CHAPTER XX. FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR

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 for him, the

greatest diversion imaginable. As the bear is a heavy, clumsy creature,

and does not gallop as the wolf does, who is swift and light, so he has

two particular qualities, which generally are the rule of his actions;

first, as to men, who are not his proper prey (he does not usually

attempt them, except they first attack him, unless he be excessively

hungry, which it is probable might now be the case, the ground being

covered with snow), if you do not meddle with him, he will not meddle

with you; but then you must take care to be very civil to him, and give

him the road, for he is a very nice gentleman; he will not go a step

out of his way for a prince; nay, if you are really afraid, your best

way is to look another way and keep going on; for sometimes if you

stop, and stand still, and look steadfastly at him, he takes it for an

affront; but if you throw or toss anything at him, though it were but a

bit of stick as big as your finger, he thinks himself abused, and sets

all other business aside to pursue his revenge, and will have

satisfaction in point of honour—that is his first quality: the next is,

if he be once affronted, he will never leave you, night or day, 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 his horse, for the man was both hurt and

frightened, when on a sudden we espied the bear come out of the wood;

and a monstrous one it was, the biggest by far that ever I saw. We were

all a little surprised when we saw him; but when Friday saw him, it was

easy to see joy and courage in the fellow’s countenance. “O! O! O!”

says Friday, three times, pointing to him; “O master, you give me te

leave, me shakee te hand with him; me makee you good laugh.”

I was surprised to see the fellow so well pleased. “You fool,” says I,

“he will eat you up.”—“Eatee me up! eatee me up!” says Friday, twice

over again; “me eatee him up; me makee you good laugh; you all stay

here, me show you good laugh.” So down he sits, and gets off his boots

in a moment, and puts on a pair of pumps (as we call the flat shoes

they wear, and which he had in his pocket), gives my other servant his

horse, and with his gun away he flew, swift like the wind.

The bear was walking softly on, and offered to meddle with nobody, till

Friday coming pretty near, calls to him, as if the bear could

understand him. “Hark ye, hark ye,” says Friday, “me speakee with you.”

We followed at a distance, for now being down on the Gascony side of

the mountains, we were entered a vast forest, where the country was

plain and pretty open, though it had 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 took up a great stone, and threw it at him, and

hit him just on the head, but did him no more harm than if he had

thrown it against a wall; but it answered Friday’s end, for the rogue

was so void of fear 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

blow, and saw him, he turns about and comes after him, taking very long

strides, and shuffling on 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 ran towards us for help; so we all resolved to fire at once upon

the bear, and deliver my man; though I was angry at him for bringing

the bear back upon us, when he was going about his own business another

way; and especially I was angry that he had turned the bear upon us,

and then ran away; and I called out, “You dog! is this your making us

laugh? Come away, and take your horse, that we may shoot the creature.”

He heard me, and cried out, “No shoot, no shoot; stand still, and you

get much laugh:” and as the nimble creature ran two feet for the bear’s

one, he turned on a sudden on one side of us, and seeing a great

oak-tree fit for his purpose, he beckoned to us to follow; and doubling

his pace, he got nimbly up the tree, 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 stopped at the gun, smelt at it, but let it lie, and up

he scrambles into the tree, climbing like a cat, though so monstrous

heavy. I was amazed at the folly, as I thought it, of my man, and could

not for my life see anything to laugh at, till seeing the bear get up

the tree, we all rode near to him.

When we came to the tree, there was Friday got out to the small end of

a large branch, and the bear got about half-way to him. As soon as the

bear got out to that part where the limb of the tree was weaker, “Ha!”

says he to us, “now you see me teachee the bear dance:” so he began

jumping and shaking the bough, at which the bear began 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 by a great deal; when seeing him stand still, he called out to him

again, as if he had supposed the bear could speak English, “What, you

come no farther? pray you come farther;” so he left jumping and shaking

the tree; and the bear, just as if he understood what he said, did come

a little farther; then he began jumping again, and the bear stopped

again. We thought now was a good time to knock him in the head, and

called to Friday to stand still and we should shoot the bear: but he

cried out earnestly, “Oh, pray! Oh, pray! no shoot, me shoot by and

then:” he would have said by-and-by. However, to shorten the story,

Friday danced so much, and the bear stood so ticklish, that we had

laughing enough, but still 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 clung fast with his great broad claws

and feet, so that we could not imagine what would be the end of it, and

what the jest would be at last. But Friday put us out of doubt quickly:

for seeing the bear cling fast to the bough, and that he would not be

persuaded to come any farther, “Well, well,” says Friday, “you no come

farther, me go; you no come to me, me come to you;” and upon this he

went out to the smaller end, where it would bend with his weight, and

gently let himself down by it, sliding down the bough till he came near

enough to jump down on his feet, and away he ran to his gun, took it

up, and stood 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; for when the bear saw his enemy gone, he came back from the

bough, where he stood, but did it very cautiously, looking behind him

every step, and coming backward till he got into the body of the tree,

then, with the same hinder end foremost, he came down the tree,

grasping it with his claws, and moving one foot at a time, very

leisurely. At this juncture, and just before he could set his hind foot

on the ground, Friday stepped up close to him, clapped the muzzle of

his piece into his ear, and shot him dead. Then the rogue turned about

to see if we did not laugh; and when he saw we were pleased by our

looks, he began to laugh very loud. “So we kill bear in my country,”

says Friday. “So you kill them?” says I; “why, you have no guns.”—“No,”

says he, “no gun, but shoot great much long arrow.” This was a good

diversion to us; but we were still in a wild place, and our guide very

much hurt, and what to do we hardly knew; the howling of wolves ran

much in my head; 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.

These things, and the approach of night, called us off, or else, as

Friday would have had us, we should certainly have taken the skin of

this monstrous creature off, which was worth saving; but we had near

three leagues to go, and our guide hastened us; so we left him, and

went 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 mischief in

the villages, where they surprised the country people, killed a great

many of their sheep and horses, and some people too.

We had one dangerous place to pass, and our guide told us if there were

more wolves in the country we should find them there; and this was a

small plain, surrounded with woods on every side, and a long, narrow

defile, or lane, which we were to pass to get through the wood, and

then we should come to the village where we were to lodge.

It was within half-an-hour of sunset when we entered the wood, and a

little after sunset 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

out of sight in a few moments. Upon this, our guide, who, by the way,

was but a fainthearted fellow, bid us 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 through that

wood, which was near half a league, and entered the plain. As soon as

we came 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 him, but picking 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 had not gone half over the plain when we began to hear the

wolves howl in the wood on our left in a frightful 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 a close line was the only

way; so we formed in a moment; but that we might not have too much

interval, I ordered that only every other man should fire, and that the

others, who had not fired, should stand ready to give them a second

volley immediately, if they continued to advance upon us; and then that

those that had fired at first should not pretend to load their fusees

again, but stand ready, every one with 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 full stop, being terrified as well with the noise as with

the fire. Four of them being shot in 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 that I had been told that the fiercest creatures were

terrified at the voice of a man, I caused all the company to halloo as

loud as they could; and I found the notion not altogether mistaken; for

upon our shout they began to retire and turn about. I then ordered 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 in readiness,

when we heard a terrible noise in the same wood on our left, only that

it was farther onward, 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; but the noise increasing, we could easily perceive

that it was the howling and yelling of those hellish creatures; and on

a sudden we perceived three troops of wolves, one on our left, one

behind us, and one in our front, so that we seemed to be surrounded

with them: however, as they did not fall upon us, we kept our way

forward, as fast as we could make our horses go, which, the way being

very rough, was only a good hard trot. In this manner, we came in view

of the entrance of a wood, through 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: the horse had the advantage of

them; but as we supposed that he could not hold it at that rate, we

doubted not but they would get up with him at last: no question but

they did.

But here we had a most horrible sight; for riding up to the entrance

where the horse came out, we found the carcasses of another horse and

of two men, devoured by the ravenous creatures; and one of the men was

no doubt the 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 we knew not what

course to take; but the creatures 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, but a little way from it, there lay some

large timber-trees, which had been cut down the 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 alight, 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 this place. They came on with

a growling kind of noise, and mounted the 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 horses behind us. I ordered our men to fire as before, every

other man; and they took their aim so sure that 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 a second volley of our fusees, we thought they

stopped a little, and I hoped they would have gone off, but it was but

a moment, for others came forward again; so we fired two volleys of our

pistols; and I believe in these four firings we had killed seventeen or

eighteen of them, and lamed twice as many, yet they came on again. I

was loth to spend our shot too hastily; so I called my servant, not my

man Friday, for he 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 had 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 got upon it, when I, snapping an

uncharged pistol close to the powder, set it on fire; those that 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 frightened with

the light, which the night—for it was now very near dark—made more

terrible that they drew back a little; upon which I ordered our last

pistols 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 that we found struggling on the ground, and fell to

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.

We had, first and last, killed about threescore of them, and had it

been daylight we had killed 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. 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, the night before the wolves and

some bears had broken into the village, and put them in such terror

that 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 so much

with the rankling of his two wounds, that he could go no farther; so we

were obliged to take a new guide here, and go to Toulouse, where we

found a warm climate, a fruitful, pleasant country, and no snow, no

wolves, nor 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, especially when the snow lay on the

ground; but they inquired much what kind of guide we had got who would

venture to bring us that way in such a severe season, and told us it

was surprising we were not all devoured. When we told them how we

placed ourselves and the horses in the middle, they blamed us

exceedingly, and told us it was 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 being excessively hungry, and raging on that

account, the eagerness to come at the horses had made them senseless of

danger, and that if we had not by the continual fire, and at last by

the stratagem of the train of 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 so much for their own, when men were on their

backs, as otherwise; and withal, they told us that at last, if we had

stood altogether, and left our horses, they would have been so eager to

have devoured them, that we might have come off safe, especially having

our firearms in our hands, 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 retreat to, I gave myself over for lost; and, as it

was, I believe I shall never care to cross those mountains again: I

think I would much rather go a thousand leagues by sea, though I was

sure to meet with a storm once a-week.

I have 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 from Toulouse to Paris, and

without any considerable stay came to Calais, and landed safe at Dover

the 14th of January, after having had a severe cold season to travel

in.

I was now come to the centre of my travels, and had in a little time

all my new-discovered estate safe about me, the bills of exchange which

I brought with me having been currently paid.

My principal guide and privy-counsellor was my good ancient widow, who,

in gratitude for the money I had sent her, thought no pains too much

nor care too great to employ for me; and I trusted her so entirely that

I was perfectly easy as to the security of my effects; and, indeed, I

was very happy from the beginning, and now to the end, in the unspotted

integrity of this good gentlewoman.

And now, having resolved to dispose of my plantation in the Brazils, I

wrote to my old friend at Lisbon, who, having offered it to the two

merchants, the survivors of my trustees, who lived in the Brazils, they

accepted the offer, and remitted thirty-three thousand pieces of eight

to a correspondent of theirs at Lisbon to pay for 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 me the bills of

exchange for thirty-two thousand eight hundred pieces of eight for the

estate, reserving the payment of one hundred moidores a year to him

(the old man) during his life, and fifty moidores afterwards to his son

for his life, which I had promised them, and which the plantation was

to make good as a rent-charge. And thus I have given the first part of

a life of fortune and adventure—a life of Providence’s chequer-work,

and of a variety which 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, nor many relations; nor, however rich, had I contracted

fresh acquaintance; and though I had sold my estate in the Brazils, yet

I could not keep that country out of my head, and had a great mind to

be upon the wing again; 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. My true friend, the widow, earnestly dissuaded me

from it, and so far prevailed 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 after my decease. The other I

placed with the captain of a ship; and after five years, finding him a

sensible, bold, enterprising young fellow, I put him into a good ship,

and sent him to sea; and this young fellow afterwards drew me in, as

old as I was, to further adventures myself.

In the meantime, I in part settled myself here; for, first of all, I

married, 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

inclination to go abroad, and his importunity, prevailed, and engaged

me to go in his ship as a 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 old story of their 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

Spaniards were obliged to use violence with them; how they were

subjected to the Spaniards, how honestly the Spaniards used them—a

history, if it were entered into, as full of variety and 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.

Here I stayed about twenty days, left them supplies of all necessary

things, and particularly of arms, powder, shot, clothes, tools, and two

workmen, which I had brought from England with me, viz. a carpenter and

a smith.

Besides this, I shared the lands into parts with them, reserved to

myself the property of the whole, but gave them such parts respectively

as they agreed on; and having settled all things 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 I found proper for

service, or for wives to such as would take them. As to the Englishmen,

I promised to send them some women from England, with a good cargo of

necessaries, if they would apply themselves to planting—which I

afterwards could not perform. The fellows proved very honest and

diligent after they were mastered and had their properties set apart

for them. I sent them, also, from the Brazils, five cows, three of them

being big with calf, 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, and ruined their plantations, and how they fought

with that whole number twice, and were at first defeated, and one 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 their plantation, and still lived upon the

island.

All these things, with some very surprising incidents in some new

adventures of my own, for ten years more, I shall give a farther

account of in the Second Part of my Story.