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第7章 相思尽头菩提树

e.They seemed sorry at first that there was no way to come at them,to give them a parting blow; but, upon the whole, they were verywell satisfied to be rid of them.

　　Having resolved upon this, they next considered whether they shouldfire at the first two, or wait for the three, and so take themiddle party, by which the two and the five that followed would beseparated; at length they resolved to let the first two pass by,unless they should spy them the tree, and come to attack them. Thefirst two savages confirmed them also in this resolution, byturning a little from them towards another part of the wood; butthe three, and the five after them, came forward directly to thetree, as if they had known the Englishmen were there. Seeing themcome so straight towards them, they resolved to take them in a lineas they came: and as they resolved to fire but one at a time,perhaps the first shot might hit them all three; for which purposethe man who was to fire put three or four small bullets into hispiece; and having a fair loophole, as it were, from a broken holein the tree, he took a sure aim, without being seen, waiting tillthey were within about thirty yards of the tree, so th

s careliving in a total neglect of God and His commands. It is not yourmen being Protestants, whatever my opinion may be of such, thatdischarges me from being concerned for their souls, and fromendeavouring, if it lies before me, that they should live in aslittle distance from enmity with their Maker as possible,especially if you give me leave to meddle so far in your circuit."

" - "Well, sir," says he, with asmile, "if you think yourself secure you must take your chance; buttake my advice, if you do not put to sea immediately, you will thevery next tide be attacked by five longboats full of men, andperhaps if you are taken you will be hanged for a pirate, and theparticulars be examined afterwards. I thought, sir," added he, "Ishould have met with a better reception than this for doing you apiece of service of such importance." - "I can never beungrateful," said I, "for any service, or to any man that offers meany kindness; but it is past my comprehension what they should havesuch a design upon me for: however, since you say there is no timeto be lost, and that there is some villainous design on handagainst me, I will go on board this minute, and put to seaimmediately, if my men can stop the leak; but, sir," said I, "shallI go away ignorant of the cause of all this? Can you give me nofurther light into it?"

　　I stood still an hour or thereabouts without trespassing on ourorders (for so long the caravan was in passing the gate), to lookat it on every side, near and far off; I mean what was within myview: and the guide, who had been extolling it for the wonder ofthe world, was mighty eager to hear my opinion of it. I told himit was a most excellent thing to keep out the Tartars; which hehappened not to understand as I meant it and so took it for acompliment; but the old pilot laughed! "Oh, Seignior Inglese,"says he, "you speak in colours." - "In colours!" said I; "what doyou mean by that?" - "Why, you speak what looks white this way andblack that way - gay one way and dull another. You tell him it is

　　I was most sensibly touched with this disaster, though not at allacquainted with the persons engaged in it; I presently recollectedmy former circumstances, and what condition I was in when taken upby the Portuguese captain; and how much more deplorable thecircumstances of the poor creatures belonging to that ship must be,if they had no other ship in company with them. Upon this Iimmediately ordered that five guns should be fired, one soon afteranother, that, if possible, we might give notice to them that therewas help for them at hand and that they might endeavour to savethemselves in their boat; for though we could see the flames of theship, yet they, it being night, could see nothing of us.

　　By this time I was a little recovered. I thought, when I firstbegan to wake, that I had been in a sweet sleep; but, as I saidabove, I wondered where I was, how I came upon the ground, and whatwas the matter. A few moments after, as sense returned, I feltpain, though I did not know where; so I clapped my hand to my head,and took it away bloody; then I felt my head ache: and in a momentmemory returned, and everything was present to me again. I jumpedupon my feet instantly, and got hold of my sword, but no enemieswere in view: I found a Tartar lying dead, and his horse standingvery quietly by him; and, looking further, I saw my deliverer, whohad been to see what the Chinese had done, coming back with hishanger in his hand. The old man, seeing me on my feet, camerunning to me, and joyfully embraced me, being afraid before that Ihad been killed. Seeing me bloody, he would see how I was hurt;but it was not much, only what we call a broken head; neither did Iafterwards find any great inconvenience from the

fely, and an excellentmanager; fit, indeed, to have been governess to the whole island;and she knew very well how to behave in every respect.

　　The company was very great, and, as near as I can remember, madebetween three and four hundred horses, and upwards of one hundredand twenty men, very well armed and provided for all events; for asthe Eastern caravans are subject to be attacked by the Arabs, soare these by the Tartars. The company consisted of people ofseveral nations, but there were above sixty of them merchants orinhabitants of Moscow, though of them some were Livonians; and toour particular satisfaction, five of them were Scots, who appearedalso to be men of great experience in business, and of very goodsubstance.