34

And Last

THE next morning we fell early to work, for the
transportation of this great mass of gold near a mile
by land to the beach, and thence three miles by boat to
the HISPANIOLA, was a considerable task for so small a
number of workmen. The three fellows still abroad upon
the island did not greatly trouble us; a single sentry on
the shoulder of the hill was sufficient to ensure us against
any sudden onslaught, and we thought, besides, they had had
more than enough of fighting.

Therefore the work was pushed on briskly. Gray and Ben
Gunn came and went with the boat, while the rest during
their absences piled treasure on the beach. Two of the
bars, slung in a rope's end, made a good load for a
grown man--one that he was glad to walk slowly with.
For my part, as I was not much use at carrying, I was
kept busy all day in the cave packing the minted money
into bread-bags.

It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones's hoard
for the diversity of coinage, but so much larger and so
much more varied that I think I never had more pleasure
than in sorting them. English, French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double
guineas and moidores and sequins, the pictures of all
the kings of Europe for the last hundred years, strange
Oriental pieces stamped with what looked like wisps of
string or bits of spider's web, round pieces and square
pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to
wear them round your neck--nearly every variety of
money in the world must, I think, have found a place in
that collection; and for number, I am sure they were
like autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping
and my fingers with sorting them out.

Day after day this work went on; by every evening a
fortune had been stowed aboard, but there was another
fortune waiting for the morrow; and all this time we
heard nothing of the three surviving mutineers.

At last--I think it was on the third night--the doctor
and I were strolling on the shoulder of the hill where
it overlooks the lowlands of the isle, when, from out
the thick darkness below, the wind brought us a noise
between shrieking and singing. It was only a snatch
that reached our ears, followed by the former silence.

"Heaven forgive them," said the doctor; "'tis
the mutineers!"

"All drunk, sir," struck in the voice of Silver
from behind us.

Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty,
and in spite of daily rebuffs, seemed to regard himself
once more as quite a privileged and friendly dependent.
Indeed, it was remarkable how well he bore these
slights and with what unwearying politeness he kept on
trying to ingratiate himself with all. Yet, I think,
none treated him better than a dog, unless it was Ben
Gunn, who was still terribly afraid of his old
quartermaster, or myself, who had really something to
thank him for; although for that matter, I suppose, I
had reason to think even worse of him than anybody
else, for I had seen him meditating a fresh treachery
upon the plateau. Accordingly, it was pretty gruffly
that the doctor answered him.

"Drunk or raving," said he.

"Right you were, sir," replied Silver; "and precious
little odds which, to you and me."

"I suppose you would hardly ask me to call you a humane
man," returned the doctor with a sneer, "and so my
feelings may surprise you, Master Silver. But if I
were sure they were raving--as I am morally certain
one, at least, of them is down with fever--I should
leave this camp, and at whatever risk to my own
carcass, take them the assistance of my skill."

"Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong," quoth
Silver. "You would lose your precious life, and you
may lay to that. I'm on your side now, hand and glove;
and I shouldn't wish for to see the party weakened, let
alone yourself, seeing as I know what I owes you. But
these men down there, they couldn't keep their word--
no, not supposing they wished to; and what's more, they
couldn't believe as you could."

"No," said the doctor. "You're the man to keep your
word, we know that."

Well, that was about the last news we had of the three
pirates. Only once we heard a gunshot a great way off
and supposed them to be hunting. A council was held,
and it was decided that we must desert them on the island
--to the huge glee, I must say, of Ben Gunn, and with the
strong approval of Gray. We left a good stock of powder
and shot, the bulk of the salt goat, a few medicines, and
some other necessaries, tools, clothing, a spare sail, a
fathom or two of rope, and by the particular desire of the
doctor, a handsome present of tobacco.

That was about our last doing on the island. Before
that, we had got the treasure stowed and had shipped
enough water and the remainder of the goat meat in case
of any distress; and at last, one fine morning, we weighed
anchor, which was about all that we could manage, and stood
out of North Inlet, the same colours flying that the captain
had flown and fought under at the palisade.

The three fellows must have been watching us closer
than we thought for, as we soon had proved. For coming
through the narrows, we had to lie very near the
southern point, and there we saw all three of them
kneeling together on a spit of sand, with their arms
raised in supplication. It went to all our hearts, I
think, to leave them in that wretched state; but we
could not risk another mutiny; and to take them home
for the gibbet would have been a cruel sort of
kindness. The doctor hailed them and told them of the
stores we had left, and where they were to find them.
But they continued to call us by name and appeal to us,
for God's sake, to be merciful and not leave them to
die in such a place.

At last, seeing the ship still bore on her course and
was now swiftly drawing out of earshot, one of them--I
know not which it was--leapt to his feet with a hoarse
cry, whipped his musket to his shoulder, and sent a shot
whistling over Silver's head and through the main-sail.

After that, we kept under cover of the bulwarks, and
when next I looked out they had disappeared from the
spit, and the spit itself had almost melted out of
sight in the growing distance. That was, at least, the
end of that; and before noon, to my inexpressible joy,
the highest rock of Treasure Island had sunk into the
blue round of sea.

We were so short of men that everyone on board had to
bear a hand--only the captain lying on a mattress in
the stern and giving his orders, for though greatly
recovered he was still in want of quiet. We laid her
head for the nearest port in Spanish America, for we
could not risk the voyage home without fresh hands; and
as it was, what with baffling winds and a couple of
fresh gales, we were all worn out before we reached it.

It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a most
beautiful land-locked gulf, and were immediately
surrounded by shore boats full of Negroes and Mexican
Indians and half-bloods selling fruits and vegetables
and offering to dive for bits of money. The sight of
so many good-humoured faces (especially the blacks),
the taste of the tropical fruits, and above all the
lights that began to shine in the town made a most
charming contrast to our dark and bloody sojourn on the
island; and the doctor and the squire, taking me along
with them, went ashore to pass the early part of the
night. Here they met the captain of an English man-of-
war, fell in talk with him, went on board his ship,
and, in short, had so agreeable a time that day was
breaking when we came alongside the HISPANIOLA.

Ben Gunn was on deck alone, and as soon as we came on
board he began, with wonderful contortions, to make us
a confession. Silver was gone. The maroon had
connived at his escape in a shore boat some hours ago,
and he now assured us he had only done so to preserve
our lives, which would certainly have been forfeit if
"that man with the one leg had stayed aboard." But
this was not all. The sea-cook had not gone empty-
handed. He had cut through a bulkhead unobserved and
had removed one of the sacks of coin, worth perhaps
three or four hundred guineas, to help him on his
further wanderings.

I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit of him.

Well, to make a long story short, we got a few hands on
board, made a good cruise home, and the HISPANIOLA
reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandly was beginning to
think of fitting out her consort. Five men only of
those who had sailed returned with her. "Drink and the
devil had done for the rest," with a vengeance,
although, to be sure, we were not quite in so bad a
case as that other ship they sang about:

With one man of her crew alive,
What put to sea with seventy-five.

All of us had an ample share of the treasure and used
it wisely or foolishly, according to our natures.
Captain Smollett is now retired from the sea. Gray not
only saved his money, but being suddenly smit with the
desire to rise, also studied his profession, and he is
now mate and part owner of a fine full-rigged ship,
married besides, and the father of a family. As for
Ben Gunn, he got a thousand pounds, which he spent or
lost in three weeks, or to be more exact, in nineteen
days, for he was back begging on the twentieth. Then
he was given a lodge to keep, exactly as he had feared
upon the island; and he still lives, a great favourite,
though something of a butt, with the country boys, and
a notable singer in church on Sundays and saints' days.

Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable
seafaring man with one leg has at last gone clean out
of my life; but I dare say he met his old Negress, and
perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain
Flint. It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for his
chances of comfort in another world are very small.

The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I
know, where Flint buried them; and certainly they shall
lie there for me. Oxen and wain-ropes would not bring
me back again to that accursed island; and the worst
dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf
booming about its coasts or start upright in bed with
the sharp voice of Captain Flint still ringing in my
ears: "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!"