. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . upon andweave into a story. It can not be doubted that Defoe had grasped allthese things before, that he had stored in memory thedescription of early voyagers, and especially Raleighs,and was only awaiting a hero, when along came Sel-kirk. This I am constrained to believe: that, havinggot together this food for fiction and this hero to hismind, he merely waited during many years for leisureto shape it according to his fancy ; that he was engaged ALL ABOUT CRUSOES MAN FRIDAY. 155 for years in the preparation of the story, in digestingthe material for i
. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . upon andweave into a story. It can not be doubted that Defoe had grasped allthese things before, that he had stored in memory thedescription of early voyagers, and especially Raleighs,and was only awaiting a hero, when along came Sel-kirk. This I am constrained to believe: that, havinggot together this food for fiction and this hero to hismind, he merely waited during many years for leisureto shape it according to his fancy ; that he was engaged ALL ABOUT CRUSOES MAN FRIDAY. 155 for years in the preparation of the story, in digestingthe material for it; but there are many evidences ofhaste in its final construction. Crusoe, then, though he may have been mostforcibly suggested by Selkirk, is in reality the sub-stance of many Selkirks—the quintessence of all theshipwrecked mariners of note, from the time ofColumbus to the year 1700. This subtle magician,this cunning alchemist, Defoe, subjected many exilesto the fires of his imagination, ere he found Crusoeand Friday in his crucible !. Carib celt, or thunderbolt. CHAPTER XVII. TREED BY WILD PECCARIES. How the hunter was hunted—All night in a tree—A perilous ex-periment—A terrible tusker—Man Friday to the rescue—The first human being I had seen for months. In the chapter preceding I gave the results of myrainy-day investigations. In this I shall describe myencounter with the largest wild quadrupeds of Tobago,the peccaries. One day, during a fine interval in the rainy season,I penetrated the forest much farther than I had donebefore. I went so far, in fact, that I had difficultyin determining my location, and was in doubt how toreach my camp. At last coming to a cliff which over-hung a stream and gave some shelter, I sat down tothink it over. Beneath the cliff there was a cave, dry and quitedeep, which offered a retreat for the night, if it shouldchance that I could not reach home. Placing mygun far in, out of the wet, I sat in the caves mouthand abandoned myself to
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidcrusoesi, booksubjectbirds
