|
TREASURE ISLAND
By ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON SQUIRE TRELAWNEY, Doctor Livesey, and the others have bidden me tell the story of our search for old Buccaneer Flint's hidden treasure, and so I go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn. Then it was that the seaman, Bill Bones, came to us for lodging, his sea-chest following after in a handbarrow. At his request we called him "Captain"; he settled down, always on the watch for a "seaman with one leg," and constantly singing an old sea4song: Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the di?vi1 had done for the rest-Yo-ho-ho, and la bottle of rum! Then one day an old blind man left him the pirate's "summons" or "black spot," which so excited him that, combined with the effect of his rum-drinking, it brought on a stroke and we found him dead upon the floor. Mother and I opened his sea-chest, where I discovered a packet done up in oil-silk; this I took with me, and as soon as I could went to the doctor's house, where I found him with the squire. To them I told the story of the happenings at the inn and gave them the packet. "You have heard of Flint, I suppose?" laughed the doctor, as he handled the packet. "Heard of him!" said the squire. "Heard of him you say! He was the bloodthirstiest buccaneer that ever sailed! If we have here the clue to old Flint's treasure, as you seem to think, then I'll fit out a ship in Bristol, take you and Hawkins here along, and I'll have that treasure if I search a year!" When they opened the packet there fell out the map of an island, with every particular needed to bring a ship to safe anchorage on its shore, and full directions for finding the treasure. "To-morrow," said the squire, "I start for Bristol; in two weeks-yes in ten days, we'll have the best ship, sir, and the choicest crew in England. You shall be ship's doctor, Livesey, Jim cabin-boy, and I am admiral." But it was longer than the squire expected ere we were ready for sea. In the mean time I went to Bristol also, and while looking over the ship and around the dock I discovered that our cook was a seaman with one leg. He was very domineering with the crew, but servile and smiling to the rest. I began to have my suspicions, but he was so deep and clever that my doubts of "Long John Silver" were soon quieted. We settled aboard our ship the Hispaniola, with Captain Smollet in command; then one morning, a little before dawn, the boatswain sounded his pipe and the crew began to man the capstan bars. "Now Barbecue, tip us a stave," cried a voice. "The old one," cried another. "Ay, ay, mates," said Long John, who was standing by with his crutch under his arm, and at once broke into the air and words I knew so well: "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest "-the crew coming in on the chorus; and then we were off on our cruise for the treasure. At sundown one evening, I went to the apple-barrel for an apple, and, finding them low, I got into the barrel bodily and, being rather sleepy, sat there awhile in the dark; soon a heavy man sat down with a crash near by. I was about to jump out when I heard John Silver's voice and kept very still. Before he had said a dozen words I knew that all honest men aboard were in great danger. Well, I made the discovery that Long John and most of the crew were old shipmates of Bill Bones and John Flint; they knew the object of our voyage and were planning to do away with our party and get the treasure for themselves. A moment more and the lookout shouted "Land ho!" and we anchored at "Captain Kidd's anchorage," according to the chart. I told the doctor and the squire what I had heard, and they had the captain send the crew ashore, so that we might have an opportunity to talk matters over. It was decided that we must go on, and we counted those we could trust, only to find that we were but six against nineteen. The next morning it was plain that mutiny hung over us like a thunder-cloud. Captain Smollet thought it best to give the crew shore leave, and a party was made up, including Silver. Some of the men, however, remained aboard. I suddenly took it into my head to go ashore, too, and slipped unseen over the side and into the forward sheets of the nearest boat : as soon as the bow struck among the shore-side trees, I caught a branch and swung ashore, making off into the near-by thicket. I cannot tell all the details of the voyage; they were many and exciting, but one or two happenings I must tell. While wandering about in the thicket I came upon a wild-looking man who said he was a seaman, Ben Gunn, marooned on the island three years before. I got his story and he ours; he was a great help to us, as you shall see. In the mean time our party had abandoned the ship and taken up the fight ashore. I had a notion to get out to the ship, cut her adrift, and let her go ashore where she would, and so prevent the mutineers from sailing away in her; and remembering Ben Gunn's mention of a coracle which he had made and put in hiding, I set out to find it. Being successful, I made my way to the ship and, laying hold of her hawser, was about to finish cutting her loose when I heard voices from the cabin; one I recognized as that of the coxswain, Israel Hands, the other was a sailor whose name I did not know. Both were drunk, and when I got a look at them through the cabin window I saw that they were in a death's grip. The strong current had by this parted the last strand of the hawser which I had left, and both coracle and ship were adrift; with a leap I caught at the jib-boom, and clung, panting, left without retreat on the Hispaniola. When I got aft I found the sailor dead, and Hands in a sad condition. He was friendly enough while helpless, but as he grew stronger he asserted himself and issued orders, which I obeyed until the ship was round in a low wooded north inlet. The excitement of the last maneuvers had interfered with my watch upon the cox-swain, but something caused me to turn my head, when I saw the fellow half-way toward me, his dirk in his hand; he chased me around the deck, trying to corner me; quick as thought I sprang into the mizzen shrouds and rattled up hand over hand into the cross-trees; none too soon, the dirk had struck not a foot below me as I climbed. Now I primed my pistols and reloaded, and Hands, seeing this, knew that the dice were against him; in spite of this he started up after me. "One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow your brains out!" I saw his right hand go up over his shoulder, something sang like an arrow through the air, and I was pinned to the mast; both my pistols went off and escaped from my hands, but they did not fall alone; with a choking cry the coxswain loosed his grasp and plunged down head first, and I saw him through the clear water lying on the sand beneath. I found that I was held simply by the skin of my arm, and, pulling myself free, I finally got ashore and with difficulty reached my friends. They had had some fierce battling with the mutineers, but in the end a flag of truce appeared and Silver came forward to bargain. The doctor, much to the surprise of all, gave him the chart; but this was explained later, for when they dug for the treasure and reached the bottom of the cache, nothing wasl found but a broken pick and a board with the word "Walrus" burnt into it-the name of Flint's ship! Ben Gunn was the real hero. Early in his stay on the island he had come upon the treasure, and with great difficulty transported it to a cave and hidden it; seven hundred thousand pounds in minted money of all nations, besides heavy bars of gold. The doctor had wormed the secret out of Ben Gunn and then arranged to give the chart to Silver, knowing that the cache was empty. We piled the treasure aboard the ship, set sail, and finally reached a port on the Mexican coast, where we added to our crew. After a good voyage we reached home just as friends of the squire were about starting out in search of the Hispaniola. |