His first opinion was, that the savages in the boat never
could live out the storm which blew that night they went off, but
must of necessity be drowned, or driven south to those other
shores, where they were as sure to be devoured as they were to be
drowned if they were cast away; but, as to what they would do if
they came safe on shore, he said he knew not; but it was his
opinion that they were so dreadfully frightened with the manner of
their being attacked, the noise, and the fire, that he believed
they would tell the people they were all killed by thunder and
lightning, not by the hand of man; and that the two which appeared
- viz. Friday and I - were two heavenly spirits, or furies, come
down to destroy them, and not men with weapons. This, he said, he
knew; because he heard them all cry out so, in their language, one
to another; for it was impossible for them to conceive that a man
could dart fire, and speak thunder, and kill at a distance, without
lifting up the hand, as was done now: and this old savage was in
the right; for, as I understood since, by other hands, the savages
never attempted to go over to the island afterwards, they were so
terrified with the accounts given by those four men (for it seems
they did escape the sea), that they believed whoever went to that
enchanted island would be destroyed with fire from the gods.
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