Chapter: NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR--THE JOLLY-BOAT'S LAST TRIP


This fifth trip was quite different from any of the others. In the first
place, the little gallipot of a boat that we were in was gravely
overloaded. Five grown men, and three of them--Trelawney, Redruth, and
the captain--over six feet high, was already more than she was meant to
carry. Add to that the powder, pork, and the bread-bags. The gunwale was
lipping astern. Several times we shipped a little water, and my breeches
and the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a
hundred yards.

The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little more
evenly. All the same, we were afraid to breathe.

In the second place, the ebb was now making--a strong, rippling current
running westward through the basin, and then south'ard and seaward down
the straits by which we had entered in the morning. Even the ripples
were a danger to our overloaded craft, but the worst of it was that we
were swept out of our true course, and away from our proper
landing-place behind the point. If we let the current have its way we
should come ashore beside the gigs, where the pirates might appear at
any moment.

"I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir," said I to the captain. I
was steering, while he and Redruth, two fresh men, were at the oars.
"The tide keeps washing her down. Could you pull a little stronger?"

"Not without swamping the boat," said he. "You must bear up, sir, if you
please--bear up until you see you're gaining."

I tried, and found by experiment that the tide kept sweeping us westward
until I had laid her head due east, or just about right angles to the
way we ought to go.

"We'll never get ashore at this rate," said I.

"If it's the only course that we can lie, sir, we must even lie it,"
returned the captain. "We must keep upstream. You see, sir," he went on,
"if once we dropped to leeward of the landing-place, it's hard to say
where we should get ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by the
gigs; whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then we can
dodge back along the shore."

"The current's less a'ready, sir," said the man Gray, who was sitting in
the foresheets; "you can ease her off a bit."

"Thank you, my man," said I, quite as if nothing had happened, for we
had all quietly made up our minds to treat him like one of ourselves.

Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I thought his voice was a
little changed.

"The gun!" said he.

"I have thought of that," said I, for I made sure he was thinking of a
bombardment of the fort. "They could never get the gun ashore, and if
they did, they could never haul it through the woods."

"Look astern, doctor," replied the captain.

We had entirely forgotten the long nine; and there, to our horror, were
the five rogues busy about her, getting off her jacket, as they called
the stout tarpaulin cover under which she sailed. Not only that, but it
flashed into my mind at the same moment that the round shot and the
powder for the gun had been left behind, and a stroke with an ax would
put it all into the possession of the evil ones aboard.

"Israel was Flint's gunner," said Gray, hoarsely.

At any risk, we put the boat's head direct for the landing-place. By
this time we had got so far out of the run of the current that we kept
steerage way even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I could
keep her steady for the goal. But the worst of it was, that with the
course I now held, we turned our broadside instead of our stern to the
_Hispaniola_, and offered a target like a barn door.

I could hear, as well as see, that brandy-faced rascal, Israel Hands,
plumping down a round shot on the deck.

"Who's the best shot?" asked the captain.

"Mr. Trelawney, out and away," said I.

"Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of those men, sir?
Hands, if possible," said the captain.

Trelawney was as cold as steel. He looked to the priming of his gun.

"Now," cried the captain, "easy with that gun, sir, or you'll swamp the
boat. All hands stand by to trim her when he aims."

The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and we leaned over to the
other side to keep the balance, and all was so nicely contrived that we
did not ship a drop.

[Illustration: _They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the
swivel_ (Page 125)]

They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon the swivel, and
Hands, who was at the muzzle, with the rammer, was, in consequence, the
most exposed. However, we had no luck; for just as Trelawney fired,
down he stooped, the ball whistling over him, and it was one of the
other four who fell.

The cry he gave was echoed, not only by his companions on board, but by
a great number of voices from the shore, and looking in that direction I
saw the other pirates trooping out from among the trees and tumbling
into their places in the boats.

"Here come the gigs, sir," said I.

"Give way, then," said the captain. "We mustn't mind if we swamp her
now. If we can't get ashore, all's up."

"Only one of the gigs is being manned, sir," I added; "the crew of the
other is most likely going around by shore to cut us off."

"They'll have a hot run, sir," returned the captain. "Jack ashore, you
know. It's not them I mind; it's the round shot. Carpet bowls! My lady's
maid couldn't miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we'll
hold water."

In the meantime we had been making headway at a good pace for a boat so
overloaded, and we had shipped but little water in the process. We were
now close in; thirty or forty strokes and we should beach her, for the
ebb had already disclosed a narrow belt of sand below the clustering
trees. The gig was no longer to be feared; the little point had already
concealed it from our eyes. The ebb-tide, which had so cruelly delayed
us, was now making reparation, and delaying our assailants. The one
source of danger was the gun.

"If I durst," said the captain, "I'd stop and pick off another man."

But it was plain that they meant nothing should delay their shot. They
had never so much as looked at their fallen comrade, though he was not
dead, and I could see him trying to crawl away.

"Ready!" cried the squire.

"Hold!" cried the captain, quick as an echo.

And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that sent her astern bodily
under water. The report fell in at the same instant of time. This was
the first that Jim heard, the sound of the squire's shot not having
reached him. When the ball passed, not one of us precisely knew, but I
fancy it must have been over our heads, and that the wind of it may have
contributed to our disaster.

At any rate the boat sunk by the stern, quite gently, in three feet of
water, leaving the captain and myself, facing each other, on our feet.
The other three took complete headers, and came up again, drenched and
bubbling.

So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, and we could wade
ashore in safety. But there were all our stores at the bottom, and, to
make things worse, only two guns out of five remained in a state for
service. Mine I had snatched from my knees, and held over my head, by a
sort of instinct. As for the captain, he had carried his over his
shoulder by a bandoleer, and, like a wise man, lock uppermost. The other
three had gone down with the boat. To add to our concern, we heard
voices already drawing near us in the woods along the shore; and we had
not only the danger of being cut off from the stockade in our
half-crippled state, but the fear before us whether, if Hunter and Joyce
were attacked by half a dozen, they would have the sense and conduct to
stand firm. Hunter was steady, that we knew; Joyce was a doubtful
case--a pleasant, polite man for a valet, and to brush one's clothes,
but not entirely fitted for a man-of-war.

With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as fast as we could, leaving
behind us the poor jolly-boat, and a good half of all our powder and
provisions.

 The tiny rowboat is having some trouble with the changing tide and the weight of the men aboard , so it starts to seem like it's going to sink. Captain Smollett suddenly remembers the ship's cannon: could the pirates use it to attack the fort? Doctor Livesey says the pirates couldn't possibly get it ashore. But he has forgotten the "long nine," a relatively light nine-foot-long cast-iron gun that they accidentally left on board the Hispaniola. And the little rowboat's course has left it totally exposed and in range of the long nine. Abraham Gray comments that Israel Hands was a gunner for Captain Flint back in the day. Squire Trelawney is the best shot of the group on the rowboat, so he starts loading his gun. They all brace themselves, and Squire Trelawney fires his shot at Israel Hands aboard the Hispaniola. Unfortunately, the Squire misses, and one of the other four sailors on board the Hispaniola drops. Israel Hands quickly continues working to load the long nine, ignoring his injured comrade. The group aboard the tiny rowboat can see one of the pirates' two boats in sight. They realize the other one must have rowed around to try and cut them off from the shore. But the Captain says they can't worry about that now - their biggest concern should be the long nine. They decide the safest thing to do would be to overturn their rowboat because they are so close to the shore. That way they won't be such an easy target for the long nine. So they overturn the boat and wade onto the island - with only two of their five guns and none of the supplies they had hoped to bring with them. They also hear voices coming upon them, so they hurry up to the stockade to find out what's happened to Hunter and Joyce while they were on board the Hispaniola.

