Itwasnoteasyformeto expresshowitmovedmetoseewhatecstasyandfilialaffectionhad 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 extravagancies 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, half an hour together, to nourish it; then he took his arms and ankles, which were numbed and stiff with thebinding, 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 action put an end to our pursuit of the canoe with the other savages who were now gottenalmostoutofsight;anditwashappyforus thatwedidnot,foritblewsohardwithin two hours after, and before they could be gotten a quarter of their way, and continued blowingsohardallnight,andthatfromthenorth-west,whichwasagainstthem,thatIcould not suppose their boat could live, or that they ever reached to 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.” So Igave him a cake of bread out of a little pouch Icarried on purpose. Ialso gave him a dram for himself, but he would not taste it, but carried it to his father. I had in my pocket also two or three bunches of my raisins, so I gave him a handful of them for his father.
Hehadnosoonergivenhisfathertheseraisins,but Isawhimcomeoutoftheboatandrunaway, as if he had been bewitched, he ran as such a rate; for he was the swiftest fellow of his foot that ever I saw. I say, he run at such a rate that he was out of sight, as it were, in an instant; and though I called, and hallooed, too, after him, it was all one, away he went; and in a quarter of an hour saw him come back again, though not so fast as he went; and as he came nearer, I found his pace was 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 hisfathersomefreshwater,andthathehadgottwomorecakesorloavesofbread.Thebread hegaveme,butthe waterhecarriedtohisfather. However,as Iwasverythirstytoo,Itooka little sip of it. This water revived his father more than all the rum or spirits I had given him, for he was just fainting with thirst.
When his father had drank, 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 veryweak,andwasreposinghimselfuponagreenplaceundertheshadeofatree;andwhose limbs were also very stiff, and very much swelled with the rude bandage he been tied with.
When I saw that upon Friday’s coming to him with the water he sat up and drank, and took thebread, andbeganto eat.Iwenttohim,andgavehimahandfulofraisins.Helookedupin my face with all the tokens of gratitude and thankfulness that could appear in any countenance;butwassoweak,notwithstandinghehadsoexertedhimselfinthefight,thathe could not stand up upon his feet. He tried to do it two or three times, but was really not able,
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hisanklesweresoswelledandsopainfultohim;soIbadehimsitstill,andcaused Fridayto 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 I then 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,whereIwould takecareofhim.ButFriday,alustystrongfellow,tooktheSpaniard quite up upon his back, and carried him away to the boat, and set him down softly upon the side of gunnel of the canoe, with his feet in the inside of it, and then lifted him quite in, and set him close to his father; and presently stepping out again, launched the boat off, and paddled it along the shore faster than Icould walk, though the wind blew pretty hard, too. So hebroughtthembothsafeintoourcreek,andleavingthemintheboat,runsawaytofetchthe 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 hewafted 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, Isoon made a kind of hand-barrow to lay them on, and Friday and I carried them up both 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 groveofyoungwoodwhichIhadplanted;andherewemadethemtwobedsofsuchthingsas Ihad, 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 mere property, so that I had an undoubted right of dominion. Secondly, my people were perfectly subjected. I was absolute lord and lawgiver; they all owned their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion of it, for me. It was remarkable, too, we 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,Iallowedlibertyofconsciencethroughoutmydominions.Butthisisbythe way.
As soon as Ihad 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 Fridaytoworktoboiling andstewing,andmadethemaverygooddish, Iassureyou,offlesh and broth, having put some barley and rice also into the broth; and as I cooked it without doors, for Imadeno fire within my innerwall, so Icarried it all into thenewtent, 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 being my interpreter, especially to his
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father,and,indeed,totheSpaniardtoo;fortheSpaniardspokethelanguageofthesavages pretty well.
After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered Friday to take one of the canoes and go and fetchourmusketsandotherfire-arms,which,forwantoftime,wehadleftupontheplaceof 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; and I also ordered him to bury the horrid remains of their barbarous feast, which I knew were pretty much, and which I could notthinkofdoingmyself;nay,Icouldnotbeartoseethem,if Iwentthatway.Allwhichhe punctually performed, and defaced 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 inquireofhis fatherwhat hethought of theescapeofthesavages in that canoe, and whether we might expect a return of them, with a power too great for us to resist. His first opinionwas,thatthesavagesintheboatnevercouldliveoutthestormwhichblewthatnight 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 their people they were all killed by thunderandlightning,notbythe.handofman;andthatthetwowhichappeared,viz.,Friday and me, 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 to one another; for it was impossible to 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 thosefourmen (for, it seems, they did escapethesea)that they believed whoever went to that enchanted island would be destroyed with fire from the gods.
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17. VisitOfMutineers
Thishowever,Iknewnot,andthereforewasundercontinualapprehensionsforagoodwhile, andkeptalwaysuponmy guard,meand allmyarmy;foraswewerenowfourofus, Iwould have ventured upon a hundred of them, fairly in the open field, at any time.
In a little time, however, no more canoes appearing, the fear of their coming wore off, and I begantotakemyformerthoughtsofavoyagetothemainintoconsideration;beinglikewise assured by Friday’s father that I might depend upon good usage from their nation, on his account, if I would go.
But my thoughts were a little suspended when I had a serious discourse with the Spaniard, andwhenIunderstoodthatthereweresixteenmoreofhiscountrymenandPortuguese,who, having been cast away, and made their escape to that side, lived there at peace, indeed, with the savages, but were very sore put to it for necessaries, and indeed for life. I asked him all theparticulars oftheirvoyage, and found they wereaSpanish ship bound from theRio dela Plata to the Havana, being directed to leave their loading there, which was chiefly hides and silver,andtobringback whatEuropeangoodstheycouldmeetwiththere; thattheyhadfive Portuguese seamen on board, whom they took out of another wreck; that five of their own men were drowned when the first ship was lost, and that these escaped, through infinite dangersandhazards,andarrived,almoststarved,onthecannibalcoast,wheretheyexpected to have been devoured every moment.
Hetoldmetheyhadsomearmswiththem,buttheywereperfectlyuseless, forthattheyhad neither powder nor ball, the washing of the sea having spoiled all their powder but a little, which they used, at their first landing, to provide themselves some food.
Iaskedhimwhathethoughtwouldbecomeofthemthere,andiftheyhadformednodesign ofmakinganyescape.Hesaidtheyhadmany consultationsaboutit;butthathavingneither vessel, or tools to build one, or provisions of any kind, their councils always ended in tears and despair.
I asked him how he thought they would receive a proposal from me, which might tend towards an escape; and whether, if they were all here, it might not be done. I told him with freedom, Ifeared mostly theirtreachery and ill-usageofmeif Iput my life in theirhands; for that gratitude was no inherent virtue in the nature of man, nor did men always square their dealings by the obligations they had received, so much as they did by the advantages they expected. Itoldhimitwouldbeveryhardthat Ishouldbetheinstrumentoftheirdeliverance, and that they should afterwards make me their prisoner in New Spain, where an Englishman was certain to be made a sacrifice, what necessity or what accident soever brought him thither; and that I had rather be delivered up to the savages, and be devoured alive, than fall into the merciless claws of the priests, and be carried into the Inquisition. I added, that otherwise I was persuaded, if they were all here, we might, with so many hands, build a bark large enough to carry us all away, either to the Brazils, southward, or to the islands, or Spanish coast, northward; but that if, in requital, they should when I had put weapons into theirhands,carrymeby force amongtheirownpeople, Imightbeillusedformykindnessto them, and make my case worse than it was before.
Heanswered,withagreatdealofcandorandingenuity,thattheirconditionwassomiserable, and they were so sensible of it, that he believed they would abhor the thought of using any man unkindly that should contribute to their deliverance; and that, if pleased, he would go to
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themwiththeoldman,anddiscoursewiththemaboutit,andreturnagain,andbringmetheir answer; that he would makeconditions with them upon theirsolemn oath that they should be absolutely under my leading, as their commander and captain; and that they should swear upontheholysacramentsandthegospeltobetrue tome,andtogotosuchChristiancountry asthat Ishouldagreeto, andnoother,andtobedirectedwhollyand absolutelybymyorders till they were landed safely in such country as I intended; and that he would bring a contract from them, under their hands, for that purpose.
Then he told me he would first swear to me himself that he would never stir from me as long ashelivedtillIgavehimorders;andthathewouldtakemysidetothelastdropofhisblood, if
there
should happen the least breach of faith among his countrymen.
He told me they were all of them very civil, honest men, and they were under the greatest distress imaginable, having neither weapons nor clothes, nor any food, but at the mercy and discretionofthesavages; outofallhopesofeverreturningtotheirowncountry;andthathe was sure, if I would undertake their relief, they would live and die by me.
Upontheseassurances, I resolvedtoventureto relievethem,ifpossible,andtosendtheold savage and this Spaniard over to them to treat. But when we had gotten all things in a readinesstogo,theSpaniardhimselfstartedanobjection,whichhadsomuchprudenceinit on one hand, and so much sincerity on the other hand, that I could not but be very well satisfied in it, and by his advice put off the deliverance of his comrades for at least half a year. The case was thus:
He had been with us now about a month, during which time Ihad let him see in what manner Ihad provided, with the assistance of Providence, for my support; and he saw evidently what stockofcorn andriceIhadlaidup;which,asitwasmorethansufficientformyself,soitwas not sufficient, at least without good husbandry, for my family, now it was increased to number four; but much less would it be sufficient if his countrymen, who were, as he said, fourteen, still alive, should come over; and least of all would it be sufficient to victual our vessel, ifweshould build oneforavoyageto any oftheChristian colonies ofAmerica. So he told me he thought it would be more advisable to let him and the two others dig and cultivate some more land, as much as I could spare seed to sow; and that we should wait another harvest, that we might have a supply of corn for his countrymen when they should come; for want might be a temptation to them to disagree, or not to think themselves delivered, otherwise than out of one difficulty into another. “You know,” says he, “the children ofIsrael, though they rejoiced at first for their being delivered out of Egypt, yet rebelled even against God Himself, that delivered them, when they came to want bread in the wilderness.”
His caution was so reasonable, and his advice so good, that I could not but be very well pleasedwithhisproposal,aswellas Iwassatisfiedwithhisfidelity.Sowefelltodiggingall four of us, as well as the wooden tools we were furnished with permitted; and in about a month’s time, by the end of which it was seed-time, we had gotten as much land cured and trimmed up as we sowed twenty-two bushels of barley on, and sixteen jars of rice; which was, in short, all the seed we had to spare; nor, indeed, did we leave ourselves barley sufficient for our own food for the six months that we had to expect our crop; that is to say, reckoningfromthetimewesetourseedasideforsowing;foritisnottobesupposeditissix months in the ground in that country.
Having now society enough, and our numbers being sufficient to put us out of fear of the savages,iftheyhadcome,unlesstheirnumberhad-beenverygreat,wewentfreelyallover theisland,whereverwefoundoccasion;andasherewehadourescapeordeliveranceupon our thoughts, it was impossible, at least for me, to have the means of it out of mine. To this
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purpose, I marked out several trees which I thought fit for our work, and I set Friday and his father to cutting them down; and then Icaused the Spaniard, to whom Iimparted my thought onthataffair,tooverseeanddirecttheirwork. Ishowedthemwithwhatindefatigablepains I had hewed alargetreeinto singleplanks, and Icaused them to do thelike, till they had made about a dozen large planks of good oak, near two feet broad, thirty-five feet long, and from two inches to four inches thick. What prodigious labor it took up, any one may imagine.
AtthesametimeIcontrivedtoincreasemylittleflockoftamegoatsasmuchas Icould;and to this purpose I made Friday and the Spaniard go out one day, and myself with Friday the next day, for we took our turns, and by this means we got above twenty young kids to breed up with the rest; for whenever we shot the dam, we saved the kids, and added them to our flock.
But above all, the season for curing the grapes coming on, I caused such a prodigious quantity to be hung up in the sun, that I believe had we been at Alicant, where the raisins of thesunare cured, wecouldhavefilledsixtyoreightybarrels;andthese,withourbread,was a great part of our food, and very good living too, I assure you; for it is an exceeding nourishing food.
It was now harvest, and our crop in good order. It was not the most plentiful increase I had seen in the island, but however, it was enough to answer our end; for from our twenty-two bushelsofbarleywebroughtinandthrashedout abovetwohundredandtwentybushels,and the like in proportion of the rice; which was store enough for our food to the next harvest, though all the sixteen Spaniards had been on shore with me; or if we had been ready for a voyage,itwouldveryplentifullyhavevictualledourshiptohavecarriedus toanypartofthe world, that is to say, of America.
When we had thus housed and secured our magazine of corn, we fell to work to make more wicker-work, viz., great baskets, in which we kept it; and the Spaniard was very handy and dextrousatthispart,and oftenblamedmethat Ididnotmakesomethingsfordefenceofthis kind of work; but I saw no need of it.
And now having a full supply of food for all the guests I expected, I gave the Spaniard leave togoovertothemain,toseewhathecoulddowiththosehehadleftbehindhimthere. Igave him strict charge in writing not to bring any man with him who would not first swear, in the presence of himself and of the old savage, that he would no way injure, fight with, or attack the person he should find in the island, who was so kind to send for them in order to their deliverance; but that they would stand by and defend him against all such attempts, and they went would be entirely under and subjected to his commands; and that this should be put in writing, and signed with their hands. How we were to have this done, when I knew they had neither pen nor ink, that indeed was a question which we never asked.
Undertheseinstructions,theSpaniardandtheoldsavage,thefatherofFriday,wentawayin oneofthecanoeswhichtheymightbesaidtocomein,orratherwerebroughtin,whenthey came as prisoners to be devoured by the savages.
I gave each of them a musket, with a firelock on it, and about eight charges of powder and ball,chargingthemtobeverygoodhusbandsofboth,andnottouseeitherofthembutupon urgent occasion.
Thiswasacheerfulwork,beingthefirstmeasuresusedbyme,inviewofmydeliverance,for now twenty-seven years and some days. I gave them provisions of bread and of dried grapes sufficient for themselves for many days, and sufficient for all their countrymen for abouteight days’time; and wishing them agood voyage, Iseethem go, agreeing with them about a signal they should hang out at their return, by which I should know them again, when they came back, at a distance, before they came on shore.
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They went away with a fair gale on the day that the moon was at full, by my account in the monthofOctober,butas foranexactreckoningofdays,afterIhadoncelostit,Icouldnever recover it again; nor had I kept even the number of years so punctually as to be sure that I was right, though as it proved, when I afterwards examined my account, Ifound Ihad kept a true reckoning of years.
It was no less than eight days Ihad waited for them, when a strange and unforeseen accident intervened,ofwhichthelikehasnotperhapsbeenheardofinhistory.Iwasfastasleepinmy hutch one morning, when my man Friday came running in to me, and called aloud, “Master, master, they are come, they are come!”
I jumped up, and regardless of danger, I went out as soon as I could get my clothes on, throughmylittlegrove,which,bytheway,wasbythistimegrowntobeaverythickwood; I say,regardlessofdanger, Iwentwithoutmyarms,whichwasnotmycustomtodo;butIwas surprisedwhen,turning myeyestothesea, Ipresentlysawaboatat aboutaleagueandhalf’s distancestanding in fortheshore, with ashoulder-of-mutton sail, as they call it, and thewind blowing pretty fair to bring them in; also I observed presently that they did not come from that side which the shore lay on, but from the southernmost end of the island. Upon this I called Friday in, and bid him lie close, for these were not the people we looked for, and that we might not know yet whether they were friends or enemies.
In the next place, I went in to fetch my perspective-glass, to see what I could make of them; andhavingtakentheladderout, Iclimbeduptothetopofthehill,as Iusedtodowhen Iwas apprehensive of anything, and to take my view the plainer, without being discovered.
Ihadscarcesetmyfootonthehill,whenmyeyeplainlydiscoveredaship lyingatananchor at about two leagues and a half’s distance from me, south-southeast, but not above a league and a half from the shore. By my observation, it appeared plainly to be an English ship, and the boat appeared to be an English longboat.
I cannot express confusion I was in; though the joy of seeing a ship, and one who I hadreasontobelievewasmannedbymyowncountrymen,andconsequentlyfriends,wassuchas Icannot describe. But yet Ihad somesecret doubts hung about me, Icannot tell from whence they came, bidding me keep upon my guard. In the first place, it occurred to me to consider whatbusinessanEnglishshipcouldhaveinthatpartoftheworld,sinceitwasnotthewayto or from any part of the world where the English had any traffic; I knew there had been no storms to drive them in there, as in distress; and that if they were English really, it was most probable that they were here upon no good design, and that I had better continue as I wasthan fall into the hands of thieves and murderers.
Let no man despise he secret hints and notices of danger which sometimes are given him when he may think there is no possibility of its being real. That such hints and notices are given us, I believe few that have made any observations of things can deny; that they are certain discoveries of an invisible world, and a converse of spirits, we cannot doubt; and if the tendency of them seems to be warn us of danger, why should we not suppose they are fromsomefriendlyagent,whethersurpreme,orinferiorandsubordinate,isnotthequestion, and that they are given for our good?
Thepresentquestionabundantlyconfirmsmeinthejusticeofthisreasoning;forhad Inot been made cautious by this secret admonition, come it from whence it will, I had been undone inevitably, and in a far worse condition than before, as you will see presently.
Ihad not kept myself long in this posture, but Isaw the boat draw near the shore, as if they looked for a creek to thrust in at, for the convenience of landing. However, as they did not comequitefarenough,theydidnotseethelittleinletwhereIformerlylandedmyrafts;but
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run their boat on shore upon the beach, at about half a mile from me, which was very happy forme;forotherwisetheywouldhavelandedjust,as Imaysay, atmydoor,andwouldsoon have beaten me out of my castle, and perhaps have plundered me of all I had.
When they were on shore, I was fully satisfied that they were Englishmen, at least most of them; oneortwo Ithought wereDutch, but it did not proveso. Therewere in all eleven men, whereof three of them I found were unarmed, and, as I thought, bound; and when the first fourorfiveofthemwerejumpedonshore,theytookthosethreeoutoftheboat,asprisoners. One of the three I could perceive using the most passionate gestures of entreaty, affliction, and despair, even to a kind of extravagance; the other two, I could perceive, lifted up their hands sometimes, and appeared concerned indeed, but not to such a degree as the first.
I was perfectly confounded at the sight, and knew not what the meaning of it should be.
Friday called out to me in English as well as he could, “O master! you see English mans eat prisoneraswellassavagemans.”“Why,”saysI,“Friday,doyouthinktheyareagoingtoeat them then?” “Yes,” says Friday, “they will eat them.” “No, no,” says I, “Friday, I am afraid they will murder them indeed, but you may be sure they will not eat them.”
All this while I had no thought of what the matter really was, but stood trembling with the horrorofthesight, expecting every moment when thethreeprisoners should bekilled; nay, once I saw one of the villains lift up his arm with a great cutlass, as the seamen call it, or sword,tostrikeoneofthepoormen;and Iexpectedtoseehimfallevery moment,atwhich all the blood in my body seemed to run chill in my veins.
Iwished heartily nowfor my Spaniard, and thesavagethat was gonewith him; orthat Ihad anywaytohavecomeundiscoveredwithinshotofthem,thatImighthaverescuedthethree men, for I saw no fire-arms they had among them; but it fell out to my mind another way.
After I had observed the outrageous usage of the three men by the insolent seamen, Iobserved the fellows run scattering about the land, as if they wanted to see the country. I observedthatthethreeothermenhadlibertytogoalsowheretheypleased; buttheysatdown all three upon the ground, very pensive, and looked like men in despair.
Thisputmeinmindofthefirsttimewhen Icameonshore,andbegantolookaboutme;how I gave myself over for lost; how wildly I looked round me; what dreadful apprehensions I had; and how I lodged in the tree all night, for fear of being devoured by wild beasts.
As Iknew nothing that night of the supply I was to receive by the providential driving of the shipnearerthelandbythestormsandtide,bywhich Ihavesincebeensolongnourishedand supported; so these three poor desolate men knew nothing how certain of deliverance and supply they were, how near it was to them, and how effectually and really they were in a condition of safety, at the same time that they thought themselves lost, and their case desperate.
So little do we see before us in the world, and so much reason have we to depend cheerfully upon the great Maker of the world, that He does not leave His creatures so absolutely destitute,butthat,intheworstcircumstances,theyhavealwayssomethingtobethankfulfor, and sometimes are nearer their deliverance than they imagine; nay, are even brought to their deliverance by the means by which they seem to be brought to their destruction.
Itwasjustatthetopofhigh-water
whenthesepeoplecameonshore;andwhilepartlythey
stoodparleyingwiththeprisonerstheybrought,andpartlywhiletheyrambledabouttosee whatkindofaplacethey werein,theyhadcarelesslystayedtillthetidewasspent,andthe water was ebbed considerably away, leaving their boat aground.
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Theyhadlefttwomenintheboat,who,asIfoundafterwards,havingdrankalittletoomuch brandy,fellasleep.However,oneofthemwaking soonerthantheother, andfindingtheboat too fast aground for him to stir it, hallooed for the rest, who were straggling about, upon which they all soon came to the boat; but it was past all their strength to launch her, the boat being very heavy, and the shore on that side being a soft oozy sand, almost like a quicksand.
In this condition, like true seamen, who are perhaps the least of all mankind given to forethought, they gave it over, and away they strolled about the country again; and I heard one of them say aloud to another, calling them off from the boat, “Why, let her alone, Jack, can’tye?shewillfloatnexttide;”bywhich Iwas fullyconfirmedinthemaininquiryofwhat countrymen they were.
All this while I kept myself very close, not once daring to stir out of my castle, any farther thantomyplaceofobservationnearthetopofthehill;andveryglad Iwas tothinkhowwell itwasfortified. Iknewitwasnolessthanoftenhoursbeforetheboatcould beonfloatagain, and by that time it would be dark, and I might be at more liberty to see their motions, and to hear their discourse, if they had any.
Inthemeantime, Ifitted myselfupforabattle,as before,thoughwithmore caution,knowing I had to do with another kind of enemy than I had at first. I ordered Friday also, whom I had an excellent marksman with his gun, to load himself with arms. I took myself two fowling-pieces, and I gave him three muskets. My figure, indeed, was very fierce. I had my formidablegoat-skincoaton,withthegreatcapIhavementioned,anakedswordbymyside, two pistols in my belt, and a gun upon each shoulder.
Itwasmydesign,as Isaidabove,nottohavemadeanyattempttillitwasdark;butabouttwo o’clock,beingtheheatof theday, Ifoundthat,in short,theywereallgone stragglingintothe woods,and,as Ithought, werelaiddowntosleep. Thethreepoordistressedmen,tooanxious for their condition to get any sleep, were, however, set down under the shelter of a great tree, at about a quarter of a mile from me, and, as I thought, out of sight of any of the rest.
Upon this I resolved to discover myself to them, and learn something of their condition.
ImmediatelyImarchedinthefigureasabove,mymanFridayatagooddistancebehindme, as formidableforhis arms as I, but not making quiteso staring aspectre-likefigure as Idid.
IcameasnearthemundiscoveredasIcould,andthen,beforeanyofthemsawme,Icalled aloud to them in Spanish, “What are ye, gentlemen?”
They started up at the noise, but were often times more confounded when they saw me, and the uncouth figure that I made. They made no answer at all, but I thought I perceived them just going to fly from me, when I spoke to them in English. “Gentlemen,” said I, “do not be surprised at me; perhaps you may have a friend near you, when you did not expect it.” “He mustbesentdirectlyfromheaven,then,”saidoneofthemverygravelyto me,andpullingoff his hat at the same time to me, “for our condition is past the help of man.” “All help is from heaven, sir,” said I. “But can you put a stranger in the way how to help you, for you seem to me to be in some great distress? I saw you when you landed; and when you seemed to make applications to thebrutes that camewith you, Isawoneofthem lift up his sword to kill you.”
The poor man, with tears running down his face, and trembling, looking like one astonished, returned, “Am I talking to God, or man? Is it a real man, or an angel?” “Be in no fear about that,sir,”said I.“IfGod hadsentanangeltorelieveyou,hewouldhavecomebetterclothed, andarmed afteranothermannerthanyouseemein.Praylayasideyourfears; Iamaman, an Englishman, and disposed to assist you, you see. I have one servant only; we have arms and ammunition; tell us freely, can we serve you? What is your case?”
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“Ourcase,”saidhe,“sir, istoolongtotellyouwhileourmurderersareso near;butinshort, sir,Iwascommanderofthatship;mymenhavemutiniedagainstme,theyhavebeenhardly prevailed on not to murder me; and at last have set me on shore in this desolate place, with these two men with me, one my mate, the other a passenger, where we expected to perish, believing the place to be uninhabited, and know not yet what to think of it.”
“Wherearethosebrutes,yourenemies?”said I. “Doyouknowwherethey aregone?” “There theylie,sir,”saidhe,pointingtoathicketoftrees. “Myhearttremblesforfeartheyhaveseen us, and heard you speak. If they have, they will certainly murder us all.”
“Have they any fire-arms?” said I. He answered they had only two pieces, and one whichtheyleftintheboat.“Wellthen,”said I,“leavethe resttome, Iseetheyare allasleep;itisan easy thing to kill them all; but shall we rather take them prisoners?” He told me there were two desperate villains among them that it was scarce safe to show any mercy to; but if they weresecured,hebelievedalltherestwouldreturntotheirduty.Iaskedhimwhichtheywere. He told me he could not at that distance describe them, but he would obey my order in anything I would direct. “Well,” says I, “let us retreat out of their view or hearing, lest they awake, and we will resolve further.” So they willingly went back with me, till the woods covered us from them.
“Look you, sir,” said I, “if I venture upon your deliverance, are you willing to make two conditionswithme?”Heanticipatedmyproposalsbytellingmethatbothheandtheship,if recovered, should be wholly directed and commanded by me in everything; and if the ship was not recovered he would live and die with me in what part of the world soever I would send him; and the two other men said the same.
“Well,”says I,“myconditionsarebuttwo.1.Thatwhileyoustayonthisislandwithme,you will not pretend to any authority here; and if I put arms into your hands, you will, upon all occasions,givethemuptome,anddonoprejudicetomeormineuponthisisland;andinthe meantime be governed by my orders. 2. That if the ship is, or may be, recovered, you will carry me and my man to England, passage free.”
Hegavemealltheassurancesthattheinventionandfaithofmancoulddevisethathewould comply with these most reasonable demands; and, besides, would owe his life to me, and acknowledge it upon all occasions, as long as lived.
“Well then,” said I, “here are three muskets for you, with powder and ball; tell me next what youthinkispropertobedone.”Heshowedallthetestimonyofhisgratitudethathewas able, but offered to be wholly guided by me. I told him I thought it was hard venturing anything; butthebestmethodIcouldthinkofwastofireuponthematonce,astheylay;andifanywas not killed at the first volley, and offered to submit, we might save them, and so put it wholly upon God’s providence to direct the shot.
Hesaidverymodestlythathewaslothtokillthemifhecouldhelpit,butthatthosetwowere incorrigible villains, and had been the authors of all the mutiny in the ship, and if they escaped, we should be undone still; for they would go on board and bring the whole ship’s company, and destroy us all. “Well then,” says I, “necessity legitimates my advice, for it is the only way to save our lives.” However, seeing him still cautious of shedding blood, I told him they should go themselves, and manage as they found convenient.
In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awake, and soon after we saw two of them on their feet. I asked him if either of them were of the men who he had said were the heads of the mutiny. He said, “No.” “Well then,” said I, “you may let them escape; and Providenceseemstohavewakenedthemonpurposetosavethemselves.Now,”saysI,“ifthe rest escape you, it is your fault.”
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Animated with this, he took the musket I had given him in his hand, and a pistol in his belt, and his two comrades with him, with each man a piece in his hand. The two men who were with him going first made some noise, at which one of the seamen who was awake turned about, and seeing them coming cried out to the rest; but it was too late then, for the moment he cried out they fired, I mean the two men, the captain wisely reserving his own piece. They had so well aimed their shot at the men they knew, that one of them was killed on the spot, and the other very much wounded; but not being dead, he started up upon his feet, and called eagerly for help to the other. But the captain stepping to him, told him It was too late to cry for help, he should call upon God to forgive his villainy; and with that word knocked him downwiththestockofhismusket,sothatheneverspokemore.Therewerethreemoreinthe company, and one of them was also slightly wounded. By this time I was come; and when they saw their danger, and that it was in vain to resist, they begged for mercy. The captain toldthemhewouldspare theirlivesiftheywouldgivehimanyassuranceoftheirabhorrence of the treachery they had been guilty of, and would swear to be faithful him in recovering the ship,andafterwardsincarryingherbacktoJamaica,fromwhencetheycame.Theygavehim all the protestations of their sincerity that could be desired, and he was willing to believe them, and spare their lives, which I was not against, only I obliged him to keep them bound hand and foot while they were upon the island.
While this was doing, I sent Friday with the captain’s mate to the boat, with orders to secure her,andbringawaytheoarsandsail,whichtheydid;andbyandbythreestragglingmenthat were (happily for them) parted from the rest, came back upon hearing the guns fired; and seeingtheircaptain,whobeforewastheirprisoner,nowtheirconqueror,theysubmittedtobe bound also, and so our victory was complete.
It now remained that the captain and I should inquire into one another’s circumstances. I began first, and told him my whole history, which he heard with an attention even to amazement;andparticularlyatthewonderfulmannerofmybeingfurnishedwithprovisions and ammunition; and, indeed, as my story is a whole collection of wonders, it affected him deeply. But when he reflected from thence upon himself, and how I seemed to have been preserved there on purpose to save his life, the tears ran down his face, and he could not speak a word more.
After this communication was at an end Icarried him and his two men intomy apartment, leadingtheminjustwhere
Icameout,viz.,atthetopofthehouse,where
Irefreshedthem
withsuchprovisionsasIhad,andshowedthemallthecontrivancesIhadmadeduringmy long,
long inhabiting that place.
All I showed them, all I said to them, was perfectly amazing; but above all, the captain admired my fortification, and how perfectly Ihad concealed my retreat with a grove of trees, which,havingbeennowplantedneartwentyyears,andthetreesgrowing muchfasterthanin England, was becomealittlewood, and so thick that it was unpassablein any part ofit but at that one side where I had reserved my little winding passage into it. I told him this was my castle and my residence, but that I had a seat in the country, as most princes have, whither I could retreat upon occasion, and Iwould show him that, too, another time; but at present our business was to consider how to recover the ship. He agreed with me as to that, but told me hewasperfectlyatalosswhatmeasurestotake,forthattherewerestillsixandtwentyhands on board, who having entered into a cursed conspiracy, by which-they had all forfeited their lives to the law, would be hardened in it now by desperation, and would carry it on, knowing that if they were reduced they should be brought to the gallows as soon as they came to England, or to any of the English colonies; and that therefore there would be no attacking them with so small a number as we were.
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I mused for some time upon what he said, and found it was a very rational conclusion, and that therefore something was to be resolved on very speedily, as well to draw the men on boardintosomesnarefortheirsurpriseastopreventtheirlandinguponus,anddestroyingus. Upon this it presently occurred to me that in a while the ship’s crew, wondering what was become of their comrades and of the boat, would certainly come on shore in their other boat toseeforthem;andthatthen,perhaps,theymightcomearmed, andbetoostrongforus.This he allowed was rational.
Upon this, I told him the first thing we had to do was to stave the boat, which lay upon the beach, so that they might not carry her off; and taking everything out of her, leave her so far uselessasnottobefittoswim.Accordinglywewentonboard,tookthearmswhichwereleft on board out of her, and whatever else we found there, which was a bottle of brandy, and another of rum, a few biscuit-cakes, a horn of powder, and a great lump of sugar in a piece of canvas–
the sugar was five or six pounds; all which was very welcome to me, especially the brandy and sugar, of which I had had none left for many years.
When we had carried all these things on shore (the oars, mast, sail, and rudder of the boat werecarriedawaybefore,asabove),weknockedagreatholeinherbottomthatiftheyhad come strong enough to master us, yet they could not carry off the boat.
Indeed, it was not much in my thoughts that we could be able to recover the ship; but my view was, that if they went away without the boat I did not much question to make her fit againtocarryusawaytotheLeewardIslands,andcalluponourfriendstheSpaniardsinmy way; for I had them still in my thoughts.
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18. TheShipRecovered
Whilewewerethus preparing ourdesigns, and had first, by main strength, heaved theboat up upon the beach so high that the tide would not fleet her off at high-water mark; and besides, had broke a hole in her bottom too big to be quickly stopped, and were sat down musing what we should do, we heard the ship fire a gun, and saw her make a waft with her ancientasasignalfortheboattocomeonboard.Butnoboatstirred;andtheyfiredseveral times, making other signals for the boat.
Atlast,whenalltheirsignalsandfiringsprovedfruitless,andtheyfoundtheboatdidnotstir, we saw them, by the help of my glasses, hoist another boat out, and row towards the shore; and we found, as they approached, that there was no less than often men in her, and that they had fire-arms with them.
Astheshiplayalmosttwoleaguesfromtheshore, wehadafullviewofthem”astheycame, and a plain sight of the men, even of their faces; because the tide having set them a little to the east of the other boat, they rowed up under shore, to come to the same place where the other had landed, and where the boat lay.
By this means, I say, we had a full view of them, and the captain knew the persons and characters of all the men in the boat, of whom he said that there were three very honest fellows, who, he was sure, were led into this conspiracy by the rest, being overpowered and frighted;butthatwasfortheboatswainwho,itseems,wasthechiefofficeramongthem,and all the rest, they were as outrageous as any of the ship’s crew, and were no doubt made desperate in their new enterprise; and terribly apprehensive he was that they would be too powerful for us.
I smiled at him, and told him that men in our circumstances were past the operation of fear; thatseeingalmostevery conditionthatcouldbewasbetterthanthatwhich weweresupposed tobein,weoughttoexpectthattheconsequence, whetherdeathorlife,wouldbesuretobea deliverance. I asked him what he thought of the circumstances of my life, and whether a deliverance were not worth venturing for. “And where, sir,” said I, “is your belief of my being preserved here on purpose to save your life, which elevated you a little while ago? For my part,” said I, “there seems to be but one thing amiss in all the prospect of it.” “What’s that?” says he. “Why,” said I, It is that, as you say, there are three or four honest fellows among them which should be spared; had they been all of the wicked part of the crew I should have thought God’s providence had singled them out to deliver them into your hands; fordepend upon it, every man ofthem that comes ashoreareourown, and shall dieorliveas they behave to us.”
As I spoke this with a raised voice and cheerful countenance, I found it greatly encouraged him; so we set vigorously to our business. We had, upon the first appearance of the boat’s comingfromtheship,consideredofseparatingourprisoners,andhad,indeed,securedthem effectually.
Twoofthem,ofwhomthecaptainwaslessassuredthanordinary,IsentwithFridayandone ofthethreedelivered men to my cave, wherethey were remoteenough, and out ofdangerof being heard or discovered, or of finding their way out of the woods, if they could have delivered themselves. Here they left them bound, but gave them provisions, and promised them, if they continued there quietly, to give them their liberty in a day or two; but that if they attempted their escape, they should be put to death without mercy. They promised
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faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and were very thankful that they had such goodusageastohaveprovisionsandalightleftthem;forFridaygavethemcandles(such as we made ourselves) for their comfort; and they did not know but that he stood sentinel over them at the entrance.
The other prisoners had better usage. Two of them were kept pinioned, indeed, because the captain was not free to trust them; but the other two were taken into my service, upon the captain’srecommendation,andupontheirsolemnlyengagingtoliveanddiewithus;sowith them and the three honest men we were seven men well armed; and I made no doubt we should be able to deal well enough with the ten that were a-coming, considering that the Captain had said there were three or four honest men among them also.
Assoonastheygottotheplacewheretheirotherboatlay,theyrantheirboatintothebeach, and came all on shore, hauling the boat up after them, which I was glad to see; for I was afraid they would rather have left the boat at an anchor some distance from the shore, with some hands in her to guard her, and so we should not be able to seize the boat.
Being on shore, the first thing they did they ran all to their other boat; and it was easy to see thattheywereunderagreatsurprisetofindher,stripped,asabove,ofallthatwasinher, and a great hole in her bottom.
Aftertheyhadmusedawhileuponthis,theysetuptwoorthreegreatshouts,hallooingwith all their might, to try if they could make their companions hear; but all was to no purpose.
Then they came all close in a ring, and fired a volley of their small-arms, which, indeed, we heard,andtheechoesmadethewoodsring.Butitwasallone;thoseinthecaveweweresure could not hear, and those in our keeping, though they heard it well enough, yet durst give no answer to them.
They were so astonished at the surprise of this, that, as they told us afterwards, they resolved to go all on board again, to their ship, and let them know there that the men were all murdered,andthelongboatstaved.Accordingly,theyimmediatelylaunchedtheirboatagain, and got all of them on board.
Thecaptainwasterriblyamazed, andevenconfoundedatthis,believingtheywouldgoon boardtheshipagain, and setsail,givingtheircomradesforlost,andsoheshouldstilllose the ship, which he was in hopes we should have recovered; but he was quickly as much frighted the other way.
They had not been long put off with the boat but we perceived them all coming on shore again;butwiththisnewmeasureintheirconduct,whichitseemstheyconsultedtogether upon, viz., to leave three men in the boat, and the rest to go on shore, and go up into the country to look for their fellows.
This was a great disappointment to us, for now we were at a loss what to do; for our seizing thosesevenmenonshorewouldbenoadvantagetousifwelettheboatescape,becausethey would then row away to the ship, and then the rest of them would be sure to weigh and set sail, and so our recovering the ship would be lost. However, we had no remedy but to wait and see what the issue of things might present. The seven men came on shore, and the three who remained in the boat put her off to a good distance from the shore, and came to an anchor to wait for them; so that it was impossible for us to come at them in the boat.
Thosethatcameonshorekeptclosetogether,marchingtowardsthetopofthelittlehillunder which my habitation lay; and we could see them plainly, though they could not perceive us.
Wecouldhavebeenvery gladtheywouldhavecomenearertous,sothat wemighthave fired at them, or that they would have gone farther off, that we might have come abroad.
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But when they were come to the brow of the hill, where they could see a great way into the valleysandwoodswhichlaytowardsthenortheastpart,andwheretheislandlaylowest,they shouted and hallooed till they were weary; and not caring, it seems, to venture far from the shore, nor far from one another, they sat down together under a tree, to consider of it. Had they thought fit to have gone to sleep there, as the other party of them had done, they had done the job for us; but they were too full of apprehensions of danger to venture to go to sleep, though they could not tell what the danger was they had to fear neither.
The captain made a very just proposal to me upon this consultation of theirs, viz., thatperhapstheywouldallfireavolleyagain,toendeavortomaketheirfellowshear,andthatwe should all sally upon them, just at the juncture when their pieces were all discharged, andthey would certainly yield, and we should have them without bloodshed. I liked the proposal, provided it was done while we were near enough to come up to them before they could load their pieces again.
But this event did not happen, and we lay still a long time, very irresolute what course to take. At length I told them there would be nothing to be done, in my opinion, till night; and then,iftheydidnotreturntotheboat,perhapswemightfindawaytogetbetweenthem and the shore, and so might use some stratagem with them in the boat to get them on shore.
We waited a great while, though very impatient for their removing; and were very uneasy when, after long consultations, we saw them start all up, and march down towards the sea. It seems they had such dreadful apprehensions upon them of the danger of the place that they resolvedtogoonboardtheshipagain,givetheircompanionsoverforlost,andsogoonwith their intended voyage with the ship.
As soon as I perceived them go towards the shore, I imagined it to be, as it really was, that theyhadgivenovertheirsearch, andwereforgoingbackagain;andthecaptain,assoonas I toldhimmythoughts,wasreadytosinkatthe apprehensionsofit;butIpresentlythoughtof a stratagem to fetch them back again, and which answered my end to a tittle.
IorderedFridayandthecaptain’smatetogooverthelittlecreekwestward,towardstheplace where the savages came on shore when Friday was rescued, and as soon as they came to a little rising ground, at about half a mile distance. I bade them halloo as loud as they could,and wait till they found the seamen heard them; that as soon as ever they heard the seamen answer them, they should return it again; and then keeping out of sight, take a round, always answering when the other hallooed, to draw them as far into the island, and among thewoods, as possible, and then wheel about again to me by such ways as I directed them.
They were just going into the boat when Friday and the mate hallooed; and they presently heard them, and answering, run along the shore westward, towards the voice they heard, whentheywerepresentlystoppedbythecreek,wherethewaterbeingup,theycouldnotget over, and called for the boat to come up and set them over, as, indeed, I expected.
When they hid set themselves over, I observed that the boat being gone up a good way into the creek, and, as it were, in a harbor within the land, they took one of the three men out of hertogoalongwiththem,andleftonlytwointheboat,havingfastenedhertothestumpofa little tree on the shore.
This was what I wished for; and immediately leaving Friday and the captain’s mate to their business, I took the rest with me, and crossing the creek out of their sight, we surprised the two men before they were aware; one of them lying on shore, and the other being in the boat.
The fellow on shore was between sleeping and waking, and going to start up. The captain, whowasforemost,ranin uponhim,andknocked himdown,andthencalledouttohiminthe boat to yield, or he was a dead man.
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There needed very few arguments to persuade a single man to yield when he saw five men uponhim,andhiscomradeknockeddown;besides,thiswas,itseems,oneofthethreewho werenotsoheartyinthemutinyastherestofthecrew,andthereforewaseasilypersuaded, not only to yield, but afterwards to join very sincerely with us.
Inthemeantime,Fridayandthecaptain’smatesowellmanagedtheirbusinesswiththerest, that they drew them, by hallooing and answering, from one hill to another, and from one wood to another, till they not only heartily tired them, but left them where they were very suretheycouldnotreachbacktotheboatbeforeitwasdark;and,indeed,theywereheartily tired themselves also by the time they came back to us.
Wehadnothingnowtodobuttowatchfortheminthedark,andtofalluponthem,soasto make sure work with them.
It was several hours after Friday came back to me before they came back to their boat; and we could hear the foremost of them, long before they came quite up, calling to those behind tocomealong,andcouldalsohearthemanswerandcomplainhowlameandtiredtheywere, and not able to come any faster; which was very welcome to us.
At length they came up to the boat; but It is impossible to express their confusion when they found the boat fast aground in the creek, the tide ebbed out, and their two men gone. We could hear them call to one another in a most lamentable manner, telling one another they were gotten into an enchanted island; that either there were inhabitants in it, and they should allbemurdered,orelsethereweredevilsandspiritsinit,andtheyshouldallbecarriedaway and devoured.
They hallooed again, and called their two comrades by their names a great many times; but no answer. After some time we could see them, by the little light there was, run about, wringingtheirhandslikemenindespair,andthatsometimestheywouldgoandsitdownin the boat to rest themselves; then come ashore again and walk about again, and so the same thing over again.
My men would fain have me give them leave to fall upon them at once in the dark; but Iwas willing to take them at some advantage, so to spare them, and kill as few of them as I could; and especially I was unwilling to hazard the killing any of our own men, knowing the other were very well armed. I resolved to wait, to see if they did not separate; and, therefore, to makesureofthem,Idrewmyambuscadenearer,andorderedFridayandthecaptaintocreep upon their hands and feet, as close to the ground as they could, that they might not be discovered, and get as near them as they could possibly, before they offered to fire.
They had not been long in that posture but that the boatswain, who was the principal ringleader of the mutiny, and had now shown himself the most dejected and dispirited of all therest,camewalkingtowardsthem,withtwomoreoftheircrew.Thecaptainwassoeager, as having this principal rogue so much in his power that he could hardly have patience to let him come so near as to be sure of him, for they only heard his tongue before, but when they came nearer, the captain and Friday, starting up on their feet, let fly at them.
Theboatswainwaskilleduponthespot;thenextmanwasshotintothebody,andfelljustby him, though he did not die till an hour or two after; and the third ran for it.
At the noise of the fire I immediately advanced with my whole army, which was now eight men,viz.,myself,generalissimo,Friday,mylieutenant-general;thecaptainandhistwomen, and the three prisoners of war, whom we had trusted with arms.
Wecameuponthem,indeed,inthedark,sothattheycouldnotseeournumber;and Imade the man we had left in the boat, who was now one of us, call to them by name, to try if I
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could bring them to a parley, and so might perhaps reduce them to terms, which fell out just aswedesired;forindeed itwaseasytothink,astheirconditionthenwas,theywouldbevery willing to capitulate. So he calls out as loud as he could to one of them, “Tom Smith! Tom Smith!”
Tom Smith answered immediately, “Who’s that? Robinson?” For it seems he knew his voice.
The other answered, “Ay, ay; for God’s sake, Tom Smith, throw down your arms and yield, or you are all dead men this moment.”
“Whomustweyieldto?Whatarethey?”saysSmithagain.“Heretheyare,”sayshe;“here’s our captain and fifty men with him, have been hunting you this two hours; the boatswain is killed, Will Frye is wounded, and I am a prisoner; and if you do not yield, you are all lost.”
“Will they giveus quarter, then,”says Tom Smith, “and we will yield?”“I’ll go and ask, if you promise to yield,” says Robinson. So he asked the captain, and the captain then calls himselfout,“You,Smith,youknowmyvoice,ifyoulaydownyourarmsimmediatelyand submit, you shall have your lives, all but Will Atkins.”
Upon this Will Atkins cried out, “For God’s sake, captain, give me quarter; what have I done?They havebeen all as bad as I;” which, by theway, was not trueneither; forit seems thisWillAtkinswasthefirstmanthatlaidholdofthecaptainwhentheyfirstmutinied,and used him barbarously, in tying his hands, and giving him injurious language. However, the captaintoldhimhemustlaydownhisarmsatdiscretion,andtrusttothegovernor’smercy; by which he meant me, for they all called me governor.
In a word, they all laid down their arms, and begged their lives; and I sent the man that had parleyedwiththemandtwomore,whoboundthemall;andthenmygreatarmyoffiftymen, which, particularly with those three, were all but eight, came up and seized upon them all, and upon their boat; only that I kept myself and one more out of sight for reasons of state.
Our next work was to repair the boat, and think of seizing the ship; and as for the captain, nowhehadleisuretoparleywiththem,heexpostulatedwiththemuponthevillainyoftheir practices with him, and at length upon the farther wickedness of their design, and how certainly it must bring them to misery and distress in the end, and perhaps to the gallows.
They all appeared very penitent, and begged hard for their lives. As for that, he told themthey were none of his prisoners, but the commander of the island; that they thought they had set him on shore in a barren, uninhabited island; but it had pleased God so to direct them that the island was inhabited, and that the governor was an Englishman; that he might hang them all there, if he pleased; but as he had given them all quarter, he supposed he would send them to England, to be dealt with there as justice required, except Atkins, whom he was commandedbythegovernortoadvisetopreparefordeath,forthathewouldbehangedinthe morning.
Though this was all a fiction of his own, yet it had its desired effect. Atkins fell upon his knees,tobegthecaptain tointercedewiththegovernorforhislife;andall therestbeggedof him, for God’s sake, that they might not be sent to England.
Itnowoccurredtomethatthetimeofourdeliverancewascome, andthat itwouldbeamost easy thing to bring these fellows in to be hearty in getting possession of the ship; so Iretired in the dark from them, that they might not see what kind of a governor they had, and called the captain to me. When I called, as at a good distance, one of the men was ordered to speak again, and say to the captain, “Captain, the commander calls for you.” And presently the captain replied,
“Tell his excellency Iam just a-coming.” This more perfectly amused them, and they all believed that the commander was just by with his fifty men.
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Upon thecaptain’s coming to me, Itold him my project forseizing theship, which heliked of wonderfully well, and resolved to put it in execution the next morning. But in order to executeitwithmoreart, andsecureofsuccess, Itoldhimwemustdividetheprisoners,and that they should go and take Atkins and two more of the worst of them, and send them pinioned to the cave where the others lay. This was committed to Friday and the two men who came on shore with the captain.
Theyconveyedthemtothecave,astoaprison.Anditwas,indeed,adismalplace,especially to men in their condition. The others I ordered to my bower, as I called it, of which I have given a full description; and as it was fenced in, and they pinioned, the place was secure enough, considering they were upon their behavior.
To these in the morning I sent the captain, who was to enter into a parley with them; in a word,totrythem,andtellmewhetherhethought theymightbetrustedornottogoonboard and surprise the ship. He talked to them of the injury done him, of the condition they were brought to; and that though the governor had given them quarter for their lives as to the present action, yet that if they were sent to England they would also he hanged in chains, to be sure; but that if they would join so just an attempt as to recover the ship, he would have the governor’s engagement for their pardon.
Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted by men in their condition. They fell down on their knees to the captain, and promised, with the deepest imprecations, that they would be faithful to him to the last drop, and that they should owe theirlivestohim,andwouldgowithhimallovertheworld;thattheywouldownhimfora father to them as long as they lived.
“Well,”saysthecaptain, “Imustgoandtellthegovernorwhatyousay,and seewhat Icando to bring him to consent to it.” So he brought me an account of the temper he found them in, and that he verily believed they would be faithful.
However, that we might be very secure, I told him he should go back again and choose out five of them, and tell them they might see that he did not want men, that he would take out those five to be his assistants, and that the governor would keep the other two and the three thatweresentprisonerstothecastle,mycave,ashostagesforthefidelityofthosefive;and that
ifthey proved unfaithful in theexecution, the fivehostages should behanged in chains alive upon the shore.
Thislookedsevere,andconvincedthemthatthegovernorwasinearnest.However,theyhad no way left them but to accept it; and it was nowthebusiness oftheprisoners, as much as of the captain, to persuade the other five to do their duty.
Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition. 1. The captain, his mate, and passenger.2.Thenthetwoprisonersofthefirstgang,towhom,havingtheircharactersfrom the captain, I had given their liberty, and trusted them with arms. 3. The other two whom I hadkepttillnowinmybower,pinioned,butupon thecaptain’smotionhad nowreleased.4. These five released at last; so that they were twelve in all, besides five we kept prisoners in the cave for hostages.
Iaskedthecaptainifhewaswillingtoventurewiththesehandsonboardtheship;forasfor me and my man Friday, I did not think it was proper for us to stir, having seven men left behind, and it was employment enough for us to keep them asunder and supply them with victuals. As to the five in the cave, I resolved to keep them fast; but Friday went in twice a daytothem,tosupplythemwithnecessaries,and Imadetheothertwocarryprovisionstoa certain distance, where Friday was to take it.
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When Ishowedmyselftothetwohostages,itwaswiththecaptain,whotoldthemIwasthe person the governor had ordered to look after them, and that it was the governor’s pleasure they should not stir anywhere but by my direction; that if they did, they should be fetched intothecastle,andbelaidinirons;sothatasweneversufferedthemtosee measgovernor, soInowappearedasanotherperson,andspokeofthegovernor,thegarrison,thecastle,and the like, upon all occasions.
The captain now had no difficulty before him but to furnish his two boats, stop the breach of one, and man them. He made his passenger captain of one, with four other men; and himself, andhismate,andfivemorewentintheother;andtheycontrivedtheirbusinessverywell,for they came up to the ship about midnight. As soon as they came within call of the ship, he madeRobinson hail them, and tell them they had brought offthemen and theboat, but that it was a long time before they had found them, and the like, holding them in a chat till they came to the ship’s side; when the captain and the mate entering first, with their arms, immediatelyknockeddownthesecondmateandcarpenterwiththebutt-endoftheirmuskets, being very faithfully seconded by their men. They secured all the rest that were upon themain and quarterdecks, and began to fasten thehatches to keep them down who werebelow; when the other boat and their men entering at the fore-chains, secured the forecastle of the ship, and the scuttle which went down into the cook-room, making three men they found there prisoners.
Whenthiswasdone,andallsafeupondeck,thecaptainorderedthemate,withthreemen,to breakintotheround-house,wherethenewrebel captainlay,andhavingtakenthealarmwas gotten up, and with two men and a boy had gotten fire-arms in their hands; and when the mate with a crow split open the door, the new captain and his men fired boldly among them, and wounded the mate with a musket-ball, which broke his arm, and wounded two more of the men, but killed nobody.
Thematecallingforhelp,rushed,however,intotheround-housewoundedashewas,and with his pistol shotthenewcaptain through thehead, thebullet entering at his mouth and cameoutagainbehindoneofhisears,sothathe neverspoke aword;uponwhichtherest yielded, and the ship was taken effectually, without any more lives lost.
As soon as the ship was thus secured, the captain ordered seven guns to be fired, which was thesignalagreeduponwithmetogivemenoticeofhissuccess,whichyou maybesureIwas very glad to hear, having sat watching upon the shore for it till near two of the clock in the morning.
Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me down; and it having been a day of great fatigue to me I slept very sound, till I was something surprised with the noise of a gun; and presently starting up, I heard a man call me by the name of “Governor,” “Governor,” and presently I knew the captain’s voice; when climbing up to the top of the hill, there he stood, andpointingtotheshipheembracedmeinhisarms.“Mydearfriendanddeliverer,”sayshe, “there’s your ship, for she is all yours, and so are we, and all that belong to her.” I cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode within little more than half a mile of the shore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as they were masters of her, and the weather being fair had brought her to an anchor just against the mouth of the little creek, and the tide being up, the captain had brought the pinnace in near the place where I at first landed my rafts, and so landed just at my door.
Iwasatfirstreadytosinkdownwiththesurprise; forIsawmydeliverance,indeed,visibly put into my hands, all things easy, and a large ship just ready to carry me away whither I
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pleasedtogo.Atfirst,forsometime,Iwasnotabletoanswerhimoneword;butashehad taken me in his arms, I held fast by him, or I should have fallen to the ground.
He perceived the surprise, and immediately pulls a bottle out of his pocket, and gave me a dram of cordial, which he had brought on purpose for me. After I had drank it, I sat down upontheground;andthoughitbroughtmetomyself,yetitwasagoodwhilebeforeIcould speak a word to him.
All this while the poor man was in as great an ecstasy as I, only not under any surprise, as I was; and he said a thousand kind, tender things to me, to compose me and bring me to myself.Butsuchwasthefloodofjoyinmybreast thatitputallmyspiritsintoconfusion.At last it broke out into tears, and in a little while after I recovered my speech.
Then Itookmyturn,and embracedhimasmydeliverer, andwerejoicedtogether. Itoldhim I looked upon him as a man sent from heaven to deliver me, and that the whole transaction seemed to be a chain of wonders; that such things as these were the testimonies we had of a secret hand of Providence governing the world, and an evidence that the eyes of an infinite Power could search into the remotest corner of the world, and send help to the miserable whenever He pleased.
I forgot not to lift up my heart in thankfulness to heaven; and what heart could forbear to blessHim,whohadnotonlyinamiraculouspowerprovidedforoneinsuchawilderness, and in such a desolate condition, but from whom every deliverance must always be acknowledged to proceed?
When we had talked a while, the captain told me he had brought me some little refreshment, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretches that had been so long his masters had not plundered him of. Upon this he called aloud to the boat, and bid his men bring the things ashore that were for the governor; and, indeed, it was a present as if I had been one, not that wastobecarried away alongwiththem,butasifIhadbeentodwellupontheislandstill,and they were to go without me.
First, hehad brought meacaseofbottles full ofexcellent cordial waters, six largebottles of Madeira wine (the bottles held two quarts a-piece), two pounds of excellent good tobacco, twelvegoodpiecesoftheship’sbeef,andsixpiecesofpork,withabagofpeas,andabouta hundredweight of biscuit.
He brought me also a box of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of lemons, and two bottles of lime-juice, and abundance of other things; but besides these, and what was a thousand times moreusefultome,hebroughtmesixcleannewshirts,sixverygoodneck-cloths,twopairof gloves, one pair of shoes, a hat, and one pair of stockings, and a very good suit of clothes of his own, which had been worn but very little; in a word, he clothed me from head to foot.
It was a very kind and agreeable present, as any one may imagine, to one in my circumstances;butneverwasanythingintheworldofthatkindsounpleasant,awkward,and uneasy, as it was to me to wear such clothes at their first putting on.
After these ceremonies passed, and after all his good things were brought into my little apartment, we began to consult what was to be done with the prisoners we had; for it was worthconsideringwhetherwemightventuretotakethemaway withusorno,especiallytwo of them, whom we knew to be incorrigible and refractory to the last degree; and the captain saidheknewthey weresuchroguesthattherewas noobligingthem;andifhedidcarrythem away, it must be in irons, as malefactors, to be delivered over to justice at the first English colony he could come at; and I found that the captain himself was very anxious about it.
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Upon this I told him that, if he desired it, I durst undertake to bring the two men he spoke of tomakeittheirownrequestthatheshouldleavethemupontheisland.“Ishouldbeveryglad of that,”
says the captain, “with all my heart.”
“Well,”saysI,“Iwillsendforthemup,andtalkwiththemforyou.”SoIcauseFridayand the two hostages, for they were now discharged, their comrades having performed their promise; I say, I cause them to go to the cave and bring up the five men, pinioned as they were, to the bower, and keep them there till I came.
After some time I came thither, dressed in my new habit; and now I was called governor again. Being all met, and thecaptain with me, Icaused themen to bebrought beforeme, and I told them I had had a full account of their villainous behavior to the captain, and how they had run away with the ship, and were preparing to commit farther robberies, but that Providencehadensnaredthemintheirownways,andthattheywerefallenintothepitwhich they had digged for others.
I let them know that by my direction the ship had been seized, that she lay now in the road, andtheymightsee,byandby,thattheirnewcaptainhadreceivedtherewardofhisvillainy, for that they might see him hanging at the yardarm; that as to them, I wanted to know what they had to say why I should not execute them as pirates, taken in the fact, as by my commission they could not doubt I had authority to do.
One of them answered in the name of the rest that they had nothing to say but this, that when they were taken the captain promised them their lives, and they humbly implored my mercy.
But Itold them Iknew no what mercy to show them; for as for myself, Ihad resolved to quit the island with all my men, and had taken passage with the captain to go for England. And as forthecaptain,hecould notcarrythemtoEnglandotherthanasprisoners inirons,tobetried for mutiny, and running away with the ship; the consequence of which, they must needs know, would be the gallows; so that I could not tell which was best for them, unless they had a mind to take their fate in the island. If they desired that, I did not care, as I had liberty to leave it. I had some inclination to give them their lives, if they thought they could shift on shore.
Theyseemedverythankfulforit,saidtheywouldmuchratherventuretostaytherethantobe carried to England to be hanged; so I left it on that issue.
However, the captain seemed to make some difficulty of it, as if he durst not leave themthere.
Upon this I seemed a little angry with the captain, and told him that they were my prisoners, not his; and that seeing I had offered them so much favor, I would be as good as myword;andthatifhedidnotthinkfittoconsenttoit,Iwouldsetthemat liberty,as Ifound them; and if he did not like it, he might take them again if he could catch them.
Upon this they appeared very thankful, and I accordingly set them at liberty, and bade them retireintothewoodstotheplacewhencetheycame,and Iwouldleavethemsomefire-arms, some ammunition, and some directions how they should live very will, if they thought fit.
UponthisIpreparedtogoonboardtheship,buttoldthecaptainthat Iwouldstaythatnight to prepare my things, and desired him to go on board in the meantime, and keep all right in the ship, and send the boat on shore the next day for me; ordering him, in the meantime, to cause the new captain, who was killed, to be hanged at the yard-arm, that these men might see him.
When the captain was gone, I sent for the men up to me to my apartment, and entered seriously into discourse with them of their circumstances. I told them I thought they had madearightchoice;that ifthecaptaincarriedthemaway,theywouldcertainlybehanged. I
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showedthemthenewcaptainhangingattheyard-armoftheship,andtoldthemtheyhad nothing less to expect.
Whentheyhad alldeclaredtheirwillingnesstostay,Ithentoldthem Iwouldlettheminto the story of my living there, and put them into the way of making it easy to them.
Accordingly Igavethem thewholehistoryoftheplace,andofmycomingtoit,showedthem my fortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my corn, cured my grapes; and in aword, all that was necessary to make them easy. I told them the story also of the sixteen Spaniards that were to be expected, for whom I left a letter, and made them promise to treat them in common with themselves.
I left them my fire-arms, viz., five muskets, three fowling-pieces, and three swords. I had above a barrel and half of powder left; for after the first year or two I used but little, and wastednone. Igavethem adescriptionoftheway Imanagedthegoats,and directionstomilk and fatten them, and to make both butter and cheese.
In a word, I gave them every part of my own story, and I told them I would prevail with the captain to leave them two barrels of gunpowder more, and some garden seeds, which I told themIwouldhavebeen verygladof.Also Igavethemthebagofpeaswhichthecaptainhad brought me to eat, and bade them be sure to sow and increase them.
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19. ReturnToEngland
Having done all this, I left them the next day, and went on board the ship. We prepared immediatelytosail,butdidnotweighthatnight.Thenextmorningearlytwoofthefivemen came swimming to the ship’s side, and making a most lamentable complaint of the other three, begged to be taken into the ship for God’s sake, for they should be murdered, and begged the captain to take them on board, though he hanged them immediately.
Uponthisthecaptainpretendedtohavenopowerwithoutme;butaftersomedifficulty,and after their solemn promises of amendment, they were taken on board, and were some time after soundly whipped and pickled, after which they proved very honest and quiet fellows.
Some time after this the boat was ordered on shore, the tide being up, with the things promisedtothemen,towhichthecaptain,atmyintercession,causedtheirchestsandclothes to be added, which they took, and were very thankful for. I also encouraged them by telling them that if it lay in my way to send any vessel to take them in, I would not forget them.
When I took leave of this island, I carried on board, for relics, the great goat-skin cap I had made,myumbrella,andmyparrot;alsoIforgotnottotakethemoneyIformerlymentioned, which had lain me so long useless that it was grown rusty or tarnished, and could hardly; as also the money I found in the wreck of the Spanish ship.
And thus Ileft the island, the 19th of December, as I found by the ship’s account, in the year 1686, after I had been upon it eight and twenty years, two months, and nineteen days, being deliveredfromthissecondcaptivitythesameday ofthemonththatIfirstmademyescapein the barco-longo, from among the Moors of Sallee.
Inthisvessel, afteralongvoyage, IarrivedinEngland,the11thofJune,intheyear1687, having been thirty and five years absent.
When I came to England I was a perfect a stranger to all the world as if I had never been known there. My benefactor and faithful steward, whom I had left in trust with my money, was alive, but had had great misfortunes in the world, was become a widow the second time, and very low in the world. Imade her easy as to what she owed me, assuring her that Iwould givehernotrouble;butonthecontrary,ingratitudetoherformercareandfaithfulnesstome, I relieved her as my little stock would afford; which, at that time, would indeed allow me to do but little for her; but I assured her Iwould never forget her former kindness to me, nor did I forget her when I had sufficient to help her, as shall be observed in its place.
I went down afterwards into Yorkshire; but my father was dead, and my mother and all the familyextinct,exceptthatIfoundtwosisters,and twoofthechildrenofoneofmybrothers; andas Ihadbeenlongagogivenoverfordead,therehadbeennoprovisionmadeforme;so that, in a word, Ifound nothing to relieve or assist me; and that little money Ihad would not do much for me as to settling in the world.
Imetwithonepieceofgratitude,indeed,which Ididnotexpect;andthiswas,thatthemaster of the ship whom I had so happily delivered, and by the same means saved the ship and cargo, having given a very handsome account to the owners of the manner how I had saved the lives of the men, and the ship, they invited me to meet them, and some other merchants concerned, and all together made me a very handsome compliment upon the subject, and a present of almost L200 sterling.
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But after making several reflections upon the circumstances of my life, and how little way thiswouldgotowardssettlingmeintheworld,IresolvedtogotoLisbon,andseeifImight not come by some information of the state of my plantation in the Brazils, and of what was become of my partner, who I had reason to suppose had some years now given me over for dead.
WiththisviewItookshippingforLisbon,whereIarrivedinAprilfollowing;mymanFriday accompanying me very honestly in all these ramblings, and proving a most faithful servant upon all occasions.
When I came to Lisbon, I found out, by inquiry, and to my particular satisfaction, my old friend,thecaptainoftheshipwhofirsttookmeupatseaofftheshoreofAfrica. Hewasnow grown old, and had left off the sea, having put his son, who was far from a young man, into his ship, and who still used the Brazil trade. The old man did not know me; and, indeed, I hardly knewhim; but Isoon brought him to my remembrance, and as soon brought myselfto his remembrance when I told him who I was.
Aftersomepassionateexpressionsoftheoldacquaintance,Iinquired,youmaybesure,after my plantation and my partner. The old man told me he had not been in the Brazils for about nine years; but that he could assure me that, when he came away, my partner was living; but the trustees, whom I had joined with him to take cognizance of my part, were both dead.
That, however, he believed that I would have a very good account of the improvement of the plantation; for that upon the general belief of my being cast away and drowned, my trustees had given in the account of the produce of my part of the plantation to the procurator-fiscal, whohadappropriatedit, incaseInevercametoclaimit,one-thirdtotheking,andtwo-thirds to the monastery of St. Augustine, to be expended for the benefit of the poor, and for the conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith; but that if I appeared, or any one for me, to claim the inheritance, it should be restored; only that the improvement or annual production, being distributed to charitable uses, could not be restored. But he assured me that the steward oftheking’srevenuefromlands,andtheprovedidore,orstewardofthemonastery,hadtaken great care all along that the incumbent, that is to say, my partner, gave every year a faithful account of the produce, of which they received duly my moiety.
I asked him if he knew to what height of improvement he had brought the plantation, and whetherhethoughtitmightbeworthlookingafter;orwhether, onmygoingthither,Ishould meet with no obstruction to my possessing my just right in the moiety.
He told me he could not tell exactly to what degree the plantation was improved; but this he knew, that my partner was grown exceeding rich upon the enjoying but one-half of it; and that, to thebest ofhis remembrance, hehad heard that theking’s third ofmy part, which was, it seems, granted away to some other monastery or religious house, amounted to above two hundred moidores a year. That as to my being restored to a quiet possession of it, there wasnoquestiontobemadeofthat,mypartnerbeingalivetowitnessmytitle,andmynamebeing also enrolled in the register of the country. Also he told me that the survivors of my two trustees were very fair, honest people, and very wealthy; and he believed I would not only have their assistance for putting me in possession, but would find a very considerable sum of money in their hands for my account, being the produce of the farm while their father heldthe trust, and before it was given up, as above; which, as he remember, was for about twelve years.
Ishowedmyselfalittleconcerned
anduneasyatthisaccount,andinquired
oftheoldcaptain
howitcametopassthatthetrusteesshouldthusdisposemyeffects,whenheknewthat Ihad made my will, and had made him, the Portuguese captain, my universal heir, &c.
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Hetoldme,thatwastrue;butthatastherewasno proofofmybeingdead, hecouldnotactas executor until some certain account should come of my death; and that besides, he was not willing to intermeddle with a thing so remote; that it was true he had registered my will, and put in his claim; and could he have given any account of my being dead or alive, he would have acted by procuration, and taken possession of the ingenio, so they called the sugar- house, and had given his son, who was now at the Brazils, order to do it.
“But,”saystheoldman, “Ihaveonepieceofnewstotellyou,whichperhapsmaynotbeso acceptable to you as the rest; and that is, that believing you were lost, and all the world believing so also, your partner and trustees did offer to account to me, in your name, for six or eight of the first years of profits, which I received; but there being at that time,” says he,
“greatdisbursementsforincreasingtheworks,buildinganingenio,andbuyingslaves,itdid not amount to near so much as afterwards it produced. However,” says the old man, “Ishall give you a true account of what I have received in all, and how I have disposed of it.”
Afterafewdays’fartherconferencewiththisancientfriend,hebroughtmeanaccountofthe six first years’ income of my plantation, signed by my partner and the merchant-trustees, being always delivered in goods, viz., tobacco in roll, and sugar in chests, besides rum, molasses, etc. which is the consequence of a sugar-work; and I found, by this account, that every year the income considerably increased; but, as above, the disbursement being large, the sum at first was small. However, the old man let me see that he was debtor to me 470 moidores of gold, besides 60 chests of sugar, and 15 double rolls of tobacco, which were lost inhisship,hehavingbeenshipwrecked cominghometoLisbon,aboutelevenyears aftermy leaving the place.
The good man then began to complain of his misfortunes, and how he had been obliged to makeuseofmymoneytorecoverhislosses,and buyhimashareinanewship.“However, my old friend,” says he, “you shall not want a supply in your necessity; and as soon as my son returns, you shall be fully satisfied.”
Uponthishepullsoutanoldpouch,andgivesme160Portugalmoidoresingold;andgiving me the writing of his title to the ship, which his son was gone to the Brazils in, of which he was a quarter-part owner, and his son another, he puts them both into my hands for security of the rest.
I was too much moved with the honesty and kindness of the poor man to be able to bear this; and remembering what he had done for me, how he had taken me up at sea, and how generously he had used me on all occasions, and particularly how sincere a friend he wasnowtome, Icouldhardlyrefrainweeping atwhat hesaidtome;thereforefirstIaskedhimin his circumstances admitted him to spare so much money at that time, and if it would not straiten him. He told me he could not say but it might straiten him a little; but, however, it was my money, and I might want it more than he.
Everything the good man said was full of affection, and I could hardly refrain from tears while he spoke; in short, Itook 100 of the moidores, and called for a pen and ink to give him a receipt for them. Then I returned him the rest, and told him if ever I had possession of the plantation,Iwould return theothertohimalso,as,indeed, Iafterwardsdid;andthatastothe bill of sale of his part in his son’s ship, Iwould not take it by any means; but that if Iwanted the money, I found he was honest enough to pay me; and if I did not, but came to receive what he gave me reason to expect, I would never have a penny more from him.
When this was passed, the old man began to ask me if he should put me into a method to makemyclaimtomyplantation.Itoldhim Ithoughttogooveritmyself.Hesaid Imightdo so if I pleased; but that if I did not, there were ways enough to secure my right, and
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immediately to appropriate the profits to my use; and as there were ships in the river of LisbonjustreadytogoawaytoBrazil,hemade meentermynamein apublicregister,with hisaffidavit,affirming,uponoath,thatIwasalive,andthat Iwasthesamepersonwhotook up the land for the planting the said plantation at first.
Thisbeingregularlyattestedbyanotary,andaprocurationaffixed,hedirectedmetosendit, with a letter of his writing, to a merchant of his acquaintance at the place, and then proposed my staying with him till an account came of the return.
Never anything was more honorable than the proceedings upon this procuration; for in less thansevenmonths Ireceivedalargepacketfromthesurvivorsofmytrustees,themerchants, for whose account I went to sea, in which were the following particular letters and papers enclosed.
First, there was the account-current of the produce of my farm or plantation from the year whentheirfathershadbalancedwithmyoldPortugalcaptain,beingforsixyears;thebalance appeared to be 1,174 moidores in my favor.
Secondly,therewastheaccountoffouryearsmore,whiletheykepttheeffectsintheirhands, before the government claimed the administration, as being the effects of a person not to be found, which they called civil death; and the balance of this, the value of the plantation increasing, amounted to 38,892 crusadoes, which made 3,241 moidores.
Thirdly, there was the prior of the Augustines’ account, who had received the profits for above fourteen years; but not being able to account for what was disposed to the hospital, veryhonestlydeclaredhehad872moidoresnotdistributed,whichheacknowledgedtomy account; as to the king’s part, that refunded nothing.
There was a letter of my partner’s, congratulating me very affectionately upon my being alive,givingmeanaccounthowtheestatewasimproved,andwhatitproducedayear,witha particular of the number of squares or acres that it contained; how planted, how many slaves there were upon it, and making two and twenty crosses for blessings, told me he had said so many Ave Marias to thank the blessed Virgin that I was alive; inviting me very passionately to come over and take possession of my own; and in the meantime, to give him orders to whomheshoulddelivermyeffects,ifIdidnotcomemyself;concludingwithaheartytender of his friendship, and that of his family; and sent me as a present seven fine leopards’ skins, which he had, it seems, received from Africa by some other ship which he had sent thither, and who, it seems, had made a better voyage than I. He sent me also five chests of excellent sweetmeats, and a hundred pieces of gold uncoined, not quite so large as moidores. By the same fleet, my two merchant trustees shipped me 1,200 chest of sugar, 800 rolls of tobacco, and the rest of the whole account in gold.
I might well say now, indeed, that the latter end of Job better than the beginning. It is impossible to express the flutterings of my very heart when I looked over these letters, and especially when I found all my wealth about me; for as the Brazil ship come all in fleets, the same ships which brought my letters brought my goods, and the effects were safe in the river before the letters came to my hand. In a word, I turned pale, and grew sick; and had not the oldmanrunandfetchedmeacordial,IbelievethesuddensurpriseofjoyhadoversetNature, and I had died upon the spot.
Nay,afterthat Icontinuedveryill,andwassosomehours,tillaphysicianbeingsentfor,and something of the real cause of my illness being known, he ordered me to be let blood, after which Ihadrelief,andgrewwell;but Iverilybelieve,ifithadnotbeen easedbyaventgiven in the manner to the spirits, I should have died.
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I was now master, all on a sudden, of above L5,000 sterling in money, and had an estate, as I might well call it, in the Brazils, of above a thousand pounds a year, as sure as an estate of landsinEngland;andinaword, Iwasinaconditionwhich Iscarceknewhowtounderstand, or how to compose myself for the enjoyment of it.
The first thing I did was to recompense my original benefactor, my good old captain, who hadbeenfirstcharitabletomeinmydistress,kindtomeinmybeginning,andhonesttome at the end.
I showed him all that was sent me. I told him that, next to the providence of Heaven, whichdisposes allthings,itwasowingtohim;andthatitnowlayonmetoreward him, which I would do a hundredfold. So Ifirst returned to him the hundred moidores Ihad received of him; then I sent for a notary, and caused him to draw up a general release or discharge for the 470 moidores which he had acknowledged he owed me in the fullest and firmest manner possible; after which Icause a procuration to be drawn, empowering him to be my receiver of the annual profits of my plantation, and appointing my partner to account to him, and make the returns by the usual fleets to him in my name; and a clause in the end, being a grant of 100 moidores a year to him, during his life, out of the effects, and 50 moidores a year to his son after for his life; and thus I requited my old man.
Iwas nowto considerwhich way to steermy coursenext, and what to do with theestatethat Providencehasthusputintomyhands;and,indeed,Ihadmore careupon myheadnowthan I had in my silent state of life in the island, where I wanted nothing but what I had, and had nothingbutwhatIwanted;whereas Ihadnowagreatchargeuponme,andmybusinesswas how to secure it. I had neer a cave now to hide my money in, or a place where it might lie without lock or key till it grew mouldy and tarnished before anybody would meddle with it. On the contrary, I knew not where to put it, or whom to trust with it. My old patron, the captain, indeed, was honest, and that was the only refuge I had.
In the next place, my interest in the Brazils seemed to summon me thither; but now I could not tell how to think of going thither till Ihad settled my affairs, and left my affects in some safehandsbehindme.At firstIthoughtofmyold friendthewidowwho Iknewwashonest, andwouldbejusttome;butthenshewasinyears,andbutpoor,andforaughtIknewmight be in debt; so that, in a word, I had no way but to go back to England myself, and take my effects with me.
It was some months, however, before I resolved upon this; and therefore, as I had rewarded the old captain fully, and to his satisfaction, who had been my former benefactor, so I began to think of my poor widow, whose husband had been my first benefactor, and she, while it was in her power, my faithful steward and instructor. So the first thing Idid, Igot a merchant in Lisbon to write his correspondent in London, not only to pay a bill, but to go find her out, and carry her in money a hundred pounds from me, and to talk with her, and comfort her in herpoverty,bytellinghersheshould,ifIlived,haveafurthersupply.AtthesametimeIsent my two sisters in the country each of them an hundred pounds, they being, though not in want,yetnotinverygoodcircumstances;onehavingbeenmarried,andleftawidow;andthe other having a husband not so kind to her as he should be.
Butamongallmyrelationsoracquaintances, Icouldnotyetpitchupononetowhom Idurst commit the gross of my stock, that I might go away to the Brazils, and leave things safe behind me; and this greatly perplexed me.
I had once a mind to have gone to the Brazils and have settled myself there, for I was, as it were,naturalizedtotheplace.But Ihadsomelittlescrupleinmymindaboutreligion,which insensibly drew me back, of which I shall say more presently. However, it was not religion that kept me from going there for the present; and as I had made no scruple of being openly
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of the religion of the country all the while I was among them, so neither did I yet; only that, nowand then, having the latethought moreofthan formerly, when Ibegan to think ofliving anddyingamongthem,Ibegantoregretmyhavingprofessedmyselfapapist,andthoughtit might not be the best religion to die with.
But, as I have said, this was not the main thing that kept me from going to the Brazils, but thatreally Ididnotknowwithwhomtoleavemyeffectsbeindme;so Iresolved,atlast,to go to England with it, where, if arrived, I concluded I should make some acquaintance, or find some relations, that would be faithful to me; and accordingly I prepared to go for England, with all my wealth.
In order to prepare things for my going home, I first, the Brazil fleet being just going away, resolvedtogiveanswerssuitabletothejustandfaithfulaccountofthingsIhadfromthence. And first, to the prior of St. Augustine I wrote a letter full of thanks for their just dealings, and theofferofthe872 moidores which was undisposed of, which Idesired might begiven, 500 to the monastery, and 372 to the poor, as the prior should direct, desiring the good padre’s prayers for me, and the like.
Iwrotenext aletterofthankstomytwotrustees,withalltheacknowledgmentthatsomuch justice and honesty called for. As for sending them any present, they were far above having any occasion of it.
Lastly, I wrote to my partner, acknowledging his industry in the improving the plantation, and his integrity in increasing the stock of the works, giving him instructions for his future government of my part, according to the powers I had left with my old patron, to whom I desired him to send whatever became due to me till he should hear from me more particularly; assuring him that it was my intention not only to come to him, but to settle myselftherefortheremainderofmylife.Tothis Iaddedaveryhandsomepresentofsome Italian silks forhis wifeand two daughters, forsuch thecaptain’s son informed mehehad, with two pieces of fine English broadcloth, and best I could get in Lisbon, five pieces of black baize, and some Flanders lace of a good value.
Having thus settled my affairs, sold my cargo, and turned all my effects into good bills of exchange,mynextdifficultywaswhichwastogotoEngland.Ihadbeenaccustomedenough to the sea, and yet I had a strange aversion to going to England by sea at that time; andthough I could give no reason for it, yet the difficulty increased upon me so much, thatthough I had once shipped my baggage in order to go, yet I altered my mind, and that not once, but two or three times.
Itistruethat Ihadbeen veryunfortunatebysea, andthismightbesomeofthereason;butlet no man slight the strong impulses of his own thoughts in cases of such moment. Two of the ships which I had singled out to go in, I mean more particularly singled out than any other, that is to say, so as in one of them to put my things on board, and in the other way to have agreed with the captain; I say, two of these ships miscarried, viz., one was taken by the Algerines, and the other was cast away on the Start, near Torbay, and all the people drowned except three; so that in either of those vessels Ihad been made miserable; and in which most, it was hard to say.
Having been thus harassed in my thoughts, my old pilot, to whom I communicated everything,pressedmeearnestlynottogobysea,buteithertogobylandtotheGroyne,and cross over the Bay of Biscay to Rochelle, from whence it was an easy and safe journey by land to Paris, and so to Calais and Dover; or to go up to Madrid, and so all the way by land through France.
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In aword, Iwassoprepossessedagainstmygoingbyseaatall,exceptfromCalaistoDover, thatIresolvedtotravelallthewaybyland;which as Iwasnotinhaste, anddidnotvaluethe charge, was by much the pleasanter way. And to make it more so, my old captain brought an English gentleman, theson ofamerchant in Lisbon, who was willing to travel with me; after which we picked up two or more English merchants also, and two young Portuguese gentlemen, the last going to Paris only; so that we were in all six of us, and five servants, besides my man Friday, who was too much astrangerto becapableofsupplying theplaceof a servant on the road.
In this manner I set out from Lisbon; and our company being all very well mounted and armed, we made a little troop, whereof they did me the honor to call me captain, as well becauseIwastheoldestman,asbecauseIhadtwoservants,andindeedwastheoriginalof the whole journey.
As Ihave troubled you with none of my sea journals, so Ishall trouble you now with none of mylandjournal;butsomeadventuresthathappenedtousinthistediousanddifficultjourney I must not omit.
When we came to Madrid, we being all of us strangers to Spain, were willing to stay some timetothecourtofSpain,andtoseewhatwasworthobserving;butitbeingthelatterpartof the summer we hastened away, and set out from Madrid about the middle of October; but when we cameto the edgeofNavarre, we werealarmed at several towns on theway with an account that so much snow was fallen on the French side of the mountains that several travelers were obliged to come back to Pampeluna, after having attempted, at an extreme hazard, to pass on.
When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it so indeed; and to me, that had been always used to a hot climate, and indeed to countries where we could scarce bear any clothes on, the coldwasinsufferable;norindeedwasitmorepainfulthanitwassurprisingtocomebutoften days before out of the old Castile, where the weather was not only warm, but very hot, and immediatelytofeelawindfromthePyreneanmountainssoverykeen,soseverelycold,asto be intolerable, and to endanger benumbing and perishing of our fingers and toes.
PoorFridaywasreallyfrightenedwhenhesawthemountainsallcoveredwithsnow,andfelt cold weather, which he had never seen or felt before in his life.
To mend the matter, when we came to Pampeluna it continued snowing with so much violence, and so long, that the people said winter was come before its time; and the roads, whichweredifficultbefore,werenowquiteimpassable;for,inaword,the snowlayinsome places too thick for us to travel, and being not hard frozen, as is the case in northern countries, there was no going without being in danger of being buried alive every step. We stayed no less than twenty days at Pampeluna; when seeing the winter coming on, and no likelihood of its being better, for it was the severest winter all over Europe that had been knowninthememoryofman,IproposedthatweshouldallgoawaytoFontarabia,andthere take shipping for which was a very little voyage.
Butwhilewewereconsideringthis,therecameinfourFrenchgentlemen,whohavingbeen stoppedontheFrenchsideofthepasses,aswe wereontheSpanish,had foundoutaguide, who, traversing the country near the head of Languedoc, had brought them over the mountains by such ways that they were not much incommoded by the snow; and were they met with snow in any quantity, they said it was frozen hard enough to bear them and their horses.
We sent for his guide, who told us he would undertake to carry us the same way with no hazardfromthesnow,providedwewerearmedsufficientlytoprotectusfromwildbeasts;
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forhesaid,uponthesegreatsnowsitwasfrequent forsomewolvestoshowthemselvesatthe foot of the mountains, being made ravenous for want of food, the ground being covered with snow.
We told him we were well enough prepared for such creatures as they were, if hewould ensureus from akind oftwo-legged wolves, which, weweretold, wewerein themost danger from, especially on the French side of the mountains.
Hesatisfiedustherewas nodangerofthatkindinthewaythatweweretogo;sowereadily agreed to follow him, as did also twelve other gentlemen, with their servants, some French, some Spanish, who, as I said, had attempted to go, and were obliged to come back again.
Accordingly, we all set out from Pampeluna, with our guide, on the 15th of November; and, indeed, I was surprised when, instead of going forward, he came directly back with us on the sameroadthatwecamefromMadrid,abovetwentymiles;whenbeingpassedtworivers,and come into the plain country, we found ourselves in a warm climate again, where the country was pleasant, and no snow to be seen; but on a sudden, turning to his left, he approached the mountains another way; and though it is true the hills and precipices looked dreadful, yet he made so many tours, such meanders, and led us by such winding ways, that we were insensibly passed the height of the mountains without being much encumbered with thesnow; and all on a sudden he showed us the pleasant fruitful provinces of Languedoc and Gascogn, all green and flourishing, though, indeed, it was at a great distance, and we had some rough way to pass yet.
We were a little uneasy, however, when we found it snowed one whole day and a night so fastthatwecouldnottravel;buthebidusbeeasy,weshouldsoonbepast itall.Wefound, indeed, that we began to descend every day, and to come more north than before; and so, depending upon our guide, we went on.
It was about two hours before night when, our guide being something before us, and not just in sight, out rushed three monstrous wolves, and after them a bear, out of a hollow way adjoining to a thick wood. Two of the wolves flew upon the guide, and had he been half a mile before us he had been devoured, indeed, before we could have helped him. One of them fastened upon his horse, and the other attacked the man with that violence that he had not time, or not presence of mind enough, to draw his pistol, but hallooed and cried out to usmostlustily.MymanFridaybeingnexttome, Ibidhimrideup,andseewhatwasthematter. As soon as Friday came in sight of the man, he hallooed as loud as t’ other, “O master! O master!”
but, like a bold fellow, rode directly up to the poor man, and with his pistol shot the wolf that attacked him into the head.
It was happy for the poor man that it was my man Friday, for he having been used to that kindofcreatureinhiscountry,hadnofearuponhim,butwentcloseuptohimandshothim, as above; whereas any of us would have fired at a farther distance, and have perhaps either missed the wolf, or endangered shooting the man.
But it was enough to have terrified a bolder man than I; and, indeed, it alarmed all our company, when, with the noise of Friday’s pistol, we heard on both sides the dismallest howlingofwolves;andthenoise,redoubledbytheechoofthemountains,thatitwastousas if there had been a prodigious multitude of them; and perhaps indeed there was not such a few as that we had no cause of apprehensions.
However, as Friday had killed this wolf, the other that had fastened upon the horse left him immediatelyandfled,havinghappilyfasteneduponhishead,wherethebossesofthebridle had stuck in his teeth, so that he had not done him much hurt. The man, indeed, was most hurt; for the raging creature had bit him twice, once on the arm, and the other time a little
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abovehisknee;andhewasjust,asitwere,tumblingdownbythedisorderofhishorse,when Friday came up and shot the wolf.
It is easy to suppose that at the noise of Friday’s pistol we all mended our pace, and rid up as fastastheway,whichwasverydifficult,shouldgiveusleave,toseewhat wasthematter.As soon as we came clear of the trees, which blinded us before, we saw clearly what had been the case, and how Friday had disengaged the poor guide, though we did not presently discern what kind of creature it was he had killed.
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20. FightBetweenFridayAndABear
But never was a fight managed so hardily, and in such a surprising manner, as that which followed between Friday and the bear, which gave us all, though at first we were surprised and afraid forhim, thegreatest diversion imaginable. As thebearis aheavy, clumsy creature, anddoesnotgallopasthewolfdoes,whoisswift andlight,ashehastwoparticularqualities, whichgenerallyaretheruleofhisactions;first,astomen,whoarenothis properprey; Isay, nothisproperprey,because,thoughIcannotsay whatexcessivehungermightdo,whichwas now their case, the ground being all covered with snow; but as to men, he does not usually attempt them, unless they first attack him. On the contrary, if you meet him in the woods, if you don’t meddle with him, he won’t meddle with you; but then you must take care to bevery civil to him, and give him the road, for he is a very nice gentleman. He won’t go a step outofhiswayforaprince;nay,ifyouarereallyafraid,yourbestwayistolookanotherway, and keep going on; for sometimes if you stop, and stand still, and look steadily at him, he takes it foran affront; but ifyou throwortoss anything at him, and it hits him, though it were but a bit of a stick as big as your finger, he takes it for an affront, and set all his otherbusiness aside to pursue his revenge; for he will have satisfaction in point of honor. That is his first quality; thenext is, that ifhebeonce affronted, hewill neverleaveyou, night orday, till he has his revenge, but follows, at a good round rate, till he overtakes you.
My man Friday had delivered our guide, and when we came up to him he was helping him off from his horse; for the man was both hurt and frighted, and indeed the last more than the first;when,onthesudden,wespiedthebearcomeoutofthewood,and avastmonstrousone it was, the biggest by far that ever Isaw. We were all a little surprised when we saw him; but whenFridaysawhim,itwaseasytoseejoyandcourageinthefellow’scountenance. “O!O! O!” says Friday, three times pointing to him. “O master! you give me the leave; me shakee the hand with him; me make you good laugh.”
I was surprised to see the fellow so pleased. “You fool you,” says I, “he will eat you up.”
“Eatee me up! eatee me up!” says Friday, twice over again; “me eatee him up; me make you good laugh; you all stay here, me show you good laugh.” So down he sits, and gets his boots offinamoment,andput onapairofpumps,aswecalltheflatshoesthey wear, andwhichhe had in his pocket, gives my other servant his horse, and with his gun away he flew, swift like the wind.
Thebearwaswalkingsoftlyon,andofferedtomeddlewithnobodytillFriday,comingpretty near, calls to him, as if the bear could understand him, “Hark ye, hark ye,” says Friday, “me speakee wit you.” We followed at a distance; for now being come down on the Gascogn side ofthemountains,wewereenteredavastgreatforest.,wherethecountrywasplainandpretty open, though many trees in it scattered here and there.
Friday, who had, as we say, the heels of the bear, came up with him quickly, and takes up a great stone and throws at him, and hit him just on the head, but did him no harm than if he hadthrownitagainstawall.ButitansweredFriday’send,fortheroguewassovoidoffear, that he did it purely to make the bear follow him, and show us some laugh, as he called it.
As soon as the bear felt the stone, and saw him, he turns about, and comes after him, taking devilish long strides, and shuffling along at a strange rate, so as would have put a horse to a middling gallop. Away runs Friday, and takes his course as if he run towards us for help; so weallresolvedtofireat onceuponthebear,and delivermyman;though Iwasangry athim heartily for bringing the bear back upon us, when he was going about his own business
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another way; and especially I was angry that he had turned the bear upon us, and then run away; and I called out, “You dog,” said I, “is this your making us laugh? Come away, and take your horse, that we may shoot the creature.” He hears me, and cries out, “No shoot, no shoot; stand still, you get much laugh.” And as the nimble creature run two feet for the beast’s one, he turned on a sudden, on one side of us, and seeing a great oak tree fit for his purpose,hebeckonedtoustofollow;anddoublinghispace,hegetnimblyupthetree,laying his gun down upon the ground, at about five or six yards from the bottom of the tree.
The bear soon came to the tree, and we followed at a distance. The first thing he did, he stoppedatthegun,smelttoit,butletitlie,anduphescramblesintothetree,climbinglikea cat, though so monstrously heavy. I was amazed at the folly, as I though it, of my man, and could not for my life see anything to laugh at yet, till seeing the bear get up the tree, we all rode nearer to him.
When we came to the tree, there was Friday got out to the small end of a large limb of the tree,andthebeargotabouthalfwaytohim.Assoonasthebeargotouttothatpartwherethe limb of the tree was weaker, “Ha!” says he to us, “now you see me teachee the bear dance.” So hefalls a-jumping and shaking thebough, at which thebearbegan to totter, but stood still, and began to look behind him, to see how he should get back. Then, indeed, we did laugh heartily. But Friday had not done with him again, as if he had supposed the bear could speak English,“What,younocomefarther?prayyoucomefarther;”soheleftjumpingandshaking the tree; and the bear, just as if he had understood what he said, did come a little farther; then he fell a-jumping again, and the bear stopped again.
We thought now was a good time to knock him on the head, and I called to Friday to stand still, and we would shoot the bear; but he cried out earnestly, “O pray! O pray! no shoot, me shoot by and then;” he would have said by and by. However, to shorten the story, Friday dancedsomuch,andthebearstoodsoticklish,thatwehadlaughingenoughindeed,butstill could not imagine what the fellow would do; for first we thought he depended upon shaking the bear off; and we found the bear was too cunning for that too; for he would not go out far enough to be thrown down, but clings fast with his great broad claws and feet, so that we could not imagine what would be the end of it, and where the jest would be at last.
ButFridayputusoutofdoubtquickly;forseeing thebear clingfasttothe bough,andthathe wouldnotbepersuadedtocomeanyfarther, “Well,well,”saysFriday,“younocomefarther, me go, me go; you no come to me, me go come to you;” and upon this he goes out to the smallestendofthebough,whereitwouldbend withhisweight,andgentlyletshimselfdown byit,slidingdowntheboughtillhecamenearenoughtojumpdownonhisfeet,and awayhe ran to his gun, takes it up, and stands still.
“Well,” said I to him, “Friday, what will you do now? Why don’t you shoot him?” “No shoot,” says Friday, “no yet; me shoot now, me no kill; me stay, give you one more laugh.”
And, indeed, so he did, as you will see presently; for when the bear sees his enemy gone, he comes back from the bough where he stood, but did it mighty leisurely, looking behind him every step, and coming backward till he got into the body of the tree; then with the same hinderendforemosthecomesdownthetree,graspingitwithhisclaws,andmovingonefoot at a time, very leisurely. At this juncture, and just before he could set his hind feet upon the ground,Fridaysteppedupclosetohim,clappedthemuzzleofhispieceintohisear,andshot him dead as a stone.
Then the rogue turned about to see if we did not laugh; and when he saw we were pleased by ourlooks,hefallsa-laughinghimselfveryloud.“Sowekillbearinmycountry,”saysFriday.
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“Soyoukillthem?”saysI;“why,youhavenoguns.”“No,”sayshe,“nogun,butshootgreat much long arrow.”
This was indeed a good diversion to us; but we were still in a wild place, and our guide very muchhurt,andwhattodowehardlyknew.Thehowlingofthewolvesran muchinmyhead; and indeed, except the noise I once heard on the shore of Africa, of which I have said something already, I never heard anything that filled me with so much horror.
Thesethings,andtheapproachofnight,calledusoff,orelse,asFridaywouldhavehadus, we should certainly have taken the skin of this monstrous creature off, which was worth saving;butwehadthreeleaguestogo,andourguidehastenedus;sowelefthim,andwent forward on our journey.
The ground was still covered with snow, though not so deep and dangerous as on the mountains; and the ravenous creatures, as we heard afterwards, were come down into the forest and plain country, pressed by hunger, to seek for food, and had done a great deal of mischiefinthevillages,wheretheysurprisedthecountrypeople,killedagreatmanyoftheir sheep and horses, and some people, too.
We had one dangerous place to pass, which our guide told us if there were any more wolves in the country we should find them there; and this was in a small plain, surrounded with woodsoneveryside, and alongnarrowdefile,orlane,whichweweretopasstogetthrough the wood, and then we should come to the village where we were to lodge.
It was within halfan hourofsunset when weentered thefirst wood, and a littleaftersunset when we came into the plain. We met with nothing in the first wood, except that, in a little plain within the wood, which was not above two furlongs over, we saw five great wolves cross the road, full speed, one after another, as if they had been in chase of some prey, and had it in view; they took no notice of us, and were gone and out of our sight in a few moments.Uponthisourguide,who,bytheway,wasawretchedfaintheartedfellow,bidus keep in a ready posture, for he believed there were more wolves a-coming.
We kept our arms ready, and our eyes about us; but we saw no more wolves till we came throughthatwood,whichwasnearhalfaleague,andenteredtheplain.Assoonaswecame into the plain, we had occasion enough to look about us. The first object we met with was a dead horse, that is to say, a poor horse which the wolves had killed, and at least a dozen of them at work; we could not say eating of him, but picking of his bones rather, for they had eaten up all the flesh before.
We did not think fit to disturb them at their feast, neither did they take much notice of us.
Friday would have let fly at them, but I would not suffer him by any means, for I found we were like to have more business upon our hands than we were aware of. We were not gone half over the plain, but we began to hear the wolves howl in the wood on our left in afrightful manner, and presently after we saw about a hundred coming on directly towards us, all in a body, and most of them in a line, as regularly as an army drawn up by experienced officers. I scarce knew in what manner to receive them, but found to draw ourselves in aclose line was the only way; so we formed in moment; but that we might not have too much interval, Iorderedthatonlyeveryothermanshouldfire,andthattheothers whohadnotfired should stand ready to give them a second volley immediately, if they continued to advance uponus;andthatthenthosewhohadfiredatfirstshouldnotpretendtoloadtheirfusesagain, but stand ready with every one a pistol, for we were all armed with a fusee and a pair of pistols each man; so we were, by this method, able to fire six volleys, half of us at a time.
However, at present we had no necessity; for upon firing the first volley the enemy made a fullstop,beingterrifiedaswellwiththenoiseaswiththefire.Fourofthembeingshotinto
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the head, dropped; several others were wounded, and went bleeding off, as we could see by the snow. I found they stopped, but did not immediately retreat; whereupon, remembering thatIhadbeentoldthatthefiercestcreatureswereterrifiedatthevoiceofaman,Icauseall our company to halloo as loud as we could, and I found the notion not altogether mistaken, for upon our shout they began to retire and turn about. Then Iordered a second volley to be fired in their rear, which put them to the gallop, and away they went to the woods.
This gave us leisure to charge our pieces again; and that we might lose no time we kept going. But we had but little more than loaded our fusees, and put ourselves into a readiness, whenweheard aterriblenoiseinthesamewood, onourleft,only,thatitwasfartheronward, the same way we were to go.
The night was coming on, and the light began to be dusky, which made it worse on our side; butthenoiseincreasing,wecouldeasilyperceivethatitwasthehowlingandyellingofthose hellish creatures; and on a sudden, we perceived two or three troops of wolves, one on our left, one behind us, and one on our front, so that we seemed to be surrounded with them.
However,astheydidnotfalluponuswekeptourwayforwardasfastaswecouldmakeour horses go, which, the way being very rough, was only a good large trot, and in this manner we came in view of the of a wood, though which we were to pass, at the farther side of the plain; but we were greatly surprised when, coming nearer the lane, or pass, we saw a confused number of wolves standing just at the entrance.
On a sudden, at another opening of the wood, we heard the noise of a gun, and looking that way, out rushed a horse, with a saddle and a bridle on him, flying like the wind, and sixteen or seventeen wolves after him, full speed; indeed, the horse had the heels of them; but as we supposedthathecouldnotholditatthatrate,wedoubtednotbuttheywouldgetupwithhim at last, and no question but they did.
Butherewehadamosthorriblesight;forridinguptotheentrancewherethehorsecameout, we found the carcass of another horse and of two men, devoured by the ravenous creatures; and one of the men was no doubt that same whom we heard fire the gun, for there lay a gun just by him fired off; but as to the man, his head and the upper part of his body was eaten up.
This filled us with horror, and weknewnot what courseto take; but thecreatures resolved us soon, for they gathered about us presently in hopes of prey, and I verily believe there were three hundred of them. It happened very much to our advantage that, at the entrance into the wood,butalittlewasfromit,therelaysomelargetimber-trees,whichhadbeencutdownthe summer before, and I suppose lay there for carriage. I drew my little troop in among those trees, and placing ourselves in a line behind one long tree, I advised them all to light, and keeping that tree before us for a breastwork, to stand in a triangle or three fronts, enclosing our horses in the centre.
We did so, and it was well we did; for never was a more furious charge than the creatures made upon us in the place. They came on us with a growling kind of a noise, and mountedthe piece of timber, which, as I said, was our breastwork, as if they were only rushing upon their prey; and this fury of theirs, it seems, was principally occasioned by their seeing our horsesbehindus,whichwasthepreytheyaimedat.Iorderedourmentofireasbefore,every other man; and they took their aim so sure that indeed they killed several of the wolves at the first volley; but there was a necessity to keep a continual firing, for they came on like devils, those behind pushing on those before.
When we had fired our second volley of our fusees, we thought they stopped a little, and I hopedtheywouldhavegoneoffbutitwasbutamoment,forotherscameforwardagain;so
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wefiredtwovolleysofourpistols;andIbelieveinthesefourfiringswehadkilledseventeen or eighteen of them, and lamed twice as many, yet they came on again.
Iwaslothtospendourlastshottoohastily;soIcalledmyservant,notmymanFriday, forhe was better employed, for with the greatest dexterity imaginable he had charged my fusee and his own while we were engaged; but as I said, I called my other man, and giving him a horn of powder, I bade him lay a train all along the piece of timber, and let it be a large train. He did so, and had but just time to get away when the wolves came up to it, and some were got upuponit,whenI,snappinganunchargedpistolclosetothepowder,setitonfire.Thosethat were upon the timber were scorched with it, and six or seven of them fell, or rather jumped,in among us with the force and fright of the fire. We despatched these in an instant, and the rest were so frighted with the light, which the night, for it was now very near dark, mademare terrible, that they drew back a little; upon which I ordered our last pistol to be fired off in one volley, and after that we gave a shout. Upon this the wolves turned tail, and we sallied immediately upon near twenty lame ones, whom we found struggling on the ground, and fell a-cutting them with our swords, which answered our expectation; for the crying and howling they made was better understood by their fellows, so that they all fled and left us.
Wehad,firstandlast,killedaboutthreescoreofthem,andhaditbeendaylightwehadkilled many more. The field of battle being thus cleared, we made forward again, for we had still near a league to go. We heard the ravenous creatures howl and yell in the woods as we went several times, and sometimes we fancied we saw some of them, but the snow dazzling our eyes, we were not certain. So in about an hour more we came to the town where we were to lodge, which we found in a terrible fright, and all in arms; for it seems that the night before thewolvesandsomebearshadbrokeintothevillageinthenight,andputthemintoaterrible fright; and they were obliged to keep guard night and day, but especially in the night, to preserve their cattle, and, indeed, their people.
The next morning our guide was so ill, and his limbs swelled with the rankling of his two wounds, that he could go no farther; so we were obliged to take a new guide there, and go to Toulouse, where we found a warm climate, a fruitful, pleasant country, and no snow, no wolves, or anything like them. But when we told our story at Toulouse, they told us it was nothing but what was ordinary in the great forest at the foot of the mountains, especiallywhen thesnowlay on the ground; but they inquired much what kind ofaguidewehad gotten that would venture to bring us that way in such a severe season, and told us it was very much wewerenot all devoured. When wetold them howweplaced ourselves, and thehorses in the middle, they blamed us exceedingly, and told us it was a fifty to one but we had been all destroyed; for it was the sight of the horses which made the wolves so furious, seeing their prey; and that, at other times, they are really afraid of a gun; but the being excessive hungry, and raging on that account, the eagerness to come at the horses had made them senseless of dangerandthatifwehad not,bythecontinuedfire,andatlastbythestratagemofthetrainof powder, mastered them, it had been great odds but that we had been torn to pieces; whereas had we been content to have sat still on horseback, and fired as horsemen, they would not have taken the horses for so much their own, when men were on their backs, as otherwise;and withal they told us, that at last, if we had stood all together, and left our horses, they would have been so eager to have devoured them, that we might have come off safe, especially having our fire-arms in our hands, and being so many in number.
For my part, I was never so sensible of danger in my life; for seeing above three hundred devils come roaring and open-mouthed to devour us, and having nothing to shelter us or retreatto,Igavemyselfoverforlost;andasitwas,IbelieveIshallnevercareto crossthose
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mountainsagain.IthinkIwouldmuchrathergoathousandleaguesbysea,thoughIwere sure to meet with a storm once a week.
Ihave nothing uncommon to take notice of in my passage through France; nothing but what other travellers have given an account of with much more advantage than I can. I travelled fromToulousetoParis,andwithoutanyconsiderablestaycametoCalais,andlandedsafeat Dover, the 14 of January, after having had a severe cold season to travel in.
Iwasnowcometothecentreofmytravels, andhadinalittletimeallmynew-discovered estate safe about me, the bills of exchange which I brought with me having been very currently paid.
My principal guide and privy councillor was my good ancient widow; who, in gratitude for themoney Ihadsenther, thoughtnopainstoomuch,orcaretoogreat,toemployforher;and I trusted her so entirely with everything that I was perfectly easy as to the security of my effects; and indeed I was very happy from my beginning, and now to the end, in theunspotted integrity of this good gentlewoman.
And now I began to think of leaving my effects with this woman and setting out for Lisbon, and so to the Brazils. But now another scruple came in my way, and that was religion; for I hadentertainedsomedoubtsabouttheRomanreligionevenwhileIwasabroad,especiallyin my state of solitude, so I knew there was no going to the Brazils for me, much less going to settle there, unless I resolved to embrace the Roman Catholic religion without any reserve; unlessontheotherhand Iresolvedtobeasacrificetomyprinciples,beamartyrforreligion, and die in the Inquisition. So I resolved to stay at home, and if I could find means for it, to dispose of my plantation.
To this purpose I wrote to my old friend at Lisbon, who in return gave me notice that he could easily dispose of it there; but that if I thought fit to give him leave to offer it in my nametothetwomerchants,thesurvivorsofmytrustees,wholivedintheBrazils,whomost fully understand the value of it, who lived just upon the spot, and whom I knew were very rich,sothathebelievedtheywouldbefondofbuyingit,hedidnotdoubtbutIshouldmake 4,000 or 5,000 pieces of eight the more of it.
Accordingly I agreed, gave him order to offer it to them, and he did so; and in about eight months more, the ship being then returned, he sent me an account that they had accepted the offer,andhadremitted33,000piecesofeighttoacorrespondentoftheirsatLisbontopayfor it.
In return, I signed the instrument of sale in the form which they sent from Lisbon, and sent it to my old man, who sent mebills ofexchange for 32,800 pieces of eight to me, fortheestate; reserving the payment of 100 moidores a year to him, the old man, during his life, and 50
moidores afterwards to his son for this life, which I had promised them, which the plantation wastomakegoodas arent-charge.Andthus Ihavegiventhefirstpartofalifeoffortuneand adventure, a life of Providence’s checker-worker, and of a variety the world will seldom be able to show the like of; beginning foolishly, but closing much more happily than any part of it ever gave me leave so much as to hope for.
Any one would think that in this state of complicated good fortune I was past running any more hazards; and so indeed I had been, if other circumstances had concurred. But I was inured to a wandering life, had no family, not many relations, nor, however rich, had I contracted much acquaintance; and though Ihad sold my estate in the Brazils, yet Icould not keepthecountryoutofmyhead,andhad agreat mindtobeuponthewingagain;especially I could not resist the strong inclination I had to see my island, and to know if the poor Spaniards were in being there, and how the rogues I left there had used them.
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My truefriend,the widow, earnestly dissuadedmefrom it,and so farprevailed with me,that for almost seven years she prevented my running abroad, during which time I took my two nephews, the children of one of my brothers, into my care. The eldest having something of his own, I bred up as a gentleman, and gave him a settlement of some addition to his estate aftermydecease.TheotherIputouttoacaptain ofaship,andafterfiveyears,findinghima sensible,bold,enterprisingyoungfellow, Iputhimintoagoodship,andsenthimtosea;and this young fellow afterwards drew me in, as old as I was, to farther adventures myself.
In the meantime, Iin part settled myself here; for, first of all, Imarried, and that not either to my disadvantage or dissatisfaction, and had three children, two sons and one daughter; but my wife dying, and my nephew coming home with good success from a voyage to Spain, my inclinationtogoabroad,andhisimportunity,prevailed,andengagedmetogoinhisshipasa private trader to the East Indies. This was in the year 1694.
In this voyage I visited my new colony in the island, saw my successors the Spaniards, had the whole story of lives, and of the villains I left there; how at first they insulted the poor Spaniards, how they afterwards agreed, disagreed, united, separated, and how at last the Spaniardswereobligedtouseviolencewiththem;howtheyweresubjectedtotheSpaniards; howhonestlytheSpaniardsusedthem;ahistory,ifitwere enteredinto,as fullofvarietyand wonderful accidents as my own part; particularly also as to their battles with the Caribbeans, who landed several times upon the island, and as to the improvement they made upon the island itself; and how five of them made an attempt upon the mainland, and brought away eleven men and five women prisoners, by which, at my coming, I found about twenty young children on the island.
HereIstayedabouttwentydays,leftthemsuppliesofallnecessarythings,andparticularlyof arms,powder,shot,clothes,tools,andtwoworkmen,whichIbroughtfromEnglandwithme, viz., a carpenter and a smith.
Besides this, I shared the island into parts with them, reserved to myself the property of the whole,butgavethemsuchpartsrespectivelyastheyagreedon;andhavingsettledallthings with them, and engaged them not to leave the place, I left them there.
From thence I touched at the Brazils, from whence I sent a bark, which I bought there, with more people, to the island; and in it, besides other supplies, I sent seven women, being such as Ifoundproperforservice,orfor wivestosuch aswouldtakethem.AstotheEnglishmen, Ipromised them to send them some women from England, with a good cargo of necessaries, if they would apply themselves to planting; which I afterwards performed; and the fellows proved very honest and diligent after they were mastered, and had their properties set apart forthem. Isentthemalso fromtheBrazilsfivecows,threeofthembeingbigwithcalf,some sheep, and some hogs, which, when I came again, were considerably increased.
But all these things, with an account how three hundred Caribbees came and invaded them, andruinedtheirplantations,andhowtheyfought withthatwholenumbertwice,andwereat first defeated and three of them killed; but at last a storm destroying their enemies’ canoes, they famished or destroyed almost all the rest, and renewed and recovered the possession of theirplantation,andstilllivedupontheisland;—allthesethings,withsomeverysurprising incidents, in some new adventures of my own, for often years more, I may perhaps give a farther account of hereafter.
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21. Sports Betting: Fundamentals and Innovations
in the New Realities
Sports betting has been a part of human history for centuries, providing excitement and entertainment to millions of enthusiasts worldwide. Over time, the industry has undergone significant transformations, adapting to the changing needs and preferences of its audience.
In recent years, the rise of online betting platforms has revolutionized the way people engage in sports gambling. This article delves into the fundamentals of sports betting, exploring its evolution and the innovations brought about by modern technology in the new realities of the betting world.
The Fundamentals of Sports Betting:
At its core, sports betting involves placing wagers on the outcome of sporting events.
Whether it's a cricket match, football game, basketball tournament, or horse racing event, punters can stake their money on various outcomes, ranging from the winner of the match to specific in-game events or statistics. The odds associated with each bet determine the potential payout, reflecting the probability of an event occurring. The concept of odds is crucial to sports betting, as it allows players to calculate their potential winnings and make informed decisions.
Online Betting Platforms:
The advent of the internet brought about a transformative shift in the sports betting landscape. Online betting platforms like Odds96 have become popular choices for bettors due to their convenience and accessibility. Players no longer need to visit physical bookmakers; instead, they can place bets from the comfort of their homes or even on the go through mobile applications. The ease of use and 24/7 availability have significantly contributed to the industry's growth.
Innovations in Sports Betting:
1)Wide Variety of Games: One of the notable innovations in sports betting is the expansion of available markets. Odds96, for instance, offers a vast selection of bets on various sports, catering to the diverse interests of players. From popular sports like CricketX, football, and tennis to niche disciplines, the options are virtually limitless, ensuring that every sports enthusiast can find a game of their liking.
2)High Bets and Bonuses: To enhance the betting experience, online casinos like Odds96
offer high betting limits, allowing players to wager according to their preferences and strategies. Furthermore, generous bonuses and promotions are provided to new and existing customers, providing additional incentives to engage in betting activities. They also have a nice bonus when you sign up
3)Demo Accounts and Game Guides: For newcomers to sports betting or those exploring new games, demo accounts and game guides are invaluable resources. Odds96 has implemented a demo account feature, enabling players to practice their betting skills without risking real money. Additionally, game guides offer valuable insights into the rules and strategies of different sports, ensuring a more enjoyable and informed betting experience.
4)Live Dealers and Table Games: Besides sports betting, online casinos like Odds96 offer a
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diverse range of casino games. Players can enjoy the thrill of table games and interact with real dealers through live streaming technology, bringing the casino experience to their screens.
Sports betting has come a long way, evolving from traditional bookmakers to cutting-edge online platforms like Odds96. The accessibility, variety, and innovative features provided by these platforms have reshaped the betting landscape, attracting a new generation of players and providing unparalleled entertainment. As technology continues to advance, we can expect further innovations that will revolutionize the sports betting experience. However, while embracing these innovations, responsible gambling should always be emphasized, ensuring that betting remains a form of entertainment rather than a financial burden. So, whether you're an experienced punter or a novice exploring the world of sports betting, the new realities offer an array of opportunities to experience the thrill of the game.