The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
seems to be but one thing amiss in all the prospect of it.” “What is
that?” say 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 is 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.
We had, upon the first appearance of the boat’s coming from the ship,
considered of separating our prisoners; and we had, indeed, secured
them effectually. Two of them, of whom the captain was less assured
than ordinary, I sent with Friday, and one of the three delivered 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 delivered 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; but that if they attempted
their escape they should be put to death without mercy. They promised
faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and were very
thankful that they had such good usage as to have provisions and light
left them; for Friday gave them candles (such as we made ourselves) for
their comfort; and they did not know but that he stood sentinel over
them at the entrance.
The other prisoners had better usage; two of them were kept pinioned,
indeed, because the captain was not able to trust them; but the other
two were taken into my service, upon the 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 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 their 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 a while
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 that the men
were all murdered, and the long-boat staved; accordingly, they
immediately launched their 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 over 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 frightened the other way.
They had not been long put off with the boat, when 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, as our seizing those seven men on shore
would be no advantage to us if we let the boat escape; because they
would 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 should have been very glad if they would have come nearer us, so
that we might have fired at them, or that they would have gone farther
off, that we might come abroad. But when they were come to the brow of
the hill where they could see a great way into the valleys 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 it. Had they thought fit to
have gone to sleep there, as the other part 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.
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 this proposal, provided it was done while we were near enough
to come up to them before they could load their pieces again. But this
event did not happen; and we lay still a long time, very irresolute
what course to take. At length I told them there would be nothing done,
in my opinion, till night; and then, if they did not return to the
boat, perhaps we might find a way to get between them and the shore,
and so might use some stratagem with them in the boat to get them on
shore. We waited a great while, though very impatient for their
removing; and were very uneasy when, after long consultation, we saw
them all start up and march down towards the sea; it seems they had
such dreadful apprehensions of the danger of the place that they
resolved to go on board the ship again, give their companions over for
lost, and so go on with their intended voyage with the ship.
As soon as I perceived them go towards the shore, I imagined it to be
as it really was that they had given over their search, and were going
back again; and the captain, as soon as I told him my thoughts, was
ready to sink at the apprehensions of it; but I presently thought of a
stratagem to fetch them back again, and which answered my end to a
tittle. I ordered Friday and the captain’s mate to go over the little
creek westward, towards the place where the savages came on shore, when
Friday was rescued, and so soon as they came to a little rising round,
at about half a mile distant, I bid them halloo out, as loud as they
could, and wait till they found the seamen heard them; that as soon as
ever they heard the seamen answer them, they should return it again;
and then, keeping out of sight, take a round, always answering when the
others hallooed, to draw them as far into the island and among the
woods as possible, and then wheel about again to me by such ways as I
directed them.
They were just going into the boat when Friday and the mate hallooed;
and they presently heard them, and answering, ran along the shore
westward, towards the voice they heard, when they were 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 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 surprised the two
men before they were aware—one of them lying on the 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. They 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
sincerely with us. In the meantime, Friday and the captain’s mate so
well managed their business with the rest that they drew them, by
hallooing 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 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 one to another in a most
lamentable manner, telling one another they were got into an enchanted
island; that either there were inhabitants in it, and they should all
be murdered, or else there were devils and 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 sometimes
they would go and sit down in the boat to rest themselves: then come
ashore again, and walk about again, and so the same thing over again.
My men would fain have had me give them leave to fall upon them at once
in the dark; but I was willing to take them at some advantage, so as to
spare them, and kill as few of them as I could; and especially I was
unwilling to hazard the killing of any of our men, knowing the others
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.