Robinson Crusoe tells Friday the story of his coming to the island and his survival on it. He explains the use of gunpowder, which seems miraculous to Friday. Crusoe tells him of Europe and how the people function there. When Crusoe shows him the remains of his old boat, Friday tells him that some white men came to his homeland in such a boat. Crusoe surmises that these men might be the survivors of the ship that was wrecked on the rock some years previously. Friday explains that the white men and the natives made a treaty.

One day, standing on a high point, Friday points over the ocean toward the mainland and describes it as his country. This desire to see his home causes jealousy to arise in Crusoe’s mind; he believes that, given the chance, Friday would return to his home and return with his fellow countrymen to kill and eat Crusoe. Crusoe is wrong in this, he admits, and he feels badly for mistrusting his friend. He asks Friday if he would like to return home. Friday replies that he would but only if Crusoe goes with him. He assures Crusoe that his kinsmen would not eat Crusoe but would learn to love him as he has done. Crusoe decides to build a new canoe and sail with Friday to the mainland. Friday is upset because he thinks Crusoe is sending him away. Crusoe assures him this is not the case. It is now twenty-seven years since Crusoe came on the island. He expresses his gratitude to God for his provision both of the means of survival and of a friend.

As Crusoe endeavors to supply the boat for the journey to the mainland, Friday comes running, crying that there are canoes coming. They rush to see the arrival of large group of cannibals. Crusoe spies a European among the prisoners doomed to be eaten. He and Crusoe fire down on the cannibals, killing several. They manage to free the European and another native victim. At the first opportunity to rest, Crusoe learns that the European is from Spain. He is able to join in the fight as cannibals advance, and in the end Crusoe, Friday, and the Spaniard kill twenty-one. Friday is overjoyed when he discovers that the freed native man is his own father. Because of the tight bindings, neither the Spaniard nor Friday’s father is able to walk far, so they must be carried to Crusoe’s cave. Crusoe and Friday are unable to lift them over the wall, so Crusoe constructs a tent for them and prepares beds for them in their recovery.