Part 11 (1/2)
At the same time, I observed, around both of thean to feel sure that they had killed each other in their drunken wrath
While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calm moment, when the shi+p was still, Israel Hands turned partly round and with a low moan writhed himself back to the position in which I had seen him first The moan, which told of pain and deadly weakness, and the way in which his jaw hung open went right to my heart But when I remembered the talk I had overheard from the apple barrel, all pity left me
I walked aft until I reached the main-mast
”Come aboard, Mr Hands,” I said ironically
He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too far gone to express surprise All he could do was to utter one word, ”Brandy”
It occurred tothe boom as it once more lurched across the deck, I slipped aft and down the companion stairs into the cabin
It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly fancy All the lockfast places had been broken open in quest of the chart The floor was thick with mud where ruffians had sat down to drink or consult after wading in the marshes round their camp The bulkheads, all painted in clear white and beaded round with gilt, bore a pattern of dirty hands Dozens of e of the shi+p One of the doctor's utted out, I suppose, for pipelights In the low, obscure and brown as uone, and of the bottles anumber had been drunk out and throay Certainly, since the an, not aabout, I found a bottle with some brandy left, for Hands; and for reat bunch of raisins, and a piece of cheese With these I came on deck, put down my own stock behind the rudder head and well out of the coxswain's reach, went forward to the water-breaker, and had a good deep drink of water, and then, and not till then, gave Hands the brandy
He ill before he took the bottle from his mouth
”Aye,” said he, ”by thunder, but I wanted some o' that!”
I had sat down already in un to eat
”Much hurt?” I asked hiht say, he barked
”If that doctor was aboard,” he said, ”I'd be right enough in a couple of turns, but I don't have no manner of luck, you see, and that's what's the ood and dead, he is,” he added, indicating the man with the red cap ”He warn't no seaht you have come from?”
”Well,” said I, ”I've come aboard to take possession of this shi+p, Mr Hands; and you'll please regard me as your captain until further notice”
He looked atSoh he still looked very sick and still continued to slip out and settle down as the shi+p banged about
”By the by,” I continued, ”I can't have these colours, Mr Hands; and by your leave, I'll strike 'e the boom, I ran to the colour lines, handed down their cursed black flag, and chucked it overboard
”God save the king!” said I, waving my cap ”And there's an end to Captain Silver!”
He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the while on his breast
”I reckon,” he said at last, ”I reckon, Cap'n Hawkins, you'll kind of want to get ashore now S'pose we talks”
”Why, yes,” says I, ”with all my heart, Mr Hands Say on” And I went back to an, nodding feebly at the corpse ”-- O'Brien were his naot the canvas on her,for to sail her back Well, HE'S dead now, he is--as dead as bilge; and who's to sail this shi+p, I don't see Without I gives you a hint, you ain't that ives me food and drink and a old scarf or ankecher to tie my wound up, you do, and I'll tell you how to sail her, and that's about square all round, I take it”
”I'll tell you one thing,” says I: ”I'et into North Inlet and beach her quietly there”
”To be sure you did,” he cried ”Why, I ain't sich an infernal lubber after all I can see, can't I? I've tried , I have, and I've lost, and it's you has the wind of me North Inlet? Why, I haven't no ch'ice, not I! I'd help you sail her up to Execution Dock, by thunder! So I would”
Well, as it seeain on the spot In threeeasily before the wind along the coast of Treasure Island, with good hopes of turning the northern point ere noon and beating down again as far as North Inlet before high water, etide permitted us to land
Then I lashed the tiller and went below to ot a soft silk handkerchief of reat bleeding stab he had received in the thigh, and after he had eaten a little and had a s or two hter up, spoke louder and clearer, and looked in every way another man
The breeze served us admirably We skimmed before it like a bird, the coast of the island flashi+ng by and the view changing everybeside low, sandy country, sparsely dotted with dwarf pines, and soon ere beyond that again and had turned the corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on the north
I was greatly elated with ht, sunshi+ny weather and these different prospects of the coast I had now plenty of water and good things to eat, and my conscience, which had sreat conquest I hadleft me to desire but for the eyes of the coxswain as they followed me derisively about the deck and the odd smile that appeared continually on his face It was a sgard old rain of derision, a shadow of treachery, in his expression as he craftily watched, and watched, and watched me atus to a desire, now hauled into the west We could run so much the easier from the north-east corner of the island to the mouth of the North Inlet Only, as we had no power to anchor and dared not beach her till the tide had flowed a good deal farther, ti on our hands The coxswain told ood many trials I succeeded, and we both sat in silence over another th with that same uncomfortable smile, ”here's my old shi+pmate, O'Brien; s'pose you was to heave him overboard I ain't partic'lar as a rule, and I don't take no bla his hash, but I don't reckon hih, and I don't like the job; and there he lies, for me,” said I
”This here's an unlucky shi+p, this HISPANIOLA, Ji ”There's a power of ht o' poor seaone since you and me took shi+p to Bristol I never seen sich dirty luck, not I There was this here O'Brien now--he's dead, ain't he? Well now, I'ure, and to put it straight, do you take it as a dead ain?”
”You can kill the body, Mr Hands, but not the spirit; you must know that already,” I replied ”O'Brien there is in another world, andus”
”Ah!” says he ”Well, that's unfort'nate--appears as if killing parties was a waste of time Howsomever, sperrits don't reckon for much, by what I've seen I'll chance it with the sperrits, Jim And now, you've spoke up free, and I'll take it kind if you'd step down into that there cabin and get me a--well, a--shi+ver etfor my head”
Now, the coxswain's hesitation see wine to brandy, I entirely disbelieved it The whole story was a pretext He wanted me to leave the deck--so ine His eyes neverto and fro, up and down, noith a look to the sky, noith a flitting glance upon the dead O'Brien All the tiuilty, embarrassed manner, so that a child could have told that he was bent on some deception I was proe lay and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could easily conceal my suspicions to the end
”Some wine?” I said ”Far better Will you have white or red?”
”Well, I reckon it's about the blessed sa, and plenty of it, what's the odds?”
”All right,” I answered ”I'll bring you port, Mr Hands But I'll have to dig for it”
With that I scuttled down the companion with all the noise I could, slipped off allery, mounted the forecastle ladder, and popped my head out of the fore companion I kneould not expect to see me there, yet I took every precaution possible, and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true
He had risen fro obviously hurt him pretty sharply when he ood, rattling rate that he trailed himself across the deck In half a minute he had reached the port scuppers and picked, out of a coil of rope, a long knife, or rather a short dirk, discoloured to the hilt with blood He looked upon it for aforth his under jaw, tried the point upon his hand, and then, hastily concealing it in the bosoainst the bulwark
This was all that I required to know Israel could move about, he was now aret rid of me, it was plain that I was meant to be the victim What he would do afterwards-- whether he would try to crawl right across the island fro the swa that his own coht come first to help him--was, of course, more than I could say
Yet I felt sure that I could trust hiether, and that was in the disposition of the schooner We both desired to have her stranded safe enough, in a sheltered place, and so that, when the tiain with as little labour and danger as ht be; and until that was done I considered that my life would certainly be spared