<h2>CHAPTER XVI—RESCUE OF PRISONERS FROM CANNIBALS</h2>
<p>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 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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