dripping seaweed, and on the deck of it shore bushes had taken root and
now flourished thick with flowers. It was a sad sight, but it showed us
that the anchorage was calm.
Now, said Hands, look there; there s a pet bit for to beach a ship
in. Fine flat sand, never a cat s paw, trees all around of it, and
flowers a-blowing like a garding on that old ship.
And once beached, I inquired, how shall we get her off again?
Why, so, he replied: you take a line ashore there on the other side
at low water, take a turn about one of them big pines; bring it back,
take a turn around the capstan, and lie to for the tide. Come high
water, all hands take a pull upon the line, and off she comes as sweet
as natur . And now, boy, you stand by. We re near the bit now, and she s
too much way on her. Starboard a little--so--steady--starboard--larboard
a little--steady--steady!
So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly obeyed, till, all of a
sudden, he cried, Now, my hearty, luff! And I put the helm hard up,
and the HISPANIOLA swung round rapidly and ran stem on for the low,
wooded shore.
The excitement of these last manoeuvres had somewhat interfered with the
watch I had kept hitherto, sharply enough, upon the coxswain. Even then
I was still so much interested, waiting for the ship to touch, that I
had quite forgot the peril that hung over my head and stood craning over
the starboard bulwarks and watching the ripples spreading wide before
the bows. I might have fallen without a struggle for my life had not a
sudden disquietude seized upon me and made me turn my head. Perhaps I
had heard a creak or seen his shadow moving with the tail of my eye;
perhaps it was an instinct like a cat s; but, sure enough, when I looked
round, there was Hands, already half-way towards me, with the dirk in
his right hand.
We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met, but while mine
was the shrill cry of terror, his was a roar of fury like a charging
bully s. At the same instant, he threw himself forward and I leapt
sideways towards the bows. As I did so, I let go of the tiller, which
sprang sharp to leeward, and I think this saved my life, for it struck
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