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1I lost no time, of course, in telling my mother all that I knew, and perhaps should have told her long before, and we
2saw ourselves at once in a difficult and dangerous position. Some of the man's money--if he had any--was certainly due
3to us, but it was not likely that our captain's shipmates, above all the two specimens seen by me, Black Dog and the
4blind beggar, would be inclined to give up their booty in payment of the dead man's debts. The captain's order to mount
5at once and ride for Doctor Livesey would have left my mother alone and unprotected, which was not to be thought of.
6Indeed, it seemed impossible for either of us to remain much longer in the house; the fall of coals in the kitchen
7grate, the very ticking of the clock, filled us with alarms. The neighbourhood, to our ears, seemed haunted by
8approaching footsteps; and what between the dead body of the captain on the parlour floor and the thought of that
9detestable blind beggar hovering near at hand and ready to return, there were moments when, as the saying goes, I jumped
10in my skin for terror. Something must speedily be resolved upon, and it occurred to us at last to go forth together and
11seek help in the neighbouring hamlet. No sooner said than done. Bare-headed as we were, we ran out at once in the
12gathering evening and the frosty fog. The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, though out of view, on the other side
13of the next cove; and what greatly encouraged me, it was in an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had
14made his appearance and whither he had presumably returned. We were not many minutes on the road, though we sometimes
15stopped to lay hold of each other and hearken. But there was no unusual sound--nothing but the low wash of the ripple
16and the croaking of the inmates of the wood. It was already candle-light when we reached the hamlet, and I shall never
17forget how much I was cheered to see the yellow shine in doors and windows; but that, as it proved, was the best of the
18help we were likely to get in that quarter. For--you would have thought men would have been ashamed of themselves--no
19soul would consent to return with us to the Admiral Benbow. The more we told of our troubles, the more--man, woman, and
20child--they clung to the shelter of their houses. The name of Captain Flint, though it was strange to me, was well
21enough known to some there and carried a great weight of terror. Some of the men who had been to field-work on the far
22side of the Admiral Benbow remembered, besides, to have seen several strangers on the road, and taking them to be
23smugglers, to have bolted away; and one at least had seen a little lugger in what we called Kitt's Hole. For that
24matter, anyone who was a comrade of the captain's was enough to frighten them to death. And the short and the long of
25the matter was, that while we could get several who were willing enough to ride to Dr. Livesey's, which lay in another
26direction, not one would help us to defend the inn. They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the other
27hand, a great emboldener; and so when each had said his say, my mother made them a speech. She would not, she declared,
28lose money that belonged to her fatherless boy; "If none of the rest of you dare," she said, "Jim and I dare. Back we
29will go, the way we came, and small thanks to you big, hulking, chicken-hearted men. We'll have that chest open, if we
30die for it. And I'll thank you for that bag, Mrs. Crossley, to bring back our lawful money in." Of course I said I would
31go with my mother, and of course they all cried out at our foolhardiness, but even then not a man would go along with
32us. All they would do was to give me a loaded pistol lest we were attacked, and to promise to have horses ready saddled
33in case we were pursued on our return, while one lad was to ride forward to the doctor's in search of armed assistance.
34My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the cold night upon this dangerous venture. A full moon was
35beginning to rise and peered redly through the upper edges of the fog, and this increased our haste, for it was plain,
36before we came forth again, that all would be as bright as day, and our departure exposed to the eyes of any watchers.
37We slipped along the hedges, noiseless and swift, nor did we see or hear anything to increase our terrors, till, to our
38relief, the door of the Admiral Benbow had closed behind us. I slipped the bolt at once, and we stood and panted for a
39moment in the dark, alone in the house with the dead captain's body. Then my mother got a candle in the bar, and holding
40each other's hands, we advanced into the parlour. He lay as we had left him, on his back, with his eyes open and one arm
41stretched out. "Draw down the blind, Jim," whispered my mother; "they might come and watch outside. And now," said she
42when I had done so, "we have to get the key off that; and who's to touch it, I should like to know!" and she gave a kind
43of sob as she said the words. I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to his hand there was a little round
44of paper, blackened on the one side. I could not doubt that this was the black spot; and taking it up, I found written
45on the other side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message: "You have till ten tonight." "He had till ten,
46Mother," said I; and just as I said it, our old clock began striking. This sudden noise startled us shockingly; but the
47news was good, for it was only six. "Now, Jim," she said, "that key." I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few
48small coins, a thimble, and some thread and big needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away at the end, his gully
49with the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and a tinder box were all that they contained, and I began to despair.
50"Perhaps it's round his neck," suggested my mother. Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open his shirt at the neck,
51and there, sure enough, hanging to a bit of tarry string, which I cut with his own gully, we found the key. At this
52triumph we were filled with hope and hurried upstairs without delay to the little room where he had slept so long and
53where his box had stood since the day of his arrival. It was like any other seaman's chest on the outside, the initial
54"B" burned on the top of it with a hot iron, and the corners somewhat smashed and broken as by long, rough usage. "Give
55me the key," said my mother; and though the lock was very stiff, she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a
56twinkling. A strong smell of tobacco and tar rose from the interior, but nothing was to be seen on the top except a suit
57of very good clothes, carefully brushed and folded. They had never been worn, my mother said. Under that, the miscellany
58began--a quadrant, a tin canikin, several sticks of tobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols, a piece of bar silver,
59an old Spanish watch and some other trinkets of little value and mostly of foreign make, a pair of compasses mounted
60with brass, and five or six curious West Indian shells. I have often wondered since why he should have carried about
61these shells with him in his wandering, guilty, and hunted life. In the meantime, we had found nothing of any value but
62the silver and the trinkets, and neither of these were in our way. Underneath there was an old boat-cloak, whitened with
63sea-salt on many a harbour-bar. My mother pulled it up with impatience, and there lay before us, the last things in the
64chest, a bundle tied up in oilcloth, and looking like papers, and a canvas bag that gave forth, at a touch, the jingle
65of gold. "I'll show these rogues that I'm an honest woman," said my mother. "I'll have my dues, and not a farthing over.
66Hold Mrs. Crossley's bag." And she began to count over the amount of the captain's score from the sailor's bag into the
67one that I was holding.
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