Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо/Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children

них выскочили из нее).

Then I saw that the three unarmed men were prisoners (что три невооруженных

человека были пленниками). Their hands were tied behind them (руки были связаны

за спиной) and they were closely guarded (под строгой охраной: «внимательно

охранялись»).

As they were led on shore (когда они были выведены на берег; to lead), they

seemed in great distress (казалось, были в большой беде) as though begging for their

lives (словно прося за свои жизни = сохранить им жизнь).

When Friday saw all this, he cried out to me, "O master! the white mans do just

like savage mans with their prisoners (как дикари со своими пленниками)."

"Why, Friday," I said, "do you think they are going to eat them?"

"Yes, yes," he answered, "they are going to eat them."

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The prisoners were led (были проведены) far up on the beach, and I expected

every moment to see them killed (ожидал, что они в любой момент будут убиты).

But soon their guards seemed to change their minds (казалось, передумали:

«сменили разум»). They talked together for a little while (поговорили друг с другом

некоторое время). Then they untied the prisoners' hands (развязали руки пленников)

and let them go where they pleased (куда им хотелось).

The seamen scattered (моряки разбежались), some going this way, some that, as

though (как будто) they wished to see the country. But the men who had been prisoners

sat down on the ground and seemed very sad and full of despair (казались очень

грустными и полными отчаяния).

I thought then of the time when I had first landed on that shore — how I had no

hope (никакой надежды), and how I gave myself up for lost (как я считал, что

пропал).

As I have said, the tide was at its highest when the men came on shore. They

rambled around (бродили) till it had flowed out and left their boat high and dry on the

sand.

They had left two men with the boat to guard it. But the weather being very warm

(поскольку погода была очень теплой), these men had fallen asleep.

When one of them awoke and found the water far out from the boat, he began to

hello for help (звать на помощь). All the men came running and tried to drag the boat

out to the water (попытались тянуть лодку к воде).

But it was so heavy (тяжелой) they could not move it. They tugged and pulled

(тянули и тащили) for a long time. Then I heard one of them shout (слышал, как один

из них закричал): "Let her alone (оставьте ее), boys! She'll float all right when the next

tide comes up.

With that they gave it up (оставили это) and all strolled out into the country

again (ушли гулять опять; to stroll — прогуливаться, бродить).

cautious [‘ko: ə

ʃ s]

I SEE A STRANGE SAIL

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I PASS over some wonderful things that happened during my last year on the

island. For I must not make this story too long.

I was fast asleep in my castle one morning when Friday came running in. "O

master, master!" he cried, "a boat, a boat!"

I jumped up and went out as quickly as could. I was in such haste that I forgot to

carry my gun with me.

I looked toward the sea. About three miles from the shore I saw a strange boat

coming to the island. It carried a leg-of-mutton sail and was coming swiftly with the

wind. "Surely," I thought, "this is not the kind of boat that savages sail in."

Then I saw that it was coming not from the open sea on my side of the island, but

from around a point on the south shore.

I ran back to my castle and told Friday to stay inside and keep quiet till we could

learn whether the people in the boat were friends or foes.

Then I climbed up to my lookout on the top of the great rock.

I looked out toward the south shore, and there I saw a ship lying at anchor. As

nearly as I could guess, it was about five miles from my castle and at least three miles

from the shore.

It looked just like an English ship, and the boat was surely an English longboat.

I cannot tell you how glad I was at the thought that some of my own countrymen

were so near. Yet I felt strange fears, and so made up my mind to be very cautious.

In the first place, what business could an English ship have in these seas? The

English had no lands in this part of the world. They would not come here to trade. There

had been no storms to drive the vessel to this place.

The more I thought of the matter, the more I doubted. If these people were indeed

English, they must be here for no good purpose.

By this time the boat was quite near the shore. I could see the men in it quite

plainly. They looked like Englishmen.

As they came in the tide was at its highest, and so they ran the boat far up on the

beach about half a mile from me.

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