Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - Chapter 16 – Rescue of Prisoners from Cannibals

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Dennis Sayers in Modesto, California,
Winter two thousand and six. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe,

(00:31):
Chapter sixteen, Rescue of Prisoners from Cannibals upon the whole.
I was by this time so fixed upon my design
of going over with him to the continent that I
told him we would go and make one as big
as that, and he should go home in it. He

(00:53):
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,

(01:15):
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

(01:37):
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 man's be good, sober tame man's. You
tell them know God, pray God, and live new life.

(02:00):
Last Friday says I. Thou knowest not what thou sayest.
I am but an ignorant man myself. Yes, yes, says he.
You you teach me good, You teach them good. No, No,
Friday says I. You shall go without me, leave me
here to live by myself as I did before. He

(02:22):
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? Says I? Again?

(02:44):
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

(03:07):
that I told him then and often after that I
would never send him away if he was willing to
stay with me. Upon the whole as I found by
all his discourse a settled affection to me, and that
nothing could part him from me. So I found all
the foundation of his desire to go to his own

(03:30):
country was laid in his ardent affection to the people
and his hopes of 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,

(03:51):
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 proper tree to fell and make a large piragua
or canoe to undertake the voyage. There were trees enough

(04:13):
in the island to have built a little fleet, not
of piraguas or canoes, but even of good large vessels.
But the main thing I looked at was this 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,

(04:35):
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 that tree
we cut down, except that it was very like the
tree we called Fustic, or between that and the Nicaragua wood,
for it was much of the same color and smell.

(04:57):
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 labor, we finished it
and made it very handsome, especially when with our axes,

(05:17):
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

(05:38):
in she would have carried twenty men with great ease.
When she was in the water, though she was so big,
it amazed me to see with what dexterity and how
swift my man Friday could manage her, turn her and
paddle her along. So I asked him if he would,
and if we might venture over in her. Yes, he said,

(06:02):
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 the mast, that was easy enough to get, So

(06:24):
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,

(06:45):
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

(07:07):
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, a mutton sail
to go, with a boom at bottom and a short

(07:30):
little sprit at the top, just as usually our ship's
longboats sail with, and such as I best knew how
to manage. As it was one such as I had
in the boat in which I made my escape from Barbary.
As related in the first part of my story, I

(07:50):
was near two months performing this last work, that is,
rigging and fitting my masts and sails, for I finished
them very complete, making a small stay and a sail
or forcial to assist it if we should turn to windward.
And what was more than all, I fixed a rudder

(08:12):
to the stern to steer her 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

(08:33):
me almost as much labor as making the boat. After
all this was done, I had my man Friday to
teach us 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 in
a rudder, and was the most amazed when he saw

(08:55):
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 sail changed.
I say when he saw this he stood like one
astonished and amazed. However, with a little use I made

(09:21):
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, seldom or never any fogs
in those parts, there was the least occasion for a
compass seeing. The stars were always to be seen at

(09:44):
night and the shore by day, except in the rainy seasons,
and then nobody cared to stir abroad, either by land
or sea. I was now entered on the seventh and
twentieth year of my captivity in this place. Though so
the three last years that I had this creature with
me ought rather to be left out of the account,

(10:06):
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,

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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,

(10:46):
with my husbandry, digging, planting, and fencing as usual. I
gathered and cured my grapes, and did every necessary thing
as before. The rainy season was in the mean time
upon me, when I kept more within doors than at
other times. We had stowed our new vessel as secure

(11:08):
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

(11:31):
strong dam across it at the end 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,

(11:54):
in which I designed to make my adventure. When the
settled season became 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

(12:17):
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 seashore 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

(12:39):
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 foot on.
And before I had time to speak to him, he
cries out to me, Oh master, oh master, Oh sorrow,
oh bad. What's the matter, says I? Oh yonder there,

(13:02):
says he won 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

(13:22):
poor fellow was most terribly scared, for nothing ran in
his head but that they were come back 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 comfort him as well
as I could, and told him I was in as
much danger as he, and that they would eat me

(13:45):
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 frighten them.
That we do not kill. So I asked him whether

(14:06):
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

(14:27):
when we had drunk it. I made him take the
two falling 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

(14:48):
my great sword, as usual, naked by my side, and
gave Friday his hatchet. When I had thus prepared myself,
I took my prospective glass and went a 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

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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

(15:33):
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,

(15:54):
filled me with such indignation that I came down again
to Friday and told him I was 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

(16:15):
and told me as before he would die when I
bid die. In this fit of fury, I divided the
arms which I had charged as before between us. I
gave Friday one pistol to stick in his girdle and
three guns upon his shoulder, and I took one pistol

(16:37):
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,

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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

(17:21):
I had seen by my glass. It was easy to do.
While I was making this march, my further 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 on armed wretches, it is certain I

(17:45):
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 go
and dip my hands in blood, to attack people who
had neither done or intended me any wrong, who, as

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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

(18:31):
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

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that in the meantime it was none of my business.
That it was true Friday might justify it, because he
was a declared enemy 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

(19:15):
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

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yet I knew of, I would not meddle with them.
With this resolution, I entered the wood, and with all
possible weariness 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

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that one corner of the world lay between me, and
then 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

(20:21):
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

(20:42):
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 heart at the very naming of
the white bearded man. And going to the tree, I

(21:05):
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 a European and had clothes on. There
was another tree and a little thicket beyond it, about

(21:27):
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

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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 rye seen
a ground, which gave me a full view of them
at the distance of about eighty yards. I had now

(22:10):
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

(22:37):
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 following piece upon the ground, and Friday
did the like by his and with the musket, I

(23:00):
took my aim at the savages, bidding him to do
the like then asking him if he was ready, He
said yes. Then fire at them, said I, And at
the same moment I fired also. Friday took his aim
so much better than I that on the one side

(23:21):
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

(23:41):
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 on the
piece and took up the following piece, and Friday did

(24:03):
the like he saw me cock and present he did
the same. 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

(24:24):
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 down quickly after, though not quite dead. Now,

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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, and 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,

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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 that were going

(25:33):
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

(25:58):
yards to be nearer them. He shot at them, and
I thought he had killed them all, for I saw
them all fall of a heap into the boat, though
I saw two of them up again quickly. However, he
killed two of them and wounded the third, so that
he lay down in the bottom of the boat as
if he had been dead. While my man Friday fired

(26:22):
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 he was so weak and faint that he could
scarcely stand or speak. I took my bottle out of

(26:44):
my pocket and gave it to 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 Espanol, and,
being a little covered, let me know by all the
signs he could possibly make how much he was in

(27:05):
my debt for his deliverance, Senor 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

(27:27):
arms in his hands, But as if they had put
new vigor 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

(27:47):
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 Friday shot at in the boat,
For as three of them fell with the hurt they received,
so the other two fell with the fright. I kept

(28:09):
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
he first fired, and fetch the arms which lay there discharged,
which he did with great swiftness, and then giving him

(28:32):
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

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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,

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when the Spaniard, though undermost wisely quitting the sword, drew
the pistol from his girdle, shot the savage through the
body and killed him upon the spot before I, who
was running to help him, could come near him. Friday,
being now left to his liberty, pursued the flying wretches

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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

(30:00):
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,

(30:20):
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,

(30:43):
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, and as chased them,
four escaped in the boat, whereof one wounded, if not dead,
he won. In all those that were in the canoe

(31:04):
worked hard to get out of gunshot, 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 home news to their people, they should come back,

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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 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 slaughter, and almost dead with fear, not knowing

(31:49):
what was the matter, for he had not been able
to look up over the side of the boat. He
was tied so hard neck and heels, and had been
tied so long that he had really but little life
in him. I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes
which they had bound him with, and would have helped

(32:10):
him up, But he could not stand or speak, but
groaned most piteously, believing it seemed 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 wretchedram, which, with the news of

(32:32):
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 see how Friday kissed him and
embraced him, hugged him, cried, laughed, halloude, jumped about, danced, sang,

(32:54):
then cried again, wrung his hands, beat his own face
and head, and then and jumped about again, like a
distracted creature. It was a good while before I could
make him speak to me or tell me what was
the matter. But when he came a little to himself,
he told me that it was his father. It is

(33:19):
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

(33:41):
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 numb and stiff with the binding

(34:03):
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 with them, which did him
a great deal of good. This affair put an end
to our pursuit of the canoe with the other savages,
who were now almost out of sight, And it was

(34:26):
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 continue blowing
so hard all night, and that from the northwest, which
was against them, that I could not suppose their boat
could live, or that they ever reached their own coast.

(34:50):
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

(35:11):
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

(35:34):
pocket two or three bunches of raisins, so I gave
him a handful 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 I ever saw. I say he ran

(35:55):
at such a rate that he was out of sight,
as it were, in an instant, And though I called
and hallooed out two 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

(36:16):
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 jugger pot to put
some fresh water for his father in, and that he
had got two more cakes or loaves of bread. The

(36:37):
bread he gave me, but the water he carried to
his father. However, as I was very thirsty too, I
took a little of it. The water revived his father
more than all the rum or spirits I had given him,
for he was fainting with thirst. When his father had drunk,

(36:58):
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
one of it as the 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

(37:21):
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

(37:42):
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.

(38:05):
His ankles were so swelled and so painful to him.
So I bade him sit still, and caused Friday to
rub his ankles and bathe them with rum, as he
had done his father's. I observed the poor affectionate creature
every two minutes or perhaps less, all the while he

(38:27):
was here, turn his head about to see if his
father was in the same place and posture as he
had 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

(38:47):
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

(39:10):
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 gunwale of the canoe, with his feet on
the inside of it, and then lifting him quite in,
he set him close to his father, and presently stepping

(39:33):
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.

(39:55):
He told me, go fetch more boat. So away he
went like the w end. For sure, never man nor
horse ran like him, and he had the other canoe
in the creek almost as soon as I had got
to it by land. So he wafted me over and
then went to help our new guests out of the boat,

(40:16):
which he did. But they were neither of them able
to walk, so that poor Friday knew not what to
do to remedy this, I went to work in my thought,
and calling to Friday to bid him sit down on
the bank while he came to me. I soon made

(40:37):
a kind of hand barrow to lay them on, and
Friday and I carried them both up together between us.
But when we got them to the outside of our
wall or fortification, we were at a worse loss than before,
for it was impossible to get them over, and I

(40:58):
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

(41:21):
we made them two beds of such things as I had,
that is, of good rice straw, with blankets laid upon
it to lie on, and another to cover them on
each bed. My island was now peopled, and I thought
myself very rich in subjects, and it was a merry

(41:42):
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.

(42:03):
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

(42:26):
pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a papist. However,
I allowed liberty of conscience throughout my dominions. But this
is by the way. As soon as I had secured
my two weak rescued prisoners, and given them shelter and

(42:46):
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 kind quarter
and chopping it into small pieces, I set Friday to

(43:07):
work to boiling and stewing it, and made them a
very good dish, I assure you, of flesh and broth,
and as I cooked it with outdoors, 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

(43:29):
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 Spaniards spoke the language of the savages pretty well.
After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered Friday

(43:53):
to take one of the canoes and go fetch our
muskets and other firearms, which for one 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

(44:14):
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 efface the very appearance of
the savages being there, so that when I went again,

(44:34):
I could scarce know where it was otherwise than by
the corner of the wood pointing to the place. I
then began to enter into a little conversation with my
two new subjects. And first I set Friday to inquire
of his father what he thought of the escape of
the savages in that canoe, and whether we might expect

(44:56):
to 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

(45:17):
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, and the noise and the fire, that
he believed they would tell the people they were all

(45:38):
killed by thunder and lightning, not by the hand of man,
and that the two which appeared that his 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,

(46:02):
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,

(46:23):
the savages never attempted to go over to the island. Afterwards.
They were so terrified with the accounts given by these
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

(46:44):
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. End of Chapter sixteen.