Chapter 8 & 9

Chapter 8

My Life Hangs in the Balance

After I taunted the pirates, Silver’s men were itching to punish me. One stepped toward me, but Silver stopped him.

“Stop there!” he cried. “You’re not the cap’n here. I’ll teach you! Cross me, and you’ll go where many a man’s gone before—to feed the fishes!”

Silver’s man stepped back, but an audible murmur rose from the other men.

“No one lays a finger on the boy!” Silver growled.

After this there was a long, uneasy silence. I stood straight up against the wall, with my heart beating like a sledgehammer. Silver leaned back against the wall, with his arms crossed and his pipe in the corner of his mouth, as calm as could be. But he kept one eye on his unruly followers.

The other pirates drew together at the far end of the log house and began to whisper among themselves. One after another, they would look up, but it was not me they were looking at. It was Silver. Eventually they went outside, leaving Silver and me alone.

“Now, look here, Hawkins,” Silver said in a whisper that was barely audible. “You’re within half a plank of death. They’re going to try to throw me off, but I’ll stand by you through thick and thin. I didn’t mean to. No, not till you spoke, but now I see what sort of man you are. You stand by me, and I’ll stand by you. I’ll save your life if I can—but, if I do, it’s tit for tat, Jim. You’ve got to help me out if I get into a sticky spot with the squire and your people. You’ve got to do what you can to save John Silver.”

I was bewildered. It seemed a hopeless thing he was asking. After all, he had been the ringleader from the beginning. I told him I would do what I could if it should come to that.

“Then, it’s a bargain!” he said, still whispering. “I’m on the squire’s side from now on, and you and I will stick together.”

We sat in silence for a few moments and then Silver continued, “While we’re sittin’ here, perhaps you can explain somethin’. Why do you suppose the doctor decided to give me Flint’s map?” he asked.

My face must have expressed complete astonishment. I could not imagine why Dr. Livesey would have given Silver the map, and I wondered if he really had. Silver saw that I was surprised, but he did not press me for an answer.

“There’s a reason for it, no doubt,” he said, shaking his head like a man who expects the worst.

Just then the door opened, and one of the mutineers stepped in. Or, more like it, he was pushed in by the others. He was visibly trembling.

“Don’t worry, lad,” said Silver. “I won’t eat you. I know what’s happening.”

The buccaneer presented a slip of paper to Silver.

“The black spot!” said Silver. “I thought so. They’re fixin’ to mutiny.”

Silver didn’t waste a second. He called the others in. “Let’s hear your grievances,” he said. “Then I’ll give you an answer.”

A pirate by the name of George Merry laid out the case against Silver: “You’ve made a mess of this cruise, John,” he said. “You let the enemy out o’ this here trap for nothin’. Then you wouldn’t let us go after them, and, on top of it all, you insist on protecting the boy.”

“Is that all?” asked Silver quietly.

“I’d say that’s enough!” retorted Merry.

“Well, now, look here,” said Silver. “I’ll answer these points, one after another, I’ll answer ’em. I made a mess of this cruise, did I?

You all know what my plan was, and if we had stuck to it, we’d a been aboard the Hispaniola this night, every man of us alive, and the treasure stowed safely in the hold. Now you have the insolence to stand for cap’n over me—you, that sank the lot of us!”

Silver paused, and I could see by the other men’s faces that these words had not been said in vain.

“You say this cruise is ruined,” Silver continued. “By gum, you’re right about that. We’re close to being locked up, but there’s one thing that may save us yet and that’s this boy. You scurvy dogs want to kill him? What sort of a fool plan is that? Much better to keep him alive. Maybe you didn’t know that there’s a rescue boat coming to get these gentlemen, but there is, and when that boat arrives, you’ll be glad we have a hostage to bargain with.”

Silver spat on the ground and went on, “And as for why I made a bargain with the squire, well, look here!” As he spoke, he pulled the map out of his pocket. “Right here’s why I done it!”

I looked and saw that it was the map with the three red crosses, the one I had found in the captain’s sea chest. Dr. Livesey really had given it to Silver! But why? I could not imagine.

The other mutineers were stunned, too. They leaped on the map like ravenous beasts. It was passed from hand to hand, one tearing it from another, and by the oaths and the cries and the childish laughter with which they accompanied their examination, you would have thought they were fingering the gold itself, already loaded safely on the ship.

“Yes,” said one, “it’s Flint’s writing, sure enough!”

“Then there’s hope in it yet!” exclaimed another.

"Mighty pretty!" said George Merry. "But how are we to get away with the treasure now that the ship's gone?"

"How are we supposed to get away?" Silver barked angrily. "You ought to tell me—you and the rest that lost me my schooner! But no, you can't! You haven't got the invention of a cockroach. You lost the ship; I found the treasure. Who's the better man? By thunder, I resign! You can elect a new cap'n if you fancy. I'm done with it!"

By this point, the men had changed their minds. It was the map that convinced them.

"Silver!" they cried. "Silver for cap'n! John Silver forever!"

"So that's the tune, is it?" said Silver. "Well, George, I reckon you'll have to wait another turn. Here, Jim—here's a curiosity for you."

He handed me the paper the men had given him. I saw that one side had been blackened with wood ash, while the other displayed the word deposed.

After this, Silver tied me up, and we all went to sleep. Well, all except me, that is. I had trouble sleeping. As I lay in the darkness, I thought of the man I had fought that afternoon and my perilous position. Above all, I thought of the remarkable game that Silver was playing—keeping the mutineers together with one hand, while grasping with the other after every way, possible and impossible, to save his miserable life. He himself slept peacefully and snored loudly, yet my heart was sore for him, wicked as he was, to think of the dangers that surrounded him and the shameful fate that surely awaited him.

The next morning we prepared to set off to find the treasure. During breakfast, Silver ate with Captain Flint on his shoulder and reminded the other men how lucky they were to have him as their leader.

“Aye, mates,” he said, “it’s lucky you have Barbecue to think for you with this here head. Sure enough, they have the ship. Where they have it, I don’t know yet, but once we get the treasure, we’ll find out. Then, we’ll be all set!” Thus he ran on, with his mouth full of bacon, restoring the mutineers’ hope and confidence and perhaps repairing his own at the same time.

“As for the hostage,” he continued, “I’ll tie a rope around his waist and keep him close to me when we go treasure hunting in a bit. We’ll keep him like gold, in case we need him later.”

By the time we set out, all the pirates were armed to the teeth. Silver had two guns slung about him, the great cutlass at his waist, and a pistol in each coat pocket.

To complete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon his shoulder, squawking odds and ends of sea-talk.

Some of the men carried picks and shovels while others carried pork, bread, and water for the midday meal. I had a line about my waist and followed after Silver like an obedient puppy.

We began to climb a hill, and the men plunged ahead. They were in excellent spirits. Some of them even ran. Silver and I followed, I tethered by my rope, and he plowing through rocks and gravel with his wooden leg.

We had gone about half a mile when one of the men gave a cry of terror. We ran forward and saw a skeleton on the ground. George Merry bent down to inspect the bones.

“He must have been a seaman,” he said, “for these scraps on his bones are bits of quality sea cloth.”

“Aye,” said Silver. “You wouldn’t find a bishop here, I reckon, but what sort of a way is that for bones to lie? It ain’t in nature.”

The dead man lay perfectly straight, with both arms raised above his head like a diver. We stood and stared at the skeleton for a minute before Silver broke the silence.

“I’ve taken a notion into my old skull,” he said. “I think this poor fellow is a pointer. Get out the compass and take a bearing—along the line the bones is pointin’.”

It was done and, sure enough, the bones seemed to be pointing the way to the treasure.

“I thought so!” cried Silver. “This is one of Flint’s little jokes. Him and those six fellows was alone here. He killed ’em, every man, and this one he laid down by compass to point the way!”

After a few minutes, we set off again, but the pirates no longer ran. They kept side by side and spoke softly. The terror of the fallen buccaneer had dampened their spirits.

When we reached the top of the hill and saw the Spyglass before us, Silver took bearings with his compass.

“There are three tall trees,” he said, “and they are in the right line. Should be child’s play to find the loot now!”

Chapter 9

The Adventure Comes to an End

Silver and the rest of us pressed on until, all of a sudden out of the trees in front of us, we heard a thin, high, trembling voice.

“Darby M’Graw!” it wailed, “Darby M’Graw! Fetch aft the weapons, Darby!” again and again and again.

The men were petrified. Their faces turned white with fear.

“Blimey!” George Merry cried. “It’s Flint’s voice!”

“And those were his last words!” said another.

“Come!” said Silver. “It’s not Flint. Flint’s in his grave.”

“Then it’s his ghost, come back to haunt us!” said Merry.

“Mates!” Silver cried. “I’m here to get that stuff and I’ll not be beat by man nor spirit. I never was feared of Flint and I’ll face him dead if need be. There’s half a million pounds of treasure just up the hill.

“Have you ever heard of gentlemen of fortune turning their backs on that much money?”

“Stop it, John!” said Merry. “Don’t cross the spirit!”

“Are you sure it’s really a spirit?” Silver shot back. “Me, I have my doubts. Did you notice that there was an echo? No man ever seen a spirit with a shadow. Well, what’s this one doing with an echo to him, I should like to know. Surely that ain’t in nature!”

This argument seemed weak to me, but you can never tell what will convince a superstitious person. To my wonder, George Merry was relieved.

“John’s right!” he said. “It had an echo!”

“And come to think on it,” Silver added, “it was not quite like Flint’s voice. It was more like old Ben Gunn’s voice.”

“It don’t make much difference, do it?” asked one of the men. “Ben Gunn’s not here, any more’n Flint.”

The older hands were not convinced.

“Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn!” cried George Merry. “Dead or alive, nobody minds him!”

It was extraordinary how they regained their sense of well-being. They shouldered their tools, and we set forth again. We passed two tall trees and the third loomed up before us. It rose nearly two hundred feet into the air, but it was not its size that impressed the men. It was the knowledge that there was gold buried below its spreading shadow. The thought of the money swallowed up their previous terrors. Their feet grew lighter and speedier. Each man imagined the life of wealth and extravagance that awaited him.

Silver hobbled forward on his crutch. He tugged furiously on the line that held me to him and shot me a deadly look. He took no pains to hide his thoughts. In the nearness of the gold, all had been forgotten. His promise to me was a thing of the past. I did not doubt that he hoped to seize the treasure, kill every honest man, and sail away laden with crimes and riches.

We were now close to the spot, and the men broke into a run. Ten yards further, we came to a halt. Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had fallen in and grass had sprouted on them. In the ditch we saw a broken shovel. The treasure had been found and rifled. The half a million pounds were gone.

The men were thunderstruck, but for Silver, the shock passed almost instantly. His every thought had been set on the money. It had staggered him to discover that it was gone, but he kept his head and made a new plan in an instant.

“Jim,” he whispered, “stand by for trouble.”

He passed me a pistol and smiled at me, as if we were old friends. I was so shocked by his constant change of heart that I couldn’t help whispering, “So now you’re on my side again?”

There was no time for him to answer. Merry had found a single coin in the pit. He held it up.

“A guinea!” he shouted furiously, shaking the coin at Silver. “That’s all that’s left! That’s your half a million pounds of treasure, is it?”

Silver kept calm. He took a few steps back, keeping one eye on Merry and the others.

“Mates!” Merry shouted, whipping out his cutlass. “Those two are to blame! Silver and the boy! Let’s get ’em!”

Then—crack! crack! crack! Three muskets flashed out of the thicket. George Merry tumbled headfirst into the excavation. Another man spun like a top and fell to the ground. The other three turned tail and ran for it with all their might.

A few seconds later, Dr. Livesey, Gray, and Ben Gunn stepped out of the thicket with smoking muskets.

Silver did not try to escape. Instead, he shot George Merry. Then he dropped his weapons and threw an arm around me. He called out to Dr. Livesey, “Thank ye kindly, doctor! I’m on your side now—Jim here will bear me out—and you arrived just in the nick of time for the two of us!”

“So it is you, Ben Gunn,” added Silver.

“I’m Ben Gunn, I am,” replied old Ben.

After this exchange, Dr. Livesey explained what had taken place. It was a story that profoundly interested Silver, and Ben Gunn was the hero.

Then—crack! crack! crack! Three muskets flashed out of the thicket. George Merry tumbled headfirst into the excavation.

During his lonely wanderings about the island, old Ben had found the pointing skeleton, and later he had found the treasure. He had dug up the loot and carried it away. It took many trips, but eventually he stashed it all safely in a cave.

After the pirates attacked the stockade, the doctor had gone to see Ben Gunn and had wormed the secret out of him. The next morning, the doctor went to Silver and made a deal with him. He agreed to give Silver the map, which was of no use anymore, along with some supplies. The doctor and the others were eager to get away from the stockade. They wanted to keep an eye on the cave where Ben Gunn had stored the treasure.

That morning the doctor left the squire and the captain in the cave. With Ben Gunn and Gray, he set out to ambush the mutineers. He knew they would follow the map straight to the spot where the treasure had been.

In order to arrive before the pirates, Dr. Livesey directed Ben Gunn to call out in Flint’s voice. He guessed this might upset the superstitious pirates, as in fact it did, and would give them time to arrive at the spot first. Then the three of them hid in the thicket. They opened fire on the mutineers when they turned against Silver and me.

“Ah,” said Silver, “it was fortunate for me that I was with Hawkins here! If he hadn’t been here, you would have let old John be cut to bits and never given it another thought.”

“Not a thought,” replied Dr. Livesey.

We marched back to the shore, got into one of the landing boats, and set off for the Hispaniola. When we got back to the ship, we sailed her to a cove near Ben Gunn’s cave. Ben Gunn’s cave was large and airy. There was a fire at the mouth of it, and Captain Smollett lay by the fire.

The captain was astonished to see Silver return with us.

“What brings you here?” he asked.

“Come back to do my duty, sir,” said Silver.

In the flickering light of the cave, I beheld heaps of coins and stacks of golden bars. That was Flint’s treasure that we had come so far to seek, and that had already cost the lives of a number of men. How many lives had it cost to gather all this gold? How many seamen had been shot, or marooned, or sent to the bottom of the ocean? There’s no way to tell.

The next day, we hauled the treasure to the ship. I spent the morning in the cave, packing money into bags. It was a strange collection of coins. There were guineas, doubloons, moidores, and sequins adorned with pictures of all the kings of Europe for the last hundred years. There were strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked like bits of spiders’ webs. There were round pieces and square pieces, and pieces with holes in the middle, so you could wear them around your neck. We had nearly every variety of money in the world, I do believe.

Most pirates likely sailed ashore to spend their treasures on pleasure and luxury. If, however, like Flint, a pirate saved and buried his loot, he would eventually boast a collection from many different countries. A farthing was worth a quarter of an English penny, and a guinea was worth one pound plus one shilling. The English guinea, as well as the Spanish doubloon, Portuguese moidore, and the Italian and Turkish sequins were all gold coins in common use during the golden age of piracy. A coin could be spent not only in its nation of origin, but also in its colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean.

I spent the morning in the cave, packing money into bags. It was a strange collection of coins.

Silver worked alongside the rest of us, as if nothing at all had occurred, and we heard nothing of the other three mutineers until that night, when we heard them singing and shouting.

“Merriment!” said Silver.

A meeting was held, and we decided that it would be safest to leave the three mutineers on the island, but with some food and supplies.

At last, we weighed anchor and began our voyage home. As we pulled away, we saw the mutineers. They were kneeling on the sand, with their arms raised. We felt sorry for them, but we could not risk another mutiny. The doctor shouted to them and told them where to find the supplies we had left.

When they saw we would not come back for them, they got out their muskets and fired at us. The shots went whistling over our heads.

We sailed to a port on the coast of South America, where we were surrounded by boats full of native people selling fruits and vegetables. I went ashore for the day with the squire and Dr. Livesey. The sight of so many smiling faces, the taste of tropical fruits, and, above all, the lights of the town made a charming contrast to our dark and dangerous stay on the island.

When we returned to the ship, Ben Gunn made a confession. Silver was gone. Ben had helped him escape, though he assured us he had done so to save our lives. That was not all though—the old sea cook had taken with him a sack of coins worth four hundred guineas.

“I am pleased to be rid of him so cheaply,” said the doctor.

Well, to make a long story short, we got a few new hands on board, made an enjoyable cruise home, and reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandly was beginning to think of sending the rescue boat. All five of us got a share of the treasure and used it wisely or foolishly, according to our personalities. Captain Smollett retired. Ben Gunn got a thousand pounds, which he spent or lost in nineteen days, for he was back begging on the twentieth day. He is a great favorite, though, and is a notable singer in church on Sundays.

Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable man with one leg has at last gone clean out of my life. I dare say he met his wife and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint. I hope so, for I fear that his chances of comfort in the next world are very small.

There is still more treasure hidden on that island: some silver bars and some weapons that Flint buried. But nothing could tempt me back there. The worst dreams I ever have are when I hear the waves booming or when I bolt straight upright in bed, the voice of Captain Flint ringing in my ears: “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!”