The Doctor Continues the Story

After the two boats left the Hispaniola, the captain, the squire and I talked in the cabin. Then Hunter came and told us that Jim Hawkins was on the island with the pirates.

‘Poor Jim,’ said the squire. ‘They’ll find him and kill him.’

We ran on deck and saw the two boats near a river with two men in them. We decided to go to the island. But first we looked at the map. There was a stockade on it.

‘Hunter,’ I said, ‘you and I will go and find this stockade.’

We got into a boat. The two pirates near the river saw us, but they didn’t do anything. We went towards the beach where the stockade was. When we arrived,

I got out of the boat and ran fast into the trees. The stockade was there, on top of a small hill. Inside, there was a large wooden cabin with holes in the walls for guns. Around the cabin was a high wall made of wood. With food and water we could stay in this stockade, safe from the pirates.

Then I heard a terrible sound: it was the cry of a person at the moment of death.

‘Jim Hawkins! Poor boy!’ I thought. ‘They’ve killed him!’ And I was very sad.

When we arrived back at the ship the others also thought Jim was dead. Then we put lots of things in the boat: guns, powder, ammunition, meat, biscuits and cognac. There were six pirates on board. One of them was Israel Hands. With two pistols in his hands the captain called him.

‘Don’t do anything stupid, Hands — or we’ll kill you!’

The six men ran away and hid in another part of the ship.

When our boat was ready, we all got in and went towards the island. The men in the boats saw us and one of them ran to tell Long John Silver. At the stockade we put the things in the cabin. Then the captain, Redruth and I went back to the Hispaniola and took more provisions.

We worked very fast. Then the captain called to one of the pirates on the ship.

‘Gray!’ he said. ‘You’re a good man — I know. Come with us. You’ve got thirty seconds.’

There was silence. Then we heard sounds of a fight, and suddenly Abraham Gray ran towards us.

‘I’m with you, sir!’ he said.

Our boat was small. There were five men and a lot of things in it. The current was different now; it took us away from our beach.

‘We will never arrive at the stockade,’ I said.

‘Look! Behind us — on the ship!’ said the captain.

The five men on the ship were busy with a big cannon. They were going to fire at us.

‘Mr Trelawney,’ said the captain. ‘Shoot Israel Hands.’

The squire fired his gun. But he didn’t kill Hands; one of the other men fell. Now we saw a lot of pirates in one of the boats near the river.

‘The pirates are coming!’ said the captain.

‘Only one of the boats is coming,’ I said. ‘Perhaps the other pirates are running to the stockade.’

‘Perhaps,’ the captain said. ‘But I’m frightened of that cannon! They’re going to fire it.’

We were very near the beach when the pirates fired. The cannon ball passed over our heads. Then our boat went under the water. At that moment we heard some pirates in the woods. They were very near the stockade, where there were only two men: Hunter and Joyce.

‘Hurry, hurry!’ said the captain.

And we ran quickly up the little hill towards the stockade. But the buccaneers were just behind us. Seven of them ran fast towards us. The squire and I fired our pistols and killed one of them. But Tom Redruth was shot. We took him into the stockade and put him on the floor of the cabin. And there brave Redruth died. We were all very sad. Suddenly a cannon ball exploded inside the stockade. All that evening ball after ball fell, but they didn’t hit us. Israel Hands couldn’t see the stockade, but he could see the Union Jack above the cabin. That was dangerous.

‘We must take it down, captain,’ said the squire.

But the captain said no.

Two men went to the beach to bring the things from our boat. But the pirates were already there and they were taking our things.

The captain wrote in his log-book:

‘There are six of us now: Captain Smollett; Dr Livesey; Abraham Gray; Squire Trelawney; John Hunter and Richard Joyce. We came to this stockade on Treasure Island and we have got provisions for ten days. Thomas Redruth, the squire’s servant, was shot by the buccaneers. Jim Hawkins, cabin boy.