I ran to him at once , calling to my mother . But haste was all in vain . The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy . It is a curious thing to understand , for I had certainly never liked the man , though of late I had begun to pity him , but as soon as I saw that he was dead , I burst into a flood of tears . It was the second death I had known , and the sorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart . 4 The Sea-chest I LOST no time , of course , in telling my mother all that I knew , and perhaps should have told her long before , and we saw ourselves at once in a difficult and dangerous position . Some of the man 's money -- if he had any -- was certainly due to us , but it was not likely that our captain 's shipmates , above all the two specimens seen by me , Black Dog and the blind beggar , would be inclined to give up their booty in payment of the dead man 's debts . The captain 's order to mount at once and ride for Doctor Livesey would have left my mother alone and unprotected , which was not to be thought of . Indeed , it seemed impossible for either of us to remain much longer in the house ; the fall of coals in the kitchen grate , the very ticking of the clock , filled us with alarms . The neighbourhood , to our ears , seemed haunted by approaching footsteps ; and what between the dead body of the captain on the parlour floor and the thought of that detestable blind beggar hovering near at hand and ready to return , there were moments when , as the saying goes , I jumped in my skin for terror . Something must speedily be resolved upon , and it occurred to us at last to go forth together and seek help in the neighbouring hamlet . No sooner said than done . Bare-headed as we were , we ran out at once in the gathering evening and the frosty fog . The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away , though out of view , on the other side of the next cove ; and what greatly encouraged me , it was in an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had made his appearance and whither he had presumably returned . We were not many minutes on the road , though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of each other and hearken . But there was no unusual sound -- nothing but the low wash of the ripple and the croaking of the inmates of the wood . It was already candle-light when we reached the hamlet , and I shall never forget how much I was cheered to see the yellow shine in doors and windows ; but that , as it proved , was the best of the help we were likely to get in that quarter . For -- you would have thought men would have been ashamed of themselves -- no soul would consent to return with us to the Admiral Benbow . The more we told of our troubles , the more -- man , woman , and child -- they clung to the shelter of their houses . The name of Captain Flint , though it was strange to me , was well enough known to some there and carried a great weight of terror .
Some of the men who had been to field-work on the far side of the Admiral XXXXX remembered , besides , to have seen several strangers on the road , and taking them to be smugglers , to have bolted away ; and one at least had seen a little lugger in what we called Kitt 's Hole .
Benbow Dog Flint Livesey apoplexy evening first flood left second