IN a little time, however, no
more canoes appearing, the fear of
their coming wore off; and I began
to take my former thoughts of a
voyage to the main into
consideration; being likewise
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,
and when I understood that there
were sixteen more of his
countrymen and Portuguese, 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 the
particulars of their voyage, and
found they were a Spanish ship,
bound from the Rio de la Plata to
the Havanna, being directed to leave
their loading there, which was
chiefly hides and silver, and to
bring back what European goods
they could meet with there; that
they had five Portuguese seamen on
board, whom they took out of another
wreck; that five of their own
men were drowned when first the ship
was lost, and that these
escaped through infinite dangers and
hazards, and arrived, almost
starved, on the cannibal coast,
where they expected to have been
devoured every moment. He told me
they had some arms with them,
but they were perfectly useless, for
that they had 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 with some food. I asked him what he thought would
become of them there, and if they
had formed any design of making
their escape. He said they had
many consultations about it; but
that having neither vessel nor
tools to build one, nor 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, I feared
mostly their treachery and ill-
usage of me, if I put my life in
their hands; 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. I told him it would
be very hard that I should be made
the instrument of their
deliverance, 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 barque 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 their hands, carry me
by force among their own people,
I might be ill-used for my kindness
to them, and make my case worse
than it was before. He answered, with a great deal of
candour and ingenuousness, that
their condition was so miserable,
and that 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
I pleased, he would go to them with
the old man, and discourse with
them about it, and return again and
bring me their answer; that he
would make conditions with them upon
their solemn oath, that they
should be absolutely under my
direction as their commander and
captain; and they should swear upon
the holy sacraments and gospel
to be true to me, and go to such
Christian country as I should
agree to, and no other; and to be
directed wholly and absolutely by
my orders 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 as he lived
till I gave him orders; and that he
would take my side to the last
drop of his blood, 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 discretion of the savages; out
of all hopes of ever returning
to their own country; and that he
was sure, if I would undertake
their relief, they would live and
die by me. Upon these assurances, I resolved to
venture to relieve them, if
possible, and to send the old savage
and this Spaniard over to them
to treat. But when we had got all
things in readiness to go, the
Spaniard himself started an
objection, which had so much
prudence
in it 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 I had let him see in what
manner I had provided, with the
assistance of Providence, for my
support; and he saw evidently what
stock of corn and rice I had laid
up; which, though it was more
than sufficient for myself, yet it
was not sufficient, without good
husbandry, for my family, now it was
increased to four; but much
less would it be sufficient if his
countrymen, who were, as he
said, sixteen, still alive, should
come over; and least of all
would it be sufficient to victual
our vessel, if we should build
one, for a voyage to any of the
Christian colonies of America; so
he told me he thought it would be
more advisable to let him and the
other two 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 of Israel, 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 seasonable, and
his advice so good, that I could
not but be very well pleased with
his proposal, as well as I was
satisfied with his fidelity; so we
fell to digging, all 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 got as much land cured and
trimmed up as we sowed two-and-
twenty bushels of barley on, and
sixteen jars of rice, which was,
in short, all the seed we had to
spare: indeed, we left ourselves
barely sufficient, for our own food
for the six months that we had
to expect our crop; that is to say
reckoning from the time we set
our seed aside for sowing; for it is
not to be supposed it is six
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, if
they had come, unless their
number had been very great, we went
freely all over the island,
whenever we found occasion; and as
we had our escape or deliverance
upon our thoughts, it was
impossible, at least for me, to have
the
means of it out of mine. For this
purpose I marked out several
trees, which I thought fit for our
work, and I set Friday and his
father to cut them down; and then I
caused the Spaniard, to whom I
imparted my thoughts on that affair,
to oversee and direct their
work. I showed them with what
indefatigable pains I had hewed a
large tree into single planks, and I
caused them to do the like,
till they 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 labour
it took up any one may
imagine. At the same time I contrived to
increase my little flock of tame
goats as much as I could; and for
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 about 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 the
sun are cured, we could have
filled sixty or eighty barrels; and
these, with our bread, formed a
great part of our food - very good
living too, I assure you, for
they are exceedingly nourishing. 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 thrashed 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, any part of America.
When we had thus housed and secured
our magazine of corn, we fell
to work to make more wicker-ware,
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 I
expected, I gave the Spaniard leave
to go over to the main, to see
what he could do with those he had
left behind him there. I gave
him a strict charge not to bring any
man who would not first swear
in the presence of himself and the
old savage that he would in no
way injure, fight with, or attack
the person he should find in the
island, who was so kind as to send
for them in order to their
deliverance; but that they would
stand by him 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 in their hands.
How they were to have done
this, when I knew they had neither
pen nor ink, 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
have 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 all the Spaniards -
for about eight days' time; and
wishing them a good voyage, I saw
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 full, by my
account in the month of October; but
as for an 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 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 had
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, 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
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 bade 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; 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 anything, and to take my view
the plainer without being
discovered. I had scarce set my foot
upon the hill when my eye plainly
discovered a ship lying at
anchor, at about two leagues and a
half distance from me, SSE., 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 that 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 in
distress; and that if they were
really English 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 it from whence it
will, I had been done
inevitably, and in a far worse
condition than before, as you will
see presently. I had not kept myself
long in this posture till 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 ran
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 at my door, as I may say,
and would soon 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 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 prisoner
as well as savage mans." "Why,
Friday," says I, "do you think they
are going to eat 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 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
the Spaniard, and the savage that
had gone with him, or that I had
any way to have come undiscovered
within shot of them, that I might
have secured the three men, for I
saw no firearms 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 run scattering
about the island, as if they
wanted to see the country. I
observed that the three other men
had
liberty to go also 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 first
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 tide, 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 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, but that in
the worst circumstances they have
always something to be thankful for,
and sometimes are nearer
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 high-water when these
people came on shore; and
while they rambled about to see what
kind of a place they were in,
they had carelessly stayed 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 drunk
a little too much brandy, fell
asleep; however, one of them waking
a little sooner than the other and
finding the boat too fast
aground for him to stir it, hallooed
out 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't you? 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 very close, not
once daring to stir out of my castle
any farther 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
knew it was no less than ten
hours before the boat could float
again, 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. 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 have
mentioned, a naked sword by my side,
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 they were all gone
straggling into the woods, and, as
I thought, laid down to sleep. The
three poor distressed men, too
anxious for their condition to get
any sleep, had, however, sat
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 as 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
surprised at me; perhaps you may
have a friend near 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 to help you? for you seem to
be in some great distress. I saw you
when you landed; and when you
seemed to make application 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 clothed, and armed after
another manner than you see
me; 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, sir," said
he, "is too long to tell you
while our murderers are so near us;
but, in short, sir, I was
commander of that ship - my men have
mutinied against me; they have
been hardly 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." "Where are these
brutes, your enemies?" said I; "do
you know where they are gone? There
they lie, 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
firearms?" said I. He answered,
"They had only two pieces, one of
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 show 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 distinguish them, but
he would obey my orders 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 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 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, "my
conditions are but two; first,
that while you stay in this island
with me, you will not pretend to
any authority here; and if I put
arms in 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
meantime be governed by my
orders; secondly, 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 assurances that
the invention or faith of 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 showed all the
testimonies of his gratitude that he
was able, but offered to be
wholly guided by me. I told him I
thought it was very hard
venturing anything; but the best
method I could think of was to
fire on 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," 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 the heads of the
mutiny? He said, "No." "Well,
then," said I, "you may let them
escape; and Providence seems to
have awakened them on purpose to
save themselves. Now," says I,
"if the rest escape you, it is your
fault." 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 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
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 on
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 down with the stock of
his musket, so that he never
spoke more; there were three more in
the company, and one of them
was 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 told them he
would spare their lives if they
would give him an assurance of their
abhorrence of the treachery
they had been guilty of, and would
swear to be faithful to him in
recovering the ship, and afterwards
in carrying her back to
Jamaica, from whence they came. They
gave him 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 that I obliged him to
keep them bound hand and foot
while they were on the island. While this was doing, I sent Friday
with the captain's mate to the
boat with orders to secure her, and
bring away the oars and sails,
which they did; and by-and-by three
straggling men, that were
(happily for them) parted from the
rest, came back upon hearing the
guns fired; and seeing the captain,
who was before their prisoner,
now their conqueror, they submitted
to be 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 - and
particularly at the wonderful manner
of my being furnished with
provisions 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, I carried him and his
two men into my apartment,
leading them in just where I came
out, viz. at the top of the
house, where I refreshed them with
such provisions as I had, and
showed them all the contrivances I
had made during my 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
I had concealed my retreat with a
grove of trees, which having been
now planted nearly twenty years, and
the trees growing much faster
than in England, was become a little
wood, so thick that it was
impassable in any part of it 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 I
would 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 he was perfectly
at a loss what measures to take,
for that there were still
six-and-twenty hands 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
subdued they would 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. I mused for some time on what he had
said, and found it was a very
rational conclusion, and that
therefore something was to be
resolved on speedily, as well to
draw the men on board into some
snare for their surprise as to
prevent their landing upon us, and
destroying us. Upon this, it
presently occurred to me that in a
little 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 to look for them, and
that then, perhaps, they might
come armed, and be too strong for
us: this he allowed to be
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 of, and taking everything
out of her, leave her so far
useless as not to be fit to swim.
Accordingly, we went on board,
took the arms which were left 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 were
carried away before), we knocked
a great hole in her bottom, that if
they had 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 again fit
to carry as to the Leeward
Islands, and call upon our friends
the Spaniards in my way, for I
had them still in my thoughts. |