uld not carry them to England,
other than as prisoners in irons to be tried for mutiny, and running
away with the ship; the consequence of which they must needs know, would
be the gallows; so that I could not tell which was best for them, unless
they had a mind to take their fate in the island; if they desired that,
I did not care, as I had liberty to leave it; I had some inclination to
give them their lives, if they thought they could shift on shore. They
seemed very thankful for it; said they would much rather venture to stay
there, than to be carried to England to be hanged; so I left it on
that issue.

However, the captain seemed to make some difficulty of it, as if he
durst not leave them there: upon this I seemed to be a little angry with
the captain, and told him, that they were my prisoners, not his; and
that seeing I had offered them so much favour, I would be as good as my
word; and that if he did not think fit to consent to it, I would set
them at liberty as I found them; and if he did not like that, he might
take them again if he could catch them.

Upon this they appeared very thankful, and I accordingly set them at
liberty, and bade them retire into the woods, to the place whence they
came, and I would leave them some fire-arms, some ammunition, and some
directions how they should live very well, if they thought fit.

Upon this, I prepared to go on board the ship; but told the captain,
that I would stay that night to prepare my things; and desired him to go
on board in the meantime, and keep all right in the ship, and send the
boat on shore the next day for me; ordering him in the meantime to cause
the new captain who was killed, to be hanged at the yard-arm, that these
men might see him.

When the captain was gone, I sent for the men up to me to my apartment,
and entered seriously into discourse with them of their circumstances: I
told them, I thought they had made a right choice; that if the captain
carried them away, they would certainly be hanged: I shewed them their
captain hanging at the yard-arm of the ship, and told them they had
nothing less to expect.

When they had all declared their willingness to stay, I then told them,
I would let them into the story of my living there, and put them into
the way of making it easy to them: accordingly I gave them the whole
history of the place, and of my coming to it: shewed them my
fortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my corn, cured my
grapes