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Pieces of Eight, a novel by Richard Le Gallienne |
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Book 1 - Chapter 8 |
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_ BOOK I CHAPTER VIII In Which I Once Again Sit Up and Behold the Sun.
"There he is, sar," said Tom, pointing to a long dark figure stretched out near by. "I'm afraid he's not the man you were looking for." "Poor fellow!" I said; it was George, the engineer; "I'm sorry--but I saw the muzzles of their guns sticking out of the bush there. It was they or me." "That no lie, sar, and, if it hadn't been for that sucking-fish's skin, you wouldn't be here now." "It didn't save me from a pretty good one on the head, Tom, did it?" "No, sar, but that was just it--if it hadn't been for that knock on the head, pulling you down just that minute, that thar pock-marked fellow would have got you. As it was, he grazed your cheek, and got one of his own men killed by mistake--the very fellow that hit you. There he is--over there." "And who's that other, Tom?" I asked, pointing to another dark figure a few yards away. "That's the captain, sar." "The captain? O I'm sorry for that. God knows I'm sorry for that." "Yas, sar, he was one of the finest gentlemen I ever knowed was Captain Tomlinson; a brave man and a good navigator. And he'd taken a powerful fancy to you, for when you got that crack on the head, he picked up your gun, and began blazing away, with words I should never have expected from a religious man. The others, except our special friend--" "Let's call him Tobias from now on, Tom," I interposed. "Well him, sar, kept his nerve, but the others ran for the boats as if the devil was after them; but the captain's gun was quicker, and only four of them got to the _Susan B._ The other two fell on their faces, as if something had tripped them up, in a couple of feet of water. But, just then, Tobias hit the captain right in the heart; ah! if only he had one of those skins--but he always laughed off such things as superstitious. "There was only me and Tobias then, and the dog, for the engineer boy had gone on his knees to the _Susan B._ fellows, at the first crack, and begged them to take him away with them. I wouldn't have thought it of him--for he wasn't afraid o' them sharks, sar, as you saw, but I suppose it was thinking of his gal--anyway he went off a-praying and blubbering with what was left of the crew of the _Susan B.,_ who seemed too scared to notice him, and so let him come; and, as I was saying, there was no one left but Tobias and the dog and me, and I was sure my end was not far off, for I was never much of a shot. "As God is my witness, sar, I was ready to die, and there was a moment when I thought that the time had come and Martha was calling me; but Tobias suddenly walked away to the top of the bluff and called out to the _Susan B._ that was just running up her sails. At his word, they put out a boat for him, and, while he waited, he came down the hill towards me and the dog that stood growling over you; and for sure, I thought it was the end. But he said: 'Tell that fellow there that I'm not going to kill a defenceless man. He might have killed me once but he didn't. It's bound to be one of us some day or other, but despise me all he likes--I'm not such carrion as he thinks me; and if he only likes to keep out of my way, I'm willing to keep out of his. Tell him, when he wakes up, that as long as he gives up going after what belongs to me--for it was my grandfather's--he is safe, but the minute he sets his foot or hand on what is mine, it's either his life or mine.' And then he turned away and was rowed to the _Susan B.,_ and they soon sailed away." "With the black flag at the peak, I suppose, Tom," said I. "Well, that was a fine speech, quite a flight of oratory, and I'm sure I'm obliged to him for the life that's still worth having, in spite of this ungodly aching in my head. But how about the poor captain there! Where does all his eloquence come in there? He can't call it self-defence. They were waiting ready to murder us all right behind that seven-year apple tree, as you saw. I'm afraid the captain and the law between them are all that is necessary to cook the goose of our friend Henry P. Tobias, Jr., without any help from me--though, as the captain died for me, I should prefer they allowed me to make it a personal matter." And then I got on my feet, and went and looked at the captain's calm face. "It's the beginning of the price," said Tom. "The beginning of the price?" "It's the dead hand," continued Tom; "I told you, you'll remember, that wherever treasure is there's a ghost of a dead man keeping guard, and waiting till another dead man comes along to take up sentry duty so to say." "That's what you said, Tom," I admitted. "Several men have been killed, it's true, but no one's put his hand on the treasure." "All the worse for that!" replied Tom, shaking his head. "These are only a beginning. The ghost is getting busy. And it makes me think that we're coming pretty near to the treasure, or we wouldn't have had all this happen." "Growing warm, you mean, as the children say?" "The very thing!" said Tom. "Mark me, the treasure's near by--or the ghost wouldn't be so malicious." And then, looking around where the captain, and the engineer and Silly Theodore lay, I said: "The first thing we've got to do is to bury these poor fellows; but where," I added, "are the other two that fell in the water?" "O," said Tom, "a couple of sharks got them just before you woke up." _ |
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