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 Gunn , the half-idiot maroon , was the hero from beginning to end . Ben , in his long , lonely wanderings about the island , had found the skeleton -- it was he that had rifled it ; he had found the treasure ; he had dug it up -LRB- it was the haft of his pick-axe that lay broken in the excavation -RRB- ; he had carried it on his back , in many weary journeys , from the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at the north-east angle of the island , and there it had lain stored in safety since two months before the arrival of the HISPANIOLA . When the doctor had wormed this secret from him on the afternoon of the attack , and when next morning he saw the anchorage deserted , he had gone to Silver , given him the chart , which was now useless -- given him the stores , for Ben Gunn 's cave was well supplied with goats ' meat salted by himself -- given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill , there to be clear of malaria and keep a guard upon the money . `` As for you , Jim , '' he said , `` it went against my heart , but I did what I thought best for those who had stood by their duty ; and if you were not one of these , whose fault was it ? '' That morning , finding that I was to be involved in the horrid disappointment he had prepared for the mutineers , he had run all the way to the cave , and leaving the squire to guard the captain , had taken Gray and the maroon and started , making the diagonal across the island to be at hand beside the pine . Soon , however , he saw that our party had the start of him ; and Ben Gunn , being fleet of foot , had been dispatched in front to do his best alone . Then it had occurred to him to work upon the superstitions of his former shipmates , and he was so far successful that Gray and the doctor had come up and were already ambushed before the arrival of the treasure-hunters . `` Ah , '' said Silver , `` it were fortunate for me that I had Hawkins here . You would have let old John be cut to bits , and never given it a thought , doctor . '' `` Not a thought , '' replied Dr. Livesey cheerily . And by this time we had reached the gigs . The doctor , with the pick-axe , demolished one of them , and then we all got aboard the other and set out to go round by sea for North Inlet . This was a run of eight or nine miles . Silver , though he was almost killed already with fatigue , was set to an oar , like the rest of us , and we were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea . Soon we passed out of the straits and doubled the south-east corner of the island , round which , four days ago , we had towed the HISPANIOLA . As we passed the two-pointed hill , we could see the black mouth of Ben Gunn 's cave and a figure standing by it , leaning on a musket . It was the squire , and we waved a handkerchief and gave him three cheers , in which the voice of Silver joined as heartily as any .
Three miles farther , just inside the mouth of North XXXXX , what should we meet but the HISPANIOLA , cruising by herself ?
Ben HISPANIOLA Inlet Silver afternoon goats months mutineers north-east oar