AlSamCur123/DataText · Datasets at Hugging Face

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had put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked at
me and nodded, as much as to say, “Here is a narrow corner,” as, indeed,
I thought it was. His looks were not quite friendly, and I was so
revolted at these constant changes that I could not forbear whispering,
“So you’ve changed sides again.”
There was no time left for him to answer in. The buccaneers, with oaths
and cries, began to leap, one after another, into the pit and to dig
with their fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. Morgan
found a piece of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. It
was a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for a
quarter of a minute.
“Two guineas!” roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. “That’s your seven
hundred thousand pounds, is it? You’re the man for bargains, ain’t you?
You’re him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!”
“Dig away, boys,” said Silver with the coolest insolence; “you’ll find
some pig-nuts and I shouldn’t wonder.”
“Pig-nuts!” repeated Merry, in a scream. “Mates, do you hear that? I
tell you now, that man there knew it all along. Look in the face of him
and you’ll see it wrote there.”
“Ah, Merry,” remarked Silver, “standing for cap’n again? You’re a
pushing lad, to be sure.”
But this time everyone was entirely in Merry’s favour. They began to
scramble out of the excavation, darting furious glances behind them. One
thing I observed, which looked well for us: they all got out upon the
opposite side from Silver.
Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the pit
between us, and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow.
Silver never moved; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, and
looked as cool as ever I saw him. He was brave, and no mistake.
At last Merry seemed to think a speech might help matters.
“Mates,” says he, “there’s two of them alone there; one’s the old
cripple that brought us all here and blundered us down to this; the
other’s that cub that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates--”
He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead a
charge. But just then--crack! crack! crack!--three musket-shots flashed
out of the thicket. Merry tumbled head foremost into the excavation; the
man with the bandage spun round like a teetotum and fell all his length
upon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the other
three turned and ran for it with all their might.
Before you could wink, Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into
the struggling Merry, and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the
last agony, “George,” said he, “I reckon I settled you.”
At the same moment, the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us, with
smoking muskets, from among the nutmeg-trees.
“Forward!” cried the doctor. “Double quick, my lads. We must head ’em
off the boats.”
And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through the bushes to
the chest.
I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that man
went through, leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest were
fit to burst, was work no sound man ever equalled; and so thinks the
doctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us and on the
verge of 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, we
could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as
they had started, right for Mizzenmast Hill. We were already between
them and the boats; and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John,
mopping his face, came slowly up with us.
“Thank ye kindly, doctor,” says he. “You came in in about the nick, I
guess, for me and Hawkins. And so it’s you, Ben Gunn!” he added. “Well,
you’re a nice one, to be sure.”
“I’m Ben Gunn, I am,” replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in his
embarrassment. “And,” he added, after a long pause, “how do, Mr. Silver?
Pretty well, I thank ye, says you.”
“Ben, Ben,” murmured Silver, “to think as you’ve done me!”
The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pick-axes deserted, in their
flight, by the mutineers, and then as we proceeded leisurely downhill to
where the boats were lying, related in a few words what had taken place.
It was a story that profoundly interested Silver; and Ben Gunn, the
half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end.
Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found the
skeleton--it was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; he
had dug it up (it was the haft of his pick-axe that lay broken in the
excavation); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, from
the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at
the north-east angle of the island, and there it had lain stored in
safety since two months before the arrival of the HISPANIOLA.
When the doctor had wormed this secret from him on the afternoon of the
attack, and when next morning he saw the anchorage deserted, he had gone
to Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless--given him the
stores, for Ben Gunn’s cave was well supplied with goats’ meat salted
by himself--given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in
safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be clear of
malaria and keep a guard upon the money.
“As for you, Jim,” he said, “it went against my heart, but I did what I
thought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were not
one of these, whose fault was it?”
That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horrid
disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he had run all the way
to the cave, and leaving the squire to guard the captain, had taken Gray
and the maroon and started, making the diagonal across the island to be
at hand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had the
start of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been dispatched in
front to do his best alone. Then it had occurred to him to work upon the
superstitions of his former shipmates, and he was so far successful that
Gray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the
arrival of the treasure-hunters.
“Ah,” said Silver, “it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here.
You would have let old John be cut to bits, and never given it a

had put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked at

me and nodded, as much as to say, “Here is a narrow corner,” as, indeed,

I thought it was. His looks were not quite friendly, and I was so

revolted at these constant changes that I could not forbear whispering,

“So you’ve changed sides again.”

There was no time left for him to answer in. The buccaneers, with oaths

and cries, began to leap, one after another, into the pit and to dig

with their fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. Morgan

found a piece of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. It

was a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for a

quarter of a minute.

“Two guineas!” roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. “That’s your seven

hundred thousand pounds, is it? You’re the man for bargains, ain’t you?

You’re him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!”

“Dig away, boys,” said Silver with the coolest insolence; “you’ll find

some pig-nuts and I shouldn’t wonder.”

“Pig-nuts!” repeated Merry, in a scream. “Mates, do you hear that? I

tell you now, that man there knew it all along. Look in the face of him

and you’ll see it wrote there.”

“Ah, Merry,” remarked Silver, “standing for cap’n again? You’re a

pushing lad, to be sure.”

But this time everyone was entirely in Merry’s favour. They began to

scramble out of the excavation, darting furious glances behind them. One

thing I observed, which looked well for us: they all got out upon the

opposite side from Silver.

Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the pit

between us, and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow.

Silver never moved; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, and

looked as cool as ever I saw him. He was brave, and no mistake.

At last Merry seemed to think a speech might help matters.

“Mates,” says he, “there’s two of them alone there; one’s the old

cripple that brought us all here and blundered us down to this; the

other’s that cub that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates--”

He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead a

charge. But just then--crack! crack! crack!--three musket-shots flashed

out of the thicket. Merry tumbled head foremost into the excavation; the

man with the bandage spun round like a teetotum and fell all his length

upon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the other

three turned and ran for it with all their might.

Before you could wink, Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into

the struggling Merry, and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the

last agony, “George,” said he, “I reckon I settled you.”

At the same moment, the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us, with

smoking muskets, from among the nutmeg-trees.

“Forward!” cried the doctor. “Double quick, my lads. We must head ’em

off the boats.”

And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through the bushes to

the chest.

I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that man

went through, leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest were

fit to burst, was work no sound man ever equalled; and so thinks the

doctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us and on the

verge of 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, we

could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as

they had started, right for Mizzenmast Hill. We were already between

them and the boats; and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John,

mopping his face, came slowly up with us.

“Thank ye kindly, doctor,” says he. “You came in in about the nick, I

guess, for me and Hawkins. And so it’s you, Ben Gunn!” he added. “Well,

you’re a nice one, to be sure.”

“I’m Ben Gunn, I am,” replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in his

embarrassment. “And,” he added, after a long pause, “how do, Mr. Silver?

Pretty well, I thank ye, says you.”

“Ben, Ben,” murmured Silver, “to think as you’ve done me!”

The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pick-axes deserted, in their

flight, by the mutineers, and then as we proceeded leisurely downhill to

where the boats were lying, related in a few words what had taken place.

It was a story that profoundly interested Silver; and Ben Gunn, the

half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end.

Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found the

skeleton--it was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; he

had dug it up (it was the haft of his pick-axe that lay broken in the

excavation); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, from

the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at

the north-east angle of the island, and there it had lain stored in

safety since two months before the arrival of the HISPANIOLA.

When the doctor had wormed this secret from him on the afternoon of the

attack, and when next morning he saw the anchorage deserted, he had gone

to Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless--given him the

stores, for Ben Gunn’s cave was well supplied with goats’ meat salted

by himself--given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in

safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be clear of

malaria and keep a guard upon the money.

“As for you, Jim,” he said, “it went against my heart, but I did what I

thought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were not

one of these, whose fault was it?”

That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horrid

disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he had run all the way

to the cave, and leaving the squire to guard the captain, had taken Gray

and the maroon and started, making the diagonal across the island to be

at hand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had the

start of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been dispatched in

front to do his best alone. Then it had occurred to him to work upon the

superstitions of his former shipmates, and he was so far successful that

Gray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the

arrival of the treasure-hunters.

“Ah,” said Silver, “it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here.

You would have let old John be cut to bits, and never given it a