In chapter 26 of Treasure Island, Jim Hawkins races up the rigging of the Hispaniola to escape from Israel Hands, who pursues him up to the cross-trees. Jim has two pistols, and Hands, who is carrying a knife between his teeth as he climbs, is already wounded. Therefore, when Jim points the pistols at him and tells him not to take another step, it appears that Hands is at a clear disadvantage. He attempts to parley with Jim, and Jim is so pleased with himself that he lets down his guard. As soon as he does so, he finds himself pinned to the mast by the knife Hands has thrown.
Overcome by the sudden shock and pain, Jim simultaneously discharges and drops both his pistols. Israel Hands falls into the water along with the pistols, and his fate soon becomes clear:
Sometimes, by the quivering of the water, he appeared to move a little, as if he were trying to rise. But he was dead enough, for all that, being both shot and drowned, and was food for fish in the very place where he had designed my slaughter.
Jim, therefore, kills Israel Hands by accident, but he does so while threatening him with two pistols, and it is reasonable to presume that he would have killed him intentionally if he had been quick enough to see him throw the knife. By arranging matters in this way, however, Stevenson allows Jim to avoid having to make this decision and prevents him from being a cold-blooded killer in the same way that the pirates themselves are.
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