{"product_id":"2940014489836","title":"Treasure Island","description":"1\u003cbr\u003eThe Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow\u003cbr\u003eSQUIRE TRELAWNEY, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having\u003cbr\u003easked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island,\u003cbr\u003efrom\u003cbr\u003ethe beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the\u003cbr\u003eisland, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted,\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003etake up my pen in the year of grace 17__ and go back to the time when\u003cbr\u003emy father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with\u003cbr\u003ethe\u003cbr\u003esabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof.\u003cbr\u003eI remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the\u003cbr\u003einn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow--a\u003cbr\u003etall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling over the\u003cbr\u003eshoulder of his soiled blue coat, his hands ragged and scarred, with\u003cbr\u003eblack, broken nails, and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty,\u003cbr\u003elivid\u003cbr\u003ewhite. I remember him looking round the cover and whistling to himself\u003cbr\u003eas he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang\u003cbr\u003eso\u003cbr\u003eoften afterwards:\u003cbr\u003e\"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--\u003cbr\u003eYo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!\"\u003cbr\u003ein the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and\u003cbr\u003ebroken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door with a bit of\u003cbr\u003estick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared,\u003cbr\u003ecalled roughly for a glass of rum. This, when it was brought to him,\u003cbr\u003ehe drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste and still\u003cbr\u003ePage 3\u003cbr\u003eTreasure Island\u003cbr\u003elooking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.\u003cbr\u003e\"This is a handy cove,\" says he at length; \"and a pleasant sittyated\u003cbr\u003egrog-shop. Much company, mate?\"\u003cbr\u003eMy father told him no, very little company, the more was the pity.\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, then,\" said he, \"this is the berth for me. Here you, matey,\" he\u003cbr\u003ecried to the man who trundled the barrow; \"bring up alongside and help\u003cbr\u003eup my chest. I'll stay here a bit,\" he continued. \"I'm a plain man;\u003cbr\u003erum\u003cbr\u003eand bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch\u003cbr\u003eships off. What you mought call me? You mought call me captain. Oh, I\u003cbr\u003esee what you're at--there\"; and he threw down three or four gold\u003cbr\u003epieces\u003cbr\u003eon the threshold. \"You can tell me when I've worked through that,\"\u003cbr\u003esays\u003cbr\u003ehe, looking as fierce as a commander.\u003cbr\u003eAnd indeed bad as his clothes were and coarsely as he spoke, he had\u003cbr\u003enone\u003cbr\u003eof the appearance of a man who sailed before the mast, but seemed like\u003cbr\u003ea mate or skipper accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. The man who\u003cbr\u003ecame\u003cbr\u003ewith the barrow told us the mail had set him down the morning before\u003cbr\u003eat\u003cbr\u003ethe Royal George, that he had inquired what inns there were along the\u003cbr\u003ecoast, and hearing ours well spoken of, I suppose, and described as\u003cbr\u003elonely, had chosen it from the others for his place of residence. And\u003cbr\u003ethat was all we could learn of our guest.\u003cbr\u003eHe was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove or\u003cbr\u003eupon the cliffs with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a corner\u003cbr\u003eof the parlour next the fire and drank rum and water very strong.\u003cbr\u003eMostly\u003cbr\u003ehe would not speak when spoken to, only look up sudden and fierce and\u003cbr\u003eblow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who came\u003cbr\u003eabout our house soon learned to let him be. Every day when he came\u003cbr\u003eback\u003cbr\u003efrom his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along\u003cbr\u003ethe\u003cbr\u003eroad. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind\u003cbr\u003ethat made him ask this question, but at last we began to see he was\u003cbr\u003edesirous to avoid them. When a seaman did put up at the Admiral Benbow\u003cbr\u003e(as now and then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol) he\u003cbr\u003ewould look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the\u003cbr\u003eparlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any\u003cbr\u003esuch\u003cbr\u003ewas present. For me, at least, there was no secret about the matter,\u003cbr\u003efor\u003cbr\u003eI was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms. He had taken me aside one day\u003cbr\u003eand promised me a silver fourpenny on the first of every month if I\u003cbr\u003ePage 4\u003cbr\u003eTreasure Island\u003cbr\u003ewould only keep my \"weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg\"\u003cbr\u003eand let him know the moment he appeared. Often enough when the first\u003cbr\u003eof the month came round and I applied to him for my wage, he would\u003cbr\u003eonly\u003cbr\u003eblow through his nose at me and stare me down, but before the week was\u003cbr\u003eout he was sure to think better of it, bring me my four-penny piece,\u003cbr\u003eand\u003cbr\u003erepeat his orders to look out for \"the seafaring man with one leg.\"\u003cbr\u003eHow that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. On\u003cbr\u003estormy nights, when the wind shook the four corners of the house and\u003cbr\u003ethe surf roared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in a\u003cbr\u003ethousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions. Now the\u003cbr\u003eleg would...","brand":"All classic book warehouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147688657136,"sku":"2940014489836","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014489836_p0.jpg?v=1763609610","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014489836","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}