Treasure Island
Narrative Continued by the Doctor: The Jolly-boat’s Last Trip
THIS was different from any of the others. In the place, the little of a that we were in was overloaded. Five men, and three of them—Trelawney, Redruth, and the captain—over six high, was already more than she was meant to carry. Add to that the powder, pork, and bread-bags. The was astern. Several times we a little water, and my and the of my were all wet we had gone a hundred yards.
The captain us the boat, and we got her to a little more evenly. All the same, we were to breathe.
In the second place, the was now making—a through the basin, and then south’ard and the by which we had entered in the morning. Even the were a to our craft, but the of it was that we were out of our true and away from our proper landing-place the point. If we let the have its way we should come the gigs, where the might appear at any moment.
“I cannot keep her for the stockade, sir,” said I to the captain. I was steering, while he and Redruth, two fresh men, were at the oars. “The her down. Could you a little stronger?”
“Not without the boat,” said he. “You must up, sir, if you please—bear up until you see you’re gaining.”
I and by that the us until I had her east, or just about right to the way we ought to go.
“We’ll at this rate,” said I.
“If it’s the only that we can lie, sir, we must it,” returned the captain. “We must keep upstream. You see, sir,” he on, “if once we to of the landing-place, it’s hard to say where we should ashore, the of being by the gigs; whereas, the way we go the must slacken, and then we can along the shore.”
“The current’s less a’ready, sir,” said the man Gray, who was in the fore-sheets; “you can her off a bit.”
“Thank you, my man,” said I, as if nothing had happened, for we had all up our minds to him like one of ourselves.
Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I his voice was a little changed.
“The gun!” said he.
“I have of that,” said I, for I sure he was of a of the fort. “They the gun ashore, and if they did, they it through the woods.”
“Look astern, doctor,” the captain.
We had the long nine; and there, to our horror, were the five rogues about her, off her jacket, as they called the under which she sailed. Not only that, but it into my mind at the same moment that the round-shot and the for the gun had been left behind, and a with an would put it all into the of the ones abroad.
“Israel was Flint’s gunner,” said Gray hoarsely.
At any risk, we put the boat’s direct for the landing-place. By this time we had got so out of the of the that we way at our necessarily of rowing, and I keep her for the goal. But the of it was that with the I now we our of our to the Hispaniola and offered a like a door.
I as well as see that brandy-faced Israel Hands a round-shot on the deck.
“Who’s the best shot?” asked the captain.
“Mr. Trelawney, out and away,” said I.
“Mr. Trelawney, will you me off one of these men, sir? Hands, if possible,” said the captain.
Trelawney was as as steel. He looked to the of his gun.
“Now,” the captain, “easy with that gun, sir, or you’ll the boat. All hands by to her when he aims.”
The his gun, the ceased, and we over to the other to keep the balance, and all was so that we did not ship a drop.
They had the gun, by this time, upon the swivel, and Hands, who was at the with the rammer, was in the most exposed. However, we had no luck, for just as Trelawney fired, he stooped, the over him, and it was one of the other four who fell.
The he gave was not only by his on but by a great number of voices from the shore, and looking in that direction I saw the other out from among the trees and into their places in the boats.
“Here come the gigs, sir,” said I.
“Give way, then,” the captain. “We mustn’t mind if we her now. If we can’t ashore, all’s up.”
“Only one of the is being manned, sir,” I added; “the of the other most likely going by to cut us off.”
“They’ll have a run, sir,” returned the captain. “Jack ashore, you know. It’s not them I mind; it’s the round-shot. Carpet bowls! My lady’s couldn’t miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we’ll water.”
0171m
In the meanwhile we had been making at a good for a so overloaded, and we had but little water in the process. We were now close in; thirty or and we should beach her, for the had already a narrow of the trees. The was no longer to be feared; the little point had already it from our eyes. The ebb-tide, which had so us, was now making reparation and our assailants. The one of was the gun.
“If I durst,” said the captain, “I’d stop and off another man.”
But it was plain that they meant nothing should their shot. They had so much as looked at their comrade, though he was not dead, and I see him trying to away.
“Ready!” the squire.
“Hold!” the captain, quick as an echo.
And he and Redruth with a great that sent her under water. The report in at the same of time. This was the that Jim heard, the of the squire’s not having him. Where the passed, not one of us knew, but I it must have been over our and that the wind of it may have to our disaster.
At any rate, the by the stern, gently, in three of water, the captain and myself, each other, on our feet. The other three took complete headers, and came up again and bubbling.
So there was no great harm. No were lost, and we in safety. But there were all our stores at the bottom, and to make worse, only two out of five in a for service. Mine I had from my and over my head, by a of instinct. As for the captain, he had his over his by a bandoleer, and like a wise man, lock uppermost. The other three had gone with the boat.
To add to our concern, we voices already near us in the along shore, and we had not only the of being cut off from the in our half-crippled but the us whether, if Hunter and Joyce were by a dozen, they would have the and to firm. Hunter was steady, that we knew; Joyce was a case—a pleasant, man for a and to one’s clothes, but not for a man of war.
With all this in our minds, we as fast as we could, us the jolly-boat and a good of all our and provisions.