indeed, because the captain was not free to trust them; but the other
two were taken into my service upon their captain’s recommendation, and
upon their solemnly engaging to live and die with us; so, 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 a-coming,
considering that the captain had said, there were three or four honest
men among them also.
As soon as they got to the place where their other boat lay, they ran
their boat into the beach, and came all on shore, hauling the boat up
after them, which I was glad to see; for I was afraid they would rather
have left the boat at an anchor, some distance from the shore, with some
hands in her to guard her; and so we should not be able to seize
the boat.
Being on shore, the first thing they did, they ran all to the other
boat; and it was easy to see they were under a great surprise to find
her stripped as above, of all that was in her, and a great hole in
her bottom.
After they had mused awhile upon this, they set up two or three great
shouts, hallooing with all their might, to try if they could make their
companions hear; but all was to no purpose: then they came all close in
a ring, and fired a volley of their small arms, which indeed we heard,
and the echoes made the woods ring; but it was all one: those in the
cave, we were sure, could not hear; and those in our keeping, though
they heard it well enough, yet durst give no answer to them.
They were so astonished at the surprise of this, that, as they told us
afterwards, they resolved to go all on board again to their ship, and
let them know there, that the men were all murdered, and the long-boat
staved; accordingly, they immediately launched the boat again, and got
all of them on board.
The captain was terribly amazed, and even confounded at this, believing
they would go on board the ship again and set sail, giving their
comrades up for lost, and so he should still lose the ship, which he was
in hopes we should have recovered; but he was quickly as much frighted
the other way.
They had not been long put off with the boat, but we perceived them all
coming on shore again; but with this new measure in their conduct, which
it seems they consulted together upon; viz. to leave three men in the
boat, and the rest to go on shore, and go up into the country to look
for their fellows.
This was a great disappointment to us; for now we were at a loss what to
do; for our seizing those seven men on shore would be no advantage to us
if we let the boat escape, because they would then row away to the ship;
and then the rest of them would be sure to weigh, and set sail, and so
our recovering the ship would be lost.
However, we had no remedy but to wait and see what the issue of things
might present. The seven men came on shore, and the three who remained
in the boat put her off to a good distance from the shore, and came to
an anchor to wait for them; so that it was impossible for us to come at
them in the boat.
Those that came on shore kept close together, marching towards the top
of the little hill, under which my habitation lay; and we could see them
plainly, though they could not perceive us; we could have been very glad
they would have come nearer to us, so that we might have fired at them;
or that they would have gone farther off, that we might have
come abroad.
But when they were come to the brow of the hill, where they could see a
great way in the valley and woods, which lay towards the north-east
part, and where the island lay lowest, they shouted and hallooed till
they were weary; and not caring, it seems, to venture far from the
shore, nor far from one another, they sat down together under a tree, to
consider of it: had they thought fit to have gone to sleep there, as the
other party of them had done, they had done the job for us; but they
were too full of apprehensions of danger, to venture to go to sleep,
though they could not tell what the danger was they had to fear neither.
The captain made a very just proposal to me upon this consultation of
theirs; viz. that perhaps they would all fire a volley again, to
endeavour to make their fellows hear, and that we should all sally upon
them, just at the juncture when their pieces were all discharged, and
they would certainly yield, and we should have them without bloodshed: I
liked the proposal, provided it was done while we heard, when they were
presently stopped by the creek, where the water being up, they could not
get over, and called for the boat to come up, and set them over, as
indeed I expected.
When they had set themselves over, I observed, that the boat being gone
up a good way into the creek, and as it were, in a harbour within the
land, they took one of the three men out of her to go along with them,
and left only two in the boat, having fastened her to the stump of a
little tree on the shore.
This was what I wished for, and immediately leaving Friday and the
captain’s mate to their business, I took the rest with me, and crossing
the creek out of their sight, we surprized the two men before they were
aware; one of them lying on shore, and the other being in the boat; the
fellow on shore, was between sleeping and waking, and going to start up,
the captain who was foremost, ran in upon him, and knocked him down, and
then called out to him in the boat, to yield, or he was a dead man.
There needed very few arguments to persuade a single man to yield, when
he saw five men upon him, and his comrade knocked down; besides, this
was it seems one of the three who were not so hearty in the mutiny as
the rest of the crew, and therefore was easily persuaded, not only to
yield, but afterwards to join very sincere with us.
In the mean time, Friday and the captain’s mate so well managed their
business with the rest, that they drew them by hollooing and answering,
from one hill to another, and from one wood to another, till they not
only heartily tired them but left them, where they were very sure they
could not reach back to the boat, before it was dark; and indeed they
were heartily tired themselves also by the time they came back to us.
We had nothing now to do, but to watch for them, in the dark, and to
fall upon them, so as to make sure work with them.
It was several hours after Friday came back to me before they came back
to their boat; and we could hear the foremost of them, long before they
came quite up, calling to those behind to come along; and could also
hear them answer, and complain how lame and tired they were, and not
being able to come any faster, which was very welcome news to us.
At length they came up to the boat; but it is impossible to express
their confusion, when they found the boat fast aground in the creek, the
tide ebbed out, and their two men gone: we could hear them call to one
another in a most lamentable manner, telling one another they were
gotten into an enchanted island; that either there were inhabitants in
it, and they should all be murdered; or else there were devils or
spirits in it, and they should be all carried away and devoured.
They hallooed again, and called their two comrades by their names a
great many times, but no answer: after some time, we could see them, by
the little light there was, run about wringing their hands, like men in
despair; and that sometimes they would go and sit down in the boat to
rest themselves, then come ashore, and walk about again, and so the same
thing over again.
My men would fain have had me given them leave to fall upon them at once
in the dark; but I was willing to take them at some advantage, so to
spare them, and kill as few of them as I could; and especially I was
unwilling to hazard the killing any of our men, knowing the other men
were very well armed: I resolved to wait to see if they did not
separate; and therefore, to make sure of them, I drew my ambuscade
nearer; and ordered Friday and the captain to creep upon their hands and
feet as close to the ground as they could, that they might not be
discovered, and get as near them as they could possibly, before they
offered to fire.
They had not been long in that posture, till the boatswain, who was the
principal ringleader of the mutiny, and had now shewn himself the most
dejected and dispirited of all the rest, came walking towards them with
two more of the crew; the captain was so eager, at having the principal
rogue so much in his power, that he could hardly have patience to let
him come so near as to be sure of him; for they only heard his tongue
before: but when they came nearer, the captain and Friday, starting up
on their feet, let fly at them.
The boatswain was killed upon the spot; the next man was shot in the
body, and fell just by him, though he did not die till an hour or two
after; and the third ran for it.
At the noise of the fire, I immediately advanced with my whole army,
which was now eight men; viz. myself generalissimo; Friday my
lieutenant-general; the captain and his two men, and the three prisoners
of war, whom he had trusted with arms.
We came upon them indeed in the dark, so that they could not see our
number; and I made the man they had left in the boat, who was now one of
us, to call them by name, to try if I could bring them to a parley, and
so might perhaps reduce them to terms; which fell out just as we
desired: for indeed it was easy to think, as their condition then was,
they would be very-willing to capitulate; so he calls out, as loud as he
could, to one of them, “Tom Smith, Tom Smith.” Tom Smith answered
immediately, “Who’s that? Robinson?” For it seems he knew his voice. The
other answered, “Ay, ay; for God’s sake, Tom Smith, throw down your
arms, and yield, or you are all dead men this moment.”
“Who must we yield to? where are they?” says Smith again. “Here they
are,” says he; “here is our captain and fifty men with him, have been
hunting you this two hours; the boatswain is killed, Will Frye is
wounded, and I am a prisoner; and if you do not yield, your are
all lost.”
“Will they give us quarter then?” says Tom Smith, “and we will
yield.”—“I’ll go and ask, if you promise to yield,” says Robinson. So
he asked the captain, and the captain himself then calls out, “You
Smith, you know my voice, if you lay down your arms immediately, and
submit, you shall have your lives, all but Will Atkins.”
Upon this Will Atkins cried out, “For God’s sake, captain, give me
quarter: what have I done? they have been all as bad as I,” (which by
the way was not true, either; for it seems this Will Atkins was the
first man that laid hold of the captain when they first mutinied, and
used him barbarously, in tying his hands, and giving him injurious
language:) however, the captain told him he must lay down his arms at
discretion, and trust to the governor’s mercy, by which he meant me; for
they all called me governor.
In a word, they all laid down their arms, and begged their lives; and I
sent the man that had parleyed with them, and two more, who bound them
all; and then my great army of fifty men, which, particularly with those
three, were all but eight, came up and seized upon them all, and upon
their boat, only that I kept myself and one more out of sight, for
reasons of state.
Our next work was to repair the boat, and to think of seizing the ship;
and as for the captain, now he had leisure to parley with them, he
expostulated with them upon the villany of their practices with him, and
at length, upon the farther wickedness of their design; and how
certainly it must bring them to misery and distress in the end, and
perhaps to the gallows.
They all appeared very penitent, and begged hard for their lives: as for
that, he told them they were none of his prisoners, but the commander’s
of the island; that they thought they had set him on shore in a barren
uninhabited island; but it had pleased God so to direct them, that the
island was inhabited, and that the governor was an Englishman: that he
might hang them all there, if he pleased; but as he had given them all
quarter, he supposed he would send them to England, to be dealt with
there as justice required, except Atkins, whom he was commanded by the
governor to advise to prepare for death; for that he would be hanged in
the morning.
Though this was all a fiction of his own, yet it had its desired effect.
Atkins fell upon his knees to beg the captain to intercede with the
governor for his life; and all the rest begged of him for God’s sake,
that they might not be sent to England.
It now occurred to me, that the time of our deliverance was come, and
that it would be a most easy thing to bring these fellows in to be
hearty in getting possession of the ship; so I retired in the dark from
them, that they might not see what kind of a governor they had, and
called the captain to me: when I called, as at a good distance, one of
the men was ordered to speak again, and say to the captain, “Captain,
the commander calls for you;” and presently the captain replied, “Tell
his excellency I am just a-coming.” This more perfectly amused them; and
they all believed that the commander was just by with his fifty men.
Upon the captain’s coming to me, I told him my project for seizing the
ship, which he liked wonderfully well, and resolved to put it in
execution 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 take
Atkins, and two more of the worst of them, and send them pinioned to the
cave where the others lay: this was committed to Friday, and the two men
who came on shore with the captain.
They conveyed them to the cave, as to a prison; and it was indeed a
dismal place, especially to men in their condition.
The others I ordered to my bower, as I called it, of which I have given
a full description; and as it was fenced in, and they pinioned, the
place was secure enough, considering they were upon their behaviour.
To these in the morning I sent the captain, who was to enter into a
parley with them; in a word, to try them, and tell me, whether he
thought they might be trusted or no, to go on board, and surprise the
ship. He talked to them of the injury done him, of the condition they
were brought to; and that though the governor had given them quarter for
their lives, as to the present action, yet that if they were sent to
England, they would all be hanged in chains, to be sure; but that if
they would join in such an attempt as to recover the ship, he would have
the governor’s engagement for their pardon.
Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted by men
in their condition: they fell down on their knees to the captain, and
promised with the deepest imprecations, that they would be faithful to
him to the last drop, and that they should owe their lives to him, and
would go with him all over the world; that they would own him for a
father 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 me
an account of the temper he found them in; and that he verily believed
they would be faithful.
However, that we might be very secure, I told him he should go back
again, and choose out five of them, and tell them, that they should see
that they did not want men; but he would take out those five to be his
assistants, and that the governor would keep the other two, and the
three that were sent prisoners to the castle, (my cave) as hostages for
the fidelity of those five; and that if they proved unfaithful in the
execution, the five hostages should be hanged in chains alive upon
the 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 the
business of the prisoners, as much as of the captain, to persuade the
other 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, to
whom, having their characters from the captain, I had given their
liberty, and trusted them with arms. 3. The other two whom I kept till
now in my bower pinioned; but, upon the captain’s motion, had now
released. 4. These five released at last; so that they were twelve in
all, besides five we kept prisoners in the cave for hostages.
I asked the captain if he was willing to venture with these hands on
board the ship: for, as for me, and my man Friday, I did not think it
was proper for us to stir, having seven men left behind; and it was
employment enough for us to keep them asunder, and supply them
with victuals.
As to the five in the cave, I resolved to keep them fast; but Friday
went twice a day to them, to supply them with necessaries; and I made
the other two carry provisions to a certain distance, where Friday was
to take it.
When I shewed myself to the two hostages, it was with the captain, who
told 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 any
where but by my direction; that if they did, they should be fetched into
the castle, and be laid in irons; so that as we never suffered them to
see me as governor, so I now appeared as another person, and spoke of
the governor, the garrison, the castle, and the like, upon all
occasions.
The captain now had no difficulty before him, but to furnish his two
boats, stop the breach of one, and man them: he made his passenger
captain of one, with four other men; and himself, and his mate, and five
more, went in the other: and they contrived their business very well;
for they came up to the ship about midnight. As soon as they came
within call of the ship, he made Robinson hail them, and tell them he
had brought off the men and the boat, but that it was a long time before
they had found them, and the like; holding them in a chat, till they
came to the ship’s side; when the captain and the mate, entering first
with their arms, immediately knocked down the second mate and carpenter
with the but end of their muskets; being very faithfully seconded by
their men, they seemed all the rest that were upon the main and quarter
decks, 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, secured
the forecastle of the ship, and the skuttle which went down into the
cook-room, making three men they found there prisoners.
When this was done, and all safe upon the deck, the captain ordered the
mate with three men to break into the round-house, where the new rebel
captain lay, and, having taken the alarm, was gotten up, and with two
men and a boy had gotten fire arms in their hands; and when the mate
with a crow split upon the door, the new captain and his men fired
boldly among them, and wounded the mate with a musket-ball, which broke
his 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 the
head, the bullets entering at his mouth, and came out again behind one
of 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 to
be fired, which was the signal agreed upon with me, to give me notice of
his success; which you may be sure I was very glad to hear, having sat
watching upon the shore for it, till near two of the clock in
the morning.
Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me down; and it having
been a day of great fatigue to me, I slept very sound, till I was
something 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 I
knew the captain’s voice; when climbing up to the top of the hill, there
he stood, and pointing to the ship, he embraced me in his arms: “My dear
friend and deliverer,” says he, “there’s your ship, for she is all
yours, and so are we, and all that belong to her.” I cast my eyes to the
ship, and there she rode within a little more than half a mile of the
shore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as they were masters of
her; and the weather being fair, had brought her to an anchor just
against the mouth of a little creek; and the tide being up, the captain
had 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 my
deliverance indeed visibly put into my hands, all things easy, and a
large ship just ready to carry me away whither I pleased to go; at
first, for some time, I was not able to answer one word; but as he had
taken me in his arms, I held fast by him, or I should have fallen to
the ground.
He perceived the surprise, and immediately pulled a bottle out of his
pocket, and gave me a dram of cordial, which he had brought on purpose
for me: after I drank it, I sat down upon the ground, and though it
brought me to myself, yet it was a good while before I could speak a
word to him.
All this while the poor man was in as great an ecstasy as I, only not
under any surprise, as I was; and he said a thousand kind tender things
to me, to compose and bring me to myself; but such was the flood of joy
in my breast, that it put all my spirits into confusion; at last it
broke 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 rejoiced
together; I told him, I looked upon him as a man sent from Heaven to
deliver me, and that the whole transaction seemed to be a chain of
wonders; that such things as these were the testimonies we had of a
secret hand of Providence governing the world, and an evidence, that the
eyes of an infinite Power could search into the remotest corner of the
world, and send help to the miserable whenever he pleased.
I forgot not to lift up my heart in thankfulness to Heaven; and what
heart could forbear to bless Him, who had not only in a miraculous
manner provided for one in such a wilderness, and in such a desolate
condition, but from whom every deliverance must always be acknowledged
to proceed?
When we had talked awhile, the captain told me, he had brought me some
little refreshments, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretches
who had been so long his masters, had not plundered him of. Upon this he
called aloud to the boat, and bids his men bring the things ashore that
were for the governor; and indeed it was a present, as if I had been
one, not that I was to be carried along with them, but as if I had been
to dwell upon the island still, and they were to go without me.
First, he had brought me a case of bottles full of excellent cordial
waters; six large bottles of Madeira wine, the bottles held two quarts
apiece; two pounds of excellent good tobacco, twelve good pieces of the
ship’s beef, and six pieces of pork, with a bag of peas, and about a
hundred weight of biscuit.
He brought me also a box of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of lemons,
and two bottles of lime-juice, and abundance of other things: but
besides these, and what was a thousand times more useful to me, he
brought me six clean new shirts, six very good neckcloths, two pair of
gloves, one pair of shoes, a hat, and one pair of stockings, and a very
good suit of clothes of his own, which had been worn but very little. In
a word, he clothed me from head to foot.
It was a very kind and agreeable present, as any one may imagine, to
one in my circumstances; but never was any thing in the world of that
kind so unpleasant, awkward, and uneasy, as it was to me to wear such
clothes at their first putting on.
After these ceremonies passed, and after all his things were brought
into my little apartment, we began to consult what was to be done with
the prisoners we had; for it was worth considering whether we might
venture to take them away with us or no, especially two of them, whom we
knew to be incorrigible and refractory to the last degree; and the
captain said, he knew they were such rogues, that there was no obliging
them; and if he did carry them away, it must be in irons, as
malefactors, to be delivered over to justice at the first English colony
he could come at; and I found that the captain himself was very
anxious about it.
Upon this, I told him, that, if he desired it, I durst undertake to
bring the two men he spoke of to make their own request that he should
leave them upon the island; “I should be very glad of that,” says the
captain, “with all my heart.”