In the meantime, Friday and the captain’s mate so well managed their business with the rest, that they drew them, by hallooing and answering, from one hill to another, and from one wood to another, till they not only heartily tired them, but left them where they were very sure they could not reach back to the boat before it was dark; and, indeed, they were heartily tired themselves also by the time they came back to us.
We had nothing now to do but to watch for them in the dark, and to fall upon them, so as to make sure work with them.
It was several hours after Friday came back to me before they came back to their boat; and we could hear the foremost of them, long before they came quite up, calling to those behind to come along, and could also hear them answer and complain how lame and tired they were, and not able to come any faster; which was very welcome news to us.
At length they came up to the boat; but ’its impossible to express their confusion when they found the boat fast aground in the creek, the tide ebbed out, and their two men gone. We could hear them call one to another in a most lamentable [lamentable〈adj.〉可憐的，可悲的] manner, telling one another they were gotten into an enchanted island; that either there were inhabitants in it, and they should all be murdered, or else there were devils and spirits in it, and they should be all carried away and devoured.
They hallooed again, and called their two comrades by their names a great many times; but no answer. After some time we could see them, by the little light there was, run about, wringing their hands like men in despair, and sometimes they would go and sit down in the boat to rest themselves; then come ashore again, and walk about again, and so the same thing over again.
My men would fain have me give them leave to fall upon them at once in the dark; but I was willing to take them at some advantage, so as to spare them, and kill as few of them as I could; and especially I was unwilling to hazard the killing of any of our men, knowing the others were very well armed. I resolved to wait, to see if they did not separate; and, therefore, to make sure of them, I drew my ambuscade [ambuscade〈n.〉埋伏] nearer, and ordered Friday and the captain to creep upon their hands and feet, as close to the ground as they could, that they might not be discovered, and get as near them as they could possibly, before they offered to fire.
They had not been long in that posture when the boatswain, who was the principal ringleader [ringleader〈n.〉罪魁禍首，元凶] of the mutiny, and had now shown himself the most dejected and dispirited of all the rest, came walking towards them, with two more of the crew. The captain was so eager at having this principal rogue [rogue〈n.〉流氓，無賴] so much in his power, that he could hardly have patience to let him come so near as to be sure of him, for they only heard his tongue before; but when they came nearer, the captain and Friday, starting up on their feet, let fly at them.
The boatswain was killed upon the spot; the next man was shot in the body, and fell just by him, though he did not die till an hour or two after; and the third ran for it.
At the noise of the fire I immediately advanced with my whole army, which was now eight men, viz., myself, generalissimo [generalissimo〈n.〉總司令]; Friday, my lieutenant [lieutenant〈n.〉副官，副職]-general; the captain and his two men, and the three prisoners of war, whom we had trusted with arms.
We came upon them, indeed, in the dark, so that they could not see our number; and I made the man we had left in the boat, who was now one of us, to call them by name, to try if I could bring them to a parley, and so might perhaps reduce them to terms, which fell out just as we desired, for indeed it was easy to think, as their condition then was, they would be very willing to capitulate [capitulate〈v.〉投降]. So he calls out as loud as he could to one of them, “Tom Smith! Tom Smith!” Tom Smith answered immediately, “Who’s that? Robinson?” For it seems he knew the voice. The other answered, “Ay, ay; for God’s sake, Tom Smith, throw down your arms and yield, or you are all dead men this moment.”
“Who must we yield to? Where are they?” says Smith again. “Here they are,” says he; “here’s our captain and fifty men with him, have been hunting you these two hours; the boatswain is killed, Will Fry is wounded, and I am a prisoner; and if you do not yield, you are all lost.”
“Will they give us quarter, then?” says Tom Smith, “and we will yield.” “I’ll go and ask, if you promise to yield,” said Robinson. So he asked the captain, and the captain then calls himself out, “You, Smith, you know my voice, if you lay down your arms immediately, and submit, you shall have your lives, all but Will Atkins.”
Upon this Will Atkins cried out, “For God’s sake, captain, give me quarter; what have I done? They have all been as bad as I;” which, by the way, was not true neither; for, it seems, this Will Atkins was the first man that laid hold of the captain when they first mutinied, and used him barbarously, in tying his hands, and giving him injurious language. However, the captain told him he must lay down his arms at discretion, and trust to the governor’s mercy; by which he meant me, for they all called me governor.
In a word, they all laid down their arms, and begged their lives; and I sent the man that had parleyed with them and two more, who bound them all; and then my great army of fifty men, which, particularly with those three, were in all but eight, came up and seized upon them, and upon their boat; only that I kept myself and one more out of sight for reasons of state.