Believing him to stand in need of my assistance, I took him upon my back, and having carried him over, bade him get down, and for that end stopped, that he might get off with ease; but instead of doing so, the old man, who to me appeared quite decrepit, threw his legs nimbly about my neck. He sat astride upon my shoulders, and held my throat so tight that I thought he would have strangled me, and I fainted away.
Notwithstanding my fainting, the ill-natured old fellow still kept his seat upon my neck. When I had recovered he thrust one of his feet against my side, and struck me so rudely that he forced me to rise up, against my will. Having arisen, he made me carry him under the trees, and forced me now and then to stop, that he might gather and eat fruit. He never left his seat all day; and when I laid down to rest at night, he laid himself down with me, holding still fast about my neck. Every morning he pinched me to make me awake, and afterward obliged me to get up and walk, and spurred me with his feet. By degrees I became weak and feared I must die.
One day I found several dry calabashes that had fallen from a tree. I took a large one, and after cleaning it, pressed into it the juice of grapes, which abounded in the island; having filled the calabash, I put it by in a convenient place, and going thither again some days after, I tasted it, and found the wine so good, that it gave me new vigor, and so
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