Lucy Aikin

“ Our lives ran on in a calm, smooth way; and, but for the vile feasts which were held on the shores, I felt no wish to leave the isle.
As my slave had by no means lost his zest for these meals, it struck me that the best way to cure him, was to let him taste the flesh of beasts; so I took him with me one day to the wood for some sport. I saw a she-goat, in the shade, with her two kids. I caught Friday by the arm, and made signs to him not to stir, and then shot one of the kids; but the noise of the gun gave the poor man a great shock. He did not see the kid, nor did he know that it was dead. ”

“ It was hard to see how one man could go in two boats, but what he meant was, a boat twice as large as my own.
One day I said to my slave, "Do you know who made you?"
But he could not tell at all what these words meant. So I said, "Do you know who made the sea, the ground we tread on, the hills, and woods?" He said it was Beek, whose home was a great way off, and that he was so old that the sea and the land were not so old as he.
"If this old man has made all things, why do not all things bow down to him?" ”

“ How strange a thing is the life of man! One day we love that which the next day we hate. One day we seek what the next day we shun. One day we long for the thing which the next day we fear; and so we go on. Now, from the time that I was cast on this isle, my great source of grief was that I should be thus cut off from the rest of my race. Why, then, should the thought that a man might be near give me all this pain? ”

“ When my slave came to taste the flesh, he took the best means to let me know how good he thought it.
The next day I set him to beat out and sift some corn. I let him see me make the bread, and he soon did all the work. I felt quite a love for his true, warm heart, and he soon learnt to talk to me. One day I said, "Do the men of your tribe win in fight?" He told me, with a smile, that they did. "Well, then," said I, "How came they to let their foes take you?"
"They run one, two, three, and make go in the boat that time."
"Well, and what do the men do with those they take?" ”

“ At the sound of the guns I came up, but it was so dark that the men could not tell if there were three of us or three score.
It fell out just as I could wish, for I heard the men ask, "To whom must we yield, and where are they?" Friday told them that Paul was there with the king of the isle, who had brought with him a crowd of men! At this one of the crew said, "If Paul will spare our lives, we will yield." "Then," said Friday, "you shall know the king's will." Then Paul said to them, "You know my voice; if you lay down your arms the king will spare your lives!" ”

“ One day the Turk sent me in the boat to catch some fish, with no one else but a man and a boy. While we were out so thick a fog came on that though we were out not half a mile from the shore, we quite lost sight of it for twelve hours; and when the sun rose the next day, our boat was at least ten miles out at sea. The wind blew fresh, and we were all much in want of food, but at last, with the help of our oars and sail, we got back safe to land. ”

“ The next thing to do was to stow our boat up in the creek, where we dug a small dock; and when the tide was low, we made a dam, to keep out the sea. The time of year had now come for us to set sail, so we got out all our stores, to put them in the boat.
One day I sent Friday to the shore, to get a sort of herb that grew there. I soon heard him cry out to me, "O grief! O bad! O bad! O out there boats, one, two, three!" "Keep a stout heart," said I, to cheer him. The poor man shook with fear; for he thought that the men who brought him here, had now come back to kill him.
"Can you fight?" ”

“ My name is Paul. To be short, Sir, my crew have thrust me out of my ship, which you see out there, and have left me here to die. It was as much as I could do to make them sheath their swords, which you saw were drawn to slay me. They have set me down in this isle with these two men, my friend here, and the ship's mate."
"Where have they gone?" said I.
"There, in the wood, close by. I fear they may have seen and heard us. If they have, they will be sure to kill us all."
"Have they fire-arms?"
"They have four guns, one of which is in the boat." ”

“ One day, Friday ran up to me in great glee, and said, "They are back! They are back!" A mile from shore, there was a boat with a sail, which stood in for the land; but I knew it could not be the one which our two friends had gone out in, for it was on the wrong side of the isle for that. I saw too, through my glass, a ship out at sea. There were twelve men in the boat, three of whom were bound in chains, and four had fire arms. ”

“ It is God who hath made all things. Well then, if God hath made all things, it must be He who guides them; and if so, no one thing in the whole range of His works can take place, and He not know it. Then God must know how sick and sad I am, and He wills me to be here. O, why hath God done this to me!"
Then some voice would seem to say, "Dost thou ask why God hath done this to thee? Ask why thou wert not shot by the Moors, who came on board the ship, and took the lives of thy mates. Ask why thou wert not torn by the beasts of prey on the coasts. ”

“ Thus my friends were set free from all their fears, and saw no more of their wild foes for some time.
One day a whim took the three bad men that they would go to the main land, from whence the wild men came, and try if they could not seize some of them, and bring them home as slaves, so as to make them do the hard part of their work for them. The chief gave them all the arms and stores that they could want, and a large boat to go in, but when they bade them "God speed," no one thought that they would find their way back to the isle. ”

“ I am lord of the whole isle; in fact, a king. I have wood with which I might build a fleet, and grapes, if not corn, to freight it with, though all my wealth is but a few gold coins." For these I had no sort of use, and could have found it in my heart to give them all for a peck of peas and some ink, which last I stood much in need of. But it was best to dwell more on what I had, than on what I had not.
I now must needs try once more to build a boat, but this time it was to have a mast, for which the ship's sails would be of great use. ”

“ As we caught sight of some men at the top of the hill, I gave word to fire three guns, to show that we were friends, and soon we saw smoke rise from the side of the creek. I then went on shore in a boat, with the priest and Friday, and hung out a white flag of peace. The first man I cast my eyes on at the creek, was my old friend Carl, who, when I was last on the isle, had been brought here in bonds. ”

“ I took with me as large a store of tools, clothes, and such like goods as I had room for, and men of skill in all kinds of trades, to live in the isle. When we set sail, we had a fair wind for some time, but one night the mate, who was at the watch, told me he saw a flash of fire, and heard a gun go off. At this we all ran on deck, from whence we saw a great light, and as there was no land that way, we knew that it must be some ship on fire at sea, which could not be far off, for we heard the sound of the gun. ”

“ I was bred to the sea, but you were not, and came on board my ship just to find out what a life at sea was like, and you may guess what you will come to if you do not go back to your home. God will not bless you, and it may be that you have brought all this woe on us. ”

“ So the two poor men had to live as well as they could by hard work, and they set up their tents on the north shore of the isle, to be out of the way of the wild men, who were wont to land on the east side. Here they built them two huts, one to lodge in, and one to lay up their stores in; and the men from Spain gave them some corn for seed, as well as some peas which I had left them. They soon learned to dig, and plant, and hedge in their land, in the mode which I had set for them, and in short, to lead good lives, so that I shall now call them the "two good men." ”

“ They swam as if they had come for sport. The men flew from them in fear, all but the one who held the lance. One of these beasts came near our boat; so I lay in wait for him with my gun; and as soon as the brute was in range, I shot him through the head. Twice he sank down in the sea, and twice he came up; and then just swam to the land, where he fell down dead. The men were in as much fear at the sound of my gun, as they had been at the sight of the beasts. But when I made signs for them to come to the shore, they took heart, and came. ”

“ The poor lad said he could not go on shore till dawn. "Well," said I, "then we must give it up, but it may be that in the day time we shall be seen by men, who for all we know would do us more harm than wild beasts." "Then we give them the shoot gun," said Xury with a laugh, "and make them run away." I was glad to see so much mirth in the boy, and gave him some bread and rice. ”

“ Our men then fell on them from three points with the butt end of their guns, swords, and staves, and did their work so well that the wild men set up a loud shriek, and flew for their lives to the woods and hills, with all the speed that fear and swift feet could help them to do. As our men did not care to chase them, they got to the shore where they had come to land and where the boats lay. ”

“ At this Xury said, "if wild mans come they eat me, you go way." I could not but love the lad for this kind speech. "Well," said I, "we will both go, and if the wild men come we must kill them, they shall not eat you or me."
I gave Xury some rum from the Turk's case to cheer him up, and we went on shore. The boy went off with his gun, full a mile from the spot where we stood, and came back with a hare that he had shot, which we were glad to cook and eat; but the good news which he brought was that he had found a spring, and had seen no wild men. ”

“ Why send your man home to his own land, then?"
"Did you not tell me you would like to go back?"
"Yes, yes, we both there; no wish self there, if you not there!"
"And what should I do there?"
"You do great deal much good! you teach wild men be good men; you tell them know God, pray God, and lead new life."
We soon set to work to make a boat that would take us both. The first thing was to look out for some large trees that grew near the shore, so that we could launch our boat when it was made. My slave's plan was to burn the wood to make it the right shape ”

“ One of us we chose out for our chief, to take the lead in case we should have to fight for our lives; and when the time came, we had no small need of him. On the sides of all the roads, we saw men who made pots, cups, pans, and such like ware, out of a kind of earth, which is, in fact, the chief trade in this part of the world. ”

“ For some of my pots and jars were too weak to bear their own weight; and they would fall out here, and in there, in all sorts of ways; while some, when they were put in the sun to bake, would crack with the heat of its rays. You may guess what my joy was when at last a pot was made which would stand the heat of the fire, so that I could boil the meat for broth. ”

“ The sun shone hot on the walls, which were quite white, hard, and smooth as glass, with forms on them in blue paint. On the walls of the rooms were small square tiles of the best ware, with red, blue, and green paint of all shades and hues, in rare forms, done in good taste; and as they use the same kind of earth to join the tiles with, you could not see where the tiles met. The floors of the rooms were made of the same ware, and as strong as those we have at home ”

“ I said, "We will talk of that bye and bye; but now we must do what we can to save our lives." Friday, who was free to go where he chose, flew here and there, and put all the men to the rout. They fled in full haste to their boats, and were soon out at sea; and so we got rid of our foes at last.
The man whom we had found on the sand told us that his name was Carl, and that he came from Spain. But there was one more man to claim our care; for the black men had left a small boat on the sands, and in this I saw a poor wretch who lay half dead. ”

“ It would be a hard task for me to tell of all the quaint, signs Friday made to show his joy. He went in and out of the boat five or six times, sat down by old Jaf, and held the poor old man's head close to his breast to warm it; then he set to work to rub his arms and feet, which were cold and stiff from the bonds. I told Friday to give him some rum and bread; but he said, "None! Bad dog eat all up self." ”

“ They were to have a large piece of ground to grow their crops on, with a house to live in, and sheds for their goats.
The isle was now set out in this way: all the west end was left waste, so that if the wild men should land on it, they might come and go, and hurt no one. My old house I gave to the chief, with all its woods, which now spread out as far as the creek, and the south end was for the white men and their wives. ”

“ They know no real mode of war, or skill in fight. Each has a poor lean horse, which is not fit to do good work. Our chief gave some of us leave to go out and hunt as they call it, and what was it but to hunt sheep! These sheep are wild and swift of foot, but they will not run far, and you are sure of sport when you start in the chase. They go in flocks of a score, or two, and like true sheep, keep close when they fly. In this sort of chase it was our hap to meet with some two score of the wild hordes, but what sort of prey they had come to hunt I know not. ”