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Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe

Section 33 of 41 - Table of Contents
"Now, Friday," says I, laying down the discharged pieces, and
taking up the musket which was yet loaded, "follow me," which he
did with a great deal of courage; upon which I rushed out of the
wood and showed 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 seaside, 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 nearer them, he shot at them; and
I thought he had killed them all, for I saw them all fall of a 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, Espagniole; 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 frightened 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 at 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 weapon that was to have killed him before,
if I had not prevented it.  The Spaniard, who was as bold and brave
as could be imagined, though weak, had fought the Indian a good
while, and had cut 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 the 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 him,
could come near him.

Friday, being now left to his liberty, pursued the flying wretches,
with no weapon in his hand but his hatchet: and with that he
despatched 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
had plunged himself into the sea, and swam with all his might off
to those two who were left in the canoe; which three in the canoe,
with one wounded, that we knew not whether he died or no, were all
that escaped our hands of one-and-twenty.  The account of the whole
is as follows: Three killed at our first shot from the tree; two
killed at the next shot; two killed by Friday in the boat; two
killed by Friday of those at first wounded; one killed by Friday in
the wood; three killed by the Spaniard; four killed, being found
dropped here and there, of the wounds, or killed by Friday in his
chase of them; four escaped in the boat, whereof one wounded, if
not dead - twenty-one in all.

Those that were in the canoe worked hard to get out of gun-shot,
and though Friday made two or three shots at them, I did not find
that he hit any of them.  Friday would fain have had me take one of
their canoes, and pursue them; and indeed I was very anxious about
their escape, lest, carrying the news home to their people, they
should come back perhaps with two or three hundred of the canoes
and devour us by mere multitude; so I consented to pursue them by
sea, and running to one of their canoes, I jumped in and bade
Friday follow me: but when I was in the canoe I was surprised to
find another poor creature lie there, bound hand and foot, as the
Spaniard was, for the slaughter, and almost dead with fear, not
knowing what was the matter; for he had not been able to look up
over the side of the boat, he was tied so hard neck and heels, and
had been tied so long that he had really but little life in him.

I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes which they had bound
him with, and would have helped him up; but he could not stand or
speak, but groaned most piteously, believing, it seems, still, that
he was only unbound in order to be killed.  When Friday came to him
I bade him speak to him, and tell him of his deliverance; and
pulling out my bottle, made him give the poor wretch a dram, which,
with the news of his being delivered, revived him, and he sat up in
the boat.  But when Friday came to hear him speak, and look in his
face, it would have moved any one to tears to have seen how Friday
kissed him, embraced him, hugged him, cried, laughed, hallooed,
jumped about, danced, sang; then cried again, wrung his hands, beat
his own face and head; and then sang and jumped about again like a
distracted creature.  It was a good while before I could make him
speak to me or tell me what was the matter; but when he came a
little to himself he told me that it was his father.

It is not easy for me to express how it moved me to see what
ecstasy and filial affection had worked in this poor savage at the
sight of his father, and of his being delivered from death; nor
indeed can I describe half the extravagances of his affection after
this: for he went into the boat and out of the boat a great many
times: when he went in to him he would sit down by him, open his
breast, and hold his father's head close to his bosom for many
minutes together, to nourish it; then he took his arms and ankles,
which were numbed and stiff with the binding, and chafed and rubbed
them with his hands; and I, perceiving what the case was, gave him
some rum out of my bottle to rub them with, which did them a great
deal of good.

This affair put an end to our pursuit of the canoe with the other
savages, who were now almost out of sight; and it was happy for us
that we did not, for it blew so hard within two hours after, and
before they could be got a quarter of their way, and continued
blowing so hard all night, and that from the north-west, which was
against them, that I could not suppose their boat could live, or
that they ever reached their own coast.

But to return to Friday; he was so busy about his father that I
could not find in my heart to take him off for some time; but after
I thought he could leave him a little, I called him to me, and he
came jumping and laughing, and pleased to the highest extreme: then
I asked him if he had given his father any bread.  He shook his
head, and said, "None; ugly dog eat all up self."  I then gave him
a cake of bread out of a little pouch I carried on purpose; I also
gave him a dram for himself; but he would not taste it, but carried
it to his father.  I had in my pocket two or three bunches of
raisins, so I gave him a handful of them for his father.  He had no
sooner given his father these raisins but I saw him come out of the
boat, and run away as if he had been bewitched, for he was the
swiftest fellow on his feet that ever I saw: I say, he ran at such
a rate that he was out of sight, as it were, in an instant; and
though I called, and hallooed out too after him, it was all one -
away he went; and in a quarter of an hour I saw him come back
again, though not so fast as he went; and as he came nearer I found
his pace slacker, because he had something in his hand.  When he
came up to me I found he had been quite home for an earthen jug or
pot, to bring his father some fresh water, and that he had got two
more cakes or loaves of bread: the bread he gave me, but the water
he carried to his father; however, as I was very thirsty too, I
took a little of it.  The water revived his father more than all
the rum or spirits I had given him, for he was fainting with
thirst.

When his father had drunk, I called to him to know if there was any
water left.  He said, "Yes"; and I bade him give it to the poor
Spaniard, who was in as much want of it as his father; and I sent
one of the cakes that Friday brought to the Spaniard too, who was
indeed very weak, and was reposing himself upon a green place under
the shade of a tree; and whose limbs were also very stiff, and very
much swelled with the rude bandage he had been tied with.  When I
saw that upon Friday's coming to him with the water he sat up and
drank, and took the bread and began to eat, I went to him and gave
him a handful of raisins.  He looked up in my face with all the
tokens of gratitude and thankfulness that could appear in any
countenance; but was so weak, notwithstanding he had so exerted
himself in the fight, that he could not stand up upon his feet - he
tried to do it two or three times, but was really not able, his
ankles were so swelled and so painful to him; so I bade him sit
still, and caused Friday to rub his ankles, and bathe them with
rum, as he had done his father's.

I observed the poor affectionate creature, every two minutes, or
perhaps less, all the while he was here, turn his head about to see
if his father was in the same place and posture as he left him
sitting; and at last he found he was not to be seen; at which he
started up, and, without speaking a word, flew with that swiftness
to him that one could scarce perceive his feet to touch the ground
as he went; but when he came, he only found he had laid himself
down to ease his limbs, so Friday came back to me presently; and
then I spoke to the Spaniard to let Friday help him up if he could,
and lead him to the boat, and then he should carry him to our
dwelling, where I would take care of him.  But Friday, a lusty,
strong fellow, took the Spaniard upon his back, and carried him
away to the boat, and set him down softly upon the side or gunnel
of the canoe, with his feet in the inside of it; and then lifting
him quite in, he set him close to his father; and presently
stepping out again, launched the boat off, and paddled it along the
shore faster than I could walk, though the wind blew pretty hard
too; so he brought them both safe into our creek, and leaving them
in the boat, ran away to fetch the other canoe.  As he passed me I
spoke to him, and asked him whither he went.  He told me, "Go fetch
more boat;" so away he went like the wind, for sure never man or
horse ran like him; and he had the other canoe in the creek almost
as soon as I got to it by land; so he wafted me over, and then went
to help our new guests out of the boat, which he did; but they were
neither of them able to walk; so that poor Friday knew not what to
do.

To remedy this, I went to work in my thought, and calling to Friday
to bid them sit down on the bank while he came to me, I soon made a
kind of hand-barrow to lay them on, and Friday and I carried them
both up together upon it between us.

But when we got them to the outside of our wall, or fortification,
we were at a worse loss than before, for it was impossible to get
them over, and I was resolved not to break it down; so I set to
work again, and Friday and I, in about two hours' time, made a very
handsome tent, covered with old sails, and above that with boughs
of trees, being in the space without our outward fence and between
that and the grove of young wood which I had planted; and here we
made them two beds of such things as I had - viz. of good rice-
straw, with blankets laid upon it to lie on, and another to cover
them, on each bed.

My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in
subjects; and it was a merry reflection, which I frequently made,
how like a king I looked.  First of all, the whole country was my
own property, so that I had an undoubted right of dominion.
Secondly, my people were perfectly subjected - I was absolutely
lord and lawgiver - they all owed their lives to me, and were ready
to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion for it, for me.
It was remarkable, too, I had but three subjects, and they were of
three different religions - my man Friday was a Protestant, his
father was a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist.
However, I allowed liberty of conscience throughout my dominions.
But this is by the way.

As soon as I had secured my two weak, rescued prisoners, and given
them shelter, and a place to rest them upon, I began to think of
making some provision for them; and the first thing I did, I
ordered Friday to take a yearling goat, betwixt a kid and a goat,
out of my particular flock, to be killed; when I cut off the
hinder-quarter, and chopping it into small pieces, I set Friday to
work to boiling and stewing, and made them a very good dish, I
assure you, of flesh and broth; and as I cooked it without doors,
for I made no fire within my inner wall, so I carried it all into
the new tent, and having set a table there for them, I sat down,
and ate my own dinner also with them, and, as well as I could,
cheered them and encouraged them.  Friday was my interpreter,
especially to his father, and, indeed, to the Spaniard too; for the
Spaniard spoke the language of the savages pretty well.

After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered Friday to take one
of the canoes, and go and fetch our muskets and other firearms,
which, for want of time, we had left upon the place of battle; and
the next day I ordered him to go and bury the dead bodies of the
savages, which lay open to the sun, and would presently be
offensive.  I also ordered him to bury the horrid remains of their
barbarous feast, which I could not think of doing myself; nay, I
could not bear to see them if I went that way; all which he
punctually performed, and effaced the very appearance of the
savages being there; so that when I went again, I could scarce know
where it was, otherwise than by the corner of the wood pointing to
the place.

I then began to enter into a little conversation with my two new
subjects; and, first, I set Friday to inquire of his father what he
thought of the escape of the savages in that canoe, and whether we
might expect a return of them, with a power too great for us to
resist.  His first opinion was, that the savages in the boat never
could live out the storm which blew that night they went off, but
must of necessity be drowned, or driven south to those other
shores, where they were as sure to be devoured as they were to be
drowned if they were cast away; but, as to what they would do if
they came safe on shore, he said he knew not; but it was his
opinion that they were so dreadfully frightened with the manner of
their being attacked, the noise, and the fire, that he believed
they would tell the people they were all killed by thunder and
lightning, not by the hand of man; and that the two which appeared
- viz. Friday and I - were two heavenly spirits, or furies, come
down to destroy them, and not men with weapons.  This, he said, he
knew; because he heard them all cry out so, in their language, one
to another; for it was impossible for them to conceive that a man
could dart fire, and speak thunder, and kill at a distance, without
lifting up the hand, as was done now: and this old savage was in
the right; for, as I understood since, by other hands, the savages
never attempted to go over to the island afterwards, they were so
terrified with the accounts given by those four men (for it seems
they did escape the sea), that they believed whoever went to that
enchanted island would be destroyed with fire from the gods.  This,
however, I knew not; and therefore was under continual
apprehensions for a good while, and kept always upon my guard, with
all my army: for, as there were now four of us, I would have
ventured upon a hundred of them, fairly in the open field, at any
time.
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