We Make Plans for Traveling
Soon Friday could speak well enough to tell me about his people and his country. He had been to my island before and knew all about the sea current around it. He told me, there were bearded white men like me, who lived to the west of his country. My hopes of a rescue rose again. For I thought these men must be Spaniards, who had settled in parts of South America.
When I asked him if we could reach them, Friday said, “Yes, yes, you may go in two canoes.” At first, I could not understand what his words meant. Then he explained that I would need a boat as big as two canoes.
As he began to understand me better and better, I told him how people lived and worshipped in England. I also told him the story of my shipwreck and took him to see the lifeboat in which I had escaped. It lay in ruins in the exact spot where it had been washed up years ago. Friday looked at it and said:
“What if I made a canoe for you?”
But Friday told me that he did not wish to return to his home alone without me.
“If I got with you, they will kill and eat me,” I said.
“No, no. I make them no eat you,” he assured me. “I make them much love you. You teach them to pray to God and live a new life.”
I showed him the canoe I had kept on the other side of the island. But he said that it was too small for us to travel so far. We decided to build a new boat. The first thing was to find a tree big enough for our needs. It was not difficult to find a suitable tree for there were plenty of them on the island. What we needed was to find one close to the water. So that we could launch our boat when it was ready.
Last Friday found the right tree. He wanted to burn a hole in it to hollow it out. But I showed him how to cut it with tools. He was a quick learner and soon learned how to use an axe well. This work took us a month to finish. It was another fortnight before we could bring the boat down to the water.
“You have hardly enough corn for the four of us,” he said, “and certainly not enough to feed all my countrymen and fill a ship with supplies. We must dig the fresh ground, and plant more corn first.” We planted plenty of corn, knowing that in six months we would have a very good supply.
Meanwhile, I chose several trees, and together we cut them down and made them into planks for the new boat. I also caught twenty young goats to add to my herd. Above all, it was the season for gathering grapes. When dried, these filled several barrels.
It was harvest time soon and our crop was good. We had more than enough for our needs and to last us till the next harvest season. Now we had a full supply of food for all the guests I expected. So I gave the Spaniard leave to go over and bring them.
They took one of the canoes left behind by the savages and stocked it with enough food to last their trip to the mainland and back. I also gave them a gun each and ammunition for any emergency. On their return, the Spaniard was to fire a gun twice, as a signal. This was to let me know that it was friends and not savages, who were landing on my island.
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I was amazed at the skill with which Friday could paddle and turn the huge boat, for it was large enough to seat twenty men. I decided to fit the boat with a mast and sails. Friday was given the job of cutting down a young cedar tree for the mast.
I looked through the old pieces of sail I had kept with me all these years. Most of them were rotten but I managed to find two pieces, which appeared to be in good condition. After many hours of stitching, I made a three-cornered sail, which I hoped would be good enough for our purpose.
This work took me almost two months to complete. From rigging to fitting the mast and galls. To make the boat still more serviceable, I fixed a rudder to the back. Friday knew very well how to paddle but he had no idea at all how to make use of the sail and the rudder.
He was amazed when he saw me change the direction of the boat by moving the rudder. However, the fast learner that he was, he learned to sail the boat as quickly as he had learned everything else. Twenty-seven years had now passed since my arrival on the island. For the first time, I was truly hopeful that I would be able to escape before another year was over.
“You have hardly enough corn for the four of us,” he said, “and certainly not enough to feed all my countrymen and fill a ship with supplies. We must dig the fresh ground, and plant more corn first.” We planted plenty of corn, knowing that in six months we would have a very good supply.
Meanwhile, I chose several trees, and together we cut them down and made them into planks for the new boat. I also caught twenty young goats to add to my herd. Above all, it was the season for gathering grapes. When dried, these filled several barrels.
It was harvest time soon and our crop was good. We had more than enough for our needs and to last us till the next harvest season. Now we had a full supply of food for all the guests I expected. So I gave the Spaniard leave to go over and bring them.
They took one of the canoes left behind by the savages and stocked it with enough food to last their trip to the mainland and back. I also gave them a gun each and ammunition for any emergency. On their return, the Spaniard was to fire a gun twice, as a signal. This was to let me know that it was friends and not savages, who were landing on my island.
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