Treasure Island: The Black Spot

One January morning a pale, thin stranger with two fingers missing from his left hand came to the Admiral Benbow and asked for his “mate Bill.”He was Black Dog, an old shipmate of the captain’s, and soon the two men were fighting with cutlasses, until Black Dog ran off down the road.The shock made the captain fall to the floor, and Dr. Livesey warned him that one more glass of rum might kill him.

From his bed, the captain told Jim the truth: he had sailed with the famous pirate Captain Flint, and Flint’s old crew wanted what was in his sea chest.“If they tip me the black spot,” he said, “you ride to Dr. Livesey and tell him to bring the law.”That same week Jim’s father died, and Jim was too full of sorrow to think much about pirates.

Then, one foggy afternoon, a blind man came tapping along the road with a stick, a hood pulled down over his face.He asked Jim for his hand, and then gripped it like iron and made him lead the way to the captain.There the blind man pressed something into the captain’s palm and was gone, tapping away up the road as quickly as he had come.

It was a small round piece of paper, blackened on one side: the black spot.On the other side were the words: “You have till ten tonight.”“Ten o’clock!” cried the captain. “Six hours. We’ll beat them yet,” and he jumped to his feet.

But even as he stood, he put his hand to his throat, swayed for a moment, and fell face down on the floor.Jim ran to him, calling for his mother, but it was too late: the shock and the years of rum had killed him.Jim burst into tears, and now he knew that the pirates would come to the inn that very night.