Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-06-14
treasure
ISLAND =: =: ::::::=


one but us that's here And then,
making a great effort: "Shipmates, he
cried, I'm here to get that stuff, and
I'll not be beat by man nor devil. l
never was feared OF Flint In his life,
and, by the powers, I'll face him dead.
There's G700, 900 not a quarter of a mile
from here. When did ever a gentleman
o. fortune show his stern TO that much
dollars, for q booty old seaman with a
blue mug-and him dead, too?"
But there was 10 sign of reawaken-
ing courage in his followers; rather,
indeed, Of growing terror at the irrev-
erence of his words.
Delay there, joint" said Merry.
Don't you cross a sperrit."
And the rest were all too terrified to
reply. They would have u away sew
orally had they dared, but fear kept
them together. and kept them close by
John. as IL his daring helped them.
He, or his part, had pretty well fought
his weakness down.
"Sperrit? Well, maybe" he said.
But there's one thing not clear to me.
There was an echo. Now, no man ever
seen a sperrit with a shadow; well, then,
what's he doing with an echo to him.
l should like to know? That amt In
natur', surely?"
This argument seemed weak enough
to me. But you can never tell what
will affect the superstitious, and, to my
wonder, George Merry was greatly re-
lieved.
We'll, that's So" he said. you've
a head upon your shoulders, John, and
no mistake. Bout ship. mates! This
here crew Is on the wrong tack, l do
believe. And come to think on II, IL
was like Flint's voice, / grant you,
but not just so clear away like 1T, at
ter all. 1t was like somebody else's
voice now-it was like
"By the powers, Ben sunni roared
Silver.
cay, and so It were," cried Morgan,
springing on his knees. ben Gum 1t
were!"
1T don't make much odds, do II,
now?" asked Dick. ben Gums not
here in the body, any more'n Flint"
But the older hands greeted this re-
mark with scorn. why, nobody minds
Ben Gunn," cried Merry; dead or
alive. nobody minds him."
1t was extraordinary how their spirits
had returned. anP how the natural
color mad revived in their faces. Soon
they were chatting together, with an
tervals OF listening; and not long af-
ter, hearing no further sound, they
.shouldered their tools and set forth
again, Merry walking first with Sill
ver's compass to keep them on the
right line with Skeleton island. He had
said the truth; dead or alive, nobody
minded Ben Gum,
Dick alone still held his bible, and
looked around him as he went, with
fearful glances; but he found no SYM
pathy, and Silver ever joked him on
his precautions.
II told YOU" said he-"I told you,
you had spilled your bible. II 1t amt
nc good to swear by, what do you sup
pose a sperrit would give for 1T? Not
that" and he snapped his big fingers,
hating q moment on his crutch.
But Dick was not to be comforted;
indeed, II was soon plain to me that
the lad was falling sick; fastened by
heat, exhaustion, n the shock OF his
alarm, the fever, predicted by DIR.
Livesey, was evidently growing swiftly
higher.
1t was fine open walking here, upon
the summit; our way lay a little down
hill, for, as l have said, the plateau
tilted toward the west. The pines,
great and small, grew wide apart; and
even between the clumps of nutmeg
and azalea, wide open spaces baked In
the hot sunshine. Striking, as we did,
pretty near northwest across the ISL
and, we drew, on the one hand, ever
nearer under the shoulders OF the Spy
glass, and on the other, looked ever
wider over that western bay where /
had once tossed and trembled in the
coracle.
The first Of the tail trees was
reached, and by the bearing, proved the
wrong one. So with the second. The
third rose nearly 200 feet high into the
air above a clump of underwood; q
giant of a vegetable, with a red col
umn as big as a cottage, and q wide
shadow around In which a company
could have m~aneuvered. 1t was on
spicuous far to sea, both on the east
and west, and might have been entered
as a sailing mark upon the chart.
But 1t was not its size that now i'm
pressed my companions; 1t was the
knowledge that a700,0 900 in gold law
somewhere buried below it's spreading
shadow. The thought OF the money,
as they drew nearer, swallowed w
their previous terrors. Their eyes
burned In their heads; their feet grew
speedier and lighter; their whole soul
was bound up in that fortune, that
whole lifetime Of extravaganza and
pleasure, that lay waiting there for
each of them.
Silver hobbled, granting, on his
crutch, his nostrils stood out and
quivered; he cursed like q mailman
when the flies settled on his hot and
shiny countenance; he plucked furious
ly at the line that held me to him,
and, from time to time, turned his eyes
upon me with a deadly look. Certainly
he o no pains to hide his thoughts;
and certainly l read them like print
In the immediate nearness of the gold
all else a been forgotten; his prom
Use and the doctor'g warning were both
things Of the past; and l could not
doubt that he hoped to seize upon the
treasure, n and board the His
PAMELA under ove OF night, and
sail away as he had at first intended
laden with crimes and riches.
Shaken as / was with these alarms
1t was hard for me to keep up with
the rapid pace OF the treasure hunters
Now and again / tumbled: and 1t was
then hat Silver plucked so roughly OF
the rope n launched at me his mur-
derous glances. Dick, who had dropped
behind is, and now brought UP the
rear, was babbling to himself both
prayers and curses. as his fever KEEP
rising. This also added to my wretch
edness, and, to crown all, / was haunt.
ed by the thought of the tragedy tina
had once been acted on hat plateau
when that ungodly buccaneer with the
blue face-he who had died at Savan.
nah. singing and shouting for drink