You may be sure I could not but agree with this kind and ingenuous proposal; and immediately I sent him an order to offer it to them, which he accordingly did; so that about eight months after, the ship being in that time returned, he gave me a satisfactory account, that they not only willingly accepted the offer, but that they had also remitted 33,000 pieces of eight to a correspondence of their own at Lisbon, in order to pay for the purchase.
Hereupon, in return, I signed the instrument of sale, according to form, which they had sent from Lisbon, and returned it again to my old friend, he having sent me, for me estate, bills of three hundred and twenty-eight thousand pieces of eight, reserving the payment of one hundred moidores per annum, which I had allowed him during life, likewise: fifty to his son during life also, according to my faithful promise, which the plantation was to make good as a rent charge.
And thus having led my reader to the knowledge of the first parts of my life so remarkable for the many peculiar providences that attended it, floating in the ocean of uncertainty and disappointment, of adversity and prosperity, beginning foolishly, and yet ending happily; methinks now that I am come to a safe & pleasant haven, it is time to cast out my anchor, &c, laying up my vessel, bid, for a while, adieu to foreign adventures. I had no other concerns to look after but the care of my brother's two sons, which, with the good widow's persuasions, obliged me to continue at home seven years. One of these children I bred up a gentleman, and the other an experienced sailor, remarkable for his courage and bravery. Besides this, I married a virtuous young gentlewoman, of a very good family, by whom I had two sons and one daughter. But my dear and tender wife leaving this earthly stage (as in the second part of my life you will hear) which rent my soul as it were asunder, my native country became weary and tiresome to me; and my nephew happening to come from sea, tempted me to venture another voyage to the East Indies, which I did in the year 1694, at which time I visited my island, and informed myself of every thing that happened since my departure.
One might reasonably imagine, that what I had suffered, together with an advanced age, and the fear of losing not only what I had gotten, but my life also, might have choaked up all the seeds of youthful ambition and curiosity, and put a lasting period to my wandering inclinations. But as nothing but death can fully allay the active part of my life, no less remarkable for the many various contingencies of it, you will next perceive how I visited my little kingdom, saw my successors the Spaniards, had an account of the usage they met with from the Englishmen, agreeing and disagreeing, uniting and separating, till at last they were subjected to the Spaniards, who yet used them very honorably, together with the wonderful and successful battles over the Indians who invaded, and thought to have conquered the island, but were repelled by their invincible courage and bravery, having taken eleven men and five woman prisoners by which at my return, I found about twenty young children on my little kingdom. Here I staid twenty days, left them supplies of all necessary things, as also a carpenter and smith, and shared the islands into parts, reserving the whole property to myself. Nor will you be insensible, by the account of these things, of several new adventures I have been engaged in, the battles I have fought, the deliverances I have met with; and while, in the surprising relation of such remarkable occurrences, I shall describe many of God's kindest providences to me in particular, no less conspicuous in the same goodness, power, and majesty of our great creator, shown one way or other, over the face of the earth, if duly adverted to.
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF
ROBINSON CRUSOE.
Wherein are contained several strange and surprising accounts of his travels, and his most remarkable transactions both by sea and by land; with his wonderful vision of the angelic world.