Getting ready to go to sea took much longer than the squire had imagined. The doctor had to go to London, and the squire was busy in Bristol. I stayed at the hall with old Redruth, the gamekeeper, almost like a prisoner. For hours I sat by the fire with the map, and in my dreams I climbed Spyglass Hill a thousand times. But none of my dreams was as strange and terrible as our real adventures.
At last a letter came for the doctor. On the outside it said: “If Dr. Livesey is away, Redruth or young Hawkins may open this.” Redruth could only read print, so I read it aloud.
Dear Livesey,
The ship is bought and ready for sea. Her name is the Hispaniola. My old friend Blandly found her for me. Everyone in Bristol has helped me, ever since they heard we were going for treasure.
“Dr. Livesey won’t like that,” I said to Redruth. “The squire has been talking after all.” But I read on.
The crew was my problem, until a wonderful piece of luck brought me the very man I needed. On the dock I started talking to an old sailor who keeps an inn and knows all the sailors in Bristol. He wanted to go to sea again as a cook. His name is Long John Silver, and he lost a leg fighting for his country. I felt so sorry for him that I hired him on the spot.
I thought I had found a cook, but I had found a crew. In a few days Silver and I found the toughest old sailors you can imagine. Long John even sent away two men I had hired before, because they were no good.
Come at once, Livesey! Hawkins may spend one night with his mother, and then he and Redruth must come to Bristol at full speed.
John Trelawney
P.S. Blandly has found us an excellent captain, a stiff man, but a treasure in every other way. Long John has found a mate, a man called Arrow. And if we are not back by the end of August, Blandly will send a ship to look for us. Silver’s wife will run his inn while he is at sea.
I was wild with joy. The next morning Redruth and I walked to the Admiral Benbow. My mother was well. The squire had paid to repair everything, and he had found a boy to help her while I was away.
When I saw that boy, I understood for the first time what was happening. Until then I had only thought about the adventures ahead of me, not about the home I was leaving. Now this clumsy stranger was going to stay with my mother in my place, and I cried.
The next day I said goodbye to Mother and to the dear old Admiral Benbow. One of my last thoughts was of the captain, walking along the beach with his old brass telescope. Then we turned the corner, and my home was out of sight.
In the evening a coach picked us up, and I slept almost all the way to Bristol.
We walked along the harbor, past ships of every size from every country. Sailors were singing at their work, and the smell of tar and salt was new to me. And I was going to sea myself, to an unknown island, to look for buried treasure!
At a large inn by the docks we met Squire Trelawney, dressed like a sea officer in a fine blue coat and walking like a sailor.
“Here you are!” he cried. “And the doctor came from London last night. Now we are all here!”
“Oh, sir,” I cried, “when do we sail?”
“Sail?” he said. “We sail tomorrow!”