c12

Chapter 12
Making Plans
After I had finished making my guests comfortable, I thought they must be hungry. I sent Friday to kill a nice young goat. When he had done this, I took the goats skin off, and then cut the meat into pieces. I gave one of the pieces to Friday and asked him to boil it and make a soup for our guests.
When the soup was hot, I added some barley and rice to it. When the meal was cooked, I told Friday to bring a small table for us to eat on. When Friday had brought the table and set the stew upon it, I called his father and the Spaniard from their tent where they were asleep.
Friday and I decided to eat with them, to cheer them up. I thought they might be frightened at being far from their countries. Friday was my translator, so I could ask his father questions. The Spaniard spoke the language of Friday's people very well. As Friday had told me, he was one of the white men who had lived with Friday's people.
"Do you think your enemies will return to this island?" I asked Friday's father.
The old savage shook his head. "They have never seen these guns before. You killed many of them with your magic very quickly. They are so scared of you that they will not dare to come back here."
'And if they do come back," I thought, "now that there are four of us we will be able to fight many of them!,,
When the meal was finished, I told Friday to return to the beach and gather any guns we might have left there. I also told him to bury the dead savages.
As the days passed, the Spanish man became my friend. He told me that there were sixteen other Spaniards living with Friday's people in their country. These men wanted to leave and sail to America.
"Well," I said to him, "now that there are four of us, we could build a big, strong boat that could take us to America. But can these men be trusted?"I asked.
"Don't worry" the Spaniard told me. "I'll make all of them promise to help you and be loyal to you, before we leave for America. If any man does not, he'll be sorry!"
So I decided we should build a large boat. As we walked through the woods, I decided which trees should be cut into pieces. We wanted to build a boat large enough to hold many people.
I made Friday and his father work, chopping down the trees. I showed the Spaniard some very large pieces of wood that I had taken from trees myself many years before when I was alone.
“We’ll need many pieces like these for a strong boat." I said, pointing to one very large piece. It was thirty-five feet long, two feet wide, and four inches thick.
"When do you want to sail?" he asked me. “As soon as the boat is ready!" I said. I wanted to leave in a few weeks, but he told me that we should wait for at least six months.
“Many men will be on the boat. We will need to have plenty of food to give them on the long journey to America." he said.
He was right. If the new ship was to carry twenty people, we would need much more food than I now had stored away.
The first thing we had to do was catch more goats. We would need a lot of meat, cheese, milk and butter. So I sent Friday and the Spaniard out to catch as many baby goats as they could. If the goats were babies, they would be friendlier
Fortunately I had many grapes in my garden at this time of year. I told Friday and his father to pick as many grapes as they could, and hang them in the sun. By the time the grapes had dried, we had enough raisins for a year!
Next, we cut down the corn and rice plants and gathered all the grain. By the time we had finished, we had plenty of corn and rice to feed all the people in our boat.
Then we made many baskets to keep our grain in. Friday and the Spaniard were both very good at this, because I had taught them how to do it.
When all these things were done, it was time to go and get the other Spaniards on the mainland.
I decided to send Friday's father and the Spaniard to the mainland first. This was because both of them spoke the language of Friday's people, and the Spaniard could talk to his men. Before they left, I told the Spaniard to tell his people that, if they wanted to come with us, they must promise never to attack Friday or me. They also had to be loyal to me.
They left in one of the canoes that had belonged to the savages. They both had many guns with them.
"Only shoot the guns in an emergency" I said. In my years on the island, I had learned to make supplies last for a long time, but we had to save the gun powder and bullets.
I gave them enough bread, dried meat, and dried grapes to feed them and the men they took with them. I gave them much more food than they needed.
Friday's father and the Spaniard left for the mainland on the 26th of October. We decided that when they got close to the island, they would make a signal in the water to tell us they had come back. Then, they began to sail. Friday and I watched until we could hardly see their canoe. Then we went back to my house.
第十二章
制定计划
把客人安顿好后，我想他们一定饿了。 我让星期五杀了一只肉质鲜嫩的小羊。杀 完后，我剥掉羊皮，把肉切成块。我把其 中一块递给星期五，让他煮熟，做成汤招 待客人。
汤烧热时，我在里面加了些大麦仁和 大米。饭做好了，我让星期五把小圆桌搬 来吃饭。星期五搬来桌子，把炖肉放在桌 上，我招呼他父亲和西班牙人从帐篷中出 来，他们都在里面睡着了。
为了使他们高兴，我和星期五决定跟 他们一起吃饭。我想因为远离他们的国家, 他们可能吓坏了。星期五是我的翻译，这 样我可以问他父亲问题了。西班牙人说一 口流利的土著话。星期五告诉我，西班牙 人是那些和他们的人住在一起的白人中的1员。
“你认为你们的敌人会回这个岛上吗?” 我问星期五的父亲。
这个年长的野人摇摇头说：“他们从未 见过枪。你用魔力顷刻间杀死他们那么多 人，他们吓坏了，不敢再来这儿了。”
“即使他们再来,”我心想，“我们有4 个人，可以打败他们许多人!”
吃完饭，我让星期五回海滩，收集我 们可能留在那儿的武器，并把死去的野人 埋了。
日子一天天过去，西班牙人成了我的 朋友。他告诉我还有16个西班牙人在星期 五的国家与野人生活在一起，他们想离开, 航行去美洲。
“那好吧,”我对他说，“既然我们有4 个人，我们可以造一艘又大又结实的船, 带我们去美洲。但这些人都可靠吗?”我问道。
“别担心，”那个西班牙人对我说，“我 会确保在我们动身去美洲前，让他们每个 人都发誓帮助你并效忠于你。如果有人不 肯的话，他会后悔的!”
于是，我决定造一艘大船。我们穿过 树林时，我挑了几棵树，计划锯成木板。 我们想造一艘足以载很多人的大船。
我让星期五和他父亲砍树。我给西班 牙人看了看一些多年前我单独待在岛上时 砍树制作的大块木板。
“我们需要许多像这样的木板来造一艘 结实的船。”我指着一块长35英尺、宽2 英尺、厚4英寸的大木板说道.
“你计划何时出航?”他问我。我说: “船一做好就动身我想在几周内出航, 但他建议我至少再等6个月。
“船上有很多人。我们需要大量的食物 供他们在去美洲的长途航行中吃。”他说。
他是对的。如果新船载20人，我们将 需要比我现在已经储藏的要多得多的食物。
第一件要干的事是捉更多的山羊。我 们会需要更多的肉、奶酪、奶和奶油。我 派星期五和西班牙人出去捕捉尽可能多的 小羊，因为越是幼崽越容易驯养。
幸运的是，这是一年中葡萄挂满枝头 的季节。我让星期五和他父亲尽量多摘些 葡萄，挂在太阳下晒。待葡萄晒干时，足 够吃一年的！
接着我们割玉米和稻子，打谷脱粒。 干完时，我们收了许多玉米和稻子，足够 船上所有的人吃的了。
然后，我们做了许多篮子存放谷物。 我教星期五和西班牙人怎样编篮子后，他 们俩做得相当不错。
所有这些干完后，我们该去大陆收拢 其他西班牙人了。我决定派星期五的父亲 和西班牙人先去大陆，因为他们两个人会 说野人话，西班牙人还可以跟他的人说话。 他们动身前，我告诉西班牙人让所有想和 我们一起的人发誓，决不攻击我和星期五。 他们也必须效忠于我。
他们带了很多枪，乘坐野人来岛上时 用的一条独木舟离开了。
“只有在紧急情况下才可开枪。”我说。 在岛上这么多年，我已经学会了省着使用 有限的资源，我们必须节约火药和子弹。
我给了他们足够的面包、干肉和葡萄 干，供他们及带回来的人吃。我给他们的 食物远远超过他们的需要。
星期五的父亲和西班牙人在10月26 日动身前往大陆。我们约定他们回岛时, 在水里发个信号告诉我们他们回来了。接 着，他们出航了。我和星期五一直望着, 直到看不见他们的独木舟。然后,我们回 到我的房子。