Part 6 (1/2)
I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly, not only by the sound of their voices but by the behaviour of the few birds that still hung in alar on all fours, Ithe leaves, I could see clear down into a little green dell beside theJohn Silver and another of the crew stood face to face in conversation
The sun beat full upon theround, and his great, s with heat, was lifted to the other , ”it's because I thinks gold dust of you--gold dust, and you may lay to that! If I hadn't took to you like pitch, do you think I'd have been here a-warning of you? All's up--you can't , and if one of the wild uns knew it, where'd I be, Tom-- now, tell me, where'd I be?”
”Silver,” said the other man--and I observed he was not only red in the face, but spoke as hoarse as a crow, and his voice shook too, like a taut rope--”Silver,” says he, ”you're old, and you're honest, or has the name for it; and you've money too, which lots of poor sailors hasn't; and you're brave, or I'm mistook And will you tell me you'll let yourself be led aith that kind of a mess of swabs? Not you! As sure as God sees in my dooty--”
And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise I had found one of the honest hands--well, here, at that same moment, came news of another Far away out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound like the cry of anger, then another on the back of it; and then one horrid, long-drawn screalass re-echoed it a score of ti heaven, with a si after that death yell was still ringing in my brain, silence had re- established its e birds and the boouor of the afternoon
Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur, but Silver had not winked an eye He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching his co
”John!” said the sailor, stretching out his hand
”Hands off!” cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seeymnast
”Hands off, if you like, John Silver,” said the other ”It's a black conscience that can make you feared of me But in heaven's name, tellaway, but warier than ever, his eye a lass ”That? Oh, I reckon that'll be Alan”
And at this point Tom flashed out like a hero
”Alan!” he cried ”Then rest his soul for a true sea you've been a mate of , I'll die in my dooty You've killed Alan, have you? Kill me too, if you can But I defies you”
And with that, this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook and set off walking for the beach But he was not destined to go far With a cry John seized the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of his arh the air It struck poor Toht between the shoulders in the asp, and fell
Whether he were injured e from the sound, his back was broken on the spot But he had no tiile as aor crutch, was on the top of him next moment and had twice buried his knife up to the hilt in that defenceless body From my place of ambush, I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the blows
I do not knohat it rightly is to faint, but I do know that for the next little while the whole world say fro lass hilltop, going round and round and topsy-turvy beforeand distant voices shouting in ain to ether, his crutch under his arm, his hat upon his head Just before him Tom lay motionless upon the sward; but thehis blood-stained knife the while upon a wisp of grass Everything else was unchanged, the sun still shi+ningmarsh and the tall pinnacle of the mountain, and I could scarce persuade myself that murder had been actually done and a human life cruelly cut short a moment since before my eyes
But now John put his hand into his pocket, brought out a whistle, and blew upon it severalfar across the heated air I could not tell, of course, the nal, but it instantly awoke ht be discovered They had already slain two of the honest people; after Toan to extricate ain, hat speed and silence I could e, to the more open portion of the wood As I did so, I could hear hails co between the old buccaneer and his cos As soon as I was clear of the thicket, I ran as I never ran before, scarceas it led rew upon me until it turned into a kind of frenzy
Indeed, could anyone be un fired, how should I dare to go down to the boats a fro my neck like a snipe's? Would not my absence itself be an evidence to thee? It was all over, I thought Good-bye to the HISPANIOLA; good-bye to the squire, the doctor, and the captain! There was nothing left for me but death by starvation or death by the hands of the , and without taking any notice, I had drawn near to the foot of the little hill with the two peaks and had got into a part of the island where the live-oaks grew more widely apart and see and diled with these were a few scattered pines, soh The air too smelt more freshly than down beside the htheart
15
The Man of the Island
FROM the side of the hill, which was here steep and stony, a spout of gravel was dislodged and fell rattling and bounding through the trees My eyes turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine What it hether bear or man or y; ht me to a stand
I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides; behindnondescript And iers that I knew to those I knew not Silver himself appeared less terrible in contrast with this creature of the woods, and I turned on an to retrace my steps in the direction of the boats
Instantly the figure reappeared, and an to head me off I was tired, at any rate; but had I been as fresh as when I rose, I could see it was in vain for me to contend in speed with such an adversary Fro s, but unlike anyaler be in doubt about that
I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals I ithin an ace of calling for help But the mere fact that he was a man, however wild, had soan to revive in proportion I stood still, therefore, and cast about for so, the recollection of my pistol flashed into e glowed again in my heart and I set my face resolutely for this man of the island and walked briskly towards him
He was concealed by this ti an to move in his direction he reappeared and took a step to ain, and at last, to my wonder and confusion, threw himself on his knees and held out his clasped hands in supplication
At that I once more stopped
”Who are you?” I asked
”Ben Gunn,” he answered, and his voice sounded hoarse and aard, like a rusty lock ”I'm poor Ben Gunn, I am; and I haven't spoke with a Christian these three years”
I could now see that he was a whiteHis skin, wherever it was exposed, was burnt by the sun; even his lips were black, and his fair eyes looked quite startling in so dark a face Of all the beggar-edness He was clothed with tatters of old shi+p's canvas and old sea-cloth, and this extraordinary patchas all held together by a systes, brass buttons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry gaskin About his waist he wore an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was the one thing solid in his whole accoutrement
”Three years!” I cried ”Were you shi+pwrecked?”
”Nay, mate,” said he; ”marooned”
I had heard the word, and I knew it stood for a horrible kind of punish the buccaneers, in which the offender is put ashore with a little powder and shot and left behind on soone,” he continued, ”and lived on goats since then, and berries, and oysters Wherever a man is, says I, a man can do for hihtn't happen to have a piece of cheese about you, now? No? Well, ht I've dreaain, and here I were”
”If ever I can get aboard again,” said I, ”you shall have cheese by the stone”
All this ti enerally, in the intervals of his speech, showing a childish pleasure in the presence of a fellow creature But at my last words he perked up into a kind of startled slyness
”If ever you can get aboard again, says you?” he repeated ”Why, noho's to hinder you?”
”Not you, I knoas ht you was,” he cried ”Now you--what do you call yourself, mate?”
”Jim,” I told him
”Jim, Jim,” says he, quite pleased apparently ”Well, now, Jih as you'd be ashamed to hear of Now, for instance, you wouldn't think I had had a pious mother--to look at me?” he asked
”Why, no, not in particular,” I answered
”Ah, well,” said he, ”but I had--remarkable pious And I was a civil, pious boy, and could rattle off my catechism that fast, as you couldn't tell one word froun with chuck-farthen on the blessed grave-stones! That's what it begun with, but it went further'n that; and so my mother told me, and predicked the whole, she did, the pious woht it all out in this here lonely island, and I' rum so much, but just a thimbleful for luck, of course, the first chance I have I' all round hi his voice to a whisper--”I'one crazy in his solitude, and I suppose Iin my face, for he repeated the statement hotly: ”Rich! Rich! I says And I'll tell you what: I'll make a man of you, Jim Ah, Jim, you'll bless your stars, you will, you was the first that foundshadow over his face, and he tightened his grasp upon ly before my eyes