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

270 ROBINSON CRUSOE.
at his heels, all of them covered with blood and duft,
and in fearch of more people to fatiate their ven¬
geance. As foon as we faw them, we called out, and
made them underftand who we were ; upon which,
they came up to us, fetting up a halloo of triumpll,
in token that more help was come. Noble Captain,
fa id he to my nephew, I’m glad you’re come : We
have not half done with thefe villanous hell-hound
dogs, we’ll root out the very nation of them from
the earth, and kill more than poor Tom has hairs
upon his head : And thus he went on till I interrupt¬
ed him. Blood-thirfty dog ! faid I, will your cruelty
never end ? I charge you to touch not one creature
more ; flop your hands, and Band ftill, or you’re a
dead man this moment. Why, Sir, faid he, you
neither know who you are protecting, nor what they
have done; but pray come hither, and behold an
inftance of compaffion, if fuch can merit your cle¬
mency; and with that he ihewed me the poor fel--
low with his throat cut, hanging upon the tree.
Indeed here was enough to fill their breafts with
rage, which however I thought had gone too far, a-
greeable to thefe words of Jacob to his fons Simeon
and Levi: Curfed be their anger for it zuas fercc ; and
their wrath for it was cruel. But this fight made my
nephew and the reft as bad as they; nay, my ne¬
phew declared, his concern was only for his men ;
as for the people, not a foul of them ought to live.
Upon this the baatfwain and eight more direClly turn¬
ed about, and went to finilh the intended tragedy;
which being out of my power to prevent, I returned
back both from the difmal fight, and the piteous
cries of thofe unfortunate creatures, who were made
victims to their fury. Indeed it was an egregious \
piece of folly in me to return to the boat with but
one attendant; and I had very near paid for it, ha¬
ving narrowly efcaped forty armed Indians, who had
been alarmed by the conflagration ; but having pafted
the