Part Five: My Sea Adventure - Chapter 25: I Strike the Jolly Roger

by Robert Louis Stevenson

　　I had scarce gained a position on the bowsprit when theflying jib flapped and filled upon the other tack, witha report like a gun. The schooner trembled to her keelunder the reverse, but next moment, the other sails stilldrawing, the jib flapped back again and hung idle.

　　This had nearly tossed me off into the sea; and now Ilost no time, crawled back along the bowsprit, andtumbled head foremost on the deck.

　　I was on the lee side of the forecastle, and the main-sail, which was still drawing, concealed from me acertain portion of the after-deck. Not a soul was tobe seen. The planks, which had not been swabbed sincethe mutiny, bore the print of many feet, and an emptybottle, broken by the neck, tumbled to and fro like alive thing in the scuppers.

　　Suddenly the Hispaniola came right into the wind. Thejibs behind me cracked aloud, the rudder slammed to, thewhole ship gave a sickening heave and shudder, and at thesame moment the main-boom swung inboard, the sheet groaningin the blocks, and showed me the lee after-deck.

　　There were the two watchmen, sure enough: red-cap onhis back, as stiff as a handspike, with his armsstretched out like those of a crucifix and his teethshowing through his open lips; Israel Hands proppedagainst the bulwarks, his chin on his chest, his handslying open before him on the deck, his face as white,under its tan, as a tallow candle.

　　For a while the ship kept bucking and sidling like avicious horse, the sails filling, now on one tack, nowon another, and the boom swinging to and fro till themast groaned aloud under the strain. Now and again toothere would come a cloud of light sprays over thebulwark and a heavy blow of the ship's bows against theswell; so much heavier weather was made of it by thisgreat rigged ship than by my home-made, lop-sidedcoracle, now gone to the bottom of the sea.

　　At every jump of the schooner, red-cap slipped to andfro, but--what was ghastly to behold--neither hisattitude nor his fixed teeth-disclosing grin was anywaydisturbed by this rough usage. At every jump too,Hands appeared still more to sink into himself andsettle down upon the deck, his feet sliding ever thefarther out, and the whole body canting towards thestern, so that his face became, little by little, hidfrom me; and at last I could see nothing beyond his earand the frayed ringlet of one whisker.

　　At the same time, I observed, around both of them,splashes of dark blood upon the planks and began tofeel sure that they had killed each other in theirdrunken wrath.

　　While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calmmoment, when the ship was still, Israel Hands turnedpartly round and with a low moan writhed himself backto the position in which I had seen him first. Themoan, which told of pain and deadly weakness, and theway in which his jaw hung open went right to my heart.But when I remembered the talk I had overheard from theapple barrel, all pity left me.

　　I walked aft until I reached the main-mast.

　　"Come aboard, Mr. Hands," I said ironically.

　　He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too fargone to express surprise. All he could do was to utterone word, "Brandy."

　　It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and dodgingthe boom as it once more lurched across the deck, Islipped aft and down the companion stairs into the cabin.

　　It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardlyfancy. All the lockfast places had been broken open inquest of the chart. The floor was thick with mud whereruffians had sat down to drink or consult after wadingin the marshes round their camp. The bulkheads, allpainted in clear white and beaded round with gilt, borea pattern of dirty hands. Dozens of empty bottlesclinked together in corners to the rolling of the ship.One of the doctor's medical books lay open on thetable, half of the leaves gutted out, I suppose, forpipelights. In the midst of all this the lamp stillcast a smoky glow, obscure and brown as umber.

　　I went into the cellar; all the barrels were gone, andof the bottles a most surprising number had been drunkout and thrown away. Certainly, since the mutinybegan, not a man of them could ever have been sober.

　　Foraging about, I found a bottle with some brandy left,for Hands; and for myself I routed out some biscuit,some pickled fruits, a great bunch of raisins, and apiece of cheese. With these I came on deck, put downmy own stock behind the rudder head and well out of thecoxswain's reach, went forward to the water-breaker,and had a good deep drink of water, and then, and nottill then, gave Hands the brandy.

　　He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottlefrom his mouth.

　　"Aye," said he, "by thunder, but I wanted some o' that!"

　　I had sat down already in my own corner and begun to eat.

　　"Much hurt?" I asked him.

　　He grunted, or rather, I might say, he barked.

　　"If that doctor was aboard," he said, "I'd be rightenough in a couple of turns, but I don't have no mannerof luck, you see, and that's what's the matter with me.As for that swab, he's good and dead, he is," he added,indicating the man with the red cap. "He warn't noseaman anyhow. And where mought you have come from?"

　　"Well," said I, "I've come aboard to take possession ofthis ship, Mr. Hands; and you'll please regard me asyour captain until further notice."

　　He looked at me sourly enough but said nothing. Someof the colour had come back into his cheeks, though hestill looked very sick and still continued to slip outand settle down as the ship banged about.

　　"By the by," I continued, "I can't have these colours,Mr. Hands; and by your leave, I'll strike 'em. Betternone than these."

　　And again dodging the boom, I ran to the colour lines, handeddown their cursed black flag, and chucked it overboard.

　　"God save the king!" said I, waving my cap. "Andthere's an end to Captain Silver!"

　　He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the whileon his breast.

　　"I reckon," he said at last, "I reckon, Cap'n Hawkins,you'll kind of want to get ashore now. S'pose we talks."

　　"Why, yes," says I, "with all my heart, Mr. Hands. Sayon." And I went back to my meal with a good appetite.

　　"This man," he began, nodding feebly at the corpse "--O'Brien were his name, a rank Irelander--this man andme got the canvas on her, meaning for to sail her back.Well, he's dead now, he is--as dead as bilge; andwho's to sail this ship, I don't see. Without I givesyou a hint, you ain't that man, as far's I can tell.Now, look here, you gives me food and drink and a oldscarf or ankecher to tie my wound up, you do, and I'lltell you how to tail her, and that's about square allround, I take it."

　　"I'll tell you one thing," says I: "I'm not going backto Captain Kidd's anchorage. I mean to get into NorthInlet and beach her quietly there."

　　"To be sure you did," he cried. "Why, I ain't sich aninfernal lubber after all. I can see, can't I? I'vetried my fling, I have, and I've lost, and it's you hasthe wind of me. North Inlet? Why, I haven't noch'ice, not I! I'd help you sail her up to ExecutionDock, by thunder! So I would."

　　Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this.We struck our bargain on the spot. In three minutes Ihad the Hispaniola sailing easily before the windalong the coast of Treasure Island, with good hopes ofturning the northern point ere noon and beating downagain as far as North Inlet before high water, when wemight beach her safely and wait till the subsiding tidepermitted us to land.

　　Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my ownchest, where I got a soft silk handkerchief of mymother's. With this, and with my aid, Hands bound upthe great bleeding stab he had received in the thigh,and after he had eaten a little and had a swallow ortwo more of the brandy, he began to pick up visibly,sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer, and lookedin every way another man.

　　The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed before itlike a bird, the coast of the island flashing by andthe view changing every minute. Soon we were past thehigh lands and bowling beside low, sandy country,sparsely dotted with dwarf pines, and soon we werebeyond that again and had turned the corner of therocky hill that ends the island on the north.

　　I was greatly elated with my new command, and pleasedwith the bright, sunshiny weather and these differentprospects of the coast. I had now plenty of water andgood things to eat, and my conscience, which hadsmitten me hard for my desertion, was quieted by thegreat conquest I had made. I should, I think, have hadnothing left me to desire but for the eyes of thecoxswain as they followed me derisively about the deckand the odd smile that appeared continually on hisface. It was a smile that had in it something both ofpain and weakness--a haggard old man's smile; but therewas, besides that, a grain of derision, a shadow oftreachery, in his expression as he craftily watched,and watched, and watched me at my work.