As I saw there was a kind will on all sides, I now took on shore
the youth and the maid whom we had brought from the ship that we
met on her way to France. The girl had been well brought up, and
all the crew had a good word for her. As they both had a wish to
be left on the isle, I gave them each a plot of ground, on which
they had tents and barns built.

I had brought out with me five men to live here, one of whom
could turn his hand to all sorts of things, so I gave him the
name of "Jack of all Trades."

One day the French priest came to ask if I would leave my man
Friday here, for through him, he said, he could talk to the black
men in their own tongue, and teach them the things of God. "Need
I add," said he, "that it was for this cause that I came here?" I
felt that I could not part with my man Friday for the whole
world, so I told the priest that if I could have made up my mind
to leave him here, I was quite sure that Friday would not part
from me.

When I had seen that all things were in a good state on the isle,
I set to work to put my ship to rights, to go home once more. One
day, as I was on my way to it, the youth whom I had brought from
the ship that was burnt, came up to me, and said, "Sir, you have
brought a priest with you, and while you are here, we want him to
wed two of us."

I made a guess that one of these must be the maid that I had
brought to the isle, and that it was the wish of the young man to
make her his wife. I spoke to him with some warmth in my tone,