The honest hands -- and I was soon to see it proved that there were such on board -- must have been very stupid fellows . Or rather , I suppose the truth was this , that all hands were disaffected by the example of the ringleaders -- only some more , some less ; and a few , being good fellows in the main , could neither be led nor driven any further . It is one thing to be idle and skulk and quite another to take a ship and murder a number of innocent men . At last , however , the party was made up . Six fellows were to stay on board , and the remaining thirteen , including Silver , began to embark . Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad notions that contributed so much to save our lives . If six men were left by Silver , it was plain our party could not take and fight the ship ; and since only six were left , it was equally plain that the cabin party had no present need of my assistance . It occurred to me at once to go ashore . In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and curled up in the fore-sheets of the nearest boat , and almost at the same moment she shoved off . No one took notice of me , only the bow oar saying , `` Is that you , Jim ? Keep your head down . '' But Silver , from the other boat , looked sharply over and called out to know if that were me ; and from that moment I began to regret what I had done . The crews raced for the beach , but the boat I was in , having some start and being at once the lighter and the better manned , shot far ahead of her consort , and the bow had struck among the shore-side trees and I had caught a branch and swung myself out and plunged into the nearest thicket while Silver and the rest were still a hundred yards behind . `` Jim , Jim ! '' I heard him shouting . But you may suppose I paid no heed ; jumping , ducking , and breaking through , I ran straight before my nose till I could run no longer . 14 The First Blow I WAS so pleased at having given the slip to Long John that I began to enjoy myself and look around me with some interest on the strange land that I was in . I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows , bulrushes , and odd , outlandish , swampy trees ; and I had now come out upon the skirts of an open piece of undulating , sandy country , about a mile long , dotted with a few pines and a great number of contorted trees , not unlike the oak in growth , but pale in the foliage , like willows . On the far side of the open stood one of the hills , with two quaint , craggy peaks shining vividly in the sun . I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration .
The isle was uninhabited ; my shipmates I had XXXXX behind , and nothing lived in front of me but dumb brutes and fowls .
First Jim John bulrushes fore-sheets left murder oar ringleaders shore-side