by Daniel Defoe
end. I observed, that the two whoswam were yet more than twice as long swimming over the creek as thefellow was that fled from them. It came now very warmly upon mythoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now was the time to get me aservant, and perhaps a companion or assistant, and that I was calledplainly by Providence to save this poor creature's life. I immediatelyran down the ladders with all possible expedition, fetched my two guns,for they were both at the foot of the ladders, as I observed above, andgetting up again, with the same haste, to the top of the hill, I crossedtowards the sea, and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placedmyself in the way between the pursuers and the pursued, hallooing aloudto him that fled, who, looking back, was at first, perhaps, as muchfrightened at me as at them; but I beckoned with my hand to him to comeback; and, in the mean time, I slowly advanced towards the two thatfollowed; then rushing at once upon the foremost, I knocked him downwith the stock of my piece. I was loth to fire, because I would not havethe rest hear; though, at that distance, it would not have been easilyheard, and being out of sight of the smoke too, they would not haveeasily known what to make of it. Having knocked this fellow down, theother who pursued him stopped, as if he had been frightened, and Iadvanced apace towards him: but as I came nearer, I perceived presentlyhe had a bow and arrow, and was fitting it to shoot at me; so I wasthen necessitated to shoot at him first, which I did, and killed him atthe first shot. The poor savage who fled, but had stopped, though he sawboth his enemies fallen and killed, as he thought, yet was so frightenedwith the fire and noise of my piece, that he stood stock-still, andneither came forward nor went backward, though he seemed rather inclinedstill to fly, than to come on. I hallooed again to him, and made signsto come forward, which he easily understood, and came a little way; thenstopped again, and then a little farther, and stopped again; and I couldthen perceive that he stood trembling, as if he had been taken prisoner,and had just been to be killed, as his two enemies were. I beckoned tohim again to come to me, and gave him all the signs of encouragementthat I could think of; and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling downevery ten or twelve steps, in token of acknowledgment for saving hislife. I smiled at him, and looked pleasantly, and beckoned to him tocome still nearer: at length he came close to me; and then he kneeleddown again, kissed the ground, and laid his head upon the ground, andtaking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head; this, it seems, was intoken of swearing to be my slave for ever. I took him up, and made muchof him, and encouraged him all I could. But there was more work to doyet; for I perceived the savage whom I knocked down was not killed, butstunned with the blow, and began to come to himself: so I pointed tohim, and showed him the savage, that he was not dead; upon this he spokesome words to me, and though I could not understand them, yet I thoughtthey were pleasant to hear; for they were the first sound of a man'svoice that I had heard, my own excepted, for above twenty-five years.But there was no time for such reflections now; the savage who wasknocked down recovered himself so far as to sit up upon the ground, andI perceived that my savage began to be afraid; but when I saw that, Ipresented my other piece at the man, as if I would shoot him: upon thismy savage, for so I call him now, made a motion to me to lend him mysword, which hung naked in a belt by my side, which I did. He no soonerhad it, but he runs to his enemy, and, at one blow, cut off his head socleverly, no executioner in Germany could have done it sooner or better;which I thought very strange for one who, I had reason to believe, neversaw a sword in his life before, except their own wooden swords: however,it seems, as I learned afterwards, they make their wooden swords sosharp, so heavy, and the wood is so hard, that they will cut off headseven with them, aye, and arms, and that at one blow too. When he haddone this, he comes laughing to me, in sign of triumph, and brought methe sword again, and with abundance of gestures, which I did notunderstand, laid it down, with the head of the savage that he hadkilled, just before me. But that which astonished him most, was to knowhow I killed the other Indian so far off: so pointing to him, he madesigns to me to let him go to him; so I bade him go, as well as I could.When he came to him, he stood like one amazed, looking at him, turninghim first on one side, then on the other, looked at the wound the bullethad made, which, it seems, was just in his breast, where it had made ahole, and no great quantity of blood had followed; but he had bledinwardly, for he was quite dead. He took up his bow and arrows, and cameback; so I turned to go away, and beckoned him to follow me, makingsigns to him that more might come after them. Upon this, he made signsto me that he should bury them with sand, that they might not be seen bythe rest, if they followed; and so I made signs to him again to do so.He fell to work; and, in an instant, he had scraped a hole in the sandwith his hands, big enough to bury the first in, and then dragged himinto it, and covered him; and did so by the other also: I believe he hadburied them both in a quarter of an hour. Then calling him away, Icarried him, not to my castle, but quite away to my cave, on the fartherpart of the island: so I did not let my dream come to pass in that part,viz. that he came into my grove for shelter. Here I gave him bread anda bunch of raisins to eat, and a draught of water, which I found he wasindeed in great distress for, by his running; and having refreshed him,I made signs for him to go and lie down to sleep, showing him a placewhere I had laid some rice-straw, and a blanket upon it, which I used tosleep upon myself sometimes; so the poor creature lay down, and wentto sleep.
He was a comely handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with straightstrong limbs, not too large, tall, and well shaped; and, as I reckon,about twenty-six years of age. He had a very good countenance, not afierce and surly aspect, but seemed to have something very manly in hisface; and yet he had all the sweetness and softness of an European inhis countenance too, especially when he smiled. His hair was long andblack, not curled like wool; his forehead very high and large; and agreat vivacity and sparkling sharpness in his eyes. The colour of hisskin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not an ugly, yellow,nauseous tawny, as the Brazilians and Virginians, and other natives ofAmerica are, but of a bright kind of a dun olive colour, that had in itsomething very agreeable, though not very easy to describe. His face wasround and plump; his nose small, not flat like the Negroes; a very goodmouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well set, and as white as ivory.
After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half an hour, he awokeagain, and came out of the cave to me, for I had been milking my goats,which I had in the enclosure just by: when he espied me, he camerunning to me, laying himself down again upon the ground, with all thepossible signs of an humble thankful disposition, making a great manyantic gestures to show it. At last, he lays his head flat upon theground, close to my foot, and sets my other foot upon his head, as hehad done before; and after this, made all the signs to me of subjection,servitude, and submission, imaginable, to let me know how he would serveme so long as he lived. I understood him in many things, and let himknow I was very well pleased with him. In a little time I began to speakto him, and teach him to speak to me; and, first, I let him know hisname should be FRIDAY, which was the day I saved his life: I called himso for the memory of the time. I likewise taught him to say Master; andthen let him know that was to be my name: I likewise taught him to sayYes and No, and to know the meaning of them. I gave him some milk in anearthen pot, and let him see me drink it before him, and sop my bread init; and gave him a cake of bread to do the like, which he quicklycomplied with, and made signs that it was very good for him. I keptthere with him all that night; but as soon as it was day, I beckoned tohim to come with me, and let him know I would give him some clothes; atwhich he seemed very glad, for he was stark naked. As we went by theplace where he had buried the two men, he pointed exactly to the place,and showed me the marks that he had made to find them again, makingsigns to me that we should dig them up again, and eat them. At this Iappeared very angry, expressed my abhorrence of it, made as if I wouldvomit at the thoughts of it, and beckoned with my hand to him to comeaway; which he did immediately, with great submission. I then led him upto the top
of the hill, to see if his enemies were gone; and pulling outmy glass, I looked, and saw plainly the place where they had been, butno appearance of them or their canoes; so that it was plain they weregone, and had left their two comrades behind them, without any searchafter them.
But I was not content with this discovery; but having now more courage,and consequently more curiosity, I took my man Friday with me, givinghim the sword in his hand, with the bow and arrows at his back, which Ifound he could use very dexterously, making him carry one gun for me,and I two for myself; and away we marched to the place where thesecreatures had been; for I had a mind now to get some fuller intelligenceof them. When I came to the place, my very blood ran chill in my veins,and my heart sunk within me, at the horror of the spectacle; indeed, itwas a dreadful sight, at least it was so to me, though Friday madenothing of it. The place was covered with human bones, the ground dyedwith their
