Войти в систему
Войти с помощью соц. сетей:
I began to feel sick, faint, and terrified. The hot blood was running over my back and chest. The dirk, where it pinned my shoulder to the mast, seemed to burn like a hot iron.
I went below and did what I could for my wound; it pained me, but it was neither deep nor dangerous. I looked around me, the ship was now my own.
The sun was about to set.
I was now alone upon the ship.
I decided to quit the ship, leaving the Hispaniola on her side. I lowered the sails, climbed down a rope and dropped overboard. The water wasn’t deep and I walked ashore.
The way brought me near to where I met Ben Gunn. I went on. At last I came to the house.
I stopped, with much wonder in my heart, and perhaps a little terror also. I crawled, without a sound, towards the corner of the house. I got to the door and stood up. All was dark within, so that I could distinguish nothing by the eye. With my arms before me I walked steadily in. I wanted to lie down in my own place (I thought with a silent chuckle) and enjoy their faces when they found me in the morning.
And then a shrill voice cried:
“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” and so forth, without pause or change.
Silver’s green parrot, Captain Flint! It was he.
I had no time to run away.
The sleepers awoke, and the voice of Silver cried, “Who goes?”
Somebody held me tight.
“Bring a torch, Dick,” said Silver.
The pirates had the house and stores: there was the cask of cognac, there were the pork and bread, as before, and not a sign of any prisoner. I could only judge that all died.
There were six of the pirates. Five of them were on their feet. The sixth was deadly pale. I remembered the man who was shot and ran back among the woods in the great attack.
“So,” said Long John, “here’s Jim Hawkins, well, come!”
And he sat down across the brandy cask and began to fill a pipe.
“And so, Jim,” said he, “here you are, and quite a pleasant surprise for poor old John. You left your friends, they don’t want to see you again. I’ve always liked you, you’ll join Captain Silver.”
So far so good . My friends were still alive.
“Yesterday morning, Mr. Hawkins,” said Silver, “came Doctor Livesey with a flag of truce. He says, ‘Captain Silver, ship’s gone.’ The old ship was gone! ‘Well,’ says the doctor, ‘let’s bargain.’ We bargained, him and I, and here we are: stores, brandy, block house, the firewood. As for them, they’ve gone away; I don’t know where they are.”
“Well,” said I, “I am not such a fool. Let the worst come to the worst. But there’s a thing or two I have to tell you; and the first is this: here you are, in a bad way – ship lost, treasure lost, men lost; and if you want to know who did it – it was I! I was in the apple barrel, and I heard you, John, and you, Dick Johnson, and Hands, who is now at the bottom of the sea, and told everything to my friends. It was I who cut the cable, and it was I that killed the men you had aboard, and it was I who brought the ship where you’ll never see it anymore. Kill me, if you please, or spare me. But one thing I’ll say, and no more; if you spare me, I’ll try to save you from the gallows.”
“It was him,” cried the old seaman – Morgan by name, “that knew Black Dog.”
“Well,” added the sea-cook. “It was this same boy that took the chart from Billy Bones.”
Morgan took his knife, “Let’s kill him!”
“Avast, there!” cried Silver. “Who are you, Tom Morgan? Maybe you think you’re captain here? I have never seen a better boy than that. He’s more a man than any of you.”
There was a long pause after this.
“We need to discuss it,” said Morgan and went out. One after another the rest followed him.
“Now, you’re here, Jim Hawkins,” said Silver in a whisper. “They’re going to throw me off . They’ll decide to kill you and choose a new captain. I’ll save your life, but you will save Long John from swinging.”
The door opened, and the five men entered.
“Come on,” cried Silver. “I won’t eat you.”
One pirate passed something to Silver, from hand to hand, then slipped smartly back again to his companions.
“The black spot! I thought so,” he noticed. “Where did you get the paper? A Bible! But listen to me first. Who crossed me? And that boy – isn’t he a hostage? Are we going to waste a hostage? No, not us; he might be our last chance. Kill that boy? Not me! And maybe you don’t need a real college doctor that comes to see you every day – you, John, or you, George? Look there – what is it?”
And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I recognized – the chart on yellow paper, with the three red crosses, that I found at the bottom of the captain’s chest. Why did the doctor given it to him?!
The pirates leaped upon the chart like cats upon a mouse. It went from hand to hand.
“Yes,” said one, “that’s Flint’s.”
“Silver!” cried the rest. “Barbecue forever! Barbecue for captain!”
We were all wakened by a clear voice.
“Here’s the doctor.”
And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear the sound, yet my gladness was not without admixture. I felt ashamed to look him in the face.
“You, doctor! Early bird,” said Silver.
“Well, well,” said Dr. Livesey, “duty first. Let us see the patients.”
He entered the house and, with one look at me, began his work.
“Well,” he said, “well, that’s done for today. And now I wish to have a talk with that boy, please.”
And he nodded his head in my direction.
George Merry cried, “No!” and swore.
Silver struck the barrel with his open hand.
“Silence!” he roared. “Doctor, I was thinking of that. We’re all humbly grateful for your kindness. Hawkins, will you give me your word of honour as a young gentleman – for a young gentleman you are – your word of honour not to run away?”
I readily gave the pledge required.
“Then, doctor,” said John Silver, “you just step outside of that stockade, and once you’re there I’ll bring the boy down on the inside. Good day to you, sir. The boy will tell you how I saved his life, and were deposed for it too.”
So saying, he stepped back a little way.
“So, Jim,” said the doctor sadly, “here you are. I cannot blame you.”
“Doctor,” I said, “I have blamed myself enough. But what I fear is torture. If they come to torture me —”
“Jim,” the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite changed, “Jim, whip over, and we’ll run.”
“Doctor,” said I, “I passed my word. Silver trusted me; I passed my word, and back I go. But, doctor, you did not let me finish. If they come to torture me, I can tell them where the ship is, for I got the ship. It lies in North Inlet, on the southern beach, and just below high water.”
“The ship!” exclaimed the doctor.
Rapidly I described to him my adventures.
“Every step,” he observed, “it’s you that saves our lives. You found out the plot; you found Ben Gunn – the best deed that ever you did. Silver!” he cried. “Silver! I’ll give you a piece of advice,” he continued as the cook drew near again. “Don’t hurry after that treasure.”
“Sir, I do my possible,” said Silver.
“Well, Silver,” replied the doctor, “if that is so, I’ll go one step further: look out for squalls when you find it.”
“Sir,” said Silver, “as between man and man, that’s too much and too little. Why did you leave the block house, why did you give me that chart, I don’t know, now, do I? Tell me.”
“No,” said the doctor. “I’ve no right to say more; it’s not my secret, you see, Silver. I’ll give you a bit of hope; Silver, if we both get alive out of this, I’ll do my best to save you.”
Silver’s face was radiant. “You couldn’t say more, I’m sure, sir, not if you was my mother,” he cried.
“Jim,” said Silver when we were alone, “I save your life, you save mine; and I’ll not forget it. I saw out of the corner of my eye that the doctor was asking you to run and that you refused. You and me must stick close, and we’ll save our necks.”
The men were in a good humour now. As for me, I was terribly afraid.
Next morning we left the house just after breakfast. Everyone had guns except me. Silver had two guns – one before and one behind – and a knife. Captain Flint, his parrot, was sitting on Silver’s shoulder.
I had a line about my waist and followed obediently after the sea-cook, who held the loose end of the rope. I was led like a dancing bear.
The other men were carrying picks and shovels that they brought ashore from the Hispaniola.
As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the chart. The red cross was, of course, far too large to be a guide.
A tall tree was the principal mark. Now, right before us the anchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high, adjoining on the north the southern shoulder of the Spy-glass and rising again towards the south. The top of the plateau was dotted with pine-trees of varying height. It was, indeed, a most pleasant part of the island.
We proceeded for about half a mile and were approaching the brow of the plateau when one pirate began to cry aloud, as if in terror.
At the foot of a big pine, a human skeleton lay.
“He was a seaman,” said George Merry, who went up close and was examining the rags of clothing.
The body was not in a natural position. The man lay perfectly straight – his feet pointing in one direction, his hands, raised above his head, pointing directly in the opposite.
“Here’s the compass,” said Silver. The body pointed straight in the direction of the island, and the compass read duly E.S.E. and by E .
Войти с помощью соц. сетей: