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with his finger. "And now, Master Billy Bones, if that `
`
be your name, we'll have a look at the colour of your `
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blood. Jim," he said, "are you afraid of blood?" `
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`
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"No, sir," said I. `
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`
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"Well, then," said he, "you hold the basin"; and with `
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that he took his lancet and opened a vein. `
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`
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A great deal of blood was taken before the captain `
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opened his eyes and looked mistily about him. First he `
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recognized the doctor with an unmistakable frown; then `
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his glance fell upon me, and he looked relieved. But `
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suddenly his colour changed, and he tried to raise `
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himself, crying, "Where's Black Dog?" `
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`
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"There is no Black Dog here," said the doctor, "except `
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what you have on your own back. You have been drinking `
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rum; you have had a stroke, precisely as I told you; `
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and I have just, very much against my own will, dragged `
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you headforemost out of the grave. Now, Mr. Bones--" `
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`
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"That's not my name," he interrupted. `
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`
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"Much I care," returned the doctor. "It's the name of `
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a buccaneer of my acquaintance; and I call you by it `
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for the sake of shortness, and what I have to say to `
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you is this; one glass of rum won't kill you, but if `
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you take one you'll take another and another, and I `
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stake my wig if you don't break off short, you'll die-- `
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do you understand that?--die, and go to your own place, `
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like the man in the Bible. Come, now, make an effort. `
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I'll help you to your bed for once." `
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`
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Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him `
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upstairs, and laid him on his bed, where his head fell `
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back on the pillow as if he were almost fainting. `
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`
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"Now, mind you," said the doctor, "I clear my `
`
conscience--the name of rum for you is death." `
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`
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And with that he went off to see my father, taking me `
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with him by the arm. `
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`
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"This is nothing," he said as soon as he had closed the `
`
door. "I have drawn blood enough to keep him quiet `
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awhile; he should lie for a week where he is--that is `
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the best thing for him and you; but another stroke `
`
would settle him." `
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`
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`
3 `
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`
`
The Black Spot `
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`
`
ABOUT noon I stopped at the captain's door with some `
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cooling drinks and medicines. He was lying very much `
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as we had left him, only a little higher, and he seemed `
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both weak and excited. `
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`
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"Jim," he said, "you're the only one here that's worth `
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anything, and you know I've been always good to you. `
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Never a month but I've given you a silver fourpenny for `
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yourself. And now you see, mate, I'm pretty low, and `
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deserted by all; and Jim, you'll bring me one noggin of `
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rum, now, won't you, matey?" `
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`
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"The doctor--" I began. `
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`
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But he broke in cursing the doctor, in a feeble voice `
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but heartily. "Doctors is all swabs," he said; "and `
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that doctor there, why, what do he know about seafaring `
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men? I been in places hot as pitch, and mates dropping `
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round with Yellow Jack, and the blessed land a-heaving `
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like the sea with earthquakes--what to the doctor know `
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of lands like that?--and I lived on rum, I tell you. `
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It's been meat and drink, and man and wife, to me; and `
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if I'm not to have my rum now I'm a poor old hulk on a `
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lee shore, my blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor `
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swab"; and he ran on again for a while with curses. `
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"Look, Jim, how my fingers fidges," he continued in the `
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pleading tone. "I can't keep 'em still, not I. I `
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haven't had a drop this blessed day. That doctor's a `
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fool, I tell you. If I don't have a drain o' rum, Jim, `
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I'll have the horrors; I seen some on 'em already. `
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I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; as `
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plain as print, I seen him; and if I get the horrors, `
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I'm a man that has lived rough, and I'll raise Cain. `
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Your doctor hisself said one glass wouldn't hurt me. `
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I'll give you a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim." `
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`
`
He was growing more and more excited, and this alarmed me `
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for my father, who was very low that day and needed quiet; `
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besides, I was reassured by the doctor's words, now quoted `
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to me, and rather offended by the offer of a bribe. `
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`
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"I want none of your money," said I, "but what you owe `
`
my father. I'll get you one glass, and no more." `
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`
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When I brought it to him, he seized it greedily and `
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drank it out. `
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`
`
"Aye, aye," said he, "that's some better, sure enough. `
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And now, matey, did that doctor say how long I was to `
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lie here in this old berth?" `
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`
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"A week at least," said I. `
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`
`
"Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; they'd `
`
have the black spot on me by then. The lubbers is `
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going about to get the wind of me this blessed moment; `
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lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to `
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nail what is another's. Is that seamanly behaviour, `
`
now, I want to know? But I'm a saving soul. I never `
`
wasted good money of mine, nor lost it neither; and `
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I'll trick 'em again. I'm not afraid on 'em. I'll `
`
shake out another reef, matey, and daddle 'em again." `
`
`
`
As he was thus speaking, he had risen from bed with `
`
great difficulty, holding to my shoulder with a grip `
`
that almost made me cry out, and moving his legs like `
`
so much dead weight. His words, spirited as they were `
`
in meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of the `
`
voice in which they were uttered. He paused when he `
`
had got into a sitting position on the edge. `
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`
`
"That doctor's done me," he murmured. "My ears is `
`
singing. Lay me back." `
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`
`
Before I could do much to help him he had fallen back again `
`
to his former place, where he lay for a while silent. `
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`
`
"Jim," he said at length, "you saw that seafaring man today?" `
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`
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"Black Dog?" I asked. `
`
`
`
"Ah! Black Dog," says he. "HE'S a bad un; but there's `
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worse that put him on. Now, if I can't get away nohow, `
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and they tip me the black spot, mind you, it's my old `
`
sea-chest they're after; you get on a horse--you can, `
`
can't you? Well, then, you get on a horse, and go to-- `
`
well, yes, I will!--to that eternal doctor swab, and `
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tell him to pipe all hands--magistrates and sich--and `
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he'll lay 'em aboard at the Admiral Benbow--all old `
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Flint's crew, man and boy, all on 'em that's left. I `
`
was first mate, I was, old Flint's first mate, and I'm `
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the on'y one as knows the place. He gave it me at `
`
Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as if I was to now, `
`
you see. But you won't peach unless they get the black `
`
spot on me, or unless you see that Black Dog again or a `
`
seafaring man with one leg, Jim--him above all." `
`
`
`
"But what is the black spot, captain?" I asked. `
`
`
`
"That's a summons, mate. I'll tell you if they get `
`
that. But you keep your weather-eye open, Jim, and `
`
I'll share with you equals, upon my honour." `
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`
`
He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; `
`
but soon after I had given him his medicine, which he `
`
took like a child, with the remark, "If ever a seaman `
`
wanted drugs, it's me," he fell at last into a heavy, `
`
swoon-like sleep, in which I left him. What I should `
`
have done had all gone well I do not know. Probably I `
`
should have told the whole story to the doctor, for I `
`
was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of `
`
his confessions and make an end of me. But as things `
`
fell out, my poor father died quite suddenly that `
`
evening, which put all other matters on one side. Our `
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natural distress, the visits of the neighbours, the `
`
arranging of the funeral, and all the work of the inn `
`
to be carried on in the meanwhile kept me so busy that `
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I had scarcely time to think of the captain, far less `
`
to be afraid of him. `
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`
`
He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and had his `
`
meals as usual, though he ate little and had more, I am `
`
afraid, than his usual supply of rum, for he helped `
`
himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing through `
`
his nose, and no one dared to cross him. On the night `
`
before the funeral he was as drunk as ever; and it was `
`
shocking, in that house of mourning, to hear him `
`
singing away at his ugly old sea-song; but weak as he `
`
was, we were all in the fear of death for him, and the `
`
doctor was suddenly taken up with a case many miles `
`
away and was never near the house after my father's `
`
death. I have said the captain was weak, and indeed he `
`
seemed rather to grow weaker than regain his strength. `
`
He clambered up and down stairs, and went from the `
`
parlour to the bar and back again, and sometimes put `
`
his nose out of doors to smell the sea, holding on to `
`
the walls as he went for support and breathing hard and `
`
fast like a man on a steep mountain. He never `
`
particularly addressed me, and it is my belief he had `
`
as good as forgotten his confidences; but his temper `
`
was more flighty, and allowing for his bodily weakness, `
`
more violent than ever. He had an alarming way now `
`
when he was drunk of drawing his cutlass and laying it `
`
bare before him on the table. But with all that, he `
`
minded people less and seemed shut up in his own `
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