鲁宾孙飘流记 英文版 Robinson Crusoe
丹尼尔.笛福 Daniel Defoe
CHAPTER XVI - RESCUE OF PRISONERS FROM CANNIBALS Page 2
I kept my piece in my hand still without firing, being willing tokeep my charge ready, because I had given the Spaniard my pistoland sword: so I called to Friday, and bade him run up to the treefrom whence we first fired, and fetch the arms which lay there thathad been discharged, which he did with great swiftness; and thengiving him my musket, I sat down myself to load all the rest again,and bade them come to me when they wanted. While I was loadingthese pieces, there happened a fierce engagement between theSpaniard and one of the savages, who made at him with one of theirgreat wooden swords, the weapon that was to have killed him before,if I had not prevented it. The Spaniard, who was as bold and braveas could be imagined, though weak, had fought the Indian a goodwhile, and had cut two great wounds on his head; but the savagebeing a stout, lusty fellow, closing in with him, had thrown himdown, being faint, and was wringing my sword out of his hand; whenthe Spaniard, though undermost, wisely quitting the sword, drew thepistol from his girdle, shot the savage through the body, andkilled him upon the spot, before I, who was running to help him,could come near him.
Friday, being now left to his liberty, pursued the flying wretches,with no weapon in his hand but his hatchet: and with that hedespatched those three who as I said before, were wounded at first,and fallen, and all the rest he could come up with: and theSpaniard coming to me for a gun, I gave him one of the fowling-pieces, with which he pursued two of the savages, and wounded themboth; but as he was not able to run, they both got from him intothe wood, where Friday pursued them, and killed one of them, butthe other was too nimble for him; and though he was wounded, yethad plunged himself into the sea, and swam with all his might offto those two who were left in the canoe; which three in the canoe,with one wounded, that we knew not whether he died or no, were allthat escaped our hands of one-and-twenty. The account of the wholeis as follows: Three killed at our first shot from the tree; twokilled at the next shot; two killed by Friday in the boat; twokilled by Friday of those at first wounded; one killed by Friday inthe wood; three killed by the Spaniard; four killed, being founddropped here and there, of the wounds, or killed by Friday in hischase of them; four escaped in the boat, whereof one wounded, ifnot dead - twenty-one in all.
I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes which they had boundhim with, and would have helped him up; but he could not stand orspeak, but groaned most piteously, believing, it seems, still, thathe was only unbound in order to be killed. When Friday came to himI bade him speak to him, and tell him of his deliverance; andpulling out my bottle, made him give the poor wretch a dram, which,with the news of his being delivered, revived him, and he sat up inthe boat. But when Friday came to hear him speak, and look in hisface, it would have moved any one to tears to have seen how Fridaykissed him, embraced him, hugged him, cried, laughed, hallooed,jumped about, danced, sang; then cried again, wrung his hands, beathis own face and head; and then sang and jumped about again like adistracted creature. It was a good while before I could make himspeak to me or tell me what was the matter; but when he came alittle to himself he told me that it was his father.
It is not easy for me to express how it moved me to see whatecstasy and filial affection had worked in this poor savage at thesight of his father, and of his being delivered from death; norindeed can I describe half the extravagances of his affection afterthis: for he went into the boat and out of the boat a great manytimes: when he went in to him he would sit down by him, open hisbreast, and hold his father's head close to his bosom for manyminutes together, to nourish it; then he took his arms and ankles,which were numbed and stiff with the binding, and chafed and rubbedthem with his hands; and I, perceiving what the case was, gave himsome rum out of my bottle to rub them with, which did them a greatdeal of good.
This affair put an end to our pursuit of the canoe with the othersavages, who were now almost out of sight; and it was happy for usthat we did not, for it blew so hard within two hours after, andbefore they could be got a quarter of their way, and continuedblowing so hard all night, and that from the north-west, which wasagainst them, that I could not suppose their boat could live, orthat they ever reached their own coast.
But to return to Friday; he was so busy about his father that Icould not find in my heart to take him off for some time; but afterI thought he could leave him a little, I called him to me, and hecame jumping and laughing, and pleased to the highest extreme: thenI asked him if he had given his father any bread. He shook hishead, and said, "None; ugly dog eat all up self." I then gave hima cake of bread out of a little pouch I carried on purpose; I alsogave him a dram for himself; but he would not taste it, but carriedit to his father. I had in my pocket two or three bunches ofraisins, so I gave him a handful of them for his father. He had nosooner given his father these raisins but I saw him come out of theboat, and run away as if he had been bewitched, for he was theswiftest fellow on his feet that ever I saw: I say, he ran at sucha rate that he was out of sight, as it were, in an instant; andthough I called, and hallooed out too after him, it was all one -away he went; and in a quarter of an hour I saw him come backagain, though not so fast as he went; and as he came nearer I foundhis pace slacker, because he had something in his hand. When hecame up to me I found he had been quite home for an earthen jug orpot, to bring his father some fresh water, and that he had got twomore cakes or loaves of bread: the bread he gave me, but the waterhe carried to his father; however, as I was very thirsty too, Itook a little of it. The water revived his father more than allthe rum or spirits I had given him, for he was fainting withthirst.
When his father had drunk, I called to him to know if there was anywater left. He said, "Yes"; and I bade him give it to the poorSpaniard, who was in as much want of it as his father; and I sentone of the cakes that Friday brought to the Spaniard too, who wasindeed very weak, and was reposing himself upon a green place underthe shade of a tree; and whose limbs were also very stiff, and verymuch swelled with the rude bandage he had been tied with. When Isaw that upon Friday's coming to him with the water he sat up anddrank, and took the bread and began to eat, I went to him and gavehim a handful of raisins. He looked up in my face with all thetokens of gratitude and thankfulness that could appear in anycountenance; but was so weak, notwithstanding he had so exertedhimself in the fight, that he could not stand up upon his feet - hetried to do it two or three times, but was really not able, hisankles were so swelled and so painful to him; so I bade him sitstill, and caused Friday to rub his ankles, and bathe them withrum, as he had done his father's.
I observed the poor affectionate creature, every two minutes, orperhaps less, all the while he was here, turn his head about to seeif his father was in the same place and posture as he left himsitting; and at last he found he was not to be seen; at which hestarted up, and, without speaking a word, flew with that swiftnessto him that one could scarce perceive his feet to touch the groundas he went; but when he came, he only found he had laid himselfdown to ease his limbs, so Friday came back to me presently; andthen I spoke to the Spaniard to let Friday help him up if he could,and lead him to the boat, and then he should carry him to ourdwelling, where I would take care of him. But Friday, a lusty,strong fellow, took the Spaniard upon his back, and carried himaway to the boat, and set him down softly upon the side or gunnelof the canoe, with his feet in the inside of it; and then liftinghim quite in, he set him close to his father; and presentlystepping out again, launched the boat off, and paddled it along theshore faster than I could walk, though the wind blew pretty hardtoo; so he brought them both safe into our creek, and leaving themin the boat, ran away to fetch the other canoe. As he passed me Ispoke to him, and asked him whither he went. He told me, "Go fetchmore boat;" so away he went like the wind, for sure never man orhorse ran like him; and he had the other canoe in the creek almostas soon as I got to it by land; so he wafted me over, and then wentto help our new guests out of the boat, which he did; but they wereneither of them able to walk; so that poor Friday knew not what todo.
To remedy this, I went to work in my thought, and calling to Fridayto bid them sit down on the bank while he came to me, I soon made akind of hand-barrow to lay them on, and Friday and I carried themboth up 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 getthem over, and I was resolved not to break it down; so I set towork again, and Friday and I, in about two hours' time, made a veryhandsome tent, covered with old sails, and above that with boughsof trees, being in the space without our outward fence and betweenthat and the grove of young wood which I had planted; and here wemade them two beds of such things as I had - viz. of good rice-straw, with blankets laid upon it to lie on, and another to coverthem, on each bed.
My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich insubjects; and it was a merry reflection, which I frequently made,how like a king I looked. First of all, the whole country was myown property, so that I had an undoubted right of dominion.Secondly, my people were perfectly subjected - I was absolutelylord and lawgiver - they all owed their lives to me, and were readyto lay down their lives, if there had been occasion for it, for me.It was remarkable, too, I had but three subjects, and they were ofthree different religions - my man Friday was a Protestant, hisfather was a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist.However, I allowed liberty of conscience throughout my dominions.But this is by the way.
As soon as I had secured my two weak, rescued prisoners, and giventhem shelter, and a place to rest them upon, I began to think ofmaking some provision for them; and the first thing I did, Iordered Friday to take a yearling goat, betwixt a kid and a goat,out of my particular flock, to be killed; when I cut off thehinder-quarter, and chopping it into small pieces, I set Friday towork to boiling and stewing, and made them a very good dish, Iassure you, of flesh and broth; and as I cooked it without doors,for I made no fire within my inner wall, so I carried it all intothe new tent, and having set a table there for them, I sat down,and ate my own dinner also with them, and, as well as I could,cheered them and encouraged them. Friday was my interpreter,especially to his father, and, indeed, to the Spaniard too; for theSpaniard spoke the language of the savages pretty well.
After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered Friday to take oneof the canoes, and go and fetch our muskets and other firearms,which, for want of time, we had left upon the place of battle; andthe next day I ordered him to go and bury the dead bodies of thesavages, which lay open to the sun, and would presently beoffensive. I also ordered him to bury the horrid remains of theirbarbarous feast, which I could not think of doing myself; nay, Icould not bear to see them if I went that way; all which hepunctually performed, and effaced the very appearance of thesavages being there; so that when I went again, I could scarce knowwhere it was, otherwise than by the corner of the wood pointing tothe place.
I then began to enter into a little conversation with my two newsubjects; and, first, I set Friday to inquire of his father what hethought of the escape of the savages in that canoe, and whether wemight expect a return of them, with a power too great for us toresist. His first opinion was, that the savages in the boat nevercould live out the storm which blew that night they went off, butmust of necessity be drowned, or driven south to those othershores, where they were as sure to be devoured as they were to bedrowned if they were cast away; but, as to what they would do ifthey came safe on shore, he said he knew not; but it was hisopinion that they were so dreadfully frightened with the manner oftheir being attacked, the noise, and the fire, that he believedthey would tell the people they were all killed by thunder andlightning, not by the hand of man; and that the two which appeared- viz. Friday and I - were two heavenly spirits, or furies, comedown to destroy them, and not men with weapons. This, he said, heknew; because he heard them all cry out so, in their language, oneto another; for it was impossible for them to conceive that a mancould dart fire, and speak thunder, and kill at a distance, withoutlifting up the hand, as was done now: and this old savage was inthe right; for, as I understood since, by other hands, the savagesnever attempted to go over to the island afterwards, they were soterrified with the accounts given by those four men (for it seemsthey did escape the sea), that they believed whoever went to thatenchanted island would be destroyed with fire from the gods. This,however, I knew not; and therefore was under continualapprehensions for a good while, and kept always upon my guard, withall my army: for, as there were now four of us, I would haveventured upon a hundred of them, fairly in the open field, at anytime.