t once
upon the foremost, I knocked him down with the stock of my piece. I
was loath 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. Having knocked this fellow down, the other who pursued with him
stopped, as if he had been frighted, and I advanced apace towards him;
but as I came nearer, I perceived presently he had a bow and arrow,
and was fitting it to shoot at me; so I was then necessitated to shoot
at him first, which I did, and killed him at the first shot.

The poor savage who fled, but had stopped, though he saw both his
enemies fallen and killed, as he thought, yet was so frighted with the
fire and noise of my piece that he stood stock still, and neither came
forward or went backward, though he seemed rather inclined to fly
still than to come on. I hallooed again to him, and made signs to come
forward, which he easily understood, and came a little way, then
stopped again, and then a little further, and stopped again; and I
could then perceive that he stood trembling, as if he had been taken
prisoner, and had just been to be killed, as his two enemies were. I
beckoned him again to come to me, and gave him all the signs of
encouragement that I could think of; and he came nearer and nearer,
kneeling down every ten or twelve steps, in token of acknowledgment
for my saving his life. I smiled at him, and looked pleasantly, and
beckoned to him to come still nearer. At length he came close to me,
and then he kneeled down again, kissed the ground, and laid his head
upon the ground, and taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head.
This, it seems, was in token of swearing to be my slave forever. I
took him up, and made much of him, and encouraged him all I could. But
there was more work to do yet; for I perceived the savage whom I
knocked down was not killed, but stunned with the blow, and began to
come to himself; so I pointed to him, and showing him the savage, that
he was not dead, upon this he spoke some words to me; and though I
could not understand them, yet I thought they were pleasant to hear;
for they were the first sound of a man's voice that I had heard, my
own excepted, for above twenty-five years. But there was no time for
such reflections now. The savage who was knocked down recovered
himself so far as to sit up upon the ground, and I perceived th