Treasure Island

If sailor tales to sailor tunes, Storm and adventure, heat and cold, If schooners, islands, and...

XIII. HOW I BEGAN MY SHORE ADVENTURE . . . . . . 82 XIV. THE FIRST BLOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the...

And indeed bad as his clothes were and coarsely as he spoke, he had none of the appearance of a man...

His stories were what frightened people worst of all. Dreadful stories they were about hanging, and...

At first I had supposed the dead mans chest to be that identical big box of his upstairs in the...

It was not very long after this that there occurred the first of the mysterious events that rid us...

Well, said he, my mate Bill would be called the captain, as like as not. He has a cut on one cheek...

The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us; all the brown had gone out of his face, and even...

For a long time, though I certainly did my best to listen, I could hear nothing but a low gattling;...

In the meantime, we had no idea what to do to help the captain, nor any other thought but that he...

There is no Black Dog here, said the doctor, except what you have on your own back. You have been...

But he broke in cursing the doctor, in a feeble voice but heartily. Doctors is all swabs, he said;...

Ah. Black Dog, says he. Hes a bad un; but theres worse that put him on. Now, if I cant get away...

I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft spoken, eyeless creature gripped it in a moment like a...

And now thats done, said the blind man; and at the words he suddenly left hold of me, and with...

The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, though out of view, on the other side of the next cove;...

My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the cold night upon this dangerous venture. A...

I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few small coins, a thimble, and some thread and big...

Ill show these rogues that Im an honest woman, said my mother. Ill have my dues, and not a farthing...

But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent to take a fraction more than was due to her...

Aye, aye, sir. answered two or three; and a rush was made upon the Admiral Benbow, the lantern...

Budge, you skulk. cried Pew. Dirk was a fool and a coward from the first you wouldnt mind him. They...

This quarrel was the saving of us, for while it was still raging, another sound came from the top...

Pew was dead, stone dead. As for my mother, when we had carried her up to the hamlet, a little cold...

The servant led us down a matted passage and showed us at the end into a great library, all lined...

Squire, said he, when Dance has had his ale he must, of course, be off on his Majestys service; but...

The squire and I were both peering over his shoulder as he opened it, for Dr. Livesey had kindly...

The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble by way of seal; the very thimble,...

So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there came a letter addressed to Dr. Livesey, with this...

I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in talk with him. I found he was...

I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eating like a bull, sleeping like a tree, yet I...

The next morning he and I set out on foot for the Admiral Benbow, and there I found my mother in...

Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn far down the docks to superintend the work upon...

As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, and at a glance I was sure he must be Long John....

Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a blessed dead eye. cried Long John. Dont rightly...

See here, now, Hawkins, said he, heres a blessed hard thing on a man like me, now, aint it. Theres...

The Hispaniola lay some way out, and we went under the figureheads and round the sterns of many...

That is all clear, and, I dare say, true enough, replied Dr. Livesey. We take the risk, but we are...

I see, said the doctor. You wish us to keep this matter dark and to make a garrison of the stern...

The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The whole schooner had been overhauled; six berths had...

I am not going to relate that voyage in detail. It was fairly prosperous. The ship proved to be a...

But there we were, without a mate; and it was necessary, of course, to advance one of the men. The...

Come away, Hawkins, he would say; come and have a yarn with John. Nobody more welcome than...

We had some heavy weather, which only proved the qualities of the HISPANIOLA. Every man on board...

No, not I, said Silver. Flint was capn; I was quartermaster, along of my timber leg. The same...

Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough, and they risk swinging, but they eat and...

Oh, I knowd Dick was square, returned the voice of the coxswain, Israel Hands. Hes no fool, is...

Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have I seen laid aboard. And how many brisk lads drying in...

Billy was the man for that, said Israel. Dead men dont bite, says he. Well, hes dead now hisself;...

Dick was gone but a little while, and during his absence Israel spoke straight on in the cooks ear....

There all hands were already congregated. A belt of fog had lifted almost simultaneously with the...

Yes, sir, said he, this is the spot, to be sure, and very prettily drawed out. Who might have done...

And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined the other two. They spoke together for a little,...

And they made me sit down at table beside them, poured me out a glass of wine, filled my hands with...

I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt altogether helpless; and yet, by an odd train...

We had a dreary mornings work before us, for there was no sign of any wind, and the boats had to be...

There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound but that of the surf booming half a mile away...

Silver, sir, returned the captain; hes as anxious as you and I to smother things up. This is a...

The captain was too bright to be in the way. He whipped out of sight in a moment, leaving Silver to...

I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes, and odd, outlandish, swampy trees; and I...

Another voice answered, and then the first voice, which I now recognized to be Silvers, once more...

Mate, he was saying, its because I thinks gold dust of you gold dust, and you may lay to that. If I...

And with that, this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook and set off walking for the...

But now John put his hand into his pocket, brought out a whistle, and blew upon it several...

From the side of the hill, which was here steep and stony, a spout of gravel was dislodged and fell...

He was concealed by this time behind another tree trunk; but he must have been watching me closely,...

All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my jacket, smoothing my hands, looking at my boots,...

Youre a good lad, Jim, he said; and youre all in a clove hitch, aint you. Well, you just put your...

Well, Jim, three years have I been here, and not a bite of Christian diet from that day to this....

Left, left, says he; keep to your left hand, mate Jim. Under the trees with you. Theers where I...

There was a slight bend in the coast, and I steered so as to put it between us; even before we...

I found them all shaken, as was natural. The squire was sitting down, as white as a sheet, thinking...

This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along shore. Lillibullero was dropped again; and just...

By this time the tide was beginning to ebb, and the ship was swinging round to her anchor. Voices...

I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir, said I to the captain. I was steering, while he and...

They had the gun, by this time, slewed round upon the swivel, and Hands, who was at the muzzle with...

And he and Redruth backed with a great heave that sent her stern bodily under water. The report...

We made our best speed across the strip of wood that now divided us from the stockade, and at every...

We began to rejoice over our good success when just at that moment a pistol cracked in the bush, a...

This seemed mightily to relieve him. He re entered the log house and set about counting up the...

Strike my colours. cried the captain. No, sir, not I; and as soon as he had said the words, I think...

That. he cried. Why, in a place like this, where nobody puts in but genlemen of fortune, Silver...

Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a cannonball came tearing through the trees and...

I lay for some time watching the bustle which succeeded the attack. Men were demolishing something...

The cold evening breeze, of which I have spoken, whistled through every chink of the rude building...

Well, Jim, says he, just see the good that comes of being dainty in your food. Youve seen my snuff...

It was still quite early, and the coldest morning that I think I ever was abroad in a chill that...

We could see the man who carried the flag of truce attempting to hold Silver back. Nor was that...

Well, well, Capn, returned the sea cook, sitting down as he was bidden on the sand, youll have to...

Avast there. cried Mr. Smollett. Gray told me nothing, and I asked him nothing; and whats more, I...

Very good, said the captain. Now youll hear me. If youll come up one by one, unarmed, Ill engage to...

My lads, said he, Ive given Silver a broadside. I pitched it in red hot on purpose; and before the...

Nothing followed for a time, but the remark had set us all on the alert, straining ears and eyes...

The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys. Squire and Gray fired again and yet again; three...

I snatched a cutlass from the pile, and someone, at the same time snatching another, gave me a cut...

But his words were unheeded, no shot was fired, and the last boarder made good his escape and...

As for the captain, his wounds were grievous indeed, but not dangerous. No organ was fatally...

All the time I was washing out the block house, and then washing up the things from dinner, this...

I took my way straight for the east coast of the island, for I was determined to go down the sea...

Just about the same time, the sun had gone down behind the Spy glass, and as the fog was collecting...

Well, now that I had found the boat, you would have thought I had had enough of truantry for once,...

The coracle as I had ample reason to know before I was done with her was a very safe boat for a...

So far so good, but it next occurred to my recollection that a taut hawser, suddenly cut, is a...

One I recognized for the coxswains, Israel Hands, that had been Flints gunner in former days. The...

I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every moment to be swamped; and since I found I could not...

I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were at that very moment in the cabin of the...

I lay down flat in the bottom of that wretched skiff and devoutly recommended my spirit to its...

That notion was soon given over. Among the fallen rocks the breakers spouted and bellowed; loud...

I remembered what Silver had said about the current that sets northward along the whole west coast...

I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, for all that. First, moving with all care, I...

It was high time, for I now began to be tortured with thirst. The glow of the sun from above, its...

The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate. As for the latters...

But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell for some seconds, very low, and the current...

I was on the lee side of the forecastle, and the mainsail, which was still drawing, concealed from...

At every jump of the schooner, red cap slipped to and fro, but what was ghastly to behold neither...

Foraging about, I found a bottle with some brandy left, for Hands; and for myself I routed out some...

Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this. We struck our bargain on the spot. In three...

The wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into the west. We could run so much the easier from...

Now, the coxswains hesitation seemed to be unnatural, and as for the notion of his preferring wine...

Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, since in that our interests jumped together,...

Why. I cried. You were asking me just now about the dead. Youve broken your trust; youve lived in...

Scarcely had we passed the heads before the land closed around us. The shores of North Inlet were...

We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met, but while mine was the shrill cry of terror,...

Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the HISPANIOLA struck, staggered, ground for an instant in...

My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; he began to see the dice going against him, and after...

Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water, and from my perch on the...

These last I broke through with a sudden jerk, and then regained the deck by the starboard shrouds....

I began to see a danger to the ship. The jibs I speedily doused and brought tumbling to the deck,...

So thinking, and in famous spirits, I began to set my face homeward for the block house and my...

With this to help me, I passed rapidly over what remained to me of my journey, and sometimes...

To make assurance surer, I got upon my hands and knees and crawled, without a sound, towards the...

There were six of the buccaneers, all told; not another man was left alive. Five of them were on...

Now, you see, Jim, so be as you ARE here, says he, Ill give you a piece of my mind. Ive always...

Youll perhaps batten down your hatches till youre spoke to, my friend, cried Silver truculently to...

Avast, there. cried Silver. Who are you, Tom Morgan. Maybe you thought you was capn here, perhaps....

Ax your pardon, sir, returned one of the men; youre pretty free with some of the rules; maybe youll...

Understand me, Jim, he said, returning. Ive a head on my shoulders, I have. Im on squires side now....

The door opened, and the five men, standing huddled together just inside, pushed one of their...

Oh, replied George, you dont be under no kind of apprehension; WERE all square, we are. First,...

And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I instantly recognized none other than the chart on...

So thats the toon, is it. cried the cook. George, I reckon youll have to wait another turn, friend;...

I was wakened indeed, we were all wakened, for I could see even the sentinel shake himself together...

A moment afterwards he had entered the block house and with one grim nod to me proceeded with his...

Well, he added after he had dosed them round and they had taken his prescriptions, with really...

Youll make a note of this here also, doctor, says he, and the boyll tell you how I saved his life,...

I will own that I here began to weep. Doctor, I said, you might spare me. I have blamed myself...

Sir, said Silver, as between man and man, thats too much and too little. What youre after, why you...

Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready, and we were soon seated here and...

Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was forced to keep his faith with Dr. Livesey, even...