by Daniel Defoe
fetch'd an old Dutchman, who had been their Prisoner many Years, and set him to
speak to us. The Sum and Substance of his Speech was, That the King of the
Country had sent his General down to know who we were, and what our Business
was? William stood up in the Stern of the Pinnace, and told him, That as to
that, he that was an European by his Language and Voice, might easily know what
we were, and our Condition; the Ship being a-ground upon the Sand, would also
tell him, that our Business there was that of a Ship in Distress; so William
desired to know what they came down for with such a Multitude, and with Arms and
Weapons, as if they came to War with us.
He answered, they might have good Reason to come down to the Shore, the Country
being alarmed with the Appearance of Ships of Strangers upon the Coast; and as
our Vessels were full of Men, and that we had Guns and Weapons, the King had
sent Part of his military Men, that, in Case of any Invasion upon the Country,
they might be ready to defend themselves, whatsoever might be the Occasion.
But, says he, as you are Men in Distress, the King has ordered his General who
is here also, to give you all the Assistance he can, and to invite you on Shore,
to receive you with all possible Courtesy. Says William very quick upon him,
before I give thee an Answer to that, I desire thee to tell me what thou art;
for by thy Speech thou art an European. He answered presently, he was a
Dutchman. That I know well, says William, by thy Speech; but art thou a Native
Dutchman of Holland, or a Native of this Country, that has learnt Dutch by
conversing among the Hollanders, who we know are settled upon this Island.
No, says the Old Man, I am a Native of Delft in the Province of Holland in
Europe.
Well, says William immediately, but art thou a Christian or a Heathen, or what
we call a Renegado?
I am, says he, a Christan, and so they went on in a short Dialogue, as follows.
Will. Thou art a Dutchman, and a Christian, thou sayest; pray, art thou a
Freeman or a Servant?
Dutchm. I am a Servant to the King here, and in his Army.
Will. But art thou a Voluntier, or a Prisoner?
Dutchm. Indeed I was a Prisoner at first, but am at Liberty now, and so am a
Voluntier.
Will. That is to say, being first a Prisoner thou hast Liberty to serve them;
but art thou so at Liberty, that thou mayest go away, if thou pleasest, to thine
own Countrymen?
Dutchm. I do not say so; my Countrymen live a great Way off, on the North and
East Parts of the Island, and there is no going to them, without the King's
express Licence.
Will. Well, and why dost not thou get a Licence to go away?
Dutchm. I have never ask'd for it.
Will. And I suppose, if thou didst, thou knowst thou couldst not obtain it.
Dutchm. I cannot say much as to that, but why do you ask me all these Questions?
Will. Why, my Reason is good; if thou art a Christian and a Prisoner, how canst
thou consent to be made an Instrument to these Barbarians, to betray us into
their Hands, who are thy Countrymen and Fellow-Christians? Is it not a barbarous
thing in thee to do so?
Dutchm. How do I go about to betray you? Do I not give you an Account, how the
King invites you to come on Shore, and has ordered you to be treated
courteously, and assisted?
Will. As thou art a Christian, tho' I doubt it much, dost thou believe the King
or the General, as thou callest it, means one Word of what he says?
Dutchm. He promises you by the Mouth of his Great General.
Will. I don't ask thee what he promises, or by whom; but I ask thee this: Canst
thou say, that thou believest he intends to perform it?
Dutchm. How can I answer that? How can I tell what he intends?
Will. Thou canst tell what thou believest.
Dutchm. I cannot say but he will perform it; I believe he may.
Will. Thou art but a double-tongu'd Christian, I doubt: Come, I'll ask thee
another Question: Wilt thou say, that thou believest it; and that thou wouldst
advise me to believe it, and put our Lives into their Hands upon these Promises?
Dutchm. I am not to be your Adviser.
Will. Thou art perhaps afraid to speak thy Mind, because thou art in their
Power: Pray, do any of them understand what thou and I say? Can they speak
Dutch?
Dutchm. No, not one of them, I have no Apprehensions upon that Account at all.
Will. Why then answer me plainly, if thou art a Christian: Is it safe for us to
venture upon their Words, to put our selves into their Hands, and come on Shore?
Dutchm. You put it very home to me: Pray let me ask you another Question: Are
you in any Likelihood of getting your Ship off, if you refuse it?
Will. Yes, yes, we shall get off the Ship, now the Storm is over, we don't fear
it.
Dutchm. Then I cannot say it is best for you to trust them.
Will. Well, it is honestly said.
Dutchm. But what shall I say to them?
Will. Give them good Words, as they give us.
Dutchm. What good Words?
Will. Why let them tell the King, that we are Strangers, who were driven on his
Coast by a great Storm; that we thank him very kindly for his Offer of Civility
to us, which, if we are farther distress'd, we will accept thankfully; but that
at present we have no Occasion to come on Shore: And besides, that we cannot
safely leave the Ship in the present Condition she is in, but that we are
obliged to take Care of her, in order to get her off, and expect in a Tide or
two more, to get her quite clear, and at an Anchor.
Dutchm. But he will expect you to come on Shore then to visit him, and make him
some Present for his Civility.
Will. When we have got our Ship clear, and stopp'd the Leaks, we will pay our
Respects to him.
Dutchm. Nay, you may as well come to him now as then.
Will. Nay, hold Friend, I did not say we would come to him then: You talk'd of
making him a Present; that is, to pay our Respects to him, is it not?
Dutchm. Well, but I will tell him, that you will come on Shore to him when your
Ship is got off?
Will. I have nothing to say to that, you may tell him what you think fit.
Dutchm. But he will be in a great Rage, if I do not.
Will. Who will he be in a great Rage at?
Dutchm. At you.
Will. What Occasion have we to value that?
Dutchm. Why, he will send all his Army down against you.
Will. And what if they were all here just now? What dost thou suppose they could
do to us?
Dutchm. He would expect they should burn your Ships, and bring you all to him.
Will. Tell him, if he try, he may catch a Tartar.
Dutchm. He has a World of Men.
Will. Has he any Ships?
Dutchm. No, he has no Ships.
Will. Nor Boats?
Dutchm. No, nor Boats.
Will. Why, what then do you think we care for his Men? What canst thou do now to
us, if thou hadst a Hundred Thousand with thee?
Dutchm. O! they might set you on Fire.
Will. Set us a Firing thou mean'st: That they might indeed; but Set us on Fire,
your Hundred Thousand Men, if they come within Reach of our Guns, I assure thee.
Dutchm. But what if the King give you Hostages for your Safety?
Will. Whom can he give but mere Slaves and Servants like thy self, whose Lives
he no more values, than we an English Hound?
Dutchm. Whom do you demand for Hostages?
Will. Himself and your Worship.
Dutchm. What would you do with him?
Will. Do with him, as he would do with us, cut his Head off.
Dutchm. And what would you do to me?
Will. Do with thee? We would carry thee home into thine own Country; and tho'
thou deservest the Gallows, we would make a Man and a Christian of thee again,
and not do by thee as thou wouldst have done by us, betray thee to a Parcel of
merciless, savage Pagans, that know no God, nor how to shew Mercy to Man.
Dutchm. You put a Thought in my Head that I will speak to you about to Morrow.
Thus they went away, and William came on board, and gave us a full Account of
his Parley with the old Dutchman, which was very diverting, and to me
instructing, for I had Abundance of Reason to acknowledge William had made a
better Judgment of things than I.
It was our good Fortune to get our Ship off that very Night, and to bring her to
an Anchor at about a Mile and a Half further out, and in deep Water, to our
great Satisfaction; so that we had no need to fear the Dutchman's King with his
Hundred Thousand Men; and indeed we had some Sport with them the next Day, when
they came down, a vast prodigious Multitude of them, very few less in Number, in
our Imagination, than a Hundred Thousand, with some Elephants; tho' if it had
been an Army of Elephants, they could have done us no Harm, for we were fairly
at our Anchor now, and out of their Reach; and indeed we thought our selves more
out of their Reach, than we really were; and it was ten Thousand to One, that we
had not been fast a-ground again; for the Wind blowing off Shore, tho' it made
the Water smooth where we lay, yet it blew the Ebb further out than usual, and
we could easily perceive the Sand which we touch'd upon before, lay in the Shape
of a Half Moon, and surrounded us with two Horns of it; so that we lay in the
Middle or Center of it, as in a round Bay, safe just as we were, and in deep
Water; but present Death, as it were, on the right Hand, and on the left, for
the two Horns, or Points of the Sand, reach'd out beyond where our Ship lay near
two Miles.
On that Part of the Sand which lay on our East Side, this misguided Multitude
extended themselves; and being most of them not above their Knees, or most of
them not above Ancle deep in the Water, they, as it were, surrounded us on that
Side, and on the Side of the main Land, and a little Way on the other Side of
the Sand, standing in a Half Circle, or rather three Fifths of a Circle, for
about six Miles in Length; the other Horn, or Point of the Sand which lay on our
West Side being not quite so shallow, they could not extend themselves upon it
so far.
They little thought what Service they had done us, and how unwillingly, and by
the greatest Ignorance, they had made themselves Pilots to us, while we having
not sounded the Place, might have been lost, before we were aware. It is true,
we might have sounded our new Harbour, before we had ventured out; but I cannot
say for certain, whether we should or not; for I, for my Part, had not the least
Suspicion of what our real Case was. However, I say, perhaps before we had
weigh'd, we should have look'd about us a little. I am sure we ought to have
done it; for besides these Armies of human Furies, we had a very leaky Ship, and
all our Pumps could hardly keep the Water from growing upon us, and our
Carpenters were over-board working to find out, and stop the Wounds we had
received, heeling her first on one Side, and then on the other; and it was very
diverting to see how, when our Men heel'd the Ship over to the Side next the
wild Army that stood on the East Horn of the Sand, they were so amazed between
Fright and Joy, that it put them into a kind of Confusion, calling to one
another, hallooing and skreeking in a Manner as it is impossible to describe.
While we were doing this, for we were in a great Hurry, you may be sure, and all
Hands at Work, as well at the stopping our Leaks, as repairing our Rigging and
Sails, which had receiv'd a great deal of Damage, and also in rigging a new
Main-Top-Mast, and the like: I say, while we were doing all this, we perceived a
Body of Men, of near a Thousand, move from that Part of the Army of the
Barbarians, that lay at the Bottom of the sandy Bay, and came all along the
Water's Edge, round the Sand, till they stood just on our Broadside East, and
were within about Half a Mile of us. Then we saw the Dutchman come forward
nearer to us, and all alone, with his white Flag and all his Motions, just as
before, and there he stood.
Our Men had but just brought the Ship to Rights again, as they came up to our
Broadside, and we had very happily found out and stopp'd the worst and most
dangerous Leak that we had, to our very great Satisfaction; so I ordered the
Boats to be haul'd up, and Mann'd as they were the Day before, and William to go
as Plenipotentiary. I would have gone my self, if I had understood Dutch; but as
I did not, it was to no Purpose, for I should be able to know nothing of what
was said, but from him at second Hand, which might be done as well afterwards.
All the Instructions I pretended to give William, was, if possible, to get the
old Dutchman away, and, if he could, to make him come on board.
Well, William went just as before; and when he came within about sixty or
seventy Yards of the Shore, he held up his white Flag, as the Dutchman did, and
turning the Boat's Broadside to the Shore, and his Men lying upon their Oars,
the Parley or Dialogue began again thus.
Will. Well, Friend, what do'st thou say to us now?
Dutchm. I come of the same mild Errand as I did yesterday.
Will. What do'st thou pretend to come of a mild Errand, with all these People at
thy Back, and all the foolish Weapons of War they bring with them? Prithee, what
dost thou mean?
Dutchm. The King hastens us to invite the Captain and all his Men, to come on
Shore, and has ordered all his Men to shew them all the Civility they can.
Will. Well, and are all those Men come to invite us ashore?
Dutchm. They will do you no Hurt, if you will come on Shore peaceably.
Will. Well, and what dost thou think they can do to us, if we will not?
Dutchm. I would not have them do you any Hurt then neither.
Will. But prithee, Friend, do not make thy self Fool and Knave too: Do'st not
thou know that we are out of Fear of all thy Army, and out of Danger of all that
they can do? What makes thee act so simply as well as so knavishly?
Dutchm. Why you may think your selves safer than you are: You do not know what
they may do to you. I can assure you they are able to do you a great deal of
Harm, and perhaps burn your Ship.
/> Will. Suppose that were true, as I am sure it is false, you see we have more
Ships to carry us off, [Side note: 1Kb] pointing to the Sloop.
Dutchm. We do not value that, if you had ten Ships, you dare not come on Shore
with all the Men you have, in a hostile Way; we are too many for you.
Will. Thou dost not even in that speak as thou meanest; and we may give thee a
Tryal of our Hands, when our Friends come up to us; for thou hearest they have
discovered us � [Side note: 1Kb ] .
Dutchm. Yes, I hear they fire, but I hope your Ship will not fire again; for if
they do, our General will take it for breaking the Truce, and will make the Army
let fly a Shower of Arrows at you in the Boat.
Will. Thou mayest be sure the Ship will fire, that the other Ship may hear them,
but not with Ball, If thy General knows no better, he may begin when he will;
but thou mayest be sure we will return it to his Cost.
Dutchm. What must I do then?
Will. Do, why go to him, and tell him of it before-hand then; and let him know,
that the Ship firing is not at him, or his Men, and then come again, and tell us
what he says.
Dutchm. No, I will send to him, which will do as well.
Will. Do as thou wilt; but I believe thou hadst better go thy self; for if our
Men fire first, I suppose he will be in a great Wrath, and it may be, at thee;
for, as for his Wrath at us, we tell thee before-hand, we value it not.
Dutchm. You flight them too much, you know not what they may do.
Will. Thou makest as if those poor savage Wretches could do mighty things;
prithee let us see what you can all do, we value it not; thou mayest set down
thy Flag of Truce when thou pleasest, and begin.
Dutchm. I had rather make a Truce, and have you all part Friends.
Will. Thou art a deceitful Rogue thy self; for 'tis plain thou knowest these
People would only perswade us on Shore, to entrap and surprize us; and yet thou
that art a Christian, as thou callest thy self, would have us come on Shore, and
put our Lives into their Hands who know nothing that belongs to Compassion, good
Usage, or good Manners: How canst thou be such a Villain!
Dutchm. How can you call me so? What have I done to you, and what would you have
me do?
Will. Not act like a Traytor, but like one that was once a Christian, and would
have been so still, if you had not been a Dutchman.
Dutchm. I know not what to do not I, I wish I were from them, they are a bloody
People.
Will. Prithee make no Difficulty of what thou shouldst do; Canst thou swim?
Dutchm. Yes, I can swim; but if I should attempt to swim off to you, I should
have a Thousand Arrows and Javelins sticking in me, before I should get to your
Boat.
Will. I'll bring the Boat close to thee, and take thee on board, in spite of
them all. We will give them but one Volley, and I'll engage they will all run
away from thee.
Dutchm. You are mistaken in them, I assure you; they would immediately come all
running down to the Shore, and shoot Fire-Arrows at you, and set your Boat and
Ship and all on Fire, about your Ears.
Will. We will venture that, if thou wilt come off.
Dutchm. Will you use me honourably when I am among you?
Will. I'll give thee my Word for it, if thou provest honest.
Dutchm. Will you not make me a Prisoner?
Will. I will be thy Surety Body for Body, that thou shalt be a Freeman, and go
whither thou wilt, tho' I own to thee thou dost not deserve it.
Just at this time our Ship fired three Guns, to answer the Sloop, and let her
know we saw her, who immediately, we perceived, understood it, and stood
directly for the Place; but it is impossible to express the Confusion and filthy
vile Noise, the Hurry and universal Disorder, that was among that vast Multitude
of People, upon our Firing of three Guns. They immediately all repaired to their
Arms, as I may call it; for, to say they put themselves into Order, would be
saying nothing.
Upon the Word of Command then they advanced all in a Body to the Sea-side, and