So he kept talking as I ran, neither expecting nor
receiving any answer.
The cannon-shot was followed after a considerable
interval by a volley of small arms.
Another pause, and then, not a quarter of a mile in
front of me, I beheld the Union Jack flutter in the
air above a wood.
16
Narrative Continued by the Doctor: How the Ship
Was Abandoned
It was about half past one—three bells
in the sea phrase—that the two boats went
ashore from the Hispaniola. The captain,
the squire, and I were talking matters over in the
cabin. Had there been a breath of wind, we should
have fallen on the six mutineers who were left aboard
with us, slipped our cable, and away to sea.
But the wind was wanting; and to complete our helplessness,
down came Hunter with the news that Jim Hawkins had
slipped into a boat and was gone ashore with the rest.
It never occurred to us to doubt Jim Hawkins, but
we were alarmed for his safety. With the men
in the temper they were in, it seemed an even chance
if we should see the lad again. We ran on deck.
The pitch was bubbling in the seams; the nasty stench
of the place turned me sick; if ever a man smelt fever
and dysentery, it was in that abominable anchorage.
The six scoundrels were sitting grumbling under a sail
in the forecastle; ashore we could see the gigs made
fast and a man sitting in each, hard by where the
river runs in. One of them was whistling “Lillibullero.”
Waiting was a strain, and it was decided that Hunter
and I should go ashore with the jolly-boat in quest
of information.
The gigs had leaned to their right, but Hunter and
I pulled straight in, in the direction of the stockade
upon the chart. The two who were left guarding
their boats seemed in a bustle at our appearance;
“Lillibullero” stopped off, and I could
see the pair discussing what they ought to do.
Had they gone and told Silver, all might have turned
out differently; but they had their orders, I suppose,
and decided to sit quietly where they were and hark
back again to “Lillibullero.”
There was a slight bend in the coast, and I steered
so as to put it between us; even before we landed
we had thus lost sight of the gigs. I jumped
out and came as near running as I durst, with a big
silk handkerchief under my hat for coolness’
sake and a brace of pistols ready primed for safety.
I had not gone a hundred yards when I reached the
stockade.
This was how it was: a spring of clear water
rose almost at the top of a knoll. Well, on the
knoll, and enclosing the spring, they had clapped a
stout loghouse fit to hold two score of people on a
pinch and loopholed for musketry on either side.
All round this they had cleared a wide space, and
then the thing was completed by a paling six feet high,
without door or opening, too strong to pull down without
time and labour and too open to shelter the besiegers.
The people in the log-house had them in every way;
they stood quiet in shelter and shot the others like
partridges. All they wanted was a good watch and
food; for, short of a complete surprise, they might
have held the place against a regiment.
