Ah! Black Dog, says he. _He s_ a bad un; but there s worse that put him
on. Now, if I can t get away nohow, and they tip me the black spot, mind
you, it s my old sea-chest they re after; you get on a horse--you can,
can t you? Well, then, you get on a horse, and go to--well, yes,
I will!--to that eternal doctor swab, and tell him to pipe all
hands--magistrates and sich--and he ll lay em aboard at the Admiral
Benbow--all old Flint s crew, man and boy, all on em that s left. I was
first mate, I was, old Flint s first mate, and I m the on y one as knows
the place. He gave it me at Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as if I
was to now, you see. But you won t peach unless they get the black spot
on me, or unless you see that Black Dog again or a seafaring man with
one leg, Jim--him above all.
But what is the black spot, captain? I asked.
That s a summons, mate. I ll tell you if they get that. But you keep
your weather-eye open, Jim, and I ll share with you equals, upon my
honour.
He wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after I
had given him his medicine, which he took like a child, with the remark,
If ever a seaman wanted drugs, it s me, he fell at last into a heavy,
swoon-like sleep, in which I left him. What I should have done had all
gone well I do not know. Probably I should have told the whole story to
the doctor, for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of
his confessions and make an end of me. But as things fell out, my poor
father died quite suddenly that evening, which put all other matters
on one side. Our natural distress, the visits of the neighbours, the
arranging of the funeral, and all the work of the inn to be carried on
in the meanwhile kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think of
the captain, far less to be afraid of him.
He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and had his meals as usual,
though he ate little and had more, I am afraid, than his usual supply of
rum, for he helped himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing through
his nose, and no one dared to cross him. On the night before the funeral
he was as drunk as ever; and it was shocking, in that house of mourning,
to hear him singing away at his ugly old sea-song; but weak as he was,
we were all in the fear of death for him, and the doctor was suddenly
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