(Continuing from Part 41)
As Friday learned more English, I found greater pleasure in his company.
At first, we had communicated mostly through gestures. Now we could speak about ordinary matters, and he could answer many of my questions.
He was intelligent and learned quickly.
I had taught him to help with the goats, prepare food, and work in the fields. But I soon discovered that he possessed knowledge I did not have.
He understood the sea, the nearby mainland, and the customs of the people who lived there.
I was especially interested in these subjects because I still hoped to escape from the island.
One day, I took Friday to a high place where we could see the distant land.
The weather was clear, and the sea was calm.
I pointed toward the coast.
“Friday,” I asked, “do you know that country?”
He looked carefully.
Then his face brightened.
“Yes, yes,” he answered eagerly. “My country.”
He stretched out his hand toward the distant shore.
He seemed delighted to recognize it.
I watched him with interest.
For many years, I had looked toward that land without knowing what lay there.
Now I stood beside someone who had lived upon it.
I asked Friday whether he wished to return.
He said that he did.
I then asked whether his people would kill him if he went back.
He shook his head.
He explained that his own people would welcome him.
It was their enemies who had captured him and brought him to the island.
This distinction was important.
I had once imagined that all the people of the mainland belonged to the same group.
Friday helped me understand that there were different communities, sometimes friendly and sometimes at war.
I asked how people traveled across the water.
“In canoe,” he replied.
He explained that his people made large canoes from trees.
Some could carry many men.
They knew how to paddle across the sea and how to follow the currents.
I asked whether such a journey was dangerous.
Friday seemed surprised by the question.
He had crossed the water many times.
He told me that the journey was possible when the weather was suitable.
I remembered my own terrible experience in the small canoe.
The powerful current had almost carried me into the open sea.
I asked Friday about it.
He explained that the currents changed with the tide and the wind.
He knew places where the water moved strongly and other places where a canoe could travel more safely.
His knowledge gave me hope.
Perhaps I had been unable to escape because I did not understand the surrounding sea.
With Friday’s help, I might choose a better route.
I began asking him about the people who lived farther along the mainland.
He described communities that traded and fought with one another.
He also told me that strangers sometimes arrived by sea.
This interested me greatly.
I asked what kind of strangers he meant.
He tried to explain.
They were men with beards and clothing unlike those worn by his people.
Some had arrived in a large boat.
I immediately wondered whether they were Europeans.
I asked more questions.
Friday struggled to find the words.
He said that these men had come to his country after suffering trouble at sea.
They had not been killed.
Instead, they were living among people who had received them.
I became excited.
“How many?” I asked.
Friday thought carefully.
Then he counted with his fingers.
He told me there were seventeen.
Seventeen Europeans!
The news astonished me.
For so many years, I had believed that I was the only European in this part of the world.
Now Friday was telling me that a group of men had survived somewhere on the mainland.
I wanted to know everything about them.
Were they sailors?
Had their ship been wrecked?
Did they possess weapons?
Could they build another vessel?
Friday could not answer every question.
His English was improving, but he still found it difficult to explain complicated events.
Nevertheless, I understood that the men were alive and living among his people.
I began imagining what might happen if I could reach them.
With seventeen men to help, we might build a boat large enough to escape.
Perhaps they had tools or knowledge that I lacked.
Perhaps some were experienced sailors.
The possibility filled me with excitement.
But another thought troubled me.
If I traveled to the mainland, would I be safe?
I asked Friday whether his people would welcome me.
He answered confidently that they would.
He believed that because I had saved his life, his people would treat me as a friend.
I wanted to believe him.
Yet I knew that a journey across the sea would still involve danger.
I asked Friday whether he could guide a canoe to his country.
“Yes,” he answered.
He seemed certain.
I then asked whether he would help me make the journey.
His expression changed.
He looked at me carefully, as though uncertain what I intended.
I explained that I wished to find the Europeans.
Perhaps we could all return to our homes.
Friday listened.
Then he asked whether I would go with him.
I said that I hoped we could travel together.
He appeared pleased.
But I soon noticed that he was worried about something.
I asked what troubled him.
He struggled to explain.
At last, I understood that he feared I might send him away alone.
He thought I might wish to be rid of him.
I was surprised.
I had never intended to abandon him.
I told him that I valued his company and did not wish to lose it.
Friday seemed relieved.
I began to understand how strongly he had become attached to me.
I also felt affection for him.
His cheerful manner had brought happiness into my lonely life.
I could hardly imagine returning to complete solitude.
We continued talking about the mainland.
Friday described the coastline and the places where canoes could land.
He explained that a large canoe would be better than my small one.
It could carry more food and supplies, and it would be safer in rough water.
I agreed.
I remembered the enormous canoe I had once built far from the shore.
I had spent months making it, only to discover that I could not move it into the water.
I was determined not to repeat that mistake.
If we built another boat, we would begin near a suitable place for launching it.
That evening, we returned to my shelter.
I could think of little except Friday’s news.
Seventeen Europeans might be living across the sea.
For the first time in many years, escape seemed more than a distant dream.
But I knew that hope must be followed by careful preparation.
I would need a strong canoe, sufficient food, and a trustworthy guide.
Now, at last, I had someone who might help me obtain all three.