Kitabı oku: «Остров сокровищ / Treasure Island. Уровень 2», sayfa 14
11. What I Heard in the Apple Barrel
“No, not I,” said Silver. “Flint was a captain; I was a quartermaster45. I’m fifty. Gentlemen of fortune 46 usually trust little among themselves, and right they are. Now, here’s what I say: Captain Smollett is a first-class seaman; he sails the ship for us. Mr. Trelawney and the doctor have the map. I don’t know where it is. No more do you. Well then, I mean this squire and doctor will find the treasure, and help us to get it aboard. I’ll finish with them at the island.”
“What will you do with them?” asked a sailor.
“Dead men don’t bite. I’m an easy man – I’m quite the gentleman. I give my vote – death.”
“John,” cried the coxswain, “you’re a man!” And they went away.
You can imagine my horror! Almost at the same time the voice of the lookout shouted, “Land!”
12. Council of War47
I quickly got out of the barrel to join Hunter and Dr. Livesey. And then I heard the voice of Captain Smollett issuing orders.
“And now, men,” said the captain, “has any one of you ever seen that land ahead?”
“I have, sir,” said Silver. “They call it Skeleton Island48. That hill to the northward they call the Fore-mast 49 Hill; there are three hills in a row running southward. But the main – with the cloud on it – they usually call the Spy-glass. It’s there they cleaned their ships, sir.”
“I have a chart here,” said Captain Smollett. “See if that’s the place.”
Long John’s eyes burned in his head as he took the chart, but he was disappointed. This was not the map we found in Billy Bones’s chest, but an accurate copy, complete in all things – names and heights – with the single exception of the red crosses and the written notes.
