鲁宾孙飘流记 英文版 Robinson Crusoe
丹尼尔.笛福 Daniel Defoe
CHAPTER XIII - WRECK OF A SPANISH SHIP Page 2
These thoughts so oppressed my mind that I began to give over myenterprise; and having hauled my boat into a little creek on theshore, I stepped out, and sat down upon a rising bit of ground,very pensive and anxious, between fear and desire, about my voyage;when, as I was musing, I could perceive that the tide was turned,and the flood come on; upon which my going was impracticable for somany hours. Upon this, presently it occurred to me that I shouldgo up to the highest piece of ground I could find, and observe, ifI could, how the sets of the tide or currents lay when the floodcame in, that I might judge whether, if I was driven one way out, Imight not expect to be driven another way home, with the samerapidity of the currents. This thought was no sooner in my headthan I cast my eye upon a little hill which sufficiently overlookedthe sea both ways, and from whence I had a clear view of thecurrents or sets of the tide, and which way I was to guide myselfin my return. Here I found, that as the current of ebb set outclose by the south point of the island, so the current of the floodset in close by the shore of the north side; and that I had nothingto do but to keep to the north side of the island in my return, andI should do well enough.
Encouraged by this observation, I resolved the next morning to setout with the first of the tide; and reposing myself for the nightin my canoe, under the watch-coat I mentioned, I launched out. Ifirst made a little out to sea, full north, till I began to feelthe benefit of the current, which set eastward, and which carriedme at a great rate; and yet did not so hurry me as the current onthe south side had done before, so as to take from me allgovernment of the boat; but having a strong steerage with mypaddle, I went at a great rate directly for the wreck, and in lessthan two hours I came up to it. It was a dismal sight to look at;the ship, which by its building was Spanish, stuck fast, jammed inbetween two rocks. All the stern and quarter of her were beaten topieces by the sea; and as her forecastle, which stuck in the rocks,had run on with great violence, her mainmast and foremast werebrought by the board - that is to say, broken short off; but herbowsprit was sound, and the head and bow appeared firm. When Icame close to her, a dog appeared upon her, who, seeing me coming,yelped and cried; and as soon as I called him, jumped into the seato come to me. I took him into the boat, but found him almost deadwith hunger and thirst. I gave him a cake of my bread, and hedevoured it like a ravenous wolf that had been starving a fortnightin the snow; I then gave the poor creature some fresh water, withwhich, if I would have let him, he would have burst himself. Afterthis I went on board; but the first sight I met with was two mendrowned in the cook-room, or forecastle of the ship, with theirarms fast about one another. I concluded, as is indeed probable,that when the ship struck, it being in a storm, the sea broke sohigh and so continually over her, that the men were not able tobear it, and were strangled with the constant rushing in of thewater, as much as if they had been under water. Besides the dog,there was nothing left in the ship that had life; nor any goods,that I could see, but what were spoiled by the water. There weresome casks of liquor, whether wine or brandy I knew not, which laylower in the hold, and which, the water being ebbed out, I couldsee; but they were too big to meddle with. I saw several chests,which I believe belonged to some of the seamen; and I got two ofthem into the boat, without examining what was in them. Had thestern of the ship been fixed, and the forepart broken off, I ampersuaded I might have made a good voyage; for by what I found inthose two chests I had room to suppose the ship had a great deal ofwealth on board; and, if I may guess from the course she steered,she must have been bound from Buenos Ayres, or the Rio de la Plata,in the south part of America, beyond the Brazils to the Havannah,in the Gulf of Mexico, and so perhaps to Spain. She had, no doubt,a great treasure in her, but of no use, at that time, to anybody;and what became of the crew I then knew not.
I found, besides these chests, a little cask full of liquor, ofabout twenty gallons, which I got into my boat with muchdifficulty. There were several muskets in the cabin, and a greatpowder-horn, with about four pounds of powder in it; as for themuskets, I had no occasion for them, so I left them, but took thepowder-horn. I took a fire-shovel and tongs, which I wantedextremely, as also two little brass kettles, a copper pot to makechocolate, and a gridiron; and with this cargo, and the dog, I cameaway, the tide beginning to make home again - and the same evening,about an hour within night, I reached the island again, weary andfatigued to the last degree. I reposed that night in the boat andin the morning I resolved to harbour what I had got in my new cave,and not carry it home to my castle. After refreshing myself, I gotall my cargo on shore, and began to examine the particulars. Thecask of liquor I found to be a kind of rum, but not such as we hadat the Brazils; and, in a word, not at all good; but when I came toopen the chests, I found several things of great use to me - forexample, I found in one a fine case of bottles, of an extraordinarykind, and filled with cordial waters, fine and very good; thebottles held about three pints each, and were tipped with silver.I found two pots of very good succades, or sweetmeats, so fastenedalso on the top that the salt-water had not hurt them; and two moreof the same, which the water had spoiled. I found some very goodshirts, which were very welcome to me; and about a dozen and a halfof white linen handkerchiefs and coloured neckcloths; the formerwere also very welcome, being exceedingly refreshing to wipe myface in a hot day. Besides this, when I came to the till in thechest, I found there three great bags of pieces of eight, whichheld about eleven hundred pieces in all; and in one of them,wrapped up in a paper, six doubloons of gold, and some small barsor wedges of gold; I suppose they might all weigh near a pound. Inthe other chest were some clothes, but of little value; but, by thecircumstances, it must have belonged to the gunner's mate; thoughthere was no powder in it, except two pounds of fine glazed powder,in three flasks, kept, I suppose, for charging their fowling-pieceson occasion. Upon the whole, I got very little by this voyage thatwas of any use to me; for, as to the money, I had no manner ofoccasion for it; it was to me as the dirt under my feet, and Iwould have given it all for three or four pair of English shoes andstockings, which were things I greatly wanted, but had had none onmy feet for many years. I had, indeed, got two pair of shoes now,which I took off the feet of two drowned men whom I saw in thewreck, and I found two pair more in one of the chests, which werevery welcome to me; but they were not like our English shoes,either for ease or service, being rather what we call pumps thanshoes. I found in this seaman's chest about fifty pieces of eight,in rials, but no gold: I supposed this belonged to a poorer manthan the other, which seemed to belong to some officer. Well,however, I lugged this money home to my cave, and laid it up, as Ihad done that before which I had brought from our own ship; but itwas a great pity, as I said, that the other part of this ship hadnot come to my share: for I am satisfied I might have loaded mycanoe several times over with money; and, thought I, if I everescape to England, it might lie here safe enough till I come againand fetch it.