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02 - Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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Speaker 1: Chapter three, The Black Spot. About noon I stopped at
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Speaker 1: the Captain's door with some cooling drinks and medicines. He
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Speaker 1: was lying very much as we had left him, only
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Speaker 1: a little higher, and he seemed both weak and excited. Jim,
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Speaker 1: he said, you're the only one here that's worth anything.
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Speaker 1: And you know I've always been good to you, never
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Speaker 1: a month, but I've given you a silver fourpenny for yourself.
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Speaker 1: And now you see, mate, I'm pretty low and deserted
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Speaker 1: by all. And Jim, you'll bring me one noggin of rum, now,
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Speaker 1: won't you? Matey the doctor, I began, but he broke in,
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Speaker 1: cursing the doctor in a feeble voice. But heartily, doctors
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Speaker 1: is all swabs, he said. And that doctor there, why
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Speaker 1: what does he know about seafaring men. I've been in
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Speaker 1: places hot as pitch, and mate, dropping round with yellow jack,
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Speaker 1: and the blessed land are heaving like the sea with earthquakes?
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Speaker 1: What do the doctor know of lands like that? And
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Speaker 1: I've lived on rum. I can tell you It's been
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Speaker 1: meat and drink and man and wife to me. And
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Speaker 1: if I'm not to have my rum now, I'm a
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Speaker 1: poor old hulk on a lee shore. My blood will
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Speaker 1: be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab and he
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Speaker 1: ran on again for a while with curses. Look, Jim,
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Speaker 1: how my fingers fidgies, he continued, in the pleading tone.
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Speaker 1: I can't keep him still, not I. I haven't had
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Speaker 1: a drop this blessed day. That doctor's a fool. I
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Speaker 1: tell you, if I don't have a drain of rum, Jim,
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Speaker 1: I'll have the horrors. I seen some on em already.
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Speaker 1: I seen old flint in the corner there behind you,
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Speaker 1: plain as print. I've seen him. If I get the horrors,
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Speaker 1: I'm a man that has lived rough, and I'll raise caine.
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Speaker 1: Your doctor's self said, one glass wouldn't hurt me. I'll
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Speaker 1: give you a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim. He
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Speaker 1: was growing more and more excited, and this alarmed me,
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Speaker 1: for my father, who was very low that day, needed quiet. Besides,
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Speaker 1: I was reassured by the doctor's words now quoted to me,
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Speaker 1: and rather offended by the offer of a bribe. I
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Speaker 1: want none of your money, said I, but what you
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Speaker 1: owe my father, I'll get you one glass and no more.
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Speaker 1: When I brought it to him, he seized it greedily
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Speaker 1: and drank it out. Ay, ay, said he that's some better,
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Speaker 1: sure enough? And now Matie, did that doctor say how
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Speaker 1: long I was to lie here in this old berth?
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Speaker 1: A week at least, said I thunder, He cried, a week? Aye,
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Speaker 1: can't do that. They'd have the black spot on me
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Speaker 1: by then. The lobbers is going to get the wind
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Speaker 1: of me this blessed moment. Lobbers as couldn't keep what
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Speaker 1: they got and what to nail? What is another's? Is
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Speaker 1: that seemingly behavior? Now? I want to know. But I'm
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Speaker 1: a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine
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Speaker 1: or lost it neither. And I'll trick em again. I'm
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Speaker 1: not afraid on them. I'll shake out another reef mate
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Speaker 1: and dandle them again. As he was thus speaking, he
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Speaker 1: had risen from bed with great difficulty, holding to my
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Speaker 1: shoulder with a grip that almost made me cry out,
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Speaker 1: and moving his legs like so much dead weight. His words,
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Speaker 1: spirited as they were in meaning, contrasted sadly with the
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Speaker 1: weakness of the voice in which they were uttered. He paused,
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Speaker 1: when he had got into a sitting position on the edge.
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Speaker 1: That Doctor's done me, he murmured. My ears is singing,
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Speaker 1: lay me bad. Before I could do much to help him,
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Speaker 1: he had fallen back again to his former place, where
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Speaker 1: he lay for a while silent. Jim, he said, at length,
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Speaker 1: you saw that seafery man today, black Dog? I asked, ah,
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Speaker 1: Black Dog said he he's Abbaddon, But there's worse that
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Speaker 1: put him on now far can't get away no how,
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Speaker 1: and they tip me the black spot. Mind you, it's
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Speaker 1: my old sea chest. Thereafter you get on a horse,
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Speaker 1: you can, can't you? Well, then you get on a
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Speaker 1: horse and go to well. Yes, I will to that
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Speaker 1: eternal doctor Swab and tell him to pipe all hands, magis,
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Speaker 1: straits and sitch, and he will lay him aboard at
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Speaker 1: the Admiral benbow all Old Flint's crew man and boy
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Speaker 1: all on them that's left. I was first mate. I
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Speaker 1: was Old Flint's fir mate, and I'm the only one
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Speaker 1: as knows the place He gave it me to Savannah
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Speaker 1: when he lay a dine like as if I was
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Speaker 1: to now. You see, but you won't peach unless they
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Speaker 1: got the black spot on me, or unless you see
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Speaker 1: that black dog again, or a seafaring man with one leg.
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Speaker 1: Jim him above all, But what is the black spot. Captain,
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Speaker 1: I asked, that's a summon's mate. I'll tell you if
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Speaker 1: they get that. But you'll keep your weather eye open, Jim,
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Speaker 1: and I'll share with you equals upon my honor. He
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Speaker 1: wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker, But soon
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Speaker 1: after I had given him his medicine, which he took
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Speaker 1: like a child, with the remark, if ever a seaman
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Speaker 1: wanted drugs, it's me. He fell at last into a heavy,
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Speaker 1: swoon like sleep, in which I left him. What I
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Speaker 1: should have done had all gone well, I do not know.
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Speaker 1: I should have told the whole story to the doctor,
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Speaker 1: for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should
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Speaker 1: repent of his confessions and make an end of me.
6:09
Speaker 1: But as things fell out, my poor father died quite
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Speaker 1: suddenly that evening, which put all other matters on one side.
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Speaker 1: Our natural distress, the visits of the neighbors, the arranging
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Speaker 1: of the funeral, and all the work of the inn
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Speaker 1: to be carried on in the meanwhile, kept me so
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Speaker 1: busy that I had scarcely time to think of the captain,
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Speaker 1: far less to be afraid of him. He got downstairs
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Speaker 1: next morning, to be sure, and had his meals as usual,
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Speaker 1: though he ate little and had more, I'm afraid, than
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Speaker 1: his usual supply of rum, For he helped himself out
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Speaker 1: of the bar, scowling and blowing through his nose, and
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Speaker 1: no one dared to cross him. On the night before
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Speaker 1: the funeral, he was as drunk as ever, and it
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Speaker 1: was shocking in that house of mourning to hear him
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Speaker 1: singing away his ugly old sea song. But weak as
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Speaker 1: he was, we were all in fear of death for him,
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Speaker 1: and the doctor was suddenly taken up with a case
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Speaker 1: many miles away, and was never near the house. After
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Speaker 1: my father's death. I have said the captain was weak,
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Speaker 1: and indeed he seemed rather to grow weaker than to
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Speaker 1: regain his strength. He clambered up and down stairs, and
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Speaker 1: went from the parlor to the bar and back again,
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Speaker 1: and sometimes put his nose out of door to smell
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Speaker 1: the sea, holding on to the walls as he went
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Speaker 1: for support, and breathing hard and fast like a man
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Speaker 1: on a steep mountain. He never particularly addressed me, and
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Speaker 1: it is my belief that he had as good as
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Speaker 1: forgotten his confidences. But his temper was more flighty and
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Speaker 1: allowing for his bodily weaknesses, more violent than ever. He
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Speaker 1: had an alarming way now when he was drunk, of
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Speaker 1: drawing his cutlass and laying it bare before him on
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Speaker 1: the table. But with all that, he minded people less,
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Speaker 1: and seemed shut up in his own thoughts, and rather wandering. Once,
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Speaker 1: for instance, to our extreme wonder, he piped up to
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Speaker 1: a very different air, a kind of country love song
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Speaker 1: that he must have learned in his youth, before he
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Speaker 1: had begun to follow the sea. So things passed until
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Speaker 1: the day after the funeral, and about three o'clock of
8:19
Speaker 1: a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the
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Speaker 1: door for a moment, full of sad thoughts about my father,
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Speaker 1: when I saw some one drawing slowly near along the road.
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Speaker 1: He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with
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Speaker 1: a stick, and wore a great green shade over his
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Speaker 1: eyes and nose. And he was hunched as if with
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Speaker 1: age or weakness, and wore a huge, old, tattered sea cloak,
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Speaker 1: with a hood that made him appear positively deformed. I
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Speaker 1: never saw in my life a more dreadful looking figure.
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Speaker 1: He stopped a little from the earn, and raising his
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Speaker 1: voice in an old sing song, addressed the air in
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Speaker 1: front of him, Will any kind friend inform a poor
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Speaker 1: blind man who has lost the precious sight of his
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Speaker 1: eyes in the gracious defense of his native country England,
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Speaker 1: and God bless King George. Where or in what part
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Speaker 1: of this country he may now be? You are at
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Speaker 1: the Admiral Bembo Black. He'll cove my good man, said I.
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Speaker 1: I hear a voice, said he, a young voice. Will
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Speaker 1: you give me your hand, my kind young friend, and
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Speaker 1: lead me in. I held out my hand and the horrible,
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Speaker 1: soft spoken, eyeless creature gripped it in a moment like
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Speaker 1: a vice. I was so much startled that I struggled
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Speaker 1: to withdraw, but the blind man pulled me close to
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Speaker 1: him with a single action of his arm. Now, boy,
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Speaker 1: he said, take me into the captain, Sir said, I,
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Speaker 1: upon my word, I dare not. Ah. He sneered. That's it.
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Speaker 1: Take me in straight, or I'll break your arm. He
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Speaker 1: gave it as he spoke, a wrench that made me
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Speaker 1: cry out. Sir said, I it is for yourself. I mean,
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Speaker 1: the captain is not what he used to be. He
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Speaker 1: sits with a drawn cutlass. Another gentleman, come now, March
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Speaker 1: interrupted he, and I never heard a voice so cruel
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Speaker 1: and cold and ugly as that blind man's. It cowed
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Speaker 1: me more than the pain, and I began to obey
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Speaker 1: him at once, walking straight in at the door and
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Speaker 1: towards the parlor where the sick old buccaneer was sitting,
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Speaker 1: dazed with rum. The blind man clung close to me,
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Speaker 1: holding me in one iron fist and leaning almost more
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Speaker 1: of his weight on me than I could carry. Leave
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Speaker 1: me straight up to him, and when i'm in cry out,
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Speaker 1: here's a friend for you, Bill. If you don't, I'll
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Speaker 1: do this. And with that he gave me a twitch
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Speaker 1: that I thought would have made me faint. Between this
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Speaker 1: and that, I was so utterly terrified by the blind
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Speaker 1: beggar that I forgot my terror of the captain, And
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Speaker 1: as I opened the parlor door, cried out the words
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Speaker 1: he had ordered in a trembling voice. The poor captain
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Speaker 1: raised his eyes, and at one look the rum went
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Speaker 1: out of him and left him staring sober. The expression
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Speaker 1: of his face was not so much of terror as
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Speaker 1: of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but
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Speaker 1: I do not believe he had enough force left in
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Speaker 1: his body now bill, Sit where you are, said the beggar.
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Speaker 1: If I can't see, I can hear a finger stirring.
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Speaker 1: Business is business. Hold out your left hand, boy, take
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Speaker 1: his left hand by the wrist, and bring it near
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Speaker 1: to my right. We both obeyed him to the letter,
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Speaker 1: and I saw him pass something from the hollow of
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Speaker 1: the hand that held his stick into the palm of
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Speaker 1: the captain's, which closed upon it instantly. And now that's done,
12:17
Speaker 1: said the blind man. And at the words, he suddenly
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Speaker 1: left hold of me, and with incredible accuracy and nimbleness,
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Speaker 1: skipped out of the parlor and into the road. Where
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Speaker 1: as I stood motionless, I could hear his stick go
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Speaker 1: tap tap tapping into the distance. It was some time
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Speaker 1: before either I or the captain seemed to gather our senses,
12:39
Speaker 1: but at length, and about the same moment, I released
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Speaker 1: his wrist, which I was still holding, and he drew
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Speaker 1: in his hand and looked sharply into the palm. Ten o'clock.
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Speaker 1: He cried, six hours, we'll do him yet, and he
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Speaker 1: sprang to his feet. Even as he did so, he reeled,
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Speaker 1: put his hand to his throat, stood swaying for a moment,
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Speaker 1: and then with a peculiar sound fell from his whole height,
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Speaker 1: face foremost to the floor. I ran to him at once,
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Speaker 1: calling to my mother, but haste was all in vain.
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Speaker 1: The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy. It
13:20
Speaker 1: is a curious thing to understand, for I had certainly
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Speaker 1: never liked the man, though of late I had begun
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Speaker 1: to pity him. But soon as I saw that he
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Speaker 1: was dead, I burst into a flood of tears. It
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Speaker 1: was the second death I had known, and the sorrow
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Speaker 1: of the first was still fresh in my heart. End
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Speaker 1: of chapter three, Chapter four, the Sea Chest. I lost
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Speaker 1: no time, of course, in telling my mother all that
13:49
Speaker 1: I knew, and perhaps should have told her long before.
13:53
Speaker 1: And we saw ourselves at once in a difficult and
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Speaker 1: dangerous position. Some of the man's money, if he had any,
14:00
Speaker 1: was certainly due to us, But it was not likely
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Speaker 1: that our captain's shipmates, above all the two specimens seen
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Speaker 1: by me, black Dog and the Blind Beggar, would be
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Speaker 1: inclined to give up their booty in payment of the
14:13
Speaker 1: dead man's debts. The captain's order to mount at once
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Speaker 1: and ride for doctor Livesey would have left my mother
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Speaker 1: alone and unprotected, which was not to be thought of. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: it seemed impossible for either of us to remain much
14:27
Speaker 1: longer in the house. The fall of coals in the
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Speaker 1: kitchen grate, the very ticking of the clock filled us
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Speaker 1: with alarm. The neighborhood, to our ears seemed haunted by
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Speaker 1: approaching footsteps, and what between the dead body of the
14:42
Speaker 1: captain on the parlor floor and the thought of that
14:45
Speaker 1: detestable blind beggar hovering near at hand and ready to return.
14:50
Speaker 1: There were moments when, as the saying goes, I jumped
14:54
Speaker 1: in my skin for terror. Something must speedily be resolved upon.
14:59
Speaker 1: And it occurred to me us at last to go
15:01
Speaker 1: forth together and seek help in the neighboring hamlet. No
15:05
Speaker 1: sooner said than done. Bareheaded as we were, we ran
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Speaker 1: out at once in the gathering evening and the frosty fog.
15:12
Speaker 1: The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, though out
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Speaker 1: of view, on the other side of the next cove.
15:19
Speaker 1: And what greatly encouraged me it was in an opposite
15:22
Speaker 1: direction from that whence the old blind man had made
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Speaker 1: his appearance, and whether he had presumably returned. We were
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Speaker 1: not many minutes on the road, though We sometimes stopped
15:33
Speaker 1: to lay hold of each other and hearken, But there
15:36
Speaker 1: was no unusual sound, nothing but the low wash of
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Speaker 1: the ripple and the croaking of the inmates of the wood.
15:43
Speaker 1: It was already candlelight when we reached the hamlet, and
15:47
Speaker 1: I shall never forget how much I was cheered to
15:50
Speaker 1: see the yellow shine in doors and windows. But that,
15:54
Speaker 1: as it proved, was the best help we were likely
15:57
Speaker 1: to get in that quarter. For you would have thought
16:00
Speaker 1: men would have been ashamed of themselves. No soul would
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Speaker 1: consent to return with us to the Admiral Benbo. The
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Speaker 1: more we told of our troubles, the more man, woman
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Speaker 1: and child they clung to the shelter of their houses.
16:14
Speaker 1: The name of Captain Flint, though it was strange to me,
16:18
Speaker 1: was well enough known to some there, and carried a
16:21
Speaker 1: great weight of terror. Some of the men who had
16:24
Speaker 1: been to field work on the far side of the
16:26
Speaker 1: Admiral Benbo remembered, besides to have seen several strangers on
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Speaker 1: the road, and taking them to be smugglers, to have
16:34
Speaker 1: bolted away, And one at least had seen a little
16:37
Speaker 1: lugger in what we called Kit's hole. For that matter,
16:41
Speaker 1: anyone who was a comrade of the captains, was enough
16:44
Speaker 1: to frighten them to death. And the short and the
16:47
Speaker 1: long of the matter was that while we could get
16:49
Speaker 1: several who were willing to ride to doctor Livesey's, which
16:53
Speaker 1: lay in another direction, not one would help us to
16:56
Speaker 1: defend the inn. They say cowardice as infectious, but then
17:01
Speaker 1: argument is, on the other hand, a great emboldener. And
17:04
Speaker 1: so when each had said his say, my mother made
17:07
Speaker 1: them a speech she would not, she declared, lose money
17:11
Speaker 1: that belonged to her fatherless boy. If none of the
17:14
Speaker 1: rest of you dare, she said, Jim and I dare back,
17:18
Speaker 1: we will go the way we came. And small thanks
17:21
Speaker 1: to you, big, hulking, chicken hearted men. We'll have that
17:25
Speaker 1: chest open if we die for it. And I'll thank
17:28
Speaker 1: you for that bag, missus Crossley, to bring back our
17:31
Speaker 1: lawful money. In of course, I said I would go
17:34
Speaker 1: with my mother, and of course they all cried out
17:37
Speaker 1: at our foolhardiness. But even there not a man would
17:40
Speaker 1: go along with us. All they would do was to
17:42
Speaker 1: give me a loaded pistol lest we were attacked, and
17:46
Speaker 1: to promise to have horses ready saddled in case we
17:49
Speaker 1: were pursued on our return, while one lad was to
17:52
Speaker 1: ride forward to the doctors in search of armed assistance.
17:56
Speaker 1: My heart was beating fiercely when we two set forth
17:59
Speaker 1: in the whole night upon this dangerous venture, a full
18:03
Speaker 1: moon was beginning to rise, and peered redly through the
18:06
Speaker 1: upper edges of the fog. And this increased our haste,
18:10
Speaker 1: for it was plain before we came forth again that
18:13
Speaker 1: all would be bright as day, and our departure exposed
18:16
Speaker 1: to the eyes of any watchers. We slipped along the hedges,
18:21
Speaker 1: noiseless and swift, nor did we see anything to increase
18:25
Speaker 1: our terrors, till to our huge relief, the door of
18:28
Speaker 1: the admiral Benbow had closed behind us. I slipped the
18:32
Speaker 1: bolt at once, and we stood and panted for a
18:35
Speaker 1: moment in the dark, alone in the house with the
18:37
Speaker 1: dead captain's body. Then my mother got a candle in
18:41
Speaker 1: the bar, and holding each other's hands, we advanced into
18:44
Speaker 1: the parlor. He lay as we had left him, on
18:47
Speaker 1: his back, with his eyes open and one arm stretched
18:51
Speaker 1: out draw down the blind Jim whispered my mother, they
18:56
Speaker 1: might come and watch outside, And now said she, when
19:00
Speaker 1: I had done so, we have to get the key
19:02
Speaker 1: off that, and who's to touch it? I should like
19:05
Speaker 1: to know? And she gave a kind of sob as
19:08
Speaker 1: she said the words. I went down on my knees
19:11
Speaker 1: at once. On the floor, close to his hand, there
19:14
Speaker 1: was a little round of paper blackened on one side.
19:18
Speaker 1: I could not doubt that this was the black spot.
19:21
Speaker 1: And taking it up I found written on the other side,
19:24
Speaker 1: in a very good clear hand, this short message you
19:28
Speaker 1: have till ten to night. He had till ten, mother,
19:33
Speaker 1: said I, And just as I said it, our old
19:36
Speaker 1: clock began striking. This sudden noise startled us shockingly, but
19:41
Speaker 1: the news was good, for it was only six now, Jim.
19:45
Speaker 1: She said that key. I felt in his pockets one
19:49
Speaker 1: after another, a few small coins, a thimble and some
19:53
Speaker 1: threadned big needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away
19:57
Speaker 1: at the end his gully with the crooked hair, A
20:00
Speaker 1: pocket compass, and a tinder box were all that they contained.
20:04
Speaker 1: And I began to despair. Perhaps it's round his neck,
20:08
Speaker 1: suggested my mother. Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open
20:13
Speaker 1: his shirt at the neck, and there, sure enough hanging
20:17
Speaker 1: to a bit of tarry string, which I cut with
20:19
Speaker 1: his own gully. We found the key. At this triumph,
20:24
Speaker 1: we were filled with hope, and hurried downstairs without delay
20:27
Speaker 1: to the little room where he had slept so long,
20:30
Speaker 1: and where his box had stood since the day of
20:32
Speaker 1: his arrival. It was like any other seaman's chest. On
20:35
Speaker 1: the outside, the initial b burned on top of it
20:39
Speaker 1: with a hot iron, and the corners somewhat smashed and broken,
20:43
Speaker 1: as by long rough usage. Give me the key, said
20:47
Speaker 1: my mother, And though the lock was very stiff, she
20:50
Speaker 1: had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling.
20:54
Speaker 1: A strong smell of tobacco and tar arose from the interior,
20:58
Speaker 1: but nothing was to be seen on the top except
21:00
Speaker 1: a suit of very good clothes, carefully brushed and folded.
21:05
Speaker 1: They had never been worn. My mother said under that
21:08
Speaker 1: the miscellany began a quadrant, a tin cannikin, several sticks
21:13
Speaker 1: of tobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols, a piece
21:17
Speaker 1: of bar silver, an old Spanish watch, and some other
21:21
Speaker 1: trinkets of little value and mostly foreign. Make a pair
21:25
Speaker 1: of compasses mounted with brass, and five or six curious
21:29
Speaker 1: West Indian shells. I have often wondered since why he
21:33
Speaker 1: should have carried about those shells with him in his wandering,
21:36
Speaker 1: guilty and hunted life. In the meantime we found nothing
21:41
Speaker 1: of any value but the silver and the trinkets, and
21:44
Speaker 1: neither of these were in our way. Underneath there was
21:47
Speaker 1: an old boat cloak whitened with sea salt on many
21:50
Speaker 1: a harbor bar. My mother pulled it up with impatience,
21:54
Speaker 1: and there lay before us the last things in the chest,
21:58
Speaker 1: a bundle tied up in oil cloth and looking like papers,
22:02
Speaker 1: and a canvas bag that gave forth at a touch
22:06
Speaker 1: the jingle of gold. I'll show these rogues that I
22:10
Speaker 1: am an honest woman, said my mother. I'll have my
22:13
Speaker 1: dew and not a farthing over hold missus Crusty's bag.
22:18
Speaker 1: And she began to count over the amount of the
22:20
Speaker 1: captain's score from the sailor's bag into the one that
22:23
Speaker 1: I was holding. It was a long difficult business, for
22:26
Speaker 1: the coins were of all countries and sizes, to bloons
22:30
Speaker 1: and louisd'or, and guineas and pieces of eight, and I
22:34
Speaker 1: know not what besides, all shaken together at random. The guineas,
22:38
Speaker 1: too were about the scarcest. And it was with these
22:41
Speaker 1: only that my mother knew how to make her count.
22:45
Speaker 1: When we were about half way through, I suddenly put
22:47
Speaker 1: my hand under her arm, for I had heard in
22:50
Speaker 1: the silent, frosty air a sound that brought my heart
22:54
Speaker 1: into my mouth, the tip tapping of the blind man's
22:58
Speaker 1: stick upon the fozen road. It drew nearer and nearer
23:02
Speaker 1: while we sat holding our breath. Then it struck sharp
23:05
Speaker 1: at the inn door, and then we could hear the
23:07
Speaker 1: handle being turned and the bolt rattling as the wretched
23:11
Speaker 1: being tried to enter. And then there was a long
23:14
Speaker 1: time of silence, both within and without. At last the
23:18
Speaker 1: tapping recommenced, and, to our indescribable joy and gratitude, died
23:24
Speaker 1: slowly away again till it ceased to be heard. Mother said,
23:29
Speaker 1: I take the hole and let's be going, for I
23:33
Speaker 1: was sure the bolted door must have seemed suspicious and
23:36
Speaker 1: would bring the whole hornet's nest about our ears. Though
23:40
Speaker 1: how thankful I was that I had bolted it, none
23:43
Speaker 1: could tell who had never met that terrible blind man.
23:48
Speaker 1: But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent
23:51
Speaker 1: to take a fraction more than it was her due,
23:53
Speaker 1: and was obstinately unwilling to be content with less. It
23:57
Speaker 1: was not yet seven, she said, by a long way.
24:00
Speaker 1: She knew her rights, and she would have them. And
24:03
Speaker 1: she was still arguing with me when a little low
24:06
Speaker 1: whistle sounded a good way off upon the hill. That
24:10
Speaker 1: was enough and more than enough for both of us.
24:13
Speaker 1: I'll take what I have, she said, jumping to her feet,
24:17
Speaker 1: And I'll take this to square, the count said, I
24:19
Speaker 1: picking up the oilskin packet. Next moment we were both
24:23
Speaker 1: groping downstairs, leaving the candle by the empty chest, and
24:27
Speaker 1: the next we had opened the door and were in
24:29
Speaker 1: full retreat. We had not started a moment too soon.
24:33
Speaker 1: The fog was rapidly dispersing. Already the moon shone quite
24:37
Speaker 1: clear on the high ground on either side, and it
24:40
Speaker 1: was only in the exact bottom of the dell and
24:43
Speaker 1: round the tavern door, that a thin veil still hung,
24:46
Speaker 1: unbroken to conceal the first steps of our escape. Far
24:51
Speaker 1: less than half way to the hamlet, very little beyond
24:54
Speaker 1: the bottom of the hill we must come forth into
24:57
Speaker 1: the moonlight. Nor was this all, for the sound of
25:01
Speaker 1: several footsteps running came already to our ears, and as
25:05
Speaker 1: we looked back in their direction, a light tossing to
25:08
Speaker 1: and fro, and still rapidly advancing, showed that one of
25:12
Speaker 1: the newcomers carried a lantern. My dear said, my mother,
25:17
Speaker 1: suddenly take the money and run on. I am going
25:21
Speaker 1: to faint. This was certainly the end for both of us.
25:24
Speaker 1: I thought, how I cursed the cowardice of the neighbors.
25:28
Speaker 1: How I blamed my poor mother for her honesty and
25:31
Speaker 1: her greed, for her past full hardiness and present weakness.
25:37
Speaker 1: We were just at the little bridge by a good fortune,
25:39
Speaker 1: and I helped her, tottering as she was, to the
25:42
Speaker 1: edge of the bank, where sure enough she gave a
25:45
Speaker 1: sigh and fell on my shoulder. I do not know
25:49
Speaker 1: how I found the strength to do it all, and
25:51
Speaker 1: I am afraid it was roughly done, but I managed
25:54
Speaker 1: to drag her down the bank and a little way
25:57
Speaker 1: under the arch. Father. I could not move her, for
26:01
Speaker 1: the bridge was too low to let me do more
26:03
Speaker 1: than crawl below it. So there we had to stay,
26:07
Speaker 1: my mother almost entirely exposed, and both of us within
26:11
Speaker 1: ear shot of the inn. End of chapter four