We all woke up to a clear, cheerful voice from the edge of the trees.
“Hello there, in the log house!” it called. “Here’s the doctor.”
I was glad to hear him, but I was ashamed too. I had run away from my friends without a word, and now I was here, among these men and in great danger.
“Good morning to you, doctor!” cried Silver, wide awake and smiling at once. “Your patients are all doing well, sir. And we have a surprise for you: a little stranger. He slept right next to old John all night.”
The doctor was already inside the stockade, and I heard his voice change. “Not Jim?”
“The very same Jim,” said Silver.
The doctor stopped for a few seconds. Then he said, “Well, Silver, let’s see these patients of yours.”
He came in, gave me one grim nod and began his work. His life hung by a thread among these men, but he talked to them as calmly as on a normal visit to a quiet English family.
“I’m the pirates’ doctor now,” he told them, “and I don’t want to lose a single man. I want every one of you alive and well when King George—God bless him!—hangs you.”
The men looked at each other, but they said nothing.
“Dick doesn’t feel well, sir,” said one.
“Show me your tongue, Dick. Yes, another fever. That comes of camping in a marsh. Silver, I’m surprised at you.”
He gave them all their medicine, and they took it as humbly as schoolchildren. Then he nodded toward me. “And now I would like to talk to that boy, please.”
“No!” shouted George Merry, red in the face.
Silver hit a barrel with his open hand. “Silence!” he roared, like a lion. Then he went on in his usual voice. “Doctor, I was thinking of that. Hawkins, will you give me your word of honor as a young gentleman not to run away?”
I gave my word at once.
“Then, doctor,” said Silver, “you step outside the fence, and I’ll bring the boy down on the inside, and you can talk through it.”
As soon as the doctor had left, the men shouted that Silver was playing both sides, which was exactly what he was doing. But he was twice the man the rest were. He called them fools and waved the map in their faces. “We’ll break our deal with the doctor when the time comes,” he cried, “and not before!”
Then he walked out on his crutch with his hand on my shoulder. “Slowly, lad,” he whispered. “They could turn on us in a second if they saw us hurry.”
At the fence Silver spoke first. “Doctor, the boy will tell you how I saved his life, and how my men turned against me for it. Put in a good word for me, for mercy’s sake. It’s the boy’s life too now, not only mine.”
With his back to his men, Silver looked like a different man. His face was thin, and his voice shook.
“Why, John, are you afraid?” asked the doctor.
“I’m no coward, doctor. But I’ll be honest: I’m afraid of hanging. You won’t forget the good I’ve done, I know, just as you won’t forget the bad.” Then he sat down on a tree stump a little way off and began to whistle.
“So, Jim,” said the doctor sadly, “here you are. I don’t want to blame you, but I must say this: when Captain Smollett was well, you didn’t dare to go off. When he was ill and couldn’t stop you, it was cowardly.”
I began to cry. “Doctor, I have blamed myself enough. I would be dead now if Silver hadn’t stood up for me. I can die, and maybe I deserve it. But I’m afraid they’ll torture me—”
“Jim,” said the doctor, and his voice was quite different now, “I can’t let this happen. Jump over the fence, and we’ll run for it. I’ll take all the blame.”
“No,” I answered. “I gave my word. You wouldn’t break yours, and neither would the squire or the captain. Silver trusted me, and I’m going back. But if they torture me, I might tell them where the ship is. I took the ship, and she lies in North Inlet, on the southern beach.”
“The ship!” cried the doctor.
Quickly I told him my adventures, and he listened in silence.
“At every step it’s you who saves our lives,” he said when I had finished. “Do you think we’ll let you lose yours? You found out the plot, and you found Ben Gunn, the best thing you ever did. Ben Gunn! Of course!” He called out, “Silver! Here’s some advice: don’t be in a hurry to find that treasure.”
“Sir, I can only save my life and the boy’s by finding it,” said Silver.
“Then look out for trouble when you find it.”
“That’s too much and too little, sir,” said Silver. “Why did you leave the log house? Why did you give me the map? Tell me plainly what you mean.”
“I can’t. It isn’t my secret,” said the doctor. “But here’s some hope for you: if we both get out of this trap alive, I’ll do my best to save you from hanging. Keep the boy close to you, and shout when you need help. Goodbye, Jim.”
He shook hands with me through the fence, nodded to Silver and walked quickly away into the trees.