鲁宾孙飘流记 英文版 Robinson Crusoe
丹尼尔.笛福 Daniel Defoe
CHAPTER XII - A CAVE RETREAT Page 2
These considerations really put me to a pause, and to a kind of afull stop; and I began by little and little to be off my design,and to conclude I had taken wrong measures in my resolution toattack the savages; and that it was not my business to meddle withthem, unless they first attacked me; and this it was my business,if possible, to prevent: but that, if I were discovered andattacked by them, I knew my duty. On the other hand, I argued withmyself that this really was the way not to deliver myself, butentirely to ruin and destroy myself; for unless I was sure to killevery one that not only should be on shore at that time, but thatshould ever come on shore afterwards, if but one of them escaped totell their country-people what had happened, they would come overagain by thousands to revenge the death of their fellows, and Ishould only bring upon myself a certain destruction, which, atpresent, I had no manner of occasion for. Upon the whole, Iconcluded that I ought, neither in principle nor in policy, one wayor other, to concern myself in this affair: that my business was,by all possible means to conceal myself from them, and not to leavethe least sign for them to guess by that there were any livingcreatures upon the island - I mean of human shape. Religion joinedin with this prudential resolution; and I was convinced now, manyways, that I was perfectly out of my duty when I was laying all mybloody schemes for the destruction of innocent creatures - I meaninnocent as to me. As to the crimes they were guilty of towardsone another, I had nothing to do with them; they were national, andI ought to leave them to the justice of God, who is the Governor ofnations, and knows how, by national punishments, to make a justretribution for national offences, and to bring public judgmentsupon those who offend in a public manner, by such ways as bestplease Him. This appeared so clear to me now, that nothing was agreater satisfaction to me than that I had not been suffered to doa thing which I now saw so much reason to believe would have beenno less a sin than that of wilful murder if I had committed it; andI gave most humble thanks on my knees to God, that He had thusdelivered me from blood-guiltiness; beseeching Him to grant me theprotection of His providence, that I might not fall into the handsof the barbarians, or that I might not lay my hands upon them,unless I had a more clear call from Heaven to do it, in defence ofmy own life.
In this disposition I continued for near a year after this; and sofar was I from desiring an occasion for falling upon thesewretches, that in all that time I never once went up the hill tosee whether there were any of them in sight, or to know whether anyof them had been on shore there or not, that I might not be temptedto renew any of my contrivances against them, or be provoked by anyadvantage that might present itself to fall upon them; only this Idid: I went and removed my boat, which I had on the other side ofthe island, and carried it down to the east end of the wholeisland, where I ran it into a little cove, which I found under somehigh rocks, and where I knew, by reason of the currents, thesavages durst not, at least would not, come with their boats uponany account whatever. With my boat I carried away everything thatI had left there belonging to her, though not necessary for thebare going thither - viz. a mast and sail which I had made for her,and a thing like an anchor, but which, indeed, could not be calledeither anchor or grapnel; however, it was the best I could make ofits kind: all these I removed, that there might not be the leastshadow for discovery, or appearance of any boat, or of any humanhabitation upon the island. Besides this, I kept myself, as Isaid, more retired than ever, and seldom went from my cell exceptupon my constant employment, to milk my she-goats, and manage mylittle flock in the wood, which, as it was quite on the other partof the island, was out of danger; for certain, it is that thesesavage people, who sometimes haunted this island, never came withany thoughts of finding anything here, and consequently neverwandered off from the coast, and I doubt not but they might havebeen several times on shore after my apprehensions of them had mademe cautious, as well as before. Indeed, I looked back with somehorror upon the thoughts of what my condition would have been if Ihad chopped upon them and been discovered before that; when, nakedand unarmed, except with one gun, and that loaded often only withsmall shot, I walked everywhere, peeping and peering about theisland, to see what I could get; what a surprise should I have beenin if, when I discovered the print of a man's foot, I had, insteadof that, seen fifteen or twenty savages, and found them pursuingme, and by the swiftness of their running no possibility of myescaping them! The thoughts of this sometimes sank my very soulwithin me, and distressed my mind so much that I could not soonrecover it, to think what I should have done, and how I should notonly have been unable to resist them, but even should not have hadpresence of mind enough to do what I might have done; much lesswhat now, after so much consideration and preparation, I might beable to do. Indeed, after serious thinking of these things, Iwould be melancholy, and sometimes it would last a great while; butI resolved it all at last into thankfulness to that Providencewhich had delivered me from so many unseen dangers, and had kept mefrom those mischiefs which I could have no way been the agent indelivering myself from, because I had not the least notion of anysuch thing depending, or the least supposition of its beingpossible. This renewed a contemplation which often had come intomy thoughts in former times, when first I began to see the mercifuldispositions of Heaven, in the dangers we run through in this life;how wonderfully we are delivered when we know nothing of it; how,when we are in a quandary as we call it, a doubt or hesitationwhether to go this way or that way, a secret hint shall direct usthis way, when we intended to go that way: nay, when sense, our owninclination, and perhaps business has called us to go the otherway, yet a strange impression upon the mind, from we know not whatsprings, and by we know not what power, shall overrule us to gothis way; and it shall afterwards appear that had we gone that way,which we should have gone, and even to our imagination ought tohave gone, we should have been ruined and lost. Upon these andmany like reflections I afterwards made it a certain rule with me,that whenever I found those secret hints or pressings of mind todoing or not doing anything that presented, or going this way orthat way, I never failed to obey the secret dictate; though I knewno other reason for it than such a pressure or such a hint hungupon my mind. I could give many examples of the success of thisconduct in the course of my life, but more especially in the latterpart of my inhabiting this unhappy island; besides many occasionswhich it is very likely I might have taken notice of, if I had seenwith the same eyes then that I see with now. But it is never toolate to be wise; and I cannot but advise all considering men, whoselives are attended with such extraordinary incidents as mine, oreven though not so extraordinary, not to slight such secretintimations of Providence, let them come from what invisibleintelligence they will. That I shall not discuss, and perhapscannot account for; but certainly they are a proof of the converseof spirits, and a secret communication between those embodied andthose unembodied, and such a proof as can never be withstood; ofwhich I shall have occasion to give some remarkable instances inthe remainder of my solitary residence in this dismal place.
I believe the reader of this will not think it strange if I confessthat these anxieties, these constant dangers I lived in, and theconcern that was now upon me, put an end to all invention, and toall the contrivances that I had laid for my future accommodationsand conveniences. I had the care of my safety more now upon myhands than that of my food. I cared not to drive a nail, or chop astick of wood now, for fear the noise I might make should be heard:much less would I fire a gun for the same reason: and above all Iwas intolerably uneasy at making any fire, lest the smoke, which isvisible at a great distance in the day, should betray me. For thisreason, I removed that part of my business which required fire,such as burning of pots and pipes, &c., into my new apartment inthe woods; where, after I had been some time, I found, to myunspeakable consolation, a mere natural cave in the earth, whichwent in a vast way, and where, I daresay, no savage, had he been atthe mouth of it, would be so hardy as to venture in; nor, indeed,would any man else, but one who, like me, wanted nothing so much asa safe retreat.
The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rock, where,by mere accident (I would say, if I did not see abundant reason toascribe all such things now to Providence), I was cutting down somethick branches of trees to make charcoal; and before I go on I mustobserve the reason of my making this charcoal, which was this - Iwas afraid of making a smoke about my habitation, as I said before;and yet I could not live there without baking my bread, cooking mymeat, &c.; so I contrived to burn some wood here, as I had seendone in England, under turf, till it became chark or dry coal: andthen putting the fire out, I preserved the coal to carry home, andperform the other services for which fire was wanting, withoutdanger of smoke. But this is by-the-bye. While I was cutting downsome wood here, I perceived that, behind a very thick branch of lowbrushwood or underwood, there was a kind of hollow place: I wascurious to look in it; and getting with difficulty into the mouthof it, I found it was pretty large, that is to say, sufficient forme to stand upright in it, and perhaps another with me: but I mustconfess to you that I made more haste out than I did in, whenlooking farther into the place, and which was perfectly dark, I sawtwo broad shining eyes of some creature, whether devil or man Iknew not, which twinkled like two stars; the dim light from thecave's mouth shining directly in, and making the reflection.However, after some pause I recovered myself, and began to callmyself a thousand fools, and to think that he that was afraid tosee the devil was not fit to live twenty years in an island allalone; and that I might well think there was nothing in this cavethat was more frightful than myself. Upon this, plucking up mycourage, I took up a firebrand, and in I rushed again, with thestick flaming in my hand: I had not gone three steps in before Iwas almost as frightened as before; for I heard a very loud sigh,like that of a man in some pain, and it was followed by a brokennoise, as of words half expressed, and then a deep sigh again. Istepped back, and was indeed struck with such a surprise that itput me into a cold sweat, and if I had had a hat on my head, I willnot answer for it that my hair might not have lifted it off. Butstill plucking up my spirits as well as I could, and encouragingmyself a little with considering that the power and presence of Godwas everywhere, and was able to protect me, I stepped forwardagain, and by the light of the firebrand, holding it up a littleover my head, I saw lying on the ground a monstrous, frightful oldhe-goat, just making his will, as we say, and gasping for life,and, dying, indeed, of mere old age. I stirred him a little to seeif I could get him out, and he essayed to get up, but was not ableto raise himself; and I thought with myself he might even lie there- for if he had frightened me, so he would certainly fright any ofthe savages, if any of them should be so hardy as to come in therewhile he had any life in him.
I was now recovered from my surprise, and began to look round me,when I found the cave was but very small - that is to say, it mightbe about twelve feet over, but in no manner of shape, neither roundnor square, no hands having ever been employed in making it butthose of mere Nature. I observed also that there was a place atthe farther side of it that went in further, but was so low that itrequired me to creep upon my hands and knees to go into it, andwhither it went I knew not; so, having no candle, I gave it overfor that time, but resolved to go again the next day provided withcandles and a tinder-box, which I had made of the lock of one ofthe muskets, with some wildfire in the pan.
Accordingly, the next day I came provided with six large candles ofmy own making (for I made very good candles now of goat's tallow,but was hard set for candle-wick, using sometimes rags or rope-yarn, and sometimes the dried rind of a weed like nettles); andgoing into this low place I was obliged to creep upon all-fours asI have said, almost ten yards - which, by the way, I thought was aventure bold enough, considering that I knew not how far it mightgo, nor what was beyond it. When I had got through the strait, Ifound the roof rose higher up, I believe near twenty feet; butnever was such a glorious sight seen in the island, I daresay, asit was to look round the sides and roof of this vault or cave - thewall reflected a hundred thousand lights to me from my two candles.What it was in the rock - whether diamonds or any other preciousstones, or gold which I rather supposed it to be - I knew not. Theplace I was in was a most delightful cavity, or grotto, thoughperfectly dark; the floor was dry and level, and had a sort of asmall loose gravel upon it, so that there was no nauseous orvenomous creature to be seen, neither was there any damp or wet onthe sides or roof. The only difficulty in it was the entrance -which, however, as it was a place of security, and such a retreatas I wanted; I thought was a convenience; so that I was reallyrejoiced at the discovery, and resolved, without any delay, tobring some of those things which I was most anxious about to thisplace: particularly, I resolved to bring hither my magazine ofpowder, and all my spare arms - viz. two fowling-pieces - for I hadthree in all - and three muskets - for of them I had eight in all;so I kept in my castle only five, which stood ready mounted likepieces of cannon on my outmost fence, and were ready also to takeout upon any expedition. Upon this occasion of removing myammunition I happened to open the barrel of powder which I took upout of the sea, and which had been wet, and I found that the waterhad penetrated about three or four inches into the powder on everyside, which caking and growing hard, had preserved the inside likea kernel in the shell, so that I had near sixty pounds of very goodpowder in the centre of the cask. This was a very agreeablediscovery to me at that time; so I carried all away thither, neverkeeping above two or three pounds of powder with me in my castle,for fear of a surprise of any kind; I also carried thither all thelead I had left for bullets.
I fancied myself now like one of the ancient giants who were saidto live in caves and holes in the rocks, where none could come atthem; for I persuaded myself, while I was here, that if fivehundred savages were to hunt me, they could never find me out - orif they did, they would not venture to attack me here. The oldgoat whom I found expiring died in the mouth of the cave the nextday after I made this discovery; and I found it much easier to diga great hole there, and throw him in and cover him with earth, thanto drag him out; so I interred him there, to prevent offence to mynose.