I was so pleased to have escaped from Long John that I began to enjoy myself. I crossed a marsh and came out into open, sandy country with pines and low, twisted trees. On the far side stood a hill with two rocky peaks. For the first time I felt the joy of exploring. I thought nobody lived on the island; there were only animals and birds. A snake raised its head from a rock and hissed at me with a strange rattling noise. I did not know then that its bite could kill.
Suddenly a great cloud of birds rose screaming over the marsh, and soon I heard voices coming nearer. I crawled under the nearest tree and sat there as silent as a mouse. One of the voices was Silver’s.
I had been foolish enough to come ashore with these men, so the least I could do was to hear what they were planning. I crawled slowly toward the voices on my hands and knees, until through a gap in the leaves I could see down into a little green valley. There Long John Silver and another sailor stood face to face. Silver had thrown his hat on the ground, and his big face shone with heat.
“Mate,” he was saying, “it’s because I think the world of you. Would I be here warning you if I didn’t? It’s all decided, and you can’t change it. I’m speaking to save your neck, Tom.”
“Silver,” said the other man, and his voice was shaking, “you’re old, and you’re honest, or people say so, and you’re brave. And you’ll let that bunch of rats lead you? Not you! As God is my witness, I’d rather lose my hand than fail in my duty—”
Suddenly a noise stopped him. Far away in the marsh there was a cry of anger, then another, and then one long, horrible scream. The rocks of Spyglass Hill echoed it again and again, and all the birds rose at once.
Tom jumped at the sound, but Silver did not move. He stood resting on his crutch and watched the other man like a snake ready to strike.
“John!” said the sailor, and he held out his hand.
“Hands off!” cried Silver, and he jumped back.
“Hands off, if you like, John Silver,” said Tom. “But in heaven’s name, tell me, what was that?”
“That?” said Silver. He was still smiling, but his small eyes shone like broken glass. “Oh, I suppose that’s Alan.”
Then poor Tom spoke out like a hero.
“Alan!” he cried. “Then rest his soul, he was a true sailor! And you, John Silver, you’ve been my mate a long time, but you’re my mate no more. If I die like a dog, I’ll die doing my duty. You’ve killed Alan, have you? Kill me too, if you can. I’m not afraid of you.”
And with that, the brave man turned his back on Silver and walked away toward the beach. But he did not get far. Silver caught hold of a branch, pulled the crutch from under his arm and threw it. It hit poor Tom hard in the middle of his back. His hands flew up, he gave a kind of gasp, and he fell. Quick as a monkey, even without his crutch, Silver was on top of him the next moment and drove his knife into him twice.
I do not know exactly what fainting is, but for the next little while the whole world turned around me in a mist. When I came to myself again, Silver had his crutch under his arm and his hat on his head. Tom lay still on the grass, and the murderer was cleaning his knife on a handful of grass. The sun still shone, and I could hardly believe that I had just seen a man murdered.
Then Silver took a whistle from his pocket and blew it several times. I did not know what the signal meant, but more men would come. They had already killed two honest men. After Tom and Alan, would I be next?
I crawled back as quickly and quietly as I could, and as soon as I was out of the trees, I ran as I had never run before. When the gun fired before sunset, how could I go down to the boats among those men? The first one who saw me would kill me. Goodbye to the Hispaniola, I thought; goodbye to the squire, the doctor and the captain!
Without noticing it, I had come near the foot of the hill with two peaks. And here something new frightened me, and I stopped with my heart beating hard.