But there is, and not so long till then; and we’ll see who’ll be glad to have a hostage when it comes to that. And as for number two, and why I made a bargain⁠—well, you come crawling on your knees to me to make it⁠—on your knees you came, you was that downhearted⁠—and you’d have starved, too, if I hadn’t⁠—but that’s a trifle! you look there⁠—that’s why!”

And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly recognized⁠—none other than the chart on yellow paper, with the three red crosses, that I had found in the oilcloth at the bottom of the captain’s chest. Why the doctor had given it to him was more than I could fancy.

But if it were inexplicable to me, the appearance of the chart was incredible to the surviving mutineers. They leaped upon it like cats upon a mouse. It went from hand to hand, one tearing it from another; and by the oaths and the cries and the childish laughter with which they accompanied their examination, you would have thought, not only they were fingering the very gold, but were at sea with it, besides, in safety.