Robison Crusoe鲁宾逊漂流记(双语小说) Chapter 7
-
Robison Crusoe
鲁宾逊漂流记
(
双语小说
) Chapter
7
To remedy this,
I went to Work in my Thought, and calling to
Friday to bid them sit
down on the Bank
while he came to me, I soon made a Kind of Hand-
Barrow to lay
them on, and Friday and I
carry'd them up both together upon it between us:
But when
we got them to the outside of
our Wall or Fortification, we were at a worse Loss
than
before; for it was impossible to
get them over; and I was resolv'd not to break it
down:
So I set to Work again; and
Friday and I, in about 2 Hours time, made a very
handsom
Tent, cover'd with old Sails,
and above that with Boughs of Trees, being in the
Space
without our outward Fence, and
between that and the Grove of young Wood which I
had planted: And here we made them two
Beds of such things as I had (viz.) of good
Rice-Straw, with Blankets laid upon it
to lye on, and another to cover them on each
Bed. My Island was now peopled, and I
thought my self very rich in Subjects; and it
was a merry Reflection which I
frequently made, How like a K
ing I
look'd.
First of all, the
whole Country was my own meer Property; so that I
had an undoubted
Right of Dominion.
2dly
, My People were perfectly
subjected: I was absolute Lord
and Law-
giver; they all owed their Lives to me, and were
ready to lay down their
Lives, if there
had been Occasion of it, for me. It was remarkable
too, we had but
three Subjects, and
they were of three different Religions. My Man
Friday was a
Protestant, his Father was
a Pagan and a Cannibal, and the Spaniard was a
Papist:
However, I allow'd Liberty of
Conscience throughout my Dominions: But this is by
the Way
.
As soon as I had secur'd my two weak
rescued Prisoners, and given them Shelter, and
a Place to rest them upon, I began to
think of making some Provision for them: And
the first thing I did, I order'd Friday
to take a yearling Goat, betwixt a Kid and a Goat,
out of my particular Flock, to be
kill'd, when I cut off the hinder Quarter, and
chopping it into small Pieces, I set
Friday to Work to boiling and stewing, and made
them a very good Dish, I assure you, of
Flesh and Broth, having put some Barley and
Rice also into the Broth; and as I
cook'd it without Doors, for I made no Fire within
my inner Wall, so I carry'd it all into
the new Tent; and having set a Table there for
them, I sat down and eat my own Dinner
also with them, and, as well as I could,
chear'd them and encourag'd them;
Friday being my Interpreter, especially to his
Father, and indeed to the Spaniard too;
for the Spaniard spoke the Language of the
Savages pretty well.
After we had dined, or rather supped, I
order'd Friday to take one of the Canoes, and
go and fetch our Muskets and other
Fire-Arms, which for Want of time we had left
upon the Place of Battle, and the next
Day I order'd him to go and bury the dead
Bodies of the Savages, which lay open
to the Sun, and would presently be offensive;
and I also order'd him to bury the
horrid Remains of their barbarous Feast, which I
knew were pretty much, and which I
could not think of doing my self; nay
,
I could not
bear to see them, if I went
that Way: All which he punctually performed, and
defaced
the very Appearance of the
Savages being there; so that when I went again, I
could
scarce know where it was,
otherwise than by the Corner of the Wood pointing
to the
Place.
I
then began to enter into a little Conversation
with my two new Subjects; and first I
set Friday to enquire of his Father,
what he thought of the Escape of the Savages in
that Canoe, and whether we might expect
a Return of them with a Power too great for
us to resist: His first Opinion was,
that the Savages in the Boat never could live out
the Storm which blew that Night they
went off, but must of Necessity be drowned or
driven South to those other Shores
where they were as sure to be devoured as they
were to be drowned if they were cast
away; but as to what they would do if they came
safe on Shore, he said he knew not; but
it was his Opinion that they were so
dreadfully frighted with the Manner of
their being attack'd, the Noise and the Fire,
that he believed they would tell their
People, they were all kill'd by Thunder and
Lightning, not by the Hand of Man, and
that the two which appear'd, (viz.) Friday and
me, were two Heavenly Spirits or
Furies, come down to destroy them, and not Men
with Weapons: This he said he knew,
because he heard them all cry out so in their
Language to one another, for it was
impossible to them to conceive that a Man could
dart Fire, and speak Thunder, and kill
at a Distance without lifting up the Hand, as
was done now: And this old Savage was
in the right; for, as I understood since by
other Hands, the Savages never
attempted to go over to the Island afterwards;
they
were so terrified with the
Accounts given by those four Men, (for it seems
they did
escape the Sea) that they
believ'd whoever went to that enchanted Island
would be
destroy'd with Fire from the
Gods.
This however I knew
not, and therefore was under continual
Apprehensions for a
good while, and
kept always upon my Guard, me and all my Army; for
as we were
now four of us, I would have
ventur'd upon a hundred of them fairly in the open
Field
at any Time.
In a little Time, however, no more
Canoes appearing, the Fear of their Coming wore
off, and I began to take my former
Thoughts of a V
oyage to the Main into
Consideration, being likewise assur'd
by Friday's Father, that I might depend upon
good Usage from their Nation on his
Account, if I would go.
But
my Thoughts were a little suspended, when I had a
serious Discourse with the
Spaniard,
and when I understood that there were sixteen more
of his Countrymen and
Portuguese, who
having been cast away
, and made their
Escape to that Side, liv'd
there at
Peace indeed with the Savages, but were very sore
put to it for Necessaries,
and indeed
for Life: I ask'd him all the Particulars of their
V
oyage, and found they
were
a Spanish Ship bound from the Rio de la Plata to
the Havana, being directed to
leave
their Loading there, which was chiefly Hides and
Silver, and to bring back what
European
Goods they could meet with there; that they had
five Portuguese Seamen on
Board, who
they took out of another Wreck; that five of their
own Men were drowned
when the first
Ship was lost, and that these escaped thro'
infinite Dangers and Hazards,
and
arriv'd almost starv'd on the Cannibal Coast,
where they expected to have been
devour'd every Moment.
He told me, they had some Arms with
them, but they were perfectly useless, for that
they had neither Powder or Ball, the
Washing of the Sea having spoil'd all their
Powder but a little, which they used at
their first Landing to provide themselves some
Food.
I ask'd
him what he thought would become of them there,
and if they had form'd no
Design of
making any Escape? He said, They had many
Consultations about it, but
that having
neither V
essel, or Tools to build one,
or Provisions of any kind, their
Councils always ended in Tears and
Despair.
I ask'd him how he
thought they would receive a Proposal from me,
which might tend
towards an Escape? And
whether, if they were all here, it might not be
done? I told
him with Freedom, I fear'd
mostly their Treachery and ill Usage of me, if I
put my
Life in their Hands; for that
Gratitude was no inherent Virtue in the Nature of
Man;
nor did Men always square their
Dealings by the Obligations they had receiv'd, So
much as they did by the Advantages they
expected. I told him it would be very hard,
that I should be the Instrument of
their Deliverance, and that they should afterwards
make me their Prisoner in New Spain,
where an English Man was certain to be made
a Sacrifice, what Necessity
,
or what Accident soever, brought him thither: And
that I
had rather be deliver'd up to
the Savages, and be devour'd alive, than fall into
the
merciless Claws of the Priests, and
be carry'd into the Inquisition. I added, That
otherwise I was perswaded, if they were
all here, we might, with so many Hands,
build a Bark large enough to carry us
all away
, either to the Brasils South-
ward, or to
the Islands or Spanish
Coast North-ward: But that if in Requital they
should, when I
had put Weapons into
their Hands, catty me by Force among their own
People, I
might be ill used for my
Kindness to them, and make my Case worse than it
was
before.
He
answer'd with a great deal of Candor and
Ingenuity
, That their Condition was so
miserable, and they were so sensible of
it, that he believed they would abhor the
Thought of using any Man unkindly that
should contribute to their Deliverance; and
that, if I pleased, he would go to them
with the old Man, and discourse with them
about it, and return again, and bring
me their Answer: That he would make Conditions
with them upon their solemn Oath, That
they should be absolutely under my Leading,
as their Commander and Captain; and
that they should swear upon the Holy
Sacraments and the Gospel, to be true
to me, and to go to such Christian
Country
, as
that I should
agree to, and no other; and to be directed wholly
and absolutely by my
Orders, 'till they
were landed safely in such Country
, as
I intended; and that he would
bring a
Contract from them under their Hands for that
Purpose.
Then he told me,
he would first swear to me himself, That he would
never stir from
me as long as he liv'd,
'till I gave him Orders; and that he would take my
Side to the
last Drop of his Blood, if
there should happen the least Breach of Faith
among his
Country-men.
He told me, they were all of them very
civil honest Men, and they were under the
greatest Distress imaginable, having
neither Weapons or Cloaths, nor any Food, but at
the Mercy and Discretion of the
Savages; out of all Hopes of ever returning to
their
own Country; and that he was
sure, if I would undertake their Relief, they
would live
and die by me.
Upon these Assurances, I resolv'd to
venture to relieve them, if possible, and to send
the old Savage and this Spaniard over
to them to treat: But when we had gotten all
things in a Readiness to go, the
Spaniard himself started an Objection, which had
so
much Prudence in it on one hand, and
so much Sincerity on the other hand, that I
could not but be very well satisfy'd in
it; and by his Advice, put off the Deliverance of
his Comerades, for at least half a
Y
ear. The Case was thus:
He had
been with us
now about a Month; during
which time, I had let him see in what Manner I had
provided, with the Assistance of
Providence, for my Support; and he saw evidently
what Stock of Corn and Rice I had laid
up; which as it was more than sufficient for
my self, so it was not sufficient, at
least without good Husbandry
, for my
Family; now
it was encreas'd to Number
four: But much less would it be sufficient, if his
Country-men, who were, as he said,
fourteen' still alive, should Come over.
And least of all should it
be sufficient to victual our V
essel, if
we should build one, for
a
V
oyage to any of the Christian Colonies
of America. So he told me, he thought it
would be more advisable, to let him and
the two other, dig and cultivate some more
Land, as much as I could spare Seed to
sow; and that we should wait another Harvest,
that we might have a Supply of Corn for
his Country-men when they should come; for
Want might be a Temptation to them to
disagree, or not to think themselves delivered,
otherwise than out of one Difficulty
into another. Y
ou know, says he, the
Children of
Israel, though they
rejoyc'd at first for their being deliver'd out of
Egypt, yet rebell'd
even against God
himself that deliver'd them, when they came to
want Bread in the
Wilderness.
His Caution was so
seasonable, and his Advice so good, that I could
not but be very
well pleased with his
Proposal, as well as I was satisfy'd with his
Fidelity. So we fell
to digging all
four of us, as well as the Wooden Tools we were
furnish'd with
permitted; and in about
a Month's time, by the End of which it was Seed
time, we had
gotten as much Land cur'd
and trim'd up, as we sowed 22 Bushels of Barley
on, and
16 Jarrs of Rice, which was in
short all the Seed we had to spare; nor indeed did
we
leave our selves Barley sufficient
for our own Food, for the six Months that we had
to
expect our Crop, that is to
say
, reckoning from the time we set our
Seed aside for
sowing; for it is not to
be supposed it is six Months in the Ground in the
Country
.
Having
now Society enough, and our Number being
sufficient to put us out of Fear of
the
Savages, if they had come, unless their Number had
been very great, we went
freely all
over the Island, where-ever we found Occasion; and
as here we had our
Escape or
Deliverance upon our Thoughts, it was impossible,
at least for me, to have
the Means of
it out of mine; to this Purpose, I mark'd out
several Trees which I
thought fit for
our Work, and I set Friday and his Father to
cutting them down; and
then I caused
the Spaniard, to whom I imparted my Thought on
that Affair, to oversee
and direct
their Work. I shewed them with what indefatigable
Pains I had hewed a
large Tree into
single Planks, and I caused them to do the like,
till they had made
about a Dozen large
Planks of good Oak, near 2 Foot road, 35 Foot
long, and from 2
Inches to 4 Inches
thick: hat prodigious Labour it took up, any one
may imagine. At
the same time I
contriv'd to encrease my little Flock of tame
Goats as much as I could;
and to this
Purpose, I made Friday and the Spaniard go out one
Day
, and my self with
Friday
the next Day; for we took our Turns: And by is
Means we got above 20 young
Kids to
breed up with the rest; for when-ever we shot the
Dam, we saved the Kids,
and added them
to our Flock: But above all, the Season for curing
the Grapes coming
on, I caused such a
prodigious Quantity to be hung up in the Sun, that
I believe, had
we been at Alicant where
the Raisins of the Sun are cur'd, we could have
fill'd 60 or
80 Barrels; and these with
our Bread was a great Part of our Food, and very
good
living too, I assure you; for it
is an exceeding nourishing Food.
It was now Harvest, and our Crop in
good Order; it was not the most plentiful
Encrease I had seen in the Island, but
however it was enough to answer our End; for
from our 22 Bushels of
Barley
, we brought in and thrashed out
above 220 Bushels;
and the like in
Proportion of the Rice, which was Store enough for
our Food to the
next Harvest, tho' all
the 16 Spaniards had been on Shore with me; or if
we had been
ready for a
V
oyage, it would very plentifully have
victualled our Ship, to have carry'd
us
to any Part of the World, that is to
say
, of America.
When we had thus hous'd and secur'd our
Magazine of Corn, we fell to Work to make
more Wicker Work, (viz.) great Baskets
in which we kept it; and the Spaniard was
very handy and dexterous at this Part,
and often blam'd me that I did not make some
things, for Defence, of this Kind of
Work; but I saw no Need of it.
And now having a full Supply of Food
for all the Guests I expected, I gave the
Spaniard Leave to go over to the Main,
to see what he could do with those he had left
behind him there. I gave him a strict
Charge in Writing, Not to bring any Man with
him, who would not first swear in the
Presence of himself and of the old Savage, That
he would no way injure, fight with, or
attack the Person he should find in the Island,
who was so kind to send for them in
order to their Deliverance; but that they would
stand by and defend him against all
such Attempts, and wherever they went, would be
entirely under and subjected to his
Commands; and that this should be put in Writing,
and signed with their Hands: How we
were to have this done, when I knew they had
neither Pen or Ink; that indeed was a
Question which we never asked.
Under these Instructions, the Spaniard,
and the old Savage the Father of
Friday
, went
away in one of
the Canoes, which they might be said to come in,
or rather were
brought in, when they
came as Prisoners to be devour'd by the Savages.
I gave each of them a
Musket with a Firelock on it, and about eight
Charges of
Powder and Ball, charging
them to be very good Husbands of both, and not to
use
either of them but upon urgent
Occasion.
This was a
chearful Work, being the first Measures used by me
in View of my
Deliverance for now 27
Y
ears and some Days. I gave them
Provisions of Bread, and
of dry'd
Grapes, sufficient for themselves for many Days,
and sufficient for all their
Country-
men for about eight Days time; and wishing them a
good V
oyage, I see them
go,
agreeing with them about a Signal they should hang
out at their Return, by which I
should
know them again, when they came back, at a
Distance, before they came on
Shore.
They went away with a fair
Gale on the Day that the Moon was at Full by my
Account,
in the Month of October: But
as for an exact Reckoning of Days, after I had
once lost