When one of them awoke
But it was so heavy
With that they gave it up
master [ˈmɑ:stǝ], haste [ˈheɪst], mutton [ˈmʌt(ǝ)n], foe [ˈfǝu], cautious [ˈkɔ:ʃǝs], purpose [ˈpǝ:pǝs], untie [ˈʌnˈtaɪ]
I PASS over some wonderful things that happened during my last year on the island. For I must not make this story too long.
I was fast asleep in my castle one morning when Friday came running in. "O master, master!" he cried, "a boat, a boat!"
I jumped up and went out as quickly as could. I was in such haste that I forgot to carry my gun with me.
I looked toward the sea. About three miles from the shore I saw a strange boat coming to the island. It carried a leg-of-mutton sail and was coming swiftly with the wind. "Surely," I thought, "this is not the kind of boat that savages sail in."
Then I saw that it was coming not from the open sea on my side of the island, but from around a point on the south shore.
I ran back to my castle and told Friday to stay inside and keep quiet till we could learn whether the people in the boat were friends or foes.
Then I climbed up to my lookout on the top of the great rock.
I looked out toward the south shore, and there I saw a ship lying at anchor. As nearly as I could guess, it was about five miles from my castle and at least three miles from the shore.
It looked just like an English ship, and the boat was surely an English longboat.
I cannot tell you how glad I was at the thought that some of my own countrymen were so near. Yet I felt strange fears, and so made up my mind to be very cautious.
In the first place, what business could an English ship have in these seas? The English had no lands in this part of the world. They would not come here to trade. There had been no storms to drive the vessel to this place.
The more I thought of the matter, the more I doubted. If these people were indeed English, they must be here for no good purpose.
By this time the boat was quite near the shore. I could see the men in it quite plainly. They looked like Englishmen.
As they came in the tide was at its highest, and so they ran the boat far up on the beach about half a mile from me.
I now counted eleven men, and all but three were armed with swords. As soon as the boat touched the land, the most of them jumped out.
Then I saw that the three unarmed men were prisoners. Their hands were tied behind them and they were closely guarded.