renew any of my
contrivances against them, or be provoked, by any advantage which might
present itself, to fall upon them; only this I did, I went and removed
my boat, which I had on the other side of the island, and carried it
down to the east end of the whole island, where I ran it into a little
cove which I found under some high rocks, and where I knew, by reason of
the currents, the savages durst not, at least would not, come with their
boats upon any account whatsoever.

With my boat I carried away every thing that I had left there belonging
to her, though not necessary for the bare going thither; viz. a mast and
sail, which I had made for her, and a thing like an anchor, but indeed
which could not be called either anchor or grappling; however, it was
the best I could make of its kind. All these I removed, that there might
not be the least shadow of any discovery, or any appearance of any boat,
or of any habitation upon the island.

Besides this, I kept myself, as I said, more retired than ever, and
seldom went from my cell, other than upon my constant employment, viz.
to milk my she-goats, and manage my little flock in the wood, which, as
it was quite on the other part of the island, was quite out of danger:
for certain it is, that these savage people, who sometimes haunted this
island, never came with any thoughts of finding any thing here, and
consequently never wandered off from the coast; and I doubt not but they
might have been several times on shore, after my apprehensions of them
had made me cautious, as well as before; and indeed I looked back with
some horror upon the thoughts of what my condition would have been, if I
had chopped upon them, and been discovered before that, when naked and
unarmed, except with one gun, and that loaded often only with small
shot. I walked every where, peeping and peering about the island, to see
what I could get: what a surprise should I have been in, if, when I
discovered the print of a man's foot, I had instead of that seen fifteen
or twenty savages, and found them pursuing me, and, by the swiftness of
their running, no possibility of my escaping them!

The thoughts of this sometimes sunk my very soul within me, and
distressed my mind so much, that I could not soon recover it; to think
what I should have done, and how I not only should not have been able to
resist them, but even should not have had presence of mind enough to do
what I might have done; much less what no