In my twenty-fifth year on the island, five canoes came to the beach. The cannibals had two prisoners. They killed one, and the other ran away along the sand, very fast. Two men ran after him. I came down the hill with my gun, and I stopped them. The young man was afraid of the noise of the gun. He came to me slowly and put his head on the ground and put my foot on his head. It meant, I am your servant for ever. I called him Friday, because I saved him on a Friday. I taught him English, and he learned very fast. He was honest and kind and always happy. Now I was not alone. Those were the best years of my life on the island.