Robinson Crusoe | Page 5

to show our thanks, for we had
not a thing that we could spare to give them.
But as good luck would have it, we were at hand to take a great prize
for them; for two wild beasts, of the same kind as the first I spoke of,
came in, full chase from the hills down to the sea.
They swam as if they had come for sport. The men flew from them in
fear, all but the one who held the lance. One of these beasts came near
our boat; so I lay in wait for him with my gun; and as soon as the brute
was in range, I shot him through the head. Twice he sank down in the
sea, and twice he came up; and then just swam to the land, where he
fell down dead. The men were in as much fear at the sound of my gun,
as they had been at the sight of the beasts. But when I made signs for
them to come to the shore, they took heart, and came.
They at once made for their prize; and by the help of a rope, which they
slung round him, they brought him safe on the beach.
We now left our wild men, and went on and on, for twelve days more.
The land in front of us ran out four or five miles, like a bill; and we had
to keep some way from the coast, to make this point, so that we lost
sight of the shore.
I gave the helm to Xury and sat down to think what would be my best
course to take: when all at once I heard the lad cry out "A ship with a
sail! A ship with a sail!" He did not show much joy at the sight, for he
thought that this ship had been sent out to take him back: but I knew
well, from the look of her, that she was not one of the Turk's.
I made all the sail I could to come in the ship's way, and told Xury to
fire a gun, in the hope that if those on deck could not hear the sound,
they might see the smoke. This they did see, and then let down their
sails so that we might come up to them, and in three hours time we
were at the ship's side. The men spoke to us in French, but I could not
make out what they meant. At last a Scot on board said in my own
tongue, "Who are you? Whence do you come?" I told him in a few
words how I had got free from the Moors.
Then the man who had charge of the ship bade me come on board, and
took me in with Xury and all my goods. I told him that he might take
all I had, but he said "You shall have your goods back when we come
to land, for I have but done for you what you would have done for me,

had I been in the same plight."
He gave me a good round sum for my boat, and said that I should have
the same sum for Xury, if I would part with him. But I told him that as
it was by the boy's help that I had got free, I was loath to sell him. He
said it was just and right in me to feel thus, but at the same time, if I
could make up my mind to part with him, he should be set free in two
years' time. So, as the poor slave had a wish to go with him, I did not
say "no." I got to All Saints' Bay in three weeks, and was now a free
man.
I had made a good sum by all my store, and with this I went on land.
But I did not at all know what to do next. At length I met with a man
whose case was much the same as my own, and we both took some
land to farm. My stock, like his, was low, but we made our farms serve
to keep us in food, though not more than that. We both stood in need of
help, and I saw now that I had done wrong to part with my boy.
I did not at all like this kind of life. What! thought I, have I come all
this way to do that which I could have done as well at home with my
friends round me! And to add to my grief, the kind friend, who had
brought me here in his ship, now meant to leave these shores.
On my first start to