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 gunshots.
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 moment than I had in all of the twenty 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 water, but I managed to save a few copper pots, a few seaman'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 sweet meats, 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 newfound 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 24th 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?
