Chapter 19: Return to England

by Daniel Defoe

　　Having done all this I left them the next day, and went on boardthe ship. We prepared immediately to sail, but did not weigh thatnight. The next morning early, two of the five men came swimmingto the ship's side, and making the most lamentable complaint of theother three, begged to be taken into the ship for God's sake, forthey should be murdered, and begged the captain to take them onboard, though he hanged them immediately. Upon this the captainpretended to have no power without me; but after some difficulty,and after their solemn promises of amendment, they were taken onboard, and were, some time after, soundly whipped and pickled;after which they proved very honest and quiet fellows.Some time after this, the boat was ordered on shore, the tide beingup, with the things promised to the men; to which the captain, atmy intercession, caused their chests and clothes to be added, whichthey took, and were very thankful for. I also encouraged them, bytelling them that if it lay in my power to send any vessel to takethem in, I would not forget them.When I took leave of this island, I carried on board, for relics,the great goat-skin cap I had made, my umbrella, and one of myparrots; also, I forgot not to take the money I formerly mentioned,which had lain by me so long useless that it was grown rusty ortarnished, and could hardly pass for silver till it had been alittle rubbed and handled, as also the money I found in the wreckof the Spanish ship. And thus I left the island, the 19th ofDecember, as I found by the ship's account, in the year 1686, afterI had been upon it eight-and-twenty years, two months, and nineteendays; being delivered from this second captivity the same day ofthe month that I first made my escape in the long-boat from amongthe Moors of Sallee. In this vessel, after a long voyage, Iarrived in England the 11th of June, in the year 1687, having beenthirty-five years absent.When I came to England I was as perfect a stranger to all the worldas if I had never been known there. My benefactor and faithfulsteward, whom I had left my money in trust with, was alive, but hadhad great misfortunes in the world; was become a widow the secondtime, and very low in the world. I made her very easy as to whatshe owed me, assuring her I would give her no trouble; but, on thecontrary, in gratitude for her former care and faithfulness to me,I relieved her as my little stock would afford; which at that timewould, indeed, allow me to do but little for her; but I assured herI would never forget her former kindness to me; nor did I forgether when I had sufficient to help her, as shall be observed in itsproper place. I went down afterwards into Yorkshire; but my fatherwas dead, and my mother and all the family extinct, except that Ifound two sisters, and two of the children of one of my brothers;and as I had been long ago given over for dead, there had been noprovision made for me; so that, in a word, I found nothing torelieve or assist me; and that the little money I had would not domuch for me as to settling in the world.I met with one piece of gratitude indeed, which I did not expect;and this was, that the master of the ship, whom I had so happilydelivered, and by the same means saved the ship and cargo, havinggiven a very handsome account to the owners of the manner how I hadsaved the lives of the men and the ship, they invited me to meetthem and some other merchants concerned, and all together made me avery handsome compliment upon the subject, and a present of almost200 pounds sterling.But after making several reflections upon the circumstances of mylife, and how little way this would go towards settling me in theworld, I resolved to go to Lisbon, and see if I might not come atsome information of the state of my plantation in the Brazils, andof what was become of my partner, who, I had reason to suppose, hadsome years past given me over for dead. With this view I tookshipping for Lisbon, where I arrived in April following, my manFriday accompanying me very honestly in all these ramblings, andproving a most faithful servant upon all occasions. When I came toLisbon, I found out, by inquiry, and to my particular satisfaction,my old friend, the captain of the ship who first took me up at seaoff the shore of Africa. He was now grown old, and had left offgoing to sea, having put his son, who was far from a young man,into his ship, and who still used the Brazil trade. The old mandid not know me, and indeed I hardly knew him. But I soon broughthim to my remembrance, and as soon brought myself to hisremembrance, when I told him who I was.After some passionate expressions of the old acquaintance betweenus, I inquired, you may he sure, after my plantation and mypartner. The old man told me he had not been in the Brazils forabout nine years; but that he could assure me that when he cameaway my partner was living, but the trustees whom I had joined withhim to take cognisance of my part were both dead: that, however, hebelieved I would have a very good account of the improvement of theplantation; for that, upon the general belief of my being cast awayand drowned, my trustees had given in the account of the produce ofmy part of the plantation to the procurator-fiscal, who hadappropriated it, in case I never came to claim it, one-third to theking, and two-thirds to the monastery of St. Augustine, to beexpended for the benefit of the poor, and for the conversion of theIndians to the Catholic faith: but that, if I appeared, or any onefor me, to claim the inheritance, it would be restored; only thatthe improvement, or annual production, being distributed tocharitable uses, could not be restored: but he assured me that thesteward of the king's revenue from lands, and the providore, orsteward of the monastery, had taken great care all along that theincumbent, that is to say my partner, gave every year a faithfulaccount of the produce, of which they had duly received my moiety.I asked him if he knew to what height of improvement he had broughtthe plantation, and whether he thought it might be worth lookingafter; or whether, on my going thither, I should meet with anyobstruction to my possessing my just right in the moiety. He toldme he could not tell exactly to what degree the plantation wasimproved; but this he knew, that my partner was grown exceedingrich upon the enjoying his part of it; and that, to the best of hisremembrance, he had heard that the king's third of my part, whichwas, it seems, granted away to some other monastery or religioushouse, amounted to above two hundred moidores a year: that as to mybeing restored to a quiet possession of it, there was no questionto be made of that, my partner being alive to witness my title, andmy name being also enrolled in the register of the country; also hetold me that the survivors of my two trustees were very fair,honest people, and very wealthy; and he believed I would not onlyhave their assistance for putting me in possession, but would finda very considerable sum of money in their hands for my account,being the produce of the farm while their fathers held the trust,and before it was given up, as above; which, as he remembered, wasfor about twelve years.I showed myself a little concerned and uneasy at this account, andinquired of the old captain how it came to pass that the trusteesshould thus dispose of my effects, when he knew that I had made mywill, and had made him, the Portuguese captain, my universal heir,&c.He told me that was true; but that as there was no proof of mybeing dead, he could not act as executor until some certain accountshould come of my death; and, besides, he was not willing tointermeddle with a thing so remote: that it was true he hadregistered my will, and put in his claim; and could he have givenany account of my being dead or alive, he would have acted byprocuration, and taken possession of the ingenio (so they call thesugar-house), and have given his son, who was now at the Brazils,orders to do it. "But," says the old man, "I have one piece ofnews to tell you, which perhaps may not be so acceptable to you asthe rest; and that is, believing you were lost, and all the worldbelieving so also, your partner and trustees did offer to accountwith me, in your name, for the first six or eight years' profits,which I received. There being at that time great disbursements forincreasing the works, building an ingenio, and buying slaves, itdid not amount to near so much as afterwards it produced; however,"says the old man, "I shall give you a true account of what I havereceived in all, and how I have disposed of it."After a few days' further conference with this ancient friend, hebrought me an account of the first six years' income of myplantation, signed by my partner and the merchant-trustees, beingalways delivered in goods, viz. tobacco in roll, and sugar inchests, besides rum, molasses, &c., which is the consequence of asugar-work; and I found by this account, that every year the incomeconsiderably increased; but, as above, the disbursements beinglarge, the sum at first was small: however, the old man let me seethat he was debtor to me four hundred and seventy moidores of gold,besides sixty chests of sugar and fifteen double rolls of tobacco,which were lost in his ship; he having been shipwrecked coming hometo Lisbon, about eleven years after my having the place. The goodman then began to complain of his misfortunes, and how he had beenobliged to make use of my money to recover his losses, and buy hima share in a new ship. "However, my old friend," says he, "youshall not want a supply in your necessity; and as soon as my sonreturns you shall be fully satisfied." Upon this he pulls out anold pouch, and gives me one hundred and sixty Portugal moidores ingold; and giving the writings of his title to the ship, which hisson was gone to the Brazils in, of which he was quarter-part owner,and his son another, he puts them both into my hands for securityof the rest.I was too much moved with the honesty and kindness of the poor manto be able to bear this; and remembering what he had done for me,how he had taken me up at sea, and how generously he had used me onall occasions, and particularly how sincere a friend he was now tome, I could hardly refrain weeping at what he had said to me;therefore I asked him if his circumstances admitted him to spare somuch money at that time, and if it would not straiten him? He toldme he could not say but it might straiten him a little; but,however, it was my money, and I might want it more than he.Everything the good man said was full of affection, and I couldhardly refrain from tears while he spoke; in short, I took onehundred of the moidores, and called for a pen and ink to give him areceipt for them: then I returned him the rest, and told him ifever I had possession of the plantation I would return the other tohim also (as, indeed, I afterwards did); and that as to the bill ofsale of his part in his son's ship, I would not take it by anymeans; but that if I wanted the money, I found he was honest enoughto pay me; and if I did not, but came to receive what he gave mereason to expect, I would never have a penny more from him.When this was past, the old man asked me if he should put me into amethod to make my claim to my plantation. I told him I thought togo over to it myself. He said I might do so if I pleased, but thatif I did not, there were ways enough to secure my right, andimmediately to appropriate the profits to my use: and as there wereships in the river of Lisbon just ready to go away to Brazil, hemade me enter my name in a public register, with his affidavit,affirming, upon oath, that I was alive, and that I was the sameperson who took up the land for the planting the said plantation atfirst. This being regularly attested by a notary, and aprocuration affixed, he directed me to send it, with a letter ofhis writing, to a merchant of his acquaintance at the place; andthen proposed my staying with him till an account came of thereturn.Never was anything more honourable than the proceedings upon thisprocuration; for in less than seven months I received a largepacket from the survivors of my trustees, the merchants, for whoseaccount I went to sea, in which were the following, particularletters and papers enclosed:-First, there was the account-current of the produce of my farm orplantation, from the year when their fathers had balanced with myold Portugal captain, being for six years; the balance appeared tobe one thousand one hundred and seventy-four moidores in my favour.Secondly, there was the account of four years more, while they keptthe effects in their hands, before the government claimed theadministration, as being the effects of a person not to be found,which they called civil death; and the balance of this, the valueof the plantation increasing, amounted to nineteen thousand fourhundred and forty-six crusadoes, being about three thousand twohundred and forty moidores.Thirdly, there was the Prior of St. Augustine's account, who hadreceived the profits for above fourteen years; but not being ableto account for what was disposed of by the hospital, very honestlydeclared he had eight hundred and seventy-two moidores notdistributed, which he acknowledged to my account: as to the king'spart, that refunded nothing.There was a letter of my partner's, congratulating me veryaffectionately upon my being alive, giving me an account how theestate was improved, and what it produced a year; with theparticulars of the number of squares, or acres that it contained,how planted, how many slaves there were upon it: and making two-and-twenty crosses for blessings, told me he had said so many AveMarias to thank the Blessed Virgin that I was alive; inviting mevery passionately to come over and take possession of my own, andin the meantime to give him orders to whom he should deliver myeffects if I did not come myself; concluding with a hearty tenderof his friendship, and that of his family; and sent me as a presentseven fine leopards' skins, which he had, it seems, received fromAfrica, by some other ship that he had sent thither, and which, itseems, had made a better voyage than I. He sent me also fivechests of excellent sweetmeats, and a hundred pieces of golduncoined, not quite so large as moidores. By the same fleet my twomerchant-trustees shipped me one thousand two hundred chests ofsugar, eight hundred rolls of tobacco, and the rest of the wholeaccount in gold.I might well say now, indeed, that the latter end of Job was betterthan the beginning. It is impossible to express the flutterings ofmy very heart when I found all my wealth about me; for as theBrazil ships come all in fleets, the same ships which brought myletters brought my goods: and the effects were safe in the riverbefore the letters came to my hand. In a word, I turned pale, andgrew sick; and, had not the old man run and fetched me a cordial, Ibelieve the sudden surprise of joy had overset nature, and I haddied upon the spot: nay, after that I continued very ill, and wasso some hours, till a physician being sent for, and something ofthe real cause of my illness being known, he ordered me to be letblood; after which I had relief, and grew well: but I verifybelieve, if I had not been eased by a vent given in that manner tothe spirits, I should have died.I was now master, all on a sudden, of above five thousand poundssterling in money, and had an estate, as I might well call it, inthe Brazils, of above a thousand pounds a year, as sure as anestate of lands in England: and, in a word, I was in a conditionwhich I scarce knew how to understand, or how to compose myself forthe enjoyment of it. The first thing I did was to recompense myoriginal benefactor, my good old captain, who had been firstcharitable to me in my distress, kind to me in my beginning, andhonest to me at the end. I showed him all that was sent to me; Itold him that, next to the providence of Heaven, which disposed allthings, it was owing to him; and that it now lay on me to rewardhim, which I would do a hundred-fold: so I first returned to himthe hundred moidores I had received of him; then I sent for anotary, and caused him to draw up a general release or dischargefrom the four hundred and seventy moidores, which he hadacknowledged he owed me, in the fullest and firmest mannerpossible. After which I caused a procuration to be drawn,empowering him to be the receiver of the annual profits of myplantation: and appointing my partner to account with him, and makethe returns, by the usual fleets, to him in my name; and by aclause in the end, made a grant of one hundred moidores a year tohim during his life, out of the effects, and fifty moidores a yearto his son after him, for his life: and thus I requited my old man.I had now to consider which way to steer my course next, and whatto do with the estate that Providence had thus put into my hands;and, indeed, I had more care upon my head now than I had in mystate of life in the island where I wanted nothing but what I had,and had nothing but what I wanted; whereas I had now a great chargeupon me, and my business was how to secure it. I had not a cavenow to hide my money in, or a place where it might lie without lockor key, till it grew mouldy and tarnished before anybody wouldmeddle with it; on the contrary, I knew not where to put it, orwhom to trust with it. My old patron, the captain, indeed, washonest, and that was the only refuge I had. In the next place, myinterest in the Brazils seemed to summon me thither; but now Icould not tell how to think of going thither till I had settled myaffairs, and left my effects in some safe hands behind me. Atfirst I thought of my old friend the widow, who I knew was honest,and would be just to me; but then she was in years, and but poor,and, for aught I knew, might be in debt: so that, in a word, I hadno way but to go back to England myself and take my effects withme.It was some months, however, before I resolved upon this; and,therefore, as I had rewarded the old captain fully, and to hissatisfaction, who had been my former benefactor, so I began tothink of the poor widow, whose husband had been my firstbenefactor, and she, while it was in her power, my faithful stewardand instructor. So, the first thing I did, I got a merchant inLisbon to write to his correspondent in London, not only to pay abill, but to go find her out, and carry her, in money, a hundredpounds from me, and to talk with her, and comfort her in herpoverty, by telling her she should, if I lived, have a furthersupply: at the same time I sent my two sisters in the country ahundred pounds each, they being, though not in want, yet not invery good circumstances; one having been married and left a widow;and the other having a husband not so kind to her as he should be.But among all my relations or acquaintances I could not yet pitchupon one to whom I durst commit the gross of my stock, that I mightgo away to the Brazils, and leave things safe behind me; and thisgreatly perplexed me.I had once a mind to have gone to the Brazils and have settledmyself there, for I was, as it were, naturalised to the place; butI had some little scruple in my mind about religion, whichinsensibly drew me back. However, it was not religion that kept mefrom going there for the present; and as I had made no scruple ofbeing openly of the religion of the country all the while I wasamong them, so neither did I yet; only that, now and then, havingof late thought more of it than formerly, when I began to think ofliving and dying among them, I began to regret having professedmyself a Papist, and thought it might not be the best religion todie with.But, as I have said, this was not the main thing that kept me fromgoing to the Brazils, but that really I did not know with whom toleave my effects behind me; so I resolved at last to go to England,where, if I arrived, I concluded that I should make someacquaintance, or find some relations, that would be faithful to me;and, accordingly, I prepared to go to England with all my wealth.In order to prepare things for my going home, I first (the Brazilfleet being just going away) resolved to give answers suitable tothe just and faithful account of things I had from thence; and,first, to the Prior of St. Augustine I wrote a letter full ofthanks for his just dealings, and the offer of the eight hundredand seventy-two moidores which were undisposed of, which I desiredmight be given, five hundred to the monastery, and three hundredand seventy-two to the poor, as the prior should direct; desiringthe good padre's prayers for me, and the like. I wrote next aletter of thanks to my two trustees, with all the acknowledgmentthat so much justice and honesty called for: as for sending themany present, they were far above having any occasion of it.Lastly, I wrote to my partner, acknowledging his industry in theimproving the plantation, and his integrity in increasing the stockof the works; giving him instructions for his future government ofmy part, according to the powers I had left with my old patron, towhom I desired him to send whatever became due to me, till heshould hear from me more particularly; assuring him that it was myintention not only to come to him, but to settle myself there forthe remainder of my life. To this I added a very handsome presentof some Italian silks for his wife and two daughters, for such thecaptain's son informed me he had; with two pieces of fine Englishbroadcloth, the best I could get in Lisbon, five pieces of blackbaize, and some Flanders lace of a good value.Having thus settled my affairs, sold my cargo, and turned all myeffects into good bills of exchange, my next difficulty was whichway to go to England: I had been accustomed enough to the sea, andyet I had a strange aversion to go to England by the sea at thattime, and yet I could give no reason for it, yet the difficultyincreased upon me so much, that though I had once shipped mybaggage in order to go, yet I altered my mind, and that not oncebut two or three times.It is true I had been very unfortunate by sea, and this might beone of the reasons; but let no man slight the strong impulses ofhis own thoughts in cases of such moment: two of the ships which Ihad singled out to go in, I mean more particularly singled out thanany other, having put my things on board one of them, and in theother having agreed with the captain; I say two of these shipsmiscarried. One was taken by the Algerines, and the other was loston the Start, near Torbay, and all the people drowned except three;so that in either of those vessels I had been made miserable.Having been thus harassed in my thoughts, my old pilot, to whom Icommunicated everything, pressed me earnestly not to go by sea, buteither to go by land to the Groyne, and cross over the Bay ofBiscay to Rochelle, from whence it was but an easy and safe journeyby land to Paris, and so to Calais and Dover; or to go up toMadrid, and so all the way by land through France. In a word, Iwas so prepossessed against my going by sea at all, except fromCalais to Dover, that I resolved to travel all the way by land;which, as I was not in haste, and did not value the charge, was bymuch the pleasanter way: and to make it more so, my old captainbrought an English gentleman, the son of a merchant in Lisbon, whowas willing to travel with me; after which we picked up two moreEnglish merchants also, and two young Portuguese gentlemen, thelast going to Paris only; so that in all there were six of us andfive servants; the two merchants and the two Portuguese, contentingthemselves with one servant between two, to save the charge; and asfor me, I got an English sailor to travel with me as a servant,besides my man Friday, who was too much a stranger to be capable ofsupplying the place of a servant on the road.In this manner I set out from Lisbon; and our company being verywell mounted and armed, we made a little troop, whereof they did methe honour to call me captain, as well because I was the oldestman, as because I had two servants, and, indeed, was the origin ofthe whole journey.As I have troubled you with none of my sea journals, so I shalltrouble you now with none of my land journals; but some adventuresthat happened to us in this tedious and difficult journey I mustnot omit.When we came to Madrid, we, being all of us strangers to Spain,were willing to stay some time to see the court of Spain, and whatwas worth observing; but it being the latter part of the summer, wehastened away, and set out from Madrid about the middle of October;but when we came to the edge of Navarre, we were alarmed, atseveral towns on the way, with an account that so much snow wasfalling on the French side of the mountains, that severaltravellers were obliged to come back to Pampeluna, after havingattempted at an extreme hazard to pass on.When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it so indeed; and to me,that had been always used to a hot climate, and to countries whereI could scarce bear any clothes on, the cold was insufferable; nor,indeed, was it more painful than surprising to come but ten daysbefore out of Old Castile, where the weather was not only warm butvery hot, and immediately to feel a wind from the PyreneanMountains so very keen, so severely cold, as to be intolerable andto endanger benumbing and perishing of our fingers and toes.Poor Friday was really frightened when he saw the mountains allcovered with snow, and felt cold weather, which he had never seenor felt before in his life. To mend the matter, when we came toPampeluna it continued snowing with so much violence and so long,that the people said winter was come before its time; and theroads, which were difficult before, were now quite impassable; for,in a word, the snow lay in some places too thick for us to travel,and being not hard frozen, as is the case in the northerncountries, there was no going without being in danger of beingburied alive every step. We stayed no less than twenty days atPampeluna; when (seeing the winter coming on, and no likelihood ofits being better, for it was the severest winter all over Europethat had been known in the memory of man) I proposed that we shouldgo away to Fontarabia, and there take shipping for Bordeaux, whichwas a very little voyage. But, while I was considering this, therecame in four French gentlemen, who, having been stopped on theFrench side of the passes, as we were on the Spanish, had found outa guide, who, traversing the country near the head of Languedoc,had brought them over the mountains by such ways that they were notmuch incommoded with the snow; for where they met with snow in anyquantity, they said it was frozen hard enough to bear them andtheir horses. We sent for this guide, who told us he wouldundertake to carry us the same way, with no hazard from the snow,provided we were armed sufficiently to protect ourselves from wildbeasts; for, he said, in these great snows it was frequent for somewolves to show themselves at the foot of the mountains, being maderavenous for want of food, the ground being covered with snow. Wetold him we were well enough prepared for such creatures as theywere, if he would insure us from a kind of two-legged wolves, whichwe were told we were in most danger from, especially on the Frenchside of the mountains. He satisfied us that there was no danger ofthat kind in the way that we were to go; so we readily agreed tofollow him, as did also twelve other gentlemen with their servants,some French, some Spanish, who, as I said, had attempted to go, andwere obliged to come back again.Accordingly, we set out from Pampeluna with our guide on the 15thof November; and indeed I was surprised when, instead of goingforward, he came directly back with us on the same road that wecame from Madrid, about twenty miles; when, having passed tworivers, and come into the plain country, we found ourselves in awarm climate again, where the country was pleasant, and no snow tobe seen; but, on a sudden, turning to his left, he approached themountains another way; and though it is true the hills andprecipices looked dreadful, yet he made so many tours, suchmeanders, and led us by such winding ways, that we insensiblypassed the height of the mountains without being much encumberedwith the snow; and all on a sudden he showed us the pleasant andfruitful provinces of Languedoc and Gascony, all green andflourishing, though at a great distance, and we had some rough wayto pass still.We were a little uneasy, however, when we found it snowed one wholeday and a night so fast that we could not travel; but he bid us beeasy; we should soon be past it all: we found, indeed, that webegan to descend every day, and to come more north than before; andso, depending upon our guide, we went on.It was about two hours before night when, our guide being somethingbefore us, and not just in sight, out rushed three monstrouswolves, and after them a bear, from a hollow way adjoining to athick wood; two of the wolves made at the guide, and had he beenfar before us, he would have been devoured before we could havehelped him; one of them fastened upon his horse, and the otherattacked the man with such violence, that he had not time, orpresence of mind enough, to draw his pistol, but hallooed and criedout to us most lustily. My man Friday being next me, I bade himride up and see what was the matter. As soon as Friday came insight of the man, he hallooed out as loud as the other, "O master!O master!" but like a bold fellow, rode directly up to the poorman, and with his pistol shot the wolf in the head that attackedhim.It was happy for the poor man that it was my man Friday; for,having been used to such creatures in his country, he had no fearupon him, but went close up to him and shot him; whereas, any otherof us would have fired at a farther distance, and have perhapseither missed the wolf or endangered shooting the man.But it was enough to have terrified a bolder man than I; and,indeed, it alarmed all our company, when, with the noise ofFriday's pistol, we heard on both sides the most dismal howling ofwolves; and the noise, redoubled by the echo of the mountains,appeared to us as if there had been a prodigious number of them;and perhaps there was not such a few as that we had no cause ofapprehension: however, as Friday had killed this wolf, the otherthat had fastened upon the horse left him immediately, and fled,without doing him any damage, having happily fastened upon hishead, where the bosses of the bridle had stuck in his teeth. Butthe man was most hurt; for the raging creature had bit him twice,once in the arm, and the other time a little above his knee; andthough he had made some defence, he was just tumbling down by thedisorder of his horse, when Friday came up and shot the wolf.It is easy to suppose that at the noise of Friday's pistol we allmended our pace, and rode up as fast as the way, which was verydifficult, would give us leave, to see what was the matter. Assoon as we came clear of the trees, which blinded us before, we sawclearly what had been the case, and how Friday had disengaged thepoor guide, though we did not presently discern what kind ofcreature it was he had killed.