CHAPTER XVI. RESCUE OF PRISONERS FROM CANNIBALS

Upon the whole, I was by this time so fixed upon my design of going

over with him to the continent that I told him we would go and make one

as big as that, and he should go home in it. He answered not one word,

but looked very grave and sad. I asked him what was the matter with

him. He asked me again, “Why you angry mad with Friday?—what me done?”

I asked him what he meant. I told him I was not angry with him at all.

“No angry!” says he, repeating the words several times; “why send

Friday home away to my nation?” “Why,” says I, “Friday, did not you say

you wished you were there?” “Yes, yes,” says he, “wish we both there;

no wish Friday there, no master there.” In a word, he would not think

of going there without me. “I go there, Friday?” says I; “what shall I

do there?” He turned very quick upon me at this. “You do great deal

much good,” says he; “you teach wild mans be good, sober, tame mans;

you tell them know God, pray God, and live new life.” “Alas, Friday!”

says I, “thou knowest not what thou sayest; I am but an ignorant man

myself.” “Yes, yes,” says he, “you teachee me good, you teachee them

good.” “No, no, Friday,” says I, “you shall go without me; leave me

here to live by myself, as I did before.” He looked confused again at

that word; and running to one of the hatchets which he used to wear, he

takes it up hastily, and gives it to me. “What must I do with this?”

says I to him. “You take kill Friday,” says he. “What must I kill you

for?” said I again. He returns very quick—“What you send Friday away

for? Take kill Friday, no send Friday away.” This he spoke so earnestly

that I saw tears stand in his eyes. In a word, I so plainly discovered

the utmost affection in him to me, and a firm resolution in him, that I

told him then and often after, that I would never send him away from me

if he was willing to stay with me.

Upon the whole, as I found by all his discourse a settled affection to

me, and that nothing could part him from me, so I found all the

foundation of his desire to go to his own country was laid in his

ardent affection to the people, and his hopes of my doing them good; a

thing which, as I had no notion of myself, so I had not the least

thought or intention, or desire of undertaking it. But still I found a

strong inclination to attempting my escape, founded on the supposition

gathered from the discourse, that there were seventeen bearded men

there; and therefore, without any more delay, I went to work with

Friday to find out a great tree proper to fell, and make a large

periagua, or canoe, to undertake the voyage. There were trees enough in

the island to have built a little fleet, not of periaguas or canoes,

but even of good, large vessels; but the main thing I looked at was, to

get one so near the water that we might launch it when it was made, to

avoid the mistake I committed at first. At last Friday pitched upon a

tree; for I found he knew much better than I what kind of wood was

fittest for it; nor can I tell to this day what wood to call the tree

we cut down, except that it was very like the tree we call fustic, or

between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much of the same colour

and smell. Friday wished to burn the hollow or cavity of this tree out,

to make it for a boat, but I showed him how to cut it with tools;

which, after I had showed him how to use, he did very handily; and in

about a month’s hard labour we finished it and made it very handsome;

especially when, with our axes, which I showed him how to handle, we

cut and hewed the outside into the true shape of a boat. After this,

however, it cost us near a fortnight’s time to get her along, as it

were inch by inch, upon great rollers into the water; but when she was

in, she would have carried twenty men with great ease.

When she was in the water, though she was so big, it amazed me to see

with what dexterity and how swift my man Friday could manage her, turn

her, and paddle her along. So I asked him if he would, and if we might

venture over in her. “Yes,” he said, “we venture over in her very well,

though great blow wind.” However I had a further design that he knew

nothing of, and that was, to make a mast and a sail, and to fit her

with an anchor and cable. As to a mast, that was easy enough to get; so

I pitched upon a straight young cedar-tree, which I found near the

place, and which there were great plenty of in the island, and I set

Friday to work to cut it down, and gave him directions how to shape and

order it. But as to the sail, that was my particular care. I knew I had

old sails, or rather pieces of old sails, enough; but as I had had them

now six-and-twenty years by me, and had not been very careful to

preserve them, not imagining that I should ever have this kind of use

for them, I did not doubt but they were all rotten; and, indeed, most

of them were so. However, I found two pieces which appeared pretty

good, and with these I went to work; and with a great deal of pains,

and awkward stitching, you may be sure, for want of needles, I at

length made a three-cornered ugly thing, like what we call in England a

shoulder-of-mutton sail, to go with a boom at bottom, and a little

short sprit at the top, such as usually our ships’ long-boats sail

with, and such as I best knew how to manage, as it was such a one as I

had to the boat in which I made my escape from Barbary, as related in

the first part of my story.

I was near two months performing this last work, viz. rigging and

fitting my masts and sails; for I finished them very complete, making a

small stay, and a sail, or foresail, to it, to assist if we should turn

to windward; and, what was more than all, I fixed a rudder to the stern

of her to steer with. I was but a bungling shipwright, yet as I knew

the usefulness and even necessity of such a thing, I applied myself

with so much pains to do it, that at last I brought it to pass; though,

considering the many dull contrivances I had for it that failed, I

think it cost me almost as much labour as making the boat.

After all this was done, I had my man Friday to teach as to what

belonged to the navigation of my boat; though he knew very well how to

paddle a canoe, he knew nothing of what belonged to a sail and a

rudder; and was the most amazed when he saw me work the boat to and

again in the sea by the rudder, and how the sail jibed, and filled this

way or that way as the course we sailed changed; I say when he saw this

he stood like one astonished and amazed. However, with a little use, I

made all these things familiar to him, and he became an expert sailor,

except that of the compass I could make him understand very little. On

the other hand, as there was very little cloudy weather, and seldom or

never any fogs in those parts, there was the less occasion for a

compass, seeing the stars were always to be seen by night, and the

shore by day, except in the rainy seasons, and then nobody cared to

stir abroad either by land or sea.

I was now entered on the seven-and-twentieth year of my captivity in

this place; though the three last years that I had this creature with

me ought rather to be left out of the account, my habitation being

quite of another kind than in all the rest of the time. I kept the

anniversary of my landing here with the same thankfulness to God for

His mercies as at first: and if I had such cause of acknowledgment at

first, I had much more so now, having such additional testimonies of

the care of Providence over me, and the great hopes I had of being

effectually and speedily delivered; for I had an invincible impression

upon my thoughts that my deliverance was at hand, and that I should not

be another year in this place. I went on, however, with my husbandry;

digging, planting, and fencing as usual. I gathered and cured my

grapes, and did every necessary thing as before.

The rainy season was in the meantime upon me, when I kept more within

doors than at other times. We had stowed our new vessel as secure as we

could, bringing her up into the creek, where, as I said in the

beginning, I landed my rafts from the ship; and hauling her up to the

shore at high-water mark, I made my man Friday dig a little dock, just

big enough to hold her, and just deep enough to give her water enough

to float in; and then, when the tide was out, we made a strong dam

across the end of it, to keep the water out; and so she lay, dry as to

the tide from the sea: and to keep the rain off we laid a great many

boughs of trees, so thick that she was as well thatched as a house; and

thus we waited for the months of November and December, in which I

designed to make my adventure.

When the settled season began to come in, as the thought of my design

returned with the fair weather, I was preparing daily for the voyage.

And the first thing I did was to lay by a certain quantity of

provisions, being the stores for our voyage; and intended in a week or

a fortnight’s time to open the dock, and launch out our boat. I was

busy one morning upon something of this kind, when I called to Friday,

and bid him to go to the sea-shore and see if he could find a turtle or

a tortoise, a thing which we generally got once a week, for the sake of

the eggs as well as the flesh. Friday had not been long gone when he

came running back, and flew over my outer wall or fence, like one that

felt not the ground or the steps he set his foot on; and before I had

time to speak to him he cries out to me, “O master! O master! O sorrow!

O bad!”—“What’s the matter, Friday?” says I. “O yonder there,” says he,

“one, two, three canoes; one, two, three!” By this way of speaking I

concluded there were six; but on inquiry I found there were but three.

“Well, Friday,” says I, “do not be frightened.” So I heartened him up

as well as I could. However, I saw the poor fellow was most terribly

scared, for nothing ran in his head but that they were come to look for

him, and would cut him in pieces and eat him; and the poor fellow

trembled so that I scarcely knew what to do with him. I comforted him

as well as I could, and told him I was in as much danger as he, and

that they would eat me as well as him. “But,” says I, “Friday, we must

resolve to fight them. Can you fight, Friday?” “Me shoot,” says he,

“but there come many great number.” “No matter for that,” said I again;

“our guns will fright them that we do not kill.” So I asked him

whether, if I resolved to defend him, he would defend me, and stand by

me, and do just as I bid him. He said, “Me die when you bid die,

master.” So I went and fetched a good dram of rum and gave him; for I

had been so good a husband of my rum that I had a great deal left. When

we had drunk it, I made him take the two fowling-pieces, which we

always carried, and loaded them with large swan-shot, as big as small

pistol-bullets. Then I took four muskets, and loaded them with two

slugs and five small bullets each; and my two pistols I loaded with a

brace of bullets each. I hung my great sword, as usual, naked by my

side, and gave Friday his hatchet. When I had thus prepared myself, I

took my perspective glass, and went up to the side of the hill, to see

what I could discover; and I found quickly by my glass that there were

one-and-twenty savages, three prisoners, and three canoes; and that

their whole business seemed to be the triumphant banquet upon these

three human bodies: a barbarous feast, indeed! but nothing more than,

as I had observed, was usual with them. I observed also that they had

landed, not where they had done when Friday made his escape, but nearer

to my creek, where the shore was low, and where a thick wood came

almost close down to the sea. This, with the abhorrence of the inhuman

errand these wretches came about, filled me with such indignation that

I came down again to Friday, and told him I was resolved to go down to

them and kill them all; and asked him if he would stand by me. He had

now got over his fright, and his spirits being a little raised with the

dram I had given him, he was very cheerful, and told me, as before, he

would die when I bid die.

In this fit of fury I divided the arms which I had charged, as before,

between us; I gave Friday one pistol to stick in his girdle, and three

guns upon his shoulder, and I took one pistol and the other three guns

myself; and in this posture we marched out. I took a small bottle of

rum in my pocket, and gave Friday a large bag with more powder and

bullets; and as to orders, I charged him to keep close behind me, and

not to stir, or shoot, or do anything till I bid him, and in the

meantime not to speak a word. In this posture I fetched a compass to my

right hand of near a mile, as well to get over the creek as to get into

the wood, so that I could come within shot of them before I should be

discovered, which I had seen by my glass it was easy to do.

While I was making this march, my former thoughts returning, I began to

abate my resolution: I do not mean that I entertained any fear of their

number, for as they were naked, unarmed wretches, it is certain I was

superior to them—nay, though I had been alone. But it occurred to my

thoughts, what call, what occasion, much less what necessity I was in

to go and dip my hands in blood, to attack people who had neither done

or intended me any wrong? who, as to me, were innocent, and whose

barbarous customs were their own disaster, being in them a token,

indeed, of God’s having left them, with the other nations of that part

of the world, to such stupidity, and to such inhuman courses, but did

not call me to take upon me to be a judge of their actions, much less

an executioner of His justice—that whenever He thought fit He would

take the cause into His own hands, and by national vengeance punish

them as a people for national crimes, but that, in the meantime, it was

none of my business—that it was true Friday might justify it, because

he was a declared enemy and in a state of war with those very

particular people, and it was lawful for him to attack them—but I could

not say the same with regard to myself. These things were so warmly

pressed upon my thoughts all the way as I went, that I resolved I would

only go and place myself near them that I might observe their barbarous

feast, and that I would act then as God should direct; but that unless

something offered that was more a call to me than yet I knew of, I

would not meddle with them.

With this resolution I entered the wood, and, with all possible

wariness and silence, Friday following close at my heels, I marched

till I came to the skirts of the wood on the side which was next to

them, only that one corner of the wood lay between me and them. Here I

called softly to Friday, and showing him a great tree which was just at

the corner of the wood, I bade him go to the tree, and bring me word if

he could see there plainly what they were doing. He did so, and came

immediately back to me, and told me they might be plainly viewed

there—that they were all about their fire, eating the flesh of one of

their prisoners, and that another lay bound upon the sand a little from

them, whom he said they would kill next; and this fired the very soul

within me. He told me it was not one of their nation, but one of the

bearded men he had told me of, that came to their country in the boat.

I was filled with horror at the very naming of the white bearded man;

and going to the tree, I saw plainly by my glass a white man, who lay

upon the beach of the sea with his hands and his feet tied with flags,

or things like rushes, and that he was an European, and had clothes on.

There was another tree and a little thicket beyond it, about fifty

yards nearer to them than the place where I was, which, by going a

little way about, I saw I might come at undiscovered, and that then I

should be within half a shot of them; so I withheld my passion, though

I was indeed enraged to the highest degree; and going back about twenty

paces, I got behind some bushes, which held all the way till I came to

the other tree, and then came to a little rising ground, which gave me

a full view of them at the distance of about eighty yards.

I had now not a moment to lose, for nineteen of the dreadful wretches

sat upon the ground, all close huddled together, and had just sent the

other two to butcher the poor Christian, and bring him perhaps limb by

limb to their fire, and they were stooping down to untie the bands at

his feet. I turned to Friday. “Now, Friday,” said I, “do as I bid

thee.” Friday said he would. “Then, Friday,” says I, “do exactly as you

see me do; fail in nothing.” So I set down one of the muskets and the

fowling-piece upon the ground, and Friday did the like by his, and with

the other musket I took my aim at the savages, bidding him to do the

like; then asking him if he was ready, he said, “Yes.” “Then fire at

them,” said I; and at the same moment I fired also.

Friday took his aim so much better than I, that on the side that he

shot he killed two of them, and wounded three more; and on my side I

killed one, and wounded two. They were, you may be sure, in a dreadful

consternation: and all of them that were not hurt jumped upon their

feet, but did not immediately know which way to run, or which way to

look, for they knew not from whence their destruction came. Friday kept

his eyes close upon me, that, as I had bid him, he might observe what I

did; so, as soon as the first shot was made, I threw down the piece,

and took up the fowling-piece, and Friday did the like; he saw me cock

and present; he did the same again. “Are you ready, Friday?” said I.

“Yes,” says he. “Let fly, then,” says I, “in the name of God!” and with

that I fired again among the amazed wretches, and so did Friday; and as

our pieces were now loaded with what I call swan-shot, or small

pistol-bullets, we found only two drop; but so many were wounded that

they ran about yelling and screaming like mad creatures, all bloody,

and most of them miserably wounded; whereof three more fell quickly

after, though not quite dead.

“Now, Friday,” says I, laying down the discharged pieces, and taking up

the musket which was yet loaded, “follow me,” which he did with a great

deal of courage; upon which I rushed out of the wood and showed myself,

and Friday close at my foot. As soon as I perceived they saw me, I

shouted as loud as I could, and bade Friday do so too, and running as

fast as I could, which, by the way, was not very fast, being loaded

with arms as I was, I made directly towards the poor victim, who was,

as I said, lying upon the beach or shore, between the place where they

sat and the sea. The two butchers who were just going to work with him

had left him at the surprise of our first fire, and fled in a terrible

fright to the seaside, and had jumped into a canoe, and three more of

the rest made the same way. I turned to Friday, and bade him step

forwards and fire at them; he understood me immediately, and running

about forty yards, to be nearer them, he shot at them; and I thought he

had killed them all, for I saw them all fall of a heap into the boat,

though I saw two of them up again quickly; however, he killed two of

them, and wounded the third, so that he lay down in the bottom of the

boat as if he had been dead.

While my man Friday fired at them, I pulled out my knife and cut the

flags that bound the poor victim; and loosing his hands and feet, I

lifted him up, and asked him in the Portuguese tongue what he was. He

answered in Latin, Christianus; but was so weak and faint that he could

scarce stand or speak. I took my bottle out of my pocket and gave it

him, making signs that he should drink, which he did; and I gave him a

piece of bread, which he ate. Then I asked him what countryman he was:

and he said, Espagniole; and being a little recovered, let me know, by

all the signs he could possibly make, how much he was in my debt for

his deliverance. “Seignior,” said I, with as much Spanish as I could

make up, “we will talk afterwards, but we must fight now: if you have

any strength left, take this pistol and sword, and lay about you.” He

took them very thankfully; and no sooner had he the arms in his hands,

but, as if they had put new vigour into him, he flew upon his murderers

like a fury, and had cut two of them in pieces in an instant; for the

truth is, as the whole was a surprise to them, so the poor creatures

were so much frightened with the noise of our pieces that they fell

down for mere amazement and fear, and had no more power to attempt

their own escape than their flesh had to resist our shot; and that was

the case of those five that Friday shot at in the boat; for as three of

them fell with the hurt they received, so the other two fell with the

fright.

I kept my piece in my hand still without firing, being willing to keep

my charge ready, because I had given the Spaniard my pistol and sword:

so I called to Friday, and bade him run up to the tree from whence we

first fired, and fetch the arms which lay there that had been

discharged, which he did with great swiftness; and then giving him my

musket, I sat down myself to load all the rest again, and bade them

come to me when they wanted. While I was loading these pieces, there

happened a fierce engagement between the Spaniard and one of the

savages, who made at him with one of their great wooden swords, the

weapon that was to have killed him before, if I had not prevented it.

The Spaniard, who was as bold and brave as could be imagined, though

weak, had fought the Indian a good while, and had cut two great wounds

on his head; but the savage being a stout, lusty fellow, closing in

with him, had thrown him down, being faint, and was wringing my sword

out of his hand; when the Spaniard, though undermost, wisely quitting

the sword, drew the pistol from his girdle, shot the savage through the

body, and killed him upon the spot, before I, who was running to help

him, could come near him.

Friday, being now left to his liberty, pursued the flying wretches,

with no weapon in his hand but his hatchet: and with that he despatched

those three who as I said before, were wounded at first, and fallen,

and all the rest he could come up with: and the Spaniard coming to me

for a gun, I gave him one of the fowling-pieces, with which he pursued

two of the savages, and wounded them both; but as he was not able to

run, they both got from him into the wood, where Friday pursued them,

and killed one of them, but the other was too nimble for him; and

though he was wounded, yet had plunged himself into the sea, and swam

with all his might off to those two who were left in the canoe; which

three in the canoe, with one wounded, that we knew not whether he died

or no, were all that escaped our hands of one-and-twenty. The account

of the whole is as follows: Three killed at our first shot from the

tree; two killed at the next shot; two killed by Friday in the boat;

two killed by Friday of those at first wounded; one killed by Friday in

the wood; three killed by the Spaniard; four killed, being found

dropped here and there, of the wounds, or killed by Friday in his chase

of them; four escaped in the boat, whereof one wounded, if not

dead—twenty-one in all.

Those that were in the canoe worked hard to get out of gun-shot, and

though Friday made two or three shots at them, I did not find that he

hit any of them. Friday would fain have had me take one of their

canoes, and pursue them; and indeed I was very anxious about their

escape, lest, carrying the news home to their people, they should come

back perhaps with two or three hundred of the canoes and devour us by

mere multitude; so I consented to pursue them by sea, and running to

one of their canoes, I jumped in and bade Friday follow me: but when I

was in the canoe I was surprised to find another poor creature lie

there, bound hand and foot, as the Spaniard was, for the slaughter, and

almost dead with fear, not knowing what was the matter; for he had not

been able to look up over the side of the boat, he was tied so hard

neck and heels, and had been tied so long that he had really but little

life in him.

I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes which they had bound him

with, and would have helped him up; but he could not stand or speak,

but groaned most piteously, believing, it seems, still, that he was

only unbound in order to be killed. When Friday came to him I bade him

speak to him, and tell him of his deliverance; and pulling out my

bottle, made him give the poor wretch a dram, which, with the news of

his being delivered, revived him, and he sat up in the boat. But when

Friday came to hear him speak, and look in his face, it would have

moved any one to tears to have seen how Friday kissed him, embraced

him, hugged him, cried, laughed, hallooed, jumped about, danced, sang;

then cried again, wrung his hands, beat his own face and head; and then

sang and jumped about again like a distracted creature. It was a good

while before I could make him speak to me or tell me what was the

matter; but when he came a little to himself he told me that it was his

father.

It is not easy for me to express how it moved me to see what ecstasy

and filial affection had worked in this poor savage at the sight of his

father, and of his being delivered from death; nor indeed can I

describe half the extravagances of his affection after this: for he

went into the boat and out of the boat a great many times: when he went

in to him he would sit down by him, open his breast, and hold his

father’s head close to his bosom for many minutes together, to nourish

it; then he took his arms and ankles, which were numbed and stiff with

the binding, and chafed and rubbed them with his hands; and I,

perceiving what the case was, gave him some rum out of my bottle to rub

them with, which did them a great deal of good.

This affair put an end to our pursuit of the canoe with the other

savages, who were now almost out of sight; and it was happy for us that

we did not, for it blew so hard within two hours after, and before they

could be got a quarter of their way, and continued blowing so hard all

night, and that from the north-west, which was against them, that I

could not suppose their boat could live, or that they ever reached

their own coast.

But to return to Friday; he was so busy about his father that I could

not find in my heart to take him off for some time; but after I thought

he could leave him a little, I called him to me, and he came jumping

and laughing, and pleased to the highest extreme: then I asked him if

he had given his father any bread. He shook his head, and said, “None;

ugly dog eat all up self.” I then gave him a cake of bread out of a

little pouch I carried on purpose; I also gave him a dram for himself;

but he would not taste it, but carried it to his father. I had in my

pocket two or three bunches of raisins, so I gave him a handful of them

for his father. He had no sooner given his father these raisins but I

saw him come out of the boat, and run away as if he had been bewitched,

for he was the swiftest fellow on his feet that ever I saw: I say, he

ran at such a rate that he was out of sight, as it were, in an instant;

and though I called, and hallooed out too after him, it was all

one—away he went; and in a quarter of an hour I saw him come back

again, though not so fast as he went; and as he came nearer I found his

pace slacker, because he had something in his hand. When he came up to

me I found he had been quite home for an earthen jug or pot, to bring

his father some fresh water, and that he had got two more cakes or

loaves of bread: the bread he gave me, but the water he carried to his

father; however, as I was very thirsty too, I took a little of it. The

water revived his father more than all the rum or spirits I had given

him, for he was fainting with thirst.

When his father had drunk, I called to him to know if there was any

water left. He said, “Yes”; and I bade him give it to the poor

Spaniard, who was in as much want of it as his father; and I sent one

of the cakes that Friday brought to the Spaniard too, who was indeed

very weak, and was reposing himself upon a green place under the shade

of a tree; and whose limbs were also very stiff, and very much swelled

with the rude bandage he had been tied with. When I saw that upon

Friday’s coming to him with the water he sat up and drank, and took the

bread and began to eat, I went to him and gave him a handful of

raisins. He looked up in my face with all the tokens of gratitude and

thankfulness that could appear in any countenance; but was so weak,

notwithstanding he had so exerted himself in the fight, that he could

not stand up upon his feet—he tried to do it two or three times, but

was really not able, his ankles were so swelled and so painful to him;

so I bade him sit still, and caused Friday to rub his ankles, and bathe

them with rum, as he had done his father’s.

I observed the poor affectionate creature, every two minutes, or

perhaps less, all the while he was here, turn his head about to see if

his father was in the same place and posture as he left him sitting;

and at last he found he was not to be seen; at which he started up,

and, without speaking a word, flew with that swiftness to him that one

could scarce perceive his feet to touch the ground as he went; but when

he came, he only found he had laid himself down to ease his limbs, so

Friday came back to me presently; and then I spoke to the Spaniard to

let Friday help him up if he could, and lead him to the boat, and then

he should carry him to our dwelling, where I would take care of him.

But Friday, a lusty, strong fellow, took the Spaniard upon his back,

and carried him away to the boat, and set him down softly upon the side

or gunnel of the canoe, with his feet in the inside of it; and then

lifting him quite in, he set him close to his father; and presently

stepping out again, launched the boat off, and paddled it along the

shore faster than I could walk, though the wind blew pretty hard too;

so he brought them both safe into our creek, and leaving them in the

boat, ran away to fetch the other canoe. As he passed me I spoke to

him, and asked him whither he went. He told me, “Go fetch more boat;”

so away he went like the wind, for sure never man or horse ran like

him; and he had the other canoe in the creek almost as soon as I got to

it by land; so he wafted me over, and then went to help our new guests

out of the boat, which he did; but they were neither of them able to

walk; so that poor Friday knew not what to do.

To remedy this, I went to work in my thought, and calling to Friday to

bid them sit down on the bank while he came to me, I soon made a kind

of hand-barrow to lay them on, and Friday and I carried them both up

together upon it between us.

But when we got them to the outside of our wall, or fortification, we

were at a worse loss than before, for it was impossible to get them

over, and I was resolved not to break it down; so I set to work again,

and Friday and I, in about two hours’ time, made a very handsome tent,

covered with old sails, and above that with boughs of trees, being in

the space without our outward fence and between that and the grove of

young wood which I had planted; and here we made them two beds of such

things as I had—viz. of good rice-straw, with blankets laid upon it to

lie on, and another to cover them, on each bed.

My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in subjects;

and it was a merry reflection, which I frequently made, how like a king

I looked. First of all, the whole country was my own property, so that

I had an undoubted right of dominion. Secondly, my people were

perfectly subjected—I was absolutely lord and lawgiver—they all owed

their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if there had

been occasion for it, for me. It was remarkable, too, I had but three

subjects, and they were of three different religions—my man Friday was

a Protestant, his father was a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard

was a Papist. However, I allowed liberty of conscience throughout my

dominions. But this is by the way.

As soon as I had secured my two weak, rescued prisoners, and given them

shelter, and a place to rest them upon, I began to think of making some

provision for them; and the first thing I did, I ordered Friday to take

a yearling goat, betwixt a kid and a goat, out of my particular flock,

to be killed; when I cut off the hinder-quarter, and chopping it into

small pieces, I set Friday to work to boiling and stewing, and made

them a very good dish, I assure you, of flesh and broth; and as I

cooked it without doors, for I made no fire within my inner wall, so I

carried it all into the new tent, and having set a table there for

them, I sat down, and ate my own dinner also with them, and, as well as

I could, cheered them and encouraged them. Friday was my interpreter,

especially to his father, and, indeed, to the Spaniard too; for the

Spaniard spoke the language of the savages pretty well.

After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered Friday to take one of

the canoes, and go and fetch our muskets and other firearms, which, for

want of time, we had left upon the place of battle; and the next day I

ordered him to go and bury the dead bodies of the savages, which lay

open to the sun, and would presently be offensive. I also ordered him

to bury the horrid remains of their barbarous feast, which I could not

think of doing myself; nay, I could not bear to see them if I went that

way; all which he punctually performed, and effaced the very appearance

of the savages being there; so that when I went again, I could scarce

know where it was, otherwise than by the corner of the wood pointing to

the place.

I then began to enter into a little conversation with my two new

subjects; and, first, I set Friday to inquire of his father what he

thought of the escape of the savages in that canoe, and whether we

might expect a return of them, with a power too great for us to resist.

His first opinion was, that the savages in the boat never could live

out the storm which blew that night they went off, but must of

necessity be drowned, or driven south to those other shores, where they

were as sure to be devoured as they were to be drowned if they were

cast away; but, as to what they would do if they came safe on shore, he

said he knew not; but it was his opinion that they were so dreadfully

frightened with the manner of their being attacked, the noise, and the

fire, that he believed they would tell the people they were all killed

by thunder and lightning, not by the hand of man; and that the two

which appeared—viz. Friday and I—were two heavenly spirits, or furies,

come down to destroy them, and not men with weapons. This, he said, he

knew; because he heard them all cry out so, in their language, one to

another; for it was impossible for them to conceive that a man could

dart fire, and speak thunder, and kill at a distance, without lifting

up the hand, as was done now: and this old savage was in the right;

for, as I understood since, by other hands, the savages never attempted

to go over to the island afterwards, they were so terrified with the

accounts given by those four men (for it seems they did escape the

sea), that they believed whoever went to that enchanted island would be

destroyed with fire from the gods. This, however, I knew not; and

therefore was under continual apprehensions for a good while, and kept

always upon my guard, with all my army: for, as there were now four of

us, I would have ventured upon a hundred of them, fairly in the open

field, at any time.