The moonshine was nigh as bright as day. The sea-line ran firm as a sweep of painted circle through the silver mist in the far recesses6. An oar7 was stepped as a mast in the boat, and athwart it was lashed8 another oar from which hung a man’s shirt and coat. She looked dry as a midsummer ditch in that piercing moonlight. At the feet of the man, distinctly visible,[218] were two or three little pellets or lumps of rag, which he had been chewing throughout the day; but his jaws10 were now locked, the saliva11 had run dry, his sailor’s teeth, blunted by junk and ship’s bread, could bite no more moisture out of the fragment of stuff he had cut off his back. Oh! it is dreadful to suffer the agony of thirst, the froth, the baked and cracking lip, the strangled throat, whilst beholding13 a vast breast of cold sea glazed14 into the beauty of ice by the moon, and whilst hearing the fountain-like murmur15 and refreshing16 ripple17 of water alongside!
The moon rolled slowly into the south-west, trailing her bright wake with her, and the boat and its solitary18 occupant floated into the shadow. Again the man lifted his head and looked around him. A soft breeze, but hot as the human breath, was blowing, and the shirt and coat dangling19 from the athwartship oar were lifting to the light pressure. The man saw that the boat was moving over the sea, but made no attempt to help her with the helm; once more he cast his eyes up at the moon and cursed the thirst that was choking him. But a boat, like a ship, has a life and a spirit of her own. The little fabric20 ran as though, with the sentience21 of a living organism, she knew there was something to hope for in the darkness ahead; her wake was a short, arrow-like line, and it streamed from her in emerald bubbles and circling wreaths of fire.
The sun rose, and the shadow of the earth rolled[219] off the sea, which was feathering into the south-west to the steady pouring of the north-east wind. The boat ran straight, and now, the day being come, when the man looked up and ahead, he saw the shadow of land over the bows. Life sprang up in him with the sight, and a grin of hope twisted his face. With a husky groan4 he shifted himself for a grasp of the helm, and, laying his trembling hand upon the tiller, he held the boat—but not more steadily22 than she had been going—for the land.
He was a man of about forty-five years of age; half his clothes were aloft, and he was attired23 in fearnaught trousers of the boatman’s pattern, and a waistcoat buttoned over his vest. Suffering had sifted24 a pallor into the sun-brown of his skin, and his face was ghastly with famine and thirst. His short yellow beard stood straight out. His yellow hair was mixed with grey, and lay clotted25 with the sweat of pain into long streaks26 over his brow and ears, covering his eyes as though he was too weak or heedless to clear his vision.
The speed of the boat quickly raised the land, and by noon under the roasting sun it lay within a mile. It was one of the Bahama Cays—a flat island, with a low hill in the midst of it, to the right of which was a green wood; the rest of the island was green with some sort of tropic growth as of guinea-grass. The breeze was now very light—the sun had eaten it up, as the Spaniards say. The man thought he[220] saw the sparkle of a waterfall, and the sight made him mad, and as strong in that hour as in his heartiest27 time. He sprang from his seat, pulled down his queer fabric of oar and flapping shirt and coat, and flinging the two blades over, bent28 his back and drove the boat along. In a quarter of an hour her forefoot grounded on a coral-white beach that swept round a point clear of the foam29 of the breaker, and the man reeling out of her on to the shore, grasped her painter, and secured it to an oar, which he jammed into a thickness of some sort of bush that grew close to the wash of the water, and then, rocking and stumbling, he went up the beach.
It was an uninhabited island, and nothing was in sight upon the whole circle of the white shining sea saving the dim blue haze30 of land in the north and a like film or delicate discoloration of the atmosphere in the south-west. The man with rounded back and hanging arms and staggering gait searched for water. The heat was frightful31; the sunshine blazed in the white sand, and seemed to strike upwards32 into the face in darting33 and tingling34 needles, white hot. He went towards the wood, wading35 painfully on his trembling legs through the guinea-grass and thick undergrowth, with toadstools in it like red shields and astir with armoured creatures, finger-long reptiles36 of glorious hue37, and spiders like bunches of jewels.
Suddenly he stopped; his ears had caught a distant noise of water; he turned his back upon the sun, and,[221] thrusting onwards, came presently to a little stream, in which the grass stood thick, green, and sweet. He fell on his knees, and, putting his lips to the crystal surface, sucked up the water like a horse, till, being full nearly to bursting, he fell back with a moan of gratitude38, his face hidden in his hands. He sat till the broiling39 sunshine forced him to rise. The slender stream narrowed in the direction of the wood, and he walked beside it; presently, after pushing a little way into the green shade, he found the source in a rock rich with verdure and enamelled with many strange and beautiful flowers. The trees in this wood stood well apart, but their branches mingled40 in many places, and the shade they made was nearly continuous.
He threw himself down beside the source of the little stream to rest himself. The surf seethed41 with a noise of boiling through the silent, blazing atmosphere outside. The miserable42 castaway now directed his eyes round in search of food. He saw several kinds of berries, and things like apples, but durst not eat of them for fear of being poisoned. Being now rested and immeasurably refreshed, he cooled his head in the stream and walked to the beach, and picked up a number of crabs43. He saw to his boat, hauling her almost high and dry. All that she contained besides the clothes which had served him for a sail, was a carpenter’s hammer and a bag of spikes44. He whipped off his waistcoat and put his coat on, and dropping the hammer into his pocket, returned to the wood with[222] his collection of crabs; then with his knife he cut down a quantity of dry brushwood and set fire to it with the old-fashioned tinder-box that seamen45 of this man’s rating sometimes carried in those days to light their pipes. He roasted the crabs artfully, as one who has served an apprenticeship46 to hardship, and having eaten, he drank again, and then folded his arms to consider what he should do.
He knew that the island was one of the Bahama Cays, though which he could not imagine. But other islands were in sight. He guessed that New Providence47 was not out of reach of his boat, nor was the Florida coast remote, and then there was all the traffic of the Gulf48 of Mexico. He determined49, whilst he reflected, to cook plenty of crabs and to seek for turtle, and so store himself with provisions. But how about watering his little craft? Fresh water, cold and sweet, there was in plenty, but he had nothing to put it in, and what could he contrive50 or invent to serve as a breaker? He thought to himself, if he could find cocoanuts he would let the milk drain, and fill the fruit with water, and so carry away enough to last him until he should be picked up or make a port.
He cast his eyes up aloft with a fancy of beholding in the trees something growing that would answer his purpose, and started, still looking and staring, as though fascinated or lightning-struck.
His eye had sought a tree whose long lower branches overshadowed the little stream, and amidst the foliage[223] he thought he saw the figure of a man! The shape jockeyed a bough51; its back was upon the tree; and now, straining his vision steadily under the sharp of his hand, the man saw that it was the skeleton of a human being, apparently52 lashed or secured to the bough, and completely clothed, from the sugar-loaf hat upon his skull53 down to the rusty54 yellow sea-boats which dangled55 amidst the leaves.
The sailor was alone, and the ghastly sight shocked him; the sense of his loneliness was intensified56 by it; he thought he had been cast away upon the principality of death himself. The diabolic grin in the tree froze the blood in his veins57, and for awhile he could do no more than stare and mutter fragments of the Lord’s Prayer.
He guessed from the costume that the figure had been lodged58 for a great number of years in that tree. He recollected59 that when he was a boy he had seen foreign seamen dressed as that skeleton up there was. It was now late in the afternoon, and with a shuddering60 glance aloft he began to consider how and where he should sleep. He walked out of the wood and gained the highest point of the little central hill, and looked about him for a sail. There was nothing in sight, saving the dim shadows of land red in the ether of sunset. The skeleton, as though it had been a devil, took possession of the castaway’s soul. He could think of nothing else—not even of how he was to get away, how he was to store fresh water for his voyage. He[224] did not mean to sleep in a tree: but the leaves provided a roof as sheltering as an awning61, and he determined to lie down in the wood, and take his chance of snakes. Yet, before he could rest, he must have the skeleton out of it: the shadows would be frightful with the fancy of that figure above riding the bough and rattling62 its bones to every sigh of wind.
So with a resolved heart made desperate by superstition63 and fear, the sailor walked to the wood, and coming to the tree, climbed it by the aid of the strong tendrils of parasites64 which lay coiled round the trunk stout66 and stiff as ropes. He bestrode a thick bough close to the skeleton. It was a ghastly sight in that green glimmering67 dusk, darkening swiftly with the sinking of the sun. The flesh of the face was gone; the cloak hanging from the shoulders was lean, dusty, ragged68 as any twelfth-century banner drooping69 motionless in the gloom of a cathedral. The sailor saw that time and weather had rotted everything saving the bones of the thing. It was secured to the bough by what was, or had been, a scarf, as though the man had feared to fall in his sleep. The seaman70 stretched forth71 his hand, and to the first touch the scarf parted as though it had been formed of smoke; the figure reeled, dropped, and went to pieces at the foot of the tree.
The sailor had not expected this. He was almost afraid to descend72. When he reached the ground he fled towards his boat, and lay in her all night.
[225]
He went for a drink of water at daybreak, and passing the scattered73 remains74 of the skeleton—with some degree of heart, for daylight brought courage, and a few hours of sleep had given him confidence—he spied something glittering amongst the rags of the skeleton’s apparel. He picked it up. It was a silver snuff-box. He opened it, and inside found a piece of paper folded to the shape of the box. It was covered with a scrawl75 in pencil, faint, yet decipherable. To the man it would have been all one, whether the writing had been Chinese or English: he could not read. But he was a wary76 and cunning old sailor; every instinct of perception and suspicion was set a-crawling by the sight of this queer faintly pencilled document, and by the look of the silver snuff-box which weighed very handsomely in his horny palm, yellow with tar2. He pocketed the toy, and having refreshed himself with a drink of water, returned to the fragments of wearing apparel and old bones, no longer afraid, and with the handle of his hammer turned the stuff over, and in the course of a few minutes met with and pocketed the following articles: a stump77 of common lead pencil, three pieces of silver Spanish money, a clay pipe mounted in silver in the bone of an albatross’s wing, a silver watch and hair guard, and a small gold cross.
He talked to himself with a composed countenance78 as he examined these trifles; then, having hunted after more relics79 to no purpose, he turned his back upon the bones and rags, and went about the business of the day.
[226]
During the morning he collected many crabs, but all the while he could not imagine how he was to carry away a store of water, till, chancing to look along the brilliant curve of beach, he spied a turtle of about three hundred pounds coming out of the sea, and then he made up his mind to turn a turtle over after dark, and cut its throat, and make a tub of the shell.
Happily for this castaway he was spared the distress80 of passing another night upon the island. Two or three hours before sundown, a steady breeze then blowing from the north, a large schooner81 suddenly rounded the western point of the island at the distance of a couple of miles, heading east, and steering82 so as to keep the island fair abeam84. The man had collected plenty of brushwood to roast his crabs with; he swiftly kindled85 a fire, and made a smoke with damp leaves, and whilst this signal was feathering down the wind, he launched and jumped into his boat, and, with the nimble experienced hands of the seaman, crossed his oars86 and set his sail of shirt and coat, and slowly blew away right before the wind towards the schooner. She saw the smoke and then the boat, and hove to, and in three-quarters of an hour the man was aboard.
“Who are you?” said the master of the schooner, when the man stood upon the deck.
“Christian87 Hawke, carpenter of the Morning Star,” he answered.
“What’s become of your ship?” said the other.
“Don’t know,” answered Hawke.
[227]
“What’s your yarn88?”
“Why,” answered Hawke, speaking in a hoarse89 level growling90 voice, “we was becalmed, and the captain told me to get into a boat and nail a piece of copper91, which had worked loose, on the rudder. We was flying-light.”
“Where from?” said the captain, suspiciously.
“From New Orleans to Havannah, for orders.”
“Well?” said the captain.
“Well,” continued Hawke, “I was hammering away all right, and doing my bit, when a squall came along, and the ship, with a kick-up of her stern, let go the painter of her own accord and bolted into the thickness; ’twas like muck when that squall bursted, with me a-hollering; I lost sight of the vessel92, and should have been a dead man if it hadn’t been for that there island.” After a pause. “What island is it, sir?” he asked.
“An island fifteen mile east of Rum Cay,” answered the captain.
Hawke had got it into his head that the paper in the snuff-box was the record of a treasure secret, but he was afraid to exhibit it and ask questions. He did not know in what language it was written, whether, in fact, it might not be in good English, and he thought if he showed the paper and it proved a confession93 of money-burial, or something of that sort, the man who read it, knowing where the island was, would forestall94 him.
On the arrival of the schooner at Kingston, Jamaica, Christian Hawke went ashore95. He was without money[228] or clothes, and at once sold the skeleton’s watch and hair guard, for which he received thirty dollars. The purchaser of the watch looked at Hawke curiously96 across the counter after paying down the money, and said—
“Vere did you get this?”
“It’s a family hairloom,” answered Hawke, pointing to the watchguard with a singular grin.
“This here vatch,” said Mr. Solomons, “is a hundred year old, and a vast curiosity in her vurks. Have you more of this sort of thing to sell? If so, I was the most liberal dealer97 of any man in Jamaica.”
Hawke gave him a nod and walked out. He found a ship next morning and signed articles as carpenter and second mate. She was sailing for England in a week from that date, and was a plump, old-fashioned barque of four hundred tons. At the sailors’ lodging-house he had put up at he fell into conversation one evening, a day or two before he sailed, with a dark, black-eyed, handsome, intelligent foreign seaman, who called himself simply Pedro. This fellow did not scruple98 to hint at experiences gained both as a contrabandist99 and piccaroon.
“D’ye speak many languages?” said Hawke, puffing100 at a long clay pipe, and casting his grave, slow-moving little eyes upon a tumbler of amber101 rum at his elbow.
“I can speak three or four languages,” said the foreign seaman.
Hawke surveyed him thoughtfully and then, putting[229] down his pipe, thrust his hand in his pocket, and extracted the paper from the snuff-box without exposing the box.
“What language is this wrote in?” said he, handing the paper to his companion.
The man looked at it, frowning with the severity of his gaze, so dim was the pencil scrawl, so queer the characters, as though the handwriting were the march of a spider’s legs over the page. He then exclaimed suddenly, “Yes, I have it. It is my own language. It is Spanish.”
“Ha!” exclaimed Hawke, “and what’s it all about, mate?”
“How did you come by it?” said the man.
“Found it in an old French Testament,” answered Hawke.
The man glanced at him, and then fixed102 his eyes upon the paper and began to read. He read very slowly, with difficulty deciphering the Spanish, and with greater difficulty interpreting it. The two men were alone. The foreign seaman made out the writing to signify this:—
“I who write am Luis de Argensola, that was second in command of the Gil Polo, commanded by Leonardo de Leon. In a terrible hurricane the ship that was bound from the Havannah to old Spain was lost. I escaped in a boat with Dona Mariana de Mesa and two seamen; both men went mad, and cast themselves overboard in the night. The Dona Mariana was my cousin. She was following her husband to Madrid. He had[230] preceded her by two months. She had many valuable jewels, the gift of her husband, and some had been for many centuries in possession of her own family, who were nobles of Spain. Before the ship foundered103 the Dona urged me to save these jewels, which were in a box in her cabin. I found the box and threw it into the boat, and shortly afterwards the ship went down.
“After five days of anguish105 we arrived at a little island, and twenty-four hours afterwards the Dona Mariana expired. I had no spade to dig a grave, and placed her body in a cave on the left-hand side of a little bay opposite the wood or grove106 where the fresh water stream begins. I have now been here six weeks, and have beheld107 no ship, and am without hope and feel as a dying man. Oh, stranger, who shall discover this my writing, to your honour as a man and to your charity as a Christian do I appeal. My own bones may rest in the place where I die—I care not, but I entreat108 that the remains of the Dona Mariana may be enclosed in a box, and carefully conveyed for interment to her relatives at Madrid, and that this may prove no profitless duty to him who undertakes it, behold12! in the foot of the tree I am accustomed to climb at night, that I may sleep free from the sting of the scorpion109, you shall find a hole. There, within easy reach of your hand lies the box of jewels. This box and the remains of Dona Mariana I entreat of your Christian charity to convey to Alonzo Reyes, Villagarcia, Spain, and I pledge the honour of a[231] Spaniard that one-half the value of the jewels shall be given to you.—Luis de Argensola. July, 1840.”
“That’s twenty year ago,” said Hawke, sucking at his pipe.
“What’ll you take for the secret?” said his companion.
“Eh!”
“If I can find some one to help you to recover those jewels, what share will you give me?”
Hawke pocketed the paper with a sour smile and went out of the room.
His ship sailed and all went well with her. On his arrival in England, as soon as he had taken up his wages and purchased a suit of clothes, he went down to Ramsgate, where, in a little off street not far from the entrance to the pier9, dwelt his brother Reuben. This man was by trade a boat-builder. He also owned some bathing-machines. The brothers had not met for some years, nor had they heard from or of each other since they were last together. Yet when Christian, after beating with a little brass110 knocker upon a little green door, turned the handle and entered straight into a dwelling-room, his brother Reuben, who sat at tea with his wife, two girls, and his wife’s grandfather, exhibited no surprise. Their greeting was simply, “Hallo, Christian!” “Well, Rube!”
Christian sat down and partook of tea with the family, and related his adventures to the great entertainment of the grandfather, who laughed till his cheeks[232] were wet at all the pathetic parts—such as Hawke’s description of his thirst and his feelings of loneliness when upon the ocean and when lying in the boat at the island. The women cleared away the tea-things and went out; the old grandfather fell asleep; then said Christian to his brother—
“Rube, I’m down here to have an airnest chat along with yer.”
“So I guessed,” said Reuben, who resembled his brother in face, manner, and tone of voice.
“Still got that cutter o’ yourn?”
“D’yer mean the Petrel?”
“Ay.”
“Yes, she’s a-lying in the west gully. She airnt me some good money last year as a pleasure-boat. I’ve been thinking of sending her out a-fishing.”
“What’s her tonnage?”
“Eighteen. Want to buy her, Christian?”
“Not I. Suppose you and me goes down and takes a look at her.”
Reuben put on his coat and cap, and the brothers issued forth. Two square figures, the shoregoer rolling in his gait like the seafarer, as though, in fact, he was as fresh from the heave of the sea as the other. They walked along the pier till they came abreast111 of a stout little cutter lying at her moorings in the thick of a fleet of smacks112 hailing from Gravelines, Penzance, and other places. Christian viewed her in silence with the critical eye of an old sailor and a ship’s carpenter to boot.
[233]
“How old’s she, Rube?”
“Nine year.”
“She’ll do,” said Christian. “Rube, I’m going to spin yer a yarn.”
They went leisurely113 along the pier, and as they walked Christian told his brother about the skeleton in the tree and the document in Spanish which he had found in the dead man’s snuff-box. He produced the snuff-box and the paper, also the clay pipe mounted in the bone of an albatross’s wing, and the small gold cross. Reuben listened with an eye bright and keen with interest and conviction. The mere114 sight of the silver box was as convincing to his mind as though he had been carried to the island, and stood looking at Argensola’s bones and the hole in the tree in which the box of jewels lay hid.
That night the two brothers sat up late, deep in discourse115. Christian put ten pounds upon the table.
“That’s all I own in the world,” said he. “It’ll help to victual the boat.”
“We shall want a navigator,” said Reuben. “I’m rather ignorant, myself, of that art, and I don’t suppose you’ve learnt yourself to read yet, ha’ ye, Christian? There’s young Bob Maxted knows all about shooting of the sun. Us two and him’ll be hands enough. Shall we make shares?”
“No,” said Christian; “you and me divides. T’other’ll come along on wages.”
[234]
“There’s no doubt about the situation of the island, I suppose?” said Reuben.
“No.”
“Let’s look at that there Spanish writing again.”
Christian produced the snuff-box and Reuben opened the paper.
“Are you cocksure,” said Reuben, fastening his eyes upon the dim scrawl, “that that there Pedro, as you call him, gave you the right meaning of this writing?”
“Yes; and there was my own ixpurrience to back his varsion.”
“I’m rather for having it made into English again, Christian,” said Reuben, thoughtfully. “Young Jones down at Consul116 Hammond’s office speaks Spanish. What d’yer say?”
“No; I’m not a-going to trust any man but yourself with the secret. See here: if we come back rich—as’ll follow—and you’ve bin104 meanwhile and shown that there paper to some one who understands it, what’ll be thought? The gaff’ll be blowed; the relaytives of that there Mary Ann’ll be getting wind of our haul, and’ll come upon us for the jewels.”
This and the like reasoning satisfied Reuben, who presently returned the paper to Christian, and, after drinking a final glass of grog, the two brothers went to bed.
Next day, and for some days afterwards, they were full of business. Young Maxted was willing to sail with[235] them; they gave out vaguely117 that they were bound to the West Indies, partly on pleasure, partly on business. The true character of their errand was not revealed to Maxted, who had agreed for six pounds a month to navigate118 the little ship into the West Indian seas and back again. Reuben drew all his savings119 from the bank; twenty pounds and Christian’s ten pounds formed their capital. They provisioned themselves with forecastle fare, adding some bottled beer and a few gallons of rum, and on a fine morning at daybreak, when Ramsgate still slumbered120, and the hush121 of the night yet brooded over the harbour, the three men hoisted122 their mainsail and jib, and blew softly down the gulley and round the head of the pier into the English Channel, which was by this time white with the risen sun, and beautiful in the south-west, where a hundred ships that had lain wind-bound in the Downs were flashing into canvas, and moving like a cloud before the light easterly breeze.
All went well down-Channel with the little craft. She was a stout and buoyant sea boat, with a dominant123 sheer of bow, coppered to the bends like a revenue cutter, and uncommonly124 stout of scantling for a vessel of her class. She was in good trim, and she plunged125 along stoutly126, making fine weather of some ugly seas which ridged to her bow as she drove aslant127 through the Bay. By this time young Maxted had been made acquainted with the cutter’s destination, and was steering a course for the little island. He plied128 his[236] sextant nimbly, and clearly understood his business. The brothers represented to him that the object of their voyage was to recover some treasure which had been washed ashore out of a small Spanish plate ship and buried.
“We ain’t sure,” Christian Hawke told him, “that the island we’re bound to is the island where the wreck129 took place. But the herrant’s worth the cost and the time, and we mean to have a look round, anyhow.”
Maxted was silent; perhaps with the proverbial heedlessness of the sailor he was satisfied to take things as they happened. The actual motive130 of the voyage could be of no interest to him. All that he had to do was to steer83 the little ship to an island and receive so many sovereigns in wages on their return.
They made a swift run for so small a keel; in fact, the island was in sight at the grey of dawn thirty-three days after the start from Ramsgate. Christian Hawke with a telescope at his eye quickly recognized the central hill, the soft, cloud-like mass of green shadow made by the wood or grove on the right, and the slope of the green land to the ivory dazzle of sand vanishing in the foam of the charging comber. He warmly commended Maxted’s navigation, and both brothers stared with flushed faces and nostrils131 wide with expectation at the beautiful little cay that lay floating like a jewel full of gleams upon the calm blue brine right ahead.
They hove-to and rounded at about a mile from the land, and then let go their anchor in sixteen fathoms132 of[237] water. They next launched their little fat jolly-boat smack-fashion through the gangway, and Christian and Reuben entered her and pulled away for the land, leaving Maxted in charge of the cutter; but little vigilance was needed in such weather as that; the sea was flat, and bare, and as brilliant as the sky; under the sun the water trembled in a glory of diamonds to the delicate brushing of a hot, light breeze. Nothing broke the silence upon the deep save the low, organ-like music of the surf beating on the western and northern boards of the island.
Whilst Christian pulled, Reuben steering the boat with an oar, he talked of his sufferings when in these parts, how his jaws had been fixed in a horrid133 gape134 by thirst, and of the terror that had besieged135 him when he looked up into the trees and beheld the skeleton. They made direct for the little creek136 into which Christian had driven his boat, and where he had slept on that first and only night he had passed on the island; and when her forefoot grounded they sprang out and hauled the boat high and dry, and then with hearts loud in their ears and restless eyes, directed their steps towards the little wood. Christian glanced wildly about him, imagining that in everything his sight went to, he beheld a token of the island having been recently visited.
“How long’ll it be since you was here, Christian?” rumbled137 Reuben, in a note subdued138 by expectation and other passions.
“Five month,” answered Christian, hoarsely139.
[238]
They walked to the margin140 of the little wood, and arrived at the source of the stream that ran glittering and straying like pearls amidst the tall sweet green grass that grew in the bed of it. Reuben grasped Christian by the arm.
“What’s that?” he cried.
It was a human skull, and close beside it were the complete bones of a human skeleton, together with a little heap of rags. It looked as though the stuff had been raked together for removal and forgotten.
“That wasn’t how they was left,” exclaimed Christian, coming to a halt and looking at the bones and rags. “There’s been a hand arter me here in that job.”
“A boat’s crew may ha’ landed and shovelled141 the stuff together out of a sort o’ respect for the remains of something that might have been a sailor,” exclaimed Reuben. “Where’s the tree with the hole in it?”
Christian walked to the place where he had been seated when his eye went to the skeleton aloft.
“That’ll be the tree,” said he.
It was a large tree, the trunk of the bigness of an English chestnut142, but dwarfed143 in altitude; its beauty was in the spread and curve of its branches. In the hinder part of the trunk—speaking with regard to its bearings from the source of the stream—about five feet above the ground, was a large hole, partly concealed144 by the festooning drapery of the leaves of a rich and vigorous parasite65, which soared in coils to the summit of the tree. Christian put his hand in.
[239]
“Stand by for snakes!” shouted Reuben.
The other drew out a little common brass tobacco-box.
“What’s here?” cried he.
“Try for the jewel box!” exclaimed Reuben.
Christian entered his hand again and felt round.
“There’s nothen more here,” said he.
“Has it fallen to the bottom?”
“There ain’t no hole for it to fall through,” cried Christian, still feeling. “It’s tight as a locker145.”
He looked at the common little brass tobacco-box, then opened it, and found inside a slip of paper, folded to the shape of the box, as though in imitation of the snuff-box document in Christian’s possession. The handwriting was a bold scrawl in ink. With a trembling hand and ashen146 face the poor fellow presented the paper to his brother, who, putting on his glasses, read aloud as follows:—
“I would have been glad to take a small share to help you to find the jewels, but you would not put a little money in my way, though by interpreting Luis de Argensola’s dying request in writing I was the instrument of your discovering that there lay a treasure to your hand. I therefore arranged with another to seek for the jewels: the situation being exactly known to me, because of your ignorance of the Spanish language, and perhaps of the art of reading, for at the end of the document, in three lines which it did not suit my purpose to interpret to you, Don Luis states[240] how the island bears—that, in short, it is between ten and fifteen miles east of Rum Cay. My friend, I have found the jewels, and thank you for a fortune. They consist of pearl and diamond necklaces, brooches, bracelets147, earrings148, smelling-bottles, rings, and diamond ornaments149 for the hair. I should say they will not fetch less than £10,000.—Your amigo of Kingston, Pedro.
“I have left the skeletons to your pious150 care to coffin151 and carry to the representative at Villagarcia. You will find the remains of the Lady Mariana de Mesa in a cave on the west side of the island.”
The two men burst into a storm of oaths, and the little wood rang with forecastle and ’longshore imprecations. When they had exhausted152 their passions they knelt and drank from the spring of water, then walked to the boat, launched her, and returned to the cutter.
They arrived in England safely in due course, but some time later Reuben was obliged to compound with his creditors153. Christian Hawke died in 1868 on board ship, still a carpenter.
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2
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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4
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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5
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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6
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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7
oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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8
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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9
pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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10
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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11
saliva
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| n.唾液，口水 | |
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12
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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13
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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14
glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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15
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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16
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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17
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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18
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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19
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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20
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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21
sentience
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| n.感觉性；感觉能力；知觉 | |
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22
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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23
attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
sifted
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| v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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25
clotted
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| adj.凝结的v.凝固( clot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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27
heartiest
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| 亲切的( hearty的最高级 )； 热诚的； 健壮的； 精神饱满的 | |
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28
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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29
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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30
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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31
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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32
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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33
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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34
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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35
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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36
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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37
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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38
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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39
broiling
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| adj.酷热的，炽热的，似烧的v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的现在分词 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
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40
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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41
seethed
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| （液体）沸腾( seethe的过去式和过去分词 )； 激动，大怒； 强压怒火； 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth) | |
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42
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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43
crabs
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| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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44
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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45
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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46
apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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47
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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48
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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49
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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50
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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51
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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52
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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53
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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54
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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55
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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56
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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58
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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59
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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61
awning
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| n.遮阳篷；雨篷 | |
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62
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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63
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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64
parasites
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| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
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65
parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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67
glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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68
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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69
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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70
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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71
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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72
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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73
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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74
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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75
scrawl
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| vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写 | |
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76
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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77
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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78
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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79
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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80
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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81
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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82
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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83
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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84
abeam
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| adj.正横着(的) | |
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85
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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86
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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87
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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88
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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89
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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90
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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91
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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92
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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93
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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94
forestall
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| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
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95
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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96
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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97
dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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98
scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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99
contrabandist
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| n.走私者 | |
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100
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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101
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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102
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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103
foundered
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| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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104
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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105
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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106
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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107
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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108
entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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109
scorpion
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| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
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110
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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111
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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112
smacks
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| 掌掴（声）( smack的名词复数 )； 海洛因； （打的）一拳； 打巴掌 | |
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113
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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114
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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115
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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116
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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117
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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118
navigate
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| v.航行，飞行；导航，领航 | |
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119
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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120
slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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121
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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122
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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125
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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aslant
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| adv.倾斜地；adj.斜的 | |
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128
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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129
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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132
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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133
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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gape
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| v.张口，打呵欠，目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
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135
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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137
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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139
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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140
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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141
shovelled
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| v.铲子( shovel的过去式和过去分词 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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142
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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143
dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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148
earrings
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| n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子 | |
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149
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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150
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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151
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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152
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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