by Daniel Defoe
and if he did carry them away, it must be in irons, asmalefactors, to be delivered over to justice at the first English colonyhe could come at; and I found that the captain himself was very anxiousabout it. Upon this I told him, that if he desired it, I would undertaketo bring the two men he spoke of to make it their own request that heshould leave them upon the island. "I should be very glad of that," saysthe captain, "with all my heart."--"Well," says I, "I will send forthem up, and talk with them for you," So I caused Friday and the twohostages, for they were now discharged, their comrades having performedtheir promise; I say, I caused them to go to the cave, and bring up thefive men, pinioned as they were, to the bower, and keep them there tillI came. After some time, I came thither dressed in my new habit; and nowI was called governor again. Being all met, and the captain with me, Icaused the men to be brought before me, and I told them I had got a fullaccount of their villanous behaviour to the captain, and how they hadrun away with the ship, and were, preparing to commit farther robberies,but that Providence had ensnared them in their own ways, and that theywere fallen into the pit which they had dug for others. I let them knowthat by my direction the ship had been seized; that she lay now in theroad; and they might see, by and by, that their new captain had receivedthe reward of his villany, and that they would see him hanging at theyard-arm: that as to them, I wanted to know what they had to say why Ishould not execute them as pirates, taken in the fact, as by mycommission they could not doubt but I had authority so to do.
One of them answered in the name of the rest, that they had nothing tosay but this, that when they were taken, the captain promised them theirlives, and they humbly implored my mercy. But I told them I knew notwhat mercy to show them; for as for myself, I had resolved to quit theisland with all my men, and had taken passage with the captain to go forEngland; and as for the captain, he could not carry them to Englandother than as prisoners, in irons, to be tried for mutiny, and runningaway with the ship; the consequence of which, they must needs know,would be the gallows; so that I could not tell what was best for them,unless they had a mind to take their fate in the island; if they desiredthat, as I had liberty to leave the island, I had some inclination togive them their lives, if they thought they could shift on shore. Theyseemed very thankful for it, and said they would much rather venture tostay there than be carried to England to be hanged: so I left it onthat issue.
However, the captain seemed to make some difficulty of it, as if hedurst not leave them there. Upon this I seemed a little angry with thecaptain, and told him that they were my prisoners, not his; and thatseeing I had offered them so much favour, I would be as good as my word;and that if he did not think fit to consent to it I would set them atliberty, as I found them; and if he did not like it, he might take themagain if he could catch them. Upon this they appeared very thankful, andI accordingly set them at liberty, and bade them retire into the woodsto the place whence they came, and I would leave them some fire-arms,some ammunition, and some directions how they should live very well, ifthey thought fit. Upon this I prepared to go on board the ship; but toldthe captain I would stay that night to prepare my things, and desiredhim to go on board, in the mean time, and keep all right in the ship,and send the boat on shore next day for me; ordering him, at all events,to cause the new captain, who was killed, to be hanged at the yard-arm,that these men might see him.
When the captain was gone, I sent for the men up to me to my apartment,and entered seriously into discourse with them on their circumstances. Itold them I thought they had made a right choice; that if the captainhad carried them away, they would certainly be hanged. I showed them thenew captain hanging at the yard-arm of the ship, and told them they hadnothing less to expect.
When they had all declared their willingness to stay, I then told them Iwould let them into the story of my living there, and put them into theway of making it easy to them: accordingly, I gave them the wholehistory of the place, and of my coming to it; showed them myfortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my corn, cured mygrapes; and, in a word, all that was necessary to make them easy. I toldthem the story also of the seventeen Spaniards that were to be expected,for whom I left a letter, and made them promise to treat them in commonwith themselves. Here it may be noted, that the captain had ink onboard, who was greatly surprised that I never hit upon a way of makingink of charcoal and water, or of something else, as I had done thingsmuch more difficult.
I left them my fire-arms, viz. five-muskets, three fowling-pieces; andthree swords. I had above a barrel and a half of powder left; for afterthe first year or two I used but little, and wasted none. I gave them adescription of the way I managed the goats, and directions to milk andfatten them, and to make both butter and cheese: in a word, I gave themevery part of my own story; and told them I should prevail with thecaptain to leave them two barrels of gunpowder more, and some gardenseeds, which I told them I would have been very glad of: also I gavethem the bag of peas which the captain had brought me to eat, and badethem be sure to sow and increase them.
Having done all this, I left them the next day, and went on board theship. We prepared immediately to sail, but did not weigh that night. Thenext morning early, two of the five men came swimming to the ship'sside, and making a most lamentable complaint of the other three, beggedto be taken into the ship, for God's sake, for they should be murdered,and begged the captain to take them on board, though he hanged themimmediately. Upon this, the captain pretended to have no power withoutme; but after some difficulty, and after their solemn promises ofamendment, they were taken on board, and were some time after soundlywhipped and pickled: after which they proved very honest andquiet fellows.
Some time after this, the boat was ordered on shore, the tide being up,with the things promised to the men; to which the captain, at myintercession, caused their chests and clothes to be added, which theytook, and were very thankful for. I also encouraged them, by tellingthem that if it lay in my power to send any vessel to take them in, Iwould not forget them.
When I took leave of this island, I carried on board, for reliques, thegreat goat-skin cap I had made, my umbrella, and one of my parrots; alsoI forgot not to take the money I formerly mentioned, which had lain byme so long useless, that it was grown rusty or tarnished, and couldhardly pass for silver, till it had been a little rubbed and handled; asalso the money I found in the wreck of the Spanish ship. And thus I leftthe island, the 19th of December, as I found by the ship's account, inthe year 1686, after I had been upon it eight and twenty years, twomonths, and nineteen days; being delivered from this second captivitythe same day of the month that I first made my escape in the long-boat,from among the Moors of Sallee. In this vessel, after a long voyage, Iarrived in England the 11th of June, in the year 1687, having beenthirty-five years absent.
When I came to England, I was as perfect a stranger to all the world asif I had never been known there. My benefactor and faithful steward,whom I had left my money in trust with, was alive, but had had greatmisfortunes in the world; was become a widow the second time, and verylow in the world. I made her very easy as to what she owed me, assuringher I would give her no trouble; but on the contrary, in gratitude forher former care and faithfulness to me, I relieved her as mylittle-stock would afford; which, at that time, would indeed allow me todo but little for her; but I assured her I would never forget her formerkindness to me; nor did I forget her when I had sufficient to help her,as shall be observed in its proper place. I went down afterwards intoYorkshire; but my father was dead, and my mother and all the familyextinct, except that I found two sisters, and two of the children of oneof my brothers; and as I had been long ago given over for dead, therehad been no provision made for me: so that, in a word, I found nothingto relieve or assist me; and that the little money I had would not domuch for me as to settling in the world.
I met with one piece of gratitude, indeed, which I did not expect; andthis was, that the master of the ship whom I had so happily delivered,and by the same means saved the ship and cargo, h
aving given a veryhandsome account to the owners of the manner how I had saved the livesof the men, and the ship, they invited me to meet them, and some othermerchants concerned, and all together made me a very handsome complimentupon the subject, and a present of almost L200 sterling.
But after making several reflections upon the circumstances of my life,and how little way this would go towards settling me in the world, Iresolved to go to Lisbon, and see if I might not come by someinformation of the state of my plantation in the Brazils, and of whatwas become of my partner, who, I had reason to suppose, had some yearspast given me over for dead. With this view I took shipping for Lisbon,where I arrived in April following; my man Friday accompanying me veryhonestly in all these ramblings, and proving a most faithful servantupon all occasions. When I came to Lisbon, I found out, by inquiry, andto my particular satisfaction, my old friend the captain of the ship whofirst took me