Twenty-nine

THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN

After some time one of the pirates entered the house, and with a great show of politeness asked if he might take the lamp. Silver agreed, and he went out leaving us together in the dark.

"There's trouble coming, Jim," said Silver.

I turned to a small window near me and looked out. The great fire had almost burned itself out, and now glowed so low and dimly, that I understood why they desired a lamp. About half-way down the slope to the stockade, they were collected in a group: one held the light; another was on his knees in their midst, and I saw the blade of an open knife shine in his hand. The rest were all bending down, as though watching the work of this last. I could just make out that he had a book as well as a knife in his hand; and was still wondering how such a thing had come in their hands, when the figure rose once more to his feet, and the whole party began to move together towards the house.

"Here they come," said I; and I returned to my former place, for I did not wish that they should find me watching them.

"Well, let 'em come, lad—let 'em come," said Silver cheerily. "I've still a shot left."

The door opened, and the five men standing close together just inside, pushed one of their number forward. At any other time I should have laughed to see his slow advance, pausing as he set down each foot, but holding his closed right hand in front of him.

"Step up, lad," cried Silver. "I won't eat you. Hand it over. I know the rules, I do."

At these words the pirate stepped forward with greater courage, and having passed something to Silver, from hand to hand, slipped quickly back again to his companions.

The sea-cook looked at what had been given him.

"The black spot! I thought so," he said. "Where might you have got the paper? Why! look here, now: this is very bad! You've gone and cut this out of a Bible. What fool has cut a Bible? That will sure bring trouble on you!"

"Ah, there!" said Morgan—"there! What did I say? 'No good'll come o' that,' I said."

"Well, you've about fixed it now, among you," continued Silver. "You'll all hang now, I suppose. What soft-headed fool had a Bible?"

"It was Dick," said one.

"Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers," said Silver.

But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck in.

"Stop that talk, John Silver," he said. "This crew has given you the black spot according to the rules. Just you turn it over according to the rules and see what's written there. Then you can talk."

"Thank you, George," replied the sea-cook. "You always were good at business, and you have the rules by heart, George, as I'm pleased to see. Well, what is it, anyway? Ah! 'Thrown off'—that's it, is it? Very prettily written, to be sure; like print. Your handwriting, George? Why, you are getting quite a leading man in this here crew. You'll be cap'n next, I shouldn't wonder. Give me a light, will you: this pipe's gone out."

"Come now," said George, "you won't fool this crew no more. You're a wonderful man, by your account; but you're done for now, and you'll please step down off that barrel, and help elect a new captain."

"I thought you said you knew the rules," replied Silver with a short laugh. "But, if you don't, I do; and I wait here—and I'm still your cap'n, mind—till you tell me your complaints; and I reply. Till then, your black spot isn't worth a penny. After that, we'll see."

"Oh," replied George, "you shall know the complaints soon enough. First, you let everything go wrong on the voyage. Second, you let the enemy out of this trap for nothing. Third, you would not let us attack them on the march. And then, fourth, there's this boy."

"Is that all?" asked Silver quietly.

"Enough too," replied George. "We shall all hang because of you."

"Well, I'll answer these points. I let the voyage go wrong, did I? You all know what I wanted, and, if that had been done, we'd be on board the Hispaniola now, with the treasure in her, by thunder! Who crossed me? Who gave me the black spot the day we landed, and began this dance? Why, Anderson, and Hands, and you, George Merry."

Silver paused, and I could see that his words had had some effect.

"That's for one point," he continued. "I give you my word I'm sick to speak to you. I don't know why your mothers let you come to sea. Gentlemen of fortune! Shopkeepers is your trade. Well, the next point—this boy. Are we going to waste him? Can't we hold him a prisoner and use him to bargain with? And the last point, about letting them go safe out of here. Perhaps you count it nothing to have a real doctor coming to see you every day, you, John, with your head broken—and you, George Merry, with your eyes still yellow with sickness? I made a bargain. I made it because you came creeping to me on your knees, and you'd have died of hunger too if I hadn't—but that's nothing. You look there—that's why I let 'em go!"

And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly recognized—none other than the map on yellow paper, with the three red marks, that I had found at the bottom of the captain's chest. Why the doctor had given it to him was more than I could fancy.

The pirates could hardly believe their eyes. They leaped upon it like cats upon a mouse. It went from hand to hand, one tearing it from another; and by their cries of joy and the laughing, you would have thought, not only they had already got the gold, but that they were at sea with it, in safety.

"Yes," said one, "that's Flint sure enough—'J. F.' and a line below with a knot it in; so he always did it."

"Mighty pretty," said George. "But how are we to get away with it, with no ship?"

Silver suddenly sprang up, and supporting himself with a hand against the wall, "Now I give you warning, George—" he cried, "one more word, and I'll call you down and fight you. How? Why, how do I know? You had ought to tell me that—you and the rest that lost me my ship, with your crossing of me, burn you! But not you, you can't; you haven't got the sense of a fly. But polite you can speak, and shall, George Merry."

"That's fair enough," said the old man Morgan.

"Fair! I think so," said the sea-cook. "You lost the ship; I found the treasure. Who's the better man at that? And now I give up, by thunder! Elect whom you please to be your cap'n now; I'm done with it."

"Silver!" they cried. "Barbecue for ever! Barbecue for cap'n!"

"So that's the cry, is it?" cried the cook. "George, I guess you'll have to wait another turn, friend; and it's well for you that I'm a forgiving man. And now, friends, this black spot? It isn't much good now, is it? Dick has cut his Bible and brought bad fortune on himself, and that's all about it. Here, Jim—here's a curious thing for you," said Silver; and he threw the paper to me.

It was a round piece of paper about the size of a penny. One side was plain for it had been the last page; the other contained a line or two of print—these words among the rest, which struck sharply home upon my mind: "Without are dogs and murderers." The printed side had been blackened with burnt wood; on the other side had been written with the same material the words "Thrown off". I have it beside me at this moment as I write.

That was the end of the night's business. Soon after, with a drink all round, we lay down to sleep.

It was long ere I could close an eye, and heaven knows I had matter enough for thought, in the man whom I had slain that afternoon, in my own present danger, and, above all, in the wonderful game that I saw Silver now playing—keeping the pirates together with one hand, and feeling, with the other, after every means, possible and impossible, to make his peace and save his own life. He, himself, slept peacefully.