Chapter IV. Renewed Invasion of Savages

by Daniel Defoe

　　And now they had another broil with the three Englishmen; one ofwhom, a most turbulent fellow, being in a rage at one of the threecaptive slaves, because the fellow had not done something rightwhich he bade him do, and seemed a little untractable in hisshowing him, drew a hatchet out of a frog-belt which he wore by hisside, and fell upon the poor savage, not to correct him, but tokill him. One of the Spaniards who was by, seeing him give thefellow a barbarous cut with the hatchet, which he aimed at hishead, but stuck into his shoulder, so that he thought he had cutthe poor creature's arm off, ran to him, and entreating him not tomurder the poor man, placed himself between him and the savage, toprevent the mischief. The fellow, being enraged the more at this,struck at the Spaniard with his hatchet, and swore he would servehim as he intended to serve the savage; which the Spaniardperceiving, avoided the blow, and with a shovel, which he had inhis hand (for they were all working in the field about their cornland), knocked the brute down. Another of the Englishmen, runningup at the same time to help his comrade, knocked the Spaniard down;and then two Spaniards more came in to help their man, and a thirdEnglishman fell in upon them. They had none of them any firearmsor any other weapons but hatchets and other tools, except thisthird Englishman; he had one of my rusty cutlasses, with which hemade at the two last Spaniards, and wounded them both. This frayset the whole family in an uproar, and more help coming in theytook the three Englishmen prisoners. The next question was, whatshould be done with them? They had been so often mutinous, andwere so very furious, so desperate, and so idle withal, they knewnot what course to take with them, for they were mischievous to thehighest degree, and cared not what hurt they did to any man; sothat, in short, it was not safe to live with them.The Spaniard who was governor told them, in so many words, that ifthey had been of his own country he would have hanged them; for alllaws and all governors were to preserve society, and those who weredangerous to the society ought to be expelled out of it; but asthey were Englishmen, and that it was to the generous kindness ofan Englishman that they all owed their preservation anddeliverance, he would use them with all possible lenity, and wouldleave them to the judgment of the other two Englishmen, who weretheir countrymen. One of the two honest Englishmen stood up, andsaid they desired it might not be left to them. "For," says he, "Iam sure we ought to sentence them to the gallows;" and with that hegives an account how Will Atkins, one of the three, had proposed tohave all the five Englishmen join together and murder all theSpaniards when they were in their sleep.When the Spanish governor heard this, he calls to Will Atkins,"How, Seignior Atkins, would you murder us all? What have you tosay to that?" The hardened villain was so far from denying it,that he said it was true, and swore they would do it still beforethey had done with them. "Well, but Seignior Atkins," says theSpaniard, "what have we done to you that you will kill us? Whatwould you get by killing us? And what must we do to prevent youkilling us? Must we kill you, or you kill us? Why will you put usto the necessity of this, Seignior Atkins?" says the Spaniard verycalmly, and smiling. Seignior Atkins was in such a rage at theSpaniard's making a jest of it, that, had he not been held by threemen, and withal had no weapon near him, it was thought he wouldhave attempted to kill the Spaniard in the middle of all thecompany. This hare-brained carriage obliged them to considerseriously what was to be done. The two Englishmen and the Spaniardwho saved the poor savage were of the opinion that they should hangone of the three for an example to the rest, and that particularlyit should be he that had twice attempted to commit murder with hishatchet; indeed, there was some reason to believe he had done it,for the poor savage was in such a miserable condition with thewound he had received that it was thought he could not live. Butthe governor Spaniard still said No; it was an Englishman that hadsaved all their lives, and he would never consent to put anEnglishman to death, though he had murdered half of them; nay, hesaid if he had been killed himself by an Englishman, and had timeleft to speak, it should be that they should pardon him.This was so positively insisted on by the governor Spaniard, thatthere was no gainsaying it; and as merciful counsels are most aptto prevail where they are so earnestly pressed, so they all cameinto it. But then it was to be considered what should be done tokeep them from doing the mischief they designed; for all agreed,governor and all, that means were to be used for preserving thesociety from danger. After a long debate, it was agreed that theyshould be disarmed, and not permitted to have either gun, powder,shot, sword, or any weapon; that they should be turned out of thesociety, and left to live where they would and how they would, bythemselves; but that none of the rest, either Spaniards or English,should hold any kind of converse with them, or have anything to dowith them; that they should be forbid to come within a certaindistance of the place where the rest dwelt; and if they offered tocommit any disorder, so as to spoil, burn, kill, or destroy any ofthe corn, plantings, buildings, fences, or cattle belonging to thesociety, they should die without mercy, and they would shoot themwherever they could find them.The humane governor, musing upon the sentence, considered a littleupon it; and turning to the two honest Englishmen, said, "Hold; youmust reflect that it will be long ere they can raise corn andcattle of their own, and they must not starve; we must thereforeallow them provisions." So he caused to be added, that they shouldhave a proportion of corn given them to last them eight months, andfor seed to sow, by which time they might be supposed to raise someof their own; that they should have six milch-goats, four he-goats,and six kids given them, as well for present subsistence as for astore; and that they should have tools given them for their work inthe fields, but they should have none of these tools or provisionsunless they would swear solemnly that they would not hurt or injureany of the Spaniards with them, or of their fellow-Englishmen.Thus they dismissed them the society, and turned them out to shiftfor themselves. They went away sullen and refractory, as neithercontent to go away nor to stay: but, as there was no remedy, theywent, pretending to go and choose a place where they would settlethemselves; and some provisions were given them, but no weapons.About four or five days after, they came again for some victuals,and gave the governor an account where they had pitched theirtents, and marked themselves out a habitation and plantation; andit was a very convenient place indeed, on the remotest part of theisland, NE., much about the place where I providentially landed inmy first voyage, when I was driven out to sea in my foolish attemptto sail round the island.Here they built themselves two handsome huts, and contrived them ina manner like my first habitation, being close under the side of ahill, having some trees already growing on three sides of it, sothat by planting others it would be very easily covered from thesight, unless narrowly searched for. They desired some dried goat-skins for beds and covering, which were given them; and upon givingtheir words that they would not disturb the rest, or injure any oftheir plantations, they gave them hatchets, and what other toolsthey could spare; some peas, barley, and rice, for sowing; and, ina word, anything they wanted, except arms and ammunition.They lived in this separate condition about six months, and had gotin their first harvest, though the quantity was but small, theparcel of land they had planted being but little. Indeed, havingall their plantation to form, they had a great deal of work upontheir hands; and when they came to make boards and pots, and suchthings, they were quite out of their element, and could makenothing of it; therefore when the rainy season came on, for want ofa cave in the earth, they could not keep their grain dry, and itwas in great danger of spoiling. This humbled them much: so theycame and begged the Spaniards to help them, which they very readilydid; and in four days worked a great hole in the side of the hillfor them, big enough to secure their corn and other things from therain: but it was a poor place at best compared to mine, andespecially as mine was then, for the Spaniards had greatly enlargedit, and made several new apartments in it.About three quarters of a year after this separation, a new frolictook these rogues, which, together with the former villainy theyhad committed, brought mischief enough upon them, and had very nearbeen the ruin of the whole colony. The three new associates began,it seems, to be weary of the laborious life they led, and thatwithout hope of bettering their circumstances: and a whim tookthem that they would make a voyage to the continent, from whencethe savages came, and would try if they could seize upon someprisoners among the natives there, and bring them home, so as tomake them do the laborious part of the work for them.The project was not so preposterous, if they had gone no further.But they did nothing, and proposed nothing, but had either mischiefin the design, or mischief in the event. And if I may give myopinion, they seemed to be under a blast from Heaven: for if wewill not allow a visible curse to pursue visible crimes, how shallwe reconcile the events of things with the divine justice? It wascertainly an apparent vengeance on their crime of mutiny and piracythat brought them to the state they were in; and they showed notthe least remorse for the crime, but added new villanies to it,such as the piece of monstrous cruelty of wounding a poor slavebecause he did not, or perhaps could not, understand to do what hewas directed, and to wound him in such a manner as made him acripple all his life, and in a place where no surgeon or medicinecould be had for his cure; and, what was still worse, theintentional murder, for such to be sure it was, as was afterwardsthe formed design they all laid to murder the Spaniards in coldblood, and in their sleep.The three fellows came down to the Spaniards one morning, and invery humble terms desired to be admitted to speak with them. TheSpaniards very readily heard what they had to say, which was this:that they were tired of living in the manner they did, and thatthey were not handy enough to make the necessaries they wanted, andthat having no help, they found they should be starved; but if theSpaniards would give them leave to take one of the canoes whichthey came over in, and give them arms and ammunition proportionedto their defence, they would go over to the main, and seek theirfortunes, and so deliver them from the trouble of supplying themwith any other provisions.The Spaniards were glad enough to get rid of them, but veryhonestly represented to them the certain destruction they wererunning into; told them they had suffered such hardships upon thatvery spot, that they could, without any spirit of prophecy, tellthem they would be starved or murdered, and bade them consider ofit. The men replied audaciously, they should be starved if theystayed here, for they could not work, and would not work, and theycould but be starved abroad; and if they were murdered, there wasan end of them; they had no wives or children to cry after them;and, in short, insisted importunately upon their demand, declaringthey would go, whether they gave them any arms or not.The Spaniards told them, with great kindness, that if they wereresolved to go they should not go like naked men, and be in nocondition to defend themselves; and that though they could illspare firearms, not having enough for themselves, yet they wouldlet them have two muskets, a pistol, and a cutlass, and each man ahatchet, which they thought was sufficient for them. In a word,they accepted the offer; and having baked bread enough to servethem a month given them, and as much goats' flesh as they could eatwhile it was sweet, with a great basket of dried grapes, a pot offresh water, and a young kid alive, they boldly set out in thecanoe for a voyage over the sea, where it was at least forty milesbroad. The boat, indeed, was a large one, and would very well havecarried fifteen or twenty men, and therefore was rather too big forthem to manage; but as they had a fair breeze and flood-tide withthem, they did well enough. They had made a mast of a long pole,and a sail of four large goat-skins dried, which they had sewed orlaced together; and away they went merrily together. The Spaniardscalled after them "BON VOYAJO;" and no man ever thought of seeingthem any more.The Spaniards were often saying to one another, and to the twohonest Englishmen who remained behind, how quietly and comfortablythey lived, now these three turbulent fellows were gone. As fortheir coming again, that was the remotest thing from their thoughtsthat could be imagined; when, behold, after two-and-twenty days'absence, one of the Englishmen being abroad upon his planting work,sees three strange men coming towards him at a distance, with gunsupon their shoulders.Away runs the Englishman, frightened and amazed, as if he wasbewitched, to the governor Spaniard, and tells him they were allundone, for there were strangers upon the island, but he could nottell who they were. The Spaniard, pausing a while, says to him,"How do you mean - you cannot tell who? They are the savages, tobe sure." "No, no," says the Englishman, "they are men in clothes,with arms." "Nay, then," says the Spaniard, "why are you soconcerned! If they are not savages they must be friends; for thereis no Christian nation upon earth but will do us good rather thanharm." While they were debating thus, came up the threeEnglishmen, and standing without the wood, which was new planted,hallooed to them. They presently knew their voices, and so all thewonder ceased. But now the admiration was turned upon anotherquestion - What could be the matter, and what made them come backagain?It was not long before they brought the men in, and inquiring wherethey had been, and what they had been doing, they gave them a fullaccount of their voyage in a few words: that they reached the landin less than two days, but finding the people alarmed at theircoming, and preparing with bows and arrows to fight them, theydurst not go on, shore, but sailed on to the northward six or sevenhours, till they came to a great opening, by which they perceivedthat the land they saw from our island was not the main, but anisland: that upon entering that opening of the sea they sawanother island on the right hand north, and several more west; andbeing resolved to land somewhere, they put over to one of theislands which lay west, and went boldly on shore; that they foundthe people very courteous and friendly to them; and they gave themseveral roots and some dried fish, and appeared very sociable; andthat the women, as well as the men, were very forward to supplythem with anything they could get for them to eat, and brought itto them a great way, on their heads. They continued here for fourdays, and inquired as well as they could of them by signs, whatnations were this way, and that way, and were told of severalfierce and terrible people that lived almost every way, who, asthey made known by signs to them, used to eat men; but, as forthemselves, they said they never ate men or women, except only suchas they took in the wars; and then they owned they made a greatfeast, and ate their prisoners.The Englishmen inquired when they had had a feast of that kind; andthey told them about two moons ago, pointing to the moon and to twofingers; and that their great king had two hundred prisoners now,which he had taken in his war, and they were feeding them to makethem fat for the next feast. The Englishmen seemed mighty desirousof seeing those prisoners; but the others mistaking them, thoughtthey were desirous to have some of them to carry away for their owneating. So they beckoned to them, pointing to the setting of thesun, and then to the rising; which was to signify that the nextmorning at sunrising they would bring some for them; andaccordingly the next morning they brought down five women andeleven men, and gave them to the Englishmen to carry with them ontheir voyage, just as we would bring so many cows and oxen down toa seaport town to victual a ship.As brutish and barbarous as these fellows were at home, theirstomachs turned at this sight, and they did not know what to do.To refuse the prisoners would have been the highest affront to thesavage gentry that could be offered them, and what to do with themthey knew not. However, after some debate, they resolved to acceptof them: and, in return, they gave the savages that brought themone of their hatchets, an old key, a knife, and six or seven oftheir bullets; which, though they did not understand their use,they seemed particularly pleased with; and then tying the poorcreatures' hands behind them, they dragged the prisoners into theboat for our men.The Englishmen were obliged to come away as soon as they had them,or else they that gave them this noble present would certainly haveexpected that they should have gone to work with them, have killedtwo or three of them the next morning, and perhaps have invited thedonors to dinner. But having taken their leave, with all therespect and thanks that could well pass between people, where oneither side they understood not one word they could say, they putoff with their boat, and came back towards the first island; where,when they arrived, they set eight of their prisoners at liberty,there being too many of them for their occasion. In their voyagethey endeavoured to have some communication with their prisoners;but it was impossible to make them understand anything. Nothingthey could say to them, or give them, or do for them, but waslooked upon as going to murder them. They first of all unboundthem; but the poor creatures screamed at that, especially thewomen, as if they had just felt the knife at their throats; forthey immediately concluded they were unbound on purpose to bekilled. If they gave them thing to eat, it was the same thing;they then concluded it was for fear they should sink in flesh, andso not be fat enough to kill. If they looked at one of them moreparticularly, the party presently concluded it was to see whetherhe or she was fattest, and fittest to kill first; nay, after theyhad brought them quite over, and began to use them kindly, andtreat them well, still they expected every day to make a dinner orsupper for their new masters.When the three wanderers had give this unaccountable history orjournal of their voyage, the Spaniard asked them where their newfamily was; and being told that they had brought them on shore, andput them into one of their huts, and were come up to beg somevictuals for them, they (the Spaniards) and the other twoEnglishmen, that is to say, the whole colony, resolved to go alldown to the place and see them; and did so, and Friday's fatherwith them. When they came into the hut, there they sat, all bound;for when they had brought them on shore they bound their hands thatthey might not take the boat and make their escape; there, I say,they sat, all of them stark naked. First, there were three comelyfellows, well shaped, with straight limbs, about thirty to thirty-five years of age; and five women, whereof two might be from thirtyto forty, two more about four or five and twenty; and the fifth, atall, comely maiden, about seventeen. The women were well-favoured, agreeable persons, both in shape and features, onlytawny; and two of them, had they been perfect white, would havepassed for very handsome women, even in London, having pleasantcountenances, and of a very modest behaviour; especially when theycame afterwards to be clothed and dressed, though that dress wasvery indifferent, it must be confessed.The sight, you may be sure, was something uncouth to our Spaniards,who were, to give them a just character, men of the most calm,sedate tempers, and perfect good humour, that ever I met with:and, in particular, of the utmost modesty: I say, the sight wasvery uncouth, to see three naked men and five naked women, alltogether bound, and in the most miserable circumstances that humannature could be supposed to be, viz. to be expecting every momentto be dragged out and have their brains knocked out, and then to beeaten up like a calf that is killed for a dainty.The first thing they did was to cause the old Indian, Friday'sfather, to go in, and see first if he knew any of them, and then ifhe understood any of their speech. As soon as the old man came in,he looked seriously at them, but knew none of them; neither couldany of them understand a word he said, or a sign he could make,except one of the women. However, this was enough to answer theend, which was to satisfy them that the men into whose hands theywere fallen were Christians; that they abhorred eating men orwomen; and that they might be sure they would not be killed. Assoon as they were assured of this, they discovered such a joy, andby such awkward gestures, several ways, as is hard to describe; forit seems they were of several nations. The woman who was theirinterpreter was bid, in the next place, to ask them if they werewilling to be servants, and to work for the men who had broughtthem away, to save their lives; at which they all fell a-dancing;and presently one fell to taking up this, and another that,anything that lay next, to carry on their shoulders, to intimatethey were willing to work.The governor, who found that the having women among them wouldpresently be attended with some inconvenience, and might occasionsome strife, and perhaps blood, asked the three men what theyintended to do with these women, and how they intended to use them,whether as servants or as wives? One of the Englishmen answered,very boldly and readily, that they would use them as both; to whichthe governor said: "I am not going to restrain you from it - youare your own masters as to that; but this I think is but just, foravoiding disorders and quarrels among you, and I desire it of youfor that reason only, viz. that you will all engage, that if any ofyou take any of these women as a wife, he shall take but one; andthat having taken one, none else shall touch her; for though wecannot marry any one of you, yet it is but reasonable that, whileyou stay here, the woman any of you takes shall be maintained bythe man that takes her, and should be his wife - I mean," says he,"while he continues here, and that none else shall have anything todo with her." All this appeared so just, that every one agreed toit without any difficulty.Then the Englishmen asked the Spaniards if they designed to takeany of them? But every one of them answered "No." Some of themsaid they had wives in Spain, and the others did not like womenthat were not Christians; and all together declared that they wouldnot touch one of them, which was an instance of such virtue as Ihave not met with in all my travels. On the other hand, the fiveEnglishmen took them every one a wife, that is to say, a temporarywife; and so they set up a new form of living; for the Spaniardsand Friday's father lived in my old habitation, which they hadenlarged exceedingly within. The three servants which were takenin the last battle of the savages lived with them; and thesecarried on the main part of the colony, supplied all the rest withfood, and assisted them in anything as they could, or as they foundnecessity required.But the wonder of the story was, how five such refractory, ill-matched fellows should agree about these women, and that some twoof them should not choose the same woman, especially seeing two orthree of them were, without comparison, more agreeable than theothers; but they took a good way enough to prevent quarrellingamong themselves, for they set the five women by themselves in oneof their huts, and they went all into the other hut, and drew lotsamong them who should choose first.Him that drew to choose first went away by himself to the hut wherethe poor naked creatures were, and fetched out her he chose; and itwas worth observing, that he that chose first took her that wasreckoned the homeliest and oldest of the five, which made mirthenough amongst the rest; and even the Spaniards laughed at it; butthe fellow considered better than any of them, that it wasapplication and business they were to expect assistance in, as muchas in anything else; and she proved the best wife of all theparcel.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. The threewicked ones had pitched farthest off, and the two honest onesnearer, but both on the north shore of the island, so that theycontinued separated as before; and thus my island was peopled inthree places, and, as I might say, three towns were begun to bebuilt.And here it is very well worth observing that, as it often happensin the world (what the wise ends in God's providence are, in such adisposition of things, I cannot say), the two honest fellows hadthe two worst wives; and the three reprobates, that were scarceworth hanging, that were fit for nothing, and neither seemed bornto do themselves good nor any one else, had three clever, careful,and ingenious wives; not that the first two were bad wives as totheir temper or humour, for all the five were most willing, quiet,passive, and subjected creatures, rather like slaves than wives;but my meaning is, they were not alike capable, ingenious, orindustrious, or alike cleanly and neat. Another observation I mustmake, to the honour of a diligent application on one hand, and tothe disgrace of a slothful, negligent, idle temper on the other,that when I came to the place, and viewed the several improvements,plantings, and management of the several little colonies, the twomen had so far out-gone the three, that there was no comparison.They had, indeed, both of them as much ground laid out for corn asthey wanted, and the reason was, because, according to my rule,nature dictated that it was to no purpose to sow more corn thanthey wanted; but the difference of the cultivation, of theplanting, of the fences, and indeed, of everything else, was easyto be seen at first view.The two men had innumerable young trees planted about their huts,so that, when you came to the place, nothing was to be seen but awood; and though they had twice had their plantation demolished,once by their own countrymen, and once by the enemy, as shall beshown in its place, yet they had restored all again, and everythingwas thriving and flourishing about them; they had grapes planted inorder, and managed like a vineyard, though they had themselvesnever seen anything of that kind; and by their good ordering theirvines, their grapes were as good again as any of the others. Theyhad also found themselves out a retreat in the thickest part of thewoods, where, though there was not a natural cave, as I had found,yet they made one with incessant labour of their hands, and where,when the mischief which followed happened, they secured their wivesand children so as they could never be found; they having, bysticking innumerable stakes and poles of the wood which, as I said,grew so readily, made the grove impassable, except in some places,when they climbed up to get over the outside part, and then went onby ways of their own leaving.As to the three reprobates, as I justly call them, though they weremuch civilised by their settlement compared to what they werebefore, and were not so quarrelsome, having not the sameopportunity; yet one of the certain companions of a profligate mindnever left them, and that was their idleness. It is true, theyplanted corn and made fences; but Solomon's words were never betterverified than in them, "I went by the vineyard of the slothful, andit was all overgrown with thorns": for when the Spaniards came toview their crop they could not see it in some places for weeds, thehedge had several gaps in it, where the wild goats had got in andeaten up the corn; perhaps here and there a dead bush was crammedin, to stop them out for the present, but it was only shutting thestable-door after the steed was stolen. Whereas, when they lookedon the colony of the other two, there was the very face of industryand success upon all they did; there was not a weed to be seen inall their corn, or a gap in any of their hedges; and they, on theother hand, verified Solomon's words in another place, "that thediligent hand maketh rich"; for everything grew and thrived, andthey had plenty within and without; they had more tame cattle thanthe others, more utensils and necessaries within doors, and yetmore pleasure and diversion too.It is true, the wives of the three were very handy and cleanlywithin doors; and having learned the English ways of dressing, andcooking from one of the other Englishmen, who, as I said, was acook's mate on board the ship, they dressed their husbands'victuals very nicely and well; whereas the others could not bebrought to understand it; but then the husband, who, as I say, hadbeen cook's mate, did it himself. But as for the husbands of thethree wives, they loitered about, fetched turtles' eggs, and caughtfish and birds: in a word, anything but labour; and they faredaccordingly. The diligent lived well and comfortably, and theslothful hard and beggarly; and so, I believe, generally speaking,it is all over the world.But I now come to a scene different from all that had happenedbefore, either to them or to me; and the origin of the story wasthis: Early one morning there came on shore five or six canoes ofIndians or savages, call them which you please, and there is noroom to doubt they came upon the old errand of feeding upon theirslaves; but that part was now so familiar to the Spaniards, and toour men too, that they did not concern themselves about it, as Idid: but having been made sensible, by their experience, thattheir only business was to lie concealed, and that if they were notseen by any of the savages they would go off again quietly, whentheir business was done, having as yet not the least notion ofthere being any inhabitants in the island; I say, having been madesensible of this, they had nothing to do but to give notice to allthe three plantations to keep within doors, and not showthemselves, only placing a scout in a proper place, to give noticewhen the boats went to sea again.This was, without doubt, very right; but a disaster spoiled allthese measures, and made it known among the savages that there wereinhabitants there; which was, in the end, the desolation of almostthe whole colony. After the canoes with the savages were gone off,the Spaniards peeped abroad again; and some of them had thecuriosity to go to the place where they had been, to see what theyhad been doing. Here, to their great surprise, they found threesavages left behind, and lying fast asleep upon the ground. It wassupposed they had either been so gorged with their inhuman feast,that, like beasts, they were fallen asleep, and would not stir whenthe others went, or they had wandered into the woods, and did notcome back in time to be taken in.The Spaniards were greatly surprised at this sight and perfectly ata loss what to do. The Spaniard governor, as it happened, was withthem, and his advice was asked, but he professed he knew not whatto do. As for slaves, they had enough already; and as to killingthem, there were none of them inclined to do that: the Spaniardgovernor told me they could not think of shedding innocent blood;for as to them, the poor creatures had done them no wrong, invadednone of their property, and they thought they had no just quarrelagainst them, to take away their lives. And here I must, injustice to these Spaniards, observe that, let the accounts ofSpanish cruelty in Mexico and Peru be what they will, I never metwith seventeen men of any nation whatsoever, in any foreigncountry, who were so universally modest, temperate, virtuous, sovery good-humoured, and so courteous, as these Spaniards: and asto cruelty, they had nothing of it in their very nature; noinhumanity, no barbarity, no outrageous passions; and yet all ofthem men of great courage and spirit. Their temper and calmnesshad appeared in their bearing the insufferable usage of the threeEnglishmen; and their justice and humanity appeared now in the caseof the savages above. After some consultation they resolved uponthis; that they would lie still a while longer, till, if possible,these three men might be gone. But then the governor recollectedthat the three savages had no boat; and if they were left to roveabout the island, they would certainly discover that there wereinhabitants in it; and so they should be undone that way. Uponthis, they went back again, and there lay the fellows fast asleepstill, and so they resolved to awaken them, and take themprisoners; and they did so. The poor fellows were strangelyfrightened when they were seized upon and bound; and afraid, likethe women, that they should be murdered and eaten: for it seemsthose people think all the world does as they do, in eating men'sflesh; but they were soon made easy as to that, and away theycarried them.It was very happy for them that they did not carry them home to thecastle, I mean to my palace under the hill; but they carried themfirst to the bower, where was the chief of their country work, suchas the keeping the goats, the planting the corn, &c.; and afterwardthey carried them to the habitation of the two Englishmen. Herethey were set to work, though it was not much they had for them todo; and whether it was by negligence in guarding them, or that theythought the fellows could not mend themselves, I know not, but oneof them ran away, and, taking to the woods, they could never hearof him any more. They had good reason to believe he got home againsoon after in some other boats or canoes of savages who came onshore three or four weeks afterwards, and who, carrying on theirrevels as usual, went off in two days' time. This thoughtterrified them exceedingly; for they concluded, and that notwithout good cause indeed, that if this fellow came home safe amonghis comrades, he would certainly give them an account that therewere people in the island, and also how few and weak they were; forthis savage, as observed before, had never been told, and it wasvery happy he had not, how many there were or where they lived; norhad he ever seen or heard the fire of any of their guns, much lesshad they shown him any of their other retired places; such as thecave in the valley, or the new retreat which the two Englishmen hadmade, and the like.The first testimony they had that this fellow had givenintelligence of them was, that about two mouths after this sixcanoes of savages, with about seven, eight, or ten men in a canoe,came rowing along the north side of the island, where they neverused to come before, and landed, about an hour after sunrise, at aconvenient place, about a mile from the habitation of the twoEnglishmen, where this escaped man had been kept. As the chiefSpaniard said, had they been all there the damage would not havebeen so much, for not a man of them would have escaped; but thecase differed now very much, for two men to fifty was too muchodds. The two men had the happiness to discover them about aleague off, so that it was above an hour before they landed; and asthey landed a mile from their huts, it was some time before theycould come at them. Now, having great reason to believe that theywere betrayed, the first thing they did was to bind the two slaveswhich were left, and cause two of the three men whom they broughtwith the women (who, it seems, proved very faithful to them) tolead them, with their two wives, and whatever they could carry awaywith them, to their retired places in the woods, which I havespoken of above, and there to bind the two fellows hand and foot,till they heard farther. In the next place, seeing the savageswere all come on shore, and that they had bent their coursedirectly that way, they opened the fences where the milch cows werekept, and drove them all out; leaving their goats to straggle inthe woods, whither they pleased, that the savages might think theywere all bred wild; but the rogue who came with them was toocunning for that, and gave them an account of it all, for they wentdirectly to the place.When the two poor frightened men had secured their wives and goods,they sent the other slave they had of the three who came with thewomen, and who was at their place by accident, away to theSpaniards with all speed, to give them the alarm, and desire speedyhelp, and, in the meantime, they took their arms and whatammunition they had, and retreated towards the place in the woodwhere their wives were sent; keeping at a distance, yet so thatthey might see, if possible, which way the savages took. They hadnot gone far but that from a rising ground they could see thelittle army of their enemies come on directly to their habitation,and, in a moment more, could see all their huts and household stuffflaming up together, to their great grief and mortification; forthis was a great loss to them, irretrievable, indeed, for sometime. They kept their station for a while, till they found thesavages, like wild beasts, spread themselves all over the place,rummaging every way, and every place they could think of, in searchof prey; and in particular for the people, of whom now it plainlyappeared they had intelligence.The two Englishmen seeing this, thinking themselves not securewhere they stood, because it was likely some of the wild peoplemight come that way, and they might come too many together, thoughtit proper to make another retreat about half a mile farther;believing, as it afterwards happened, that the further theystrolled, the fewer would be together. Their next halt was at theentrance into a very thick-grown part of the woods, and where anold trunk of a tree stood, which was hollow and very large; and inthis tree they both took their standing, resolving to see therewhat might offer. They had not stood there long before two of thesavages appeared running directly that way, as if they had alreadyhad notice where they stood, and were coming up to attack them; anda little way farther they espied three more coming after them, andfive more beyond them, all coming the same way; besides which, theysaw seven or eight more at a distance, running another way; for ina word, they ran every way, like sportsmen beating for their game.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.Having resolved upon this, they next considered whether they shouldfire at the first two, or wait for the three, and so take themiddle party, by which the two and the five that followed would beseparated; at length they resolved to let the first two pass by,unless they should spy them the tree, and come to attack them. Thefirst two savages confirmed them also in this resolution, byturning a little from them towards another part of the wood; butthe three, and the five after them, came forward directly to thetree, as if they had known the Englishmen were there. Seeing themcome so straight towards them, they resolved to take them in a lineas they came: and as they resolved to fire but one at a time,perhaps the first shot might hit them all three; for which purposethe man who was to fire put three or four small bullets into hispiece; and having a fair loophole, as it were, from a broken holein the tree, he took a sure aim, without being seen, waiting tillthey were within about thirty yards of the tree, so that he couldnot miss.While they were thus waiting, and the savages came on, they plainlysaw that one of the three was the runaway savage that had escapedfrom them; and they both knew him distinctly, and resolved that, ifpossible, he should not escape, though they should both fire; sothe other stood ready with his piece, that if he did not drop atthe first shot, he should be sure to have a second. But the firstwas too good a marksman to miss his aim; for as the savages keptnear one another, a little behind in a line, he fired, and hit twoof them directly; the foremost was killed outright, being shot inthe head; the second, which was the runaway Indian, was shotthrough the body, and fell, but was not quite dead; and the thirdhad a little scratch in the shoulder, perhaps by the same ball thatwent through the body of the second; and being dreadfullyfrightened, though not so much hurt, sat down upon the ground,screaming and yelling in a hideous manner.The five that were behind, more frightened with the noise thansensible of the danger, stood still at first; for the woods madethe sound a thousand times bigger than it really was, the echoesrattling from one side to another, and the fowls rising from allparts, screaming, and every sort making a different noise,according to their kind; just as it was when I fired the first gunthat perhaps was ever shot off in the island.However, all being silent again, and they not knowing what thematter was, came on unconcerned, till they came to the place wheretheir companions lay in a condition miserable enough. Here thepoor ignorant creatures, not sensible that they were within reachof the same mischief, stood all together over the wounded man,talking, and, as may be supposed, inquiring of him how he came tobe hurt; and who, it is very rational to believe, told them that aflash of fire first, and immediately after that thunder from theirgods, had killed those two and wounded him. This, I say, isrational; for nothing is more certain than that, as they saw no mannear them, so they had never heard a gun in all their lives, nor somuch as heard of a gun; neither knew they anything of killing andwounding at a distance with fire and bullets: if they had, onemight reasonably believe they would not have stood so unconcernedto view the fate of their fellows, without some apprehensions oftheir own.Our two men, as they confessed to me, were grieved to be obliged tokill so many poor creatures, who had no notion of their danger;yet, having them all thus in their power, and the first havingloaded his piece again, resolved to let fly both together amongthem; and singling out, by agreement, which to aim at, they shottogether, and killed, or very much wounded, four of them; thefifth, frightened even to death, though not hurt, fell with therest; so that our men, seeing them all fall together, thought theyhad killed them all.The belief that the savages were all killed made our two men comeboldly out from the tree before they had charged their guns, whichwas a wrong step; and they were under some surprise when they cameto the place, and found no less than four of them alive, and ofthem two very little hurt, and one not at all. This obliged themto fall upon them with the stocks of their muskets; and first theymade sure of the runaway savage, that had been the cause of all themischief, and of another that was hurt in the knee, and put themout of their pain; then the man that was not hurt at all came andkneeled down to them, with his two hands held up, and made piteousmoans to them, by gestures and signs, for his life, but could notsay one word to them that they could understand. However, theymade signs to him to sit down at the foot of a tree hard by; andone of the Englishmen, with a piece of rope-yarn, which he had bygreat chance in his pocket, tied his two hands behind him, andthere they left him; and with what speed they could made after theother two, which were gone before, fearing they, or any more ofthem, should find way to their covered place in the woods, wheretheir wives, and the few goods they had left, lay. They came oncein sight of the two men, but it was at a great distance; however,they had the satisfaction to see them cross over a valley towardsthe sea, quite the contrary way from that which led to theirretreat, which they were afraid of; and being satisfied with that,they went back to the tree where they left their prisoner, who, asthey supposed, was delivered by his comrades, for he was gone, andthe two pieces of rope-yarn with which they had bound him lay justat the foot of the tree.They were now in as great concern as before, not knowing whatcourse to take, or how near the enemy might be, or in what number;so they resolved to go away to the place where their wives were, tosee if all was well there, and to make them easy. These were infright enough, to be sure; for though the savages were their owncountrymen, yet they were most terribly afraid of them, and perhapsthe more for the knowledge they had of them. When they came there,they found the savages had been in the wood, and very near thatplace, but had not found it; for it was indeed inaccessible, fromthe trees standing so thick, unless the persons seeking it had beendirected by those that knew it, which these did not: they found,therefore, everything very safe, only the women in a terriblefright. While they were here they had the comfort to have seven ofthe Spaniards come to their assistance; the other ten, with theirservants, and Friday's father, were gone in a body to defend theirbower, and the corn and cattle that were kept there, in case thesavages should have roved over to that side of the country, butthey did not spread so far. With the seven Spaniards came one ofthe three savages, who, as I said, were their prisoners formerly;and with them also came the savage whom the Englishmen had leftbound hand and foot at the tree; for it seems they came that way,saw the slaughter of the seven men, and unbound the eighth, andbrought him along with them; where, however, they were obliged tobind again, as they had the two others who were left when the thirdran away.The prisoners now began to be a burden to them; and they were soafraid of their escaping, that they were once resolving to killthem all, believing they were under an absolute necessity to do sofor their own preservation. However, the chief of the Spaniardswould not consent to it, but ordered, for the present, that theyshould be sent out of the way to my old cave in the valley, and bekept there, with two Spaniards to guard them, and have food fortheir subsistence, which was done; and they were bound there handand foot for that night.When the Spaniards came, the two Englishmen were so encouraged,that they could not satisfy themselves to stay any longer there;but taking five of the Spaniards, and themselves, with four musketsand a pistol among them, and two stout quarter-staves, away theywent in quest of the savages. And first they came to the treewhere the men lay that had been killed; but it was easy to see thatsome more of the savages had been there, for they had attempted tocarry their dead men away, and had dragged two of them a good way,but had given it over. From thence they advanced to the firstrising ground, where they had stood and seen their camp destroyed,and where they had the mortification still to see some of thesmoke; but neither could they here see any of the savages. Theythen resolved, though with all possible caution, to go forwardtowards their ruined plantation; but, a little before they camethither, coming in sight of the sea-shore, they saw plainly thesavages all embarked again in their canoes, in order to be gone.They seemed sorry at first that there was no way to come at them,to give them a parting blow; but, upon the whole, they were verywell satisfied to be rid of them.The poor Englishmen being now twice ruined, and all theirimprovements destroyed, the rest all agreed to come and help themto rebuild, and assist them with needful supplies. Their threecountrymen, who were not yet noted for having the least inclinationto do any good, yet as soon as they heard of it (for they, livingremote eastward, knew nothing of the matter till all was over),came and offered their help and assistance, and did, very friendly,work for several days to restore their habitation and makenecessaries for them. And thus in a little time they were set upontheir legs again.About two days after this they had the farther satisfaction ofseeing three of the savages' canoes come driving on shore, and, atsome distance from them, two drowned men, by which they had reasonto believe that they had met with a storm at sea, which had oversetsome of them; for it had blown very hard the night after they wentoff. However, as some might miscarry, so, on the other hand,enough of them escaped to inform the rest, as well of what they haddone as of what had happened to them; and to whet them on toanother enterprise of the same nature, which they, it seems,resolved to attempt, with sufficient force to carry all beforethem; for except what the first man had told them of inhabitants,they could say little of it of their own knowledge, for they neversaw one man; and the fellow being killed that had affirmed it, theyhad no other witness to confirm it to, them.