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Treasure Island
Chapter 29. The Black Spot Again
The council of buccaneers had lasted some time, when one of them came back into the house.
Repeating the same salute, with an ironic tone, he asked to borrow the torch for a moment.
Silver agreed briefly, and this messenger went out again, leaving us together in the dark.
"There's a breeze coming, Jim," said Silver, who had by now taken on quite a friendly and familiar tone.
I turned to the nearest loophole and looked out.
The remains of the big fire had burned down so far that they now glowed low and dim.
I understood why these conspirators wanted a torch.
About halfway down the slope to the stockade, they were gathered in a group.
One held the light, another was on his knees in the middle of them.
And I saw the blade of an open knife shine in his hand with different colors in the moonlight and torchlight.
The rest were all bent over a little, as if watching the actions of this last man.
I could just make out that he had a book as well as a knife in his hand.
I was still wondering how anything so strange had come into their possession when the kneeling figure rose again to his feet.
The whole group began to move together toward the house.
"Here they come," I said.
I returned to my former position, because it seemed beneath my dignity that they should find me watching them.
"Well, let them come, lad. Let them come," said Silver cheerfully.
"I've still got a shot in my locker."
The door opened, and the five men, standing crowded together just inside, pushed one of their number forward.
In any other situation, it would have been funny to see his slow advance.
He hesitated with each step, but he held his closed right hand in front of him.
"Step up, lad," cried Silver.
"I won't eat you. Hand it over, you fool. I know the rules, I do. I won't hurt a delegation."
Encouraged like this, the buccaneer stepped forward more quickly.
He passed something to Silver from hand to hand, then slipped back even faster to his companions.
The sea-cook looked at what had been given to him.
"The black spot! I thought so," he observed.
"Where did you get the paper? Why, hello! Look here, now. This isn't lucky! You've gone and cut this out of a Bible. What fool cut a Bible?"
"Ah, there!" said Morgan.
"There! What did I say? No good will come of that, I said."
"Well, you've about fixed it now, among you," continued Silver.
"You'll all swing now, I reckon. What soft-headed fool had a Bible?"
"It was Dick," said one.
"Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers," said Silver.
"He's seen his slice of luck, has Dick, and you can count on that."
But here the tall man with the yellow eyes interrupted.
"Stop that talk, John Silver," he said.
"This crew has given you the black spot in full council, as they're bound to do."
"Just you turn it over, as you're bound to do, and see what's written there."
"Then you can talk."
"Thank you, George," replied the sea-cook.
"You were always quick for business, and you know the rules by heart, George, as I'm pleased to see."
"Well, what's it, anyway?"
"Ah! 'Deposed.' That's it, is it?"
"Very pretty writing, to be sure."
"Like print, I swear."
"Your handwriting, George?"
"Why, you were becoming quite a leading man in this crew."
"You'll be captain next, I wouldn't wonder."
"Just do me a favor and give me that torch again, will you?"
"This pipe isn't drawing."
"Come on, now," said George.
"You don't fool this crew anymore."
"You're a funny man, by your own account."
"But you're finished now, and you'll maybe step down off that barrel and help vote."
"I thought you said you knew the rules," returned Silver with contempt.
"At least, if you don't, I do."
"And I wait here."
"And I'm still your captain, mind."
"I wait until you bring out your complaints and I reply."
"In the meantime, your black spot isn't worth a biscuit."
"After that, we'll see."
"Oh," replied George.
"Don't be worried at all."
"We're all square, we're."
"First, you've made a mess of this voyage."
"You'd be a bold man to say no to that."
"Second, you let the enemy out of this trap for nothing."
"Why did they want out?"
"I don't know, but it's pretty clear they wanted it."
"Third, you wouldn't let us attack them on the march."
"Oh, we see through you, John Silver."
"You want to play both sides."
"That's what's wrong with you."
"And then, fourth, there's this boy."
"Is that all?" asked Silver quietly.
"Enough, too," retorted George.
"We'll all swing and dry in the sun because of your bungling."
"Well now, look here."
"I'll answer these four points."
"One after another, I'll answer them."
"I made a mess of this voyage, did I?"
"Well now, you all know what I wanted."
"You all know what would have happened if that had been done."
"We'd have been aboard the Hispaniola tonight, every man alive and fit."
"We'd have been full of good plum-duff, with the treasure in her hold, by thunder!"
"Well, who crossed me?"
"Who forced my hand, as the lawful captain?"
"Who gave me the black spot the day we landed and began this dance?"
"Ah, it's a fine dance."
"I agree with you there."
"And it looks very much like a hornpipe at the end of a rope at Execution Dock by London town, it does."
"But who did it?"
"Why, it was Anderson, and Hands, and you, George Merry!"
"And you're the last one left above board of that meddling crew."
"And you have the nerve to stand up and try to be captain over me."
"You, who sank the lot of us!"
"By the powers!"
"But this beats the toughest story to nothing."
Silver paused, and I could see from the faces of George and his former friends that these words hadn't been said in vain.
"That's for number one," cried the accused, wiping the sweat from his brow.
He had been talking with a force that shook the house.
"I give you my word. I'm sick of speaking to you, for you have neither sense nor memory."
"I leave it to guesswork where your mothers were that let you go to sea, gentlemen of fortune. I reckon tailors is your trade."
"Go on, John," said Morgan.
"Speak up to the others."
"Ah, the others!" returned John.
"They're a nice lot, aren't they?" You say this voyage is bungled.
"Ah! By gum, if you could see how badly it's bungled, you'd know we're near the gallows."
"You've seen them hanged in chains, sailors pointing them out. 'Who's that?' says."
"You can hear the chains jangling as you go about and reach for the other buoy."
"Now, that's about where we're, every mother's son of us, thanks to him, and Hands, and Anderson, and other ruinous fools like you."
"And if you want to know about number four, and that boy, why, shiver my timbers, isn't he a hostage?"
"Are we going to waste a hostage?"
"No, not us."
"He might be our last chance."
"And I wouldn't wonder."
"Kill that boy? Not me, mates!"
"And number three? Well, there is a lot to say about it."
"Maybe you do not think it matters that a real college doctor sees you every day."
"You, John, with your head broken, or you, George Merry, just ill with shaking fever six hours ago and still with eyes like lemon peel."
"Maybe you did not know a rescue ship was coming soon, a hostage would help, and you crawled on your knees and would have starved".
And he threw down onto the floor a paper that I recognized at once.
It was the yellow chart with three red crosses that I had found in the oilcloth at the bottom of the captain's chest.
Why the doctor had given it to him was more than I could imagine.
But if it was a mystery to me, the appearance of the chart was incredible to the surviving mutineers.
They jumped on it like cats on a mouse.
It went from hand to hand, one tearing it from another.
They examined it with oaths, cries, and childish laughter.
You'd have thought they were touching the very gold.
You'd also have thought they were at sea with it, in safety.
"Yes," said one, "that's Flint, for sure. J. F. and a score below, with a clove hitch to it. That's how he always did it."
"Very pretty," said George.
"But how are we going to get away with it, and us with no ship?"
Silver suddenly jumped up, Supporting himself with a hand against the wall, he cried,
"Now I give you warning, George."
"One more word of your rudeness, and I'll call you down and fight you."
"You and the rest who lost me my schooner with your interference, burn you! But not you, you can't, you don't have the brains of a cockroach".
"You can speak politely, and you'll, George Merry, you can count on that."
"That's fair enough," said the old man Morgan.
"Fair! I reckon so," said the sea-cook.
"You lost the ship."
"I found the treasure."
"Who's the better man at that?"
"And now I resign, by thunder!"
"Elect whoever you please to be your captain now."
"I'm done with it."
"Silver!" they cried.
"Barbecue forever! Barbecue for captain!"
"So that's the tune, is it?" cried the cook.
"George, I reckon you'll have to wait another turn, friend."
"And it's lucky for you that I'm not a revengeful man."
"But that was never my way."
"And now, shipmates, this black spot?"
"It's not much good now, is it?"
"Dick has crossed his luck and spoiled his Bible, and that's about all."
"It'll still do to kiss the book on, won't it?" growled Dick, who was clearly uneasy about the curse he had brought on himself.
"A Bible with a piece cut out!" returned Silver with scorn.
"Not it. It doesn't bind any more than a songbook."
"Doesn't it, though?" cried Dick with a sort of joy.
"Well, I reckon that's worth having too."
"Here, Jim. Here's a curiosity for you," said Silver, and he tossed me the paper.
It was about the size of a crown piece.
One side was blank, because it had been the last leaf.
The other side contained a verse or two from Revelation.
Among the rest were these words, which struck home sharply in my mind, "Without are dogs and murderers."
The printed side had been blackened with wood ash, which was already starting to come off and dirty my fingers.
On the blank side, the same material had been used to write the single word "Deposed."
I have that curiosity beside me now, but no trace of writing remains except a single scratch a man might make with thumbnail.
That was the end of the night's business.
Soon after, with a drink all around, we lay down to sleep.
The outside of Silver's revenge was to put George Merry up as sentinel and threaten him with death if he should prove unfaithful.
It was a long time before I could close my eyes.
And heaven knows I had enough to think about.
The man I had killed that afternoon.
My own very dangerous position, and above all, the remarkable game that I saw Silver now engaged in.
He kept the mutineers together with one hand and grasped the other by any means to make his peace and save his life.
He himself slept peacefully and snored loudly.
Yet my heart was sore for him, wicked as he was, at the dark dangers around him and the shameful gallows awaiting him.