Defoe CHAPTER 12 – CORN
When the goats are between me and my dog, I hide behind a tree. Then I shout at my dog, “Come here.”
My dog runs to me and the goats too. I wait in my position behind the tree. When one goat runs close to me, I jump and I catch her leg. I hold her right leg. But then the goat kicks me with her left leg. She kicks me in my nose. It is a horrible pain. I can’t hold the goat and the goat runs away.
We are not successful. This is not the best method how to catch a goat. We have to find a better method.
I tell my dog, “Let’s go home. I need to relax.”
I work on my fence from January to March. It takes me a long time because I want to make the fence very strong. During this time, I find big birds on the island. Their homes aren’t in the trees. They live in holes which are between rocks. It is easy to catch them. Their meat is great. I can also cook and eat their eggs.
When I work on my fence, I find a small bag. I remember corn in the bag. But now I see only some leaves in the bag. I take the bag outside my camp. I empty the bag because I need the bag for gunpowder. This happens before the rains.
A month later, I find some green leaves in that place. It is young corn.
I am so happy. The corn grows near my home. It is fantastic. I can bake bread in the future.
Something happens in March. I am inside my cave when pieces of earth fall from the top of the cave.
I am scared. My work on the cave can be lost. I run outside the cave. I see that the ground starts to shake. It is an earthquake.
I am shocked and scared. Some big stones fall from the hill. But I am lucky. They don’t hit my tent.
The earthquake is finished soon. But I don’t want to go inside the cave. I am scared. I sit on the ground before my tent.
I think, “Maybe, it is dangerous to sleep in the cave. It is dangerous if another earthquake comes.”
But I don’t want to sleep in the tent. So I decide to make a house.
I start to build the house in April. It takes three months to build the house. But I am happy with my new home.
I am ill in the last week of July and I have a temperature. I can’t get out of the bed. I am very weak and I can do nothing in this state.
I have crazy dreams. The dreams are not very logical. But for me they are real when I have them.