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"No, not I," said Silver. "Flint was cap'n; I was quartermaster, alongof my timber leg. The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost hisdeadlights. It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me--out ofcollege and all--Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was hangedlike a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso Castle. That wasRoberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to theirships--_Royal Fortune_ and so on. Now, what a ship was christened, solet her stay, I says. So it was with the _Cassandra_, as brought us allsafe home from Malabar, after England took the _Viceroy of the Indies_;so it was with the old _Walrus_, Flint's old ship, as I've seen a-muckwith the red blood and fit to sink with gold."

"Ah!" cried another voice, that of the youngest hand on board, andevidently full of admiration, "he was the flower of the flock, wasFlint!"

"Davis was a man, too, by all accounts," said Silver. "I never sailedalong of him; first with England, then with Flint, that's my story; andnow here on my own account, in a manner of speaking. I laid by ninehundred safe, from England, and two thousand after Flint. That ain't badfor a man before the mast--all safe in bank. 'Tain't earning now, it'ssaving does it, you may lay to that. Where's all England's men now? Idunno. Where's Flint's? Why, most of 'em aboard here, and glad to getthe duff--been begging before that, some of 'em. Old Pew, as had losthis sight, and might have thought shame, spends twelve hundred pounds ina year, like a lord in Parliament. Where is he now? Well, he's dead nowand under hatches; but for two years before that, shiver my timbers! theman was starving. He begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, andstarved at that, by the powers!"

"Well, it ain't much use, after all," said the young seaman.

"'Tain't much use for fools, you may lay to it--that, nor nothing,"cried Silver. "But now, you look here; you're young, you are, but you'reas smart as paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I'll talkto you like a man."

You can imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable old rogueaddressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had used tomyself. I think, if I had been able, that I would have killed himthrough the barrel. Meantime he ran on, little supposing he wasoverheard.

"Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough, and they riskswinging, but they eat and drink like fighting-cocks, and when a cruiseis done, why it's hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthings intheir pockets. Now, the most goes for rum and a good fling, and to seaagain in their shirts. But that's not the course I lay. I puts it allaway, some here, some there, and none too much anywheres, by reason ofsuspicion. I'm fifty, mark you; once back from this cruise I set upgentleman in earnest. Time enough, too, says you. Ah, but I've livedeasy in the meantime; never denied myself o' nothing heart desires, andslept soft and ate dainty all my days, but when at sea. And how did Ibegin? Before the mast, like you!"

"Well," said the other, "but all the other money's gone now, ain't it?You daren't show face in Bristol after this."

"Why, where might you suppose it was?" asked Silver, derisively.

"At Bristol, in banks and places," answered his companion.

"It were," said the cook; "it were when we weighed anchor. But my oldmissis has it all by now. And the 'Spy-glass' is sold, lease and goodwill and rigging; and the old girl's off to meet me. I would tell youwhere, for I trust you; but it 'ud make jealousy among the mates."

"And you can trust your missis?" asked the other.

"Gentlemen of fortune," returned the cook, "usually trust little amongthemselves, and right they are, you may lay to it. But I have a way withme, I have. When a mate brings a slip on his cable--one as knows me, Imean--it won't be in the same world with old John. There was some thatwas feared of Pew, and some that was feared of Flint; but Flint his ownself was feared of me. Feared he was, and proud. They was the roughestcrew afloat, was Flint's; the devil himself would have been feared to goto sea with them. Well, now, I tell you, I'm not a boasting man, and youseen yourself how easy I keep company; but when I was quartermaster,_lambs_ wasn't the word for Flint's old buccaneers. Ah, you may be sureof yourself in old John's ship."

"Well, I tell you now," replied the lad, "I didn't half a quarter likethe job till I had this talk with you, John, but there's my hand on itnow."

"And a brave lad you were, and smart, too," answered Silver, shakinghands so heartily that all the barrel shook, "and a finer figurehead fora gentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on."

By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of their terms. By a"gentleman of fortune" they plainly meant neither more nor less than acommon pirate, and the little scene that I had overheard was the lastact in the corruption of one of the honest hands--perhaps of the lastone left aboard. But on this point I was soon to be relieved, for,Silver giving a little whistle, a third man strolled up and sat down bythe party.

"Dick's square," said Silver.

"Oh, I know'd Dick was square," returned the voice of the coxswain,Israel Hands. "He's no fool, is Dick." And he turned his quid and spat."But, look here," he went on, "here's what I want to know, Barbecue--howlong are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat? I've hada'most enough o' Cap'n Smollett; he's hazed me long enough, by thunder!I want to go into that cabin, I do. I want their pickles and wines, andthat."

"Israel," said Silver, "your head ain't much account, nor never was. Butyou're able to hear, I reckon; leastways your ears is big enough. Now,here's what I say--you'll berth forward, and you'll live hard, andyou'll speak soft, and you'll keep sober, till I give the word; and youmay lay to that, my son."

"Well, I don't say no, do I?" growled the coxswain. "What I say is,when? That's what I say."

"When! by the powers!" cried Silver. "Well, now, if you want to know,I'll tell you when. The last moment I can manage; and that's when.Here's a first-rate seaman, Cap'n Smollett, sails the blessed ship forus. Here's this squire and doctor with a map and such--I don't knowwhere it is, do I? No more do you, says you. Well, then, I mean thissquire and doctor shall find the stuff, and help us to get it aboard, bythe powers! Then we'll see. If I was sure of you all, sons of doubleDutchmen, I'd have Cap'n Smollett navigate us halfway back again beforeI struck."

"Why, we're all seamen aboard here, I should think," said the lad Dick.

"We're all foc's'le hands, you mean," snapped Silver. "We can steer acourse, but who's to set one? That's what all you gentlemen split on,first and last. If I had my way, I'd have Cap'n Smollett work us backinto the trades at least; then we'd have no blessed miscalculations anda spoonful of water a day. But I know the sort you are. I'll finish with'em at the island, as soon's the blunt's on board, and a pity it is. Butyou're never happy till you're drunk. Split my sides, I've a sick heartto sail with the likes of you!"

"Easy all, Long John," cried Israel. "Who's a-crossin' of you?"

"Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I seen laid aboard? andhow many brisk lads drying in the sun at Execution Dock?" cried Silver;"and all for this same hurry and hurry and hurry. You hear me? I seen athing or two at sea, I have. If you would on'y lay your course, and ap'int to windward, you would ride in carriages, you would. But not you!I know you. You'll have your mouthful of rum to-morrow, and go hang."

"Everybody know'd you was a kind of a chapling, John; but there's othersas could hand and steer as well as you," said Israel. "They liked a bito' fun, they did. They wasn't so high and dry, nohow, but took theirfling, like jolly companions, everyone."

"So?" said Silver. "Well, and where are they now? Pew was that sort, andhe died a beggar-man. Flint was, and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah,they was a sweet crew, they was! on'y, where are they?"

"But," asked Dick, "when we do lay 'em athwart, what are we to do with'em, anyhow?"

"There's the man for me!" cried the cook, admiringly. "That's what Icall business. Well, what would you think? Put 'em ashore like maroons?That would have been England's way. Or cut 'em down like that much pork?That would have been Flint's or Billy Bones's."

"Billy was the man for that," said Israel. "'Dead men don't bite,' sayshe. Well, he's dead now, hisself; he knows the long and short on it now;and if ever a rough hand come to port, it was Billy."

"Right you are," said Silver, "rough and ready. But mark you here: I'man easy man--I'm quite the gentleman, says you; but this time it'sserious. Dooty is dooty, mates. I give my vote--death. When I'm inParlyment, and riding in my coach, I don't want none of thesesea-lawyers in the cabin a-coming home, unlooked for, like the devil atprayers. Wait is what I say; but when the time comes, why let her rip!"

"John," cried the coxswain, "you're a man!"

"You'll say so, Israel, when you see," said Silver. "Only one thing Iclaim--I claim Trelawney. I'll wring his calf's head off his body withthese hands. Dick!" he added, breaking off, "you must jump up, like asweet lad, and get me an apple, to wet my pipe like."

You may fancy the terror I was in! I should have leaped out and run forit, if I had found the strength; but my limbs and heart alike misgaveme. I heard Dick begin to rise, and then some one seemingly stopped him,and the voice of Hands exclaimed:

"Oh, stow that! Don't you get sucking of that bilge, John. Let's have ago of the rum."

"Dick," said Silver, "I trust you. I've a gauge on the keg, mind.There's the key; you fill a pannikin and bring it up."

Terrified as I was, I could not help thinking to myself that this musthave been how Mr. Arrow got the strong waters that destroyed him.

Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence Israel spokestraight on in the cook's ear. It was but a word or two that I couldcatch, and yet I gathered some important news; for, besides other scrapsthat tended to the same purpose, this whole clause was audible: "Notanother man of them'll jine." Hence there were still faithful men onboard.

When Dick returned, one after another of the trio took the pannikin anddrank--one "To luck"; another with a "Here's to old Flint," and Silverhimself saying, in a kind of song, "Here's to ourselves, and hold yourluff, plenty of prizes and plenty of duff."

Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel, and, lookingup, I found the moon had risen, and was silvering the mizzen-top andshining white on the luff of the foresail, and almost at the same timethe voice on the lookout shouted, "Land ho!"