g
away with the ship; the consequence of which, they must needs know,
would be the gallows; so that I could not tell what was best for them,
unless they had a mind to take their fate in the island; if they desired
that, as I had liberty to leave the island, I had some inclination to
give them their lives, if they thought they could shift on shore. They
seemed very thankful for it, and said they would much rather venture to
stay there than 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 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 it, 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 I would stay that night to prepare my things, and desired
him to go on board, in the mean time, and keep all right in the ship,
and send the boat on shore next day for me; ordering him, at all events,
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 on their circumstances. I
told them I thought they had made a right choice; that if the captain
had carried them away, they would certainly be hanged. I showed them the
new 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; showed them my
fortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my corn, cured my
grapes; and, in a word, all that was necessary to make them easy. I told
them the story also of the seventeen Spaniards that were