25 The Voice Among the Trees

CHAPTER 25 The Voice Among the Trees The men were now exhausted and rattled and sat down at the first opportunity. They all turned to talk of Flint. "He was so ugly. And his temper was vicious." "Well then," said Silver, "you should thank your stars he's dead." Then, all at once, we heard a voice call out: "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest— Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

The men were instantly in terror. "It's Flint!" they cried, "back from the dead!" And then, the voice called out, "Fetch me my sword, Darby!" "Those were his last words!" one of the men cried out. The pirates stayed rooted to the ground, each man crying that he wanted to go and that they were afraid of ghosts. Dick, who was the man with fever and sickness in the group, read from his Bible and seemed about to go mad. But Silver stood his ground. "That voice had an echo!" he said. "Ghosts don't have echoes! That's someone made of flesh and blood!" This seemed to bring the men around. "Aye," said one, "that didn't sound like Flint, it sounded like someone else. It

sounded like Ben Gunn!" And it was clear none was afraid of Ben Gunn, even if they thought him dead. Even as a ghost, they were not concerned about him. Soon the men were back on track and turning their attention toward the climb ahead. Silver pulled me by the rope with which they had tied my hands, and I could see his mood change. I could tell his mind was on the treasure. He scowled my way as he pulled me along. I knew then that all thought of mercy was gone from him. He would try to find the treasure and his ship and slit the throat of any man who stood in his way. I was shaken and tired and Dick continued to babble madly behind as we walked in the blazing heat. I thought of the many men who had been killed here by Flint and thought I would be next.

Suddenly, we were in the clearing and heard Merry shouting out as we moved forward. We ran to him and Silver doubled his pace until we all came to a halt. Before us was a great hole, and we could tell that it was not new. The sides were caved in and grass had grown in it. At its bottom were a broken pick and bits of packing crate from the Walrus, Flint's ship. But all was clear, too. The hoard had been found and raided and the seven hundred thousand pounds of treasure were gone! Now the men were in a rage. They all yelled out and cursed, but with Silver, the change was quicker. He turned and handed me a pistol and we quickly stepped off to the side.

"So," I said, "you've changed sides again?" He paid me no mind, and the men jumped in the pit to find only one single coin. They nimbly climbed out and turned to Silver, their eyes spelling murder. "So this is the wooden-legged fool who's led us here!" said George Merry. "Well, look at his face. He knew all along there was no treasure." They all glared at Silver, who soon spoke up. "So, back to seeking the post of Captain, eh, George?" They stood across from us and we looked toward them, pistols ready. "There's two of them, one a cripple and one a boy, whose heart I will have—and there's five of us," said George. But just then, shots rang out and two of the men dropped, with Merry falling into the pit. Long John quickly fired both rounds andto

him and said, "I reckon I settled you, George." Suddenly, the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn joined us with their smoking pistols. We ran quickly through the woods to cut off the escaped men from the boats. Soon enough, we found they had gone in the wrong direction—we took a rest while the doctor explained what had happened. Ben, in his yearlong wanderings, had found the skeleton and the treasure. He had dug up the gold and transported it to his cave only two months before we arrived on the island. It was the afternoon of the attack when the doctor had gotten this confession from him. The next morning, after seeing the boat gone, the doctor had gone to Silver and given him the map. After all, it was useless now. And he had given him the supplies in order to gain our friends safe passage to Ben's cave, where there was salted goat in great supply.