书城公版Robinson Crusoe
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第102章

Having thus settled my Affairs,sold my Cargoe,and turn'd all my Effects into good Bills of Exchange,my next Difficulty was,which Way to go to England:I had been accustom'd enough to the Sea,and yet I had a strange Aversion to going to England by Sea at that time;and though I could give no Reason for it,yet the Difficulty encreas'd upon me so much,that though I had once shipp'd my Baggage,in order to go,yet I alter'd my Mind,and that not once,but two or three times.

It is true,I had been very unfortunate by Sea,and this might be some of the Reason:But let no Man slight the strong Impulses of his own Thoughts in Cases of such Moment:Two of the Ships which I had singl'd out to go in,I mean,more particularly singl'd out than any other,that is to say,so as in one of them to put my things on Board,and in the other to have agreed with the Captain;I say,two of these Ships miscarry'd,viz. One was taken by the Algerines,and the other was cast away on the Start near Torbay,and all the People drown'd except three;so that in either of those Vessels I had been made miserable;and in which most,it was hard to say.

Having been thus harass'd in my Thoughts,my old Pilot,to whom I communicated every thing,press'd me earnestly not to go by Sea,but either to go by Land to the Groyne,and cross over the Bay of Biscay to Rochell,from whence it was but an easy and safe Journey by Land to Paris,and so to Calais and Dover;or to go up to Madrid,and so all the Way by Land thro' France.

In a Word,I was so prepossess'd against my going by Sea at all,except from Calais to Dover,that I resolv'd to travel all the Way by Land;which as I was not in Haste,and did not value the Charge,was by much the pleasanter Way;and to make it more so,my old Captain brought an English Gentleman,the Son of a Merchant in Lisbon,who was willing to travel with me:After which,we pick'd up two more English Merchants also,and two young Portuguese Gentlemen,the last going to Paris only;so that we were in all six of us,and five Servants;the two Merchants and the two Portuguese,contenting themselves with one Servant,between two,to save the Charge;and as for me,I got an English Sailor to travel with me as a Servant,besides my Man Friday,who was too much a Stranger to be capable of supplying the Place of a Servant on the Road.

In this Manner I set out from Lisbon;and our Company being all very well mounted and armed,we made a little Troop,whereof they did me the Honour to call me Captain,as well because I was the oldest Man,as because I had two Servants,and indeed was the Original' of the whole Journey.

As I have troubled you with none of my Sea-Journals,so I shall trouble you now with none of my Land-Journal:But some Adventures that happen'd to us in this tedious and difficult Journey,I must not omit.

When we came to Madrid,we being all of us Strangers to Spain,were willing to stay some time to see the Court of Spain,and to see what was worth observing;but it being the latter Part of the Summer,we hasten'd away,and set out from Madrid about the Middle of October:But when we came to the Edge of Navarre,we were alarm'd at several Towns on the Way,with an Account,that so much Snow was fallen on the French Side of the Mountains,that several Travellers were obliged to come back to Pampeluna,after having attempted,at an extream Hazard,to pass on.

When we came to Pampeluna it self,we found it so indeed;and to me that had been always used to a hot Climate,and indeed to Countries where we could scarce bear any Cloaths on,the Cold was insufferable;nor indeed was it more painful than it was surprising,to come but ten Days before out of the old Castile where the Weather was not only warm but very hot,and immediately to feel a Wind from the Pyrenean Mountains,so very keen,so severely cold,as to be intollerable,and to endanger benumbing and perishing of our Fingers and Toes.

Poor Friday was really frighted when he saw the Mountains all cover'd with Snow,and felt cold Weather,which he had never seen or felt before in his Life.

To mend the Matter,when we came to Pampeluna,it continued snowing with so much Violence,and so long,that the People said,Winter was come before its time,and the Roads which were difficult before,were now quite impassable:For in a Word,the Snow lay in some Places too thick for us to travel;and being not hard frozen,as is the Case in Northern Countries:There was no going without being in Danger of being bury'd alive every Step. We stay'd no less than twenty Days at Pampeluna;when seeing the Winter coming on,and no Likelihood of its being better;for it was the severest Winter all over Europe that had been known in the Memory of Man. I propos'd that we should all go away to Fonterabia,and there take Shipping for Bourdeaux,which was a very little Voyage.

But while we were considering this,there came in four French Gentlemen,who having been stopp'd on the French Side of the Passes,as we were on the Spanish,had found out a Guide,who traversing the Country near the Head of Languedoc,had brought them over the Mountains by such Ways,that they were not much incommoded with the Snow;and where they met with Snow in any Quantity,they said it was frozen hard enough to bear them and their Horses.

We sent for this Guide,who told us,he would undertake to carry us the same Way with no Hazard from the Snow,provided we were armed sufficiently to protect our selves from wild Beasts;for he said,upon these great Snows,it was frequent for some Wolves to show themselves at the Foot of the Mountains,being made ravenous for Want of Food,the Ground being covered with Snow:We told him,we were well enough prepar'd for such Creatures as they were,if he would ensure us from a Kind of two-legged Wolves,which we were told,we were in most Danger from,especially on the French Side of the Mountains.