The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner, Volume 1

by Daniel Defoe

again;"our guns will fright them that we do not kill." So I asked him whether,if I resolved to defend him, he would defend me, and stand by me, and dojust as I bid him. He said, "Me die, when you bid die, master." So Iwent and fetched a good dram of rum and gave him; for I had been so gooda husband of my rum, that I had a great deal left. When he drank it, Imade him take the two fowling-pieces, which we always carried, andloaded them with large swan-shot, as big as small pistol-bullets; then Itook four muskets, and loaded them with two slugs, and five smallbullets each; and my two pistols I loaded with a brace of bullets each;I hung my great sword, as usual, naked by my side, and gave Friday hishatchet. When I had thus prepared myself, I took my perspective-glass,and went up to the side of the hill, to see what I could discover; and Ifound quickly, by my glass, that there were one and twenty savages,three prisoners, and three canoes; and that their whole business seemedto be the triumphant banquet upon these three human bodies; a barbarousfeast indeed! but nothing more than, as I had observed, was usual withthem. I observed also, that they were landed, not where they had donewhen Friday made his escape, but nearer to my creek: where the shore waslow, and where a thick wood came almost close down to the sea. This,with the abhorrence of the inhuman errand these wretches came about,filled me with such indignation, that I came down again to Friday, andtold him I was resolved to go down to them, and kill them all; and askedhim if he would stand by me. He had now got over his fright, and hisspirits being a little raised with the dram I had given him, he was verycheerful, and told me, as before, he would die when I bid die.

  In this fit of fury, I took and divided the arms which I had charged, asbefore, between us: I gave Friday one pistol to stick in his girdle, andthree guns upon his shoulder; and I took one pistol, and the other threeguns, myself; and in this posture we marched out. I took a small bottleof rum in my pocket, and gave Friday a large bag with more powder andbullets; and, as to orders, I charged him to keep close behind me, andnot to stir, or shoot, or do any thing, till I bid him; and, in the meantime, not to speak a word. In this posture, I fetched a compass to myright hand of near a mile, as well to get over the creek as to get intothe wood, so that I might come within shot of them before I should bediscovered, which I had seen, by my glass, it was easy to do.

  While I was making this march, my former thoughts returning, I began toabate my resolution: I do not mean that I entertained any fear of theirnumber; for, as they were naked, unarmed wretches, it is certain I wassuperior to them; nay, though I had been alone. But it occurred to mythoughts, what call, what occasion, much less what necessity I was in,to go and dip my hands in blood, to attack people who had neither doneor intended me any wrong? Who, as to me, were innocent, and whosebarbarous customs were their own disaster; being, in them, a tokenindeed of God's having left them, with the other nations of that part ofthe world, to such stupidity, and to such inhuman courses; but did notcall me to take upon me to be a judge of their actions, much less anexecutioner of his justice; that, whenever he thought fit, he would takethe cause into his own hands, and, by national vengeance, punish them,as a people, for national crimes; but that, in the mean time, it wasnone of my business; that, it was true, Friday might justify it, becausehe was a declared enemy, and in a state of war with those veryparticular people, and it was lawful for him to attack them; but I couldnot say the same with respect to myself. These things were so warmlypressed upon my thoughts all the way as I went, that I resolved I wouldonly go and place myself near them, that I might observe their barbarousfeast, and that I would act then as God should direct; but that, unlesssomething offered that was more a call to me than yet I knew of, I wouldnot meddle with them.

  With this resolution I entered the wood; and, with all possibleweariness and silence, Friday following close at my heels, I marchedtill I came to the skirt of the wood, on the side which was next tothem, only that one corner of the wood lay between me and them. Here Icalled softly to Friday, and showing him a great tree, which was just atthe corner of the wood, I bade him go to the tree, and bring me word ifhe could see there plainly what they were doing. He did so; and cameimmediately back to me, and told me they might be plainly viewed there;that they were all about their fire, eating the flesh of one of theirprisoners, and that another lay bound upon the sand, a little from them,which, he said, they would kill next, and which fired the very soulwithin me. He told me it was not one of their nation, but one of thebearded men he had told me of, that came to their country in the boat. Iwas filled with horror at the very naming the white-bearded man; and,going to the tree, I saw plainly, by my glass, a white man, who lay uponthe beach of the sea, with his hands and his feet tied with flags, orthings like rushes, and that he was an European, and had clothes on.

  There was another tree, and a little thicket beyond it, about fiftyyards nearer to them than the place where I was, which, by going alittle way about, I saw I might come at undiscovered, and that then Ishould be within half a shot of them: so I withheld my passion, though Iwas indeed enraged to the highest degree; and going back about twentypaces, I got behind some bushes, which held all the way till I came tothe other tree; and then came to a little rising ground, which gave me afull view of them, at the distance of about eighty yards.

  I had now not a moment to lose, for nineteen of the dreadful wretchessat upon the ground, all close huddled together, and had just sent theother two to butcher the poor Christian, and bring him, perhaps, limb bylimb, to their fire; and they were stooping down to untie the bands athis feet. I turned to Friday--"Now, Friday," said I, "do as I bid thee."Friday said he would. "Then, Friday," says I, "do exactly as you see medo; fail in nothing." So I set down one of the muskets and thefowling-piece upon the ground, and Friday did the like by his; and withthe other musket I took my aim at the savages, bidding him to do thelike: then asking him if he was ready, he said, "Yes." "Then fire atthem," said I; and the same moment I fired also.

  Friday took his aim so much better than I, that on the side that heshot, he killed two of them, and wounded three more; and on my side, Ikilled one, and wounded two. They were, you may be sure, in a dreadfulconsternation; and all of them who were not hurt jumped upon their feet,but did not immediately know which way to run, or which way to look, forthey knew not from whence their destruction came. Friday kept his eyesclose upon me, that, as I had bid him, he might observe what I did; so,as soon as the first shot was made, I threw down the piece, and took upthe fowling-piece, and Friday did the like: he saw me cock and present;he did the same again. "Are you ready, Friday?" said I.--"Yes," says he."Let fly, then," says I, "in the name of God!" and with that, I firedagain among the amazed wretches, and so did Friday; and as our pieceswere now loaden with what I called swan-shot, or small pistol-bullets,we found only two drop, but so many were wounded, that they ran aboutyelling and screaming like mad creatures, all bloody, and most of themmiserably wounded, whereof three more fell quickly after, though notquite dead.

  "Now, Friday," says I, laying down the discharged pieces, and taking upthe musket which was yet loaden, "follow me;" which he did with a greatdeal of courage; upon which I rushed out of the wood, and showed myself,and Friday close at my foot. As soon as I perceived they saw me, Ishouted as loud as I could, and bade Friday do so too; and running asfast as I could, which, by the way, was not very fast, being loaded witharms as I was, I made directly towards the poor victim, who was, as Isaid, lying upon, the beach, or shore, between the place where they satand the sea. The two butchers, who were just going to work with him, hadleft him at the surprise of our first fire, and fled in a terriblefright to the sea-side, and had jumped into a canoe, and three more ofthe rest made the same way. I turned to Friday, and bade him stepforwards, and fire at them; he understood me immediately, and runningabout forty yards, to be nearer them, he shot at them, and I thought hehad killed them all, for I saw them all fall of a heap into the boat,though I saw two of them up again quickly: however, he killed two ofthem, and wounded the third so, that he lay down in the bottom of theboat as if he had been
dead.

  While my man Friday fired at them, I pulled out my knife and cut theflags that bound the poor victim; and loosing his hands and feet, Ilifted him up, and asked him in the Portuguese tongue, what he was. Heanswered in Latin, Christianus; but was so weak and faint that he couldscarce stand or speak. I took my bottle out of my pocket, and gave ithim, making signs that he should drink, which he did; and I gave him apiece of bread, which he eat. Then I asked him what countryman he was:and he said, Espagniole; and being a little recovered, let me know, byall the signs he could possibly make, how much he was in my debt for hisdeliverance. "Seignior," said I, with as much Spanish as I could makeup, "we will talk afterwards, but we must fight now: if you have anystrength left, take this pistol and sword, and lay about you." He tookthem very thankfully;