Chapter: I GO TO BRISTOL


It was longer than the squire imagined ere we were ready for the sea,
and none of our first plans--not even Doctor Livesey's, of keeping me
beside him--could be carried out as we intended. The doctor had to go to
London for a physician to take charge of his practice; the squire was
hard at work at Bristol; and I lived on at the Hall under the charge of
old Redruth, the gamekeeper, almost a prisoner, but full of sea-dreams
and the most charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures. I
brooded by the hour together over the map, all the details of which I
well remembered. Sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room, I
approached that island, in my fancy, from every possible direction; I
explored every acre of its surface; I climbed a thousand times to that
tall hill they call the Spy-glass, and from the top enjoyed the most
wonderful and changing prospects. Sometimes the isle was thick with
savages, with whom we fought; sometimes full of dangerous animals that
hunted us; but in all my fancies nothing occurred to me so strange and
tragic as our actual adventures.

So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there came a letter addressed
to Doctor Livesey, with this addition, "To be opened in the case of his
absence, by Tom Redruth or Young Hawkins." Obeying this order, we found,
or rather I found--for the gamekeeper was a poor hand at reading
anything but print--the following important news:

                              "_Old Anchor Inn, Bristol, March 1, 17--._

    "DEAR LIVESEY: As I do not know whether you are at the Hall or still
    in London, I send this in double to both places.

    "The ship is bought and fitted. She lies at anchor, ready for sea.
    You never imagined a sweeter schooner--a child might sail her--two
    hundred tons; name, _Hispaniola_.

    "I got her through my old friend, Blandly, who has proved himself
    throughout the most surprising trump. The admirable fellow literally
    slaved in my interest, and so, I may say, did every one in Bristol,
    as soon as they got wind of the port we sailed for--treasure, I
    mean."

"Redruth," said I, interrupting the letter, "Doctor Livesey will not
like that. The squire has been talking, after all."

"Well, who's a better right?" growled the gamekeeper. "A pretty rum go
if Squire ain't to talk for Doctor Livesey, I should think."

At that I gave up all attempt at commentary, and read straight on:

    "Blandly himself found the _Hispaniola_, and by the most admirable
    management got her for the merest trifle. There is a class of men in
    Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. They go the length
    of declaring that this honest creature would do anything for money;
    that the _Hispaniola_ belonged to him, and that he sold to me
    absurdly high--the most transparent calumnies. None of them dare,
    however, to deny the merits of the ship.

    "So far there was not a hitch. The workpeople, to be sure--riggers
    and what not--were most annoyingly slow, but time cured that. It was
    the crew that troubled me.

    "I wished a round score of men--in case of natives, buccaneers, or
    the odious French--and I had the worry of the deuce itself to find
    so much as half a dozen, till the most remarkable stroke of fortune
    brought me the very man that I required.

    "I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in
    talk with him. I found he was an old sailor, kept a public house,
    knew all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his health ashore,
    and wanted a good berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled
    down there that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt.

    "I was monstrously touched--so would you have been--and, out of pure
    pity, I engaged him on the spot to be ship's cook. Long John Silver
    he is called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as a
    recommendation, since he lost it in his country's service, under the
    immortal Hawke. He has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable
    age we live in!

    "Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, but it was a crew I
    had discovered. Between Silver and myself we got together in a few
    days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable--not pretty to
    look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable
    spirit. I declare we could fight a frigate.

    "Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven I had already
    engaged. He showed me in a moment that they were just the sort of
    fresh-water swabs we had to fear in an adventure of importance.

    "I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eating like a
    bull, sleeping like a tree, yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I
    hear my old tarpaulins tramping round the capstan. Seaward ho! Hang
    the treasure! It's the glory of the sea that has turned my head. So
    now, Livesey, come post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me.

    "Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with Redruth for a
    guard, and then both come full speed to Bristol.

                                                        "JOHN TRELAWNEY.

    "P.S.--I did not tell you that Blandly, who, by the way, is to send
    a consort after us if we don't turn up by the end of August, had
    found an admirable fellow for sailing-master--a stiff man, which I
    regret, but, in all other respects, a treasure. Long John Silver
    unearthed a very competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have
    a boatswain who pipes, Livesey; so things shall go man-o'-war
    fashion on board the good ship _Hispaniola_.

    "I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of
    my own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never
    been overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; and as she is
    a woman of color, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be
    excused for guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the
    health, that sends him back to roving.

                                                                  "J. T.

    "P.P.S.--Hawkins may stay one night with his mother.

                                                                 "J. T."

You can fancy the excitement into which that letter put me. I was half
beside myself with glee, and if ever I despised a man, it was old Tom
Redruth, who could do nothing but grumble and lament. Any of the
under-gamekeepers would gladly have changed places with him; but such
was not the squire's pleasure, and the squire's pleasure was like law
among them all. Nobody but old Redruth would have dared so much as even
to grumble.

The next morning he and I set out on foot for the "Admiral Benbow," and
there I found my mother in good health and spirits. The captain, who had
so long been a cause of so much discomfort, was gone where the wicked
cease from troubling. The squire had had everything repaired, and the
public rooms and the sign repainted, and had added some furniture--above
all a beautiful armchair for mother in the bar. He had found her a boy
as an apprentice also, so that she should not want help while I was
gone.

It was on seeing that boy that I understood, for the first time, my
situation. I had thought up to that moment of the adventures before me,
not at all of the home that I was leaving; and now at sight of this
clumsy stranger, who was to stay here in my place beside my mother, I
had my first attack of tears. I am afraid I led that boy a dog's life;
for as he was new to the work, I had a hundred opportunities of setting
him right and putting him down, and I was not slow to profit by them.

The night passed, and the next day, after dinner, Redruth and I were
afoot again and on the road. I said good-by to mother and the cove where
I had lived since I was born, and the dear old "Admiral Benbow"--since
he was repainted, no longer quite so dear. One of my last thoughts was
of the captain, who had so often strode along the beach with his cocked
hat, his saber-cut cheek, and his old brass telescope. Next moment we
had turned the corner, and my home was out of sight.

The mail picked us up about dusk at the "Royal George" on the heath. I
was wedged in between Redruth and a stout old gentleman, and in spite of
the swift motion and the cold night air, I must have dozed a great deal
from the very first, and then slept like a log up hill and down dale,
through stage after stage; for when I was awakened at last, it was by a
punch in the ribs, and I opened my eyes to find that we were standing
still before a large building in a city street, and that the day had
already broken a long time.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Bristol," said Tom. "Get down."

Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn far down the docks,
to superintend the work upon the schooner. Thither we had now to walk,
and our way, to my great delight, lay along the quays and beside the
great multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations. In one,
sailors were singing at their work; in another, there were men aloft,
high over my head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than a
spider's. Though I had lived by the shore all my life, I seemed never to
have been near the sea till then. The smell of tar and salt was
something new. I saw the most wonderful figureheads, that had all been
far over the ocean. I saw, besides, many old sailors, with rings in
their ears, and whiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pig-tails, and
their swaggering, clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings or
archbishops I could not have been more delighted.

And I was going to sea myself; to sea in a schooner, with a piping
boatswain, and pig-tailed singing seamen; to sea, bound for an unknown
island, and to seek for buried treasure.

While I was still in this delightful dream, we came suddenly in front of
a large inn, and met Squire Trelawney, all dressed out like a sea
officer, in stout blue cloth, coming out of the door with a smile on his
face, and a capital imitation of a sailor's walk.

"Here you are!" he cried; "and the doctor came last night from London.
Bravo!--the ship's company complete."

"Oh, sir," cried I, "when do we sail?"

"Sail!" says he. "We sail to-morrow."




AT THE SIGN OF THE "SPY-GLASS"


When I had done breakfasting, the squire gave me a note addressed to
John Silver, at the sign of the "Spy-glass," and told me I should easily
find the place by following the line of the docks, and keeping a bright
lookout for a little tavern with a large brass telescope for a sign. I
set off, overjoyed at this opportunity to see some more of the ships and
seamen, and picked my way among a great crowd of people and carts and
bales, for the dock was now at its busiest, until I found the tavern in
question.

It was a bright enough little place of entertainment. The sign was newly
painted; the windows had neat red curtains; the floor was cleanly
sanded. There was a street on each side, and an open door on both, which
made the large, low room pretty clear to see in, in spite of clouds of
tobacco smoke.

The customers were mostly seafaring men, and they talked so loudly that
I hung at the door, almost afraid to enter.

As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, and at a glance I was
sure he must be Long John. His left leg was cut off close by the hip,
and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with
wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very tall
and strong, with a face as big as a ham--plain and pale, but
intelligent and smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheerful spirits,
whistling as he moved about among the tables, with a merry word or a
slap on the shoulder for the more favored of his guests.

Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first mention of Long John in
Squire Trelawney's letter, I had taken a fear in my mind that he might
prove to be the very one-legged sailor whom I had watched for so long at
the old "Benbow." But one look at the man before me was enough. I had
seen the captain, and Black Dog, and the blind man Pew, and I thought I
knew what a buccaneer was like--a very different creature, according to
me, from this clean and pleasant-tempered landlord.

I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, and walked right up
to the man where he stood, propped on his crutch, talking to a customer.

"Mr. Silver, sir?" I asked, holding out the note.

"Yes, my lad," said he; "such is my name, to be sure. And who may you
be?" And when he saw the squire's letter he seemed to me to give
something almost like a start.

"Oh!" said he, quite aloud, and offering his hand, "I see. You are our
new cabin-boy; pleased I am to see you."

And he took my hand in his large firm grasp.

Just then one of the customers at the far side rose suddenly and made
for the door. It was close by him, and he was out in the street in a
moment. But his hurry had attracted my notice, and I recognized him at a
glance. It was the tallow-faced man, wanting two fingers, who had come
first to the "Admiral Benbow."

"Oh," I cried, "stop him! it's Black Dog!"

"I don't care two coppers who he is," cried Silver, "but he hasn't paid
his score. Harry, run and catch him."

One of the others who was nearest the door leaped up and started in
pursuit.

"If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score," cried Silver; and
then, relinquishing my hand, "Who did you say he was?" he asked. "Black
what?"

"Dog, sir," said I. "Has Mr. Trelawney not told you of the buccaneers?
He was one of them."

"So?" cried Silver. "In my house! Ben, run and help Harry. One of those
swabs, was he? Was that you drinking with him, Morgan? Step up here."

The man whom he called Morgan--an old, gray-haired, mahogany-faced
sailor--came forward pretty sheepishly, rolling his quid.

[Illustration: _"Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly, "you never
clapped your eyes on that Black Dog before, did you, now?"_ (Page 57)]

"Now, Morgan," said Long John, very sternly, "you never clapped your
eyes on that Black--Black Dog before, did you, now?"

"Not I, sir," said Morgan, with a salute.

"You didn't know his name, did you?"

"No, sir."

"By the powers, Tom Morgan, it's as good for you!" exclaimed the
landlord. "If you had been mixed up with the like of that, you would
never have put another foot in my house, you may lay to that. And what
was he saying to you?"

"I don't rightly know, sir," answered Morgan.

"Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a blessed dead-eye?"
cried Long John. "Don't rightly know, don't you? Perhaps you don't
happen to rightly know who you was speaking to, perhaps? Come, now,
what was he jawing--v'yages, cap'ns, ships? Pipe up! What was it?"

"We was a-talkin' of keel-hauling," answered Morgan.

"Keel-hauling, was you? and a mighty suitable thing, too, and you may
lay to that. Get back to your place for a lubber, Tom."

And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat, Silver added to me, in a
confidential whisper, that was very flattering, as I thought:

"He's quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on'y stupid. And now," he ran on
again, aloud, "let's see--Black Dog? No, I don't know the name, not I.
Yet I kind of think I've--yes, I've seen the swab. He used to come here
with a blind beggar, he used."

"That he did, you may be sure," said I. "I knew that blind man, too. His
name was Pew."

"It was!" cried Silver, now quite excited. "Pew! That were his name for
certain. Ah, he looked a shark, he did! If we run down this Black Dog
now, there'll be news for Cap'n Trelawney! Ben's a good runner; few
seamen run better than Ben. He should run him down, hand over hand, by
the powers! He talked o' keel-hauling, did he? _I'll_ keel-haul him!"

All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was stumping up and
down the tavern on his crutch, slapping tables with his hand, and giving
such a show of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge or
a Bow Street runner. My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened on
finding Black Dog at the "Spy-glass," and I watched the cook narrowly.
But he was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and by the
time the two men had come back out of breath, and confessed that they
had lost the track in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would
have gone bail for the innocence of Long John Silver.

"See here, now, Hawkins," said he, "here's a blessed hard thing on a man
like me, now, ain't it? There's Cap'n Trelawney--what's he to think?
Here I have this confounded son of a Dutchman sitting in my own house,
drinking of my own rum! Here you comes and tells me of it plain; and
here I let him give us all the slip before my blessed deadlights! Now,
Hawkins, you do me justice with the cap'n. You're a lad, you are, but
you're as smart as paint. I see that when you first came in. Now, here
it is: What could I do, with this old timber I hobble on? When I was an
A B master mariner I'd have come up alongside of him, hand over hand,
and broached him to in a brace of old shakes, I would; and now--"

And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw dropped as though he
had remembered something.

"The score!" he burst out. "Three goes o' rum! Why, shiver my timbers,
if I hadn't forgotten my score!"

And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks.
I could not help joining, and we laughed together, peal after peal,
until the tavern rang again.

"Why, what a precious old sea-calf I am!" he said, at last, wiping his
cheeks. "You and me should get on well, Hawkins, for I'll take my davy I
should be rated ship's boy. But, come, now, stand by to go about. This
won't do. Dooty is dooty, messmates. I'll put on my old cocked hat and
step along of you to Cap'n Trelawney, and report this here affair. For,
mind you, it's serious, young Hawkins; and neither you nor me's come out
of it with what I should make so bold as to call credit. Nor you
neither, says you; not smart--none of the pair of us smart. But dash my
buttons! that was a good 'un about my score."

And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that though I did not
see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.

On our little walk along the quays he made himself the most interesting
companion, telling me about the different ships that we passed by, their
rig, tonnage, and nationality, explaining the work that was going
forward--how one was discharging, another taking in cargo, and a third
making ready for sea; and every now and then telling me some little
anecdote of ships or seamen, or repeating a nautical phrase till I had
learned it perfectly. I began to see that here was one of the best of
possible shipmates.

When we got to the inn, the squire and Doctor Livesey were seated
together, finishing a quart of ale with a toast in it, before they
should go aboard the schooner on a visit of inspection.

Long John told the story from first to last, with a great deal of spirit
and the most perfect truth. "That was how it were, now, weren't it,
Hawkins?" he would say, now and again, and I could always bear him
entirely out.

The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had got away, but we all
agreed there was nothing to be done, and after he had been complimented,
Long John took up his crutch and departed.

"All hands aboard by four this afternoon!" shouted the squire after him.

"Ay, ay, sir," cried the cook, in the passage.

"Well, squire," said Doctor Livesey, "I don't put much faith in your
discoveries, as a general thing, but I will say this--John Silver suits
me."

"That man's a perfect trump," declared the squire.

"And now," added the doctor, "Jim may come on board with us, may he
not?"

"To be sure he may," said the squire. "Take your hat, Hawkins, and we'll
see the ship."

[Illustration]




POWDER AND ARMS


The _Hispaniola_ lay some way out, and we went under the figureheads and
around the sterns of many other ships, and their cables sometimes grated
beneath our keel, and sometimes swung above us. At last, however, we
swung alongside, and were met and saluted as we stepped aboard by the
mate, Mr. Arrow, a brown old sailor, with earrings in his ears and a
squint. He and the squire were very thick and friendly, but I soon
observed that things were not the same between Mr. Trelawney and the
captain.

This last was a sharp-looking man, who seemed angry with everything on
board, and was soon to tell us why, for we had hardly got down into the
cabin when a sailor followed us.

"Captain Smollett, sir, axing to speak with you," said he.

"I am always at the captain's orders. Show him in," said the squire.

The captain, who was close behind his messenger, entered at once, and
shut the door behind him.

"Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say? All well, I hope; all
shipshape and seaworthy?"

"Well, sir," said the captain, "better speak plain, I believe, at the
risk of offense. I don't like this cruise; I don't like the men; and I
don't like my officer. That's short and sweet."

"Perhaps, sir, you don't like the ship?" inquired the squire, very
angry, as I could see.

"I can't speak as to that, sir, not having seen her tried," said the
captain. "She seems a clever craft; more I can't say."

"Possibly, sir, you may not like your employer, either?" said the
squire.

But here Doctor Livesey cut in.

"Stay a bit," said he, "stay a bit. No use of such questions as that but
to produce ill-feeling. The captain has said too much or he has said too
little, and I'm bound to say that I require an explanation of his words.
You don't, you say, like this cruise. Now, why?"

"I was engaged, sir, on what we call sealed orders, to sail this ship
for that gentleman where he should bid me," said the captain. "So far so
good. But now I find that every man before the mast knows more than I
do. I don't call that fair, now, do you?"

"No," said Doctor Livesey, "I don't."

"Next," said the captain, "I learn we are going after treasure--hear it
from my own hands, mind you. Now, treasure is ticklish work; I don't
like treasure voyages on any account; and I don't like them, above all,
when they are secret, and when (begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney) the
secret has been told to the parrot."

"Silver's parrot?" asked the squire.

"It's a way of speaking," said the captain. "Blabbed, I mean. It's my
belief neither of you gentlemen know what you are about; but I'll tell
you my way of it--life or death, and a close run."

"That is all clear, and, I dare say, true enough," replied Doctor
Livesey. "We take the risk, but we are not so ignorant as you believe
us. Next, you say you don't like the crew. Are they not good seamen?"

"I don't like them, sir," returned Captain Smollett. "And I think I
should have had the choosing of my own hands, if you go to that."

"Perhaps you should," replied the doctor. "My friend should, perhaps,
have taken you along with him; but the slight, if there be one, was
unintentional. And you don't like Mr. Arrow?"

"I don't, sir. I believe he's a good seaman, but he's too free with
the crew to be a good officer. A mate should keep himself to
himself--shouldn't drink with the men before the mast."

"Do you mean he drinks?" cried the squire.

"No, sir," replied the captain; "only that he's too familiar."

"Well, now, and the short and long of it, captain?" asked the doctor.
"Tell us what you want."

"Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on this cruise?"

"Like iron," answered the squire.

"Very good," said the captain. "Then, as you've heard me very patiently,
saying things that I could not prove, hear me a few words more. They are
putting the powder and the arms in the fore hold. Now, you have a good
place under the cabin; why not put them there?--first point. Then you
are bringing four of your own people with you, and they tell me some of
them are to be berthed forward. Why not give them the berths here beside
the cabin?--second point."

"Any more?" asked Mr. Trelawney.

"One more," said the captain. "There's been too much blabbing already."

"Far too much," agreed the doctor.

"I'll tell you what I've heard myself," continued Captain Smollett;
"that you have a map of an island; that there's crosses on the map to
show where treasure is; and that the island lies--" And then he named
the latitude and longitude exactly.

"I never told that," cried the squire, "to a soul."

"The hands know it, sir," returned the captain.

"Livesey, that must have been you or Hawkins," cried the squire.

"It doesn't much matter who it was," replied the doctor. And I could see
that neither he nor the captain paid much regard to Mr. Trelawney's
protestations. Neither did I, to be sure, he was so loose a talker; yet
in this case I believe he was really right, and that nobody had told the
situation of the island.

"Well, gentlemen," continued the captain, "I don't know who has this
map, but I make it a point it shall be kept secret even from me and Mr.
Arrow. Otherwise I would ask you to let me resign."

"I see," said the doctor. "You wish us to keep this matter dark, and to
make a garrison of the stern part of the ship, manned with my friend's
own people, and provided with all the arms and powder on board. In other
words, you fear a mutiny."

"Sir," said Captain Smollett, "with no intention to take offense, I deny
your right to put words into my mouth. No captain, sir, would be
justified in going to sea at all if he had ground enough to say that. As
for Mr. Arrow, I believe him thoroughly honest; some of the men are the
same; all may be for what I know. But I am responsible for the ship's
safety and the life of every man Jack aboard of her. I see things going,
as I think, not quite right; and I ask you to take certain precautions,
or let me resign my berth. And that's all."

"Captain Smollett," began the doctor, with a smile, "did ever you hear
the fable of the mountain and the mouse? You'll excuse me, I dare say,
but you remind me of that fable. When you came in here I'll stake my wig
you meant more than this."

"Doctor," said the captain, "you are smart. When I came in here I meant
to get discharged. I had no thought that Mr. Trelawney would hear a
word."

"No more I would," cried the squire. "Had Livesey not been here I should
have seen you to the deuce. As it is, I have heard you. I will do as you
desire, but I think the worse of you."

"That's as you please, sir," said the captain. "You'll find I do my
duty."

And with that he took his leave.

"Trelawney," said the doctor, "contrary to all my notions, I believe you
have managed to get two honest men on board with you--that man and John
Silver."

"Silver, if you like," cried the squire, "but as for that intolerable
humbug, I declare I think his conduct unmanly, unsailorly, and downright
un-English."

"Well," said the doctor, "we shall see."

When we came on deck the men had begun already to take out the arms and
powder, yo-ho-ing at their work, while the captain and Mr. Arrow stood
by superintending.

The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The whole schooner had been
overhauled; six berths had been made astern, out of what had been the
after-part of the main hold, and this set of cabins was only joined to
the galley and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port side. It had
been originally meant that the captain, Mr. Arrow, Hunter, Joyce, the
doctor, and the squire were to occupy these six berths. Now Redruth and
I were to get two of them, and Mr. Arrow and the captain were to sleep
on deck in the companion, which had been enlarged on each side till you
might almost have called it a round-house. Very low it was still, of
course, but there was room to swing two hammocks, and even the mate
seemed pleased with the arrangement. Even he, perhaps, had been doubtful
as to the crew, but that is only guess, for, as you shall hear, we had
not long the benefit of his opinion.

We were all hard at work changing the powder and the berths, when the
last man or two, and Long John along with them, came off in a
shore-boat.

The cook came up the side like a monkey for cleverness, and, as soon as
he saw what was doing, "So ho, mates!" said he, "what's this!"

"We're a-changing the powder, Jack," answers one.

"Why, by the powers," cried Long John, "if we do, we'll miss the morning
tide!"

"My orders!" said the captain, shortly. "You may go below, my man. Hands
will want supper."

"Ay, ay, sir," answered the cook; and, touching his forelock, he
disappeared at once in the direction of his galley.

"That's a good man, captain," said the doctor.

"Very likely, sir," replied Captain Smollett. "Easy with that,
men--easy," he ran on, to the fellows who were shifting the powder; and
then suddenly observing me examining the swivel we carried amidships, a
long brass nine--"Here, you ship's boy," he cried, "out o' that! Off
with you to the cook and get some work."

And then as I was hurrying off I heard him say, quite loudly, to the
doctor:

"I'll have no favorites on my ship."

I assure you I was quite of the squire's way of thinking, and hated the
captain deeply.




THE VOYAGE


All that night we were in a great bustle getting things stowed in their
place, and boatfuls of the squire's friends, Mr. Blandly and the like,
coming off to wish him a good voyage and a safe return. We never had a
night at the "Admiral Benbow" when I had half the work; and I was
dog-tired when, a little before dawn, the boatswain sounded his pipe,
and the crew began to man the capstan bars. I might have been twice as
weary, yet I would not have left the deck, all was so new and
interesting to me--the brief commands, the shrill notes of the whistle,
the men bustling to their places in the glimmer of the ship's lanterns.

"Now, Barbecue, tip us a stave," cried one voice.

"The old one," cried another.

"Ay, ay, mates," said Long John, who was standing by, with his crutch
under his arm, and at once broke out in the air and words I knew so
well:

    "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest"--

And then the whole crew bore chorus:

    "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"

And at the third "ho!" drove the bars before them with a will.

Even at that exciting moment it carried me back to the old "Admiral
Benbow" in a second, and I seemed to hear the voice of the captain
piping in the chorus. But soon the anchor was short up; soon it was
hanging dripping at the bows; soon the sails began to draw, and the land
and shipping to flit by on either side, and before I could lie down to
snatch an hour of slumber the _Hispaniola_ had begun her voyage to the
Isle of Treasure.

I am not going to relate the voyage in detail. It was fairly prosperous.
The ship proved to be a good ship, the crew were capable seamen, and the
captain thoroughly understood his business. But before we came the
length of Treasure Island, two or three things had happened which
require to be known.

Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than the captain had
feared. He had no command among the men, and people did what they
pleased with him. But that was by no means the worst of it; for after a
day or two at sea he began to appear on deck with hazy eye, red cheeks,
stuttering tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. Time after time he
was ordered below in disgrace. Sometimes he fell and cut himself;
sometimes he lay all day long in his little bunk at one side of the
companion; sometimes for a day or two he would be almost sober and
attend to his work at least passably.

In the meantime we could never make out where he got the drink. That was
the ship's mystery. Watch him as we pleased, we could do nothing to
solve it, and when we asked him to his face, he would only laugh, if he
were drunk, and if he were sober, deny solemnly that he ever tasted
anything but water.

He was not only useless as an officer, and a bad influence among the
men, but it was plain that at this rate he must soon kill himself
outright, so nobody was much surprised, nor very sorry, when one dark
night, with a head sea, he disappeared entirely and was seen no more.

"Overboard!" said the captain. "Well, gentlemen, that saves the trouble
of putting him in irons."

But there we were, without a mate, and it was necessary, of course, to
advance one of the men. The boatswain, Job Anderson, was the likeliest
man aboard, and though he kept his old title, he served in a way as
mate. Mr. Trelawney had followed the sea, and his knowledge made him
very useful, for he often took a watch himself in easy weather. And the
coxswain, Israel Hands, was a careful, wily, old, experienced seaman,
who could be trusted at a pinch with almost anything.

He was a great confidant of Long John Silver, and so the mention of his
name leads me on to speak of our ship's cook, Barbecue, as the men
called him.

[Illustration: _It was something to see him get on with his cooking like
someone safe ashore_ (Page 71)]

Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round his neck, to have
both hands as free as possible. It was something to see him wedge the
foot of the crutch against a bulkhead, and, propped against it, yielding
to every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking like someone safe
ashore. Still more strange was it to see him in the heaviest of weather
cross the deck. He had a line or two rigged up to help him across the
widest spaces--Long John's earrings, they were called--and he would hand
himself from one place to another, now using the crutch, now trailing it
alongside by the lanyard, as quickly as another man could walk. Yet some
of the men who had sailed with him before expressed their pity to see
him so reduced.

"He's no common man, Barbecue," said the coxswain to me. "He had good
schooling in his young days, and can speak like a book when so minded;
and brave--a lion's nothing alongside of Long John! I seen him grapple
four and knock their heads together--him unarmed."

All the crew respected and even obeyed him. He had a way of talking to
each, and doing everybody some particular service. To me he was
unweariedly kind, and always glad to see me in the galley, which he kept
as clean as a new pin; the dishes hanging up burnished, and his parrot
in a cage in the corner.

"Come away, Hawkins," he would say; "come and have a yarn with John.
Nobody more welcome than yourself, my son. Sit you down and hear the
news. Here's Cap'n Flint--I calls my parrot Cap'n Flint, after the
famous buccaneer--here's Cap'n Flint predicting success to our v'yage.
Wasn't you, Cap'n?"

And the parrot would say, with great rapidity: "Pieces of eight! pieces
of eight! pieces of eight!" till you wondered that it was not out of
breath or till John threw his handkerchief over the cage.

"Now, that bird," he would say, "is, may be, two hundred years old,
Hawkins--they live forever mostly, and if anybody's seen more wickedness
it must be the devil himself. She's sailed with England--the great Cap'n
England, the pirate. She's been at Madagascar, and at Malabar, and
Surinam, and Providence, and Portobello. She was at the fishing up of
the wrecked plate ships. It's there she learned 'Pieces of eight,' and
little wonder; three hundred and fifty thousand of 'em, Hawkins! She was
at the boarding of the _Viceroy of the Indies_ out of Goa, she was, and
to look at her you would think she was a babby. But you smelt
powder--didn't you, cap'n?"

"Stand by to go about," the parrot would scream.

"Ah, she's a handsome craft, she is," the cook would say, and give her
sugar from his pocket, and then the bird would peck at the bars and
swear straight on, passing belief for wickedness. "There," John would
add, "you can't touch pitch and not be mucked, lad. Here's this poor old
innocent bird of mine swearing blue fire and none the wiser, you may lay
to that. She would swear the same, in a manner of speaking, before the
chaplain." And John would touch his forelock with a solemn way he had,
that made me think he was the best of men.

In the meantime the squire and Captain Smollett were still on pretty
distant terms with one another. The squire made no bones about the
matter; he despised the captain. The captain, on his part, never spoke
but when he was spoken to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not a
word wasted. He owned, when driven into a corner, that he seemed to have
been wrong about the crew; that some of them were as brisk as he wanted
to see, and all had behaved fairly well. As for the ship, he had taken a
downright fancy to her. "She'll lie a point nearer the wind than a man
has a right to expect of his own married wife, sir. But," he would add,
"all I say is, we're not home again, and I don't like the cruise."

The squire, at this, would turn away and march up and down the deck,
chin in air.

"A trifle more of that man," he would say, "and I should explode."

We had some heavy weather, which only proved the qualities of the
_Hispaniola_. Every man on board seemed well content, and they must have
been hard to please if they had been otherwise, for it is my belief
there was never a ship's company so spoiled since Noah put to sea.
Double grog was going on the least excuse; there was duff on odd days,
as, for instance, if the squire heard it was any man's birthday; and
always a barrel of apples standing broached in the waist, for anyone to
help himself that had a fancy.

"Never knew good to come of it yet," the captain said to Doctor Livesey.
"Spoil foc's'le hands, make devils. That's my belief."

But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall hear, for if it had
not been for that we should have had no note of warning and might all
have perished by the hand of treachery.

This is how it came about.

We had run up the trades to get the wind of the island we were after--I
am not allowed to be more plain--and now we were running down for it
with a bright lookout day and night. It was about the last day of our
outward voyage, by the largest computation; some time that night, or, at
latest, before noon of the morrow, we should sight the Treasure Island.
We were heading south-southwest, and had a steady breeze abeam and a
quiet sea. The _Hispaniola_ rolled steadily, dipping her bowsprit now
and then with a whiff of spray. All was drawing alow and aloft; everyone
was in the bravest spirits, because we were now so near an end of the
first part of our adventure.

Now, just after sundown, when all my work was over and I was on my way
to my berth, it occurred to me that I should like an apple. I ran on
deck. The watch was all forward looking out for the island. The man at
the helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gently to
himself, and that was the only sound excepting the swish of the sea
against the bows and around the sides of the ship.

In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there was scarce an
apple left; but, sitting down there in the dark, what with the sound of
the waters and the rocking movement of the ship, I had either fallen
asleep, or was on the point of doing so, when a heavy man sat down with
rather a clash close by. The barrel shook as he leaned his shoulders
against it, and I was just about to jump up when the man began to speak.
It was Silver's voice, and, before I had heard a dozen words, I would
not have shown myself for all the world, but lay there, trembling and
listening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity; for from these dozen
words I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard depended
upon me alone.




WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL


"No, not I," said Silver. "Flint was cap'n; I was quartermaster, along
of my timber leg. The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his
deadlights. It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me--out of
college and all--Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was hanged
like a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso Castle. That was
Roberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to their
ships--_Royal Fortune_ and so on. Now, what a ship was christened, so
let her stay, I says. So it was with the _Cassandra_, as brought us all
safe home from Malabar, after England took the _Viceroy of the Indies_;
so it was with the old _Walrus_, Flint's old ship, as I've seen a-muck
with the red blood and fit to sink with gold."

"Ah!" cried another voice, that of the youngest hand on board, and
evidently full of admiration, "he was the flower of the flock, was
Flint!"

"Davis was a man, too, by all accounts," said Silver. "I never sailed
along of him; first with England, then with Flint, that's my story; and
now here on my own account, in a manner of speaking. I laid by nine
hundred safe, from England, and two thousand after Flint. That ain't bad
for a man before the mast--all safe in bank. 'Tain't earning now, it's
saving does it, you may lay to that. Where's all England's men now? I
dunno. Where's Flint's? Why, most of 'em aboard here, and glad to get
the duff--been begging before that, some of 'em. Old Pew, as had lost
his sight, and might have thought shame, spends twelve hundred pounds in
a year, like a lord in Parliament. Where is he now? Well, he's dead now
and under hatches; but for two years before that, shiver my timbers! the
man was starving. He begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, and
starved at that, by the powers!"

"Well, it ain't much use, after all," said the young seaman.

"'Tain't much use for fools, you may lay to it--that, nor nothing,"
cried Silver. "But now, you look here; you're young, you are, but you're
as smart as paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I'll talk
to you like a man."

You can imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable old rogue
addressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had used to
myself. I think, if I had been able, that I would have killed him
through the barrel. Meantime he ran on, little supposing he was
overheard.

"Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough, and they risk
swinging, but they eat and drink like fighting-cocks, and when a cruise
is done, why it's hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthings in
their pockets. Now, the most goes for rum and a good fling, and to sea
again in their shirts. But that's not the course I lay. I puts it all
away, some here, some there, and none too much anywheres, by reason of
suspicion. I'm fifty, mark you; once back from this cruise I set up
gentleman in earnest. Time enough, too, says you. Ah, but I've lived
easy in the meantime; never denied myself o' nothing heart desires, and
slept soft and ate dainty all my days, but when at sea. And how did I
begin? Before the mast, like you!"

"Well," said the other, "but all the other money's gone now, ain't it?
You daren't show face in Bristol after this."

"Why, where might you suppose it was?" asked Silver, derisively.

"At Bristol, in banks and places," answered his companion.

"It were," said the cook; "it were when we weighed anchor. But my old
missis has it all by now. And the 'Spy-glass' is sold, lease and good
will and rigging; and the old girl's off to meet me. I would tell you
where, for I trust you; but it 'ud make jealousy among the mates."

"And you can trust your missis?" asked the other.

"Gentlemen of fortune," returned the cook, "usually trust little among
themselves, and right they are, you may lay to it. But I have a way with
me, I have. When a mate brings a slip on his cable--one as knows me, I
mean--it won't be in the same world with old John. There was some that
was feared of Pew, and some that was feared of Flint; but Flint his own
self was feared of me. Feared he was, and proud. They was the roughest
crew afloat, was Flint's; the devil himself would have been feared to go
to sea with them. Well, now, I tell you, I'm not a boasting man, and you
seen yourself how easy I keep company; but when I was quartermaster,
_lambs_ wasn't the word for Flint's old buccaneers. Ah, you may be sure
of yourself in old John's ship."

"Well, I tell you now," replied the lad, "I didn't half a quarter like
the job till I had this talk with you, John, but there's my hand on it
now."

"And a brave lad you were, and smart, too," answered Silver, shaking
hands so heartily that all the barrel shook, "and a finer figurehead for
a gentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on."

By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of their terms. By a
"gentleman of fortune" they plainly meant neither more nor less than a
common pirate, and the little scene that I had overheard was the last
act in the corruption of one of the honest hands--perhaps of the last
one left aboard. But on this point I was soon to be relieved, for,
Silver giving a little whistle, a third man strolled up and sat down by
the party.

"Dick's square," said Silver.

"Oh, I know'd Dick was square," returned the voice of the coxswain,
Israel Hands. "He's no fool, is Dick." And he turned his quid and spat.
"But, look here," he went on, "here's what I want to know, Barbecue--how
long are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat? I've had
a'most enough o' Cap'n Smollett; he's hazed me long enough, by thunder!
I want to go into that cabin, I do. I want their pickles and wines, and
that."

"Israel," said Silver, "your head ain't much account, nor never was. But
you're able to hear, I reckon; leastways your ears is big enough. Now,
here's what I say--you'll berth forward, and you'll live hard, and
you'll speak soft, and you'll keep sober, till I give the word; and you
may lay to that, my son."

"Well, I don't say no, do I?" growled the coxswain. "What I say is,
when? That's what I say."

"When! by the powers!" cried Silver. "Well, now, if you want to know,
I'll tell you when. The last moment I can manage; and that's when.
Here's a first-rate seaman, Cap'n Smollett, sails the blessed ship for
us. Here's this squire and doctor with a map and such--I don't know
where it is, do I? No more do you, says you. Well, then, I mean this
squire and doctor shall find the stuff, and help us to get it aboard, by
the powers! Then we'll see. If I was sure of you all, sons of double
Dutchmen, I'd have Cap'n Smollett navigate us halfway back again before
I struck."

"Why, we're all seamen aboard here, I should think," said the lad Dick.

"We're all foc's'le hands, you mean," snapped Silver. "We can steer a
course, but who's to set one? That's what all you gentlemen split on,
first and last. If I had my way, I'd have Cap'n Smollett work us back
into the trades at least; then we'd have no blessed miscalculations and
a spoonful of water a day. But I know the sort you are. I'll finish with
'em at the island, as soon's the blunt's on board, and a pity it is. But
you're never happy till you're drunk. Split my sides, I've a sick heart
to sail with the likes of you!"

"Easy all, Long John," cried Israel. "Who's a-crossin' of you?"

"Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I seen laid aboard? and
how many brisk lads drying in the sun at Execution Dock?" cried Silver;
"and all for this same hurry and hurry and hurry. You hear me? I seen a
thing or two at sea, I have. If you would on'y lay your course, and a
p'int to windward, you would ride in carriages, you would. But not you!
I know you. You'll have your mouthful of rum to-morrow, and go hang."

"Everybody know'd you was a kind of a chapling, John; but there's others
as could hand and steer as well as you," said Israel. "They liked a bit
o' fun, they did. They wasn't so high and dry, nohow, but took their
fling, like jolly companions, everyone."

"So?" said Silver. "Well, and where are they now? Pew was that sort, and
he died a beggar-man. Flint was, and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah,
they was a sweet crew, they was! on'y, where are they?"

"But," asked Dick, "when we do lay 'em athwart, what are we to do with
'em, anyhow?"

"There's the man for me!" cried the cook, admiringly. "That's what I
call business. Well, what would you think? Put 'em ashore like maroons?
That would have been England's way. Or cut 'em down like that much pork?
That would have been Flint's or Billy Bones's."

"Billy was the man for that," said Israel. "'Dead men don't bite,' says
he. Well, he's dead now, hisself; he knows the long and short on it now;
and if ever a rough hand come to port, it was Billy."

"Right you are," said Silver, "rough and ready. But mark you here: I'm
an easy man--I'm quite the gentleman, says you; but this time it's
serious. Dooty is dooty, mates. I give my vote--death. When I'm in
Parlyment, and riding in my coach, I don't want none of these
sea-lawyers in the cabin a-coming home, unlooked for, like the devil at
prayers. Wait is what I say; but when the time comes, why let her rip!"

"John," cried the coxswain, "you're a man!"

"You'll say so, Israel, when you see," said Silver. "Only one thing I
claim--I claim Trelawney. I'll wring his calf's head off his body with
these hands. Dick!" he added, breaking off, "you must jump up, like a
sweet lad, and get me an apple, to wet my pipe like."

You may fancy the terror I was in! I should have leaped out and run for
it, if I had found the strength; but my limbs and heart alike misgave
me. I heard Dick begin to rise, and then some one seemingly stopped him,
and the voice of Hands exclaimed:

"Oh, stow that! Don't you get sucking of that bilge, John. Let's have a
go of the rum."

"Dick," said Silver, "I trust you. I've a gauge on the keg, mind.
There's the key; you fill a pannikin and bring it up."

Terrified as I was, I could not help thinking to myself that this must
have been how Mr. Arrow got the strong waters that destroyed him.

Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence Israel spoke
straight on in the cook's ear. It was but a word or two that I could
catch, and yet I gathered some important news; for, besides other scraps
that tended to the same purpose, this whole clause was audible: "Not
another man of them'll jine." Hence there were still faithful men on
board.

When Dick returned, one after another of the trio took the pannikin and
drank--one "To luck"; another with a "Here's to old Flint," and Silver
himself saying, in a kind of song, "Here's to ourselves, and hold your
luff, plenty of prizes and plenty of duff."

Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the barrel, and, looking
up, I found the moon had risen, and was silvering the mizzen-top and
shining white on the luff of the foresail, and almost at the same time
the voice on the lookout shouted, "Land ho!"




COUNCIL OF WAR


There was a great rush of feet across the deck. I could hear people
tumbling up from the cabin and the foc's'le; and slipping in an instant
outside my barrel, I dived behind the foresail, made a double towards
the stern, and came out upon the open deck in time to join Hunter and
Doctor Livesey in the rush for the weather bow.

There all hands were already congregated. A belt of fog had lifted
almost simultaneously with the appearance of the moon. Away to the
southwest of us we saw two low hills, about a couple of miles apart, and
rising behind one of them a third and higher hill, whose peak was still
buried in the fog. All three seemed sharp and conical in figure.

So much I saw almost in a dream, for I had not yet recovered from my
horrid fear of a minute or two before. And then I heard the voice of
Captain Smollett issuing orders. The _Hispaniola_ was laid a couple of
points nearer the wind, and now sailed a course that would just clear
the island on the east.

"And now, men," said the captain, when all was sheeted home, "has any
one of you ever seen that land ahead?"

"I have, sir," said Silver. "I've watered there with a trader I was cook
in."

"The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I fancy?" asked the
captain.

"Yes, sir, Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a main place for
pirates once, and a hand we had on board knowed all their names for it.
That hill to the nor'ard they calls the Foremast Hill; there are three
hills in a row running south'ard--fore, main, and mizzen, sir. But the
main--that's the big 'un, with the cloud on it--they usually calls the
Spy-glass, by reason of a lookout they kept when they was in the
anchorage cleaning; for it's there they cleaned their ships, sir, asking
your pardon."

"I have a chart here," said Captain Smollett. "See if that's the place."

Long John's eyes burned in his head as he took the chart, but, by the
fresh look of the paper, I knew he was doomed to disappointment. This
was not the map we found in Billy Bones's chest, but an accurate copy,
complete in all things--names, and heights, and soundings--with the
single exception of the red crosses and the written notes. Sharp as must
have been his annoyance, Silver had the strength of mind to hide it.

"Yes, sir," said he, "this is the spot, to be sure, and very prettily
drawed out. Who might have done that, I wonder? The pirates were too
ignorant, I reckon. Ay, here it is: 'Captain Kidd's Anchorage'--just the
name my shipmate called it. There's a strong current runs along the
south, and then away nor'ard up the west coast. Right you was, sir,"
said he, "to haul your wind and keep the weather of the island.
Leastways, if such was your intention as to enter and careen, and there
ain't no better place for that in these waters."

"Thank you, my man," said Captain Smollett. "I'll ask you, later on, to
give us a help. You may go."

I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed his knowledge of
the island, and I own I was half-frightened when I saw him drawing
nearer to myself. He did not know, to be sure, that I had overheard his
council from the apple barrel, and yet I had, by this time, taken such a
horror of his cruelty, duplicity, and power, that I could scarce conceal
a shudder when he laid his hand upon my arm.

"Ah," said he, "this here is a sweet spot, this island--a sweet spot for
a lad to get ashore on. You'll bathe, and you'll climb trees, and you'll
hunt goats, you will, and you'll get aloft on them hills like a goat
yourself. Why, it makes me young again. I was going to forget my timber
leg, I was. It's a pleasant thing to be young, and have ten toes, and
you may lay to that. When you want to go a bit of exploring, you just
ask old John and he'll put up a snack for you to take along."

And clapping me in the friendliest way upon the shoulder, he hobbled off
forward and went below.

Captain Smollett, the squire, and Doctor Livesey were talking together
on the quarter-deck, and anxious as I was to tell them my story, I durst
not interrupt them openly. While I was still casting about in my
thoughts to find some probable excuse, Doctor Livesey called me to his
side. He had left his pipe below, and being a slave to tobacco, had
meant that I should fetch it; but as soon as I was near enough to speak
and not be overheard, I broke out immediately: "Doctor, let me speak.
Get the captain and squire down to the cabin, and then make some
pretense to send for me. I have terrible news."

The doctor changed countenance a little, but next moment he was master
of himself.

"Thank you, Jim," said he, quite loudly; "that was all I wanted to
know," as if he had asked me a question.

And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined the other two. They
spoke together for a little, and though none of them started, or raised
his voice, or so much as whistled, it was plain enough that Doctor
Livesey had communicated my request, for the next thing that I heard was
the captain giving an order to Job Anderson, and all hands were piped on
deck.

"My lads," said Captain Smollett, "I've a word to say to you. This land
that we have sighted is the place we have been sailing to. Mr.
Trelawney, being a very open-handed gentleman, as we all know, has just
asked me a word or two, and as I was able to tell him that every man on
board had done his duty, alow and aloft, as I never ask to see it done
better, why, he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin to
drink _your_ health and luck, and you'll have grog served out for you to
drink _our_ health and luck. I'll tell you what I think of this: I think
it handsome. And if you think as I do, you'll give a good sea cheer for
the gentleman that does it."

The cheer followed--that was a matter of course--but it rang out so full
and hearty, that I confess I could hardly believe these same men were
plotting for our blood.

"One more cheer for Cap'n Smollett!" cried Long John, when the first had
subsided.

And this also was given with a will.

On the top of that the three gentlemen went below, and not long after,
word was sent forward that Jim Hawkins was wanted in the cabin.

I found them all three seated around the table, a bottle of Spanish wine
and some raisins before them, and the doctor smoking away, with his wig
on his lap, and that, I knew, was a sign that he was agitated. The stern
window was open, for it was a warm night, and you could see the moon
shining behind on the ship's wake.

"Now, Hawkins," said the squire, "you have something to say. Speak up."

I did as I was bid, and, as short as I could make it, told the whole
details of Silver's conversation. Nobody interrupted me till I was done,
nor did anyone of the three of them make so much as a movement, but they
kept their eyes upon my face from first to last.

"Jim," said Doctor Livesey, "take a seat."

And they made me sit down at a table beside them, poured me out a glass
of wine, filled my hands with raisins, and all three, one after the
other, and each with a bow, drank my good health, and their service to
me, for my luck and courage.

"Now, captain," said the squire, "you were right and I was wrong. I own
myself an ass, and I await your orders."

"No more an ass than I, sir," returned the captain. "I never heard of a
crew that meant to mutiny but what showed signs before, for any man that
had an eye in his head to see the mischief and take steps according. But
this crew," he added, "beats me."

"Captain," said the doctor, "with your permission, that's Silver. A very
remarkable man."

"He'd look remarkably well from a yardarm, sir," returned the captain.
"But this is talk; this don't lead to anything. I see three or four
points, and with Mr. Trelawney's permission I'll name them."

"You, sir, are the captain. It is for you to speak," said Mr. Trelawney,
grandly.

"First point," began Mr. Smollett, "we must go on because we can't turn
back. If I gave the word to turn about, they would rise at once. Second
point, we have time before us--at least until this treasure's found.
Third point, there are faithful hands. Now, sir, it's got to come to
blows sooner or later, and what I propose is to take time by the
forelock, as the saying is, and come to blows some fine day when they
least expect it. We can count, I take it, on your own home servants, Mr.
Trelawney?"

"As upon myself," declared the squire.

"Three," reckoned the captain; "ourselves make seven, counting Hawkins
here. Now, about the honest hands?"

"Most likely Trelawney's own men," said the doctor; "those he picked up
for himself before he lit on Silver."

"Nay," replied the squire, "Hands was one of mine."

"I did think I could have trusted Hands," added the captain.

"And to think that they're all Englishmen!" broke out the squire. "Sir,
I could find it in my heart to blow the ship up."

"Well, gentlemen," said the captain, "the best that I can say is not
much. We must lay to, if you please, and keep a bright lookout. It's
trying on a man, I know. It would be pleasanter to come to blows. But
there's no help for it till we know our men. Lay to and whistle for a
wind; that's my view."

"Jim here," said the doctor, "can help us more than anyone. The men are
not shy with him and Jim is a noticing lad."

"Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you," added the squire.

I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt altogether
helpless; and yet, by an odd train of circumstances, it was indeed
through me that safety came. In the meantime, talk as we pleased, there
were only seven out of the twenty-six on whom we knew we could rely, and
out of these seven one was a boy, so that the grown men on our side were
six to their nineteen.




PART III

MY SHORE ADVENTURE




HOW MY SHORE ADVENTURE BEGAN


The appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning was
altogether changed. Although the breeze had now utterly ceased, we had
made a great deal of way during the night and were now lying becalmed
about half a mile to the southeast of the low eastern coast.
Gray-colored woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tint
was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sand-break in the lower lands
and by many tall trees of the pine family, out-topping the others--some
singly, some in clumps; but the general coloring was uniform and sad.
The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of naked rock. All
were strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass, which was by three or four
hundred feet the tallest on the island, was likewise the strangest in
configuration, running up sheer from almost every side and then suddenly
cut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on.

The _Hispaniola_ was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell. The
booms were tearing at the blocks, the rudder was banging to and fro, and
the whole ship creaking, groaning, and jumping like a manufactory. I had
to cling tight to the backstay and the world turned giddily before my
eyes; for though I was a good enough sailor when there was way on, this
standing still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I never
learned to stand without a qualm or so, above all in the morning, on an
empty stomach.

Perhaps it was this--perhaps it was the look of the island, with its
gray, melancholy woods, and wild stone spires, and the surf that we
could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach--at
least, although the sun shone bright and hot, and the shore birds were
fishing and crying all around us, and you would have thought anyone
would have been glad to get to land after being so long at sea, my heart
sank, as the saying is, into my boots, and from that first look onward I
hated the very thought of Treasure Island.

We had a dreary morning's work before us, for there was no sign of any
wind, and the boats had to be got out and manned, and the ship warped
three or four miles round the corner of the island and up the narrow
passage to the haven behind Skeleton Island. I volunteered for one of
the boats, where I had, of course, no business. The heat was sweltering
and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. Anderson was in command
of my boat, and instead of keeping the crew in order he grumbled as loud
as the worst.

"Well," he said, with an oath, "it's not forever."

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 landlocked, buried in woods, the trees coming
right down to high-water mark, the shores mostly flat, and the hill-tops
standing round at a distance in a sort of amphitheater, 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 islands 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 don'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 thundercloud.

And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived the danger. Long
John 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. He
fairly outstripped himself in willingness and civility; he was all
smiles to everyone. If an order were given, John would be on his crutch
in an instant, with the cheeriest "Ay, ay, sir!" in the world; and when
there was nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another, as if
to conceal the discontent of the rest.

Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon, this obvious
anxiety on the part of Long John appeared the worst.

We held a council in the cabin.

"Sir," said the captain, "if I risk another order, the whole ship'll
come about our ears by the run. You see, sir, here it is. I get a rough
answer, do I not? Well, if I speak back, pikes will be going in two
shakes; if I don't, Silver will see there's something under that, and
the game's up. Now, we've only one man to rely on."

"And who is that?" asked the squire.

"Silver, sir," returned the captain; "he's as anxious as you and I to
smother things up. This is a tiff; he'd soon talk 'em out of it if he
had the chance, and what I propose to do is to give him the chance.
Let's allow the men an afternoon ashore. If they all go, why, we'll
fight the ship. If they none of them go, well, then, we hold the cabin,
and God defend the right. If some go, you mark my words, sir, Silver'll
bring 'em aboard again as mild as lambs."

It was so decided; loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men.
Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth were taken into our confidence, and received
the news with less surprise and a better spirit than we had looked for,
and then the captain went on deck and addressed the crew.

"My lads," said he, "we've had a hot day, and are all tired and out of
sorts. A turn ashore'll hurt nobody; the boats are still in the water;
you can take the gigs, and as many as please can go ashore for the
afternoon. I'll fire a gun half an hour before sundown."

I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would break their
shins over treasure as soon as they were landed; for they all came out
of their sulks in a moment, and gave a cheer that started the echo in a
far-away hill, and sent the birds once more flying and squalling round
the anchorage.

The captain was too bright to be in the way. He whipped out of sight in
a moment, leaving Silver to arrange the party, and I fancy it was as
well he did so. Had he been on deck he could no longer so much as have
pretended not to understand the situation. It was as plain as day.
Silver was the captain, and a mighty rebellious crew he had of it. 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 farther. 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
foresheets 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.

 This part begins while Jim is staying at the Hall, the squires' estate, supervised by old Redruth, the gamekeeper, while Dr. Livesey is in London finding someone to take over his practice and Trelawney is in Bristol finding a ship and crew. A letter comes from Trelawney, indicating that the ship, the Hispaniola, is ready to sail. Jim is troubled by the fact that Trelawney has let everyone in Bristol find out about their treasure hunt. Trelwaney writes that he has purchased a ship. As a ship's cook, the squire has engaged a one-legged old sailor named Long John Silver, who, in turn, found a crew of very tough sailors. Trelawney instructs Jim to go visit his mother before coming to Bristol. Jim is thrilled by the news and goes the next day to the Admiral Benbow to say goodbye to his mother. The squire fixed dup the inn and found a boy to take Jim's place at his mother's side. Feeling sad at the realization that he is leaving home, Jim is extremely critical of the boy. The next day, Jim and Redruth travel to Bristol by coach. Jim, never having seen Bristol before, is enthralled by the sights, the sea, the tall ships, and the old sailors. In front of an inn, they come upon Squire Trelawney, who is dressed like an officer and has adopted the walk of a sailor. He informs the pair that the ship will sail the next day. Chapter 8 At the beginning of this chapter, the squire sends Jim to the "spy-glass" to deliver a note to the new captain of the ship, Long John Silver. In stark contrast to the inn, Jim notices the cleanliness and brightness of the tavern. The new captain of the ship is also the landlord, a tall, strong cheerful man whose left leg is missing and consequently the man moves with a crutch. Jim harbors suspicions that the man he is sent to look for might be the one-legged man that Billy Bones was wary of, but upon meeting him, he is assured by his calm, cheerful manner that this is not the same man. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Jim sees Black Dog run out of the tavern. Again, his suspicions that Long John Silver is the same pirate that Billy Bones was so terrified of resurface. Long John Silver, however, surprises Jim by being angry and upset over the sudden flight of Black Dog. He sends someone to catch him and then sets off to see Livesey and the squire, promising to report the incident to them. As Long John Silver and Jim proceed to meet the other two, Silver "made himself the most interesting companion," talking about the sea and various other things. By the end of the chapter, Jim was convinced that he was the "best of possible shipmates." When they get to the inn where the squire and Dr. Livesey reside, Long John tells the story and the two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog escaped but agreed there was nothing to be done. As the three go to board the ship, Dr. Livesey admits to being very impressed with John Silver. Chapter 9 Finally, after much anticipation, Jim gets to board the Hispaniola, and meets Mr. Arrow, a old sailor who is the ship's mate. Soon after boarding, Jim realizes that all is not well between Mr. Trelawney and the captain of the ship, Captain Smollett. The first thing that Captain Smollett makes it clear that he is unhappy with both the cruise and the men that Mr. Trelwney has selected to go on the expedition. Confused, the doctor intervenes and concocts that the reason that Captain Smollett is angry is for two reasons. First, he was not told the reason behind the expedition but all his hands were. Once he found out that it was a treasure hunt, he was more upset because of the dangers involved. Second, he was upset because he was not able to choose his own crew. He believes that the first mate is far too friendly with the crew, "soft," to have proper authority over the rest of the crew. At the conclusion of this conversation, in order to scare the men and make them believe that this is a dangerous trip, the captain reveals that he has overheard the exact longitude and latitude identified on the map. Trelawney protests that this was not possible because he has not revealed it to anyone, and, naively, the narrator believes him. After his dire predictions, Captain Smollett proceeds to give advice about how the ship should be set up. If this advice is not followed, he threatens to resign. First, he demands that all of the squire's men should live together near the squire's cabin, and that the firearms and ammunition be placed under the cabin. Trelawney, not happily, reluctantly agrees to the captain's wishes but Livesey believes that both the captain and Long John Silver are "honest men." Finally, Long John Silver comes on board as the men have changed the ship to meet the captain's wishes. Long John Silver, however, interrupts and says that if the ammunition is changed they will miss the morning tide. Angrily, the captain orders the cook, Long John Silver, to prepare supper, and for Jim to help him. Chapter 10 In this chapter, Jim is introduced to the handwork that accompanies sea work. All night, he slaves to help the crew get the boat ready to sail in the morning. As the boat gets ready to sail, Long John Silver begins a rambunctious version of Billy Bones' song "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest." This chapter is a count of the majority of the voyage to the island, and the narrator explains for brevity sakes, he only recounted the highlights of the voyage. Apparently, the first significant thing that happened on the trip was that the first mate, Mr. Arrow, was useless because he was always drunk. One night, he disappeared, most probably, having fallen over the side of the ship when he was drunk. As a consequence of his absence, many people have taken over his job, including the boatswain, Job Anderson, Mr. Trelawney, who took a watch , and the coxswain, Israel Hands, an experienced seaman and a close friend of Long John Silver. Although he only has one leg, Long John Silver moves around the ship thanks to ropes and contraptions that are set up. At times, he uses rope around his neck to carry his crutch with him as he travels to and fro on the contraptions. Jim notices that Long John Silver has befriended all on the ship, doing favors for them in order to make them indebted to him. He is extremely well liked, and as the coxswain tells Jim, he is courageous and well educated. Throughout this time, the captain and the squire get along no better than they did in the previous chapter. The captain, however, concedes that so far, the journey has been better than he has expected and that the men have been behaved. He is still upset, however, that the squire treats the crew too nicely and that they will eventually not be able to do their jobs. As the ship approaches the island, Jim is not allowed to reveal the exact location of the island but everyone anticipates landing and finding the treasure. Jim, wanting an apple, goes searching in the apple barrel. Although the apples are gone, he falls asleep in the apple barrel. When he awakes, he was in for a surprise: he heard Silver's voice. All that the narrator tells us at the conclusion of the chapter is that he realized the safety of all the "honest men" aboard depended upon his escaping safely. Chapter 11 As this chapter opens, Jim is still in the apple barrel and overhears Long John Silver telling someone else stories about the time he served as Captain Flint's quartermaster. Excitedly, he remembers that he lost his leg at the same time that the pirate Pew lost his sight, in an explosion of gunfire. As he is bragging about his previous exploits, Silver begins to recruit the youngest sailor aboard, calling himself a "gentleman of fortune." Jim is offended that he uses the same words to lure the youngest pirate that he used to gain Jim's friendship. Silver tells the young pirate that the life of a pirate is rough and risky, but worth it because of the great wealth there is to gain. More impressive, he tells, is that after this voyage, because of the money he has saved and the money he plans to garner from this voyage, he is going to retire and live like a gentleman. In the mean time, he has instructed his wife to sell his tavern and take his money to a clandestine location where Silver will meet her after the end of the voyage. In rough pirate dialogue, a far cry from the language he used when flattering Jim, he brags that he is even more feared than the famous pirate Flint. With these words, the young sailor , agrees to become a pirate. After this conversation, Israel Hand, a despicable man, joins Silver and Dick, inquires when Silver plans the mutiny. Silver's plans to exploit both Captain Smollett's skill at "setting a course" and the squire's and doctor's knowledge of the location of the treasure. The plan is to take the ship over, killing those on board who are not with the pirates, in order that Silver can return to live his perfect life as a gentleman. At this point in the chapter, Silver orders Dick to get him an apple which scares Jim to death. Luckily, Jim is saved when someone suggests that they have a drink of rum instead. Finally, after the men have their drink, Dick leaves and Silver and Hand discuss the fact that this is the last sailor that will join, a fact that implies that there are still some honest sailors left onboard. At the conclusion of the chapter, Jim sees a bright moon and someone cries, "Land Ho!" because Treasure Island is finally within sight. Chapter 12 Saved by the discovery of Treasure Island, Jim is able to escape from the apple barrel and joins the other in perusing the island. The island, as they discover, has three hills, one higher than the surrounding two. At this point, Long John Silver admits that he has been on the island before, claiming that he was there as a cook on trading shop that was forced to stop on the island for water. While there, he claims that he learned the pirates' names for places on the island and offers to help the captain find the best place to anchor. He claims that the best place is an islet denoted as Skeleton Island, and that the previously identified highest hill is called Spy-glass, since it was the pirate's lookout. Because of his knowledge Captain Smollet asks Silver to look at a chart and identify the place the ship should anchor. Jim, astutely, recognizes that Silver merely wants to look at the chart in order to find out where the treasure is buried, but luckily, from Silver's disappointment, it is clear that the mark that Silver looks for was not on the map. During this time, Silver speaks to Jim and gives the boy a pat on his back, a friendly gesture, Jim coils inside and finds it extremely difficult to hide his feelings. Following this incident, Jim discretely tells Dr. Livesy that he has terrible news and asks that the doctor, squire, and captain meet in the cabin for him to tell them this news. In the cabin, Jim tells the gathered group the terrible news that he overheard. Immediately, the squire apologizes to the captain, acknowledging that the captain was right from the beginning of the expedition. The doctor, however, explains that only Long John Silver's authority has kept the crew from showing any signs of the coming mutiny to this point. The captain realizes that the rest of the men must proceed like they know nothing or risk immediate mutiny. When the men least expect it, they will attack. They also realize that they must know who will be on their side. From the initial count, it seems only six grown men and a boy will be against nineteen other men. At the conclusion of the chapter, the squire and the doctor tell Jim that they are relying on him to learn more about the pirate's plan. Chapter 13 Jim is seasick as this chapter begins, and is sickened at the sight of the island, which is not what he expected. As the men row the boats through a narrow passage, because the wind is still and they need to man the boat, Jim notices that discipline has been relaxed because they are so near Treasure Island. There is no sight that any humans are on the island, but there is a repugnant smell and Dr. Livesey suspects that this is because of illness on the island. Once they return to the ship, the men only grudgingly obey the orders because they are disappointed to be back on the ship. Only Long John Silver is willingly to cheerfully obey the orders, and advises his colleagues to do the same. Realizing that the men's mood might lead to immediate mutiny, the captain allows the men to go ashore. Long John Silver, however, leaves six men on board the ship so that the six honest men cannot overtake the ship. At the last second, Jim slips into one of the boats in order that he can go ashore as well. When the boat reaches the shore, Jim hears Long John Silver call his name and in order to avoid detection, runs off as fast as possible, ignoring Silver's call.

