A voice calling from the woods woke everyone, including George Merry, who was supposed to be standing guard.
"Ahoy, there!"
I ran to a musket hole and looked out; it was the doctor.
"Good morning to you!" Long John called out good-naturedly.
"You're here bright and early. Your patients are doing well, sir.
And we have a surprise for you—a little stranger, fit as any young lad should be."
Dr. Livesey climbed over the fence and approached the house. "Jim?"
"The very same," Long John said.
The doctor stopped for a moment and then said, "Well, business before pleasure. Let's see the patients."
Dr. Livesey entered, gave me a nod, and proceeded to treat the sick pirates as if he was on an ordinary visit to a quiet English family.
"You're doing well," he said to the fellow with the bandaged head.
"Your head must be as hard as iron."
Then he looked into George Merry's eyes.
"They look normal now, but you must stop drinking. Did you take your medicine?"
"Aye, aye, sir, he took it," Tom Morgan interrupted eagerly.
"Good. Since I'm the pirate doctor now," Dr. Livesey said pleasantly, "I don't want anyone to die before King George can hang him."
The pirates looked at each other but reacted to the comment with silence.
"Dick doesn't feel well, sir," one said.
"No?" the doctor said. "Stick out your tongue, Dick."
The doctor inspected his tongue. "This would frighten the devil. You've got the fever."
"That comes from cutting up Bibles," Tom Morgan remarked.
"Or being a fool," the doctor retorted.
"People should only camp in a swamp if they want malaria."
The doctor passed out pills and potions, and the men took them like schoolchildren.
"And now I'd like to talk with that boy, please." Dr. Livesey nodded carelessly in my direction.
George Merry, still making a face at the bad-tasting medicine, swung around and yelled "No!"
"Silence!" Long John roared. Then he turned to me.
"Hawkins, will you give your word of honor as a young gentleman—for that is what you are—that you won't escape?"
"I promise," I said.
"Step outside the stockade, Doctor," commanded Long John.
"I'll bring the boy to you on the inside. You can chat through the fence."
When the doctor left the house, the pirates exploded in anger and suspicion.
"You're trying to double-cross us!" shouted George Merry.
"You're making a deal with them to save yourself," Tom Morgan yelled, "and forgetting about your mates."
"Fools!" snapped Long John. "Jim and the doctor want to talk, that's all."
He waved the map. "Will you break the treaty the very day you go treasure-hunting? No, by thunder!" he cried.
"We'll break it when we decide. Until then, I'll make that doctor happy, even if I have to clean his boots with my best brandy.
Now get that fire going," he ordered, and we both walked out.
"Walk slow, lad," he said quietly. "They'll jump us if we hurry."
We advanced to where the doctor waited on the other side of the stockade, and as soon as we were within easy speaking distance, Long John stopped.
"Make a note of what I'm risking here, Doctor," said he.
"The boy will attest that I saved his life.
A good word from you could save me from the hangman.
But believe me, it's not only my life I'm concerned with here—it's the boy's too."
Long John's voice trembled, and with his back to his friends in the house, he looked like a different man.
"Why, Silver, are you afraid?" asked Dr. Livesey.
"I'm no coward, no! But I don't want to hang.
You won't forget the good I've done, will you?
I'll leave you and Jim alone now."
Long John stepped back and sat on a tree stump, where he could keep an eye on me and the doctor, as well as on his unruly friends.
"I don't blame you, Jim," the doctor said, "but when Captain Smollett was well, you didn't dare run off.
Then when he was ill, you did. That was cowardly!"
"Please, Doctor, I'm sorry," I said, weeping.
"But I'd be dead if Long John hadn't stood up for me.
I don't mind dying—maybe I deserve it—but I do fear torture, and—"
"Jim," the doctor interrupted, "jump over the fence, and we'll run for it."
"No," I said. "I gave my word."
"Blame me. It'll be my shame, but I can't let you stay," he said.
"Jump! One jump, and we'll run like antelopes."
"No," I replied. "I promised I'd go back.
But, Doctor, let me finish. I got the ship back—she's in North Inlet.
If they torture me, I'm afraid I might tell where the ship is."
"The ship!" the doctor exclaimed.
Quickly, I described my adventures, and he heard me out.
"Jim, you've saved our lives," said Dr. Livesey.
"We're not going to let you lose yours!" He looked up.
"Silver!" he called, and Silver drew near. "Don't hurry to get that treasure."
"My life and the boy's depend on finding it," said Long John.
"It will go badly for you if you get near that treasure," warned the doctor.
"What?" Long John said. "I've done everything you told me to do, and yet you've never given me a word of hope!
Tell me what you're planning, so I can prepare myself."
"No," answered the doctor. "I can't say any more, but I'll give you hope.
If we both get out of this alive, I'll do my best to save you from the hangman."
Long John Silver's face was radiant. "Thank you, sir!"
"Keep that boy beside you and shout when you need help. Now, I'm off. Good-bye, Jim."
Dr. Livesey shook my hand through the fence, nodded to Long John, and set off into the woods.