Treasure Island
The Treasure-hunt—Flint’s Pointer
JIM,” said Silver when we were alone, “if I saved your life, you saved mine; and I’ll not it. I the doctor you to for it—with the of my eye, I did; and I you say no, as plain as hearing. Jim, that’s one to you. This is the of I had since the attack failed, and I it you. And now, Jim, we’re to go in for this here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders too, and I don’t like it; and you and me must close, to like, and we’ll save our necks in o’ and fortune.”
Just then a man us from the fire that was ready, and we were soon seated here and there about the over biscuit and junk. They had a fire fit to an ox, and it was now so that they only approach it from the windward, and there not without precaution. In the same spirit, they had cooked, I suppose, three times more than we eat; and one of them, with an empty laugh, what was left into the fire, which and again over this fuel. I in my life saw men so careless of the morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can their way of doing; and what with food and sleeping sentries, though they were for a and be done with it, I see their entire for anything like a campaign.
Even Silver, away, with Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had not a word of for their recklessness. And this the more me, for I he had himself so as he did then.
“Aye, mates,” said he, “it’s lucky you have Barbecue to think for you with this here head. I got what I wanted, I did. Sure enough, they have the ship. Where they have it, I don’t know yet; but once we the treasure, we’ll have to jump about and out. And then, mates, us that has the boats, I reckon, has the upper hand.”
Thus he on, with his mouth full of the bacon; thus he their and confidence, and, I more than suspect, repaired his own at the same time.
“As for hostage,” he continued, “that’s his last talk, I guess, with them he loves so dear. I’ve got my piece o’ news, and to him for that; but it’s over and done. I’ll take him in a line when we go treasure-hunting, for we’ll keep him like so much gold, in case of accidents, you mark, and in the meantime. Once we got the ship and and off to sea like companions, why then we’ll talk Mr. Hawkins over, we will, and we’ll give him his share, to be sure, for all his kindness.”
It was no wonder the men were in a good now. For my part, I was down. Should the he had now sketched prove feasible, Silver, already a traitor, would not to it. He had still a in either camp, and there was no he would and with the to a from hanging, which was the best he had to on our side.
Nay, and if so out that he was to keep his with Dr. Livesey, then what us! What a moment that would be when the of his to and he and I should have to for dear life—he a and I a boy—against five and active seamen!
Add to this the that still over the of my friends, their of the stockade, their of the chart, or still to understand, the doctor’s last to Silver, “Look out for when you it,” and you will how little taste I in my and with how a I set my on the for treasure.
We a figure, had anyone been there to see us—all in and all but me to the teeth. Silver had two about him—one and one behind—besides the great at his and a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. To complete his appearance, Captain Flint sat upon his and and ends of sea-talk. I had a line about my and after the sea-cook, who the end of the rope, now in his free hand, now his powerful teeth. For all the world, I was like a dancing bear.
The other men were burthened, some and shovels—for that had been the very necessary they from the Hispaniola—others with pork, bread, and for the meal. All the stores, I observed, came from our stock, and I see the truth of Silver’s the night before. Had he not a with the doctor, he and his mutineers, by the ship, must have been to on clear water and the of their hunting. Water would have been little to their taste; a is not a good shot; and all that, when they were so of eatables, it was not likely they would be very of powder.
Well, thus equipped, we all set out—even the with the head, who should have in shadow—and straggled, one after another, to the beach, where the two us. Even these of the of the pirates, one in a thwart, and in their and condition. Both were to be along with us for the of safety; and so, with our numbers them, we set upon the of the anchorage.
As we over, there was some on the chart. The red was, of course, too large to be a guide; and the terms of the note on the back, as you will hear, of some ambiguity. They ran, the reader may remember, thus:
Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, 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 mark. Now, right us the was by a from two to three hundred high, on the north the southern of the Spy-glass and again the south into the rough, called the Mizzen-mast Hill. The top of the was with pine-trees of height. Every here and there, one of a different rose or fifty clear above its neighbours, and which of these was the particular “tall tree” of Captain Flint only be on the spot, and by the readings of the compass.
Yet, although that was the case, every man on the had a of his own we were half-way over, Long John alone his and them wait till they were there.
We easily, by Silver’s directions, not to the hands prematurely, and after a long passage, at the mouth of the second river—that which a of the Spy-glass. Thence, to our left, we to the the plateau.
At the outset, heavy, ground and a matted, our progress; but by little and little the hill to and under foot, and the to its and to in a more open order. It was, indeed, a most of the that we were now approaching. A heavy-scented and many had almost taken the place of grass. Thickets of green nutmeg-trees were here and there with the red and the of the pines; and the their with the of the others. The air, besides, was fresh and stirring, and this, under the sunbeams, was a to our senses.
The party spread itself abroad, in a shape, and to and fro. About the centre, and a good way the rest, Silver and I followed—I by my rope, he ploughing, with pants, among the gravel. From time to time, indeed, I had to him a hand, or he must have missed his and the hill.
We had thus for about a mile and were the of the when the man upon the left to aloud, as if in terror. Shout after came from him, and the others to in his direction.
“He can’t ’a the treasure,” said old Morgan, past us from the right, “for that’s clean a-top.”
Indeed, as we when we also the spot, it was something very different. At the of a big and in a green creeper, which had some of the smaller bones, a lay, with a of clothing, on the ground. I a for a moment to every heart.
“He was a seaman,” said George Merry, who, than the rest, had gone up close and was the of clothing. “Leastways, this is good sea-cloth.”
“Aye, aye,” said Silver; “like enough; you wouldn’t look to a here, I reckon. But what of a way is that for to lie? ’Tain’t in natur’.”
Indeed, on a second glance, it to that the was in a natural position. But for some (the work, perhaps, of the that had upon him or of the slow-growing that had his remains) the man perfectly straight—his pointing in one direction, his hands, above his like a diver’s, pointing directly in the opposite.
“I’ve taken a into my old numbskull,” Silver. “Here’s the compass; there’s the tip-top p’int o’ Skeleton Island, stickin’ out like a tooth. Just take a bearing, will you, along the line of them bones.”
It was done. The pointed in the direction of the island, and the read E.S.E. and by E.
“I so,” the cook; “this here is a p’inter. Right up there is our line for the Pole Star and the dollars. But, by thunder! If it don’t make me cold 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 here and by compass, my timbers! They’re long bones, and the hair’s been yellow. Aye, that would be Allardyce. You mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?”
“Aye, aye,” returned Morgan; “I mind him; he me money, he did, and took my knife with him.”
“Speaking of knives,” said another, “why don’t we his’n round? Flint warn’t the man to a seaman’s pocket; and the birds, I guess, would it be.”
“By the powers, and that’s true!” Silver.
“There ain’t a thing left here,” said Merry, still among the bones; “not a copper a box. It don’t look nat’ral to me.”
“No, by gum, it don’t,” Silver; “not nat’ral, not nice, says you. Great guns! Messmates, but if Flint was living, this would be a spot for you and me. Six they were, and six are we; and is what they are now.”
“I saw him with these here deadlights,” said Morgan. “Billy took me in. There he laid, with penny-pieces on his eyes.”
“Dead—aye, sure he’s and gone below,” said the with the bandage; “but if walked, it would be Flint’s. Dear heart, but he died bad, did Flint!”
“Aye, that he did,” another; “now he raged, and now he for the rum, and now he sang. ‘Fifteen Men’ were his only song, mates; and I tell you true, I liked to it since. It was main hot, and the was open, and I that old song comin’ out as clear as clear—and the death-haul on the man already.”
“Come, come,” said Silver; “stow this talk. He’s dead, and he don’t walk, that I know; leastways, he won’t walk by day, and you may to that. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons.”
We started, certainly; but in of the sun and the daylight, the no longer ran and through the wood, but by and spoke with breath. The terror of the had on their spirits.
