The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808)

by Daniel Defoe

so good as atfirst, though still in the dominions of the emperor of China; but lay,for the most part, in villages, some of which were fortified, because ofthe incursions of the Tartars. When we came to one of these towns, (itwas about two days and a half's journey before we were to come to thecity of Naum) I wanted to buy a camel, of which there are plenty to besold all the way upon that road, and of horses also, such as they are,because so many caravans coming that way, they are very often wanted.The person that I spoke to to get me a camel, would have gone andfetched it for me; but I, like a fool, must be officious, and go myselfalong with him. The place was about two miles out of the village, where,it seems, they kept the camels and horses feeding under a guard.

  I walked it on foot, with my old pilot in company, and a Chinese, beingdesirous, forsooth, of a little variety. When we came to this place, itwas a low marshy ground, walled round with a stone wall, piled up dry,without mortar or earth among it, like a park, with a little guard ofChinese soldiers at the doors. Having bought a camel, and agreed for theprice, I came away; and the Chinese man, that went with me, led thecamel, when on a sudden came up five Tartars on horseback: two of themseized the fellow, and took the camel from him, while the other threestepped up to me and my old pilot; seeing us, as it were, unarmed, for Ihad no weapon about me but my sword, which could but ill defend meagainst three horsemen. The first that came up stopped short upon mydrawing my sword; (for they are arrant cowards) but a second coming uponmy left, gave me a blow on the head, which I never felt till afterwards,and wondered, when I came to myself, what was the matter with me, andwhere I was, for he laid me flat on the ground; but my never-failing oldpilot, the Portuguese (so Providence, unlooked for, directs deliverancesfrom dangers, which to us are unforeseen,) had a pistol in his pocket,which I knew nothing of nor the Tartars neither; if they had, I supposethey would not have attacked us; but cowards are always boldest whenthere is no danger.

  The old man, seeing me down, with a bold heart stepped up to the fellowthat had struck me, and laying hold of his arm with one hand, andpulling him down by main force a little towards him with the other, heshot him into the head, and laid him dead on the spot; he thenimmediately stepped up to him who had stopped us, as I said, and beforehe could come forward again (for it was all done as it were in a moment)made a blow at him with a scimitar, which he always wore, but, missingthe man, cut his horse into the side of his head, cut one of his earsoff by the root, and a great slice down the side of his face. The poorbeast, enraged with the wounds, was no more to be governed by his rider,though the fellow sat well enough too; but away he flew, and carried himquite out of the pilot's reach; and, at some distance, rising upon hishind legs, threw down the Tartar, and fell upon him.

  In this interval the poor Chinese came in, who had lost the camel, buthe had no weapon; however, seeing the Tartar down, and his horse fallenupon him, he runs to him, and seizing upon an ugly ill-favoured weaponhe had by his side, something like a pole-axe, but not a pole-axeeither, he wrenched it from him, and made shift to knock his Tartarianbrains out with it. But my old man had the third Tartar to deal withstill; and, seeing he did not fly as he expected, nor come on to fighthim, as he apprehended, but stood stock still, the old man stood stilltoo, and falls to work with his tackle to charge his pistol again: butas soon as the Tartar saw the pistol, whether he supposed it to be thesame or another, I know not; but away he scoured, and left my pilot, mychampion I called him afterwards, a complete victory.

  By this time I was a little awake; for I thought, when I first began toawake, that I had been in a sweet sleep; but as I said above, I wonderedwhere I was, how I came upon the ground, and what was the matter: in aword, a few minutes after, as sense returned, I felt pain, though I didnot know where; I clapped my hand to my head, and took it away bloody;then I felt my head ache, and then, in another moment, memory returned,and every thing was present to me again.

  I jumped up upon my feet instantly, and got hold of my sword, but noenemies in view. I found a Tartar lie dead, and his horse standing veryquietly by him; and looking farther, I saw my champion and deliverer,who had been to see what the Chinese had done, coming back with hishanger in his hand. The old man, seeing me on my feet, came running tome, and embraced me with a great deal of joy, being afraid before that Ihad been killed; and seeing me bloody, would see how I was hurt; but itwas not much, only what we call a broken head; neither did I afterwardsfind any great inconvenience from the blow, other than the place whichwas hurt, and which was well again in two or three days.

  We made no great gain, however, by this victory; for we lost a camel,and gained a horse: but that which was remarkable, when we came back tothe village, the man demanded to be paid for the camel; I disputed it,and it was brought to a hearing before the Chinese judge of the place;that is to say, in English, we went before a justice of the peace. Givehim his due, he acted with a great deal of prudence and impartiality;and having heard both sides, he gravely asked the Chinese man that wentwith me to buy the camel, whose servant he was? "I am no servant," saidhe, "but went with the stranger."--"At whose request?" said the justice."At the stranger's request," said he. "Why then," said the justice, "youwere the stranger's servant for the time; and the camel being deliveredto his servant, it was delivered to him, and he must pay for it."

  I confess the thing was so clear, that I had not a word to say; butadmiring to see such just reasoning upon the consequence, and soaccurate stating the case, I paid willingly for the camel, and sent foranother; but you may observe, _I sent_ for it; I did not go to fetch itmyself any more; I had had enough of that.

  The city of Naum is a frontier of the Chinese empire: they call itfortified, and so it is, as fortifications go there; for this I willventure to affirm, that all the Tartars in Karakathy, which, I believe,are some millions, could not batter down the walls with their bows andarrows; but to call it strong, if it were attacked with cannon, would beto make those who understand it laugh at you.

  We wanted, as I have said, about two days journey of this city, whenmessengers were sent express to every part of the road, to tell alltravellers and caravans to halt, till they had a guard sent to them; forthat an unusual body of Tartars, making ten thousand in all, hadappeared in the way, about thirty miles beyond the city.

  This was very bad news to travellers; however, it was carefully done ofthe governor, and we were very glad to hear we should have a guard.Accordingly, two days after, we had two hundred soldiers sent us from agarrison of the Chinese on our left, and three hundred more from thecity of Naum, and with those we advanced boldly: the three hundredsoldiers from Naum marched in our front, the two hundred in our rear,and our men on each side of our camels with our baggage, and the wholecaravan in the centre. In this order, and well prepared for battle, wethought ourselves a match for the whole ten thousand Mogul Tartars, ifthey had appeared; but the next day, when they did appear, it was quiteanother thing.

  It was early in the morning, when marching from a little well-situatedtown, called Changu, we had a river to pass, where we were obliged toferry; and had the Tartars had any intelligence, then had been the timeto have attacked us, when, the caravan being over, the rear-guard wasbehind: but they did not appear there.

  About three hours after, when we were entered upon, a desert of aboutfifteen or sixteen miles over, behold, by a cloud of dust they raised,we saw an enemy was at hand; and they were at hand indeed, for they cameon upon the spur.

  The Chinese, our guard on the front, who had talked so big the daybefore, began to stagger, and the soldiers frequently looked behindthem; which is a certain sign in a soldier, that he is just ready to runaway. My old pilot was of my mind; and being near me, he called out:"Seignior Inglese," said he, "those fellows must be encouraged, or theywill ruin us all; for if the Tartars come on, they will never standit."--"I am of your mind," said I: "but what course must bedone?"--"Done?" said he; "let fifty of our men advance, and flank themon each wing, and encourage them, and they will fight like brave fellowsin brave company: but
without it, they will every man turn his back."Immediately I rode up to our leader, and told him, who was exactly ofour mind; and accordingly fifty of us marched to the right wing, andfifty to the left, and the rest made a line of reserve; for so wemarched, leaving the last two hundred men to make another body tothemselves, and to guard the camels; only that, if need were, theyshould send a hundred men to assist the last fifty.

  In a word, the Tartars came on, and an innumerable company they were;how many, we could not tell, but ten thousand we thought was the least.A party of them came on first, and viewed our posture, traversing theground in the front of our line; and as we found them within gun-shot,our leader ordered the two wings to advance swiftly, and give them a_salvo_ on each wing with their shot, which was done; but they went off,and I suppose went back to give an account of the reception they werelike