"JIM," said Silver when we were
alone, "if I saved your life, you
saved mine; and I'll not forget it.
I seen the doctor waving you to run
for it—with the tail of my eye, I
did; and I seen you say no, as plain
as hearing. Jim, that's one to you.
This is the first glint of hope I
had since the attack failed, and I
owe it you. And now, Jim, we're to
go in for this here
treasure-hunting, with sealed orders
too, and I don't like it; and you
and me must stick close, back to
back like, and we'll save our necks
in spite o' fate and fortune."
Just then a man hailed us from the
fire that breakfast was ready, and
we were soon seated here and there
about the sand over biscuit and
fried junk. They had lit a fire fit
to roast an ox, and it was now grown
so hot that they could only approach
it from the windward, and even there
not without precaution. In the same
wasteful spirit, they had cooked, I
suppose, three times more than we
could eat; and one of them, with an
empty laugh, threw what was left
into the fire, which blazed and
roared again over this unusual fuel.
I never in my life saw men so
careless of the morrow; hand to
mouth is the only word that can
describe their way of doing; and
what with wasted food and sleeping
sentries, though they were bold
enough for a brush and be done with
it, I could see their entire
unfitness for anything like a
prolonged campaign.
Even Silver, eating away, with
Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had
not a word of blame for their
recklessness. And this the more
surprised me, for I thought he had
never shown himself so cunning as he
did then.
"Aye, mates," said he, "it's lucky
you have Barbecue to think for you
with this here head. I got what I
wanted, I did. Sure enough, they
have the ship. Where they have it, I
don't know yet; but once we hit the
treasure, we'll have to jump about
and find out. And then, mates, us
that has the boats, I reckon, has
the upper hand."
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'll
take him in a line when we go
treasure-hunting, for we'll keep him
like so much gold, in case of
accidents, you mark, and in the
meantime. Once we got the ship and
treasure both and off to sea like
jolly companions, why then we'll
talk Mr. Hawkins over, we will, and
we'll give him his share, to be
sure, for all his kindness."
It was no wonder the men were in a
good humour now. For my part, I was
horribly cast down. Should the
scheme he had now sketched prove
feasible, Silver, already doubly a
traitor, would not hesitate to adopt
it. He had still a foot in either
camp, and there was no doubt he
would prefer wealth and freedom with
the pirates to a bare escape from
hanging, which was the best he had
to hope on our side.
Nay, and even if things so fell out
that he was forced to keep his faith
with Dr. Livesey, even then what
danger lay before us! What a moment
that would be when the suspicions of
his followers turned to certainty
and he and I should have to fight
for dear life—he a cripple and I a
boy—against five strong and active
seamen!
Add to this double apprehension the
mystery that still hung over the
behaviour of my friends, their
unexplained desertion of the
stockade, their inexplicable cession
of the chart, or harder still to
understand, the 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 anyone
been there to see us—all in soiled
sailor clothes and all but me armed
to the teeth. Silver had two guns
slung about him—one before and one
behind—besides the great cutlass at
his waist and a pistol in each
pocket of his square-tailed coat. To
complete his strange appearance,
Captain Flint sat perched upon his
shoulder and 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.
The other men were variously
burthened, some carrying picks and
shovels—for that had been the very
first necessary they brought ashore
from the HISPANIOLA—others laden
with pork, bread, and brandy for the
midday meal. All the stores, I
observed, came from our stock, and I
could see the truth of Silver's
words the night before. Had he not
struck a bargain with the doctor, he
and his mutineers, deserted by the
ship, must have been driven to
subsist on clear water and the
proceeds of their hunting. Water
would have been little to their
taste; a sailor is not usually a
good shot; and besides all that,
when they were so short of eatables,
it was not likely they would be very
flush of powder.
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.
A tall tree was thus the principal
mark. Now, right before us the
anchorage was bounded by a plateau
from two to three hundred feet high,
adjoining on the north the sloping
southern shoulder of the Spy-glass
and rising again 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
neighbours, and which of these was
the particular "tall tree" of
Captain Flint could only be decided
on the spot, and by the readings of
the compass.
Yet, although that was the case,
every man on board the boats had
picked a favourite of his own ere we
were half-way over, Long John alone
shrugging his shoulders and bidding
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, bending to our left, we
began to ascend the slope towards
the plateau.
At the first outset, heavy, miry
ground and a matted, marish
vegetation greatly delayed our
progress; but by little and little
the hill began to steepen and become
stony under foot, and the wood to
change its character and to grow in
a more open order. It was, indeed, a
most pleasant portion of the island
that we were now approaching. A
heavy-scented broom and many
flowering shrubs had almost taken
the place of grass. Thickets of
green nutmeg-trees were dotted here
and there with the red columns and
the broad shadow of the pines; and
the first mingled their spice with
the aroma of the others. The air,
besides, was fresh and stirring, and
this, under the sheer sunbeams, was
a wonderful refreshment to our
senses.
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, hurrying 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."
"Aye, aye," said Silver; "like
enough; you wouldn't look to find a
bishop here, I reckon. But what sort
of a way is that for bones to lie?
'Tain't in natur'."
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
numbskull," observed Silver. "Here's
the compass; there's the tip-top
p'int o' Skeleton Island, stickin'
out like a tooth. Just take a
bearing, will you, along the line of
them bones."
It was done. The body pointed
straight in the direction of the
island, and the compass read duly
E.S.E. and by E.
"I thought so," cried the cook;
"this here is a p'inter. Right up
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. Aye, that would be
Allardyce. You mind Allardyce, Tom
Morgan?"
"Aye, aye," returned Morgan; "I mind
him; he owed me money, he did, and
took my knife ashore with him."
"Speaking of knives," said another,
"why don't we find his'n lying
round? Flint warn't the man to pick
a seaman's pocket; and the birds, I
guess, would leave it be."
"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
deadlights," said Morgan. "Billy
took me in. There he laid, with
penny-pieces on his eyes."
"Dead—aye, sure enough he's dead and
gone below," said the fellow with
the bandage; "but if ever sperrit
walked, it would be Flint's. Dear
heart, but he died bad, did Flint!"
"Aye, that he did," observed
another; "now he raged, and now he
hollered for the rum, and now he
sang. 'Fifteen Men' were his only
song, mates; and I tell you true, I
never rightly liked to hear it
since. It was main hot, and the
windy was open, and I hear that old
song comin' out as clear as
clear—and the 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."
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. |
