CHAPTER 29 – PLAN

We continued observing all actions of the two groups. The five men in the forest sat down under a tree.

After a long consultation under the tree, they got up and walked towards the beach. They probably gave up looking for their friend and we had to act quickly before they reached their boat.

I had a plan. I told the assistant to go with Friday more to the centre of the island and shout at the sailors. When the sailors heard this, they shouted back. Then they started going in the direction of the voice.

Friday and the assistant continued shouting back. They started to take the sailors to the opposite side of the island. This strategy worked as I planned. The five men were soon very far from the beach.

This was very good for us. We went to the three men in the boat. We explained the situation to them. They decided not to fight us. They became our prisoners too.

Meanwhile Friday and the captain’s assistant returned. They led the others so far away that they wouldn’t return sooner than in two hours.

We hid and waited for them. When they returned, they were very tired. When the sailors came to the boat, they were amazed to find it empty.

They started calling their friend, but again there was no response.  After a while the leader of the mutiny and two others separated from the rest and walked towards the forest where we were hiding.

The captain and Friday attacked them as soon as they were closer to us and away from the group. The leader was killed on the spot, a second man was injured and the third one ran back.

Then we all emerged from the forest and we ran to the boat. The captain spoke to sailors. He asked them to give up. When the sailors understood the situation, they dropped their weapons quickly.

We decided to tie the prisoners. But we didn’t tie all of them. The captain trusted three of the men. We didn’t tie these three men.

Now, we were ten men. We started to plan how to get the ship. After some discussion we knew what to do.

Friday and I stayed on the island. We had to watch the prisoners.

The captain, his assistant and the passenger took the clothes of some of the prisoners. They wanted to look like them. Then the captain and his sailors took the boat. They went to the ship.

When they were near the ship, they spoke to the men on the ship. They told them it wasn’t possible to find the other men.

When all of the men from the boat were on the ship, the captain showed himself and the attack began.

Several sailors were injured in the battle. There was only one person shot, and he was the second leader of the mutiny.

As soon as the captain regained possession of the ship, he ordered seven guns to be fired, which was the signal we agreed on. I was happy to hear those shots.

Soon the captain went back to the island.

We hugged each other. He told me that the ship was now under my control. I was so happy. I started crying so much that I wasn’t able to speak.

After I calmed down a little, the captain ordered his men to bring a lot of food from the ship to the island. We were going to have a nice meal to celebrate our victory and my departure from the island. There was expensive wine, excellent tobacco, pork, beef, and peas. There were biscuits for dessert. I was very happy to taste all those things again.

The captain gave me clean clothes. I didn’t wear clothes for a long time. The clothes were very light. They were a little uncomfortable first. But it was soon fine.

When the meal was over and I had clean clothes again, the captain and I had to discuss what to do with the five prisoners who the captain didn’t trust. The men were really horrible. He even feared taking them on board the ship in chains.

I suggested discussing the matter with them and seeing if, perhaps, they would choose to stay on the island instead of going back to England where they faced death for mutiny.  We met the prisoners and explained the new situation to them. They had to choose between a death sentence in England and a life on the island, and they went for the second option.

We put them in the cave. The cave was now the prison. I told them to wait for more orders.

WORDS FROM CHAPTER 29