I am told I am not to prosecute you . Well , then , I will not . But the dead men , sir , hang about your neck like mill-stones . '' `` Thank you kindly , sir , '' replied Long John , again saluting . `` I dare you to thank me ! '' cried the squire . `` It is a gross dereliction of my duty . Stand back . '' And thereupon we all entered the cave . It was a large , airy place , with a little spring and a pool of clear water , overhung with ferns . The floor was sand . Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett ; and in a far corner , only duskily flickered over by the blaze , I beheld great heaps of coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold . That was Flint 's treasure that we had come so far to seek and that had cost already the lives of seventeen men from the HISPANIOLA . How many it had cost in the amassing , what blood and sorrow , what good ships scuttled on the deep , what brave men walking the plank blindfold , what shot of cannon , what shame and lies and cruelty , perhaps no man alive could tell . Yet there were still three upon that island -- Silver , and old Morgan , and Ben Gunn -- who had each taken his share in these crimes , as each had hoped in vain to share in the reward . `` Come in , Jim , '' said the captain . `` You 're a good boy in your line , Jim , but I do n't think you and me 'll go to sea again . You 're too much of the born favourite for me . Is that you , John Silver ? What brings you here , man ? ''
`` XXXXX back to my dooty , sir , '' returned Silver .
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