My curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear; for I could notremain where I was, but crept back to the bank again, whence, shelteringmy head behind a bush of broom, I might command the road before ourdoor. I was scarcely in position ere my enemies began to arrive, sevenor eight of them, running hard, their feet beating out of time along theroad, and the man with the lantern some paces in front. Three men rantogether, hand in hand; and I made out, even through the mist, that themiddle man of this trio was the blind beggar. The next moment his voiceshowed me that I was right.

"Down with the door!" he cried.

"Ay, ay, sir!" answered two or three; and a rush was made upon the"Admiral Benbow," the lantern-bearer following; and then I could seethem pause, and hear speeches passed in a lower key, as if they weresurprised to find the door open. But the pause was brief, for the blindman again issued his commands. His voice sounded louder and higher, asif he were afire with eagerness and rage.

"In, in, in!" he shouted, and cursed them for their delay.

Four or five of them obeyed at once, two remaining on the road with theformidable beggar. There was a pause, then a cry of surprise, and thena voice shouting from the house:

"Bill's dead!"

But the blind man swore at them again for their delay.

"Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest of you aloft andget the chest," he cried.

I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so that the housemust have shook with it. Promptly afterward fresh sounds of astonishmentarose; the window of the captain's room was thrown open with a slam anda jingle of broken glass, and a man leaned out into the moonlight, headand shoulders, and addressed the blind beggar on the road below him.

[Illustration: _"Pew!" he cried, "they've been before us"_ (Page 34)]

"Pew!" he cried, "they've been before us. Someone's turned the chest outalow and aloft."

"Is it there?" roared Pew.

"The money's there."

The blind man cursed the money.

"Flint's fist, I mean," he cried.

"We don't see it here, nohow," returned the man.

"Here, you below there, is it on Bill?" cried the blind man again.

At that, another fellow, probably he who had remained below to searchthe captain's body, came to the door of the inn. "Bill's been overhauleda'ready," said he, "nothin' left."

"It's these people of the inn--it's that boy. I wish I had put his eyesout!" cried the blind man, Pew. "They were here no time ago--they hadthe door bolted when I tried it. Scatter, lads, and find 'em."

"Sure enough, they left their glim here," said the fellow from thewindow.

"Scatter and find 'em! Rout the house out!" reiterated Pew, strikingwith his stick upon the road.

Then there followed a great to-do through all our old inn, heavy feetpounding to and fro, furniture all thrown over, doors kicked in, untilthe very rocks re-echoed, and the men came out again, one after another,on the road, and declared that we were nowhere to be found. And justthen the same whistle that had alarmed my mother and myself over thedead captain's money was once more clearly audible through the night,but this time twice repeated. I had thought it to be the blind man'strumpet, so to speak, summoning his crew to the assault; but I now foundthat it was a signal from the hillside toward the hamlet, and, from itseffect upon the buccaneers, a signal to warn them of approaching danger.

"There's Dirk again," said one. "Twice! We'll have to budge, mates."

"Budge, you skulk!" cried Pew. "Dirk was a fool and a coward from thefirst--you wouldn't mind him. They must be close by; they can't be far;you have your hands on it. Scatter and look for them, dogs. Oh, shivermy soul," he cried, "if I had eyes!"

This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two of the fellows beganto look here and there among the lumber, but half-heartedly, I thought,and with half an eye to their own danger all the time, while the reststood irresolute on the road.

"You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and you hang a leg! You'dbe as rich as kings if you could find it, and you know it's here, andyou stand there skulking. There wasn't one of you dared face Bill, and Idid it--a blind man! And I'm to lose my chance for you! I'm to be apoor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in acoach! If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit, you would catchthem still."

"Hang it, Pew, we've got the doubloons!" grumbled one.

"They might have hid the blessed thing," said another. "Take theGeorges, Pew, and don't stand here squalling."

Squalling was the word for it; Pew's anger rose so high at theseobjections; till at last, his passion completely taking the upper hand,he struck at them right and left in his blindness, and his stick soundedheavily on more than one.

These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant, threatened himin horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch the stick and wrest it fromhis grasp.

This quarrel was the saving of us; for while it was still raging,another sound came from the top of the hill on the side of thehamlet--the tramp of horses galloping. Almost at the same time apistol-shot, flash, and report came from the hedge side. And that wasplainly the last signal of danger, for the buccaneers turned at once andran, separating in every direction, one seaward along the cove, oneslant across the hill, and so on, so that in half a minute not a sign ofthem remained but Pew. Him they had deserted, whether in sheer panic orout of revenge for his ill words and blows, I know not; but there heremained behind, tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and gropingand calling for his comrades. Finally he took the wrong turn, and ran afew steps past me, towards the hamlet, crying:

"Johnny, Black Dog, Dirk," and other names, "you won't leave old Pew,mates--not old Pew?"

Just then the noise of horses topped the rise, and four or five riderscame in sight in the moonlight, and swept at full gallop down the slope.

At this Pew saw his error, turned with a scream, and ran straight forthe ditch, into which he rolled. But he was on his feet again in asecond, and made another dash, now utterly bewildered, right under thenearest of the coming horses.

The rider tried to save him, but in vain. Down went Pew with a cry thatrang high into the night, and the four hoofs trampled and spurned himand passed by. He fell on his side, then gently collapsed upon his face,and moved no more.

I leaped to my feet and hailed the riders. They were pulling up, at anyrate, horrified at the accident, and I soon saw what they were. One,tailing out behind the rest, was a lad that had gone from the hamlet toDoctor Livesey's; the rest were revenue officers, whom he had met by theway, and with whom he had had the intelligence to return at once. Somenews of the lugger in Kitt's Hole had found its way to Supervisor Dance,and set him forth that night in our direction, and to that circumstancemy mother and I owed our preservation from death.

Pew was dead, stone dead. As for my mother, when we had carried her upto the hamlet, a little cold water and salts very soon brought her backagain, and she was none the worse for her terror, though she stillcontinued to deplore the balance of the money.

In the meantime the supervisor rode on, as fast as he could, to Kitt'sHole; but his men had to dismount and grope down the dingle, leading,and sometimes supporting, their horses, and in continual fear ofambushes; so it was no great matter for surprise that when they gotdown to the Hole the lugger was already under way, though still closein. He hailed her. A voice replied, telling him to keep out of themoonlight, or he would get some lead in him, and at the same time abullet whistled close by his arm. Soon after, the lugger doubled thepoint and disappeared. Mr. Dance stood there, as he said, "like a fishout of water," and all he could do was to dispatch a man to B---- towarn the cutter. "And that," said he, "is just about as good as nothing.They've got off clean, and there's an end. Only," he added, "I'm glad Itrod on Master Pew's corns"; for by this time he had heard my story.

I went back with him to the "Admiral Benbow," and you cannot imagine ahouse in such a state of smash; the very clock had been thrown down bythese fellows in their furious hunt after my mother and myself; andthough nothing had actually been taken away except the captain'smoney-bag and a little silver from the till, I could see at once that wewere ruined. Mr. Dance could make nothing of the scene.

"They got the money, you say? Well, then, Hawkins, what in fortune werethey after? More money, I suppose?"

"No, sir; not money, I think," replied I. "In fact, sir, I believe Ihave the thing in my breast-pocket; and, to tell you the truth, I shouldlike to get it put in safety."

"To be sure, boy; quite right," said he. "I'll take it, if you like."

"I thought, perhaps, Doctor Livesey--" I began.

"Perfectly right," he interrupted, very cheerily, "perfectly right--agentleman and a magistrate. And, now I come to think of it, I might aswell ride round there myself and report to him or squire. Master Pew'sdead, when all's done; not that I regret it, but he's dead, you see, andpeople will make it out against an officer of his Majesty's revenue, ifmake it out they can. Now, I'll tell you, Hawkins, if you like, I'lltake you along."

I thanked him heartily for the offer, and we walked back to the hamletwhere the horses were. By the time I had told mother of my purpose theywere all in the saddle.

"Dogger," said Mr. Dance, "you have a good horse; take up this ladbehind you."

As soon as I was mounted, holding on to Dogger's belt, the supervisorgave the word, and the party struck out at a bouncing trot on the roadto Doctor Livesey's house.

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