24 Another Shipwreck

CHAPTER 24 Another Shipwreck? Now, my homes on the island were secure. My cooking cave worked well, and my daily watches were a good routine. I felt safe, but I still kept busy to keep my mind off the natives. One awful night, I heard a cannon shot in the distance. I raced up to my lookout hill and tried to see what might be out there—

but it was too dark. "It must be a ship in distress!" I said to the night. "They could rescue me!" Even though I knew it was dangerous, I lit a big bonfire. "They must see it! They must!" I muttered to myself as I scrambled to keep the fire blazing. The winds were high and it was a challenge to keep it all under control. Almost moments later, I heard two more cannon shots, and then a few gun shots. They must have seen my signal! Dawn soon arrived. The fog started to clear up as the sun warmed the island. I could just barely make out a ship in the distance. I ran all the way to the south side of the island. I dropped to my knees as soon as I reached the beach. A wreck! Oh no! Those poor men—their ship was dashed on the very rocks that almost killed me all those years ago. My heart sank as I knew there could be

no survivors. They sent out a signal and no ship saved them. In the dark, they must not have seen my island. I wept. "If only one had survived, just one!" I felt more alone at that very moment than I had in all of the twenty-odd years I had spent by myself. The only choice I had to make now was whether or not to use my boat and see if I could gather supplies. In the end, I decided it was worth the risk. But I waited until the next morning, when the tide was low. I didn't want to get swept out to sea. As soon as I came close to the boat, I heard a dog barking. I called out to him and he jumped right in my boat. He was a scrappy little fellow, that's for sure. Much of the ship's cargo was ruined by the water. But I managed to save a few copper pots, a few seamen's chests, some barrels of liquid, and some gunpowder. The ship was very

unstable. I worked quickly and packed everything up on my little boat. It took me lots of trips to carry the cargo back to my camp. What riches I found when I finally opened up the chests. They were full of extraordinary treasures! One had a fine case of bottles, filled with flavored drinks. They were delicious, that's for sure. Another was filled with sweetmeats, and yet another carried brand-new shirts. In the last chest I opened, there were three great big bags of gold. They just sat there next to two pairs of shoes! I stored a lot of these new-found treasures in my cave, just to make sure they were safe. The excitement of my discoveries barely lasted two or three days. I ate up all the sweetmeats and drank all the cordial waters. Life returned to normal. It was back to checking the lookout every morning. But something was different now because I had a

new dog to keep me company. I named him Scruffy. He was an excellent little companion. Soon after the shipwreck, I celebrated my twenty-fourth year on the island. Hours passed that day as I sat and thought about everything that had happened. They were happy years of hard work and lots of success. But now, I spent so much time worrying about being discovered by the natives that it was hard to enjoy my life. My anniversary passed and I convinced myself it was time to escape. But how would I get off the island? I spent the entire rainy season that year thinking and planning an escape. The key to all of my plans were the natives. If I could make peace with them, they would be able to show me a way off the island. Would it work? Would I be able to make friends with them?