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15 - Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson · Classic Adventure Books Collection

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Chapter twenty nine, The black Spot. Again. The council of the buccaneers
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had lasted some time when one of them re entered the house, and,
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with the repetition of the same salute, which had in my eyes an ironical
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air, begged for a moment's loan of the torch. Silver briefly agreed,
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and this emissary retired again, leaving us together in the dark. There is
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a breeze, come in, Jim, said Silver, who had by this
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time adopted quite a friendly and familiar tone. I turned to the loop hole
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nearest me and looked out. The embers of the great fire had so far
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burned themselves out, and now glowed so low and duskily that I understood why
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these conspirators desired a torch. About half way down the slope to the stockade,
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they were collected in a group. One held the light, another was
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on his knees in their midst, and I saw the blame maid of an
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open knife shine in his hand, with varying colors in the moon and torchlight.
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The rest were all somewhat stooping, as though watching the maneuvers of this
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last I could just make out that he had a book as well as a
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knife in his hand, and was still wondering how anything so incongruous had come
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in their possession, when the kneeling figure rose once more to his feet,
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and the whole party began to move together toward the house. Here they come,
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said I, and returned to my former position, for it seemed beneath
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my dignity that they should find me watching them. Wow, let em come,
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Lad, let em come, said Silver cheerily. Oh, I've still
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a shot in my locker. The door opened, and the five men standing
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huddled together just inside, pushed one of their number forward. In any other
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circumstances, it would have been comical to see his slow advance, hesitating as
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he set down each foot, but holding his closed right hand in front of
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him, Step up, Lad, cried Silver, I won't eat you.
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Hand it over, lubber. I know the rules to I won't hurt a
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deputation. Thus encouraged, the buccaneer stepped forth more briskly, and, having
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passed something to Silver from hand to hand, slipped yet more smartly back again
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to his companions. The sea cook looked at what had been given him,
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the black spot, he thought, so he observed where might you've got the
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paper. Oh hello, look here, now he eat this lucky you've got
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and cut this out of a bible. A fool's cut a bible. Oh
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there, said Morgan. There what did I say? No? Good'll come
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o that? I said, Well you've at fixed it now among you,
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continued Silver, you'll all swing now, I reckon what soft headed lubber and
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a bible? It was? Dick said one, Dick? Was it?
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Then Dick can get to prayers, said Silver. He's seen his slice and
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lookers, Dick, and you may later that. But here the long man
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with the yellow eyes struck in belay that talk, John Silver, He said,
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this crew has tipped you the black spot in full council as duty bound.
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Just you turn it over as in duty bound and see what's wrote there.
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Then you can talk. Thank'ee. George replied the sea cook. You
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always was brisk for business and as the rules by heart. George, as
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I'm pleased to see. Wow, what is it anyway? Ah deposed,
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that's it is it? Well? Very pretty wrote to be sure like print.
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I swear your hand a right. George. Why you was getting quite
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the leading man, and this here crew you'll be cap next I shouldn't wonder.
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Just oblige me with that tarch again? Will youer this pipe? Don't
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draw? Come now, said George. You don't fool this crew no more.
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You're a funny man by your account. But you're over now, and
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you'll maybe step down off that barrel and help vote. I thought you said
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you know the rules, returned Silver contemptuously. Leastwise, if you don't,
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I do, And I wait here, and I'm still your cap mind to
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you out with your grievances, and I reply in the meantime you're black spyin't
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worth a biscuit? After that we'll see, oh, replied George, you
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don't be under no kind of apprehension. We're all square. We are.
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First, you've made a hash of this cruise. You'll be a bold man
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to say no to that. Second, you let the enemy out of this
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here trap for nothing. Why did they want out? I don't know,
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but it's pretty plain they wanted it. Third, you wouldn't let us go
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at them upon the march. Ah, we see through you, John Silver.
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You want to play booty, that's what's wrong with you. And then
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fourth, there's this here boy. Is that all asked? Silver? Quietly
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enough too, retorted George, we'll all swing and sew dry for your bungling.
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Well, now look here, I'll answer these four points one after another.
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I'll answer him. He made a hash of this cruise, did I?
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Well, now you all know what I wanted, and you all know
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if it had been done that we'd have been a boar this spaniel of this
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night. As ever was every man of us alive and fit and full of
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good plum duff and the treasure in the hold of her by thunder Well,
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who crusted me, who fassed my hand, as was the lawful cap'n who
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tipped me the blacks spot the day we landed and began this dance. Ah,
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it's a fine dance. I'm with you there. And it looks mighty
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like a horned pipe in a rope, said execution Duck by London Town.
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It does. But who done it? It was Anderson and hands and you,
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George, and you're the last above border that same Meddlin crew, and
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you have the Davy Jones insolence to up and stand for cap'n over me,
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you that sunk the lot of us by their powers. But this tops the
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stiffest yarn to nothing. Silver paused, and I could see by the faces
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of George and his late comrades that these words had not been said in vain.
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That's for number one, cried the accused, wiping the sweat from his
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brow, for he had been talking with a vehemence that shook the house.
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Why I give you my word? I am sick to speak to you.
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You've neither sense nor memory, and I leave it to fancy. Where your
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mother's words that let you come to see? See, gentlemen of fortune,
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I reckon tailors? Is your trade on? John, said Morgan. Speak
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up to the others. Ah. The others returned John. They're a nice
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lie, they you say. This cruise is bungled. Ah by gum.
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If you can understand how bad it's bungled, you would see were that near
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the gibbet? That my neck stiff with thinking on it. You've seen them
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maybe hanged in chains, birds about them, seemen pointing them out as they
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go down with the tide. Who's that? Says one? That? Bye,
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that's John Silver, I knowed him well, says another. And you
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near the chains of jangle as you go about and reach for the other boy.
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Now that's about where we are every mother's son of us thanks to him
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and Hans and Anderson and other ruination fools of you. And if you want
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to know about number four and that boy, why shiver my timbers. Isn't
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he a hostage? Are we going to waste a hostage? No? Not
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us. He might be our last chance. I shouldn't wonder kill that boy,
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not me mates. And number three, wow, well there's a deal
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to say the number three. Maybe you don't count it nothing to have a
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real college doctor come to see you every day, You John with your head
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broke, or you George Mary that add the EU shakes upon you not six
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hours are gone, and adds your eyes the color of lemon peels to the
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same moment on the clock. And maybe perhaps you didn't know there was a
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concert coming either, but there is, and not so long till then,
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and we'll see you. We'll be glad to have hostage when it comes to
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that. And as for number two, why I made a bargain, Well,
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you come crawling on your knees to meet him on your knees. You
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came. You was that downhearted, And you'd have starved too if I hadn't.
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But that's a trifle. You look there, that's why. And he
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cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly recognized, none other than
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the chart on yellow paper with the three red crosses that I had found in
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the oilcloth at the bottom of the captain's chest. Why the doctor had given
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it to him was more than I could fancy. But if it were inexplicable
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to me, the appearance of the chart was incredible to the surviving mutineers.
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They leaped upon it like cats upon a mouse. It went from hand to
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hand, one tearing it from another. And by the oaths and the cries
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and the childish laughter with which they accompanied their examination, you would have thought
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not only they were fingering the very gold, but were at sea with it.
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Besides in safety, yes, said one. That's flint for sure,
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j F. And a score below with a close hitch to it. So
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he ever done. Mighty pretty, said George. But how are we to
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get away with it? And ask no ship? Silver? Suddenly sprang up
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and, supporting himself with a hand against the wall. New I give you
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warning, George, he cried, one more worthy or sauce, and I'll
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call you down and fight you. Hell, Why how do I know you
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had ought to tell me that you and the rest that lost me my schooner
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with your interference, burn you, but not you. You can't. You
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ain't got the invention of a cupcroach. But civil you can speak, and
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you shall. George, Mary, you mate later. That that's fairy now,
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said the old man Morgan fair. I reckon, soul, said the
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sea cook. You lost the ship, but I found the treasure. Who's
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the better man at that? And now I resigned by thunder elect whom you
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pleased to be your cap'n Now I'm dumb with it. Silver they cried barbecue
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forever, barbecue for captain. So that's the tune, is it? Cried
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the cook George. I reckon, You'll have to wait another turn, friend,
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and looky for you, as I'm not a revengeful man. But that
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was never my way. And now, shipmates, this black spot take much
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good? Now, is it? Dick's crust his luck and spoiled his bible.
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And that's about all it'll do to kiss the book on, still,
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won't it? Growled Dick, who was evidently uneasy at the curse he had
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brought upon himself a bible with a bit cut out returned Silver derisively. Not
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it it don't boign more than a ballad book, don't it, though,
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cried Dick, with a sort of joy. Well, I reckon that's worth
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having too, ere Jim, here's a curiosity for you, said Silver,
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and he tossed me the paper. It was around about the size of a
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crown piece. One side was blank, for it had been the last leaf.
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The other contained a verse or two of revelation, these words among the
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rest, which struck sharply home upon my mind without our dogs and murderers.
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The printed side had been blackened with wood ash, which already began to come
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off and soil my fingers. On the blank side had been written with the
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same material. The one word deposed, I have that curiosity beside me at
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this moment, But not a trace of writing now remains, beyond a single
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scratch, such as a man might make with his thumb nail. That was
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the end of the night's business. Soon after, with a drink all round,
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we lay down to sleep, and the outside of Silver's vengeance was to
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put George Merry up for sentinel and threaten him with death if he should prove
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unfaithful. It was long ere I could close an eye, and Heaven knows,
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I had matter enough for thought in the man whom I had slain that
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afternoon, in my own most perilous position, and above all, in the
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remarkable game that I saw Silver now engaged upon keeping the mutineers together with one
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hand and grasping with the other, after every means possible and impossible, to
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make his peace and save his miserable life, he himself slept peacefully and snored
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aloud. Yet my heart was sore for him, wicked as he was to
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think on the dark perils that environed and the shameful gibbet that awaited him.
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End of Chapter twenty nine, Chapter thirty on Parole. I was wakened,
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indeed we were all wakened, for I could see even the Sentinel shake himself
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together from where he had fallen against the doorpost, by a clear, hearty
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voice hailing us from the margin of the wood block house. Ahoy, it
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cried, here's the doctor, and the doctor it was. Although I was
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glad to hear the sound, yet my gladness was not without admixture. I
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remembered with confusion my insubordinate and stealthy conduct. And when I saw where it
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had brought me among what companions, and surrounded by what dangers. I had
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felt ashamed to look him in the face. He must have risen in the
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dark, for the day had hardly come. And when I ran to a
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loophole and looked out, I saw him stand like silver once before, up
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to the midleg in creeping vapor. You doctor, top of the mornin to
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you, sir, cried Silver, broad awake and beaming with good nature in
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a moment bright and early, to be sure, And it's the early bird,
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as the saying goes against the rations. George, shake up your timbers,
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son, and help doctor Livesey over the ship's side. All a doin
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well, your patience was all well and merry. So he patted on,
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standing on the hilltop with his crutch under his elbow and one hand upon the
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side of the log house. Quite the old John in voice, manner and
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expression. We've cuite a surprise for you too, sir, he continued,
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We've got a little stranger here. He he a new border and larger,
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sir, and looking fit and taut as a fiddle. Slep like a super
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cargo he did right alongside of John Stem the stem we was all night.
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Doctor Livesey was by this time across the stockade and pretty near the cook,
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and I could hear the alternation in his voice, as he said, not
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Jim, the very same Jim, as ever was said Silver. The doctor
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stopped outright, although he did not speak, and it was some seconds before
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he seemed able to move on. Well, well, he said, at
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last, duty first, and pleasure afterwards, as you might have said yourself,
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Silver, let us overhaul these patients of yours. A moment afterwards he
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had entered the blockhouse, and with one grim nod to me, proceeded with
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his work among the sick. He seemed under no apprehension, though he must
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have known that his life among these treacherous demons depended on a hair, and
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he rattled on to his patients as if he were paying an ordinary professional visit
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in a quiet English family. His manner, I suppose, reacted on the
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men, for they behaved to him as if nothing had occurred, as if
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he were still ship's doctor, and they still faithful hands before the mast.
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You're doing well, my friend, he said to the fellow with the bandaged
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head. And if ever a person had a close shave, it was you.
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Your head must be as hard as iron. Well, George, how
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goes it? You're a pretty color? Certainly? Why your liver man is
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upside down? Did you take that medicine? Did he take that medicine?
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Men? Ay? Ay, sir? He took his sure enough, returned
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Morgan. Because you see, since I'm a mucineer's doctor, or prison doctor,
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as I prefer to call it, says doctor Livesey in his pleasantest way,
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I make it a point of honor not to lose a man for King
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George, God bless him and the gallows. The rogues looked at each other
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but swallowed the home thrust in silence. Dick, don't feel well, sir,
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said one, don't hear, replied the doctor. Well, step up
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here, Dick, and let me see your tongue. No, I should
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be surprised if he didn't. The man's tongue is fit to frighten the French.
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Another fever, Oh there, said Morgan, that comed of spilling bibles,
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That comed, as you call it, for being arrant asses, retorted
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the doctor, and not having sense enough to know honest air from prison and
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the dry land from a vile pestifalous slough I think it most probable, though
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of course it's only an opinion that you'll all have the deuce to pay before
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you get that malaria out of your systems. Camp in a bog would you
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Silver, I'm surprised at you. You're less of a fool than many take
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you all around. But you don't appear to me to have the rudiments of
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an of the rules of health. Well, he added, after he had
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dosed them round and they had taken his prescriptions with real laughable humility, more
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like charity school children than blood guilty mutineers and pirates. Well, that's done
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for to day, and now I should wish to have a talk with that
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boy, please, And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly. George
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Mary was at the door, spitting and spluttering over some bad tasting medicine.
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But at the first word of the doctor's proposal he swung round with a deep
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flush and cried no, and swore Silver struck the barrel with his open hand
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silence. He roared and looked about him positively like a lion. Doctor,
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he went on in his usual tones. I was thinking of that, knowing
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as oh, you had a fancy for the boy, We're all on lee
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grateful for your kindness. You see, puts faith in you and takes the
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drugs down like that much grog, and I'd take it. I found a
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waisle suit all, oh kids, will you give me your word of honor
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as a young gentleman for a young gentleman you are, though poor born,
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your word of honor not to slip your cable. I readily gave the pledge
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required. Then doctor said, Silver, you just step outside of that stuck
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aid and once you're there, or bring the boy down on the inside,
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and I reckon you can yarn through the spas. Good day to you,
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sir, and all our duties to the Squire and cap'n Smollett. The explosion
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of disapproval, which nothing but Silver's black looks had restrained, broke out immediately
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the doctor had left the house. Silver was roundly accused of playing double,
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of trying to make a separate peace for himself, of sacrificing the interests of
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his accomplishes and victims, and in one word, of the identical exact thing
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that he was doing. It seemed to me so obvious in this case that
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I should not imagine how he was to turn their anger. But he was
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twice the man the restore, and his last night's victory had given him a
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huge preponderance in their minds. He called them all the fools and dolts you
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can imagine, said it was necessary I should talk to the doctor, fluttered
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the chart in their faces, ask them if they could afford to break the
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treaty the very day they were bound a treasure hunting. No boy thunder,
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he cried, it's us must break the treaty when the time comes, and
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tell then I'll gammon that doctor if I have to oil his boots with brandy.
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And then he baded them all get the fire lit, and stalked out
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upon his crutch with his hand on my shoulder, leaving them in disarray and
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silenced by his volubility. Rather than convinced, Slow, lad, slow,
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he said, they might round upon us in a twinkle of an eye if
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we were seen to hurry very deliberately. Then did we advance across the sand
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to where the doctor awaited us on the other side of the stockade. And
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soon as we were within easy speaking distance, Silver stopped. You'll make a
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note of this here also, doctor, said he and the boy I'll tell
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you our saved his life, and we're deposed for it too. You may
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light that, doctor, when a man steering as near to the wind as
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me playing chuck Father, with a last breath in his body, like you
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would think it too much, mayapp to give him one good word. You
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please bear in mind. It's not my life only now. It's that boys
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into the bargain, and ye speak me fair and give me a bit of
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hope to go on for the sake of mercy. Silver was a changed man
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once he was out there and had his back to his friends and the blockhouse.
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His cheeks seemed to have fallen in his voice trembled. Never was a
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soul more dead in earnest. Why John, you're not afraid, asked doctor
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Livesey, Doctor, I'm no coward, No not, I not so much,
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And he snapped his fingers. If I was, I wouldn't say it.
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But I'll own up fairly. I've had the shakes upon me for the
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gallows. You're a good man and a true never seen a better mine.
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And you'll not forget why I done good, not anymore. You'll forget the
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bad I know. And I stepped beside see her and leave you and Jim
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alone, and you'll put that dome for me too, for it's a long
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stretch, it is so saying, he stepped back a little way till he
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was out of earshot, and there sat down upon a tree stump, and
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began to whistle, spinning round now and again upon his seat, so as
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to command a sight, sometimes of me and the doctor, and sometimes of
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his unruly ruffians, as they went to and fro in the sand between the
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fire which they were busy rekindling, and the house from which they brought forth
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pork and bread to make the breakfast. So Jim said the doctor, sadly,
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here you are as you have brood. So shall you drink? My
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boy? Heaven knows, I cannot find it in my heart to blame you,
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but dismuch, I will say, be it kind or unkind? When
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Captain Smollett was well, you dared not have gone off, And when he
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was ill and couldn't help it, By George, it was downright cowardly.
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I will own that. I here began to weep. I said you might
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spare me. I have blamed myself enough. My life's forfeit anyway, and
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I should have been dead now if Silver hadn't stood for me and Doctor believed
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this, I can die, and I daresay I deserve it, for what
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I fear is torture. If they come to torture me, Jim, the
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doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite changed. Jim, I can't have
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this whip over and we'll run for it. Doctor said I. I passed
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my word. I know, I know, he cried. We can't help
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that, Jim. Now I'll take it on my shoulders. Holus, bolus,
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blame and shame, my boy. But stay here. I cannot let
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you jump. One jump and you're out, and we'll run for it like
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antelopes. No, I replied, you know right well, you wouldn't do
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the same thing yourself. Neither you nor squire, nor captain, nor more
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will I Silver trust me. I passed my word, and back I go.
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But Doctor, you did not let me finish. If they come to
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torture me, I might let slip a word of where the ship is,
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for I got the ship part by luck and part by risking. And she
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lies in the north inlet, on the southern beach, and just below high
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water at half tired. She must be high and dry. The ship exclaimed,
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the doctor. Rapidly I described to him my adventures, and he heard
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me out in silence. There's a kind of fate in this, he observed,
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when I had done every step. It's you that save our lives.
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And you suppose, by any chance that we are going to let you lose
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yours, that would be a poor return. My boy, you'll found out
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the plot. You'll found ben Gunn the best deed that you ever did or
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will do, though you lived till ninety oh by Jupiter, and talking of
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ben Gunn, why this is the mischief in person? Silver, he cried,
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Silver, I'll give you a piece of advice. He continued, as
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the cook drew nearer again. Don't you be in any great hurry after that
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treasure? Why, sir, I do my possible, which that ain't?
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Said Silver. I can only ask in your pardon, save my life and
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the boys boy seeking for that treasure. And you made late that well,
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Silver replied the doctor. If that is so, I'll go one step father,
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look out for squalls when you find it, sir, said Silver.
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As between man and man, that's too much and too little. What year
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after why you left the blockhouse? Why you've given me that there chat.
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I don't know, now, do I? And yet I don't. You're
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a bit with my eyes shut and never a word of hope. But no,
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this here is too much. If you won't tell me what you mean
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played out, just say so, I'll leave the helm, No, said
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the doctor, musingly. I've no right to say more. It's not my
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secret, you see, Silver, or I give you my word, i'd
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tell it you. But I'll go as far with you as I dare go,
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not a step beyond, for i'll have my wig sorted by the captain
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or I'm mistaken. And first I'll give you a bit of hope, Silver,
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if we both get out alive, out of this wolf track, I'll
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do my best to save you short of perjury. Silver's face was radiant.
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You couldn't say more, I'm sure, sir, not if you was my
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mother, he cried. Well, that's my first concession, added the doctor.
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My second is a piece of advice. Keep the boy close beside you,
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and when you need help, halloo, I'm off to seek it for
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you, and that itself will show you if I speak at random. Good
29:57
Bye, Jim and Doctor liv He shook hands with me through the stockade nodded
30:03
to silver and set off at a brisk pace into the wood end of chapter thirty