After three years, I am quite happy. I have everything what I need for my life.
My life on the island continues for the next 5 years. During this time, I decide to make another canoe. The canoe is smaler. It isn’t difficult to move it to the beach.
The canoe is finished in June. I want to travel around the island in the canoe. I put food, water and guns in the canoe. I am ready for the trip.
The beginning of my trip isn’t easy for me. I am in danger when my journey starts. I have to go around some rocks in the sea.
When I want to go back to the land, I feel a strong current under the canoe. The current is taking me away from the island. The situation is horrible. I am scared. I can’t survive in the open sea. I don’t have enough food and water for a long journey.
I fight very hard against the current for two hours. Then, I am able to get close to my island. I can continue my trip around the island. Now, I know that I am stronger than the currents around the island. I feel good. I feel strong.
Soon, I find a small river. I go up the river. But I get nowhere because soon the river is very narrow. Stones block the way. I can’t continue. I leave the canoe where it is.
I want to explore this part of the island. I am not far from the part of the island which I know.
Soon, I find the way to my house in the valley.
I am very tired from the trip. Soon, I sleep.
Then, I hear a voice. I wake up. The voice is saying my name, “Robinson, where are you?
Robinson, where are you?”
First, I am scared. But then I see my parrot Poll. He sits on top of the fence. He knows these words from me. And he is saying these words with the same intonation as me.
I am surprised when I see him here. I think, “Why isn’t he at home?” But I am happy when I see him.
I don’t go back to the canoe. I return home with the parrot.
I don’t make such a trip for a year. I stay in my house most of the time. I make more tools and pots. I can also make very nice baskets now.
CHAPTER 18 – FOOT
It is eleven years after my first day on the island. One day, I see that I don’t have much gunpowder. It starts to worry me. I need gunpowder if I want to hunt animals.
My first goat is very old. I want meat but I don’t have the heart to kil her. One day, she dies a natural death.
With less and less gunpowder, I have to find another way how to get meat.
I decide to make a trap. I am not successful at the beginning. But then I catch three young goats.
They are one male and two females. I take them home with me.
I keep the goats inside a small area. I make a fence around the area. But the area is too small for three goats. So I make a fence for them around a bigger area.
It takes me three months to build this fence. But the area is very nice. There is a lot of grass and water for them.
After some time, the young goats are very calm. Soon they eat from my hand.
In two years, I have twelve goats inside my fence. And in three years, I have more than twenty goats.
I have a lot of milk and meat thanks to this. I experiment a little, and after some time I am able to make cheese and butter.
My table is full now and I have a lot of animals around me. I have my old dog, goats and my parrot. The only thing which I still miss is somebody for a conversation.
One day, I go to the part of the sea where the strong current is. On the way there, I think about how strange I look.
I have a big hat, a short jacket and short trousers. They are all made from animal skin. I don’t have socks or shoes but I put some goat skins around my feet. I have two belts. One belt is for the gun and knife, and one belt for the gunpowder.
I also carry a basket on my back and an umbrella above my head. My beard is very long. I see that after eleven years on the island I don’t look like an Englishman. I am a different person.
One day, I am walking on the beach. I am going to check my canoe. Then I see something surprising. I see a mark of a human foot on the sand.
I look around but I see nobody. I am scared. I run back to my house. I am so scared that it is difficult to sleep at night.
Then, I think, “Maybe it is al only my imagination. Or maybe it is the mark of my own foot and it is stupid to be scared.”
After this thought, I feel better. I leave my house. And I go look at the mark again.
CHAPTER 19 – CANNIBALS
When I come to the mark of the foot, I see that the mark is much bigger than my foot. It’s impossible that it’s my foot.
I’m scared again. I start to panic. I want to destroy my corn fields. I want to destroy my valley house. I need to hide my activity on the island.
