by a sort of instinct.
As for the captain, he had carried his over his shoulder by
a bandoleer, and, like a wise man, lock uppermost. The
other three had gone down with the boat.
To add to our concern, we heard voices already drawing
near us in the woods along the shore ; and we had not only
the danger of being cut off from the stockade in our half-
crippled state, but the fear before us whether, if Hunter and
Joyce were attacked by half a dozen, they would have the
sense and conduct to stand firm. Hunter was steady, that
we knew ; Joyce was a doubtful case a pleasant, polite
man for a valet, and to brush one's clothes, but not entirely
fitted for a man of war.
With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as fast as
we could, leaving behind us the poor jolly-boat, and a good
half of all our powder and provisions.
[135]
CHAPTER XVIII
NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: END
OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING
WE made our best speed across the strip of wood
that now divided us from the stockade; and at
every step we took the voices of the buccaneers
rang nearer. Soon we could hear their footfalls as they ran,
and the cracking of the branches as they breasted across a
bit of thicket.
I began to see we should have a brush for it in earnest,
and looked to my priming.
"Captain," said I, "Trelawney is the dead shot. Give
him your gun; his own is useless."
They exchanged guns, and Trelawney, silent and cool
as he had been since the beginning of the bustle, hung a
moment on his heel to see that all was fit for service. At
the same time, observing Gray to be unarmed, I handed him
my cutlass. It did all our hearts good to see him spit in his
hand, knit his brows, and make the blade sing through the
air. It was plain from every line of his body that our new
hand was worth his salt.
Forty paces farther we came to the edge of the wood
and saw the stockade in front of us. We struck the enclo-
sure about the middle of the south side, and, almost at the
same time, seven mutineers Job Anderson, the boatswain,
[136]
END OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING
at their head appeared in full cry at the south-western
corner.
They paused, as if taken aback; and before they re-
covered, 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 pali-
sade 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 fur-
ther molestation to get the poor old gamekeeper hoisted over
the stockade, and carried, groaning and bleeding, into the
log-house.
Poor old fellow, he had not uttered one word of sur-
prise, complaint, fear, or even acquiescence, from the very
beginning of our troubles till now, when we had laid him
down in the log-house to die. He had lain like a Trojan
[137]
TREASURE ISLAND
behind his mattress in the gallery; he had followed every
order silently, doggedly, and well; he was the oldest of our
party by a score of years; and now, sullen, old, serviceable
servant, it was he that was to die.
The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and
kissed his hand, crying like a child.
"Be I going, doctor?" he asked.
"Tom, my man," said I, "you 're going home."
"I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first," he
replied.
"Tom," said the squire, "say you forgive me, won't you ?"
"Would that be respectful like, from me to you, squire?"
was the answer. "Howsoever, so be it, amen!"
After a little while of silence, he said he thought somebody
might read a prayer. "It's the custom, sir," he added,
apologetically. And not long after, without another word,
he passed away.
In the meantime the captain, whom I had observed to be
wonderfully swollen about the chest and pockets, had turned
out a great many various stores the British colours, a
Bible, a coil of stoutish rope, pen, ink, the logbook, and
pounds of tobacco. He had found a longish fir-tree lying
felled and trimmed in the enclosure, and, with the help of
Hunter, he had set it up at the corner of the log-house, where
the trunks crossed and made an angle. Then climbing on
the roof, he had with his own hand bent and run up the
colours.
This seemed mightily to relieve him. He re-entered the
log-house, and set about counting up the stores, as if nothing
[138]
gallery; he had followed every
- the oldest of our
.sullen, old, serviceable
beside him on his knees and
hild.
>ked.
; - 're going home."
ick at them ^\m first," he
. won't you?"
Then, dimbing on the roof, he had with his own hand bent 1 1 uire ?
and run up the colors
body
:ded,
>er word,
ved to be
d turned
a colours, a
lie logbook, and
longish fir-tree lying
with the help of
:;er of the log-house, where
ingle. Then climbing on
md bent and run up the
\ fie re-entered the
END OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING
else existed. But he had an eye on Tom's passage for all
that ; and as soon as all was over, came forward with another
flag, and reverently spread it on the body.
"Don't you take on, sir," he said, shaking the squire's
hand. "All 's well with him; no fear for a hand that 's been
shot down in his duty to captain and owner. It mayn't be
good divinity, but it 's a fact."
Then he pulled me aside.
"Dr. Livesey," he said, "in how many weeks do you and
squire expect the consort ?"
I told him it was a question, not of weeks, but of months;
that if we were not back by the end of August, Blandly was
to send to find us; but neither sooner nor later. "You can
calculate for yourself," I said.
"Why, yes," returned the captain, scratching his head,
"and making a large allowance, sir, for all the gifts of Provi-
dence, I should say we were pretty close hauled."
"How do you mean ?" I asked.
"It 's a pity, sir, we lost that second load. That 's what
I mean," replied the captain. "As for powder and shot,
we '11 do. But the rations are short, very short so short,
Dr. Livesey, that we 're, perhaps, as well without that extra
mouth."
And he pointed to the dead body under the flag.
Just then, with a roar and a whistle, a round-shot passed
high above the roof of the log-house and plumped far be-
yond us in the wood.
"Oho!" said the captain. "Blaze away! You've little
enough powder already, my lads."
[139]
TREASURE ISLAND
At the second trial, the aim was better, and the ball de-
scended inside the stockade, scattering a cloud of sand, but
doing no further damage.
"Captain," said the squire, "the house is quite invisible
from the ship. It must be the flag they are aiming at. Would
it not be wiser to take it in ?"
"Strike my colours!" cried the captain. "No, sir, not I";
and, as soon as he had said the words, I think we all agreed
with him. For it was not only a piece of stout, seamanly
good feeling; it was good policy besides, and showed our
enemies that we despised their cannonade.
All through the evening they kept thundering away. Ball
after ball flew over or fell short, or kicked up the sand in
the enclosure; but they had to fire so high that the shot fell
dead and buried itself in the soft sand. We had no ricochet
to fear; and though one popped in through the roof of the
log-house and out again through the floor, we soon got used
to that sort of horse-play, and minded it no more than cricket.
"There is one thing good about all this," observed the
captain; "the wood in front of us is likely clear. The ebb
has made a good while; our stores should be uncovered.
Volunteers to go and bring in pork."
Gray and Hunter were the first to come forward. Well
armed, they stole out of the stockade; but it proved a use-
less mission. The mutineers were bolder than we fancied,
or they put more trust in Israel's gunnery. For four or five
of them were busy carrying off our stores, and wading out
with them to one of the gigs that lay close by, pulling an
oar or so to hold her steady against the current. Silver was
[140]
END OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING
in the stern-sheets in command; and every man of them
was now provided with a musket from some secret magazine
of their own.
The captain sat down to his log, and here is the begin-
ning of the entry:
Alexander Smollett, master; David Livesey, ship's doctor;
Abraham Gray, carpenter's mate; John Trelawney, owner;
John Hunter and Richard Joyce, owner's servants, landsmen
being all that is left faithful of the ship's company with
stores for ten days at short rations, came ashore this day,
and flew British colours on the log-house in Treasure Island.
Thomas Redruth, owner's servant, landsman, shot by the
mutineers; James Hawkins, cabin-boy "
And at the same time I was wondering over poor Jim
Hawkins's 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.
[141]
CHAPTER XIX
NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS: THE
GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE
A soon as Ben Gunn saw the colours he came to a
halt, stopped me by the arm, and sat down.
"Now," said he, "there 's your friends, sure
enough."
"Far more likely it's the mutineers," I answered.
"That!" he cried. "Why, in a place like this, where
nobody puts in but gen'lemen of fortune, Silver would fly
the Jolly Roger, you don't make no doubt of that. No ; that 's
your friends. There 's been blows, too, and I reckon your
friends has had the best of it; and here they are ashore in
the old stockade, as was made years and years ago by Flint.
Ah, he was the man to have a headpiece, was Flint! Bar-
ring rum, his match were never seen. He were afraid of
none, not he; on'y Silver Silver was that genteel."
"Well," said I, "that may be so, and so be it; all the more
reason that I should hurry on and join my friends."
"Nay, mate," returned Ben, "not you. You 're a good
boy, or I 'm mistook; but you 're on'y a boy, all told. Now,
Ben Gunn is fly. Rum wouldn't bring me there, where
you 're going not rum wouldn't, till I see your born
gen'leman, and gets it on his word of honour. And you
[142]
THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE
won't forget my words: 'A precious sight (that 's what you '11
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 where you found him to-day. And
him that comes is to have a white thing in his hand: and
he 's to come alone. Oh! and you '11 say this: 'Ben Gunn,'
says you, 'has reasons of his own.'"
"Well," said I, "I believe I understand. You have
something to propose, and you wish to see the squire or the
doctor; and you 're to be found where I found you. Is that
all?"
"And when? says you," he added. "Why, from about
noon observation to about six bells."
"Good," said I, "and now may I go?"
"You won't forget?" he inquired, anxiously. "Precious
sight, and reasons of his own, says you. Reasons of his own ;
that 's the mainstay; as between man and man. Well,
then" still holding me "I reckon you can go, Jim.
And, Jim, if you was to see Silver, you wouldn't go for to
sell Ben Gunn ? wild horses wouldn't draw it from you ?
No, says you. And if them pirates camp ashore, Jim, what
would you say but there 'd be widders in the morning?"
Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a cannon
ball came tearing through the trees and pitched in the sand,
not a hundred yards from where we two were talking. The
next moment each of us had taken to his heels in a different
direction.
[143]
TREASURE ISLAND
For a good hour to come frequent reports shook the
island, and balls kept crashing through the woods. I moved
from hiding-place to hiding-place, always pursued, or so
it seemed to me, by these terrifying missiles. But towards
the end of the bombardment, though still I durst not venture
in the direction of the stockade, where the balls fell oftenest,
I had begun, in a manner, to pluck up my heart again; and
after a long detour to the east, crept down among the shore-
side trees.
The sun had just set, the sea breeze was rustling and
tumbling in the woods, and ruffling the grey surface of the
anchorage; the tide, too, was far out, and great tracts of
sand lay uncovered ; the air, after the heat of the day, chilled
me through my jacket.
The Hispaniola still lay where she had anchored; but,
sure enough, there was the Jolly Roger the black flag of
piracy flying from her peak. Even as I looked, there
came another red flash and another report, that sent the
echoes clattering, and one more round shot whistled through
the air. It was the last of the cannonade.
I lay for some time, watching the bustle which succeeded
the attack. Men were demolishing something with axes on
the beach near the stockade ; the poor jolly-boat, I afterwards
discovered. Away, near the mouth of the river, a great fire
was glowing among the trees, and between that point and
the ship one of the gigs kept coming and going, the men,
whom I had seen so gloomy, shouting at the oars like chil-
dren. But there was a sound in their voices which suggested
rum.
[144]
THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE
At length I thought I might return towards the stockade.
I was pretty far down on the low, sandy spit that encloses
the anchorage to the east, and is joined at half-water to Skele-
ton Island; and now, as I rose to my feet, I saw, some dis-
tance further down the spit, and rising from among low
bushes, an isolated rock, pretty high, and peculiarly white
in colour. It occurred to me that this might be the white
rock of which Ben Gunn had spoken and that some day or
other a boat might be wanted, and I should know where to
look for one.
Then I skirted among the woods until I had regained the
rear, or shoreward side, of the stockade, and was soon warmly
welcomed by the faithful party.
I had soon told my story, and began to look about me.
The log-house was made of unsquared trunks of pine roof,
walls, and floor. The latter stood in several places as much
as a foot or a foot and a half above the surface of the sand.
There was a porch at the door, and under this porch the
little spring welled up into an artificial basin of a rather odd
kind no other than a great ship's kettle of iron, with the
bottom knocked out, and sunk "to her bearings," as the
captain said, among the sand.
Little had been left beside the framework of the house;
but in one corner there was a stone slab laid down by way
of hearth, and an old rusty iron basket to contain the fire.
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 de-
stroyed. Most of the soil had been washed away or buried
[145]
TREASURE ISLAND
in drift after the removal of the trees ; only where the stream-
let 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 ad-
mixture of live-oaks.
The cold evening breeze, of which I have spoken, whistled
through every chink of the rude building, and sprinkled the
floor with a continual rain of fine sand. There was sand in
our eyes, sand in our teeth, sand in our suppers, sand dancing
in the spring at the bottom of the kettle, for all the world
like porridge beginning to boil. Our chimney was a square
hole in the roof; it was but a little part of the smoke that
found its way out, and the rest eddied about the house, and
kept us coughing and piping the eye.
Add to this that Gray, the new man, had his face tied
up in a bandage for a cut he had got in breaking away from
the mutineers; and that poor old Tom Redruth, still un-
buried, 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
[146]
THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE
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 awhile. Then
he put his head on one side, and looked at me.
"Is this Ben Gunn a man?" he asked.
"I do not know, sir," said I. "I am not very sure whether
he 's sane."
"If there 's any doubt about the matter, he is," returned
the doctor. "A man who has been three years biting
his nails on a desert island, Jim, can't expect to appear as
sane as you or me. It doesn't lie in human nature. Was
it cheese you said he had a fancy for?"
"Yes, sir, cheese," I answered.
"Well, Jim," says he, "just see the good that comes of
being dainty in your food. You 've seen my snuff-box,
haven't you? And you never saw me take snuff; the rea-
son being that in my snuff-box I carry a piece of Parmesan
cheese a cheese made in Italy, very nutritious. Well,
that's for Ben Gunn!"
Before supper was eaten we buried old Tom in the sand,
and stood round him for awhile bareheaded in the breeze.
A good deal of firewood had been got in, but not enough for
the captain's fancy; and he shook his head over it, and told
[147]
TREASURE ISLAND
us we "must get back to this to-morrow rather livelier."
Then, when we had eaten our pork, and each had a good
stiff glass of brandy grog, the three chiefs got together in a
corner to discuss our prospects.
It appears they were at their wit's 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 nine-
teen they were already reduced to fifteen, two others were
wounded, and one, at least the man shot beside the gun
severely wounded, if he were not dead. Every time we had
a crack at them, we were to take it, saving our own lives,
with the extremest care. And, besides that, we had two able
allies! rum and the climate.
As for the first, though we were about half a mile away,
we could hear them roaring and singing late into the night;
and as for the second, the doctor staked his wig that, camped
where they were in the marsh, and unprovided with remedies,
the half of them would be on their backs before a week.
"So," he added, "if we are not all shot down first, they '11
be glad to be packing in the schooner. It 's always a ship,
and they can get to buccaneering again, I suppose."
"First ship that ever I lost," said Captain Smollett.
I was dead tired, as you may fancy; and when I got to
sleep, which was not till after a great deal of tossing, I slept
like a log of wood.
The rest had long been up, and had already breakfasted
and increased the pile of firewood by about half as much
[148]
THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE
again, when I was wakened by a bustle and the sound of
voices.
"Flag of truce!" I heard some one say; and then, imme-
diately 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.
[149]
CHAPTER XX
SILVER'S EMBASSY
SURE enough, there were two men just outside the
stockade, one of them waving a white cloth; the
other, no less a person than Silver himself, standing
placidly by.
It was still quite early, and the coldest morning that I
think I ever was abroad in; a chill that pierced into the
marrow. The sky was bright and cloudless overhead, and
the tops of the trees shone rosily in the sun. But where Silver
stood with his lieutenant all was still in shadow, and they
waded knee-deep in a low, white vapour that had crawled
during the night out of the morass. The chill and the va-
pour taken together told a poor tale of the island. It was
plainly a damp, feverish, unhealthy spot.
"Keep indoors, men," said the captain. "Ten to one
this is a trick."
Then he hailed the buccaneer.
" Who goes ? Stand, or we fire."
"Flag of truce," cried Silver.
The captain was in the porch, keeping himself carefully
out of the way of a treacherous shot should any be intended.
He turned and spoke to us :
"Doctor's watch on the look-out. Dr. Livesey, take the
north side, if you please; Jim, the east; Gray, west. The
[150]
SILVER'S EMBASSY
watch below, all hands to load muskets. Lively, men, and
careful."
And then he turned again to the mutineers.
"And what do you want with your flag of truce?" he
cried.
This time it was the other man who replied.
"Cap'n Silver, sir, to come on board and make terms,"
he shouted.
"Cap'n Silver! Don't know him. Who 's he ?" cried the
captain. And we could hear him adding to himself: "Cap'n,
is it? My heart, and here 's promotion!"
Long John answered for himself.
"Me, sir. These poor lads have chosen me cap'n, after
your desertion, sir" laying a particular emphasis upon the
word "desertion." "We 're willing to submit, if we can come
to terms, and no bones about it. All I ask is your word,
Cap'n Smollett, to let me safe and sound out of this here
stockade, and one minute to get out o' shot before a gun
is fired."
"My man," said Captain Smollett, "I have not the slight-
est desire to talk to you. If you wish to talk to me, you can
come, that 's all. If there 's any treachery, it '11 be on your
side, and the Lord help you."
"That 's enough, cap'n," shouted Long John, cheerily.
"A word from you 's enough. I know a gentleman, and you
may lay to that."
We could see the man who carried the flag of truce at-
tempting to hold Silver back. Nor was that wonderful, seeing
how cavalier had been the captain's answer. But Silver
[151]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 to himself, "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 hand-
somest style. He was tricked out in his best; an immense
blue coat, thick with brass buttons, hung as low as to his
knees, and a fine laced hat was set on the back of his head.
"Here you are, my man," said the captain, raising his
head. "You had better sit down."
"You ain't a-going to let me inside, cap'n?" complained
Long John. "It's a main cold morning, to be sure, sir, to
sit outside upon the sand."
"Why, Silver," said the captain, "if you had pleased to
be an honest man, you might have been sitting in your galley.
It 's your own doing. You 're either my ship's cook and
[152]
SILVER'S EMBASSY
then you were treated handsome or Cap'n Silver, a com-
mon mutineer and pirate, and then you can g hang!"
"Well, well, cap'n," returned the sea cook, sitting down
as he was bidden on the sand, "you '11 have to give me a
hand up again, that 's all. A sweet pretty place you have
of it here. Ah, there 's Jim ! The top of the morning to
you, Jim. Doctor, here 's my service. Why, there you all
are together like a happy family, in a manner of speaking."
"If you have anything to say, my man, better say it,"
said the captain.
"Right you were, Cap'n Smollett," replied Silver. "Dooty
is dooty, to be sure. Well, now, you look here, that was a
good lay o| yours last night. I don't deny it was a good lay.
Some oSyou pretty handy with a handspike-end. And I '11
not deny neither but what some of my people was shook
maybe all was shook; maybe I was shook myself; maybe
that 's why I 'm here for terms. But you mark me, cap'n,
it won't do twice, by thunder! We '11 have to do sentry-go,
and ease off a point or so on the rum. Maybe you think we
were all a sheet in the wind's eye. But I '11 tell you I was
sober; I was on'y dog tired; and if I 'd awoke a second
sooner I 'd 'a' caught you at the act, I would. He wasn't
dead when I got round to him, not he."
"Well?" says Captain Smollett, as cool as can be.
All that Silver said was a riddle to him, but you would
never have guessed it from his tone. As for me, I began
to have an inkling. Ben Gunn's last words came back to
my mind. I began to suppose that he had paid the bucca-
neers a visit while they all lay drunk together round their
[153]
TREASURE ISLAND
fire, and I reckoned up with glee that we had only fourteen
enemies to deafc with.
"Well, here it is," said Silver. "We want that treasure,
and we '11 have it that 's our point ! You would just as
soon save your lives, I reckon; and that 's yours. You have
a chart, haven't you ?"
"That 's as may be," replied the captain.
"Oh, well, you have, I know that," returned Long John.
"You needn't be so husky with a man; there ain't a particle
of service in that, and you may lay to it. What I mean is, we
want your chart. Now, I never meant you no harm, myself."
"That won't do with me, my man," interrupted the cap-
tain. "We know exactly what you meant to do, and we
don't care; for now, you see, you can't do it."
And the captain looked at him calmly, and proceeded to
fill a pipe.
"If Abe Gray " Silver broke out.
"Avast there!" cried Mr. Smollett. "Gray told me noth-
ing, and I asked him nothing; and what 's more, I would
see you and him and this whole island blown clean out of
the water into blazes first. So there 's my mind for you,
my man, on that."
This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver down.
He had been growing nettled before, but now he pulled him-
self together.
"Like enough," said he. "I would set no limits to what
gentlemen might consider shipshape, or might not, as the
case were. And, seein' as how you are about to take a pipe,
cap'n, I '11 make so free as do likewise."
[154]
SILVER'S EMBASSY
And he filled a pipe and lighted it; and the two men
sat silently smoking for quite awhile, now looking each
other in the face, now stopping their tobacco, now leaning
forward to spit. It was as good as the play to see them.
"Now," resumed Silver, "here it is. You give us the
chart to get the treasure by, and drop shooting poor seamen,
and stoving of their heads in while asleep. You do that,
and we '11 offer you a choice. Either you come aboard along
of us, once the treasure shipped, and then I '11 give you my
affy-davy, upon my word of honour, to clap you somewhere
safe ashore. Or, if that ain't to your fancy, some of my
hands being rough, and having old scores, on account of
hazing, then you can stay here, you can. We '11 divide stores
with you, man for man ; and I '11 give my affy-davy, as be-
fore, to speak the first ship I sight, and send 'em here to
pick you up. Now you '11 own that 's talking. Handsomer
you couldn't look to get, not you. And I hope " raising
his voice "that all hands in this here block-house will
overhaul my w r ords, 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. "Re-
fuse that, and you 've seen the last of me but musket-balls."
"Very good," said the captain. "Now you '11 hear me.
If you '11 come up one by one, unarmed, I '11 engage to clap
you all in irons, and take you home to a fair trial in England.
If you won't, my name is Alexander Smollett, I 've flown my
sovereign's colours, and I '11 see you all to Davy Jones. You
[155]
TREASURE ISLAND
can't find the treasure. You can't sail the ship there 's not
a man among you fit to sail the ship. You can't fight us
Gray, there, got away from five of you. Your ship 's in irons,
Master Silver; you 're on a lee shore, and so you '11 find. I
stand here and tell you so ; and they 're the last good words
you '11 get from me; for, in the name of heaven, I '11 put a
bullet in your back when next I meet you. Tramp, my lad.
Bundle out of this, please, hand over hand, and double quick."
Silver's face was a picture; his eyes started in his head
with wrath. He shook the fire out of his pipe.
"Give me a hand up!" he cried.
"Not I," returned the captain.
"Who '11 give me a hand up?" he roared.
Not a man among us moved. Growling the foulest
imprecations, he crawled along the sand till he got hold of
the porch and could hoist himself again upon his crutch.
Then he spat into the spring.
There!" he cried, "that's what I think of ye. Before
an hour 's out, I '11 stove in your old block-house like a rum
puncheon. Laugh, by thunder, laugh ! Before an hour 's
out, ye '11 laugh upon the other side. Them that die '11 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.
[156]
CHAPTER XXI
THE ATTACK
A soon as Silver disappeared, the captain, who had been
closely watching him, turned towards the interior of
the house, and found not a man of us at his post
but Gray. It was the first time we had ever seen him angry.
"Quarters!" he roared. And then, as we all slunk back
to our places, "Gray," he said, "I '11 put your name in the
log; you 've stood by your duty like a seaman. Mr. Tre-
lawney, I 'm surprised at you, sir. Doctor, I thought you
had worn the king's coat! If that was how you served at
Fontenoy, sir, you 'd have been better in your berth."
The doctor's watch were all back at their loopholes, the
rest were busy loading the spare muskets, and every one with
a red face, you may be certain, and a flea in his ear, as the
saying is.
The captain looked on for awhile in silence. Then he
spoke.
"My lads," said he, "I've given Silver a broadside. I
pitched it in red-hot on purpose; and before the hour 's out,
as he said, we shall be boarded. We 're outnumbered, I
needn't tell you that, but we fight in shelter; and, a minute
ago, I should have said we fought with discipline. I 've no
manner of doubt that we can drub them, if you choose."
[157]
TREASURE ISLAND
Then he went the rounds, and saw, as he said, that all
was clear.
On the two short sides of the house, east and west, there
were only two loopholes; on the south side where the porch
was, two again; and on the north side, five. There was a
round score of muskets for the seven of us; the firewood had
been built into four piles tables, you might say one
about the middle of each side, and on each of these tables
some ammunition and four loaded muskets were laid ready
to the hand of the defenders. In the middle, the cutlasses
lay ranged.
"Toss out the fire," said the captain; "the chill is past,
and we mustn't have smoke in our eyes."
The iron fire basket was carried bodily out by Mr. Tre-
lawney, and the embers smothered among sand.
"Hawkins hasn't had his breakfast. Hawkins, help
yourself, and back to your post to eat it," continued Captain
Smollett. "Lively, now, my lads; you '11 want it before
you 've done. Hunter, serve out a round of brandy to all
hands."
And while this was going on, the captain completed, in
his own mind, the plan of the defence.
"Doctor, you will take the door," he resumed. "See, and
don't expose yourself; keep within, and fire through the
porch. Hunter, take the east side, there. Joyce, you stand
by the west, my man. Mr. Trelawney, you are the best shot
you and Gray will take this long north side, with the five
loopholes ; it 's there the danger is. If they can get up to
it, and fire in upon us through our own ports, things would
[158]
THE ATTACK
begin to look dirty. Hawkins, neither you nor I are much
account at the shooting; we '11 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, hi 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 any one 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 hi 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
[159]
TREASURE ISLAND
side of the enclosure. Several bullets struck the log-house,
but not one entered; and, as the smoke cleared away and
vanished, the stockade and the woods around it looked as
quiet and empty as before. Not a bough waved, not the
gleam of a musket-barrel betrayed the presence of our foes.
"Did you hit your man ?" asked the captain.
"No, sir," replied Joyce. "I believe not, sir."
"Next best thing to tell the truth," muttered Captain
Smollett. "Load his gun, Hawkins. How many should you
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 to-
gether one farther to the west."
"Three!" repeated the captain. "And how many on
yours, Mr. Trelawney?"
But this was not so easily answered. There had come
many from the north seven, by the squire's computation ;
eight or nine, according to Gray. From the east and west
only a single shot had been fired. It was plain, therefore,
that the attack would be developed from the north, and that
on the other three sides we were only to be annoyed by a show
of hostilities. But Captain Smollett made no change in his
arrangements. If the mutineers succeeded in crossing the
stockade, he argued, they would take possession of any un-
protected 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.
[160]
THE ATTACK
At the same moment, the fire was once more opened from the
woods, and a rifle ball sang through the doorway, and knocked
the doctor's musket into bits.
The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys.
Squire and Gray fired again and yet again; three men fell,
one forwards into the enclosure, two back on the outside.
But of these, one was evidently more frightened than hurt,
for he was on his feet again in a crack, and instantly disap-
peared among the trees.
Two had bit the dust, one had fled, four had made good
their footing inside our defences ; while from the shelter of the
woods seven or eight men, each evidently supplied with several
muskets, kept up a hot though useless fire on the log-house.
The four who had boarded made straight before them
for the building, shouting as they ran, and the men among
the trees shouted back to encourage them. Several shots
were fired; but, such was the hurry of the marksmen, not
one appears to have taken effect. In a moment, the four
pirates had swarmed up the mound and were upon us.
The head of Job Anderson, the boatswain, appeared at
the middle loophole.
"At 'em, all hands all hands!" he roared, in a voice
of thunder.
At the same moment, another pirate grasped Hunter's
musket by the muzzle, wrenched it from his hands, plucked
it through the loophole, and with one stunning blow, laid
the poor fellow senseless on the floor. Meanwhile a third,
running unharmed all round the house, appeared suddenly
in the doorway, and fell with his cutlass on the doctor.
ri6i i
TREASURE ISLAND
Our position was utterly reversed. A moment since we
were firing, under cover, at an exposed enemy; now it was
we who lay uncovered, and could not return a blow.
The log-house was full of smoke, to which we owed our
comparative safety. Cries and confusion, the flashes and re-
ports of pistol shots, and one loud groan, rang in my ears.
"Out, lads, out, and fight 'em in the open! Cutlasses!"
cried the captain.
I snatched a cutlass from the pile, and some one, 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. Some one was close behind, I knew not
whom. Right in front, the doctor was pursuing his assailant
down the hill, and, just as my eyes fell upon him, beat down
his guard, and sent him sprawling on his back, with a great
slash across the face.
"Round the house, lads! round the house!" cried the
captain; and even in the hurly-burly I perceived a change in
his voice.
Mechanically, I obeyed, turned eastwards, and with my
cutlass raised, ran round the corner of the house. Next
moment I was face to face with Anderson. He roared aloud,
and his hanger went up above his head, flashing in the sun-
light. 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 muti-
neers, had been already swarming up the palisade to make an
end of us. One man, in a red night-cap, with his cutlass in
[162]
>D
merit since we
; now it
a blow.
ke, hich we owed our
flashes and re-
rang in my ears.
pen! Cutlas
one, at
cross the
floor into
The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys
assailant
a, beat ti
-. back, with a great
cried the
' change in
and with my
the house.
He roared aloud,
anger wer; :d, flashing in th
jt time . but, as the blcr
ending, leaped upon one side, and missing
i the s< tdlong down the slope.
the door, the other muti-
ide to make an
THE ATTACK
his mouth, had even got upon the top and thrown a leg across.
Well, so short had been the interval, that when I found my
feet again all was in the same posture, the fellow with the
red night-cap still half-way over, another still just showing
his head above the top of the stockade. And yet, in this
breath of time, the fight was over, and the victory was ours.
Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the big
boatswain ere he had time to recover from his last blow.
Another had been shot at a loophole in the very act of firing
into the house, and now lay in agony, the pistol still smoking
in his hand. A third, as I had seen, the doctor had disposed
of at a blow. Of the four who had scaled the palisade, one
only remained unaccounted for, and he, having left his cut-
lass 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 loop-hole, stunned; Joyce by his, shot
through the head, never to move again; while right in the
[163]
TREASURE ISLAND
centre, the squire was supporting the captain, one as pale
as the other.
"The captain 's wounded," said Mr. Trelawney.
"Have they run?" asked Mr. Smollett.
"All that could, you may be bound," returned the doctor;
"but there 's five of them will never run again."
"Five!" cried the captain. "Come, that's better. Five
against three leaves us four to nine. That 's better odds than
we had at starting. We were seven to nineteen then, or
thought we were, and that 's as bad to bear." *
1 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.
[164]
PART V
MY SEA ADVENTURE
CHAPTER XXII
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 doctor's patients.
Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action, only
three still breathed that one of the pirates who had been
shot at the loophole, Hunter, and Captain Smollett; and of
these the first two were as good as dead; the mutineer, in-
deed, died under the doctor's knife, and Hunter, do what we
could, never recovered consciousness in this world. He lin-
gered all day, breathing loudly like the old buccaneer at home
in his apoplectic fit; but the bones of his chest had been
crushed by the blow and his skull fractured in falling, and
some time in the following night, without sign or sound, he
went to his Maker.
As for the captain, his wounds were grievous indeed, but
not dangerous. No organ was fatally injured. Anderson's
ball for it was Job that shot him first had broken his
[167]
TREASURE ISLAND
shoulder-blade and touched the lung, not badly; the second
had only torn and displaced some muscles in the calf. He
was sure to recover, the doctor said, but, in the meantime
and for weeks to come, he must not walk nor move his arm,
nor so much as speak when he could help it.
My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a flea-bite.
Dr. Livesey patched it up with plaster, and pulled my ears
for me into the bargain.
After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the captain's
side awhile in consultation; and when they had talked to
their hearts' content, it being then a little past noon, the
doctor took up his hat and pistols, girt on a cutlass, put the
chart in his pocket, and with a musket over his shoulder,
crossed the palisade on the north side, and set off briskly
through the trees.
Gray and I were sitting together at the far end of the
block-house, to be out of earshot of our officers consulting;
and Gray took his pipe out of his mouth and fairly forgot to
put it back again, so thunderstruck he was at this occurrence.
"Why, in the name of Davy Jones," said he, "is Dr.
Livesey mad?"
"Why, no," says I. "He's about the last of this crew
for that, I take it."
"Well, shipmate," said Gray, "mad he may not be; but
if he 's not, you mark my words, I am."
"I take it," replied I, "the doctor has his idea; and if I
am right, he 5 s going now to see Ben Gunn."
I was right, as appeared later; but, in the meantime, the
house being stifling hot, and the little patch of sand inside the
[168]
HOW MY SEA ADVENTURE BEGAN
palisade ablaze with mid-day sun, I began to get another
thought into my head, which was not by any means so right.
What I began to do was to envy the doctor, walking in the
cool shadow of the woods, with the birds about him, and the
pleasant smell of the pines, while I sat grilling, with my
clothes stuck to the hot resin, and so much blood about
me, and so many poor dead bodies lying all around, that
I took a disgust of the place that was almost as strong as
fear.
All the time I was washing out the block-house, and then
washing up the things from dinner, this disgust, and envy
kept growing stronger and stronger, till at last, being near
a bread-bag, and no one then observing me, I took the first
step towards my escapade, and filled both pockets of my
coat with biscuit.
I was a fool if you like, and certainly I was going to do a
foolish, over-bold act; but I was determined to do it with
all the precautions in my power. These biscuits, should
anything befall me, would keep me, at least, from starving
till far on in the next day.
The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols, and
as I already had a powder-horn and bullets, I felt myself
well supplied with arms.
As for the scheme I had in my head, it was not a bad
one in itself. I was to go down the sandy spit that divides
the anchorage on the east from the open sea, find the white
rock I had observed last evening, and ascertain whether it
was there or not that Ben Gunn had hidden his boat; a thing
quite worth doing, as I still believe. But as I was certain I
[169]
TREASURE ISLAND
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
[170]
HOW MY SEA ADVENTURE BEGAN
be running along all the external coast, thundering and thun-
dering 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 suc-
ceeded by light, variable airs from the south and south-east,
carrying great banks of fog; and the anchorage, under lee of
Skeleton Island, lay still and leaden as when first we entered
it. The Hispaniola, in that unbroken mirror, was exactly
portrayed from the truck to the water-line, the Jolly Roger
hanging from her peak.
Alongside lay one of the gigs, Silver in the stern-sheets
him I could always recognise while a couple of men were
leaning over the stern bulwarks, one of them with a red cap
the very rogue that I had seen some hours before stride-legs
upon the palisade Apparently they were talking and ln"~k-
ing, though at tl
of course, hear n word of
began the most nornu, um^^^ ^^ Darning, which at first
startled me badly, though I had soon remembered the voice
of Captain Flint, and even thought I could make out the
bird by her bright plumage as she sat perched upon her
master's wrist.
[171]
TREASURE ISLAND
Soon after the jolly-boat shoved off and pulled for shore,
and the man with the red cap and his comrade went below
by the cabin companion.
Just about the same time the sun had gone down behind
the Spy-glass, and as the fog was collecting rapidly, it began
to grow dark in earnest. I saw I must lose no time if I were
to find the boat that evening.
The white rock, visible enough above the brush, was still
some eighth of a mile further down the spit, and it took me a
goodish while to get up with it, crawling, often on all-fours,
among the scrub. Night had almost come when I laid my
hand on its rough sides. Right below it there was an ex-
ceedingly small hollow of green turf, hidden by banks and a
thick underwood about knee-deep, that grew there very plen-
tifully; and in the centre of the dell, sure enough, a little tent
of goat-skins, like what the gipsies carry about with them in
England.
I dropped into the hollow, lifted the side of the tent, and
there was Ben Gunn's boat home-made if ever anything
was home-made: a rude, lop-sided framework, of tough wood,
and stretched upon that a covering of goat-skin, with the hair
inside. The thing was extremely small, even for me, and I
can hardly imagine that it could have floated with a full-sized
man. There was one thwart set as low as possible, a kind
of stretcher in the bows, and a double paddle for propul-
sion.
I had not then seen a coracle, such as the ancient Britons
made, but I have seen one since, and I can give you no fairer
idea of Ben Gunn's boat than by saying it was like the first
[172]
HOW MY SEA ADVENTURE BEGAN
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 ob-
stinately 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 morn-
ing, had nothing nearer their hearts than to up anchor and
away to sea; this, I thought, it would be a fine thing to pre-
vent, 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 pur-
pose. The fog had now buried all heaven. As the last rays
of daylight dwindled and disappeared, absolute blackness set-
tled down on Treasure Island. And when, at last, I shoul-
dered the coracle, and groped my way stumblingly out of the
hollow where I had supped, there were but two points visi-
ble 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
[173]
TREASURE ISLAND
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.
[174]
CHAPTER XXIII
THE EBB-TIDE RUNS
THE coracle as I had ample reason to know before I
was done with her was a very safe boat for a per-
son of my height and weight, both buoyant and clever
in a seaway; but she was the most cross-grained lop-sided
craft to manage. Do as you pleased, she always made more
leeway than anything else, and turning round and round was
the manoeuvre she was best at. Even Ben Gunn himself has
admitted that she was "queer to handle till you knew her way."
Certainly I did not know her way. She turned in every
direction but the one I was bound to go ; the most part of the
time we were broadside on, and I am very sure I never should
have made the ship at all but for th6 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 further I
went, the brisker grew the current of the ebb), I was along-
side 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,
[175]
TREASURE ISLAND
in the blackness, the rippling current bubbled and chattered
like a little mountain stream. One cut with my sea-gully,
and the Hispaniola would go humming down the tide.
So far so good; but it next occurred to my recollection
that a taut hawser, suddenly cut, is a thing as dangerous as
a kicking horse. Ten to one, if I were so foolhardy as to
cut the Hispaniola from her anchor, I and the coracle would
be knocked clean out of the water.
This brought me to a full stop, and if fortune had not
again particularly favoured me, I should have had to aban-
don my design. But the light airs which had begun blowing
from the south-east and south had hauled round after night-
fall into the south-west. Just while I was meditating, a puff
came, caught the Hispaniola, and forced her up into the
current; and to my great joy, I felt the hawser slacken in
my grasp, and the hand by which I held it dip for a second
under water.
With that I made my mind up, took out my gully, opened
it with my teeth, and cut one strand after another, till the
vessel swung only by two. Then I lay quiet, waiting to sever
these last when the strain should be once more lightened by a
breath of wind.
All this time I had heard the sound of loud voices from
the cabin; but, to say truth, my mind had been so entirely
taken up with other thoughts that I had scarcely given ear.
Now, however, when I had nothing else to do, I began to
pay more heed.
One I recognised for the coxswain's, Israel Hands, that
had been Flint's gunner in former days. The other was, of
[176]
THE EBB-TIDE RUNS
course, my friend of the red night-cap. Both men were
plainly the worse for 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 awhile, until the next crisis came, and, in its turn,
passed away without result.
On shore, I could see the glow of the great camp fire burn-
ing warmly through the shore-side trees. Some one was sing-
ing, a dull, old droning sailor's song, with a droop and a
quaver at the end of every verse, and seemingly no end to it at
all but the patience of the singer. I had heard it on the
voyage more than once, and remembered these words :
"But one man of her crew alive,
What put to sea with twenty-five."
And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully appropriate
for a company that had met such cruel losses in the morning.
But, indeed, from what I saw, all these buccaneers were as
callous as the sea they sailed on.
At last the breeze came; the schooner sidled and drew
nearer in the dark; I felt the hawser slacken once more, and
with a good, tough effort, cut the last fibres through.
The breeze had but little action on the coracle, and I
was almost instantly swept against the bows of the Hispaniola.
[177]
TREASURE ISLAND
At the same time the schooner began to turn upon her heel,
spinning slowly, end for end, across the current.
I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every moment to be
swamped; and since I found I could not push the coracle
directly off, I now shoved straight astern. At length I was
clear of my dangerous neighbour; and just as I gave the
last impulsion, my hands came across a light cord that was
trailing overboard across the stern bulwarks. Instantly I
grasped it.
Why I should have done so I can hardly say. It was at
first mere instinct; but once I had it in my hands and
found it fast, curiosity began to get the upper hand, and
I determined I should have one look through the cabin
window.
I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and, when I
judged myself near enough, rose at infinite risk to about half
my height, and thus commanded the roof and a slice of the
interior of the cabin.
By this time the schooner and her little consort were
gliding pretty swiftly through the water; indeed, we had
already fetched up level with the camp fire. The ship was
talking, as sailors say, loudly, treading the innumerable
ripples with an incessant weltering splash; and until I got
my eye above the window-sill I could not comprehend why
the watchmen had taken no alarm. One glance, however,
was sufficient; and it was only one glance that I durst take
from that unsteady skiff. It showed me Hands and his
companion locked together in deadly wrestle, each with a
hand upon the other's throat.
[178]
THE EBB-TIDE RUNS
I dropped upon the thwart again, none too soon, for I
was near overboard. I could see nothing for the moment,
but these two furious, encrimsoned faces, swaying together
under the smoky lamp; and I shut my eyes to let them grow
once more familiar with the darkness.
The endless ballad had come to an end at last, and
the whole diminished company about the camp fire had
broken into the chorus I had heard so often:
" Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum !
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"
I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were
at that very moment in the cabin of the Hispaniola, when I
was surprised by a sudden lurch of the coracle. At the same
moment she yawed sharply and seemed to change her course.
The speed in the meantime had strangely increased.
I opened my eyes at once. All round me were little rip-
ples, combing over with a sharp, bristling sound and slightly
phosphorescent. The Hispaniola herself, a few yards in
whose wake I was still being whirled along, seemed to stagger
in her course, and I saw her spars toss a little against the
blackness of the night; nay, as I looked longer, I made sure
she also was wheeling to the southward.
I glanced over my shoulder, and my heart jumped against
my ribs. There, right behind me, was the glow of the camp
fire. The current had turned at right angles, sweeping round
along with it the tall schooner and the little dancing coracle;
[179]
TREASURE ISLAND
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. Gradu-
ally weariness grew upon me; A numbness, an occasional
stupor, fell upon my mind even in the midst of my terrors;
until sleep at last supervened, and in my sea-tossed coracle I
lay and dreamed of home and the old "Admiral Benbow."
[180]
CHAPTER
THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE
IT was broad day when I awoke, and found myself toss-
ing at the south-west end of Treasure Island. The
sun was up, but was still hid from me behind the great
bulk of the Spy-glass, which on this side descended almost to
the sea in formidable cliffs.
Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at my
elbow; the hill bare and dark, the head bound with cliffs
forty or fifty feet high, and fringed with great masses of fallen
rock. I was scarce a quarter of a mile to seaward, and it was
my first thought to paddle in and land.
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 in-
credible 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 diffi-
[181]
TREASURE ISLAND
culty of the shore and the high running of the surf, was more
than enough to disgust me of that landing-place. I felt will-
ing rather to starve at sea than to confront such perils.
In the meantime I had a better chance, as I supposed,
before me. North of Haulbowline Head, the land runs in a
long way, leaving, at low tide, a long stretch of yellow sand.
To the north of that, again, there comes another cape Cape
of the Woods, as it was marked upon the chart buried in
tall green pines, which descended to the margin of the sea.
I remembered what Silver had said about the current
that sets northward along the whole west coast of Treasure
Island; and seeing from my position that I was already
under its influence, I preferred to leave Haulbowline Head
behind me, and reserve my strength for an attempt to land
upon the kindlier-looking Cape of the Woods.
There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. The
wind blowing steady and gentle from the south, there was no
contrariety between that and the current, and the billows rose
and fell unbroken.
Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have perished;
but as it was, it is surprising how easily and securely my
little and light boat could ride. Often, as I still lay at the
bottom, and kept no more than an eye above the gunwale,
I would see a big blue summit heaving close above me; yet
the coracle would but bounce a little, dance as if on springs,
and subside on the other side into the trough as lightly as a
bird.
I began after a little to grow very bold, and sat up to try
my skill at paddling. But even a small change in the dis-
[182]
THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE
position of the weight will produce violent changes in the
behaviour of a coracle. And I had hardly moved before the
boat, giving up at once her gentle dancing movement, ran
straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy,
and struck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the
side of the next wave.
I was drenched and terrified, and fell instantly back into
my old position, whereupon the coracle seemed to find her
head again, and led me as softly as before among the billows.
It was plain she was not to be interfered with, and at that
rate, since I could in no way influence her course, what hope
had I left of reaching land ?
I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head,
for all that. First, moving with all care, I gradually baled
out the coracle with my sea-cap; then getting my eye once
more above the gunwale, I set myself to study how it was
she managed to slip so quietly through the rollers.
I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth glossy
mountain it looks from shore, or from a vessel's deck, was for
all the world like any range of hills on the dry land, full of
peaks and smooth places and valleys. The coracle, left to
herself, turning from side to side, threaded, so to speak,
her w r ay 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
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TREASURE ISLAND
on my elbows, in the most trying attitude, and every now and
again gave a weak stroke or two to turn her head to shore.
It was very tiring, and slow work, yet I did visibly gain
ground ; and, as we drew near the Cape of the Woods, though
I saw I must infallibly miss that point, I had still made some
hundred yards of easting. I was, indeed, close in. I could
see the cool, green tree-tops swaying together in the breeze,
and I felt sure I should make the next promontory without
fail.
It was high time, for I now began to be tortured with
thirst. The glow of the sun from above, its thousand-fold
reflection from the waves, the sea-water that fell and dried
upon me, caking my very lips with salt, combined to make
my throat burn and my brain ache. The sight of the trees
so near at hand had almost made me sick with longing; but
the current had soon carried me past the point; and, as the
next reach of sea opened out, I beheld a sight that changed
the nature of my thoughts.
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 possession of my mind, and I could do nothing but
stare and wonder.
The Hispaniola was under her main-sail and two jibs,
and the beautiful white canvas shone in the sun like snow
or silver. When I first sighted her, all her sails were draw-
ing; she was laying a course about north-west; and I pre-
[184]
THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE
sumed 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, how-
ever, she fell right into the wind's eye, was taken dead
a-back, and stood there awhile helpless, with her sails shiv-
ering.
"Clumsy fellows," said I; "they must still be drunk as
owls." And I thought how Captain Smollett would have set
them skipping.
Meanwhile, the schooner gradually fell off, and filled
again upon another tack, sailed swiftly for a minute or so,
and brought up once more dead in the wind's eye. Again
and again was this repeated. To and fro, up and down,
north, south, east, and west, the Hispaniola sailed by swoops
and dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun,
with idly flapping canvas. It became plain to me that
nobody was steering. And, if so, where were the men ?
Either they were dead drunk, or had deserted her, I thought,
and perhaps if I could get on board, I might return the vessel
to her captain.
The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward
at an equal rate. As for the latter's sailing, it was so wild
and intermittent, and she hung each time so long in irons,
that she certainly gained nothing, if she did not even lose. If
only I dared to sit up and paddle, I made sure that I could
overhaul her. The scheme had an air of adventure that
inspired me, and the thought of the water breaker beside the
fore companion doubled my growing courage.
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TREASURE ISLAND
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 un-
steered 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 sup-
pose 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 worst thing pos-
sible 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 pos-
sible 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
[186]
THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE
day. The main-sail hung drooped like a banner. She was
stock-still, but for the current.
For the last little while I had even lost; but now, re-
doubling 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 broad-side on
to me round still till she had covered a half, and then two-
thirds, and then three-quarters of the distace that separated
us. I could see the waves boiling white under her forefoot.
Immensely tall she looked to me from my low station in the
coracle.
And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I had
scarce time to think scarce time to act and save myself.
I was on the summit of one swell when the schooner came
stooping over the next. The bowsprit was over my head. I
sprang to my feet, and leaped, stamping the coracle under
water. With one hand I caught the jib-boom, while my foot
was lodged between the stay and the brace; and as I still
clung there panting, a dull blow told me that the schooner
had charged down upon and struck the coracle, and that I
was left without retreat on the Hispaniola.
187 ]
CHAPTER XXY
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 main-sail,
which was still drawing, concealed from me a certain portion
of the after-deck. Not a soul was to be seen. The planks,
which had not been swabbed since the mutiny, bore the print
of many feet; and an empty bottle, broken by the neck,
tumbled to and fro like a live thing in the scuppers.
Suddenly the Hispaniola came right into the wind. The
jibs behind me cracked aloud; the rudder slammed to; the
whole ship gave a sickening heave and shudder, and at the
same moment the main-boom swung inboard, the sheet groan-
ing in the blocks, and showed me the lee after-deck.
There were the two watchmen, sure enough : red-cap on his
back, as stiff as a handspike, with his arms stretched out like
[188]
I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER
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 awhile the ship kept bucking and sidling like a vicious
horse, the sails filling, now on one tack, now on another, and
the boom swinging to and fro till the mast groaned aloud
under the strain. Now and again, too, there would come a
cloud of light sprays over the bulwark, and a heavy blow
of the ship's bows against the swell: so much heavier
weather was made of it by this great rigged ship than by
my home-made, lop-sided coracle, now gone to the bottom of
the sea.
At every jump of the schooner, red-cap slipped to and fro ;
but what was ghastly to behold neither his attitude nor his
fixed teeth-disclosing grin was anyway disturbed by this rough
usage. At every jump, too, Hands appeared still more to
sink into himself and settle down upon the deck, his feet sli-
ding 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
[189]
TREASURE ISLAND
pain and deadly weakness, and the way in which his jaw
hung open, went right to my heart. But when I remem-
bered the talk I had overheard from the apple barrel, all pity
left me.
I walked aft until I reached the main-mast.
"Come aboard, Mr. Hands," I said, ironically.
He rolled his eyes round heavily; but he was too far gone
to express surprise. All he could do was to utter one word,
"Brandy."
It occurred to me there was no time to lose; and, dodging
the boom as it once more lurched across the deck, I slipped
aft, and down the companion stairs into the cabin.
It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy.
All the lockfast places had been broken open in quest of the
chart. The floor was thick with mud, where ruffians had sat
down to drink or consult after wading in the marshes round
their camp. The bulkheads, all painted in clear white, and
beaded round with gilt, bore a pattern of dirty hands. Dozens
of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the rolling of
the ship. One of the doctor's medical books lay open on
the table, half of the leaves gutted out, I suppose, for pipe-
lights. 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
[190]
I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER
pickled fruits, a great bunch of raisins, and a piece of cheese.
With these I came on deck, put down my own stock be-
hind the rudder head, and well out of the coxswain's reach,
went forward to the water-breaker, and had a good, deep
drink of water, and then, and not till then, gave Hands the
brandy.
He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle from
his mouth.
"Aye," said he, "by thunder, but I wanted some o' that!"
I had sat down already in my own corner and begun
to eat.
"Much hurt?" I asked him.
He grunted, or, rather, I might say, he barked.
"If that doctor was aboard," he said, "I 'd be right enough
in a couple of turns; but I don't have no manner of luck,
you see, and that 's what 's the matter with me. As for that
swab, he 's good and dead, he is," he added, indicating the
man with the red cap. "He warn't no seaman, anyhow.
And where mought you have come from?"
"Well," said I, "I've come aboard to take possession of
this ship, Mr. Hands; and you '11 please regard me as your
captain until further notice."
He looked at me sourly enough, but said nothing. Some
of the colour had come back into his cheeks, though he still
looked very sick, and still continued to slip out and settle
down as the ship banged about.
"By-the-by," I continued, "I can't have these colours,
Mr. Hands; and, by your leave, I '11 strike 'em. Better none
than these."
[191]
!
TREASURE ISLAND
And, again dodging the boom, I ran to the colour lines,
handed down their cursed black flag, and chucked it over-
board.
"God save the king!" said I, waving my cap; "and
there 's an end to Captain Silver!"
He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the while
on his breast
"I reckon," he said at last "I reckon, Cap'n Hawkins,
you '11 kind of want to get ashore, now. S'pose we talks."
"Why, yes," says I, "with all my heart, Mr. Hands.
Say on." And I went back to my meal with a good ap-
petite.
"This man," he began, nodding feebly at the corpse
"O'Brien were his name a rank Irelander this man and
me got the canvas on her, meaning for to sail her back. Well,
he 's dead now, he is as dead as bilge; and who 's to sail
this ship, I don't see. Without I gives you a hint, you ain't
that man, as far 's I can tell. Now, look here, you gives me
food and drink, and a old scarf or ankecher to tie my wound
up, you do; and I '11 tell you how to sail her; and that 's
about square all round, I take it."
"I '11 tell you one thing," says I: "I 'm not going back to
Captain Kidd's anchorage. I mean to get into* North Inlet,
and beach her quietly there."
"To be sure you did," he cried. "Why, I ain't sich an
infernal lubber, after all. I can see, can't I ? I 've tried my
fling, I have, and I 've lost, and it 's you has the wind of me.
North Inlet? Why, I haven't no ch'ice, not I! I'd help
you sail her up to Execution Dock, by thunder! so I would."
[192]
I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER
Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this.
We struck our bargain on the spot. In three minutes I had
the Hispaniola sailing easily before the wind along the coast
of Treasure Island, with good hopes of turning the northern
point ere noon, and beating down again as far as North
Inlet before high water, when we might beach her safely,
and wait till the subsiding tide permitted us to land.
Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own chest,
where I got a soft silk handkerchief of my mother's. With
this, and with my aid, Hands bound up the great bleeding
stab he had received in the thigh, and after he had eaten a
little and had a swallow or two more of the brandy, he began
to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer,
and looked in every way another man.
The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed before it
like a bird, the coast of the island flashing by, and the view
changing every minute. Soon we were past the high lands
and bowling beside low, sandy country, sparsely dotted with
dwarf pines, and soon we were beyond that again, and had
turned the corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on
the north.
' I was greatly elated with my new command, and pleased
with the bright, sunshiny weather and these different pros-
pects 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
[193]
TREASURE ISLAND
on his face. It was a smile that had in it something both of
pain and weakness a haggard, old man's smile; but there
was, besides that, a grain of derision, a shadow of treachery
in his expression as he craftily watched, and watched, and
watched me at my work.
[194]
CHAPTER XXYI
ISRAEL HANDS
THE wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into the
west. We could run so much the easier from the north-
east corner of the island to the mouth of the North
Inlet. Only, as we had no power to anchor, and dared not
beach her till the tide had flowed a good deal farther, time
hung on our hands. The coxswain told me how to lay the
ship to; after a good many trials I succeeded, and we both
sat in silence, over another meal.
"Cap'n," said he, at length, with that same uncomfort-
able smile, "here's my old shipmate, O'Brien; s'pose you
was to heave him overboard. I ain't partic'lar as a rule,
and I don't take no blame for settling his hash; but I don't
reckon him ornamental, now, do you?"
"I'm not strong enough, and I don't like the job; and
there he lies for me," said I.
"This here's an unlucky ship this Hispaniola, Jim,"
he went on, blinking. "There 's a power of men been killed
in this Hispaniola a sight o' poor seamen dead and gone
since you and me took ship to Bristol. I never seen sich
dirty luck, not I. There was this here O'Brien, now he 's
dead, ain't he ? Well, now, I 'm no scholar, and you 're
a lad as can read and figure; and, to put it straight, do you
[195]
TREASURE ISLAND
take it as a dead man is dead for good, or do he come alive
again?"
"You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit;
you must know that already," I replied. "O'Brien there is
in another world, and maybe watching us."
"Ah!" says he. "Well, that's unfort'nate appears as
if killing parties was a waste of time. Howsomever, sperrits
don't reckon for much, by what I 've seen. I '11 chance it
with the sperrits, Jim. And now, you 've spoke up free,
and I '11 take it kind if you 'd step down into that there cabin
and get me a well, a shiver my timbers ! I can't hit the
name on 't; well, you get me a bottle of wine, Jim this
here brandy 's too strong for my head."
Now, the coxswain's hesitation seemed to be unnatural;
and as for the notion of his preferring wine to brandy, I
entirely disbelieved it. The whole story was a pretext. He
wanted me to leave the deck so much was plain ; but with
what purpose I could in no way imagine. His eyes never
met mine; they kept wandering to and fro, up and down,
now with a look to the sky, now with a flitting glance upon
the dead O'Brien. All the time he kept smiling, and putting
his tongue out in the most guilty, embarrassed manner, so
that a child could have told that he was bent on some decep-
tion. 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?" said I. "Far better. Will you have
white or red?"
" Well, I reckon it 's about the blessed same to me, ship-
[196]
ISRAEL HANDS
mate," he replied; "so it's strong, and plenty of it, what's
the odds?"
"All right," I answered. "I '11 bring you port, Mr.
Hands. But I '11 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, dis-
coloured 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.
[197]
TREASURE ISLAND
Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, since
in that our interests jumped together, and that was in the
disposition of the schooner. We both desired to have her
stranded safe enough, in a sheltered place, and so that, when
the time came, she could be got off again with as little labour
and danger as might be; and until that was done I considered
that my life would certainly be spared.
While I was thus turning the business over in my mind,
I had not been idle with my body. I had stolen back to the
cabin, slipped once more into my shoes, and laid my hand at
random on a bottle of wine, and now, with this for an excuse,
I made my reappearance on the deck.
Hands lay as I had left him, all fallen together in a bundle,
and with his eyelids lowered, as though he were too weak to
bear the light. He looked up, however, at my coming,
knocked the neck off the bottle, like a man who had done the
same thing often, and took a good swig, with his favourite
toast of "Here 's luck!" Then he lay quiet for a little, and
then, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a
quid.
"Cut me a junk o' that," says he, "for I haven't no
knife, and hardly strength enough, so be as I had. Ah,
Jim, Jim, I reckon I 've missed stays! Cut me a quid,
as '11 likely be the last, lad ; for I 'm for my long home, and
no mistake."
"Well," said I, "I '11 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."
[198]
ISRAEL HANDS
"Why?" I cried. "You were asking me just now about
the dead. You 've broken your trust; you 've lived in sin
and lies and blood; there 's a man you killed lying at your
feet this moment; and you ask me why! For God's mercy,
Mr. Hands, that 's why."
I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody dirk he
had hidden in his pocket, and designed, in his ill thoughts,
to end me with. He, for his part, took a great draught of
the wine, and spoke with the most unusual solemnity.
"For thirty years," he said, "I 've sailed the seas, and
seen good and bad, better and worse, fair weather and foul,
provisions running out, knives going, and what not. Well,
now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him
as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; them 's my
views amen, so be it. And now, you look here," he added,
suddenly changing his tone, "we 've had about enough of
this foolery. The tide 's made good enough by now. You
just take my orders, Cap'n Hawkins, and we '11 sail slap in
and be done with it."
All told, we had scarce two miles to run; but the navi-
gation 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
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TREASURE ISLAND
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 ex-
posed 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 anchor-
age was calm.
"Now," said Hands, "look there; there 's a pet bit for to
beach a ship in. Fine flat sand, never a catspaw, trees all around
of it, and flowers a-blowing like a garding on that old ship."
"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 o' them
big pines; bring it back, take a turn round the capstan, and
lie-to for the tide. Come high water, all hands take a pull
upon the line, and off she comes as sweet as natur'. And
now, boy, you stand by. We 're near the bit now, and she 's
too much way on her. Starboard a little so steady
starboard larboard a little steady steady!"
So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly obeyed;
till, all of a sudden, he cried, "Now, my hearty, luff!" And
I put the helm hard up, and the Hispaniola swung round
rapidly, and ran stem on for the low wooded shore.
The excitement of these last manoeuvres had somewhat
interfered with the watch I had kept hitherto, sharply enough,
[ 200 ]
ISRAEL HANDS
upon the coxswain. Even then I was still so much interested,
waiting for the ship to touch, that I had quite forgot the
peril that hung over my head, and stood craning over the
starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading wide
before the bows. I might have fallen without a struggle for
my life, had not a sudden disquietude seized upon me, and
made me turn my head. Perhaps I had heard a creak, or
seen his shadow moving with the tail of my eye; perhaps it
was an instinct like a cat's; but, sure enough, when I looked
round, there was Hands, already half-way towards me, with
the dirk in his right hand.
We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met;
but while mine was the shrill cry of terror, his was a roar
of fury like a charging bull's. At the same instant he threw
himself forward, and I leaped sideways towards the bows.
As I did so, I let go of the tiller, which sprang sharp to lee-
ward; and I think this saved my life, for it struck Hands
across the chest, and stopped him, for the moment, dead.
Before he could recover, I was safe out of the corner where
he had me trapped, with all the deck to dodge about. Just
forward of the main-mast I stopped, drew a pistol from my
pocket, took a cool aim, though he had already turned and
was once more coming directly after me, and drew the trigger.
The hammer fell, but there followed neither flash nor sound;
the priming was useless with sea-water. I cursed myself for
my neglect. Why had not I, long before, reprimed and
reloaded my only weapons ? Then I should not have been
as now, a mere fleeing sheep before this butcher.
Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he could
[201]
TREASURE ISLAND
move, his grizzled hair tumbling over his face, and his face
itself as red as a red ensign with his haste and fury. I had
no time to try my other pistol, nor, indeed, much inclination,
for I was sure it would be useless. One thing I saw plainly:
I must not simply retreat before him, or he would speedily
hold me boxed into the bows, as a moment since he had so
nearly boxed me in the stern. Once so caught, and nine
or ten inches of the blood-stained dirk would be my last
experience on this side of eternity. I placed my palms
against the main-mast, which was of a goodish bigness, and
waited, every nerve upon the stretch.
Seeing that I meant to dodge, he also paused; and a
moment or two passed in feints on his part, and corresponding
movements upon mine. It was such a game as I had often
played at home about the rocks of Black Hill Cove; but
never before, you may be sure, with such a wildly beating
heart as now. Still, as I say, it was a boy's game, and I
thought I could hold my own at it, against an elderly seaman
with a wounded thigh. Indeed, my courage had begun to
rise so high, that I allowed myself a few darting thoughts on
what would be the end of the affair; and while I saw cer-
tainly that I could spin it out for long, I saw no hope of any
ultimate escape.
Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the Hispaniola
struck, staggered, ground for an instant in the sand, and then,
swift as a blow, canted over to the port side, till the deck
stood at an angle of forty-five degrees, and about a puncheon
of water splashed into the scupper holes, and lay, in a pool,
between the deck and bulwark.
[202 ]
ISRAEL HANDS
We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of us
rolled, almost together, into the scuppers; the dead red-cap,
with his arms still spread out, tumbling stiffly after us. So
near were we, indeed, that my head came against the cox-
swain's foot with a crack that made my teeth rattle. Blow
and all, I was the first afoot again; for Hands had got in-
volved with the dead body. The sudden canting of the
ship had made the deck no place for running on; I had to
find some new way of escape, and that upon the instant, for
my foe was almost touching me. Quick as thought, I sprang
into the mizzen shrouds, rattled up hand over hand, and did
not draw a breath till I was seated on the cross-trees.
I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had struck
not half a foot below me, as I pursued my upward flight;
and there stood Israel Hands with his mouth open and his
face upturned to mine, a perfect statue of surprise and
disappointment.
Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time in chang-
ing 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
[203 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
of the way up. Then, with a pistol in either hand, I ad-
dressed him.
"One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow
your brains out! Dead men don't bite, you know," I added,
with a chuckle.
He stopped instantly. I could see by the working of his
face that he was trying to think, and the process was so
slow and laborious that, in my new-found security, I laughed
aloud. At last, with a swallow or two, he spoke, his face
still wearing the same expression of extreme perplexity. In
order to speak he had to take the dagger from his mouth,
but, in all else, he remained unmoved.
"Jim," says he, "I reckon we're fouled, you and me,
and we '11 have to sign articles. I 'd have had you but for
that there lurch: but I don't have no luck, not I; and I
reckon I '11 have to strike, which comes hard, you see, for a
master mariner to a ship's younker like you, Jim."
I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as con-
ceited 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.
[204]
vsoW \\'\
nd I'll
I added,
orking of his
i,s so
Lulled
his face
One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow
your brains out "
ed.
led, you and
u but for
k, not I; and I
i^ like
and then a
alder to
uoment I s
} I am sure it w;.
went off, and boi
They did not fall alone; with
grasp upon the shr
CHAPTER XXYII
"PIECES OF EIGHT"
OWING to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far
out over the water, and from my perch on the cross-
trees I had nothing below me but the surface of the
bay. Hands, who was not so far up, was, in consequence,
nearer to the ship, and fell between me and the bulwarks. He
rose once to the surface in a lather of foam and blood, and then
sank again for good. As the water settled, I could see him
lying huddled together on the clean, bright sand in the
shadow of the vessel's sides. A fish or two whipped past his
body. Sometimes, by the quivering of the water, he appeared
to move a little, as if he were trying to rise. But he was dead
enough, for all that, being both shot and drowned, and was
food for fish in the very place where he had designed my
slaughter.
I was no sooner certain of this than I began to feel sick,
faint, and terrified. The hot blood was running over my back
and chest. The dirk, where it had pinned my shoulder to
the mast, seemed to burn like a hot iron; yet it was not so
much these real sufferings that distressed me, for these, it
seemed to me, I could bear without a murmur; it was the
horror I had upon my mind of falling from the cross-trees
into that still green water beside the body of the coxswain.
[205]
TREASURE ISLAND
I clung with both hands till my nails ached, and I shut
my eyes as if to cover up the peril. Gradually my mind came
back again, my pulses quieted down to a more natural time,
and I was once more in possession of myself.
It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk; but either
it stuck too hard or my nerve failed me; and I desisted with a
violent shudder. Oddly enough, that very shudder did the
business. The knife, in fact, had come the nearest in the
world to missing me altogether; it held me by a mere pinch
of skin, and this the shudder tore away. The blood ran down
the faster, to be sure; but I was my own master again, and
only tacked to the mast by my coat and shirt.
These last I broke through with a sudden jerk, and then
regained the deck by the starboard shrouds. For nothing in
the world would I have again ventured, shaken as I was,
upon the overhanging port shrouds, from which Israel had
so lately fallen.
I went below, and did what I could for my wound; it
pained me a good deal, and still bled freely ; but it was neither
deep nor dangerous, nor did it greatly gall me when I used
my arm. Then I looked around me, and as the ship was
now, in a sense, my own, I began to think of clearing it from
its last passenger the dead man, O'Brien.
He had pitched, as I have said, against the bulwarks,
where he lay like some horrible, ungainly sort of puppet;
life-size, indeed, but how different from life's colour or life's
comeliness! In that position, I could easily have my way
with him; and as the habit of tragical adventures had worn
off almost all my terror for the dead, I took him by the waist
[206 ]
"PIECES OF EIGHT"
as if he had been a sack of bran, and, with one good heave,
tumbled him overboard. He went in with a sounding plunge;
the red cap came off, and remained floating on the surface;
and as soon as the splash subsided, I could see him and Israel
lying side by side, both wavering with the tremulous movement
of the water. O'Brien, though still quite a young man, was
very bald. There he lay, with that bald head across the
knees of the man who had killed him, and the quick fishes
steering to and fro over both.
I was now alone upon the ship; the tide had just turned.
The sun was within so few degrees of setting that already the
shadow of the pines upon the western shore began to reach
right across the anchorage, and fall in patterns on the deck.
The evening breeze had sprung up, and though it was well
warded off by the hill with the two peaks upon the east, the
cordage had begun to sing a little softly to itself and the idle
sails to rattle to and fro.
I began to see a danger to the ship. The jibs I speedily
doused and brought tumbling to the deck; but the main-sail
was a harder matter. Of course, when the schooner canted
over, the boom had swung out-board, and the cap of it and a
foot or two of sail hung even under water. I thought this
made it still more dangerous ; yet the strain was so heavy that
I half feared to meddle. At last, I got my knife and cut the
halyards. The peak dropped instantly, a great belly of loose
canvas floated broad upon the water; and since, pull as I
liked, I could not budge the downhall, that was the extent
of what I could accomplish. For the rest, the Hispaniola
must trust to luck, like myself.
[ 207 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
By this time the whole anchorage had fallen into shadow
the last rays, I remember, falling through a glade of the wood,
and shining, bright as jewels, on the flowery mantle of the
wreck. It began to be chill; the tide was rapidly fleeting
seaward, the schooner settling more and more on her beam-
ends.
I scrambled forward and looked over. It seemed shallow
enough, and holding the cut hawser in both hands for a
last security, I let myself drop softly overboard. The water
scarcely reached my waist; the sand was firm and covered
with ripple marks, and I waded ashore in great spirits, leaving
the Hispaniola on her side, with her main-sail trailing wide
upon the surface of the bay. About the same time the sun
went fairly down, and the breeze whistled low in the dusk
among the tossing pines.
At least, and at last, I was off the sea, nor had I returned
thence empty handed. There lay the schooner, clear at last
from buccaneers and ready for our own men to board and
get to sea again. I had nothing nearer my fancy than to get
home to the stockade and boast of my achievements. Pos-
sibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the re-
capture 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 re-
membered that the most easterly of the rivers which drain
into Captain Kidd's anchorage ran from the two-peaked hill
upon my left; and I bent my course in that direction that I
[208 ]
"PIECES OF EIGHT"
might pass the stream while it was small. The wood was
pretty open, and keeping along the lower spurs, I had soon
turned the corner of that hill, and not long after waded to the
mid-calf across the water-course.
This brought me near to where I had encountered Ben
Gunn, the maroon; and I walked more circumspectly, keep-
ing an eye on every side. The dusk had come nigh hand com-
pletely, and, as I opened out the cleft between the two peaks,
I became aware of a wavering glow against the sky, where,
as I judged, the man of the island was cooking his supper
before a roaring fire. And yet I wondered, in my heart, that
he should show himself so careless. For if I could see this
radiance* might it not reach the eyes of Silver himself where
he camped upon the shore among the marshes?
Gradually the night fell blacker; it was all I could do to
guide myself even roughly towards my destination; the
double hill behind me and the Spy-glass on my right hand
loomed faint and fainter; the stars were few and pale; and
in the low ground where I wandered I kept tripping among
bushes and rolling into sandy pits.
Suddenly a kind of brightness fell about me. I looked up ;
a pale glimmer of moonbeams had alighted on the summit of
the Spy-glass, and soon after I saw something broad and
silvery moving low down behind the trees, and knew the moon
had risen.
With this to help me, I passed rapidly over what remained
to me of my journey; and, sometimes walking, sometimes
running, impatiently drew near to the stockade. Yet, as I
began to thread the grove that lies before it, I was not so
[209]
TREASURE ISLAND
thoughtless 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 dis-
tricts 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 em-
bers 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 clear-
ing. The western end was already steeped in moonshine;
the rest, and the block-house itself, still lay in a black shadow,
chequered with long, silvery streaks of light. On the other
side of the house an immense fire had burned itself into clear
embers and shed a steady, red reverberation, contrasted strongly
with the mellow paleness of the moon. There was not a soul
stirring, nor a sound beside the noises of the breeze.
I stopped, with much wonder in my heart, and perhaps a
little terror also. It had not been our way to build great
fires; we were, indeed, by the captain's orders, somewhat
niggardly of firewood ; and I began to fear that something had
gone wrong while I was absent.
I stole round by the eastern end, keeping close in shadow,
and at a convenient place, where the darkness was thickest,
crossed the palisade.
To make assurance surer, I got up3n my hands and
knees, and crawled, without a sound, towards the corner of
the house. As I drew nearer, my heart was suddenly and
[210]
"PIECES OF EIGHT"
greatly lightened. It is not a pleasant noise in itself, and I
have often complained of it at other times; but just then it
was like music to hear my friends snoring together so loud
and peaceful in their sleep. The sea-cry of the watch, that
beautiful "All 's well," never fell more reassuringly on my ear.
In the meantime, there was no doubt of one thing: they
kept an infamous bad watch. If it had been Silver and his
lads that were now creeping in on them, not a soul would
have seen daybreak. That was what it was, thought I, to
have the captain wounded; and again I blamed myself
sharply for leaving them in that danger with so few to mount
guard.
By this time I had got to the door and stood up. All
was dark within, so that I could distinguish nothing by the
eye. As for sounds, there was the steady drone of the snorers,
and a small occasional noise, a flickering or pecking that I
could in no way account for.
With my arms before me I walked steadily in. I should
lie down in my own place (I thought, with a silent chuckle)
and enjoy their faces when they found me in the morning.
My foot struck something yielding it was a sleeper's
leg; and he turned and groaned, but without awakening.
And then, all of a sudden, a shrill voice broke forth out
of the darkness:
"Pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces
of eight! pieces of eight!" and so forth, without pause or
change, like the clacking of a tiny mill.
Silver's green parrot, Captain Flint! It was she whom I
had heard pecking at a piece of bark; it was she, keeping
[211]
TREASURE ISLAND
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, re-
coiled, and ran full into the arms of a second, who, for his
part, closed upon and held me tight.
"Bring a torch, Dick," said Silver, when my capture was
thus assured.
And one of the men left the log-house, and presently
returned with a lighted brand.
[212]
PART VI
CAPTAIN SILVER
CHAPTER XXVIII
IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP
THE red glare of the torch lighting up the interior of the
block-house, showed me the worst of my apprehen-
sions realised. 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 drunken-
ness. The sixth had only risen upon his elbow; he was
deadly pale, and the blood-stained bandage round his head
told that he had recently been wounded, and still more re-
cently dressed. I remembered the man who had been shot
and had run back among the woods in the great attack, and
doubted not that this was he.
The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long John's
shoulder. He himself, I thought, looked somewhat paler and
more stern than I was used to. He still wore the fine broad-
cloth 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.
[215]
TREASURE ISLAND
"So," said he, "here 's Jim Hawkins, shiver my timbers!
dropped in, like, eh ? Well, come, I take that friendly."
And thereupon he sat down across the brandy cask, and
began to fill a pipe.
"Give me a loan of the link, Dick," said he; and then,
when he had a good light, "That'll do, lad," he added;
"stick the glim in the wood heap; and you, gentlemen, bring
yourselves to ! you needn't stand up for Mr. Hawkins ;
he 'II excuse you, you may lay to that. And so, Jim" stop-
ping the tobacco "here you were, and quite a pleasant sur-
prise for poor old John. I see you were smart when first I set
my eyes on you; but this here gets away from me clean, it do."
To all this, as may be well supposed, I made no answer.
They had set me with my back against the wall; and I stood
there, looking Silver in the face, pluckily enough, I hope, to
all outward appearance, but with black despair in my heart.
Silver took a whiff or two of his pipe with great composure,
and then ran on again.
"Now, you see, Jim, so be as you are here," says he,
"I '11 give you a piece of my mind. I 've always liked you,
I have, for a lad of spirit, and the picter of my own self when
I was young and handsome. I always wanted you to jine
and take your share, and die a gentleman, and now, my cock,
you 've got to. Cap'n Smollett 's a fine seaman, as I '11 own
up to any day, but stiff on discipline. 'Dooty is dooty,' says
he, and right he is. Just you keep clear of the cap'n. The
doctor himself is gone dead again you * ungrateful scamp'
was what he said; and the short and the long of the whole
story is about here: you can't go back to your own lot, for
[216]
IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP
they won't have you; and, without you start a third ship's
company all by yourself, which might be lonely, you '11 have
to jine with Cap'n Silver."
So far so good. My friends, then, were still alive, and
though I partly believed the truth of Silver's statement, that
the cabin party were incensed at me for my desertion, I was
more relieved than distressed by what I heard.
"I don't say nothing as to your being in our hands," con-
tinued Silver, "though there you are, and you may lay to it.
I 'm all for argyment; I never seen good come out o' threaten-
ing. If you like the service, well, you '11 jine; and if you
don't, Jim, why, you 're free to answer no free and wel-
come, shipmate; and if fairer can be said by mortal seaman,
shiver my sides!"
"Am I to answer then?" I asked, with a very tremulous
voice. Through all this sneering talk, I was made to feel
the threat of death that overhung me, and my cheeks burned
and my heart beat painfully in my breast.
"Lad," said Silver,"no one 's a-pressing of you. Take
your bearings. None of us won't hurry you, mate; time goes
so pleasant in your company, you see."
"Well," says I, growing a bit bolder, "if I 'm to choose, I
declare I have a right to know what 's what, and why you 're
here, and where my friends are."
"Wot 's wot?" repeated one of the buccaneers, in a deep
growl. "Ah, he 'd be a lucky one as knowed that!"
"You '11, perhaps, batten down your hatches till you 're
spoke to, my friend," cried Silver truculently to this speaker.
And then, in his first gracious tones, he replied to me: "Yes-
[217]
TREASURE ISLAND
terday morning, Mr. Hawkins," said he, "in the dog-watch,
down came Dr. Livesey with a flag of truce. Says he, * Cap'n
Silver, you 're sold out. Ship 's gone/ Well, maybe we 'd
been taking a glass, and a song to help it round. I won't
say no. Leastways, none of us had looked out. We looked
out, and by thunder! the old ship was gone. I never seen
a pack o' fools look fishier; and you may lay to that, if I
tells you that looked the fishiest. 'Well,' says the doctor,
'let 's bargain.' We bargained, him and I, and here we are:
stores, brandy, block-house, the firewood you was thoughtful
enough to cut, and, in a manner of speaking, the whole blessed
boat, from cross-trees to keelson. As for them they 've
tramped; I don't know where 's they are."
He drew again quietly at his pipe.
"And lest you should take it into that head of yours," he
went on, "that you was included in the treaty, here 's the last
word that was said: 'How many are you,' says I, 'to leave?'
'Four,' says he 'four, and one of us wounded. As for that
boy, I don't know where he is, confound him,' says he, 'nor
I don't much care. We 're about sick of him.' These was
his words."
"Is that all?" I asked.
"Well, it's all that you're to hear, my son," returned
Silver.
"And now I am to choose ?"
"And now you are to choose, and you may lay to that,"
said Silver.
"Well," said I, "I am not such a fool but I know pretty
well what I have to look for. Let the worst come to the
[218]
IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP
worst, it 's little I care. I 've seen too many die since I fell
in with you. But there 's a thing or two I have to tell you," I
said, and by this time I was quite excited; "and the first is
this : here you are, in a bad way : ship lost, treasure lost, men
lost; your whole business gone to wreck; and if you want to
know who did it it was I ! I was in the apple barrel the
night we sighted land, and I heard you, John, and you, Dick
Johnson, and Hands, who is now at the bottom of the sea,
and told every word you said before the hour was out. And
as for the schooner, it was I who cut her cable, and it was I
that killed the men you had aboard of her, and it was I who
brought her where you '11 never see her more, not one of you.
The laugh 's on my side; I 've had the top of this business
from the first; I no more fear you than I fear a fly. Kill
me, if you please, or spare me. But one thing I '11 say, and
no more; if you spare me, by-gones are by-gones, and when
you fellows are in court for piracy, I '11 save you all I can.
It is for you to choose. Kill another and do yourselves no
good, or spare me and keep a witness to save you from the
gallows."
I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath, and, to my
wonder, not a man of them moved, but all sat staring at me
like as many sheep. And while they were still staring, I broke
out again:
"And now, Mr. Silver," I said, "I believe you 're the best
man here, and if things go to the worst, I '11 take it kind of
you to let the doctor know the way I took it."
"I '11 bear it in mind," said Silver, with an accent so curi-
ous that I could not, for the life of me, decide whether he
[219]
TREASURE ISLAND
were laughing at my request, or had been favourably affected
by my courage.
"I '11 put one to that," cried the old mahogany-faced sea-
man Morgan by name whom I had seen in Long John's
public-house upon the quays of Bristol. "It was him that
knowed Black Dog."
"Well, and see here," added the sea-cook. "I '11 put an-
other again to that, by thunder! for it was this same boy
that faked the chart from Billy Bones. First and last, we 've
split upon Jim Hawkins!"
"Then here goes!" said Morgan, with an oath.
And he sprang up, drawing his knife as if he had been
twenty.
"Avast, there!" cried Silver. "Who are you, Tom Mor-
gan ? Maybe you thought you was cap'n here, perhaps. By
the powers, but I '11 teach you better! Cross me, and you '11
go where many a good man 's gone before you, first and last,
these thirty year back some to the yard-arm, shiver my
timbers! and some by the board, and all to feed the fishes.
There 's never a man looked me between the eyes and seen
a good day a'terwards, Tom Morgan, you may lay to that."
Morgan paused; but a hoarse murmur rose from the
others.
"Tom 's right," said one.
"I stood hazing long enough from one," added another.
"I '11 be hanged if I '11 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
[220 ]
IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP
name on what you 're at; you ain't dumb, I reckon. Him
that wants shall get it. Have I lived this many years, and a
son of a rum puncheon cock his hat athwart my hawse at
the latter end of it? You know the way; you 're all gentle-
men o' fortune, by your account. Well, I 'm ready. Take a
cutlass, him that dares, and I '11 see the colour of his inside,
crutch and all, before that pipe 's empty."
Not a man stirred; not a man answered.
"That's your sort, is it?" he added, returning his pipe
to his mouth. "Well, you 're a gay lot to look at, anyway.
Not much worth to fight, you ain't. P'r'aps you can under-
stand King George's English. I 'm cap'n here by 'lection.
I 'm cap'n here because I 'm the best man by a long sea-mile.
You won't fight, as gentlemen o' fortune should; then, by
thunder, you '11 obey, and you may lay to it! I like that
boy, now ; I never seen a better boy than that. He 's more
a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house, and
what I say is this : let me see him that '11 lay a hand on
him that 's what I say, and you may lay to it."
There was a long pause after this. I stood straight up
against the wall, my heart still going like a sledge-hammer,
but with a ray of hope now shining in my bosom. Silver
leant back against the wall, his arms crossed, his pipe in
the corner of his mouth, as calm as though he had been in
church; yet his eye kept wandering furtively, and he kept the
tail of it on his unruly followers. They, on their part, drew
gradually together towards the far end of the block-house,
and the low hiss of their whispering sounded in my ear con-
tinuously, like a stream. One after another, they would look
[221]
TREASURE ISLAND
up, and the red light of the torch would fall for a second on
their nervous faces ; but it was not towards me, it was towards
Silver that they turned their eyes.
"You seem to have a lot to say/' remarked Silver, spitting
far into the air. "Pipe up and let me hear it, or lay to."
"Ax your pardon, sir," returned one of the men, "you 're
pretty free with some of the rules; maybe you '11 kindly keep
an eye upon the rest. This crew 's dissatisfied; this crew don't
vally bullying a marlinspike; this crew has its rights like other
crews, I '11 make so free as that; and by your own rules, I
take it we can talk together. I ax your pardon, sir, acknowl-
edging you for to be cap ting at this present; but I claim my
right, and steps outside for a council."
And with an elaborate sea-salute, this fellow, a long, ill-
looking, yellow-eyed man of five and thirty, stepped coolly
towards the door and disappeared out of the house. One
after another, the rest followed his example; each making a
salute as he passed; each adding some apology. "According
to rules," said one. "Fo'c's'le council," said Morgan. And
so with one remark or another, all marched out, and left
Silver and me alone with the torch.
The sea-cook instantly removed his pipe.
"Now, look you here, Jim Hawkins," he said, in a steady
whisper, that was no more than audible, "you 're within half
a plank of death, and, what 's a long sight worse, of torture.
They 're going to throw me off. But, you mark, I stand by
you through thick and thin. I didn't mean to; no, not till
you spoke up. I was about desperate to lose that much blunt,
and be hanged into the bargain. But I see you was the right
[ 222 ]
IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP
sort. I says to myself: You stand by Hawkins, John, and
Hawkins '11 stand by you. You 're his last card, and, by
the living thunder, John, he 's yours ! Back to back, says I.
You save your witness, and he '11 save your neck!"
I began dimly to understand.
"You mean all 's lost?" I asked.
"Ay, by gum, I do!" he answered. "Ship gone, neck
gone that 's the size of it. Once I looked into that bay,
Jim Hawkins, and seen no schooner well, I 'm tough, but
I gave out. As for that lot and their council, mark me,
they 're outright fools and cowards. I '11 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 ring-leader throughout.
"What I can do, that I '11 do," I said.
"It's a bargain!" cried Long John. "You speak up
plucky, and, by thunder! I 've a chance."
He hobbled to the torch, where it stood propped among
the firewood, and took a fresh light to his pipe.
"Understand me, Jim," he said, returning. "I 've a head
on my shoulders, I have. I 'm on squire's side now. I know
you 've got that ship safe somewheres. How you done it, I
don't know, but safe it is. I guess Hands and O'Brien turned
soft. I never much believed in neither of them. Now you
mark me. I ask no questions, nor I won't let others. I
know when a game 's up, I do ; and I know a lad that 's
staunch. Ah, you that 's young you and me might have
done a power of good together!"
[223 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
He drew some cognac from the cask into a tin canikin.
"Will you taste, messmate?" he asked; and when I had
refused: "Well, I '11 take a drain myself, Jim," said he. "I
need a caulker, for there 's trouble on hand. And, talking o*
trouble, why did that doctor give me the chart, Jim ?"
My face expressed a wonder so unaffected that he saw
the needlessness of further questions.
"Ah, well, he did, though," said he. "And there 's some-
thing 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.
[224 ]
CHAPTER XXIX
THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN
THE council of the buccaneers had lasted some time,
when one of them re-entered the house, and with a
repetition of the same salute, which had in my eyes
an ironical air, begged for a moment's loan of the torch.
Silver briefly agreed; and this emissary retired again, leaving
us together in the dark.
"There 's a breeze coming, Jim," said Silver, who had, by
this time, adopted quite a friendly and familiar tone.
I turned to the loophole nearest me and looked out. The
embers of the great fire had so far burned themselves out,
and now glowed so low and duskily, that I understood why
these conspirators desired a torch. About half-way down the
slope to the stockade, they were collected in a group ; one held
the light; another was on his knees in their midst, and I saw
the blade of an open knife shine in his hand with varying
colours, in the moon and torch light. The rest were all some-
what 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.
[225]
TREASURE ISLAND
"Here they come," said I; and I returned to my former
position, for it seemed beneath my dignity that they should
find me watching them.
"Well, let 'em come, lad let 'em come," said Silver,
cheerily. "I 've still a shot in my locker."
The door opened, and the five men, standing huddled
together just inside, pushed one of their number forward.
In any other circumstances it would have been comical to
see his slow advance, hesitating as he set down each foot,
but holding his closed right hand in front of him.
" Step up, lad," cried Silver. "I won't eat you. Hand it over,
lubber. I know the rules, I do; I won't hurt a depytation."
Thus encouraged, the buccaneer stepped forth more
briskly, and having passed something to Silver, from hand to
hand, slipped yet more smartly back again to his companions.
The sea-cook looked at what had been given him.
"The black spot! I thought so," he observed. "Where
might you have got the paper ? Why, hillo ! look here, now :
this ain't lucky! You 've gone and cut this out of a Bible.
What fool's cut a Bible?"
"Ah, there!" said Morgan " there ! Wot did I say?
No good '11 come o' that, I said."
"Well, you 've about fixed it now, among you," continued
Silver. "You '11 all swing now, I reckon. What soft-headed
lubber had a Bible?"
"It was Dick," said one.
"Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers," said Sil-
ver. "He's seen his slice of luck, has Dick, and you may
lay to that."
[226]
TREASURE ISLAND
"Here the ^ my f
position, that they
firid n hern.
,-ine,'* said Silver,
id the five men, standing huddle
ie of their number forward,
would have taen comics
him.
About half way down the slope to the stockade, they were
collected in a group , fcQ ^ compan j,
"' na.
k spot! 1. "Wl
bere
it of a 1^
Wot did I a
" You
as it? Then Dick cas
THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN
But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck in.
"Belay that talk, John Silver," he said. "This crew has
tipped you the black spot in full council, as in dooty bound;
just you turn it over, as in dooty bound, and see what 's
wrote there. Then you can talk."
"Thanky, George," replied the sea-cook. "You always
was brisk for business, and has the rules by heart, George,
as I 'm pleased to see. Well, what is it, anyway ? Ah !
'Deposed' that's it, is it? Very pretty wrote, to be sure;
like print, I swear. Your hand o' write, George ? Why, you
was gettin' quite a leadin' man in this here crew. You '11 be
cap'n next, I shouldn't wonder. Just oblige me with that
torch again, will you ? this pipe don't draw."
"Come, now," said George, "you don't fool this crew no
more. You 're a funny man, by your account; but you 're
over now, and you '11 maybe step down off that barrel, and
help vote."
"I thought you said you knowed the rules," returned Silver,
contemptuously. "Leastways, if you don't, I do; and I
wait here and I 'm still your cap'n, mind till you outs
with your grievances, and I reply, in the meantime, your black
spot ain't worth a biscuit. After that, we '11 see."
"Oh," replied George, "you don't be under no kind of
apprehension ; we 're all square, we are. First, you 've made
a hash of this cruise you '11 be a bold man to say no to that.
Second, you let the enemy out o' this here trap for nothing.
Why did they want out ? I dunno ; but it 's pretty plain they
wanted it. Third, you wouldn't let us go at them upon the
march. Oh, we see through you, John Silver; you want to
[227 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
play booty, that 's what 's wrong with you. And then, fourth,
there 's this here boy."
"Is that all?" asked Silver, quietly.
"Enough, too," retorted George. "We'll all swing and
sun-dry for your bungling."
"Well, now, look here, I '11 answer these four p'ints; one
after another I '11 answer 'em. I made a hash o' this cruise,
did I ? Well, now, you all know what I wanted ; and you all
know, if that had been done, that we 'd 'a' been aboard the
Hispaniola this night as ever was, every man of us alive, and
fit, and full of good plum-duff, and the treasure in the hold
of her, by thunder! Well, who crossed me? Who forced
my hand, as was the lawful cap'n ? Who tipped me the black
spot the day we landed, and began this dance ? Ah, it 's a
fine dance I 'm with you there and looks mighty like a
hornpipe in a rope's end at Execution Dock by London town,
it does. But who done it? Why, it was Anderson, and
Hands, and you, George Merry ! And you 're the last above
board of that same meddling crew; and you have the Davy
Jones's insolence to up and stand for cap'n over me you,
that sank the lot of us! By the powers! but this tops the
st yarn to nothing."
Silver paused, and I could see by the faces of George and
tis late comrades that these words had not been said in vain.
"That 's for number one," cried the accused, wiping the
sweat from his brow, for he had been talking with a vehe-
mence that shook the house. "Why, I give you my word,
I 'm sick to speak to you. You 've neither sense nor memory,
and I leave it to fancy where your mothers was that let you
[ 228 ]
THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN
come to sea. Sea! Gentlemen o' fortune! I reckon tailors
is your trade."
"Go on, John," said Morgan. "Speak up to the others."
"Ah, the others!" returned John. "They 're a nice lot,
ain't they? You say this cruise is bungled. Ah! by gum, if
you could understand how bad it's bungled, you would see!
We 're that near the gibbet that my neck 's stiff with thinking
on it. You 've seen 'em, maybe, hanged in chains, birds
about 'em, seamen p'inting 'em out as they go down with the
tide. 'Who's that?' says one. 'That! Why, that 's John
Silver. I knowed him well,' says another. And you can hear
the chains a-jangle as you go about and reach for the other
buoy. Now, that 's about where we are, every mother's son
of us, thanks to him, and Hands, and Anderson, and other
ruination fools of you. And if you want to know about num-
ber four, and that boy, why, shiver my timbers! isn't he a
hostage? Are we a-going to waste a hostage? No, not us;
he might be our last chance, and I shouldn't wonder. Kill
that boy? not me, mates! And number three? Ah, well,
there 's a deal to say to number three. Maybe you don't
count it nothing to have a real college doctor come to see you
every day you, John, with your head broke or you,
George Merry, that had the ague shakes upon you not s^c
hours agone, and has your eyes the colour of lemon peel to
this same moment on the clock ? And maybe, perhaps, you
didn't know there was a consort coming, either ? But there
is ; and not so long till then ; and we '11 see who '11 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
TREASURE ISLAND
on your knees to me to make it on your knees you came,
you was that downhearted and you 'd have starved, too, if I
hadn't but that 's a trifle! you look there that 's why!"
And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly
recognised none other than the chart on yellow paper, with
the three red crosses, that I had found in the oilcloth at the
bottom of the captain's chest. Why the doctor had given it
to him was more than I could fancy.
But if it were inexplicable to me, the appearance of the
chart was incredible to the surviving mutineers. They leaped
upon it like cats upon a mouse. It went from hand to hand,
one tearing it from another; and by the oaths and the cries
and the childish laughter with which they accompanied their
examination, you would have thought, not only they were
fingering the very gold, but were at sea with it, besides, in
safety.
"Yes," said one, "that's Flint, sure enough. J. F., and
a score below, with a clove hitch to it; so he done ever."
"Mighty pretty," said George. "But how are we to get
away with it, and us no ship ?"
Silver suddenly sprang up, and supporting himself with a
hand against the wall: "Now I give you warning, George,"
he cried. "One more word of your sauce, and I '11 call you
down and fight you. How ? Why, how do I know ? You
had ought to tell me that you and the rest, that lost me
my schooner, with your interference, burn you! But not you,
you can't; you hain't got the invention of a cockroach. But
civil you can speak, and shall, George Merry, you may lay
to that."
[230 ]
THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN
"That 's fair enow," said the old man Morgan.
"Fair! I reckon so," said the sea-cook. "You lost the
ship ; I found the treasure. Who 's the better man at that ?
And now I resign, by thunder ! Elect whom you please to be
your cap'n now; I 'm done with it."
"Silver!" they cried. "Barbecue for ever! Barbecue for
cap'n!"
"So that 's the toon, is it?" cried the cook. "George, I
reckon you '11 have to wait another turn, friend; and lucky
for you as I 'm not a revengeful man. But that was never
my way. And now, shipmates, this black spot? 'Tain't
much good now, is it ? Dick 's crossed his luck and spoiled
his Bible, and that 's about all."
"It'll do to kiss the book on still, won't it?" growled
Dick, who was evidently uneasy at the curse he had brought
upon himself.
"A Bible with a bit cut out!" returned Silver, derisively.
"Not it. It don't bind no more 'n a ballad-book."
"Don't it, though ?" cried Dick, with a sort of joy. "Well,
I reckon that 's worth having, too."
"Here, Jim here's a cur'osity for you," said Silver;
and he tossed me the paper.
It was a round, about the size of a crown piece. One side
was blank, for it had been the last leaf; the other contained a
verse or two of Revelation these words among the rest,
which struck sharply home upon my mind: "Without are
dogs and murderers." The printed side had been blackened
with wood ash, which already began to come off and soil my
fingers; on the blank side had been written with the same
[231]
TREASURE ISLAND
material the one word "Deposed." I have that curiosity
beside me at this moment; but not a trace of writing now
remains beyond a single scratch, such as a man might make
with his thumb-nail.
That was the end of the night's business. Soon after,
with a drink all round, we lay down to sleep, and the outside
of Silver's vengeance was to put George Merry up for sentinel,
and threaten him with death if he should prove unfaithful.
It was long ere I could close an eye, and Heaven knows
I had matter enough for thought in the man whom I had
slain that afternoon, in my own most perilous position, and,
above all, in the remarkable game that I saw Silver now en-
gaged 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.
[ 232 ]
CHAPTER XXX
ON PAROLE
I WAS wakened indeed, we were all wakened, for I
could see even the sentinel shake himself together from
where he had fallen against the door-post by a clear,
hearty voice hailing us from the margin of the wood:
"Block-house, ahoy!" it cried. "Here 's the doctor."
And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear the
sound, yet my gladness was not without admixture. I re-
membered with confusion my insubordinate and stealthy con-
duct ; and when I saw where it had brought me among
what companions and surrounded by what dangers I felt
ashamed to look him in the face.
He must have risen in the dark, for the day had hardly
come; and when I ran to a loophole and looked out, I saw
him standing, like Silver once before, up to the mid-leg in
creeping vapour.
"You, doctor! Top o' the morning to you, sir!" cried
Silver, broad awake and beaming with good nature in a
moment. "Bright and early, to be sure; and it's the early
bird, as the saying goes, that gets the rations. George, shake
up your timbers, son, and help Dr. Livesey over the ship's
side. All a-doin' well, your patients was all well and
merry."
[233 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
So he pattered on, standing on the hilltop, with his
crutch under his elbow, and one hand upon the side of
the log-house quite the old John in voice, manner, and
expression.
"We've quite a surprise for you, too, sir," he continued.
"We 've a little stranger here he! he! A noo boarder and
lodger, sir, and looking fit and taut as a fiddle; slep' like a
supercargo, he did, right alongside of John stem to stem
we was, all night."
Dr. Livesey was by this time across the stockade and
pretty near the cook; and I could hear the alteration in his
voice as he said:
"Not Jim?"
"The very same Jim as ever was," says Silver.
The doctor stopped outright, although he did not speak,
and it was some seconds before he seemed able to move on.
"Well, well," he said, at last, "duty first and pleasure
afterwards, as you might have said yourself, Silver. Let us
overhaul these patients of yours."
A moment afterwards he had entered the block-house,
and, with one grim nod to me, proceeded with his work
among the sick. He seemed under no apprehension, though
he must have known that his life, among these treacherous
demons, depended on a hair; and he rattled on to his patients
as if he were paying an ordinary professional visit in a quiet
English family. His manner, I suppose, reacted on the men ;
for they behaved to him as if nothing had occurred as if he
were still ship's doctor, and they still faithful hands before
the mast.
[234]
ON PAROLE
"You 're doing well, my friend," he said to the fellow
with the bandaged head, "and if ever any person had a close
shave, it was you; your head must be as hard as iron. Well,
George, how goes it ? You 're a pretty colour, certainly ; why,
your liver, man, is upside down. Did you take that medi-
cine ? Did he take that medicine, men ?"
"Ay, ay, 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 Dr. Livesey, in his pleas-
antest way, "I make it a point of honour not to lose a man
for King George (God bless him!) and the gallows."
The rogues looked at each other, but swallowed the home-
thrust in silence.
"Dick don't feel well, sir," said one.
"Don't he?" replied the doctor. "Well, step up here,
Dick, and let me see you tongue. No, I should be surprised
if he did! the man's tongue is fit to frighten the French.
Another fever."
"Ah, there," said Morgan, "that corned of sp'iling Bibles."
"That corned 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, pestifer-
ous slough. I think it most probable though, of course,
it 's only an opinion that you '11 all have the deuce to pay
before you get that malaria out of your systems. Camp in
a bog, would you ? Silver, I 'm surprised at you. You 're
less of a fool than many, take you all round; but you don't
appear to me to have the rudiments of a notion of the rules
of health.
[235]
TREASURE ISLAND
"Well," he added, after he had dosed them round, and
they had taken his prescriptions, with really laughable hu-
mility, more like charity schoolchildren than blood-guilty
mutineers and pirates "well, that 's done for to-day. And
now I should wish to have a talk with that boy, please."
And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly.
George Merry was at the door, spitting and spluttering
over some bad-tasted medicine; but at the first word of the
doctor's proposal he swung round with a deep flush, and cried
"No!" and swore.
Silver struck the barrel with his open hand.
"Si-lence!" he roared, and looked about him positively
like a lion. "Doctor," he went on, in his usual tones, "I
was a-thinking of that, knowing as how you had a fancy for
the boy. We 're all humbly grateful for your kindness, and,
as you see, puts faith in you, and takes the drugs down like
that much grog. And I take it I 've found a way as '11 suit
all. Hawkins, will you give me your word of honour as a
young gentleman for a young gentleman you are, although
poor born your word of honour not to slip your cable?"
I readily gave the pledge required
"Then, doctor," said Silver, "you just step outside o' that
stockade, and once you 're there, I '11 bring the boy down on
the inside, and I reckon you can yarn through the spars.
Good-day to you, sir, and all our dooties to the squire and
Cap'n Smollett."
The explosion of disapproval, which nothing but Silver's
black looks had restrained, broke out immediately the doctor
had left the house. Silver was roundly accused of playing
[ 236 ]
ON PAROLE
double of trying to make a separate peace for himself of
sacrificing the interests of his accomplices and victims; and,
in one word, of the identical, exact thing that he was doing.
It seemed to me so obvious, in this case, that I could not
imagine how he was to turn their anger. But he was twice
the man the rest were; and his last night's victory had given
him a huge preponderance on their minds. He called them
all the fools and dolts you can imagine, said it was necessary
I should talk to the doctor, fluttered the chart in their faces,
asked them if they could afford to break the treaty the very
day they were bound a-treasure-hunting.
"No, by thunder!" he cried, "it's us must break the
treaty when the time comes ; and till then I '11 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 con-
vinced.
"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 stock-
ade, and as soon as we were within easy speaking distance,
Silver stopped.
"You '11 make a note of this here also, doctor," says he,
"and the boy '11 tell you how I saved his life, and were de-
posed for it, too, and you may lay to that. Doctor, when a
man 's steering as near the wind as me playing chuck-
farthing with the last breath in his body, like you wouldn't
[237 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
think it too much, mayhap, to give him one good word ?
You '11 please bear in mind it 's not my life only now it 's
that boy's into the bargain ; and you '11 speak me fair, doctor,
and give me a bit o' hope to go on, for the sake of mercy."
Silver was a changed man, once he was out there and had
his back to his friends and the block-house; his cheeks seemed
to have fallen in, his voice trembled; never was a soul more
dead in earnest.
"Why, John, you 're not afraid ?" asked Dr. Livesey.
"Doctor, I'm no coward; no, not I not so much!"
and he snapped his fingers. "If I was I wouldn't say it.
But I '11 own up fairly, I 've the shakes upon me for the gal-
lows. You 're a good man and a true; I never seen a better
man! And you '11 not forget what I done good, not any more
than you '11 forget the bad, I know. And I step aside see
here and leave you and Jim alone. And you '11 put that
down for me, too, for it's a long stretch, is that!"
So saying, he stepped back a little way, till he was out
of earshot, and there sat down upon a tree-stump and began
to whistle; spinning round now and again upon his seat so as
to command a sight, sometimes of me and the doctor, and
sometimes of his unruly ruffians as they went to and fro in
the sand, between the fire which they were busy rekindling
and the house, from which they brought forth pork and
bread to make the breakfast.
"So, Jim," said the doctor, sadly, "here you are. As you
have brewed, so shall you drink, my boy. Heaven knows, I
cannot find it in my heart to blame you; but this much I will
say, be it kind or unkind: when Captain Smollett was well,
[ 238 ]
ON PAROLE
you dared not have gone off; and when he was ill, and couldn't
help it, by George, it was downright cowardly!"
I will own that I here began to weep. "Doctor," I said,
"you might spare me. I have blamed myself enough; my
life 's forfeit anyway, and I should have been dead by now, if
Silver hadn't stood for me; and, doctor, believe this, I can
die and I dare say I deserve it but what I fear is torture.
If they come to torture me "
"Jim," the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite
changed, "Jim, I can't have this. Whip over, and we '11 run
for it."
"Doctor," said I, "I passed my word."
"I know, I know," he cried. "We can't help that, Jim,
now. I '11 take it on my shoulders, holus bolus, blame and
shame, my boy; but stay here, I cannot let you. Jump! One
jump, and you 're out, and we '11 run for it like antelopes."
"No," I replied, "you know right well you wouldn't do the
thing yourself; neither you, nor squire, nor captain; and no
more will I. Silver trusted me; I passed my word, and back I
go. But, doctor, you did not let me finish. If they come to
torture me, I might let slip a word of where the ship is ; for I
got the ship, part by luck and part by risking, and she lies
in North Inlet, on the southern beach, and just below high
water. At half tide she must be high and dry."
"The ship!" exclaimed the doctor.
Rapidly I described to him my adventures, and he heard
me out in silence.
"There is a kind of fate in this," he observed, when I
had done. "Every step, it's you that saves our lives; and
[ 239 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 mis-
chief in person. Silver," he cried, "Silver! I '11 give you a
piece of advice," he continued, as the cook drew near again;
"don't you be in any great hurry after that treasure."
"Why, sir, I do my possible, which that ain't," said Silver.
"I can only, asking your pardon, save my life and the boy's
by seeking for that treasure; and you may lay to that."
"Well, Silver," replied the doctor, "if that is so, I '11 go
one step further: look out for squalls when you find it."
"Sir," said Silver, "as between man and man, that 's too
much and too little. What you 're after, why you left the
block-house, why you 've given me that there chart, I don't
know, now, do I ? and yet I done your bidding with my eyes
shut and never a word of hope! But no, this here 's too
much. If you won't tell me what you mean plain out, just say
so, and I '11 leave the helm."
"No," said the doctor, musingly, "I 've no right to say
more; it 's not my secret, you see, Silver, or, I give you my
word, I 'd tell it you. But I '11 go as far with you as I dare
go, and a step beyond ; for I '11 have my wig sorted by the
captain or I 'm mistaken ! And, first, I '11 give you a bit of
hope: Silver, if we both get alive out of this wolf-trap, I '11
do my best to save you, short of perjury."
Silver's face was radiant. "You couldn't say more, I'm
sure, sir, not if you was my mother," he cried.
[ 240 ]
ON PAROLE
"Well, that's my first concession," added the doctor.
"My second is a piece of advice: Keep the boy close be-
side you, and when you need help, halloo. I 'm off to seek
it for you, and that itself will show you if I speak at random.
Good-bye, Jim."
And Dr. Livesey shook hands with me through the stock-
ade, nodded to Silver, and set off at a brisk pace into the wood.
[241]
CHAPTER XXXI
THE TREASURE HUNT FLINT'S POINTER
" If IM," said Silver, when we were alone, "if I saved your
life, you saved mine ; and I '11 not forget it. I seen the
^^ doctor waving you to run for it with the tail of my
eye, I did; and I seen you say no, as plain as hearing. Jim,
that 's one to you. This is the first glint of hope I had
since the attack failed, and I owe it you. And now, Jim,
we 're to go in for this here treasure hunting, with sealed
orders, too, and I don't like it; and you and me must stick
close, back to back like, and we '11 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,
[242]
FLINT'S POINTER
though they were bold enough for a brush and be done with
it, I could see their entire unfitness for anything like a pro-
longed 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.
"Ay, mates," said he, "it's lucky you have Barbecue to
think for you with this here head. I got what I wanted, I
did. Sure enough, they have the ship. Where they have it,
I don't know yet; but once we hit the treasure, we '11 have
to jump about and find out. And then, mates, us that has
the boats, I reckon, has the upper hand."
Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of the hot
bacon: thus he restored their hope and confidence, and, I
more than suspect, repaired his own at the same time.
"As for hostage," he continued, "that's his last talk, I
guess, with them he loves so dear. I 've got my piece o'
news, and thanky to him for that; but it 's over and done.
I '11 take him in a line when we go treasure-hunting, for we '11
keep him like so much gold, in case of accidents, you mark,
and in the meantime. Once we get the ship and treasure
both, and off to sea like jolly companions, why, then, we '11
talk Mr. Hawkins over, we will, and we '11 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
[243]
TREASURE ISLAND
foot in either camp, and there was no doubt he would
prefer wealth and freedom with the pirates to a bare es-
cape 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 sus-
picions of his followers turned to certainty, and he and I
should have to fight for dear life he, a cripple, and I, a boy
against five strong and active seamen !
Add to this double apprehension, the mystery that still
hung over the behaviour of my friends; their unexplained
desertion of the stockade; their inexplicable cession of the
chart; or, harder still to understand, the doctor's last warning
to Silver, "Look out for squalls when you find it"; and you
will readily believe how little taste I found in my breakfast,
and with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my captors
on the quest for treasure.
We made a curious figure, had any one been there to see
us; all in soiled sailor clothes, and all but me armed to the
teeth. Silver had two guns slung about him one before
and one behind besides the great cutlass at his waist, and
a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. To com-
plete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon
his shoulder and gabbling odds and ends of purposeless sea-
talk. I had a line about my waist, and followed obediently
after the sea-cook, who held the loose end of the rope, now
in his free hand, now between his powerful teeth. For all
the world, I was led like a dancing bear.
[244]
foot in ei
prefei to a 1
cape f; ;o hop^ op
our side.
> forced t<3
h.af danger lav
when i ;
' . ' H
For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear
.
ty break-
my cap:
me armed to
it him one before
lass at his w^
uled cos
tint sat perch
\ ends of purposeless
ray waist, and followed obedir
id the loose end of the rope,
ween his powerful teeth. For &
FLINT'S POINTER
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 mid-day meal. All the stores,
I observed, came from our stock; and I could see the truth
of Silver's words the night before. Had he not struck a bar-
gain with the doctor, he and his mutineers, deserted by the
ship, must have been driven to subsist on clear water and the
proceeds of their hunting. Water would have been little to
their taste; a sailor is not usually a good shot; and, besides
all that, when they were so short of eatables, it was not likely
they would be very flush of powder.
Well, thus equipped, we all set out even the fellow
with the broken head, who should certainly have kept in
shadow and straggled, one after another, to the beach,
where the two gigs awaited us. Even these bore trace of the
drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, and both
in their muddy and unbailed condition. Both were to be
carried along with us, for the sake of safety; and so, with
our numbers divided between them, we set forth upon the
bosom of the anchorage.
As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the
chart. The red cross was, of course, far too large to be a
guide; and the terms of the note on the back, as you will
hear, admitted of some ambiguity. They ran, the reader
may remember, thus :
"Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E.
"Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.
"Ten feet."
[245]
TREASURE ISLAND
A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right be-
fore us, the anchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to
three hundred feet high, adjoining on the north the sloping
southern shoulder of the Spy-glass, and rising again towards
the south into the rough, cliffy eminence called the Mizzen-
mast Hill. The top of the plateau was dotted thickly with
pine trees of varying height. Every here and there, one of a
different species rose forty or fifty feet clear above its neigh-
bours, and which of these was the particular "tall tree" of
Captain Flint could only be decided on the spot, and by the
readings of the compass.
Yet, although that was the case, every man on board the
boats had picked a favourite of his own ere we were half-
way over, Long John alone shrugging his shoulders and bid-
ding them wait till they were there.
We pulled easily, by Silver's directions, not to weary
the hands prematurely; and, after quite a long passage,
landed at the mouth of the second river that which
runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-glass. Thence, bend-
ing to our left, we began to ascend the slope towards the
plateau.
At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted,
marish vegetation, greatly delayed our progress; but by little
and little the hill began to steepen and become stony under
foot, and the wood to change its character and to grow in a
more open order. It was, indeed, a most pleasant portion of
the island that we were now approaching. A heavy-scented
broom and many flowering shrubs had almost taken the
place of grass. Thickets of green nutmeg trees were dotted
[246]
FLINT'S POINTER
here and there with the red columns and the broad shadow
of the pines; and the first mingled their spice with the aroma
of the others. The air, besides, was fresh and stirring, and
this, under the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderful refreshment
to our senses.
The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, shouting
and leaping to and fro. About the centre, and a good way
behind the rest, Silver and I followed I tethered by my
rope, he ploughing, with deep pants, among the sliding gravel.
From time to time, indeed, I had to lend him a hand, or
he must have missed his footing and fallen backward down
the hill.
We had thus proceeded for about half a mile, and were
approaching the brow of the plateau, when the man upon
the farthest left began to cry aloud, as if in terror. Shout
after shout came from him, and the others began to run in
his direction.
"He can't 'a' found the treasure," said old Morgan, hurry-
ing past us from the right, "for that 's clean a-top."
Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it
was something very different. At the foot of a pretty big
pine, and involved in a green creeper, which had even partly
lifted some of the smaller bones, a human skeleton lay, with a
few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I believe a chill struck
for a moment to every heart.
"He was a seaman," said George Merry, who, bolder
than the rest, had gone up close, and was examining the
rags of clothing. "Leastways, this is good sea-cloth."
"Ay, ay," said Silver, "like enough; you wouldn't look
[247]
TREASURE ISLAND
to find a bishop here, I reckon. But what sort of a way is
that for bones to lie ? Tain't in natur'."
Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to
fancy that the body was in a natural position. But for
some disarray (the work, perhaps, of the birds that had
fed upon him, or of the slow-growing creeper that had
gradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly
straight his feet pointing in one direction, his hands,
raised above his head like a diver's, pointing directly in the
opposite.
"I *ve taken a notion into my old numskull," observed
Silver. "Here's the compass; there's the tip-top p'int o'
Skeleton Island, stickin' out like a tooth. Just take a bear-
ing, will you, along the line of them bones."
It was done. The body pointed straight in the direc-
tion of the island, and the compass read duly E. S. E.
and by E.
"I thought so," cried the cook; "this here is a p'inter.
Right up there is our line for the Pole Star and the jolly
dollars. But, by thunder! if it don't make me cold inside
to think of Flint. This is one of his jokes, and no mistake.
Him and these six was alone here; he killed 'em, every man;
and this one he hauled here and laid down by compass,
shiver my timbers ! They 're long bones, and the hair 's been
yellow. Ay, that would be Allardyce. You mind Allardyce,
Tom Morgan?"
"Ay, ay," returned Morgan, "I mind him; he owed me
money, he did, and took my knife ashore with him."
"Speaking of knives," said another, "why don't we find
[248]
FLINT'S POINTER
his'n lying round ? Flint warn't the man to pick a seaman's
pocket; and the birds, I guess, would leave it be."
"By the powers, and that 's true!" cried Silver.
"There ain't a thing left here," said Merry, still feeling
round among the bones, "not a copper doit nor a baccy box.
It don't look nat'ral to me."
"No, by gum, it don't," agreed Silver; "not nat'ral, nor
not nice, says you. Great guns! messmates, but if Flint
was living, this would be a hot spot for you and me. Six
they were, and six are we; and bones is what they are
now."
"I saw him dead with these here dead-lights," said Mor-
gan. "Billy took me in. There he laid, with penny-pieces
on his eyes."
"Dead ay, sure enough he's dead and gone be-
low," said the fellow with the bandage; "but if ever sperrit
walked, it would be Flint's. Dear heart, but he died bad,
did Flint!"
"Ay, that he did," observed another; "now he raged,
and now he hollered for the rum, and now he sang. * Fif-
teen Men' were his only song, mates; and I tell you true,
I never rightly liked to hear it since. It was main hot,
and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin*
out as clear as clear and the death-haul on the man
already."
"Come, come," said Silver, "stow this talk. He's dead,
and he don't walk, that I know; leastways, he won't walk
by day, and you may lay to that. Care killed a cat. Fetch
ahead for the doubloons."
[249]
TREASURE ISLAND
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.
[250]
CHAPTER XXXII
THE TREASURE HUNT THE VOICE AMONG
THE TREES
PARTLY from the damping influence of this alarm,
partly to rest Silver and the sick folk, the whole party
sat down as soon as they had gained the brow of the
ascent.
The plateau being somewhat tilted towards the west, this
spot on which we had paused commanded a wide prospect
on either hand. Before us, over the tree- tops, we beheld the
Cape of the Woods fringed with surf; behind, we not only
looked down upon the anchorage and Skeleton Island, but
saw clear across the spit and the eastern lowlands a great
field of open sea upon the east. Sheer above us rose the Spy-
glass, here dotted with single pines, there black with preci-
pices. There was no sound but that of the distant breakers,
mounting from all round, and the chirp of countless insects
in the brush. Not a man, not a sail upon the sea; the very
largeness of the view increased the sense of solitude.
Silver, as he sat, took certain bearings with his compass.
"There are three 'tall trees,'" said he, "about in the right
line from Skeleton Island. * Spy-glass Shoulder,' I take it,
means that lower p'int there. It 's child's play to find the
stuff now. I 've half a mind to dine first."
[251]
TREASURE ISLAND
"I don' tfeel sharp," growled Morgan. "Thinkin' o' Flint
I think it were as done me."
"Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he 's dead," said
Silver.
"He were an ugly devil," cried a third pirate, with a
shudder; "that blue in the face, too!"
"That was how the rum took him," added Merry. "Blue!
well, I reckon he was blue. That 's a true word."
Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon this
train of thought, they had spoken lower and lower, and they
had almost got to whispering by now, so that the sound of
their talk hardly interrupted the silence of the wood. All of
a sudden, out of the middle of the trees in front of us, a
thin, high, trembling voice struck up the well-known air and
words :
" Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum ! "
I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the
pirates. The colour went from their six faces like en-
chantment; some leaped to their feet, some clawed hold
of others; Morgan grovelled on the ground.
"It 's Flint, by !" cried Merry.
The song had stopped as suddenly as it began broken
off, you would have said, in the middle of a note, as though
some one had laid his hand upon the singer's mouth. Coming
so far through the clear, sunny atmosphere among the green
tree-tops, I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly; and
the effect on my companions was the stranger.
[252]
THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES
"Come," said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to
get the word out, "this won't do. Stand by to go about.
This is a rum start, and I can't name the voice: but it's
some one skylarking some one that 's flesh and blood,
and you may lay to that."
His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of the
colour to his face along with it. Already the others had
begun to lend an ear to this encouragement, and were coming
a little to themselves, when the same voice broke out again
not this time singing, but in a faint distant hail, that echoed
yet fainter among the clefts of the Spy-glass.
"Darby M'Graw," it wailed for that is the word that best
describes the sound "Darby M'Graw! Darby M'Graw!"
again and again and again; and then rising a little higher,
and with an oath that I leave out, "Fetch aft the rum,
Darby!"
The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their eyes
starting from their heads. Long after the voice had died
away they still stared in silence, dreadfully, before them.
"That fixes it!" gasped one. "Let 's go!"
"They was his last words," moaned Morgan, "his last
words above board."
Dick had his Bible out, and was praying volubly. He had
been well brought up, had Dick, before he came to sea and
fell among bad companions.
Still, Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth rattle
in his head ; but he had not yet surrendered.
"Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby," he
muttered; "not one but us that 's here." And then, making
[253]
TREASURE ISLAND
a great effort, "Shipmates," he cried, "I 'm here to get that
stuff, and I '11 not be beat by man nor devil. I never was
feared of Flint in his life, and, by the powers, I '11 face him
dead. There *s seven hundred thousand pound not a quarter
of a mile from here. When did ever a gentleman o' fortune
show his stern to that much dollars, for a boosy old seaman
with a blue mug and him dead, too ?"
But there was no sign of re-awakening courage in his
followers; rather, indeed, of growing terror at the irrever-
ence of his words.
"Belay there, John!" said Merry. "Don't you cross a
sperrit."
And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They would
have run away severally had they dared; but fear kept them
together, and kept them close by John, as if his daring helped
them. He, on his part, had pretty well fought his weakness
down.
"Sperrit? Well, maybe," he said. "But there's one
thing not clear to me. There was an echo. Now, no man
ever seen a sperrit with a shadow ; well, then, what 's he
doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? That
ain't in natur', surely?"
This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you
can never tell what will affect the superstitious, and, to my
wonder, George Merry was greatly relieved.
"Well, that's so," he said. "You 've a head upon your
shoulders, John, and no mistake. 'Bout ship, mates! This
here crew is on a wrong tack, I do believe. And come to
think on it, it was like Flint's voice, I grant you, but not just
[254]
THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES
so clear-away like it, after all. It was liker somebody else's
voice now it was liker "
"By the powers, Ben Gunn!" roared Silver.
"Ay, and so it were," cried Morgan, springing on his
knees. "Ben Gunn it were!"
"It don't make much odds, do it, now?" asked Dick.
"Ben Gunn 's not here hi the body, any more 'n Flint."
But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn.
"Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn," cried Merry; "dead or
alive, nobody minds him."
It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned, and
how the natural colour had revived in their faces. Soon they
were chatting together, with intervals of listening; and not
long after, hearing no further sound, they shouldered the
tools and set forth again, Merry walking first with Silver's
compass to keep them on the right line with Skeleton Island.
He had said the truth: dead or alive, nobody minded Ben
Gunn.
Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him
as he went, with fearful glances; but he found no sympathy,
and Silver even joked him on his precautions.
"I told you," said he "I told you, you had sp'iled your
Bible. If it ain't no good to swear by, what do you suppose
a sperrit would give for it? Not that!" and he snapped his
big fingers, halting a moment on his crutch.
But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon
plain to me that the lad was falling sick; hastened by heat,
exhaustion, and the shock of his alarm, the fever, predicted
by Dr. Livesey, was evidently growing swiftly higher.
[255]
TREASURE ISLAND
It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way
lay a little down-hill, for, as I have said, the plateau tilted
towards the west. The pines, great and small, grew wide
apart; and even between the clumps of nutmeg and azalea,
wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. Striking, as
we did, pretty near north-west across the island, we drew,
on the one hand, every nearer under the shoulders of the Spy-
glass, and on the other, looked ever wider over that western
bay where I had once tossed and trembled in the coracle.
The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearing,
proved the wrong one. So with the second. The third rose
nearly two hundred feet into the air above a clump of under-
wood; a giant of a vegetable, with a red column as big as a
cottage, and a wide shadow around in which a company could
have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous far to sea both on the
east and west, and might have been entered as a sailing mark
upon the chart.
But it was not its size that now impressed my companions ;
it was the knowledge that seven hundred thousand pounds in
gold lay somewhere buried below its spreading shadow. The
thought of the money, as they drew nearer, swallowed up
their previous terrors. Their eyes burned in their heads;
their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul was
bound up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance
and pleasure, that lay waiting there for each of them.
Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils stood
out and quivered; he cursed like a madman when the flies
settled on his hot and shiny countenance; he plucked furi-
ously at the line that held me to him, and, from time to time,
[256]
THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES
turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look. Certainly he
took no pains to hide his thoughts; and certainly I read
them like print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all
else had been forgotten ; his promise and the doctor's warning
were both things of the past; and I could not doubt that he
hoped to seize upon the treasure, find and board the His-
paniola under cover of night, cut every honest throat about
that island, and sail away as he had at first intended, laden
with crimes and riches.
Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me to
keep up with the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. Now
and again I stumbled; and it was then that Silver plucked so
roughly at the rope and launched at me his murderous glances.
Dick, who had dropped behind us, and now brought up the
rear, was babbling to himself both prayers and curses, as his
fever kept rising. This also added to my wretchedness, and,
to crown all, I was haunted by the thought of the tragedy
that had once been acted on that plateau, when that ungodly
buccaneer with the blue face he who died at Savannah,
singing and shouting for drink had there, with his own
hand, cut down his six accomplices. This grove, that was
now so peaceful, must then have rung with cries, I thought;
and even with the thought I could believe I heard it ringing
still.
We were now at the margin of the thicket.
"Huzza, mates, all together!" shouted Merry; and the
foremost broke into a run.
And suddenly, not ten yards further, we beheld them stop.
A low cry arose. Silver doubled his pace, digging away
[257]
TREASURE ISLAND
with the foot of his crutch like one possessed; and next mo-
ment he and I had come also to a dead halt.
Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the
sides had fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom.
In this were the shaft of a pick broken in two and the boards
of several packing-cases strewn around. On one of these
boards I saw, branded with a hot iron, the name Walrus
the name of Flint's ship.
All was clear to probation. The cache had been found
and rifled: the seven hundred thousand pounds were gone!
[258]
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN
THERE never was such an overturn in this world.
Each of these six men was as though he had been
struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost in-
stantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch,
like a racer, on that money; well, he was brought up in a
single second, dead ; and he kept his head, found his temper,
and changed his plan before the others had had time to realize
the disappointment.
"Jim," he whispered, "take that, and stand by for trouble."
And he passed me a double-barrelled pistol.
At the same time he began quietly moving northward,
and in a few steps had put the hollow between us two and
the other five. Then he looked at me and nodded, as much
as to say, "Here is a narrow corner," as, indeed, I thought
it was. His looks were now quite friendly; and I was so
revolted at these constant changes, that I could not forbear
whispering, "So you 've changed sides again."
There was no time left for him to answer in. The bucca-
neers, with oaths and cries, began to leap, one after another,
into the pit, and to dig with their fingers, throwing the boards
aside as they did so. Morgan found a piece of gold. He
held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. It was a two-guinea
[259]
TREASURE ISLAND
piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for a
quarter of a minute.
"Two guineas!" roared Merry, shaking it at Silver.
"That 's your seven hundred thousand pounds, is it ? You 're
the man for bargains, ain't you ? You 're him that never
bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!"
"Dig away, boys," said Silver, with the coolest insolence;
"you '11 find some pig-nuts and I shouldn't wonder."
"Pig-nuts!" repeated Merry, in a scream. "Mates, do
you hear that? I tell you, now, that man there knew it all
along. Look in the face of him, and you '11 see 'it wrote there."
"Ah, Merry," remarked Silver, "standing for cap'n again ?
You 're a pushing lad, to be sure."
But this time every one was entirely in Merry's favour.
They began to scramble out of the excavation, darting
furious glances behind them. One thing I observed, which
looked well for us: they all got out upon the opposite side
from Silver.
Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other,
the pit between us, and nobody screwed up high enough to
offer the first blow. Silver never moved; he watched them,
very upright on his crutch, and looked as cool as ever I saw
him. He was brave, and no mistake.
At last, Merry seemed to think a speech might help
matters.
"Mates," says he, "there's two of them alone there;
one 's the old cripple that brought us all here and blundered
us down to this, the other 's that cub that I mean to have
the heart of. Now, mates "
[ 260 ]
THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN
He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant
to lead a charge. But just then crack ! crack ! crack !
three musket-shots flashed out of the thicket. Merry tum-
bled head-foremost into the excavation; the man with the
bandage spun round like a teetotum, and fell all his length
upon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and
the other three turned and ran for it with all their might.
Before you could wink, Long John had fired two barrels
of a pistol into the struggling Merry; and as the man rolled
up his eyes at him in the last agony, "George," said he, "I
reckon I settled you."
At the same moment the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn
joined us, with smoking muskets, from among the nutmeg
trees.
"Forward!" cried the doctor. "Double quick, my lads.
We must head 'em off the boats."
And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through
the bushes to the chest.
I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us.
The work that man went through, leaping on his crutch till
the muscles of his chest were fit to burst, was work no sound
man ever equalled; and so thinks the doctor. As it was, he
was already thirty yards behind us, and on the verge of stran-
gling, 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 Mizzen-
mast Hill. We were already between them and the boats;
[261]
TREASURE ISLAND
and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John, mop-
ping his face, came slowly up with us.
"Thank ye kindly, doctor/' says he. "You came in in
about the nick, I guess, for me and Hawkins. And so it 's
you, Ben Gunn!" he added. "Well, you're a nice one, to
be sure."
"I 'm Ben Gunn, I am," replied the maroon, wriggling
like an eel in his embarrassment. "And," he added, after
a long pause, "how do, Mr. Silver? Pretty well, I thank
ye, says you."
"Ben, Ben," murmured Silver, "to think as you 've done
me!"
The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pickaxes,
deserted, in their flight, by the mutineers; and then as we
proceeded leisurely down-hill to where the boats were lying,
related, in a few words, what had taken place. It was a
story that profoundly interested Silver; and Ben Gunn, the
half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end.
Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had
found the skeleton it was he that had rifled it ; he had
found the treasure; he had dug it up (it was the haft of his
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 two-pointed hill at the north-
east angle of the island, and there it had lain stored in safety
since two months before the arrival of the Hispaniola.
When the doctor had wormed this secret from him, on
the afternoon of the attack, and when, next morning, he
saw the anchorage deserted, he had gone to Silver, given
[262 ]
THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN
him the chart, which was now useless given him the stores,
for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goats* meat
salted by himself given anything and everything to get a
chance of moving in safety from the stockade to the two-
pointed hill, there to be clear of malaria and keep a guard
upon the money.
"As for you, Jim," he said, "it went against my heart,
but I did what I thought best for those who had stood by their
duty; and if you were not one of these, whose fault was it?"
That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the
horrid disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he
had run all the way to the cave, and, leaving the squire to
guard the captain, had taken Gray and the maroon, and
started, making the diagonal across the island, to be at hand
beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had
the start of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had
been despatched in front to do his best alone. Then it had
occurred to him to work upon the superstitions of his former
shipmates; and he was so far successful that Gray and the
doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the
arrival of the treasure-hunters.
"Ah," said Silver, "it were fortunate for me that I had
Hawkins here. You would have let old John be cut to bits,
and never given it a thought, doctor."
"Not a thought," replied Dr. Livesey, cheerily.
And by this time we had reached the gigs. The doctor,
with a pickaxe, demolished one of them, and then we all got
aboard the other, and set out to go round by sea for North
Inlet.
[ 263 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
This was a run of eight or nine miles. Silver, though he
was almost killed already with fatigue, was set to an oar,
like the rest of us, and we were soon skimming swiftly over a
smooth sea. Soon we passed out of the straits and doubled
the south-east corner of the island, round which, four days
ago, we had towed the Hispaniola.
As we passed the two-pointed hill, we could see the black
mouth of Ben Gunn's cave, and a figure standing by it, lean-
ing on a musket. It was the squire; and we waved a hand-
kerchief 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 be-
yond help. As it was, there was little amiss, beyond the
wreck of the main-sail. Another anchor was got ready, and
dropped in a fathom and a half of water. We all pulled round
again to Rum Cove, the nearest point for Ben Gunn's treasure-
house; and then Gray, single-handed, returned with the gig to
the Hispaniola, where he was to pass the night on guard.
A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance of
the cave. At the top, the squire met us. To me he was
cordial and kind, saying nothing of my escapade, either in
the way of blame or praise. At Silver's polite salute he
somewhat flushed.
"John Silver," he said, "you 're a prodigious villain and
impostor a monstrous impostor, sir. I am told I am not
[264]
THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN
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, over-
hung 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 quadri-
laterals built of bars of gold. That was Flint's treasure that
we had come so far to seek, and that had cost already the
lives of seventeen men from the Hispaniola. How many it
had cost in the amassing, what blood and sorrow, what good
ships scuttled on the deep, what brave men walking the
plank blindfold, what shot of cannon, what shame and lies
and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell. Yet there were
still three upon that island Silver, and old Morgan, and
Ben Gunn who had each taken his share in these crimes,
as each had hoped in vain to share in the reward.
"Come in, Jim," said the captain. "You 're a good boy
in your line, Jim; but I don't think you and me '11 go to sea
again. You 're too much of the born favourite for me. Is
that you, John Silver? What brings you here, man?"
"Come back to my dooty, sir," returned Silver.
"Ah!" said the captain; and that was all he said.
What a supper I had of it that night, with all my friends
around me; and what a meal it was, with Ben Gunn's salted
[265]
TREASURE ISLAND
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.
[266]
CHAPTEK XXXIY
AND LAST
THE next morning we fell early to work, for the trans-
portation 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 insure us against any sudden on-
slaught, 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, dur-
ing their absences, piled treasure on the beach. Two of the
bars, slung in a rope's-end, made a good load for a grown
man one that he was glad to walk slowly with. For my
part, as I was not much use at carrying, I was kept busy
all day in the cave, packing the minted money into bread-
bags.
It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones's hoard for the
diversity of coinage, but so much larger and so much more
varied that I think I never had more pleasure than in sorting
them. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and
Louises, doubloons and double guineas and moidores and se-
[267]
TREASURE ISLAND
quins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the last hun-
dred years, strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked
like wisps of string or bits of spider's web, round pieces and
square pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to
wear them round your neck nearly every variety of money
in the world must, I think, have found a place in that col-
lection; 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 for-
tune 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 over-
looks the lowlands of the isle, when, from out the thick dark-
ness below, the wind brought us a noise between shrieking
and singing. It was only a snatch that reached our ears, fol-
lowed by the former silence.
"Heaven forgive them," said the doctor, "'tis the muti-
neers!"
"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 dependant. Indeed, it was
remarkable how well he bore these slights, and with w^hat
unwearying politeness he kept on trying to ingratiate himself
with all. Yet, I think, none treated him better than a dog;
[268 ]
AND LAST
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 what-
ever risk to my own carcass, take them the assistance of my
skill."
"Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong," quoth
Silver. "You would lose your precious life, and you may
lay to that. I 'm on your side now, hand and glove; and I
shouldn't wish for to see the party weakened, let alone your-
self, seeing as I know what I owes you. But these men
down there, they couldn't keep their word no, not suppo-
sing they wished to ; and what 's more, they couldn't believe
as you could."
"No," said the doctor. "You 're the man to keep your
word, we know that."
Well, that was about the last news we had of the three
pirates. Only once we heard a gunshot a great way off,
[269 ]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 dis-
tress; and at last, one fine morning, we weighed anchor,
which was about all that we could manage, and stood out of
North Inlet, the same colours flying that the captain had
flown and fought under at the palisade.
The three fellows must have been watching us closer than
we thought for, as we soon had proved. For, coming through
the narrows, we had to lie very near the southern point, and
there we saw all three of them kneeling together on a spit of
sand, with their arms raised in supplication. It went to all
our hearts, I think, to leave them in that wretched state;
but we could not risk another mutiny; and to take them
home for the gibbet would have been a cruel sort of kindness.
The doctor hailed them and told them of the stores we had
left, and where they were to find them. But they continued
to call us by name, and appeal to us, for God's sake, to be
merciful, and not leave them to die in such a place.
At last, seeing the ship still bore on her course, and was
now swiftly drawing out of earshot, one of them I know
[270]
AND LAST
not which it was leapt to his feet with a hoarse cry, whipped
his musket to his shoulder, and sent a shot whistling over
Silver's head and through the main-sail.
After that, we kept under cover of the bulwarks, and when
next I looked out they had disappeared from the spit, and the
spit itself had almost melted out of sight in the growing dis-
tance. 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 every one on board had to
bear a hand only the captain lying on a mattress in the
stern and giving his orders ; for, though greatly recovered, he
was still in want of quiet. We laid her head for the nearest
port in Spanish America, for we could not risk the voyage
home without fresh hands; and as it was, what with baffling
winds and a couple of fresh gales, we were all worn out before
we reached it.
It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a most
beautiful land-locked gulf, and were immediately surrounded
by shore boats full of negroes, and Mexican Indians, and
half-bloods, selling fruits and vegetables, and offering to
dive for bits of money. The sight of so many good-humoured
faces (especially the blacks), the taste of the tropical fruits,
and, above all, the lights that began to shine in the town,
made a most charming contrast to our dark and bloody
sojourn on the island; and the doctor and the squire, taking
me along with them, went ashore to pass the early part of
the night. Here they met the captain of an English man-of-
war, fell in talk with him, went on board his ship, and, in
[271]
TREASURE ISLAND
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 as-
sured us he had only done so to preserve our lives, which
would certainly have been forfeit if "that man with the one
leg had stayed aboard." But this was not all. The sea-cook
had not gone empty-handed. He had cut through a bulk-
head 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 made 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 re-
turned with her. "Drink and the devil had done for the
rest," with a vengeance; although, to be sure, we were not
quite in so bad a case as that other ship they sang about:
" With one man of her crew alive,
What put to sea with seventy-five."
All of us had an ample share of the treasure, and used
it wisely or foolishly, according to our natures. Captain
Smollett is now retired from the sea. Gray not only saved
his money, but, being suddenly smit with the desire to rise,
also studied his profession; and he is now mate and part
[272]
AND LAST
owner of a fine full-rigged ship; married besides, and the
father of a family. As for Ben Gunn, he got a thousand
pounds, which he spent or lost in three weeks, or, to be
more exact, in nineteen days, for he was back begging on
the twentieth. Then he was given a lodge to keep, exactly
as he had feared upon the island; and he still lives, a great
favourite, though something of a butt, with the country boys,
and a notable singer in church on Sundays and saints' days.
Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable sea-
faring man with one leg has at last gone clean out of my
life; but I dare say he met his old negress, and perhaps still
lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint. It is to be
hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in another
world are very small.
The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know,
where Flint buried them; and certainly they shall lie there
for me. Oxen and wain-ropes would not bring me back
again to that accursed island; and the worst dreams that
ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about its
coasts, or start upright in bed, with the sharp voice of Cap-
tain Flint still ringing in my ears: "Pieces of eight! pieces
of eight!"
[ 273 ]
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Los Angeles
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