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02 - Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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Speaker 1: Chapter two, Slavery and Escape. That evil influence which carried
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Speaker 1: me first away from my father's house, which hurried me
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Speaker 1: into the wild and indigested notion of raising my fortune,
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Speaker 1: and that impressed those conceits so forcibly upon me as
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Speaker 1: to make me deaf to all good advice, and to
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Speaker 1: the entreaties and even the commands of my father. I
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Speaker 1: say the same influence, whatever it was, presented the most
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Speaker 1: unfortunate of all enterprises to my view, and I went
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Speaker 1: on board a vessel bound to the coast of Africa,
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Speaker 1: or as our sailors vulgarly called it, a voyage to Guinea.
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Speaker 1: It was my misfortune that in all these adventures I
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Speaker 1: did not ship myself as a sailor, when though I
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Speaker 1: might have worked a little harder than ordinary, yet at
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Speaker 1: the same time I should have learnt the duty and
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Speaker 1: office of a foremasted man, and in time might have
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Speaker 1: qualified myself for a mate or a lieutenant, if not
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Speaker 1: for a master. But as it was always my fate
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Speaker 1: to choose for the worse, so I did here, For
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Speaker 1: having money in my pocket and good clothes upon my back,
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Speaker 1: I would always go on board in the habit of
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Speaker 1: a gentleman, and so I neither had any business in
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Speaker 1: the ship, nor learned to do any It was my lot,
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Speaker 1: first of all, to fall into pretty good company in London,
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Speaker 1: which does not always happen to such loose and misguided
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Speaker 1: young fellows, as I then was the devil, generally not
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Speaker 1: omitting to lay some snare for them very early. But
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Speaker 1: it was not so with me. I first got acquainted
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Speaker 1: with the master of a ship who had been on
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Speaker 1: the coast of Guinea, and who, having had very good
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Speaker 1: success there, was resolved to go again. This captain, taking
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Speaker 1: a fancy to my conversation, which was not at all
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Speaker 1: disagreeable at that time, hearing me say I had a
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Speaker 1: mind to see the world, told me if I would
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Speaker 1: go the voyage with him, I should be at no expense.
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Speaker 1: I should be his messmate and his companion, and if
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Speaker 1: I could carry anything with me, I should have all
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Speaker 1: the advantage of it that the trade would admit, and
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Speaker 1: perhaps I might meet with some encouragement. I embraced the offer,
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Speaker 1: and entering into a strict friendship with the captain, who
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Speaker 1: was an honest, plain dealing man, I went the voyage
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Speaker 1: with him and carried a small adventure with me, which
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Speaker 1: by the dissent interested honesty of my friend the Captain,
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Speaker 1: I increased very considerably, For I carried about forty pounds
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Speaker 1: in such toys and trifles as the Captain directed me
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Speaker 1: to buy. These forty pounds I had mustered together by
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Speaker 1: the assistance of some of my relations, whom I corresponded with,
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Speaker 1: and who I believe got my father or at least
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Speaker 1: my mother, to contribute so much as that to my
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Speaker 1: first adventure. This was the only voyage which I may
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Speaker 1: say was successful in all my adventures, which I owe
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Speaker 1: to the integrity and honesty of my friend the Captain,
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Speaker 1: under whom also I got a competent knowledge of the
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Speaker 1: mathematics and the rules of navigation, learned how to keep
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Speaker 1: an account of the ship's course, taken observation, and in
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Speaker 1: short to understand some things that were needful to be
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Speaker 1: understood by a sailor. For as he took delight to
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Speaker 1: instruct me, I took delight to learn. And in a word,
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Speaker 1: this voyage made me both a sailor and a merchant,
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Speaker 1: for I brought home five pounds nine ounces of gold
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Speaker 1: dust for my adventure, which yielded me in London at
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Speaker 1: my return almost three hundred pounds, and this filled me
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Speaker 1: with those aspiring thoughts which ever since so completed my ruin.
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Speaker 1: Yet even in this voyage I had my misfortunes, too,
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Speaker 1: particularly that I was continually sick, being thrown into a
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Speaker 1: violent calencher by the excessive heat of the climate, our
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Speaker 1: principal trading being upon the coast from latitude of fifteen
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Speaker 1: degrees north, even to the line itself. I was now
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Speaker 1: set up for a getty trader, my friend, to my
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Speaker 1: great misfortune, dying soon after his arrival. I resolved to
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Speaker 1: go the same voyage again, and I embarked in the
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Speaker 1: same vessel with one who was his mate in the
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Speaker 1: former voyage, and had now got the command of the ship.
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Speaker 1: This was the unhappiest voyage that ever man made, for
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Speaker 1: though I did not carry quite one hundred pounds of
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Speaker 1: my newly gained wealth, so that I left two hundred pounds,
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Speaker 1: which I had lodged with my friend's widow, who was
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Speaker 1: very just to me. Yet I fell into terrible misfortunes.
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Speaker 1: The first was this our ship, making her course toward
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Speaker 1: the Canary Islands, or rather between those islands and the
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Speaker 1: African shore, was surprised in the gray of the morning
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Speaker 1: by a Turkish rover of Slie, who gave chase to
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Speaker 1: us with all the sails she could make. We crowded
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Speaker 1: also as much canvas as our yards would spread as
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Speaker 1: or our masts carry to get clear. But finding the
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Speaker 1: pirate gained upon us and would certainly come up with
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Speaker 1: us in a few hours, we prepared to fight our ship,
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Speaker 1: having twelve guns in the rogue eighteen. About three in
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Speaker 1: the afternoon he came up upon us, and bringing to
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Speaker 1: by mistake, just a thwart our quarter instead of a
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Speaker 1: thwart our stern as he intended. We brought eight of
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Speaker 1: our guns to bear on that side, and poured in
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Speaker 1: a broadside upon him, which made him sheer off again.
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Speaker 1: After returning our fire and pouring in also his small
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Speaker 1: shot from near two hundred men which he had on board,
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Speaker 1: however we had not a man touched all our men.
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Speaker 1: Keeping close, he prepared to attack us again, and we
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Speaker 1: to defend ourselves, but laying us on board. The next
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Speaker 1: time upon our other quarter, he entered sixty men upon
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Speaker 1: our decks, who immediately fell to cutting and hacking the
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Speaker 1: sails and rigging. We plied them with small shot half pikes,
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Speaker 1: powder chests, and such like, and cleared our deck of
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Speaker 1: them twice. However, to cut short this melancholy part of
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Speaker 1: our story, our ship being disabled, and three of our
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Speaker 1: men killed and eight wounded, we were obliged to yield,
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Speaker 1: and were carried all prisoners into Silly, a port belonging
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Speaker 1: to the Moors. The usage I had there was not
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Speaker 1: so dreadful as at first I apprehended, nor was I
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Speaker 1: carried up the country to the Emperor's court, as the
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Speaker 1: rest of our men were, but was by the captain
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Speaker 1: of the rover as his proper prize, and made his slave,
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Speaker 1: being young and nimble and fit for his business. At
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Speaker 1: this surprising change of my circumstances, from a merchant to
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Speaker 1: a miserable slave, I was perfectly overwhelmed. And now I
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Speaker 1: looked back upon my father's prophetic discourse to me that
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Speaker 1: I should be miserable and have none to relieve me,
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Speaker 1: which I thought was now so effectually brought to pass
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Speaker 1: that I could not be worse. For now the hand
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Speaker 1: of Heaven had overtaken me, and I was undone without redemption.
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Speaker 1: But alas this was but a taste of the misery,
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Speaker 1: I was to go through, as will appear in the
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Speaker 1: sequel of the story. As my new patron or master
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Speaker 1: had taken me home to his house, so I was
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Speaker 1: in hopes that he would take me with him when
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Speaker 1: he went to sea again, believing that would sometime or
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Speaker 1: other be his fate to be taken by a Spanish
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Speaker 1: or Portugal ban of war, and that then I should
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Speaker 1: be set at liberty. But this hope of mine was
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Speaker 1: soon taken away, for when he went to see he
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Speaker 1: left me on shore to look after his little garden
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Speaker 1: and do the common drudgery of slaves around his house.
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Speaker 1: And when he came home again from his crews, he
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Speaker 1: ordered me to lie in the cabin to look after
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Speaker 1: the ship. Here I meditated nothing but my escape and
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Speaker 1: what method I might take to effect it, but found
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Speaker 1: no way that had the least probability in it. Nothing
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Speaker 1: presented to make the supposition of it rational, for I
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Speaker 1: had nobody to communicate it to that would embark with me,
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Speaker 1: no fellow slave, no Englishman, Irishmen, or scotchman there but myself,
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Speaker 1: So that for two years, though I often pleased myself
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Speaker 1: with the imagination, yet I never had the least encouraging
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Speaker 1: prospect of putting it in practice. After about two years,
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Speaker 1: an odd circumstance presented itself, which put the old thought
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Speaker 1: of making some attempt for my liberty again in my head.
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Speaker 1: My patron lying at home longer than usual without fitting
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Speaker 1: out his ship, which as I heard, was for want
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Speaker 1: of money, he used constantly, once or twice a week,
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Speaker 1: sometimes oftener, if the weather was fair, to take the
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Speaker 1: ship's pinnace and go out into the road of fishing.
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Speaker 1: And as he always took me and the young Moresco
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Speaker 1: with him to row the boat, we made him very merry,
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Speaker 1: and I proved very dexterous in catching fish, insomuch that
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Speaker 1: sometimes he would send me with the Moore, one of
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Speaker 1: his kinsmen, and the youth, the Moresco as they called him,
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Speaker 1: to catch a day a fish for him. It happened
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Speaker 1: one time that, going to fishing in a calm morning,
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Speaker 1: a fog rose so thick that though we were not
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Speaker 1: half a league from the shore, we lost sight of it,
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Speaker 1: and rowing we knew not whither or which way. We
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Speaker 1: labored all day and all the next night, and when
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Speaker 1: the morning came we found we had pulled off to
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Speaker 1: sea instead of pulling in for shore, and that we
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Speaker 1: were at least two leagues from the shore. However, we
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Speaker 1: got well and again, though with a great deal of
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Speaker 1: labor and some danger, for the wind began to blow
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Speaker 1: pretty fresh in the morning. But we were all very hungry.
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Speaker 1: But our patron, warned by this disaster, resolved to take
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Speaker 1: more care of himself for the future, And having lying
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Speaker 1: by him the longboat of our English ship that he
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Speaker 1: had taken, he resolved he would not go fishing anymore
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Speaker 1: without a compass and some provision. So he ordered the
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Speaker 1: carpenter of his ship, which was also an English slave,
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Speaker 1: to build a little stateroom or cabin in the middle
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Speaker 1: of the longboat, like that of a barge, with the
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Speaker 1: place to stand behind it to steer and haul home
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Speaker 1: the main sheet, the room before for a hand or
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Speaker 1: two to stand and work the sails. She sailed with
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Speaker 1: what we call a shoulder of mutton sail, and the
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Speaker 1: boom jibed over the top of the cabin, which lay
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Speaker 1: very snug and low, and had in it room for
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Speaker 1: him to lie, with a slaver two and a table
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Speaker 1: to eat on, with some small lockers to put in
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Speaker 1: some bottles of such liquor as he thought fit to drink,
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Speaker 1: and his bread, rice and coffee. We went frequently out
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Speaker 1: with this boat a fishing, and as I was most
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Speaker 1: dexterous to catch fish for him, he never went without me.
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Speaker 1: It happened that he had appointed to go out in
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Speaker 1: this boat, either for pleasure or for fish, with two
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Speaker 1: or three moors of some distinction in that place, and
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Speaker 1: for whom he had provided extraordinarily, and had therefore sent
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Speaker 1: on board the boat overnight a larger store of provisions
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Speaker 1: than ordinary, and had ordered me to get ready three
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Speaker 1: few z's with powder and shot, which were on board
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Speaker 1: his ship. For that they designed some sport of fouling,
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Speaker 1: as well as fishing. I got all things ready as
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Speaker 1: he had directed, and waited the next morning, with the
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Speaker 1: boat washed clean, her ancient and pendance out, and everything
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Speaker 1: to accommodate his guests, when by and by my patron
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Speaker 1: came on board alone and told me his guests had
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Speaker 1: put off going from some business that fell out, and
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Speaker 1: ordered me, with the man and boy as usual, to
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Speaker 1: out go out with the boat and catch them some fish.
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Speaker 1: For that his friends were to step at his house,
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Speaker 1: and commanded that as soon as I got some fish,
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Speaker 1: I should bring it home to his house, all which
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Speaker 1: I prepared to do. This moment my former notions of
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Speaker 1: deliverance darted into my thoughts. For now I found I
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Speaker 1: was likely to have a little ship at my command,
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Speaker 1: and my master being gone, I prepared to furnish myself
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Speaker 1: not for fishing business, but for a voyage. Though I
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Speaker 1: knew not neither did I so much as consider whither
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Speaker 1: I should steer anywhere. To get out of that place
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Speaker 1: was my desire. My first contrivance was to make a
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Speaker 1: pretense to speak to this more to get something for
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Speaker 1: our subsistence on board. For I told him we must
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Speaker 1: not presume to eat of our patron's bread. He said
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Speaker 1: that was true, so he brought a large basket of
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Speaker 1: rusk or biscuit and three jars of fresh water into
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Speaker 1: the boat. I knew where my patron's case of bottles stood,
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Speaker 1: which it was evident by the make were taken out
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Speaker 1: of some English prize, and I conveyed them into the
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Speaker 1: boat while the moor was on shore, as if they
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Speaker 1: had been there before. For our master, I conveyed also
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Speaker 1: a great lump of bees wax into the boat, which
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Speaker 1: weighed about half a hundredweight. With a parcel of twine
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Speaker 1: or thread, a hatchet, a saw, and a hammer, all
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Speaker 1: of which were of great use to us afterwards, especially
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Speaker 1: the wax to make candles. Another trick I tried upon him,
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Speaker 1: which he innocently came into. Also his name was Ishmael,
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Speaker 1: which they called Muli or Moli, so I called him Molly,
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Speaker 1: said I, our patron's guns are on board the boat.
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Speaker 1: Can you not get a little powder and shot? It
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Speaker 1: may be we may kill kill some alcamis, a fowl
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Speaker 1: like our curlews for ourselves, for I know he keeps
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Speaker 1: the gunner's stores in the ship. Yes, says he, I'll
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Speaker 1: bring some. And accordingly he brought a great leather pouch
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Speaker 1: which held a pound and a half of powder, or
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Speaker 1: rather more, and another was shot that had five or
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Speaker 1: six pounds with some bullets, and put all into the boat.
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Speaker 1: At the same time I found some powder of my
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Speaker 1: master's in the great cabin, with which I filled one
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Speaker 1: of the large bottles in the case, which was almost empty,
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Speaker 1: pouring what was in it into another. And thus furnished
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Speaker 1: with everything needful, we sailed out of the port to
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Speaker 1: fish the castle, which is at the entrance of the port.
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Speaker 1: Knew who we were and took no notice of us,
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Speaker 1: and we were not above a mile out of the
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Speaker 1: port before we hauled in our sail and set us
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Speaker 1: down to fish. The wind blew from the north northeast,
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Speaker 1: which was contrary to my desire, for had it blown southenly,
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Speaker 1: I had been sure to have made the coast of
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Speaker 1: Spain and at least reached to the Bay of Cadiz.
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Speaker 1: But my resolutions were blow which way it would, I
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Speaker 1: would be gone from that horrid place where I was,
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Speaker 1: and leave the rest to fate. After we had fished
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Speaker 1: for some time and caught nothing, for when I had
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Speaker 1: fish on my hook, I would not pull them up
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Speaker 1: that he might not see them, I said to them more,
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Speaker 1: this will not do. Our master will not be thus served.
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Speaker 1: We must stand farther off. He, thinking no harm, agreed, and,
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Speaker 1: being in the head of the boat, set the sails,
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Speaker 1: and as I had the helm, I ran the boat
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Speaker 1: out near a league farther, and then brought her to
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Speaker 1: as if I would fish. When giving the boy the helm,
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Speaker 1: I stepped forward to where the moor was, and, making
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Speaker 1: as if I stooped for something behind him, I took
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Speaker 1: him by surprise with my arm under his waist, and
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Speaker 1: tossed him clear overboard into the sea. He rose immediately,
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Speaker 1: for he swam like a cork, and called to me,
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Speaker 1: begged to be taken in, told me he would go
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Speaker 1: all over the world with me. He swam so strong
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Speaker 1: after the boat that he would have reached me very quickly,
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Speaker 1: there being but little wind, upon which I stepped into
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Speaker 1: the cabin, and, fetching one of the fowling pieces, I
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Speaker 1: presented it at him and told him I had done
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Speaker 1: him no hurt, and if he would be quiet, I
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Speaker 1: would do him none, But said I, you swim well
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Speaker 1: enough to reach to the shore, and the sea is calm.
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Speaker 1: Make the best of your way to shore, and I
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Speaker 1: will do you no harm. But if you come near
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Speaker 1: the boat, I'll shoot you through the head, for I
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Speaker 1: am resolved to have my liberty. And so he turned
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Speaker 1: himself about and swam for the shore. And I make
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Speaker 1: no doubt, but he reached it with ease, for he
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Speaker 1: was an excellent swimmer. I could have been content to
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Speaker 1: have taken this moar with me and have drowned the boy,
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Speaker 1: but there was no venturing to trust him. When he
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Speaker 1: was gone, I turned to the boy whom they called Shuri,
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Speaker 1: and said to him, surely, if you will be faithful
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Speaker 1: to me, I'll make you a great man. But if
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Speaker 1: you will not stroke your face to be true to me,
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Speaker 1: that is swear by Mohammed and his father's beard, I
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Speaker 1: must throw you into the sea too. The boy smiled
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Speaker 1: in my face and spoke so ill innocently that I
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Speaker 1: could not distress him, and swore to be faithful to
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Speaker 1: me and go all over the world with me. While
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Speaker 1: I was in view of the moor that was swimming,
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Speaker 1: I stood out directly to see with the boat, rather
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Speaker 1: stretching to windward, that they might think me gone towards
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Speaker 1: the strait's mouth, as indeed anyone that had been in
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Speaker 1: their wits must have been supposed to do, for who
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Speaker 1: would have supposed We were sailed on to the southward,
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Speaker 1: to the truly barbarian coast, where whole nations of Negroes
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Speaker 1: were sure to surround us with their boats and destroy us.
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Speaker 1: Where we could not go on shore, but we should
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Speaker 1: be devoured by savage beasts or more merciless savages of
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Speaker 1: the human kind. But as soon as it grew dusk
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Speaker 1: in the evening, I changed my course and steered directly
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Speaker 1: south and by east, bending my course a little towards
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Speaker 1: the east, that I might keep in with the shore,
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Speaker 1: and having a fair, fresh gale of wind and a smooth,
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Speaker 1: quiet sea, I made such sail that I believed by
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Speaker 1: the next day, at three o'clock in the afternoon, when
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Speaker 1: I first made the land, I could not be less
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Speaker 1: than one hundred and fifty miles south of Selie, quite
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Speaker 1: beyond the Emperor of Morocco's dominions, or indeed of any
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Speaker 1: other king thereabouts, for we saw no people. Yet. Such
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Speaker 1: was the fright I had taken of the moors, and
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Speaker 1: the dreadful apprehensions I had of falling into their hands,
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Speaker 1: that I would not stop, or go on shore, or
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Speaker 1: come to an anchor. The wind continuing fair till I
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Speaker 1: had sailed in that manner five days, and then the
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Speaker 1: wind shifting to the southward. I concluded also that if
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Speaker 1: any of our vessels were in chase of me, they
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Speaker 1: also would now give over. So I ventured to make
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Speaker 1: the coast and come to an anchor in the mouth
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Speaker 1: of a little river. I knew not what, nor where,
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Speaker 1: neither what latitude, what country, what nation, or what river.
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Speaker 1: I neither saw nor desire to see any people. The
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Speaker 1: principal thing I wanted was fresh water. We came into
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Speaker 1: this creek in the evening, resolving to swim on shore
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Speaker 1: as soon as it was dark and discover the country.
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Speaker 1: But as soon as it was quite dark we heard
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Speaker 1: such dreadful noises of the barking, roaring and howling of
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Speaker 1: wild creatures, of we knew not what kinds. That the
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Speaker 1: poor boy was ready to die with fear, and begged
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Speaker 1: of me not to go on shore till day. Well, surey,
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Speaker 1: said I, Then I won't. But it may be that
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Speaker 1: we may see men by day who will be as
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Speaker 1: bad to us as those lions. Then we give them
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Speaker 1: the shoot gun, said shurry, laughing, make them run away.
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Speaker 1: Such English Shury spoke by conversing among us slaves. However,
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Speaker 1: I was glad to see the boy so cheerful, and
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Speaker 1: I gave him a dram out of our patron's case
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Speaker 1: of bottles to cheer him up. After all, Shurrey's advice
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Speaker 1: was good, and I took it. We dropped our little
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Speaker 1: anchor and lay still all night. I say still, for
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Speaker 1: we slept none. For in two or three hours we
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Speaker 1: saw vast, great creatures we knew not what to call them,
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Speaker 1: of many sorts come down to the sea shore and
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Speaker 1: run into the water, wallowing and washing themselves for the
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Speaker 1: pleasure of cooling themselves. And they made such hideous howlings
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Speaker 1: and yellings that I never indeed heard the like. Shurry
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Speaker 1: was dreadfully frightened, and indeed so was I too, But
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Speaker 1: we we were both more frighted when we heard one
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Speaker 1: of these mighty creatures come swimming towards our boat. We
24:07
Speaker 1: could not see him, but we might hear him by
24:10
Speaker 1: his blowing to be a monstrous, huge and furious beast.
24:15
Speaker 1: Shuri said it was a lion, and it might be
24:18
Speaker 1: so for aught, I know, But poor Suri cried to
24:21
Speaker 1: me to weigh the anchor and row away. No, says I, Surrey,
24:26
Speaker 1: we can slip our cable with the boy to it
24:28
Speaker 1: and go off to see they cannot follow us far.
24:33
Speaker 1: I had no sooner said so, But I perceived the creature,
24:36
Speaker 1: whatever it was, within two oar's length, which something surprised me. However,
24:42
Speaker 1: I immediately stepped to the cabin door, and, taking up
24:45
Speaker 1: my gun, fired at him, upon which he immediately turned
24:49
Speaker 1: about and swam towards the shore again. But it is
24:54
Speaker 1: impossible to describe the horrid noises and hideous cries and
24:58
Speaker 1: howlings that were raised as well upon the edge of
25:01
Speaker 1: the shore as higher within the country. Upon the noise
25:05
Speaker 1: or report of the gun, a thing I have some
25:08
Speaker 1: reason to believe those creatures had never heard before. This
25:13
Speaker 1: convinced me that there was no going on shore for
25:16
Speaker 1: us in the night on that coast, And how to
25:20
Speaker 1: venture on shore in the day was another question, too,
25:23
Speaker 1: for to have fallen into the hands of any of
25:25
Speaker 1: the savages had been as bad as to have fallen
25:28
Speaker 1: into the hands of the lions and tigers. At least
25:33
Speaker 1: we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it. Be
25:38
Speaker 1: that as it would, we were obliged to go on
25:40
Speaker 1: shore somewhere or other for water, for we had not
25:44
Speaker 1: a pint left in the boat. When and where to
25:48
Speaker 1: get to it was the point Shurey said, if I
25:53
Speaker 1: would let him go on shore with one of the jars,
25:55
Speaker 1: he would find if there was any water and bring
25:58
Speaker 1: some to me. I asked him why he should go,
26:03
Speaker 1: Why I should not go and he stay in the boat.
26:07
Speaker 1: The boy answered with so much affection as made me
26:09
Speaker 1: love him ever after, says he, if wild mans come
26:15
Speaker 1: they eat me, you go away. Well, surey said I,
26:20
Speaker 1: We will both go, and if the wild mans come,
26:23
Speaker 1: we will kill them. They shall eat neither of us.
26:28
Speaker 1: So I gave Shuy a piece of rusk bread to
26:31
Speaker 1: eat in a dram out of our patron's case of bottles,
26:35
Speaker 1: which I mentioned before, And we hauled the boat in
26:38
Speaker 1: as near to the shore as we thought was proper,
26:41
Speaker 1: and so waited on shore, carrying nothing but our arms
26:46
Speaker 1: and two jars for water. I did not care to
26:51
Speaker 1: go out of sight of the boat, fearing the coming
26:54
Speaker 1: of canoes with savages down the river. But the boy,
26:57
Speaker 1: seeing a low place about a mile up the rambled
27:00
Speaker 1: to it, and by and bye I saw him come
27:02
Speaker 1: running towards me. I thought he was pursued by some savage,
27:07
Speaker 1: or frighted with some wild beast, and I ran towards
27:11
Speaker 1: him to help him. But when I came nearer to him,
27:14
Speaker 1: I saw something hanging over his shoulders, which was a
27:17
Speaker 1: creature that he had shot, like a hare, but different
27:21
Speaker 1: in color and longer legs. However, we were very glad
27:26
Speaker 1: of it, and it was very good meat. But the
27:29
Speaker 1: great joy that poor Shury came with was to tell
27:32
Speaker 1: me he had found good water and seen no wild
27:35
Speaker 1: man's But we found afterwards that we need not take
27:41
Speaker 1: such pains for water. For a little higher up the
27:43
Speaker 1: creek where we were, we found the water fresh when
27:48
Speaker 1: the tide was out, which flowed but a little way up,
27:52
Speaker 1: and so we filled our jars and feasted on the
27:54
Speaker 1: air he had killed, and prepared to go our way,
27:59
Speaker 1: having seen no footsteps of any human creature in that
28:02
Speaker 1: part of the country. As I had been one voyage
28:08
Speaker 1: to this coast before, I knew very well that the
28:10
Speaker 1: islands of the Canaries and the Cape de Verde Islands
28:14
Speaker 1: also lay not far off from the coast. But as
28:19
Speaker 1: I had no instruments to take an observation to know
28:21
Speaker 1: what latitude we were in, and not exactly knowing or
28:25
Speaker 1: at least remembering what latitude they were in, I knew
28:29
Speaker 1: not where to look for them, or when to stand
28:32
Speaker 1: off to see towards them. Otherwise I might now easily
28:36
Speaker 1: have found some of these islands. But my hope was
28:41
Speaker 1: that if I stood along this coast till I came
28:43
Speaker 1: to that part where the English traded, I should find
28:47
Speaker 1: some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade
28:51
Speaker 1: that would relieve and take us in. By the best
28:56
Speaker 1: of my calculation, that place where I now was must
28:59
Speaker 1: be that country which, lying between the Emperor of Morocco's
29:03
Speaker 1: dominions and the Negroes, lies waste and uninhabited except by
29:08
Speaker 1: wild beasts, the Negroes having abandoned it and gone farther
29:13
Speaker 1: south for fear of the Moors, and the moor Is,
29:15
Speaker 1: not thinking it worth inhabiting by reason of its barrenness,
29:19
Speaker 1: and indeed both forsaking it because of the prodigious numbers
29:23
Speaker 1: of tigers, lions, leopards, and other furious creatures which harbour there,
29:29
Speaker 1: so that the Moors use it for their hunting only
29:33
Speaker 1: where they go like an army, two or three thousand
29:35
Speaker 1: men at a time, and indeed, for near one hundred
29:39
Speaker 1: miles together upon this coast, we saw nothing but a waste,
29:43
Speaker 1: uninhabited country by day, and heard nothing but howlings and
29:47
Speaker 1: roaring of wild beasts by night. Once or twice in
29:52
Speaker 1: the daytime I thought I saw the Pico of Tenerife,
29:56
Speaker 1: being the high top of the mountain Tenerife in the Canaries,
30:00
Speaker 1: and had a great mind to venture out in hopes
30:03
Speaker 1: of reaching thither, but having tried twice, I was forced
30:08
Speaker 1: again in by contrary winds, the sea also going too
30:13
Speaker 1: high for my little vessel. So I resolved to pursue
30:17
Speaker 1: my first design and keep along the shore. Several times
30:23
Speaker 1: I was obliged to land for fresh water after we
30:26
Speaker 1: had left this place, and once in particular, being early
30:29
Speaker 1: in the morning, we came to an anchor under a
30:32
Speaker 1: little point of land which was pretty high, and the
30:36
Speaker 1: tide beginning to flow. We lay still to go further in. Shurrey,
30:42
Speaker 1: whose eyes were more about him than it seems mine were,
30:46
Speaker 1: called softly to me and tells me that we had
30:49
Speaker 1: best go farther off the shore. For says he, looking on,
30:54
Speaker 1: there lies a dreadful monster on the side of that
30:57
Speaker 1: hillock fast asleep. I looked where he pointed, and saw
31:01
Speaker 1: a dreadful monster. Indeed, for it was a terrible, great
31:04
Speaker 1: lion that lay on the side of the shore, under
31:08
Speaker 1: the shade of a piece of the hill that hung
31:11
Speaker 1: as if it were a little over him. sureI says I,
31:15
Speaker 1: you shall on shore and kill him. Shuri looked frighted
31:20
Speaker 1: and said me kill heat me one mouth one mouthful.
31:25
Speaker 1: He meant. However, I said no more to the boy,
31:29
Speaker 1: but bade him lie still. And I took our biggest gun,
31:32
Speaker 1: which was almost musket bore, and loaded it with a
31:36
Speaker 1: good charge of powder and with two slugs, and laid
31:39
Speaker 1: it down. Then I loaded another gun with two bullets,
31:43
Speaker 1: and the third, for we had three pieces, I loaded
31:46
Speaker 1: with five smaller bullets. I took the best daim I
31:51
Speaker 1: could with the first piece to have shot him in
31:54
Speaker 1: the head, but he lay so with his leg raised
31:57
Speaker 1: a little above his nose that the slug hit his
32:01
Speaker 1: knee and broke the bone. He started up, growling at first,
32:09
Speaker 1: but finding his leg broken, fell down again, and then
32:13
Speaker 1: got up upon three legs and gave the most hideous
32:16
Speaker 1: roar that ever I heard. I was a little surprised
32:20
Speaker 1: that I had not hit him on the head. However,
32:24
Speaker 1: I took up the second piece in immediately, and though
32:27
Speaker 1: he began to move off, fired again and shot him
32:30
Speaker 1: in the head, and had the pleasure to see him
32:33
Speaker 1: drop and make but little noise, but lie struggling for life.
32:39
Speaker 1: Then Shurrey took heart and would have me let him
32:42
Speaker 1: go on shore. Well go, said I. So the boy
32:46
Speaker 1: jumped into the water and taking a little gun in
32:48
Speaker 1: one hand, swam ashore with the other, and coming close
32:53
Speaker 1: to the creature, put the muzzle of the piece to
32:56
Speaker 1: his ear and shot him in the head again, which
32:59
Speaker 1: despatched him quite This was game, indeed to us, but
33:04
Speaker 1: this was not food, and I was very sorry to
33:08
Speaker 1: lose three charges of powder and shot upon a creature
33:12
Speaker 1: that was good for nothing to us. However, Surrey said
33:16
Speaker 1: he would have some for him. So he comes on
33:20
Speaker 1: board and asks me to give him the hatchet. For
33:23
Speaker 1: what surey said, I me cut off his head, said he. However,
33:29
Speaker 1: sure he could not cut off his head, but he
33:32
Speaker 1: cut off a foot and brought it with him, and
33:34
Speaker 1: it was a monstrous, great one. I bethought myself, however,
33:40
Speaker 1: that perhaps the skin of him might, one way or another,
33:43
Speaker 1: be of some value to us, and I resolved to
33:46
Speaker 1: take off his skin if I could so. Shury and
33:49
Speaker 1: I went to work with him. But Surrey was much
33:52
Speaker 1: better the workman at it, for I knew very ill
33:56
Speaker 1: how to do it. Indeed, it took both of us
34:00
Speaker 1: up the whole day, but at last we got off
34:03
Speaker 1: the hide of him, and spreading it on the top
34:06
Speaker 1: of our cabin, the sun effectually dried it in two
34:10
Speaker 1: days time, and it afterwards served me to lie. Upon
34:19
Speaker 1: end of chapter two,