“Ben Gunn!” roared Silver.

“Yes! It was Ben Gunn!” cried Morgan.

Dick still looked afraid, but the older pirates laughed at him.

“Dead or alive, nobody cares about Ben Gunn,” said Merry.

Soon their courage returned. They picked up their tools again and went forward. Dick still carried his Bible and looked around nervously, but the others only laughed at him.

The ground was open on the top of the hill. The trees stood far apart, and the sun shone hot on the dry earth. As we walked, we came closer to the Spy-glass on one side and could see more of the western bay on the other.

At last we reached the first tall tree. It was not the right one. The second was wrong too. Then we saw the third.

It was enormous, rising high above the others. Its trunk was wide and red, and its shadow covered a great space of ground.

The pirates forgot all fear when they saw it. Their eyes shone with greed. They hurried forward faster and faster.

Silver dragged me along by the rope, breathing hard and cursing the flies that landed on his face. From time to time he looked at me with a cruel expression. I could see clearly that he meant to take the treasure and then kill everyone else if he could.

We reached the edge of a thick patch of bushes.

“Hurray, mates!” cried Merry.

He ran forward — and suddenly stopped. A cry rose from the men. Silver hurried forward, and I followed. Then we saw the truth.

Before us was a large hole in the ground. Grass had grown in it, and the sides had partly fallen in. Broken tools and pieces of wooden boxes lay around it. On one board I saw the name Walrus, the name of Flint’s ship.

The meaning was clear. The treasure had already been found and carried away.

Treasure Island (adapted)

Chapter XXXIII.
The Fall of a Chieftain

The shock was terrible. The pirates stood like men struck by lightning. But Silver recovered almost at once. In a second he changed his plan.

“Jim,” he whispered, “take this and be ready.”

He handed me a double-barrelled pistol. Then he moved a few steps away so the pit lay between us and the other pirates.

I whispered to him, “So you have changed sides again.” But there was no time for him to answer.

The pirates jumped into the hole and began digging wildly with their hands. Morgan found a small gold coin and held it up.

“Two guineas!” shouted Merry angrily at Silver. “Is that your seven hundred thousand pounds?”

“Keep digging,” said Silver calmly. “Maybe you will find pig-nuts.”

Merry screamed with rage. “Mates, that man knew all along! Look at his face!”

The pirates climbed out of the hole and stood facing us across the pit. There we stood: Silver and I on one side, five angry pirates on the other. Silver stood perfectly calm on his crutch. Merry raised his arm to attack.

Treasure Island (adapted)

At that moment three gunshots rang out from the bushes. Merry fell headfirst into the pit. The wounded pirate fell dead beside him. The other three turned and ran for their lives.

Silver quickly fired his pistol into Merry to finish him. Then Dr. Livesey, Gray, and Ben Gunn ran out from the trees with their muskets.

“Forward!” cried the doctor. “Quick! We must stop them reaching the boats!”

We ran after them, but soon saw that the three surviving pirates were already running toward the hills.

So we stopped to rest while Silver slowly caught up with us, breathing heavily from the effort. It was then that the doctor explained everything.

During his wanderings on the island, Ben Gunn had found the skeleton. Later he found the treasure itself. He dug it up and carried it, load by load, to a cave on the two-peaked hill in the north-east of the island. It had been there safely for two months before our ship arrived.

When the doctor learned this secret, he gave Silver the useless map and the supplies so that the pirates would move away from the swamp and the stockade. He had planned the trap we had just seen.

Soon we reached the boats again. One boat was broken, and we all got into the other. We sailed around the island to North Inlet.

Near the cave we saw the squire waiting for us with a musket. We waved and cheered. A little farther on we found the Hispaniola floating safely in the inlet. We anchored her again and then rowed to the shore near Ben Gunn’s cave.

The squire met us there. He was kind to me, but he spoke angrily to Silver.

“John Silver,” he said, “you are a villain. I am told I must not send you to trial. Very well. But the dead men you have caused will follow you all your life.” Silver politely saluted him.

Then we entered the cave. Inside it was cool and wide, with a little spring of fresh water. Captain Smollett lay near the fire. And in one corner I saw the treasure at last: piles of gold coins and great bars of gold.

That was the treasure of Captain Flint, for which seventeen men from the Hispaniola had already died.

“Come in, Jim,” said the captain. “You are a good boy in your way, but I do not think you and I will go to sea again.” Then he saw Silver. “John Silver! What brings you here?”

“Back to my duty, sir,” said Silver.

The captain only said, “Ah.”

That night we had a great supper together. There was Ben Gunn’s salted goat meat and good wine from the ship. Everyone was happy.

Silver sat a little apart in the shadows, eating quietly and helping when anything was needed, just as he had done on the voyage out.

Treasure Island (adapted)

Chapter XXXIV.
And Last

The next morning we began work early. We had to carry the treasure almost a mile to the beach, and then three miles by boat to the Hispaniola. It was hard work for so few men.

We were not too worried about the three pirates still left alive on the island. One guard on the hill was enough to warn us if they came near. Also, we thought they had already had enough fighting.

So the work went on quickly. Gray and Ben Gunn rowed the boat back and forth, while the rest of us carried treasure to the beach. Two gold bars tied in a rope made a heavy load even for a strong man. As for me, I stayed in the cave and packed the coins into bread-bags.

Treasure Island (adapted)

It was a strange treasure. There were coins from many countries: English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese money, and many others too. Some were round, some square, and some had holes through the middle. There seemed to be coins from all over the world. I enjoyed sorting them, though it made my back and fingers ache.

This work went on for several days. Every evening a great part of the treasure was aboard, but still more remained for the next day. All this time we heard nothing from the three pirates. At last, on the third night, the doctor and I were walking on the hillside when the wind brought us a sound from far below. It was half singing, half crying.

“Heaven forgive them,” said the doctor. “It is the mutineers.”

“All drunk, sir,” said Silver behind us.

Silver now had full freedom. In spite of the cold way most people treated him, he still acted polite and helpful. The doctor spoke to him sharply.

“Drunk or mad,” he said.

“Very little difference to you and me, sir,” said Silver.

The doctor then said that if he were sure they were sick and raving, he would go to help them, even at risk to himself.

Silver answered that this would be foolish. The men below could not be trusted, and even if they wanted to keep their word, they would not believe that the doctor meant them well.

The doctor answered dryly: “No. You are the man to keep your word, of course.”

That was almost the last we heard of the three pirates. Only once we heard a gunshot far away, and supposed they were hunting.

Then we held a council and decided to leave them on the island. Ben Gunn was very glad of this, and Gray agreed. We left them powder, shot, salted goat meat, some medicine, tools, clothing, rope, a spare sail, and, at the doctor’s special wish, tobacco.

That was nearly our last business on the island. We had already loaded the treasure, taken fresh water aboard, and stored the rest of the goat meat. At last, one fine morning, we raised anchor and sailed out of North Inlet under the same flag the captain had flown at the stockade.

But the three pirates had been watching us. As we passed the narrow channel, we saw them on a spit of sand. They were all kneeling with their arms raised, begging us not to leave them.

It moved us all, I think. But we could not risk taking them with us, and bringing them home to hang would have been a cruel kindness. The doctor called out to them and told them what supplies we had left and where to find them. Still they kept begging us not to leave them there.

At last, when they saw we were really sailing away, one of them jumped up, raised his musket, and fired. The ball passed over Silver’s head and through the mainsail.

After that we stayed under cover. When I next looked, both the men and the spit itself were already fading into the distance. Before noon, to my great joy, the highest rock of Treasure Island had sunk below the sea.

We had so few men that everyone had to work, except the captain, who still lay on a mattress and gave orders. We sailed for the nearest port in Spanish America, because we could not risk the voyage home without more hands. The trip was hard, with difficult winds and some strong storms.

At last, one evening, we entered a beautiful sheltered harbour. At once many small boats came out from shore, full of Black people, Mexican Indians, and mixed-race traders. They sold fruit and vegetables and offered to dive for coins. The cheerful faces, the fresh fruit, and the lights of the town made a wonderful change after the dark and bloody time on the island.

The doctor, the squire, and I went ashore that evening. There they met the captain of an English warship. They visited his ship and stayed so long enjoying themselves that it was nearly dawn when we returned to the Hispaniola. When we came aboard, Ben Gunn was waiting with important news. Silver was gone.

Ben had helped him escape in a small shore-boat. He said he had done it to save our lives, because if Silver had stayed aboard, trouble would surely have followed. Silver had not gone empty-handed. He had secretly cut through a wall and taken one bag of coins, worth perhaps three or four hundred guineas. Still, I think we were all glad to be rid of him so cheaply.

In the end we found some new sailors, made a safe voyage home, and reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandly was beginning to fear the worst.

Only five of the men who had sailed from Bristol came back again. Each of us received a fair share of the treasure and used it in his own way.

Captain Smollett retired from the sea. Gray saved his money, studied hard, and became mate and part-owner of a fine ship. He also married and had a family.

Ben Gunn received a thousand pounds. He spent it all in nineteen days and was begging again on the twentieth. After that he was given a small lodge to look after, just as he had feared. He still lives there, loved by the village boys, and sings very well in church on Sundays and feast days.

We heard no more of Silver. I suppose he found his old wife and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint. I hope so, because his chances of comfort in the next world are very small.

As for the silver bars and the weapons Flint buried, they are still there on the island, as far as I know, and they may stay there for all of me. Nothing would ever take me back to that cursed place.

Even now, my worst dreams are of the surf beating on its shores, or of waking in the night to hear again the sharp voice of Captain Flint crying:

“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!”