Chapter 28: In the Enemy’s Camp
A torch is lit, and Jim finds that the cabin is occupied by six men: Long John Silver and his five remaining pirates. He sees no sign of Livesey, Trelawney, Smollett, or anyone else—prisoner or otherwise—and to make matters worse, all of their rations are still here. He fears the worst has happened to them, and begins to feel very alone and very helpless.
Silver doesn’t immediately treat Jim with any hostility; indeed, he’s mostly just confused what the hell the kid is doing wandering into the wolf’s den in the middle of the night. Being a proper British lad, Jim displays perfect stoicism in the face of mortal peril and doesn’t answer Silver’s questions. Still, Silver seems to have a soft spot for the boy, admitting that he imagined someday bringing Jim onto his crew. Circumstances at the moment being what they are, he urges Jim to take him up on this offer… adding that in the unlikely event of Jim being let go, his truancy would be disciplined harshly by the duty-bound Smollett anyway. He even claims that he’s spoken with Doctor Livesey recently (!!!), who declared himself to be fully done with Jim and his antics. In other words, Jim won’t be welcomed back by his friends—hell, he might not make it out of the cabin at all—so he might as well join Silver.
But now knowing that his friends are still alive, Jim says that he can’t possibly make such a choice without understanding what the heck happened while he was gone. Silver accepts this (for some reason) and explains to Jim that Livesey had come to the beach that morning looking to strike a bargain with the pirates, who weren’t fully aware of the sorry state they were in—Silver admits they were so drunk the previous evening that they hadn’t even noticed the Hispaniola was gone. In the trade, the pirates got the cabin and all of the supplies, while Livesey and the rest… I guess got nothing and fucked off somewhere. No, I have no explanation for this. It absolutely does sound like Livesey came in looking to barter and then gave up literally everything he had for jack diddly.
Silver—who, three minutes ago, had told Jim to “take all the time you need to think on this decision, I won’t rush you” now says time is up and presses his captive for an answer. Again, since Jim is a proper British lad, he bravely rejects tossing in with the pirates and, in fact, takes this opportunity to boast that he’s the one who’s been throwing wrenches into all of Silver’s plans; that he’s the one who overheard their schemes from the apple-barrel, and he’s the one who cut the Hispaniola’s anchor and set the ship out to sea and incapacitated its crew. He tells Silver to do what he will to him, but should he be left alive, he promises to testify in Silver’s favor when Long John is inevitably put on trial for piracy.
This incenses the other pirates, and one of them makes a move to gut Jim with a knife. Fortunately, Silver is thrilled and delighted by Jim’s defiance and his bull-headed commandeering of the Hispaniola, and his threats cow his subordinate into backing down. This isn’t entirely without consequence; although Jim is momentarily spared, murmurs of discontent begin to arise from the crew. None of them are daring enough to confront Silver directly, however, so instead they meekly exercise their pirate’s right to go outside and have a private conversation among themselves.
It’s just Silver and Jim left in the cabin while the others convene, and Silver lays it out plainly: both of them are in trouble here. The only thing preventing Jim from being torn to pieces by the pirates is Silver’s control over them; however, that control is growing increasingly tenuous, especially now that their only means of escape was lost under his command. He reckons his best odds now—as miserable as those odds are—are giving himself up to Squire Trelawney and hoping the courts show him leniency, and he’ll rely on Jim’s promise for any chance at not being sentenced to the gallows. So, in this bizarre, mixed-up way, the two of them need one another.
Silver, who can’t quite hide his wretched resignation from Jim, helps himself to a drink of cognac. “Anyway,” he says, “I don’t suppose you happen to know why Livesey also gave me the treasure map?”