WE rode hard all the way, till we drew up before Dr Livesey's door. The house was all dark to the front.
Mr Dance told me to jump down and knock, and Dogger gave me a stirrup to descend by. The door was opened almost at once by the maid.

`Is Dr Livesey in?' I asked.

No, she said; he had come home in the afternoon, but had gone up to the Hall to dine and pass the evening with the squire.

`So there we go, boys,' said Mr Dance.

This time, as the distance was short, I did not mount, but ran with Dogger's stirrup-leather to the lodge gates, and the long, leafless, moonlit avenue to where the white line of the Hall buildings looked on either hand on great old gardens Here Mr Dance dismounted, and, taking me along with him was admitted at a word into the house.

The servant led us down a matted passage, and showed us at the end into a great library, all lined with bookcases a busts upon the top of them, where the squire and Dr Livesey sat, pipe in hand, on either side of a bright fire.

I had never seen the squire so near at hand. He was a t; man, over six feet high, and broad in proportion, and he had a bluff, rough-and-ready face, all roughened and redden' and lined in his long travels. His eyebrows were very black and moved readily, and this gave him a look of some tempt not bad, you would say, but quick and high.

`Come in, Mr Dance,' says he, very stately and condescending.

`Good-evening, Dance,' says the doctor, with a nod. `And good-evening to you, friend Jim. What good wind brings you here?'

The supervisor stood up straight and stiff, and told his story like a lesson; and you should have seen how the two gentlemen leaned forward and looked at each other, and forgot to smoke in their surprise and interest. When they heard how my mother went back to the inn, Dr Livesey fairly slapped his thigh, and the squire cried `Bravo!' and broke his long pipe against the grate. Long before it was done, Mr Trelawney (that, you will remember, was the squire's name) had got up from his seat, and was striding about the room, and the doctor, as if to hear the better, had taken off his powdered wig, and sat there, looking very strange indeed with his own close-cropped, black poll.

At last Mr Dance finished the story.

`Mr Dance,' said the squire, `you are a very noble fellow. And as for riding down that black, atrocious miscreant, I regard it as an act of virtue, sir, like stamping on a cockroach. This lad Hawkins is a trump, I perceive. Hawkins, will you ring that bell? Mr Dance must have some ale.'

`And so, Jim,' said the doctor, `you have the thing that they were after, have you?'

`Here it is, sir,' said I, and gave him the oilskin packet. The doctor looked it all over, as if his fingers were itching to open it; but, instead of doing that, he put it quietly in the pocket of his coat.

`Squire,' said he, `when Dance has had his ale he must, of course, be off on his Majesty's service; but I mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep at try house, and, with your permission, I propose we should have up the cold pie, and let him sup.'

`As you will, Livesey,' said the squire; `Hawkins has earned better than cold pie.'

So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a side-table, and I made a hearty supper, for I was as hungry as a hawk, while Mr Dance was further complimented, and at last dismissed.

`And now, squire,' said the doctor.

`And now, Livesey,' said the squire, in the same breath. `One at a time, one at a time,' laughed Dr Livesey. `You have heard of this Flint, I suppose?'

`Heard of him!' cried the squire. `Heard of him, you say! He was the bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed. Blackbeard was a child to Flint. The Spaniards were so prodigiously afraid of him, that, I tell you, sir, I was sometimes proud he was an Englishman. I've seen his top - sails with these eyes, of Trinidad, and the cowardly son of a rum-puncheon that sailed with put back - put back, sir, into Port of Spain.'

`Well, I've heard of him myself, in England,' said the doctor. `But the point is, had he money?'

`Money!' cried the squire. `Have you heard the story? What were these villains after but money? What do they care for but money? For what would they risk their rascal carcases but money?'

`That we shall soon know,' replied the doctor. `But you are so confoundedly hot-headed and exclamatory that I cannot get a word in. What I want to know is this: Supposing that I have here in my pocket some clue to where Flint buried his treasure, will that treasure amount to much?'

`Amount, sir!' cried the squire. `It will amount to this; we have the clue you talk about, I fit out a ship in Bristol dock and take you and Hawkins here along, and I'll have the treasure if I search a year.'

`Very well,' said the doctor. `Now, then, if Jim is agreeable we'll open the packet;' and he laid it before him on the table.

The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had to get out his instrument-case, and cut the stitches with his medical scissors. It contained two things - a book and a sealed paper.

`First of all we'll try the book,' observed the doctor.

The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder he opened it, for Dr Livesey had kindly motioned me to come round from the side-table, where I had been eating, to enjoy the sport of the search. On the first page there were only some scraps of writing, such as a man with a pen in his hand might make for idleness or practice. One was the same as the tattoo mark, `Billy Bones his fancy;' then there was `Mr W. Bone mate.' `No more rum.' `Off Palm Key he got itt;' and some other snatches, mostly single words and unintelligible. I could not help wondering who it was that had `got itt,' and what `itt' was that he got. A knife in his back as like as not.

`Not much instruction there,' said Dr Livesey, as he passed on.

The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a curious series of entries. There was a date at one end of the line and at the other a sum of money, as in common account-books; but instead of explanatory writing, only a varying number of crosses between the two. On the 12th of June, 1745, for instance, a sum of seventy pounds had plainly become due to someone, and there was nothing but six crosses to explain the cause. In a few cases, to be sure, the name of a place would be added, as `Offe Caraccas;' or a mere entry of latitude and longitude, as `62 degrees 17' 20", 19 degrees 2' 40".'

The record lasted over nearly twenty years, the amount of the separate entries growing larger as time went on, and at the end a grand total had been made out after five or six wrong additions, and these words appended, `Bones, his pile.'

`I can't make head or tail of this,' said Dr Livesey.

`The thing is as clear as noonday,' cried the squire. `This is the black-hearted hound's account-book. These crosses stand for the names of ships or towns that they sank or plundered. The sums are the scoundrel's share, and where he feared an ambiguity, you see he added something clearer. "Offe Caraccas," now; you see, here was some unhappy vessel boarded off that coast. God help the poor souls that manned her - coral long ago.'

`Right!' said the doctor. `See what it is to be a traveller. Right! And the amounts increase, you see, as he rose in rank.'

There was little else in the volume but a few bearings of places noted in the blank leaves towards the end, and a table for reducing French, English, and Spanish moneys to a common value.

`Thrifty man!' cried the doctor. `He wasn't the one to be cheated.'

`And now,' said the squire, `for the other.'

The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble by way of seal; the very thimble, perhaps, that I had found in the captain's pocket. The doctor opened the seals with great care, and there fell out the map of an island, with latitude and longitude, soundings, names of hills, and bays and inlets, and every particular that would be needed to bring a ship to a safe anchorage upon its shores. It was about nine miles long and five across, shaped, you might say, like a fat drag' standing up, and had two fine land - locked harbours, and hill in the centre part marked `The Spy-glass.' There we several additions of a later date; but, above all, three cross of red ink - two on the north part of the island, one in the south- west, and, beside this last, in the same red ink, and a small, neat hand, very different from the captain's tottery characters, these words: - `Bulk of treasure here.'

Over on the back the same hand had written this further information:--

`Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N of N.N.E.

`Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.

`Ten feet.

`The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find it by the trend of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of the black crag with the face on it.

`The arms are easy found, in the sand hill, N. point of nor inlet cape, bearing E. and a quarter N.

`J. F.'

That was all; but brief as it was, and, to me, incomprehensible, it filled the squire and Dr Livesey with delight.

`Livesey,' said the squire, `you will give up this wretched practice at once. To - morrow I start for Bristol. In three weeks' time - three weeks! - two weeks - ten days - we'll have the best ship, sir, and the choicest crew in England. Hawkins shall come as cabin - boy. You'll make a famous cabin-boy Hawkins. You, Livesey, are ship's doctor; I am admiral. We'll take Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter. We'll ha favourable winds, a quick passage, and not the least difficult in finding the spot, and money to eat - to roll in - to play du and drake with ever after.'

`Trelawney,' said the doctor, `I'll go with you; and, I go bail for it, so will Jim, and be a credit to the undertaking. There's only one man I'm afraid of.'

`And who's that?' cried the squire. `Name the dog, sir!'

`You,' replied the doctor; `for you cannot hold your tongue.'

We are not the only men who know of this paper. These fellows who attacked the inn to-night - bold, desperate blades, for sure - and the rest who stayed aboard that lugger, and more, I dare say, not far off, are, one and all, through thick and thin, bound that they'll get that money. We must none of us go alone till we get to sea. Jim and I shall stick together in the meanwhile; you'll take Joyce and Hunter when you ride to Bristol, and, from first to last, not one of us must breathe a word of what we've found.'

`Livesey,' returned the squire, `you are always in the right of it. I'll be as silent as the grave.'

一路上我们快马加鞭，直到到了利弗西医生的家门口才勒住马。房子前漆黑一片。

丹斯先生叫我跳下马去敲门，于是道格尔给我一只马镫，让我踩着它下来，与此同时，一个女仆立刻把门打开了。

“利弗西医生在吗？”我问。

“不在，”她说，“他下午回来过，但是又去乡绅老爷的府第与他共进晚餐，消磨夜晚了。”

“那么我们就上那儿去，小伙子们。”丹斯先生说。

这次，由于路程短，我没有上马，只是拉着道格尔的马镫带子跑向侧面，走上那条长长的、没有树叶荫蔽的、浴着月光的林荫道。那儿通向一排两边都看得见古老的大花园的白色宅第。在大宅子门前，丹斯先生下了马，带着我一道，立刻被请进了屋里。

仆人领着我们走过一条铺着席子的过道，指引我们进入它尽头的一间大图书室，里面摆满了书架，上面摆放着些石膏半身像。乡绅和利弗西医生手里拿着烟斗，分坐在火焰明亮的壁炉两旁。

我从来没在这么近的距离里看过乡绅，他是个高个子，约有六英尺多高，肩宽与身高相称，有一张坦诚的、还算看得过去的面孔，在长期的漫游过程中变得粗糙和发红，同时布满了皱纹。他的眉毛很浓密，并且迅捷地挑上挑下，这显示出他的某种脾性，不能说是坏的，你可以说是急躁、易激动。

“请进，丹斯先生。”他说，很威严，但又很谦和。

“晚上好，丹斯，”医生说时点了下头，“也问你晚上好，吉姆朋友。什么好风把你们吹到这儿来啦？”

行政长官笔直僵硬地站着，好像上课似地讲着他经历的事情经过。你可以看到，这两位绅士由于惊奇和感兴趣，在听时是怎样的向前探着身子，并且互相望着，连吸烟都忘记了。当他们听到我母亲如何地返回到小旅店时，利弗西医生简直拍起腿来，而乡绅则大叫：“好极了！”还在炉栅上敲碎了他的长烟斗。在这之前许久，特里罗尼先生（你该记得，那个，是乡绅的名字），已经从座位上站了起来，在屋子里大步走来走去，而医生，似乎为了听到更好的，摘下了他那搽了粉的假发，坐在那里，露出他自己剪得很短的黑发，看上去实在是陌生。

最后，丹斯先生讲完了这个故事。

“丹斯先生，”乡绅说，“你是个非常高尚的人，至于骑马踩倒了那个黑心的、残暴的恶徒，我认为是个壮举，先生，就像踩死一只蟑螂。霍金斯这孩子是好样的，我看得出。霍金斯，你拉一下那个铃好吗？丹斯先生一定想来点啤酒吧。”

“这么说，吉姆，”医生说，“你有他们要找的东西，是不是？”

“它在这儿，先生。”我说，把油布包递给了他。

医生翻过来掉过去地看了看它，似乎他的手指急切渴望着要把它打开，但是，他并没有那么做，而是平静地把它放到了他的上衣的口袋里。

“乡绅，”他说，“丹斯喝好后，当然，他还得回去为陛下服务，但我想把吉姆·霍金斯留下来，到我的房间里睡，还有，你允许的话，我建议来点冷馅饼，让他吃点东西。”

“随你，利弗西，”乡绅说，“霍金斯该得到比冷馅饼还好的东西呢。”

于是一个大鸽肉馅饼被端上来放到了小桌上，我放开肚子饱餐了一顿，因为我已经饿得像只鹰了。同时，丹斯先生在得到了进一步的赞扬后，终于被打发走了。

“那么，乡绅……”医生说。

“那么，利弗西……”乡绅说，用同样的口气。

“一回一个人来说，一回一个人来说，”利弗西医生笑着说，“我猜你一定听说过这个弗林特吧？”

“听说过他！”乡绅叫道，“听说过他，你说的！他是江洋大盗中最为残忍的一个，黑胡子①对弗林特来说不过是黄毛小儿。西班牙人对他是畏惧之极，我跟你讲，先生，以致于我有时都为他是个英国人而骄傲哩。我在特立尼达那边曾经亲眼看到过他的中桅船，可是跟我一起航行的那个胆小的饭桶直要往后退，往后退，先生，他一直退到西班牙港哩。”

①英国著名的海盗。

“噢，我本人在英格兰听说过他，”医生说。“但是要紧的是，他有钱吗？”

“钱！”乡绅叫道，“你听到那个故事了吧？除了钱，那些坏蛋们还能寻求什么？除了钱，他们还能关心什么？除了钱，他们还能为了什么去拿自己的狗命冒险？”

“这我们很快就会清楚了，”医生答道，“但是你怎么这样性急，还大嚷大叫的，让我连话都插不进来。我想知道的是这个：假定这会儿我的口袋里有关于弗林特藏宝的线索，那珠宝的总数会不会大？”

“总数，先生！”乡绅叫道，“它会相当于这个：要是我们有你所说的那个线索，我就会在布里斯托尔船坞装备一艘船，然后把你和霍金斯从这儿带走，要是我找上它一年的话，一定会得到那份宝藏。”

“很好，”医生说，“既然如此，要是吉姆同意的话，我们可以把那个包打开。”说着，他把它放到了面前的桌子上。

那一捆东西是被缝住了的，医生只好拿出了他的器械箱，用他的医用剪刀剪断了缝线。它包括两样东西——一个本子和一个密封的文件。

“首先，我们得看看这个本子。”医生评论道。

当他打开它的时候，乡绅和我都从他的肩膀上方望过去，因为利弗西医生已亲切地示意我从我进餐的小桌边绕过来，来享受这种探寻的乐趣。在扉页上，只有一些零散的字迹，就像一个人闲散无聊时随便涂画上去或是为了练字而用钢笔写在手上的那样。一个跟刺花的内容相同，“比尔·彭斯的爱物”，再有就是“W·彭斯先生，大副”，“没有郎姆酒了”，“在棕榈树低岛他得到了它”，以及其他的一些片断，大多为单个的词语，使人费解。我不禁揣摩，“得到了它”的这个人是谁，而他得到的“它”又是什么。他背上挨的刀？像又不像。

“这不大能说明什么。”利弗西医生说，一边往后翻着。

接下去的十或十二页涂满了一系列奇怪的记录。一行末了有个日期，而在另一头有个钱数，就像普通的账本，不过代替说明文字的却是两者之间的一个变化的十字数。举个例子来说，1745年6月12日，70镑的款额显然是付给某人的，但是除了六个十字外，对原因未做任何说明。极少数情况下，实在说，补加了地名，像“在卡拉卡司那边”，或者只列一项纬度和经度，如“62度17分20，19度2分40”。

记录延续了将近二十多年，随着时间的增长，分别记账的总额也变得越来越大，到最后，在五六处错误的加法之后，得出了一个巨大的总数，有附注曰：“彭斯，他的钱财。”

“我真找不出头绪来。”利弗西医生说。

“事情明白如昼嘛，”乡绅嚷道，“这是那个黑心的坏蛋的账本。这些十字代表他们击沉的船只或淡掠的村镇的名称，数字是坏蛋们分赃后他所得到的钱数，在他怕含糊的地方，你看，他加上了些东西使它清楚些。‘在卡拉卡司那边’，喏，你看，这儿沿岸的某些不幸的船只被袭击了。愿上帝拯救这些船上人们的灵魂——他们早就变成珊瑚虫了罢。”

“对！”医生说，“看你到底是个旅行家。对！你看，数目是随着他职位的升级而增长的。”

这个小册于里除了最后几张空页上记了些地点的方位，以及一张法国、英国和西班牙钱币通用价值的兑换表格外，几乎没别的什么了。

“精打细算的家伙！”医生叫道，“他不是个好骗的。”

“现在，”医生说，“该看另一样了。”

文件有几个地方用顶针代替封蜡密封起来。那个顶针，可能就是我在船长的口袋里找到的那个。医生小心翼翼地打开了密封，结果里面是一张岛屿的地图，上面标有纬度和经度、水深、小山、港湾和入口处的名称，以及引导一艘船安全停泊在岸边可能需要的一切细节。它大约是九英里长、五英里宽，你可以说，它的形状像一条立着的肥壮的龙，有两个几乎全为陆地包围的良港，小山位于中央，标名为“望远镜山”。图上有几处日期较近的附注；但是，最要紧的是，有三个红墨水标注的十字——两个在岛的北部，一个在西南，而且，在后者旁边，有与船长东倒西歪的笔体迥然不同的、小巧整齐的字迹，同样用红墨水写成，内容是：大部宝藏在此。

翻到背面，同样的字迹写下了进一步的说明：

望远镜山肩一大树，指向东北偏北。

骷髅岛东南东，再向东十英尺。

银条在北部的藏所，你可以在东边小圆丘的斜坡下找到它，正对着黑屋南十英寻处。

武器很容易找到，在北部入水口小岬北面的沙丘中，方位是东偏北四分之一处。

　杰·弗

这就是全部了。但是尽管它很简短，对我而言费解了些，却使乡绅和利弗西医生满心欢喜。

“利弗西，”乡绅说，“快快放下你可怜的行当。明天我就动身去布里斯托尔。三周的时间——三周！——两周！——十天！——我们就会拥有最好的船只，先生，以及英格兰精选出来的拔尖的船员。霍金斯来做船上的传应生。你会是个出色的侍应生，霍金斯。你，利弗西，是随船医生；我是司令。我们将带上雷卓斯、乔埃斯和亨特。我们会一路顺风，快速航行，不费吹灰之力便找到地点，而钱就滚滚而来，可以用来当饭吃，打水漂，随心所欲。”

“特里罗尼，”医生说，“我愿与你同行，而且，我可以打保票，吉姆也会去，并且会为这项事业增光。我只担心一个人。”

“那是谁？”乡绅叫道，“说出这个狗东西，先生！”

“你，”医生答道，“因为你管不住你的舌头。我们不是惟一知道有这个文件的人。今晚袭击旅店的这帮家伙——胆大包天的暴徒，说真的——还有留在单桅船上的其余的那些人，还有更多，我敢说，都没走远，任何一个，所有这些人，在任何情况下都铁定了心要得到那笔钱。在出海之前，我们中的任何一个都不可单独外出。在此期间，我和吉姆要厮守在一处；你骑马去布里斯托尔时，带上乔埃斯和亨特，而且要从始至终，我们中任何一人都不许对所发现的东西泄露一字。”

“利弗西，”乡绅答道，“你总是对的。我将守口如瓶。”