Derelict
of the kind appears in Treasure Island.” Probably Stevenson thought such an explanation unnecessary in view of his having capitalized the words. In discussing the story he may have mentioned the fact that the Dead Man’s Chest was one of the Virgins, and this has simply slipped from Mr. Osbourne’s memory—he was only thirteen years old when Treasure Island was written. It was “purely owing to Lloyd,” by the way, who had complained that R. L. S. never wrote anything exciting, that Treasure Island was begun; it was his enthusiasm for it which helped carry it to a triumphant finish; and to him, very fittingly, the book is dedicated.
The Manchester Guardian, in a solemn article, recently asserted that on the Chilean coast there is a little church obviously constructed of timber taken from a ship, and that round the edge of its bell, which was presumably once a ship’s bell, run the words, “Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest.” The priest in charge of the church assured an inquirer, whom the Guardian does not name, that the building dated from early in the eighteenth century. “Considering that it is not to be found in the printed page,” adds the Guardian gravely, “it is an interesting sidelight on the strange nooks and corners from which Stevenson collected the material for his books,” the inference being that at some period of his career Stevenson visited
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