Treasure Island

The next morning, the squire sends Jim to the Spyglass tavern to give a note to John Silver. The tavern is “a bright enough little place of entertainment” with “the sign newly painted” (73). Jim finds John Silver inside. His left leg is “cut off close by the hip” (74), and he carries a crutch, but nevertheless moves “with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird” (74). Jim describes him as “very tall and strong, with a face as big as a ham—plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling” (74). After Jim goes up and greets John Silver, a man rises and leaves the tavern whom Jim recognizes as Black Dog, the man who visited the captain but ran away in Chapter 2. A few men run after him in the street but come back and report that they’ve lost him in the crowd. Silver asks Jim for help in reporting the incident to the squire. As they walk along the quays together, John tells Jim all about the different ships they see. They reach the inn where the squire and the doctor are staying and tell them about seeing Black Dog. All agree there is nothing that can be done. The doctor and the squire take Jim to see the ship.

The ship’s name is the Hispaniola. They are greeted when they come onboard by “the mate, Mr. Arrow, a brown old sailor with earrings in his ears and a squint” (82). The captain of the ship, whose name is Captain Smollett, visits with the doctor and the squire. He tells them, “I don’t like this cruise; I don’t like the men; and I don’t like my officer” (83). The doctor asks him to explain his thinking. The captain explains that he doesn’t like “treasure voyages on any account; and I don’t like them, above all, when they are secret, and when (begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney) the secret has been told to the parrot” (84). He then says that the mate, Mr. Arrow, is “too familiar” and “free” (85) with the crew. He asks that the powder and the arms be put under the cabin and that the berths beside the cabin be used to sleep in. Finally, he asks that the map of the treasure island “be kept secret even from me and Mr. Arrow. Otherwise I would ask you to let me resign” (86). He suggests that this is a precaution against a mutiny. “I see things going, as I think, not quite right” (87), he says. The captain leaves. The men on deck move the arms and powder according to the captain’s suggestions. The last of the men and John Silver arrive in a shore boat. The captain sends Silver below deck to serve up supper, then orders Jim to follow him. Jim reflects, “I assure you I was quite of the squire’s way of thinking, and hated the captain deeply” (90).

Jim and the crew work all through the first night on the ship. Jim says of the ship’s voyage, “[t]he ship proved to be a good ship, the crew were capable seamen, and the captain thoroughly understood his business” (92). Mr. Arrow spends much of his time drunk and proves an unreliable worker. One night he disappears from the ship altogether and is assumed to have gone overboard. The boatswain, Job Anderson, begins serving the duties of a mate while also keeping his previous role.

Jim continues to describe John Silver, the cook, who many of the crew call “Barbecue” (94). Israel Hands, the cockswain, calls him “no common man,” and Jim narrates, “All the crew respected and even obeyed him. He had a way of talking to each, and doing everybody some particular service” (94). He has a parrot that he has named Cap’n Flint, “after the famous buccaneer” (96). The bird swears and says the phrase, “Pieces of eight” (96), which she learned to say “at the fishing up of the wrecked plate ships” (96).

The squire and the captain continue to disagree with one another. They encounter “heavy weather” (97), but the ship holds up well. The men onboard are well accommodated. After sundown, on “about the last day of our outward voyage” (98), Jim goes to the apple barrel on deck. He finds it empty. He sits by the barrel in the dark and is near sleep when Silver and another man sit on the other side of the barrel. Jim overhears their conversation without them noticing his presence.

John Silver says, “Flint was cap’n; I was quartermaster, along of my timber leg. The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his deadlights” (100). Silver speaks of sailing with Flint, the captain whose name had so frightened the villagers in the next hamlet over. He says that many of Flint’s old crew are aboard the Hispaniola now. He tells the young man he’s speaking to that he is “smart as paint” (102). Jim is hurt and bothered to hear Silver “addressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had used” (102) to address Jim. Silver speaks about becoming a gentleman and saving up his money rather than spending it all, as men such as Pew apparently had. Silver claims that Flint was afraid of him.

Jim understands that John Silver is a pirate and is trying to recruit other pirates. He says, “the little scene that I had overheard was the last act in the corruption of one of the honest hands” (104). Silver lets out a whistle, and a third man, Israel Hands, joins them. Speaking cryptically, Israel says, “What I say is, when?” (105). Silver replies, “The last moment I can manage; and that’s when” (105). Silver says he hopes to have Captain Smollett navigate the pirates partly back to London after they’ve found the treasure, but Israel Hands argues that this isn’t necessary, and John Silver grudgingly agrees. He says, “I’ll finish with ’em at the island, as soon’s the blunt’s on board, and a pity it is” (106). They discuss what to do with the bodies of the men after they have killed them. Silver claims he wants to personally kill the squire. They fetch and drink some rum. The lookout shouts, “Land ho!” (108).

All of the hands rush onto the deck to glimpse the land. In the light of the moon they spot “two low hills, about a couple of miles apart, and rising behind one of them a third and higher hill” (109). Captain Smollett asks the crew for help coming into harbor. John Silver looks over a copy of the map in which the red crosses and notes have been omitted. Reading the map, Silver provides the captain with details as to an anchorage site. When Silver passes by Jim, he places his hand on Jim’s arm and tells Jim of all that he has to look forward to on the island, including bathing, climbing trees and hills, and hunting goats.

Jim finds the captain, the squire, and the doctor talking together on the deck. He tells the doctor he has bad news and suggests that he, the doctor, the captain, and the squire meet in the cabin. The captain addresses the ship. He says he and the captain “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” (113). Jim meets them in the cabin and tells them everything he overheard John Silver planning. The three men accept the news calmly and plan their next move.

Captain Smollett decides that they must continue their journey; if they were to suddenly turn around, mutiny would rise at once. He also points out that there are still “faithful hands” (115) among the crew. They attempt to count the men onboard presumed to be honest and not involved in the pending mutiny. Jim concludes, “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” (116).