This scene was painted for the Robert Louis Stevenson book Treasure Island, specifically for the chapter titled ‘The Last of the Blind Man.’ In the scene from the book, a shot rang out, scaring off the pirates. Louis writes “…the buccaneers turned at once and ran, separating in every direction, one seaward along the cove, one slant across the hill, and so on, so that in half a minute not a sign of them remained but Pew. Him they had deserted, whether in sheer panic or out of revenge for his ill words and blows I know not; but there he remained behind, tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping and calling for his comrades.”
