Xury was dreadfully frighten'd, and indeed so was I too, for I bethought myself that the animals of Africk may not be aware of the beast and would not avoid it. But we were both more frighten'd 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 animal. Xury said it was a lion, and it might be so for aught I know. Poor Xury cried to me to weigh the anchor and row away.
"No, Xury," said I. "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 stepped to the cabin-door and taking up my gun, fired at him. He turned about and swam towards the shore again.
But it is impossible to describe the horrible noises and cries and howlings that were raised 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 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. To have fallen into the hands of any of the savages, which would not know the beast, would have been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of lions and tygers, and 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 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. Said he, "If wild mans come, they eat me, you go wey."
"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. We hauled the boat in as near the shore as we thought was proper, and so waded to 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. By and by I saw him come running towards me. I thought he was pursued by some savage, or frighted with some wild creature, and I ran forward towards him to help him, but when I came nearer I saw something hanging over his shoulders, which was a creature 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 poor Xury came with was to tell me he had found good water and seen no wild mans.
But we found afterwards we need not take such pains for water, for a little higher up the creek we found the water fresh when the tyde was out, which flows but a little way up. So we fill’d our jars and feasted on the hare we had killed and prepared to go on our way, having seen no footsteps of any human creature in that part of the country. My hope was if I stood along this coast till I came to that part where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade that would relieve and take us in.
By the best of my calculation, this place where I now was must have been that country which lies waste and uninhabited except by wild things. The Negroes having abandoned it and gone farther south for fear of the Moors. The Moors not thinking it worth inhabiting by reason of its barrenness. Both forsaking it because of the prodigious numbers of tigers, lions, and leopards, and other furious creatures which harbour there. The Moors used it for their hunting only, where they go like an army, two or three thousand men at a time. Indeed for near a hundred miles together upon this coast we saw nothing but a waste, uninhabited country by day, and heard nothing but howlings and roaring of wild creatures by night.