4. The Storm.

By the time we were as ready as we could be, the wind had grown and the moon's light was completely drowned out by the ominous-looking clouds that hovered overhead. It was not long before rain started to pour down. I was soon soaked to the skin, as was everyone else, though they did not seem to notice nor care. The crew were far too busy trying to keep us afloat in the angry sea.

I—having never been at sea in a storm—was very much unused to the wild rocking and dipping of the ship. It was because of that fact, I was driven to my bunk, though I had wanted to stay and assist the men in their endeavors to keep us from sinking.

I staggered to my cabin, barely making it into the small room, before I collapsed on the floor. I lay there for a agonizing moment or two before I made myself, by the sheer force of will, get into my bed. I lay there, feeling like I was dying.

My stomach lurched with every rise and fall of the ship, and every time the thought of food passed through my mind I would feel as if I were going to be sick. I barely heard the shouts of the captain as he gave orders to his crew, or the relentless howling of the wind that drove the rain upon us. It was—as I now look back—the first time since the beginning of the voyage, that I did not give one thought to my nightmares. All I could do was lie there, hoping this wouldn't last for too long.

It seemed to me to have been hours—though when a man is in distress even the smallest amount of time can seem forever—before someone knocked on my door. It is funny what a person's mind can do in situations like this one, for although I was feeling too poorly to care about what was going on above deck, the thought of the murderer coming to my door to kill me crossed my mind. Stranger still, the thought did not bother me in the least. I might have welcomed death, if only it would take me swiftly out of my misery.

I heard the the door blow open and bring someone with it. I didn't look to see who it might be. Whoever they were, they banged the door shut and came over to the edge of my bed.

They looked at me and sighed, and I immediately knew who it was because of that, though why she would come in here I did not to know.

"Ha, according to your opinion of the world, women are what you call the 'weaker sex' and are unable to do anything other than the most undemanding of domestic duties." She laughed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yet here you are, a man, not even able to stand up and work despite a little seasickness. You're pathetic."

So she came here for the sole reason of trying to kill me with her words. Just like a woman to beat a man when he's already down.

I groaned, making a sad attempt of glaring in her direction. All it resulted in was making her laugh again.

"Is that all you came here to say?" I managed to ask in a weak voice. "If so, I would be very grateful if you would leave me to my death without trying to help me along. The sea is doing a good enough job on it's own."

She began taking bottles out of her coat and setting them on the side table. "You wont die from seasickness," she paused smirking down at me. "And yes, I am done with the lecture...for now."

Slowly she began measuring out a few drops of the contents of the bottles and adding them to a glass filled with water. She held it out to me. "Drink it," she ordered.

I sighed and took the glass. Obediently I drank the liquid, not even pausing to wonder what it could be.

She put the bottles back in her coat and opened the door against the wind. "You should be back to your arrogant old self soon enough." The wind slammed the door shut, and I was once again left alone in my cabin.

I closed my eyes trying to ignore what was going on around me. I must have fallen asleep because when I finally opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was the absence of the wild rocking of the ship. I noticed also that my stomach had calmed itself and I no longer felt as if I needed to stay in bed. Maybe whatever Panya gave me had helped after all.

Slowly I raised myself to my feet. I fumbled with my appearance in the small mirror before going out on deck.

The storm was ended and only a fair breeze blew, but we were not moving. The men were busy repairing the sails and anything else that had been ruined by the elements.

I headed to where the captain was talking to the mate. They didn't look like they were at all happy, in fact, there seemed to be some sort of disagreement between them. When the captain caught sight of me he smiled briefly and motioned for me to come closer.

"Hawkins, I heard you were feeling poorly, glad to see you're looking better," he said.

"Yes, thank you sir," I replied, feeling a bit badly about my disappearance last night. "Though if I may ask, why we are at anchor if there is such a good wind? Has there been damage done during the storm?"

"Yes, there was damage, though to the ship only minimal. The real problem is our stores. Seawater got to them. We will have to see how much was lost," He paused, "But of course that's not the reason for our lack of movement." He lifted a hand and pointed toward the starboard side of the ship.

I turned around, but stopped as soon as I saw it. Land. Treasure Island. Somehow, instead of being blown off course, we managed to be taken straight to the island during the storm.

I stood there and stared for a moment. This was it. I had finally made it to my destination. I should be happy I supposed, though all I felt was apprehension. We still had as of yet been no closer to finding the murderer. And though nothing had recently happened, I knew this was only the beginning of our troubles. I looked over at the hill that was called Spy-glass and wondered what other tragedies were to befall us.

There was much to do before we would be ready to go ashore. I volunteered to help in the galley, sorting and tallying what we had left of the stores. I tried to tell myself that it was just because other men were needed elsewhere and not because of Panya that I did this, though I was having a hard time of it. What she had given me during the storm had cured me of my seasickness. And it had made me trust her just a bit more.

I must admit, though she was the worst example of how a woman ought to be, she intrigued me. I wondered why she had even thought to help me when I was sick. Yes, It very well might have been to show me she was so much stronger and ridicule me for not working with the rest of the men, though somehow that didn't seem to be the truth. Perhaps she had done it for another reason entirely...

I shook my head and lifted another barrel to check the contents of one underneath. These were not thoughts that I should be having. This was the last woman on earth I would ever want to fall in love with and marry. I was surprised at myself for even thinking such an absurd possibility. The stress of the nightmares was affecting my mind more than I thought possible.

"Well someone seems to be lost in thought."

I turned to find the woman of my thoughts standing near me, a small notebook in her hands.

"I..ahh.." I quickly set the barrel down before I dropped it. "Just focused on my work."

"Uh huh." She bent down to check the amount of portable soup we had.

"I would like to thank you for helping me last night with the seasickness," I said, "What you gave me was a tremendous help."

She looked up. "Hmm, so thanking me doesn't chip at your pitifully fragile ego?"

"Excuse me?" I glared down at her. This woman didn't know when to guard her mouth.

"You heard me." She smirked up at me.

I chose to ignore her.

"What? No comment?"

I looked at her. "I chose not to reply because doing so would do no good. Anything I say would only be thrown back at me."

To my surprise she smiled at me. "Yes," she said, "You're right about that."

We spent the rest of that day taking stalk of our stores. It wasn't a very good conclusion. As we told the captain later in a meeting in his cabin, we had lost a better part of half of what we had.

It was of course, foolish to think that we should turn back now that we were here, however I was very doubtful as to how much edible foods could be found of such an Island as this one. Still Ben Gunn had survived here for years, so there must be something to keep us till we could return to Bristol.

"You know exactly where the bar silver is Hawkins?" The captain asked me.

I nodded slowly. "Yes, it is marked on the map. But should we lose it, I think I could find the place without much trouble."

The captain set his pipe down on the table. "Good. We will go to shore tomorrow at dawn to fetch it. And we will also see what we can gather from this Island in way of provisions." He turned to the mate. "You will be in charge of the provisions party. Pick a few men to accompany you. Hawkins, and I will take the rest for our party. I am going to leave Tucker on board with two other men to keep watch over the ship. Is that agreeable?"

For a brief second there looked to be a curious expression that crossed the mates face, but I couldn't be sure, for the next moment he was nodding and replied with a hearty, "Aye, aye cap'n."

Still, I waited till he had left, to take out the map and show the captain and Panya just where we were going tomorrow. It didn't cross my mind till much later, how I had had no misgivings about explaining every inch of the island with Panya around. Seems I was starting to trust her despite my better judgment.

When our trip to shore had been planned out and the men that were to accompany us picked, it was evening. After a light dinner, I took leave of the captain and Panya and made my way to my cabin.

I sat on the bed. Thanks to whatever Panya had given me last night, I had slept without the nightmares. Tonight I would have no such luck. I thought about going and asking her for a little of the herbs she used, but my stubborn pride wouldn't allow it. I lay there with my eyes closed, just trying to rest.

I dosed off several times, though as expected there were dreams. The dreams were all of a foreboding nature. I was looking for something, or fleeing, and the dreams always ended before the evil caught up to me or I found what I searched for.

I awoke in the early morning, exhausted in both mind and body. I went out on deck. The sun had not yet risen, and the air held a slight chill. I made my way over to were the watch was, hoping for some company, but they were nowhere to be found.

In fact, there was no sound at all save the rippling of the waves, and I began to have a very bad feeling. I ran down to the galley. Sure enough, Panya was gone. Running back up on deck I saw that all the boats except the dinghy were missing. I went to alert the captain.

I knocked at his cabin door. It seemed this was getting to be a nightly habit with us. He opened the door as before and I breathlessly told him what seemed to have taken place. He went out to see for himself, and then went to the crews quarters. Less than half of the men were there, fully unaware of what had happened. We awoke them all, but none of them had and knowledge of what had occurred during the night.

The captain went back on deck to make sure he had missed nothing. I stayed down with the crew a bit longer, lost in thought. Panya was missing with the rest. Did this mean she was involved in the mutiny? And a mutiny it was, there was no other name for it. I could not believe this was happening. Surely this Island and all who come seeking it's treasure were cursed. There was not other logical explanation for it. It was as if history was repeating itself, taunting me with it's cruel memories.

A shout from the deck brought me out of my thoughts. It was the captain calling my name. I hurried up to where he stood at the helm.

"Come and take a look at this. I just discovered it," he said, his face grim.

I took the crumpled note from his hand and unfolded it. What I saw made my heart stop for a moment. Scrawled in almost intelligible handwriting was the following words: 'Da map an' ship fer da life of da woman. Met us at da soth beech fer da exchang. leeve yer wepons on da ship.'

I looked up at the captain. "They know Panya's a woman."

The captain nodded. "Yes, and not only that, but half the crew has turned against us and I have reason to believe the mate is behind all of this."

"I had a bad feeling about him, never imagined this though." I looked out at the island, feeling angry with myself for ever distrusting Panya Silver. "We can not just hand over the map to them and let them away with the treasure and the ship."

"No," the captain was already walking back to his cabin. "We need a plan and we only have till noon to think of one."

I followed him. "You know of what happened here last time I was crazy enough to venture to this island. Seems nothing ever changes. But I do not want any of the bloodshed of my last voyage to spill out into this one."

The captain sighed as he lit a pipe. "We may have no choice. It all depends on your priorities. Are you willing to give up the map and all the remaining treasure, kill someone, and even suffer your nightmares for the rest of your days, if it means saving the life of all the loyal men and miss Silver?"

I was offended he would even ask such a question. What kind of a man did he believe me to be? "Of course, I would risk my very life to save everyone! I was the one who brought them into this mess in the first place!"

The captain nodded. "Good. Then listen up, for I have a plan."