ng enough to ride to Dr. Livesey's, which lay in another direction,
not one would help us to defend the inn.

They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the other
hand, a great emboldener; and so when each had said his say, my mother
made them a speech. She would not, she declared, lose money that belonged
to her fatherless boy; "if none of the rest of you dare," she said, "Jim
and I dare. Back we will go, the way we came, and small thanks to you
big, hulking, chicken-hearted men. We'll have that chest open, if we die
for it. And I'll thank you for that bag, Mrs. Crossley, to bring back our
lawful money in."

Of course, I said I would go with my mother; and of course they all cried
out at our foolhardiness; but even then not a man would go along with
us. All they would do was to give me a loaded pistol, lest we were
attacked; and to promise to have horses ready saddled, in case we were
pursued on our return; while one lad was to ride forward to the doctor's
in search of armed assistance.

My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the cold night upon
this dangerous venture. A full moon was beginning to rise, and peered
redly through the upper edges of the fog, and this increased our haste,
for it was plain, before we came forth again, that all would be as bright
as day, and our departure exposed to the eyes of any watchers. We slipped
along the hedges, noiseless and swift, nor did we see or hear anything to
increase our terrors, till, to our huge relief, the door of the "Admiral
Benbow" had closed behind us.

I slipped the bolt at once, and we stood and panted for a moment in the
dark, alone in the house with the dead captain's body. Then my mother got
a candle in the bar, and, holding each other's hands, we advanced into
the parlour. He lay as we had left him, on his back, with his eyes open,
and one arm stretched out.

"Draw down the blind, Jim," whispered my mother; "they might come and
watch outside. And now," said she, when I had done so, "we have to get
the key off _that_; and who's to touch it, I should like to know!" and
she gave a kind of sob as she said the words.

I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to his hand there was
a little round of paper, blackened on the one side. I could not doubt
that this was the _black spot_; and taking it up, I found written on the
other side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message: "You have
till ten to-night."

"He had t