`` HE 'S a bad un ; but there 's worse that put him on . Now , if I ca n't get away nohow , and they tip me the black spot , mind you , it 's my old sea-chest they 're after ; you get on a horse -- you can , ca n't you ? Well , then , you get on a horse , and go to -- well , yes , I will ! -- to that eternal doctor swab , and tell him to pipe all hands -- magistrates and sich -- and he 'll lay 'em aboard at the Admiral Benbow -- all old Flint 's crew , man and boy , all on 'em that 's left . I was first mate , I was , old Flint 's first mate , and I 'm the on ' y one as knows the place . He gave it me at Savannah , when he lay a-dying , like as if I was to now , you see . But you wo n't peach unless they get the black spot on me , or unless you see that Black Dog again or a seafaring man with one leg , Jim -- him above all . '' `` But what is the black spot , captain ? '' I asked . `` That 's a summons , mate . I 'll tell you if they get that . But you keep your weather-eye open , Jim , and I 'll share with you equals , upon my honour . '' He wandered a little longer , his voice growing weaker ; but soon after I had given him his medicine , which he took like a child , with the remark , `` If ever a seaman wanted drugs , it 's me , '' he fell at last into a heavy , swoon-like sleep , in which I left him . What I should have done had all gone well I do not know . Probably I should have told the whole story to the doctor , for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of his confessions and make an end of me . But as things fell out , my poor father died quite suddenly that evening , which put all other matters on one side . Our natural distress , the visits of the neighbours , the arranging of the funeral , and all the work of the inn to be carried on in the meanwhile kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think of the captain , far less to be afraid of him . He got downstairs next morning , to be sure , and had his meals as usual , though he ate little and had more , I am afraid , than his usual supply of rum , for he helped himself out of the bar , scowling and blowing through his nose , and no one dared to cross him . On the night before the funeral he was as drunk as ever ; and it was shocking , in that house of mourning , to hear him singing away at his ugly old sea-song ; but weak as he was , we were all in the fear of death for him , and the doctor was suddenly taken up with a case many miles away and was never near the house after my father 's death . I have said the captain was weak , and indeed he seemed rather to grow weaker than regain his strength .
He clambered up and down stairs , and went from the parlour to the bar and back again , and sometimes XXXXX his nose out of doors to smell the sea , holding on to the walls as he went for support and breathing hard and fast like a man on a steep mountain .
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