CHAPTER XVII--VISIT OF MUTINEERS
In a little time, however, no more canoes appearing, the fear of theircoming wore off; and I began to take my former thoughts of a voyage tothe main into consideration; being likewise assured by Friday's fatherthat I might depend upon good usage from their nation, on his account, ifI would go. But my thoughts were a little suspended when I had a seriousdiscourse with the Spaniard, and when I understood that there weresixteen more of his countrymen and Portuguese, who having been cast awayand made their escape to that side, lived there at peace, indeed, withthe savages, but were very sore put to it for necessaries, and, indeed,for life. I asked him all the particulars of their voyage, and foundthey were a Spanish ship, bound from the Rio de la Plata to the Havanna,being directed to leave their loading there, which was chiefly hides andsilver, and to bring back what European goods they could meet with there;that they had five Portuguese seamen on board, whom they took out ofanother wreck; that five of their own men were drowned when first theship was lost, and that these escaped through infinite dangers andhazards, and arrived, almost starved, on the cannibal coast, where theyexpected to have been devoured every moment. He told me they had somearms with them, but they were perfectly useless, for that they hadneither powder nor ball, the washing of the sea having spoiled all theirpowder but a little, which they used at their first landing to providethemselves with some food.
I asked him what he thought would become of them there, and if they hadformed any design of making their escape. He said they had manyconsultations about it; but that having neither vessel nor tools to buildone, nor provisions of any kind, their councils always ended in tears anddespair. I asked him how he thought they would receive a proposal fromme, which might tend towards an escape; and whether, if they were allhere, it might not be done. I told him with freedom, I feared mostlytheir treachery and ill-usage of me, if I put my life in their hands; forthat gratitude was no inherent virtue in the nature of man, nor did menalways square their dealings by the obligations they had received so muchas they did by the advantages they expected. I told him it would be veryhard that I should be made the instrument of their deliverance, and thatthey should afterwards make me their prisoner in New Spain, where anEnglishman was certain to be made a sacrifice, what necessity or whataccident soever brought him thither; and that I had rather be deliveredup to the savages, and be devoured alive, than fall into the mercilessclaws of the priests, and be carried into the Inquisition. I added that,otherwise, I was persuaded, if they were all here, we might, with so manyhands, build a barque large enough to carry us all away, either to theBrazils southward, or to the islands or Spanish coast northward; but thatif, in requital, they should, when I had put weapons into their hands,carry me by force among their own people, I might be ill-used for mykindness to them, and make my case worse than it was before.
He answered, with a great deal of candour and ingenuousness, that theircondition was so miserable, and that they were so sensible of it, that hebelieved they would abhor the thought of using any man unkindly thatshould contribute to their deliverance; and that, if I pleased, he wouldgo to them with the old man, and discourse with them about it, and returnagain and bring me their answer; that he would make conditions with themupon their solemn oath, that they should be absolutely under my directionas their commander and captain; and they should swear upon the holysacraments and gospel to be true to me, and go to such Christian countryas I should agree to, and no other; and to be directed wholly andabsolutely by my orders till they were landed safely in such country as Iintended, and that he would bring a contract from them, under theirhands, for that purpose. Then he told me he would first swear to mehimself that he would never stir from me as long as he lived till I gavehim orders; and that he would take my side to the last drop of his blood,if there should happen the least breach of faith among his countrymen.He told me they were all of them very civil, honest men, and they wereunder the greatest distress imaginable, having neither weapons norclothes, nor any food, but at the mercy and discretion of the savages;out of all hopes of ever returning to their own country; and that he wassure, if I would undertake their relief, they would live and die by me.
Upon these assurances, I resolved to venture to relieve them, ifpossible, and to send the old savage and this Spaniard over to them totreat. But when we had got all things in readiness to go, the Spaniardhimself started an objection, which had so much prudence in it on onehand, and so much sincerity on the other hand, that I could not but bevery well satisfied in it; and, by his advice, put off the deliverance ofhis comrades for at least half a year. The case was thus: he had beenwith us now about a month, during which time I had let him see in whatmanner I had provided, with the assistance of Providence, for my support;and he saw evidently what stock of corn and rice I had laid up; which,though it was more than sufficient for myself, yet it was not sufficient,without good husbandry, for my family, now it was increased to four; butmuch less would it be sufficient if his countrymen, who were, as he said,sixteen, still alive, should come over; and least of all would it besufficient to victual our vessel, if we should build one, for a voyage toany of the Christian colonies of America; so he told me he thought itwould be more advisable to let him and the other two dig and cultivatesome more land, as much as I could spare seed to sow, and that we shouldwait another harvest, that we might have a supply of corn for hiscountrymen, when they should come; for want might be a temptation to themto disagree, or not to think themselves delivered, otherwise than out ofone difficulty into another. "You know," says he, "the children ofIsrael, though they rejoiced at first for their being delivered out ofEgypt, yet rebelled even against God Himself, that delivered them, whenthey came to want bread in the wilderness."
His caution was so seasonable, and his advice so good, that I could notbut be very well pleased with his proposal, as well as I was satisfiedwith his fidelity; so we fell to digging, all four of us, as well as thewooden tools we were furnished with permitted; and in about a month'stime, by the end of which it was seed-time, we had got as much land curedand trimmed up as we sowed two-and-twenty bushels of barley on, andsixteen jars of rice, which was, in short, all the seed we had to spare:indeed, we left ourselves barely sufficient, for our own food for the sixmonths that we had to expect our crop; that is to say reckoning from thetime we set our seed aside for sowing; for it is not to be supposed it issix months in the ground in that country.
Having now society enough, and our numbers being sufficient to put us outof fear of the savages, if they had come, unless their number had beenvery great, we went freely all over the island, whenever we foundoccasion; and as we had our escape or deliverance upon our thoughts, itwas impossible, at least for me, to have the means of it out of mine.For this purpose I marked out several trees, which I thought fit for ourwork, and I set Friday and his father to cut them down; and then I causedthe Spaniard, to whom I imparted my thoughts on that affair, to overseeand direct their work. I showed them with what indefatigable pains I hadhewed a large tree into single planks, and I caused them to do the like,till they made about a dozen large planks, of good oak, near two feetbroad, thirty-five feet long, and from two inches to four inches thick:what prodigious labour it took up any one may imagine.
At the same time I contrived to increase my little flock of tame goats asmuch as I could; and for this purpose I made Friday and the Spaniard goout one day, and myself with Friday the next day (for we took our turns),and by this means we got about twenty young kids to breed up with therest; for whenever we shot the dam, we saved the kids, and added them toour flock. But above all, the season for curing the grapes coming on, Icaused such a prodigious quantity to be hung up in the sun, that, Ibelieve, had we been at Alicant, where the raisins of the sun are cured,we could have filled sixty or eighty barrels; and these, with our bread,formed a great part of our food--very good living too, I assure you, forthey are exceedingly nourishing.
It was now harvest, and our crop in good order: it was not the
mostplentiful increase I had seen in the island, but, however, it was enoughto answer our end; for from twenty-two bushels of barley we brought inand thrashed out above two hundred and twenty bushels; and the like inproportion of the rice; which was store enough for our food to the nextharvest, though all the sixteen Spaniards had been on shore with me; or,if we had been ready for a voyage, it would very plentifully havevictualled our ship to have carried us to any part of the world; that isto say, any part of America. When we had thus housed and secured ourmagazine of corn, we fell to work to make more wicker-ware, viz. greatbaskets, in which we kept it; and the Spaniard was very handy anddexterous at this part, and often blamed me that I did not make somethings for defence of this kind of work; but I saw no need of it.
And now, having a full supply of food for all the guests I expected, Igave the Spaniard leave to go over to the main, to see what he could dowith those he had left behind him there. I gave him a strict charge notto bring any man who would not first swear in the presence of himself andthe old savage that he would in no way injure, fight with, or attack theperson he should find in the island, who was so kind as to send for themin order to their deliverance; but that they would stand by him anddefend him against all such attempts, and wherever they went would beentirely under and subjected to his command; and that this should be putin writing, and signed in their hands. How they were to have done this,when I knew they had neither pen nor ink, was a question which we neverasked. Under these instructions, the Spaniard and the old savage, thefather of Friday, went away in one of the canoes which they might be saidto have come in, or rather were brought in, when they came as prisonersto be devoured by the savages. I gave each of them a musket, with afirelock on it, and about eight charges of powder and ball, charging themto be very good husbands of both, and not to use either of them but uponurgent occasions.
This was a cheerful work, being the first measures used by me in view ofmy deliverance for now twenty-seven years and some days. I gave themprovisions of bread and of dried grapes, sufficient for themselves formany days, and sufficient for all the Spaniards--for about eight days'time; and wishing them a good voyage, I saw them go, agreeing with themabout a signal they should hang out at their return, by which I shouldknow them again when they came back, at a distance, before they came onshore. They went away with a fair gale on the day that the moon was atfull, by my account in the month of October; but as for an exactreckoning of days, after I had once lost it I could never recover itagain; nor had I kept even the number of years so punctually as to besure I was right; though, as it proved when I afterwards examined myaccount, I found I had kept a true reckoning of years.
It was no less than eight days I had waited for them, when a strange andunforeseen accident intervened, of which the like has not, perhaps, beenheard of in history. I was fast asleep in my hutch one morning, when myman Friday came running in to me, and called aloud, "Master, master, theyare come, they are come!" I jumped up, and regardless of danger I went,as soon as I could get my clothes on, through my little grove, which, bythe way, was by this time grown to be a very thick wood; I say,regardless of danger I went without my arms, which was not my custom todo; but I was surprised when, turning my eyes to the sea, I presently sawa boat at about a league and a half distance, standing in for the shore,with a shoulder-of-mutton sail, as they call it, and the wind blowingpretty fair to bring them in: also I observed, presently, that they didnot come from that side which the shore lay on, but from the southernmostend of the island. Upon this I called Friday in, and bade him lie close,for these were not the people we looked for, and that we might not knowyet whether they were friends or enemies. In the next place I went in tofetch my perspective glass to see what I could make of them; and havingtaken the ladder out, I climbed up to the top of the hill, as I used todo when I was apprehensive of anything, and to take my view the plainerwithout being discovered. I had scarce set my foot upon the hill when myeye plainly discovered a ship lying at anchor, at about two leagues and ahalf distance from me, SSE., but not above a league and a half from theshore. By my observation it appeared plainly to be an English ship, andthe boat appeared to be an English long-boat.
I cannot express the confusion I was in, though the joy of seeing a ship,and one that I had reason to believe was manned by my own countrymen, andconsequently friends, was such as I cannot describe; but yet I had somesecret doubts hung about me--I cannot tell from whence they came--biddingme keep upon my guard. In the first place, it occurred to me to considerwhat business an English ship could have in that part of the world, sinceit was not the way to or from any part of the world where the English hadany traffic; and I knew there had been no storms to drive them in therein distress; and that if they were really English it was most probablethat they were here upon no good design; and that I had better continueas I was than fall into the hands of thieves and murderers.
Let no man despise the secret hints and notices of danger which sometimesare given him when he may think there is no possibility of its beingreal. That such hints and notices are given us I believe few that havemade any observation of things can deny; that they are certaindiscoveries of an invisible world, and a converse of spirits, we cannotdoubt; and if the tendency of them seems to be to warn us of danger, whyshould we not suppose they are from some friendly agent (whether supreme,or inferior and subordinate, is not the question), and that they aregiven for our good?
The present question abundantly confirms me in the justice of thisreasoning; for had I not been made cautious by this secret admonition,come it from whence it will, I had been done inevitably, and in a farworse condition than before, as you will see presently. I had not keptmyself long in this posture till I saw the boat draw near the shore, asif they looked for a creek to thrust in at, for the convenience oflanding; however, as they did not come quite far enough, they did not seethe little inlet where I formerly landed my rafts, but ran their boat onshore upon the beach, at about half a mile from me, which was very happyfor me; for otherwise they would have landed just at my door, as I maysay, and would soon have beaten me out of my castle, and perhaps haveplundered me of all I had. When they were on shore I was fully satisfiedthey were Englishmen, at least most of them; one or two I thought wereDutch, but it did not prove so; there were in all eleven men, whereofthree of them I found were unarmed and, as I thought, bound; and when thefirst four or five of them were jumped on shore, they took those threeout of the boat as prisoners: one of the three I could perceive using themost passionate gestures of entreaty, affliction, and despair, even to akind of extravagance; the other two, I could perceive, lifted up theirhands sometimes, and appeared concerned indeed, but not to such a degreeas the first. I was perfectly confounded at the sight, and knew not whatthe meaning of it should be. Friday called out to me in English, as wellas he could, "O master! you see English mans eat prisoner as well assavage mans." "Why, Friday," says I, "do you think they are going to eatthem, then?" "Yes," says Friday, "they will eat them." "No no," says I,"Friday; I am afraid they will murder them, indeed; but you may be surethey will not eat them."
All this while I had no thought of what the matter really was, but stoodtrembling with the horror of the sight, expecting every moment when thethree prisoners should be killed; nay, once I saw one of the villainslift up his arm with a great cutlass, as the seamen call it, or sword, tostrike one of the poor men; and I expected to see him fall every moment;at which all the blood in my body seemed to run chill in my veins. Iwished heartily now for the Spaniard, and the savage that had gone withhim, or that I had any way to have come undiscovered within shot of them,that I might have secured the three men, for I saw no firearms they hadamong them; but it fell out to my mind another way. After I had observedthe outrageous usage of the three men by the insolent seamen, I observedthe fellows run scattering about the island, as if they wanted to see thecountry. I observed that the three other men had liberty to go alsowhere they pleased; but they sat down all three upon the ground, verypensiv
e, and looked like men in despair. This put me in mind of thefirst time when I came on shore, and began to look about me; how I gavemyself over for lost; how wildly I looked round me; what dreadfulapprehensions I had; and how I lodged in the tree all night for fear ofbeing devoured by wild beasts. As I knew nothing that night of thesupply I was to receive by the providential driving of the ship nearerthe land by the storms and tide, by which I have since been so longnourished and supported; so these three poor desolate men knew nothinghow certain of deliverance and supply they were, how near it was to them,and how effectually and really they were in a condition of safety, at thesame time that they thought themselves lost and their case desperate. Solittle do we see before us in the world, and so much reason have we todepend cheerfully upon the great Maker of the world, that He does notleave His creatures so absolutely destitute, but that in the worstcircumstances they have always something to be thankful for, andsometimes are nearer deliverance than they imagine; nay, are even broughtto their deliverance by the means by which they seem to be brought totheir destruction.
It was just at high-water when these people came on shore; and while theyrambled about to see what kind of a place they were in, they hadcarelessly stayed till the tide was spent, and the water was ebbedconsiderably away, leaving their boat aground. They had left two men inthe boat, who, as I found afterwards, having drunk a little too muchbrandy, fell asleep; however, one of them waking a little sooner than theother and finding the boat too fast aground for him to stir it, hallooedout for the rest, who were straggling about: upon which they all sooncame to the boat: but it was past all their strength to launch her, theboat being very heavy, and the shore on that side being a soft oozy sand,almost like a quicksand. In this condition, like true seamen, who are,perhaps, the least of all mankind given to forethought, they gave itover, and away they strolled about the country again; and I heard one ofthem say aloud to another, calling them off from the boat, "Why, let heralone, Jack, can't you? she'll float next tide;" by which I was fullyconfirmed in the main inquiry of what countrymen they were. All thiswhile I kept myself very close, not once daring to stir out of my castleany farther than to my place of observation near the top of the hill: andvery glad I was to think how well it was fortified. I knew it was noless than ten hours before the boat could float again, and by that timeit would be dark, and I might be at more liberty to see their motions,and to hear their discourse, if they had any. In the meantime I fittedmyself up for a battle as before, though with more caution, knowing I hadto do with another kind of enemy than I had at first. I ordered Fridayalso, whom I had made an excellent marksman with his gun, to load himselfwith arms. I took myself two fowling-pieces, and I gave him threemuskets. My figure, indeed, was very fierce; I had my formidablegoat-skin coat on, with the great cap I have mentioned, a naked sword bymy side, two pistols in my belt, and a gun upon each shoulder.
It was my design, as I said above, not to have made any attempt till itwas dark; but about two o'clock, being the heat of the day, I found thatthey were all gone straggling into the woods, and, as I thought, laiddown to sleep. The three poor distressed men, too anxious for theircondition to get any sleep, had, however, sat down under the shelter of agreat tree, at about a quarter of a mile from me, and, as I thought, outof sight of any of the rest. Upon this I resolved to discover myself tothem, and learn something of their condition; immediately I marched asabove, my man Friday at a good distance behind me, as formidable for hisarms as I, but not making quite so staring a spectre-like figure as Idid. I came as near them undiscovered as I could, and then, before anyof them saw me, I called aloud to them in Spanish, "What are ye,gentlemen?" They started up at the noise, but were ten times moreconfounded when they saw me, and the uncouth figure that I made. Theymade no answer at all, but I thought I perceived them just going to flyfrom me, when I spoke to them in English. "Gentlemen," said I, "do not besurprised at me; perhaps you may have a friend near when you did notexpect it." "He must be sent directly from heaven then," said one ofthem very gravely to me, and pulling off his hat at the same time to me;"for our condition is past the help of man." "All help is from heaven,sir," said I, "but can you put a stranger in the way to help you? for youseem to be in some great distress. I saw you when you landed; and whenyou seemed to make application to the brutes that came with you, I sawone of them lift up his sword to kill you."
The poor man, with tears running down his face, and trembling, lookinglike one astonished, returned, "Am I talking to God or man? Is it a realman or an angel?" "Be in no fear about that, sir," said I; "if God hadsent an angel to relieve you, he would have come better clothed, andarmed after another manner than you see me; pray lay aside your fears; Iam a man, an Englishman, and disposed to assist you; you see I have oneservant only; we have arms and ammunition; tell us freely, can we serveyou? What is your case?" "Our case, sir," said he, "is too long to tellyou while our murderers are so near us; but, in short, sir, I wascommander of that ship--my men have mutinied against me; they have beenhardly prevailed on not to murder me, and, at last, have set me on shorein this desolate place, with these two men with me--one my mate, theother a passenger--where we expected to perish, believing the place to beuninhabited, and know not yet what to think of it." "Where are thesebrutes, your enemies?" said I; "do you know where they are gone? Therethey lie, sir," said he, pointing to a thicket of trees; "my hearttrembles for fear they have seen us and heard you speak; if they have,they will certainly murder us all." "Have they any firearms?" said I.He answered, "They had only two pieces, one of which they left in theboat." "Well, then," said I, "leave the rest to me; I see they are allasleep; it is an easy thing to kill them all; but shall we rather takethem prisoners?" He told me there were two desperate villains among themthat it was scarce safe to show any mercy to; but if they were secured,he believed all the rest would return to their duty. I asked him whichthey were. He told me he could not at that distance distinguish them,but he would obey my orders in anything I would direct. "Well," says I,"let us retreat out of their view or hearing, lest they awake, and wewill resolve further." So they willingly went back with me, till thewoods covered us from them.
"Look you, sir," said I, "if I venture upon your deliverance, are youwilling to make two conditions with me?" He anticipated my proposals bytelling me that both he and the ship, if recovered, should be whollydirected and commanded by me in everything; and if the ship was notrecovered, he would live and die with me in what part of the world soeverI would send him; and the two other men said the same. "Well," says I,"my conditions are but two; first, that while you stay in this islandwith me, you will not pretend to any authority here; and if I put arms inyour hands, you will, upon all occasions, give them up to me, and do noprejudice to me or mine upon this island, and in the meantime be governedby my orders; secondly, that if the ship is or may be recovered, you willcarry me and my man to England passage free."
He gave me all the assurances that the invention or faith of man coulddevise that he would comply with these most reasonable demands, andbesides would owe his life to me, and acknowledge it upon all occasionsas long as he lived. "Well, then," said I, "here are three muskets foryou, with powder and ball; tell me next what you think is proper to bedone." 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 veryhard venturing anything; but the best method I could think of was to fireon them at once as they lay, and if any were not killed at the firstvolley, and offered to submit, we might save them, and so put it whollyupon God's providence to direct the shot. He said, very modestly, thathe was loath to kill them if he could help it; but that those two wereincorrigible villains, and had been the authors of all the mutiny in theship, and if they escaped, we should be undone still, for they would goon 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 wayto save our lives." However, seeing him still cautious of shedding
blood, I told him they should go themselves, and manage as they foundconvenient.
In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awake, and soonafter we saw two of them on their feet. I asked him if either of themwere the heads of the mutiny? He said, "No." "Well, then," said I, "youmay let them escape; and Providence seems to have awakened them onpurpose to save themselves. Now," says I, "if the rest escape you, it isyour fault." Animated with this, he took the musket I had given him inhis hand, and a pistol in his belt, and his two comrades with him, witheach a piece in his hand; the two men who were with him going first madesome noise, at which one of the seamen who was awake turned about, andseeing them coming, cried out to the rest; but was too late then, for themoment he cried out they fired--I mean the two men, the captain wiselyreserving his own piece. They had so well aimed their shot at the menthey knew, that one of them was killed on the spot, and the other verymuch wounded; but not being dead, he started up on his feet, and calledeagerly for help to the other; but the captain stepping to him, told himit was too late to cry for help, he should call upon God to forgive hisvillainy, and with that word knocked him down with the stock of hismusket, so that he never spoke more; there were three more in thecompany, 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, theybegged for mercy. The captain told them he would spare their lives ifthey would give him an assurance of their abhorrence of the treacherythey had been guilty of, and would swear to be faithful to him inrecovering the ship, and afterwards in carrying her back to Jamaica, fromwhence they came. They gave him all the protestations of their sinceritythat could be desired; and he was willing to believe them, and sparetheir lives, which I was not against, only that I obliged him to keepthem bound hand and foot while they were on the island.
While this was doing, I sent Friday with the captain's mate to the boatwith orders to secure her, and bring away the oars and sails, which theydid; and by-and-by three straggling men, that were (happily for them)parted from the rest, came back upon hearing the guns fired; and seeingthe captain, who was before their prisoner, now their conqueror, theysubmitted to be bound also; and so our victory was complete.
It now remained that the captain and I should inquire into one another'scircumstances. I began first, and told him my whole history, which heheard with an attention even to amazement--and particularly at thewonderful manner of my being furnished with provisions and ammunition;and, indeed, as my story is a whole collection of wonders, it affectedhim deeply. But when he reflected from thence upon himself, and how Iseemed to have been preserved there on purpose to save his life, thetears ran down his face, and he could not speak a word more. After thiscommunication was at an end, I carried him and his two men into myapartment, leading them in just where I came out, viz. at the top of thehouse, where I refreshed them with such provisions as I had, and showedthem all the contrivances I had made during my long, long inhabiting thatplace.
All I showed them, all I said to them, was perfectly amazing; but aboveall, the captain admired my fortification, and how perfectly I hadconcealed my retreat with a grove of trees, which having been now plantednearly 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 ofit but at that one side where I had reserved my little winding passageinto it. I told him this was my castle and my residence, but that I hada seat in the country, as most princes have, whither I could retreat uponoccasion, and I would show him that too another time; but at present ourbusiness was to consider how to recover the ship. He agreed with me asto 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, havingentered into a cursed conspiracy, by which they had all forfeited theirlives to the law, would be hardened in it now by desperation, and wouldcarry it on, knowing that if they were subdued they would be brought tothe gallows as soon as they came to England, or to any of the Englishcolonies, and that, therefore, there would be no attacking them with sosmall a number as we were.
I mused for some time on what he had said, and found it was a veryrational conclusion, and that therefore something was to be resolved onspeedily, as well to draw the men on board into some snare for theirsurprise as to prevent their landing upon us, and destroying us. Uponthis, 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, wouldcertainly come on shore in their other boat to look for them, and thatthen, perhaps, they might come armed, and be too strong for us: this heallowed to be rational. Upon this, I told him the first thing we had todo was to stave the boat which lay upon the beach, so that they might notcarry her of, and taking everything out of her, leave her so far uselessas not to be fit to swim. Accordingly, we went on board, took the armswhich were left on board out of her, and whatever else we foundthere--which was a bottle of brandy, and another of rum, a fewbiscuit-cakes, a horn of powder, and a great lump of sugar in a piece ofcanvas (the sugar was five or six pounds): all which was very welcome tome, especially the brandy and sugar, of which I had had none left formany years.
When we had carried all these things on shore (the oars, mast, sail, andrudder of the boat were carried away before), we knocked a great hole inher bottom, that if they had come strong enough to master us, yet theycould not carry off the boat. Indeed, it was not much in my thoughtsthat we could be able to recover the ship; but my view was, that if theywent away without the boat, I did not much question to make her again fitto carry as to the Leeward Islands, and call upon our friends theSpaniards in my way, for I had them still in my thoughts.