The pirates and Jim Hawkins sat down at the top of the hill. They wanted to rest Long John Silver and the sick men. From this place, they could see the sea on both sides. To the west, they saw the ocean and many trees. Behind them, they saw Skeleton Island and the place where their ship stayed.
High above them was the mountain. There were many pine trees on the mountain. Everything was very quiet. They only heard the sound of the sea and the insects in the grass. There were no other people and no other ships. The pirates felt very alone on the island.
Long John Silver sat down. He looked at his compass (a small tool that shows the direction of North). Long John Silver said there were three tall trees in a row. He said it would be easy to find the treasure now. He wanted to eat dinner first. But a pirate named Morgan was not hungry. Morgan was thinking about the dead pirate, Captain Flint.
The pirates began to talk about Captain Flint. One pirate said Captain Flint was a very bad man. He said Captain Flint had a blue face when he died. Long John Silver said that happened because Captain Flint drank too much rum. The pirates spoke in very quiet voices. They were afraid of the dead man.
Suddenly, a high voice came from the trees in front of them. The voice sang a famous pirate song. It sang about fifteen men on a dead man's chest. It sang about a bottle of rum. The pirates were very afraid. Their faces became white. Some pirates jumped up. Morgan fell to the ground.
A pirate named Merry shouted that the voice was Captain Flint. The song stopped very quickly. It stopped in the middle of a word. The air was warm and the sun was bright. Jim Hawkins thought the voice sounded sweet. But the pirates were terrified.
Long John Silver tried to be brave. His lips were white, but he spoke to the men. Long John Silver said the voice belonged to a real person. He said a person was playing a trick on them. Then the voice called out a name. It cried "Darby M’Graw" many times. Then it asked for rum.
The pirates did not move. They stared at the trees. One pirate wanted to leave the island immediately. He said those were the last words of Captain Flint before he died. A pirate named Dick took out his Bible and began to pray. Dick was very scared.
Long John Silver was still brave. Jim Hawkins heard Long John Silver’s teeth rattle, but the pirate did not stop. Long John Silver told the men that he wanted the gold. He said he was not afraid of a dead man. He said there was a lot of money very near to them. He did not want to leave the treasure.
But the other pirates were still afraid. They did not want to make a spirit (the ghost of a dead person) angry. They stayed close to Long John Silver because he was brave. Then Long John Silver had a new idea. He told the men that the voice had an echo. He said that spirits do not have echoes.
The pirates felt better when they heard this. George Merry said that Long John Silver was very smart. George Merry said the voice sounded a little like Captain Flint. But he said it sounded more like someone else. Long John Silver shouted that the voice belonged to Ben Gunn.
The pirates were happy now. They were not afraid of Ben Gunn. They did not care if Ben Gunn was alive or dead. Their faces were not white anymore. They began to talk and laugh. They picked up their tools and started to walk again. George Merry carried the compass.
Only Dick was still afraid. Dick carried his Bible and looked around him. Long John Silver told Dick that his Bible was not useful now. Long John Silver laughed at him. But Dick was also becoming very sick. He had a fever (a very high body temperature). He was hot and tired and scared.
The ground was flat at the top of the hill. The pine trees grew far apart. There were many open spaces with hot sunshine. They walked toward the north-west. They were very close to the mountain now. Jim Hawkins could see the bay where he was in the small boat before.
They reached the first tall tree, but it was the wrong one. They went to the second tree. It was also wrong. Then they saw the third tree. This tree was a giant (something that is much larger than normal). It was very, very tall. It was so big that people could see it from the sea.
The pirates did not care about the size of the tree. They only thought about the gold. They knew the treasure was under the shadow of this tree. They began to walk faster. They were very excited. They thought about all the things they could buy with the money.
Long John Silver walked fast on his crutch (a stick that helps a person walk). He pulled the rope that held Jim Hawkins. Long John Silver looked at Jim Hawkins with very angry eyes. Jim Hawkins was afraid. He knew that Long John Silver only wanted the gold. He thought Long John Silver might kill everyone.
Jim Hawkins found it hard to walk fast. Silver pulled the rope roughly. Dick walked behind them. Dick was talking to himself because he was sick. Jim Hawkins felt very sad. He thought about the men that Captain Flint killed on this hill a long time ago.
They reached the edge of the trees. Merry shouted to the other men. He began to run. Then, the pirates suddenly stopped. They cried out. Long John Silver moved as fast as he could. Then Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins also stopped.
In front of them was a big hole in the ground. The hole was old because grass grew at the bottom. They saw a broken tool. They saw the wood from many boxes. On one piece of wood, they saw the name of Captain Flint’s ship. The hole was empty. All the gold was gone.