those in our keeping, though they heard it well enough, yet durst
give no answer to them. They were so astonished at the surprise of this,
that, as they told us afterwards, they resolved to go all on board
again, to their ship, and let them know that the men were all murdered,
and the long-boat staved; accordingly, they immediately launched their
boat again, and got all of them on board.

The captain was terribly amazed, and even confounded at this, believing
they would go on board the ship again, and set sail, giving their
comrades over for lost, and so he should still lose the ship, which he
was in hopes we should have recovered; but he was quickly as much
frightened the other way.

They had not been long put off with the boat, but we perceived them all
coming on shore again; but with this new measure in their conduct, which
it seems they consulted together upon, viz. to leave three men in the
boat, and the rest to go on shore, and go up into the country to look
for their fellows. This was a great disappointment to us, for now we
were at a loss what to do; as our seizing those seven men on shore would
be no advantage to us, if we let the boat escape; because they would
then row away to the ship, and then the rest of them would be sure to
weigh and set sail, and so our recovering the ship would be lost.
However, we had no remedy but to wait and see what the issue of things
might present. The seven men came on shore, and the three who remained
in the boat put her off to a good distance from the shore, and came to
an anchor to wait for them; so that it was impossible for us to come at
them in the boat. Those that came on shore kept close together, marching
towards the top of the little hill under which my habitation lay; and we
could see them plainly, though they could not perceive us. We could have
been very glad they would have come nearer to us, so that we might have
fired at them, or that they would have gone farther off, that we might
have come abroad. But when they were come to the brow of the hill, where
they could see a great way into the valleys and woods, which lay towards
the north-east part, and where the island lay lowest, they shouted and
hallooed till they were weary; and not caring, it seems, to venture far
from the shore, nor far from one another, they sat down together under a
tree, to consider of it. Had they thought fit to have gone to sleep
there, as the other part of them had done, they had done th