d I
cannot but advise all considering men, whose lives are attended with such
extraordinary incidents as mine, or even though not so extraordinary, not
to slight such secret intimations of Providence, let them come from what
invisible intelligence they will. That I shall not discuss, and perhaps
cannot account for; but certainly they are a proof of the converse of
spirits, and a secret communication between those embodied and those
unembodied, and such a proof as can never be withstood; of which I shall
have occasion to give some remarkable instances in the remainder of my
solitary residence in this dismal place.

I believe the reader of this will not think it strange if I confess that
these anxieties, these constant dangers I lived in, and the concern that
was now upon me, put an end to all invention, and to all the contrivances
that I had laid for my future accommodations and conveniences. I had the
care of my safety more now upon my hands than that of my food. I cared
not to drive a nail, or chop a stick of wood now, for fear the noise I
might make should be heard: much less would I fire a gun for the same
reason: and above all I was intolerably uneasy at making any fire, lest
the smoke, which is visible at a great distance in the day, should betray
me. For this reason, I removed that part of my business which required
fire, such as burning of pots and pipes, &c., into my new apartment in
the woods; where, after I had been some time, I found, to my unspeakable
consolation, a mere natural cave in the earth, which went in a vast way,
and where, I daresay, no savage, had he been at the mouth of it, would be
so hardy as to venture in; nor, indeed, would any man else, but one who,
like me, wanted nothing so much as a safe retreat.

The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rock, where, by
mere accident (I would say, if I did not see abundant reason to ascribe
all such things now to Providence), I was cutting down some thick
branches of trees to make charcoal; and before I go on I must observe the
reason of my making this charcoal, which was this--I was afraid of making
a smoke about my habitation, as I said before; and yet I could not live
there without baking my bread, cooking my meat, &c.; so I contrived to
burn some wood here, as I had seen done in England, under turf, till it
became chark or dry coal: and then putting the fire out, I preserved the
coal to carry home, and perform the other services for