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Treasure Island
Chapter 34. And Last
The next morning we started work early.
Moving nearly a mile to the beach and three miles by boat to the HISPANIOLA was a big job for few men.
The three men still on the island didn't worry us much.
One guard on the hill was enough to protect us from a sudden attack, and we thought they had had enough fighting.
So we worked quickly, hauling treasure from the cave to the waiting boat.
Gray and Ben Gunn went back and forth with the boat, while the rest of us piled treasure on the beach.
Two bars of silver, tied in a rope, made a good load for a grown man.
He was happy to walk slowly with it.
For my part, I wasn't much use at carrying.
So I stayed busy all day in the cave, packing the coins into bread bags.
It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones's treasure in the mix of coins, but much larger and more varied.
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 from the last hundred years.
Strange Oriental pieces with marks like bits of string or spider's web.
Round pieces and square pieces, and pieces with holes in the middle, as if to wear around your neck.
Nearly every kind of money in the world must have been in that collection.
And for number, they were like autumn leaves.
My back ached from bending, and my fingers ached from sorting them.
Day after day this work went on.
Every evening a fortune was stored on the ship, but another fortune waited for the next day.
And all this time, we heard nothing of the three surviving mutineers.
At last, I think it was the third night, the doctor.
I were walking on the hill where it looks over the lowlands of the island.
From the thick darkness below, the wind brought us a noise between shrieking and singing.
It was only a short sound, and then silence again.
"Heaven forgive them," said the doctor.
"It's the mutineers."
"All drunk, sir," said Silver's voice from behind us.
Silver, I should say, was allowed his full freedom.
Despite daily insults, he seemed to think of himself again as a privileged and friendly dependent.
It was remarkable how well he took these slights and with what endless politeness he tried to get on everyone's good side.
But I think no one treated him better than a dog, except Ben Gunn, who was still terribly afraid of his old quartermaster.
I, too, treated him well because I had something to thank him for.
I suppose I had more reason to mistrust him than anyone, since I had seen him plan a new betrayal on the plateau.
So the doctor answered him quite rudely.
"Drunk or raving," he said.
"You're right, sir," replied Silver.
"And it doesn't matter much which, to you and me."
"I suppose you wouldn't ask me to call you a kind man," said the doctor with a sneer.
"So my feelings might surprise you, Master Silver."
If I were sure they were raving, and I'm certain at least one has a fever, I'd leave this camp and bring them help despite the risk.
"Beg your pardon, sir, you'd be very wrong," said Silver.
"You'd lose your precious life, you can be sure of that."
"I'm on your side now, hand and glove."
"I wouldn't want to see the group weakened, especially you, since I know what I owe you."
"But those men down there, they couldn't keep their word, no, not even if they wanted to."
"And what's more, they couldn't believe 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 far away and thought they were hunting.
We held a council and decided we had to leave them on the island.
Ben Gunn was very happy about that, and Gray strongly agreed.
We left a good supply of powder and shot.
We also left most of the salted goat, some medicines, and other necessities.
There were tools, clothing, a spare sail, and a few feet of rope.
By the doctor's special request, we left a nice gift of tobacco.
That was about our last job on the island.
Before that, we had stored the treasure and taken enough water and the rest of the goat meat in case of trouble.
At last, one fine morning, we raised the anchor, which was about all we could manage, and sailed out of North Inlet.
We flew the same flag that the captain had flown and fought under at the palisade.
The three men must have been watching us more closely than we thought, as we soon found out.
When we went through the narrows, we had to sail very close to the southern point.
There we saw all three of them kneeling together on a sand spit, with their arms raised, begging.
It hurt all our hearts, I think, to leave them in that terrible state.
But we couldn't risk another mutiny, and taking them home to be hanged would have been a cruel kind of kindness.
The doctor called out to them and told them about the supplies we had left and where to find them.
But they kept calling our names and begging us, for God's sake, to be merciful and not leave them to die in such a place.
At last, seeing the ship still kept going and quickly moving out of hearing, one of them jumped to his feet.
I don't know which, he cried out with a rough cry.
He lifted his musket to his shoulder and sent a shot whistling over Silver's head and through the main sail.
After that, we stayed behind the ship's side.
When I looked out again, they had disappeared from the spit, and the spit itself had almost disappeared in the growing distance.
That was the end of that, and we saw no more of them again.
Before noon, to my great joy, the highest rock of Treasure Island had sunk into the blue round of the sea.
We were so short of men that everyone on board had to help.
Only the captain lay on a mattress in the back, giving orders.
He had recovered a lot but still needed rest.
We set course for the nearest port in Spanish America, because we couldn't risk the voyage home without more men.
And as it was, with bad winds and a couple of strong storms, we were all exhausted before we got there.
It was just at sundown when we dropped anchor in a beautiful, sheltered bay.
We were immediately surrounded by shore boats full of Black people, Mexican Indians, and mixed-race people selling fruits and vegetables and offering to dive for coins.
We saw so many friendly faces, especially the Black people.
We tasted the tropical fruits, Above all, the lights began to shine in the town.
This was a wonderful contrast to our dark and bloody stay on the island.
The doctor and the squire, taking me with them, went ashore to spend the early part of the night.
There they met the captain of an English warship and talked with him, then went on board his ship.
They had such a good time that day was breaking when we came back to the HISPANIOLA.
Ben Gunn was on deck alone, As soon as we came on board, he began, with strange movements, to make a confession.
Silver was gone, the maroon had helped him escape in a shore boat a few hours earlier.
He now told us he had only done it to save our lives, which would certainly have been lost if,
"that man with one leg had stayed on board."
But that wasn't all, the sea cook hadn't left empty-handed.
He had cut through a wall without being seen and had taken one of the sacks of coins.
The sack was worth maybe three or four hundred guineas, to help him on his future travels.
I think we were all happy to be rid of him so cheaply.
We got a few men on board, we made a good voyage home.
The HISPANIOLA reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandly was starting to think about fitting out her companion ship.
Only five of the men who had sailed returned with her.
"Drink and the devil had done for the rest," with a vengeance.
Though we weren't quite in such bad shape 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 a good 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 also, suddenly wanting to rise in the world, studied his profession.
He's now mate and part owner of a fine, full-rigged ship.
He's also married 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.
On the twentieth day, he was back begging.
Then he was given a lodge to keep, exactly as he had feared on the island.
He still lives there, a great favorite, though something of a joke, with the country boys.
He's a notable singer in church on Sundays and saints' days.
Of Silver we have heard no more.
That frightening one-legged sailor has at last gone completely out of my life.
But I dare say he met his old Black woman, and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint.
I suppose it's to be hoped so, because his chances of comfort in another world are very small.
The silver bars and the arms still lie, for all I know, where Flint buried them.
And certainly they'll lie there for me.
Oxen and ropes wouldn't bring me back to that cursed island.
The worst dreams I ever have are when I hear the surf crashing around its coasts.
Or I sit up in bed with Captain Flint's sharp voice still ringing in my ears.
"Pieces of eight!" Pieces of eight!""