And what were the words, my Mary, That say ?' did hear them And some they played with the water, "And this," they said, "shall speedily turn The poor old miller's mill; "For there has been no water "Oh, the miller how he will laugh, And some they seized the little winds, And each put a horn into his mouth, And blew so sharp and shrill. "And there," said they, "the Away from every horn; merry winds And those shall clear the mildew dank go, And some they brought the brown lintseed, And flung it down from the Low "And this," said they, "by the sunrise, In the weaver's croft shall grow!" And then upspoke a brownie, With a long beard on his chin "I have spun up all the tow," said he, "And want some more to spin. ""I've spun a piece of hempen cloth, 6 And an apron for her mother!" And with that I could not help but laugh, But, as I came from the hill-top, How busy the jolly miller was, And how merry the wheel did go! 'And I peeped into the widow's field, The yellow ears of the mildewed corn And down by the weaver's croft I stole, But I saw the weaver at his gate Now this is all I heard, mother, So, prithee, make my bed, mother, Mary Howitt. I was surprised, one morning early, with seeing no less than five canoes all on shore together, on my side of the island, and the people who belonged to them all landed, and out of my sight. Seeing so many, and knowing that they always came four, or six, or sometimes more, in a boat, I could not tell what to think of it, or how to take my measuresto attack twenty or thirty men single-handed; so I lay still in my castle, perplexed and discomforted. However, I put myself into the same posture for an attack that I had formerly provided, and was just ready for action, if anything had presented. I waited a good while, listening to hear if they made any noise; but at length, being very impatient, I set my guns at the foot of my ladder, and clambered up to the top of the hill, by my two stages, as usual; standing so, however, that my head did not appear above the hill, so that they Here I observed, by the could not perceive me. help of my perspective glass, that the savages were no less than thirty in number; that they had a fire kindled; and that they had meat dressed. How they had cooked it I knew not, nor what it was; but they were all dancing, in I know not how many barbarous gestures and figures, their own way, round the fire. While I was thus looking on them, I perceived two miserable wretches dragged from the boats, where, it seems, they had been laid by, and were now brought out for the slaughter. I perceived one of them immediately fall, being knocked down, I suppose, with a club, or wooden sword (for that was their way); while the other victim was left standing by himself, till they should be ready for him. At that very moment this poor wretch, seeing himself a little at liberty, and unbound, nature inspired him with hopes of life, and he started away from them, and ran with incredible swiftness along the sands, directly towards me- I mean, towards that part of the coast where my habitation was. I was dreadfully frightened, I must say, when I saw him run my way, and especially when, as I thought, I saw him pursued by the whole body. However, I kept my station, and my spirits began to recover when I found that there were not above three men that followed him; and still more was I encouraged when I found that he outstripped them in running; so that, if he could but hold on for half an hour, I saw easily he would fairly get away from them all. There was, between them and my castle, the creek which I mentioned often in the first part of my story, where I landed my cargoes out of the ship. This, I saw plainly, he must necessarily swim over, or the poor wretch would be taken there. But when he came thither he made nothing of it, though the tide was then up, but, plunging in, swam through in thirty strokes or thereabouts, landed, and ran on with exceeding strength and swiftness. When the three pursuers came to the creek, I found that two of them could swim, but the third could not, and that, standing on the other side, he looked at the others, but went no farther, and soon after went softly back again; which, as it happened, was very well for him in the end. I observed that the two who swam were yet more than twice as long in swimming over the creek, as the fellow had been that fled from them. It came now very strongly upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now was the time to get me a servant, and perhaps a companion or assistant, and that I was called plainly by Providence to save this poor creature's life. I immediately ran down the ladder with all possible expedition, fetched my two guns, for they were both at the foot of it, as I observed above, and getting up again with the same haste, to the top of the hill, I crossed towards the sea, and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed myself in the way between the pursuers and the pursued. I then hallooed to him that fled, who, looking back, was at first, perhaps, as much frightened at me as at them; but I beckoned with my hand to him to come back. In the meantime, I slowly advanced towards the two that followed; then rushing at once upon the foremost, I knocked him down. with the stock of my gun. I was loth to fire, because I would not have the rest hear; though, at that distance, it would not have been easily heard; and being out of sight of the smoke too, they would not have easily known what to make of it. De Foe. |