"Well," he said, clutching her to him, his lips half an inch from hers, "I think we'll keep you nice and tight, my girl. I think we'll get the carpenter to mend my door and pop you back inside." He smiled, and risked a tiny kiss. Earlier thoughts of strangulation and throat-slitting, which had then seemed so appealing, were now replaced by other desires entirely.
The skiff grounded. The crew leapt out and hauled her up on to the beach. Long John got out, struggling as ever with the soft sand, and his crutch digging itself into holes.
"Look, Cap'n," said Israel Hands, "I think she may be burning herself out." Silver looked back at Lion. He stared at her for a while, judging the progress of the flames. Everything aft of the mainmast was gone, but it looked as if the fire was not advancing any further forrard, and might even be dying out.
"Aye," he said. "There's a bit of the bow that might survive. But we shan't sail the seas in that." He looked at Israel Hands and the others. "What did we save? How much did we get ashore?"
"Plenty of pork and biscuit, Cap'n," said Israel Hands. "And rum too, and most of the ship's small arms and shot." He grinned. "And a great deal of powder!" There was a roar of laughter at that. "And much more besides: all the charts and suchlike, and a couple o' compasses."
Israel Hands turned and glanced towards the woods and hills. "And we got this old island too!" he said. "I been here before, Cap'n, along of Flint, and — why — there's water and there's fruits and other things to eat, and there's goats too. There's even a blockhouse somewhere."
"Ahoy!" cried a voice. "Look what we got!" It was the boatswain, Sarney Sawyer, leading a group of men coming towards them from the jolly-boat. Sawyer was carrying something and the others were prodding a man forward with their cutlasses. It was Billy Bones, festooned with cork floats and clearly in mortal terror.
"We found the swab in the water, Cap'n," said Sawyer. "He says he went over the side when the ship burnt. But the bugger's got out of his irons somehow. And where did he get the cork, an' all?"
There was an ugly roar from Silver's men and calls for a rope and a good tree with a strong branch.
"Silence!" said Silver, and struggled towards Billy Bones, who wouldn't meet his eye. "What's this, Billy?" said Silver, grabbing hold of the cork and netting. But Billy Bones said nothing. "This weren't made in an instant, were it, Billy-boy?" said Silver. "It looks like a thing of purpose. Something prepared in advance of need." He frowned and put his head on one side. "And how did you get out of them irons, Billy? And how did the bloody ship take fire?"
It took every ounce of Silver's strength, leadership and powers of persuasion to save Billy Bones's life. Without that, Billy would have been lucky if he'd got it quick rather than slow. And the only reason Silver bothered was the old, old reason.
"He's the only blasted quadrant-monger of our whole blasted crew!" said Silver. "We're on this island for ever if we ain't got him.''''
So Billy Bones lived. And so did another member of Flint's crew.
"It's the parrot, Cap'n. It must've flown ashore. Been shot about something wicked." Sarney Sawyer held out the bedraggled bird, bleeding from a number of small wounds, and missing feathers from its wings. He put a hand round the bird's neck. "Shall I pull it, Cap'n? 'T'ain't no bloody use, and it was Flint's own bird, damn him!"
"No!" said Silver. "I've just pardoned a far worse bugger than this poor bird, which is only a creature, and which ain't to be held to account for what Flint did." He took off his hat and put the bird in it, just as Flint had done when it needed a nest. "There, my pretty," he said. "We'll find you some fruit and seeds to eat, and a little drink of water."
Silver smiled. He'd always admired the parrot and he'd always been the only man other than Flint who could touch it without losing fingers.
"No, Cap'n Flint," he said to the parrot, "we shan't pull your neck — not you, my pretty bird!"
Later that evening, just as a wind got up in the anchorage, Flint himself came ashore — or rather, not quite ashore. He came in Walrus's cutter, with a swivel mounted in the bow, and oars double-banked for speed and the crew ready to pull clear on the first sign of any danger. He came waving a flag. He came for a parlay and stopped just out of musket shot: far enough to be safe, and close enough for a shouted conversation.
"What is it, Joe?" cried Silver, with his men around him, armed and ready. "What have you got to say to me?"
"Not much, John," said Flint, and smiled. "And is that Billy Bones there, standing among you. Why, Mr Bones, have you changed sides?" Billy Bones broke free of the men holding his arms and ran forward. He ran till he was up to his waist in water, and dared go no further.
"Let him go," said Silver. "He ain't going to swim and Flint ain't going to fetch him!"
And Flint didn't, despite Billy's desperate plea that he was Flint's man for ever and only following Flint's orders.
"So what is it, Joe Flint?" said Silver.
"It's a promise," said Flint. "One to keep you warm at nights."
"Which is?"
"Which is this… Looks like you've got the island, and I've got the ship."
"Aye!"
"Oh! And I've got your black girl, too, who stays with me of her own free will, having entirely lost patience with a one- legged cripple that cannot meet a woman's needs." Flint laughed. "Do you understand me, John?"
"Bastard!" said Silver.
"No," said Israel Hands quietly and laid a hand on Silver's arm. "It's hoss-feathers, Cap'n. All hands knows the moll were yourn when you was on board of Walrus. And that day when we pulled across to speak to Parson, she'd have jumped in and swum to you on the instant but for them bloody swivels!" He looked at Flint, standing laughing in the bows of the cutter. "And as for that bugger… who's ever seen him poke a woman?"
"Hmm," said Silver, and thought of what Selena had said about Flint. He raised his voice, good and loud, for all to hear.
"Won't do, Joe!" he cried, shaking his head calmly. "That girl knows a man when she sees one — and you ain't no man. Do you understand me, Joe?"
For an instant Silver thought of telling everything. It would win a roaring laugh: the tale of Flint's fiddling while peeping through holes in bulkheads! It would stab Flint to the heart. It might even lose him his crew and his ship. But if Flint were pushed too far, he'd want his vengeance and might take it out on Selena. Silver couldn't risk that. Not for all the treasure in the island.
Silver was right. He'd judged the matter nicely. Flint blinked. He sat down, and shut up. The riposte had been devastating. He knew exactly what Silver was talking about, and the bounce went out of him and the fright shot up his spine: fright and hideous embarrassment. In his vanity, he'd never dreamed anyone knew. Not Selena, not anyone, and certainly not Silver. He'd always been so careful.
"Pull for the ship!" he said. "Pull with all your might!"
"Leaving so soon, Joe?" cried Silver, and his men laughed and jeered.
But Flint recovered fast. Just before the boat pulled too far out for his voice to carry, he stood up, and called back in a final farewell message.
"I'll be back, John, with a full crew to skin the hides off every man of you, sparing none, and that over a red-hot, roasting fire!"
Chapter 53