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第0章 风魔盗

　　They were going on in this little thriving position when the threeunnatural rogues, their own countrymen too, in mere humour, and toinsult them, came and bullied them, and told them the island wastheirs: that the governor, meaning me, had given them thepossession of it, and nobody else had any right to it; and thatthey should build no houses upon their ground unless they would payrent for them. The two men, thinking they were jesting at first,asked them to come in and sit down, and see what fine houses theywere that they had built, and to tell them what rent they demanded;and one of them merrily said if they were the ground-landlords, hehoped if they built tenements upon their land, and madeimprovements, they would, according to the custom of landlords,grant a long lease: and desired they would get a scrivener to drawthe writings. One of the three, cursing and raging, told them theyshould see they were not in jest; and going to a little place at adistance, where the honest men had made a fire to dress t

r, and get leave for me personally, with the captain and onemore, besides eight seamen, to come on shore, and no more; and thisupon condition, absolutely capitulated for, that we should notoffer to land any goods out of the ship, or to carry any personaway without licence. They were so strict with us as to landingany goods, that it was with extreme difficulty that I got on shorethree bales of English goods, such as fine broadcloths, stuffs, andsome linen, which I had brought for a present to my partner.

　　He at first objected to my plan as useless, seeing that, owing tothe gross ignorance of the people, they could not be brought toprofit by the lesson I meant to teach them; and added that, fromhis knowledge of the country and its customs, he feared we shouldfall into great peril by giving offence to these brutal idolworshippers. This somewhat stayed my purpose, but I was stilluneasy all that day to put my project in execution; and thatevening, meeting the Scots merchant in our walk about the town, Iagain called upon him to aid me in it. When he found me resolutehe said that, on further thoughts, he could not but applaud thedesign, and told me I should not go alone, but he would go with me;but he would go first and bring a stout fellow, one of hiscountrymen, to go also with us; "and one," said he, "as famous forhis zeal as you can desire any one to be against such devilishthings as these." So we agreed to go, only we three and my man-servant, and resolved to put it in execution the following nightabout mid

　　The next day, giving them a salute of five guns at parting, we setsail, and arrived at the bay of All Saints in the Brazils in abouttwenty-two days, meeting nothing remarkable in our passage butthis: that about three days after we had sailed, being becalmed,and the current setting strong to the ENE., running, as it were,into a bay or gulf on the land side, we were driven something outof our course, and once or twice our men cried out, "Land to theeastward!" but whether it was the continent or islands we could nottell by any means. But the third day, towards evening, the seasmooth, and the weather calm, we saw the sea as it were coveredtowards the land with something very black; not being able todiscover what it was till after some time, our chief mate, going upthe main shrouds a little way, and looking at them with aperspective, cried out it was an army. I could not imagine what hemeant by an army, and thwarted him a little hastily. "Nay, sir,"says he, "don't be angry, for 'tis an army, and a fleet too

　　"Why, then, sir," says he, "I will take the liberty you give me;and there are three things, which, if I am right, must stand in theway of God's blessing upon your endeavours here, and which I shouldrejoice, for your sake and their own, to see removed. And, sir, Ipromise myself that you will fully agree with me in them all, assoon as I name them; especially because I shall convince you, thatevery one of them may, with great ease, and very much to yoursatisfaction, be remedied. First, sir," says he, "you have herefour Englishmen, who have fetched women from among the savages, andhave taken them as their wives, and have had many children by themall, and yet are not married to them after any stated legal manner,as the laws of God and man require. To this, sir, I know, you willobject that there was no clergyman or priest of any kind to performthe ceremony; nor any pen and ink, or paper, to write down acontract of marriage, and have it signed between them. And I knowalso, sir, what the Spaniard governor has t

　　R.C. - Pray, Will, let us know what passed between you and yourwife; for I know something of it already.

　　In what he said there seemed so much sincerity of repentance, thatit painfully affected me. I could not but reflect that I, too, hadshortened the life of a good, tender father by my bad conduct andobstinate self-will. I was, indeed, so surprised with what he hadtold me, that I thought, instead of my going about to teach andinstruct him, the man was made a teacher and instructor to me in amost unexpected manner.

　　Being now on the march, we felt little of the ground we trod on;and being guided by the fire, we kept no path, but went directly tothe place of the flame. If the noise of the guns was surprising tous before, the cries of the poor people were now quite of anothernature, and filled us with horror. I must confess I was never atthe sacking a city, or at the taking a town by storm. I had heardof Oliver Cromwell taking Drogheda, in Ireland, and killing man,woman, and child; and I had read of Count Tilly sacking the city ofMagdeburg and cutting the throats of twenty-two thousand of allsexes; but I never had an idea of the thing itself before, nor isit possible to describe it, or the horror that was upon our mindsat hearing it. However, we went on, and at length came to thetown, though there was no entering the streets of it for the fire.The first object we met with was the ruins of a hut or house, orrather the ashes of it, for the house was consumed; and just beforeit, plainly now to be seen by the light of th

　　Before I went from their quarter they all came to me and told methey had been considering what I had said; that they were glad tohear I had a clergyman in my company, and they were very willing togive me the satisfaction I desired, and to be formally married assoon as I pleased; for they were far from desiring to part withtheir wives, and that they meant nothing but what was very honestwhen they chose them. So I appointed them to meet me the nextmorning; and, in the meantime, they should let their wives know themeaning of the marriage law; and that it was not only to preventany scandal, but also to oblige them that they should not forsakethem, whatever might happen.