Treasure Island V Summary

Summary

Jim, crouched on the bank behind a broom-bush, watches a band of seven or eight men approach the Admiral Benbow at night, led by the blind beggar Pew carrying a lantern. Pew demands entry, and the men storm the inn, searching fiercely through rooms and up the stairs for the captain’s treasure. They find Bill dead, and in the scramble they accuse the inn’s people—especially Jim and his mother—of having hidden the booty. Pew rouses and berates his companions for their slowness and cowardice, strikes out with his stick, and incites a quarrel among the thieves.

While the quarrel distracts them, a warning whistle is heard from the hillside and then the tramp of horses and a pistol-shot from the direction of the hamlet. The buccaneers panic and scatter in all directions, leaving the blind Pew alone, still calling for comrades. Riders—led by Supervisor (Mr.) Dance and including a lad from the hamlet—arrive at full gallop; Pew stumbles, is trampled by a horse, and dies. Jim and his mother are revived and safe, though their inn is wrecked and the captain’s money-bag is gone. Mr. Dance and his men attempt to pursue; they reach the cove only to find the lugger already putting to sea under fire, so the raiders escape. Mr. Dance offers to take Jim and the treasure Jim carries to Dr. Livesey and the squire; Jim mounts behind one of the riders and they set off for Dr. Livesey’s house.

Key events

1. Jim hides and watches Pew lead a band to assault the Admiral Benbow
2. Buccaneers search the inn, discover Bill dead, and accuse the inn's people
3. Pew lashes out in anger, provoking a quarrel among the raiders
4. A warning whistle and gunshot signal approaching men on horseback
5. The buccaneers flee; Pew is left behind, runs into riders' path and is trampled
6. Mr. Dance arrives, finds the wrecked inn, and rides with Jim toward Dr. Livesey

V in pictures

Analysis

This chapter heightens tension and shifts the action from a claustrophobic interior search to a sudden, chaotic rout. It confirms Pew’s role as a vehement, dangerous antagonist whose blindness is twisted into a bitter source of rage and authority; his violent tirades and striking with the stick reveal both his leadership and the fragility of that leadership among fearful men. The quarrel he provokes serves as a turning point: internal discord and an external alarm combine to undo the raid, showing how disunity and chance rescue the innocents. The arrival of Mr. Dance and the revenue men introduces official authority and a counterforce to the buccaneers, expanding the novel’s conflict from local menace to a broader pursuit. Narrative technique remains in Jim’s first-person perspective, concentrating suspense through limited knowledge and immediate sensory detail; the moonlit imagery and sounds (the whistle, galloping horses, a pistol report) function as signals that both foreshadow and precipitate the raid’s collapse. Symbolically, Pew’s death under the horse’s hooves is final and ironic: the blindman who rails about lost sight meets a sudden, violent end brought by movement and sighted force. Structurally, the chapter clears the immediate threat while leaving larger questions open—who escaped with the money and where the buccaneers will next appear—propelling Jim and the reader toward Dr. Livesey and the next phase of the story.

Important quotes

“Down with the door!”

Blind PewPew commands his crew to force entry to the Admiral Benbow, initiating the night raid.

“Oh, shiver my soul," he cried, "if I had eyes!”

Blind PewPew rages at his fellows for their cowardice and laments his blindness while urging them to search harder.

“Pew was dead, stone dead.”

NarratorJim reports the sudden end of Pew, trampled beneath a horse when riders arrive, which ends the immediate threat.

Characters in V

• Blind Pew
• Bill
• Dirk
• Johnny
• Black Dog
• Mr. Dance
• Jim Hawkins
• Dr. Livesey
• my mother