Robinson Crusoe: Chapter 24 Summary & Analysis

The captain spoke to the mutineers and they all apologized and begged for their lives. The captain told them that their fate was in the hands of the governor of the island: Robinson. The captain said that Robinson would probably send the mutineers to England to face justice, except for Will Atkins, who would be put to death for being the first to turn on the captain. Atkins begged for his life.

Robinson ordered the captain to take Atkins and two more of the worst prisoners to his cave, where the least trustworthy of the mutineers were being kept as in a prison. The rest of the mutineers were sent to Robinson's bower in the forest, where they were bound.

Robinson sent the captain to speak to this second group of mutineers and see if they might help recover the ship. In return, the captain promised them to lobby Robinson for their pardon. They readily agreed. Robinson had the captain select five of these men to join them and kept the other two, along with the three worse prisoners, as hostages, who would be killed if the mutineers went back on their promise.

Robinson and Friday now planned to stay on land and look after their prisoners, while the captain and his men went to take back the ship. The captain and his men went in two boats to the ship around midnight, tricking the mutineers on board into thinking that they were the other mutineers returning from land. The captain's mate killed the mutineers' captain and the ship was recovered.

The captain fired seven gunshots from the boat, the agreed-upon signal to Robinson that the ship was safely recaptured. Robinson went to sleep, tired, and was woken by the captain, who happily told him that the ship was his. Robinson looked and saw the ship anchored just off-shore.

Robinson was so overcome with emotion he cried and couldn't speak. At last, he embraced the captain and told him that he "looked upon him as a man sent from Heaven to deliver me." He said that these recent events were confirmation of "a secret hand of Providence governing the world," and thanked God.

The captain brought Robinson a gift from the ship: liquors, wine, tobacco, meat, sugar, flour, and many other supplies, in addition to new clothes. Robinson and the captain then debated what to do with their prisoners. Robinson had Friday bring the five worst prisoners from the cave to the bower, where Robinson would speak to them.

Robinson spoke to the prisoners as "the governor," and told them he had learned of their mutinous ways and their plans "to commit further robberies, but that Providence had ensnared them in their own ways." He told them that the new captain of the mutiny had been killed and would be hanged from the yard arm. He then asked them why he shouldn't execute them.

The prisoners begged for mercy and Robinson gave them the option of staying on the island or going back on the ship as prisoners, to be tried for mutiny at the first English colony they came to. The prisoners asked to stay on the island. Robinson told them his story of how he had survived on the island, showed them his fortifications and dwelling, and explained how he made bread, planted his crops, and dried his grapes.

Robinson left the prisoners some weapons, including guns and gunpowder, and told them about the Spaniards due to return soon, making them promise to treat the Spaniards well. Using some ink from the ship, he left a letter explaining what had happened to the Spanish prisoner. The next day, Robinson left the island and went onto the ship.

Before the ship left, two of the prisoners swam to the ship and begged to be taken aboard, because the other three prisoners would kill them. Robinson took them aboard, they were "soundly whipped and pickled," and they became "very honest and quiet fellows." Finally, on December 19, 1686, twenty-eight years after arriving on the island, Robinson departed.

Robinson notes that this was the same day of the month on which he had escaped Sallee so long ago. As remembrances of his time on the island, Robinson brought with him his goat-skin cap, his umbrella, one of his parrots, and the money that had so long been useless to him on the island. After a long voyage, Robinson arrived back in England on June 11, 1687, after being away for 35 years.