We must head 'em off the boats . '' And we set off at a great pace , sometimes plunging through the bushes to the chest . I tell you , but Silver was anxious to keep up with us . The work that man went through , leaping on his crutch till the muscles of his chest were fit to burst , was work no sound man ever equalled ; and so thinks the doctor . As it was , he was already thirty yards behind us and on the verge of strangling when we reached the brow of the slope . `` Doctor , '' he hailed , `` see there ! No hurry ! '' Sure enough there was no hurry . In a more open part of the plateau , we could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as they had started , right for Mizzenmast Hill . We were already between them and the boats ; and so we four sat down to breathe , while Long John , mopping his face , came slowly up with us . `` Thank ye kindly , doctor , '' says he . `` You came in in about the nick , I guess , for me and Hawkins . And so it 's you , Ben Gunn ! '' he added . `` Well , you 're a nice one , to be sure . '' `` I 'm Ben Gunn , I am , '' replied the maroon , wriggling like an eel in his embarrassment . `` And , '' he added , after a long pause , `` how do , Mr. Silver ? Pretty well , I thank ye , says you . '' `` Ben , Ben , '' murmured Silver , `` to think as you 've done me ! '' The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pick-axes deserted , in their flight , by the mutineers , and then as we proceeded leisurely downhill to where the boats were lying , related in a few words what had taken place .
It was a story that profoundly interested Silver ; and Ben XXXXX , the half-idiot maroon , was the hero from beginning to end .
Ben Doctor Gray Gunn Hawkins Hill John Silver mutineers pick-axes