Thirty-three

THE FALL OF A LEADER

There never was such a shock in this world. Each of these six men was as though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost instantly; he remained calm, got control of his temper, and changed his plan before the others had had time to understand the ruin of their hopes.

"Jim," he whispered, "take that, and stand by for trouble."

And he passed me a double-barrelled pistol.

At the same time he began quietly moving northward, and in a few steps had put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked at me and nodded, as much as to say, "Here is a narrow corner," as, indeed, I thought it was. His looks were now quite friendly; and I was so angry at these constant changes that I could not help whispering, "So you've changed sides again."

There was no time for him to answer in. The pirates, with curses and cries, began to leap, one after another, into the hole, and to tear up the soil with their fingers, throwing the boards away as they did so. Morgan found a piece of gold. He held it up with a rain of curses. It went from hand to hand among them for a quarter of a minute.

"One pound!" roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. "That's your seven hundred thousand pounds, is it? You're the man for bargains, aren't you? You're him that never made a mistake, you wooden-headed fool!"

"You might find some roots there," said Silver with a cool laugh, "—if you go deep enough."

"Roots!" repeated Merry. "Do you hear that, lads? I tell you now, that man knew it all along. Look in the face of him, and you'll see it written there."

"Ah, Merry," said Silver, "standing for cap'n again? You're a pushing lad, to be sure."

But this time everyone was entirely in Merry's favour. They began to climb out of the hole, casting angry looks behind them. One thing I observed, which looked well for us: they all got out upon the opposite side from Silver.

Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the hole between us, and nobody's courage high enough to offer the first blow. Silver never moved; he watched them, standing up very straight on his stick, and looked as cool as ever I saw him. He was brave, and no mistake.

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

"Lads," said he, "there are two of them alone there, one's the old one-legged fool that brought us all down to this; the other's that boy that I mean to have the heart of. Now, lads—"

He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead a charge. But just then—crack! crack! crack!—three gun-shots flashed out of the bushes. Merry fell head first into the hole; the man with the wounded head fell all his length upon his side, where he lay dead, but still kicking his feet; and the other three turned and ran for it with all their might.

Before you could move, Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into the struggling Merry; and, as the man rolled up his eyes at him, "George," said he, "I guess I settled you."

At the same moment the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us with smoking guns, from among the trees.

"Forward!" cried the doctor. "Double quick, my lads. We must drive 'em off the boats."

And we set off at a great speed, pushing through bushes breast-high.

I tell you, Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that man went through, leaping on his stick till his arms and shoulders were fit to burst, was work no whole man ever equalled; and so thinks the doctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us, when we reached the edge of the slope.

"Doctor," he shouted, "see there! no hurry!"

Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open part, we could see the three men still running in the same direction as they had started. We were already between them and the boats; and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John came slowly up to us.

"Thank you kindly, doctor," said he. "You came just in time, I guess, for me and Hawkins. And so it's you, Ben Gunn!" he added. "Well, you're a nice one, to be sure."

"I'm Ben Gunn, I am," replied the man, looking very uncomfortable. "And," he added, after a long pause, "how are you, Mr. Silver? 'Pretty well, I thank you,' says you."

"Ben, Ben," murmured Silver, "to think that you've tricked me."

The doctor sent back Gray for one of the axes, left behind by the pirates. As we proceeded down hill to where the boats were lying, he told, in a few words, what had happened. It was a story that greatly interested Silver.

Ben, in his long wanderings about the island, had found the treasure (it was his axe that lay broken in the hole); he had carried the gold on his back, in many weary journeys, to a cave on the two-pointed hill at the north-east corner of the island, and there it had been lying in safety two months before the Hispaniola arrived.

The doctor had got this secret from Ben Gunn, on the afternoon of the attack. Next morning, he saw the ship gone, so he had gone to Silver, given him the map, which was now useless—given him the stores, for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goats' meat salted by himself—given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be clear of sickness and keep a guard upon the money.

"As for you, Jim," he said, "it went against my heart, but I did what I thought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were not one of these, whose fault was it?"

That morning, learning that I was to be present when the pirates found the treasure vanished, he had run back to the cave, fetched Gray and Ben Gunn, and hurried to the place so as to be ready at hand to help.

"Ah," said Silver, "it was fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here. You would have let old John be cut to bits, and never given it a thought, doctor."

"Not a thought," replied Dr. Livesey gaily.

And by this time we had reached the boats. The doctor, with the axe, broke up one of them and then we all got on board the other and set out to North Bay.

As we passed the two-pointed hill, we could see the black mouth of Ben Gunn's cave, and a figure standing by it, leaning on a gun. It was Mr. Trelawney; and we waved a handkerchief and shouted to him.

Three miles farther, just inside the mouth of North Bay, what should we meet but the Hispaniola, sailing by herself! The high water had floated her off. We left Gray in charge of her. Then we rowed the boat round to Rum Bay, the nearest place to Ben Gunn's treasure-house.

A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance of the cave. At the top, Mr. Trelawney met us. He greeted me kindly; then he turned to Silver.

"John Silver," he said, "you are a base and evil man. I am told I am not to hand you over to Law. Well then, I will not. But the dead men hang about your neck, and your black memories are your punishment."

"Thank you kindly, sir," replied Long John, taking off his hat.

"How dare you thank me!" cried Mr. Trelawney. "I am ashamed of not doing my duty. Stand back."

We all entered the cave. It was a large, airy place, with a little spring of clear water, overhung with plants. The floor was sand. Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett; and in a far corner, only dimly lit by the blaze, I beheld great mountains of gold pieces, and towers built of bars of gold. That was Flint's treasure that we had come so far to seek, and that had cost already the lives of seventeen men from the Hispaniola. How many it had cost in the getting of it, what blood and sorrow, what good ships sunk in the ocean, what brave men murdered, what shame and lies and cruelty—perhaps no man alive could tell. Yet there were still three upon that island—Silver, and old Morgan, and Ben Gunn—who had each taken his share in these black deeds, as each had hoped to share in the treasure.

"Come in, Jim," said the captain. "You're a good boy in your way, Jim; but I don't think you and me'll go to sea again. Is that you, John Silver? What brings you here, man?"

"Come back to my duty, sir," replied Silver.

"Ah!" said the captain; and that was all he said.

What a supper I had of it that night, with all my friends around me; and what a feast it was, with Ben Gunn's salted goat, and a bottle of old wine from the Hispaniola. Never, I am sure, were people gayer or happier. And there was Silver, sitting back almost out of the firelight, but making a fine meal, ready to spring forward when anything was wanted, even joining quietly in our merriment—the same calm, polite seaman of the voyage out.