Part Two: The Sea-cook - Chapter 7: I Go to Bristol

by Robert Louis Stevenson

　　It was longer than the squire imagined ere we wereready for the sea, and none of our first plans--noteven Dr. Livesey's, of keeping me beside him--could becarried out as we intended. The doctor had to go toLondon for a physician to take charge of his practice;the squire was hard at work at Bristol; and I lived onat the hall under the charge of old Redruth, thegamekeeper, almost a prisoner, but full of sea-dreamsand the most charming anticipations of strange islandsand adventures. I brooded by the hour together overthe map, all the details of which I well remembered.Sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room, Iapproached that island in my fancy from every possibledirection; I explored every acre of its surface; Iclimbed a thousand times to that tall hill they callthe Spy-glass, and from the top enjoyed the mostwonderful and changing prospects. Sometimes the islewas thick with savages, with whom we fought, sometimesfull of dangerous animals that hunted us, but in all myfancies nothing occurred to me so strange and tragic asour actual adventures.

　　So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there came aletter addressed to Dr. Livesey, with this addition,"To be opened, in the case of his absence, by TomRedruth or young Hawkins." Obeying this order, wefound, or rather I found--for the gamekeeper was a poorhand at reading anything but print--the followingimportant news:

　　Old Anchor Inn, Bristol, March 1, 17-- Dear Livesey--As I do not know whether you are at the hall or still in London, I send this in double to both places. The ship is bought and fitted. She lies at anchor, ready for sea. You never imagined a sweeter schooner--a child might sail her--two hundred tons; name, Hispaniola. I got her through my old friend, Blandly, who has proved himself throughout the most surprising trump. The admirable fellow literally slaved in my interest, and so, I may say, did everyone in Bristol, as soon as they got wind of the port we sailed for--treasure, I mean."Redruth," said I, interrupting the letter, "Dr.Livesey will not like that. The squire has beentalking, after all."

　　"Well, who's a better right?" growled the gamekeeper."A pretty rum go if squire ain't to talk for Dr.Livesey, I should think."

　　At that I gave up all attempts at commentary and readstraight on:

　　Blandly himself found the Hispaniola, and by the most admirable management got her for the merest trifle. There is a class of men in Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. They go the length of declaring that this honest creature would do anything for money, that the Hispaniola belonged to him, and that he sold it me absurdly high--the most transparent calumnies. None of them dare, however, to deny the merits of the ship. Wo far there was not a hitch. The workpeople, to be sure--riggers and what not--were most annoyingly slow; but time cured that. It was the crew that troubled me. I wished a round score of men--in case of natives, buccaneers, or the odious French--and I had the worry of the deuce itself to find so much as half a dozen, till the most remarkable stroke of fortune brought me the very man that I required. I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in talk with him. I found he was an old sailor, kept a public-house, knew all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his health ashore, and wanted a good berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled down there that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt. I was monstrously touched--so would you have been--and, out of pure pity, I engaged him on the spot to be ship's cook. Long John Silver, he is called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as a recommendation, since he lost it in his country's service, under the immortal Hawke. He has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable age we live in! Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, but it was a crew I had discovered. Between Silver and myself we got together in a few days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable--not pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit. I declare we could fight a frigate. Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven I had already engaged. He showed me in a moment that they were just the sort of fresh-water swabs we had to fear in an adventure of importance. I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eating like a bull, sleeping like a tree, yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I hear my old tarpaulins tramping round the capstan. Seaward, ho! Hang the treasure! It's the glory of the sea that has turned my head. So now, Livesey, come post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me. Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with Redruth for a guard; and then both come full speed to Bristol. John Trelawney Postscript--I did not tell you that Blandly, who, by the way, is to send a consort after us if we don't turn up by the end of August, had found an admirable fellow for sailing master--a stiff man, which I regret, but in all other respects a treasure. Long John Silver unearthed a very competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have a boatswain who pipes, Livesey; so things shall go man-o'-war fashion on board the good ship Hispaniola. I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of my own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never been overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; and as she is a woman of colour, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be excused for guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the health, that sends him back to roving. J. T. P.P.S.--Hawkins may stay one night with his mother. J. T.You can fancy the excitement into which that letter putme. I was half beside myself with glee; and if ever Idespised a man, it was old Tom Redruth, who could donothing but grumble and lament. Any of the under-gamekeepers would gladly have changed places with him;but such was not the squire's pleasure, and the squire'spleasure was like law among them all. Nobody but oldRedruth would have dared so much as even to grumble.

　　The next morning he and I set out on foot for theAdmiral Benbow, and there I found my mother in goodhealth and spirits. The captain, who had so long beena cause of so much discomfort, was gone where thewicked cease from troubling. The squire had hadeverything repaired, and the public rooms and the signrepainted, and had added some furniture--above all abeautiful armchair for mother in the bar. He had foundher a boy as an apprentice also so that she should notwant help while I was gone.

　　It was on seeing that boy that I understood, for thefirst time, my situation. I had thought up to thatmoment of the adventures before me, not at all of thehome that I was leaving; and now, at sight of this clumsystranger, who was to stay here in my place beside mymother, I had my first attack of tears. I am afraid Iled that boy a dog's life, for as he was new to the work,I had a hundred opportunities of setting him right andputting him down, and I was not slow to profit by them.

　　The night passed, and the next day, after dinner,Redruth and I were afoot again and on the road. I saidgood-bye to Mother and the cove where I had lived sinceI was born, and the dear old Admiral Benbow--since hewas repainted, no longer quite so dear. One of my lastthoughts was of the captain, who had so often strodealong the beach with his cocked hat, his sabre-cutcheek, and his old brass telescope. Next moment we hadturned the corner and my home was out of sight.

　　The mail picked us up about dusk at the Royal George onthe heath. I was wedged in between Redruth and a stoutold gentleman, and in spite of the swift motion and thecold night air, I must have dozed a great deal from thevery first, and then slept like a log up hill and downdale through stage after stage, for when I was awakenedat last it was by a punch in the ribs, and I opened myeyes to find that we were standing still before a largebuilding in a city street and that the day had alreadybroken a long time.

　　"Where are we?" I asked.

　　"Bristol," said Tom. "Get down."

　　Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn fardown the docks to superintend the work upon theschooner. Thither we had now to walk, and our way, tomy great delight, lay along the quays and beside thegreat multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs andnations. In one, sailors were singing at their work,in another there were men aloft, high over my head,hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than aspider's. Though I had lived by the shore all my life,I seemed never to have been near the sea till then.The smell of tar and salt was something new. I saw themost wonderful figureheads, that had all been far overthe ocean. I saw, besides, many old sailors, withrings in their ears, and whiskers curled in ringlets,and tarry pigtails, and their swaggering, clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings or archbishops Icould not have been more delighted.

　　And I was going to sea myself, to sea in a schooner, witha piping boatswain and pig-tailed singing seamen, to sea,bound for an unknown island, and to seek for buried treasure!

　　While I was still in this delightful dream, we camesuddenly in front of a large inn and met SquireTrelawney, all dressed out like a sea-officer, in stoutblue cloth, coming out of the door with a smile on hisface and a capital imitation of a sailor's walk.

　　"Here you are," he cried, "and the doctor came last nightfrom London. Bravo! The ship's company complete!"

　　"Oh, sir," cried I, "when do we sail?"

　　"Sail!" says he. "We sail tomorrow!"