داستان دوم جیم هاوکینز

CHAPTER 3 - Jim’s Story II

‘Your friends are in the house now,’ said Ben Gunn.

‘I must go to them,’ I said. ‘Are you coming with me?

‘No,’ said Ben. ‘But you know where to find me. Come tomorrow afternoon.’

I looked at the Hispaniola, out on the sea, and saw the pirates’ flag. ‘They have the ship now,’ I thought.

The pirates on the beach made a big fire. They started to drink and to talk loudly. I waited for a time, then went to the house. I told Dr Livesey about my meeting with Ben Gunn up on the hill.

‘Tell me about this man,’ said the doctor. ‘Is he going to help us?’

‘Yes, I think he is,’ I said.

‘There are fifteen pirates now,’ said the doctor. ‘And there are six of us. Seven, with Ben Gunn.’

I was very tired and I slept well that night. The next morning one of our men said: ‘Look! Someone’s coming! A man with a white flag.’

‘Don’t shoot!’ said the man. ‘It’s me. John Silver.’ ‘What do you want?’ asked Captain Smollett. ‘Captain Silver wants to talk to you,’ said Long John. ‘Captain Silver now? Come on, then,’ said Captain Smollett. Long John came slowly up the hill to the house. We all watched him.

‘Yes?’ asked the captain.

One of our men is dead,’ said Silver. ‘You killed him in the night.’

The captain said nothing.

‘We didn’t kill that man,’ I thought. ‘Ben Gunn killed him.

Now there are only fourteen pirates.’

‘We want that treasure,’ Silver said. ‘And you’ve got a map, right?’

‘Perhaps,’ said the captain.

‘I know you’ve got it,’ said Silver. ‘Give us the map. Then you can leave the island with us, or, if you like, you can stay here.’ ‘Is that all?’ asked Captain Smollett. ‘Now, listen to me, Silver.

You can’t find the treasure and you can’t sail the ship. We aren’t going to help you find the treasure, so you can go now. I have nothing more to say to you.’

‘Then we’re going to fight you,’ said Silver angrily, and he went away, walking slowly down the hill.

It was a hot day. We waited for a long time and then the pirates started shooting again. Suddenly some of the pirates ran out of the trees up to the house.

‘Get them!’ said the captain. We all fought hard. We killed three of the pirates and the others ran away. But when we got back inside the house we found that Joyce was dead. Hunter and the captain were hurt, too.

‘Five pirates are dead,’ said the doctor.

‘Good,’ said the captain. ‘Now they have nine men and we have five.’

♦

The pirates went back to the beach. Everything was quiet. Later that day Hunter died.

The doctor left the house. ‘He’s going to meet Ben Gunn,’ I thought. It was very hot inside the house and I did not like waiting. So I took some food and a gun and went to look for Ben Gunn’s boat.

After about an hour I found it. It was very small and light. ‘I can take this boat and go out to the Hispaniola at night,’ I thought.

I sat down and waited. Night came, and it was very dark. The pirates had a big fire on the beach, and there was a small light on the Hispaniola. Very quietly, I put Ben Gunn’s boat into the sea.

The boat moved slowly and quietly across the water. Soon I was near the ship. Nobody saw me.

‘I can cut the ship’s rope with my knife,’ I thought. ‘And then the wind can push the ship away from the beach.’ I listened. There were two men on the ship. The other pirates were all on the beach. The men on the ship were talking loudly and angrily. ‘They’re going to have a fight,’ I thought. One of the men was Israel Hands.

I waited, then I cut the rope. Slowly the ship turned round and began to move away from the beach. The two men on the ship started to fight. The pirates on the beach sat round their fire and sang. They did not see the ship moving away. I sat down in Ben Gunn’s boat and fell asleep.

In the morning I sat up and looked around. The little boat was not far from the island and I saw that I was quite near the Hispaniola. I looked for Israel Hands and the other pirate, but I did not see them. I moved slowly nearer and nearer to the Hispaniola. Then I climbed on to the ship.

The two pirates were there, on the ship. They did not move.

One of them was dead. Israel Hand’s leg was badly hurt, but he was not dead.

I looked round the ship. All the cupboards were open, and everything was dirty. There were a lot of bottles on the floor.

I found some drink and gave it to Hands. Then I took down the pirates’ flag. ‘The ship is ours, now,’ I thought.

Israel Hands spoke. ‘You can’t sail the ship, Jim Hawkins,’ he said. ‘Give me some food. I can help you.’ ‘I don’t want to go back to the beach,’ I said. ‘Help me to sail it to the North Inlet.’

‘Right,’ he said.

So we sailed to the north of the island. The ship moved quietly through the water; I was happy. The old pirate watched me carefully.

Then he smiled. ‘Jim, go and get me . . . er . . . get me something to drink,’ he said. ‘I’m thirsty.’ I did not like his smile. I went away, but I came back very quietly and watched him. He moved slowly and took a knife from behind some rope. Then he put the knife under his jacket and he went back to his old place.

Ah,’ I thought. ‘He can move and he’s got a knife. He wants to kill me. I must be careful.’

I went back to him and gave him the bottle. We sailed on and came to the North Inlet. Hands told me what to do and I brought the ship near the beach. I watched the sails and the sea, but I did not watch Hands. Suddenly I turned and saw him behind me with his knife in his hand. I jumped away and took out my gun. I tried to shoot at Hands but nothing happened. The gun was wet with sea water.

I moved away quickly, but Hands followed me. I climbed up among the sails and tried to shoot again. Hands looked up, then he threw his knife at me. It went into my arm. Then I shot him and he dropped into the sea.

The pirate’s knife was in my arm. I pulled it out and climbed down on to the ship.

It was now evening. ‘I must go back to the house now,’ I thought. ‘They’re going to be angry with me, but I’ve got the ship.’

So I left the ship and went happily back through the trees. I saw the house, and a big fire next to it. I moved on quietly through the trees and went into the house. It was dark and very quiet.

‘Everyone is sleeping,’ I thought.

Then somebody spoke. ‘Who’s there?’ he said. It was Long John Silver.

♦

Somebody brought a light. There were six pirates in the room.

The other pirates were all dead.

‘So here’s Jim,’ said Long John Silver. ‘Here to visit us. That’s very nice …’

I said nothing.

‘So now you want to be a pirate, Jim,’ Silver said. ‘The captain and the doctor are angry with you, I know.’ ‘What’s happening?’ I asked.

‘Well, Jim,’ said Silver. ‘The ship’s far away. Your friends left the house yesterday, and we’re here now. And you, Jim, are you going to stay with us?’

‘Let’s kill him,’ said one of the other pirates.

‘No,’ said Silver. ‘I’m the captain. And I like this boy.’ The other men were angry with Silver. They went away to talk about it together.

‘I want to help you, Jim,’ said Silver quietly to me. ‘But you must help me, too.’

At last the other pirates came back. They gave Silver some paper. It was black.

‘You aren’t our captain now, John Silver,’ one of the pirates said. ‘We don’t want you. And we don’t want that boy.’

‘Well,’ said Silver. ‘I have something you want. Look! And he showed them Mr Trelawney’s treasure map. ‘The doctor gave me this!’ he said.

The pirates were very excited and they all looked at the map.

‘Good old Silver!’ they said. ‘Good old Captain Silver!’

♦

The next morning the doctor came to the house.

‘Good morning, doctor,’ said Long John. ‘Look who’s here!’ ‘Jim!’ said the doctor. ‘I want to talk to you. But first I must look at these men.’

‘Now I want to talk to Jim,’ said the doctor after a few minutes.

‘No, you can’t,’ said one pirate.

But Silver said, ‘Yes, he can. You can speak to the boy, doctor.’ The doctor turned to me. ‘Why are you with the pirates, Jim?’ he asked sadly.

‘It was a mistake,’ I said. ‘They caught me here last night. But doctor, I’ve got the ship. It’s in the North Inlet.’ ‘The ship!’ said the doctor.

I told him my story.

‘Good boy!’ he said. Then he turned to Silver. ‘Silver! Look after this boy. Perhaps I can help you later. Goodbye, Jim.’ And the doctor left us.

♦

‘And now, Jim,’ said Silver, ‘we’re going to look for the treasure.’

The pirates thought about the treasure and they were happy.

They ate their breakfast quickly and we all started to walk along the beach.

‘We must go this way, and look for a tall tree,’ said Silver.

There were a lot of tall trees on the island and the pirates ran to look at all of them.

Then one of the pirates said, ‘Here!’ Near a tree was a dead man.

‘He was a sailor,’ said one of the pirates. ‘Look at his jacket!

But what’s he doing here? When did he die?’ ‘Flint killed him years ago,’ said Silver. ‘He’s showing us the way to the treasure. Follow his arm. Come on! This way.’ The pirates followed quietly. They were afraid. We climbed a hill, then we sat down.

Suddenly we heard singing. ‘It’s Flint!’ said one man, his face very white. ‘No,’ said Silver. ‘Not Flint. Flint’s dead. Remember the treasure, my boys, and don’t be afraid!’ But all the pirates had white faces.

Silver listened carefully to the singing. ‘That’s not Flint!’ he said. ‘It’s . . . it’s Ben Gunn! We’re not afraid of Ben Gunn!’ The singing stopped and we moved on. After twenty minutes we saw a very big tree on top of a hill. The pirates started to run.

But they did not find any treasure. Under the tree they found an old box. There was nothing in it. Flint’s treasure was not there.

For a long time the six pirates sat and said nothing. Then Silver turned to me. ‘Be very careful, Jim,’ he said quietly. ‘These men are dangerous.’ He gave me a gun.

The pirates looked at us and we looked back at them. Suddenly, from the trees, guns started to shoot. Two of the pirates dropped to the ground and the other three ran away.

The doctor and Ben Gunn ran out of the trees and started to run after the pirates. ‘They can’t get away,’ said Silver. ‘And you, Ben Gunn, what are you doing here?’

The doctor and Ben told us Ben’s story. ‘Ben found the treasure a long time ago,’ said the doctor. ‘He moved it to his home on the island. So I gave the pirates Flint’s map and we left the house and went to stay with Ben.’

We took one of the pirate’s boats, and broke the other. ‘The pirates haven’t got a boat now,’ said the doctor. ‘They can’t follow us.’

Then we went round the island to find the Hispaniola. At last we found our ship and met Mr Trelawney and Captain Smollett.

‘What are you doing here, John Silver?’ asked the captain.

‘I’m here to help you,’ said Silver.

‘Ah,’ said the captain.

I had a good dinner that night with all my friends. We were all happy. Silver ate and drank and smiled and laughed too.

♦

The next morning we started to carry the treasure to the ship.

We did not see the three pirates on the island. Three days later, we finished our work. We heard the pirates singing loudly, but we did not see them.

We left some boxes of food for the pirates, and started across the sea to the nearest town. We were happy when we arrived there. And there Silver left us. We were in the town and he got away. He took some of the treasure with him, too.

And so, after some weeks at sea, we arrived home with our treasure. I never wanted to go back to that island again.