<h2>CHAPTER XVII—VISIT OF MUTINEERS</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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