John Drake - Skull and Bones

But Mr Joe sat beside Silver, and was rated coxswain, and there were others who were near as good as him.

"Give way!" said Mr Joe, and the hands pulled muffled oars, sending the launch out into the dark: for all was deep shadow on the river with its up-rearing banks that left it deep in gloom.

Silver couldn't land at Savannah stairs, for the Spaniards might be there, but knowing the river as he did, he steered upstream, just past the town, to a muddy shoreline beneath the river banks. Here they landed and faced a near-vertical cliff of mud that would have left landmen helpless and dismayed. Landmen but not seamen. A grapnel was swung round on its line and heaved upward to take hold of the scrubby trees above. Then the nimblest man swarmed up the thin line carrying a block and a one-inch rope, and secured the block to a tree-trunk so those below could heave up the next man in a bowline, until enough were on the bank to haul directly on the line to lift their mates – by which means John Silver came last and rose like a soaring bird.

"Now then, lads," he said, "gather round, for there must be no noise."

"Aye!" they said: a ring of dark faces and pale eyes.

"We must march around the fort and enter the town from the land side."

"Aye!"

"It'll take some hours, for we must keep away from all that…"

They glanced towards the town, with its fires and gunshots, and nodded.

"We'll let them buggers fight, and we'll steer clear! For it ain't no matter of ours!"

"Aye!"

"Our course is to Jimmy Chester's house, the which I knows well."

"Will Flint be there, Cap'n?" said Mr Joe.

"Huh!" said Silver, and spat at the ground beneath his feet. "You bet your dick on it, my son! I've seen the swab, so I knows he's here! And he's seen Walrus, so he knows I'm here!" Silver nodded. "Oh, he's as sweet to see me as I am to see him… and the place agreed between us is Chester's house!"

They nodded, they growled in anticipation of the fight. They gripped their muskets, their pistols and blades.

"All hands together!" said Silver, and took a sight on the stars, and led them off into the night.

"So! What's afoot?" said Flint to Lazy Joe, with his fringed shirt and long gun, who'd crept into Jimmy Chester's grog shop with its shuttered windows and one candle burning. Lazy Joe was one of many who'd gathered, at Flint's orders, and who now sat together, stinking and sweating in a malodorous group, gulping and jumping at the gunfire outside, and feeling for their weapons.

Lazy Joe was given a chair at the table, with its solitary light, where Joe Flint sat with Billy Bones, Black Dog, and Jimmy Chester himself. A pewter mug of drink was shoved across the table and the wild man swallowed half and wiped his lips.

"They've fought 'emselves out, Cap'n," he said.

"What do you mean?" said Flint.

"Our'ns and the Spanish'ns. They fought to equal parts."

"Yes – go on."

"They fired volleys, with drums and flags an' all, and killed a lot of each other, and when they'd had enough, then our'ns fell back on the fort, and their'ns fell back on the town. But our woodsmen are out making trouble in the dark!"

"So that's the firing?"

"Aye!"

"But neither side has the advantage?"

"No."

"Good!" said Flint. "Here -" he held out a silver dollar.

"Thank you right kindly, Cap'n, sir!"

"Now, join your fellows!" said Flint, and Lazy Joe got up. As soon as he'd gone, Flint turned to Jimmy Chester. "This is excellent!" he said.

"Is it?" said Chester, plainly terrified.

"Aye," said Billy Bones.

"Aye," said Black Dog, but…

B-b-b-bang! went a whole volley of musketry outside.

"Uhhhhhh!" cried the malodorous ensemble, jumping to their feet.

"SIT DOWN!" roared Flint. "Or you'll bring them in among us!"

Silence. The room sat down.

"Good!" said Flint, and went back to his whispering: "Jimmy, we've done well! There's hundreds of them out there: redcoats and whitecoats, bogged down, each side afraid to advance in the dark – leaving room for us to manoeuvre. And meanwhile the dull and the slow of Savannah have run to the fort!"

"Where I should've gone," wept Chester, wringing his hands.

"And lose your share of eight hundred thousand?" said Flint.

"Mhhhh…" said Chester, whimpering like a child. He clutched at Flint's sleeve. "I can't do this," he whispered. "I'm a merchant, not a pirate!" And he groaned so loud that the room began to groan in company.

"Bah!" said Flint, losing patience. "Mr Bones!"

"Cap'n?"

"Take this swab and lock him in his cellar. And if he squeaks you may silence him by any means you please!"

"Ohhhhh…" said Chester as Billy Bones loomed over him in the candlelight and, seizing him by the collar, dragged him away. "Ohhhhh…"

Then clump went Billy's fist and all was peaceful except for a limp slithering, and Billy Bones's puffing and blowing, which faded as he left the room.

Flint stood up to speak.

"Now my roaring boys!" he said, turning on his tremendous charm. "Who's for a share of the greatest treasure – in gold, dollars and diamonds – that ever was brought together in one place?"

"Ah!" they said, and the mood in the room went up like a rocket that burst in joy, and Flint had them in his hands from that instant, and he gave them their orders and divided them into teams, each to separate duties. "There will be fighting," he said, "but such merry fellows as yourselves think nought of that!" And they grinned back at him, dazzled by Flint and dazzled by treasure, in their broken-nosed, foetid, animal squalor.

Huh! thought Flint. You'll fight, my little weevils… sufficient for the purpose!

And soon, led by Flint, the whole crowd of them left the grog shop and made their way towards the river…

"How long have they been gone?" said Selena.

"Over an hour, by the sandglass," said Cowdray.

The two peered out into the dark of dark of the river, with all those left aboard Walrus, mustered under Mr Warrington, to guard the ship while her captain was away. The only light in the ship came from a few dim lanterns placed so that men shouldn't go arse-over-tit; for down here on the river bed Blind Pew was as good as any other man, it being so dark what with the river's deep banks blocking out the moon and stars, that a blind man's sharp ears were better than eyes.

"Lis-ten!" he cried. "Something's com-ing!" And he cocked his head to one side, and stood with his green eye-shade and his corpse face, and a boat cloak wrapped round him, who always felt the cold of the night, such that men shuddered at the weird figure that he made. But he was right.

"Aye!" cried Warrington. "Stand by, all hands!"

"Aye-aye!" they cried.

"A boat," said Selena.

"Where is it, Mr Pew?" said Cowdray.

"There -" said Pew, thrusting out a bony finger.

Everyone looked.

"Fine on the larboard bow," said Warrington.

Clunk-clank! Clunk-clank! came the distant sound of oars against pins.

Then they gasped as a light shone: a lantern waving in the dark, dimly revealing the outline of a man standing in the bows of an oncoming boat.

"Walrus ahoy!" cried a voice, and the oar-beat sounded louder.

"I know that voice," said Selena.

"Walrus ahoy!"

"Boat ahoy!" cried Warrington. "Who comes?"

"It's Billy Bones!" said Selena. "That's his voice!"

"Is that you, Mr Bones?" cried Warrington.

"Aye-aye! 'Tis William Bones, Cap'n, sir, aksing to come aboard."

Selena seized Warrington's arm, and shook it. "Where's Flint?" she said. "Billy Bones went off together with Flint!"

"He's Flint's man to death and beyond," said Cowdray.

"Aye," said the crew.

"Make ready, lads," said Warrington. "Be wary!"

Click-click-click-click! said the firelocks.