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12 - Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe · Classic Adventure Books Library

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Chapter twelve, a cave retreat. While this was doing, I was not
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altogether careless of my other affairs, for I had a great concern upon me
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for my little herd of goats. They were not only already supply to me
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on every occasion, and began to be sufficient for me without the expense of
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powder and shot, but also without the fatigue of hunting after the wild ones.
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And I was loath to lose the advantage of them, and to have
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them all to nurse up over again. For this purpose, After long consideration,
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I could think of but two ways to preserve them. One was to
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find another convenient place to dig a cave underground, and to drive them into
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it every night. And the other was to enclose two or three little bits
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of land, remote from one another, and as much conceived as I could,
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where I might keep about a half dozen young goats in each place,
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so that if any disaster happened to the flock in general, I might be
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able to raise them again with little trouble and time. And this, though
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it would require a good deal of time in labor, I thought was the
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most rational design. Accordingly, I spent some time to find out the most
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retired parts of the island, and I pitched upon one which was as private,
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indeed as my heart could wish. It was a little damp piece of
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ground in the middle of the hollow and thick woods, where as is observed,
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I almost lost myself once before endeavoring to come back that way from the
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eastern part of the island. Here I found a clear piece of land near
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three acres, so surrounded with woods that it was almost an enclosure by nature.
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At least it did not want near so much labor to make it so
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as the other piece of ground I had worked so hard at. I immediately
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went to work with this piece of ground, and in less than a month's
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time I had so fenced it round that my flock or herd call it what
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she please, which were not so wild now as at first they might be
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supposed to be, were well enough secured in it. So without any further
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delay I removed ten young she goats and two he goats to this piece,
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and when they were there, I continued to perfect the fence till I had
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made it as secure as the other, which, however, I did at
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more leisure, and it took me up more time by a great deal all
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this labor I was at the expense of, purely from my apprehensions, on
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account of the print of a man's foot, For as yet I had never
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seen any human creature come near the island, and I had now lived two
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years under this uneasiness, which indeed made my life much less comfortable than it
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was before, as may well be imagined by any who know what it is
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to live in the constant snare of the fear of man. And this I
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must observe with grief too, that the discomposure of my mind had great impression
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also upon the religious part of my thoughts. For the dread and terror of
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falling into the hands of savages and cannibals lay so upon my spirits that I
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seldom found myself in a due temper for application to my maker, at least
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not with the sedate calmness and resignation of soul, which I was wont to
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do. I rather prayed to God as under great affliction and pressure of mind,
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surrounded with danger, and in expectation every night of being murdered and devoured
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before morning. And I must testify from my experience that a temper of peace,
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thankfulness, love, and affection is much more the proper frame for prayer
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than that of terror and discomposure, and that under the dread of mischief impending
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a man is no more fit for a comforting performance of the duty of praying
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to God than he is for a repentance on a sick bed. For these
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discomposures affect the mind as the others do the body, and the discomposure of
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the mind must necessarily be as great a disability as that of the body,
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and much greater, praying to God being properly an act of the mind,
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not of the body. But to go on. After I had thus secured
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one part of my little living stock, I went about the whole island,
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searching for another private place to make such another deposit. When wandering more to
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the west point of the island than I had ever done yet, and looking
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out to the sea, I thought I saw a boat upon the sea.
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At a great distance. I had found a perspective glass or two in one
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of the seamen's chests, which I saved out of our ship. But I
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had it not about me, and this was so remote that I could not
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tell what to make of it, though I looked at it till my eyes
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were not able to hold to look any longer. Whether it was a boat
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or not, I do not know. But as I descended from the hill,
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I could see no more of it, so I gave it over only
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I resolved to go no more out without a prospective glass in my pocket.
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When I was come down the hill to the end of the island, where
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indeed I had never been before, I was presently convinced that the scene the
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print of a man's foot, was not such a strange thing in the island
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as I imagined, but that it was a special providence that I was cast
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upon the side of the island where the savages never came. I should easily
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have known that nothing was more frequent than for the canoes from the main when
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they happened to be a little too far out at sea to shoot over to
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that side of the island for harbor. And likewise, as they often met
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and fought in their canoes, the victors, having taken away prisoners, would
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bring them over to this shore, where, according to their dreadful customs,
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being all cannibals, they would kill and eat them, end of which hereafter,
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when I was come down the hill to the shore, as I said
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above, being the southwest point of the island, I was perfectly confounded and
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amazed. Nor is it possible for me to express the horror of my mind
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at seeing the shore spread with skulls, hands, feet, and other bones
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of human bodies. And particularly I observed a place where there had been a
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fire made, and a circle dug in the earth like a cockpit, where
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I supposed the savage wretches had sat down to their human feastings upon the bodies
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of their fellow creatures. I was so astonished with the sight of these things
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that I entertained no notions of any danger to myself from it. For a
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long while, all my apprehensions were buried in the thoughts of such a pitch
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of inhuman hellish brutality, and the horror of the degeneracy of human nature,
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which though I had heard of it often, yet I never had so near
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a view of before. In short, I turned away my face from the
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horrid spectacle. My stomach grew sick, and I was just at the point
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of fainting when Nature discharged the disorder from my stomach, and having vomited with
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uncommon violence, I was a little relieved, but could not bear to stay
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in the place a moment. So I got up the hill again with all
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the speed I could, and walked on towards my own habitation. When I
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came a little out of that part of the island, I stood still,
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awhile, amazed, and then recovering myself, I looked up with the utmost
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affection of my soul, and with a flood of tears in my eyes,
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gave God thanks that had cast my first lot in a part of the world
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where I was distinguished from such dreadful creatures as these, And that though I
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had esteemed my present condition very miserable, had yet given me so many comforts
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in it, that I had still more to give thanks for than to complain
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of. And this above all, that I had, even in this miserable
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condition, been comforted with the knowledge of Himself and the hope of His blessing,
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which was a felicity more than sufficiently equivalent to all the misery which I
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had suffered or could suffer. In this frame of thankfulness, I went home
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to my castle and began to be much easier now as to the safety of
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my circumstances than ever I was before. For I had observed that these wretches
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never came to this island in search of what they could get, perhaps not
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seeking, not wanting, or not expecting anything here, and having often no
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doubt been up the covered witty part of it without finding anything to their purpose.
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I knew I had been here now almost eighteen years, and never saw
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the least footsteps of human creature there before. And I might be eighteen years
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more as entirely concealed as I was now if I did not discover myself to
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them, which I had no manner of occasion to do, it being only
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my business to keep myself entirely concealed where I was, unless I found a
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better sort of creatures than cannibals to make myself known to. Yet I entertained
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such an abhorrence of the savage wretches that I had been speaking of, and
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of the wretched inhuman custom of their devouring and eating one another up, that
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I continued pensive and sad, and kept close within my own circle for all
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my almost two years after this. When I say my own circle, I
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mean by it my three plantations. That is my castle, my country seat,
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which I called my bower, and my enclosure in the woods. Nor
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did I look after this for any other use than an enclosure for my goats.
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For the aversion which nature gave me to these hellish wretches was such that
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I was as fearful of seeing them as of seeing the devil himself. I
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did not so much as go to look after my boat all this time,
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but began rather to think of making another, for I could not think of
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ever making any more attempts to bring the other boat round the island to me,
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lest I should meet with some of these creatures at sea, in which
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case, if I had happened to have fallen in their hands, I knew
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what would have been my lot. Time. However, and these satisfaction I
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had that I was in no danger of being discovered by these people began to
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wear off my uneasiness about them, and I began to live just the same
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composed manner as before, only with this difference that I used more caution and
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kept my eyes more about me than I did before, lest I should happen
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to be seen by any of them, And particularly I was more cautious of
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firing my gun lest any of them, being on the island, should happen
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to hear it. It was therefore a very good providence to me that I
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had furnished myself with a tame breed of goats, and that I had no
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need to hunt any more about the woods or shoot at them. And if
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I did catch any of them after this, it was by traps and snares,
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as I had done before, So that for two years after this,
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I believe I never fired my gun once off, though I never went out
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without it. And what was more, as I had saved three pistols out
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of the ship, I always carried them out with me, or at least
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two of them, sticking them in my goat skin belt. I also furbished
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up one of the great cutlasses that I had out of the ship, and
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made me a belt to hang it on, also so that I was now
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a most formidable fellow to look at when I went abroad. If you add
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to the former description of myself the particular of two pistols and a broadsword hanging
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at my side in a belt and without a scabbard. Things going on thus,
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as I have said, for some time I seemed, accepting these cautions
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to be reduced to my former calm, sedate way of living. All these
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things tended to show me more and more how far my condition was from being
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miserable compared to some others, to many other particulars of life, which it
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might have been pleasing to God to have made my lot. It put me
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upon reflecting how little repining there would be among mankind at any condition of life.
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If people would rather compare their condition with those that were worse in order
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to be thankful, then be always comparing them with those which are better to
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assist their murmurings and complainings. As in my present condition, there were not
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really many things which I wanted. So indeed, I thought that the frights
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I had been in about these wretched savages, and the concern I had been
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in for my own preservation, had taken off the edge of my invention for
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my own conveniences, and I had dropped a good design which I had once
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spent my thoughts upon, and that was to try if I could not make
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some of my barley into malt, and then try to brew myself some beer.
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This was really a whimsical thought, and I reproved myself often for the
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simplicity of it, For I presently saw that there would be the want of
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several things necessary to the making of my beer, that it would be impossible
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for me to supply as first task to preserve it in which was a thing
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that, as I have observed already, I could never compass. Now though
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I spent not only many days, but weeks, nay months, in attempting
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it, but to no purpose. In the next place, I had no
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hops to make it keep, no use to make it work, no copper
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or cattle to make it boil. And yet with all these things wanting,
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I verily believe had not the frights and terrors I was in about the savages
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intervened. I had undertaken it and perhaps brought it to pass. Two.
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For I sell gave anything over without accomplishing it, when once I had it
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in my head to begin it. But my invention now ran quite another way.
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For night and day I could think of nothing but how I might destroy
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some of the monsters in their cruel, bloody entertainment, and if possible,
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save the victim they should bring hither to destroy. It would take up a
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larger volume than this. Whole work is intended to be to set down all
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the contrivances I hatched, or rather brooded upon, in my thoughts for the
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destroying these creatures, or at least frightening them, so as to prevent their
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coming hither anymore. But all this was a bortive. Nothing could be possible
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to take effect unless I was to be there to do it myself. And
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what could one man do among them, when perhaps there might be twenty or
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thirty of them, together with their dark arts, or their bows and arrows,
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with which they could shoot as true to a mark as I could with
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my gun. Sometimes I thought if digging a hole unto the place where they
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made their fire, and putting in five or six pounds of gunpowder, which
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when they kindled their fire, would consequantly take fire and blow up all that
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was near it. But as in the first place, I should be unwilling
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to waste so much powder upon them, my store being now within the quantity
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of one barrel, so neither could I be sure of its going off at
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any certain time when it might surprise them, And at best that it would
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do little more than just blow the fire about their ears and fright them,
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but not sufficient to make them forsake the place. So I laid it aside,
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and then proposed that I would place myself in ambush in some convenient place,
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with my three guns, all double loaded, and in the middle of
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their bloody ceremony, let fly at them when I should be sure to kill
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or wound, perhaps two or three at every shot, and then falling in
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among them with my three pistols at my sword. I made no doubt but
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that if there were twenty, I should kill them all. This fancy pleased
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my thoughts for some weeks, and I was so full of it that I
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often dreamed of it, and sometimes that I was just going to let fly
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at them in my sleep. I went so far with it in my imagination
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that I employed myself several days to find out proper places to put myself in
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ambuscade, as I said, to watch for them. And I went frequently
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to that place itself, which was now grown more familiar to me. But
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while my mind was thus filled with thoughts of revenge and a bloody putting twenty
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or thirty of them to the sword, as I may call it, the
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horror I had at the place, and the signals of the barbarous wretches devouring
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one another, abetded my malice well. At length I found a place in
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the side of the hill, where I was satisfied, I might securely wait
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till I saw any of their boats coming, and might, then, even
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before they would be ready to come on shore, convey myself unseen into some
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thickets of trees, in one of which there was a hollow large enough to
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conceal me entirely, And there I might sit and observe all their bloody doings,
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and take my full aim at their heads when they were so close together
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as that it would be next to impossible that I should miss my shot,
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or that I would fail wounding three or four of them at the first shot.
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In this place I resolved to fulfill my design, and accordingly I prepared
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two muskets and my ordinary filing piece. The two muskets I loaded with a
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brace of slugs each and four or five smaller bullets about the size of pistol
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bullets, and the foling piece I loaded with near a handful of swanshot of
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the largest size. I also loaded my pistols with about four bullets each,
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and in this posture well provided with ammunition for a second and third charge,
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I prepared myself for my expedition. After I had thus laid the scheme of
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my design, and in my imagination put it in practice. I continually made
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my tour every morning to the top of the hill, which was from my
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castle, as I called it, about three miles or more, to see
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if I could observe any boats upon the sea, coming near the island,
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or standing over towards it. But I began to tire of this hard duty
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after I had for two or three months constantly kept my watch, but came
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always back without any discovery, there having not in all that time been the
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least appearance, not only on or near the shore, but on the whole
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ocean, so far as my eye or glass could reach every way. As
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long as I kept my daily tour to the hill to look out, so
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long also I kept up the vigor of my design, and my spirit seemed
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to be all the while in a suitable frame for so outrageous an execution as
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the killing twenty or thirty naked savages, for an offense which I had not
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at all entered into any discussion of in my thoughts any farther than my passions
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were at first fired by the horror I conceived at the unnatural custom of the
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people of that country, who, it seems, had been suffered by Providence
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in his wise disposition of the world, to have no other guide than that
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of their own abominable and vitiated passions, and consequently were left, and perhaps
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had been so for some ages to act such horrid things and receive such horrid
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customs, as nothing but nature entirely abandoned by Heaven and actuated by some hellish
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degeneracy, could have run them into. But now, when as I have
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said, I began to be weary of the fruitless excursion which I had made
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so long, and so far every morning in vain, so my opinion of
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the action itself began to alter, and I began, with cooler and calmer
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thoughts to consider what I was going to engage in. What authority or call
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I had to pretend to be judge and executioner upon these men as criminals whom
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Heaven had thought fit for so many ages to suffer unpunished, to go on
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and to be, as it were, the executioners of his judgments upon another.
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How far these people were offenders against me? And what right I had
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to engage in the quarrel of that blood which they shed promiscuously upon one another.
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I debated this very often with myself. Thus, how do I know
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what God himself judges in this particular case. It is certain these people do
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not commit this as a crime. It is not against their own consciences reproving
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or their light reproaching them. They do not know it to be in offense,
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and then commit it in defiance of divine justice, as we do in
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almost all the sins we commit. They think it no more a crime to
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kill a captive taken in war than we do to kill an ox, or
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to eat human flesh than we do to eat mutton. When I considered this
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a little, it followed necessarily that I was certainly in the wrong. That
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these people were not murderers in the sense that I had before condemned them in
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my thoughts, anymore than those Christians were murderers who often put to death the
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prisoners taken in battle, or more frequently, upon many occasions, put whole
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troops of men to the sword without giving quarter. Though they threw down their
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arms and submitted. In the next place, it occurred to me that although
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the usage they gave one another was thus brutish and inhuman, yet it was
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really nothing to me. These people had done me no injury. That if
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they attempted, or I saw it necessary for my immediate preservation to fall upon
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them, something might be said for it, but that I was yet out
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of their power, and they really had no knowledge of me, and consequently
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no design upon me, and therefore it could not be just for me to
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fall upon them. That this would justify the conduct of the Spaniards and all
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their barbarities practiced in America, where they destroyed millions of these people, who,
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however, they were idolaters and barbarians, and had several bloody and barbarous
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rights in their customs, such as sacrificing human bodies to their idols, were
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yet, as to the Spaniards, very innocent people, and that the rooting
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of them out of the country is spoken of with the utmost abhorrence and detestation
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by even the Spaniards themselves at this time and by all other Christian nations of
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Europe, as a mere butchery, a bloody and unnatural peace of cruelty,
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unjustifiable either to God or man, and for which the very name of a
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Spaniard is reckoned to be frightful and terrible to all people of humanity or of
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Christian compassion, as if the Kingdom of Spain were particularly imminent for the produce
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of a race of men who were without principles of tenderness or the common bowels
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of pity to the miserable, which is reckoned to be a mark of generous
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temper. In the mind, these considerations really put me to a pause and
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to a kind of full stop. And I began, by little and little
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to be off my design, and to conclude that I had taken wrong measures
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in my resolution to attack the savages, and that it was not my business
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to meddle with them unless they first attacked me, and this it was my
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business, if possible, to prevent, but that if I were discovered and
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attacked by them, I knew my duty. On the other hand, I
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argued with myself that this was really the way, not to deliver myself,
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but entirely to ruin and destroy myself, For unless I was sure to kill
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every one of them, that not only should be on the shore at that
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time, but that should ever come on shore afterwards if but one of them
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escaped to tell their country people what had happened, they would come over again
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by thousands to revenge the death of their fellows, and I should only bring
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upon myself a certain destruction which at present I had no manner of occasion for.
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Upon the whole I concluded that I ought neither in principle nor in policy,
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one way or other, to concern myself in this affair. That my
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my business was by all possible means to conceal myself from them, and not
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to leave the least sign for them to guess by that there were any living
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creatures upon the island, I mean of human shape. Religion joined in with
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this prudential resolution, and I was convinced now many ways that I was perfectly
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out of my duty when I was laying all my bloody schemes for the destruction
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of innocent creatures, I mean innocent as to me. As to the crimes
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they were guilty of towards one another, I had nothing to do with them.
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They were national, and I ought to leave them to the justice of
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God, who is the governor of nations, and knows how by national punishments
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to make a just retribution for national offenses, and to bring public judgments upon
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those who offend in a public manner by such ways as best please him.
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Appeared so clear to me now that nothing was a greater satisfaction to me than
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that I had not been suffered to do a thing which I now saw so
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much reason to believe would have been no less a sin than that of wilful
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murder if I had committed it. And I gave most humble thanks on my
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knees to God that he had thus delivered me from blood guiltiness, beseeching him
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to grant me the protection of his providence, that I might not fall into
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the hands of the barbarians, or that I might not lay my hands upon
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them, unless I had a more clear call from Heaven to do it in
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defense of my own life. In this disposition I continued for near a year
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after this, and so far was I from desiring an occasion for falling upon
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these wretches, that in all that time I never once went up to the
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hill to see whether there were any of them in sight, or to know
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whether any of them had been on shore there or not. That I might
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not be tempted to renew any of my contrivances against them, or be provoked
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by any advantage that might present itself to fall upon them. Only this I
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did. I went and removed my boat, which I had on the other
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side of the island, and carried it down to the east end of the
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whole island, where I ran it into a little cove which I found under
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some high rocks, and where I knew, by reason of the currents,
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the savages durst not at least would not come with their boats upon any account
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whatsoever. With my boat I carried away everything that I had left there belonging
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to her, though not necessary for the bear going thither. That is a
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mast and sail which I had made for her, in a thing like an
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anchor, but which indeed could not be called either anchor or a grapnel.
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However, it was the best I could make of its kind. All these
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I removed that there might not be the least shadow for discovery or appearance of
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any boat, or of any human habitation upon the island. Besides this,
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I kept myself more to myself, as I said, more retired than ever,
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and seldom went from my cell except upon my constant employment to milk my
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she goats and manage my little flock in the wood, which, as it
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was quite on the other part of the island, was out of danger.
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For certain it is that these savage people who sometimes haunted this island never came
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with any thoughts of finding anything here, and consequently never wandered off from the
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coast. And I doubt not, but they might have been several times on
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shore after my apprehensions of them had made me cautious as well as before.
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Indeed, I looked back with some horror upon the thoughts of what my condition
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would have been if I had chopped upon them and been discovered before that,
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when naked and unarmed except with one gun, and that loaded often only with
32:23
small shot, I walked everywhere, peeping and peering about the island to see
32:29
what I could get. What a surprise should I have been in if when
32:34
I discovered the print of a man's foot, I had, instead of that,
32:38
seen fifteen or twenty savages, and found them pursuing me, and by
32:45
the swiftness of their running, no possibility of my escaping them. The thoughts
32:52
of this sometimes sank my very soul within me, and distressed my mind so
32:57
much that I could not soon recover it to think what I should have done,
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and how I should not only have been unable to resist them, but
33:07
even should not have had presence of mind enough to do what I might have
33:10
done, much less what now, after so much consideration and preparation I might
33:16
be able to do. Indeed, after serious thinking of these things, I
33:22
would be melancholy, and sometimes it would last a great while. But I
33:28
resolved it all at last into thankfulness to that providence which had delivered me,
33:35
and had kept me from so many unseen dangers, and from those mischiefs which
33:42
I could have no way been the agent in delivering myself from, because I
33:47
had not the least notion of any such thing depending or the least supposition of
33:53
its being possible. This renewed a contemplation which often had come into my thought
34:00
in former times, when first I began to see the merciful dispositions of Heaven
34:05
in the dangers we run through in this life. How wonderfully we are delivered
34:10
when we know nothing of it. How when we are in a quandary,
34:15
as we call it, a doubt or hesitation, whether to go this way
34:20
or that way, secret hint will direct us this way when we intended to
34:25
go that way. Nay, when since our own inclination and perhaps business,
34:32
has called us to go the other way. Yet a strange impression upon the
34:37
mind, from we know not what springs, and by we know not what
34:44
power shall overrule us to go this way, and it shall afterwards appear that
34:50
had we gone that way which we should have gone, and even to our
34:53
imagination ought to have gone, we should have been ruined and lost. Upon
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those and many like reflections, I afterwards made it a certain rule with me
35:07
that whenever I found those secret hints or pressings of mind to doing or not
35:13
doing anything that presented or going this way or that way, I never failed
35:19
to obey the secret dictate, though I knew no other reason for it than
35:24
such a pressure or such a hint hung upon my mind. I could give
35:30
many examples of the success of this conduct in the course of my life,
35:35
but more especially in the latter part of my inhabiting this unhappy island, besides
35:40
many occasions which it is very likely I might have taken notice of if I
35:45
had seen with the same eyes then that I see with now. But it
35:51
is never too late to be wise, and I cannot but advise all considering
35:57
men whose lives are tended with such extraordinary incidents as mine, or even though
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not so extraordinary, not to slight, such secret intimations of providence. Let
36:12
them come from what invisible intelligence they will, that I shall not discuss,
36:17
and perhaps cannot account for. But certainly they are a proof of the converse
36:23
of spirits, and a secret communication between those embodied and those unembodied, And
36:30
such a proof as can never be understood, of which I shall have occasion
36:36
to give some remarkable instances in the remainder of my solitary residence in this dismal
36:42
place. I believe the reader of this will not think it's strange if I
36:47
confess that these anxieties, these constant dangers, I lived in, and the
36:52
concern that was now upon me, put an end to all invention, into
36:57
all the contrivances that I laid for my fear future accommodations and conveniences. I
37:04
had the care of my safety more now upon my hands than that of my
37:07
food. I cared not to drive a nail or chop a stick of wood
37:13
now, for fear the noise I might make should be heard. Much less
37:16
would I fire a gun for the same reason. And above all I was
37:21
intolerably uneasy at making any fire, lest the smoke which is visible at a
37:27
great distance. In the day should betray me. For this reason, I
37:31
removed that part of my business which required fire, such as burning of pots
37:37
and pipes, et cetera, into my new apartment in the woods, where
37:42
after I had been for some time, I found to my unspeakable consolation,
37:46
a mere natural cave in the earth, which went in a vast way in
37:51
where I dare say, no savage, had he been at the mouth of
37:55
it, would be so hearty as to venture in. Indeed, would any
38:00
man else but one who like me, wanted nothing so much as a safe
38:07
retreat. The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rock,
38:13
where, by mere accident, I would say, if I did not
38:16
see abundant reason to ascribe all such things now to providence. I was cutting
38:22
down some thick branches of trees to make charcoal, And before I go on,
38:28
I must observe the reason of my making this charcoal, which was this.
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I was afraid of making a smoke about my habitation, as I said
38:37
before, And yet I could not live there without baking my bread, cooking
38:42
my meat, etc. So I contrived to burn some wood here, as
38:46
I had seen done in England under turf, till it became chark or dry
38:52
coal, and then putting the fire out, I preserved the coal to carry
38:58
home the other services for which fire was wanting, without danger of smoke.
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But this is by the bye. While I was cutting down some wood here
39:09
I perceived that behind a very thick branch of low brushwood or underwood, there
39:16
was a kind of hollow place. I was curious to look in it,
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and getting with difficulty into the mouth of it, I found it was pretty
39:23
large, that is to say, sufficient for me to stand upright in,
39:29
and perhaps another with me. But I must confess to you that I made
39:34
more haste out than I did in. When looking farther into the place,
39:38
which was perfectly dark, I saw two broad shining eyes of some creature,
39:45
whether devil or man, I knew not, which twinkled like two stars,
39:51
the dim light from the cave's mouth, shining directly in and making the reflection.
39:57
However, after some pause, I recovered myself and began to call myself
40:00
a thousand fools, and to think that he that was afraid to see the
40:06
devil was not fit to live twenty years in an island all alone, and
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that I might well think there was nothing in this cave that was more frightful
40:15
than myself. Upon this, plucking up my courage, I took up a
40:22
firebrand, and and I rushed again, with the stick flaming in my hand.
40:27
I had not gone three steps in before I was almost as frightened as
40:30
before, for I heard a very loud sigh, like that of a man
40:36
in some pain, and it was followed by a broken noise, as of
40:40
words hath expressed, and then a deep sigh. Again. I stepped back,
40:46
and was indeed struck with such a surprise that it put me into a
40:52
cold sweat. And if I had had a hat upon my head, I
40:55
will not answer for it that my hair might not have lifted it off.
41:00
But still plucking up my spirits as well as I could, and encouraging myself
41:06
a little with considering that the power and presence of God was everywhere and was
41:12
able to protect me, I stepped forward again, and by the light of
41:16
the firebrand, holding it up a little over my head, I saw lying
41:22
on the ground a monstrous, frightful old he goat, just making his will,
41:29
as we say, and gasping for life, and dying indeed of mere
41:35
old age. I stirred him a little to see if I could get him
41:39
out, And he has saved to get up, but was not able to
41:43
raise himself. And I thought with myself he might even lie there, for
41:49
if he had frightened me, so he would certainly fright away any of the
41:53
savages, if any of them should be so hearty as to come in there
41:58
while he had life in him. I was now recovered from my surprise and
42:04
began to look around me when I found the cave was but very small.
42:07
That is to say, it might be about twelve feet over, but in
42:12
no manner of shape, neither round or square, no hands having ever been
42:16
employed in making it, but those of mere nature. I observed also that
42:22
there was a place at the farther side of it that went in further,
42:25
but was so low that it required me to creep upon my hands and knees
42:30
to go into it. And whither it went I knew not so, having
42:36
no candle, I gave it over for that time, but resolved to go
42:39
again the next day, provided with candles and a tinder box, which I
42:44
had made of the lock of one of the muskets, with some wildfire in
42:49
the pan. Accordingly, the next day I came provided with six large candles
42:57
of my own making, for I had very good candles now of goat's tallow,
43:01
but was hard set for candle wick, using sometimes rags or rope yarn,
43:07
and sometimes the dried rind of a weed like nettles. And going into
43:12
this low place, I was obliged to creep upon all fours, as I
43:15
have said, almost ten yards, which by the way, I thought was
43:21
a venture bold enough, considering that I knew not how far it might go,
43:27
nor what was beyond it. When I had got through the strait,
43:31
I found the roof rose higher up, I believe near twenty feet. But
43:37
never was such a glorious sight seen in the island. I dare say,
43:44
as it was to look round the sides and roof of this vault or cave.
43:49
The wall reflected one hundred thousand lights to me from my two candles.
43:53
What was in the rock, whether diamonds or any other precious or gold,
44:00
which I rather supposed it to be, I knew not. The place I
44:05
was in was a most delightful cavity or grotto. Though perfectly dark, the
44:12
floor was dry and level and had a sort of a small loose gravel upon
44:16
it, so that there was no nauseous or venomous creature to be seen.
44:22
Neither was there any damp or wet on the sides of roof. The only
44:27
difficulty in it was the entrance, which, however, as it was a
44:30
place of security and such a retreat as I wanted, I thought was a
44:35
convenience, so that I was really rejoiced at the discovery, and resolved without
44:42
any delay to bring some of the things which I was most anxious about to
44:46
this place. Particularly, I resolved to bring hinder my magazine of powder and
44:52
all my spare arms, that is two fouling pieces, for I had three
44:58
in all, and three muskets four of them I had eight at all,
45:02
so I kept in my castle only five, which stood ready mounted like pieces
45:08
of cannon, on my utmost fence, and were ready also to take out
45:14
upon any expedition. Upon this occasion of removing my ammunition, I happened to
45:20
open the barrel of powder which I took up out of the sea, and
45:23
which had been wet, And I found that the water had penetrated about three
45:29
or four inches into the powder on every side, which caking and growing hard,
45:35
had preserved the inside like a kernel in the shell, so that I
45:39
had near sixty pounds of very good powder in the center of the cask.
45:45
This was a very agreeable discovery to be at that time. So I carried
45:50
all away thither, never keeping above two or three pounds of powder with me
45:53
in my castle, for fear of a surprise of any kind. I also
45:59
carried thither all the lead I had left for bullets. I fancied myself now
46:06
like one of the ancient giants who were said to live in caves and holes
46:10
in the rocks, where none could come at them. For I persuaded myself
46:15
while I was here that if five hundred savages were to hunt me, they
46:21
could never find me out, or if they did, they would not venture
46:24
to attack me here. The old goat, whom I found expiring, died
46:30
in the mouth of the cave the next day after I made this discovery,
46:35
And I found it much easier to dig a great hole there and throw him
46:38
in and cover him with earth than to drag him out. So I in
46:45
teared him there to prevent offense to my nose. End of Chapter twelve