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第8章 老白出事

　　Well, they submitted to all this; and as they had plenty ofprovisions given them all the while, they grew very orderly, andthe whole society began to live pleasantly and agreeably togetheragain; only that these three fellows could never be persuaded towork - I mean for themselves - except now and then a little, justas they pleased. However, the Spaniards told them plainly that ifthey would but live sociably and friendly together, and study thegood of the whole plantation, they would be content to work forthem, and let them walk about and be as idle as they pleased; andthus, having lived pretty well together for a month or two, theSpaniards let them have arms again, and gave them liberty to goabroad with them as before.

　　Having thus given a view of the state of things as I found them, Imust relate the heads of what I did for these people, and thecondition in which I left them. It was their opinion, and minetoo, that they would be troubled no more with the savages, or ifthey were, they would be able to cut them off, if they were twiceas many as before; so they had no concern about that. Then Ientered into a serious discourse with the Spaniard, whom I callgovernor, about their stay in the island; for as I was not come tocarry any of them off, so it would not be just to carry off someand leave others, who, perhaps, would be unwilling to stay if theirstrength was diminished. On the other hand, I told them I came toestablish them there, not to remove them; and then I let them knowthat I had brought with me relief of sundry kinds for them; that Ihad been at a great charge to supply them with all thingsnecessary, as well for their convenience as their defence; and thatI had such and such particular persons with me, as well to i

crime, were the objects of divine vengeance, and bore theweight of that punishment."

　　When the poor women saw themselves set in a row thus, and fetchedout one by one, the terrors of their condition returned upon themagain, and they firmly believed they were now going to be devoured.Accordingly, when the English sailor came in and fetched out one ofthem, the rest set up a most lamentable cry, and hung about her,and took their leave of her with such agonies and affection aswould have grieved the hardest heart in the world: nor was itpossible for the Englishmen to satisfy them that they were not tobe immediately murdered, till they fetched the old man, Friday'sfather, who immediately let them know that the five men, who wereto fetch them out one by one, had chosen them for their wives.When they had done, and the fright the women were in was a littleover, the men went to work, and the Spaniards came and helped them:and in a few hours they had built them every one a new hut or tentfor their lodging apart; for those they had already were crowdedwith their tools, household stuff, and provisions.

avery dexterous fellow ran out his two case-guns, and fired again ather, but the shot missing, the men in the boat shouted, waved theircaps, and came on. The gunner, getting quickly ready again, firedamong them a second time, one shot of which, though it missed theboat itself, yet fell in among the men, and we could easily see dida great deal of mischief among them. We now wore the ship again,and brought our quarter to bear upon them, and firing three gunsmore, we found the boat was almost split to pieces; in particular,her rudder and a piece of her stern were shot quite away; so theyhanded her sail immediately, and were in great disorder. Tocomplete their misfortune, our gunner let fly two guns at themagain; where he hit them we could not tell, but we found the boatwas sinking, and some of the men already in the water: upon this,I immediately manned out our pinnace, with orders to pick up someof the men if they could, and save them from drowning, andimmediately come on board ship with them, because we sa

　　Upon this discourse, however, and their promising, as above, toendeavour to persuade their wives to embrace Christianity, hemarried the two other couple; but Will Atkins and his wife were notyet come in. After this, my clergyman, waiting a while, wascurious to know where Atkins was gone, and turning to me, said, "Ientreat you, sir, let us walk out of your labyrinth here and look;I daresay we shall find this poor man somewhere or other talkingseriously to his wife, and teaching her already something ofreligion." I began to be of the same mind; so we went outtogether, and I carried him a way which none knew but myself, andwhere the trees were so very thick that it was not easy to seethrough the thicket of leaves, and far harder to see in than to seeout: when, coming to the edge of the wood, I saw Atkins and histawny wife sitting under the shade of a bush, very eager indiscourse: I stopped short till my clergyman came up to me, andthen having showed him where they were, we stood and looked verysteadily at

　　The poor men were now in great perplexity whether they should standand keep their posture or fly; but after a very short debate withthemselves, they considered that if the savages ranged the countrythus before help came, they might perhaps find their retreat in thewoods, and then all would be lost; so they resolved to stand themthere, and if they were too many to deal with, then they would getup to the top of the tree, from whence they doubted not to defendthemselves, fire excepted, as long as their ammunition lasted,though all the savages that were landed, which was near fifty, wereto attack them.

e fire, lay four menand three women, killed, and, as we thought, one or two more lay inthe heap among the fire; in short, there were such instances ofrage, altogether barbarous, and of a fury something beyond what washuman, that we thought it impossible our men could be guilty of it;or, if they were the authors of it, we thought they ought to beevery one of them put to the worst of deaths. But this was notall: we saw the fire increase forward, and the cry went on just asthe fire went on; so that we were in the utmost confusion. Weadvanced a little way farther, and behold, to our astonishment,three naked women, and crying in a most dreadful manner, cameflying as if they had wings, and after them sixteen or seventeenmen, natives, in the same terror and consternation, with three ofour English butchers in the rear, who, when they could not overtakethem, fired in among them, and one that was killed by their shotfell down in our sight. When the rest saw us, believing us to betheir enemies, and that we would mur

　　His discourse was very prettily delivered, considering his youth,and was the more agreeable to me, because he told me positively thematch was not for himself. I gave him all possible assurances thatif I lived to come safe to England, I would deliver his letters,and do his business effectually; and that he might depend I shouldnever forget the circumstances I had left him in. But still I wasimpatient to know who was the person to be married; upon which hetold me it was my Jack-of-all-trades and his maid Susan. I wasmost agreeably surprised when he named the match; for, indeed, Ithought it very suitable. The character of that man I have givenalready; and as for the maid, she was a very honest, modest, sober,and religious young woman: had a very good share of sense, wasagreeable enough in her person, spoke very handsomely and to thepurpose, always with decency and good manners, and was neither toobackward to speak when requisite, nor impertinently forward when itwas not her business; very handy and housewi