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"Jim," said Silver, when we were alone, "if I saved your life, you savedmine, and I'll not forget it. I seen the doctor waving you to run forit--with the tail of my eye, I did--and I seen you say no, as plain ashearing. Jim, that's one to you. This is the first glint of hope I hadsince the attack failed, and I owe it to you. And now, Jim, we're to goin for this here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders, too, and I don'tlike it; and you and me must stick close, back to back like, and we'llsave our necks in spite o' fate and fortune."

Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready, and wewere soon seated here and there about the sand over biscuit and friedjunk. They had lighted a fire fit to roast an ox; and it was now grownso hot that they could only approach it from the windward, and eventhere not without precaution. In the same wasteful spirit, they hadcooked, I suppose, three times more than we could eat; and one of them,with an empty laugh, threw what was left into the fire, which blazed androared again over this unusual fuel. I never in my life saw men socareless of the morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can describetheir way of doing; and what with wasted food and sleeping sentries,though they were bold enough for a brush and be done with it, I couldsee their entire unfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign.

Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had nota word of blame for their recklessness. And this the more surprised me,for I thought he had never showed himself so cunning as he did then.

"Ay, mates," said he, "it's lucky you have Barbecue to think for youwith this here head. I got what I wanted, I did. Sure enough, they havethe ship. Where they have it, I don't know yet; but once we hit thetreasure, we'll have to jump about and find out. And then, mates, usthat has the boats, I reckon, has the upper hand."

Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of the hot bacon; thus herestored their hope and confidence, and, I more than suspect, repairedhis own at the same time.

"As for hostage," he continued, "that's his last talk, I guess, withthem he loves so dear. I've got my piece o' news, and thanky to him forthat; but it's over and done. I'll take him in a line when we gotreasure-hunting, for we'll keep him like so much gold, in case ofaccidents, you mark, and in the meantime. Once we got the ship andtreasure both, and off to sea like jolly companions, why, then we'lltalk Mr. Hawkins over, we will, and we'll give him his share, to besure, for all his kindness."

It was no wonder the men were in a good humor now. For my part, I washorribly cast down. Should the scheme he had now sketched provefeasible, Silver, already doubly a traitor, would not hesitate to adoptit. He had still a foot in either camp, and there was no doubt he wouldprefer wealth and freedom with the pirates to a bare escape fromhanging, which was the best he had to hope on our side.

Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was forced to keep his faithwith Doctor Livesey, even then what danger lay before us! What a momentthat would be when the suspicions of his followers turned to certainty,and he and I should have to fight for dear life--he, a cripple, and I, aboy--against five strong and active seamen!

Add to this double apprehension the mystery that still hung over thebehavior of my friends; their unexplained desertion of the stockade;their inexplicable cession of the chart; or, harder still to understand,the doctor's last warning to Silver, "Look out for squalls when you findit"; and you will readily believe how little taste I found in mybreakfast, and with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my captors onthe quest for treasure.

We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us; all in soiledsailor clothes, and all but me armed to the teeth. Silver had two gunsslung about him, one before and one behind--besides the great cutlass athis waist, and a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. Tocomplete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon hisshoulder and gabbled odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. I had a lineabout my waist, and followed obediently after the sea-cook, who held theloose end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between his powerfulteeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear.

The other men were variously burdened; some carrying picks andshovels--for that had been the very first necessary they brought ashorefrom the _Hispaniola_--others laden with pork, bread, and brandy for themidday meal. All the stores, I observed, came from our stock, and Icould see the truth of Silver's words the night before. Had he notstruck a bargain with the doctor, he and his mutineers, deserted by theship, must have been driven to subsist on clear water, and the proceedsof their hunting. Water would have been little to their taste; a sailoris not usually a good shot; and, besides all that, when they were soshort of eatables, it was not likely they would be very flush of powder.

Well, thus equipped, we all set out--even the fellow with the brokenhead, who should certainly have kept in shadow--and straggled, one afteranother, to the beach, where the two gigs awaited us. Even these boretrace of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, andboth in their muddied and unbailed condition. Both were to be carriedalong with us, for the sake of safety; and so, with our numbers dividedbetween them, we set forth upon the bosom of the anchorage.

As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the chart. The red crosswas, of course, far too large to be a guide; and the terms of the noteon the back, as you will hear, admitted of some ambiguity. They ran, thereader may remember, thus:

"Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E.

"Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.

"Ten feet."

A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right before us, theanchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high,adjoining on the north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glass,and rising again toward the south into the rough, cliffy eminence calledthe Mizzen-mast Hill. The top of the plateau was dotted thickly withpine trees of varying height. Every here and there, one of a differentspecies rose forty or fifty feet clear above its neighbors, and which ofthese was the particular "tall tree" of Captain Flint could only bedecided on the spot, and by the readings of the compass.

Yet, although that was the case, every man on board the boats had pickeda favorite of his own ere we were halfway over, Long John aloneshrugging his shoulders and bidding them wait till they were there.

We pulled easily, by Silver's directions, not to weary the handsprematurely; and, after quite a long passage, landed at the mouth of thesecond river--that which runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-glass.Thence, bending to our left, we began to ascend the slope towards theplateau.

At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted, marsh vegetationgreatly delayed our progress; but by little and little the hill began tosteepen and become stony under foot, and the wood to change itscharacter and to grow in a more open order. It was, indeed, a mostpleasant portion of the island that we were now approaching. Aheavy-scented broom and many flowering shrubs had almost taken the placeof grass. Thickets of green nutmeg-trees were dotted here and there withthe red columns and the broad shadow of the pines, and the first mingledtheir spice with the aroma of the others. The air, besides, was freshand stirring, and this, under the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderfulrefreshment to our senses.

The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, shouting and leaping toand fro. About the center, and a good way behind the rest, Silver and Ifollowed--I tethered by my rope, he plowing, with deep pants, among thesliding gravel. From time to time, indeed, I had to lend him a hand, orhe must have missed his footing and fallen backward down the hill.

We had thus proceeded for about half a mile, and were approaching thebrow of the plateau, when the man upon the farthest left began to cryaloud, as if in terror. Shout after shout came from him, and the othersbegan to run in his direction.

"He can't 'a' found the treasure," said old Morgan, hurrying past usfrom the right, "for that's clean a-top."

Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it was something verydifferent. At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a greencreeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a humanskeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I believe achill struck for a moment to every heart.

"He was a seaman," said George Merry, who, bolder than the rest, hadgone up close, and was examining the rags of clothing. "Leastways, thisis good sea-cloth."

"Ay, ay," said Silver, "like enough; you wouldn't look to find a bishophere, I reckon. But what sort of a way is that for bones to lie? 'Tain'tin natur'."

Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to fancy that the bodywas in a natural position. But for some disarray (the work, perhaps, ofthe birds that had fed upon him, or of the slow-growing creeper that hadgradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly straight--hisfeet pointing in one direction, his hands raised above his head like adiver's, pointing directly in the opposite.

"I've taken a notion into my old numskull," observed Silver. "Here's thecompass; there's the tip-top p'int of Skeleton Island, stickin' out likea tooth. Just take a bearing, will you, along the line of them bones."

It was done. The body pointed straight in the direction of the island,and the compass read duly E.S.E. by E.

"I thought so," cried the cook; "this here is a p'inter. Right up thereis our line for the Pole Star and the jolly dollars. But, by thunder! ifit don't make me cold inside to think of Flint. This is one of _his_jokes, and no mistake. Him and these six was alone here; he killed 'em,every man; and this one he hauled here and laid down by compass, shivermy timbers! They're long bones, and the hair's been yellow. Ay, thatwould be Allardyce. You mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?"

"Ay, ay," returned Morgan, "I mind him; he owed me money, he did, andtook my knife ashore with him."

"Speaking of knives," said another, "why don't we find his'n lyinground? Flint warn't the man to pick a seaman's pocket; and the birds, Iguess, would leave it be."

"By the powers and that's true!" cried Silver.

"There ain't a thing left here," said Merry, still feeling round amongthe bones; "not a copper doit nor a baccy box. It don't look nat'ral tome."

"No, by gum, it don't," agreed Silver; "not nat'ral, nor not nice, saysyou. Great guns, messmates, but if Flint was living this would be a hotspot for you and me! Six they were, and six are we; and bones is whatthey are now."

"I saw him dead with these here deadlights," said Morgan. "Billy took mein. There he laid, with penny-pieces on his eyes."

"Dead--ay, sure enough he's dead and gone below," said the fellow withthe bandage; "but if ever sperrit walked it would be Flint's. Dearheart, but he died bad, did Flint!"

"Ay, that he did," observed another; "now he raged and now he holleredfor the rum, and now he sang. 'Fifteen Men' were his only song, mates;and I tell you true, I never rightly liked to hear it since. It was mainhot and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin' out as clearas clear--and the death-haul on the man already."

"Come, come," said Silver, "stow this talk. He's dead, and he don'twalk, that I know; leastways he won't walk by day, and you may lay tothat. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons."

We started, certainly, but in spite of the hot sun and the staringdaylight, the pirates no longer ran separate and shouting through thewood, but kept side by side and spoke with bated breath. The terror ofthe dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits.