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Treasure Island
Chapter 20. Silver's Embassy
Sure enough, there were two men just outside the stockade.
One of them was waving a white cloth.
The other was Silver himself, standing calmly by.
It was still very early, and the coldest morning I think I ever spent outside.
The chill went right into my bones.
The sky was bright and cloudless above, and the tops of the trees shone pink in the sun.
But where Silver stood with his man, everything was still in shadow.
They walked knee-deep in a low white fog that had crept out of the swamp during the night.
The cold and the fog together told a bad story of the island.
It was clearly a damp, unhealthy, feverish place.
"Stay inside, men," said the captain.
"Ten to one this is a trick."
Then he called out to the pirate.
"Who goes there? Stop, or we'll fire."
"Flag of truce," shouted Silver.
The captain was in the doorway, keeping himself carefully out of the way of a dishonest shot, if anyone intended one.
He turned, faced us, and spoke in a low voice to all of us.
"Doctor, keep watch. Dr. Livesey, take the north side, please. Jim, the east. Gray, the west. The watch below, all hands load the muskets. Quickly, men, and be careful."
Then he turned again to the mutineers.
"And what do you want with your flag of truce?" he shouted.
This time the other man answered in a clear, respectful voice from the shadows.
"Captain Silver, sir, to come on board and make terms," he called.
"Captain Silver! Don't know him. Who's he?" shouted the captain.
And we could hear him adding to himself, "Captain, is it? My heart, and here's promotion!"
Long John answered for himself, speaking in a clear, steady voice.
"Me, sir. These poor lads have chosen me captain, after you deserted us, sir." He put a special emphasis on the word "deserted."
"We're willing to give in, if we can come to terms, and no trouble about it."
"All I ask is your word, Captain Smollett, to let me leave this stockade safe and sound, and one minute to get out of shot before anyone fires."
"My man," said Captain Smollett.
"I don't have the slightest wish to talk to you."
"If you want to talk to me, you can come, that's all, and if there's any treachery it'll be on your side, and the Lord help you".
"That's enough, Captain," shouted Long John cheerfully.
"A word from you is enough. I know a gentleman, and you can be sure of that."
We could see the man who carried the flag of truce trying to hold Silver back.
That wasn't surprising, seeing how careless the captain's answer had been.
But Silver laughed at him loudly and slapped him on the back, as if the idea of being afraid was silly.
Then he came up to the stockade, threw his crutch over, and got a leg up.
With great strength and skill he managed to climb over the fence and drop safely to the other side.
I have to admit that I was far too interested in what was happening to be any use as a lookout.
In fact, I had already left my eastern loophole and crept up behind the captain.
He had now sat down on the doorstep.
His elbows were on his knees, and his head was in his hands.
His eyes were fixed on the water bubbling out of the old iron kettle in the sand.
He was whistling "Come, Lasses and Lads."
Silver had a terrible hard time getting up the hill.
The steep slope, tree stumps and soft sand made him and his crutch as helpless as a ship stuck in the wind.
But he kept at it like a man, in silence, and at last arrived in front of the captain.
He saluted him in the finest style.
He was dressed in his best clothes, a huge blue coat, thick with brass buttons, hanging down to his knees.
A fine laced hat sat on the back of his head.
"Here you're, my man," said the captain, raising his head.
"You'd better sit down."
"You aren't going to let me inside, Captain?" complained Long John.
"It's a very cold morning, sir, to sit outside on the sand."
"Why, Silver," said the captain.
"If you had chosen to be an honest man, you might have been sitting in your galley."
"It's your own doing."
"You're either my ship's cook, and then you were treated well, or Captain Silver, a common mutineer and pirate, and then you can go hang!"
"Well, well, Captain," replied the sea-cook, sitting down on the sand as he was told.
"You'll have to give me a hand up again," replied the sea-cook, sitting down on the sand as he was told.
"That's all. You have a sweet place here, ah, there's Jim. Good morning, Jim. Doctor, my service, you are all like a happy family".
"If you have anything to say, my man, you'd better say it," said the captain.
"Right you were, Captain Smollett," replied Silver.
"Duty is duty, to be sure."
"Well now, look here."
"That was a good trick of yours last night."
"I don't deny it was a good trick."
"Some of you're pretty handy with a handspike."
"And I won't deny either that some of my people were shaken."
"Maybe all were shaken."
"Maybe I was shaken myself."
"Maybe that's why I'm here for terms."
"But you mark my words, Captain, it won't work twice, by thunder!"
"We'll have to keep watch and ease off a bit on the rum."
"Maybe you think we were all drunk."
"But I'll tell you I was sober."
"I was only dog tired."
"And if I'd woken up a second sooner, I'd have caught you at it, I'd."
"He wasn't dead when I got to him, not he."
"Well?" said Captain Smollett, as cool as could be.
Everything Silver said was a puzzle to him, but you'd never have guessed it from his tone.
As for me, I began to have an idea.
Ben Gunn's last words came back to my mind.
I began to think that he had visited the pirates while they all lay drunk together around their fire.
And I counted with joy that we only had fourteen enemies to deal with.
"Well, here it's," said Silver.
"We want that treasure, and we'll have it."
"That's our point."
"You'd just as soon save your lives, I suppose."
"And that's yours."
"You have a chart, don't you?"
"That's as may be," replied the captain.
"Oh, well, you have it. I know that," returned Long John.
"You don't need to be so rough with a man."
"There's no use in that, and you can be sure of it."
"What I mean is, we want your chart."
"Now, I never meant you any harm, myself."
"That won't work with me, my man," interrupted the captain.
"We know exactly what you meant to do, and we don't care, because now, you see, you can't do it."
And the captain looked at him calmly and began to fill a pipe.
"If Abe Gray, " Silver started.
"Stop there!" cried Mr. Smollett.
"Gray told me nothing, and I asked him nothing."
"And what's more, I'd see you and him and this whole island blown clean out of the water into blazes first."
"So that's my opinion for you, my man, on that."
This little burst of anger seemed to cool Silver down.
He had been getting annoyed before, but now he pulled himself together.
"Fair enough," he said.
"I wouldn't set any limits on what gentlemen might consider proper, or might not, as the case may be."
"And seeing as how you're about to have a pipe, Captain, I'll make so free as to do the same."
And he filled a pipe and lit it.
The two men sat silently smoking for quite a while.
Now they looked each other in the face.
Now they stopped their tobacco, Now they leaned forward to spit.
It was as good as a play to watch them.
"Now," resumed Silver, "here it's."
"You give us the chart to get the treasure by, and stop shooting poor seamen and smashing their heads in while they sleep."
"You do that, and we'll offer you a choice."
"Either you come aboard with us once the treasure is shipped, and then I'll give you my solemn promise to put you somewhere safe on shore."
Captain Smollett rose from his seat and knocked the ashes out of his pipe in the palm of his left hand.
"Is that all?" he asked.
"Every last word, by thunder!" answered John.
"Refuse that, and you've seen the last of me except for musket balls."
"Very good," said the captain.
"Now you'll hear me."
"If you'll come up one by one, unarmed, I'll promise to put you all in chains and take you home to a fair trial in England."
"If you won't, my name is Alexander Smollett."
"I've flown my king's colors, and I'll see you all to Davy Jones."
"You can't find the treasure."
"You can't sail the ship."
"There's not a man among you fit to sail the ship."
"You can't fight us."
"Gray there got away from five of you."
"Your ship is stuck, Master Silver."
"You're on a lee shore, and you'll find that out."
"I stand here and tell you so."
"And those are the last good words you'll get from me, because in the name of heaven, I'll put a bullet in your back the next time I meet you."
"Walk, my lad."
"Get out of here, please, hand over hand, and double quick."
Silver's face was a picture, his eyes started out of his head with anger.
He shook the fire out of his pipe.
"Give me a hand up!" he shouted.
"Not me," replied the captain.
"Who'll give me a hand up?" he roared.
Not a man among us moved, not even to lend a hand.
Growling the worst curses, he crawled along the sand until he got hold of the doorway and could lift himself up on his crutch again.
Then he spat into the spring, sending muddy ripples and muttering a wild curse.
"There!" he shouted.
"That's what I think of you."
"Before an hour is up, I'll smash your old block house like a rum barrel."
"Laugh, by thunder, laugh!"
"Before an hour is up, you'll laugh on the other side."
"Those who die will be the lucky ones."
And with a terrible oath he stumbled off.
He plowed down the sand and tried four or five times to get across the stockade.
He was helped across by the man with the flag of truce and disappeared instantly among the trees.