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Now, mark me, Bill, lay off her.When we get this treasure cleaned
up ye can take all the time ye fancy for wenches or aught else.
Aye, when we do!
And that ll be sooner than ye think, retorted Flint.
Wi the crew all shoutin for disbandment? Allardyce talkin of
goin home tomorrow? I ha seen ye handle some bad times, John
Flint, but you re no Andrew Murray!
The gibe annoyed Flint. His face turned blue, as it did when his
temper was fanned or he was in liquor.
Watch me, he snapped. I ll learn em a few things yet. No Andrew
Murray! Maybe not. But I ha my own way, Bill. Aye, Flint s way! And
it ain t so bad.
He suddenly remembered us.
Keep your mouths shut, d ye hear? No sneakin up to John Silver
or any one else.And as for you, my wench he frowned at Moira
keep under cover, for your own sake as well as mine.This is a rough
ship, a pirate ship, and
Don t ye worry about Misthress O Donnell, said Darby loyally. I ll
see to her.
Oh, ye will!
Flint laughed.
262 PORTO BELLO GOLD
You re beginning young, Darby. Gut me, what a lad! Well, you keep
her out o harm s way, and when we divide the treasure maybe there ll
be an extry allowance for ye. How d ye like to have her, eh?
She ll be better worth the havin than all the treasure there is,
flashed Darby. And do ye be mindin what I m afther tellin ye, Cap n
Flint. If harm comes to her, or sorrow into the heart of her, twill be
the end o your luck aye, lucky ye ll be do ye come off wi a neck
ye can breathe through.
Flint went pale.
Now, now, Darby, he wheedled. Don t ye talk that reckless way.
Tain t good for our luck. And I ha been main kind to ye, and
Tis you would be the ruin of our luck, said Darby. All I m for
tellin ye is to be gentle in handlin an eligant young maid as ye ought
to be on your two knees before this moment for the throuble and
sore dismay ye ha wrought wi her.
She s safe enough, Darby, Flint answered. I d never harm her.We ll
keep her until we ha lifted what s buried on the Dead Man s Chest,
and then she and her two buckos can take a small boat and fare how
they please, and
And I ll be with em, added Darby.
Oh, no, not you, Darby! Think o all the red gold ye ll have aboard
the Walrus. And there s your luck we ll still need.
Me luck! fumed Darby. May the curse me luck! Tis more
of a nuisance than a help.
Ah, that s no way to talk.
Flint was nigh frantic.
Lad, would ye lose all your red head has brought us? And look ye,
too, if the maid s to be safe, tis I alone can keep her so, for wi out
me there ll be to pay, and none to stall the reckoning.
And that before this glass is out, affirmed Bones with saturnine
emphasis.
The mate knocked the neck off a flask of rum with his cutlass-hilt
and poured the equivalent of a water-glass down his throat, gurgling
it lustily that he might secure the full savor of the fiery liquor.
I ll take the rest o that! exclaimed Flint eagerly. Aaa-aah! There s
naught like good rum to put heart in a man, Bill. Here, Darby, you
PORTO BELLO GOLD 263
finish it.That s the lad! And don t talk no more about losin your luck.
We re goin to need that luck mighty bad these next few days. Aye,
this very day, as Bill says. For here s Tom Allardyce and a batch o
chicken-hearted a-cryin we should be satisfied wi what
we got, disband and save our necks. And I don t know what more
bilge-slush.
Tain t Allardyce I m feared of, said Bones wisely, but Silver. He s
got a head on his shoulders, Long John has, and all the men ll listen
to him after the way he carried the stockade.
Flint nodded.
True for you; but what you re amiss on is that John feels same as I
do about disbandin . After the treasure s all lifted, look out for squalls.
But right now, Bill, Silver s as strong for pullin together as you and me.
Maybe, said Bones with more of doubt than conviction.
Maybe? Gut me for a lubber if I m not right.
Flint rose from the seat he had assumed.
You come along on deck, and I ll show ye. You, too, Darby. No,
no, lad when Darby would have hung back I want ye by me. I
tell ye that red head o yours is the best beacon I ever steered by.
At the exit to the companionway he halted and spoke to us over
his shoulder:
You mind what I said about the girl. Keep her under cover.
Must we all remain below decks? I demanded with some heat.
That s as ye may happen to feel, he replied carelessly. So long as
ye don t try to suck up to any o my men and make trouble you can
go and come around the ship; but let me find ye up to mischief, and
treasure or no treasure, I ll keelhaul ye.
His green eyes twinkled evilly.
Maybe Murray told ye what that might mean.
He gave Darby a push before him.
Run out and call the men aft, he commanded. That s the boy!
Bill, ye for a low-hearted , plaster a grin on that
mug o yours and pipe up a song. We mustn t let them swabs for ard
figure us to be worried none, eh?
And his voice boomed hollow betwixt the confined walls of the
companionway:
264 PORTO BELLO GOLD
Oh, a fine, tall ship was the Elephant
As ever sailed the seas;
She came down-Channel apast Ushant
Bound for the East Indies.
And Dicky Lamb, he says to the crew
He was the bosun s mate
Pickle my guts! Will ye do what I do?
Be game, says I; tempt fate!
Bones joined valiantly in the sweep of the tune:
We are forty-five before the mast,
And ten green clerks berthed aft,
With the cap n, the cook, the mates and last,
Simmy, the boy, who s daft.
That s fifteen hands against forty-five.
Christ! What an easy lay!
We ll take em at night, and dead or alive,
Pitch em in Biscay Bay.
Oh, that was a night the wind howled free,
The sails froze to the mast,
And Dicky Lamb and the Portugee,
They bound the cap n fast.
They were out on deck now, and Flint stayed the song long enough
to roar:
Lay aft, ye swabs! Ye asked for a fo c sle council, and ye shall have
it. me, Bill, can t ye sing louder?
Louder! I muttered to Moira and Peter. Certes, ye might hear
them on the Spyglass.
Ssh! reproved Moira. I will be wanting to hear the rest of it.
There, Darby is singing now and others.
A score of voices took up the savage lilt:
Sandy Grant bashed the mate in the head
And dropped him overside.
PORTO BELLO GOLD 265
The second mate they stabbed abed,
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