Besides this he longed above all to know more of the
mainland and whether it would be safe to go there. He wanted to find
out in what kind of boat they made the voyage. He thought that if he
had such a person he would have someone to show him the way to reach
the land.
The more he thought, the more anxious he became to see the savages
on the island. He thought so much about it by day that he dreamed about
it at night. One night he dreamed that the savages came, drew their
boats upon the shore and began to prepare their feast. As he watched
them one of their number broke away from his fellows and came straight
toward his hiding-place. Robinson thought he rushed out, drove away
those that followed the fleeing man and rescued him. This dream made
a deep impression upon him and made him await the coming of the savages
with great hopes and eagerness.
It was more than eighteen months after he had formed this plan of
capturing one of the savages before the savages made their appearance.
Robinson was surprised one morning to see no less than five canoes
drawn up on the shore at a point on his side of the island about two
miles below his shelter, to the south. The people that had come in
them were on shore and out of sight. Robinson went back to his shelter
to make his plans. He made up his mind that he would be foolish to
attack them. There must be twenty-five or thirty of them. He finally
went to a point where he could see farther inland and soon caught
sight of a crowd of about thirty savages.
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