鲁宾孙飘流记 英文版 Robinson Crusoe
丹尼尔.笛福 Daniel Defoe
CHAPTER XII - A CAVE RETREAT Page 1
WHILE this was doing, I was not altogether careless of my otheraffairs; for I had a great concern upon me for my little herd ofgoats: they were not only a ready supply to me on every occasion,and began to be sufficient for me, without the expense of powderand shot, but also without the fatigue of hunting after the wildones; and I was loath to lose the advantage of them, and to havethem all to nurse up over again.
For this purpose, after long consideration, I could think of buttwo ways to preserve them: one was, to find another convenientplace to dig a cave underground, and to drive them into it everynight; and the other was to enclose two or three little bits ofland, remote from one another, and as much concealed as I could,where I might keep about half-a-dozen young goats in each place; sothat if any disaster happened to the flock in general, I might beable to raise them again with little trouble and time: and thisthough it would require a good deal of time and labour, I thoughtwas the most rational design.
Accordingly, I spent some time to find out the most retired partsof the island; and I pitched upon one, which was as private,indeed, as my heart could wish: it was a little damp piece ofground in the middle of the hollow and thick woods, where, as isobserved, I almost lost myself once before, endeavouring to comeback that way from the eastern part of the island. Here I found aclear piece of land, near three acres, so surrounded with woodsthat it was almost an enclosure by nature; at least, it did notwant near so much labour to make it so as the other piece of groundI had worked so hard at.
I immediately went to work with this piece of ground; and in lessthan a month's time I had so fenced it round that my flock, orherd, call it which you please, which were not so wild now as atfirst they might be supposed to be, were well enough secured in it:so, without any further delay, I removed ten young she-goats andtwo he-goats to this piece, and when they were there I continued toperfect the fence till I had made it as secure as the other; which,however, I did at more leisure, and it took me up more time by agreat deal. All this labour I was at the expense of, purely frommy apprehensions on account of the print of a man's foot; for asyet I had never seen any human creature come near the island; and Ihad now lived two years under this uneasiness, which, indeed, mademy life much less comfortable than it was before, as may be wellimagined by any who know what it is to live in the constant snareof the fear of man. And this I must observe, with grief, too, thatthe discomposure of my mind had great impression also upon thereligious part of my thoughts; for the dread and terror of fallinginto the hands of savages and cannibals lay so upon my spirits,that I seldom found myself in a due temper for application to myMaker; at least, not with the sedate calmness and resignation ofsoul which I was wont to do: I rather prayed to God as under greataffliction and pressure of mind, surrounded with danger, and inexpectation every night of being murdered and devoured beforemorning; and I must testify, from my experience, that a temper ofpeace, thankfulness, love, and affection, is much the more properframe for prayer than that of terror and discomposure: and thatunder the dread of mischief impending, a man is no more fit for acomforting performance of the duty of praying to God than he is fora repentance on a sick-bed; for these discomposures affect themind, as the others do the body; and the discomposure of the mindmust necessarily be as great a disability as that of the body, andmuch greater; praying to God being properly an act of the mind, notof the body.
But to go on. After I had thus secured one part of my littleliving stock, I went about the whole island, searching for anotherprivate place to make such another deposit; when, wandering more tothe west point of the island than I had ever done yet, and lookingout to sea, I thought I saw a boat upon the sea, at a greatdistance. I had found a perspective glass or two in one of theseamen's chests, which I saved out of our ship, but I had it notabout me; and this was so remote that I could not tell what to makeof it, though I looked at it till my eyes were not able to hold tolook any longer; whether it was a boat or not I do not know, but asI descended from the hill I could see no more of it, so I gave itover; only I resolved to go no more out without a perspective glassin my pocket. When I was come down the hill to the end of theisland, where, indeed, I had never been before, I was presentlyconvinced that the seeing the print of a man's foot was not such astrange thing in the island as I imagined: and but that it was aspecial providence that I was cast upon the side of the islandwhere the savages never came, I should easily have known thatnothing was more frequent than for the canoes from the main, whenthey happened to be a little too far out at sea, to shoot over tothat side of the island for harbour: likewise, as they often metand fought in their canoes, the victors, having taken anyprisoners, would bring them over to this shore, where, according totheir dreadful customs, being all cannibals, they would kill andeat them; of which hereafter.
When I was come down the hill to the shore, as I said above, beingthe SW. point of the island, I was perfectly confounded and amazed;nor is it possible for me to express the horror of my mind atseeing the shore spread with skulls, hands, feet, and other bonesof human bodies; and particularly I observed a place where therehad been a fire made, and a circle dug in the earth, like acockpit, where I supposed the savage wretches had sat down to theirhuman feastings upon the bodies of their fellow-creatures.
I was so astonished with the sight of these things, that Ientertained no notions of any danger to myself from it for a longwhile: all my apprehensions were buried in the thoughts of such apitch of inhuman, hellish brutality, and the horror of thedegeneracy of human nature, which, though I had heard of it often,yet I never had so near a view of before; in short, I turned awaymy face from the horrid spectacle; my stomach grew sick, and I wasjust at the point of fainting, when nature discharged the disorderfrom my stomach; and having vomited with uncommon violence, I was alittle relieved, but could not bear to stay in the place a moment;so I got up the hill again with all the speed I could, and walkedon towards my own habitation.
When I came a little out of that part of the island I stood stillawhile, as amazed, and then, recovering myself, I looked up withthe utmost affection of my soul, and, with a flood of tears in myeyes, gave God thanks, that had cast my first lot in a part of theworld where I was distinguished from such dreadful creatures asthese; and that, though I had esteemed my present condition verymiserable, had yet given me so many comforts in it that I had stillmore to give thanks for than to complain of: and this, above all,that I had, even in this miserable condition, been comforted withthe knowledge of Himself, and the hope of His blessing: which was afelicity more than sufficiently equivalent to all the misery whichI had suffered, or could suffer.
In this frame of thankfulness I went home to my castle, and beganto be much easier now, as to the safety of my circumstances, thanever I was before: for I observed that these wretches never came tothis island in search of what they could get; perhaps not seeking,not wanting, or not expecting anything here; and having often, nodoubt, been up the covered, woody part of it without findinganything to their purpose. I knew I had been here now almosteighteen years, and never saw the least footsteps of human creaturethere before; and I might be eighteen years more as entirelyconcealed as I was now, if I did not discover myself to them, whichI had no manner of occasion to do; it being my only business tokeep myself entirely concealed where I was, unless I found a bettersort of creatures than cannibals to make myself known to. Yet Ientertained such an abhorrence of the savage wretches that I havebeen speaking of, and of the wretched, inhuman custom of theirdevouring and eating one another up, that I continued pensive andsad, and kept close within my own circle for almost two years afterthis: when I say my own circle, I mean by it my three plantations -viz. my castle, my country seat (which I called my bower), and myenclosure in the woods: nor did I look after this for any other usethan an enclosure for my goats; for the aversion which nature gaveme to these hellish wretches was such, that I was as fearful ofseeing them as of seeing the devil himself. I did not so much asgo to look after my boat all this time, but began rather to thinkof making another; for I could not think of ever making any moreattempts to bring the other boat round the island to me, lest Ishould meet with some of these creatures at sea; in which case, ifI had happened to have fallen into their hands, I knew what wouldhave been my lot.
Time, however, and the satisfaction I had that I was in no dangerof being discovered by these people, began to wear off myuneasiness about them; and I began to live just in the samecomposed manner as before, only with this difference, that I usedmore caution, and kept my eyes more about me than I did before,lest I should happen to be seen by any of them; and particularly, Iwas more cautious of firing my gun, lest any of them, being on theisland, should happen to hear it. It was, therefore, a very goodprovidence to me that I had furnished myself with a tame breed ofgoats, and that I had no need to hunt any more about the woods, orshoot at them; and if I did catch any of them after this, it was bytraps and snares, as I had done before; so that for two years afterthis I believe I never fired my gun once off, though I never wentout without it; and what was more, as I had saved three pistols outof the ship, I always carried them out with me, or at least two ofthem, sticking them in my goat-skin belt. I also furbished up oneof the great cutlasses that I had out of the ship, and made me abelt to hang it on also; so that I was now a most formidable fellowto look at when I went abroad, if you add to the former descriptionof myself the particular of two pistols, and a broadsword hangingat my side in a belt, but without a scabbard.
Things going on thus, as I have said, for some time, I seemed,excepting these cautions, to be reduced to my former calm, sedateway of living. All these things tended to show me more and morehow far my condition was from being miserable, compared to someothers; nay, to many other particulars of life which it might havepleased God to have made my lot. It put me upon reflecting howlittle repining there would be among mankind at any condition oflife if people would rather compare their condition with those thatwere worse, in order to be thankful, than be always comparing themwith those which are better, to assist their murmurings andcomplainings.
As in my present condition there were not really many things whichI wanted, so indeed I thought that the frights I had been in aboutthese savage wretches, and the concern I had been in for my ownpreservation, had taken off the edge of my invention, for my ownconveniences; and I had dropped a good design, which I had oncebent my thoughts upon, and that was to try if I could not make someof my barley into malt, and then try to brew myself some beer.This was really a whimsical thought, and I reproved myself oftenfor the simplicity of it: for I presently saw there would be thewant of several things necessary to the making my beer that itwould be impossible for me to supply; as, first, casks to preserveit in, which was a thing that, as I have observed already, I couldnever compass: no, though I spent not only many days, but weeks,nay months, in attempting it, but to no purpose. In the nextplace, I had no hops to make it keep, no yeast to made it work, nocopper or kettle to make it boil; and yet with all these thingswanting, I verily believe, had not the frights and terrors I was inabout the savages intervened, I had undertaken it, and perhapsbrought it to pass too; for I seldom gave anything over withoutaccomplishing it, when once I had it in my head to began it. Butmy invention now ran quite another way; for night and day I couldthink of nothing but how I might destroy some of the monsters intheir cruel, bloody entertainment, and if possible save the victimthey should bring hither to destroy. It would take up a largervolume than this whole work is intended to be to set down all thecontrivances I hatched, or rather brooded upon, in my thoughts, forthe destroying these creatures, or at least frightening them so asto prevent their coming hither any more: but all this was abortive;nothing could be possible to take effect, unless I was to be thereto do it myself: and what could one man do among them, when perhapsthere might be twenty or thirty of them together with their darts,or their bows and arrows, with which they could shoot as true to amark as I could with my gun?
Sometimes I thought if digging a hole under the place where theymade their fire, and putting in five or six pounds of gunpowder,which, when they kindled their fire, would consequently take fire,and blow up all that was near it: but as, in the first place, Ishould be unwilling to waste so much powder upon them, my storebeing now within the quantity of one barrel, so neither could I besure of its going off at any certain time, when it might surprisethem; and, at best, that it would do little more than just blow thefire about their ears and fright them, but not sufficient to makethem forsake the place: so I laid it aside; and then proposed thatI would place myself in ambush in some convenient place, with mythree guns all double-loaded, and in the middle of their bloodyceremony let fly at them, when I should be sure to kill or woundperhaps two or three at every shot; and then falling in upon themwith my three pistols and my sword, I made no doubt but that, ifthere were twenty, I should kill them all. This fancy pleased mythoughts for some weeks, and I was so full of it that I oftendreamed of it, and, sometimes, that I was just going to let fly atthem in my sleep. I went so far with it in my imagination that Iemployed myself several days to find out proper places to putmyself in ambuscade, as I said, to watch for them, and I wentfrequently to the place itself, which was now grown more familiarto me; but while my mind was thus filled with thoughts of revengeand a bloody putting twenty or thirty of them to the sword, as Imay call it, the horror I had at the place, and at the signals ofthe barbarous wretches devouring one another, abetted my malice.Well, at length I found a place in the side of the hill where I wassatisfied I might securely wait till I saw any of their boatscoming; and might then, even before they would be ready to come onshore, convey myself unseen into some thickets of trees, in one ofwhich there was a hollow large enough to conceal me entirely; andthere I might sit and observe all their bloody doings, and take myfull aim at their heads, when they were so close together as thatit would be next to impossible that I should miss my shot, or thatI could fail wounding three or four of them at the first shot. Inthis place, then, I resolved to fulfil my design; and accordingly Iprepared two muskets and my ordinary fowling-piece. The twomuskets I loaded with a brace of slugs each, and four or fivesmaller bullets, about the size of pistol bullets; and the fowling-piece I loaded with near a handful of swan-shot of the largestsize; I also loaded my pistols with about four bullets each; and,in this posture, well provided with ammunition for a second andthird charge, I prepared myself for my expedition.
After I had thus laid the scheme of my design, and in myimagination put it in practice, I continually made my tour everymorning to the top of the hill, which was from my castle, as Icalled it, about three miles or more, to see if I could observe anyboats upon the sea, coming near the island, or standing overtowards it; but I began to tire of this hard duty, after I had fortwo or three months constantly kept my watch, but came always backwithout any discovery; there having not, in all that time, been theleast appearance, not only on or near the shore, but on the wholeocean, so far as my eye or glass could reach every way.
As long as I kept my daily tour to the hill, to look out, so longalso I kept up the vigour of my design, and my spirits seemed to beall the while in a suitable frame for so outrageous an execution asthe killing twenty or thirty naked savages, for an offence which Ihad not at all entered into any discussion of in my thoughts, anyfarther than my passions were at first fired by the horror Iconceived at the unnatural custom of the people of that country,who, it seems, had been suffered by Providence, in His wisedisposition of the world, to have no other guide than that of theirown abominable and vitiated passions; and consequently were left,and perhaps had been so for some ages, to act such horrid things,and receive such dreadful customs, as nothing but nature, entirelyabandoned by Heaven, and actuated by some hellish degeneracy, couldhave run them into. But now, when, as I have said, I began to beweary of the fruitless excursion which I had made so long and sofar every morning in vain, so my opinion of the action itself beganto alter; and I began, with cooler and calmer thoughts, to considerwhat I was going to engage in; what authority or call I had topretend to be judge and executioner upon these men as criminals,whom Heaven had thought fit for so many ages to suffer unpunishedto go on, and to be as it were the executioners of His judgmentsone upon another; how far these people were offenders against me,and what right I had to engage in the quarrel of that blood whichthey shed promiscuously upon one another. I debated this veryoften with myself thus: "How do I know what God Himself judges inthis particular case? It is certain these people do not committhis as a crime; it is not against their own consciences reproving,or their light reproaching them; they do not know it to be anoffence, and then commit it in defiance of divine justice, as we doin almost all the sins we commit. They think it no more a crime tokill a captive taken in war than we do to kill an ox; or to eathuman flesh than we do to eat mutton."
When I considered this a little, it followed necessarily that I wascertainly in the wrong; that these people were not murderers, inthe sense that I had before condemned them in my thoughts, any morethan those Christians were murderers who often put to death theprisoners taken in battle; or more frequently, upon many occasions,put whole troops of men to the sword, without giving quarter,though they threw down their arms and submitted. In the nextplace, it occurred to me that although the usage they gave oneanother was thus brutish and inhuman, yet it was really nothing tome: these people had done me no injury: that if they attempted, orI saw it necessary, for my immediate preservation, to fall uponthem, something might be said for it: but that I was yet out oftheir power, and they really had no knowledge of me, andconsequently no design upon me; and therefore it could not be justfor me to fall upon them; that this would justify the conduct ofthe Spaniards in all their barbarities practised in America, wherethey destroyed millions of these people; who, however they wereidolators and barbarians, and had several bloody and barbarousrites in their customs, such as sacrificing human bodies to theiridols, were yet, as to the Spaniards, very innocent people; andthat the rooting them out of the country is spoken of with theutmost abhorrence and detestation by even the Spaniards themselvesat this time, and by all other Christian nations of Europe, as amere butchery, a bloody and unnatural piece of cruelty,unjustifiable either to God or man; and for which the very name ofa Spaniard is reckoned to be frightful and terrible, to all peopleof humanity or of Christian compassion; as if the kingdom of Spainwere particularly eminent for the produce of a race of men who werewithout principles of tenderness, or the common bowels of pity tothe miserable, which is reckoned to be a mark of generous temper inthe mind.