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07 - Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson · Classic Adventure Books Library

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Chapter thirteen, how my shore adventure began. The appearance of the island when
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I came on deck next morning, was altogether changed. Although the breeze had
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now utterly ceased. We had made a great deal of whey during the night,
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and were now lying becalmed about half a mile to the southeast of the
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low eastern coast. Gray colored woods covered a large part of the surface.
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This even tint was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sand break in the
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lower lands, and by many tall trees of the pine family, out topping
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the others, some singly, some in clumps, but the general coloring was
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uniform and sad. The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of
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naked rock. All were strangely shaped, and the spy glass, which was
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by three or four hundred feet the tallest on the island, was likewise the
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strangest in configuration, running up sheer from almost every side, and then suddenly
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cut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on the Hispaniola
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was rolling scuppers under in the ocean's swell. The booms were tearing at the
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blocks, the rudder was banging to and fro, and the whole ship creaking,
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groaning and jumping like a manufactory. I had to cling tight to the
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back stay, and the world turned giddily before my eyes. For though I
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was a good enough sailor when there was way on this, standing still and
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being rolled about like a bottle was a thing. I never learned to stand
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without a qualm or two, above all in the morning, on an empty
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stomach. Perhaps it was this. Perhaps it was the look of the island,
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with its gray, melancholy woods and wild stone spires, and the surf
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that we could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach at
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least, although the sun shone bright and hot, and the shore birds were
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fishing and crying all around us, and you would have thought anyone would have
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been glad to get to land after being so long at sea. My heart
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sank as the saying is into my boots, and from that first look onward
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I hated the very thought of Treasure Island. We had a dreary morning's work
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before us, and there was no sign of any wind, and the boats
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had to be got out and manned, and the ship warped three or four
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miles round the corner of the island and up the narrow passage to the haven
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behind Skeleton Island. I volunteered for one of the boats, where I had,
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of course no business. The heat was sweltering, and the men grumbled
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fiercely over their work. Anderson was in command of my boat, and instead
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of keeping the crew in order, he grumbled as loud as the worst.
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Well, he said, with an oath, it's not forever. I thought
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this was a very bad sign, for up to that day the men had
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gone briskly and willingly about their business. But the very sight of the island
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had relaxed the cords of discipline all the way in long. John stood by
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the steersman and conned the ship. He knew the passage like the palm of
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his hand, and though the man in the chains got everywhere more water than
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was down on the chart, John never hesitated once. There's a strong score
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with the EBB, he said, and this ere passage has been dug out
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in a manner of speaking with a spade. We brought up just where the
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anchor was on the chart, about a third of a mile from each shore,
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the mainland on one side and Skeleton island on the other the bottom was
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clean sand. The plunge of our anchor sent up klowd of birds, wheeling
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and crying over the woods, but in less than a minute they were down
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again, and all was once more silent. The place was entirely land locked,
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buried in woods, the trees coming right down to high water mark,
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the shores mostly flat, and the hilltops standing round at a distance in a
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sort of amphitheater. One here, one there. Two little rivers, or
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rather two swamps, emptied out into this pond, as you might call it,
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and the foliage around that part of the shore had a kind of poisonous
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brightness. From the ship, we could see nothing of the house or stockade,
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for they were quite buried among trees. And if it had not been
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for the chart on the companion, we might have been the first that ever
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anchored there. Since the islands arose out of the seas. There was not
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a breath of air moving, nor a sound, but that of the surf
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booming half a mile away along the beach and against the rocks outside. A
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peculiar, stagnant smell hung over the anchorage, a smell of sodden leaves and
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rotting tree trunks. I observed the doctor sniffing and sniffing, like someone tasting
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a bad egg. I don't know about treasure, he said, but I'll
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stick my wig. There's fever here. If the conduct of the men had
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been alarming in the boat, it became truly threatening when they had come aboard.
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They lay about the deck, growling together in talk. The slightest order
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was received with a black look, and grudgingly and carelessly obeyed. Even the
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honest hands must have caught the infection, for there was not one man aboard
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to mend another mutiny. It was plain hung over us like a thundercloud.
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And it was not only we of the cabin party who perceived the danger.
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Long John was hard at work, going from group to group, spending himself
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in good advice and and as for example, no man could have shown a
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better He fairly outstripped himself in willingness and civility. He was all smiles to
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everyone. If an order were given, John would be on his crutch in
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an instant, with the cheeriest aye aye sir in the world. And when
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there was nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another,
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as if to conceal the discontent of the rest. Of all the gloomy features
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of that gloomy afternoon, this obvious anxiety on the part of Long John appeared
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the worst. We held a council in the cabin, Sir, said the
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captain. If I risk another order, the whole ship will come about our
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ears by the run. You see, sir, here it is. I
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get a rough answer. Do not well? If I speak back, pikes
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will be going in two shakes. If I don't, Silver will see there's
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something under that. And the game's up. Now we've only one man to
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rely on. And who's that, asked the squire Silver, Sir, returned
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the captain. He's as anxious as you and I to some other things up.
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This is a tiff. He'd soon talk him out of it if he
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had the chance. And what I propose to do is to give him the
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chance. Let's allow the men an afternoon. Sure. If they all go,
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why we'll fight the ship. If they none of them go, well
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then we hold the cabin and God defend the right. If some go,
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you mark my words, Sir, Silver, bring em aboard again as mild
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as lambs. It was so decided loaded pistols were served out to all the
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shore men. Hunter Joyce and Redruth were taken into our confidence and received the
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news with no less surprise and a better spirit than we had looked for.
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And then the captain went on deck and addressed the crew. My lads,
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said he, We've had a hot day and are all tired and out of
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sorts. A turn ashore will hurt nobody. The boats are still in the
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water. You can take the gigs and as many as please can go ashore
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for the afternoon. I'll fire a gun half an hour before sundown. I
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believe the silly fellows must have thought that they would break their shins over treasure
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as soon as they were landed, for they all came out of their salts
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in a moment and gave a cheer that started the echo in a far away
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hill and sent the birds once more flying and squalling round the anchorage. The
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captain was too bright to be in the way. He whipped out of sight
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in a moment, leaving Silver to arrange the party. And I fancy it
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was as well he did so. Had he been on deck, he could
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no longer so much as have pretended not to understand the situation. It was
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as plain as day Silver was the captain and a mighty rebellious crew. He
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had of it the honest hands, and I was soon to see it proved
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that there were such on board must have been very stupid fellows. Or rather,
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I suppose the truth was this, that all hands were disaffected by the
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example of the ringleaders. Only some more, some less, and a few,
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being good fellows in the main, could neither be led nor driven any
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farther. It is one thing to be idle and skulk, and quite another
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to take a ship and murder number of innocent men. At last, however,
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the party was made up. Six fellows were to stay on board,
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and the remaining thirteen, including Silver, began to embark. Then it was
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that there came into my head the first of the mad notions that contributed so
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much to save our lives. If six men were left by Silver, it
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was plain our party could not take and fight the ship. And since only
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six were left, it was equally plain that the cabin party had no present
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need of my assistance. It occurred to me at once to go ashore.
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In a jiffy. I had slipped over the side and curled up in the
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four sheets of the nearest boat, and almost at the same moment she shoved
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off. No one took notice of me, only the bow or saying is
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that you, Jim, keep your head down. But Silver from the other
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boat looked sharply over and called out to know if that were me, And
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from that moment I began to regret what I had done. The crews raced
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for the beach, and in the boat I was in, having some start
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and being at once the lighter and the better manned, shot far ahead of
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her consort, and the bough had struck among the shore side trees, and
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I had caught a branch and swung myself out and plunged into the nearest thicket,
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while Silver and the rest were still a hundred yards away. Jim,
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Jim, I heard him shouting, but you may suppose I paid no heed.
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Jumping, ducking, and breaking through, I ran straight before my nose
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till I could run no longer. End of Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen,
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the first blow. I was so pleased at having given the slip to long
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John that I began to enjoy myself and look around me with some interest on
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the strange land that I was in I had crossed a marshy tree full of
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willows, bulrushes, and odd outlandish swampy trees, and now had come out
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upon the skirts of an open piece of undulating sandy country about a mile long,
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dotted with a few pines, and a great number of contorted trees,
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not unlike the oak in growth, but pale in the foliage like willows.
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On the far side of the open stood one of the hills, with two
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quaint, craggy peaks shining vividly in the sun. I now felt for the
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first time the joy of exploration. The isle was uninhabited, but my shipmates
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I have left behind, and nothing lived in front of me but dumb brutes
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and fowls. I turned hither and thither among the trees. Here and there
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were flowering plants unknown to me. Here and there I saw snakes, And
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one raised his head from a ledge of rock and hissed at me with a
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noise not unlike the spinning of a top. Little did I suppose that he
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was a dead enemy, and the noise was the famous rattle. Then I
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came to a long thicket of these oak like trees, live or evergreen oaks.
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I heard afterward they should be called, which grew low along the sand
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like brambles. The boughs curiously twisted, the foliage compact like thatch. The
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thickets stretched down from the top of one of the sandy knolls, spreading and
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growing taller as it went, until it reached the margin of the broad,
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reedy fen, through which the nearest of the little rivers soaked its way into
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the anchorage. The marsh was streaming in the strong sun, and the outline
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of the spyglass trembled through the haze. All at once there began to go
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a sort of bustle among the bulrushes. A wild duck flew up with a
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quack. Another followed, and soon over the whole surface of the marsh,
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a great cloud of birds hung, screaming and circling in the air. I
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judged at once that some of my shipmates must be drawing near along the borders
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of the fen. Nor was I deceived, for soon I heard the very
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distant and low tones of a human voice, which, as I continued to
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give ear, grew steadily louder and nearer. This put me in great fear,
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and I crawled under cover of the nearest live oak and squatted there,
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hearkening as silent as a mouse. Another voice answered, and then the first
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voice, which I now recognized to be Silver's, once more took up the
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story and ran on for a long while in a stream, only now and
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again interrupted by the other. By the sound, they must have been talking
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earnestly and almost fiercely, but no distinct word came to my hearing. At
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last, the speakers seemed to have paused, and perhaps to have sat down,
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for not only did they cease to draw any nearer, but the birds
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themselves began to grow more quiet and to settle again into their places in the
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swamp. And began to feel that I was neglecting my business. But since
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I had been so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, the least
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I could do was to overhear them at their councils, and that my plain
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and obvious duty was to draw as close as I could manage. Under the
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favorable ambush of the crouching trees. I could tell the direction of the speakers
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pretty exactly, not only by the sound of their voices, but by the
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behavior of the few birds that still hung in alarm above the heads of the
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intruders, crawling on all fours, I made steadily bar slowly towards them,
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till at last, raising my head to an aperture among the leaves, I
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could see clear down into a little green dell beside the marsh, and closely
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set about with trees, where long John Silver and another of the crew stood
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face to face in conversation. The sun beat full upon them. Silver had
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thrown his hat beside him on the ground, and his great smooth blonde face,
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all shining with heat, was lifted to the other man's in a kind
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of appeal. Mate. He was saying, that's because I thinks gold dust
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of you, gold dust, and you may late that. And if I
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hadn't took to you light pitch, do you think I'd have been here a
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warning of you. All's up? You can't make no amend. It's the
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savior neck that I must speak in. And if one of the wild uns
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knew it, where it'd I be? Tom, Now tell me where it'd
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I be? Silver said the other man, and I observed he was not
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only red in the face, but spoke as hoarse as a crow, and
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his voice shook too, like a taut rope silver, says he you're old,
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and you're honest, or has the name of it, And you've money
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too, which lots of poor sailors hasn't, And you're brave or are mistook?
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And will you tell me you'll let yourself be led away with that kind
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of a mess of swabs. Not you? As sure as God seized me,
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I'd sooner lose my hand if I turn again my duty. And then
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all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise. I'd found one of
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the honest hands. Well here. At that same moment came news of another
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far away out in the marsh. There arose, all of a sudden a
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sound like the cry of anger, then another on the back of it,
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and then one horrid, long drawn scream. The rocks of the spyglass re
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echoed it a score of times. The whole troop of marsh birds rose again,
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darkening heaven with the simultaneous whirr, And long after that death yell was
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still ringing in my brain. Silence had re established its empire, and only
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the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the
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languor of the afternoon. Tom had leaped at the sound like a horse at
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the spur, but Silver had not winked an eye. He stood where he
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was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching his companion like a snake about
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the spring, John said the sailor, stretching out his hand, ends off,
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cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me with
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the speed and security of a trained to gymnast. Ends off. If you
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like John, Silver said the other. It's a black conscience that can make
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you fear of me. But in Eaven's name, tell me what was that?
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That? Returned Silver, smiling away but warier than ever, his eye
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a mere pinpoint in his big face, but gleaming like a crumb of glass.
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That, oh, I wreck, and that I be alln And at
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this poor Tom flashed out like a hero. Allan, he cried, Then
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rest your soul for a true seaman. And as for you, John Silver,
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long, you've been a mate o mine, but you're a mate o
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mine no longer. If I die like a dog, I'll die in my
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duty. You've killed Allan. Have you kill me too if you can?
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But I defies you. And with that this brave fellow turned his back directly
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on the cook and set off walking for the beach. But he was not
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destined to go far. With a cry, John seized the branch of a
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tree, whipped the crutch out of his armpit, and sent that uncouth missile
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hurling through the air. It struck poor Tom point foremost, and with stunning
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violence, right between the shoulders in the middle of his back. His hands
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flew up, and he gave a sort of gasp and fell. Whether he
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was injured much or little, none could ever tell, like enough to judge
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from the sound. His back was broken on the spot, but he had
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no time given him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey, even
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without leg or crutch, was on the top of him next moment, and
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had twice buried his knife up to their hilt in that defenseless body. From
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my place of ambush, I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the
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blows. I do not know what it rightly is to faint, but I
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do know that for the next little while the whole world swam away from before
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me in a whirling mist. Silver and the birds, and the tall spyglass
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hilltop going round and round and topsy turvy before my eyes, and all manner
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of bells ringing, and distant voices shouting in my ear. When I came
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again to myself, the monster had pulled himself together, his crutch under his
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arm, his hat upon his head. Just before him, Tom lay motionless
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upon the sword, But the murderer minded him not a whit, cleansing his
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blood stained a knife, the while upon a wisp of grass. Everything else
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was unchanged, the sun still shining mercilessly upon the steaming marsh and the tall
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pinnacle of the mountain. And I could scarcely persuade myself that the murder had
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actually been done, and a human life cruelly cut short moment since before my
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eyes. And now John put his hand into his pocket, brought out a
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whistle and blew upon its several modulated blasts that rang far across the heated air.
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I could not tell, of course, the meaning of the signal,
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but it instantly awoke my fears more men would be coming. I might be
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discovered they had already slain two of the honest people after Tom, and Allan
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might not I come next. Instantly I began to extricate myself and all back
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again with what speed and silence I could manage to the more open portion of
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the wood. And as I did so, I could hear hails coming and
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going between the old buccaneer and his comrades, and this sound of danger lent
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me wings. As soon as I was clear of the thicket, I ran
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as I never ran before, scarce minding the direction of my flight so long
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as it led me from the murderers. And as I ran, fear grew
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and grew upon me, until it turned into a kind of frenzy. Indeed,
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could any one be more entirely lost than I? When the gun fired?
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How should I dare to go down to the boats among those fiends still
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smoking from their crime? Would not the first of them who saw me wring
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my neck like a snipe's. Would not my absence itself be in evidence to
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them of my alarm and therefore of my fatal knowledge. It was all over.
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I thought, good bye to the Hispaniola, good bye to the squire,
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the doctor, and the captain. There was nothing left for me but
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death by starvation or death by the hands of the mutineers. All this while,
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as I say, I was still running, and without taking any notice,
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I had drawn near to the foot of the little hill with the two
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peaks, and had got into a part of the island where the wild oaks
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grew more widely apart, and seemed more like forest trees in their bearing and
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dimensions. Mingled with these, there were a few scattered pines, some fifty
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some nearer seventy feet high. The air, too, smelled more fresh than
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down beside the marsh, and here a fresh alarm brought me to a standstill
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with a thumping heart. End of Chapter fourteen.