24 The Treasure Hunt—Flint’s Pointer

CHAPTER 24 The Treasure Hunt—Flint's Pointer Jim," said Silver, "if I saved your life, you've saved mine. I saw how the doctor asked you to run—you didn't and that saved me. Now look, I don't like this business. I don't know what the doctor meant about the squalls and I don't like our hunt today. Let's stick close." With that, we returned to breakfast, where once again Silver's manner changed. He became loud and boastful and said that the

doctor had told him the ship was hidden. He made wild plans that they would soon have the treasure and be on the high seas, with me as hostage. The men laughed and seemed ready for anything. I knew that Silver still had his foot in both camps. And I worried that his crew should find out his new loyalty to the doctor and that he and I would have to fight them off. It would be a sore sight. He with one leg and me, a boy, against five powerful pirates. Also, I worried that I could not make out the actions of my friends. Why had they left the fort and given up the map? And what was the warning of the squalls about? I had many doubts in my mind as we set out on our journey. Each man wore several weapons, and Silver led the sorry party with two rifles, two pistols, a cutlass sword, and Captain Flint on

his shoulder, jabbering. We made a fine picture as we headed out. As we followed the directions, we looked to the chart and the men argued over which tall tree at the point might be the one mentioned on the map. Each picked his favorite, and Silver told them we'd soon enough know who was right when we arrived. We walked on easily and then, bending to our left, went up a crest. We now moved into denser jungle and suddenly, we heard one of the crew's voice rise in terror. We all went up to him as a group and found him staring down at the skeleton of a man lying by a tree. "What way is that for bones to lie?" asked Silver. "It ain't natural." With that we all looked at the skeleton and saw that it was laid out straight, which seemed odd. Then

Silver pulled out his compass. He took a bearing along the straight line of the bones and shook his head. "I thought so. This here's a pointer. This is a jolly joke of Flint's. This is one of the men he killed. Why, look at his hair, that would be Allardyce. You remember him, Tom?" "Aye, aye," Tom answered, "he owed me money." "I never liked that Flint," answered another man, "the way he raged and cursed and sang only that one song. He carried the jinx..." "Come now," said Silver, "enough of that kind of talk. Think ahead to the treasure and let's move!" We did so, but the men walked more closely and quietly. Gone was their carefree talk. The seaman's bones and Flint's terrifying pointer had made their spirits fall.