October 21, 2023 • 29 mins
Treasure IslandThe story is narrated by young Jim Hawkins, who becomes embroiled in a thrilling tale of piracy and buried treasure. When Jim and his mother discover a map in the chest of their inn's deceased lodger, Billy Bones, they realize it points to the legendary treasure of Captain Flint, a notorious pirate. This discovery leads to Jim embarking on a perilous voyage aboard the Hispaniola to Skeleton Island, where the treasure is believed to be hidden.During the journey, Jim discovers that a large portion of the ship's crew is composed of pirates, formerly under the command of Flint, and now led by the cunning and charismatic Long John Silver. Silver and his crew plan to mutiny once they reach the island and claim the treasure for themselves.The story unfolds with battles, treachery, loyalty, and cunning strategy. Throughout his adventure, Jim encounters danger at every turn, from deadly skirmishes with the pirates to encounters with the island's indigenous inhabitants."Treasure Island" is not just a tale of adventure but also a coming-of-age story for Jim, who must navigate moral ambiguities, learn whom to trust, and grow into his own as a young man. The novel also delves into themes of greed, loyalty, and the unpredictability of human nature.The character of Long John Silver, with his mix of ruthlessness and charm, is one of literature's most famous and complex pirates. Stevenson's vivid characters, combined with the suspenseful narrative, make "Treasure Island" a timeless tale that has captivated readers for generations.
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(00:00):
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain.For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Treasure Islandby Robert Lewis Stevenson, read by Adrian
(00:21):
Pratzellus, Chapter thirty one, TheTreasure Hunt. Flint's pointer, Jim said
silver when we were alone, ifI saved your life, you've saved mine,
and I'll not forget it. Iseen the doctor waving you to ren
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for it with the tail of myeye. I did, and I seen
you say no as plain as hereinJim, that's one to you. This
is the first clint of hope Ihad since the tack failed. And I
owe it to you and nailed Jim. We're to go in for this ere
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treasure hunting. We had sealed orderstoo, and I we don't like it.
And you and me must stick clogsback to back like and we'll save
our necks in spite of fat andfortune. Just then a man hailed us
from the fire that breakfast was ready, and we were soon seated here and
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there about the sand over biscuit andfried junk. They had lighted a fire
fit to roast an ox, andit was now grown so hot that they
could only approach it from the windward, and even there not without precaution.
In the same wasteful spirit, theyhad cooked I suppose three times more than
we could eat, and one ofthem, with an empty laugh, threw
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what was left into the fire,which blazed and roared again over this unusual
fuel. I never in my lifesaw men so careless of the morrow.
Hand to mouth is the only wordthat can describe their way of doing,
and what with wasted food and sleepingsentries, though they were bold enough for
a brush and be done with it, I could see their entire unfitness for
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anything like a prolonged campaign. EvenSilver, eating away with Captain flint upon
his shoulder, had not a wordof blame for their recklessness. And this
the more surprised me, for Ithought he had never showed himself so cunning
as he did. Then, ay, mates said he, it's luck you
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have barbecue to think for you withthis here head. I got why wanted
I did? Sure enough they havethe ship. Where they have it,
I don't know yet, But oncewe at the treasurer. We'll have to
jump about and find and then mates, it's that as the bolts, I
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reckon as the Upperand thus he keptrunning on with his mouth full of the
hot bacon glas. He restored theirhope and confidence, and I, more
than suspect, repaired his own.At the same time. As for hostage,
he continued, that's my last talk, I guess with them. He
loved so dear. We've got mypiece of news, and thank you him
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for that. But it's over anddone. We'll take him in a lone
when we go treasure utting' for we'llkeep him like so much gold in case
of accident. You mark. Inthe meantime, once we got the ship
and treasure both and off to sealike jolly companions wall, then we'll talk
mister Hawkins over. We will.It will give him his share, to
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be sure, for all his kindness. It was no wonder the men were
in good humor. Now for mypart, I was horribly cast down.
Should the scheme he now sketched provefeasible, silver already doubly a traitor would
not hesitate to adopt it. Hehad steal a foot in either camp,
and there was no doubt he wouldprefer fair wealth and freedom with the pirates
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to a bare escape from hanging,which was the best he had to hope
on our side. Nay, andeven if things fell out that he was
forced to keep his faith with DoctorLivesey, even then, what danger lay
before us. What a moment thatwould be when the suspicions of his followers
turned to certainty, and he andI should have to fight for dear life,
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he a cripple and I a boyagainst five strong and active seamen.
Add to this double apprehension the mysterythat still hung over the behavior of my
friends, their unexplained desertion of thestockade, their inexplicable session of the chart,
or harder still to understand the Doctor'slast warning to Silver, look out
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for squalls when you find it,and you will readily believe how little taste
I found in my breakfast, andwith how uneasy a heart I set forth
behind my captors on the quest fortreasure. We made a curious figure had
anyone been there to see us,all in soiled sailor clothes, and all
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but me armed to the teeth.Silver had two guns slung about him,
one before and one behind, besidesthe great cutlass at his waist, and
a pistol in each pocket of hissquare tailed coat. To complete his strange
appearance, Captain Flint sat perched uponhis shoulder and gabbled odds and ends of
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purposeless sea talk. I had aline about my waist and followed obediently after
the sea cook, who held theloose end of the rope now in his
free hand, now between his powerfulteeth. For all the world, I
was led like a dancing bear.The other men were variously burdened, some
carrying picks and shovels, for thathad been the very first necessary They brought
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ashore from the Hispaniola, others ladenwith pork, bread and brandy for the
midday meal. All the stores,I observed came from our stock. I
could see the truth of Silver's wordsthe night before. Had he not struck
a bargain with the doctor, heand his mutineers, deserted by the ship,
must have been driven to subsist onclear water, and the proceeds of
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their hunting water would have been littleto their taste. A sailor is not
usually a good shot, and besidesall that, when they were so short
of eatables, it was not likelythey would be very flush of powder.
Well. Thus equipped, we allset out, even the fellow with the
broken head, who should certainly havekept in shadow, and straggled one after
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another to the beach where the twogigs awaited us. Even these bore trace
of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, and
both in their muddied and unbaled condition. Both were to be carried along with
us for the sake of safety,and so, with our numbers divided between
between them, we set forth uponthe bosom of the anchorage. As we
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pulled across, there was some discussionon the chart. The red cross was
of course far too large to bea guide, and the terms of the
note on the back, as youwill hear, admitted of some ambiguity they
ran. The reader may remember thustall tree, spyglass shoulder bearing a point
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to the n of N N Eskeleton island e s E and by e
ten feet A tall tree was thusthe principal mark. Now right before us.
The anchorage was bounded by a plateaufrom two to three hundred feet high,
adjoining on the north and sloping southernshoulder of the Spyglass, and rising
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again toward the south into the roughcliffy eminence called the Mizzenmast Hill. The
top of the plateau was dotted thicklywith pine trees of varying high. Here
and there, one of a differentspecies rose forty or fifty feet clear above
its neighbors. And which of thesewas the particular tall tree of Captain Flint
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could only be decided on the spotand by the readings of the compass.
Yet although that was the case,every man on board the boats had picked
a favorite of his own. Erewe were half way over long John alone,
shrugging his shoulders and bidding them waittill they were there. We pulled
easily, by Silver's directions not toweary the hands prematurely, and after quite
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a long passage, landed at themouth of the second river, that which
runs down a woody cleft of theSpyglass. Thence bending to our left,
we began to ascend the slope towardsthe plateau. At the very outset,
heavy miry ground and a matted marshvegetation greatly delayed our progress, But by
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little and little the hill began tosteepen and become stony underfoot, and the
wood to change its character and togrow in a more open order. It
was indeed a most pleasant portion ofthe island that we were now approaching,
a heavy scented broom, and manyflowering shrubs had almost taken the place of
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grass. Thickets of green nutmeg treeswere dotted here and there with the red
columns and the broad shadow of thepines, and the first mingled their spice
with the aroma of the others.The air, besides, was fresh and
stirring, and this, under thesheer sunbeams, was a wonderful refreshment to
our senses. The party spread itselfabroad in a fan shape, shouting and
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leaping to and fro about the center, and a good way behind the rest
Silver and I followed, I tetheredby my rope, he plowing with deep
pants among the sliding gravel. Fromtime to time, indeed I had to
lend him, or he must havemissed his footing and fallen backward down the
hill. We had thus proceeded forabout half a mile and were approaching the
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brow of the plateau, when theman upon the farthest left began to cry
aloud as if in terror. Shoutafter shout came from him, and the
others began to run in his direction. He can't have found the treasure,
said old Morgan, hurrying past usfrom the right, for that's cleaner top.
Indeed, as we found when wealso reached the spot, it was
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something very different. At the footof a pretty big pine, and involved
in deep creeper, which had evenpartly lifted some of the smaller bones.
A human skeleton lay with a fewshreds of clothing on the ground. I
believe a chill struck for a momentto every heart. He was a seaman,
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said George Merry, who bolder thanthe rest, had gone up close
and was examining the rags of clothing. Leastways, this is good sea cloth,
aye, aye, said silver likeenough. You wouldn't look to find
a bishop here. I reckon,But what sort of a way is that
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for bones to loy tain't in nature? Indeed, on a second glance,
it seemed impossible to fancy that thebody was in a natural position but for
some disarray, the work perhaps ofthe birds that had fed upon him,
or the slow growing creeper that hadgradually enveloped his remains. The man lay
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perfectly straight, his feet pointing inone direction, his hands raised above his
head like a diver's, pointing directlyin the opposite. I've taken a notion
into my old numbskull, observed silver. Here's the compass. There's the tip
top point of skeleton island sticking outlike a tooth. Just take a bearing,
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will ye along the line of thembones. It was done. The
body pointed straight in the direction ofthe island, and the compass read duly
east southeast by east. I thought, so, cried the cook. This
here is a pointer. Right upthere is our line for the pole star
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and the jolly dollars. Bah boy, thunder, if it don't make me
cold in soide to think a flint. This is one of his jokes,
and no mistake him in these sixwas alone here. He killed em,
every man, and this one heall here and laid down by the compass,
shivering. My timbers their long bones, and air's been yellow. Aye,
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that would be allered dice you mindAllardyce Tom Morgan Aye? Aye returned
Morgan? I mind him? Heowed me money, he did, and
he took my knife ashore with him, speaking of knives, said another.
Why don't we find isn't lying around? Flint worked the man to pick a
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seaman's pocket, and the birds,I guess would leave it be bye.
They're pourrs. And that's true,cried Silver. There ain't a thing left
here, said Mary, still feelinground among the bones. Not a copper
do it, nor a backy box. It don't look natural to me.
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No, boy, gomet don't agreed. Silver not natural nor not nice,
says you, great guns mess meats. But if Flint was living, this
would be a hot spot for youand me. Six they were, and
six are a wee and bones iswhat they are. Now. I saw
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him dead with these here, deadlights, said Morgan. Billy took me in
there he laid with penny pieces onhis eyes. Dead. Aye, sure
enough he's dead, had gone below, said the fellow with the bandage.
But if ever spirit walked, itwould be Flint's dear Harbory. He died
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bad, did Flint? Aye?That he did? Observed another. Now
he raged, and now he holleredfor the rum, And now he sang
fifteen men were his only song mates. And I tell you true, I
never rightly liked to hear it,since it was may not and the windy
was open. And I hear thatold song are coming out as clear as
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clear, and the death haul onthe man already come come, said Silver
stole this tark. He's dead,and he don't walk that I know,
least the ways he won't walk.By day, a leader that care killed
a cat thatch ahead for the Doubloons. We started, certainly, but in
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spite of the hot sun and thestaring daylight, the pirates no longer ran
separate and shouting through the wood,but kept side by side and spoke with
bated breath. The terror of thedead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits.
End of chapter thirty one, Chapterthirty two, The Treasure Hunt the voice
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among the trees, partly from thedamping influence of this alarm, partly to
rest Silver and the sick folk.The whole party sat down as soon as
they had gained the brow of theascent, the plateau being somewhat tilted toward
the west, This spot on whichwe had paused, commanded a wide prospect
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on either hand before us over thetreetops, we held the cape of the
woods, fringed with surf, behind. We not only look down upon the
anchorage and Skeleton Island, but soarclear across the spit and the eastern lowlands,
a great field of open sea uponthe east sheer above us rose the
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spyglass, here dotted with single pines, there black with precipices. There was
no sound but that of the distantbreakers mounting from all around, and the
chirp of countless insects in the brush. Not a man, not a sail
on the sea. The very largenessof the view increased the sense of solitude.
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Silver, as he sat, tookcertain bearings with his compass. There
are three tall trees, said he, about in the right lome from Skeleton
Neyland, spy glass shoulder. Itake it means that lure point there its
child's plait, a foil the stuff. Now, if half a mind to
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dine first, I don't feel sharp, growled Morgan, thinkin' a flint.
I think it were has done mewell, MOI, sir, you praise
your stars. He's dead, saidSilver. He was an ugly devil,
cried a third pirate with a shudder. That blue in the face too.
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That was how the rum took him, added merry Blue whoa, I reckon
he was blue. That's a trueword. Ever since they had found the
skeleton and got upon this train ofthought, they had spoken lower and lower,
and they had almost got to whisperingby now, so that the sound
of their talk hardly interrupted the silenceof the wood. All of a sudden,
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out of the middle of the treesin front of us, a thin,
high, trembling voice struck up thewell known air and words, fifty
men on the dead man's chest,Yo, ho ho, and about twelve
rum. I never have seen menmore dreadfully affected than the pirates. The
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color went from their six faces likeenchantment. Some leaped to their feet,
some clawed hold of others. Morgangroveled on the ground. It flint Pie,
cried Mary. The song had stoppedas suddenly as it began. Broken
off, you would have said,in the middle of a note, as
though some one had laid his handupon the singer's mouth. Coming so far
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through the clear and sunny atmosphere amongthe green tree tops, I thought it
had sounded airily and sweetly, Andthe effect on my companions was the stranger
come, said Silver, struggling withhis ashen lips to get the word out.
That won't do stand by to goa belt. This is a room
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star and I can't name the voice, but it's someone's Skylarkin, someone that's
flesh and blurred. And you maylaid that his courage had come back as
he spoke, and some of thecolor to his face along with it.
Already the others had began to lendan ear to this encouragement, and were
coming a little to themselves when thesame voice broke out again, not this
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time singing, but in a faint, distant hail that echoed yet fainter among
the clefts of the spyglass. DarbyMcGraw. It wailed, for that is
the word that best describes the sound, Darby McGraw, Darby Magral, again
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and again and again, and thenrising a little higher, and with an
oath that I leave out fetch offthe rum Darby. The buccaneers remained rooted
to the ground, their eyes startingfrom their heads. Long after the voice
had died away, they still staredin silence, dreadfully before them. That
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fixes it gasped one, Let's gothey was his last words, moaned Morgan.
He's last words above Bold Dick hadhis bible out and was praying volubly.
He had been well brought up,had dick before he had come to
sea and fell among bad companions.Still silver was unconquered. I could hear
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his teeth rattle in his head,but he had not surrendered. Nobody in
this ere island ever heard of Darby. He muttered, not one but us
that's here, and then, makinga great effort shipmates, he cried,
I'm here to get that stuff,and I'll not be beat by man nor
devil. I never was feared aflint in his life, and by their
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power as I'll face him dead.There's seven hundred thousand POWs, not a
quarter of a mile from here.When did ever a gentleman of fortune show
his stirring to that much dollars fora boozy old seaman with a blue mug,
and him dead too. But therewas no sign of reawakening courage in
his followers, rather indeed of growingterror at the irreverence of his words.
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Belay there, John said, Mary, don't you cross a spirit? And
the rest were all too terrified toreply. They would have run away severally
had they dared, but fear keptthem together and kept them close to John,
as if his daring helped them.He, on his part, had
pretty well fought his weakness down.Spirit Wah, maybe, he said,
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But there's one thing not clearer thanme. There was an echo. Now,
no man ever seen a spirit wearhis shadow? Well, then was
he doing with an echo? Towhom I should like to know? That
ain't in neatsu, Charlie. Thisargument seemed weak enough to me, But
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you can never tell what will affectthe superstitious. And to my worry,
George Merry was greatly relieved. Well, that's so, he said, you've
had upon your shoulders, John,And no mistake bout ship mates. This
here crew is on a wrong tack. I do believe, and you've come
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to think on it. It waslike Flint's voice, I grant you,
but not just so clear away likeit. After all, it was like
somebody else's voice. Now it waslike a boy the powrs. Ben Gunn
roared silver Ah, and so itwere, cried Morgan, springing on his
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knees. Ben Gunn, it were. It don't make much odds, do
it, now, asked Dick.Ben Gunn's not hearing the body any more
of Flint. But the old handsgreeted this remark with scorn. Why nobody
mind being Gune cried Mary, deador alive? Nobody minds him. It
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was extraordinary how their spirits had returned, and how the natural color had revived
in their faces. Soon they werechatting together with intervals of listening, and
not long after, hearing no furthersound, they shouldered the tools and set
forth again, Mary walking first withSilver's compass to keep them on the right
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line with Skeleton Island. He hadsaid the truth. Dead or alive,
nobody minded Ben Gunn. Dick alonestill held his Bible and looked around him
as he went, with fearful glances, but he found no sympathy, and
Silver even joked him on his precautions. Oh he told you, said he,
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Oh, he told you you hadspoiled your boyble. If it ain't
no good swear, boy, whatyou suppose a spirit will give for it?
Not that? And he snapped hisbig fingers, halting a moment on
his crutch. But Dick was notto be comforted. Indeed, it was
soon plain to me that the ladwas falling sick, hastened by heat,
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exhaustion, and the shock of hisalarm. The fever predicted by doctor Livesey
was evidently growing swiftly higher. Itwas fine open walking here upon the summit.
Our way lay a little down hill, for as I have said,
the plateau tilted toward the west.The pines great and small, grew wide
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apart, and even between the clumpsof nutmeg and azalea wide open spaces baked
in the hot sunshine, striking aswe did pretty near northwest across the island.
We drew, on the one hand, even nearer under the shoulders of
the spyglass, and on the otherlooked even wider over that wa western bay
where I had once tossed and trembledin the coracle. The first of the
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tall trees was reached, and bythe bearing proved the wrong one. So
with the second and the third,rose nearly two hundred feet into the air
above a clump of underwood, agiant of a vegetable, with a red
column as big as a cottage,and a wide shadow around in which a
company could have maneuvered. It wasconspicuous far to sea, both on the
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east and west, and might havebeen entered as a sailing mark upon the
chart. But it was not Itssize that now impressed my companions. It
was the knowledge that seven hundred thousandpounds in gold lay somewhere buried below its
spreading shadow. The thought of themoney. As they drew nearer, swallowed
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up their previous terrors, their eyesburned in their heads, their feet grew
speedier and lighter. Their whole solewas bound up in that fortune, that
whole lifetime of extravagance and pleasure thatlay awaiting there for each of them.
Silver hobbled, grunting on his crutch, His nostrils stood out and quivered.
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He cursed like a madman when theflies settled on his hot and shiny countenance.
He plucked furiously at the lion thatheld me to him, and from
time to time turned his eyes uponme with a deadly look. Certainly he
took no pains to hide his thoughts, and certainly I read them like print.
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In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had been forgotten.
His promise and the doctor's warning wereboth things of the past. And I
could not doubt that he hoped toseize upon the treasure, find and bored
the hispaniola under cover of night,cut every honest throat about that island and
sail away as he had first intended, Laden with crimes and riches. Shaken
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as I was with these alarms,it was hard for me to keep up
with the rapid race of the treasurehunters. Now and again I stumbled,
And it was then that Silver pluckedso roughly at the rope and launched at
me his murderous glances. Dick,who had dropped behind us and now brought
up the rear, was babbling tohimself both prayers and curses, as his
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fever kept rising. This also addedto my wretchedness, and to crown all.
I was haunted by the thought ofthe tragedy that had once been acted
on that plateau, When that ungodlybuccaneer with the blue face, he who
had died at Savannah singing and shoutingfor drink, had there with his own
hand cut down his six accomplices.This grove that was now so peaceful,
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must have rung with cries, Ithought, And even with the thought,
I could believe I heard it ringing. Still. We were now at the
margin of the thicket. Huzzaarur matesaltogether shouted merry, and the foremost broke
into a run, and suddenly,not ten yards farther we beheld them stop.
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A low cry arose. Silver doubledhis pace, digging away with the
foot of his crutch, like onepossessed, And the next moment he and
I had come also to a deadhalt. Before us was a great excavation,
not very recent, for the sideshad fallen in and grass had sprouted
on the bottom. In this werethe shaft of a pick broken in two,
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and the boards of several packing casesstrewn around. On one of these
boards I saw branded with a hotiron, the name Walrus, the name
of Flint's ship. All was clearto probation. The cash had been found
and rifled. The seven hundred thousandpounds were gone. End of Chapter thirty two
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain.For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Treasure Islandby Robert Lewis Stevenson, read by Adrian
(00:21):
Pratzellus, Chapter thirty one, TheTreasure Hunt. Flint's pointer, Jim said
silver when we were alone, ifI saved your life, you've saved mine,
and I'll not forget it. Iseen the doctor waving you to ren
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for it with the tail of myeye. I did, and I seen
you say no as plain as hereinJim, that's one to you. This
is the first clint of hope Ihad since the tack failed. And I
owe it to you and nailed Jim. We're to go in for this ere
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treasure hunting. We had sealed orderstoo, and I we don't like it.
And you and me must stick clogsback to back like and we'll save
our necks in spite of fat andfortune. Just then a man hailed us
from the fire that breakfast was ready, and we were soon seated here and
(01:22):
there about the sand over biscuit andfried junk. They had lighted a fire
fit to roast an ox, andit was now grown so hot that they
could only approach it from the windward, and even there not without precaution.
In the same wasteful spirit, theyhad cooked I suppose three times more than
we could eat, and one ofthem, with an empty laugh, threw
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what was left into the fire,which blazed and roared again over this unusual
fuel. I never in my lifesaw men so careless of the morrow.
Hand to mouth is the only wordthat can describe their way of doing,
and what with wasted food and sleepingsentries, though they were bold enough for
a brush and be done with it, I could see their entire unfitness for
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anything like a prolonged campaign. EvenSilver, eating away with Captain flint upon
his shoulder, had not a wordof blame for their recklessness. And this
the more surprised me, for Ithought he had never showed himself so cunning
as he did. Then, ay, mates said he, it's luck you
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have barbecue to think for you withthis here head. I got why wanted
I did? Sure enough they havethe ship. Where they have it,
I don't know yet, But oncewe at the treasurer. We'll have to
jump about and find and then mates, it's that as the bolts, I
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reckon as the Upperand thus he keptrunning on with his mouth full of the
hot bacon glas. He restored theirhope and confidence, and I, more
than suspect, repaired his own.At the same time. As for hostage,
he continued, that's my last talk, I guess with them. He
loved so dear. We've got mypiece of news, and thank you him
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for that. But it's over anddone. We'll take him in a lone
when we go treasure utting' for we'llkeep him like so much gold in case
of accident. You mark. Inthe meantime, once we got the ship
and treasure both and off to sealike jolly companions wall, then we'll talk
mister Hawkins over. We will.It will give him his share, to
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be sure, for all his kindness. It was no wonder the men were
in good humor. Now for mypart, I was horribly cast down.
Should the scheme he now sketched provefeasible, silver already doubly a traitor would
not hesitate to adopt it. Hehad steal a foot in either camp,
and there was no doubt he wouldprefer fair wealth and freedom with the pirates
(04:01):
to a bare escape from hanging,which was the best he had to hope
on our side. Nay, andeven if things fell out that he was
forced to keep his faith with DoctorLivesey, even then, what danger lay
before us. What a moment thatwould be when the suspicions of his followers
turned to certainty, and he andI should have to fight for dear life,
(04:25):
he a cripple and I a boyagainst five strong and active seamen.
Add to this double apprehension the mysterythat still hung over the behavior of my
friends, their unexplained desertion of thestockade, their inexplicable session of the chart,
or harder still to understand the Doctor'slast warning to Silver, look out
(04:48):
for squalls when you find it,and you will readily believe how little taste
I found in my breakfast, andwith how uneasy a heart I set forth
behind my captors on the quest fortreasure. We made a curious figure had
anyone been there to see us,all in soiled sailor clothes, and all
(05:09):
but me armed to the teeth.Silver had two guns slung about him,
one before and one behind, besidesthe great cutlass at his waist, and
a pistol in each pocket of hissquare tailed coat. To complete his strange
appearance, Captain Flint sat perched uponhis shoulder and gabbled odds and ends of
(05:30):
purposeless sea talk. I had aline about my waist and followed obediently after
the sea cook, who held theloose end of the rope now in his
free hand, now between his powerfulteeth. For all the world, I
was led like a dancing bear.The other men were variously burdened, some
carrying picks and shovels, for thathad been the very first necessary They brought
(05:54):
ashore from the Hispaniola, others ladenwith pork, bread and brandy for the
midday meal. All the stores,I observed came from our stock. I
could see the truth of Silver's wordsthe night before. Had he not struck
a bargain with the doctor, heand his mutineers, deserted by the ship,
must have been driven to subsist onclear water, and the proceeds of
(06:17):
their hunting water would have been littleto their taste. A sailor is not
usually a good shot, and besidesall that, when they were so short
of eatables, it was not likelythey would be very flush of powder.
Well. Thus equipped, we allset out, even the fellow with the
broken head, who should certainly havekept in shadow, and straggled one after
(06:41):
another to the beach where the twogigs awaited us. Even these bore trace
of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, and
both in their muddied and unbaled condition. Both were to be carried along with
us for the sake of safety,and so, with our numbers divided between
between them, we set forth uponthe bosom of the anchorage. As we
(07:04):
pulled across, there was some discussionon the chart. The red cross was
of course far too large to bea guide, and the terms of the
note on the back, as youwill hear, admitted of some ambiguity they
ran. The reader may remember thustall tree, spyglass shoulder bearing a point
(07:26):
to the n of N N Eskeleton island e s E and by e
ten feet A tall tree was thusthe principal mark. Now right before us.
The anchorage was bounded by a plateaufrom two to three hundred feet high,
adjoining on the north and sloping southernshoulder of the Spyglass, and rising
(07:48):
again toward the south into the roughcliffy eminence called the Mizzenmast Hill. The
top of the plateau was dotted thicklywith pine trees of varying high. Here
and there, one of a differentspecies rose forty or fifty feet clear above
its neighbors. And which of thesewas the particular tall tree of Captain Flint
(08:11):
could only be decided on the spotand by the readings of the compass.
Yet although that was the case,every man on board the boats had picked
a favorite of his own. Erewe were half way over long John alone,
shrugging his shoulders and bidding them waittill they were there. We pulled
easily, by Silver's directions not toweary the hands prematurely, and after quite
(08:37):
a long passage, landed at themouth of the second river, that which
runs down a woody cleft of theSpyglass. Thence bending to our left,
we began to ascend the slope towardsthe plateau. At the very outset,
heavy miry ground and a matted marshvegetation greatly delayed our progress, But by
(08:58):
little and little the hill began tosteepen and become stony underfoot, and the
wood to change its character and togrow in a more open order. It
was indeed a most pleasant portion ofthe island that we were now approaching,
a heavy scented broom, and manyflowering shrubs had almost taken the place of
(09:18):
grass. Thickets of green nutmeg treeswere dotted here and there with the red
columns and the broad shadow of thepines, and the first mingled their spice
with the aroma of the others.The air, besides, was fresh and
stirring, and this, under thesheer sunbeams, was a wonderful refreshment to
our senses. The party spread itselfabroad in a fan shape, shouting and
(09:43):
leaping to and fro about the center, and a good way behind the rest
Silver and I followed, I tetheredby my rope, he plowing with deep
pants among the sliding gravel. Fromtime to time, indeed I had to
lend him, or he must havemissed his footing and fallen backward down the
hill. We had thus proceeded forabout half a mile and were approaching the
(10:09):
brow of the plateau, when theman upon the farthest left began to cry
aloud as if in terror. Shoutafter shout came from him, and the
others began to run in his direction. He can't have found the treasure,
said old Morgan, hurrying past usfrom the right, for that's cleaner top.
Indeed, as we found when wealso reached the spot, it was
(10:31):
something very different. At the footof a pretty big pine, and involved
in deep creeper, which had evenpartly lifted some of the smaller bones.
A human skeleton lay with a fewshreds of clothing on the ground. I
believe a chill struck for a momentto every heart. He was a seaman,
(10:56):
said George Merry, who bolder thanthe rest, had gone up close
and was examining the rags of clothing. Leastways, this is good sea cloth,
aye, aye, said silver likeenough. You wouldn't look to find
a bishop here. I reckon,But what sort of a way is that
(11:16):
for bones to loy tain't in nature? Indeed, on a second glance,
it seemed impossible to fancy that thebody was in a natural position but for
some disarray, the work perhaps ofthe birds that had fed upon him,
or the slow growing creeper that hadgradually enveloped his remains. The man lay
(11:37):
perfectly straight, his feet pointing inone direction, his hands raised above his
head like a diver's, pointing directlyin the opposite. I've taken a notion
into my old numbskull, observed silver. Here's the compass. There's the tip
top point of skeleton island sticking outlike a tooth. Just take a bearing,
(12:01):
will ye along the line of thembones. It was done. The
body pointed straight in the direction ofthe island, and the compass read duly
east southeast by east. I thought, so, cried the cook. This
here is a pointer. Right upthere is our line for the pole star
(12:26):
and the jolly dollars. Bah boy, thunder, if it don't make me
cold in soide to think a flint. This is one of his jokes,
and no mistake him in these sixwas alone here. He killed em,
every man, and this one heall here and laid down by the compass,
shivering. My timbers their long bones, and air's been yellow. Aye,
(12:54):
that would be allered dice you mindAllardyce Tom Morgan Aye? Aye returned
Morgan? I mind him? Heowed me money, he did, and
he took my knife ashore with him, speaking of knives, said another.
Why don't we find isn't lying around? Flint worked the man to pick a
(13:16):
seaman's pocket, and the birds,I guess would leave it be bye.
They're pourrs. And that's true,cried Silver. There ain't a thing left
here, said Mary, still feelinground among the bones. Not a copper
do it, nor a backy box. It don't look natural to me.
(13:37):
No, boy, gomet don't agreed. Silver not natural nor not nice,
says you, great guns mess meats. But if Flint was living, this
would be a hot spot for youand me. Six they were, and
six are a wee and bones iswhat they are. Now. I saw
(13:58):
him dead with these here, deadlights, said Morgan. Billy took me in
there he laid with penny pieces onhis eyes. Dead. Aye, sure
enough he's dead, had gone below, said the fellow with the bandage.
But if ever spirit walked, itwould be Flint's dear Harbory. He died
(14:20):
bad, did Flint? Aye?That he did? Observed another. Now
he raged, and now he holleredfor the rum, And now he sang
fifteen men were his only song mates. And I tell you true, I
never rightly liked to hear it,since it was may not and the windy
was open. And I hear thatold song are coming out as clear as
(14:43):
clear, and the death haul onthe man already come come, said Silver
stole this tark. He's dead,and he don't walk that I know,
least the ways he won't walk.By day, a leader that care killed
a cat thatch ahead for the Doubloons. We started, certainly, but in
(15:07):
spite of the hot sun and thestaring daylight, the pirates no longer ran
separate and shouting through the wood,but kept side by side and spoke with
bated breath. The terror of thedead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits.
End of chapter thirty one, Chapterthirty two, The Treasure Hunt the voice
(15:33):
among the trees, partly from thedamping influence of this alarm, partly to
rest Silver and the sick folk.The whole party sat down as soon as
they had gained the brow of theascent, the plateau being somewhat tilted toward
the west, This spot on whichwe had paused, commanded a wide prospect
(15:54):
on either hand before us over thetreetops, we held the cape of the
woods, fringed with surf, behind. We not only look down upon the
anchorage and Skeleton Island, but soarclear across the spit and the eastern lowlands,
a great field of open sea uponthe east sheer above us rose the
(16:15):
spyglass, here dotted with single pines, there black with precipices. There was
no sound but that of the distantbreakers mounting from all around, and the
chirp of countless insects in the brush. Not a man, not a sail
on the sea. The very largenessof the view increased the sense of solitude.
(16:40):
Silver, as he sat, tookcertain bearings with his compass. There
are three tall trees, said he, about in the right lome from Skeleton
Neyland, spy glass shoulder. Itake it means that lure point there its
child's plait, a foil the stuff. Now, if half a mind to
(17:02):
dine first, I don't feel sharp, growled Morgan, thinkin' a flint.
I think it were has done mewell, MOI, sir, you praise
your stars. He's dead, saidSilver. He was an ugly devil,
cried a third pirate with a shudder. That blue in the face too.
(17:26):
That was how the rum took him, added merry Blue whoa, I reckon
he was blue. That's a trueword. Ever since they had found the
skeleton and got upon this train ofthought, they had spoken lower and lower,
and they had almost got to whisperingby now, so that the sound
of their talk hardly interrupted the silenceof the wood. All of a sudden,
(17:51):
out of the middle of the treesin front of us, a thin,
high, trembling voice struck up thewell known air and words, fifty
men on the dead man's chest,Yo, ho ho, and about twelve
rum. I never have seen menmore dreadfully affected than the pirates. The
(18:14):
color went from their six faces likeenchantment. Some leaped to their feet,
some clawed hold of others. Morgangroveled on the ground. It flint Pie,
cried Mary. The song had stoppedas suddenly as it began. Broken
off, you would have said,in the middle of a note, as
though some one had laid his handupon the singer's mouth. Coming so far
(18:40):
through the clear and sunny atmosphere amongthe green tree tops, I thought it
had sounded airily and sweetly, Andthe effect on my companions was the stranger
come, said Silver, struggling withhis ashen lips to get the word out.
That won't do stand by to goa belt. This is a room
(19:00):
star and I can't name the voice, but it's someone's Skylarkin, someone that's
flesh and blurred. And you maylaid that his courage had come back as
he spoke, and some of thecolor to his face along with it.
Already the others had began to lendan ear to this encouragement, and were
coming a little to themselves when thesame voice broke out again, not this
(19:25):
time singing, but in a faint, distant hail that echoed yet fainter among
the clefts of the spyglass. DarbyMcGraw. It wailed, for that is
the word that best describes the sound, Darby McGraw, Darby Magral, again
(19:45):
and again and again, and thenrising a little higher, and with an
oath that I leave out fetch offthe rum Darby. The buccaneers remained rooted
to the ground, their eyes startingfrom their heads. Long after the voice
had died away, they still staredin silence, dreadfully before them. That
(20:07):
fixes it gasped one, Let's gothey was his last words, moaned Morgan.
He's last words above Bold Dick hadhis bible out and was praying volubly.
He had been well brought up,had dick before he had come to
sea and fell among bad companions.Still silver was unconquered. I could hear
(20:30):
his teeth rattle in his head,but he had not surrendered. Nobody in
this ere island ever heard of Darby. He muttered, not one but us
that's here, and then, makinga great effort shipmates, he cried,
I'm here to get that stuff,and I'll not be beat by man nor
devil. I never was feared aflint in his life, and by their
(20:55):
power as I'll face him dead.There's seven hundred thousand POWs, not a
quarter of a mile from here.When did ever a gentleman of fortune show
his stirring to that much dollars fora boozy old seaman with a blue mug,
and him dead too. But therewas no sign of reawakening courage in
his followers, rather indeed of growingterror at the irreverence of his words.
(21:19):
Belay there, John said, Mary, don't you cross a spirit? And
the rest were all too terrified toreply. They would have run away severally
had they dared, but fear keptthem together and kept them close to John,
as if his daring helped them.He, on his part, had
pretty well fought his weakness down.Spirit Wah, maybe, he said,
(21:45):
But there's one thing not clearer thanme. There was an echo. Now,
no man ever seen a spirit wearhis shadow? Well, then was
he doing with an echo? Towhom I should like to know? That
ain't in neatsu, Charlie. Thisargument seemed weak enough to me, But
(22:06):
you can never tell what will affectthe superstitious. And to my worry,
George Merry was greatly relieved. Well, that's so, he said, you've
had upon your shoulders, John,And no mistake bout ship mates. This
here crew is on a wrong tack. I do believe, and you've come
(22:27):
to think on it. It waslike Flint's voice, I grant you,
but not just so clear away likeit. After all, it was like
somebody else's voice. Now it waslike a boy the powrs. Ben Gunn
roared silver Ah, and so itwere, cried Morgan, springing on his
(22:51):
knees. Ben Gunn, it were. It don't make much odds, do
it, now, asked Dick.Ben Gunn's not hearing the body any more
of Flint. But the old handsgreeted this remark with scorn. Why nobody
mind being Gune cried Mary, deador alive? Nobody minds him. It
(23:12):
was extraordinary how their spirits had returned, and how the natural color had revived
in their faces. Soon they werechatting together with intervals of listening, and
not long after, hearing no furthersound, they shouldered the tools and set
forth again, Mary walking first withSilver's compass to keep them on the right
(23:33):
line with Skeleton Island. He hadsaid the truth. Dead or alive,
nobody minded Ben Gunn. Dick alonestill held his Bible and looked around him
as he went, with fearful glances, but he found no sympathy, and
Silver even joked him on his precautions. Oh he told you, said he,
(23:56):
Oh, he told you you hadspoiled your boyble. If it ain't
no good swear, boy, whatyou suppose a spirit will give for it?
Not that? And he snapped hisbig fingers, halting a moment on
his crutch. But Dick was notto be comforted. Indeed, it was
soon plain to me that the ladwas falling sick, hastened by heat,
(24:18):
exhaustion, and the shock of hisalarm. The fever predicted by doctor Livesey
was evidently growing swiftly higher. Itwas fine open walking here upon the summit.
Our way lay a little down hill, for as I have said,
the plateau tilted toward the west.The pines great and small, grew wide
(24:40):
apart, and even between the clumpsof nutmeg and azalea wide open spaces baked
in the hot sunshine, striking aswe did pretty near northwest across the island.
We drew, on the one hand, even nearer under the shoulders of
the spyglass, and on the otherlooked even wider over that wa western bay
where I had once tossed and trembledin the coracle. The first of the
(25:04):
tall trees was reached, and bythe bearing proved the wrong one. So
with the second and the third,rose nearly two hundred feet into the air
above a clump of underwood, agiant of a vegetable, with a red
column as big as a cottage,and a wide shadow around in which a
company could have maneuvered. It wasconspicuous far to sea, both on the
(25:29):
east and west, and might havebeen entered as a sailing mark upon the
chart. But it was not Itssize that now impressed my companions. It
was the knowledge that seven hundred thousandpounds in gold lay somewhere buried below its
spreading shadow. The thought of themoney. As they drew nearer, swallowed
(25:51):
up their previous terrors, their eyesburned in their heads, their feet grew
speedier and lighter. Their whole solewas bound up in that fortune, that
whole lifetime of extravagance and pleasure thatlay awaiting there for each of them.
Silver hobbled, grunting on his crutch, His nostrils stood out and quivered.
(26:15):
He cursed like a madman when theflies settled on his hot and shiny countenance.
He plucked furiously at the lion thatheld me to him, and from
time to time turned his eyes uponme with a deadly look. Certainly he
took no pains to hide his thoughts, and certainly I read them like print.
(26:36):
In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had been forgotten.
His promise and the doctor's warning wereboth things of the past. And I
could not doubt that he hoped toseize upon the treasure, find and bored
the hispaniola under cover of night,cut every honest throat about that island and
sail away as he had first intended, Laden with crimes and riches. Shaken
(27:03):
as I was with these alarms,it was hard for me to keep up
with the rapid race of the treasurehunters. Now and again I stumbled,
And it was then that Silver pluckedso roughly at the rope and launched at
me his murderous glances. Dick,who had dropped behind us and now brought
up the rear, was babbling tohimself both prayers and curses, as his
(27:26):
fever kept rising. This also addedto my wretchedness, and to crown all.
I was haunted by the thought ofthe tragedy that had once been acted
on that plateau, When that ungodlybuccaneer with the blue face, he who
had died at Savannah singing and shoutingfor drink, had there with his own
hand cut down his six accomplices.This grove that was now so peaceful,
(27:52):
must have rung with cries, Ithought, And even with the thought,
I could believe I heard it ringing. Still. We were now at the
margin of the thicket. Huzzaarur matesaltogether shouted merry, and the foremost broke
into a run, and suddenly,not ten yards farther we beheld them stop.
(28:14):
A low cry arose. Silver doubledhis pace, digging away with the
foot of his crutch, like onepossessed, And the next moment he and
I had come also to a deadhalt. Before us was a great excavation,
not very recent, for the sideshad fallen in and grass had sprouted
on the bottom. In this werethe shaft of a pick broken in two,
(28:37):
and the boards of several packing casesstrewn around. On one of these
boards I saw branded with a hotiron, the name Walrus, the name
of Flint's ship. All was clearto probation. The cash had been found
and rifled. The seven hundred thousandpounds were gone. End of Chapter thirty two
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