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. 265
truce is accepted. In thefe treaties, however, there
is one principal thing to be regarded, that neither
party come beyond one another’s three poles or
houghs; fo that the middle fpace is not only fe~
cure, but is alio allowed as a market for traffic and
commerce: When the truce is thus accepted, they
flick up their javelins and lances at the firft poles,
arid come on unarmed ; but if any violence is offer¬
ed, away they run to their poles, take up their wea¬
pons, and then the truce is at an end. This even¬
ing it happened that a greater number of people than
ufual, both men and women, traded among us for
fuch toys as we had, with fuch great civility, that
we made us a little tent of large boughs of trees,
fome of the men refolving'to lie on ffiore all night.
But, for my part, I and fome others took our lod¬
ging in the boat, with boughs of trees fpread over it,
having a fail fpread at the bottom to lie upon. A-
bout two o’clock in the morning, we were awakened
by the firing of mufkets, and our men crying out
for help, or elfe they would all be murdered. Scarce
had we time to get the boat afhore, when our men
came plunging themfelves into the water, with a-
bout four hundred of the iflanders at their heels.
We took up feven of the men, three of them very
much wounded, and one left behind killed, while
the enemy poured their arrows fo thick among us,
that we were forced to make a barricade, with boards
lying.at the fide of the boat, to ffiield us from dan¬
ger : And having got ready our fire-arms, we re¬
turned them a volley, which wounded feveral of
them, as we could hear by their cries. In this con¬
dition we lay till break of day, and then making
fignals of diftrefs to the fhip, which my nephew the
captain heard and underftood, he weighed anchor
and flood as near the ffiore as poffible, and then
fent another boat with ten hands in her to affifl us;
but we called to them not to come near, informing
Z , ■ them