Treasure Island by RL Stevenson. Part 12.
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I felt sick and frightened. The blood from my wound ran over my back and chest, and the knife seemed to burn like hot iron. But I was trembling so badly that it shook the knife out of my skin, and I could move again. I climbed down through the sails, then went below to tie up my wound. There was a lot of blood but it wasn’t deep. Next, I went up on deck. It was now evening and a light wind was blowing, so I lowered the sails before climbing down a rope and into the sea.
The water was only waist-deep and I walked ashore. The sun had gone now and, once on dry land, I began to walk to the stockade. Perhaps the others would blame me for deserting, I thought, but Captain Smollett would be pleased I had taken the Hispaniola, I was sure.
When I reached the stockade, the house lay in dark shadow. But on the other side, a large fire had almost burned itself out. This seemed strange, as it had not been our habit to build large fires.
There were no sounds, except for the wind in the trees, and I went quietly round to the eastern side, keeping in the shadows. As I came nearer to the corner of the house, I heard my friends breathing loudly as they slept, and at once felt happier again. I got to the door and looked in, but all was dark and I could see nothing. With my arms out in front of me, I walked in.
Suddenly, there was a high voice screaming in the darkness: ‘Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!’ It was Silver’s parrot, Captain Flint!
Immediately, men began to wake up, and I heard Silver’s voice shout, ‘Who’s there?’
I turned to run, crashed violently against one person, then ran straight into the arms of another.
Somebody brought a light and I saw the inside of the house. Five pirates were on their feet, and another man was lying down with a head wound. But my heart became filled with fear when I saw no prisoners. Were my friends all dead?
‘Here’s Jim Hawkins!’ said Silver. ‘How friendly of you to visit us, Jim!’
‘Where are my friends?’ I asked.
Silver answered in a smooth voice. ‘Yesterday. morning, Doctor Livesey came down with a white flag. “Cap’n Silver,” he said, “you’ve lost. The ship’s gone.” We looked out and, by thunder, the ship had gone! “Let’s bargain,” said the doctor. So we bargained, and here we are, in the house. And your friends? They walked off and I don’t know where they are. And now, are you going to join us, Jim?’
‘You’re in trouble,’ I said. ‘Ship lost, treasure lost, men lost. And if you want to know who did it – it was me! I was in the apple barrel the night we saw the island, and I heard every word you said. And the ship? It was me who cut her ropes and killed the men aboard her, and it’s me who has sailed her to a place where you’ll never find her. Kill me if you like, but if you let me live, I’ll do what I can to save you when you’re arrested and brought to trial for piracy.’
One man swore and jumped forward with his knife.
‘Get back there!’ cried Silver. ‘Did you think you were cap’n here, Tom Morgan? Well, there’s never been a man to stand against me and see another day!’
Angry whispers came from the other men.
‘Did any of you gentlemen want to argue with me?’ shouted Silver. ‘Well, I’m ready. Let him take a knife, and I’ll see the colour of his inside!’
Not a man answered. I listened to my heart beating. Silver waited calmly, his pipe in his mouth, as he watched his followers. Slowly, they got together at the far end of the house and whispered to each other.
‘You seem to have a lot to say,’ said Silver. ‘Let me hear it, or stop talking.’
‘We’ll go outside and talk,’ replied one man. And he stepped calmly towards the door and disappeared out of the house. One after another, the rest of the men did the same.
‘They’re going to kill you, Jim,’ said Silver when the two of us were alone, ‘and they’re going to stop me being their captain. When I looked into that bay and saw the ship was gone, I knew it was all over. Now, I’ll save your life, if I can, but it must be a bargain – you must save Long John from dying under the law.’
‘I’ll do what I can,’ I told him.
‘There’s trouble coming, Jim,’ he said. ‘And talking of trouble, why did the doctor give me the map?’
I stared at him in great surprise. Why indeed?
‘Well, he did,’ Silver went on. ‘And that’s strange.’
The door opened and the five pirates came in. They pushed one man forward and he gave something to Silver.
The sea cook looked at what the man had given him. ‘The black spot!’ he said. He turned the paper over. ‘What’s this? No longer captain. You’re becoming quite a leading man in this crew, George Merry. You’ll be cap’n next, I suppose. But tell me what’s wrong.’
‘I’ll tell you what’s wrong!’ said George. ‘First, you made too many mistakes on this trip. Second, you let the enemy out of this trap for nothing. And then there’s this boy.’
‘Is that all?’ asked Silver quietly.
‘It’s enough,’ replied George.
‘Well, I’ll answer you,’ said Silver.’ You all know what I wanted but you wouldn’t listen, would you? In my plan, we’d be on the Hispaniola now, every dead man alive and the treasure on the ship, by thunder! Next, this boy. Well, we’ll use him to bargain with. He might be our last chance. And the doctor? You’ve been glad enough to have a doctor coming to see you every day – you, John, with your head broken…or you, George, sick and shaking with fever only a few hours ago. I made a bargain, that’s why I let’em go!’ He threw a piece of paper on to the floor. It was the map with the three crosses.
The pirates jumped on it like cats upon a mouse.
‘Very pretty,’ said George, ‘but how are we going to get away with the treasure, when we have no ship?’
‘You tell me, George!’ shouted Silver. ‘You and the others lost the ship; I found the treasure. But I’ll not be your captain any longer!’
‘Silver for cap’n!’ shouted the pirates.
After a moment, the sea cook smiled. ‘George,’ he said. ‘I think you’ll have to wait a while before you get another chance to be captain.’