Treasure Island

The island looks different in the light of the following morning. “Gray-colored woods” (119) cover most of the island, and “hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of naked rock” (119). Spyglass is the tallest of these hills and “the strangest in configuration, running up sheer from almost every side and then suddenly cut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on” (119). Jim says, “from the first look onward, I hated the very thought of Treasure Island” (120). The men complain and grumble over the morning’s work of manning the boats. They anchor the ship “about a third of a mile from each shore, the mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on the other” (121).

The air is very still, and a smell of rot hangs over the anchorage. Based on the men’s “threatening” (122) behavior, Jim believes that the mutiny will happen soon, though John Silver smiles and sings as he works. Because of the tensions among the crew, the captain declares that the men may go ashore for the afternoon. Silver and his crew appear to “have thought they would break their shins over treasure as soon as they landed” (124).