ROBINSON CRUSOE. 393

At last, raising my voice, that I might silence him a little,
“ Barbarous dog |” said I, “what are you doing? I won’t have
one creature touched more, upon pain of death: I charge you,
upon your life, to stop your hands, and stand still here, or
you are a dead man this minute.” “ Why, sir,” says he, “do
you know what you do, or what they have done? If you
want a reason for what we have done, come hither;” and
with that he showed me the poor fellow hanging, with his
throat cut.

I confess I was urged then myself, and at another time
would have been forward enough ; but I thought they had car-
ried their rage too far, and remembered Jacob’s words to his
sons Simeon and Levi: “Cursed be their anger, for it was
fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel.” But I had now a new
task upon my hands ; for when the men I carried with me saw
the sight, as I had done, I had as much to do to restrain them
as I should have had with the others ; nay, my nephew himself
fell in with them, and told me, in their hearing, that he was
only concerned for fear of the men being overpowered ; andas
to the people, he thought not one of them ought to live ; for
they had all glutted themselves with the murder of the pcor
man, and that they ought to be used like murderers. Upon
these words, away ran eight of my men, with the boatswain and
his crew, to complete their bloody work ; and I, seeing it quite
out of my power to restrain them, came away pensive and sad ;
for I could not bear the sight, much less the horrible noise and
cries of the poor wretches that fell into their hands.

I got nobody to come back with me but the supercargo and
two men, and with these walked back to the boat. It was a
very great piece of folly in me, I confess, to venture back as it
were alone; for as it began now to be almost day, and the
alarm had run over the country, there stood about forty men
armed with lances and bows, at the little place where the
twelve or thirteen houses stood, mentioned before ; but by ac-
cident I missed the place, and came directly to the sea-side ,
and by the time I got to the sea-side, it was broad day: im-
mediately I took the pinnace and went on board, and sent her
back to assist the men in what might happen.

I observed, about the time that I came to the boat-side, that
the fire was pretty well out, and the noise abated ; but in about
half an hour after I got on board, I heard a volley of our men’s
fire-arms, and saw a great smoke: this, as I understood after-
wards, was our men falling upon the men, who as I said, steod
at the few houses on the way, of whom they killed ‘sixteen or