Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable (Version 2) — 03 - Section 3

There were wild beasts here, but I had no gun to shoot them with, or to keep me from their jaws.

I had but a knife and a pipe.

It now grew dark;

and where was I to go for the night?

I thought the top of some high tree would be a good place to keep me out of harm's way; and that there I might sit and think of death, for, as yet, I had no hopes of life.

Well, I went to my tree, and made a kind of nest to sleep in.

Then I cut a stick to keep off the beasts of prey, in case they should come, and fell to sleep just as if the branch I lay on had been a bed of down.

When I woke up it was broad day; the sky too was clear and the sea calm.

But I saw from the top of the tree that in the night the ship had left the bank of sand, and lay but a mile from me; while the boat was on the beach, two miles on my right.

I went some way down by the shore, to get to the boat; but an arm of the sea, half a mile broad, kept me from it.

At noon, the tide went a long way out, so that I could get near the ship; and here I found that if we had but made up our minds to stay on board, we should all have been safe.

I shed tears at the thought, for I could not help it; yet, as there was no use in that, it struck me that the best thing for me to do was to swim to the ship.

I soon threw off my clothes, took to the sea, and swam up to the wreck.

But how was I to get on deck?

I had swam twice round the ship, when a piece of rope, caught my eye, which hung down from her side so low, that at first the waves hid it.

By the help of this rope I got on board.

I found that there was a bulge in the ship, and that she had sprung a leak.

You may be sure that my first thought was to look round for some food, and I soon made my way to the bin, where the bread was kept, and ate some of it as I went to and fro, for there was no time to lose.

There was, too, some rum, of which I took a good draught, and this gave me heart.

What I stood most in need of, was a boat to take the goods to shore.

But it was vain to wish for that which could not be had; and as there were some spare yards in the ship, two or three large planks of wood, and a spare mast or two, I fell to work with these, to make a raft.

I put four spars side by side, and laid short bits of plank on them, cross ways, to make my raft strong.

Though these planks would bear my own weight, they were too slight to bear much of my freight.

So I took a saw which was on board, and cut a mast in three lengths, and these gave great strength to the raft.

I found some bread and rice, a Dutch cheese, and some dry goat's flesh.

There had been some wheat, but the rats had got at it, and it was all gone.

My next task was to screen my goods from the spray of the sea; and it did not take me long to do this, for there were three large chests on board which held all, and these I put on the raft.

When the high tide came up it took off my coat and shirt, which I had left on the shore;

but there were some fresh clothes in the ship.

"See here is a prize!"

said I, out loud, (though there were none to hear me), "now I shall not starve."

For I found four large guns.

But how was my raft to be got to land?

I had no sail, no oars; and a gust of wind would make all my store slide off.

Yet there were three things which I was glad of; a calm sea, a tide which set in to the shore, and a slight breeze to blow me there.

I had the good luck to find some oars in a part of the ship, in which I had made no search till now.

With these I put to sea, and for half a mile my raft went well; but soon I found it drove to one side.

At length I saw a creek, to which, with some toil, I took my raft; and now the beach was so near, that I felt my oar touch the ground.

Here I had well nigh lost my freight, for the shore lay on a slope, so that there was no place to land on, save where one end of the raft would lie so high, and one end so low, that all my goods would fall off.

To wait till the tide came up was all that could be done.

So when the sea was a foot deep, I thrust the raft on a flat piece of ground, to moor her there, and stuck my two oars in the sand, one on each side of the raft.

Thus I let her lie till the ebb of the tide, and when it went down, she was left safe on land with all her freight.

I saw that there were birds on the isle, and I shot one of them.

Mine must have been the first gun that had been heard there since the world was made; for at the sound of it, whole flocks of birds flew up, with loud cries, from all parts of the wood.

The shape of the beak of the one I shot was like that of a hawk, but the claws were not so large.

I now went back to my raft to land my stores, and this took up the rest of the day.

What to do at night I knew not, nor where to find a safe place to land my stores on.

I did not like to lie down on the ground, for fear of beasts of prey, as well as snakes, but there was no cause for these fears, as I have since found.

I put the chests and boards round me as well as I could, and made a kind of hut for the night.

As there was still a great store of things left in the ship, which would be of use to me, I thought that I ought to bring them to land at once;

for I knew that the first storm would break up the ship.

So I went on board, and took good care this time not to load my raft too much.

The first thing, I sought for was the tool chest; and in it were some bags of nails, spikes, saws, knives, and such things: but best of all I found a stone to grind my tools on.

There were two or three flasks, some large bags of shot, and a roll of lead; but this last I had not the strength to hoist up to the ship's side, so as to get it on my raft.

There were some spare sails too which I brought to shore.

I had some fear lest my stores might be run off with by beasts of prey, if not by men; but I found all safe and sound when I went back, and no one had come there but a wild cat, which sat on one of the chests.

When I came up I held my gun at her, but as she did not know what a gun was, this did not rouse her.

She ate a piece of dry goat's flesh, and then took her leave.

Now that I had two freights of goods at hand, I made a tent with the ship's sails, to stow them in, and cut the poles for it from the wood.

I now took all the things out of the casks and chests, and put the casks in piles round the tent, to give it strength; and when this was done, I shut up the door with the boards, spread one of the beds (which I had brought from the ship) on the ground, laid two guns close to my head, and went to bed for the first time.

I slept all night, for I was much in need of rest.

The next day I was sad and sick at heart, for I felt how dull it was to be thus cut off from all the rest of the world.

I had no great wish for work: but there was too much to be done for me to dwell long on my sad lot.

Each day as it came, I went off to the wreck to fetch more things;

and I brought back as much as the raft would hold.

One day I had put too great a load on the raft, which made it sink down on one side, so that the goods were lost in the sea; but at this I did not fret, as the chief part of the freight was some rope, which would not have been of much use to me.

The twelve days that I had been in the isle were spent in this way, and I had brought to land all that one pair of hands could lift; though if the sea had been still calm, I might have brought the whole ship, piece by piece.

The last time I swam to the wreck, the wind blew so hard, that I made up my mind to go on board next time at low tide.

I found some tea and some gold coin; but as to the gold, it made me laugh to look at it.

"O drug!"

said I, "Thou art of no use to me!

I care not to save thee.

Stay where thou art, till the ship go down, then go thou with it!"

Still, I thought I might as well just take it; so I put it in a piece of the sail, and threw it on deck that I might place it on the raft.

Bye-and-bye, the wind blew from the shore, so I had to swim back with all speed; for I knew that at the turn of the tide, I should find it hard work to get to land at all.

But in spite of the high wind, I came to my home all safe.

At dawn of day I put my head out, and cast my eyes on the sea.

When lo!

no ship was there!

This change in the face of things, and the loss of such a friend, quite struck me down.

Yet I was glad to think that I had brought to shore all that could be of use to me.

I had now to look out for some spot where I could make my home.

Half way up a hill there was a small plain, four or five score feet long, and twice as broad; and as it had a full view of the sea, I thought that it would be a good place for my house.

I first dug a trench round a space which took in twelve yards; and in this I drove two rows of stakes, till they stood firm like piles, five and a half feet from the ground.

I made the stakes close and tight with bits of rope; and put small sticks on the top of them in the shape of spikes.

This made so strong a fence that no man or beast could get in.

The door of my house was on the top, and I had to climb up to it by steps, which I took in with me, so that no one else might come up by the same way.

Close to the back of the house stood a high rock, in which I made a cave, and laid all the earth that I had dug out of it round my house, to the height of a foot and a half.

I had to go out once a day in search of food.

The first time, I saw some goats, but they were too shy and swift of foot, to let me get near them.

At last I lay in wait for them close to their own haunts.

If they saw me in the vale, though they might be on high ground, they would run off, wild with fear; but if they were in the vale, and I on high ground, they took no heed of me.

The first goat I shot had a kid by her side, and when the old one fell, the kid stood near her, till I took her off on my back, and then the young one ran by my side.

I put down the goat, and brought the kid home to tame it; but as it was too young to feed, I had to kill it.