That evening, Jim's father dies, and Jim has little time to worry about their guest and his troubles. The next day the captain manages to come downstairs and help himself liberally to rum. For several days he keeps this up, growing weaker and weaker, until the day after the funeral. That afternoon another stranger arrives, a ragged and fearsome-looking blind man. He forces Jim to take him to the captain, who sees him with terror. The blind man puts something into the captain's hand and leaves quickly. When the captain sees what he has been given, he says: "Six hours. We'll do them yet." But as he gets to his feet he reels, sways, and falls dead to the floor.
As Chapter 4 ("The Sea Chest") begins, Jim tells his mother what the captain has told him and, knowing their danger, both walk to the nearby village for help. They arrive at dusk and can find no one brave enough to go back with them, although one boy says he'll ride for Livesey. Mrs. Hawkins says she'll go back alone, then, to get what the captain owes her, and Jim has no choice but to go with her. They return to the inn, and Jim reluctantly searches the captain's corpse to find the key to the sea chest. In the chest they discover various articles, including a few bars of silver, a few English and foreign coins, and a sealed packet. Jim's mother begins to count what coins she can recognize, but they hear the blind man's stick approaching and, in the dark, they run out of the inn. They are badly frightened, and Mrs. Hawkins faints. Jim hides her as well as he can, listening, as Chapter 5 ("The Last of the Blind Man") opens. He hears several men run into the inn, where they discover the captain is dead and the sea chest has been opened. Whatever they are looking for is gone. As a signal from their watchman sounds, most of the pirates want to run, but the blind man, Pew, insists they stay to search for Jim and his mother. They have reluctantly begun to do so when horsemen approach. The pirates scatter — all but Pew, who blunders down the road, deserted by his comrades, and is run down and killed by a man on horseback.
The boy who rode for Dr. Livesey has returned with a company of revenue men (tax collectors), whom Jim recognizes and hails. They find that the inn has been ransacked and robbed. The revenue officer, Mr. Dance, hearing Jim's story, says he must go report to the magistrate, Livesey, and will take Jim with him.
