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_ But not to crowd this part with an account of the lesser part of
the rogueries with which they plagued them continually, night and
day, it forced the two men to such a desperation that they resolved
to fight them all three, the first time they had a fair
opportunity. In order to do this they resolved to go to the castle
(as they called my old dwelling), where the three rogues and the
Spaniards all lived together at that time, intending to have a fair
battle, and the Spaniards should stand by to see fair play: so
they got up in the morning before day, and came to the place, and
called the Englishmen by their names telling a Spaniard that
answered that they wanted to speak with them.
It happened that the day before two of the Spaniards, having been
in the woods, had seen one of the two Englishmen, whom, for
distinction, I called the honest men, and he had made a sad
complaint to the Spaniards of the barbarous usage they had met with
from their three countrymen, and how they had ruined their
plantation, and destroyed their corn, that they had laboured so
hard to bring forward, and killed the milch-goat and their three
kids, which was all they had provided for their sustenance, and
that if he and his friends, meaning the Spaniards, did not assist
them again, they should be starved. When the Spaniards came home
at night, and they were all at supper, one of them took the freedom
to reprove the three Englishmen, though in very gentle and mannerly
terms, and asked them how they could be so cruel, they being
harmless, inoffensive fellows: that they were putting themselves
in a way to subsist by their labour, and that it had cost them a
great deal of pains to bring things to such perfection as they were
then in.
One of the Englishmen returned very briskly, "What had they to do
there? that they came on shore without leave; and that they should
not plant or build upon the island; it was none of their ground."
"Why," says the Spaniard, very calmly, "Seignior Inglese, they must
not starve." The Englishman replied, like a rough tarpaulin, "They
might starve; they should not plant nor build in that place." "But
what must they do then, seignior?" said the Spaniard. Another of
the brutes returned, "Do? they should be servants, and work for
them." "But how can you expect that of them?" says the Spaniard;
"they are not bought with your money; you have no right to make
them servants." The Englishman answered, "The island was theirs;
the governor had given it to them, and no man had anything to do
there but themselves;" and with that he swore that he would go and
burn all their new huts; they should build none upon their land.
"Why, seignior," says the Spaniard, "by the same rule, we must be
your servants, too." "Ay," returned the bold dog, "and so you
shall, too, before we have done with you;" mixing two or three
oaths in the proper intervals of his speech. The Spaniard only
smiled at that, and made him no answer. However, this little
discourse had heated them; and starting up, one says to the other.
(I think it was he they called Will Atkins), "Come, Jack, let's go
and have t'other brush with them; we'll demolish their castle, I'll
warrant you; they shall plant no colony in our dominions."
Upon this they were all trooping away, with every man a gun, a
pistol, and a sword, and muttered some insolent things among
themselves of what they would do to the Spaniards, too, when
opportunity offered; but the Spaniards, it seems, did not so
perfectly understand them as to know all the particulars, only that
in general they threatened them hard for taking the two
Englishmen's part. Whither they went, or how they bestowed their
time that evening, the Spaniards said they did not know; but it
seems they wandered about the country part of the night, and them
lying down in the place which I used to call my bower, they were
weary and overslept themselves. The case was this: they had
resolved to stay till midnight, and so take the two poor men when
they were asleep, and as they acknowledged afterwards, intended to
set fire to their huts while they were in them, and either burn
them there or murder them as they came out. As malice seldom
sleeps very sound, it was very strange they should not have been
kept awake. However, as the two men had also a design upon them,
as I have said, though a much fairer one than that of burning and
murdering, it happened, and very luckily for them all, that they
were up and gone abroad before the bloody-minded rogues came to
their huts.
When they came there, and found the men gone, Atkins, who it seems
was the forwardest man, called out to his comrade, "Ha, Jack,
here's the nest, but the birds are flown." They mused a while, to
think what should be the occasion of their being gone abroad so
soon, and suggested presently that the Spaniards had given them
notice of it; and with that they shook hands, and swore to one
another that they would be revenged of the Spaniards. As soon as
they had made this bloody bargain they fell to work with the poor
men's habitation; they did not set fire, indeed, to anything, but
they pulled down both their houses, and left not the least stick
standing, or scarce any sign on the ground where they stood; they
tore all their household stuff in pieces, and threw everything
about in such a manner, that the poor men afterwards found some of
their things a mile off. When they had done this, they pulled up
all the young trees which the poor men had planted; broke down an
enclosure they had made to secure their cattle and their corn; and,
in a word, sacked and plundered everything as completely as a horde
of Tartars would have done.
The two men were at this juncture gone to find them out, and had
resolved to fight them wherever they had been, though they were but
two to three; so that, had they met, there certainly would have
been blood shed among them, for they were all very stout, resolute
fellows, to give them their due.
But Providence took more care to keep them asunder than they
themselves could do to meet; for, as if they had dogged one
another, when the three were gone thither, the two were here; and
afterwards, when the two went back to find them, the three were
come to the old habitation again: we shall see their different
conduct presently. When the three came back like furious
creatures, flushed with the rage which the work they had been about
had put them into, they came up to the Spaniards, and told them
what they had done, by way of scoff and bravado; and one of them
stepping up to one of the Spaniards, as if they had been a couple
of boys at play, takes hold of his hat as it was upon his head, and
giving it a twirl about, fleering in his face, says to him, "And
you, Seignior Jack Spaniard, shall have the same sauce if you do
not mend your manners." The Spaniard, who, though a quiet civil
man, was as brave a man as could be, and withal a strong, well-made
man, looked at him for a good while, and then, having no weapon in
his hand, stepped gravely up to him, and, with one blow of his
fist, knocked him down, as an ox is felled with a pole-axe; at
which one of the rogues, as insolent as the first, fired his pistol
at the Spaniard immediately; he missed his body, indeed, for the
bullets went through his hair, but one of them touched the tip of
his ear, and he bled pretty much. The blood made the Spaniard
believe he was more hurt than he really was, and that put him into
some heat, for before he acted all in a perfect calm; but now
resolving to go through with his work, he stooped, and taking the
fellow's musket whom he had knocked down, was just going to shoot
the man who had fired at him, when the rest of the Spaniards, being
in the cave, came out, and calling to him not to shoot, they
stepped in, secured the other two, and took their arms from them.
When they were thus disarmed, and found they had made all the
Spaniards their enemies, as well as their own countrymen, they
began to cool, and giving the Spaniards better words, would have
their arms again; but the Spaniards, considering the feud that was
between them and the other two Englishmen, and that it would be the
best method they could take to keep them from killing one another,
told them they would do them no harm, and if they would live
peaceably, they would be very willing to assist and associate with
them as they did before; but that they could not think of giving
them their arms again, while they appeared so resolved to do
mischief with them to their own countrymen, and had even threatened
them all to make them their servants.
The rogues were now quite deaf to all reason, and being refused
their arms, they raved away like madmen, threatening what they
would do, though they had no firearms. But the Spaniards,
despising their threatening, told them they should take care how
they offered any injury to their plantation or cattle; for if they
did they would shoot them as they would ravenous beasts, wherever
they found them; and if they fell into their hands alive, they
should certainly be hanged. However, this was far from cooling
them, but away they went, raging and swearing like furies. As soon
as they were gone, the two men came back, in passion and rage
enough also, though of another kind; for having been at their
plantation, and finding it all demolished and destroyed, as above
mentioned, it will easily be supposed they had provocation enough.
They could scarce have room to tell their tale, the Spaniards were
so eager to tell them theirs: and it was strange enough to find
that three men should thus bully nineteen, and receive no
punishment at all.
The Spaniards, indeed, despised them, and especially, having thus
disarmed them, made light of their threatenings; but the two
Englishmen resolved to have their remedy against them, what pains
soever it cost to find them out. But the Spaniards interposed here
too, and told them that as they had disarmed them, they could not
consent that they (the two) should pursue them with firearms, and
perhaps kill them. "But," said the grave Spaniard, who was their
governor, "we will endeavour to make them do you justice, if you
will leave it to us: for there is no doubt but they will come to
us again, when their passion is over, being not able to subsist
without our assistance. We promise you to make no peace with them
without having full satisfaction for you; and upon this condition
we hope you will promise to use no violence with them, other than
in your own defence." The two Englishmen yielded to this very
awkwardly, and with great reluctance; but the Spaniards protested
that they did it only to keep them from bloodshed, and to make them
all easy at last. "For," said they, "we are not so many of us;
here is room enough for us all, and it is a great pity that we
should not be all good friends." At length they did consent, and
waited for the issue of the thing, living for some days with the
Spaniards; for their own habitation was destroyed.
In about five days' time the vagrants, tired with wandering, and
almost starved with hunger, having chiefly lived on turtles' eggs
all that while, came back to the grove; and finding my Spaniard,
who, as I have said, was the governor, and two more with him,
walking by the side of the creek, they came up in a very
submissive, humble manner, and begged to be received again into the
society. The Spaniards used them civilly, but told them they had
acted so unnaturally to their countrymen, and so very grossly to
themselves, that they could not come to any conclusion without
consulting the two Englishmen and the rest; but, however, they
would go to them and discourse about it, and they should know in
half-an-hour. It may be guessed that they were very hard put to
it; for, as they were to wait this half-hour for an answer, they
begged they would send them out some bread in the meantime, which
they did, sending at the same time a large piece of goat's flesh
and a boiled parrot, which they ate very eagerly.
After half-an-hour's consultation they were called in, and a long
debate ensued, their two countrymen charging them with the ruin of
all their labour, and a design to murder them; all which they owned
before, and therefore could not deny now. Upon the whole, the
Spaniards acted the moderators between them; and as they had
obliged the two Englishmen not to hurt the three while they were
naked and unarmed, so they now obliged the three to go and rebuild
their fellows' two huts, one to be of the same and the other of
larger dimensions than they were before; to fence their ground
again, plant trees in the room of those pulled up, dig up the land
again for planting corn, and, in a word, to restore everything to
the same state as they found it, that is, as near as they could.
Well, they submitted to all this; and as they had plenty of
provisions given them all the while, they grew very orderly, and
the whole society began to live pleasantly and agreeably together
again; only that these three fellows could never be persuaded to
work--I mean for themselves--except now and then a little, just as
they pleased. However, the Spaniards told them plainly that if
they would but live sociably and friendly together, and study the
good of the whole plantation, they would be content to work for
them, and let them walk about and be as idle as they pleased; and
thus, having lived pretty well together for a month or two, the
Spaniards let them have arms again, and gave them liberty to go
abroad with them as before.
It was not above a week after they had these arms, and went abroad,
before the ungrateful creatures began to be as insolent and
troublesome as ever. However, an accident happened presently upon
this, which endangered the safety of them all, and they were
obliged to lay by all private resentments, and look to the
preservation of their lives.
It happened one night that the governor, the Spaniard whose life I
had saved, who was now the governor of the rest, found himself very
uneasy in the night, and could by no means get any sleep: he was
perfectly well in body, only found his thoughts tumultuous; his
mind ran upon men fighting and killing one another; but he was
broad awake, and could not by any means get any sleep; in short, he
lay a great while, but growing more and more uneasy, he resolved to
rise. As they lay, being so many of them, on goat-skins laid thick
upon such couches and pads as they made for themselves, so they had
little to do, when they were willing to rise, but to get upon their
feet, and perhaps put on a coat, such as it was, and their pumps,
and they were ready for going any way that their thoughts guided
them. Being thus got up, he looked out; but being dark, he could
see little or nothing, and besides, the trees which I had planted,
and which were now grown tall, intercepted his sight, so that he
could only look up, and see that it was a starlight night, and
hearing no noise, he returned and lay down again; but to no
purpose; he could not compose himself to anything like rest; but
his thoughts were to the last degree uneasy, and he knew not for
what. Having made some noise with rising and walking about, going
out and coming in, another of them waked, and asked who it was that
was up. The governor told him how it had been with him. "Say you
so?" says the other Spaniard; "such things are not to be slighted,
I assure you; there is certainly some mischief working near us;"
and presently he asked him, "Where are the Englishmen?" "They are
all in their huts," says he, "safe enough." It seems the Spaniards
had kept possession of the main apartment, and had made a place for
the three Englishmen, who, since their last mutiny, were always
quartered by themselves, and could not come at the rest. "Well,"
says the Spaniard, "there is something in it, I am persuaded, from
my own experience. I am satisfied that our spirits embodied have a
converse with and receive intelligence from the spirits unembodied,
and inhabiting the invisible world; and this friendly notice is
given for our advantage, if we knew how to make use of it. Come,
let us go and look abroad; and if we find nothing at all in it to
justify the trouble, I'll tell you a story to the purpose, that
shall convince you of the justice of my proposing it."
They went out presently to go up to the top of the hill, where I
used to go; but they being strong, and a good company, nor alone,
as I was, used none of my cautions to go up by the ladder, and
pulling it up after them, to go up a second stage to the top, but
were going round through the grove unwarily, when they were
surprised with seeing a light as of fire, a very little way from
them, and hearing the voices of men, not of one or two, but of a
great number.
Among the precautions I used to take on the savages landing on the
island, it was my constant care to prevent them making the least
discovery of there being any inhabitant upon the place: and when
by any occasion they came to know it, they felt it so effectually
that they that got away were scarce able to give any account of it;
for we disappeared as soon as possible, nor did ever any that had
seen me escape to tell any one else, except it was the three
savages in our last encounter who jumped into the boat; of whom, I
mentioned, I was afraid they should go home and bring more help.
Whether it was the consequence of the escape of those men that so
great a number came now together, or whether they came ignorantly,
and by accident, on their usual bloody errand, the Spaniards could
not understand; but whatever it was, it was their business either
to have concealed themselves or not to have seen them at all, much
less to have let the savages have seen there were any inhabitants
in the place; or to have fallen upon them so effectually as not a
man of them should have escaped, which could only have been by
getting in between them and their boats; but this presence of mind
was wanting to them, which was the ruin of their tranquillity for a
great while.
We need not doubt but that the governor and the man with him,
surprised with this sight, ran back immediately and raised their
fellows, giving them an account of the imminent danger they were
all in, and they again as readily took the alarm; but it was
impossible to persuade them to stay close within where they were,
but they must all run out to see how things stood. While it was
dark, indeed, they were safe, and they had opportunity enough for
some hours to view the savages by the light of three fires they had
made at a distance from one another; what they were doing they knew
not, neither did they know what to do themselves. For, first, the
enemy were too many; and secondly, they did not keep together, but
were divided into several parties, and were on shore in several
places.
The Spaniards were in no small consternation at this sight; and, as
they found that the fellows went straggling all over the shore,
they made no doubt but, first or last, some of them would chop in
upon their habitation, or upon some other place where they would
see the token of inhabitants; and they were in great perplexity
also for fear of their flock of goats, which, if they should be
destroyed, would have been little less than starving them. So the
first thing they resolved upon was to despatch three men away
before it was light, two Spaniards and one Englishman, to drive
away all the goats to the great valley where the cave was, and, if
need were, to drive them into the very cave itself. Could they
have seen the savages all together in one body, and at a distance
from their canoes, they were resolved, if there had been a hundred
of them, to attack them; but that could not be done, for they were
some of them two miles off from the other, and, as it appeared
afterwards, were of two different nations.
After having mused a great while on the course they should take,
they resolved at last, while it was still dark, to send the old
savage, Friday's father, out as a spy, to learn, if possible,
something concerning them, as what they came for, what they
intended to do, and the like. The old man readily undertook it;
and stripping himself quite naked, as most of the savages were,
away he went. After he had been gone an hour or two, he brings
word that he had been among them undiscovered, that he found they
were two parties, and of two several nations, who had war with one
another, and had a great battle in their own country; and that both
sides having had several prisoners taken in the fight, they were,
by mere chance, landed all on the same island, for the devouring
their prisoners and making merry; but their coming so by chance to
the same place had spoiled all their mirth--that they were in a
great rage at one another, and were so near that he believed they
would fight again as soon as daylight began to appear; but he did
not perceive that they had any notion of anybody being on the
island but themselves. He had hardly made an end of telling his
story, when they could perceive, by the unusual noise they made,
that the two little armies were engaged in a bloody fight.
Friday's father used all the arguments he could to persuade our
people to lie close, and not be seen; he told them their safety
consisted in it, and that they had nothing to do but lie still, and
the savages would kill one another to their hands, and then the
rest would go away; and it was so to a tittle. But it was
impossible to prevail, especially upon the Englishmen; their
curiosity was so importunate that they must run out and see the
battle. However, they used some caution too: they did not go
openly, just by their own dwelling, but went farther into the
woods, and placed themselves to advantage, where they might
securely see them manage the fight, and, as they thought, not be
seen by them; but the savages did see them, as we shall find
hereafter.
The battle was very fierce, and, if I might believe the Englishmen,
one of them said he could perceive that some of them were men of
great bravery, of invincible spirit, and of great policy in guiding
the fight. The battle, they said, held two hours before they could
guess which party would be beaten; but then that party which was
nearest our people's habitation began to appear weakest, and after
some time more some of them began to fly; and this put our men
again into a great consternation, lest any one of those that fled
should run into the grove before their dwelling for shelter, and
thereby involuntarily discover the place; and that, by consequence,
the pursuers would also do the like in search of them. Upon this,
they resolved that they would stand armed within the wall, and
whoever came into the grove, they resolved to sally out over the
wall and kill them, so that, if possible, not one should return to
give an account of it; they ordered also that it should be done
with their swords, or by knocking them down with the stocks of
their muskets, but not by shooting them, for fear of raising an
alarm by the noise.
As they expected it fell out; three of the routed army fled for
life, and crossing the creek, ran directly into the place, not in
the least knowing whither they went, but running as into a thick
wood for shelter. The scout they kept to look abroad gave notice
of this within, with this comforting addition, that the conquerors
had not pursued them, or seen which way they were gone; upon this
the Spanish governor, a man of humanity, would not suffer them to
kill the three fugitives, but sending three men out by the top of
the hill, ordered them to go round, come in behind them, and
surprise and take them prisoners, which was done. The residue of
the conquered people fled to their canoes, and got off to sea; the
victors retired, made no pursuit, or very little, but drawing
themselves into a body together, gave two great screaming shouts,
most likely by way of triumph, and so the fight ended; the same
day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, they also marched to
their canoes. And thus the Spaniards had the island again free to
themselves, their fright was over, and they saw no savages for
several years after.
After they were all gone, the Spaniards came out of their den, and
viewing the field of battle, they found about two-and-thirty men
dead on the spot; some were killed with long arrows, which were
found sticking in their bodies; but most of them were killed with
great wooden swords, sixteen or seventeen of which they found in
the field of battle, and as many bows, with a great many arrows.
These swords were strange, unwieldy things, and they must be very
strong men that used them; most of those that were killed with them
had their heads smashed to pieces, as we may say, or, as we call it
in English, their brains knocked out, and several their arms and
legs broken; so that it is evident they fight with inexpressible
rage and fury. We found not one man that was not stone dead; for
either they stay by their enemy till they have killed him, or they
carry all the wounded men that are not quite dead away with them.
This deliverance tamed our ill-disposed Englishmen for a great
while; the sight had filled them with horror, and the consequences
appeared terrible to the last degree, especially upon supposing
that some time or other they should fall into the hands of those
creatures, who would not only kill them as enemies, but for food,
as we kill our cattle; and they professed to me that the thoughts
of being eaten up like beef and mutton, though it was supposed it
was not to be till they were dead, had something in it so horrible
that it nauseated their very stomachs, made them sick when they
thought of it, and filled their minds with such unusual terror,
that they were not themselves for some weeks after. This, as I
said, tamed even the three English brutes I have been speaking of;
and for a great while after they were tractable, and went about the
common business of the whole society well enough--planted, sowed,
reaped, and began to be all naturalised to the country. But some
time after this they fell into such simple measures again as
brought them into a great deal of trouble.
They had taken three prisoners, as I observed; and these three
being stout young fellows, they made them servants, and taught them
to work for them, and as slaves they did well enough; but they did
not take their measures as I did by my man Friday, viz. to begin
with them upon the principle of having saved their lives, and then
instruct them in the rational principles of life; much less did
they think of teaching them religion, or attempt civilising and
reducing them by kind usage and affectionate arguments. As they
gave them their food every day, so they gave them their work too,
and kept them fully employed in drudgery enough; but they failed in
this by it, that they never had them to assist them and fight for
them as I had my man Friday, who was as true to me as the very
flesh upon my bones.
But to come to the family part. Being all now good friends--for
common danger, as I said above, had effectually reconciled them--
they began to consider their general circumstances; and the first
thing that came under consideration was whether, seeing the savages
particularly haunted that side of the island, and that there were
more remote and retired parts of it equally adapted to their way of
living, and manifestly to their advantage, they should not rather
move their habitation, and plant in some more proper place for
their safety, and especially for the security of their cattle and
corn.
Upon this, after long debate, it was concluded that they would not
remove their habitation; because that, some time or other, they
thought they might hear from their governor again, meaning me; and
if I should send any one to seek them, I should be sure to direct
them to that side, where, if they should find the place demolished,
they would conclude the savages had killed us all, and we were
gone, and so our supply would go too. But as to their corn and
cattle, they agreed to remove them into the valley where my cave
was, where the land was as proper for both, and where indeed there
was land enough. However, upon second thoughts they altered one
part of their resolution too, and resolved only to remove part of
their cattle thither, and part of their corn there; so that if one
part was destroyed the other might be saved. And one part of
prudence they luckily used: they never trusted those three savages
which they had taken prisoners with knowing anything of the
plantation they had made in that valley, or of any cattle they had
there, much less of the cave at that place, which they kept, in
case of necessity, as a safe retreat; and thither they carried also
the two barrels of powder which I had sent them at my coming away.
They resolved, however, not to change their habitation; yet, as I
had carefully covered it first with a wall or fortification, and
then with a grove of trees, and as they were now fully convinced
their safety consisted entirely in their being concealed, they set
to work to cover and conceal the place yet more effectually than
before. For this purpose, as I planted trees, or rather thrust in
stakes, which in time all grew up to be trees, for some good
distance before the entrance into my apartments, they went on in
the same manner, and filled up the rest of that whole space of
ground from the trees I had set quite down to the side of the
creek, where I landed my floats, and even into the very ooze where
the tide flowed, not so much as leaving any place to land, or any
sign that there had been any landing thereabouts: these stakes
also being of a wood very forward to grow, they took care to have
them generally much larger and taller than those which I had
planted. As they grew apace, they planted them so very thick and
close together, that when they had been three or four years grown
there was no piercing with the eye any considerable way into the
plantation. As for that part which I had planted, the trees were
grown as thick as a man's thigh, and among them they had placed so
many other short ones, and so thick, that it stood like a palisado
a quarter of a mile thick, and it was next to impossible to
penetrate it, for a little dog could hardly get between the trees,
they stood so close.
But this was not all; for they did the same by all the ground to
the right hand and to the left, and round even to the side of the
hill, leaving no way, not so much as for themselves, to come out
but by the ladder placed up to the side of the hill, and then
lifted up, and placed again from the first stage up to the top: so
that when the ladder was taken down, nothing but what had wings or
witchcraft to assist it could come at them. This was excellently
well contrived: nor was it less than what they afterwards found
occasion for, which served to convince me, that as human prudence
has the authority of Providence to justify it, so it has doubtless
the direction of Providence to set it to work; and if we listened
carefully to the voice of it, I am persuaded we might prevent many
of the disasters which our lives are now, by our own negligence,
subjected to.
They lived two years after this in perfect retirement, and had no
more visits from the savages. They had, indeed, an alarm given
them one morning, which put them into a great consternation; for
some of the Spaniards being out early one morning on the west side
or end of the island (which was that end where I never went, for
fear of being discovered), they were surprised with seeing about
twenty canoes of Indians just coming on shore. They made the best
of their way home in hurry enough; and giving the alarm to their
comrades, they kept close all that day and the next, going out only
at night to make their observation: but they had the good luck to
be undiscovered, for wherever the savages went, they did not land
that time on the island, but pursued some other design. _
Read next: CHAPTER IV -RENEWED INVASION OF SAVAGES
Read previous: CHAPTER II - INTERVENING HISTORY OF COLONY
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