Chapter: THE TREASURE-HUNT--FLINT'S POINTER


"Jim," said Silver, when we were alone, "if I saved your life, you saved
mine, and I'll not forget it. I seen the doctor waving you to run for
it--with the tail of my eye, I did--and I seen you say no, as plain as
hearing. Jim, that's one to you. This is the first glint of hope I had
since the attack failed, and I owe it to you. And now, Jim, we're to go
in for this here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders, too, and I don't
like it; and you and me must stick close, back to back like, and we'll
save our necks in spite o' fate and fortune."

Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready, and we
were soon seated here and there about the sand over biscuit and fried
junk. They had lighted a fire fit to roast an ox; and it was now grown
so hot that they could only approach it from the windward, and even
there not without precaution. In the same wasteful spirit, they had
cooked, I suppose, three times more than we could eat; and one of them,
with an empty laugh, threw what was left into the fire, which blazed and
roared again over this unusual fuel. I never in my life saw men so
careless of the morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can describe
their way of doing; and what with wasted food and sleeping sentries,
though they were bold enough for a brush and be done with it, I could
see their entire unfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign.

Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had not
a word of blame for their recklessness. And this the more surprised me,
for I thought he had never showed himself so cunning as he did then.

"Ay, mates," said he, "it's lucky you have Barbecue to think for you
with this here head. I got what I wanted, I did. Sure enough, they have
the ship. Where they have it, I don't know yet; but once we hit the
treasure, we'll have to jump about and find out. And then, mates, us
that has the boats, I reckon, has the upper hand."

Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of the hot bacon; thus he
restored their hope and confidence, and, I more than suspect, repaired
his own at the same time.

"As for hostage," he continued, "that's his last talk, I guess, with
them he loves so dear. I've got my piece o' news, and thanky to him for
that; but it's over and done. I'll take him in a line when we go
treasure-hunting, for we'll keep him like so much gold, in case of
accidents, you mark, and in the meantime. Once we got the ship and
treasure both, and off to sea like jolly companions, why, then we'll
talk Mr. Hawkins over, we will, and we'll give him his share, to be
sure, for all his kindness."

It was no wonder the men were in a good humor now. For my part, I was
horribly cast down. Should the scheme he had now sketched prove
feasible, Silver, already doubly a traitor, would not hesitate to adopt
it. He had still a foot in either camp, and there was no doubt he would
prefer wealth and freedom with the pirates to a bare escape from
hanging, which was the best he had to hope on our side.

Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was forced to keep his faith
with Doctor Livesey, even then what danger lay before us! What a moment
that would be when the suspicions of his followers turned to certainty,
and he and I should have to fight for dear life--he, a cripple, and I, a
boy--against five strong and active seamen!

Add to this double apprehension the mystery that still hung over the
behavior of my friends; their unexplained desertion of the stockade;
their inexplicable cession of the chart; or, harder still to understand,
the doctor's last warning to Silver, "Look out for squalls when you find
it"; and you will readily believe how little taste I found in my
breakfast, and with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my captors on
the quest for treasure.

We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us; all in soiled
sailor clothes, and all but me armed to the teeth. Silver had two guns
slung about him, one before and one behind--besides the great cutlass at
his waist, and a pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. To
complete his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon his
shoulder and gabbled odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. I had a line
about my waist, and followed obediently after the sea-cook, who held the
loose end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between his powerful
teeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear.

The other men were variously burdened; some carrying picks and
shovels--for that had been the very first necessary they brought ashore
from the _Hispaniola_--others laden with pork, bread, and brandy for the
midday meal. All the stores, I observed, came from our stock, and I
could see the truth of Silver's words the night before. Had he not
struck a bargain with the doctor, he and his mutineers, deserted by the
ship, must have been driven to subsist on clear water, and the proceeds
of their hunting. Water would have been little to their taste; a sailor
is not usually a good shot; and, besides all that, when they were so
short of eatables, it was not likely they would be very flush of powder.

Well, thus equipped, we all set out--even the fellow with the broken
head, who should certainly have kept in shadow--and straggled, one after
another, to the beach, where the two gigs awaited us. Even these bore
trace of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, and
both in their muddied and unbailed condition. Both were to be carried
along with us, for the sake of safety; and so, with our numbers divided
between them, we set forth upon the bosom of the anchorage.

As we pulled over, there was some discussion on the chart. The red cross
was, of course, far too large to be a guide; and the terms of the note
on the back, as you will hear, admitted of some ambiguity. They ran, the
reader may remember, thus:

    "Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E.

    "Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.

    "Ten feet."

A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right before us, the
anchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high,
adjoining on the north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glass,
and rising again toward the south into the rough, cliffy eminence called
the Mizzen-mast Hill. The top of the plateau was dotted thickly with
pine trees of varying height. Every here and there, one of a different
species rose forty or fifty feet clear above its neighbors, and which of
these was the particular "tall tree" of Captain Flint could only be
decided on the spot, and by the readings of the compass.

Yet, although that was the case, every man on board the boats had picked
a favorite of his own ere we were halfway over, Long John alone
shrugging his shoulders and bidding them wait till they were there.

We pulled easily, by Silver's directions, not to weary the hands
prematurely; and, after quite a long passage, landed at the mouth of the
second river--that which runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-glass.
Thence, bending to our left, we began to ascend the slope towards the
plateau.

At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted, marsh vegetation
greatly delayed our progress; but by little and little the hill began to
steepen and become stony under foot, and the wood to change its
character and to grow in a more open order. It was, indeed, a most
pleasant portion of the island that we were now approaching. A
heavy-scented broom and many flowering shrubs had almost taken the place
of grass. Thickets of green nutmeg-trees were dotted here and there with
the red columns and the broad shadow of the pines, and the first mingled
their spice with the aroma of the others. The air, besides, was fresh
and stirring, and this, under the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderful
refreshment to our senses.

The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, shouting and leaping to
and fro. About the center, and a good way behind the rest, Silver and I
followed--I tethered by my rope, he plowing, with deep pants, among the
sliding gravel. From time to time, indeed, I had to lend him a hand, or
he must have missed his footing and fallen backward down the hill.

We had thus proceeded for about half a mile, and were approaching the
brow of the plateau, when the man upon the farthest left began to cry
aloud, as if in terror. Shout after shout came from him, and the others
began to run in his direction.

"He can't 'a' found the treasure," said old Morgan, hurrying past us
from the right, "for that's clean a-top."

Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it was something very
different. At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a green
creeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human
skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I believe a
chill struck for a moment to every heart.

"He was a seaman," said George Merry, who, bolder than the rest, had
gone up close, and was examining the rags of clothing. "Leastways, this
is good sea-cloth."

"Ay, ay," said Silver, "like enough; you wouldn't look to find a bishop
here, I reckon. But what sort of a way is that for bones to lie? 'Tain't
in natur'."

Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to fancy that the body
was in a natural position. But for some disarray (the work, perhaps, of
the birds that had fed upon him, or of the slow-growing creeper that had
gradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly straight--his
feet pointing in one direction, his hands raised above his head like a
diver's, pointing directly in the opposite.

"I've taken a notion into my old numskull," observed Silver. "Here's the
compass; there's the tip-top p'int of Skeleton Island, stickin' out like
a tooth. Just take a bearing, will you, along the line of them bones."

It was done. The body pointed straight in the direction of the island,
and the compass read duly E.S.E. by E.

"I thought so," cried the cook; "this here is a p'inter. Right up there
is our line for the Pole Star and the jolly dollars. But, by thunder! if
it don't make me cold inside to think of Flint. This is one of _his_
jokes, and no mistake. Him and these six was alone here; he killed 'em,
every man; and this one he hauled here and laid down by compass, shiver
my timbers! They're long bones, and the hair's been yellow. Ay, that
would be Allardyce. You mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?"

"Ay, ay," returned Morgan, "I mind him; he owed me money, he did, and
took my knife ashore with him."

"Speaking of knives," said another, "why don't we find his'n lying
round? Flint warn't the man to pick a seaman's pocket; and the birds, I
guess, would leave it be."

"By the powers and that's true!" cried Silver.

"There ain't a thing left here," said Merry, still feeling round among
the bones; "not a copper doit nor a baccy box. It don't look nat'ral to
me."

"No, by gum, it don't," agreed Silver; "not nat'ral, nor not nice, says
you. Great guns, messmates, but if Flint was living this would be a hot
spot for you and me! Six they were, and six are we; and bones is what
they are now."

"I saw him dead with these here deadlights," said Morgan. "Billy took me
in. There he laid, with penny-pieces on his eyes."

"Dead--ay, sure enough he's dead and gone below," said the fellow with
the bandage; "but if ever sperrit walked it would be Flint's. Dear
heart, but he died bad, did Flint!"

"Ay, that he did," observed another; "now he raged and now he hollered
for the rum, and now he sang. 'Fifteen Men' were his only song, mates;
and I tell you true, I never rightly liked to hear it since. It was main
hot and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin' out as clear
as clear--and the death-haul on the man already."

"Come, come," said Silver, "stow this talk. He's dead, and he don't
walk, that I know; leastways he won't walk by day, and you may lay to
that. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons."

We started, certainly, but in spite of the hot sun and the staring
daylight, the pirates no longer ran separate and shouting through the
wood, but kept side by side and spoke with bated breath. The terror of
the dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits.

 Long John Silver admits that he saw Doctor Livesey gesturing for Jim to make a run for it. Since Jim kept his promise, Long John Silver feels that Jim has saved his life, so he owes him. The pirates beckon Jim and Long John Silver over - they have breakfast going. Long John Silver tells the group that the Doctor and his fellows have the ship, but once the pirates get the treasure, they'll have the upper hand, since the pirates are the ones who have the boats to row out to the ship. Long John Silver tells them all of these half-truths to build up the pirates' confidence and to keep them from getting violent. Long John Silver reminds them of Jim's value as a hostage. Jim is worried: what if Long John Silver goes back to working for the other pirates? What did Doctor Livesey mean by warning Long John Silver not to go after the treasure? They all set off looking for the treasure. All the sailors are armed, and Long John Silver is carrying Captain Flint on his shoulder. Jim is tied to Long John Silver with a rope around his waist . They walk over to the rowboats and set off after the treasure. They follow the directions on the map until, suddenly, the man on the furthest left lets out a shout. There's a skeleton lying on the ground covered in scraps of cloth. Long John Silver realizes that the skeleton is a pointer, indicating the direction of the treasure. He shakes his head - it's just the kind of dark joke Captain Flint would have liked. Long John Silver figures out that the bones must have belonged to a pirate named Allardyce. The pirates exchange memories about Flint - his wickedness and his bad temper. Even though Long John Silver tells them to be quiet and keep going, finding this dead pirate skeleton has clearly freaked out his men.

