The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner, Volume 1
Page 61
with me as a servant, besides my man Friday,who was too much a stranger to be capable of supplying the place of aservant on the road.
In this manner I set out from Lisbon; and our company being very wellmounted and armed, we made a little troop, whereof they did me thehonour to call me captain, as well because I was the oldest man, asbecause I had two servants, and, indeed, was the original of thewhole journey.
As I have troubled you with none of my sea journals, so I shall troubleyou now with none of my land journal; but some adventures that happenedto us in this tedious and difficult journey I must not omit.
When we came to Madrid, we being all of us strangers to Spain, werewilling to stay some time to see the court of Spain, and to see what wasworth observing; but it being the latter part of the summer, we hastenedaway, and set out from Madrid about the middle of October; but when wecame to the edge of Navarre, we were alarmed, at several towns on theway, with an account that so much snow was fallen on the French side ofthe mountains, that several travellers were obliged to come back toPampeluna, after having attempted, at an extreme hazard, to pass on.
When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it so indeed; and to me, thathad been always used to a hot climate, and to countries where I couldscarce bear any clothes on, the cold was insufferable: nor, indeed, wasit more painful than surprising, to come but ten days before out of OldCastile, where the weather was not only warm, but very hot, andimmediately to feel a wind from the Pyrenean mountains so very keen, soseverely cold, as to be intolerable, and to endanger benumbing andperishing of our fingers and toes.
Poor Friday was really frightened when he saw the mountains all coveredwith snow, and felt cold weather, which he had never seen or felt beforein his life. To mend the matter, when we came to Pampeluna, it continuedsnowing with so much violence, and so long, that the people said winterwas come before its time; and the roads, which were difficult before,were now quite impassable; for, in a word, the snow lay in some placestoo thick for us to travel, and being not hard frozen, as is the case inthe northern countries, there was no going without being in danger ofbeing buried alive every step. We stayed no less than twenty days atPampeluna; when seeing the winter coming on, and no likelihood of itsbeing better, for it was the severest winter all over Europe that hadbeen known in the memory of man, I proposed that we should all go awayto Fontarabia, and there take shipping for Bourdeaux, which was a verylittle voyage. But while I was considering this, there came in fourFrench gentlemen, who having been stopped on the French side of thepasses, as we were on the Spanish, had found out a guide, who,traversing the country near the head of Languedoc, had brought them overthe mountains by such ways, that they were not much incommoded with thesnow; for where they met with snow in any quantity, they said it wasfrozen hard enough to bear them and their horses. We sent, for thisguide, who told us he would undertake to carry us the same way with nohazard from the snow, provided we were armed sufficiently to protectourselves from wild beasts; for, he said, upon these great snows it wasfrequent for some wolves to show themselves at the foot of themountains, being made ravenous for want of food, the ground beingcovered with snow. We told him we were well enough prepared for suchcreatures as they were, if he would ensure us from a kind of two-leggedwolves, which, we were told, we were in most danger from, especially onthe French side of the mountains. He satisfied us that there was nodanger of that kind in the way that we were to go: so we readily agreedto follow him, as did also twelve other gentlemen, with their servants,some French, some Spanish, who, as I said, had attempted to go, and wereobliged to come back again.
Accordingly, we set out from Pampeluna, with our guide, on the 15th ofNovember; and, indeed, I was surprised, when, instead of going forward,he came directly back with us on the same road that we came from Madrid,about twenty miles; when having passed two rivers, and come into theplain country, we found ourselves in a warm climate again, where thecountry was pleasant, and no snow to be seen; but on a sudden, turningto his left, he approached the mountains another way: and though it istrue the hills and precipices looked dreadful, yet he made so manytours, such meanders, and led us by such winding ways, that weinsensibly passed the height of the mountains without being muchencumbered with the snow; and, all on a sudden, he showed us thepleasant fruitful provinces of Languedoc and Gascony, all green andflourishing, though, indeed, at a great distance, and we had some roughway to pass still.
We were a little uneasy, however, when we found it snowed one whole dayand a night so fast, that we could not travel; but he bid us be easy; weshould soon be past it all: we found, indeed, that we began to descendevery day, and to come more north than before; and so depending upon ourguide, we went on.
It was about two hours before night, when our guide being somethingbefore us, and not just in sight, out rushed three monstrous wolves, andafter them a bear, out of a hollow way adjoining to a thick wood: two ofthe wolves made at the guide, and had he been far before us, he wouldhave been devoured before we could have helped him; one of them fastenedupon his horse, and the other attacked the man with that violence, thathe had not time, or presence of mind enough, to draw his pistol, buthallooed and cried out to us most lustily. My man Friday being next me,I bade him ride up, and see what was the matter. As soon as Friday camein sight of the man, he hallooed out as loud as the other, "O master! Omaster!" but, like a bold fellow, rode directly up to the poor man, andwith his pistol shot the wolf that attacked him in the head.
It was happy for the poor man that it was my man Friday; for he havingbeen used to such creatures in his country, he had no fear upon him, butwent close up to him and shot him, as above; whereas any other of uswould have fired at a farther distance, and have perhaps either missedthe wolf, or endangered shooting the man.
But it was enough to have terrified a bolder man than I; and, indeed, italarmed all our company, when, with the noise of Friday's pistol, weheard on both sides the most dismal howling of wolves; and the noise,redoubled by the echo of the mountains, appeared to us as if there hadbeen a prodigious number of them; and perhaps there was not such a fewas that we had no cause of apprehensions: however, as Friday had killedthis wolf, the other that had fastened upon the horse left himimmediately, and fled, without doing him any damage, having happilyfastened upon his head, where the bosses of the bridle had stuck in histeeth. But the man was most hurt; for the raging creature had bit himtwice, once in the arm, and the other time a little above his knee; andthough he had made some defence, he was just as it were tumbling down bythe disorder of his horse, when Friday came up and shot the wolf.
It is easy to suppose that at the noise of Friday's pistol we all mendedour pace, and rode up as fast as the way, which was very difficult,would give us leave, to see what was the matter. As soon as we cameclear of the trees, which blinded us before, we saw clearly what hadbeen the case, and how Friday had disengaged the poor guide, though wedid not presently discern what kind of creature it was he had killed.
But never was a fight managed so hardily, and in such a surprisingmanner, as that which followed between Friday and the bear, which gaveus all, though at first we were surprised and afraid for him, thegreatest diversion imaginable. As the bear is a heavy clumsy creature,and does not gallop as the wolf does, who is swift and light, so he hastwo particular qualities, which generally are the rule of his actions:first, as to men, who are not his proper prey, (he does not usuallyattempt them, except they first attack him, unless he be excessivehungry, which it is probable might now be the case, the ground beingcovered with snow,) if you do not meddle with him, he will not meddlewith you; but then you must take care to be very civil to him, and givehim the road, for he is a very nice gentleman; he will not go a step outof his way for a prince; nay, if you are really afraid, your best way isto look another way, and keep going on; for sometimes if you stop, andstand still, and look steadfastly at him, he takes it for an affront;but if you throw or toss any thing at him, and it hits him, though itwere but a bit of stick as big as your finger, he thinks
himself abused,and sets all other business aside to pursue his revenge, and will havesatisfaction in point of honour;--this is his first quality: the nextis, if he be once affronted, he will never leave yon, night nor day,till he has his revenge, but follows, at a good round rate, till heovertakes yon.
My man Friday had delivered our guide, and when we came up to him, hewas helping him off from his horse, for the man was both hurt andfrightened, when, on a sudden, we espied the bear come out of the wood,and a vast monstrous one it was, the biggest by far that ever I saw. Wewere all a little surprised when we saw him; but when Friday saw him,it was easy to see joy and courage in the fellow's countenance: "O, O,O!" says Friday, three times, pointing to him; "O master! you give mete leave, me shakee te hand with him; me makee you good laugh."
I was surprised to see the fellow so well pleased; "You fool," says I,"he will eat you up,"--"Eatee me up! eatee me