Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (the top 100 crime novels of all time TXT) đ
- Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
- Performer: 0451527046
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moment, when the ship was still, Israel Hands turned
partly round and with a low moan writhed himself back
to the position in which I had seen him first. The
moan, which told of pain and deadly weakness, and the
way in which his jaw hung open went right to my heart.
But when I remembered the talk I had overheard from the
apple barrel, all pity left me.
I walked aft until I reached the main-mast.
âCome aboard, Mr. Hands,â I said ironically.
He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too far
gone to express surprise. All he could do was to utter
one word, âBrandy.â
It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and dodging
the boom as it once more lurched across the deck, I
slipped aft and down the companion stairs into the cabin.
It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly
fancy. All the lockfast places had been broken open in
quest of the chart. The floor was thick with mud where
ruffians had sat down to drink or consult after wading
in the marshes round their camp. The bulkheads, all
painted in clear white and beaded round with gilt, bore
a pattern of dirty hands. Dozens of empty bottles
clinked together in corners to the rolling of the ship.
One of the doctorâs medical books lay open on the
table, half of the leaves gutted out, I suppose, for
pipelights. In the midst of all this the lamp still
cast a smoky glow, obscure and brown as umber.
I went into the cellar; all the barrels were gone, and
of the bottles a most surprising number had been drunk
out and thrown away. Certainly, since the mutiny
began, 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 a
piece of cheese. With these I came on deck, put down
my own stock behind the rudder head and well out of the
coxswainâs reach, went forward to the water-breaker,
and had a good deep drink of water, and then, and not
till then, gave Hands the brandy.
He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle
from his mouth.
âAye,â said he, âby thunder, but I wanted some oâ that!â
I had sat down already in my own corner and begun to eat.
âMuch hurt?â I asked him.
He grunted, or rather, I might say, he barked.
âIf that doctor was aboard,â he said, âIâd be right
enough in a couple of turns, but I donât have no manner
of luck, you see, and thatâs whatâs the matter with me.
As for that swab, heâs good and dead, he is,â he added,
indicating the man with the red cap. âHe warnât no
seaman anyhow. And where mought you have come from?â
âWell,â said I, âIâve come aboard to take possession of
this ship, Mr. Hands; and youâll please regard me as
your captain until further notice.â
He looked at me sourly enough but said nothing. Some
of the colour had come back into his cheeks, though he
still looked very sick and still continued to slip out
and settle down as the ship banged about.
âBy the by,â I continued, âI canât have these colours,
Mr. Hands; and by your leave, Iâll strike âem. Better
none than these.â
And again dodging the boom, I ran to the colour lines, handed
down their cursed black flag, and chucked it overboard.
âGod save the king!â said I, waving my cap. âAnd
thereâs an end to Captain Silver!â
He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the while
on his breast.
âI reckon,â he said at last, âI reckon, Capân Hawkins,
youâll kind of want to get ashore now. Sâpose we talks.â
âWhy, yes,â says I, âwith all my heart, Mr. Hands. Say
on.â And I went back to my meal with a good appetite.
âThis man,â he began, nodding feebly at the corpse ââ
OâBrien were his name, a rank Irelanderâthis man and
me got the canvas on her, meaning for to sail her back.
Well, HEâS dead now, he isâas dead as bilge; and
whoâs to sail this ship, I donât see. Without I gives
you a hint, you ainât that man, as farâs I can tell.
Now, look here, you gives me food and drink and a old
scarf or ankecher to tie my wound up, you do, and Iâll
tell you how to sail her, and thatâs about square all
round, I take it.â
âIâll tell you one thing,â says I: âIâm not going back
to Captain Kiddâs anchorage. I mean to get into North
Inlet and beach her quietly there.â
âTo be sure you did,â he cried. âWhy, I ainât sich an
infernal lubber after all. I can see, canât I? Iâve
tried my fling, I have, and Iâve lost, and itâs you has
the wind of me. North Inlet? Why, I havenât no
châice, not I! Iâd help you sail her up to Execution
Dock, by thunder! So I would.â
Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in this.
We struck our bargain on the spot. In three minutes I
had the HISPANIOLA sailing easily before the wind
along the coast of Treasure Island, with good hopes of
turning the northern point ere noon and beating down
again as far as North Inlet before high water, when we
might beach her safely and wait till the subsiding tide
permitted us to land.
Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own
chest, where I got a soft silk handkerchief of my
motherâs. With this, and with my aid, Hands bound up
the great bleeding stab he had received in the thigh,
and after he had eaten a little and had a swallow or
two more of the brandy, he began to pick up visibly,
sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer, and looked
in every way another man.
The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed before it
like a bird, the coast of the island flashing by and
the view changing every minute. Soon we were past the
high lands and bowling beside low, sandy country,
sparsely dotted with dwarf pines, and soon we were
beyond that again and had turned the corner of the
rocky hill that ends the island on the north.
I was greatly elated with my new command, and pleased
with the bright, sunshiny weather and these different
prospects of the coast. I had now plenty of water and
good things to eat, and my conscience, which had
smitten me hard for my desertion, was quieted by the
great conquest I had made. I should, I think, have had
nothing left me to desire but for the eyes of the
coxswain as they followed me derisively about the deck
and the odd smile that appeared continually on his
face. It was a smile that had in it something both of
pain and weaknessâa haggard old manâs smile; but there
was, besides that, a grain of derision, a shadow of
treachery, in his expression as he craftily watched,
and watched, and watched me at my work.
26
Israel Hands
THE wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into the west.
We could run so much the easier from the north-east corner
of the island to the mouth of the North Inlet. Only, as
we had no power to anchor and dared not beach her till the
tide had flowed a good deal farther, time hung on our hands.
The coxswain told me how to lay the ship to; after a good
many trials I succeeded, and we both sat in silence over
another meal.
âCapân,â said he at length with that same uncomfortable
smile, âhereâs my old shipmate, OâBrien; sâpose you was
to heave him overboard. I ainât particâlar as a rule,
and I donât take no blame for settling his hash, but I
donât reckon him ornamental now, do you?â
âIâm not strong enough, and I donât like the job; and
there he lies, for me,â said I.
âThis hereâs an unlucky ship, this HISPANIOLA,
Jim,â he went on, blinking. âThereâs a power of men
been killed in this HISPANIOLAâa sight oâ poor
seamen dead and gone since you and me took ship to
Bristol. I never seen sich dirty luck, not I. There
was this here OâBrien nowâheâs dead, ainât he? Well
now, Iâm no scholar, and youâre a lad as can read and
figure, and to put it straight, do you take it as a
dead man is dead for good, or do he come alive again?â
âYou can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit;
you must know that already,â I replied. âOâBrien there
is in another world, and may be watching us.â
âAh!â says he. âWell, thatâs unfortânateâappears as
if killing parties was a waste of time. Howsomever,
sperrits donât reckon for much, by what Iâve seen.
Iâll chance it with the sperrits, Jim. And now, youâve
spoke up free, and Iâll take it kind if youâd step down
into that there cabin and get me aâwell, aâshiver my
timbers! I canât hit the name on ât; well, you get me
a bottle of wine, Jimâthis here brandyâs too strong
for my head.â
Now, the coxswainâs hesitation seemed to be unnatural,
and as for the notion of his preferring wine to brandy,
I entirely disbelieved it. The whole story was a
pretext. He wanted me to leave the deckâso much was
plain; but with what purpose I could in no way imagine.
His eyes never met mine; they kept wandering to and
fro, up and down, now with a look to the sky, now with
a flitting glance upon the dead OâBrien. All the time
he kept smiling and putting his tongue out in the most
guilty, embarrassed manner, so that a child could have
told that he was bent on some deception. I was prompt
with my answer, however, for I saw where my advantage
lay and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could
easily conceal my suspicions to the end.
âSome wine?â I said. âFar better. Will you have
white or red?â
âWell, I reckon itâs about the blessed same to me,
shipmate,â he replied; âso itâs strong, and plenty of
it, whatâs the odds?â
âAll right,â I answered. âIâll bring you port, Mr.
Hands. But Iâll have to dig for it.â
With that I scuttled down the companion with all the
noise I could, slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along
the sparred gallery, mounted the forecastle ladder, and
popped my head out of the fore companion. I knew he
would not expect to see me there, yet I took every
precaution possible, and certainly the worst of my
suspicions proved too true.
He had risen from his position to his hands and knees,
and though his leg obviously hurt him pretty sharply
when he movedâfor I could hear him stifle a groanâyet
it was at a good, rattling rate that he trailed himself
across the deck. In half a minute he had reached the
port scuppers and picked, out of a coil of rope, a long
knife, or rather a short dirk, discoloured to the hilt
with blood. He looked upon it for a moment, thrusting
forth his under jaw, tried the point upon his hand, and
then, hastily concealing it in the bosom of his jacket,
trundled back again into his old place against the bulwark.
This was
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