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

by Daniel Defoe

lie, Sir," said he, pointing to a thicket of trees;"my heart trembles for fear they have seen us, and heard you speak; ifthey have, they will certainly murder us all."--"Have they anyfire-arms?" said I. He answered, "they had only two pieces, one of whichthey left in the boat." "Well then," said I, "leave the rest to me; Isee they are all asleep, it is an easy thing to kill them all: but shallwe rather take them prisoners?" He told me there were two desperatevillains among them, that it was scarce safe to show any mercy to; butif they were secured, he believed all the rest would return to theirduty. I asked him which they were? He told me he could not at thatdistance distinguish them, but he would obey my orders in any thing Iwould direct. "Well," says I, "let us retreat out of their view orhearing, lest they awake, and we will resolve further." So theywillingly went back with me, till the woods covered us from them.

  "Look you, Sir," said I, "if I venture upon your deliverance, are youwilling to make two conditions with me?" He anticipated my proposals, bytelling me, that both he and the ship, if recovered, should be whollydirected and commanded by me in every thing; and, if the ship was notrecovered, he would live and die with me in what part of the worldsoever I would send him; and the two other men said the same. "Well,"says I, "my conditions are but two: first, That while you stay in thisisland with me, you will not pretend to any authority here; and if I putarms in your hands, you will, upon all occasions, give them up to me,and do no prejudice to me or mine upon this island; and, in the meantime, be governed by my orders: secondly, That if the ship is, or may berecovered, you will carry me and my man to England, passage free."

  He gave me all the assurances that the invention or faith of man coulddevise, that he would comply with these most reasonable demands; and,besides, would owe his life to me, and acknowledge it upon alloccasions, as long as he lived. "Well then," said I, "here are threemuskets for you, with powder and ball: tell me next what you think isproper to be done." He showed all the testimonies of his gratitude thathe was able, but offered to be wholly guided by me. I told him I thoughtit was hard venturing any thing; but the best method I could think ofwas to fire upon them at once, as they lay, and if any were not killedat the first volley, and offered to submit, we might save them, and soput it wholly upon God's providence to direct the shot. He said verymodestly, that he was loath to kill them, if he could help it: but thatthose two were incorrigible villains, and had been the authors of allthe mutiny in the ship, and if they escaped, we should be undone still;for they would go on board and bring the whole ship's company, anddestroy us all. "Well then," says I, "necessity legitimates my advice,for it is the only way to save our lives." However, seeing him stillcautious of shedding blood, I told him they should go themselves, andmanage as they found convenient.

  In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awake, and soonafter we saw two of them on their feet. I asked him if either of themwere the heads of the mutiny? He said, No. "Well then," said I, "you maylet them escape; and Providence seems to have awakened them on purposeto save themselves.--Now," says I, "if the rest escape you, it is yourfault." Animated with this, he took the musket I had given him in hishand, and a pistol in his belt, and his two comrades with him, with eacha piece in his hand; the two men who were with him going first, madesome noise, at which one of the seamen who was awake turned about, andseeing them coming, cried out to the rest; but it was too late then, forthe moment he cried out they fired; I mean the two men, the captainwisely reserving his own piece. They had so well aimed their shot at themen they knew, that one of them was killed on the spot, and the othervery much wounded; but not being dead, he started up on his feet, andcalled eagerly for help to the other; but the captain stepping to him,told him it was too late to cry for help, he should call upon God toforgive his villany; and with that word knocked him down with the stockof his musket, so that he never spoke more: there were three more in thecompany, and one of them was also slightly wounded. By this time I wascome; and when they saw their danger, and that it was in vain to resist,they begged for mercy. The captain told them he would spare their lives,if they would give him any assurance of their abhorrence of thetreachery they had been guilty of, and would swear to be faithful to himin recovering the ship, and afterwards in carrying her back to Jamaica,from whence they came. They gave him all the protestations of theirsincerity that could be desired, and he was willing to believe them, andspare their lives, which I was not against, only that I obliged him tokeep them bound hand and foot while they were on the island.

  While this was doing, I sent Friday with the captain's mate to the boat,with orders to secure her, and bring away the oars and sails, which theydid: and by and by three straggling men, that were (happily for them)parted from the rest, came back upon hearing the guns fired; and seeingthe captain, who before was their prisoner, now their conqueror, theysubmitted to be bound also; and so our victory was complete.

  It now remained that the captain and I should inquire into one another'scircumstances: I began first, and told him my whole history, which heheard with an attention even to amazement; and particularly at thewonderful manner of my being furnished with provisions and ammunition;and, indeed, as my story is a whole collection of wonders, it affectedhim deeply. But when he reflected from thence upon himself, and how Iseemed to have been preserved there on purpose to save his life, thetears ran down his face, and he could not speak a word more. After thiscommunication was at an end, I carried him and his two men into myapartment, leading them in just where I came out, viz. at the top of thehouse, where I refreshed them with such provisions as I had, and showedthem all the contrivances I had made, during my long, long inhabitingthat place.

  All I showed them, all I said to them, was perfectly amazing; but,above all, the captain admired my fortification, and how perfectly I hadconcealed my retreat with a grove of trees, which, having been nowplanted near twenty years, and the trees growing much faster than inEngland, was become a little wood, and so thick, that it was impassablein any part of it, but at that one side where I had reserved my littlewinding passage into it. I told him this was my castle and my residence,but that I had a seat in the country, as most princes have, whither Icould retreat upon occasion, and I would show him that too another time:but at present our business was to consider how to recover the ship. Heagreed with me as to that; but told me, he was perfectly at a loss whatmeasures to take, for that there were still six and twenty hands onboard, who having entered into a cursed conspiracy, by which they hadall forfeited their lives to the law, would be hardened in it now bydesperation, and would carry it on, knowing that, if they were subdued,they would be brought to the gallows as soon as they came to England, orto any of the English colonies; and that, therefore, there would be noattacking them with so small a number as we were.

  I mused for some time upon what he had said, and found it was a veryrational conclusion, and that, therefore, something was to be resolvedon speedily, as well to draw the men on board into some snare for theirsurprise, as to prevent their landing upon us, and destroying us. Uponthis, it presently occurred to me, that in a little while the ship'screw, wondering what was become of their comrades, and of the boat,would certainly come on shore in their other boat, to look for them;and that then, perhaps, they might come armed, and be too strong for us:this he allowed to be rational. Upon this, I told him the first thing wehad to do was to stave the boat, which lay upon the beach, so that theymight not carry her off: and taking every thing out of her, leave her sofar useless as not to be fit to swim: accordingly we went on board, tookthe arms which were left on board out of her, and whatever else we foundthere, which was a bottle of brandy, and another of rum, a fewbiscuit-cakes, a horn of powder, and a great lump of sugar in a piece ofcanvass (the sugar was five or six pounds;) all which was very welcometo me, especially the brandy and sugar, of which I had none left formany years.

  When we had carried all these things on shore, (the oars, mast, sail,and rudder of the boat were carried away before, as above,) we knocked agreat hole in her bottom, tha
t if they had come strong enough to masterus, yet they could not carry off the boat. Indeed, it was not much in mythoughts that we could be able to recover the ship; but my view was,that if they went away without the boat, I did not much question to makeher fit again to carry us to the Leeward Islands, and call upon ourfriends the Spaniards in my way; for I had them still in my thoughts.

  While we were thus preparing our designs, and had first, by mainstrength, heaved the boat upon the beach so high, that the tide wouldnot float her off at high water mark, and besides, had broke a hole inher bottom too big to be quickly stopped, and were set down musing whatwe should do, we heard the ship fire a gun, and saw her make a waft withher ensign as a signal for the boat to come on board: but no boatstirred; and they fired