TREASURE ISLAND - Chapter 26: Israel Hands

Summary
The Hispaniola arrives at the northern end of the island. Unable to anchor the ship, Jim and
Israel wait for the tide to drop, in order for the boat to be safely beached. Israel orders Jim to
toss the the dead sailors (OBrien) body overboard, but Jim protests. After Hands suspiciously
asks Jim to fetch him some wine from the cabin, he follows this order, but sneaks back up to see
what Hands is up to. To his surprise, Jim sees Hands crawling across the deck and picking a
long blooded knife out of a coil of rope, hiding it in his jacket, and crawling back to where Jim
left him. As Jim comes back with the wine, Hands acts very weak. The tide is finally right and
they take the ship to the northern anchorage. While Jim is struggling to correctly place the boat,
he is distracted until he sees Israel moving towards him with a knife in his hands. Jim tries to
avoid the attack and releases the tiller, hitting Hands in the chest. Jim tries to shoot at him, but
his pistol had been fouled with water and would not fire. When the ship runs aground, it tips to
the side, causing both of them to fall over. Jim hops on his feet and climbs the rope to the
mizzenmast. Now seated on the masts crosstrees, he reloads both pistols. Hands slowly
struggles toward him, and as he offers to surrender, he throws the knife at Jim, pinning the flesh
of his shoulder to the mast. Jim, hurt and surprised, fires both pistols and drops them; Hands
falls dying into the water.

Glossary
DIRK: a straight dagger
In half a minute he had reached the port scuppers and picked, (...) rather a short dirk,
discoloured to the hilt with blood. (p.165)

A-BLOWING LIKE A GARDING: blooming like a garden.

Fine flat sand, never a cat's paw, trees all around of it, and flowers a-blowing like a garding
on that old ship. (p.167)

MY LONG HOME: the grave; a euphemism for death.

Cut me a quid, as'll likely be the last, lad, for I'm for my long home, and no mistake. (p.166)

STARBOARD, LARBOARD: to the right, to the left.

Starboard a little--so--steady--starboard--larboard a little--steady--steady! (p.167)

LUFF: to turn the bow of a ship toward the wind

Now, my hearty, luff! (p.168)
CROSS-TREES: two short bars across a ship's masthead to spread the rigging that supports the
mast. Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds, rattled up hand over hand, and did
not draw a breath till I was seated on the cross-trees. (p.170)

Theme analysis: Fatherhood

"Why?" I cried. "You were asking me just now about the dead. You've broken your trust; you've
lived in sin and lies and blood; there's a man you killed lying at your feet this moment, and you
ask me why! For God's mercy, Mr. Hands, that's why."

In this chapter, Jim Hawkins no longer has any potential father figures in his environment. This
drives him, unconsciously, to become his own father figure. Since the beginning, Jim is
surrounded by men who have helped him in his process to becoming a man. While on the boat
with Israel, Jim doesnt show any hesitation to say what hes thinking. This action can certainly
be a result of the effect that Dr. Livesey had on him when he told Billy Bones what was on his
mind, back in one of the first chapters.

Deception, Secrecy & Trust

"For thirty years," [Israel Hands] said, "I've sailed the seas and seen good and bad, better and
worse, fair weather and foul, provisions running out, knives going, and what not. Well, now I
tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men
don't bite; them's my views--amen, so be it."

In this chapter, we come to a conclusion that pirates can never trust one another and can never
relax. Israel Hands sums up pirate philosophy as: kill first to prevent yourself from being killed.
He has never seen anyone profit from goodness. This also goes to show Long John Silver's point
that you are who you associate with: Israel Hands has to live on edge like this because he's
surrounded by pirates. If you are a good man surrounded by good people, surely good can come
to you?