The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808)

by Daniel Defoe

still six-and-twentyhands on board, who having entered into a cursed conspiracy, by whichthey had all forfeited their lives to the law, would be hardened in itnow by desperation; and would carry it on, knowing that, if they werereduced, they should be brought to the gallows as soon as they came toEngland, or to any of the English colonies; and that therefore therewould 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 veryrational conclusion, and that therefore something was to be resolved onvery speedily, as well to draw the men on board into some snare fortheir 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'screw, wondering what was become of their comrades, and of the boat,would certainly come on shore in their other boat to see for them; andthat then perhaps they might come armed, and be too strong for us: thishe allowed was rational.

  Upon this I told him, the first thing we had to do was to stave theboat, which lay upon the beach, so that they might not carry her off;and taking every thing out of her, leaving her so far useless as not tobe fit to swim; accordingly we went on board, took the arms which wereleft on board out of her, and whatever else we found there, which was abottle of brandy, and another of rum, a few biscuit cakes, an horn ofpowder, and a great lump of sugar in a piece of canvas; the sugar wasfive or six pounds; all which was very welcome to me, especially thebrandy and sugar, of which I had 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 before as above,) we knocked a greathole 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 capable torecover the ship; but my view was, that if they went away without theboat, I did not much question to make her fit again to carry us away tothe 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 strengthheaved the boat up upon the beach, so high that the tide would not floather off at high water mark; and, besides, had broken a hole in herbottom too big to be quickly stopped, and were sat down musing what weshould do; we heard the ship fire a gun, and saw her make a waft withher ancient, as a signal for the boat to come on board; but no boatstirred; and they fired several times, making other signals forthe boat.

  At last, when all their signals and firings proved fruitless, and theyfound the boat did not stir, we saw them (by the help of our glasses)hoist another boat out, and row towards the shore; and we found, as theyapproached, that there were no less than ten men in her, and that theyhad fire-arms with them.

  As the ship lay almost two leagues from the shore, we had a full view ofthem as they came, and a plain sight of the men, 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 hadlanded, and where the boat lay.

  By this means, I say, we had a full view of them, and the captain knewthe persons and characters of all the men in the boat; of whom he saidthat there were three very honest fellows, who he was sure were led intothis conspiracy by the rest, being overpowered and frighted: but thatfor the boatswain, who, it seems, was the chief officer among them, andall the rest, they were as outrageous as any of the ship's crew; andwere, no doubt, made desperate in their new enterprise; and terriblyapprehensive he was, that they would be too powerful for us.

  I smiled at him, and told him, that men in our circumstances were pastthe operations of fear: that seeing almost every condition that could bewas better than that we were supposed to be in, we ought to expect thatthe consequence, whether death or life, would be sure to be adeliverance: I asked him, what he thought of the circumstances of mylife, and whether a deliverance were not worth venturing for? "Andwhere, Sir," said I, "is your belief of my being preserved here onpurpose to save your life, which elevated you a little while ago? For mypart," said I, "there seems to be but one thing amiss in all theprospect of it."--"What's that?" says he. "Why," said I, "'tis that asyou say, there are three or four honest fellows among them, which shouldbe spared; had they been all of the wicked part of the crew, I shouldhave thought God's providence had singled them out to deliver them intoyour hands; for, depend upon it, every man of them 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 itgreatly encouraged him; so we set vigorously to our business. We had,upon the first appearance of the boat's coming from the ship, consideredof separating our prisoners, and had indeed secured them effectually.

  Two of them, of whom the captain was less assured than ordinary, I sentwith Friday, and one of the three (delivered men) to my cave, where theywere remote enough, and out of danger of being heard or discovered, orof finding their way out of the woods, if they could have deliveredthemselves; here they left them bound, but gave them provisions, andpromised them, if they continued there quietly, to give them theirliberty in a day or two; but that if they attempted their escape, theyshould be put to death without mercy. They promised faithfully to beartheir confinement with patience, and were very thankful that they hadsuch good usage as to have provisions and a light left them; for Fridaygave them candles (such as we made ourselves) for their comfort; andthey did not know but that he stood centinel over them at the entrance.

  The other prisoners had better usage; two of them were kept pinionedindeed, because the captain was not free to trust them; but the othertwo were taken into my service upon their captain's recommendation, andupon their solemnly engaging to live and die with us; so, with them andthe three honest men, we were seven men well armed; and I made no doubtwe should be able to deal well enough with the ten that were a-coming,considering that the captain had said, there were three or four honestmen among them also.

  As soon as they got to the place where their other boat lay, they rantheir boat into the beach, and came all on shore, hauling the boat upafter them, which I was glad to see; for I was afraid they would ratherhave left the boat at an anchor, some distance from the shore, with somehands in her to guard her; and so we should not be able to seizethe boat.

  Being on shore, the first thing they did, they ran all to the otherboat; and it was easy to see they were under a great surprise to findher stripped as above, of all that was in her, and a great hole inher bottom.

  After they had mused awhile upon this, they set up two or three greatshouts, hallooing with all their might, to try if they could make theircompanions hear; but all was to no purpose: then they came all close ina 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 thecave, we were sure, could not hear; and those in our keeping, thoughthey heard it well enough, yet durst give no answer to them.

  They were so astonished at the surprise of this, that, as they told usafterwards, they resolved to go all on board again to their ship, andlet them know there, that the men were all murdered, and the long-boatstaved; accordingly, they immediately launched the boat again, and gotall of them on board.

  The captain was terribly amazed, and even confounded at this, believingthey would go on board the ship again and set sail, giving theircomrades up for lost, and so he should still lose the ship, which he wasin hopes we should have recovered; but he was quickly as much frightedthe other way.

  They had not been long put off with the boat, but we perceived them allcoming on shore again; but with this new measure in their conduct, whichit seems they consulted together upon; viz. to leave three men in theboat, and the rest to go on shore, and go up into the country to lookfor their fellows.

  This was a great disappointment to us; for now we were at a loss what todo; for our seizing those seven men on shore would be no advantage to usif we let the boat escape, because they would then row aw
ay to the ship;and then the rest of them would be sure to weigh, and set sail, and soour recovering the ship would be lost.

  However, we had no remedy but to wait and see what the issue of thingsmight present. The seven men came on shore, and the three who remainedin the boat put her off to a good distance from the shore, and came toan anchor to wait for them; so that it was impossible for us to come atthem in the boat.

  Those that came on shore kept close together, marching towards the topof the little hill, under which my habitation lay; and we could see themplainly, though they could not perceive us; we could have been very gladthey would have come nearer to us, so that we might have fired at them;or that they would have gone farther off, that we might havecome abroad.

  But when they were come to the brow of the hill, where they could see agreat way in the valley and woods, which lay towards the north-eastpart, and where the island lay lowest, they shouted and