After all these years, on an uneventful day, without warning, Crusoe "was exceedingly surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore." He "stood there like one thunderstruck, or as if I had seen an apparition." Confused in his thoughts, he retreated like an animal to his fortification. He could not sleep the entire night because he was so beset by apprehensions. In his confusion, he thought that it was the Devil attempting to trick him in some manner. He dismissed this idea and thought that, instead, it might be a savage from the mainland. He feared that his boat would be found and, thus, his presence on the island would be known. Suddenly, all of his confidence in God left him.
In this uncomfortable state of mind, he finally turned to the Bible for comfort and began to be more rational in his thinking. It occurred to him that the footprint that he saw might merely be one of his own. Even though his mind was not reconciled for weeks or months, yet on the third day of his hiding, the goats needed milking and he had to take courage to go out and tend to them.
Later, becoming more bold, he went down to the shore to measure his foot against the print. He discovered that the footprint was much larger then his own foot. His first thought was to destroy all of his enclosures that he had built in order to prevent being found out that he was on the island. But after considering, he realized that he had not seen anyone in the fifteen years that he had been there, and if anyone had accidentally landed, he had probably gone off again quickly.
He fortified his fortifications with another wall so that now he had a double wall. Concerned with his herd of goats, he resolved to preserve them in a different location. Finding a piece of ground in the middle of a thick woods, he fenced it in to secure his goats. He had still seen no human being, and he had spent two years in his uneasiness. He constantly prayed to God to protect him from danger.
