《Treasure Island》　CHAPTER26
　　　　by Robert Louis Stevenson

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.

`Cap'n,' said he, at length, with that same uncomfortable smile, `here's my old
shipmate, O'Brien; s'pose you was to heave him overboard. I ain't partic'lar as a rule,
and I don't take no blame for settling his hash; but I don't reckon him ornamental, now,
do you?'

`I'm not strong enough, and I don't like the job; and there he lies, for me,' said I.

`This here's an unlucky ship - this Hispaniola, Jim,' he went on, blinking. `There's a
power of men been killed in this Hispaniola - a sight o' 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
O'Brien, now - he's dead, aint he? Well, now, I'm no scholar, and you're a lad as can read
an figure; and, to put it straight, do you take it as a dead man is dead for good, or do
he come alive again?'

`You can kill the body, Mr Hands, but not the spirit; you must know that already,' I
replied. `O'Brien there is in another world, and maybe watching us.'

`Ah!' says he. `Well, that's unfort'nate - appears as if killing parties was a waste of
time. Howsomever, sperrits don't reckon for much, by what I've seen. I'll chance it with
the sperrits, Jim. And now, you've spoke up free, and I'll take it kind if you'd step down
into that there cabin and get me a - well, a - shiver my timbers! I can't hit the name
on't; well, you get me a bottle of wine, Jim - this here brandy's too strong for my head.'

Now, the coxswain's 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 deck - so 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 O'Brien. 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.

`Some wine?' I said. `Far better. Will you have white or red?'

`Well, I reckon it's about the blessed same to me, shipmate,' he replied; `so it's
strong, and plenty of it, what's the odds?'

`All right,' I answered. `I'll bring you port, Mr Hands. But I'll have to dig for it.'

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 moved - for I could hear him stifle a groan - yet 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 all that I required to know. Israel could move about; he was now armed; and if
he had been at so much trouble to get rid of. me, it was plain that I was meant to be the
victim. What he would do afterwards - whether he would try to crawl right across the
island from North Inlet to the camp among the swamps' or whether he would fire Long Tom,
trusting that his own comrades might come first to help him, was, of course, more than I
could say.

Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, since in that our interests jumped
together, and that was in the disposition of the schooner. We both desired to have he
stranded safe enough, in a sheltered place, and so that, when the time came, she could be
got off again with as little labour and danger as might be; and until that was done I
considered that my life would certainly be spared.

While I was thus turning the business over in my mind, I had not been idle with my
body. I had stolen back to the cabin, slipped once more into my shoes and laid my hand at
random on a bottle of wine, and now, with this for an excuse, I made my reappearance on
the deck.

Hands lay as I had left him, all fallen together in a bundle, and with his eyelids
lowered, as though he were too weak to bear the light. He looked up, however, at my
coming, knocked the neck off the bottle, like a man who had done the same thing often, and
took a good swig, with his favourite toast of `Here's luck!' Then he lay quiet for a
little, and then, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid.

`Cut me a junk o' that,' says he, `for I haven't no knife, and hardly strength enough,
so be as I had. Ah, Jim, Jim, I reckon I've missed stays! Cut me a quid, as 'll likely be
the last, lad; for I'm for my long home, and no mistake.'

`Well,' said I, `I'll cut you some tobacco; but if I was you and thought myself so
badly, I would go to my prayers, like a Christian man.'

`Why?' said he. `Now, you tell me why.'

`Why?' I cried. `You were asking me just now about the dead. You've broken your trust;
you've lived in sin and lies and blood; there's a man you killed lying at your feet this
moment; and you ask me why! For God's mercy, Mr Hands, that's why.'

I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody dirk he had hidden in his pocket,
and designed, in his ill thoughts, to end me with. He, for his part, took a great draught
of the wine, and spoke with the most unusual solemnity.

`For thirty years,' he said, `I've sailed the seas, and seen good and bad, better and
worse, fair weather and foul, provisions running out, knives going, and what not. Well,
now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy;
dead men don't bite; them's my views - amen, so be it. And now, you look here,' he added,
suddenly changing his tone, `we've had about enough of this foolery. The tide's made good
enough by now. You just take my orders, Cap'n Hawkins, and we'll sail slap in and be done
with it.'

All told, we had scarce two miles to run; but the navigation was delicate, the entrance
to this northern anchorage was not only narrow and shoal, but lay east and west, so that
the schooner must be nicely handled to be got in. I think I was a good, prompt subaltern,
and I am very sure that Hands was an excellent pilot; for we went about and about, and
dodged in, shaving the banks, with a certainty and a neatness that were a pleasure to
behold.

Scarcely had we passed the heads before the land closed around us. The shores of North
Inlet were as thicklywooded as those of the southern anchorage; but the space was longer
and narrower, and more like, what in truth it was, the estuary of a river. Right before
us, at the southern end, we saw the wreck of a ship in the last stages of dilapidation. It
had been a great vessel of three masts, but had lain so long exposed to the injuries of
the weather, that it was hung about with great webs of dripping seaweed,

and on the deck of it shore bushes had taken root, and now flourished thick with
flowers. It was a sad sight, but it showed us that the anchorage was calm.

`Now,' said Hands, `look there; there's a pet bit for to beach a ship in. Fine flat
sand, never a catspaw, trees all around of it, and flowers a - blowing like a garding on
that old ship.'

`And once beached,' I inquired, `how shall we get her off again?'

`Why, so,' he replied: `you take a line ashore there on the other side at low water.'
take a turn about one o' them big pines; bring it back, take a turn round the capstan, and
lie-to for the tide. Come high water, all hands take a pull upon the line, and off she
comes as sweet as nature'. And now, boy, you stand by. We're near the bit now, and she's
too much way on her. Starboard a little - so - steady - starboard - larboard a little -
steady - steady!'

So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly obeyed; till, all of a sudden, he
cried, `Now, my hearty, luff!' And I put the helm hard up, and the Hispaniola swung round
rapidly, and ran stem on for the low wooded shore.

The excitement of these last manoeuvres had somewhat interfered with the watch I had
kept hitherto, sharply enough upon the coxswain. Even then I was still so much interested
waiting for the ship to touch, that I had quite forgot the peril that hung over my head,
and stood craning over the starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading wide
before the bows. I might have fallen without a struggle for my life, had not a sudden
disquietude seized upon me, and made me turn my head. Perhaps I had heard a creak, or seen
his shadow moving with the tail of my eye; perhaps it was an instinct like a cat's; but
sure enough, when I looked round, there was Hands, already half-way towards me, with the
dirk in his right hand.

We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met; but while mine was the shrill cry
of terror, his was a roar of fury like a charging bull's. At the same instant he threw
himself forward and I leapt sideways towards the bows. As I did so, I let go of the
tiller, which sprang sharp to leeward; and I think this saved my life, for it struck Hands
across the chest, and stopped him, for the moment, dead.

Before he could recover, I was safe out of the corner where he had me trapped, with all
the deck to dodge about. Just forward of the mainmast I stopped, drew a pistol from my
pocket, took a cool aim, though he had already turned and was once more coming directly
after me, and drew the trigger. The hammer fell, but there followed neither flash nor
sound; the priming was useless with sea water. I cursed myself for my neglect. Why had not
I, long before, reprimed and reloaded my only weapons? Then I should not have been as now,
a mere fleeing sheep before this butcher.

Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he could move, his grizzled hair tumbling
over his face, and his face itself as red as a red ensign with his haste and fury. I had
no time to try my other pistol, nor, indeed, much inclination, for I was sure it would be
useless. One thing I saw plainly: I must not simply retreat before him, or he would
speedily hold me boxed into the bows, as a moment since he had so nearly boxed me in the
stern. Once so caught, and nine or ten inches of the bloodstained dirk would be my last
experience on this side of eternity. I placed my palms against the mainmast, which was of
a goodish bigness, and waited, every nerve upon the stretch.

Seeing that I meant to dodge, he also paused; and a moment or two passed in feints on
his part, and corresponding movements upon mine. It was such a game as I had often played
at home about the rocks of Black Hill Cove; but never before, you may be sure, with such a
wildly beating heart as now. Still, as I say, it was a boy's game, and I thought I could
hold my own at it, against an elderlyseaman with a wounded thigh. Indeed, my courage had
begun to rise so high, that I allowed myself a few darting thoughts on what would be the
end of the affair; and while I saw certainly that I could spin it out for long, I saw no
hope of any ultimate escape.

Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the Hispaniola struck, staggered, ground for an
instant in the sand, and then, swift as a blow, canted over to the port side, till the
deck stood at an angle of forty-five degrees, and about a puncheon of water splashed into
the scupper holes, and lay, in a pool, between the deck and bulwark.

We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of us rolled, almost together, into
the scuppers; the dead red-cap, with his arms still spread out, tumbling stiffly after us.
So near were we, indeed, that my head came against the coxswain's foot with a crack that
made my teeth rattle. Blow and all, I was the first afoot again; for Hands had got
involved with the dead body. The sudden canting of the ship had made the deck no place for
running on; I had to find some new way of escape, and that upon the instant, for my foe
was almost touching me. Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds, rattled up
hand over hand, and did not draw a breath till I was seated on the cross-trees.

I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had struck not half a foot below me, as I
pursued my upward flight; and there stood Israel Hands with his mouth open and his face
upturned to mine, a perfect statue of surprise and disappointment.

Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time in changing the priming of my pistol,
and then, having one ready for service, and to make assurancedoubly sure, I proceeded to
draw the load of the other, and recharge it afresh from the beginning.

My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; he began to see the dice going against
him; and after an obvious hesitation, he also hauled himself heavily into the shrouds,
and, with the the dirk in his teeth, began slowly and painfully to mount. It cost him no
end of time and groans to haul his wounded leg behind him; and I had quietly finished my
arrangements before he was much more than a third of the way up. Then, with a pistol in
either hand, I addressed him.

`One more step, Mr Hands,' said I, `and I'll blow your brains out! Dead men don't bite,
you know,' I added, with a chuckle.

He stopped instantly. I could see by the working of his face that he was trying to
think, and the process was so slow an laborious that, in my new-found security, I laughed
aloud. At last, with a swallow or two, he spoke, his face still wearing the same
expression of extreme perplexity. In order to speak he had to take the dagger from his
mouth, but, in all else, he remained unmoved.

`Jim,' says he, `I reckon we're fouled, you and me, and we'll have to sign articles.
I'd have had you but for that there lurch: but I don't have no luck, not I; and I reckon
I'll have to strike which comes hard, you see, for a master mariner to a ship's younker
like you, Jim.'

I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as conceited as a cock upon a wall, when,
all in a breath, back went his right hand over his shoulder. Something sang like an arrow
through the air; I felt a blow and then a sharp pang, and there I was pinned by the
shoulder to the mast. In the horrid pain and surprise of the moment - I scarce can say it
was by my own volition, and I am sure it was without a conscious aim - both my pistols
went off, and both escaped out of my hands. They did not fall alone; with a choked cry,
the coxswain loosed his grasp upon the shrouds, and plunged head first into the water.