I was more curious than afraid, so I crept back up the bank and hid behind a bush, where I could see our door. Soon seven or eight men came running along the road with a lantern. In the middle was the blind man.
“Break down the door!” he cried.
“Aye, aye, sir!” answered two or three. But the door was open, and they ran inside. There was a cry of surprise, and then a voice called from the house, “Bill’s dead!”
“Search him, some of you, and the rest go upstairs and get the chest!” the blind man shouted.
I heard their feet on our old stairs. Then the window of the captain’s room flew open with a crash of glass, and a man leaned out.
“Pew,” he cried, “someone’s been here before us. They’ve turned the chest upside down.”
“Is it there?” roared Pew.
“The money’s there.”
“Not the money! Flint’s papers!”
“We don’t see them here.”
“Are they on Bill?” cried Pew.
“Somebody has searched Bill already,” called another man.
“It’s the people from the inn. It’s that boy!” cried Pew. “They were here a minute ago. Spread out, lads, and find them!”
There was a great noise all through our inn: heavy feet, furniture thrown over, doors kicked in. But the men came out again and said we were nowhere to be found. Just then I heard the whistle again, twice. Now I understood that it was a warning from someone on the hill.
“That’s Dirk again,” said one. “Twice! We have to go, mates.”
“You cowards!” cried Pew. “They must be close. You could be as rich as kings, and you just stand there! Not one of you dared to face Bill, and I did it, a blind man! Oh, if only I had eyes!”
“We’ve got the gold, Pew,” said one. “Take the money and stop shouting.”
At this Pew lost his temper completely. He hit out right and left with his stick, and the men cursed him and tried to take it from him.
Their quarrel saved us. While it was still going on, I heard horses galloping on the hill, and someone fired a pistol from behind the hedge. At once the pirates ran in every direction, and in half a minute only Pew was left. He tapped up and down the road wildly.
“Johnny, Black Dog, Dirk,” he cried, “you won’t leave old Pew, mates—not old Pew!”
Then four or five riders came over the hill in the moonlight at full speed. Pew turned with a scream, ran the wrong way, fell into the ditch, got up again and ran straight under the first horse.
The rider tried to stop, but it was too late. Pew went down with a cry, and the horse’s hooves passed over him. He did not move again.
I jumped up and called to the riders. One was the young man from the village. The others were customs men, whom he had met on the way. Their officer, Mr. Dance, had heard about a strange boat in a cove nearby and was riding our way that night. My mother and I owed our lives to that.
Pew was dead. We carried my mother up to the village, and a little cold water soon woke her up. Mr. Dance rode on to the cove, but the pirates’ boat was already moving away, and soon it was gone.
Then I went back to the inn with Mr. Dance. You cannot imagine such a mess. The pirates had broken everything in their hunt for us. They had taken only the captain’s money and a little silver, but I could see that we were ruined.
“They got the money, you say?” said Mr. Dance. “Then what were they looking for, Hawkins?”
“I think I have it in my pocket, sir,” I said. “I’d like to put it somewhere safe.”
“Of course, boy. I’ll take it, if you like.”
“I thought perhaps Dr. Livesey—” I began.
“Quite right,” he said cheerfully. “A gentleman and a judge. I’ll ride there myself and tell him what happened, and I’ll take you with me.”
So one of the men took me up behind him on his horse, and we rode off toward Dr. Livesey’s house.