Treasure Island: A Retelling for Curious Readers

A look inside

The opening of Treasure Island: A Retelling for Curious Readers, free to read.

1. 

   The Old Sea Dog at the Admiral Benbow

   I am Jim Hawkins. When I was a boy, my parents ran the Admiral Benbow Inn, above a rocky cove. One morning I heard singing out on the road: “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” Then the singer came into view: a weather-beaten old sailor with a scar slashed over his cheek. A cart rattled along after him, carrying his sea chest.

2. 

   “This is a handy cove,” said the sailor, “and a pleasant inn. I’ll stay here a bit.” We called him the captain. Soon I had a secret job. Each month he pressed a silver coin into my hand, and I watched for “a seafaring man with one leg.” That man stomped through my nightmares. Meanwhile the captain squinted out to sea through his telescope, as if someone might come.

3. 

   “One more word of trouble from you,” said Doctor Livesey, “and I’ll have you taken to court.” Nobody had ever spoken to the captain like that! Most evenings he bellowed pirate songs and wild tales, and when he thumped the table, the whole inn had to hush. But the doctor, who had come to see my sick father, had just kept chatting. Now the captain glared and growled. Then he sat down and obeyed.

4. 

   “Is this table for my mate Bill?” asked the stranger one frosty January morning. He was pale as candle wax, with two fingers missing from his left hand. When the captain stamped in, his face went gray. “Black Dog!” he gasped. Soon chairs were crashing, and the stranger was fleeing down the road. Then came a heavy thud. The captain had collapsed.