Page:Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Hitherto unpublished, 1921.djvu/147

 OF SCHOONERS, ISLANDS AND MAROONS—1881

Although Treasure Island was not published in book form until 1883, Stevenson had well-nigh completed it during his residence at Braemar in 1881, and his letter of the 25th of August of that year, addressed to Henley and signed, "R. L. S., Author of Boy Stories," shows what fun he was having in the writing of this tale. "The Sea Cook, or Treasure Island, A Story for Boys," was the title Stevenson had in mind for the book that was the first to bring him fame; and he wrote to Henley: "If this don't fetch the kids, why, then, they have gone rotten since my day." It is that thought which underlies the present poem, written assuredly as a sort of rhymed preface for his "ripping" novel of adventure among the Buccaneers. If boys have grown too wise to care for treasure islands and derelict ships, for villainous mariners singing "Yo ho ho! and a bottle of rum," why then let the tale remain unread, beside the writings of Kingston and Ballantyne and "Cooper of the land and wave." (This, by the way, is the only reference in Stevenson's verses to [ 122 ]