boats, where, it seems, they were laid by, and were now brought out for the slaughter. I perceived one of them
CHAPTER XIV . A DREAM REALISED
Robinson Crusoe
immediately fall; being knocked down, I suppose, with a club or wooden sword, for that was their way; and
two or three others were at work immediately, cutting him open for their cookery, while the other victim was
left standing by himself, till they should be ready for him. In that very moment this poor wretch, seeing
himself a little at liberty and unbound, Nature inspired him with hopes of life, and he started away from them,
and ran with incredible swiftness along the sands, directly towards me; I mean towards that part of the coast
where my habitation was. I was dreadfully frightened, I must acknowledge, when I perceived him run my
way; and especially when, as I thought, I saw him pursued by the whole body: and now I expected that part of
my dream was coming to pass, and that he would certainly take shelter in my grove; but I could not depend,
by any means, upon my dream, that the other savages would not pursue him thither and find him there.
However, I kept my station, and my spirits began to recover when I found that there was not above three men
that followed him; and still more was I encouraged, when I found that he outstripped them exceedingly in
running, and gained ground on them; so that, if he could but hold out for half.an.hour, I saw easily he would
fairly get away from them all.
There was between them and my castle the creek, which I mentioned often in the first part of my story, where
I landed my cargoes out of the ship; and this I saw plainly he must necessarily swim over, or the poor wretch
would be taken there; but when the savage escaping came thither, he made nothing of it, though the tide was
then up; but plunging in, swam through in about thirty strokes, or thereabouts, landed, and ran with exceeding
strength and swiftness. When the three persons came to the creek, I found that two of them could swim, but
the third could not, and that, standing on the other side, he looked at the others, but went no farther, and soon
after went softly back again; which, as it happened, was very well for him in the end. I observed that the two
who swam were yet more than twice as strong swimming over the creek as the fellow was that fled from
them. It came very warmly upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now was the time to get me a
servant, and, perhaps, a companion or assistant; and that I was plainly called by Providence to save this poor
creature's life. I immediately ran down the ladders with all possible expedition, fetched my two guns, for they
were both at the foot of the ladders, as I observed before, and getting up again with the same haste to the top
of the hill, I crossed towards the sea; and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed myself in the way
between the pursuers and the pursued, hallowing aloud to him that fled, who, looking back, was at first
perhaps as much frightened at me as at them; but I beckoned with my hand to him to come back; and, in the
meantime, I slowly advanced towards the two that followed; then rushing at once upon the foremost, I
knocked him down with the stock of my piece. I was loath to fire, because I would not have the rest hear;
though, at that distance, it would not have been easily heard, and being out of sight of the smoke, too, they
would not have known what to make of it. Having knocked this fellow down, the other who pursued him
stopped, as if he had been frightened, and I advanced towards him: but as I came nearer, I perceived presently
he had a bow and arrow, and was fitting it to shoot at me: so I was then obliged to shoot at him first, which I
did, and killed him at the first shot. The poor savage who fled, but had stopped, though he saw both his
enemies fallen and killed, as he thought, yet was so frightened with the fire and noise of my piece that he
stood stock still, and neither came forward nor went backward, though he seemed rather inclined still to fly
than to come on. I hallooed again to him, and made signs to come forward, which he easily understood, and
came a little way; then stopped again, and then a little farther, and stopped again; and I could then perceive
that he stood trembling, as if he had been taken prisoner, and had just been to be killed, as his two enemies
were. I beckoned to him again to come to me, and gave him all the signs of encouragement that I could think
of; and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every ten or twelve steps, in token of acknowledgment for
saving his life. I smiled at him, and looked pleasantly, and beckoned to him to come still nearer; at length he
came close to me; and then he kneeled down again, kissed the ground, and laid his head upon the ground, and
taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head; this, it seems, was in token of swearing to be my slave for
ever. I took him up and made much of him, and encouraged him all I could. But there was more work to do
yet; for I perceived the savage whom I had knocked down was not killed, but stunned with the blow, and
began to come to himself: so I pointed to him, and showed him the savage, that he was not dead; upon this he
spoke some words to me, and though I could not understand them, yet I thought they were pleasant to hear;
for they were the first sound of a man's voice that I had heard, my own excepted, for above twenty.five
CHAPTER XIV . A DREAM REALISED
Robinson Crusoe
years. But there was no time for such reflections now; the savage who was knocked down recovered himself
so far as to sit up upon the ground, and I perceived that my savage began to be afraid; but when I saw that, I
presented my other piece at the man, as if I would shoot him: upon this my savage, for so I call him now,
made a motion to me to lend him my sword, which hung naked in a belt by my side, which I did. He no
sooner had it, but he runs to his enemy, and at one blow cut off his head so cleverly, no executioner in
Germany could have done it sooner or better; which I thought very strange for one who, I had reason to
believe, never saw a sword in his life before, except their own wooden swords: however, it seems, as I
learned afterwards, they make their wooden swords so sharp, so heavy, and the wood is so hard, that they will
even cut off heads with them, ay, and arms, and that at one blow, too. When he had done this, he comes
laughing to me in sign of triumph, and brought me the sword again, and with abundance of gestures which I
did not understand, laid it down, with the head of the savage that he had killed, just before me. But that which
astonished him most was to know how I killed the other Indian so far off; so, pointing to him, he made signs
to me to let him go to him; and I bade him go, as well as I could. When he came to him, he stood like one
amazed, looking at him, turning him first on one side, then on the other; looked at the wound the bullet had
made, which it seems was just in his breast, where it had made a hole, and no great quantity of blood had
followed; but he had bled inwardly, for he was quite dead. He took up his bow and arrows, and came back; so
I turned to go away, and beckoned him to follow me, making signs to him that more might come after them.
Upon this he made signs to me that he should bury them with sand, that they might not be seen by the rest, if
they followed; and so I made signs to him again to do so. He fell to work; and in an instant he had scraped a
hole in the sand with his hands big enough to bury the first in, and then dragged him into it, and covered him;
and did so by the other also; I believe he had him buried them both in a quarter of an hour. Then, calling
away, I carried him, not to my castle, but quite away to my cave, on the farther part of the island: so I did not
let my dream come to pass in that part, that he came into my grove for shelter. Here I gave him bread and a
bunch of raisins to eat, and a draught of water, which I found he was indeed in great distress for, from his
running: and having refreshed him, I made signs for him to go and lie down to sleep, showing him a place
where I had laid some rice.straw, and a blanket upon it, which I used to sleep upon myself sometimes; so the
poor creature lay down, and went to sleep.
He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with straight, strong limbs, not too large; tall, and
well.shaped; and, as I reckon, about twenty.six years of age. He had a very good countenance, not a fierce
and surly aspect, but seemed to have something very manly in his face; and yet he had all the sweetness and
softness of a European in his countenance, too, especially when he smiled. His hair was long and black, not
curled like wool; his forehead very high and large; and a great vivacity and sparkling sharpness in his eyes.
The colour of his skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not an ugly, yellow, nauseous tawny, as
the Brazilians and Virginians, and other natives of America are, but of a bright kind of a dun olive.colour,
that had in it something very agreeable, though not very easy to describe. His face was round and plump; his
nose small, not flat, like the negroes; a very good mouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well set, and as white as
ivory.
After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half.an.hour, he awoke again, and came out of the cave to
me: for I had been milking my goats which I had in the enclosure just by: when he espied me he came
running to me, laying himself down again upon the ground, with all the possible signs of an humble, thankful
disposition, making a great many antic gestures to show it. At last he lays his head flat upon the ground, close
to my foot, and sets my other foot upon his head, as he had done before; and after this made all the signs to
me of subjection, servitude, and submission imaginable, to let me know how he would serve me so long as he
lived. I understood him in many things, and let him know I was very well pleased with him. In a little time I
began to speak to him; and teach him to speak to me: and first, I let him know his name should be Friday,
which was the day I saved his life: I called him so for the memory of the time. I likewise taught him to say
Master; and then let him know that was to be my name: I likewise taught him to say Yes and No and to know
the meaning of them. I gave him some milk in an earthen pot, and let him see me drink it before him, and sop
my bread in it; and gave him a cake of bread to do the like, which he quickly complied with, and made signs
CHAPTER XIV . A DREAM REALISED
Robinson Crusoe
that it was very good for him. I kept there with him all that night; but as soon as it was day I beckoned to him
to come with me, and let him know I would give him some clothes; at which he seemed very glad, for he was
stark naked. As we went by the place where he had buried the two men, he pointed exactly to the place, and
showed me the marks that he had made to find them again, making signs to me that we should dig them up
again and eat them. At this I appeared very angry, expressed my abhorrence of it, made as if I would vomit at
the thoughts of it, and beckoned with my hand to him to come away, which he did immediately, with great
submission. I then led him up to the top of the hill, to see if his enemies were gone; and pulling out my glass I
looked, and saw plainly the place where they had been, but no appearance of them or their canoes; so that it
was plain they were gone, and had left their two comrades behind them, without any search after them.
But I was not content with this discovery; but having now more courage, and consequently more curiosity, I
took my man Friday with me, giving him the sword in his hand, with the bow and arrows at his back, which I
found he could use very dexterously, making him carry one gun for me, and I two for myself; and away we
marched to the place where these creatures had been; for I had a mind now to get some further intelligence of
them. When I came to the place my very blood ran chill in my veins, and my heart sunk within me, at the
horror of the spectacle; indeed, it was a dreadful sight, at least it was so to me, though Friday made nothing of
it. The place was covered with human bones, the ground dyed with their blood, and great pieces of flesh left
here and there, half.eaten, mangled, and scorched; and, in short, all the tokens of the triumphant feast they
had been making there, after a victory over their enemies. I saw three skulls, five hands, and the bones of
three or four legs and feet, and abundance of other parts of the bodies; and Friday, by his signs, made me
understand that they brought over four prisoners to feast upon; that three of them were eaten up, and that he,
pointing to himself, was the fourth; that there had been a great battle between them and their next king, of
whose subjects, it seems, he had been one, and that they had taken a great number of prisoners; all which
were carried to several places by those who had taken them in the fight, in order to feast upon them, as was
done here by these wretches upon those they brought hither.
I caused Friday to gather all the skulls, bones, flesh, and whatever remained, and lay them together in a heap,
and make a great fire upon it, and burn them all to ashes. I found Friday had still a hankering stomach after
some of the flesh, and was still a cannibal in his nature; but I showed so much abhorrence at the very
thoughts of it, and at the least appearance of it, that he durst not discover it: for I had, by some means, let him
know that I would kill him if he offered it.
When he had done this, we came back to our castle; and there I fell to work for my man Friday; and first of
all, I gave him a pair of linen drawers, which I had out of the poor gunner's chest I mentioned, which I found
in the wreck, and which, with a little alteration, fitted him very well; and then I made him a jerkin of goat's
skin, as well as my skill would allow (for I was now grown a tolerably good tailor); and I gave him a cap
which I made of hare's skin, very convenient, and fashionable enough; and thus he was clothed, for the
present, tolerably well, and was mighty well pleased to see himself almost as well clothed as his master. It is
