Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (free novels txt) đ
- Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
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32
The Treasure-huntâThe Voice Among the Trees
ARTLY from the damping influence of this alarm, partly to rest Silver and the sick folk, the whole party sat down as soon as they had gained the brow of the ascent.
The plateau being somewhat tilted towards the west, this spot on which we had paused commanded a wide prospect on either hand. Before us, over the tree-tops, we beheld the Cape of the Woods fringed with surf; behind, we not only looked down upon the anchorage and Skeleton Island, but sawâclear across the spit and the eastern lowlandsâa great field of open sea upon the east. Sheer above us rose the Spyglass, here dotted with single pines, there black with precipices. There was no sound but that of the distant breakers, mounting from all round, and the chirp of countless insects in the brush. Not a man, not a sail, upon the sea; the very largeness of the view increased the sense of solitude.
Silver, as he sat, took certain bearings with his compass.
âThere are three âtall treesââ said he, âabout in the right line from Skeleton Island. âSpy-glass shoulder,â I take it, means that lower pâint there. Itâs childâs play to find the stuff now. Iâve half a mind to dine first.â
âI donât feel sharp,â growled Morgan. âThinkinâ oâ FlintâI think it wereâas done me.â
âAh, well, my son, you praise your stars heâs dead,â said Silver.
âHe were an ugly devil,â cried a third pirate with a shudder; âthat blue in the face too!â
âThat was how the rum took him,â added Merry. âBlue! Well, I reckon he was blue. Thatâs a true word.â
Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon this train of thought, they had spoken lower and lower, and they had almost got to whispering by now, so that the sound of their talk hardly interrupted the silence of the wood. All of a sudden, out of the middle of the trees in front of us, a thin, high, trembling voice struck up the well-known air and words:
âFifteen men on the dead manâs chestâ Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!âI never have seen men more dreadfully affected than the pirates. The colour went from their six faces like enchantment; some leaped to their feet, some clawed hold of others; Morgan grovelled on the ground.
âItâs Flint, by ââ!â cried Merry.
The song had stopped as suddenly as it beganâbroken off, you would have said, in the middle of a note, as though someone had laid his hand upon the singerâs mouth. Coming through the clear, sunny atmosphere among the green tree-tops, I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly; and the effect on my companions was the stranger.
âCome,â said Silver, struggling with his ashen lips to get the word out; âthis wonât do. Stand by to go about. This is a rum start, and I canât name the voice, but itâs someone skylarkingâsomeone thatâs flesh and blood, and you may lay to that.â
His courage had come back as he spoke, and some of the colour to his face along with it. Already the others had begun to lend an ear to this encouragement and were coming a little to themselves, when the same voice broke out againânot this time singing, but in a faint distant hail that echoed yet fainter among the clefts of the Spy-glass.
âDarby MâGraw,â it wailedâfor that is the word that best describes the soundââDarby MâGraw! Darby MâGraw!â again and again and again; and then rising a little higher, and with an oath that I leave out: âFetch aft the rum, Darby!â
The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, their eyes starting from their heads. Long after the voice had died away they still stared in silence, dreadfully, before them.
âThat fixes it!â gasped one. âLetâs go.â
âThey was his last words,â moaned Morgan, âhis last words above board.â
Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly. He had been well brought up, had Dick, before he came to sea and fell among bad companions.
Still Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth rattle in his head, but he had not yet surrendered.
âNobody in this here island ever heard of Darby,â he muttered; ânot one but us thatâs here.â And then, making a great effort: âShipmates,â he cried, âIâm here to get that stuff, and Iâll not be beat by man or devil. I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, by the powers, Iâll face him dead. Thereâs seven hundred thousand pound not a quarter of a mile from here. When did ever a gentleman oâ fortune show his stern to that much dollars for a boozy old seaman with a blue mugâand him dead too?â
But there was no sign of reawakening courage in his followers, rather, indeed, of growing terror at the irreverence of his words.
âBelay there, John!â said Merry. âDonât you cross a sperrit.â
And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They would have run away severally had they dared; but fear kept them together, and kept them close by John, as if his daring helped them. He, on his part, had pretty well fought his weakness down.
âSperrit? Well, maybe,â he said. âBut thereâs one thing not clear to me. There was an echo. Now, no man ever seen a sperrit with a shadow; well then, whatâs he doing with an echo to him, I should like to know? That ainât in naturâ, surely?â
This argument seemed weak enough to me. But you can never tell what will affect the superstitious, and to my wonder, George Merry was greatly relieved.
âWell, thatâs so,â he said. âYouâve a head upon your shoulders, John, and no mistake. âBout ship, mates! This here crew is on a wrong tack, I do believe. And come to think on it, it was like Flintâs voice, I grant you, but not just so clear-away like it, after all. It was liker somebody elseâs voice nowâit was likerââ
âBy the powers, Ben Gunn!â roared Silver.
âAye, and so it were,â cried Morgan, springing on his knees. âBen Gunn it were!â
âIt donât make much odds, do it, now?â asked Dick. âBen Gunnâs not here
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