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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16644-h.zip b/16644-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a18f3c --- /dev/null +++ b/16644-h.zip diff --git a/16644-h/16644-h.htm b/16644-h/16644-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ea8d21 --- /dev/null +++ b/16644-h/16644-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4964 @@ + +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + + <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of THE PURITAN TWINS By Lucy Fitch Perkins</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + body { + background: #ffffff; + margin-left:12%; + margin-right:12%; + } + + p { + text-align: justify; + } + + td { + text-align: left; + font-size: 0.9em; + font-weight: normal; + } + + td.left { + text-align: left; + font-size: 1.0em; + font-weight: bold; + } + + td.right { + text-align: right; + font-size: 0.9em; + font-weight: bold; + } + + td.inset { + border: medium double #000000; + text-align: left; + font-size: 0.8em; + font-weight: bold; + } + + .smcaps { + font-variant: small-caps; + } + + blockquote { + text-align: justify; + margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + font-size: 0.9em; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + } + + p.center { + text-align: center; + } + + p.footnote { + font-size: 0.8em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + p.note { + font-size: 0.9em; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + } + + p.note1 { + font-size: 0.8em; + margin-left: 8%; + } + + span.outdent1 { + text-align: left; + margin-left: -2em; + } + + span.left { + position: absolute; + left: 1%; + right: 88%; + font-size: 0.8em; + text-align: left; + color: #dddddd; + font-weight: normal; + } + + span.page { + position: absolute; + left: 0%; + right: 88%; + font-size: 0.7em; + font-weight: normal; + color: #cccccc; + text-align: left; + } + + sup { + font-size: 0.8em; + } + + hr { + text-align: center; + width: 50%; + color: #000000; + } + + hr.short { + width: 30%; + color: #cccccc; + } + + hr.full {width: 70%; + color: black; + } + + a:link { + text-decoration: none; + } + + a:visited { + color: blue; + text-decoration: none; + } + + a:hover { + color: blue; + background: #ffffff; + text-decoration: none; + } + + a:active { + text-decoration: underline; + } + + a.contents:link { + color:#000000; + text-decoration:none; + } + + a.contents:visited { + color:#000000; + text-decoration:none; + } + + a.contents:hover { + color:blue; + background:#ffffff; + text-decoration:none; + } + + a.contents:active { + color: #cc0099; + text-decoration:underline; + } + + a.note:link { + color:#000000; + text-decoration:underline; + } + + a.note:visited { + color:#000000; + text-decoration:underline; + } + + a.note:hover { + color:blue; + background:#ffffff; + text-decoration:underline; + } + + a.note:active { + color: #cc0099; + text-decoration:underline; + } + + </style> + </head> + + <body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Puritan Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Puritan Twins + +Author: Lucy Fitch Perkins + +Release Date: September 4, 2005 [EBook #16644] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURITAN TWINS *** + + + + +Produced by Alicia Williams, Lesley Halamek and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<br /> + +<h1>THE PURITAN TWINS</h1> + +<h2>By Lucy Fitch Perkins</h2><br /> + +<h5>ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR</h5><br /> + + + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0001-titlepage-300.png" width="300" height="318" alt="Nancy and Daniel with the clam basket and shovel." border="0" /> + +</p> + + + +<h5>HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</h5> + +<h5>BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO</h5> + +<h5><span style="font-family: 'old english text';">The Riverside Press Cambridge</span></h5><br /><br /> +<table cellpadding="10" align="center" summary="Geographical Series" border="0"> +<tr> + <td class="inset"> + <p class="center"> +<span style="font-family: 'old english text'; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: normal;"> +By Lucy Fitch Perkins</span></p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center"> +<i>Geographical Series</i></p> + + +THE DUTCH TWINS PRIMER. <i>Grade I.</i><br /> +THE DUTCH TWINS. <i>Grade III.</i><br /> +THE ESKIMO TWINS. <i>Grade II.</i><br /> +THE FILIPINO TWINS. <i>Grade IV.</i><br /> +THE JAPANESE TWINS. <i>Grade IV.</i><br /> +THE SWISS TWINS. <i>Grade IV.</i><br /> +THE IRISH TWINS. <i>Grade V.</i><br /> +THE ITALIAN TWINS. <i>Grades V and VI.</i><br /> +THE SCOTCH TWINS. <i>Grades V and VI.</i><br /> +THE MEXICAN TWINS. <i>Grade VI.</i><br /> +THE BELGIAN TWINS. <i>Grade VI.</i><br /> +THE FRENCH TWINS. <i>Grade VII.</i> + + +<p class="center"> +<i>Historical Series</i></p> + + +THE CAVE TWINS. <i>Grade IV.</i><br /> +THE SPARTAN TWINS. <i>Grades V-VI.</i><br /> +THE PURITAN TWINS. <i>Grades VI-VII.</i><br /> + + +<hr /> +<p class="center"> +<i>Each volume is illustrated by the author</i></p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center"> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</p> + +</td></tr></table> + + +<h5><span style="font-family: 'old english text';">The Riverside Press</span></h5> + +<h6>CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS</h6> + +<h6>PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.</h6> + +<br /><br /><hr /><br /><br /> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0003-300.png" width="300" height="349" alt="Daniel and Zeb" border="0" /> +</p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table width="80%" align="center" border="0" summary="contents"> +<tr> + <td class="left" colspan="2" width="80%" valign="top">CHAPTER<br /><br /></td> + <td class="right" colspan="2" valign="top">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">I.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#I"><span class="smcaps">The Pepperells and the Captain</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page3">3</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">II.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#II"><span class="smcaps">Two Days</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page39">39</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">III.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#III"><span class="smcaps">On Board the Lucy Ann</span> </a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page63">63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">IV.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#IV"><span class="smcaps">A Forest Trail</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page87">87</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">V.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#V"><span class="smcaps">The New Home</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page113">113</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">VI.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#VI"><span class="smcaps">Harvest Home</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page157">157</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top"> </td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#teachers"><span class="smcaps">Suggestions to Teachers</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page181">181</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<p class="center"><a name="map" id="map"></a> +<img src="images/0004-591.png" width="591" height="500" alt="Map of Boston and Cambridge." border="0" /> +<span class="note1">[<a href="#see_map">Return</a>]</span></p> + +<a name="page3" id="page3"></a><span class="left">[page 3]</span> +<a name="I" id="I"></a> +<h3>I</h3> + +<h2>THE PEPPERELLS AND THE CAPTAIN</h2> + +<p> +One bright warm noonday in May of the +year 1638, Goodwife Pepperell opened the +door of her little log cabin, and, screening +her eyes from the sun with a toilworn hand, +looked about in every direction, as if searching +for some one. She was a tall, spare +woman, with a firm mouth, keen blue eyes, +and a look of patient endurance in her face, +bred by the stern life of pioneer New England. +Far away across the pasture which +sloped southward from the cabin she could +see long meadow grass waving in the breeze, +and beyond a thread of blue water where +the Charles River flowed lazily to the sea. +Westward there was also pasture land where +sheep were grazing, and in the distance a +<a name="page4" id="page4"></a><span class="left">[page 4]</span> +glimpse of the thatched roofs of the little +village of Cambridge.</p> +<p> +Goodwife Pepperell gazed long and earnestly +in this direction, and then, making a +trumpet of her hands, sent a call ringing +across the silent fields. "Nancy! Daniel!" +she shouted.</p> +<p> +She was answered only by the tinkle of +sheep bells. A shade of anxiety clouded the +blue eyes as she went round to the back of +the cabin and looked toward the dense forest +which bounded her vision on the north. +Stout-hearted though she was, Goodwife +Pepperell could never forget the terrors +which lay concealed behind that mysterious +rampart of green. Not only were there +wolves and deer and many other wild creatures +hidden in its depths, but it sheltered +also the perpetual menace of the Indians. +Toward the east, at some distance from the +cabin, corn-fields stretched to salt meadows, +and beyond, across the bay, she could see +the three hills of Boston town.<sup>1</sup> +<span class="note"><a name="see_map" id="see_map"></a> +[1: See <a class="note" href="#map">map</a>.]</span></p> +<a name="page5" id="page5"></a><span class="left">[page 5]</span> +<p> +As no answering shout greeted her from +this direction either, the Goodwife stepped +quickly toward a hollow stump which stood +a short distance from the cabin. Beside the +stump a slender birch tree bent beneath the +weight of a large circular piece of wood +hung to its top by a leather thong. This +was the samp-mill, where their corn was +pounded into meal. Seizing the birch tree +with her hands, she brought the wooden +pestle down into the hollow stump with a +resounding thump. The birch tree sprang +back lifting the block with it and again +she pulled it down and struck the stump +another blow, then paused to listen. This +time there was, beside the echo, an answering +shout, and in a few moments two heads +appeared above the rows of young corn +just peeping out of the ground, two pairs +of lively bare feet came flying across the +garden patch, and a breathless boy and +girl stood beside their mother.</p> +<p> +They were a sturdy pair of twelve-year-olds, +the boy an inch or more taller than +<a name="page6" id="page6"></a><span class="left">[page 6]</span> +his sister, and both with the blue eyes, fair +skin, and rosy cheeks which proclaimed +their English blood. There was a gleam of +pride in Goodwife Pepperell's eye as she +looked a her children, but not for the world +would she have let them see it; much less +would she have owned it to herself, for she +was a Puritan mother, and regarded pride +of any kind as altogether sinful. "Where +have you been all the morning?" she said. +"You were nowhere to be seen and the +corn is not yet high enough to hide you."</p> +<p> +"I was hoeing beyond that clump of +bushes," said Daniel, pointing to a group +of high blueberries that had been allowed +to remain in the cleared field.</p> +<p> +"And I was keeping away the crows," +said Nancy, holding out her wooden clappers. +"Only I fell asleep. It was so warm +I just could n't help it."</p> +<p> +"So shall thy poverty come as one that +travelleth and thy want as an armed man," +quoted the mother sternly. "Night is the +time for sleep. Go now and eat the porridge +<a name="page7" id="page7"></a><span class="left">[page 7]</span> +I have set for you in your little porringers, +and then go down to the bay with this basket +and fill it with clams. Put a layer of +seaweed in the basket first and pack the +clams in that. They will keep alive for some +time if you bed them so, and be sure to +bring back the shovel."</p> +<p> +This was a task that suited the Twins +much better than either hoeing corn or scaring +crows, and they ran into the house at +once, ate their porridge with more haste +than good manners, and dashed joyfully +away across the fields toward the river-mouth, +a mile away. They followed a path +across the wide stretch of pasture, where +wild blackberry vines and tall blueberry +bushes grew, then through a strip of meadow +land, and at last ran out on the bare stretch +of sand and weed left by the ebb tide toward +the narrow channel cut by the clear water +of the Charles.</p> +<p> +Here they set down the basket and began +looking about for the little holes which +betray the hiding-places of clams.</p> +<a name="page8" id="page8"></a><span class="left">[page 8]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0008-1-300.png" width="300" height="400" alt="Nancy and Daniel go for clams." border="0" /></p> +<p> +"Oh, look, Dan," cried Nancy, stopping +to admire the long line of foot-prints which +they had left behind them. "Dost see what +a pretty border we have made? 'T is just +like a pattern." She walked along the edge +of the stream with her toes turned well +out, leaving a track in the sand like this:</p> + +<img src="images/0008-2-200.png" width="200" height="81" alt="a track in the sand" style="float: left;" hspace="10" border="0" /> +<p> +Then the delightful flat +surface tempted her to +further exploits. She +<a name="page9" id="page9"></a><span class="left">[page 9]</span> +picked up a splinter of driftwood and, +making a wide flourish, began to draw a +picture. "See," she called rapturously to +Dan, "this is going to be a pig! Here 's his +nose, and here 's his curly tail, and here are +his little fat legs." She clapped her hands +with admiration. "Now I shall do something +else," she announced as she finished +the pig with a round red pebble stuck in for +the eye. "Let me see. What shall I draw? +Oh, I know! A picture of Gran'ther Wattles! +Look, Dan." +She made a careful +stroke. "Here 's his +nose, and here 's his +chin. They are monstrous +near together +because he has nothing but gums between! +And here 's his long tithing-stick with the +squirrel-tail on the end!"</p> + +<img src="images/0009-300.png" width="300" height="196" alt="Gran'ther Wattles" style="float: right;" hspace="10" border="0" /> +<p> +"It doth bear a likeness to him!" admitted +Dan, laughing in spite of himself, +"but, sister, thou shouldst not mock him. +He is an old man, and we should pay +<a name="page10" id="page10"></a><span class="left">[page 10]</span> +respect to gray hairs. Father says so."</p> +<p> +"Truly I have as much of respect as he +hath of hair," answered naughty Nancy. +"His poll is nearly as bald as an egg."</p> +<p> +"I know the cause of thy displeasure," +declared Dan. "Gran'ther Wattles poked +thee for bouncing about during the sermon +last Sunday. But it is unseemly to bounce +in the meeting-house, and besides, is he not +the tithing-man? 'T is his duty to see that +people behave as they should."</p> +<p> +"He would mayhap have bounced himself +if a bee had been buzzing about his +nose as it did about mine," said Nancy, +and, giving a vicious dab at the pictured +features, she drew a bee perched on the +end of Gran'ther Wattles's nose. "Here +now are all the gray hairs he hath," she +added, making three little scratches above +the ear.</p> +<p> +"Nancy Pepperell!" cried her brother, +aghast, "dost thou not remember what happened +to the forty and two children that +said 'Go up, thou bald head' to Elijah? It +<a name="page11" id="page11"></a><span class="left">[page 11]</span> +would be no marvel if bears were to come +out of the woods this moment to eat thee +up!"</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0011-400.png" width="400" height="401" alt="Nancy drawing Gran'ther Wattles." border="0" /></p> +<p> +"'T was n't Elijah, 't was Elisha," Nancy +retorted with spirit, "but it matters little +whether 't was one or t' other, for I don't +believe two bears could possibly hold so +much, and besides dost thou not think it a +<a name="page12" id="page12"></a><span class="left">[page 12]</span> +deal worse to cause a bear to eat up forty +and two children than to say 'Go up, thou +bald head'?"</p> +<p> +"Nancy!" exclaimed her horrified brother, +glancing fearfully toward the forest and +clapping his hand on her mouth to prevent +further impiety, "thou art a wicked, wicked +girl! Dost thou not know that the eye of the +Lord is in every place? Without doubt his +ear is too, and He can hear every word thy +saucy tongue sayeth. Come, let us rub out +this naughty picture quickly, and mayhap +God will take no notice this time." He ran +across Gran'ther Wattles's portrait from +brow to chin, covering it with foot-prints. +"Besides," he went on as he trotted back +and forth, "thou hast broken a commandment! +Thou hast made a likeness of something +that 's in the earth, and that 's Gran'ther +Wattles! Nancy, thou dost take fearful +chances with thy soul."</p> +<p> +Nancy began to look a little anxious as +she considered her conduct. "At any rate," +she said defensively, "it is n't a graven image, +<a name="page13" id="page13"></a><span class="left">[page 13]</span> +and I have neither bowed down to it +nor served it! I do try to be good, Dan, +but it seemeth that the devil is ever at my +elbow."</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0013-400.png" width="400" height="390" alt="''T is because thou art idle,' said Dan" border="0" /></p> +<p> +"'T is because thou art idle," said Dan, +shaking his head as gravely as Gran'ther +Wattles himself. "Busy thyself with the +clams, and Satan will have less chance +<a name="page14" id="page14"></a><span class="left">[page 14]</span> +at thy idle hands, and thy idle tongue +too."</p> +<p> +Nancy obediently took hold of the basket +which Dan thrust into her hands, and together +they walked for some distance over +the sandy stretches. Suddenly a tiny stream +of water spouted up beside Dan's feet. +"Here they be!" he shouted, plunging his +shovel into the sand, "and what big ones!" +Nancy surveyed the clams with disfavor. +They were thrusting pale thick muscles out +between the lobes of their shells. "They +look as if they were sticking out their +tongues at us," said Nancy as she picked +one up gingerly and dropped it into the +basket. "But, Dan, Mother said we were +to bed them in seaweed!"</p> +<p> +"I see none here," said Dan, leaning on +his shovel and looking about him. "The +tide hath swept everything as clean as a +floor."</p> +<p> +"I 'll seek for some while thou art busy +with the digging," said Nancy, glad to +escape the duty of picking up the clams, +<a name="page15" id="page15"></a><span class="left">[page 15]</span> +and off she trotted without another word. +The flats, seamed and grooved with channels +where pools of water still lingered, +sloped gently down to the lower level of +the bay, and farther out a range of rocks +lifted themselves above the sandy waste.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0015-400.png" width="400" height="459" alt="igging for clams" border="0" /></p> +<a name="page16" id="page16"></a><span class="left">[page 16]</span> +<p> +"I 'll surely find seaweed on the rocks," +thought Nancy to herself as she sped along, +and in a few moments she had reached +them, had tossed up the basket, and was +climbing their rugged sides.</p> +<p> +"There 's a mort o' seaweed here," she +said, nodding her head wisely as she picked +up a long string of kelp; "I can fill my +basket in no time at all." There was no need +for haste, she thought, so she sat down +beside a pool of water left in a hollow of +the rocks, to explore its contents. The first +thing she found was a group of tiny barnacles, +and for a while she amused herself +by washing salt water over them to see +them open their tiny cups of shell. In the +pool itself a beautiful lavender-colored jelly-fish +was floating about, and just beyond +lay a star-fish clinging to a bunch of seaweed. +She found other treasures scattered +about by the largess of the tide—tiny +spiral shells, stones of all colors, and a +horseshoe crab, besides seaweed with pretty +little pods which popped delightfully when +she squeezed them with her fingers. Then +she heard the cries of gulls overhead and +watched them as they wheeled and circled +between her and the sky. When they flew +out to sea she sat with her hands clasping +her knees and gazed across the bay at the +<a name="page18" id="page18"></a><span class="left">[page 18]</span> +three hills of Boston town. She could see +quite plainly the tall beacon standing like a +ship's mast on top of Beacon Hill, and farther +north she strained her eyes to pick out +Governor Winthrop's dwelling from the +cluster of houses which straggled up the +slope of Copp's Hill and which made all +there was of the city of Boston in that early +day.</p> + +<a name="page17" id="page17"></a><span class="left">[page 17]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0017-400.png" width="400" height="470" alt="and gazed across the bay" border="0" /></p> + +<p> +For some time she sat there hugging her +knees and thinking long, long thoughts, and +it was not until the sound of little waves lapping +against the rocks roused her that she +woke from her day dream and realized with +terror that the tide had turned. The channels +and lower levels of the bay were already +brimming over, and the water was +deep about the rocks on which she perched. +At almost the same moment Dan had been +surprised by a cold wave which washed +over his bare feet, and, turning about, was +dismayed to find a sheet of blue water covering +the bay and to see Nancy standing +on the topmost rock shouting "Dan! Dan!" +<a name="page19" id="page19"></a><span class="left">[page 19]</span> +at the top of her lungs. For one astonished +instant he looked at her, then, throwing +down his shovel, he plunged unhesitatingly +into the icy bath. And now Nancy, realizing +that there was not a moment to lose if +she hoped to reach the shore in safety, let +herself slowly down off the rocks, leaving +the basket behind her, and started toward +her brother.</p> +<p> +The water was already so deep in the +channels that their progress toward each +other was slow, but they ploughed bravely +on, feeling the bottom carefully at each step +lest they sink in some sand-pocket or hollow +washed out by the tide. Some distance +away toward Charlestown a fishing schooner +rocked on the deeper water of the bay, and +a fisherman in a small boat, attracted by +the shouting, looked up, and, seeing the two +struggling figures, instantly bent to his oars +and started toward them. Though he rowed +rapidly, it was some minutes before he could +reach the children, who were now floundering +about in water nearly up to their necks.</p> +<a name="page20" id="page20"></a><span class="left">[page 20]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0020-400.png" width="400" height="176" alt="water nearly up to their necks" border="0" /></p> +<p> +"Hold fast to my shoulder, Nancy," he +heard Dan cry. "I can float, and I can +swim a little. Keep thy nose above water +and let thy feet go where they will." Nancy, +spluttering and gurgling, was trying hard +to follow Dan's directions, when the boat +shot alongside, and a cheery voice cried, +"Ahoy, there! Come aboard, you young +porpoises!"</p> +<p> +To the children it was like a voice straight +from heaven. Dan immediately helped +Nancy to get into the boat, and then she +balanced it while he climbed aboard.</p> +<p> +When they were safely bestowed among +the lobster-pots with which the boat was +laden, the man leaned on his oars and eyed +<a name="page21" id="page21"></a><span class="left">[page 21]</span> +them critically. "Short of sense, ain't +ye?" he remarked genially. "Nigh about +drownded that time or I 'm no skipper! If +ye ain't bent on destruction ye 'd better get +into dry clothes. Ye 're as wet as a mess of +drownded kittens. Tell me where you live +and I 'll take you home."</p> +<p> +He flung a tarpaulin over the shivering +figures and tucked it around them as he +scolded. "'T is all my fault," sobbed poor +Nancy. "Dan came in just to get me out."</p> +<p> +"Very commendable of him, I 'm sure," +said the stranger, nodding approvingly at +Dan, "and just what he 'd ought to do, and +doubtless you 're worth saving at that, +though a hen-headeder young miss I never +see in all my days!"</p> +<p> +"She went to find seaweed to bed the +clams," explained Dan, coming to his sister's +defense, "and the tide caught her. +Thou art kind indeed to pick us up, sir."</p> +<p> +"Oh," groaned remorseful Nancy, her +teeth chattering, "it 's all because I 'm such +a sinner! I made a likeness of Gran'ther +<a name="page22" id="page22"></a><span class="left">[page 22]</span> +Wattles in the sand and said dreadful things +about the prophet Elijah, or mayhap 't was +Elisha, and Dan said a bear might come to +eat me up just like the forty and two children, +and instead of a bear we both were +almost swallowed by the tide!"</p> +<p> +"Well, now," said the stranger, comfortingly, +"ye see instead of sending bears the +Lord sent me along to fish ye out, just the +same as He sent the whale to swallow Jonah +when he was acting contrary! Looks like +He meant to let ye off with a scare this +time. Come now, my lass, there 's salt +water enough aboard and if ye cry into the +boat, ye 'll have to bail her out. Besides," +he added whimsically, looking up at the +sky, "there 's another squall coming on, +and two at a time is too many for any +sailor. If I 'm to cast you up on the shore +same as the whale, ye 'll have to tell me +which way to go, and who ye are."</p> +<p> +"Our father is Josiah Pepperell," answered +Dan, "and our house is almost a +mile back from shore near Cambridge."</p> +<a name="page23" id="page23"></a><span class="left">[page 23]</span> +<p> +"So you 're Josiah Pepperell's children! +To be sure, to be sure! Might have known +it. Ye do favor him some," said the fisherman. +"Well! well! The ways of the Lord +are surely past finding out! Why, I knew +your father way back in England. He came +over here for religion and I came for fish. +Not that I ain't a God-fearing man," he +added hastily, noticing a look of horror on +Nancy's face, "but I ain't so pious as some. +I 'm a seafaring man, Captain Sanders of the +Lucy Ann, Marblehead. Ye can see her +riding at anchor out there in the bay. I +have n't set eyes on your father since he +left Boston and settled in the back woods +up yonder."</p> +<p> +He sent the boat flying through the +water with swift, sure strokes as he talked, +and brought it ashore at the first landing-place +they found. Here they drew it up on +the bank and, taking out the lobster-pots, +turned it upside down so the rain would +not fill it. Two great green lobsters with +goblin-like eyes were hidden away under +<a name="page24" id="page24"></a><span class="left">[page 24]</span> +the pots, and when the boat was overturned +they tumbled out and started at a +lively pace for the water.</p> +<p> +"Hi, there!" shouted the Captain, seizing +them by their tails, "where are your +manners? By jolly, I like to forgot ye! +Come along now and take supper with the +Pepperells. I invite ye! They 're short of +clams and they 'll be pleased to see ye, or +I miss my reckoning." There were pegs +stuck in the scissor-like claws, so the creatures +were harmless, and, swinging along +with one kicking vigorously in each hand, +the Captain plunged into the long meadow +grass, the children following close at his +heels.</p> +<p> +The clouds grew darker and darker; +there was a rumble of thunder, and streaks +of lightning tore great rents in the sky as +they hurried across the open meadow and +struck into the pasture land beyond.</p> +<p> +"Head into the wind there and keep going," +shouted the Captain as the children +struggled along, impeded by their wet +<a name="page25" id="page25"></a><span class="left">[page 25]</span> +clothing. "It 's from the north, and we 're +pointed straight into it."</p> +<p> +Past bushes waving distractedly in the +wind, under the boughs of young oak +trees, over stones and through briars they +sped, and at last they came in sight of the +cabin just as the storm broke. Goodwife +Pepperell was standing in the door gazing +anxiously toward the river, when they +dashed out of the bushes and, scudding past +her, stood dripping on the hearth-stone. +Her husband was just hanging his gun over +the chimney-piece, and the noise of their +entrance was drowned out by a clap of +thunder; so when he turned about and saw +the three drenched figures it was no wonder +that for an instant he was too surprised +to speak.</p> +<p> +"Well, of all things!" he said at last, +holding out his hand to Captain Sanders. +"What in God's providence brings thee +here, Thomas? Thou art welcome indeed. +'T is a long time since I have seen thee."</p> +<p> +"God's providence ye may call it," answered +<a name="page26" id="page26"></a><span class="left">[page 26]</span> +the Captain, shaking the Goodman's +hand as if he were pumping out the hold +of a sinking ship, "and I 'll not gainsay it. +The truth is I overhauled these small craft +floundering around in the tide-wash with +water over their scuppers 'n' all but wrecked, +so I took 'em in tow and brought 'em +ashore!"</p> +<p> +Their mother, meanwhile, had not waited +for explanations. Seeing how chilled they +were, she had hurried the children to the +loft above the one room of the cabin and +was already giving them a rub-down and +getting out dry clean clothes while they told +her their adventure.</p> +<p> +"Thank God you are safe," she said, +clasping them both in her arms, when the +tale was told.</p> +<p> +"Thank Captain Sanders as well, Mother," +said Daniel. "Had it not been for +him, I doubt if we could have reached the +shore."</p> +<p> +"Let this be a lesson to you, then," said +the Goodwife, loosening her clasp and picking +<a name="page27" id="page27"></a><span class="left">[page 27]</span> +up the wet clothing. "You know well +about the tide! Nancy, child, why art thou +so wild and reckless? Thou art the cause +of much anxiety."</p> +<p> +At her mother's reproof, gentle though +it was, poor Nancy flopped over on her +stomach, and, burying her face in her hands, +gave way to tears.</p> +<p> +"It 's all because I am so wicked," she +moaned. "My sins are as scarlet! Oh, +Mother, dost think God will cause the +lightning to strike us dead to punish me?" +She shuddered with fear as a flash shone +through the chinks of the logs and for an +instant lighted the dim loft.</p> +<p> +Her mother put down the wet clothes +and, lifting her little daughter tenderly in +her arms, laid her on her bed. "God maketh +the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust," +she said soothingly. "Rest here +while I go down and get supper."</p> +<p> +She covered her warmly with a homespun +blanket, and, accompanied by Dan, +made her way down the ladder. She found +<a name="page28" id="page28"></a><span class="left">[page 28]</span> +her husband putting fresh logs on the fire +and stirring the coals to a blaze, while the +Captain hung his coat on the corner of the +mantel-shelf to dry. She went up to him +and held out her hand. "Captain Sanders," +she said, "but for thee this might be a desolate +household indeed this night."</p> +<p> +The Captain's red face turned a deeper +shade, and he fidgeted with embarrassment, +as he took her hand in his great red paw, +then dropped it suddenly as if it were hot. +"Oh, stow it, ma'am, stow it," he begged. +"That is, I mean to say—why, by jolly, +ma'am, a pirate could do no less when he +see a fine bit of cargo like that going to the +bottom!"</p> +<p> +To the Captain's great relief the lobsters +at this moment created a diversion. He had +dropped them on the hearth when he came +in, and they were now clattering briskly +about the room, butting into anything that +came in their way in an effort to escape. +He made a sudden dash after them and +held them out toward Goodwife Pepperell.</p> +<a name="page29" id="page29"></a><span class="left">[page 29]</span> +<p> +"Here they be, ma'am," he said. "I 'd +saved them for my supper, and I 'd take it +kindly if ye 'd cook them for me, and help +eat them, too. It 's raining cats and dogs, +and if I was to start out now, I 'd have a +hard time finding the Lucy Ann. Ye can't +see a rod ahead of ye in such a downpour."</p> +<p> +"We shall be glad to have thee stay as +long as thou wilt," said the Goodwife heartily. +"Put the lobsters in this while I set +the kettle to boil." She held out a wooden +puncheon as she spoke, and the Captain +dropped them in. Then he sat down with +Goodman Pepperell on the settle beside the +fireplace, and the two men talked of their +boyhood in England, while she hung the +kettle on the crane over the fire and began +to prepare the evening meal.</p> +<p> +"Daniel, sit thee down by the fire and +get a good bed of coals ready while I mix +the johnny-cake," she said as she stepped +briskly about the room, and Daniel, nothing +loath, drew a stool to the Captain's side +and fed the fire with chips and corn-cobs +<a name="page30" id="page30"></a><span class="left">[page 30]</span> +while he listened with all his ears to the +talk of the two men.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0030-400.png" width="400" height="379" alt="Daniel listened with all his ears to the talk of the two men." border="0" /></p> +<p> +"Well, Thomas, how hast thou prospered +since I saw thee last?" asked Goodman +Pepperell.</p> +<p> +"Tolerable, tolerable, Josiah," answered +the Captain. "I 've been mining for sea +gold." Daniel wondered what in the world +<a name="page31" id="page31"></a><span class="left">[page 31]</span> +sea gold might be. "Ye see," he went on, +turning to include Daniel in the conversation, +"my father was a sea captain before +me, and my gran'ther too. Why, my +gran'ther helped send the Spanish Armada +to the bottom where it belonged. Many +and many 's the time I 've heard him tell +about it, and I judge from what he said he +must have done most of the job himself, +though I reckon old Cap'n Drake may have +helped some." (Here the Captain chuckled.) +"He never came back from his last voyage,—overhauled +by pirates more 'n likely. +That was twenty years ago, and I 've been +following the sea myself ever since. I was +wrecked off the Spanish Main on my first +voyage, and I 've run afoul of pirates and +come near walking the plank more times +than one, I 'm telling ye, but somehow I +always had the luck to get away! And here +I be, safe and sound."</p> +<p> +At this point the lobsters made a commotion +in the wooden puncheon, and the +Captain turned his attention to them. "Jest +<a name="page32" id="page32"></a><span class="left">[page 32]</span> +spilin' to get out, ain't ye?" he inquired +genially. "Look here, boy," to Daniel, +"that water's bilin'. Heave 'em in."</p> +<p> +Daniel held his squirming victims over +the pot, and not without a qualm of pity +dropped them into the boiling water. Then +he ventured to ask a question. "What is +sea gold, Captain Sanders?"</p> +<p> +"Things like them," answered the Captain, +jerking his thumb at the lobsters, which +were already beginning to turn a beautiful +red color as they boiled in the pot; "as good +gold as any that was ever dug out of mines +ye can get for fish, and there never was such +fishing in all the seas as there is along this +coast! My! my! I 've seen schools of cod +off the Cape making a solid floor of fish on +the water so ye could walk on it if ye were +so minded, and as for lobsters, I 've caught +'em that measured six and seven feet long! +Farther down the coast there are oysters +so big one of 'em will make a square meal +for four or five people. It 's the truth I 'm +telling ye."</p> +<a name="page33" id="page33"></a><span class="left">[page 33]</span> +<p> +Goodman Pepperell smiled. "Thomas," +he said, "thou hast not lost thy power of +narration!"</p> +<p> +Captain Sanders for an instant looked a +bit dashed, then he said, "Well, believe it +or not, Josiah, it 's the truth for all that. +Why, talk about the land of Canaan flowin' +with milk and honey! This here water 's +just alive with money! Any boy could go +out and haul up a shilling on his own hook +any time he liked."</p> +<p> +Daniel, his eyes shining and his lips +parted, was just making up his mind that +he would rather be the captain of a fishing-smack +than anything else in the world, since +he knew he could n't be a pirate, when his +mother came to the fireplace with a layer of +corn-meal dough spread on a baking-board. +She placed the board in a slanting position +against an iron trivet before the glowing bed +of coals, and set a pot of beans in the ashes to +warm. "Keep an eye on that johnny-cake," +she said to Daniel, "and don't let it burn." +Then she turned away to set the table.</p> +<a name="page34" id="page34"></a><span class="left">[page 34]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0034-250.png" width="250" height="411" alt="" border="0" /></p> +<p> +This task took but little time, for in those +days there were few things to put on it. +She spread a snowy cloth of homespun +linen on the plank which served as a table, +and laid a knife and spoon at each place; +there were no forks, and for plates only a +<a name="page35" id="page35"></a><span class="left">[page 35]</span> +square of wood with a shallow depression +in the middle. Beside each of these trenchers +she placed a napkin and a mug, and at +the Captain's place, as a special honor, she +set a beautiful tankard of wrought silver. +It was one of the few valuable things she +had brought with her from her English +home, and it was used only on great occasions.</p> +<p> +When these preparations were complete, +she took the lobsters from the pot, poured +the beans into a pewter dish, heaped the +golden johnny-cake high upon a trencher, +and, sending Dan to fetch Nancy, called +the men to supper. The storm was over by +this time, the last rays of the setting sun +were throwing long shadows over the fields, +and the robins were singing their evening +song. The Goodwife stepped to the window +and threw open the wooden shutters. "See," +she said. "There 's a rainbow."</p> +<p> +"The sign of promise," murmured Goodman +Pepperell, rising and looking over his +wife's shoulder.</p> +<a name="page36" id="page36"></a><span class="left">[page 36]</span> +<p> +"Fine day to-morrow," said the Captain. +"Maybe I can plant my lobster-pots after +all."</p> +<p> +Nancy, looking pale and a little subdued, +crept down the ladder and took her place +with Daniel at the foot of the board. Then +they all stood, while Goodman Pepperell +asked a blessing on the food, and thanked +God for his mercy in delivering them from +danger and bringing them together in health +and safety to partake of his bounty.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0036-350.png" width="350" height="171" alt="lobster" border="0" /></p> + +<br /><br /> +<a name="page39" id="page39"></a><span class="left">[page 39]</span> +<a name="II" id="II"></a> +<h3>II</h3> + +<h2>TWO DAYS</h2> +<p> +The grace finished (it was a very long +one and the beans were nearly cold before +he said amen), Goodman Pepperell broke +open the lobsters and piled the trenchers +with johnny-cake and beans, and the whole +family fell to with a right good will. All +but Nancy. She was still a bit upset and +did not feel hungry.</p> +<p> +"Thou hast not told me, Captain, what +voyage thou art about to undertake next," +said the Goodman, sucking a lobster-claw +with relish.</p> +<p> +The Captain loved to talk quite as well +as he loved to eat, but his mouth was full +at this moment, and he paused before replying. +"I 'm getting too old for long voyages, +Josiah," he said at last with a sigh. "Kind +o' losing my taste for adventure. Pirates is +<a name="page40" id="page40"></a><span class="left">[page 40]</span> +pretty plentiful yet, and for all I 'm a sailor +I 'd like to die in my bed, so I have settled +at Marblehead. They 're partial to fishermen +along this coast. The town gives 'em +land for drying their fish and exempts 'em +from military dooty. But I can't stay ashore +a great while before my sea legs begin to +hanker for the feel of the deck rolling under +'em, so I 'm doing a coasting trade all up +and down the length of Massachusetts Bay. +I keep a parcel of lobster-pots going, some +here and some Plymouth way, and sell +them and fish, besides doing a carrying +trade for all the towns along-shore. It 's a +tame kind o' life. There, now," he finished, +"that 's all there is to say about me, and +I 'll just take a turn at these beans and give +ye a chance to tell about yourself, Josiah."</p> +<p> +"'T is but a short tale," answered the +Goodman, "God hath prospered me. I +have an hundred acres of good farm land +along this river, and I have a cow, and a +flock of sheep to keep us in wool for the +Good wife to spin. I have set out apple +<a name="page41" id="page41"></a><span class="left">[page 41]</span> +trees, and there is wood for the cutting; +the forest furnishes game and the sea is +stored with food for our use; but the truth +is there is more to do than can be compassed +with one pair of hands. The neighbors +help each other with clearing the land, +log-rolling, building walls, and such as that, +but if this country is to be developed we +must do more than make a living. There +are a thousand things calling to be done if +there were but the men to do them."</p> +<p> +The Captain skillfully balanced a mouthful +of beans on his knife as he considered +the problem. Finally he said, "Well, here 's +Dan'el, and, judging by the way he waded +right into the tide after his sister, I calculate +he 'd be a smart boy to have round."</p> +<p> +"He is," said the Goodman, and Daniel +blushed to his eyes, for his father seldom +praised him, "but he is not yet equal to a +man's work, and moreover I want him to +get some schooling. The Reverend John +Harvard hath promised his library and quite +a sum of money to found a college for the +<a name="page42" id="page42"></a><span class="left">[page 42]</span> +training of ministers right here in Cambridge. +The hand of the Lord hath surely guided +us to this place, where he may receive an +education, and it may even be that Daniel +will be a minister, for the Colony sorely +needs such."</p> +<p> +"There, now," said the Captain. "Farming +ain't such plain sailing; is it? Have ye +thought of getting an Indian slave to help +ye?"</p> +<p> +"Truly I have thought of that," said the +Goodman, "but they are a treacherous lot +and passing lazy. There was a parcel of +Pequot women and girls brought up from beyond +Plymouth way last year after the uprising. +The settlers had killed off all the men +and sold the boys in the Bermudas. I might +have bought one of the women but I need +a man, or at least a boy that will grow into +one. The Pequots are about all gone now, +but the Narragansetts are none too friendly. +They helped fight the Pequots because they +hate them worse than they hate the English, +but they are only biding their time, +<a name="page43" id="page43"></a><span class="left">[page 43]</span> +and some day it 's likely we shall have trouble +with them. Nay, I could never trust an +Indian slave. Roger Williams saith they +are wolves with men's brains, and he speaks +the truth."</p> +<p> +"Well, then," said the Captain, "why +don't ye get a black? They are more docile +than Indians, and the woods about are not +full of their friends."</p> +<p> +"Aye," agreed the Goodman, "the plan +is a good one and well thought out, but +they are hard to come by. There are only a +few, even in Boston."</p> +<p> +"There will soon be more, I 'm thinking," +said the Captain. "A ship was built in Marblehead +last year on purpose for the trade. +Captain Pierce is a friend of mine, and +he 's due at Providence any time now with +a cargo of blacks from Guinea. Ye could +sail down the bay with me, and there 's a +trail across the neck of the Cape to Providence, +where the Desire will come to port. +I expect to spend the Sabbath here, but I +lift anchor on Monday. Ye can tell Captain +<a name="page44" id="page44"></a><span class="left">[page 44]</span> +Pierce ye 're a friend of mine, and 't will do +ye no harm."</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0042-400.png" width="400" height="351" alt="'Oh, Father,' breathed Dan, 'may I go, too?'" border="0" /></p> +<p> +"Oh, Father," breathed Dan, "may I go, +too?"</p> +<p> +The Captain chuckled. "Art struck with +the sea fever, son?" he said, looking down +into the boy's eager face. "Well, there 's +room aboard. I might take ye along if so +be thy parents are willing and thou art +minded to see a bit of the world."</p> +<a name="page45" id="page45"></a><span class="left">[page 45]</span> +<p> +Up to this time Goodwife Pepperell had +said no word, but now she spoke. "Are +there not dangers enough on land without +courting the dangers of the sea?" she asked.</p> +<p> +Her husband looked at her with gentle +disapproval. "Hold thy peace," he said. +"What hath a pioneer lad to do with fear? +Moreover, if he goes I shall be with him."</p> +<p> +Nancy leaned forward and gazed imploringly +at the Captain. "Dost thou not need +some one to cook on thy boat?" she gasped. +"I know well how to make johnny-cake +and I—" then, seeing her father's stern +look and her mother's distress, she wilted +like a flower on its stem and was silent. +The Captain smiled at her.</p> +<p> +"Ye 're a fine cook, I make no doubt," +he said genially, "but ye would n't go and +leave Mother here all alone, now, I 'll be +bound!"</p> +<p> +"Nay," said Nancy faintly, looking at +her mother.</p> +<p> +Then the Goodwife spoke. "It pains +me," she said, "to think of children torn +<a name="page46" id="page46"></a><span class="left">[page 46]</span> +from their parents and sold into slavery, even +though they be but Indians or blacks. I +doubt not they have souls like ourselves."</p> +<p> +"Read thy Bible, Susanna," answered +her husband. "Cursed be Canaan. A servant +of servants shall he be unto his brethren—thus +say the Scriptures."</p> +<p> +"Well, now," broke in the Captain, "if +they have souls, they 've either got to save +'em or lose 'em as I jedge it; and if they +never have a chance to hear the Plan of +Salvation, they 're bound to be lost anyway. +Bringin' 'em over here gives them +their only chance to escape damnation, according +to my notion."</p> +<p> +"Hast thou ever brought over a cargo +of slaves thyself?" asked the Goodwife.</p> +<p> +"Nay," admitted the Captain, "but I +sailed once on a slaver, and I own I liked +not to see the poor critters when they were +lured away. It seemed they could n't rightly +sense that 't was for their eternal welfare, +and I never felt called to set their feet in the +way of Salvation by that means myself. I +<a name="page47" id="page47"></a><span class="left">[page 47]</span> +reckon I 'm not more than chicken-hearted, +if ye come to that."</p> +<p> +The meal was now over, the dusk had +deepened as they lingered about the table, +and Goodwife Pepperell rose to light a bayberry +candle and set it on the chimney-piece.</p> +<p> +"Sit ye down by the fire again, while +Nancy and I wash the dishes," she said +cordially.</p> +<p> +"Thank ye kindly," said the Captain, +"but I must budge along. It 's near dark, +and Timothy—that 's my mate—will be +wondering if I 've been et up by a shark. It 's +going to be a clear night after the storm."</p> +<p> +The children slept so soundly after the +adventures of the day that their mother +called them three times from the foot of the +ladder in the early dawn of the following +morning without getting any response. +Then she mounted to the loft and shook +Daniel gently. "Wake thee," she said. +"'T is long past cock-crow, and Saturday +at that."</p> +<a name="page48" id="page48"></a><span class="left">[page 48]</span> +<p> +Daniel opened his eyes feebly and was +off to sleep again at once. "Daniel," she +said, shaking him harder, "thy father is +minded to take thee to Plymouth."</p> +<p> +Before the words were fairly out of her +mouth Daniel had popped out of bed as if +he had been shot from a gun. "Oh, Mother," +he shouted, "am I really to go? Shall I go +clear to Providence? Doth Captain Sanders +know? When do we start?"</p> +<p> +"Thy father arranged it with the Captain +last night," answered his mother. "He will +come for thee in the little boat on Monday +morning and will row thee and thy father +to the sloop, which will sail at high tide. +While thy father makes the journey across +the Cape thou wilt go on to Provincetown +with the Captain, or mayhap, if visitors are +now permitted in the Colony, my aunt, the +Governor's lady, will keep thee with her +until thy father returns. She would like +well to see my son, I know, and I trust +thou wilt be a good lad and mind thy manners. +Come, Nancy, child, I need thy help!" +<a name="page49" id="page49"></a><span class="left">[page 49]</span> +Then she disappeared down the ladder to +stir the hasty pudding, which was already +bubbling in the pot.</p> +<p> +When she was gone, Nancy flung herself +upon the mattress and buried her face +in the bed-clothes. "Oh, Daniel," she cried, +smothering a sob, "what if the p-p-pirates +should get thee?"</p> +<p> +Daniel was at her side in an instant. +"Give thyself no concern about pirates, +sister," he said, patting her comfortingly. +"I have thought how to deal with them! +I shall stand by the rail with my cutlass in +my hand, and when they seek to board her +I will bring down my cutlass so,"—here +he made a terrific sweep with his arm,—"and +that will be the end of them."</p> +<p> +"Oh," breathed Nancy, much impressed, +"how brave thou art!"</p> +<p> +"Well," said Daniel modestly, "there 'd +be the Captain and father to help, of course, +and, I suppose, the mate too. There will be +four of us men anyway."</p> +<p> +"<i>Nancy!</i>—<i>Daniel!</i>"—it was their father's +<a name="page50" id="page50"></a><span class="left">[page 50]</span> +voice this time, and the two children +jumped guiltily and began to dress as if the +house were on fire and they had but two +minutes to escape. In a surprisingly short +time they were downstairs and attending to +their morning tasks. Nancy, looking very +solemn, fed the chickens, and Dan brought +water from the spring, while their father +milked the cow; and by six o'clock their +breakfast of hasty pudding and milk had +been eaten, prayers were over, and the +whole family was ready for the real work +of the day. There was a great deal of it to +do, for nothing but "works of necessity and +mercy" could be performed on the Sabbath, +the Sabbath began at sundown Saturday +afternoon, and the travellers were to make +an early start on Monday morning. A fire +was built in the brick oven beside the fireplace, +and while it was heating the Goodwife +made four pies and six loaves of brown-bread, +and prepared a pot of pork and beans +for baking.</p> + +<p class="center" > +<img src="images/0049-350.png" width="350" height="462" alt="Daniel returned home with the shovel and the basket." border="0" /></p> + +<p> +When the coals had been raked out and +<a name="page51" id="page51"></a><span class="left">[page 51]</span> +the oven filled, she washed clothes for Daniel +and his father, while Nancy hurried to +finish a pair of stockings she was knitting +for her brother. Daniel himself, meanwhile, +had gone down to the bay to see if he could +find the shovel and the basket. He came +<a name="page52" id="page52"></a><span class="left">[page 52]</span> +home in triumph about noon with both, and +with quite a number of clams beside, which +the Goodwife cooked for their dinner. When +they were seated at the table, and the Goodman +had asked the blessing, he leaned back +in his chair and surveyed the ceiling of the +cabin. From the rafters there hung long +festoons of dried pumpkin and golden ears +of corn. There were also sausages, hams, +and sides of bacon.</p> +<p> +"I doubt not you will fare well while we +are gone," he said. "There is plenty of +well-cured meat, and meal enough ground +to last for some time. The planting is done +and the corn well hoed; there is wood cut, +and Gran'ther Wattles will call upon you +if he knows I am away. I am leaving the +fowling-piece for thee, wife. The musket I +shall take with me."</p> +<p> +"Why must Gran'ther Wattles come?" +interrupted Nancy in alarm. "I am sure +Mother and I do not need him."</p> +<p> +"Children should be seen and not heard," +said her father. "It is Gran'ther Wattles's +<a name="page53" id="page53"></a><span class="left">[page 53]</span> +duty to oversee the congregation at home +as well as in the meeting-house."</p> +<p> +Nancy looked at her trencher and said +no more, but she thought there was already +enough to bear without having Gran'ther +Wattles added to her troubles. Daniel, +meanwhile, had attacked his porringer of +clams, and in his excitement over the journey +was gobbling at a fearful rate. His +mother looked at him despairingly.</p> +<p> +"Daniel," she said, "thou art pitching +food into thy mouth as if thou wert shoveling +coals into the oven! Take thy elbows +off the table and eat more moderately." +Daniel glued his elbows to his side. "Sit +up straight," she went on, "or thou wilt +grow up as crooked as a ram's horn." Daniel +immediately sat up as if he had swallowed +the poker. "I wish thee to practice +proper manners at home, lest my aunt should +think thee a person of no gentility. Remember +thou must not ask for anything +at the table. Wait until it is offered thee, +and then do not stuff it down as if thine +<a name="page54" id="page54"></a><span class="left">[page 54]</span> +eyes had not looked upon food for a fortnight!"</p> +<p> +"But," protested poor Dan, who was beginning +to feel that the journey might not +be all his fancy had painted, "suppose they +should n't offer it?"</p> +<p> +"I do not fear starvation for thee," his +mother answered briefly; "and oh, Daniel, +I beg of thee to wash thy hands before going +to the table! The Governor is a proper +man and my aunt is very particular." She +paused for breath, and to get more brown-bread +for the table.</p> +<p> +When she sat down again, Daniel said, +"If you please, I think I 'd rather go on to +Provincetown with the Captain."</p> +<p> +"That must be as we are guided at the +time," said his father.</p> +<p> +The busy day passed quickly, and before +sunset a fine array of pies and brown loaves +were cooling on the table, the chores were +done, and a Sabbath quiet had settled down +over the household, not to be broken until +sunset of the following day.</p> +<a name="page55" id="page55"></a><span class="left">[page 55]</span> +<p> +When Daniel opened the cabin door the +next morning, he was confronted by a wall +of gray mist which shut the landscape entirely +from view. He had hoped to catch a +glimpse of the Lucy Ann, in order to assure +himself that he had not merely dreamed +the events of the day before, but nothing +could he see, and he began dispirited preparations +for church. They had no clock, +and on account of the fog they could not +tell the time by the sun, so the whole family +started early to cross the long stretch +of pasture land which lay between them +and the meeting-house in the village. They +reached it just as Gran'ther Wattles, looking +very grave and important, came out on +the church steps and beat a solemn tattoo +upon a drum to call the people together. +They came from different directions across +the fields and through the one street of the +village, looking anxious for fear they should +be late, yet not daring to desecrate the Sabbath +by any appearance of haste. Among +the rest, red-faced and short of wind, who +<a name="page56" id="page56"></a><span class="left">[page 56]</span> +should appear but Captain Sanders? Sabbath +decorum forbade any show of surprise; +so Goodman Pepperell and his wife merely +bowed gravely, and the Captain, looking +fairly pop-eyed in his effort to keep properly +solemn, nodded in return, and they passed +into the meeting-house together.</p> +<p> +The Captain sat down with the Goodman +on the men's side of the room, while +Daniel went to his place among the boys, +leaving Nancy and his mother seated with +the women on the opposite side. It is hard +to believe that a boy could sit through a +sermon two hours long with his friends all +about him and such a secret buttoned up +inside his jacket without an explosion, but +Daniel did it. He did n't dare do otherwise, +for Gran'ther Wattles ranged up and down +the little aisle with his tithing-rod in hand +on the lookout for evil-doers. Once, indeed, +during the sermon there was a low rumbling +snore, and Daniel was horrified to +see Gran'ther Wattles lean over and gently +tickle the Captain's nose with the squirrel-tail. +<a name="page57" id="page57"></a><span class="left">[page 57]</span> +The Captain woke with a start and +sneezed so violently that the boy next Daniel +all but tittered outright. Gran'ther Wattles +immediately gave him a smart rap on +the head with the knob end of his stick, so +it is no wonder that after that Daniel sat +with his eyes nearly crossed in his effort to +keep them fixed on the minister, though his +thoughts were far away ranging Massachusetts +Bay with the Lucy Ann of Marblehead.</p> +<p> +At last, however, the sermon ended, the +final psalm was sung, and after the benediction +the minister passed out of the church +and the congregation dispersed to eat a bite +of brown-bread in the church-yard before +assembling again for another two-hour sermon.</p> +<p> +The sun was now shining brightly, and, +once outside the door, after the first sermon, +the Captain wiped his brow as if exhausted, +and a few moments later Daniel +saw him quietly disappearing in the direction +of the river. He was not of the Cambridge +<a name="page58" id="page58"></a><span class="left">[page 58]</span> +parish, so no discipline could be +exercised upon him, but Gran'ther Wattles +set him down at once as a dangerous character, +and even Goodwife Pepperell shook +her head gently when she noted his absence.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0056-380.png" width="380" height="430" alt="...Daniel turned three somersaults and a handspring..." border="0" /></p> +<p> +Somehow, although it was a breach of +<a name="page59" id="page59"></a><span class="left">[page 59]</span> +Sabbath decorum to tell it, the great news +leaked out during the intermission, and +Daniel was the center of interest to every +boy in the congregation during the afternoon. +When the second long sermon was +over and the exhausted minister had trailed +solemnly down the aisle, the equally exhausted +people walked sedately to their +houses, discussing the sermon as they went. +All that day Daniel kept a tight clutch on +his manners, but the moment the sun went +down, he heaved a great sigh of relief and +turned three somersaults and a handspring +behind the cabin to limber himself up after +the fearful strain.</p> +<a name="page60" id="page60"></a><span class="left">[page 60]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0058-260.png" width="260" height="461" alt="Nancy hurried to finish a pair of stockings she was knitting for her brother." border="0" /></p> + + +<br /><br /> +<a name="page63" id="page63"></a><span class="left">[page 63]</span> +<a name="III" id="III"></a> +<h3>III</h3> + +<h2>ON BOARD THE LUCY ANN</h2> + +<p> +The family rose at daybreak the next morning, +tasks were quickly performed, and after +breakfast the Goodman read a chapter in +the Bible and prayed long and earnestly +that God would bless their journey, protect +those who were left behind, and bring them +all together again in safety. Then he and +Daniel started down the path to the river, +with Nancy and her mother, both looking +very serious, following after. The tide was +already coming in, and the bay stretched before +them a wide sheet of blue water sparkling +in the sun. In the distance they could +see the sails of the Lucy Ann being hoisted +and Captain Sanders in his small boat rowing +rapidly toward the landing-place.</p> +<p> +"Ship ahoy!" shouted Daniel, waving +his cap as the boat approached.</p> +<a name="page64" id="page64"></a><span class="left">[page 64]</span> +<p> +"Ahoy, there!" answered the Captain, +and in a moment the keel grated on the +sand, and the Goodman turned to his wife +and daughter.</p> +<p> +"The Lord watch between me and thee +while we are absent one from the other," +he said reverently, and "Amen!" boomed +the Captain. Then there were kisses and +good-byes, and soon Nancy and her mother +were alone on the shore, waving their hands +until the boat was a mere speck on the +dancing blue waters. As it neared the Lucy +Ann, they went back to the cabin, and +there they watched the white sails gleaming +in the sun until they disappeared around a +headland.</p> +<p> +"Come, Nancy," said her mother when +the ship was quite out of sight, "idleness +will only make loneliness harder to bear. +Here is a task for thee." She handed her a +basket of raw wool. "Take this and card +it for me to spin."</p> +<p> +Nancy hated carding with all her heart, +but she rose obediently, brought the basket +<a name="page65" id="page65"></a><span class="left">[page 65]</span> +to the doorway, and, sitting down in the +sunshine, patiently carded the wool into +little wisps ready to be wound on a spindle +and spun into yarn by the mother's skillful +hands.</p> +<p> +Meanwhile Daniel was standing on the +deck of the Lucy Ann, drinking in the fresh +salt breeze and eagerly watching the shores +as the boat passed between Charlestown +and Boston and dropped anchor in the +harbor to set the Captain's lobster-pots. +All the wonderful bright day they sailed past +rocky islands and picturesque headlands, +with the Captain at the tiller skillfully keeping +the vessel to the course and at the same +time spinning yarns to Daniel and his father +about the adventures which had overtaken +him at various points along the coast. At +Governor's Island he had caught a giant +lobster. He had been all but wrecked in a +fog off Thompson's Island.</p> +<p> +"Ye see that point of land," he said, +waving his hand toward a rocky promontory +extending far out into the bay. "That 's +<a name="page66" id="page66"></a><span class="left">[page 66]</span> +Squantum. Miles Standish of Plymouth +named it that after an Indian that was a +good friend of the Colony in the early days. +Well, right off there I was overhauled by +a French privateer once. 'Privateer' is a polite +name for a pirate ship. She was loaded +with molasses, indigo, and such from the +West Indies, and I had a cargo of beaver-skins. +If it had n't been that her sailors was +mostly roarin' drunk at the time, it 's likely +that would have been the end of Thomas +Sanders, skipper, sloop, and all, but my boat +was smaller and quicker than theirs, and, +knowing these waters so well, I was able +to give 'em the slip and get out into open +sea; and here I be! Ah, those were the +days!"</p> +<p> +The Captain heaved a heavy sigh for the +lost joys of youth and was silent for a moment. +Then his eyes twinkled and he began +another story. "One day as we was skirtin' +the shores of Martha's Vineyard," he +said, "we were followed by a shark. Now, +there 's nothing a sailor hates worse than +<a name="page67" id="page67"></a><span class="left">[page 67]</span> +a shark; and for good reasons. They 're +the pirates of the deep; that 's what they +are. They 'll follow a vessel for days, snapping +up whatever the cook throws out, and +hoping somebody 'll fall overboard to give +'em a full meal. Well, sir, there was a sailor +aboard on that voyage that had a special +grudge against sharks. He 'd been all but +et up by one once, and he allowed this was +his chance to get even; so he let out a hook +baited with a whole pound of salt pork, and +the shark gobbled it down instanter, hook +and all. They hauled him up the ship's +side, and then that sailor let himself down +over the rails by a rope, and cut a hole in +the shark's gullet, or whatever they call the +pouch the critter carries his supplies in, and +took out the pork. Then he dropped him +back in the water and threw the pork in +after him. Well, sir, believe it or not, that +shark sighted the pork bobbing round in +the water; so he swallowed it again. Of +course it dropped right out through the +hole in his gullet, and, by jolly! as long as +<a name="page68" id="page68"></a><span class="left">[page 68]</span> +we could see him that shark was continuing +to swallow that piece of pork over and over +again. I don't know as I ever see any animal +get more pleasure out of his rations +than that shark got out of that pound of +pork. I believe in bein' kind to dumb critters," +he finished, "and I reckon the shark +is about the dumbdest there is. Anyhow +that one surely did die happy." Here the +Captain solemnly winked his eye.</p> +<p> +"What became of the sailor?" asked +Dan.</p> +<p> +"That sailor was me," admitted the Captain. +"That 's what became of him, and +served him right, too."</p> +<p> +They slept that night on the deck of the +sloop, and before light the next morning +Dan was awakened by the groaning of the +chain as the anchor was hauled up, and the +flapping of the sails as Timothy hoisted +them to catch a stiff breeze which was blowing +from the northeast. The second day +passed like the first. The weather was fine, +the winds favorable, and that evening they +<a name="page69" id="page69"></a><span class="left">[page 69]</span> +rounded Duxbury Point and entered Plymouth +Bay just as the sun sank behind the +hills back of the town.</p> +<p> +"Here 's the spot where the Mayflower +dropped anchor," said the Captain, as the +sloop approached a strip of sandy beach +stretching like a long finger into the water. +"I generally bring the Lucy Ann to at the +same place. She can't go out again till high +tide to-morrow, for the harbor is shallow +and we 'd likely run aground; so ye 'll have +the whole morning to spend with your relations, +and that 's more than I 'd want to +spend with some of mine, I 'm telling ye," +and he roared with laughter. "Relations is +like victuals," he went on. "Some agrees +with ye, and some don't."</p> +<p> +"Our relations are the Bradfords," said +Goodman Pepperell with dignity.</p> +<p> +"And a better man than the Governor +never trod shoe-leather," said the Captain +heartily. "He and Captain Standish and +Mr. Brewster and Edward Winslow—why, +those four men have piloted this town +<a name="page70" id="page70"></a><span class="left">[page 70]</span> +through more squalls than would overtake +most places in a hundred years! If anything +could kill 'em they would have been +under ground years ago. They 've had +starvation and Indians and the plague followin' +after 'em like a school of sharks ever +since they dropped anchor here well nigh +on to twenty years ago, and whatever happens +they just thank the Lord as if 't was +a special blessing and go right along! By +jolly!" declared the Captain, blowing his +nose violently, "they nigh about beat old +Job for patience! 'Though He slay me, yet +will I trust in Him,' says old Job, but his +troubles was all over after a bit, and he got +rewarded with another full set of wives and +children and worldly goods, so he could +see plain as print that righteousness paid. +But these men,—their reward for trouble +is just more trouble, fer 's I can see. They +surely do beat all for piety."</p> +<p> +"'Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,'" +quoted the Goodman.</p> +<p> +"The Lord must be mighty partial to +<a name="page71" id="page71"></a><span class="left">[page 71]</span> +Plymouth, then," answered the Captain as he +brought the sloop gently round the point, +"for she 's been shown enough favor to spile +her, according to my way of thinkin'."</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0067-400.png" width="400" height="392" alt="Dan watched the stars come out over the little village." border="0" /></p> +<p> +It was too late to go ashore that night, +and from the deck Dan watched the stars +come out over the little village, not dreaming +that it held in its humble keeping the +brave spirit of a great nation that was to be.</p> +<a name="page72" id="page72"></a><span class="left">[page 72]</span> +<p> +When Daniel opened his eyes next morning, +his father and the Captain were already +stowing various packages in the small boat, +and from the tiny forecastle came an appetizing +smell of frying fish.</p> +<p> +"Here ye be," said the Captain cheerily +to Dan, "bright as a new shilling and ready +to eat I 'll be bound. As soon as we 've +had a bite we 'll go ashore. I 've got to row +clear over to Duxbury after I do my errands +in Plymouth, but I 'll hunt ye up when I +get back. Nobody can get lost in this town +without he goes out of it! I could spot ye +from the deck most anywhere on the map. +Then, my lad, if your father says the word, +I 'll bring ye back to the Lucy Ann while he +goes across the neck. Ye 'll get a taste of +mackerel-fishing if ye come along o' me. Ye +can make yourself handy on deck and keep +a quarter of your own catch for yourself if +you 're lively. A tub of salt fish would be +a tidy present to your mother when you get +back home."</p> +<p> +"Oh, I want to go with you," cried Daniel, +<a name="page73" id="page73"></a><span class="left">[page 73]</span> +remembering with terror what was expected +of him in the way of manners should +he be invited to stay at the Governor's. He +looked questioningly at his father, but was +answered only by a grave smile, and he +knew better than to plead.</p> +<p> +"Here, now," cried the Captain, as Timothy +appeared with a big trencher of smoking +fish and corn bread, "tie up to the dock +and stow away some of this cargo in your +insides."</p> +<p> +Neither Daniel nor his father needed a +second invitation, for the keen salt air had +given them the appetite of wolves, and the +breakfast was soon disposed of according +to directions. Then the two followed the +Captain over the side and into the boat, +which had been lowered and was now bobbing +about on the choppy waves of the bay. +When they were settled and the boat was +properly trimmed, the Captain rowed toward +a small stream of clear water which flowed +down from the hills back of the town, and +landed them at the foot of the one little +<a name="page74" id="page74"></a><span class="left">[page 74]</span> +street of the village. The Captain drew the +boat well up on the shore and stowed letters +and parcels in various places about his +person, and the three started up the hill +<a name="page75" id="page75"></a><span class="left">[page 75]</span> +together. They had not gone far, when a +childish voice shouted, "There 's Captain +Sanders," and immediately every child +within hearing came tumbling down the hill +till they swarmed about him like flies about +a honey-pot.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0070-360.png" width="360" height="465" alt="'I surrender. Come aboard and seize the cargo!'" border="0" /></p> +<p> +"Pirates!" cried the Captain, holding up +his hands in mock terror. "I surrender. +Come aboard and seize the cargo!" He +held open the capacious pocket which hung +from his belt, and immediately half a dozen +small hands plunged into it and came out +laden with raisins.</p> +<p> +"Here, now, divide fairly," shouted the +Captain. "No pigs!" and with children +clinging to his hands and coat-tails he made +a slow progress up the hill, Daniel and his +father following closely in his wake.</p> +<p> +As they were nearing the Common +House, two more children caught sight of +him and came racing to meet him. The +Captain dived into his pocket for more raisins +and found it empty, but he was equal +to the emergency. "Here, you, Mercy and +<a name="page76" id="page76"></a><span class="left">[page 76]</span> +Joseph Bradford," he cried, "I 've brought +you something I have n't brought to any one +else. I 've brought you a new cousin." The +other children had been so absorbed in their +old friend they had scarcely noticed the +strangers hitherto, but now they turned to +gaze curiously at Daniel and his father. +Joseph and Mercy were both a little younger +than Daniel, and all three were shy, but no +one could stay shy long when the Captain +was about, and soon they were walking +along together in the friendliest manner.</p> +<p> +"Where 's thy father, young man?" said +the Captain, speaking to Joseph. "I have +a letter for him, and I have brought a relation +for him too."</p> +<p> +"I wish you would bring me a cousin," +said one little girl enviously.</p> +<p> +"Well, now," roared the Captain, "think +of that! I have a few relations of my own +left over that I 'd be proper glad to parcel +out amongst ye if I 'd only known ye was +short, but I have n't got 'em with me."</p> +<p> +"Father 's in there," said Joseph, pointing +<a name="page77" id="page77"></a><span class="left">[page 77]</span> +to the Common House. "They 're having +a meeting. Elder Brewster 's there, too, +and Mr. Winslow and Captain Standish +and Governor Prence." It was evident that +some matter of importance was being discussed, +for a little knot of women had gathered +before the door as if waiting for some +decision to be announced.</p> +<p> +They had almost reached the group, +when suddenly from the north there came +a low roaring noise, and the earth beneath +their feet shook and trembled so violently +that many of the children were thrown to +the ground, while the bundles Goodman +Pepperell was carrying for the Captain flew +in every direction. Those who kept their +feet at all reeled and staggered in a strange, +wild dance, and every child in the group +screamed with all his might. The women +screamed, too, calling frantically to the +children, and the men came pouring out of +the door of the Common House, trying to +steady themselves as they were flung first +one way, then another by the heaving +<a name="page78" id="page78"></a><span class="left">[page 78]</span> +ground. It lasted but a few dreadful moments, +and the Captain was the first to recover +his speech.</p> +<p> +"There, now," said he, a little breathlessly, +"ain't it lucky I had my sea legs on! +'T wa'n't anything but an earthquake, anyway."</p> +<p> +The instant they could stay on their feet, +the children ran to their mothers, who were +also running to them, and in less time than +it takes to tell it the whole village was gathered +before the Common House. As Daniel, +with the Captain and his father, joined +the stricken company, Governor Bradford +was speaking. He had been Governor of +the Colony for so long that in time of sudden +stress the people still turned to him for +counsel though Mr. Prence was really the +Governor.</p> +<p> +"Think ye not that the finger of the Lord +would direct us by this visitation?" he said +to the white-faced group. "We were met +together in council because some of our +number wish to go away from Plymouth +<a name="page79" id="page79"></a><span class="left">[page 79]</span> +to find broader pastures for their cattle, even +as Jacob separated from Esau with all his +flocks and herds. In this I see a sign of +God's displeasure at our removals one from +another."</p> +<p> +John Howland now found his voice. +"Nay, but," he said, "shall we limit the +bounty of the Lord and say, 'Only here +shall He prosper us'?"</p> +<p> +"What say the Scriptures to him who +was not content with abundance, but must +tear down his barns to build bigger?" answered +the Governor. "'This night thy +soul shall be required of thee.'"</p> +<p> +There was no reply, and the pale faces +grew a shade paler as a second rumble was +heard in the distance, the earth again began +to tremble, and a mighty wave, rolling in +from the sea, crashed against the shore. +Above the noise of the waters rose the voice +of Governor Bradford. "He looketh upon +the earth and it trembleth. He toucheth +the hills and they smoke. The Lord is merciful +and gracious. He will not always chide, +<a name="page80" id="page80"></a><span class="left">[page 80]</span> +neither will He keep his anger forever. He +hath not dealt with us after our sins."</p> +<p> +Seeing how frightened the people were, +the Captain broke the silence which fell +upon the trembling group after the Governor's +words. "Lord love ye!" he cried +heartily. "This wa'n't no earthquake to +speak of. 'T wa'n't scarcely equal to an ague +chill down in the tropics! They would +n't have no respect for it down there. +'T would n't more than give 'em an appetite +for their victuals."</p> +<p> +His laugh which followed cheered many +hearts, and was echoed in faint smiles on +the pale faces of the colonists. Governor +Bradford himself smiled and, turning to the +Captain, held out his hand. "Thou art ever +a tonic, Thomas," he said, "and there is +always a welcome for thee in Plymouth and +for thy friends, too," he added, turning to +the Goodman.</p> +<p> +"Though thou knowest him not, he is +haply more thy friend than mine," said the +Captain, pushing the Goodman and Daniel +<a name="page81" id="page81"></a><span class="left">[page 81]</span> +forward to shake hands with the Governor, +"He is married to Mistress Bradford's +niece and his name is Pepperell."</p> +<p> +"Josiah Pepperell, of Cambridge?" said +the Governor's lady, coming forward to +welcome him.</p> +<p> +"At your service, madam," answered +the Goodman, bowing low, "and this is my +son Daniel."</p> +<p> +Daniel bowed in a manner to make his +mother proud of him if she could have seen +him, and then Mercy and Joseph swarmed +up, bringing their older brother William, a +lad of fifteen, to meet his new cousin, and +the four children ran away together, all their +tongues wagging briskly about the exciting +event of the day. The earthquake had now +completely passed, and the people, roused +from their terror, hastened to their homes +to repair such damage as had been done +and to continue the tasks which it had interrupted. +Meanwhile the Captain distributed +his letters and parcels, leaving the Governor +to become acquainted with his new relative, +<a name="page82" id="page82"></a><span class="left">[page 82]</span> +learn his errand, and help him on his +journey, while his wife hastened home to +prepare a dinner for company.</p> +<p> +It was a wonderful dinner that she set +before them. There were succotash and +baked codfish, a good brown loaf, and pies +made of blueberries gathered and dried the +summer before. Oh, if only Daniel's mother +could have been there to see his table manners +on that occasion! He sat up as straight +as a ramrod, said "please" and "thank +you," ate in the most genteel manner possible, +even managing blueberry pie without +disaster, and was altogether such an example +of behavior that Mistress Bradford said +before the meal was half over, "Thou 'lt +leave the lad with us, Cousin Pepperell, +whilst thou art on thy journey?"</p> +<p> +"I fear to trouble thee," said the Goodman. +"And the Captain hath a purpose to +take him to Provincetown and meet me +here on my return."</p> +<p> +"The land is mayhap safer than the sea +should another earthquake visit us," said +<a name="page83" id="page83"></a><span class="left">[page 83]</span> +the Governor gravely, "and he will more +than earn his keep if he will but help William +with the corn and other tasks. Like +thyself we are in sad need of more hands."</p> +<p> +Daniel looked eagerly at his father, for +he already greatly admired his cousin William +and longed to stay with him. Moreover, +the earthquake had somewhat modified +his appetite for adventure.</p> +<p> +"His eyes plead," said the Goodman, +"and I know it would please his mother. +So by your leave he may stay."</p> +<p> +A whoop of joy from the three young +Bradfords was promptly suppressed by their +mother. "For shame!" she said. "Thy +cousin Daniel will think thou hast learned +thy manners from the savages. Thou +shouldst take a lesson from his behavior."</p> +<p> +Poor Daniel squirmed on his stool and +thought if he must be an example every +moment of his stay he would almost choose +being swallowed up by a tidal wave at sea +after all. The matter had been settled, however, +and that very afternoon the Goodman +<a name="page84" id="page84"></a><span class="left">[page 84]</span> +set off on a hired horse, with his musket +across his saddle-bow, and a head full of +instructions from the Governor about the +dangers of the road, and houses where he +might spend the nights.</p> +<p> +There was a queer lump in Daniel's throat +as he caught the last glimpse of his father's +sturdy back as it disappeared down the forest +trail, and that night, when he went to +bed with William in the loft of the Governor's +log house, he thought long and tenderly +of his mother and Nancy. If he had +only had a magic mirror such as Beauty had +in the palace of the Beast, he might have +looked into it and seen them going patiently +about their daily tasks with nothing to break +the monotonous routine of work except a +visit from Gran'ther Wattles, who came to +see if Nancy knew her catechism. The +earthquake had been felt there so very +slightly that they did not even know there +had been one, until the Captain stopped on +his return voyage the next week to bring +them word of the safe journey to Plymouth.</p> +<br /><br /> +<a name="page87" id="page87"></a><span class="left">[page 87]</span> +<a name="IV" id="IV"></a> +<h3>IV</h3> + +<h2>A FOREST TRAIL</h2> +<p> +To Daniel the days of his stay in Plymouth +passed quickly. He hoed corn with his cousin +William and pulled weeds in the garden +with Joseph and Mercy, and in the short +hours allowed them for play there was always +the sea. They ran races on the sand +when the tide was out and were never tired +of searching for the curious things washed +ashore by the waves. One day they gathered +driftwood and made a fire on the shore, +hung a kettle over it and cooked their own +dinner of lobsters fresh from the water. Another +day William and Daniel went together +in a rowboat nearly to Duxbury, and caught +a splendid codfish that weighed ten pounds. +On another wonderful day John Howland +took the two boys hunting with him. It was +the first time Daniel had ever been allowed +<a name="page88" id="page88"></a><span class="left">[page 88]</span> +to carry a gun quite like a man, and he was +the proudest lad in all Plymouth that night +when the three hunters returned bringing +with them two fine wild turkeys, and a hare +which Daniel had shot. He loved the grave, +wise, kindly Governor and his brave wife, +and grew to know, by sight at least, most of +the other people of the town.</p> +<p> +More than ten days passed in this way, +and they were beginning to wonder why +the Goodman did not return. The Captain +had come back from Provincetown and had +been obliged to go on to Boston without +waiting for him, and there was no knowing +when the Lucy Ann would appear again in +Plymouth Harbor. Then one day, as Dan +and William were working in the corn-field, +they saw a tired horse with two people on +his back come out of the woods. Daniel +took a long look at the riders, then, throwing +down his hoe and shouting, "It 's +Father!" tore off at top speed to meet him. +William picked up his hoe and followed at +a slower pace. When he reached the group, +<a name="page89" id="page89"></a><span class="left">[page 89]</span> +Dan was up behind his father on the pillion +with his arms about him, and standing before +them on the ground was a black boy +about William's own size and age. He had +only a little ragged clothing on, and what +he had seemed to make him uneasy, perhaps +because he had been used to none at +all in his native home far across the sea. +His eyes were rolling wildly from one face +to another, and it was plain that he was in +a great state of fear.</p> +<p> +"He is but a savage as yet," said Goodman +Pepperell. "He was doubtless roughly +handled on the voyage and hath naught but +fear and hatred in his heart. It will take +some time to make a Christian of him! +Thou must help in the task, Daniel, for +thou art near his age and can better reach +his darkened mind. As yet he understands +but one thing. He can eat like a Christian, +or rather like two of them! We must tame +him with food and kindness."</p> +<p> +"What is his name?" asked Daniel, still +gazing at the boy with popping eyes, for +<a name="page90" id="page90"></a><span class="left">[page 90]</span> +never before had he seen a skin so dark.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0084-400.png" width="400" height="341" alt="'Yes, Zeb, food...good'" border="0" /></p> +<p> +"Call him Zeb," said his father.</p> +<p> +"Come, Zeb," said William, taking the +boy gently by the arm, and looking compassionately +into the black face. "Food!" +He shouted the word at him as if he were +deaf, but poor Zeb, completely bewildered +by these strange, meaningless sounds, only +shrank away from him and looked about +as if seeking a way of escape.</p> +<a name="page91" id="page91"></a><span class="left">[page 91]</span> +<p> +Daniel immediately sprang from the pillion +and seized Zeb's other arm. "Yes, Zeb, +<i>food</i>—<i>good</i>," he howled, pointing down his +own throat and rubbing his stomach with +an ecstatic expression. It is probable that +poor Zeb understood from this pantomime +that he was about to be eaten alive, for he +made a furious effort to get away. The boys +held firmly to his arms, smiling and nodding +at him in a manner meant to be reassuring, +but which only convinced the poor black +that they were pleased with the tenderness +of his flesh and were enjoying the prospect +of a cannibal feast. With the slave boy between +them, "hanging back and digging in +his claws like a cat being pulled by the tail," +as Dan told his mother afterward, they made +slow progress toward the village.</p> +<p> +News of the return spread quickly, and +a curious crowd of children gathered to gaze +at Zeb, for many of them had never seen a +negro before in their lives. Goodman Pepperell +went at once to the Governor's house, +and when he learned that the Captain had +<a name="page92" id="page92"></a><span class="left">[page 92]</span> +come and gone, he decided to push on to +Boston at once by land. "'T is an easier +journey than the one I have just taken," +he said. "There are settlements along the +way, and time passes. I have been gone +now longer than I thought. The farm work +waits, and Susanna will fear for our safety. +I must start home as soon as I can return +this horse to the owner and secure another. +I would even buy a good mare, for I stand +in need of one on my farm."</p> +<p> +"At least thou must refresh thyself before +starting," said the Governor's wife cordially, +and she set about getting dinner at once.</p> +<p> +While his father went with the Governor +to make arrangements for the journey, +Daniel and his cousins took charge of Zeb. +With Mistress Bradford's permission they +built a fire on the shore and cooked dinner +there for themselves and the black +boy, who was more of a show to them than +a whole circus with six clowns would be to +us. As he watched the boys lay the sticks +and start the blaze, Zeb's eyes rolled more +<a name="page93" id="page93"></a><span class="left">[page 93]</span> +wildly than ever. No doubt he thought that +he himself was to be roasted over the coals, +and when at last he saw William lay a big +fish on the fire instead, his relief was so +great that for the first time he showed a row +of gleaming teeth in a hopeful grin. Daniel +brought him a huge piece of it when the +fish was cooked, and from that moment +Zeb regarded him as his friend.</p> +<p> +It was early afternoon before all the preparations +were completed and the little caravan +was ready to start on its perilous journey. +There were two horses, and John +Howland, who knew the trail well and was +wise in woodcraft, was to go with them as +far as Marshfield, where he knew of a horse +that was for sale. Half the town gathered +to see them off. John Howland mounted +first, and Daniel was placed on the pillion +behind him. Then Zeb was made to get up +behind the Goodman, and off they started, +followed by a volley of farewells and messages +from the group of Plymouth friends +left behind.</p> +<a name="page94" id="page94"></a><span class="left">[page 94]</span> +<p> +For a little distance they followed the +shore-line, then, plunging into the woods, +they were soon lost to view. The road +was a mere blazed trail through dense forests, +and it was necessary to keep a sharp +lookout lest they lose their way and also +because no traveler was for a moment safe +from possible attack by Indians. Hour after +hour they plodded patiently along, sometimes +dismounting and walking for a mile or +so to stretch their legs and rest the horses. +There was little chance for talk, because +the path was too narrow for them to go side +by side. The day was warm, and if it had +not been for slapping the mosquitoes which +buzzed about them in swarms, Daniel would +have fallen asleep sitting in the saddle. In +the late afternoon, as they came out upon +an open moor, Daniel was roused by hearing +a suppressed exclamation from John +Howland and felt him reach for the pistol +which hung from his belt. His horse pricked +up his ears and whinnied, and the horse on +which the Goodman and Zeb were riding +<a name="page95" id="page95"></a><span class="left">[page 95]</span> +answered with a loud neigh. Daniel peered +over John Howland's broad shoulder just +in time to see a large deer disappearing into +a thicket of young birches some distance +ahead of them.</p> +<p> +"Oh!" cried Daniel, pounding on John +Howland's ribs in his excitement, "let 's +get him!"</p> +<p> +"Not so fast, not so fast," said John in +a low voice, pinning with his elbow the +hand that was battering his side. "Let be! +Thou hast seen but half. There was an Indian +on the track of that deer. Should we +step in and take his quarry, he might be +minded to empty his gun into us instead! +I saw him standing nigh the spot where +the trail enters the wood again yonder, and +when he saw us he slipped like a shadow +into the underbrush."</p> +<p> +He stopped his horse, the Goodman came +alongside, and the two men talked together +in a low tone. "Shall we go on as if we +had not seen him?" asked the Goodman. +John Howland considered.</p> +<a name="page96" id="page96"></a><span class="left">[page 96]</span> +<p> +"If we turn back, the savage will be persuaded +we have seen him and are afraid," +he said. "We must e'en take our chance. +It may be he hath no evil intent, though +the road be lonely and travelers few. Whatever +his purpose, it is safer to go on than to +stand still," and, tightening his rein, he boldly +urged his horse across the open space.</p> +<p> +Daniel's heart thumped so loudly against +his ribs that it sounded to his ears like a +drum-beat as they crossed the clearing and +entered the forest on the other side. They +had gone but a short distance into the +woods when they were startled by the report +of a gun, and poor Zeb fell off his horse +and lay like one dead in the road. For a +moment they thought he had been shot, and +the two men were about to spring to his +rescue, when Zeb scrambled to his feet and +began to run like one possessed.</p> +<p> +"He is but scared to death. Haply he +hath never heard a gun go off before," said +John Howland, and, sticking his spurs into +his horse, he gave chase.</p> +<a name="page97" id="page97"></a><span class="left">[page 97]</span> +<p> +Fleet of foot though he was, Zeb was +no match for a horse and was soon overtaken.</p> +<p> +"'T was but the Indian shooting the +deer," said John Howland, laughing in spite +of himself at poor Zeb's wild-eyed terror. +"'T is a promise of safety for the present +at least. Nevertheless I like not the look +of it. The red-skin saw us; make no doubt +of that; for when I first beheld him he was +peering at us as though to fix our faces in +his mind."</p> +<p> +"I, too, marked how he stared," answered +the Goodman, as he seized the cowering +Zeb and swung him again to his seat on +the pillion.</p> +<p> +"I have it," he said, stopping short as +he was about to mount. "The savage +is without doubt of the Narragansett tribe. +He caught a glimpse of the dark skin of +this boy and mistook him for an Indian +lad—one of the hated Pequots, who they +thought were either all dead or sold out of +the country. 'T is likely they have no knowledge +<a name="page98" id="page98"></a><span class="left">[page 98]</span> +of other dark-skinned people than +themselves."</p> +<p> +"It may be so," said John Howland, +doubtfully, "but 't is as likely they mistook +him for a devil. It once befell that some +Indians, finding a negro astray in the forest, +were minded to destroy him by conjuring, +thinking him a demon. To be sure 't is but +a year since the Narragansetts helped the +English destroy the Pequot stronghold, and +the few Pequots who were neither killed nor +sold they still hold in subjection. Whatever +their idea, it bodes no good either to +Zeb or to us, for their enmity never sleeps."</p> +<p> +Zeb, meantime, sat clutching the pillion +and looking from one grave face to the other +as if he knew they were talking of him, and +the Goodman patted his shoulder reassuringly +as he mounted again. They were now +nearing a small settlement, and the path +widened so the two horses could walk +abreast.</p> +<p> +"Thou 'lt have a special care in the stretch +from well beyond Mount Dagon," said John +<a name="page99" id="page99"></a><span class="left">[page 99]</span> +Howland, "for thou knowest of the notorious +Morton, who founded there the settlement +called Merry Mount. It was the worshipful +Endicott who wiped it out. Much +trouble hath Morton to answer for. He hath +corrupted the savages, adding his vices to +theirs. He hath also sold them guns and +taught them to use them, for which cause +the Indians of this region are more to be +feared than any along the coast. They are +drunken, armed, and filled with hate for +any whom they esteem their enemies."</p> +<p> +Daniel's hair fairly stood on end. He had +felt prepared for pirates, but Indians lurking +in dark forests were quite another matter! +He wished with all his heart that John +Howland were going with them all the way +to Cambridge, but he well knew that could +not be. His spirits rose somewhat as they +came in sight of the settlement, and a hearty +supper at the house of Goodman Richards +put such life and courage into his heart that +before it was over the Indians were no more +to him than pirates! Then, while his father +<a name="page100" id="page100"></a><span class="left">[page 100]</span> +and John Howland arranged with Goodman +Richards for the purchase of a horse +to take them the rest of their journey, +Goodwife Richards stowed Dan away in +an attic bed, while Zeb, worn out with +fear and fatigue, slept soundly on the +hearth.</p> +<p> +Courage is always highest in the morning, +and Daniel felt bold as a lion the next +day, as he and his father bade John Howland +and the Richards family good-bye and, +with Zeb, again entered the forest trail. The +two boys walked on ahead, while the Goodman +became acquainted with the new horse, +whose name, Goodman Richards had told +him, was Penitence, but which they shortened +to Penny. Later, when he had assured +himself that the animal was trustworthy, +Goodman Pepperell put the two boys in +the saddle and walked beside them, leading +Penny by the bridle. Taking turns in this +way, they went on for some miles without +incident, until Dan almost forgot his fears, +and even Zeb—watching his face and echoing +<a name="page101" id="page101"></a><span class="left">[page 101]</span> +its expression on his own—grew less +and less timid.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0095-400.png" width="400" height="401" alt="...Goodman Pepperell put the two boys in the saddle and walked beside them, leading Penny by the bridle." border="0" /></p> +<p> +They had passed the place which Howland +had called Mount Dagon and which +is now known as Wollaston, and had crossed +the Neponset River by a horse bridge and +were walking along quite cheerfully, the +two boys at some distance ahead of Penny, +<a name="page102" id="page102"></a><span class="left">[page 102]</span> +when they saw a little way ahead of them +an Indian standing motionless beside the +trail. Dan immediately drew Zeb behind a +bush, and when an instant later his father +came up, the Indian disappeared as suddenly +as he had come.</p> +<p> +The Goodman looked troubled. "It is +the same one we saw yesterday, I feel +sure!" he said. "I like not his following +us in this way, Daniel. I must trust thee +even as though thou wert a man. Do thou +get upon the horse's back with Zeb behind +thee. I will walk ahead with my gun ready. +Should the savage attack us, do thou speed +thy horse like the wind to the next village, +and bring back help. Remember it is thy +part to obey. Three lives may hang on it."</p> +<p> +With his heart pounding like a trip-hammer +Dan mounted Penny. Zeb was placed +on the pillion behind him with both arms +clutching his waist, and the Goodman strode +ahead, his keen eyes watching in every direction +for any sign of danger. There was +not a sound in the forest except the soft +<a name="page103" id="page103"></a><span class="left">[page 103]</span> +thud of the horse's feet, the cawing of a +crow circling out of sight over the tree-tops, +and the shrill cry of a blue jay.</p> +<p> +"Confound thee, thou marplot, thou busy-body +of the wood," muttered the Goodman +to himself as he listened. "Wert thou but a +human gossip, I 'd set thee in the stocks till +thou hadst learned to hold thine evil tongue!"</p> +<p> +But the blue jay only kept up his squawking, +passing the news on to his brethren until +the forest rang with word of their approach.</p> +<p> +It did not need the blue jays to tell of +their progress, however, for though no other +sound had betrayed their advance, two Indians +were creeping stealthily through the +underbrush, keeping pace with the travelers, +and when they had reached a favorable +spot in a small clearing, they suddenly +sprang from their hiding-place. With a +blood-curdling cry they leaped forward, +and, seizing one of Zeb's legs, tried to drag +him from the horse's back.</p> +<p> +The yells of the Indians were as nothing +to those that Zeb then let loose! The air +<a name="page104" id="page104"></a><span class="left">[page 104]</span> +was fairly split by blood-curdling shrieks, +and the horse, terrified in turn, leaped forward, +tearing Zeb from the grasp of the Indian +and almost unseating Dan by the jerk. +But Dan dug his knees into the horse's sides, +flung his arms about her neck, and, holding +on for dear life, tore away up the trail with +Zeb clinging like a limpet to his waist.</p> +<p> +Never was a ride like that. Even John +Gilpin's was a mild performance beside it, +for Zeb shrieked every minute of the way +as they sped along, with the horse's tail +streaming out behind like the tail of a comet, +and the daylight showing between the +bouncing boys and Penny's back at every +wild leap. Even if Daniel had not been +minded to obey his father's command, he +could not have helped himself, for Penny +took matters into her own four hoofs, and +never paused in her wild career until, covered +with foam, she dashed madly into a +little hamlet where the village of Neponset +now stands.</p> +<p> +Samuel Kittredge was just starting for +<a name="page105" id="page105"></a><span class="left">[page 105]</span> +the forest with his axe on his shoulder, +when his ears were smitten by the frantic +shrieks of Zeb, and, thinking it must be a +wildcat on the edge of the clearing, he +started back to the house for his gun. Before +he reached it, Penitence, with the two +boys on her back, came thundering toward +him at full gallop, and stopped at his side.</p> +<p> +"What in tarnation is the matter with +ye?" he exclaimed, gazing in amazement +at the strange apparition. "I declare for it, +that nigger is all but scared plumb white! +What ails ye?"</p> +<p> +"Indians!" gasped Dan, pointing toward +the trail. "My father—quick!" No more +words were needed. Samuel Kittredge +dashed into his house, snatched his gun +from the chimney, and, dashing out again, +fired it into the air. Poor Zeb! He slid off +over the horse's tail on to the ground and +lay there in a heap, while a knot of men, +responding to the signal of Sam Kittredge's +gun, gathered hurriedly before his house +and started at once down the trail.</p> +<a name="page106" id="page106"></a><span class="left">[page 106]</span> +<p> +"You stay here," said Sam to Dan as +he started away. "We 'll be back soon +with your father if the pesky red-skins +have n't got him."</p> +<p> +"Or if they have," added another man +grimly, and off they went.</p> +<p> +Goodwife Kittredge now took charge of +Dan and Zeb, while her son, a boy of eleven, +tied Penny to a tree beside their cabin. +Zeb recovered at once when she offered +him a generous slice of brown-bread, but +Dan was too anxious about his father to +eat. He stood beside Penny, rubbing her +neck and soothing her, with his eyes constantly +on the trail and his ears eagerly +listening for the sound of shots. It seemed +an age, but really was not more than half +an hour, before he saw the men come out +of the woods, and, oh joy! his father was +with them!</p> +<p> +Leaving Penny nibbling grass, he ran to +meet them and threw his arms about his +father's neck, crying, "Oh, dear father, art +thou hurt?"</p> +<a name="page107" id="page107"></a><span class="left">[page 107]</span> +<p> +"Nay; the Lord was merciful," answered +the Goodman. "I fired but one shot, and +hit one of the red-skins, I am sure, for they +both dived back into the woods at once. I +hid myself in the thick underbrush on the +other side of the trail and waited, thinking +perhaps I could creep along beside it out of +sight, but Zeb's roaring must have frighted +the Indians. Doubtless they knew it would +rouse the countryside. At any rate I saw +no more of them, and when these Good +Samaritans came along I knew I was safe."</p> +<p> +"The lungs of that blackamoor are +worth more to thee than many guns," +laughed Sam Kittredge. "'T is a pity thou +couldst not bottle up a few of his screeches +to take with thee when thou goest abroad. +They are of a sort to make a wildcat sick +with envy." The men laughed heartily, and, +leaving the Goodman and Daniel with Sam, +returned to their interrupted tasks.</p> +<p> +Goodwife Kittredge insisted on their +resting there for the night before resuming +their journey. "You must be proper tired," +<a name="page108" id="page108"></a><span class="left">[page 108]</span> +said she, with motherly concern, "and if +you go on now 't is more than likely those +rascally knaves will follow you like your +shadow. You 'll stand a sight better chance +of safety if you make an early start in the +morning."</p> +<p> +"Your horse needs rest, too," added +Sam. "I 'll rub her down and give her a +measure of corn when she 's cooled off. Get +to bed with the chickens, and start with the +sun, and to-morrow night will find you safe +in your own home again."</p> +<p> +To this plan the travelers gladly agreed. +Early next morning, after a hearty breakfast +in the Kittredges' cheerful kitchen they +set forth once more. The roosters in the +farmyard were still crowing, and the air +was sweet with the music of robins, orioles, +and blackbirds when they again plunged +into the forest trail. All day they plodded +steadily along, delayed by bad roads, and +it was not until late that evening that they +at last came in sight of the little house, +where Nancy and her mother slept, little +<a name="page109" id="page109"></a><span class="left">[page 109]</span> +dreaming how near they were to a happy +awakening. When, at last they reached the +cabin, the Goodman, fearing to alarm his +wife, stopped on the door-stone and gently +called her name. He had called but once +when a shutter was thrown open and the +Goodwife's head was thrust through it.</p> +<p> +"Husband, son!" she cried joyfully. +"Nancy!—awake child!—it is thy father +and brother!" and in another moment the +door flew open, and Nancy and her mother +flung their arms about the necks of the wanderers. +When the horse had been cared +for, they went into the cabin. Nancy raked +the coals from the ashes, the fire blazed up, +and the Goodwife gave them each a drink +of hot milk. Zeb blinked sleepily at the reunited +and happy family, as Dan and his +father told their adventures, and when at +last they had gone to their beds in the loft +he sank down on a husk mattress which the +Goodwife had spread for him on the floor, +and in two minutes was sound asleep.</p> +<a name="page110" id="page110"></a><span class="left">[page 110]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0104-250.png" width="250" height="451" alt="Daniel" border="0" /></p> + +<br /><br /> +<a name="page113" id="page113"></a><span class="left">[page 113]</span> +<a name="V" id="V"></a> +<h3>V</h3> + +<h2>THE NEW HOME</h2> +<p> +Goodman Pepperell and his wife rose +early the next morning, and, leaving the +two children still sleeping; crept down the +ladder to the floor below. There lay Zeb, +also sound asleep, with his toes toward +the ashes like a little black Cinderella. The +Goodwife's mother heart was stirred with +pity as she looked down at him. Perhaps +she imagined her own boy a captive in a +strange land, unable to speak the language, +with no future but slavery and no friends to +comfort his loneliness.</p> +<p> +"Poor lad—let him sleep a bit, too," she +said to her husband.</p> +<p> +They unbolted the door and stepped out +into the sunlight of a perfect June morning. +The dew was still on the grass; robins and +bobolinks were singing merrily in the young +<a name="page114" id="page114"></a><span class="left">[page 114]</span> +apple trees, which, owing to a late, cold +spring, were still in bloom, and the air +hummed with the music of bees' wings.</p> +<p> +The Goodman drew a deep breath as he +gazed at the beauty about him. "'T is good +to be at home again," he said to his wife. +"And 't is a goodly land—aye, better even +than old England! There 's space here, room +enough to grow." He looked across the river +to the hills of Boston town. "I doubt not +we shall live to see a city in place of yon +village," he said; "more ships seek its port +daily, and there are settlements along the +whole length of the bay. 'T is a marvel +where the people come from. The Plymouth +folk are scattering to the north and south, +and already villages are springing up between +Plymouth and New Amsterdam. +God hath prospered us, wife."</p> +<p> +"Praise be to his holy name," said the +Goodwife, reverently. "But, husband," she +added, "what shall we do with our increase? +Thou hast brought home a horse and the +black lad. The horse can stay out of doors +<a name="page115" id="page115"></a><span class="left">[page 115]</span> +during the summer, but there is not room +for him in the cow-shed, and the lad cannot +sleep always before the fire."</p> +<p> +"I have thought of that," said the Goodman, +"and when the crops are in I purpose +to build a larger house."</p> +<p> +"Verily it will be needed," she answered. +"The crops grow like weeds in this new +soil. If there were but a place for storage, +I could put away much for winter use that +now is wasted. Go thou and look at the +garden, while I uncover the coals and set +the kettle to boil."</p> +<p> +"Wait a moment, wife," said the Goodman, +"I have somewhat to tell thee. There +is ever a black spot in our sunshine. Though +the danger grows less all the while as the +settlements increase, it is still true that the +Indians are ever a menace, and I fear they +are over watchful of us." Then he told her +of the attack in the forest. "I have reason +to think the red-skins spied upon us all the +way to Boston town," he finished. "I did +not tell Daniel, but twice I saw savages on +<a name="page116" id="page116"></a><span class="left">[page 116]</span> +our trail after we left Kittredge's. I wounded +one in the encounter, and they will not forget +that. I know not why they should plot +against the black boy, unless it is to revenge +themselves upon me, but it is certain +they tried to drag him away with them into +the woods." The Goodwife listened with a +pale face.</p> +<p> +"'T is well, then, that we have a watchdog +added to our possessions," she said at +last. "Gran'ther Wattles's shepherd hath a +litter of pups, and he hath promised one to +the children. Nancy hath waited until Dan +came home that he might share the pleasure +of getting it with her."</p> +<p> +"She hath a generous heart," said her +father, tenderly. "Aye,—she is a good +lass, though headstrong."</p> +<p> +When their mother reached the cabin, +she found the Twins up and dressed and +Daniel trying to rouse the sleeping Zeb. +"Wake up," he shouted, giving him a shake. +Zeb rolled over with a grunt and opened +his eyes.</p> +<a name="page117" id="page117"></a><span class="left">[page 117]</span> +<p> +"Take him outdoors while I get breakfast," +said the Goodwife. "Mercy upon me, +what shall I do with a blackamoor and a +dog both underfoot!"</p> +<p> +"A dog!" cried Daniel. "What dog? +Where is he?"</p> +<p> +"Nancy will tell thee," said his mother, +and, not able to wait a moment to hear and +tell such wonderful news, the two children +rushed out at once, followed by Zeb. When +their mother called the family to breakfast +half an hour later, Zeb had been shown the +garden, the corn-field, the cow-shed, the +pig-sty, the straw-stack where eggs were to +be found, the well with its long well-sweep, +and the samp-mill. He had had the sheep +pointed out to him, and been introduced to +Eliza, the cow, and allowed to give Penny +a measure of corn. The children had +shouted the name of each object to him as +they had pointed it out, and Zeb had shown +his white teeth and grinned and nodded a +great many times, as if he understood.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0110-400.png" width="400" height="304" alt="...he quietly crawled out in all fours and disappeared through the door." border="0" /></p> +<p> +"I know he 's seen eggs before, for he +<a name="page118" id="page118"></a><span class="left">[page 118]</span> +sucked one," Dan told his mother. Zeb was +given his breakfast on the door-stone, and +Dan tried to teach him the use of a spoon, +without much success; and afterwards he +was brought in to family prayers. His eyes +rolled apprehensively as he looked from one +kneeling figure to another, but, obeying +Dan's gesture, he knelt beside him, and for +ten minutes he stuck it out: then, as the +prayer continued to pour in an uninterrupted +stream from the Goodman's lips, he quietly +<a name="page119" id="page119"></a><span class="left">[page 119]</span> +crawled out on all fours and disappeared +through the door. Dan found him afterwards +out by the straw-stack, and as there +was a yellow streak on his black face, concluded +he had learned his lesson about the +hen's nest altogether too well. He was +given a hoe and taken to the corn-field at +once. Here Daniel showed him just how to +cut out the weeds with the hoe and loosen +the earth about the roots of the corn. Zeb +nodded and grinned so cheerfully that, after +watching him a few moments, Daniel called +Nancy and they started for Gran'ther Wattles's +house in the village to get the puppy. +They had gone but a short distance when +Nancy, glancing around, saw Zeb following +them, grinning from ear to ear.</p> +<p> +"No—no—no—go back," bawled Daniel, +pointing to the corn-field. Zeb nodded +with the utmost intelligence and followed +right along. "Oh, dear!" groaned Daniel. +"I 've taught him to do things by showing +how, and now he thinks he must do <i>everything</i> +that I do."</p> +<a name="page120" id="page120"></a><span class="left">[page 120]</span> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0112-400.png" width="400" height="350" alt="He sat down on a stone and gazed despairingly at Zeb." border="0" /></p> +<p> +He sat down on a stone and gazed despairingly +at Zeb. Zeb promptly sat down +on another stone and beamed at him! In +vain Daniel pointed and shouted, and shook +his head. Zeb nodded as cheerfully as ever +and conscientiously imitated Dan's every +move. In spite of all they could do he followed +them clear to Gran'ther Wattles's +house.</p> +<a name="page121" id="page121"></a><span class="left">[page 121]</span> +<p> +"Oh, dear!" said Nancy, "it 's just like +having your shadow come to life! You 'll +have to work all the time, Dan, or Zeb +won't work at all!"</p> +<p> +Even with the wonderful new puppy in +his arms Dan took a gloomy view of the +situation. "I 'm sick of being an example," +he said. "I had to be one at Aunt Bradford's +all the time, for she told Mercy and +Joseph to watch how I behaved, and now +here 's this crazy blackamoor mocking everything +I do! I guess Father 'll wish he had +n't bought him."</p> +<p> +The days that followed were trying ones +for everybody. The Goodwife was nearly +distracted trying to house her family and do +her work in such crowded quarters. Zeb followed +Dan like a nightmare, and the Goodman +delved early and late to catch up with +the work which had waited for his return. +Among other duties there were berries to +be picked in the pasture and dried for winter +use, and this task fell to the children. It +was work which Zeb thoroughly enjoyed, +<a name="page122" id="page122"></a><span class="left">[page 122]</span> +but alas, he ate more than he brought home. +On one occasion he ate green fruit along +with the ripe, and spent a noisy night afterward +holding on to his stomach and howling +at each new pain. In vain the Goodwife +tried to cure him with a dose of hot +pepper tea. Zeb took just enough to burn +his mouth and, finding the cure worse than +the disease, roared more industriously than +ever. She was at her wit's end and finally +had to leave him to groan it out alone beside +the fire. It was weeks before he learned +to understand the simplest sentences, and +meanwhile poor Dan had to go on being an +example.</p> +<p> +Finally one day the Goodman brought +home a large saw from Boston, and he +and Dan showed Zeb how to use it. Then +day after day Dan and Zeb sawed together, +making boards for the new house, while +Nancy brought her carding or knitting and +sat on a stump near by with the puppy at +her feet or nosing about in the bushes. +They had named the dog Nimrod, "because," +<a name="page123" id="page123"></a><span class="left">[page 123]</span> +as Nancy said, "he is surely a +mighty hunter before the Lord, just like +Nimrod in the Bible. He sniffs around after +field mice all the time, and if he only sees +a cat he barks his head off and tears after +her like lightning!"</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0115-400.png" width="400" height="441" alt="...while Nancy brought her carding or knitting and sat on a stump..." border="0" /></p> + + <hr class="short" /> +<a name="page124" id="page124"></a><span class="left">[page 124]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0116-320.png" width="320" height="390" alt="Zeb...was very dull when it concerned tasks he did not like." border="0" /></p> + +<p> +The summer passed quickly away, with +few events to take them outside the little +<a name="page125" id="page125"></a><span class="left">[page 125]</span> +kingdom of home in which they lived. Twice +the Captain stopped to see them when the +Lucy Ann put in at Boston Harbor, and it +was from him they got such news as they +had of the world without. By October, +Nimrod had grown to be quite a large dog +and was already useful with the sheep, and +Zeb could understand a good deal of what +was said to him, though it was noticeable +that he was very dull when it concerned +tasks he did not like. With Dan to guide +him he was able to help shock the corn and +pile the pumpkins in golden heaps between +the rows. He could feed the cattle and milk +the cow and draw water for them from the +well. While the Goodman and the two boys +worked in the fields gathering the crops, +Nancy and her mother dried everything +that could be dried and preserved everything +that could be preserved, until there +was a wonderful store of good things for +the winter.</p> +<p> +One day when all the rafters were +festooned with strings of crook-necked +<a name="page126" id="page126"></a><span class="left">[page 126]</span> +squashes, onions, and seed corn braided in +long ropes by the husks, the Goodman appeared +in the doorway with another load +of seed corn and looked in vain for a place +to put it.</p> +<p> +"There is no place," said the Goodwife. +"The Lord hath blessed us so abundantly +there is not room to receive it. As it is, I +can hardly do my work without stepping +on something. If it is not anything else, it +is sure to be either Zeb or Nimrod. Truly +I can no longer clean and sand my floor +properly for the things that are standing +about."</p> +<p> +The Goodman sat down on the settle and +looked long and earnestly at the crowded +room, whistling softly to himself. Then he +rose and went to the village, and as a result +the neighbors gathered the very next week +to help build the new house. They came +early in the morning, the men with axes +and saws on their shoulders and the women +carrying cooking-utensils. Then while the +men worked in the forest felling trees, cutting +<a name="page127" id="page127"></a><span class="left">[page 127]</span> +and hauling timbers, and putting them +in place, the women helped the Goodwife +make whole battalions of brown loaves and +regiments of pies, beside any number of +other good things to eat. Nancy, Dan, and +Zeb ran errands and caught fish and dug +clams and gathered nuts to supply materials +for them, and were promptly on hand +when meal time came.</p> +<p> +There were so many helpers that in a +wonderfully short time the frame-work was +up, the roof boards were on, and a great +fireplace had been built into the chimney in +the new part of the house. Also a door had +been cut through to connect the new part +with the old cabin, which was now to be +used for storage and as a stable for Penny +and Eliza, and a sleeping-space for Zeb. +When all this was done and the roof on, +the neighbors returned to their own tasks, +leaving the Pepperells to lay the floors, +cover the outside with boards, and do +whatever was necessary to finish the house. +It was late in the fall before this was accomplished +<a name="page128" id="page128"></a><span class="left">[page 128]</span> +and the family had settled down to +the enjoyment of their new quarters.</p> +<p> +One day as Dan and Zeb were bringing +in boards to sheathe the room on the inside, +they were startled to see two Indians peering +out at them from the shelter of the +near-by woods. Dropping the board they +were carrying, they ran like deer to the +house, and Dan told his father what they +had seen. The Goodman looked thoughtful +as he went on with his task of sheathing, +and that very evening he worked late building +a secret closet between the chimney +and the wall. "It will be a handy place to +hide thy preserves," he said to his wife, +"and a refuge should the Indians decide +to give us trouble." He cut a small square +window high up in the outside wall and +contrived a spring, hidden in the chimney, +to open the door. When this spring was +pressed a hole would suddenly appear in +what seemed a solid wall, revealing the well-stored +shelves. This closet was the Goodwife's +special pride, but to Zeb it was a +<a name="page129" id="page129"></a><span class="left">[page 129]</span> +continuous mystery. At one moment there +was the solid wall; the next, without touch +of human hands, a door would fly open, +giving a tantalizing glimpse of things to eat +which he could never touch, for if he came +near, the door would close again as mysteriously +as it had opened. Dan loved to +tease him with it, and Zeb, fearing magic, +would take to his heels whenever this marvel +occurred.</p> +<p> +One day the Goodman said to his wife: +"Thanksgiving draws near, and surely we +have much cause for thankfulness this year, +for the Lord hath exceedingly blessed us. +There are yet some things to be done before +the day comes, and I wish to meet it +with my task finished. I hear there is a +ship in the harbor loaded with English merchandise, +and to-morrow I go to Boston, +and if thou art so minded, thou canst go +with me."</p> +<p> +This put the Goodwife in quite a flutter +of excitement, for she had not been away +from home except to go to church for many +<a name="page130" id="page130"></a><span class="left">[page 130]</span> +months. She got out her best gown that +very evening, to be sure it was in proper +order, and while she got supper gave Nancy +and Dan an endless string of directions +about their tasks in her absence.</p> +<p> +Early the next morning she mounted the +pillion behind her husband, and the three +children watched their departure, Dan +clutching Nimrod, who was determined to +go with them, and the Goodwife calling +back last instructions to the little group +until Penny was well on the road to Charlestown.</p> +<p> +The house seemed strangely lonely without +the mother in it, but there was no time +for the children to mope, for there was all +the work to do in their parents' absence. +Dan took command at once. "You 'll both +have to mind me now," he said to Nancy +and Zeb. "I 'm the man of the house."</p> +<p> +"If thou 'rt the man of it, I 'm the woman, +and thou and Zeb will both have to do as <i>I</i> +say," retorted Nancy, "or else mayhap I 'll +get thee no dinner! Mother said I could +<a name="page131" id="page131"></a><span class="left">[page 131]</span> +make succotash, and thou lov'st that better +than anything. Mother said above all things +not to let the fire go out, for it would be +hard to bring a fire-brand all the way from +the village. So do thou bring in a pile of +wood and set Zeb to chopping more."</p> + +<a name="page132" id="page132"></a><span class="left">[page 132]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0123-320.png" width="320" height="452" alt="...two great yellow globes from the corn-field..." border="0" /></p> +<p> +Dan counted his chances. "Very well," +he said at last, with condescension, "thou +art a willful baggage but I 'll give thee thy +way! Only make the big kettle full."</p> +<p> +All that day Nancy bustled importantly +about the house, with her sleeves rolled +up and her skirts looped back under her +apron in imitation of her mother. She was +better than her word and made johnny-cake +besides the succotash for dinner, and +after they had eaten it said to Dan, "If thou +wilt go out to the field and bring in a pumpkin, +I 'll make thee some pies for supper."</p> +<p> +Dan dearly loved pumpkin pie, and in +his zeal to carry out the plan brought in +two great yellow globes from the corn-field +instead of the one Nancy had asked for. +"Mercy upon us," said Nancy when he +appeared, beaming, with one under each +arm, "those would make pies enough for +all Cambridge. Thine eyes hold more than +thy stomach."</p> +<p> +"There 's no such thing as too many +pies," said Daniel stoutly, "and if there 's +<a name="page133" id="page133"></a><span class="left">[page 133]</span> +any pumpkin left over, I 'll feed it to the +pig."</p> +<p> +"I 'll tell thee what we will do," said +Nancy. "We will make a great surprise +for Mother and Father. When they come +home they will be tired and hungry and +ready for a grand supper. Do thou and Zeb +run down to the bay and bring back a mess +of clams. We 'll have the table all spread +and a bright fire burning to welcome them!"</p> +<p> +Dan agreed to this plan and went out at +once to call Zeb. He found him by the +straw-stack with an egg in each hand. +"Take them in to Nancy," commanded +Dan, pointing sternly toward the house. +Zeb had meant to dispose of them otherwise, +for he had a bottomless appetite for +eggs, but he trotted obediently to the house +at Dan's order, and then the two boys +started together for the bay, with Nimrod +barking joyfully and running about them +in circles all the way.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0126-400.png" width="400" height="377" alt="Zeb...had a bottomless appetite for eggs..." border="0" /></p> +<p> +The fall days were short, and it was dusk +before the evening chores were done, and +<a name="page134" id="page134"></a><span class="left">[page 134]</span> +Dan came in to the bright kitchen with Zeb +and Nimrod both at his heels, and announced +that he had a hole in his stomach as big as +a bushel basket. For answer Nancy pointed +to four golden-brown pies cooling on a shelf, +and Dan smacked his lips in anticipation. +Zeb came alongside and, copying Dan, +smacked his lips too.</p> +<a name="page135" id="page135"></a><span class="left">[page 135]</span> +<p> +"Go away, both of you," said Nancy. +"You can only look at them now, for I have +everything ready for Father and Mother, +and we must n't eat until they come."</p> +<p> +Dan looked about the room to see what +Nancy's surprise might be. It was a cheerful +picture that met his eye. First of all there +was Nancy herself with her neat cap and +white apron, putting the finishing touches +to the little feast she had prepared. She had +spread the table with the best linen and decorated +it with a bunch of red berries. She +had even brought out the silver tankard +from its hiding-place under the eaves of +the loft and placed it beside her father's +trencher. The clams were simmering on +the fire, sending out an appetizing smell, +and the brown loaf was cut. The hickory +logs snapped and sputtered, and the flames +danced gayly in the fireplace, setting other +little flames dancing in the shining pewter +dishes arranged on a dresser across the +room. Nimrod was lying before the fire +with his head on his paws, asleep, and Zeb, +<a name="page136" id="page136"></a><span class="left">[page 136]</span> +squatted down beside him, was rolling his +eyes hungrily in the direction of the pies.</p> +<p> +"I hope they 'll come soon," said Daniel, +lifting the cover of the kettle and sniffing. +"If they do not 't is likely they 'll find me +as dead as a salt herring when they get +here."</p> +<p> +Nancy laughed and, breaking a slice of +brown-bread in two, gave a piece to each +boy. "Take that to stay your stomachs," +she said, "and, for the rest, have patience."</p> +<p> +For a long time they waited, and still +there was no sound of hoofs upon the road. +Dusk deepened into darkness, and the harvest +moon came out from behind a cloud +and shed a silvery light over the landscape. +Nancy went to the door and gazed toward +the road.</p> +<p> +"Dost think, brother, the Indians have +waylaid them?" she asked Dan at last.</p> +<p> +"Nay," answered Dan. "They are likely +delayed at the ferry. Should the ferry-man +be at his supper wild horses could not drag +him from it, I 'll be bound. They 'll come +<a name="page137" id="page137"></a><span class="left">[page 137]</span> +presently, never fear, but it will doubtless +grieve them much to see me lying stiff and +cold on the hearth! Nancy, thou takest +a fearful chance in denying thy brother +food."</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0129-400.png" width="400" height="258" alt="'Carve thyself a jack-o'-lantern'" border="0" /></p> +<p> +But Nancy only laughed at his woebegone +face. "Thou art indeed a valiant +trencher-man," she said. Then, suddenly +inspired, she brought him the extra pumpkin, +which she had not used for the pies, +set it before him upon the hearth-stone, +and gave him a knife. "Carve thyself a jack-o'-lantern," +she said. "'T will take up thy +mind, and make thee forget thy stomach." +<a name="page138" id="page138"></a><span class="left">[page 138]</span> +Dan took the knife, cut a cap from the top +of the pumpkin, and scooped out the seeds. +Then he cut holes for the eyes and nose, +and a fearful gash, bordered with pointed +teeth, for the mouth, and Nancy brought +him the stub of a bayberry candle to put +inside. Zeb watched the process with eyes +growing wider and wider as the thing became +more and more like some frightful +creature of his pagan imagination. They +were just about to light the candle when +Nimrod gave a sharp bark; there was a +creaking noise outside, and Nancy, springing +joyfully to her feet, shouted, "They 've +come!—they 've come!" She was halfway +to the door, when suddenly she stopped, +stiff with fright.</p> +<p> +There, looking in through the open shutter, +was the face of an Indian! Dan and +Zeb saw it at the same moment, and Nimrod, +barking madly, rushed forward and +leaped at the window. Giving one of his +wildcat shrieks, Zeb instantly went up the +ladder to the loft with the agility of a monkey. +<a name="page139" id="page139"></a><span class="left">[page 139]</span> +The head had bobbed out of sight so +quickly that for an instant Nancy hardly +believed her own eyes, but in that instant +Dan had been quick to act. He pressed the +catch concealed in the fireplace, and, springing +to his feet, seized Nancy and dragged +her back into the secret closet. They nearly +fell over the pumpkin, which lay directly in +their path, and it rolled before them into +the closet.</p> +<p> +Once inside, they instantly closed the +door, and, with wildly beating hearts, sank +down in the darkness. About a foot above +the floor there was a small knot-hole in the +door, which the Goodman had purposely +left for a peep-hole, and to this Dan now +glued his eyes. In spite of Nimrod's frantic +barking the house door was quietly opened, +and when the dog flew at the intruder, he +was stunned by a blow from the butt end +of a musket, and his senseless body sent +flying out of the door by a kick from a moccasined +foot.</p> +<p> +Then two Indians crept stealthily into +<a name="page140" id="page140"></a><span class="left">[page 140]</span> +the room. They were surprised to find it +empty. Where could the children have +gone? They prowled cautiously about, looking +under the table and behind everything +that might afford a hiding-place, and, finding +no trace of them, turned their attention +in another direction. Dan was already near +to bursting with rage and grief over Nimrod, +and now he had the misery of seeing +the larger of the two Indians take his father's +musket from the deer-horn on the chimney-piece, +while the other, who already had a +gun, with grunts of satisfaction took the +silver tankard from the table and hid it under +his deer-skin jacket. At first they did not +seem to notice the ladder to the loft. Soon, +however, they paused beside it, and after +they had exchanged a few grunts the larger +Indian began to mount. It was plain they +meant to make a thorough search for the +children who had so miraculously disappeared.</p> +<p> +Dan remembered what his father had said +about the Pequots; Nancy, with sick fear +<a name="page141" id="page141"></a><span class="left">[page 141]</span> +in her heart for Zeb, was shivering in a heap +on the floor, her hands over her eyes, though +that was quite unnecessary, since the closet +was pitch dark. Dan found her ear and +whispered into it a brief report of what he +had seen. They could now hear the stealthy +tread of moccasined feet above them on the +floor of the loft.</p> +<p> +"While they 're upstairs," whispered +Dan, "I 'm going to slip out and get Father's +pistol. It 's hanging behind a string of onions, +and they have n't found it."</p> +<p> +"Oh, no!" gasped Nancy. She clung to +him, and in trying to get up he struck the +pumpkin, which rolled away toward the +outside wall of the closet. Just then there +was a fearful outburst of noise overhead. +There was the sound of something being +dragged from under a bed across the floor, +something which clawed and shrieked and +fought like a wildcat. There were grunts +and the thump of moccasined feet dancing +about in a lively struggle.</p> +<p> +"Now is my chance," said Dan to himself, +<a name="page142" id="page142"></a><span class="left">[page 142]</span> +and, opening the door cautiously, he +made a dash for the pistol and snatched it +from its hiding-place. As he was leaping +back to the closet, he saw the bayberry +candle lying on the hearth, and in that instant +a wonderful idea flashed into his mind. +He picked up the candle, lit it from the +flames, and scurried back to his hiding-place +just as the legs of an Indian appeared +at the top of the ladder. He shut the door +swiftly behind him, and, giving the candle +to Nancy, told her to set it inside the pumpkin. +Crawling to the other end of the closet, +Nancy did as she was bid, while Dan, with +his eye at the peep-hole, watched the two +Indians drag poor Zeb between them down +the ladder and out the door.</p> +<p> +Eager to see where they went, Dan +climbed up to the little window of the closet +and peered out into the night. By the moonlight +he could see the two men dragging +Zeb in the direction of the straw-stack. +They were having a hard time of it, for Zeb +struggled fiercely, and they had their guns +<a name="page143" id="page143"></a><span class="left">[page 143]</span> +and the tankard to take care of as well, and +in addition, to Dan's horror, one of them +was waving a burning brand which he had +snatched from the fire in passing! Dan +trembled so with excitement that he nearly +fell from his perch, but kept his wits about +him. "Give me the pumpkin," he said to +Nancy, and when she reached it up to him, +he set the lurid, grinning face in the window. +"Now the pistol," he said, and, sticking +the muzzle through the opening beside +the jack-o'-lantern, he fired it into the air.</p> +<p> +The shot was answered by a chorus of +yells from the three figures by the straw-stack. +Scared out of their wits by the unexpected +shot and by the frightful apparition +which suddenly glared at them out of +the darkness, the Indians took to their heels +and ran as only Indians can run, dragging +poor Zeb with them.</p> +<p> +"They 're gone," shouted Dan, dropping +to the floor, "but they 've set the straw-stack +afire!"</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0136-400.png" width="400" height="400" alt="'...they've set the straw-stack afire!'" border="0" /></p> +<p> +By the dim light of the jack-o'-lantern +<a name="page144" id="page144"></a><span class="left">[page 144]</span> +grinning in the window, he found the catch +of the door, and the two children burst out +of the closet. Seizing a bucket of water +which stood by the hand-basin in the corner, +Dan dashed out of doors, followed by +Nancy, whose fear of Indians was now +overmastered by fear of fire. If their beautiful +new house should be burned! She ran +to the well-sweep, and while Dan worked +like a demon, stamping on burning straws +<a name="page145" id="page145"></a><span class="left">[page 145]</span> +with his feet, and pouring water on the +spreading flames, she swiftly plunged first +one bucket, then another, into the well and +filled Dan's pail as fast as it was emptied. +In spite of these heroic efforts the fire +spread. All they could do was to keep the +ground wet about the stack and watch the +flying sparks lest they set fire to the house. +Over the lurid scene the jack-o'-lantern +grinned down at them until the candle sputtered +and went out.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0138-400.png" width="400" height="477" alt="...pouring water on the spreading flames." border="0" /></p> +<p> +The straw-stack was blazing fiercely, +lighting the sky with a red glare, when in +the distance they heard the beat of a drum. +Gran'ther Wattles had seen the flames and +was rousing the village. Then there were +hoof-beats on the road, and into the fire-light +dashed Penny with the terrified Goodman +and his wife on her back. Once they +knew their children were safe, they did not +stop for questions, but at once set to work +to help them check the fire, which was now +spreading among the dry leaves. The Goodwife +ran for her broom, which she dipped +<a name="page146" id="page146"></a><span class="left">[page 146]</span> +in water and then beat upon the little flames +as they appeared here and there in the +grass. The Goodman mounted to the roof +at once, and, with Dan to fetch water and +Nancy to bring up buckets from the well, +they managed to keep it too wet for the +<a name="page147" id="page147"></a><span class="left">[page 147]</span> +flying sparks to set it afire. At last the +neighbors, roused by Gran'ther Wattles's +frantic alarm, came hurrying across the +pastures; but the distance was so great that +the flames had died down and the danger +was nearly over before they arrived.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0139-360.png" width="360" height="421" alt="...and filled Dan's pail as fast as it was emptied." border="0" /></p> +<p> +There was now time for explanations, +and, surrounded by an eager and grim-visaged +circle, Nancy and Dan told their story. +<a name="page148" id="page148"></a><span class="left">[page 148]</span> +"There 's a brave lad for you!" cried Stephen +Day, when the tale was finished, patting +Dan on the shoulder. "Aye, and a +brave lass, too," added another. Their father +and mother said no words of praise, but +there was a glow of pride in their faces as +they looked at their children and silently +thanked God for their safety.</p> +<p> +"We can do nothing to-night," said +Goodman Pepperell at last, "but, neighbors, +if you are with me, to-morrow we will go +into the woods and see if we can find any +trace of the black boy. Doubtless by stealing +him and burning the house they thought +to revenge themselves for the Indian whom +I wounded on my way home from Plymouth. +They must have been watching the +house, and, seeing us depart this morning, +knew well that they had naught but children +to deal with."</p> +<p> +"Aye, but such children!" said Stephen +Day, who had been greatly impressed by +the story of the jack-o'-lantern. "We 'll +follow them, indeed, and if we find them"—his +<a name="page149" id="page149"></a><span class="left">[page 149]</span> +jaw shut with a snap and he said no +more.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0141-400.png" width="400" height="383" alt="They found him lying a few feet from the house still half stunned..." border="0" /></p> +<p> +While the men laid their plans for the +morrow, the children and their mother stole +round to the front of the house, and Dan +began a search for Nimrod. He had been +neither seen nor heard since the Indian had +given him that fearful blow and thrown him +out. They found him lying a few feet from the +<a name="page150" id="page150"></a><span class="left">[page 150]</span> +house still half stunned, and Dan lifted him +tenderly in his arms, brought him into the +house, and laid him down before the fire, +where he had slept so peacefully only one +short hour before. Nimrod licked his hand, +and rapped his tail feebly on the hearthstone. +Nancy wept over him, while Dan +bathed his wounded head, and tried to find +out if any bones were broken.</p> +<p> +"Poor Nimrod," said the Goodwife, as +she set a bowl of milk before the wounded +dog, "thou art a brave soldier. Drink this +and soon thou wilt be wagging thy tail as +briskly as ever."</p> +<p> +She stirred the fire and lit the candles, +and when the Goodman came in a few moments +later, the little family looked about +their new home to see what damage had +been done. Nancy's little feast was a sad +wreck. There were the pies, to be sure, but +the table-cloth was awry and the flowers +were tipped over and strewn about the +floor, which was covered with the tracks +of muddy feet. In the scuffle with Zeb the +<a name="page151" id="page151"></a><span class="left">[page 151]</span> +spinning-wheel had been overturned and +the settle was lying on its back on the floor. +The room looked as if a hurricane had passed +through it. The Goodman mourned the +loss of his gun, and the Goodwife grieved +for her tankard, but all smaller losses were +forgotten in their distress about Zeb. Not +only had he cost the Goodman a large sum +of money, but in the weeks he had been +with them he had found his own place in +the household, where he would be sadly +missed. Worst of all was their anxiety +about his fate at the hands of the Indians.</p> +<p> +"Come," said the Goodwife at last, when +they had heard every event of the day twice +over, "we must eat, or we shall have scant +courage for the duties of the morrow. We +have none of us tasted food since noon."</p> +<p> +The clams were still simmering gently +in the pot, and she gave them each a porringer +of broth, which they ate sitting in a +circle about the hearth-stone. Then she put +the room in order, and though her heart +was heavy, tried to talk of the events of +<a name="page152" id="page152"></a><span class="left">[page 152]</span> +their day in Boston as if nothing had happened.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0144-380.png" width="380" height="455" alt="...and she gave them each a porringer of broth, which they ate sitting in a circle about the hearth-stone." border="0" /></p> +<p> +"We saw Captain Sanders in town," she +said to the children. "He hath brought the +Lucy Ann to port with a load of cod for +<a name="page153" id="page153"></a><span class="left">[page 153]</span> +the market and with fish and game for +Thanksgiving. I have his promise that he +will dine with us if God wills. He hath not +yet seen our new house. Alas! I shall have +no tankard to set before him; yet, ungrateful +that I am, we are still rich in blessings! +'T is well we have a day set aside to remind +us of them."</p> +<p> +It was very late when at last the excitement +had died down enough to think of +sleep. The Goodman went out to make sure +there was no fire left lurking in the grass, +and to take a look at the horse and cow. +As he passed the smoking ashes of the +straw-stack, his foot struck something which +rang like metal, and in the moonlight something +glistened in the path before him. +Stooping, he felt for it, and was overjoyed +to grasp the tankard, which the Indian had +lost in the struggle with Zeb. He carried it +in to his wife at once. She seized it with a +cry of joy.</p> +<p> +"'T is a good omen," she said. "Mayhap +thou 'lt find thy musket too." Her husband +<a name="page154" id="page154"></a><span class="left">[page 154]</span> +shook his head gravely. "I 'll have +need of one to-morrow," he said. "'T is +well I still have my fowling-piece and my +pistol." Then he called the family together +and, kneeling beside the settle, committed +them to God's keeping for the night.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0146-300.png" width="300" height="438" alt="Nancy" border="0" /></p> + + +<br /><br /> +<a name="page157" id="page157"></a><span class="left">[page 157]</span> +<a name="VI" id="VI"></a> +<h3>VI</h3> + +<h2>HARVEST HOME</h2> + +<p> +Before daylight the next morning the +Goodwife stood in the door of the new +house and watched her husband set forth +with the men of Cambridge to search the +forest for Zeb, and to punish his captors if +they should catch them. She had given him +a good breakfast and filled his pockets with +bread for the journey, and when the men +came from the village, she cut Nancy's pies +and gave them each a generous piece to +eat before starting. There were eight men +in the party, all armed. The Goodwife's lip +trembled a little and then moved in prayer +as she saw them disappear into the dark +forest. "God grant that they may all return +in safety," she murmured, and then, +giving herself a little shake, she turned back +<a name="page158" id="page158"></a><span class="left">[page 158]</span> +into the house and resolutely set herself at +the duties of the day.</p> +<p> +Nimrod whined and tried to follow his +master as the men marched away with their +guns on their shoulders, but, finding himself +too weak, lay down again on the hearth +and went to sleep. The Goodwife cleaned +the kitchen, removing the last traces of the +intruders, and then began a patient march +back and forth, back and forth, beside the +whirling spinning-wheel. Now that the +harvest was over and their food provided +for the winter, her busy hands must spin +the yarn and weave the cloth to keep them +warm. Though she had meant to let the +children sleep after the excitement of the +previous day, it was still early when they +were awakened by the whir of the wheel +and came scuttling down from the loft as +bright-eyed as if the adventures of the night +before had been no more than a bad dream. +They helped themselves to hasty pudding +and milk and took a dishful to Nimrod, +who was now awake and looking much +<a name="page159" id="page159"></a><span class="left">[page 159]</span> +more lively, and then their mother set them +their tasks for the day.</p> +<p> +"Nancy," said she, "I gave all thy pies +to the men who have gone with father to +hunt for Zeb. To-morrow will be Thanksgiving +Day and we shall need more. The +mince pies are already prepared and put +away on the shelves, and thou canst make +apple and pumpkin both to set away beside +them in the secret closet."</p> +<p> +"That makes me think," said Daniel, +and, touching the secret spring, he opened +the door and rescued the jack-o'-lantern +from the window-sill.</p> +<p> +It was only a wilted and blackened old +pumpkin that he brought to his mother, but +she smiled at it and patted the hideous +head. "He hath been a good friend to us, +Dan," she said, "e'en as say the Scriptures, +'God hath chosen the weak things of the +earth to confound the mighty.' David went +out against Goliath with a sling and a stone, +and thou hast overcome savages with naught +but a foolish pumpkin."</p> +<a name="page160" id="page160"></a><span class="left">[page 160]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0150-300.png" width="300" height="531" alt="Nancy took the grinning head and set it on the chimney-piece." border="0" /></p> +<p> +Nancy took the grinning head and set it +on the chimney-piece. "Dear old Jacky," +she said, "thou shalt come to our Thanksgiving +feast. 'T is no more than thy due +since thou hast saved us from the savages."</p> +<p> +"Nay, daughter," said her mother. "That +savoreth of idolatry. Give thy praise unto +God, who useth even things which are not +<a name="page161" id="page161"></a><span class="left">[page 161]</span> +to bring to naught the things that are. 'T is +but a pumpkin after all, and will make an +excellent feast for the pig on the morrow. +Daniel, go to the field and bring thy sister +a fresh one for the pies and then hasten +to thine own tasks. They wait for thee. +While thy father is away searching for Zeb, +thou must do his work as well as thine own."</p> +<p> +"Dost think, Mother, that he will surely +bring Zeb back in time for the feast?" asked +Nancy anxiously.</p> +<p> +"Let us pray, nothing doubting," answered +the mother. "If it be God's will, +they will return."</p> +<p> +There was a tremor in her voice even as +she spoke her brave words, for she knew +well the perils of their search. All day long +they worked, praying as they prepared the +feast that they might share it a united family. +Nancy made the pies, and Dan dressed +a fowl, while their mother got ready a pot +of beans, made brown-bread to bake in the +oven with the pies, and steamed an Indian +pudding. All day they watched the forest +<a name="page162" id="page162"></a><span class="left">[page 162]</span> +for sign of the returning men. All day they +listened for the sound of guns, but neither +sight nor sound rewarded their vigilance.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0152-340.png" width="340" height="459" alt="Nancy made the pies..." border="0" /></p> +<p> +Dusk came on. The Goodwife set a candle +in the window, and when her other tasks +were finished, went back to her spinning. +Not a moment was she idle, nor did she appear +to her children to be anxious, but as +she walked back and forth beside her wheel +Nancy heard her murmuring, "Because +<a name="page163" id="page163"></a><span class="left">[page 163]</span> +thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, +even the most High, thy habitation, +there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall +any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Over +and over she said it to herself, never slacking +her work meanwhile.</p> +<p> +The supper which Nancy prepared waited—one +hour—two—after Dan had fed the +cattle and brought in the milk, and still +there was no sign of the searching party.</p> +<p> +Suddenly Nimrod, from his place on the +hearth, gave a short sharp bark, and, leaping +to the window, stood with his paws on +the sill, peering out into the darkness and +whining. Dan was beside him in an instant. +"I see them," he cried joyfully, "a whole +parcel of them. They are just coming out +from behind the cow-shed."</p> +<p> +Nancy and her mother reached the window +almost at the same moment, and as the +shadowy figures emerged from behind the +cow-shed the mother counted them breathlessly, +"One—two—three—four—five—"</p> +<p> +"There 's Father!" shrieked Nancy.</p> +<a name="page164" id="page164"></a><span class="left">[page 164]</span> +<p> +"He 's carrying something. Oh, dost think +it is Zeb?"</p> +<p> +"Six—seven—eight—<i>nine! ten!</i> There +are ten men, when but eight set forth. +Praise God, they have all come back!" cried +the mother. Turning swiftly to the fireplace, +she snatched from it a brand of burning +pitch pine and, holding it high above her +head for a beacon, ran out to meet them, +with Dan, Nancy, and Nimrod all at her +heels. The torch-light shone on stern and +weary faces as the men drew near.</p> +<p> +"All 's well, wife," came the voice of the +Goodman.</p> +<p> +"Hast found the lad?" she called back +to him.</p> +<p> +"Nay—not yet," he answered, "but we +think we have his captors. Hold thy torch +nearer and have no fear. The savages cannot +hurt thee. Nancy, Daniel, have you +ever seen these faces before?"</p> +<p> +As he spoke he thrust forward two Indians +with their hands securely tied behind +them.</p> +<a name="page165" id="page165"></a><span class="left">[page 165]</span> +<p> +"Oh," shuddered Nancy, "I saw them +at the window," and Dan added, "Aye, 't was +this one that kicked Nimrod." Nimrod +confirmed his statement by growling fiercely +and snapping at the heels of the taller of the +two Indians.</p> +<p> +"Call off thy dog," said the Goodman +sternly, and though Dan felt it would be no +more than fair to allow Nimrod one good +bite, considering all he had suffered, he +obediently collared Nimrod and shut him +inside the kitchen. The faces of the Indians +were like stone masks as they stood helpless +before their captors with the light of +the flaming torch shining upon them.</p> +<p> +"Go in with thy family, Neighbor Pepperell," +said Stephen Day. "There are +enough of us and to spare to guard the +savages. Mayhap a night in the stocks will +cool their hot blood and help them to remember +what they have done with the slave +lad. If not, the judge will mete out to them +the punishment they deserve."</p> +<p> +"Right willingly will I leave them in +<a name="page166" id="page166"></a><span class="left">[page 166]</span> +your hands," answered the Goodman, "for +truly I am spent."</p> +<p> +Whether the Indians understood their +words, or not, they knew well the meaning +of pointed guns, for they marched off toward +the village without even a grunt of protest +when Stephen Day gave the word of command.</p> +<p> +The Goodman was so weary that his +wife and children forbore asking questions +until he was a little rested and refreshed. +He sank down upon the settle with Nimrod +beside him, and Dan removed his +muddy boots, and brought water for him +to wash in, while Nancy and her mother +hastened to put the long-delayed supper on +the table.</p> +<p> +"This puts new life into me," declared +the father when he had eaten a few spoonfuls +of hotchpot, "and now I 'll tell somewhat +of the day's work. There was no +general uprising among the Indians. At +least we saw no evidence of it. 'T is more +likely as I feared—they are the same Indians +<a name="page167" id="page167"></a><span class="left">[page 167]</span> +that followed us from Plymouth, +meaning to revenge themselves upon me +for wounding one of them when they set +upon us in the forest."</p> +<p> +"But how is it the lad was not with +them?" asked his wife.</p> +<p> +"That is a question which as yet hath +no answer," replied her husband. "It may +be they have killed him and hidden the +body."</p> +<p> +At this fearful thought Nancy shuddered +and covered her face with her hands.</p> +<p> +"It may be," went on the Goodman, +"that they passed him on to some one else +to avoid suspicion. At any rate he was not +with them, and we could find no trace. +Though the savages undoubtedly know +some English, they refuse to say a word, +and so his fate remains a mystery."</p> +<p> +"What further shall you do to find him?" +asked the Goodwife.</p> +<p> +"See if we cannot force the Indians to +confess, for the first thing," answered her +husband.</p> +<a name="page168" id="page168"></a><span class="left">[page 168]</span> +<p> +His wife sighed. "I fear no hope lieth in +that direction," she said. "Their faces were +like the granite of the hills."</p> +<p> +"What of the gun, Father?" asked Daniel. +"Didst thou find it?"</p> +<p> +"Nay," answered his father. "They had +it not, and that causes me to think they +have passed it as well as the boy on to +others of their tribe. There is naught to be +done now but wait until after Thanksgiving +Day."</p> +<p> +"'T will be but a sad holiday," said the +Goodwife. "Though he is but a blackamoor, +the lad hath found a place in my +heart, and I grieve that evil hath befallen +him."</p> +<p> +"When I saw thee come out from behind +the cow-shed I thought thou hadst a burden," +said Daniel. "I thought it was Zeb—wounded, +or mayhap dead."</p> +<p> +"Aye," answered the Goodman. "I did +carry a burden and had like to forgot it. I +dropped it by the door of the cow-shed. +Go thou and bring it in."</p> +<a name="page169" id="page169"></a><span class="left">[page 169]</span> +<p> +Dan ran out at once and returned a moment +later carrying a huge wild turkey by +the legs. His mother rose and felt its breastbone +with her fingers.</p> +<p> +"'T is fine and fat, and young withal," +she answered. "'T will make a brave addition +to our feast on the morrow, for, truth +to tell, our preparations have been but half-hearted +thus far. Our minds were taken up +with thy danger and fear for the lad."</p> +<p> +"Dwell rather on our deliverance," said +her husband. "The Lord hath not brought +us into this wilderness to perish. Let us not +murmur, as did the Children of Israel. The +Lord still guides us."</p> +<p> +"Aye, and by a pillar of fire, too," said +Nancy, remembering the straw-stack.</p> +<p> +"And instead of manna he hath sent +this turkey," added Dan.</p> +<p> +Supper was now over, and after it was +cleared away, and they had had prayers, the +mother sent the rest of the family to bed, +while she busied herself with final preparations +for the next day. She plucked and +<a name="page170" id="page170"></a><span class="left">[page 170]</span> +stuffed the great turkey, first cutting off the +long wing-feathers for hearth-brooms, and +set it away on the shelf in the secret closet +along with Nancy's array of pies. It was +late when at last she lit her candle, covered +the ashes, and climbed wearily to bed.</p> +<p> +The wind changed in the night and when +they looked out next morning the air was +full of great white snow-flakes, and the +blackened ruins of the straw-stack were +neatly covered with a mantle of white.</p> +<p> +The family was up betimes, and as they +ate their good breakfast of sausages, johnny-cake, +and maple syrup, they sent many a +thought toward poor Zeb, wandering in the +forest or perhaps lying dead in its depths.</p> +<p> +It was a solemn little party that later left +the cabin in the care of Nimrod and started +across the glistening fields to attend the +Thanksgiving service in the meeting-house. +They were made more solemn still by the +sight of the two Indians sitting with hands +and feet firmly fixed in the stocks, apparently +as indifferent to the falling snow as though +<a name="page171" id="page171"></a><span class="left">[page 171]</span> +they were images of stone. The first snowfall, +usually such a joy to Nancy and Daniel, +now only seemed to make them more +miserable, and they were glad to see the +sun when they came out of the meeting-house +after the sermon and turned their +steps toward home. At least Zeb would not +perish of cold if it continued to shine. They +were just beginning to climb the home hill, +when they were surprised to see Nimrod +come bounding to meet them, barking a +welcome.</p> +<p> +"How in the world did that dog get out?" +said the Goodwife wonderingly. "I shut +him in the kitchen the last thing before we +left the house."</p> +<p> +Leaving their father and mother to follow +at a slower pace, Nancy and Dan tore up +the hill and threw open the kitchen door. +There, comfortably dozing on the settle by +the fire, sat the Captain! At his feet lay +Zeb—also sound asleep with the wreckage +of several blackened eggs strewn round him +on the hearth-stone! The Captain woke +<a name="page172" id="page172"></a><span class="left">[page 172]</span> +with a start as the children burst into the +room and for an instant stood staring in +amazement and delight at the scene before +them. Zeb, utterly worn out, slept on, and +the Captain, as usual, was the first to find +his tongue.</p> +<p> +"Well, well," he shouted, rubbing his +nose to a bright red to wake himself up, +"here ye be! And mighty lucky, too, for +I 'm hungry enough to eat a bear alive. If +I could have found out where ye hide your +supplies, I might have busted 'em open to +save myself and this poor lad from starvation. +He appeared nigh as hungry as I be, +but he knew better how to help himself. He +found these eggs cooked out there in the +ashes of the straw-stack, and all but et +'em shells and all. Never even offered me +a bite! Don't ye ever feed him?"</p> +<p> +Before the children could get in a word +edgewise their father and mother, followed +by Nimrod, came in, and, what with the +dog barking, the children screaming explanations +to the Captain, and their own +<a name="page173" id="page173"></a><span class="left">[page 173]</span> +astonished exclamations, there was such a +babel of noise that at last Zeb woke up, too, +and stared about him like one dazed. Nimrod +jumped on him and licked his face, and +Zeb put his arms around the dog as if glad +to find so cordial a welcome. The Captain +stared from one face to another, quite unable +to make head or tail of the situation.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0163-400.png" width="400" height="309" alt="'Settin' on the hearth-stone eatin' them eggs'..." border="0" /></p> +<p> +"Well, by jolly!" he shouted at last, +"what ails ye all? Ye act like a parcel of +lunatics!"</p> +<p> +The Goodman commanded silence, and +briefly told the whole story to the Captain.</p> +<a name="page174" id="page174"></a><span class="left">[page 174]</span> +<p> +"Where did you find the lad?" he asked, +when he had finished.</p> +<p> +"He was here when I came," said the +Captain. "Settin' on the hearth-stone eatin' +them eggs as if he had n't seen food fer a +se'nnight and never expected to see any +again. The dog busted out of the house +when I came in, and as I could n't get any +word out of the lad, I just set down by the +fire and took forty winks. It was too late +for meeting, and besides I reckoned I could +sleep better here." He finished with his +jolly laugh.</p> +<p> +Zeb, meanwhile, sat hugging the dog and +rolling his eyes from one face to another +as if in utter bewilderment. Perhaps he wondered +if the Captain meant to capture him, +too, for life must have seemed to the poor +black boy just a series of efforts to escape +being carried off to some place where he +did not wish to go, by people whom he had +never seen before. The Goodman at last +sat down before Zeb on the settle and tried +to get from him some account of what +<a name="page175" id="page175"></a><span class="left">[page 175]</span> +had happened in the forest. But Zeb was +totally unable to tell his story. His few +words of English were inadequate to the +recital of the terrors of the past twenty-four +hours.</p> +<p> +"Let the lad be," said the Goodwife at +last. "He 's safe, praise God, and we shall +just have to wait to find out how he managed +to escape from the savages and make +his way back here." She went to the secret +closet and brought out a huge piece of pumpkin +pie. Zeb's eyes gleamed as he seized it. +"He must n't eat too much at once," said +she. "As nearly as I can make out by the +shells, he 's had six eggs already. That will +do for a time. Dan, build a fire in the fireplace +in the old kitchen. There 's warm +water in the kettle, and do thou see that +Zeb takes a bath. He is crusted with mud. +He must have wallowed in it. Nancy and +I will get dinner the while."</p> +<p> +Dan beckoned to Zeb, and the two boys +disappeared. Zeb had never bathed before +except in the ocean, and the new process +<a name="page176" id="page176"></a><span class="left">[page 176]</span> +did not please him. "I believe he wished +he 'd stayed with the Indians," said Dan +when he appeared an hour later followed +by a well-polished but somewhat embittered +Zeb. "I 've just about taken his skin off +and I 'm all worn out. Oh, Mother, is n't +dinner almost ready?"</p> +<p> +"Almost," said his mother, as she opened +the oven door to take a peep at the turkey, +which had been cooking since early morning. +"It only needs browning before the +fire while I make the gravy."</p> +<p> +The table was already spread, and Nancy +was at that very moment giving an extra +polish to the tankard before placing it beside +the Captain's trencher. The spiced +drink to fill it was already mulling beside +the fire with a huge kettle of vegetables +steaming beside it. The closet door was +open, giving a tantalizing glimpse of glories +to come.</p> +<p> +"So there 's where ye keep 'em," observed +the Captain, regarding the pies with +open admiration. "'T is a sight to make a +<a name="page177" id="page177"></a><span class="left">[page 177]</span> +man thankful for the room in his hold. By +jolly, it 'll take careful loading to stow this +dinner away proper!"</p> +<p> +He called Nancy to his side and opened +the bulging leather pocket which hung from +his belt. "Feel in there," he said. "I brought +along something to fill in the chinks."</p> +<p> +Nancy thrust in her hand, and brought +it out filled with raisins. "I got 'em off a +ship just in from the Indies," explained the +Captain. Raisins were a great luxury in the +wilderness, and the delighted Nancy hastened +to find a dish and to place them beside +the pies.</p> +<p> +"All ready," said the mother at last. +"Come to dinner."</p> +<p> +There was no need of a second invitation, +and the response to the summons +looked like a stampede. The Goodman and +his wife took their places at the head of the +table with the Captain on one side and the +children on the other, and because it was +Thanksgiving, and because he had had such +a hard day and night, and most of all because +<a name="page178" id="page178"></a><span class="left">[page 178]</span> +he was so clean, Zeb was allowed a +place at the foot of the board.</p> +<p> +The Goodman asked a blessing and then +heaped the trenchers high with what he +called the bounty of the Lord. There was +only one cloud on Dan's sunshine during +the meal. On account of Zeb, who when in +doubt still faithfully imitated him, he was +obliged to be an example all through the +dinner. Even with such a model to copy, +Zeb had great trouble with his spoon and +showed a regrettable tendency to feed himself +with both hands at once.</p> +<p> +The turkey was a wonder of tenderness, +the vegetables done to a turn, the Indian +pudding much better than its name, and as +for the pies, the Captain declared they were +"fit to be et by the angels and most too +good for a sinner like him."</p> +<p> +Beside each plate the Goodwife had placed +a few kernels of corn, and at the end of the +feast, when the Goodman rose to return +thanks, he took them in his hand.</p> +<p> +"In the midst of plenty," he said to his +<a name="page179" id="page179"></a><span class="left">[page 179]</span> +children, "let us not forget the struggles of +the past and what we owe to the pioneers +who first adventured into this wilderness +and made a path for those of us who have +followed them. Though they nearly perished +of hunger and cold in the beginning, they +failed not in faith. When they had but a +few kernels of corn to eat, they still gave +thanks, choosing like Daniel to live on pulse +with a good conscience rather than to eat +from a king's table. As the Lord prospered +Daniel, so hath he prospered us."</p> +<p> +Then they all stood with folded hands +and bent heads, while he gave thanks for +the abundant harvest and prayed that they +might be guided to use every blessing to +the honor and glory of God. And the Captain +said, "Amen."</p> +<a name="page180" id="page180"></a><span class="left">[page 180]</span> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/0170-300.png" width="300" height="457" alt="Nancy and Daniel." border="0" /></p> + + +<br /><br /> +<hr /><br /><br /> + +<a name="page181" id="page181"></a><span class="left">[page 181]</span> +<a name="teachers" id="teachers"></a> + + +<h3>SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS</h3> + + +<p class="note"> +<span class="smcaps">The Puritan Twins</span> will admirably supplement the +study of American history and geography in grades 6 and +7. The nation-wide revival of interest in all that concerns +the Pilgrim Fathers, begun at the time of the Tercentenary +in 1920, will continue for many years.</p> +<p class="note"> +Whether children are able to trace their ancestry back +to the little band that crossed the Atlantic in the Mayflower, +or whether they trace it to voyagers of a less +remote period—and the other volumes in the Twins +Series are closely linked with many of these later ones—their +interest in the days of the forefathers of our country +should be the same; for these early settlers gave to America +the spirit of liberty, a respect for law and organized +government, and a standard of clean living and right +thinking which it is our duty to preserve and to pass on +to coming generations.</p> +<p class="note"> +The best suggestions to teachers consist of brief and +helpful references to authoritative books that will give +an accurate picture of the early days of our country in the +making and of the Pilgrim country as it is to-day. Properly +presented to pupils, the material gleaned from these +books will help them to form a more definite idea of what +every American should do to preserve intact the national +peace and prosperity which is their heritage.</p> +<p class="note"> +In the following list, titles marked with an asterisk +contain material which can be understandingly read by +the pupils themselves. It will be better to have the +teacher read to the class from the others.</p> +<br /><br /> + +<h4>READINGS IN AMERICAN HISTORY AND +GOVERNMENT</h4> +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Tappan's</span> <i>Elementary History of Our Country</i>, Chapters 4 to 9 +inclusive. +These deal with the whole period of colonization.</p> +<a name="page182" id="page182"></a><span class="left">[page 182]</span> +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">Thwaites and Kendall's</span> <i>History of the United States for Schools</i>. +Chapters 3 to 9 inclusive. This is a more advanced book which +amplifies the story. There are valuable suggestions for reading +in standard literature.</p> +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">Guitteau's</span> <i>Preparing for Citizenship</i>. Chapter 19 is of great +inspirational +value.</p> +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Webster's</span> <i>Americanization and Citizenship</i>. The following paragraphs +set forth American ideals in their origin and development: +44, 52, 53, 54, 55, 63, 73, 117-121.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Tappan's</span> <i>Our European Ancestors</i>. Chapters 16-20 inclusive. +These describe the European rivalries which influenced the +colonization of America.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Tappan's</span> <i>Little Book of Our Flag</i>. Particularly chapters 1 and 2 +respectively, "The Flags that Brought the Colonists," and "The +Pine Tree Flag and Others."</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">Griffis's</span> <i>Young People's History of the Pilgrims</i>. The conditions +which led to the sailing of the Pilgrims are clearly sketched and +emphasis is laid on the viewpoint of the Pilgrim boys and girls.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Griffis's</span> <i>The Pilgrims in Their Three Homes: England, Holland, and +America</i>. The life of the Pilgrims in church and school, at work +and play, including their flight and refuge, is fully described.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Tappan's</span> <i>American Hero Stories</i>. Five stories center around the +colonists, of whom, of course, Miles Standish is one.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Tappan's</span> <i>Letters from Colonial Children</i>. These letters give an idea +of life in representative American colonies seen through a child's +eyes. They present a vivid and historically accurate picture of +the times.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Hawthorne's</span> <i>Grandfather's Chair</i>. These stories have never grown +old or tiresome to children—and probably never will. No +stories ever gave a better introduction to our history from the +settlement of New England to the War for Independence.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Deming and Bemis's</span> <i>Stories of Patriotism</i>. A series of stirring +tales +of patriotic deeds by Americans from the time of the Colonists +to the present.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Bemis's </span><i>The Patriotic Reader</i>. The selections cover the history of +our country from the discovery of America to our entrance into +the Great War. They give one a familiarity with literature—new +and old—that presents the highest ideals of freedom and +justice.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Longfellow's</span> <i>Courtship of Miles Standish</i>. A well annotated edition +is published in the Riverside Literature Series.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">Jane G. Austin's</span> <i>The Old Colony Stories</i>. These novels, dealing with +the early settlers of Plymouth, have taken their place among the +American classics, and their combination of romantic interest, +real literary quality, and historical accuracy has won for them +wide popularity. The titles alone bring before the mind a vision +of the most famous colonists: <i>Betty Alden</i>, <i>A Nameless +Nobleman</i>, +<i>Standish of Standish</i>, <i>Dr. LeBaron and his Daughters</i>, <i>David +Alden's Daughter and Other Stories</i>.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">Fiske's</span> <i>The Beginnings of New England</i>. This is one of the most +readable of the authoritative histories.</p> +<a name="page183" id="page183"></a><span class="left">[page 183]</span> +<br /><br /> + +<h4>READINGS IN GEOGRAPHY</h4> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">Edwards's</span> <i>The Old Coast Road</i>. The South Shore road from Boston +to Plymouth is one of the most historic roads in the country. +Starting from Boston, Miss Edwards guides her readers through +Dorchester Heights, Milton and the Blue Hills, Quincy with its +Shipbuilding, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, the Scituate +Shore, Marshfield, the Home of Daniel Webster, Duxbury and +Kingston. She concludes with an informing chapter on Plymouth.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">Edwards's</span> <i>Cape Cod, New and Old</i>. Delightful essays on the +Cape—brief, +entertaining, and containing precisely those facts which +every reader wants to know.</p> +<br /><br /> + +<h4>DRAMATIZATIONS</h4> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Longfellow's</span> <i>Courtship of Miles Standish</i>. Dramatized. This is +equipped with suggestions for stage settings, properties and +costumes.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">*Austin's</span> <i>Standish of Standish</i>. Dramatized. Historically true +portrayals +of character and atmosphere. There are suggestions +for costumes and other details of acting.</p> + +<p class="note1"> +<span class="outdent1">Baker's</span> <i>The Pilgrim Spirit</i>. This book contains the words spoken by +the characters in the various episodes comprising the Pageant +presented at Plymouth, Massachusetts, during the summer of +1921. It re-creates in masterly fashion the atmosphere of old +colony times.</p> +<br /><br /> + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Puritan Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURITAN TWINS *** + +***** This file should be named 16644-h.htm or 16644-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16644/ + +Produced by Alicia Williams, Lesley Halamek and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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+++ b/16644.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3242 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Puritan Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Puritan Twins + +Author: Lucy Fitch Perkins + +Release Date: September 4, 2005 [EBook #16644] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURITAN TWINS *** + + + + +Produced by Alicia Williams, Lesley Halamek and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE PURITAN TWINS + + By Lucy Fitch Perkins + + ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR + + + + + [Illustration] + + + + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO + + The Riverside Press Cambridge + + By Lucy Fitch Perkins + + * * * * * + +_Geographical Series_ + + THE DUTCH TWINS PRIMER. _Grade I._ + THE DUTCH TWINS. _Grade III._ + THE ESKIMO TWINS. _Grade II._ + THE FILIPINO TWINS. _Grade IV._ + THE JAPANESE TWINS. _Grade IV._ + THE SWISS TWINS. _Grade IV._ + THE IRISH TWINS. _Grade V._ + THE ITALIAN TWINS. _Grades V and VI._ + THE SCOTCH TWINS. _Grades V and VI._ + THE MEXICAN TWINS. _Grade VI._ + THE BELGIAN TWINS. _Grade VI._ + THE FRENCH TWINS. _Grade VII._ + + +_Historical Series_ + + THE CAVE TWINS. _Grade IV._ + THE SPARTAN TWINS. _Grades V-VI._ + THE PURITAN TWINS. _Grades VI-VII._ + + * * * * * + +_Each volume is illustrated by the author_ + + * * * * * + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS + +PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. + +[Illustration] + +CONTENTS + + I. THE PEPPERELLS AND THE CAPTAIN 3 + + II. TWO DAYS 39 + + III. ON BOARD THE LUCY ANN 63 + + IV. A FOREST TRAIL 87 + + V. THE NEW HOME 113 + + VI. HARVEST HOME 157 + + SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 181 + +[Illustration: map] + + + + +I + +THE PEPPERELLS AND THE CAPTAIN + + +One bright warm noonday in May of the year 1638, Goodwife Pepperell +opened the door of her little log cabin, and, screening her eyes from +the sun with a toilworn hand, looked about in every direction, as +if searching for some one. She was a tall, spare woman, with a firm +mouth, keen blue eyes, and a look of patient endurance in her face, +bred by the stern life of pioneer New England. Far away across the +pasture which sloped southward from the cabin she could see long +meadow grass waving in the breeze, and beyond a thread of blue water +where the Charles River flowed lazily to the sea. Westward there was +also pasture land where sheep were grazing, and in the distance a +glimpse of the thatched roofs of the little village of Cambridge. + +Goodwife Pepperell gazed long and earnestly in this direction, and +then, making a trumpet of her hands, sent a call ringing across the +silent fields. "Nancy! Daniel!" she shouted. + +She was answered only by the tinkle of sheep bells. A shade of anxiety +clouded the blue eyes as she went round to the back of the cabin and +looked toward the dense forest which bounded her vision on the north. +Stout-hearted though she was, Goodwife Pepperell could never forget +the terrors which lay concealed behind that mysterious rampart of +green. Not only were there wolves and deer and many other wild +creatures hidden in its depths, but it sheltered also the perpetual +menace of the Indians. Toward the east, at some distance from the +cabin, corn-fields stretched to salt meadows, and beyond, across the +bay, she could see the three hills of Boston town.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See map.] + +As no answering shout greeted her from this direction either, the +Goodwife stepped quickly toward a hollow stump which stood a short +distance from the cabin. Beside the stump a slender birch tree bent +beneath the weight of a large circular piece of wood hung to its top +by a leather thong. This was the samp-mill, where their corn was +pounded into meal. Seizing the birch tree with her hands, she brought +the wooden pestle down into the hollow stump with a resounding thump. +The birch tree sprang back lifting the block with it and again she +pulled it down and struck the stump another blow, then paused to +listen. This time there was, beside the echo, an answering shout, and +in a few moments two heads appeared above the rows of young corn just +peeping out of the ground, two pairs of lively bare feet came flying +across the garden patch, and a breathless boy and girl stood beside +their mother. + +They were a sturdy pair of twelve-year-olds, the boy an inch or more +taller than his sister, and both with the blue eyes, fair skin, and +rosy cheeks which proclaimed their English blood. There was a gleam of +pride in Goodwife Pepperell's eye as she looked a her children, but +not for the world would she have let them see it; much less would she +have owned it to herself, for she was a Puritan mother, and regarded +pride of any kind as altogether sinful. "Where have you been all the +morning?" she said. "You were nowhere to be seen and the corn is not +yet high enough to hide you." + +"I was hoeing beyond that clump of bushes," said Daniel, pointing to +a group of high blueberries that had been allowed to remain in the +cleared field. + +"And I was keeping away the crows," said Nancy, holding out her wooden +clappers. "Only I fell asleep. It was so warm I just could n't help +it." + +"So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an +armed man," quoted the mother sternly. "Night is the time for sleep. +Go now and eat the porridge I have set for you in your little +porringers, and then go down to the bay with this basket and fill it +with clams. Put a layer of seaweed in the basket first and pack the +clams in that. They will keep alive for some time if you bed them so, +and be sure to bring back the shovel." + +This was a task that suited the Twins much better than either hoeing +corn or scaring crows, and they ran into the house at once, ate their +porridge with more haste than good manners, and dashed joyfully away +across the fields toward the river-mouth, a mile away. They followed a +path across the wide stretch of pasture, where wild blackberry vines +and tall blueberry bushes grew, then through a strip of meadow land, +and at last ran out on the bare stretch of sand and weed left by the +ebb tide toward the narrow channel cut by the clear water of the +Charles. + +Here they set down the basket and began looking about for the little +holes which betray the hiding-places of clams. + +[Illustration] + +"Oh, look, Dan," cried Nancy, stopping to admire the long line of +foot-prints which they had left behind them. "Dost see what a pretty +border we have made? 'T is just like a pattern." She walked along the +edge of the stream with her toes turned well out, leaving a track in +the sand like this: + +[Illustration] + +Then the delightful flat surface tempted her to further exploits. She +picked up a splinter of driftwood and, making a wide flourish, began +to draw a picture. "See," she called rapturously to Dan, "this is +going to be a pig! Here 's his nose, and here 's his curly tail, and +here are his little fat legs." She clapped her hands with admiration. +"Now I shall do something else," she announced as she finished the pig +with a round red pebble stuck in for the eye. "Let me see. What shall +I draw? Oh, I know! A picture of Gran'ther Wattles! Look, Dan." She +made a careful stroke. "Here 's his nose, and here 's his chin. They are +monstrous near together because he has nothing but gums between! And +here 's his long tithing-stick with the squirrel-tail on the end!" + +[Illustration] + +"It doth bear a likeness to him!" admitted Dan, laughing in spite of +himself, "but, sister, thou shouldst not mock him. He is an old man, +and we should pay respect to gray hairs. Father says so." + +"Truly I have as much of respect as he hath of hair," answered naughty +Nancy. "His poll is nearly as bald as an egg." + +"I know the cause of thy displeasure," declared Dan. "Gran'ther +Wattles poked thee for bouncing about during the sermon last Sunday. +But it is unseemly to bounce in the meeting-house, and besides, is he +not the tithing-man? 'T is his duty to see that people behave as they +should." + +"He would mayhap have bounced himself if a bee had been buzzing about +his nose as it did about mine," said Nancy, and, giving a vicious +dab at the pictured features, she drew a bee perched on the end of +Gran'ther Wattles's nose. "Here now are all the gray hairs he hath," +she added, making three little scratches above the ear. + +"Nancy Pepperell!" cried her brother, aghast, "dost thou not remember +what happened to the forty and two children that said 'Go up, thou +bald head' to Elijah? It would be no marvel if bears were to come out +of the woods this moment to eat thee up!" + +[Illustration] + +"'T was n't Elijah, 't was Elisha," Nancy retorted with spirit, "but it +matters little whether 't was one or t' other, for I don't believe two +bears could possibly hold so much, and besides dost thou not think it +a deal worse to cause a bear to eat up forty and two children than to +say 'Go up, thou bald head'?" + +"Nancy!" exclaimed her horrified brother, glancing fearfully toward +the forest and clapping his hand on her mouth to prevent further +impiety, "thou art a wicked, wicked girl! Dost thou not know that the +eye of the Lord is in every place? Without doubt his ear is too, and +He can hear every word thy saucy tongue sayeth. Come, let us rub out +this naughty picture quickly, and mayhap God will take no notice this +time." He ran across Gran'ther Wattles's portrait from brow to chin, +covering it with foot-prints. "Besides," he went on as he trotted back +and forth, "thou hast broken a commandment! Thou hast made a likeness +of something that 's in the earth, and that 's Gran'ther Wattles! Nancy, +thou dost take fearful chances with thy soul." + +Nancy began to look a little anxious as she considered her conduct. +"At any rate," she said defensively, "it is n't a graven image, and I +have neither bowed down to it nor served it! I do try to be good, Dan, +but it seemeth that the devil is ever at my elbow." + +[Illustration] + +"'T is because thou art idle," said Dan, shaking his head as gravely +as Gran'ther Wattles himself. "Busy thyself with the clams, and Satan +will have less chance at thy idle hands, and thy idle tongue too." + +Nancy obediently took hold of the basket which Dan thrust into her +hands, and together they walked for some distance over the sandy +stretches. Suddenly a tiny stream of water spouted up beside Dan's +feet. "Here they be!" he shouted, plunging his shovel into the sand, +"and what big ones!" Nancy surveyed the clams with disfavor. They were +thrusting pale thick muscles out between the lobes of their shells. +"They look as if they were sticking out their tongues at us," said +Nancy as she picked one up gingerly and dropped it into the basket. +"But, Dan, Mother said we were to bed them in seaweed!" + +"I see none here," said Dan, leaning on his shovel and looking about +him. "The tide hath swept everything as clean as a floor." + +"I 'll seek for some while thou art busy with the digging," said Nancy, +glad to escape the duty of picking up the clams, and off she trotted +without another word. The flats, seamed and grooved with channels +where pools of water still lingered, sloped gently down to the lower +level of the bay, and farther out a range of rocks lifted themselves +above the sandy waste. + +[Illustration] + +"I 'll surely find seaweed on the rocks," thought Nancy to herself as +she sped along, and in a few moments she had reached them, had tossed +up the basket, and was climbing their rugged sides. + +"There 's a mort o' seaweed here," she said, nodding her head wisely as +she picked up a long string of kelp; "I can fill my basket in no time +at all." There was no need for haste, she thought, so she sat down +beside a pool of water left in a hollow of the rocks, to explore its +contents. The first thing she found was a group of tiny barnacles, and +for a while she amused herself by washing salt water over them to see +them open their tiny cups of shell. In the pool itself a beautiful +lavender-colored jelly-fish was floating about, and just beyond lay a +star-fish clinging to a bunch of seaweed. She found other treasures +scattered about by the largess of the tide--tiny spiral shells, stones +of all colors, and a horseshoe crab, besides seaweed with pretty +little pods which popped delightfully when she squeezed them with her +fingers. Then she heard the cries of gulls overhead and watched them +as they wheeled and circled between her and the sky. When they flew +out to sea she sat with her hands clasping her knees and gazed across +the bay at the three hills of Boston town. She could see quite plainly +the tall beacon standing like a ship's mast on top of Beacon Hill, and +farther north she strained her eyes to pick out Governor Winthrop's +dwelling from the cluster of houses which straggled up the slope of +Copp's Hill and which made all there was of the city of Boston in that +early day. + +[Illustration] + +For some time she sat there hugging her knees and thinking long, long +thoughts, and it was not until the sound of little waves lapping +against the rocks roused her that she woke from her day dream and +realized with terror that the tide had turned. The channels and lower +levels of the bay were already brimming over, and the water was deep +about the rocks on which she perched. At almost the same moment Dan +had been surprised by a cold wave which washed over his bare feet, +and, turning about, was dismayed to find a sheet of blue water +covering the bay and to see Nancy standing on the topmost rock +shouting "Dan! Dan!" at the top of her lungs. For one astonished +instant he looked at her, then, throwing down his shovel, he plunged +unhesitatingly into the icy bath. And now Nancy, realizing that there +was not a moment to lose if she hoped to reach the shore in safety, +let herself slowly down off the rocks, leaving the basket behind her, +and started toward her brother. + +The water was already so deep in the channels that their progress +toward each other was slow, but they ploughed bravely on, feeling the +bottom carefully at each step lest they sink in some sand-pocket or +hollow washed out by the tide. Some distance away toward Charlestown +a fishing schooner rocked on the deeper water of the bay, and a +fisherman in a small boat, attracted by the shouting, looked up, and, +seeing the two struggling figures, instantly bent to his oars and +started toward them. Though he rowed rapidly, it was some minutes +before he could reach the children, who were now floundering about in +water nearly up to their necks. + +[Illustration] + +"Hold fast to my shoulder, Nancy," he heard Dan cry. "I can float, and +I can swim a little. Keep thy nose above water and let thy feet go +where they will." Nancy, spluttering and gurgling, was trying hard to +follow Dan's directions, when the boat shot alongside, and a cheery +voice cried, "Ahoy, there! Come aboard, you young porpoises!" + +To the children it was like a voice straight from heaven. Dan +immediately helped Nancy to get into the boat, and then she balanced +it while he climbed aboard. + +When they were safely bestowed among the lobster-pots with which the +boat was laden, the man leaned on his oars and eyed them critically. +"Short of sense, ain't ye?" he remarked genially. "Nigh about drownded +that time or I 'm no skipper! If ye ain't bent on destruction ye 'd +better get into dry clothes. Ye 're as wet as a mess of drownded +kittens. Tell me where you live and I 'll take you home." + +He flung a tarpaulin over the shivering figures and tucked it around +them as he scolded. "'T is all my fault," sobbed poor Nancy. "Dan came +in just to get me out." + +"Very commendable of him, I 'm sure," said the stranger, nodding +approvingly at Dan, "and just what he 'd ought to do, and doubtless +you 're worth saving at that, though a hen-headeder young miss I never +see in all my days!" + +"She went to find seaweed to bed the clams," explained Dan, coming to +his sister's defense, "and the tide caught her. Thou art kind indeed +to pick us up, sir." + +"Oh," groaned remorseful Nancy, her teeth chattering, "it 's all +because I 'm such a sinner! I made a likeness of Gran'ther Wattles in +the sand and said dreadful things about the prophet Elijah, or mayhap +'t was Elisha, and Dan said a bear might come to eat me up just like +the forty and two children, and instead of a bear we both were almost +swallowed by the tide!" + +"Well, now," said the stranger, comfortingly, "ye see instead of +sending bears the Lord sent me along to fish ye out, just the same as +He sent the whale to swallow Jonah when he was acting contrary! Looks +like He meant to let ye off with a scare this time. Come now, my lass, +there 's salt water enough aboard and if ye cry into the boat, ye 'll +have to bail her out. Besides," he added whimsically, looking up at +the sky, "there 's another squall coming on, and two at a time is too +many for any sailor. If I 'm to cast you up on the shore same as the +whale, ye 'll have to tell me which way to go, and who ye are." + +"Our father is Josiah Pepperell," answered Dan, "and our house is +almost a mile back from shore near Cambridge." + +"So you 're Josiah Pepperell's children! To be sure, to be sure! Might +have known it. Ye do favor him some," said the fisherman. "Well! well! +The ways of the Lord are surely past finding out! Why, I knew your +father way back in England. He came over here for religion and I came +for fish. Not that I ain't a God-fearing man," he added hastily, +noticing a look of horror on Nancy's face, "but I ain't so pious +as some. I 'm a seafaring man, Captain Sanders of the Lucy Ann, +Marblehead. Ye can see her riding at anchor out there in the bay. I +have n't set eyes on your father since he left Boston and settled in +the back woods up yonder." + +He sent the boat flying through the water with swift, sure strokes +as he talked, and brought it ashore at the first landing-place +they found. Here they drew it up on the bank and, taking out the +lobster-pots, turned it upside down so the rain would not fill it. Two +great green lobsters with goblin-like eyes were hidden away under the +pots, and when the boat was overturned they tumbled out and started at +a lively pace for the water. + +"Hi, there!" shouted the Captain, seizing them by their tails, "where +are your manners? By jolly, I like to forgot ye! Come along now and +take supper with the Pepperells. I invite ye! They 're short of clams +and they 'll be pleased to see ye, or I miss my reckoning." There were +pegs stuck in the scissor-like claws, so the creatures were harmless, +and, swinging along with one kicking vigorously in each hand, the +Captain plunged into the long meadow grass, the children following +close at his heels. + +The clouds grew darker and darker; there was a rumble of thunder, +and streaks of lightning tore great rents in the sky as they hurried +across the open meadow and struck into the pasture land beyond. + +"Head into the wind there and keep going," shouted the Captain as the +children struggled along, impeded by their wet clothing. "It 's from +the north, and we 're pointed straight into it." + +Past bushes waving distractedly in the wind, under the boughs of young +oak trees, over stones and through briars they sped, and at last they +came in sight of the cabin just as the storm broke. Goodwife Pepperell +was standing in the door gazing anxiously toward the river, when they +dashed out of the bushes and, scudding past her, stood dripping on +the hearth-stone. Her husband was just hanging his gun over the +chimney-piece, and the noise of their entrance was drowned out by a +clap of thunder; so when he turned about and saw the three drenched +figures it was no wonder that for an instant he was too surprised to +speak. + +"Well, of all things!" he said at last, holding out his hand to +Captain Sanders. "What in God's providence brings thee here, Thomas? +Thou art welcome indeed. 'T is a long time since I have seen thee." + +"God's providence ye may call it," answered the Captain, shaking the +Goodman's hand as if he were pumping out the hold of a sinking ship, +"and I 'll not gainsay it. The truth is I overhauled these small craft +floundering around in the tide-wash with water over their scuppers 'n' +all but wrecked, so I took 'em in tow and brought 'em ashore!" + +Their mother, meanwhile, had not waited for explanations. Seeing how +chilled they were, she had hurried the children to the loft above +the one room of the cabin and was already giving them a rub-down and +getting out dry clean clothes while they told her their adventure. + +"Thank God you are safe," she said, clasping them both in her arms, +when the tale was told. + +"Thank Captain Sanders as well, Mother," said Daniel. "Had it not been +for him, I doubt if we could have reached the shore." + +"Let this be a lesson to you, then," said the Goodwife, loosening her +clasp and picking up the wet clothing. "You know well about the tide! +Nancy, child, why art thou so wild and reckless? Thou art the cause of +much anxiety." + +At her mother's reproof, gentle though it was, poor Nancy flopped over +on her stomach, and, burying her face in her hands, gave way to tears. + +"It 's all because I am so wicked," she moaned. "My sins are as +scarlet! Oh, Mother, dost think God will cause the lightning to strike +us dead to punish me?" She shuddered with fear as a flash shone +through the chinks of the logs and for an instant lighted the dim +loft. + +Her mother put down the wet clothes and, lifting her little daughter +tenderly in her arms, laid her on her bed. "God maketh the rain to +fall on both the just and the unjust," she said soothingly. "Rest here +while I go down and get supper." + +She covered her warmly with a homespun blanket, and, accompanied by +Dan, made her way down the ladder. She found her husband putting fresh +logs on the fire and stirring the coals to a blaze, while the Captain +hung his coat on the corner of the mantel-shelf to dry. She went up to +him and held out her hand. "Captain Sanders," she said, "but for thee +this might be a desolate household indeed this night." + +The Captain's red face turned a deeper shade, and he fidgeted with +embarrassment, as he took her hand in his great red paw, then dropped +it suddenly as if it were hot. "Oh, stow it, ma'am, stow it," he +begged. "That is, I mean to say--why, by jolly, ma'am, a pirate could +do no less when he see a fine bit of cargo like that going to the +bottom!" + +To the Captain's great relief the lobsters at this moment created a +diversion. He had dropped them on the hearth when he came in, and they +were now clattering briskly about the room, butting into anything that +came in their way in an effort to escape. He made a sudden dash after +them and held them out toward Goodwife Pepperell. + +"Here they be, ma'am," he said. "I 'd saved them for my supper, and I +'d take it kindly if ye 'd cook them for me, and help eat them, too. +It 's raining cats and dogs, and if I was to start out now, I 'd have a +hard time finding the Lucy Ann. Ye can't see a rod ahead of ye in such +a downpour." + +"We shall be glad to have thee stay as long as thou wilt," said the +Goodwife heartily. "Put the lobsters in this while I set the kettle to +boil." She held out a wooden puncheon as she spoke, and the Captain +dropped them in. Then he sat down with Goodman Pepperell on the settle +beside the fireplace, and the two men talked of their boyhood in +England, while she hung the kettle on the crane over the fire and +began to prepare the evening meal. + +"Daniel, sit thee down by the fire and get a good bed of coals ready +while I mix the johnny-cake," she said as she stepped briskly about +the room, and Daniel, nothing loath, drew a stool to the Captain's +side and fed the fire with chips and corn-cobs while he listened with +all his ears to the talk of the two men. + +[Illustration] + +"Well, Thomas, how hast thou prospered since I saw thee last?" asked +Goodman Pepperell. + +"Tolerable, tolerable, Josiah," answered the Captain. "I 've been +mining for sea gold." Daniel wondered what in the world sea gold +might be. "Ye see," he went on, turning to include Daniel in the +conversation, "my father was a sea captain before me, and my gran'ther +too. Why, my gran'ther helped send the Spanish Armada to the bottom +where it belonged. Many and many 's the time I 've heard him tell +about it, and I judge from what he said he must have done most of the +job himself, though I reckon old Cap'n Drake may have helped some." +(Here the Captain chuckled.) "He never came back from his last +voyage,--overhauled by pirates more 'n likely. That was twenty years +ago, and I 've been following the sea myself ever since. I was wrecked +off the Spanish Main on my first voyage, and I 've run afoul of +pirates and come near walking the plank more times than one, I 'm +telling ye, but somehow I always had the luck to get away! And here I +be, safe and sound." + +At this point the lobsters made a commotion in the wooden puncheon, +and the Captain turned his attention to them. "Jest spilin' to get +out, ain't ye?" he inquired genially. "Look here, boy," to Daniel, +"that water's bilin'. Heave 'em in." + +Daniel held his squirming victims over the pot, and not without a +qualm of pity dropped them into the boiling water. Then he ventured to +ask a question. "What is sea gold, Captain Sanders?" + +"Things like them," answered the Captain, jerking his thumb at the +lobsters, which were already beginning to turn a beautiful red color +as they boiled in the pot; "as good gold as any that was ever dug out +of mines ye can get for fish, and there never was such fishing in all +the seas as there is along this coast! My! my! I 've seen schools of +cod off the Cape making a solid floor of fish on the water so ye could +walk on it if ye were so minded, and as for lobsters, I 've caught 'em +that measured six and seven feet long! Farther down the coast there +are oysters so big one of 'em will make a square meal for four or five +people. It 's the truth I 'm telling ye." + +Goodman Pepperell smiled. "Thomas," he said, "thou hast not lost thy +power of narration!" + +Captain Sanders for an instant looked a bit dashed, then he said, +"Well, believe it or not, Josiah, it 's the truth for all that. Why, +talk about the land of Canaan flowin' with milk and honey! This here +water 's just alive with money! Any boy could go out and haul up a +shilling on his own hook any time he liked." + +Daniel, his eyes shining and his lips parted, was just making up his +mind that he would rather be the captain of a fishing-smack than +anything else in the world, since he knew he could n't be a pirate, +when his mother came to the fireplace with a layer of corn-meal dough +spread on a baking-board. She placed the board in a slanting position +against an iron trivet before the glowing bed of coals, and set a pot +of beans in the ashes to warm. "Keep an eye on that johnny-cake," she +said to Daniel, "and don't let it burn." Then she turned away to set +the table. + +[Illustration] + +This task took but little time, for in those days there were few +things to put on it. She spread a snowy cloth of homespun linen on +the plank which served as a table, and laid a knife and spoon at each +place; there were no forks, and for plates only a square of wood with +a shallow depression in the middle. Beside each of these trenchers she +placed a napkin and a mug, and at the Captain's place, as a special +honor, she set a beautiful tankard of wrought silver. It was one of +the few valuable things she had brought with her from her English +home, and it was used only on great occasions. + +When these preparations were complete, she took the lobsters from +the pot, poured the beans into a pewter dish, heaped the golden +johnny-cake high upon a trencher, and, sending Dan to fetch Nancy, +called the men to supper. The storm was over by this time, the last +rays of the setting sun were throwing long shadows over the fields, +and the robins were singing their evening song. The Goodwife stepped +to the window and threw open the wooden shutters. "See," she said. +"There 's a rainbow." + +"The sign of promise," murmured Goodman Pepperell, rising and looking +over his wife's shoulder. + +"Fine day to-morrow," said the Captain. "Maybe I can plant my +lobster-pots after all." + +Nancy, looking pale and a little subdued, crept down the ladder and +took her place with Daniel at the foot of the board. Then they all +stood, while Goodman Pepperell asked a blessing on the food, and +thanked God for his mercy in delivering them from danger and bringing +them together in health and safety to partake of his bounty. + +[Illustration] + + + + +II + +TWO DAYS + + +The grace finished (it was a very long one and the beans were nearly +cold before he said amen), Goodman Pepperell broke open the lobsters +and piled the trenchers with johnny-cake and beans, and the whole +family fell to with a right good will. All but Nancy. She was still a +bit upset and did not feel hungry. + +"Thou hast not told me, Captain, what voyage thou art about to +undertake next," said the Goodman, sucking a lobster-claw with relish. + +The Captain loved to talk quite as well as he loved to eat, but his +mouth was full at this moment, and he paused before replying. "I 'm +getting too old for long voyages, Josiah," he said at last with a +sigh. "Kind o' losing my taste for adventure. Pirates is pretty +plentiful yet, and for all I 'm a sailor I 'd like to die in my bed, +so I have settled at Marblehead. They 're partial to fishermen along +this coast. The town gives 'em land for drying their fish and exempts +'em from military dooty. But I can't stay ashore a great while before +my sea legs begin to hanker for the feel of the deck rolling under +'em, so I 'm doing a coasting trade all up and down the length of +Massachusetts Bay. I keep a parcel of lobster-pots going, some here +and some Plymouth way, and sell them and fish, besides doing a +carrying trade for all the towns along-shore. It 's a tame kind o' +life. There, now," he finished, "that 's all there is to say about me, +and I 'll just take a turn at these beans and give ye a chance to tell +about yourself, Josiah." + +"'T is but a short tale," answered the Goodman, "God hath prospered +me. I have an hundred acres of good farm land along this river, and I +have a cow, and a flock of sheep to keep us in wool for the Good +wife to spin. I have set out apple trees, and there is wood for the +cutting; the forest furnishes game and the sea is stored with food for +our use; but the truth is there is more to do than can be compassed +with one pair of hands. The neighbors help each other with clearing +the land, log-rolling, building walls, and such as that, but if this +country is to be developed we must do more than make a living. There +are a thousand things calling to be done if there were but the men to +do them." + +The Captain skillfully balanced a mouthful of beans on his knife as he +considered the problem. Finally he said, "Well, here 's Dan'el, and, +judging by the way he waded right into the tide after his sister, I +calculate he 'd be a smart boy to have round." + +"He is," said the Goodman, and Daniel blushed to his eyes, for his +father seldom praised him, "but he is not yet equal to a man's work, +and moreover I want him to get some schooling. The Reverend John +Harvard hath promised his library and quite a sum of money to found +a college for the training of ministers right here in Cambridge. The +hand of the Lord hath surely guided us to this place, where he may +receive an education, and it may even be that Daniel will be a +minister, for the Colony sorely needs such." + +"There, now," said the Captain. "Farming ain't such plain sailing; is +it? Have ye thought of getting an Indian slave to help ye?" + +"Truly I have thought of that," said the Goodman, "but they are a +treacherous lot and passing lazy. There was a parcel of Pequot women +and girls brought up from beyond Plymouth way last year after the +uprising. The settlers had killed off all the men and sold the boys in +the Bermudas. I might have bought one of the women but I need a man, +or at least a boy that will grow into one. The Pequots are about all +gone now, but the Narragansetts are none too friendly. They helped +fight the Pequots because they hate them worse than they hate the +English, but they are only biding their time, and some day it 's +likely we shall have trouble with them. Nay, I could never trust an +Indian slave. Roger Williams saith they are wolves with men's brains, +and he speaks the truth." + +"Well, then," said the Captain, "why don't ye get a black? They are +more docile than Indians, and the woods about are not full of their +friends." + +"Aye," agreed the Goodman, "the plan is a good one and well thought +out, but they are hard to come by. There are only a few, even in +Boston." + +"There will soon be more, I 'm thinking," said the Captain. "A ship +was built in Marblehead last year on purpose for the trade. Captain +Pierce is a friend of mine, and he 's due at Providence any time now +with a cargo of blacks from Guinea. Ye could sail down the bay with +me, and there 's a trail across the neck of the Cape to Providence, +where the Desire will come to port. I expect to spend the Sabbath +here, but I lift anchor on Monday. Ye can tell Captain Pierce ye 're a +friend of mine, and 't will do ye no harm." + +[Illustration] + +"Oh, Father," breathed Dan, "may I go, too?" + +The Captain chuckled. "Art struck with the sea fever, son?" he said, +looking down into the boy's eager face. "Well, there 's room aboard. +I might take ye along if so be thy parents are willing and thou art +minded to see a bit of the world." + +Up to this time Goodwife Pepperell had said no word, but now she +spoke. "Are there not dangers enough on land without courting the +dangers of the sea?" she asked. + +Her husband looked at her with gentle disapproval. "Hold thy peace," +he said. "What hath a pioneer lad to do with fear? Moreover, if he +goes I shall be with him." + +Nancy leaned forward and gazed imploringly at the Captain. "Dost thou +not need some one to cook on thy boat?" she gasped. "I know well how +to make johnny-cake and I--" then, seeing her father's stern look and +her mother's distress, she wilted like a flower on its stem and was +silent. The Captain smiled at her. + +"Ye 're a fine cook, I make no doubt," he said genially, "but ye would +n't go and leave Mother here all alone, now, I 'll be bound!" + +"Nay," said Nancy faintly, looking at her mother. + +Then the Goodwife spoke. "It pains me," she said, "to think of +children torn from their parents and sold into slavery, even though +they be but Indians or blacks. I doubt not they have souls like +ourselves." + +"Read thy Bible, Susanna," answered her husband. "Cursed be Canaan. +A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren--thus say the +Scriptures." + +"Well, now," broke in the Captain, "if they have souls, they 've +either got to save 'em or lose 'em as I jedge it; and if they never +have a chance to hear the Plan of Salvation, they 're bound to be lost +anyway. Bringin' 'em over here gives them their only chance to escape +damnation, according to my notion." + +"Hast thou ever brought over a cargo of slaves thyself?" asked the +Goodwife. + +"Nay," admitted the Captain, "but I sailed once on a slaver, and I own +I liked not to see the poor critters when they were lured away. It +seemed they could n't rightly sense that 't was for their eternal +welfare, and I never felt called to set their feet in the way +of Salvation by that means myself. I reckon I 'm not more than +chicken-hearted, if ye come to that." + +The meal was now over, the dusk had deepened as they lingered about +the table, and Goodwife Pepperell rose to light a bayberry candle and +set it on the chimney-piece. + +"Sit ye down by the fire again, while Nancy and I wash the dishes," +she said cordially. + +"Thank ye kindly," said the Captain, "but I must budge along. It 's +near dark, and Timothy--that 's my mate--will be wondering if I 've +been et up by a shark. It 's going to be a clear night after the +storm." + +The children slept so soundly after the adventures of the day that +their mother called them three times from the foot of the ladder in +the early dawn of the following morning without getting any response. +Then she mounted to the loft and shook Daniel gently. "Wake thee," she +said. "'T is long past cock-crow, and Saturday at that." + +Daniel opened his eyes feebly and was off to sleep again at once. +"Daniel," she said, shaking him harder, "thy father is minded to take +thee to Plymouth." + +Before the words were fairly out of her mouth Daniel had popped out of +bed as if he had been shot from a gun. "Oh, Mother," he shouted, "am +I really to go? Shall I go clear to Providence? Doth Captain Sanders +know? When do we start?" + +"Thy father arranged it with the Captain last night," answered his +mother. "He will come for thee in the little boat on Monday morning +and will row thee and thy father to the sloop, which will sail at high +tide. While thy father makes the journey across the Cape thou wilt go +on to Provincetown with the Captain, or mayhap, if visitors are now +permitted in the Colony, my aunt, the Governor's lady, will keep thee +with her until thy father returns. She would like well to see my son, +I know, and I trust thou wilt be a good lad and mind thy manners. +Come, Nancy, child, I need thy help!" Then she disappeared down the +ladder to stir the hasty pudding, which was already bubbling in the +pot. + +When she was gone, Nancy flung herself upon the mattress and buried +her face in the bed-clothes. "Oh, Daniel," she cried, smothering a +sob, "what if the p-p-pirates should get thee?" + +Daniel was at her side in an instant. "Give thyself no concern about +pirates, sister," he said, patting her comfortingly. "I have thought +how to deal with them! I shall stand by the rail with my cutlass in +my hand, and when they seek to board her I will bring down my cutlass +so,"--here he made a terrific sweep with his arm,--"and that will be +the end of them." + +"Oh," breathed Nancy, much impressed, "how brave thou art!" + +"Well," said Daniel modestly, "there 'd be the Captain and father to +help, of course, and, I suppose, the mate too. There will be four of +us men anyway." + +"_Nancy!_--_Daniel!_"--it was their father's voice this time, and the +two children jumped guiltily and began to dress as if the house were +on fire and they had but two minutes to escape. In a surprisingly +short time they were downstairs and attending to their morning tasks. +Nancy, looking very solemn, fed the chickens, and Dan brought water +from the spring, while their father milked the cow; and by six o'clock +their breakfast of hasty pudding and milk had been eaten, prayers were +over, and the whole family was ready for the real work of the day. +There was a great deal of it to do, for nothing but "works of +necessity and mercy" could be performed on the Sabbath, the Sabbath +began at sundown Saturday afternoon, and the travellers were to make +an early start on Monday morning. A fire was built in the brick oven +beside the fireplace, and while it was heating the Goodwife made four +pies and six loaves of brown-bread, and prepared a pot of pork and +beans for baking. + +[Illustration] + +When the coals had been raked out and the oven filled, she washed +clothes for Daniel and his father, while Nancy hurried to finish a +pair of stockings she was knitting for her brother. Daniel himself, +meanwhile, had gone down to the bay to see if he could find the +shovel and the basket. He came home in triumph about noon with both, +and with quite a number of clams beside, which the Goodwife cooked +for their dinner. When they were seated at the table, and the Goodman +had asked the blessing, he leaned back in his chair and surveyed the +ceiling of the cabin. From the rafters there hung long festoons of +dried pumpkin and golden ears of corn. There were also sausages, hams, +and sides of bacon. + +"I doubt not you will fare well while we are gone," he said. "There +is plenty of well-cured meat, and meal enough ground to last for some +time. The planting is done and the corn well hoed; there is wood cut, +and Gran'ther Wattles will call upon you if he knows I am away. I am +leaving the fowling-piece for thee, wife. The musket I shall take with +me." + +"Why must Gran'ther Wattles come?" interrupted Nancy in alarm. "I am +sure Mother and I do not need him." + +"Children should be seen and not heard," said her father. "It is +Gran'ther Wattles's duty to oversee the congregation at home as well +as in the meeting-house." + +Nancy looked at her trencher and said no more, but she thought there +was already enough to bear without having Gran'ther Wattles added to +her troubles. Daniel, meanwhile, had attacked his porringer of clams, +and in his excitement over the journey was gobbling at a fearful rate. +His mother looked at him despairingly. + +"Daniel," she said, "thou art pitching food into thy mouth as if thou +wert shoveling coals into the oven! Take thy elbows off the table and +eat more moderately." Daniel glued his elbows to his side. "Sit up +straight," she went on, "or thou wilt grow up as crooked as a ram's +horn." Daniel immediately sat up as if he had swallowed the poker. +"I wish thee to practice proper manners at home, lest my aunt should +think thee a person of no gentility. Remember thou must not ask for +anything at the table. Wait until it is offered thee, and then do +not stuff it down as if thine eyes had not looked upon food for a +fortnight!" + +"But," protested poor Dan, who was beginning to feel that the journey +might not be all his fancy had painted, "suppose they should n't offer +it?" + +"I do not fear starvation for thee," his mother answered briefly; "and +oh, Daniel, I beg of thee to wash thy hands before going to the table! +The Governor is a proper man and my aunt is very particular." She +paused for breath, and to get more brown-bread for the table. + +When she sat down again, Daniel said, "If you please, I think I 'd +rather go on to Provincetown with the Captain." + +"That must be as we are guided at the time," said his father. + +The busy day passed quickly, and before sunset a fine array of pies +and brown loaves were cooling on the table, the chores were done, and +a Sabbath quiet had settled down over the household, not to be broken +until sunset of the following day. + +When Daniel opened the cabin door the next morning, he was confronted +by a wall of gray mist which shut the landscape entirely from view. +He had hoped to catch a glimpse of the Lucy Ann, in order to assure +himself that he had not merely dreamed the events of the day before, +but nothing could he see, and he began dispirited preparations for +church. They had no clock, and on account of the fog they could not +tell the time by the sun, so the whole family started early to cross +the long stretch of pasture land which lay between them and the +meeting-house in the village. They reached it just as Gran'ther +Wattles, looking very grave and important, came out on the church +steps and beat a solemn tattoo upon a drum to call the people +together. They came from different directions across the fields and +through the one street of the village, looking anxious for fear +they should be late, yet not daring to desecrate the Sabbath by any +appearance of haste. Among the rest, red-faced and short of wind, who +should appear but Captain Sanders? Sabbath decorum forbade any show of +surprise; so Goodman Pepperell and his wife merely bowed gravely, and +the Captain, looking fairly pop-eyed in his effort to keep properly +solemn, nodded in return, and they passed into the meeting-house +together. + +The Captain sat down with the Goodman on the men's side of the room, +while Daniel went to his place among the boys, leaving Nancy and his +mother seated with the women on the opposite side. It is hard to +believe that a boy could sit through a sermon two hours long with his +friends all about him and such a secret buttoned up inside his jacket +without an explosion, but Daniel did it. He did n't dare do otherwise, +for Gran'ther Wattles ranged up and down the little aisle with his +tithing-rod in hand on the lookout for evil-doers. Once, indeed, +during the sermon there was a low rumbling snore, and Daniel was +horrified to see Gran'ther Wattles lean over and gently tickle the +Captain's nose with the squirrel-tail. The Captain woke with a start +and sneezed so violently that the boy next Daniel all but tittered +outright. Gran'ther Wattles immediately gave him a smart rap on the +head with the knob end of his stick, so it is no wonder that after +that Daniel sat with his eyes nearly crossed in his effort to keep +them fixed on the minister, though his thoughts were far away ranging +Massachusetts Bay with the Lucy Ann of Marblehead. + +At last, however, the sermon ended, the final psalm was sung, and +after the benediction the minister passed out of the church and the +congregation dispersed to eat a bite of brown-bread in the church-yard +before assembling again for another two-hour sermon. + +The sun was now shining brightly, and, once outside the door, after +the first sermon, the Captain wiped his brow as if exhausted, and a +few moments later Daniel saw him quietly disappearing in the direction +of the river. He was not of the Cambridge parish, so no discipline +could be exercised upon him, but Gran'ther Wattles set him down at +once as a dangerous character, and even Goodwife Pepperell shook her +head gently when she noted his absence. + +[Illustration] + +Somehow, although it was a breach of Sabbath decorum to tell it, the +great news leaked out during the intermission, and Daniel was the +center of interest to every boy in the congregation during the +afternoon. When the second long sermon was over and the exhausted +minister had trailed solemnly down the aisle, the equally exhausted +people walked sedately to their houses, discussing the sermon as they +went. All that day Daniel kept a tight clutch on his manners, but the +moment the sun went down, he heaved a great sigh of relief and turned +three somersaults and a handspring behind the cabin to limber himself +up after the fearful strain. + +[Illustration] + + + + +III + +ON BOARD THE LUCY ANN + + +The family rose at daybreak the next morning, tasks were quickly +performed, and after breakfast the Goodman read a chapter in the Bible +and prayed long and earnestly that God would bless their journey, +protect those who were left behind, and bring them all together again +in safety. Then he and Daniel started down the path to the river, with +Nancy and her mother, both looking very serious, following after. The +tide was already coming in, and the bay stretched before them a wide +sheet of blue water sparkling in the sun. In the distance they could +see the sails of the Lucy Ann being hoisted and Captain Sanders in his +small boat rowing rapidly toward the landing-place. + +"Ship ahoy!" shouted Daniel, waving his cap as the boat approached. + +"Ahoy, there!" answered the Captain, and in a moment the keel grated +on the sand, and the Goodman turned to his wife and daughter. + +"The Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from the +other," he said reverently, and "Amen!" boomed the Captain. Then there +were kisses and good-byes, and soon Nancy and her mother were alone on +the shore, waving their hands until the boat was a mere speck on the +dancing blue waters. As it neared the Lucy Ann, they went back to the +cabin, and there they watched the white sails gleaming in the sun +until they disappeared around a headland. + +"Come, Nancy," said her mother when the ship was quite out of sight, +"idleness will only make loneliness harder to bear. Here is a task for +thee." She handed her a basket of raw wool. "Take this and card it for +me to spin." + +Nancy hated carding with all her heart, but she rose obediently, +brought the basket to the doorway, and, sitting down in the sunshine, +patiently carded the wool into little wisps ready to be wound on a +spindle and spun into yarn by the mother's skillful hands. + +Meanwhile Daniel was standing on the deck of the Lucy Ann, drinking +in the fresh salt breeze and eagerly watching the shores as the boat +passed between Charlestown and Boston and dropped anchor in the harbor +to set the Captain's lobster-pots. All the wonderful bright day they +sailed past rocky islands and picturesque headlands, with the Captain +at the tiller skillfully keeping the vessel to the course and at the +same time spinning yarns to Daniel and his father about the adventures +which had overtaken him at various points along the coast. At +Governor's Island he had caught a giant lobster. He had been all but +wrecked in a fog off Thompson's Island. + +"Ye see that point of land," he said, waving his hand toward a rocky +promontory extending far out into the bay. "That 's Squantum. Miles +Standish of Plymouth named it that after an Indian that was a good +friend of the Colony in the early days. Well, right off there I was +overhauled by a French privateer once. 'Privateer' is a polite name +for a pirate ship. She was loaded with molasses, indigo, and such from +the West Indies, and I had a cargo of beaver-skins. If it had n't been +that her sailors was mostly roarin' drunk at the time, it 's likely +that would have been the end of Thomas Sanders, skipper, sloop, and +all, but my boat was smaller and quicker than theirs, and, knowing +these waters so well, I was able to give 'em the slip and get out into +open sea; and here I be! Ah, those were the days!" + +The Captain heaved a heavy sigh for the lost joys of youth and was +silent for a moment. Then his eyes twinkled and he began another +story. "One day as we was skirtin' the shores of Martha's Vineyard," +he said, "we were followed by a shark. Now, there 's nothing a sailor +hates worse than a shark; and for good reasons. They 're the pirates +of the deep; that 's what they are. They 'll follow a vessel for days, +snapping up whatever the cook throws out, and hoping somebody 'll +fall overboard to give 'em a full meal. Well, sir, there was a sailor +aboard on that voyage that had a special grudge against sharks. He 'd +been all but et up by one once, and he allowed this was his chance to +get even; so he let out a hook baited with a whole pound of salt pork, +and the shark gobbled it down instanter, hook and all. They hauled him +up the ship's side, and then that sailor let himself down over the +rails by a rope, and cut a hole in the shark's gullet, or whatever +they call the pouch the critter carries his supplies in, and took out +the pork. Then he dropped him back in the water and threw the pork in +after him. Well, sir, believe it or not, that shark sighted the pork +bobbing round in the water; so he swallowed it again. Of course it +dropped right out through the hole in his gullet, and, by jolly! as +long as we could see him that shark was continuing to swallow that +piece of pork over and over again. I don't know as I ever see any +animal get more pleasure out of his rations than that shark got out +of that pound of pork. I believe in bein' kind to dumb critters," he +finished, "and I reckon the shark is about the dumbdest there is. +Anyhow that one surely did die happy." Here the Captain solemnly +winked his eye. + +"What became of the sailor?" asked Dan. + +"That sailor was me," admitted the Captain. "That 's what became of +him, and served him right, too." + +They slept that night on the deck of the sloop, and before light the +next morning Dan was awakened by the groaning of the chain as the +anchor was hauled up, and the flapping of the sails as Timothy hoisted +them to catch a stiff breeze which was blowing from the northeast. +The second day passed like the first. The weather was fine, the winds +favorable, and that evening they rounded Duxbury Point and entered +Plymouth Bay just as the sun sank behind the hills back of the town. + +"Here 's the spot where the Mayflower dropped anchor," said the +Captain, as the sloop approached a strip of sandy beach stretching +like a long finger into the water. "I generally bring the Lucy Ann to +at the same place. She can't go out again till high tide to-morrow, +for the harbor is shallow and we 'd likely run aground; so ye 'll have +the whole morning to spend with your relations, and that 's more than +I 'd want to spend with some of mine, I 'm telling ye," and he roared +with laughter. "Relations is like victuals," he went on. "Some agrees +with ye, and some don't." + +"Our relations are the Bradfords," said Goodman Pepperell with +dignity. + +"And a better man than the Governor never trod shoe-leather," said the +Captain heartily. "He and Captain Standish and Mr. Brewster and Edward +Winslow--why, those four men have piloted this town through more +squalls than would overtake most places in a hundred years! If +anything could kill 'em they would have been under ground years ago. +They 've had starvation and Indians and the plague followin' after 'em +like a school of sharks ever since they dropped anchor here well nigh +on to twenty years ago, and whatever happens they just thank the +Lord as if 't was a special blessing and go right along! By jolly!" +declared the Captain, blowing his nose violently, "they nigh about +beat old Job for patience! 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in +Him,' says old Job, but his troubles was all over after a bit, and he +got rewarded with another full set of wives and children and worldly +goods, so he could see plain as print that righteousness paid. But +these men,--their reward for trouble is just more trouble, fer 's I +can see. They surely do beat all for piety." + +"'Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,'" quoted the Goodman. + +"The Lord must be mighty partial to Plymouth, then," answered the +Captain as he brought the sloop gently round the point, "for she +'s been shown enough favor to spile her, according to my way of +thinkin'." + +[Illustration] + +It was too late to go ashore that night, and from the deck Dan watched +the stars come out over the little village, not dreaming that it held +in its humble keeping the brave spirit of a great nation that was to +be. + +When Daniel opened his eyes next morning, his father and the Captain +were already stowing various packages in the small boat, and from the +tiny forecastle came an appetizing smell of frying fish. + +"Here ye be," said the Captain cheerily to Dan, "bright as a new +shilling and ready to eat I 'll be bound. As soon as we 've had a bite +we 'll go ashore. I 've got to row clear over to Duxbury after I do my +errands in Plymouth, but I 'll hunt ye up when I get back. Nobody can +get lost in this town without he goes out of it! I could spot ye from +the deck most anywhere on the map. Then, my lad, if your father says +the word, I 'll bring ye back to the Lucy Ann while he goes across the +neck. Ye 'll get a taste of mackerel-fishing if ye come along o' me. +Ye can make yourself handy on deck and keep a quarter of your own +catch for yourself if you 're lively. A tub of salt fish would be a +tidy present to your mother when you get back home." + +"Oh, I want to go with you," cried Daniel, remembering with terror +what was expected of him in the way of manners should he be invited to +stay at the Governor's. He looked questioningly at his father, but was +answered only by a grave smile, and he knew better than to plead. + +"Here, now," cried the Captain, as Timothy appeared with a big +trencher of smoking fish and corn bread, "tie up to the dock and stow +away some of this cargo in your insides." + +Neither Daniel nor his father needed a second invitation, for the keen +salt air had given them the appetite of wolves, and the breakfast was +soon disposed of according to directions. Then the two followed the +Captain over the side and into the boat, which had been lowered and +was now bobbing about on the choppy waves of the bay. When they were +settled and the boat was properly trimmed, the Captain rowed toward a +small stream of clear water which flowed down from the hills back of +the town, and landed them at the foot of the one little street of the +village. The Captain drew the boat well up on the shore and stowed +letters and parcels in various places about his person, and the three +started up the hill together. They had not gone far, when a childish +voice shouted, "There 's Captain Sanders," and immediately every child +within hearing came tumbling down the hill till they swarmed about him +like flies about a honey-pot. + +[Illustration] + +"Pirates!" cried the Captain, holding up his hands in mock terror. +"I surrender. Come aboard and seize the cargo!" He held open the +capacious pocket which hung from his belt, and immediately half a +dozen small hands plunged into it and came out laden with raisins. + +"Here, now, divide fairly," shouted the Captain. "No pigs!" and with +children clinging to his hands and coat-tails he made a slow progress +up the hill, Daniel and his father following closely in his wake. + +As they were nearing the Common House, two more children caught sight +of him and came racing to meet him. The Captain dived into his +pocket for more raisins and found it empty, but he was equal to the +emergency. "Here, you, Mercy and Joseph Bradford," he cried, "I 've +brought you something I have n't brought to any one else. I 've +brought you a new cousin." The other children had been so absorbed in +their old friend they had scarcely noticed the strangers hitherto, but +now they turned to gaze curiously at Daniel and his father. Joseph and +Mercy were both a little younger than Daniel, and all three were shy, +but no one could stay shy long when the Captain was about, and soon +they were walking along together in the friendliest manner. + +"Where 's thy father, young man?" said the Captain, speaking to +Joseph. "I have a letter for him, and I have brought a relation for +him too." + +"I wish you would bring me a cousin," said one little girl enviously. + +"Well, now," roared the Captain, "think of that! I have a few +relations of my own left over that I 'd be proper glad to parcel out +amongst ye if I 'd only known ye was short, but I have n't got 'em +with me." + +"Father 's in there," said Joseph, pointing to the Common House. "They +'re having a meeting. Elder Brewster 's there, too, and Mr. Winslow +and Captain Standish and Governor Prence." It was evident that some +matter of importance was being discussed, for a little knot of women +had gathered before the door as if waiting for some decision to be +announced. + +They had almost reached the group, when suddenly from the north there +came a low roaring noise, and the earth beneath their feet shook and +trembled so violently that many of the children were thrown to the +ground, while the bundles Goodman Pepperell was carrying for the +Captain flew in every direction. Those who kept their feet at all +reeled and staggered in a strange, wild dance, and every child in the +group screamed with all his might. The women screamed, too, calling +frantically to the children, and the men came pouring out of the door +of the Common House, trying to steady themselves as they were flung +first one way, then another by the heaving ground. It lasted but a few +dreadful moments, and the Captain was the first to recover his speech. + +"There, now," said he, a little breathlessly, "ain't it lucky I had my +sea legs on! 'T wa'n't anything but an earthquake, anyway." + +The instant they could stay on their feet, the children ran to their +mothers, who were also running to them, and in less time than it takes +to tell it the whole village was gathered before the Common House. As +Daniel, with the Captain and his father, joined the stricken company, +Governor Bradford was speaking. He had been Governor of the Colony for +so long that in time of sudden stress the people still turned to him +for counsel though Mr. Prence was really the Governor. + +"Think ye not that the finger of the Lord would direct us by this +visitation?" he said to the white-faced group. "We were met together +in council because some of our number wish to go away from Plymouth to +find broader pastures for their cattle, even as Jacob separated from +Esau with all his flocks and herds. In this I see a sign of God's +displeasure at our removals one from another." + +John Howland now found his voice. "Nay, but," he said, "shall we limit +the bounty of the Lord and say, 'Only here shall He prosper us'?" + +"What say the Scriptures to him who was not content with abundance, +but must tear down his barns to build bigger?" answered the Governor. +"'This night thy soul shall be required of thee.'" + +There was no reply, and the pale faces grew a shade paler as a second +rumble was heard in the distance, the earth again began to tremble, +and a mighty wave, rolling in from the sea, crashed against the shore. +Above the noise of the waters rose the voice of Governor Bradford. "He +looketh upon the earth and it trembleth. He toucheth the hills and +they smoke. The Lord is merciful and gracious. He will not always +chide, neither will He keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with +us after our sins." + +Seeing how frightened the people were, the Captain broke the silence +which fell upon the trembling group after the Governor's words. "Lord +love ye!" he cried heartily. "This wa'n't no earthquake to speak of. +'T wa'n't scarcely equal to an ague chill down in the tropics! They +would n't have no respect for it down there. 'T would n't more than +give 'em an appetite for their victuals." + +His laugh which followed cheered many hearts, and was echoed in faint +smiles on the pale faces of the colonists. Governor Bradford himself +smiled and, turning to the Captain, held out his hand. "Thou art ever +a tonic, Thomas," he said, "and there is always a welcome for thee in +Plymouth and for thy friends, too," he added, turning to the Goodman. + +"Though thou knowest him not, he is haply more thy friend than mine," +said the Captain, pushing the Goodman and Daniel forward to shake +hands with the Governor, "He is married to Mistress Bradford's niece +and his name is Pepperell." + +"Josiah Pepperell, of Cambridge?" said the Governor's lady, coming +forward to welcome him. + +"At your service, madam," answered the Goodman, bowing low, "and this +is my son Daniel." + +Daniel bowed in a manner to make his mother proud of him if she could +have seen him, and then Mercy and Joseph swarmed up, bringing their +older brother William, a lad of fifteen, to meet his new cousin, and +the four children ran away together, all their tongues wagging briskly +about the exciting event of the day. The earthquake had now completely +passed, and the people, roused from their terror, hastened to their +homes to repair such damage as had been done and to continue the +tasks which it had interrupted. Meanwhile the Captain distributed his +letters and parcels, leaving the Governor to become acquainted with +his new relative, learn his errand, and help him on his journey, while +his wife hastened home to prepare a dinner for company. + +It was a wonderful dinner that she set before them. There were +succotash and baked codfish, a good brown loaf, and pies made of +blueberries gathered and dried the summer before. Oh, if only Daniel's +mother could have been there to see his table manners on that +occasion! He sat up as straight as a ramrod, said "please" and "thank +you," ate in the most genteel manner possible, even managing blueberry +pie without disaster, and was altogether such an example of behavior +that Mistress Bradford said before the meal was half over, "Thou +'lt leave the lad with us, Cousin Pepperell, whilst thou art on thy +journey?" + +"I fear to trouble thee," said the Goodman. "And the Captain hath a +purpose to take him to Provincetown and meet me here on my return." + +"The land is mayhap safer than the sea should another earthquake visit +us," said the Governor gravely, "and he will more than earn his keep +if he will but help William with the corn and other tasks. Like +thyself we are in sad need of more hands." + +Daniel looked eagerly at his father, for he already greatly admired +his cousin William and longed to stay with him. Moreover, the +earthquake had somewhat modified his appetite for adventure. + +"His eyes plead," said the Goodman, "and I know it would please his +mother. So by your leave he may stay." + +A whoop of joy from the three young Bradfords was promptly suppressed +by their mother. "For shame!" she said. "Thy cousin Daniel will think +thou hast learned thy manners from the savages. Thou shouldst take a +lesson from his behavior." + +Poor Daniel squirmed on his stool and thought if he must be an example +every moment of his stay he would almost choose being swallowed up by +a tidal wave at sea after all. The matter had been settled, however, +and that very afternoon the Goodman set off on a hired horse, with his +musket across his saddle-bow, and a head full of instructions from +the Governor about the dangers of the road, and houses where he might +spend the nights. + +There was a queer lump in Daniel's throat as he caught the last +glimpse of his father's sturdy back as it disappeared down the forest +trail, and that night, when he went to bed with William in the loft of +the Governor's log house, he thought long and tenderly of his mother +and Nancy. If he had only had a magic mirror such as Beauty had in the +palace of the Beast, he might have looked into it and seen them going +patiently about their daily tasks with nothing to break the monotonous +routine of work except a visit from Gran'ther Wattles, who came to see +if Nancy knew her catechism. The earthquake had been felt there so +very slightly that they did not even know there had been one, until +the Captain stopped on his return voyage the next week to bring them +word of the safe journey to Plymouth. + + + + +IV + +A FOREST TRAIL + + +To Daniel the days of his stay in Plymouth passed quickly. He hoed +corn with his cousin William and pulled weeds in the garden with +Joseph and Mercy, and in the short hours allowed them for play there +was always the sea. They ran races on the sand when the tide was out +and were never tired of searching for the curious things washed ashore +by the waves. One day they gathered driftwood and made a fire on the +shore, hung a kettle over it and cooked their own dinner of lobsters +fresh from the water. Another day William and Daniel went together +in a rowboat nearly to Duxbury, and caught a splendid codfish that +weighed ten pounds. On another wonderful day John Howland took the +two boys hunting with him. It was the first time Daniel had ever been +allowed to carry a gun quite like a man, and he was the proudest lad +in all Plymouth that night when the three hunters returned bringing +with them two fine wild turkeys, and a hare which Daniel had shot. He +loved the grave, wise, kindly Governor and his brave wife, and grew to +know, by sight at least, most of the other people of the town. + +More than ten days passed in this way, and they were beginning to +wonder why the Goodman did not return. The Captain had come back from +Provincetown and had been obliged to go on to Boston without waiting +for him, and there was no knowing when the Lucy Ann would appear again +in Plymouth Harbor. Then one day, as Dan and William were working in +the corn-field, they saw a tired horse with two people on his back +come out of the woods. Daniel took a long look at the riders, then, +throwing down his hoe and shouting, "It 's Father!" tore off at top +speed to meet him. William picked up his hoe and followed at a slower +pace. When he reached the group, Dan was up behind his father on the +pillion with his arms about him, and standing before them on the +ground was a black boy about William's own size and age. He had only a +little ragged clothing on, and what he had seemed to make him uneasy, +perhaps because he had been used to none at all in his native home far +across the sea. His eyes were rolling wildly from one face to another, +and it was plain that he was in a great state of fear. + +"He is but a savage as yet," said Goodman Pepperell. "He was doubtless +roughly handled on the voyage and hath naught but fear and hatred in +his heart. It will take some time to make a Christian of him! Thou +must help in the task, Daniel, for thou art near his age and can +better reach his darkened mind. As yet he understands but one thing. +He can eat like a Christian, or rather like two of them! We must tame +him with food and kindness." + +"What is his name?" asked Daniel, still gazing at the boy with popping +eyes, for never before had he seen a skin so dark. + +[Illustration] + +"Call him Zeb," said his father. + +"Come, Zeb," said William, taking the boy gently by the arm, and +looking compassionately into the black face. "Food!" He shouted the +word at him as if he were deaf, but poor Zeb, completely bewildered +by these strange, meaningless sounds, only shrank away from him and +looked about as if seeking a way of escape. + +Daniel immediately sprang from the pillion and seized Zeb's other arm. +"Yes, Zeb, _food_--_good_," he howled, pointing down his own throat +and rubbing his stomach with an ecstatic expression. It is probable +that poor Zeb understood from this pantomime that he was about to be +eaten alive, for he made a furious effort to get away. The boys held +firmly to his arms, smiling and nodding at him in a manner meant to +be reassuring, but which only convinced the poor black that they +were pleased with the tenderness of his flesh and were enjoying +the prospect of a cannibal feast. With the slave boy between them, +"hanging back and digging in his claws like a cat being pulled by +the tail," as Dan told his mother afterward, they made slow progress +toward the village. + +News of the return spread quickly, and a curious crowd of children +gathered to gaze at Zeb, for many of them had never seen a negro +before in their lives. Goodman Pepperell went at once to the +Governor's house, and when he learned that the Captain had come and +gone, he decided to push on to Boston at once by land. "'T is an +easier journey than the one I have just taken," he said. "There are +settlements along the way, and time passes. I have been gone now +longer than I thought. The farm work waits, and Susanna will fear for +our safety. I must start home as soon as I can return this horse to +the owner and secure another. I would even buy a good mare, for I +stand in need of one on my farm." + +"At least thou must refresh thyself before starting," said the +Governor's wife cordially, and she set about getting dinner at once. + +While his father went with the Governor to make arrangements for the +journey, Daniel and his cousins took charge of Zeb. With Mistress +Bradford's permission they built a fire on the shore and cooked dinner +there for themselves and the black boy, who was more of a show to them +than a whole circus with six clowns would be to us. As he watched the +boys lay the sticks and start the blaze, Zeb's eyes rolled more wildly +than ever. No doubt he thought that he himself was to be roasted over +the coals, and when at last he saw William lay a big fish on the fire +instead, his relief was so great that for the first time he showed a +row of gleaming teeth in a hopeful grin. Daniel brought him a huge +piece of it when the fish was cooked, and from that moment Zeb +regarded him as his friend. + +It was early afternoon before all the preparations were completed and +the little caravan was ready to start on its perilous journey. There +were two horses, and John Howland, who knew the trail well and was +wise in woodcraft, was to go with them as far as Marshfield, where he +knew of a horse that was for sale. Half the town gathered to see them +off. John Howland mounted first, and Daniel was placed on the pillion +behind him. Then Zeb was made to get up behind the Goodman, and off +they started, followed by a volley of farewells and messages from the +group of Plymouth friends left behind. + +For a little distance they followed the shore-line, then, plunging +into the woods, they were soon lost to view. The road was a mere +blazed trail through dense forests, and it was necessary to keep a +sharp lookout lest they lose their way and also because no traveler +was for a moment safe from possible attack by Indians. Hour after hour +they plodded patiently along, sometimes dismounting and walking for a +mile or so to stretch their legs and rest the horses. There was little +chance for talk, because the path was too narrow for them to go side +by side. The day was warm, and if it had not been for slapping the +mosquitoes which buzzed about them in swarms, Daniel would have fallen +asleep sitting in the saddle. In the late afternoon, as they came +out upon an open moor, Daniel was roused by hearing a suppressed +exclamation from John Howland and felt him reach for the pistol which +hung from his belt. His horse pricked up his ears and whinnied, and +the horse on which the Goodman and Zeb were riding answered with a +loud neigh. Daniel peered over John Howland's broad shoulder just in +time to see a large deer disappearing into a thicket of young birches +some distance ahead of them. + +"Oh!" cried Daniel, pounding on John Howland's ribs in his excitement, +"let 's get him!" + +"Not so fast, not so fast," said John in a low voice, pinning with his +elbow the hand that was battering his side. "Let be! Thou hast seen +but half. There was an Indian on the track of that deer. Should we +step in and take his quarry, he might be minded to empty his gun into +us instead! I saw him standing nigh the spot where the trail enters +the wood again yonder, and when he saw us he slipped like a shadow +into the underbrush." + +He stopped his horse, the Goodman came alongside, and the two men +talked together in a low tone. "Shall we go on as if we had not seen +him?" asked the Goodman. John Howland considered. + +"If we turn back, the savage will be persuaded we have seen him and +are afraid," he said. "We must e'en take our chance. It may be he hath +no evil intent, though the road be lonely and travelers few. Whatever +his purpose, it is safer to go on than to stand still," and, +tightening his rein, he boldly urged his horse across the open space. + +Daniel's heart thumped so loudly against his ribs that it sounded to +his ears like a drum-beat as they crossed the clearing and entered the +forest on the other side. They had gone but a short distance into the +woods when they were startled by the report of a gun, and poor Zeb +fell off his horse and lay like one dead in the road. For a moment +they thought he had been shot, and the two men were about to spring to +his rescue, when Zeb scrambled to his feet and began to run like one +possessed. + +"He is but scared to death. Haply he hath never heard a gun go off +before," said John Howland, and, sticking his spurs into his horse, he +gave chase. + +Fleet of foot though he was, Zeb was no match for a horse and was soon +overtaken. + +"'T was but the Indian shooting the deer," said John Howland, laughing +in spite of himself at poor Zeb's wild-eyed terror. "'T is a promise +of safety for the present at least. Nevertheless I like not the look +of it. The red-skin saw us; make no doubt of that; for when I first +beheld him he was peering at us as though to fix our faces in his +mind." + +"I, too, marked how he stared," answered the Goodman, as he seized the +cowering Zeb and swung him again to his seat on the pillion. + +"I have it," he said, stopping short as he was about to mount. "The +savage is without doubt of the Narragansett tribe. He caught a glimpse +of the dark skin of this boy and mistook him for an Indian lad--one of +the hated Pequots, who they thought were either all dead or sold +out of the country. 'T is likely they have no knowledge of other +dark-skinned people than themselves." + +"It may be so," said John Howland, doubtfully, "but 't is as likely +they mistook him for a devil. It once befell that some Indians, +finding a negro astray in the forest, were minded to destroy him by +conjuring, thinking him a demon. To be sure 't is but a year since the +Narragansetts helped the English destroy the Pequot stronghold, and +the few Pequots who were neither killed nor sold they still hold in +subjection. Whatever their idea, it bodes no good either to Zeb or to +us, for their enmity never sleeps." + +Zeb, meantime, sat clutching the pillion and looking from one grave +face to the other as if he knew they were talking of him, and the +Goodman patted his shoulder reassuringly as he mounted again. They +were now nearing a small settlement, and the path widened so the two +horses could walk abreast. + +"Thou 'lt have a special care in the stretch from well beyond Mount +Dagon," said John Howland, "for thou knowest of the notorious Morton, +who founded there the settlement called Merry Mount. It was the +worshipful Endicott who wiped it out. Much trouble hath Morton to +answer for. He hath corrupted the savages, adding his vices to theirs. +He hath also sold them guns and taught them to use them, for which +cause the Indians of this region are more to be feared than any along +the coast. They are drunken, armed, and filled with hate for any whom +they esteem their enemies." + +Daniel's hair fairly stood on end. He had felt prepared for pirates, +but Indians lurking in dark forests were quite another matter! He +wished with all his heart that John Howland were going with them all +the way to Cambridge, but he well knew that could not be. His spirits +rose somewhat as they came in sight of the settlement, and a hearty +supper at the house of Goodman Richards put such life and courage into +his heart that before it was over the Indians were no more to him than +pirates! Then, while his father and John Howland arranged with Goodman +Richards for the purchase of a horse to take them the rest of their +journey, Goodwife Richards stowed Dan away in an attic bed, while Zeb, +worn out with fear and fatigue, slept soundly on the hearth. + +Courage is always highest in the morning, and Daniel felt bold as a +lion the next day, as he and his father bade John Howland and the +Richards family good-bye and, with Zeb, again entered the forest +trail. The two boys walked on ahead, while the Goodman became +acquainted with the new horse, whose name, Goodman Richards had told +him, was Penitence, but which they shortened to Penny. Later, when he +had assured himself that the animal was trustworthy, Goodman Pepperell +put the two boys in the saddle and walked beside them, leading Penny +by the bridle. Taking turns in this way, they went on for some +miles without incident, until Dan almost forgot his fears, and even +Zeb--watching his face and echoing its expression on his own--grew +less and less timid. + +[Illustration] + +They had passed the place which Howland had called Mount Dagon and +which is now known as Wollaston, and had crossed the Neponset River by +a horse bridge and were walking along quite cheerfully, the two boys +at some distance ahead of Penny, when they saw a little way ahead of +them an Indian standing motionless beside the trail. Dan immediately +drew Zeb behind a bush, and when an instant later his father came up, +the Indian disappeared as suddenly as he had come. + +The Goodman looked troubled. "It is the same one we saw yesterday, I +feel sure!" he said. "I like not his following us in this way, Daniel. +I must trust thee even as though thou wert a man. Do thou get upon +the horse's back with Zeb behind thee. I will walk ahead with my gun +ready. Should the savage attack us, do thou speed thy horse like the +wind to the next village, and bring back help. Remember it is thy part +to obey. Three lives may hang on it." + +With his heart pounding like a trip-hammer Dan mounted Penny. Zeb was +placed on the pillion behind him with both arms clutching his waist, +and the Goodman strode ahead, his keen eyes watching in every +direction for any sign of danger. There was not a sound in the forest +except the soft thud of the horse's feet, the cawing of a crow +circling out of sight over the tree-tops, and the shrill cry of a blue +jay. + +"Confound thee, thou marplot, thou busy-body of the wood," muttered +the Goodman to himself as he listened. "Wert thou but a human gossip, +I 'd set thee in the stocks till thou hadst learned to hold thine evil +tongue!" + +But the blue jay only kept up his squawking, passing the news on to +his brethren until the forest rang with word of their approach. + +It did not need the blue jays to tell of their progress, however, for +though no other sound had betrayed their advance, two Indians were +creeping stealthily through the underbrush, keeping pace with the +travelers, and when they had reached a favorable spot in a small +clearing, they suddenly sprang from their hiding-place. With a +blood-curdling cry they leaped forward, and, seizing one of Zeb's +legs, tried to drag him from the horse's back. + +The yells of the Indians were as nothing to those that Zeb then let +loose! The air was fairly split by blood-curdling shrieks, and the +horse, terrified in turn, leaped forward, tearing Zeb from the grasp +of the Indian and almost unseating Dan by the jerk. But Dan dug his +knees into the horse's sides, flung his arms about her neck, and, +holding on for dear life, tore away up the trail with Zeb clinging +like a limpet to his waist. + +Never was a ride like that. Even John Gilpin's was a mild performance +beside it, for Zeb shrieked every minute of the way as they sped +along, with the horse's tail streaming out behind like the tail of a +comet, and the daylight showing between the bouncing boys and Penny's +back at every wild leap. Even if Daniel had not been minded to obey +his father's command, he could not have helped himself, for Penny took +matters into her own four hoofs, and never paused in her wild career +until, covered with foam, she dashed madly into a little hamlet where +the village of Neponset now stands. + +Samuel Kittredge was just starting for the forest with his axe on his +shoulder, when his ears were smitten by the frantic shrieks of Zeb, +and, thinking it must be a wildcat on the edge of the clearing, +he started back to the house for his gun. Before he reached it, +Penitence, with the two boys on her back, came thundering toward him +at full gallop, and stopped at his side. + +"What in tarnation is the matter with ye?" he exclaimed, gazing in +amazement at the strange apparition. "I declare for it, that nigger is +all but scared plumb white! What ails ye?" + +"Indians!" gasped Dan, pointing toward the trail. "My father--quick!" +No more words were needed. Samuel Kittredge dashed into his house, +snatched his gun from the chimney, and, dashing out again, fired it +into the air. Poor Zeb! He slid off over the horse's tail on to the +ground and lay there in a heap, while a knot of men, responding to the +signal of Sam Kittredge's gun, gathered hurriedly before his house and +started at once down the trail. + +"You stay here," said Sam to Dan as he started away. "We 'll be back +soon with your father if the pesky red-skins have n't got him." + +"Or if they have," added another man grimly, and off they went. + +Goodwife Kittredge now took charge of Dan and Zeb, while her son, a +boy of eleven, tied Penny to a tree beside their cabin. Zeb recovered +at once when she offered him a generous slice of brown-bread, but +Dan was too anxious about his father to eat. He stood beside Penny, +rubbing her neck and soothing her, with his eyes constantly on the +trail and his ears eagerly listening for the sound of shots. It seemed +an age, but really was not more than half an hour, before he saw the +men come out of the woods, and, oh joy! his father was with them! + +Leaving Penny nibbling grass, he ran to meet them and threw his arms +about his father's neck, crying, "Oh, dear father, art thou hurt?" + +"Nay; the Lord was merciful," answered the Goodman. "I fired but one +shot, and hit one of the red-skins, I am sure, for they both dived +back into the woods at once. I hid myself in the thick underbrush on +the other side of the trail and waited, thinking perhaps I could creep +along beside it out of sight, but Zeb's roaring must have frighted the +Indians. Doubtless they knew it would rouse the countryside. At any +rate I saw no more of them, and when these Good Samaritans came along +I knew I was safe." + +"The lungs of that blackamoor are worth more to thee than many guns," +laughed Sam Kittredge. "'T is a pity thou couldst not bottle up a few +of his screeches to take with thee when thou goest abroad. They are of +a sort to make a wildcat sick with envy." The men laughed heartily, +and, leaving the Goodman and Daniel with Sam, returned to their +interrupted tasks. + +Goodwife Kittredge insisted on their resting there for the night +before resuming their journey. "You must be proper tired," said she, +with motherly concern, "and if you go on now 't is more than likely +those rascally knaves will follow you like your shadow. You 'll stand +a sight better chance of safety if you make an early start in the +morning." + +"Your horse needs rest, too," added Sam. "I 'll rub her down and give +her a measure of corn when she 's cooled off. Get to bed with the +chickens, and start with the sun, and to-morrow night will find you +safe in your own home again." + +To this plan the travelers gladly agreed. Early next morning, after a +hearty breakfast in the Kittredges' cheerful kitchen they set forth +once more. The roosters in the farmyard were still crowing, and the +air was sweet with the music of robins, orioles, and blackbirds +when they again plunged into the forest trail. All day they plodded +steadily along, delayed by bad roads, and it was not until late that +evening that they at last came in sight of the little house, where +Nancy and her mother slept, little dreaming how near they were to a +happy awakening. When, at last they reached the cabin, the Goodman, +fearing to alarm his wife, stopped on the door-stone and gently called +her name. He had called but once when a shutter was thrown open and +the Goodwife's head was thrust through it. + +"Husband, son!" she cried joyfully. "Nancy!--awake child!--it is thy +father and brother!" and in another moment the door flew open, +and Nancy and her mother flung their arms about the necks of the +wanderers. When the horse had been cared for, they went into the +cabin. Nancy raked the coals from the ashes, the fire blazed up, and +the Goodwife gave them each a drink of hot milk. Zeb blinked sleepily +at the reunited and happy family, as Dan and his father told their +adventures, and when at last they had gone to their beds in the loft +he sank down on a husk mattress which the Goodwife had spread for him +on the floor, and in two minutes was sound asleep. + +[Illustration] + + + + +V + +THE NEW HOME + + +Goodman Pepperell and his wife rose early the next morning, and, +leaving the two children still sleeping; crept down the ladder to the +floor below. There lay Zeb, also sound asleep, with his toes toward +the ashes like a little black Cinderella. The Goodwife's mother heart +was stirred with pity as she looked down at him. Perhaps she imagined +her own boy a captive in a strange land, unable to speak the language, +with no future but slavery and no friends to comfort his loneliness. + +"Poor lad--let him sleep a bit, too," she said to her husband. + +They unbolted the door and stepped out into the sunlight of a perfect +June morning. The dew was still on the grass; robins and bobolinks +were singing merrily in the young apple trees, which, owing to a late, +cold spring, were still in bloom, and the air hummed with the music of +bees' wings. + +The Goodman drew a deep breath as he gazed at the beauty about him. +"'T is good to be at home again," he said to his wife. "And 't is a +goodly land--aye, better even than old England! There 's space here, +room enough to grow." He looked across the river to the hills of +Boston town. "I doubt not we shall live to see a city in place of yon +village," he said; "more ships seek its port daily, and there are +settlements along the whole length of the bay. 'T is a marvel where +the people come from. The Plymouth folk are scattering to the north +and south, and already villages are springing up between Plymouth and +New Amsterdam. God hath prospered us, wife." + +"Praise be to his holy name," said the Goodwife, reverently. "But, +husband," she added, "what shall we do with our increase? Thou hast +brought home a horse and the black lad. The horse can stay out +of doors during the summer, but there is not room for him in the +cow-shed, and the lad cannot sleep always before the fire." + +"I have thought of that," said the Goodman, "and when the crops are in +I purpose to build a larger house." + +"Verily it will be needed," she answered. "The crops grow like weeds +in this new soil. If there were but a place for storage, I could put +away much for winter use that now is wasted. Go thou and look at the +garden, while I uncover the coals and set the kettle to boil." + +"Wait a moment, wife," said the Goodman, "I have somewhat to tell +thee. There is ever a black spot in our sunshine. Though the danger +grows less all the while as the settlements increase, it is still true +that the Indians are ever a menace, and I fear they are over watchful +of us." Then he told her of the attack in the forest. "I have reason +to think the red-skins spied upon us all the way to Boston town," he +finished. "I did not tell Daniel, but twice I saw savages on our trail +after we left Kittredge's. I wounded one in the encounter, and they +will not forget that. I know not why they should plot against the +black boy, unless it is to revenge themselves upon me, but it is +certain they tried to drag him away with them into the woods." The +Goodwife listened with a pale face. + +"'T is well, then, that we have a watchdog added to our possessions," +she said at last. "Gran'ther Wattles's shepherd hath a litter of pups, +and he hath promised one to the children. Nancy hath waited until Dan +came home that he might share the pleasure of getting it with her." + +"She hath a generous heart," said her father, tenderly. "Aye,--she is +a good lass, though headstrong." + +When their mother reached the cabin, she found the Twins up and +dressed and Daniel trying to rouse the sleeping Zeb. "Wake up," he +shouted, giving him a shake. Zeb rolled over with a grunt and opened +his eyes. + +"Take him outdoors while I get breakfast," said the Goodwife. "Mercy +upon me, what shall I do with a blackamoor and a dog both underfoot!" + +"A dog!" cried Daniel. "What dog? Where is he?" + +"Nancy will tell thee," said his mother, and, not able to wait a +moment to hear and tell such wonderful news, the two children rushed +out at once, followed by Zeb. When their mother called the family +to breakfast half an hour later, Zeb had been shown the garden, the +corn-field, the cow-shed, the pig-sty, the straw-stack where eggs were +to be found, the well with its long well-sweep, and the samp-mill. He +had had the sheep pointed out to him, and been introduced to Eliza, +the cow, and allowed to give Penny a measure of corn. The children had +shouted the name of each object to him as they had pointed it out, +and Zeb had shown his white teeth and grinned and nodded a great many +times, as if he understood. + +[Illustration] + +"I know he 's seen eggs before, for he sucked one," Dan told his +mother. Zeb was given his breakfast on the door-stone, and Dan tried +to teach him the use of a spoon, without much success; and afterwards +he was brought in to family prayers. His eyes rolled apprehensively +as he looked from one kneeling figure to another, but, obeying Dan's +gesture, he knelt beside him, and for ten minutes he stuck it out: +then, as the prayer continued to pour in an uninterrupted stream +from the Goodman's lips, he quietly crawled out on all fours and +disappeared through the door. Dan found him afterwards out by the +straw-stack, and as there was a yellow streak on his black face, +concluded he had learned his lesson about the hen's nest altogether +too well. He was given a hoe and taken to the corn-field at once. +Here Daniel showed him just how to cut out the weeds with the hoe and +loosen the earth about the roots of the corn. Zeb nodded and grinned +so cheerfully that, after watching him a few moments, Daniel called +Nancy and they started for Gran'ther Wattles's house in the village to +get the puppy. They had gone but a short distance when Nancy, glancing +around, saw Zeb following them, grinning from ear to ear. + +"No--no--no--go back," bawled Daniel, pointing to the corn-field. Zeb +nodded with the utmost intelligence and followed right along. "Oh, +dear!" groaned Daniel. "I 've taught him to do things by showing how, +and now he thinks he must do _everything_ that I do." + +[Illustration] + +He sat down on a stone and gazed despairingly at Zeb. Zeb promptly sat +down on another stone and beamed at him! In vain Daniel pointed and +shouted, and shook his head. Zeb nodded as cheerfully as ever and +conscientiously imitated Dan's every move. In spite of all they could +do he followed them clear to Gran'ther Wattles's house. + +"Oh, dear!" said Nancy, "it 's just like having your shadow come to +life! You 'll have to work all the time, Dan, or Zeb won't work at +all!" + +Even with the wonderful new puppy in his arms Dan took a gloomy view +of the situation. "I 'm sick of being an example," he said. "I had to +be one at Aunt Bradford's all the time, for she told Mercy and Joseph +to watch how I behaved, and now here 's this crazy blackamoor mocking +everything I do! I guess Father 'll wish he had n't bought him." + +The days that followed were trying ones for everybody. The Goodwife +was nearly distracted trying to house her family and do her work in +such crowded quarters. Zeb followed Dan like a nightmare, and the +Goodman delved early and late to catch up with the work which had +waited for his return. Among other duties there were berries to be +picked in the pasture and dried for winter use, and this task fell to +the children. It was work which Zeb thoroughly enjoyed, but alas, he +ate more than he brought home. On one occasion he ate green fruit +along with the ripe, and spent a noisy night afterward holding on to +his stomach and howling at each new pain. In vain the Goodwife tried +to cure him with a dose of hot pepper tea. Zeb took just enough to +burn his mouth and, finding the cure worse than the disease, roared +more industriously than ever. She was at her wit's end and finally +had to leave him to groan it out alone beside the fire. It was weeks +before he learned to understand the simplest sentences, and meanwhile +poor Dan had to go on being an example. + +Finally one day the Goodman brought home a large saw from Boston, and +he and Dan showed Zeb how to use it. Then day after day Dan and Zeb +sawed together, making boards for the new house, while Nancy brought +her carding or knitting and sat on a stump near by with the puppy at +her feet or nosing about in the bushes. They had named the dog Nimrod, +"because," as Nancy said, "he is surely a mighty hunter before the +Lord, just like Nimrod in the Bible. He sniffs around after field mice +all the time, and if he only sees a cat he barks his head off and +tears after her like lightning!" + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +The summer passed quickly away, with few events to take them outside +the little kingdom of home in which they lived. Twice the Captain +stopped to see them when the Lucy Ann put in at Boston Harbor, and it +was from him they got such news as they had of the world without. By +October, Nimrod had grown to be quite a large dog and was already +useful with the sheep, and Zeb could understand a good deal of what +was said to him, though it was noticeable that he was very dull when +it concerned tasks he did not like. With Dan to guide him he was able +to help shock the corn and pile the pumpkins in golden heaps between +the rows. He could feed the cattle and milk the cow and draw water for +them from the well. While the Goodman and the two boys worked in the +fields gathering the crops, Nancy and her mother dried everything that +could be dried and preserved everything that could be preserved, until +there was a wonderful store of good things for the winter. + +One day when all the rafters were festooned with strings of +crook-necked squashes, onions, and seed corn braided in long ropes by +the husks, the Goodman appeared in the doorway with another load of +seed corn and looked in vain for a place to put it. + +"There is no place," said the Goodwife. "The Lord hath blessed us so +abundantly there is not room to receive it. As it is, I can hardly do +my work without stepping on something. If it is not anything else, it +is sure to be either Zeb or Nimrod. Truly I can no longer clean and +sand my floor properly for the things that are standing about." + +The Goodman sat down on the settle and looked long and earnestly at +the crowded room, whistling softly to himself. Then he rose and went +to the village, and as a result the neighbors gathered the very next +week to help build the new house. They came early in the morning, +the men with axes and saws on their shoulders and the women carrying +cooking-utensils. Then while the men worked in the forest felling +trees, cutting and hauling timbers, and putting them in place, the +women helped the Goodwife make whole battalions of brown loaves and +regiments of pies, beside any number of other good things to eat. +Nancy, Dan, and Zeb ran errands and caught fish and dug clams and +gathered nuts to supply materials for them, and were promptly on hand +when meal time came. + +There were so many helpers that in a wonderfully short time the +frame-work was up, the roof boards were on, and a great fireplace had +been built into the chimney in the new part of the house. Also a door +had been cut through to connect the new part with the old cabin, which +was now to be used for storage and as a stable for Penny and Eliza, +and a sleeping-space for Zeb. When all this was done and the roof on, +the neighbors returned to their own tasks, leaving the Pepperells to +lay the floors, cover the outside with boards, and do whatever was +necessary to finish the house. It was late in the fall before this was +accomplished and the family had settled down to the enjoyment of their +new quarters. + +One day as Dan and Zeb were bringing in boards to sheathe the room on +the inside, they were startled to see two Indians peering out at them +from the shelter of the near-by woods. Dropping the board they were +carrying, they ran like deer to the house, and Dan told his father +what they had seen. The Goodman looked thoughtful as he went on with +his task of sheathing, and that very evening he worked late building +a secret closet between the chimney and the wall. "It will be a handy +place to hide thy preserves," he said to his wife, "and a refuge +should the Indians decide to give us trouble." He cut a small square +window high up in the outside wall and contrived a spring, hidden in +the chimney, to open the door. When this spring was pressed a hole +would suddenly appear in what seemed a solid wall, revealing the +well-stored shelves. This closet was the Goodwife's special pride, but +to Zeb it was a continuous mystery. At one moment there was the solid +wall; the next, without touch of human hands, a door would fly open, +giving a tantalizing glimpse of things to eat which he could never +touch, for if he came near, the door would close again as mysteriously +as it had opened. Dan loved to tease him with it, and Zeb, fearing +magic, would take to his heels whenever this marvel occurred. + +One day the Goodman said to his wife: "Thanksgiving draws near, and +surely we have much cause for thankfulness this year, for the Lord +hath exceedingly blessed us. There are yet some things to be done +before the day comes, and I wish to meet it with my task finished. I +hear there is a ship in the harbor loaded with English merchandise, +and to-morrow I go to Boston, and if thou art so minded, thou canst go +with me." + +This put the Goodwife in quite a flutter of excitement, for she had +not been away from home except to go to church for many months. She +got out her best gown that very evening, to be sure it was in proper +order, and while she got supper gave Nancy and Dan an endless string +of directions about their tasks in her absence. + +Early the next morning she mounted the pillion behind her husband, and +the three children watched their departure, Dan clutching Nimrod, who +was determined to go with them, and the Goodwife calling back last +instructions to the little group until Penny was well on the road to +Charlestown. + +The house seemed strangely lonely without the mother in it, but there +was no time for the children to mope, for there was all the work to +do in their parents' absence. Dan took command at once. "You 'll both +have to mind me now," he said to Nancy and Zeb. "I 'm the man of the +house." + +"If thou 'rt the man of it, I 'm the woman, and thou and Zeb will both +have to do as _I_ say," retorted Nancy, "or else mayhap I 'll get thee +no dinner! Mother said I could make succotash, and thou lov'st that +better than anything. Mother said above all things not to let the fire +go out, for it would be hard to bring a fire-brand all the way from +the village. So do thou bring in a pile of wood and set Zeb to +chopping more." + +[Illustration] + +Dan counted his chances. "Very well," he said at last, with +condescension, "thou art a willful baggage but I 'll give thee thy +way! Only make the big kettle full." + +All that day Nancy bustled importantly about the house, with her +sleeves rolled up and her skirts looped back under her apron in +imitation of her mother. She was better than her word and made +johnny-cake besides the succotash for dinner, and after they had eaten +it said to Dan, "If thou wilt go out to the field and bring in a +pumpkin, I 'll make thee some pies for supper." + +Dan dearly loved pumpkin pie, and in his zeal to carry out the plan +brought in two great yellow globes from the corn-field instead of the +one Nancy had asked for. "Mercy upon us," said Nancy when he appeared, +beaming, with one under each arm, "those would make pies enough for +all Cambridge. Thine eyes hold more than thy stomach." + +"There 's no such thing as too many pies," said Daniel stoutly, "and +if there 's any pumpkin left over, I 'll feed it to the pig." + +"I 'll tell thee what we will do," said Nancy. "We will make a great +surprise for Mother and Father. When they come home they will be tired +and hungry and ready for a grand supper. Do thou and Zeb run down to +the bay and bring back a mess of clams. We 'll have the table all +spread and a bright fire burning to welcome them!" + +Dan agreed to this plan and went out at once to call Zeb. He found him +by the straw-stack with an egg in each hand. "Take them in to Nancy," +commanded Dan, pointing sternly toward the house. Zeb had meant to +dispose of them otherwise, for he had a bottomless appetite for eggs, +but he trotted obediently to the house at Dan's order, and then the +two boys started together for the bay, with Nimrod barking joyfully +and running about them in circles all the way. + +[Illustration] + +The fall days were short, and it was dusk before the evening chores +were done, and Dan came in to the bright kitchen with Zeb and Nimrod +both at his heels, and announced that he had a hole in his stomach as +big as a bushel basket. For answer Nancy pointed to four golden-brown +pies cooling on a shelf, and Dan smacked his lips in anticipation. Zeb +came alongside and, copying Dan, smacked his lips too. + +"Go away, both of you," said Nancy. "You can only look at them now, +for I have everything ready for Father and Mother, and we must n't eat +until they come." + +Dan looked about the room to see what Nancy's surprise might be. It +was a cheerful picture that met his eye. First of all there was Nancy +herself with her neat cap and white apron, putting the finishing +touches to the little feast she had prepared. She had spread the table +with the best linen and decorated it with a bunch of red berries. She +had even brought out the silver tankard from its hiding-place under +the eaves of the loft and placed it beside her father's trencher. The +clams were simmering on the fire, sending out an appetizing smell, and +the brown loaf was cut. The hickory logs snapped and sputtered, and +the flames danced gayly in the fireplace, setting other little flames +dancing in the shining pewter dishes arranged on a dresser across the +room. Nimrod was lying before the fire with his head on his paws, +asleep, and Zeb, squatted down beside him, was rolling his eyes +hungrily in the direction of the pies. + +"I hope they 'll come soon," said Daniel, lifting the cover of the +kettle and sniffing. "If they do not 't is likely they 'll find me as +dead as a salt herring when they get here." + +Nancy laughed and, breaking a slice of brown-bread in two, gave a +piece to each boy. "Take that to stay your stomachs," she said, "and, +for the rest, have patience." + +For a long time they waited, and still there was no sound of hoofs +upon the road. Dusk deepened into darkness, and the harvest moon came +out from behind a cloud and shed a silvery light over the landscape. +Nancy went to the door and gazed toward the road. + +"Dost think, brother, the Indians have waylaid them?" she asked Dan at +last. + +"Nay," answered Dan. "They are likely delayed at the ferry. Should the +ferry-man be at his supper wild horses could not drag him from it, +I 'll be bound. They 'll come presently, never fear, but it will +doubtless grieve them much to see me lying stiff and cold on the +hearth! Nancy, thou takest a fearful chance in denying thy brother +food." + +[Illustration] + +But Nancy only laughed at his woebegone face. "Thou art indeed a +valiant trencher-man," she said. Then, suddenly inspired, she brought +him the extra pumpkin, which she had not used for the pies, set it +before him upon the hearth-stone, and gave him a knife. "Carve thyself +a jack-o'-lantern," she said. "'T will take up thy mind, and make thee +forget thy stomach." Dan took the knife, cut a cap from the top of the +pumpkin, and scooped out the seeds. Then he cut holes for the eyes and +nose, and a fearful gash, bordered with pointed teeth, for the mouth, +and Nancy brought him the stub of a bayberry candle to put inside. Zeb +watched the process with eyes growing wider and wider as the thing +became more and more like some frightful creature of his pagan +imagination. They were just about to light the candle when Nimrod gave +a sharp bark; there was a creaking noise outside, and Nancy, springing +joyfully to her feet, shouted, "They 've come!--they 've come!" She +was halfway to the door, when suddenly she stopped, stiff with fright. + +There, looking in through the open shutter, was the face of an Indian! +Dan and Zeb saw it at the same moment, and Nimrod, barking madly, +rushed forward and leaped at the window. Giving one of his wildcat +shrieks, Zeb instantly went up the ladder to the loft with the agility +of a monkey. The head had bobbed out of sight so quickly that for an +instant Nancy hardly believed her own eyes, but in that instant +Dan had been quick to act. He pressed the catch concealed in the +fireplace, and, springing to his feet, seized Nancy and dragged her +back into the secret closet. They nearly fell over the pumpkin, which +lay directly in their path, and it rolled before them into the closet. + +Once inside, they instantly closed the door, and, with wildly beating +hearts, sank down in the darkness. About a foot above the floor there +was a small knot-hole in the door, which the Goodman had purposely +left for a peep-hole, and to this Dan now glued his eyes. In spite of +Nimrod's frantic barking the house door was quietly opened, and when +the dog flew at the intruder, he was stunned by a blow from the butt +end of a musket, and his senseless body sent flying out of the door by +a kick from a moccasined foot. + +Then two Indians crept stealthily into the room. They were surprised +to find it empty. Where could the children have gone? They prowled +cautiously about, looking under the table and behind everything that +might afford a hiding-place, and, finding no trace of them, turned +their attention in another direction. Dan was already near to bursting +with rage and grief over Nimrod, and now he had the misery of seeing +the larger of the two Indians take his father's musket from the +deer-horn on the chimney-piece, while the other, who already had a +gun, with grunts of satisfaction took the silver tankard from the +table and hid it under his deer-skin jacket. At first they did not +seem to notice the ladder to the loft. Soon, however, they paused +beside it, and after they had exchanged a few grunts the larger Indian +began to mount. It was plain they meant to make a thorough search for +the children who had so miraculously disappeared. + +Dan remembered what his father had said about the Pequots; Nancy, with +sick fear in her heart for Zeb, was shivering in a heap on the floor, +her hands over her eyes, though that was quite unnecessary, since the +closet was pitch dark. Dan found her ear and whispered into it a brief +report of what he had seen. They could now hear the stealthy tread of +moccasined feet above them on the floor of the loft. + +"While they 're upstairs," whispered Dan, "I 'm going to slip out and +get Father's pistol. It 's hanging behind a string of onions, and they +have n't found it." + +"Oh, no!" gasped Nancy. She clung to him, and in trying to get up he +struck the pumpkin, which rolled away toward the outside wall of the +closet. Just then there was a fearful outburst of noise overhead. +There was the sound of something being dragged from under a bed across +the floor, something which clawed and shrieked and fought like a +wildcat. There were grunts and the thump of moccasined feet dancing +about in a lively struggle. + +"Now is my chance," said Dan to himself, and, opening the door +cautiously, he made a dash for the pistol and snatched it from its +hiding-place. As he was leaping back to the closet, he saw the +bayberry candle lying on the hearth, and in that instant a wonderful +idea flashed into his mind. He picked up the candle, lit it from the +flames, and scurried back to his hiding-place just as the legs of an +Indian appeared at the top of the ladder. He shut the door swiftly +behind him, and, giving the candle to Nancy, told her to set it inside +the pumpkin. Crawling to the other end of the closet, Nancy did as she +was bid, while Dan, with his eye at the peep-hole, watched the two +Indians drag poor Zeb between them down the ladder and out the door. + +Eager to see where they went, Dan climbed up to the little window of +the closet and peered out into the night. By the moonlight he could +see the two men dragging Zeb in the direction of the straw-stack. They +were having a hard time of it, for Zeb struggled fiercely, and they +had their guns and the tankard to take care of as well, and in +addition, to Dan's horror, one of them was waving a burning brand +which he had snatched from the fire in passing! Dan trembled so with +excitement that he nearly fell from his perch, but kept his wits about +him. "Give me the pumpkin," he said to Nancy, and when she reached it +up to him, he set the lurid, grinning face in the window. "Now the +pistol," he said, and, sticking the muzzle through the opening beside +the jack-o'-lantern, he fired it into the air. + +The shot was answered by a chorus of yells from the three figures by +the straw-stack. Scared out of their wits by the unexpected shot and +by the frightful apparition which suddenly glared at them out of the +darkness, the Indians took to their heels and ran as only Indians can +run, dragging poor Zeb with them. + +"They 're gone," shouted Dan, dropping to the floor, "but they 've set +the straw-stack afire!" + +[Illustration] + +By the dim light of the jack-o'-lantern grinning in the window, he +found the catch of the door, and the two children burst out of the +closet. Seizing a bucket of water which stood by the hand-basin in +the corner, Dan dashed out of doors, followed by Nancy, whose fear of +Indians was now overmastered by fear of fire. If their beautiful new +house should be burned! She ran to the well-sweep, and while Dan +worked like a demon, stamping on burning straws with his feet, and +pouring water on the spreading flames, she swiftly plunged first one +bucket, then another, into the well and filled Dan's pail as fast as +it was emptied. In spite of these heroic efforts the fire spread. All +they could do was to keep the ground wet about the stack and watch the +flying sparks lest they set fire to the house. Over the lurid scene +the jack-o'-lantern grinned down at them until the candle sputtered +and went out. + +[Illustration] + +The straw-stack was blazing fiercely, lighting the sky with a red +glare, when in the distance they heard the beat of a drum. Gran'ther +Wattles had seen the flames and was rousing the village. Then there +were hoof-beats on the road, and into the fire-light dashed Penny with +the terrified Goodman and his wife on her back. Once they knew their +children were safe, they did not stop for questions, but at once set +to work to help them check the fire, which was now spreading among the +dry leaves. The Goodwife ran for her broom, which she dipped in water +and then beat upon the little flames as they appeared here and there +in the grass. The Goodman mounted to the roof at once, and, with Dan +to fetch water and Nancy to bring up buckets from the well, they +managed to keep it too wet for the flying sparks to set it afire. At +last the neighbors, roused by Gran'ther Wattles's frantic alarm, came +hurrying across the pastures; but the distance was so great that +the flames had died down and the danger was nearly over before they +arrived. + +[Illustration] + +There was now time for explanations, and, surrounded by an eager and +grim-visaged circle, Nancy and Dan told their story. "There 's a brave +lad for you!" cried Stephen Day, when the tale was finished, patting +Dan on the shoulder. "Aye, and a brave lass, too," added another. +Their father and mother said no words of praise, but there was a glow +of pride in their faces as they looked at their children and silently +thanked God for their safety. + +"We can do nothing to-night," said Goodman Pepperell at last, "but, +neighbors, if you are with me, to-morrow we will go into the woods and +see if we can find any trace of the black boy. Doubtless by stealing +him and burning the house they thought to revenge themselves for the +Indian whom I wounded on my way home from Plymouth. They must have +been watching the house, and, seeing us depart this morning, knew well +that they had naught but children to deal with." + +"Aye, but such children!" said Stephen Day, who had been greatly +impressed by the story of the jack-o'-lantern. "We 'll follow them, +indeed, and if we find them"--his jaw shut with a snap and he said no +more. + +[Illustration] + +While the men laid their plans for the morrow, the children and their +mother stole round to the front of the house, and Dan began a search +for Nimrod. He had been neither seen nor heard since the Indian had +given him that fearful blow and thrown him out. They found him lying +a few feet from the house still half stunned, and Dan lifted him +tenderly in his arms, brought him into the house, and laid him down +before the fire, where he had slept so peacefully only one short hour +before. Nimrod licked his hand, and rapped his tail feebly on the +hearthstone. Nancy wept over him, while Dan bathed his wounded head, +and tried to find out if any bones were broken. + +"Poor Nimrod," said the Goodwife, as she set a bowl of milk before the +wounded dog, "thou art a brave soldier. Drink this and soon thou wilt +be wagging thy tail as briskly as ever." + +She stirred the fire and lit the candles, and when the Goodman came in +a few moments later, the little family looked about their new home to +see what damage had been done. Nancy's little feast was a sad wreck. +There were the pies, to be sure, but the table-cloth was awry and the +flowers were tipped over and strewn about the floor, which was +covered with the tracks of muddy feet. In the scuffle with Zeb the +spinning-wheel had been overturned and the settle was lying on its +back on the floor. The room looked as if a hurricane had passed +through it. The Goodman mourned the loss of his gun, and the Goodwife +grieved for her tankard, but all smaller losses were forgotten in +their distress about Zeb. Not only had he cost the Goodman a large sum +of money, but in the weeks he had been with them he had found his own +place in the household, where he would be sadly missed. Worst of all +was their anxiety about his fate at the hands of the Indians. + +"Come," said the Goodwife at last, when they had heard every event of +the day twice over, "we must eat, or we shall have scant courage for +the duties of the morrow. We have none of us tasted food since noon." + +The clams were still simmering gently in the pot, and she gave them +each a porringer of broth, which they ate sitting in a circle about +the hearth-stone. Then she put the room in order, and though her heart +was heavy, tried to talk of the events of their day in Boston as if +nothing had happened. + +[Illustration] + +"We saw Captain Sanders in town," she said to the children. "He hath +brought the Lucy Ann to port with a load of cod for the market and +with fish and game for Thanksgiving. I have his promise that he will +dine with us if God wills. He hath not yet seen our new house. Alas! I +shall have no tankard to set before him; yet, ungrateful that I am, +we are still rich in blessings! 'T is well we have a day set aside to +remind us of them." + +It was very late when at last the excitement had died down enough to +think of sleep. The Goodman went out to make sure there was no fire +left lurking in the grass, and to take a look at the horse and cow. +As he passed the smoking ashes of the straw-stack, his foot struck +something which rang like metal, and in the moonlight something +glistened in the path before him. Stooping, he felt for it, and was +overjoyed to grasp the tankard, which the Indian had lost in the +struggle with Zeb. He carried it in to his wife at once. She seized it +with a cry of joy. + +"'T is a good omen," she said. "Mayhap thou 'lt find thy musket +too." Her husband shook his head gravely. "I 'll have need of one +to-morrow," he said. "'T is well I still have my fowling-piece and my +pistol." Then he called the family together and, kneeling beside the +settle, committed them to God's keeping for the night. + +[Illustration] + + + + +VI + +HARVEST HOME + + +Before daylight the next morning the Goodwife stood in the door of the +new house and watched her husband set forth with the men of Cambridge +to search the forest for Zeb, and to punish his captors if they should +catch them. She had given him a good breakfast and filled his pockets +with bread for the journey, and when the men came from the village, +she cut Nancy's pies and gave them each a generous piece to eat before +starting. There were eight men in the party, all armed. The Goodwife's +lip trembled a little and then moved in prayer as she saw them +disappear into the dark forest. "God grant that they may all return in +safety," she murmured, and then, giving herself a little shake, she +turned back into the house and resolutely set herself at the duties of +the day. + +Nimrod whined and tried to follow his master as the men marched away +with their guns on their shoulders, but, finding himself too weak, lay +down again on the hearth and went to sleep. The Goodwife cleaned the +kitchen, removing the last traces of the intruders, and then began +a patient march back and forth, back and forth, beside the whirling +spinning-wheel. Now that the harvest was over and their food provided +for the winter, her busy hands must spin the yarn and weave the cloth +to keep them warm. Though she had meant to let the children sleep +after the excitement of the previous day, it was still early when they +were awakened by the whir of the wheel and came scuttling down from +the loft as bright-eyed as if the adventures of the night before had +been no more than a bad dream. They helped themselves to hasty pudding +and milk and took a dishful to Nimrod, who was now awake and looking +much more lively, and then their mother set them their tasks for the +day. + +"Nancy," said she, "I gave all thy pies to the men who have gone with +father to hunt for Zeb. To-morrow will be Thanksgiving Day and we +shall need more. The mince pies are already prepared and put away on +the shelves, and thou canst make apple and pumpkin both to set away +beside them in the secret closet." + +"That makes me think," said Daniel, and, touching the secret +spring, he opened the door and rescued the jack-o'-lantern from the +window-sill. + +It was only a wilted and blackened old pumpkin that he brought to his +mother, but she smiled at it and patted the hideous head. "He hath +been a good friend to us, Dan," she said, "e'en as say the Scriptures, +'God hath chosen the weak things of the earth to confound the mighty.' +David went out against Goliath with a sling and a stone, and thou hast +overcome savages with naught but a foolish pumpkin." + +[Illustration] + +Nancy took the grinning head and set it on the chimney-piece. "Dear +old Jacky," she said, "thou shalt come to our Thanksgiving feast. 'T +is no more than thy due since thou hast saved us from the savages." + +"Nay, daughter," said her mother. "That savoreth of idolatry. Give +thy praise unto God, who useth even things which are not to bring to +naught the things that are. 'T is but a pumpkin after all, and will +make an excellent feast for the pig on the morrow. Daniel, go to the +field and bring thy sister a fresh one for the pies and then hasten +to thine own tasks. They wait for thee. While thy father is away +searching for Zeb, thou must do his work as well as thine own." + +"Dost think, Mother, that he will surely bring Zeb back in time for +the feast?" asked Nancy anxiously. + +"Let us pray, nothing doubting," answered the mother. "If it be God's +will, they will return." + +There was a tremor in her voice even as she spoke her brave words, for +she knew well the perils of their search. All day long they worked, +praying as they prepared the feast that they might share it a united +family. Nancy made the pies, and Dan dressed a fowl, while their +mother got ready a pot of beans, made brown-bread to bake in the oven +with the pies, and steamed an Indian pudding. All day they watched the +forest for sign of the returning men. All day they listened for the +sound of guns, but neither sight nor sound rewarded their vigilance. + +[Illustration] + +Dusk came on. The Goodwife set a candle in the window, and when her +other tasks were finished, went back to her spinning. Not a moment was +she idle, nor did she appear to her children to be anxious, but as +she walked back and forth beside her wheel Nancy heard her murmuring, +"Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most +High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall +any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Over and over she said it to +herself, never slacking her work meanwhile. + +The supper which Nancy prepared waited--one hour--two--after Dan had +fed the cattle and brought in the milk, and still there was no sign of +the searching party. + +Suddenly Nimrod, from his place on the hearth, gave a short sharp +bark, and, leaping to the window, stood with his paws on the sill, +peering out into the darkness and whining. Dan was beside him in an +instant. "I see them," he cried joyfully, "a whole parcel of them. +They are just coming out from behind the cow-shed." + +Nancy and her mother reached the window almost at the same moment, and +as the shadowy figures emerged from behind the cow-shed the mother +counted them breathlessly, "One--two--three--four--five--" + +"There 's Father!" shrieked Nancy. + +"He 's carrying something. Oh, dost think it is Zeb?" + +"Six--seven--eight--_nine! ten!_ There are ten men, when but eight set +forth. Praise God, they have all come back!" cried the mother. Turning +swiftly to the fireplace, she snatched from it a brand of burning +pitch pine and, holding it high above her head for a beacon, ran +out to meet them, with Dan, Nancy, and Nimrod all at her heels. The +torch-light shone on stern and weary faces as the men drew near. + +"All 's well, wife," came the voice of the Goodman. + +"Hast found the lad?" she called back to him. + +"Nay--not yet," he answered, "but we think we have his captors. Hold +thy torch nearer and have no fear. The savages cannot hurt thee. +Nancy, Daniel, have you ever seen these faces before?" + +As he spoke he thrust forward two Indians with their hands securely +tied behind them. + +"Oh," shuddered Nancy, "I saw them at the window," and Dan added, +"Aye, 't was this one that kicked Nimrod." Nimrod confirmed his +statement by growling fiercely and snapping at the heels of the taller +of the two Indians. + +"Call off thy dog," said the Goodman sternly, and though Dan felt it +would be no more than fair to allow Nimrod one good bite, considering +all he had suffered, he obediently collared Nimrod and shut him inside +the kitchen. The faces of the Indians were like stone masks as they +stood helpless before their captors with the light of the flaming +torch shining upon them. + +"Go in with thy family, Neighbor Pepperell," said Stephen Day. "There +are enough of us and to spare to guard the savages. Mayhap a night in +the stocks will cool their hot blood and help them to remember what +they have done with the slave lad. If not, the judge will mete out to +them the punishment they deserve." + +"Right willingly will I leave them in your hands," answered the +Goodman, "for truly I am spent." + +Whether the Indians understood their words, or not, they knew well +the meaning of pointed guns, for they marched off toward the village +without even a grunt of protest when Stephen Day gave the word of +command. + +The Goodman was so weary that his wife and children forbore asking +questions until he was a little rested and refreshed. He sank down +upon the settle with Nimrod beside him, and Dan removed his muddy +boots, and brought water for him to wash in, while Nancy and her +mother hastened to put the long-delayed supper on the table. + +"This puts new life into me," declared the father when he had eaten a +few spoonfuls of hotchpot, "and now I 'll tell somewhat of the day's +work. There was no general uprising among the Indians. At least we saw +no evidence of it. 'T is more likely as I feared--they are the same +Indians that followed us from Plymouth, meaning to revenge themselves +upon me for wounding one of them when they set upon us in the forest." + +"But how is it the lad was not with them?" asked his wife. + +"That is a question which as yet hath no answer," replied her husband. +"It may be they have killed him and hidden the body." + +At this fearful thought Nancy shuddered and covered her face with her +hands. + +"It may be," went on the Goodman, "that they passed him on to some +one else to avoid suspicion. At any rate he was not with them, and we +could find no trace. Though the savages undoubtedly know some English, +they refuse to say a word, and so his fate remains a mystery." + +"What further shall you do to find him?" asked the Goodwife. + +"See if we cannot force the Indians to confess, for the first thing," +answered her husband. + +His wife sighed. "I fear no hope lieth in that direction," she said. +"Their faces were like the granite of the hills." + +"What of the gun, Father?" asked Daniel. "Didst thou find it?" + +"Nay," answered his father. "They had it not, and that causes me to +think they have passed it as well as the boy on to others of +their tribe. There is naught to be done now but wait until after +Thanksgiving Day." + +"'T will be but a sad holiday," said the Goodwife. "Though he is but a +blackamoor, the lad hath found a place in my heart, and I grieve that +evil hath befallen him." + +"When I saw thee come out from behind the cow-shed I thought thou +hadst a burden," said Daniel. "I thought it was Zeb--wounded, or +mayhap dead." + +"Aye," answered the Goodman. "I did carry a burden and had like to +forgot it. I dropped it by the door of the cow-shed. Go thou and bring +it in." + +Dan ran out at once and returned a moment later carrying a huge wild +turkey by the legs. His mother rose and felt its breastbone with her +fingers. + +"'T is fine and fat, and young withal," she answered. "'T will make +a brave addition to our feast on the morrow, for, truth to tell, our +preparations have been but half-hearted thus far. Our minds were taken +up with thy danger and fear for the lad." + +"Dwell rather on our deliverance," said her husband. "The Lord hath +not brought us into this wilderness to perish. Let us not murmur, as +did the Children of Israel. The Lord still guides us." + +"Aye, and by a pillar of fire, too," said Nancy, remembering the +straw-stack. + +"And instead of manna he hath sent this turkey," added Dan. + +Supper was now over, and after it was cleared away, and they had had +prayers, the mother sent the rest of the family to bed, while she +busied herself with final preparations for the next day. She plucked +and stuffed the great turkey, first cutting off the long wing-feathers +for hearth-brooms, and set it away on the shelf in the secret closet +along with Nancy's array of pies. It was late when at last she lit her +candle, covered the ashes, and climbed wearily to bed. + +The wind changed in the night and when they looked out next morning +the air was full of great white snow-flakes, and the blackened ruins +of the straw-stack were neatly covered with a mantle of white. + +The family was up betimes, and as they ate their good breakfast of +sausages, johnny-cake, and maple syrup, they sent many a thought +toward poor Zeb, wandering in the forest or perhaps lying dead in its +depths. + +It was a solemn little party that later left the cabin in the care +of Nimrod and started across the glistening fields to attend the +Thanksgiving service in the meeting-house. They were made more solemn +still by the sight of the two Indians sitting with hands and feet +firmly fixed in the stocks, apparently as indifferent to the falling +snow as though they were images of stone. The first snowfall, usually +such a joy to Nancy and Daniel, now only seemed to make them more +miserable, and they were glad to see the sun when they came out of the +meeting-house after the sermon and turned their steps toward home. At +least Zeb would not perish of cold if it continued to shine. They were +just beginning to climb the home hill, when they were surprised to see +Nimrod come bounding to meet them, barking a welcome. + +"How in the world did that dog get out?" said the Goodwife +wonderingly. "I shut him in the kitchen the last thing before we left +the house." + +Leaving their father and mother to follow at a slower pace, Nancy +and Dan tore up the hill and threw open the kitchen door. There, +comfortably dozing on the settle by the fire, sat the Captain! At his +feet lay Zeb--also sound asleep with the wreckage of several blackened +eggs strewn round him on the hearth-stone! The Captain woke with a +start as the children burst into the room and for an instant stood +staring in amazement and delight at the scene before them. Zeb, +utterly worn out, slept on, and the Captain, as usual, was the first +to find his tongue. + +"Well, well," he shouted, rubbing his nose to a bright red to wake +himself up, "here ye be! And mighty lucky, too, for I 'm hungry enough +to eat a bear alive. If I could have found out where ye hide your +supplies, I might have busted 'em open to save myself and this poor +lad from starvation. He appeared nigh as hungry as I be, but he knew +better how to help himself. He found these eggs cooked out there in +the ashes of the straw-stack, and all but et 'em shells and all. Never +even offered me a bite! Don't ye ever feed him?" + +Before the children could get in a word edgewise their father and +mother, followed by Nimrod, came in, and, what with the dog barking, +the children screaming explanations to the Captain, and their own +astonished exclamations, there was such a babel of noise that at last +Zeb woke up, too, and stared about him like one dazed. Nimrod jumped +on him and licked his face, and Zeb put his arms around the dog as if +glad to find so cordial a welcome. The Captain stared from one face to +another, quite unable to make head or tail of the situation. + +[Illustration] + +"Well, by jolly!" he shouted at last, "what ails ye all? Ye act like a +parcel of lunatics!" + +The Goodman commanded silence, and briefly told the whole story to the +Captain. + +"Where did you find the lad?" he asked, when he had finished. + +"He was here when I came," said the Captain. "Settin' on the +hearth-stone eatin' them eggs as if he had n't seen food fer a +se'nnight and never expected to see any again. The dog busted out of +the house when I came in, and as I could n't get any word out of the +lad, I just set down by the fire and took forty winks. It was too late +for meeting, and besides I reckoned I could sleep better here." He +finished with his jolly laugh. + +Zeb, meanwhile, sat hugging the dog and rolling his eyes from one face +to another as if in utter bewilderment. Perhaps he wondered if the +Captain meant to capture him, too, for life must have seemed to the +poor black boy just a series of efforts to escape being carried off to +some place where he did not wish to go, by people whom he had never +seen before. The Goodman at last sat down before Zeb on the settle and +tried to get from him some account of what had happened in the forest. +But Zeb was totally unable to tell his story. His few words of English +were inadequate to the recital of the terrors of the past twenty-four +hours. + +"Let the lad be," said the Goodwife at last. "He 's safe, praise God, +and we shall just have to wait to find out how he managed to escape +from the savages and make his way back here." She went to the secret +closet and brought out a huge piece of pumpkin pie. Zeb's eyes gleamed +as he seized it. "He must n't eat too much at once," said she. "As +nearly as I can make out by the shells, he 's had six eggs already. +That will do for a time. Dan, build a fire in the fireplace in the old +kitchen. There 's warm water in the kettle, and do thou see that Zeb +takes a bath. He is crusted with mud. He must have wallowed in it. +Nancy and I will get dinner the while." + +Dan beckoned to Zeb, and the two boys disappeared. Zeb had never +bathed before except in the ocean, and the new process did not please +him. "I believe he wished he 'd stayed with the Indians," said Dan when +he appeared an hour later followed by a well-polished but somewhat +embittered Zeb. "I 've just about taken his skin off and I 'm all worn +out. Oh, Mother, is n't dinner almost ready?" + +"Almost," said his mother, as she opened the oven door to take a peep +at the turkey, which had been cooking since early morning. "It only +needs browning before the fire while I make the gravy." + +The table was already spread, and Nancy was at that very moment giving +an extra polish to the tankard before placing it beside the Captain's +trencher. The spiced drink to fill it was already mulling beside the +fire with a huge kettle of vegetables steaming beside it. The closet +door was open, giving a tantalizing glimpse of glories to come. + +"So there 's where ye keep 'em," observed the Captain, regarding the +pies with open admiration. "'T is a sight to make a man thankful for +the room in his hold. By jolly, it 'll take careful loading to stow +this dinner away proper!" + +He called Nancy to his side and opened the bulging leather pocket +which hung from his belt. "Feel in there," he said. "I brought along +something to fill in the chinks." + +Nancy thrust in her hand, and brought it out filled with raisins. "I +got 'em off a ship just in from the Indies," explained the Captain. +Raisins were a great luxury in the wilderness, and the delighted Nancy +hastened to find a dish and to place them beside the pies. + +"All ready," said the mother at last. "Come to dinner." + +There was no need of a second invitation, and the response to the +summons looked like a stampede. The Goodman and his wife took their +places at the head of the table with the Captain on one side and the +children on the other, and because it was Thanksgiving, and because he +had had such a hard day and night, and most of all because he was so +clean, Zeb was allowed a place at the foot of the board. + +The Goodman asked a blessing and then heaped the trenchers high with +what he called the bounty of the Lord. There was only one cloud on +Dan's sunshine during the meal. On account of Zeb, who when in doubt +still faithfully imitated him, he was obliged to be an example all +through the dinner. Even with such a model to copy, Zeb had great +trouble with his spoon and showed a regrettable tendency to feed +himself with both hands at once. + +The turkey was a wonder of tenderness, the vegetables done to a turn, +the Indian pudding much better than its name, and as for the pies, the +Captain declared they were "fit to be et by the angels and most too +good for a sinner like him." + +Beside each plate the Goodwife had placed a few kernels of corn, and +at the end of the feast, when the Goodman rose to return thanks, he +took them in his hand. + +"In the midst of plenty," he said to his children, "let us not forget +the struggles of the past and what we owe to the pioneers who first +adventured into this wilderness and made a path for those of us who +have followed them. Though they nearly perished of hunger and cold +in the beginning, they failed not in faith. When they had but a few +kernels of corn to eat, they still gave thanks, choosing like Daniel +to live on pulse with a good conscience rather than to eat from a +king's table. As the Lord prospered Daniel, so hath he prospered us." + +Then they all stood with folded hands and bent heads, while he gave +thanks for the abundant harvest and prayed that they might be guided +to use every blessing to the honor and glory of God. And the Captain +said, "Amen." + +[Illustration] + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS + + +THE PURITAN TWINS will admirably supplement the study of +American history and geography in grades 6 and 7. The nation-wide +revival of interest in all that concerns the Pilgrim Fathers, begun at +the time of the Tercentenary in 1920, will continue for many years. + +Whether children are able to trace their ancestry back to the little +band that crossed the Atlantic in the Mayflower, or whether they trace +it to voyagers of a less remote period--and the other volumes in the +Twins Series are closely linked with many of these later ones--their +interest in the days of the forefathers of our country should be the +same; for these early settlers gave to America the spirit of liberty, +a respect for law and organized government, and a standard of clean +living and right thinking which it is our duty to preserve and to pass +on to coming generations. + +The best suggestions to teachers consist of brief and helpful +references to authoritative books that will give an accurate picture +of the early days of our country in the making and of the Pilgrim +country as it is to-day. Properly presented to pupils, the material +gleaned from these books will help them to form a more definite idea +of what every American should do to preserve intact the national peace +and prosperity which is their heritage. + +In the following list, titles marked with an asterisk contain material +which can be understandingly read by the pupils themselves. It will be +better to have the teacher read to the class from the others. + + +READINGS IN AMERICAN HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT + +*Tappan's _Elementary History of Our Country_, Chapters 4 to 9 +inclusive. These deal with the whole period of colonization. + +Thwaites and Kendall's _History of the United States for Schools_. +Chapters 3 to 9 inclusive. This is a more advanced book which +amplifies the story. There are valuable suggestions for reading in +standard literature. + +Guitteau's _Preparing for Citizenship_. Chapter 19 is of great +inspirational value. + +*Webster's _Americanization and Citizenship_. The following paragraphs +set forth American ideals in their origin and development: 44, 52, 53, +54, 55, 63, 73, 117-121. + +*Tappan's _Our European Ancestors_. Chapters 16-20 inclusive. These +describe the European rivalries which influenced the colonization of +America. + +*Tappan's _Little Book of Our Flag_. Particularly chapters 1 and 2 +respectively, "The Flags that Brought the Colonists," and "The Pine +Tree Flag and Others." + +Griffis's _Young People's History of the Pilgrims_. The conditions +which led to the sailing of the Pilgrims are clearly sketched and +emphasis is laid on the viewpoint of the Pilgrim boys and girls. + +*Griffis's _The Pilgrims in Their Three Homes: England, Holland, and +America_. The life of the Pilgrims in church and school, at work and +play, including their flight and refuge, is fully described. + +*Tappan's _American Hero Stories_. Five stories center around the +colonists, of whom, of course, Miles Standish is one. + +*Tappan's _Letters from Colonial Children_. These letters give an idea +of life in representative American colonies seen through a child's +eyes. They present a vivid and historically accurate picture of the +times. + +*Hawthorne's _Grandfather's Chair_. These stories have never grown old +or tiresome to children--and probably never will. No stories ever +gave a better introduction to our history from the settlement of New +England to the War for Independence. + +*Deming and Bemis's _Stories of Patriotism_. A series of stirring +tales of patriotic deeds by Americans from the time of the Colonists +to the present. + +*Bemis's _The Patriotic Reader_. The selections cover the history of +our country from the discovery of America to our entrance into the +Great War. They give one a familiarity with literature--new and +old--that presents the highest ideals of freedom and justice. + +*Longfellow's _Courtship of Miles Standish_. A well annotated edition +is published in the Riverside Literature Series. + +Jane G. Austin's _The Old Colony Stories_. These novels, dealing with +the early settlers of Plymouth, have taken their place among the +American classics, and their combination of romantic interest, real +literary quality, and historical accuracy has won for them wide +popularity. The titles alone bring before the mind a vision of the +most famous colonists: _Betty Alden_, _A Nameless Nobleman_, _Standish +of Standish_, _Dr. LeBaron and his Daughters_, _David Alden's Daughter +and Other Stories_. + +Fiske's _The Beginnings of New England_. This is one of the most +readable of the authoritative histories. + + +READINGS IN GEOGRAPHY + +Edwards's _The Old Coast Road_. The South Shore road from Boston to +Plymouth is one of the most historic roads in the country. Starting +from Boston, Miss Edwards guides her readers through Dorchester +Heights, Milton and the Blue Hills, Quincy with its Shipbuilding, +Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, the Scituate Shore, Marshfield, the +Home of Daniel Webster, Duxbury and Kingston. She concludes with an +informing chapter on Plymouth. + +Edwards's _Cape Cod, New and Old_. Delightful essays on the +Cape--brief, entertaining, and containing precisely those facts which +every reader wants to know. + + +DRAMATIZATIONS + +*Longfellow's _Courtship of Miles Standish_. Dramatized. This is +equipped with suggestions for stage settings, properties and costumes. + +*Austin's _Standish of Standish_. Dramatized. Historically true +portrayals of character and atmosphere. There are suggestions for +costumes and other details of acting. + +Baker's _The Pilgrim Spirit_. This book contains the words spoken +by the characters in the various episodes comprising the Pageant +presented at Plymouth, Massachusetts, during the summer of 1921. It +re-creates in masterly fashion the atmosphere of old colony times. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Puritan Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURITAN TWINS *** + +***** This file should be named 16644.txt or 16644.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16644/ + +Produced by Alicia Williams, Lesley Halamek and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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