Where Gold Lies

by Jacqueline George

  Hawkins Comes to Visit

  It was a restless night for all of us, made worse by Johnny groaning and whimpering as he drifted in and out of sleep. Long John brought it to an abrupt end by hammering four bells on a pan outside the cottage and shouting to us to stir ourselves.

  “Rouse yourselves, you lubbers,” he shouted in to us. “If it wasn’t for old John here, you’d all be murdered in your beds. A tidy line of little Salvation Luxtons, God rest him.” Long John had been on watch to keep us safe, and also to give himself time to think.

  “I needs to know what’s afoot,” he told us with the air of a decision made. “I needs to know what the Captain’s up to. But first we’ll have breakfast, an’ I’ll have some of that coffee the Captain was kind enough to leave. So get brewing. I ain’t cook no more, specially for you lot of wasters, though I’ve poked the fire up for you.”

  We shook the sleep out of our limbs and went to the cooking fire, set in a clay oven to the side of the cottage door. Soon the smells of hot coffee and hot beans woke our insides too, and we sat to eat and listen to what Long John had to say.

  “First off,” he said, “We’ve got the chart. A good thing too. An’ I know it’s real for I’ve seen it before. A bit less marked, but it’s the same chart Flint made. Second off, the Captain’s got it too, for I know he made a copy. He’d be crazy not to.

  “That don’t signify. They’ll not be able to touch the treasure without we know about it. And we’ll not be able to touch it without they know about it. Again, that don’t signify for there’s more of us than there are of them, especially counting Israel and O’Brien. And the big thing that we have and they don’t, is the ship. They’re counting on us taking the treasure and leaving them a few nails and such-like so they can make a launch and sail along after us. They don’t want to see no treasure now. They just want to see next year.

  “But I don’t trust ‘em. No, not one inch do I trust ‘em. That Doctor especially, gentleman that he is, he wouldn’t think nothing of plugging one of us, if he could.”

  Long John was sitting on some firewood with his back to the cottage wall, poking with his crutch in the dust in front of him. “Well now, the first thing we must do is to find Israel. And I ain’t fit to go running about this blighted tangle. Dick and Caspar had better do it for us. I believe we’d better get ourselves back inside where no one with a musket can see us. You two get up to the top of the island and see if you can find the ship. Then come back down here and tell me what’s what.”

  “Oh, John,” whined George. “We don’t want to sit here all day. Let’s go after the treasure.”

  Long John looked at him hard. “George, you’ve a deal too much lip. The treasure will be there tomorrow, or even next month if that’s how I want it. We’ve got the ship to worry about, and the Squire with those great long pistols I’m sure he had stuffed inside his coat.” We looked apprehensively at the forest that loomed all about us.

  “Get moving, you two. Take a musket and a pistol each, and a cutlass. They would dearly love to put an end to any of us if they could. It would even up the odds. Get back as soon as you can.”

  While the others moved inside, we kitted ourselves up and walked rapidly to the fence. We aimed to climb straight up the hill. Whoever had lived in the cottage (it was Ben Gunn in fact) had obviously been a tidy man, for the undergrowth had been cut back two or three yards from the fence. As we clambered over, we faced a tangled green wall of creepers, giant grass and thorn bushes. We were obliged to cut our way in with our cutlasses. Beyond this wall, in the shadow of the forest, it was a little easier to move. The trees being so great, and their branches so interwoven, it was dark and quiet within. There is an atmosphere of heavy silence in such a place, a heaviness that can smother a gunshot a hundred yards away. Any hope of navigating through such a maze must rely on a compass. In winding your way around the great tree trunks and clumps of undergrowth you can soon become hopelessly lost.

  We had only to head up hill, however, but we had a care to blaze a trail for our return. We pushed upwards, perspiring freely and plagued by flying insects trying to settle on our faces. Abruptly the upward slope stopped and we found ourselves on a narrow ridge running obliquely across our path.

  Here the forest trees yielded enough to admit fingers of sunlight, to let us get our bearings, but not enough for us to see where we were heading. Forced to choose one way or other along the ridge, we chose the wrong one and after a while found ourselves dropping down. Reversing our steps led us to a subsidiary summit, still veiled in trees. By now we were beginning to learn a little of the maze in which we found ourselves and succeeded in selecting the right way to follow, leading to another hillside. A short climb later and trees started to fail, and we found ourselves obliged to struggle through chest-high grass, grass whose blades were so sharply edged that our forearms were soon etched with shallow cuts which stung in the heat. The higher we mounted, the lower the grass became until we stepped out onto an area that had obviously been recently burnt. New green shoots were sprouting from the blackened earth and promised to blanket it again in a month or two.

  Behind us we could look out over the forest to the sea beyond. The dense black-green of the forest swept down to the sea, flat and smeared with the marks of tides. In places the forest and the sea were separated by beaches of brilliant white sand. Off-shore of the beaches lay coral reefs, and the quiet lagoons between reef and strand showed every hue of turquoise above the sandy brown of the coral. But search as we might, the Hispaniola was nowhere to be seen.

  At the summit of the hill, two wild figs trees stood in the thin grass, and we found signs that someone had been there before us. Stones had been arranged at the foot of the trees so that a man could sit comfortably with his back to their trunks. Here in the shade we drew our breath and peered out across the sea. Who else had used this lookout? Who had sat here long enough to polish the trunks of the trees against which we lent? Who had dined off the coconuts whose shells lay scattered in the grass?

  The view of the other side of the island was similar, and similarly deserted. From our lookout we could see nearly all the shoreline. Just one sector at the southern end of the island was shielded by a low hill. We sat in silence, pondering on what could have happened to Israel. And then again we pondered on the phantom person who lived in the cottage and had spent many hours up here watching the horizon.

  Idly scanning the shore, my eye was taken by a movement. A brown banner was waving over the tree-tops. We peered hard and the vagueness resolved itself into a scrap of sail, a fore-topsail maybe, for a bare main mast could be made out a little way aft. Even from that distance we could see the ship to which they belonged was heeled over, probably aground on the beach below the palms.

  Here was news indeed! Our minds raced over what could have happened to Israel and O’Brien, and how the ship came to be grounded on that side of the island. Stranded where she lay, she would be a sitting duck if the Captain and his party came across her. No matter how she had come there, the course of our duty was clear. We must hurry down to the others so that Long John could set her rescue in hand.

  As we left the hilltop we came across a path leading off in a westerly direction. In spite of the virtual certainty that the path had been made by the owner of the cottage, and that it would eventually swing north to reach it, we returned on the trail we had made and slid uncomfortably down to our friends. Here, to our surprise, we found the Doctor tending Johnny’s head.

  “There you are, boys,” called out Long John as soon as he saw us. “D’ye get any pig?”

  “Not exactly,” replied Caspar following his prompt. “But we saw one a good way off.” That would set Long John’s mind at rest.

  “So when will he be up and about again, would you say?” Long John asked at the Doctor’s elbow as he bandaged Johnny’s head again.

  “If he is lucky, if he is very lucky, he may be suffering from no more than a headache two days from now.” The Doctor finishe
d off the bandage with a bow. “On the other hand, it may be a week or more. So feed him what he will eat and keep him away from bright lights and loud noises. They’ll only make him suffer unnecessarily. And let us all hope that the fever does not get to him.” The Doctor made as if to leave.

  “Wait a bit, Doctor, wait a bit,” cried Long John. “Will you not take a grog while you are here? If you’re kind enough to visit Johnny, a little home comfort is the least we can offer.”

  “I’ll take some of the Captain’s coffee, if you please,” said the Doctor a little stiffly and moved outside. We joined him there, believing his presence would protect us from stray musket balls.

  “So how’s Captain Smollett keeping?” asked Long John, fishing for hints of our enemy’s strength.

  “Well enough,” said the Doctor. “Well enough to see us all home. And how are you proposing to navigate yourselves away from this island?”

  “Oh, don’t you worry about that, Doctor,” chuckled Long John. “The lads and I know these waters like you know your parish. And I don’t believe we are over anxious to sail to England. The Squire would have something to say to that. And how are you hoping to get home?”

  The Doctor seemed just as confident as Long John. They planned to make themselves a boat of some sort and then sail from island to island hoping for an early rescue. He seemed to have accepted the loss of the treasure with equanimity, something that should have worried us if we had noted it.

  After taking his coffee, the Doctor rose to leave. “I shall come back tomorrow, Silver. Listen for my call.”

  “Why thank’ee, Doctor. That’s handsome of you. We shall have the coffee waiting, and may be some breakfast if you have time.”

  Long John saw the Doctor to the fence and came back eager for our news. It obviously troubled him. “Now what’s Israel about? Drunk, I’ll lay. He’s probably wandering up and down the shore looking for us. Let’s hope he doesn’t chance on the Captain or we may have to wave him goodbye.”

  He thought a little longer. “We’ll have an anchor watch tonight, lads. And beware of what you shoot at. It might just be Israel or O’Brien. Then tomorrow if they haven’t shown their faces here, we shall have to go and look for ‘em.” And he started to make up the watch list, warning us again to keep an eye out for the others.

  I drew an early watch, from eight to ten o’clock, always my favourite. Young people find it hard to stay awake late into the night, unless they are dancing, and I preferred to get my watch over early that I might go to bed tired and still have nearly a full night in which to sleep. I hated most watching between midnight and four o’clock when a person’s spirits are naturally low. Work is always harder, cold is colder and the wind seems to blow sharper at that time.

  I took my station in the vegetable garden behind the cottage. In spite of my friends being only a few steps away, I felt a dread of the surrounding forest and could not help remembering poor Salvation. Accordingly I sat down amongst the tomato plants where I would be concealed, and I listened very carefully.

  The night was still but far from quiet. All around insects whirred and chirruped. Glow-worms blinked in the bushes and an occasional bat fluttered through the clearing. My two hours trickled slowly on.

  It must have been near the time for my watch to end when I became aware of someone or something approaching the fence. Whoever it was obviously did not feel the need to conceal his approach as he climbed the fence and, coming into the garden where there was a little more light, I saw the figure was too slight to be either of our friends. Luckily his way passed within a few feet of where I was crouched. As he passed I dropped my musket and, leaping onto his back, over-bore him and pressed him to the ground.

  My shouts brought a scramble from the cottage and when I loosed my catch we found we had caught. Jim Hawkins! “Why, Jim lad,” cried Long John, as surprised as the rest of us, “Why, you’ve come to visit us. Are you planning to sign on as a pirate?”

  Once we had led Hawkins into the cottage, he looked about him with an expression of dull incomprehension. “Where’s the Doctor?” he blurted out. “You’ve killed them!”

  “No more we have, bad luck to them,” said Long John equably. “Are you hungry, Jim? Here, give the boy something to drink and poke up the fire. We must entertain our guest.”

  He set himself down against the wall. “Come along, Jim. Draw up a piece of floor and sit alongside old John here. Tell me what you’ve been up to. How’s the Captain?”

  “But where is he?” asked Jim, obviously completely confused at the turn of events. “He was here when I left.”

  “Ho! You went and left your friends here? Why did you do that?”

  Jim looked sheepish. “I don’t know,” he mumbled with the normal excuse of a little boy caught doing something naughty.

  “So what have you been doing? Picking coconuts?”

  “I went to the ship. I went sailing.”

  In spite of his concern, Long John’s face did not betray a thing. The rest of us stopped where we were and if anyone had had a pin to drop, it would have made a noise like an empty saucepan. “And how’s my Israel?”

  “He’s dead.” Jim looked at the floor, and then at the rest of us and suddenly his face crumpled and burying himself in Long John’s jacket he started to sob. Long John wrapped an arm around him and, waving us to get back to preparing food for the lad, gave all his attention to Jim.

  “There, there, boy. You tell old John about it. What happened? Was they fighting?”

  “They got drunk,” the boy gasped out between sobs. “They were drinking brandy. They kept sending me for more, and then they started fighting. I tried to stop them but Israel hit me away. Then he cut Paddy’s throat and the blood went all over him.” The horror of the moment renewed the boy’s weeping and Long John could only keep caressing him and wait for the whole story to come out.

  “And Israel?” asked Long John after the boy had quieted a little.

  “Paddy had made a hole in his stomach. He went white and sort of sat in the scuppers. Then he fell over and died as well. I didn’t know what to do. But the wind was behind so I steered for the beach.”

  “Well done, Jim lad. We’ll make a sailor of you yet. Did you drop anchor?”

  “I ran her on to the beach instead. I-I think she touched the reef as she came over. Then we hit the beach. I tried to drop the topsail, but I couldn’t so I just let all the sheets go. I pushed them both out of the entry port into the water and they sank to the bottom. Then I swam ashore and went to sleep on the beach. Later I found a path and followed it to come here. I was tired.” His voice tailed off as a plate of pork, peas and biscuit arrived.

  “And some grog,” Long John ordered. “He’s had a hard voyage and done a good job.” Jim ate hungrily, taking large swallows of his grog. He’d hardly finished eating when he started to fall asleep. In a daze, he allowed himself to be led to a corner and was soon sleeping deeply.

  “Now here’s a turn-up,” mused Long John. “Israel choosing to soak himself in the barrel. Half-witted swab. Now he’s counting fishes along with O’Brien, d--- him! So first thing, we’ll cut along and make sure of the ship.”

  “But the Doctor’s coming,” someone said.

  Long John thought a little. “You’re right. We can’t have him getting wind of where we’re going. And I want him to see that we have Hawkins. It might make them a bit careful about shooting into the cottage. Then again, it might not, but we can only try. So, we’ll wait until he’s gone.” With that we went to sleep.

  Next morning we busied ourselves in expectation of the Doctor’s visit. Johnny was a little brighter but still looked very pale and complained of a crushing feeling round his head. Long John turned his attention to Jim. “Now Jim, I don’t know if you’re here as a volunteer or if I should call you a pressed man. No matter; I want you safe and out of here when the Doctor comes. Now, Dick. Get yourself some line and splice an eye about his middle. Keep the other end tied to your belt or some
thing. Jim, I shall want your word that you will not run, or I shall have to tie your hands and feet as well. What do you say? Speak up now. Say it nice and clear—I swear on the Bible not to run. Has anyone got a Bible?”

  Of course there was a Bible, the one the gypsy girl had given me. That raised Long John’s eyebrows but he said nothing. Little Jim took it in his hands and spoke the words. Then we settled back to wait for the Doctor. As soon as he arrived, I was to take Jim out into the garden, far enough that they could not speak to each other without shouting.

  Long John was worried that Jim might give out the story of the ship. His concern was misplaced. As soon as the Doctor came, he told us some unwelcome news. The Captain’s party had chanced upon the ship and secured her. Long John let him change Johnny’s bandage, then showed him to the gate. Apart from a shouted greeting, the Doctor had no conversation with Hawkins.

  Long John stood speaking with the Doctor for some time before he finally left. He spoke to us with a cold fury. “D--- Israel Hands and all his works. See what too much grog does? Not only does he get himself killed but he’s nigh on killed us too. The Doctor’s crowing over how they got the ship, and wishing us joy of the treasure.

  “There’s only one thing to do. We’ll dig up the treasure, and then try to do a deal. Get them to set us ashore somewhere in return for a good cut of it. So, get moving!”

  It was a small band that set out on the path to the beach to hunt for the treasure. Death had laid his hand heavily upon us, and he would continue to reap his grim harvest.

  Where the Treasure Lies

  The first part of our journey led down to the boats. We were, in truth, surprised to find them under the trees where we had left them. We assumed the Captain would have rowed them away but wherever his party had hidden, it was not near this beach. We took both of them with us reasoning that would be safer. And besides, we hoped to fill them both to the gunwales with gold pieces.