ROBINSON CRUSOE. 209

brought in, when they came as prisoners to be devoured by the
savage. I gave each of them a musket, with a firelock on it,
and about eight charges of powder and ball, charging them to
be very good husbands of both, and not to use either of them
but upon urgent occasions,

This was a cheerful work, being the first measures used by
me, in view of my deliverance, for now twenty-seven years
and some days. I gave them provisions of bread, and of dried
grapes, sufficient for themselves for many days, and sufficient for
all the Spaniards for about eight days’ time ; and wishing them
a good voyage, I saw them go, agreeing with them about a
signal they should hang out at their return, by which I should
know them again, when they came back, at a distance, before
they came on shore. They went away, with a fair gale, on the
day that the moon was at full, by my account in the month of
October; but as for an exact reckoning of days, after I had
once lost it, I could never recover it again; nor had I kept
even the number of years so punctually as to be sure I was
right ; though, as it proved, when I afterwards examined my
account, I found I had kept a true reckoning of years.

It was no less than eight days I had waited for them, when
a strange and unforeseen accident intervened, of which like has
not, perhaps, been heard of in history. I was fast asleep in
my hutch one morning, when my man Friday came running in
to me, and called aloud, “ Master, master, they are come, they
are come!” JI jumped up, and, regardless of danger, I went
out as soon as I could get my clothes on, through my little
grove, which, by the way, was by this time grown to be a very
thick wood ; I say, regardless of danger, I went out without my
arms, which was not my custom to do: but I was surprised,
when, turning my eyes to the sea, I presently saw a boat at
about a league and a half distance, standing in for the shore,
with a shoulder-of-mutton sail, as they call it, and the wind
blowing pretty fair to bring them.in : also I observed, presently,
that they did not come from the side which the shore lay on,
but from the southernmost end of theisland. Upon this I called
Friday in, and bade him lie close, for these were not the people
we looked for, and that we might not know yet whether they
were friends or enemies. In the next, I went in to fetch my
perspective-glass, to see what I could make of them ; and hav-
ing taken the ladder out, I climbed up to the top of the hill, as
I used to do when I was apprehensive of anything, and to take
my view the plainer, without being discovered. I had scarce
set my foot upon the hill, when my eye plainly discovered a