Sixteen

THE STORY CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR: HOW THE SHIP WAS DESERTED

It was about half-past one when the two boats went on shore from the Hispaniola. The captain, Trelawney, and I were talking matters over, below. Had there been a breath of wind we should have fallen on the six pirates who were left on the ship with us, and gone out to sea. But there was no wind; and to complete our helplessness, down came Hunter with the news that Jim Hawkins had slipped into a boat and was gone on shore with the rest.

The thought never entered our minds to doubt Jim Hawkins; but we were alarmed for his safety. With the men in the temper they were in, it seemed an equal chance if we would see the lad again. We ran up above. It was very hot; the foul smell of the place turned me sick; if ever a man smelled illness and disease, it was in that evil bay. The six fellows were sitting talking under a sail; on the shore we could see the boats tied up, and a man sitting in each, near the mouth of the river. One of them was whistling "Lillibullero."

Waiting was a great trial; and it was decided that Hunter and I should go on shore with the boat in search of news.

The boats had leaned to their right; but Hunter and I rowed straight in, in the direction of the stockade upon the map. The two who were left guarding their boats seemed surprised at our appearance; "Lillibullero" stopped, and I could see the pair asking each other what they ought to do. Had they gone and told Silver, all might have turned out differently; but they had their orders, I suppose, and decided to sit quietly where they were and go back again to "Lillibullero."

There was a slight bend in the coast, and I rowed so as to put it between us; even before we landed, we had thus lost sight of the boats. I jumped out, and came as near running as I dared, with a big silk handkerchief under my hat for coolness, and a couple of pistols ready loaded.

I had not gone a hundred yards when I came on the stockade.

This was how it was: a spring of clear water rose almost at the top of a little hill. Well, on the hill, and encircling the spring, they had put a strong log-house, fit to hold forty people at the most, with holes for guns on every side. All round this they had cleared a wide space, and then the thing was completed by a fence six feet high, without door or opening, too strong to pull down without time and labour, and too open to shelter the attackers. The people in the log-house were very well placed; they might stand in shelter and shoot the others like rabbits. All they wanted was a good watch and food; for, unless they were completely surprised, they might hold the place against an army.

What particularly pleased me was the spring. For, though we were quite comfortable in the Hispaniola, with plenty of arms and gunpowder and things to eat, and excellent wines, there had been one thing forgotten—we had no water. I was thinking this over, when there came ringing over the island the cry of a man at the point of death. I was not new to sudden death. I had served at the battle of Fontenoy, and got a wound there—but I know my heart beat quickly. "Jim Hawkins is gone!" was my first thought.

It is something to have been an old soldier, but more still to have been a doctor. There is no time to waste in our work. And so now I made up my mind instantly, and returned to the shore, and jumped into the boat.

By good fortune Hunter rowed well. We made the water fly; and I was soon on board the ship.

I found them all shaken, as was natural. Mr. Trelawney was sitting down, as white as a sheet, thinking of the harm he had led us to, and one of the six men was little better.

"There's a man," says Captain Smollett, nodding towards him, "new to this work. He very nearly fainted, doctor, when he heard the cry. It would take very little to make that man join us."

I told my plan to the captain, and between us we settled exactly how to carry it out.

We put old Redruth at the foot of the stairs, with three or four loaded guns. Hunter brought the boat round, and Joyce and I set to work loading her with powder-tins, guns, bags of food, a barrel of wine, and those things which I use as doctor. Trelawney and the captain stayed up above, and the captain called Israel Hands, who was the chief man on board.

"Mr. Hands," he said, "here are two of us with a couple of pistols each. If any one of you six make a sign of any kind, that man's dead."

They were a good deal surprised; and, after a little talking together, one and all rushed down the steps, thinking, no doubt, to take us in the rear. But when they saw Redruth waiting for them there, they turned round at once, and a head came out again at the top of the stairs.

"Down, dog!" cried the captain.

And the head went back again suddenly; and we heard no more, for the time, of these six very faint-hearted seamen.

By this time, throwing things in as they came, we had the boat loaded as much as we dared. Joyce and I got into it, and we made for shore again, as fast as we could row.

This second trip alarmed the watchers along the shore. "Lillibullero" was dropped again; and just before we lost sight of them behind the little point, one of them disappeared. I half thought of changing my plan and destroying their boats, but I feared that Silver and the others might be close by, and all might be lost by trying for too much.

We had soon touched land in the same place as before, and set to work to carry our things into the log-house inside the stockade. All three made the first journey heavily loaded, and threw our stores over the fence. Then, leaving Joyce to guard them—one man, to be sure, but with half a dozen guns—Hunter and I returned to the boat, and loaded ourselves once more. So we proceeded without pausing to take breath. Then the two servants took their places in the stockade, and I, with all my power, rowed back to the Hispaniola.

That we should have risked a second boat-load seems more daring than it really was. They had the greater number of men, of course, but we had more guns. Not one of the men on shore had a gun, and we thought that we should be able to shoot down half a dozen of them at least before they could get within range for pistol shooting.

Trelawney was waiting for me on board the ship, all his faintness gone from him. He caught the rope and tied it up, and we fell to loading the boat with all haste. We took a lot of meat and bread, and a gun and a sword each for Trelawney, myself and Redruth. The rest of the arms and powder we dropped over the side into the sea; we could see them shining far below us on the clean, sandy bottom.

Redruth left his place at the stairs and dropped into the boat. Then Captain Smollett prepared to leave the ship.

"Now, men," said he to the pirates, "do you hear me?"

There was no answer.

"It's to you, Abraham Gray—it's to you I am speaking."

Still no reply.

"Gray," continued Mr. Smollett, a little louder, "I am leaving this ship, and I order you to follow your captain. I know you are a good man at bottom, and I dare say not one of the lot of you's as bad as he makes out. I have my watch here in my hand; I give you half a minute to join me."

There was a pause.

"Come, my fine fellow," continued the captain, "don't delay. I'm risking my life and the lives of these good gentlemen every moment."

There was a sudden rush, a sound of blows, and out burst Abraham Gray with a knife-cut on the side of the cheek, and came running to the captain, like a dog to the whistle.

"I'm with you, sir," said he.

And the next moment he and the captain had dropped into the boat, and we had pushed off.