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 HISPANIOLA adrift , and let her go ashore where she fancied . I had quite made up my mind that the mutineers , after their repulse of the morning , had nothing nearer their hearts than to up anchor and away to sea ; this , I thought , it would be a fine thing to prevent , and now that I had seen how they left their watchmen unprovided with a boat , I thought it might be done with little risk . Down I sat to wait for darkness , and made a hearty meal of biscuit . It was a night out of ten thousand for my purpose . The fog had now buried all heaven . As the last rays of daylight dwindled and disappeared , absolute blackness settled down on Treasure Island .
And when , at last , I shouldered the XXXXX and groped my way stumblingly out of the hollow where I had supped , there were but two points visible on the whole anchorage .
England Flint HISPANIOLA Island coracle evening goat-skin jolly-boat night plumage