The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1917-07-07
"RobinsonCrusoe"
By Daniel Defoe

,tress, and to obtain help. had the
presence of mind, at that minute,
to think that tho | could not help
them, 1t might be they might help
me; so | brought together all the
dry wood could get at hand. and,
making a god handsome pile, l set
it on fire upon the hill
The wood was dry, and blazed
freely; and tho the wind blew very
hard, yet 1t burned fairly out. so
that 1t was certain, II there was
any such thing as a ship, they
must need see 1t, and no doubt they
did; for as soon as ever my fire
blazed up, | heard another gun,
and after that several others, all
from the same quarter. piled my
fire all night long, till daybreak;
and when it was broad day and the
air cleared up, | saw something at
great distance at sea, full east of
the island, whether a sail tr a hull
| could not distinguish-no, not
with my glass; the distance was
so great and the weather still
something hay also-at least, it
was so out at sea.
looked frequently at it all that
day, and soon perceived that It did
not move; so presently concluded
that 1t was a ship at anchor, and
being eager, you may be sure, to
be satisfied, I took my gun in my
hand, and ran towards the south
side of the island, to the rocks
where I had formerly been carried
away with the current: and get
ting up there, the weather by this
time being perfectly clear, | could
plainly see, to my great sorrow, the
wreck of ship, cast away in the
night upon those concealed rocks
which | found when I was out In
my boat; and which rocks, as they
checked the violence of the stream,
and made kind of counterstream.
or eddy, were the occasion Of my
recovering from the most desper-
ate, hopeless condition that ever I
had been in in all my life.
Thus. what is one mans safety
is another mans destruction; for 1t
seems these men, whoever they
were, being out of the knowledge,
and the rocks being wholly under
water, had been driven upon them
in the night. the wind blowing
hard at e. and E. N. f. Had they
seen the island, as / must neces-
sarily suppose they did not, they
must, as I thought, have endeav-
ored to have saved themselves on
shore by the help of their boat;
but their firing off their guns for
help. especially when they saw, as
I imagined, my fire, filled me
with many thoughts. First, I i'm
agined that upon seeing my light,
they might have put themselves
into their boat, and endeavored to
make the shore; but that the sea
running very high, they might
have been cast away. other times,
| imagined that they might have
lost their boat before, as might be
the case many ways: as particu-
larry by the breaking of the sea
upon their ship, which many
times Obliged men to stave, or take
in pieces, their boat, and omse-
times to throw 1t overheard with
their own hands. Other times,
imagined they had some other
ship or ships in company, who,
upon the signals of distress they
made, had taken them up and car
ried them off. other times, ! fan
cied they were all gone to sea In
their boat, and being carried away
| by the current that / had been
formerly in. were carried out into
the great ocean, where there was
nothing but misery and perishing;
and that. perhaps, they might by
this time think of starving, and of
being in a condition to eat one
another.
As all these we're but coniec-
lures at best, SO, in the condition
I was in, / could do no more than
look in upon the misery of the
poor men, and pity them; which
had still good effect upon my
side, that 1t gave me more and
more cause to give thanks to God,
who had so happily and comfort
ably provided for me in my DESC
late condition; and that of two
ships companies, who we're now
cast away upon this part of the
world, not one life should be
spared but mine. learned here
again to observe, that 1t is very
rare that the providence OF God
casts up into any condition Of life
SO low, or any misery so great,
but we may see something or
other to be thankful for, and may
see others in worse circumstances
than our own.
Such certainly was the case Of
these men, of whom I could not
SO much as see room to suppose
any of them we're saved; nothing
could make 1t rational SO much as
to wish or expect that they did not
al tob