Pieces Of Eight

by John Drake

  Van Oosterhout would be busy for weeks, especially once he'd dug up some of the treasure, and goggled over it - for Flint knew the key to Van Oosterhout. Otherwise what was he doing here? He'd had plenty of opportunity to run. With Van Oosterhout it was gold, gold, gold. And Spanish dollars, of course.

  Fortunately, he'd be on his own, sworn to secrecy, and unable to take more than a handful or two for himself. Better still, during their intense conversation, Flint had taken a close look at Van Oosterhout's face beneath the sandy whiskers, and seen how easily the Dutchman's total silence could be assured.

  And so back to Ben Gunn. Making haste, before Bentham and O'Byrne could close in, Flint found the mad creature and made completely sure that he knew what was expected of him.

  "Tell me what sort of men you must find," said Flint.

  Ben Gunn told him.

  "And where must you take them?"

  Ben Gunn told him.

  "And what must they do?"

  Ben Gun told him.

  "And finally," said Flint, "tell me what shall happen to you, should you play me false."

  Ben Gunn shuddered. He lowered his eyes. A thin stream of terror ran from his bladder and down his skinny leg, and made a dark patch in the sand.

  "You'll give me to the savages."

  "And what if you try to run away?"

  "They'll catch me anyway."

  "And what will they do to you?"

  In a tiny voice, with eyes tight shut, and hands over his face, Ben Gunn told him. Ben Gunn knew, because Flint had told him. Flint listened and nodded and looked to the future, and saw all things smoothed and his plans going forward like a ship in a steady blow - never suspecting that another threat, one he'd thought dead and gone, was even now reaching out to grab him.

  Two bells of the forenoon watch

  15th February 1753

  Aboard HMS Oraclaesus

  The Atlantic

  The maintop of a frigate in a lively sea was lavishly provided with opportunities for a man to kill himself.

  It was a timber platform some twenty feet long by fifteen wide; rounded forward and square-cut aft (where, it must be said, there was a flimsy rail that might stop a man from going over and dropping a hundred feet to the hard deck or the hungry sea). Likewise, to either beam, the main topmast shrouds with their ratlines closed the maintop under a narrowing pyramid of black-tarred rope, making it almost impossible to go over either way. But forward, the top was entirely innocent of restraint, and inboard, where the platform admitted the great shafts of the mainmast and topmast, there were great gaps - lubbers' holes - that lay in wait for some fool to put his foot in, and proceed downwards by that swift route.

  Which was one of many reasons why, aboard His Majesty's ships nine men were killed as a result of mishap, shipwreck or disease, for every one so fortunate as to be killed by England's enemies.

  None of which worried Lieutenant Hastings or Mr Midshipman Povey, who'd been bred up to the sea and imagined no other life, and today were at the pinnacle of professional joy, finding themselves at the epicentre of such a manoeuvre as only men-o'-war could perform at all, and which, in their opinion, only King George's ships could do well.

  Each had a telescope and each had a ship under observation.

  The ships were Leaper and Bounder. Of these, Leaper - observed by Hastings - lay to larboard, and Bounder- observed by Povey - lay to starboard, each being some twenty miles off: the furthest distance from which signals were visible by the aid of a glass. Then to larboard of Leaper was Jumper, another twenty miles off. So, with four ships deployed in line abeam, and the outermost ships looking their twenty miles further out on each side… that meant a total width of one hundred miles was under observation as the ships proceeded on course.

  "Signal coming up, sir!" said Povey as a hoist of flags ran up the halyard and broke into the wind. The signal read "Inquiry" - a challenge to ensure all ships were alert and smart.

  Hastings and Povey studied Leaper and Bounder.

  "Acknowledge!" said Hastings, as Leaper responded with signal flags. "Aye-aye Leaper!" he roared, for the benefit of the officer of the watch, below.

  "Aye-aye Bounder!" cried Povey.

  "Aye-aye Jumper!" cried Hastings, as Leaper hoisted the "Repeat Acknowledge", indicating Jumper too was awake and alert.

  Thus ship spoke to ship in seconds across a hundred miles. A remarkable feat of seamanship, but routine to those involved. Which was just as well, because they had to keep it up day after weary day to find Flint's island, for the ocean is mighty and laughs at so small a distance as a hundred miles. Also, for all Mr Povey's natural talent for navigation, he'd not put his finger on quite the right spot. Nobody could have done better, but it was only a guess, and nothing less than the skilled teamwork of a naval squadron could have found the island based on that guess.

  In the event, all was merriment and anticipation aboard Commodore Scott-Owen's ships, for they came within sight of the island's southern anchorage after only ten days of searching. It could have taken much, much longer, and every man of them knew it, and there wasn't one who didn't believe they were blessed with especially good luck. The future could only be bright.

  * * *

  Chapter 32

  Late afternoon, 23rd February 1753

  A secret place

  The island

  Flint put away his notebook. It had served its purpose: this was a site that did not appear in the notes given to Van Oosterhout. Looking around him, the forest glade began to seem familiar now that he was actually in it, but even he couldn't have found it without the notes. He sighed in contentment, took out his pocket compass, opened it, and set his back to one of the giant pines that rose over the island like a cathedral spire. He let the needle steady itself… took a bearing… and paced out the correct number of steps.

  "Here, my jolly boys!" he said. "Bring your spades and your strong arms, and dig here!"

  "Huzzah!" they cried.

  "Shhhh!" said Flint. "Hush lads! We don't want the savages upon us, do we now? Helping themselves with their greedy fingers!"

  They grinned, and dropped their spars and tackles, laid aside pistols and cutlasses, and took up their spades and began to dig furiously, while Flint sat on a rock watching them.

  He fanned himself with his hat, for it was hot and dark in the glade, with legions of buzzing insects, and a stifling scent

  of pine and wild garlic. He spread his fine coattails neatly on the rock so that they shouldn't be creased. He fingered the linen of his shirt, and the plume in his hat, and tried to put on a serious face… and failed totally. For he couldn't help chuckling at their bright eagerness, and the vigour with which they threw up the earth, and drove in their spades, already imagining themselves home in England, rogering tarts, gorging themselves on rum-duff, and riding in gilded carriages.

  Look at them! he thought. Those bright eyes… those smooth cheeks! But that was too much. It was just too much. He doubled up laughing, for Ben Gunn was - even at this very moment - off about his duties, choosing men of quite a different kind, and Flint laughed at the thought of it.

  The six men doing the digging grinned and nudged one another as they worked. It was a fine thing to see the captain so merry, for Christ help a poor sailorman when he wasn't! But they didn't stop digging. They'd been told most explicitly that this wasn't the great share-out they all dreamed of. Still… a man couldn't help but hope that just a little might - entirely accidentally and by chance - drop into his own pockets when nobody was looking. Or perhaps into the tops of his hungry boots… for no one would notice that, now, would they?

  Thunk! Scrape! Thunk! went the spades. Then: CLUNK!

  "Ah!" said Flint, up like a cat and among the diggers on the instant. He grinned. He looked into the sandy, earthy hole… There they were! Three fine chests of iron-bound wood. In fact, only one was visible, but Flint knew that two more were there. "Careful now, my boys - my jolly boys!" he said. "There's over five thousand S
panish dollars in these boxes, and I want them out of the ground, and not spoilt!"

  "Oh?" said one of the diggers. "Is that all? We thought there was hundreds of thousands…"

  "Aye!" said his mates, miserable as children denied a feast, and surly besides.

  "No, my lovely boys!" said Flint. "Not here. But there's plenty elsewhere!"

  And he said it so nicely, and tapped a finger against his nose with such an air of secrets shared among shipmates, that they nodded and smiled and beamed.

  "AAAAH!" they said, and were well content. They remained content as their captain explained what was to be done, and why, and where the dollars were to be taken. And they marvelled at his foresight in bringing spars and ropes so a pair of men could easily manage one of the heavy chests by slinging it from a spar laid over their shoulders. And above all they thrilled at the knowledge that they knew where the treasure lay - some of it, anyway - and nobody else did!

  And neither did they know that what they'd raised was worth considerably more than five thousand dollars, since one of the chests - the smallest but the heaviest - didn't contain silver dollars, but gold doubloons. Flint thought it best not to tempt their naughtiness with such knowledge as that. Especially as there were some stones in there as well… precious stones.

  Fifteen men on the dead man's chest! he sang as he led the way. It was the good old song he always sang when happy. But he sang only to himself. He sang silently. He didn't want these poor souls bellowing out the chorus and drawing attention to the three chests swaying along to their new home. Aside from Van Oosterhout, six men now knew the whereabouts of at least some of the goods, and six was enough, because God alone knew how many Patanq savages were hiding in the woods, a-creeping and a-spying.

  So Flint was merry as he walked, occasionally looking back to make sure that they were following. Indeed, he was so merry that it soon became very hard for him to deny himself the fun of ensuring personally and with his own hand that the shared secret went no further. But he managed to hold these urges in check. For one thing he wasn't about to carry three hundredweight of treasure by himself. And for another… there was a totally new and totally wonderful game to be played: a game he'd never played before, and he didn't want to spoil it.

  When the work was done, Flint sent his spadesmen to get drunk at a quiet place he'd shown them, and where he would join them later. As soon as they were out of sight, he settled down to enjoy a little interlude by himself before returning to the camp and the enfolding arms of Bentham and the rest. He smiled. Things were shaping up nicely. Not everything had gone to plan, but there'd been compensating surprises. For the time being, a little of the raised coinage would keep the savages happy, and the promise of more should spur them on to greater efforts against John Silver. Alas, it would involve sitting down with the savages for yet another of their appalling formal councils - a dull task, but unavoidable. And then he must deal with Bentham, who was too nosy; and Cowdray and Van Oosterhout, who were too clever; and even Mr O'Byrne, who was too ugly! A lesser man would have trembled at the tasks ahead, but not Joe Flint.

  Finally there was Selena… and the thought of her stopped Flint dead in his tracks. His mouth dropped open in horror. And this time he trembled like any lesser man. For he'd been on the point of making a most appalling mistake. He realised in that instant that it would be necessary to tell Selena everything. In particular it would be necessary to tell her what he was going to do with those who were surplus to requirements. Otherwise his wonderful scheme for killing almost everyone would end up with Selena among the dead.

  And Flint could not bear the thought of anything harming Selena. Not a hair of her head. Not a fingernail. Not an inch of her lovely body.

  Sunset, 25th February 1753

  Outside Flint's Camp

  The northern inlet

  As was her habit, Selena walked away from the camp, and into the darkness, as ever keeping the edge of the trees on one side and the waters of the inlet on the other. That way, even in darkness she kept her sense of direction. She had nothing to fear. There were no wild beasts in the woods and the only wild men were Flint's or Silver's or Dreamer's - none of whom would harm her. She was immensely privileged, and she knew it. The only trouble was that she had no idea which of these various parties she wanted to be part of.

  Bentham was following her. She knew that too. He… she … still wouldn't let her alone. Whatever it was that burned inside Danny Bentham was stronger even than the lust that drove men to make fools of themselves. But Selena wasn't afraid of men or Danny Bentham any more, just tired of all of them, and their greed and their violence and the hideous things they did to one another. That, and the equally hideous knowledge that she could think of no better or finer place to run to… even if she could run.

  "Selena!" said Bentham.

  "Oh, go away."

  "I got to talk to you."

  She nearly killed him there and then, overwhelmed by the surge of anger, the thought blazing in her mind: Draw! Fire!

  But she didn't. She'd killed in self defence, but wasn't quite ready for cold-blooded murder. So she thought a bit… and tried something new. She turned to face him.

  "Flint don't like you talking to me," she said, and saw at once that she'd hit the mark. Bentham scowled, but for a moment she saw the fright in his big, smooth face.

  "Damn Flint!" said Bentham. "He's nothing to me!"

  "Really?" she said. "Let's see you tell him that!"

  Bentham wasn't done, though. He stepped forward, then stopped about ten feet off, and raised his hands.

  "Selena," he said, "we're near the end o' this voyage."

  "What voyage?"

  "The raising of Flint's treasure."

  "Oh… that."

  "There was another council earlier, with Dreamer."

  "I know."

  "Flint had a plan. A plan to take Silver's fort."

  "Yes."

  "It's clever."

  "It would be, since it came from him. But don't trust your life on it."

  "I won't - it's the Patanq who'll take the risks!"

  "So?"

  "Well… once it's done, and we're done with Silver, then my share'll make me rich, and I'm fixed on givin' up the sea life, and going ashore and -"

  "Selena!"

  Flint's voice. Distant. Coming from the direction of the camp.

  "Better not let him find you with me," said Selena.

  "Bollocks to that! I'll skin and gut the swab!"

  "Really?"

  Bentham turned and stared at the distinctive figure coming towards them along the beach.

  "He knows I come along here," said Selena, "but he hasn't seen you yet. You've still time to make up your mind… So," she sneered, "just what are you going to do now, Mister Bentham?"

  Bentham thought. Flint was the only creature who knew where the treasure was buried. Flint couldn't be killed. Not even harmed.

  "I want you, Selena," he said. "I'll find a way!" And with that Bentham ran and hid in the dark woods. He hid so well that when Flint marched up there wasn't even a sniff of him, and Selena was quite alone.

  Flint stepped up to her, took her hands and kissed them.

  "Selena!" he said.

  "What d'you want?"

  "I have good news."

  "What?"

  "Things are going well. We're going to be rich."

  "We are?"

  He smiled, but only God knew what was behind the smile. Certainly Selena had no idea. Not when Flint could smile one instant and kill the next.

  "Ah!" he said. "I see you are unsure. No matter, I've been unsure myself. Unsure for months."

  "Have you?" she said, and prickled in fright because she guessed where this was leading.

  "I thought I wasn't fit," he said. "Would you believe that? Not fit for you." And he smiled again, and spoke such words as drew Selena clean out of her depth, and into very deep waters indeed.

  For Flint was arguing a case. Where a normal man - a m
an in love - would have pleaded and begged, Flint was beating the drum that marshalled the facts, that destroyed the opposition. He did it with great skill, magnified by his undoubted charm, and founded on the rock-bottom truth that he was master of one of the greatest treasures ever assembled in one place.

  Selena was still young. She had no experience of life beyond the Fitzroy plantation, Charley Neal's liquor store, or sailing with gentlemen of fortune. By comparison, life with Flint was the best she could hope for - that was how Flint told it. That was what he was offering. And Selena wondered. She really wondered. Perhaps this was the best she could get in a vicious, cruel world, because it could be, it might be, a very comfortable best… and perhaps Flint himself had changed?

  A second later she was convinced of it, for Flint was so persuasive that he succeeded in persuading even himself and took the final step, as a rush of genuine feeling overcame him.

  "Marry me!" he said. "Be my wife!"

  There was utter silence as each reacted to these extraordinary words. Selena could not believe that he'd actually spoken them, while Flint was astounded that something so powerful could exist within himself without him knowing, until it burst forth, passionate, spontaneous and sincere. And in that uncanny moment they stood together on the brink of the fathomless, uncharted unknown.

  "Joe," she said, "where do we go from here?"

  "I'll tell you," he said, "we've come to a parting, Selena!"

  "What do you mean?"

  "You don't think we're going to share the goods, do you? With the rest?"

  "Well, yes!"

  Flint laughed aloud. "God bless you, no! There's you and me, and there's those we do not want. Now listen, my little flower, for this is what I shall do with them and this is what you must do to be safe…"

  And so he explained. He explained in detail, and a great shame fell upon Selena that she'd considered - even for an instant - the possibility of giving herself to Flint while John Silver still lived. Even if Long John were a thousand miles away and she might never see him again.