thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere buried
below its spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as they drew
nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their eyes burned in their
heads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul was bound
up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and pleasure,
that lay waiting there for each of them.

Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch; his nostrils stood out and
quivered: he cursed like a madman when the flies settled on his hot and
shiny countenance; he plucked furiously at the line that held me to him,
and, from time to time, turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look.
Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts; and certainly I read
them like print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had been
forgotten; his promise and the doctor's warning were both things of the
past; and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the treasure,
find and board the _Hispaniola_ under cover of night, cut every honest
throat about that island, and sail away, as he had at first intended,
laden with crimes and riches.

Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me to keep up with the
rapid pace of the treasure-hunters. Now and again I stumbled; and it was
then that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me his
murderous glances. Dick, who had dropped behind us, and now brought up
the rear, was babbling to himself both prayers and curses, as his fever
kept rising. This also added to my wretchedness, and, to crown all, I was
haunted by the thought of the tragedy that had once been acted on that
plateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with the blue face--he who died at
Savannah, singing and shouting for drink--had there, with his own hand,
cut down his six accomplices. This grove, that was now so peaceful, must
then have rung with cries, I thought; and even with the thought I could
believe I heard it ringing still.

We were now at the margin of the thicket.

"Huzza, mates, all together!" shouted Merry; and the foremost broke into
a run.

And suddenly, not ten yards farther, we beheld them stop. A low cry
arose. Silver doubled his pace, digging away with the foot of his crutch
like one possessed; and next moment he and I had come also to a dead
halt.

Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had
fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom. In this were the shaft of
a pick broken in two and the board