no time to dilly-dally in our work.dawdle; waste time
Treasure Island
Chapter 16
Robert Louis Stevenson · Trailblazers 4th–6th
Copywork
It is something to have been an old soldier, but more still to have been a doctor. There is no time to dilly-dally in our work. And so now I made up my mind instantly, and with no time lost returned to the shore and jumped on board the jolly-boat.
The doctor says a "soldier" is something but a doctor "more still", because "There is no time to dilly-dally in our work." What does he mean a doctor's training gives him here, and how does the short middle sentence change the pace of the three?
Discussion
Narration Tell what happens from the doctor's trip ashore with Hunter to the moment Gray joins the captain in the boat.
- The doctor takes over the telling from Jim. What does his way of telling it show us that Jim's did not? Author's choice
- At the cry of a dying man the doctor thinks “Jim Hawkins is gone” and goes straight back to the ship. Was that the right call? Moral reasoning
- The squire sits “as white as a sheet,” but on the second trip his “faintness” is gone. What do you think changed him? Character
- The captain tells the six that a signal means death, then calls Gray “a good man at bottom.” How would you read each speech aloud? Tone
- The doctor says, “Had they gone and told Silver, all might have turned out differently.” Why might he tell us that? Plot structure
Make a Connection Tell about a time you had to act quickly and found out afterward whether it was the right choice.
Vocabulary
- dilly-dally
- instantly
And so now I made up my mind instantly,
at once; without delay- helplessness
to complete our helplessness,
being unable to act or defend oneself- stench
the nasty stench of the place
a foul smell- loopholed
and loopholed for musketry on either side.
cut with narrow openings to shoot through- besiegers
too open to shelter the besiegers.
those attacking a fortified place- regiment
held the place against a regiment.
a large body of soldiers- invaluable
and my invaluable medicine chest.
too valuable to be measured- provision
set to provision the block house.
supply with food and stores- painter
He caught the painter and made it fast,
the rope that ties a boat by its bow
Critical thinking
- The doctor sizes up the stockade in a few lines. Using two pieces of evidence, what does he value most about it?
- The doctor says he had “half a mind” to destroy the mutineers' boats but did not. Using two pieces of evidence, was he wise to hold back?
- The captain says one of the six “came nigh-hand fainting” at the cry. Using two pieces of evidence, how united are the six mutineers?