Treasure Island

THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAINto prosecute you. Well, then, I will not. But the dead men,sir,hang about your neck like millstones."'Thank you kindly, sir," replied Long John, againsaluting."I dare you to thank me!" cried the squire. "It is agross dereliction of my duty.Stand back."And thereupon we all entered the cave. It w r as a large,airy place, with a little spring and a pool of clear water, overhungwith ferns. The floor was sand. Before a big fire layCaptain Smollett; and in a far corner, only duskily flickeredover by the blaze, I beheld great heaps of coin and quadrilateralsbuilt of bars of gold.That was Flint's treasure thatwe had come so far to seek, and that had cost already thelives of seventeen men from the Hispaniola. How manyithad cost in the amassing, what blood and sorrow, what goodships scuttled on the deep, what brave men walking theplank blindfold, what shot of cannon, what shame and liesand cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell. Yet there werestill three upon that island Silver, and old Morgan, andBen Gunn who had each taken his share in these crimes,as each had hopedin vain to share in the reward."Come in, Jim," said the captain.'You 're a good boyin your line, Jim; but I don't think you and me '11 goto seaagain. You 're too much of the born favourite for me. Isthat you, John Silver? What brings you here, man ?""Come back to my dooty, sir," returned Silver."Ah!" said the captain; and that was all he said.What a supper I had of it that night, with allmy friendsaround me; and what a meal it was, with Ben Gunn's salted(265