"Who are you?" I asked, staring at him.

But almost immediately I ran into a new danger. As I ran, I heard some small stones falling from the side of a steep hill. I stopped to look round, and saw a figure jump quickly behind a tree. Frightened, I turned back towards the boats, but the figure appeared again and moved with the speedof an animal. But it was a man, I knew that now.

I remembered I had a pistol if I needed it, and turned back towards this man of the island. He was hiding behind another tree but stepped out to meet me.

I had heard the word before, and knew it meant a cruel punishment often used by pirates -- leaving a man alone on some distant, empty island.

"Ben Gunn," he answered, and his voice sounded rough and strange. His skin was burnt nearly black by the sun and his clothes were made from pieces of a ship's sail. "Poor Ben Gunn," he went on. "Alone for three years."

"Were you shipwrecked?" I asked.

"Marooned three years," he continued, "living on wild goats and fish. But I'm desperate for real English food. You don't have a piece of cheese, do you? Many nights I've dreamed of cheese."

"No, my friend," he said. "Marooned."

"Jim," I told him.

"Who's going to prevent you?" he said. "And tell me your name."

"Well, Jim," he said, looking around and lowering his voice to a whisper, "I'm rich." I was now sure the poor man was crazy, but he repeated his words. "Rich, I say! Now, Jim, that isn't Flint's ship, is it?"

"If I can get on board ship again," I said, "you can have as much cheese as you want."

"He's the cook, and their leader, too." And I told him the whole story of our voyage, and the danger we were now in.

I began to think that I had found a friend, and I answered him at once. "It's not Flint's ship. Flint is dead, but there are some of Flint's men aboard, and that's bad news for us."

"A man with one leg?" he asked, fear in his voice.

"Yes, Silver," he said, "that was his name."

"You're in trouble, Jim," he said when I'd finished. "Well, Ben Gunn will help you. Will your squire be generous if I do, do you think? I don't want him to give me a job, but will he give me one thousand pounds out of money that's really mine?"

"Silver?" I asked.

"And take me home on your ship?"

"If we can escape from the others," I told him, "we'll need your help to get the ship home."

"I'm sure he will," I said.

"I will," I said, "but how will I get on board?"

"There's my boat that I made with my two hands," he said. "I keep her under the white rock. We might try that after dark."

"They've begun to fight!" I cried. "Follow me."

Although there was another hour before the sun went down, we suddenly heard the sound of the ship's gun.

He seemed happy with this. "I was in Flint's ship when he and six seamen hid the treasure," he said. "They were on shore nearly a week, then Flint came back alone. Not a man on board could guess how he had killed the others. Then I was in another ship, three years ago, and we saw this island. 'Boys,' I said, 'let's go ashore and find Flint's treasure.' Twelve days we searched, and the men got angrier with me every day. Then they went back to the ship. 'Ben Gunn,' they said, 'you can stay here and find Flint's money. Here's a gun, a spade and an axe.' Well, Jim, I've been here for three years, and no real food from that day to this. But I've found things to do, oh yes!" Here he closed one eye and smiled at me. "Now go to your squire and tell him Ben Gunn is a good man."