I cannot express the confusion I was in. The joy of seeing a ship, and one I had reason to believe was manned by my own countrymen, was such as I cannot describe. Yet I had some secret doubts hung about me, I cannot tell from whence they came, bidding me keep upon my guard. In the first place, it occur’d to me to consider what business an English ship could have in that part of the world, since it was not the way to or from any part of the world where the English had any traffic. I knew there had been no storms to drive them in there. If they were English, it was most probable they were here upon no good design. I had better continue as I was than fall into the hands of pirates and murderers.
I had not kept myself long in this posture but I saw the boat draw near the shore, as if they looked for a creek to thrust in at for the convenience of landing. However, as they did not come quite far enough, they did not see the little inlet where Friday and I docked our vessels, but run their boat on shore upon the beach, at about a mile from me, which was very happy for me. Otherwise they would have landed just at my door, and would soon have beaten me out of my castle and perhaps have plundered me of all I had.
When they were on shore, I was satisfy’d they were Englishmen, at least most of them. There were in all eleven men, where of three of them I found were unarmed and bound. When the first four or five of them were jumped on shore, they took those three out of the boat as prisoners. One of the three I could perceive using the most passionate gestures of entreaty, affliction, and despair, even to a kind of extravagance. The other two, I could perceive, lifted up their hands sometimes, and appeared concerned, indeed, but not to such a degree as the first.
I was confounded at the sight, and knew not what the meaning of it should be. Friday called out to me, "O master! you see English mans eat prisoner as well as savage mans."
"Why, Friday," said I, "do you think they are going to eat them then?"
"Yes," said Friday. "They will eat them."
"No, no," said I. "Friday, I am afraid they will murder them, indeed, but you may be sure they will not eat them."
All this while I had no thought of what the matter was, but stood expecting every moment when the three prisoners should be killed. Once I saw one of the villains lift up his arm with a great cutlass to strike one of the poor men. I expect'd to see him fall every moment. I wished now I had any way to have come undiscovered within shot of them, that I might have rescued the three men, for I saw no fire-arms they had among them. After I had observ’d the outrageous usage of the three men by the insolent seamen, I observ’d the fellows run scattering about the island as if they wanted to see the country. I observ’d the three other men had liberty to go also where they pleased, but they sat down all three upon the ground, very pensive, and looked like men in despair. This put me in mind of the first time when I came on shore and began to look about me. How I gave myself over for lost, how wildly I looked round me, what dreadful apprehensions I had.
It was just at the top of high water when these people came on shore. While they rambled about to see what kind of a place they were in, they had carelessly staid till the tyde was spent and the water was ebb'd away, leaving their boat aground. They had left two men in the boat, who, having drank a little too much brandy, fell asleep. However, one of them waking a little sooner than the other, and finding the boat too fast aground for him to stir it, hallooed out for the rest. They all soon came to the boat, but it was past all their strength to launch her, the boat being very heavy, and the shore on that side being a soft oozy sand, almost like a quicksand. In this condition, like true seamen, who are perhaps the least of all mankind given to forethought, they gave it over, and away they strolled about the country again. I heard one of them say aloud to another, calling them off from the boat, "Why, let her alone, Jack, can't you? She'll float next tyde."
All this while I kept myself very close, not once daring to stir out of my castle any farther than to my place of observation near the top of the hill. Very glad I was to think how well it was fortify'd. I knew it was no less than ten hours before the boat could float again, and by that time it would be dark and I might be at more liberty to see their motions and to hear their discourse, if they had any. In the mean time, I fitted myself up for a battle as before, tho’ with more caution, knowing I had to do with another kind of enemy than I had at first. I ordered Friday also to load himself with arms. My figure, indeed, was very fierce. I had my formidable goat-skin coat on, with the great cap I have mention'd, a naked sword by my side, two pistols in my belt, and a gun upon each shoulder.
It was my design, as I said above, not to have made any attempt till it was dark. But about two o'clock, being the heat of the day, I found they were all gone straggling into the woods, and, as I thought, laid down to sleep. The three poor distress'd men, too anxious for their condition to get any sleep, however, sat down under the shelter of a great tree at about a half of a mile from me, and, as I thought, out of sight of any of the rest. Upon this I resolv’d to discover myself to them and learn something of their condition. I marched in the figure as above, my man Friday at a good distance behind me, as formidable for his arms as I, but making quite more an apprehending figure as I did with his gray skin and sharp teeth.
I came as near them undiscovered as I could, and then, before any of them saw me, I let out a sharp howl in the nature of the beast. They started up at the noise, but were ten times more confounded when they saw me and the uncouth figure I made. They made no answer at all, but I thought I perceived them just going to fly from me, when I spoke to them in English.
"Gentlemen," said I, "do not be surprised at me. Perhaps you may have a friend near when you did not expect it."
"He must be sent directly from Heaven then," said one of them very gravely to me, and pulling off his hat at the same time, "for our condition is past the help of man."
"All help is from Heaven, sir," said I. "But can you put a stranger in the way how to help you? You seem to be in some great distress. I saw you when you landed, and when you seemed to make application to the brutes that came with you, I saw one of them lift up his sword to kill you."
The poor man, with tears running down his face, and trembling, looking like one astonished, returned, "Am I talking to God or man? Is it a real man or an angel?"
"Be in no fear about that, Sir," said I. "If God had sent an angel to relieve you, he would have come better cloathed and armed. Pray lay aside your fears. I am an Englishman and disposed to assist you. You see I have one servant only. We have arms and ammunition. Tell us freely, can we serve you? What is your case?"
"Our case, sir" said he, "is too long to tell you while our murderers are so near us. But, in short, I, Hammond Burke, was commander of that ship and my men have mutinied against me. They have been hardly prevailed on not to murder me. At last, they have set me on shore in this desolate place, with these two men with me, one my mate, Turner, the other a passenger, Sir Wade Jemryn. We expected to perish, believing the place to be uninhabited, and know not yet what to think of it."
"Where are these brutes, your enemies?" said I. "Do you know where they are gone?"
"There they lie, sir," said he, pointing to a thicket of trees. "My heart trembles for fear they have seen us and heard you speak. If they have, they will murder us all."
"Have they any fire-arms?" said I.
"They had only two pieces, one of which they left in the boat."
"Well then," said I, "leave the rest to me. I see they are all asleep, it is an easy thing to kill them all, but shall we rather take them prisoners?"
Burke told me there were two desperate villains among them it was scarce safe to show any mercy to. But if they were secured, he believed all the rest would return to their duty. I asked him which they were? He told me he could not at that distance distinguish them, but he would obey my orders in any thing I would direct.
"Well," said I, "let us retreat out of their view or hearing, lest they awake, and we will resolve further." So they went back with me til
l the woods covered us from them.
"Look you, sir," said I, "if I venture upon your deliverance, my conditions are but two. First, while you stay in this island with me, you will not pretend to any authority here. If I put arms 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 be governed by my orders. Secondly, if the ship is or may be recovered, you will carry me and my man to England, passage free."
Burke gave me all the assurances the invention or faith of man could devise that he would comply with these most reasonable demands. Besides, he would owe his life to me and acknowledge it upon all occasions as long as he lived. "Well then," said I, "here are three muskets for you, with powder and ball. Tell me next what you think is proper to be done."
He offered to be wholly guided by me. I told him I thought it was hard venturing any thing, but the best method I could think of was to fire upon them at once as they lay, and if any were not killed at the first volley, and offer'd to submit, we might save them. He said he was loth to kill them if he could help it, but those two had been the authors of all the mutiny, and if they escaped we should be undone still. They would go on board and bring the whole ship's company and destroy us all. "Well then," said I, "necessity legitimates my advice, for it is the only way to save our lives." However, seeing him still cautious of shedding blood, I told him they should go themselves, and manage as they found convenient.
In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awake and soon after we saw two of them on their feet. Asked I, "Are either of them the heads of the mutiny?"
"No," said Burke.
"Well then," said I, "you may let them escape. Providence seems to have awakened them on purpose to save themselves. Now if the rest escape you, it is your fault." Animated with this, the captain took the musket I had given him in his hand and a pistol in his belt, and his two comrades with him, with each a piece in his hand. The two men who were with him going first, made some noise, at which one of the seamen who was awake turned about, and seeing them coming, cried out to the rest. But it was too late then, for the moment he cried out they fired. They had so well aimed their shot at the men, one of them was killed on the spot and the other very much wounded. Not being dead, he started up on his feet, and called for help to the other. Captain Burke, stepping to him, told him, "It is too late to call for help. You should call upon God to forgive your villainy." With that word he knocked the man down with the stock of his musket, so he never spoke more.
There were three more in the company, and one of them was also wounded. By this time I was come. When they saw their danger, and that it was in vain to resist, they begged for mercy. Burke told them he would spare their lives if they would give him any assurance of their abhorrence of the treachery they had been guilty of, and would swear to be faithful to him in recovering the ship. They gave him all the protestations of their sincerity that could be desired, and he was willing to spare their lives, which I was not against, only I obliged him to keep them bound hand and foot while they were on the island.
While this was doing, I sent Friday with Turner, the captain's mate, to the boat with orders to secure her and bring away the oars and sails, which they did. By and by three straggling men that were (happily for them) parted from the rest, came back upon hearing the guns fired. Seeing the captain who before was their prisoner now their conqueror, they submitted to be bound also. And so our victory was complete.
My new allies, villains,
fear the island
It now remained that Captain Burke and I should inquire into one another's circumstances. I began first, and told him my whole history, leaving out certain particulars of my nature and the nature of the island, to be certain. Indeed, as my story is a whole collection of wonders e'en without these particulars, it affected him deeply. But when he reflected from thence upon himself, and how I seem'd to have been preserved there on purpose to save his life, the tears ran down his face and he could not speak a word more. After this communication was at an end, I carried him and his two men into my apartment, where I refresh'd them with such provisions as I had, and showed them all the contrivances I had made during my long, long inhabiting that cursed place.
Above all, Burke admired my fortification, and how I had conceal'd my retreat with the growth about my fence, which, having been now planted near twenty years, was become a little wood. I told him this was my castle and my residence, but I had a seat in the country, as most princes have, and I would show him that too another time.
At present our business was to consider how to recover the ship. He agreed with me, but told me he was at a loss what measures to take, for there were still six and twenty hands on board who would be hardened in it now by desperation, knowing if they were subdued they would be brought to the gallows as soon as they came to England or to any of the English colonies. Therefore, there would be no attacking them with so small a number as we were.
I mused for some time upon what he had said, and found it was a very rational conclusion. Therefore, something was to be resolv’d on speedily, as well to draw the men on board into some snare for their surprise as to prevent their landing upon us and destroying us. It occurred to me in a little while the ship's crew, wondering what was become of their comrades and of the boat, would come on shore in their other boat to look for them. Perhaps they might come armed and be too strong for us. Upon this, I told him the first thing we had to do was to stave the boat which lay upon the beach, so they might not carry her off, and leave her so far useless as not to be fit to swim. Accordingly we went on board, took the arms which were left on board out of her, and whatever else we found there.
When we had carried all these things on shore, we knock'd a great hole in her bottom, that if they had come strong enough to master us, yet they could not carry off the boat. Indeed, it was not much in my thoughts we could be able to recover the ship. My view was if they went away without the boat, I did not much question to make her fit again to carry us to the Leeward Islands, and call upon our friends the Spaniards in my way, for I had them still in my thoughts.
While we were thus preparing our designs, and had by main strength heaved the boat upon the beach so high the tyde would not float her off at high water mark, and besides, had broke a hole in her bottom too big to be stopped, we heard the ship fire a gun and saw her make a waft with her ensign as a signal for the boat to come on board. But no boat stirred. They fired several times, making other signals for the boat. At last, when all their signals and firing proved fruitless, we saw them, by the help of my glasses, hoist another boat out and row towards the shore. We found, as they approached, there were no less than ten men in her, and they had fire-arms with them.
As the ship lay almost two leagues from the shore, we had a full view of them as they came, and a plain sight even of their faces. Because the tyde having set them a little to the east of the other boat, they rowed up under shore to come to the same place where the other had landed and where the boat lay. Captain Burke knew the persons and characters of all the men in the boat, of whom, he said, there were three very honest fellows who he was sure were led into this conspiracy by the rest, being overpowered and frightened. As for the boatswain, Slaader, a Moorish pirate who it seemed was the chief officer among them, and all the rest, they were as outrageous as any of the ship's crew, and were no doubt made desperate in their new enterprise. Terribly apprehensive he was they would be too powerful for us.
I smiled at him. "Men in our circumstances are past the operation of fear," I told him. "And where, Sir, is your belief of my being preserved here on purpose to save your life, which elevated you a little while ago? For my part, there seems to me but one thing amiss in all the prospect of it."
"What is that?" said he.
"Why," said I, "it is, that as you say there are three or four honest fellows among them which should be spared. Had they been all of the wicked part of the crew, I should have thought God's providence had singled them out
to deliver them into your hands. Depend upon it," I told him, "every man that comes ashore are our own, and shall die or live as they behave to us."
As I spoke this with a raised voice and cheerful countenance, I found it encouraged him. So we set vigorously to our business.
We had, upon the first appearance of the boat's coming from the ship, consider'd of separating our prisoners. We had, indeed, secured them effectually. Two of them, of whom Burke was less assured than ordinary, I sent with Friday, and one of the three deliver'd men to my cave, where they were remote enough and out of danger of being heard or discovered, or of finding their way out of the woods if they could have deliver'd themselves. Here they left them bound, but gave them provisions and promised them if they continued there quietly to give them their liberty in a day or two. If they attempted their escape, they should be kill'd by the beast of the island without mercy. As Friday's countenance can be most fierce if he wills it, they dreaded at the thought of something more bestial than he. They promised faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and were very thankful they had such good usage as to have provisions and light left them.
The other prisoners had better usage. Two of them were kept pinioned, because the captain was not free to trust them. The other two were taken into my service, upon Burke's recommendation and upon their solemnly engaging to live and die with us. With them and the three honest men we were seven men well armed, and I made no doubt we should be able to deal well enough with the ten that were coming, considering the captain had said there were three or four honest men among them also.
The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe Page 20
