I thought this was a very bad sign , for up to that day the men had gone briskly and willingly about their business ; but the very sight of the island had relaxed the cords of discipline . All the way in , Long John stood by the steersman and conned the ship . He knew the passage like the palm of his hand , and though the man in the chains got everywhere more water than was down in the chart , John never hesitated once . `` There 's a strong scour with the ebb , '' he said , `` and this here passage has been dug out , in a manner of speaking , with a spade . '' We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart , about a third of a mile from each shore , the mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on the other . The bottom was clean sand . The plunge of our anchor sent up clouds of birds wheeling and crying over the woods , but in less than a minute they were down again and all was once more silent . The place was entirely land-locked , buried in woods , the trees coming right down to high-water mark , the shores mostly flat , and the hilltops standing round at a distance in a sort of amphitheatre , one here , one there . Two little rivers , or rather two swamps , emptied out into this pond , as you might call it ; and the foliage round that part of the shore had a kind of poisonous brightness . From the ship we could see nothing of the house or stockade , for they were quite buried among trees ; and if it had not been for the chart on the companion , we might have been the first that had ever anchored there since the island arose out of the seas . There was not a breath of air moving , nor a sound but that of the surf booming half a mile away along the beaches and against the rocks outside . A peculiar stagnant smell hung over the anchorage -- a smell of sodden leaves and rotting tree trunks . I observed the doctor sniffing and sniffing , like someone tasting a bad egg . `` I do n't know about treasure , '' he said , `` but I 'll stake my wig there 's fever here . '' If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the boat , it became truly threatening when they had come aboard . They lay about the deck growling together in talk . The slightest order was received with a black look and grudgingly and carelessly obeyed . Even the honest hands must have caught the infection , for there was not one man aboard to mend another . Mutiny , it was plain , hung over us like a thunder-cloud . And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived the danger .
Long XXXXX was hard at work going from group to group , spending himself in good advice , and as for example no man could have shown a better .
Island John day first infection minute right steersman third thunder-cloud