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第4章 再创惊天大捷！

anks also. I washeartily sorry that I disturbed him, and not only left him, butkept others from interrupting him also. He continued in thatposture about three minutes, or little more, after I left him, thencame to me, as he had said he would, and with a great deal ofseriousness and affection, but with tears in his eyes, thanked me,that had, under God, given him and so many miserable creaturestheir lives. I told him I had no need to tell him to thank God forit, rather than me, for I had seen that he had done that already;but I added that it was nothing but what reason and humanitydictated to all men, and that we had as much reason as he to givethanks to God, who had blessed us so far as to make us theinstruments of His mercy to so many of His creatures. After thisthe young priest applied himself to his countrymen, and laboured tocompose them: he persuaded, entreated, argued, reasoned with them,and did his utmost to keep them within the exercise of theirreason; and with some he had success, though others w

　　Among the rest of the supplies sent to my tenants in the island, Isent them by the sloop three milch cows and five calves; abouttwenty-two hogs, among them three sows; two mares, and a stone-horse. For my Spaniards, according to my promise, I engaged threeBrazil women to go, and recommended it to them to marry them, anduse them kindly. I could have procured more women, but Iremembered that the poor persecuted man had two daughters, and thatthere were but five of the Spaniards that wanted partners; the resthad wives of their own, though in another country. All this cargoarrived safe, and, as you may easily suppose, was very welcome tomy old inhabitants, who were now, with this addition, between sixtyand seventy people, besides little children, of which there were agreat many. I found letters at London from them all, by way ofLisbon, when I came back to England.

ere for a timeout of all government of themselves.

　　He spoke this with so much warmth in his temper, so muchearnestness and motion of his spirits, that it was evident it wasthe true sense of his soul; there was no room to doubt hissincerity. I told him I once thought myself a kind of monarch inmy old station, of which I had given him an account; but that Ithought he was not only a monarch, but a great conqueror; for hethat had got a victory over his own exorbitant desires, and theabsolute dominion over himself, he whose reason entirely governshis will, is certainly greater than he that conquers a city.

　　As to the three barbarians (so he called them) that were leftbehind, and of whom, he said, he had a long story to tell me, theSpaniards all thought themselves much better among the savages,only that their number was so small: "And," says he, "had theybeen strong enough, we had been all long ago in purgatory;" andwith that he crossed himself on the breast. "But, sir," says he,"I hope you will not be displeased when I shall tell you how,forced by necessity, we were obliged for our own preservation todisarm them, and make them our subjects, as they would not becontent with being moderately our masters, but would be ourmurderers." I answered I was afraid of it when I left them there,and nothing troubled me at my parting from the island but that theywere not come back, that I might have put them in possession ofeverything first, and left the others in a state of subjection, asthey deserved; but if they had reduced them to it I was very glad,and should be very far from finding any fault with it; for I knewthey

　　It was some while before any of them could be taken; but being weakand half-starved, one of them was at last surprised and made aprisoner. He was sullen at first, and would neither eat nor drink;but finding himself kindly used, and victuals given to him, and noviolence offered him, he at last grew tractable, and came tohimself. They often brought old Friday to talk to him, who alwaystold him how kind the others would be to them all; that they wouldnot only save their lives, but give them part of the island to livein, provided they would give satisfaction that they would keep intheir own bounds, and not come beyond it to injure or prejudiceothers; and that they should have corn given them to plant and makeit grow for their bread, and some bread given them for theirpresent subsistence; and old Friday bade the fellow go and talkwith the rest of his countrymen, and see what they said to it;assuring them that, if they did not agree immediately, they shouldbe all destroyed.

f prey; and in particular for the people, of whom now it plainlyappeared they had intelligence.

　　It happened one night that the governor, the Spaniard whose life Ihad saved, who was now the governor of the rest, found himself veryuneasy in the night, and could by no means get any sleep: he wasperfectly well in body, only found his thoughts tumultuous; hismind ran upon men fighting and killing one another; but he wasbroad awake, and could not by any means get any sleep; in short, helay a great while, but growing more and more uneasy, he resolved torise. As they lay, being so many of them, on goat-skins laid thickupon such couches and pads as they made for themselves, so they hadlittle to do, when they were willing to rise, but to get upon theirfeet, and perhaps put on a coat, such as it was, and their pumps,and they were ready for going any way that their thoughts guidedthem. Being thus got up, he looked out; but being dark, he couldsee little or nothing, and besides, the trees which I had planted,and which were now grown tall, intercepted his sight, so that hecould only look up, and see that it was

greediness that they were in danger of their lives thenext morning. The sight of these people's distress was very movingto me, and brought to mind what I had a terrible prospect of at myfirst coming on shore in my island, where I had not the leastmouthful of food, or any prospect of procuring any; besides thehourly apprehensions I had of being made the food of othercreatures. But all the while the mate was thus relating to me themiserable condition of the ship's company, I could not put out ofmy thought the story he had told me of the three poor creatures inthe great cabin, viz. the mother, her son, and the maid-servant,whom he had heard nothing of for two or three days, and whom, heseemed to confess, they had wholly neglected, their own extremitiesbeing so great; by which I understood that they had really giventhem no food at all, and that therefore they must be perished, andbe all lying dead, perhaps, on the floor or deck of the cabin.