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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why do the mutineers leave their wounded comrade crawling on the deck while the doctor's party, in a sinking boat, treats Gray "quite as if nothing had happened"?
The tension Both crews are under fire and short of time. The five on the Hispaniola never look at the man the squire has shot, though he is alive and trying to crawl away; the shot matters more than the shipmate. In the jolly-boat, the captain refuses to row harder rather than swamp the men, and everyone has "quietly made up our minds" to treat a former mutineer as one of themselves. The chapter sets two ways of belonging to a crew side by side and asks what holds each together.
Watch how the party in the overloaded boat handles the tide, the gun and the sinking, and how they treat Gray.
The jolly-boat makes its fifth trip so overloaded that every ripple is a danger, and the ebb sweeps it off course. The captain steers a slow course upstream, and Gray advises from the bow. The captain points out that the men left on the ship are uncovering the gun. Trelawney fires and brings down a man, the boat sinks by the stern in three feet of water, and the party wades ashore with only two guns left out of five.
Start with the captain's answer when the doctor asks him to pull harder. Ask what he is weighing.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the overloaded boat, the current, the gun, the shot, the sinking and the wade ashore.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes three sentences in the same pattern: one about a danger that has passed, one about something that once hurt now helping, and one short sentence naming the danger that remains.
Debate Take sides: was the captain right to keep the oars gentle? Each side uses at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the party carries ashore and what it leaves behind.
Easier Read the captain's talk with the doctor about the current aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 and 5 only.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking answer with two pieces of evidence.
Harder Ask the student to compare how the captain speaks to the doctor and to the squire, and add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. The doctor asks the captain to pull harder, and he answers, “Not without swamping the boat.” Is that good judgment, or too much caution?Character
What it asks It asks the student to weigh a captain's refusal to row harder, with the risk of swamping on one side and the risk of missing the landing on the other.
Good judgment: pulling harder would swamp an overloaded boat, and his slower course will ease the current.
Not without swamping the boat, said he.
whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then we can dodge back along the shore
Too much caution: the boat is losing ground, and the captain drops his own rule when the gig comes out.
Well never get ashore at this rate, said I.
We mustnt mind if we swamp her now.
A strong answer The captain's refusal has a reason: “Not without swamping the boat,” and he explains that “the current must slacken” if they keep upstream. In an overloaded boat that is good judgment. But the doctor says “We'll never get ashore at this rate,” and later the captain himself says “We mustn't mind if we swamp her now.” So the same man weighs the same danger differently when the gig comes out. A strong answer says what changed, and whether caution here is judgment or only a first guess.
2. Gray speaks up twice: once about the current, once about Israel Hands. What does each remark give the party?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks why tired, frightened men would settle without a word on how to treat Gray, and what they get from it.
It is welcome: they mean to make him one of the party.
Thank you, my man, said I, quite as if nothing had happened
we had all quietly made up our minds to treat him like one of ourselves
It is practical: he is already useful, and they need what he knows.
you can ease her off a bit
Israel was Flints gunner, said Gray hoarsely.
A strong answer The doctor answers Gray's advice with “Thank you, my man,” “quite as if nothing had happened,” and says they “had all quietly made up our minds” to treat him like one of themselves. That can be read as welcome, a way of making him one of the party. It can also be read as sense, since Gray is already useful: he says the current is easing and that “Israel was Flint's gunner.” The chapter does not say what each man thinks of Gray, so a strong answer weighs both and says what a quiet agreement can do that a speech cannot.
3. The captain jokes, “Carpet bowls! My lady's maid couldn't miss.” Why might he joke while the gun is turned on them?Tone
What it asks It asks what a joke does when the danger is real, and who it is for.
He is steadying the others: the joke makes the danger something to be handled.
Theyll have a hot run, sir, returned the captain. Jack ashore, you know.
Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and well hold water.
He is being blunt: the joke tells them how easy a target the boat is.
Its not them I mind; its the round-shot.
My ladys maid couldnt miss.
A strong answer The captain's joke can be read as comfort: he calls the gig crew “Jack ashore,” says they will “have a hot run,” and goes straight on to an order, “Tell us, squire, when you see the match, and we'll hold water.” It can also be read as plain warning: “It's not them I mind; it's the round-shot,” and “My lady's maid couldn't miss” says how easy a target the boat is. The chapter does not say which he meant, so a strong answer weighs both and says what a joke can do in a frightened boat that a plain order cannot.
4. The doctor says the man the squire shot “was not dead.” Why might he tell us that?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why a narrator mentions that a hurt man is still alive, and what the detail leaves the reader thinking.
It shows how fixed the men at the gun are on one purpose.
it was plain that they meant nothing should delay their shot
They had never so much as looked at their fallen comrade
It shows what the squire's shot cost, so the reader does not forget the party's own part.
it was one of the other four who fell
I could see him trying to crawl away
A strong answer The doctor tells us the man “was not dead” and that he could see him “trying to crawl away,” while the men at the gun “had never so much as looked at their fallen comrade.” That can show how fixed they are on their one purpose, since they meant “nothing should delay their shot.” It can also show what the squire's shot cost, so the reader does not forget the honest party's own part. The chapter does not explain why the men at the gun act as they do, so a strong answer says what the detail makes the reader feel, and stops where the evidence stops.
5. The party ends the chapter wading ashore without the boat and “a good half of all our powder and provisions.” Is that a loss, or a narrow escape?Plot structure
What it asks It asks the student to weigh what the party lost in the sinking against what it kept.
A loss: the stores and most of the guns are gone just when the stockade needs them.
But there were all our stores at the bottom, and to make things worse, only two guns out of five remained in a state for service.
leaving behind us the poor jolly-boat and a good half of all our powder and provisions
A narrow escape: nobody is hurt, and they can reach the shore on foot.
So far there was no great harm. No lives were lost, and we could wade ashore in safety.
Mine I had snatched from my knees and held over my head, by a sort of instinct.
A strong answer The doctor counts both: “no lives were lost” and they “could wade ashore in safety,” but “all our stores” are “at the bottom” and “only two guns out of five” remain. They also hear “voices already drawing near” in the woods. So the sinking is a narrow escape for the men and a real loss for the stockade. A strong answer says which matters more for what the party must do next, and does not say how the stockade will fare.
1. The doctor thinks the captain means a bombardment of the fort, but he means the ship's gun. Using two pieces of evidence, what does the doctor's mistake show?
What it asks It asks what a wrong guess shows about where the party's attention was, and how sound the doctor's reasoning was.
Their attention was ahead on the landing, so they forgot the ship behind.
for I made sure he was thinking of a bombardment of the fort
We had entirely forgotten the long nine
His reasoning was sound; only the target was wrong.
They could never get the gun ashore, and if they did, they could never haul it through the woods.
Look astern, doctor, replied the captain.
A strong answer The doctor guesses wrong, but not carelessly: he reasons that “they could never get the gun ashore, and if they did, they could never haul it through the woods,” which would be true of the fort. The mistake is about where he was looking. The captain says “Look astern,” and the doctor admits “We had entirely forgotten the long nine.” A strong answer gives two pieces of evidence and says whether the mistake was in the reasoning or in the attention.
2. The doctor sees the gun, one gig and, he guesses, a party on shore against them. Using two pieces of evidence, how well do the pirates work together?
What it asks It asks the student to weigh several threats that come at once and to say how much order the doctor can see in them.
Well: they cover several fronts at once.
They had the gun, by this time, slewed round upon the swivel
the crew of the other most likely going round by shore to cut us off
Poorly: they are rushed, and the sea works against them.
tumbling into their places in the boats
The ebb-tide, which had so cruelly delayed us, was now making reparation and delaying our assailants.
A strong answer The pirates work on several fronts: they have the gun “slewed round upon the swivel,” they man one gig, and, the doctor guesses, the other crew is “going round by shore to cut us off.” That looks like coordination. But they are “tumbling into their places in the boats” in a hurry, and “the ebb-tide” is now “delaying our assailants.” The chapter gives only what the doctor sees from a boat that is about to sink, so a strong answer says how far the evidence goes.
3. The doctor calls Hunter “steady” but Joyce “a doubtful case.” Using two pieces of evidence, how far should we trust his judgment of them?
What it asks It asks the student to weigh a quick judgment of two men that the doctor has no way to check from the boat.
Trust it: it comes from what he knows of the two men.
Hunter was steady, that we knew
a pleasant, polite man for a valet and to brush ones clothes
Be careful: he is guessing about a fight he cannot see, and he judges Joyce by his job.
whether, if Hunter and Joyce were attacked by half a dozen, they would have the sense and conduct to stand firm
not entirely fitted for a man of war
A strong answer The doctor speaks from what he knows: “Hunter was steady, that we knew,” and he describes Joyce as “a pleasant, polite man for a valet.” But the worry is about a fight he cannot see, whether the two “would have the sense and conduct to stand firm,” and he judges Joyce by his usual work, “not entirely fitted for a man of war.” A strong answer says how much the doctor can know from a sinking boat, and where his judgment becomes a guess.