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05 - Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson · Adventure Books Collection

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Chapter nine, Powder and Arms. The Hispaniola lay some way out, and
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we went under the figureheads and around the sterns of many other ships, and
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their cables, sometimes grated beneath our keel, and sometimes swung above us.
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At last, however, we swung alongside and were met and saluted as we
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stepped aboard by the mate mister Arrow, a brown old sailor with ear rings
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in his ears and a squint. He and the squire were very thick and
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friendly, but I soon observed that things were not the same between mister Trelawney
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and the captain. This last was a sharp looking man who seemed angry with
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everything on board, and was soon to tell us why. For we had
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hardly got down into the cabin when a sailor followed us. Captain Smollett,
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sir, axing to speak with you, said he. I am always at
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the Captain's orders. Show him in, said the squire. The Captain,
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who was close behind his messenger, entered at once and shut the door behind
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him. Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say all? Well,
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I hope all ship shape and seaworthy. Well, sir, said the
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captain, Better speak plain, I believe at the risk of a fence.
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I don't like this cruise. I don't like the men, and I don't
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like my officer. That's short and sweet. Perhaps, sir, you don't
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like the ship, inquired the squire, very angry as I could see.
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I can't speak to that, sir, not having seen her tried, said
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the captain. She seems a clever craft more I can't say. Possibly,
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sir, you may not like your employer either, said the squire. But
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here doctor Livesey cut in, stay a bit, said he stay a bit.
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No use of such questions as that, but to produce ill feeling.
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The Captain has said too much or he has said too little, and I
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am bound to say that I require an explanation of his words. You don't
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you say like this cruise? Now why I was engaged, sir, on
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what we call sealed orders to sail this ship for that gentleman where he should
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bid me, said the captain. So far, so good, But now
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I find that every man before the mast knows more than I do. I
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don't call that fear, now, do you now, said Doctor Livesey.
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I don't, next, said the Captain. I learn that we are going
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after treasure. Hear it from my own hands, mind you, now,
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treasure is ticklish work. I don't like treasure voyages on any account, and
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I don't like them above all when they are secret, and when begging your
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pardon, mister Trelawney, the secret has been told to the parrot. Silver's
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parrot, asked the squire. It's a way of speaking, said the captain,
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blabed. I mean, it's my belief. Neither of you, gentlemen,
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know what you are about. But I'll tell you my way of it.
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Life or death and a close run. That is all clear, And
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I dare say true enough, replied doctor Livesey. We take the risk,
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but we are not so ignorant as you believe us. Next, you say
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you don't like the crew. Are they not good seamen? I don't like
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them, sir, returned Captain Smollett. And I think I should have had
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the choosing of my own hands. If you go to that, perhaps you
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should, replied the doctor. My friend should perhaps have taken you along with
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him. But the slight, if there be one, was unintentional. And
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you don't like mister Arrow, I don't, sir, I believe he's a
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good seaman. But he's too free with the crew to be a good officer.
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A mate should keep himself to himself, shouldn't drink with the men before
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the mast. Do you mean he drinks, cried the squire. No,
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sir, replied the captain, only that he's too familiar. Well, now
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and the short of the long of it, captain asked the doctor, tell
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us what you want? Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on
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this cruise like iron? Answered the squire. Very good, said the captain.
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Then, as you've heard me very patiently saying things that I could not
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prove, hear me a few words more. They are putting the powder and
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arms in the forehold. Now you have a good place under the cabin.
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Why not put them there? First point? Then, you are bringing four
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of your own people with you, and they tell me some of them are
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to be berthed forward, why not give them the berths here besides the cabin?
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Second point? Any more, asked mister Trelawney. One more, said
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the Captain. There's been too much a blabbing already, far too much,
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agreed the doctor. I'll tell you what I have heard myself, continued Captain
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Smollett. That you have a map of an island. That there's crosses on
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the map to show where treasure is, and that the island lies. And
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then he named the latitude and longitude exactly. I never told that, cried
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the Squire. To a soul the hands know it, Sir, returned the
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Captain. Livesey. That must have been your Hawkins, cried the squire.
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It doesn't much matter who it was, replied the doctor. And I could
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see that neither he nor the Captain paid much regard to mister Trelawney's protestations.
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Neither did I to be sure he was so loose a talker. Yet in
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this case I believe he was really right, and that nobody had told the
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situation of the island. Well, gentlemen, continued the Captain. I don't
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know who has this map, but I make it a point it shall be
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kept secret, even from me and mister Arrow. Otherwise I would ask you
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to let me resign. I see, said the doctor. You wish us
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to keep this matter dark, and to make a garrison of the stern part
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of the ship, manned with my friend's own people, and provided with all
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the arms and powder on board. In other words, you'll fear a mutiny,
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Sir, said Captain Smollett, with no intention to take offence. I
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deny your right to put words into my mouth. No, Captain, Sir,
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would be justified in going to sea at all if he had ground enough
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to say that. As for mister Arrow, I believe him thoroughly honest.
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Some of the men are the same, or maybe for what I know.
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But I am responsible for the ship's safety and the life of every man jack
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aboard of her. I see things going as I think not quite right,
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and I ask you to take certain precautions, or let me resign my birth.
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And that's all, Captain Smollett began the doctor with a smile. Did
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you ever hear the feeble of the mountain and the mouse? You'll excuse me,
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I dare say, but you'll remind me of that fable when you came
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in here. I'll stake my wig. You meant more than this, doctor,
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said the Captain. You are smart. When I came in here,
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I meant to get discharged. I had no thought that mister Trelawney would hear
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a word. No more, I would cried the Squire. Had Livesey not
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been here, I should have seen you to the deuce. As it is
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I have heard you. I will do as you desire, but I think
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the worst of you. That's as you please, sir, said the captain.
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You'll find I do my duty, and with that he took his leave.
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Trelawny, said the doctor. Contrary to all my notions, I believe
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you have managed to get two honest men on board with you, that man
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and John Silver Silver if you like, cried the squire. But as for
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that intolerable humbug, I declare I think his conduct unmanly, unsailorly and downright
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un English. Well, said the doctor. We shall see when we came
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on deck. The men had begun all ready to take out the arms and
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powder yohoeing at their work, while the captain and mister Arrow stood by superintending.
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The new arrangement was quite to my liking. The whole schooner had been
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overhauled. Six berths had been made astern out of what had been the after
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part of the main hold, and this set of cabins was only joined to
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the galley and forecastle by a sparred passage on the port side. It had
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been originally meant that the captain mister Arrow Hunter Joyce, the doctor and the
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Squire were to occupy these six berths. Now Red Ruth and I were to
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get two of them, and mister Arrow and the Captain were to sleep on
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deck in the companion, which had been in love on either side till you
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might almost have called it a roundhouse. Very low it was, still,
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of course, but there was room to swing to hammocks, and even the
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mate seemed pleased with the arrangement. Even he perhaps had been doubtful as to
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the crew, but that is only guess, for as you shall hear,
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we had not long the benefit of his opinion. We were all hard at
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work changing the powder and the berths when the last man or two, and
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Long John along with them, came off in a shore boat. The cook
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came up the side like a monkey for cleverness, and as soon as he
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saw what was doing so home mates said he, what's this? We're a
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change in the powder? Jack answers one. Why by the powers, cried
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Long John. If we do, we'll miss the mourning tide. My orders,
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said the Captain. Shortly you may go below. My manner hands will
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want supper. Aye aye, sir, answered the cook, and touching his
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forelock. He disappeared at once in the direction of his galley. That's a
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good man, a captain, said the doctor. Very likely, Sir,
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replied Captain Smollett. Easy with that men, easy. He ran on to
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the fellows who were shifting the powder, and then, suddenly observing me examining
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the swivel, we carried amidships a long brass. Nine. Hear you,
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ship's boy, he cried out, Are that off with you to the cook
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and get some work. And then as I was hurrying off, I heard
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him say, quite loudly to the doctor, I'll have no favorites on my
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ship, I assure you. I was quite of the Squire's way of thinking,
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and hated the captain deeply. End of Chapter nine, Chapter ten the
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voyage. All that night we were in a great bustle, getting things stowed
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in their place, and boatfuls of the Squire's friends, mister Blandly and the
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like, coming off to wish him a good voyage and a safe return.
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We never had a night at the admiral Benbow when I had half the work
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and I was dog tired. When a little before dawn the bowsn sounded his
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pipe, and the crew began to man the capstan bars. I might have
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been twice as weary, yet I would not have left the deck, or
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was so new and interesting to me the brief commands, the shrill notes of
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the whistle, the men bustling to their places in the glimmer of the ship's
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lanterns now, barbecue, tip us, a stave, cried one voice,
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the old one cried another. Aye aye, mates, said long John,
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who was standing by with his crutch under his arm, and at once broke
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out in the air and words I knew so well. Fifteen men on a
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dead man's chest. And then the whole crew bore chorus, yoho ho,
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and a bottle of rum, and at the third hoe drove the bars before
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them with a will. Even at that exciting moment, it carried me back
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to the old admiral benbow in a second, and I seemed to hear the
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voice of the captain piping in the chorus. But soon the anchor was short
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up. Soon it was hanging, dripping at the bows. Soon the sails
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began to draw, and the land and shipping to flit by on either side.
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And before I could lie down to snatch an hour of slumber, the
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Hispaniola began her voyage to the Isle of Treasure. I am not going to
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relate the voyage in detail. It was fairly prosperous. The ship proved to
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be a good ship, and the crew were capable seamen, and the captain
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thoroughly understood his business. But before we came the length of Treasure Island,
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two or three things had happened which require to be known. Mister Arrow,
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first of all, turned out even worse than the captain had feared. He
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had no command among the men, and people did what they pleased with him.
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But that was by no means the worst of it. For after a
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day or two at sea, he began to appear on deck with hazy eye,
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red cheeks, stuttering tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. Time after
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time he was ordered below in disgrace. Sometimes he fell and cut himself.
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Sometimes he lay all day long in his little bunk at one side of the
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companion. Sometimes for a day or two he would be almost sober and attend
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to his work at least passably. In the meantime, we could never make
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out where he got the drink. That was the ship's mystery. Watch him
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as we pleased, we could do nothing to solve it, And when we
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asked him to his face, he would only laugh if he were drunk,
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and if he were sober, deny solemnly that he ever tasted anything but water.
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He was not only useless as an officer, and a bad influence among
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the men, but it was plain that at this rate he must soon kill
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himself outright. So nobody was much surprised nor very sorry when one dark night,
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with a head sea, he disappeared entirely and was seen no more Overbold
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said the captain, Well, gentlemen, that saves the trouble of putting him
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in irons. And there we were without a mate, and it was necessary,
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of course to advance one of the men the bo'sun job Anderson was the
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likeliest man aboard, and though he kept his old title, he served in
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a way as mate. Mister Trelawney had followed the sea, and his knowledge
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made him very useful, for often he took a watch himself in easy weather,
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and the Coxs and israel Hands was a careful, wily, old experienced
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seaman who could be trusted at a pinch with almost anything. He was a
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great confidante of Long John Silver, And so the mention of his name leads
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me on to speak of our ship's cook, Barbecue, as the men called
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him. Aboard ship, he carried his crutch by a lanyard around his neck
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to have both hands as free as possible. It was something to see him
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wedge the foot of the crutch against the bulkhead and propped against it, yielding
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to every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking like some one
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safe ashore. Still more strange was it to see him, in the heaviest
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of weather, crossed the deck. He had a line or two rigged up
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to help him across the widest spaces, long John's ear rings, they were
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called, and he would hand himself from one place to another, now using
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the crutch, now trailing it alongside by the lanyard, as quickly as another
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man could walk. Yet some of the men who had sailed with him before
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expressed their pity to see him so reduced. He's no common man, Barbecue,
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said the coxswain to me. He had a good schooling in his young
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days, and can speak like a book when he so minded and brave.
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A lion's nothin longside of Long John. I've seen him grapple four and knock
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their heads together him unarmed. All the crew respected and even obeyed him.
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He had a way of talking to each and doing everybody some particular service.
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To me. He was unweariedly kind, and always glad to see me in
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the galley, which he kept as clean as a new pin, the dishes
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hanging up burnished, and his parrot in a cage in the corner. Come
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away, young Hawkins, he would say, Come and have a yarn with
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John. Nobody more welcome than yourself, my son. Sit you down and
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hear the news. Here's cap'n Flint. I cause my parrot cap'n Flint,
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after the famous buccaneer, here's cap'n Flint, predicting success to our voyage,
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wasn't your cap'n? And the parrot would say, with great rapidity, pieces
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of eight, pieces of eight, pieces of eight, till you wondered that
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it was not out of breath, till John threw his handkerchief over the cage.
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Now that bird, he would say, is maybe two hundred years old,
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Hawkins. They live forever mostly, and if anybody see more wickedness,
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it must be the devil himself. She's sailed with England, the great cop
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in England the Pirate. She's been at Madagascar, and at Malabar, and
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Suriname, and Providence and Port of Bellow. She was at the fishing up
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of the wrecked plate ships. It's there she learned pieces of eight and Little
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Wonder three hundred and fifty thousand off of markins. She was at the boarding
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of the Voice roy of the Indies out of Goa. She was, And
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to look at her you would think she was a babby. But you smelt
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powder, didn't you, Captain stand by to go about. The parrot would
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scream, Ah, she's antsome craft she is, The cook would say,
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and give her sugar from his pocket, And then the bird would peck at
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the bars and swear straight on, passing belief for wickedness. There, John
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would add, you can't pitch a nut be mucked. Lad, here's the
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poor old, innocent bird of mine, swear in blue fire, and none
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the wiser you made. Later that she would swear the same in a manner
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a speaking before the chaplain, and John would touch his forelock with a solemn
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way he had that made me think he was the best of men. In
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the meantime, the Squire and Captain Smollett were still on pretty distant terms with
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one another. The Squire made no bones about the matter. He despised the
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captain. The captain, on his part, never spoke but when he was
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spoken to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not a word
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wasted. He owned, when driven into a corner, that he seemed to
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have been wrong about the crew, that some of them were as brick as
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he wanted to see, and all had behaved fairly well. As for the
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ship, he had taken a downright fancy to her. She'll lie a point
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nearer the wind than a man, as the right to expect of his own
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married wife, sir. But he would add, all I say is we're
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not home again, and I don't like the cruise. The Squire at this
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would turn away and march up and down the deck, chin in air.
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A trifle more of that man, he would say, and I should explode.
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We had some heavy weather, which only proved the qualities of the Hispaniola.
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Every man on board seemed well content, and he must have been hard
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to please if they had been otherwise. For it is my belief that there
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was never a ship's company so spoiled since Noah put to sea, double grog
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was going at the least excuse there was duff on odd days, as for
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instance, if the squire heard it was any man's birthday, and all was
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a barrel of apples standing broached in the waist for anyone to help himself that
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had a fancy never knew good to come of it. Yet the captain said
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to doctor livesey, spoil forecas or hands make devils. That's my belief.
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But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall hear. For
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if it had not been for that, we should have had no note of
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warning, and might all have perished by the hand of treachery. This is
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how it came about. We had run up the trades to get wind of
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the island we were after. I am not allowed to be more plain,
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And now we were running down for it, with a bright lookout day and
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night. It was about the last day of her outward voyage. By the
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last computation, some time that night, or latest before noon of the morrow,
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we should sight the treasure island. We were heading southwest and had a
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steady breeze obleam and a quiet see the Hispaniola rolled steadily, dipping her bowsprit
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now and then with a whiff of spray. All was drawing a low and
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aloft. Everyone was in the bravest spirits because we were now so near an
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end of the first part of our adventure. Now just after sundown, when
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all my work was over and I was on my way to my berth,
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it occurred to me that I should like an apple. I ran on deck.
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The watch was all forehead, looking out for the island. The man
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at the helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gently to
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himself, and that was the only sound, excepting the swish of the sea
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against the boughs and around the sides of the ship. In I got bodily
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into the apple barrel and found there was scarce an apple left. But sitting
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down there in the dark, what with the sound of the waters and the
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rocking movement of the ship, I had either fallen asleep or was on the
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point of doing so, when a heavy man sat down with rather a clash
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close by. The barrel shook as he leaned his shoulders against it, and
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I was just about to jump up when the man began to speak. It
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was Silver's voice, And before I had heard a dozen words, I would
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not have shown myself for all the world, but lay there, trembling and
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listening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity. For from these dozen words
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I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard depended upon me alone.
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End of Chapter ten.