of my deliverance, for now twenty-seven years and some days. I gave them
provisions of bread, and of dried grapes, sufficient for themselves for
many days, and sufficient for all the Spaniards for about eight days'
time; and wishing them a good voyage, I saw them go; agreeing with them
about a signal they should hang out at their return, by which I should
know them again, when they came back, at a distance, before they came on
shore. They went away with a fair gale, on the day that the moon was at
full, by my account in the month of October; but as for an exact
reckoning of days, after I had once lost it, I could never recover it
again; nor had I kept even the number of years so punctually as to be
sure I was right; though, as it proved, when I afterwards examined my
account, I found I had kept a true reckoning of years.
It was no less than eight days I had waited for them, when a strange and
unforeseen accident intervened, of which the like has not perhaps been
heard of in history. I was fast asleep in my hutch one morning, when my
man Friday came running in to me, and called aloud, "Master, master,
they are come, they are come!" I jumped up, and, regardless of danger, I
went out as soon as I could get my clothes on, through my little grove,
which, by the way, was by this time grown to be a very thick wood; I
say, regardless of danger, I went without my arms, which was not my
custom to do: but I was surprised, when turning my eyes to the sea, I
presently saw a boat at about a league and a half distance, standing in
for the shore, with a shoulder of mutton sail, as they call it, and the
wind blowing pretty fair to bring them in: also I observed presently,
that they did not come from that side which the shore lay on, but from
the southernmost end of the island. Upon this, I called Friday in, and
bade him lie close, for these were not the people we looked for, and
that we might not know yet whether they were friends or enemies. In the
next place, I went in to fetch my perspective-glass, to see what I could
make of them; and having taken the ladder out, I climbed up to the top
of the hill, as I used to do when I was apprehensive of any thing, and
to take my view the plainer, without being discovered. I had scarce set
my foot upon the hill, when my eye plainly discovered a ship lying at an
anchor, at about two leagues and a half distance from me, S.S.E. but not
above a league and a half from the shore. By my observation, it appeared
plainly to be an English ship, and the boat appeared to be an English
long-boat.
I cannot express the confusion I was in; though the joy of seeing a
ship, and one that I had reason to believe was manned by my own
countrymen, and consequently friends, was such as I cannot describe; but
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
occurred 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; and I knew there had been
no storms to drive them in there, as in distress; and that if they were
really English, it was most probable that they were here upon no good
design; and that I had better continue as I was, than fall into the
hands of thieves and murderers.
Let no man despise the secret hints and notices of danger, which
sometimes are given him when he may think there is no possibility of its
being real. That such hints and notices are given us, I believe few that
have made any observations of things can deny; that they are certain
discoveries of an invisible world, and a converse of spirits, we cannot
doubt; and if the tendency of them seems to be to warn us of danger, why
should we not suppose they are from some friendly agent (whether
supreme, or inferior and subordinate, is not the question,) and that
they are given for our good?
The present question abundantly confirms me in the justice of this
reasoning; for had I not been made cautious by this secret admonition,
come it from whence it will, I had been undone inevitably, and in a far
worse condition than before, as you will see presently. 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 I formerly landed my rafts, but run their
boat on shore upon the beach, at about half a mile from me, which was
very happy for me; for otherwise they would have landed just at my door,
as I may say, 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
fully satisfied they were Englishmen, at least most of them; one or two
I thought were Dutch, but it did not prove so; there were in all eleven
men, whereof three of them I found were unarmed, and, as I thought,
bound; and 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
perfectly confounded at the sight, and knew not what the meaning of it
should be. Friday called out to me in English, as well as he could, "O
master! you see English mans eat prisoner as well as savage
mans."--"Why, Friday," says I, "do you think they are going to eat them
then?"--"Yes," says Friday, "they will eat them."--"No, no," says 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 really was, but stood
trembling with the horror of the sight, expecting every moment when the
three prisoners should be killed; nay, once I saw one of the villains
lift up his arm with a great cutlass, as the seamen call it, or sword,
to strike one of the poor men; and I expected to see him fall every
moment; at which all the blood in my body seemed to run chill in my
veins. I wished heartily now for my Spaniard, and the savage that was
gone with him, or that 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; but it fell out to my mind another way.
After I had observed the outrageous usage of the three men by the
insolent seamen, I observed the fellows run scattering about the island,
as if they wanted to see the country. I observed that 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; and how I lodged in the
tree all night, for fear of being devoured by wild beasts. As I knew
nothing, that night, of the supply I was to receive by the providential
driving of the ship nearer the land by the storms and tide, by which I
have since been so long nourished and supported; so these three poor
desolate men knew nothing how certain of deliverance and supply they
were, how near it was to them, and how effectually and really they were
in a condition of safety, at the same time that they thought themselves
lost, and their case desperate. So little do we see before us in the
world, and so much reason have we to depend cheerfully upon the great
Maker of the world, that he does not leave his creatures so absolutely
destitue, but that, in the worst circumstances, they have always
something to be thankful for, and sometimes are nearer their deliverance
than they imagine; nay, are even brought to their deliverance by the
means by which they seem to be brought to their destruction.
It was just at the top of high water when these people came on shore;
and partly while they rambled about to see what kind of a place they
were in, they had carelessly staid till the tide was spent, and the
water was ebbed considerably away, leaving their boat aground. They had
left two men in the boat, who, as I found afterwards, 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, who were straggling about;
upon which 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; and 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
tide:" by which I was fully confirmed in the main inquiry of what
countrymen they were. 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; and very glad I was to think how
well it was fortified. 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, though with more caution, knowing I had to do with another kind
of enemy than I had at first. I ordered Friday also, whom I had made an
excellent marksman with his gun, to load himself with arms. I took
myself two fowling-pieces, and I gave him three muskets. My figure,
indeed, was very fierce; I had my formidable goat-skin coat on, with the
great cap I have mentioned, 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
that, in short, they were all gone straggling into the woods, and, as I
thought, laid down to sleep. The three poor distressed men, too anxious
for their condition to get any sleep, were, however, sat down under the
shelter of a great tree, at about a quarter of a mile from me, and, as I
thought, out of sight of any of the rest. Upon this I resolved to
discover myself to them, and learn something of their condition;
immediately I marched in the figure as above, my man Friday at a good
distance behind me, as formidable for his arms as I, but not making
quite so staring a spectre-like figure as I did. I came as near them
undiscovered as I could, and then, before any of them saw me, I called
aloud to them in Spanish, "What are ye, gentlemen?" They started up at
the noise; but were ten times more confounded when they saw me, and the
uncouth figure that 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 to me; "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? for 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 clothed, and
armed after another manner than you see me: pray lay aside your fears; I
am a man, 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," said he, "Sir, is too long to tell
you, while our murderers are so near us; but, in short, Sir, I was
commander of that ship, my men have mutinied against me; they have been
hardly prevailed on not to murder me; and at last have set me on shore
in this desolate place, with these two men with me, one my mate, the
other a passenger, where 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 certainly murder us all."--"Have they any
fire-arms?" said I. He answered, "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?" He told me there were two desperate
villains among them, that 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," says I, "let us retreat out of their view or
hearing, lest they awake, and we will resolve further." So they
willingly went back with me, till the woods covered us from them.
"Look you, Sir," said I, "if I venture upon your deliverance, are you
willing to make two conditions with me?" He anticipated my proposals, by
telling me, that both he and the ship, if recovered, should be wholly
directed and commanded by me in every thing; and, if the ship was not
recovered, he would live and die with me in what part of the world
soever I would send him; and the two other men said the same. "Well,"
says I, "my conditions are but two: first, That while you stay in this
island with me, you will not pretend to any authority here; and 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, in the mean
time, be governed by my orders: secondly, That if the ship is, or may be
recovered, you will carry me and my man to England, passage free."
He gave me all the assurances that the invention or faith of man could
devise, that he would comply with these most reasonable demands; and,
besides, 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 showed all the testimonies of his gratitude that
he was able, but 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 offered to submit, we might save them, and so
put it wholly upon God's providence to direct the shot. He said very
modestly, that he was loath to kill them, if he could help it: but that
those two were incorrigible villains, and had been the authors of all
the mutiny in the ship, and if they escaped, we should be undone still;
for they would go on board and bring the whole ship's company, and
destroy us all. "Well then," says 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. I asked him if either of them
were the heads of the mutiny? He said, No. "Well then," said I, "you may
let them escape; and Providence seems to have awakened them on purpose
to save themselves.--Now," says I, "if the rest escape you, it is your
fault." Animated with this, he 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; I mean the two men, the captain
wisely reserving his own piece. They had so well aimed their shot at the
men they knew, that one of them was killed on the spot, and the other
very much wounded; but not being dead, he started up on his feet, and
called eagerly for help to the other; but the captain stepping to him,
told him it was too late to cry for help, he should call upon God to
forgive his villany; and with that word knocked him down with the stock
of his musket, so that he never spoke more: there were three more in the
company, and one of them was also slightly wounded. By this time I was
come; and when they saw their danger, and that it was in vain to resist,
they begged for mercy. The captain 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, and afterwards in carrying her back to Jamaica,
from whence they came. They gave him all the protestations of their
sincerity that could be desired, and he was willing to believe them, and
spare their lives, which I was not against, only that I obliged him to
keep them bound hand and foot while they were on the island.
While this was doing, I sent Friday with the captain's mate to the boat,
with orders to secure her, and bring away the oars and sails, which they
did: and by and by three straggling men, that were (happily for them)
parted from the rest, came back upon hearing the guns fired; and seeing
the captain, who before was their prisoner, now their conqueror, they
submitted to be bound also; and so our victory was complete.
It now remained that the captain and I should inquire into one another's
circumstances: I began first, and told him my whole history, which he
heard with an attention even to amazement; and particularly at the
wonderful manner of my being furnished with provisions and ammunition;
and, indeed, as my story is a whole collection of wonders, it affected
him deeply. But when he reflected from thence upon himself, and how I
seemed 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, leading them in just where I came out, viz. at the top of the
house, where I refreshed them with such provisions as I had, and showed
them all the contrivances I had made, during my long, long inhabiting
that place.
All I showed them, all I said to them, was perfectly amazing; but,
above all, the captain admired my fortification, and how perfectly I had
concealed my retreat with a grove of trees, which, having been now
planted near twenty years, and the trees growing much faster than in
England, was become a little wood, and so thick, that it was impassable
in any part of it, but at that one side where I had reserved my little
winding passage into it. I told him this was my castle and my residence,
but that I had a seat in the country, as most princes have, whither I
could retreat upon occasion, and I would show him that too another time:
but at present our business was to consider how to recover the ship. He
agreed with me as to that; but told me, he was perfectly at a loss what
measures to take, for that there were still six and twenty hands on
board, who having entered into a cursed conspiracy, by which they had
all forfeited their lives to the law, would be hardened in it now by
desperation, and would carry it on, knowing that, 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; and that, 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, and that, therefore, something was to be resolved
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. Upon
this, it presently occurred to me, that in a little while the ship's
crew, wondering what was become of their comrades, and of the boat,
would certainly come on shore in their other boat, to look for them;
and that then, perhaps, they might come armed, and be too strong for us:
this he allowed to be rational. Upon this, I told him the first thing we
had to do was to stave the boat, which lay upon the beach, so that they
might not carry her off: and taking every thing out of her, 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, which was a bottle of brandy, and another of rum, a few
biscuit-cakes, a horn of powder, and a great lump of sugar in a piece of
canvass (the sugar was five or six pounds;) all which was very welcome
to me, especially the brandy and sugar, of which I had none left for
many years.
When we had carried all these things on shore, (the oars, mast, sail,
and rudder of the boat were carried away before, as above,) we knocked 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 that we could be able to recover the ship; but my view was,
that 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 first, by main
strength, heaved the boat upon the beach so high, that the tide would
not float her off at high water mark, and besides, had broke a hole in
her bottom too big to be quickly stopped, and were set down musing what
we should do, 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; and they fired several times, making other signals for the
boat. At last, when all their signals and firing proved fruitless, and
they found the boat did not stir, we saw them, by the help of my
glasses, hoist another boat out, and row towards the shore; and we
found, as they approached, that there were no less than ten men in her;
and that 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
tide 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; by this means, I say, we had a full view of
them, and the captain 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; but that as for the boatswain, who, it
seems, 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; and terribly apprehensive he was that they
would be too powerful for us. I smiled at him, and told him that men in
our circumstances were past the operation of fear; that seeing almost
every condition that could be was better than that which we were
supposed to be in, we ought to expect that the consequence, whether
death or life, would be sure to be a deliverance, I asked him what he
thought of the circumstances of my life, and whether a deliverance were
not worth venturing for? "And where, Sir," said I, "is your belief of my
being preserved here on purpose to save your life, which elevated you a
little while ago? For my part," said I, "there seems to me but one thing
amiss in all the prospect of it."--"What is that?" says 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; for depend upon it, 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
greatly encouraged him; so we set vigorously to our business.