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these, for they would be pleasant to wipe my face with on a hot day.

In a secret drawer of the first chest I found three bags of Spanish money. I

counted eleven hundred pieces of silver.

At the bottom of one of the bags there were six Spanish gold pieces, each worth

about fifteen dollars. These were wrapped up in a piece of paper.

At the bottom of the other bag there were some small bars of gold. I suppose there

was at least a pound of these yellow pieces.

After all, I got very little by this voyage. I had no use for the money. It was worth

no more to me than the dust under my feet. I would have given it all for a pair of good

shoes or some stockings for my feet.

After I had carried everything to my cave I took the canoe back to her old harbor

on the farther side of the island. Then I returned to my castle, where I found everything in

good order.

And now I began to live easily again. I was as watchful as before, and never went

from my castle without looking carefully around.

I seldom went to the other side of the island. When I visited my cave in the

woods, or went to see my goats, I took good care to be well armed.

I HAVE A QUEER DREAM (я вижу странный сон)

TWO years passed without any alarms (без тревог; alarm — /боевая/ тревога),

and I was beginning to think that nothing would ever again happen to disturb the quiet of

my life (что ничто никогда не случится опять, что могло бы нарушить спокойствие

моей жизни).

One night in the rainy season of March I could not sleep. I lay for hours in my

hammock and was not able to close my eyes (лежал часами в гамаке и не мог

сомкнуть глаз).

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I was thinking, thinking, thinking.

I thought of all that had ever happened to me both before and after my shipwreck

(что случилось со мной до и после кораблекрушения).

I thought of my first happy years on the island (о первых счастливых годах на

острове).

I thought of the fear and care that I had lived in ever since I saw the first footprint

in the sand (думал о страхе и заботах, в которых я жил постоянно с того времени,

как я увидел первый отпечаток ноги в песке).

Then I thought of my great desire to see my native land once more (большом

желании увидеть мою родную землю еще раз), and to have friends and companions

with whom I could talk.

These thoughts brought to mind the savages of whom I had so great a dread (эти

мысли вызвали в уме дикарей, которых я столь боялся), and I began to ask myself a

thousand questions about them.

How far off was the coast from which they came (как далеко был берег, с

которого они приплывали)?

Why did they come to my island from so great a distance (с такого большого

расстояния)?

What kind of boats did they have?

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With such thoughts as these I lay awake until far in the night (лежал, бодрствуя,

допоздна в ночи). My pulse beat fast (пульс бил часто), my breath came hard

(дыхания было тяжелым), my nerves were unstrung (нервы были ослабленными,

ненатянутыми = расшатанными).

At last (наконец), worn out by my very restlessness (измученный самим моим

беспокойством), I fell asleep (погрузился в сон).

The same thoughts must have followed me into my dreams (должно быть,

преследовали меня в снах: «последовали за мной в сновидения»), but they took a

different form (приняли иную форму).

I dreamed that I was sitting on the seashore with my gun on my lap (на коленях)

and my umbrella by my side (зонтиком возле меня).

I was thinking, thinking, thinking. I had never been so sad and lonely (никогда не

был столь грустным и одиноким).

I was thinking of the home I was never to see again (который я не увижу

никогда), and of the friends who perhaps had forgotten me (которые, возможно,

забыли меня).

Suddenly, as I lifted my eyes (вдруг, когда я поднял глаза), I thought I saw two

canoes coming toward the island. I ran and hid myself in a grove by the shore (побежал

и спрятался в леске у берега).

There were eleven savages in the canoes (одиннадцать дикарей в лодках), and

they had with them another savage whom they were going to kill and eat (с ними был

другой дикарь, которого они собирались убить и съесть).

But I thought in my sleep that this savage suddenly sprang up and ran for his life

(но я подумал во сне, что этот дикарь вдруг вскочил и побежал /спасая/ свою

жизнь).

I thought that he came running to the little grove, to hide himself in it (я думал,

что он прибежал в маленький лесок, чтобы спрятаться в нем).

Seeing him alone (видя его одного), I arose and met him (встал и встретил его).

I smiled kindly (улыбнулся по-доброму, ласково), and tried to make him know that I

was his friend (попытался дать ему понять, что я был его другом).

He threw himself on the ground at my feet (бросился на землю у моих ног; to

throw). He seemed to be asking my help (казалось, просил помощи).

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186

I showed him my ladder (лестницу) and made him go up over the wall (и