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Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable · Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable

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  Section one. I was born at York on the first of March, in
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  the sixth year of the reign of King Charles the First. From the time
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  when I was quite a young child, I had felt a great wish to
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  spend my life at sea, and as I grew so did this taste grow
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  more and more strong, till at last I broke loose from my school and
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  home and found my way on foot to Hull, where I soon got a
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  place on board a ship. When we had set sail, but a few
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  days as squall of wind came on, and on the fifth night we sprang
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  a leak. All hands were sent to the pumps, but we felt the
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  ship grown in all her planks, and her beams quake from stem to stern,
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  so that it was soon quite clear that there was no hope for her,
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  and that all we could do was to save our lives. The first
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  think was to fire off guns to show that we were in need of help,
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  and at length a ship which lay not far from us, sent a
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  boat to our aid. But the sea was too rough for it to lie
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  near our ship's side, so we threw out a rope, which the men
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  in the boat caught and made fast, and by this means we all got
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  in. Still in so wide the sea, it was in vain to try
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  to get on board the ship which had sent out the men, or to
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  use our oars in the boat, and all we could do was to let
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  it drive to shore. In the space of half an hour, our own
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  ship struck on a rock and went down, and we saw her no more.
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  We made but slow wet to the land, which we caught sight of
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  now. And then when the boat rose to the top of some high wave,
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  and there we saw men who ran in crowds to and fro, all
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  bent on one thing, and that was to save us. At last,
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  to our great joy, we got on shore, where we had the luck
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  to meet with friends who gave us the means to get back to Hull.
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  And if I had now had the good sense to go home, it would
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  have been well for me. The man whose ship had gone down said,
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  with a grave look, young lad, you ought to go to sea no
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  more? It is not the kind of life for you. Why, sir,
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  will you go to sea no more? Then? I was bred to
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  the sea, but you were not, and came on board my ship just
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  to find out what a life at sea was like, and you may guess
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  what you will come to if you do not go back to your home.
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  God will not bless you, and it may be that you have brought all
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  this woe on us. I spoke not a word more to him. Which
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  way he went? I knew not, nor did I care to know,
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  for I was hurt at this rude speech. Shall I go home, sought
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  I? Or shall I go to sea? Shame kept me from home,
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  and I couldn't make up my mind what course of life to take, as
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  it has been my fate through life to choose for the words. So I
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  did. Now I had gold in my purse and good clothes on my back,
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  and to see I went once more. But I had worse luck this
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  time than the last, for when we were far out at sea, some
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  Turks in a small ship came on our track in full chase. We set
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  as much sail as our yards would bear, so as to get clear from
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  them. But in spite of this we saw our foes gain on us,
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  and we felt sure that they would come up with our ship in a few
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  hours time. At last they caught us, but we brought our guns to
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  bear on them, which made them sheer of for a time, yet they
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  kept up a fire at us as long as they were in range. The
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  next time the Turks came up, some of their men got on board our
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  ship and set to work to cut the sails and do us all kinds of
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  harm. So as ten of our men lay dead, and most of the
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  rest had wounds, we gave in the chief of the Turks took me as
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  his price to a port which was held by the Moors. He did not
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  use me so ill as at first I thought he would have done, but
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  he set me to work with the rest of his slaves. This was a
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  change in my life which I did not think had been in store for me.
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  How my heart sank with grief at the thought of those whom I had
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  left at home, nay, to whom I had not had the grace so
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  much as to say good bye when I went to see, nor to give
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  a hint of what I meant to do. Yet all that I went through
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  at this time was but a taste of the toils and cares which it has
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  since been my lot to bear. I thought at first that the Turk might
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  take me with him when next he went to see, and so I should
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  find some way to get free. But the hope didn't last for long,
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  for at such times he left me on shore to see to his this kind
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  of life I led for two years, and as the turk knew and saw
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  more of me, he made me more and more free. He went out
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  in his boat once or twice a week to catch a kind of flat fish,
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  and now and then he took me and a boy with him, for
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  we were quick at this kind of sport, and he grew quite fond of
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  me. One day, the Turk sent me in the boat to catch some
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  fish, with no one else but a man and a boy. While we
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  were out so sick, a fog came on that, though we were out
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  not half a mile from the shore, we quite lost sight of it for
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  twelve hours, And when the sun rose the next day, our boat was
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  at least ten miles out at sea. The wind blew fresh, and we
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  were all much in want of food. But at last, with the help
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  of our oars and sail, we got back safe to land. When the
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  Turk heard how we had lost our way, he said that the next time
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  he went out he would take a boat that would hold all we could want
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  if we were kept out at sea. So he had quite a stateroom built
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  in the long boat of his ship, as well as a room for us
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  slaves. One day he sent me to trim the boat, as he had
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  two friends who would go in it to fish with him. But when the
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  time came they didn't go. So he sent me with the man and the
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  boy, whose name was Surrey, to catch some fish for the guests that
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  were to sob with him. Now the sword struck me all at once that
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  this would be a good chance to set up with the boat and get free.
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  So in the first place, I took all the food that I could
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  lay my hands on, and I told the man that it would be too
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  bold of us to eat of the bread that had been put in the boat
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  for the Turk. He said he sowed so too, and he brought down
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  a small sack of rice and some rusks. While the man was on the
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  shore, I put up some wine, a large lump of wax, a
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  saw an x, a spade, some rope, and all sorts of things
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  that might be of use to us. I knew where the Turk's case of
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  wine was, and I put that in the boat while the man was on
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  shore. By one more trick. I got all that I had need of.
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  I said to the boy, the Turk's guns are in the boat,
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  but there is no shot. Do you think you could get some? You
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  know where it is kept, and we may want to shoot a fowl or
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  two. So he brought a case and a pouch which had all that we
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  could want for the guns. These I put in the boat and then set
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  sail out of the port to fish. The wind blew from the north or
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  northwest, which was a bad wind for me, for had it been south,
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  I could have made for the coast of Spain. But blow which way
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  it might, my mind was made up to get off and to leave the
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  rest to fate. I then let down my lines to fish, but I
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  took care to have bed sport, and when the fish bit, I wouldn't
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  pull them up, for the moor was not to see them. I said
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  to him, this will not do. We shall catch no fish here.
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  We ought to sail on a bed well the moor. So there was no
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  harm in this, he said. The sail, and as the helm was
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  in my hands, I ran the boat out a mile or more and then
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  brought her to As if I meant to fish now, so t I the
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  time has come for me to get free. I gave the helm to the
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  boy, and then took the moor round the waist and threw him out of
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  the boat. Down he went, but soon rose up for his swam like
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  a dog. He said he would go all round the world with me if
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  I would but take him. I had some fear lest he should climb up
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  the boat's side and force his way back. So I brought my gun to
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  point at him and said, you can swim to land with these if you
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  choose, make hastand to get there. But if you come near the boat
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  you shall have a shot through the heat. For I mean to be a
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  freeman from this hour. He then swam to the shore, and no doubt
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  got safe there, as the sea was so calm. At first I thought
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  I would take the Moor with me and let Suri swim to land. But
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  the Moor was not a man that I could trust. When he was gone,
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  I said to Suri, if you will swear to be true to me,
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  you shall be a great man in time. If not, I must
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  throw you out of the boat too. The poor boy gave me such a
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  sweet smile as he swore to be true to me that I could not find
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  it in my heart to doubt him. While the man was still in view,
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  for he was in his way to the land, we stood out to
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  sea with the boat, so that he and those that saw us from the
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  shore might think we had gone to the Strait's mouse, for no one went
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  to the south coast, as the tribe of men dwell there, who were
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  known to kill and eat their foes. We then bent our course to the
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  east so as to keep in with the shore, and as we had a
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  fair wind and a smooth sea. But the next day, at noon we
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  were not less than a hundred and fifty miles out of the reach of the
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  Turk. I had still some fear lest I should be caught by the moors,
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  so I wouldn't go on shore in the daytime. But when it grew
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  dark we made our way to the coast and came to the mouths of a
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  stream, from which we thought we could swim to land and then look round
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  us. But as soon as it was quite dark, we heard strange sounds
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  barks, roars, grunts, and howls. The poor lad said he couldn't
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  go on shore till dawn. Well said I. Then we must give it
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  up. But it may be that in the daytime we shall be seen by
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  men who, for all we know, would do us more harm than the
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  white beasts. Then we give them the shoot gun, said Suri, with
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  a laugh, and make them run away. I was glad to see so
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  much mercy in the boy, and gave him some bread and rice. We
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  lay still at night, but didn't sleep long, for in a few hours
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  times some huge beasts came down to the sea to bathe. The poor boy
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  shook from head to foot at the sight. One of these bests came near
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  our boat, and though it was too dark to see him well, we
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  heard him puff and blow, and knew that he must be a large one
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  by the noise he made. At last, the brute came as near to
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  the boat as two old so I shot at him, and he swam to
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  the shore. And of Section one Section two. The roar and cries set
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  up by beasts and birds at the noise of my gun would seem to show
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  that we had made a bad choice of a place to land on. But
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  be that, as it would too shore, we had to go to find
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  some fresh spring so that we might fill our casks. Surrey said, if
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  I would let him go with one of the jars, he would find out
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  if the springs were fit to drink, and if they were sweet, he
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  would bring the jar back full. Why should you go? Said I?
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  Why should not I go and you stay in the boat. At this Surrey
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  said, if wild men's come, they eat meat, you go away.
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  I couldn't but love the lad for this kind of speech. Well, said
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  I. We will both go, and if the wild men come, we
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  must kill them. They shall not eat you or me. I gave Surrey
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  some rum from the turk's case to cheer him up, and we went on
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  shore. The boy went off with his gun full a mile from the spot
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  where we stood, and came back with the hair that he had shot,
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  which we were glad to cook and eat. But the good news, which
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  she broughte was that he had found a spring and had seen no wild men.
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  I made a guess that the cape the Word Isles were not far off,
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  for I saw the top of the great peak, which I knew was
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  near them. My one hope was that if I kept near the coast,
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  I should find some ship that would take us on the board, and then
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  and not till then should I feel a free man. In Efvert. I
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  put the whole of my fate on this chance that I must meet with some
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  ship or die. On the coast, we saw some men who stood to
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  look at us. They were black and wore no clothes. I would have
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  gone on shore to them, but Surrey, who knew best, said not
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  you go, not you go. So I brought the boat as near the
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  land as I could that I might talk to them, and they kept up
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  with me a long way. I saw that one of them had advance in
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  his hand. I made signs that they should bring me some food, and
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  they, on their part, made signs for me to stop my boat.
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  So I let down the top of my sail and lay by while two of
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  them ran off. And in less than half an hour they came back with
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  some dry meat and a sort of corn which is grown in this part of
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  the world. This we should have been glad to get, but knew not
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  how to do so, for we durst not go on shore to them,
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  nor did they dare to come to us. At last, they took a
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  safe way for us all for they brought the food to the shore, where
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  they set it down, and then went a long way off while we took
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  it in. We made signs to show our things, for we had not
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  a thing that we could spare to give them. But as good luck would
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  have it, we were at hand to take a great prize for them.
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  For two wild beasts of the same kind as the first I spoke of,
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  came in full chase from the hills down to the sea. They swam as
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  if they had come for sport. The men flew from them in fear,
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  all but the one who held the lance. One of these beasts came near
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  our boat, so I lay in wait for him with my gun, and
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  as soon as the brute was in range, I shot him through the head.
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  Twice he sank down in the sea, and twice he came up,
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  and then just swam to the land, where he fell down dead. The
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  men were in as much fear at the sound of my gun as they had
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  been at the sight of the beasts. But when I made signs for them
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  to come to the shore, they took heart and came. They at once
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  made for their prize, and by the help of a rope which they slung
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  round him, they brought him safe on the beach. We now left our
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  white man, and went on and on for twelve days. More land in
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  front of us ran out four or five miles like a bill, and we
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  had to keep some way from the coast to make this point, so that
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  we lost sight of the shore. I gave the helm to Surrey and sat
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  down to sink what would be my best course to take, when all at
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  once I heard the lad cry out a ship with a sail, A ship
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  with a sail. He didn't show much joy at the site, for he
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  saw that this ship had been sent out to take him back. But I
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  knew well from the look of her that she was not one of the Turks.
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  I made all the sail I could to come in the ship's way and
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  talk Surrey to fire a gun, in the hope that if those on deck
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  could not hear the sound, they might see the smoke. This they did
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  see, and then let down their sails so that we might come up to
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  them, And in three hours time we were at the ship's side. The
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  men spoke to us in French, but I couldn't make out what they meant.
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  At last, a Scot on board said, in my own tongue,
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  who are you? Whence do you come? I told him in a few
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  words how I had got free from the moors. Then the man who had
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  charge of the ship bade me come on board and took me in with Surrey
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  and all my goods. I told him that he might take all I had,
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  but he said, you shall have your goods back when you come to
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  land, for I have but done for you what you would have done for
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  me had I been in the same plight. He gave me a good round
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  sum for my boat and said that I should have the same sum for Surrey
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  if I would part with him. But I told him that, as it
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  was by the boy's help that I had got free, I was loth to
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  sell him. He said it was just and right in me to feel thus,
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  But at the same time, if I could make up my mind to
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  part with him, he should be set free in two years time. So
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  as the poor slave had a wish to go with him, I didn't say
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  no. I got to All Saints Bay in three weeks and was now a
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  free man. I had made a good sum by all my store, and
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  with this I went on land, but I didn't at all know what to
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  do next. At length, I met with a man whose case was much
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  the same as my own, and we both took some land to farm.
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  My stock, like his, was low, but we made our farms serve
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  to keep us in food, though not more than that. We had both
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  stood in need of help. And I saw now that I had done wrong
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  to part with my boy. I didn't at all like this kind of life.
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  What thought I have? I come all this way to do that which
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  I could have done as well at home with my friends round me. And
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  to add to my grief, the kind friend who had brought me here in
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  his ship now meant to leave these shores on my first start to see.
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  When a boy, I had put a small sum in the hands of an
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  aunt, and this my friend said I should do well to spend on my
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  farm. So when he got home, he sent some of it in cash
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  and laid out the rest in cloth, stuffs, bays, and such like
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  goods. My aunt had put a few pounds in my friend's hands as a
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  gift to him, to show her thanks for all that he had done for
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  me, And with this sum he was so kind as to buy me a
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  slave. In the meantime, I had bought a slave, so now I
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  had two, and all went on well for the next year, but soon
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  my plans grew too large for my means. One day some men came to
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  ask me to take charge of a slave ship to be sent out by them.
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  They said they would give me a share in the slaves and pay the
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  cost of the stock. This would have been a good sink for me if
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  I had not had farms and land. But it was wild and wresh to
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  think of it now, for I had made a large sum and ought to
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  have gone on in the same way for three or four years more Well,
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  I told these men that I would go with all my heart if they would
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  look to my farm in the meantime, which they said they would do.
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  So I made my will and went on board this ship on the same day,
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  on which eight years since I had left Hull. She had six guns,
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  twelve men and a boy. We took with us saws, chains,
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  toys, beads, bits of glass, and such like, were to suit
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  the taste of those with whom we had to trade. We were not more
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  than twelve days from the line when a high wind took us off. We
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  knew not where all at once there was a cry of land, and the
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  ships struck on a bank of sand, in which she sank so deep that
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  we could not get her off. At last we found that we must make
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  up our minds to leave her and get to shore as well as we could.
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  There had been a boat at her stern, but we found it had
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  been torn off by the force of the waves. One small boat was still
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  left on the ship's side, so we got in it. There we were,
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  all of us on the wide sea. The heart of each now grew
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  faint, Our cheeks were pale, and our eyes were dim. For there
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  was but one hope, and that was to find some bay, and so
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  get in the lee of the land. We now gave up our whole souls
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  to God. The sea grew more and more rough, and its white foam
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  would curl and boil. At last, the waves, in their wide sport,
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  burst on the boat's side, and we were all thrown out. I
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  could swim well, but the force of the waves made me lose my breast
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  too much to do so. At length, one large wave took me to
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  the shore and left me high and dry. Though half dead with fear,
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  I got on my feet and made the best of my way for the land.
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  But just then the curve of a huge wave rose up as high as
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  a hill, and this I had no strength to keep from, so it
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  took me back to the sea. I did my best to float on the
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  top, and held my breath to do so. The next wave was quite
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  as high and shut me up in its bulk. I held my hands down
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  tight to my side, and then my head shot out at the top of
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  the waves. This gave me hot and breath too, and soon my feet
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  felt the ground. I stood quite still for a short time to let the
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  sea run back from me, and then I set off with all my might
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  to the shore. But yet the waves caught me, and twice more did
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  they take take me back, and twice more land me on the shore.
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  I thought the last wave would have been the death of me, for it
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  drove me on a piece of rock, and with such force as to leave
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  me in a kind of swoon, which thank god did not last long.
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  At length, to my great joy, I got up to the cliffs close
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  to the shore, where I found some grass out of the reach of the
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  sea. There I set down safe on land. At last, I could
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  but cry out in the words of the Psalm, they that go down to
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  the sea in ships, These men see the works of the Lord in the
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  deep. For at his word the storms rise, the winds blow, and
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  lift up the waves. Then do they mount to the sky, and from
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  thence go down to the deep. My soul faints. I reel to and
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  fro and am at my wits end. Then the Lord brings me out of
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  all my fears. I felt so rapt in joy that all I could do
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  was to walk up and down the coast. Now lift up my hands,
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  now fold them on my breast, and thank God for all that he had
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  done for me. When the rest of the men were lost, all lost,
• 28:33
  but I and I was safe. I now cast my eyes round me
• 28:41
  to find out what kind of a place it was that I had been doth
• 28:45
  thrown in like a bird in a storm. Then all the glee I felt
• 28:52
  at first left me, for I was wet and cold, and had no
• 28:57
  dry clothes to put on, no food to eat, and not a friend
• 29:04
  to help me. And of section two Section three. There were wild beasts
• 29:12
  here, but I had no gun to shoot them with or to keep me
• 29:17
  from their jaws. I had but a knife and a pipe. It now
• 29:22
  grew dark, and where was I to go for the night? I thought
• 29:26
  the top of some high tree would be a good place to keep me out
• 29:30
  of harm's way, and that there I might sit and think of death,
• 29:36
  for as yet I had no hopes of life. Well, I went to
• 29:40
  my tree and made a kind of nest to sleep in. Then I cut
• 29:44
  a stick to keep off the beasts of prey in case they should come,
• 29:48
  and fell to sleep, just as if the branch I lay on had been
• 29:52
  a bed of down. When I woke up, it was broad day.
• 29:57
  The sky too was clear, and the sea calm. But I saw from
• 30:03
  the top of the tree that in the night the ship had left the bank
• 30:06
  of sand and lay but a mile from me, while the boat was on
• 30:11
  the beach two miles on my right. I went some way down by the
• 30:15
  shore to get to the boat, but an arm of the sea half a
• 30:21
  mile road kept me from it. At noon, the tide went a long
• 30:26
  way out so that I could get near the ship. And here I found
• 30:30
  that if he had but made up our minds to stay on board, we
• 30:34
  should all have been safe. I shed tears at the sword, for I
• 30:40
  couldn't help it, yet, as there was no use in that. It
• 30:42
  struck me that the best thing for me to do was to swim to the
• 30:48
  ship. I soon threw off my clothes, took to the sea, and
• 30:52
  swam up to the wreck. But how was I to get on deck.
• 30:57
  I had swum twice round the ship when a piece of rope caught my eye,
• 31:03
  which had hung down from her side, so low that at first the
• 31:07
  waves hid it. By the help of this rope I got on board.
• 31:12
  I found that there was a bulge in the ship, and that she had
• 31:17
  sprung a leak. You may be sure that my first thought was to look
• 31:22
  round for some food, and I soon made my way to the bin where
• 31:26
  the bread was kept, and ate some of it as I went to and
• 31:30
  fro, for there was no time to lose. There was too some rum,
• 31:37
  of which I took a good draft, and this gave me heart.
• 31:41
  What I stood most in need of was a boat to take the goods to
• 31:45
  shore. But it was vain to wish for that which could not be had.
• 31:49
  And as there were some spare yards in the ship, two or three
• 31:55
  large planks of wood, and a spare mast or two, I felt to
• 32:00
  work with these to make a raft. I put four spars side by side
• 32:06
  and laid short bits of plank on them cross ways to make my raft strong.
• 32:13
  Though these planks would bear my own weight, they were too slight to
• 32:16
  bear much of my freight. So I took a sow which was on board,
• 32:22
  and cut a mast in three lengths, and these gave great strength to
• 32:28
  the raft. I found some bread and rice, a Dutch cheese, and
• 32:32
  some dry goat's flesh. There had been some wheat, but the rats had
• 32:38
  got at it and it was all gone. My next task was to screen
• 32:43
  my goods from the spray of the sea, and it didn't take me long
• 32:47
  to do this, for there were three large chests on board which held all
• 32:53
  and these I put on the raft. When the high tide came up,
• 32:59
  it took my coat and shirt, which I had left on the shore,
• 33:02
  But there were some fresh clothes in the ship. See here is a prize,
• 33:08
  said I out loud, though there were none to hear me. Now
• 33:14
  I shall not starve, for I found four large guns. But how was
• 33:20
  my raft to be got to land. I had no sail, no oars,
• 33:27
  and a gust of wind would make all my store slide off. Yet
• 33:31
  there were three things which I was glad of. A calm sea a tide
• 33:37
  which set in to the shore, and a slight breeze to blow me there.
• 33:42
  I had the good luck to find some oars in a part of the
• 33:45
  ship in which I had made no search till Now with these I put to
• 33:51
  sea, and for half a mile my raft went well, But soon I
• 33:55
  found it drove to one side. At length, I sow a creek,
• 34:00
  to which, with some toil I took my raft. And now the beach
• 34:05
  was so near that I felt my oar touch the ground. Here I had
• 34:10
  well nigh lost my freight, for the shore lay on a slope, so
• 34:15
  that there was no place to land on, save where one end of the
• 34:20
  raft would lie so high and one end so low, that all my goods
• 34:25
  would fall off. To wait till the tide came up was all that could
• 34:30
  be done. So when the sea was a foot deep, I thrust the
• 34:36
  raft on a flat of piece of ground to moor her there, and stuck
• 34:43
  my two oars in the sand, one on each side of the raft.
• 34:47
  Thus I let her lie till the ebb of the tide, and when it
• 34:52
  went down, she was left safe on land with all her freight. I
• 34:58
  saw that there were birds on the isle, and I shot one of them.
• 35:04
  Mine must have been the first gun that had been heard there since the
• 35:07
  world was made, for at the sound of it, whole flocks of birds
• 35:14
  flew up with loud cries from all parts of the wood. The shape of
• 35:20
  the beak of the one I shot was like that of a hawk, but
• 35:23
  the claws were not so large. I now went back to my raft to
• 35:30
  land my stores, and this took up the rest of the day. What
• 35:34
  to do at night, I knew not nor where to find a safe place
• 35:38
  to land my stores on. I didn't like to lie down on the ground,
• 35:44
  for fear of beasts of prey as well as snakes, but there was
• 35:47
  no cause for these fears, as I have since found. I put the
• 35:53
  chests and boards round me as well as I could, and made a kind
• 35:58
  of hut for the night. As there was still a great store of things
• 36:01
  left in the ship which would be of use to me, I saw that
• 36:07
  I ought to bring them to land at once, for I knew that the
• 36:10
  first storm would break up the ship. So I went on board and took
• 36:15
  good care this time not to load my raft too much. The first thing
• 36:22
  I sought for was the tool chest and in it were some bags of nails,
• 36:29
  spikes, saws, knives and such things. But best of all I
• 36:35
  found a stone to grind my tools on. There were two or three flasks,
• 36:40
  some large bags of shot, and a roll of lead, but this
• 36:45
  last I had not the strength to hoist up to the ship's side so as
• 36:50
  to get it on my raft. There were some spare sails, too,
• 36:54
  which I brought to shore. I had some fear lest my stores might be
• 37:00
  run off with by beasts of prey, if not by men, But I
• 37:05
  found all safe and sound when I went back, and no one had come
• 37:08
  there but a white cat, which sat on one of the chests. When
• 37:14
  I came up, I held my gun at her, but as she didn't
• 37:17
  know what a gun was, this didn't rouse her. She ate a piece
• 37:23
  of dry goat's flesh, and then took her leave. Now that I had
• 37:29
  two freights of goods at hand, I made a tent with the ship's sails
• 37:34
  to stow them in, and cut the poles for it from the wood.
• 37:38
  I now took all the things out of the casks and chests, and put
• 37:44
  the casks in piles around the tent to give it strength. And when this
• 37:50
  was done, I shut up the door, with the boards spread one of
• 37:53
  the beds which I had brought from the ship on the ground, laid two
• 37:58
  guns close to my head, and went to bed. For the first time.
• 38:02
  I slept all night, for I was much in need of rest.
• 38:07
  The next day I was sad and sick at heart, for I felt how
• 38:13
  dull it was to be dust, cut off from all the rest of the
• 38:15
  world. I had no great wish for work, but there was too much
• 38:21
  to be done for me to dwell long on my sad lot. Each day,
• 38:27
  as it came, I went off to the wreck to fetch more things,
• 38:31
  and I brought back as much as the raft would hold. One day
• 38:37
  I had put too great a load on the raft, which made it sink
• 38:42
  down on one side, so that the goods were lost in the sea.
• 38:46
  But at this I didn't fret, as the chief part of the freight for
• 38:51
  some rope which wouldn't have been of much use to me. The twelve days
• 38:57
  that I had spent in the isle were spent in this way, and I
• 39:01
  had brought to land all that one pair of hands could lift, though if
• 39:07
  the sea had been still calm, I might have brought a whole ship,
• 39:12
  piece by piece. The last time I swam to the wreck, the wind
• 39:16
  blew so hard that I made up my mind to go on board next time.
• 39:22
  At low tide, I found some tea and some gold coin. But
• 39:28
  as to the gold, it made me laugh to look at it. O
• 39:31
  drug, said I, thou art of no use to me. I care
• 39:36
  not to save thee. Stay where thou art till the ship go down,
• 39:40
  Then go thou with it. Still, I thought I might as well just
• 39:45
  take it, so I put it in a piece of the sail and threw
• 39:52
  it on the deck, that I might place it on the raft. By
• 39:55
  and by the wind blew from the shore, so I had to back with
• 40:00
  all speed, for I knew that at the turn of the tide I should
• 40:04
  find it hard work to get to land at all. But in spite of
• 40:09
  the high wind, I came to my home all safe. At dawn of
• 40:14
  day, I put my head out and cast my eyes on the sea,
• 40:17
  when low no ship was there. This change in the face of things,
• 40:23
  and the loss of such a friend, quite struck me down. Yet I
• 40:28
  was glad to think that I had brought to shore all that could be of
• 40:31
  use to me. I had now to look out for some spot where I
• 40:35
  could make my home. Half Way up a hill there was a small plain
• 40:40
  four or five score feet long and twice as broad, and as it had
• 40:47
  a full view of the sea, I thought that it would be a good
• 40:52
  place for my house. I first dug a trench round the space, which
• 40:58
  took in twelve years, and in this I drove two rows of steaks till
• 41:05
  they stood firm like piles five and a half feet from the ground. I
• 41:12
  made the stakes close and tight with bits of rope, and put small sticks
• 41:16
  on the top of them in the shape of spikes. This made so strong
• 41:22
  a fence that no man or beast could get in. The door of my
• 41:27
  house was on the top, and I had to climb up to it by
• 41:30
  steps, which I took in with me, so that no one else might
• 41:35
  come up by the same way. Close to the back of the house stood
• 41:38
  the high rock in which I made a cave, and laid all the earth
• 41:44
  that I had dug out of it round my house, to the height of
• 41:47
  a foot and a half. I had to go out once a day in
• 41:52
  search of food. The first time I saw some goats, but they were
• 41:57
  too shy and swift on foot to let me get near them. At last
• 42:01
  I lay in wait for them close to their own haunts. If they saw
• 42:07
  me in the vale, though they might be on high ground, they would
• 42:10
  run off wild with fear. But if they were in the vale and I
• 42:16
  on high ground, they took no heed of me. The first goat I
• 42:22
  shot had a kid by her side, and when the old one fell,
• 42:29
  the kid stood near her till I took her off on my back, and
• 42:35
  then the young one ran by my side. I put down the goat and
• 42:40
  brought the kid home to tame it, but as it was too young to
• 42:45
  feed, I had to kill it. And of section three Section four.
• 42:52
  At first I sought that for the lack of pen and ink, I should
• 42:57
  lose all note of time. So I made a large post in the shape
• 43:02
  of a cross, on which I cut these words. I came on these
• 43:08
  shores on the eighth day of June in the year sixteen fifty nine. On
• 43:15
  the side of this post I made a notch each day as it came,
• 43:21
  and this I kept up till the last. I haven't yet said a word
• 43:25
  of my fore pats, which were two cats, a dog, and a
• 43:30
  bird. You may guess how fond I was of them, for they were
• 43:34
  all the friends left to me. I brought the dog and two cats from
• 43:38
  the ship. The dog would fetch things for me at all times, and
• 43:44
  by his bark, his wine, his growl, and his tricks, he
• 43:49
  would all but talk to me. Yet he couldn't give me sort for salt.
• 43:54
  If I could have had some one near me to find fault with,
• 44:00
  or to find fault with me, what a treat it would have been.
• 44:05
  Now that I had brought ink from the ship. I wrote down a sketch
• 44:08
  of each day as it came, not so much to leave to those who
• 44:13
  might read it when I was dead and gone, as to get rid of
• 44:17
  my own thoughts, and draw me from the fears which all day long dwelt
• 44:22
  on my mind, till my head would ache with the weight of them.
• 44:28
  I was a long way out of the course of ships. And oh how
• 44:32
  dull it was to be cast on this lone spot with no one to love,
• 44:37
  no one to make me love, no one to make me weep,
• 44:42
  no one to make me sink. It was dull to roam day by day
• 44:47
  from the wood to the shore, and from the shore back to the wood
• 44:52
  and feed on my own thoughts all the while. So much or the sad
• 45:00
  view of my case. But like most things, it had a bright side
• 45:05
  as well as a dark one. For here was I safe on land,
• 45:10
  while all the rest of the ship's crew were lost. Well thought I God,
• 45:17
  who shapes our ways and led me by the hand, Then can save
• 45:23
  me from this state now? Or send someone to be with me. True,
• 45:29
  I am cast on a rough and rude part of the globe, but
• 45:32
  there are no beasts of prey on it to kill or hurt me. God
• 45:37
  has sent the ship so near to me that I have got from it all
• 45:43
  things to meet my wants for the rest of my days. Let life be
• 45:46
  what it may. There is should to be much to thank God for,
• 45:51
  And I soon gave up all dull thoughts and didn't so much as look out
• 45:57
  for a sail. My goods from the wreck have been in the cave for
• 46:00
  more than ten months, and it was time now to put them right,
• 46:05
  as they took up all the space and left me no room to turn in.
• 46:09
  So I made my small cave a large one and dug it out a
• 46:15
  long way back in the sand rock. Then I brought the mouth of it
• 46:20
  up to the fence, and so made a back way to my house.
• 46:25
  This done, I put shelves on each side to hold my goods, which
• 46:30
  made my cave look like a shop full of stores. To make these shelves
• 46:36
  I cut down a tree, and with the help of a saw, an
• 46:39
  axe, a plane, and some more tools, I made boards, a
• 46:45
  chair, and a desk to write on. Came next. I rose in
• 46:51
  good time and set to work till noon. Then I ate my meal.
• 46:55
  Then I went out with my gun and to work once more till the sun
• 47:01
  had set, and then to bed. It took me more than a week
• 47:07
  to change the shape and size of my cave. But I had made it
• 47:10
  far too large, for in course of time the earth fell in from the
• 47:15
  roof, and had I been in it when this took place, I should
• 47:22
  have lost my life. I had now to set up posts in my cave
• 47:27
  with planks on the top of them, so as to make a roof of
• 47:31
  wood. One day, when out with my gun, I shot a white
• 47:36
  cat, the skin of which made me a cap. And I found some
• 47:42
  birds of the dove tribe, which built their nests in the holes of the
• 47:45
  rocks I had to go to bed at dusk till I made a lamp of
• 47:51
  goat's fat, which I put in a clay dish, and this with a
• 47:55
  piece of hemp, for a week made a good good light. As I
• 48:01
  had found a use for the bag which had held the fowl's food on board
• 48:07
  ship, I shook out from it the husks of corn. This was just
• 48:13
  at the time when the great rains fell, and in the course of a
• 48:16
  month blades of rice, corn and rye sprang up. As time went by
• 48:22
  and the grain was ripe, I kept it and took care to sow it
• 48:28
  each year, but I couldn't boast of a crop of wheat, as will
• 48:32
  be shown by and by. For three years. A thing now took place
• 48:38
  on the isle which no one could have dreamt of, and which struck me
• 48:44
  down with fear. It was this the ground shook with great force, which
• 48:50
  threw down earth from the rock with a loud crash. Once more there was
• 48:54
  a shock, and now the earth fell from the roof of my cave.
• 49:00
  The sea didn't look the same as it had done, for the shocks were
• 49:05
  just as strong there as on land. The sway of the earth made me
• 49:09
  feel sick and there was a noise and a roar all around me. The
• 49:15
  same kind of shock came a third time, and when it had gone off,
• 49:20
  I sat quite still on the ground, for I knew not what to
• 49:23
  do. Then the clouds grew dark, the wind rose trees were torn up
• 49:30
  by the roots. The sea was a mass of foam and froth, and
• 49:36
  a great part of the isle was laid waste. With the storm, I
• 49:40
  thought that the world had come to an end. In three hours time,
• 49:45
  all was calm, but rain fell all that night and a great part of
• 49:51
  the next day. Now, though quite worn out, I had to move
• 49:55
  my goods, which were in the cave. To some say, I knew
• 50:01
  that tools would be my first want, and that I should have to grind
• 50:07
  mine on the stone, as they were blunt and worn with ewes. But
• 50:13
  as it took both hands to hold the tool, I couldn't turn the stone.
• 50:17
  So I made a wheel by which I could move it with my foot.
• 50:22
  This was no small task, but I took great pains with it,
• 50:28
  and at length it was done. The rain fell for some days, and
• 50:32
  a cold chill came on me. In short I was ill, I had
• 50:38
  pains in my head and could get no sleep at night, and my thoughts
• 50:44
  were wild and strange. At one time I shook with cold, and then
• 50:50
  a hot fit came on, with faint sweats, which would last six hours
• 50:55
  at a time. Ill as I was, I had to go out with
• 51:00
  my gun to get food. I shot a goat, but it was a
• 51:05
  great toil to bring it home, and still more to cook it. I
• 51:09
  spent the next day in bed and felt half dead from thirst, yet too
• 51:15
  weak to stand up to get some drink. I lay and wept like a
• 51:22
  child. Lord look on me, Lord, look on me? Would I
• 51:28
  cry? For hours? At last the fit left me, and I slept
• 51:35
  and didn't wake till dawn. I dreamt that I lay on the ground and
• 51:38
  saw a man come down from a great black cloud in a flame of light.
• 51:44
  When he stood on the earth, it shook as it had done a
• 51:47
  few days since, and all the world to me was full of fire.
• 51:53
  He came up and said, as I see that all these things have not
• 52:00
  brought thee to pray, Now thou shalt die. Then I woke and found
• 52:07
  it was a dream. We can faint. I was in dread all day
• 52:13
  lest my fit should come on, too ill to get out with my gun.
• 52:19
  I set on the shore to think, and does rent my thoughts?
• 52:22
  What is this sea which is all round me? And whence is it?
• 52:28
  There can be no doubt that the hand that made it made the air,
• 52:32
  the earth, the sky. And who is that? It is God who
• 52:37
  has made all things. Well, then if God has made all things,
• 52:44
  it must be he who guides them. And if so, no one thing
• 52:49
  in the whole range of his words can take place and he not know it,
• 52:54
  then God must know how sick, and said I am, and he
• 52:59
  will me to be here? Oh? Why has God done this to me?
• 53:06
  Then some voice would seem to say, dost thou ask why God has
• 53:12
  done this to thee? Ask why thou wert not shot by the moors who
• 53:17
  came on board the ship and took the lives of thy mates. Ask why
• 53:22
  thou wert not torn by the beasts of prey on the coasts. Ask why
• 53:28
  thou didst not go down in the deep sea with the rest of the crew,
• 53:32
  But didst come to this isle and art safe as sound? Sleep then
• 53:38
  fell on me, And when I walk it must have been three o'clock the
• 53:44
  next day. By the rays of the sun. Nay, it may have
• 53:49
  been more than that, for I think that this must have been the day
• 53:53
  that I didn't mark on my post, as I have since found that there
• 53:59
  was one notch too few. I now took from my store the Book of
• 54:07
  God's Word, which I had brought from the wreck, not one page of
• 54:10
  which I had yet read. My eyes fell on five words that would seem
• 54:17
  to have been put there for my good at this time. So well did
• 54:22
  they cheer my faint hopes and touch the true source of my fears. They
• 54:29
  were these I will not leave thee, and they have dwelt in my heart
• 54:37
  to this day. I laid down the book to pray. My cry was,
• 54:43
  O, Lord, help me to love and learn thy ways. This
• 54:49
  was the first time in all my life that I had felt a sense that
• 54:52
  God was near and heard me. As for my dull life here it was
• 54:59
  not worth a soul. For now a new strength had come to me,
• 55:02
  and there was a change in my griefs as well as in my joys.
• 55:07
  I had now been in the isle twelve months, and I thought it was
• 55:13
  time to go all round it in search of its woods, springs and creeks.
• 55:19
  So I set off and brought back with me limes and grapes in their
• 55:23
  prime, large and ripe. I had hung the grapes in the sun to
• 55:29
  dry in a few days time, when to fetch them that I might lay
• 55:34
  up a store. The vale on the banks of which they grew was fresh
• 55:39
  and green, and a clear, bright stream ran through it, which gave
• 55:45
  so great a charm to the spot as to make me wish to live there.
• 55:50
  But there was no view of the sea from this whale, while from
• 55:55
  my house no ships could come on my side of the and not be seen
• 56:01
  by me. Yet, the cool, soft banks were so sweet and new
• 56:06
  to me that much of my time was spent there. In the first of
• 56:12
  three years in which I had grown corn, I had sown it too late.
• 56:16
  In the next it was spoiled by the drought, but the sergius crop
• 56:22
  had sprung up well. I found that the hairs would lie in it night
• 56:27
  and day, for which there was no cure but to plant a sick hedge
• 56:30
  all round it, and this took me more than three weeks to do.
• 56:36
  I shot the hares in the daytime, and when it grew dark, I
• 56:40
  made fast the dog's chained to the gate, and there he stood to bark
• 56:45
  all night. End of Section four Section five. In a short time the
• 56:52
  corn grew strong and at last ripe. But just as the hares had heard
• 56:57
  it in the blade, so now the birds ate it in the ear.
• 57:00
  And at the noise of my gun, whole flocks of them would fly up.
• 57:04
  And at this rate I saw that there would be no corn left.
• 57:07
  So I made up my mind to keep a lookout night and day. I
• 57:10
  hid by the side of a hedge, and could see the birds sit on
• 57:14
  the trees and watch, and then come down one by one. At first.
• 57:17
  Now each grain of wheat was, as it were, a small loaf
• 57:21
  of bread to me. So the great thing was to get rid of these
• 57:23
  birds. My plan was this. I shot three and hung them up like
• 57:29
  thieves, to scare all that came to the corn. And from this time,
• 57:32
  as long as the dead ones hung there, not a bird came near.
• 57:37
  When the corn was ripe, I made a sea that of those swords
• 57:39
  from the ship and got in my crop. Few of us think of the
• 57:43
  cost at which a loaf of bread is made. Of course, there was
• 57:46
  no plow here to turn up the earth, and no spade to dig it
• 57:50
  with, so I made one with wood, but this was soon worn out,
• 57:53
  and for one of a rake I made use of the bough of a
• 57:57
  tree. When I had got the corn home, I had to thrash it,
• 58:00
  part the grain from the chaff, and store it up. Then came
• 58:04
  the want of a mill to grind it, of sieves to clean it,
• 58:07
  and of yeast to make bread of it. Still my bread was made,
• 58:10
  though I had no tools, and no one could say that I did not
• 58:14
  earn it by the sweat of my brow. When the rain kept me indoors,
• 58:17
  it was good fun to teach my pet bird Paul, to talk.
• 58:22
  But so mute were all things round me that the sound of my own voice
• 58:25
  made me start my chief Once. Now were jars, pots, cups,
• 58:30
  and plates, but I knew not how I could make them. At last
• 58:34
  I went in search of some clay, and found some a mile from my
• 58:37
  house. But it was quite a joke to see the queer shapes and forms
• 58:40
  that I made out of it. For some of my pots and jars were
• 58:44
  too weak to bear their own weight, and they would fall out here and
• 58:46
  in there in all sorts of ways, while some, when they were put
• 58:51
  in the sun to bake, would crack with the heat of its rays.
• 58:53
  You may guess what my joy was when at last a pot was made which
• 58:57
  would stand the heat of the fire, so that I could boil the meat
• 59:00
  for broth. The next thing to be made was a sieve to part the
• 59:05
  grain from the husks. Goat's hair was of no use to me, as
• 59:08
  I could not weave or spin, so I made a shift for two years
• 59:13
  with a thin kind of stuff which I had brought from the ship. But
• 59:15
  to grind the corn with the stones was the worst of all. Such hard
• 59:20
  work did I find it. To bake the bread, I burnt some wood
• 59:23
  down to an ash, which I threw on the hearth to heat it,
• 59:27
  and then set my loathes on the hearth, And in this way my bread
• 59:30
  was made. The next thing to turn my thoughts to was the ship's boat,
• 59:36
  which lay on the high ridge of sand where it had been thrust by
• 59:38
  the storm which had cast me on these shores. But it lay with the
• 59:42
  keel to the sky, so I had to dig the sand from it and
• 59:45
  turn it up with the help of a pole. When I had done this,
• 59:49
  I found it was all in vain, for I had not the strength
• 59:52
  to launch it. So all I could do now was to make a boat
• 59:55
  of less size out of a tree, and I found one that was just
• 59:59
  fit for it, which grew not far from the shore. But I could
• 1:00:01
  no more stir this than I could the ship's boat. What was to be
• 1:00:06
  done. I first dug the ground flat and smooth all the way from the
• 1:00:09
  boat to the sea, so as to let it slide down. But this
• 1:00:14
  plan did not turn out well. So I thought I would try a new
• 1:00:16
  way, which was to make a trench so as to bring the sea up
• 1:00:20
  to the boat, as the boat could not be brought to the sea.
• 1:00:23
  But to do this I must have dug down to a great depth, which
• 1:00:28
  would take one man some years to do. And when too late, I
• 1:00:31
  found it was not wise to work out a scheme till I had first thought
• 1:00:36
  of the cost and toil well. Thought I I must give up the boat
• 1:00:42
  and with it all my hopes to leave the isle. But I have this
• 1:00:45
  to think of. I am lord of the whole isle, in fact a
• 1:00:50
  king. I have wood with which I might build a fleet, and grapes,
• 1:00:53
  if not corn, to freight it with, though all my wealth is
• 1:00:58
  but a few gold coins. For these I had no sort of use,
• 1:01:01
  and could have found it in my heart to give them all for a peck
• 1:01:05
  of peas and some ink, which last I stood much in need of.
• 1:01:09
  But it was best to dwell more on what I had than on what I
• 1:01:13
  had not. I now must needs try once more to build a boat,
• 1:01:17
  but this time it was to have a mast, for which the ship's sails
• 1:01:22
  would be of great use. I made a deck at each end to keep
• 1:01:24
  out the spray of the sea, a bin for my food, and a
• 1:01:28
  rest for my gun, with a flap to screen it from the wet.
• 1:01:32
  More than all, the boat was one of such size that I could launch
• 1:01:36
  it. My first cruise was up and down the creek, but soon I
• 1:01:39
  got bold made the whole round of my isle. I took with me bread,
• 1:01:44
  cakes, a potful rice, some rum, half a goat, two
• 1:01:49
  great coats, one of which was to lie on and one to put on
• 1:01:52
  at night. I set sail in the sixth year of my rain. On
• 1:01:57
  the east side of the aisle. There was a large ridge of rocks which
• 1:02:00
  lay two miles from a shore, and a shoal of sand lay for half
• 1:02:04
  a mile from the rocks to the beach. To get round to this point
• 1:02:07
  I had to sail a great way out to sea, and here I all
• 1:02:10
  but lost my life. But I got back to my home at last on
• 1:02:15
  my way there. Quite worn out with the toils of the boat, I
• 1:02:19
  lay down in the shade to rest my limbs and slept. But judge,
• 1:02:22
  if you can what a start I gave when a voice woke me out of
• 1:02:25
  my sleep spoke my name three times, a voice in this wild place to
• 1:02:30
  call me by name too. Then the voice said, where are you?
• 1:02:37
  Where have you been? How came you here? But now I saw it
• 1:02:40
  all, for at the top of the hedge set Paul, who did but
• 1:02:45
  say the word she had been taught by me. I now went in search
• 1:02:50
  of some goats and laid snares for them with rice for bait. I had
• 1:02:53
  set the traps in the night, and found they had all stood, though
• 1:02:57
  the bait was gone. So I thought out of a new way to take
• 1:03:00
  them, which was to make a pit and lay sticks and grass on it
• 1:03:04
  so as to hide it. And in this way I caught an old goat
• 1:03:07
  and some kids. But the old goat was much too fierce for me,
• 1:03:09
  so I let him go. I brought all the young ones home and let
• 1:03:14
  them fast a long time, till at last they fed from my hand and
• 1:03:17
  were quite tame. I kept them in a kind of park, in which
• 1:03:21
  there were trees to screen them from the sun. At first my park was
• 1:03:25
  three miles round. But it struck me that in so great a space the
• 1:03:30
  kids would soon get as wild as if they had the range of the whole
• 1:03:34
  vale, and that it would be as well to give them less room.
• 1:03:37
  So I had to make a hedge, which took me three months to plant.
• 1:03:40
  My park held a flock of twelve goats, and in two years more
• 1:03:45
  there were more than two score. My dog sat at meals with me,
• 1:03:49
  and one cat on each side of me on stools, and we had Paul
• 1:03:53
  to talk to us. Now for a word or two. As to the
• 1:03:57
  dress in which I made a tour round the aisle, I could but think
• 1:04:00
  how droll it would look in the streets of the town in which I was
• 1:04:03
  born. I wore a high cap of goat's skin, with a flap that
• 1:04:06
  hung down to keep the sun and rain from my neck. A coat made
• 1:04:11
  from the skin of a goat, too, the skirts of which came down
• 1:04:14
  to my hips, and the same on my legs, with no shoes,
• 1:04:16
  but flaps of the fur round my shins. I had a broad belt of
• 1:04:20
  the same round my waist, which drew on with two thongs, and from
• 1:04:25
  it on my right side hung a saw and an axe, and on my
• 1:04:29
  left side a pouch for the shot. My beard had not been cut since
• 1:04:32
  I came here. But no more need be said of my looks, for
• 1:04:36
  there were few to see me. A strange sight was now in store for
• 1:04:40
  me, which was to change the whole course of my life in the aisle.
• 1:04:44
  One day at noon, while on a stroll down to a part of
• 1:04:45
  the shore that was new to me, what should I see on the sand
• 1:04:49
  but the print of a man's foot. I felt as if I was bound
• 1:04:54
  by a spell and could not stir from the spot. By and by I
• 1:04:58
  stole a look round me, but no one was in sight. What could
• 1:05:00
  this mean? I went three or four times to look at it. There
• 1:05:03
  it was the print of a man's foot, toes heel and all the parts
• 1:05:08
  of a foot. How could it have come there? My head swam with
• 1:05:12
  fear, and as I left the spot, I made two or three steps,
• 1:05:15
  and then took a look round me. Then two steps more and did
• 1:05:18
  the same thing. I took fright at the stump of an old tree,
• 1:05:21
  and ran to my house, as if for my life. How could aught
• 1:05:26
  in the shape of a man come to that shore and I not know it?
• 1:05:30
  Where was the ship that brought him? Then a vague dread took hold
• 1:05:33
  of my mind that some man or set of men had found me out,
• 1:05:38
  and it might be that they meant to kill me or rob me of all
• 1:05:41
  I had. How strange a thing is the life of man. One day
• 1:05:45
  we love that which the next day we hate. One day we seek what
• 1:05:48
  the next day we shun. One day we longed for the thing which the
• 1:05:53
  next day we fear. And so we go on. Now. From the
• 1:05:57
  time that I was cast on this aisle, my great source of grief was
• 1:06:00
  that I should be thus cut off from the rest of my race. Why
• 1:06:04
  then, should the thought that a man might be near give me all this
• 1:06:08
  pain? Nay, why should the mere sight of the print of a man's
• 1:06:13
  foot make me quake with fear? Seems most strange, yet not more strange
• 1:06:17
  than true. Once it struck me that it might be the print of my
• 1:06:20
  own foot. When first the storm cast me on these shores. Could I
• 1:06:25
  have come this way from the boat. Should it, in truth turn out
• 1:06:29
  to be the print of my own foot, I should be like a boy
• 1:06:31
  who tells of a ghost and feels more fright at his own tail than those
• 1:06:36
  do whom he meant to scare. Fear kept me indoors for three days,
• 1:06:42
  till the want of food drove me out. At last I was so bold
• 1:06:45
  as to go down to the coast to look once more at the print of
• 1:06:47
  the foot, to see if it was the same shape as my own.
• 1:06:50
  I found it was not so large by a great deal, so it was
• 1:06:55
  clear there were men in the aisle. Just at this time, my good
• 1:06:59
  watch dog fell down dead at my feet. He was old and worn out,
• 1:07:03
  and in him I lost my best guard and friend. One day,
• 1:07:08
  as I went from the hill to the coast, a scene lay in front
• 1:07:10
  of me which made me sick at heart. The spot was spread with the
• 1:07:14
  bones of men. There was a round place dug in the earth where a
• 1:07:17
  fire had been made, and here some men had come to feast. Now
• 1:07:21
  that I had seen this sight, I knew not how to act. I
• 1:07:25
  kept close to my home and would scarce stir from it. Save to milk
• 1:07:28
  my flock of goats. To feel safe was now more to me than be
• 1:07:32
  well fed. And I did not care to drive a nail or chopistick of
• 1:07:35
  wood lest the sound of it should be heard. Much less would I fire
• 1:07:41
  a gun. As to my bread and meat, I had to bake it
• 1:07:44
  at night, when the smoke could not be seen. But I soon found
• 1:07:47
  the way to burn wood with turf at the top of it, which made
• 1:07:50
  it like chark or dry coal, And this I could use by day,
• 1:07:56
  as it had no smoke. End of Section five. Section six. I
• 1:08:01
  found in the wood where I went to get the sticks from my fire a
• 1:08:04
  cave so large I could stand in it, but it made more haste to
• 1:08:08
  get out than in, for two large eyes, as bright as stars,
• 1:08:11
  shone from it with a fierce glare. I took a torch and went to
• 1:08:14
  see what they could be, and found that there was no gray cause for
• 1:08:15
  fear, for the eyes were those of an old gray goat, which had
• 1:08:18
  gone there to die of old age. I gave him a push to try
• 1:08:23
  to get him out of the cave, but he could not rise from the
• 1:08:25
  ground from where he lay, so I left him there to die as I
• 1:08:28
  could save his life. I found the width of the cave was twelve feet,
• 1:08:30
  but part of it near the end was so low I had to creep
• 1:08:33
  on my hands and feet to go in. What the length of it was
• 1:08:36
  I could not tell, for my light went out and I had to give
• 1:08:39
  up my search. The next day I went to the cave with large lights
• 1:08:43
  made of goat's fat, and when I got to the end, I found
• 1:08:45
  the roof rose to two score feet or more. As my lights shone on
• 1:08:48
  the walls and the roof of the cave, a sight burst in view,
• 1:08:50
  the charms of which no tongue could tell, for the walls shone like stars.
• 1:08:56
  What was in that rock to cause? It was hard to say.
• 1:08:58
  They might be gems, or bright stones, or gold, but let them
• 1:09:00
  be what they may. This cave was a mine of wealth to me,
• 1:09:03
  for at such times as I felt dull or sad, a bright scene would
• 1:09:08
  flash into my mind's eye and fill it with joy. A score of years
• 1:09:11
  had gone by with no new sight to rest my eyes on, until this
• 1:09:14
  scene burst on them. I felt as if I should like to spend the
• 1:09:17
  rest of my life here, And at its clothes lies down to die in
• 1:09:20
  this cave like the old goat. As I went home, I was struck
• 1:09:24
  by the sight of some smoke, which came from a fire no more than
• 1:09:27
  two miles off. From this time, I lost all my peace of mind
• 1:09:30
  day and night. A dread would haunt me that the men who made this
• 1:09:33
  fire would find me out. I went home and drew up my steps,
• 1:09:38
  but first I made all things round me look wild and rude. To load
• 1:09:41
  my gun was the next thing to do, and I thought it would be
• 1:09:44
  best to stay at home and hide. But this would not be borne long.
• 1:09:46
  I had no spy to send out, and all I could do was
• 1:09:49
  get to the top of the hill and keep a good lookout. At last,
• 1:09:53
  through my glass I could see a group of wild men join and dance
• 1:09:56
  around their fire. As soon as they had left, I took my two
• 1:09:59
  guns, slung a sword on my side, and then with all speed I
• 1:10:01
  set to the top of the hill once more to have a good view.
• 1:10:04
  This time I made up my mind to go up to the men, but
• 1:10:08
  not with a view to kill them, for I felt it would be wrong
• 1:10:10
  to do so with such a load of arms. It took me two hours
• 1:10:14
  to reach the spot where the fire was, and by the time I got
• 1:10:15
  there all the men had gone. But I saw them in four boats out
• 1:10:18
  to sea. Down on the shore. There was proof of what the work
• 1:10:21
  these men had been. The signs of their feast made me sick at heart,
• 1:10:25
  and I shut my eyes. I durst not fire my gun when I
• 1:10:28
  went out for food on that side of the aisle, lest there should be
• 1:10:30
  some of the men left who might hear it and so find me out.
• 1:10:33
  This state of things went on for a year and three months, and for
• 1:10:36
  all that time I saw no more men. On the twelfth of May,
• 1:10:40
  a great storm of wind blew all day and night. As it was dark,
• 1:10:43
  I sat in my house in the midst of the gale, I heard
• 1:10:45
  a gun fire. My guess was that it must have been from some ship
• 1:10:48
  cast on shore by the storm. So I set a light to some wood
• 1:10:53
  on the top of the hill, that those in the ship, if a
• 1:10:55
  ship it might be, might know that some one was there to aid them.
• 1:10:59
  Then I heard two more guns fire. When it was light, I
• 1:11:01
  went to the south side of the aisle, and there lay the wreck of
• 1:11:04
  the ship cast on the rocks by the night of the storm. She was
• 1:11:08
  too afar off for me to see if there were men on board. Words
• 1:11:12
  could not tell how much I did long to bring but one of the ship's
• 1:11:15
  crew on shore. So strong was my wish to save the life of those
• 1:11:17
  on board, that I could have laid down my own life to do so.
• 1:11:21
  There are some springs in the heart, which, whind hope stirs them,
• 1:11:25
  drive the soul on with such a force that to lose all chance of
• 1:11:28
  the thing one hopes for would seem to make one mad. And thus it
• 1:11:30
  was with me. Now I thought was the time to use my boat.
• 1:11:33
  So I set to work at once to fit it out. I took on
• 1:11:36
  board some of the rum, of which I still had a good deal,
• 1:11:40
  left, some dry grapes, a bag of rice, some goat's milk and
• 1:11:43
  cheese, and put it out to sea. A dread came on me that
• 1:11:46
  the thought of the risk I had run on the same rocks. But my
• 1:11:48
  heart did not quite fail me, though I knew that as my boat was
• 1:11:51
  small, if a gale of wind should spring up, all would be lost.
• 1:11:56
  Then I found I must go back to the shore till the tide should
• 1:11:59
  turn and the ebbshd come on. I made up my mind to go out
• 1:12:01
  the next day with high tide, so I slept that night in my boat.
• 1:12:04
  At dawn I set out to see, and in less than two hours
• 1:12:08
  I came upon the wreck. What a scene was there. The ship had
• 1:12:11
  struck on two rocks, The stern was torn by the force of the waves,
• 1:12:15
  the masts were swept off, ropes and chains lay strewn on the deck,
• 1:12:18
  and all was wrapped in gloom. As I came up to the wreck,
• 1:12:23
  a dog swam to me with a yelp and a wine. I took
• 1:12:26
  him on board my boat, and when I gave him some bread, he
• 1:12:29
  ate it like a wolf. And as to drink, he would have burst
• 1:12:30
  if I had let him take his fill of it. I went to the
• 1:12:33
  cook's room, where I found two men, but they were both dead.
• 1:12:36
  The tongue was mute, the ear was deaf, the eye was shut,
• 1:12:40
  and the lip was stiff. And still the sad tale was told, for
• 1:12:44
  each man had his arm around his friend's neck, and so they must have
• 1:12:46
  sat to wait for their death. What a change had come on the scene,
• 1:12:50
  Once so wild with the lash of the waves and the roar of the
• 1:12:54
  wind, all was calm. Now death had done its work, and all
• 1:12:58
  had felt the stroke, save the dog, and he was the one thing
• 1:13:00
  that still had life. I thought the ship must have come from Spain,
• 1:13:03
  and there was much gold on board. I took some of the chests and
• 1:13:06
  put them in my boat, but did not wait to see what they held.
• 1:13:10
  And with this spoil and three casks of rum, I came back.
• 1:13:14
  I found all things at home just as I had left them, my goats,
• 1:13:16
  my cats, and my bird. This scene in the cook's room was
• 1:13:19
  in my mind day and night, and to cheer me up, I drank
• 1:13:21
  some of the rum. I then set to work to bring my freight from
• 1:13:25
  the shore where I had left it. In the chests were two great bags
• 1:13:28
  of gold, some bars are the same, and near these lay three small
• 1:13:31
  flasks and three bags of shot, which were a great prize. From this
• 1:13:35
  time. All went well with me for two years, but it was not
• 1:13:39
  to last. One day, as I stood on the hill, I saw
• 1:13:42
  six boats on the shore. What could this mean? Where were the men
• 1:13:45
  that had brought them? And what had they come for? I saw through
• 1:13:47
  my glass there was a score and a half at least on the side of
• 1:13:50
  the aisle. They had meat on the fire round which I could see them
• 1:13:54
  dance. Then they took a man from one of the boats who was bound
• 1:13:57
  hand and foot. But when they came to loose his bar, he set
• 1:14:00
  off as fast as his feet would take him, in a straight line to
• 1:14:02
  my house, to tell the truth. When I saw the rest of these
• 1:14:05
  men run to catch him, my hair stood on end with fright in the
• 1:14:09
  creek, he swam like a fish, and the plunge which he took brought
• 1:14:12
  him through it in a few strokes. All the men now gave up the
• 1:14:15
  chase but two, and they swam through the creek, but no means as
• 1:14:17
  fast as a slave had done. Now I thought was a time for me
• 1:14:20
  to help the poor man, and my heart told me it would be right
• 1:14:24
  to do so. I ran down the steps with my two guns, and
• 1:14:26
  went with all speed up the hill and then down by a short cut to
• 1:14:29
  meet them. I gave a sign to the poor slave to come to me,
• 1:14:32
  and at the same time went up to meet the two men who were
• 1:14:34
  in chase of him. I made a rush at the first of these to
• 1:14:38
  knock him down with the stock of my gun, and he fell. I
• 1:14:41
  saw the one who was left aim at me with his boat, so to
• 1:14:44
  save my life, I shot him dead. The smoke and noise for my
• 1:14:46
  gun gave the poor slave who had been bound such a shock that he stood
• 1:14:49
  still in the spot, as if he had been in a trance. I
• 1:14:53
  gave a loud shout for him to come to me, and I took care
• 1:14:56
  to show him that I was a friend, and made all the signs I
• 1:14:58
  could think of to coax him up to me. At length he came,
• 1:15:00
  knelt down to kiss the ground, and took hold of my foot and set
• 1:15:03
  it on his head. All this meant that he was my slave, and
• 1:15:06
  I bade him rise and made much of him. But there was more work
• 1:15:10
  to be done yet, for the man who had the blow from my gun
• 1:15:13
  was not dead. I made a sign for my slave, as I shall
• 1:15:15
  now call him, to look at him. At this he spoke to me,
• 1:15:18
  and though I could not make out what he said, yet it gave
• 1:15:20
  me a shock of joy, for it was the first sound of a man's
• 1:15:24
  voice I had heard for all the years I had been on the aisle.
• 1:15:27
  The man whom I had struck with the stock of my gun sat up,
• 1:15:30
  and my slave, who was in great fear of him, made the signs
• 1:15:32
  for me to lend him my sword, which hung out the belt on my
• 1:15:34
  side. With this he ran up to the man and with one stroke,
• 1:15:38
  cut off his head. When he had done this, he brought me back
• 1:15:41
  my sword, and with a laugh, put it down in front of me.
• 1:15:43
  I did not like to see the glee for which he did it,
• 1:15:45
  and I did not feel that my own life was safe with such a man.
• 1:15:48
  He in turn, could but lift up his large brown hands with awe
• 1:15:51
  to think that I had put his foe to death while I stood so far
• 1:15:55
  from him that as to the sword, he and the rest of his tribe
• 1:15:58
  made use of swords wood, and this is why he knew so well how
• 1:16:00
  to wield mine. He made signs to me to let him go and see
• 1:16:03
  the man who'd been shot, and he gave him a turn round, first
• 1:16:06
  on this side, then on that, And when he saw the wound made
• 1:16:10
  in his breast by the shot, he stood quite still once more, as
• 1:16:13
  if he'd lost his wits. I made signs for him to come back from
• 1:16:15
  my fears, told me the rest of the men might come in search of
• 1:16:18
  their friends. I did not like to take the slave to my house nor
• 1:16:21
  my caves. So I threw down some straw from the rice plant for him
• 1:16:26
  to sleep on, and gave him some bread and a bunch of dry grapes
• 1:16:28
  to eat. He was a fine man, with straight, strong limbs,
• 1:16:31
  tall and young. His hair was thick like wool and black. His head
• 1:16:34
  was large and high. He had bright black eyes. He was of dark
• 1:16:39
  brown hue. His face was round, his nose was small, but not
• 1:16:42
  flat. He had a good mouth, with thin lips which could give a
• 1:16:45
  soft smile, and his teeth were as white as snow. And of section
• 1:16:50
  six section number seven. I had been to milk my goats in the field
• 1:16:57
  close by, and when he saw me, he ran to me and lay
• 1:17:00
  down on the ground to show me his thanks. He then put his head
• 1:17:04
  on the ground and set my foot on his head, as he had done
• 1:17:08
  at first. He took all the means he could think of to let me
• 1:17:12
  know that he would serve me all his life, and I gave a sign
• 1:17:15
  to show that I thought well of him. The next thing was to think
• 1:17:19
  of some name to call him by. I chose that of the sixth day
• 1:17:24
  of the week, Friday. As he came to me on that day.
• 1:17:29
  I took care not to lose sight of him all that night, and when
• 1:17:31
  the sun rose, I made signs for him to come to me that I
• 1:17:35
  might give him some clothes, for he wore none. We then went up
• 1:17:41
  to the top of the hill to look out for the men, but as
• 1:17:44
  we could not see them or their boats, it was clear that they had
• 1:17:46
  left the isle. My slave has since told me that they had had a
• 1:17:51
  great fight with the tribe that dwelt next to them, and that all those
• 1:17:56
  men whom each side took in war were their own by right. My slave's
• 1:18:00
  foes had four who fell to their share, of whom he was one.
• 1:18:05
  I now set to work to make my man a cap of hair skin,
• 1:18:09
  and gave him a goat skin to wear round his waist. Here was a
• 1:18:13
  great source of pride to him to find that his clothes were as good as
• 1:18:16
  my own. At night, I kept my guns, sword and bow close
• 1:18:21
  to my side, but there was no need for this, as my slave
• 1:18:26
  was in sooth most true to me. He did all that he was set
• 1:18:30
  to do with his whole heart in the work, and I knew that he
• 1:18:33
  would lay down his life to save mine. What could a man do more
• 1:18:38
  than that, And oh the joy to have him here to cheer me in
• 1:18:41
  this lone isle. I did my best to teach him, so like a
• 1:18:45
  child he was to do and feel all that was right. I found him
• 1:18:49
  apt and full of fun, and he took great pains to learn all that
• 1:18:54
  I could tell him. Our lives ran on in a calm, smooth way,
• 1:18:59
  and but for the vile of feasts which were held on the shores,
• 1:19:01
  I felt no wish to leave the isle, as my slave had, by
• 1:19:05
  no means lost his zest for these meals. It struck me that the best
• 1:19:10
  way to cure him was to let him taste the flesh of beasts. So
• 1:19:14
  I took him with me one day to the wood for some sport. I
• 1:19:16
  saw a she goat in the shade with her two kids. I caught Friday
• 1:19:20
  by the arm and made signs to him not to stir, and then shot
• 1:19:25
  one of the kids. But the noise of the gun gave the poor man
• 1:19:28
  a great shock. He did not see the kid, nor did he know
• 1:19:31
  that it was dead. He tore his dress off his breast to feel if
• 1:19:35
  there was a wound there. Then he knelt down to me and took hold
• 1:19:39
  of my knees to pray of me not to kill him. To show poor
• 1:19:43
  Friday that his life was quite safe, I led him by the hand and
• 1:19:46
  told him to fetch the kid by and bye. I saw a hawk in
• 1:19:50
  the tree, so I bade him look at the gun, the hawk,
• 1:19:54
  and the ground, and then I shot the bird. But my poor slave
• 1:19:59
  gave still more so kines of fear this time than he did at first,
• 1:20:01
  for he shook from head to foot. He must have thought that some fee
• 1:20:05
  and of death dwelt in the gun. I think that he would have knelt
• 1:20:10
  down to it as well as to me. But he would not so much
• 1:20:13
  as touch the gun for some time, though he would speak to it when
• 1:20:16
  he thought I was not near. Once he told me that what he said
• 1:20:20
  to it was to ask it not to kill him. I brought home the
• 1:20:26
  bird and made broth of it. Friday was much struck to see me eat
• 1:20:30
  salt with it, and made a wry face. But I, in my
• 1:20:32
  turn, took some that had no salt with it, and made a wry
• 1:20:35
  face at that. The Next day I gave him a piece of kid's flesh,
• 1:20:41
  which I had hung by a string in front of the fire to roast.
• 1:20:45
  My plan was to put two poles, one on each side of the
• 1:20:47
  fire, and a stick on the top of them to hold the string.
• 1:20:51
  When my sleeve came to taste the flesh, he took the best means to
• 1:20:56
  let me know how good he thought it. The next day I set him
• 1:21:00
  to beat out and sift some corn. I let him see me make the
• 1:21:02
  bread, and he soon did all the work. I felt quite a love
• 1:21:06
  for his true warm heart, and he soon learned to talk to me.
• 1:21:11
  One day, I said, do the men of your tribe when you in
• 1:21:14
  fight? He told me with a smile that they did well. Then said
• 1:21:19
  I, how came they to let their foes take you? They run one,
• 1:21:27
  two, three and make go in the boat that time? Well,
• 1:21:32
  and what do the men do with those they take? Eat them all up?
• 1:21:38
  This was not good news for me, But I went on and said
• 1:21:43
  where did they take them? Go to? Next? Place? Where they
• 1:21:46
  think? Do they come here? Yes? Yes, they come here?
• 1:21:51
  Come else place? Two? Have you been here with them twice? Yes?
• 1:21:58
  Come there? He meant, the northwest side of the isle. So
• 1:22:01
  to this spot I took him. The next day He knew the place and
• 1:22:05
  told me he was there once with a score of men. To let me
• 1:22:10
  know this, he put a score of stones, all of a row and
• 1:22:13
  made me count them. Are not the boats lost on your shore? Now?
• 1:22:16
  And then he said that there was no fear, and that no boats
• 1:22:20
  were lost. He told me that up a great way by the moon,
• 1:22:25
  that is where the moon then came up, there dwelt a tribe of white
• 1:22:29
  men like me, with beards. I felt sure that they must have come
• 1:22:33
  from Spain to work the gold mines. I put this to him, Could
• 1:22:38
  I go from this isle and join those men? Yes, yes, you
• 1:22:43
  may go in two boats. It was hard to see how one man could
• 1:22:46
  go in two boats. But what he meant was a boat twice as large
• 1:22:50
  as my own. One day I said to my slave, do you know
• 1:22:56
  who made you? But he could not tell at all what these words meant.
• 1:23:00
  So I said, do you know who made the sea? The ground
• 1:23:04
  we tread on the hills and woods? He said it was Beak, whose
• 1:23:12
  home was a great way off, and that he was so old that the
• 1:23:15
  sea and the land were not so old as he. If this old man
• 1:23:19
  has made all things, why do not all things bow down to him?
• 1:23:27
  My slave gave a grave look and said, all things, say, oh
• 1:23:30
  to him, where do the men in your land go? When they die?
• 1:23:34
  I'll go to Beak. I then held my hand up to the sky
• 1:23:40
  to point to it, and said, God dwells there. He made the
• 1:23:44
  world and all things in it. The moon and the stars are the work
• 1:23:48
  of his hands. God sends the wind and the rain on the earth,
• 1:23:53
  and the streams that flow. He hides the face of the sky with clouds,
• 1:23:58
  makes the grass to grow for the beasts of the field, and herbs
• 1:24:00
  for the use of men. God's love knows no end. When we pray,
• 1:24:06
  he draws near to us and hears us. It was a real joy
• 1:24:11
  to my poor slave to hear me talk of these things. He sat still
• 1:24:15
  for a long time, then gave a sigh and told me that he would
• 1:24:18
  say, oh to Beak no more, for he was but a short way
• 1:24:24
  off, and yet could not hear till men went up to the hill to
• 1:24:27
  speak to him. Did you go up to the hill to speak to him?
• 1:24:31
  Said I no, Okee's go up to beak, not young man's What
• 1:24:39
  do OKI say to him? They say? Oh, Now that it brought
• 1:24:45
  my man Friday to know that Beek was not the true God. Such was
• 1:24:48
  the sense he had of my worth that I had fears lest I should stand
• 1:24:53
  in the place of Beek. I did my best to call forth his faith
• 1:24:57
  in Christ and make it strong and clear, till at last, thanks me
• 1:25:01
  to the Lord, I brought him to the love of Him with the whole
• 1:25:04
  grasp of his soul. To please my poor slave, I gave him a
• 1:25:09
  sketch of my whole life. I told him where I was born and where
• 1:25:13
  I spent my days when a child. He was glad to hear tales of
• 1:25:15
  the land of my birth, and of the trade which we keep up in
• 1:25:19
  ships with all parts of the known world. I gave him a knife and
• 1:25:24
  a belt, which made him dance with joy. One day, as we
• 1:25:29
  stood on the top of the hill at the east side of the isle,
• 1:25:31
  I saw him fix his eyes on the main land and stand for a long
• 1:25:35
  time to gaze at it. Then jump and sing and call out to me.
• 1:25:41
  What do you see? Said I, Oh joy, said he,
• 1:25:45
  with a fierce glee in his eyes. Oh glad, there see my land.
• 1:25:49
  Why did he strain his eyes to stare at this land as if he
• 1:25:53
  had a wish to be there. It put fears in my mind which made
• 1:25:57
  me feel far less at my ease with him, thought I, if he
• 1:26:00
  should go back to his home, he will think no more of what I
• 1:26:03
  have taught him and done for him. He will be sure to tell the
• 1:26:08
  rest of his tribe all my ways and come back with it. Maybe eat
• 1:26:11
  scores of them and kill me, and then dance round me as they did
• 1:26:15
  round the men the last time they came on my isle. But these were
• 1:26:19
  all false fears, though they found a place in my mind a long while,
• 1:26:24
  and I was not so kind to him now as I had been from
• 1:26:27
  this time. I made it a rule day by day to find out if
• 1:26:30
  there were grounds for my fears or not. I said, do you not
• 1:26:35
  wish to be once more in your own land? Yes? I be much
• 1:26:41
  o glad to be at my own land. What would you do there?
• 1:26:45
  Would you turn wild and be as you were? No? No, I
• 1:26:50
  would tell them to be good, Tell them eat bread, corn, milk,
• 1:26:55
  No eat man more? Why they would kill you? No? No,
• 1:27:00
  they no kill They loved learn. He then told me that some white
• 1:27:03
  men who had come on their shores in a boat had taught them a great
• 1:27:08
  deal. Then will you go back to your land with me? He said
• 1:27:13
  he could not swim so far. So I told him he should help me
• 1:27:16
  to build a boat to go in. And he said, if you go,
• 1:27:20
  I go, I go? Why they would eat me? No me,
• 1:27:27
  make them much love you. End of Section seven, Section number eight.
• 1:27:35
  Then he told me as well as he could how kind they had been
• 1:27:40
  to some white men. I brought out the large boat to hear what he
• 1:27:44
  thought of it, but he said it was too small. We then went
• 1:27:46
  to look at the old ship's boat, which, as it had been in
• 1:27:50
  the sun for years, was not at all in a sound state. The
• 1:27:56
  poor man made sure that it would do. But are we to know this?
• 1:28:00
  I told him we should build a boat as large as that, and
• 1:28:04
  that he should go home in it. He spoke not a word, but
• 1:28:09
  was grave and sad. What ails you said? I? Why you grieve
• 1:28:15
  mad with your men? What do you mean? I am not cross with
• 1:28:19
  you? No cross, no cross with me? Why send your man home
• 1:28:26
  to his own land? Then? Did you not tell me you would like
• 1:28:30
  to go back? Yes, yes we both there. No wish self there
• 1:28:36
  if you not there? And what should I do there? You do great
• 1:28:43
  deal much good. You teach wild men, be good men. You tell
• 1:28:47
  them no God, pray God, and lead new life. We soon set
• 1:28:53
  to work to make a boat that would take us both. The first thing
• 1:28:57
  was to look out for some large trees that grew near the shore, so
• 1:29:00
  that we could launch our boat. When it was made. My slave's plan
• 1:29:04
  was to burn the wood to make it the right shape, but as mine
• 1:29:09
  was to hew it, I set him to work with my tools, and
• 1:29:12
  in two months time we had made a good, strong boat. But it
• 1:29:15
  took a long while to get her down to the shore. Friday had the
• 1:29:18
  whole charge of her, and large as she was, he made her move
• 1:29:23
  with ease, and said he thought she go there well, though great blow
• 1:29:28
  wind. He did not know that I meant to make a mast and a
• 1:29:32
  sail. I cut down a young fir tree for the mast, and then
• 1:29:35
  I set to work at the sail. It made me laugh to see my
• 1:29:40
  man stand and stare when he came to watch me sail the boat. But
• 1:29:43
  he soon gave a jump, a laugh, and a clap of the hands
• 1:29:45
  when he saw the sail gibe and fall first on this side, then on
• 1:29:50
  that. The next thing to do was to stow our boat up in the
• 1:29:55
  creek, where we dug a small dock, and when the tide was low,
• 1:29:58
  we made a dam to keep out the sea. The time of year
• 1:30:01
  had now come for us to set sail, so we got out all our
• 1:30:04
  stores to put them in the boat. One day I sent Friday to the
• 1:30:10
  shore to get a sort of herb that grew there. I soon heard him
• 1:30:14
  cry out to me, Oh, grief, o, bad o bad oh,
• 1:30:18
  out their boats one two three, Keep a stout heart, said I
• 1:30:23
  to cheer him. The poor man shook with fear, for he thought that
• 1:30:27
  the men who brought him here had now come back to kill him. Can
• 1:30:31
  you fight, said I me? Shoot, But me saw three boats one
• 1:30:36
  two three, half, No fear. Those that we do not kill will
• 1:30:42
  be sure to take fright at the sound of our guns. Now, will
• 1:30:45
  you stand by me and do just as you are? Bid me die when
• 1:30:48
  you bid die. I gave him a good draft of rum, and when
• 1:30:51
  he had drunk this, he took up an axe and two guns, each
• 1:30:56
  of which had a charge of swan shot. I took two funds as well,
• 1:31:00
  and put large shot in them, and then hung my great sword by
• 1:31:03
  my side from the top of the bill, I saw, with the help
• 1:31:06
  of my glass that the boats had each brought eight men and one slave.
• 1:31:12
  They had come on shore near the creek, where a grove of young trees
• 1:31:15
  grew close down to the sea. They had with them three slaves, bound
• 1:31:20
  hand and foot. And you who read this may guess what they were brought
• 1:31:25
  here for. I felt that I must try and save them from so hard
• 1:31:29
  a fate, and that to do this I should have to put some of
• 1:31:31
  their foes to death. So we set forth on our way. I gave
• 1:31:35
  Friday strict charge to keep close to me and not to fire till I told
• 1:31:40
  him to do so. We went full a mile out of our way that
• 1:31:45
  we might get round to the wood to bide there. But we had not
• 1:31:47
  gone far when my old qualms came back to me, and I thought,
• 1:31:51
  is it for me to dip my hands in man's blood? Why should I
• 1:31:57
  kill those who have done me no harm, mean not to hurt me?
• 1:32:00
  Nay, who do not so much as know that they are in the wrong
• 1:32:04
  when they hold these feasts, are not their ways a sign that God has
• 1:32:10
  left them with the rest of their tribe to their own dull hearts. God
• 1:32:15
  did not call me to be a judge for him. He who said thou
• 1:32:19
  shalt not kill set it for me as well as the rest of the world.
• 1:32:26
  A throng of thoughts like these would rush on my mind, as if
• 1:32:30
  to warn me to pause, till I felt sure that there was more to
• 1:32:32
  call me to the work than I then knew of. I took my stand
• 1:32:36
  in the wood to watch the men at their feast, and then crept on
• 1:32:40
  with Friday close at my heels. Thus we went till we came to the
• 1:32:44
  skirts of the wood. Then I said to Friday, go up to the
• 1:32:47
  top of that tree and bring me word if you can see the men.
• 1:32:51
  He went, and quick as thought came back to say that they were all
• 1:32:56
  around the fire, and that the man who was bound on the sand and
• 1:33:00
  would be the next they would kill. But when he told me that it
• 1:33:02
  was a white man, one of my own race, I felt the blood
• 1:33:06
  boil in my veins. Two of the gang had gone to loose the white
• 1:33:11
  man from his bonds, so now was the time to fire. At the
• 1:33:15
  sound of our guns, we saw all the men jump up from the ground
• 1:33:17
  where they sat. It must have been the first guns that they had heard
• 1:33:20
  in their lives. They knew not which way to look. I now threw
• 1:33:26
  down my piece and took up a small gun. Friday did the same,
• 1:33:29
  and I gave him the word to fire. The men ran right and left
• 1:33:32
  with yells and screams. I now made a rush out of the wood that
• 1:33:36
  they might see me, with my man Friday at my heels. Of course,
• 1:33:41
  we gave a loud shout and ran up to the white man as fast
• 1:33:44
  as we could. There he lay on the hot sand. I cut the
• 1:33:46
  flag or rush by which he was bound, But he was too weak to
• 1:33:50
  stand or speak. So I gave him some rum. He let me know
• 1:33:55
  by all the signs that he could think of how much he stood in my
• 1:33:58
  debt for all that I had done for him. I said, we will
• 1:34:01
  talk of that by and by, but now we must do what we can
• 1:34:04
  to save our lives. Friday, who was free to go where he chose,
• 1:34:09
  flew here and there and put all the men to the route. They
• 1:34:12
  fled in full haste to their boats, and were soon out at sea,
• 1:34:15
  and so we got rid of our foes. At last, the man whom
• 1:34:18
  we had found on the sand told us that his name was Carl, and
• 1:34:23
  that he came from Spain. But there was one more man to claim our
• 1:34:27
  care. For the black men had left a small boat on the sands,
• 1:34:30
  and in this I saw a poor wretch you lay half dead. He could
• 1:34:33
  not so much as look up, so tight was he bound neck and heels.
• 1:34:38
  When I cut the bonds from him, he gave a deep groan,
• 1:34:40
  for he thought that all this was but to lead him out to die.
• 1:34:44
  Friday then came up, and I bade him speak to the old man in
• 1:34:46
  his own tongue and tell him that he was free. This good news gave
• 1:34:51
  him strength, and he sat up in the boat. But when Friday came
• 1:34:55
  to hear him talk and to look him in the face, it brought the
• 1:34:59
  tears to my eyes to see him kiss and hug the poor old man,
• 1:35:01
  and dance round him with joy. Then weep, wring his hands and beat
• 1:35:05
  his own face and head, and then laugh once more, sing and leap.
• 1:35:11
  For a long time, he could not speak to me so as to
• 1:35:14
  let me know what all this meant. But at length he told me that
• 1:35:17
  he was the son of this poor old man, and that his name was
• 1:35:21
  Jaff. It would be a hard task for me to tell of all the
• 1:35:25
  quaint signs Friday made to show his joy, he went in and out of
• 1:35:30
  the boat five or six times, sat down by old Jaff, and held
• 1:35:32
  the poor old man's head close to his breast to warm it. Then he
• 1:35:36
  set to work and rub his arms and feet, which were cold and stiff
• 1:35:40
  from the bonds. I told Friday to give him some rum and bread,
• 1:35:44
  but he said none, bad dog, eat all up self. He then
• 1:35:47
  ran off straight to the house and took no heed of my calls, but
• 1:35:51
  went as swift as a deer. In an hour's time he came back with
• 1:35:55
  a jug in his hand. The good soul had gone all the way to
• 1:35:58
  the house that Jaff might have a fresh draft from my well, and with
• 1:36:01
  it he brought two cakes, one of which I bade him take to Carl,
• 1:36:05
  who lay in the shade of a tree. His limbs were stiff and
• 1:36:09
  cold, and he was too weak to say a word. I set my
• 1:36:12
  man to rub his feet with rum, and while he did so, I
• 1:36:15
  saw Fridy turn his head round from time to time to steal a look at
• 1:36:18
  the old man. Then we brought Karl and Jaf home from the boat on
• 1:36:23
  our backs, as they could not walk. The door of my house was
• 1:36:26
  at the top, and the poor sick men could not climb the steps by
• 1:36:29
  which I had got in, so we made for them a tent of old
• 1:36:31
  sails. I was now a king of these three men, as well as
• 1:36:36
  lord of the isle, and I felt proud to say they all owe their
• 1:36:41
  lives to their king. It would lay them down for him if he bade
• 1:36:44
  them do so. But I did not think that my rain was so soon
• 1:36:47
  come to an end. The next thing for us to do was to give
• 1:36:51
  Karl and Jaff some food, and to kill and roast a kid, to
• 1:36:56
  which we all four sat down, and I did my best to cheer them.
• 1:37:00
  Carl, in a few days grew quite strong, and I set them
• 1:37:02
  to work to dig some land for seed, For it was clear we should
• 1:37:06
  want more corn now that we had two more mouths to feel. So we
• 1:37:11
  put in the ground all the stock of grain I had, and thus we
• 1:37:14
  all four had as much work as we could do for some time. When
• 1:37:17
  the crop grew and was ripe, we found we had a good store of
• 1:37:21
  grain. We made a plan that Karl and Jaff should go back to the
• 1:37:26
  mainland to try if they could get some of the white men who had been
• 1:37:30
  cast on shore there to come and live with us. So they got out
• 1:37:33
  of the bed and took with them two guns and food for eight days.
• 1:37:38
  They were to come back in a week's time, and I bade them hang
• 1:37:41
  out a sign when they came in sight, so that we might know who
• 1:37:44
  they were. End of Section eight, Section nine. One day Friday ran
• 1:37:54
  up to me in great glee and said, they are back. They are
• 1:37:57
  back. A mile from shore, there was a boat with a sail which
• 1:38:01
  stood in for the land. But I knew it could not be the one
• 1:38:04
  which our two friends had gone out in, for it was on the wrong
• 1:38:08
  side of the isle. For that I saw too through my glass a ship
• 1:38:13
  out at sea. There were twelve men in the boat, three of whom
• 1:38:16
  were bound in chains, and four had fire arms. By and bye.
• 1:38:21
  I saw one of the men raise his sword to those who were in the
• 1:38:25
  chains, and I felt sure that all was not right. Then I saw
• 1:38:30
  that the three men who had been bound were set free, and when they
• 1:38:33
  had come on shore, they lay on the ground in the shade of a
• 1:38:36
  tree. I was soon at their side, for their looks so sad and
• 1:38:42
  worn, brought to my mind the first few hours I had spent in this
• 1:38:45
  wild spot, where all to me was wrapped in gloom. I went up
• 1:38:50
  to these men and said, who are you, sirs? They gave a
• 1:38:55
  start at my voice and at my strange dress, and made a move as
• 1:38:59
  if they would fly from me. I said, do not fear me,
• 1:39:03
  for it may be that you have a friend at hand, though you do
• 1:39:06
  not think it. He must be sent from the sky. Then said one
• 1:39:11
  of them, with a grave look, and he took off his hat to
• 1:39:14
  me at the same time. All help is from thence, sir, I
• 1:39:18
  said, but what can I do to aid you? You look as if
• 1:39:21
  you had some load of grief on your breast. I saw one of the
• 1:39:26
  men lift his sword as if to kill you. The tears ran down the
• 1:39:30
  poor man's face, as he said, is this a god? Or is
• 1:39:33
  it but a man? Have no doubt on that score, sir, said
• 1:39:38
  I, for a god would not have come with a dress like this.
• 1:39:42
  No, do not fear, nor raise your hopes too high, for you
• 1:39:45
  see but a man, yet, one who will do all he can to
• 1:39:49
  help you. Your speech shows me that you come from the same land as
• 1:39:54
  I do. I will do all I can to serve you. Tell me
• 1:39:57
  your case, Sir, is too long to you, while they who would
• 1:40:01
  kill us are so near. My name is Paul. To be short,
• 1:40:06
  sir, my crew have thrust me out of my ship, which you see
• 1:40:11
  out there, and have left me here to die. It was as much
• 1:40:15
  as I could do to make them sheathe their swords, which you saw were
• 1:40:17
  drawn to slay me. They have set me down in this isle with these
• 1:40:21
  two men, my friend here in the ship's mate. Where have they gone,
• 1:40:27
  said I? There in the wood close by. I fear they may
• 1:40:30
  have seen and heard us. If they have, they will be sure to
• 1:40:33
  kill us. All have they fire arms? They have four guns, one
• 1:40:39
  of which is in the boat. Well, then leave all to me.
• 1:40:42
  There are two of the men, said he, who are worse than the
• 1:40:45
  rest. All but these I feel sure, would go back to work the
• 1:40:47
  ship. I thought it was best to speak out to Paul at once,
• 1:40:50
  and I said, now, if I save your life, there are two
• 1:40:54
  things which you must do. But he read my thoughts and said, if
• 1:40:59
  you save my life, if you shall do as you like with me and
• 1:41:01
  my ship and take her where you please. I saw that the two men
• 1:41:05
  in whose charge the boat had been left had come on shore. So the
• 1:41:10
  first thing I did was to send Friday to fetch from it the oars,
• 1:41:14
  the sail and the gun, and now the ship might be said to be
• 1:41:16
  in our hands. When the time came for the men to go back to
• 1:41:20
  the ship, they were in a great rage, for as the boat had
• 1:41:24
  no sail nor oars, they knew not how to get out to their ship.
• 1:41:29
  We heard them say that it was a strange sort of isle, for
• 1:41:31
  that sprites had come to the boat to take off the sails and oars.
• 1:41:35
  We could see them run to and fro with great rage, then go and
• 1:41:40
  sit in the boat to rest, and then come on shore once more.
• 1:41:44
  When they drew near to us, Paul and Friday would fain have had me
• 1:41:46
  fall on them at once, but my wish was to spare them and kill
• 1:41:51
  as few as I could. I told two of my men to creep on
• 1:41:55
  their hands and feet close to the ground, so that they might not be
• 1:41:58
  seen, and when they got up to the men not to fire till I
• 1:42:00
  gave the word. They had not stood thus long when three of the crew
• 1:42:04
  came up to us. Till now we had but heard their voice. But
• 1:42:09
  when they came so near as to be seen, Paul and Friday stood up
• 1:42:13
  and shot at them. Two of the men fell dead, and they were
• 1:42:16
  the worst of the crew, and the third ran off at the sound of
• 1:42:20
  the guns. I came up, but it was so dark that the men
• 1:42:24
  could not tell if there were three of us or three score. It fell
• 1:42:28
  out just as I could wish. But I heard the men ask to whom
• 1:42:31
  must we yield and where are they? Friday told them that Paul was there
• 1:42:34
  with the King of the Isle, who had brought with him a crowd of
• 1:42:38
  men. At this one of the crew said, if Paul will spare our
• 1:42:43
  lives, we will yield. Then said Friday, you shall know the King's
• 1:42:47
  will. Then Paul said to them, you know my voice. If you
• 1:42:51
  lay down your arms, the King will spare your lives. They fell on
• 1:42:56
  their knees to beg the same of me. I took good care that they
• 1:42:59
  did not see me, but I gave them my word that they should all
• 1:43:01
  live, that I should take four of them to work the ship, and
• 1:43:05
  that the rest would be bound hand and foot for the good faith of the
• 1:43:09
  four. This was to show them what a stern king I was. Of
• 1:43:13
  course, I soon set them free, and I put them in a way
• 1:43:15
  to take my place on the isle. I told them all of my waists,
• 1:43:18
  taught them how to mind the goats, how to work the farm and
• 1:43:21
  make the bread. I gave them a house to live in, firearms,
• 1:43:26
  tools, and two tame cats. In fact, all but poll and my
• 1:43:30
  gold. As I sat on top of the hill, Paul came up to
• 1:43:33
  me. He held out his hand to point to the ship, and with
• 1:43:36
  much warmth, took me to his arms and said, my dear friend,
• 1:43:42
  there's your ship. For she is all yours, and so are we and
• 1:43:45
  all that is in her. I cast my eyes to the ship, which
• 1:43:49
  rode half a mile off the shore, at the mouth of the creek,
• 1:43:53
  and near the place where I had brought my rafts to land. Yes,
• 1:43:57
  there she stood the ship that was to set me for and to take me
• 1:44:00
  where I might choose to go. She set her sails to the wind,
• 1:44:04
  and her flags throughout their gay stripes in the breeze. Such a sight was
• 1:44:09
  too much for me, and I fell down faint with joy. Paul then
• 1:44:13
  took out a flask which he had brought for me, and gave me a
• 1:44:15
  dram which I drank, but for a good while I could not speak to
• 1:44:19
  them. Friday and Paul then went on board the ship, and Paul took
• 1:44:24
  charge of her once more. We did not start that night, but at
• 1:44:28
  noon the next day I left the Isle, that lone isle, where I
• 1:44:31
  had spent so great a part of my life, not much less than thrice
• 1:44:35
  ten long years. When I came back to the dear land of my birth,
• 1:44:41
  all was strange and new to me. I went to my old home
• 1:44:44
  at York, but none of my friends were there, and to my great
• 1:44:47
  grief, I saw on the stone at their grave the sad tale of their
• 1:44:51
  death. As they had thought, of course, that I was dead.
• 1:44:56
  They had not left me their wealth and lands. So I stood my want
• 1:45:00
  of means, for it was but a small sum that I had brought with
• 1:45:02
  me from the Isle. But in this time of need, I had the
• 1:45:06
  luck to find my good friend who once took me up to sea. He
• 1:45:11
  was now grown too old for work and had put his son in the ship
• 1:45:14
  in his place. He did not know me at first, but I was
• 1:45:17
  soon brought to his mind when I told him who I was. I found
• 1:45:21
  from him that the land which I had bought on my way to the isle
• 1:45:25
  was now worth much. As it was a long way off, I felt
• 1:45:30
  no wish to go and live there, so I made up my mind to
• 1:45:31
  sell it, and in the course of a few months I got for it
• 1:45:35
  a sum so large as to make me a rich man all at once.
• 1:45:41
  Weeks, months and years went by. I had a farm, a wife,
• 1:45:45
  and two sons, and was by no means young. But still I
• 1:45:49
  could not get rid of a strong wish which dwelt my thoughts by day and
• 1:45:54
  my dreams by night, and that was to set foot once more in my
• 1:45:58
  old isle. I had now now no need to work for food or for
• 1:46:01
  means of life. All I had to do was to teach my boys to
• 1:46:05
  be wise and good, to live at my ease, and see my wealth
• 1:46:10
  growed day by day. Yet the wish to go back to my wild haunts
• 1:46:14
  clung round me like a cloud, and I could in no way drive it
• 1:46:17
  from me. So true is it that what is bread in the bone will
• 1:46:21
  not come out of the flesh. At length, I lost my wife,
• 1:46:25
  which was a great blow to me, and my home was now so sad
• 1:46:29
  that I made up my mind to launch out once more on the broad Sea
• 1:46:32
  and go with my man Friday to that lone island where dwelt all my hopes.
• 1:46:38
  I took with me as large a store of tools, clothes, and
• 1:46:42
  such like goods as I had room for, and men of skill in all
• 1:46:45
  kinds of trades to live in the isle. When we set sail, we
• 1:46:48
  had a fair wind for some time. But one night the mate who was
• 1:46:53
  at the watch told me he saw a flash of fire and heard a gun
• 1:46:57
  go off. At this we all ran on deck from whence we saw a
• 1:47:00
  great light, and as there was no land that way, we knew that
• 1:47:03
  it must be some ship on fire at sea, which could not be far
• 1:47:08
  off, for we heard the sound of the gun. The wind was still
• 1:47:11
  fair, so we made our way for the point where we saw the light,
• 1:47:15
  and in half an hour it was but too plain that a large ship
• 1:47:18
  was on fire in the midst of the broad sea. I gave the word
• 1:47:21
  to fire off five guns, and we then lay by to wait till break
• 1:47:27
  of day. But in the dead of night the ship blew up in the
• 1:47:30
  air. The flames shot forth, and what there was left of the ship
• 1:47:34
  sank. We hung out lights and our guns kept up fire all night long
• 1:47:39
  to let the crew know that there was help at hand. At eight o'clock
• 1:47:43
  the next day we found, by the aid of the glass that two of
• 1:47:45
  the ship's boats were out at sea, quite full of men. They had
• 1:47:49
  seen us and had done their best to make us see them, and in
• 1:47:54
  half an hour we came up with them. It would be a hard task
• 1:47:57
  for me to set forth in words, the scene would took place in my
• 1:48:00
  ship when the poor French folk, for such they were, came on board.
• 1:48:05
  As to grief and fear, these are soon told. Sighs, tears,
• 1:48:10
  and groans make up the sum of them. But such a cause of
• 1:48:14
  joy as this was, in sooth too much for them to bear. Weak
• 1:48:17
  and all but dead as they were, some would send up shouts of joy
• 1:48:21
  that rent the sky. Some would cry and wring their hands, as if
• 1:48:26
  in the depths of grief. Some would dance, laugh and sing. Not
• 1:48:30
  a few were dumb, sick, faint in a swoon, or half mad,
• 1:48:33
  and two or three were seen to give thanks to God. In this
• 1:48:38
  strange group, there was a young French priest who did his best to soothe
• 1:48:42
  those round him. And I saw him go up to some of the crew
• 1:48:45
  and say to them, why do you scream and tear your hair and wring
• 1:48:49
  your hands? My men, let your joy be free and full, give
• 1:48:54
  it full range and scope. But leave off this trick of the hands,
• 1:48:58
  and lift them up and praise your voice. Swell out, not in screams,
• 1:49:01
  but in hymns of thanks to God, who has brought you out of
• 1:49:05
  so great a strait, for this will add peace to your joy. End
• 1:49:11
  of Section nine, Section ten. The next day they were all in a
• 1:49:17
  right frame of mind, so I gave them what stores I could spare,
• 1:49:21
  and put them on board a ship that we met with on her way to
• 1:49:25
  France. All save five, who with the priests, had a wish to
• 1:49:29
  join me. But we had not set sail long when we fell in with
• 1:49:33
  a ship that had been blown out to sea by a storm and had lost
• 1:49:38
  her masts, and worse than all, her crew had not had an ounce
• 1:49:42
  of meat or bread for ten days. I gave them all some food,
• 1:49:45
  which they ate like wolves in the snow. But I thought it best to
• 1:49:49
  check them, as I had fears that so much all at once would cause
• 1:49:54
  the death of some of them. There were a youth and a young girl
• 1:49:58
  in the ship, who the mate said he thought must be dead, but
• 1:50:01
  he had not had the heart to go near them, for the food was
• 1:50:04
  all gone. I found that they were faint for the want of it,
• 1:50:09
  and as it were, in the jaws of death. But in a short
• 1:50:13
  time they both got well, and as they had no wish to go back
• 1:50:16
  to their ship, I took them with me. So now I had eight
• 1:50:20
  more on board my ship than I had when I first set out. In
• 1:50:25
  three months from the time when I left home, I came in sight of
• 1:50:29
  my isle, and I brought the ship safe up by the side of the
• 1:50:31
  creek, which was near my old house. I went up to Friday to
• 1:50:38
  ask if he knew where he was. He took a look round him,
• 1:50:41
  and soon, with a clap of the hand said, oh, yes,
• 1:50:45
  oh there, Oh yes, oh there by and bye. He set up
• 1:50:48
  a dance with such wild glee that it was as much as I could do
• 1:50:54
  to keep him on deck. Well what think you, Friday, said,
• 1:50:59
  I shall we find those whom we left? Still? Here? Shall we
• 1:51:03
  see poor old Jaff. He stood quite mute for a while, but when
• 1:51:09
  I spoke of Old Jaff, whose son Friday was. The tears ran down
• 1:51:13
  his face, and the poor soul was as sad as could be. No
• 1:51:17
  no, said he, no more, no, no more. As we
• 1:51:23
  caught sight of some men at the top of the hill, I gave word
• 1:51:27
  to fire three guns to show that we were friends, and soon we saw
• 1:51:30
  smoke rise from the side of the creek. I then went on shore in
• 1:51:34
  a boat with the priest and Friday, and hung out a white flag of
• 1:51:39
  peace. The first man I cast my eyes on at the creek was my
• 1:51:45
  old friend Carl, who, when I was last on the aisle, had
• 1:51:48
  been brought here in bonds. I gave strict charge to the men in the
• 1:51:53
  boat not to go on shore, but Friday could not be kept back,
• 1:51:57
  for with his quick eye he had caught sight of Old Jaff. It brought
• 1:52:00
  the tears to our eyes to see his joy. When he met the old
• 1:52:04
  man, he gave him a kiss, took him up in his arms,
• 1:52:08
  set him down in the shade, then stood a short way off to look
• 1:52:12
  at him as one would look at a work of art. Then felt him
• 1:52:15
  with his hand, and all this time he was in full talk, and
• 1:52:18
  told him one by one, all the strange tales of what he had seen
• 1:52:24
  since they had last met. As to my old friend Carl. He came
• 1:52:29
  up to me, and with much warmth, shook my hands, and then
• 1:52:31
  took me to my old house, which he now gave up to me.
• 1:52:35
  I could no more have found the place than if I had not been there
• 1:52:40
  at all. The rows of trees stood so thick and close that the house
• 1:52:45
  could not be got at save by such blind ways, as none but those
• 1:52:47
  who made them could find out. Why have you built all these forts?
• 1:52:53
  Said I. Carl told me that he felt sure I should say there was
• 1:52:57
  much need of them when I heard how they had sped at their time since
• 1:53:00
  they had come to the isle. He brought twelve men to the spot where
• 1:53:04
  I stood, and said, Sir, all these men owe their lives to
• 1:53:10
  you. Then, one by one they came up to me, not as
• 1:53:14
  if they had been the mere crew of a ship, but like men of
• 1:53:17
  rank who had come to kiss the hand of their king. The first thing
• 1:53:21
  was to bear all that had been done in the aisle since I had left.
• 1:53:27
  But I must first state that, when we were on the point to
• 1:53:30
  set sail from the aisle, a feud sprang up on board our ship,
• 1:53:32
  which we could not put down till we had laid two of the men in
• 1:53:36
  chains. The next day these two men stole each of them a gun and
• 1:53:42
  some small arms, and took the ship's boat and ran off with it to
• 1:53:46
  join the three bad men on shore. As soon as I found this out,
• 1:53:50
  I sent the long boat on shore with twelve men and the mate,
• 1:53:55
  and off they went to seek the two who had left the ship. But
• 1:53:59
  their search was in vain, nor could they find one of the rest,
• 1:54:02
  for they had all fled to the wood when they saw the boat. We
• 1:54:06
  had now lost five of the crew. But the three first were so much
• 1:54:11
  worse than the last two that in a few days they sent them out of
• 1:54:15
  doors and would have no more to do with them, nor would they for
• 1:54:17
  a long while give them food to eat. So the two poor men had
• 1:54:24
  to live as well as they could by hard work, and they set up
• 1:54:27
  their tents on the north shore of the isle, to be out of the
• 1:54:30
  way of the wild men who were wont to land on the east side.
• 1:54:34
  Here they built them two huts, one to lodge in and one to lay
• 1:54:39
  up their stores in, and the men from Spain, gave them some corn
• 1:54:43
  for seed, as well as some peas which I had left them. They
• 1:54:46
  soon learned to dig and plant and hedge in their land in the mode which
• 1:54:50
  I had set for them, and in short to lead good lives, so
• 1:54:54
  that I shall now call them the two good Men. But when the three
• 1:54:58
  bad men saw the they were full of spite and came one day to tease
• 1:55:02
  and vex them. They told them that the aisle was their own, and
• 1:55:06
  that no one else had a right to build on it if they did not
• 1:55:11
  pay rent. The two good men thought at first that they were in jest,
• 1:55:15
  and told them to come and sit down and see what fine homes they
• 1:55:19
  had built, and say what rent they would ask. But one of the
• 1:55:23
  three said they should soon see that they were not in jest, and took
• 1:55:27
  a torch in his hand and put it to the roof of the hut,
• 1:55:30
  and would have set it on fire, had not one of the two good
• 1:55:32
  men trod the fire out with his feet. The bad man was in such
• 1:55:36
  a rage at this that he ran at him with a pole he had in
• 1:55:40
  his hand, and this brought on a fight, the end of which was
• 1:55:44
  that the three men had to stand off, but in a short time they
• 1:55:47
  came back and trod down the corn and shot the goats and the young kids
• 1:55:50
  which the poor men had got to bring up tame for their store. One
• 1:55:56
  day, when the two men were out, they came to their home and
• 1:55:59
  said, huh ah, there's the nest, but the birds are flown.
• 1:56:02
  They then set to work to pull down both the huts, and left not
• 1:56:06
  a stick nor scarce a sign on the ground to show where the tents had
• 1:56:10
  stood. They tore up, too all the goods and stock that they could
• 1:56:15
  find, And when they had done this, they told it all to the
• 1:56:17
  men of Spain and said, you, sirs, shall have the same sauce
• 1:56:23
  if you do not mend your ways. Then they fell to blows and hard
• 1:56:27
  words. But Carl had them bound in cords and took their arms from them.
• 1:56:30
  The men of Spain then said they would do them no harm, and
• 1:56:34
  if they would live at peace, they would help them, and that they
• 1:56:38
  should live with them as they had done till that time, but that they
• 1:56:41
  could not give them back their arms for three or four months. One night,
• 1:56:45
  Carl, whom I shall call the chief, as he took the lead
• 1:56:49
  of all the rest, felt a great weight on his mind and could get
• 1:56:54
  no sleep. Though he was quite well in health. He lay still for
• 1:56:57
  some time, but as he did not feel at ease, he got up
• 1:57:00
  and took a look out, But as it was too dark to see far
• 1:57:04
  and he heard no noise, he went back to his bed. Still it
• 1:57:10
  was all one. He could not sleep, and though he knew not why,
• 1:57:14
  his thoughts would give him no rest. He then woke up one of
• 1:57:16
  his friends and told him how it had been with him. Say you so,
• 1:57:20
  said he, what if there should be some bad plot at work near
• 1:57:25
  us? They then set off to the top of the hill where I was
• 1:57:28
  wont to go, And from thence they saw the light of a fire quite
• 1:57:31
  a short way from them, and heard the sounds of men, not of
• 1:57:35
  one or two, but of a great crowd. We need not doubt that
• 1:57:40
  the chief and the man with him now ran back at once to tell all
• 1:57:44
  the rest what they had seen, And when they heard the news, they
• 1:57:47
  could not be kept close where they were, but must all run out to
• 1:57:50
  see how things stood. At last, they thought that the best thing to
• 1:57:55
  do would be, while it was dark, to send old Jaff out as
• 1:57:58
  a spy. And who they were, and what they meant to do.
• 1:58:01
  When the old man had been gone an hour or two, he brought word
• 1:58:05
  back that he had been in the midst of the foes, though they had
• 1:58:09
  not seen them, and that they were in two sets of tribes who were
• 1:58:13
  at war and had come there to fight. And so it was for in
• 1:58:16
  a short time they heard the noise of the fight, which went on for
• 1:58:19
  two hours, and at the end, with three loud shouts or screams,
• 1:58:24
  they left the isle in their boats. Thus my friends were set free from
• 1:58:28
  all their fears, and saw no more of their wild foes for some time.
• 1:58:32
  One day a whim took the three bad men that they would go to
• 1:58:35
  the mainland. From whence the wild man came and try if they could not
• 1:58:40
  seize some of them and bring them home as slaves, so as to make
• 1:58:44
  them do the hard part of their work for them. The chief gave them
• 1:58:48
  all the arms and stores that they could want, and a large boat to
• 1:58:51
  go in. But when they bade them god speed, no one thought that
• 1:58:56
  they would find their way back to the isle. But lo in three weeks
• 1:59:00
  and a day they did, in truth come back. One of the two
• 1:59:03
  good men was the first to catch sight of them and tell the news to
• 1:59:08
  his friends. The men said that they had found the land in two days,
• 1:59:13
  and that the wild men gave them roots and fish to eat, and
• 1:59:15
  were so kind as to bring down eight slaves to take back with them,
• 1:59:19
  three of whom were men and five were girls. So they gave their good
• 1:59:24
  hosts an axe, an old key, and a knife, and brought off
• 1:59:28
  the slaves in their boat to the isle. As the chief and his friends
• 1:59:32
  did not care to wed the young girls, the five men who had been
• 1:59:35
  the crew of Paul's ship drew lots for choice, so that each had a
• 1:59:40
  wife, and the three men slaves were set to work for the two good
• 1:59:44
  men, though there was not much for them to do. But one of
• 1:59:47
  them ran off to the woods, and they could not hear of him more.
• 1:59:50
  They had good cause to think that he found his way home, as
• 1:59:54
  in three or four weeks some wild men came to the isle, and when
• 1:59:58
  they had had their feast and dance, they went off in two days time.
• 2:00:02
  So my friends might well fear that if this slave got safe home,
• 2:00:05
  he would be sure to tell the wild men that they were in the aisle,
• 2:00:11
  and what part of it they might be found. And so it came
• 2:00:14
  to pass, for in less than two months, six boats of wild men,
• 2:00:17
  with eight or ten men in each boat, came to the north side
• 2:00:21
  of the isle, where they had not been known to come up to that
• 2:00:25
  time. End of Section ten, section number eleven. The foal had brought
• 2:00:31
  their boats to land not more than a mile from the ten of the two
• 2:00:34
  good men, and it was there that the slave who had run off had
• 2:00:38
  been kept. These men had the good luck to see the boats when they
• 2:00:42
  were a long way off, so that it took them quite an hour from
• 2:00:45
  that time to reach the shore. My friends now had to think how that
• 2:00:49
  hour was to be spent. The first thing they did was to bind the
• 2:00:53
  two slaves that were left, and to take their wives and as much of
• 2:00:57
  their stores as they could to some dark place in the woods. They then
• 2:01:01
  sent a third slave to the chief and his men to tell them the news
• 2:01:05
  and to ask for help. They had not gone far in the woods when
• 2:01:10
  they saw, to their great grief and rage, that their huts were in
• 2:01:13
  flames, and that the wild men ran to and fro like beasts in search
• 2:01:17
  of prey. But still our men went on and did not halt until they
• 2:01:21
  came to a thick part of the wood where the large trunk of an old
• 2:01:25
  tree stood, and in this tree they both took their post. But they
• 2:01:30
  had not been there long when two of the wild men ran that way,
• 2:01:32
  and they saw three more, and then five more, who all ran the
• 2:01:36
  same way, as if they knew where they were. Our two poor men
• 2:01:41
  made up their minds to let the first two pass and then take the three
• 2:01:45
  and the five in line as they came up, but to fire at one
• 2:01:47
  at a time, as the first shot might chance to hit all three.
• 2:01:53
  So the man who was to fire put three or four balls in his gun,
• 2:01:57
  and from a hole in the tree, took a sheer and stood still
• 2:02:00
  till the three wild men came so near that he could not miss them.
• 2:02:04
  They soon saw that one of these three was the slave that had fled from
• 2:02:09
  them, as they both knew him well, and they made up their minds
• 2:02:12
  that they would kill him, though they should both fire. At the first
• 2:02:16
  shot, two of the wild men fell dead, and the third had a
• 2:02:19
  graze on his arm, and, though not much hurt, sat down on
• 2:02:23
  the ground with loud screams and yells. When the five men who came next
• 2:02:28
  heard the sound of the gun and the slaves cries. They stood still at
• 2:02:31
  first, as if they were struck dumb with fright. So our two men
• 2:02:34
  both shut off their guns in the midst of them, and then ran up
• 2:02:39
  and bound them safe with cords. They then went to the thick part of
• 2:02:42
  the wood where they had put their wives and slaves, to see if all
• 2:02:45
  were safe there, and to their joy, they found that though the wild
• 2:02:48
  men had been quite near them, they had not found them out. While
• 2:02:53
  they were here, the chief and his men came up and told them that
• 2:02:56
  the rest had gone to take care of my old house and grove in case
• 2:03:00
  the troop of wild men should spread so far that way. They then went
• 2:03:03
  back to the burnt huts, and when they came in sight of the shore,
• 2:03:06
  they found that their foes had all gone out to sea. So they
• 2:03:11
  set to work to build up their huts, and as all the men in
• 2:03:14
  the isle lent them their aid, they were soon in a way to thrive
• 2:03:16
  once more. For five or six months they saw no more of the wild
• 2:03:20
  men. But one day a large fleet of more than a score of boats
• 2:03:25
  came in sight, full of men who had bows, darts, clubs,
• 2:03:29
  swords, and such like arms of war. And our friends were all in
• 2:03:33
  great fear as they came at dusk and at the east side of the isle.
• 2:03:39
  Our men had the whole night to think of what they should do,
• 2:03:42
  and as they knew that the most safe way was to hide and lie in
• 2:03:45
  wait, they first of all took down the huts which were built for the
• 2:03:48
  two good men, and drove their goats to the cave, for they thought
• 2:03:53
  the wild men would go straight there as soon as it was day and play
• 2:03:56
  the old game. The next day, they took up their post with all
• 2:04:00
  their force at the wood near the home of the two men, to wait
• 2:04:02
  for the full They gave no guns to the slaves, but each of them
• 2:04:06
  had a long staff with a spike at the end of it, and by
• 2:04:10
  his side an axe. There were two of the wives who could not be
• 2:04:14
  kept back, but would go out and fight with bows and darts. The
• 2:04:17
  wild men came on with a bold and fierce mien, not in line,
• 2:04:21
  but all in crowds here and there to the point where our men lay in
• 2:04:26
  wait for them. When they were so near as to be in range of
• 2:04:29
  the guns, our men shot at them right and left with five or six
• 2:04:32
  balls in each charge. As the foe came up in close crowds, they
• 2:04:36
  fell dead on all sides, and most of those that they did not kill
• 2:04:41
  were much hurt, so that the great fear and dread came on them.
• 2:04:44
  All. Our men then fell on them from three points with the butt end
• 2:04:47
  of their guns, swords, and staves, and did their work so well
• 2:04:51
  that the wild men set up a loud shriek and flew for their lives to
• 2:04:55
  the woods and hills with all the speed that fear and swift feet could help
• 2:04:59
  them to do, as our men did not care to chase them. They
• 2:05:01
  got to the shore where they had come to land and where the boats lay,
• 2:05:05
  but their route was not yet at an end, for it blew a
• 2:05:08
  great storm that day from the sea, so that they could not put off,
• 2:05:13
  And as the storm went on all that night, when the tide came
• 2:05:15
  up, the surge of the sea drove most of their boats so high on
• 2:05:18
  the shore that they could not be got off save with great toil, and
• 2:05:23
  the force of the waves on the beach broke some of them to bits.
• 2:05:27
  At break of day, our men went forth to find them, and when
• 2:05:30
  they saw the state of things, they got some dry wood from a dead
• 2:05:32
  tree and set their boats on fire. When the foe saw this, they
• 2:05:36
  ran all through the aisle with loud cries, as if they were mad,
• 2:05:41
  so that our men did not know at first what to do with them,
• 2:05:44
  For they trod all the corn down with their feet, and tore up the
• 2:05:46
  vines just as the grapes were ripe, and did a great deal of harm.
• 2:05:51
  At last they brought Old Jafft to them to tell them how kind they
• 2:05:56
  would be to them, that they would save their lives and give them part
• 2:06:00
  of the isle to live in if they would keep in their own bounds,
• 2:06:02
  and that they should have corn to plant and should make it grow for their
• 2:06:05
  bread. They were but too glad to have such good terms of peace,
• 2:06:11
  and they soon learned to make all kinds of work with canes, wood and
• 2:06:15
  sticks, such as chairs and stools and beds. And this they did with
• 2:06:19
  great skill when they were once taught. From this time till I came back
• 2:06:24
  to the isle, my friends saw no more wild men. I now told
• 2:06:28
  the chief that I had not come to take off his men, but to
• 2:06:30
  bring more, and to give them all such things as they would want to
• 2:06:33
  guard their homes from foes and cheer up their hearts. The next day I
• 2:06:39
  made a grand feast for them all, and the ship's cook and mate came
• 2:06:42
  on shore to dress it. We brought out our rounds of salt beef and
• 2:06:45
  pork, a bowl of punch, some beer and French wines, and Karl
• 2:06:50
  gave the cooks five whole kids to roasts, three of which were sent to
• 2:06:54
  the crew on board ship, that they, on their part, might feast
• 2:06:58
  on fresh meat from shore. I gave each of the men a shirt,
• 2:07:01
  a coat, a hat, and a pair of shoes, and I need
• 2:07:04
  not say how glad they were to meet with gifts so new to them.
• 2:07:09
  Then I brought out the tools, of which each man had a spade,
• 2:07:12
  a rake, an axe, a crow, a saw, a knife,
• 2:07:15
  and such like things, as well as arms and all that they could want
• 2:07:19
  for the use of them. As I saw there was a kind will on
• 2:07:23
  all sides. I now took on shore the youth and the maid whom we
• 2:07:27
  had brought from the ship that we met on her way to France. The
• 2:07:30
  girl had been well brought up, and all the crew had a good word
• 2:07:32
  for her, as they both had a wish to be left on the isle.
• 2:07:35
  I gave them each a plot of ground on which they had tents and
• 2:07:39
  barns built. I had brought out with me five men to live here,
• 2:07:43
  one of whom could turn his hand to all sorts of things, so I
• 2:07:45
  gave him the name of Jack of all trades. One day, the French
• 2:07:49
  priest came to ask if I would leave my man Friday here, for through
• 2:07:54
  him, he said, he could talk to the black men in their own
• 2:07:57
  tongue and teach them the things of God. Need I add, said he
• 2:08:03
  that it was for this cause that I came here. I felt that I
• 2:08:05
  could not part with my man Friday for the whole world. So I told
• 2:08:09
  the priest that if I could have made up my mind to leave him here,
• 2:08:13
  I was quite sure that Friday would not part from me. When I
• 2:08:16
  had seen that all things were in a good state on the Isle, I
• 2:08:20
  set to work to put my ships to rights to go home once more.
• 2:08:24
  One day, as I was on my way to it, the youth whom
• 2:08:26
  I had brought from the ship that was burnt, came up to me and
• 2:08:30
  said, Sir, you have brought a priest with you, and while you
• 2:08:33
  are here, we want him to wed two of us. I made a
• 2:08:37
  guess that one of these must be the me that I had brought to the
• 2:08:41
  isle, and that it was the wish of the young man to make her
• 2:08:43
  his wife. I spoke to him with some warmth in my tone, and
• 2:08:46
  bade him turn it well in his mind first, as the girl was not
• 2:08:50
  in the same rank of life as he had been brought up in. But
• 2:08:54
  he said with a smile that I had made the wrong guess, for it
• 2:08:56
  was Jack of all trades that he had come to play lead. For he
• 2:09:01
  gave me great joy to hear this, as the maid was as good a
• 2:09:03
  girl as could be, and I thought well of Jack, so on that
• 2:09:07
  day I gave her to him. They were to have a large piece of
• 2:09:11
  ground to grow their crops on, with a house to live in and sheds
• 2:09:15
  for their goats. The isle was now set out in this way. All
• 2:09:18
  the west end was left to waste, so that if the wild men should
• 2:09:20
  land on it, they might come and go and hurt no one. My
• 2:09:24
  old house I gave to the chief, with all its woods, which now
• 2:09:28
  spread out as far as the creek, and the south end was for the
• 2:09:31
  white men and their wives. It struck me that there was one gift which
• 2:09:35
  I had not thought of, and that was the book of God's Word,
• 2:09:39
  which I knew would give to those who could feel the words in it,
• 2:09:41
  fresh strength for their work and grace to bear the ills of life. Now
• 2:09:46
  that I had been in the isle quite a month, I once more set
• 2:09:48
  sail on the fifth day of May, and all my friends told me that
• 2:09:52
  they should stay there till I came to fetch them. End of Section eleven,
• 2:09:58
  Section number twelve. When we had been out three days, though the
• 2:10:03
  sea was smooth and calm, we saw that it was quite black on the
• 2:10:09
  land side, And as we knew not what to make of it, I
• 2:10:11
  sent the chief mate up the main mast to find out with his glass what
• 2:10:16
  it could be. He said it was a fleet of scores and scores of
• 2:10:20
  small boats, full of wild men, who came fast at us with fierce
• 2:10:24
  looks. As soon as we got near them, I gave word to furl
• 2:10:30
  all sails and stop the ship, and as there was not to fear from
• 2:10:33
  them but fire, to get the boats out and man them both well,
• 2:10:39
  and so wait for them to come up in this way. We lay by
• 2:10:43
  for them, and in a short time they came up with us. But
• 2:10:46
  as I thought they would try to row round and so close us in I
• 2:10:50
  told the men in the boats not to let them come too near. This,
• 2:10:54
  though we did not mean it, brought us to a fight with them,
• 2:10:58
  and they shot a cloud of darts at our boats. We did not
• 2:11:03
  fire at them. Yet in half an hour they went back out to sea,
• 2:11:05
  and then came straight to us, till we were so near that they
• 2:11:09
  could hear us speak. I bade my men keep close so as to keep
• 2:11:15
  safe from their darts if they should shoot, and get out the guns.
• 2:11:18
  I then sent Friday on deck to call out to them in their own tongue
• 2:11:22
  and ask what they meant. It may be that they did not know what
• 2:11:26
  he said, but as soon as he spoke to them, I heard him
• 2:11:28
  cry out that they would shoot. This was too true, for they let
• 2:11:33
  fly a thick cloud of darts, and to my great grief, poor Friday
• 2:11:39
  fell dead, for there was no one else in their sight. He was
• 2:11:43
  shot with three darts, and three more fell quite near him. So good
• 2:11:48
  was their aim. I was so mad with rage at the loss of my
• 2:11:52
  dear Friday that I bade the men load five guns with small shot and four
• 2:11:58
  with large, and we gave them such a fierce fight that in all their
• 2:12:01
  lives they could not have seen one like it. Then a rare scene met
• 2:12:07
  our eyes. Dread and fear came on them all, for their boats,
• 2:12:11
  which were small, were split and sunk three or four by one shot.
• 2:12:16
  The men who were not dead had to swim, and those who had wounds
• 2:12:20
  were left to sink for all. The rest got off as fast as they
• 2:12:24
  could. Our boat took up one poor man who had to swim for his
• 2:12:28
  life when the rest had fled for the space of half an hour. In
• 2:12:33
  three hours time, we could not see more than three or four of their
• 2:12:35
  boats, and as a breeze sprang up, we set sail. At first,
• 2:12:41
  the man whom we took on board would not eat or speak, and
• 2:12:43
  we all had fears lest he should pine to death. But when we had
• 2:12:48
  taught him to say a few words, he told us that his friends,
• 2:12:52
  the wild man, had come out with their kin to have a great fight,
• 2:12:56
  and that all they meant was to make us look at the ground sight.
• 2:13:01
  So it was for this that poor Friday fell, He who had been
• 2:13:07
  as good and true to me as man could be, and now, in
• 2:13:11
  deep grief, I must take my leave of him. We went on with
• 2:13:16
  a fair wind to All Saints Bay, and here I found a sloop that
• 2:13:20
  I had brought with me from home that I might send men in stores for
• 2:13:24
  the use of my friends in the isle. I taught the mate how to
• 2:13:28
  find the place, and when he came back, I found that he had
• 2:13:31
  done so with ease. One of our crew had a great wish to go
• 2:13:35
  with a sloop and live on the isle, if the chief would give him
• 2:13:39
  land to plant. So I told him he should go by all means,
• 2:13:43
  and gave him the wild Man for his slave. I found too that a
• 2:13:48
  man who had come with his wife and child and three slaves to hide from
• 2:13:52
  the King of Spain, would like to go if he could have some land
• 2:13:56
  there, though he had but a small stock to take with him. I
• 2:14:00
  put them all on board the sloop and saw them safe out of the bay.
• 2:14:03
  On their way to the isle. With them, I sent three milk
• 2:14:07
  cows, five calves a horse in a colt, all of which, as
• 2:14:11
  I heard, went safe and sound. I have now no more to say
• 2:14:16
  of my isle as I had left it for the last time. But my
• 2:14:20
  life in lands no less far from home was not yet at an end.
• 2:14:24
  From the Bay of All Saints, we went straight to the Cape of Good
• 2:14:28
  Hope. Here I made up my mind to part from the ship in which
• 2:14:31
  I had come from the Isle, and with two of the crew, to
• 2:14:33
  stay on land and leave the rest to go on their way. I soon
• 2:14:37
  made friends with some men from France, as well as from my own land,
• 2:14:41
  and two Jews who had come out to the cape to trade. As
• 2:14:46
  I found that some goods which I had brought with me from home were worth
• 2:14:50
  a great deal, I made a large sum by the sale of them.
• 2:14:52
  When we had been at the Cape of Good Hope for nine months, we
• 2:14:56
  thought that the best thing we could do would be to hire a ship,
• 2:15:00
  and sailed to the Spice Isles to buy cloves. So we got a ship
• 2:15:03
  and men to work her, and set out. When we had bought and
• 2:15:07
  sold our goods in the course of trade, we came back and then set
• 2:15:11
  out once more, so that in short as we went from port to port,
• 2:15:16
  to and fro I spent from first to last six years in this part
• 2:15:20
  of the world. At length we thought we would go and seek new scenes
• 2:15:24
  where we could get fresh genes and a strange set of men we at last
• 2:15:28
  fell in with, as you who read this tale will say when you look
• 2:15:31
  at the print in front of this page. When we had put on shore,
• 2:15:35
  we made friends with a man who got us a large house built with
• 2:15:39
  canes, and a small kind of hut of the same near it. It
• 2:15:45
  had a high fence of canes round it to keep out thieves, of whom
• 2:15:48
  it seems there are not a few in that land. The name of the
• 2:15:52
  town was Ching, and we found that the fair or mart which was kept
• 2:15:56
  there would not be held for three or four months. So we sent our
• 2:16:00
  ship back to the cape, as we meant to stay in this part of
• 2:16:03
  the world for some time and go from place to place to see what sort
• 2:16:07
  of a land it was, and then come back to the fair at Cheng.
• 2:16:13
  We first went to the town, which it was well worth our will
• 2:16:16
  to see, and which must have been, as near as I can guess,
• 2:16:18
  quite in the heart of this land. It was built with straight streets
• 2:16:22
  which ran in cross lines. But I must own when I came home to
• 2:16:28
  my place of birth, I was much struck to hear my friends say such
• 2:16:31
  fine things of the wealth and trade of these parts of the world. For
• 2:16:35
  I saw and knew that the men were a mare heard, or a crowd
• 2:16:39
  of mean slaves. What is their trade to ours, or to that of
• 2:16:43
  France and Spain? What are their ports with a few junks and barks to
• 2:16:48
  our grand fleets. One of our large ships of war would sink all their
• 2:16:52
  ships, one line of French troops would beat all their horse. And the
• 2:16:56
  same may be said of their ports, which would not stand for one month
• 2:17:01
  such a siege as we could bring to bear on them. In three weeks
• 2:17:05
  more we came to their chief town. When we had laid in a large
• 2:17:09
  stock of tea, shawls, fans, raw silks, and such like goods,
• 2:17:13
  we set out for the north. As we knew we should run all
• 2:17:18
  kinds of risks on our way. We took with us a strong force to
• 2:17:20
  act as a guard and to keep us from the wild hordes who rove from
• 2:17:24
  place to place all through the land. Some of our men were Scots who
• 2:17:28
  had come out to trade here and had great wealth, and I was glad
• 2:17:33
  to join them, as it was by no means the first time that they
• 2:17:37
  had been here. We took five guides with us, and we all put
• 2:17:41
  our coin in one purse to buy food on the way and to pay the
• 2:17:45
  men who took charge of us. One of us we chose out for our
• 2:17:48
  chief to take the lead in case we should have to fight for our lives,
• 2:17:52
  And when the time came, we had no small need of him.
• 2:17:56
  On the sides of all the roads we saw men who made cups, pans,
• 2:18:01
  and such like wear out of a kind of earth, which is in
• 2:18:05
  fact the chief trade in this part of the world. One thing, the
• 2:18:09
  guide said he would show me that was not to be seen in all the
• 2:18:13
  world else, And this in good sooth, that could not sneer at as
• 2:18:16
  I had done it most of the things I had seen here. And this
• 2:18:20
  was a house that was built of a kind of wear, such as most
• 2:18:24
  plates and cups are made of. How big is it? Said I?
• 2:18:28
  Can we take it on the back of a horse. On a horse,
• 2:18:33
  said the guide, Why two scores of men live in it. He then
• 2:18:37
  took us to it, and I found that it was, in truth a
• 2:18:39
  large house built with lath and the best wear that can be made out of
• 2:18:45
  earth. The sun shone hot on the walls, which were quite white,
• 2:18:50
  hard and smooth as glass, with forms on them in blue paint. On
• 2:18:54
  the walls of the rooms were small square tiles of the best were with red,
• 2:18:58
  blue, and green pain of all shades and hues in rare forms,
• 2:19:03
  done in good taste. And as they used the same kind of earth to
• 2:19:07
  join the tiles with, you could not see where the tiles met. The
• 2:19:11
  floors of the rooms were made of the same wear and as strong as those
• 2:19:15
  we have at home, and the same may be said of the roofs,
• 2:19:18
  but they were of a dark shade. If we had more time to spare,
• 2:19:22
  I should have been glad to have seen more of this house, for
• 2:19:24
  there were the ponds for the fish, the walks, the yards and quarts,
• 2:19:30
  which were all made in the same way. This odd sight kept me
• 2:19:33
  from my friends for two hours, and when I had come up to them,
• 2:19:37
  I had to pay a fine to our chief as they had to wait
• 2:19:39
  so long. In two days more we came to the Great Wall, which
• 2:19:45
  was made as a fort to keep the whole land safe. And a great
• 2:19:48
  work it is. It goes in a long track for miles and miles,
• 2:19:52
  where the rocks are so high and steep, that no foe could climb them,
• 2:19:56
  or if they did, no wall could stop them. The great wall
• 2:20:01
  is as thick as it is high, and it turns and whines in all
• 2:20:03
  sorts of ways. We now saw for the first time some troops of the
• 2:20:07
  Hordes I spoke of, who rode from place to place to rob and kill
• 2:20:13
  all whom they meet with. They know no real mode of war or skill
• 2:20:16
  and fight. Each has a poor, lean horse, which is not fit
• 2:20:20
  to do good work. Our chief gave some of us leave to go out
• 2:20:24
  and hunt, as they call it, And what was it but to hunt
• 2:20:28
  sheep. These sheep are wild and swift afoot, but they will not run
• 2:20:31
  far, and you are sure of sport when you start in the chase.
• 2:20:35
  They go in flocks of a score or two, and like true sheep,
• 2:20:39
  keep close when they fly in this sort of chase. It was our hap
• 2:20:43
  to meet with some two score of the wild Hordes. But what sort of
• 2:20:46
  prey they had come to hunt, I know not. As soon as they
• 2:20:50
  saw us, one of them blew some loud notes on a kind of horn,
• 2:20:54
  with a sound that was quite new to me. We all thought this
• 2:20:58
  was to call their friends round them, and so it was, for in
• 2:21:01
  a short time a fresh troop of the same size came to join them,
• 2:21:05
  and they were all as far as we could judge, a mile off.
• 2:21:09
  One of the Scots was with us, and as soon as he heard the
• 2:21:11
  horn, he told us that we must lose no time but draw up in
• 2:21:15
  line and charge them at once. We told them we would if he would
• 2:21:18
  take the lead. They stood still and cast a wild gaze at us,
• 2:21:22
  like a mere crowd drawn up in no line. But as soon as they
• 2:21:26
  saw us come at them, they let fly their darts, which did not
• 2:21:31
  hit us, for though their aim was true, they fell short of us.
• 2:21:35
  We now came to a halt to fire at them, and then went
• 2:21:37
  at full speed to fall on them sword in hand. For so the bold
• 2:21:41
  Scot that let us told us to do. As soon as we came up
• 2:21:46
  to them, they fled right and left. The sole stand made was by
• 2:21:50
  three of them, who had a kind of short sword in their hands and
• 2:21:52
  bows on their backs, and who did all they could to call all the
• 2:21:56
  rest back to them. The brave Scott wrote close up to them, and
• 2:22:00
  with his gun through one office horse shot the necks, and the third ran
• 2:22:05
  off, and this was the end of our fight. All the bad luck
• 2:22:07
  we met with was that the sheep that we had in our chase got off.
• 2:22:11
  We had not a man hurt, but as for the foe, five
• 2:22:15
  of them were dead, and not a few had wounds, while the rest
• 2:22:18
  fled at the merit noise of our guns. Thus we went on our way
• 2:22:22
  from town to town, and now and then met some of these wild hordes
• 2:22:26
  whom we had to fight, and I need not add that each time we
• 2:22:28
  had the best of the fray. At last we made our way to the
• 2:22:33
  chief town of the North Seas. At the end of a year, five
• 2:22:35
  months and three days from the time when we left Ching, when I had
• 2:22:39
  been there six weeks and had bought some more goods, I took ship and
• 2:22:45
  set sail for the land of my birth, which I had left this time
• 2:22:48
  for ten years, nine months and three days. And now I must bring
• 2:22:52
  this tale of my life to a close. While at the age of threescore
• 2:22:56
  years and twelve, I feel that the day is at hand when I shall
• 2:23:00
  go forth on that sea of peace and love, which has no waves or
• 2:23:03
  shores but those of a bliss that knows no end. End of Section twelve,