The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe - 28

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 twenty two bushels of barley, we brought in and threshed out above two hundred and twenty bushels, 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, it would very plentifully have victualled our ship, to have carried us to any part of the 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 dexterous at this part, and often blamed me, that I did not make some things for defence of this kind of work; but I saw no need of it. And now having a full supply of food for all the guests expected, I gave the Spaniard leave to go over to the main, to see what he could do with those he left behind him there: I gave him a 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 wherever they went, would be entirely under, and subjected to his command; 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 or ink, that indeed was a question which we never asked.

Under these instructions, the Spaniard, and the old savage, (the father of Friday) went away in one of the canoes, which they might be said to come in, or rather were brought in, when they 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, charging them to be very good husbands of both, and not to use either of them but upon urgent occasions.

This was a cheerful work, being the first measures used by me in view of my deliverance 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 their countrymen for about eight days time; and wishing them a good voyage, I let them 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.

They went away with a fair gale on the day that the moon was at the full; by my account in the month of October; but as for the exact reckoning of days, after I had once lost it, I could never 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, I found I had kept a true reckoning of years.

It was no less than eight days I waited for them, when a strange and unforeseen accident intervened, of which the like has not, perhaps, been heard of in history. I was fast asleep in my 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, through my little grove, which (by the way) was by this time grown to be a very thick wood; I say, regardless of danger, I went without my arms, which was not my custom to do; but I was surprised, when, turning my eyes to the sea, I presently saw a boat at about a league and a half's distance, standing in for the shore, with a shoulder of mutton sail, as they call it, and the wind 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 be close, for these were not the people we looked for, and that we did 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; and having taken the ladder out, I climbed up to the top of the hill, as I used to do when I was apprehensive of any thing, and to take my view the plainer without being discovered.

I had scarce set my foot on the hill, when my eye plainly discovered a ship lying at an anchor, at about two leagues and a half's distance from me, S.S.E. 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 long-boat.

I cannot express the confusion I was in, though the joy of seeing a ship, and one whom I had reason to believe was manned by my own countrymen, and consequently friends, was such as I cannot describe; but yet I had some secret doubts hung about me, I cannot tell from whence they came, bidding me keep upon my guard. In the first place, it occurred to me to consider what business an English ship could have in that part of the world; since it was not the way to or from any part of the world where the English had any traffic; and 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 was, than fall into the hands of thieves and murderers.

Let no man despise the 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 observation 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 to warn us of danger, why should we not suppose they are from some friendly agent, (whether supreme, or inferior and subordinate, is not the question,) and that they are given for our good?

The present question abundantly confirms me in the justice of this reasoning; for had I not been made cautious by this secret admonition, come from whence it will, I had been undone inevitably, and in a far worse condition than before, as you will see presently.

I had not kept myself long in this posture, but I saw 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 come quite far enough, they did not see the little inlet where I formerly landed my rafts, but run their boat on shore upon the beach, at about half a mile from me, which was very happy for me; for otherwise they would have landed just, as I may say, at my door, and would have soon beaten me out of my castle, and, perhaps, have plundered me of all I had.

When they were on shore, I was fully satisfied they were Englishmen, at least most of them; one or two I thought were Dutch, but it did not prove so. There were in all eleven men, whereof three of them I found were unarmed, and (as I thought) bound; and when the first four or five of them were jumped on shore, they took those three out of the boat as prisoners: 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 prisoners as well as savage mans."--"Why," said I, "Friday, do you think they are going to eat them then"--"Yes," says Friday, "they will eat them."--"No, no," said 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 horror of the sight, expecting every moment when the three prisoners should be killed; nay, once I saw one of the villains lift up his arm with a great cutlass (as the seamen call it) or sword, to strike one of the poor men; and I expected to see him fall every moment, at which all the blood in my body seemed to run chill in my veins.

I wished heartily now for our Spaniard, and the savage that was gone with him; or that I had any way to have come undiscovered within shot of them, that I might have rescued the three 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, I observed the fellows ran scattering about the land, as if they wanted to see the country. I observed also, that the three other men had liberty to go where they pleased; but they sat down all three upon the ground very pensive, and looked like men in despair.

This put me in mind of the finest time when I came on shore, and began to look about me; 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 I knew nothing that night of the supply I was to receive by the providential driving of the ship nearer the land, by the storms and tides, by which I have since been so long nourished and 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 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, but that in the worst circumstances they have always something to be thankful for, 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.

It was just at the top of high water when these people came on shore, and while, partly they stood parleying with the prisoners they brought, and partly while they rambled about to see what kind of place they were in, they had carelessly staid till the tide was spent, and the water was ebbed considerably away, leaving their boat aground.

They had left two men in the boat, who, as I found afterwards, having drank a little too much brandy, fell asleep; however, one of them waking sooner than the other, and finding the boat 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 fore-thought, 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't ye? she'll float next tide." By which I was fully confirmed in the main inquiry, of what countrymen they were.

All this while I kept myself close, not once daring to stir out of my castle, any further than to my place of observation, near the top of the hill; and very glad I was, to think how well it was fortified. I know it was no less then ten hours before the boat could be on float again, and by that time it would be dark and I might be more at liberty to see their motions, and to hear their discourse, if they had any.

In the meantime I fitted myself up for a battle, as before, though with more caution, knowing I had to do with another kind of enemy than I had at first: I ordered Friday also, whom I had made 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 formidable goat-skin coat on, with the great cap I mentioned, a naked sword, two pistols in my belt, and a gun upon each shoulder.

It was my design, as I said above, not to have made any attempt till it was dark; but about two o'clock, being the heat of the day, I found that in short they were all gone straggling into the woods, and, as I thought, were all laid down to sleep. The three poor distressed men, too anxious 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. Immediately I marched in the figure above, my man Friday at a good distance behind me, as formidable for his arms as I, but not making quite so staring a spectre-like figure as I did.

I came as near them undiscovered as I could, and then before any of them saw me, I called aloud to them in Spanish, "What are ye gentlemen?

They started up at the noise, but were ten 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 surprized at me; perhaps you may have a friend near you when you did not expect it."—"He must be sent directly from Heaven then," said one of them very gravely to me, and pulling off 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 the brutes that came with you, I saw one of them 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: "if God had sent an angel to relieve you, he would have come better cloathed, and armed after another manner than you see me in; pray lay aside your fears, I am a man, 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?"

"Our case," said he, "Sir, is too long to tell you, while our murtherers are so near; but in short, sir, I was commander of that ship, my men have mutinied against me; they have been hardly prevailed on not to murther 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."

"Where are those brutes, your enemies," said I; "do you know where they are gone?"—"There they are, Sir," said he, pointing to a thicket of trees; "my heart trembles, for fear they have seen 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 which they left in the boat."—"Well then," said I, "leave the rest to me; I see they are all asleep, it is an 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 shew any mercy to; but if they were secured, he believed all the rest would return to their duty. I asked him, which they were? He told me he could not at that distance describe them; but he would obey my orders in any thing I would direct. "Well," says I, "let us retreat out of their view or hearing, least 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 conditions with me?" He anticipated my proposals, by telling me, that both he and the ship, if recovered, should be wholly directed and commanded by me in every thing; and if the ship was not recovered, he would live and dye with me in what part of the world soever I would send him; and the two other men said the same.

"Well," says I, "my conditions are but two. 1. That while you stay on this island with me, you will not pretend to any authority here; and if I put arms into your hands, you will upon all occasions give them up to me, and do no prejudice to me or mine, upon this island, and in the mean time 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."

He gave me all the assurance that the invention and faith of a man could devise, that he would comply with these most reasonable demands, and besides would owe his life to me, and acknowledge it upon all occasions as long as he lived.

"Well then," said I, "here are three muskets for you, with powder and ball; tell me next what you think is proper to be done." He shewed all the testimony of his gratitude that he was able; but offered to be wholly guided by me: I told him, I thought it was hard venturing any thing, but the best method I could think of, was to fire upon them at once, as they lay; and if any were 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.

He said, very modestly, that he was loath to kill them, if he could help it; but that those two were 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," said 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 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 Providence seems to have wakened them on purpose to save themselves."--"Now," said I, "if the rest escape you, it is your fault."