Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1902-06-12
IRE A SUR
ISLAND - -: :: $780,:

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 eTO0,000 not a quarter of mile
from here When did ever u gentleman
20 fortune show his stern to that much
dollars for {; booty old seaman with u
blue mug-and him dead, too?"
But there was no sign of relwaken-
ing courage i'll his followers; rather,
indeed, of growing terror at the irrev-
erence OF his words
Delay there, John!" said Merry.
Don't you cross Il sperrit.
And the rest We're all too terrified to
reply They would have run 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.
"13ut there's one thing not clear to me.
There was an echo. Now, no man eyer
seen a spelrit with shadow; we'll. then,
what's he doing With an echo to him,
/ should Ike to know? That aint in
natur, surely2"
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
head upon your shoulders, John, ana
no mistake Bout ship, mates! This
here crew is on the wrong tack, do
believe. And come to think on it, it
was like Tlint'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
"1sy the powers, Ben Gunn. roared
silver.
"Ay, and so it were" cried Morgan.
springing on his knees. Ben Gum II
were!"
1T don't make much odds, do 1T,
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, and how the natural
color had revived in their faces. soon
they We're chatting together, with IN
tervals of listening; and not long at
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 even joked him on
his precautions.
II told YOU" said he-"I told you,
you had spilled your bible. If 1t amt
no good to swear by. what do you sup
pose a sperrit would give for 1T? Not
that" and he snapped his big fingers,
halting moment on his crutch.
But Dick was not to be comforted;
indeed, 1t was soon plain to me that
the lad was falling sick; FASTENED by
heat, exhaustion, and the shock of his
alarm, the fever, predicted by Dr.
Livesey, was evidently growing swiftly
higher.
1t was fine open walking here. upon
the summit; our way lay 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 ana trembled in the
coracle.
The first OF the tall trees was
reached, and by the bearing. proved the
wrong one. SO with the second. The
third rose nearly go feet high into the
air above Il clump of underwood; a
giant of q vegetable, with Il red coll
umn as big as Il cottage, and Il wide
shadow around in which u company
could have maneuvercd. 1t was con-
spieuous far to sea. bota on the east
and west, and might have been entered
as sailing mark upon the chart.
"1,ut 1T was not its size that now i'm
pressed my companions; 1t was the
knowledge that 100000 in gold law
somewhere buried below it's spreading
shadow The thought of the money,
as they drew nearer, swallowed up
their previous terrors. Their eyes
burned in their heads: their feet grew
speedicr and lighter; their whole soul
was bound up i'm that fortune. that
whole lifetime OF extravaganza and
pleasure, that lay waiting there for
each of them.
silver hobbled. grunting, 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 II deadly look. Certainly
he took no pains to hide his Thoughts;
and certainly j read them like print.
In the Immediate nearness of the gold,
all else had been forgotten; his prom
Use and the doctor'J warming were both
| things of the pest; and l could not
doubt that he hOped TO seize slDon the