XXXIII
The Fall of a Chieftain
There never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six men
was as though he had been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost
instantly. Every thought of his soul had been set full-stretch, like a
racer, on that money; well, he was brought up, in a single second, dead;
and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed his plan before the
others had had time to realize the disappointment.
Jim, he whispered, take that, and stand by for trouble.
And he passed me a double-barrelled pistol.
At the same time, he began quietly moving northward, and in a few steps
had put the hollow between us two and the other five. Then he looked at
me and nodded, as much as to say, Here is a narrow corner, as, indeed,
I thought it was. His looks were not quite friendly, and I was so
revolted at these constant changes that I could not forbear whispering,
So you ve changed sides again.
There was no time left for him to answer in. The buccaneers, with oaths
and cries, began to leap, one after another, into the pit and to dig
with their fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. Morgan
found a piece of gold. He held it up with a perfect spout of oaths. It
was a two-guinea piece, and it went from hand to hand among them for a
quarter of a minute.
Two guineas! roared Merry, shaking it at Silver. That s your seven
hundred thousand pounds, is it? You re the man for bargains, ain t you?
You re him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!
Dig away, boys, said Silver with the coolest insolence; you ll find
some pig-nuts and I shouldn t wonder.
Pig-nuts! repeated Merry, in a scream. Mates, do you hear that? I
tell you now, that man there knew it all along. Look in the face of him
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