by Daniel Defoe
Portuguese; not doubting but, if I could, we might findsome method to escape from thence, being upon the continent, and a goodcompany together, better than I could from an island forty miles off theshore, and alone without help. So, after some days, I took Friday towork again, by way of discourse; and told him, I would give him a boatto go back to his own nation; and accordingly I carried him to myfrigate, which lay on the other side of the island; and having clearedit of water (for I always kept it sunk in the water), I brought it out,shewed it him, and we both went into it.
I found he was a most dexterous fellow at managing it, would make it goalmost as swift and fast again as I could; so when he was in, I said tohim, "Well, now, Friday, shall we go to your nation?" He looked verydull at my saying so, which, it seems, was because he thought the boattoo small to go so far. I told him then I had a bigger; so the next dayI went to the place where the first boat lay which I had made, but whichI could not get into the water; he said that was big enough; but then,as I had taken no care of it, and it had lain two or three and twentyyears there, the sun had split and dried it, that it was in a mannerrotten. Friday told me, such a boat would do very well, and would carry"much enough vittle, drink, bread:" that was his way of talking.
Upon the whole, I was by this time so fixed upon my design of going overwith him to the continent, that I told him we would go and make one asbig as that, and he should go home in it. He answered not one word, butlooked very, grave and sad. I asked him, what was the matter with him?He asked me again thus, "Why you angry mad with Friday? what me done?" Iasked him, what he meant? I told him I was not angry with him at all:"No angry! no angry!" says he, repeating the words several times, "whysend Friday home away to my nation?"--"Why," said I, "Friday, did younot say you wished you were there?"--"Yes, yes," says he, "wish be boththere; no wish Friday there, no master there." In a word, he would notthink of going there without me. "I go there, Friday!" said I; "whatshould I do there?" He turned very quick upon me at this; "You do greatdeal much good," says he; "you teach wild mans be good, sober, tamemans; you tell them know God, pray God, and live new life."--"Alas,Friday," said I, "thou knowest not what thou sayest; I am but anignorant man myself."--"Yes, yes," says he, "you teechee me good, youteechee them good."--"No, no, Friday," said I, "you shall go without me;leave me here to live by myself, as I did before." He looked confusedagain at that word, and running to one of the hatchets which he used towear, he takes it up hastily, and gives it me. "What must I do withthis?" said I to him. "You take kill Friday," says he. "What must I killyou for?" said I again, He returns very quick, "What you send Fridayaway for? Take kill Friday, no send Friday away." This he spoke soearnestly, that I saw tears stand in his eyes. In a word, I so plainlydiscovered the utmost affection in him to me, and a firm resolution inhim, that I told him then, and often after, that I would never send himaway from me, if he was willing to stay with me.
Upon the whole, as I found by all his discourse a settled affection tome, and that nothing should part him from me, so I found all thefoundation of his desire to go to his own country was laid in his ardentaffection to the people, and his hopes of my doing them good; a thing,which as I had no notion of myself, so I had not the least thought, orintention, or desire of undertaking it. But still I found a stronginclination to my attempting an escape, as above, founded on thesupposition gathered from the former discourse; viz. that there wereseventeen bearded men there; and therefore, without any delay, I went towork with Friday, to find out a great tree proper to fell, and make alarge periagua or canoe, to under take the voyage: there were treesenough in the island to have built a little fleet, not of periaguas andcanoes only, but even of good large vessels: but the main thing I lookedat, was to get one so near the water, that we might launch it when itwas made, to avoid the mistake I committed at first.
At last Friday pitched upon a tree; for I found he knew much better thanI what kind of wood was fittest for it; nor can I tell to this day whatwood to call the tree we cut down, except that it was very like the treewe call tustick, or between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was muchof the same colour and smell. Friday was for burning the hollow orcavity of this tree out, to make it into a boat: but I shewed him howrather to cut it out with tools, which after I shewed him how to use, hedid very handily; and in about a month's hard labour we finished it, andmade it very handsome, especially, when, with our axes, which I shewedhim how to handle, we cut and hewed the outside into the true shape of aboat; after this, however, it cost us near a fortnight's time to get heralong, as it were inch by inch, upon great rollers, into the water: butwhen she was in, she would have carried twenty men with great ease.
When she was in the water, and though she was so big, it amazed me tosee with what dexterity and how swift my man Friday could manage her,turn her, and paddle her along; so I asked him if he would, and if wemight venture over in her? "Yes," he said, "he venture over in her verywell, though great blow wind." However, I had a farther design that heknew nothing of, and that was, to make a mast and sail, and to fit herwith an anchor and cable. As to a mast, that was easy enough to get; soI pitched upon a straight young cedar-tree, which I found near theplace, and which there was a great plenty of in the island; and I setFriday to work to cut it down, and gave him directions how to shape andorder it: but as to the sail, that was my particular care; I knew I hadold sails, or rather pieces of old sails enough; but as I had had themnow twenty-six years by me, and had not been very careful to preservethem, not imagining that I should ever have this kind of use for them, Idid not doubt but they were all rotten; and indeed most of them were so;however, I found two pieces which appeared pretty good, and with these Iwent to work, and with a great deal of pains, and awkward tediousstitching (you may be sure) for want of needles, I at length made athree-cornered ugly thing, like what we call in England ashoulder-of-mutton sail, to go with a boom at bottom, and a little shortsprit at the top, such as usually our ships' long-boats sail with, andsuch as I best knew how to manage; because it was such a one as I usedin the boat in which I made my escape from Barbary, as related in thefirst part of my story.
I was near two months performing this last work, viz. rigging andfitting my mast and sails; for I finished them very complete, making asmall stay, and a sail or foresail to it, to assist, if we should turnto windward; and, which was more than all, I fixed a rudder to the sternof her, to steer with; and though I was but a bungling shipwright, yetas I knew the usefulness, and even necessity of such a thing, I appliedmyself with so much pains to do it, that at last I brought it to pass,though, considering the many dull contrivances I had for it that failed,I think it cost me almost as much labour as making the boat.
After all this was done, I had my man Friday to teach as to whatbelonged to the navigation of my boat; for though he knew very well howto paddle the canoe, he knew nothing what belonged to a sail and arudder, and was the more amazed when he saw me work the boat to andagain in the sea by the rudder, and how the sail gibed, and filled thisway or that way, as the course we sailed changed; I say, when he sawthis, he stood like one astonished and amazed: however, with a littleuse, I made all these things familiar to him, and he became an expertsailor, except that as to the compass I could make him understand verylittle of that: on the other hand, as there was very little cloudyweather, and seldom or never any fogs in those parts, there was the lessoccasion for a compass, seeing the stars were always to be seen bynight, and the shore by day, except in the rainy seasons; and thennobody cared to stir abroad, either by land or sea.
I was now entered on the seven-and-twentieth year of my captivity inthis place; though the three last years that I had this creature withme, ought rather to be left out of the account, my habitation beingquite of another kind than in all the rest of my time. I kept theanniversary of my landing here with the same thankfulness to God for hismercies as at first; and if I had such cause of acknowledgment at first,I had much more so now, having such additional testimonies of the careof Providence over me, and the great hopes I had of
being effectuallyand speedily delivered; for I had an invincible impression upon mythoughts, that my deliverance was at hand, and that I should not beanother year in this place. However, I went on with my husbandry,digging, planting, and fencing, as usual; I gathered and cured mygrapes, and did every necessary thing, as before.
The rainy season was in the mean time upon me, when I kept more withindoors than at other times; so I had stowed our now vessel as secure aswe could, bringing her up into the creek, where, as I said in thebeginning, I landed my rafts from the ship; and haling her up to theshore, at high water mark, I made my man Friday dig a little dock, justbig enough for her to float in; and then, when the tide was out, we madea strong dam cross the
