Chapter 26 ("Israel Hands") begins as Jim and Hands, unable to anchor the ship, wait for the tide to come in far enough so they can safely beach her. Hands tries to get Jim to toss the dead sailor, O'Brien, overboard, but Jim says he is not strong enough. Then, after a short discussion on the unluckiness of the ship and the nature of death, Hands asks Jim to get him some wine from the cabin. He obviously wants Jim out of the way, so Jim goes below, then quickly sneaks back to where he can see Hands, injured but not as badly as he has pretended, crawl across the deck and retrieve a bloody knife from a coil of rope, hiding it in his jacket and then going back to where Jim left him. Jim reflects that Hands certainly means to kill him, but that he will probably spare him until the ship can be beached, for he will need Jim's help to navigate it.
Jim comes back with the wine, and Hands, acting very weak, asks him to cut a quid of tobacco, since he — Hands — has no knife. He says he is dying. Jim advises him to say some prayers, but Hands reckons this is nonsense. The tide is right, then, and they take the ship to the northern anchorage to beach it, seeing as they do so the wreck of another, abandoned, ship. Struggling to maneuver the Hispaniola into place at Hands' direction, Jim is distracted until, suddenly, he sees the coxswain moving toward him, knife in hand. Hands lunges and Jim lets go of the tiller to jump aside. The tiller, released, hits Hands in the chest. Jim pulls out one of his pistols and aims, but the weapon has been fouled with water and will not fire. Dodging and weaving, the two feint at each other. Then the ship runs aground and tips to the side, the deck at a sharp angle and the masts leaning out over the water. Both Jim and Hands fall over, but Jim gets to his feet and climbs the ropes to the mizzenmast, narrowly avoiding the knife. Now, seated on the mast's crosstrees, he primes and reloads both pistols, while Hands struggles slowly toward him, dragging his injured leg. Hands, however, seems to reflect that he is in a bad position, and he offers to surrender — but, even as he is speaking, he throws the knife suddenly, pinning Jim by the flesh of his shoulder to the mast. Hurt and surprised, Jim fires both pistols and drops them, and Hands falls dying into the water.
