Treasure Island by Robert Stevenson

原文

Chapter 7: Jim's Story II

'Your friends are in the house now,' said Ben Gunn.

'I must go to them,'I said. 'Are you coming with me?

'No,' said Ben. 'But you know where to find me. Come tomorrow afternoon.'

I looked at the Hispaniola, out on the sea, and saw the pirates' flag.

'They have the ship now,' I thought.

The pirates on the beach made a big fire.

They started to drink and to talk loudly.

I waited for a time,then went to the house.

I told Dr Livesey about my meeting with Ben Gunn up on the hill.

'Tell me about this man,' said the doctor. 'Is he going to help us?'

'Yes, I think he is,' I said.

'There are fifteen pirates now,' said the doctor. 'And there are six of us. Seven, with Ben Gunn.'

I was very tired and I slept well that night.

The next morning one of our men said: 'Look! Someone's coming! A man with a white flag.'

'Don't shoot!' said the man. 'It's me. John Silver.'

'What do you want?' asked Captain Smollett.

'Captain Silver wants to talk to you,' said Long John.

'Captain Silver now?Come on, then,' said Captain Smollett.

Long John came slowly up the hill to the house.

We all watched him.

'Yes?' asked the captain.

'One of our men is dead,' said Silver. 'You killed him in the night.'

The captain said nothing.

'We didn't kill that man,' I thought. 'Ben Gunn killed him. Now there are only fourteen pirates.'

'We want that treasure,' Silver said. 'And you've got a map, right?'

'Perhaps,' said the captain.

'I know you've got it,' said Silver. 'Give us the map. Then you can leave the island with us, or,if you like, you can stay here.'

'Is that all?' asked Captain Smollett. 'Now, listen to me, Silver. You can't find the treasure and you can't sail the ship. We aren't going to help you find the treasure, so you can go now. I have nothing more to say to you.'

'Then we're going to fight you,' said Silver angrily, and he went away, walking slowly down the hill.

It was a hot day.

We waited for a longtime and then the pirates started shooting again.

Suddenly some of the pirates ran out of the trees up to the house.

'Get them!' said the captain.

We all fought hard.

We killed three of the pirates and the others ran away.

But when we got back inside the house, we found that Joyce was dead.

Hunter and the captain were hurt, too.

'Five pirates are dead,'said the doctor.

'Good,' said the captain. 'Now they have nine men and we have five.'

The pirates went back to the beach.

Everything was quiet.

Later that day Hunter died.

The doctor left the house.

'He's going to meet Ben Gunn,' I thought.

It was very hot inside the house and I did not like waiting.

So I took some food and a gun and went to look for Ben Gunn's boat.

After about an hour I found it.

It was very small and light.

'I can take this boat and go out to the Hispaniola at night,' I thought.

I sat down and waited.

Night came, and it was very dark.