Chapter 14: The First Blow
Having left the pirates behind, Jim now has the freedom to appreciate his isolation in these unfamiliar surroundings, describing the sandy brush and twisty trees in great detail for the benefit of any future filmmakers doing a movie adaptation.
However, this peace doesn’t last very long, as he soon begins to hear a pair of voices arguing somewhere behind him. He figures that he’s already made the dumbass decision to come out here, so he might as well make himself useful and do a little spying.
As he sneaks up on the voices, Jim ducks under the brush as cover, somehow not making a ton of noise from rustling leaves in the process. Finally, he observes Silver pleading his case to a sailor named Tom, seemingly trying to convince him of something—to join him in the impending mutiny, it’s safe to assume—but Tom isn’t having it.
Suddenly, a scream echoes across the island. Tom is startled, but Silver is not; and when Tom asks what the sound was, Silver shrugs and says, guess that was probably our pal Alan then. Well, if that was the sound of Alan getting got (which seems likely), then Tom absolutely doesn’t want any part of it, and he turns to leave. As he does, Silver takes up his crutch and javelin-throws it at Tom with such velocity that Jim is sure the impact instantly broke the man’s back.
Personally, I’m not convinced that an average one-legged man could yeet a crutch so hard that it’d snap a spine, but I do at least see an opportunity here to make the Olympic Games more educational.
Whether Tom’s back is actually broken or not doesn’t end up mattering all that much in the end, because Silver takes the opportunity to shiv the man twice in the ribs, killing him on the spot (not descibed: Silver hopping over to him on one leg). Jim, who wasn’t exactly prepared to witness his first cold-blooded murder today, only comes to his senses when Silver blows a whistle to signal the others. Afraid for his life once again now that the pirates are clearly purging anybody who isn’t on their side, he hoofs it away once more, heading even deeper into the island to get away.