1>. The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow[1]
I remember him. He came to the inn door, a tall, strong, heavy man. When my father appeared, that man called roughly for a glass of rum.
“I’ll stay here a bit,” said he, “I’m a plain man; rum and bacon and eggs is what I want. You may call me captain.” He threw down three or four gold pieces.
He seemed like a skipper. He was a very silent man. All day he hung round the cove or upon the cliffs with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a corner and drank rum and water. Mostly he did not speak. Every day when he came back from his walk, he asked if any seamen went by along the road. He took me aside one day and promised me a silver fourpenny [2] every month if I only ‘keep my eye open [3] for a seaman with one leg’ and let him know the moment he appeared.
How that personage haunted my dreams! On stormy nights I saw him in a thousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions.
Sometimes the captain was sitting and singing his wicked, old, wild sea-songs. His stories frightened people worst of all. Dreadful stories about storms at sea, and wild places. But I really believe his presence did us good [4]. There were young men who admired him, calling him a ‘true sea-dog’.
He was staying week after week but didn’t pay us any more. The great sea-chest was always closed.
He was angry only once. That was when Dr. Livesey [5] came one afternoon to see my father when he was ill. The captain was sitting, very drunk, with his arms on the table. Suddenly he began to sing his eternal song:
“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest —
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest —
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
[6]”
The doctor was talking to the gardener. In the meantime, the captain flapped his hand upon the table before him and shouted, “Silence, there, between decks! [7]”
“Were you addressing me, sir?” asked the doctor. When the captain said him ‘yes’, the doctor continued, “I have only one thing to say to you, sir, that if you keep on drinking [8] rum, you’ll die.”
The captain’s fury was awful. He sprang to his feet, drew and opened a sailor’s knife.
The doctor didn’t move. He spoke to him, “If you do not put that knife in your pocket, I promise, upon my honour [9], you’ll hang [10].”
The captain put up his weapon, and went back to his seat, like a beaten dog.
“Remember, sir,” continued the doctor, “I’m not a doctor only; I’m a magistrate.”
Soon after, Dr. Livesey rode away, but the captain was silent that evening and for many evenings after.
2. Black Dog Appears and Disappears
It was one January morning, very early. The captain rose earlier than usual and went to the beach, with a brass telescope under his arm.
My mother was upstairs with father and I was laying the breakfast-table when the door opened and a man came in. He was a pale thin man, wanting two fingers of the left hand [11].
“Come here, son,” says he. “Come nearer here. Is this here table for my friend Bill?” he asked.
I told him I did not know his friend Bill, and this was for a person who stayed in our house whom we called the captain.
“Well,” said he, “it’s my friend Bill. Let’s get behind the door, and we’ll give Bill a little surprise.”
So the stranger put me behind him in the corner so that we were both hidden by the open door. We began to wait for the captain. At last he arrived and marched across the room to where his breakfast awaited him.
“Bill,” said the stranger.
The captain turned round. He had the look of a man who saw a ghost, or something worse.
“Come, Bill, you know me; you know an old friend,” said the stranger.
“Black Dog!” said the captain.
“And who else! Black Dog has come to see his old friend Billy, at the Admiral Benbow Inn. We’ll sit down, and talk, like old friends.”
When I returned with the rum, they were already sitting. Black Dog asked me to go out and leave the door open. I left them together and returned to the bar.
For a long time I certainly did my best to listen [12], but I could hear nothing. Then I heard the sound of knives and a cry of pain. The next instant I saw Black Dog, he was injured. He was running very fast. The captain ran after him and threw his knife at Black Dog. Then Black Dog disappeared.
“Jim,” says the captain, “rum”. “Rum,” he repeated. “I must get away from here. Rum! Rum!”
I ran out. When I came back, the captain was lying on the floor. He was breathing very loudly, his eyes were closed, his face was pale.
We had no idea what to do to help the captain. Suddenly the door opened and Dr. Livesey came in, on his visit to my father.
“Oh, doctor,” we cried, “what shall we do? Where is he wounded?”
“Wounded?” said the doctor. “No more wounded than you or I. He is drunk.”
We laid the captain on his bed.
“Jim,” said the captain next morning, “did that doctor say how long to lie here in this old bed?”
“A week at least,” said I.
