Summary: Chapter XVI
Dr. Livesey takes over the narration at this point, beginning
his story at the mutineers’ departure for the island. Discovering
that Jim is with the mutineers, Livesey and Captain Smollett fear
for Jim’s safety, and agree that Livesey should go ashore along
with Hunter, Squire Trelawney’s servant. Once ashore, Livesey comes
upon a stockade Flint’s men built years earlier, near a spring.
Returning to the ship, Livesey tells the others what he
has found. The men load two boats with provisions, taking the risk
that they may arouse the suspicions of the mutineers onshore. Captain
Smollett gives Abraham Gray, a sailor who has fallen in with the
mutineers, a last chance to join him and his crew. Gray scuffles
onto the boat, and they head for shore.
Summary: Chapter XVII
The little boat carrying Captain Smollett, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey,
Tom Redruth, and Abraham Gray is dangerously overloaded and thus
hard to maneuver. The men begin to suspect that the mutineers might
be planning an attack, aware that the pirates possess arms and gunpowder,
and that Israel Hands was once Flint’s gunman. Trelawney tries to
shoot Hands but hits another pirate instead, though the mutineers
do not pay any -attention. Hands fires a cannonball at the men’s
boat, causing it to founder. No lives are lost, as the water is
shallow, but the men are forced to leave half of their provisions
behind when they wade ashore.
Summary: Chapter XVIII
Captain Smollett and his group make their way to the stockade
and pause to reload their guns. Coming upon the pirate they have
just killed, they rejoice in their success. At this instant Tom
Redruth is shot. His wound is clearly fatal, and the group helps
him to lie down and die nobly. Squire Trelawney kisses Tom’s hand
and asks for his forgiveness. All agree that he has nothing to fear
in the afterworld, as he has died in the line of duty.
Trapped in the stockade, the group is bombarded by cannon
fire throughout the evening. The pirates aim at the Union Jack in
particular, but Smollett refuses to take in the flag. He makes an
entry in his logbook of those in the stockade, while Livesey wonders
what has happened to Jim. Just at this moment, Jim suddenly enters.
Summary: Chapter XIX
Jim resumes the narration of the tale. Having seen the
Union Jack flying above, he approaches the stockade along with Ben
Gunn. Jim is unsure whether it is Captain Smollett’s crew or the
mutineers who control the stockade, but Ben, assuring him that the
pirates would never fly the Union Jack, encourages him to enter.
A cannon shot makes the good sailors scatter out of the stockade.
