Robinson Crusoe
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persuaded to come any farther, ‘Well, well,’ says Friday,
‘you no come farther, me go; you no come to me, me
come to you;’ and upon this he went out to the smaller
end, where it would bend with his weight, and gently let
himself down by it, sliding down the bough till he came
near enough to jump down on his feet, and away he ran
to his gun, took it up, and stood still. ‘Well,’ said I to him,
‘Friday, what will you do now? Why don’t you shoot
him?’ ‘No shoot,’ says Friday, ‘no yet; me shoot now, me
no kill; me stay, give you one more laugh:’ and, indeed, so
he did; for when the bear saw his enemy gone, he came
back from the bough, where he stood, but did it very
cautiously, looking behind him every step, and coming
backward till he got into the body of the tree, then, with
the same hinder end foremost, he came down the tree,
grasping it with his claws, and moving one foot at a time,
very leisurely. At this juncture, and just before he could set
his hind foot on the ground, Friday stepped up close to
him, clapped the muzzle of his piece into his ear, and shot
him dead. Then the rogue turned about to see if we did
not laugh; and when he saw we were pleased by our
looks, he began to laugh very loud. ‘So we kill bear in my
country,’ says Friday. ‘So you kill them?’ says I; ‘why, you
have no guns.’ - ‘No,’ says he, ‘no gun, but shoot great