My name is Jim Hawkins . I'm going to tell you story about pirates and treasure ...
This story started a long time ago, in the year 1756, when I was twelve years old.
My father owned an inn called The Admiral Benbow.
It was a small inn on the south coast of England. The Admiral Benbow was not very busy. We did not get many customers.
Sometimes travellers stayed at the inn. They could buy a meal and have something to drink. They usually stayed for only one night. But I remember one traveller who stayed at the Admiral Benbow for several weeks.
I remember the day he arrived. A horse and cart came along the road and stopped outside the inn. An old sailor got down from the cart and came to the inn door. He was singing a sailor's song.
𝑭𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕-
𝒀𝒐-𝒉𝒐-𝒉𝒐-𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒖𝒎 !
The old sailor knocked loudly on the inn door and my father opened it. I stood next to my father and looked at the sailor.
The man was tall and his face was brown from the sun. His hair was white. It was tied in a tail at the back of his head. He wore an old blue coat.
"𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐮𝐦" the sailor said loudly to my father.
I looked at the horse and cart. There was a wooden box on the cart — the sailor's wooden chest. It was big and it looked heavy.
"𝐃𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?" the sailor asked my father. "𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲" my father replied. "𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬".
"𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞," said the sailor. "𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬" He took some money out of his pocket "𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲. 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥"
He gave my father four gold coins.
"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐒𝐢𝐫," said my father. "𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧." said the sailor. "𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦."
My father carried the heavy wooden chest into the inn. He carried it to the Captain's room. I did not know what was in the chest, but it looked very heavy.
The Captain stayed for several weeks. I was afraid of him.He drank bottles of rum and he was drunk every day.
He sang songs and shouted loudly when he was drunk.
"𝐁𝐨𝐲!" he shouted. "𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐦!"
When I had brought the rum he told me stories. He told stories about pirates and ships. He told me about robbing ships and killing men. Then he sang sailor's song.
"𝐉𝐢𝐦."the Captain often said to me,
"𝐉𝐢𝐦 - 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠 . 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠. 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐃𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥."
I said nothing. I was too afraid to speak. Who was this man with one leg? .
_______
Winter came and my father fell sick. He was very ill and the doctor came to see him every day. The doctor's name was Dr Livesey. He said my father did not have long to live.
My mother and I were very busy. We had to look after the inn while my father lay ill in bed. But my father did not get much rest. The Captain drank rum and sang and shouted.
"𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞," Dr Livesey said to the Captain. "𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬."
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?" shouted the Captain. "𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲? 𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨!" He pulled a knife out of the pocket of his coat.
"𝐏𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞," Dr Livesey said . He stared hard at the Captain. "𝐏𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐎𝐫 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮."
The Captain stared at Dr Livesey, but he put down the knife. He drank another glass of rum.
"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝," the doctor went on.
The Captain was quite for several days.
__________
Dr Livesey was visiting my father one morning when a stranger came to the inn. The doctor was upstairs with my father and mother. I was alone downstairs, in the main room of the inn.
The stranger opened the front door and looked at me. I did not like the man. He was dirty and had a ragged beard. His face was hard and cruel.
"𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥 ?" he asked.
"𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥," I replied. I did not want to tell the man anything.
"I know he's staying here," said the stranger. "I want to talk to him"
The Captain came into the room. He did not know the stranger was there.
"Hello Billy" said the stranger.
"Black Dog!" said the Captain. His face went White "𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 ?"
"𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤" said Black Dog to the Captain. Then the stranger shouted to me, "Get us some rum, boy."
I went into the kitchen to get some rum. The Captain and Black Dog were talking. Suddenly they started to shout.
I went back into the room. The Captain had a short heavy sword called a cutlass. He raised the cutlass and ran towards Black Dog. Black Dog ran out of the inn . The Captain chased him and swung his cutlass at Black Dog's head. But the Captain didn't hit him. The cutlass hit the wooden sign above the inn door. Black Dog escaped and ran down the road.
The Captain stopped running and turning round. His face was a terrible purple colour. He stepped back into the inn and fell on the floor.
"Dr Livesey!" I called "Dr Livesey! Help!"
Dr livesey came downstairs from my father's room. He looked closely at the Captain.
"I said that rum is going to kill him," Dr Livesey said "We must put him to bed. Let him sleep"
I helped the Doctor to put the Captain into his bed. We now had two sick men in the house and I looked after them both. But soon there only one sick man because my father died suddenly one night.
____________________________
........𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐒𝐨𝐨𝐧
YOU ARE READING
Treasure island
AdventureJimmy, the twelve-year-old, was living a quiet life, but she didn't last because of that strange person.....
