Treasure Island, Chapter 20 summary

What happens

1. Silver approaches with a companion carrying a white flag, while Captain Smollett orders lookouts into position and tells the others to load their muskets.
2. Silver crosses the stockade and struggles uphill, while Jim abandons his lookout post to watch the meeting.
3. Silver describes a nighttime attack on his men, and Jim suspects Ben Gunn is responsible.
4. Silver demands the chart and offers either safe passage or shared supplies and a promise to seek rescue.
5. Smollett rejects the offer, demands surrender for trial in England, and declares that the pirates cannot sail, fight, or find the treasure.
6. Denied help getting up, Silver leaves angrily and threatens to destroy the blockhouse within an hour.

In this chapter

What to notice

Silver makes violence the alternative to accepting his bargain. His words expose the threat beneath his polite approach.

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