Latest / Thrilling Adventures - Daily / 20 - Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

Transcript

20 - Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe · Thrilling Adventures - Daily

0:00
Speaker 1: Twenty fight between Friday and a bear. But never was
0:10
Speaker 1: a fight managed so heartily and in such a surprising
0:15
Speaker 1: manner as that which followed between Friday and the bear,
0:20
Speaker 1: which gave us all, though at first we were surprised
0:23
Speaker 1: and afraid for him, the greatest diversion imaginable. As the
0:29
Speaker 1: bear is a heavy, clumsy creature and does not gallop
0:34
Speaker 1: as the wolf does, who is swift and light, so
0:38
Speaker 1: he has two particular qualities which generally are the rule
0:43
Speaker 1: of his actions. First, as to men who are not
0:47
Speaker 1: his proper prey, he does not usually attempt them, except
0:52
Speaker 1: they first attack him, unless he be excessively hungry, which
0:58
Speaker 1: it is probable might now be the case the ground
1:02
Speaker 1: being covered with snow. If you do not meddle with him,
1:06
Speaker 1: he will not meddle with you. But then you must
1:09
Speaker 1: take care to be very civil to him and give
1:13
Speaker 1: him the road, for he is a very nice gentleman.
1:17
Speaker 1: He will not go a step out of his way
1:19
Speaker 1: for a prince. Nay, if you are really afraid, your
1:23
Speaker 1: best way is to look around another way to go,
1:27
Speaker 1: and keep going. For sometimes if you stop and stand
1:31
Speaker 1: still and look steadfastly at him, he takes it for
1:36
Speaker 1: it and affront. But if you throw or toss anything
1:40
Speaker 1: at him, though it were but a stick as big
1:43
Speaker 1: as your finger, he thinks himself abused, and sets all
1:47
Speaker 1: other business aside to pursue his revenge, and will have
1:53
Speaker 1: his satisfaction in point of honor. That is his first quality.
2:00
Speaker 1: Is if he be once affronted, he will never leave
2:03
Speaker 1: you night or day till he has his revenge, but
2:09
Speaker 1: follows at a good round rate till he overtakes you.
2:15
Speaker 1: My man Friday had delivered our guide, and when we
2:19
Speaker 1: came up to him, he was helping him off his horse,
2:23
Speaker 1: for the man was both hurt and frightened. When on
2:27
Speaker 1: a sudden we espied the bear come out of the wood,
2:31
Speaker 1: and a monstrous one. It was the biggest, by far
2:34
Speaker 1: that ever I saw. We were all a little surprised
2:38
Speaker 1: when we saw him, but when Friday saw him, it
2:41
Speaker 1: was easy to see joy and courage in the fellow's countenance.
2:46
Speaker 1: Oh oh, oh, says Friday, three times, pointing to him,
2:51
Speaker 1: Oh master, you give me to leave me, shaking a
2:55
Speaker 1: hand with him, me making you good laugh. I was
3:00
Speaker 1: surprised to see the fellow so well pleased. You fool,
3:04
Speaker 1: says I, he will eat you up, eating me up,
3:08
Speaker 1: eating me up, says Friday, twice over again, Me eating
3:12
Speaker 1: him up, Me making you good. Laugh you all, stay here,
3:15
Speaker 1: me show you good laugh. So down he sits and
3:20
Speaker 1: gets off his boots in a moment, and puts on
3:23
Speaker 1: a pair of pumps, as we call the flat shoes
3:26
Speaker 1: they wear, and which he had in his pocket. Gives
3:30
Speaker 1: my other servant his horse, and with his gun away
3:33
Speaker 1: he flew swift like the wind. The bear was walking
3:39
Speaker 1: softly on and offered to meddle with nobody till Friday,
3:43
Speaker 1: coming pretty near, calls to him as if the bear
3:46
Speaker 1: could understand him. Harkye, harkye, says Friday, me speaking with you.
3:54
Speaker 1: He followed at a distance. For now, being down on
3:57
Speaker 1: the gasconing side of the mountains, we were entered a
4:00
Speaker 1: vast forest where there was country plain and pretty open,
4:05
Speaker 1: though it had many trees in it, scattered here and there. Friday,
4:09
Speaker 1: who had, as we say, the heels of the bear,
4:12
Speaker 1: came up with him quickly and took up a great
4:15
Speaker 1: stone and threw it at him and hit him just
4:18
Speaker 1: on the head, but did him no more harm than
4:21
Speaker 1: if he had thrown it against a wall. But it,
4:24
Speaker 1: answered Friday's, and for the rogue was so void of
4:28
Speaker 1: fear that he did it purely to make the bear
4:31
Speaker 1: follow him and show us some laugh, as he called it.
4:36
Speaker 1: As soon as the bear felt the blow and saw him,
4:40
Speaker 1: he turns about and comes after him, taking very long
4:43
Speaker 1: strides and shuffling on a strange rate, so as he
4:47
Speaker 1: would have put a horse to a middling gallop. Away
4:51
Speaker 1: reigns Friday and takes his course as if he ran
4:54
Speaker 1: towards us for help. So we all resolved to fire
4:58
Speaker 1: at once upon the bear and deliver my man. Though
5:02
Speaker 1: I was angry at him for bringing the bear back
5:05
Speaker 1: upon us when he was going about his own business
5:09
Speaker 1: another way, and especially I was angry that he had
5:13
Speaker 1: turned the bear upon us and then ran away. And
5:16
Speaker 1: I called out, you dog, is this making us laugh?
5:20
Speaker 1: Come away and take your horse, that we may shoot
5:22
Speaker 1: the creature. He heard me and cried out, no shoot,
5:26
Speaker 1: no shoot, Stand still and you get much laugh. And
5:31
Speaker 1: as the nimble creature read two feet for the bear's one,
5:35
Speaker 1: he turned on a sudden on one side of us, and,
5:39
Speaker 1: seeing a great oak tree fit for his purpose, he
5:42
Speaker 1: beckoned us to follow, and doubling his pace, he got
5:46
Speaker 1: nimbly up the tree, laying his gun down upon the
5:50
Speaker 1: ground at about five or six yards from the bottom
5:53
Speaker 1: of the tree. The bear soon came to the tree,
5:57
Speaker 1: and we followed at a distance. The first thing he
6:00
Speaker 1: did he stopped at the gun, smelt at it, but
6:05
Speaker 1: let it lie, and up he scrambles into the tree,
6:08
Speaker 1: climbing like a cat, though so monstrous heavy. I was
6:14
Speaker 1: amazed at the folly as I thought it of my man,
6:18
Speaker 1: and could not for my life see anything specially to
6:22
Speaker 1: laugh at, till seeing the bear get up the tree,
6:26
Speaker 1: we all rode near to him. When we came to
6:30
Speaker 1: the tree there was Friday got out on the small
6:34
Speaker 1: end of a large branch, and the bear got out
6:37
Speaker 1: about halfway to him. And as soon as the bear
6:41
Speaker 1: got out to that part where the limb of the
6:43
Speaker 1: tree was weaker, hah, says he to us. Now you
6:47
Speaker 1: see me teaching the bear dance. So he began jumping
6:53
Speaker 1: and shaking the bough, at which the bear began to totter,
6:57
Speaker 1: but stood still and began to look behind him to
7:00
Speaker 1: see how he should get back. Then, indeed we did
7:04
Speaker 1: laugh heartily, but Friday had not done with him. By
7:09
Speaker 1: a great deal. When seeing him stand still, he called
7:12
Speaker 1: out to him again, and as if he had supposed
7:15
Speaker 1: the bear could speak English, what you come no farther? Pray,
7:21
Speaker 1: you come farther. So he left, jumping and shaking the tree,
7:25
Speaker 1: and the bear, just as if he understood what he said,
7:29
Speaker 1: did come a little farther. Then he began jumping again,
7:33
Speaker 1: and the bear stopped again. We thought now was a
7:36
Speaker 1: good time to knock him in the head, and called
7:39
Speaker 1: to Friday to stand still, and we would shoot the bear.
7:43
Speaker 1: But he cried out earnestly, oh pray, oh pray, no
7:46
Speaker 1: shoot me, shoot by, and then he would have said,
7:51
Speaker 1: by and by. However, to shorten the story, Friday danced
7:57
Speaker 1: so much, and the bear stood so ticklish that we
8:00
Speaker 1: had laughing enough, but still could not imagine what the
8:03
Speaker 1: fellow would do. For first we thought he depended upon
8:07
Speaker 1: shaking the bear off, and we found the bear was
8:10
Speaker 1: too cunning for that too, for he would not go
8:14
Speaker 1: out far enough to be thrown down, but clung fast
8:18
Speaker 1: with his great broad claws and feet, so that we
8:21
Speaker 1: could not imagine what would be the end of it,
8:24
Speaker 1: and what the jest of it would be. At last,
8:29
Speaker 1: but Friday put us out of doubt quickly, for seeing
8:33
Speaker 1: the bear cling fast to the bow, and that he
8:36
Speaker 1: would not be persuaded to come any farther. Well, well,
8:40
Speaker 1: says Friday, you come no farther me go, you know,
8:44
Speaker 1: come to me, me, come to you. And upon this
8:48
Speaker 1: he went out to the smaller end where it would
8:51
Speaker 1: bend with his weight, and gently let himself down by it,
8:56
Speaker 1: sliding down the bow till he came near enough to
8:58
Speaker 1: jump down on his feet, and away he ran to
9:02
Speaker 1: his gun, took it up and stood still. Well, said
9:06
Speaker 1: I to Friday, What will you do now? Why don't
9:11
Speaker 1: you shoot him? No? Shoot, says Friday, No yet me
9:15
Speaker 1: shoot now me? No kill mestay give you one more laugh?
9:20
Speaker 1: And indeed so he did, For when the bear saw
9:24
Speaker 1: his enemy gone, he came back from the bow where
9:27
Speaker 1: he stood, but did it very cautiously, looking behind him
9:32
Speaker 1: every step, and coming backward till he got on to
9:35
Speaker 1: the body of the tree. Then, with the same hinder
9:38
Speaker 1: end foremost, he came down the tree, grasping it with
9:42
Speaker 1: his claws and moving one foot at a time, very leisurely.
9:47
Speaker 1: At this juncture, and just before he could set his
9:50
Speaker 1: hind foot on the ground, Friday stepped up close to him,
9:54
Speaker 1: clapped the muzzle of his piece into his ear, and
9:57
Speaker 1: shot him dead. Then the rogue turned about to see
10:02
Speaker 1: if we did not laugh, and when he saw we
10:04
Speaker 1: were pleased by our looks, he began to laugh very loud.
10:08
Speaker 1: So we killed bear in my country, says Friday. So
10:12
Speaker 1: you kill them, says I. Why you have no guns? No,
10:16
Speaker 1: says he, no gun, but shoot great, much long arrow.
10:22
Speaker 1: This was a good diversion to us, but we were
10:25
Speaker 1: still in a wild place, and our guide very much hurt.
10:29
Speaker 1: And what to do we hardly knew. The hauling of
10:32
Speaker 1: wolves ran much in my head, And indeed, except the
10:36
Speaker 1: noise I once heard on the shore of Africa, of
10:39
Speaker 1: which I have said something already, I never heard anything
10:44
Speaker 1: that filled me with such horror. These things, and the
10:48
Speaker 1: approach of night called us off or else, as Friday
10:52
Speaker 1: would have had us, we would certainly have taken the
10:55
Speaker 1: skin of this monstrous creature off, which was worth saving.
10:59
Speaker 1: But we had near three leagues to go, and our
11:03
Speaker 1: guide hastened us, so we left him and went forward
11:06
Speaker 1: on our journey. The ground was still covered with snow,
11:11
Speaker 1: though not so deep and dangerous as on the mountains,
11:15
Speaker 1: and the ravenous creatures, as we heard afterwards, were come
11:19
Speaker 1: down into the plain country, pressed by hunger to seek
11:24
Speaker 1: for food, and had done a great deal of mischief
11:27
Speaker 1: in the villages where they surprised the country people, killed
11:31
Speaker 1: a great many of their sheep and horses, and some
11:34
Speaker 1: people too. We had one dangerous place to pass, and
11:39
Speaker 1: our guide told us if there were more wolves in
11:41
Speaker 1: the country, we should find them there. And this was
11:45
Speaker 1: a small plain surrounded with woods on every side, and
11:49
Speaker 1: a long narrow defile or lane, which we were to
11:54
Speaker 1: pass to get through the wood, and then we were
11:58
Speaker 1: to come to the village where we were to lodge.
12:02
Speaker 1: It was within half an hour of sunset when we
12:04
Speaker 1: entered the wood, and a little after sunset when we
12:08
Speaker 1: came into the plain. We met with nothing in the
12:11
Speaker 1: first wood, except that in a little plain within the wood,
12:15
Speaker 1: which was not above two furlongs over, we saw five
12:19
Speaker 1: great wolves cross the road full speed, one after another,
12:24
Speaker 1: as if they had been in chase of some prey
12:27
Speaker 1: and had it in view. They took no notice of us,
12:31
Speaker 1: and were gone quite out of sight in a few moments.
12:35
Speaker 1: Upon this, our guide, who by the way, was but
12:38
Speaker 1: a faint hearted fellow bid us keep in a ready posture,
12:42
Speaker 1: for he believed there were more wolves coming. We kept
12:48
Speaker 1: our arms ready and our eyes about us, but we
12:51
Speaker 1: saw no more wolves till we came through that wood,
12:54
Speaker 1: which was near half a league, and entered the plain.
12:58
Speaker 1: As soon as we came into the plane, we had
13:01
Speaker 1: occasion enough to look about us. The first object we
13:05
Speaker 1: met was with a dead horse, that is to say,
13:09
Speaker 1: a poor horse, which the wolves had killed, and at
13:13
Speaker 1: least a dozen of them at work. We could not
13:16
Speaker 1: say eating him, but picking his bones rather, for they
13:20
Speaker 1: had eaten up all the flesh before. We did not
13:24
Speaker 1: think fit to disturb them at their feast. Neither did
13:28
Speaker 1: they take much notice of us. Friday would have let
13:33
Speaker 1: fly at them, but I would not suffer him by
13:36
Speaker 1: any means, for I found we were like to have
13:39
Speaker 1: more business upon our hands than we were aware of.
13:43
Speaker 1: We had not gone half over the plane when we
13:46
Speaker 1: began to hear the wolves howl in the wood on
13:49
Speaker 1: our left in a frightful manner. And presently after we
13:53
Speaker 1: saw about a hundred coming on directly towards us, all
13:57
Speaker 1: in a body, and most of them in a line,
14:00
Speaker 1: as regularly as an army drawn up by experienced officers.
14:06
Speaker 1: I scarce knew in what manner to receive them, but
14:09
Speaker 1: found to draw ourselves in a close line was the
14:12
Speaker 1: only way. So we formed in a moment, But that
14:18
Speaker 1: we might not have too much interval, I ordered that
14:22
Speaker 1: only every other man should fire, and that the others
14:25
Speaker 1: who had not fired should stand ready to give them
14:28
Speaker 1: a second volley immediately if they continued to advance upon us,
14:33
Speaker 1: And then that those that had fired at first should
14:37
Speaker 1: not pretend to load their fuses again, but stand ready
14:41
Speaker 1: everyone with a pistol. For we were all armed with
14:45
Speaker 1: a few si and a pair of pistols each man.
14:48
Speaker 1: So we were by this method able to fire six volleys,
14:52
Speaker 1: half of us at a time. However, at present we
14:56
Speaker 1: had no necessity, for upon firing the first folly, the
15:01
Speaker 1: enemy made a full stop, being so terrified as well
15:05
Speaker 1: with the noise as with the fire. Four of them
15:09
Speaker 1: being shot in the head, dropped. Several others were wounded
15:14
Speaker 1: and went bleeding off, as we could see by the snow.
15:19
Speaker 1: I they stopped, but did not immediately retreat, Whereupon, remembering
15:25
Speaker 1: that I had been told that the fiercest creatures were
15:30
Speaker 1: terrified at the voice of a man. I caused all
15:33
Speaker 1: the company to hello as loud as they all could,
15:37
Speaker 1: and I found the notion not altogether mistaken, for upon
15:41
Speaker 1: our shout they began to retire and turn about. I
15:45
Speaker 1: then ordered a second volley to be fired in their rear,
15:49
Speaker 1: which made them to gallop, and away they went to
15:52
Speaker 1: the woods. This gave us leisure to charge our pieces again,
15:57
Speaker 1: and that we might lose no time, we kept going.
16:01
Speaker 1: But we had but little more than loaded our fuss
16:04
Speaker 1: and put ourselves in readiness when we heard a terrible
16:07
Speaker 1: noise in the same wood on our left, only that
16:10
Speaker 1: it was farther onward, the same way we were to go.
16:15
Speaker 1: The night was coming on, and the light began to
16:17
Speaker 1: be dusky, which made it worse on our side, but
16:21
Speaker 1: the noise increasing, we could easily perceive that it was
16:25
Speaker 1: the howling and yelling of those hellish creatures. And on
16:29
Speaker 1: a sudden we perceived three troops of wolves, one on
16:32
Speaker 1: our left, one behind us, and one in our front,
16:36
Speaker 1: so that we seemed to be surrounded with them. However,
16:42
Speaker 1: as they did not fall upon us, we kept our
16:45
Speaker 1: way forward as fast as we could make our horses go,
16:49
Speaker 1: which the way being very rough, was only a good
16:52
Speaker 1: hard trot. In this manner. We came in view of
16:56
Speaker 1: the entrance of a wood through which we were to
16:59
Speaker 1: pass at the farther side of the plane. But we
17:02
Speaker 1: were greatly surprised when coming near the lane or pass,
17:06
Speaker 1: we saw a confused number of wolves standing just at
17:10
Speaker 1: the entrance. On a sudden at another opening of the wood,
17:14
Speaker 1: we heard the noise of a gun, and looking that way,
17:17
Speaker 1: out rushed a horse with a saddle and a bridle
17:20
Speaker 1: on him, flying like the wind, and sixteen or seventeen
17:24
Speaker 1: wolves after him full speed. The horse had the advantage
17:28
Speaker 1: of them, but as we supposed that he could not
17:31
Speaker 1: hold it at that rate, we doubted not but that
17:35
Speaker 1: they would get up with him at last, no question,
17:38
Speaker 1: but they did, and here we had a most horrible sight,
17:43
Speaker 1: for riding up to the entrance where the horse came out,
17:46
Speaker 1: we found the carcasses of another horse and of two men,
17:50
Speaker 1: devoured by the ravenous creatures. And one of the men
17:54
Speaker 1: was no doubt the same whom we heard fire the gun,
17:58
Speaker 1: for there lay a gun just by him, fired off.
18:02
Speaker 1: But as to the man, his head and the upper
18:05
Speaker 1: part of his body was eaten up. This filled us
18:08
Speaker 1: with horror, and we knew not what course to take.
18:12
Speaker 1: But the creatures resolved us soon, for they gathered about
18:16
Speaker 1: us presently in hopes of prey, and I verily believe
18:20
Speaker 1: there were three hundred of them. It happened very much
18:24
Speaker 1: to our advantage that at the entrance into the wood,
18:27
Speaker 1: but a little way from it, there lay some large
18:30
Speaker 1: timber trees which had been cut down the summer before,
18:34
Speaker 1: and I suppose lay there for a carriage. I drew
18:38
Speaker 1: my little troop in among those trees, and, placing ourselves
18:42
Speaker 1: in a line behind one long tree, I advised them
18:45
Speaker 1: all to a light and keep that tree before us
18:48
Speaker 1: for our breastwork, to stand in a triangle or three fronts,
18:53
Speaker 1: in closing our horses in the center. We did so,
18:56
Speaker 1: and it was well we did, for never was a
19:01
Speaker 1: more furious charge than the creatures made upon us in
19:05
Speaker 1: this place. They came on with a growling kind of noise,
19:09
Speaker 1: and mounted the piece of timber, which, as I said,
19:12
Speaker 1: was our breastwork, as if they were only rushing upon
19:16
Speaker 1: their prey. And this fury of theirs, it seems, was
19:20
Speaker 1: principally occasioned by their scene our horses behind us. I
19:24
Speaker 1: ordered our men to fire, as before every other man,
19:28
Speaker 1: and they took their aim so sure that they killed
19:31
Speaker 1: several of the wolves at the first volley. But there
19:34
Speaker 1: was a necessity to keep a continual firing, for they
19:37
Speaker 1: came on like devils, those behind, pushing on those before.
19:44
Speaker 1: When we fired a second volley of our few seas,
19:47
Speaker 1: we thought they stopped a little, and I hoped they
19:49
Speaker 1: would have gone off. But it was but a moment,
19:53
Speaker 1: for others came forward again. So we fired two volleys
19:57
Speaker 1: of our pistols, and I believe in these four firings
20:00
Speaker 1: we had killed seventeen or eighteen of them, and lamed
20:04
Speaker 1: twice as many. Yet they came on again. I was
20:08
Speaker 1: loath to spend our shot too hastily, so I called
20:12
Speaker 1: my servant, not my man Friday, for he was better employed,
20:17
Speaker 1: for with the greatest dexterity imaginable, he had charged Mi
20:21
Speaker 1: fu See and his own while we were engaged. But
20:24
Speaker 1: as I said, I called my other man, and giving
20:27
Speaker 1: him a horn of powder, I had him lay a
20:30
Speaker 1: trail all along the piece of timber and let it
20:33
Speaker 1: be a large train. He did so, and had but
20:38
Speaker 1: just time to get away when the wolves came up
20:40
Speaker 1: to it, and some got upon it, when I, snapping
20:46
Speaker 1: an uncharged pistol close to the powder, set it on fire.
20:51
Speaker 1: Those that were upon the timber were scorched with it,
20:54
Speaker 1: and six or seven of them fell, or rather jumped
20:57
Speaker 1: in among us. With the force and fright of the
21:01
Speaker 1: We dispatched these in an instant, and the rest were
21:04
Speaker 1: so frightened with the light, which the night it was
21:08
Speaker 1: now nearly dark, made more terrible, that they drew back
21:13
Speaker 1: a little, upon which I ordered our last pistols to
21:17
Speaker 1: be fired off in one volley, and after that we
21:20
Speaker 1: gave a shout. Upon this the wolves turned tail, and
21:25
Speaker 1: we sallied immediately upon near twenty lame ones that we
21:30
Speaker 1: found struggling on the ground, and fell to cutting them
21:33
Speaker 1: with our sword, which answered our expectation, for the crying
21:39
Speaker 1: and howling they made was better understood by their fellows,
21:44
Speaker 1: so that they all fled and left us. We had
21:48
Speaker 1: first and last killed about three score of them, and
21:52
Speaker 1: had it been daylight, we had killed many more. The
21:56
Speaker 1: field of battle being thus cleared, we made forward again,
22:00
Speaker 1: for we had still near a league to go. We
22:04
Speaker 1: heard the ravenous creatures howl and yell in the woods
22:07
Speaker 1: as we went several times, and sometimes we fancied we
22:12
Speaker 1: saw some of them, but the snow dazzling our eyes,
22:16
Speaker 1: we were not certain. In about an hour more we
22:19
Speaker 1: came to the town where we were to lodge, which
22:22
Speaker 1: we found in a terrible fright, and all in arms,
22:25
Speaker 1: for it seems the night before the wolves and some
22:29
Speaker 1: bears had broken into the village and put them in
22:32
Speaker 1: such terror that they were obliged to keep guard night
22:36
Speaker 1: and day, but especially in the night, to preserve their
22:39
Speaker 1: cattle and indeed their people. The next morning, our guide
22:45
Speaker 1: was so ill, and his limbs swelled so much with
22:48
Speaker 1: the rankling of his two wounds, that he could not
22:51
Speaker 1: go further. So we were obliged to take a new
22:55
Speaker 1: guide here and go to Toulouse, where we found a
22:59
Speaker 1: warm climate, a fruitful, pleasant country, and no snow, no
23:04
Speaker 1: wolves nor anything like them. But when we told our
23:08
Speaker 1: story yet Toulouse, they told us it was nothing but
23:11
Speaker 1: what was ordinary in the great forest at the foot
23:14
Speaker 1: of the mountains, especially when the snow lay on the ground.
23:18
Speaker 1: But they inquired much what kind of guide we had
23:20
Speaker 1: got who would venture to bring us that way in
23:23
Speaker 1: such a severe season. He told us it was surprising
23:28
Speaker 1: we were not all devoured. When we told them how
23:31
Speaker 1: we placed ourselves and the horses in the middle, they
23:34
Speaker 1: blamed us exceedingly and told us it was fifty to one,
23:38
Speaker 1: but we had all been destroyed. For it was the
23:41
Speaker 1: sight of the horses which made the wolves so furious
23:45
Speaker 1: seeing their prey, and that at other times they were
23:49
Speaker 1: really afraid of a gun, but being excessively hungry and
23:53
Speaker 1: raging on that account, the eagerness to come at the
23:55
Speaker 1: horses had made them senseless of danger. And that if
24:00
Speaker 1: we had not, by the continual fire, and at last
24:03
Speaker 1: by the stratagem of the train of powder, mastered them,
24:07
Speaker 1: it had been great odds, but that we had been
24:10
Speaker 1: torn to pieces. Whereas had we been content to have
24:15
Speaker 1: sat still on horseback and fired as horsemen, they would
24:19
Speaker 1: not have taken the horses so much for their own
24:22
Speaker 1: when men were on their backs. As otherwise and withal,
24:27
Speaker 1: they told us that at last, if we had stood
24:31
Speaker 1: all together and left our horses, they would have been
24:34
Speaker 1: so eager to have devoured them, that we might have
24:38
Speaker 1: come off safe, especially having our firearms in our hands,
24:42
Speaker 1: being so many in number. For my part, I never
24:47
Speaker 1: was so sensible of danger in my life. For seeing
24:52
Speaker 1: above three hundred devils come roaring and open mouthed to
24:57
Speaker 1: devour us, and having nothing to show shelter us or
25:01
Speaker 1: to retreat to, I gave myself over for lost. And
25:06
Speaker 1: as it was, I believe I shall never care to
25:09
Speaker 1: cross those mountains again. I think I would much rather
25:13
Speaker 1: go a thousand leagues by sea, though I was sure
25:17
Speaker 1: to meet with a storm once a week. I have
25:22
Speaker 1: nothing uncommon to take notice of in my passage through France,
25:26
Speaker 1: nothing but what other travelers have given an account of.
25:29
Speaker 1: With much more advantage than I can, I traveled from
25:33
Speaker 1: Toulouse to Paris, and without any considerable stay, came to
25:38
Speaker 1: Calais and landed safe at Dover the fourteenth of January.
25:44
Speaker 1: After having had a severe cold season to travel in.
25:49
Speaker 1: I was now come to the center of my travels,
25:52
Speaker 1: and had in a little time all my newly discovered
25:55
Speaker 1: estate safe about me, the bills of exchange, which I
25:59
Speaker 1: brought with me, having been currently paid. My principal guide
26:05
Speaker 1: and privy councilor was my good ancient widow, who, in
26:10
Speaker 1: gratitude for the money I had sent her, thought no
26:13
Speaker 1: pains too much nor care too great to employ for me.
26:18
Speaker 1: And I trusted her so entirely that I was perfectly
26:22
Speaker 1: easy as to the security of my effects. And indeed
26:27
Speaker 1: I was very happy from the beginning and now to
26:31
Speaker 1: the end, in the unspotted integrity of this good gentlewoman.
26:37
Speaker 1: And now having resolved to dispose of my plantation in
26:41
Speaker 1: the Brazils, I wrote to my old friend at Lisbon, who,
26:45
Speaker 1: having offered it to the two merchants the survivors of
26:48
Speaker 1: my trustees, who lived in the Brazils. They accepted the
26:52
Speaker 1: offer and remitted thirty three thousand pieces of eight to
26:57
Speaker 1: a correspondent of Theirs at Lisbon to pay for it.
27:02
Speaker 1: In return, I signed the instrument of sale in the
27:05
Speaker 1: form which they sent from Lisbon, and sent it to
27:08
Speaker 1: my old man, who sent me the bills of exchange
27:12
Speaker 1: for thirty two thousand, eight hundred pieces of eight for
27:16
Speaker 1: the estate, reserving the payment of one hundred moidores a
27:22
Speaker 1: year to him the old man during his life, and
27:25
Speaker 1: fifty moidores afterwards to his son for his life, which
27:30
Speaker 1: I had promised them, and which the plantation was to
27:34
Speaker 1: make good as a rent charge. And thus I have
27:39
Speaker 1: given the first part of a life of fortune and adventure,
27:44
Speaker 1: a life of Providence's checker work, and of a variety
27:51
Speaker 1: which the world will seldom be able to show. The
27:54
Speaker 1: like of beginning foolishly, but closing much more more happily
28:00
Speaker 1: than any part of it ever gave me leave so
28:04
Speaker 1: much as to hope. For anyone would think that, in
28:09
Speaker 1: this state of complicated good fortune, I was past running
28:13
Speaker 1: any more hazards, And so indeed I had been if
28:18
Speaker 1: other circumstances had occurred. But I was inured to a
28:22
Speaker 1: wandering life. Had no family, nor many relations, nor however rich,
28:31
Speaker 1: had I contracted fresh acquaintance. And though I had sold
28:35
Speaker 1: my estate and the Brazils, yet I could not keep
28:38
Speaker 1: that country out of my head, and had a great
28:42
Speaker 1: mind to be upon the wing again. Especially, I could
28:47
Speaker 1: not resist the strong inclination I had to see my island,
28:53
Speaker 1: and to know if the poor Spaniards were in being there.
28:59
Speaker 1: My true friend, the widow, earnestly dissuaded me from it,
29:03
Speaker 1: and so far prevailed with me that for almost seven
29:07
Speaker 1: years she prevented my running abroad, during which time I
29:12
Speaker 1: took my two nephews, the children of one of my brothers,
29:16
Speaker 1: into my care. The eldest, having something of his own,
29:20
Speaker 1: I bred up as a gentleman and gave him a
29:23
Speaker 1: settlement of some addition to his estate after my decease.
29:28
Speaker 1: The other I placed with the captain of a ship,
29:31
Speaker 1: and after five years, finding him a sensible, bold, enterprising
29:37
Speaker 1: young fellow, I put him into a good ship and
29:40
Speaker 1: sent him to sea. And this young fellow afterwards drew
29:45
Speaker 1: me in as old as I was, to further adventures myself.
29:52
Speaker 1: In the meantime, I in part settled myself here. For
29:58
Speaker 1: first of all, I married, and that not either to
30:01
Speaker 1: my disadvantage or dissatisfaction, and had three children, two sons
30:08
Speaker 1: and one daughter. But my wife dying and my nephew
30:12
Speaker 1: coming home with good success from a voyage to Spain,
30:17
Speaker 1: my inclination to go abroad, and his importunity prevailed and
30:24
Speaker 1: engaged me to go in his ship as a private
30:27
Speaker 1: trader to the East Indies. This was in the year
30:31
Speaker 1: sixteen ninety four. In this voyage I visited my new
30:37
Speaker 1: colony in the island, saw my successors. The Spaniards had
30:43
Speaker 1: the old story of their lives and of the villains
30:45
Speaker 1: I left there. How at first they insulted the poor Spaniards,
30:51
Speaker 1: how they afterwards agreed, disagreed, united, separated, and how at
30:58
Speaker 1: last the Spaniards were obliged to use violence with them,
31:03
Speaker 1: how they were subjected to the Spaniards, how honestly the
31:07
Speaker 1: Spaniards used them a history, if it were entered into,
31:12
Speaker 1: as full of variety and wonderful accidents as my own part,
31:17
Speaker 1: particularly also as to their battles with the Caribbeans, who
31:22
Speaker 1: landed several times upon the island, and as to the
31:25
Speaker 1: improvement they made upon the island itself, and how five
31:30
Speaker 1: of them made an attempt upon the mainland and brought
31:34
Speaker 1: away eleven men and five women prisoners, by which at
31:38
Speaker 1: my coming I found about twenty young children on the island.
31:44
Speaker 1: Here I stayed about twenty days, left them supplies of
31:49
Speaker 1: all necessary things, and particularly of arms, powder, shot, clothes, tools,
31:57
Speaker 1: and two workmen, which I brought for them from England,
32:03
Speaker 1: that is, a carpenter and a smith. Besides this, I
32:08
Speaker 1: shared the land into parts with them, reserved to myself
32:12
Speaker 1: the property of the whole, but gave them such parts
32:16
Speaker 1: respectively as they agreed upon. And having settled all things
32:20
Speaker 1: with them, and engaged them not to leave the place,
32:25
Speaker 1: I left them there. From thence I touched at the Brazils,
32:31
Speaker 1: from whence I sent a barque which I bought there
32:35
Speaker 1: with more people to the island, and in it, besides
32:39
Speaker 1: other supplies, I sent seven women, beings such as I
32:43
Speaker 1: found proper for service or for wives, to such as
32:47
Speaker 1: would take them. As to the Englishmen, I promised to
32:52
Speaker 1: send them some women from England with a good cargo
32:55
Speaker 1: of necessaries, if they would apply themselves to planting, which
33:00
Speaker 1: I afterwards could not perform. The fellows proved very honest
33:05
Speaker 1: and diligent. After they were mastered and had their properties
33:08
Speaker 1: set apart for them, I sent them also from the Brazils,
33:13
Speaker 1: five cows, three of them being big with calf, some sheep,
33:18
Speaker 1: and some hogs, which when I came again, were considerably increased.
33:26
Speaker 1: But all these things with an account of how three
33:31
Speaker 1: hundred Caribees came and invaded them and ruined their plantations,
33:35
Speaker 1: and how they fought with that whole number twice, and
33:39
Speaker 1: were at first defeated and one of them killed, but
33:42
Speaker 1: at last a storm destroying their enemy's canoes, they famished
33:48
Speaker 1: or destroyed almost all the rest, and renewed and recovered
33:53
Speaker 1: the possession of their plantation, and still lived upon the island.
34:01
Speaker 1: All these things, with some very surprising incidents, in some
34:05
Speaker 1: new adventures of my own for ten years more. I
34:09
Speaker 1: shall give a farther account in the second part of
34:13
Speaker 1: my story, end of chapter twenty and of Robinson Crusoe
34:26
Speaker 1: by Daniel Defoe