“No, not I,” said Silver. “Flint was captain. I was quartermaster, because I had only one leg. I lost the other in the same fight in which old Pew lost his eyes.”
“Ah!” cried another voice. It was Dick, the youngest sailor on board, and he sounded full of admiration. “Flint was the best of them all!”
“I saved two thousand pounds from my time with Flint, all safe in the bank,” said Silver. “Old Pew spent twelve hundred pounds in one year, like a lord, and for two years before he died, shiver my timbers, the man was starving! But you look here. You’re young, but you’re a clever one. I saw that when I first looked at you, and I’ll talk to you like a man.”
You can imagine how I felt when I heard this terrible old villain use the very same words he had used to me. I think I could have killed him through the barrel.
“Gentlemen of fortune live rough, and they risk the rope,” Silver went on, “but after a voyage they have hundreds of pounds in their pockets. Most of them spend it all on rum. Not me. I’m fifty, and when I’m back from this voyage, I’ll live like a real gentleman.”
“But you can’t go back to Bristol after this,” said Dick. “What about your money in the banks there?”
“It was there when we sailed,” said Silver. “But my wife has it all by now. The Spyglass is sold, and she has gone to meet me. Don’t worry, lad. Flint himself was afraid of me, and you’ll be safe on old John’s ship.”
“Well, I didn’t like the job at all until I talked with you, John,” said Dick. “But here’s my hand on it now.”
“And a brave lad you are, and smart too,” said Silver, and they shook hands so hard that the barrel shook.
By now I understood. A “gentleman of fortune” was simply a pirate, and I had heard an honest sailor become one, perhaps the last honest sailor on board. Then Silver gave a little whistle, and a third man came and sat down with them.
“Dick’s with us,” said Silver.
“Oh, I knew Dick was with us,” said the voice of Israel Hands. “He’s no fool, Dick. But look here, Barbecue, how long are we going to wait? I’ve had almost enough of Captain Smollett.”
“Israel,” said Silver, “your head was never worth much. But you’ll sleep with the crew, work hard, keep quiet and stay sober until I give the word.”
“I don’t say no,” said Hands. “I only say: when?”
“When? I’ll tell you when. At the last moment I can. Captain Smollett is a first-class seaman, and he sails the ship for us. The squire and the doctor have a map, and I don’t know where it is. So they will find the treasure and help us get it on board. Then we’ll see. If I could trust you all, I’d let Captain Smollett sail us half the way home first. But I know you. You’re never happy until you’re drunk. So I’ll finish with them at the island, as soon as the treasure is on board, and it’s a pity.”
“But when we take the ship,” asked Dick, “what do we do with them?”
“That’s the man for me!” cried Silver. “That’s business. What do you think? Leave them on an island? Or kill them like pigs? That was Flint’s way, or Billy Bones’s.”
“Billy was the man for that,” said Hands. “‘Dead men don’t bite,’ he used to say. Well, he’s dead himself now.”
“Right you are,” said Silver. “I vote: death. When I’m a rich man riding in my carriage, I don’t want any of those gentlemen coming home to make trouble. Wait, I say. But when the time comes, then we act! Only one thing I want: Trelawney is mine. I’ll break his neck with these hands. Dick,” he added, “jump up like a good lad and get me an apple.”
You can imagine my terror! I wanted to jump out and run, but my legs would not move. I heard Dick begin to get up, and then Hands said, “Oh, forget the apples, John. Let’s have some rum.”
“Dick,” said Silver, “I trust you. Here’s the key to my barrel. Fill a cup and bring it up.”
Even in my terror, I thought: so this is how Mr. Arrow got the drink that killed him.
While Dick was away, Hands whispered in Silver’s ear. I heard only a few words, but one sentence was clear: “Not another man of them will join us.” So there were still honest men on board.
Dick came back, and the three of them drank. “To luck,” said one. “To old Flint,” said another. “To ourselves,” said Silver.
Just then a light fell into the barrel. I looked up and saw that the moon had risen. And at the same moment the man on watch shouted, “Land ho!”