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

by Daniel Defoe

and no sooner had he the arms in his hands, but,as if they had put new vigour into him, he flew upon his murderers likea fury, and had cut two of them in pieces in an instant; for the truthis, as the whole was a surprise to them, so the poor creatures were somuch frightened with the noise of our pieces, that they fell down formere amazement and fear, and had no more power to attempt their ownescape, than their flesh had to resist our shot: and that was the caseof those five that Friday shot at in the boat; for as three of them fellwith the hurt they received, so the other two fell with the fright.

  I kept my piece in my hand still without firing, being willing to keepmy charge ready, because I had given the Spaniard my pistol and sword:so I called to Friday, and bade-him run up to the tree from whence wefirst fired, and fetch the arms which lay there that had beendischarged, which he did with great swiftness; and then giving him mymusket, I sat down myself to load all the rest again, and bade them cometo me when they wanted. While I was loading these pieces, there happeneda fierce engagement between the Spaniard and one of the savages, whomade at him with one of their great wooden swords, the same-like weaponthat was to have killed him before, if I had not prevented it. TheSpaniard, who was as bold and brave as could be imagined, though weak,had fought this Indian a good while, and had cut him two great wounds onhis head; but the savage being a stout, lusty fellow, closing in withhim, had thrown him down, being faint, and was wringing my sword out ofhis hand; when the Spaniard, though undermost, wisely quitting thesword, drew the pistol from his girdle, shot the savage through thebody, and killed him upon the spot, before I, who was running to helphim, could come near him.

  Friday being now left to his liberty, pursued the flying wretches, withno weapon in his hand but his hatchet; and with that he dispatched thosethree, who, as I said before, were wounded at first, and fallen, and allthe rest he could come up with: and the Spaniard coming to me for a gun,I gave him one of the fowling-pieces, with which he pursued two of thesavages, and wounded them both; but, as he was not able to run, theyboth got from him into the wood, where Friday pursued them, and killedone of them, but the other was too nimble for him; and though he waswounded, yet had plunged himself into the sea, and swam, with all hismight, off to those two who were left in the canoe, which three in thecanoe, with one wounded, that we knew not whether he died or no, wereall that escaped our hands of one and twenty; the account of the wholeis as follows: three killed at our first shot from the tree; two killedat the next shot; two killed by Friday in the boat; two killed by Fridayof those at first wounded; one killed by Friday in the wood; threekilled by the Spaniard; four killed, being found dropped here and there,of their wounds, or killed by Friday in his chase of them; four escapedin the boat, whereof one wounded, if not dead.--Twenty-one in all.

  Those that were in the canoe worked hard to get out of gun-shot, andthough Friday made two or three shots at them, I did not find that hehit any of them. Friday would fain have had me take one of theircanoes, and pursue them; and, indeed, I was very anxious about theirescape, lest carrying the news home to their people, they should comeback perhaps with two or three hundred of the canoes, and devour us bymere multitude; so I consented to pursue them by sea, and running to oneof their canoes, I jumped in, and bade Friday follow me; but when I wasin the canoe, I was surprised to find another poor creature lie there,bound hand and foot, as the Spaniard was, for the slaughter, and almostdead with fear, not knowing what was the matter; for he had not beenable to look up over the side of the boat, he was tied so hard neck andheels, and had been tied so long, that he had really but little lifein him.

  I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes, which they had bound himwith, and would have helped him up; but he could not stand or speak, butgroaned most piteously, believing, it seems, still, that he was onlyunbound in order to be killed. When Friday came to him, I bade him speakto him, and tell him of his deliverance; and, pulling out my bottle,made him give the poor wretch a dram; which, with the news of his beingdelivered, revived him, and he sat up in the boat. But when Friday cameto hear him speak, and look in his face, it would have moved any one totears to have seen how Friday kissed him, embraced him, hugged him,cried, laughed, hallooed, jumped about, danced, sung; then cried again,wrung his hands, beat his own face and head; and then sung and jumpedabout again, like a distracted creature. It was a good while before Icould make him speak to me, or tell me what was the matter; but when hecame a little to himself, he told me that it was his father.

  It is not easy for me to express how it moved me to see what ecstasy andfilial affection had worked in this poor savage at the sight of hisfather, and of his being delivered from death; nor, indeed, can Idescribe half the extravagances of his affection after this; for he wentinto the boat, and out of the boat, a great many times: when he went into him, he would sit down by him, open his breast, and hold his father'shead close to his bosom for many minutes together, to nourish it; thenhe took his arms and ancles, which were numbed and stiff with thebinding, and chafed and rubbed them with his hands; and I, perceivingwhat the case was, gave him some rum out of my bottle to rub them with,which did them a great deal of good.

  This affair put an end to our pursuit of the canoe with the othersavages, who were now got almost out of sight; and it was happy for usthat we did not, for it blew so hard within two hours after, and beforethey could be got a quarter of their way, and continued blowing so hardall night, and that from the north-west, which was against them, that Icould not suppose their boat could live, or that they ever reached theirown coast.

  But, to return to Friday; he was so busy about his father, that I couldnot find in my heart to take him off for some time: but after I thoughthe could leave him a little, I called him to me, and he came jumping andlaughing, and pleased to the highest extreme; then I asked him if hehad given his father any bread. He shook his head, and said, "None; uglydog eat all up self," I then gave him a cake of bread, out of a littlepouch I carried on purpose; I also gave him a dram for himself, but hewould not taste it, but carried it to his father. I had in my pocket twoor three bunches of raisins, so I gave him a handful of them for hisfather. He had no sooner given his father these raisins, but I saw himcome out of the boat, and run away, as if he had been bewitched, he ranat such a rate; for he was the swiftest fellow on his feet that ever Isaw: I say, he ran at such a rate, that he was out of sight, as it were,in an instant; and though I called, and hallooed out too, after him, itwas all one, away he went; and in a quarter of an hour I saw him comeback again, though not so fast as he went; and as he came nearer, Ifound his pace slacker, because he had something in his hand. When hecame up to me, I found he had been quite home for an earthen jug, orpot, to bring his father some fresh water, and that he had two morecakes or loaves of bread; the bread he gave me, but the water he carriedto his father; however, as I was very thirsty too, I took, a little supof it. The water revived his father more than all the rum or spirits Ihad given him, for he was just fainting with thirst.

  When his father had drank, I called to him to know, if there was anywater left: he said, "Yes;" and I bade him give it to the poor Spaniard,who was in as much want of it as his father; and I sent one of thecakes, that Friday brought, to the Spaniard too, who was indeed veryweak, and was reposing himself upon a green place under the shade of atree; and whose limbs were also very stiff and very much swelled withthe rude bandage he had been tied with. When I saw that, upon Friday'scoming to him with the water, he sat up and drank, and took the bread,and began to eat, I went to him and gave him a handful of raisins: helooked up in my face with all the tokens of gratitude and thankfulnessthat could appear in any countenance; but was so weak, notwithstandinghe had so exerted himself in the fight, that he could not stand up uponhis feet; he tried to do it two or three times, but was really not able,his ancles were so swelled and so painful to him; so I bade him sitstill, and caused Friday to rub his ancles, and bathe them with rum, ashe had done his father's.

  I observed the poor affectionate creature, every two minutes,
or perhapsless, all the while he was here, turn his head about, to see if hisfather was in the same place and posture as he left him sitting; and atlast he found he was not to be seen; at which he started up, and,without speaking a word, flew with that swiftness to him, that one couldscarce perceive his feet to touch the ground as he went: but when hecame, he only found he had laid himself down to ease his limbs, soFriday came back to me presently; and then I spoke to the Spaniard tolet Friday help him up, if he could, and lead him to the boat, and thenhe should carry him to our dwelling, where I would take care of him: butFriday, a lusty strong fellow, took the Spaniard quite up upon his back,and carried him away to the boat, and set him down softly upon the sideor gunnel of the canoe, with his feet in the inside of it; and thenlifting him quite in, he set him close to his father; and presentlystepping out again, launched the boat off, and paddled it along theshore faster than I could walk, though the