It happened not but this morning. I was sent to the market by my mother to fetch the next week's worth of groceries when I ran into him."Jimbo!! My, look how you've grown! What a fine man you've become. How long's it been since I've seen you? Four, five years? Ah, but who's keepin' track?" A man with one leg and a parrot on his shoulder said.
"Silver, Long John Silver?" I said, taking a step back in surprise.
"How ya been? How's yer mother?"
"Uh... fine, we both are."

"That's good."
Suddenly, we were talking like old friends who had been reunited after a long time of being separated. I completely forgot about the errand my mother had sent me on as Silver and I walked into the nearest pub. He ordered drinks for the both of us, and as we were sitting down, mentioned something that made me almost choke on the root beer he'd just bought me.
"You know, I've been looking for another pair of experienced hands ever since one of my old crew members, um, quit, and was hoping you'd like ter take his place."
After recovering from almost choking, I answered, "Sorry, I can't. My mother and I have the inn to run, and I'm attending school, and I just can't. I'm sorry." Another reason was that I still hadn't quite gotten over the last adventure I'd had at sea with him, but he didn't need to know that.
Silver looked very disappointed and said rather sorely, "All right, I understand, but could you at least help me write an ad for the news paper?"
I quickly obliged, knowing that Silver could neither read nor write. Soon, I had written quite a number of slightly different drafts for Silver all over one of the pub napkins. He thanked me and gave me a silver fourpenny before leaving, probably to go to the press to get his ad run.
I made it home to the Admiral Benbow Inn just before twilight. Fortunately I had remembered the errand I was on and did not return empty handed.
...

After I had put away all the groceries, a young, red-haired girl entered the inn. Her hair was pulled back with a green ribbon in a loose, messy braid down past her waist, and she wore a fine silk dress. She asked in fine-chosen English for someone who could read a letter that she had. The letter was addressed to her and said that she was to find an escort to Bristol, arrive there late that night, and meet her fiance in the morning. I offered to take her, and went out to the stable we had built several years back with some of my share of the treasure to hitch up the buggy. She stopped me though and said that she had her own horse and that I should just saddle up one for myself.
Something was amiss about this girl, I thought to myself as I walked out to the stable, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck bristle as if something wasn't right. I turned around sharply but it was too late. I felt the prick of the dart as it went into my neck. I managed to stay standing for a couple more seconds as the red-haired girl advanced on me, holding a small blow gun and a few more darts. She was saying something but I couldn't understand her, the night was getting so dark, and everything was spinning and jumping around, I couldn't see.
...

The night air rushed past me as if some storm had blown up and I was caught in the middle of it. No, wait, I was moving, instead, on a horse. I was gagged and tied to the horse sideways, watching the road and the landscape that was only lit up by the barely risen half moon rush past me.
I looked in front of me, or to my left, and saw the horse from my stable and a rider. At first, I couldn't identify who the rider was, but then I recognized the loose, messy braid and knew it was the red-haired girl. She wasn't wearing the silk dress anymore; that was folded and tied neatly to the back of my saddle. Instead, she was wearing a dark red shift shirt covered by a black sea jerkin, and oversized black knickers. Sticking out of the top of one of her black knee-high boots was the handle of what must have been a knife. And sticking out of the back of the red shash she had tied around her waist was a pistol.
She glanced down at me and saw that I was awake. "Captain Silver sent me," She half shouted over the clatter of the galloping horses in a curious accent that seemed to incorporate several languages, "Said you'd make a good mate." I stared up at her, but I'd told Silver no. She sighed, "What Silver wants, Silver gets, no matter what." She looked me over critically, "I don't know what he sees in you, though. You look like any other landlubber I've seen. But who cares? I get a promotion out of this." She shrugged and turned her attention back to riding. I pulled on my bonds, they were tight and digging into my skin. Without even looking at what I was doing, she laughed at me and said, "You can pull on those ropes all you want, but you'll only make them tighter. They're not gonna come undone." I stopped since they actually were getting tighter, and didn't try again.
We rode through the entire night and arrived at the outskirts of Bristol when there was just a hint of dawn in the eastern sky. By then we had slowed the horses to a walk, and now we came to a complete stop. The red-haired girl, whose name I still did not know, dismounted and untied my horse's reins from her horse's saddle.
Holding both horses' reins in one hand, she pulled a piece of folded paper out of her vest and held it up between the forefinger and the middle finger of her free hand.
"Ya see this?" she said, waving the paper in front of my face, "It's a note that says you're joinin' us; so your mum won't come lookin' for you."
She then unfolded it and held it so I could read it. I looked at it and, for a moment, thought I had written it. She tore it away from my face and stuffed it into her horse's saddlebag. "Pretty good forgery don't you think? Wrote it myself." I stared at her bewildered. "Oh, don't tell me you forgot. Remember all those advertisements Silver had you write yesterday?" She smiled at me shrewdly, "They helped so much."
She turned and pointed her horse back in the direction of the Admiral Benbow Inn and gave it a hard smack. It took off and she said, "I hope your horse knows its way back home." She watched it race away for a little while before turning on her heels and marching at a brisk pace straight into town.
We only stayed on the main street for a little while before turning off and winding our way through the network of side streets and alley ways. Not a soul was out as we walked steadily towards the piers, not even the drunkards who had all fallen into their stupors. We walked in silence the entire way, the only thing making noise was the horse's hooves on the cobblestone streets.
Now I noticed details about this girl I had missed earlier. The girl was very tan and covered in freckles. She also had a bit of a swaggering walk, and was very lean. Her ears were double pierced; the inner pair, the ones closer to her neck, were small gold hoops with two beads and two feathers each. The beads were gold and purple, one above the other, and the feathers were a brilliant sky blue and aqua. The pair on the outside were larger hoops with a single large pearl on each. The top of her left ear was also pierced with a small, plain gold hoop, and the top of her right ear was notched as if it had once been pierced but the earring had been ripped out. Her right ring finger had a sturdy looking silver and turquoise ring.

We seemed to arrive at the piers in almost no time. We walked up to a sloop, probably no larger than 100 tons; she was simply named Dagger. The girl walked me and the horse straight onto the deck and tied the horse's reins to some low rigging. She untied the folded dress and took some other supplies off the horse and then went below deck to find Captain Silver, and the horse and I were left alone for a while. I decided to try my bonds again and found that they had become incredibly tight from riding the entire night, and my hands were completely numb.

I heard some quiet conversation coming up from below deck and saw Silver come on deck followed by the girl, who had strapped a pair of butterfly swords to her back, and dawned a black three-corner hat which covered a bright red crevatte. They both stopped talking and walked silently over to me and Silver looked at me then turned to the girl and said, "Nope, ya got the wrong person."
She looked stunned and stumbled backwards then started stuttering, "But, but..."
"I'm just kidding ya." He said quickly, seeing her strong reaction.
She got slightly angry, punched Silver lightly in the arm and said, "Come on, I'm too tired fer jokes. He's Jim Hawkins right"
"Yes, of course. Now then, quarters master," Sliver said addressing the girl who grinned at this, "Get Jim off that horse and below decks somewhere where he won't be of any trouble, and then get some sleep yerself. I'll get someone else to return the horse"
"Aye, aye, Cap'n!"
He went back below deck and she started untying my hands. I thought maybe while she was untying me I could escape, but as soon as she had my hands untied she pulled me off the horse head first, flipped me onto my back, and then rolled me over on my stomach, pinning my left arm under me and holding my right arm in a position that threatened to wrench my shoulder out of place. She untied my legs.
"Don't even think of runnin' away." she said, hauling me to my feet and positioned herself between me and the only way off the ship.
I rubbed my wrists and stretched. I was stiff and sore from riding all night tied up like that. She watched me warily and I studied her, trying to decide what my next plan of action would be. She had dark circles under her eyes clearly showing that she was exhausted and would probably be an easy opponent.
"What're you lookin' at?" she asked, moving uncomfortably.
"Nothing. Erm, what's your name anyway?" I asked, since she hadn't told me what it was yet.
"Kat. Copper Kat. Kat's spelled with a 'K'." I wondered why she spelled her name with a "K" but decided not to ask.
"Silver was right, you are tired." I said as she swayed a little.
"Yeah, well, you try stayin' up half the night, an entire day, the entire next night, and into the next morning, and tell me how you feel!" She said sounding very irritated, then she added, "Ya know, you don't look too awake yerself."
"Yes, but I'm more awake than you are, and I'm stronger too." I said in defense.
She laughed. "If yer plannin' an escape, you've got another thing comin'. See, even though Silver said I'm not allowed to kill ya, I'm so tired right now that I just might forget about that and do it anyway."
I stood there silently considering what she had just said.
"All right, time's up, below deck with you."
She moved so quickly I didn't realize what had happened until it was too late for me to do anything about it. She had me in another arm-wrenching hold and going down the stairs. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I could hear the sounds of heavy breathing and snoring. Almost the entire crew was still asleep. She directed me toward an empty hammock, and I felt the prick of another one of her darts go into my neck.
"That should hold ya fer a few hours, or at least until we're out to sea." She let go of my arm and I fell into the hammock, and was unconscious a few moments later.