He gave me all the assurances that the invention or faith of man could devise that he would comply with
these most reasonable demands, and besides would owe his life to me, and acknowledge it upon all occasions
as long as he lived. "Well, then," said I, "here are three muskets for you, with powder and ball; tell me next
what you think is proper to be done." He showed all the testimonies of his gratitude that he was able, but
offered to be wholly guided by me. I told him I thought it was very hard venturing anything; but the best
method I could think of was to fire on them at once as they lay, and if any were not killed at the first volley,
and offered to submit, we might save them, and so put it wholly upon God's providence to direct the shot. He
said, very modestly, that he was loath to kill them if he could help it; but that those two were incorrigible
villains, and had been the authors of all the mutiny in the ship, and if they escaped, we should be undone still,
for they would go on board and bring the whole ship's company, and destroy us all. "Well, then," says I,
"necessity legitimates my advice, for it is the only way to save our lives." However, seeing him still cautious
of shedding blood, I told him they should go themselves, and manage as they found convenient.
In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awake, and soon after we saw two of them on their
feet. I asked him if either of them were the heads of the mutiny? He said, "No." "Well, then," said I, "you
may let them escape; and Providence seems to have awakened them on purpose to save themselves. Now,"
says I, "if the rest escape you, it is your fault." Animated with this, he took the musket I had given him in his
hand, and a pistol in his belt, and his two comrades with him, with each a piece in his hand; the two men who
were with him going first made some noise, at which one of the seamen who was awake turned about, and
seeing them coming, cried out to the rest; but was too late then, for the moment he cried out they fired . I
mean the two men, the captain wisely reserving his own piece. They had so well aimed their shot at the men
they knew, that one of them was killed on the spot, and the other very much wounded; but not being dead, he
started up on his feet, and called eagerly for help to the other; but the captain stepping to him, told him it was
too late to cry for help, he should call upon God to forgive his villainy, and with that word knocked him
down with the stock of his musket, so that he never spoke more; there were three more in the company, and
one of them was slightly wounded. By this time I was come; and when they saw their danger, and that it was
in vain to resist, they begged for mercy. The captain told them he would spare their lives if they would give
him an assurance of their abhorrence of the treachery they had been guilty of, and would swear to be faithful
to him in recovering the ship, and afterwards in carrying her back to Jamaica, from whence they came. They
gave him all the protestations of their sincerity that could be desired; and he was willing to believe them, and
spare their lives, which I was not against, only that I obliged him to keep them bound hand and foot while
they were on the island.
CHAPTER XVII . VISIT OF MUTINEERS
Robinson Crusoe
While this was doing, I sent Friday with the captain's mate to the boat with orders to secure her, and bring
away the oars and sails, which they did; and by.and.by three straggling men, that were (happily for them)
parted from the rest, came back upon hearing the guns fired; and seeing the captain, who was before their
prisoner, now their conqueror, they submitted to be bound also; and so our victory was complete.
It now remained that the captain and I should inquire into one another's circumstances. I began first, and told
him my whole history, which he heard with an attention even to amazement . and particularly at the
wonderful manner of my being furnished with provisions and ammunition; and, indeed, as my story is a
whole collection of wonders, it affected him deeply. But when he reflected from thence upon himself, and
how I seemed to have been preserved there on purpose to save his life, the tears ran down his face, and he
could not speak a word more. After this communication was at an end, I carried him and his two men into my
apartment, leading them in just where I came out, viz. at the top of the house, where I refreshed them with
such provisions as I had, and showed them all the contrivances I had made during my long, long inhabiting
that place.
All I showed them, all I said to them, was perfectly amazing; but above all, the captain admired my
fortification, and how perfectly I had concealed my retreat with a grove of trees, which having been now
planted nearly twenty years, and the trees growing much faster than in England, was become a little wood, so
thick that it was impassable in any part of it but at that one side where I had reserved my little winding
passage into it. I told him this was my castle and my residence, but that I had a seat in the country, as most
princes have, whither I could retreat upon occasion, and I would show him that too another time; but at
present our business was to consider how to recover the ship. He agreed with me as to that, but told me he
was perfectly at a loss what measures to take, for that there were still six.and.twenty hands on board, who,
having entered into a cursed conspiracy, by which they had all forfeited their lives to the law, would be
hardened in it now by desperation, and would carry it on, knowing that if they were subdued they would be
brought to the gallows as soon as they came to England, or to any of the English colonies, and that, therefore,
there would be no attacking them with so small a number as we were.
I mused for some time on what he had said, and found it was a very rational conclusion, and that therefore
something was to be resolved on speedily, as well to draw the men on board into some snare for their 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's crew, wondering what was become of their comrades and of the boat, would certainly come
on shore in their other boat to look for them, and that then, perhaps, they might come armed, and be too
strong for us: this he allowed to be rational. Upon this, I told him the first thing we had to do was to stave the
boat which lay upon the beach, so that they might not carry her of, and taking everything out of her, leave her
so far useless as not to be fit to swim. Accordingly, we went on board, took the arms which were left on
board out of her, and whatever else we found there . which was a bottle of brandy, and another of rum, a few
biscuit.cakes, a horn of powder, and a great lump of sugar in a piece of canvas (the sugar was five or six
pounds): all which was very welcome to me, especially the brandy 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 away
before), we knocked a great hole 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 able to recover the ship;
but my view was, that if they went away without the boat, I did not much question to make her again fit to
carry as to the Leeward Islands, and call upon our friends the Spaniards in my way, for I had them still in my
thoughts.
CHAPTER XVII . VISIT OF MUTINEERS
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER XVIII . THE SHIP RECOVERED
WHILE we were thus preparing our designs, and had first, by main strength, heaved the boat upon the beach,
so high that the tide would not float her off at high.water mark, and besides, had broke a hole in her bottom
too big to be quickly stopped, and were set down musing what we should do, we heard the ship fire a gun,
and make a waft with her ensign as a signal for the boat to come on board . but no boat stirred; and they fired
several times, making other signals for the boat. At last, when all their signals and firing proved fruitless, and
they found the boat did not stir, we saw them, by the help of my glasses, hoist another boat out and row
towards the shore; and we found, as they approached, that there were no less than ten men in her, and that
they had firearms with them.
As the ship lay almost two leagues from the shore, we had a full view of them as the came, and a plain sight
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 had landed, and where the boat lay; by this means, I say, we
had a full view of them, and the captain knew the persons and characters of all the men in the boat, of whom,
he said, there were three very honest fellows, who, he was sure, were led into this conspiracy by the rest,
being over.powered and frightened; but that as for the boatswain, who it seems was the chief officer among
them, and all the rest, they were as outrageous as any of the ship's crew, and were no doubt made desperate in
their new enterprise; and terribly apprehensive he was that they would be too powerful for us. I smiled at him,
and told him that men in our circumstances were past the operation of fear; that seeing almost every condition
that could be was better than that which we were supposed to be in, we ought to expect that the consequence,
whether death or life, would be sure to be a deliverance. I asked him what he thought of the circumstances of
my life, and whether a deliverance were not worth venturing for? "And where, sir," said I, "is your belief of
my being preserved here on purpose to save your life, which elevated you a little while ago? For my part,"
said I, "there seems to be but one thing amiss in all the prospect of it." "What is that?" say she. "Why," said I,
"it is, that as you say there are three or four honest fellows among them which should be spared, had they
been all of the wicked part of the crew I should have thought God's providence had singled them out to
deliver them into your hands; for depend upon it, every man that comes ashore is 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 it greatly
encouraged him; so we set vigorously to our business.
We had, upon the first appearance of the boat's coming from the ship, considered of separating our prisoners;
and we had, indeed, secured them effectually. Two of them, of whom the captain was less assured than
ordinary, I sent with Friday, and one of the three delivered men, to my cave, where they were remote enough,
and out of danger of being heard or discovered, or of finding their way out of the woods if they could have
delivered themselves. Here they left them bound, but gave them provisions; and promised them, if they
continued there quietly, to give them their liberty in a day or two; but that if they attempted their escape they
should be put to death without mercy. They promised faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and
were very thankful that they had such good usage as to have provisions and light left them; for Friday gave
them candles (such as we made ourselves) for their comfort; and they did not know but that he stood sentinel
over them at the entrance.
The other prisoners had better usage; two of them were kept pinioned, indeed, because the captain was not
able to trust them; but the other two were taken into my service, upon the captain's recommendation, and
upon their solemnly engaging to live and die with us; so with them and the three honest men we were seven
men, well armed; and I made no doubt we should be able to deal well enough with the ten that were coming,
considering that the captain had said there were three or four honest men among them also. As soon as they
got to the place where their other boat lay, they ran their boat into the beach and came all on shore, hauling
the boat up after them, which I was glad to see, for I was afraid they would rather have left the boat at an
anchor some distance from the shore, with some hands in her to guard her, and so we should not be able to
CHAPTER XVIII . THE SHIP RECOVERED
Robinson Crusoe
seize the boat. Being on shore, the first thing they did, they ran all to their other boat; and it was easy to see
they were under a great surprise to find her stripped, as above, of all that was in her, and a great hole in her
bottom. After they had mused a while upon this, they set up two or three great shouts, hallooing with all their
might, to try if they could make their companions hear; but all was to no purpose. Then they came all close in
a 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 the cave, we were sure, could not hear; and those in our keeping, though they
heard it well enough, yet durst give no answer to them. They were so astonished at the surprise of this, that,
as they told us afterwards, they resolved to go all on board again to their ship, and let them know that the men
were all murdered, and the long.boat staved; accordingly, they immediately launched their boat again, and
got all of them on board.
The captain was terribly amazed, and even confounded, at this, believing they would go on board the ship
again and set sail, giving their comrades over for lost, and so he should still lose the ship, which he was in
hopes we should have recovered; but he was quickly as much frightened the other way.
They had not been long put off with the boat, when we perceived them all coming on shore again; but with
this new measure in their conduct, which it seems they consulted together upon, viz. to leave three men in the
boat, and the rest to go on shore, and go up into the country to look for their fellows. This was a great
disappointment to us, for now we were at a loss what to do, as our seizing those seven men on shore would be
