On Parole

Part 1 of 8

I was wakened--indeed, we were all wakened, for I could see even the sentinel shake himself together from where he had fallen against the door-post--by a clear, hearty voice hailing us from the margin of the wood: "Block house, ahoy!" it cried. "Here's the doctor." And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear the sound, yet my gladness was not without admixture. I remembered with confusion my insubordinate and stealthy conduct, and when I saw where it had brought me--among what companions and surrounded by what dangers--I felt ashamed to look him in the face. He must have risen in the dark, for the day had hardly come; and when I ran to a loophole and looked out, I saw him standing, like Silver once before, up to the mid-leg in creeping vapour. "You, doctor! Top o' the morning to you, sir!" cried Silver, broad awake and beaming with good nature in a moment. "Bright and early, to be sure; and it's the early bird, as the saying goes, that gets the rations. George, shake up your timbers, son, and help Dr. Livesey over the ship's side. All a-doin' well, your patients was--all well and merry." So he pattered on, standing on the hilltop with his crutch under his elbow and one hand upon the side of the log-house--quite the old John in voice, manner, and expression. "We've quite a surprise for you too, sir," he continued. "We've a little stranger here--he! he! A noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fit and taut as a fiddle; slep' like a supercargo, he did, right alongside of John--stem to stem we was, all night."

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