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第9章 进入纽拉栖息地

backalone; and which way shall I get to my port afterwards, without aship, without a horse, without PECUNE?" so he called money, beinghis broken Latin, of which he had abundance to make us merry with.In short, he told us there was a great caravan of Muscovite andPolish merchants in the city, preparing to set out on their journeyby land to Muscovy, within four or five weeks; and he was sure wewould take the opportunity to go with them, and leave him behind,to go back alone.

　　I have often heard persons of good judgment say that all the stirthat people make in the world about ghosts and apparitions is owingto the strength of imagination, and the powerful operation of fancyin their minds; that there is no such thing as a spirit appearing,or a ghost walking; that people's poring affectionately upon thepast conversation of their deceased friends so realises it to themthat they are capable of fancying, upon some extraordinarycircumstances, that they see them, talk to them, and are answeredby them, when, in truth, there is nothing but shadow and vapour inthe thing, and they really know nothing of the matter.

　　I thought this was but a reasonable request on their part, andtherefore I inclined to agree to it; for indeed I considered thatto carry this whole company to the East Indies would not only be anintolerable severity upon the poor people, but would be ruining ourwhole voyage by devouring all our provisions; so I thought it nobreach of charter-party, but what an unforeseen accident madeabsolutely necessary to us, and in which no one could say we wereto blame; for the laws of God and nature would have forbid that weshould refuse to take up two boats full of people in such adistressed condition; and the nature of the thing, as wellrespecting ourselves as the poor people, obliged us to set them onshore somewhere or other for their deliverance. So I consentedthat we would carry them to Newfoundland, if wind and weather wouldpermit: and if not, I would carry them to Martinico, in the WestIndies.

　　The first testimony they had that this fellow had givenintelligence of them was, that about two mouths after this sixcanoes of savages, with about seven, eight, or ten men in a canoe,came rowing along the north side of the island, where they neverused to come before, and landed, about an hour after sunrise, at aconvenient place, about a mile from the habitation of the twoEnglishmen, where this escaped man had been kept. As the chiefSpaniard said, had they been all there the damage would not havebeen so much, for not a man of them would have escaped; but thecase differed now very much, for two men to fifty was too muchodds. The two men had the happiness to discover them about aleague off, so that it was above an hour before they landed; and asthey landed a mile from their huts, it was some time before theycould come at them. Now, having great reason to believe that theywere betrayed, the first thing they did was to bind the two slaveswhich were left, and cause two of the three men whom they broughtwith th

　　At length we arrived at Pekin. I had nobody with me but the youthwhom my nephew had given me to attend me as a servant and whoproved very trusty and diligent; and my partner had nobody with himbut one servant, who was a kinsman. As for the Portuguese pilot,he being desirous to see the court, we bore his charges for hiscompany, and for our use of him as an interpreter, for heunderstood the language of the country, and spoke good French and alittle English. Indeed, this old man was most useful to useverywhere; for we had not been above a week at Pekin, when he camelaughing. "Ah, Seignior Inglese," says he, "I have something totell will make your heart glad." - "My heart glad," says I; "whatcan that be? I don't know anything in this country can either giveme joy or grief to any great degree." - "Yes, yes," said the oldman, in broken English, "make you glad, me sorry." - "Why," said I,"will it make you sorry?" - "Because," said he, "you have broughtme here twenty-five days' journey, and will leave me to go

　　The third day they had either found their mistake, or hadintelligence of us, and came pouring in upon us towards dusk. Wehad, to our great satisfaction, just pitched upon a convenientplace for our camp; for as we had just entered upon a desert abovefive hundred miles over, where we had no towns to lodge at, and,indeed, expected none but the city Jarawena, which we had yet twodays' march to; the desert, however, had some few woods in it onthis side, and little rivers, which ran all into the great riverUdda; it was in a narrow strait, between little but very thickwoods, that we pitched our camp that night, expecting to beattacked before morning. As it was usual for the Mogul Tartars togo about in troops in that desert, so the caravans always fortifythemselves every night against them, as against armies of robbers;and it was, therefore, no new thing to be pursued. But we had thisnight a most advantageous camp: for as we lay between two woods,with a little rivulet running just before our front, we could not

and but two Dutchmen on board. These, and many otherparticular circumstances, might have made it evident to theunderstanding of any commander, whose hands we might fall into,that we were no pirates.

　　As they expected it fell out; three of the routed army fled forlife, and crossing the creek, ran directly into the place, not inthe least knowing whither they went, but running as into a thickwood for shelter. The scout they kept to look abroad gave noticeof this within, with this comforting addition, that the conquerorshad not pursued them, or seen which way they were gone; upon thisthe Spanish governor, a man of humanity, would not suffer them tokill the three fugitives, but sending three men out by the top ofthe hill, ordered them to go round, come in behind them, andsurprise and take them prisoners, which was done. The residue ofthe conquered people fled to their canoes, and got off to sea; thevictors retired, made no pursuit, or very little, but drawingthemselves into a body together, gave two great screaming shouts,most likely by way of triumph, and so the fight ended; the sameday, about three o'clock in the afternoon, they also marched totheir canoes. And thus the Spaniards had the island again fr

　　WIFE. - What, have you a great God in your country, you no knowHim? No say O to Him? No do good ting for Him? That no possible.