But as this is commonly the fate of young heads, so a serious reflection upon the folly of it ordinarily attends the exercise of future years, when the dear bought experience of time teaches us repentance.  Thus was it with me; but not withstanding the thoughts of my deliverance ran so strongly in my mind, that is seemed to check all the dictates of reason and philosophy.  And now to usher in my kind reader with greater pleasure to the remaining part of my relation, I flatter myself it will not be taken amiss, to give him an account of my first conceptions of the manner of escaping, and upon what foundation I laid my foolish schemes.

Having retired to my castle, after my late voyage to the ship, my frigate laid up and secured, as usual, and my condition the same as before, except being richer, though I had as little occasion for riches as the Indians of Peru had for gold, before the cruel Spaniards came among them:  One night in March, being the rainy season in the four and twentieth year of my solitude, I lay down to sleep, very well in health, without distemper pain, or uncommon uneasiness, either of body or mind; yet notwithstanding, I could not compose myself to sleep all the night long.  All this tedious while, it is impossible to express what innumerable thoughts came into my head. I traced quite over the whole history of my life in miniature, from my utmost remembrance of things till I came to this island, and then proceeded to examine every action and passage that had occurred since I had taken possession of my kingdom. In my reflections upon the latter, I was comparing the happy posture of my affairs from the beginning of my reign, to this life of anxiety, fear, and concern, since I had discovered a print of a foot in the sand; that while I continued without apprehension, I was incapable of feeling the dread and terror I now suffered. How thankful rather ought I to have been for the knowledge of my danger, since the greatest happiness one can be possessed of is to have sufficient time to provide against it?  How stupendous is the goodness of Providence, which sets such narrow bounds to the sight and knowledge of human nature, that while men walk in the midst of so many dangers they are kept serene and calm, by having the events of things hid from their eyes and knowing nothing of those many dangers that surround them, till perhaps they are dissipated and vanish away.

When I came more particularly to considerer of the real danger I had for so many years escaped; how I had walked about in the greatest security and tranquility, at a time, perhaps, when even nothing but the brow of a hill, a great tree, or the common approach of night, had interposed between me and the destructive hands of the cannibals, who would devour me with as good an appetite, as I would a pigeon or curlew; surely all this, I say, could not but make me sincerely thankful to my great Preserver, whose singular protection I acknowledge with the greatest humility, and without which I must inevitably have fallen into the cruel hands of those devourers.