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“Well, that’s so,” he said. “You’ve a head upon your shoulders, John,
and no mistake. ’Bout ship, mates! This here crew is on a wrong tack, I
do believe. And come to think on it, it was like Flint’s voice, I
grant you, but not just so clear-away like it, after all. It was liker
somebody else’s voice now--it was liker--”
“By the powers, Ben Gunn!” roared Silver.
“Aye, and so it were,” cried Morgan, springing on his knees. “Ben Gunn
it were!”
“It don’t make much odds, do it, now?” asked Dick. “Ben Gunn’s not here
in the body any more’n Flint.”
But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn.
“Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn,” cried Merry; “dead or alive, nobody minds
him.”
It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned and how the natural
colour had revived in their faces. Soon they were chatting together,
with intervals of listening; and not long after, hearing no further
sound, they shouldered the tools and set forth again, Merry walking
first with Silver’s compass to keep them on the right line with Skeleton
Island. He had said the truth: dead or alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn.
Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him as he went, with
fearful glances; but he found no sympathy, and Silver even joked him on
his precautions.
“I told you,” said he--“I told you you had sp’iled your Bible. If it
ain’t no good to swear by, what do you suppose a sperrit would give for
it? Not that!” and he snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on his
crutch.
But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon plain to me that
the lad was falling sick; hastened by heat, exhaustion, and the shock
of his alarm, the fever, predicted by Dr. Livesey, was evidently growing
swiftly higher.
It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way lay a little
downhill, for, as I have said, the plateau tilted towards the west. The
pines, great and small, grew wide apart; and even between the clumps of
nutmeg and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. Striking,
as we did, pretty near north-west across the island, we drew, on the
one hand, 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
and trembled in the coracle.
The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearings proved the
wrong one. So with the second. The third rose nearly two hundred feet
into the air above a clump of underwood--a giant of a vegetable, with
a red column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in which a
company could have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous far to sea both on
the east and west and might have been entered as a sailing mark upon the
chart.
But it was not its size that now impressed my companions; it was the
knowledge that seven hundred thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere
buried below its spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they
drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their eyes burned in
their heads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul
was bound up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and
pleasure, that lay waiting there for each of them.
Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils stood out and
quivered; he cursed like a madman when the flies settled on his hot and
shiny countenance; he plucked furiously at the line that held me to
him and from time to time turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look.
Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts, and certainly I read
them like print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had
been forgotten: his promise and the doctor’s warning were both things
of the past, and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the
treasure, find and board the HISPANIOLA under cover of night, cut
every honest throat about that island, and sail away as he had at first
intended, laden with crimes and riches.
Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me to keep up with
the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. Now and again I stumbled, and it
was then that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me
his murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us and now brought
up the rear, was babbling to himself both prayers and curses as his
fever kept rising. This also added to my wretchedness, and to crown all,
I was haunted by the thought of the tragedy that had once been acted
on that plateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with the blue face--he who
died at Savannah, singing and shouting for drink--had there, with his
own hand, cut down his six accomplices. This grove that was now so
peaceful must then have rung with cries, I thought; and even with the
thought I could believe I heard it ringing still.
We were now at the margin of the thicket.
“Huzza, mates, all together!” shouted Merry; and the foremost broke into
a run.
And suddenly, not ten yards further, we beheld them stop. A low cry
arose. Silver doubled his pace, digging away with the foot of his crutch
like one possessed; and next moment he and I had come also to a dead
halt.
Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had
fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom. In this were the shaft
of a pick broken in two and the boards of several packing-cases strewn
around. On one of these boards I saw, branded with a hot iron, the name
WALRUS--the name of Flint’s ship.
All was clear to probation. The CACHE had been found and rifled; the
seven hundred thousand pounds were gone!
XXXIII
The Fall of a Chieftain
There never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six men
was as though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost
instantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like a
racer, on that money; well, he was brought up, in a single second, dead;
and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed his plan before the
others had had time to realize the disappointment.
“Jim,” he whispered, “take that, and stand by for trouble.”
And he passed me a double-barrelled pistol.
At the same time, he began quietly moving northward, and in a few steps

“Well, that’s so,” he said. “You’ve a head upon your shoulders, John,

and no mistake. ’Bout ship, mates! This here crew is on a wrong tack, I

do believe. And come to think on it, it was like Flint’s voice, I

grant you, but not just so clear-away like it, after all. It was liker

somebody else’s voice now--it was liker--”

“By the powers, Ben Gunn!” roared Silver.

“Aye, and so it were,” cried Morgan, springing on his knees. “Ben Gunn

it were!”

“It don’t make much odds, do it, now?” asked Dick. “Ben Gunn’s not here

in the body any more’n Flint.”

But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn.

“Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn,” cried Merry; “dead or alive, nobody minds

him.”

It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned and how the natural

colour had revived in their faces. Soon they were chatting together,

with intervals of listening; and not long after, hearing no further

sound, they shouldered the tools and set forth again, Merry walking

first with Silver’s compass to keep them on the right line with Skeleton

Island. He had said the truth: dead or alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn.

Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him as he went, with

fearful glances; but he found no sympathy, and Silver even joked him on

his precautions.

“I told you,” said he--“I told you you had sp’iled your Bible. If it

ain’t no good to swear by, what do you suppose a sperrit would give for

it? Not that!” and he snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on his

crutch.

But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon plain to me that

the lad was falling sick; hastened by heat, exhaustion, and the shock

of his alarm, the fever, predicted by Dr. Livesey, was evidently growing

swiftly higher.

It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way lay a little

downhill, for, as I have said, the plateau tilted towards the west. The

pines, great and small, grew wide apart; and even between the clumps of

nutmeg and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. Striking,

as we did, pretty near north-west across the island, we drew, on the

one hand, 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

and trembled in the coracle.

The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearings proved the

wrong one. So with the second. The third rose nearly two hundred feet

into the air above a clump of underwood--a giant of a vegetable, with

a red column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in which a

company could have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous far to sea both on

the east and west and might have been entered as a sailing mark upon the

chart.

But it was not its size that now impressed my companions; it was the

knowledge that seven hundred thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere

buried below its spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they

drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their eyes burned in

their heads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul

was bound up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and

pleasure, that lay waiting there for each of them.

Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils stood out and

quivered; he cursed like a madman when the flies settled on his hot and

shiny countenance; he plucked furiously at the line that held me to

him and from time to time turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look.

Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts, and certainly I read

them like print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had

been forgotten: his promise and the doctor’s warning were both things

of the past, and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the

treasure, find and board the HISPANIOLA under cover of night, cut

every honest throat about that island, and sail away as he had at first

intended, laden with crimes and riches.

Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me to keep up with

the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. Now and again I stumbled, and it

was then that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me

his murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us and now brought

up the rear, was babbling to himself both prayers and curses as his

fever kept rising. This also added to my wretchedness, and to crown all,

I was haunted by the thought of the tragedy that had once been acted

on that plateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with the blue face--he who

died at Savannah, singing and shouting for drink--had there, with his

own hand, cut down his six accomplices. This grove that was now so

peaceful must then have rung with cries, I thought; and even with the

thought I could believe I heard it ringing still.

We were now at the margin of the thicket.

“Huzza, mates, all together!” shouted Merry; and the foremost broke into

a run.

And suddenly, not ten yards further, we beheld them stop. A low cry

arose. Silver doubled his pace, digging away with the foot of his crutch

like one possessed; and next moment he and I had come also to a dead

halt.

Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had

fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom. In this were the shaft

of a pick broken in two and the boards of several packing-cases strewn

around. On one of these boards I saw, branded with a hot iron, the name

WALRUS--the name of Flint’s ship.

All was clear to probation. The CACHE had been found and rifled; the

seven hundred thousand pounds were gone!

XXXIII

The Fall of a Chieftain

There never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six men

was as though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost

instantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like a

racer, on that money; well, he was brought up, in a single second, dead;

and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed his plan before the

others had had time to realize the disappointment.

“Jim,” he whispered, “take that, and stand by for trouble.”

And he passed me a double-barrelled pistol.

At the same time, he began quietly moving northward, and in a few steps