by Daniel Defoe
fortheir lives as to the present action, yet that if they were sent toEngland, they would all be hanged in chains, to be sure; but that ifthey would join in so just an attempt as to recover the ship, he wouldhave the governor's engagement for their pardon.
Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted by menin their condition; they fell down on their knees to the captain, andpromised, with the deepest imprecations, that they would be faithful tohim to the last drop, and that they should owe their lives to him, andwould go with him all over the world; that they would own him as afather as long as they lived. "Well," says the captain, "I must go andtell the governor what you say, and see what I can do to bring him toconsent to it." So he brought me an account of the temper he found themin, and that he verily believed they would be faithful. However, that wemight be very secure, I told him he should go back again and choose outthose five, and tell them, that they might see he did not want men, thathe would take out those five to be his assistants, and that thegovernor would keep the other two, and the three that were sentprisoners to the castle (my cave) as hostages for the fidelity of thosefive; and that if they proved unfaithful in the execution, the fivehostages should be hanged in chains alive on the shore. This lookedsevere, and convinced them that the governor was in earnest: however,they had no way left them but to accept it; and it was now the businessof the prisoners, as much as of the captain, to persuade the other fiveto do their duty.
Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition: first, Thecaptain, his mate, and passenger: second, Then the two prisoners of thefirst gang, to whom, having their character from the captain, I hadgiven their liberty, and trusted them with arms: third, The other twothat I had kept till now in my bower pinioned, but, on the captain'smotion, had now released: fourth, These five released at last: so thatthey were twelve in all, besides five we kept prisoners in the cavefor hostages.
I asked the captain if he was willing to venture with these hands onboard the ship: but as for me and my man Friday, I did not think it wasproper for us to stir, having seven men left behind; and it wasemployment enough for us to keep them asunder, and supply them withvictuals. As to the five in the cave, I resolved to keep them fast, butFriday went in twice a day to them, to supply them with necessaries; andI made the other two carry provisions to a certain distance, whereFriday was to take it.
When I showed myself to the two hostages, it was with the captain, whotold them I was the person the governor had ordered to look after them:and that it was the governor's pleasure they should not stir any wherebut by my direction; that if they did, they would be fetched into thecastle, and be laid in irons: so that as we never suffered them to seeme as a governor, I now appeared as another person, and spoke of thegovernor, the garrison, the castle, and the like, upon all occasions.
The captain now had no difficulty before him, but to furnish his twoboats, stop the breach of one, and man them. He made his passengercaptain of one, with four of the men; and himself, his mate, and fivemore, went in the other; and they contrived their business very well,for they came up to the ship about midnight. As soon as they came withincall of the ship, he made Robinson hail them, and tell them they hadbrought off the men and the boat, but that it was a long time beforethey had found them, and the like, holding them in a chat till they cameto the ship's side; when the captain and the mate entering first, withtheir arms, immediately knocked down the second mate and carpenter withthe but end of their muskets, being very faithfully seconded by theirmen; they secured all the rest that were upon the mainland quarterdecks,and began to fasten the hatches, to keep them down that were below; whenthe other boat and their men entering at the fore-chains, secured theforecastle of the ship, and the scuttle which went down into thecook-room, making three men they found there prisoners. When this wasdone, and all safe upon deck, the captain ordered the mate, with threemen, to break into the round-house, where the new rebel captain lay, whohaving taken the alarm, had got up, and with two men and a boy had gotfire-arms in their hands; and when the mate, with a crow, split open thedoor, the new captain and his men fired boldly among them, and woundedthe mate with a musket ball, which broke his arm, and wounded two moreof the men, but killed nobody. The mate calling for help, rushed,however, into the round-house, wounded as he was, and with his pistolshot the new captain through the head, the bullet entering at his mouth,and came out again behind one of his ears, so that he never spoke a wordmore: upon which the rest yielded, and the ship was taken effectually,without any more lives lost.
As soon as the ship was thus secured, the: captain ordered seven guns tobe fired, which was the signal agreed upon with me to give me notice ofhis success, which you may be sure I was very glad to hear, having satwatching upon the shore for it till near two o'clock in the morning.Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me down; and it having beena day of great fatigue to me, I slept very sound, till I was somethingsurprised with the noise of a gun; and presently starting up, I heard aman call me by the name of Governor, Governor, and presently I knew thecaptain's voice; when climbing up to the top of the hill, there hestood, and pointing to the ship, he embraced me in his arms. "My dearfriend and deliverer," says he, "there's your ship, for she is allyour's, and so are we, and all that belong to her." I cast my eyes tothe ship, and there she rode within little more than half a mile of theshore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as they were masters ofher, and the weather being fair, had brought her to an anchor justagainst the mouth of the little creek; and the tide being up, thecaptain had brought the pinnace in near the place where I at firstlanded my rafts, and so landed just at my door, I was at first ready tosink down with the surprise; for I saw my deliverance, indeed, visiblyput into my hands, all things easy, and a large ship just ready to carryme away whither I pleased to go. At first, for some time, I was not ableto answer him one word; but as he had taken me in his arms, I held fastby him, or I should have fallen to the ground. He perceived thesurprise, and immediately pulls a bottle out of his pocket, and gave mea dram of cordial, which he had brought on purpose for me. After I haddrank it, I sat down upon the ground; and though it brought me tomyself, yet it was a good while before I could speak a word to him. Allthis time the poor man was in as great an ecstasy as I, only not underany surprise, as I was; and he said a thousand kind and tender things tome, to compose and bring me to myself: but such was the flood of joy inmy breast, that it put all my spirits into confusion; at last it brokeout into tears; and in a little while after I recovered my speech. Ithen took my turn, and embraced him as my deliverer, and we rejoicedtogether. I told him I looked upon him as a man sent from Heaven todeliver me, and that the whole transaction seemed to be a chain ofwonders; that such things as these were the testimonies we had of asecret hand of Providence governing the world, and an evidence that theeye of an infinite power could search into the remotest corner of theworld, and send help to the miserable whenever he pleased. I forgot notto lift up my heart in thankfulness to Heaven; and what heart couldforbear to bless him, who had not only in a miraculous manner providedfor me in such a wilderness, and in such a desolate condition, but fromwhom every deliverance must always be acknowledged to proceed?
When we had talked a while, the captain told me he had brought me somelittle refreshment, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretchesthat had been so long his masters had not plundered him of. Upon this hecalled aloud to the boat, and bade his men bring the things ashore thatwere for the governor; and, indeed, it was a present as if I had beenone that was not to be carried away with them, but as if I had been todwell upon the island still. First, he had brought me a case of bottlesfull of excellent cordial waters, six large bottles of Madeira wine,(the bottles held two quarts each,) two pounds of excellent goodtobacco, twelve good pieces of the ship's beef, and six pieces of pork,with a bag of peas, and about an hundred weight of biscuit: he alsobrought me a box of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of lemons, and twobottles of lime juice, and abundance of other things. But, besidesthese, and what was
a thousand times more useful to me, he brought mesix new clean shirts, six very good neckcloths, two pair of gloves, onepair of shoes, a hat, and one pair of stockings, with a very good suitof clothes of his own, which had been worn but very little; in a word,he clothed me from head to foot. It was a very kind and agreeablepresent, as any one may imagine, to one in my circumstances; but neverwas any thing in the world of that kind so unpleasant, awkward, anduneasy, as it was to me to wear such clothes at first.
After these ceremonies were past, and after all his good things werebrought into my little apartment, we began to consult what was to bedone with the prisoners we had; for it was worth considering whether wemight venture to take them away with us or no, especially two of them,whom he knew to be incorrigible and refractory to the last degree; andthe captain said he knew they were such rogues, that there was noobliging them;
