# ■ 4 The sea-chest

On the floor close to the captain's hand was a little round piece of paper, blackened on one side. I had no doubt that this was the black spot.On the other side was some writ－ ing: You have till ten o’clock tonight. Our old clock reminded me it was now six.

Quickly, I told my mother everything, and we decided to run to the village to hide, before the blind man and his friends re-turned.

‘But first,’my mother said bravely, ‘we have to get the key to the sea-chest. Why shouldn't we take the money the captain owes us? His friends certainly won’ t give it to us!’

The key was around his neck on a piece of string. I cut the string, and we hurried up to his room where the chest had stood since the day he came. There was a letter ‘B’ painted on the top of it. Inside were two very fine pistols, some silver, pipe-tobacco,and an old clock. Underneath these things were some papers tied up inside a cloth, and a bag of gold coins.

‘I'll show these scoundrels I'm an honest woman,’said my mother.‘I'll take what I'm owed and no more.’She began counting the money.There were all kinds of gold coins in the bag-big French gold coins, Spanish doubloons and pieces of eight. It was slow work to find the English gold guineas that we needed.

We were half-way through when I heard a sound that filled my heart with fear ;the tap-tapping of the blind man's stick on the frozen road. Then it knocked against the inn door and we did not breathe.But then the tapping started again and slowly died away.

‘Mother,’I said,‘take it all, and let's go before the blind man comes back with his friends.’

But my mother went on counting until we heard a low shout coming from the hill outside.‘I'll take what I have,’ she said, jumping to her feet.

‘And I'll take this for what I'm owed, ’I said, and picked up the cloth of papers.

We ran from the inn and along the road to the village. It was dark but there was a full moon.We heard running feet coming towards us.

‘Take the money and run on,’ my mother said breathlessly. But I refused to leave her. Quickly, I pulled her off the road and down under a small bridge.There we hid,trembling.

Not a moment too soon.Seven or eight men were running past us. Three men ran in front, and I saw that the one in the middle was the blind man. Silently, I climbed back up to the road and lay in the long grass to watch what happened.

‘Down with the door!’the blind man shouted.

Four or five of them broke down the door of the Admiral Benbow and ran inside. There was a shout:‘ Bill's dead!’

The blind man swore at them.‘Look upstairs and find the chest!’he cried.

I could hear their feet on the stairs,then a voice shouting down to the blind man in the road outside:‘Pew! They've been here before us. The money's here but Flint's papers have gone!’

‘It's those people of the inn-it's that boy!’shouted the blind man Pew.‘Search and find’em.’

Just then there came the sound of horses and riders thunder－ing along the road. It was heard by the men in the inn, and in a second they were out in the road, running into the darkness of the fields. They did not wait for blind Pew, who tried to follow them, tapping wildly with his stick.‘Johnny, Black Dog! You won't leave your old friend Pew, boys－not old Pew!’

He was still in the middle of the road when the horses thun－dered up to the inn. Pew turned with a scream, but he turned the wrong way,and ran straight into the first of the horses.The rider tried to save him, but failed. Down went Pew, under the horse's feet, with a cry that rang high into the night.It was all over in seconds,and Pew didn't move again.

I jumped up and shouted to the riders. One of the men was Captain Dance, the law officer from the nearby town. He had head reports of a pirate ship in Black Hill Cove and had come looking for the pirates. I told him my story, and he and his men chased the pirates down into the cove. But by the time they got to the beach, the ship was already out to sea.

‘Well,’ said Captain Dance when he returned, ‘at least we finished off Pew.’

We took my mother to a house in the villag, then went back to the Admiral Benbow. Inside, everything was smashed and broken.

‘What were they looking for Hawkins?’asked Mr Dance.

‘They got the money from the chest,’I said,‘ but I think I have what they wanted most. I'd like to get it to a safe place. I thought, perhaps, Dr Livesey…’

‘Quite right,’ said Mr Dance. ‘He's the local judge, and I ought to report Pew's death to him or Squire Trelawney. I'll take you with me to his house.’

Dr Livesey was not at his house but with the squire at his home,so Captain Dance and I went on there.

I had never seen Squire Trelawney so near.He was a big tall man, with a red face, and was sitting beside a fire with Dr Livesey.‘Come in, Mr Dance,’he said.

Mr Dance gave his report and both men listened with deep interest.

‘And so, Jim,’ said the doctor,‘you have the thing that they were looking for, have you?’

‘Here it is, sir, I said, and gave him the papers tied inside the cloth. The doctor looked at them and put them quietly in the pocket of his coat. After that, Mr Dance went away and I was given some food.

‘And now,squire,said the doctor,‘you have heard of this Flint,I suppose?’

‘Heard of him!’ cried the squire. ‘He was the worst pirate that ever sailed. The Spanish used to tremble just to hear his name!’

‘Well,I've heard of him myself,’said Dr Livesey.‘But the question is, did he have money?’

‘Money!’said the squire.‘Of course Flint had money! Those scoundrels were after it.’

‘Well then, suppose I have here in my pocket a paper that shows where Flint hid his treasure,’ said the doctor.‘Would the treasure be worth looking for?’

‘Worth looking for!’ cried the squire, with great enthusiasm. I'll tell you what it's worth. I'll prepare a ship at Bristol,take you and Hawkins with me, and have that trea－sure if I have to search for a year!’

We opened the cloth and found two things-a book and a paper.The book gave a list of all the money Flint had stolen from different ships during twenty years at sea. The doctor opened the paper and found a map of an island. There was a hill in the centre marked Spyglass, and several names that had been added later. There were three big black crosses—two in the north of the island and one in the south－west. Beside the last cross were the words: Most of the treasure here. On the back of the paper, the same person had written:

Tall tree. Spyglass shoulder, to the North of North－

North-East.

Skeleton Island East-South－East and by East.

The squire and Dr Llvesey were delighted.

‘Tomorrow I start for Bristol,’ said Squire Trelawney.‘In three weeks we will have the best ship ir,and the finest crew in England. Hawkins can come as cabin－boy. You, Livesey, are the ship's doctor. I am admiral. We'll take three of my men,Redruth, Joyce,and Hunter.’

‘Trelawney,’said the doctor,‘I'll go with you. So,I am sure, will Hawkins. There's only one man I'm afraid of.’

‘And who's that?’cried the squire.‘Name the scoundrel!’

‘You,’said the doctor,‘because you cannot keep silent. We aren't the only men who know of this paper. Those who broke into the inn tonight want to find the same treasure.We must none of us go alone until we get to sea. You'll take Joyce and Hunter to Bristol. Meanwhile,Jim and I will stay together.And not one of us must say a word about what we have found.’

‘Livesey, replied the squire,‘you're always right. I'll be as silent as a dead man.’

■ 4 水手箱

老船長手邊的地上有一小片圓的硬紙，一面塗著黑色。我相信這就是所謂的“黑券”。黑券的另一面寫著：今晚10點以前答覆。牆上的老鍾剛好敲了6下，告訴我現在6點鐘了。

我立即把一切都告訴了母親，我們決定在瞎子和他的人回來之前逃到村子裡躲起來。

“但是首先，”我母親勇敢地說，“我們必須找到水手箱的鑰匙，幹嘛不把老船長欠的錢找回來呢？他的朋友肯定不會給我們的！”

水手箱的鑰匙套在老船長的脖子上，我割斷繩子，取下鑰匙，趕緊到他房間去。從他來住店的那一天起，他的箱子一直放在那裡。他的水手箱頂部塗著一個字母“B”，裡面有兩把精製的手槍，一些銀錠，一些菸草，一隻老式表。這些東西下面還有卷在布里的幾頁紙和一袋金幣。

“我要讓那些流氓知道，我是個誠實的女人，”母親說。“我只要收回欠賬，一個子兒也不多拿。”她開始數錢。那一個袋裡各國錢幣都有：法國的金路易，西班牙的杜布龍金幣和每枚8個里亞爾的銀幣。從中找到我們需要的英國畿尼是件很費時的事。

錢才數了一半的時候，我聽到一種可怕的聲音，是那個瞎子用棍子探路的嗒嗒聲。接著我們聽到棍子敲門的聲音，我們屏住呼吸。然後探路的嗒嗒聲又響起來，慢慢地消失了。

“媽媽，”我說，“把這些都拿上，我們得趕在瞎子和他的人到來之前逃走。”

可是我母親還是繼續數錢。這時，從小山上傳來一聲很輕的呼哨。“我先把數好的錢拿走，”她說，忽然跳起來。

“我把這東西帶走抵賬。”我撿起那個布裹著的小包。

我們跑出客店向村子逃去。天黑了，但月亮很圓。我們聽見有好些人朝這邊跑來。

“你拿了錢快跑吧，”我母親上氣不接下氣地說。我不能丟下她不管。我很快把她拖離大路，來到一個座橋下躲起來，渾身直髮抖。

不一會兒就有七八個人跑過去。其中有三個人跑在前面，我認出中間的就是那個瞎子。我悄悄地爬到路上，藏在草叢裡觀察發生的一切。

“把門撞開，”瞎子喊道。

四五個人撞開了本葆將軍客店的門衝了進去。有人喊道：“比爾死了。”

瞎子又罵他們。他嚷道：“上樓去找水手箱。”

我可以聽見他們匆匆上樓的聲音，不一會兒又有人衝著外面路上的瞎子喊道：“皮尤，他們在我們之前來過，錢還在這兒，可弗林特的藏寶圖不見了。”

“是客店的那夥人，那個孩子乾的，”瞎子皮尤喊道。“給我找到他們。”

正在這時路上傳來了馬蹄聲，客店裡的人聽到後馬上跑出來，不一會兒就消失在田間的路上。沒人等瞎子皮尤，他想跟上他們，用木棍使勁地敲著地。“約翰尼，黑狗，別把你們的夥伴老皮尤丟下不管！”

馬隊朝客店衝過來時皮尤正走在路中間，他尖叫一聲轉過身來，但轉錯方向，徑直朝著領頭的馬跑去。騎馬人努力想救他的命，但已來不及了，皮尤的一聲慘叫響徹夜空，四隻馬蹄從他身上踐踏而過。只有幾秒鐘時間，他便不再動彈。

我跳起來招呼騎馬的人，他們中一個人是丹斯上尉，附近一個鎮的法官。他得悉布萊克希爾灣出現了一隻海盜船，便到我們這邊來搜捕海盜。我給他講了我們的經歷，他和他的人就去海灣追海盜船了。但他們到海邊時，海盜船已走遠。

“不過，”丹斯上尉回來後說，“至少我們解決了皮尤。”

我母親被安頓在村子裡的一間房內，然後我們回到本堡將軍客店，客店內的一切都受到了破壞。

“他們想找什麼呢，霍金斯？”丹斯先生問道。

“他們從水手箱裡拿走了錢，”我說，“但我有他們想要的東西。我希望把它放到一個穩妥的地方。我想，也許，李甫西大夫……”

“對，說得對，”丹斯先生說。“李甫西大夫是本地的治安推事，我應該向他或是鄉紳屈利勞尼報告皮尤的事。我帶你一起去。”

李甫西大夫不在家，據說他和鄉紳在一起。於是我和丹斯先生去鄉紳家。

我從來沒這麼近打量過鄉紳屈利勞尼。他個子很高，暗紅色的臉，和李甫西大夫坐在火爐旁邊。“進來，丹斯先生，”他說。

丹斯先生報告了剛才發生的事，那兩個人聽得津津有味。

“那麼，吉姆，”大夫說，“你說他們要找的東西在你身上，是不是？”

“在這兒，先生，”我說著把油布裹著的小包給他。大夫看了看，把小包靜靜地放在上衣口袋裡。過了一會兒，丹斯先生走了，我坐下來吃了些東西。

“那麼，鄉紳先生，”大夫說，“你聽說過這位弗林特船長，對嗎？”

“怎麼沒聽說過？！”鄉紳大聲說。“他是有史以來最殘暴的一個海盜。西班牙人聽到他的名字就發抖。”

“我也聽到過他的名字，”李甫西大夫說。“但問題是，他有錢嗎？”

“錢！”鄉紳喊道。“弗林特當然有錢！那幫匪徒找的就是錢。”

“那麼，假定我口袋裡有弗林特藏寶的線索，”大夫說，“那寶藏值得去尋嗎？”

“當然值得！”鄉紳激動地嚷道。“如果你真的有那個線索，我就在布裡斯托爾準備一條大船，帶著你和霍金斯一起出海，哪怕花一年功夫也要找到寶藏。”

我們打開布包發現了兩件東西，一本書和一張紙。書本上記載著弗林特20年來在海上從不同船上搶來的錢。大夫打開那張紙，一幅海島地圖展現在我們面前，島的中部有一座小山，標著的名稱是“望遠鏡山”，旁邊有一些名字是後來註上的。圖中有三個用墨水畫著的叉叉：兩個在島的北部，一個在西南部。在西南部的那個叉叉旁邊寫著：大部分寶藏在此。在地圖的背面同一個人寫著：

望遠鏡肩上一棵大樹，北北東偏北。

骷髏島，東南東偏東。

鄉紳和李甫西大夫都非常高興。

“明天我就去布裡斯托爾，”鄉紳說。“只要過三個星期我們就能備好英國最好的船和精選的水手。霍金斯可以在船上當服務員。你，李甫西，當隨船醫生。我當船長。我們把我的夥計雷德拉斯，喬伊斯和亨特都帶上。”

“鄉紳先生，”大夫說，“我跟你一起去。而且我相信霍金斯也會去的。我只對一個人不放心。”

“對誰？”鄉紳喊道。“把那混蛋的名字說出來！”

“你，”大夫說，“因為你不能保持沉默。不僅僅是我們知道這張圖。那些衝進客店的人也想找到這些寶藏。出海之前我們誰也不能單獨出門。你帶著喬伊斯和亨特去布裡斯托爾。我和吉姆在一起。關於我們的發現，我們中任何人都不能走漏一點風聲。”

“李甫西，”鄉紳說，“你說得對，我會守口如瓶的。”