Transcriber's note: Hyphenation inconsistencies were left unchanged. 

 THE WORKS OF

 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

 SWANSTON EDITION

 VOLUME VI

 _Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies have been printed, of which only Two Thousand Copies are for sale. _

 _This is No. . . . . . . . . . . _

 [Illustration]

 THE WORKS OF

 ROBERT LOUIS

 STEVENSON

 VOLUME SIX

 LONDON: PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND WINDUS: IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL AND COMPANY LIMITED: WILLIAM HEINEMANN: AND LONGMANS GREEN AND COMPANY MDCCCCXI

 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 CONTENTS

 TREASURE ISLAND

 PART I. --THE OLD BUCCANEER

 CHAPTER PAGE

 I. THE OLD SEA-DOG AT THE "ADMIRAL BENBOW" 9 II. BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS 15 III. THE BLACK SPOT 22 IV. THE SEA CHEST 28 V. THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN 34 VI. THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS 40

 PART II. --THE SEA-COOK

 VII. I GO TO BRISTOL 49 VIII. AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS" 54 IX. POWDER AND ARMS 60 X. THE VOYAGE 66 XI. WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE-BARREL 72 XII. COUNCIL OF WAR 79

 PART III. --MY SHORE ADVENTURE

 XIII. HOW I BEGAN MY SHORE ADVENTURE 87 XIV. THE FIRST BLOW 93 XV. THE MAN OF THE ISLAND 99

 PART IV. --THE STOCKADE

 XVI. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED 109 XVII. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP 114 XVIII. NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--END OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHTING 119 XIX. NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS--THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE 124 XX. SILVER'S EMBASSY 130 XXI. THE ATTACK 136

 PART V. --MY SEA ADVENTURE

 XXII. HOW I BEGAN MY SEA ADVENTURE 145 XXIII. THE EBB-TIDE RUNS 151 XXIV. THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE 156 XXV. I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER 162 XXVI. ISRAEL HANDS 167 XXVII. "PIECES OF EIGHT" 176

 PART VI. --CAPTAIN SILVER

 XXVIII. IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP 185 XXIX. THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN 193 XXX. ON PAROLE 200 XXXI. THE TREASURE HUNT--FLINT'S POINTER 207 XXXII. THE TREASURE HUNT--THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES 214 XXXIII. THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN 220 XXXIV. AND LAST 226

 WILL O' THE MILL

 PAGE

 THE PLAIN AND THE STARS 235 THE PARSON'S MARJORY 244 DEATH 256

 THE TREASURE OF FRANCHARD

 CHAPTER

 I. BY THE DYING MOUNTEBANK 267 II. MORNING TALK 271 III. THE ADOPTION 278 IV. THE EDUCATION OF A PHILOSOPHER 286 V. TREASURE TROVE 296 VI. A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, IN TWO PARTS 309 VII. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DESPREZ 320 VIII. THE WAGES OF PHILOSOPHY 329

 TREASURE ISLAND

 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, DEDICATED 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!_

 PART I

 THE OLD BUCCANEER

 TREASURE ISLAND

 CHAPTER I

 THE OLD SEA-DOG AT THE "ADMIRAL BENBOW"

Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen, havingasked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, fromthe beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of theisland, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, Itake up my pen in the year of grace 17--, and go back to the time when myfather kept the "Admiral Benbow" inn, and the brown old seaman, with thesabre-cut, first took up his lodging under our roof. 

I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to theinn-door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow; a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man; his tarry pigtail falling over theshoulders of his soiled blue coat; his hands ragged and scarred, withblack, broken nails; and the sabre-cut across one cheek, a dirty, lividwhite. I remember him looking round the cove and whistling to himself ashe did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang sooften afterwards:--

 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned andbroken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door with a bit ofstick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared, called roughly for a glass of rum. This, when it was brought to him, hedrank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste, and stilllooking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard. 

"This is a handy cove, " says he, at length; "and a pleasant sittyatedgrog-shop. --Much company, mate?"

My father told him no--very little company, the more was the pity. 

"Well, then, " said he, "this is the berth for me. --Here you, matey, " hecried to the man who trundled the barrow; "bring up alongside and help upmy chest. I'll stay here a bit, " he continued. "I'm a plain man; rum andbacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch shipsoff. --What you mought call me? You mought call me captain. Oh, I see whatyou're at--there;" and he threw down three or four gold pieces on thethreshold. "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 hadnone of the appearance of a man who sailed before the mast; but seemedlike a mate or skipper, accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. The man whocame with the barrow told us the mail had set him down the morning beforeat the "Royal George"; that he had inquired what inns there were alongthe coast, and hearing ours well spoken of, I suppose, and described aslonely, had chosen it from the others for his place of residence. Andthat was all we could learn of our guest. 

He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove, orupon the cliffs, with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a cornerof the parlour next the fire, and drank rum and water very strong. Mostlyhe would not speak when spoken to; only look up sudden and fierce, andblow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who cameabout our house soon learned to let him be. Every day, when he came backfrom his stroll, he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along theroad. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind thatmade him ask this question; but at last we began to see he was desirousto avoid them. When a seaman put up at the "Admiral Benbow" (as now andthen some did, making by the coast road for Bristol), he would look in athim through the curtained door before he entered the parlour; and he wasalways 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, asharer in his alarms. He had taken me aside one day, and promised me asilver fourpenny on the first of every month if I would only keep my"weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg, " and let him know themoment 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 atme, and stare me down; but before the week was out he was sure to thinkbetter of it, bring me my fourpenny-piece, and repeat his orders to lookout for "the seafaring man with one leg. "

How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. On stormynights, when the wind shook the four corners of the house, and the surfroared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in a thousandforms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions. Now the leg would becut off at the knee, now at the hip; now he was a monstrous kind of acreature who had never had but the one leg, and that in the middle of hisbody. To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge and ditch was theworst of nightmares. And altogether I paid pretty dear for my monthlyfourpenny-piece, in the shape of these abominable fancies. 

But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man with oneleg, I was far less afraid of the captain himself than anybody else whoknew him. There were nights when he took a deal more rum and water thanhis head would carry; and then he would sometimes sit and sing his wickedold wild sea-songs, minding nobody; but sometimes he would call forglasses round, and force all the trembling company to listen to hisstories or bear a chorus to his singing. Often I have heard the houseshaking with "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum"; all the neighbours joiningin for dear life, with the fear of death upon them, and each singinglouder than the other, to avoid remark. For in these fits he was the mostoverriding companion ever known; he would slap his hand on the table, forsilence all round; he would fly up in a passion of anger at a question, or sometimes because none was put, and so he judged the company was notfollowing his story. Nor would he allow any one to leave the inn till hehad drunk himself sleepy and reeled off to bed. 

His stories were what frightened people worst of all. Dreadful storiesthey were; about hanging, and walking the plank, and storms at sea, andthe Dry Tortugas, and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main. By hisown account he must have lived his life among some of the wickedest menthat God ever allowed upon the sea; and the language in which he toldthese stories shocked our plain country people almost as much as thecrimes that he described. My father was always saying the inn would beruined, for people would soon cease coming there to be tyrannised overand put down, and sent shivering to their beds; but I really believe hispresence did us good. People were frightened at the time, but on lookingback they rather liked it; it was a fine excitement in a quiet countrylife; and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended toadmire him, calling him a "true sea-dog, " and a "real old salt, " andsuchlike names, and saying there was the sort of man that made Englandterrible at sea. 

In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept on staying weekafter week, and at last month after month, so that all the money had beenlong exhausted, and still my father never plucked up the heart to insiston having more. If ever he mentioned it, the captain blew through hisnose so loudly that you might say he roared, and stared my poor fatherout 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 greatlyhastened his early and unhappy death. 

All the time he lived with us the captain made no change whatever in hisdress but to buy some stockings from a hawker. One of the cocks of hishat having fallen down, he let it hang from that day forth, though it wasa great annoyance when it blew. I remember the appearance of his coat, which he patched himself up-stairs in his room, and which, before theend, was nothing but patches. He never wrote or received a letter, and henever spoke with any but the neighbours, and with these, for the mostpart, only when drunk on rum. The great sea-chest none of us had everseen open. 

He was only once crossed, and that was towards the end, when my poorfather was far gone in a decline that took him off. Dr. Livesey came lateone 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 comedown from the hamlet, for we had no stabling at the old "Benbow. " Ifollowed him in, and I remember observing the contrast the neat, brightdoctor, with his powder as white as snow, and his bright black eyes andpleasant manners, made with the coltish country folk, and above all, withthat filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of a pirate of ours, sitting fargone in rum, with his arms on the table. Suddenly he--the captain, thatis--began to pipe up his eternal song:--

 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

At first I had supposed "the dead man's chest" to be that identical bigbox of his up-stairs in the front room, and the thought had been mingledin my nightmares with that of the one-legged seafaring man. But by thistime we had all long ceased to pay any particular notice to the song; itwas new, that night, to nobody but Dr. Livesey, and on him I observed itdid not produce an agreeable effect, for he looked up for a moment quiteangrily before he went on with his talk to old Taylor, the gardener, on anew cure for the rheumatics. In the meantime, the captain graduallybrightened up at his own music, and at last flapped his hand upon thetable before him in a way we all knew to mean--silence. The voicesstopped at once, all but Dr. Livesey's; he went on as before, speakingclear and kind, and drawing briskly at his pipe between every word ortwo. The captain glared at him for a while, flapped his hand again, glared still harder, and at last broke out with a villainous, low oath:"Silence, there, between decks!"

"Were you addressing me, sir?" says the doctor; and when the ruffian hadtold him, with another oath, that this was so, "I have only one thing tosay to you, sir, " replies the doctor, "that if you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel!"

The old fellow's fury was awful. He sprang to his feet, drew and opened asailor's clasp-knife, and, balancing it open on the palm of his hand, threatened to pin the doctor to the wall. 

The doctor never so much as moved. He spoke to him, as before, over hisshoulder, and in the same tone of voice; rather high, so that all theroom might hear, but perfectly calm and steady--

"If you do not put that knife this instant in your pocket, I promise, upon my honour, you shall hang at next assizes. "

Then followed a battle of looks between them; but the captain soonknuckled under, put up his weapon, and resumed his seat, grumbling like abeaten dog. 

"And now, sir, " continued the doctor, "since I now know there's such afellow in my district, you may count I'll have an eye upon you day andnight. I'm not a doctor only; I'm a magistrate; and if I catch a breathof complaint against you, if it's only for a piece of incivility liketo-night's, I'll take effectual means to have you hunted down and routedout of this. Let that suffice. "

Soon after Dr. Livesey's horse came to the door, and he rode away; butthe captain held his peace that evening, and for many evenings to come. 

 CHAPTER II

 BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS

It was not very long after this that there occurred the first of themysterious events that rid us at last of the captain, though not, as youwill see, of his affairs. It was a bitter cold winter, with long, hardfrosts and heavy gales; and it was plain from the first that my poorfather was little likely to see the spring. He sank daily, and my motherand I had all the inn upon our hands, and were kept busy enough, withoutpaying much regard to our unpleasant guest. 

It was one January morning, very early--a pinching, frosty morning--thecove all grey with hoar-frost, the ripple lapping softly on the stones, the sun still low and only touching the hill-tops and shining far toseaward. The captain had risen earlier than usual, and set out down thebeach, his cutlass swinging under the broad skirts of the old blue coat, his brass telescope under his arm, his hat tilted back upon his head. Iremember his breath hanging like smoke in his wake as he strode off, andthe last sound I heard of him, as he turned the big rock, was a loudsnort of indignation, as though his mind was still running upon Dr. Livesey. 

Well, mother was up-stairs with father; and I was laying thebreakfast-table against the captain's return, when the parlour dooropened, and a man stepped in on whom I had never set my eyes before. Hewas a pale, tallowy creature, wanting two fingers of the left hand; and, though he wore a cutlass, he did not look much like a fighter. I hadalways my eye open for seafaring men, with one leg or two, and I rememberthis one puzzled me. He was not sailorly, and yet he had a smack of thesea about him too. 

I asked him what was for his service, and he said he would take rum; butas I was going out of the room to fetch it he sat down upon a table andmotioned 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 whostayed in our house, whom we called the captain. 

"Well, " said he, "my mate Bill would be called the captain, as like asnot. He has a cut on one cheek, and a mighty pleasant way with him, particularly in drink, has my mate Bill. We'll put it, for argument like, that your captain has a cut on one cheek--and we'll put it, if you like, that that cheek's the right one. Ah, well! I told you. Now, is my mateBill in this here house?"

I told him he was out walking. 

"Which way, sonny? Which way is he gone?"

And when I had pointed out the rock, and told him how the captain waslikely to return, and how soon, and answered a few otherquestions, --"Ah, " said he, "this'll be as good as drink to my mate Bill. "

The expression of his face as he said these words was not at allpleasant, and I had my own reasons for thinking that the stranger wasmistaken, even supposing he meant what he said. But it was no affair ofmine, I thought; and, besides, it was difficult to know what to do. Thestranger kept hanging about just inside the inn door, peering round thecorner like a cat waiting for a mouse. Once I stepped out myself into theroad, but he immediately called me back, and, as I did not obey quickenough for his fancy, a most horrible change came over his tallowy face, and he ordered me in, with an oath that made me jump. As soon as I wasback 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 takenquite a fancy to me. "I have a son of my own, " said he, "as like you astwo blocks, and he's all the pride of my 'art. But the great thing forboys is discipline, sonny--discipline. Now, if you had sailed along ofBill, you wouldn't have stood there to be spoke to twice--not you. Thatwas 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 hisold 'art, to be sure. You and me'll just go back into the parlour, sonny, and get behind the door, and we'll give Bill a little surprise--bless his'art, I say again. "

So saying, the stranger backed along with me into the parlour, and put mebehind him in the corner, so that we were both hidden by the open door. Iwas very uneasy and alarmed, as you may fancy, and it rather added to myfears to observe that the stranger was certainly frightened himself. Hecleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in the sheath; andall the time we were waiting there he kept swallowing as if he felt whatwe used to call a lump in the throat. 

At last in strode the captain, slammed the door behind him, withoutlooking to the right or left, and marched straight across the room towhere his breakfast awaited him. 

"Bill, " said the stranger, in a voice that I thought he had tried to makebold and big. 

The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us; all the brown had goneout of his face, and even his nose was blue; he had the look of a man whosees 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 oldand sick. 

"Come, Bill, you know me; you know an old shipmate, Bill, surely, " saidthe stranger. 

The captain gave a sort of gasp. 

"Black Dog!" said he. 

"And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his ease. "Black Dogas ever was, come for to see his old shipmate Billy, at the 'AdmiralBenbow' inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two, sinceI lost them two talons, " holding up his mutilated hand. 

"Now, look here, " said the captain; "you've run me down; here I am; well, then, speak up: what is it?"

"That's you, Bill, " returned Black Dog, "you're in the right of it, Billy. I'll have a glass of rum from this dear child here, as I've tooksuch a liking to; and we'll sit down, if you please, and talk square, like old shipmates. "

When I returned with the rum, they were already seated on either side ofthe captain's breakfast-table--Black Dog next to the door, and sittingsideways, so as to have one eye on his old shipmate, and one, as Ithought, on his retreat. 

He bade me go, and leave the door wide open. "None of your keyholes forme, sonny, " he said; and I left them together, and retired into the bar. 

For a long time, though I certainly did my best to listen, I could hearnothing but a low 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 itcomes to swinging, swing all, say I. "

Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous explosion of oaths and othernoises--the chair and table went over in a lump, a clash of steelfollowed, and then a cry of pain, and the next instant I saw Black Dog infull flight, and the captain hotly pursuing, both with drawn cutlasses, and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder. Just at the doorthe captain aimed at the fugitive one last tremendous cut, which wouldcertainly have split him to the chine had it not been intercepted by ourbig signboard of Admiral Benbow. You may see the notch on the lower sideof 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, anddisappeared over the edge of the hill in half a minute. The captain, forhis part, stood staring at the signboard like a bewildered man. Then hepassed his hand over his eyes several times, and at last turned back intothe house. 

"Jim, " says he, "rum;" and as he spoke he reeled a little, and caughthimself with one hand against the wall. 

"Are you hurt?" cried I. 

"Rum, " he repeated. "I must get away from here. Rum! rum!"

I ran to fetch it; but I was quite unsteadied by all that had fallen out, and I broke one glass and fouled the tap, and while I was still gettingin 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 instantmy mother, alarmed by the cries and fighting, came running down-stairs tohelp me. Between us we raised his head. He was breathing very loud andhard; but his eyes were closed, and his face a horrible colour. 

"Dear, deary me, " cried my mother, "what a disgrace upon the house! Andyour poor father sick!"

In the meantime, we had no idea what to do to help the captain, nor anyother thought but that he had got his death-hurt in the scuffle with thestranger. 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 ahappy relief for us when the door opened and Doctor Livesey came in, onhis visit to my father. 

"Oh, doctor, " we cried, "what shall we do? Where is he wounded?"

"Wounded? A fiddle-stick's end!" said the doctor. "No more wounded thanyou or I. The man has had a stroke, as I warned him. --Now, Mrs. Hawkins, just you run up-stairs to your husband, and tell him, if possible, nothing about it. For my part, I must do my best to save this fellow'strebly worthless life; and Jim here will get me a basin. "

When I got back with the basin, the doctor had already ripped up thecaptain's sleeve, and exposed his great sinewy arm. It was tattooed inseveral places. "Here's luck, " "A fair wind, " and "Billy Bones hisfancy, " were very neatly and clearly executed on the forearm; and up nearthe shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging fromit--done, as I thought, with great spirit. 

"Prophetic, " said the doctor, touching this picture with his finger. "Andnow, Master Billy Bones, if that be your name, we'll have a look at thecolour of your blood. --Jim, " he said, "are you afraid of blood?"

"No, sir, " said I. 

"Well, then, " said he, "you hold the basin;" and with that he took hislancet and opened a vein. 

A great deal of blood was taken before the captain opened his eyes andlooked mistily about him. First he recognised the doctor with anunmistakable 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 onyour 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----"

"That's not my name, " he interrupted. 

"Much I care, " returned the doctor. "It's the name of a buccaneer of myacquaintance, and I call you by it for the sake of shortness, and what Ihave to say to you is this: one glass of rum won't kill you, but if youtake one you'll take another and another, and I stake my wig if you don'tbreak off short, you'll die--do you understand that?--die, and go to yourown place, like the man in the Bible. Come, now, make an effort. I'llhelp you to your bed for once. "

Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him up-stairs, andlaid him on his bed, where his head fell back on the pillow, as if hewere almost fainting. 

"Now, mind you, " said the doctor, "I clear my conscience--the name of rumfor you is death. "

And with that he went off to see my father, taking me with him by thearm. 

"This is nothing, " he said, as soon as he had closed the door. "I havedrawn blood enough to keep him quiet a while; he should lie for a weekwhere he is--that is the best thing for him and you; but another strokewould settle him. "

 CHAPTER III

 THE BLACK SPOT

About noon I stopped at the captain's door with some cooling drinks andmedicines. He was lying very much as we had left him, only a littlehigher, and he seemed both weak and excited. 

"Jim, " he said, "you're the only one here that's worth anything; and youknow I've been always good to you. Never a month but I've given you asilver fourpenny for yourself. And now you see, mate, I'm pretty low, anddeserted by all; and, Jim, you'll bring me one noggin of rum, now, won'tyou, 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 heknow about seafaring men? I been in places hot as pitch, and matesdropping round with Yellow Jack, and the blessed land a-heaving like thesea with earthquakes--what do the doctor know of lands like that?--and Ilived on rum, I tell you. It's been meat and drink, and man and wife, tome; and if I'm not to have my rum now I'm a poor old hulk on a lee-shore, my blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab;" and he ran on againfor a while with curses. "Look, Jim, how my fingers fidges, " hecontinued, in the pleading tone. "I can't keep 'em still, not I. Ihaven't had a drop this blessed day. That doctor's a fool, I tell you. IfI don't have a drain o' rum, Jim, I'll have the horrors; I seen some on'em already. I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; as plainas print, I seen him; and if I get the horrors, I'm a man that has livedrough, and I'll raise Cain. Your doctor hisself said one glass wouldn'thurt me. I'll give you a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim. "

He was growing more and more excited, and this alarmed me for my father, who was very low that day, and needed quiet; besides, I was re-assured bythe doctor's words, now quoted to me, and rather offended by the offer ofa bribe. 

"I want none of your money, " said I, "but what you owe my father. I'llget you one glass and no more. "

When I brought it to him, he seized it greedily, and drank it out. 

"Ay, ay, " said he, "that's some better, sure enough. And now, matey, didthat 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 spoton me by then. The lubbers is going about to get the wind of me thisblessed moment; lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to nailwhat is another's. Is that seamanly behaviour, now, I want to know? ButI'm a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine; nor lost itneither; and I'll trick 'em again. I'm not afraid on 'em. I'll shake outanother reef, matey, and daddle 'em again. "

As he was thus speaking, he had risen from bed with great difficulty, holding to my shoulder with a grip that almost made me cry out, andmoving his legs like so much dead weight. His words, spirited as theywere in meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of the voice in whichthey were uttered. He paused when he had got into a sitting position onthe 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 formerplace, where he lay for a while silent. 

"Jim, " he said, at length, "you saw that seafaring man to-day?"

"Black Dog?" I asked. 

"Ah! Black Dog, " says he. "_He's_ a bad 'un; but there's worse that puthim on. Now, if I can't get away nohow, and they tip me the black spot, mind you, it's my old sea-chest they're after; you get on a horse--youcan, can't you? Well, then, you get on a horse, and go to--well, yes, Iwill!--to that eternal doctor swab, and tell him to pipe allhands--magistrates and sich--and he'll lay 'em aboard at the 'AdmiralBenbow'--all old Flint's crew, man and boy, all on 'em that's left. I wasfirst mate, I was--old Flint's first mate, and I'm the only one as knowsthe place. He gave it me to Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as if Iwas to now, you see. But you won't peach unless they get the black spoton me, or unless you see that Black Dog again, or a seafaring man withone leg, Jim--him above all. "

"But what is the black spot, captain?" I asked. 

"That's a summons, mate. I'll tell you if they get that. But you keepyour weather-eye open, Jim, and I'll share with you equals, upon myhonour. "

He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after Ihad given him his medicine, which he took like a child, with the remark, "If ever a seaman wanted drugs, it's me, " he fell at last into a heavy, swoon-like sleep, in which I left him. What I should have done had allgone well I do not know. Probably I should have told the whole story tothe doctor; for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent ofhis confessions and make an end of me. But as things fell out, my poorfather died quite suddenly that evening, which put all other matters onone side. Our natural distress, the visits of the neighbours, thearranging of the funeral, and all the work of the inn to be carried on inthe meanwhile, kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think of thecaptain, 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 ofrum, for he helped himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing throughhis nose, and no one dared to cross him. On the night before the funeralhe was as drunk as ever; and it was shocking, in that house of mourning, to hear him singing away at his ugly old sea-song; but, weak as he was, we were all in fear of death for him, and the doctor was suddenly takenup with a case many miles away, and was never near the house after myfather's death. I have said the captain was weak; and indeed he seemedrather to grow weaker than regain his strength. He clambered up- anddown-stairs, and went from the parlour to the bar and back again, andsometimes put his nose out of doors to smell the sea, holding on to thewalls as he went for support, and breathing hard and fast like a man on asteep mountain. He never particularly addressed me, and it is my beliefhe had as good as forgotten his confidences; but his temper was moreflighty, and, allowing for his bodily weakness, more violent than ever. He had an alarming way now when he was drunk of drawing his cutlass andlaying it bare before him on the table. But, with all that, he mindedpeople less, and seemed shut up in his own thoughts and rather wandering. Once, for instance, to our extreme wonder, he piped up to a differentair, a kind of country love-song, that he must have learned in his youthbefore he had begun to follow the sea. 

So things passed until, the day after the funeral, and about threeo'clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the doorfor a moment, full of sad thoughts about my father, when I saw some onedrawing slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tappedbefore him with a stick, and wore a great green shade over his eyes andnose; and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a huge oldtattered sea-cloak with a hood, that made him appear positively deformed. I never saw in my life a more dreadful-looking figure. He stopped alittle 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 blind man, who has lost the precious sightof his eyes in the gracious defence of his native country, England, andGod bless King George!--where or in what part of this country he may nowbe?"

"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, mykind young friend, and lead me in?"

I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, eyeless creaturegripped it in a moment like a vice. I was so much startled that Istruggled to withdraw; but the blind man pulled me close up to him with asingle action of his arm. 

"Now, boy, " he said, "take me in to the captain. "

"Sir, " said I, "upon my word I dare not. "

"Oh, " he sneered, "that's it! Take me in straight, or I'll break yourarm. "

And he gave it, as he spoke, a wrench that made me cry out. 

"Sir, " said I, "it is for yourself I mean. The captain is not what heused to be. He sits with a drawn cutlass. Another gentleman----"

"Come, now, march, " interrupted he; and I never heard a voice so cruel, and cold, and ugly as that blind man's. It cowed me more than the pain;and I began to obey him at once, walking straight in at the door andtowards the parlour, where our sick old buccaneer was sitting, dazed withrum. The blind man clung close to me, holding me in one iron fist, andleaning almost more of his weight on me than I could carry. "Lead mestraight up to him, and when I'm in view, cry out, 'Here's a friend foryou, Bill. ' If you don't, I'll do this;" and with that he gave me atwitch that I thought would have made me faint. Between this and that, Iwas so utterly terrified of the blind beggar that I forgot my terror ofthe captain, and as I opened the parlour door, cried out the words he hadordered in a trembling voice. 

The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look the rum went out ofhim, and left him staring sober. The expression of his face was not somuch of terror as of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but Ido not believe he had enough force left in his body. 

"Now, Bill, sit where you are, " said the beggar. "If I can't see, I canhear a finger stirring. Business is business. Hold out your lefthand. --Boy, take his left hand by the wrist, and bring it near to myright. "

We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass something from thehollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain's, which closed upon it instantly. 

"And now that's done, " said the blind man; and at the words he suddenlyleft hold of me, and, with incredible accuracy and nimbleness, skippedout 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 oursenses; but at length, and about at the same moment, I released hiswrist, which I was still holding, and he drew in his hand and lookedsharply into the palm. 

"Ten o'clock!" he cried. "Six hours. We'll do them yet;" and he sprang tohis feet. 

Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swayingfor a moment, and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his whole heightface-foremost to the floor. 

I ran to him at once, calling to my mother. But haste was all in vain. The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy. It is a curiousthing to understand, for I had certainly never liked the man, though oflate I had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was dead Iburst into a flood of tears. It was the second death I had known, and thesorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart. 

 CHAPTER IV

 THE SEA CHEST

I lost no time, of course, in telling my mother all that I knew, andperhaps should have told her long before, and we saw ourselves at once ina difficult and dangerous position. Some of the man's money--if he hadany--was certainly due to us; but it was not likely that our captain'sshipmates, above all the two specimens seen by me, Black Dog and theblind beggar, would be inclined to give up their booty in payment of thedead man's debts. The captain's order to mount at once and ride forDoctor Livesey would have left my mother alone and unprotected, which wasnot to be thought of. Indeed, it seemed impossible for either of us toremain 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 betweenthe dead body of the captain on the parlour floor, and the thought ofthat detestable blind beggar hovering near at hand, and ready to return, there were moments when, as the saying goes, I jumped in my skin forterror. Something must speedily be resolved upon; and it occurred to usat last to go forth together and seek help in the neighbouring hamlet. Nosooner said than done. Bare-headed as we were, we ran out at once in thegathering evening and the frosty fog. 

The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, though out of view, on theother side of the next cove; and what greatly encouraged me, it was in anopposite direction from that whence the blind man had made hisappearance, and whither he had presumably returned. We were not manyminutes on the road, though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of eachother and hearken. But there was no unusual sound--nothing but the lowwash of the ripple and the croaking of the crows in the wood. 

It was already candle-light when we reached the hamlet, and I shall neverforget how much I was cheered to see the yellow shine in doors andwindows; but that, as it proved, was the best of the help we were likelyto get in that quarter. For--you would have thought men would have beenashamed of themselves--no soul would consent to return with us to the"Admiral Benbow. " The more we told of our troubles, the more--man, woman, and child--they clung to the shelter of their houses. The name of CaptainFlint, 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 tofield-work on the far side of the "Admiral Benbow" remembered, besides, to have seen several strangers on the road, and, taking them to besmugglers, to have bolted away; and one at least had seen a little luggerin what we called Kitt's Hole. For that matter, any one who was a comradeof the captain's was enough to frighten them to death. And the short andthe long of the matter was, that while we could get several who werewilling 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 otherhand, a great emboldener; and so when each had said his say, my mothermade them a speech. She would not, she declared, lose money that belongedto her fatherless boy; "if none of the rest of you dare, " she said, "Jimand I dare. Back we will go, the way we came, and small thanks to youbig, hulking, chicken-hearted men. We'll have that chest open, if we diefor it. And I'll thank you for that bag, Mrs. Crossley, to bring back ourlawful money in. "

Of course, I said I would go with my mother; and of course they all criedout at our foolhardiness; but even then not a man would go along withus. All they would do was to give me a loaded pistol, lest we wereattacked; and to promise to have horses ready saddled, in case we werepursued on our return; while one lad was to ride forward to the doctor'sin search of armed assistance. 

My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the cold night uponthis dangerous venture. A full moon was beginning to rise, and peeredredly through the upper edges of the fog, and this increased our haste, for it was plain, before we came forth again, that all would be as brightas day, and our departure exposed to the eyes of any watchers. We slippedalong the hedges, noiseless and swift, nor did we see or hear anything toincrease our terrors, till, to our huge relief, the door of the "AdmiralBenbow" had closed behind us. 

I slipped the bolt at once, and we stood and panted for a moment in thedark, alone in the house with the dead captain's body. Then my mother gota candle in the bar, and, holding each other's hands, we advanced intothe 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 andwatch outside. And now, " said she, when I had done so, "we have to getthe key off _that_; and who's to touch it, I should like to know!" andshe 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 wasa little round of paper, blackened on the one side. I could not doubtthat this was the _black spot_; and taking it up, I found written on theother side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message: "You havetill ten to-night. "

"He had till ten, mother, " said I; and just as I said it our old clockbegan striking. This sudden noise startled us shockingly; but the newswas good, for it was only six. 

"Now, Jim, " she said, "that key. "

I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few small coins, a thimble, and some thread and big needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten awayat the end, his gully with the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and atinder-box, were all that they contained, and I began to despair. 

"Perhaps it's round his neck, " suggested my mother. 

Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open his shirt at the neck, andthere, sure enough, hanging to a bit of tarry string, which I cut withhis own gully, we found the key. At this triumph we were filled withhope, and hurried upstairs, without delay, to the little room where hehad slept so long, and where his box had stood since the day of hisarrival. 

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 smashedand 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 wasto be seen on the top except a suit of very good clothes, carefullybrushed and folded. They had never been worn, my mother said. Under that, the miscellany began--a quadrant, a tin cannikin, several sticks oftobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols, a piece of bar silver, anold Spanish watch and some other trinkets of little value and mostly offoreign make, a pair of compasses mounted with brass, and five or sixcurious West Indian shells. It has often set me thinking since that heshould 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 thetrinkets, and neither of these were in our way. Underneath there was anold boat-cloak, whitened with sea-salt on many a harbour-bar. My motherpulled it up with impatience, and there lay before us, the last things inthe chest, a bundle tied up in oilcloth, and looking like papers, and acanvas bag, that gave forth, at a touch, the jingle of gold. 

"I'll show these rogues that I'm an honest woman, " said my mother. "I'llhave my dues, and not a farthing over. Hold Mrs. Crossley's bag. " And shebegan to count over the amount of the captain's score from the sailor'sbag into the one that I was holding. 

It was a long, difficult business, for the coins were of all countriesand sizes--doubloons, and louis-d'ors, and guineas, and pieces of eight, and I know not what besides, all shaken together at random. The guineas, too, were about the scarcest, and it was with these only that my motherknew how to make her count. 

When we were about half-way through I suddenly put my hand upon her arm;for I had heard in the silent, frosty air, a sound that brought my heartinto my mouth--the tap-tapping of the blind man's stick upon the frozenroad. It drew nearer and nearer, while we sat holding our breath. Then itstruck sharp on the inn-door, and then we could hear the handle beingturned, and the bolt rattling as the wretched being tried to enter; andthen there was a long time of silence both within and without. At lastthe tapping recommenced, and, to our indescribable joy and gratitude, died slowly away again until it ceased to be heard. 

"Mother, " said I, "take the whole and let's be going;" for I was sure thebolted door must have seemed suspicious, and would bring the wholehornets' nest about our ears; though how thankful I was that I had boltedit, none could tell who had never met that terrible blind man. 

But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent to take afraction more than was due to her, and was obstinately unwilling to becontent with less. It was not yet seven, she said, by a long way; sheknew her rights and she would have them; and she was still arguing withme, when a little low whistle sounded a good way off upon the hill. Thatwas enough, and more than enough, for both of us. 

"I'll take what I have, " she said, jumping to her feet. 

"And I'll take this to square the count, " said I, picking up the oilskinpacket. 

Next moment we were both groping down-stairs, leaving the candle by theempty chest; and the next we had opened the door and were in fullretreat. We had not started a moment too soon. The fog was rapidlydispersing; already the moon shone quite clear on the high ground oneither side; and it was only in the exact bottom of the dell and roundthe tavern-door that a thin veil still hung unbroken to conceal the firststeps of our escape. Far less than half-way to the hamlet, very littlebeyond the bottom of the hill, we must come forth into the moonlight. Norwas this all, for the sound of several footsteps running came already toour ears, and as we looked back in their direction, a light tossing toand fro, and still rapidly advancing, showed that one of the new-comerscarried a lantern. 

"My dear, " said my mother suddenly, "take the money and run on. I amgoing to faint. "

This was certainly the end for both of us, I thought. How I cursed thecowardice of the neighbours; how I blamed my poor mother for her honestyand her greed, for her past foolhardiness and present weakness! We werejust at the little bridge, by good fortune; and I helped her, totteringas she was, to the edge of the bank, where, sure enough, she gave a sighand fell on my shoulder. I do not know how I found the strength to do itat all, and I am afraid it was roughly done; but I managed to drag herdown the bank and a little way under the arch. Farther I could not moveher, for the bridge was too low to let me do more than crawl below it. Sothere we had to stay--my mother almost entirely exposed, and both of uswithin earshot of the inn. 

 CHAPTER V

 THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN

My curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear; for I could notremain where I was, but crept back to the bank again, whence, shelteringmy head behind a bush of broom, I might command the road before our door. I was scarcely in position ere my enemies began to arrive, seven or eightof them, running hard, their feet beating out of time along the road, andthe 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 manof this trio was the blind beggar. The next moment his voice showed methat 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 following; and then I could see thempause, and hear speeches passed in a lower key, as if they were surprisedto find the door open. But the pause was brief, for the blind man againissued his commands. His voice sounded louder and higher, as if he wereafire with eagerness and rage. 

"In, in, in!" he shouted, and cursed them for their delay. 

Four or five of them obeyed at once, two remaining on the road with theformidable beggar. There was a pause, then a cry of surprise, and then avoice shouting from the house----

"Bill's dead!"

But the blind man swore at them again for their delay. 

"Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest of you aloft andget the chest, " he cried. 

I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so that the housemust have shook with it. Promptly afterwards, fresh sounds ofastonishment arose; the window of the captain's room was thrown open witha slam and a jingle of broken glass; and a man leaned out into themoonlight, head and shoulders, and addressed the blind beggar on the roadbelow him. 

"Pew, " he cried, "they've been before us. Someone's turned the chest outalow and aloft. "

"Is it there?" roared Pew. 

"The money's there. "

The blind man cursed the money. 

"Flint's fist, I mean, " he cried. 

"We don't see it here nohow, " returned the man. 

"Here, you below there, is it on Bill?" cried the blind man again. 

At that, another fellow, probably him who had remained below to searchthe captain's body, came to the door of the inn. "Bill's been overhauleda'ready, " said he; "nothin' left. "

"It's these people of the inn--it's that boy. I wish I had put his eyesout!" cried the blind man, Pew. "They were here no time ago--they had thedoor bolted when I tried it. Scatter, lads, and find 'em. "

"Sure enough, they left their glim here, " said the fellow from thewindow. 

"Scatter and find 'em! Rout the house out!" reiterated Pew, striking withhis stick upon the road. 

Then there followed a great to-do through all our old inn, heavy feetpounding to and fro, furniture thrown over, doors kicked in, until thevery rocks re-echoed, and the men came out again, one after another, onthe road, and declared that we were nowhere to be found. And just thenthe same whistle that had alarmed my mother and myself over the deadcaptain's money was once more clearly audible through the night, but thistime twice repeated. I had thought it to be the blind man's trumpet, soto speak, summoning his crew to the assault; but I now found that it wasa signal from the hillside towards the hamlet, and, from its effect uponthe buccaneers, a signal to warn them of approaching danger. 

"There's Dirk again, " said one. "Twice! We'll have to budge, mates. "

"Budge, you skulk!" cried Pew. "Dirk was a fool and a coward from thefirst--you wouldn't mind him. They must be close by; they can't be far;you have your hands on it. Scatter and look for them, dogs. Oh, shiver mysoul, " he cried, "if I had eyes!"

This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two of the fellows beganto look here and there among the lumber, but half-heartedly, I thought, and with half an eye to their own danger all the time, while the reststood irresolute on the road. 

"You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and you hang a leg! You'dbe as rich as kings if you could find it, and you know it's here, and youstand there malingering. There wasn't one of you dared face Bill, and Idid 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! Ifyou 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 theseobjections; till at last, his passion completely taking the upper hand, he struck at them right and left in his blindness, and his stick soundedheavily on more than one. 

These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant, threatened himin horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch the stick and wrest it fromhis grasp. 

This quarrel was the saving of us; for while it was still raging, another sound came from the top of the hill on the side of thehamlet--the tramp of horses galloping. Almost at the same time apistol-shot, flash and report, came from the hedge-side. And that wasplainly the last signal of danger; for the buccaneers turned at once andran, separating in every direction, one seaward along the cove, one slantacross the hill, and so on, so that in half a minute not a sign of themremained but Pew. Him they had deserted, whether in sheer panic, or outof revenge for his ill words and blows, I know not; but there he remainedbehind, tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping and callingfor his comrades. Finally he took the wrong turn, and ran a few stepspast me, towards the hamlet, crying--

"Johnny, Black Dog, Dirk, " and other names, "you won't leave old Pew, mates--not old Pew!"

Just then the noise of horses topped the rise, and four or five riderscame in sight in the moonlight, and swept at full gallop down the slope. 

At this Pew saw his error, turned with a scream, and ran straight for theditch, 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 ofthe coming horses. 

The rider tried to save him, but in vain. Down went Pew with a cry thatrang high into the night; and the four hoofs trampled and spurned him andpassed by. He fell on his side, then gently collapsed upon his face, andmoved no more. 

I leapt to my feet and hailed the riders. They were pulling up, at anyrate, horrified at the accident; and I soon saw what they were. One, tailing out behind the rest, was a lad that had gone from the hamlet toDr. Livesey's; the rest were revenue officers, whom he had met by theway, and with whom he had had the intelligence to return at once. Somenews of the lugger in Kitt's Hole had found its way to Supervisor Dance, and set him forth that night in our direction, and to that circumstancemy mother and I owed our preservation from death. 

Pew was dead, stone dead. As for my mother, when we had carried her up tothe hamlet, a little cold water and salts and that soon brought her backagain, and she was none the worse for her terror, though she stillcontinued to deplore the balance of the money. In the meantime, thesupervisor rode on, as fast as he could, to Kitt's Hole; but his men hadto dismount and grope down the dingle, leading, and sometimes supporting, their horses, and in continual fear of ambushes; so it was no greatmatter for surprise that when they got down to the Hole the lugger wasalready 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 inhim, 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, ashe said, "like a fish out of water, " and all he could do was to despatcha man to B---- to warn the cutter. "And that, " said he, "is just about asgood as nothing. They've got off clean, and there's an end. Only, " headded, "I'm glad I trod on Master Pew's corns;" for by this time he hadheard my story. 

I went back with him to the "Admiral Benbow, " and you cannot imagine ahouse in such a state of smash; the very clock had been thrown down bythese fellows in their furious hunt after my mother and myself, andthough nothing had been actually taken away except the captain'smoney-bag and a little silver from the till, I could see at once that wewere ruined. Mr. Dance could make nothing of the scene. 

"They got the money, you say? Well, then, Hawkins, what in fortune werethey after; more money, I suppose?"

"No, sir; not money, I think, " replied I. "In fact, sir, I believe I havethe thing in my breast-pocket; and, to tell you the truth, I should liketo get it put in safety. "

"To be sure, boy; quite right, " said he. "I'll take it, if you like. "

"I thought, perhaps, Dr. Livesey----" I began. 

"Perfectly right, " he interrupted, very cheerily, "perfectly right--agentleman and a magistrate. And, now I come to think of it, I might aswell ride round there myself and report to him or squire. Master Pew'sdead, when all's done; not that I regret it, but he's dead, you see, andpeople will make it out against an officer of His Majesty's revenue, ifmake it out they can. Now, I'll tell you, Hawkins: if you like, I'll takeyou along. "

I thanked him heartily for the offer, and we walked back to the hamletwhere the horses were. By the time I had told mother of my purpose theywere all in the saddle. 

"Dogger, " said Mr. Dance, "you have a good horse; take up this lad behindyou. "

As soon as I was mounted, holding on to Dogger's belt, the supervisorgave the word, and the party struck out at a bouncing trot on the road toDr. Livesey's house. 

 CHAPTER VI

 THE CAPTAIN'S PAPERS

We rode hard all the way, till we drew up before Dr. Livesey's door. Thehouse was all dark to the front. 

Mr. Dance told me to jump down and knock, and Dogger gave me a stirrup todescend by. The door was opened almost at once by the maid. 

"Is Dr. Livesey in?" I asked. 

No, she said; he had come home in the afternoon, but had gone up to theHall to dine and pass the evening with the squire. 

"So there we go, boys, " said Mr. Dance. 

This time, as the distance was short, I did not mount, but ran withDogger's stirrup-leather to the lodge gates, and up the long, leafless, moonlit avenue to where the white line of the Hall buildings looked oneither hand on great old gardens. Here Mr. Dance dismounted, and, takingme along with him, was admitted at a word into the house. 

The servant led us down a matted passage, and showed us at the end into agreat library, all lined with book-cases and busts upon the top of them, where the squire and Dr. Livesey sat, pipe in hand, on either side of abright fire. 

I had never seen the squire so near at hand. He was a tall man, over sixfeet high, and broad in proportion, and he had a bluff, rough-and-readyface, all roughened and reddened and lined in his long travels. Hiseyebrows were very black, and moved readily, and this gave him a look ofsome temper--not bad, you would say, but quick and high. 

"Come in, Mr. Dance, " says he, very stately and condescending. 

"Good-evening, Dance, " says the doctor, with a nod. "And good-evening toyou, friend Jim. What good wind brings you here?"

The supervisor stood up straight and stiff, and told his story like alesson; and you should have seen how the two gentlemen leaned forward andlooked at each other, and forgot to smoke in their surprise and interest. When they heard how my mother went back to the inn, Dr. Livesey fairlyslapped his thigh, and the squire cried, "Bravo!" and broke his long pipeagainst the grate. Long before it was done, Mr. Trelawney (that, you willremember, was the squire's name) had got up from his seat, and wasstriding about the room, and the doctor, as if to hear the better, hadtaken off his powdered wig, and sat there, looking very strange indeedwith his own close-cropped black poll. 

At last Mr. Dance finished the story. 

"Mr. Dance, " said the squire, "you are a very noble fellow. And as forriding down that black, atrocious miscreant, I regard it as an act ofvirtue, sir, like stamping on a cockroach. This lad Hawkins is a trump, Iperceive. --Hawkins, will you ring that bell? Mr. Dance must have someale. "

"And so, Jim, " said the doctor, "you have the thing that they were after, have you?"

"Here it is, sir, " said I, and gave him the oilskin packet. 

The doctor looked it all over, as if his fingers were itching to open it;but, instead of doing that, he put it quietly in the pocket of his coat. 

"Squire, " said he, "when Dance has had his ale he must, of course, be offon His Majesty's service; but I mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep atmy house, and, with your permission, I propose we should have up the coldpie, and let him sup. "

"As you will, Livesey, " said the squire; "Hawkins has earned better thancold pie. "

So a big pigeon-pie was brought in and put on a side-table, and I made ahearty supper, for I was as hungry as a hawk, while Mr. Dance wasfurther complimented and at last dismissed. 

"And now, squire, " said the doctor. 

"And now, Livesey, " said the squire, in the same breath. 

"One at a time, one at a time, " laughed Dr. Livesey. --"You have heard ofthis Flint, I suppose?"

"Heard of him!" cried the squire. "Heard of him, you say! He was thebloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed. Blackbeard was a child to Flint. The Spaniards were so prodigiously afraid of him, that I tell you, sir, Iwas sometimes proud he was an Englishman. I've seen his top-sails withthese eyes, off Trinidad, and the cowardly son of a rum-puncheon that Isailed with put back--put back, sir, into Port-of-Spain. "

"Well, I've heard of him myself, in England, " said the doctor. "But thepoint is, had he money?"

"Money!" cried the squire. "Have you heard the story? What were thesevillains after but money? What do they care for but money? For what wouldthey risk their rascal carcases but money?"

"That we shall soon know, " replied the doctor. "But you are soconfoundedly hot-headed and exclamatory that I cannot get a word in. WhatI want to know is this: Supposing that I have here in my pocket some clueto where Flint buried his treasure, will that treasure amount to much?"

"Amount, sir!" cried the squire. "It will amount to this: if we have theclue you talk about, I fit out a ship in Bristol dock, and take you andHawkins here along, and I'll have that treasure if I search a year. "

"Very well, " said the doctor. "Now, then, if Jim is agreeable, we'll openthe packet;" and he laid it before him on the table. 

The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had to get out hisinstrument-case, and cut the stitches with his medical scissors. Itcontained two things--a book and a sealed paper. 

"First of all we'll try the book, " observed the doctor. 

The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder as he opened it, forDr. 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 firstpage there were only some scraps of writing, such as a man with a pen inhis hand might make for idleness or practice. One was the same as thetattoo-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 itwas that had "got itt, " and what "itt" was that he got. A knife in hisback as like as not. 

"Not much instruction there, " said Dr. Livesey, as he passed on. 

The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a curious series ofentries. There was a date at one end of the line and at the other a sumof money, as in common account-books; but instead of explanatory writing, only a varying number of crosses between the two. On the 12th of June, 1745, for instance, a sum of seventy pounds had plainly become due tosome one, and there was nothing but six crosses to explain the cause. Ina few cases, to be sure, the name of a place would be added, as "OffeCaraccas;" or a mere entry of latitude and longitude, as "62° 17' 20", 19° 2' 40". "

The record lasted over nearly twenty years, the amount of the separateentries growing larger as time went on, and at the end a grand total hadbeen made out after five or six wrong additions, and these wordsappended, "Bones his pile. "

"I can't make head or tail of this, " said Dr. Livesey. "The thing is asclear as noonday, " cried the squire. "This is the black-hearted hound'saccount-book. These crosses stand for the names of ships or towns thatthey sank or plundered. The sums are the scoundrel's share, and where hefeared an ambiguity, you see he added something clearer. 'OffeCaraccas, ' now; you see, here was some unhappy vessel boarded off thatcoast. God help the poor souls that manned her--coral long ago. "

"Right!" said the doctor. "See what it is to be a traveller. Right! Andthe amounts increase, you see, as he rose in rank. "

There was little else in the volume but a few bearings of places noted inthe blank leaves towards the end, and a table for reducing French, English, and Spanish moneys to a common value. 

"Thrifty man!" cried the doctor. "He wasn't the one to be cheated. "

"And now, " said the squire, "for the other. "

The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble by way ofseal; the very thimble, perhaps, that I had found in the captain'spocket. The doctor opened the seals with great care, and there fell outthe map of an island, with latitude and longitude, soundings, names ofhills, and bays and inlets, and every particular that would be needed tobring a ship to a safe anchorage upon its shores. It was about nine mileslong and five across, shaped, you might say, like a fat dragon standingup, and had two fine land-locked harbours, and a hill in the centre partmarked "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 theisland, one in the south-west, and, beside this last, in the same redink, and in a small, neat hand, very different from the captain's totterycharacters, these words: "Bulk of treasure here. "

Over on the back the same hand had written this further information:--

 "Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. Of N. N. E. 

 "Skeleton Island E. S. E. And by E. 

 "Ten feet. 

 "The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find it by the trend of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of the black crag with the face on it. 

 "The arms are easy found, in the sand hill, N. Point of north inlet cape, bearing E. And a quarter N. J. F. "

That was all; but brief as it was, and, to me, incomprehensible, itfilled the squire and Dr. Livesey with delight. 

"Livesey, " said the squire, "you will give up this wretched practice atonce. To-morrow I start for Bristol. In three weeks' time--threeweeks!--two weeks--ten days--we'll have the best ship, sir, and thechoicest crew in England. Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy. You'll make afamous cabin-boy, Hawkins. You, Livesey, are ship's doctor; I am admiral. We'll take Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter. We'll have favourable winds, aquick passage, and not the least difficulty in finding the spot, andmoney to eat--to roll in--to play duck-and-drake with ever after. "

"Trelawney, " said the doctor, "I'll go with you; and, I'll go bail forit, so will Jim, and be a credit to the undertaking. There's only one manI'm afraid of. "

"And who's that?" cried the squire. "Name the dog, sir!"

"You, " replied the doctor; "for you cannot hold your tongue. We are notthe only men who know of this paper. These fellows who attacked the innto-night--bold, desperate blades, for sure--and the rest who stayedaboard that lugger, and more, I dare say, not far off, are, one and all, through thick and thin, bound that they'll get that money. We must noneof us go alone till we get to sea. Jim and I shall stick together in themeanwhile; you'll take Joyce and Hunter when you ride to Bristol, and, from first to last, not one of us must breathe a word of what we'vefound. "

"Livesey, " returned the squire, "you are always in the right of it. I'llbe as silent as the grave. "

 PART II

 THE SEA-COOK

 CHAPTER VII

 I GO TO BRISTOL

It was longer than the squire imagined ere we were ready for the sea, andnone of our first plans--not even Dr. Livesey's, of keeping me besidehim--could be carried out as we intended. The doctor had to go to Londonfor a physician to take charge of his practice; the squire was hard atwork at Bristol; and I lived on at the Hall under the charge of oldRedruth, the gamekeeper, almost a prisoner, but full of sea-dreams andthe most charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures. Ibrooded by the hour together over the map, all the details of which Iwell remembered. Sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room, Iapproached that island in my fancy, from every possible direction; Iexplored every acre of its surface; I climbed a thousand times to thattall hill they call the Spy-glass, and from the top enjoyed the mostwonderful and changing prospects. Sometimes the isle was thick withsavages, with whom we fought; sometimes full of dangerous animals thathunted us; but in all my fancies nothing occurred to me so strange andtragic as our actual adventures. 

So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there came a letter addressedto Dr. Livesey, with this addition, "To be opened, in the case of hisabsence, by Tom Redruth, or young Hawkins. " Obeying this order, we found, or rather, I found--for the gamekeeper was a poor hand at readinganything but print--the following important news:--

 "_Old Anchor Inn, Bristol, March 1, 17--. _

 "DEAR LIVESEY, --As I do not know whether you are at the Hall or still in London, I send this in double to both places. 

 "The ship is bought and fitted. She lies at anchor, ready for sea. You never imagined a sweeter schooner--a child might sail her--two hundred tons; name, _Hispaniola_. 

 "I got her through my old friend, Blandly, who has proved himself throughout the most surprising trump. The admirable fellow literally slaved in my interest, and so, I may say, did 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 likethat. The squire has been talking, after all. "

"Well, who's a better right?" growled the gamekeeper. "A pretty rum go ifsquire 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 admirable management got her for the merest trifle. There is a class of men in Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. They go the length of declaring that this honest creature would do anything for money, that the _Hispaniola_ belonged to him, and that he sold it me absurdly high--the most transparent calumnies. None of them dare, however, to deny the merits of the ship. 

 "So far there was not a hitch. The workpeople, to be sure--riggers and what not--were most annoyingly slow; but time cured that. It was the crew that troubled me. 

 "I wished a round score of men--in case of natives, buccaneers, or the odious French--and I had the worry of the deuce itself to find so much as half a dozen, till the most remarkable stroke of fortune brought me the very man that I required. 

 "I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in talk with him. I found he was an old sailor, kept a public-house, knew all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his health ashore, and wanted a good berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled down there that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt. 

 "I was monstrously touched--so would you have been--and, out of pure pity, I engaged him on the spot to be ship's cook. Long John Silver, he is called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as a recommendation, since he lost it in his country's service, under the immortal Hawke. He has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable age we live in!

 "Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, but it was a crew I had discovered. Between Silver and myself we got together in a few days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable--not pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit. I declare we could fight a frigate. 

 "Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven I had already engaged. He showed me in a moment that they were just the sort of fresh-water swabs we had to fear in an adventure of importance. 

 "I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eating like a bull, sleeping like a tree, yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I hear my old tarpaulins tramping round the capstan. Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! It's the glory of the sea that has turned my head. So now, Livesey, come post; do not lose an hour if you respect me. 

 "Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with Redruth for a guard; and then both come full speed to Bristol. 

 "JOHN TRELAWNEY. 

 "_Postscript. _--I did not tell you that Blandly, who, by the way, is to send a consort after us if we don't turn up by the end of August, had found an admirable fellow for sailing master--a stiff man, which I regret, but, in all other respects, a treasure. Long John Silver unearthed a very competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have a boatswain who pipes, Livesey; so things shall go man-o'-war fashion on board the good ship _Hispaniola_. 

 "I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of my own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never been overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; and as she is a woman of colour, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be excused for guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the health, that sends him back to roving. J. T. 

 "_P. P. S. _--Hawkins may stay one night with his mother. 

 "J. T. "

You can fancy the excitement into which that letter put me. I was halfbeside myself with glee; and if ever I despised a man, it was old TomRedruth, who could do nothing but grumble and lament. Any of theunder-gamekeepers would gladly have changed places with him; but such wasnot the squire's pleasure, and the squire's pleasure was like law amongthem all. Nobody but old Redruth would have dared so much as even togrumble. 

The next morning he and I set out on foot for the "Admiral Benbow, " andthere I found my mother in good health and spirits. The captain, who hadso long been a cause of so much discomfort, was gone where the wickedcease from troubling. The squire had had everything repaired, and thepublic rooms and the sign repainted, and had added some furniture--aboveall, a beautiful arm-chair for mother in the bar. He had found her a boyas an apprentice also, so that she should not want help while I wasgone. 

It was on seeing that boy that I understood, for the first time, mysituation. I had thought, up to that moment, of the adventures before me, not at all of the home that I was leaving; and now, at sight of thisclumsy stranger, who was to stay here in my place beside my mother, I hadmy first attack of tears. I am afraid I led that boy a dog's life; for ashe was new to the work I had a hundred opportunities of setting him rightand putting him down, and I was not slow to profit by them. 

The night passed, and the next day, after dinner, Redruth and I wereafoot again, and on the road. I said good-bye to mother and the covewhere I had lived since I was born, and the dear old "AdmiralBenbow"--since he was repainted, no longer quite so dear. One of my lastthoughts was of the captain, who had so often strode along the beach withhis cocked hat, his sabre-cut cheek, and his old brass telescope. Nextmoment 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. Iwas wedged in between Redruth and a stout old gentleman, and in spite ofthe swift motion and the cold night-air, I must have dozed a great dealfrom the very first, and then slept like a log up hill and down dalethrough stage after stage; for when I was awakened, at last, it was by apunch in the ribs, and I opened my eyes, to find that we were standingstill before a large building in a city street, and that the day hadalready 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, tosuperintend the work upon the schooner. Thither we had now to walk, andour way, to my great delight, lay along the quays and beside the greatmultitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations. In one, sailorswere singing at their work; in another, there were men aloft, high overmy head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than a spider's. Though I had lived by the shore all my life, I seemed never to have beennear the sea till then. The smell of tar and salt was something new. Isaw the most wonderful figureheads, that had all been far over the ocean. I saw, besides, many old sailors, with rings in their ears, and whiskerscurled in ringlets, and tarry pigtails, and their swaggering, clumsysea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings or archbishops I could not havebeen more delighted. 

And I was going to sea myself; to sea in a schooner, with a pipingboatswain, and pig-tailed singing seamen; to sea, bound for an unknownisland, and to seek for buried treasures!

While I was still in this delightful dream, we came suddenly in front ofa large inn, and met Squire Trelawney, all dressed out like asea-officer, in stout blue cloth, coming out of the door with a smile onhis face and a capital imitation of a sailor's walk. 

"Here you are, " he cried, "and the doctor came last night from London. Bravo! the ship's company complete!"

"Oh, sir, " cried I, "when do we sail?"

"Sail!" says he. "We sail to-morrow!"

 CHAPTER VIII

 AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS"

When I had done breakfasting the squire gave me a note addressed to JohnSilver, at the sign of the "Spy-glass, " and told me I should easily findthe place by following the line of the docks, and keeping a brightlook-out for a little tavern with a large brass telescope for sign. I setoff, overjoyed at this opportunity to see some more of the ships andseamen, and picked my way among a great crowd of people and carts andbales, for the dock was now at its busiest, until I found the tavern inquestion. 

It was a bright enough little place of entertainment. The sign was newlypainted; the windows had neat red curtains; the floor was cleanly sanded. There was a street on either side, and an open door on both, which madethe large, low room pretty clear to see in, in spite of clouds oftobacco-smoke. 

The customers were mostly seafaring men; and they talked so loudly that Ihung at the door, almost afraid to enter. 

As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, and, at a glance, I wassure he must be Long John. His left leg was cut off close by the hip, andunder the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed withwonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very talland strong, with a face as big as a ham--plain and pale, but intelligentand smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheerful spirits, whistling ashe moved about among the tables, with a merry word or a slap on theshoulder for the more favoured of his guests. 

Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first mention of Long John inSquire Trelawney's letter, I had taken a fear in my mind that he mightprove to be the very one-legged sailor whom I had watched for so long atthe old "Benbow. " But one look at the man before me was enough. I hadseen the captain, and Black Dog, and the blind man Pew, and I thought Iknew what a buccaneer was like--a very different creature, according tome, from this clean and pleasant-tempered landlord. 

I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, and walked right upto the man where he stood, propped on his crutch, talking to a customer. 

"Mr. Silver, sir?" I asked, holding out the note. 

"Yes, my lad, " said he; "such is my name, to be sure. And who may yoube?" And then, as he saw the squire's letter, he seemed to me to givesomething almost like a start. 

"Oh!" said he, quite loud, and offering his hand, "I see. You are our newcabin-boy; pleased I am to see you. "

And he took my hand in his large firm grasp. 

Just then one of the customers at the far side rose suddenly and made forthe door. It was close by him, and he was out in the street in a moment. But his hurry had attracted my notice, and I recognised him at a glance. It was the tallow-faced man, wanting two fingers, who had come first tothe "Admiral Benbow. "

"Oh, " I cried, "stop him! it's Black Dog!"

"I don't care two coppers who he is, " cried Silver. "But he hasn't paidhis score. --Harry, run and catch him. "

One of the others who was nearest the door leaped up, and started inpursuit. 

"If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score, " cried Silver; andthen, relinquishing my hand--"Who did you say he was?" he asked. "Blackwhat?"

"Dog, sir, " said I. "Has Mr. Trelawney not told you of the buccaneers? Hewas one of them. "

"So?" cried Silver. "In my house!--Ben, run and help Harry. One of thoseswabs, was he? Was that you drinking with him, Morgan? Step up here. "

The man whom he called Morgan--an old, grey-haired, mahogany-facedsailor--came forward pretty sheepishly, rolling his quid. 

"Now, Morgan, " said Long John, very sternly; "you never clapped your eyeson that Black--Black Dog before, did you, now?"

"Not I, sir, " said Morgan, with a salute. 

"You didn't know his name, did you?"

"No, sir. "

"By the powers, Tom Morgan, it's as good for you!" exclaimed thelandlord. "If you had been mixed up with the like of that, you wouldnever have put another foot in my house, you may lay to that. And whatwas he saying to you?"

"I don't rightly know, sir, " answered Morgan. 

"Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a blessed dead-eye?" criedLong John. "Don't rightly know, don't you! Perhaps you don't happen torightly know who you was speaking to, perhaps? Come now, what was hejawing--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 layto that. Get back to your place for a lubber, Tom. "

And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat, Silver added to me in aconfidential whisper, that was very flattering, as I thought:--

"He's quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on'y stupid. And now, " he ran onagain, 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 herewith a blind beggar, he used. "

"That he did, you may be sure, " said I. "I knew that blind man, too. Hisname was Pew. "

"It was!" cried Silver, now quite excited. "Pew! That were his name forcertain. Ah, he looked a shark, he did! If we run down this Black Dog, now, there'll be news for Cap'n Trelawney! Ben's a good runner; fewseamen run better than Ben. He should run him down, hand over hand, bythe powers! He talked o' keel-hauling, did he? _I'll_ keel-haul him!"

All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was stumping up and downthe tavern on his crutch, slapping tables with his hand, and giving sucha show of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge or a BowStreet runner. My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened on findingBlack Dog at the "Spy-glass, " and I watched the cook narrowly. But he wastoo deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and by the time the twomen had come back out of breath, and confessed that they had lost thetrack in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would have gone bailfor the innocence of Long John Silver. 

"See here, now, Hawkins, " said he, "here's a blessed hard thing on a manlike me, now, ain't it? There's Cap'n Trelawney--what's he to think? HereI have this confounded son of a Dutchman sitting in my own house, drinking of my own rum! Here you comes and tells me of it plain; and hereI 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, butyou're as smart as paint. I see that when you first came in. Now, here itis: What could I do, with this old timber I hobble on? When I was an A Bmaster mariner I'd have come up alongside of him, hand over hand, andbroached him to in a brace of old shakes, I would; but now----"

And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw dropped as though hehad remembered something. 

"The score!" he burst out. "Three goes o' rum! Why, shiver my timbers, if I hadn't forgotten my score!"

And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. I could not help joining; and we laughed together, peal after peal, untilthe tavern rang again. 

"Why, what a precious old sea-calf I am!" he said at last, wiping hischeeks. "You and me should get on well, Hawkins, for I'll take my davy Ishould be rated ship's boy. But come now, stand by to go about. Thiswon't do. Dooty is dooty, messmates. I'll put on my old cocked hat, andstep 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 outof it with what I should make so bold as to call credit. Nor you neither, says you; not smart--none of the pair of us smart. But, dash my buttons!that was a good 'un about my score. "

And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that though I did notsee the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth. 

On our little walk along the quays, he made himself the most interestingcompanion, telling me about the different ships that we passed by, theirrig, tonnage, and nationality, explaining the work that was goingforward--how one was discharging, another taking in cargo, and a thirdmaking ready for sea; and every now and then telling me some littleanecdote of ships or seamen, or repeating a nautical phrase till I hadlearned it perfectly. I began to see that here was one of the best ofpossible shipmates. 

When we got to the inn, the squire and Dr. Livesey were seated together, finishing a quart of ale with a toast in it, before they should go aboardthe schooner on a visit of inspection. 

Long John told the story from first to last, with a great deal of spiritand the most perfect truth. "That was how it were, now, weren't it, Hawkins?" he would say, now and again, and I could always bear himentirely out. 

The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had got away; but we allagreed there was nothing to be done, and after he had been complimented, Long John took up his crutch and departed. 

"All hands aboard by four this afternoon, " shouted the squire after him. 

"Ay, ay, sir, " cried the cook, in the passage. 

"Well, squire, " said Dr. Livesey, "I don't put much faith in yourdiscoveries as a general thing; but I will say this, John Silver suitsme. "

"The man's a perfect trump, " declared the squire. 

"And now, " added the doctor, "Jim may come on board with us, may he not?"

"To be sure he may, " says squire. --"Take your hat, Hawkins, and we'll seethe ship. "

 CHAPTER IX

 POWDER AND ARMS

The _Hispaniola_ lay some way out, and we went under the figureheads andround the sterns of many other ships, and their cables sometimes gratedunderneath our keel, and sometimes swung above us. At last, however, wegot 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. Heand the squire were very thick and friendly, but I soon observed thatthings were not the same between Mr. Trelawney and the captain. 

This last was a sharp-looking man, who seemed angry with everything onboard, and was soon to tell us why, for we had hardly got down into thecabin when a sailor followed us. 

"Captain Smollett, sir, axing to speak with you, " said he. 

"I am always at the captain's orders. Show him in, " said the squire. 

The captain, who was close behind his messenger, entered at once, andshut the door behind him. 

"Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say? All well, I hope; allshipshape and seaworthy?"

"Well, sir, " said the captain, "better speak plain, I believe, even atthe risk of offence. I don't like this cruise; I don't like the men; andI don't like my officer. That's short and sweet. "

"Perhaps, sir, you don't like the ship?" inquired the squire, very angry, as I could see. 

"I can't speak as to that, sir, not having seen her tried, " said thecaptain. "She seems a clever craft; more I can't say. "

"Possibly, sir, you may not like your employer, either?" says the squire. 

But here Dr. Livesey cut in. 

"Stay a bit, " said he, "stay a bit. No use of such questions as that butto produce ill-feeling. The captain has said too much or he has said toolittle, and I'm bound to say that I require an explanation of his words. You don't, you say, like this cruise. Now, why?"

"I was engaged, sir, on what we call sealed orders, to sail this ship forthat gentleman where he should bid me, " said the captain. "So far sogood. 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 itfrom my own hands, mind you. Now, treasure is ticklish work; I don't liketreasure-voyages on any account; and I don't like them, above all, whenthey are secret, and when (begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney) the secrethas been told to the parrot. "

"Silver's parrot?" asked the squire. 

"It's a way of speaking, " said the captain. "Blabbed, I mean. It's mybelief neither of you gentlemen know what you are about; but I'll tellyou my way of it--life or death, and a close run. "

"That is all clear, and, I daresay, true enough, " replied Dr. Livesey. "We take the risk; but we are not so ignorant as you believe us. --Next, you say you don't like the crew. Are they not good seamen?"

"I don't like them, sir, " returned Captain Smollett. "And I think Ishould have had the choosing of my own hands, if you go to that. "

"Perhaps you should, " replied the doctor. "My friend should perhaps havetaken you along with him; but the slight, if there be one, wasunintentional. --And you don't like Mr. Arrow?"

"I don't, sir. I believe he's a good seaman; but he's too free with thecrew to be a good officer. A mate should keep himself tohimself--shouldn't drink with the men before the mast!"

"Do you mean he drinks?" cried the squire. 

"No, sir, " replied the captain; "only that he's too familiar. "

"Well, now, and the short and long of it, captain?" asked the doctor. "Tell us what you want. "

"Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on this cruise?"

"Like iron, " answered the squire. 

"Very good, " said the captain. "Then, as you've heard me very patiently, saying things that I could not prove, hear me a few words more. They areputting the powder and the arms in the fore hold. Now, you have a goodplace under the cabin; why not put them there?--first point. Then you arebringing four of your own people with you, and they tell me some of themare to be berthed forward. Why not give them the berths here beside thecabin?--second point. "

"Any more?" asked Mr. Trelawney. 

"One more, " said the captain. "There's been too much blabbing already. "

"Far too much, " agreed the doctor. 

"I'll tell you what I've heard myself, " continued Captain Smollett: "thatyou have a map of an island; that there's crosses on the map to showwhere treasure is; and that the island lies----" And then he named thelatitude 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 seethat neither he nor the captain paid much regard to Mr. Trelawney'sprotestations. Neither did I, to be sure, he was so loose a talker; yetin this case I believe he was really right, and that nobody had told thesituation of the island. 

"Well, gentlemen, " continued the captain, "I don't know who has this map;but I make it a point, it shall be kept secret even from me and Mr. Arrow. Otherwise I would ask you to let me resign. "

"I see, " said the doctor. "You wish us to keep this matter dark, and tomake a garrison of the stern part of the ship, manned with my friend'sown people, and provided with all the arms and powder on board. In otherwords, you fear a mutiny. "

"Sir, " said Captain Smollett, "with no intention to take offence, I denyyour right to put words into my mouth. No captain, sir, would bejustified in going to sea at all if he had ground enough to say that. Asfor Mr. Arrow, I believe him thoroughly honest; some of the men are thesame; all may be for what I know. But I am responsible for the ship'ssafety and the life of every man-Jack aboard of her. I see things going, as I think, not quite right. And I ask you to take certain precautions, or let me resign my berth. And that's all. "

"Captain Smollett, " began the doctor, with a smile, "did ever you hearthe fable of the mountain and the mouse? You'll excuse me, I daresay, butyou remind me of that fable. When you came in here I'll stake my wig youmeant more than this. "

"Doctor, " said the captain, "you are smart. When I came in here I meantto get discharged. I had no thought that Mr. Trelawney would hear aword. "

"No more I would, " cried the squire. "Had Livesey not been here, I shouldhave seen you to the deuce. As it is, I have heard you. I will do as youdesire; but I think the worse of you. "

"That's as you please, sir, " said the captain. "You'll find I do myduty. "

And with that he took his leave. 

"Trelawney, " said the doctor, "contrary to all my notions, I believe youhave managed to get two honest men on board with you--that man and JohnSilver. "

"Silver, if you like, " cried the squire; "but as for that intolerablehumbug, I declare I think his conduct unmanly, unsailorly, and downrightun-English. "

"Well, " says the doctor, "we shall see. "

When we came on deck, the men had begun already to take out the arms andpowder, yo-ho-ing at their work, while the captain and Mr. Arrow stood bysuperintending. 

The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The whole schooner had beenoverhauled; six berths had been made astern, out of what had been theafter-part of the main hold; and this set of cabins was only joined tothe galley and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port side. It hadbeen originally meant that the captain, Mr. Arrow, Hunter, Joyce, thedoctor, and the squire, were to occupy these six berths. Now, Redruth andI were to get two of them, and Mr. Arrow and the captain were to sleep ondeck in the companion, which had been enlarged on each side till youmight almost have called it a round-house. Very low it was still, ofcourse; but there was room to swing two hammocks, and even the mateseemed pleased with the arrangement. Even he, perhaps, had been doubtfulas to the crew, but that is only guess; for, as you shall hear, we hadnot long the benefit of his opinion. 

We were all hard at work, changing the powder and the berths, when thelast man or two, and Long John along with them, came off in a shore-boat. 

The cook came up the side like a monkey for cleverness, and, as soon ashe saw what was doing, "So ho, mates!" says he, "what's this?"

"We're a-changing of the powder, Jack, " answers one. 

"Why, by the powers, " cried Long John, "if we do, we'll miss the morningtide!"

"My orders!" said the captain shortly. "You may go below, my man. Handswill want supper. "

"Ay, ay, sir, " answered the cook; and, touching his forelock, hedisappeared at once in the direction of the galley. 

"That's a good man, captain, " said the doctor. 

"Very likely, sir, " replied Captain Smollett. --"Easy with that, men--easy, " he ran on, to the fellows who were shifting the powder; andthen suddenly observing me examining the swivel we carried amidships, along brass nine--"Here, you ship's boy, " he cried, "out o' that! Off withyou to the cook and get some work. "

And then as I was hurrying off, I heard him say, quite loudly, to thedoctor--

"I'll have no favourites on my ship. "

I assure you I was quite of the squire's way of thinking, and hated thecaptain deeply. 

 CHAPTER X

 THE VOYAGE

All the night we were in a great bustle getting things stowed in theirplace, and boatfuls of the squire's friends, Mr. Blandly and the like, coming off to wish him a good voyage and a safe return. We never had anight at the "Admiral Benbow" when I had half the work; and I wasdog-tired when, a little before dawn, the boatswain sounded his pipe, andthe 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 tome--the brief commands, the shrill note of the whistle, the men bustlingto 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 crutchunder his arm, and at once broke out in the air and words I knew sowell--

 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest"--

and then the whole crew bore chorus--

 "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

And at the third "ho!" drove the bars before them with a will. 

Even at that exciting moment it carried me back to the old "AdmiralBenbow" in a second; and I seemed to hear the voice of the captain pipingin the chorus. But soon the anchor was short up; soon it was hangingdripping at the bows; soon the sails began to draw, and the land andshipping to flit by on either side; and before I could lie down to snatchan hour of slumber the _Hispaniola_ had begun her voyage to the Isle ofTreasure. 

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 thecaptain thoroughly understood his business. But before we came the lengthof Treasure Island two or three things had happened which require to beknown. 

Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than the captain hadfeared. He had no command among the men, and people did what they pleasedwith him. But that was by no means the worst of it; for, after a day ortwo at sea he began to appear on deck with hazy eye, red cheeks, stuttering tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. Time after time he wasordered below in disgrace. Sometimes he fell and cut himself; sometimeshe 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 hiswork at least passably. 

In the meantime we could never make out where he got the drink. That wasthe ship's mystery. Watch him as we pleased, we could do nothing to solveit; and when we asked him to his face, he would only laugh, if he weredrunk, and if he were sober, deny solemnly that he ever tasted anythingbut water. 

He was not only useless as an officer, and a bad influence amongst themen, but it was plain that at this rate he must soon kill himselfoutright; so nobody was much surprised, nor very sorry, when one darknight, with a head sea, he disappeared entirely and was seen no more. 

"Overboard!" said the captain. "Well, gentlemen, that saves the troubleof putting him in irons. "

But there we were, without a mate; and it was necessary, of course, toadvance one of the men. The boatswain, Job Anderson, was the likeliestman aboard, and, though he kept his old title, he served in a way asmate. Mr. Trelawney had followed the sea, and his knowledge made himvery useful, for he often took a watch himself in easy weather. And thecoxswain, Israel Hands, was a careful, wily, old, experienced seaman, whocould be trusted at a pinch with almost anything. 

He was a great confidant of Long John Silver, and so the mention of hisname leads me on to speak of our ship's cook, Barbecue, as the men calledhim. 

Aboard-ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round his neck, to haveboth hands as free as possible. It was something to see him wedge thefoot of the crutch against a bulkhead, and, propped against it, yieldingto every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking like some one safeashore. Still more strange was it to see him in the heaviest of weathercross the deck. He had a line or two rigged up to help him across thewidest spaces--Long John's earrings they were called; and he would handhimself from one place to another, now using the crutch, now trailing italongside by the lanyard, as quickly as another man could walk. Yet someof the men who had sailed with him before expressed their pity to see himso reduced. 

"He's no common man, Barbecue, " said the coxswain to me. "He had goodschooling in his young days, and can speak like a book when so minded;and brave--a lion's nothing alongside of Long John! I seen him grapplefour, and knock their heads together--him unarmed. "

All the crew respected, and even obeyed him. He had a way of talking toeach, and doing everybody some particular service. To me he wasunweariedly kind; and always glad to see me in the galley, which he keptas clean as a new pin; the dishes hanging up burnished, and his parrot ina cage in one corner. 

"Come away, Hawkins, " he would say; "come and have a yarn with John. Nobody more welcome than yourself, my son. Sit you down and hear thenews. Here's Cap'n Flint--I calls my parrot Cap'n Flint, after thefamous buccaneer--here's Cap'n Flint predicting success to ourv'yage. --Wasn't you, cap'n?"

And the parrot would say, with great rapidity, "Pieces of eight! piecesof eight! pieces of eight!" till you wondered that it was not out ofbreath, or till John threw his handkerchief over the cage. 

"Now, that bird, " he would say, "is, maybe, two hundred years old, Hawkins--they lives for ever mostly; and if anybody's seen morewickedness, it must be the devil himself. She's sailed with England, thegreat Cap'n England, the pirate. She's been at Madagascar, and atMalabar, and Surinam, and Providence, and Portobello. She was at thefishing up of the wrecked plate ships. It's there she learned 'Pieces ofeight, ' 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 yousmelt powder--didn't you, cap'n?"

"Stand by to go about, " the parrot would scream. 

"Ah, she's a handsome craft, she is, " the cook would say, and give hersugar from his pocket, and then the bird would peck at the bars and swearstraight on, passing belief for wickedness. "There, " John would add, "youcan't touch pitch and not be mucked, lad. Here's this poor old innocentbird o' mine swearing blue fire, and none the wiser, you may lay to that. She would swear the same, in a manner of speaking, before chaplain. " AndJohn would touch his forelock with a solemn way he had, that made methink he was the best of men. 

In the meantime the squire and Captain Smollett were still on prettydistant terms with one another. The squire made no bones about thematter; he despised the captain. The captain, on his part, never spokebut when he was spoken to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not aword wasted. He owned, when driven into a corner, that he seemed to havebeen wrong about the crew, that some of them were as brisk as he wantedto see, and all had behaved fairly well. As for the ship, he had taken adownright fancy to her. "She'll lie a point nearer the wind than a manhas a right to expect of his own married wife, sir. But, " he would add, "all I say is we're not home again, and I don't like the cruise. "

The squire, at this, would turn away and march up and down the deck, chinin air. 

"A trifle more of that man, " he would say, "and I should explode. "

We had some heavy weather, which only proved the qualities of the_Hispaniola_. Every man on board seemed well content, and they must havebeen hard to please if they had been otherwise; for it is my belief thatthere was never a ship's company so spoiled since Noah put to sea. Doublegrog was going on the least excuse; there was duff on odd days, as, forinstance, if the squire heard it was any man's birthday, and always abarrel of apples standing broached in the waist, for any one to helphimself that had a fancy. 

"Never knew good come of it yet, " the captain said to Dr. Livesey. "Spoilfoc's'le hands, make devils. That's my belief. "

But good did come of the apple-barrel, as you shall hear; for if it hadnot been for that we should have had no note of warning, and might allhave perished by the hand of treachery. 

This was how it came about. 

We had ran up the trades to get the wind of the island we were after--Iam not allowed to be more plain, --and now we were running down for itwith a bright look-out day and night. It was about the last day of ouroutward voyage, by the largest computation; some time that night, or, atlatest, before noon of the morrow, we should sight the Treasure Island. We were heading S. S. W. , and had a steady breeze abeam and a quiet sea. The _Hispaniola_ rolled steadily, dipping her bowsprit now and then witha whiff of spray. All was drawing alow and aloft; every one was in thebravest spirits, because we were now so near an end of the first part ofour adventure. 

Now, just after sundown, when all my work was over, and I was on my wayto my berth, it occurred to me that I should like an apple. I ran ondeck. The watch was all forward looking out for the island. The man atthe helm was watching the luff of the sail, and whistling away gently tohimself; and that was the only sound excepting the swish of the seaagainst the bows and around the sides of the ship. 

In I got bodily into the apple-barrel, and found there was scarce anapple left; but, sitting down there in the dark, what with the sound ofthe waters and the rocking movement of the ship, I had either fallenasleep, or was on the point of doing so, when a heavy man sat down withrather a clash close by. The barrel shook as he leaned his shouldersagainst it, and I was just about to jump up when the man began to speak. It was Silver's voice, and, before I had heard a dozen words, I would nothave shown myself for all the world, but lay there, trembling andlistening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity; for from these dozenwords I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard dependedupon me alone. 

 CHAPTER XI

 WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE-BARREL

"No, not I, " said Silver. "Flint was cap'n; I was quartermaster, along ofmy timber leg. The same broadside I lost my leg old Pew lost hisdead-lights. It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me--out ofcollege and all--Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was hangedlike a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso Castle. That wasRoberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to theirships--_Royal Fortune_ and so on. Now, what a ship was christened, so lether stay, I say. So it was with the _Cassandra_, as brought us all safehome from Malabar, after England took the Viceroy of the Indies; so itwas with the old _Walrus_, Flint's old ship, as I've seen a-muck with thered blood and fit to sink with gold. "

"Ah!" cried another voice, that of the youngest hand on board, andevidently full of admiration, "he was the flower of the flock, wasFlint!"

"Davis was a man, too, by all accounts, " said Silver. "I never sailedalong of him; first with England, then with Flint, that's my story; andnow here on my own account, in a manner of speaking. I laid by ninehundred safe, from England, and two thousand after Flint. That ain't badfor a man before the mast--all safe in bank. 'Tain't earning now, it'ssaving does it, you may lay to that. Where's all England's men now? Idunno. Where's Flint's? Why, most on 'em aboard here, and glad to get theduff--been begging before that, some on 'em. Old Pew, as had lost hissight, and might have thought shame, spends twelve hundred pound in ayear, like a lord in Parliament. Where is he now? Well, he's dead nowand under hatches; but for two year before that, shiver my timbers! theman was starving. He begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, andstarved at that, by the powers!"

"Well, it ain't much use, after all, " said the young seaman. 

"'Tain't much use for fools, you may lay to it--that, nor nothing, " criedSilver. "But now, you look here: you're young, you are, but you're assmart as paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I'll talk toyou like a man. "

You may imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable old rogueaddressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had used tomyself. I think, if I had been able, that I would have killed him throughthe barrel. Meantime he ran on, little supposing he was overheard. 

"Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough, and they riskswinging, but they eat and drink like fighting cocks, and when a cruiseis done, why, it's hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthings intheir pockets. Now, the most goes for rum and a good fling, and to seaagain in their shirts. But that's not the course I lay. I puts it allaway, some here, some there, and none too much anywheres, by reason ofsuspicion. I'm fifty, mark you; once back from this cruise, I set upgentleman in earnest. Time enough, too, says you. Ah, but I've lived easyin the meantime; never denied myself o' nothing heart desires, and slep'soft and ate dainty all my days, but when at sea. And how did I begin?Before the mast, like you!"

"Well, " said the other, "but all the other money's gone now, ain't it?You daren't show face in Bristol after this. "

"Why, where might you suppose it was?" asked Silver derisively. 

"At Bristol, in banks and places, " answered his companion. 

"It were, " said the cook; "it were when we weighed anchor. But my oldmissis has it all by now. And the 'Spy-glass' is sold, lease and goodwilland rigging; and the old girl's off to meet me. I would tell you where, for I trust you; but it 'ud make jealousy among the mates. "

"And can you trust your missis?" asked the other. 

"Gentlemen of fortune, " returned the cook, "usually trusts little amongthemselves, and right they are, you may lay to it. But I have a way withme, I have. When a mate brings a slip on his cable--one as knows me, Imean--it won't be in the same world with old John. There was some thatwas feared of Pew, and some that was feared of Flint; but Flint his ownself was feared of me. Feared he was, and proud. They was the roughestcrew afloat, was Flint's; the devil himself would have been feared to goto sea with them. Well, now, I tell you, I'm not a boasting man, and youseen yourself how easy I keep company; but when I was quartermaster, _lambs_ wasn't the word for Flint's old buccaneers. Ah, you may be sureof yourself in old John's ship. "

"Well, I tell you now, " replied the lad, "I didn't half a quarter likethe job till I had this talk with you, John; but there's my hand on itnow. "

"And a brave lad you were, and smart too, " answered Silver, shaking handsso heartily that all the barrel shook, "and a finer figurehead for agentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on. "

By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of their terms. By a"gentleman of fortune" they plainly meant neither more nor less than acommon pirate, and the little scene that I had overheard was the last actin the corruption of one of the honest hands--perhaps of the last oneleft aboard. But on this point I was soon to be relieved, for, Silvergiving a little whistle, a third man strolled up and sat down by theparty. 

"Dick's square, " said Silver. 

"Oh, I know'd Dick was square, " returned the voice of the coxswain, Israel Hands. "He's no fool, is Dick. " And he turned his quid and spat. "But, look here, " he went on, "here's what I want to know, Barbecue: howlong are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bum-boat? I've hada'most enough o' Cap'n Smollett; he's hazed me long enough, by thunder! Iwant to go into that cabin, I do. I want their pickles and wines, andthat. "

"Israel, " said Silver, "your head ain't much account, nor ever was. Butyou're able to hear, I reckon; leastways, your ears is big enough. Now, here's what I say: you'll berth forward, and you'll live hard, and you'llspeak soft, and you'll keep sober, till I give the word; and you may layto 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'lltell you when. The last moment I can manage; and that's when. Here's afirst-rate seaman, Cap'n Smollett, sails the blessed ship for us. Here'sthis squire and doctor with a map and such--I don't know where it is, doI? No more do you, says you. Well, then, I mean this squire and doctorshall find the stuff, and help us to get it aboard, by the powers. Thenwe'll see. If I was sure of you all, sons of double Dutchmen, I'd haveCap'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 acourse, but who's to set one? That's what all you gentlemen split on, first and last. If I had my way, I'd have Cap'n Smollett work us backinto the trades at least; then we'd have no blessed miscalculations and aspoonful of water a day. But I know the sort you are. I'll finish with'em at the island, as soon's the blunt's on board, and a pity it is. Butyou're never happy till you're drunk. Split my sides, I've a sick heartto sail with the likes of you!"

"Easy all, Long John, " cried Israel. "Who's a-crossin' of you?"

"Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I seen laid aboard? andhow many brisk lads drying in the sun at Execution Dock?" cried Silver, "and all for this same hurry and hurry and hurry. You hear me? I seen athing or two at sea, I have. If you would on'y lay your course, and ap'int to windward, you would ride in carriages, you would. But not you! Iknow 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 othersas could hand and steer as well as you, " said Israel. "They liked a bito' fun, they did. They wasn't so high and dry, nohow, but took theirfling, like jolly companions every one. "

"So?" says Silver. "Well, and where are they now? Pew was of that sort, and he died a beggarman. Flint was, and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah, they was a sweet crew, they was! on'y, where are they?"

"But, " asked Dick, "when we do lay 'em athwart, what are we to do with'em, anyhow?"

"There's the man for me!" cried the cook, admiringly. "That's what I callbusiness. Well, what would you think? Put 'em ashore like maroons? Thatwould have been England's way. Or cut 'em down like that much pork? Thatwould have been Flint's or Billy Bones's. "

"Billy was the man for that, " said Israel. "'Dead men don't bite, ' sayshe. Well, he's dead now hisself; he knows the long and short on it now;and if ever a rough hand come to port, it was Billy. "

"Right you are, " said Silver, "rough and ready. But mark you here: I'm aneasy man--I'm quite the gentleman, says you; but this time it's serious. Dooty is dooty, mates. I give my vote--death. When I'm in Parlyment, andriding in my coach, I don't want none of these sea-lawyers in the cabina-coming home, unlooked for, like the devil at prayers. Wait is what Isay, but when the time comes, why, let her rip!"

"John, " cries the coxswain, "you're a man!"

"You'll say so, Israel, when you see, " said Silver. "Only one thing Iclaim--I claim Trelawney. I'll wring his calf's head off his body withthese hands. Dick!" he added, breaking off, "you just jump up, like asweet lad and get me an apple, to wet my pipe like. "

You may fancy the terror I was in! I should have leaped out and run forit, if I had found the strength; but my limbs and heart alike misgave me. I heard Dick begin to rise, and then some one seemingly stopped him, andthe voice of Hands exclaimed--

"Oh, stow that! Don't you get sucking of that bilge, John. Let's have ago of the rum. "

"Dick, " said Silver, "I trust you. I've a gauge on the keg, mind. There'sthe key; you fill a pannikin and bring it up. "

Terrified as I was, I could not help thinking to myself that this musthave been how Mr. Arrow got the strong waters that destroyed him. 

Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence Israel spokestraight on in the cook's ear. It was but a word or two that I couldcatch, and yet I gathered some important news; for, besides other scrapsthat tended to the same purpose, this whole clause was audible: "Notanother man of them'll jine. " Hence there were still faithful men onboard. 

When Dick returned, one after another of the trio took the pannikin anddrank--one "To luck"; another with a "Here's to old Flint"; and Silverhimself saying, in a kind of song, "Here's to ourselves, and hold yourluff, plenty of prizes and plenty of duff. "

Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel, and, lookingup, I found the moon had risen, and was silvering the mizzen-top andshining white on the luff of the fore-sail; and almost at the same timethe voice of the look-out shouted "Land ho!"

 CHAPTER XII

 COUNCIL OF WAR

There was a great rush of feet across the deck. I could hear peopletumbling up from the cabin and the foc's'le; and, slipping in an instantoutside my barrel, I dived behind the fore-sail, made a double towardsthe 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 almostsimultaneously with the appearance of the moon. Away to the south-west ofus we saw two low hills, about a couple of miles apart, and rising behindone of them a third and higher hill, whose peak was still buried in thefog. All three seemed sharp and conical in figure. 

So much I saw, almost in a dream, for I had not yet recovered from myhorrid fear of a minute or two before. And then I heard the voice ofCaptain Smollett issuing orders. The _Hispaniola_ was laid a couple ofpoints nearer the wind, and now sailed a course that would just clear theisland on the east. 

"And now, men, " said the captain, when all was sheeted home, "has any oneof you ever seen that land ahead?"

"I have, sir, " said Silver. "I've watered there with a trader I was cookin. "

"The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I fancy?" asked thecaptain. 

"Yes, sir; Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a main place forpirates once, and a hand we had on board knowed all their names for it. That hill to the nor'ard they calls the Fore-mast Hill; there are threehills in a row running south'ard--fore, main, and mizzen, sir. But themain--that's the big 'un with the cloud on it--they usually calls theSpy-glass, by reason of a look-out they kept when they was in theanchorage cleaning; for it's there they cleaned their ships, sir, askingyour pardon. "

"I have a chart here, " says Captain Smollett. "See if that's the place. "

Long John's eyes burned in his head as he took the chart; but, by thefresh look of the paper, I knew he was doomed to disappointment. This wasnot the map we found in Billy Bones's chest, but an accurate copy, complete in all things--names and heights and soundings--with the singleexception of the red crosses and the written notes. Sharp as must havebeen his annoyance, Silver had the strength of mind to hide it. 

"Yes, sir, " said he, "this is the spot, to be sure; and very prettilydrawed out. Who might have done that, I wonder? The pirates were tooignorant, I reckon. Ay, here it is: 'Capt. Kidd's Anchorage'--just thename my shipmate called it. There's a strong current runs along thesouth, and then away nor'ard up the west coast. Right you was, sir, " sayshe, "to haul your wind and keep the weather of the island. Leastways, ifsuch was your intention as to enter and careen, and there ain't no betterplace for that in these waters. "

"Thank you, my man, " says Captain Smollett. "I'll ask you, later on, togive us a help. You may go. "

I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed his knowledge ofthe island; and I own I was half-frightened when I saw him drawing nearerto myself. He did not know, to be sure, that I had overheard his councilfrom the apple-barrel, and yet I had, by this time, taken such a horrorof his cruelty, duplicity, and power, that I could scarce conceal ashudder when he laid his hand upon my arm. 

"Ah, " says he, "this here is a sweet spot, this island--a sweet spotfor a lad to get ashore on. You'll bathe, and you'll climb trees, andyou'll hunt goats, you will; and you'll get aloft on them hills like agoat yourself. Why, it makes me young again. I was going to forget mytimber 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 justask old John, and he'll put up a snack for you to take along. "

And clapping me in the friendliest way upon the shoulder, he hobbled offforward, and went below. 

Captain Smollett, the squire, and Dr. Livesey were talking together onthe quarter-deck, and, anxious as I was to tell them my story, I durstnot interrupt them openly. While I was still casting about in my thoughtsto find some probable excuse, Dr. Livesey called me to his side. He hadleft his pipe below, and, being a slave to tobacco, had meant that Ishould fetch it; but as soon as I was near enough to speak and not to beoverheard, I broke out immediately: "Doctor, let me speak. Get thecaptain and squire down to the cabin, and then make some pretence to sendfor me. I have terrible news. "

The doctor changed countenance a little, but next moment he was master ofhimself. 

"Thank you, Jim, " said he, quite loudly, "that was all I wanted to know, "as if he had asked me a question. 

And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined the other two. Theyspoke together for a little, and though none of them started, or raisedhis voice, or so much as whistled, it was plain enough that Dr. Liveseyhad communicated my request; for the next thing that I heard was thecaptain giving an order to Job Anderson, and all hands were piped ondeck. 

"My lads, " said Captain Smollett, "I've a word to say to you. This landthat we have sighted is the place we have been sailing to. Mr. Trelawney, being a very open-handed gentleman, as we all know, has just asked me aword or two, and as I was able to tell him that every man on board haddone his duty, alow and aloft, as I never ask to see it done better, why, he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin to drink _your_health and luck, and you'll have grog served out for you to drink _our_health and luck. I'll tell you what I think of this: I think it handsome. And if you think as I do, you'll give a good sea cheer for the gentlemanthat does it. "

The cheer followed--that was a matter of course; but it rang out so fulland hearty that I confess I could hardly believe these same men wereplotting for our blood. 

"One more cheer for Cap'n Smollett, " cried Long John, when the first hadsubsided. 

And this also was given with a will. 

On the top of that the three gentlemen went below, and not long after, word was sent forward that Jim Hawkins was wanted in the cabin. 

I found them all three seated round the table, a bottle of Spanish wineand some raisins before them, and the doctor smoking away, with his wigon his lap, and that, I knew, was a sign that he was agitated. The sternwindow was open, for it was a warm night, and you could see the moonshining behind on the ship's wake. 

"Now, Hawkins, " said the squire, "you have something to say. Speak up. "

I did as I was bid, and, as short as I could make it, told the wholedetails of Silver's conversation. Nobody interrupted me till I was done, nor did any one of the three of them make so much as a movement, but theykept their eyes upon my face from first to last. 

"Jim, " said Dr. Livesey, "take a seat. "

And they made me sit down at table beside them, poured me out a glass ofwine, filled my hands with raisins, and all three, one after the other, and each with a bow, drank my good health, and their service to me, formy luck and courage. 

"Now, captain, " said the squire, "you were right, and I was wrong. I ownmyself an ass, and I await your orders. "

"No more an ass than I, sir, " returned the captain. "I never heard of acrew that meant to mutiny but what showed signs before, for any man thathad an eye in his head to see the mischief and take steps according. Butthis crew, " he added, "beats me. "

"Captain, " said the doctor, "with your permission, that's Silver. A veryremarkable man. "

"He'd look remarkably well from a yard-arm, sir, " returned the captain. "But this is talk; this don't lead to anything. I see three or fourpoints, and with Mr. Trelawney's permission, I'll name them. "

"You, sir, are the captain. It is for you to speak, " says Mr. Trelawneygrandly. 

"First point, " began Mr. Smollett: "we must go on, because we can't turnback. If I gave the word to go about, they would rise at once. Secondpoint: we have time before us--at least, until this treasure's found. Third point: there are faithful hands. Now, sir, it's got to come toblows sooner or later; and what I propose is, to take time by theforelock, as the saying is, and come to blows some fine day when theyleast expect it. We can count, I take it, on your own home servants, Mr. Trelawney?"

"As upon myself, " declared the squire. 

"Three, " reckoned the captain, "ourselves make seven, counting Hawkins, here. Now, about the honest hands?"

"Most likely Trelawney's own men, " said the doctor; "those he had pickedup for himself, before he lit on Silver. "

"Nay, " replied the squire, "Hands was one of mine. "

"I did think I could have trusted Hands, " added the captain. 

"And to think that they're all Englishmen!" broke out the squire. "Sir, Icould find it in my heart to blow the ship up. "

"Well, gentlemen, " said the captain, "the best that I can say is notmuch. We must lay-to, if you please, and keep a bright look-out. It'strying on a man, I know. It would be pleasanter to come to blows. Butthere's no help for it till we know our men. Lay-to, and whistle for awind, that's my view. "

"Jim here, " said the doctor, "can help us more than any one. The men arenot shy with him, and Jim is a noticing lad. "

"Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you, " added the squire. 

I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt altogether helpless;and yet, by an odd train of circumstances, it was indeed through me thatsafety came. In the meantime, talk as we pleased, there were only sevenout of the twenty-six on whom we knew we could rely; and out of theseseven one was a boy, so that the grown men on our side were six to theirnineteen. 

 PART III

 MY SHORE ADVENTURE

 CHAPTER XIII

 HOW I BEGAN MY SHORE ADVENTURE

The appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning wasaltogether changed. Although the breeze had now utterly failed, we hadmade a great deal of way during the night, and were now lying becalmedabout half a mile to the south-east of the low eastern coast. Grey-coloured woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tintwas indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sandbreak in the lower lands, and by many tall trees of the pine family, out-topping the others--somesingly, some in clumps; but the general colouring was uniform and sad. The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of naked rock. Allwere strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass, which was by three or fourhundred feet the tallest on the island, was likewise the strangest inconfiguration, running up sheer from almost every side, and then suddenlycut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on. 

The _Hispaniola_ was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell. The boomswere tearing at the blocks, the rudder was banging to and fro, and thewhole ship creaking, groaning, and jumping like a manufactory. I had tocling tight to the backstay, and the world turned giddily before my eyes;for though I was a good enough sailor when there was way on, thisstanding still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I neverlearned to stand without a qualm or so, above all in the morning, on anempty stomach. 

Perhaps it was this--perhaps it was the look of the island, with itsgrey, melancholy woods, and wild stone spires, and the surf that we couldboth see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach--at least, although the sun shone bright and hot, and the shore-birds were fishingand crying all around us, and you would have thought any one would havebeen glad to get to land after being so long at sea, my heart sank, asthe saying is, into my boots; and from that first look onward I hated thevery thought of Treasure Island. 

We had a dreary morning's work before us, for there was no sign of anywind, and the boats had to be got out and manned, and the ship warpedthree or four miles round the corner of the island, and up the narrowpassage to the haven behind Skeleton Island. I volunteered for one of theboats, where I had, of course, no business. The heat was sweltering, andthe men grumbled fiercely over their work. Anderson was in command of myboat, and instead of keeping the crew in order, he grumbled as loud asthe 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 gonebriskly and willingly about their business; but the very sight of theisland had relaxed the cords of discipline. 

All the way in, Long John stood by the steersman and conned the ship. Heknew the passage like the palm of his hand; and though the man in thechains got everywhere more water than was down in the chart, John neverhesitated once. 

"There's a strong scour with the ebb, " he said, "and this here passagehas been dug out, in a manner of speaking, with a spade. "

We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart, about a third of amile from either shore, the mainland on one side, and Skeleton Island onthe other. The bottom was clean sand. The plunge of our anchor sent upclouds of birds wheeling and crying over the woods; but in less than aminute they were down again, and all was once more silent. 

The place was entirely land-locked, buried in woods, the trees comingright down to high-water mark, the shores mostly flat, and the hill-topsstanding round at a distance in a sort of amphitheatre, one here, onethere. Two little rivers, or rather, two swamps, emptied out into thispond, as you might call it; and the foliage round that part of the shorehad a kind of poisonous brightness. From the ship we could see nothing ofthe house or stockade, for they were quite buried among trees; and if ithad not been for the chart on the companion, we might have been the firstthat 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 surfbooming half a mile away along the beaches and against the rocks outside. A peculiar stagnant smell hung over the anchorage--a smell of soddenleaves and rotting tree-trunks. I observed the doctor sniffing andsniffing, like some one tasting a bad egg. 

"I don't know about treasure, " he said, "but I'll stake my wig there'sfever here. "

If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the boat, it became trulythreatening when they had come aboard. They lay about the deck growlingtogether in talk. The slightest order was received with a black look, andgrudgingly and carelessly obeyed. Even the honest hands must have caughtthe infection, for there was not one man aboard to mend another. Mutiny, it was plain, hung over us like a thunder-cloud. 

And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived the danger. LongJohn was hard at work going from group to group, spending himself in goodadvice, and as for example no man could have shown a better. He fairlyoutstripped himself in willingness and civility; he was all smiles toevery one. If an order were given, John would be on his crutch in aninstant, with the cheeriest "Ay, ay, sir!" in the world; and when therewas nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another, as if toconceal the discontent of the rest. 

Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon, this obvious anxietyon 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'll comeabout our ears by the run. You see, sir, here it is. I get a roughanswer, do I not? Well, if I speak back, pikes will be going in twoshakes; if I don't, Silver will see there's something under that, and thegame's up. Now, we've only one man to rely on. "

"And who is that?" asked the squire. 

"Silver, sir, " returned the captain; "he's as anxious as you and I tosmother things up. This is a tiff; he'd soon talk 'em out of it if he hadthe chance, and what I propose to do is to give him the chance. Let'sallow the men an afternoon ashore. If they all go, why, we'll fight theship. If they none of them go--well, then, we hold the cabin, and Goddefend the right. If some go, you mark my words, sir, Silver'll bring 'emaboard again as mild as lambs. "

It was so decided; loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men;Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth were taken into our confidence, and receivedthe news with less surprise and a better spirit than we had looked for, and then the captain went on deck and addressed the crew. 

"My lads, " said he, "we've had a hot day, and are all tired and out ofsorts. A turn ashore'll hurt nobody--the boats are still in the water;you can take the gigs, and as many as please can go ashore for theafternoon. I'll fire a gun half an hour before sun-down. "

I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would break theirshins over treasure as soon as they were landed; for they all came out oftheir sulks in a moment, and gave a cheer that started the echo in afar-away hill, and sent the birds once more flying and squalling roundthe anchorage. 

The captain was too bright to be in the way. He whipped out of sight in amoment, leaving Silver to arrange the party; and I fancy it was as wellhe did so. Had he been on deck he could no longer so much as havepretended not to understand the situation. It was as plain as day. Silverwas the captain, and a mighty rebellious crew he had of it. The honesthands--and I was soon to see it proved that there were such onboard--must have been very stupid fellows. Or, rather, I suppose thetruth was this, that all hands were disaffected by the example of theringleaders--only some more, some less; and a few, being good fellows inthe main, could neither be led nor driven any further. It is one thing tobe idle and skulk, and quite another to take a ship and murder a numberof innocent men. 

At last, however, the party was made up. Six fellows were to stay onboard, and the remaining thirteen, including Silver, began to embark. 

Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad notionsthat contributed so much to save our lives. If six men were left bySilver, it was plain our party could not take and fight the ship; andsince only six were left, it was equally plain that the cabin party hadno 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 foresheetsof 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 sharplyover and called out to know if that were me; and from that moment I beganto 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 ofher consort, and the bow had struck among the shore-side trees, and Ihad caught a branch and swung myself out, and plunged into the nearestthicket, while Silver and the rest were still a hundred yards behind. 

"Jim, Jim!" I heard him shouting. 

But you may suppose I paid no heed; jumping, ducking, and breakingthrough, I ran straight before my nose, till I could run no longer. 

 CHAPTER XIV

 THE FIRST BLOW

I was so pleased at having given the slip to Long John, that I began toenjoy myself and look around me with some interest on the strange landthat I was in. 

I had crossed a marshy track full of willows, bulrushes, and odd, outlandish, swampy trees; and I had now come out upon the skirts of anopen piece of undulating, sandy country, about a mile long, dotted with afew pines, and a great number of contorted trees, not unlike the oak ingrowth, but pale in foliage, like willows. On the far side of the openstood one of the hills, with two quaint, craggy peaks, shining vividly inthe sun. 

I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration. The isle wasuninhabited; my shipmates I had left behind, and nothing lived in frontof me but dumb brutes and fowls. I turned hither and thither among thetrees. Here and there were flowering plants, unknown to me; here andthere I saw snakes, and one raised his head from a ledge of rock andhissed at me with a noise not unlike the spinning of a top. Little did Isuppose that he was a deadly enemy, and that the noise was the famousrattle. 

Then I came to a long thicket of these oak-like trees--live, orevergreen, oaks, I heard afterwards they should be called--which grew lowalong the sand like brambles, the boughs curiously twisted, the foliagecompact, like thatch. The thicket stretched down from the top of one ofthe sandy knolls, spreading and growing taller as it went, until itreached the margin of the broad, reedy fen, through which the nearest ofthe little rivers soaked its way into the anchorage. The marsh wassteaming in the strong sun, and the outline of the Spy-glass trembledthrough the haze. 

All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among the bulrushes; awild duck flew up with a quack, another followed, and soon over the wholesurface of the marsh a great cloud of birds hung screaming and circlingin the air. I judged at once that some of my shipmates must be drawingnear along the borders of the fen. Nor was I deceived; for soon I heardthe very distant and low tones of a human voice, which, as I continued togive ear, grew steadily louder and nearer. 

This put me in a great fear, and I crawled under cover of the nearestlive-oak, and squatted there, hearkening, as silent as a mouse. 

Another voice answered; and then the first voice, which I now recognisedto be Silver's, once more took up the story, and ran on for a long whilein a stream, only now and again interrupted by the other. By the soundthey must have been talking earnestly, and almost fiercely; but nodistinct word came to my hearing. 

At last the speakers seemed to have paused, and perhaps to have sat down;for not only did they cease to draw any nearer, but the birds themselvesbegan to grow more quiet, and to settle again to their places in theswamp. 

And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my business; that since Ihad been so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, the leastI could do was to overhear them at their councils; and that my plain andobvious duty was to draw as close as I could manage, under the favourableambush of the crouching trees. 

I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly, not only bythe sound of their voices, but by the behaviour of the few birds thatstill hung in alarm above the heads of the intruders. 

Crawling on all-fours, I made steadily but slowly towards them; till atlast, raising my head to an aperture among the leaves, I could see cleardown into a little green dell beside the marsh, and closely set aboutwith trees, where Long John Silver and another of the crew stood face toface in conversation. 

The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown his hat beside him on theground, and his great, smooth, blonde face, all shining with heat, waslifted to the other man's in a kind of appeal. 

"Mate, " he was saying, "it's because I thinks gold dust of you--golddust, and you may lay to that! If I hadn't took to you like pitch, do youthink I'd have been here a-warning of you? All's up--you can't make normend; 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 theface, but spoke as hoarse as a crow, and his voice shook, too, like ataut rope--"Silver, " says he, "you're old, and you're honest, or has thename for it; and you've money, too, which lots of poor sailors hasn't;and you're brave, or I'm mistook. And will you tell me you'll letyourself be led away with that kind of a mess of swabs? not you! As sureas God sees me, I'd sooner lose my hand. If I turn agin my dooty----"

And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise. I had found oneof the honest hands--well, here, at that same moment, came news ofanother. Far away out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a soundlike the cry of anger, then another on the back of it; and then onehorrid, long-drawn scream. The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it ascore of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose again, darkeningheaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after that death-yell wasstill ringing in my brain silence had re-established its empire, and onlythe rustle of the re-descending birds and the boom of the distant surgesdisturbed the languor of the afternoon. 

Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur; but Silver had notwinked an eye. He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching his companion like a snake about to spring. 

"John!" said the sailor, stretching out his hand. 

"Hands off!" cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me, withthe speed and security of a trained gymnast. 

"Hands off, if you like, John Silver, " said the other. "It's a blackconscience that can make you feared of me. But, in heaven's name, tell mewhat was that?"

"That?" returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than ever, his eye amere 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 seaman! And as for you, John Silver, long you've been a mate of mine, but you're mate of mine nomore. If I die like a dog, I'll die in my dooty. You've killed Alan, haveyou? Kill me, too, if you can. But I defies you. "

And with that this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook, andset off walking for the beach. But he was not destined to go far. With acry, John seized the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of hisarm-pit, and sent that uncouth missile hurtling through the air. Itstruck poor Tom, point foremost, and with stunning violence, rightbetween the shoulders in the middle of his back. His hands flew up, hegave a sort of gasp, and fell. 

Whether he were injured much or little, none could ever tell. Likeenough, to judge from the sound, his back was broken on the spot. But hehad no time given him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey, even withoutleg or crutch, was on the top of him next moment, and had twice buriedhis knife up to the hilt in that defenceless body. From my place ofambush I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the blows. 

I do not know what it rightly is to faint, but I do know that for thenext little while the whole world swam away from before me in a whirlingmist; Silver and the birds, and the tall Spy-glass hill-top, going roundand round and topsy-turvy before my eyes, and all manner of bells ringingand distant voices shouting in my ear. 

When I came again to myself, the monster had pulled himself together, hiscrutch under his arm, his hat upon his head. Just before him Tom laymotionless upon the sward; but the murderer minded him not a whit, cleansing his blood-stained knife the while upon a wisp of grass. Everything else was unchanged, the sun still shining mercilessly on thesteaming marsh and the tall pinnacle of the mountain, and I could scarcepersuade myself that murder had been actually done, and a human lifecruelly cut short, a moment since, before my eyes. 

But now John put his hand into his pocket, brought out a whistle, andblew upon it several modulated blasts, that rang far across the heatedair. I could not tell, of course, the meaning of the signal; but itinstantly awoke my fears. More men would be coming. I might bediscovered. They had already slain two of the honest people; after Tomand Alan, might not I come next?

Instantly I began to extricate myself and crawl back again, with whatspeed and silence I could manage, to the more open portion of the wood. As I did so, I could hear hails coming and going between the oldbuccaneer and his comrades, and this sound of danger lent me wings. Assoon as I was clear of the thicket, I ran as I never ran before, scarceminding the direction of my flight, so long as it led me from themurderers; and as I ran, fear grew and grew upon me, until it turned intoa kind of frenzy. 

Indeed, could 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, stillsmoking from their crime? Would not the first of them who saw me wring myneck like a snipe's? Would not my absence itself be an evidence to themof my alarm, and therefore of my fatal knowledge? It was all over, Ithought. Good-bye to the _Hispaniola_; good-bye to the squire, thedoctor, and the captain! There was nothing left for me but death bystarvation, or death by the hands of the mutineers. 

All this while, as I say, I was still running, and, without taking anynotice, I had drawn near to the foot of the little hill with the twopeaks, and had got into a part of the island where the live-oaks grewmore widely apart, and seemed more like forest-trees in their bearing anddimensions. Mingled with these were a few scattered pines, some fifty, some nearer seventy, feet high. The air, too, smelt more freshly thandown beside the marsh. 

And here a fresh alarm brought me to a standstill with a thumping heart. 

 CHAPTER XV

 THE MAN OF THE ISLAND

From the side of the hill, which was here steep and stony, a spout ofgravel was dislodged, and fell rattling and bounding through the trees. My eyes turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leapwith great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was, whether bearor 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 astand. 

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 thedangers that I knew to those I knew not. Silver himself appeared lessterrible in contrast with this creature of the woods, and I turned on myheel, and, looking sharply behind me over my shoulder, began to retracemy steps in the direction of the boats. 

Instantly the figure reappeared, and, making a wide circuit, began tohead me off. I was tired, at any rate; but had I been as fresh as when Irose, I could see it was in vain for me to contend in speed with such anadversary. From trunk to trunk the creature flitted like a deer, runningman-like on two legs, but, unlike any man that I had ever seen, stoopingalmost double as it ran. Yet a man it was; I could no longer be in doubtabout that. 

I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals. I was within an ace ofcalling for help. But the mere fact that he was a man, however wild, hadsomewhat reassured me, and my fear of Silver began to revive inproportion. I stood still, therefore, and cast about for some method ofescape; and as I was so thinking, the recollection of my pistol flashedinto my mind. As soon as I remembered I was not defenceless, courageglowed again in my heart; and I set my face resolutely for this man ofthe island, and walked briskly towards him. 

He was concealed by this time behind another tree-trunk; but he must havebeen watching me closely, for as soon as I began to move in his directionhe reappeared and took a step to meet me. Then he hesitated, drew back, came forward again, and at last, to my wonder and confusion, threwhimself 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 arusty lock. "I'm poor Ben Gunn, I am; and I haven't spoke with aChristian these three years. "

I could now see that he was a white man like myself, and that hisfeatures were even pleasing. His skin, where-ever it was exposed, wasburnt by the sun; even his lips were black; and his fair eyes lookedquite startling in so dark a face. Of all the beggar-men that I had seenor fancied, he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed with tattersof old ship's canvas and old sea cloth; and this extraordinary patchworkwas all held together by a system of the most various and incongruousfastenings, --brass buttons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry gaskin. About his waist he wore an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was theone thing solid in his whole accoutrement. 

"Three years!" I cried. "Were you shipwrecked?"

"Nay, mate, " said he--"marooned. "

I had heard the word, and I knew it stood for a horrible kind ofpunishment common enough among the buccaneers, in which the offender isput ashore with a little powder and shot, and left behind on somedesolate and distant island. 

"Marooned three years agone, " he continued, "and lived on goats sincethen, and berries, and oysters. Where-ever a man is, says I, a man can dofor himself. But, mate, my heart is sore for Christian diet. You mightn'thappen to have a piece of cheese about you, now? No? Well, many's thelong 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 thestone. "

All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my jacket, smoothing myhands, looking at my boots, and generally, in the intervals of hisspeech, showing a childish pleasure in the presence of a fellow-creature. But at my last words he perked up into a kind of startled slyness. 

"If ever you can get aboard again, says you?" he repeated. "Why, now, who's to hinder you?"

"Not you, I know, " was my reply. 

"And right you was, " he cried. "Now you--what do you call yourself, mate?"

"Jim, " I told him. 

"Jim, Jim, " says he, quite pleased, apparently. "Well, now, Jim, I'velived that rough as you'd be ashamed to hear of. Now, for instance, youwouldn't think I had had a pious mother--to look at me?" he asked. 

"Why, no--not in particular, " I answered. 

"Ah, well, " said he, "but I had--remarkable pious. And I was a civil, pious boy, and could rattle off my catechism that fast as you couldn'ttell one word from another. And here's what it come to, Jim, and it begunwith chuck-farthen on the blessed grave-stones! That's what it begunwith, but it went further'n that; and so my mother told me, and predickedthe whole, she did, the pious woman! But it were Providence that put mehere. I've thought it all out in this here lonely island, and I'm back onpiety. You don't catch me tasting rum so much; but just a thimbleful forluck, of course, the first chance I have. I'm bound I'll be good, and Isee the way to. And, Jim"--looking all round him, and lowering his voiceto a whisper--"I'm rich. "

I now felt sure that the poor fellow had gone crazy in his solitude, andI suppose I must have shown the feeling in my face; for he repeated thestatement hotly:--

"Rich! rich! I says. And I'll tell you what: I'll make a man of you, Jim. Ah, Jim, you'll bless your stars, you will, you was the first that foundme!"

And at this there came suddenly a lowering shadow over his face, and hetightened his grasp upon my hand, and raised a forefinger threateninglybefore my eyes. 

"Now, Jim, you tell me true: that ain't Flint's ship?" he asked. 

At this I had a happy inspiration. I began to believe that I had found anally, and I answered him at once. 

"It's not Flint's ship, and Flint is dead; but I'll tell you true, as youask me--there are some of Flint's hands aboard; worse luck for the restof 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 awring. 

"If you was sent by Long John, " he said, "I'm as good as pork, and I knowit. But where was you, do you suppose?"

I had made my mind up in a moment, and by way of answer told him thewhole story of our voyage, and the predicament in which we foundourselves. He heard me with the keenest interest, and when I had done hepatted me on the head. 

"You're a good lad, Jim, " he said; "and you're all in a clove hitch, ain't you? Well, you just put your trust in Ben Gunn--Ben Gunn's the manto do it. Would you think it likely, now, that your squire would prove aliberal-minded one in case of help--him being in a clove hitch, as youremark?"

I told him the squire was the most liberal of men. 

"Ay, but you see, " returned Ben Gunn, "I didn't mean giving me a gate tokeep, and a shuit of livery-clothes, and such; that's not my mark, Jim. What I mean is, would he be likely to come down to the toon of, say onethousand pounds out of money that's as good as a man's own already?"

"I am sure he would, " said I. "As it was, all hands were to share. "

"_And_ a passage home?" he added, with a look of great shrewdness. 

"Why, " I cried, "the squire's a gentleman. And, besides, if we got rid ofthe others, we should want you to help work the vessel home. "

"Ah, " said he, "so you would. " And he seemed very much relieved. 

"Now, I'll tell you what, " he went on. "So much I'll tell you, and nomore. I were in Flint's ship when he buried the treasure; he and sixalong--six strong seamen. They was ashore nigh on a week, and us standingoff and on in the old _Walrus_. One fine day up went the signal, and herecome Flint by himself in a little boat, and his head done up in a bluescarf. The sun was getting up, and mortal white he looked about thecutwater. But, there he was, you mind, and the six all dead--dead andburied. 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 themate; Long John, he was quarter-master; and they asked him where thetreasure 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. 

"Well, I was in another ship three years back, and we sighted thisisland. 'Boys, ' said I, 'here's Flint's treasure; let's land and findit. ' The cap'n was displeased at that; but my messmates were all of amind, and landed. Twelve days they looked for it, and every day they hadthe worse word for me, until one fine morning all hands went aboard. 'Asfor you, Benjamin Gunn, ' says they, 'here's a musket, ' they says, 'and aspade, and pickaxe. You can stay here and find Flint's money foryourself, ' they says. 

"Well, Jim, three years have I been here, and not a bite of Christiandiet from that day to this. But now, you look here; look at me. Do I looklike 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 heweren't, neither--that's the words. Three years he were the man of thisisland, light and dark, fair and rain; and sometimes he would, maybe, think upon a prayer (says you), and sometimes he would, maybe, think ofhis old mother, so be as she's alive (you'll say); but the most part ofGunn's time (this is what you'll say)--the most part of his time was tookup with another matter. And then you'll give him a nip, like I do. "

And he pinched me again in the most confidential manner. 

"Then, " he continued--"then you'll up, and you'll say this:--Gunn is agood man (you'll say), and he puts a precious sight more confidence--aprecious sight, mind that--in a gen'leman born than in these gen'lemen offortune, having been one hisself. "

"Well, " I said, "I don't understand one word that you've been saying. Butthat'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 Imade with my two hands. I keep her under the white rock. If the worstcome to the worst, we might try that after dark. --Hi!" he broke out, "what's that?"

For just then, although the sun had still an hour or two to run, all theechoes of the island awoke and bellowed to the thunder of a cannon. 

"They have begun to fight!" I cried. "Follow me. "

And I began to run towards the anchorage, my terrors all forgotten;while, close at my side, the marooned man in his goatskins trotted easilyand lightly. 

"Left, left, " says he; "keep to your left hand, mate Jim! Under the treeswith you! Theer's where I killed my first goat. They don't come down herenow; they're all mast-headed on them mountings for the fear of BenjaminGunn. Ah! and there's the cetemery"--cemetery, he must have meant. "Yousee the mounds? I come here and prayed, nows and thens, when I thoughtmaybe a Sunday would be about doo. It weren't quite a chapel, but itseemed more solemn like; and then, says you, Ben Gunn wasshort-handed--no chapling, nor so much as a Bible and a flag you says. "

So he kept talking as I ran, neither expecting nor receiving any answer. 

The cannon-shot was followed, after a considerable interval, by a volleyof small arms. 

Another pause, and then, not a quarter of a mile in front of me, I beheldthe Union Jack flutter in the air above a wood. 

 PART IV

 THE STOCKADE

 CHAPTER XVI

 NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--HOW THE SHIP WAS ABANDONED

It was about half-past one--three bells in the sea phrase--that the twoboats went ashore from the _Hispaniola_. The captain, the squire, and Iwere talking matters over in the cabin. Had there been a breath of windwe 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, tocomplete our helplessness, down came Hunter with the news that JimHawkins had slipped into a boat and was gone ashore with the rest. 

It never occurred to us to doubt Jim Hawkins; but we were alarmed for hissafety. With the men in the temper they were in, it seemed an even chanceif we should see the lad again. We ran on deck. The pitch was bubbling inthe seams; the nasty stench of the place turned me sick; if ever a mansmelt fever and dysentery, it was in that abominable anchorage. The sixscoundrels were sitting grumbling under a sail in the forecastle; ashorewe could see the gigs made fast, and a man sitting in each, hard by wherethe river runs in. One of them was whistling "Lillibullero. "

Waiting was a strain; and it was decided that Hunter and I should goashore with the jolly-boat, in quest of information. 

The gigs had leaned to their right; but Hunter and I pulled straight in, in the direction of the stockade upon the chart. The two who were leftguarding their boats seemed in a bustle at our appearance;"Lillibullero" stopped off, and I could see the pair discussing whatthey ought to do. Had they gone and told Silver, all might have turnedout differently; but they had their orders, I suppose, and decided to sitquietly where they were and hark back again to "Lillibullero. "

There was a slight bend in the coast, and I steered so as to put itbetween us; even before we landed we had thus lost sight of the gigs. Ijumped out, and came as near running as I durst, with a big silkhandkerchief under my hat for coolness' sake, and a brace of pistolsready primed for safety. 

I had not gone a hundred yards when I came on the stockade. 

This was how it was: a spring of clear water rose almost at the top of aknoll. Well, on the knoll, and enclosing the spring, they had clapped astout log-house, fit to hold two-score people on a pinch, and loopholedfor 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 dooror opening, too strong to pull down without time and labour, and too opento shelter the besiegers. The people in the log-house had them in everyway; they stood quiet in shelter and shot the others like partridges. Allthey wanted was a good watch and food; for, short of a complete surprise, they might have held the place against a regiment. 

What particularly took my fancy was the spring. For, though we had a goodenough place of it in the cabin of the _Hispaniola_, with plenty of armsand ammunition, and things to eat, and excellent wines, there had beenone thing overlooked--we had no water. I was thinking this over, whenthere came ringing over the island the cry of a man at the point ofdeath. I was not new to violent death--I have served his Royal Highnessthe Duke of Cumberland, and got a wound myself at Fontenoy--but I know mypulse went dot and carry one. "Jim Hawkins is gone" was my firstthought. 

It is something to have been an old soldier, but more still to have beena doctor. There is no time to dilly-dally in our work. And so now I madeup my mind instantly, and with no time lost returned to the shore, andjumped on board the jolly-boat. 

By good fortune Hunter pulled a good oar. We made the water fly; and theboat was soon alongside, and I aboard the schooner. 

I found them all shaken, as was natural. The squire was sitting down, aswhite as a sheet, thinking of the harm he had led us to, the good soul!and one of the six forecastle hands was little better. 

"There's a man, " says Captain Smollett, nodding towards him, "new to thiswork. He came nigh-hand fainting, doctor, when he heard the cry. Anothertouch of the rudder and that man would join us. "

I told my plan to the captain, and between us we settled on the detailsof its accomplishment. 

We put old Redruth in the gallery between the cabin and the forecastle, with three or four loaded muskets and a mattress for protection. Hunterbrought the boat round under the stern-port, and Joyce and I set to workloading her with powder-tins, muskets, bags of biscuits, kegs of pork, acask of cognac, and my invaluable medicine-chest. 

In the meantime the squire and the captain stayed on deck, and the latterhailed the coxswain, who was the principal man aboard. 

"Mr. Hands, " he said, "here are two of us with a brace of pistols each. If any one of you six make a signal of any description, that man's dead. "

They were a good deal taken aback; and, after a little consultation, oneand all tumbled down the fore companion, thinking, no doubt, to take uson the rear. But when they saw Redruth waiting for them in the sparredgallery, they went about-ship at once, and a head popped out again ondeck. 

"Down, dog!" cries the captain. 

And the head popped back again; and we heard no more, for the time, ofthese six very faint-hearted seamen. 

By this time, tumbling things in as they came, we had the jolly-boatloaded as much as we dared. Joyce and I got out through the stern-port, and we made for shore again, as fast as oars could take us. 

This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along shore. "Lillibullero"was dropped again; and just before we lost sight of them behind thelittle point, one of them whipped ashore and disappeared. I had half amind to change my plan and destroy their boats, but I feared that Silverand the others might be close at hand, and all might very well be lost bytrying for too much. 

We had soon touched land in the same place as before, and set toprovision the block-house. All three made the first journey, heavilyladen, and tossed our stores over the palisade. Then, leaving Joyce toguard them--one man, to be sure, but with half a dozen muskets--Hunterand I returned to the jolly-boat, and loaded ourselves once more. So weproceeded without pausing to take breath, till the whole cargo wasbestowed, when the two servants took up their positions in theblock-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 itreally was. They had the advantage of numbers, of course, but we had theadvantage of arms. Not one of the men ashore had a musket, and beforethey could get within range for pistol-shooting, we flattered ourselveswe should be able to give a good account of a half-dozen at least. 

The squire was waiting for me at the stern window, all his faintness gonefrom him. He caught the painter and made it fast, and we fell to loadingthe 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 Redruthand the captain. The rest of the arms and powder we dropped overboard intwo fathoms and a half of water, so that we could see the bright steelshining far below us in the sun, on the clean sandy bottom. 

By this time the tide was beginning to ebb, and the ship was swinginground to her anchor. Voices were heard faintly halloaing in the directionof the two gigs; and though this reassured us for Joyce and Hunter, whowere well to the eastward, it warned our party to be off. 

Redruth retreated from his place in the gallery, and dropped into theboat, which we then brought round to the ship's counter, to be handierfor Captain Smollett. 

"Now, men, " said he, "do you hear me?"

There was no answer from the forecastle. 

"It's to you, Abraham Gray--it's to you I am speaking. "

Still no reply. 

"Gray, " resumed Mr. Smollett, a little louder, "I am leaving this ship, and I order you to follow your captain. I know you are a good man atbottom, and I daresay 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 mein. "

There was a pause. 

"Come, my fine fellow, " continued the captain, "don't hang so long instays. I'm risking my life, and the lives of these good gentlemen, everysecond. "

There was a sudden scuffle, a sound of blows, and out burst Abraham Graywith a knife-cut on the side of the cheek, and came running to thecaptain, like a dog to the whistle. 

"I'm with you, sir, " said he. 

And the next moment he and the captain had dropped aboard of us, and wehad shoved off and given way. 

We were clear out of the ship; but not yet ashore in our stockade. 

 CHAPTER XVII

 NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP

This fifth trip was quite different from any of the others. In the firstplace, the little gallipot of a boat that we were in was gravelyoverloaded. Five grown men, and three of them--Trelawney, Redruth, andthe captain--over six feet high, was already more than she was meant tocarry. Add to that the powder, pork, and bread-bags. The gunwale waslipping astern. Several times we shipped a little water, and my breechesand the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone ahundred yards. 

The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little moreevenly. All the same, we were afraid to breathe. 

In the second place, the ebb was now making--a strong rippling currentrunning westward through the basin, and then south'ard and seaward downthe straits by which we had entered in the morning. Even the ripples werea danger to our overloaded craft; but the worst of it was that we wereswept out of our true course, and away from our proper landing-placebehind the point. If we let the current have its way we should comeashore beside the gigs, where the pirates might appear at any moment. 

"I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir, " said I to the captain. Iwas steering, while he and Redruth, two fresh men, were at the oars. "Thetide keeps washing her down. Could you pull a little stronger?"

"Not without swamping the boat, " said he. "You must bear up, sir, if youplease--bear up till you see you're gaining. "

I tried, and found by experiment that the tide kept sweeping us westwarduntil I had laid her head due east, or just about right angles to the waywe ought to go. 

"We'll never get ashore at this rate, " said I. 

"If it's the only course that we can lie, sir, we must even lie it, "returned the captain. "We must keep upstream. You see, sir, " he went on, "if once we dropped to leeward of the landing-place, it's hard to saywhere we should get ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by thegigs; whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then we candodge back along the shore. "

"The current's less a'ready, sir, " said the man Gray, who was sitting inthe foresheets; "you can ease her off a bit. "

"Thank you, my man, " said I, quite as if nothing had happened: for we hadall 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 littlechanged. 

"The gun!" said he. 

"I have thought of that, " said I, for I made sure he was thinking of abombardment of the fort. "They could never get the gun ashore, and ifthey did, they could never haul it through the woods. "

"Look astern, doctor, " replied the captain. 

We had entirely forgotten the long nine; and there, to our horror, werethe five rogues busy about her, getting off her jacket, as they calledthe stout tarpaulin cover under which she sailed. Not only that, but itflashed into my mind at the same moment that the round-shot and thepowder for the gun had been left behind, and a stroke with an axe wouldput it all into the possession of the evil ones aboard. 

"Israel was Flint's gunner, " said Gray hoarsely. 

At any risk, we put the boat's head direct for the landing-place. By thistime we had got so far out of the run of the current that we keptsteerage way even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I couldkeep her steady for the goal. But the worst of it was, that with thecourse I now held, we turned our broadside instead of our stern to the_Hispaniola_, and offered a target like a barn-door. 

I could hear, as well as see, that brandy-faced rascal, Israel Hands, plumping down a round-shot on the deck. 

"Who's the best shot?" asked the captain. 

"Mr. Trelawney, out and away, " said I. 

"Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of these men, sir? Hands, if possible, " said the captain. 

Trelawney was as cool as steel. He looked to the priming of his gun. 

"Now, " cried the captain, "easy with that gun, sir, or you'll swamp theboat. All hands stand by to trim her when he aims. "

The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and we leaned over to theother side to keep the balance, and all was so nicely contrived that wedid not ship a drop. 

They had the gun, by this time, slewed round upon the swivel, and Hands, who was at the muzzle with the rammer, was, in consequence, the mostexposed. However, we had no luck; for just as Trelawney fired, down hestooped, the ball whistled over him, and it was one of the other four whofell. 

The cry he gave was echoed, not only by his companions on board, but by agreat number of voices from the shore, and looking in that direction Isaw the other pirates trooping out from among the trees and tumbling intotheir 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 theother most likely going round by shore to cut us off. "

"They'll have a hot run, sir, " returned the captain. "Jack ashore, youknow. It's not them I mind; it's the round-shot. Carpet bowls! My lady'smaid couldn't miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we'llhold water. "

In the meanwhile we had been making headway at a good pace for a boat sooverloaded, and we had shipped but little water in the process. We werenow close in; thirty or forty strokes and we should beach her; for theebb had already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below the clusteringtrees. The gig was no longer to be feared; the little point had alreadyconcealed it from our eyes. The ebb-tide, which had so cruelly delayedus, was now making reparation, and delaying our assailants. The onesource of danger was the gun. 

"If I durst, " said the captain, "I'd stop and pick off another man. "

But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay their shot. Theyhad never so much as looked at their fallen comrade, though he was notdead, and I could see him trying to crawl away. 

"Ready!" cried the squire. 

"Hold!" cried the captain, quick as an echo. 

And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that sent her stern bodilyunder water. The report fell in at the same instant of time. This was thefirst that Jim heard, the sound of the squire's shot not having reachedhim. Where the ball passed, not one of us precisely knew; but I fancy itmust have been over our heads, and that the wind of it may havecontributed to our disaster. 

At any rate, the boat sank by the stern, quite gently, in three feet ofwater, leaving the captain and myself, facing each other, on our feet. The other three took complete headers, and came up again, drenched andbubbling. 

So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, and we could wadeashore in safety. But there were all our stores at the bottom, and, tomake things worse, only two guns out of five remained in a state forservice. Mine I had snatched from my knees and held over my head, by asort of instinct. As for the captain, he had carried his over hisshoulder by a bandoleer, and, like a wise man, lock uppermost. The otherthree had gone down with the boat. 

To add to our concern, we heard voices already drawing near us in thewoods along shore; and we had not only the danger of being cut off fromthe stockade in our half-crippled state, but the fear before us whether, if Hunter and Joyce were attacked by half a dozen, they would have thesense and conduct to stand firm. Hunter was steady, that we knew; Joycewas a doubtful case--a pleasant, polite man for a valet, and to brushone's clothes, but not entirely fitted for a man of war. 

With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as fast as we could, leavingbehind us the poor jolly-boat, and a good half of all our powder andprovisions. 

 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 fromthe stockade; and at every step we took the voices of the buccaneers rangnearer. Soon we could hear their footfalls as they ran, and the crackingof the branches as they breasted across a bit of thicket. 

I began to see we should have a brush for it in earnest, and looked to mypriming. 

"Captain, " said I, "Trelawney is the dead shot. Give him your gun; hisown is useless. "

They exchanged guns, and Trelawney, silent and cool as he had been sincethe beginning of the bustle, hung a moment on his heel to see that allwas fit for service. At the same time, observing Gray to be unarmed, Ihanded him my cutlass. It did all our hearts good to see him spit in hishand, knit his brows, and make the blade sing through the air. It wasplain from every line of his body that our new hand was worth his salt. 

Forty paces farther we came to the edge of the wood and saw the stockadein front of us. We struck the enclosure about the middle of the southside, and, almost at the same time, seven mutineers--Job Anderson, theboatswain, at their head--appeared in full cry at the south-westerncorner. 

They paused, as if taken aback; and before they recovered, not only thesquire and I, but Hunter and Joyce from the block-house, had time tofire. The four shots came in rather a scattering volley; but they did thebusiness: one of the enemy actually fell, and the rest, withouthesitation, turned and plunged into the trees. 

After reloading, we walked down the outside of the palisade to see to thefallen enemy. He was stone dead--shot through the heart. 

We began to rejoice over our good success, when just at that moment apistol cracked in the bush, a ball whistled close past my ear, and poorTom Redruth stumbled and fell his length on the ground. Both the squireand I returned the shot; but as we had nothing to aim at, it is probablewe only wasted powder. Then we reloaded, and turned our attention to poorTom. 

The captain and Gray were already examining him; and I saw with half aneye that all was over. 

I believe the readiness of our return volley had scattered the mutineersonce more, for we were suffered without further molestation to get thepoor old gamekeeper hoisted over the stockade, and carried, groaning andbleeding, into the log-house. 

Poor old fellow, he had not uttered one word of surprise, complaint, fear, or even acquiescence, from the very beginning of our troubles tillnow, when we had laid him down in the log-house to die. He had lain likea Trojan behind his mattress in the gallery; he had followed every ordersilently, doggedly, and well; he was the oldest of our party by a scoreof years; and now, sullen, old, serviceable servant, it was he that wasto die. 

The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and kissed his hand, crying like a child. 

"Be I going, doctor?" he asked. 

"Tom, my man, " said I, "you're going home. "

"I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first, " he replied. 

"Tom, " said the squire, "say you forgive me, won't you?"

"Would that be respectful like, from me to you, squire?" was the answer. "Howsoever, so be it--amen!"

After a little while of silence, he said he thought somebody might read aprayer. "It's the custom, sir, " he added apologetically. And not longafter, without another word, he passed away. 

In the meantime the captain, whom I had observed to be wonderfullyswollen about the chest and pockets, had turned out a great many variousstores--the British colours, a Bible, a coil of stoutish rope, pen, ink, the log-book, and pounds of tobacco. He had found a longish fir-treelying felled and cleared in the enclosure, and, with the help of Hunter, he had set it up at the corner of the log-house where the trunks crossedand made an angle. Then, climbing on the roof, he had with his own handbent and run up the colours. 

This seemed mightily to relieve him. He re-entered the log-house, and setabout counting up the stores, as if nothing else existed. But he had aneye on Tom's passage for all that; and as soon as all was over, cameforward with another flag, and reverently spread it on the body. 

"Don't you take on, sir, " he said, shaking the squire's hand. "All's wellwith him; no fear for a hand that's been shot down in his duty to captainand owner. It mayn't be good divinity, but it's a fact. "

Then he pulled me aside. 

"Dr. Livesey, " he said, "in how many weeks do you and squire expect theconsort?"

I told him it was a question, not of weeks, but of months; that if wewere not back by the end of August, Blandly was to send to find us; butneither sooner nor later. "You can calculate for yourself, " I said. 

"Why, yes, " returned the captain, scratching his head, "and making alarge allowance, sir, for all the gifts of Providence, I should say wewere pretty close hauled. "

"How do you mean?" I asked. 

"It's a pity, sir, we lost that second load. That's what I mean, " repliedthe captain. "As for powder and shot, we'll do. But the rations areshort, very short--so short, Doctor Livesey, that we're perhaps as wellwithout that extra mouth. "

And he pointed to the dead body under the flag. 

Just then, with a roar and a whistle, a round-shot passed high above theroof of the log-house and plumped far beyond us in the wood. 

"Oho!" said the captain. "Blaze away! You've little enough powderalready, my lads. "

At the second trial, the aim was better, and the ball descended insidethe stockade, scattering a cloud of sand, but doing no further damage. 

"Captain, " said the squire, "the house is quite invisible from the ship. It must be the flag they are aiming at. Would it not be wiser to take itin?"

"Strike my colours!" cried the captain. "No, sir, not I;" and, as soon ashe had said the words I think we all agreed with him. For it was not onlya piece of stout, seamanly, good feeling; it was good policy besides, andshowed our enemies that we despised their cannonade. 

All through the evening they kept thundering away. Ball after ball flewover or fell short, or kicked up the sand in the enclosure; but they hadto fire so high that the shot fell dead and buried itself in the softsand. We had no ricochet to fear; and though one popped in through theroof of the log-house, and out again through the floor, we soon got usedto that sort of horse-play, and minded it no more than cricket. 

"There is one thing good about all this, " observed the captain: "the woodin front of us is likely clear. The ebb has made a good while; our storesshould be uncovered. Volunteers to go and bring in pork!"

Gray and Hunter were the first to come forward. Well armed, they stoleout of the stockade; but it proved a fruitless mission. The mutineerswere 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 wadingout with them to one of the gigs that lay close by, pulling an oar or soto hold her steady against the current. Silver was in the stern-sheets incommand; and every man of them was now provided with a musket from somesecret magazine of their own. 

The captain sat down to his log, and here is the beginning of theentry:--

"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'scompany--with stores for ten days at short rations, came ashore this day, and flew British colours on the log-house in Treasure Island. ThomasRedruth, 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, comeclimbing over the stockade. 

 CHAPTER XIX

 NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS--THE GARRISON IN THE STOCKADE

As soon as Ben Gunn saw the colours he came to a halt, stopped me by thearm, and sat down. 

"Now, " said he, "there's your friends, sure enough. "

"Far more likely it's the mutineers, " I answered. 

"That!" he cried. "Why, in a place like this, where nobody puts in butgen'lemen of fortune, Silver would fly the Jolly Roger, you don't make nodoubt of that. No; that's your friends. There's been blows, too, and Ireckon your friends has had the best of it; and here they are ashore inthe old stockade, as was made years and years ago by Flint. Ah, he wasthe man to have a headpiece, was Flint! Barring rum, his match were neverseen. He were afraid of none, not he; on'y Silver--Silver was thatgenteel. "

"Well, " said I, "that may be so, and so be it; all the more reason that Ishould 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 bringme there, where you're going--not rum wouldn't, till I see your borngen'leman, and gets it on his word of honour. And you won't forget mywords: 'A precious sight (that's what you'll say), a precious sight moreconfidence'--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 wheeryou found him to-day. And him that comes is to have a white thing in hishand: and he's to come alone. O, and you'll say this: 'Ben Gunn, ' saysyou, 'has reasons of his own. '"

"Well, " said I, "I believe I understand. You have something to propose, and you wish to see the squire or the doctor; and you're to be foundwhere I found you. Is that all?"

"And when? says you, " he added. "Why, from about noon observation toabout six bells. "

"Good, " said I, "and now may I go?"

"You won't forget?" he inquired anxiously. "Precious sight, and reasonsof his own, says you. Reasons of his own; that's the mainstay; as betweenman 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 piratescamp ashore, Jim, what would you say but there'd be widders in themorning?"

Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a cannon-ball came tearingthrough the trees and pitched in the sand, not a hundred yards from wherewe two were talking. The next moment each of us had taken to his heels ina different direction. 

For a good hour to come frequent reports shook the island, and balls keptcrashing through the woods. I moved from hiding-place to hiding-place, always pursued, or so it seemed to me, by these terrifying missiles. Buttowards the end of the bombardment, though still I durst not venture inthe direction of the stockade, where the balls fell oftenest, I hadbegun, in a manner, to pluck up my heart again; and after a long detourto the east, crept down among the shoreside trees. 

The sun had just set, the sea-breeze was rustling and tumbling in thewoods, and ruffling the grey surface of the anchorage; the tide, too, wasfar out, and great tracts of sand lay uncovered; the air, after the heatof the day, chilled me through my jacket. 

The _Hispaniola_ still lay where she had anchored; but, sure enough, there was the Jolly Roger--the black flag of piracy--flying from herpeak. Even as I looked, there came another red flash and another report, that sent the echoes clattering, and one more round-shot whistled throughthe air. It was the last of the cannonade. 

I lay for some time, watching the bustle which succeeded the attack. Menwere demolishing something with axes on the beach near the stockade; thepoor jolly-boat, I afterwards discovered. Away, near the mouth of theriver, a great fire was glowing among the trees, and between that pointand the ship one of the gigs kept coming and going, the men, whom I hadseen so gloomy, shouting at the oars like children. But there was a soundin their voices which suggested rum. 

At length I thought I might return towards the stockade. I was pretty fardown on the low, sandy spit that encloses the anchorage to the east, andis joined at half-water to Skeleton Island; and now, as I rose to myfeet, I saw, some distance further down the spit, and rising from amonglow bushes, an isolated rock, pretty high, and peculiarly white incolour. It occurred to me that this might be the white rock of which BenGunn had spoken, and that some day or other a boat might be wanted, and Ishould know where to look for one. 

Then I skirted among the woods until I had regained the rear, orshoreward side, of the stockade, and was soon warmly welcomed by thefaithful party. 

I had soon told my story, and began to look about me. The log-house wasmade of unsquared trunks of pine--roof, walls, and floor. The latterstood in several places as much as a foot or a foot and a half above thesurface of the sand. There was a porch at the door, and under this porchthe little spring welled up into an artificial basin of a rather oddkind--no other than a great ship's kettle of iron, with the bottomknocked out, and sunk "to her bearings, " as the captain said, among thesand. 

Little had been left beside the framework of the house; but in one cornerthere was a stone slab laid down by way of hearth, and an old rusty ironbasket to contain the fire. 

The slopes of the knoll and all the inside of the stockade had beencleared of timber to build the house, and we could see by the stumps whata fine and lofty grove had been destroyed. Most of the soil had beenwashed away or buried in drift after the removal of the trees; only wherethe streamlet ran down from the kettle a thick bed of moss and some fernsand little creeping bushes were still green among the sand. Very closearound the stockade--too close for defence, they said--the wood stillflourished high and dense, all of fir on the land side, but towards thesea with a large admixture of live-oaks. 

The cold evening breeze, of which I have spoken, whistled through everychink of the rude building, and sprinkled the floor with a continual rainof fine sand. There was sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth, sand in oursuppers, sand dancing in the spring at the bottom of the kettle, for allthe world like porridge beginning to boil. Our chimney was a square holein the roof; it was but a little part of the smoke that found its wayout, and the rest eddied about the house, and kept us coughing and pipingthe eye. 

Add to this that Gray, the new man, had his face tied up in a bandage fora cut he had got in breaking away from the mutineers; and that poor oldTom Redruth, still unburied, lay along the wall, stiff and stark underthe Union Jack. 

If we had been allowed to sit idle, we should all have fallen in theblues, but Captain Smollett was never the man for that. All hands werecalled up before him, and he divided us into watches. The doctor, andGray, and I, for one; the squire, Hunter, and Joyce upon the other. Tiredas we all were, two were sent out for firewood; two more were set to diga grave for Redruth; the doctor was named cook; I was put sentry at thedoor; and the captain himself went from one to another, keeping up ourspirits and lending a hand wherever it was wanted. 

From time to time the doctor came to the door for a little air and torest his eyes, which were almost smoked out of his head; and whenever hedid so, he had a word for me. 

"That man Smollett, " he said once, "is a better man than I am. And when Isay that it means a deal, Jim. "

Another time he came and was silent for a while. Then he put his head onone side, and looked at me. 

"Is this Ben Gunn a man?" he asked. 

"I do not know, sir, " said I. "I am not very sure whether he's sane. "

"If there's any doubt about the matter, he is, " returned the doctor. "Aman who has been three years biting his nails on a desert island, Jim, can't expect to appear as sane as you or me. It doesn't lie in humannature. Was it cheese you said he had a fancy for?"

"Yes, sir, cheese, " I answered. 

"Well, Jim, " says he, "just see the good that comes of being dainty inyour food. You've seen my snuff-box, haven't you? And you never saw metake snuff; the reason being that in my snuff-box I carry a piece ofParmesan cheese--a cheese made in Italy, very nutritious. Well, that'sfor Ben Gunn!"

Before supper was eaten we buried old Tom in the sand, and stood roundhim for a while bareheaded in the breeze. A good deal of firewood hadbeen got in, but not enough for the captain's fancy; and he shook hishead over it, and told us we "must get back to this to-morrow ratherlivelier. " Then, when we had eaten our pork, and each had a good stiffglass of brandy grog, the three chiefs got together in a corner todiscuss our prospects. 

It appears they were at their wits' end what to do, the stores being solow that we must have been starved into surrender long before help came. But our best hope, it was decided, was to kill off the buccaneers untilthey either hauled down their flag or ran away with the _Hispaniola_. From nineteen they were already reduced to fifteen, two others werewounded, and one, at least--the man shot beside the gun--severelywounded, if he were not dead. Every time we had a crack at them, we wereto take it, saving our own lives, with the extremest care. And, besidesthat, we had two able allies--rum and the climate. 

As for the first, though we were about half a mile away, we could hearthem roaring and singing late into the night; and as for the second, thedoctor staked his wig that, camped where they were in the marsh, andunprovided with remedies, the half of them would be on their backs beforea week. 

"So, " he added, "if we are not all shot down first they'll be glad to bepacking in the schooner. It's always a ship, and they can get tobuccaneering again, I suppose. "

"First ship that ever I lost, " said Captain Smollett. 

I was dead tired, as you may fancy; and when I got to sleep, which wasnot till after a great deal of tossing, I slept like a log of wood. 

The rest had long been up, and had already breakfasted and increased thepile of firewood by about half as much again, when I was awakened by abustle and the sound of voices. 

"Flag of truce!" I heard some one say; and then, immediately after, witha cry of surprise, "Silver himself!"

And at that up I jumped, and, rubbing my eyes, ran to a loophole in thewall. 

 CHAPTER XX

 SILVER'S EMBASSY

Sure enough, there were two men just outside the stockade, one of themwaving a white cloth; the other, no less a person than Silver himself, standing placidly by. 

It was still quite early, and the coldest morning that I think I ever wasabroad in; a chill that pierced into the marrow. The sky was bright andcloudless overhead, and the tops of the trees shone rosily in the sun. But where Silver stood with his lieutenant all was still in shadow, andthey waded knee-deep in a low, white vapour, that had crawled during thenight out of the morass. The chill and the vapour taken together told apoor 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 ofa 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 youplease; Jim, the east; Gray, west. The watch below, all hands to loadmuskets. 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 couldhear him adding to himself: "Cap'n, is it? My heart, and here'spromotion!"

Long John answered for himself. 

"Me, sir. These poor lads have chosen me cap'n, after your desertion, sir"--laying a particular emphasis upon the word "desertion. " "We'rewilling to submit, if we can come to terms, and no bones about it. All Iask is your word, Cap'n Smollett, to let me safe and sound out of thishere stockade, and one minute to get out o' shot before a gun is fired. "

"My man, " said Captain Smollett, "I have not the slightest desire to talkto you. If you wish to talk to me, you can come, that's all. If there'sany treachery, it'll be on your side, and the Lord help you. "

"That's enough, cap'n, " shouted Long John cheerily. "A word from you'senough. I know a gentleman, and you may lay to that. "

We could see the man who carried the flag of truce attempting to holdSilver back. Nor was that wonderful, seeing how cavalier had been thecaptain's answer. But Silver laughed at him aloud, and slapped him on theback, as if the idea of alarm had been absurd. Then he advanced to thestockade, threw over his crutch, got a leg up, and with great vigour andskill succeeded in surmounting the fence and dropping safely to the otherside. 

I will confess that I was far too much taken up with what was going on tobe of the slightest use as sentry; indeed, I had already deserted myeastern loophole, and crept up behind the captain, who had now seatedhimself on the threshold, with his elbows on his knees, his head in hishands, and his eyes fixed on the water, as it bubbled out of the old ironkettle in the sand. He was whistling to himself, "Come, Lasses and Lads. "

Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll. What with thesteepness of the incline, the thick tree-stumps, and the soft sand, heand his crutch were as helpless as a ship in stays. But he stuck to itlike a man in silence, and at last arrived before the captain, whom hesaluted in the handsomest style. He was tricked out in his best; animmense 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 hadbetter sit down. "

"You ain't a-going to let me inside, cap'n?" complained Long John. "It'sa main cold morning, to be sure, sir, to sit outside upon the sand. "

"Why, Silver, " said the captain, "if you had pleased to be an honest man, you might have been sitting in your galley. It's your own doing. You'reeither my ship's cook--and then you were treated handsome--or Cap'nSilver, a common mutineer and pirate, and then you can go hang!"

"Well, well, cap'n, " returned the sea cook, sitting down as he was biddenon the sand, "you'll have to give me a hand up again, that's all. A sweetpretty place you have of it here. --Ah, there's Jim! The top of themorning to you, Jim. --Doctor, here's my service. Why, there you all aretogether like a happy family, in a manner of speaking. "

"If you have anything to say, my man, better say it, " said the captain. 

"Right you were, Cap'n Smollett, " replied Silver. "Dooty is dooty, to besure. Well, now, you look here, that was a good lay of yours last night. I don't deny it was a good lay. Some of you pretty handy with ahandspike-end. And I'll not deny neither but what some of my people wasshook--maybe all was shook; maybe I was shook myself; maybe that's whyI'm here for terms. But you mark me, cap'n, it won't do twice, bythunder! We'll have to do sentry-go, and ease off a point or so on therum. Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the wind's eye. But I'lltell you I was sober; I was on'y dog-tired; and if I'd awoke a secondsooner I'd a-caught you at the act, I would. He wasn't dead when I gotround to him, not he. "

"Well?" says Captain Smollett, as cool as can be. 

All that Silver said was a riddle to him, but you would never haveguessed it from his tone. As for me, I began to have an inkling. BenGunn's last words came back to my mind. I began to suppose that he hadpaid the buccaneers a visit, while they all lay drunk together roundtheir fire, and I reckoned up with glee that we had only fourteen enemiesto deal with. 

"Well, here it is, " said Silver. "We want that treasure and we'll haveit--that's our point! You would just as soon save your lives, I reckon;and that's yours. You have a chart, haven't you?"

"That's as may be, " replied the captain. 

"Oh, well, you have, I know that, " returned Long John. "You needn't be sohusky with a man; there ain't a particle of service in that, and you maylay to it. What I mean is, we want your chart. Now, I never meant you noharm, myself. "

"That won't do with me, my man, " interrupted the captain. "We knowexactly what you meant to do, and we don't care; for now, you see, youcan't do it. "

And the captain looked at him calmly, and proceeded to fill a pipe. 

"If Abe Gray----" Silver broke out. 

"Avast there!" cried Mr. Smollett. "Gray told me nothing, and I asked himnothing; and what's more, I would see you and him and this whole islandblown clean out of the water into blazes first. So there's my mind foryou, my man, on that. "

This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver down. He had beengrowing nettled before, but now he pulled himself together. 

"Like enough, " said he. "I would set no limits to what gentlemen mightconsider ship-shape, or might not, as the case were. And, seein' as howyou are about to take a pipe, cap'n, I'll make so free as do likewise. "

And he filled a pipe and lighted it; and the two men sat silently smokingfor quite a while, now looking each other in the face, now stopping theirtobacco, now leaning forward to spit. It was as good as the play to seethem. 

"Now, " resumed Silver, "here it is. You give us the chart to get thetreasure by, and drop shooting poor seamen, and stoving of their heads inwhile asleep. You do that, and we'll offer you a choice. Either you comeaboard along of us, once the treasure shipped, and then I'll give you myaffy-davy, upon my word of honour, to clap you somewhere safe ashore. Or, if that ain't to your fancy, some of my hands being rough, and having oldscores, on account of hazing, then you can stay here, you can. We'lldivide stores with you, man for man; and I'll give my affy-davy, asbefore, to speak the first ship I sight, and send 'em here to pick youup. Now you'll own that's talking. Handsomer you couldn't look to get, not you. And I hope"--raising his voice--"that all hands in this hereblock-house will overhaul my words, for what is spoke to one is spoke toall. "

Captain Smollett rose from his seat, and knocked out the ashes of hispipe in the palm of his left hand. 

"Is that all?" he asked. 

"Every last word, by thunder!" answered John. "Refuse that, and you'veseen the last of me but musket-balls. "

"Very good, " said the captain. "Now you'll hear me. If you'll come up oneby one, unarmed, I'll engage to clap you all in irons, and take you hometo a fair trial in England. If you won't, my name is Alexander Smollett, I've flown my sovereign's colours, and I'll see you all to Davy Jones. You can't find the treasure. You can't sail the ship--there's not a manamong you fit to sail the ship. You can't fight us--Gray, there, gotaway from five of you. Your ship's in irons, Master Silver; you're on alee shore, and so you'll find. I stand here and tell you so; and they'rethe last good words you'll get from me; for, in the name of heaven, I'llput a bullet in your back when next I meet you. Tramp, my lad. Bundle outof this, please, hand over hand, and double quick. "

Silver's face was a picture; his eyes started in his head with wrath. Heshook the fire out of his pipe. 

"Give me a hand up!" he cried. 

"Not I, " returned the captain. 

"Who'll give me a hand up?" he roared. 

Not a man among us moved. Growling the foulest imprecations, he crawledalong the sand till he got hold of the porch and could hoist himselfagain upon his crutch. Then he spat into the spring. 

"There!" he cried, "that's what I think of ye. Before an hour's out, I'llstove in your old block-house like a rum-puncheon. Laugh, by thunder, laugh! Before an hour's out, ye'll laugh upon the other side. Them thatdie'll be the lucky ones. "

And with a dreadful oath he stumbled off, ploughed down the sand, washelped across the stockade, after four or five failures, by the man withthe flag of truce, and disappeared in an instant afterwards among thetrees. 

 CHAPTER XXI

 THE ATTACK

As soon as Silver disappeared, the captain, who had been closely watchinghim, turned towards the interior of the house, and found not a man of usat 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'll put your name in the log; you've stood by yourduty like a seaman. --Mr. Trelawney, I'm surprised at you, sir. --Doctor, Ithought you had worn the king's coat! If that was how you served atFontenoy, sir, you'd have been better in your berth. "

The doctor's watch were all back at their loopholes, the rest were busyloading the spare muskets, and every one with a red face, you may becertain, and a flea in his ear, as the saying is. 

The captain looked on for a while in silence. Then he spoke. 

"My lads, " said he, "I've given Silver a broadside. I pitched it inred-hot on purpose; and before the hour's out, as he said, we shall beboarded. We're outnumbered, I needn't tell you that, but we fight inshelter; and, a minute ago, I should have said we fought with discipline. I've no manner of doubt that we can drub them, if you choose. "

Then he went the rounds, and saw, as he said, that all was clear. 

On the two short sides of the house, east and west, there were only twoloopholes; on the south side, where the porch was, two again; and on thenorth side, five. There was a round score of muskets for the seven of us;the firewood had been built into four piles--tables, you might say--oneabout the middle of each side, and on each of these tables someammunition and four loaded muskets were laid ready to the hand of thedefenders. In the middle, the cutlasses lay ranged. 

"Toss out the fire, " said the captain; "the chill is past, and we mustn'thave smoke in our eyes. "

The iron fire-basket was carried bodily out by Mr. Trelawney, and theembers smothered among sand. 

"Hawkins hasn't had his breakfast. --Hawkins, help yourself, and back toyour post to eat it, " continued Captain Smollett. "Lively, now, my lad;you'll want it before you've done. --Hunter, serve out a round of brandyto all hands. "

And while this was going on, the captain completed, in his own mind, theplan of the defence. 

"Doctor, you will take the door, " he resumed. "See and don't exposeyourself; keep within, and fire through the porch. --Hunter, take the eastside, there. --Joyce, you stand by the west, my man. Mr. Trelawney, youare the best shot--you and Gray will take this long north side, with thefive loopholes; it's there the danger is. If they can get up to it, andfire in upon us through our own ports, things would begin to lookdirty. --Hawkins, neither you nor I are much account at the shooting;we'll stand by to load and bear a hand. "

As the captain had said, the chill was past. As soon as the sun hadclimbed above our girdle of trees, it fell with all its force upon theclearing, and drank up the vapours at a draught. Soon the sand wasbaking, and the resin melting in the logs of the block-house. Jackets andcoats were flung aside; shirts thrown open at the neck, and rolled up tothe shoulders; and we stood there, each at his post, in a fever of heatand 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 intheir hands, the captain out in the middle of the block-house, with hismouth very tight and a frown on his face. 

So some seconds passed, till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket andfired. The report had scarcely died away ere it was repeated and repeatedfrom without in a scattering volley, shot behind shot, like a string ofgeese, from every side of the enclosure. Several bullets struck thelog-house, but not one entered; and, as the smoke cleared away andvanished, the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet and emptyas before. Not a bough waved, not the gleam of a musket-barrel betrayedthe 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 hisgun, Hawkins. How many should you say there were on your side, doctor?"

"I know precisely, " said Dr. Livesey. "Three shots were fired on thisside. I saw the three flashes--two close together--one farther to thewest. "

"Three!" repeated the captain. "And how many on yours, Mr. Trelawney?"

But this was not so easily answered. There had come many from thenorth--seven, by the squire's computation; eight or nine, according toGray. From the east and west only a single shot had been fired. It wasplain, therefore, that the attack would be developed from the north, andthat on the other three sides we were only to be annoyed by a show ofhostilities. But Captain Smollett made no change in his arrangement. Ifthe mutineers succeeded in crossing the stockade, he argued, they wouldtake possession of any unprotected loophole, and shoot us down like ratsin our own stronghold. 

Nor had we much time left to us for thought. Suddenly, with a loud huzza, a little cloud of pirates leaped from the woods on the north side, andran straight on the stockade. At the same moment the fire was once moreopened from the woods, and a rifle-ball sang through the doorway, andknocked the doctor's musket into bits. 

The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys, Squire and Gray firedagain, and yet again; three men fell, one forwards into the enclosure, two back on the outside. But of these, one was evidently more frightenedthan hurt, for he was on his feet again in a crack, and instantlydisappeared among the trees. 

Two had bit the dust, one had fled, four had made good their footinginside our defences; while from the shelter of the woods seven or eightmen, each evidently supplied with several muskets, kept up a hot, thoughuseless, fire on the log-house. 

The four who had boarded made straight before them for the building, shouting as they ran, and the men among the trees shouted back toencourage them. Several shots were fired; but, such was the hurry of themarksmen, that not one appeared to have taken effect. In a moment, thefour pirates had swarmed up the mound and were upon us. 

The head of Job Anderson, the boatswain, appeared at the 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, withone stunning blow, laid the poor fellow senseless on the floor. Meanwhilea third, running unharmed all round the house, appeared suddenly in thedoorway, and fell with his cutlass on the doctor. 

Our position was utterly reversed. A moment since we were firing, undercover, at an exposed enemy; now it was we who lay uncovered, and couldnot return a blow. 

The log-house was full of smoke, to which we owed our comparative safety. Cries and confusion, the flashes and reports of pistol-shots, and oneloud groan, rang in my ears. 

"Out, lads, out, and fight 'em in the open! Cutlasses!" cried thecaptain. 

I snatched a cutlass from the pile, and some one, at the same timesnatching 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 closebehind, I knew not whom. Right in front, the doctor was pursuing hisassailant down the hill, and, just as my eyes fell upon him, beat downhis guard, and sent him sprawling on his back, with a great slash acrossthe face. 

"Round the house, lads! round the house!" cried the captain; and even inthe hurly-burly I perceived a change in his voice. 

Mechanically I obeyed, turned eastwards, and, with my cutlass raised, ranround the corner of the house. Next moment I was face to face withAnderson. He roared aloud, and his hanger went up above his head, flashing in the sunlight. I had not time to be afraid, but, as the blowstill hung impending, leaped in a trice upon one side, and missing myfoot in the soft sand, rolled headlong down the slope. 

When I had first sallied from the door, the other mutineers had beenalready swarming up the palisade to make an end of us. One man, in a rednight-cap, with his cutlass in his mouth, had even got upon the top andthrown a leg across. Well, so short had been the interval, that when Ifound my feet again all was in the same posture, the fellow with the rednight-cap still half-way over, another still just showing his head abovethe top of the stockade. And yet, in this breath of time, the fight wasover, and the victory was ours. 

Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the big boatswain ere hehad time to recover from his lost blow. Another had been shot at aloophole in the very act of firing into the house, and now lay in agony, the pistol still smoking in his hand. A third, as I had seen, the doctordisposed of at a blow. Of the four who had scaled the palisade, one onlyremained unaccounted for, and he, having left his cutlass on the field, was now clambering out again with the fear of death upon him. 

"Fire--fire from the house!" cried the doctor. "And you, lads, back intocover. "

But his words were unheeded, no shot was fired, and the last boarder madegood his escape, and disappeared with the rest into the wood. In threeseconds nothing remained of the attacking party but the five who hadfallen, 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 wouldsoon be back where they had left their muskets, and at any moment thefire might recommence. 

The house was by this time somewhat cleared of smoke, and we saw at aglance the price we had paid for victory. Hunter lay beside his loophole, stunned; Joyce by his, shot through the head, never to move again; whileright in the centre, the squire was supporting the captain, one as paleas the other. 

"The captain's wounded, " said Mr. Trelawney. 

"Have they run?" asked Mr. Smollett. 

"All that could, you may be bound, " returned the doctor; "but there'sfive of them will never run again. "

"Five!" cried the captain. "Come, that's better. Five against threeleaves us four to nine. That's better odds than we had at starting. Wewere seven to nineteen then, or thought we were, and that's as bad tobear. "[1]

FOOTNOTE:

 [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. 

 PART V

 MY SEA ADVENTURE

 CHAPTER XXII

 HOW I BEGAN MY SEA ADVENTURE

There was no return of the mutineers--not so much as another shot out ofthe woods. They had "got their rations for that day, " as the captain putit, and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul thewounded and get dinner. Squire and I cooked outside in spite of thedanger, and even outside we could hardly tell what we were at, for horrorof the loud groans that reached us from the doctor's patients. 

Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action, only three stillbreathed--that one of the pirates who had been shot at the loophole, Hunter, and Captain Smollett; and of these the first two were as good asdead; the mutineer, indeed, died under the doctor's knife, and Hunter, dowhat we could, never recovered consciousness in this world. He lingeredall day, breathing loudly, like the old buccaneer at home in hisapoplectic fit; but the bones of his chest had been crushed by the blowand 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 shothim first--had broken his shoulder-blade and touched the lung, not badly;the second had only torn and displaced some muscles in the calf. He wassure to recover, the doctor said, but in the meantime, and for weeks tocome, he must not walk nor move his arm, nor so much as speak when hecould help it. 

My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a flea-bite. Dr. Liveseypatched 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 a whilein consultation; and when they had talked to their hearts' content, itbeing then a little past noon, the doctor took up his hat and pistols, girt on a cutlass, put the chart in his pocket, and with a musket overhis shoulder, crossed the palisade on the north side, and set off brisklythrough the trees. 

Gray and I were sitting together at the far end of the block-house, to beout of earshot of our officers consulting; and Gray took his pipe out ofhis mouth and fairly forgot to put it back again, so thunderstruck he wasat this Occurrence. 

"Why, in the name of Davy Jones, " said he, "is Dr. Livesey mad?"

"Why, no, " says I. "He's about the last of this crew for that, I takeit. "

"Well, shipmate, " said Gray, "mad he may not be; but if _he's_ not, youmark my words, _I_ am. "

"I take it, " replied I, "the doctor has his idea; and if I am right, he'sgoing now to see Ben Gunn. "

I was right, as appeared later; but, in the meantime, the house beingstifling hot, and the little patch of sand inside the palisade ablazewith midday sun, I began to get another thought into my head, which wasnot by any means so right. What I began to do was to envy the doctor, walking in the cool shadow of the woods, with the birds about him, andthe pleasant smell of the pines, while I sat grilling, with my clothesstuck to the hot resin, and so much blood about me, and so many poor deadbodies lying all around, that I took a disgust of the place that wasalmost as strong as fear. 

All the time I was washing out the block-house and then washing up thethings from dinner, this disgust and envy kept growing stronger andstronger, till at last, being near a bread-bag, and no one thenobserving me, I took the first step towards my escapade, and filled bothpockets of my coat with biscuit. 

I was a fool, if you like, and certainly I was going to do a foolish, over-bold act; but I was determined to do it with all the precautions inmy power. These biscuits, should anything befall me, would keep me, atleast, from starving till far on in the next day. 

The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols, and as I alreadyhad a powder-horn and bullets, I felt myself well supplied with arms. 

As for the scheme I had in my head, it was not a bad one in itself. I wasto go down the sandy spit that divides the anchorage on the east from theopen sea, find the white rock I had observed last evening, and ascertainwhether it was there or not that Ben Gunn had hidden his boat; a thingquite worth doing, as I still believe. But as I was certain I should notbe 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 doingit as made the thing itself wrong. But I was only a boy, and I had mademy mind up. 

Well, as things at last fell out, I found an admirable opportunity. Thesquire and Gray were busy helping the captain with his bandages; thecoast was clear; I made a bolt for it over the stockade and into thethickest of the trees, and before my absence was observed I was out ofcry of my companions. 

This was my second folly, far worse than the first, as I left but twosound men to guard the house; but like the first, it was a help towardssaving all of us. 

I took my way straight for the east coast of the island, for I wasdetermined to go down the sea side of the spit to avoid all chance ofobservation from the anchorage. It was already late in the afternoon, although still warm and sunny. As I continued to thread the tall woods Icould hear from far before me not only the continuous thunder of thesurf, but a certain tossing of foliage and grinding of boughs, whichshowed me the sea breeze had set in higher than usual. Soon cool draughtsof air began to reach me; and a few steps farther I came forth into theopen borders of the grove, and saw the sea lying blue and sunny to thehorizon, and the surf tumbling and tossing its foam along the beach. 

I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure Island. The sun mightblaze overhead, the air be without a breath, the surface smooth and blue, but still these great rollers would be running along all the externalcoast, thundering and thundering by day and night; and I scarce believethere is one spot in the island where a man would be out of earshot oftheir noise. 

I walked along beside the surf with great enjoyment, till, thinking I wasnow 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 thoughit had the sooner blown itself out by its unusual violence, was alreadyat an end; it had been succeeded by light, variable airs from the southand south-east, carrying great banks of fog; and the anchorage, under leeof Skeleton Island, lay still and leaden as when first we entered it. The_Hispaniola_, in that unbroken mirror, was exactly portrayed from thetruck to the water-line, the Jolly Roger hanging from her peak. 

Alongside lay one of the gigs, Silver in the stern-sheets--him I couldalways recognise--while a couple of men were leaning over the sternbulwarks, one of them with a red cap--the very rogue that I had seen somehours before stride-legs upon the palisade. Apparently they were talkingand laughing, though at that distance--upwards of a mile--I could, ofcourse, hear no word of what was said. All at once there began the mosthorrid, unearthly screaming, which at first startled me badly, though Ihad soon remembered the voice of Captain Flint, and even thought I couldmake out the bird by her bright plumage as she sat perched upon hermaster's wrist. 

Soon after the jolly-boat shoved off and pulled for shore, and the manwith the red cap and his comrade went below by the cabin companion. 

Just about the same time the sun had gone down behind the Spy-glass, andas the fog was collecting rapidly, it began to grow dark in earnest. Isaw I must lose no time if I were to find the boat that evening. 

The white rock, visible enough above the brush, was still some eighth ofa mile farther down the spit, and it took me a goodish while to get upwith it, crawling, often on all-fours, among the scrub. Night had almostcome when I laid my hand on its rough sides. Right below it there was anexceedingly small hollow of green turf, hidden by banks and a thickunderwood about knee-deep, that grew there very plentifully; and in thecentre of the dell, sure enough, a little tent of goat-skins, like whatthe gipsies carry about with them in England. 

I dropped into the hollow, lifted the side of the tent, and there was BenGunn's boat--home-made if ever anything was home-made: a rude, lop-sidedframework 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 Ican 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 thebows, and a double paddle for propulsion. 

I had not then seen a coracle, such as the ancient Britons made, but Ihave seen one since, and I can give you no fairer idea of Ben Gunn's boatthan by saying it was like the first and the worst coracle ever made byman. But the great advantage of the coracle it certainly possessed, forit was exceedingly light and portable. 

Well, now that I had found the boat, you would have thought I had hadenough of truantry for once; but, in the meantime, I had taken anothernotion, and become so obstinately fond of it, that I would have carriedit out, I believe, in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself. This was toslip out under cover of the night, cut the _Hispaniola_ adrift, and lether go ashore where she fancied. I had quite made up my mind that themutineers, after their repulse of the morning, had nothing nearer theirhearts than to up anchor and away to sea; this, I thought, it would be agood thing to prevent; and now that I had seen how they left theirwatchmen unprovided with a boat, I thought it might be done with littlerisk. 

Down I sat to wait for darkness, and made a hearty meal of biscuit. Itwas a night out of ten thousand for my purpose. The fog had now buriedall heaven. As the last rays of daylight dwindled and disappeared, absolute blackness settled down on Treasure Island. And when, at last, Ishouldered the coracle, and groped my way stumblingly out of the hollowwhere I had supped, there were but two points visible on the wholeanchorage. 

One was the great fire on shore, by which the defeated pirates laycarousing in the swamp. The other, a mere blur of light upon thedarkness, indicated the position of the anchored ship. She had swunground to the ebb--her bow was now towards me--the only lights on boardwere in the cabin; and what I saw was merely a reflection on the fog ofthe strong rays that flowed from the stern window. 

The ebb had already run some time, and I had to wade through a long beltof swampy sand, where I sank several times above the ankle, before I cameto the edge of the retreating water, and wading a little way in, withsome strength and dexterity, set my coracle, keel downwards, on thesurface. 

 CHAPTER XXIII

 THE EBB-TIDE RUNS

The coracle--as I had ample reason to know before I was done withher--was a very safe boat for a person of my height and weight, bothbuoyant and clever in a sea-way; but she was the most cross-grained, lop-sided craft to manage. Do as you pleased, she always made more leewaythan anything else, and turning round and round was the manoeuvre shewas best at. Even Ben Gunn himself has admitted that she was "queer tohandle till you knew her way. "

Certainly I did not know her way. She turned in every direction but theone I was bound to go; the most part of the time we were broadside on, and I am very sure I never should have made the ship at all but for thetide. By good fortune, paddle as I pleased, the tide was still sweepingme down; and there lay the _Hispaniola_ right in the fair-way, hardly tobe missed. 

First she loomed before me like a blot of something yet blacker thandarkness, then her spars and hull began to take shape, and the nextmoment, as it seemed (for, the farther I went the brisker grew thecurrent of the ebb), I was alongside of her hawser, and had laid hold. 

The hawser was as taut as a bowstring--so strong she pulled upon heranchor. All round the hull, in the blackness, the rippling currentbubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream. One cut with mysea-gully, and the _Hispaniola_ would go humming down the tide. 

So far so good; but it next occurred to my recollection that a tauthawser, suddenly cut, is a thing as dangerous as a kicking horse. Ten toone, if I were so foolhardy as to cut the _Hispaniola_ from her anchor, Iand the coracle would be knocked clean out of the water. 

This brought me to a full stop, and if fortune had not again particularlyfavoured me, I should have had to abandon my design. But the light airswhich had begun blowing from the south-east and south had hauled roundafter nightfall into the south-west. Just while I was meditating, a puffcame, caught the _Hispaniola_, and forced her up into the current; and tomy great joy, I felt the hawser slacken in my grasp, and the hand bywhich 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 only swung by two. ThenI lay quiet, waiting to sever these last when the strain should be oncemore 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 thoughtsthat I had scarcely given ear. Now, however, when I had nothing else todo, I began to pay more heed. 

One I recognised for the coxswain's, Israel Hands, that had been Flint'sgunner in former days. The other was, of course, my friend of the rednight-cap. Both men were plainly the worse for drink, and they were stilldrinking; for, even while I was listening, one of them, with a drunkencry, opened the stern window and threw out something, which I divined tobe an empty bottle. But they were not only tipsy; it was plain that theywere furiously angry. Oaths flew like hailstones, and every now and thenthere 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 withoutresult. 

On shore, I could see the glow of the great camp-fire burning warmlythrough the shore-side trees. Some one was singing, a dull, old, droningsailor's song, with a droop and a quaver at the end of every verse, andseemingly no end to it at all but the patience of the singer. I had heardit on the voyage more than once, and remembered these words:--

 "But one man of her crew alive, What put to sea with seventy-five. "

And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully appropriate for acompany that had met such cruel losses in the morning. But, indeed, fromwhat I saw, all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailedon. 

At last the breeze came; the schooner sidled and drew nearer in the dark;I felt the hawser slacken once more, and with a good, tough effort, cutthe last fibres through. 

The breeze had but little action on the coracle, and I was almostinstantly swept against the bows of the _Hispaniola_. At the same timethe schooner began to turn upon her heel, spinning slowly, end for end, across the current. 

I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every moment to be swamped; andsince I found I could not push the coracle directly off, I now shovedstraight astern. At length I was clear of my dangerous neighbour; andjust as I gave the last impulsion, my hands came across a light cord thatwas trailing overboard across the stern bulwarks. Instantly I grasped it. 

Why I should have done so I can hardly say. It was at first mereinstinct; but once I had it in my hands and found it fast, curiositybegan to get the upper hand, and I determined I should have one lookthrough the cabin window. 

I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and, when I judged myself nearenough, rose at infinite risk to about half my height, and thus commandedthe roof and a slice of the interior of the cabin. 

By this time the schooner and her little consort were gliding prettyswiftly through the water; indeed, we had already fetched up level withthe camp-fire. The ship was talking, as sailors say, loudly, treading theinnumerable ripples with an incessant weltering splash; and until I gotmy eye above the window-sill I could not comprehend why the watchmen hadtaken no alarm. One glance, however, was sufficient; and it was only oneglance that I durst take from that unsteady skiff. It showed me Hands andhis companion locked together in deadly wrestle, each with a hand uponthe other's throat. 

I dropped upon the thwart again, none too soon, for I was near overboard. I could see nothing for the moment but these two furious, encrimsonedfaces, swaying together under the smoky lamp; and I shut my eyes to letthem grow once more familiar with the darkness. 

The endless ballad had come to an end at last, and the whole diminishedcompany about the camp-fire had broken into the chorus I had heard sooften:--

 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were at that very momentin the cabin of the _Hispaniola_, when I was surprised by a sudden lurchof the coracle. At the same moment she yawed sharply and seemed to changeher course. The speed in the meantime had strangely increased. 

I opened my eyes at once. All round me were little ripples, combing overwith a sharp, bristling sound, and slightly phosphorescent. The_Hispaniola_ herself, a few yards in whose wake I was still being whirledalong, seemed to stagger in her course, and I saw her spars toss a littleagainst the blackness of the night; nay, as I looked longer, I made sureshe 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 atright angles, sweeping round along with it the tall schooner and thelittle dancing coracle; ever quickening, ever bubbling higher, evermuttering louder, it went spinning through the narrows for the open sea. 

Suddenly the schooner in front of me gave a violent yaw, turning perhapsthrough twenty degrees; and almost at the same moment one shout followedanother from on board; I could hear feet pounding on thecompanion-ladder; and I knew that the two drunkards had at last beeninterrupted in their quarrel and awakened to a sense of their disaster. 

I lay down flat in the bottom of that wretched skiff, and devoutlyrecommended my spirit to its Maker. At the end of the straits I made surewe must fall into some bar of raging breakers, where all my troubleswould be ended speedily; and though I could, perhaps, bear to die, Icould not bear to look upon my fate as it approached. 

So I must have lain for hours, continually beaten to and fro upon thebillows, now and again wetted with flying sprays, and never ceasing toexpect death at the next plunge. Gradually weariness grew upon me; anumbness, an occasional stupor, fell upon my mind even in the midst of myterrors; until sleep at last supervened, and in my sea-tossed coracle Ilay and dreamed of home and the old "Admiral Benbow. "

 CHAPTER XXIV

 THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE

It was broad day when I awoke, and found myself tossing at the south-westend of Treasure Island. The sun was up, but was still hid from me behindthe great bulk of the Spy-glass, which on this side descended almost tothe sea in formidable cliffs. 

Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at my elbow; the hill bare anddark, the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high, and fringedwith great masses of fallen rock. I was scarce a quarter of a mile toseaward, and it was my first thought to paddle in and land. 

That notion was soon given over. Among the fallen rocks the breakersspouted and bellowed; loud reverberations, heavy sprays flying andfalling, succeeded one another from second to second; and I saw myself, if I ventured nearer, dashed to death upon the rough shore, or spendingmy strength in vain to scale the beetling crags. 

Nor was that all; for crawling together on flat tables of rock, orletting themselves drop into the sea with loud reports, I beheld hugeslimy monsters--soft snails, as it were, of incredible bigness--two orthree score of them together, making the rocks to echo with theirbarkings. 

I have understood since that they were sea-lions, and entirely harmless. But the look of them, added to the difficulty of the shore and the highrunning of the surf, was more than enough to disgust me of that landingplace. I felt willing rather to starve at sea than to confront suchperils. 

In the meantime I had a better chance, as I supposed, before me. North ofHaulbowline Head, the land runs in a long way, leaving, at low tide, along stretch of yellow sand. To the north of that, again, there comesanother cape--Cape of the Woods, as it was marked upon the chart--buriedin tall green pines, which descended to the margin of the sea. 

I remembered what Silver had said about the current that sets northwardalong the whole west coast of Treasure Island; and seeing from myposition that I was already under its influence, I preferred to leaveHaulbowline Head behind me, and reserve my strength for an attempt toland upon the kindlier-looking Cape of the Woods. 

There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. The wind blowing steady andgentle from the south, there was no contrariety between that and thecurrent, and the billows rose and fell unbroken. 

Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have perished; but as it was, itis surprising how easily and securely my little and light boat couldride. Often, as I still lay at the bottom, and kept no more than an eyeabove the gunwale, I would see a big blue summit heaving close above me;yet the coracle would but bounce a little, dance as if on springs, andsubside on the other side into the trough as lightly as a bird. 

I began after a little to grow very bold, and sat up to try my skill atpaddling. But even a small change in the disposition of the weight willproduce violent changes in the behaviour of a coracle. And I had hardlymoved before the boat, giving up at once her gentle dancing movement, ranstraight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy, and struckher 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 oldposition, whereupon the coracle seemed to find her head again, and led meas softly as before among the billows. It was plain she was not to beinterfered with, and at that rate, since I could in no way influence hercourse, what hope had I left of reaching land?

I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head for all that. First, moving with all care, I gradually baled out the coracle with mysea-cap; then getting my eye once more above the gunwale, I set myself tostudy how it was she managed to slip so quietly through the rollers. 

I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth glossy mountain it looksfrom the shore, or from a vessel's deck, was for all the world like anyrange of hills on the dry land, full of peaks and smooth places andvalleys. The coracle, left to herself, turning from side to side, threaded, so to speak, her way through these lower parts, and avoided thesteep slopes and higher, toppling summits of the wave. 

"Well, now, " thought I to myself, "it is plain I must lie where I am, andnot disturb the balance; but it is plain, also, that I can put the paddleover the side, and from time to time, in smooth places, give her a shoveor two towards land. " No sooner thought upon than done. There I lay on myelbows, in the most trying attitude, and every now and again gave a weakstroke or two to turn her head to shore. 

It was very tiring, and slow work, yet I did visibly gain ground; and, aswe drew near the Cape of the Woods, though I saw I must infallibly missthat point, I had still made some hundred yards of easting. I was, indeed, close in. I could see the cool, green tree-tops swaying togetherin the breeze, and I felt sure I should make the next promontory withoutfail. 

It was high time, for I now began to be tortured with thirst. The glow ofthe sun from above, its thousandfold reflection from the waves, thesea-water that fell and dried upon me, caking my very lips with salt, combined to make my throat burn and my brain ache. The sight of the treesso near at hand had almost made me sick with longing; but the current hadsoon 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 sodistressed for want of water that I scarce knew whether to be glad orsorry at the thought; and, long before I had come to a conclusion, surprise had taken entire possession of my mind, and I could do nothingbut stare and wonder. 

The _Hispaniola_ was under her main-sail and two jibs, and the beautifulwhite canvas shone in the sun like snow or silver. When I first sightedher, all her sails were drawing; she was lying a course about north-west;and I presumed the men on board were going round the island on their wayback to the anchorage. Presently she began to fetch more and more to thewestward, so that I thought they had sighted me and were going about inchase. At last, however, she fell right into the wind's eye, was takendead aback, and stood there a while helpless, with her sails shivering. 

"Clumsy fellows, " said I; "they must still be drunk as owls. " And Ithought how Captain Smollett would have set them skipping. 

Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off, and filled again upon anothertack, sailed swiftly for a minute or so, and brought up once more dead inthe wind's eye. Again and again was this repeated. To and fro, up anddown, north, south, east, and west, the _Hispaniola_ sailed by swoops anddashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idly-flappingcanvas. It became plain to me that nobody was steering. And, if so, wherewere the men? Either they were dead drunk, or had deserted her, Ithought, and perhaps if I could get on board, I might return the vesselto her captain. 

The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate. As for the latter's sailing, it was so wild and intermittent, and shehung each time so long in irons, that she certainly gained nothing, ifshe did not even lose. If only I dared to sit up and paddle, I made surethat I could overhaul her. The scheme had an air of adventure thatinspired me, and the thought of the water-breaker beside thefore-companion doubled my growing courage. 

Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by another cloud of spray, butthis time stuck to my purpose; and set myself, with all my strength andcaution, to paddle after the unsteered _Hispaniola_. Once I shipped a seaso heavy that I had to stop and bale, with my heart fluttering like abird; but gradually I got into the way of the thing, and guided mycoracle among the waves, with only now and then a blow upon her bows anda dash of foam in my face. 

I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner; I could see the brass glistenon the tiller as it banged about; and still no soul appeared upon herdecks. I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the menwere lying drunk below, where I might batten them down, perhaps, and dowhat I chose with the ship. 

For some time she had been doing the worst thing possible forme--standing still. She headed nearly due south, yawing, of course, allthe time. Each time she fell off her sails partly filled, and thesebrought her, in a moment, right to the wind again. I have said this wasthe worst thing possible for me; for helpless as she looked in thissituation, with the canvas cracking like cannon, and the blocks trundlingand banging on the deck, she still continued to run away from me, notonly with the speed of the current, but by the whole amount of herleeway, which was naturally great. 

But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell, for some seconds, very low, and the current gradually turning her, the _Hispaniola_revolved slowly round her centre, and at last presented me her stern, with the cabin window still gaping open, and the lamp over the tablestill burning on into the 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 redoubling my efforts, I began once more to overhaul the chase. 

I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind came again in a clap;she filled on the port tack, and was off again, stooping and skimminglike a swallow. 

My first impulse was one of despair, but my second was towards joy. Roundshe came, till she was broadside on to me--round still till she hadcovered a half, and then two-thirds, and then three-quarters of thedistance that separated us. I could see the waves boiling white under herforefoot. Immensely tall she looked to me from my low station in thecoracle. 

And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I had scarce time tothink--scarce time to act and save myself. I was on the summit of oneswell when the schooner came stooping over the next. The bowsprit wasover my head. I sprang to my feet, and leaped, stamping the coracle underwater. With one hand I caught the jib-boom, while my foot was lodgedbetween the stay and the brace; and as I still clung there panting, adull blow told me that the schooner had charged down upon and struck thecoracle, and that I was left without retreat on the _Hispaniola_. 

 CHAPTER XXV

 I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER

I had scarce gained a position on the bowsprit, when the flying jibflapped and filled upon the other tack, with a report like a gun. Theschooner trembled to her keel under the reverse; but next moment, theother sails still drawing, the jib flapped back again, and hung idle. 

This had nearly tossed me off into the sea; and now I lost no time, crawled back along the bowsprit, and tumbled head-foremost on the deck. 

I was on the lee side of the forecastle, and the main-sail, which wasstill drawing, concealed from me a certain portion of the after-deck. Nota soul was to be seen. The planks, which had not been swabbed since themutiny, bore the print of many feet; and an empty bottle, broken by theneck, tumbled to and fro like a live thing in the scuppers. 

Suddenly the _Hispaniola_ came right into the wind. The jibs behind mecracked aloud; the rudder slammed-to; the whole ship gave a sickeningheave and shudder, and at the same moment the main-boom swung inboard, the sheet groaning in the blocks, and showed me the lee after-deck. 

There were the two watchmen, sure enough: red-cap on his back, as stiffas a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix, andhis teeth showing through his open lips; Israel Hands propped against thebulwarks, his chin on his chest, his hands lying open before him on thedeck, his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow-candle. 

For a while the ship kept bucking and sidling like a vicious horse, thesails filling, now on one tack, now on another, and the boom swinging toand fro till the mast groaned aloud under the strain. Now and again, too, there would come a cloud of light sprays over the bulwark, and a heavyblow of the ship's bows against the swell: so much heavier weather wasmade of it by this great rigged ship than by my home-made, lop-sidedcoracle, now gone to the bottom of the sea. 

At every jump of the schooner, red-cap slipped to and fro; but--what wasghastly to behold--neither his attitude nor his fixed teeth-disclosinggrin was anyway disturbed by this rough usage. At every jump, too, Handsappeared still more to sink into himself and settle down upon the deck, his feet sliding ever the farther out, and the whole body canting towardsthe stern, so that his face became, little by little, hid from me; and atlast I could see nothing beyond his ear and the frayed ringlet of onewhisker. 

At the same time, I observed, around both of them, splashes of dark bloodupon the planks, and began to feel sure that they had killed each otherin their drunken wrath. 

While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calm moment, when the shipwas still, Israel Hands turned partly round, and, with a low moan, writhed himself back to the position in which I had seen him first. Themoan, which told of pain and deadly weakness, and the way in which hisjaw hung open, went right to my heart. But when I remembered the talk Ihad 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 expresssurprise. All he could do was to utter one word, "Brandy. "

It occurred to me there was no time to lose; and, dodging the boom as itonce more lurched across the deck, I slipped aft, and down thecompanion-stairs into the cabin. 

It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy. All thelockfast places had been broken open in quest of the chart. The floor wasthick with mud, where ruffians had sat down to drink or consult afterwading in the marshes round their camp. The bulk-heads, all painted inclear white, and beaded round with gilt, bore a pattern of dirty hands. Dozens of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the rolling of theship. One of the doctor's medical books lay open on the table, half ofthe leaves gutted out, I suppose, for pipelights. In the midst of allthis the lamp still cast a smoky glow, obscure and brown as umber. 

I went into the cellar; all the barrels were gone, and of the bottles amost surprising number had been drunk out and thrown away. Certainly, since the mutiny began, not a man of them could ever have been sober. 

Foraging about, I found a bottle with some brandy left, for Hands; andfor myself I routed out some biscuit, some pickled fruits, a great bunchof raisins, and a piece of cheese. With these I came on deck, put down myown stock behind the rudder-head, and well out of the coxswain's reach, went forward to the water-breaker, and had a good, deep drink of water, and then, and not till then, gave Hands the brandy. 

He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle from his mouth. 

"Ay, " 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 ofturns; but I don't have no manner of luck, you see, and that's what's thematter 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. --Andwhere mought you have come from?"

"Well, " said I, "I've come aboard to take possession of this ship, Mr. Hands, and you'll please regard me as your captain until further notice. "

He looked at me sourly enough, but said nothing. Some of the colour hadcome back into his cheeks, though he still looked very sick, and stillcontinued to slip out and settle down as the ship banged about. 

"By the bye, " I continued, "I can't have these colours, Mr. Hands; and, by your leave, I'll strike 'em. Better none than these. "

And, again dodging the boom, I ran to the colour lines, handed down theircursed black flag, and chucked it overboard. 

"God save the King!" said I, waving my cap; "and there's an end toCaptain Silver!"

He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the while on his breast. 

"I reckon, " he said at last--"I reckon, Cap'n Hawkins, you'll kind ofwant to get ashore, now. S'pose we talks. "

"Why, yes, " says I, "with all my heart, Mr. Hands. Say on. " And I wentback to my meal with a good appetite. 

"This man, " he began, nodding feebly at the corpse--"O'Brien were hisname--a rank Irelander--this man and me got the canvas on her, meaningfor to sail her back. Well, _he's_ dead now, he is--as dead as bilge; andwho's to sail this ship I don't see. Without I gives you a hint, youain't that man, as far's I can tell. Now, look here, you gives me foodand drink, and a old scarf or ankercher to tie my wound up, you do; andI'll tell you how to sail her; and that's about square all round, I takeit. "

"I'll tell you one thing, " says I: "I'm not going back to Captain Kidd'sanchorage. I mean to get into North Inlet, and beach her quietly there. "

"To be sure you did, " he cried. "Why, I ain't sich an infernal lubber, after all. I can see, can't I? I've tried my fling, I have, and I'velost, and it's you has the wind of me. North Inlet? Why, I haven't noch'ice, not I! I'd help you sail her up to Execution Dock, by thunder! soI would. "

Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this. We struck ourbargain on the spot. In three minutes I had the _Hispaniola_ sailingeasily before the wind along the coast of Treasure Island, with goodhopes of turning the northern point ere noon, and beating down again asfar as North Inlet before high water, when we might beach her safely, andwait till the subsiding tide permitted us to land. 

Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own chest, where I got asoft silk handkerchief of my mother's. With this, and with my aid, Handsbound up the great bleeding stab he had received in the thigh, and afterhe had eaten a little and had a swallow or two more of the brandy, hebegan to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer, and looked in every way another man. 

The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed before it like a bird, thecoast of the island flashing by, and the view changing every minute. Soonwe were past the high lands and bowling beside low, sandy country, sparsely dotted with dwarf pines, and soon we were beyond that again, andhad turned the corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on thenorth. 

I was greatly elated with my new command, and pleased with the bright, sunshiny weather and these different prospects of the coast. I had nowplenty of water and good things to eat, and my conscience, which hadsmitten me hard for my desertion, was quieted by the great conquest I hadmade. I should, I think, have had nothing left me to desire but for theeyes of the coxswain as they followed me derisively about the deck, andthe odd smile that appeared continually on his face. It was a smile thathad in it something both of pain and weakness--a haggard, old man'ssmile; but there was, besides that, a grain of derision, a shadow oftreachery, in his expression as he craftily watched, and watched, andwatched me at my work. 

 CHAPTER XXVI

 ISRAEL HANDS

The wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into the west. We could runso much the easier from the north-east corner of the island to the mouthof the North Inlet. Only, as we had no power to anchor, and dared notbeach her till the tide had flowed a good deal farther, time hung on ourhands. The coxswain told me how to lay the ship to; after a good manytrials I succeeded, and we both sat in silence, over another meal. 

"Cap'n, " said he, at length, with that same uncomfortable smile, "here'smy old shipmate, O'Brien; s'pose you was to heave him overboard. I ain'tpartic'lar as a rule, and I don't take no blame for settling his hash;but I don't reckon him ornamental, now, do you?"

"I'm not strong enough, and I don't like the job; and there he lies, forme, " said I. 

"This here's an unlucky ship--this _Hispaniola_, Jim, " he went on, blinking. "There's a power of men have been killed in this_Hispaniola_--a sight o' poor seamen dead and gone since you and me tookship to Bristol. I never seen sich dirty luck, not I. There was this hereO'Brien now--he's dead, ain't he? Well, now, I'm no scholar, and you're alad as can read and figure; and, to put it straight, do you take it as adead man is dead for good, or do he come alive again?"

"You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit; you must know thatalready, " I replied. "O'Brien there is in another world, and maybewatching us. "

"Ah!" says he. "Well, that's unfort'nate--appears as if killing partieswas a waste of time. Howsomever, sperrits don't reckon for much, by whatI've seen. I'll chance it with the sperrits, Jim. And now, you've spokeup free, and I'll take it kind if you'd step down into that there cabinand get me a--well, a--shiver my timbers! I can't hit the name on't;well, you get me a bottle of wine, Jim--this here brandy's too strong formy head. "

Now, the coxswain's hesitation seemed to be unnatural; and as for thenotion of his preferring wine to brandy, I entirely disbelieved it. Thewhole story was a pretext. He wanted me to leave the deck--so much wasplain; but with what purpose I could in no way imagine. His eyes nevermet mine; they kept wandering to and fro, up and down, now with a look tothe sky, now with a flitting glance upon the dead O'Brien. All the timehe kept smiling, and putting his tongue out in the most guilty, embarrassed manner, so that a child could have told that he was bent onsome deception. I was prompt with my answer, however, for I saw where myadvantage lay; and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could easilyconceal my suspicions to the end. 

"Some wine?" I said. "Far better. Will you have white or red?"

"Well, I reckon it's about the blessed same to me, shipmate, " he replied;"so it's strong, and plenty of it, what's the odds?"

"All right, " I answered. "I'll bring you port, Mr. Hands. But I'll haveto dig for it. "

With that I scuttled down the companion with all the noise I could, slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along the sparred gallery, mounted theforecastle ladder, and popped my head out of the fore-companion. I knewhe would not expect to see me there; yet I took every precautionpossible; and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true. 

He had risen from his position to his hands and knees; and, though hisleg obviously hurt him pretty sharply when he moved--for I could hear himstifle a groan--yet it was at a good, rattling rate that he trailedhimself across the deck. In half a minute he had reached the portscuppers, and picked, out of a coil of rope, a long knife, or rather ashort dirk, discoloured to the hilt with blood. He looked upon it for amoment, thrusting forth his underjaw, tried the point upon his hand, andthen, hastily concealing it in the bosom of his jacket, trundled backagain into his old place against the bulwark. 

This was all that I required to know. Israel could move about; he was nowarmed; and if he had been at so much trouble to get rid of me, it wasplain that I was meant to be the victim. What he would doafterwards--whether he would try to crawl right across the island fromNorth Inlet to the camp among the swamps, or whether he would fire LongTom, trusting that his own comrades might come first to help him, was, ofcourse, more than I could say. 

Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, since in that ourinterests jumped together, and that was in the disposition of theschooner. We both desired to have her stranded safe enough, in asheltered place, and so that, when the time came, she could be got offagain with as little labour and danger as might be; and until that wasdone I considered that my life would certainly be spared. 

While I was thus turning the business over in my mind, I had not beenidle with my body. I had stolen back to the cabin, slipped once more intomy shoes, and laid my hand at random on a bottle of wine, and now, withthis for an excuse, I made my re-appearance on the deck. 

Hands lay as I had left him, all fallen together in a bundle, and withhis eyelids lowered, as though he were too weak to bear the light. Helooked up, however, at my coming, knocked the neck off the bottle, like aman who had done the same thing often, and took a good swig, with hisfavourite toast of "Here's luck!" Then he lay quiet for a little, andthen, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid. 

"Cut me a junk o' that, " says he, "for I haven't no knife, and hardlystrength enough, so be as I had. Ah, Jim, Jim, I reckon I've missedstays! Cut me a quid, as'll likely be the last, lad; for I'm for my longhome and no mistake. "

"Well, " said I, "I'll cut you some tobacco; but if I was you and thoughtmyself so badly, I would go to my prayers, like a Christian man. "

"Why?" said he. "Now, you tell me why. "

"Why?" I cried. "You were asking me just now about the dead. You'vebroken your trust; you've lived in sin and lies and blood; there's a manyou killed lying at your feet this moment; and you ask me why! For God'smercy, Mr. Hands, that's why. "

I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody dirk he had hidden inhis pocket, and designed, in his ill thoughts, to end me with. He, forhis part, took a great draught of the wine, and spoke with the mostunusual solemnity. 

"For thirty years, " he said, "I've sailed the seas, and seen good andbad, better and worse, fair weather and foul, provisions running out, knives going, and what not. Well, now I tell you, I never seen good comeo' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite;them's my views--amen, so be it. And now, you look here, " he added, suddenly changing his tone, "we've had about enough of this foolery. Thetide's made good enough by now. You just take my orders, Cap'n Hawkins, and we'll sail slap in and be done with it. "

All told, we had scarce two miles to run; but the navigation wasdelicate, the entrance to this northern anchorage was not only narrow andshoal, but lay east and west, so that the schooner must be nicely handledto be got in. I think I was a good, prompt subaltern, and I am very surethat Hands was an excellent pilot; for we went about and about, anddodged in, shaving the banks, with a certainty and a neatness that were apleasure to behold. 

Scarcely had we passed the heads before the land closed around us. Theshores of North Inlet were as thickly wooded as those of the southernanchorage; but the space was longer and narrower, and more like, what intruth it was, the estuary of a river. Right before us, at the southernend we saw the wreck of a ship in the last stages of dilapidation. It hadbeen a great vessel of three masts, but had lain so long exposed to theinjuries of the weather, that it was hung about with great webs ofdripping seaweed, and on the deck of it shore bushes had taken root, andnow flourished thick with flowers. It was a sad sight, but it showed usthat the anchorage was calm. 

"Now, " said Hands, "look there; there's a pet bit for to beach a ship in. Fine flat sand, never a catspaw, trees all around of it, and flowersa-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 atlow water: take a turn about one o' them big pines; bring it back, take aturn around the capstan, and lie-to for the tide. Come high water, allhands 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 muchway on her. Starboard a little--so--steady--starboard--larboard alittle--steady--steady!"

So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly obeyed; till, all of asudden, he cried, "Now, my hearty, luff!" And I put the helm hard up, andthe _Hispaniola_ swung round rapidly, and ran stem on for the low-woodedshore. 

The excitement of these last manoeuvres had somewhat interfered withthe watch I had kept hitherto, sharply enough, upon the coxswain. Eventhen I was still so much interested, waiting for the ship to touch, thatI had quite forgot the peril that hung over my head, and stood craningover the starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading widebefore the bows. I might have fallen without a struggle for my life, hadnot 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 ofmy eye; perhaps it was an instinct like a cat's; but, sure enough, when Ilooked round, there was Hands, already half-way towards me, with the dirkin his right hand. 

We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met; but while mine wasthe 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 leapt sidewaystowards the bows. As I did so, I left hold of the tiller, which sprangsharp to leeward; and I think this saved my life, for it struck Handsacross the chest, and stopped him, for the moment, dead. 

Before he could recover, I was safe out of the corner where he had metrapped, with all the deck to dodge about. Just forward of the main-mastI stopped, drew a pistol from my pocket, took a cool aim, though he hadalready turned and was once more coming directly after me, and drew thetrigger. The hammer fell, but there followed neither flash nor sound; thepriming was useless with sea-water. I cursed myself for my neglect. Whyhad not I, long before, reprimed and reloaded my only weapons? Then Ishould not have been, as now, a mere fleeing sheep before this butcher. 

Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he could move, his grizzledhair tumbling over his face, and his face itself as red as a red ensignwith his haste and fury. I had no time to try my other pistol, nor, indeed, much inclination, for I was sure it would be useless. One thing Isaw plainly: I must not simply retreat before him, or he would speedilyhold me boxed into the bows, as a moment since he had so nearly boxed mein the stern. Once so caught, and nine or ten inches of the blood-staineddirk would be my last experience on this side of eternity. I placed mypalms against the main-mast, which was of a goodish bigness, and waited, every nerve upon the stretch. 

Seeing that I meant to dodge, he also paused; and a moment or two passedin feints on his part, and corresponding movements upon mine. It was sucha game as I had often played at home about the rocks of Black Hill Cove;but never before, you may be sure, with such a wildly beating heart asnow. Still, as I say, it was a boy's game, and I thought I could hold myown at it, against an elderly seaman with a wounded thigh. Indeed, mycourage had begun to rise so high that I allowed myself a few dartingthoughts on what would be the end of the affair; and while I sawcertainly that I could spin it out for long, I saw no hope of anyultimate escape. 

Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the _Hispaniola_ struck, staggered, ground for an instant in the sand, and then, swift as a blow, canted over to the port side, till the deck stood at an angle offorty-five degrees, and about a puncheon of water splashed into thescupper holes, and lay, in a pool, between the deck and bulwark. 

We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of us rolled, almosttogether, into the scuppers; the dead red-cap, with his arms still spreadout, tumbling stiffly after us. So near were we, indeed, that my headcame against the coxswain's foot with a crack that made my teeth rattle. Blow and all, I was the first afoot again; for Hands had got involvedwith the dead body. The sudden canting of the ship had made the deck noplace for running on; I had to find some new way of escape, and that uponthe instant, for my foe was almost touching me. Quick as thought I spranginto the mizzen shrouds, rattled up hand over hand, and did not drawbreath till I was seated on the cross-trees. 

I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had struck not half a footbelow me, as I pursued my upward flight; and there stood Israel Handswith his mouth open and his face upturned to mine, a perfect statue ofsurprise and disappointment. 

Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time in changing the primingof my pistol, and then, having one ready for service, and to makeassurance doubly sure, I proceeded to draw the load of the other, andrecharge it afresh from the beginning. 

My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; he began to see the dicegoing against him; and after an obvious hesitation, he also hauledhimself heavily into the shrouds, and, with the dirk in his teeth, beganslowly and painfully to mount. It cost him no end of time and groans tohaul his wounded leg behind him; and I had quietly finished myarrangements before he was much more than a third of the way up. Then, with a pistol in either hand, I addressed him. 

"One more step, Mr. Hands, " said I, "and I'll blow your brains out! Deadmen don't bite, you know, " I added, with a chuckle. 

He stopped instantly. I could see by the working of his face that he wastrying to think, and the process was so slow and laborious that, in mynew-found security, I laughed aloud. At last, with a swallow or two, hespoke, his face still wearing the same expression of extreme perplexity. In order to speak he had to take the dagger from his mouth, but, in allelse, he remained unmoved. 

"Jim, " says he, "I reckon we're fouled, you and me, and we'll have tosign articles. I'd have had you but for that there lurch: but I don'thave no luck, not I; and I reckon I'll have to strike, which comes hard, you see, for a master mariner to a ship's younker like you, Jim. "

I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as conceited as a cock upona wall, when, all in a breath, back went his right hand over hisshoulder. Something sang like an arrow through the air: I felt a blow andthen a sharp pang, and there I was pinned by the shoulder to the mast. Inthe horrid pain and surprise of the moment--I scarce can say it was bymy own volition, and I am sure it was without a conscious aim--both mypistols went off, and both escaped out of my hands. They did not fallalone; with a choked cry, the coxswain loosed his grasp upon the shrouds, and plunged head first into the water. 

 CHAPTER XXVII

 "PIECES OF EIGHT"

Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water, and from my perch on the cross-trees I had nothing below me but thesurface of the bay. Hands, who was not so far up, was, in consequence, near to the ship, and fell between me and the bulwarks. He rose once tothe surface in a lather of foam and blood, and then sank again for good. As the water settled, I could see him lying huddled together on theclean, bright sand in the shadow of the vessel's sides. A fish or twowhipped past his body. Sometimes, by the quivering of the water, heappeared to move a little, as if he were trying to rise. But he was deadenough, for all that, being both shot and drowned, and was food for fishin the very place where he had designed my slaughter. 

I was no sooner certain of this than I began to feel sick, faint, andterrified. The hot blood was running over my back and chest. The dirk, where it had pinned my shoulder to the mast, seemed to burn like a hotiron; yet it was not so much these real sufferings that distressed me, for these, it seemed to me, I could bear without a murmur; it was thehorror I had upon my mind of falling from the cross-trees into that stillgreen water, beside the body of the coxswain. 

I clung with both hands till my nails ached, and I shut my eyes as if tocover up the peril. Gradually my mind came back again, my pulses quieteddown to a more natural time, and I was once more in possession of myself. 

It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk; but either it stuck toohard or my nerve failed me; and I desisted with a violent shudder. Oddlyenough, that very shudder did the business. The knife, in fact, had comethe nearest in the world to missing me altogether; it held me by a merepinch of skin, and this the shudder tore away. The blood ran down thefaster, to be sure; but I was my own master again, and only tacked to themast by my coat and shirt. 

These last I broke through with a sudden jerk, and then regained the deckby the starboard shrouds. For nothing in the world would I have againventured, shaken as I was, upon the overhanging port shrouds, from whichIsrael had so lately fallen. 

I went below, and did what I could for my wound; it pained me a gooddeal, and still bled freely; but it was neither deep nor dangerous, nordid it greatly gall me when I used my arm. Then I looked around me, andas the ship was now, in a sense, my own, I began to think of clearing itfrom its last passenger--the dead man, O'Brien. 

He had pitched, as I have said, against the bulwarks, where he lay likesome horrible, ungainly sort of puppet; life-size, indeed, but howdifferent from life's colour or life's comeliness! In that position Icould easily have my way with him; and as the habit of tragicaladventures had worn off almost all my terror for the dead, I took him bythe waist as if he had been a sack of bran, and with one good heavetumbled him overboard. He went in with a sounding plunge; the red capcame off, and remained floating on the surface; and as soon as the splashsubsided, I could see him and Israel lying side by side, both waveringwith the tremulous movement of the water. O'Brien, though still quite ayoung man, was very bald. There he lay, with that bald head across theknees of the man who had killed him, and the quick fishes steering to andfro over both. 

I was now alone upon the ship; the tide had just turned. The sun waswithin so few degrees of setting that already the shadow of the pinesupon the western shore began to reach right across the anchorage, andfall in patterns on the deck. The evening breeze had sprung up, andthough it was well warded off by the hill with the two peaks upon theeast, the cordage had begun to sing a little softly to itself and theidle sails to rattle to and fro. 

I began to see a danger to the ship. The jibs I speedily doused andbrought tumbling to the deck; but the mainsail was a harder matter. Ofcourse, when the schooner canted over, the boom had swung out-board, andthe cap of it and a foot or two of sail hung even under water. I thoughtthis made it still more dangerous; yet the strain was so heavy that Ihalf feared to meddle. At last I got my knife and cut the halyards. Thepeak dropped instantly, a great belly of loose canvas floated broad uponthe water; and since, pull as I liked, I could not budge the downhaul, that was the extent of what I could accomplish. For the rest, the_Hispaniola_ must trust to luck, like myself. 

By this time the whole anchorage had fallen into shadow--the last rays, Iremember, falling through a glade of the wood, and shining bright asjewels, on the flowery mantle of the wreck. It began to be chill; thetide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and more onher beam-ends. 

I scrambled forward and looked over. It seemed shallow enough, andholding the cut hawser in both hands for a last security, I let myselfdrop softly overboard. The water scarcely reached my waist; the sand wasfirm and covered with ripple-marks, and I waded ashore in great spirits, leaving the _Hispaniola_ on her side, with her mainsail trailing wideupon the surface of the bay. About the same time the sun went fairlydown, and the breeze whistled low in the dusk among the tossing pines. 

At least, and at last, I was off the sea, nor had I returned thenceempty-handed. There lay the schooner, clear at last from buccaneers andready for our own men to board and get to sea again. I had nothing nearermy fancy than to get home to the stockade and boast of my achievements. Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the recapture ofthe _Hispaniola_ was a clenching answer, and I hoped that even CaptainSmollett would confess I had not lost my time. 

So thinking, and in famous spirits, I began to set my face homeward forthe block-house and my companions. I remembered that the most easterly ofthe rivers which drain into Captain Kidd's anchorage ran from thetwo-peaked hill upon my left; and I bent my course in that direction thatI might pass the stream while it was small. The wood was pretty open, andkeeping 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; andI walked more circumspectly, keeping an eye on every side. The dusk hadcome nigh hand completely, and, as I opened out the cleft between the twopeaks, I became aware of a wavering glow against the sky, where, as Ijudged, the man of the island was cooking his supper before a roaringfire. And yet I wondered, in my heart, that he should show himself socareless. For if I could see this radiance, might it not reach the eyesof Silver himself where he camped upon the shore among the marshes?

Gradually the night fell blacker; it was all I could do to guide myselfeven roughly towards my destination; the double hill behind me and theSpy-glass on my right hand loomed faint and fainter; the stars were fewand pale; and in the low ground where I wandered I kept tripping amongbushes and rolling into sandy pits. 

Suddenly a kind of brightness fell about me. I looked up; a pale glimmerof moonbeams had alighted on the summit of the Spy-glass, and soon afterI saw something broad and silvery moving low down behind the trees, andknew the moon had risen. 

With this to help me, I passed rapidly over what remained to me of myjourney; and, sometimes walking, sometimes running, impatiently drew nearto the stockade. Yet, as I began to thread the grove that lies before it, I was not so thoughtless but that I slackened my pace and went a triflewarily. It would have been a poor end of my adventures to get shot downby my own party in mistake. 

The moon was climbing higher and higher; its light began to fall here andthere in masses through the more open districts of the wood; and right infront of me a glow of a different colour appeared among the trees. It wasred and hot, and now and again it was a little darkened--as it were theembers of a bonfire smouldering. 

For the life of me, I could not think what it might be. 

At last I came right down upon the borders of the clearing. The westernend was already steeped in moonshine: the rest, and the block-houseitself, still lay in a black shadow, chequered with long, silvery streaksof light. On the other side of the house an immense fire had burneditself into clear embers and shed a steady, red reverberation, contrastedstrongly with the mellow paleness of the moon. There was not a soulstirring, nor a sound beside the noises of the breezes. 

I stopped, with much wonder in my heart, and perhaps a little terroralso. It had not been our way to build great fires; we were, indeed, bythe captain's orders, somewhat niggardly of firewood; and I began to fearthat something had gone wrong while I was absent. 

I stole round by the eastern end, keeping close in shadow, and at aconvenient place, where the darkness was thickest, crossed the palisade. 

To make assurance surer, I got upon my hands and knees, and crawled, without a sound, towards the corner of the house. As I drew nearer, myheart was suddenly and greatly lightened. It is not a pleasant noise initself, and I have often complained of it at other times; but just thenit was like music to hear my friends snoring together so loud andpeaceful in their sleep. The sea-cry of the watch, that beautiful "All'swell, " never fell more reassuringly on my ear. 

In the meantime, there was no doubt of one thing: they kept an infamousbad watch. If it had been Silver and his lads that were now creeping inon 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 sharplyfor 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, sothat I could distinguish nothing by the eye. As for sounds, there was thesteady drone of the snorers, and a small occasional noise, a flickeringor pecking that I could in no way account for. 

With my arms before me I walked steadily in. I should lie down in my ownplace (I thought, with a silent chuckle) and enjoy their faces when theyfound me in the morning. 

My foot struck something yielding--it was a sleeper's leg; and he turnedand groaned, but without awaking. 

And then, all of a sudden, a shrill voice broke forth out of thedarkness--

"Pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight!pieces of eight!" and so forth, without pause or change, like theclacking of a tiny mill. 

Silver's green parrot, Captain Flint! It was she whom I had heard peckingat a piece of bark; it was she, keeping better watch than any humanbeing, who thus announced my arrival with her wearisome refrain. 

I had no time left me to recover. At the sharp, clipping tone of theparrot, the sleepers awoke and sprang up; and with a mighty oath, thevoice of Silver cried--

"Who goes?"

I turned to run, struck violently against one person, recoiled, and ranfull into the arms of a second, who, for his part, closed upon and heldme 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 alighted brand. 

 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 apprehensions realised. The pirates were inpossession of the house and stores: there was the cask of cognac, therewere the pork and bread, as before; and, what tenfold increased myhorror, not a sign of any prisoner. I could only judge that all hadperished, and my heart smote me sorely that I had not been there toperish with them. 

There were six of the buccaneers, all told; not another man was leftalive. Five of them were on their feet, flushed and swollen, suddenlycalled out of the first sleep of drunkenness. The sixth had only risenupon his elbow: he was deadly pale, and the blood-stained bandage roundhis head told that he had recently been wounded, and still more recentlydressed. I remembered the man who had been shot and had run back amongthe woods in the great attack, and doubted not that this was he. 

The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long John's shoulder. Hehimself, I thought, looked somewhat paler and more stern than I was usedto. He still wore the fine broadcloth suit in which he had fulfilled hismission, but it was bitterly the worse for wear, daubed with clay andtorn with the sharp briers of the wood. 

"So, " said he, "here's Jim Hawkins, shiver my timbers! dropped in, like, eh? Well, come, I take that friendly. "

And thereupon he sat down across the brandy cask, and began to fill apipe. 

"Give me a loan of the link, Dick, " said he; and then, when he had agood light, "that'll do, lad, " he added; "stick the glim in thewood-heap; and you, gentlemen, bring yourselves to!--you needn't stand upfor Mr. Hawkins; _he'll_ excuse you, you may lay to that. And so, Jim"--stopping the tobacco--"here you were, and quite a pleasant surprisefor 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 mewith my back against the wall; and I stood there, looking Silver in theface, pluckily enough, I hope, to all outward appearance, but with blackdespair in my heart. 

Silver took a whiff or two of his pipe with great composure, and then ranon again. 

"Now, you see, Jim, so be as you _are_ here, " says he, "I'll give you apiece of my mind. I've always liked you, I have, for a lad of spirit, andthe picter of my own self when I was young and handsome. I always wantedyou to jine and take your share, and die a gentleman, and now, my cock, you've got to. Cap'n Smollett's a fine seaman, as I'll own up to any day, but stiff on discipline. 'Dooty is dooty, ' says he, and right he is. Justyou keep clear of the cap'n. The doctor himself is gone dead againyou--'ungrateful scamp' was what he said; and the short and the long ofthe whole story is about here: you can't go back to your own lot, forthey won't have you; and, without you start a third ship's company all byyourself, which might be lonely, you'll have to jine with Cap'n Silver. "

So far so good. My friends, then, were still alive, and though I partlybelieved the truth of Silver's statement, that the cabin party wereincensed at me for my desertion, I was more relieved than distressed bywhat I heard. 

"I don't say nothing as to your being in our hands, " continued Silver, "though there you are, and you may lay to it. I'm all for argyment; Inever seen good come out o' threatening. If you like the service, well, you'll jine; and if you don't, Jim, why, you're free to answer no--freeand welcome, shipmate; and if fairer can be said by mortal seaman, shivermy sides!"

"Am I to answer, then?" I asked, with a very tremulous voice. Through allthis sneering talk I was made to feel the threat of death that overhungme, and my cheeks burned and my heart beat painfully in my breast. 

"Lad, " said Silver, "no one's a-pressing of you. Take your bearings. Noneof us won't hurry you, mate; time goes so pleasant in your company, yousee. "

"Well, " says I, growing a bit bolder, "if I'm to choose, I declare I havea right to know what's what, and why you're here, and where my friendsare. "

"Wot's wot?" repeated one of the buccaneers in a deep growl. "Ah, he'd bea lucky one as knowed that!"

"You'll perhaps batten down your hatches till you're spoke to, myfriend, " cried Silver truculently to this speaker. And then, in his firstgracious tones, he replied to me: "Yesterday morning, Mr. Hawkins, " saidhe, "in the dog-watch, down came Dr. Livesey with a flag of truce. Sayshe, 'Cap'n Silver, you're sold out. Ship's gone. ' Well, maybe we'd beentaking a glass and a song to help it round. I won't say no. Leastwaysnone of us had looked out. We looked out, and, by thunder! the old shipwas gone. I never seen a pack o' fools look fishier; and you may lay tothat, 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 tokelson. As for them, they've tramped; I don't know where's they are. "

He drew again quietly at his pipe. 

"And lest you should take it into that head of yours, " he went on, "thatyou was included in the treaty, here's the last word that was said: 'Howmany are you, ' says I, 'to leave?' 'Four, ' says he--'four, and one of uswounded. As for that boy, I don't know where he is, confound him, ' sayshe, 'nor I don't much care. We're about sick of him. ' These was hiswords. "

"Is that all?" I asked. 

"Well, it's all that you're to hear, my son, " returned Silver. 

"And now I am to choose?"

"And now you are to choose, and you may lay to that, " said Silver. 

"Well, " said I, "I am not such a fool but I know pretty well what I haveto look for. Let the worst come to the worst, it's little I care. I'veseen too many die since I fell in with you. But there's a thing or two Ihave to tell you, " I said, and by this time I was quite excited; "and thefirst is this: here you are, in a bad way: ship lost, treasure lost, menlost; your whole business gone to wreck; and if you want to know who didit--it was I! I was in the apple-barrel the night we sighted land, and Iheard you, John, and you, Dick Johnson, and Hands, who is now at thebottom 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 thatkilled the men you had aboard of her, and it was I who brought her whereyou'll never see her more, not one of you. The laugh's on my side; I'vehad the top of this business from the first; I no more fear you than Ifear a fly. Kill me, if you please, or spare me. But one thing I'll say, and no more: if you spare me, bygones are bygones, and when you fellowsare in court for piracy, I'll save you all I can. It is for you tochoose. Kill another and do yourselves no good, or spare me and keep awitness to save you from the gallows. "

I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath, and, to my wonder, not aman of them moved, but all sat staring at me like as many sheep. Andwhile they were still staring, I broke out again:--

"And now, Mr. Silver, " I said, "I believe you're the best man here, andif things go the worst, I'll take it kind of you to let the doctor knowthe way I took it. "

"I'll bear it in mind, " said Silver, with an accent so curious that Icould not, for the life of me, decide whether he were laughing at myrequest, or had been favourably affected by my courage. 

"I'll put one to that, " cried the old mahogany-faced seaman--Morgan byname--whom I had seen in Long John's public-house upon the quays ofBristol. "It was him that knowed Black Dog. "

"Well, and see here, " added the sea-cook. "I'll put another again tothat, by thunder! for it was this same boy that faked the chart fromBilly Bones. First and last, we've split upon Jim Hawkins!"

"Then here goes!" said Morgan, with an oath. 

And he sprang up, drawing his knife as if he had been twenty. 

"Avast there!" cried Silver. "Who are you, Tom Morgan? Maybe you thoughtyou was cap'n here, perhaps. By the powers, but I'll teach you better!Cross me, and you'll go where many a good man's gone before you, firstand last, these thirty year back--some to the yard-arm, shiver my sides!and some by the board, and all to feed the fishes. There's never a manlooked me between the eyes and seen a good day a'terwards, Tom Morgan, you may lay to that. "

Morgan paused; but a hoarse murmur rose from the others. 

"Tom's right, " said one. 

"I stood hazing long enough from one, " added another. "I'll be hanged ifI'll be hazed by you, John Silver. "

"Did any of you gentlemen want to have it out with _me_?" roared Silver, bending far forward from his position on the keg, with his pipe stillglowing in his right hand. "Put a name on what you're at; you ain't dumb, I reckon. Him that wants shall get it. Have I lived this many years, anda son of a rum-puncheon cock his hat athwart my hawse at the latter endof it? You know the way; you're all gentlemen o' fortune, by youraccount. Well, I'm ready. Take a cutlass, him that dares, and I'll seethe colour of his inside, crutch and all, before that pipe's empty. "

Not a man stirred; not a man answered. 

"That's your sort, is it?" he added, returning his pipe to his mouth. "Well, you're a gay lot to look at, anyway. Not much worth to fight, youain't. P'r'aps you can understand King George's English. I'm cap'n hereby 'lection. I'm cap'n here because I'm the best man by a long sea-mile. You won't fight, as gentlemen o' fortune should; then, by thunder, you'llobey, and you may lay to it! I like that boy, now; I never seen a betterboy than that. He's more a man than any pair of rats of you in this herehouse, and what I say is this: let me see him that'll lay a hand onhim--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 nowshining in my bosom. Silver leant back against the wall, his armscrossed, his pipe in the corner of his mouth, as calm as though he hadbeen in church; yet his eye kept wandering furtively, and he kept thetail of it on his unruly followers. They, on their part, drew graduallytogether towards the far end of the block-house, and the low hiss oftheir whispering sounded in my ear continuously like a stream. One afteranother they would look up, and the red light of the torch would fall fora second on their nervous faces; but it was not towards me, it wastowards Silver that they turned their eyes. 

"You seem to have a lot to say, " remarked Silver, spitting far into theair. "Pipe up and let me hear it, or lay-to. "

"Ax your pardon, sir, " returned one of the men, "you're pretty free withsome of the rules; maybe you'll kindly keep an eye upon the rest. Thiscrew's dissatisfied; this crew don't vally bullying a marlinspike; thiscrew has its rights like other crews, I'll make so free as that; and byyour own rules I take it we can talk together. I ax your pardon, sir, acknowledging you to be capting 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 anddisappeared out of the house. One after another, the rest followed hisexample; each making a salute as he passed; each adding some apology. "According to rules, " said one. "Fo'c's'le council, " said Morgan. And sowith one remark or another, all marched out, and left Silver and me alonewith the torch. 

The sea-cook instantly removed his pipe. 

"Now, look you here, Jim Hawkins, " he said, in a steady whisper, that wasno more than audible, "you're within half a plank of death, and, what's along sight worse, of torture. They're going to throw me off. But, youmark, I stand by you through thick and thin. I didn't mean to; no, nottill you spoke up. I was about desperate to lose that much blunt, and behanged into the bargain. But I see you was the right sort. I says tomyself: You stand by Hawkins, John, and Hawkins'll stand by you. You'rehis last card, and, by the living thunder, John, he's yours! Back toback, says I. You save your witness, and he'll save your neck!"

I began dimly to understand. 

"You mean all's lost?" I asked. 

"Ay, by gum, I do!" he answered. "Ship gone, neck gone--that's the sizeof it. Once I looked into that bay, Jim Hawkins, and seen noschooner--well, I'm tough, but I gave out. As for that lot and theircouncil, mark me, they're outright fools and cowards. I'll save yourlife--if so be as I can--from them. But, see here, Jim--tit for tat--yousave Long John from swinging. "

I was bewildered; it seemed a thing so hopeless he was asking--he, theold buccaneer, the ringleader throughout. 

"What I can do, that I'll do, " I said. 

"It's a bargain!" cried Long John. "You speak up plucky, and, by thunder!I've a chance. "

He hobbled to the torch, where it stood propped among the firewood, andtook a fresh light to his pipe. 

"Understand me, Jim, " he said, returning. "I've a head on my shoulders, Ihave. I'm on squire's side now. I know you've got that ship safesomewheres. How you done it I don't know, but safe it is. I guess Handsand O'Brien turned soft. I never much believed in neither of _them_. Nowyou mark me. I ask no questions, nor I won't let others. I know when agame's up, I do; and I know a lad that's staunch. Ah, you that'syoung--you and me might have done a power of good together!"

He drew some cognac from the cask into a tin cannikin. 

"Will you taste, messmate?" he asked; and when I had refused: "Well, I'lltake a drain myself, Jim, " said he. "I need a caulker, for there'strouble on hand. And, talking o' trouble, why did that doctor give me thechart, Jim?"

My face expressed a wonder so unaffected that he saw the needlessness offurther questions. 

"Ah, well, he did, though, " said he. "And there's something under that, no doubt--something, surely, under that, Jim--bad or good. "

And he took another swallow of the brandy, shaking his great fair headlike a man who looks forward to the worst. 

 CHAPTER XXIX

 THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN

The council of the buccaneers had lasted some time, when one of themre-entered the house, and with a repetition of the same salute, which hadin my eyes an ironical air, begged for a moment's loan of the torch. Silver briefly agreed; and this emissary retired again, leaving ustogether in the dark. 

"There's a breeze coming, Jim, " said Silver, who had, by this time, adopted quite a friendly and familiar tone. 

I turned to the loophole nearest me and looked out. The embers of thegreat fire had so far burned themselves out, and now glowed so low andduskily, that I understood why these conspirators desired a torch. Abouthalf-way down the slope to the stockade they were collected in a group;one held the light; another was on his knees in their midst, and I sawthe blade of an open knife shine in his hand with varying colours, in themoon and torchlight. The rest were all somewhat stooping, as thoughwatching the manoeuvres of this last. I could just make out that he hada book as well as a knife in his hand; and was still wondering howanything so incongruous had come in their possession, when the kneelingfigure rose once more to his feet, and the whole party began to movetogether towards the house. 

"Here they come, " said I; and I returned to my former position, for itseemed beneath my dignity that they should find me watching them. 

"Well, let 'em come, lad--let 'em come, " said Silver, cheerily. "I'vestill a shot in my locker. "

The door opened, and the five men, standing huddled together just inside, pushed one of their number forward. In any other circumstances it wouldhave been comical to see his slow advance, hesitating as he set down eachfoot, but holding his closed right hand in front of him. 

"Step up, lad, " cried Silver. "I won't eat you. Hand it over, lubber. Iknow the rules, I do; I won't hurt a depytation. "

Thus encouraged, the buccaneer stepped forth more briskly, and havingpassed something to Silver, from hand to hand, slipped yet more smartlyback again to his companions. 

The sea-cook looked at what had been given him. 

"The black spot! I thought so, " he observed. "Where might you have gotthe paper? Why, hillo! look here, now: this ain't lucky! You've gone andcut this out of a Bible. What fool's cut a Bible?"

"Ah, there!" said Morgan--"there! Wot did I say? No good'll come o' that, I said. "

"Well, you've about fixed it now, among you, " continued Silver. "You'llall swing now, I reckon. What soft-headed lubber had a Bible?"

"It was Dick, " said one. 

"Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers, " said Silver. "He's seen hisslice of luck, has Dick, and you may lay to that. "

But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck in. 

"Belay that talk, John Silver, " he said. "This crew has tipped you theblack spot in full council, as in dooty bound; just you turn it over, asin dooty bound, and see what's wrote there. Then you can talk. "

"Thanky, George, " replied the sea-cook. "You always was brisk forbusiness, and has the rules by heart, George, as I'm pleased to see. Well, what is it, anyway? Ah! 'Deposed'--that's it, is it? Very prettywrote, to be sure; like print, I swear. Your hand o' write, George. Why, you was gettin' quite a leadin' man in this here crew. You'll be cap'nnext, I shouldn't wonder. Just oblige me with that torch again, will you?this pipe don't draw. "

"Come, now, " said George, "you don't fool this crew no more. You're afunny man, by your account; but you're over now, and you'll maybe stepdown off that barrel, and help vote. "

"I thought you said you knowed the rules, " returned Silvercontemptuously. "Leastways, if you don't, I do; and I wait here--and I'mstill your cap'n, mind--till you outs with your grievances, and I reply;in the meantime, your black spot ain't worth a biscuit. After that, we'llsee. "

"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 thiscruise--you'll be a bold man to say no to that. Second, you let the enemyout o' this here trap for nothing. Why did they want out? I dunno; butit's pretty plain they wanted it. Third, you wouldn't let us go at themupon the march. Oh, we see through you, John Silver; you want to playbooty, that's what's wrong with you. And then, fourth, there's this hereboy. "

"Is that all?" asked Silver quietly. 

"Enough, too, " retorted George. "We'll all swing and sun-dry for yourbungling. "

"Well, now, look here, I'll answer these four p'ints; one after anotherI'll answer 'em. I made a hash o' this cruise, did I? Well, now, you allknow what I wanted: and you all know, if that had been done, that we'd'a' been aboard the _Hispaniola_ this night as ever was, every man of usalive, and fit, and full of good plum-duff, and the treasure in the holdof her, by thunder! Well, who crossed me? Who forced my hand, as was thelawful cap'n? Who tipped me the black spot the day we landed, and beganthis dance? Ah, it's a fine dance--I'm with you there--and looks mightylike a hornpipe in a rope's end at Execution Dock by London town, itdoes. But who done it? Why, it was Anderson, and Hands, and you, GeorgeMerry! And you're the last above board of that same meddling crew; andyou have the Davy Jones's insolence to up and stand for cap'n overme--you, that sank the lot of us! By the powers! but this tops thestiffest yarn to nothing. "

Silver paused, and I could see by the faces of George and his latecomrades that these words had not been said in vain. 

"That's for number one, " cried the accused, wiping the sweat from hisbrow, for he had been talking with a vehemence that shook the house. "Why, I give you my word, I'm sick to speak to you. You've neither sensenor memory, and I leave it to fancy where your mothers was that let youcome to sea. Sea! Gentlemen o' fortune! I reckon tailors is your trade. "

"Go on, John, " said Morgan. "Speak up to the others. "

"Ah, the others!" returned John. "They're a nice lot, ain't they? You saythis cruise is bungled. Ah! by gum, if you could understand how bad it'sbungled, you would see! We're that near the gibbet that my neck's stiffwith thinking on it. You've seen 'em, maybe, hanged in chains, birdsabout 'em, seamen p'inting 'em out as they go down with the tide. 'Who'sthat?' says one. 'That! Why, that's John Silver. I knowed him well, ' saysanother. And you can hear the chains a-jangle as you go about and reachfor the other buoy. Now that's about where we are, every mother's son ofus, thanks to him, and Hands, and Anderson, and other ruination fools ofyou. And if you want to know about number four, and that boy, why, shivermy 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 thatboy? not me, mates! And number three? Ah, well, there's a deal to say tonumber three. Maybe you don't count it nothing to have a real collegedoctor come to see you every day--you, John, with your head broke--oryou, George Merry, that had the ague-shakes upon you not six hours agone, and has your eyes the colour of lemon-peel to this same moment on theclock? And maybe, perhaps, you didn't know there was a consort coming, either? But there is; and not so long till then; and we'll see who'll beglad to have a hostage when it comes to that. And as for number two, andwhy I made a bargain--well, you came crawling on your knees to me to makeit--on your knees you came, you was that downhearted--and you'd havestarved, too, if I hadn't--but that's a trifle! you look there--that'swhy!"

And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly recognised--noneother than the chart on yellow paper, with the three red crosses, that Ihad found in the oilcloth at the bottom of the captain's chest. Why thedoctor had given it to him was more than I could fancy. 

But if it were inexplicable to me, the appearance of the chart wasincredible to the surviving mutineers. They leaped upon it like cats upona mouse. It went from hand to hand, one tearing it from another; and bythe oaths and the cries and the childish laughter with which theyaccompanied their examination, you would have thought, not only they werefingering 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 usno ship?"

Silver suddenly sprang up, and supporting himself with a hand against thewall: "Now I give you warning, George, " he cried. "One more word of yoursauce, and I'll call you down and fight you. How? Why, how do I know? Youhad 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 gotthe invention of a cockroach. But civil you can speak, and shall, GeorgeMerry, you may lay to that. "

"That's fair enow, " said the old man Morgan. 

"Fair! I reckon so, " said the sea-cook. "You lost the ship; I found thetreasure. Who's the better man at that? And now I resign, by thunder!Elect whom you please to be your cap'n now; I'm done with it. "

"Silver!" they cried. "Barbecue for ever! Barbecue for cap'n!"

"So that's the toon, is it?" cried the cook. "George, I reckon you'llhave to wait another turn, friend: and lucky for you as I'm not arevengeful man. But that was never my way. And now, shipmates, this blackspot? 'Tain't much good now, is it? Dick's crossed his luck and spoiledhis Bible, and that's about all. "

"It'll do to kiss the book on still, won't it?" growled Dick, who wasevidently uneasy at the curse he had brought upon himself. 

"A Bible with a bit cut out!" returned Silver derisively. "Not it. Itdon't bind no more'n a ballad-book. "

"Don't it, though?" cried Dick, with a sort of joy. "Well, I reckonthat's worth having, too. "

"Here, Jim--here's a cur'osity for you, " said Silver; and he tossed methe paper. 

It was a round about the size of a crown-piece. One side was blank, forit had been the last leaf; the other contained a verse or two ofRevelation--these words among the rest, which struck sharply home upon mymind: "Without are dogs and murderers. " The printed side had beenblackened with wood ash, which already began to come off and soil myfingers; on the blank side had been written with the same material theone word "Depposed. " I have that curiosity beside me at this moment; butnot a trace of writing now remains beyond a single scratch, such as a manmight make with his thumb-nail. 

That was the end of the night's business. Soon after, with a drink allround, we lay down to sleep, and the outside of Silver's vengeance was toput George Merry up for sentinel, and threaten him with death if heshould prove unfaithful. 

It was long ere I could close an eye, and Heaven knows I had matterenough for thought in the man whom I had slain that afternoon, in my ownmost perilous position, and, above all, in the remarkable game that Isaw Silver now engaged upon--keeping the mutineers together with onehand, and grasping, with the other, after every means, possible andimpossible, to make his peace and save his miserable life. He himselfslept peacefully, and snored aloud; yet my heart was sore for him, wickedas he was, to think on the dark perils that environed, and the shamefulgibbet that awaited him. 

 CHAPTER XXX

 ON PAROLE

I was wakened--indeed, we were all wakened, for I could see even thesentinel shake himself together from where he had fallen against thedoor-post--by a clear, hearty voice hailing us from the margin of thewood:--

"Block-house, ahoy!" it cried. "Here's the doctor. "

And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear the sound, yet mygladness was not without admixture. I remembered with confusion myinsubordinate and stealthy conduct; and when I saw where it had broughtme--among what companions and surrounded by what dangers--I felt ashamedto look him in the face. 

He must have risen in the dark, for the day had hardly come; and when Iran to a loophole and looked out, I saw him standing, like Silver oncebefore, up to the mid-leg in creeping vapour. 

"You, doctor! Top o' the morning to you, sir!" cried Silver, broad awakeand beaming with good-nature in a moment. "Bright and early, to be sure;and it's the early bird, as the saying goes, that gets therations. --George, shake up your timbers, son, and help Dr. Livesey overthe ship's side. All a-doin' well, your patients was--all well andmerry. "

So he pattered on, standing on the hill-top, with his crutch under hiselbow, and one hand upon the side of the log-house--quite the old John invoice, manner, and expression. 

"We've quite a surprise for you too, sir, " he continued. "We've a littlestranger here--he! he! A noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fitand taut as a fiddle; slep' like a supercargo, he did, right alongside ofJohn--stem to stem we was, all night. "

Dr. Livesey was by this time across the stockade and pretty near thecook; and I could hear the alteration in his voice as he said--

"Not Jim?"

"The very same Jim as ever was, " says Silver. 

The doctor stopped outright, although he did not speak, and it was someseconds before he seemed able to move on. 

"Well, well, " he said, at last, "duty first and pleasure afterwards, asyou might have said yourself, Silver. Let us overhaul these patients ofyours. "

A moment afterwards he had entered the block-house, and, with one grimnod to me, proceeded with his work among the sick. He seemed under noapprehension, though he must have known that his life, among thesetreacherous demons, depended on a hair; and he rattled on to his patientsas if he were paying an ordinary professional visit in a quiet Englishfamily. His manner, I suppose, reacted on the men; for they behaved tohim as if nothing had occurred--as if he were still ship's doctor, andthey still faithful hands before the mast. 

"You're doing well, my friend, " he said to the fellow with the bandagedhead, "and if ever any person had a close shave, it was you; your headmust be as hard as iron. --Well, George, how goes it? You're a prettycolour, certainly; why, your liver, man, is upside down. Did you takethat medicine?--did he take that medicine, men?"

"Ay, ay, sir, he took it, sure enough, " returned Morgan. 

"Because, you see, since I am mutineers' doctor, or prison doctor, as Iprefer to call it, " says Dr. Livesey, in his pleasantest way, "I make ita point of honour not to lose a man for King George (God bless him!) andthe gallows. "

The rogues looked at each other, but swallowed the home-thrust insilence. 

"Dick don't feel well, sir, " said one. 

"Don't he?" replied the doctor. "Well, step up here, Dick, and let me seeyour tongue. No, I should be surprised if he did! the man's tongue is fitto frighten the French. Another fever. "

"Ah, there, " said Morgan, "that comed of sp'iling Bibles. "

"That comed--as you call it--of being arrant asses, " retorted the doctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and the dryland from a vile, pestiferous slough. I think it most probable--though, of course, it's only an opinion--that you'll all have the deuce to paybefore you get that malaria out of your systems. Camp in a bog, wouldyou?--Silver, I'm surprised at you. You're less a fool than many, takeyou all round; but you don't appear to me to have the rudiments of anotion of the rules of health. "

"Well, " he added, after he had dosed them round, and they had taken hisprescriptions with really laughable humility, more like charity-schoolchildren than blood-guilty mutineers and pirates--"Well, that's done forto-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 somebad-tasted medicine; but at the first word of the doctor's proposal heswung round with a deep flush, and cried "No!" and swore. 

Silver struck the barrel with his open hand. 

"Si-lence!" he roared, and looked about him positively like a lion. "Doctor, " he went on, in his usual tones, "I was a-thinking of that, knowing as how you had a fancy for the boy. We're all humbly grateful foryour kindness, and, as you see, puts faith in you, and takes the drugsdown like that much grog. And I take it, I've found a way as'll suitall. --Hawkins, will you give me your word of honour as a younggentleman--for a young gentleman you are, although poor born--your wordof honour not to slip your cable?"

I readily gave the pledge required. 

"Then, doctor, " said Silver, "you just step outside o' that stockade, andonce you're there, I'll bring the boy down on the inside, and I reckonyou can yarn through the spars. Good-day to you, sir, and all our dootiesto the squire and Cap'n Smollett. "

The explosion of disapproval, which nothing but Silver's black looks hadrestrained, broke out immediately the doctor had left the house. Silverwas roundly accused of playing double--of trying to make a separate peacefor himself--of sacrificing the interests of his accomplices and victims;and, in one word, of the identical, exact thing that he was doing. Itseemed to me so obvious, in this case, that I could not imagine how hewas to turn their anger. But he was twice the man the rest were; and hislast 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 wasnecessary I should talk to the doctor, fluttered the chart in theirfaces, asked them if they could afford to break the treaty the very daythey were bound a-treasure-hunting. 

"No, by thunder!" he cried, "it's us must break the treaty when the timecomes; and till then I'll gammon that doctor, if I have to ile his bootswith brandy. "

And then he bade them get the fire lit, and stalked out upon his crutch, with his hand on my shoulder, leaving them in a disarray, and silenced byhis volubility rather than convinced. 

"Slow, lad, slow, " he said. "They might round upon us in a twinkle of aneye, if we was seen to hurry. "

Very deliberately, then, did we advance across the sand to where thedoctor awaited us on the other side of the stockade, and as soon as wewere within easy speaking distance, Silver stopped. 

"You'll make a note of this here also, doctor, " says he, "and the boy'lltell you how I saved his life, and were deposed for it, too, and you maylay to that. Doctor, when a man's steering as near the wind asme--playing chuck-farthing with the last breath in his body, like--youwouldn't think it too much, mayhap, to give him one good word? You'llplease bear in mind it's not my life only now--it's that boy's into thebargain; and you'll speak me fair, doctor, and give me a bit o' hope togo on, for the sake of mercy. "

Silver was a changed man, once he was out there and had his back to hisfriends and the block-house; his cheeks seemed to have fallen in, hisvoice trembled; never was a soul more dead in earnest. 

"Why, John, you're not afraid?" asked Doctor Livesey. 

"Doctor, I'm no coward; no, not I--not _so_ much!" and he snapped hisfingers. "If I was I wouldn't say it. But I'll own up fairly, I've theshakes upon me for the gallows. You're a good man and a true; I neverseen a better man! And you'll not forget what I done good, not any morethan you'll forget the bad, I know. And I step aside--see here--and leaveyou and Jim alone. And you'll put that down for me too, for it's a longstretch, is that!"

So saying, he stepped back a little way, till he was out of earshot, andthere sat down upon a tree-stump and began to whistle; spinning round nowand again upon his seat so as to command a sight, sometimes of me and thedoctor, and sometimes of his unruly ruffians as they went to and fro inthe sand, between the fire--which they were busy rekindling--and thehouse, from which they brought forth pork and bread to make thebreakfast. 

"So, Jim, " said the doctor sadly, "here you are. As you have brewed, soshall you drink, my boy. Heaven knows, I cannot find it in my heart toblame you; but this much I will say, be it kind or unkind: when CaptainSmollett was well, you dared not have gone off; and when he was ill, andcouldn't help it, by George, it was downright cowardly!"

I will own that I here began to weep. "Doctor, " I said, "you might spareme. I have blamed myself enough; my life's forfeit anyway, and I shouldhave been dead by now, if Silver hadn't stood for me; and, doctor, believe this, I can die--and I daresay I deserve it--but what I fear istorture. If they come to torture me----"

"Jim, " the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite changed, "Jim, Ican't have this. Whip over, and we'll run for it. "

"Doctor, " said I, "I passed my word. "

"I know, I know, " he cried. "We can't help that, Jim, now. I'll take iton my shoulders, holus bolus, blame and shame, my boy; but stay here Icannot let you. Jump! One jump, and you're out, and we'll run for it likeantelopes. "

"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 trustedme; I passed my word, and back I go. But, doctor, you did not let mefinish. If they come to torture me, I might let slip a word of where theship is; for I got the ship, part by luck and part by risking, and shelies in North Inlet, on the southern beach, and just below high water. Athalf-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. "Everystep, it's you that saves our lives; and do you suppose by any chancethat we are going to let you lose yours? That would be a poor return, myboy. You found out the plot; you found Ben Gunn--the best deed that everyou did, or will do, though you live to ninety. Oh, by Jupiter, andtalking of Ben Gunn! why, this is the mischief in person. Silver!" hecried, "Silver!--I'll give you a piece of advice, " he continued, as thecook drew near again; "don't you be in any great hurry after thattreasure. "

"Why, sir, I do my possible, which that ain't, " said Silver. "I can only, asking your pardon, save my life and the boy's by seeking for thattreasure; and you may lay to that. "

"Well, Silver, " replied the doctor, "if that is so, I'll go one stepfurther: look out for squalls when you find it. "

"Sir, " said Silver, "as between man and man, that's too much and toolittle. What you're after, why you left the block-house, why you given methat there chart, I don't know, now, do I? and yet I done your biddingwith my eyes shut and never a word of hope! But no, this here's too much. If you won't tell me what you mean plain out, just say so, and I'll leavethe helm. "

"No, " said the doctor musingly, "I've no right to say more; it's not mysecret, you see, Silver, or, I give you my word, I'd tell it you. ButI'll go as far with you as I dare go, and a step beyond; for I'll have mywig sorted by the captain, or I'm mistaken! And, first, I'll give you abit of hope: Silver, if we both get alive out of this wolf-trap, I'll domy best to save you, short of perjury. "

Silver's face was radiant. "You couldn't say more, I'm sure, sir, not ifyou was my mother, " he cried. 

"Well, that's my first concession, " added the doctor. "My second is apiece of advice: Keep the boy close beside you, and when you need help, halloo. I'm off to seek it for you, and that itself will show you if Ispeak at random. --Good-bye, Jim. "

And Dr. Livesey shook hands with me through the stockade, nodded toSilver, and set off at a brisk pace into the wood. 

 CHAPTER XXXI

 THE TREASURE HUNT--FLINT'S POINTER

"Jim, " said Silver, when we were alone, "if I saved your life, you savedmine; and I'll not forget it. I seen the doctor waving you to run forit--with the tail of my eye, I did; and I seen you say no, as plain ashearing. Jim, that's one to you. This is the first glint of hope I hadsince the attack failed, and I owe it you. And now, Jim, we're to go infor this here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders, too, and I don't likeit; and you and me must stick close, back to back like, and we'll saveour necks in spite o' fate and fortune. "

Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready, and wewere soon seated here and there about the sand over biscuit and friedjunk. They had lit a fire fit to roast an ox; and it was now grown so hotthat they could only approach it from the windward, and even there notwithout precaution. In the same wasteful spirit, they had cooked, Isuppose, three times more than we could eat; and one of them, with anempty laugh, threw what was left into the fire, which blazed and roaredagain over this unusual fuel. I never in my life saw men so careless ofthe morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can describe their way ofdoing; and what with wasted food and sleeping sentries, though they werebold enough for a brush and be done with it, I could see their entireunfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign. 

Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had not aword 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 withthis here head. I got what I wanted, I did. Sure enough, they have theship. 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 theboats, I reckon, has the upper hand. "

Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of the hot bacon: thus herestored their hope and confidence, and, I more than suspect, repairedhis own at the same time. 

"As for hostage, " he continued, "that's his last talk, I guess, with themhe 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 gotreasure-hunting, for we'll keep him like so much gold, in case ofaccidents, you mark, and in the meantime. Once we got the ship andtreasure both, and off to sea like jolly companions, why, then, we'lltalk 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 washorribly cast down. Should the scheme he had now sketched prove feasible, Silver, already doubly a traitor, would not hesitate to adopt it. He hadstill a foot in either camp, and there was no doubt he would preferwealth and freedom with the pirates to a bare escape from hanging, whichwas the best he had to hope on our side. 

Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was forced to keep his faithwith Dr. Livesey, even then what danger lay before us! What a moment thatwould be when the suspicions of his followers turned to certainty, and heand I should have to fight for dear life--he, a cripple, and I, aboy--against five strong and active seamen!

Add to this double apprehension, the mystery that still hung over thebehaviour of my friends; their unexplained desertion of the stockade;their inexplicable cession of the chart; or, harder still to understand, the doctor's last warning to Silver, "Look out for squalls when you findit;" and you will readily believe how little taste I found in mybreakfast, and with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my captors onthe quest for treasure. 

We made a curious figure, had any one been there to see us; all in soiledsailor clothes, and all but me armed to the teeth. Silver had two gunsslung about him--one before and one behind--besides the great cutlass athis waist, and a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. Tocomplete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon hisshoulder and gabbling odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. I had a lineabout my waist, and followed obediently after the sea-cook, who held theloose end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between his powerfulteeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear. 

The other men were variously burthened; some carrying picks andshovels--for that had been the very first necessary they brought ashorefrom the _Hispaniola_--others laden with pork, bread, and brandy for themidday meal. All the stores, I observed, came from our stock; and I couldsee the truth of Silver's words the night before. Had he not struck abargain with the doctor, he and his mutineers, deserted by the ship, musthave been driven to subsist on clear water and the proceeds of theirhunting. Water would have been little to their taste; a sailor is notusually a good shot; and, besides all that, when they were so short ofeatables, it was not likely they would be very flush of powder. 

Well, thus equipped, we all set out--even the fellow with the brokenhead, who should certainly have kept in shadow--and straggled, one afteranother, to the beach, where the two gigs awaited us. Even these boretrace of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, andboth in their muddied and unbaled condition. Both were to be carriedalong with us, for the sake of safety; and so, with our numbers dividedbetween them, we set forth upon the bosom of the anchorage. 

As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the chart. The red crosswas, of course, far too large to be a guide; and the terms of the note onthe back, as you will hear, admitted of some ambiguity. They ran, thereader may remember, thus:--

 "Tall tree, Spy-glass Shoulder, bearing a point to the N. Of N. N. E. 

 "Skeleton Island E. S. E. And by E. 

 "Ten feet. "

A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right before us, theanchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high, adjoining on the north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glass, and rising again towards the south into the rough, cliffy eminence calledthe Mizzen-mast Hill. The top of the plateau was dotted thickly with pinetrees of varying height. Every here and there, one of a different speciesrose forty or fifty feet clear above its neighbours, and which of thesewas the particular "tall tree" of Captain Flint could only be decided onthe spot, and by the readings of the compass. 

Yet, although that was the case, every man on board the boats had pickeda favourite of his own ere we were half-way over, Long John aloneshrugging his shoulders and bidding them wait till they were there. 

We pulled easily, by Silver's directions, not to weary the handsprematurely; and, after quite a long passage, landed at the mouth of thesecond river--that which runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-glass. Thence, bending to our left, we began to ascend the slope towards theplateau. 

At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted, marish vegetation, greatly delayed our progress; but by little and little the hill began tosteepen and become stony under foot, and the wood to change its characterand to grow in a more open order. It was, indeed, a most pleasant portionof the island that we were now approaching. A heavy-scented broom andmany flowering shrubs had almost taken the place of grass. Thickets ofgreen nutmeg trees were dotted here and there with the red columns andthe broad shadow of the pines; and the first mingled their spice withthe aroma of the others. The air, besides, was fresh and stirring, andthis, under the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderful refreshment to oursenses. 

The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, shouting and leaping toand fro. About the centre, and a good way behind the rest, Silver and Ifollowed--I tethered by my rope, he ploughing, with deep pants, among thesliding gravel. From time to time, indeed, I had to lend him a hand, orhe must have missed his footing and fallen backward down the hill. 

We had thus proceeded for about half a mile, and were approaching thebrow of the plateau, when the man upon the farthest left began to cryaloud, as if in terror. Shout after shout came from him, and the othersbegan to run in his direction. 

"He can't 'a' found the treasure, " said old Morgan, hurrying past us fromthe right, "for that's clean a-top. "

Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it was something verydifferent. At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a greencreeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a humanskeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I believe achill struck for a moment to every heart. 

"He was a seaman, " said George Merry, who, bolder than the rest, had goneup close, and was examining the rags of clothing. "Leastways, this isgood sea-cloth. "

"Ay, ay, " said Silver, "like enough; you wouldn't look to find a bishophere, I reckon. But what sort of a way is that for bones to lie? 'Tain'tin natur'. "

Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to fancy that the bodywas in a natural position. But for some disarray (the work, perhaps, ofthe birds that had fed upon him, or of the slow-growing creeper that hadgradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly straight--his feetpointing in one direction, his hands, raised above his head like adiver's, pointing directly in the opposite. 

"I've taken a notion into my old numskull, " observed Silver. "Here's thecompass; there's the tip-top p'int o' Skeleton Island, stickin' out likea 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 thereis our line for the Pole Star and the jolly dollars. But, by thunder! ifit 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, shivermy timbers! They're long bones, and the hair's been yellow. Ay, thatwould be Allardyce. --You mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?"

"Ay, ay, " returned Morgan, "I mind him; he owed me money, he did, andtook my knife ashore with him. "

"Speaking of knives, " said another, "why don't we find his'n 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 amongthe bones, "not a copper doit nor a baccy-box. It don't look nat'ral tome. "

"No, by gum, it don't, " agreed Silver; "not nat'ral, nor not nice, saysyou. Great guns! messmates, but if Flint was living, this would be a hotspot for you and me. Six they were, and six are we; and bones is whatthey are now. "

"I saw him dead with these here deadlights, " said Morgan. "Billy took mein. There he laid, with penny-pieces on his eyes. "

"Dead--ay, sure enough he's dead and gone below, " said the fellow withthe bandage; "but if ever sperrit walked, it would be Flint's. Dearheart, but he died bad, did Flint!"

"Ay, that he did, " observed another; "now he raged, and now he holleredfor the rum, and now he sang. 'Fifteen Men' were his only song, mates;and I tell you true, I never rightly liked to hear it since. It was mainhot, and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin' out as clearas 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 staringdaylight, the pirates no longer ran separate and shouting through thewood, but kept side by side and spoke with bated breath. The terror ofthe dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits. 

 CHAPTER XXXII

 THE TREASURE HUNT--THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES

Partly from the damping influence of this alarm, partly to rest Silverand the sick folk, the whole party sat down as soon as they had gainedthe brow of the ascent. 

The plateau being somewhat tilted towards the west, this spot on which wehad paused commanded a wide prospect on either hand. Before us, over thetree-tops, we beheld the Cape of the Woods fringed with surf; behind, wenot only looked down upon the anchorage and Skeleton Island, butsaw--clear across the spit and the eastern lowlands--a great field ofopen sea upon the east. Sheer above us rose the Spy-glass, here dottedwith single pines, there black with precipices. There was no sound butthat of the distant breakers, mounting from all round, and the chirp ofcountless insects in the brush. Not a man, not a sail upon the sea; thevery largeness of the view increased the sense of solitude. 

Silver, as he sat, took certain bearings with his compass. 

"There are three 'tall trees, '" said he, "about in the right line fromSkeleton Island. 'Spy-glass Shoulder, ' I take it, means that lower p'intthere. It's child's-play to find the stuff now. I've half a mind to dinefirst. "

"I don't feel sharp, " growled Morgan. "Thinkin' o' Flint--I think itwere--'as done me. "

"Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he's dead, " said Silver. 

"He were an ugly devil, " cried a third pirate with a shudder; "that bluein the face, too!"

"That was how the rum took him, " added Merry. "Blue! well, I reckon hewas blue. That's a true word. "

Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon this train ofthought, they had spoken lower and lower, and they had almost got towhispering by now, so that the sound of their talk hardly interrupted thesilence of the wood. All of a sudden, out of the middle of the trees infront of us, a thin, high, trembling voice struck up the well-known airand words:--

 "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the pirates. Thecolour went from their six faces like enchantment; some leaped to theirfeet, some clawed hold of others; Morgan grovelled on the ground. 

"It's Flint, by ----!" cried Merry. 

The song had stopped as suddenly as it began--broken off, you would havesaid, in the middle of a note, as though some one had laid his hand uponthe singer's mouth. Coming so far through the clear, sunny atmosphereamong the green tree-tops, I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly;and the effect on my companions was the stranger. 

"Come, " said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to get the word out, "this won't do. Stand by to go about. This is a rum start, and I can'tname the voice: but it's some one skylarking--some one that's flesh andblood, and you may lay to that. "

His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of the colour to his facealong with it. Already the others had begun to lend an ear to thisencouragement, and were coming a little to themselves, when the samevoice broke out again--not this time singing, but in a faint distanthail, that echoed yet fainter among the clefts of the Spy-glass. 

"Darby M'Graw, " it wailed--for that is the word that best describes thesound--"Darby M'Graw! Darby M'Graw!" again and again and again; and thenrising a little higher, and with an oath that I leave out, "Fetch aftthe rum, Darby!"

The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their eyes starting fromtheir heads. Long after the voice had died away they still stared insilence, dreadfully, before them. 

"That fixes it!" gasped one. "Let's go. "

"They was his last words, " moaned Morgan, "his last words above board. "

Dick had his Bible out, and was praying volubly. He had been well broughtup, had Dick, before he came to sea and fell among bad companions. 

Still, Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth rattle in his head;but he had not yet surrendered. 

"Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby, " he muttered: "not onebut us that's here. " And then, making a great effort: "Shipmates, " hecried, "I'm here to get that stuff, and I'll not be beat by man nordevil. I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, by the powers! I'llface him dead. There's seven hundred thousand pound not a quarter of amile from here. When did ever a gentleman o' fortune show his stern tothat much dollars, for a 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 irreverence of his words. 

"Belay there, John!" said Merry. "Don't you cross a sperrit. "

And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They would have run awayseverally had they dared; but fear kept them together, and kept themclose by John, as if his daring helped them. He, on his part, had prettywell fought his weakness down. 

"Sperrit? Well, maybe, " he said. "But there's one thing not clear to me. There was an echo. Now, no man ever seen a sperrit with a shadow; well, then, what's he doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? Thatain't in natur', surely?"

This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you can never tell what willaffect the superstitious, and, to my wonder, George Merry was greatlyrelieved. 

"Well, that's so, " he said. "You've a head upon your shoulders, John, andno mistake. 'Bout ship, mates! This here crew is on a wrong tack, I dobelieve. And come to think on it, it was like Flint's voice, I grant you, but not just so clear-away like it, after all. It was liker somebodyelse'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 itwere!"

"It don't make much odds, do it, now?" asked Dick. "Ben Gunn's not herein the body, any more'n Flint. "

But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn. 

"Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn, " cried Merry; "dead or alive, nobody mindshim. "

It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned, and how the naturalcolour had revived in their faces. Soon they were chatting together, withintervals of listening; and not long after, hearing no further sound, they shouldered the tools and set forth again, Merry walking first withSilver's compass to keep them on the right line with Skeleton Island. Hehad said the truth; dead or alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn. 

Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him as he went, withfearful glances; but he found no sympathy, and Silver even joked him onhis precautions. 

"I told you, " said he--"I told you, you had sp'iled your Bible. If itain't no good to swear by, what do you suppose a sperrit would give forit? Not that!" and he snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on hiscrutch. 

But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon plain to me thatthe lad was falling sick; hastened by heat, exhaustion, and the shock ofhis alarm, the fever, predicted by Doctor Livesey, was evidently growingswiftly higher. 

It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way lay a littledown-hill, for, as I have said, the plateau tilted towards the west. Thepines, great and small, grew wide apart: and even between the clumps ofnutmeg and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. Striking, as we did, pretty near north-west across the island, we drew, on the onehand, ever nearer under the shoulders of the Spy-glass, and on the other, looked ever wider over that western bay where I had once tossed andtrembled in the coracle. 

The first of the tall trees was reached, and, by the bearing, proved thewrong one. So with the second. The third rose nearly two hundred feetinto the air above a clump of underwood; a giant of a vegetable, with ared column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in which acompany could have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous far to sea both onthe east and west, and might have been entered as a sailing mark upon thechart. 

But it was not its size that now impressed my companions; it was theknowledge that seven hundred thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere buriedbelow its spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they drewnearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their eyes burned in theirheads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul was boundup 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 andquivered: he cursed like a madman when the flies settled on his hot andshiny countenance; he plucked furiously at the line that held me to him, and, from time to time, turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look. Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts; and certainly I readthem like print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had beenforgotten; his promise and the doctor's warning were both things of thepast; and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the treasure, find and board the _Hispaniola_ under cover of night, cut every honestthroat 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 therapid pace of the treasure-hunters. Now and again I stumbled; and it wasthen that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me hismurderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us, and now brought upthe rear, was babbling to himself both prayers and curses, as his feverkept rising. This also added to my wretchedness, and, to crown all, I washaunted by the thought of the tragedy that had once been acted on thatplateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with the blue face--he who died atSavannah, singing and shouting for drink--had there, with his own hand, cut down his six accomplices. This grove, that was now so peaceful, mustthen have rung with cries, I thought; and even with the thought I couldbelieve I heard it ringing still. 

We were now at the margin of the thicket. 

"Huzza, mates, all together!" shouted Merry; and the foremost broke intoa run. 

And suddenly, not ten yards farther, we beheld them stop. A low cryarose. Silver doubled his pace, digging away with the foot of his crutchlike one possessed; and next moment he and I had come also to a deadhalt. 

Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides hadfallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom. In this were the shaft ofa pick broken in two and the boards of several packing-cases strewnaround. On one of these boards I saw, branded with a hot iron, the name_Walrus_--the name of Flint's ship. 

All was clear to probation. The _cache_ had been found and rifled: theseven hundred thousand pounds were gone!

 CHAPTER XXXIII

 THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN

There never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six men wasas though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almostinstantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like aracer, on that money; well, he was brought up in a single second, dead;and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed his plan before theothers had had time to realise the disappointment. 

"Jim, " he whispered, "take that, and stand by for trouble. "

And he passed me a double-barrelled pistol. 

At the same time he began quietly moving northward, and in a few stepshad put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked atme and nodded, as much as to say, "Here is a narrow corner, " as, indeed, I thought it was. His looks were now quite friendly; and I was sorevolted at these constant changes, that I could not forbear whispering, "So you've changed sides again. "

There was no time left for him to answer in. The buccaneers, with oathsand cries, began to leap, one after another, into the pit, and to digwith their fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. Morganfound a piece of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. Itwas a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for aquarter of a minute. 

"Two guineas!" roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. "That's your sevenhundred thousand pounds, is it? You're the man for bargains, ain't you?You're him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!"

"Dig away, boys, " said Silver, with the coolest insolence; "you'll findsome pig-nuts and I shouldn't wonder. "

"Pig-nuts!" repeated Merry, in a scream. "Mates, do you hear that? I tellyou, now, that man there knew it all along. Look in the face of him, andyou'll see it wrote there. "

"Ah, Merry, " remarked Silver, "standing for cap'n again? You're a pushinglad, to be sure. "

But this time every one was entirely in Merry's favour. They began toscramble out of the excavation, darting furious glances behind them. Onething I observed, which looked well for us: they all got out upon theopposite side from Silver. 

Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the pit betweenus, and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow. Silvernever moved; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, and looked ascool 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 cripplethat brought us all here and blundered us down to this; the other's thatcub that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates----"

He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead a charge. But just then--crack! crack! crack!--three musket-shots flashed out ofthe thicket. Merry tumbled head-foremost into the excavation; the manwith the bandage spun round like a teetotum, and fell all his length uponhis side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the other threeturned and ran for it with all their might. 

Before you could wink, Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol intothe struggling Merry; and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in thelast agony, "George, " said he, "I reckon I settled you. "

At the same moment the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us, withsmoking muskets, from among the nutmeg trees. 

"Forward!" cried the doctor. "Double quick, my lads! We must head 'em offthe boats. "

And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through the bushes tothe chest. 

I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that manwent through, leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest werefit to burst, was work no sound man ever equalled; and so thinks thedoctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us, and on theverge of strangling, when we reached the brow of the slope. 

"Doctor, " he hailed, "see there! no hurry!"

Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open part of the plateau, wecould see the three survivors still running in the same direction as theyhad started, right for Mizzen-mast Hill. We were already between them andthe boats; and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John, moppinghis face, came slowly up with us. 

"Thank ye kindly, doctor, " says he. "You came in in about the nick, Iguess, for me and Hawkins. --And so it's you, Ben Gunn!" he added. "Well, you're a nice one, to be sure. "

"I'm Ben Gunn, I am, " replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in hisembarrassment. "And, " he added, after a long pause, "how do, Mr. Silver?Pretty well, I thank ye, says you. "

"Ben, Ben, " murmured Silver, "to think as you've done me!"

The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pickaxes, deserted, in theirflight, by the mutineers; and then, as we proceeded leisurely down-hillto where the boats were lying, related, in a few words, what had takenplace. 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 theskeleton--it was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; he haddug it up (it was the haft of his pickaxe that lay broken in theexcavation); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, fromthe foot of a tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at thenorth-east angle of the island, and there it had lain stored in safetysince two months before the arrival of the _Hispaniola_. 

When the doctor had wormed this secret from him, on the afternoon of theattack, and when, next morning, he saw the anchorage deserted, he hadgone to Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless--given him thestores, for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goat's meat salted byhimself--given anything and everything to get a chance of moving insafety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be clear ofmalaria and keep a guard upon the money. 

"As for you, Jim, " he said, "it went against my heart, but I did what Ithought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were notone of these, whose fault was it?"

That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horriddisappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he had run all the wayto the cave, and, leaving squire to guard the captain, had taken Gray andthe maroon, and started, making the diagonal across the island, to be athand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had the startof him: and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been despatched in frontto do his best alone. Then it had occurred to him to work upon thesuperstitions of his former shipmates; and he was so far successful thatGray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before thearrival of the treasure-hunters. 

"Ah, " said Silver, "it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here. Youwould have let old John be cut to bits, and never given it a thought, doctor. "

"Not a thought, " replied Dr. Livesey cheerily. 

And by this time we had reached the gigs. The doctor, with the pickaxe, demolished one of them, and then we all got aboard the other and set outto go round by sea for North Inlet. 

This was a run of eight or nine miles. Silver, though he was almostkilled already with fatigue, was set to an oar, like the rest of us, andwe were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea. Soon we passed out ofthe 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 BenGunn's cave, and a figure standing by it, leaning on a musket. It was thesquire; and we waved a handkerchief and gave him three cheers, in whichthe voice of Silver joined as heartily as any. 

Three miles farther, just inside the mouth of North Inlet, what should wemeet but the _Hispaniola_, cruising by herself? The last flood had liftedher; and had there been much wind, or a strong tide current, as in thesouthern anchorage, we should never have found her more, or found herstranded beyond help. As it was, there was little amiss, beyond the wreckof the main-sail. Another anchor was got ready, and dropped in a fathomand a half of water. We all pulled round again to Rum Cove, the nearestpoint for Ben Gunn's treasure-house; and then Gray, single-handed, returned with the gig to the _Hispaniola_, where he was to pass the nighton guard. 

A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance of the cave. At thetop the squire met us. To me he was cordial and kind, saying nothing ofmy escapade, either in the way of blame or praise. At Silver's politesalute he somewhat flushed. 

"John Silver, " he said, "you're a prodigious villain and impostor--amonstrous impostor, sir. I am told I am not to prosecute you. Well, then, I will not. But the dead men, sir, hang about your neck likemill-stones. "

"Thank you kindly, sir, " replied Long John, again saluting. 

"I dare you to thank me!" cried the squire. "It is a gross dereliction ofmy duty. Stand back. "

And thereupon we all entered the cave. It was a large, airy place, with alittle spring and a pool of clear water, overhung with ferns. The floorwas 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 coinand quadrilaterals built of bars of gold. That was Flint's treasure, thatwe had come so far to seek, and that had cost already the lives ofseventeen men from the _Hispaniola_. How many it had cost in theamassing, what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep, what brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon, whatshame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell. Yet therewere still three upon that island--Silver, and old Morgan, and BenGunn--who had each taken his share in these crimes, as each had hoped invain to share in the reward. 

"Come in, Jim, " said the captain. "You're a good boy in your line, Jim;but I don't think you and me'll go to sea again. You're too much of theborn favourite for me. --Is that you, John Silver? What brings you here, man?"

"Come back to my dooty, sir, " returned Silver. 

"Ah!" said the captain; and that was all he said. 

What a supper I had of it that night, with all my friends around me; andwhat a meal it was, with Ben Gunn's salted goat, and some delicacies anda bottle of old wine from the _Hispaniola_. Never, I am sure, were peoplegayer or happier. And there was Silver, sitting back almost out of thefirelight, but eating heartily, prompt to spring forward when anythingwas wanted, even joining quietly in our laughter--the same bland, polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out. 

 CHAPTER XXXIV

 AND LAST

The next morning we fell early to work, for the transportation of thisgreat mass of gold near a mile by land to the beach, and thence threemiles by boat to the _Hispaniola_, was a considerable task for so small anumber of workmen. The three fellows still abroad upon the island did notgreatly trouble us; a single sentry on the shoulder of the hill wassufficient to insure us against any sudden onslaught, and we thought, besides, they had had more than enough of fighting. 

Therefore the work was pushed on briskly. Gray and Ben Gunn came and wentwith the boat, while the rest, during their absences, piled treasure onthe beach. Two of the bars, slung in a rope's-end, made a good load for agrown man--one that he was glad to walk slowly with. For my part, as Iwas 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 diversityof coinage, but so much larger and so much more varied that I think Inever had more pleasure than in sorting them. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas andmoidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for thelast hundred years, strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked likewisps 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 yourneck--nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think, havefound a place in that collection; and for number, I am sure they werelike autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping and my fingerswith sorting them out. 

Day after day this work went on; by every evening a fortune had beenstowed aboard, but there was another fortune waiting for the morrow; andall this time we heard nothing of the three surviving mutineers. 

At last--I think it was on the third night--the doctor and I werestrolling on the shoulder of the hill where it overlooks the lowlands ofthe isle, when, from out the thick darkness below, the wind brought us anoise between shrieking and singing. It was only a snatch that reachedour ears, followed by the former silence. 

"Heaven forgive them, " said the doctor; "'tis the mutineers!"

"All drunk, sir, " struck in the voice of Silver from behind us. 

Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty, and, in spite ofdaily rebuffs, seemed to regard himself once more as quite a privilegedand friendly dependant. Indeed, it was remarkable how well he bore theseslights, and with what unwearying politeness he kept on trying toingratiate himself with all. Yet, I think, none treated him better than adog; unless it was Ben Gunn, who was still terribly afraid of his oldquartermaster, or myself, who had really something to thank him for;although for that matter, I suppose, I had reason to think even worse ofhim than anybody else, for I had seen him meditating a fresh treacheryupon the plateau. Accordingly, it was pretty gruffly that the doctoranswered him. 

"Drunk or raving, " said he. 

"Right you were, sir, " replied Silver; "and precious little odds which, to you and me. "

"I suppose you would hardly ask me to call you a humane man, " returnedthe doctor, with a sneer, "and so my feelings may surprise you, MasterSilver. But if I were sure they were raving--as I am morally certainone, at least, of them is down with fever--I should leave this camp, and, at whatever risk to my own carcass, take them the assistance of myskill. "

"Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong, " quoth Silver. "You wouldlose 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, letalone yourself, seeing as I know what I owes you. But these men downthere, they couldn't keep their word--no, not supposing they wished to;and, what's more, they couldn't believe as you could. "

"No, " said the doctor. "You're the man to keep your word, we know that. "

Well, that was about the last news we had of the three pirates. Only oncewe heard a gunshot a great way off, and supposed them to be hunting. Acouncil was held, and it was decided that we must desert them on theisland--to the huge glee, I must say, of Ben Gunn, and with the strongapproval of Gray. We left a good stock of powder and shot, the bulk ofthe salt goat, a few medicines, and some other necessaries, tools, clothing, a spare sail, a fathom or two of rope, and, by the particulardesire of the doctor, a handsome present of tobacco. 

That was about our last doing on the island. Before that, we had got thetreasure stowed, and had shipped enough water and the remainder of thegoat meat, in case of any distress; and at last, one fine morning, weweighed anchor, which was about all that we could manage, and stood outof North Inlet, the same colours flying that the captain had flown andfought under at the palisade. 

The three fellows must have been watching us closer than we thought for, as we soon had proved. For, coming through the narrows, we had to lievery near the southern point, and there we saw all three of them kneelingtogether on a spit of sand, with their arms raised in supplication. Itwent 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 thegibbet 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 findthem. But they continued to call us by name, and appeal to us, for God'ssake, 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 swiftlydrawing out of earshot, one of them--I know not which it was--leapt tohis feet with a hoarse cry, whipped his musket to his shoulder, and senta shot whistling over Silver's head and through the main-sail. 

After that we kept under cover of the bulwarks, and when next I lookedout they had disappeared from the spit, and the spit itself had almostmelted out of sight in the growing distance. That was, at least, the endof that; and before noon, to my inexpressible joy, the highest rock ofTreasure Island had sunk into the blue round of sea. 

We were so short of men that every one on board had to bear a hand--onlythe 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 headfor the nearest port in Spanish America, for we could not risk the voyagehome without fresh hands; and as it was, what with baffling winds and acouple of fresh gales, we were all worn out before we reached it. 

It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a most beautifulland-locked gulf, and were immediately surrounded by shore-boats full ofnegroes, and Mexican Indians, and half-bloods, selling fruit andvegetables, and offering to dive for bits of money. The sight of so manygood-humoured faces (especially the blacks), the taste of the tropicalfruits, and, above all, the lights that began to shine in the town, madea 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 topass the early part of the night. Here they met the captain of an Englishman-of-war, fell in talk with him, went on board his ship, and, inshort, had so agreeable a time, that day was breaking when we camealongside the _Hispaniola_. 

Ben Gunn was on deck alone, and, as soon as we came on board, he began, with wonderful contortions, to make us a confession. Silver was gone. Themaroon had connived at his escape in a shore-boat some hours ago, and henow assured us he had only done so to preserve our lives, which wouldcertainly have been forfeit if "that man with the one leg had stayedaboard. " But this was not all. The sea-cook had not gone empty-handed. Hehad cut through a bulkhead unobserved, and had removed one of the sacksof coin, worth, perhaps, three or four hundred guineas, to help him onhis further wanderings. 

I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit of him. 

Well, to make a long story short, we got a few hands on board, made agood cruise home, and the _Hispaniola_ reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandly was beginning to think of fitting out her consort. Five men onlyof those who had sailed returned with her. "Drink and the devil had donefor the rest, " with a vengeance; although, to be sure, we were not quitein so bad a case as that other ship they sang about:

 "With one man of her crew alive, What put to sea with seventy-five. "

All of us had an ample share of the treasure, and used it wisely orfoolishly, according to our natures. Captain Smollett is now retired fromthe sea. Gray not only saved his money, but, being suddenly smit with thedesire to rise, also studied his profession; and he is now mate and partowner of a fine full-rigged ship; married besides, and the father of afamily. As for Ben Gunn, he got a thousand pounds, which he spent or lostin three weeks, or, to be more exact, in nineteen days, for he was backbegging on the twentieth. Then he was given a lodge to keep, exactly ashe had feared upon the island; and he still lives, a great favourite, though something of a butt, with the country boys, and a notable singerin church on Sundays and saints' days. 

Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable seafaring man with oneleg has at last gone clean out of my life; but I daresay he met his oldnegress, and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint. It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in anotherworld are very small. 

The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know, where Flintburied them; and certainly they shall lie there for me. Oxen andwain-ropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island; and theworst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about itscoasts, or start upright in bed, with the sharp voice of Captain Flintstill ringing in my ears: "Pieces of eight! pieces of eight!"

 WILL O' THE MILL

 WILL O' THE MILL

 THE PLAIN AND THE STARS

The Mill where Will lived with his adopted parents stood in a fallingvalley between pinewoods and great mountains. Above, hill after hillsoared upwards until they soared out of the depth of the hardiest timber, and stood naked against the sky. Some way up, a long grey village laylike a seam or a rag of vapour on a wooded hillside; and when the windwas favourable, the sound of the church bells would drop down, thin andsilvery, to Will. Below, the valley grew ever steeper and steeper, and atthe same time widened out on either hand; and from an eminence beside themill it was possible to see its whole length and away beyond it over awide plain, where the river turned and shone, and moved on from city tocity on its voyage towards the sea. It chanced that over this valleythere lay a pass into a neighbouring kingdom; so that, quiet and rural asit was, the road that ran along beside the river was a high thoroughfarebetween two splendid and powerful societies. All through the summer, travelling-carriages came crawling up, or went plunging briskly downwardspast the mill; and as it happened that the other side was very mucheasier of ascent, the path was not much frequented, except by peoplegoing in one direction; and of all the carriages that Will saw go by, five-sixths were plunging briskly downwards and only one-sixth crawlingup. Much more was this the case with foot-passengers. All thelight-footed tourists, all the pedlars laden with strange wares, weretending downward like the river that accompanied their path. Nor was thisall; for when Will was yet a child a disastrous war arose over a greatpart of the world. The newspapers were full of defeats and victories, theearth rang with cavalry hoofs, and often for days together and for milesaround the coil of battle terrified good people from their labours in thefield. Of all this, nothing was heard for a long time in the valley; butat last one of the commanders pushed an army over the pass by forcedmarches, and for three days horse and foot, cannon and tumbril, drum andstandard, kept pouring downward past the mill. All day the child stoodand watched them on their passage; the rhythmical stride, the pale, unshaven faces tanned about the eyes, the discoloured regimentals, andthe tattered flags, filled him with a sense of weariness, pity, andwonder; and all night long, after he was in bed, he could hear the cannonpounding and the feet trampling, and the great armament sweeping onwardand downward past the mill. No one in the valley ever heard the fate ofthe expedition, for they lay out of the way of gossip in those troubloustimes; but Will saw one thing plainly, that not a man returned. Whitherhad they all gone? Whither went all the tourists and pedlars with strangewares? whither all the brisk barouches with servants in the dicky?whither the water of the stream, ever coursing downward, and ever renewedfrom above? Even the wind blew oftener down the valley, and carried thedead leaves along with it in the fall. It seemed like a great conspiracyof things animate and inanimate; they all went downward, fleetly andgaily downward, and only he, it seemed, remained behind, like a stockupon the wayside. It sometimes made him glad when he noticed how thefishes kept their heads up stream. They, at least, stood faithfully byhim, while all else were posting downward to the unknown world. 

One evening he asked the miller where the river went. 

"It goes down the valley, " answered he, "and turns a power ofmills--sixscore mills, they say, from here to Unterdeck--and it none thewearier after all. And then it goes out into the lowlands, and watersthe great corn country, and runs through a sight of fine cities (so theysay) where kings live all alone in great palaces, with a sentry walkingup and down before the door. And it goes under bridges with stone menupon them, looking down and smiling so curious at the water, and livingfolks leaning their elbows on the wall and looking over too. And then itgoes on and on, and down through marshes and sands, until at last itfalls into the sea, where the ships are that bring parrots and tobaccofrom the Indies. Ay, it has a long trot before it as it goes singing overour weir, bless its heart!"

"And what is the sea?" asked Will. 

"The sea!" cried the miller. "Lord help us all, it is the greatest thingGod made! That is where all the water in the world runs down into a greatsalt lake. There it lies, as flat as my hand, and as innocent-like as achild; but they do say when the wind blows it gets up intowater-mountains bigger than any of ours, and swallows down great shipsbigger than our mill, and makes such a roaring that you can hear it milesaway upon the land. There are great fish in it five times bigger than abull, and one old serpent as long as our river and as old as all theworld, with whiskers like a man, and a crown of silver on her head. "

Will thought he had never heard anything like this, and he kept on askingquestion after question about the world that lay away down the river, with all its perils and marvels, until the old miller became quiteinterested himself, and at last took him by the hand and led him to thehill-top that overlooks the valley and the plain. The sun was nearsetting, and hung low down in a cloudless sky. Everything was defined andglorified in golden light. Will had never seen so great an expanse ofcountry in his life; he stood and gazed with all his eyes. He could seethe cities, and the woods and fields, and the bright curves of the river, and far away to where the rim of the plain trenched along the shiningheavens. An overmastering emotion seized upon the boy, soul and body; hisheart beat so thickly that he could not breathe; the scene swam beforehis eyes; the sun seemed to wheel round and round, and throw off, as itturned, strange shapes which disappeared with the rapidity of thought, and were succeeded by others. Will covered his face with his hands, andburst into a violent fit of tears; and the poor miller, sadlydisappointed and perplexed, saw nothing better for it than to take him upin his arms and carry him home in silence. 

From that day forward Will was full of new hopes and longings. Somethingkept tugging at his heart-strings; the running water carried his desiresalong with it as he dreamed over its fleeting surface; the wind, as itran over innumerable tree-tops, hailed him with encouraging words;branches beckoned downward; the open road, as it shouldered round theangles and went turning and vanishing fast and faster down the valley, tortured him with its solicitations. He spent long whiles on theeminence, looking down the rivershed and abroad on the fat lowlands, andwatched the clouds that travelled forth upon the sluggish wind andtrailed their purple shadows on the plain; or he would linger by thewayside, and follow the carriages with his eyes as they rattled downwardby the river. It did not matter what it was; everything that went thatway, were it cloud or carriage, bird or brown water in the stream, hefelt his heart flow out after it in an ecstasy of longing. 

We are told by men of science that all the ventures of mariners on thesea, all that counter-marching of tribes and races that confounds oldhistory with its dust and rumour, sprang from nothing more abstruse thanthe laws of supply and demand, and a certain natural instinct for cheaprations. To any one thinking deeply, this will seem a dull and pitifulexplanation. The tribes that came swarming out of the North and East, ifthey were indeed pressed onward from behind by others, were drawn at thesame time by the magnetic influence of the South and West. The fame ofother lands had reached them; the name of the eternal city rang in theirears; they were not colonists, but pilgrims; they travelled towards wineand gold and sunshine, but their hearts were set on something higher. That divine unrest, that old stinging trouble of humanity that makes allhigh achievements and all miserable failure, the same that spread wingswith Icarus, the same that sent Columbus into the desolate Atlantic, inspired and supported these barbarians on their perilous march. There isone legend which profoundly represents their spirit, of how a flyingparty of these wanderers encountered a very old man shod with iron. Theold man asked them whither they were going; and they answered with onevoice: "To the Eternal City!" He looked upon them gravely. "I have soughtit, " he said, "over the most part of the world. Three such pairs as I nowcarry on my feet have I worn out upon this pilgrimage, and now the fourthis growing slender underneath my steps. And all this while I have notfound the city. " And he turned and went his own way alone, leaving themastonished. 

And yet this would scarcely parallel the intensity of Will's feeling forthe plain. If he could only go far enough out there, he felt as if hiseyesight would be purged and clarified, as if his hearing would grow moredelicate, and his very breath would come and go with luxury. He wastransplanted and withering where he was; he lay in a strange country andwas sick for home. Bit by bit, he pieced together broken notions of theworld below: of the river, ever moving and growing until it sailed forthinto the majestic ocean; of the cities, full of brisk and beautifulpeople, playing fountains, bands of music and marble palaces, and lightedup at night from end to end with artificial stars of gold; of the greatchurches, wise universities, brave armies, and untold money lying storedin vaults; of the high-flying vice that moved in the sunshine, and thestealth and swiftness of midnight murder. I have said he was sick as iffor home: the figure halts. He was like some one lying in twilit, formless pre-existence, and stretching out his hands lovingly towardsmany-coloured, many-sounding life. It was no wonder he was unhappy, hewould go and tell the fish: they were made for their life, wished for nomore than worms and running water, and a hole below a falling bank; buthe was differently designed, full of desires and aspirations, itching atthe fingers, lusting with the eyes, whom the whole variegated world couldnot satisfy with aspects. The true life, the true bright sunshine, layfar out upon the plain. And, O! to see this sunlight once before he died!to move with a jocund spirit in a golden land! to hear the trainedsingers and sweet church bells, and see the holiday gardens! "And, Ofish!" he would cry, "if you would only turn your noses down stream, youcould swim so easily into the fabled waters and see the vast shipspassing over your head like clouds, and hear the great water-hills makingmusic over you all day long!" But the fish kept looking patiently intheir own direction, until Will hardly knew whether to laugh or cry. 

Hitherto the traffic on the road had passed by Will, like something seenin a picture: he had perhaps exchanged salutations with a tourist, orcaught sight of an old gentleman in a travelling cap at a carriagewindow; but for the most part it had been a mere symbol, which hecontemplated from apart and with something of a superstitious feeling. Atime came at last when this was to be changed. The miller, who was agreedy man in his way, and never forewent an opportunity of honestprofit, turned the mill-house into a little wayside inn, and, severalpieces of good fortune falling in opportunely, built stables and got theposition of post-master on the road. It now became Will's duty to waitupon people, as they sat to break their fasts in the little arbour at thetop of the mill garden; and you may be sure that he kept his ears open, and learned many new things about the outside world as he brought theomelette or the wine. Nay, he would often get into conversation withsingle guests, and by adroit questions and polite attention, not onlygratify his own curiosity, but win the goodwill of the travellers. Manycomplimented the old couple on their serving-boy; and a professor waseager to take him away with him, and have him properly educated in theplain. The miller and his wife were mightily astonished, and even morepleased. They thought it a very good thing that they should have openedtheir inn. "You see, " the old man would remark, "he has a kind of talentfor a publican; he never would have made anything else!" And so lifewagged on in the valley, with high satisfaction to all concerned butWill. Every carriage that left the inn-door seemed to take a part of himaway with it; and when people jestingly offered him a lift, he could withdifficulty command his emotion. Night after night he would dream that hewas awakened by flustered servants, and that a splendid equipage waitedat the door to carry him down into the plain; night after night; untilthe dream, which had seemed all jollity to him at first, began to take ona colour of gravity, and the nocturnal summons and waiting equipageoccupied a place in his mind as something to be both feared and hopedfor. 

One day, when Will was about sixteen, a fat young man arrived at sunsetto pass the night. He was a contented-looking fellow, with a jolly eye, and carried a knapsack. While dinner was preparing, he sat in the arbourto read a book; but as soon as he had begun to observe Will, the book waslaid aside; he was plainly one of those who prefer living people topeople made of ink and paper. Will, on his part, although he had not beenmuch interested in the stranger at first sight, soon began to take agreat deal of pleasure in his talk, which was full of good nature andgood sense, and at last conceived a great respect for his character andwisdom. They sat far into the night; and about two in the morning Willopened his heart to the young man, and told him how he longed to leavethe valley, and what bright hopes he had connected with the cities of theplain. The young man whistled, and then broke into a smile. 

"My young friend, " he remarked, "you are a very curious little fellow, tobe sure, and wish a great many things which you will never get. Why, youwould feel quite ashamed if you knew how the little fellows in thesefairy cities of yours are all after the same sort of nonsense, and keepbreaking their hearts to get up into the mountains. And let me tell you, those who go down into the plains are a very short while there beforethey wish themselves heartily back again. The air is not so light nor sopure; nor is the sun any brighter. As for the beautiful men and women, you would see many of them in rags, and many of them deformed withhorrible disorders, and a city is so hard a place for people who are poorand sensitive that many choose to die by their own hand. "

"You must think me very simple, " answered Will. "Although I have neverbeen out of this valley, believe me, I have used my eyes. I know how onething lives on another; for instance, how the fish hangs in the eddy tocatch his fellows; and the shepherd, who makes so pretty a picturecarrying home the lamb, is only carrying it home for dinner. I do notexpect to find all things right in your cities. That is not what troublesme; it might have been that once upon a time; but although I live herealways, I have asked many questions and learned a great deal in theselast years, and certainly enough to cure me of my old fancies. But youwould not have me die like a dog and not see all that is to be seen, anddo all that a man can do, let it be good or evil? you would not have mespend all my days between this road here and the river, and not so muchas make a motion to be up and live my life?--I would rather die out ofhand, " he cried, "than linger on as I am doing. "

"Thousands of people, " said the young man, "live and die like you, andare none the less happy. "

"Ah!" said Will, "if there are thousands who would like, why should notone of them have my place?"

It was quite dark; there was a hanging lamp in the arbour which lit upthe table and the faces of the speakers; and along the arch, the leavesupon the trellis stood out illuminated against the night sky, a patternof transparent green upon a dusky purple. The fat young man rose, and, taking Will by the arm, led him out under the open heavens. "Did you everlook at the stars?" he asked, pointing upwards. 

"Often and often, " answered Will. 

"And do you know what they are?"

"I have fancied many things. "

"They are worlds like ours, " said the young man. 

"Some of them less; many of them a million times greater; and some of theleast sparkles that you see are not only worlds but whole clusters ofworlds turning about each other in the midst of space. We do not knowwhat there may be in any of them; perhaps the answer to all ourdifficulties or the cure of all our sufferings: and yet we can neverreach them; not all the skill of the craftiest of men can fit out a shipfor the nearest of these our neighbours, nor would the life of the mostaged suffice for such a journey. When a great battle has been lost or adear friend is dead, when we are hipped or in high spirits, there theyare, unweariedly shining overhead. We may stand down here, a whole armyof us together, and shout until we break our hearts, and not a whisperreaches them. We may climb the highest mountain, and we are no nearerthem. All we can do is to stand down here in the garden and take off ourhats; the starshine lights upon our heads, and where mine is a littlebald, I daresay you can see it glisten in the darkness. The mountain andthe mouse. That is like to be all we shall ever have to do with Arcturusor Aldebaran. Can you apply a parable?" he added, laying his hand uponWill's shoulder. 

"It is not the same thing as a reason, but usually vastly moreconvincing. "

Will hung his head a little, and then raised it once more to heaven. Thestars seemed to expand and emit a sharper brilliancy; and as he keptturning his eyes higher and higher, they seemed to increase in multitudeunder his gaze. 

"I see, " he said, turning to the young man. "We are in a rat-trap. "

"Something of that size. Did you ever see a squirrel turning in a cage?and another squirrel sitting philosophically over his nuts? I needn't askyou which of them looked more of a fool. "

 THE PARSON'S MARJORY

After some years the old people died, both in one winter, very carefullytended by their adopted son, and very quietly mourned when they weregone. People who had heard of his roving fancies supposed he would hastento sell the property, and go down the river to push his fortunes. Butthere was never any sign of such an intention on the part of Will. On thecontrary, he had the inn set on a better footing, and hired a couple ofservants to assist him in carrying it on; and there he settled down, akind, talkative, inscrutable young man, six feet three in his stockings, with an iron constitution and a friendly voice. He soon began to takerank in the district as a bit of an oddity: it was not much to bewondered at from the first, for he was always full of notions, and keptcalling the plainest commonsense in question; but what most raised thereport upon him was the odd circumstance of his courtship with theparson's Marjory. 

The parson's Marjory was a lass about nineteen, when Will would be aboutthirty; well enough looking, and much better educated than any other girlin that part of the country, as became her parentage. She held her headvery high, and had already refused several offers of marriage with agrand air, which had got her hard names among the neighbours. For allthat she was a good girl, and one that would have made any man wellcontented. 

Will had never seen much of her; for although the church and parsonagewere only two miles from his own door, he was never known to go there buton Sundays. It chanced, however, that the parsonage fell into disrepair, and had to be dismantled; and the parson and his daughter took lodgingsfor a month or so, on very much reduced terms, at Will's inn. Now, whatwith the inn, and the mill, and the old miller's savings, our friend wasa man of substance; and besides that he had a name for good temper andshrewdness, which make a capital portion in marriage; and so it wascurrently gossiped, among their ill-wishers, that the parson and hisdaughter had not chosen their temporary lodging with their eyes shut. Will was about the last man in the world to be cajoled or frightened intomarriage. You had only to look into his eyes, limpid and still like poolsof water, and yet with a sort of clear light that seemed to come fromwithin, and you would understand at once that here was one who knew hisown mind, and would stand to it immovably. Marjory herself was noweakling by her looks, with strong, steady eyes and a resolute and quietbearing. It might be a question whether she was not Will's match insteadfastness, after all, or which of them would rule the roast inmarriage. But Marjory had never given it a thought, and accompanied herfather with the most unshaken innocence and unconcern. 

The season was still so early that Will's customers were few and farbetween; but the lilacs were already flowering, and the weather was somild that the party took dinner under the trellis, with the noise of theriver in their ears and the woods ringing about them with the songs ofbirds. Will soon began to take a particular pleasure in these dinners. The parson was rather a dull companion, with a habit of dozing at table;but nothing rude or cruel ever fell from his lips. And as for theparson's daughter, she suited her surroundings with the best graceimaginable; and whatever she said seemed so pat and pretty that Willconceived a great idea of her talents. He could see her face, as sheleaned forward, against a background of rising pine-woods; her eyes shonepeaceably; the light lay around her hair like a kerchief; something thatwas hardly a smile rippled her pale cheeks, and Will could not containhimself from gazing on her in an agreeable dismay. She looked, even inher quietest moments, so complete in herself, and so quick with life downto her finger-tips and the very skirts of her dress, that the remainderof created things became no more than a blot by comparison; and if Willglanced away from her to her surroundings, the trees looked inanimate andsenseless, the clouds hung in heaven like dead things, and even themountain tops were disenchanted. The whole valley could not compare inlooks with this one girl. 

Will was always observant in the society of his fellow-creatures; but hisobservation became almost painfully eager in the case of Marjory. Helistened to all she uttered, and read her eyes, at the same time, for theunspoken commentary. Many kind, simple, and sincere speeches found anecho in his heart. He became conscious of a soul beautifully poised uponitself, nothing doubting, nothing desiring, clothed in peace. It was notpossible to separate her thoughts from her appearance. The turn of herwrist, the still sound of her voice, the light in her eyes, the lines ofher body, fell in tune with her grave and gentle words, like theaccompaniment that sustains and harmonises the voice of the singer. Herinfluence was one thing, not to be divided or discussed, only to be feltwith gratitude and joy. To Will, her presence recalled something of hischildhood, and the thought of her took its place in his mind beside thatof dawn, of running water, and of the earliest violets and lilacs. It isthe property of things seen for the first time, or for the first timeafter long, like the flowers in spring, to reawaken in us the sharp edgeof sense and that impression of mystic strangeness which otherwise passesout of life with the coming of years; but the sight of a loved face iswhat renews a man's character from the fountain upwards. 

One day after dinner Will took a stroll among the firs; a grave beatitudepossessed him from top to toe, and he kept smiling to himself and thelandscape as he went. The river ran between the stepping-stones with apretty wimple; a bird sang loudly in the wood; the hill-tops lookedimmeasurably high, and, as he glanced at them from time to time, seemedto contemplate his movements with a beneficent but awful curiosity. Hisway took him to the eminence which overlooked the plain; and there he satdown upon a stone, and fell into deep and pleasant thought. The plain layabroad with its cities and silver river; everything was asleep, except agreat eddy of birds which kept rising and falling and going round andround in the blue air. He repeated Marjory's name aloud, and the sound ofit gratified his ear. He shut his eyes, and her image sprang up beforehim, quietly luminous and attended with good thoughts. The river mightrun for ever; the birds fly higher and higher till they touched thestars. He saw it was empty bustle after all; for here, without stirring afoot, waiting patiently in his own narrow valley, he also had attainedthe better sunlight. 

The next day Will made a sort of declaration across the dinner-table, while the parson was filling his pipe. 

"Miss Marjory, " he said, "I never knew any one I liked so well as you. Iam mostly a cold, unkindly sort of man; not from want of heart, but outof strangeness in my way of thinking; and people seem far away from me. 'Tis as if there were a circle round me, which kept every one out butyou; I can hear the others talking and laughing; but you come quiteclose. --Maybe this is disagreeable to you?" he asked. 

Marjory made no answer. 

"Speak up, girl, " said the parson. 

"Nay, now, " returned Will, "I wouldn't press her, parson. I feeltongue-tied myself, who am not used to it; and she's a woman, and littlemore than a child, when all is said. But for my part, as far as I canunderstand what people mean by it, I fancy I must be what they call inlove. I do not wish to be held as committing myself; for I may be wrong;but that is how I believe things are with me. And if Miss Marjory shouldfeel any otherwise on her part, mayhap she would be so kind as shake herhead. "

Marjory was silent, and gave no sign that she had heard. 

"How is that, parson?" asked Will. 

"The girl must speak, " replied the parson, laying down his pipe. --"Here'sour neighbour, who says he loves you, Madge. Do you love him, ay or no?"

"I think I do, " said Marjory faintly. 

"Well then, that's all that could be wished!" cried Will heartily. And hetook her hand across the table and held it a moment in both of his withgreat satisfaction. 

"You must marry, " observed the parson, replacing his pipe in his mouth. 

"Is that the right thing to do, think you?" demanded Will. 

"It is indispensable, " said the parson. 

"Very well, " replied the wooer. 

Two or three days passed away with great delight to Will, although abystander might scarce have found it out. He continued to take his mealsopposite Marjory, and to talk with her and gaze upon her in her father'spresence; but he made no attempt to see her alone, nor in any other waychanged his conduct towards her from what it had been since thebeginning. Perhaps the girl was a little disappointed, and perhaps notunjustly; and yet if it had been enough to be always in the thoughts ofanother person, and so pervade and alter his whole life, she might havebeen thoroughly contented. For she was never out of Will's mind for aninstant. He sat over the stream, and watched the dust of the eddy, andthe poised fish, and straining weeds; he wandered out alone into thepurple even, with all the blackbirds piping round him in the wood; herose early in the morning, and saw the sky turn from grey to gold, andthe light leap upon the hill-tops; and all the while he kept wondering ifhe had never seen such things before, or how it was that they should lookso different now. The sound of his own mill-wheel, or of the wind amongthe trees, confounded and charmed his heart. The most enchantingthoughts presented themselves unbidden in his mind. He was so happy thathe could not sleep at night, and so restless that he could hardly sitstill out of her company. And yet it seemed as if he avoided her ratherthan sought her out. 

One day, as he was coming home from a ramble, Will found Marjory in thegarden picking flowers, and, as he came up with her, slackened his paceand continued walking by her side. 

"You like flowers?" he said. 

"Indeed I love them dearly, " she replied. "Do you?"

"Why, no, " said he, "not so much. They are a very small affair when allis done. I can fancy people caring for them greatly, but not doing as youare just now. "

"How?" she asked, pausing and looking up at him. 

"Plucking them, " said he. "They are a deal better off where they are, andlook a deal prettier, if you go to that. "

"I wish to have them for my own, " she answered, "to carry them near myheart, and keep them in my room. They tempt me when they grow here; theyseem to say, 'Come and do something with us'; but once I have cut themand put them by, the charm is laid, and I can look at them with quite aneasy heart. "

"You wish to possess them, " replied Will, "in order to think no moreabout them. It's a bit like killing the goose with the golden eggs. It'sa bit like what I wished to do when I was a boy. Because I had a fancyfor looking out over the plain, I wished to go down there--where Icouldn't look out over it any longer. Was not that fine reasoning? Dear, dear, if they only thought of it, all the world would do like me; and youwould let your flowers alone, just as I stay up here in the mountains. "Suddenly he broke off sharp. "By the Lord!" he cried. And when she askedhim what was wrong, he turned the question off, and walked away into thehouse with rather a humorous expression of face. 

He was silent at table; and after the night had fallen and the stars hadcome out overhead, he walked up and down for hours in the courtyard andgarden with an uneven pace. There was still a light in the window ofMarjory's room: one little oblong patch of orange in a world of dark bluehills and silver starlight. Will's mind ran a great deal on the window;but his thoughts were not very lover-like. 

"There she is in her room, " he thought, "and there are the starsoverhead:--a blessing upon both!" Both were good influences in his life;both soothed and braced him in his profound contentment with the world. And what more should he desire with either? The fat young man and hiscounsels were so present to his mind that he threw back his head and, putting his hands before his mouth, shouted aloud to the populousheavens. Whether from the position of his head or the sudden strain ofthe exertion, he seemed to see a momentary shock among the stars, and adiffusion of frosty light pass from one to another along the sky. At thesame instant, a corner of the blind was lifted and lowered again at once. He laughed a loud ho-ho! "One and another!" thought Will. "The starstremble, and the blind goes up. Why, before Heaven, what a great magicianI must be! Now if I were only a fool, should not I be in a pretty way?"And he went off to bed, chuckling to himself: "If I were only a fool!"

The next morning, pretty early, he saw her once more in the garden, andsought her out. 

"I have been thinking about getting married, " he began abruptly; "andafter having turned it all over, I have made up my mind it's not worthwhile. "

She turned upon him for a single moment; but his radiant, kindlyappearance would, under the circumstances, have disconcerted an angel, and she looked down again upon the ground in silence. He could see hertremble. 

"I hope you don't mind, " he went on, a little taken aback. "You oughtnot. I have turned it all over, and upon my soul there's nothing in it. We should never be one whit nearer than we are just now, and, if I am awise man, nothing like so happy. "

"It is unnecessary to go round about with me, " she said. "I very wellremember that you refused to commit yourself; and now that I see you weremistaken, and in reality have never cared for me, I can only feel sadthat I have been so far misled. "

"I ask your pardon, " said Will stoutly; "you do not understand mymeaning. As to whether I have ever loved you or not, I must leave that toothers. But for one thing, my feeling is not changed; and for another, you may make it your boast that you have made my whole life and charactersomething different from what they were. I mean what I say; no less. I donot think getting married is worth while. I would rather you went onliving with your father, so that I could walk over and see you once, ormaybe twice a week, as people go to church, and then we should both beall the happier between whiles. That's my notion. But I'll marry you ifyou will, " he added. 

"Do you know that you are insulting me?" she broke out. 

"Not I, Marjory, " said he; "if there is anything in a clear conscience, not I. I offer all my heart's best affection; you can take it or want it, though I suspect it's beyond either your power or mine to change what hasonce been done, and set me fancy-free. I'll marry you, if you like; but Itell you again and again, it's not worth while, and we had best stayfriends. Though I am a quiet man, I have noticed a heap of things in mylife. Trust in me, and take things as I propose; or, if you don't likethat, say the word, and I'll marry you out of hand. "

There was a considerable pause, and Will, who began to feel uneasy, beganto grow angry in consequence. 

"It seems you are too proud to say your mind, " he said. "Believe methat's a pity. A clean shrift makes simple living. Can a man be moredownright or honourable to a woman than I have been? I have said my say, and given you your choice. Do you want me to marry you? or will you takemy friendship, as I think best? or have you had enough of me for good?Speak out for the dear God's sake! You know your father told you a girlshould speak her mind in these affairs. "

She seemed to recover herself at that, turned without a word, walkedrapidly through the garden, and disappeared into the house, leaving Willin some confusion as to the result. He walked up and down the garden, whistling softly to himself. Sometimes he stopped and contemplated thesky and hill-tops; sometimes he went down to the tail of the weir and satthere, looking foolishly in the water. All this dubiety and perturbationwas so foreign to his nature and the life which he had resolutely chosenfor himself, that he began to regret Marjory's arrival. "After all, " hethought, "I was as happy as a man need be. I could come down here andwatch my fishes all day long if I wanted: I was as settled and contentedas my old mill. "

Marjory came down to dinner, looking very trim and quiet; and no soonerwere all three at table than she made her father a speech, with her eyesfixed upon her plate, but showing no other sign of embarrassment ordistress. 

"Father, " she began, "Mr. Will and I have been talking things over. Wesee that we have each made a mistake about our feelings, and he hasagreed, at my request, to give up all idea of marriage, and be no morethan my very good friend, as in the past. You see, there is no shadow ofa quarrel, and indeed I hope we shall see a great deal of him in thefuture, for his visits will always be welcome in our house. Of course, father, you will know best, but perhaps we should do better to leave Mr. Will's house for the present. I believe, after what has passed, we shouldhardly be agreeable inmates for some days. "

Will, who had commanded himself with difficulty from the first, broke outupon this into an inarticulate noise, and raised one hand with anappearance of real dismay, as if he were about to interfere andcontradict. But she checked him at once, looking up at him with a swiftglance and an angry flush upon her cheek. 

"You will perhaps have the good grace, " she said, "to let me explainthese matters for myself. "

Will was put entirely out of countenance by her expression and the ringof her voice. He held his peace, concluding that there were some thingsabout this girl beyond his comprehension--in which he was exactly right. 

The poor parson was quite crestfallen. He tried to prove that this was nomore than a true lovers' tiff, which would pass off before night; andwhen he was dislodged from that position, he went on to argue that wherethere was no quarrel there could be no call for a separation; for thegood man liked both his entertainment and his host. It was curious to seehow the girl managed them, saying little all the time, and that veryquietly, and yet twisting them round her finger and insensibly leadingthem wherever she would by feminine tact and generalship. It scarcelyseemed to have been her doing--it seemed as if things had merely sofallen out--that she and her father took their departure that sameafternoon in a farm-cart, and went farther down the valley, to wait, until their own house was ready for them, in another hamlet. But Will hadbeen observing closely, and was well aware of her dexterity andresolution. When he found himself alone he had a great many curiousmatters to turn over in his mind. He was very sad and solitary, to beginwith. All the interest had gone out of his life, and he might look up atthe stars as long as he pleased, he somehow failed to find support orconsolation. And then he was in such a turmoil of spirit about Marjory. He had been puzzled and irritated at her behaviour, and yet he could notkeep himself from admiring it. He thought he recognised a fine, perverseangel in that still soul which he had never hitherto suspected; andthough he saw it was an influence that would fit but ill with his ownlife of artificial calm, he could not keep himself from ardently desiringto possess it. Like a man who has lived among shadows and now meets thesun, he was both pained and delighted. 

As the days went forward he passed from one extreme to another; nowpluming himself on the strength of his determination, now despising histimid and silly caution. The former was, perhaps, the true thought of hisheart, and represented the regular tenor of the man's reflections; butthe latter burst forth from time to time with an unruly violence, andthen he would forget all consideration, and go up and down his house andgarden or walk among the fir-woods like one who is beside himself withremorse. To equable, steady-minded Will, this state of matters wasintolerable; and he determined, at whatever cost, to bring it to an end. So, one warm summer afternoon, he put on his best clothes, took a thornswitch in his hand, and set out down the valley by the river. As soon ashe had taken his determination, he had regained at a bound his customarypeace of heart, and he enjoyed the bright weather and the variety of thescene without any admixture of alarm or unpleasant eagerness. It wasnearly the same to him how the matter turned out. If she accepted him hewould have to marry her this time, which perhaps was all for the best. Ifshe refused him, he would have done his utmost, and might follow his ownway in the future with an untroubled conscience. He hoped, on the whole, she would refuse him; and then, again, as he saw the brown roof whichsheltered her, peeping through some willows at an angle of the stream, hewas half inclined to reverse the wish, and more than half-ashamed ofhimself for this infirmity of purpose. 

Marjory seemed glad to see him, and gave him her hand without affectationor delay. 

"I have been thinking about this marriage, " he began. 

"So have I, " she answered. "And I respect you more and more for a verywise man. You understood me better than I understood myself; and I am nowquite certain that things are all for the best as they are. "

"At the same time----" ventured Will. 

"You must be tired, " she interrupted. "Take a seat and let me fetch you aglass of wine. The afternoon is so warm; and I wish you not to bedispleased with your visit. You must come quite often; once a week, ifyou can spare the time; I am always so glad to see my friends. "

"Oh, very well, " thought Will to himself. "It appears I was right afterall. " And he paid a very agreeable visit, walked home again in capitalspirits, and gave himself no further concern about the matter. 

For nearly three years Will and Marjory continued on these terms, seeingeach other once or twice a week without any word of love between them;and for all that time I believe Will was nearly as happy as a man can be. He rather stinted himself the pleasure of seeing her; and he would oftenwalk half-way over to the parsonage, and then back again, as if to whethis appetite. Indeed, there was one corner of the road, whence he couldsee the church-spire wedged into a crevice of the valley between slopingfir-woods, with a triangular snatch of plain by way of background, whichhe greatly affected as a place to sit and moralise in before returninghomewards; and the peasants got so much into the habit of finding himthere in the twilight that they gave it the name of "Will o' the Mill'sCorner. "

At the end of the three years Marjory played him a sad trick by suddenlymarrying somebody else. Will kept his countenance bravely, and merelyremarked that, for as little as he knew of women, he had acted veryprudently in not marrying her himself three years before. She plainlyknew very little of her own mind, and, in spite of a deceptive manner, was as fickle and flighty as the rest of them. He had to congratulatehimself on an escape, he said, and would take a higher opinion of his ownwisdom in consequence. But at heart he was reasonably displeased, moped agood deal for a month or two, and fell away in flesh, to the astonishmentof his serving-lads. 

It was perhaps a year after this marriage that Will was awakened lateone night by the sound of a horse galloping on the road, followed byprecipitate knocking at the inn-door. He opened his window and saw afarm-servant, mounted and holding a led horse by the bridle, who told himto make what haste he could and go along with him; for Marjory was dying, and had sent urgently to fetch him to her bedside. Will was no horseman, and made so little speed upon the way that the poor young wife was verynear her end before he arrived. But they had some minutes' talk inprivate, and he was present and wept very bitterly while she breathed herlast. 

 DEATH

Year after year went away into nothing, with great explosions andoutcries in the cities on the plain: red revolt springing up and beingsuppressed in blood, battle swaying hither and thither, patientastronomers in observatory towers picking out and christening new stars, plays being performed in lighted theatres, people being carried intohospital on stretchers, and all the usual turmoil and agitation of men'slives in crowded centres. Up in Will's valley only the winds and seasonsmade an epoch; the fish hung in the swift stream, the birds circledoverhead, the pine-tops rustled underneath the stars, the tall hillsstood over all; and Will went to and fro, minding his wayside inn, untilthe snow began to thicken on his head. His heart was young and vigorous;and if his pulses kept a sober time, they still beat strong and steady inhis wrists. He carried a ruddy stain on either cheek, like a ripe apple;he stooped a little, but his step was still firm; and his sinewy handswere reached out to all men with a friendly pressure. His face wascovered with those wrinkles which are got in open air, and which, rightlylooked at, are no more than a sort of permanent sunburning; such wrinklesheighten the stupidity of stupid faces; but to a person like Will, withhis clear eyes and smiling mouth, only give another charm by testifyingto a simple and easy life. His talk was full of wise sayings. He had ataste for other people; and other people had a taste for him. When thevalley was full of tourists in the season, there were merry nights inWill's arbour; and his views, which seemed whimsical to his neighbours, were often enough admired by learned people out of towns and colleges. Indeed, he had a very noble old age, and grew daily better known; so thathis fame was heard of in the cities of the plain; and young men who hadbeen summer travellers spoke together in cafés of Will o' the Mill andhis rough philosophy. Many and many an invitation, you may be sure, hehad; but nothing could tempt him from his upland valley. He would shakehis head and smile over his tobacco-pipe with a deal of meaning. "Youcome too late, " he would answer. "I am a dead man now: I have lived anddied already. Fifty years ago you would have brought my heart into mymouth; and now you do not even tempt me. But that is the object of longliving, that man should cease to care about life. " And again: "There isonly one difference between a long life and a good dinner: that, in thedinner, the sweets come last. " Or once more: "When I was a boy I was abit puzzled, and hardly knew whether it was myself or the world that wascurious and worth looking into. Now, I know it is myself, and stick tothat. "

He never showed any symptom of frailty, but kept stalwart and firm to thelast; but they say he grew less talkative towards the end, and wouldlisten to other people by the hour in an amused and sympathetic silence. Only, when he did speak, it was more to the point and more charged withold experience. He drank a bottle of wine gladly; above all, at sunset onthe hill-top or quite late at night under the stars in the arbour. Thesight of something attractive and unattainable seasoned his enjoyment, hewould say; and he professed he had lived long enough to admire a candleall the more when he could compare it with a planet. 

One night, in his seventy-second year, he awoke in bed in such uneasinessof body and mind that he arose and dressed himself and went out tomeditate in the arbour. It was pitch dark, without a star; the river wasswollen, and the wet woods and meadows loaded the air with perfume. Ithad thundered during the day, and it promised more thunder for themorrow. A murky, stifling night for a man of seventy-two! Whether it wasthe weather or the wakefulness, or some little touch of fever in his oldlimbs, Will's mind was besieged by tumultuous and crying memories. Hisboyhood, the night with the fat young man, the death of his adoptedparents, the summer days with Marjory, and many of those smallcircumstances, which seem nothing to another, and are yet the very gistof a man's own life to himself--things seen, words heard, looksmisconstrued--arose from their forgotten corners and usurped hisattention. The dead themselves were with him, not merely taking part inthis thin show of memory that defiled before his brain, but revisitinghis bodily senses as they do in profound and vivid dreams. The fat youngman leaned his elbows on the table opposite; Marjory came and went withan apronful of flowers between the garden and the arbour; he could hearthe old parson knocking out his pipe or blowing his resonant nose. Thetide of his consciousness ebbed and flowed: he was sometimes half-asleepand drowned in his recollections of the past: and sometimes he was broadawake, wondering at himself. But about the middle of the night he wasstartled by the voice of the dead miller calling to him out of the houseas he used to do on the arrival of custom. The hallucination was soperfect that Will sprang from his seat and stood listening for thesummons to be repeated; and as he listened he became conscious of anothernoise besides the brawling of the river and the ringing in his feverishears. It was like the stir of horses and the creaking of harness, asthough a carriage with an impatient team had been brought up upon theroad before the courtyard gate. At such an hour, upon this rough anddangerous pass, the supposition was no better than absurd; and Willdismissed it from his mind, and resumed his seat upon the arbour chair;and sleep closed over him again like running water. He was once againawakened by the dead miller's call, thinner and more spectral thanbefore; and once again he heard the noise of an equipage upon the road. And so thrice and four times, the same dream, or the same fancy, presented itself to his senses: until at length, smiling to himself aswhen one humours a nervous child, he proceeded towards the gate to sethis uncertainty at rest. 

From the arbour to the gate was no great distance, and yet it took Willsome time; it seemed as if the dead thickened around him in the court, and crossed his path at every step. For, first, he was suddenly surprisedby an overpowering sweetness of heliotropes; it was as if his garden hadbeen planted with this flower from end to end, and the hot, damp nighthad drawn forth all their perfumes in a breath. Now the heliotrope hadbeen Marjory's favourite flower, and since her death not one of them hadever been planted in Will's ground. 

"I must be going crazy, " he thought. "Poor Marjory and her heliotropes!"

And with that he raised his eyes towards the window that had once beenhers. If he had been bewildered before, he was now almost terrified; forthere was a light in the room; the window was an orange oblong as ofyore; and the corner of the blind was lifted and let fall as on the nightwhen he stood and shouted to the stars in his perplexity. The illusiononly endured an instant; but it left him somewhat unmanned, rubbing hiseyes and staring at the outline of the house and the black night behindit. While he thus stood, and it seemed as if he must have stood therequite a long time, there came a renewal of the noises on the road: and heturned in time to meet a stranger, who was advancing to meet him acrossthe court. There was something like the outline of a great carriagediscernible on the road behind the stranger, and, above that, a few blackpine-tops, like so many plumes. 

"Master Will?" asked the new-comer, in brief military fashion. 

"That same, sir, " answered Will. "Can I do anything to serve you?"

"I have heard you much spoken of, Master Will, " returned the other; "muchspoken of, and well. And though I have both hands full of business, Iwish to drink a bottle of wine with you in your arbour. Before I go, Ishall introduce myself. "

Will led the way to the trellis, and got a lamp lighted and a bottleuncorked. He was not altogether unused to such complimentary interviews, and hoped little enough from this one, being schooled by manydisappointments. A sort of cloud had settled on his wits and preventedhim from remembering the strangeness of the hour. He moved like a personin his sleep; and it seemed as if the lamp caught fire and the bottlecame uncorked with the facility of thought. Still, he had some curiosityabout the appearance of his visitor, and tried in vain to turn the lightinto his face; either he handled the lamp clumsily, or there was adimness over his eyes; but he could make out little more than a shadow attable with him. He stared and stared at this shadow, as he wiped out theglasses, and began to feel cold and strange about the heart. The silenceweighed upon him, for he could hear nothing now, not even the river, butthe drumming of his own arteries in his ears. 

"Here's to you, " said the stranger roughly. 

"Here is my service, sir, " replied Will, sipping his wine, which somehowtasted oddly. 

"I understand you are a very positive fellow, " pursued the stranger. 

Will made answer with a smile of some satisfaction and a little nod. 

"So am I, " continued the other; "and it is the delight of my heart totramp on people's corns. I will have nobody positive but myself; not one. I have crossed the whims, in my time, of kings and generals and greatartists. And what would you say, " he went on, "if I had come up here onpurpose to cross yours?"

Will had it on his tongue to make a sharp rejoinder; but the politenessof an old innkeeper prevailed; and he held his peace and made answer witha civil gesture of the hand. 

"I have, " said the stranger. "And if I did not hold you in a particularesteem, I should make no words about the matter. It appears you prideyourself on staying where you are. You mean to stick by your inn. Now Imean you shall come for a turn with me in my barouche; and before thisbottle's empty, so you shall. "

"That would be an odd thing, to be sure, " replied Will, with a chuckle. "Why, sir, I have grown here like an old oak-tree; the devil himselfcould hardly root me up: and for all I perceive you are a veryentertaining old gentleman, I would wager you another bottle you loseyour pains with me. "

The dimness of Will's eyesight had been increasing all this while; but hewas somehow conscious of a sharp and chilling scrutiny which irritatedand yet overmastered him. 

"You need not think, " he broke out suddenly, in an explosive, febrilemanner that startled and alarmed himself, "that I am a stay-at-homebecause I fear anything under God. God knows I am tired enough of it all;and when the time comes for a longer journey than ever you dream of, Ireckon I shall find myself prepared. "

The stranger emptied his glass and pushed it away from him. He lookeddown for a little, and then, leaning over the table, tapped Will threetimes upon the forearm with a single finger. "The time has come!" he saidsolemnly. 

An ugly thrill spread from the spot he touched. The tones of his voicewere dull and startling, and echoed strangely in Will's heart. 

"I beg your pardon, " he said, with some discomposure. "What do you mean?"

"Look at me, and you will find your eyesight swim. Raise your hand; it isdead-heavy. This is your last bottle of wine, Master Will, and your lastnight upon the earth. "

"You are a doctor?" quavered Will. 

"The best that ever was, " replied the other; "for I cure both mind andbody with the same prescription. I take away all pain and I forgive allsins; and where my patients have gone wrong in life, I smooth out allcomplications and set them free again upon their feet. "

"I have no need of you, " said Will. 

"A time comes for all men, Master Will, " replied the doctor, "when thehelm is taken out of their hands. For you, because you were prudent andquiet, it has been long of coming, and you have had long to disciplineyourself for its reception. You have seen what is to be seen about yourmill; you have sat close all your days like a hare in its form; but nowthat is at an end; and, " added the doctor, getting on his feet, "you mustarise and come with me. "

"You are a strange physician, " said Will, looking steadfastly upon hisguest. 

"I am a natural law, " he replied, "and people call me Death. "

"Why did you not tell me so at first?" cried Will. "I have been waitingfor you these many years. Give me your hand, and welcome. "

"Lean upon my arm, " said the stranger, "for already your strength abates. Lean on me as heavily as you need; for though I am old, I am very strong. It is but three steps to my carriage, and there all your trouble ends. Why, Will, " he added, "I have been yearning for you as if you were my ownson; and of all the men that ever I came for in my long days, I have comefor you most gladly. I am caustic, and sometimes offend people at firstsight; but I am a good friend at heart to such as you. "

"Since Marjory was taken, " returned Will, "I declare before God you werethe only friend I had to look for. "

So the pair went arm-in-arm across the courtyard. 

One of the servants awoke about this time and heard the noise of horsespawing before he dropped asleep again; all down the valley that nightthere was a rushing as of a smooth and steady wind descending towards theplain; and when the world rose next morning, sure enough Will o' the Millhad gone at last upon his travels. 

 THE TREASURE OF FRANCHARD

 THE TREASURE OF FRANCHARD

 CHAPTER I

 BY THE DYING MOUNTEBANK

They had sent for the doctor from Bourron before six. About eight somevillagers came round for the performance, and were told how mattersstood. It seemed a liberty for a mountebank to fall ill like real people, and they made off again in dudgeon. By ten Madame Tentaillon was gravelyalarmed, and had sent down the street for Doctor Desprez. 

The Doctor was at work over his manuscripts in one corner of the littledining-room, and his wife was asleep over the fire in another, when themessenger arrived. 

"_Sapristi!_" said the Doctor, "you should have sent for me before. Itwas a case for hurry. " And he followed the messenger as he was, in hisslippers and skull-cap. 

The inn was not thirty yards away, but the messenger did not stop there;he went in at one door and out by another into the court, and then ledthe way, by a flight of steps beside the stable, to the loft where themountebank lay sick. If Doctor Desprez were to live a thousand years, hewould never forget his arrival in that room; for not only was the scenepicturesque, but the moment made a date in his existence. We reckon ourlives, I hardly know why, from the date of our first sorry appearance insociety, as if from a first humiliation; for no actor can come upon thestage with a worse grace. Not to go further back, which would be judgedtoo curious, there are subsequently many moving and decisive accidents inthe lives of all, which would make as logical a period as this of birth. And here, for instance, Doctor Desprez, a man past forty, who had madewhat is called a failure in life, and was moreover married, foundhimself at a new point of departure when he opened the door of the loftabove Tentaillon's stable. 

It was a large place, lighted only by a single candle set upon the floor. The mountebank lay on his back upon a pallet; a large man with a Quixoticnose inflamed with drinking. Madame Tentaillon stooped over him, applyinga hot water and mustard embrocation to his feet; and on a chair close bysat a little fellow of eleven or twelve, with his feet dangling. Thesethree were the only occupants except the shadows. But the shadows were acompany in themselves; the extent of the room exaggerated them to agigantic size, and from the low position of the candle the light struckupwards and produced deformed foreshortenings. The mountebank's profilewas enlarged upon the wall in caricature, and it was strange to see hisnose shorten and lengthen as the flame was blown about by draughts. Asfor Madame Tentaillon, her shadow was no more than a gross hump ofshoulders, with now and again a hemisphere of head. The chair-legs werespindled out as long as stilts, and the boy sat perched a-top of them, like a cloud, in the corner of the roof. 

It was the boy who took the Doctor's fancy. He had a great arched skull, the forehead and the hands of a musician, and a pair of haunting eyes. Itwas not merely that these eyes were large, or steady, or the softestruddy brown. There was a look in them, besides, which thrilled theDoctor, and made him half uneasy. He was sure he had seen such a lookbefore, and yet he could not remember how or where. It was as if thisboy, who was quite a stranger to him, had the eyes of an old friend or anold enemy. And the boy would give him no peace; he seemed profoundlyindifferent to what was going on, or rather abstracted from it in asuperior contemplation, beating gently with his feet against the bars ofthe chair, and holding his hands folded on his lap. But, for all that, his eyes kept following the Doctor about the room with a thoughtfulfixity of gaze. Desprez could not tell whether he was fascinating theboy, or the boy was fascinating him. He busied himself over the sick man, he put questions, he felt the pulse, he jested, he grew a little hot andswore: and still, whenever he looked round, there were the brown eyeswaiting for his with the same inquiring, melancholy gaze. 

At last the Doctor hit on the solution at a leap. He remembered the looknow. The little fellow, although he was as straight as a dart, had theeyes that go usually with a crooked back; he was not at all deformed, andyet a deformed person seemed to be looking at you from below his brows. The Doctor drew a long breath, he was so much relieved to find a theory(for he loved theories) and to explain away his interest. 

For all that, he despatched the invalid with unusual haste, and, stillkneeling with one knee on the floor, turned a little round and looked theboy over at his leisure. The boy was not in the least put out, but lookedplacidly back at the Doctor. 

"Is this your father?" asked Desprez. 

"Oh no, " returned the boy; "my master. "

"Are you fond of him?" continued the Doctor. 

"No, sir, " said the boy. 

Madame Tentaillon and Desprez exchanged expressive glances. 

"That is bad, my man, " resumed the latter, with a shade of sternness. "Every one should be fond of the dying, or conceal their sentiments; andyour master here is dying. If I have watched a bird a little whilestealing my cherries, I have a thought of disappointment when he fliesaway over my garden wall, and I see him steer for the forest and vanish. How much more a creature such as this, so strong, so astute, so richlyendowed with faculties! When I think that, in a few hours, the speechwill be silenced, the breath extinct, and even the shadow vanished fromthe wall, I who never saw him, this lady who knew him only as a guest, are touched with some affection. "

The boy was silent for a little, and appeared to be reflecting. 

"You did not know him, " he replied at last. "He was a bad man. "

"He is a little pagan, " said the landlady. "For that matter, they are allthe same, these mountebanks, tumblers, artists, and what not. They haveno interior. "

But the Doctor was still scrutinising the little pagan, his eyebrowsknotted and uplifted. 

"What is your name?" he asked. 

"Jean-Marie, " said the lad. 

Desprez leaped upon him with one of his sudden flashes of excitement, andfelt his head all over from an ethnological point of view. 

"Celtic, Celtic!" he said. 

"Celtic!" cried Madame Tentaillon, who had perhaps confounded the wordwith hydrocephalous. "Poor lad! is it dangerous?"

"That depends, " returned the Doctor grimly. And then once more addressingthe boy: "And what do you do for your living, Jean-Marie?" he inquired. 

"I tumble, " was the answer. 

"So! Tumble?" repeated Desprez. "Probably healthful. I hazard the guess, Madame Tentaillon, that tumbling is a healthful way of life. And have younever done anything else but tumble?"

"Before I learned that, I used to steal, " answered Jean-Marie gravely. 

"Upon my word!" cried the Doctor. "You are a nice little man for yourage. --Madame, when my _confrère_ comes from Bourron, you will communicatemy unfavourable opinion. I leave the case in his hands; but of course, onany alarming symptom, above all if there should be a sign of rally, donot hesitate to knock me up. I am a doctor no longer, I thank God; but Ihave been one. Good-night, madame. --Good sleep to you, Jean-Marie. "

 CHAPTER II

 MORNING TALK

Doctor Desprez always rose early. Before the smoke arose, before thefirst cart rattled over the bridge to the day's labour in the fields, hewas to be found wandering in his garden. Now he would pick a bunch ofgrapes; now he would eat a big pear under the trellis; now he would drawall sorts of fancies on the path with the end of his cane; now he wouldgo down and watch the river running endlessly past the timberlanding-place at which he moored his boat. There was no time, he used tosay, for making theories like the early morning. "I rise earlier than anyone else in the village, " he once boasted. "It is a fair consequence thatI know more and wish to do less with my knowledge. "

The Doctor was a connoisseur of sunrises, and loved a good theatricaleffect to usher in the day. He had a theory of dew, by which he couldpredict the weather. Indeed, most things served him to that end: thesound of the bells from all the neighbouring villages, the smell of theforest, the visits and the behaviour of both birds and fishes, the lookof the plants in his garden, the disposition of cloud, the colour of thelight, and last, although not least, the arsenal of meteorologicalinstruments in a louvre-boarded hutch upon the lawn. Ever since he hadsettled at Gretz, he had been growing more and more into the localmeteorologist, the unpaid champion of the local climate. He thought atfirst there was no place so healthful in the arrondissement. By the endof the second year, he protested there was none so wholesome in the wholedepartment. And for some time before he met Jean-Marie he had beenprepared to challenge all France and the better part of Europe for arival to his chosen spot. 

"Doctor, " he would say--"doctor is a foul word. It should not be used toladies. It implies disease. I remark it, as a flaw in our civilisation, that we have not the proper horror of disease. Now I, for my part, havewashed my hands of it; I have renounced my laureation; I am no doctor; Iam only a worshipper of the true goddess Hygieia. Ah! believe me, it isshe who has the cestus! And here, in this exiguous hamlet, has she placedher shrine: here she dwells and lavishes her gifts; here I walk with herin the early morning, and she shows me how strong she has made thepeasants, how fruitful she has made the fields, how the trees grow uptall and comely under her eyes, and the fishes in the river become cleanand agile at her presence. --Rheumatism!" he would cry, on some malapertinterruption, "Oh, yes, I believe we do have a little rheumatism. Thatcould hardly be avoided, you know, on a river. And of course the placestands a little low; and the meadows are marshy, there's no doubt. But, my dear sir, look at Bourron! Bourron stands high. Bourron is close tothe forest; plenty of ozone there, you would say. Well, compared withGretz, Bourron is a perfect shambles. "

The morning after he had been summoned to the dying mountebank, theDoctor visited the wharf at the tail of his garden, and had a long lookat the running water. This he called prayer; but whether his adorationswere addressed to the goddess Hygieia or some more orthodox deity, neverplainly appeared. For he had uttered doubtful oracles, sometimesdeclaring that a river was the type of bodily health, sometimes extollingit as the great moral preacher, continually preaching peace, continuity, and diligence to man's tormented spirits. After he had watched a mile orso of the clear water running by before his eyes, seen a fish or two cometo the surface with a gleam of silver, and sufficiently admired the longshadows of the trees falling half across the river from the oppositebank, with patches of moving sunlight in between, he strolled once moreup the garden and through his house into the street, feeling cool andrenovated. 

The sound of his feet upon the causeway began the business of the day;for the village was still sound asleep. The church tower looked very airyin the sunlight; a few birds that turned about it seemed to swim in anatmosphere of more than usual rarity; and the Doctor, walking in longtransparent shadows, filled his lungs amply, and proclaimed himself wellcontented with the morning. 

On one of the posts before Tentaillon's carriage entry he espied a littledark figure perched in a meditative attitude, and immediately recognisedJean-Marie. 

"Aha!" he said, stopping before him humorously, with a hand on eitherknee. "So we rise early in the morning, do we? It appears to me that wehave all the vices of a philosopher. "

The boy got to his feet and made a grave salutation. 

"And how is our patient?" asked Desprez. 

It appeared the patient was about the same. 

"And why do you rise early in the morning?" he pursued. 

Jean-Marie, after a long silence, professed that he hardly knew. 

"You hardly know?" repeated Desprez. "We hardly know anything, my man, until we try to learn. Interrogate your consciousness. Come, push me thisinquiry home. Do you like it?"

"Yes, " said the boy slowly; "yes, I like it. "

"And why do you like it?" continued the Doctor. "(We are now pursuing theSocratic method. ) Why do you like it?"

"It is quiet, " answered Jean-Marie; "and I have nothing to do; and then Ifeel as if I were good. "

Doctor Desprez took a seat on the post at the opposite side. He wasbeginning to take an interest in the talk, for the boy plainly thoughtbefore he spoke, and tried to answer truly. "It appears you have a tastefor feeling good, " said the Doctor. "Now, there you puzzle me extremely;for I thought you said you were a thief; and the two are incompatible. "

"Is it very bad to steal?" asked Jean-Marie. 

"Such is the general opinion, little boy, " replied the Doctor. 

"No; but I mean as I stole, " explained the other. "For I had no choice. Ithink it is surely right to have bread; it must be right to have bread, there comes so plain a want of it. And then they beat me cruelly if Ireturned with nothing, " he added. "I was not ignorant of right and wrong;for before that I had been well taught by a priest, who was very kind tome. " (The Doctor made a horrible grimace at the word "priest. ") "But itseemed to me, when one had nothing to eat and was beaten, it was adifferent affair. I would not have stolen for tartlets, I believe; butany one would steal for baker's bread. "

"And so I suppose, " said the Doctor, with a rising sneer, "you prayed Godto forgive you, and explained the case to Him at length. "

"Why, sir?" asked Jean-Marie. "I do not see. "

"Your priest would see, however, " retorted Desprez. 

"Would he?" asked the boy, troubled for the first time. "I should havethought God would have known. "

"Eh?" snarled the Doctor. 

"I should have thought God would have understood me, " replied the other. "You do not, I see; but then it was God that made me think so, was itnot?"

"Little boy, little boy, " said Dr. Desprez, "I told you already you hadthe vices of philosophy; if you display the virtues also, I must go. I ama student of the blessed laws of health, an observer of plain andtemperate nature in her common walks; and I cannot preserve my equanimityin presence of a monster. Do you understand?"

"No, sir, " said the boy. 

"I will make my meaning clear to you, " replied the Doctor. "Look there atthe sky--behind the belfry first, where it is so light, and then up andup, turning your chin back, right to the top of the dome, where it isalready as blue as at noon. Is not that a beautiful colour? Does it notplease the heart? We have seen it all our lives, until it has grown inwith our familiar thoughts. Now, " changing his tone, "suppose that sky tobecome suddenly of a live and fiery amber, like the colour of clearcoals, and growing scarlet towards the top--I do not say it would be anythe less beautiful; but would you like it as well?"

"I suppose not, " answered Jean-Marie. 

"Neither do I like you, " returned the Doctor roughly. "I hate all oddpeople, and you are the most curious little boy in all the world. "

Jean-Marie seemed to ponder for a while, and then he raised his headagain and looked over at the Doctor with an air of candid inquiry. "Butare not you a very curious gentleman?" he asked. 

The Doctor threw away his stick, bounded on the boy, clasped him to hisbosom, and kissed him on both cheeks. "Admirable, admirable imp!" hecried. "What a morning, what an hour for a theorist of forty-two! No, " hecontinued, apostrophising heaven, "I did not know such boys existed; Iwas ignorant they made them so; I had doubted of my race; and now! It islike, " he added, picking up his stick, "like a lovers' meeting. I havebruised my favourite staff in that moment of enthusiasm. The injury, however, is not grave. " He caught the boy looking at him in obviouswonder, embarrassment, and alarm. "Hullo!" said he, "why do you look atme like that? Egad, I believe the boy despises me. Do you despise me, boy?"

"Oh, no, " replied Jean-Marie seriously; "only I do not understand. "

"You must excuse me, sir, " returned the Doctor, with gravity; "I am stillso young. Oh, hang him!" he added to himself. And he took his seat againand observed the boy sardonically. "He has spoiled the quiet of mymorning, " thought he. "I shall be nervous all day, and have a febriculewhen I digest. Let me compose myself. " And so he dismissed hispreoccupations by an effort of the will which he had long practised, andlet his soul roam abroad in the contemplation of the morning. He inhaledthe air, tasting it critically as a connoisseur tastes a vintage, andprolonging the expiration with hygienic gusto. He counted the littleflecks of cloud along the sky. He followed the movements of the birdsround the church tower--making long sweeps, hanging poised, or turningairy somersaults in fancy, and beating the wind with imaginary pinions. And in this way he regained peace of mind and animal composure, consciousof his limbs, conscious of the sight of his eyes, conscious that the airhad a cool taste, like a fruit, at the top of his throat; and at last, incomplete abstraction, he began to sing. The Doctor had but oneair--"Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre"; even with that he was on terms ofmere politeness; and his musical exploits were always reserved formoments when he was alone and entirely happy. 

He was recalled to earth rudely by a pained expression on the boy's face. "What do you think of my singing?" he inquired, stopping in the middle ofa note; and then, after he had waited some little while and received noanswer, "What do you think of my singing?" he repeated imperiously. 

"I do not like it, " faltered Jean-Marie. 

"Oh, come!" cried the Doctor. "Possibly you are a performer yourself?"

"I sing better than that, " replied the boy. 

The Doctor eyed him for some seconds in stupefaction. He was aware thathe was angry, and blushed for himself in consequence, which made himangrier. "If this is how you address your master!" he said at last, witha shrug and a flourish of his arms. 

"I do not speak to him at all, " returned the boy. "I do not like him. "

"Then you like me?" snapped Doctor Desprez, with unusual eagerness. 

"I do not know, " answered Jean-Marie. 

The Doctor rose. "I shall wish you a good-morning, " he said. "You are toomuch for me. Perhaps you have blood in your veins, perhaps celestialichor, or perhaps you circulate nothing more gross than respirable air;but of one thing I am inexpugnably assured:--that you are no human being. No, boy"--shaking his stick at him--"you are not a human being. Write, write it in your memory--'I am not a human being--I have no pretension tobe a human being--I am a dive, a dream, an angel, an acrostic, anillusion--what you please, but not a human being. ' And so accept myhumble salutations and farewell!"

And with that the Doctor made off along the street in some emotion, andthe boy stood, mentally gaping, where he left him. 

 CHAPTER III

 THE ADOPTION

Madame Desprez, who answered to the Christian name of Anastasie, presented an agreeable type of her sex; exceedingly wholesome to lookupon, a stout _brune_, with cool smooth cheeks, steady, dark eyes, andhands that neither art nor nature could improve. She was the sort ofperson over whom adversity passes like a summer cloud; she might, in theworst of conjunctions, knit her brows into one vertical furrow for amoment, but the next it would be gone. She had much of the placidity of acontented nun; with little of her piety, however; for Anastasie was of avery mundane nature, fond of oysters and old wine, and somewhat boldpleasantries, and devoted to her husband for her own sake rather than forhis. She was imperturbably good-natured, but had no idea ofself-sacrifice. To live in that pleasant old house, with a green gardenbehind and bright flowers about the window, to eat and drink of the best, to gossip with a neighbour for a quarter of an hour, never to wear staysor a dress except when she went to Fontainebleau shopping, to be kept ina continual supply of racy novels, and to be married to Dr. Desprez andhave no ground of jealousy, filled the cup of her nature to the brim. Those who had known the Doctor in bachelor days, when he had aired quiteas many theories, but of a different order, attributed his presentphilosophy to the study of Anastasie. It was her brute enjoyment that herationalised and perhaps vainly imitated. 

Madame Desprez was an artist in the kitchen, and made coffee to a nicety. She had a knack of tidiness, with which she had infected the Doctor;everything was in its place; everything capable of polish shonegloriously; and dust was a thing banished from her empire. Aline, theirsingle servant, had no other business in the world but to scour andburnish. So Doctor Desprez lived in his house like a fatted calf, warmedand cosseted to his heart's content. 

The midday meal was excellent. There was a ripe melon, a fish from theriver in a memorable Béarnaise sauce, a fat fowl in a fricassee, and adish of asparagus, followed by some fruit. The Doctor drank half a bottle_plus_ one glass, the wife half a bottle _minus_ the same quantity, whichwas a marital privilege, of an excellent Côte-Rôtie, seven years old. Then the coffee was brought, and a flask of Chartreuse for madame, forthe Doctor despised and distrusted such decoctions; and then Aline leftthe wedded pair to the pleasures of memory and digestion. 

"It is a very fortunate circumstance, my cherished one, " observed theDoctor--"this coffee is adorable--a very fortunate circumstance upon thewhole--Anastasie, I beseech you, go without that poison for to-day; onlyone day, and you will feel the benefit, I pledge my reputation. "

"What is this fortunate circumstance, my friend?" inquired Anastasie, notheeding his protest, which was of daily recurrence. 

"That we have no children, my beautiful, " replied the Doctor. "I think ofit more and more as the years go on, and with more and more gratitudetowards the power that dispenses such afflictions. Your health, mydarling, my studious quiet, our little kitchen delicacies, how they wouldall have suffered, how they would all have been sacrificed! And for what?Children are the last word of human imperfection. Health flees beforetheir face. They cry, my dear; they put vexatious questions; they demandto be fed, to be washed, to be educated, to have their noses blown; andthen, when the time comes, they break our hearts, as I break this pieceof sugar. A pair of professed egoists, like you and me, should avoidoffspring, like an infidelity. "

"Indeed!" said she; and she laughed. "Now, that is like you--to takecredit for the thing you could not help. "

"My dear, " returned the Doctor solemnly, "we might have adopted. "

"Never!" cried madame. "Never, Doctor, with my consent. If the child weremy own flesh and blood, I would not say no. But to take another person'sindiscretion on my shoulders, my dear friend, I have too much sense. "

"Precisely, " replied the Doctor. "We both had. And I am all the betterpleased with our wisdom, because--because----" He looked at her sharply. 

"Because what?" she asked, with a faint premonition of danger. 

"Because I have found the right person, " said the Doctor firmly, "andshall adopt him this afternoon. "

Anastasie looked at him out of a mist. "You have lost your reason, " shesaid; and there was a clang in her voice that seemed to threaten trouble. 

"Not so, my dear, " he replied; "I retain its complete exercise. To theproof: instead of attempting to cloak my inconsistency, I have, by way ofpreparing you, thrown it into strong relief. You will there, I think, recognise the philosopher who has the ecstasy to call you wife. The factis, I have been reckoning all this while without an accident. I neverthought to find a son of my own. Now, last night, I found one. Do notunnecessarily alarm yourself, my dear; he is not a drop of blood to methat I know. It is his mind, darling, his mind that calls me father. "

"His mind!" she repeated, with a titter between scorn and hysterics. "Hismind, indeed! Henri, is this an idiotic pleasantry, or are you mad? Hismind! And what of my mind?"

"Truly, " replied the Doctor, with a shrug, "you have your finger on thehitch. He will be strikingly antipathetic to my ever beautiful Anastasie. She will never understand him; he will never understand her. You marriedthe animal side of my nature, dear; and it is on the spiritual side thatI find my affinity for Jean-Marie. So much so, that, to be perfectlyfrank, I stand in some awe of him myself. You will easily perceive that Iam announcing a calamity for you. Do not, " he broke out in tones of realsolicitude--"do not give way to tears after a meal, Anastasie. You willcertainly give yourself a false digestion. "

Anastasie controlled herself. "You know how willing I am to humour you, "she said, "in all reasonable matters. But on this point----"

"My dear love, " interrupted the Doctor, eager to prevent a refusal, "whowished to leave Paris? Who made me give up cards, and the opera, and theboulevard, and my social relations, and all that was my life before Iknew you? Have I been faithful? Have I been obedient? Have I not borne mydoom with cheerfulness? In all honesty, Anastasie, have I not a right toa stipulation on my side? I have, and you know it. I stipulate my son. "

Anastasie was aware of defeat; she struck her colours instantly. "Youwill break my heart, " she sighed. 

"Not in the least, " said he. "You will feel a trifling inconvenience fora month, just as I did when I was first brought to this vile hamlet; thenyour admirable sense and temper will prevail, and I see you already ascontent as ever, and making your husband the happiest of men. "

"You know I can refuse you nothing, " she said, with a last flicker ofresistance; "nothing that will make you truly happier. But will this? Areyou sure, my husband? Last night, you say, you found him! He may be theworst of humbugs. "

"I think not, " replied the Doctor. "But do not suppose me so unwary as toadopt him out of hand. I am, I flatter myself, a finished man of theworld; I have had all possibilities in view; my plan is contrived to meetthem all. I take the lad as stable-boy. If he pilfer, if he grumble, ifhe desire to change, I shall see I was mistaken; I shall recognise himfor no son of mine, and send him tramping. "

"You will never do so when the time comes, " said his wife; "I know yourgood heart. "

She reached out her hand to him, with a sigh; the Doctor smiled as hetook it and carried it to his lips; he had gained his point with greaterease than he had dared to hope; for perhaps the twentieth time he hadproved the efficacy of his trusty argument, his Excalibur, the hint of areturn to Paris. Six months in the capital, for a man of the Doctor'santecedents and relations, implied no less a calamity than total ruin. Anastasie had saved the remainder of his fortune by keeping him strictlyin the country. The very name of Paris put her in a blue fear; and shewould have allowed her husband to keep a menagerie in the back-garden, let alone adopting a stable-boy, rather than permit the question ofreturn to be discussed. 

About four of the afternoon, the mountebank rendered up his ghost; he hadnever been conscious since his seizure. Doctor Desprez was present at hislast passage, and declared the farce over. Then he took Jean-Marie by theshoulder and led him out into the inn garden, where there was aconvenient bench beside the river. Here he sat him down and made the boyplace himself on his left. 

"Jean-Marie, " he said very gravely, "this world is exceedingly vast; andeven France, which is only a small corner of it, is a great place for alittle lad like you. Unfortunately it is full of eager, shoulderingpeople moving on; and there are very few bakers' shops for so manyeaters. Your master is dead; you are not fit to gain a living byyourself; you do not wish to steal? No. Your situation then isundesirable; it is, for the moment, critical. On the other hand, youbehold in me a man not old, though elderly, still enjoying the youth ofthe heart and the intelligence; a man of instruction; easily situated inthis world's affairs; keeping a good table:--a man, neither as friend norhost, to be despised. I offer you your food and clothes, and to teach youlessons in the evening, which will be infinitely more to the purpose fora lad of your stamp than those of all the priests in Europe. I proposeno wages, but if ever you take a thought to leave me, the door shall beopen, and I will give you a hundred francs to start the world upon. Inreturn, I have an old horse and chaise, which you would very speedilylearn to clean and keep in order. Do not hurry yourself to answer, andtake it or leave it as you judge aright. Only remember this, that I am nosentimentalist or charitable person, but a man who lives rigorously tohimself; and that if I make the proposal, it is for my own ends--it isbecause I perceive clearly an advantage to myself. And now, reflect. "

"I shall be very glad. I do not see what else I can do. I thank you, sir, most kindly, and I will try to be useful, " said the boy. 

"Thank you, " said the Doctor warmly, rising at the same time and wipinghis brow, for he had suffered agonies while the thing hung in the wind. Arefusal, after the scene at noon, would have placed him in a ridiculouslight before Anastasie. "How hot and heavy is the evening, to be sure! Ihave always had a fancy to be a fish in summer, Jean-Marie, here in theLoing beside Gretz. I should lie under a water-lily and listen to thebells, which must sound most delicately down below. That would be alife--do you not think so too?"

"Yes, " said Jean-Marie. 

"Thank God you have imagination!" cried the Doctor, embracing the boywith his usual effusive warmth, though it was a proceeding that seemed todisconcert the sufferer almost as much as if he had been an Englishschoolboy of the same age. "And now, " he added, "I will take you to mywife. "

Madame Desprez sat in the dining-room in a cool wrapper. All the blindswere down, and the tile floor had been recently sprinkled with water; hereyes were half shut, but she affected to be reading a novel as theyentered. Though she was a bustling woman, she enjoyed reposebetween-whiles and had a remarkable appetite for sleep. 

The Doctor went through a solemn form of introduction, adding, for thebenefit of both parties, "You must try to like each other for my sake. "

"He is very pretty, " said Anastasie. --"Will you kiss me, my pretty littlefellow?"

The Doctor was furious, and dragged her into the passage. "Are you afool, Anastasie?" he said. "What is all this I hear about the tact ofwomen? Heaven knows, I have not met with it in my experience. You addressmy little philosopher as if he were an infant. He must be spoken to withmore respect, I tell you; he must not be kissed and Georgy-porgy'd likean ordinary child. "

"I only did it to please you, I am sure, " replied Anastasie; "but I willtry to do better. "

The Doctor apologised for his warmth. "But I do wish him, " he continued, "to feel at home among us. And really your conduct was so idiotic, mycherished one, and so utterly and distantly out of place, that a saintmight have been pardoned a little vehemence in disapproval. Do, dotry--if it is possible for a woman to understand young people--but ofcourse it is not, and I waste my breath. Hold your tongue as much aspossible at least, and observe my conduct narrowly; it will serve you fora model. "

Anastasie did as she was bidden, and considered the Doctor's behaviour. She observed that he embraced the boy three times in the course of theevening, and managed generally to confound and abash the little fellowout of speech and appetite. But she had the true womanly heroism inlittle affairs. Not only did she refrain from the cheap revenge ofexposing the Doctor's errors to himself, but she did her best to removetheir ill-effect on Jean-Marie. When Desprez went out for his last breathof air before retiring for the night, she came over to the boy's side andtook his hand. 

"You must not be surprised or frightened by my husband's manners, " shesaid. "He is the kindest of men, but so clever that he is sometimesdifficult to understand. You will soon grow used to him, and then youwill love him, for that nobody can help. As for me, you may be sure, Ishall try to make you happy, and will not bother you at all. I think weshould be excellent friends, you and I. I am not clever, but I am verygood-natured. Will you give me a kiss?"

He held up his face, and she took him in her arms and then began to cry. The woman had spoken in complaisance; but she had warmed to her ownwords, and tenderness followed. The Doctor, entering, found them enlaced:he concluded that his wife was in fault; and he was just beginning, in anawful voice, "Anastasie----, " when she looked up at him, smiling, with anupraised finger; and he held his peace, wondering, while she led the boyto his attic. 

 CHAPTER IV

 THE EDUCATION OF A PHILOSOPHER

The installation of the adopted stable-boy was thus happily effected, andthe wheels of life continued to run smoothly in the Doctor's house. Jean-Marie did his horse and carriage duty in the morning; sometimeshelped in the housework; sometimes walked abroad with the Doctor, todrink wisdom from the fountainhead; and was introduced at night to thesciences and the dead tongues. He retained his singular placidity of mindand manner; he was rarely in fault; but he made only a very partialprogress in his studies, and remained much of a stranger in the family. 

The Doctor was a pattern of regularity. All forenoon he worked on hisgreat book, the "Comparative Pharmacopoeia, or Historical Dictionary ofall Medicines, " which as yet consisted principally of slips of paper andpins. When finished, it was to fill many personable volumes, and tocombine antiquarian interest with professional utility. But the Doctorwas studious of literary graces and the picturesque; an anecdote, a touchof manners, a moral qualification, or a sounding epithet was sure to bepreferred before a piece of science; a little more, and he would havewritten the "Comparative Pharmacopoeia" in verse! The article "Mummia, "for instance, was already complete, though the remainder of the work hadnot progressed beyond the letter A. It was exceedingly copious andentertaining, written with quaintness and colour, exact, erudite, aliterary article; but it would hardly have afforded guidance to apractising physician of to-day. The feminine good sense of his wife hadled her to point this out with uncompromising sincerity; for theDictionary was duly read aloud to her, betwixt sleep and waking, as itproceeded towards an infinitely distant completion; and the Doctor was alittle sore on the subject of mummies, and sometimes resented an allusionwith asperity. 

After the midday meal and a proper period of digestion, he walked, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by Jean-Marie; for madame wouldhave preferred any hardship rather than walk. 

She was, as I have said, a very busy person, continually occupied aboutmaterial comforts, and ready to drop asleep over a novel the instant shewas disengaged. This was the less objectionable, as she never snored orgrew distempered in complexion when she slept. On the contrary, shelooked the very picture of luxurious and appetising ease, and wokewithout a start to the perfect possession of her faculties. I am afraidshe was greatly an animal, but she was a very nice animal to have about. In this way she had little to do with Jean-Marie; but the sympathy whichhad been established between them on the first night remained unbroken;they held occasional conversations, mostly on household matters; to theextreme disappointment of the Doctor, they occasionally sallied offtogether to that temple of debasing, superstition, the village church;madame and he, both in their Sunday's best, drove twice a month toFontainebleau and returned laden with purchases; and in short, althoughthe Doctor still continued to regard them as irreconcilably antipathetic, their relation was as intimate, friendly, and confidential as theirnatures suffered. 

I fear, however, that in her heart of hearts madame kindly despised andpitied the boy. She had no admiration for his class of virtues; she likeda smart, polite, forward, roguish sort of boy, cap in hand, light offoot, meeting the eye; she liked volubility, charm, a little vice--thepromise of a second Doctor Desprez. And it was her indefeasible beliefthat Jean-Marie was dull. "Poor dear boy, " she had said once, "how sad itis that he should be so stupid!" She had never repeated that remark, forthe Doctor had raged like a wild bull, denouncing the brutal bluntness ofher mind, bemoaning his own fate to be so unequally mated with an ass, and, what touched Anastasie more nearly, menacing the table china by thefury of his gesticulations. But she adhered silently to her opinion; andwhen Jean-Marie was sitting, stolid, blank, but not unhappy, over hisunfinished tasks, she would snatch her opportunity in the Doctor'sabsence, go over to him, put her arms about his neck, lay her cheek tohis, and communicate her sympathy with his distress. "Do not mind, " shewould say; "I, too, am not at all clever, and I can assure you that itmakes no difference in life. "

The Doctor's view was naturally different. That gentleman never weariedof the sound of his own voice, which was, to say the truth, agreeableenough to hear. He now had a listener, who was not so cynicallyindifferent as Anastasie, and who sometimes put him on his mettle by themost relevant objections. Besides, was he not educating the boy? Andeducation, philosophers are agreed, is the most philosophical of duties. What can be more heavenly to poor mankind than to have one's hobby growinto a duty to the State? Then, indeed, do the ways of life become waysof pleasantness. Never had the Doctor seen reason to be more content withhis endowments. Philosophy flowed smoothly from his lips. He was so agilea dialectician that he could trace his nonsense, when challenged, back tosome root in sense, and prove it to be a sort of flower upon his system. He slipped out of antinomies like a fish, and left his disciplemarvelling at the rabbi's depth. 

Moreover, deep down in his heart the Doctor was disappointed with theill-success of his more formal education. A boy, chosen by so acute anobserver for his aptitude, and guided along the path of learning by sophilosophic an instructor, was bound, by the nature of the universe, tomake a more obvious and lasting advance. Now Jean-Marie was slow in allthings, impenetrable in others; and his power of forgetting was fully ona level with his power to learn. Therefore the Doctor cherished hisperipatetic lectures, to which the boy attended, which he generallyappeared to enjoy, and by which he often profited. 

Many and many were the talks they had together; and health and moderationproved the subject of the Doctor's divagations. To these he lovinglyreturned. 

"I lead you, " he would say, "by the green pastures. My system, mybeliefs, my medicines, are resumed in one phrase--to avoid excess. Blessed nature, healthy, temperate nature, abhors and exterminatesexcess. Human law, in this matter, imitates at a great distance herprovisions; and we must strive to supplement the efforts of the law. Yes, boy, we must be a law to ourselves and for our neighbours--_lexarmata_--armed, emphatic, tyrannous law. If you see a crapulous humanruin snuffing, dash from him his box! The judge, though in a way anadmission of disease, is less offensive to me than either the doctor orthe priest. Above all the doctor--the doctor and the purulent trash andgarbage of his pharmacopoeia! Pure air--from the neighbourhood of apinetum for the sake of the turpentine--unadulterated wine, and thereflections of an unsophisticated spirit in the presence of the works ofnature--these, my boy, are the best medical appliances and the bestreligious comforts. Devote yourself to these. Hark! there are the bellsof Bourron (the wind is in the north, it will be fair). How clear andairy is the sound. The nerves are harmonised and quieted; the mindattuned to silence; and observe how easily and regularly beats the heart!Your unenlightened doctor would see nothing in these sensations; and yetyou yourself perceive they are a part of health. Did you remember yourcinchona this morning? Good. Cinchona also is a work of nature; it is, after all, only the bark of a tree which we might gather for ourselves ifwe lived in the locality. What a world is this! Though a professedatheist, I delight to bear my testimony to the world. Look at thegratuitous remedies and pleasures that surround our path! The river runsby the garden end, our bath, our fish-pond, our natural system ofdrainage. There is a well in the court which sends up sparkling waterfrom the earth's very heart, clean, cool, and, with a little wine, mostwholesome. The district is notorious for its salubrity; rheumatism is theonly prevalent complaint, and I myself have never had a touch of it. Itell you--and my opinion is based upon the coldest, clearest processes ofreason--if I, if you, desired to leave this home of pleasures, it wouldbe the duty, it would be the privilege, of our best friend to prevent uswith a pistol bullet. "

One beautiful June day they sat upon the hill outside the village. Theriver, as blue as heaven, shone here and there among the foliage. Theindefatigable birds turned and flickered about Gretz church-tower. Ahealthy wind blew from over the forest, and the sound of innumerablethousands of tree-tops and innumerable millions on millions of greenleaves was abroad in the air, and filled the ear with something betweenwhispered speech and singing. It seemed as if every blade of grass musthide a cigale; and the fields rang merrily with their music, jingling farand near as with the sleigh-bells of the fairy queen. From their stationon the slope the eye embraced a large space of poplared plain upon theone hand, the waving hill-tops of the forest on the other, and Gretzitself in the middle, a handful of roofs. Under the bestriding arch ofthe blue heavens, the place seemed dwindled to a toy. It seemedincredible that people dwelt, and could find room to turn or air tobreathe, in such a corner of the world. The thought came home to the boy, perhaps for the first time, and he gave it words. 

"How small it looks!" he sighed. 

"Ay, " replied the Doctor, "small enough now. Yet it was once a walledcity; thriving, full of furred burgesses and men in armour, humming withaffairs;--with tall spires, for aught that I know, and portly towersalong the battlements. A thousand chimneys ceased smoking at thecurfew-bell. There were gibbets at the gate as thick as scarecrows. Intime of war, the assault swarmed against it with ladders, the arrows felllike leaves, the defenders sallied hotly over the drawbridge, each sideuttered its cry as they plied their weapons. Do you know that the wallsextended as far as the Commanderie? Tradition so reports. Alas! what along way off is all this confusion--nothing left of it but my quiet wordsspoken in your ear--and the town itself shrunk to the hamlet underneathus! By-and-by came the English wars--you shall hear more of the English, a stupid people, who sometimes blundered into good--and Gretz was taken, sacked, and burned. It is the history of many towns; but Gretz never roseagain; it was never rebuilt; its ruins were a quarry to serve the growthof rivals; and the stones of Gretz are now erect along the streets ofNemours. It gratifies me that our old house was the first to rise afterthe calamity; when the town had come to an end, it inaugurated thehamlet. "

"I, too, am glad of that, " said Jean-Marie. 

"It should be the temple of the humbler virtues, " responded the Doctorwith a savoury gusto. "Perhaps one of the reasons why I love my littlehamlet as I do, is that we have a similar history, she and I. Have I toldyou that I was once rich?"

"I do not think so, " answered Jean-Marie. "I do not think I should haveforgotten. I am sorry you should have lost your fortune. "

"Sorry?" cried the Doctor. "Why, I find I have scarce begun youreducation after all. Listen to me! Would you rather live in the old Gretzor in the new, free from the alarms of war, with the green country at thedoor, without noise, passports, the exactions of the soldiery, or thejangle of the curfew-bell to send us off to bed by sundown?"

"I suppose I should prefer the new, " replied the boy. 

"Precisely, " returned the Doctor; "so do I. And in the same way, I prefermy present moderate fortune to my former wealth. Golden mediocrity!cried the adorable ancients; and I subscribe to their enthusiasm. Have Inot good wine, good food, good air, the fields and the forest for mywalk, a house, an admirable wife, a boy whom I protest I cherish like ason? Now, if I were still rich, I should indubitably make my residence inParis--you know Paris--Paris and Paradise are not convertible terms. Thispleasant noise of the wind streaming among leaves changed into thegrinding Babel of the street, the stupid glare of plaster substituted forthis quiet pattern of greens and greys, the nerves shattered, thedigestion falsified--picture the fall! Already you perceive theconsequences: the mind is stimulated, the heart steps to a differentmeasure, and the man is himself no longer. I have passionately studiedmyself--the true business of philosophy. I know my character as themusician knows the ventages of his flute. Should I return to Paris, Ishould ruin myself gambling; nay, I go further--I should break the heartof my Anastasie with infidelities. "

This was too much for Jean-Marie. That a place should so transform themost excellent of men transcended his belief. Paris, he protested, waseven an agreeable place of residence. "Nor when I lived in that city didI feel much difference, " he pleaded. 

"What!" cried the Doctor. "Did you not steal when you were there?"

But the boy could never be brought to see that he had done anything wrongwhen he stole. Nor, indeed, did the Doctor think he had; but thatgentleman was never very scrupulous when in want of a retort. 

"And now, " he concluded, "do you begin to understand? My only friendswere those who ruined me. Gretz has been my academy, my sanatorium, myheaven of innocent pleasures. If millions are offered me, I wave themback: _Retro, Sathanas!_--Evil one, begone! Fix your mind on my example;despise riches, avoid the debasing influence of cities. Hygiene--hygieneand mediocrity of fortune--these be your watchwords during life!"

The Doctor's system of hygiene strikingly coincided with his tastes; andhis picture of the perfect life was a faithful description of the one hewas leading at the time. But it is easy to convince a boy, whom yousupply with all the facts for the discussion. And besides, there was onething admirable in the philosophy, and that was the enthusiasm of thephilosopher. There was never any one more vigorously determined to bepleased; and if he was not a great logician, and so had no right toconvince the intellect, he was certainly something of a poet, and had afascination to seduce the heart. What he could not achieve in hiscustomary humour of a radiant admiration of himself and hiscircumstances, he sometimes effected in his fits of gloom. 

"Boy, " he would say, "avoid me to-day. If I were superstitious, I shouldeven beg for an interest in your prayers. I am in the black fit; the evilspirit of King Saul, the hag of the merchant Abudah, the personal devilof the mediæval monk, is with me--is in me, " tapping on his breast. "Thevices of my nature are now uppermost; innocent pleasures woo me in vain;I long for Paris, for my wallowing in the mire. See, " he would continue, producing a handful of silver, "I denude myself, I am not to be trustedwith the price of a fare. Take it, keep it for me, squander it ondeleterious candy, throw it in the deepest of the river--I willhomologate your action. Save me from that part of myself which I disown. If you see me falter, do not hesitate; if necessary, wreck the train! Ispeak, of course, by a parable. Any extremity were better than for me toreach Paris alive. "

Doubtless the Doctor enjoyed these little scenes, as a variation in hispart; they represented the Byronic element in the somewhat artificialpoetry of his existence; but to the boy, though he was dimly aware oftheir theatricality, they represented more. The Doctor made perhaps toolittle, the boy possibly too much, of the reality and gravity of thesetemptations. 

One day a great light shone for Jean-Marie. "Could not riches be usedwell?" he asked. 

"In theory, yes, " replied the Doctor. "But it is found in experience thatno one does so. All the world imagine they will be exceptional when theygrow wealthy; but possession is debasing, new desires spring up; and thesilly taste for ostentation eats out the heart of pleasure. "

"Then you might be better if you had less, " said the boy. 

"Certainly not, " replied the Doctor; but his voice quavered as he spoke. 

"Why?" demanded pitiless innocence. 

Doctor Desprez saw all the colours of the rainbow in a moment; the stableuniverse appeared to be about capsizing with him. "Because, " saidhe--affecting deliberation after an obvious pause--"because I have formedmy life for my present income. It is not good for men of my years to beviolently dissevered from their habits. "

That was a sharp brush. The Doctor breathed hard, and fell intotaciturnity for the afternoon. As for the boy, he was delighted with theresolution of his doubts; even wondered that he had not foreseen theobvious and conclusive answer. His faith in the Doctor was a stout pieceof goods. Desprez was inclined to be a sheet in the wind's eye afterdinner, especially after Rhone wine, his favourite weakness. He wouldthen remark on the warmth of his feeling for Anastasie, and with inflamedcheeks and a loose, flustered smile, debate upon all sorts of topics, andbe feebly and indiscreetly witty. But the adopted stable-boy would notpermit himself to entertain a doubt that savoured of ingratitude. It isquite true that a man may be a second father to you, and yet take toomuch to drink; but the best natures are ever slow to accept such truths. 

The Doctor thoroughly possessed his heart, but perhaps he exaggerated hisinfluence over his mind. Certainly Jean-Marie adopted some of hismaster's opinions, but I have yet to learn that he ever surrendered oneof his own. Convictions existed in him by divine right; they werevirgin, unwrought, the brute metal of decision. He could add othersindeed, but he could not put away; neither did he care if they wereperfectly agreed among themselves; and his spiritual pleasures hadnothing to do with turning them over or justifying them in words. Wordswere with him a mere accomplishment, like dancing. When he was byhimself, his pleasures were almost vegetable. He would slip into thewoods towards Achères, and sit in the mouth of a cave among grey birches. His soul stared straight out of his eyes; he did not move or think;sunlight, thin shadows moving in the wind, the edge of firs against thesky, occupied and bound his faculties. He was pure unity, a spirit whollyabstracted. A single mood filled him, to which all the objects of sensecontributed, as the colours of the spectrum merge and disappear in whitelight. 

So while the Doctor made himself drunk with words, the adopted stable-boybemused himself with silence. 

 CHAPTER V

 TREASURE TROVE

The Doctor's carriage was a two-wheeled gig with a hood; a kind of vehiclein much favour among country doctors. On how many roads has one not seenit, a great way off between the poplars!--in how many village streets, tied to a gate-post! This sort of chariot is affected--particularly at thetrot--by a kind of pitching movement to and fro across the axle, whichwell entitles it to the style of a Noddy. The hood describes aconsiderable arc against the landscape, with a solemnly absurd effect onthe contemplative pedestrian. To ride in such a carriage cannot benumbered among the things that appertain to glory; but I have no doubt itmay be useful in liver complaint. Thence, perhaps, its wide popularityamong physicians. 

One morning early, Jean-Marie led forth the Doctor's noddy, opened thegate, and mounted to the driving-seat. The Doctor followed, arrayed fromtop to toe in spotless linen, armed with an immense flesh-colouredumbrella, and girt with a botanical case on a baldric; and the equipagedrove off smartly in a breeze of its own provocation. They were bound forFranchard, to collect plants, with an eye to the "ComparativePharmacopoeia. "

A little rattling on the open roads, and they came to the borders of theforest and struck into an unfrequented track; the noddy yawed softly overthe sand, with an accompaniment of snapping twigs. There was a great, green, softly murmuring cloud of congregated foliage overhead. In thearcades of the forest the air retained the freshness of the night. Theathletic bearing of the trees, each carrying its leafy mountain, pleasedthe mind like so many statues; and the lines of the trunk led the eyeadmiringly upward to where the extreme leaves sparkled in a patch ofazure. Squirrels leaped in mid-air. It was a proper spot for a devotee ofthe goddess Hygieia. 

"Have you been to Franchard, Jean-Marie?" inquired the Doctor. "I fancynot. "

"Never, " replied the boy. 

"It is a ruin in a gorge, " continued Desprez, adopting his expositoryvoice; "the ruin of a hermitage and chapel. History tells us much ofFranchard; how the recluse was often slain by robbers; how he lived on amost insufficient diet; how he was expected to pass his days in prayer. Aletter is preserved, addressed to one of these solitaries by the superiorof his order, full of admirable hygienic advice; bidding him go from hisbook to praying, and so back again, for variety's sake, and when he wasweary of both to stroll about his garden and observe the honey-bees. Itis to this day my own system. You must often have remarked me leaving the'Pharmacopoeia'--often even in the middle of a phrase--to come forthinto the sun and air. I admire the writer of that letter from my heart;he was a man of thought on the most important subjects. But, indeed, hadI lived in the Middle Ages (I am heartily glad that I did not) I shouldhave been an eremite myself--if I had not been a professed buffoon, thatis. These were the only philosophical lives yet open: laughter or prayer;sneers, we might say, and tears. Until the sun of the Positive arose, thewise man had to make his choice between these two. "

"I have been a buffoon, of course, " observed Jean-Marie. 

"I cannot imagine you to have excelled in your profession, " said thedoctor, admiring the boy's gravity. "Do you ever laugh?"

"Oh, yes, " replied the other. "I laugh often. I am very fond of jokes. "

"Singular being!" said Desprez. "But I divagate (I perceive in a thousandways that I grow old). Franchard was at length destroyed in the Englishwars, the same that levelled Gretz. But--here is the point--the hermits(for there were already more than one) had foreseen the danger andcarefully concealed the sacrificial vessels. These vessels were ofmonstrous value, Jean-Marie--monstrous value--priceless, we may say;exquisitely worked, of exquisite material. And now, mark me, they havenever been found. In the reign of Louis Quatorze some fellows weredigging hard by the ruins. Suddenly--tock!--the spade hit upon anobstacle. Imagine the men looking one to another; imagine how theirhearts bounded, how their colour came and went. It was a coffer, and inFranchard, the place of buried treasure! They tore it open like famishedbeasts. Alas! it was not the treasure; only some priestly robes, which, at the touch of the eating air, fell upon themselves and instantly wastedinto dust. The perspiration of these good fellows turned cold upon them, Jean-Marie. I will pledge my reputation, if there was anything like acutting wind, one or other had a pneumonia for his trouble. "

"I should like to have seen them turning into dust, " said Jean-Marie. "Otherwise, I should not have cared so greatly. "

"You have no imagination, " cried the Doctor. "Picture to yourself thescene. Dwell on the idea--a great treasure lying in the earth forcenturies: the material for a giddy, copious, opulent existence notemployed; dresses and exquisite pictures unseen; the swiftest gallopinghorses not stirring a hoof, arrested by a spell; women with the beautifulfaculty of smiles, not smiling; cards, dice, opera singing, orchestras, castles, beautiful parks and gardens, big ships with a tower ofsailcloth, all lying unborn in a coffin--and the stupid trees growingoverhead in the sunlight, year after year. The thought drives onefrantic. "

"It is only money, " replied Jean-Marie. "It would do harm. "

"Oh, come!" cried Desprez, "that is philosophy; it is all very fine, butnot to the point just now. And besides, it is not 'only money, ' as youcall it; there are works of art in the question; the vessels were carved. You speak like a child. You weary me exceedingly, quoting my words out ofall logical connection, like a parroquet. "

"And at any rate, we have nothing to do with it, " returned the boysubmissively. 

They struck the Route Ronde at that moment; and the sudden change to therattling causeway combined, with the Doctor's irritation, to keep himsilent. The noddy jigged along; the trees went by, looking on silently, as if they had something on their minds. The Quadrilateral was passed;then came Franchard. They put up the horse at the little solitary inn, and went forth strolling. The gorge was dyed deeply with heather; therocks and birches standing luminous in the sun. A great humming of beesabout the flowers disposed Jean-Marie to sleep, and he sat down against aclump of heather, while the Doctor went briskly to and fro, with quickturns, culling his simples. 

The boy's head had fallen a little forward, his eyes were closed, hisfingers had fallen lax about his knees, when a sudden cry called him tohis feet. It was a strange sound, thin and brief; it fell dead, andsilence returned as though it had never been interrupted. He had notrecognised the Doctor's voice; but, as there was no one else in all thevalley, it was plainly the Doctor who had given utterance to the sound. He looked right and left, and there was Desprez, standing in a nichebetween two boulders, and looking round on his adopted son with acountenance as white as paper. 

"A viper!" cried Jean-Marie, running towards him. "A viper! You arebitten!"

The Doctor came down heavily out of the cleft, and advanced in silence tomeet the boy, whom he took roughly by the shoulder. 

"I have found it, " he said, with a gasp. 

"A plant?" asked Jean-Marie. 

Desprez had a fit of unnatural gaiety, which the rocks took up andmimicked. "A plant!" he repeated scornfully. "Well--yes--a plant. Andhere, " he added suddenly, showing his right hand, which he had hithertoconcealed behind his back--"here is one of the bulbs. "

Jean-Marie saw a dirty platter, coated with earth. 

"That?" said he. "It is a plate!"

"It is a coach and horses, " cried the Doctor. "Boy, " he continued, growing warmer, "I plucked away a great pad of moss from between theseboulders, and disclosed a crevice; and when I looked in, what do yousuppose I saw? I saw a house in Paris with a court and garden, I saw mywife shining with diamonds, I saw myself a deputy, I saw you--well, I--Isaw your future, " he concluded, rather feebly. "I have just discoveredAmerica, " he added. 

"But what is it?" asked the boy. 

"The Treasure of Franchard, " cried the Doctor; and, throwing his brownstraw hat upon the ground, he whooped like an Indian and sprang uponJean-Marie, whom he suffocated with embraces and bedewed with tears. Thenhe flung himself down among the heather and once more laughed until thevalley rang. 

But the boy had now an interest of his own, a boy's interest. No soonerwas he released from the Doctor's accolade than he ran to the boulders, sprang into the niche, and, thrusting his hand into the crevice, drewforth one after another, encrusted with the earth of ages, the flagons, candlesticks, and patens of the hermitage of Franchard. A casket camelast, tightly shut and very heavy. 

"Oh what fun!" he cried. 

But when he looked back at the Doctor, who had followed close behind andwas silently observing, the words died from his lips. Desprez was oncemore the colour of ashes; his lip worked and trembled; a sort of bestialgreed possessed him. 

"This is childish, " he said. "We lose precious time. Back to the inn, harness the trap, and bring it to yon bank. Run for your life, andremember--not one whisper. I stay here to watch. "

Jean-Marie did as he was bid, though not without surprise. The noddy wasbrought round to the spot indicated; and the two gradually transportedthe treasure from its place of concealment to the boot below thedriving-seat. Once it was all stored the Doctor recovered his gaiety. 

"I pay my grateful duties to the genius of this dell, " he said. "Oh for alive coal, a heifer, and a jar of country wine! I am in the vein forsacrifice, for a superb libation. Well, and why not? We are at Franchard. English pale ale is to be had--not classical, indeed, but excellent. Boy, we shall drink ale. "

"But I thought it was so unwholesome, " said Jean-Marie, "and very dearbesides. "

"Fiddle-de-dee!" exclaimed the Doctor gaily. "To the inn!"

And he stepped into the noddy, tossing his head with an elastic, youthfulair. The horse was turned, and in a few seconds they drew up beside thepalings of the inn garden. 

"Here, " said Desprez--"here, near the table, so that we may keep an eyeupon things. "

They tied the horse, and entered the garden, the Doctor singing, now infantastic high notes, now producing deep reverberations from his chest. He took a seat, rapped loudly on the table, assailed the waiter withwitticisms; and when the bottle of Bass was at length produced, far morecharged with gas than the most delirious champagne, he filled out a longglassful of froth and pushed it over to Jean-Marie. "Drink, " he said;"drink deep. "

"I would rather not, " faltered the boy, true to his training. 

"What?" thundered Desprez. 

"I am afraid of it, " said Jean-Marie: "my stomach----"

"Take it or leave it, " interrupted Desprez fiercely: "but understand itonce for all--there is nothing so contemptible as a precisian. "

Here was a new lesson! The boy sat bemused, looking at the glass but nottasting it, while the Doctor emptied and refilled his own, at first withclouded brow, but gradually yielding to the sun, the heady, pricklingbeverage, and his own predisposition to be happy. 

"Once in a way, " he said at last, by way of a concession to the boy'smore rigorous attitude, "once in a way, and at so critical a moment, thisale is a nectar for the gods. The habit, indeed, is debasing; wine, thejuice of the grape, is the true drink of the Frenchman, as I have oftenhad occasion to point out; and I do not know that I can blame you forrefusing this outlandish stimulant. You can have some wine and cakes. Isthe bottle empty? Well, we will not be proud; we will have pity on yourglass. "

The beer being done, the Doctor chafed bitterly while Jean-Marie finishedhis cakes. "I burn to be gone, " he said, looking at his watch. "Good God, how slow you eat!" And yet to eat slowly was his own particularprescription, the main secret of longevity!

His martyrdom, however, reached an end at last; the pair resumed theirplaces in the buggy, and Desprez, leaning luxuriously back, announced hisintention of proceeding to Fontainebleau. 

"To Fontainebleau?" repeated Jean-Marie. 

"My words are always measured, " said the Doctor. "On!"

The Doctor was driven through the glades of paradise; the air, the light, the shining leaves, the very movements of the vehicle, seemed to fall intune with his golden meditations; with his head thrown back, he dreamed aseries of sunny visions, ale and pleasure dancing in his veins. At lasthe spoke. 

"I shall telegraph for Casimir, " he said. "Good Casimir! a fellow of thelower order of intelligence, Jean-Marie, distinctly not creative, notpoetic; and yet he will repay your study; his fortune is vast, and isentirely due to his own exertions. He is the very fellow to help us todispose of our trinkets, find us a suitable house in Paris, and managethe details of our installation. Admirable Casimir, one of my oldestcomrades! It was on his advice, I may add, that I invested my littlefortune in Turkish bonds; when we have added these spoils of the mediævalChurch to our stake in the Mahometan empire, little boy, we shallpositively roll among doubloons, positively roll!--Beautiful forest, " hecried, "farewell! Though called to other scenes, I will not forget thee. Thy name is graven in my heart. Under the influence of prosperity Ibecome dithyrambic, Jean-Marie. Such is the impulse of the natural soul;such was the constitution of primæval man. And I--well, I will not refusethe credit--I have preserved my youth like a virginity; another, whoshould have led the same snoozing, countrified existence for these years, another had become rusty, become stereotype; but I, I praise my happyconstitution, retain the spring unbroken. Fresh opulence and a new sphereof duties find me unabated in ardour and only more mature by knowledge. For this prospective change, Jean-Marie--it may probably have shockedyou. Tell me now, did it not strike you as an inconsistency? Confess--itis useless to dissemble--it pained you?"

"Yes, " said the boy. 

"You see, " returned the Doctor, with sublime fatuity, "I read yourthoughts! Nor am I surprised--your education is not yet complete; thehigher duties of men have not been yet presented to you fully. Ahint--till we have leisure--must suffice. Now that I am once more inpossession of a modest competence; now that I have so long preparedmyself in silent meditation, it becomes my superior duty to proceed toParis. My scientific training, my undoubted command of language, mark meout for the service of my country. Modesty in such a case would be asnare. If sin were a philosophical expression, I should call it sinful. Aman must not deny his manifest abilities, for that is to evade hisobligations. I must be up and doing; I must be no skulker in life'sbattle. "

So he rattled on, copiously greasing the joint of his inconsistency withwords; while the boy listened silently, his eyes fixed on the horse, hismind seething. It was all lost eloquence; no array of words couldunsettle a belief of Jean-Marie's; and he drove into Fontainebleau filledwith pity, horror, indignation, and despair. 

In the town Jean-Marie was kept a fixture on the driving-seat, to guardthe treasure; while the Doctor, with a singular, slightly tipsy airinessof manner, fluttered in and out of cafés, where he shook hands withgarrison officers, and mixed an absinthe with the nicety of oldexperience; in and out of shops, from which he returned laden with costlyfruits, real turtle, a magnificent piece of silk for his wife, apreposterous cane for himself, and a képi of the newest fashion for theboy; in and out of the telegraph office, whence he despatched histelegram, and where three hours later he received an answer promising avisit on the morrow, and generally pervaded Fontainebleau with the firstfine aroma of his divine good-humour. 

The sun was very low when they set forth again; the shadows of the foresttrees extended across the broad white road that led them home; thepenetrating odour of the evening wood had already arisen, like a cloud ofincense, from that broad field of tree-tops; and even in the streets ofthe town, where the air had been baked all day between white walls, itcame in whiffs and pulses, like a distant music. Half-way home, the lastgold flicker vanished from a great oak upon the left; and when they cameforth beyond the borders of the wood, the plain was already sunken inpearly greyness, and a great, pale moon came swinging skyward through thefilmy poplars. 

The Doctor sang, the Doctor whistled, the Doctor talked. He spoke of thewoods, and the wars, and the deposition of dew; he brightened and babbledof Paris; he soared into cloudy bombast on the glories of the politicalarena. All was to be changed; as the day departed, it took with it thevestiges of an outworn existence, and to-morrow's sun was to inauguratethe new. "Enough, " he cried, "of this life of maceration!" His wife(still beautiful, or he was sadly partial) was to be no longer buried;she should now shine before society. Jean-Marie would find the world athis feet; the roads open to success, wealth, honour, and posthumousrenown. "And oh, by the way, " said he, "for God's sake keep your tonguequiet! You are, of course, a very silent fellow; it is a quality I gladlyrecognise in you--silence, golden silence! But this is a matter ofgravity. No word must get abroad; none but the good Casimir is to betrusted; we shall probably dispose of the vessels in England. "

"But are they not even ours?" the boy said, almost with a sob--it was theonly time he had spoken. 

"Ours in this sense, that they are nobody else's, " replied the Doctor. "But the State would have some claim. If they were stolen, for instance, we should be unable to demand their restitution; we should have no title;we should be unable even to communicate with the police. Such is themonstrous condition of the law. [2] It is a mere instance of what remainsto be done, of the injustices that may yet be righted by an ardent, active, and philosophical deputy. "

Jean-Marie put his faith in Madame Desprez; and as they drove forwarddown the road from Bourron, between the rustling poplars, he prayed inhis teeth, and whipped up the horse to an unusual speed. Surely, as soonas they arrived, madame would assert her character, and bring this wakingnightmare to an end. 

Their entrance into Gretz was heralded and accompanied by a most furiousbarking; all the dogs in the village seemed to smell the treasure in thenoddy. But there was no one in the street, save three lounginglandscape-painters at Tentaillon's door. Jean-Marie opened the green gateand led in the horse and carriage; and almost at the same momentMadame Desprez came to the kitchen threshold with a lighted lantern; forthe moon was not yet high enough to clear the garden walls. 

"Close the gates, Jean-Marie!" cried the Doctor, somewhat unsteadilyalighting. --"Anastasie, where is Aline?"

"She has gone to Montereau to see her parents, " said madame. 

"All is for the best!" exclaimed the Doctor fervently. "Here quick, comenear to me; I do not wish to speak too loud, " he continued. "Darling, weare wealthy!"

"Wealthy!" repeated the wife. 

"I have found the treasure of Franchard, " replied her husband, "See, hereare the first-fruits; a pine-apple, a dress for my ever-beautiful--itwill suit her--trust a husband's, trust a lover's taste! Embrace me, darling! This grimy episode is over; the butterfly unfolds its paintedwings. To-morrow Casimir will come; in a week we may be in Paris--happyat last! You shall have diamonds. --Jean-Marie, take it out of the boot, with religious care, and bring it piece by piece into the dining-room. Weshall have plate at table! Darling, hasten and prepare this turtle; itwill be a whet--it will be an addition to our meagre ordinary. I myselfwill proceed to the cellar. We shall have a bottle of that littleBeaujolais you like, and finish with the Hermitage; there are still threebottles left. Worthy wine for a worthy occasion. "

"But, my husband, you put me in a whirl, " she cried. "I do notcomprehend. "

"The turtle, my adored, the turtle!" cried the Doctor; and he pushed hertowards the kitchen, lantern and all. 

Jean-Marie stood dumfoundered. He had pictured to himself a differentscene--a more immediate protest, and his hope began to dwindle on thespot. 

The Doctor was everywhere, a little doubtful on his legs, perhaps, andnow and then taking the wall with his shoulder; for it was long since hehad tasted absinthe, and he was even then reflecting that the absinthehad been a misconception. Not that he regretted excess on such aglorious day, but he made a mental memorandum to beware; he must not, asecond time, become the victim of a deleterious habit. He had his wineout of the cellar in a twinkling; he arranged the sacrificial vessels, some on the white table-cloth, some on the sideboard, still crusted withhistoric earth. He was in and out of the kitchen, plying Anastasie withvermouth, heating her with glimpses of the future, estimating their newwealth at ever larger figures; and before they sat down to supper, thelady's virtue had melted in the fire of his enthusiasm, her timidity haddisappeared; she, too, had begun to speak disparagingly of the life atGretz; and as she took her place and helped the soup, her eyes shone withthe glitter of prospective diamonds. 

All through the meal she and the Doctor made and unmade fairy plans. Theybobbed and bowed and pledged each other. Their faces ran over withsmiles; their eyes scattered sparkles, as they projected the Doctor'spolitical honours and the lady's drawing-room ovations. 

"But you will not be a Red!" cried Anastasie. 

"I am Left Centre to the core, " replied the Doctor. 

"Madame Gastein will present us--we shall find ourselves forgotten, " saidthe lady. 

"Never, " protested the Doctor. "Beauty and talent leave a mark. "

"I have positively forgotten how to dress, " she sighed. 

"Darling, you make me blush, " cried he. "Yours has been a tragicmarriage!"

"But your success--to see you appreciated, honoured, your name in all thepapers, that will be more than pleasure--it will be heaven!" she cried. 

"And once a week, " said the Doctor, archly scanning the syllables, "oncea week--one good little game of baccarat?"

"Only once a week?" she questioned, threatening him with a finger. 

"I swear it by my political honour, " cried he. 

"I spoil you, " she said, and gave him her hand. 

He covered it with kisses. 

Jean-Marie escaped into the night. The moon swung high over Gretz. Hewent down to the garden end and sat on the jetty. The river ran by witheddies of oily silver, and a low monotonous song. Faint veils of mistmoved among the poplars on the farther side. The reeds were quietlynodding. A hundred times already had the boy sat, on such a night, andwatched the streaming river with untroubled fancy. And this perhaps wasto be the last. He was to leave this familiar hamlet, this green, rustling country, this bright and quiet stream; he was to pass into thegreat city; his dear lady mistress was to move bedizened in saloons; hisgood, garrulous, kind-hearted master to become a brawling deputy; andboth be lost for ever to Jean-Marie and their better selves. He knew hisown defects; he knew he must sink into less and less consideration in theturmoil of a city life, sink more and more from the child into theservant. And he began dimly to believe the Doctor's prophecies of evil. He could see a change in both. His generous incredulity failed him forthis once; a child must have perceived that the Hermitage had completedwhat the absinthe had begun. If this were the first day, what would bethe last? "If necessary, wreck the train, " thought he, remembering theDoctor's parable. He looked round on the delightful scene; he drank deepof the charmed night-air, laden with the scent of hay. "If necessary, wreck the train, " he repeated. And he rose and returned to the house. 

FOOTNOTE:

 [2] Let it be so, for my tale!

 CHAPTER VI

 A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, IN TWO PARTS

The next morning there was a most unusual outcry in the Doctor's house. The last thing before going to bed, the Doctor had locked up somevaluables in the dining-room cupboard; and behold, when he rose again, ashe did about four o'clock, the cupboard had been broken open, and thevaluables in question had disappeared. Madame and Jean-Marie weresummoned from their rooms, and appeared in hasty toilets; they found theDoctor raving, calling the heavens to witness and avenge his injury, pacing the room barefooted, with the tails of his night-shirt flirting ashe turned. 

"Gone!" he said; "the things are gone, the fortune gone! We are paupersonce more. Boy! what do you know of this? Speak up, sir, speak up. Do youknow of it? Where are they?" He had him by the arm, shaking him like abag, and the boy's words, if he had any, were jolted forth ininarticulate murmurs. The Doctor, with a revulsion from his own violence, set him down again. He observed Anastasie in tears. "Anastasie, " he said, in quite an altered voice, "compose yourself, command your feelings. Iwould not have you give way to passion like the vulgar. This--thistrifling accident must be lived down. --Jean-Marie, bring me my smallermedicine-chest. A gentle laxative is indicated. "

And he dosed the family all round, leading the way himself with a doublequantity. The wretched Anastasie, who had never been ill in the wholecourse of her existence, and whose soul recoiled from remedies, weptfloods of tears as she sipped, and shuddered, and protested, and thenwas bullied and shouted at until she sipped again. As for Jean-Marie, hetook his portion down with stoicism. 

"I have given him a less amount, " observed the Doctor, "his youthprotecting him against emotion. And now that we have thus parried anymorbid consequences, let us reason. "

"I am so cold, " wailed Anastasie. 

"Cold!" cried the Doctor. "I give thanks to God that I am made of fieriermaterial. Why, madam, a blow like this would set a frog into atranspiration. If you are cold, you can retire; and, by the way, youmight throw me down my trousers. It is chilly for the legs. "

"Oh no!" protested Anastasie; "I will stay with you. "

"Nay, madam, you shall not suffer for your devotion, " said the Doctor. "Iwill myself fetch you a shawl. " And he went upstairs and returned morefully clad and with an armful of wraps for the shivering Anastasie. "Andnow, " he resumed, "to investigate this crime. Let us proceed byinduction. Anastasie, do you know anything that can help us?" Anastasieknew nothing. "Or you, Jean-Marie?"

"Not I, " replied the boy steadily. 

"Good, " returned the Doctor. "We shall now turn our attention to thematerial evidences. (I was born to be a detective; I have the eye and thesystematic spirit. ) First, violence has been employed. The door wasbroken open; and it may be observed, in passing, that the lock was dearindeed at what I paid for it: a crow to pluck with Master Goguelat. Second, here is the instrument employed, one of our own table-knives, oneof our best, my dear; which seems to indicate no preparation on the partof the gang--if gang it was. Thirdly, I observe that nothing has beenremoved except the Franchard dishes and the casket; our own silver hasbeen minutely respected. This is wily; it shows intelligence, a knowledgeof the code, a desire to avoid legal consequences. I argue from this factthat the gang numbers persons of respectability--outward, of course, andmerely outward, as the robbery proves. But I argue, second, that we musthave been observed at Franchard itself by some occult observer, anddogged throughout the day with a skill and patience that I venture toqualify as consummate. No ordinary man, no occasional criminal, wouldhave shown himself capable of this combination. We have in ourneighbourhood, it is far from improbable, a retired bandit of the highestorder of intelligence. "

"Good heaven!" cried the horrified Anastasie. "Henri, how can you?"

"My cherished one, this is a process of induction, " said the Doctor. "Ifany of my steps are unsound, correct me. You are silent? Then do not, Ibeseech you, be so vulgarly illogical as to revolt from my conclusion. Wehave now arrived, " he resumed, "at some idea of the composition of thegang--for I incline to the hypothesis of more than one--and we now leavethis room, which can disclose no more, and turn our attention to thecourt and garden. (Jean-Marie, I trust you are observantly following myvarious steps; this is an excellent piece of education for you. ) Comewith me to the door. No steps on the court; it is unfortunate our courtshould be paved. On what small matters hang the destiny of these delicateinvestigations! Hey! What have we here? I have led you to the very spot, "he said, standing grandly backward and indicating the green gate. "Anescalade, as you can now see for yourselves, has taken place. "

Sure enough, the green paint was in several places scratched and broken;and one of the panels preserved the print of a nailed shoe. The foot hadslipped, however, and it was difficult to estimate the size of the shoe, and impossible to distinguish the pattern of the nails. 

"The whole robbery, " concluded the Doctor, "step by step, has beenreconstituted. Inductive science can no further go. "

"It is wonderful, " said his wife. "You should indeed have been adetective, Henri. I had no idea of your talents. "

"My dear, " replied Desprez condescendingly, "a man of scientificimagination combines the lesser faculties; he is a detective just as heis a publicist or a general; these are but local applications of hisspecial talent. But now, " he continued, "would you have me go further?Would you have me lay my finger on the culprits--or rather, for I cannotpromise quite so much, point out to you the very house where theyconsort? It may be a satisfaction, at least it is all we are likely toget, since we are denied the remedy of law. I reach the further stage inthis way. In order to fill my outline of the robbery, I require a manlikely to be in the forest idling, I require a man of education, Irequire a man superior to considerations of morality. The threerequisites all centre in Tentaillon's boarders. They are painters, therefore they are continually lounging in the forest. They are painters, therefore they are not unlikely to have some smattering of education. Lastly, because they are painters, they are probably immoral. And this Iprove in two ways. First, painting is an art which merely addresses theeye; it does not in any particular exercise the moral sense. And second, painting, in common with all the other arts, implies the dangerousquality of imagination. A man of imagination is never moral; he outsoarsliteral demarcations and reviews life under too many shifting lights torest content with the invidious distinctions of the law!"

"But you always say--at least, so I understood you"--said madame, "thatthese lads display no imagination whatever. "

"My dear, they displayed imagination, and of a very fantastic order too, "returned the Doctor, "when they embraced their beggarly profession. Besides--and this is an argument exactly suited to your intellectuallevel--many of them are English and American. Where else should we expectto find a thief?--And now you had better get your coffee. Because we havelost a treasure, there is no reason for starving. For my part, I shallbreak my fast with white wine. I feel unaccountably heated and thirstyto-day. I can only attribute it to the shock of the discovery. And yet, you will bear me out, I supported the emotion nobly. "

The Doctor had now talked himself back into an admirable humour; and ashe sat in the arbour and slowly imbibed a large allowance of white wineand picked a little bread and cheese with no very impetuous appetite, ifa third of his meditations ran upon the missing treasure, the othertwo-thirds were more pleasingly busied in the retrospect of his detectiveskill. 

About eleven Casimir arrived; he had caught an early train toFontainebleau, and driven over, to save time; and now his cab was stabledat Tentaillon's, and he remarked, studying his watch, that he could sparean hour and a half. He was much the man of business, decisively spoken, given to frowning in an intellectual manner. Anastasie's born brother, hedid not waste much sentiment on the lady, gave her an English familykiss, and demanded a meal without delay. 

"You can tell me your story while we eat, " he observed. "Anything goodto-day, Stasie?"

He was promised something good. The trio sat down to table in the arbour, Jean-Marie waiting as well as eating, and the Doctor recounted what hadhappened in his richest narrative manner. Casimir heard it withexplosions of laughter. 

"What a streak of luck for you, my good brother, " he observed, when thetale was over. "If you had gone to Paris, you would have playeddick-duck-drake with the whole consignment in three months. Your ownwould have followed; and you would have come to me in a procession likethe last time. But I give you warning--Stasie may weep and Henriratiocinate--it will not serve you twice. Your next collapse will befatal. I thought I had told you so, Stasie? Hey? No sense?"

The Doctor winced and looked furtively at Jean-Marie; but the boy seemedapathetic. 

"And then again, " broke out Casimir, "what children you are--viciouschildren, my faith! How could you tell the value of this trash? It mighthave been worth nothing, or next door. "

"Pardon me, " said the Doctor. "You have your usual flow of spirits, Iperceive, but even less than your usual deliberation. I am not entirelyignorant of these matters. "

"Not entirely ignorant of anything ever I heard of, " interrupted Casimir, bowing, and raising his glass with a sort of pert politeness. 

"At least, " resumed the Doctor, "I gave my mind to the subject--that youmay be willing to believe--and I estimated that our capital would bedoubled. " And he described the nature of the find. 

"My word of honour!" said Casimir, "I half believe you! But much woulddepend on the quality of the gold. "

"The quality, my dear Casimir, was----" And the Doctor, in default oflanguage, kissed his finger-tips. 

"I would not take your word for it, my good friend, " retorted the man ofbusiness. "You are a man of very rosy views. But this robbery, " hecontinued--"this robbery is an odd thing. Of course I pass over yournonsense about gangs and landscape-painters. For me, that is a dream. Whowas in the house last night?"

"None but ourselves, " replied the Doctor. 

"And this young gentleman?" asked Casimir, jerking a nod in the directionof Jean-Marie. 

"He too"--the Doctor bowed. 

"Well; and, if it is a fair question, who is he?" pursued thebrother-in-law. 

"Jean-Marie, " answered the Doctor, "combines the functions of a son andstable-boy. He began as the latter, but he rose rapidly to the morehonourable rank in our affections. He is, I may say, the greatest comfortin our lives. "

"Ha!" said Casimir. "And previous to becoming one of you?"

"Jean-Marie has lived a remarkable existence; his experience has beeneminently formative, " replied Desprez. "If I had had to choose aneducation for my son, I should have chosen such another. Beginning lifewith mountebanks and thieves, passing onward to the society andfriendship of philosophers, he may be said to have skimmed the volume ofhuman life. "

"Thieves?" repeated the brother-in-law, with a meditative air. 

The Doctor could have bitten his tongue out. He foresaw what was coming, and prepared his mind for a vigorous defence. 

"Did you ever steal yourself?" asked Casimir, turning suddenly onJean-Marie, and for the first time employing a single eyeglass which hunground his neck. 

"Yes, sir, " replied the boy, with a deep blush. 

Casimir turned to the others with pursed lips, and nodded to themmeaningly. "Hey?" said he; "how is that?"

"Jean-Marie is a teller of the truth, " returned the Doctor, throwing outhis bust. 

"He has never told a lie, " added madame. "He is the best of boys. "

"Never told a lie, has he not?" reflected Casimir. "Strange, verystrange. Give me your attention, my young friend, " he continued. "Youknew about this treasure?"

"He helped to bring it home, " interposed the Doctor. 

"Desprez, I ask you nothing but to hold your tongue, " returned Casimir. "I mean to question this stable-boy of yours; and if you are so certainof his innocence, you can afford to let him answer for himself. --Now, sir, " he resumed, pointing his eyeglass straight at Jean-Marie. "You knewit could be stolen with impunity? You knew you could not be prosecuted?Come! Did you, or did you not?"

"I did, " answered Jean-Marie, in a miserable whisper. He sat therechanging colour like a revolving pharos, twisting his fingershysterically, swallowing air, the picture of guilt. 

"You knew where it was put?" resumed the inquisitor. 

"Yes, " from Jean-Marie. 

"You say you have been a thief before, " continued Casimir. "Now, how am Ito know that you are not one still? I suppose you could climb the greengate?"

"Yes, " still lower, from the culprit. 

"Well, then, it was you who stole these things. You know it, and you darenot deny it. Look me in the face! Raise your sneak's eyes, and answer!"

But in place of anything of that sort Jean-Marie broke into a dismal howland fled from the arbour. Anastasie, as she pursued to capture andreassure the victim, found time to send one Parthian arrow--"Casimir, youare a brute!"

"My brother, " said Desprez, with the greatest dignity, "you take uponyourself a licence----"

"Desprez, " interrupted Casimir, "for Heaven's sake be a man of the world. You telegraph me to leave my business and come down here on yours. Icome, I ask the business, you say, 'Find me this thief!' Well, I findhim; I say 'There he is!' You need not like it, but you have no manner ofright to take offence. "

"Well, " returned the Doctor, "I grant that; I will even thank you foryour mistaken zeal. But your hypothesis was so extravagantlymonstrous----"

"Look here, " interrupted Casimir; "was it you or Stasie?"

"Certainly not, " answered the Doctor. 

"Very well; then it was the boy. Say no more about it, " said thebrother-in-law, and he produced his cigar-case. 

"I will say this much more, " returned Desprez: "if that boy came and toldme so himself, I should not believe him; and if I did believe him, soimplicit is my trust, I should conclude that he had acted for the best. "

"Well, well, " said Casimir indulgently. "Have you a light? I must begoing. And by the way, I wish you would let me sell your Turks for you. I always told you, it meant smash. I tell you so again. Indeed, it waspartly that which brought me down. You never acknowledge my letters--amost unpardonable habit. "

"My good brother, " replied the Doctor blandly, "I have never denied yourability in business; but I can perceive your limitations. "

"Egad, my friend, I can return the compliment, " observed the man ofbusiness. "Your limitation is to be downright irrational. "

"Observe the relative position, " returned the Doctor, with a smile. "Itis your attitude to believe through thick and thin in one man'sjudgment--your own. I follow the same opinion, but critically and withopen eyes. Which is the more irrational? I leave it to yourself. "

"Oh, my dear fellow!" cried Casimir, "stick to your Turks, stick to yourstable-boy, go to the devil in general in your own way and be done withit. But don't ratiocinate with me--I cannot bear it. And so, ta-ta. Imight as well have stayed away for any good I've done. Say good-bye fromme to Stasie, and to the sullen hang-dog of a stable-boy, if you insiston it; I'm off. "

And Casimir departed. The Doctor, that night, dissected his characterbefore Anastasie. "One thing, my beautiful, " he said, "he has learned onething from his lifelong acquaintance with your husband: the word_ratiocinate_. It shines in his vocabulary like a jewel in a muck-heap. And, even so, he continually misapplies it. For you must have observed heuses it as a sort of taunt, in the sense of _to ergotise_, implying, asit were--the poor, dear fellow!--a vein of sophistry. As for his crueltyto Jean-Marie, it must be forgiven him--it is not his nature, it is thenature of his life. A man who deals with money, my dear, is a man lost. "

With Jean-Marie the process of reconciliation had been somewhat slow. Atfirst he was inconsolable, insisted on leaving the family, went fromparoxysm to paroxysm of tears; and it was only after Anastasie had beencloseted for an hour with him, alone, that she came forth, sought out theDoctor, and, with tears in her eyes, acquainted that gentleman with whathad passed. 

"At first, my husband, he would hear of nothing, " she said. "Imagine! ifhe had left us! what would the treasure be to that? Horrible treasure, ithas brought all this about! At last, after he has sobbed his very heartout, he agrees to stay on a condition--we are not to mention this matter, this infamous suspicion, not even to mention the robbery. On thatagreement only, the poor, cruel boy will consent to remain among hisfriends. "

"But this inhibition, " said the Doctor, "this embargo--it cannot possiblyapply to me?"

"To all of us, " Anastasie assured him. 

"My cherished one, " Desprez protested, "you must have misunderstood. Itcannot apply to me. He would naturally come to me. "

"Henri, " she said, "it does; I swear to you it does. "

"This is a painful, a very painful circumstance, " the Doctor said, looking a little black. "I cannot affect, Anastasie, to be anything butjustly wounded. I feel this--I feel it, my wife, acutely. "

"I knew you would, " she said. "But if you had seen his distress! We mustmake allowances, we must sacrifice our feelings. "

"I trust, my dear, you have never found me averse to sacrifices, " saidthe Doctor very stiffly. 

"And you will let me go and tell him that you have agreed? It will belike your noble nature, " she cried. 

So it would, he perceived--it would be like his noble nature! Up jumpedhis spirits, triumphant at the thought. "Go, darling, " he said nobly, "reassure him. The subject is buried; more--I make an effort, I haveaccustomed my will to these exertions--and it is forgotten. "

A little after, but still with swollen eyes and looking mortallysheepish, Jean-Marie reappeared and went ostentatiously about hisbusiness. He was the only unhappy member of the party that sat down thatnight to supper. As for the Doctor, he was radiant. He then sang therequiem of the treasure:--

"This has been, on the whole, a most amusing episode, " he said. "We arenot a penny the worse--nay, we are immensely gainers. Our philosophy hasbeen exercised; some of the turtle is still left--the most wholesome ofdelicacies; I have my staff, Anastasie has her new dress, Jean-Marie isthe proud possessor of a fashionable képi. Besides, we had a glass ofHermitage last night; the glow still suffuses my memory. I was growingpositively niggardly with that Hermitage, positively niggardly. Let metake the hint: we had one bottle to celebrate the appearance of ourvisionary fortune; let us have a second to console us for itsoccultation. The third I hereby dedicate to Jean-Marie's weddingbreakfast. "

 CHAPTER VII

 THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DESPREZ

The Doctor's house has not yet received the compliment of a description, and it is now high time that the omission were supplied, for the house isitself an actor in the story, and one whose part is nearly at an end. Twostories in height, walls of a warm yellow, tiles of an ancient ruddybrown diversified with moss and lichen, it stood with one wall to thestreet in the angle of the Doctor's property. It was roomy, draughty, andinconvenient. The large rafters were here and there engraven with rudemarks and patterns; the hand-rail of the stair was carved in countrifiedarabesque; a stout timber pillar, which did duty to support thedining-room roof, bore mysterious characters on its darker side, runes, according to the Doctor; nor did he fail, when he ran over the legendaryhistory of the house and its possessors, to dwell upon the Scandinavianscholar who had left them. Floors, doors, and rafters made a greatvariety of angles; every room had a particular inclination; the gable hadtilted towards the garden, after the manner of a leaning tower, and oneof the former proprietors had buttressed the building from that side witha great strut of wood, like the derrick of a crane. Altogether, it hadmany marks of ruin; it was a house for the rats to desert; and nothingbut its excellent brightness--the window-glass polished and shining, thepaint well scoured, the brasses radiant, the very prop all wreathed aboutwith climbing flowers--nothing but its air of a well-tended, smilingveteran, sitting, crutch and all, in the sunny corner of a garden, markedit as a house for comfortable people to inhabit. In poor or idlemanagement it would soon have hurried into the blackguard stages ofdecay. As it was, the whole family loved it, and the Doctor was neverbetter inspired than when he narrated its imaginary story and drew thecharacter of its successive masters, from the Hebrew merchant who hadre-edified its walls after the sack of the town, and past the mysteriousengraver of the runes, down to the long-headed, dirty-handed boor fromwhom he had himself acquired it at a ruinous expense. As for any alarmabout its security, the idea had never presented itself. What had stoodfour centuries might well endure a little longer. 

Indeed, in this particular winter, after the finding and losing of thetreasure, the Desprez had an anxiety of a very different order, and onewhich lay nearer their hearts. Jean-Marie was plainly not himself. He hadfits of hectic activity, when he made unusual exertions to please, spokemore and faster, and redoubled in attention to his lessons. But thesewere interrupted by spells of melancholia and brooding silence, when theboy was little better than unbearable. 

"Silence, " the Doctor moralised--"you see, Anastasie, what comes ofsilence. Had the boy properly unbosomed himself, the littledisappointment about the treasure, the little annoyance about Casimir'sincivility, would long ago have been forgotten. As it is, they prey uponhim like a disease. He loses flesh, his appetite is variable and, on thewhole, impaired. I keep him on the strictest regimen, I exhibit the mostpowerful tonics; both in vain. "

"Don't you think you drug him too much?" asked madame, with anirrepressible shudder. 

"Drug?" cried the Doctor; "I drug? Anastasie, you are mad!"

Time went on, and the boy's health still slowly declined. The Doctorblamed the weather, which was cold and boisterous. He called in his_confrère_ from Bourron, took a fancy for him, magnified his capacity, and was pretty soon under treatment himself--it scarcely appeared forwhat complaint. He and Jean-Marie had each medicine to take at differentperiods of the day. The Doctor used to lie in wait for the exact moment, watch in hand. "There is nothing like regularity, " he would say, fill outthe doses, and dilate on the virtues of the draught; and if the boyseemed none the better, the Doctor was not at all the worse. 

Gunpowder Day, the boy was particularly low. It was scowling, squallyweather. Huge broken companies of cloud sailed swiftly overhead; rakinggleams of sunlight swept the village, and were followed by intervals ofdarkness and white, flying rain. At times the wind lifted up its voiceand bellowed. The trees were all scourging themselves along the meadows, the last leaves flying like dust. 

The Doctor, between the boy and the weather, was in his element; he had atheory to prove. He sat with his watch out and a barometer in front ofhim, waiting for the squalls and noting their effect upon the humanpulse. "For the true philosopher, " he remarked delightedly, "every factin nature is a toy. " A letter came to him; but, as its arrival coincidedwith the approach of another gust, he merely crammed it into his pocket, gave the time to Jean-Marie, and the next moment they were both countingtheir pulses as if for a wager. 

At nightfall the wind rose into a tempest. It besieged the hamlet, apparently from every side, as if with batteries of cannon; the housesshook and groaned; live coals were blown upon the floor. The uproar andterror of the night kept people long awake, sitting with pallid facesgiving ear. 

It was twelve before the Desprez family retired. By half-past one, whenthe storm was already somewhat past its height, the Doctor was awakenedfrom a troubled slumber, and sat up. A noise still rang in his ears, butwhether of this world or the world of dreams he was not certain. Anotherclap of wind followed. It was accompanied by a sickening movement of thewhole house, and in the subsequent lull Desprez could hear the tilespouring like a cataract into the loft above his head. He pluckedAnastasie bodily out of bed. 

"Run!" he cried, thrusting some wearing apparel into her hands; "thehouse is falling! To the garden!"

She did not pause to be twice bidden; she was down the stair in aninstant. She had never before suspected herself of such activity. TheDoctor meanwhile, with the speed of a piece of pantomime business, andundeterred by broken shins, proceeded to rout out Jean-Marie, tore Alinefrom her virgin slumbers, seized her by the hand, and tumbled downstairsand into the garden, with the girl tumbling behind him, still not halfawake. 

The fugitives rendezvoused in the arbour by some common instinct. Thencame a bull's-eye flash of struggling moonshine, which disclosed theirfour figures standing huddled from the wind in a raffle of flyingdrapery, and not without a considerable need for more. At the humiliatingspectacle Anastasie clutched her night-dress desperately about her andburst loudly into tears. The Doctor flew to console her; but she elbowedhim away. She suspected everybody of being the general public, andthought the darkness was alive with eyes. 

Another gleam and another violent gust arrived together; the house wasseen to rock on its foundation, and, just as the light was once moreeclipsed, a crash which triumphed over the shouting of the wind announcedits fall, and for a moment the whole garden was alive with skipping tilesand brickbats. One such missile grazed the Doctor's ear; anotherdescended on the bare foot of Aline, who instantly made night hideouswith her shrieks. 

By this time the hamlet was alarmed, lights flashed from the windows, hails reached the party, and the Doctor answered, nobly contendingagainst Aline and the tempest. But this prospect of help only awakenedAnastasie to a more active stage of terror. 

"Henri, people will be coming, " she screamed in her husband's ear. 

"I trust so, " he replied. 

"They cannot. I would rather die, " she wailed. 

"My dear, " said the Doctor reprovingly, "you are excited. I gave you someclothes. What have you done with them?"

"Oh, I don't know--I must have thrown them away! Where are they?" shesobbed. 

Desprez groped about in the darkness. "Admirable!" he remarked; "my greyvelveteen trousers! This will exactly meet your necessities. "

"Give them to me!" she cried fiercely; but as soon as she had them in herhands her mood appeared to alter--she stood silent for a moment, and thenpressed the garment back upon the Doctor. "Give it to Aline, " shesaid--"poor girl. "

"Nonsense!" said the Doctor. "Aline does not know what she is about. Aline is beside herself with terror; and, at any rate, she is a peasant. Now, I am really concerned at this exposure for a person of yourhousekeeping habits; my solicitude and your fantastic modesty both pointto the same remedy--the pantaloons. " He held them ready. 

"It is impossible. You do not understand, " she said with dignity. 

By this time rescue was at hand. It had been found impracticable to enterby the street, for the gate was blocked with masonry, and the noddingruin still threatened further avalanches. But between the Doctor's gardenand the one on the right hand there was that very picturesquecontrivance--a common well; the door on the Desprez side had chanced tobe unbolted, and now, through the arched aperture, a man's bearded faceand an arm supporting a lantern were introduced into the world of windydarkness, where Anastasie concealed her woes. The light struck here andthere among the tossing apple boughs, it glinted on the grass; but thelantern and the glowing face became the centre of the world. Anastasiecrouched back from the intrusion. 

"This way!" shouted the man. "Are you all safe?"

Aline, still screaming, ran to the new-comer, and was presently hauledhead-foremost through the wall. 

"Now, Anastasie, come on; it is your turn, " said the husband. 

"I cannot, " she replied. 

"Are we all to die of exposure, madame?" thundered Doctor Desprez. 

"You can go!" she cried. "Oh, go, go away! I can stay here; I am quitewarm. "

The Doctor took her by the shoulders with an oath. 

"Stop!" she screamed. "I will put them on. "

She took the detested lendings in her hand once more; but her repulsionwas stronger than shame. "Never!" she cried, shuddering, and flung themfar away into the night. 

Next moment the Doctor had whirled her to the well. The man was there, and the lantern; Anastasie closed her eyes and appeared to herself to beabout to die. How she was transported through the arch she knew not; butonce on the other side she was received by the neighbour's wife, andenveloped in a friendly blanket. 

Beds were made ready for the two women, clothes of very various sizes forthe Doctor and Jean-Marie; and for the remainder of the night, whilemadame dozed in and out on the borderland of hysterics, her husband satbeside the fire and held forth to the admiring neighbours. He showedthem, at length, the causes of the accident; for years, he explained, thefall had been impending; one sign had followed another: the joints hadopened, the plaster had cracked, the old walls bowed inward; last, notthree weeks ago, the cellar-door had begun to work with difficulty in itsgrooves. "The cellar!" he said, gravely shaking his head over a glass ofmulled wine. "That reminds me of my poor vintages. By a manifestprovidence the Hermitage was nearly at an end. One bottle--I lose but onebottle of that incomparable wine. It had been set apart againstJean-Marie's wedding. Well, I must lay down some more; it will be aninterest in life. I am, however, a man somewhat advanced in years. Mygreat work is now buried in the fall of my humble roof; it will never becompleted--my name will have been writ in water. And yet you find mecalm--I would say cheerful. Can your priest do more?"

By the first glimpse of day the party sallied forth from the firesideinto the street. The wind had fallen, but still charioted a world oftroubled clouds; the air bit like frost; and the party, as they stoodabout the ruins in the rainy twilight of the morning, beat upon theirbreasts and blew into their hands for warmth. The house had entirelyfallen, the walls outward, the roof in; it was a mere heap of rubbish, with here and there a forlorn spear of broken rafter. A sentinel wasplaced over the ruins to protect the property, and the party adjourned toTentaillon's to break their fast at the Doctor's expense. The bottlecirculated somewhat freely; and before they left the table it had begunto snow. 

For three days the snow continued to fall, and the ruins, covered withtarpaulin and watched by sentries, were left undisturbed. The Desprezmeanwhile had taken up their abode at Tentaillon's. Madame spent her timein the kitchen, concocting little delicacies, with the admiring aid ofMadame Tentaillon, or sitting by the fire in thoughtful abstraction. Thefall of the house affected her wonderfully little; that blow had beenparried by another; and in her mind she was continually fighting overagain the battle of the trousers. Had she done right? Had she done wrong?And now she would applaud her determination; and anon, with a horridflush of unavailing penitence, she would regret the trousers. No juncturein her life had so much exercised her judgment. In the meantime theDoctor had become vastly pleased with his situation. Two of the summerboarders still lingered behind the rest, prisoners for lack of aremittance; they were both English, but one of them spoke French prettyfluently, and was, besides, a humorous, agile-minded fellow, with whomthe Doctor could reason by the hour, secure of comprehension. Many werethe glasses they emptied, many the topics they discussed. 

"Anastasie, " the Doctor said on the third morning, "take an example fromyour husband, from Jean-Marie! The excitement has done more for the boythan all my tonics, he takes his turn as sentry with positive gusto. Asfor me, you behold me. I have made friends with the Egyptians; and myPharaoh is, I swear it, a most agreeable companion. You alone are hipped. About a house--a few dresses? What are they in comparison to the'Pharmacopoeia'--the labour of years lying buried below stones andsticks in this depressing hamlet? The snow falls; I shake it from mycloak! Imitate me. Our income will be impaired, I grant it, since we mustrebuild; but moderation, patience, and philosophy will gather about thehearth. In the meanwhile, the Tentaillons are obliging; the table, withyour additions, will pass; only the wine is execrable--well, I shall sendfor some to-day. My Pharaoh will be gratified to drink a decent glass;aha! and I shall see if he possesses that acme of organisation--a palate. If he has a palate, he is perfect. "

"Henri, " she said, shaking her head, "you are a man; you cannotunderstand my feelings; no woman could shake off the memory of so publica humiliation. "

The Doctor could not restrain a titter. "Pardon me, darling, " he said;"but really, to the philosophical intelligence, the incident appears sosmall a trifle. You looked extremely well----"

"Henri!" she cried. 

"Well, well, I will say no more, " he replied. "Though, to be sure, if youhad consented to indue----_À propos_, " he broke off, "and my trousers!They are lying in the snow--my favourite trousers!" And he dashed inquest of Jean-Marie. 

Two hours afterwards the boy returned to the inn with a spade under onearm and a curious sop of clothing under the other. 

The Doctor ruefully took it in his hands. "They have been!" he said. "Their tense is past. Excellent pantaloons, you are no more! Stay, something in the pocket, " and he produced a piece of paper. "A letter! ay, now I mind me; it was received on the morning of the gale, when I wasabsorbed in delicate investigations. It is still legible. From poor dearCasimir! It is as well, " he chuckled, "that I have educated him topatience. Poor Casimir and his correspondence--his infinitesimal, timorous, idiotic correspondence!"

He had by this time cautiously unfolded the wet letter; but, as he benthimself to decipher the writing, a cloud descended on his brow. 

"_Bigre!_" he cried, with a galvanic start. 

And then the letter was whipped into the fire, and the Doctor's cap wason his head in the turn of a hand. 

"Ten minutes! I can catch it, if I run, " he cried. "It is always late. Igo to Paris. I shall telegraph. "

"Henri! what is wrong?" cried his wife. 

"Ottoman Bonds!" came from the disappearing Doctor; and Anastasie andJean-Marie were left face to face with the wet trousers. Desprez had goneto Paris, for the second time in seven years; he had gone to Paris with apair of wooden shoes, a knitted spencer, a black blouse, a countrynightcap, and twenty francs in his pocket. The fall of the house was buta secondary marvel; the whole world might have fallen and scarce left hisfamily more petrified. 

 CHAPTER VIII

 THE WAGES OF PHILOSOPHY

On the morning of the next day, the Doctor, a mere spectre of himself, was brought back in the custody of Casimir. They found Anastasie and theboy sitting together by the fire; and Desprez, who had exchanged histoilette for a ready-made rig-out of poor materials, waved his hand as heentered, and sank speechless on the nearest chair. Madame turned directto Casimir. 

"What is wrong?" she cried. 

"Well, " replied Casimir, "what have I told you all along? It has come. Itis a clean shave this time; so you may as well bear up and make the bestof it. House down, too, eh? Bad luck, upon my soul!"

"Are we--are we--ruined?" she gasped. 

The Doctor stretched out his arms to her. "Ruined, " he replied, "you areruined by your sinister husband. "

Casimir observed the consequent embrace through his eyeglass; then heturned to Jean-Marie. "You hear?" he said. "They are ruined; no morepickings, no more house, no more fat cutlets. It strikes me, my friend, that you had best be packing; the present speculation is about workedout. " And he nodded to him meaningly. 

"Never!" cried Desprez, springing up. "Jean-Marie, if you prefer to leaveme, now that I am poor, you can go; you shall receive your hundredfrancs, if so much remains to me. But if you will consent to stay"--theDoctor wept a little--"Casimir offers me a place--as clerk, " he resumed. "The emoluments are slender, but they will be enough for three. It is toomuch already to have lost my fortune; must I lose my son?"

Jean-Marie sobbed bitterly, but without a word. 

"I don't like boys who cry, " observed Casimir. "This one is alwayscrying. --Here! you clear out of this for a little; I have business withyour master and mistress, and these domestic feelings may be settledafter I am gone. March!" and he held the door open. 

Jean-Marie slunk out, like a detected thief. 

By twelve they were all at table but Jean-Marie. 

"Hey?" said Casimir. "Gone, you see. Took the hint at once. "

"I do not, I confess, " said Desprez, "I do not seek to excuse hisabsence. It speaks a want of heart that disappoints me sorely. "

"Want of manners, " corrected Casimir. "Heart he never had. Why, Desprez, for a clever fellow, you are the most gullible mortal in creation. Yourignorance of human nature and human business is beyond belief. You areswindled by heathen Turks, swindled by vagabond children, swindled rightand left, upstairs and downstairs. I think it must be your imagination. Ithank my stars I have none. "

"Pardon me, " replied Desprez, still humbly, but with a return of spiritat sight of a distinction to be drawn; "pardon me, Casimir. You possess, even to an eminent degree, the commercial imagination. It was the lack ofthat in me--it appears it is my weak point--that has led to theserepeated shocks. By the commercial imagination the financier forecaststhe destiny of his investments, marks the falling house----"

"Egad, " interrupted Casimir: "our friend the stable-boy appears to havehis share of it. "

The Doctor was silenced; and the meal was continued and finishedprincipally to the tune of the brother-in-law's not very consolatoryconversation. He entirely ignored the two young English painters, turninga blind eyeglass to their salutations, and continuing his remarks as ifhe were alone in the bosom of his family; and with every second word heripped another stitch out of the air-balloon of Desprez' vanity. By thetime coffee was over the poor Doctor was as limp as a napkin. 

"Let us go and see the ruins, " said Casimir. 

They strolled forth into the street. The fall of the house, like the lossof a front tooth, had quite transformed the village. Through the gap theeye commanded a great stretch of open snowy country, and the place shrankin comparison. It was like a room with an open door. The sentinel stoodby the green gate, looking very red and cold, but he had a pleasant wordfor the Doctor and his wealthy kinsman. 

Casimir looked at the mound of ruins, he tried the quality of thetarpaulin. "H'm, " he said, "I hope the cellar arch has stood. If it has, my good brother, I will give you a good price for the wines. "

"We shall start digging to-morrow, " said the sentry. "There is no morefear of snow. "

"My friend, " returned Casimir sententiously, "you had better wait tillyou get paid. "

The Doctor winced, and began dragging his offensive brother-in-lawtowards Tentaillon's. In the house there would be fewer auditors, andthese already in the secret of his fall. 

"Hullo!" cried Casimir, "there goes the stable-boy with his luggage; no, egad, he is taking it into the inn. "

And sure enough, Jean-Marie was seen to cross the snowy street and enterTentaillon's, staggering under a large hamper. 

The Doctor stopped with a sudden, wild hope. 

"What can he have?" he said. "Let us go and see. " And he hurried on. 

"His luggage, to be sure, " answered Casimir. "He is on the move--thanksto the commercial imagination. "

"I have not seen that hamper for--for ever so long, " remarked the Doctor. 

"Nor will you see it much longer, " chuckled Casimir, "unless, indeed, weinterfere. And by the way, I insist on an examination. "

"You will not require, " said Desprez, positively with a sob; and, castinga moist, triumphant glance at Casimir, he began to run. 

"What the devil is up with him, I wonder?" Casimir reflected; and then, curiosity taking the upper hand, he followed the Doctor's example andtook to his heels. 

The hamper was so heavy and large, and Jean-Marie himself so little andso weary, that it had taken him a great while to bundle it upstairs tothe Desprez' private room; and he had just set it down on the floor infront of Anastasie, when the Doctor arrived, and was closely followed bythe man of business. Boy and hamper were both in a most sorry plight; forthe one had passed four months underground in a certain cave on the wayto Achères, and the other had run about five miles as hard as his legswould carry him, half that distance under a staggering weight. 

"Jean-Marie, " cried the Doctor, in a voice that was only too seraphic tobe called hysterical, "is it----? It is!" he cried. "Oh, my son, my son!"And he sat down upon the hamper and sobbed like a little child. 

"You will not go to Paris now, " said Jean-Marie sheepishly. 

"Casimir, " said Desprez, raising his wet face, "do you see that boy, thatangel boy? He is the thief; he took the treasure from a man unfit to beentrusted with its use; he brings it back to me when I am sobered andhumbled. These, Casimir, are the Fruits of my Teaching, and this momentis the Reward of my Life. "

"_Tiens_, " said Casimir. 

 END OF VOL. VI

 * * * * *

PRINTED BY CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E. C.