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第7章 在篮球场上不防守的音乐天使

　　Two of us then waited at the door, expecting that another wouldcome out to see what the matter was; but we waited so long till thethird man came back to us; and then nobody coming out, we knockedagain gently, and immediately out came two more, and we served themjust in the same manner, but were obliged to go all with them, andlay them down by the idol some distance from one another; when,going back, we found two more were come out of the door, and athird stood behind them within the door. We seized the two, andimmediately tied them, when the third, stepping back and cryingout, my Scots merchant went in after them, and taking out acomposition we had made that would only smoke and stink, he setfire to it, and threw it in among them. By that time the otherScotsman and my man, taking charge of the two men already bound,and tied together also by the arm, led them away to the idol, andleft them there, to see if their idol would relieve them, makinghaste back to us.

ual course tothe eastward. This, however, put us to some inconvenience: for,first, the winds, when we came that distance from the shore, seemedto be more steadily against us, blowing almost trade, as we callit, from the E. and ENE., so that we were a long while upon ourvoyage, and we were but ill provided with victuals for so long arun; and what was still worse, there was some danger that thoseEnglish and Dutch ships whose boats pursued us, whereof some werebound that way, might have got in before us, and if not, some othership bound to China might have information of us from them, andpursue us with the same vigour.

　　And now I name the poor fellow once more, I must take my last leaveof him. Poor honest Friday! We buried him with all the decencyand solemnity possible, by putting him into a coffin, and throwinghim into the sea; and I caused them to fire eleven guns for him.So ended the life of the most grateful, faithful, honest, and mostaffectionate servant that ever man had.

　　I was now in the latitude of 19 degrees 32 minutes, and hadhitherto a tolerable voyage as to weather, though at first thewinds had been contrary. I shall trouble nobody with the littleincidents of wind, weather, currents, &c., on the rest of ourvoyage; but to shorten my story, shall observe that I came to myold habitation, the island, on the 10th of April 1695. It was withno small difficulty that I found the place; for as I came to it andwent to it before on the south and east side of the island, comingfrom the Brazils, so now, coming in between the main and theisland, and having no chart for the coast, nor any landmark, I didnot know it when I saw it, or, know whether I saw it or not. Webeat about a great while, and went on shore on several islands inthe mouth of the great river Orinoco, but none for my purpose; onlythis I learned by my coasting the shore, that I was under one greatmistake before, viz. that the continent which I thought I saw fromthe island I lived in was really no continent, but a long

　　I had a great many discourses with them about their circumstanceswhen they were among the savages. They told me readily that theyhad no instances to give of their application or ingenuity in thatcountry; that they were a poor, miserable, dejected handful ofpeople; that even if means had been put into their hands, yet theyhad so abandoned themselves to despair, and were so sunk under theweight of their misfortune, that they thought of nothing butstarving. One of them, a grave and sensible man, told me he wasconvinced they were in the wrong; that it was not the part of wisemen to give themselves up to their misery, but always to take holdof the helps which reason offered, as well for present support asfor future deliverance: he told me that grief was the mostsenseless, insignificant passion in the world, for that it regardedonly things past, which were generally impossible to be recalled orto be remedied, but had no views of things to come, and had noshare in anything that looked like deliverance, but rath

andset all the houses on fire, but did not meddle with the women orchildren.

　　I was sensibly touched at his requesting Friday, because I couldnot think of parting with him, and that for many reasons: he hadbeen the companion of my travels; he was not only faithful to me,but sincerely affectionate to the last degree; and I had resolvedto do something considerable for him if he out-lived me, as it wasprobable he would. Then I knew that, as I had bred Friday up to bea Protestant, it would quite confound him to bring him to embraceanother religion; and he would never, while his eyes were open,believe that his old master was a heretic, and would be damned; andthis might in the end ruin the poor fellow's principles, and soturn him back again to his first idolatry. However, a suddenthought relieved me in this strait, and it was this: I told him Icould not say that I was willing to part with Friday on any accountwhatever, though a work that to him was of more value than his lifeought to be of much more value than the keeping or parting with aservant. On the other hand, I was persuaded t

　　This was just as I would have it. The priest was not with me atthat moment, but he was not far off; so to try him further, I toldhim I had a clergyman with me, and, if he was sincere, I would havehim married next morning, and bade him consider of it, and talkwith the rest. He said, as for himself, he need not consider of itat all, for he was very ready to do it, and was glad I had aminister with me, and he believed they would be all willing also.I then told him that my friend, the minister, was a Frenchman, andcould not speak English, but I would act the clerk between them.He never so much as asked me whether he was a Papist or Protestant,which was, indeed, what I was afraid of. We then parted, and Iwent back to my clergyman, and Will Atkins went in to talk with hiscompanions. I desired the French gentleman not to say anything tothem till the business was thoroughly ripe; and I told him whatanswer the men had given me.

　　We were obliged to stay here some time after we had furnishedourselves with provisions; and I, who was always too curious tolook into every nook of the world wherever I came, went on shore asoften as I could. It was on the east side of the island that wewent on shore one evening: and the people, who, by the way, arevery numerous, came thronging about us, and stood gazing at us at adistance. As we had traded freely with them, and had been kindlyused, we thought ourselves in no danger; but when we saw thepeople, we cut three boughs out of a tree, and stuck them up at adistance from us; which, it seems, is a mark in that country notonly of a truce and friendship, but when it is accepted the otherside set up three poles or boughs, which is a signal that theyaccept the truce too; but then this is a known condition of thetruce, that you are not to pass beyond their three poles towardsthem, nor they to come past your three poles or boughs towards you;so that you are perfectly secure within the three poles, and