鲁宾孙飘流记 英文版 Robinson Crusoe
丹尼尔.笛福 Daniel Defoe
CHAPTER XVIII - THE SHIP RECOVERED Page 2
To these in the morning I sent the captain, who was to enter into aparley with them; in a word, to try them, and tell me whether hethought they might be trusted or not to go on board and surprisethe ship. He talked to them of the injury done him, of thecondition they were brought to, and that though the governor hadgiven them quarter for their lives as to the present action, yetthat if they were sent to England they would all be hanged inchains; but that if they would join in so just an attempt as torecover the ship, he would have the governor's engagement for theirpardon.
Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted bymen in their condition; they fell down on their knees to thecaptain, and promised, with the deepest imprecations, that theywould be faithful to him to the last drop, and that they should owetheir lives to him, and would go with him all over the world; thatthey would own him as a father to them as long as they lived."Well," says the captain, "I must go and tell the governor what yousay, and see what I can do to bring him to consent to it." So hebrought me an account of the temper he found them in, and that heverily believed they would be faithful. However, that we might bevery secure, I told him he should go back again and choose outthose five, and tell them, that they might see he did not want men,that he would take out those five to be his assistants, and thatthe governor would keep the other two, and the three that were sentprisoners to the castle (my cave), as hostages for the fidelity ofthose five; and that if they proved unfaithful in the execution,the five hostages should be hanged in chains alive on the shore.This looked severe, and convinced them that the governor was inearnest; however, they had no way left them but to accept it; andit was now the business of the prisoners, as much as of thecaptain, to persuade the other five to do their duty.
Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition: first, thecaptain, his mate, and passenger; second, the two prisoners of thefirst gang, to whom, having their character from the captain, I hadgiven their liberty, and trusted them with arms; third, the othertwo that I had kept till now in my bower, pinioned, but on thecaptain's motion had now released; fourth, these five released atlast; so that there were twelve in all, besides five we keptprisoners in the cave for hostages.
I asked the captain if he was willing to venture with these handson board the ship; but as for me and my man Friday, I did not thinkit was proper for us to stir, having seven men left behind; and itwas employment enough for us to keep them asunder, and supply themwith victuals. As to the five in the cave, I resolved to keep themfast, but Friday went in twice a day to them, to supply them withnecessaries; and I made the other two carry provisions to a certaindistance, where Friday was to take them.
When I showed myself to the two hostages, it was with the captain,who told them I was the person the governor had ordered to lookafter them; and that it was the governor's pleasure they should notstir anywhere but by my direction; that if they did, they would befetched into the castle, and be laid in irons: so that as we neversuffered them to see me as governor, I now appeared as anotherperson, and spoke of the governor, the garrison, the castle, andthe like, upon all occasions.
The captain now had no difficulty before him, but to furnish histwo boats, stop the breach of one, and man them. He made hispassenger captain of one, with four of the men; and himself, hismate, and five more, went in the other; and they contrived theirbusiness very well, for they came up to the ship about midnight.As soon as they came within call of the ship, he made Robinson hailthem, and tell them they had brought off the men and the boat, butthat it was a long time before they had found them, and the like,holding them in a chat till they came to the ship's side; when thecaptain and the mate entering first with their arms, immediatelyknocked down the second mate and carpenter with the butt-end oftheir muskets, being very faithfully seconded by their men; theysecured all the rest that were upon the main and quarter decks, andbegan to fasten the hatches, to keep them down that were below;when the other boat and their men, entering at the forechains,secured the forecastle of the ship, and the scuttle which went downinto the cook-room, making three men they found there prisoners.When this was done, and all safe upon deck, the captain ordered themate, with three men, to break into the round-house, where the newrebel captain lay, who, having taken the alarm, had got up, andwith two men and a boy had got firearms in their hands; and whenthe mate, with a crow, split open the door, the new captain and hismen fired boldly among them, and wounded the mate with a musketball, which broke his arm, and wounded two more of the men, butkilled nobody. The mate, calling for help, rushed, however, intothe round-house, wounded as he was, and, with his pistol, shot thenew captain through the head, the bullet entering at his mouth, andcame out again behind one of his ears, so that he never spoke aword more: upon which the rest yielded, and the ship was takeneffectually, without any more lives lost.
As soon as the ship was thus secured, the captain ordered sevenguns to be fired, which was the signal agreed upon with me to giveme notice of his success, which, you may be sure, I was very gladto hear, having sat watching upon the shore for it till near twoo'clock in the morning. Having thus heard the signal plainly, Ilaid me down; and it having been a day of great fatigue to me, Islept very sound, till I was surprised with the noise of a gun; andpresently starting up, I heard a man call me by the name of"Governor! Governor!" and presently I knew the captain's voice;when, climbing up to the top of the hill, there he stood, and,pointing to the ship, he embraced me in his arms, "My dear friendand deliverer," says he, "there's your ship; for she is all yours,and so are we, and all that belong to her." I cast my eyes to theship, and there she rode, within little more than half a mile ofthe shore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as they weremasters of her, and, the weather being fair, had brought her to ananchor just against the mouth of the little creek; and the tidebeing up, the captain had brought the pinnace in near the placewhere I had first landed my rafts, and so landed just at my door.I was at first ready to sink down with the surprise; for I saw mydeliverance, indeed, visibly put into my hands, all things easy,and a large ship just ready to carry me away whither I pleased togo. At first, for some time, I was not able to answer him oneword; but as he had taken me in his arms I held fast by him, or Ishould have fallen to the ground. He perceived the surprise, andimmediately pulled a bottle out of his pocket and gave me a dram ofcordial, which he had brought on purpose for me. After I had drunkit, I sat down upon the ground; and though it brought me to myself,yet it was a good while before I could speak a word to him. Allthis time the poor man was in as great an ecstasy as I, only notunder any surprise as I was; and he said a thousand kind and tenderthings to me, to compose and bring me to myself; but such was theflood of joy in my breast, that it put all my spirits intoconfusion: at last it broke out into tears, and in a little whileafter I recovered my speech; I then took my turn, and embraced himas my deliverer, and we rejoiced together. I told him I lookedupon him as a man sent by Heaven to deliver me, and that the wholetransaction seemed to be a chain of wonders; that such things asthese were the testimonies we had of a secret hand of Providencegoverning the world, and an evidence that the eye of an infinitePower could search into the remotest corner of the world, and sendhelp to the miserable whenever He pleased. I forgot not to lift upmy heart in thankfulness to Heaven; and what heart could forbear tobless Him, who had not only in a miraculous manner provided for mein such a wilderness, and in such a desolate condition, but fromwhom every deliverance must always be acknowledged to proceed.
When we had talked a while, the captain told me he had brought mesome little refreshment, such as the ship afforded, and such as thewretches that had been so long his masters had not plundered himof. Upon this, he called aloud to the boat, and bade his men bringthe things ashore that were for the governor; and, indeed, it was apresent as if I had been one that was not to be carried away withthem, but as if I had been to dwell upon the island still. First,he had brought me a case of bottles full of excellent cordialwaters, six large bottles of Madeira wine (the bottles held twoquarts each), two pounds of excellent good tobacco, twelve goodpieces of the ship's beef, and six pieces of pork, with a bag ofpeas, and about a hundred-weight of biscuit; he also brought me abox of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of lemons, and two bottlesof lime-juice, and abundance of other things. But besides these,and what was a thousand times more useful to me, he brought me sixnew clean shirts, six very good neckcloths, two pair of gloves, onepair of shoes, a hat, and one pair of stockings, with a very goodsuit of clothes of his own, which had been worn but very little: ina word, he clothed me from head to foot. It was a very kind andagreeable present, as any one may imagine, to one in mycircumstances, but never was anything in the world of that kind sounpleasant, awkward, and uneasy as it was to me to wear suchclothes at first.
After these ceremonies were past, and after all his good thingswere brought into my little apartment, we began to consult what wasto be done with the prisoners we had; for it was worth consideringwhether we might venture to take them with us or no, especially twoof them, whom he knew to be incorrigible and refractory to the lastdegree; and the captain said he knew they were such rogues thatthere was no obliging them, and if he did carry them away, it mustbe in irons, as malefactors, to be delivered over to justice at thefirst English colony he could come to; and I found that the captainhimself was very anxious about it. Upon this, I told him that, ifhe desired it, I would undertake to bring the two men he spoke ofto make it their own request that he should leave them upon theisland. "I should be very glad of that," says the captain, "withall my heart." "Well," says I, "I will send for them up and talkwith them for you." So I caused Friday and the two hostages, forthey were now discharged, their comrades having performed theirpromise; I say, I caused them to go to the cave, and bring up thefive men, pinioned as they were, to the bower, and keep them theretill I came. After some time, I came thither dressed in my newhabit; and now I was called governor again. Being all met, and thecaptain with me, I caused the men to be brought before me, and Itold them I had got a full account of their villainous behaviour tothe captain, and how they had run away with the ship, and werepreparing to commit further robberies, but that Providence hadensnared them in their own ways, and that they were fallen into thepit which they had dug for others. I let them know that by mydirection the ship had been seized; that she lay now in the road;and they might see by-and-by that their new captain had receivedthe reward of his villainy, and that they would see him hanging atthe yard-arm; that, as to them, I wanted to know what they had tosay why I should not execute them as pirates taken in the fact, asby my commission they could not doubt but I had authority so to do.
One of them answered in the name of the rest, that they had nothingto say but this, that when they were taken the captain promisedthem their lives, and they humbly implored my mercy. But I toldthem I knew not what mercy to show them; for as for myself, I hadresolved to quit the island with all my men, and had taken passagewith the captain to go to England; and as for the captain, he couldnot carry them to England other than as prisoners in irons, to betried for mutiny and running away with the ship; the consequence ofwhich, they must needs know, would be the gallows; so that I couldnot tell what was best for them, unless they had a mind to taketheir fate in the island. If they desired that, as I had libertyto leave the island, I had some inclination to give them theirlives, if they thought they could shift on shore. They seemed verythankful for it, and said they would much rather venture to staythere than be carried to England to be hanged. So I left it onthat issue.
However, the captain seemed to make some difficulty of it, as if hedurst not leave them there. Upon this I seemed a little angry withthe captain, and told him that they were my prisoners, not his; andthat seeing I had offered them so much favour, I would be as goodas my word; and that if he did not think fit to consent to it Iwould set them at liberty, as I found them: and if he did not likeit he might take them again if he could catch them. Upon this theyappeared very thankful, and I accordingly set them at liberty, andbade them retire into the woods, to the place whence they came, andI would leave them some firearms, some ammunition, and somedirections how they should live very well if they thought fit.Upon this I prepared to go on board the ship; but told the captainI would stay that night to prepare my things, and desired him to goon board in the meantime, and keep all right in the ship, and sendthe boat on shore next day for me; ordering him, at all events, tocause the new captain, who was killed, to be hanged at the yard-arm, that these men might see him.
When the captain was gone I sent for the men up to me to myapartment, and entered seriously into discourse with them on theircircumstances. I told them I thought they had made a right choice;that if the captain had carried them away they would certainly behanged. I showed them the new captain hanging at the yard-arm ofthe ship, and told them they had nothing less to expect.
When they had all declared their willingness to stay, I then toldthem I would let them into the story of my living there, and putthem into the way of making it easy to them. Accordingly, I gavethem the whole history of the place, and of my coming to it; showedthem my fortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my corn,cured my grapes; and, in a word, all that was necessary to makethem easy. I told them the story also of the seventeen Spaniardsthat were to be expected, for whom I left a letter, and made thempromise to treat them in common with themselves. Here it may benoted that the captain, who had ink on board, was greatly surprisedthat I never hit upon a way of making ink of charcoal and water, orof something else, as I had done things much more difficult.
I left them my firearms - viz. five muskets, three fowling-pieces,and three swords. I had above a barrel and a half of powder left;for after the first year or two I used but little, and wasted none.I gave them a description of the way I managed the goats, anddirections to milk and fatten them, and to make both butter andcheese. In a word, I gave them every part of my own story; andtold them I should prevail with the captain to leave them twobarrels of gunpowder more, and some garden-seeds, which I told themI would have been very glad of. Also, I gave them the bag of peaswhich the captain had brought me to eat, and bade them be sure tosow and increase them.