CHAPTER 20 – CAVE
Chapter 20
Eventually, I gave up the preparations altogether and decided to act only if they attacked me first.
For a whole year I was hiding my activities as well as I could. I hid my canoe. I kept myself occupied with my animals and fields, but I was very careful. I was afraid to make loud noises and I was worried every time I made a fire. But I needed fire because I needed to cook. So when I made a fire, I tried to make as little smoke as possible. Smoke could go very high and it could be seen from a distance.
Once when I was cutting some branches in the forest, I discovered a small cave. I went inside it but as soon as my eyes were OK with the dark, I noticed two bright eyes looking at me. I jump outside. I was scared to death. I waited but nothing happened. I went slowly to the beginning of the cave and I listened. I heard something. It sounded as if there was somebody injured inside. I took my gun and I entered the cave slowly. When my eyes could see again, I discovered an old goat. It was dying in the cave.
I returned to the cave the next day to find out that the goat was dead. I explored the place and found it very safe. It would make a great hiding place near the beach. That’s why I brought some of my guns and some gunpowder there.
Twenty-three years passed since I first stepped on this island. Now I was living comfortably and had many animals to keep me company. Poll was repeating my name very pleasantly. I had two more parrots and I taught all of them to pronounce my name.
It was the last month of my 23rd year on the island when, as I was walking to my fields early one morning, I saw fire on the beach.
I immediately returned to my house and loaded all guns. I took my telescope and went close to the beach. I hid myself and observed them. I saw 9 naked people who came in 2 canoes. It seemed that they were waiting for the high tide to leave the island.
As soon as they left I went to the beach. It was full of blood and bones again. This made me sick and angry and I decided to kill as many of them as I could the next time I saw them. They didn’t return for a long time
Meanwhile something else happened that disturbed my routine. One evening I was disturbed out of my ordinary activities by the sound of a gun at sea. I got out of my house and I saw a flash coming from the sea. A second shot followed. I thought it was coming from some ship in danger asking for help. I took all the dry wood I could find around and ran to the beach where I made a big fire. They probably saw the fire because they fired again. I thought, “I will speak to somebody tonight. This is great.”
I kept the fire until midnight but there was no sign of them. It was strange. It was something what my brain couldn’t understand.
“Maybe in the morning I will know more,” I thought.
WORDS FROM CHAPTER 20
