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that we have sighted is the place we

have been sailing for. 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 round 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 any one

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 Dr. Livesey, “take a seat.”

 

And they made me sit down at 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 yard-arm, 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,”

says Mr. Trelawney grandly.

 

“First point,” began Mr. Smollett. “We must go on,

because we can’t turn back. If I gave the word to go

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 had 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 THREE

My Shore Adventure

 

13

 

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 south-east of the low eastern coast.

Grey-coloured 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

colouring 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 grey, 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 the 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 land-locked, buried in woods,

the trees coming right down to high-water mark, the

shores mostly flat, and the hilltops standing round at

a distance in a sort of amphitheatre, 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 island 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 thunder-cloud.

 

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 “Aye, aye, 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

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