CHAPTER SIX

The Island

For a while I lay on the sand, almost asleep. I kept thanking God for saving me. But when I finally stood up and walked along the beach, I almost wished I had drowned along with the rest of the men. The horror of my situation hit me. I had been saved, but I was alone. Everyone else was dead.

I looked out to sea and saw the broken ship floating in the ocean. It seemed as if the giant waves would swallow it. "God," I said, "why did you save me! I will never survive here alone!"

My situation seemed hopeless. I was wet and had no other clothes with me. I had no food or drink, and I did not know whether I could find food or water on the island. As I looked around me, terrible ideas came into my head. Wild animals might attack me, or worse, savages might eat me. I had nothing to fight with. All I had in my pockets were a small knife, a pipe, and some old tobacco.

By this time it was getting dark, and I had to find somewhere warm and dry to sleep. I decided to spend the night underneath a large tree that was nearby. I was extremely thirsty, and hoped to find water. I had to have fresh water to drink or I would certainly die.

You can imagine how happy I was when I found a little stream of fresh water. I drank as much as I wanted, then I chewed some tobacco so I wouldn't be hungry. On my way back to the large tree, I cut myself a branch to use in case animals attacked me. Then I laid down in the warm sand under the tree.

With all my fears of animals and savages, I didn't think I could sleep. But I was so tired that the next thing I knew it was morning. The sun shone and the sea was a beautiful deep blue.

When I looked out at the ocean, I saw that the sea had moved the ship on to the land. It hadn't sunk into the water! It had landed on the beach about two miles away from me.

I walked along the beach towards the ship, until my path was blocked by an inlet, which is a little body of water about half a mile wide. I returned to my tree to think about how to cross the inlet and get to the ship.

Just after noon, I walked back to the inlet and found that the water was not deep. I could walk in the water to within four hundred yards of the ship. I saw that it was not very broken. If we had only stayed on the ship, my friends would have been alive now. The thought that they had drowned for no reason brought tears to my eyes.

The sun had dried my clothes by now, so I took them off and swam over to the ship. When I got there, I saw that it was so high out of the water that I couldn't climb aboard without help.

But as I swam around it, I saw a piece of rope hanging over the side. It was terribly hard work, but I was able to pull myself up using the rope.

Once I was on the ship, I saw that although it was very wet, most of the ship's supplies were not damaged. Now I could eat!

I filled my mouth with some biscuits and put as many as I could hold into my pockets. I drank some rum, which made my body feel better. I began to feel hope for the first time that I could survive in this place.

The ship had a lot of food and supplies, which was lucky for me. But I knew that if there was another storm, the ship could be pulled out into the deep water again. I could not reach it there. I had to get as much food and supplies onto the island as I could, while the good weather lasted. To do that, I had to build myself a raft.

I found some pieces of wood and, after tying rope to each one so they wouldn't float away, threw them into the water. Then I jumped into the water and pulled them towards me. I tied together four of the pieces at both ends. Then I tied three or four shorter pieces of wood crosswise, on top of them.

I climbed onto my raft. I quickly realized that, although the raft could carry me, it was not strong enough to carry anything else. So I had to climb back into the ship and begin to cut a spare board into three large pieces of wood. What hard work that was!

When I tied these pieces to my raft, I saw that it was now large and strong enough to carry me and many supplies back to the beach.

I put cheese, bread, rice, dried goat's meat, and some corn into some empty boxes, and then loaded them onto my raft. I was also happy to find some liquor! While I was putting the liquor into the boxes, I saw that the only clothes I had were now floating out to sea. So all I had in the world were the trousers I was wearing!

Fortunately I found some clothes in the men's rooms, and took what I needed.

Next, I found a tool box. These tools would soon become more valuable to me than gold. I found two guns for shooting birds, two pistols, powder and bullets.

My raft now had food, tools, and weapons. But just as I was about to leave I heard two loud "Miaows!"

Looking around, I saw the ship's two cats. Smiling to myself, I picked them up and put them on the raft.

Just as I was about to leave, I heard something splash into the water. It was the ship's dog! I was very glad to see him, because he was a friendly animal and would be good company.

Small waves carried the raft to the shore. I used a piece of mast as an oar, and was able to take the raft into a little cove where I tied it up.

From then on, the dog was with me until he died many years later. I did not see the ship's cats again for many months. As soon as we were on dry land, they ran away into the forest.

Now that my supplies were safe, I wanted to explore the land, and know what kind of a place it was. First I had to find a good place to build a shelter.

As I looked around, I saw a hill about a mile away. I took a gun and walked towards it.

I was very tired by the time I reached the hill, but I forced myself to climb up and look around.

I saw no sign of human life. There were no fires or small houses or children playing.

I was alone, with no other person close by for many, many miles.

I went back to the raft and started to unload it, which took me the rest of the day.

When night came, I made myself a little house from the chests and boards from the raft.

I lay in the sand, wondering how I would live. I knew I would have to work very hard if I wanted to survive. I decided to return to the ship early the next morning, for the next storm that came might break it, or drag it out into the ocean.

I also decided not to rebuild the raft. Instead I would swim out to the ship and make a new raft once again.

The next morning, I took more tools and guns from the ship. I also took more clothes and a hammock for a bed.

As I rowed back to shore, I worried that all my food had been eaten by wild animals while I was gone. That would be too terrible, for I did not know what else I would eat. When I arrived at my shelter, I did see a wild cat sniffing the food, but she ran off as soon as she saw me, then sat down and looked at me.

I pointed my gun at her, but she didn't move. She looked hungry, so I threw her a biscuit. She ate it, and then looked at me as if to say, "Now give me some meat!"

But I could not give her any meat, and she ran off a moment later.

I began to make a tent using some wooden poles and a sail from the ship. When it was ready, I put all the food inside it so it would be safe.

Next, I made a wall from the empty boards and boxes for more protection from the wind and wild animals.

I made a door from some other boards, and spread out sheets for a bed. Then I had a meal of dried meat, cheese and some corn. I was so hungry that it was like a feast. With two guns close by, I felt safe and soon fell asleep.

When I woke up I felt much better. I looked around me and laughed. I must have had more guns in that tent than any one ever had!

During the next few days, I swam back to the ship when the water was low. Using little rafts, I brought back many supplies. I took anything that I thought I could use, now or in the future.

After five or six trips, I thought I had taken everything the ship had. But then I found a great store of biscuits, rum, sugar and flour.

By the time I had been there for thirteen days, I had been back to the ship eleven times. I had brought back every tool, piece of food, and weapon I found.

"There can't be anything else left," I thought as I went back for the twelfth time. But on that trip, I discovered a large box that had some knives and forks. I also found many English and Brazilian coins.

"I can't use any of these things!" I said. But I decided to take the things anyway. I had just gotten into the water when a strong wind began to blow. Quickly I swam ashore.

I soon reached my little tent. I lay there safe and warm, and watched the storm. It lasted most of the night.

Despite all the thunder and rain, I slept well. The next morning, when I looked out to sea, the ship had disappeared.

You can imagine how relieved and happy I was! I had worked so hard to take everything useful from the ship, and I was rewarded for it.

In the last two weeks, I had been so busy that I did not worry about being attacked by wild animals or savages. But I knew my little tent would not protect me, so I decided to move to a safer place.

"Should I look for a cave or build a stronger tent?" I thought.

Wherever I went, the water nearby must be fresh. It should offer shade from the sun and safety from animals or savages. I wanted to be able to see the ocean from my house, in case I saw a passing ship.

Soon I found some flat ground that was near a large hill. This flat area was very large, So that if anything was coming I would see it.

There was a small hole in the hill. It looked like the entrance to a cave.

On one of the sides, the hill ran down to the sea. I was on the other side, and so I would be protected from the sun's terrible heat each day.

There was a very small cave in the hill. I decided to live there, on the flat ground in front of the cave. It was the best place to live that I had found on the island.

Within a week I had built a strong house made of wood poles I had cut from trees. There was a tent for my supplies, made from a sail from the ship, and a high, sharp fence to protect me from anything that might attack. I had food, guns, fresh water, and a good place to live, so I was happy.

While I was building my house I often stopped to go hunting. I was happy to find goats eating grass in the fields. At first the goats were so fast it was difficult to shoot them. But, if I was standing on the rocks above the fields, the goats did not see me and I could kill one of them.

The first goat I shot was a female goat that had a baby with her. When I picked up the older animal and carried her home on my shoulders, the baby goat followed me. I tried to feed the little animal, so she would become friendly to me. If I tamed the baby, I could use her milk to make cheese later. But sadly, she would not eat, so I had to kill her for food.

After my new home was built, I began to decorate it. I had never built furniture before, but I made myself a table and chair with some pieces of wood from my rafts, and the tools from the ship.

I also cut down more trees, and with that wood, I made shelves along one side of my little cave to put my tools and guns on.

During this time, I began to keep a record of what I did every day. I continued to do this until my ink started to run low.

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