Thirteen

HOW I WENT ON SHORE

The appearance of the island when I came up next morning was altogether changed. Although the wind had now utterly failed, we had moved a great distance during the night, and were now lying about half a mile to the south-east of the coast. Grey-coloured woods covered a large part of the land. The hills ran up clear above the wood in towers of naked rock. All were strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass was the strangest, running up very steeply from almost every side, and then suddenly cut off at the top.

The Hispaniola was rolling. I had to hold tight to the side, and the world turned before my eyes; for though I was a good enough seaman when the ship was moving forward, this standing still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I never learned to bear, especially in the morning on an empty stomach.

Perhaps it was this, or perhaps it was the sight of the place with its sad grey woods and wild stone towers and white waves on the beach and the shore birds crying all round us, but from that first look onward, I hated the thought of Treasure Island.

We had a long morning's work before us, for there was no sign of any wind, and the boats had to be got out, and the ship sailed three or four miles round the corner of the island, and up the narrow course to the bay behind the small island. I offered to go in one of the boats, where I had, of course, no business. The heat was terrible, and the men complained fiercely over their work. Anderson was in command of my boat, and instead of keeping the crew in order, he complained as loud as the worst.

"Well," he said, with foul words, "it's not for ever."

I thought this was a very bad sign; for, up to that day, the men had gone quickly and quietly about their business; but the very sight of the island had made them less ready to obey orders.

All the way in, Long John stood by the man at the wheel. He knew the place like his own hand; and never once paused.

We stopped about a third of a mile from either shore, the main land on one side and the small island on the other. The bottom of the sea was clean sand. The noise of our coming sent up clouds of birds flying about and crying over the woods, but in less than a minute they were down again, and all was once more silent.

The place was covered with woods, the trees coming right down to the edge of the water. Two little rivers emptied out into this bay; and the leaves of the trees 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 hidden among the trees; and if it had not been for the map, we might have been the first that had ever come there since the island rose out of the seas.

There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound but that of the sea thundering half a mile away along the beaches and against the rocks outside. A peculiar dead smell hung over the place—a smell of wet leaves and decaying tree trunks. I observed the doctor smelling the air, like someone tasting a bad egg.

"I don't know about treasure," he said, "but I do know that this is a poisonously unhealthy place."

The way in which the men had behaved in the boat was alarming; it was more than that when they came on board. They lay about whispering together. The slightest order was received with a black look, and slowly and carelessly obeyed.

And it was not only we who observed 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 did his uttermost both in readiness to work and in politeness; he was all smiles to everyone. If an order were given, John would be on his stick in an instant, and when there was nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another, as if to conceal the discontent of the rest.

Long John was clearly anxious; and that was the blackest of all the black signs on this terrible afternoon.

We met together to consider how things stood.

"Sir," said the captain, "if I risk another order, the whole crew will attack us. You see, sir, how it is. I get a rough answer, do I not? Well, if I speak back, the fighting will begin at once; if I don't, Silver will see that there's some hidden reason for it, and the game's up. Now, we've only one man to trust."

"And who is that?" asked Mr. Trelawney.

"Silver, sir," returned the captain; "he's as anxious as you and I to keep things calm. This is a quarrel; he'd soon talk 'em out of it if he had the chance, and what I intend to do is to give him the chance. Let's allow the men an afternoon on shore. If they all go, why, we'll fight the ship. If some go, I am perfectly certain that Silver'll bring 'em on board again as gentle as lambs."

It was so decided; loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men; Hunter, Joyce and Redruth were told how things were, and received the news with less surprise and a better spirit than we had looked for. Then the captain went and addressed the crew.

"My lads," said he, "we've had a hot day, and are all tired. A walk on shore'll hurt nobody—the boats are still in the water. As many as please can go on shore for the afternoon. I'll fire a gun half an hour before sunset."

I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would set their hands on the treasure as soon as they were landed, for they all came out of their ill-temper in a moment, and gave a shout which set all the birds flying about again over the tree-tops.

The captain was too wise to be in the way. He got out of sight in a moment, leaving Silver to arrange the party; and I fancy it was as well he did so. Had he been present, he could no longer have even pretended not to understand what was going on. It was as plain as day. Silver was the captain, but his crew had not learnt to obey him.

At last, however, the party was made up. Six fellows were to stay on board, and the remaining thirteen, among whom was Silver, began to get into the boats.

Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad ideas that helped so much to save our lives. If six men were left by Silver, it was plain our party could not take and fight the ship; and since only six were left, it was equally plain that our party had no present need of my help. So I decided to go on shore. In a moment I had slipped over the side, and curled up in the front part of the nearest boat; and almost at the same moment she moved off.

No one took notice of me, only one of the rowers saying, "Is that you, Jim? Keep your head down." But Silver, from the other boat, looked sharply over and called out to know if that were me; and from that moment I began to feel sorry for what I had done.

The crews raced for the beach; but the boat I was in, having some start, and being at once the lighter and the better rowed, shot far in front of the other, and soon struck among the trees on the shore. I caught a branch and swung myself out, and rushed into the bushes, while Silver and the rest were still a hundred yards behind.

"Jim, Jim!" I heard him shouting.

But you may suppose I took no notice; jumping, falling and breaking through, I ran straight on, till I could run no longer.