number of years so punctually as to be sure I was right; though, as it proved when I afterwards examined my
account, I found I had kept a true reckoning of years.
It was no less than eight days I had waited for them, when a strange and unforeseen accident intervened, of
which the like has not, perhaps, been heard of in history. I was fast asleep in my hutch one morning, when my
man Friday came running in to me, and called aloud, "Master, master, they are come, they are come!" I
jumped up, and regardless of danger I went, as soon as I could get my clothes on, through my little grove,
which, by the way, was by this time grown to be a very thick wood; I say, regardless of danger I went without
my arms, which was not my custom to do; but I was surprised when, turning my eyes to the sea, I presently
saw a boat at about a league and a half distance, standing in for the shore, with a shoulder.of.mutton sail, as
they call it, and the wind blowing pretty fair to bring them in: also I observed, presently, that they did not
come from that side which the shore lay on, but from the southernmost end of the island. Upon this I called
Friday in, and bade him lie close, for these were not the people we looked for, and that we might not know
yet whether they were friends or enemies. In the next place I went in to fetch my perspective glass to see
what I could make of them; and having taken the ladder out, I climbed up to the top of the hill, as I used to do
when I was apprehensive of anything, and to take my view the plainer without being discovered. I had scarce
set my foot upon the hill when my eye plainly discovered a ship lying at anchor, at about two leagues and a
half distance from me, SSE., but not above a league and a half from the shore. By my observation it appeared
plainly to be an English ship, and the boat appeared to be an English long.boat.
I cannot express the confusion I was in, though the joy of seeing a ship, and one that I had reason to believe
was manned by my own countrymen, and consequently friends, was such as I cannot describe; but yet I had
some secret doubts hung about me . I cannot tell from whence they came . bidding me keep upon my guard.
In the first place, it occurred to me to consider what business an English ship could have in that part of the
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world, since it was not the way to or from any part of the world where the English had any traffic; and I knew
there had been no storms to drive them in there in distress; and that if they were really English it was most
probable that they were here upon no good design; and that I had better continue as I was than fall into the
hands of thieves and murderers.
Let no man despise the secret hints and notices of danger which sometimes are given him when he may think
there is no possibility of its being real. That such hints and notices are given us I believe few that have made
any observation of things can deny; that they are certain discoveries of an invisible world, and a converse of
spirits, we cannot doubt; and if the tendency of them seems to be to warn us of danger, why should we not
suppose they are from some friendly agent (whether supreme, or inferior and subordinate, is not the
question), and that they are given for our good?
The present question abundantly confirms me in the justice of this reasoning; for had I not been made
cautious by this secret admonition, come it from whence it will, I had been done inevitably, and in a far worse
condition than before, as you will see presently. I had not kept myself long in this posture till I saw the boat
draw near the shore, as if they looked for a creek to thrust in at, for the convenience of landing; however, as
they did not come quite far enough, they did not see the little inlet where I formerly landed my rafts, but ran
their boat on shore upon the beach, at about half a mile from me, which was very happy for me; for otherwise
they would have landed just at my door, as I may say, and would soon have beaten me out of my castle, and
perhaps have plundered me of all I had. When they were on shore I was fully satisfied they were Englishmen,
at least most of them; one or two I thought were Dutch, but it did not prove so; there were in all eleven men,
whereof three of them I found were unarmed and, as I thought, bound; and when the first four or five of them
were jumped on shore, they took those three out of the boat as prisoners: one of the three I could perceive
using the most passionate gestures of entreaty, affliction, and despair, even to a kind of extravagance; the
other two, I could perceive, lifted up their hands sometimes, and appeared concerned indeed, but not to such a
degree as the first. I was perfectly confounded at the sight, and knew not what the meaning of it should be.
Friday called out to me in English, as well as he could, "O master! you see English mans eat prisoner as well
as savage mans." "Why, Friday," says I, "do you think they are going to eat them, then?" "Yes," says Friday,
"they will eat them." "No no," says I, "Friday; I am afraid they will murder them, indeed; but you may be sure
they will not eat them."
All this while I had no thought of what the matter really was, but stood trembling with the horror of the sight,
expecting every moment when the three prisoners should be killed; nay, once I saw one of the villains lift up
his arm with a great cutlass, as the seamen call it, or sword, to strike one of the poor men; and I expected to
see him fall every moment; at which all the blood in my body seemed to run chill in my veins. I wished
heartily now for the Spaniard, and the savage that had gone with him, or that I had any way to have come
undiscovered within shot of them, that I might have secured the three men, for I saw no firearms they had
among them; but it fell out to my mind another way. After I had observed the outrageous usage of the three
men by the insolent seamen, I observed the fellows run scattering about the island, as if they wanted to see
the country. I observed that the three other men had liberty to go also where they pleased; but they sat down
all three upon the ground, very pensive, and looked like men in despair. This put me in mind of the first time
when I came on shore, and began to look about me; how I gave myself over for lost; how wildly I looked
round me; what dreadful apprehensions I had; and how I lodged in the tree all night for fear of being
devoured by wild beasts. As I knew nothing that night of the supply I was to receive by the providential
driving of the ship nearer the land by the storms and tide, by which I have since been so long nourished and
supported; so these three poor desolate men knew nothing how certain of deliverance and supply they were,
how near it was to them, and how effectually and really they were in a condition of safety, at the same time
that they thought themselves lost and their case desperate. So little do we see before us in the world, and so
much reason have we to depend cheerfully upon the great Maker of the world, that He does not leave His
creatures so absolutely destitute, but that in the worst circumstances they have always something to be
thankful for, and sometimes are nearer deliverance than they imagine; nay, are even brought to their
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deliverance by the means by which they seem to be brought to their destruction.
It was just at high.water when these people came on shore; and while they rambled about to see what kind of
a place they were in, they had carelessly stayed till the tide was spent, and the water was ebbed considerably
away, leaving their boat aground. They had left two men in the boat, who, as I found afterwards, having
drunk a little too much brandy, fell asleep; however, one of them waking a little sooner than the other and
finding the boat too fast aground for him to stir it, hallooed out for the rest, who were straggling about: upon
which they all soon came to the boat: but it was past all their strength to launch her, the boat being very
heavy, and the shore on that side being a soft oozy sand, almost like a quicksand. In this condition, like true
seamen, who are, perhaps, the least of all mankind given to forethought, they gave it over, and away they
strolled about the country again; and I heard one of them say aloud to another, calling them off from the boat,
"Why, let her alone, Jack, can't you? she'll float next tide;" by which I was fully confirmed in the main
inquiry of what countrymen they were. All this while I kept myself very close, not once daring to stir out of
my castle any farther than to my place of observation near the top of the hill: and very glad I was to think
how well it was fortified. I knew it was no less than ten hours before the boat could float again, and by that
time it would be dark, and I might be at more liberty to see their motions, and to hear their discourse, if they
had any. In the meantime I fitted myself up for a battle as before, though with more caution, knowing I had to
do with another kind of enemy than I had at first. I ordered Friday also, whom I had made an excellent
marksman with his gun, to load himself with arms. I took myself two fowling.pieces, and I gave him three
muskets. My figure, indeed, was very fierce; I had my formidable goat.skin coat on, with the great cap I
have mentioned, a naked sword by my side, two pistols in my belt, and a gun upon each shoulder.
It was my design, as I said above, not to have made any attempt till it was dark; but about two o'clock, being
the heat of the day, I found that they were all gone straggling into the woods, and, as I thought, laid down to
sleep. The three poor distressed men, too anxious for their condition to get any sleep, had, however, sat down
under the shelter of a great tree, at about a quarter of a mile from me, and, as I thought, out of sight of any of
the rest. Upon this I resolved to discover myself to them, and learn something of their condition; immediately
I marched as above, my man Friday at a good distance behind me, as formidable for his arms as I, but not
making quite so staring a spectre.like figure as I did. I came as near them undiscovered as I could, and then,
before any of them saw me, I called aloud to them in Spanish, "What are ye, gentlemen?" They started up at
the noise, but were ten times more confounded when they saw me, and the uncouth figure that I made. They
made no answer at all, but I thought I perceived them just going to fly from me, when I spoke to them in
English. "Gentlemen," said I, "do not be surprised at me; perhaps you may have a friend near when you did
not expect it." "He must be sent directly from heaven then," said one of them very gravely to me, and pulling
off his hat at the same time to me; "for our condition is past the help of man." "All help is from heaven, sir,"
said I, "but can you put a stranger in the way to help you? for you seem to be in some great distress. I saw
you when you landed; and when you seemed to make application to the brutes that came with you, I saw one
of them lift up his sword to kill you."
The poor man, with tears running down his face, and trembling, looking like one astonished, returned, "Am I
talking to God or man? Is it a real man or an angel?" "Be in no fear about that, sir," said I; "if God had sent an
angel to relieve you, he would have come better clothed, and armed after another manner than you see me;
pray lay aside your fears; I am a man, an Englishman, and disposed to assist you; you see I have one servant
only; we have arms and ammunition; tell us freely, can we serve you? What is your case?" "Our case, sir,"
said he, "is too long to tell you while our murderers are so near us; but, in short, sir, I was commander of that
ship . my men have mutinied against me; they have been hardly prevailed on not to murder me, and, at last,
have set me on shore in this desolate place, with these two men with me . one my mate, the other a passenger
. where we expected to perish, believing the place to be uninhabited, and know not yet what to think of it."
"Where are these brutes, your enemies?" said I; "do you know where they are gone? There they lie, sir," said
he, pointing to a thicket of trees; "my heart trembles for fear they have seen us and heard you speak; if they
have, they will certainly murder us all." "Have they any firearms?" said I. He answered, "They had only two
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pieces, one of which they left in the boat." "Well, then," said I, "leave the rest to me; I see they are all asleep;
it is an easy thing to kill them all; but shall we rather take them prisoners?" He told me there were two
desperate villains among them that it was scarce safe to show any mercy to; but if they were secured, he
believed all the rest would return to their duty. I asked him which they were. He told me he could not at that
distance distinguish them, but he would obey my orders in anything I would direct. "Well," says I, "let us
retreat out of their view or hearing, lest they awake, and we will resolve further." So they willingly went back
with me, till the woods covered us from them.
"Look you, sir," said I, "if I venture upon your deliverance, are you willing to make two conditions with me?"
He anticipated my proposals by telling me that both he and the ship, if recovered, should be wholly directed
and commanded by me in everything; and if the ship was not recovered, he would live and die with me in
what part of the world soever I would send him; and the two other men said the same. "Well," says I, "my
conditions are but two; first, that while you stay in this island with me, you will not pretend to any authority
here; and if I put arms in your hands, you will, upon all occasions, give them up to me, and do no prejudice to
me or mine upon this island, and in the meantime be governed by my orders; secondly, that if the ship is or
may be recovered, you will carry me and my man to England passage free."
