Робинзон Крузо / Robinson Crusoe - страница 5

“Yes,” says he, “I’ll bring some;” and accordingly he brought a great leather pouch, which held a pound and a half of powder, or rather more; and another with shot, that had five or six pounds, with some bullets, and put all aboard the ship.

I conveyed also a great lump of beeswax[65] into the boat, which weighed about half a hundredweight, a hatchet, a saw, and a hammer, all of which were of great use to us afterwards, especially the wax, to make candles.

I got all things ready and waited the next morning on board, washed clean, ready to sail; when my patron came on board alone, and told me his guests had put off going from some business that fell out, and ordered me, with the boy, Xury, as usual, to go out with ship and catch them some fish, for that his friends were to sup[66] at his house, and commanded that as soon as I got some fish I should bring it home to his house.

So, I went out to sea alone, out of the port to fish, on board of a ship full of supplies, furnished with everything needful, accompanied only by young Xury and luck.

The castle, which was at the entrance of the port, knew who we were, and took no notice of us; and we were not above a mile out of the port before we set us down to fish.

After we had fished for some time and caught nothing – for when I had fish on my hook I would not pull them up, I said to the Xury, “This will not do; our master will not be served; we must stand farther off.” He, thinking no harm[67], agreed, and being in the head of the ship, set the sails.

When we were about two miles above the shore, I took the gun out of the cabin and went to Xury. When he saw the gun in my hands, a fear reflected on his face. I touched his shoulder and said to him,

“Xury, if you will be faithful to me, I’ll make you a great man; but if you will not be true to me, I must kill you.” The boy smiled in my face, the fear in his eyes immediately disappeared, and spoke so innocently that I could not distrust him, he swore to be faithful to me[68], and go all over the world with me.

So, I enlisted the full support of Xury and became a full captain of our ship, and a master of one-person crew. In fear, that our ex-patron, pirate from Sallee, could sent us the chase[69], I decided to make one trick: while our ship was in view from the coast line, I stood out directly to sea with the ship, that they might think me gone towards the Strait of Gibraltar[70] (as indeed any one must have been supposed to do).

But as soon as it grew dusk[71] in the evening, I changed my course, and sailed directly south and by east, bending my course a little towards the east, that I might keep in with the shore; and having a fresh wind, and a smooth, quiet sea, I made such sail that I believe by the next day, at three o’clock in the afternoon, when I first made the land[72], I could not be less than one hundred and fifty miles south of Sallee.

During the next five or six days the tail-wind continued to blow, though I would not stop, or come to an anchor and go on shore, yet such was the fright I had taken of Moors. I concluded, that if any of them were in chase of me, they would now give over, therefore I decided to sail near the coast line.

We sailed along the coast of Africa, close to the shore. Sometimes we heard lions and other wild beasts. We needed fresh water, but we were afraid to go ashore, for fear of wild beasts and