# ■ 1 The old seaman Squire

Squire Trelawney, Dr Livesey, and the others have asked me to write down all I know about Treasure Island.My name is Jim Hawkins, and I was in the story right from the start, back in 17-.I was only a boy then, and it all began at the time my father owned the Admiral Benbow inn, at Black Hill Cove.I remember so clearly the day when the old seaman came to stay-I can almost see him in front of me as I write.

He arrived with his sea-chest, a tall, strong man with a cut across one cheek. He sang that old sea sang as he walked up to the inn door：

Fifeen men on the dead man's chest-

Yo-ho－ho，and a bottle of rum！

The old seaman called for a glass of rum，and stood outside，drinking and looking around. Our inn was on me cliffs above Black Hill Cove, and was a wild,lonely place. But the seaman seemed to like it.

‘Do many people come here？’ he asked.

‘No,’my father told him.

‘Then it's the place for me,’said the seaman.‘I'll stay here for a bit. You can call me Captain.’He threw down three or four gold coins.‘Tell me when I've spent all that.’

He was a silent man. All day he walked around the cove, or up on the cliffs ;all evening he sat in a corner of the room, and drank rum and water.He only spoke to our other customers when he was drunk. Then he told them terrible stories of his wild and criminal life at sea. Our customers were mostly quiet,farming people; the captain frightened them and they soon learned to leave him alone.

Every day, he asked if any seamen had gone along the road. At first we thought he wanted friends of his own kind, but then we began to understand that there was a different reason.He told me to watch for a seaman with one leg and to let him know the moment when a man like that appeared. He promised to give me a silver coin every month for doing this.I dreamed about this one－legged seaman for many nights afterwards.

The captain stayed week after week, month after month. His gold coins were soon used up, but my father was a sick man and afraid to ask for more.

Dr Livesey came late one afternoon. After he had seen my father,he had dinner with my mother, then stayed to smoke his pipe.I noticed the difference between the doctor with his white hair and pleasant way of speaking, and that dirty, heavy, red－faced seaman, drunk with rum.

The captain began to sing his song:

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-

Yo－ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Drink and the devil had killed off the rest-

Yo－ho－ho and a bottle of, rum!

Dr Livesey did not like the song.He looked up angrily before he went on talking to old Taylor, the gardener. Others in the room took no notice of the song. The captain beat the table with his hand for silence. The voices in the room died away, all except Dr Livesey's．The doctor continued to speak.

The captain swore softly, then said,‘ Silence!’

‘Are you speaking to me,sir?’asked the doctor.

‘Yes,’the captain told him, swearing again.

‘I have only one thing to say to you, sir,’ replied the doctor.‘If you keep on drinking rum,the world will soon be free of a dirty scoundrel!’

The captain jumped to his feet with a knife in his hand,but the doctor never moved.He spoke to the captain in a calm and clear voice so that others in the room could hear:

‘If you don't put that knife away, I promise you shall die a criminal's death under the law.’

Then followed a battle of looks between them, but the cap－tain soon put away his weapon and sat down like a beaten dog. Soon after Dr Livesey rode away on his horse. The captain was silent for the rest of the evening, and for many evenings after－wards.

■ 1 老海員

鄉紳屈利勞尼、李甫西大夫和其他幾位紳士讓我把金銀島的故事從頭至尾寫下來。我的名字叫吉姆·霍金斯，我經歷了尋寶的全過程，故事始於公元一千七百多年。那時我還是個孩子，我父親在布萊克希爾灣開了一家名叫“本葆將軍”的客店。我清楚地記得那天客店來了一位老海員——他現在就浮現在我眼前。

他是個高個子，而且很健壯，手裡提著一個海員手提箱，臉上有一道傷疤。他來到客店時唱著那支水手老調：

十五個人趴著死人箱——

唷呵呵，快來嘗一瓶朗姆酒！

老海員要了一杯朗姆酒，站在客店外面，一邊喝酒，一邊向四周觀望。我們的客店位於布萊克希爾灣的懸崖上，一個荒野的地方。但那個海員好像對這裡很感興趣。

“有很多人來這裡嗎？”他問。

“不，”我父親說。

“那麼這就是我要找的地方，”老海員說。“我要在這兒住上一段時間，你們叫我老船長好了。”他拿出三四個金幣。“錢花完了就告訴我。”

他是個沉默的人，整天在海灣走來走去，或是站在懸崖上；晚上則坐在屋子的一個角落，喝著攙水的朗姆酒。他只在喝醉時才和別的客人說話。那時他就給客人們講他在海上野蠻和罪惡生活的可怕經歷。我們的客人大都是生性安靜的農民；老船長的經歷令他們驚恐不安，後來他們就避免和他在一起了。

每天他都問有沒有水手從此路過。開始我們以為他是想念自己的朋友，後來我們才意識到還有別的原因。他告訴我要注意一個一條腿的水手，如果此人一出現，立刻向他報信。他許諾每月給我一個銀幣。那以後我經常夢到他說的那個一條腿的水手。

老船長住了一個星期又一個星期，一個月又一個月。他預付的那點錢早就花光了，但我多病的父親始終沒敢向他再要。

一天傍晚，李甫西大夫來了。他看過我父親之後，就和我母親一起吃飯，然後坐在一邊抽他的菸斗。我注意到：李甫西大夫舉止文雅得體，頭髮花白，和那位喝醉酒的海員形成鮮明對照，後者肥胖、骯髒、面紅耳赤。

老船長忽然又唱起那支水手老調：

十五個人趴著死人箱——

唷呵呵，快來嘗一瓶朗姆酒！

其餘的都成了酒和魔鬼的犧牲品——

唷呵呵，快來嘗一瓶朗姆酒！

李甫西大夫不喜歡這首歌。他抬起頭來生氣地看了老船長一眼，然後繼續和老花匠泰勒聊天。屋裡其他人都沒有注意老船長唱的歌，老船長使勁拍了一下桌子，讓大家安靜下來。屋裡頓時沒了聲音，只有李甫西大夫仍在說話。

老船長輕聲罵了一句，喊道：

“安靜，聽見沒有？”

“你在對我說話嗎，先生？”大夫問。

“對，”老船長說，又夾著一句咒罵。

“我只想對你講一句話，先生，”大夫說，“如果你還不戒酒，這世界上很快就會減少一個十足的混蛋！”

老船長跳起來，手裡拿著一把刀，但李甫西大夫紋絲未動。他用清晰、洪亮的聲音對老船長說話，以使屋裡的人都能聽清：

“如果你不把刀收起來，我擔保你會被送上絞架的。”

他們的目光對峙了一會兒，老船長終於收起了刀子，像一條鬥敗的狗一樣坐在那裡。過了一會兒，李甫西大夫騎馬走了。這天晚上，老船長沒再吭聲，以後好幾個晚上他也挺老實。