for our good?

The present question abundantly confirms me in the justice of this
reasoning; for had I not been made cautious by this secret admonition,
come it from whence it will, I had been done inevitably, and in a far
worse condition than before, as you will see presently. I had not kept
myself long in this posture till I saw the boat draw near the shore, as
if they looked for a creek to thrust in at, for the convenience of
landing; however, as they did not come quite far enough, they did not see
the little inlet where I formerly landed my rafts, but ran their boat on
shore upon the beach, at about half a mile from me, which was very happy
for me; for otherwise they would have landed just at my door, as I may
say, and would soon have beaten me out of my castle, and perhaps have
plundered me of all I had. When they were on shore I was fully satisfied
they were Englishmen, at least most of them; one or two I thought were
Dutch, but it did not prove so; there were in all eleven men, whereof
three of them I found were unarmed and, as I thought, bound; and when the
first four or five of them were jumped on shore, they took those three
out of the boat as prisoners: one of the three I could perceive using the
most passionate gestures of entreaty, affliction, and despair, even to a
kind of extravagance; the other two, I could perceive, lifted up their
hands sometimes, and appeared concerned indeed, but not to such a degree
as the first. I was perfectly confounded at the sight, and knew not what
the meaning of it should be. Friday called out to me in English, as well
as he could, "O master! you see English mans eat prisoner as well as
savage mans." "Why, Friday," says I, "do you think they are going to eat
them, then?" "Yes," says Friday, "they will eat them." "No no," says I,
"Friday; I am afraid they will murder them, indeed; but you may be sure
they will not eat them."

All this while I had no thought of what the matter really was, but stood
trembling with the horror of the sight, expecting every moment when the
three prisoners should be killed; nay, once I saw one of the villains
lift up his arm with a great cutlass, as the seamen call it, or sword, to
strike one of the poor men; and I expected to see him fall every moment;
at which all the blood in my body seemed to run chill in my veins. I
wished heartily now for the Spaniard, and the savage that had gone with
him, or that I had any way to have come undiscover