not quite
in so bad a case as that other ship they sang about:

"With one man of her crew alive,
What put to sea with seventy-five."

All of us had an ample share of the treasure, and used it wisely or
foolishly, according to our natures. Captain Smollett is now retired from
the sea. Gray not only saved his money, but, being suddenly smit with the
desire to rise, also studied his profession; and he is now mate and part
owner of a fine full-rigged ship; married besides, and the father of a
family. As for Ben Gunn, he got a thousand pounds, which he spent or lost
in three weeks, or, to be more exact, in nineteen days, for he was back
begging on the twentieth. Then he was given a lodge to keep, exactly as
he had feared upon the island; and he still lives, a great favourite,
though something of a butt, with the country boys, and a notable singer
in church on Sundays and saints' days.

Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable seafaring man with one
leg has at last gone clean out of my life; but I daresay he met his old
negress, and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Captain Flint.
It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in another
world are very small.

The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know, where Flint
buried them; and certainly they shall lie there for me. Oxen and
wain-ropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island; and the
worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about its
coasts, or start upright in bed, with the sharp voice of Captain Flint
still ringing in my ears: "Pieces of eight! pieces of eight!"

WILL O' THE MILL

WILL O' THE MILL

THE PLAIN AND THE STARS

The Mill where Will lived with his adopted parents stood in a falling
valley between pinewoods and great mountains. Above, hill after hill
soared upwards until they soared out of the depth of the hardiest timber,
and stood naked against the sky. Some way up, a long grey village lay
like a seam or a rag of vapour on a wooded hillside; and when the wind
was favourable, the sound of the church bells would drop down, thin and
silvery, to Will. Below, the valley grew ever steeper and steeper, and at
the same time widened out on either hand; and from an eminence beside the
mill it was possible to see its whole length and away beyond it over a
wide plain, where the river turned and shone, and moved on from city to
city on its voyage towards