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

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Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen return to England. Having done all this, I
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Speaker 1: left them the next day and went on board the ship.
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Speaker 1: We prepared immediately to sail, but did not weigh that night.
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Speaker 1: The next morning, early two of the five men came
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Speaker 1: swimming to the ship's side, and, making the most lamentable
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Speaker 1: complaint of the other three, begged to be taken into
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Speaker 1: the ship for God's sake, for they should be murdered,
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Speaker 1: and begged the captain to take them on board, though
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Speaker 1: he hanged them immediately. Upon this, the captain pretended to
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Speaker 1: have no power without me. But after some difficulty, and
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Speaker 1: after their solemn promises of amendment, they were taken on board,
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Speaker 1: and some time after soundly whipped and pickled, after which
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Speaker 1: they proved very honest and quiet fellows. Sometime after this,
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Speaker 1: the boat was ordered on shore, the tide being up,
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Speaker 1: and with the things promised to the men, to which
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Speaker 1: the captain, at my intercession, caused their chests and clothes
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Speaker 1: to be added, which they took and were very thankful for.
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Speaker 1: I also encouraged them by telling them that if it
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Speaker 1: lay in my power to send any vessel to take
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Speaker 1: them in, I would not forget them. When I took
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Speaker 1: leave of this island. I carried on board for relics
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Speaker 1: the great goat skin cap I had made my umbrella,
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Speaker 1: and one of my parrots. Also, I forgot not to
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Speaker 1: take them money I formerly mentioned, which had lain by
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Speaker 1: me so long useless that it was grown rusty or tarnished,
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Speaker 1: and could hardly pass for silver till it had been
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Speaker 1: a little rubbed and handled, as also the money I
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Speaker 1: found in the wreck of the Spanish ship. And thus
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Speaker 1: I left the island the nineteenth of December, as I
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Speaker 1: found by the ship's account in the year of sixteen
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Speaker 1: eighty six, after I had been upon it eight and
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Speaker 1: twenty years, two months and nineteen days, being delivered from
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Speaker 1: this second captivity the same day of the month that
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Speaker 1: I first made my escape in the longboat from among
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Speaker 1: the moors of Silly. In this vessel, after a long voyage,
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Speaker 1: I arrived in England the eleventh of June in the
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Speaker 1: year sixteen eighty seven, having been thirty five years absent.
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Speaker 1: When I came to England, I was as perfect a
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Speaker 1: stranger to all the world as if I had never
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Speaker 1: been known. There. My benefactor and faithful Stewart, whom I
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Speaker 1: had left my money in trust with was alive, but
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Speaker 1: had had great misfortunes in the world. Was become a
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Speaker 1: widow the second time, and very low in the world.
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Speaker 1: I made her very easy as to what she owed me,
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Speaker 1: assuring her I would give her no trouble. But on
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Speaker 1: the contrary, ingratitude for her former care and faithfulness to me,
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Speaker 1: I relieved her as my little stock would afford, which
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Speaker 1: at that time would indeed allow me to do but
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Speaker 1: little for her. But I assured her I would never
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Speaker 1: forget her former kindness to me, nor did I forget
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Speaker 1: her when I had sufficient to help her, as Shelby observed,
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Speaker 1: in its proper place. I went down afterwards into Yorkshire,
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Speaker 1: but my father was dead and my mother and all
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Speaker 1: the family extinct, except that I found two sisters and
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Speaker 1: two of the children of one of my brothers. And
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Speaker 1: as I had long been given over for dead, there
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Speaker 1: had been no provision made for me, so that in
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Speaker 1: a word, I found nothing to relieve or assist me,
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Speaker 1: and that the little money I had would not do
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Speaker 1: much for me as to settling in the world. I
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Speaker 1: met with one piece of gratitude, indeed, which I did
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Speaker 1: not expect, and this was that the Master of the
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Speaker 1: ship whom I had so happily delivered and by the
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Speaker 1: same means saved the ship and cargo. Having given a
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Speaker 1: very handsome account to the owners of the manner how
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Speaker 1: I had saved the lives of the men and the ship,
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Speaker 1: they invited me to meet them and some other merchants concerned,
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Speaker 1: and altogether made me a very handsome compliment upon the subject,
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Speaker 1: and a present of almost two hundred pounds sterling. But
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Speaker 1: after making several reflections upon the circumstances of my life
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Speaker 1: and how little way this would go towards settling me
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Speaker 1: in the world, I resolved to go to Lisbon and
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Speaker 1: see if I might not come at some information of
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Speaker 1: the state of my plantation in the Brazils, and of
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Speaker 1: what was become of my partner, who I had reason
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Speaker 1: to suppose had some years passed given me over for dead.
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Speaker 1: With this view, I took shipping for Lisbon, where I
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Speaker 1: arrived in April, following my man Friday, accompanying me very
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Speaker 1: honestly in all these ramblings and proving a most faithful
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Speaker 1: servant upon all occasions. When I came to Lisbon, I
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Speaker 1: found out by inquiry and to my particular satisfaction. My
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Speaker 1: old friend, the captain of the ship who first took
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Speaker 1: me up at sea off the shore of Africa. He
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Speaker 1: was now grown old and had left off going to sea,
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Speaker 1: having put his son, who was far from a young man,
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Speaker 1: into his ship, and who still used the Brazil trade.
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Speaker 1: The old man did not know me, and indeed I
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Speaker 1: hardly knew him, but I soon brought him to my remembrance,
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Speaker 1: and as soon brought myself to his remembrance. When I
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Speaker 1: told him who I was. After some passionate expression of
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Speaker 1: the old acquaintance between us, I inquired, you may be
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Speaker 1: sure after my plantation and my partner. The old man
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Speaker 1: told me he had not been in the Brazils for
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Speaker 1: about nine years, but that he could assure me that
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Speaker 1: when he came away, my partner was living, but the
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Speaker 1: trustees whom I had joined with him to take cognizance
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Speaker 1: of my part were both dead. That, however, he believed
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Speaker 1: I would have a very good account of the improvement
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Speaker 1: of the plantation, for that upon the general belief of
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Speaker 1: being my castaway and drowned, my trustees had given the
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Speaker 1: account of the produce of my part of the plantation
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Speaker 1: to the procurator fiscal who had appropriated it in case
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Speaker 1: I never came to claim it, one third to the
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Speaker 1: King and two thirds to the Monastery of Saint Augustine,
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Speaker 1: to be expended for the benefit of the and for
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Speaker 1: the conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith, But
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Speaker 1: that if I appeared or anyone for me to claim
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Speaker 1: the inheritance, it would be restored. Only that the improvement
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Speaker 1: or annual production being distributed to charitable uses could not
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Speaker 1: be restored. But he assured me that the steward of
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Speaker 1: the king's revenue from lands and the providore or steward
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Speaker 1: of the monastery had taken great care all along, that
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Speaker 1: the incumbent, that is to say, my partner, gave every
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Speaker 1: year a faithful account of the produce of which they
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Speaker 1: had duly received. My moiety, I asked them if he
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Speaker 1: knew to what height of improvement he had brought to plantation,
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Speaker 1: and whether he thought it might be worth looking after,
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Speaker 1: or whether on my going thither I should meet with
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Speaker 1: any obstruction to my possession my just right in the moiity.
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Speaker 1: He told me he could not tell exactly to what
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Speaker 1: degree the plantation was improved, but this he knew that
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Speaker 1: my partner was grown exceedingly rich upon the enjoying his
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Speaker 1: part of it, and that, to the best of his remembrance,
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Speaker 1: he had heard that the king's third of my part,
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Speaker 1: which was it seems granted a way to some other
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Speaker 1: monastery or religious house, amounted to above two hundred moidores
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Speaker 1: a year. That as to my being restored to a
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Speaker 1: quiet possession of it, there was no question to be
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Speaker 1: made of that, my partner being alive to witness my title,
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Speaker 1: and my name being also enrolled in the registry of
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Speaker 1: the country. Also, he told me that the survivors of
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Speaker 1: my two trustees were very fair, honest people, and very wealthy,
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Speaker 1: and he believed I would not only have their assistance
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Speaker 1: for putting me in possession, but would find a very
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Speaker 1: considerable sum of money in their hands, for my account
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Speaker 1: being the produce of the farm while their fathers held
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Speaker 1: the trust and before it was given up as above,
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Speaker 1: which as he remembered, was for about twelve years. I
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Speaker 1: showed myself a little concerned and uneasy at this account,
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Speaker 1: and inquired of the old captain how it came to
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Speaker 1: pass that the trustees should thus dispose of my effects.
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Speaker 1: When he knew that I had made my will and
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Speaker 1: had made him the Portuguese Captain, my universal heir, et cetera.
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Speaker 1: He told me that was true, but that as there
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Speaker 1: was no proof of my being dead, he could not
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Speaker 1: act as executor until some certain account should come of
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Speaker 1: my death. And besides he was not willing to intermeddle
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Speaker 1: with the thing so remote that it was true. He
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Speaker 1: had registered my will and put in his claim, and
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Speaker 1: could he have given any account of my being dead
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Speaker 1: or alive, he would have acted by procuration and taken
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Speaker 1: possession of the Inhenno, so they called the sugar House,
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Speaker 1: and have given his son, who was now at the
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Speaker 1: Brazil's orders, to do it. But says the old man,
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Speaker 1: I have one piece of news to tell you, which
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Speaker 1: perhaps may not be so acceptable to you as the rest,
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Speaker 1: and that is believing you were lost in all the world.
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Speaker 1: Believing so also, your partner and trustees did offer to
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Speaker 1: account with me in your name for the first six
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Speaker 1: or eight years of profits which I received, being at
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Speaker 1: that time great disbursements for increasing the works, building an Inheno,
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Speaker 1: and buying slaves, it did not amount to near so
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Speaker 1: much as afterwards it produced. However, says the old man,
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Speaker 1: I shall give you a true account of what I
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Speaker 1: have received in all and how I have disposed of it.
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Speaker 1: After a few further days conference with this ancient friend,
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Speaker 1: he brought me an account of the first six years
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Speaker 1: income of my plantation, signed by my partner and the
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Speaker 1: merchant trustees, being always delivered in goods, that is, tobacco
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Speaker 1: and roll and sugar and chests besides rum, molasses, et cetera,
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Speaker 1: which is the consequence of sugar work. And I found
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Speaker 1: by this account that every year the income considerably increased,
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Speaker 1: but as above the disbursements being large, the sum at
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Speaker 1: first was small. However, the old man let me see
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Speaker 1: that he was a debtor to me four hundred and
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Speaker 1: seventy moidores of gold, besides sixty chests of sugar and
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Speaker 1: fifteen double rolls of tobacco, which were lost in his ship,
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Speaker 1: he having been shipwrecked coming home to Lisbon about eleven
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Speaker 1: years after my having the place. The good man then
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Speaker 1: began to complain of his misfortunes and how he had
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Speaker 1: been obliged to make use of my money to cover
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Speaker 1: his losses and buy him a share in a new ship. However,
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Speaker 1: my old friend says he you shall not want a
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Speaker 1: supply in your necessity, and as soon as my son returns,
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Speaker 1: you shall be fully satisfied. Upon this, he pulls out
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Speaker 1: an old pouch and gives me one hundred and sixty
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Speaker 1: Portugal moidores in gold, and giving the ridings of his
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Speaker 1: title to the ship which his son was gone to,
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Speaker 1: the Brazil's Inn of which he was quarter part owner,
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Speaker 1: and his son another. He puts them both into my
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Speaker 1: hands for security of the rest. I was too much
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Speaker 1: moved with the honesty and kindness of the poor man
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Speaker 1: to be able to bear this, And remembering what he
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Speaker 1: had done for me, how he had taken me up
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Speaker 1: at sea, and how generously he had used me on
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Speaker 1: all occasions, and particularly how sincere a friend he was
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Speaker 1: now to me, I could hardly refrain from weeping at
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Speaker 1: what he had said to me. Therefore, I asked him
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Speaker 1: if his circumstances admitted him to spare so much money
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Speaker 1: at that time, and if it would not straighten him.
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Speaker 1: He told me he could not say, but it might
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Speaker 1: straighten him a little. But however, it was my money,
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Speaker 1: and I might want it more than he. Everything the
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Speaker 1: good man said was full of affection, and I could
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Speaker 1: hardly refrain from tears while he spoke. In short, I
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Speaker 1: took one hundred of the mordores and called for a
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Speaker 1: pen and ink to give him a receipt for them.
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Speaker 1: Then I returned him the rest, and told him, if
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Speaker 1: ever I had possession of the plantation, I would return
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Speaker 1: the other to him as well, as indeed I afterwards did,
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Speaker 1: and that as to the bill of sale of his
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Speaker 1: part and his sonship, I would not take it by
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Speaker 1: any means, but that if I wanted the money, I
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Speaker 1: found he was honest enough to pay me. And if
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Speaker 1: I did not, but came to receive what he gave
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Speaker 1: me reason to expect I would never have a penny
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Speaker 1: more from him. When this was past, the old man
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Speaker 1: asked me if he should put me into a method
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Speaker 1: to make a claim to my plantation. I told him
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Speaker 1: I thought to go over to it myself. He said
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Speaker 1: I might do so if I pleased, but that if
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Speaker 1: I did not, there were ways enough to secure my
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Speaker 1: right and immediately to appropriate the profits to my use.
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Speaker 1: And as there were ships in the river of Lisbon
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Speaker 1: just ready to go away to Brazil, he made me
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Speaker 1: enter my name in a public register with his affidavit
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Speaker 1: affirming upon oath that I was alive and that I
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Speaker 1: was the same person who took up the land for
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Speaker 1: the planting the said plantation at first, this being regularly
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Speaker 1: attested by a notary and a procuration of fixed He
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Speaker 1: directed me to send it with a letter of his
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Speaker 1: writing to a merchant of his acquaintance at the place,
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Speaker 1: and then proposed my staying with him till an account
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Speaker 1: came of the return. Never was anything more honorable than
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Speaker 1: the proceedings upon this procaration, For in less than seven
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Speaker 1: months I received a large packet from the survivors of
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Speaker 1: my trustees, the merchants for whose account I went to see,
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Speaker 1: in which were the following particular papers and letters enclosed.
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Speaker 1: First there was the account current of the produce of
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Speaker 1: my farm or plantation from the year when their fathers
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Speaker 1: had balanced, with my old Portugal captain being six years,
17:52
Speaker 1: the balance appeared to be one thousand, one hundred and
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Speaker 1: seventy four moidores in my favor. There was the account
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Speaker 1: of four years more while they kept the effects in
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Speaker 1: their hands, before the government claimed the administration as being
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Speaker 1: the effects of a person not to be found, which
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Speaker 1: they called civil death, and the balance of this, the
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Speaker 1: value of the plantation increasing amounted to nineteen thousand, four
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Speaker 1: hundred and forty six krusadoutsch, being about three thousand, two
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Speaker 1: hundred and forty moidores. Thirdly, there was the prior of
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Speaker 1: Saint Augustine's account, who had received the profits for above
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Speaker 1: fourteen years, but not being able to account for what
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Speaker 1: was disposed of by the hospital, very honestly declared he
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Speaker 1: had eight hundred and seventy two moidores not distributed, which
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Speaker 1: he acknowledged to my account. As to the King's Park,
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Speaker 1: they refunded nothing. There was a letter of my partners
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Speaker 1: congratulating me very affectionately upon my being alive, giving me
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Speaker 1: an account how the estate was improved and what it
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Speaker 1: produced a year, with the particulars of the number of
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Speaker 1: squares or acres that it contained, how planted, how many
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Speaker 1: slaves there were upon it, and making two and twenty
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Speaker 1: crosses for blessings, told me that he had said so
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Speaker 1: many ave marias to thank the blessed Virgin that I
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Speaker 1: was alive, inviting me very passionately to come over and
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Speaker 1: take possession of my own and in the meantime to
19:44
Speaker 1: give him orders to whom he should deliver my effects
19:48
Speaker 1: if I did not come myself concluding with a hearty
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Speaker 1: tender of his friendship and that of his family, and
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Speaker 1: sent me as a present seven fine leopard skins, which
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Speaker 1: he had, it seems, received from Africa by some other
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Speaker 1: ship that he had sent thither, and which it seems
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Speaker 1: had made a better voyage than I. He sent me
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Speaker 1: also five chests of excellent sweetmeats, and a hundred pieces
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Speaker 1: of gold uncoined, not quite so large as moidores. By
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Speaker 1: the same fleet. My two merchant trustees shipped me one thousand,
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Speaker 1: two hundred chests of sugar, eight hundred rolls of tobacco,
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Speaker 1: and the rest of the whole count in gold. I
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Speaker 1: might well say now, and indeed, that the latter end
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Speaker 1: of job was better than the beginning. It is impossible
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Speaker 1: to impress the flutterings of my heart when I found
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Speaker 1: all my wealth about me. For as the brazil ships
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Speaker 1: come all in fleets, the same ships which brought my
21:04
Speaker 1: letters brought my goods, and the effects were safe in
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Speaker 1: the river before the letters came to my hand. In
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Speaker 1: a word, I turned pale and grew sick, and had
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Speaker 1: not the old man run and fetched me a cordial
21:22
Speaker 1: I believe the sudden surprise of joy had overset nature,
21:27
Speaker 1: and I had died upon the spot. Nay after that,
21:32
Speaker 1: I continued very ill, and was so for some hours
21:37
Speaker 1: till a physician being sent for, and something of the
21:41
Speaker 1: real cause of my illness being known. He ordered me
21:45
Speaker 1: to be let blood, after which I had relief and
21:49
Speaker 1: grew well. But I verily believe if I had not
21:54
Speaker 1: been let and eased by event given in that manner
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Speaker 1: to this, I should have died. I was now master,
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Speaker 1: all of a sudden of about five thousand pounds sterling
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Speaker 1: in money, and had an estate, as I might well
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Speaker 1: call it, in the Brazils above a thousand pounds a year,
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Speaker 1: as sure as an a state of lands in England.
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Speaker 1: And in a word, I was in a condition which
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Speaker 1: I scarce knew how to understand or how to compose
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Speaker 1: myself for the enjoyment of it. The first thing I
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Speaker 1: did was to recompense my original benefactor, my good old captain,
22:43
Speaker 1: who had been first charitable to me in my distress,
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Speaker 1: kind to me in my beginning, and honest to me
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Speaker 1: at the end. I showed him all that was sent
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Speaker 1: to me. I told him that next to the providence
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Speaker 1: of heaven, which disposed all things, it was owing to him,
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Speaker 1: and that it now lay on me to reward him,
23:08
Speaker 1: which I would do one hundredfold. So I first returned
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Speaker 1: to him the hundred moidores I had received of him.
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Speaker 1: Then I sent for a notary and caused him to
23:19
Speaker 1: draw up a general release or discharge from the four
23:23
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy moidores which he had acknowledged. He owed
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Speaker 1: me in the fullest and firmest manner possible, after which
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Speaker 1: I caused a procuration to be drawn, empowering him to
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Speaker 1: be the receiver of the annual profits of my plantation,
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Speaker 1: and appointing my partner to account with him and make
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Speaker 1: the returns by the usual fleets to him in my name,
23:52
Speaker 1: and by a clause in the end made a grant
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Speaker 1: of one hundred moidores a year to him during his
23:59
Speaker 1: life out of the effects, and fifty more doughties a
24:03
Speaker 1: year to his son after him for his life. And
24:08
Speaker 1: thus I requited my old man. I had now to
24:14
Speaker 1: consider which way to steer my course next, and what
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Speaker 1: to do with the estate that Providence had thus put
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Speaker 1: into my hands. And indeed I had more care upon
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Speaker 1: my head now than I had in my state of
24:29
Speaker 1: life in the Island, where I wanted nothing but what
24:33
Speaker 1: I had, and had nothing but what I wanted. Whereas
24:40
Speaker 1: I had now a great charge upon me, and my
24:43
Speaker 1: business was how to secure it. I had not a
24:47
Speaker 1: cave now to hide my money in, or a place
24:50
Speaker 1: where it might lie without locker key, till it grew
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Speaker 1: moldy and tarnished before anybody would meddle with it. On
24:59
Speaker 1: the contrary, I knew not where to put it or
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Speaker 1: whom to trust it with. My old patron, the Captain,
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Speaker 1: indeed was honest, and that was the only refuge I had.
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Speaker 1: In the next place, my interest in the Brazil seemed
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Speaker 1: to summon me thither, But now I could not tell
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Speaker 1: how to think of going thither till I had settled
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Speaker 1: my affairs and left my effects in some safe hands
25:28
Speaker 1: behind me. At first I thought of my old friend,
25:32
Speaker 1: the widow, who I knew was honest and would be
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Speaker 1: just to me. But then she was in years and
25:40
Speaker 1: but poor and for aught I knew might be in debt,
25:44
Speaker 1: so that in a word, I had no way but
25:47
Speaker 1: to go back to England myself and take my effects
25:51
Speaker 1: with me. It was some months, however, before I resolved
25:55
Speaker 1: upon this. And therefore, as I had rewarded the old
25:59
Speaker 1: captain fully and to his satisfaction, who had been my
26:04
Speaker 1: former benefactor, so I began to think of the poor
26:07
Speaker 1: widow whose husband had been my first benefactor, and she,
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Speaker 1: while it was in her power, my faithful steward and instructor.
26:18
Speaker 1: So the first thing I did I got a merchant
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Speaker 1: in Lisbon to write to his correspondent in London, not
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Speaker 1: only to pay a bill, but to go find her
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Speaker 1: out and carry her in money one hundred pounds from me,
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Speaker 1: and to talk with her and comfort her in her
26:38
Speaker 1: poverty by telling her she should, if I lived, have
26:42
Speaker 1: a further supply. At the same time, I sent my
26:46
Speaker 1: two sisters in the country one hundred pounds each, they,
26:50
Speaker 1: being though not in want, yet not in very good circumstances,
26:56
Speaker 1: one having been married and left a widow, and the
26:59
Speaker 1: other having a husban, been not so kind to her
27:02
Speaker 1: as he should be. But among all my relations or acquaintances,
27:08
Speaker 1: I could not yet pitch upon one to whom I
27:11
Speaker 1: durst commit the gross of my stock, that I might
27:14
Speaker 1: go away to the Brazils and leave things safe behind me,
27:20
Speaker 1: and this greatly perplexed me. I had once a mind
27:26
Speaker 1: to have gone to the Brazils and have settled myself there,
27:30
Speaker 1: for I was, as it were, naturalized to the place.
27:34
Speaker 1: But I had some little scruple in my mind about religion,
27:38
Speaker 1: which insensibly drew me back. However, it was not religion
27:44
Speaker 1: that kept me from going there for the present, and
27:47
Speaker 1: as I had made no scruple of being openly of
27:50
Speaker 1: the religion of the country all the while I was
27:53
Speaker 1: among them, so neither did I yet, only that now,
27:57
Speaker 1: and then, having a thought more of it than formerly,
28:02
Speaker 1: when I began to think of living and dying among them,
28:06
Speaker 1: I began to regret having professed myself a papist, and
28:11
Speaker 1: thought it might not be the best religion to die with.
28:16
Speaker 1: But as I have said, this was not the main
28:20
Speaker 1: thing that kept me from going to the Brazils, but
28:23
Speaker 1: that I really did not know with whom to leave
28:25
Speaker 1: my effects behind me. So I resolved at last to
28:30
Speaker 1: go to England, where if I arrived, I concluded that
28:34
Speaker 1: I should make some acquaintance or find some relations that
28:38
Speaker 1: would be faithful to me. And accordingly I prepared to
28:43
Speaker 1: go to England with all my wealth in order to
28:48
Speaker 1: prepare things for my going home. I first the Brazil fleet,
28:53
Speaker 1: being just gone away, resolved to give answers suitable to
28:57
Speaker 1: the just and faithful account of things I had from thence.
29:02
Speaker 1: And first to the Prior of Saint Augustine, I wrote
29:06
Speaker 1: a letter full of thanks for his just dealings and
29:10
Speaker 1: the offer of the eight hundred and seventy two moidores,
29:13
Speaker 1: which were undisposed, of which I desired might be given
29:17
Speaker 1: five hundred to the monastery in three hundred and seventy
29:21
Speaker 1: two to the poor, as the Prior should direct. Desiring
29:27
Speaker 1: the good padres prayers for me and the like, I
29:32
Speaker 1: wrote next a letter of thanks to my two trustees,
29:36
Speaker 1: with all the acknowledgment that so much justice and honesty
29:40
Speaker 1: called for. As for sending them any present, they were
29:44
Speaker 1: far above having any occasion of it. Lastly, I wrote
29:50
Speaker 1: to my partner, acknowledging his industry in the improving the
29:54
Speaker 1: plantation and his integrity in increasing the stock of the works,
30:00
Speaker 1: giving him instructions for his future government of my part
30:05
Speaker 1: according to the powers I had left with my old patron,
30:08
Speaker 1: to whom I desired him to send whatever became due
30:12
Speaker 1: to me till he should hear from me, more, particularly
30:17
Speaker 1: assuring him that it was my intention not only to
30:21
Speaker 1: come to him, but to settle myself there for the
30:25
Speaker 1: remainder of my life. To this I added a very
30:29
Speaker 1: handsome present of some Italian silks for his wife and
30:34
Speaker 1: two daughters. For such the captain's son informed me he
30:38
Speaker 1: had with two pieces of fine English broadcloth, the best
30:43
Speaker 1: I could find in Lisbon, five pieces of black baize,
30:49
Speaker 1: and some Flanders lace of a good value. Having thus
30:55
Speaker 1: settled my affairs, sold my cargo, and turned all my
31:01
Speaker 1: effects into good bills of exchange, my next difficulty was
31:07
Speaker 1: which way to go to England. I had been accustomed
31:11
Speaker 1: enough to the sea, and yet I had a strange
31:16
Speaker 1: aversion to go to England by the sea at that time,
31:20
Speaker 1: and yet I could not give reason for it. Still
31:25
Speaker 1: the difficulty increased upon me so much that though I
31:29
Speaker 1: had once shipped my baggage in order to go, yet
31:33
Speaker 1: I altered my mind, and that not once, but two
31:38
Speaker 1: or three times. It is true I had been very
31:43
Speaker 1: unfortunate by sea, and this might be one of the reasons.
31:47
Speaker 1: But let no man slight the strong impulses of his
31:51
Speaker 1: own thoughts in cases of such moment, two of the
31:55
Speaker 1: ships which I had singled out to go in I
31:58
Speaker 1: mean more particularly singled out than any other, having put
32:03
Speaker 1: my things on board one of them, and in the
32:06
Speaker 1: other having agreed with the captain. I say two of
32:10
Speaker 1: these ships miscarried. One was taken by the Algerines, and
32:16
Speaker 1: the other was lost on the start near Torbay, and
32:21
Speaker 1: all the people drowned except three, so that in either
32:26
Speaker 1: of those vessels I had been made miserable. Having thus
32:34
Speaker 1: been harassed in my thoughts, my old pilot, to whom
32:38
Speaker 1: I communicated everything, pressed me earnestly not to go by sea,
32:43
Speaker 1: but either to go by land to the Groyne and
32:48
Speaker 1: crossover by the Bay of Biscay to Rochelle, from whence
32:53
Speaker 1: it was but an easy and safe journey by land
32:56
Speaker 1: to Paris, and so to Calais and Dover, or to
33:01
Speaker 1: go up to Madrid and so all the way by
33:05
Speaker 1: land through France. In a word, I was so prepossessed
33:11
Speaker 1: against my going by sea at all, except from Calais
33:15
Speaker 1: to Dover, that I resolved to travel all the way
33:19
Speaker 1: by land, which, as I was not in haste and
33:22
Speaker 1: did not value the charge, was by much the pleasanter way,
33:29
Speaker 1: and to make it more so, my old captain brought
33:32
Speaker 1: an English gentleman, the son of a merchant and Lisbon,
33:35
Speaker 1: who was willing to travel with me, after which we
33:39
Speaker 1: picked up two more English merchants also, and two young
33:43
Speaker 1: Portuguese gentlemen, the last going to Paris, only, so that
33:48
Speaker 1: in all there were six of us and five servants,
33:52
Speaker 1: the two merchants and the two Portuguese, contenting themselves with
33:56
Speaker 1: one servant between two. To save the charge, and as
34:01
Speaker 1: for me, I got an English sailor to travel with
34:06
Speaker 1: me as a servant, besides my man Friday, who was
34:10
Speaker 1: too much a stranger to be capable of supplying the
34:13
Speaker 1: place of a servant on the road. In this manner
34:18
Speaker 1: I set out from Lisbon, and our company, being very
34:22
Speaker 1: well mounted and armed, we made a little troop, whereof
34:28
Speaker 1: they did me the honor to call me captain as
34:32
Speaker 1: well because I was the oldest man, as because I
34:35
Speaker 1: had two servants, and indeed was the origin of the
34:39
Speaker 1: whole journey. As I have troubled you with none of
34:43
Speaker 1: my sea journals, so I shall trouble you now with
34:47
Speaker 1: none of my land journals. But some adventures that happened
34:51
Speaker 1: to us in this tedious and difficult journey, I must
34:54
Speaker 1: not omit. When we came to Madrid, we being all
35:00
Speaker 1: of us strangers to Spain, were willing to stay some
35:04
Speaker 1: time to see the Court of Spain and what was
35:08
Speaker 1: worth observing. But it being the latter part of the summer,
35:13
Speaker 1: we hastened away and set out from Madrid about the
35:18
Speaker 1: middle of October. But when we came to the edge
35:21
Speaker 1: of Navarre, we were alarmed at several towns on the way,
35:26
Speaker 1: with an account that so much snow was falling on
35:30
Speaker 1: the French side of the mountains that several travelers were
35:34
Speaker 1: obliged to come back to Pompiluna after having attempted, at
35:40
Speaker 1: an extreme hazard to pass on. When we came to
35:44
Speaker 1: Pompiluna itself we found it so indeed, and to me
35:50
Speaker 1: that had been always used to a hot climate and
35:53
Speaker 1: to countries where I could scarce bear any clothes on,
35:59
Speaker 1: the cold was insufferable. Nor indeed was it more painful
36:04
Speaker 1: than surprising to come but ten days before out of
36:08
Speaker 1: Old Castile, where the weather was not only warm but
36:13
Speaker 1: very hot, and immediately to feel a wind from the
36:18
Speaker 1: Perrhinian mountains, so very keen, so severely cold, as to
36:24
Speaker 1: be intolerable and to endanger benumbing and perishing of our
36:29
Speaker 1: fingers and toes. Poor Friday was really frightened when he
36:35
Speaker 1: saw the mountains all covered with snow and felt cold
36:39
Speaker 1: weather which he had never seen or felt before in
36:43
Speaker 1: his life. To mend the manner, when we came to Pampeluna,
36:49
Speaker 1: it continued snowing with so much violence and so long
36:53
Speaker 1: that the people said winter was come before its time,
36:58
Speaker 1: and the roads which were difficult before were now quite impassable.
37:04
Speaker 1: For in a word, the snow lay in some places
37:06
Speaker 1: too thick for us to travel, and being not hard frozen,
37:11
Speaker 1: as is the case in the northern countries, there was
37:15
Speaker 1: no going without being in danger of being buried alive
37:19
Speaker 1: every step. We stayed no less than twenty days at Pampeluna.
37:26
Speaker 1: When seeing the weather coming on and no likelihood of
37:29
Speaker 1: its being better, for it was the severest winter all
37:33
Speaker 1: over Europe that had been known in the memory of Man,
37:37
Speaker 1: I proposed that we should go away to font A
37:41
Speaker 1: Rabiem and there take shipping for Bordeaux, which was a
37:46
Speaker 1: very little voyage. But while I was considering this, there
37:51
Speaker 1: came in four French gentlemen who having been stopped on
37:56
Speaker 1: the French side of the passes as we were on
37:59
Speaker 1: the span, had found out a guide who, traversing the
38:03
Speaker 1: country near the head of LANDUK, had brought them over
38:08
Speaker 1: the mountains by such ways that they were not much
38:12
Speaker 1: incommoded by the snow. For where they met with snow
38:17
Speaker 1: in inequantity, they said, it was frozen hard enough to
38:20
Speaker 1: bear them and their horses. We sent for this guide,
38:25
Speaker 1: who told us he would undertake to carry us the
38:27
Speaker 1: same way with no hazard from the snow, provided we
38:32
Speaker 1: were armed sufficiently to protect ourselves from wild beasts. For
38:37
Speaker 1: he said, in these great snows it was frequent for
38:41
Speaker 1: some wolves to show themselves at the foot of mountains,
38:45
Speaker 1: being made ravenous for want of food, the ground being
38:49
Speaker 1: covered with snow. We told him we were well enough
38:52
Speaker 1: prepared for such creatures as they were. If he would
38:56
Speaker 1: insure us from a kind of two legged wolves, which
39:01
Speaker 1: we were told we were in most danger from, especially
39:04
Speaker 1: on the French side of the mountains, he satisfied us
39:08
Speaker 1: that there was no danger of that kind in the
39:10
Speaker 1: way that we were to go, So we readily agreed
39:14
Speaker 1: to follow him, as did also twelve other gentlemen with
39:17
Speaker 1: their servants, some French, some Spanish, who, as I said,
39:23
Speaker 1: had attempted to go and were obliged to come back again. Accordingly,
39:29
Speaker 1: we set out from Pampeluna with our guide on the
39:32
Speaker 1: fifteenth of November, and indeed I was surprised when, instead
39:36
Speaker 1: of going forward, we came directly back, with us on
39:40
Speaker 1: the same road that we came from Madrid, about twenty miles.
39:46
Speaker 1: When having passed two rivers and come into the plain country,
39:51
Speaker 1: we found ourselves in a warm climate again, where the
39:55
Speaker 1: country was pleasant and no snow to be seen. But
39:59
Speaker 1: on a sudden, turning to his left, he approached the
40:03
Speaker 1: mountains another way. And though it is true the hills
40:08
Speaker 1: and precipices looked dreadful, yet he made so many tours,
40:14
Speaker 1: such meanders, and led us by such winding ways, that
40:18
Speaker 1: we insensibly passed the height of the mountains without being
40:22
Speaker 1: much encumbered with the snow, and all on a sudden
40:26
Speaker 1: he showed us the pleasant and fruitful provinces of Langdoc
40:31
Speaker 1: and Gascony, all green and flourishing. Though at a great
40:36
Speaker 1: distance and we had some rough way to pass, still
40:42
Speaker 1: we were a little uneasy. However, when we found it
40:45
Speaker 1: snowed one whole day and a night so fast that
40:49
Speaker 1: we could not travel, but he bid us be easy,
40:54
Speaker 1: we should soon be past at all. We found indeed
40:58
Speaker 1: that we began to descend every day, and to come
41:01
Speaker 1: more north than before, And so, depending upon our guide,
41:06
Speaker 1: we went on. It was about two hours before night
41:11
Speaker 1: when our guide, being something before us and not just
41:15
Speaker 1: in sight, out rushed three monstrous wolves, and after them
41:20
Speaker 1: a bear, from a hollow way adjoining to a great wood.
41:25
Speaker 1: Two of the wolves made at the guide, and had
41:28
Speaker 1: he been far before us, he would have been devoured
41:31
Speaker 1: before we could have helped him. One of them fastened
41:35
Speaker 1: upon his horse, and the other attacked the man with
41:38
Speaker 1: such violence that he had not time or presence of
41:42
Speaker 1: mind enough to draw his pistol, but helloed and cried
41:46
Speaker 1: out to us most lustily. My man Friday, being next
41:50
Speaker 1: to me, I bade him ride up and see what
41:55
Speaker 1: was the matter. As soon as Friday came in sight
41:58
Speaker 1: of the man, he helloed out as loud as the other,
42:01
Speaker 1: Oh master, Oh Master, But like a bold fellow, rode
42:06
Speaker 1: directly up to the poor man, and with his pistol
42:09
Speaker 1: shot the wolf in the head that attacked him. It
42:14
Speaker 1: was happy for the poor man that it was my
42:17
Speaker 1: man Friday, for having been used to such creatures in
42:20
Speaker 1: his country, he had no fear upon him, but went
42:25
Speaker 1: close up to him and shot him, whereas any other
42:29
Speaker 1: of us would have fired at a farther distance, and
42:32
Speaker 1: have perhaps either missed the wolf or endangered shooting the man.
42:38
Speaker 1: But it was enough to have terrified a bolder man
42:42
Speaker 1: than I, and indeed it alarmed all our company, when,
42:48
Speaker 1: with the noise of Friday's pistol we heard on both
42:51
Speaker 1: sides the most dismal howling of wolves, and the noise,
42:57
Speaker 1: redoubled by the echo of the mountains, appeared to us
43:01
Speaker 1: as if there had been a prodigious number of them,
43:05
Speaker 1: And perhaps there was not such a few, as that
43:09
Speaker 1: we had no cause of apprehension. However, as Friday had
43:14
Speaker 1: killed this wolf, the other that had fastened upon the
43:17
Speaker 1: horse left him immediately and fled without doing him any damage,
43:23
Speaker 1: having happily fastened upon his head, where the bosses of
43:28
Speaker 1: the bridle had stuck in his teeth. But the man
43:32
Speaker 1: was most hurt, for the raging creature had bit him twice,
43:37
Speaker 1: once in the arm and the other time a little
43:40
Speaker 1: above his knee, and though he had made some defense,
43:44
Speaker 1: he was just tumbling down by the disorder of his
43:48
Speaker 1: horse when Friday came up and shot the wolf. It
43:53
Speaker 1: is easy to suppose that at the noise of Friday's
43:56
Speaker 1: pistol we all mended our pace and rode up as
44:00
Speaker 1: fast as the way, which was very difficult, would give
44:04
Speaker 1: us leave to see what was the matter. As soon
44:09
Speaker 1: as we came clear of the trees which blinded us before,
44:13
Speaker 1: we saw clearly what was the case and how Friday
44:17
Speaker 1: had disengaged the poor guide, though we did not presently
44:22
Speaker 1: discern what kind of creature it was he had killed.
44:30
Speaker 1: End of Chapter nineteen