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1It was a long, difficult business, for the coins were of all countries and sizes--doubloons, and louis d'ors, and
2guineas, and pieces of eight, and I know not what besides, all shaken together at random. The guineas, too, were about
3the scarcest, and it was with these only that my mother knew how to make her count. When we were about half-way through,
4I suddenly put my hand upon her arm, for I had heard in the silent frosty air a sound that brought my heart into my
5mouth--the tap-tapping of the blind man's stick upon the frozen road. It drew nearer and nearer, while we sat holding
6our breath. Then it struck sharp on the inn door, and then we could hear the handle being turned and the bolt rattling
7as the wretched being tried to enter; and then there was a long time of silence both within and without. At last the
8tapping recommenced, and, to our indescribable joy and gratitude, died slowly away again until it ceased to be heard.
9"Mother," said I, "take the whole and let's be going," for I was sure the bolted door must have seemed suspicious and
10would bring the whole hornet's nest about our ears, though how thankful I was that I had bolted it, none could tell who
11had never met that terrible blind man. But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent to take a fraction more
12than was due to her and was obstinately unwilling to be content with less. It was not yet seven, she said, by a long
13way; she knew her rights and she would have them; and she was still arguing with me when a little low whistle sounded a
14good way off upon the hill. That was enough, and more than enough, for both of us. "I'll take what I have," she said,
15jumping to her feet. "And I'll take this to square the count," said I, picking up the oilskin packet. Next moment we
16were both groping downstairs, leaving the candle by the empty chest; and the next we had opened the door and were in
17full retreat. We had not started a moment too soon. The fog was rapidly dispersing; already the moon shone quite clear
18on the high ground on either side; and it was only in the exact bottom of the dell and round the tavern door that a thin
19veil still hung unbroken to conceal the first steps of our escape. Far less than half-way to the hamlet, very little
20beyond the bottom of the hill, we must come forth into the moonlight. Nor was this all, for the sound of several
21footsteps running came already to our ears, and as we looked back in their direction, a light tossing to and fro and
22still rapidly advancing showed that one of the newcomers carried a lantern. "My dear," said my mother suddenly, "take
23the money and run on. I am going to faint." This was certainly the end for both of us, I thought. How I cursed the
24cowardice of the neighbours; how I blamed my poor mother for her honesty and her greed, for her past foolhardiness and
25present weakness! We were just at the little bridge, by good fortune; and I helped her, tottering as she was, to the
26edge of the bank, where, sure enough, she gave a sigh and fell on my shoulder. I do not know how I found the strength to
27do it at all, and I am afraid it was roughly done, but I managed to drag her down the bank and a little way under the
28arch. Farther I could not move her, for the bridge was too low to let me do more than crawl below it. So there we had to
29stay--my mother almost entirely exposed and both of us within earshot of the inn. V The Last of the Blind Man My
30curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear, for I could not remain where I was, but crept back to the bank again,
31whence, sheltering my head behind a bush of broom, I might command the road before our door. I was scarcely in position
32ere my enemies began to arrive, seven or eight of them, running hard, their feet beating out of time along the road and
33the man with the lantern some paces in front. Three men ran together, hand in hand; and I made out, even through the
34mist, that the middle man of this trio was the blind beggar. The next moment his voice showed me that I was right. "Down
35with the door!" he cried. "Aye, aye, sir!" answered two or three; and a rush was made upon the Admiral Benbow, the
36lantern-bearer following; and then I could see them pause, and hear speeches passed in a lower key, as if they were
37surprised to find the door open. But the pause was brief, for the blind man again issued his commands. His voice sounded
38louder and higher, as if he were afire with eagerness and rage. "In, in, in!" he shouted, and cursed them for their
39delay. Four or five of them obeyed at once, two remaining on the road with the formidable beggar. There was a pause,
40then a cry of surprise, and then a voice shouting from the house, "Bill's dead." But the blind man swore at them again
41for their delay. "Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest of you aloft and get the chest," he cried. I
42could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so that the house must have shook with it. Promptly afterwards, fresh
43sounds of astonishment arose; the window of the captain's room was thrown open with a slam and a jingle of broken glass,
44and a man leaned out into the moonlight, head and shoulders, and addressed the blind beggar on the road below him.
45"Pew," he cried, "they've been before us. Someone's turned the chest out alow and aloft." "Is it there?" roared Pew.
46"The money's there." The blind man cursed the money. "Flint's fist, I mean," he cried. "We don't see it here nohow,"
47returned the man. "Here, you below there, is it on Bill?" cried the blind man again. At that another fellow, probably
48him who had remained below to search the captain's body, came to the door of the inn. "Bill's been overhauled a'ready,"
49said he; "nothin' left." "It's these people of the inn--it's that boy. I wish I had put his eyes out!" cried the blind
50man, Pew. "There were no time ago--they had the door bolted when I tried it. Scatter, lads, and find 'em." "Sure enough,
51they left their glim here," said the fellow from the window. "Scatter and find 'em! Rout the house out!" reiterated Pew,
52striking with his stick upon the road. Then there followed a great to-do through all our old inn, heavy feet pounding to
53and fro, furniture thrown over, doors kicked in, until the very rocks re-echoed and the men came out again, one after
54another, on the road and declared that we were nowhere to be found. And just the same whistle that had alarmed my mother
55and myself over the dead captain's money was once more clearly audible through the night, but this time twice repeated.
56I had thought it to be the blind man's trumpet, so to speak, summoning his crew to the assault, but I now found that it
57was a signal from the hillside towards the hamlet, and from its effect upon the buccaneers, a signal to warn them of
58approaching danger. "There's Dirk again," said one. "Twice! We'll have to budge, mates." "Budge, you skulk!" cried Pew.
59"Dirk was a fool and a coward from the first--you wouldn't mind him. They must be close by; they can't be far; you have
60your hands on it. Scatter and look for them, dogs! Oh, shiver my soul," he cried, "if I had eyes!" This appeal seemed to
61produce some effect, for two of the fellows began to look here and there among the lumber, but half-heartedly, I
62thought, and with half an eye to their own danger all the time, while the rest stood irresolute on the road. "You have
63your hands on thousands, you fools, and you hang a leg! You'd be as rich as kings if you could find it, and you know
64it's here, and you stand there skulking. There wasn't one of you dared face Bill, and I did it--a blind man! And I'm to
65lose my chance for you! I'm to be a poor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in a coach! If you
66had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit you would catch them still." "Hang it, Pew, we've got the doubloons!" grumbled
67one. "They might have hid the blessed thing," said another. "Take the Georges, Pew, and don't stand here squalling."
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