by Daniel Defoe
which he liked wonderfully well, and resolved to put it inexecution the next morning.
But, in order to execute it with more art, and to be secure of success,I told him we must divide the prisoners, and that he should go and takeAtkins, and two more of the worst of them, and send them pinioned to thecave where the others lay: this was committed to Friday, and the two menwho came on shore with the captain.
They conveyed them to the cave, as to a prison; and it was indeed adismal place, especially to men in their condition.
The others I ordered to my bower, as I called it, of which I have givena full description; and as it was fenced in, and they pinioned, theplace was secure enough, considering they were upon their behaviour.
To these in the morning I sent the captain, who was to enter into aparley with them; in a word, to try them, and tell me, whether hethought they might be trusted or no, to go on board, and surprise theship. He talked to them of the injury done him, of the condition theywere brought to; and that though the governor had given them quarter 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 such an attempt as to recover the ship, he would havethe 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 for afather to them as long as they lived.
"Well," says the captain, "I must go and tell the governor what you say,and see what I can do to bring him to consent to it." So he brought mean account of the temper he found them in; and that he verily believedthey would be faithful.
However, that we might be very secure, I told him he should go backagain, and choose out five of them, and tell them, that they should seethat they did not want men; but he would take out those five to be hisassistants, and that the governor would keep the other two, and thethree that were sent prisoners to the castle, (my cave) as hostages forthe fidelity of those five; and that if they proved unfaithful in theexecution, the five hostages should be hanged in chains alive uponthe shore.
This looked severe, and convinced them that the governor was in earnest;however, they had no way left them but to accept it; and it was now thebusiness of the prisoners, as much as of the captain, to persuade theother five to do their duty.
Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition: 1. The captain,his mate, and passenger. 2. Then the two prisoners of the first gang, towhom, having their characters from the captain, I had given theirliberty, and trusted them with arms. 3. The other two whom I kept tillnow in my bower pinioned; but, upon the captain's motion, had nowreleased. 4. These five released at last; so that they were twelve inall, besides five we kept prisoners in the cave for hostages.
I asked the captain if he was willing to venture with these hands onboard the ship: for, as for me, and my man Friday, I did not think itwas proper for us to stir, having seven men left behind; and it wasemployment enough for us to keep them asunder, and supply themwith victuals.
As to the five in the cave, I resolved to keep them fast; but Fridaywent twice a day to them, to supply them with necessaries; and I madethe other two carry provisions to a certain distance, where Friday wasto take it.
When I shewed 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 that they should not stir anywhere but by my direction; that if they did, they should be fetched intothe castle, and be laid in irons; so that as we never suffered them tosee me as governor, so I now appeared as another person, and spoke ofthe governor, the garrison, the castle, and the like, upon alloccasions.
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 other men; and himself, and 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 camewithin call of the ship, he made Robinson hail them, and tell them hehad brought 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 theycame to the ship's side; when the captain and the mate, entering firstwith their arms, immediately knocked down the second mate and carpenterwith the but end of their muskets; being very faithfully seconded bytheir men, they seemed all the rest that were upon the main and quarterdecks, and began to fasten the hatches to keep them down who were below;when the other boat and their men, entering at the fore chains, securedthe forecastle of the ship, and the skuttle which went down into thecook-room, making three men they found there prisoners.
When this was done, and all safe upon the deck, the captain ordered themate with three men to break into the round-house, where the new rebelcaptain lay, and, having taken the alarm, was gotten up, and with twomen and a boy had gotten fire arms in their hands; and when the matewith a crow split upon the door, the new captain and his men firedboldly among them, and wounded the mate with a musket-ball, which brokehis arm, and wounded two more of the men, but killed nobody.
The mate, calling for help, rushed, however, into the round-house,wounded as he was, and with his pistol shot the new captain through thehead, the bullets entering at his mouth, and came out again behind oneof his ears; so that he never spoke a word; upon which the rest yielded,and the ship was taken effectually without any more lives being 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 of the clock inthe morning.
Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me down; and it havingbeen a day of great fatigue to me, I slept very sound, till I wassomething surprised with the noise of a gun; and presently starting up,I heard a man call me by the name of governor, governor; and presently Iknew the captain's voice; when climbing up to the top of the hill, therehe stood, and pointing to the ship, he embraced me in his arms: "My dearfriend and deliverer," says he, "there's your ship, for she is allyours, and so are we, and all that belong to her." I cast my eyes to theship, and there she rode within a 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 a little creek; and the tide being up, the captainhad brought the pinnace in near the place where I first landed my rafts,and so landed just at my door.
I was, at first, ready to sink down with the surprise; for I saw mydeliverance indeed visibly put into my hands, all things easy, and alarge ship just ready to carry me away whither I pleased to go; atfirst, for some time, I was not able to answer one word; but as he hadtaken me in his arms, I held fast by him, or I should have fallen tothe ground.
He perceived the surprise, and immediately pulled a bottle out of hispocket, and gave me a dram of cordial, which he had brought on purposefor me: after I drank it, I sat down upon the ground, and though itbrought me to myself, yet it was a good while before I could speak aword to him.
All this while the poor man was in as great an ecstasy as I, only notunder any surprise, as I was; and he said a thousand kind tender thingsto me, to compose and bring me to myself; but such was the flood of joyin my breast, that it put all my spirits into confusion; at last itbroke into tears, and in a little while after I recovered my speech.
Then I 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 theeyes of an infinite Power could search into the remotest corner of theworld, and send help to the miserable whenever he pleased.
I forgot not to lift up my heart in thankfulness to Heaven; and whatheart could forbear to bless Him, who had not only in a miraculousmanner provided for one in such a wilderness, and in such a desolatecondition, but from whom every deliverance must always be acknowledgedto proceed?
When we had talked awhile, the captain told me, he had brought me somelittle refreshments, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretcheswho had been so long his masters, had not plundered him of. Upon this hecalled aloud to the boat, and bids his men bring the things ashore thatwere for the governor; and indeed it was a present, as if I had beenone, not that I was to be carried along with them, but as if I had beento dwell upon the island still, and they were to go without me.
First, he had brought me a case of bottles full of excellent cordialwaters; six large bottles of
