CONTENTS

• Introduction• Chapter-1• Chapter-2• Chapter-3• Chapter-4• Chapter-5• Chapter-6• Chapter-7• Chapter-8• Chapter-9• Chapter-10

INTRODUCTION• At the beginning of the book, David (Davie) Balfour is a recently orphaned seventeen-year-old. His father has just

died, so it is up to him to seek his own fortune. A good friend of his, the Protestant Minister of Essendean, hands Davie a letter from his deceased father telling him to head to the house of Shaws. Davie doesn't know how his father is related to the house of Shaws, but he is excited at the idea of meeting a laird (a kind of Scottish nobleman, like a "lord"). He thinks maybe he'll be able to get a job in the Shaws household. So he walks to the seat of the house of Shaws, near Edinburgh, to ask for help.

When Davie arrives at the house, however, he is much disappointed. The owner is actually Davie's uncle, Ebenezer Balfour. Ebenezer is a miser and kind of a jerk. He even attempts to kill Davie on one occasion. Why is he so threatened by Davie? We're not going to find out for sure until around Chapter 29 of 30. Still, Davie is fairly sure that Ebenezer hates him because he is the rightful heir to the house of Shaws. At any rate, Davie manages to get the upper hand over Ebenezer, who promises to bring Davie to see his lawyer, Mr. Rankeillor, to get a full explanation of Ebenezer's relationship to Davie's father.

On their way to see Mr. Rankeillor, Ebenezer insists on stopping by a ship that he's made some investments in, which is anchored in the seaside town of Queensferry. The ship is called the Covenant and is captained by a Mr. Hoseason. Once Davie is aboard, Hoseason distracts him with a tour of the ship while Ebenezer hops in a rowboat and rows back to shore. Davie has been kidnapped! It turns out that Ebenezer has told Hoseason to sell Davie to a plantation in the Carolinas. Davie's in a real pickle.

The Covenant is still sailing around Scotland when Davie's luck changes. One foggy night, the Covenant accidentally runs into a small boat. There is only one survivor from the boat, a man named Alan Breck Stewart, who is on the run from the law. Alan is carrying a giant money belt, which is too tempting for Captain Hoseason to resist. Hoseason starts to plot with his first mate, Mr. Riach, to steal the gold and kill Alan. Davie overhears this plot and runs to Alan to warn him. Alan and Davie fortify one of the deck rooms, the round-house, and band together against the rest of the Covenant crew. They manage to hold their own, and finally Hoseason agrees to let Alan off in Appin, in the Scottish Highlands, which is Alan's home country. Alan is a Jacobite, meaning that he was part of a Highland uprising against the English throne in 1745. He's a wanted man, and he only feels safe at home in Appin.

Unfortunately, the western portion of the Scottish coast is extremely rocky. The Covenant runs up against a hidden reef and sinks. Davie is thrown from the ship by a wave and winds up washed ashore on the barren island of Earraid. (Here, we definitely suggest that you consider consulting a map.) Davie suffers from hunger and thirst and all-around sickness for a while before discovering that the island he's on is only an island at high tide. When the tide goes out, you can walk to the next island over, the island of Mull, which Davie does.

As Davie starts exploring Mull, he finds out that Alan has been leaving coded messages for him, instructing him on how to find him. Davie heads toward Alan's home of Appin and reaches the forest of Lettermore, where a group of men is making its way down the road. One of the men is Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure (whom Alan calls Red Fox). This man is one of the major enemies of both Alan's clan chief Ardshiel and of the Stewart clan more generally. And just when Davie meets him, Colin Roy is gunned down. Davie sees the murderer and tries to pursue him, only to find that his quick departure has made Davie a suspect in the murder.

In these dire straits, Davie bumps into Alan again. As a known rebel and deserter from the English army (he changed sides during the Battle of Prestonpans in 1754), Alan is also on the run – so they decide to try their luck together. They go on a tough trek through the dry, barren, often cold Scottish Highlands, avoiding capture by both English soldiers and by the Campbell clan. Davie fights off illness, fear, and frustration with Alan on a regular basis.

Finally, after much hardship, the two men reach the start of all of Davie's adventures, Queensferry. Alan wants to go from there to France (where he'll be safe from English soldiers), while Davie is eager to meet Mr. Rankeillor and establish his rights to the estate of the house of Shaws.

Rankeillor, the lawyer, does reassure Davie that he is the rightful heir to the Shaws estate. The trouble is that, in a fight over a woman, brothers Ebenezer and Alexander Balfour (Davie's father) signed an agreement that Ebenezer would get the estate and David would get a wife. This contract is not legally binding, says Rankeillor, but there would still need to be a lawsuit against Ebenezer for Davie to reclaim all of his rights. To avoid such a scandal, Rankeillor suggests blackmailing Ebenezer into giving Davie his money while allowing Ebenezer to continue living in the Shaws house.

The blackmail is achieved in this manner: Alan arrives at the Shaws house and poses as a man working with Captain Hoseason. He says that he has Davie in his care, and he's willing to kill Davie or to keep him a prisoner at Ebenezer's pleasure, as long as Alan gets some money out of it. By using this pose, Alan manages to extort a confession from Ebenezer that he sent Davie with Captain Hoseason to be sold to a plantation in the Carolinas. Once Ebenezer is tricked into admitting this, Mr. Rankeillor appears from a hiding place nearby and tells Ebenezer that, if Ebenezer doesn't want to wind up in jail for kidnapping, he'd better agree to Davie's demands for money. So Ebenezer folds, and Davie ends the book a rich man.

However, as we discuss in "What's Up With the Ending?", the book more or less stops there. Does Alan Breck make it to France? Does Davie wind up going back to the Highlands to try to get Alan's cousin off the hook for the murder of Colin Roy? We don't know – unless we read Catriona, the sequel

CHAPTER-1• It’s the morning of the second day of davie’s long walk.he can finaly see• He asks for directions to the town of Cramond from a

local shepherd.• • Davie keeps walking and reaches the parish of Cramond. He starts asking about the house of Shaws.• • He notices that when he mentions the house of Shaws people start acting a little weird. Could there be something

wrong with the Shaws?• • Davie sees someone coming down the road with a cart and decides to asks the fellow about the house of Shaws.• • The fellow says that the house is pretty big, but as for the people there – well, there is the lord, Ebenezer, but decent

people like Davie should keep clear.• • The next person Davie speaks to is a barber, and he agrees with the cartman that Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws is "nae

kind of a man, nae kind of a man at all" (2.15) ("nae" is Scots for "no").• • Davie starts to feel unsettled by these comments, which are vague enough to leave lots of room to the imagination.

Still, he's got his pride, so he keeps going.• • Finally, just at sundown, Davie meets a bitter-looking woman. She points to a house at the bottom of the next valley

and starts yelling. She tells Davie that, if he sees Ebenezer (the lord), Davie should tell him that this is the 1,219th time that Jennet Clouston has cursed his household.

• • By now Davie is really feeling unnerved. He sits down and stares at the house of the Shaws. The thing is, while the countryside surrounding the house is totally beautiful, the house itself is like a ruins.

• • The sun sets and Davie is starting to feel hungry. He sees a thin line of smoke rising from the house of Shaws and decides that there must be someone living there after all.

• • So he goes to knock on the door. No one answers. He knocks again and listens to the stillness, but it's as though "whoever was in that house kept deadly still, and must have held his breath" (2.27).

• • Davie starts getting a little ticked off: he's come all this way, after all. So he starts kicking and punching the door and calling for Mr. Balfour.

• • He finally gets an answer: a man in a nightcap leans out a window above him, holding a "blunderbuss" (2.28) (a kind of eighteenth century gun that you might recognize from Pirates of the Caribbean).

• • Davie tells the man that he has a letter of introduction for Mr. Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, which he plans to deliver in person. Davie then announces himself as David Balfour.

• • This visibly surprises the nightcapped man, who asks Davie if his father has died.• • Davie doesn't reply to this and the man says that Davie's father must have died if Davie is at his door. He offers to let

Davie in.

CHAPTER-2• The door opens and Davie goes in, only to be told to go into the kitchen and not to touch anything.• The nightcapped man closes and relocks the door behind Davie, then joins him in the kitchen.• Davie gets a better look at him: he is thin, stooped, grey, unshaven, and somewhere between fifty and seventy. Davie thinks he looks like a servant – and a bad one, at that.• The guy asks if Davie is hungry and offers him porridge ("parritch" (3.5)) while taking a mug of beer for himself.• The guy wants Davie's letter; Davie won't give it to anyone but Ebenezer.• "Who de ye think I am?" (3. 9) answers the man. It's his uncle!• Davie is immensely disappointed at this news, and he wants to cry but manages not to. Instead, he silently hands over the letter to Ebenezer.• Ebenezer asks if Davie "kens" (Scots for "knows") what's in the letter? Davie admits that, when he heard he had rich relations, he was hopeful of help, but he's not a beggar, if that's what Ebenezer is asking.• During this whole conversation, Ebenezer is working hard to avoid meeting Davie's eyes. Davie wonders if this is because Ebenezer has lived alone too long.• Ebenezer claims that Davie's father, Alexander, was secretive. Davie admits that he didn't know that his father had a brother until after his death.• Ebenezer seems happy about this news, then offers to show Davie to bed.• Ebenezer says that he doesn't believe in lighting houses, so keeps the old place in complete darkness. He shows Davie to a cold, dark, damp room and locks him in from the outside.• The next morning, Ebenezer lets Davie out of his room and the two have breakfast together: beer and porridge again.• Ebenezer asks after Davie's mother (who is dead) and his friends. Davie tells Ebenezer about "different gentlemen" (3.40) named Campbell (he's stretching the truth here because he doesn't want to seem helpless – we know there's only one Mr. Campbell).• Ebenezer tells Davie that family is very important to him, and that if Davie will give him a day or two and will "say naething to naebody," he'll "do right" (3.43) by Davie.• Davie says that he'll be very grateful. He then asks if he can put his bed sheets out to dry because they were damp the night before. Ebenezer seems a little angry at this request (which we think is pretty reasonable), but he soon changes his tune and reminds Davie that the two of them belong to the same family.• Davie passes along Jennet Clouston's curses, which sends Ebenezer into a rage. He gets dressed to go out.• Ebenezer tells Davie that when he's not home he'll have to lock Davie out of the house.• Davie won't stand for this. He complains that Ebenezer doesn't even seem to like him, so he can't imagine why Ebenezer is keeping him there.• Again, Ebenezer seems very angry, but he hides it quickly and protests that he likes Davie just fine. Ebenezer really seems to want Davie to stay at the house of ShawsI Run Into Great Danger in the House of Shaws

CHAPTER-3•After this direct confrontation, Davie is pretty surprised that the rest of the day isn't so bad. After breakfast, he finds Ebenezer's library, which he spends the rest of the afternoon perusing.•Davie finds something a little odd, though. On the front page of a pamphlet (called a "chap-book" (4. 2)), there is an inscription in his dad's handwriting to his brother Ebenezer on his fifth birthday. But Davie is sure that Alexander was the younger brother. So either his dad learned to write really well when he was around four years old, or else he must have (weirdly) gotten Ebenezer's age wrong.•Davie later asks Ebenezer if his father was an exceptionally quick student, and Ebenezer says no. Davie asks Ebenezer if he and Alexander were twins, and Ebenezer jumps up and grabs Davie by his jacket.•Davie tells Ebenezer to let him go and asks what this is all about.•Ebenezer pulls himself together and asks Davie not to speak of Alexander any more: it's too painful for him.•Davie begins to wonder if his uncle is either crazy or trying to keep him from something that is rightfully his.•Ebenezer tells Davie that he's set aside some money for him, from before his birth. It's 40 pounds – and there's a weird little negotiation here. At first, Ebenezer says that he's promised Davie 40 Scottish pounds, which would have been worth about 2 English pounds. But Davie says, "Pounds sterling, I believe!" (4.14), and his uncle agrees, even though 40 English pounds (pounds sterling) would be about 20 times the value of Ebenezer's original offer.•Ebenezer sends Davie out the door while he counts out this money.•Davie is sure that Ebenezer is lying to him about this whole setting-aside-money story, but he's okay with going along with it for now. So he steps outside and notices that a storm is coming in.•Ebenezer calls Davie back in and gives him 37 guinea pieces (about 38 pounds and 17 shillings). Davie is amazed by Ebenezer's sudden generosity when he is so obviously a terrible miser.•Ebenezer says that, now, Davie owes him. Davie promises to do whatever Ebenezer wants (so long as it's reasonable).•Ebenezer asks for help with the house and garden, as he's getting old. Davie accepts. Ebenezer suggests they start now and sends Davie – still in the dark, because Ebenezer hates lights in the house – to a tower at the end of the house for some papers.•Davie dutifully heads outside to the stairs to the tower. It's pitch black outside and he has to feel his way along the wall to find the staircase, which is uneven and dangerous underfoot.•What makes the staircase even more dangerous is that it is unfinished! It only rises to a certain point. Fortunately, a flash of lighting lights up the scene, preventing Davie from falling five stories straight down.•Davie comes back down the stairs and another flash of lightning exposes his uncle standing there in the courtyard watching him.•Ebenezer panics at the sound of a crash of thunder and runs back into the house, leaving the door open behind him.•Davie sneaks in quietly and, when Ebenezer's back is turned, claps his hand on Ebenezer's shoulders.•Ebenezer is startled and faints. Davie takes this opportunity to rummage around in closets looking for weapons. He finds a "Highland dirk" (4.40) – a kind of long knife which he grabs.•Ebenezer, meanwhile, slowly regains consciousness. He's obviously terrified and asks for a blue bottle of medicine for his heart, which Davie gives him.•Davie is really angry, what with the whole attempted murder thing, and sits staring at his uncle for a while.•The old man begs to be allowed to explain everything in the morning. Davie lets Ebenezer go to bed, locks Ebenezer in his room, and sleeps in front of the fire in the kitchen

CHAPTER-4• now knows his uncle hates him. He starts imagining how he'll get the better of Ebenezer, and the thought really tickles his fancy. He's feeling pretty full of himself by now.• Davie brings Ebenezer down to breakfast, then asks him point blank what is going on.• Ebenezer says he'll tell Davie just after breakfast. Davie's sure he's going to be lied to again.• Just when things are getting interesting, there's a knock at the door. Davie goes to answer.• It's a kid, dressed like a sailor and blue from the cold. He starts doing a kind of sailor dance, sings a snatch of poetry, and then says he has a message from "old Heasyoasy" to "Mr. Belflower" (5.12) – by which he means Balfour.• The letter is from Elias Hoaseason, an agent who's in business with Ebenezer to back a merchant ship, the Covenant.• Ebenezer suggests that Davie come with Ebenezer to the docks to talk to a nearby lawyer, Mr. Rankeillor. This Rankeillor can supposedly prove that Ebenezer's story (which we still haven't heard) is true.• Davie decides the Ferry area will be crowded and his uncle won't have a chance to try anything funny. So they head out with the cabin boy.• It turns out that the boy is named Ransome, and he's been at sea since he was nine. Ransome is not talking much sense: he shows Davie a terrible open wound inflicted on him by one of the officers of the Covenant, "Mr. Shuan," which he seems to think is a sign of what a great man Mr. Shuan is.• Davie thinks all of Ransome's talk proves what an awful ship the Covenant must be, even though the name seems religious.• At this point we need to give you a bit of historical background about the name of this ship. The Covenanters were a group of very political Presbyterian Christians who attempted to form a system of government around the Church of Scotland in the seventeenth century. This pitted the Covenanters against the Anglican church, which acknowledges the ruling king or queen of England as its leader. So at the same time that England is trying to take over Scotland, the English and the Scottish churches are getting involved in the brawl between the two countries. It all becomes pretty confusing, but the essential point is: the Covenanters are associated with Scottish patriotism, the Scottish Parliament, and a movement against the English kings (source). And we know that Stevenson is probably using "covenant" to remind his readers of this history because he refers to Patrick Walker, a Covenant pamphlet writer, elsewhere in the book (4.2).• The boy, Ransome, continues, talking about the "twenty-pounders" (5.31), people who are kidnapped or sold into slavery and who are therefore even worse off than Ransome is.• Another point of clarification here: Davie refers to people "trepanned [. . .] for private interest or vengeance" (5.31). Trepanning is an old word that means kidnapping someone to make them work for you. He's definitely not talking about the crazy surgical procedure, also called trepanning, where you drill a hole into some poor guy's head to relieve pressure on the brain. Just FYI!• From the top of a hill, Davie can finally see the river Forth emptying into the harbor, where a ferry is set up for upriver travel from the sea. Beyond the ferry, the Covenant is anchored. The three guys are heading for Hawes Inn, which is near the mouth of the Forth. (This bay region is called a "firth" in Scots, hence the name "the Firth of Forth" – the bay of the Forth.)• Davie tells Ebenezer that there's no way he'll set foot onboard the Covenant. Ebenezer is like, whatever, it's cold and the Covenant is getting ready to leave, so let's hurry up

CHAPTER-5• Ransome, Davie, and Ebenezer arrive at Hawes Inn, where they encounter a cool, self-possessed-looking guy: Elias Hoseason, captain of the Covenant.• Ebenezer comments that Hoseason keeps his room really hot.• Hoseason replies that he's always freezing -- he has cold blood.• Ebenezer says all right, we can't help how we're made.• Davie has decided he's going to stick close to Ebenezer. But the room is really stuffy. So when Ebenezer suggests that Davie go off and amuse himself for a bit, Davie does it.• Davie looks out at the bay and starts to feel pretty excited: the smell of the sea and the sight of the ship make him think of trips to far-off places.• The look of the crew puts Davie off a bit, though: they all seem like criminals, with their swearing and desperate appearance.• Ransome comes out of the inn and joins Davie, and they head off for a brew at the inn.• Davie asks the innkeeper if he knows a Mr. Rankeillor.• The innkeeper asks if Davie came in with Ebenezer, and Davie says yes.• The innkeeper asks if Davie is a relative of Ebenezer's. Davie lies and says no. The innkeeper says – and here the plot thickens – that Davie does look a little bit like Alexander.• The innkeeper confirms that Ebenezer is much hated throughout the area because he's driven a lot of local tenants out of their homes (including Jennet Clouston). Still, it's sad, the innkeeper continues: Ebenezer was a good, handsome young guy, but that all changed when the rumor got around that he killed his older brother, Alexander.• Davie is thrilled to find out that it's just as he suspected: Alexander was Ebenezer's older brother, which makes Davie heir to the house of Shaws. His fortune's been made!• Just as Davie thinks this, he sees Hoseason through the inn window and tells us, the readers, that Hoseason is neither so good as he looks nor so bad as Ransome says he is. But Hoseason's at his worst on his ship.• Next, Davie hears Ebenezer calling him from outside, and he goes to join Hoseason and Ebenezer.• Hoseason invites Davie to come aboard the Covenant for half an hour to share a drink with him.• Davie wants to say yes because he's really curious about the inside of a ship, but he's suspicious, so he tells Hoseason he and his uncle have an appointment with a lawyer.• Hoseason assures Davie that the Covenant is moored right next to the lawyer Rankeillor's house. Hoseason also leans in and warns Davie to watch out for Ebenezer; if Davie comes aboard, he can tell him some things.• Davie is totally drawn in by Hoseason's friendly manner and joins him in a rowboat to go out to the Covenant's anchoring point. Davie is carried up the side of the ship to the deck, and Hoseason starts showing him around the boat.• Davie is interested in all of this, but he suddenly wonders where Ebenezer is.• Hoaseason answers, "that's the point" (6.34). Hearing this weird answer, Davie breaks free of Hoseason's arm and runs to the side of the ship. He looks down and sees the rowboat that brought him to the Covenant returning to dock with his uncle at its head.• Davie yells for help, and Ebenezer turns back to look at him "with a face full of cruelty and terror" (6.35).• Watching his uncle rowing away, Davie is suddenly struck unconscious from behind.

CHAPTER-6• When Davie regains consciousness, he finds himself tied up and in pain in a dark room.• The intense rocking of the ship convinces Davie that they are in a storm. He is so afraid for his future and so angry at his uncle that he faints again.• When Davie comes to a second time, seasickness is added to his list of troubles. This, Davie tells us, is pretty much the worst moment in his life, these miserable first hours on the Covenant.• Davie hears gunfire. He finds out afterwards that these shots have come from the town of Dysart, which the Covenant was passing. The captain Mr. Hoseason's mother lived in Dysart, and whenever the Covenant passed, she fired shots and raised a flag in her son's honor.• Davie has no idea how long he spent in "that ill-smelling cavern of the ship's bowels" (7.4) before he falls asleep a third time.• Davie wakes up to a light shining on his face from a lantern held by a guy in his thirties, with green eyes and light hair.• The stranger asks Davie how he is.• Davie starts to cry. The stranger cleans the injury on Davie's head and tells him to cheer up. He offers Davie food, gives him a bit of brandy and water, then leaves.• When the stranger returns a bit later, Davie is wandering in the head with a bad fever.• The stranger is accompanied this time by Captain Hoseason. The stranger tells Hoseason that Davie is ill, and he needs to be brought up above deck.• The captain says tough – Davie's not going anywhere.• The stranger – whose name, we now learn, is Mr. Riach – tells Captain Hoseason that he (Riach) was hired to be the ship's second mate. He hasn't been paid for anything more, and he won't help in committing murder.• Captain Hoseason is angry that Riach could suspect him of such a thing. He tells Riach to take Davie wherever he pleases, if he thinks Davie will die otherwise.• Davie notices two things: Riach is a little drunk, and he seems like he'll be a good friend to him.• Riach frees Davie and carries him up to a bunk in the forecastle, where Davie falls asleep yet again.• When Davie wakes up, he's glad to see the sun at last. He's also no longer alone: there are sailors all around.• Davie spends many days in the bunk recuperating.• He also gets to know the Covenant's sailors. While they're kind of rough -- and several of them are out-and-out criminals – he feels guilty about how judgmental he was when he first saw them at the Queen's Ferry.• The sailors aren't so bad, but what is pretty bad is the fate awaiting Davie: his uncle has sold him to a plantation in the Carolinas.• This practice of selling the labor of European immigrants to colonial American employers was pretty common in the eighteenth century. It's often called "indentured servitude," and it differs from the slavery of African Americans primarily in that indentured servants usually had term limits – three to seven years -- before the worker could go free.• Davie also meets up with his old buddy, the cabin boy Ransome. Ransome tells Davie that Riach (the second mate) is mean when he's sober, and Shuan (the first mate, who is the guy who gave Ransome that injury) is fine except when he's drunk. Ransome is also quite a drinker.• It turns out that Riach, trying to be nice, is the one who supplies Ransome with the alcohol that seems to be ruining his mind.• As a background to all of these conversations, Davie tells us that he's not allowed to leave the forecastle, so he's getting pretty bored.• He does manage to catch one lucky break: he runs into Riach when he's at just the right stage of drunkenness and tells Riach his life story. Riach promises to write a letter to Campbell (the Essendean minister) and Rankeillor (that lawyer back in Queen's Ferry) for help.• Riach also reassures Davie that he's not alone in his changing fortunes: Riach himself is the son of a lord and "more than half a doctor" (7.38) and here he is, serving Captain Hoseason. His reason for these changes in his life? "I like fun, that's all." (7.41).

CHAPTER-7• When Davie regains consciousness, he finds himself tied up and in pain in a dark room.• The intense rocking of the ship convinces Davie that they are in a storm. He is so afraid for his future and so angry at his uncle that he faints again.• When Davie comes to a second time, seasickness is added to his list of troubles. This, Davie tells us, is pretty much the worst moment in his life, these miserable first hours on the Covenant.• Davie hears gunfire. He finds out afterwards that these shots have come from the town of Dysart, which the Covenant was passing. The captain Mr. Hoseason's mother lived in Dysart, and whenever the Covenant passed, she fired shots and raised a flag in her son's honor.• Davie has no idea how long he spent in "that ill-smelling cavern of the ship's bowels" (7.4) before he falls asleep a third time.• Davie wakes up to a light shining on his face from a lantern held by a guy in his thirties, with green eyes and light hair.• The stranger asks Davie how he is.• Davie starts to cry. The stranger cleans the injury on Davie's head and tells him to cheer up. He offers Davie food, gives him a bit of brandy and water, then leaves.• When the stranger returns a bit later, Davie is wandering in the head with a bad fever.• The stranger is accompanied this time by Captain Hoseason. The stranger tells Hoseason that Davie is ill, and he needs to be brought up above deck.• The captain says tough – Davie's not going anywhere.• The stranger – whose name, we now learn, is Mr. Riach – tells Captain Hoseason that he (Riach) was hired to be the ship's second mate. He hasn't been paid for anything more, and he won't help in committing murder.• Captain Hoseason is angry that Riach could suspect him of such a thing. He tells Riach to take Davie wherever he pleases, if he thinks Davie will die otherwise.• Davie notices two things: Riach is a little drunk, and he seems like he'll be a good friend to him.• Riach frees Davie and carries him up to a bunk in the forecastle, where Davie falls asleep yet again.• When Davie wakes up, he's glad to see the sun at last. He's also no longer alone: there are sailors all around.• Davie spends many days in the bunk recuperating.• He also gets to know the Covenant's sailors. While they're kind of rough -- and several of them are out-and-out criminals – he feels guilty about how judgmental he was when he first saw them at the Queen's Ferry.• The sailors aren't so bad, but what is pretty bad is the fate awaiting Davie: his uncle has sold him to a plantation in the Carolinas.• This practice of selling the labor of European immigrants to colonial American employers was pretty common in the eighteenth century. It's often called "indentured servitude," and it differs from the slavery of African Americans primarily in that indentured servants usually had term limits – three to seven years -- before the worker could go free.• Davie also meets up with his old buddy, the cabin boy Ransome. Ransome tells Davie that Riach (the second mate) is mean when he's sober, and Shuan (the first mate, who is the guy who gave Ransome that injury) is fine except when he's drunk. Ransome is also quite a drinker.• It turns out that Riach, trying to be nice, is the one who supplies Ransome with the alcohol that seems to be ruining his mind.• As a background to all of these conversations, Davie tells us that he's not allowed to leave the forecastle, so he's getting pretty bored.• He does manage to catch one lucky break: he runs into Riach when he's at just the right stage of drunkenness and tells Riach his life story. Riach promises to write a letter to Campbell (the Essendean minister) and Rankeillor (that lawyer back in Queen's Ferry) for help.• Riach also reassures Davie that he's not alone in his changing fortunes: Riach himself is the son of a lord and "more than half a doctor" (7.38) and here he is, serving Captain Hoseason. His reason for these changes in his life? "I like fun, that's all." (7.41).

CAPTER-8• Things take a dark turn: one night, a man comes into the forecastle muttering "Shuan had done for him at last" (8.1).• Captain Hoseason enters as well and addresses Davie (much to his surprise).• Hoseason tells Davie that, from now on, he's going to serve in the round-house, the highest cabin in a ship (source), which houses Captain Hoseason, Shuan, and Riach. In other words, Davie's the ship's new cabin boy. But what's happened to the old cabin boy?• At this point, two sailors come in to the forecastle carrying Ransome, whose face is pale and contorted.• Hoseason quickly sends Davie away.• Davie notices that, even though it's eleven at night, the sun is only just setting. But he doesn't realize what that means. The thing is, in the far northern Scottish islands (the Orkney and the Shetland Islands) in the summer, the sun stays in the sky until late at night.• Davie has gotten turned around: he thinks, because he's been locked up for so long, that they must be nearly across the Atlantic. But they haven't even left Scotland yet. The headwinds blowing against the ship's masts have been blowing so strong in the wrong direction that the Covenant is hardly making any progress.• Davie makes it to the round-house, where he sees Shuan sitting in a daze staring at the table.• Captain Hoseason comes in looking stern, followed by Riach. Riach gives "the captain a glance that meant the boy was dead as plain as speaking" (8.10). (That's a lot of grim news to cram into one glance.)• Shuan reaches for the bottle of brandy in front of him, and Riach snatches it from him. Shuan jumps up, looking fit to kill Riach.• Hoseason tells Shuan to sit down. Does he know what he's done?! He's killed Ransome!• Shuan replies that Ransome brought him a dirty pannikin (a small cup).• This reply freaks out Hoseason, Riach, and Davie.• Hoseason tells Shuan to go lie down, and Shuan, crying a little, takes off his sea boots and obeys.• Riach tells Hoseason he should have done something long ago to put a stop to Shuan's abuse of Ransome. Hoseason tells Riach that they must not tell anyone back in Dysart (the ship's home harbor) what's really happened here tonight. Ransome went overboard, and that's their story. Then Riach and Hoseason settle in for a drink.• Davie quickly adapts to his duties, which include serving meals and bringing the officers drinks when they ask for them. Working for all three officers, he's always busy.• Hoseason and Riach are both patient with his mistakes (perhaps because they're feeling bad about Ransome).• Shuan seems to have gone a little crazy after his murder of Ransome: whenever Davie is around, Shuan stares at him continually. In fact, Shuan doesn't seem to recall exactly what happened to Ransome, confuses Davie with Ransome, and generally worries all the time.• Davie enjoys the stories he can sometimes get Riach and Hoseason to tell him about the world, but he's still not exactly happy. He hates serving three men he doesn't respect, and he's dreading his future life as a slave on a plantation.

CHAPTER-9• The Covenant's bad luck with the winds continues, and the ship makes little progress. Eventually they decide to turn south to stop going against the prevailing winds.• On the tenth day of his career as cabin boy, Davie is serving Riach and Hoseason their dinner when the ship suddenly hits something with a bang.• It's night, the fog is thick, and the Covenant has managed to run down a rowboat. All of the boat's crew are lost except for one man.• This single survivor is small and nimble, carries a pair of pistols and a sword, and has elegant manners. Davie immediately sees friend material in the stranger.• Davie can also tell that the captain has noticed the stranger's expensive clothing; he is no doubt eager to make a buck or two off this guy.• Hoseason and the stranger then have a weird coded conversation that Davie doesn't entirely follow. The captain tells the stranger that he has been to France. He notes that the stranger has a Scottish tongue and a French coat. The stranger asks, pretty much point blank, if Hoseason is a Jacobite. Hoseason says he's a Protestant, but he's willing to help a guy out anyway.• So what does all this stuff about France, Scotland, and the Jacobites mean? Forgive us for a long side note, but you really need this historical information to understand what this new character is all about.• Okay, here's the deal: in the 1640s and 50s, England had its very own civil war between believers in the divine rule of the king (also known as the Royalists) and supporters of a democratically elected Parliament . At its most basic level, this war boiled down to a struggle over what gives a king power: is it god (as the Royalists felt) or politics (as the Parliamentarians believed)?• The Parliament won, for a little while at least, and King Charles I had his head chopped off. But then his son, Charles II, was put back on the throne, and his brother, King James II of England and VII of Scotland, followed Charles II. A happy ending for the Royalists, you might think. But no! The Parliamentarians weren't done yet.• There was another revolution, in 1688, which removed James II and VII from power. (This is only one guy, even though he's got lots of numbers following his name. If you want to know why he's the 2nd James of England but the 7th of Scotland, it's because Scotland had its own line of kings, a bunch of them named James, before lucky James the First/Sixth got to take the English throne and keep the Scottish throne after the death of the childless English Queen Elizabeth I.)• The Parliament determined that it had the right to appoint kings to the throne, and never mind about God. Parliament gave the English throne jointly to James II and VII's son-in-law and daughter, William and Mary (source).• BUT! A number of people refused to recognize this new king and queen and continued to support James II and VII as the legitimate king of Scotland and England. These people were called the Jacobites. James II and VII fled to the European continent (France for a bit, then Spain), and his supporters began gathering support to return him to the throne.• The Jacobites were particularly strong in Scotland because: (a) by birth, James was the king of Scotland and (b) many religious Scots felt that it was going against their faith to support a king who was appointed by Parliament (in other words, by humans) rather than by God.• (An additional complication, as though we needed any more with this crazy history: many Catholics supported James II and VII and his family because he believed in religious tolerance, unlike the strongly anti-Catholic Protestants who controlled the Parliament during the English Civil War. That's why Hoseason implies that he's not a Jacobite by telling the stranger that he's a Protestant, although Protestantism and Jacobitism aren't really mutually exclusive. This also gets us into some of the geography of Scotland, since Catholicism was much more prevalent in the Scottish Highlands [a Jacobite stronghold] than in the Scottish Lowlands.)• So, one last thing: in 1745, one of James II and VII's descendants, Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, attempted to invade Britain, first from France, then from Scotland, with the support of a number of Highland Scottish clans. This was the last serious Jacobite uprising. Bonnie Prince Charlie and his forces were defeated in 1746 at Culloden Moor, and the Prince fled back to France (source).• So that's why the stranger's French coat and Scottish tongue imply that he's a Jacobite.• To pick up our story once again, the stranger admits that he is "one of those honest gentlemen that were in trouble about the years forty-five and six" (9.23) – in other words, he took part in Bonnie Prince Charlie's 1745 uprising against the current British king. He's been trying to get to France because he'll be in trouble if he runs into any British soldiers (whom he calls the "red-coated gentry") (9.23).• Hoseason says he can't take the stranger all the way to France, but he'll consider taking him back to where he came from in Scotland.• After negotiations that we don't get to hear, because Davie has to go get food from the ship's galley, the stranger shows Hoseason his money belt. The money apparently isn't his; it belongs to the head of his clan, who is also a Jacobite.• The stranger warns Hoseason that, if Hoseason hands him over to the English army, all of his money (including any that he's paid to Hoseason) will go to the arresting officers. So if Hoseason wants the agreed-upon price of 60 guineas, Hoseason better keep his mouth shut. Hoseason agrees.• Hoseason leaves the room. Davie asks the stranger if he is, indeed, a Jacobite.• The stranger says yes and guesses that Davie is a Whig. (A Whig would be a supporter of the current king of England – King George II when the book is set, in 1751.)• Davie doesn't want to offend the stranger, so he doesn't really answer – but secretly, he is a Whig.• The stranger asks for more drink, and Davie goes to get it. He has to ask the captain for a key to the liquor cabinet.• Davie overhears Riach and Hoseason talking: they're planning to ambush the stranger.• Davie calls out to the captain to ask for the key.• Seeing Davie, Riach and Hoseason seize an opportunity. They want to hold the stranger at gunpoint, but all of their guns are in the round-house with the stranger. They want Davie to go into the round-house and bring out the guns; they think it will look less suspicious to the stranger for a boy to get the guns instead of an officer.• Hoseason promises that, if Davie does them this favor, they'll watch his back when they get to Carolina. Hoseason also offers Davie a share of the money from the stranger's belt.• Davie promises to help. But secretly, he's trying to figure out how to save the stranger's life.• When Davie returns to the round-house, he tells the stranger straight out that the officers of the ship are trying to murder him, and that they've already killed someone during the voyage. Davie promises to stand by the stranger.• Finally, we get the stranger's name: he introduces himself as Alan Breck Stewart. He calls Stewart "a king's name" (9.65) because the family name of James II and VII and his descendants is Stuart.• Alan is pretty vain and clearly feels a little annoyed when Davie introduces himself as "David Balfour of Shaws" – in other words, as a member of the Scottish landowner class. So he claims to forget Davie's estate name and calls him "David" instead.• Alan gives Davie a sword and tells him to keep loading Alan's pistols while they're fighting.• Davie tells Alan that they're up against fifteen men. Alan's not happy about the odds, but he's glad to have Davie there watching his back.• By the way, Alan uses the word "pretty" in this conversation. He doesn't mean cute or beautiful. In the eighteenth century, "pretty" means skillful or clever (source).• Alan sets Davie to guarding the skylight and the window, while he stations himself at the open door. They wait.

CHAPTER-10

• The captain gets impatient waiting on deck and sticks his head through the open door.• Alan meets Hoseason with his drawn sword and tells him to prepare for a battle.• Hoseason doesn't reply directly, but he does tell Davie that he'll remember this.• Davie's not exactly afraid, but he's really, really keyed up: he's pretty sure they're going to lose, and he wants to make sure he takes as many of their enemies down as he can.• The first one to rush in is Shuan, whom Alan stabs through with his sword.• Davie shoots into a crowd of men with a battering ram, trying to break through the door that Alan is guarding. They retreat.• Alan warns Davie that this is just the beginning: he's killed two and Davie's wounded one, but that won't be enough to stop the crew.• Davie recharges his pistols.• He overhears some of the sailors on deck saying that Shuan is the one who messed it all up, and they should shut up about him ("wheesht" (10.22), the Scots word for quiet) because he's dead.• Davie warns Alan that they're coming back. Alan says there's nothing they can do but sit and wait.• While they're sitting, Davie has time to start feeling afraid.• Finally, Davie hears the whistle of a pipe, the signal for the second round of fighting to start. A bunch of sailors rush at the door and two guys jump in through the skylight in the roof. Davie shoots the two men, then runs over to help Alan with the group by the door.• Alan manages just fine by himself, though. The sailors (those who still can) run away from his sword.• Inside the round-house, there are three dead guys, one who's dying, and Alan and Davie both totally intact.• Alan seems pretty hyped up by all of this action: he embraces Davie and says that he loves him like a brother (we've reached the "I love you, man!" stage of this bromance).• Alan's so happy with his own performance that he bursts into song (seriously). He sings in Gaelic (the language of the Scottish Highlands), which Davie translates into English. We have to say, the lyrics are pretty snappy: they're all about Alan's overall awesomeness.• Davie's a little annoyed now that he's writing this down, because he realizes that the song says nothing about his contribution to all of this killing. At the time, though, Davie tells us that he mostly felt sick about what he'd done. In fact, he starts to cry.• Alan says that Davie's just tired and tells him to go to sleep; Alan plans to keep watch. The two of them trade watch duties all night, but there's not a peep from the rest of the guys on the ship.