his arm with a great cutlass (as the seamen call it) or sword,
to strike one of the poor men; and I expected to see him fall every
moment, at which all the blood in my body seemed to run chill in
my veins.

I wished heartily now for our Spaniard, and the savage that was gone
with him; or that I had any way to have come undiscovered within shot of
them, that I might have rescued the three men; for I saw no fire-arms
they had among them; but it fell out to my mind another way.

After I had observed the outrageous usage of the three men by the
insolent seamen, I observed the fellows ran scattering about the land,
as if they wanted to see the country. I observed also, that the three
other men had liberty to go where they pleased; but they sat down all
three upon the ground very pensive, and looked like men in despair.

This put me in mind of the finest time when I came on shore, and began
to look about me; how I gave myself over for lost, how wildly I looked
round me, what dreadful apprehensions I had, and how I lodged in the
tree all night for fear of being devoured by wild beasts.

As I knew nothing that night of the supply I was to receive by the
providential driving of the ship nearer the land, by the storms and
tides, by which I have since been so long nourished and supported; so
these three poor desolate men knew nothing how certain of deliverance
and supply they were, how near it was to them, and how effectually and
really they were in a condition of safety, at the same time they thought
themselves lost, and their case desperate.

So little do we see before us in the world, and so much reason have we
to depend cheerfully upon the great Maker of the world, that he does not
leave his creatures so absolutely destitute, but that in the worst
circumstances they have always something to be thankful for, and
sometimes are nearer their deliverance than they imagine; nay, are even
brought to their deliverance by the means by which they seem to be
brought to their destruction.

It was just at the top of high water when these people came on shore,
and while, partly they stood parleying with the prisoners they brought,
and partly while they rambled about to see what kind of place they were
in, they had carelessly staid till the tide was spent, and the water was
ebbed considerably away, leaving their boat aground.

They had left two men in the boat, who, as I found afterwards, having
drank a little too much brandy, fell as