The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder as 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.
Bones, 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 62o
17 20 , 19o 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.
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