The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson for Boys and Girls

Back Forward Menu

[Illustration: The Treasure Island map]

As the story grew he read each new chapter aloud to the family in the
evening. He was writing it for one boy, but found he had more in his
audience. "My father," he says, "not only heard with delight the daily
chapter, but set himself actively to collaborate. When the time came for
Billy Bones' chest to be ransacked, he must have passed the better part
of a day preparing on the back of a legal envelope an inventory of its
contents, which I exactly followed, and the name of Flint's old ship,
the Walrus, was given at his particular request."

When the map was redrawn for the book it was embellished with "blowing
whales and sailing ships; and my father himself brought into service a
knack he had of various writing, and elaborately _forged_ the signature
of Captain Flint and the sailing directions of Billy Bones."

These daily readings were rare treats to those at Skerryvore, for