had to say why I should not execute them as pirates. I told them I had
resolved to quit the island, but that they, if they went, could only go
as prisoners in irons; so that I could not tell what was the best for
them, unless they had a mind to take their fate in the island. They
seemed thankful for this, and said they would much rather venture to
stay than be carried to England to be hanged. So I left it on that
issue. When the captain was gone I sent for the men up to me in my
apartment and let them into the story of my living there; showed them my
fortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my corn; and, in a
word, all that was necessary to make them easy. I told them the story,
also of the Spaniards that were to be expected, and made them promise to
treat them in common with themselves.

I left the next day and went on board the ship with Friday. And thus I
left the island the 19th of December, in the year 1686, after eight and
twenty years, and, after a long voyage, I arrived in England, the 11th
of June, 1687, having been thirty-five years absent.

* * * * *




Captain Singleton

Defoe was fifty-nine when he published this remarkable book,
in 1720. "Robinson Crusoe" had appeared in the previous year,
and "Moll Flanders" came out in 1722. Shrewdness and wit, the
study of character, vividness of imagination, and, beyond
these, the pure literary style, make "Captain Singleton" a