Treasure Island Jim Hawkins's Father and Mother Quotes

"I'll show these rogues that I'm an honest woman," said my mother. "I'll have my dues, and not a farthing over. Hold Mrs. Crossley's bag." And she began to count over the amount of the captain's score from the sailor's bag into the one that I was holding.

It was a long, difficult business, for the coins were of all countries and sizes--doubloons, and louis d'ors, and guineas, and pieces of eight, and I know not what besides, all shaken together at random. The guineas, too, were about the scarcest, and it was with these only that my mother knew how to make her count. (4.19-20)

Jim's mother is the one who first opens Billy Bones's sea chest, but what makes it OK is that she is looking for the money he owes her. This means Jim manages to come by the treasure map without stealing – he's still a good kid, and certainly better than the pirates. But the other thing that's key about this scene is that it introduces something new and exotic into the story line. Billy Bones's coins "of all countries and sizes" demonstrates that he is widely traveled. This foreshadows that Jim is going to go on a voyage of his own, and perhaps even that he will wind up with his own collection of coins from around the world.