"Crusoe, what are you doing?" "Maintenance." "Why?" "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "I'm just replacing parts before they wear out." "Ah." "That is a very good idea." "It is a very long way to fall from up there." "Yes, it is." "What would you like to eat today?" "I don't know." "Surprise me." "But, Friday, no parrot." "That's just wrong." "What's wrong with parrots?" "They are very beautiful." "Yes, it's very beautiful to look at, but not to eat." "So, you rather I shoot a pigeon, then?" "Yes." "Or several." "But pigeons are also very beautiful." "If you like gray." "Yes, I think it's a very nice color." "Okay, then, pigeon it is." "Or a gray parrot." "Gray parrot?" "What happened?" "Gravity." "It's new." "No, no, Crusoe, I meant that." "That, my friend, was a ship's rocket." "From where?" "Shipwreck Beach." "Is it the Spaniard?" "I don't think so." "He swore he'd bring a rescue ship." "That's an English flag." "Oh, they've seen the reefs." "They're turning away!" "Crusoe, look!" "This man's drowned." "And this one was smashed against the rocks." "Friday!" "Look!" "I'm afraid we're too late again." "It looks like you have healing hands." "Good Lord." "What?" "This can't be." "What?" "It's Mr. Blackthorn!" "It's Jeremiah Blackthorn!" "Ripped By mstoll" "How is he?" "He raved all night." "I think his fever's broken." "He's asleep." "Does he know you?" "I don't think so." "He kept talking about Susannah." "He must have news of her." "He kept saying her name." "Robinson?" "Mr. Blackthorn." "You're on my island, sir." "We pulled you from the water." "Your landing boat ran afoul on a dangerous shoal." "But your boat turned about just in time." "Where is my ship?" "She's gone, sir." "And after what they saw, they'll assume you've drowned." "Here." "I'm sorry, sir, but my wife, Susannah, how is she?" "As well as ever." "So, we took on a pilot in Barbados." "He said he knew the islands." "But two days into the journey, he took to his bunk and that was the last use we had of him." "So how did you find me?" "By the map that I got from your Spaniard." "Surprisingly accurate, for a piece of shrunken old leather." "Old leather?" "You know the map?" "Crusoe knew the owner." "Well, I could read it well enough, but obviously not well enough to find a safe harbor." "If they think there's any chance that you're alive, they'll certainly search much harder for you than they ever did for me." "Believe me, Robinson." "There has never been a search like the one there's been for you." "Everyone failed." "And finally I decided to take it upon myself." "And I thank you for that, sir." "No, no, no." "No need to thank me." "No need for thanks." "You had a touch of scurvy." "Comes with a long sea voyage." "Nobody seems to know what causes it, but fruit seems to be the cure." "Well, it's the reason the sergeant called for an early landing, and look where that got us." "Well..." "Hmm?" "King James is gone." "Abandoned his throne and fled the country." "And what of Judge Jeffreys?" "Captured trying to follow him." "Fell ill, died in the Tower." "So, I've no enemies left in England." "Thank God my father's lived to see this day." "Robinson." "He was a good man." "I promised him." "I promised him he'd see me again." "And he will, but not in this world." "Courage, Robinson." "Courage." "It's just one less rock for Susannah to lean on, that's all." "She's a very independent woman, you know, your wife." "I offered her my house as a permanent home, but she chose other lodgings." "I expect you'd like to view some lunatics." "We've got some good ones out today." "Try throwing this." "Have you never seen a lunatic eat a lemon?" "It's well worth the money." "I'm not here for a show." "I'm here for Susannah Crusoe." "Oh." "Not much to look at, I'm afraid." "We have to keep her like this." "Take off her restraints." "No." "This is my father." "Perhaps you'd like to tell him how you refused me?" "Are you here to help me, or to do me further harm?" "Because I have been a trusting soul, and you can see how I've paid for it." "Trust me or don't, it's your choice." "But I knew your husband." "Where is he?" "Have you stayed faithful, Susannah?" "I have." "Then you still have his heart." "Wherever he is." "What is that you're making now?" "It's like a sedan chair." "To get you to the tree house." "What's the point of a sedan chair when you only have one servant to carry it?" "There are no servants and masters here." "I'll carry one end, and Friday the other." "Really?" "You think Friday's a savage?" "Well, what do you call him?" "This truly is a new world, Mr. Blackthorn." "I have so much to show you." "So, how far is this tree house?" "Half a day's walk." "Or an hour if you run, and swing on the rigging." "Well, I don't think I really want to run." "But I think I'm strong enough to walk, so..." "And you can educate me further, as we go along." "Please tell me again." "Your children are well." "Susannah is well." "She never gave up faith in your return." "And her situation is safe?" "As secure as I could make it." "Forgive me for asking you to repeat it, it's just that I've longed to hear those words." "Without civilized company, I'm sure I would feel the same." "I went years without a companion." "Then one morning, I saw a single human footprint in the sand." "Was it his?" "I have no idea whose it was." "But it gave you reason to hope." "Actually, it frightened the wits out of me." "I wouldn't dare surrender myself to the Spanish Guarda Costa." "I might risk the French." "But then, the first English flag that we saw was flown by a pack of thieves." "We were lucky to escape with our lives." "Robinson." "Robinson." "I'm not as recovered as I thought." "But you've made it." "We're there." "Magnificent, Robinson." "And to think you built this all by yourself." "I'm astonished." "Once this starts moving up, don't look down." "Now, when you get to the top, take this lever and move it back down." "And it's, uh, safe?" "Trust me." "Whoa." "It's all right, keep going." "You're almost there." "It's not quite as grand as you're used to, but it will keep out the rain." "You know what you've done, here, Robinson." "You have civilized a wilderness." "Hardly." "I've merely adapted to it." "I took what I could scavenge from the wreck and I turned it to my purpose." "So those sails?" "They're from the ship." "I can raise and lower them to keep out the sun and the rain." "And these old timbers around the edge, here, they're attached to pulleys and counter-weights." "I can hoist them into place in the blink of an eye." "It'll stop anything short of a cannonball." "And you've running water?" "Yes." "Powered from a wind pump on the roof." "Well, these are marvels of a kind, Robinson." "Marvels." "That's Dundee." "Ship's dog." "Hey." "Another thing I scavenged from the wreck." "Where's the wreck now?" "That's long gone." "I took what I could, but the storms broke it up." "But still, you seem to lack for nothing here." "If only that were true." "It looks as if nature's marksman struck again." "You will notice that these are not parrots." "Well, no, but they'll make a fine meal." "So you've met my benefactor." "Crusoe, he's not the same man you told me about." "What do you mean?" "He shows one face to you, and to me, another." "But he's barely spoken to you." "Exactly." "It's ridiculous." "Friday, that man has sailed halfway around the world." "He's risked his life and his fortune to save me." "Ask yourself why, Crusoe?" "He's not your father." "Well, no, not in blood, but in spirit, he is." "Why don't you try and get to know him." "Why don't you let him try to get to know you." "So, Robinson." "Mr. Blackthorn." "I came here to find you, and I'm delighted I did." "Now, I find myself stranded with you." "I wasn't expecting that." "At least I can bear my own exile a while longer, knowing how Susannah's been safe in your care." "This was posted in the London Gazette." ""Robinson, born Kreuznauer." "Beware false friends." "Your children are in danger."" "Lmagine the torment that's caused me." "False friends?" "There's Adam, there's Percy..." "I'd never doubt one of them." "No, your only false friend is the one who's placed this mischievous piece of nonsense." "An old priest came." "I don't know what they talked about." "Then Father placed this notice in the London Gazette." "Why the Gazette?" "It's where Robin would look for news." ""Robinson, born Kreuznauer." "Beware false friends." "Your children in danger."" "It's in every issue." "Why didn't you tell me about this?" "We tried to." "Your brother said you'd turned your back on us." "Where are the children?" "Have you signed them over?" "I'll steal them from his house." "What's that?" "My note of your address." "I don't need it anymore." "I remember that home you rigged up in the warehouse on Swan Street." "With the bed roped up to the ceiling, and the chair you made from a barrel." "Susannah thought I was mad." "You haven't changed." "She managed to keep up the rent." "No, well, I advised her to give the place up." "Now, you advise me." "What happens to us next?" "Well, I had a difficult time learning a simple lesson." "Learn patience and trust in providence." "We fend for ourselves until a rescue ship comes." "And I know that it will." "I know I should be worried about my affairs at home, but at the moment, I'm just grateful for my life." "That is how it should be." "Ah, Friday." "Mr. Blackthorn." "Crusoe says I should get to know you." "Since we may be sharing this island together for some time." "Is this not how you people introduce yourselves?" "Well, yes, it is, but..." "You'll forgive me if I approach this in small stages." "I am a forgiving man, Mr. Blackthorn, but up to a point." "Anyone care to do some fishing?" "Ah, so you have a rod and line?" "I will teach him how we use a spear." "There you are." "Wait for the cannon." "Your crew didn't abandon you." "They sailed around the island to find a safe harbor." "I say we give Crusoe three days to make his way to us, if he's alive." "And I say, if he doesn't turn up, we go ashore and hunt him down." "All the charts you made." "We don't need them anymore." "Crusoe, this is madness." "It takes at least two days to cross this island." "Someone needs to run ahead and signal to the ship." "This is a nervous crew in strange waters." "They'll take one look at you and they'll break out their muskets." "Okay, fine." "Then you go." "And I'll bring your Mr. Blackthorn." "No." "You have discussed it with him." "He promised not to slow us down." "And he's a lot stronger now." "That man shuns my company." "He's afraid of you." "He is not afraid of anything, Crusoe." "He's lying to you." "The only black men he's ever known have been servants and slaves." "That's it." "Well, that is his problem." "Do not make it into mine." "Did you find anything?" "No, I think I'll just wear the rags I'm standing in." "Is this a bullet hole?" "Arrow hole." "Spoils of war." "Your man doesn't trust me, you know." "He just doesn't know you like I do." "Well, he ought to get to know me better." "Now, I insist on carrying my share of the load." "Well, there won't be much." "We travel light." "Nevertheless, I'm no invalid." "And I'll be no man's passenger." "What should I carry?" "You can take my bag, on the bench." "Friday!" "It's time to say goodbye to this place." "Going off the cannon shot, it sounds as if they found their way to Mary Port." "As de facto governor of this island," "I've taken it upon myself to name all of its features." "Mary Port, for my sister and because it's a fair haven." "And she welcomes all sailors." "What?" "How's your stamina, Mr. Blackthorn?" "I must have breathed away the dust of a thousand books." "I hope you have got a head for heights." "Why?" "Because we can't cross the river, it's infested." "Infested?" "Flesh-eating fish." "Huh." "What stories you will have for your children, Robinson." "Quite frankly, sir, some of them are stories I'd quite like to forget." "Don't worry, I'll rig you a safety line." "Mr. Blackthorn!" "No, Crusoe!" "I am closer!" "Then go!" "I'll steady the rope." "Hurry!" "You always show up at the most inappropriate times, don't you?" "Listen, boy, I can't take you to London with me." "Not after the life you've come to know here." "You've been a good friend, but I can't be that selfish." "Goodbye, boy." "Mr. Blackthorn." "I know." "Crusoe, we have to go." "And as the second son, I inherited nothing." "Now, there was a young woman that I'd hoped to marry." "But I had no prospects, nothing to offer." "So, that's when I traveled the world in search of some scheme or another." "All I could think of was finding a way to secure my future." "Anyway, I finally found a venture that would pay me money, but that was when the news came from England that my brother was dead." "And that's how you came to inherit?" "He had no wife, no children, so the fortune passed to me." "I had to return to manage it." "A terrible great beast is a fortune." "You'd think it would be a wonderful thing, wouldn't you?" "But no, no, no." "Instead, it imprisons you captive for the rest of your life." "And as my ship entered the Pool of London," "I could feel responsibility fall on me like a heavy cloak." "And after that, my days were no longer my own." "What about the young woman?" "I found her married to a young man without a penny to his name." "But were they happy?" "No." "I made sure of that." "Not really." "I jest." "Crusoe, you said not to bring the charts." "Just the Bible." "Where's the other bag?" "If it's a Bible you want, there'll be one on the ship." "It's not just a Bible." "I will go get it." "No, Friday, it's too late." "I can't believe this." "What did I do?" "There's nothing else for it." "We'll have to go round the swamp." "That is at least half a day." "I should never have brought us this way." "Who built all this?" "No one knows." "Friday, this is a lot wider than I remember." "How'd you get across last time?" "We jumped." "Jumped?" "Took a run..." "Couldn't we just wade across?" "I think it's volcanic." "The water is acidic." "Well, you might as well say it, Robinson." "Say what?" "You have to take the long way because you're saddled with me." "No one's a burden, here." "We're in this together." "No, no, wait!" "Wait!" "Throw the kit." "Ready?" "Ready." "You sure?" "Yes." "Go!" "Robinson?" "This Bible of yours, tell me the story." "Well, in the beginning, God created the heaven..." "No, no, no, no." "You know what I mean." "It is his father's." "I managed to salvage it from the wreck before another storm broke it up." "I have told him he will see his family soon." "He will no longer have to keep the locks of hair to remember them by." "Ah, yes, now I understand." "It's not really mementoes." "It's more of my family history." "The story of the Crusoes." "My father wrote it all in." "Well, I'm sorry." "I feel responsible." "No, no, it's all right." "You had no way of knowing." "And Friday's right." "It's nothing that I can't replace." "Except the documents." "Documents?" "Birth notices and death certificates, that sort of thing." "Many of those?" "I don't know, really." "I never counted." "Anyway, it's just bits of paper." "That's all we're talking about." "This is where the priest said he'd meet us." "Thank you for coming with me." "You're the only friend I have." "You said you knew Robin, but you didn't say how." "Who's there?" "Father Gallerne?" "Father Gallerne?" "I'm Susannah Crusoe." "Can you explain this to me?" "What is it?" "The parish records for the baptism of my husband, Robinson Crusoe." "But all it says is, "Robinson, son of a stranger."" "Is this not your hand?" "James Crusoe was a poor man." "And Alice Crusoe was a virtuous woman." "Only a virtuous woman could do what she did, and not carry a stain." "What did she do?" "She bore a son and heir for a rich man." "For money?" "In return for James's start in the merchant trade." "But the rich man died before the child was born." "So they raised him as their own." "Robinson, son of a stranger." "That's what I wrote in the book." "But there is a certificate with the true father's name." "Where?" "Only Alice knew." "It was Blackthorn, wasn't it?" "But he had a brother." "Yes?" "The brother from whom he inherited everything." "If this certificate ever appears, you know what it would prove." "Jeremiah Blackthorn has no right to his fortune." "The Crusoes are the true heirs." "Remember how I told you I named places on the island after things that matter most to me." "Mary Port." "Susannah's Bay." "Fat Crab Beach." "I named this place four years ago." "And since this is the only chance I'll get to show it to you." "These are the Blackthorn Falls." "I've always remembered what you told me." "Beauty fades, friends betray and memories disappear." "But you had hopes for a greater posterity." "These falls have been here since the dawn of time, and they'll bear your name until the end of it." "Pilot!" "Pilot, open this door!" "You've signed on to do a job of work, and by God, I'll see you do it!" "What's his excuse for this?" ""He's sick," he says." "I told you not to pay him a penny up front." "He's spent it on rum, and stashed it aboard!" "Well, he's got one more day to drink himself sober and steer us home." "Or we're taking our chances by the sun and he can swim for it!" "What's all that racket?" "Still no pilot." "Still no Crusoe?" "Yes, yes." "You see, he's right there." "Dancing on the beach." "He's been doing it all day." "I just chose not to mention it!" "I wouldn't worry too much." "I mean, how long has this man been a castaway for?" "He's not going to be in any fit state to give us trouble, is he?" "The Spaniard suggested otherwise." "Well, Spaniards." "They exaggerate." "It's in their temperament." "Trust me, Crusoe is either dead, or he's half starved and riddled with disease." "On the other hand, he's been living on lean meat and fruit in a land of tropical sunshine." "So if he is coming our way, I'd like some advance warning." "Someone's alive out there." "Let's get down to the beach." "Prepare a welcome." "Once more?" "Why not?" "Well, if they did not hear that, they are either dead or deaf." "Or departed." "You think?" "I think not." "This way, right?" "Has to be." "I believe it is." "Did you see his face when I showed him the falls?" "I did." "What's wrong?" "I can tell when a man is feeling guilty." "Guilty?" "Why would he feel guilty?" "I do not know, Crusoe." "But every good thing that you have done for him makes him feel a little worse." "Why is that?" "Friday's right." "If God could grant me one wish, it would be to deserve the opinion you have of me." "Robinson, I am not the man you imagine." "No man could be." "And I'm sorry." "Well, we can discuss this later, on the voyage home." "Now, if there's a shore party waiting for us on the beach," "I might ask you to wait and stand back." "Could you do that for me?" "Yes, of course." "But why?" "They don't know you." "I need to talk to them first." "Otherwise, there could be a misunderstanding with Friday." "They might make the same mistake I did and see him as a savage." "And the last thing I'd want is for someone to get shot by accident." "Wait here." "I'll signal you to come forward." "I can promise you this will be your last day on the island." "Wait for my signal." "You're not happy?" "I have my reasons." "I want you to come to England." "Mr. Blackthorn is my friend, and he's the person who is going to take us there." "So, if you have a problem, you should probably tell me now." "Even though there is a problem, no problem." "Right, gentlemen, come along." "Well, look at you." "Had you written off as drowned, for sure." "Is that Crusoe?" "Kill the savage first." "Ripped By mstoll"