could possibly join with these bearded men, who, I made no doubt, were
Spaniards or Portuguese; not doubting but, if I could, we might find
some method to escape from thence, being upon the continent, and a good
company together, better than I could from an island forty miles off the
shore, and alone without help. So, after some days, I took Friday to
work again, by way of discourse; and told him, I would give him a boat
to go back to his own nation; and accordingly I carried him to my
frigate, which lay on the other side of the island; and having cleared
it 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 go
almost as swift and fast again as I could; so when he was in, I said to
him, “Well, now, Friday, shall we go to your nation?” He looked very
dull at my saying so, which, it seems, was because he thought the boat
too small to go so far. I told him then I had a bigger; so the next day
I went to the place where the first boat lay which I had made, but which
I 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 twenty
years there, the sun had split and dried it, that it was in a manner
rotten. 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 over
with him to the continent, that I told him we would go and make one as
big as that, and he should go home in it. He answered not one word, but
looked 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?” I
asked 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, “why
send Friday home away to my nation?”—“Why,” said I, “Friday, did you
not say you wished you were there?”—“Yes, yes,” says he, “wish be both
there; no wish Friday there, no master there.” In a word, he would not
think of going there without me. “I go there, Friday!” said I; “what
should I do there?” He turned very quick upon me at this; “You do great
deal much good,” says he; “you teach wild mans be good, sober, tame
mans; you tell them know God, pray God, and live new life.”—“Alas,
Friday,” said I, “thou knowest not what thou sayest; I am but an
ignorant man myself.”—“Yes, yes,” says he, “you teechee me good, you
teechee 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 confused
again at that word, and running to one of the hatchets which he used to
wear, he takes it up hastily, and gives it me. “What must I do with
this?” said I to him. “You take kill Friday,” says he. “What must I kill
you for?” said I again, He returns very quick, “What you send Friday
away for? Take kill Friday, no send Friday away.” This he spoke so
earnestly, that I saw tears stand in his eyes. In a word, I so plainly
discovered the utmost affection in him to me, and a firm resolution in
him, that I told him then, and often after, that I would never send him
away from me, if he was willing to stay with me.
Upon the whole, as I found by all his discourse a settled affection to
me, and that nothing should part him from me, so I found all the
foundation of his desire to go to his own country was laid in his ardent
affection 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, or
intention, or desire of undertaking it. But still I found a strong
inclination to my attempting an escape, as above, founded on the
supposition gathered from the former discourse; viz. that there were
seventeen bearded men there; and therefore, without any delay, I went to
work with Friday, to find out a great tree proper to fell, and make a
large periagua or canoe, to under take the voyage: there were trees
enough in the island to have built a little fleet, not of periaguas and
canoes only, but even of good large vessels: but the main thing I looked
at, was to get one so near the water, that we might launch it when it
was made, to avoid the mistake I committed at first.
At last Friday pitched upon a tree; for I found he knew much better than
I what kind of wood was fittest for it; nor can I tell to this day what
wood to call the tree we cut down, except that it was very like the tree
we call tustick, or between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much
of the same colour and smell. Friday was for burning the hollow or
cavity of this tree out, to make it into a boat: but I shewed him how
rather to cut it out with tools, which after I shewed him how to use, he
did very handily; and in about a month’s hard labour we finished it, and
made it very handsome, especially, when, with our axes, which I shewed
him how to handle, we cut and hewed the outside into the true shape of a
boat; after this, however, it cost us near a fortnight’s time to get her
along, as it were inch by inch, upon great rollers, into the water: but
when 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 to
see 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 we
might venture over in her? “Yes,” he said, “he venture over in her very
well, though great blow wind.” However, I had a farther design that he
knew nothing of, and that was, to make a mast and sail, and to fit her
with an anchor and cable. As to a mast, that was easy enough to get; so
I pitched upon a straight young cedar-tree, which I found near the
place, and which there was a great plenty of in the island; and I set
Friday to work to cut it down, and gave him directions how to shape and
order it: but as to the sail, that was my particular care; I knew I had
old sails, or rather pieces of old sails enough; but as I had had them
now twenty-six years by me, and had not been very careful to preserve
them, not imagining that I should ever have this kind of use for them, I
did 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 I
went to work, and with a great deal of pains, and awkward tedious
stitching (you may be sure) for want of needles, I at length made a
three-cornered ugly thing, like what we call in England a
shoulder-of-mutton sail, to go with a boom at bottom, and a little short
sprit at the top, such as usually our ships’ long-boats sail with, and
such as I best knew how to manage; because it was such a one as I used
in the boat in which I made my escape from Barbary, as related in the
first part of my story.
I was near two months performing this last work, viz. rigging and
fitting my mast and sails; for I finished them very complete, making a
small stay, and a sail or foresail to it, to assist, if we should turn
to windward; and, which was more than all, I fixed a rudder to the stern
of her, to steer with; and though I was but a bungling shipwright, yet
as I knew the usefulness, and even necessity of such a thing, I applied
myself 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 what
belonged to the navigation of my boat; for though he knew very well how
to paddle the canoe, he knew nothing what belonged to a sail and a
rudder, and was the more amazed when he saw me work the boat to and
again in the sea by the rudder, and how the sail gibed, and filled this
way or that way, as the course we sailed changed; I say, when he saw
this, he stood like one astonished and amazed: however, with a little
use, I made all these things familiar to him, and he became an expert
sailor, except that as to the compass I could make him understand very
little of that: on the other hand, as there was very little cloudy
weather, and seldom or never any fogs in those parts, there was the less
occasion for a compass, seeing the stars were always to be seen by
night, and the shore by day, except in the rainy seasons; and then
nobody cared to stir abroad, either by land or sea.
I was now entered on the seven-and-twentieth year of my captivity in
this place; though the three last years that I had this creature with
me, ought rather to be left out of the account, my habitation being
quite of another kind than in all the rest of my time. I kept the
anniversary of my landing here with the same thankfulness to God for his
mercies 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 care
of Providence over me, and the great hopes I had of being effectually
and speedily delivered; for I had an invincible impression upon my
thoughts, that my deliverance was at hand, and that I should not be
another year in this place. However, I went on with my husbandry,
digging, planting, and fencing, as usual; I gathered and cured my
grapes, and did every necessary thing, as before.
The rainy season was in the mean time upon me, when I kept more within
doors than at other times; so I had stowed our new vessel as secure as
we could, bringing her up into the creek, where, as I said in the
beginning, I landed my rafts from the ship; and haling her up to the
shore, at high water mark, I made my man Friday dig a little dock, just
big enough for her to float in; and then, when the tide was out, we made
a strong dam cross the end of it, to keep the water out; and so she lay
dry, as to the tide, from the sea; and to keep the rain off, we laid a
great many boughs of trees so thick, that she was as well thatched as a
house; and thus we waited for the months of November and December, in
which I designed to make my adventure.
When the settled season began to come in, as the thought of my design
returned with the fair weather, I was preparing daily for the voyage;
and the first thing I did was to lay up a certain quantity of provision,
being the store for the voyage; and intended, in a week or a fortnight’s
time, to open the dock, and launch out our boat. I was busy one morning
upon something of this kind, when I called to Friday, and bid him go to
the sea-shore, and see if he could find a turtle or tortoise, a thing
which we generally got once a week, for the sake of the eggs, as well as
the flesh. Friday had not been long gone, when he came running back, and
flew over my outward wall, or fence, like one that felt not the ground,
or the steps he set his feet on; and before I had time to speak to him,
he cried out to me, “O master! O master! O sorrow! O bad!”—“What’s the
matter, Friday?” said I. “O yonder there,” says he, “one, two, three,
canoe! one, two, three!” By this way of speaking I concluded there were
six; but on inquiry I found there were but three. “Well, Friday,” said
I, “do not be frighted;” so I heartened him up as well as I could.
However, I saw the poor fellow most terribly scared; for nothing ran in
his head, but that they were come to look for him, and would cut him in
pieces, and eat him; the poor fellow trembled so, that I scarce knew
what to do with him; I comforted him as well as I could, and told him I
was in as much danger as he, and that they would eat me as well as him.
“But,” said I, “Friday, we must resolve to fight them: can you fight,
Friday?” “Me shoot,” says he, “but there come many great number.” “No
matter for that,” said I again; “our guns will fright them that we do
not kill.” So I asked him, whether, if I resolved to defend him, he
would defend me, and stand by me, and do just as I bade him? He said,
“Me die, when you bid die, master;” so I went and fetched a good dram of
rum, and gave him; for I had been so good a husband of my rum, that I
had a great deal left. When he had drank it, I made him take the two
fowling-pieces which we always carried, and load them with large
swan-shot as big as small pistol bullets; then I took four muskets, and
loaded them with two slugs and five small bullets each; and my two
pistols I loaded with a brace of bullets each: I hung my great sword, as
usual, naked by my side, and gave Friday his hatchet.
When I had thus prepared myself, I took my perspective-glass, and went
up to the side of the hill, to see what I could discover; and I found
quickly, by my glass, that there were one and twenty savages, three
prisoners, and three canoes; and that their whole business seemed to be
the triumphant banquet upon these three human bodies; a barbarous feast
indeed, but nothing more than as I had observed was usual with them.
I observed also, that they were landed, not where they had done when
Friday made his escape, but nearer to my creek, where the shore was low,
and where a thick wood came close almost down to the sea: this, with the
abhorrence of the inhuman errand these wretches came about, so filled me
with indignation, that I came down again to Friday, and told him, I was
resolved to go down to them, and kill them all; and asked him if he
would stand by me. He was now gotten over his fright, and his spirits
being a little raised with the dram I had given him, he was very
cheerful; and told me, as before, he would die when I bid die.
In this fit of fury, I took first and divided the arms which I had
charged, as before, between us: I gave Friday one pistol to stick in his
girdle, and three guns upon his shoulder; and I took one pistol, and the
other three, myself; and in this posture we marched out. I took a small
bottle of rum in my pocket, and gave Friday a large bag with more powder
and bullet; and as to orders, I charged him to keep close behind me, and
not to stir, shoot, or do any thing till I bid him; and in the mean
time, not to speak a word. In this posture I fetched a compass to my
right hand of near a mile, as well to get over the creek as to get into
the wood; so that I might come within shot of them before I could be
discovered, which I had seen by my glass it was easy to do.
While I was making this march, my former thoughts returning, I began to
abate my resolution; I do not mean, that I entertained any fear of their
number; for as they were naked, unarmed wretches, it is certain I was
superior to them; nay, though I had been alone: but it occurred to my
thoughts, what call, what occasion, much less what necessity, I was in
to go and dip my hands in blood, to attack people who had neither done
or intended me any wrong, who, as to me, were innocent, and whose
barbarous customs were their own disaster, being in them a token indeed
of God’s having left them, with the other nations of that part of the
world, to such stupidity and to such inhuman courses; but did not call
me to take upon me to be a judge of their actions, much less an
executioner of his justice; that whenever he thought fit, he would take
the cause into his own hands, and by national vengeance punish them for
national crimes; but that in the mean time, it was none of my business;
that it was true, Friday might justify it, because he was a declared
enemy, and in a state of war with those very particular people, and it
was lawful for him to attack them; but I could not say the same with
respect to me. These things were so warmly pressed upon my thoughts all
the way as I went, that I resolved I would only go place myself near
them, that I might observe their barbarous feast, and that I would act
then as God should direct; but that unless something offered that was
more a call to me than yet I knew of, I would not meddle with them.
With this resolution I entered the wood, and with all possible wariness
and silence (Friday following close at my heels) I marched till I came
to the skirt of the wood, on the side which was next to them; only that
one corner of the wood lay between me and them: here I called softly to
Friday, and shewing him a great tree, which was just at the corner of
the wood, I bade him go to the tree, and bring me word if he could see
there plainly what they were doing: he did so, and came immediately back
to me, and told me they might be plainly viewed there; that they were
all about the fire, eating the flesh of one of their prisoners; and that
another lay bound upon the sand, a little from them, whom he said they
would kill next, and which fired the very soul within me. He told me, it
was not one of their nation, but one of the bearded men whom he had told
me of, who came to their country in the boat. I was filled with horror
at the very naming the white-bearded man, and, going to the tree, I saw
plainly, by my glass, a white man, who lay upon the beach of the sea,
with his hands and his feet tied with flags, or things like rushes; and
that he was an European, and had clothes on.
There was another tree, and a little thicket beyond it, about fifty
yards nearer to them than the place where I was, which, by going a
little way about, I saw I might come at undiscovered, and that then I
should be within half-shot of them; so I withheld my passion, though I
was indeed enraged to the highest degree; and going back about twenty
paces, I got behind some bushes, which held all the way till I came to
the other tree, and then I came to a little rising ground, which gave me
a full view of them, at the distance of about eighty yards.
I had now not a moment to lose; for nineteen of the dreadful wretches
sat upon the ground all close huddled together, and had just sent the
other two to butcher the poor Christian, and bring him, perhaps limb by
limb, to their fire; and they were stooped down to untie the bands at
his feet. I turned to Friday; “Now, Friday,” said I, “do as I bid thee.”
Friday said, he would. “Then, Friday,” said I, “do exactly as you see me
do; fail in nothing.” So I set down one of the muskets and the
fowling-piece upon the ground, and Friday did the like by his; and with
the other musket I took my aim at the savages, bidding him do the like.
Then asking him if he was ready, he said, “Yes.” “Then fire at them,”
said I; and the same moment I fired also.
Friday took his aim so much better than I, that on the side that he
shot, he killed two of them, and wounded three more; and on my side, I
killed one, and wounded two. They were, you may be sure, in a dreadful
consternation; and all of them, who were not hurt, jumped up upon their
feet immediately, but did not know which way to run, or which way to
look; for they knew not from whence their destruction came. Friday kept
his eyes close upon me, that, as I had bid him, he might observe what I
did; so as soon as the first shot was made, I threw down the piece, and
took up the fowling-piece, and Friday did the like; he sees me cock, and
present; he did the same again. “Are you ready, Friday?” said I. “Yes,”
says he. “Let fly then,” said I, “in the name of God;” and with that I
fired again among the amazed wretches, and so did Friday; and as our
pieces were now loaden with what I call swan shot, or small
pistol-bullets, we found only two drop; but so many were wounded, that
they ran about yelling and screaming like mad creatures, all bloody, and
miserably wounded most of them; whereof three more fell quickly after,
though not quite dead.
“Now, Friday,” said I, laying down the discharged pieces, and taking up
the musket, which was yet loaden, “follow me,” said I; which he did,
with a deal of courage; upon which I rushed, out of the wood, and shewed
myself, and Friday close at my foot: as soon as I perceived they saw me,
I shouted as loud as I could, and bade Friday do so too; and running as
fast as I could, which by the way was not very fast, being loaded with
arms as I was, I made directly towards the poor victim, who was, as I
said, lying upon the beach, or shore, between the place where they sat
and the sea; the two butchers, who were just going to work with him, had
left him, at the surprise of our first fire, and fled in a terrible
fright to the sea-side, and had jumped into a canoe, and three more of
the rest made the same way: I turned to Friday, and bade him step
forwards, and fire at them; he understood me immediately, and running
about forty yards to be near them, he shot at them, and I thought he had
killed them all; for I saw them all fall on an heap into the boat;
though I saw two of them up again quickly: however, he killed two of
them, and wounded the third, so that he lay down in the bottom of the
boat, as if he had been dead.
While my man Friday fired at them, I pulled out my knife, and cut the
flags that bound the poor victim; and loosing his hands and feet I
lifted him up, and asked him in the Portuguese tongue, what he was? He
answered in Latin, _Christianus;_ but was so weak and faint, that he
could scarce stand, or speak; I took my bottle out of my pocket, and
gave it him, making signs that he should drink, which he did; and I gave
him a piece of bread, which he ate; then I asked him, what countryman he
was? and he said, _Espagnole_; and, being a little recovered, let me
know, by all the signs he could possibly make, how much he was in my
debt for his deliverance. “Seignior,” said I, with as much Spanish as I
could make up, “we will talk afterwards, but we must fight now: if you
have any strength left, take this pistol and sword, and lay about you.”
He took them very thankfully, and no sooner had he the arms in his
hands, but as if they had put new vigour into him, he flew upon his
murderers like a fury, and had cut two of them in pieces in an instant;
for the truth is, as the whole was a surprise to them, so the poor
creatures were so much frighted with the noise of our pieces, that they
fell down for mere amazement and fear, and had no more power to attempt
their own escape, than their flesh had to resist our shot; and that was
the case of those five that Friday shot in the boat; for as three of
them fell with the hurt they received, so the other two fell with
the fright.
I kept my piece in my hand still, without firing, being willing to keep
my charge ready, because I had given the Spaniard my pistol and sword;
so I called to Friday, and bade him run up to the tree from whence we
first fired, and fetch the arms which lay there, that had been
discharged, which he did with great swiftness; and then giving him my
musket, I sat down myself to load all the rest again, and bade them come
to me when they wanted. While I was loading these pieces, there happened
a fierce engagement between the Spaniard and one of the savages, who
made at him with one of their great wooden swords, the same weapon that
was to have killed him before, if I had not prevented it: the Spaniard,
who was as bold and as brave as could be imagined, though weak, had
fought this Indian a good while, and had cut him two great wounds on his
head; but the savage, being a stout lusty fellow, closing in with him,
had thrown him down, (being faint) and was wringing my sword out of his
hand, when the Spaniard, though undermost, wisely quitting his sword,
drew the pistol from his girdle, shot the savage through the body, and
killed him upon the spot, before I, who was running to help, could
come near him.
Friday, being now left at his liberty, pursued the flying wretches with
no weapon in his hand but his hatchet; and with that he dispatched those
three, who, as I said before, were wounded at first, and fallen, and all
the rest he could come up with; and the Spaniard coming to me for a gun,
I gave him one of the fowling-pieces, with which he pursued two of the
savages, and wounded them both; but as he was not able to run, they both
got from him into the wood, where Friday pursued them, and killed one of
them; but the other was too nimble for him; and though he was wounded,
yet he plunged into the sea, and swam with all his might off to those
who were left in the canoe; which three in the canoe, with one wounded,
who we know not whether he died or no, were all that escaped our hands
of one-and-twenty. The account of the rest is as follows:
3 Killed at our shot from the tree.
2 Killed at the next shot.
2 Killed by Friday in the boat.
2 Killed by ditto, of those at first wounded.
1 Killed by ditto, in the wood.
3 Killed by the Spaniard.
4 Killed, being found dropt here and there of their
wounds, or killed by Friday in his chase of
them.
4 Escaped in the boat, whereof one wounded, if
not dead.
———
21 in all.