The sun might blaze overhead , the air be without a breath , the surface smooth and blue , but still these great rollers would be running along all the external coast , thundering and thundering by day and night ; and I scarce believe there is one spot in the island where a man would be out of earshot of their noise . I walked along beside the surf with great enjoyment , till , thinking I was now got far enough to the south , I took the cover of some thick bushes and crept warily up to the ridge of the spit . Behind me was the sea , in front the anchorage . The sea breeze , as though it had the sooner blown itself out by its unusual violence , was already at an end ; it had been succeeded by light , variable airs from the south and south-east , carrying great banks of fog ; and the anchorage , under lee of Skeleton Island , lay still and leaden as when first we entered it . The HISPANIOLA , in that unbroken mirror , was exactly portrayed from the truck to the waterline , the Jolly Roger hanging from her peak . Alongside lay one of the gigs , Silver in the stern-sheets -- him I could always recognize -- while a couple of men were leaning over the stern bulwarks , one of them with a red cap -- the very rogue that I had seen some hours before stride-legs upon the palisade . Apparently they were talking and laughing , though at that distance -- upwards of a mile -- I could , of course , hear no word of what was said . All at once there began the most horrid , unearthly screaming , which at first startled me badly , though I had soon remembered the voice of Captain Flint and even thought I could make out the bird by her bright plumage as she sat perched upon her master 's wrist . Soon after , the jolly-boat shoved off and pulled for shore , and the man with the red cap and his comrade went below by the cabin companion . Just about the same time , the sun had gone down behind the Spy-glass , and as the fog was collecting rapidly , it began to grow dark in earnest . I saw I must lose no time if I were to find the boat that evening . The white rock , visible enough above the brush , was still some eighth of a mile further down the spit , and it took me a goodish while to get up with it , crawling , often on all fours , among the scrub . Night had almost come when I laid my hand on its rough sides . Right below it there was an exceedingly small hollow of green turf , hidden by banks and a thick underwood about knee-deep , that grew there very plentifully ; and in the centre of the dell , sure enough , a little tent of goat-skins , like what the gipsies carry about with them in England . I dropped into the hollow , lifted the side of the tent , and there was Ben Gunn 's boat -- home-made if ever anything was home-made ; a rude , lop-sided framework of tough wood , and stretched upon that a covering of goat-skin , with the hair inside . The thing was extremely small , even for me , and I can hardly imagine that it could have floated with a full-sized man . There was one thwart set as low as possible , a kind of stretcher in the bows , and a double paddle for propulsion . I had not then seen a coracle , such as the ancient Britons made , but I have seen one since , and I can give you no fairer idea of Ben Gunn 's boat than by saying it was like the first and the worst coracle ever made by man . But the great advantage of the coracle it certainly possessed , for it was exceedingly light and portable . Well , now that I had found the boat , you would have thought I had had enough of truantry for once , but in the meantime I had taken another notion and become so obstinately fond of it that I would have carried it out , I believe , in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself .
This was to slip out under cover of the night , cut the XXXXX adrift , and let her go ashore where she fancied .
England HISPANIOLA Island Smollett coracle earshot eighth evening goat-skins stride-legs