Accidents > Life and most surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, mariner, who lived eight and twenty years in an uninhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the great river Oroonoque

ROBINSON CRUSOE. 165
I fent the captain, to treat with them, in the Gover¬
nor’s name, offering them pardon, if they would afiift
him in recovering the fhip. Upon which they all pro-
mifed to ftand by him till the laft drop of their blood ;
and whoever adled treacheroufly fhould be hanged in
chains upon the beach. They were all releafcd on
thefe affurances; and then the captain repaired the
other boat, making his pafienger captain of her, with
four men well armed ; while his mate, himfelf, and five
men more, went in the other. By midnight they
came within call of the fhip, when the captain order¬
ed Robinfon to hale her, and tell thenj that, with great
difficulty, they had found the men at laft. But while
they were difcourfing, the captain, his mate, and the
reft entered, and knocked dcwn the fecond mate and
carpenter, fecured thof'e that were upon deck, by put¬
ting them under hatches, while the other boat’s crew
entered and fecured the forecaftle ; they then broke into
the round hcufe, where the mate, after fome refift-
ance, fhot the pirate captain through the head : up¬
on which all the reft yielded themfelves prifoners.
And thus the fhip being recovered, the joyful fignal
was fired, which I heard with the greateft joy imagi¬
nable : Nor was it long before he brought the fhip
to an anchbr at the creek’s mouth, when coming to
me unawares, There, fays he, my dearcjl friend and
deliverer, there is your Jhip, and we are your fervnnts ;
a comfort fo unfpeakable, as made me fwoon in his
arms, while, with .gratitude to heaven, we were
tenderly embracing each other.
Nothingnowremained,buttoconfult what we fhould
do with the prifoners, whom he thought it was not
fife to take on board. Hereupon, concerting with
the captain, 1 dreffed myfelf in one of his 1'uits, and
fending for them, told them, that as I was going to
leave the ifland with all my people, if they would tarry
there, their lives fhould be fpared ; if not, they fhould
be hanged at the firft port we came to. They agreed to
ftay. Hereupon I told them my whole ftory, char-
g’nS