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There never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six menwas as though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almostinstantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like aracer, on that money; well, he was brought up in a single second, dead;and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed his plan before theothers had had time to realize the disappointment.

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

And he passed me a double-barreled pistol.

At the same time he began quietly moving northward, and in a few stepshad put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked atme 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 sorevolted at these constant changes that I could not forbear whispering:"So you've changed sides again."

There was no time left for him to answer in. The buccaneers, with oathsand cries, began to leap, one after another, into the pit, and to digwith their fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. Morganfound a piece of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. Itwas a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for aquarter of a minute.

"Two guineas!" roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. "That's your sevenhundred thousand pounds, is it? You're the man for bargains, ain't you?You're him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!"

"Dig away, boys," said Silver, with the coolest insolence; "you'll findsome pig-nuts, and I shouldn't wonder."

"Pig-nuts!" repeated Merry, in a scream. "Mates, do you hear that? Itell you now, that man there knew it all along. Look in the face of him,and you'll see it wrote there."

"Ah, Merry," remarked Silver, "standing for cap'n again? You're apushing lad, to be sure."

But this time every one was entirely in Merry's favor. They began toscramble out of the excavation, darting furious glances behind them. Onething I observed, which looked well for us; they all got out upon theopposite side from Silver.

Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the pitbetween us, and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow.Silver never moved; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, andlooked as cool as ever I saw him. He was brave, and no mistake.

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

"Mates," says he, "there's two of them alone there; one's the oldcripple that brought us all here and blundered us down to this; theother's that cub that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates--"

He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly meant to lead acharge. But just then--crack! crack! crack!--three musket-shots flashedout of the thicket. Merry tumbled headforemost into the excavation; theman with the bandage spun round like a teetotum, and fell all his lengthupon his side, where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the otherthree turned and ran for it with all their might.

Before you could wink Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol intothe struggling Merry; and as the man rolled up his eyes at him in thelast agony, "George," said he, "I reckon I settled you."

At the same moment the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us, withsmoking muskets, from among the nutmeg-trees.

"Forward!" cried the doctor. "Double quick, my lads. We must head 'emoff the boats."

And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging through the bushes tothe chest.

I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with us. The work that manwent through, leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest werefit to burst, was work no sound man ever equaled; and so thinks thedoctor. As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us, and on theverge of strangling, when we reached the brow of the slope.

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

Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open part of the plateau wecould see the three survivors still running in the same direction asthey had started, right for Mizzen-mast Hill. We were already betweenthem and the boats, and so we four sat down to breathe, while Long John,mopping his face, came slowly up with us.

"Thank ye kindly, doctor," says he. "You came in in about the nick, Iguess, 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 maroon, wriggling like an eel in hisembarrassment. "And," he added, after a long pause, "how do, Mr. Silver!Pretty well, I thank ye, says you."

"Ben, Ben," murmured Silver, "to think as you've done me!"

The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pickaxes deserted, in theirflight, by the mutineers; and then as we proceeded leisurely downhill towhere the boats were lying, related, in a few words, what had takenplace. It was a story that profoundly interested Silver, and Ben Gunn,the half-idiot maroon, was the hero from beginning to end.

Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found theskeleton. It was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; hehad dug it up (it was the haft of his pickax that lay broken in theexcavation); he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys, fromthe foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill atthe northeast angle of the island, and there it had lain stored insafety since two months before the arrival of the _Hispaniola_.

When the doctor had wormed this secret from him, on the afternoon of theattack, and when, next morning, he saw the anchorage deserted, he hadgone to Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless; given himthe stores, for Ben Gunn's cave was well supplied with goats' meatsalted by himself; given anything and everything to get a chance ofmoving in safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to beclear of malaria and keep a guard upon the money.

"As for you, Jim," he said, "it went against my heart, but I did what Ithought best for those who had stood by their duty; and if you were notone of these, whose fault was it?"

That morning, finding that I was to be involved in the horriddisappointment he had prepared for the mutineers, he had run all the wayto the cave, and, leaving squire to guard the captain, had taken Grayand the maroon, and started, making the diagonal across the island, tobe at hand beside the pine. Soon, however, he saw that our party had thestart of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been dispatched infront to do his best alone. Then it had occurred to him to work upon thesuperstitions of his former shipmates; and he was so far successful thatGray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before thearrival of the treasure-hunters.

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

"Not a thought," replied Doctor Livesey, cheerily.

And by this time we had reached the gigs. The doctor, with the pickax,demolished one of them, and then we all got aboard the other, and setout to go round by the sea for North Inlet.

This was a run of eight or nine miles. Silver, though he was almostkilled already with fatigue, was set to an oar, like the rest of us, andwe were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea. Soon we passed out ofthe straits and doubled the southeast corner of the island, round which,four days ago, we had towed the _Hispaniola_.

As we passed the two-pointed hill we could see the black mouth of BenGunn's cave, and a figure standing by it, leaning on a musket. It wasthe squire, and we waved a handkerchief and gave him three cheers, inwhich the voice of Silver joined as heartily as any.

Three miles farther, just inside the mouth of North Inlet, what shouldwe meet but the _Hispaniola_, cruising by herself! The last flood hadlifted her, and had there been much wind, or a strong tide current, asin the southern anchorage, we should never have found her more, or foundher stranded beyond help. As it was, there was little amiss, beyond thewreck of the mainsail. Another anchor was got ready, and dropped in afathom and a half of water. We all pulled round again to Rum Cove, thenearest point for Ben Gunn's treasure-house; and then Gray,single-handed, returned with the gig to the _Hispaniola_, where he wasto pass the night on guard.

A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the entrance of the cave. At thetop, the squire met us. To me he was cordial and kind, saying nothing ofmy escapade, either in the way of blame or praise. At Silver's politesalute he somewhat flushed.

"John Silver," he said, "you're a prodigious villain and impostor--amonstrous impostor, sir. I am told I am not to prosecute you. Well,then, I will not. But the dead men, sir, hang about your neck likemillstones."

"Thank you kindly, sir," replied Long John, again saluting.

"I dare you to thank me!" cried the squire. "It is a gross derelictionof my duty. Stand back!"

And thereupon we all entered the cave. It was a large, airy place, witha little spring and a pool of clear water, overhung with ferns. Thefloor was sand. Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett; and in a farcorner, only duskily flickered over by the blaze, I beheld great heapsof coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold. That was Flint'streasure that we had come so far to seek, and that had cost already thelives of seventeen men from the _Hispaniola_. How many it had cost inthe amassing, what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on thedeep, what brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon,what shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell. Yetthere were still three upon that island--Silver, and old Morgan, and BenGunn--who had each taken his share in these crimes, as each had hoped invain to share in the reward.

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

"Come back to my dooty, sir," returned 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; andwhat a meal it was, with Ben Gunn's salted goat, and some delicacies anda bottle of old wine from the _Hispaniola_. Never, I am sure, werepeople gayer or happier. And there was Silver, sitting back almost outof the firelight, but eating heartily, prompt to spring forward whenanything was wanted, even joining quietly in our laughter--the samebland, polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out.