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第8章 巧了

　　I was now struck dumb indeed, and had not one word to say. I hadhere the spirit of true Christian zeal for God and religion beforeme. As for me, I had not so much as entertained a thought of thisin my heart before, and I believe I should not have thought of it;for I looked upon these savages as slaves, and people whom, had wenot had any work for them to do, we would have used as such, orwould have been glad to have transported them to any part of theworld; for our business was to get rid of them, and we would allhave been satisfied if they had been sent to any country, so theyhad never seen their own. I was confounded at his discourse, andknew not what answer to make him.

　　The only just thing the rogues did was, that when the Spaniardscame ashore, they gave my letter to them, and gave them provisions,and other relief, as I had ordered them to do; also they gave themthe long paper of directions which I had left with them, containingthe particular methods which I took for managing every part of mylife there; the way I baked my bread, bred up tame goats, andplanted my corn; how I cured my grapes, made my pots, and, in aword, everything I did. All this being written down, they gave tothe Spaniards (two of them understood English well enough): nordid they refuse to accommodate the Spaniards with anything else,for they agreed very well for some time. They gave them an equaladmission into the house or cave, and they began to live verysociably; and the head Spaniard, who had seen pretty much of mymethods, together with Friday's father, managed all their affairs;but as for the Englishmen, they did nothing but ramble about theisland, shoot parrots, and catch tortoises; and when they

　　I would not wrong them either; there might be many that werethankful afterwards; but the passion was too strong for them atfirst, and they were not able to master it: then were thrown intoecstasies, and a kind of frenzy, and it was but a very few thatwere composed and serious in their joy. Perhaps also, the case mayhave some addition to it from the particular circumstance of thatnation they belonged to: I mean the French, whose temper isallowed to be more volatile, more passionate, and more sprightly,and their spirits more fluid than in other nations. I am notphilosopher enough to determine the cause; but nothing I had everseen before came up to it. The ecstasies poor Friday, my trustysavage, was in when he found his father in the boat came thenearest to it; and the surprise of the master and his twocompanions, whom I delivered from the villains that set them onshore in the island, came a little way towards it; but nothing wasto compare to this, either that I saw in Friday, or anywhere elsein my life.

　　It happened one evening, when we went on shore, that a greaternumber of their people came down than usual, but all very friendlyand civil; and they brought several kinds of provisions, for whichwe satisfied them with such toys as we had; the women also broughtus milk and roots, and several things very acceptable to us, andall was quiet; and we made us a little tent or hut of some boughsor trees, and lay on shore all night. I know not what was theoccasion, but I was not so well satisfied to lie on shore as therest; and the boat riding at an anchor at about a stone's cast fromthe land, with two men in her to take care of her, I made one ofthem come on shore; and getting some boughs of trees to cover usalso in the boat, I spread the sail on the bottom of the boat, andlay under the cover of the branches of the trees all night in theboat.

　　After having mused a great while on the course they should take,they resolved at last, while it was still dark, to send the oldsavage, Friday's father, out as a spy, to learn, if possible,something concerning them, as what they came for, what theyintended to do, and the like. The old man readily undertook it;and stripping himself quite naked, as most of the savages were,away he went. After he had been gone an hour or two, he bringsword that he had been among them undiscovered, that he found theywere two parties, and of two several nations, who had war with oneanother, and had a great battle in their own country; and that bothsides having had several prisoners taken in the fight, they were,by mere chance, landed all on the same island, for the devouringtheir prisoners and making merry; but their coming so by chance tothe same place had spoiled all their mirth - that they were in agreat rage at one another, and were so near that he believed theywould fight again as soon as daylight began to appear; but he d

　　WIFE. - What! He no hear you curse, swear, speak de great damn?

　　He was a very generous, open-hearted man, although he began, likeme, with little at first. Though he knew not that I had the leastdesign of giving him anything, he sent me on board a present offresh provisions, wine, and sweetmeats, worth about thirtymoidores, including some tobacco, and three or four fine medals ofgold: but I was even with him in my present, which, as I havesaid, consisted of fine broadcloth, English stuffs, lace, and fineholland; also, I delivered him about the value of one hundredpounds sterling in the same goods, for other uses; and I obligedhim to set up the sloop, which I had brought with me from England,as I have said, for the use of my colony, in order to send therefreshments I intended to my plantation.

　　But my frequent preaching to them on this subject had worseconsequences than I expected; and the boatswain, who had been thehead of the attempt, came up boldly to me one time, and told me hefound that I brought that affair continually upon the stage; that Imade unjust reflections upon it, and had used the men very ill onthat account, and himself in particular; that as I was but apassenger, and had no command in the ship, or concern in thevoyage, they were not obliged to bear it; that they did not knowbut I might have some ill-design in my head, and perhaps to callthem to an account for it when they came to England; and that,therefore, unless I would resolve to have done with it, and alsonot to concern myself any further with him, or any of his affairs,he would leave the ship; for he did not think it safe to sail withme among them.

d upon inquiry thenext day; and there were five or six men all together, who stood tolook at the ship, not knowing what to think of us.