Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Table of Contents
Chapter 22 to Chapter 27
Part V: My Sea Adventure
Chapter 22
How I Began My Sea Adventure
Not a single gunshot is heard from the mutineers following the morning attack, and the men of the stockade have a quiet afternoon. The doctor tries to save the life of one of the mutineers shot at the loophole but is unsuccessful. Hunter, likewise, succumbs to his wounds and dies.
Livesey takes a musket and sets off to find Ben Gunn. Jim does his duties around the stockade, washing and prepping. However, he begins to envy Livesey’s freedom and soon can no longer take being cooped up in the house. He takes a pair of pistols and sets out alone, without permission from the captain and telling no one of his plans.
His intention is to find the boat that Ben said he had made and hidden under the white rock. The boat is a coracle, and an extremely light one at that. Having found the coracle, Jim has another inspiration: He decides to slip under cover of the night and cut the Hispaniola loose from its anchor. This begins Jim’s sea adventure, the details of which are told more fully in the following chapters.
Chapter 23
The Ebb-Tide Runs
Jim is of just the right height and weight to safely maneuver the coracle. However, it takes him much getting used to. He makes his way through the fog to the Hispaniola’s anchor, waits for a wind to ease the tension in the line, and then cuts the final strands, releasing the ship from its anchorage.
While waiting for the line to relax, Jim overhears the voices of Israel Hands and the man with the red nightcap, who had been involved in the assault on the stockade. They apparently are the only two pirates aboard the ship, are drunk in the cabin, and are arguing. Jim climbs to get a look in the cabin window. He sees Hands and the other man in a fight, gripping one another by the neck.
On the shore the mutineers are drunk and singing...
Sign up to continue reading Chapter 22 to Chapter 27 >