Reading Help Treasure Island Ch.IV-VI
"I don't feel sharp," growled Morgan. "Thinkin' o' `
` Flint--I think it were--as done me." `
` `
` "Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he's dead," `
` said Silver. `
` `
` "He were an ugly devil," cried a third pirate with a `
` shudder; "that blue in the face too!" `
` `
` "That was how the rum took him," added Merry. "Blue! `
` Well, I reckon he was blue. That's a true word." `
` `
` Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon `
` this train of thought, they had spoken lower and lower, `
` and they had almost got to whispering by now, so that `
` the sound of their talk hardly interrupted the silence `
` of the wood. All of a sudden, out of the middle of the `
` trees in front of us, a thin, high, trembling voice `
` struck up the well-known air and words: `
` `
` "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- `
` Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" `
` `
` I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the `
` pirates. The colour went from their six faces like `
` enchantment; some leaped to their feet, some clawed `
` hold of others; Morgan grovelled on the ground. `
` `
` "It's Flint, by ----!" cried Merry. `
` `
` The song had stopped as suddenly as it began--broken off, `
` you would have said, in the middle of a note, as though `
` someone had laid his hand upon the singer's mouth. Coming `
` through the clear, sunny atmosphere among the green tree-tops, `
` I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly; and the effect `
` on my companions was the stranger. `
` `
` "Come," said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to `
` get the word out; "this won't do. Stand by to go `
` about. This is a rum start, and I can't name the `
` voice, but it's someone skylarking--someone that's `
` flesh and blood, and you may lay to that." `
` `
` His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of the `
` colour to his face along with it. Already the others `
` had begun to lend an ear to this encouragement and were `
` coming a little to themselves, when the same voice `
` broke out again--not this time singing, but in a faint `
` distant hail that echoed yet fainter among the clefts `
` of the Spy-glass. `
` `
` "Darby M'Graw," it wailed--for that is the word that `
` best describes the sound--"Darby M'Graw! Darby `
` M'Graw!" again and again and again; and then rising a `
` little higher, and with an oath that I leave out: `
` "Fetch aft the rum, Darby!" `
` `
` The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their eyes `
` starting from their heads. Long after the voice had died `
` away they still stared in silence, dreadfully, before them. `
` `
` "That fixes it!" gasped one. "Let's go." `
` `
` "They was his last words," moaned Morgan, "his last `
` words above board." `
` `
` Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly. He had `
` been well brought up, had Dick, before he came to sea `
` and fell among bad companions. `
` `
` Still Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth `
` rattle in his head, but he had not yet surrendered. `
` `
` "Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby," he `
` muttered; "not one but us that's here." And then, `
` making a great effort: "Shipmates," he cried, "I'm here `
` to get that stuff, and I'll not be beat by man or `
` devil. I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, `
` by the powers, I'll face him dead. There's seven `
` hundred thousand pound not a quarter of a mile from `
` here. When did ever a gentleman o' fortune show his `
` stern to that much dollars for a boozy old seaman with `
` a blue mug--and him dead too?" `
` `
` But there was no sign of reawakening courage in his `
` followers, rather, indeed, of growing terror at the `
` irreverence of his words. `
` `
` "Belay there, John!" said Merry. "Don't you `
` cross a sperrit." `
` `
` And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They `
` would have run away severally had they dared; but fear `
` kept them together, and kept them close by John, as if `
` his daring helped them. He, on his part, had pretty `
` well fought his weakness down. `
` `
` "Sperrit? Well, maybe," he said. "But there's one `
` thing not clear to me. There was an echo. Now, no man `
` ever seen a sperrit with a shadow; well then, what's he `
` doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? That `
` ain't in natur', surely?" `
` `
` This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you can `
` never tell what will affect the superstitious, and to `
` my wonder, George Merry was greatly relieved. `
` `
` "Well, that's so," he said. "You've a head upon your `
` shoulders, John, and no mistake. 'Bout ship, mates! `
` This here crew is on a wrong tack, I do believe. And `
` come to think on it, it was like Flint's voice, I grant `
` you, but not just so clear-away like it, after all. It `
` was liker somebody else's voice now--it was liker--" `
` `
` "By the powers, Ben Gunn!" roared Silver. `
` `
` "Aye, and so it were," cried Morgan, springing on his `
` knees. "Ben Gunn it were!" `
` `
` "It don't make much odds, do it, now?" asked Dick. `
` "Ben Gunn's not here in the body any more'n Flint." `
` `
` But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn. `
` `
` "Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn," cried Merry; "dead or `
` alive, nobody minds him." `
` `
` It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned and `
` how the natural colour had revived in their faces. `
` Soon they were chatting together, with intervals of `
` listening; and not long after, hearing no further `
` sound, they shouldered the tools and set forth again, `
` Merry walking first with Silver's compass to keep them `
` on the right line with Skeleton Island. He had said `
` the truth: dead or alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn. `
` `
` Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him `
` as he went, with fearful glances; but he found no `
` sympathy, and Silver even joked him on his precautions. `
` `
` "I told you," said he--"I told you you had sp'iled your `
` Bible. If it ain't no good to swear by, what do you `
` suppose a sperrit would give for it? Not that!" and he `
` snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on his crutch. `
` `
` But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon `
` plain to me that the lad was falling sick; hastened by `
` heat, exhaustion, and the shock of his alarm, the `
` fever, predicted by Dr. Livesey, was evidently growing `
` swiftly higher. `
` `
` It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way `
` lay a little downhill, for, as I have said, the plateau `
` tilted towards the west. The pines, great and small, `
` grew wide apart; and even between the clumps of nutmeg `
` and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. `
` Striking, as we did, pretty near north-west across the `
` island, we drew, on the one hand, ever nearer under the `
` shoulders of the Spy-glass, and on the other, looked `
` ever wider over that western bay where I had once `
` tossed and trembled in the oracle. `
` `
` The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the `
` bearings proved the wrong one. So with the second. The `
` third rose nearly two hundred feet into the air above a `
` clump of underwood--a giant of a vegetable, with a red `
` column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in `
` which a company could have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous `
` far to sea both on the east and west and might have been `
` entered as a sailing mark upon the chart. `
` `
` But it was not its size that now impressed my `
` companions; it was the knowledge that seven hundred `
` thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere buried below its `
` spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they `
` drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. `
` Their eyes burned in their heads; their feet grew `
` speedier and lighter; their whole soul was found up in `
` that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and `
` pleasure, that lay waiting there for each of them. `
` `
` Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils `
` stood out and quivered; he cursed like a madman when `
` the flies settled on his hot and shiny countenance; he `
` plucked furiously at the line that held me to him and `
` from time to time turned his eyes upon me with a deadly `
` look. Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts, `
` and certainly I read them like print. In the immediate `
` nearness of the gold, all else had been forgotten: his `
` promise and the doctor's warning were both things of `
` the past, and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize `
` upon the treasure, find and board the HISPANIOLA `
` under cover of night, cut every honest throat about `
` that island, and sail away as he had at first intended, `
` laden with crimes and riches. `
` `
` Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me `
` to keep up with the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. `
` Now and again I stumbled, and it was then that Silver `
` plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me his `
` murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us and `
`
` Flint--I think it were--as done me." `
` `
` "Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he's dead," `
` said Silver. `
` `
` "He were an ugly devil," cried a third pirate with a `
` shudder; "that blue in the face too!" `
` `
` "That was how the rum took him," added Merry. "Blue! `
` Well, I reckon he was blue. That's a true word." `
` `
` Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon `
` this train of thought, they had spoken lower and lower, `
` and they had almost got to whispering by now, so that `
` the sound of their talk hardly interrupted the silence `
` of the wood. All of a sudden, out of the middle of the `
` trees in front of us, a thin, high, trembling voice `
` struck up the well-known air and words: `
` `
` "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- `
` Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" `
` `
` I never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the `
` pirates. The colour went from their six faces like `
` enchantment; some leaped to their feet, some clawed `
` hold of others; Morgan grovelled on the ground. `
` `
` "It's Flint, by ----!" cried Merry. `
` `
` The song had stopped as suddenly as it began--broken off, `
` you would have said, in the middle of a note, as though `
` someone had laid his hand upon the singer's mouth. Coming `
` through the clear, sunny atmosphere among the green tree-tops, `
` I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly; and the effect `
` on my companions was the stranger. `
` `
` "Come," said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to `
` get the word out; "this won't do. Stand by to go `
` about. This is a rum start, and I can't name the `
` voice, but it's someone skylarking--someone that's `
` flesh and blood, and you may lay to that." `
` `
` His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of the `
` colour to his face along with it. Already the others `
` had begun to lend an ear to this encouragement and were `
` coming a little to themselves, when the same voice `
` broke out again--not this time singing, but in a faint `
` distant hail that echoed yet fainter among the clefts `
` of the Spy-glass. `
` `
` "Darby M'Graw," it wailed--for that is the word that `
` best describes the sound--"Darby M'Graw! Darby `
` M'Graw!" again and again and again; and then rising a `
` little higher, and with an oath that I leave out: `
` "Fetch aft the rum, Darby!" `
` `
` The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their eyes `
` starting from their heads. Long after the voice had died `
` away they still stared in silence, dreadfully, before them. `
` `
` "That fixes it!" gasped one. "Let's go." `
` `
` "They was his last words," moaned Morgan, "his last `
` words above board." `
` `
` Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly. He had `
` been well brought up, had Dick, before he came to sea `
` and fell among bad companions. `
` `
` Still Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth `
` rattle in his head, but he had not yet surrendered. `
` `
` "Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby," he `
` muttered; "not one but us that's here." And then, `
` making a great effort: "Shipmates," he cried, "I'm here `
` to get that stuff, and I'll not be beat by man or `
` devil. I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, `
` by the powers, I'll face him dead. There's seven `
` hundred thousand pound not a quarter of a mile from `
` here. When did ever a gentleman o' fortune show his `
` stern to that much dollars for a boozy old seaman with `
` a blue mug--and him dead too?" `
` `
` But there was no sign of reawakening courage in his `
` followers, rather, indeed, of growing terror at the `
` irreverence of his words. `
` `
` "Belay there, John!" said Merry. "Don't you `
` cross a sperrit." `
` `
` And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They `
` would have run away severally had they dared; but fear `
` kept them together, and kept them close by John, as if `
` his daring helped them. He, on his part, had pretty `
` well fought his weakness down. `
` `
` "Sperrit? Well, maybe," he said. "But there's one `
` thing not clear to me. There was an echo. Now, no man `
` ever seen a sperrit with a shadow; well then, what's he `
` doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? That `
` ain't in natur', surely?" `
` `
` This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you can `
` never tell what will affect the superstitious, and to `
` my wonder, George Merry was greatly relieved. `
` `
` "Well, that's so," he said. "You've a head upon your `
` shoulders, John, and no mistake. 'Bout ship, mates! `
` This here crew is on a wrong tack, I do believe. And `
` come to think on it, it was like Flint's voice, I grant `
` you, but not just so clear-away like it, after all. It `
` was liker somebody else's voice now--it was liker--" `
` `
` "By the powers, Ben Gunn!" roared Silver. `
` `
` "Aye, and so it were," cried Morgan, springing on his `
` knees. "Ben Gunn it were!" `
` `
` "It don't make much odds, do it, now?" asked Dick. `
` "Ben Gunn's not here in the body any more'n Flint." `
` `
` But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn. `
` `
` "Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn," cried Merry; "dead or `
` alive, nobody minds him." `
` `
` It was extraordinary how their spirits had returned and `
` how the natural colour had revived in their faces. `
` Soon they were chatting together, with intervals of `
` listening; and not long after, hearing no further `
` sound, they shouldered the tools and set forth again, `
` Merry walking first with Silver's compass to keep them `
` on the right line with Skeleton Island. He had said `
` the truth: dead or alive, nobody minded Ben Gunn. `
` `
` Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him `
` as he went, with fearful glances; but he found no `
` sympathy, and Silver even joked him on his precautions. `
` `
` "I told you," said he--"I told you you had sp'iled your `
` Bible. If it ain't no good to swear by, what do you `
` suppose a sperrit would give for it? Not that!" and he `
` snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on his crutch. `
` `
` But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon `
` plain to me that the lad was falling sick; hastened by `
` heat, exhaustion, and the shock of his alarm, the `
` fever, predicted by Dr. Livesey, was evidently growing `
` swiftly higher. `
` `
` It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way `
` lay a little downhill, for, as I have said, the plateau `
` tilted towards the west. The pines, great and small, `
` grew wide apart; and even between the clumps of nutmeg `
` and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine. `
` Striking, as we did, pretty near north-west across the `
` island, we drew, on the one hand, ever nearer under the `
` shoulders of the Spy-glass, and on the other, looked `
` ever wider over that western bay where I had once `
` tossed and trembled in the oracle. `
` `
` The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the `
` bearings proved the wrong one. So with the second. The `
` third rose nearly two hundred feet into the air above a `
` clump of underwood--a giant of a vegetable, with a red `
` column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in `
` which a company could have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous `
` far to sea both on the east and west and might have been `
` entered as a sailing mark upon the chart. `
` `
` But it was not its size that now impressed my `
` companions; it was the knowledge that seven hundred `
` thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere buried below its `
` spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they `
` drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. `
` Their eyes burned in their heads; their feet grew `
` speedier and lighter; their whole soul was found up in `
` that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and `
` pleasure, that lay waiting there for each of them. `
` `
` Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils `
` stood out and quivered; he cursed like a madman when `
` the flies settled on his hot and shiny countenance; he `
` plucked furiously at the line that held me to him and `
` from time to time turned his eyes upon me with a deadly `
` look. Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts, `
` and certainly I read them like print. In the immediate `
` nearness of the gold, all else had been forgotten: his `
` promise and the doctor's warning were both things of `
` the past, and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize `
` upon the treasure, find and board the HISPANIOLA `
` under cover of night, cut every honest throat about `
` that island, and sail away as he had at first intended, `
` laden with crimes and riches. `
` `
` Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me `
` to keep up with the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. `
` Now and again I stumbled, and it was then that Silver `
` plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me his `
` murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us and `
`