Chapter V

Print of a Man’s Foot

However, one day something happened that changed all my life on the island. It happened one day, about noon, going towards my boat, I was surprised with the print of a man’s naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen on the sand. I stood like one thunderstruck, or as if I had seen an apparition. I listened, I looked round me, but I could hear nothing, nor see anything; I went up to a rising ground to look farther; I went up the shore and down the shore, but it was all one; I could see no other impression but that one. I went to it again to see if there were any more, and to observe if it might not be my fancy; but there was no room for that, for there was exactly the print of a foot – toes, heel, and every part of a foot.

Nor is it possible to describe how many various shapes my affrighted imagination represented things to me in, how many wild ideas were found every moment in my fancy.

When I came to my castle, I fled into it like one pursued. Whether I went over by the ladder, or went in at the hole in the rock, which I had called a door, I cannot remember; no, nor could I remember the next morning. While these reflections were rolling in my mind, I was very thankful in my thoughts that I was so happy as not to be thereabouts at that time, or that they did not see my boat, by which they would have concluded that some inhabitants had been in the place, and perhaps have searched farther for me. Then terrible thoughts racked my imagination about their having found out my boat, and that there were people here; and that, if so, I should certainly have them come again in greater numbers and devour me.

Now I began to take courage, and to peep abroad again, for I had not stirred out of my castle for three days and nights, so that I began to starve for provisions; for I had little or nothing within doors but some barley-cakes and water; then I knew that my goats wanted to be milked too, which usually was my evening diversion: and the poor creatures were in great pain and inconvenience for want of it; and, indeed, it almost spoiled some of them, and almost dried up their milk. Encouraging myself, therefore, with the belief that this was nothing but the print of one of my own feet, and that I might be truly said to start at my own shadow, I began to go abroad again, and went to my country house to milk my flock: but to see with what fear I went forward, how often I looked behind me, how I was ready every now and then to lay down my basket and run for my life, it would have made any one have thought I was haunted with an evil conscience, or that I had been lately most terribly frightened.

One day, when I was come down the hill to the shore, as I said above, being the south west point of the island, I was perfectly confounded and amazed; nor is it possible for me to express the horror of my mind at seeing the shore spread with skulls, hands, feet, and other bones of human bodies; and particularly I observed a place where there had been a fire made, and a circle dug in the earth, like a cockpit, where I supposed the savage wretches had sat down to their human feastings upon the bodies of their fellow-creatures.

I turned away from this terrible sight. I felt sick and vomited, then I ran back to my house. With a flood of tears in my eyes I thanked God that I had been born a civilized man, quite different from these savages. I thanked Him for the comforts He had sent me in my distress.

Since that day I began to make my tour every morning to the top of the hill, which was from my castle, as I called it, about three miles or more, to see if I could observe any boats upon the sea, coming near the island, or standing over towards it; but I began to tire of this hard duty, after I had for two or three months constantly kept my watch, but came always back without any discovery.

Since then I started a very prudent and cautious lifestyle: I tried to shoot a gun rarely; I burnt the fire to make a goat-flesh and barley-bread for supper only after the darkness came. For the next two years, I lived quietly on the island. Yet all that time I was imagining ways to escape. I realized that my only way to go about to attempt an escape was, to get a savage into my possession: and, if possible, it should be one of their prisoners, whom they had condemned to be eaten, and should bring hither to kill. But these thoughts still were attended with this difficulty: that it was impossible to effect this without attacking a whole caravan of them, and killing them all. However, my desire to escape was so strong, that finally I decided to continue to watch out for the savages’ canoes. I set myself upon the scout as often as possible, and indeed so often that I was heartily tired of it; for it was above a year and a half that I waited; and for great part of that time went out to the west end, and to the south-west corner of the island almost every day, to look for canoes, but none appeared.

At once I was surprised in the morning by seeing no less than five canoes all on shore together on my side the island, and the people who belonged to them all landed and out of my sight. The number of them broke all my measures; for seeing so many, and knowing that they always came four or six, or sometimes more in a boat, I could not tell what to think of it, or how to take my measures to attack twenty or thirty men single-handed; so lay still in my castle, perplexed and discomforted. However, I put myself into the same position for an attack that I had formerly provided, and was just ready for action, if anything had presented. Having waited a good while, listening to hear if they made any noise, at length, being very impatient, I set my guns at the foot of my ladder, and clambered up to the top of the hill, by my two stages, as usual; standing so, however, that my head did not appear above the hill, so that they could not perceive me by any means. Here I observed, by the help of my perspective glass, that they were no less than thirty in number. In the next time, as I watched, they brought two prisoners from the boats to be killed. I perceived one of them immediately fall; being knocked down, I suppose, with a club or wooden sword, for that was their way; and two or three others were at work immediately, cutting him open for their cookery, while the other victim was left standing by himself, till they should be ready for him. In that very moment this poor wretch, seeing himself a little at liberty and unbound, and he started away from them, and ran with incredible swiftness along the sands, directly towards me; I mean towards that part of the coast where my habitation was.

I was terribly frightened when I saw him running towards me. I thought that all the others would follow him, however only three men were pursuing him. The prisoner came to the river, and swam across. When the three persons came to the creek, I found that two of them could swim, but the third could not, and that, standing on the other side, he looked at the others, but went no farther, and soon after went softly back again; which, as it happened, was very well for him in the end. I observed that the two who swam were yet more than twice as strong swimming over the creek as the fellow was that fled from them. It came very warmly upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now was the time to get me a servant, and, perhaps, a companion or assistant; and that I was plainly called by Providence to save this poor creature’s life. I took my guns and ran down to the shore. I hit the first one of the pursuers with my gun and knocked this fellow down. I walked towards the other: I perceived presently he had a bow and arrow, and was fitting it to shoot at me: so I was then obliged to shoot at him first, which I did, and killed him at the first shot.

The poor savage who fled, but had stopped, though he saw both his enemies fallen and killed, as he thought, yet was so frightened with the fire and noise of my piece that he stood stock still, and neither came forward nor went backward, though he seemed rather inclined still to fly than to come on. I hallooed again to him, and made signs to come forward, which he easily understood, and came a little way; then stopped again, and then a little farther, and stopped again; and I could then perceive that he stood trembling, as if he had been taken prisoner, and had just been to be killed, as his two enemies were. I beckoned to him again to come to me, and gave him all the signs of encouragement that I could think of; and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every ten or twelve steps. When he came close to me, he knelt down and kissed the earth, after that he put his head upon the ground and took my foot upon his head in a sign of his obedience and loyalty. After that, ha stood up and run to his enemies, lying on the sand, and at one blow cut off his heads so cleverly, no executioner in Germany could have done it sooner or better. He made me signs that we should dig them up and eat them, however I made signs of vomiting and let him know how much I hated this idea.

He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with straight, strong limbs, not too large; tall, and well-shaped; and, as I reckon, about twenty-six years of age. He had a very good countenance, not a fierce and surly aspect, but seemed to have something very manly in his face; and yet he had all the sweetness and softness of a European in his countenance, too, especially when he smiled. I told him that his name would be Friday, for the name of the day on which I saved his life. I took Friday to my castle, gave him some bread and rum, to feel better and pointed to the blanket (the old goat’s skin) to sleep for some time. During the sleeping hour I observed that savages with their canoed were gone.

After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half-an-hour, he awoke again, and came out of the cave to me: for I had been milking my goats which I had in the enclosure just by: when he espied me he came running to me, laying himself down again upon the ground, with all the possible signs of an humble, thankful disposition, making a great many antic gestures to show it.

Till that day we began to live together. I began to speak to Friday and teach him how to speak to me, and that was a great joy for me, for I spent about seventeen years on the island, listening nor the human speech, nor some other sounds of human being. I made a little tent for him in the vacant place between my two fortifications, in the inside of the last, and in the outside of the first. I made clothes for him with hare’s and goat’s skin.

I thought that, in order to bring Friday off from his horrid way of feeding, and from the relish of a cannibal’s stomach, I ought to let him taste other flesh; so I took him out with me one morning to the woods. I went, indeed, intending to kill a kid out of my own flock; and bring it home and dress it. I took the kid’s skin off, and cut it out as well as I could; and having a pot fit for that purpose, I boiled or stewed some of the flesh, and made some very good broth. After I had begun to eat some I gave some to my man, who seemed very glad of it, and liked it very well. He enjoyed it so much, that he told me he would never again eat man’s flesh and I was very glad to hear that.

All the years that I spent on island with Friday were the most wonderful of all the life I led in this place. Friday began to talk pretty well, and understand the names of almost everything I had occasion to call for, and of every place I had to send him to, and talked a great deal to me; so that, in short, I began now to have some use for my tongue again, which, indeed, I had very little occasion for before. He was very good pupil and I was not so bad teacher: I taught him how to plant corn and barley, how to use the guns, how to milk my goats, to make butter and cheese. I began now to consider, that having two mouths to feed instead of one, I must provide more ground for my harvest, and plant a larger quantity of corn than I used to do; so I marked out a larger piece of land, and began the fence in the same manner as before, however now it wasn’t a difficult task for me, for I had four work-hands now. We speak a lot about the God, and sometimes I read Bible stories aloud.

Friday told me a lot of things about the people of his barbarian nation and the nations nearby. He told, that at a great distance from his nation on the main land there lived white people like me, and that they were very cruel, for they killed lots of savages. I asked him if I could go from my island to the place where the other white men were. However he said I could, but I would need something like ship, or at last a very big canoe. We made several attempts to build a canoe with an iron wood, but all the attempts were unsuccessful. So I resigned to my fate again. Years passed, and one morning I observed, that there were twenty seven circles on my wooden calendar – so I lived on the island for 27 years.