Abundance of such things as these assisted to argue me out of all apprehensions of its being the devil; and I presently concluded then that it must be some more dangerous creature—viz. that it must be some of the savages of the mainland opposite who had wandered out to sea in their canoes, and either driven by the currents or by contrary winds, had made the island, and had been on shore, but were gone away again to sea; being as loath, perhaps, to have stayed in this desolate island as I would have been to have had them.
Bőségesen akadtak ehhez hasonló részletek, amelyek meggyőztek, hogy fölösleges a lábnyommal kapcsolatban az ördög látogatását sejtenem. Így aztán arra a következtetésre jutottam, hogy nála is veszélyesebb lényekkel, alighanem a kontinens vadembereivel van dolgom, akik kenuikkal járják a tengert és a széltől és az áramlatoktól hajtva eljutottak erre a szigetre, partra szálltak, majd később újra elmentek.