ROBINSON CRUSOE. 187

The perturbation of my mind, during this fifteen or sixteen
months’ interval, was very great ; I slept unquietly, dreamed
always frightful dreams, and often started out of my sleep in
the night. In the day, great troubles overwhelmed my mind ;
and in the night I dreamed often of killing the savages, and of
the reasons why I might justify doing it. But to waive all this
for a while.—It was in the middle of May, on the sixteenth
day, I think, as well as my poor wooden calendar would reckon,
for I marked all upon my post still ; I say, it was on the six-
teenth of May, that it blew a very great storm of wind all day,
with a great deal of lightning and thunder, and a very foul
night it was after it. I knew not what was the particular occa-
sion of it; but as I was reading in the Bible, and taken up
with very serious thoughts about my present condition, I was
surprised with the noise of a gun, as I thought, fired at sea.
This was, to be sure, a surprise quite of a different nature from
any I had met with before ; for the notions this put into my
thoughts were quite of another kind. I started up in the
greatest haste imaginable ; and, in a trice, clapped my ladder
to the middle place of the rock, and pulled it after me; and
mounting it the second time, got to the top of the hill at the
very moment that a flash of fire bid me listen for a second gun,
which, accordingly, in about half a minute, I heard ; and by
the sound, knew that it was from that part of the sea where I
was driven down the current in my boat. I immediately con-
sidered that this must be some ship in distress, and that they
had some comrade, or some other ship in company, and fired
these signals of distress, and to obtain help. I had the pres-
ence of mind, at that minute, to think, that though I could not
help them, it might be they might help me; so I brought
together all the dry wood I could get at hand, and, making a
good handsome pile, I set it on fire upon the hill. The wood
was dry, and blazed freely ; and, though the wind blew very
hard, yet it burned fairly out, so that I was certain, if there
Was any such thing as a ship, they must need see it, and no
doubt they did ; for as soon as ever my fire blazed up, I heard
another gun, and after that several others, all from the same
quarter, I plied my fire all night long, till daybreak : and
when it was broad day, and the air cleared up, I saw some-
thing at a great distance at sea, full east of the island, whether
a sail or a hull I could not distinguish—no, not with my glass ;
the distance was so great, and the weather still something hazy
also ; at least, it was so out at sea.

I looked frequently at it all that day, and soon perceived that