UPON the whole, I was by this
time so fixed upon my design of
going
over with him to the continent that
I told him we would go and make
one as big as that, and he should go
home in it. He answered not
one word, but looked very grave and
sad. I asked him what was the
matter with him. He asked me again,
"Why you angry mad with
Friday? - what me done?" I asked him
what he meant. I told him I
was not angry with him at all. "No
angry!" says he, repeating the
words several times; "why send
Friday home away to my nation?"
"Why," says I, "Friday, did not you
say you wished you were there?"
"Yes, yes," says he, "wish we both
there; no wish Friday there, no
master there." In a word, he would
not think of going there
without me. "I go there, Friday?"
says I; "what shall I do there?"
He turned very quick upon me at
this. "You do great deal much
good," says he; "you teach wild mans
be good, sober, tame mans; you
tell them know God, pray God, and
live new life." "Alas, Friday!"
says I, "thou knowest not what thou
sayest; I am but an ignorant
man myself." "Yes, yes," says he,
"you teachee me good, you
teachee them good." "No, no,
Friday," says I, "you shall go
without me; leave me here to live by
myself, as I did before." He
looked confused again at that word;
and running to one of the
hatchets which he used to wear, he
takes it up hastily, and gives
it to me. "What must I do with
this?" says I to him. "You take
kill Friday," says he. "What must
kill you for?" said I again. He
returns very quick - "What you send
Friday away for? Take kill
Friday, no send Friday away." This
he spoke so earnestly that I
saw tears stand in his eyes. In a
word, I so plainly discovered
the utmost affection in him to me,
and a firm resolution in him,
that I told him then and often
after, that I would never send him
away from me if he was willing to
stay with me. Upon the whole, as I found by all
his discourse a settled affection
to me, and that nothing could part
him from me, so I found all the
foundation of his desire to go to
his own country was laid in his
ardent affection to the people, and
his hopes of my doing them
good; a thing which, as I had no
notion of myself, so I had not the
least thought or intention, or
desire of undertaking it. But still
I found a strong inclination to
attempting my escape, founded on
the supposition gathered from the
discourse, that there were
seventeen bearded men there; and
therefore, without any more delay,
I went to work with Friday to find
out a great tree proper to fell,
and make a large periagua, or canoe,
to undertake the voyage.
There were trees enough in the
island to have built a little fleet,
not of periaguas or canoes, but even
of good, large vessels; but
the main thing I looked at was, to
get one so near the water that
we might launch it when it was made,
to avoid the mistake I
committed at first. At last Friday
pitched upon a tree; for I
found he knew much better than I
what kind of wood was fittest for
it; nor can I tell to this day what
wood to call the tree we cut
down, except that it was very like
the tree we call fustic, or
between that and the Nicaragua wood,
for it was much of the same
colour and smell. Friday wished to
burn the hollow or cavity of
this tree out, to make it for a
boat, but I showed him how to cut
it with tools; which, after I had
showed him how to use, he did
very handily; and in about a month's
hard labour we finished it and
made it very handsome; especially
when, with our axes, which I
showed him how to handle, we cut and
hewed the outside into the
true shape of a boat. After this,
however, it cost us near a
fortnight's time to get her along,
as it were inch by inch, upon
great rollers into the water; but
when she was in, she would have
carried twenty men with great ease. When she was in the water, though
she was so big, it amazed me to
see with what dexterity and how
swift my man Friday could manage
her, turn her, and paddle her along.
So I asked him if he would,
and if we might venture over in her.
"Yes," he said, "we venture
over in her very well, though great
blow wind." However I had a
further design that he knew nothing
of, and that was, to make a
mast and a sail, and to fit her with
an anchor and cable. As to a
mast, that was easy enough to get;
so I pitched upon a straight
young cedar-tree, which I found near
the place, and which there
were great plenty of in the island,
and I set Friday to work to cut
it down, and gave him directions how
to shape and order it. But as
to the sail, that was my particular
care. I knew I had old sails,
or rather pieces of old sails,
enough; but as I had had them now
six-and-twenty years by me, and had
not been very careful to
preserve them, not imagining that I
should ever have this kind of
use for them, I did not doubt but
they were all rotten; and,
indeed, most of them were so.
However, I found two pieces which
appeared pretty good, and with these
I went to work; and with a
great deal of pains, and awkward
stitching, you may be sure, for
want of needles, I at length made a
three-cornered ugly thing, like
what we call in England a
shoulder-of-mutton sail, to go with
a
boom at bottom, and a little short
sprit at the top, such as
usually our ships' long-boats sail
with, and such as I best knew
how to manage, as it was such a one
as I had to the boat in which I
made my escape from Barbary, as
related in the first part of my
story. I was near two months performing
this last work, viz. rigging and
fitting my masts and sails; for I
finished them very complete,
making a small stay, and a sail, or
foresail, to it, to assist if
we should turn to windward; and,
what was more than all, I fixed a
rudder to the stern of her to steer
with. I was but a bungling
shipwright, yet as I knew the
usefulness and even necessity of
such
a thing, I applied myself with so
much pains to do it, that at last
I brought it to pass; though,
considering the many dull
contrivances I had for it that
failed, I think it cost me almost as
much labour as making the boat. After all this was done, I had my
man Friday to teach as to what
belonged to the navigation of my
boat; though he knew very well how
to paddle a canoe, he knew nothing
of what belonged to a sail and a
rudder; and was the most amazed when
he saw me work the boat to and
again in the sea by the rudder, and
how the sail jibed, and filled
this way or that way as the course
we sailed changed; I say when he
saw this he stood like one
astonished and amazed. However, with
a
little use, I made all these things
familiar to him, and he became
an expert sailor, except that of the
compass I could make him
understand very little. On the other
hand, as there was very
little cloudy weather, and seldom or
never any fogs in those parts,
there was the less occasion for a
compass, seeing the stars were
always to be seen by night, and the
shore by day, except in the
rainy seasons, and then nobody cared
to stir abroad either by land
or sea. I was now entered on the
seven-and-twentieth year of my
captivity
in this place; though the three last
years that I had this creature
with me ought rather to be left out
of the account, my habitation
being quite of another kind than in
all the rest of the time. I
kept the anniversary of my landing
here with the same thankfulness
to God for His mercies as at first:
and if I had such cause of
acknowledgment at first, I had much
more so now, having such
additional testimonies of the care
of Providence over me, and the
great hopes I had of being
effectually and speedily delivered;
for
I had an invincible impression upon
my thoughts that my deliverance
was at hand, and that I should not
be another year in this place.
I went on, however, with my
husbandry; digging, planting, and
fencing as usual. I gathered and
cured my grapes, and did every
necessary thing as before. The rainy season was in the meantime
upon me, when I kept more
within doors than at other times. We
had stowed our new vessel as
secure as we could, bringing her up
into the creek, where, as I
said in the beginning, I landed my
rafts from the ship; and hauling
her up to the shore at high-water
mark, I made my man Friday dig a
little dock, just big enough to hold
her, and just deep enough to
give her water enough to float in;
and then, when the tide was out,
we made a strong dam across the end
of it, to keep the water out;
and so she lay, dry as to the tide
from the sea: and to keep the
rain off we laid a great many boughs
of trees, so thick that she
was as well thatched as a house; and
thus we waited for the months
of November and December, in which I
designed to make my adventure. When the settled season began to
come in, as the thought of my
design returned with the fair
weather, I was preparing daily for
the voyage. And the first thing I
did was to lay by a certain
quantity of provisions, being the
stores for our voyage; and
intended in a week or a fortnight's
time to open the dock, and
launch out our boat. I was busy one
morning upon something of this
kind, when I called to Friday, and
bid him to go to the sea-shore
and see if he could find a turtle or
a tortoise, a thing which we
generally got once a week, for the
sake of the eggs as well as the
flesh. Friday had not been long gone
when he came running back,
and flew over my outer wall or
fence, like one that felt not the
ground or the steps he set his foot
on; and before I had time to
speak to him he cries out to me, "O
master! O master! O sorrow! O
bad!" - "What's the matter, Friday?"
says I. "O yonder there,"
says he, "one, two, three canoes;
one, two, three!" By this way of
speaking I concluded there were six;
but on inquiry I found there
were but three. "Well, Friday," says
I, "do not be frightened."
So I heartened him up as well as I
could. However, I saw the poor
fellow was most terribly scared, for
nothing ran in his head but
that they were come to look for him,
and would cut him in pieces
and eat him; and the poor fellow
trembled so that I scarcely knew
what to do with him. I comforted him
as well as I could, and told
him I was in as much danger as he,
and that they would eat me as
well as him. "But," says I, "Friday,
we must resolve to fight
them. Can you fight, Friday?" "Me
shoot," says he, "but there
come many great number." "No matter
for that," said I again; "our
guns will fright them that we do not
kill." So I asked him
whether, if I resolved to defend
him, he would defend me, and stand
by me, and do just as I bid him. He
said, "Me die when you bid
die, master." So I went and fetched
a good dram of rum and gave
him; for I had been so good a
husband of my rum that I had a great
deal left. When we had drunk it, I
made him take the two fowling-
pieces, which we always carried, and
loaded them with large swan-
shot, as big as small
pistol-bullets. Then I took four
muskets,
and loaded them with two slugs and
five small bullets each; and my
two pistols I loaded with a brace of
bullets each. I hung my great
sword, as usual, naked by my side,
and gave Friday his hatchet.
When I had thus prepared myself, I
took my perspective glass, and
went up to the side of the hill, to
see what I could discover; and
I found quickly by my glass that
there were one-and-twenty savages,
three prisoners, and three canoes;
and that their whole business
seemed to be the triumphant banquet
upon these three human bodies:
a barbarous feast, indeed! but
nothing more than, as I had
observed, was usual with them. I
observed also that they had
landed, not where they had done when
Friday made his escape, but
nearer to my creek, where the shore
was low, and where a thick wood
came almost close down to the sea.
This, with the abhorrence of
the inhuman errand these wretches
came about, filled me with such
indignation that I came down again
to Friday, and told him I was
resolved to go down to them and kill
them all; and asked him if he
would stand by me. He had now got
over his fright, and his spirits
being a little raised with the dram
I had given him, he was very
cheerful, and told me, as before, he
would die when I bid die. In this fit of fury I divided the
arms which I had charged, as
before, between us; I gave Friday
one pistol to stick in his
girdle, and three guns upon his
shoulder, and I took one pistol and
the other three guns myself; and in
this posture we marched out. I
took a small bottle of rum in my
pocket, and gave Friday a large
bag with more powder and bullets;
and as to orders, I charged him
to keep close behind me, and not to
stir, or shoot, or do anything
till I bid him, and in the meantime
not to speak a word. In this
posture I fetched a compass to my
right hand of near a mile, as
well to get over the creek as to get
into the wood, so that I could
come within shot of them before I
should be discovered, which I had
seen by my glass it was easy to do. While I was making this march, my
former thoughts returning, I
began to abate my resolution: I do
not mean that I entertained any
fear of their number, for as they
were naked, unarmed wretches, it
is certain I was superior to them -
nay, though I had been alone.
But it occurred to my thoughts, what
call, what occasion, much less
what necessity I was in to go and
dip my hands in blood, to attack
people who had neither done or
intended me any wrong? who, as to
me, were innocent, and whose
barbarous customs were their own
disaster, being in them a token,
indeed, of God's having left them,
with the other nations of that part
of the world, to such
stupidity, and to such inhuman
courses, but did not call me to take
upon me to be a judge of their
actions, much less an executioner of
His justice - that whenever He
thought fit He would take the cause
into His own hands, and by national
vengeance punish them as a
people for national crimes, but
that, in the meantime, it was none
of my business - that it was true
Friday might justify it, because
he was a declared enemy and in a
state of war with those very
particular people, and it was lawful
for him to attack them - but I
could not say the same with regard
to myself. These things were so
warmly pressed upon my thoughts all
the way as I went, that I
resolved I would only go and place
myself near them that I might
observe their barbarous feast, and
that I would act then as God
should direct; but that unless
something offered that was more a
call to me than yet I knew of, I
would not meddle with them. With this resolution I entered the
wood, and, with all possible
wariness and silence, Friday
following close at my heels, I
marched
till I came to the skirts of the
wood on the side which was next to
them, only that one corner of the
wood lay between me and them.
Here I called softly to Friday, and
showing him a great tree which
was just at the corner of the wood,
I bade him go to the tree, and
bring me word if he could see there
plainly what they were doing.
He did so, and came immediately back
to me, and told me they might
be plainly viewed there - that they
were all about their fire,
eating the flesh of one of their
prisoners, and that another lay
bound upon the sand a little from
them, whom he said they would
kill next; and this fired the very
soul within me. He told me it
was not one of their nation, but one
of the bearded men he had told
me of, that came to their country in
the boat. I was filled with
horror at the very naming of the
white bearded man; and going to
the tree, I saw plainly by my glass
a white man, who lay upon the
beach of the sea with his hands and
his feet tied with flags, or
things like rushes, and that he was
an European, and had clothes
on. There was another tree and a little
thicket beyond it, about fifty
yards nearer to them than the place
where I was, which, by going a
little way about, I saw I might come
at undiscovered, and that then
I should be within half a shot of
them; so I withheld my passion,
though I was indeed enraged to the
highest degree; and going back
about twenty paces, I got behind
some bushes, which held all the
way till I came to the other tree,
and then came to a little rising
ground, which gave me a full view of
them at the distance of about
eighty yards. I had now not a moment to lose, for
nineteen of the dreadful
wretches sat upon the ground, all
close huddled together, and had
just sent the other two to butcher
the poor Christian, and bring
him perhaps limb by limb to their
fire, and they were stooping down
to untie the bands at his feet. I
turned to Friday. "Now,
Friday," said I, "do as I bid thee."
Friday said he would. "Then,
Friday," says I, "do exactly as you
see me do; fail in nothing."
So I set down one of the muskets and
the fowling-piece upon the
ground, and Friday did the like by
his, and with the other musket I
took my aim at the savages, bidding
him to do the like; then asking
him if he was ready, he said, "Yes."
"Then fire at them," said I;
and at the same moment I fired also. Friday took his aim so much better
than I, that on the side that he
shot he killed two of them, and
wounded three more; and on my side
I killed one, and wounded two. They
were, you may be sure, in a
dreadful consternation: and all of
them that were not hurt jumped
upon their feet, but did not
immediately know which way to run,
or
which way to look, for they knew not
from whence their destruction
came. Friday kept his eyes close
upon me, that, as I had bid him,
he might observe what I did; so, as
soon as the first shot was
made, I threw down the piece, and
took up the fowling-piece, and
Friday did the like; he saw me cock
and present; he did the same
again. "Are you ready, Friday?" said
I. "Yes," says he. "Let
fly, then," says I, "in the name of
God!" and with that I fired
again among the amazed wretches, and
so did Friday; and as our
pieces were now loaded with what I
call swan-shot, or small pistol-
bullets, we found only two drop; but
so many were wounded that they
ran about yelling and screaming like
mad creatures, all bloody, and
most of them miserably wounded;
whereof three more fell quickly
after, though not quite dead. "Now, Friday," says I, laying down
the discharged pieces, and
taking up the musket which was yet
loaded, "follow me," which he
did with a great deal of courage;
upon which I rushed out of the
wood and showed myself, and Friday
close at my foot. As soon as I
perceived they saw me, I shouted as
loud as I could, and bade
Friday do so too, and running as
fast as I could, which, by the
way, was not very fast, being loaded
with arms as I was, I made
directly towards the poor victim,
who was, as I said, lying upon
the beach or shore, between the
place where they sat and the sea.
The two butchers who were just going
to work with him had left him
at the surprise of our first fire,
and fled in a terrible fright to
the seaside, and had jumped into a
canoe, and three more of the
rest made the same way. I turned to
Friday, and bade him step
forwards and fire at them; he
understood me immediately, and
running about forty yards, to be
nearer them, he shot at them; and
I thought he had killed them all,
for I saw them all fall of a heap
into the boat, though I saw two of
them up again quickly; however,
he killed two of them, and wounded
the third, so that he lay down
in the bottom of the boat as if he
had been dead. While my man Friday fired at them, I
pulled out my knife and cut
the flags that bound the poor
victim; and loosing his hands and
feet, I lifted him up, and asked him
in the Portuguese tongue what
he was. He answered in Latin,
Christianus; but was so weak and
faint that he could scarce stand or
speak. I took my bottle out of
my pocket and gave it him, making
signs that he should drink, which
he did; and I gave him a piece of
bread, which he ate. Then I
asked him what countryman he was:
and he said, Espagniole; and
being a little recovered, let me
know, by all the signs he could
possibly make, how much he was in my
debt for his deliverance.
"Seignior," said I, with as much
Spanish as I could make up, "we
will talk afterwards, but we must
fight now: if you have any
strength left, take this pistol and
sword, and lay about you." He
took them very thankfully; and no
sooner had he the arms in his
hands, but, as if they had put new
vigour into him, he flew upon
his murderers like a fury, and had
cut two of them in pieces in an
instant; for the truth is, as the
whole was a surprise to them, so
the poor creatures were so much
frightened with the noise of our
pieces that they fell down for mere
amazement and fear, and had no
more power to attempt their own
escape than their flesh had to
resist our shot; and that was the
case of those five that Friday
shot at in the boat; for as three of
them fell with the hurt they
received, so the other two fell with
the fright. I kept my piece in my hand still
without firing, being willing to
keep my charge ready, because I had
given the Spaniard my pistol
and sword: so I called to Friday,
and bade him run up to the tree
from whence we first fired, and
fetch the arms which lay there that
had been discharged, which he did
with great swiftness; and then
giving him my musket, I sat down
myself to load all the rest again,
and bade them come to me when they
wanted. While I was loading
these pieces, there happened a
fierce engagement between the
Spaniard and one of the savages, who
made at him with one of their
great wooden swords, the weapon that
was to have killed him before,
if I had not prevented it. The
Spaniard, who was as bold and brave
as could be imagined, though weak,
had fought the Indian a good
while, and had cut two great wounds
on his head; but the savage
being a stout, lusty fellow, closing
in with him, had thrown him
down, being faint, and was wringing
my sword out of his hand; when
the Spaniard, though undermost,
wisely quitting the sword, drew the
pistol from his girdle, shot the
savage through the body, and
killed him upon the spot, before I,
who was running to help him,
could come near him. Friday, being now left to his
liberty, pursued the flying
wretches,
with no weapon in his hand but his
hatchet: and with that he
despatched those three who as I said
before, were wounded at first,
and fallen, and all the rest he
could come up with: and the
Spaniard coming to me for a gun, I
gave him one of the fowling-
pieces, with which he pursued two of
the savages, and wounded them
both; but as he was not able to run,
they both got from him into
the wood, where Friday pursued them,
and killed one of them, but
the other was too nimble for him;
and though he was wounded, yet
had plunged himself into the sea,
and swam with all his might off
to those two who were left in the
canoe; which three in the canoe,
with one wounded, that we knew not
whether he died or no, were all
that escaped our hands of
one-and-twenty. The account of the
whole
is as follows: Three killed at our
first shot from the tree; two
killed at the next shot; two killed
by Friday in the boat; two
killed by Friday of those at first
wounded; one killed by Friday in
the wood; three killed by the
Spaniard; four killed, being found
dropped here and there, of the
wounds, or killed by Friday in his
chase of them; four escaped in the
boat, whereof one wounded, if
not dead - twenty-one in all. Those that were in the canoe worked
hard to get out of gun-shot,
and though Friday made two or three
shots at them, I did not find
that he hit any of them. Friday
would fain have had me take one of
their canoes, and pursue them; and
indeed I was very anxious about
their escape, lest, carrying the
news home to their people, they
should come back perhaps with two or
three hundred of the canoes
and devour us by mere multitude; so
I consented to pursue them by
sea, and running to one of their
canoes, I jumped in and bade
Friday follow me: but when I was in
the canoe I was surprised to
find another poor creature lie
there, bound hand and foot, as the
Spaniard was, for the slaughter, and
almost dead with fear, not
knowing what was the matter; for he
had not been able to look up
over the side of the boat, he was
tied so hard neck and heels, and
had been tied so long that he had
really but little life in him. I immediately cut the twisted flags
or rushes which they had bound
him with, and would have helped him
up; but he could not stand or
speak, but groaned most piteously,
believing, it seems, still, that
he was only unbound in order to be
killed. When Friday came to him
I bade him speak to him, and tell
him of his deliverance; and
pulling out my bottle, made him give
the poor wretch a dram, which,
with the news of his being
delivered, revived him, and he sat
up in
the boat. But when Friday came to
hear him speak, and look in his
face, it would have moved any one to
tears to have seen how Friday
kissed him, embraced him, hugged
him, cried, laughed, hallooed,
jumped about, danced, sang; then
cried again, wrung his hands, beat
his own face and head; and then sang
and jumped about again like a
distracted creature. It was a good
while before I could make him
speak to me or tell me what was the
matter; but when he came a
little to himself he told me that it
was his father. It is not easy for me to express how
it moved me to see what
ecstasy and filial affection had
worked in this poor savage at the
sight of his father, and of his
being delivered from death; nor
indeed can I describe half the
extravagances of his affection after
this: for he went into the boat and
out of the boat a great many
times: when he went in to him he
would sit down by him, open his
breast, and hold his father's head
close to his bosom for many
minutes together, to nourish it;
then he took his arms and ankles,
which were numbed and stiff with the
binding, and chafed and rubbed
them with his hands; and I,
perceiving what the case was, gave
him
some rum out of my bottle to rub
them with, which did them a great
deal of good. This affair put an end to our
pursuit of the canoe with the other
savages, who were now almost out of
sight; and it was happy for us
that we did not, for it blew so hard
within two hours after, and
before they could be got a quarter
of their way, and continued
blowing so hard all night, and that
from the north-west, which was
against them, that I could not
suppose their boat could live, or
that they ever reached their own
coast. But to return to Friday; he was so
busy about his father that I
could not find in my heart to take
him off for some time; but after
I thought he could leave him a
little, I called him to me, and he
came jumping and laughing, and
pleased to the highest extreme: then
I asked him if he had given his
father any bread. He shook his
head, and said, "None; ugly dog eat
all up self." I then gave him
a cake of bread out of a little
pouch I carried on purpose; I also
gave him a dram for himself; but he
would not taste it, but carried
it to his father. I had in my pocket
two or three bunches of
raisins, so I gave him a handful of
them for his father. He had no
sooner given his father these
raisins but I saw him come out of
the
boat, and run away as if he had been
bewitched, for he was the
swiftest fellow on his feet that
ever I saw: I say, he ran at such
a rate that he was out of sight, as
it were, in an instant; and
though I called, and hallooed out
too after him, it was all one -
away he went; and in a quarter of an
hour I saw him come back
again, though not so fast as he
went; and as he came nearer I found
his pace slacker, because he had
something in his hand. When he
came up to me I found he had been
quite home for an earthen jug or
pot, to bring his father some fresh
water, and that he had got two
more cakes or loaves of bread: the
bread he gave me, but the water
he carried to his father; however,
as I was very thirsty too, I
took a little of it. The water
revived his father more than all
the rum or spirits I had given him,
for he was fainting with
thirst. When his father had drunk, I called
to him to know if there was any
water left. He said, "Yes"; and I
bade him give it to the poor
Spaniard, who was in as much want of
it as his father; and I sent
one of the cakes that Friday brought
to the Spaniard too, who was
indeed very weak, and was reposing
himself upon a green place under
the shade of a tree; and whose limbs
were also very stiff, and very
much swelled with the rude bandage
he had been tied with. When I
saw that upon Friday's coming to him
with the water he sat up and
drank, and took the bread and began
to eat, I went to him and gave
him a handful of raisins. He looked
up in my face with all the
tokens of gratitude and thankfulness
that could appear in any
countenance; but was so weak,
notwithstanding he had so exerted
himself in the fight, that he could
not stand up upon his feet - he
tried to do it two or three times,
but was really not able, his
ankles were so swelled and so
painful to him; so I bade him sit
still, and caused Friday to rub his
ankles, and bathe them with
rum, as he had done his father's. I observed the poor affectionate
creature, every two minutes, or
perhaps less, all the while he was
here, turn his head about to see
if his father was in the same place
and posture as he left him
sitting; and at last he found he was
not to be seen; at which he
started up, and, without speaking a
word, flew with that swiftness
to him that one could scarce
perceive his feet to touch the
ground
as he went; but when he came, he
only found he had laid himself
down to ease his limbs, so Friday
came back to me presently; and
then I spoke to the Spaniard to let
Friday help him up if he could,
and lead him to the boat, and then
he should carry him to our
dwelling, where I would take care of
him. But Friday, a lusty,
strong fellow, took the Spaniard
upon his back, and carried him
away to the boat, and set him down
softly upon the side or gunnel
of the canoe, with his feet in the
inside of it; and then lifting
him quite in, he set him close to
his father; and presently
stepping out again, launched the
boat off, and paddled it along the
shore faster than I could walk,
though the wind blew pretty hard
too; so he brought them both safe
into our creek, and leaving them
in the boat, ran away to fetch the
other canoe. As he passed me I
spoke to him, and asked him whither
he went. He told me, "Go fetch
more boat;" so away he went like the
wind, for sure never man or
horse ran like him; and he had the
other canoe in the creek almost
as soon as I got to it by land; so
he wafted me over, and then went
to help our new guests out of the
boat, which he did; but they were
neither of them able to walk; so
that poor Friday knew not what to
do. To remedy this, I went to work in my
thought, and calling to Friday
to bid them sit down on the bank
while he came to me, I soon made a
kind of hand-barrow to lay them on,
and Friday and I carried them
both up together upon it between us. But when we got them to the outside
of our wall, or fortification,
we were at a worse loss than before,
for it was impossible to get
them over, and I was resolved not to
break it down; so I set to
work again, and Friday and I, in
about two hours' time, made a very
handsome tent, covered with old
sails, and above that with boughs
of trees, being in the space without
our outward fence and between
that and the grove of young wood
which I had planted; and here we
made them two beds of such things as
I had - viz. of good rice-
straw, with blankets laid upon it to
lie on, and another to cover
them, on each bed. My island was now peopled, and I
thought myself very rich in
subjects; and it was a merry
reflection, which I frequently made,
how like a king I looked. First of
all, the whole country was my
own property, so that I had an
undoubted right of dominion.
Secondly, my people were perfectly
subjected - I was absolutely
lord and lawgiver - they all owed
their lives to me, and were ready
to lay down their lives, if there
had been occasion for it, for me.
It was remarkable, too, I had but
three subjects, and they were of
three different religions - my man
Friday was a Protestant, his
father was a Pagan and a cannibal,
and the Spaniard was a Papist.
However, I allowed liberty of
conscience throughout my dominions.
But this is by the way. As soon as I had secured my two
weak, rescued prisoners, and given
them shelter, and a place to rest
them upon, I began to think of
making some provision for them; and
the first thing I did, I
ordered Friday to take a yearling
goat, betwixt a kid and a goat,
out of my particular flock, to be
killed; when I cut off the
hinder-quarter, and chopping it into
small pieces, I set Friday to
work to boiling and stewing, and
made them a very good dish, I
assure you, of flesh and broth; and
as I cooked it without doors,
for I made no fire within my inner
wall, so I carried it all into
the new tent, and having set a table
there for them, I sat down,
and ate my own dinner also with
them, and, as well as I could,
cheered them and encouraged them.
Friday was my interpreter,
especially to his father, and,
indeed, to the Spaniard too; for the
Spaniard spoke the language of the
savages pretty well. After we had dined, or rather
supped, I ordered Friday to take one
of the canoes, and go and fetch our
muskets and other firearms,
which, for want of time, we had left
upon the place of battle; and
the next day I ordered him to go and
bury the dead bodies of the
savages, which lay open to the sun,
and would presently be
offensive. I also ordered him to
bury the horrid remains of their
barbarous feast, which I could not
think of doing myself; nay, I
could not bear to see them if I went
that way; all which he
punctually performed, and effaced
the very appearance of the
savages being there; so that when I
went again, I could scarce know
where it was, otherwise than by the
corner of the wood pointing to
the place. I then began to enter into a little
conversation with my two new
subjects; and, first, I set Friday
to inquire of his father what he
thought of the escape of the savages
in that canoe, and whether we
might expect a return of them, with
a power too great for us to
resist. His first opinion was, that
the savages in the boat never
could live out the storm which blew
that night they went off, but
must of necessity be drowned, or
driven south to those other
shores, where they were as sure to
be devoured as they were to be
drowned if they were cast away; but,
as to what they would do if
they came safe on shore, he said he
knew not; but it was his
opinion that they were so dreadfully
frightened with the manner of
their being attacked, the noise, and
the fire, that he believed
they would tell the people they were
all killed by thunder and
lightning, not by the hand of man;
and that the two which appeared
- viz. Friday and I - were two
heavenly spirits, or furies, come
down to destroy them, and not men
with weapons. This, he said, he
knew; because he heard them all cry
out so, in their language, one
to another; for it was impossible
for them to conceive that a man
could dart fire, and speak thunder,
and kill at a distance, without
lifting up the hand, as was done
now: and this old savage was in
the right; for, as I understood
since, by other hands, the savages
never attempted to go over to the
island afterwards, they were so
terrified with the accounts given by
those four men (for it seems
they did escape the sea), that they
believed whoever went to that
enchanted island would be destroyed
with fire from the gods. This,
however, I knew not; and therefore
was under continual
apprehensions for a good while, and
kept always upon my guard, with
all my army: for, as there were now
four of us, I would have
ventured upon a hundred of them,
fairly in the open field, at any
time. |
