Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 to Chapter 6
Part I: The Old Buccaneer
Chapter 1
The Old Sea Dog at the “Admiral Benbow”
The story is told from the first person perspective of Jim Hawkins, who serves as narrator of the tale at the request of Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey and other unnamed gentlemen who want to know the “particulars about Treasure Island.” Jim is a boy writing in the 18th century and begins his account by describing the arrival at his father’s inn, the “Admiral Benbow,” of an unseemly sailor named Billy Bones, whom everyone calls “the Captain,” and who has a large scar on his cheek. The Captain comes to the inn with a large chest in which he stores his belongs, throws down a few pieces of gold for lodgings, exists mainly on rum, bellows out a sailing song, “Fifteen men on The Dead Men’s Chest—Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” and exercises a kind of tyrannical rule over the guests of the inn as well as Jim’s father, who has difficulty getting the Captain to pay the remainder of his bill for what turns out to be an extended stay.
The Captain hires Jim at the rate of a silver fourpenny a month to keep an eye out for a “seafaring man with one leg.” Jim does so, but like his father, has trouble securing payment for his troubles on the first of each month. Jim keeps such a good eye out for a one-legged sailor that such a sailor begins to haunt Jim’s dreams. Meanwhile, the Captain lounges in the inn, telling stories to any and all, demanding at times absolute silence, and at other times bursting into song.
The only man to challenge the Captain is Dr. Livesey, who is both a physician and a magistrate, and therefore a person of authority. He visits the inn to check on the health of Jim’s father. While socializing in the inn, the Captain attempts in his usual manner to monopolize the room’s attention. Dr. Livesey scowls at him and goes on talking as before. The Captain, enraged, pulls out a...
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