Robinson Crusoe — in Words of One Syllable

by Daniel Defoe

must throw you out of the boat too."

  The poor boy gave me such a sweet smile as he swore to be true to me,that I could not find it in my heart to doubt him.

  While the man was still in view (for he was on his way to the land), westood out to sea with the boat, so that he and those that saw us fromthe shore might think we had gone to the straits' mouth, for no one wentto the South coast, as a tribe of men dwelt there who were known to killand eat their foes.

  We then bent our course to the East, so as to keep in with the shore;and as we had a fair wind and a smooth sea, by the next day at noon, wewere not less than 150 miles out of the reach of the Turk.

  I had still some fear lest I should be caught by the Moors, so I wouldnot go on shore in the day time. But when it grew dark we made our wayto the coast, and came to the mouth of a stream, from which we thoughtwe could swim to land, and then look round us. But as soon as it wasquite dark we heard strange sounds--barks, roars, grunts, and howls. Thepoor lad said he could not go on shore till dawn. "Well," said I, "thenwe must give it up, but it may be that in the day time we shall be seenby men, who for all we know would do us more harm than wild beasts.""Then we give them the shoot gun," said Xury with a laugh, "and makethem run away." I was glad to see so much mirth in the boy, and gave himsome bread and rice.

  We lay still at night, but did not sleep long, for in a few hours' timesome huge beasts came down to the sea to bathe. The poor boy shook fromhead to foot at the sight. One of these beasts came near our boat, andthough it was too dark to see him well, we heard him puff and blow, andknew that he must be a large one by the noise he made. At last the brutecame as near to the boat as two oars' length, so I shot at him, and heswam to the shore.

  The roar and cries set up by beasts and birds at the noise of my gunwould seem to show that we had made a bad choice of a place to landon; but be that as it would, to shore we had to go to find some freshspring, so that we might fill our casks. Xury said if I would let himgo with one of the jars, he would find out if the springs were fit todrink; and, if they were sweet, he would bring the jar back full. "Whyshould you go?" said I; "Why should not I go, and you stay in the boat?"At this Xury said, "if wild mans come they eat me, you go way." I couldnot but love the lad for this kind speech. "Well," said I, "we will bothgo, and if the wild men come we must kill them, they shall not eat youor me."

  I gave Xury some rum from the Turk's case to cheer him up, and we wenton shore. The boy went off with his gun, full a mile from the spot wherewe stood, and came back with a hare that he had shot, which we wereglad to cook and eat; but the good news which he brought was that he hadfound a spring, and had seen no wild men.

  I made a guess that the Cape de Verd Isles were not far off, for I sawthe top of the Great Peak, which I knew was near them. My one hope wasthat if I kept near the coast, I should find some ship that would takeus on board; and then, and not till then, should I feel a free man. Ina word, I put the whole of my fate on this chance, that I must meet withsome ship, or die.

  On the coast we saw some men who stood to look at us. They were black,and wore no clothes. I would have gone on shore to them, but Xury--whoknew best--said, "Not you go! Not you go!" So I brought the boat as nearthe land as I could, that I might talk to them, and they kept up with mea long way. I saw that one of them had a lance in his hand.

  I made signs that they should bring me some food, and they on their partmade signs for me to stop my boat. So I let down the top of my sail, andlay by, while two of them ran off; and in less than half an hour theycame back with some dry meat and a sort of corn which is grown in thispart of the world. This we should have been glad to get, but knew nothow to do so; for we durst not go on shore to them, nor did they dareto come to us. At last they took a safe way for us all, for they broughtthe food to the shore, where they set it, down, and then went a long wayoff while we took it in. We made signs to show our thanks, for we hadnot a thing that we could spare to give them.

  But as good luck would have it, we were at hand to take a great prizefor them; for two wild beasts, of the same kind as the first I spoke of,came in, full chase from the hills down to the sea.

  They swam as if they had come for sport. The men flew from them in fear,all but the one who held the lance. One of these beasts came near ourboat; so I lay in wait for him with my gun; and as soon as the brute wasin range, I shot him through the head. Twice he sank down in the sea,and twice he came up; and then just swam to the land, where he fell downdead. The men were in as much fear at the sound of my gun, as they hadbeen at the sight of the beasts. But when I made signs for them to cometo the shore, they took heart, and came.

  They at once made for their prize; and by the help of a rope, which theyslung round him, they brought him safe on the beach.

  We now left our wild men, and went on and on, for twelve days more. Theland in front of us ran out four or five miles, like a bill; and we hadto keep some way from the coast, to make this point, so that we lostsight of the shore.

  I gave the helm to Xury and sat down to think what would be my bestcourse to take: when all at once I heard the lad cry out "A ship with asail! A ship with a sail!" He did not show much joy at the sight, forhe thought that this ship had been sent out to take him back: but I knewwell, from the look of her, that she was not one of the Turk's.

  I made all the sail I could to come in the ship's way, and told Xury tofire a gun, in the hope that if those on deck could not hear the sound,they might see the smoke. This they did see, and then let down theirsails so that we might come up to them, and in three hours time we wereat the ship's side. The men spoke to us in French, but I could not makeout what they meant. At last a Scot on board said in my own tongue, "Whoare you? Whence do you come?" I told him in a few words how I had gotfree from the Moors.

  Then the man who had charge of the ship bade me come on board, and tookme in with Xury and all my goods. I told him that he might take all Ihad, but he said "You shall have your goods back when we come to land,for I have but done for you what you would have done for me, had I beenin the same plight."

  He gave me a good round sum for my boat, and said that I should have thesame sum for Xury, if I would part with him. But I told him that as itwas by the boy's help that I had got free, I was loath to sell him. Hesaid it was just and right in me to feel thus, but at the same time, ifI could make up my mind to part with him, he should be set free in twoyears' time. So, as the poor slave had a wish to go with him, I did notsay "no." I got to All Saints' Bay in three weeks, and was now a freeman.

  I had made a good sum by all my store, and with this I went on land. ButI did not at all know what to do next. At length I met with a man whosecase was much the same as my own, and we both took some land to farm.My stock, like his, was low, but we made our farms serve to keep us infood, though not more than that. We both stood in need of help, and Isaw now that I had done wrong to part with my boy.

  I did not at all like this kind of life. What! thought I, have I comeall this way to do that which I could have done as well at home withmy friends round me! And to add to my grief, the kind friend, who hadbrought me here in his ship, now meant to leave these shores.

  On my first start to sea when a boy, I had put a small sum in the handsof an aunt, and this my friend said I should do well to spend on myfarm. So when he got home he sent some of it in cash, and laid out therest in cloth, stuffs, baize, and such like goods. My aunt had put a fewpounds in my friend's hands as a gift to him, to show her thanks for allthat he had done for me, and with this sum he was so kind as to buy me aslave. In the mean time I had bought a slave, so now I had two, and allwent on well for the next year.

  But soon my plans grew too large for my means. One day some men came toask me to take charge of a slave ship to be sent out by them. They saidthey would give me a share in the slaves, and pay the cost of the stock.This would have been a good thing for me if I had not had farms andland; but it was wild and rash to think of it now, for I had made alarge sum, and ought to have gone on in the same
way for three or fouryears more. Well, I told these men that I would go with all my heart, ifthey would look to my farm in the mean time, which they said they woulddo.

  So I made my will, and went on board this ship on the same day on which,eight years since, I had left Hull. She had six guns, twelve men, and aboy. We took with us saws, chains, toys, beads, bits of glass, and suchlike ware, to suit the taste of those with whom we had to trade.

  We were not more than twelve days from the Line, when a high wind tookus off we knew not where. All at once there was a cry of "Land!" and theship struck on a bank of sand, in which she sank so deep that we couldnot get her off. At last we found that we must make up our minds toleave her, and get to shore as well as we could. There had been a boatat her stern, but we found it had been torn off by the force of thewaves. One small boat was still