"Thank 'ee, sir. You just let me an' Cap'n Flint ha' a word in private, and maybe we'll see a way out o' this tangle."
"Suit yourself," said my great-uncle with a shrug.
Silver pulled his forelock, and his large face lighted up as if a considerable favor had been conferred.
"We won't be no time at all, sir. Thank 'ee kindly."
He put his free hand under Flint's elbow, and I marveled to see the ease with which he was able to bend his captain to his will. Accustomed as I was to Murray's autocratic discipline, it was a revelation to establish contact again with the free-and-easy spirit of the Walrus, where any man might become commander if he was able to muster a majority of the fo'csle to raise cutlasses in his behalf. Flint obediently followed his quartermaster to the sta'b'd side of the poop, and there they laid their heads close and collogued for a quarter-glass, Silver at first arguing and Flint resisting him.
"Silver is no man to let hard on four hundred thousand pounds slip through his hands," I said.
"Andt maybe he says not to let eight hundred thousand pounds get away, needer," commented Peter. "Ja, I t'ink so."
Murray nodded slowly.
"You are more like to be right than wrong, friend Peter. Of all the Walrus' people he hath the most acute intelligence. A choice knave!"
Colonel O'Donnell stalked back to us from the extremity of the stern with Moira on his arm.