Yet such was the fright I had taken at the Moors,and the dreadful apprehensions I had of falling into their hands,that I would not stop,or go on shore,or come to an anchor,the wind continuing fair,till I had sailed in that manner five days;and then the wind shifting to the southward,I concluded also that if any of our vessels were in chase of me,they also would now give over;so I ventured to make to the coast,and came to an anchor in the mouth of a little river,I knew not what,or where;neither what latitude,what country,what nations,or what river.I neither saw,or desired to see,any people;the principal thing I wanted was fresh water.We came into this creek in the evening,resolving to swim on shore as soon as it was dark,and discover the country;but as soon as it was quite dark we heard such dreadful noises of the barking,roaring,and howling of wild creatures,of we knew not what kinds,that the poor boy was ready to die with fear,and begged of me not to go on shore till day.‘Well,Xury,’said I,‘then I won't;but it may be we may see men by day,who will be as bad to us as those lions.’‘Then we give them the shoot gun,’says Xury,laughing;‘make them run away.’Such English Xury spoke by conversing among us slaves.However,I was glad to see the boy so cheerful,and I gave him a dram (out of our patron's case of bottles)to cheer him up.After all,Xury's advice was good,and I took it;we dropped our little anchor and lay still all night.I say still,for we slept none;for in two or three hours we saw vast great creatures (we knew not what to call them)of many sorts come down to the seashore and run into the water,wallowing and washing themselves for the pleasure of cooling themselves;and they made such hideous howlings and yellings,that I never indeed heard the like.
Xury was dreadfully frighted,and indeed so was I too;but we were both more frighted when we heard one of these mighty creatures come swimming towards our boat;we could not see him,but we might hear him by his blowing to be a monstrous huge and furious beast.Xury said it was a lion,and it might be so for aught I know;but poor Xury cried to me to weigh the anchor and row away.‘No,’says I,‘Xury;we can slip our cable with the buoy to it,and go off to sea;they cannot follow us far.’I had no sooner said so,but I perceived the creature (whatever it was)within two oars’length,which something surprised me;however,I immediately stepped to the cabin door,and taking up my gun,fired at him,upon which he immediately turned about and swam towards the shore again.
But it is impossible to describe the horrible noises,and hideous cries and howlings,that were raised,as well upon the edge of the shore as higher within the country,upon the noise or report of the gun,a thing I have some reason to believe those creatures had never heard before.This convinced me that there was no going on shore for us in the night upon that coast;and how to venture on shore in the day was another question too;for to have fallen into the hands of any of the savages,had been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of lions and tigers;at least we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it.
Be that as it would,we were obliged to go on shore somewhere or other for water,for we had not a pint left in the boat;when or where to get to it,was the point.Xury said if I would let him go on shore with one of the jars,he would find if there was any water and bring some to me.I asked him why he would go?why I should not go and he stay in the boat?The boy answered with so much affection,that made me love him ever after.Says he,‘If wild mans come,they eat me,you go way.’‘Well,Xury,’said I,‘we will both go;and if the wild mans come,we will kill them,they shall eat neither of us.’So I gave Xury a piece of rusk bread to eat,and a dram out of our patron's case of bottles which I mentioned before;and we hauled in the boat as near the shore as we thought was proper,and so waded on shore,carrying nothing but our arms and two jars for water.
I did not care to go out of sight of the boat,fearing the coming of canoes with savages down the river;but the boy seeing a low place about a mile up the country,rambled to it;and by and by I saw him come running towards me.I thought he was pursued by some savage,or frighted with some wild beast,and I ran forward towards him to help him;but when I came nearer to him,I saw something hanging over his shoulders,which was a creature that he had shot,like a hare,but different in colour,and longer legs.However,we were very glad of it,and it was very good meat;but the great joy that poor Xury came with was to tell me he had found good water,and seen no wild mans.