Going to sea

Dear Livesey,

The ship is bought and ready for sea. You've never seen a better ship — a child can sail her. Her name is the Hispaniola.

I got her through my old friend, Blandly, who worked hard to find her for me. In fact, so did everyone here in Bristol as soon as they heard where we wanted to go — for treasure, 1 mean.

'Redruth,' I said, stopping for a moment, 'Dr. Livesey won't like that. The squire has been talking after all.'

Blandly himself found the Hispaniola. There are some men in Bristol who say that the Hispaniola was actually his ship and that he sold her to me at a very high price. But I don't believe them.

Then, I had trouble with the crew. I wanted to have twenty men in case we met pirates or enemy ships. I tried my best but could only find six.

And this time I was lucky again — I found the very man that I needed, an old sailor, who keeps an inn and who knows all the seamen in Bristol. Long John Silver is his name. He only has one leg and wants to get work as a ship's cook in order to go to sea again.

Well, Sir, I thought that I had found only a cook, but it turned out that I had actually found a crew. In just a few days Silver had helped me to gather a company of real sea dogs.

Long John even sent two men away out of the six I had already taken on.

I'm in wonderful health and spirits, eating like a bull, sleeping like a log. But I shall not enjoy a moment until the Hispaniola goes to sea. So now, Livesey, there's no time to lose. Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother and then come quickly to Bristol.

John Trelawney.

PS: Blandly has found us an excellent man to be captain. His name is Smollett. Long John Silver has brought a very useful man for first officer; a man named Arrow.

You can imagine the excitement into which that letter put me. The next morning Redruth and I went on foot to the Admiral Benbow Inn to My goodbye to my mother.

I found her in good health and spirits. The squire had given her money to repair everything. All the rooms and the sign had been already repaired and Mr. Trelawney had also added some furniture. He had found f boy to help her while I was away. When I saw him, I realized for the first time that I was really going away. Up to that moment I had thought if the adventures ahead of me, not at all of the home that I was leaving. And I cried for the first time.

The evening passed and the next day, after dinner, Redruth and I were on the road again. I said goodbye to my mother and to the cove where I had lived all my life and to the dear old Admiral Benbow. One of my last thoughts was of the captain, who had so often walked along the beach with his old telescope. The next moment my home was out of sight.

That night I slept like a log in the carriage that had picked us up on our way to Bristol. When I opened my eyes later, I found that we had come to a large building in a city street.

'Where are we?' I asked.

'In Bristol,' said Tom. 'Get down.'

We had to walk to the dock and, though I had lived by the sea all my life, it seemed as if I had never been near the sea until that moment. The Smell of tar and salt was something new. I was going to sea myself, to sea ID a ship, with real seamen, to look for buried treasure!

While I was still dreaming, we suddenly arrived at a large inn and met §quire Trelawney, dressed like a sea-officer, coming out with a smile on his face.

'You're here!' he cried. 'And the doctor came last night from London. Bravo! The ship's company is complete!'

'Oh, Sir,' I cried, 'when do we sail?'

'Sail?' he said. 'We sail tomorrow!'

from Robert Lewis Stevenson

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