CHAPTER 25 – FATHER

When we were very close to the beach, we saw that the cannibals were around the fire. They started eating eat the first of their prisoners. The second prisoner was still alive. He wasn’t one of Friday’s people. He was European. The cannibals wanted to eat him too. I decided to save him if it was possible.

We moved closer to the cannibals but we were still hidden behind the trees. Twelve cannibals were still around the fire, but two cannibals went for the white man. When I saw this, I prepared the guns and I asked Friday to do the same. Then we fired quickly at the cannibals from six guns. We killed 3 and seriously injured 2 of the cannibals. The restjumped up. But they didn’t know where to run. They didn’t know from which direction the danger came. Some men ran to their canoes. Some cannibals stayed on the beach.

We continued to shoot and we shot three other cannibals. After that we took our guns and we ran to the beach. We shouted very loud. I ran to the prisoner and Friday shot the nearest cannibal. I freed the European. He said something in Spanish to me. I gave him a gun. He was weak but he could shoot from a gun if some cannibal attacked him.

The cannibals were shocked by our sudden attack. Our unusual guns scared them a lot. Only two cannibals tried to fight us. We shot them with our guns. Friday fought very well. He quickly killed one cannibal who was injured. The second injured cannibal ran into the forest. Friday ran after him and he killed him with his knife.

Only three cannibals were able to run away. They jumped into their canoe and they started to leave. Friday shot at the cannibals, but he didn’t hit them. It was dangerous to let them go because they could tell their people about us.

We wanted to jump into one canoe and follow the cannibals. But to our surprise, we found another man on the bottom of the canoe. He was scared. He didn’t see the fight. He only heard it. Ropes around his neck were very tight. He was in great pain and it was difficult for him to breathe.

I quickly cut the ropes. When Friday saw him, he started crying. Then he laughed and he hugged the man. Then he jumped and began dancing around him. Then he cried and laughed at the same time.

When the strongest emotions were gone, Friday told me that the prisoner was his father.

I felt tears in my eyes when I saw the son’s love for his father.

This happy incident delayed us and the cannibals were already gone.

Friday massaged his father’s hands and feet to bring more blood to them. Soon his father felt much better.

When they talked, Friday suddenly jumped up and ran to the forest as fast as he could.

When he came back, he had a bottle full of fresh water. He gave the water to his father who was extremely thirsty. After he drank, I asked Friday to give the rest of the water to the Spanish. He needed water very much too.

The Spanish thanked me a lot. He couldn’t walk. He was very weak. I asked Friday to massage his feet too. It helped him.

Then I asked the Spanish to go with Friday’s help to the canoe. We wanted to take them to our house. However, Friday was young and strong. He had a lot of power. He just took the Spanish on his back and carried him to the canoe. Then he carefully put him inside the canoe.