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第2章 你我永远都不是一路人

　　W.A. - I am an unthankful, ungrateful dog, that is true.

　　R.C. - No, no, it is not your wife has preached to you; but whenyou were moving religious arguments to her, conscience has flungthem back upon you.

　　I was so annoyed at the loss of my old trusty servant andcompanion, that I immediately ordered five guns to be loaded withsmall shot, and four with great, and gave them such a broadside asthey had never heard in their lives before. They were not abovehalf a cable's length off when we fired; and our gunners took theiraim so well, that three or four of their canoes were overset, as wehad reason to believe, by one shot only. The ill manners ofturning up their bare backs to us gave us no great offence; neitherdid I know for certain whether that which would pass for thegreatest contempt among us might be understood so by them or not;therefore, in return, I had only resolved to have fired four orfive guns at them with powder only, which I knew would frightenthem sufficiently: but when they shot at us directly with all thefury they were capable of, and especially as they had killed mypoor Friday, whom I so entirely loved and valued, and who, indeed,so well deserved it, I thought myself not only justifiable befo

　　And here it is very well worth observing that, as it often happensin the world (what the wise ends in God's providence are, in such adisposition of things, I cannot say), the two honest fellows hadthe two worst wives; and the three reprobates, that were scarceworth hanging, that were fit for nothing, and neither seemed bornto do themselves good nor any one else, had three clever, careful,and ingenious wives; not that the first two were bad wives as totheir temper or humour, for all the five were most willing, quiet,passive, and subjected creatures, rather like slaves than wives;but my meaning is, they were not alike capable, ingenious, orindustrious, or alike cleanly and neat. Another observation I mustmake, to the honour of a diligent application on one hand, and tothe disgrace of a slothful, negligent, idle temper on the other,that when I came to the place, and viewed the several improvements,plantings, and management of the several little colonies, the twomen had so far out-gone the three, that there wa

　　But in the middle of all this felicity, one blow from unseenProvidence unhinged me at once; and not only made a breach upon meinevitable and incurable, but drove me, by its consequences, into adeep relapse of the wandering disposition, which, as I may say,being born in my very blood, soon recovered its hold of me; and,like the returns of a violent distemper, came on with anirresistible force upon me. This blow was the loss of my wife. Itis not my business here to write an elegy upon my wife, give acharacter of her particular virtues, and make my court to the sexby the flattery of a funeral sermon. She was, in a few words, thestay of all my affairs; the centre of all my enterprises; theengine that, by her prudence, reduced me to that happy compass Iwas in, from the most extravagant and ruinous project that filledmy head, and did more to guide my rambling genius than a mother'stears, a father's instructions, a friend's counsel, or all my ownreasoning powers could do. I was happy in listening to her, and i

　　It was not above a week after they had these arms, and went abroad,before the ungrateful creatures began to be as insolent andtroublesome as ever. However, an accident happened presently uponthis, which endangered the safety of them all, and they wereobliged to lay by all private resentments, and look to thepreservation of their lives.

　　While this was doing, I must confess I was very uneasy, andespecially when I saw the flames of the town, which, it beingnight, seemed to be close by me. My nephew, the captain, who wasroused by his men seeing such a fire, was very uneasy, not knowingwhat the matter was, or what danger I was in, especially hearingthe guns too, for by this time they began to use their firearms; athousand thoughts oppressed his mind concerning me and thesupercargo, what would become of us; and at last, though he couldill spare any more men, yet not knowing what exigence we might bein, he took another boat, and with thirteen men and himself cameashore to me.

　　CHAPTER IX - DREADFUL OCCURRENCES IN MADAGASCAR

d themvery well. I then made the Englishman gunner in the ship, thegunner being now made second mate and purser; the Dutchman I madeboatswain; so they were both very well pleased, and proved veryserviceable, being both able seamen, and very stout fellows.