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diff --git a/44165-0.txt b/44165-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b9ed94 --- /dev/null +++ b/44165-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7850 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44165 *** + +SOLDIER RIGDALE + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: "As if he knew the place and held he had the right to +come there."] + + + + +Soldier Rigdale + +HOW HE SAILED IN THE "MAYFLOWER" + +AND HOW HE SERVED MILES STANDISH + + BY + + Beulah Marie Dix + AUTHOR OF "HUGH GWYETH: A ROUNDHEAD CAVALIER" + + + _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY REGINALD B. BIRCH_ + + + New York + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. + 1899 + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1899, + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + + _Norwood Press + J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith + Norwood, Mass., U.S.A._ + + + + +Contents + + + CHAPTER I Page + Playing with Powder 1 + + CHAPTER II + The Name of Miles 17 + + CHAPTER III + Thievish Harbor 30 + + CHAPTER IV + Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water 45 + + CHAPTER V + News from the Shore 61 + + CHAPTER VI + The Going Landward 74 + + CHAPTER VII + The Man of the Family 81 + + CHAPTER VIII + In the Time of the Sickness 95 + + CHAPTER IX + Master Hopkins's Guest 108 + + CHAPTER X + The Lords of the Soil 125 + + CHAPTER XI + When the Good Ship Sailed 141 + + CHAPTER XII + The Sowing of the Fields 156 + + CHAPTER XIII + The Two Edwards 171 + + CHAPTER XIV + A Mighty Resolution 187 + + CHAPTER XV + In the Southward Country 202 + + CHAPTER XVI + The House of Bondage 217 + + CHAPTER XVII + How they kept the Sabbath 228 + + CHAPTER XVIII + At Nauset Village 243 + + CHAPTER XIX + Fallen among Friends 257 + + CHAPTER XX + A Son of Perdition 270 + + CHAPTER XXI + Between Man and Man 283 + + CHAPTER XXII + The Bearer of Tidings 296 + + CHAPTER XXIII + The Captain's Soldier 311 + + + + +List of Illustrations + + + "As if he knew the place, and held he had the right to + come there" (p. 111) _Frontispiece_ + + Opposite Page + "With his arm up to shut out the glare of the lanterns" 14 + + "Dolly plaited a fold of her apron between her fingers" 66 + + "'Do you like to do it, Captain Standish?'" 102 + + "Saw the two young men close in combat" 184 + + "'Oh, Miles, 'tis the savages come for us!'" 214 + + "Miles made out the figures of the men in the shallop" 254 + + "The breath came gripingly in his throat" 308 + + + + +SOLDIER RIGDALE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PLAYING WITH POWDER + + +WITH the approach of sunset, the wind that all day had ruffled the +waves to white edges died down, till there was left on the water only +a long, heaving motion, that rudely swayed the old ship _Mayflower_. +One moment from her broad deck could be seen the steel-like gleam of +the fresh-water pond on the distant beach; the next moment, as the ship +rolled between the waves, the shore presented nothing but solid sand +dunes and shrubby pine trees. But always overhead the sky, athwart +which the yards, bulging with the furled sails, were raking, remained +the same,--a level reach of thick gray that, as twilight drew on, +seemed to brood closer over earth and ocean. + +How those yards seesawed up and down with the rolling of the ship, and +the mastheads, they dipped too, quite as if they might pitch down upon +a body! Miles Rigdale, standing with legs craftily planted and head +thrown well back, stared and stared at their measured movement till, +dizzy with the feeling that the great spars were tottering loose, he +was glad to straighten his aching neck once more. + +"Did you see a goose, all roasted, flying for your mouth?" Francis +Billington called from the waist of the ship, where he perched jauntily +upon the bulwark. + +Sauntering from his place near the companion way, Miles halted beside +the speaker; not that he had a great liking for Francis Billington, but +he was a sociable lad, who must talk to some one, and, as the bleak air +had driven the women and children into the great cabin, while the men +were absent,--the leaders conferring in the roundhouse and the lesser +men seeking firewood on shore,--he could for the moment find no comrade +save young Billington. + +The latter was an unprepossessing lad, stunted and small for his +fourteen years, with elfish eyes which he now turned sharply on Miles. +"I take it, Jack Cooke is ill, and Giles Hopkins has packed you +about your business, that you've come to spend the time with me," he +suggested disagreeably. + +"I take it, maybe you've spoke the truth," Miles answered unruffled, +as he propped his chin on his fists and braced his elbows against the +bulwark. + +Gazing thus northward, he could see all about him green hills, wooded +to the water's edge, now higher, now lower, as the ship mounted upon +the waves, and the strip of sand beach, off which rode the bobbing +longboat. "I wish my father had taken me with him when they went to +fetch the wood," Miles broke out at that sight; "it's weeks and weeks +since I set foot on land." + +"Pooh! I've been ashore thrice already," bragged Francis, setting one +arm akimbo, though he took good care to grip the shrouds tightly with +the other hand, for the bulwark was not the safest of perches. + +Miles tried to swallow down his envy, but he could not help saying, +with a touch of triumph: "Anyhow, you saw no savages, and my father saw +'em when he went exploring with Captain Standish,--six Indians and a +dog, he saw." + +"So did my father," Francis sought to crush him; but Miles, declaring +sudden truce, was asking, with civil interest: "You did not see any +lions when you went ashore, did you, Francis?" + +"N--no, but Ned Dotey thought he heard one roar the other night." + +"Father would not take our mastiff Trug on land lest they kill him. +Trug would give 'em a fight for it, though. But he couldn't fight the +serpents; nobody could. Did you know, Francie, there's a serpent here +in America,--they call it the rattlesnake,--and if it but breathe on +you, you die presently." + +"How do you know?" asked Francis, awed, but incredulous. + +"My father read it in a book about plantations in Virginia. Maybe +the serpents lie close in cold weather, though, so you did not see +them." Miles was silent a long instant, while he gazed fixedly at +the mysterious shore yonder, where all these rarities were to be met +with. "The trees do not look like our English trees," he said, half +to himself, "but I'd fain go in among them. Perhaps you found conies +there, Francis? There were a plenty of them on the common at home; Trug +and I used to chase them, and 'twas brave sport." + +"Mayhap if you had Trug with you, you could start some here," suggested +Francis. "Tell you, Miles, you beg your father let you go ashore +to-morrow, and I'll go too, and we'll seek for conies together. Will +you?" + +"'Tis no use," Miles answered, scowling straight ahead. + +"Why not?" + +"Father says I cannot go," the boy blurted out. "I answered him saucily +this morning, and he said for that I should not stir foot off the ship +for a week. I think--I think he might let me go ashore. Along the first +I was coughing, so my mother said I must not venture in the boat; and +then my sister Dolly was ailing, and I must stay to bear her company; +and then it stormed; and now he will not let me go. And I am so weary +of this ship!" + +"I'd not bear such usage from any man," Francis boasted grandly. "If +'twere my daddy treated me so harshly, I'd tell him to his face 'a' was +a sour old curmudgeon, and--" + +"You need not talk so of my father," Miles interrupted sullenly, though +he held his eyes fixed upon the shore line, not on the speaker. It was +hard, while he looked toward the land of wonders, still unknown to him, +to think quite kindly of the father who had arbitrarily shut him out +from the enjoyment of it. "If you miscall him so again, Francis, I'll +fight you," he added, conscience-stricken, in the hope of making amends +for the disloyalty of his thoughts. + +Francis bent his sharp eyes on his companion, but did not take up the +challenge; indeed, a less discreet lad than he might have considered +an instant before coming to fisticuffs with Miles Rigdale. The boy, +for his scant eleven years, was of a proper height, with straight +back and sturdy limbs, a stocky, yet not clumsy, little figure, that +promised a vigorous stature when he came to man's age. His deeply +tanned face, that was lightly sprinkled with brown freckles, was +square and resolute; his blue eyes were very level and honest; and his +tousled brown hair tumbled about his forehead in a way to make more +women than his mother think him a bonny boy. For the rest, he was clad +humbly enough in doublet and breeches of dark gray frieze, with long +gray stockings and stout shoes; he wore neither cloak nor hat, and his +clenched fists, that now rested firmly on the bulwark, were bare and +chapped red by the wind. + +It was the sight of the aggressive fists that made Francis use a +different tone: "You're a pretty comrade, Miles, to fly out at me so." + +"You may leave my father in peace, then." + +"Perhaps you'd wish me to leave you in peace too. I know Goodman +Rigdale has forbid his little son speak to me." + +"I'm still speaking to you, am I not?" answered Miles, and bent to +adjust one of his shoes, so Francis could not see his face; those last +words had hit dangerously near. + +"But you'll show me a clean pair of heels very speedily," sneered his +companion, "for yonder the boat with your good father is putting off +from shore, and when he comes--" + +"That's how the wind blows, is it?" struck in a new voice close at +hand. Looking over his shoulder, Miles saw, lounging on a coil of +rope by the foremast, a certain Edward Lister, one of the servants +of Master Stephen Hopkins. He was a slim, dark fellow of some twenty +years, whom Miles admired for a tall swaggerer, because he always wore +his red cap rakishly on one side, and, since the rules about lighting +tobacco aboard ship were strict, was ever chewing at a long pine +splinter instead of a pipe. "So if your father catch you with Master +Billington here, he'll swinge you soundly, eh, Miles Rigdale?" he +asked, with his mouth quite grave, but a glancing mockery in his black +eyes. "Better show us how briskly you can run into the cabin." + +Miles ostentatiously leaned his shoulders against the bulwark and +crossed one leg over the other, as if he thought to finish the +afternoon in that position. Shifting round thus, his gaze travelled +beyond his companions to the high quarter-deck, where he spied several +men trudging forth from the roundhouse. "Has the conference broken +off?" he asked, forgetting in his curiosity that he was angry with both +Francis and Ned Lister. + +"How else?" the latter answered dryly, and, rising to his feet, +sauntered over to the two boys. "D'ye think they would confer without +the great Master Hopkins? And he quit the roundhouse long since. +Wearied out, doubtless, with such vigorous labor. It has taken them an +hour to determine no more than to send forth a gang to-morrow and try +a third time for a place where we may settle." + +"Another exploration? Is my father to go on it, do you know?" Miles +questioned. + +"They won't let any but the great folk have a hand therein; daddy said +'twould be so," commented Francis. + +"True enough," scoffed Lister; "the Governor, and Captain Standish, +Master Bradford, Master Winslow, Master Hopkins, and--the worshipful +Master Edward Dotey." + +"Aha!" jeered Francis. "They're taking old Hopkins's other man Dotey +along, and Ned Lister is jealous of him." + +"Hold your tongue!" cried Lister, catching the lad by the scruff of the +neck, "else I'll heave you over the bulwark." + +Francis twisted up his face and opened his mouth in a prodigious, +dry-eyed howl, which would have set Miles laughing, had he not been +intent just then upon the approaching boat. He could see her visibly +growing larger, as she bounded nearer and nearer over the swell of the +water, and each moment he recalled more distinctly in what terms his +father had forbidden him have to do with "that Satanish brood of the +Billingtons." Miles shuffled one foot uneasily; perhaps he really ought +to go into the cabin now and see how his sick friend, Jack Cooke, was +faring. + +He turned away and had idled a few paces along the deck, when Francis, +who had been suffered wrest out of Lister's hold, called after him: +"Ah, Miles daren't let his father find him with me. I knew so." + +"It's not so, neither," Miles flung back, and made a great show of +stopping by the mainmast, where he stood gazing down the open hatchway +which led to those cabins that were in the depth of the hold. "Aren't +you coming with me, Francis?" he asked presently. + +The other, quite undeceived, came snickering up to him: "Have no fear; +I'll take myself off ere your father come. Sure, you're a stout-hearted +one, Miles." + +"You're a pretty fellow to talk of courage," Miles was goaded into +replying, "after the way you howled out but now. You might have known +Ned Lister'd do you no hurt." + +"No doubt you'd not have been afraid," his tormentor scoffed. "You're +not afraid of anybody save your father." + +"So are you, if you told the truth of it," Miles took him up. "You'd +not have Goodman Billington hear you vaporing so for all the silver +crowns in England, and if Goodwife Billington came by and heard you, +she'd cuff your ears smartly." + +Francis's sallow face reddened. "Much she would!" he said angrily. +"I'll show you I be no milksop to stand in fear of my father and +mother. Maybe now you think I'd not dare to--" he paused, his eyes +half-closed, while he tried to concoct some peculiarly wicked sounding +project--"to take some of my father's gunpowder and make squibs?" he +concluded, with a triumphant look at his companion. + +"No, I don't think you dare," Miles answered stolidly. + +"Come, then, I'll show you," the other cried, and headed for the +companion way that descended beneath the quarter-deck. + +Four steps down, and, passing through a narrow door, they entered +into the stifle and stir of the "great" or main cabin. On every hand +murmured the ceaseless confusion that always filled the straitened +space: underfoot, sometimes with fretful wrangling, children were at +play; women were passing to and from their cabins, or dressing their +meat for the evening meal at the long table; upon the benches several +sick men, whose heavy voices were audible through the shriller tones of +those about them, sat together in talk. Over all, the brightness from +the narrow skylights fell wanly, so the corners of the low apartment +were dusky with thick shadows, and the dim outline of the great timbers +overhead, and the slits of doors into the double tier of little cabins +adjoining, could only just be made out. + +Miles was glad of the half light, for he knew well that if his mother +should chance to be there and see him with Francis, she would make +a pretext of some task to call him to her. He caught sight of her +now, as she stood by the table in speech with Constance Hopkins, and, +almost treading on Francis's heels in his hurry, he slipped into the +Billingtons' cabin. + +It was the veriest closet of a room in which he found himself, black, +save for a glint of sickly light that crept through an opening in the +door, by which Miles contrived presently to discern the unmade bunk +along the wall, the mattress, still spread out upon the floor, and the +iron kettle and other vague household stuff that littered untidily +the narrow space. Comparing it with his father's ordered cabin, he +recalled his mother's indignant comment to Mistress Hopkins, that Ellen +Billington was a poor, thriftless body, who would better be tidying her +quarters than gossiping with her neighbors. + +"Now you'll see what I dare, Master Miles," Francis broke in, as, with +much panting, he dragged from beneath the bunk a small keg. "This is +gunpowder, if you be not afraid of the sight of it." + +"It does not take much courage to touch gunpowder," said Miles, bending +forward from the bunk, where he had seated himself, and plunging his +fist into the keg. "Let's see your squibs, Francis." + +Young Billington stretched himself on his stomach and, grubbing once +more beneath the bunk, drew out a fistful of rustling papers. "These +are leaves I tore from a jest book of daddy's," he bragged. "No doubt +you won't believe I durst." + +Miles made no reply; after all, he scarcely cared to prolong his +differences with a boy who had such a delightful plaything as a keg of +powder. "Let me make a squib too, Francie," he begged, squatting down +on the mattress beside his host. + +For a space there was silence, while, with some hard breathing, the +two, guided more by touch than by any sight they had in the dark cabin, +labored industriously. Blacker and blacker it grew all round them, till +they struck their hands together as they groped in the keg, when a +ray of faint yellow light, that must fall from a lantern in the great +cabin, stole through the door. + +Now they could see how they were faring at their work, and Francis, +who had laid his handfuls of powder on the papers and folded them +quite dexterously, laughed in provoking fashion at Miles, who, new to +this game, had spilt the powder and failed to make his papers stay +folded. "It's all very well," the boy retorted irritably, as one of his +painfully made squibs, bursting open, scattered powder between his +knees, "but after you've made these mighty squibs what else do you do?" + +"Why, I'll light a bit of match," said Francis, scrambling to his feet, +"and then we'll touch 'em off." + +Miles jumped up delightedly, and, reasoning that a really satisfactory +squib should be set off in darkness, took from the bunk a blanket which +he fastened by two nails across the opening in the door. + +Meantime Francis had struck his father's flint and steel together, till +at length he succeeded in catching a spark upon the piece of "match" or +twisted tow steeped in saltpetre. Miles could see the little red point +shimmering in the dark and, picking up the squibs, he moved warily +toward it. "Gi' me a squib," came Francis's voice, close at his feet. +More accustomed to the dimness now, Miles could make out the boy's +crouching figure and saw him lean far forward with one arm outstretched +to touch off the powder. + +Then he felt Francis crowd up against his knees, and instinctively he +drew back so his own body was pressed against the wall. Out of the dark +on the floor, right at his feet, started a little flicker of flame +which, with a sudden whishing sound, leaped up, a broad, bluish puff +of fire, almost in his eyes; then, before the exclamation had left his +lips, died sizzling away. + +"That was brave, wasn't it?" spoke Francis, in a rather quavering +voice. "You can touch off one now." + +[Illustration: "With his arm up to shut out the glare of the lanterns."] + +Miles eagerly seized the match and, setting it to a squib, flung the +twisted paper a pace from him. The same whiz, burst, sizzle, but this +time he lost the keen pleasure in a sudden hideous thought that, even +as the squib left his hand, came over him. "Francis," he cried, before +the flame died down, "is this safe, think you? Say the powder in the +keg took fire?" + +"Pshaw! You're afraid; I knew you'd be," replied Francis, his own +courage quite restored. + +Thereupon Miles lit a third squib to show his fearlessness, and then +together they set off the remaining two. "That's the last, and I've no +more paper," sighed Francis, and Miles echoed the sigh. + +They were sitting now on the edge of the bunk; the cabin seemed very +black to their eyes, still dazzled with the last flash, and the air +was hot and heavy with the pungent odor of burnt powder. Miles sniffed +it contentedly. "This is what 'twould be like in a great battle," he +began. "Sometime I mean to be a soldier and have a musket. Did you ever +shoot with a musket, Francis?" + +"No, but I've shot off a fowling piece," answered the other. He +clambered upon the bunk, groping audibly in the dark, and presently +dropped down again beside his companion with something long and +slender and heavy in his arms. "Look you, Miles, here's daddy's fowling +piece now," he said exultantly. "What say if I shoot her off?" + +"'Twould make a mighty big noise in so small a room," Miles answered +longingly. + +"Give me the match, then." + +Later Miles remembered clearly how Francis had sprung to his feet at +the word, but after that all was a confusion of dire noises,--a rending +crash, then a sound of women screaming, of children crying, and of +men running with clattering footsteps across the great cabin. Through +it all he felt the weight of Francis Billington, who had pitched back +against him, and he saw a little spurt of yellow fire that licked along +the boards. Though he did not remember snatching a blanket from the +bunk, one was in his hand, and he was down upon the floor, smothering +the flames that would press out beyond the edges. A powder keg was +somewhere near, he recollected, and he beat out one little jet of flame +with his hand, that smarted fiercely. + +It all must have taken a long, long time, but still the women screamed, +and the heavy footsteps had only just reached the door. The latch +rattled beneath a rough hand, the light streamed into the cabin, and +Miles dropped back against the bunk, with his arm up to shut out the +glare of the lanterns, and the sight, too, of the angry faces in the +doorway. "Francis, Francis," he found himself saying, in a poor whisper +that he realized was not meant for Francis Billington's ears, "we must +'a' killed some one." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NAME OF MILES + + +IN the great cabin two huge, smoky lanterns, that swayed from the beams +overhead, cast blending white circles in the middle space, while the +corners still remained dusky. Somewhere, there in the dark, a woman +was crying hysterically, and others, calmer, but with startled, white +faces, were standing beyond the group of men, who were gathered round +the door of the Billingtons' cabin. Miles saw about him all the faces, +terrified or menacing, but it was blurrily, as in a dream. He kept +telling himself it was all a dream, an ugly dream, and presently he +would awake to find he had never gone with Francis Billington, and very +glad he would be to awake so. + +But the grasp on his neck--it was big John Alden, the cooper from +Southampton, who had dragged him out into the great cabin--was real, +and so, he now found, were the faces of the men who confronted him. The +Elder, William Brewster, with his gray hair, and grave Governor Carver, +he noted among them, with a hopeless feeling that all the majesty of +the company was come thither to judge him. Close by, he heard Francis +Billington crying, with tearful sobs, not dry howls alone, but Miles +dropped his shamed eyes to the floor of the cabin and did not look at +his companion. He heard Goodman Billington's rough voice, thick with +abuse and threats against his son, and then he heard the Elder cut him +short: "Peace now, friend. Maybe the lad is hurt." + +Just then, from within the Billingtons' cabin, whence a light smoke +still drifted, spoke a quick, deep voice: "Come you in and lend a hand, +Alden. There is work for two needs despatch. The floor here is over +shoe thick with powder." + +"Ay, Captain Standish," the young man answered promptly, and loosed his +hold on Miles's collar. + +There was a little movement in the group of men, and Master Stephen +Hopkins, stepping closer to the cabin door, peered in and spoke +solemnly: "A full keg of powder broke open! 'Tis by the mercy of Heaven +alone the ship was not blown into atoms." + +"I did not have it in mind to blow up the ship," Miles faltered, +raising his eyes. "I did but touch off a squib--because it would burn +bravely." There the words choked in his throat, for, a little back from +the other men, he caught sight of his father, and Goodman Rigdale's +arms were folded, his heavy brows drawn close together, and his lips, +beneath his beard, set in a way Miles knew of old. "I did not mean it," +he repeated huskily, and, gazing at the floor again, began crushing a +fold of his doublet in his hand. + +About him there was questioning and answering, he knew, and he heard +Francis whimper: "'Twas Miles. He touched off squibs, he did." + +"Squibs do not make such a noise as that we heard," Governor Carver +interrupted sternly. + +"'Twas daddy's fowling piece. Miles Rigdale and I shot her off, and +he--" + +"Let Miles Rigdale rest," the Elder admonished. "Do you tell us of +Francis Billington." + +Bit by bit a fairly accurate story was drawn from the two boys, though +by such slow and woful stages that before it was ended Captain Miles +Standish and John Alden, with their hands all grimed with powder, +came out from the cabin. Miles stole a fearful side-glance at the +Low Country soldier, who, being trained in the brutal discipline of +the camps, was likely to prove a harsher judge than the Elder or +the Governor, but, to his relief, he saw the Captain halt beside +Goodman Billington, to whom he growled out some pithy advice as to +the expediency of keeping his powder covered up and out of reach of +mischievous hands. + +Miles took heart a little then, as much as he could take heart while he +knew Goodman Rigdale was frowning in the background, and even ventured +to look up when he heard Elder Brewster say, in a tone which a trace +of amusement and much relief made almost kindly: "Well, well, 'twas no +Guy Fawkes conspiracy, it seems, only the folly of two scatter-brained +lads. Your Excellency scarce will set them in the bilboes?" + +"Nay, I leave it to their fathers to teach them not to meddle with such +tools in future," Governor Carver answered gravely; and thereupon, with +a surly mutter or so from other fathers in the company as to what the +two culprits deserved to get, the men scattered to weightier affairs. + +As the group thinned, Miles was left face to face with his father, who, +making a curt sign for him to come after, led the way to the door of +the cabin. Miles felt queer and empty at the pit of his stomach, and +his fingers trembled as he began unhooking his doublet, but he followed +along bravely. His eyes were still downcast, and, as he stepped, he +counted the planks in the flooring and tried to think of nothing but +their number. + +Out in the darkness of the forward deck his father gave him such +punishment as he looked for,--a beating with a rope's end, so hard that +Miles had to set his teeth tight and clench his hands to keep from +crying. Once, in the midst, Goodman Rigdale stayed his arm, and in the +instant's cessation Miles, standing in his shirt-sleeves, felt the wind +from across the harbor strike cold on his hot flesh, that was quivering +with the blows. "That is for that you near destroyed the ship," his +father spoke, gravely and without anger. "Now I must flog you for that +you disobeyed me, and had to do with one of those Billington imps." + +The second whipping ended, Miles huddled on his doublet, stiffly and +awkwardly, glad of the darkness that hid his face. Goodman Rigdale was +speaking again: "And ere you lie down to-night, my son, remember to +give thanks unto God that by His mercy He has preserved you from being +cast into His presence with the deaths of all that are within this ship +upon your soul." + +Miles did not quite follow the words, but, with a sense that he was +the chiefest of sinners, and with a keen realization that his back and +sides were smarting, he gulped out an unsteady "Yes, sir," and blindly +fled away. + +Aft of the foremast, as he stumbled uncertainly, he ran against a +woman, and at once he knew it was his mother. In an unformed way he was +aware that she had been waiting to comfort him, and at each blow had +suffered more than he. Her voice was quavering now, though she tried +hard to keep her everyday tone: "Come, come down to the cabin now. +Father has shot a bird, and I've made a broth to our supper. Come, +deary, it is turning chill here." + +Shaking off the hand she laid on his arm, Miles broke away and ran to +the mainmast, where the hatchway yawned. Slipping and swinging on the +steep ladder, he descended headlong; he was not going to his father's +cabin, nor did he know whither he was going, only that he wanted to be +by himself. On the orlop deck he halted an instant before passing down +into the hold; below, there would be many people, while here, for the +moment, he was alone. He stood blinking at the dim lantern that hung by +the ladder, till slowly it grew blurry to his eyes, and, raising his +bent arm, he hid his face. + +It seemed only a moment before he heard someone come tramping up from +the hold, and felt a hand on his shoulder. He was turned round; he +had to look up; and he saw, standing over him, Master Hopkins, very +grim and stern, as was his wont. "I am glad to see these tears of +repentance, Miles Rigdale," he spoke severely. + +Miles wriggled out of his hold. "I am not repentant," he cried. "I wish +I _had_ blown _you_ up. Now you can go bid my father flog me again." +With that he dodged the hand Hopkins put out to detain him, and, +jumping over some coils of rope, scrambled away out of reach. + +Clambering over the chests and kegs that were placed upon the orlop, +he paused only when he reached the next cleared space, by the forward +hatchway that led to the gunroom. There it was all dark, a comfortable, +thick blackness, and, to make it safer and lonelier, he crept under a +table that was stored among other household stuff. + +For a moment he sat panting, and listened to the lap, lap of the waves +upon the side of the ship and to his own heavy breathing, but he heard +no sound of any one's pursuing him. Doubtless Master Hopkins had +gone away to tell every one that he was crying and repentant, Miles +tormented himself; no matter, he was never coming out to be jeered at +and preached to; he would stay under the table forever, and he would +not shed another tear to please them. + +So he sat, rigid and still, and each moment grew more keenly aware that +he was sore from his beating, that his head ached, and his burnt hand +throbbed, and his heart was big with a great burden of shame. Of a +sudden, in the stillness and dark, he heard a sob. Then he found it was +himself, lying with his head buried in his arms against the crosspiece +that braced the legs of the table, and crying helplessly. + +He had lost track of the minutes, but he had lain there a long time, +he knew, for his arms were numb with the pressure of the crosspiece +against them, and his throat ached with much sobbing, when he caught +the sound of a footstep on the planking of the orlop. At the same +moment, light beat against his smarting eyelids, and, opening his eyes, +he raised his head to look. + +The edges of the table under which he crouched were silhouetted blackly +against the yellow lantern-glow, which crept midway into his shelter. +Following with his eyes along the light, he could see beyond the table +the joinings of the planks of the floor, a bit of the ladder that led +to the main deck, and by the ladder, in shadow as the lantern was +raised, the lower part of a man's body. + +Miles stared breathlessly at the commonplace leather shoes and kersey +breeches,--all the rest the table hid from his view,--while he strove +to hold back a sob that was halfway up his throat. It would out, but he +tried to turn it into a sneeze, which ended in a mournful, indefinable +gurgle. + +Instantly the light of the lantern, swinging round, swept almost into +his face, and a deep voice commanded: "Come out hither." + +Miles sat up, tense and braced. "Is it you, Captain Standish?" he +asked, in a small voice. Not that, to his knowledge, Miles Standish had +ever hurt any one, but he was a brusque, peremptory man, reputed of a +fiery temper; it was for this, probably, that Master Hopkins had sent +him hither, as one fitted to deal out further punishment to such a +criminal as Miles Rigdale. + +"Come out, and you'll speedily find if 'tis I," Standish's voice +rejoined grimly. + +Miles rubbed his sleeve across his eyes, the rough frieze hurting them +rarely, then dubiously crept from his shelter. The straight course was +to crawl toward the light, but to go that way would land him squarely +at the Captain's feet,--a last touch of ignominy that he could not +endure. So he scrambled painfully over the crosspieces and round the +table-legs, till he came out upon the open floor the width of the +table-top from the enemy. + +"It's naught but you, is it?" the Captain greeted him, and turned the +lantern so the light fell full upon him. + +The boy struggled hastily to his feet. "Ay, sir," he nodded, without +speaking or looking up. + +The other drew a step nearer. "You're one of the knaves who tried to +blow up the _Mayflower_, are you not?" he questioned sternly. "Did you +steal down here to fire the magazine and finish the work?" + +"I--I did not go for to blow up the ship, sir," Miles pleaded, raising +his eyes. With amazed relief, he saw that, for all his gruff tone, the +Captain looked more amused than angry. + +Standish must have taken closer note of him, too, for he asked +abruptly: "You're John Rigdale's lad, are you not?" + +"I am Miles Rigdale." + +The lantern was lowered suddenly. "My namesake, are you? Do you +not think, sirrah, you bear too good a name to drag it into a +powder-burning matter such as this?" + +"I do not hold it a good name," Miles burst out. "I would they had +called me plain Jack." + +"Wherefore, pray you?" + +"Miles is no name at all," the boy hesitated, between shyness and the +desire to vent a long-standing resentment. "It makes me think of the +stone in our village that said: 'Thirteen miles to London.'" + +"Tut, tut, lad! Have you no Latin?" + +Miles slipped one hand under the edge of the table against which he +leaned, and picked at a splinter he found there, while he stammered: +"N--no, sir. There was no school in our village, and, had there been, +my father could not spare me from the farm. I must help him, for I'm +mighty strong for my years," he added gravely. "And I never want to go +sit in a school, either. I am glad there will be no schools here in +the plantation, not till I'm a man and can do as I will. I hold that +is the best part of all in planting a colony, except the lions and the +savages." + +"And what do you think to do with the lions and savages, Miles +Rigdale?" + +"Fight 'em, sir." + +Captain Standish chuckled softly in his beard. "You'll fight 'em, eh? +'Tis a great pity, in truth, no one has told you what name you bear. +You should know that Miles in the Latin tongue signifies 'a soldier.'" + +Miles forgot that his cheeks were tear-stained and his eyes swollen, +and looked up happily into the speaker's face. "I am right glad of +that," he announced. "'Tis a good enough name, after all." He was +sorely tempted to ask the Captain if he had been named that after he +proved himself a soldier in the wars, or if they named him first and he +grew to it afterward, but he concluded that would be over-bold. + +Though, after all, he began to doubt if Captain Standish were such +a terrible body. He looked pleasant enough now, as he stood in the +lantern light,--a stocky, square-shouldered man of some six and thirty +years, with yellow-brown hair and beard, and eyes so deep set under his +brows Miles could not tell their color. The linen bands at his neck and +wrists were small and plain, and along the sides of his doublet of dark +maroon kersey the rubbing of armor had worn down the cloth. He was not +so fine a gentleman, doubtless, as young Master Edward Winslow, but he +looked the man of war, through and through, and, moreover, he neither +scolded nor preached at a small sinner; Miles began to be glad in his +heart that he bore the same name as the Captain. + +"So, after all, you're content to be named 'Soldier' Rigdale?" Standish +suddenly read the expression of his face. + +"'Tis a soldier that I mean to be," Miles confessed. "I like the smell +of powder." + +"So it seems," the Captain answered, in the dryest possible tone, and +then, as Miles's cheeks began to burn, went on hastily: "Which was it, +you or the Billington lad, put out the fire? We found the blanket on +the floor of the cabin." + +"Mayhap 'twas I. I do not recall it clearly." + +The Captain reached out his hand, and, taking Miles by a fold of the +doublet-sleeve, lifted his arm. "No doubt 'twas you," he said; "you've +blistered your hand here." + +"I know. It aches," Miles whispered, with a sudden husky dropping of +his voice. + +"You'd better go to your mother straightway and ask her to put oil on +it; that will soon draw out the fire." + +"I can't," Miles gulped. "I can never go out among the people again. +When they all think I tried to blow them up,--and when every one will +know I have been newly whipped. I shall stay here forever." His voice +died down as he spoke the last: it did not sound manly, but uncommon +silly. + +"You'd get mighty hungry if you did," the soldier answered him coolly. +"You're going to your mother now, my man. Run along with you. I've to +go on down into the gunroom, but I'll light you up the ladder." + +Miles gave a tremulous gasp of resignation, and scuffed slowly to the +foot of the ladder, where he paused and smeared the back of his hand +across his cheeks; then turned to his companion. "Captain Standish," he +hesitated; then, as it was the only possible way of learning what he +wished to know before he showed himself among the company, he blurted +out desperately, "Will you tell me, is my face clean?" + +Captain Standish looked down at him with a funny expression in his +eyes. "I think 'twill serve in a half light, if you slip directly into +your father's cabin." + +"Thank you, sir," Miles answered; then added hastily, "You see, there +was something flew into my eye, and one that did not know might +think--I had been crying." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THIEVISH HARBOR + + +ONE sharp December afternoon, a week and a day after the Pilgrim +leaders went forth the third time to seek a place for settlement, Love +Brewster and his little brother Wrestling climbed down to the cabins +beneath the main deck to visit their playmate, Dolly Rigdale. The cubby +where Dolly and Miles and their father and mother had lived during the +two months of the voyage over the sea and the five weeks of exploration +that followed, was a dim box of a place, but the little boys liked to +visit it, not only to talk with Dolly, who was nearer their age than +most of the children in the company, but to see Trug and Solomon. + +Trug was the big, grizzled mastiff, who had guarded the house and the +cattle faithfully for so many years that even stern John Rigdale had +not the heart to leave him to strangers; and Solomon, with the wise +eyes of royal yellow, was the fat house-cat, whom Dolly had insisted on +bringing with her to the new home. + +"If it had been my pet, 'twould 'a' had to bide in England," Miles had +told himself, in one bitter, jealous moment, of which he was justly +ashamed. For, without question, Goodman Rigdale cared equally for his +two children, only he held Miles, being a stubborn chip of manhood, +needed frequent beatings, such as the Scriptures enjoined on good +fathers to give their sons, whereas Dolly was just a little wench, with +gray eyes like her mother, so she received very gentle whippings and +triumphantly lugged Solomon on shipboard. + +The sleek, striped creature lay beside her now, for Dolly, still ailing +with her cough, was resting on the bunk beneath the blankets. Wrestling +Brewster, a big-eyed, silent child, sat by her, and, sorry to tell, +joined forces with the little girl in rumpling poor Solomon's fur. "You +are the best pussy," Dolly purred meantime, and, either because of her +flattery or because the warm blankets were comfortable, the cat made no +movement to leave her. + +Ordinarily Miles sniffed at the conversation of eight-year-olds, such +as his sister, but this afternoon he gladly lingered in the cabin, for +the accomplishments of the Brewster lads were amazing enough to lift +them to the rank of companions. Both could jabber Dutch quite as fast +as Miles could speak English, and Love, the talkative one, could tell +wonderful stories of the queer Low Country city of Leyden, where all +his short life had been spent. It was of Leyden he spoke now, sitting +beside Miles on the turned-up mattress, where at night Goodman Rigdale +and his son slept, and Miles, with a question here and there to draw +out what he sought, listened again to the story of the Pilgrims. + +Love had good reason to know it well, for his father, Elder Brewster, +had been from the first one of the leaders of the little company. He +had given all his substance to help the cause of that faith which the +bishops of the great Established Church of England held it right to +crush out; he had suffered imprisonment for the sake of that faith; +and finally, that he and his friends might worship God as they thought +best, had gone into exile in Holland. + +There for twelve years the Pilgrim church held its own, though its +members, for all their efforts to support themselves in that strange +country, fared hardly and poorly. Good Deacon Fuller, the physician, +had been glad to earn his living as a say or serge maker; Master +William Bradford had been a maker of fustian; and the Elder had +maintained his family and aided his poorer companions by teaching +English to Danish and German gentlemen, and later by printing English +books. + +Love told also of Master Carver, the recently elected governor of the +company, who had given his whole fortune to the Pilgrim cause; and +he spoke of gallant Master Edward Winslow, who, travelling in the Low +Countries with his newly married wife, had come to know and to respect +the Pilgrim folk and finally to cast in his lot with theirs. And, best +of all, Love could tell of Captain Standish. + +There the boy turned to what Miles had been waiting to hear, and be +sure that now he eagerly drank in each word: how the Captain came of +a great family in Lancashire, where he had a vast estate which his +kinsfolk had taken from him,--so Love had once heard him say to the +Elder; how he had fought bravely against the wicked Spaniards, as far +back as the time of Queen Bess, when Miles Standish was a very young +man indeed; and how, of a sudden, he had come with his young wife and +joined himself to the Pilgrims, why, none could say, for he was "not of +our faith," Love gravely quoted the older people. + +That last did not greatly displease Miles, perhaps because his own +father was rather a Puritan than an ardent Separatist, as those were +called who, like the Pilgrims of Leyden, broke off all communion with +the Established Church. Goodman John Rigdale grumbled about the bishops +and the vestments of the clergymen and other matters which Miles +neither heeded nor comprehended, but, for all his grumbling, as often +as the law insisted, he and his household went to church. One of the +first and liveliest recollections of childhood which Miles kept, was of +how the red light from the painted windows that his father hated used +to shift along the dark oak of the old pews. + +Lately, though, John Rigdale had spoken out too openly against the +service book, and there had been a citation before the ecclesiastical +court. Miles scarcely understood the matter, but he knew that Dun-face, +the pet heifer, had been sold to pay a fine, and that their landlord, +swearing that he was too good a Church of England man to suffer a +pestilent Separatist hold a farm of him, had refused to renew the +lease, bought long ago by Miles's grandfather, which now ran out. + +Then had come Master Stephen Hopkins, the London tanner, whose first +wife had been a distant cousin of John Rigdale's, and he had talked of +the new country over seas, where a man might have land and a farm of +his own for the asking and worship to please his conscience, not the +king's bishops. Master Hopkins had already made up his mind to embark +with the people from Leyden; he had met their agent, Master Cushman, +and he was acquainted with some of the London merchants who had +formed a partnership with the Leyden people, the Londoners to furnish +money to pay the expenses of the long voyage, the Separatists to give +themselves and their families to defend and till the plantation thus +gained. + +In the end, Master Hopkins's statements were so weighty that Goodman +Rigdale followed his example. The stout farm horse and the cows and the +pigs were all led away to market, and Dolly cried over each one; and +Goodwife Rigdale, too, wept a little when most of the bits of furniture +were sold. But Miles thought it all very merry and stirring,--the +breaking up of the home he had known, the journey to Southampton, all +amidst new sights and sounds, and the ship, and the long voyage over +the sea, till the _Mayflower_ dropped anchor off Cape Cod. + +He was more than a bit weary of the voyage and the ship now, however, +as he sat on the turned-up mattress in his father's stuffy little +cabin. The dead air was cold without being bracing, and Miles broke +short Love's discourse on the journey of the Leyden Pilgrims into +England, by springing up and stamping his chilled feet. + +"It _is_ a shrewd cold day," said his companion. "See!" He puffed at +the air, and his breath made a little white cloud. "Maybe we'd best go +up on deck and run." + +At that word the two older boys turned to the door, but Wrestling shook +his head and, pressing closer to Dolly, whispered: "Before I go, I want +that you show me the Indian basket." + +Miles overheard, and delayed to draw from beneath the bunk the deal box +in which the treasure was kept. Wrestling was so young that he seemed +hardly more than a baby, and as a baby Miles had a kindly, protecting +feeling for him; when he rose with the box he opened it so the little +boy might have the first sight. Within lay a tiny basket all of silk +grass, pictured on which in black and white were birds and flowers of a +curious pattern. + +"Did your father truly bring it from the Indians?" Love asked. + +"He brought it home to me," Dolly explained proudly. "It was in an +Indian house, and my father found it when he went ashore with Captain +Standish. And so he brought it to me." + +Wrestling touched the fragile thing gingerly. "I wish our father fought +the Indians once," he murmured. + +"It is better to be an Elder," Love rebuked him sternly; then added, +lest Dolly's feelings be hurt, "though, to be sure, there can be but +one Elder in a company. The rest must be fighting men, must they not, +Miles?" + +But Miles gave no heed; for just then the sound of soft footsteps made +him glance to the open door, at which the light drifted in, and there, +standing on the threshold, he saw his mother. + +Years afterward, when he looked back, Miles realized Goodwife Rigdale +had been a young woman then, not above thirty, but in those days it +seemed to him she must be old, because she was his mother; he even +wondered that she had not hair streaked with gray, like Mistress +Brewster. Mothers were always old, he generalized rashly, just as they +were always gentle-spoken and full of kindness; only that last judgment +he revoked, after he came aboard the _Mayflower_ and heard Goodwife +Billington, a true London virago, rail at her sons and saw her cuff +them. + +But his own mother was not to be belittled by naming her with Ellen +Billington; she was everything that was good and to be loved, even +if she did not wear such a brave gown as Mistress Winslow, nor have +such pink cheeks as Mistress Standish. Miles drew away from the bunk, +against which he had been leaning, to make room for her to sit, though +he did it awkwardly, because Love and Wrestling were looking. + +"I'll bide a bit now with my little maid," she said, as she drew the +blankets more closely about Dolly. "You'll want to be running up on +deck now, I can guess, deary, and Love and Wrestling too, if Mistress +Brewster will suffer it." + +"Mother, is the shallop in sight?" Miles cried eagerly. For, since the +exploring party sailed forth a week before, there had come so great a +storm that hearts aboard the _Mayflower_ were not a little anxious for +their welfare. + +"They've made out a sail to the southward, I heard the talk run. Go you +and learn further, Miles. Your father will be on deck too." + +Miles reddened a little; why would she speak as if he were a young boy, +to need his father? "Come, lads," he said, in a very old tone, to hide +his mortification, and led the way from the cabin. As he passed out at +the door, he heard a sorrowful wail from Dolly: "O me! Mammy, can I not +run about with them soon?" + +But Miles forgot Dolly's woes and all, when he clambered into the +bracing air of the deck, whither the most of the hale ones of the +company had, like himself, bustled to watch the approaching shallop. +Shreds of dappled cloud half obscured the east, but low in the west the +sun was cold and yellow, and its light flecked the water and made the +sail of the distant craft gleam like gold. + +Miles stared till for very dazzle he could see no longer, then turned +his gaze inboard, where it rested on the slender figure of a woman, who +leaned against the mainmast. When the light got out of his eyes, he +perceived it was Mistress Rose Standish, who, while he was still gazing +on her, came to the bulwark beside him, but, without seeming to see +him, stood looking toward the shallop. + +Once and again Miles glanced up at her, thinking how bonny she was +with the flush on her cheeks and her brown hair straying from beneath +her hood across her forehead; and then he grew suddenly hot, for she +chanced to look down, and their eyes met. He drew away bashfully and +stared again at the shallop; the sun had now dropped lower, so the +waves around it were sombre, but within the boat sparkled a gleam of +light on metal armor. Miles almost thought to be able to distinguish +the forms of the men, and presently their faces. "Yon is the Captain," +he broke out, half aloud. + +"Do you see him, too?" Mistress Standish spoke, as if he had addressed +her. + +"That's he, by the mast, with the steel corselet." + +She looked down again, and the boy noted her eyes were moist, though +she smiled as she said: "You seem to know the Captain very well, sir." + +"I'd know him anywhere," Miles answered earnestly. "You understand, he +was right kind to me." + +Then he broke off speech, for the shallop was now fairly alongside, +and the men in her were calling to those on shipboard greetings and +questions and answers. Mistress Standish moved quickly toward the +gangway, and Miles saw her meet the Captain, when he clambered up the +ladder. + +Next after him came Master William Bradford, and suddenly it struck +with a shock on Miles's remembrance that Mistress Bradford was dead, +drowned alongside the _Mayflower_ on the very day after the shallop +sailed, and her body carried away among the waves. Master Bradford, +for all the weariness in his movements, looked cheerful and hopeful as +he gained the deck, and his eyes went glancing over the women gathered +there with such a certainty of meeting one that, child though he was, +Miles realized something of the pity of it. + +But after Elder Brewster had led Master Bradford away, the horror and +the pity slipped quickly from Miles. Drawing over closer to the gangway +ladder, he stood watching the rest of the shallop's company scramble +to the deck, and, listening to every scrap of speech, was soon eager +as any of the other boys in questioning the sailors and Hopkins's man, +Dotey. + +The minutes ran on till dim twilight had darkened upon the water, when +at last, bursting with news, Miles clambered down again to Goodwife +Rigdale in the cabin. "They've found a place for us to settle, mother," +he announced, barely within the door. + +Goodwife Rigdale hushed him with a finger on her lips; Dolly was +asleep, so he must speak softly. + +Miles curled himself up on the floor at his mother's feet, with his +elbow on her knee, and whispered: "'Tis at a place called Thievish +Harbor--" + +"Nay, that's an ill name," commented the Goodwife. + +"'Tis because a savage stole a harpoon from a ship's boat that once put +in there to truck, so says Robert Coppin, the pilot. It lies across a +great bay here, and there are fair green islands and many brooks and +cleared land and tall trees. We are going thither, all of us, mother. +The ship is to sail so soon as the wind favors. And if they like of it +on further look, we'll go ashore and stay. I want to go ashore again," +he ended wistfully; "the week's out that father said I must stay on +the ship. Won't you beg him take me ashore first thing when we come +thither, mother?" + +The flickering light that reached them from the lantern hung outside +the cabin door was blotted out then, as Goodman Rigdale himself came +in. Miles dared ask no favors of him directly, however, but, scrambling +to his feet, stood silent and unobtrusive, though he listened eagerly +to all his father had to say of Thievish Harbor, which he called +Plymouth. "So it is named on the maps that were drawn by Captain +Smith," he said, to which Goodwife Rigdale answered quickly: "I am glad +for the name. Do you not have in mind, John, how kindly the people +at our English Plymouth dealt by us when we had to put in at their +harbor?" + +But this new Plymouth in America bore little resemblance to Plymouth +in Devonshire, as Miles found, to his surprise, when he had his first +sight of the place where the company was to settle. It was on the +afternoon of the day succeeding the return of the shallop that, the +wind at last favoring, the _Mayflower_ steered her course for the bay +of Plymouth. The sunshine was strong and clear, and the air mild, so +Goodwife Rigdale suffered Dolly come up on deck, where, well wrapped in +a cloak, she stood between her mother and Miles. + +Others in plenty, all the passengers who could walk about, were +watching for a glimpse of the new home, but Miles, in his eagerness, +scarcely heeded his companions. He strained his eyes to see the +headlands, brave with evergreen, loom higher and higher, and ran to +question his friend, Giles Hopkins, who had been talking with the +sailors, as to what they were. Giles explained that the one on the left +was not the mainland, but a well-wooded point, and on the right yonder +the farther of the two islands, with the trees, was where the exploring +party had spent their Sabbath. + +By the time Miles returned to his mother with the news, they were +running in between the point and the islands, and presently, well +within the harbor, they dropped anchor in a safe mooring ground. All +about them were headlands and islands; far to the right, across the +bay, rose a great hill; and just over opposite where the ship lay a +broad space of open land, with high hills behind, could be made out. + +"Yonder's where we'll settle," Miles assured his mother. + +"I see no houses," protested Dolly. "I thought there would be cottages, +maybe. Must we lie in the woods, mammy?" + +"Nonsense! We'll build houses," scoffed Miles; he would have blushed +to own that, half unconsciously, he, too, had cherished the fancy of +seeing on the New England shore straggling streets and tiny cottages, +as in old Plymouth. + +"You'll build houses, Miles?" teased his sister. + +"Father and I and all the men," the boy bragged. "Build them of great +logs. Then in the spring will come a ship with horses and cows and +sheep, and we'll have farms, just as we had at home." + +"With a hedge round the dooryard?" Dolly questioned. + +"Yes, and meadow-land and ploughed fields. We'll have all in order when +the frost leaves the ground," Miles answered confidently. + +Then he looked up at his mother, and was astonished to see that for +once her eyes were not on her children, but on the empty shore over +opposite. Her face was wistful, and it came on Miles that perhaps she +was not as interested in the farm concerns as he, who was a man, so he +said quickly: "And you can have a garden here, mother, full of rosemary +and daffadowndillies, just as at home. Maybe you'll not have to labor +so hard here," he added more vaguely, not quite understanding her +silence. + +She smiled a little then. "That's a good lad, Miles," she said, putting +her arm about his shoulders; then she bade him go to his mates if he +would, and she led Dolly back to the cabin. + +Miles stood alone, gazing at the home-shore and wondering where his +father's farm would lie. Still thinking on it, he was turning toward +the hatchway, when he almost ran into Goodman Rigdale. "O father," +Miles broke out before he thought, "may I not go with you when we begin +our farm? I'll conduct me well and be obedient." + +He stopped, surprised at his own forwardness, and he was more surprised +when his father, looking down at him gravely, said without chiding: +"Our farm? Ay, Miles, so soon as there is work to do on shore you shall +come with me and bear a hand." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +HEWERS OF WOOD AND DRAWERS OF WATER + + +"TO-MORROW I am going ashore." Thus Miles Rigdale proclaimed, from his +perch on the bunk in his father's cabin, to all who might choose to +hear. + +"'Tis the forty and third time you've said that in the last sennight," +Ned Lister answered dryly. He was lounging in the cabin door, +shirt-sleeved and shivering, while Goodwife Rigdale repaired his +doublet; Mistress Hopkins, to whom the task ordinarily fell, lay ill, +and her stepdaughter, Constance, was so busied that, to relieve her, +Alice Rigdale had taken the young man and his mending off her hands. + +"Why do you not put on your cloak, if you be cold, Ned Lister?" Dolly +spoke up. + +"Because 'tis too much labor to fetch it, Puss," Ned answered, whereat +Miles laughed, and the Goodwife's brows puckered; another might have +said it was because the sewing gave her trouble, but Miles, who felt +uncomfortably that his mother disapproved of Ned as a scatter-brained, +reckless fellow, guessed that she had not liked that last speech. + +He was sure of his guess when she hastened to change the subject: "Does +it still rain upon deck, Edward?" + +"Rain and naught else; the third day of it now, yet by the look it +might pour on for a week." + +"And my daddy's yonder in the wet on shore," murmured Dolly, pressing +close against her mother's knee, and the Goodwife sewed more slowly, +with her eyes downcast. + +But Miles burst into lamentation: "I think they might 'a' taken me +ashore. Since we came into Plymouth Harbor they've explored and +explored, and never suffered me to come, but they took Giles Hopkins +with them. And now the randevous is built on shore, and some of the men +are staying there, it has rained and rained so I cannot go to them. But +I'm going to-morrow, the very next time the shallop sails." + +"To be sure you shall," Lister answered, as he scrambled into his +mended doublet. "I'll take you along with me." + +Then he swaggered away jauntily, as if he had promised ample service +in return for his mending, and Goodwife Rigdale, with a bit of a sigh, +said softly to Miles: "'Tis well meant of Edward Lister to see you safe +ashore, but when you are there, remember, you are to stay with your +father, not go roving with him." + +Miles's satisfaction at Ned's offer was a bit tempered by her words, +but he lost the remembrance of them next morning, when he saw the +sun was rising clear and the shallop would go shoreward. At once he +clattered down to the cabin to get his cap and mittens, and Trug, +who must go with him; then ran up on deck again, where, in the chill +sunlight, the men were laboring briskly to load the shallop. Miles +watched them while they put in the felling-axes and handsaws and +hammers, all the tools that were to build the new town of Plymouth, +and the biscuit and salt beef and pease that were to form the workers' +rations. + +About the time the labor was ended, Ned sauntered up to the gangway, +and, seeing Miles, very speedily helped him clamber down the ladder, +and made Trug leap after him. Master Isaac Allerton, who was settled +comfortably in the stern, grumbled at burdening the shallop with +children and curs, so Miles put his arms about Trug, and, cuddling down +in the bottom of the boat, made himself as still and small as possible +lest, after all, the company, thinking better of it, bid him scramble +up the gangway ladder again. + +But the time for that was past, for the shallop, with her sail hanging +sluggish, had crept surely out from the lee of the _Mayflower_, and +now, catching the light breeze, actually stood in to the shore. Miles +forgot the discomfort of his seat among the tools while he gazed +toward the approaching coast line, where was to be his home. Behind him +the sun was up, and the hills that rose away inland from the harbor +were bright in the cold, yellow radiance, and the water and the sky +that spread about him were both very blue. He glanced back over his +shoulder at the dreary old _Mayflower_, and was surprised to find that, +as the sun struck athwart her patched sails, even she was beautiful. + +Then the movement of those about him, and the sound of waves crunching +on the shingle, made him look forward again. Under the shelter of a +high bluff, where a great boulder ran out into the water, he saw those +standing who had kept the randevous, and the randevous itself, a rude +hut of boughs. In his eagerness Miles jumped up, and Trug, springing up +too, began to bark, but no one took note or scolded, for the men were +busied in running the shallop in alongside the rock, and some, leaping +over the gunwale, were already splashing through the shallow water to +the beach. + +Ned and Giles Hopkins made the shore thus, so Miles must do the like, +and came to land all drenched and dripping. But it was land,--good, +stable, brown earth, not the hateful, rolling ship,--he had beneath his +feet, and, in the delight of the long unused sensation, he forgot he +was wet and chilled, forgot his father awaited him, and there was work +to do. He knew only that far and near the shore stretched widely, where +a boy could run, so, for choice, he set his face to the bluff that +towered above the landing. + +Up and up, through the keen, dry bushes, that whipped his hands and +face so he laughed in the mere delight of struggling with them, he +fought his way till he came breathless to the bare summit. All about +him dazzled the blue of the harbor and of the unclouded sky, and +yonder on his right, through its fringe of bushes, shone the blue of +what seemed a cove. Down the hill rushed Miles, with Trug leaping and +barking at his heels, and paused only on the shore of a great brook, +that, flowing out between steep bluffs, widened into the sea. + +Another was before him there, his distant kinsman, Giles Hopkins, +who, for all he was a sober lad of sixteen, was a good comrade to the +younger boy. He now bade Miles come upstream to the spring the men had +found on their last exploration, and Miles very readily followed him +through the scrubby undergrowth, where the cove narrowed on the left +hand, and on the right a high bluff kept pace with the boys. "It's on +that bluff they mean to set the houses," Giles explained, over his +shoulder. + +"Then we'll have this big stream in our dooryards," cried Miles. "Won't +that be brave? I shall build me a raft, and sail to those wooded hills +on the other side whenever I choose. Though, maybe, Indians dwell +there," he added, with a dubious glance at Giles; he did not wish +to seem afraid, but, though he intended to be a soldier, he did not +purpose to fight without a musket and a long sword, and he wondered how +much farther from the shore his leader would venture. + +But speedily his wonder had an end, for, breaking through a thicket of +leafless alders, Giles halted at a little cavity within the sand of the +riverbank, where the spring of sweet water bubbled up. Down lay Miles +on the turf, and, using his hand for a cup, swallowed his first draught +of New England water. "'Tis better than the brackish stuff we have on +shipboard," he said, as he wiped his wet hands on his wet doublet. + +"The savages must have known the spot," answered the experienced Giles. +"We found this path worn down hither from the bluff, and see, here is a +line of stepping-stones across the brook." + +Miles glanced about him, half nervously, lest along the path or across +the stones he see one of their former savage passengers approaching. He +was at heart relieved when, as Giles led the way up the bluff, he heard +in the distance the sound of an axe crashing on a tree trunk. Giles did +not turn toward the sound, however, but went plodding on uphill, for +above the bluff a second summit reared itself steeply. Miles panted in +his trail, endlessly upward, it seemed, till at last he stood exhausted +on a lofty hilltop, whence, far as the sea spread out before him, he +beheld the wooded uplands roll away to westward. + +Giles was explaining wisely what a proper place this hill was for a +fort, and how Captain Standish had advised the company mount upon +it guns, which should command to southward the spring, and toward +the harbor the landing place and the houses, which were to be built +along the river bluff, when Master Hopkins and John Rigdale, tramping +thither, ended their sons' holiday. + +"Is this the way you would work, Miles?" Goodman Rigdale asked sternly, +and, fearing lest the next word sentence him to return at once to the +_Mayflower_, Miles ran eagerly about the task they set him. + +All day he tugged chips and branches for the fire at the randevous, but +it was work on land, in the free air, where a boy could shout as much +as he wished, so he never realized he was weary till night came. He had +to pack off to the ship with the other boys and near half the men, but +he had no chance to grumble at this, as did some of his mates, for, +once aboard the shallop, he leaned against Ned Lister and fell half +asleep. Only when the shallop scraped the ship's side did he awake to +stagger up the gangway ladder and stumble away to tell Dolly and his +mother of the wonders he had seen ashore. + +Next day, being Sunday, no work was done, and the next day, being +Christmas, Miles, who remembered what a time of merrymaking that was at +home, thought he must idle again. But here on Christmas, from sunrise +to sunset, it was all stern work. "We stain this virgin soil with no +Popish holydays," Master Hopkins said grimly, and, though the rest did +not exult in words, they labored with double fervor to show they did no +honor to the day. + +Miles had his part to do on shore that Christmas and in the days that +followed, though it was a different part from that he had hoped to +have. When he talked to his mother and Dolly of building cottages, +he had fancied that perhaps he would be allowed to sit high up on a +ridgepole and drive nails. He knew he would enjoy doing that, but in +practice he was set less pleasant tasks: he ran errands, not only for +his father, but for every man who chose to send him; he fetched water +up the steep bluff from the spring to the workers; and he carried +firewood from where the choppers labored upon the bluff to where the +first house was building. + +On occasion he even tended the fire and saw that the porridge did not +burn, and more than once was sent to carry a portion of the food to +the men who, unable to rise and get their rations, lay ill in the +half-built log cabins. The numbers of these sick ever multiplied, for +the close quarters and bad food aboard the _Mayflower_ had caused a +fever to break out among her passengers, and the exposure to which the +men and boys often recklessly subjected themselves increased the roll +of the ailing, and, at last, of the dying. + +Miles was sorry, of course, for the men and women who sickened and +died, but it was a sorrow that did not go deep enough to prevent his +enjoying the open-air life, and the moments of play that he snatched +from his work. For death had not come near any that he loved; Dolly and +Jack Cooke had been ill, but they were getting better, and none of his +other near acquaintances had been touched. To be sure, he himself went +sneezing with a great cold, but it meant nothing, any more than did his +father's cough; he did not worry for it the half as much as he fretted +at the dull routine labors to which he was set. + +One day in January he had a hand in more exciting work, for Ned Lister +and Giles Hopkins, who were going to cut swamp grass for thatch, +invited him to come with them, and Ned even let him carry his sharp +sickle. Ned himself turned all his effort to bearing a fowling piece, +with the use of which, after the grass was cut, he had been bribed +to the afternoon's labor, for he was afflicted with a hard cough that +racked him most piteously when he was set to any work but hunting. + +So soon as they reached the piece of marshy ground in the deep hollow +behind the first range of hills, where grew the grass they sought, one +of those coughing fits laid hold on Ned. He really wasn't fit to work, +he said, but, when Miles volunteered to do the task for him, he found +energy to direct the boy's clumsy attempts with the sickle. + +Two bundles of grass the workers were expected to bring home, and Giles +cut his, slowly and soberly, while Ned dallied with Miles, till he saw +his companion had nearly gathered his share. Then Lister snatched the +sickle from Miles, and, finishing the work in a surprisingly short time +for a sick man, caught up his piece with the exclamation, "_Now_ we'll +go fowling." + +Leaving the sickles and the bundles of grass where they lay, the three +picked a path round the verge of the marsh and climbed westward over +the hills. Last of all Miles trotted along bravely, very proud that he +was one of the company, and full of interest at passing so far inland. +But on the top of the second long hill, Giles suddenly cried out: "Look +yonder. Is not that smoke?" + +Against the dull sky to the west Miles saw a little fine curl of gray, +and the question was on his tongue's end, when Ned Lister anticipated +it: "No, it can be none of our people so far from the shore. Savages, +maybe. Say we go down and see." + +Shouldering his fowling piece, he set out jauntily, and the two boys +came stoutly after. They scrambled down a rough hillslope and through +another level piece, all open and stubbly, westward still, where the +smoke rose. "This land has been cleared; 'tis true Indian ground here," +Ned spoke suddenly, and halted. + +Miles stopped short five paces behind his comrades. He looked to the +hills ahead, where the bare branches of oak trees stood out clearly +against the afternoon sky. It was a lowering sky, and night was coming. +He glanced behind him, and saw only the barren wall of hills, no sign +of the harbor or of the _Mayflower_. Ned and Giles were looking at each +other with a something so dubious in their faces that Miles felt a +griping sensation in his throat. He wondered if he could find his way +back as he had come, and, doubting it, drew close to Ned, who had the +fowling piece. + +Ned was fiddling with the lock of the piece and he spoke rather +sheepishly: "I'm not afraid. But I'm not going to run into Heaven knows +what with two younkers like you on my shoulders." + +"Say we march home, then?" Giles suggested, and straightway, facing +round, they retraced their steps pretty smartly. + +Miles was still in the rear, and, as he went, he studied the long legs +of his companions and thought how much more swiftly they could run for +it, if anything came up behind them. Thinking so, he forgot to look to +his feet, and, as they descended a gully, fell headlong with a great +clattering of stones. "Wait for me!" he cried, in a sharp, high voice +that did not sound natural. + +Ned glanced back, with his face tenser than its wont. "Here, take the +fowling piece, Giles," he said curtly; then, returning to Miles, he +lifted him to his feet, and, keeping one hand beneath his arm, helped +him to hurry along. + +Thus they scurried down the hillside to the swamp, and, catching up +their sickles and the thatch, pressed on toward the settlement. Not +till they were panting up the landward side of the great hill and +caught the faint sound of hammers in the street of the half-built town, +did Ned suffer the speed to slacken. "You'll make a gallant soldier one +day, Miley," he said then, and began laughing. "Though I take it no one +of us was afraid; eh, boys?" + +They all agreed they were not in the least frightened, and some such +version Ned must have reported to Captain Standish, when he told how +they had seen Indian fires. For next day Miles found himself quite a +hero in the sight of the other lads, because he had gone far into the +woods and walked boldly right into an encampment of the savages. But +Goodman Rigdale chided his son sternly for such a harebrained prank, +and after that made the boy stay within his sight while he was on shore. + +Miles did not greatly mind, for his father and Francis Cooke, the +father of his playmate Jack, were now engaged in a delightful work in +which he liked to help. Lately the whole company of the _Mayflower_ +had been divided into nineteen families, and these two men, who had +been placed in one household, were building together a cottage, high up +on the hillside. His father's house, Miles insisted upon calling it, +though Goodman Rigdale was at pains to explain to him that the cottage +belonged not to any one man, but to the whole company; the Pilgrims at +Plymouth and the merchants at London, who had advanced the money for +the voyage, were to hold everything in common till seven years were up +and then divide all equally, and till then no man could call a house +his own. + +Still, Miles knew that by and by his mother and Dolly and Jack Cooke +would come ashore, as other families were coming, and they would live +together in that house, so it seemed the same as if it belonged to his +father. He looked forward to the time when they would all be under one +roof, and he would be suffered to sleep ashore, for, though his father +passed his nights at the Common House, there was no room for Miles, +who at twilight had to journey off to the ship. But that arrangement +drew speedily to an end, for the walls of the house, built of squared +logs, soon rose to a good height; the chimney of sticks and clay was +finished; and at last it was but a question of thatching the roof. + +Of a dull afternoon in mid-January Goodman Rigdale set out to cut swamp +grass for the thatch, and took with him Miles, who had not been so far +afield since his exploit with Ned Lister. They went steadily up the +slope on the shoulder of the great hill, and there Miles, who had run a +little ahead with Trug, paused to look back proudly at the stanch, new +cottage below. "Those are brave big logs in our house, are they not, +sir?" he broke out. "'Twill last us a many years." + +"That, or whatever house shall fall to us at the division, will last +you all your lifetime," Goodman Rigdale answered shortly. "And you will +lease it of no man. You'll hold a house and a farm of your own here one +day, Miles." + +They tramped on a time in silence, and Miles was making himself sport +by crushing in the scum of ice on the pools along their path, when his +father spoke suddenly: "You're in a fair way to lead an easier life +than your father or your grandfather before you, Miles. And if you be +the happier, you should be so much the better man." + +"Ay, sir," Miles answered vaguely, and tipped back his head to watch a +great bird that went flapping across the sky; he wished his father had +brought along a fowling piece. + +When they came to the swamp, Goodman Rigdale cut down the grass +swiftly, and Miles bundled it, though he found it hard to keep pace +with his father. Goodman Rigdale, being in haste, must at the last do +the work himself, and, while he bundled the grass, Miles, remembering +the stolen pleasures of his last thatching trip, picked up the sickle +and tried a slash or two on his own account. He managed to cut his +hand, and, though he scarcely felt the pain, because the hand was cold, +he stared in some fright when he saw the blood come streaking out. + +Goodman Rigdale gave him a rag to tie up the hurt hand, and also gave +him some good advice on the need of care with edged tools, which Miles +did not think quite called for just then. He tried, however, not to +show any sign of pain, because that always displeased his father; and, +as he thought he had borne himself quite bravely, he was much hurt, +when Goodman Rigdale, on coming down into the settlement, said: "Get +you to the shallop now, Miles, and bide on board the _Mayflower_ till +I send for you. You'll be of no service with your hand cut. Mayhap +you'll be better off with your mother, too. After all, you are but a +young lad." + +"As you bid, sir," Miles said, respectfully, but very stiffly, and +walked away down the path to the landing. + +Once he stopped to kick a stone out of his way, and once, before he +rounded the base of the bluff, something made him face about and look +back to the Common House. His father was standing by the door, watching +him, and Miles, feeling much rebuked, walked on rapidly. But the image +of his father remained in his mind very clear. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +NEWS FROM THE SHORE + + +BECAUSE Miles's hand was hurt, Goodwife Rigdale made much of him, till +he fairly resented it, for he had grown into the age where he was +sheepish and awkward under open petting. He soon slipped away from his +mother and the sympathetic Dolly, and went to spend his time with Jack +Cooke, who, during the day, while his father worked on shore, was glad +of company. The boys had now almost room enough on shipboard to play +satisfactorily, for many of the passengers had gone ashore; but it must +be quiet playing, for, of those who still remained in their cabins not +a few were ill. + +Goodwife Rigdale was busied to and fro in caring for the sick ones, +and, at her bidding, Miles ran many an errand, to fetch water from the +casks on deck or heat a pot of broth in the ship's galley. But their +joint labor soon ended, for, a few days after the boy's return to the +ship, came a message from Goodman Rigdale: he was just touched with the +fever, he said, though nothing serious, but a many lay sick ashore, +and the Goodwife could aid them as well as himself; Mistress Brewster, +who, with her family, had gone to the settlement, had offered to +shelter her, and he prayed her come. + +Next morning Goodwife Rigdale bundled her cloak about her, and set +out in the shallop. Miles, standing by the bulwark, watched her go, +but only for a time; it had snowed the night before, so the railings +were white and smooth to the touch, and he found it of more absorbing +interest to poke off strips of the frozen snow, and send them splashing +into the cold-looking water beneath the ship's side. By the time he +looked again to the shallop, it was so near shore he could no longer +make out his mother's figure, and his feet were chilled too, so he went +back to Dolly in the cabin. + +At first he found it manly and grown up to be left in charge, for so +he esteemed his position. The cut in his hand was healing well, and +he felt he would have been working ashore, if it were not that some +one must mind his father's quarters on shipboard and care for Dolly +and Solomon. He ordered his sister about in a paternal manner; he +rebuked her severely if she so much as showed her small, snub nose on +the frosty deck without wrapping herself up well; and he even insisted +on her going to bed punctually at sundown, while he, in the glory of +manhood, waited in the great cabin to hear what news those who came +from the shore would bring. + +But Dolly took her turn when it came to their daily meals, for she had +certain deft, housewifely ways, which Miles could not hope to imitate, +and he was ashamed even of trying to better himself, after he heard the +little woman speak like her mother of "men and boys that set a body's +kitchen in a mash." Miles might tug out the pot of broth,--'twas all he +was fit for; Goodwife Dolly would herself do the stirring and tasting; +and though, among so many cooks, the broth sometimes burned, yet they +always contrived to eat it. + +The four of them--Miles, Dolly, Jack, and Solomon--ate their food +together in the Rigdales' cabin: most times it was only broth, or +perhaps salted meat and biscuit, which Goodwife Rigdale, before she +went away, had laid out for them; but once Goodman Cooke brought them +from the shore a large piece of a cold roast goose. There was but one +drumstick, and each felt he should have it,--Jack because he had been +ill, and Dolly because she was a girl, and Miles because he was the +eldest. Solomon said nothing, but he purred his loudest and rubbed his +head against Dolly's knee. They ended by eating the drumstick together, +each a bite, turn and turn about, and what they could not get from the +bone was left to Solomon, who dragged his ration beneath the bunk, +and, with eyes big and fiery, growled at them. + +The children remembered that supper, not only because of the cold +goose, but because it was the last they ate together, for next morning +Goodman Cooke took Jack to the shore. Miles watched his friend's small +preparations enviously, and Dolly, who had come also to stand in the +doorway of the Cookes' cabin, voiced a sorrowful wish: "I think I'd +best go too, and see father and mother." + +"They've no place to put you, lass," Goodman Cooke explained. "So soon +as there is place, they'll send for you both, be sure. For Doctor +Fuller says your father grows heartier, Miles," he went on; "you've no +need to worry yourself." + +"Indeed, I have not worried," Miles answered, in some surprise. + +After Jack went, life on shipboard was not so pleasant. Dolly began +to fret for her mother and scoff at Miles's authority; Miles grew +cross; and the broth burned oftener than ever, and finally, giving out +altogether, left them with nothing to eat but dry biscuit. With this +woful tale of starvation, Dolly betook herself at last to Constance +Hopkins in the great cabin, and Miles, glad that some one should make +known their unhappy state, yet ashamed to do so himself, lagged on +behind. + +Constance Hopkins was Giles's sister, a slip of a lass, not three +years older than Miles, but to him she seemed quite grown up. Certainly +she bore the responsibilities of age in those days, for not only must +she nurse her stepmother, Mistress Elizabeth Hopkins, who lay helpless +in her cabin, but she must care for the baby, Oceanus, born on the +voyage across the sea, and the little half-sister, Damaris, a baby +also, not two years old. Yet somehow motherly little Constance found +time to comfort Dolly, and cook a bit of meat for hungry Miles, and +assure them both that their father and mother surely would come soon to +look to them. + +Dolly hugged the "big girl," but Miles could scarcely do that, and he +knew no civil speech to tell his gratitude, so he was glad when, his +eyes falling on Damaris, he thought to pick her up. "I'll mind her for +you a bit, Constance," he offered. + +Damaris was pleased with Miles's tousled hair and sturdy arms, that +held her more firmly than her half-sister could; and Miles, never +guessing what a source of misfortune her liking would prove to him +hereafter, was much elated at his success with her. He tugged baby +out on deck to show her the gulls looking for food in the water, and +the bright crusted snow that sparkled in the sunshine on the wooded +point. Damaris gurgled appreciatively and pulled Miles's hair; then, +when he carried her back into the cabin, slept like a kitten, whereat +Constance was so relieved and pleased that Miles gladly cared for the +baby, his baby, the next day, and the next. + +[Illustration: "Dolly plaited a fold of her apron between her fingers."] + +But the third day, a Friday, a pelting fine rain set in that made an +airing on the deck out of the question, not for the baby alone, but +for a well-grown boy and girl. Miles and Dolly went up to spend the +afternoon in the great cabin, because in their own quarters there was +no one to talk to, and, moreover, it was cold. In the main cabin they +would find some one to keep them company, and they could, at least, +warm their hands at the little fire burning in a tubful of sand, which +Constance often used in heating food for Mistress Hopkins. + +But this afternoon the fire was out and Constance busied with her +mother, so the two children, disappointed, sat down together on a +rude bench, at the angle in the stern where two rows of little cabins +joined. "I wish I were with my mother," sniffed Dolly; and "'Twill do +you no good to cry," Miles checked her sternly. + +"I was not crying, Miles Rigdale," the damsel answered hotly. + +It was on Miles's lips to reply, when close at hand a voice spoke his +name, "Miles Rigdale!" + +Readily enough he jumped up and went to the half-opened door of the +adjoining cabin. It was Captain Standish's cabin, he remembered now, +and, as he halted in the doorway, he perceived Mistress Rose +Standish lying in the bunk. A little of the afternoon light sifted +in through the tiny port-hole, and by it he noted how her hair fell +loosely about her face, unlike the way she wore it when on deck; +but her cheeks were rosy as ever, and her voice quite steady as she +spoke: "It's you, the lad my husband told me of? I thought I heard +one call you by name. Will you not do somewhat for me, Miles? Fetch +me my jug here full of water again. Goodwife Tinker was to look to +me to-day; I felt very well this morning. But she's ill now herself, +and when I tried to rise,--" she laughed, with a nervous catch in her +laughter,--"why, then things went whisking round me very strangely. But +you look as you still could stand stoutly, sir." + +"I'll fetch you the water, and gladly, mistress," Miles answered, so +eagerly that he stammered. He stepped into the cabin to take the jug +from where it rested on a chest beneath the port-hole, and Dolly, +following shyly after, hesitated on the threshold. + +"Is this little maid your sister?" Mistress Standish roused up to ask. +"Won't you come in and bear me company, sweetheart, while Miles fetches +the water?" + +Dolly plaited a fold of her apron between her fingers and nodded dumbly. + +"That's well," said Mistress Standish. "Sit you down here on the chest +by me. And I've some raisins of the sun you shall have if you'll stay." + +"Dolly must not eat your raisins if you be sick." Miles formulated the +relentless principle which had been enforced as regards himself when +Dolly lay ill. "And I'll fetch the water speedily." He stood a moment +on the threshold, balancing the jug in one hand. "Mistress Standish," +he blurted out, with sudden resolution, "would you not rather have beer +than water?" + +"Than the water from the ship's casks, yes," she answered; "but 'twill +relish well enough, Miles. At even, when Captain Standish comes, mayhap +he'll get me a draught of beer." + +"I'll get it for you now," Miles said cheerily, and walked away, with +his head up and the jug swinging. + +Outside the door of the great cabin the chilly rain, that stung +finely on his cheeks, pricked him alive to realization of what he had +undertaken. Since Christmas, when the supply of the Pilgrim emigrants +had given out, beer could be obtained on board the _Mayflower_ only +from the ship's stores, through the courtesy of Master Jones, the +captain; and he was a terrible person. Most times he ranged about the +high quarter-deck, where only the chiefs of the Pilgrims dared go; +once Francis Billington, to show his daring, had clambered thither, +and Master Jones, without parley, had bidden his quartermaster, "Kick +that young imp down into Limbo, where he belongs." From that experience +Francis had been black and blue, and subdued in manner for a week. + +So it was no wonder now that, for long minutes, Miles stood shivering +in the rain at the foot of the companion ladder, while he tried to +summon courage to venture up. He might never have arrived at such +hardihood, had not Jones himself, strolling forth upon the quarter-deck +to study the weather, observed him, and presently bellowed lustily: +"What beest thou staring up hither for, hey?" + +"I--I want to come up, if it like you, sir," Miles piped quaveringly. + +"Then come up. Beelzebub fetch thee! What's hindering thee?" + +Miles could have answered truly that it was a loud-voiced, +broad-shouldered man, with a bushy gray beard, whose name was Jones, +that hindered him; but he thought best, even on so poor an invitation, +to scramble in silence up the steep ladder to the quarter-deck. The +wind there was high, so he gripped the bulwark to keep erect. + +"Well, now thou art up, what is it thou wouldst have?" roared Jones. + +"Beer, sir. For Captain Standish's wife. She is ill." + +Master Jones hesitated a little minute, then caught Miles by the +collar of his doublet, and only let go when he landed him within +the roundhouse. Miles said nothing to this, but his heart thumped +alarmingly at finding himself thus tumbled headlong into the very lair +of the Master. Yet the roundhouse proved a harmless place, with its +shipshape bunks and table and stools; and one of the mates, who lay +upon a bunk, rose up at Jones's bidding, to do nothing more formidable +than fill Miles's jug from a keg that stood in one corner. + +"Now see to it thou dost not filch the beer by the way," grumbled +Master Jones. "I be ready to give to your Captain's wife, but not to +fill the stomach of every knavish lad on shipboard; dost thou hear?" + +"I wouldn't take the beer that was meant for Mistress Standish," Miles +said indignantly. + +"Nay, but boys be a slippery race," growled the Master. "The saints be +blest I never had none!" + +Miles privately was glad of that, for he could not help thinking how +unhappy a boy would be, with such an alarming father as Master Jones. +Very prudently, he did not say so, but, seizing his jug, backed out of +the roundhouse, almost too hastily to say "Thank you." + +He had come back to a good conceit of himself, however, by the time he +had manoeuvred safely down the ticklish ladder, and he walked in on +Mistress Standish and Dolly quite proudly. Mistress Standish thanked +him mightily, enough to make Miles redden and shuffle his foot on the +floor. "But I liked to do it for you," he muttered. + +After that he was persuaded to sit down on the chest beside Dolly, and +tell Mistress Standish all about how they were building houses on the +shore, and how he had gone to the Indian fields, and what a wonderful +dog Trug was. Dolly chimed in there to tell what a rare pussy Solomon +was, and how he would leap over your hands. Then Mistress Standish, who +lay listening, and seemed to like their talk, though she said little, +bade Miles bring her a box from a shelf against the wall, and in it, +sure enough, were a few big raisins and a small handful of currants. + +The sight was too much for Miles's scruples, and when she urged the +children eat of them, he yielded, weakly as eager little Dolly. "We'll +take two raisins each," he said, with an effort at firmness, "and three +currants." Then, with a sigh, he shut the box up tight, and ate his own +share very slowly. + +Dolly finished more speedily, and straightway Mistress Standish urged +her sing to them. "Dolly told me while you were gone that she is wont +to sing to mother," she explained to Miles. "Now I want her to sing to +me. You shall have more raisins if you will, Dolly, in spite of Brother +Miles." + +Dolly was bashful, and, for all it was now murky twilight, so faces +were not plain to see, insisted on sitting on the other side of Miles, +where she could hide behind him. Then, at last, she sang. "Though it is +a worldly song," she protested. + +"No matter. I am what your people call a worldly woman," Mistress +Standish answered. + +So Dolly cuddled up to Miles and sang:-- + + "Skip and trip it, + Hey non nonny! + For the lark is in the clover, + And the fields are green and bonny, + And a dappled sky shows over. + Sing hey nonny nonny! + 'Tis blithe world and gay, + When spring comes bonny + And the winter packs away." + +There Dolly broke off, short and sudden, and Miles, looking to the +dusky doorway, saw a man's sturdy figure blocking it. + +"'Tis you come back, Miles?" Mistress Standish spoke quickly. "Come you +in and sit down. Your namesake and his sister have been caring for me +bravely--" + +"I'm sorry," came the Captain's voice out of the dark. "That is-- You +must be wearied now, sweetheart. Come, Miles, my soldier, I want to +speak with you." + +Miles wondered why, as he stepped out from the cabin, the Captain +troubled to put one arm about his shoulders; he was pleased at the +caress, yet awkward in receiving it. "I want you to go in here," said +Captain Standish, leading him to the cabin that the Brewsters had +occupied. "Constance Hopkins is waiting within to tell you somewhat. +And you must remember, Miles, that you are to bear you like a man." + +Miles wrested round suddenly and faced the Captain. There was a little +dim lantern light in this part of the great cabin, not enough for him +to read the other's face, but he could guess and feel what was coming. +"Has anything gone wrong with my mother? Tell me; tell me, quick!" he +cried. + +"Not your mother, Miles. Your father." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GOING LANDWARD + + +GOODMAN RIGDALE had died that day at noon; he had seemed sure of +recovery, but there came a sudden change, and, with the ebbing of the +tide, his life went out. So much they made Miles understand, gently as +they could. Dolly cried with choked sobbings, and Constance Hopkins, +who had come out and taken the little girl in her arms, cried too. But +Miles, who sat apart from the others, astride one of the benches, did +not cry,--just scowled before him in stupid fashion, and half snarled, +"Don't touch me," at Goodwife Tinker and the other women who had +hastened up to sympathize. + +He was aware of the people about him and the lantern light; that was +all. Something inside him seemed benumbed, and he did not care to +talk, or cry, or do aught but sit still. He listened to Dolly; she was +wailing now, "I want my mother. Oh, take me to my mother!" He wished +she would hush; it worried him. + +Then he heard some one else speak: "Look you, Captain; Will Trevor and +I are fresh enough to do 't, and there's the small boat belongs to the +shallop. And Rigdale's goodwife will be wanting her bairns to-night. If +you give the word, Will and I, we'll row them ashore." + +Miles looked up and saw Ned Lister, his cap on straight and his face +earnest, speaking with the Captain. He rose, and, a little unsteadily, +pushed the women aside, so he could clutch Ned's arm. "I want to go +ashore," he whispered chokedly. "Take me now." + +"You shall go," said Captain Standish. "I'll bid them make ready the +boat." + +"You and the little wench get on your cloaks briskly," Ned admonished, +as he turned to follow the Captain. "We'll be ready ere you be." + +Constance came down with the two children to the cabin beneath the main +deck. It seemed darker and colder than ever before, and Dolly's cloak +strings were tied in a hard knot, and Miles could not find his mittens. +At the very last, as, in stupid fashion, he searched for them a third +time in a bag that held some odds and ends of his mother's, he heard +Dolly cry, "Oh, Solomon, poor Solomon! Don't leave him behind, Miles. I +know they'll not tend him. And daddy was fond of him." + +The cat was dozing among the blankets, but when Miles, slow and +uncomprehending, tried to seize him, he took fright and ran beneath the +bunk. + +"We've the boat ready. Quickly, Miles!" called Ned Lister in the +passageway. + +Miles saw Solomon's eyes shining yellow in the dark beneath the bunk, +and, making a grab, he clutched the cat. The creature spit and clawed, +but Miles, with his hands bleeding, still clung to him, and, headlong, +thrust him into the bag that had held their biscuit. One white paw came +struggling out, but the boy shoved it in roughly, and drew the strings +tight. + +"Wait, wait! Your cloak, Miles." Constance detained him, and fastened +his cloak about his neck. Miles suffered her, like a very little boy, +and then, slinging Solomon's bag over one shoulder, he followed Dolly +up on deck. + +The rain, pelting on his cheeks and forehead, half blinded him, and +the faces of the men, seen fitfully beneath the flaring light of the +lantern at the gangway, looked strange to him. Their voices had no +meaning, and they must repeat the question when one asked: "What have +you there, Miles? Give me the bag; I'll hand it you." + +Miles shook his head and pressed the bag tighter beneath his arm; he +could feel the cat's soft body writhing and struggling within. They +brought him over to the gangway ladder, and, holding by one hand, he +scrambled down it. How black the line of bulwarks looked against the +lantern light, as the ship heaved upward! There he half slipped, when +he felt some one catch him round the body, and he was dropped down on +the stern seat of the little boat. Dolly pressed close to him, and, +putting his arm round her, he held tight to her and to Solomon. They +had turned the lantern now so the light flashed into the boat, and he +realized it was Lister who sat upon the forward thwart, and the other +man, who was standing up to push them off from the ship's side, was the +sailor, Will Trevor. + +At last they were clear, out on the wide, rough water, and, with a +motion of spitting on his hands, Trevor dropped into his seat and +gripped his oar. As the boat swung round, Miles had sight of the +black bulk of the _Mayflower_, with a lantern gleaming on her high +quarter-deck and another just receding from her gangway. Then, as the +boat headed for the shore, he could see the ship only by turning his +head, and that was too great an effort to make. + +The thole-pins creaked, and the water slapped against the prow. The +waves were running high, and, as the little boat leaped them, she +seemed to throb through her frame. The oars and the sea that wrestled +together made the only sound, for the rain that dropped steadily was a +quiet rain, and the men who rowed for the most part kept silent. Once, +to be sure, Trevor growled: "How're we heading, Ned?" + +Miles noted dully how Lister rested on his oar and turned his face +landward. "I can just make out a light," he answered. "Pest on this +rain! More to larboard we must run." + +For another space they tugged at the oars in silence, while Miles +stared unheedingly into the dark, till suddenly Trevor called, "Hey, +lad, what's wrong wi' thy bag?" + +Solomon's struggles had loosed the fastenings, Miles found; he thrust +the animal back and tied the strings again, slowly and stiffly, for his +hands were cold and sore too, where they had been scratched. + +"What sort o' luggage be ye travelling with?" Trevor asked, between +strokes, in a tone that was so amused that Miles felt an angry shock: +what right had the sailor to find any merriment in life, while Dolly +was sobbing so? Next moment the anger passed, and instead, Miles +wondered that Dolly should cry, for it was not true, whatever they had +said; his father would surely come forth from the Common House to meet +them, and he would look just as Miles had seen him on that last day. + +Yonder beneath the black bluff shone a light. Miles could see it now, +and he stared unthinkingly, till it grew larger and brighter, and then +a sudden jar almost threw him from his seat. "I'll hold her steady," +spoke Trevor. "Do thou get out the younkers, Ned." + +"Come, come, Miley, are you asleep?" said Lister. Miles saw him +kneeling on the rock close beside him, holding the boat's gunwale with +one hand, and with the other outstretched. "Give me the bag. Now then, +steady. Ah! You did yourself hurt?" + +Miles picked himself up from the rock where he had fallen; his knees +were aching, and he suddenly felt he should like to cry. "Yes, I hurt +me," he said dazedly. "Give me Solomon." + +He made his way, groping through the dark, to the path beneath the +bluff that led up to the settlement. The ground had thawed, so broad +puddles had formed; he must have splashed into one, for, as he stepped, +his shoes squeaked with water. Ned Lister strode up alongside him, with +Dolly gathered in his arms. "You come with me up to the Elder's house, +Miley," he said breathlessly, for Ned was wiry, rather than robust, and +Dolly was a heavy little maid. + +All the way up the hill Miles had a sickening sense of awaking to +something full of dread. The ground and the sky and the dimly seen +houses were now all real; he felt the rain and the cold and the weight +of the bag on his arm, and he began to realize that what had happened +also was no dream. + +"Oh!" he cried, with a sudden hard gasp, and, dropping the bag, broke +into a run. He stumbled and slipped, but pantingly he held on till he +reached the Brewsters' cottage. From one of the tiny windows a light +shone forth, but it blinded without aiding him. He fumbled a moment at +the heavy door, then, grasping the rude latch at last, thrust it open +with his shoulder, and plunged headlong into the common room. + +On the hearth, opposite the door, a fire blazed, and on the table +flickered a candle. Spite of the dazzle of sudden light, Miles made out +a woman, just turning from the fire, and, knowing her for the Elder's +wife, ran to her. "Where's my mother, my mother?" he cried. + +"Hush, hush, Miles! You must quiet yourself ere you see her," Mistress +Brewster urged, never so gently. + +But there came from an adjoining room his mother's voice: "Miles, I am +here. Come to me." + +The narrow chamber was dark, but, seated in the far corner, he could +distinguish a woman's bowed figure, and, stumbling heavily across the +floor, he flung himself on his knees beside her. "Mother! Oh, mother!" +he choked, and, burying his face in her lap, burst out crying. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MAN OF THE FAMILY + + +AT first Miles found a jarring unfitness in everyday life. Only eight +and forty hours before, they had buried his father on the bluff +overlooking the harbor; they had read no prayers over the dead, as the +ministers did in England, and, lest the savages should spy and note how +few the colonists were becoming, they had levelled the grave, like the +many round about it. A raw wind had blown from off the sea, so Goodwife +Rigdale shivered as she stood by the grave, and Miles's hands were +senseless with the cold. + +Now it was over, and Goodman Rigdale dead and buried, but life went on, +just as usual. Goodwife Rigdale helped Mistress Brewster prepare food, +and ate of it herself; and Love and Wrestling, sorry though they had +been for their playmates' sorrow, frolicked gayly with Solomon, whom +Ned Lister had brought to the cottage, bag and all. By the second day, +though her eyes were still heavy with crying, and her mouth tremulous, +Dolly plucked up spirit to join the boys. Even earlier, Miles had +begun to fetch wood and water for Mistress Brewster, lay the fire, and +help where he could; if only everything had stopped for a time, till he +could realize what had happened and master himself, he felt he could +bear it; but the petty acts of living would go on. + +In such a mood of wretchedness he trudged forth on the third morning, +up the path beyond the spring, to fetch sticks from the edge of the +wood where the trees had been felled. He gathered the fagots, and was +trying to tie them strongly, as his father tied the swamp grass that +last day they worked together, when he saw Francis Billington, also in +search of wood, drawing near. + +"Why, Miles!" the newcomer greeted him, in some surprise, for in these +days Miles avoided his old comrades. But now there was no avoiding till +the wood was tied up, so Francis came to him and, a bit awed, tried +clumsily to be sympathetic. "I'll help you tie that wood, Miles." + +"I c'n do 't alone." + +"Look you, my daddy's going fowling to-day. Mayhap he'll take us." + +"I don't want to go," snapped Miles, with a sick sort of anger that +other boys still could talk of their fathers. + +"You might at least be civil to a body," Francis said rather huffily. +"What need to carry such a face for it, Miles? You were mortal afeard +of your father while he lived. And now he can never flog you no more." + +Without warning, other than a small catching of the breath, Miles +sprang to his feet and struck the speaker in the face. Francis, +thoroughly surprised, hit back, and, clenching, they pitched over among +the crackling sticks. Miles fell uppermost, and, hardly realizing how +or why, he was pommelling Francis lustily, when a mighty hand heaved +him up by the scruff of the neck. "You must not strike a man when he is +already worsted," spoke the voice of long-legged John Alden. + +Miles stood biting his lips that twitched. "'A' shall not say--" he +began, and there his voice broke. "Oh, I wish he could flog me again!" + +Alden stared a moment, then, with sudden understanding, swung round +upon the whimpering Francis and rated him mightily, while Miles, glad +not to be noticed, caught up his bundle of wood and stumbled away +toward the settlement. + +Yet this was the last outward showing of the boy's grief. Little by +little, as the busy days came, he found himself fitting into his new +life, and at length even taking a certain zest in it. For he was now +man of the family, and the cares he felt called on to shoulder did not +a little to distract him from any sorry broodings. He must work with +his full strength, wherever they sent him and whoever bade him; he +must keep flibbertigibbet Dolly out of mischief; above all, he must +run after his mother, as she went about to nurse the many sick of the +settlement, and see to it that she did not catch cold or come to any +harm. + +The greatest and most important labor, however, he did in the earlier +days of his loss, when he went to fetch his father's goods from the +_Mayflower_. Others might have said the work was done by Ned Lister, +for Master Hopkins, who had promised Goodman Rigdale to look to his +family, so far as he was able, sent him about this task; but Miles, who +was sure he was the leader and Ned only the assistant, felt the whole +expedition a tribute to his own new-come manliness. + +They went out in the shallop to the _Mayflower_ on a morning so bright +and open that it scarcely recalled to Miles his coming from the ship. +Once aboard, to be sure, the half-homesick pang laid hold on him, when +he scrambled down to the little cabin that had sheltered him so long; +but there was so much to do he soon cast it off. The bedding must be +tied up securely, and the pots and platters loaded into the biggest +kettle; and Ned, who had a coughing fit and said he didn't feel very +well, let Miles do it all. He recovered, however, in time to help drag +the stuff to the deck, and to get up from the orlop a small chest +of Goodman Rigdale's; and he was also selfish enough to take charge +himself of the loud, manly labor of transferring the goods to the +shallop. + +Somewhat disappointed, Miles clambered down again to the cabin to fetch +the box with Dolly's Indian basket, and, when he came back, the shallop +was so near ready to push off that he had only time to drop into the +bow beside Lister. Glancing round the great sail toward the stern, +where such other passengers as were going from the ship were placed, he +caught sight of Captain Standish, who sat stiffly, with one arm about +the muffled figure of a woman. "Yon is Mistress Standish, is it not?" +Miles questioned Lister, very softly. + +His companion nodded. "Set to come ashore, poor lass!" he answered, +in the same low tone. "'Tis the last trip she'll ever make in the +shallop." This Ned spoke sympathetically; then had no further leisure +to talk for settling himself comfortably with his back against Goodman +Rigdale's bedding. + +Miles moved a little to give Ned room, but, without heeding him, +continued to gaze at Captain Standish and Mistress Rose. He could not +see her face for the hood about her head and the cloak drawn up above +her chin, but he marked the listless droop of her whole body; and he +noted, too, how the Captain sat with his eyes looking straight out and +his mouth hard. Miles wondered if what Lister said of Mistress Standish +were true, and, what with wondering and watching, was taken by surprise +and nearly overset when the shallop bumped up to the landing place. + +For a moment he lingered by the boat, feigning to busy himself with +unlading the kettle, while he watched Mistress Standish. The Captain +and Alden, who was waiting at the landing, helped her from the boat, +and half carried her away between them up the hill. The Captain's face +was still so grave and stern, that Miles was a trifle frightened, and +very sorry; he wished he were a man like John Alden, so he could have +spoken to the Captain and helped Mistress Standish. + +Then he had to think of other matters, for Ned, with an access of +energy, was tumbling the goods ashore, and they must together drag +them up to the Elder's house. Just at present that was home to Miles, +because his mother and Dolly lived there, and he sometimes ate with +them, though, as an additional mark of manhood,--so he esteemed it,--he +spent his nights at the Common House. + +It really came about because his friends could not shelter him. +Goodwife Rigdale and Dolly had the last spare bed at the Elder's house; +the cottage higher up the hill, on which Goodman Rigdale had labored, +and where Goodman Cooke and Jack had now one bunk, was filled with men +whose houses were building; while Master Hopkins, however well he might +mean by his friend's son, had not a roof to cover his own family. So +Miles slept with Giles Hopkins at the Common House, where at night the +beds were placed so thick one need not step on the floor in passing +from the fire to his sleeping place. + +On Sunday all was changed, however, for then the Common House became a +meeting-house. They tucked the beds up in corners, and swept the floor, +as Miles knew to his cost, for on this, his second Saturday on the +mainland, they pressed him into the service. Twice on the Sabbath the +Elder taught his little company, and prayed with them there,--a sorry +little company indeed, of whom fair half lay sick within the cheerless +cabins, or dead beneath the level ground of the harbor bluff. + +The thought of his own dead father made Miles listen attentively +that day; and, when he walked staidly up to the Elder's house before +twilight, he took Dolly apart into his mother's cold little chamber, +where he read to her from Goodman Rigdale's black-letter Bible. He +was a painful reader, but he felt it was the fit thing for him to do +in filling his father's place, so, with the great book on his knees, +he sat on the floor, beneath the little window that let in the light +sparsely through its oiled paper, and Dolly sat by him, with her +head on his shoulder. He was much elated at finding her so quiet and +attentive, but, when he paused to recover breath at the end of a very +tough sentence about the Perizzites, he perceived the little girl was +fast asleep. + +Miles did not wake her; just sat with the Bible in his lap and his +stiffening arm round his sister till, when it had grown darker, his +mother came to seek them. He had nothing to say to his mother that +night, but afterward it was something to remember keenly, though with +an under-pang of sorrow, how he had sat close by her in the dark and +had felt her hand rest on his head. + +Next day was dreary with rain and sleet, and a dull twilight that, +closing in early, drove Miles into the house, where he played at +Even-and-Odd with the little Brewsters and Dolly, very quietly, +because the Elder was writing at the table. Elder Brewster was always +kindly-spoken, but the fact that he knew such a deal about the next +world, and what would befall you if you were not good, put Miles in +great awe of him. + +When he went forth at length, Miles, feeling more like himself, raised +his voice, and even let the trenchers clatter while he and Dolly laid +the table. But he had no desire to be noisy, when, late in the evening, +the Elder returned from the house where the sick lay. A word or two +passed between the older folk that sent Miles with a whispered question +to his mother, who told him simply that Mistress Rose Standish had died +that evening. + +Dolly cried, because she was a foolish girl, but it did not stir Miles +so deeply. Indeed, he did not come to feel a hearty grief till next +morning, when, as he climbed the hill to Elder Brewster's cottage, he +saw Captain Standish, grim and set-faced, trudging up to the woods +through the sleet and rain. The weather was too bitter for work, and +the axe which the Captain carried was, Miles guessed, a mere pretext. +All through the day it made him shiver to think of the solitary man, +lingering in the cold among the pines; he wondered if even to himself +the Captain would make pretense of working, or if he would sit idle +among the wet logs. + +But forty-eight hours later the Captain was going and coming and +working among the rest, just as before, though maybe a bit more silent. +For the hale ones who could labor were few; the work must be done; +and, where so many were falling, there was small space to grieve for a +single life. + +Miles had even grown somewhat blunted to the sight of the sorry little +companies that twice and even thrice a week trudged with the body of a +friend or kinsman to the bluff above the harbor. His own life went on +methodically; he worked, and even played with Jack Cooke and Trug, and +some days, when he was allowed to go fowling with Ned Lister and Giles +Hopkins, fairly enjoyed himself. + +But Ned began presently to have coughing fits even when he was +bidden to go hunting, though Miles, who had grown distrustful of his +convenient illness, urged him to "have done with fooling and come +along." One morning in February, when Lister, instead of going about +his work, was wasting his time thus with Miles and Jack and Giles by +the fire in Goodman Cooke's cottage, came another to urge him, no less +a one than Master Hopkins. Miles remembered a long time the terrible +rating he gave Ned for his laziness and trickery, and he wondered that +the young man sat with his head leaning on his fist, and flung back but +a single protest: "I can judge better than you, sir, whether I be ill +or not. 'Tis my head that's aching, not yours." + +To which Master Hopkins retorted grimly that, if there were a whipping +post in the colony, something besides Ned's head would ache. + +Then, for that there was no help for it, Lister took his fowling piece +and slouched away from the fire. "I'm going, since you drive me," he +said sulkily, "but these youngsters need not follow at my heels. 'Twill +be all I can do to fetch myself home again, let alone three brats." + +Much disappointed, Miles spent the day in the less joyous labor of +fetching and carrying on the great hill, where they were putting the +last touches to the platform on which the guns were to be mounted. +He came to be interested, none the less, when Goodman Cooke told him +how, in a few days, they would drag the guns up the hill and put them +in place. That would be a brave thing to see, Miles thought, for the +sailors from the _Mayflower_ were to come ashore and help, and the +street from the hill to the landing place would be noisy and busy. Not +so busy, though, as the crew of the _Mayflower_ would have made it a +month before, for the sickness now had settled on the ship, where it +was raging unchecked. + +At dusk, as Miles came down from the hill, he chanced on Master +Hopkins, still grumbling at Lister, who bade him go see if that +malingerer were loitering anywhere in the settlement. It seemed a +spying errand, but, not thinking of disobedience, Miles started down +the street. Nearest the shore stood the Common House, the house for +the sick, and the storehouse, all three of which, to make the search +complete, he visited. + +In the big main room of the sick-house lay the men who were ill, and, +as Miles stepped in, on tiptoe because of his heavy shoes, the first +thing he saw beneath the candlelight was Ned Lister's black head, half +hidden under the coverlets of one of the bunks. Miles stole up to him. +"Why, Ned, ha' you cheated the Doctor himself?" he whispered cheerfully. + +Lister raised his head and looked at him, with his eyes very bright. +"I'm cheating you all; yes," he said, with a laugh. "Go tell Hopkins be +more cautious next time how he wastes so good a property as a serving +man. A pity! If I die he'll be out my passage-money. Well, I always +owed him a grudge for bringing me to this forsaken country, and I'll +even scores now." + +The thought seemed to please Ned mightily, for he laughed, till Doctor +Fuller, stepping from the inner room, sharply bade him hush. "Get you +to Master Hopkins and tell him the man is ill," he ordered Miles; and, +as he let the boy out at the door, added, for his ear alone, "very ill." + +Somehow Ned's overthrow frightened Miles more than any other illness. +Lister had always seemed so tough and wiry that his succumbing at last +set the boy to asking himself, in some fright, if he, too, might not +fall ill. A soreness in his throat or an ache in his head made him +nervous. He questioned Jack minutely as to how he felt before he was +taken sick, and then he began at once to feel as Jack had felt. He +started to tell his mother and get her to comfort him, but then he was +ashamed; she was busy and anxious all the time for the people she was +called on to nurse, and he was a great, strong boy, who, of course, +would not be sick. + +But one day his head ached in good earnest--no imagination; and next +morning the ache was worse, so he was too stupid even to go out. +Wrestling Brewster was ailing too, so Dolly and Love stayed by his bed +to amuse him, and Miles was left quite alone. All day he sat toasting +himself by the fire, till he was too warm and was sure his head ached +because of the heat, so out he went, and tramped up and down the street +till his teeth chattered with cold. He wanted no supper, but he went +back to the house to bid his mother good night and get to bed early. + +"Mother came home very weary and has lain down within," Dolly said, +so he went into the bedroom. A cold light streamed in at the little +window, but the corners of the low room were dark and the pallet was in +shadow. His mother was stretched upon it, with the cloak that had been +his father's wrapped round her, but at his step she raised her head. +"It's you, my lad?" she asked, and reached out her hand. + +"I came in to give you good night, mother," he said, in his manliest +tone, because it made him proud to think he was hiding his illness from +her. "I'll mess at the Common House to-night." + +She put up her hand, and, drawing his head down to her, kissed him. Her +cheek felt hot as it pressed against his, and even in the dim light he +noted that her face was flushed, but his head ached so lamentably that +he made nothing of it. "Why, deary, you're not ill?" he heard her say. + +"Indeed, no, mother. No more ill than you," he answered bravely, and, +bidding her good night, went softly out of the room. + +The west was all a chill yellow, and a northerly breeze was astir that +set Miles shivering long before he reached the Common House. There +a fire was alight that looked comforting, and, going up to it, he +snuggled down in a corner of the hearth. At the table of boards laid +on trestles some of the men were eating their supper, but Miles was +sick at the mere thought of food. He sat staring and staring into the +heart of the flames, where he could see the outlines of the farmhouse +at home, and then he saw nothing, but he faintly heard steps upon the +floor, and somebody caught him up. + +"What are you falling on the fire in that fashion for, eh?" one +asked, and the man who held him--he had a vague notion it was +Alden--questioned, "What's wrong, lad?" + +"Oh--h!" wailed Miles, "I think I'm dying." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN THE TIME OF THE SICKNESS + + +TO be sure, Miles did not die, but for some days he lay in the +sick-house, too ill to give much heed to what went on about him, or +take thought for anything save his own misery. From a mass of hazy +recollections one or two moments of that time afterward came back +clearly. + +One such memory was of a dim morning within the cheerless room, when, +through the familiar patter, patter of rain on the oiled paper at the +windows, he heard a latch creak somewhere and men tread cautiously. +Turning weakly on his pillow, Miles looked to the door that led to +the inner room, where the sick women lay, and he saw Goodman Cooke +and Edward Dotey come forth, stepping carefully, and carrying on a +stretcher between them something that was muffled up and motionless. He +turned his face again to the wall, and neither thought nor reasoned of +what it meant,--just listened to the lulling patter of the rain. + +The other time of which he kept remembrance was a crisp night, when the +whiff of wind that blew in at the outer door, as it was opened, smelt +fresh and good, and Cooke, who came to tend the fire, piled the logs +high. Dozing and waking, Miles watched through half-closed eyelids the +crowded pallets about him, and the shadows that flickered up and down +the rough walls. He must have slept a moment, but he roused up suddenly +to see in the waning firelight Elder Brewster, who bent over him with +a cup of drink. Leaning against the arm that supported him, Miles +swallowed the draught obediently, and then the Elder, with more care +than he usually had time to bestow on a single patient, laid him down +and drew the coverings round him. "Poor little lad!" Miles heard him +say, under his breath. "God comfort you!" + +Miles wondered a little, but, too stupid greatly to heed what was said, +soon dropped to sleep once more. + +The crisis of his sickness must have passed on that night, for a day +or two later he felt enough like himself to swallow with some relish a +dish of broth. Ned Lister, packed out from the sick-house while still +convalescent, to make room for others, fetched him the broth, and +helped him eat, with a choking great spoon that made the process slow. +Miles wondered whether Ned had grown thin or his clothes had grown +baggy; perhaps 'twas a little of both. + +Then, on the idle wonderment, followed more serious thought, and, +speaking slowly and weakly, he asked, as Lister settled him in his +pallet again: "Tell me, Ned, why has not my mother been here to nurse +me, as she did you and the others?" + +"Haven't you been well enough looked to, Miley?" questioned Ned, +bending down to tie his shoestrings. + +"'Tis just the men have cared for me." + +"Well, you're a man yourself, and want only men to look to you, eh?" + +"No, I'm not a man," said Miles, the ready tears of sickness welling +into his eyes, "and I want my mother." + +"I heard she had a touch of the fever herself," answered Ned, still +busy with his shoes. "We're all helpless with it, Miles. There's only +seven of us now that can crawl about to do aught. And the Captain and +the Elder are working each like three. By the Lord, those be two good +fellows!" This earnestly, for Ned; and then, gathering up his bowl and +spoon, he walked away to minister to the next sick man. + +Every one ill, and the care of the whole colony on the shoulders of +seven men, some half sick themselves! Miles realized vaguely that he +ought to be patient and not fret at anything, but still the next two +days of his slow convalescence were long and hard to bear. + +He was glad enough, one dim morning that seemed like all the others, +when the Elder came into the sick-room with Dolly at his side. "The +little wench begged to come to you, Miles," he said, as he seated her +on the edge of the boy's pallet. "But she is to talk only few words, +and softly, because there are others lying here very ill." + +So soon as he had turned and left the children to themselves, Dolly +bent and dabbed a kiss upon her brother's chin. "Though you make me +shy, near as if you were a stranger, Miles," she explained, in a +subdued whisper, "you are grown so peaked, and your eyes are so very +round." + +Miles smiled weakly, but happily, it was so good to see the face of one +of his own people. "I'm glad you came, Dolly," he said, drawing her +hand tremulously into his. "Mother will soon come too, will she not? +Why did she not come with you?" + +A choke made Dolly's whisper broken: "She--could not." + +"Is she ill?" + +Dolly nodded, with a piteous face. + +Miles's thin fingers gripped her hand fast. "Dolly, she isn't--dead?" +His voice rose high and frightened. + +"Oh, you mustn't, Miles," Dolly gasped. "And I can't tell you. They +said I must not speak of her to you. Oh, Miles, Miles, she has been +dead these four days!" + +They carried Dolly away, the mischief done, and Miles, hiding his +head beneath the bedclothes, cried so long as strength was in him. +Then he lay watching the red and orange streaks that flashed before +his tight-closed eyes, and, thinking how stuffy it was beneath the +coverlets, wondered if perhaps he would not smother. He hoped he would, +so he had a first sensation of fretful disappointment, when some one +uncovered his head; and then, as he caught the clearer air on his face +and looked up at Captain Standish, felt vaguely comforted. + +"Drink you this, lad," spoke the Captain, gruffly, yet, Miles realized, +with vast pity in his tone. "Then sleep." + +"I'll--try," swallowed Miles. + +"That's well. Bear it soldierly, as we all must." + +"Like a soldier," Miles repeated over and over to himself, and, +shutting his lips, pressed his head into the bolster, till, worn-out, +he slept. + +When he awoke, the realization of his loss returned, keen almost as +ever; but he was a healthy lad, so inevitably strength came back to +him, and with it, little by little, as he mastered it in silence, his +grief abated. Those about him were kind, too, and did what they could +to comfort him. Captain Standish himself cared for him; Ned Lister and +Giles visited him often; and once they even let poor, guilty Dolly +come to see him. She fetched in her arms fat Solomon, who yowled so +piteously that, just inside the door, Doctor Fuller, who was up and +able to tend his sick again, made her put him down, whereupon the cat +fled home, fast as four legs could bear him. + +"'Twas such a pity when I fetched him so far to see you," Dolly +lamented to Miles, as she exhibited the scratches on her hands, "but he +will go home safe to Mistress Brewster's house. He likes it there, and +so do I. I am going to live there always with Love and Wrestling and +Priscilla Mullins. She made me a poppet of a piece of scarlet cloth, +and I called it after her. I shall bring it to show you next time, +though you'll laugh at it, because you are a boy. Indeed, I do like it +at Mistress Brewster's. If only mammy and daddy were there too!" she +added, in a lower tone. + +Elder Brewster himself had, at the very first, paused by Miles's bed, +and spoken gravely to him of how his mother was now in a more blessed +place, and he must try always to be a good boy, so some day he might +join her. Though he listened dutifully, Miles did not care for the +Elder's admonitions as much as he cared for Mistress Brewster's words. +Newly risen from her sick-bed, she came to him, and, sitting by his +pallet, whispered him of his mother, and how, before she died, she had +left her love for him, and bidden him always be a good lad and a good +brother to the little wench. "Though my lad will be that without my +bidding," Alice Rigdale had added. "He has always been a good little +son to me." + +Miles listened, with his face held stolid; it was only when Mistress +Brewster bent and kissed him, like his mother, that he blinked fast and +turned away his head. + +Day by day he grew stronger, till he sat up in bed, and then, by slow +stages, was suffered to put on his clothes and walk staggeringly across +the room. The next advance was his going out into the air, which would +doubtless have been longer deferred if any one had had time to give +close heed to the sick boy. But Doctor Fuller was busied elsewhere, and +the Elder was looking to others of the sick folk, so, one morning when +Lister had helped Miles into his clothes, the boy took matters into his +own hands by slipping out at the door. + +It was a rare, mild March day, with a tender wind of the spring that +came from the western woods. The earth was soft beneath the foot; the +few bushes that clambered up the bluff across the way were bursting +with brown buds; and the blue harbor dazzled under the vivid sunlight. +Leaning against the doorpost, Miles joyfully drank in the freshness +of the morning, though his eyes grew wistful as he looked again to the +bluff yonder where were the levelled graves. + +[Illustration: "'Do you like to do it, Captain Standish?'"] + +Presently he summoned up his strength, and, stepping cautiously off the +doorstone, picked his way round to the east side of the house, where +the sun was warmest. Here the ground was trodden and bare, save for the +chips scattered about the logs, of which there was a great heap stacked +against the house-wall. At the other side of the pile, a tub of water +rested on a great block, and, most marvellous of all, over the tub, +busily washing a mass of bed-linen, bent Captain Standish. + +Miles caught his breath in a gasp of surprise that made the Captain +look up. "So you're well recovered, Miles?" he asked cheerily. + +The boy nodded, and set himself down on the woodpile. + +"Cast on my doublet, there beside you, if you will be sitting here," +said Standish, and, shaking the water off his hands, came and wrapped +the garment about Miles. + +Snuggling down against the sunny logs, Miles gravely watched the +Captain. He washed the clothes deliberately, with a good deal of +sober splashing and a lavish use of soap; and then he wrung them so +vigorously that the muscles of his bared arms stood out. So earnest and +busy did he seem about the undignified task that, before he thought, +Miles blurted out: "Do you like to do it, Captain Standish?" + +"Not in the least," the Captain answered cheerfully, as he twisted a +sheet so hard that a jet of water spurted over the front of his shirt, +"not in the least, Miles. But there's no one else to do it, and it must +needs be done." + +Miles pondered a moment. "I take it, that's how it is with living; +somebody has to," he said at length. + +"And somebody is right glad to," Captain Standish answered, with a +quick glance at Miles. "You must get well and run about and do a man's +share of the work that's before us, and you'll soon be rid of any heavy +thoughts." + +Miles sat still in the sunlight, and, reflecting vaguely, called to +mind that, if his father and mother both were dead, Mistress Rose +Standish, who was all the Captain had, likewise rested yonder on the +bluff. Out of the fullness of knowledge the Captain was trying once +more to teach him how to bear all bravely, he guessed, so he began +stoutly: "Yes, I'm going to be a man, sir. Because now I'll have to +take care of Trug and Dolly and Solomon." + +Captain Standish smiled a little, as he gathered the wet clothes into +his arms. "You're a true man already, Miles," he said. "At least, +you're a man in the way you group your women-folk with your cattle." + +After the Captain had gone behind the house to hang out his wash, Miles +rested a time very thoughtful. The sunlight was warm and pleasant, and +southward across the harbor the great bluff was dense with evergreen. A +brave world, and he was going to do a brave part in it, as his mother +had looked for him to do. + +A step upon the chips made him rouse up just as Master Hopkins came +leisurely round the woodpile. His face was pale, for he, too, had been +touched with the sickness, and his manner was kinder than Miles had +ever known in him. "So you're hale again, Miles Rigdale? Do you think +you could make shift to walk up the hill to my house?" + +"Yes, sir," Miles replied promptly. The house that Master Hopkins +was building when Miles fell sick stood just across the street from +the Elder's, and the boy had made up his mind to drag himself to the +latter's cottage that day. It made his heart quicken to think of seeing +again the rooms where his mother had lived that last month, and of +talking with Dolly and Mistress Brewster. He hoped, too, that if he got +up to the house they would keep him there to supper, perhaps all night. +So he answered Master Hopkins's question confidently and happily: +"Yes, sir. I can surely walk that far up the hill." + +"That's well," said Master Hopkins; "you shall eat dinner with us this +noontime." + +"Thank you, sir," Miles answered, not overjoyed, but civilly. + +"I'll take you to the house with me when I go back thither," the other +pursued. "You understand, you are to dwell with me hereafter." + +When Captain Standish returned from his drying ground, Stephen Hopkins +had gone on down to the landing, and against the logs huddled a +piteous-faced small boy, who at sight of him cried: "Captain Standish, +Master Hopkins says I must live with him." + +"Do you not wish to?" asked Standish, nonchalantly, and, tipping the +water out of his tub, set himself down on the block where it had rested. + +"I'd rather go anywhere else in Plymouth, unless 'twas to Goodwife +Billington. Must I go to him, Captain Standish?" Forgetting his usual +respectful demeanor, Miles rose, and, stumbling the few steps to the +Captain, leaned against his knee. "I thought--maybe I should go with +Dolly to Mistress Brewster," he said in a low voice. + +Standish suddenly put one arm about him. "A pity it couldn't be so, +Miles! But the Elder's house is full, and at Master Hopkins's there's +half a bed; you can sleep with Giles. In any case, Master Hopkins was +your father's kinsman." + +"I could go to Goodman Cooke," pleaded Miles. "Or--or--I wish I could +live with you." + +Standish laughed outright, though when he spoke his voice was gentle: +"I would take you, laddie, and be glad to, if things were--as I thought +they would be. Rose had a liking for you." He stopped short, and Miles, +looking up in some awe, noted that his eyes were fixed on the blue +harbor, yet he seemed to see nothing of it. When he spoke again, his +tone was quick and altered: "But as things have fallen out, John Alden +and I are sleeping in an unfinished cabin and eating where we can find +a bite. And a little young fellow like you would be better off in a +household where there are women than with two clumsy men. So they have +arranged it all for your best good." + +Miles nodded, not trusting his voice to speak. He was thinking of what +the Captain had said about being a man and things that had to be done, +and he meant to make a good showing before him. "I like Giles," he +began slowly, "and I like Constance, and Ned Lister will be there too; +I'll try to like Master Hopkins--if he'll let me bring Trug." + +So he had put on quite a brave face by the time Master Hopkins came +to fetch him to his new home. To him it was all so much a matter of +course that he offered no explanations or commonplace cheering words to +Miles; just bade him come, and soberly led the way up the hill. Miles, +with his feet like lead and his brave resolution flagging, loitered +half-heartedly behind him, till Master Hopkins turned. "You're not yet +as strong as you thought, Miles Rigdale?" he said gravely, but kindly +enough, and, lifting the boy in his arms, carried him up the hill. + +Miles rested passive, one arm thrown perfunctorily about Master +Hopkins's neck, and wished he were anywhere else. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MASTER HOPKINS'S GUEST + + + "'In Wakefield there lives a jolly pinder, + In Wakefield all on a green, + In Wakefield all on a green,--' + +THERE, there, Damaris! Hushaby, hushaby! Go to sleep, like a good lass." + +Damaris gurgled at Miles with a provokingly wide-awake crow. "I never +saw such a bad baby," sighed the little boy. "Do go to sleep, honey. + + "'In Wakefield there lives a jolly pinder,--'" + +"Oh, Miles," laughed Constance Hopkins, who, standing at the rude +table, was scouring the biggest kettle, "you have sung that half a +score of times. Is there no other song you know?" + +"It is no time for the child to sleep now," interrupted Mistress +Hopkins. "I'll wrap her up, and, since 'tis so mild a morning, you may +take her forth into the air." + +"O dear!" thought Miles, "I'm a man, not a nurse." He never considered +that it was any kindness on his new guardians' part when, instead of +putting him to heavy outdoor tasks, they set him to minding the baby +and helping about the house. "Like a girl," Miles told himself, with +an indignant sniff. It was not two weeks since he left the sick-house, +and his legs were still a little uncertain, but he was sure he was fit +to work again, or, at any rate, fit to run away and play with the other +boys. + +But he took the baby now and walked forth meekly, because he lived +in some dread of Mistress Elizabeth Hopkins. She was a thin-lipped, +energetic young woman, who mended Miles's clothes scrupulously, and, +with equal conscientiousness, boxed his ears whenever he tracked dirt +on her clean floors. Her sharp tongue, though, he feared more than +her hands, for Mistress Hopkins scolded at everything and everybody; +indeed, the only members of the household whom her words never troubled +were Oceanus, who was so young he just blinked his eyes when she +talked, and Master Hopkins, on whom people's fretting had as much +effect as it would have had upon the great rock at the landing place. + +After all, Miles was rather glad to get out into the air, away from +the living room, where Mistress Hopkins was already chiding Constance. +The morning was fair and warm, with no wind stirring, and the harbor +sparkled invitingly, so, shouldering the unwelcome Damaris, he started +happily to the shore. + +But his contentment speedily had an end, for, not halfway to the +landing, he was overtaken by Francis Billington, Jack Cooke, and Joe +Rogers, who at once addressed him in disrespectful wise. "Ho, Miles, +that's brave work, tending a baby," jeered Francis. + +"You meddle with your own matters," Miles replied sulkily. + +"Come with us, Miles," Jack put in pacifically. "We're going along +shore to the first brook--" + +"We do not want a baby with us," Joe interrupted. + +"_You_ might stay with me, Jack," Miles pleaded, as the others turned +away. + +Jack, a freckled little fellow with merry eyes, dug the heel of his +shoe into the dirt. "The other lads will be having sport," he said +half-heartedly. + +"Then go with them," cried Miles. "Only you were very fain to play with +me on shipboard." + +Even this last thrust failed; Jack ran after the others down the hill, +and Miles, feeling cross and ill-treated, was left to himself. + +'Twould look too much as if he were following his ungracious friends if +he went on to the landing, so he turned back to Elder Brewster's house. +There Priscilla Mullins, a girl orphaned by the winter's sickness, who, +because she was eighteen, was classed by Miles as a woman, was sweeping +the doorstone with a broom of birch twigs. She paused in the labor +teasingly to throw him a kiss, and tell him his busy sister and the +lads were cooking by the brookside. + +Sure enough, in the level space between the base of the bluff on which +the cottage stood and the cove, Miles found Dolly, and Dolly's poppet +Priscilla, and Love, and Wrestling, and Solomon, and Trug, who was not +admitted to Mistress Hopkins's house because his great paws dirtied her +floor,--all busied in making delectable pies of mud. + +But when Miles joined them, Love withdrew from the mud-pie game, and +wished to play at holding a council, such as his father and all the men +were holding that morning in the Common House to regulate the military +affairs of the colony. Dolly insisted that she should be allowed to +come to the council too, for all Love urged that women never were +invited thither, and the argument was growing bitter, when an unwonted +tumult in the village street drew Miles's attention. A confused sort +of calling and shrill shouting it seemed, that made his heart quicken +between curiosity and alarm; so, snatching up Damaris, he scaled the +bluff, while the rest of the children scrambled close behind him. + +On the doorstone Mistress Brewster and Priscilla were gazing in silent +wonder toward the street, and, looking thither too, Miles saw a man +stalk past to the landing, very deliberately, as if he knew the place +and held he had the right to come there. It was no one of the settlers, +though, but a great, half-naked fellow with a coppery face--an Indian. + +Dolly and Wrestling clutched Mistress Brewster's skirts, the little +boy fairly crying, and Miles himself, it must be owned, held Damaris +fast and drew a step nearer the doorstone. But next moment he noted the +Indian carried for weapons only a bow and two arrows, with which he +could not kill all the settlement, and, moreover, at his heels tagged +venturously Giles Hopkins and several of the other boys, and even +Goodwife Billington, very clamorous, and the Governor's serving maid. + +So Miles, not to be outdone by a petticoat, swaggered into the roadway +and joined himself to the little group of curious folk, who, always +ready to flee if he should turn on them, followed close at the savage's +heels, down the steep hill, past Peter Browne's cottage, even to the +door of the Common House. + +The noise in the street had already disturbed the men at their +conference, and they came flocking forth at the door, the Governor, the +Elder, and the Captain, with a score of other stout fighters crowding +behind them. But the Indian, never a whit abashed, strode boldly up +to them, would even have pressed into the house, had not their ranks +barred his passage. Nothing chilled, he halted, and, stretching forth +his hands, spoke in a guttural tone: "Welcome." + +"Do Indians talk English?" Miles whispered to Giles, who stood beside +him. "Hush, hush, Damaris! The black man won't hurt you." + +But Damaris, quite unconvinced, clutched Miles tightly round the neck +and went on crying lustily, till at last Goodwife Billington seized him +by the collar. "Thou good-for-naught lad!" she scolded. "Wilt thou kill +the poor babe? Take her back to the house, thou runagate! Ay, ay, let +her scream herself ill, so thou mayest gape and gaze. I would I had the +up-bringing of thee!" + +Some people besides himself liked to gape and gaze, Miles thought, +but, without reply, he gathered the wailing Damaris into his arms and +trudged slowly up the hill. There, by the Governor's house, it chanced +he met with Francis and Jack and Joe, who, scenting something unusual +in the village, had hastened back through the fields. "What is it has +happened, Miles?" cried Joe. + +Miles, glancing over his shoulder, saw with unkind satisfaction that +the men had taken the savage into the Common House, out of sight. +"'Twas naught," he said airily. "Just a great Indian came into town." + +"Did you see him?" urged Francis. "Tell us about it." + +"Humph! You've no wish to talk to me when I'm tending a baby," sniffed +Miles, and trudged on to Master Hopkins's house, so elate at his +triumph that he forgot to be angry with Damaris for dragging him away +from the sport. + +At the noon meal, indeed, he heard all and more than he could have +learned, had he lingered about the door of the Common House, for Ned +Lister was bubbling over with talk of the Indian. As Master Hopkins had +stayed at the Common House and Dotey had none of his fellow-servant's +faculty for gathering news, he proved the only tale-monger of the +household; so the whole family harked to him respectfully, and even +Mistress Hopkins forgot her usual sarcasms on his galloping tongue. + +"This is not a savage from these parts," Ned explained; "he comes from +the eastward, from Monhegan, whither the ships out of England go to +fish. He has been on shipboard there and so has got a smattering of +the English tongue. One Captain Dermer brought him to Cape Cod, and he +has been in these parts now some eight months. And he told us a deal +of the nations hereabout. This open place where we have settled is +called Patuxet. It was a village of the savages once, but three or four +years back came a great plague, and all the people died, so now we are +undisputed masters of the soil. Next unto us dwell the Massasoits, a +tribe of some sixty fighting men; and to the southeast, those savages +whom our men gave a brush to on their explorations in December, are the +Nausets, near a hundred strong." + +Ned paused to secure himself another slice of cold mallard; then +started on a new train: "You should 'a' seen the Indian fellow eat. He +asked for beer, but we gave him strong water, and biscuit and butter +and cheese and pudding, and a piece of mallard thereto, and he liked +all very well, and ate right heartily." + +"He is not the only idler who looks for a full meal," said Mistress +Hopkins scathingly. "Where have they put the vile creature now?" + +"Vile creature, mistress?" Ned repeated. "Sure, he says that in his own +country he is a great lord of land, a Sagamore--" + +"I would he were back in his own country," Mistress Hopkins answered +sharply. "The murderous wretch! I shall not draw a breath in peace till +he be hence. Here, Ned, 'tis little enough work you'll do if you go +forth, do you stay this afternoon in the house to protect us." + +There was an instant of disappointed silence on Lister's part, then, +"'Tis you she means, Ned Dotey," he cried, and, without staying to take +his cap, bolted out at the door. + +Nor was this the only desertion which Mistress Hopkins suffered; for, +at their first opportunity, Dotey and Giles also slipped away, and +Miles stayed behind only because he was so little that the mistress +shook him when he attempted to follow. But speedily he had a bright +thought, and asked Mistress Hopkins if perhaps, since she was afraid of +the Indian, she would not like him to fetch Trug to the house to guard +them. + +Thus Miles was allowed, at last, to bring his dog home, and so grateful +was he, that he remained patiently tending Damaris all the long +afternoon. He found a certain enjoyment in his position, however; he +was sole man in the cottage, and he wondered, should other Indians +follow this first one, if Mistress Hopkins wouldn't let him take one of +the muskets and fight for her. When it came dark at last, he knowingly +inspected the fastenings of the door, and told Constance not to be +afraid; he and Trug could defend them. + +Poor Constance needed more comfort than that, for she was in a sorry +fright. Her hands shook as she laid the table, and, when a step sounded +crisply in the dooryard, she gave a nervous cry and dropped the pile of +trenchers. It was only Ned Lister, however, who stamped in, bareheaded +and whistling cheerfully. + +"You have come back, then, since 'tis suppertime?" Mistress Hopkins +greeted him sarcastically. + +"Nay, I'm not hungry," Ned answered, as he sauntered over to the fire +where Miles sat with Damaris, "'tis that the master sent me ahead to +bid you make ready the guest chamber and the bed of state. Our Indian +lord there, the Sagamore Samoset, is to lodge here to-night." + +For a moment Mistress Hopkins looked at the speaker in dumb amazement. +"If Master Hopkins does not punish you roundly for such a lie, Edward +Lister," she said at last, deliberately, "it will not be for want of my +urging him." + +"It's the truth, though," Ned answered indifferently. + +"O me!" Constance cried, with a sudden nervous wail, "I know we'll all +be slain ere daybreak. O dear!" She turned to run into the bedroom, +when Lister caught her by the arm. "Don't cry, Constance," he urged; +"there's no need to fear. Captain Standish and some of the others are +coming hither to spend the night and keep watch. You'll be safe enough." + +But the girl, breaking from him, vanished into the chamber, whither +Mistress Hopkins, snatching up Damaris, followed her; so, for some +moments, Miles was free to ask questions and Ned to answer, as it liked +them best. But, so soon as Master Hopkins's deliberate step sounded +on the doorstone, Mistress Hopkins came forth and, as he entered +the living room, confronted him: "Is that savage to be lodged here +to-night, Stephen? Among us, where my children are?" + +"He must go somewhere, Elizabeth," the master of the house replied +unruffled. "He is set to stay among us for the night, and the tide is +out so we may not convey him on shipboard. We can lodge him in the +little closet next our chamber." + +"He shall not come into the house!" said Mistress Hopkins, with her +thin lips set. + +"Edward Lister, do you spread out the bed within the closet," Master +Hopkins went on unheedingly. + +With a wink at Miles, Ned crossed the room in unusual haste, and Miles, +taking a candle, followed after into the closet, a tiny room with one +black window, where stood an old chest and a hogshead and a rolled-up +mattress, which Ned began leisurely to spread out. "What think you, +Miles?" he whispered, as the boy closed the door behind him. "It's good +there is one person in the house whom the dame cannot rattle off as she +list, eh?" + +Miles nodded vaguely, his attention all fixed on the least details of +the commonplace room which now had a fearful interest from the guest +it was to shelter. The thought of the savage stranger filled the place +with such awesome fancies that he could not help going out from it +very hastily ahead of Lister, who grumbled a little that Miles was so +speedy to be off with the candle. + +Once in the bright living room, however, he became very brave indeed, +and wondered to Giles Hopkins when the Sagamore Samoset would come. +His mood grew the bolder when the elder lad showed him a dirk knife he +had placed under his doublet. "For there's no being sure with these +treacherous savages," Giles said seriously. + +But when the Sagamore came at last, the boys found that the Hopkins +household would be well guarded, for with him were not only Master +Hopkins and Dotey, but big John Alden and Captain Standish. The very +sight of the latter reassured Miles, so down he sat on the floor by the +hearth, with his arm round Trug, who, as soon as he spied the Indian, +bristled the hair on his back and uttered a throaty growl. + +Mistress Hopkins and Constance and the two babies kept within the south +chamber; but the men by themselves were enough to fill the living room. +There were but two stools, besides the form on the hearth and a chest +against the wall, so long-legged Giles must curl himself up on the +floor by Miles, while Ned Lister set himself upon the table. They bade +the Indian be seated on the form by the fire, right over against Miles, +who, be sure, stared at him with eyes wide open. + +The Sagamore Samoset, he saw, was a tall, straight man, of complexion +like an English gypsy, smooth-faced, with coarse black hair that fell +to his shoulders behind, but was cut before. Since his coming into +the settlement, his English hosts had put upon him a horseman's coat, +which he wore with much pride and dignity; indeed, all his gestures and +carriage were not only decent, but of a certain stateliness. "Why, he +is somewhat like other men," Miles whispered softly to Giles, but Trug +grumbled in his throat. + +Only one candle was burning in the room, but the firelight cast a +flickering brightness on the faces of the men. Captain Standish and +Lister and the Indian had lighted pipes of tobacco, and the air was so +heavy with the smell of the smoke that Miles half drowsed, but through +his drooping eyelids he watched his English comrades, and watched the +Indian. Captain Standish was sitting adventurously right on the form +beside the Sagamore, and now and again they spoke together. Miles noted +that in the Indian's speech came strange words, which the Captain +seemed to try to understand, and once or twice the Captain even sought +to make use of them himself. + +Miles wondered at this, and then his only wonderment was as to whether +he had been asleep. The logs on the hearth had broken into red embers; +the men had risen up; and, rubbing the heaviness from his eyes, Miles +saw Master Hopkins and the Captain usher their Indian guest into the +little closet room. + +Straightway a certain tension in the company seemed to slacken; Giles +rose stiffly from the floor, and Trug put down his head upon his +paws, though he still kept one bright, half-opened eye fixed on the +door through which the Indian had gone. With a great creaking of the +trestles, Ned Lister dismounted from the table. "If he come to kill +us," he said in a low tone to Alden, "do you run in and call me so I +can have a share in the scuffle." Then, stretching himself mightily, he +disappeared into the north bedroom, where the serving men and the boys +of the household slept. + +"Since you have two others to keep watch with you, Master Hopkins," +spoke the Captain, as he took down his hat from the wall, "I'll go walk +a turn about the hill. I'll be back ere the half-hour is up." + +He had put his hand to the latch, when Miles, on the impulse, sprang to +his feet and ran to him. "May I come too, sir?" he whispered. + +"You, Miles? Why, you were better in bed. Nay, come if you like." + +Out of doors the air was crispy and silent, and pleasant smelling +after the smoky atmosphere of the crowded room. Overhead the stars +were dense and bright, but below, the lonely little settlement lay in +darkness, with never a spark of a candle showing. "How late is it, +Captain Standish?" Miles asked, in a hushed voice. + +"I should say it was near on to midnight," the other replied, stepping +along so briskly that Miles's breath for talking was lost in the effort +to keep pace with him. + +Up and up they toiled; past Goodman Billington's cottage; past the +black cabin where Alden and the Captain lived; and then by the +well-trodden path up the sheer hillside, till the planking of the broad +platform sounded hollow beneath their feet, and they stood among the +guns. The spark in the Captain's pipe gleamed red in the darkness, but +Miles could not see the Captain's features; he perceived only that he +turned his face from quarter to quarter, and remained longest gazing +into the black west, where the ridge of hills ran jagged against the +starry sky. + +He watched the Captain's movements, but he did not venture to speak +till Standish himself broke out: "Well, there'll come no bands to +frighten us this night, I take it. We can march home, Miles. We've a +fair starlight to make the march under," he added, and, as they stepped +from the platform to the yielding turf, lingered an instant to gaze +skyward. + +"Which is it that is the North Star, sir?" Miles hesitated. + +"Why, that one yonder, lad. You know it well." + +"I knew 'twas the North Star in England. I knew not if 'twere the same +here. It is such a long ways from home." + +"It's the same sky, Miles, and the same Heaven, I take it, that we had +over us in England." + +Miles threw back his head and once more stared up into the sky, that +was so vast it made him shrink and feel smaller even than before. +He sighed a little, he scarcely knew why, and put his hand on the +Captain's sleeve. Standish took Miles's hand in his, and so kept hold +on him as they came down from the hill, and in that pressure was +something so comforting that Miles was sorry when they reached the door +of Master Hopkins's house. + +Within was heavy air, and a dull fire, and sleepy faces; Giles had gone +to lie down on his bed, and it did not need the Captain's bidding to +send Miles blinking after. Once, in the darkness, he was wakened by +hearing Lister protest inarticulately that he would rather have his +throat cut in his sleep ten times over than rise and watch; and once +Miles guessed hazily that some one was shaking him, and he tried to say +he was getting up, and in the midst dropped back on his pillow. + +At the last the dazzle of warm sunlight on his face, and the rattle, +rattle of trenchers, brought him staggering and blinking to his feet. +Oh, yes, he remembered; the Sagamore Samoset had been there last night; +but he was not afraid of him, especially since 'twas daylight; indeed, +he wanted to see him again, so out he rushed into the living room. + +"Well, sleepyhead!" Constance laughed at him, and Mistress Hopkins +was beginning to scold him because he had not awakened, for all her +efforts, till mid-morning, when Ned Lister sauntered in. "His Lordship +the Indian is safe departed, Constance," he said consolingly, as +he made a slow business of getting an axe from the chimney corner. +"They gave him a knife and a bracelet and a ring, and he is gone away +content." + +"A good riddance, too!" snapped Mistress Hopkins. "And now do you, +Edward Lister, fetch two buckets of water and wash out the place where +the creature lodged. To bring such heathen under a Christian roof! I +hope I never set eyes on another of the coppery wretches again." + +Ned shrugged his shoulders and said nothing till his mistress was quite +done; then he added meekly: "I misremembered; he said he was coming +back again in a night or two, and next time he is going to bring with +him a goodly number from the tribe of the Massasoits." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LORDS OF THE SOIL + + +SAMOSET proved as good as his word. The very next morning, for all it +was Sunday, back he came, and with him five other tall Indians, who +were even more wonderful fellows than he, for they were clad in skins +of deer or of wildcat, and had dressed their hair with feathers, and +painted their faces in black streaks. To divert their English hosts, +they sang and danced, which Master Hopkins called a violation of the +sanctity of the day, but Miles privately thought most edifying. + +He was even better pleased when that night, at the departure of his +comrades, Samoset was ill or feigned to be, so, spite of Mistress +Hopkins, he must be sheltered in her husband's house. Thus for three +days Miles dwelt under the same roof with a live Indian, and ate at +the same board, till he came to have not the least tremor at sight of +a copper-colored face. Indeed, he neglected every task he was set, to +dog the Indian guest about the street and make shy efforts at talk with +him, and he was heartily grieved when at last, on Wednesday, Samoset +went away into the forest. + +"No doubt he'll come again, the mistress always makes him so welcome," +Ned Lister consoled Miles, "and each time he goes, for his further +encouragement, they give him a present. This morning they gave him +a hat and shoes and stockings, and a shirt and a loin cloth. I take +it, 'tis because I am what Master Hopkins calls a son of Belial that +it makes me to laugh, when I think of Sagamore Samoset in an English +headpiece with a flapping brim." + +"I'm mighty sorry he went," sighed Miles, uncomforted. "I was learning +the Indian words, so I could talk to him presently, like Captain +Standish. 'Cossaquot,' that means _bow_; and 'et chossucke' is _a +knife_; and 'petuckquanocke' is _bread_; and--" + +Ned yawned suggestively, and fell to work again. He and Miles that +afternoon were busied in the spaded garden patch at the north end of +the dooryard, where they were pressing the seeds into the soft earth. +The sun was hot, and, as Miles worked, he smeared his warm face with +his fingers, till Ned assured him he was all streaked brown, like an +Indian. + +But though it was hot and dirty labor, it was far manlier than to be +ever dandling a baby; so Miles toiled on earnestly, spite of Ned's +indolent example, and did not pause even to stretch his cramped legs +or straighten his aching back till mid-afternoon. Then he started up +at a noise of people hurrying through the street, the sound of a quick +footstep, the rattle of the house-door. + +"'Tis Master Hopkins has taken his musket and gone forth," spoke Ned, +who was lounging farther down the garden. "Somewhat's afoot." Away he +went to look into the matter, and Miles ran stiffly after. + +Out in the street the men and boys, and even one or two girls, were +hastening toward the bluff above the spring. As they went, a confused +talking spread among them, from which Miles learned that yonder, on the +great wooded hill across the brook, Indians had been seen,--Indians who +brandished their bows and whetted their arrows in defiance. Captain +Standish and Master Hopkins and two men from the _Mayflower_ had gone +down to cross the brook and parley with them. Look, yonder they went +now! + +From where the company had halted, high up beyond Goodman Cooke's +cottage, Miles could see the bright river and the hill opposite, thick +with unleaved woods. Up its base wound slowly the little band of +Englishmen, now half-screened, now wholly visible; but Miles looked +from them, higher up the slope, where the bare branches were agitated, +as if something moved among them. "'Tis the savages!" said one; but, +strain his eyes as he would, Miles saw through the bushes only the +sad-colored English doublets. + +Yet, with an anxiety he scarcely comprehended, the men lingered on the +bluff, watching and discussing in grave tones, till the Captain and +his followers came toilsomely up the path from the spring. They had +seen naught; the savages had not suffered them draw nigh them, Captain +Standish explained, so briefly that he seemed curt, while his puckered +brows still were bent on the slope whence the Indians had sent their +defiance. + +Slowly the little group of curious and troubled people scattered, some +of the weightier ones to speak with the Governor and the Captain, +others to simpler tasks. Miles went back to his garden, but the +sunlight had now left that corner of the yard. The great hill, where +stood the guns, looked black against the sky, and there seemed in all +out-of-doors a menace that made him glad at dusk to get within the +house. Throughout supper the men kept from speaking of the savages with +an elaborateness that made their silence the more suspicious, and the +unspoken anxiety wrought on Miles till at bedtime he smuggled Trug into +the chamber and made the dog lie near him. + +Next morning, in the clear sunlight, Miles's courage revived mightily, +but his elders still looked sober. None the less, whether Indians +threatened or no, the work of the colony must be done: all the morning +men and boys trudged about their tasks, though none went far afield; +and after the noon meal the men gathered once more at the Common House, +to consider the public business which the first coming of Samoset had +broken off. + +Oceanus was ailing that afternoon and needed his mother, so Miles +had to mind Damaris for a dreary hour. As he sat with her upon the +doorstone, he spied a noiseless little group of some five Indians +passing down the street, and, alert at once, he begged leave to run see +what might happen; but Mistress Hopkins, all a-tremble herself, forbade +him venture out while those bloodthirsty wretches were abroad, and even +made him come in and shut the door fast. + +But speedily there sounded a rattling knock to which the mistress +must open, and in came the men of the household, so hurriedly that +straightway the living room was in confusion. For the great Sagamore +Massasoit, with his brother Quadequina and sixty warriors, was at hand, +just across the brook. One of the Indians, Squanto, who could speak +English, had gone back to bid him enter the settlement, and the men of +the colony must get under arms to receive him; perhaps even to defend +themselves, Master Hopkins let a word fall. + +There followed a great throwing-on of buff-jackets and buckling of +sword-belts, while Giles, newly appointed drummer to the colony, +rattled over the pots and kettles in a meaningless search for his +drumsticks, which some one had surely moved from the place where he +left them. Oceanus wailed, Damaris, indignant at being neglected, +screamed aloud, Trug barked, and Mistress Hopkins scolded, but somehow, +in the midst of the hurly-burly, the three men equipped themselves and +tramped away; and right at their heels went Giles, with the drumsticks +which Constance had found. + +But the door closed behind them and shut Miles, a soldier in name only, +in with the women and children for another tedious hour. Damaris found +little rest in his arms those minutes, while he ran from the western +window, whence he could see a bit of the street and the path to the +spring, to the eastern window, whence, far down the street, he beheld +the men gathered in martial line, all in armor, which glimmered bravely +in the afternoon sun. + +He was still gazing down the street when Constance, who had ventured +to the other window, called to him in a terrified voice: "Miles! Oh, +Miles! Come hither. 'Tis Indians indeed. Hundreds of them!" + +With no wish to see further, the girl drew away from the western +window, and Miles thrust eagerly into her place. Yes, there were +Indians indeed, swarms of them, it seemed at first sight, so he +flinched back a little from the casement. For they were filing past +the house, and that brought them so near that Miles could see even +the grotesque figures in which their faces were painted. But soon he +perceived English musketeers marshalling them, and he saw, too, that +the savages were unarmed. Their mission must be peaceful, he judged; +so, eager and unafraid, he stared at them, and was sorry when the last +one disappeared down the street. + +Just then, as he turned from the window, sounded the tap, tap of a +drum. "It is the Governor and the rest of the men with drum and trumpet +marching up the street," spoke Constance from the eastern casement. +"They have led the savages into the unfinished cottage by the Common +House, and now they are going in to them." + +Miles, at her side, squirmed with impatience. "There's Jack yonder +beneath the cottage window," he exclaimed, "and Francis and Joe. And +there's such a deal to see. And I'm sure they are all good, harmless +Indians." He gave a glance toward the bedroom, where he could hear +Mistress Hopkins lulling Oceanus, then whispered Constance: "Won't you +mind Damaris? I'll tell you all about it when I come back." + +"I see not why you wish to go forth at such a time, but I'll do 't +for you. Run quick, ere stepmother stop you," answered kind-hearted +Constance; and away sped Miles. + +Still, he was too late to share in the main excitement, for when he +came into the yard of the unfinished house, he found the door fast shut +and all the great folk, white or copper-colored, gone within. Only two +musketeers remained outside to keep watch, and Edward Dotey, who was +one of them, proved so unsympathetic as to cuff Francis Billington when +he tried to get a peep in at the window. Much discouraged, for where +saucy Francis failed to go there was no hope for the others, the small +boys of the colony gathered in a patient little group in the dooryard +to talk of these great happenings. + +"Master Winslow has gone out amongst the Indians," said Jack, "and +they're holding him as hostage for their old King. 'Twas right valiant +of him--" + +"Pooh! The Captain would 'a' gone just as quick," Miles retorted +jealously. "There's naught to be afraid of, anyway. I would I were +Giles Hopkins, and stood there in the house with the savages." + +"My father is in there too," spoke little Love Brewster, who had +attached himself to Miles, "but he is so good I do not think even an +Indian would hurt him. But there were very many of them, and if my +mother had come close to see, I am sure she would have been afraid. +Perhaps I were best go home and tell her there's no need to fear. You +come with me, pray you, Miles." + +Young Rigdale had no wish to take his eyes from the door of the house, +but plainly the little boy was fearful enough to want his company up +the street, so he went with him, and at the Elder's cottage stayed a +moment to reassure the women grandly. + +Dolly had no interest in Indians, since she found in the case of +Samoset that they did not carry about with them a store of pretty +baskets, such as the one her father had brought her; but Priscilla +Mullins was eager to know everything, and questioned Miles and listened +to him most flatteringly, till he offered: "If you wish to go forth and +view the Indians, Priscilla, I'll go and take care of you." + +Whereat young Mistress Mullins laughed, and, slipping her hand under +his chin, kissed him for his courtesy, "like a baby." + +Red and indignant, Miles flung out of the house; then forgot the +insult, as he saw Giles, with a platter in his hand, hurrying up the +street from Governor Carver's cottage. "What are you doing there?" he +called, running to intercept the elder lad. + +"Fresh meat," panted Giles. "The Governor wished it for the King. I +had this bit of a goose from Mistress Carver, and now I've remembered a +mallard I saw stepmother set to boil." + +It took him very few minutes to hurry into his father's house, and out +again with a second larger platter balanced in one hand, but, short as +the space was, Miles had laid a plan. Stepping up to Giles, he took +from him Mistress Carver's dish of meat. "Let me aid you," he proffered +innocently. + +"So that's what you're scheming," laughed Giles; but he let Miles, +under that pretext, come at his side down the street, past the little +group of envious boys, up the doorstone of the unfinished cottage, and +so into the very council chamber. + +The room was close and hazy with smoke from the pipes of tobacco that +the King and the chief of the English puffed at, but, spite of the +dimness, Miles speedily made out the shapes of the Indians. Black, +red, yellow, and white, their faces were partly or wholly smeared with +paint, and, through the wavering smoke-wreaths, their look was so grim +that for an instant he hesitated on the threshold. + +But Giles went on, so he followed, across the room, between what +seemed endless rows of Indians in hairy skins who stood or squatted +on the floor, up to the table, where sat a tall, stalwart savage. +Imitating Giles, Miles set down his dish of meat before him, and, with +an agitated bow, drew back to the wall, where he wedged himself in +between Lister and young Hopkins. "That's the King, yonder at table," +the latter whispered him softly. + +He did not look at all as Miles thought a king should look, that savage +at the table. He wore a scant covering of skins,--a dress like that of +his followers, save that the King had also about his neck a great chain +of white bone beads. His face was painted a dark red; and face and head +alike were oiled so he looked greasy; he fed untidily with his fingers, +and sometimes, when he would give a morsel to one of his followers, +rent the meat with his hands. + +But, for all he seemed so busy with feeding, his quick eyes were +darting about the smoky room,--now resting on the Governor, who +sat at table near him; now on the English musketeers who lined the +walls,--and, to Miles's thinking, the King looked on them timorously; +now on his own followers, who crowded silently about him. One of the +Indians, squatting on the floor, held in his hands the English trumpet, +on which he tried to blow, and, for a moment, the King paused to hark +with a child's wonder to his efforts, then once more began tearing +Mistress Hopkins's mallard. + +When nothing but bones was left of the bird, Giles slipped the platters +from the table, and now the serious work of the conference seemed to +begin. Up from the floor behind the table, where they had sat, rose +two savages, who should interpret between Massasoit and the Governor; +the one was a stranger, probably that Squanto whom Master Hopkins had +mentioned; the other, Miles's old acquaintance, Samoset. A transformed +Samoset, however, with an English felt hat low on his brows and an +English shirt worn over his meagre native garments after the manner of +a carter's frock. Ned Lister, standing rigid and soldierly against the +wall, took Miles a sudden dig in the ribs, and winked at him with a +"Didn't I tell you as much" expression. + +Miles, on his good behavior, neither looked at him nor smiled, but +fixed his gaze on the men about the table. The sun had now shifted down +the sky, so a great bar of light thrust in at the western window. The +yellow brightness flecked across Elder Brewster's grizzled head, made +Governor Carver's stiff ruff even more dazzlingly white, and gleamed +back again from Captain Standish's steel corselet. It rested, too, on +the papers which Master William Bradford had laid on the table before +him, but Master Bradford's grave face, as he bent forward to write what +the Governor bade, was in shadow. The features of Massasoit, too, were +dark to see, but here and there, as the sunlight, bursting through +the smoke, wavered across the room, the painted face or coppery bare +shoulders of one of his followers stood out. + +The two interpreters jerked out the gutturals of their outlandish +tongue, to which the King grunted assent, or now and again the Governor +spoke a measured word. But outside the window a bird was singing in a +high, purling strain; and Miles wondered if it were a fat, red-breasted +bird, and thought more on its song and on the motes that swam in the +sunlight, than on what the Governor was saying. + +After all, he was glad when the conference broke up. He was tired of +standing stiffly, and the air of the room was heavy; and the Indians, +when they neither ate nor played with trumpets, but just sat stolid, +were a bit stupid. He scuffed softly but impatiently at the rear of the +train, as the company filed forth; the Governor and the King, side by +side, went first, and then, all in some semblance of order, the Indian +warriors and the English leaders and soldiery. + +Outside, a guard of honor formed about the Governor and his guest, and +gave them fitting escort to the brook; but Miles remained behind and +roused the envy of his mates, with an account of what he had seen, +till, in fickle fashion, they forsook him at the coming of a second +guest, Quadequina, the brother of Massasoit, who, in his turn, would +have a taste of English hospitality. He could not, however, compare +in dignity and importance with Massasoit; he was just a tall, comely +young savage, who liked English biscuit and strong waters, but liked +the English muskets so little that his hosts good-naturedly laid +them aside. Massasoit was not cowardly like that, Miles assured his +comrades; Massasoit was every inch a king, and it was a mighty honor to +have been in the same room with him. + +Quadequina had been but a short time gone, and the long shadows were +filling the river valley with a grayness, when back across the brook, +quite unruffled by his long detention, came Master Edward Winslow. His +fellow-colonists might be glad to see him, and he to return unscathed +to them, but he carried it laughingly. He was all sound, save that he +was uncommon hungry,--Miles, following admiringly, caught a scrap of +his speech to Captain Standish,--the Indians had tried to buy the armor +off his back and the sword from his side, and he knew not but he might +have sold them for a mess of pottage, only he saw no such savory viand +among the savages, nor anything, indeed, but groundnuts. + +Now that Master Winslow was returned, the colonists released the +Indians whom they had held as hostages for him, and sent them away. +Save only Samoset and Squanto, no Indians were suffered to remain in +the settlement, but the rumor went that King Massasoit and all his +people had encamped for the night on the wooded hill across the brook, +so a strict watch was set. + +"Do you think there will be fighting yet?" Miles questioned Giles, as +they walked home to supper. "Quadequina was afeard of our muskets. I +take it, we could beat those Indians." + +"To be sure, there'll be no fighting," answered Giles, as he tucked his +drum under one arm in a professional way. "We've struck a truce with +the savages." + +Later, at supper, Miles heard it all explained. This was a dolorous +meal, for the meat had been devoured by his Majesty, Massasoit, and +Mistress Hopkins was ill-tempered and rated Miles for running away that +afternoon, and, to add to her discomfort, Samoset came blandly to sup +with his old entertainers. "This has been an ill day such as I wish +never to see the like of again," fretted the poor woman. + +"It is a happy day for our colony," said Master Hopkins gravely. "Do +you not realize, Elizabeth, that we have this afternoon made a peace +with our heathen neighbors that, by the will of Heaven, shall prove +lasting? King Massasoit has covenanted that none of his people shall do +us harm as we go abroad; and, if he be attacked, we shall aid in his +defense, or if other tribe of savages assail us, he shall do us the +like service. Yea, the hand of Providence has been with us this day. +Yesternight it was all menace; but to-night we can hope for peace." + +Miles, in his place at table, looked at Samoset, very solemn in his +funny shirt and hat, and, blinking sleepily at the candle, took little +concern for the earnestness of Master Hopkins's words. He scarcely +realized that this was almost the second founding day of New Plymouth; +but he did know that he had stood within arm's reach of King Massasoit, +an exploit of which no other boy in the colony could boast; and, when +he went to bed, he dreamed all night of red and blue and green Indians. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WHEN THE GOOD SHIP SAILED + + +EVEN Mistress Hopkins must at last somewhat overcome her fear of the +savages, else her life would have been miserable beyond endurance. For +Massasoit having plainly made the treaty in good faith, his people +were ready at all times to visit their English allies and eat of their +food. Coppery faces grew so common a sight in the single street of +New Plymouth that each boy in the colony had his own little tale of a +friendly Indian encounter, and Miles Rigdale was no longer alone in his +experiences. + +Still further to rob Miles of his prestige among his fellows, his own +particular Indian, the Sagamore Samoset, with his hat and his shirt, +which he used in wet weather to remove carefully, lest they be damaged, +took himself off to his own land to the eastward; and Miles found no +one to fill his place. + +To be sure, Plymouth had now a resident pensioner in the Indian +Squanto, but he lived with Master Bradford, and so was accessible to +other boys as well as to Miles. "I see not why he is let dwell among +us," the latter said jealously, in the early days of Squanto's stay. + +"Because, if he were any but a heathen, one might say this land +where we have planted belongs to him," Master Hopkins made a brief +explanation, which to Miles was no explanation at all. + +But later, of a morning when Master Hopkins's force of laborers was +busied in building a fence round the garden patch, Giles, who had +listened to the talk of his elders, took the trouble to set forth +the substance of it to Miles. "You'll understand, this Squanto +truly belongs at Plymouth. Back in the time when an Indian village, +Patuxet, stood where we have settled, he dwelt here. But there came an +Englishman named Hunt--" + +"Who was rather more of a knave than even a trader should be," +parenthesized Ned Lister, who, seated comfortably on the ground near +by, was hammering the palings together. + +"He was a scoundrel," said Giles, warmly. "He toled Squanto and +nineteen others from Patuxet, and some from among the Nausets, on board +his ship, pretending he would truck with them; and then he hoisted sail +and steered away for Spain, where he sold them all for twenty pound +apiece. But somehow this fellow Squanto made shift to reach England, +where a good merchant of London cared for him. 'Twas there he came by +the knowledge of our tongue that he has. And at last they sent him +back hither to his own country; but meantime the plague had been among +them at Patuxet, and all were dead." + +"The Lord removed the heathen to make way for a better growth," said +Dotey, who had just come thither with an armful of fresh palings. + +"Truly?" muttered Ned Lister. "Then I'm thinking the Lord in His wisdom +laid His hand pretty heavily on the poor silly savages just for our +profit." + +There was little enough love already between Lister and Dotey, so Giles +headed off a possibly bitter argument by continuing hastily: "So, as my +father says, Squanto is, in a way, the owner of the land here, and as +such has a right to shelter and food amongst us." + +Miles listened to this story with a grave, stolid face, such as the +others kept, and made no word of comment. But afterward he thought much +of what had been told him, and wondered if Squanto had had a wife and +copper-colored babies, and had come home to find them dead. He felt +sorry for the poor, lone Indian, and watched him with new sympathy; +but to all appearances Squanto was more occupied in consuming English +biscuit and butter than in grieving for his lost friends. + +Whether or no he had a claim upon the English, the Indian speedily +showed himself able to repay them for any kindness. He told the men +how they must wait yet some days before they planted their corn, and +how there would then be plenty of fish in the river, which they must +set with the seed; and much more that was useful. But nothing of the +Indian's arts impressed Miles so much as his prowess in eel-catching, +for he would go often into the forest and return, after a few hours, +with fat, sweet eels, as many as he could lift in one hand. + +Of an afternoon in April, nearly a fortnight after the coming of +Massasoit, Ned Lister and Giles Hopkins went to the southward with +Squanto on such a fishing trip, and, as Miles was very eager to share +in it, they let him come too. Their course took them over steep, wooded +hills, where always they had blue water close on the left hand, and, +looking back over their shoulders, could see the bay of Plymouth, with +its flanking headlands. A tender leafage was upon the trees, and in the +southern hollows, where the birds sang, the air was warm; but on each +hilltop a chillier blast stung in the faces of the fishermen and urged +them to trudge more briskly. + +At length they came to a gully, where two hills curved into each other, +and descended it, half running, to the bank of a small river that +flowed seaward through a level reach. Here was where the eels dwelt, +Squanto gave his companions to understand; and then, without spear +or any implement, he waded gently into the quiet water. The three +English-born, from the bank, watched him intently, yet they scarcely +realized how he did it, when he suddenly made a swift dart forward, and +rose with a long, slimy thing writhing in his hands. + +"Do you just tread 'em out with your feet, Squanto?" Ned queried after +a time, as, keeping pace with the savage, they trailed along the bank. + +When the Indian gave an "Um" that implied assent, Ned presently +suggested: "Say we venture it, lads. It has a simple seeming. Tell us, +Squanto, can a white man take eels that way?" + +"White man try," advised Squanto, stolidly. He had caught enough for a +mess, so he probably thought that the splashings of the English fellows +would do no harm now. + +Ned and Giles, stripping off shoes and stockings, waded in; and Miles, +not to be outdone, followed after. The water felt stingingly cold +against his bare legs, and set his teeth chattering so he could not +talk. The very ooze of the river bed was clammy; and then he suddenly +found his tongue and gave a frightened scream, as his toes touched +something that rolled beneath them. + +"Did you take one, Miles?" cried Giles Hopkins, splashing to the spot. + +"I d-d-don't know," chattered Miles, from the shore where he had sought +refuge. + +Giles spattered to and fro a moment. "'Twas naught but an old branch," +he announced contemptuously. + +"It was an eel," retorted Miles, "but, to be sure, he will not stand +there the day long till you choose to come seek him." + +With that he forced himself to put his purpling feet into the water +again, but, spite of this brave showing, Ned and Giles would chaff him +on his flight, and even Squanto looked amused at the conduct of the +youngest of his allies. + +Yet, for all they were so ready to laugh at him, Miles noted his +English comrades did not take a single eel, and that gave him a kind of +comfort. But even then there was little pleasure in wading through the +icy water, in the expectation of stepping on a soft, squirming thing; +so he was not sorry when Ned gave the order to take up the homeward +march. + +The east wind, that had turned chillier as sunset drew on, smote +bleakly on the hilltops, and in the hollows, where the shadows were +creeping through the undergrowth, the warmth had died out of the air. +The gathering darkness pressed ever closer upon the fishermen; the sea +on their right turned gray and dim; the blue faded from the sky, and +the green of the distant headlands of the bay changed to black. Just +off the beach point they could dimly make out a dark bulk, where a +single speck of light showed--the old ship _Mayflower_. + +"They say she'll be hoisting sail for home soon," Giles spoke, as they +trudged through the twilight, with a surety that his comrades knew to +what he referred. + +"So soon as the wind swings round into the west," answered Ned. "Then +she'll up sail, and it's 'Eastward, ho!'" + +Then presently, in the dusk, Ned began whistling a sorry little tune, +unlike those he was wont to sing, very slow and monotonous, with a +sudden rising to a high note and as sudden a sinking again, like the +sharp indrawing of breath in a sob. "What song is that, Ned?" Miles +asked, because he would rather hear Lister talk than whistle that +pitiable strain. + +"'Tis the Hanging-tune, Miley; the one to which they set the last +confessions of men who are condemned to die." He fell to whistling once +more and half humming the words:-- + + "'Fortune, my foe, + Why dost thou frown on me?'" + +and Miles harked to the tune till it went crying itself through his +head. + +Next morning it still came back to him keenly,--the walk in the +twilight, the look of the distant ship, the woful minor of the +Hanging-tune. For the wind was hauling round to westward, and of a +sudden Indians and gardening and house-building ceased to be matters +that men talked of in the street; instead they spoke of the going of +the ship that had borne them from England. + +Already she had stayed longer on their shores than any had expected, +because of the sickness that had been among her crew. But now, on shore +and on ship, the sickness was stayed; just half the settlers lay buried +on the bluff, and the crew of the _Mayflower_ mustered in diminished +numbers, yet enough survived and in recovered health to work the ship +back to England. With the first favoring wind she would set forth upon +her voyage; and with that bit of sure information went another, that +Master Jones had offered to take home in her any one of the settlers +who might wish to go. + +"Right generous of him, is't not?" Ned Lister spoke bitterly to Miles. +"Who does he think is going with him? The Elder and the Governor +and Master Bradford, all the chiefs, if they showed their faces in +England, they'd be clapped up in prison. And the lesser men, or even +our great Master Hopkins here, they've ventured all their substance in +this plantation. If they go back, they must starve or beg in London +streets, and 'tis as easy and pleasant to starve here. There's none in +the settlement I know of has the wish to go home, save myself, and I +cannot go, because I've sold my time to Hopkins, the more fool I!" + +"Why did you ever come hither, if you hate it so?" Miles questioned. + +"Because a penny fell wrong side up," Ned answered. "I woke up in +London one fine morning, with no shirt to my back and but one penny +in my pocket. 'It's either 'list for the wars, or get me into a new +country and start afresh,' I said, so I tossed up the penny,--heads +Bohemia, tails America. It fell tails; so I sold Stephen Hopkins my +three years' time in return for my passage over. And a precious fool +I was! Faith, I'd liefer dig ditches in England than play even at +governor here. And so soon as my time's out!" + +Miles listened soberly, but with no sympathy; he did not understand why +a tall, grown fellow like Ned should think on home with such longing. +He did not care himself; he had come to New Plymouth to live, and he +looked forward to the departure of the _Mayflower_ as a novel happening +in the round of everyday occurrences. + +Yet when it befell, it seemed quite a matter-of-fact event. A clear +breezy morning it was, and, as the household sat at their early +breakfast, Francis Cooke came leisurely to tell Master Hopkins that +the wind was setting steady from the west, and Master Jones had rowed +ashore to bid his former passengers good-by; so soon as the tide was +at flood, the ship would put forth. + +There was wood and water to fetch as every day; and Miles did the tasks +hastily. As he came down the path by Cooke's house, he could feel +the wind stirring his hair, and yonder in the harbor the waves were +ruffling, and the dim old sails of the _Mayflower_, unfurled, bellied +in the gusts. + +When he had set the dripping bucket within the living room, he ran +down toward the bluff, to see what more was to see, but, finding his +playmates lingering by the door of the Common House, he joined them. +Within the house, they told him, Master Jones was drinking a friendly +draught with the colonists, and taking his leave. Presently, indeed, +the Master, a low, broad-shouldered figure, in his wide breeches and +loose jacket, came forth, attended by most of the men of the colony, +and rolled off to the landing place. + +Some of the boys straggled respectfully behind their elders, but Miles +raced with those who ran to be first at the landing. There, alongside +the rock, rode the ship's longboat, and Will Trevor and several of +the lesser men stood talking with the sailors who sat in her. The +youngsters, too, would gladly have borne a part, but the Master, coming +right on their heels across the sand, broke up the little group; he was +speaking boisterously with the Governor, so his loud voice could be +heard even above the confusion of the embarkation. + +Indeed, it was all so noisy and hurried that nothing of those last +moments remained clear in Miles's mind; he remembered only that +men spoke of letters and packets, and the Master wished them many +a "God be wi' you," and there was a bustling to and fro and a deal +of hand-shaking. Then the Master, sitting in the stern seat, was +cursing at his sailors; the width of blue water between the longboat +and the landing rock was increasing; and for a moment Miles watched +mechanically the sway and swing of the seamen's bodies, as, bending to +their oars, they rowed the boat away. + +When at length he turned slowly about, he was aware that, halfway +up the rugged slope of the bluff, a little group of women, all that +survived in the colony, were standing, and the children with them. He +scrambled up to be with Dolly, why, he could not say, only somehow he +wanted to be sure she was safe and near him then; and he noted Mistress +Carver, who sat upon a stone with her hands clasped tensely in her lap, +and Priscilla Mullins, whose hair blew unheeded about her face, while +she gazed out to sea. + +He almost stumbled over Wrestling Brewster and the little Samson boy, +who had sat down on the turf and unconcernedly were playing with some +bright pebbles; but he did not pause to speak to Wrestling, just +clambered a few feet higher up the bluff, where Dolly, holding to +Mistress Brewster's gown, stood with her wistful face turned seaward. +"Look you closely, Dolly," he greeted her. "See, they're hoisting sail +on board the _Mayflower_." + +Dolly, pressing up to him, whispered for her only reply: "Do you mind, +Miles, how we came in on the ship, and mammy and daddy with us? I wish +we'd all stayed in England." + +"Now hush, Dolly," Miles admonished in a gruff tone, and scowled +vexedly as the little sister, hiding her face against his doublet, +began to cry. Then, half pitying, he bent to speak to her, when a +sudden gasp, as if the women about him all drew in their breath, made +him look to the harbor. There he saw the _Mayflower_, with the western +wind swelling her dingy sails, had heaved up anchor, and was heading +out upon the ocean. + +The sun was bright and made the dirty sails gleam like silver; the +water was blue, and the wind was brisk; and the ship stood seaward +swiftly, very swiftly. Miles thought on how she had set forth from +Southampton; and he knew that on board men would be clattering across +her deck, and hauling at ropes, and the Master would be bellowing +orders. + +But on shore a great silence had fallen. The most careless of the +men had no word to say, while of the graver sort some had bowed their +heads, and some, coming higher up the bluff, had drawn close to their +wives and children. For a moment there was no sound save the lap of +waves about the great gray landing rock, and the swish of shingle as +the swell receded; then suddenly one of the women--it was Mistress +White, six weeks a widow, who stood with her baby in her arms and her +other little child holding to her skirts--burst out sobbing. + +Miles gazed about him in wonder. Why, men never cried; Captain +Standish's face now was hard as a stone; and he himself had not the +least inclination to shed a tear. But among the women round him was a +stifled weeping, so anguishing for being half suppressed, that some +pity mingled with his contempt, and, with a feeling that he was ashamed +to listen, he slipped away from the bluff. He thought he were best run +up on the great hill to watch the _Mayflower_ depart; and he found that +his friend Jack and several other boys had had the same thought. + +All together they raced up the street to see who should gain the +hilltop first, and by the time they came thither, with laughing and +struggling, had clean forgot their elders, who, from the bluff below, +watched the receding ship through a dazzle of tears. From the top of +the hill the lads could see the white sail of the _Mayflower_ in the +offing, out beyond Sagaquab, speeding ever farther into the horizon; +but Miles never saw it vanish, for Francis Billington had discovered a +nest of snakes at the other side of the hill; so, in the midst of their +watching, the boys must run thither and look upon the wriggling little +creatures, then scrupulously stone them all to death. + +When Miles clambered again to the hilltop, there was never a distant +glimmer of a sail upon the sea; but he could not think of the ship's +departure sadly, with the day so fair and his time at his disposal. He +felt hungry, though, so he ran down to the house a moment to eat his +dinner; and, for all it was long past the noon hour, he found no dinner +ready. + +Ned was out by the woodpile, nailing together a hand-barrow, with +a sudden fierce spurt of energy, but he was in a sulky temper; and +within the house Constance went about with her eyes red. She gave +Miles a piece of bread in his hand, and bade him run away and eat it; +stepmother had shut herself in her chamber, and father was with her, +trying to comfort her. "I see not why you all make such a to-do because +the old ship has sailed," Miles spoke, with his mouth full. + +"Because we're left alone. Because no ship will come ere the autumn. +Maybe it will never come," Constance burst out, with sudden +passionateness. "And we are here, and home is there, and the ship has +gone. You'd understand, if you were older." + +No, Miles did not understand yet. What with the excitement and the +change, in spite of the sad bearing of those about him, the meaning +of it all did not come home to him till next morning. He had risen +early with the others and run forth to fetch wood for the morning +fire. The sun was just reddening the horizon line, but the rest of the +world looked faint and gray. A white mist, rolling off the fields, was +shrinking away inland from the sea whence it had come. But out to sea +he could distinguish clearly the dusky beach point, and the islands +and-- There he rubbed his eyes. No, it was no trick of the mist. There +was the old anchoring ground, but it was empty; the clumsy, old, dark +hulk was gone. + +Miles walked on to the woodpile, trying hard to whistle, but the only +strain that came was a sorry snatch in a minor key,--the Hanging-tune. +The chill of the dawning struck into his bones. Once more he looked to +the anchoring ground that was vacant; then he sat down suddenly among +the damp logs. He did not cry,--he was too big and old for that,--but +he leaned his folded arms against a log, and hid his face between them. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SOWING OF THE FIELDS + + +"TO be sure, though, I was not weeping," Miles declared to Constance, +who came out from the house to see why he tarried so long at the +woodpile, "for I never even thought on going back to England." + +He little guessed that, at one time, the leaders of the colony had +spoken seriously of returning Dolly and himself to the home-country. +But Master Hopkins had urged that, in such case, the children might be +drawn back into the faith of the Church of England, from which their +father had sought to snatch them; and Elder Brewster had added that it +was a weary journey for such little folk, and no prospect at the end +save of hard fare among grudging kindred. + +John Rigdale left no near relatives; and his distant cousins, to whom +the children would have to go, were poor tenant-farmers, just as he +had been, who would find it burdensome to feed two more mouths. For +Miles and Dolly, not only would childhood prove hard and laborious, +but there would be nothing better to look forward to; as the boy grew +to manhood, he could hope only to toil for daily hire on some farmer's +land. "Unless he fling away his soul's welfare by going as a mercenary +in some iniquitous foreign war," said Master Isaac Allerton; whereat +Captain Standish smiled a little behind his beard, but made no answer. + +But here in New Plymouth, though Miles would have plenty of work to +do, he would have, as his inheritance from his father, a claim to a +share of land and of whatever cattle or other property the settlers +should hereafter hold in common. By the time he was a man, there would +be enough for him to have a small farm of his own, where he could live +in more comfort than he would have known in England; and, till he was +grown, Master Hopkins was willing to feed and shelter him, in return +for what labor he could do. + +As for Dolly, her case was simple enough, for if Miles stayed, she +stayed; and Mistress Brewster was quite determined that the little girl +should stay in no house but hers. So the _Mayflower_ sailed away, and +Miles Rigdale, with his little household, remained behind; and he never +dreamed that people had thought of continuing the colony without his +aid. + +The boy had some cause to rate his services highly, for, in the +weakened condition of the settlement, every atom of strength had to +be used, and tasks were set for him as seriously as for burly Edward +Dotey. The full working-force of New Plymouth mustered but twenty-two +men,--counting in the venerable Elder, the Governor, and the Doctor, +who all labored with their hands as readily as the rest,--and nine +boys--some half-grown fellows, like Giles and Bart Allerton, who, at a +pinch, could bear a musket and do almost a man's work, and some small +rascals, like Miles himself, who, with the best intentions, did not +always, for lack of strength or of wisdom, accomplish what was bidden +them. + +But, old or young, laggard or brisk, every male member of the colony +was expected to turn out now and bear a hand, for the mid-April season +approached, and the precious corn, that was to feed the settlement, +must be planted. To the elders, it looked like a stretch of hard work, +but Miles hailed it joyously, as a dignified, manly labor. + +It began excitingly, with the coming of the alewives up the river, just +as Squanto had foretold; and straightway some of the men set to taking +them with seines, while others with hoes scored up the rough soil of +the cleared fields to the north, that once had been the planting land +of the Indians of Patuxet. Still others got out the corn, a precious +supply of seed which they had found buried in an Indian basket under +the sand of Cape Cod, and had made bold to take against this sowing +time. + +For the present, Miles's part was only to splash about at the river +brink, where he fancied he was hauling at the seines, or to carry a +bucket of water to the workers in the field, or bring a stouter hoe +from the storehouse. Planting was no labor, just sport, he went to +assure Dolly, at the end of the first twelve hours. + +He tried to see his little sister once each day, but this time the work +had been kept up so late that it was past twilight before he could +run across the street to Elder Brewster's cottage. A lingering warmth +was in the evening air, so Dolly and tall Priscilla Mullins, their +faces dim in the candlelight that shone from within the living room +behind them, were sitting on the doorstone. Some one else stood leaning +against the doorpost, some one with a deep voice, who called Miles by +name. + +"Is it you, John Alden?" the boy asked, and, because Alden was the +Captain's friend, would have talked to him, had not Dolly, saying she +had a great secret to tell him, dragged him away, round the corner of +the cottage. + +"Now guess what 'tis, Miles," she bade, as they halted in the ray of +light that streamed from the house-window beside them. + +"I cannot guess, Dolly. Be not so childish." + +"I'd give you three guesses. 'Tis something Love and I found in the +woods, up beyond the spring, on a southern hillside. 'Twas so far I was +near afraid, but I am glad I went. We were playing in the dead leaves, +and we found these. Look on them." + +She drew her hand from her small bodice, with three wilted pink flowers +clenched tightly in it. They were small flowers, of a star-shaped form +and a rare, deep pink color, but Miles scarcely heeded color or size in +his enjoyment of their sweet, spicy smell. They were unlike any blossom +he had ever seen, so he was not ashamed to show his interest, even if +a flower was a girlish trifle. "You and Love found them, Dolly? And no +one else knows?" + +"'Tis a secret," Dolly nodded. "We told only Wrestling and Priscilla +and Mistress Brewster. Ay, and the Elder too, because Mistress Brewster +said perchance he might know what flower it was, he is so wise. And +John Alden, Priscilla told him. And Love told Harry Samson and Milly +Cooper--" + +"It's a mighty great secret when all the colony knows it," Miles said +sarcastically, and then, at Dolly's hurt look, was sorry; so he added, +"but I'm glad to know't, Dolly, and I'll go seek for some myself." + +"There are buds yonder on the hillside, but no blossoms. Maybe, +though, we could find some, if we went and searched. Priscilla wishes +to get some too. Oh, Miles, could we not all three go to-morrow?" + +"I must work," Miles answered proudly. "I'm not a child or a girl, so I +cannot stop to play." + +Yet he was child enough to think he should like to go get a handful of +those rare, pretty flowers. After he got them, he would not greatly +care for them, but there would be the zest of owning something that +every boy in the colony did not own; and if he gave the flowers to +Dolly or to Constance, it would please them, since they were girls. So, +before dawn next morning, Miles tumbled out of bed, and, taking in his +hand the hunch of bread that formed his breakfast, ran away up beyond +the spring. Perhaps before work-time he could find a blossom or two, he +thought; and so grubbed hopefully among the damp, dead leaves of the +hillslope. + +The mist that precedes the sunrise melted from the air; a bird sang +faintly in the distance; and even amidst the undergrowth the light grew +yellow and cheerful; work-time was near, and Miles had found only a +poor half-dozen blossoms. He hated to give over, but there was no help +for it; so, getting slowly to his feet, he was starting down the path +to the settlement, when a man crashed out through the bushes on his +left. It was John Alden, Miles saw at once, and he carried a great +handful of the pink flowers. + +That was palpably an unfair arrangement, Miles held, so, as he fell +into step at Alden's side, he queried: "You did not come hither and +strip our place, did you?" + +"Whose place, lad?" + +"Why, mine and Dolly's and Priscilla's and--" + +"Do you think I should dare plunder the holding of so many proprietors? +I have been to northward." + +Miles was silenced a moment, then insinuated, "John Alden, what do you +want of posies? You're a man." + +"Well, what do _you_ want of them, Miles?" John smiled down at him. + +"I'm going to give mine away; I'm taking them to the Elder's cottage--" + +"Give them away there, eh? To Mistress Mullins, now, perhaps?" + +"No, to be sure," Miles said indignantly. "I do not like Priscilla +Mullins." + +"Then you are the only one of that mind in New Plymouth. Why do you not +like her?" + +Miles went in silence a time, kicking at each hump and hummock in his +path, but Alden was waiting for his answer, and he wished to please +him. "Well, if you must know, John Alden," he broke out at last, "I do +not like Priscilla Mullins because she kissed me." + +Alden began to laugh, then, suddenly picking Miles up by the back of +his doublet, shook him a little. "Miles Rigdale," he said solemnly, +as he set the boy, rather breathless, on his feet again, "you are an +ungrateful little cub." + +Miles held that a most uncalled-for charge, but he had no time to +defend himself, for just then they came over the brow of the hill by +Cooke's cottage and saw men astir in the street, so the day's labor +must be beginning. Miles ran to join Francis and Jack, and, in bragging +to his comrades of his flowers, forgot to take them to Dolly. That +night, when he stopped to have a word with her, he told her all about +them, but he found that she was not interested in a story of six +blossoms, seeing that Priscilla Mullins, since the morning, had had a +fair large bunch of them, such as no one else in the settlement could +show. + +But in the days that followed Miles had little time to go seeking +flowers on the hillslopes, or gossiping with his sister in the +twilight. For, with never a minute of daylight to rest, the whole +colony worked now in good earnest,--taking alewives in the brook, +tugging them up into the fields, setting the little hills with corn +seed and with fish to keep it moist. To crown all, the planting fell +in a season of heat, and an intense heat, unlike the milder warmth of +England, that sapped the heart of the stoutest worker. + +The first day Miles was bidden to plant corn, putting two shiny +alewives into each hole, and Jack Cooke was set to plant the row +next him. But unhappily they chattered so much that Miles presently +realized, in some horror, that he had supplied several hills with +alewives, but no corn, and, while he was pulling up the ground to +set the matter right, came Master Hopkins. He was angry; not that he +blustered, but he cuffed Miles smartly, and, saying he could not be +trusted at such important work, sent him down to the shore to labor +hereafter. + +From that time on, Miles tugged fish,--a dreary task, in which he was +coupled with Francis Billington, another scatter-head. They had a +great flat Indian basket, in which they heaped the alewives, taken all +slippery from the big pile that lay upon the river brink; then they +would lift the basket between them, to each a handle, and, panting and +heaving, struggle up the steep bank from the river, and so through the +settlement, out to the hot, open fields. + +It was not a great load they could carry at one time, so their +usefulness depended on the number of trips they made, but there they +were sluggish. Often the basket upset, and they had to sit down to +refill it; and again, more and more frequently as the hot days went +on, they must halt to quarrel, when Francis vowed Miles was bearing +down on his end of the basket, and Miles declared Francis was not doing +his share. + +One morning it came to such a pass that Miles took a basket by himself, +but he found the journey single-handed so hard that he was in even +less hurry than usual to return from the fields and get a second load. +Loitering along, he was amusing himself by trying to carry on his head +the empty fish-basket, which _would_ fall off, when, as he paused to +pick up the troublesome article for the fifth time, Captain Standish, +coming shirt-sleeved and grimy from the fields, overtook him. Rather +guiltily, Miles straightened up very erect, and said, "Good morrow, +sir," as he always said it to the Captain. + +"You're journeying back to the brook, Miles?" asked Standish. "At this +speed you'll not come thither ere dinner-time." + +"I'm hastening now, sir," Miles answered, accepting the words as an +invitation to trot along at the other's side. + +The Captain had his own concerns to look to, plainly, by the way he +tramped along, but, right in the midst, he glanced down at his small +companion and asked unexpectedly: "Where are your shoes, Miles?" + +"I--I could not wear them," the boy explained, kicking his bare feet +in the sand. "Down by the river 'tis very wet. And then 'tis hot, so +I laid off my doublet and my shoes and stockings too. I like to go +barefoot," he added defensively. "In England, they never suffered me; +they said only beggar children went barefoot. But--" his voice grew +suddenly anxious, "I am sure my mother would think it right now, do not +you, sir?" + +The Captain did not look convinced. + +"It is a great saving to my shoes," murmured Miles. + +"You were better save your feet," the Captain answered. "When your +shoes wear out, there'll be new ones for you. Now do you go to the +house and put them on, before you step on a thorn or do yourself some +hurt." His tone was brusque, and he hurried at once about his business, +as if he had no time to waste. + +Obediently Miles went to the house to finish dressing; he was a little +sorry, because he liked the fun of going barefoot in the soft dirt, +yet, on the whole, it was pleasant to have Captain Standish speak to +you and order you into your shoes, as if he had some concern for you. +So flattered did he feel, indeed, that he only smiled in a superior way +when Francis Billington, barelegged and unregenerate, sneered at him +for putting on his shoes and stockings. + +But that was the last happening of the week which Miles remembered with +enjoyment, for the first excitement had now gone out of the labor, yet +the work dragged heavily on. All through the weary day he felt the +weight of the basket pulling at his arm and the heat of the steady sun +scorching upon his bare head; and at night, when he lay on his pallet, +with his feet throbbing and his back aching, he dreamed of tugging fish +up the breathless pitch of a never-ending bluff. + +A little respite came on the Sabbath, when, of course, no work could +be done, but with Monday's light all were in the fields once more. It +was a day of sweltering heat; the rays of the sun seemed beaten upward +again by the steaming earth, and the languid air was heavy and sick. +Toward the fiercest hour, about noon, as Miles was panting through the +fields on a return trip to the brook, Master Carver called to him. + +The Governor had knelt to set the corn at the head of one of the rows; +his doublet was off and his hands were grimy, but, for all the heat, +Miles saw that his high, bald forehead was quite dry of perspiration. +"Here, lad," he said, as Miles ran to him, "can you fetch us a pail of +water hither to drink?" + +"Ay, Governor," Miles piped in a respectful treble, and, much impressed +by the importance of his errand, trotted off briskly. At the spring +he longed to dally a moment, to drink of the water and to stir up the +great green frog who lived in the cool sand of the bottom, but, so soon +as his bucket was filled, he resolutely turned back through the glaring +heat to the fields. + +Short as the time had been, a change had taken place. At first he +thought it a mere trick of the dazzling light, but, as he looked again, +he saw that indeed most of the men had risen from labor and, drawn +together, were gazing in his direction. Nearer at hand, he beheld two +coming toward the settlement; the one was John Howland, a member of the +Governor's household, and the other, who leaned heavily upon his arm, +was the Governor himself. They passed within arm's length of the boy, +and Miles took note how the Governor's down-bent face was now of a dull +reddish hue, and he noted, also, how the grime of his homely toil still +clung to his limp hands. + +Surprised and a little awed, though he scarcely could tell why, Miles +tugged on into the fields, and, finding Goodman Cooke among those who +stood gazing after the Governor, asked him eagerly what was wrong. +"Why, naught," spoke Cooke, "only Master Carver complains of his head; +'tis along o' the heat, so the Doctor ordered him back to his house to +rest. He'll be well again by eventide." + +But with eventide the word went among the colonists that Governor +Carver lay unconscious, and at those tidings faces grew grave. Miles, +in his youthfulness, gave little thought to it all; he was more +concerned with his own half-flayed hands and aching legs than with +Master Carver's illness, and each day these physical pangs grew keener. + +The height of misery came on a sultry afternoon toward the close of +the week, a breathless, stifling time, when, for sheer weariness and +hopelessness, Miles sat down in the hot dirt in the middle of the field +and thought he never could rise again. Yet he scrambled up briskly, +when he saw his guardian approach, though Master Hopkins, whose face +was very grave, did not scold the boy, but, after a first sharp look, +bade him go rest in the shade till the day was out. "The hot sun is +deadly," he said, as to himself; but Miles realized only that he was +bidden to cease from labor. + +He dragged himself back to the house, where he lay down upon his bed, +and watched the little patch of sunlight clamber higher up the wall and +harked to the drowsy sounds of out-of-doors; then heard nothing clearly +till the men tramped in to supper. He sat up slowly, and listened to +catch what gossip they might bring; their voices were subdued, and +he half guessed what had befallen ere he heard Master Hopkins say +solemnly that the good Governor Carver was dead. + +Miles thought on it the night long; this death, lonely by itself, was +so much more awesome than the crowded sicknesses of the last winter. It +seemed the order of life must show some change, but, with the heat of +the next rising day, the colonists, as usual, only more silent, filed +forth to their labor in the fields. For whether men were well or ill, +or lived or died, the corn that was the hope of the settlement must be +planted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TWO EDWARDS + + +THE fields of New Plymouth at last were sown,--twenty acres of Indian +corn and six of English seed, wheat, barley, and pease,--enough to +yield an ample harvest. There was besides another field, where the +corn, however tall it grew, would never be reaped, for, that the +savages might not know the number of the dead, it was planted upon the +graves of those who perished in the winter's sickness. + +Among them lay John Carver, buried honorably with such poor military +pomp as the colony could show its governor, and with a more precious +tribute of grief for a good man lost. Near him lay now his wife +Katharine, who at his death had grieved and pined, till within six +weeks they had dug for her a grave in the new-sown corn-land. + +Master Bradford was the new governor; a grave, wise-headed gentleman, +with a gift of kindly speech and a shrewd sense of humor, but, to +Miles, his greatest claim to respect was that the interpreter Squanto +had chosen to dwell with him. For Miles Rigdale, to use Mistress +Hopkins's vexed phrase, was "ever beating the street after the heathen +savage." It must be owned that to his guardians he was a troublesome +boy; not a bad boy, but a careless fellow, who, though he might mean +to do well, was likely, when sent to weed in the fields, to be found +swimming in the river, or hunting strawberries on the hills, or fishing +with Squanto. + +Miles did not reason out his new dislike for responsible labor, did +not take into account the influence of lazy Edward Lister, or the +distractions of the spring and early summer in this new country; but he +did feel there was a difference between working with his father, when +he knew the harvest would be for his mother and Dolly, and grubbing in +a corner of a great field that was the property of no man, but should +feed the whole colony. He no longer took pride in his labor, and, if +he had taken any, Mistress Hopkins's dissatisfied comments would have +destroyed it. Yet, much though he disliked the bustling woman with the +sharp tongue, he neither disliked nor feared her the half as much as he +disliked and feared her husband. + +Years later, when he had come to manhood, Miles was able to think +on Master Hopkins with gratitude, for, in all honesty, this severe, +undemonstrative man used him like a son, as kindly as he used his own +boy, Giles. Except in the stress of planting-time, Miles was never +set to tasks beyond his strength; he was well fed,--as the fare of the +colony went,--well sheltered, decently clad, while the little store of +his father's goods was scrupulously left untouched for his later use. + +Master Hopkins tried also, conscientiously, to keep him to the path of +strict virtue, with admonitions, and, if need were, with corrections. +It was an age of whippings, and, on occasion, Miles was whipped +painstakingly. Master Hopkins's floggings were, on the whole, not so +severe as Goodman Rigdale used to give his son, but Miles resented them +with an amazing outburst of anger. "You are not my father; you have +no right to beat me," he cried, the first time Master Hopkins took a +birch rod to him, and, swinging round in a fury, he lustily kicked his +chastiser's shins. + +After that one attempt and the sorry consequences which it entailed, he +never again tried to defend himself, but, though he had to submit, the +old feeling remained; to the pain and shame of a beating was now added +a rankling sense of the injustice and, so to speak, of the illegality +of it all. + +Beatings, though, were something every boy in the colony, even the +sober Giles, had a good share of, so Miles made shift to endure; but +Master Hopkins presently devised a new-fangled means of persecution, +for he insisted on teaching him to read. + +The boy had clung to the black-letter Bible because it was his +father's, and sometimes of a Sunday, between the morning and afternoon +teachings at the Common House, when it grew irksome to sit quiet and do +nothing, would take the book and spell out half a chapter, and amuse +himself with looking at the funny black letters. But one Sunday, a warm +May Sunday, when Miles was lying with his book in the young grass in +the shadow of the house, Master Hopkins, noting his unusual employment, +bade him read aloud to him, and, as he was a man of education, was +honestly shocked that, as he put it, "the lad could scarce spell out +his mother-tongue." + +From that time dated Miles's tribulations. It was useless to protest +that he could read well enough, he did not wish to read better; Master +Hopkins's decree went forth that every night after supper the boy was +to come to him with his Bible, and read aloud a chapter. Miles never +reflected that, after a day of hard labor in the fields or woods, or of +serious consultation with the other leaders of the colony, it could be +neither restful nor pleasant to Master Hopkins to hear a stupid little +boy stumble through a dreary waste of words. But he was quite aware of +the unjust fact that the space of daylight, in the long summer evenings +after supper, was the time when all the other lads were at liberty to +play, while he must drone out the chronicles of dead and gone Hebrews +with unpronounceable names. + +The reading lesson always took place just without the house-door, where +there was a bench on which Master Hopkins sat; Miles stood beside him, +where he could see the harbor and the street, with the boys passing +down it to the beach, perhaps; and where, too, it was convenient for +Master Hopkins to cuff his ears when his attention strayed hopelessly +from the book to the affairs of his playmates. + +Sometimes, when he wished to get away and join them in carrying out +a long-laid plan of sport, Miles would pore over his chapter twice +or thrice in the day, and so, when evening came, be able to read it +fairly. But on such occasions Master Hopkins always said there would +be time to finish another chapter; and when it came to that, poor, +disappointed Miles always stumbled, so that his lesson ended in +disgrace and bitter rebuke. + +Early in July, however, he had a blissful holiday, for Master Hopkins +went with Master Winslow and Squanto far inland to visit King +Massasoit, so for five days there was no one to bid Miles read a word. +Neither did any one whip him, for all he shirked his weeding, and ran +away to fish in the harbor with Ned Lister and the sailor, Trevor, and +played by the brookside with the other boys till long after dark. + +Dotey, to be sure, one morning when Miles forgot to fetch a supply of +water, and he had to fetch it himself, threatened to "swinge" him; he +was a steady fellow, was Dotey, and, since Giles was but a lad, in his +master's absence was tacitly admitted to the headship of the household. +But when he talked of beating Miles, up rose Ned, and called him, with +an oath, a great bully, swaggering in his little ha'penny borrowed +authority, and threatened, if he laid hands on the little fellow, to +break his head for him. + +It was in the living room this happened, just before the noon meal; +Miles remembered afterward the good smell of the roast fish Mistress +Hopkins was setting on the table, and what an overpowering heat came +from the great fire on the hearth. He was standing near the fireplace, +backed up against the wall, a little conscience-stricken and fearful +of a whipping, but still more frightened by the vehemence of the two +men. Lister had swaggered across the floor, and stood before him, and +Miles was glad of his protection, though he half realized that it was +not alone the desire to defend him, but the desire to defy Dotey, the +trusted and sober, that spoke in Ned's tone. + +Constance's quiet voice, as she stepped between the two young men, +quelled the squabble: "Don't curse so, pray you, Ned. And, Ed Dotey, do +not you whip Miles; he only forgot--" + +"He does not merit whipping," spoke slow Giles, who held his own little +resentment that his father's servant was set in authority over him. + +Mistress Hopkins interrupted tartly that Miles needed a strong hand +to correct him, and Dotey was quite in his right; her approval made +it lawful enough for the young man to carry out his intention, but +Dotey, like a discreet fellow, had no wish to bring about a scuffle +with Lister and a hot family quarrel in his master's absence. So he +said, as if it were a concession, that he would do as Constance asked, +and let Miles off this time; and with that they all sat down peaceably +to dinner. Miles ate his full share of the fish, and, believing this +episode happily ended, put it quite out of his head. + +He had good cause to remember it some ten days later. By then Master +Hopkins had returned, so it was necessary for all to be busy, and Miles +weeded in the corn-field till his back ached, and every evening read +his chapter in the Bible. But one morning, a hot, dull morning with +an overcast sky, Ned and Giles planned to go with Squanto to fish for +perch in a pond far up in the woods, and Miles received a reward for +his diligence of the last few days in a permission to go with them. +Giles and the Indian started on ahead, to take the bait, while the two +others stayed to make ready the extra tackle, which, being left to +Ned's management, was always in a snarl. + +Lister was sitting on the bench by the house-door, whistling a little, +as he disentangled lines and adjusted hooks, and Miles, kneeling on +the grass beside him, was giving what help he could, when Master +Hopkins and Dotey came out of the cottage. Dotey, who had an axe on his +shoulder, headed away through the garden to the hills whence firewood +was fetched, but Master Hopkins came and stood over Ned. + +How it went and exactly what was said, Miles scarcely comprehended, but +he heard Master Hopkins's stern voice and Ned's sulky answering tones, +and in the lulls the rattle of trenchers, as Constance, inside the +house, cleared the breakfast table. The gist seemed to be that Master +Hopkins had found out about Ned's threatening to break Edward Dotey's +head, for he rated him soundly that he durst lift his voice against one +set in authority over him, a sober man, who was his better-- + +"He is not my better," Ned retorted, flinging up his head, with his +eyes sullen and angry. + +"Do you grow saucy to contradict me?" Hopkins asked frowningly. + +Too much had been said of Dotey for Ned to cast off rebuke with his +usual shrug; flinging aside the tackle, he started to his feet, but, +before he could walk away, Hopkins caught him by the shoulder. As they +stood thus Miles noted, with sudden surprise, that alongside Master +Hopkins Ned looked slight and almost boyish; somehow Miles had always +thought of him as a man, because he was old enough to use a razor. + +"You shall stay till I have done with speaking," said Master Hopkins; +and then Ned made a sudden movement to free himself, flung up one arm, +half involuntarily,--and Stephen Hopkins reached him a blow that, +taking him beneath the chin, stretched him flat on the ground at his +master's feet. + +The women came to the house-door, and it surprised Miles that it was +not Constance, but Mistress Hopkins, who cried, in a frightened voice: +"Stephen, Stephen, I pray you--" + +Ned rose to his feet with his face white, and stood brushing the dirt +off the side on which he had fallen; there was a great brown streak of +it along one sleeve and the shoulder of his shirt. "There's work you +have made for the mistress, sir," he said, and began laughing in a high +key. + +"That's enough," Stephen Hopkins checked him. "Remember, I've never +laid hands on you ere now, Edward Lister, but if you mend not your +ways, this will not be the last time." He lingered yet a moment ere +he turned away to the door, as if awaiting an answer, but Ned made no +reply, just stood fumbling at the fishing tackle with one hand, while +the other hung limp at his side. + +Only when Master Hopkins had passed out of sight into the house did +Lister raise his head, and then, squaring his shoulders, he led the way +toward the street. "Will you not take the tackle, after all?" asked +Miles, running at his side. Ned's only answer was a shake of the head, +and to all Miles's further efforts at talk and one clumsy effort at +sympathy he kept silent. + +They left behind them the sandy street, and, skirting along the bluff, +came to the path to the spring and the stepping-stones, beyond which +lay the trail to the ponds. Ned did not turn off there, however, but +trudged on till he reached the little stream that flowed from the pool +where they had cut thatch. "Whither are you going?" panted Miles, for +the third time. + +"Where you were best not come," Ned answered, crashing into the bushes +on the right hand. But Miles turned doggedly in his steps, through the +first crisp thickets and then along the miry ground by the edge of the +pool, where the air was so muggy that he wondered Ned cared to keep up +his reckless pace. + +Of necessity the speed slackened, as they clambered over the pebbles +and pushed aside the crackling undergrowth of a dry gully in the +northern hillside, but it was not till they were tramping through the +hushed woods on the summit that Ned spoke: "Did you know, Miley, my +father was a gentleman? A great family, the Listers, up Yorkshire +way. But he was a mere younger son, and he married a pretty serving +wench out of his father's hall, so they would have no more of him. But +he was a gentleman, and he tried to give me a smattering of decent +breeding,--" there Ned began to laugh, with the corners of his mouth +drawn up, and his eyes mirthless,--"and I am a brisk serving fellow, +whom the master pommels at will, eh, Miles? And they set a clod like +Edward Dotey over me." + +There was going to be a fight, Miles guessed, but though at another +time he might have been secretly glad at the prospect of such +excitement, he had seen one man knocked flat that day, and it had not +been amusing, so now he was not over-zealous for the sport. "Come back +and fish, Ned," he coaxed, plucking at his companion's sleeve, when +that very moment, on the hillside below them, both caught the sound of +an axe falling on wood. + +After that Miles scrambled down the slope, eager as Ned himself, in +his curiosity to see what would follow. A little clearing it was they +came out in, where one tree had been newly felled, and its clean stump +showed yellow; by the tree trunk, leaning on his axe and wiping his +sweaty forehead with his sleeve, stood Dotey. + +"Well, Neddy, I've come to talk with you," Lister greeted him, in a +fleering voice, and on the word set himself down on the stump, with his +hands clasped about one knee. + +At first it was a talking, that lay all on Ned's side, while Dotey +tried to keep up a pretense of work. Ned spoke words, well-chosen and +stinging, that should make even stolid Dotey wince, and spoke them in +a jibing tone, with a hateful laugh that startled Miles, even more +than the sight of the little pulsing motion of the blood in Ned's dark +cheeks. + +Dotey swung round impatiently at last. "Hold your tongue, will you?" he +cried. + +"It is thou who wert better have held thy tongue, Neddy, before thou +wentst blabbing to Hopkins of what passed between us." + +"I did not," Dotey answered blankly. + +"Thou art a liar," quoth Ned, quietly, and still hugging his knee. + +Then Dotey strode over to him, and Ned, laughing up into his face, +jeered at him, "threaten a man with his fists, would he, when he had +just set Hopkins on to rebuke him for the like offense;" but at length +he rose up and cast his mocking manner. "We are agreed there is one +Edward too many in the house," he said slowly. "Now say we despatch one +forth of it. Will you fight me like a gentleman, rapier and dagger?" + +In a daze Miles listened to Dotey's first protests, Ned's taunts, +till the final agreement was struck and the arrangements made. "I'll +contrive to fetch rapier and dagger from the Captain's house," Ned +concluded, "and do you, Miles, take those that hang in Hopkins's +chamber, and bring them unto us behind the Fort Hill." + +Unquestioningly, Miles sped upon the errand. The sun had burnt away the +fog now; among the trees it was hot and breathless, and, when he ran +through the fields, the drying earth crumbled under his feet. Yet he +scarcely minded heat or dust, as he thought on what was now to come, +and thrilled with anticipation; for, down in his heart, he told himself +Dotey and Lister would never hurt each other, and he had never seen +anything livelier than a bout at quarterstaff, and a real duel would be +a wonderful thing to witness. + +By the time he came to the house, he was all of an excited flutter, +but happily Mistress Hopkins alone was within, and she was so busied +in scouring her pewter platters that she only looked up to ask sharply +what brought him back. + +"Just to fetch somewhat for Ned," Miles answered guiltily; and then +fortune favored him, for Damaris, within the bedroom, set up a wail, +and Mistress Hopkins bade him run in and soothe her. + +So Miles sang to baby, and, singing, took Master Hopkins's dagger from +the shelf and hid it beneath his doublet; then slipped the rapier from +the wall, and, after a hasty glance to see that none were looking, +dropped it out at the open window. Still Damaris would not hush, and he +had to pace the floor a time, singing always, though his voice shook +with impatience, and his forehead was wet with perspiration. + +[Illustration: "Saw the two young men close in combat."] + +At last the child was quieted. Placing her on the bed, he passed +quickly out through the living room, and, running behind the house, +snatched up the rapier from the grass. Still none saw or intercepted +him; the men and boys were at work; the intense heat of the day kept +the women within their cottages. But to Miles each doorway seemed full +of faces, and, in a panic, he ran for the northern spur of the hill, at +a pace that brought the heart strangling into his throat. + +On the west side of Fort Hill was a little level space in the abrupt +descent, where some pine trees stood wide apart, and the ground was +brown and slippery with pine needles. There Lister and Dotey, both with +their doublets and shoes cast off, were awaiting Miles; Dotey, with his +stolid face grim, sat on the ground, turning a rapier in his hands, but +Ned Lister was pacing slowly to and fro. + +"I came--fast as I could run," panted Miles. + +"You saw no one?" questioned Lister, as he took Master Hopkins's +rapier and measured it with the one Dotey held. + +"No, no one." + +"Francis Billington has been spying about here, though," Dotey spoke +evenly. "'Twas while you were at the Captain's house. I sent him +packing. But he may bring--" + +"Ere any come, we'll be done with the work," Ned Lister interrupted. +"Here, Miles, do you run up to the hilltop and lie you down in the +grass. If you see any man coming upon us, whistle us a warning." + +The grass, in the glare of the sun where the trees had been felled, +was a dazzling green, and the slope was very steep. From the summit of +the hill where he lay down half-hidden, as they bade, Miles could see +the blue harbor and all the sunny street of the town, so deserted that +he ventured a glance back over his shoulder. His eyes were fastened +there, for he saw the two young men close in combat; he heard the click +of steel, saw the quick thrust and recovery, the bending and swaying +of the struggling bodies. Then a cry rose up in his throat and choked +there, for he saw the dagger fly out of Dotey's hand, and saw him slip +upon the pine needles. + +A clatter of feet on hollow boards made him look suddenly toward the +gun platform, and he had an instant's sight of Captain Standish, who, +clapping his hand to the railing of the platform, cleared it at a leap +and ran headlong down into the pine thicket. Setting his fingers to his +lips, Miles gave a shrill whistle, and right upon it heard the Captain +cry, in a terrible voice, "What work is this?" Casting one frightened +glance down the hill, Miles saw Ned lay on his side among the pine +needles, and Dotey stood over him with one hand dripping blood. + +The sky seemed to waver and the whole green world to stagger with the +horror of what had happened. Miles crawled away through the long grass +down the hillside, through the undergrowth, and never paused till he +hid himself, terrified and sick, in the tangle by the pool in the +hollow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A MIGHTY RESOLUTION + + +THE sun had dropped behind Fort Hill, and long shadows darkened +the soft sand of the street, when Miles at last ventured into the +settlement. All the hot day he had lain hidden by the pool and watched +the shreds of cloud skim across the deep sky and harked to the +shrilling of the locusts, while he tried not to think, yet all the time +was conscious of the awful thing that had happened, in which he had had +a hand. + +Disjointedly, from time to time, he had planned how he would act a +part, would feign to be quite ignorant of the duel, and be amazed +when he learned of it; but when the test came, when he found himself +actually in the street of the town, his head whirled, and he felt that +his guilt could be read in his very face. + +From a dooryard some one called his name, whereat Miles's heart fairly +ceased to beat; but it was only his friend, Jack Cooke, who came +running to hang over his father's gate and speak to him: "Ah, Miles, +where ha' you been? Have you heard talk of what happened?" There was +no time for Miles to stammer out a vague answer, before Jack ran on: +"Ned Lister and Ned Dotey, they fought a duel, real cut and thrust, up +behind the hill, and the Captain came upon them, and they've had them +before the Governor and the Elder, and there's been such a to-do." + +"Had them? Then neither was killed?" Miles cried, with a momentary +feeling that nothing could matter, if both men still lived. + +"Nay, but Dotey has a great gash across the palm of his hand, and Ned +Lister was slashed in the thigh so he scarce could walk. I saw 'em when +they were fetched down into the village, and they have locked Dotey up +at Master Allerton's house, and Lister at Master Hopkins's." + +"Wh--what are they going to do to them?" faltered Miles. + +"Something terrible, to be sure," Jack answered happily; "the Captain +and all are main angry. And Goodman Billington was for flogging Francis +mightily out of hand, but the Elder said stay till to-morrow, when they +would question all further." + +"What has Francis done?" + +"Why, he was with them; he kept watch while they fought. That is, one +of the lads lay in the grass and whistled them; the Captain had the +least glimpse of him; but they found Francis prowling on the hill, so +it must ha' been he. He says 'twasn't, but Francis is a deal of a liar, +we all know." + +Miles drew a long breath, and, turning from the gateway, went scuffing +through the sand down the street. It was Francis, not he, whom they +suspected, he repeated, but the next moment he told himself that it +made no difference; since he was the culprit, he must come forward +and take the blame. But when he saw Master Hopkins sitting by the +house-door, his heart choked up into his throat, and his step faltered. +After all, he would not speak to Master Hopkins yet; his share in the +duel would be discovered soon enough. + +With a feeling that he wished to propitiate every one, he trudged round +the house to fetch an armful of wood, and there, by the pile, Giles +was at work with an axe. "Well, Miles?" he said, pausing in his task, +and then, as Miles came to his side, whispered him: "Look you, father +thinks you were fishing with me all this day, that Ned sent you back +to the house to be quit of you, and that you came home with me, but +stopped at the spring. I told him naught; he just thought so and--I let +him think so." + +"Oh, Giles, you are right good," gulped Miles. "For I--" + +"Hush now! I don't want to know aught." And Giles went back to his +chopping. + +No one would find him out, then; he was safe from the mighty beating he +expected. Francis--well, since he was innocent, of course he would say +so, and they would believe him and not punish him. Anyway, he had no +thought of confessing, Miles assured himself hastily, as, on entering +the living room, he met Master Hopkins's stern gaze. + +The master of the house was in a gloomy temper that evening; a new +sense of the gravity of that day's happenings came over Miles, as +he looked on his harsh face. Mistress Hopkins, too, was silenced +completely, and the young folk did not venture to speak while their +elders did not address them, nor had they any wish to talk, with the +two empty places at table confronting them. No word was uttered till +the meal was nearly eaten, when Mistress Hopkins, after a swift glance +at her husband, cut a thick end from the loaf of bread, and, setting it +on a trencher, turned to Miles. "Fill a jug of water, and carry that +and the bread to Edward Lister," she said sharply. + +"Edward Lister may go fasting to-night," Master Hopkins spoke, in a +grim voice. + +Miles, who had slipped from his stool, stood shifting from one foot to +the other, while he waited to see which he should obey. + +"Do as I bid you, Miles," Mistress Hopkins repeated steadily, though +one hand, which she rested on the edge of the table, clenched in +nervous wise. "The man is hurt, and whatever he has done he shall not +go hungry and thirsty. Either Miles shall take him food and drink, +Stephen, or I shall do so myself." She rose, and, filling a jug from +the water-pail, gave it to the dubious Miles. "Take it to him, there in +the closet," she bade; so Miles, without waiting for Master Hopkins to +prevent, stepped hastily into the little room and shut the door behind +him. + +The closet was very narrow, very hot, and very dusky, for the evening +light came but sparsely through the little window. Just beneath the +window, where whatever slight breeze entered the room could be felt, +the old mattress was outspread, and on it Ned Lister lay. He had been +resting his head upon his folded doublet, but at Miles's coming he drew +himself up on his elbow; his face was white in the dimness, and he +looked limp and sick and cowed. + +"Here's bread and water, Ned," Miles began, as he crossed to him. +"And--and I'm mighty sorry." + +"I'm not," Ned answered, in a dogged tone. "I wish only that I'd killed +him. Give me a drink." He took the jug from Miles and gulped down the +water with audible swallowings; then, when he could drink no more, set +it beside him. "They'd 'a' made little more tumult if I had killed +him," he went on. "But I care not what they do to me." + +"What--what do you think they will do to us, Ned?" Miles quavered; +the young man's prisoned and unfriended state and desperate tone had +dislodged him from his last stronghold of security. + +"They spoke of flogging us," Ned answered hopelessly. + +"A public flogging?" + +"Yes." + +It was only a birching Miles had looked for. A public flogging! The +horror and fright were actual and overwhelming, for it never entered +his head that in punishment a distinction would be made between the two +principals in the duel and their wretched little second. "Flog us!" he +repeated dazedly. "Or--or perhaps they will hang us?" + +"I care not if they do," Ned retorted, and, taking up the jug, drained +out the last of the water. "Fetch me another draught, Miley, that's a +good lad," he begged. "My throat is all afire." + +It was darker now in the living room, so none could note the expression +of his face, and Miles was glad for that. When he filled the jug at +the pail he slopped the water clumsily, so Mistress Hopkins chided +him. He could not seem to think or even see, for, as he stumbled back +into the closet, he bumped his forehead against the door. "Oh, Ned," +he whispered, as he bent over the injured man again, "they--they have +accused Francis in my place, but I--" + +"Why, that's well," Ned spoke, as he set down the jug. "I'm glad for't; +you'll not be punished along o' me. I'll tell no word of you, Miley, +you may be sure, and if Dotey will but hold his blabbing tongue--" + +"But--but they'll flog him; I ought to tell--" + +"Let him be flogged, the imp!" Ned growled. "But you, Miley--" + +There was no chance to finish, for Master Hopkins, appearing in the +doorway, sternly ordered Miles to come forth, and, when he had quitted +the closet, bolted the door. + +By now it was too dark for a reading lesson, and, even if it had been +light, the whole routine of the day seemed overturned. Miles wandered +out into the house-yard, but he had no will to seek the other boys; +they might talk to him of Francis. Somehow, too, he did not wish to see +Dolly or Mistress Brewster, who had told him how his mother looked for +him to be a good lad. He went and sat down alone on the woodpile, where +he harked to the distant frogs that were piping, and watched the stars +come out over the sea. + +So he was still sitting when at last Constance stole out to him, and, +putting her hand on his shoulder, whispered him he mustn't go away and +grieve so about poor Ned. He shook her off surlily; he was tired and +sleepy, and didn't want to talk, he said, and so rose and slouched away +to his bedroom. There it was stiflingly hot, so when he lay down he +pushed aside the coverlet, and even then he thrashed restlessly. + +Presently Giles came in and lay down in the other bed that Dotey and +Lister had shared; he did not offer to talk, but, settling himself +at once to sleep, was soon breathing regularly. Miles counted each +indrawing of his breath, and tried, breathing with him, to cheat +himself into sleeping; and tried too, with the bed beneath him +scorching hot, to hold himself quiet in one position. His face was wet +with perspiration, and his head ached. Somewhere in the room a mosquito +sang piercingly, so he must strike about him with his hands, and still +the creature sang and the air was breathless, and he could not sleep. + +Then he ceased the effort to gain unconsciousness, and deliberately set +himself to face it all, and reason it out. He had done a wicked thing, +and he should be punished for it. Francis was accused, but Francis was +innocent and must be declared so. It did not matter though his comrades +bade him keep silent; it was one thing for Giles not to bear tales of +Miles, and another for Miles not to bear tales of himself; and for Ned +Lister's way of thinking, it was not the way which Captain Standish +would have counselled. What would the Captain think of him, when he +knew him for a rascal who deserved whipping, Miles wondered miserably. +Yet it was the Captain who had told him hard things must be done, not +shirked aside; and by that ruling Miles realized that the only way for +him was to let them know it was he himself, not Francis, who had borne +a part in the duel. + +Specious objections came, and he crushed them down; and there came, +more stubborn, the promptings of fear. A public flogging, Ned had +hinted; and Miles recalled a dull day in the market town, whither his +father had taken him, a jeering crowd of motley folk, a cart with a +fellow laughing on the driver's seat, and tied by the wrists to the +cart's tail, stripped to the waist, a man who kept his head bent down +and never winced, for all the great blows the constable was laying +across his shoulders. Even now Miles turned sick at the remembrance +of the red gashes the whip had made. But Francis had not earned such +punishment, and he had earned it. + +Miles rose from his restless bed, and stood by the window to catch +a breath of air. The moon was up now, and a pale, hot glow lay on +the fields to northward, but not a whiff of a breeze was astir. The +harbor, as he saw it from the window, lay glassy smooth beneath the +moon. He put his weary head down on his arms, and for a moment did not +think, only wished it were last night, when the duel was yet unfought. + +Then he lay down in bed, and turned and tossed, and went his round of +courage and fears again. He was not conscious that there had been a +period of sleep; he had no sense of restfulness just ending, only of +bitter dreams, but he found the room alight and a faint, early-morning +freshness in the air, so he knew some time had passed and it was day. + +He did not remember in detail the thoughts of the night, but the +conclusion was the same, and still clearer for him to see in the glare +of morning. Rising quickly, he dressed himself so hurriedly that he was +done before sleepy Giles had pulled on his shirt; then went out into +the living room. Mistress Hopkins was lighting her fire with flint and +steel, and Constance was stirring up porridge for the breakfast; but he +gave them no heed, for outside the door he caught a glimpse of Master +Hopkins. + +"Why, Miles, are you ill?" Constance asked, as she looked up at him. + +Miles shook his head, and stepped out upon the doorstone. At the bench +alongside the door Master Hopkins, in his shirt-sleeves, was washing +his face in a basin of water; he did not look up, but Miles, without +waiting for his notice, plunged into the confession while his courage +held. "Master Hopkins, I want to tell you--" + +"What is it, Miles?" Hopkins asked curtly, as he began wiping his face +on the big, coarse towel. + +"It was not Francis, sir, it was I. The duel, you understand--" Miles's +voice was faint and quavering,--"it was not Francis." + +"What do you mean?" said Stephen Hopkins then, and lowered the towel +from his face; the water-drops clung to his forehead, and his hair was +all on end, but the very grotesqueness of his look made it the more +formidable to Miles. + +"It was not Francis," he repeated shakily, while his trembling fingers +picked at a splinter in the door-frame. "I took the rapier out o' your +bedchamber; I was in the grass and whistled to them." He stopped there, +with his eyes on the toes of his shoes; he did not want to look at +Master Hopkins's face, and he held his body tense against the grasp +which he expected would hale him into confinement along with Ned Lister. + +But instead there was a sickening silence that seemed to last for +minutes; then Master Hopkins said slowly: "I marvel why that you, +the son of a godly man, should have a hand in all the evil doings of +the settlement. You must go tell this unto the Governor, so soon as +breakfast is ended. And I shall myself speak more of it to you." + +Mechanically Miles stood aside to let Master Hopkins pass into the +house, and then he still stood a time, gazing at the gray doorstone +beneath his feet. Presently he stepped down on the turf and slouched +round to the corner of the house, where Trug was tied at night; though +every one thought him evil, and they were going to flog him, Trug would +still lick his hands lovingly. He untied the dog, and, holding to one +end of his strap, went back through the yard; Constance, from the +doorway, called to him to come in to breakfast, but, shaking his head, +he walked on. + +Outside the yard the street was quite empty, for the colonists were all +at their morning meal. Miles trudged slowly through the sand up the +hillside, and then turned down the path to the spring, which he judged +at that hour would be deserted. Sure enough, the only moving things +beneath the high bluff were the leaping waters of the living well, +and the sunbeams that sifted through the branches of the encroaching +alders, and sprinkled the trodden turf. + +Casting himself down on the margin, Miles took a long drink of the +water, that might have been brackish and hot for any good taste he had +of it, then sat up and leaned against Trug, with one arm about the +dog's neck. He had thought, so soon as he was thus by himself, he would +cry, but he felt all choked inside; his wickedness was too deep even +for tears. + +Suddenly two hands were clapped over his face. "Guess who 'tis," piped +a treble voice, and, uncovering his eyes, Miles thrust up one hand and +dragged Dolly down beside him,--a very brave Dolly, in a clean apron, +with her scarlet poppet hugged under one arm. "I ran to the spring for +Mistress Brewster," she explained, "but I cast away my jug when I saw +you. Why are you here, Miles?" + +"Oh, Dolly," Miles burst out, "I have been uncommon wicked and helped +fight a duel, and they are going to flog me through the streets, and +maybe they'll hang me, and I would my mother were here." He mastered +the inclination to screw his knuckles into his eyes, and, as he sat +scowling at the hill across the brook, and blinking bravely, to keep +a good showing before the little girl, a mighty new idea popped into +his head and made him happy again. "But I shan't let them flog me," he +said, grandly as Ned Lister himself. "You tell it to no one, Dolly, but +I have it in mind to run away." + +"Whither, Miles?" the damsel asked, with interest, but no great +amazement. + +"I shall go into the woods and live with the Indians," Miles said +slowly, forming his plan as he spoke. "They're good, pleasant folk; +and I'll build me a house of branches, and eat raspberries, and maybe +kill birds with a sling, and I'll have Trug at night." It occurred to +him that Trug would not be the liveliest of company. "Why, Dolly, say +you come too," he cried. "We'll keep the house together, as I thought +they'd let us when father died." + +Dolly's face dimpled at the prospect, then grew sober. "But if we live +in the woods, Miles, we cannot go to meeting of a Sunday, and that +would never do. Let's build our house just over the brook--" + +"Pshaw!" said Miles, contemptuously, "I might as well go back and let +them whip me now. I'm going away into the forest. Will you come?" He +rose and walked manfully toward the stepping-stones, but Dolly still +sat hugging her poppet in her arms. "If you've no wish to--" Miles +said, feeling brave and important, no longer a poor, trembling, little +culprit. Then he turned his back on her, and gave his attention to +leading Trug safely from stone to stone across the brook. + +But, as he gained the opposite bank, he heard a cry behind him: "Wait, +oh, wait, Miles!" Dolly, with the poppet in her arms, came slipping +and scrambling across the stepping-stones and caught his hand. "Love +Brewster says he does not like girls and went away to play with Harry +Samson," she panted. "And you are the only brother I have, Miles, and I +love you, and methinks I'd liefer go with you and be an Indian." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +IN THE SOUTHWARD COUNTRY + + +ACROSS the brook the woods spread away to westward and to +southward,--majestic oak trees, lulling pines, pale birches, besides +the walnut and beech trees, and a host of others, the names of which +Miles did not know. Thick though they stood in the forest, all were +soundless now, and well-nigh motionless in the still air of morning. +In all the wood the only active thing seemed the sunshine, which came +sliding through the branches to mottle the turf or make the pine +needles shiny. + +An ardent sun it was too, even where it fell sparsely among the trees, +and beyond the thickets, where the path led over unprotected hilltops, +it beat fiercely through the breathless air till the heat fairly +stifled the travellers. "Shall you go far before you build your house, +Miles?" panted Dolly, when the roofs of the settlement were barely sunk +from sight. + +Miles explained that he held it best to push on to the river where he +had gone eeling, so he might have plenty of fish in his dooryard. He +thought to make his way directly to the place, but the journey through +the heat seemed longer than when he tramped it in the springtime, and +he could not find an easy path so adroitly as Squanto had found one. He +had to bear away inland too, lest on the seacoast he come upon some of +the colonists gathering shellfish; and inland, not only was the going +through the undergrowth difficult, but the hills shut off the least +whiff of coolness from the sea. + +Soon Dolly gasped for breath, Trug lolled out his tongue, and even +Miles found many pretexts to rest. Here amid the moss bubbled a spring, +where the children delayed to drink and cool their hands; there lay a +muddy pond, covered with white lilies, which Miles, though he wet his +feet, strove to get with a long stick; and again and yet again they +came on tangles of luscious raspberries, where they paused to eat their +fill. + +Miles had in his pocket a fourpenny whittle, his dearest possession, +with which he stripped a great piece of bark from a birch tree, and, +cleaving two sticks, shaped it into a basket, in which to carry away +some of the berries "against dinner-time." But the basket proved an +incumbrance to the wayfarers, so, before they had wandered another +mile, the two children sat down in a pine grove, and ate the berries +they had gathered. They tied Trug carefully, a needless precaution, +for the old dog, with as burdening a sense of responsibility as Miles +himself, had no thought of trotting home and leaving those two foolish +little bodies to their own protection. + +By the position of the sun Miles judged it past noon, when they +came at last to a brook, which he thought might be the upper waters +of the stream he was seeking. He waded in first to try its depth; +then, in gallant fashion, would have carried Dolly over, but little +mistress wished the fun of paddling too. The alders, coming low to the +brookside, cast a rippling shadow on the water, and the sandy bottom +was firm and cool; so when both children once had waded in, they spent +some time in splashing to and fro, while Miles set forth to Dolly how +he had caught eels. + +The shadows were beginning to lengthen when they climbed out on the +farther side of the brook, and passed slowly up the next hillslope. +Dolly now found she was tired, so Miles said they might as well build +their house there as anywhere. Indeed, halfway up the slope they found +a capital spot, where the hill, drawing back on itself, left a little +level space, with sparse undergrowth and tall trees, the vanguard of +the forest higher up, that cast a good shade. + +To be sure, the exposure was northern, but that would make the place +cool in summer, Miles set forth its advantages, and when winter came, +they could move round and pitch their camp on the other side of the +hill, to southward. "But I shouldn't like to dwell in the wood when it +snows," protested Dolly. "Let us go back and stay at Plymouth, come +winter." + +But Miles, in his new independence, laughed at the idea of return, and +assured Dolly that he knew how to make her a snug enough house for all +weathers. He would drive four forked stakes into the ground; and then, +from fork to fork, he would lay four sticks; and across those, other +great sticks; and thatch all over with moss. He would drive stakes into +the ground to form the sides of the cabin, and wattle them with elder +twigs; and it would be just the trimmest little house she ever saw. +Yes, he could drive stakes inside and divide the space into rooms, and +he would cut windows; the only thing that troubled him was how to build +the fireplace, but he guessed he would think that out presently. + +About the time that the red rays of the sun slipped under the lower +branches of the trees, Miles laid off his doublet and rolled up his +shirt-sleeves, ready for work. First, with his heel, he scored in the +dirt the lines of his house; they might as well have a big one, he +replied to Dolly's delighted exclamations. + +The little girl ran about within the four lines and scored for herself +the rooms which they would make. "'Twill be such sport, Miles," she +chattered. "A keeping room we'll have, and a parlor, and a great hall." +Down she set herself on the grass, between the wavering lines that +marked the hall, and waited for her brother to build the house over her. + +But, though Miles strode jauntily down into the bushes and stayed a +great time, when he came back, he bore, not an armful of stakes, but +two forked sticks, very gnarled and crooked, and another stick, some +five feet long, without a fork. "What have you been doing, Miles?" +Dolly greeted him, in a disappointed tone. + +"Why, the wood is hard, and my knife is not very big," the boy answered +sheepishly, "so perhaps to-night, as 'tis drawing late, I'd best put up +just a little shelter. But I'll build the house to-morrow, Dolly." + +Then, because the little girl's face fell so grievously, he made haste +to amuse her by turning to such work as he could do that evening. With +a stone for a hammer, he drove his forked sticks into the ground, and +laid the other stick across them; that was the ridgepole, he told +Dolly, and now, leaning other boughs against it, he would make a +shelter that would be quite sufficient on so hot a night. + +But it was wearisome work, haggling off tough boughs with his small +whittle, and he was tired with walking, and perhaps, he reasoned, as +it was drawing on to sunset, he were best not leave Dolly alone by +herself and go down into the dim thickets. So, after he had cut enough +branches to go a third along one side of his ridgepole, he said vaguely +that maybe he would get some more before dark, and so sat down close by +Dolly. + +In the west the sun had already sunk, and little pink clouds were +drifting through the sky; the afterglow still lingered on the open land +of the valley along the stream; but in the woods, as Miles glanced over +his shoulder, the grim shadows lurked. It was awesomely silent too, +till, on a sudden, a bird began warbling, and presently, fluttering +near, perched on a branch above the children, where he trilled lustily. + +Miles had some pebbles in his pocket, and, slipping off his garter, he +improvised a sling; he would kill the bird for their supper, he told +his sister, but Dolly protested; she would rather the pretty bird lived +and sang than that she should eat him. So the songster finished his +tune and flashed away into the darkening sky, and Miles felt as warm a +glow of self-gratulation at giving in to his sister as if he had been +quite certain of fetching down the bird with his sling. + +"But we've naught for our supper now, Dolly," he sighed presently. +"To-morrow, though, I'll find my way to the shore and take us some +clams, and, in any case, we'll gather plenty of berries when it's +daylight. And you do not mind going supperless now?" + +"N--no," Dolly assented faintly; since the twilight came on them, she +had grown very quiet. + +"I wish Ned Lister could 'a' slipped away with us," Miles resumed. "If +he were here with his fowling piece and his fishing line, he'd take us +all the victuals we'd want. And he'd be good company, too." + +Then they sat in silence a time, very close to each other, with the dog +at their feet. Over in the west the bright stars twinkled through the +last waning flecks of the sunset glow, and somewhere in the dark the +frogs were piping. "Miles," whispered Dolly, "aren't you lonely?" + +"To be sure not," he answered stoutly. + +"Do you not think--perhaps we could walk back home? I'm not weary now." + +"I've come hither to stay," Miles said crossly; "you can run back if +you will; no one will flog you." + +"You know I cannot go alone," whimpered Dolly. "And maybe there are +Indians and lions will get us. Hark!" + +Miles sat erect and listened, every nerve tense, but he heard only +the snap of a branch, yonder among the black trees. "It was naught, +Dolly," he said more kindly, "and you needn't fear; I can take care of +you. Come, let's lie down in our shelter, and to-morrow in the daylight +we'll build our house." + +They crept in behind the screen of branches slowly, for Dolly had hold +on Miles's hand and would not let go; but at last they were settled, +side by side, Dolly next the leaning roof, and Trug close against +Miles. "The leaves tickle my nose," protested the little girl, "and +there are humps in the ground, and I'm sure that bugs will crawl into +my ears." With a movement that quite disarranged her companions, she +sat up and tied her apron over her head; then all three lay down once +more. "It's--it's fearsome still," Dolly whispered once, and then no +further words passed between them. + +But, although he was silent, Miles lay long awake; his body might be +weary, but his brain was very busy with what had befallen him in the +last two days, and with the unknown happenings that were yet before +him. When he forgot the strangeness of the place and fell asleep at +last, he dreamed of berry patches and ponds full of lilies, and the +fine, great house he meant to build next day. + +Somewhere sounded a bewildering crash, as if a thousand cartloads of +stone were emptied right beside him. Miles sat up, wondering at the +sound, wondering where he was, why his face felt wet, why Dolly clung +sobbing to him. A blinding light for an instant tore across the sky, +and showed the trees about him twisting in an awesome manner; then +darkness closed in again, and, through it, deafened the appalling crash +of thunder. + +"Don't be frightened, Dolly, don't be frightened," stammered Miles, +clutching his sister; he could feel Trug, with his whole great body +a-tremble, crowding against his knee, and, through Dolly's terrified +sobs, heard the beast whine. + +A second flash, that seemed to rip the sky, lit up the black woods, +and, upon the roar that followed, sounded the rush of downpouring rain. +As if in bucketsful, the water broke through the frail little shelter; +the ground beneath the children grew sodden, and their faces tingled +under the smiting of the raindrops. "Come away, in among the trees," +cried Miles, through the sough of the rain, and dragged Dolly to her +feet. + +"Back to Plymouth, oh, let us go back to Plymouth," she wailed. + +Without reply, Miles gripped her wrist and stumbled up the hillside, +where he remembered the thicker growth of trees began. Bushes tore his +clothes and buffeted his dripping face; rain blinded him; the flash +of the lightning dazzled out just long enough to show how unfriendly +trunks beset him, then flared away and left him, half stunned by the +thunder that followed, to bruise himself against their harsh bark. + +Still, blinded and beaten and breathless, he fought his way onward and +at his side haled Dolly, dumb with the bewilderment of the storm. He +had forgotten whither he hoped to go; he knew only that there was about +him a lurid darkness of overpowering rain and rattling thunder through +which he fled away. + +It had been several moments since the last clap of thunder, he realized +suddenly, and the rain that yet pattered noisily among the leaves did +not beat upon him with the old fury. When the thunder growled again, it +was from far in the distance, and the space between the flash and the +crash was wider. "'Tis near over, Dolly," he spoke subduedly. + +The little girl fetched a tremulous, weary sob and made a movement to +drop down on the wet turf, but Miles held her arm more firmly. "Nay, we +must keep walking till we be dry," he said, in what he tried to make a +brave voice. "Maybe we'll come on some warm, sheltered spot," he added, +for his poor little companion's comfort. + +Holding each other fast by the hand, and with the dog close at their +heels, they trudged forward into the black woods. Though lessened in +force, the rain still descended in a steady drizzle, and each bush +against which they brushed drenched them with an added shower. The +ground was so slippery and thick with mud that Miles began to fear +they had strayed into a swamp, and, when they stumbled at last upon a +thicket of close-growing evergreen, he thought it safest to shelter +there till daylight. + +Crawling in beneath the low branches that half protected them from +the slackening rain, they cuddled close to the dog and to each other. +"I'm glad I remembered to save my poppet," Dolly sought to find some +comfort. "She'd have been frightened, had we left her alone." + +So Dolly dropped off to sleep in Miles's arms, and, lulled by the drip +of the rain, he, too, dozed a time, and awoke very chilly and stiff. +The branches above him stirred in a gusty wind, and in the mottled sky +he could see some faint stars. He crawled out from the thicket and, as +he stood up in the freer air, caught the smell of brine in the breeze, +and saw that, in the quarter of the heavens whence it came, the night +was paling. "'Tis eastward yonder and the sea," he cried, delighted to +find, for all his wanderings, he was not hopelessly lost. "Come, Dolly, +we'll walk to the shore." + +Over hills and through thickets they trudged bravely, in the +exhilaration of knowing whither they were headed, and that the dreadful +night was past. Slowly the darkness was waning; the sky faded from +black to gray, and in the wet woods a bird piped dolefully. Presently a +still more welcome sound reached the ears of the travellers,--a long, +mournful sough as of breaking waters. "It's waves; we're near the +shore," cried Miles, and added a feeble hurrah, whereat Trug, judging +all well, leaped and barked. + +There was yet a wide stretch of bare uplands to cross, and the morning +had broken in earnest before the children clambered down the low bluff +to the sandy beach. The tide was out, and the brown rocks, like dead +sea beasts, lay uncovered; but Miles and Dolly gave them little heed, +for just then, right in their eyes, the sun burst forth in the east, +and made a path of yellow ripples on the water. + +Forgetting her weariness, Dolly almost ran down the hard sand to the +water's edge. "I thought maybe I could see Plymouth round that point on +our left," she told Miles disappointedly. "We can walk thither, can we +not, along the shore?" + +"We'll eat breakfast first," said Miles, who had found a great shell +upon the sand. "I'll wade out and dig clams, while you fetch seaweed +for the fire." + +He had not yet made up his mind about the return to the settlement; to +be sure, he was very wet and hungry, but it did not rain every night, +and with the thought of Plymouth came the dreadful vision of the public +flogging. Besides, now it was daylight, it was good to be his own +man and get his own breakfast; so he paddled about bravely, and did +not complain, for all the mud and water were cold and the clams few, +and his back ached with stooping to dig them. A dozen were enough for +two, he concluded, so when he had that number disposed securely in his +doublet, which he had twisted into a bag, he splashed shoreward. + +[Illustration: "'Oh, Miles, 'tis the savages come for us!'"] + +Dolly had patiently fetched a mass of slippery seaweed, and, while he +drew on his shoes and stockings, she arranged stones with the clams on +top, and the seaweed all about them. + +"And now I'll light the fire," Miles said soberly, as he rose up and +stamped his feet in his wet shoes. Taking a smooth stone, he knelt +over the seaweed, and, striking the stone with his whittle, sought to +get a spark. But it seemed not a proper flint, for though he struck +and struck, no spark came, and Dolly, cold and hungry, grew impatient, +whereat Miles rebuked her sternly: "'Tis like a girl. I'm doing the +best I can. Hush, will you, Dolly?" + +Then he forgot his petty wrangling, for, at a growl from Trug, he +looked to the bluff, and there, between him and the safe inland forest, +he saw a little group of people coming toward him. The look on his face +made Dolly, who knelt opposite him, glance back over her shoulder. "Oh, +Miles," she gasped, "'tis the savages come for us!" + +Miles stood up and held Dolly close to him with one arm, while he +grasped Trug's collar with the other hand. "They're all friendly, +Dolly, all friendly," he repeated, and wondered that his voice was so +dry and faint. + +A little up the sand the Indians stopped; several who kept to the rear +were squaws, with hoes of clam-shell and baskets, but at the front were +two warriors, who now came noiselessly down the beach. "Quiet, Trug," +Miles said, stoutly as he could, and, as the savages drew near, greeted +them boldly with the Indian salutation he had learnt of Squanto: +"Cowompaum sin; good morrow to you." + +They halted close to him, though evidently a bit uncertain as to the +snarling Trug; they spoke, but he could make out no word of their rapid +utterance. "I'm a friend," he repeated, hopeless of getting any good +of his little store of Indian words, almost too alarmed even to recall +them. "I come from Plymouth,--" he pointed up the shore where the +settlement lay,--"and I want to go back thither." + +He made a movement as if to start up the shore, when one of the Indians +laid a hand on his arm and pointed southward. Miles shook his head, +while dumb terror griped his heart; these were none of King Massasoit's +friendly Indians, but people from the Cape, such as had fought the +Englishmen in the winter. "Let me go home," he repeated unsteadily. + +But without heeding him one loosed his arm from about Dolly's waist. +Thereat Trug, with his hair a-bristle, gathered himself to spring, and +the other warrior gripped the club he carried in his hand. "You shan't +kill my dog!" screamed Miles, seizing Trug's collar to hold him back; +and at that the savage, taking Dolly from beside him, lifted her in his +arms. + +The other Indian would have picked up Miles, but he dodged his hand, +and, dragging Trug with him, ran up alongside the warrior who held +Dolly. The little girl lay perfectly quiet, her eyes round with terror, +and her lips trembling. "Don't be afraid, Dolly," quavered Miles, in +what he tried to make a stout voice, "no matter where they take us. +They shan't hurt you; Trug and I won't let them hurt you." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE + + +IT does not become an Englishman to make a weak showing before unclad +savages; so presently Miles swallowed the sob that was fighting a +way up his throat, mastered the other shaky signs of his terror, and +put his whole attention to keeping pace with his captors. They were +now well in among the trees, where the undergrowth, after the Indian +custom, had been thinned by fire, so between the great blackened trunks +opened wide vistas, as in an English park. + +To Miles each open glade looked like every other one, but the Indians +found amid the trees a distinct trail along which they hastened, single +file, with the tall warrior who bore Dolly in the lead. Miles kept +persistently at his heels, though the breath was short in his throat, +and his whole body reeked with perspiration. The sun, all unobscured +and yellow, was climbing steadily upward, and, by the fact that it +shone on the left hand, he knew that they were going southward ever, +southward into the hostile country. + +About mid-morning they descended a sandy slope, where pine trees grew, +to a brook with a white bottom. Miles gathered his strength, and, +making a little spurt ahead, flung himself down by the stream to drink; +he felt cooler for the draught, but, when he dragged himself to his +feet, he found that, after his little rest, his tired legs ached the +more unbearably, so he made no objection when the Indian with the club, +lifting him unceremoniously to his back, carried him dry-shod through +the brook. + +Even on the other side, Miles made no struggle to get down; it would be +useless, he judged, and then he was too worn out to tramp farther at +such speed. He settled himself comfortably against his bearer's naked +shoulders, and offered not half so much protest as Trug, who, trotting +at the Indian's side, now and again looked to his master and whined +anxiously. + +As soon as he was a bit rested, Miles began to take closer note of +the country through which they were passing,--a country of spicy pine +thickets and of white dust, that powdered beneath the feet of the +Indians. From his lofty perch he could pluck tufts of glossy pine +needles as they brushed under the lower branches of the trees, and, +hungry as he was, he did not find them ill to chew. Presently he tried +to converse with his Indian. "Tonokete naum?" he questioned. "Whither +go you?" + +The savage answered in a pithy phrase, of which Miles made out only +the word Ma-no-met. That, he had a vague remembrance of hearing the men +say, was a place somewhere to the southward; but, at least, it was not +Nauset, where the Indians who had fought the English lived. In quite +a cheerful tone, Miles called out to Dolly their destination, and, +with something of his former confidence, set himself to watch for the +town; he could not help imagining it would be a row of log cabins in a +clearing, just like Plymouth. + +But, for what to him seemed long hours, he saw no sign of a house, just +the monotonous sheen of the pine trees where the sun struck upon them, +and the dust that burst whitely through its sprinkling of pine needles. +Now and again, through the branches, he caught the glimmer of sunny +water, where some little pond lay; and once, when the trail led down +into a hollow, sand gave place to the clogging mire of a bog, and the +scrub pines yielded to cedars. + +The slope beyond, with its pines thickening in again, was like all the +rest of the wood, so like that Miles had suffered his eyes to close +against the weary glare and the hot dust, when a sudden note of shrill +calling made him fling up his head. They were just breasting the ridge +that had been before them, and the trees, dwindling down, gave a sight +of what lay at the farther side. + +Unbroken sunlight, Miles was first aware of,--sunlight dazzling from +the hot sky, beating upward from blue water, glaring on green pines +that spread away beyond; and then, as the dissonant calls that made his +whole body quiver drew his eyes to the right, he saw in the stretch of +meadow-land between the creek and the ridge a squalid group of unkempt +bark wigwams. The smoke that curled upward from their cone-like summits +seemed to waver in the heat, and for an instant Miles blinked stupidly +at the smoke, because he dared not look lower where he must see the +varied company of coppery people who were flocking noisily forth from +their shelters. + +Of a sudden, as if starting from a bad dream, he writhed out of his +captor's hold and dropped to his feet in the sand. The Indian's grasp +tightened instantly on his arm; but in any case, whatever they meant to +do to him, even to kill him, it was better to walk into Manomet than +to be carried thither like a little child. Where there might be other +lads, too, it went through Miles's head, even in the midst of his sick +fear. + +Other boys there were, certainly, squaws and warriors too, all +thronging jabbering round him, so that, with a poor hope that he at +least might prove friendly, Miles clung tight to the hand of the Indian +who had carried him. Wolfish yelp of dogs, shrill, frightened cries of +children, clatter of the curious squaws,--all deafened and bewildered +him. Close about him he beheld crowding figures,--bare bodies that +gleamed in the sunlight, swarthy, grim faces, eyes alert with +curiosity,--and, overarching them all, the hot, blue sky that blinded +him. + +Along with their Indian masters ran dogs, prick-eared, fox-like curs, +one of which suddenly darted upon Trug. Above the chatter of the +curious folk Miles heard the currish yelp, the answering snarl; but ere +he could cry out or move, the old civilized mastiff caught the savage +cur by the scruff, and, shaking the life out of his mangy body, flung +him on the sand. + +Miles let go the Indian's hand, and cast himself upon his dog, while +his mind rushed back to a dreadful day in England, when Trug had slain +a farmer's tike, whose owner had threatened to brain "the curst brute"; +people did not like to have your dog kill their dog, Miles remembered +with terror; so, catching Trug by the collar, he buffeted his head, +a punishment which the old fellow, with his tushes still gleaming, +endured meekly. + +The Indians, who had been pressing round him, had shrunk back a little, +Miles perceived, as he paused for breath; they could not be used to big +mastiffs. "The dog will not worry you," he addressed the company in a +propitiating voice. "That is, he won't worry you unless you harm Dolly +and me." + +They could not understand his words, he realized, but they could +understand gestures, so with a bold front he gripped Trug's collar, +and urged the old dog, still grumbling, along with him. He walked +bravely too, with his chin high and his neck stiff, for all there was +a fluttering sensation up and down his legs. He was not afraid, he +assured himself, while he pressed his hand upon Trug's warm neck for +comfort, and fixed his eyes on the tall warrior striding before him who +still bore Dolly. + +Suddenly Miles perceived the press about him to give way a little, and +out from amidst the people an old man came gravely toward him. He was +a tall old man, with a wrinkly face, and his dress was squalid and +scanty as that of the others, but by the many beads of white bone that +hung on his bare breast, Miles judged him to be the chief of Manomet, +Canacum. So he made his most civil bow, though he could not keep his +knees from trembling a bit; but he looked up courageously into the old +Indian's face, and, as he did not speak first, at length politely bade +him "Cowompaum sin." + +He could not understand--indeed, apprehensive as he was, he scarcely +had the wit to try to understand--what was said to him in reply, but he +knew the old man took him by the hand, so in tremulous obedience he +went whither he was led. + +The blue sky was all blurred out, as he passed through the opening of +one of the black wigwams; an intolerable smoky odor half choked him; +and his eyes were blinded with the dimness all about him. But out of +the dusk he heard Dolly call his name, and, stumbling toward the sound, +he put his arms about his sister. + +As he grew more accustomed to the dim light, he saw the old Chief, +squatting on a mat at the back of the wigwam, and saw the shadowy +gesture that bade him sit beside him. Almost cheerfully, since he +held Dolly's hand in his, Miles obeyed; and for the moment, as Trug +stretched himself at his feet, and Dolly snuggled close to his side, +felt secure and whispered his sister not to fear. + +There was no time to say more, for, amidst the confusion of folk that +crowded the dusky wigwam, he now made out two squaws, who drew near, +and, with their curious eyes fixed on him, set before him food--a kind +of bread of the pounded maize and ears of young corn roasted. + +It did not need the Chief's gesture to bid Miles fall to; he might +be more than a little frightened, but he was also very hungry, for +it was near eight-and-forty hours since he had tasted heartier food +than raspberries. He now ate with such good will that nothing was +left of the victuals but the corn-cobs, and he persuaded Dolly to eat +too, though it was hard work to coax the child to lift her head from +his shoulder. "I do not like to look on the Indians," she murmured +tearfully, between two hungry mouthfuls of corn. "I would they did not +so stare at us." + +They were not over-civil, Miles thought, though, after all, they +scarcely stared at their white guests more rudely than Miles himself +had gazed at Massasoit, when the latter visited Plymouth. He might +not have minded their staring, if there had not been so many of +them,--squatting and lying all through the wigwam, on the floor, or +on the mats, or on a broad, shelf-like couch which ran all about the +lodge,--and if the bolder ones had not been curious to feel of his +shirt,--his doublet was left behind on the beach where he had taken the +clams,--and of his shoes, and of Dolly's gown, though no one cared to +put a hand upon the bristling and growling Trug. + +They chattered a wearisome deal too, till Miles's head ached with the +clamor, the squaws very shrilly, and the men in guttural tones; the old +Chief seemed to be questioning the Indians who had found the children +on the beach, but presently he turned and addressed Miles. + +The boy fixed his eyes on the speaker's face and tried to understand, +but, while all things about him were so strange and ominous, it was +hard to keep his thoughts on the hasty sounds. He did make out that +the Chief asked him whence he came, and, answering "Patuxet," he +pointed whither he judged the Plymouth plantation lay. "I should like +to go back thither," he suggested, and endeavored, with signs and his +few poor words of the Indian language, to explain that, if they took +Dolly to the settlement, the people would give them knives and beads. +He started to make the same arrangement for himself, but he judged it +useless; he doubted if Master Hopkins would think him worth buying back. + +But, even in Dolly's case, no one made a movement to grant Miles's +request, and though the old Chief spoke, for an Indian, at some length +and in a civil tone, he did not mention Patuxet nor a return thither. +Miles swallowed down a lump in his throat, and said bravely to Dolly +that he guessed they'd have to spend the night with the savages, but +they seemed kindly intentioned. + +Through the low opening that formed the door of the wigwam he could see +now that a long, gray shadow from the pine ridge lay upon the trodden +sand; the afternoon must be wearing to a close. Moment by moment he +watched the shadow stretch itself out, till all was shadow and a +thicker dimness filled the wigwam, and on the bit of sky, which he +could see through the smoke-hole in the roof, brooded a purplish shade. +It was evening in earnest, and it should be supper time, Miles told +Dolly; but Dolly, resting half-asleep against his arm, made no answer. + +Miles himself, for all his apprehensions, was heavy with the weariness +of the last two days, so, whatever the morrow might have in store, +he was glad when, one by one, the Indians slipped away like shadows, +and he judged it bedtime. He and his sister were to sleep on the +couch-like structure by the wall, he interpreted the Chief's gestures, +so willingly he bade Dolly and Trug lie down; then stretched himself +beside them. A comfortable resting place it was, very springy and soft +with skins; but, ere Miles could reassure Dolly and settle himself for +the night, Trug began to growl, and the great couch to groan, as what +seemed an endless family of Indians cast themselves down alongside them. + +"I--I wish I were home in my own bed," Dolly protested, with a stifled +sob. + +Miles hushed her, in some alarm lest the savages might not approve +of people who cried; but his Indian bedfellows never heeded Dolly's +tears, for they were lulling themselves to sleep by singing in a high, +monotonous strain that drowned every other noise. After the little +girl was quieted, they still droned on, and, when they were at last +silent, there sounded the notes of swarms of mosquitoes that tortured +Miles, for all he was so tired, into semi-wakefulness. + +A snatch of feverish slumber once and again, and then, of a sudden, he +was aware of the round moon peering in at him through the smoke-hole. +That same light would now be whitening the quiet fields of Plymouth, +and slipping through the little windows across the clean floor of +Master Hopkins's living room; Miles remembered just how the patch of +light rested on the wall of his own chamber. + +He sat up on his comfortless bed and hid his face against his knee. +"I wish I hadn't run away; I wish I were home--were home," he groaned +aloud. But, save for the heavy snoring of the Chief of Manomet and his +warriors, he got no answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HOW THEY KEPT THE SABBATH + + +A LITTLE daylight works a mighty change in the look of things. When in +the morning Miles rose at length from the stupor of sleep into which he +had fallen, the sky was clouded filmily to westward, but in the east, +above the pines, hung a yellow sun. The river that curved through the +meadow was half bright with the stroke of the sun, and, where the trees +of the opposite bank grew low, half a lucid green; the strip of sandy +beach shone white, and the coarse herbage of the level space all was +gleaming. + +Miles looked forth from the doorway of Chief Canacum's wigwam, and, +sniffing the breeze with the tang of brine in it, decided that, after +all, Manomet might prove a pleasant place in which to spend a day. He +said as much to Dolly, but she held her poppet closer and shook her +head. "There were fleas in that bed," she answered sorrowfully. "Let's +go home now, Miles." + +An easy thing to say, but to do it would have puzzled an older head +than Miles's, for not only did leagues of forest stretch between him +and the English settlement, but, even had he known the direct road to +Plymouth, there was no chance to follow it, since, wherever he turned, +the watchful eyes of the savages were upon him. + +Now the first novelty had worn off, the warriors limited themselves +to staring at their visitors as they sauntered through the camp, but +the squaws and children still wished to press close, and feel their +clothes and touch their hands. However, no one meant to harm him, Miles +decided, though he only half realized how awe of their white faces +and strange garments and of their great, ugly dog was protecting him +and his sister; and, having once concluded he was to be left unhurt, +he took pleasure in being a centre of interest; it was his first +experience of this sort in all his much-snubbed life. + +So, though Dolly would scarce look on the dark people about them, Miles +sought presently to talk to them, just as he tried to talk to the +Indians who came to Plymouth. So well did he impress it upon them that +he wanted his breakfast, that one of the squaws, who had bright eyes, +though her face was very dirty, led the children into her wigwam, where +she brought them food,--roasted crab fish and bread. Miles thanked her +and ate, and bade Trug and Dolly eat too, while the little Indians and +the squaws, squatting in the sand about the wigwam door, watched as if +they had never before seen two hungry children. + +Presently, as he wished to divide a morsel with Dolly, Miles drew +out his whittle, whereat the onlookers crowded closer to gaze. Miles +showed them his knife, though he took care not to let it go out of his +hands, and he exhibited the other treasures he carried in his breeches +pockets,--several nails, a button or two, some beads, and an English +farthing piece. Indians always looked for presents, he knew, so, before +he went out of the wigwam, he gave a button to the squaw who had fed +him. + +With his Indian followers eying him the more admiringly, he now went +journeying through the warm sand, past the dingy bark houses, to the +farther verge of the camp, where, beyond a lusty patch of rank weeds, +the corn-field of the savages shimmered in the heat. The tillage of +the Indians seemed to him of an untidy sort; they had cleared away the +trees with fire, never troubling to dig up the roots, so blackened +stumps dotted the field, and here and there lay the greater bulk of a +charred and fallen trunk. In between, the green corn straggled up, and +several squaws were tending it with hoes made of great clam-shells. +They cast aside their tools to stare on Miles and Dolly, but Miles +stared in return only a short space; he had seen corn-fields before. + +"Only to think, Dolly," he burst out, as he turned his back on the +hoers, "there's no one to bid me weed or fetch water or aught else +that displeases me. After all, 'tis a merry life the Indians lead; I'm +willing to dwell here with them." + +"_I_ do not wish to be a dirty Indian," Dolly answered decidedly, but +in a whisper, as if she thought these attentive people must be able to +understand her words. "Do you not think the men from Plymouth will come +to seek us soon and take us home?" + +"I do not want them to come," Miles replied calmly. "Maybe they would +hang me for that Ned fought in the duel, and surely they would beat +me for running away. I shall have to stay here always," he added +cheerfully. + +At this Dolly's lips quivered, but Miles, intent now on an Indian lad +with a little bow in his hand, who had just come near, gave his sister +no heed. "I'm minded to ask that boy to let me play with his bow," he +spoke out, as they arrived once more within the lee of Chief Canacum's +wigwam. "You sit here, and Trug shall watch you." + +A protest or two from Dolly, after the unreasonable fashion of +women-folk, but Miles, leaving her seated on the sand, walked away to +the coppery lad he had singled out. For a time the two boys stared at +each other gravely, then Miles, smiling affably, touched the bow, +saying, "Cossaquot? Nenmia," till presently the other yielded it into +his hands. + +Then they strolled away, with several other beady-eyed youngsters, into +the weeds on the outskirts of the camp, where Miles tried his skill +at shooting. Though in England he had often handled a bow, here the +best showing he could make set the little Indians laughing; and when +the owner of the bow, taking it from him, shot an arrow and fetched +down a pine cone from a tree many feet distant, Miles understood their +merriment at his awkwardness. + +But then he stepped up to a young sumach, and, pulling out his whittle, +hacked off a small branch in a manner to make his new friends marvel; +so, each party respectful of the other's arts, they were speedily on a +sound enough footing to race away together to the river bank. + +On the shore, half in water and half on land, lay three Indian boats, +light, tricky things, all built of birch bark. Miles had never seen +such craft, so he set to examining them, but his new comrades splashed +into the water. On the sunny beach it was hot, but across the stream, +whither they swam, the trees that pressed close to the margin darkened +the shallows with a deep green, so cool and tempting that Miles, dusty +with travel, longed to bathe in it too. + +In the end he flung off his clothes, and prepared to join in the +splashing, when his Indian acquaintances paddled shoreward to study +his garments. Miles suffered the youngster who had lent him the bow +to try on his shoes, whereat all grew so clamorous he feared a little +lest his wardrobe disappear among them, for he remembered how Thievish +Harbor took its first name from the pilfering habits of the Indians. +Fortunately Trug, forsaking Dolly, arrived just then, and when he +stretched his great bulk on his master's clothes, none cared to disturb +them. + +With his mind set at rest, Miles plunged into the tepid water, where +he frolicked about with his new comrades, who swam like dogs, paw over +paw, and dived in a way that bewildered him. But speedily he was doing +his share in the ducking and splashing and whooping, till, before he +knew it, the afternoon was half spent, and his shoulders smarted with +the burning of the sun. + +The little Indians followed him, when he spattered out of the river, +and, with no more than a shaking of their ears, like puppies, were +ready to run about, but Miles, as a penalty of civilization, had to +stay to drag on his clothes. He felt chilly now, he found, and hungry +too, and he guessed he and Trug were best go seek Dolly. + +But when he came into the lee of Chief Canacum's wigwam, he saw there +just scuffled, empty sand, so, with a big fright laying hold on him, he +ran out into the straggling street and called his sister's name aloud. +Just then Trug's bark told him all was well, and, hastening after +the dog, he found, in the shade of a distant wigwam, a squaw weaving +a mat of flags, some children sprawling, and Dolly herself, who was +eating raspberries from a birch bark basket. "Why did you run away and +frighten me?" Miles demanded crossly, as he flung himself on the ground +beside her. + +"I may go away and make friends as well as thou," Dolly answered +loftily. "But you shall have some of my berries, Miles. They fetched +me them, and I can eat these--" her voice sank--"because they must be +clean. But their other victuals are not, I know. I watched, and the +women do never wash their kettles." + +Miles had no such scruples of cleanliness, so when, some two hours +later, he scented the odor of cooking, he rose eagerly and, thinking on +supper, sought Canacum's wigwam. There were four dark boats upon the +white beach now, he saw, so he judged that a fishing party had come in. + +When he passed through the low door into the wigwam, he found a fire +alight and a great pot of clay hung on small sticks that were laid +over it. Into the pot the drudging squaws were putting fresh fish, and +acorns, and the meat of squirrels, and kernels of corn, and whatever +else they had of edibles,--"a loathsome mash," Dolly whispered Miles, +but he was so hungry that it did not take away his appetite. + +So soon as the broth was done, near half the village squatted round the +pot, the men in an inner circle, while on the outskirts, eager for any +morsel their masters might fling to them, waited the poor squaws. But +Dolly, because she was a little white squaw, was suffered to sit down +with her brother beside the old Chief, who scooped up pieces of the +fish and hot broth in a wooden bowl and gave it to Miles. + +Dolly looked askance at the food, but Miles and Trug ate ravenously; +neither his queer table mates nor their queer table manners troubled +the boy, since he himself was licking his fingers and wiping them on +Trug's fur contentedly. "I like to eat with my fingers," he chattered +to his venerable host. "At home they make me to eat tidily with a +napkin, but I like it better thus." + +But, even at his hungriest, he could not match the Indians in trencher +work; for, long after Miles had done eating and lain back against Trug, +the savages still champed on, till nothing but scattered bones was left +of the fare. By then the sun was quite down, so the lodge was black, +save for the flashes of the sinking fire. Out-of-doors an owl hooted, +and speedily the Indian guests withdrew to their own lodges, and the +Chief's household went to their common bed. Little comfort did Miles +and his two companions find there, for the singing Indians and the +mosquitoes pestered them as on the preceding night. + +"I'll not endure this a third time," Miles fretted, when he awoke in +the chilly morning. "Look you, Dolly, why should I not build us a +little wigwam? I make no doubt they'll suffer us go sleep there by +ourselves." + +Full of this new plan, he bustled forth from the wigwam, but outside +the doorway halted in surprise. He could see no river nor more than +the tips of the pines for a thick white fog that drifted through the +village and struck rawly to his very marrow. For a moment he had a +mind to slip back to Dolly in the close wigwam, but, spying his Indian +allies, he kept to his first manly resolve and began chatting to them +of his intentions. Though they could understand nothing of his talk, +they came with him readily, through the clammy fog, out beyond the +camp, where the sand, sloping up to the pine ridge, offered, as Miles +remembered, a good location for a wigwam. + +The Indian houses, so far as he could judge, were built by bending over +young saplings and securing both ends in the ground, then covering the +frame with mats or great pieces of bark. Miles decided that poles, +bound together at the top, would serve him as well, so he went to cut +them in a growth of young oaks at some distance from the camp. The +trees, all laden with fog moisture, drenched him as he worked, and the +task took him a long time with his small whittle,--would have taken him +longer, had not the Indian boys helped him to break the poles. + +They were all intent on his proceedings, and, when he returned to the +site he had chosen, settled themselves in the sand to watch him, an +action which pleased him little. For, when he stuck his poles into +the sand, at the circumference of a rough circle, and bent them all +together at the top, the ends that were thrust into the sand would fly +up, and 'twas annoying to have other people see his failure. It took +him some minutes to make all secure, and by then he was so breathless +and tired that he was glad to run tell Dolly of his progress, and, at +the same time, rest a bit. + +Spite of the fog, he found his sister had come out from the choking +atmosphere of the wigwam. She was sitting a little up the pine ridge, +behind the lodges, on a fallen tree trunk that was all a-drip; the +sand, too, Miles noted, when he lay down at her feet, was damp and +sticky to the touch. + +"They have left us alone, haven't they, Dolly?" he said in some +surprise, as he glanced about him and saw no Indians near. "But Trug, +he has not followed; very like they think we'll not run away and leave +him behind." Then he perceived that his sister's arms were empty. +"Where's the old red poppet?" he cried. + +"My poppet Priscilla," Dolly replied seriously. "I did put her away +carefully. For 'tis the Sabbath to-day, Miles." + +"Is it?" the boy questioned, with some misgivings. "I'd lost count of +the days. Why, I have been cutting poles and begun my wigwam--" + +"Then you are a Sabbath-breaker," Dolly said relentlessly. "If you +be so wicked, I doubt if ever God let us go back to Plymouth. And +I've been praying Him earnestly. Miles, have you said your prayers o' +nights?" + +"N--no," the boy faltered, "last night I forgot 'em, and night before I +was weary." + +"Come, we'll say them now," Dolly announced, and fell on her knees in +the wet sand. + +Miles obediently knelt beside her; his father had looked somewhat +askance at this practice, but Miles's mother had first taught the +children to say their evening prayer on their knees, and, for her sake, +the boy held obstinately to that usage. + +The thought of her came clearly to him now, and how she had bidden him +be good to Dolly, so, when he had prayed "Our Father," he added an +extemporaneous appeal, that the English folk might soon come in search +of them. "Not for my sake, O Lord," he explained carefully, "but Thou +knowest Dolly is but a wench and were better at Plymouth, perhaps. And, +O Lord, I'd near be willing to go thither myself, if Thou wouldst put +it in their minds not to flog me." + +Indeed, as he prayed, his heart grew very tender toward the tiny +settlement; he would have liked well to open his eyes and see the +sandy street of the little village stretching away up the hillside, +the ordered cottages, the grave men about their tasks, even Master +Hopkins--perhaps. + +Rather subdued, he set himself by Dolly on the wet log. "Now I'll tell +you somewhat out of the Bible, since there is no one to preach us a +discourse," he said, and set forth to her what he remembered of the +last portion of the Scriptures which Master Hopkins had made him read. +It was all about how Moses let loose the plagues upon the wicked king +of Egypt, flies and boils and frogs,--Miles was not quite sure of the +order of events, but he detailed them with much gusto. + +"I do not think there is a great deal of doctrine therein," Dolly +commented, with a mournful shake of the head. "Elder Brewster, he did +not discourse thus; and Mistress Brewster and Priscilla and the boys +will have bread for dinner to-day, and maybe butter, and lobster, and, +if I were home, I should sleep in my own bed with Priscilla, and put +on a clean gown in the morning. I wish I were home now." + +Miles squeezed Dolly's fingers, and sat staring away from her into the +fleecy fog that still shivered through the camp. So intent was he on +gulping down his home-sickness that he started in surprise when a hand +was laid on his shoulder, and he looked up into the face of one of +Canacum's warriors. + +He was to come to the Chief's wigwam, he interpreted the Indian's +signs, so he rose and, leading Dolly, followed his guide down the sandy +slope. "Maybe 'tis that they have meetings too on the Sabbath," Dolly +whispered him. + +Inside the lodge, where a fire smoked, many warriors were gathered, +true enough, but no one preached to them. Instead all puffed at their +pipes and, with long pauses, spoke together, till Miles, sitting with +Dolly by the Chief, grew weary. Understanding nothing of their talk, +he thought on his new wigwam and scarcely heeded them, till a warrior, +whom he had a vague idea he had not seen before about the camp, rose up +and, coming to him, lifted him to his feet. + +"What will you do?" Miles cried, with a quick pang of fright as he +found his arm fast in the other's grip. "Are we to go with you?" And +then, with a sudden, overwhelming hope, "To Patuxet?" + +"Nauset," grunted the imperturbable Chief. + +"They set upon the English there!" gasped Miles. "I will not go, I will +not!" + +After that, all passed so quickly he remembered nothing clearly, just +the confusion of bronzed figures in the smoky lodge, the choking odor +of the fire, the sight of Dolly's blanched face, as one of the Indians +drew her back from him. He had a scattered remembrance of crying out +that they should not dare take his sister from him, Captain Standish +would punish them for it; and then of a helpless, childish struggle, +wherein he kicked and struck unavailingly at the savage who held him. + +The chill fog stung against his face, as he was dragged forth from +the wigwam. He seemed to come to his senses again, and, ceasing to +struggle, called over his shoulder to Dolly not to be afraid, no one +would dare hurt her. Something pressed feebly against his knees, and he +looked down at Trug, with a broken thong hanging at his neck and his +head bleeding. He caught the old dog by the collar. "Go in unto Dolly, +sirrah," he bade in his sternest voice. "And guard her, guard her!" + +He had a last glimpse of his sister, crouching in the door of the +wigwam, with her arms clasped close about the mastiff's neck and her +frightened eyes fixed on him. Then the grasp on his wrist tightened, +and stumblingly he followed along with his new captors, past the +dripping wigwams with their staring people, past his own unfinished +lodge, and into the chill silence of the moist woods. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +AT NAUSET VILLAGE + + +EASTWARD of Nauset, unchecked by headlands, as was Plymouth Harbor, but +sweeping away into the very sky line, lay the ocean. The tide was now +rolling in; far out at sea the water all was ridged, and, as the waves +pressed shoreward, their crests, heaving up, burst into white foam. +With each inward swell the water crept nearer, till now it reached the +bare rock where Miles Rigdale, his knees level with his chin and his +arms cast round them, was perched. + +Overhead, Miles knew the sky was bright, and the dazzle of the water +was ever present to his eyes. He strove to think on naught but the +barren glare before him, yet beneath, in his heart, he was conscious +all the time of an aching weight of misery and sick fear. For this was +Nauset; he had but to turn his head, and, far up the sandy beach, where +the storm-swept pines began, he could see the cluster of wigwams, and, +nearer, squatting upon the shore, the stolid Indian folk who had dogged +him thither. + +Only that morning he had reached Nauset. There had been more than four +and twenty hours of journeying, through unknown villages, and by sea +in a frail bark canoe, the pitching of which, under the stroke of the +waves, had frightened him sorely. All, indeed, had been fright and +confusion and the wearying effort to hide his terror. For the Indians +of Manomet doubtless would beat Trug over the head again till he was +dead, and they would send Dolly far away, as they had sent him, perhaps +do worse. Miles buried his face against his knees, and bit his lips +hard. + +Of a sudden, he was lifted bodily from the rock where he sat. The white +water eddied all round it, he noted, and the warrior who held him had +stepped through it to fetch him ashore. For a moment after he was set +upon his feet, he stood staring out upon the dazzling sea, then turned +and passed slowly up the sand, through a patch of sparse beach grass, +to the village. + +Slowly though he loitered, he came at last to the sunny cluster of +wigwams; in their scant shadow the men--the warriors of Nauset, and +those who had fetched Miles hither--lay smoking, and, liking their +surly looks little, he stepped presently into the Chief's great wigwam, +where the squaws were cooking. + +He was hungry, for he had not eaten since last evening, so he stood +waiting and watching the women, though he no longer sought to talk to +them. For they did not show a friendly curiosity, such as the squaws +at Manomet had shown, but rather scowled upon him, as if they already +knew enough of white folk. It was from this place that the trader Hunt, +who stole Squanto, had kidnapped seven Indians, and it was here--Miles +remembered only too clearly every scrap of his elders' tales--that +only the last summer, in revenge for Hunt's dealings, three Englishmen +trading thither had been slain. + +So the heart within him was heavy indeed, when at length he set himself +down amongst the warriors at the noon meal. His place was next the +chief of the village, whom men called Aspinet, just as it had been +at every village where he had sat to eat, but this chieftain was not +friendly, as the others had seemed. What few gutturals he uttered were +directed to his warriors, not to Miles, nor did he offer to give the +boy food. + +Of necessity, Miles imitated the others by thrusting his hands into the +kettle and laying hold on the great claw of a lobster; it was so hot +it burned his fingers sharply, but, mindful that he was watched, he +held it fast till he could lay it on the trampled sand at his side. His +fingers smarted, and he dared not raise his eyes from the lobster, lest +the tears of pain that were gathering in them be seen. Fumblingly he +drew forth his whittle and was making a clumsy effort to dig the meat +from the shell, when a dusky hand suddenly closed on his wrist, and the +whittle was wrenched from his grasp. + +For one nightmare-like instant the world seemed struck from under him; +then Miles was aware of the reality of the smoky walls of the wigwam +and of those grim-faced savages who sat round him. He stood up slowly, +with his knees a-tremble, but he thrust out his hand bravely, and, in +a stout voice, spoke to Chief Aspinet: "That whittle is mine. Give it +back to me." + +A moment he stood fronting the Chief and his warriors, then, with +a sudden feeling that for sheer alarm he would presently burst out +crying, he turned and walked slowly from the circle of the feasters. "I +shall not eat of your food nor come into your house till you give back +my whittle," he flung over his shoulder in a quavering voice. + +With that he passed out at the doorway and set himself down +cross-legged in the deep sand in the lee of the wigwam. The sun of +early afternoon poured scorchingly upon him, and the sand, as he sifted +it between his fingers, was warm. Out above the ocean he could see a +great white gull that flashed in the strong light. + +A little shadow from the wigwam fell upon him, and bit by bit +broadened, while he stupidly watched the strip of dark advance across +the white sand. It must be mid-afternoon, he reasoned out, when the +warriors, crammed with food, sauntered from the wigwam, and several +came leisurely to squat in the shade close by him. + +Among them was Aspinet himself, Miles's whittle thrust defiantly in +his leathern girdle, and the sight of that braced the boy's resolution +in soldierly fashion; he must not seem afraid or willing to bear an +affront from a savage, he knew. So, with a steady face, he addressed +the Chief again, seeking this time to find the Indian words: "When your +people come to us at Patuxet we do not rob them. And you were best not +rob me, else Captain Standish will burn your wigwams." + +For an instant the Chief puffed slowly at his tobacco pipe, and +impassively eyed Miles's face; then he spoke, with some broken words of +English and his native words so slowly uttered that Miles could half +comprehend the import of his speech: "We do not fear the coat-men. +Thus did we to them. There was a ship broken by a storm. They saved +most of their goods and hid it in the ground. We made them tell us +where it was. Then we made them our servants. They wept much when we +parted them. We gave them such meat as our dogs eat. We took away their +clothes. They lived but a little while." + +Miles's eyes were wide and his lips parted with frank horror; only +for a moment, then he recalled the hint of such a happening that had +drifted to Plymouth, and the very reiteration of the story made it a +little less shocking. "That was a French ship, and they are a different +race from us," he said slowly. "An Englishman would not 'a' wept for +you. And _I_ shall not." He drove his hands hard into the sand and +blinked fast; the rough dirt hurt his burnt fingers, and he did not +doubt the English folk, even the Captain, were so glad to be rid of +him that they would leave him there forever, to the mercies of Chief +Aspinet. + +Squalid though the Indian wigwams were, he was faintly glad when the +shadows had so lengthened on the land and so darkened the sky and sea +that it was time to go to rest, for at least the blackness would screen +his face from the peering eyes of his captors. It was to Aspinet's +wigwam they led him, but the courage to refuse the Chief's dubious +hospitality no longer endured in Miles; he would forgive their taking +his knife, if they did not use him as they had used the luckless French +sailors. + +Obediently he snuggled down in one corner of the bed that ran round +the wigwam, crowded and comfortless as was his bed at Manomet, but +here neither Trug nor Dolly lay beside him. The sound of the sea, too, +was strange; out-of-doors he could hear it,--the slow crash of the +incoming tide that grew fainter and fainter. + +Dolly and Trug, taken from him, he knew not to what, and the safe +little town of Plymouth whence he had fled,--all were present to him. +He thought that he and Dolly, with the old dog beside them, were +trudging up the path from the landing, only there were trees all along +the path, like the limes along the church lane at home in England, and +the houses were not log cabins, but English cottages. He knocked at +the door of Stephen Hopkins's house, and at the same time it was the +English farmhouse where his father had dwelt, and, when they opened the +door to him, it was his mother who, coming across the hall, took him in +her arms and drew him in. + +The blackness of the wigwam and the heavy breathing of the savages came +once more to his consciousness. He dragged himself wearily up on one +elbow. Through the opening in the side of the wigwam he saw the sky +quite dark, and he heard the receding swash of the ebbing tide. Yonder +was the ocean, and a few miles westward lay Cape Cod Bay, and across it +snug Plymouth. If he only walked along the shore, followed the coast +line, he would come home. + +There was no plan, scarce any hope in him, only he knew the English had +forgotten him, and he could not endure it longer with a stolid face +among the Indians. Almost ere he thought it out, yet with instinctive +precaution, he slipped off the bed, and, holding his breath, crouched +listening on the floor. + +Slowly and carefully, with the trodden dirt firm beneath his hands, he +writhed his way to the door-opening. The morning air struck coldly on +his cheeks, so that for an instant he shrank back, but there was in it +something free that emboldened him to press on. + +Out through the door into the chilly morning, which to his more +accustomed eyes seemed so pale, he felt detection was certain. But no +cry alarmed him, no motion betrayed him. The soft sand deadened every +sound, as he crept through it, hands and knees. The debris of twigs, +higher up at the verge of the pine woods, pressed cruelly against +his palms, but, for all the pain, he still crawled on, till darkness +thickened about him, and above him the pine branches stirred. + +Springing to his feet, Miles ran forward, fast as two frightened legs +could bear him. Brambles that plucked at his tattered sleeves made him +halt, with heart a-jump; tougher young shoots near tripped him; but +pantingly he held on his way. Through the branches he could catch a +glimpse of the dull sky and one very bright star that he judged shone +in the west, so he headed toward it. + +Little by little the star faded from before his eyes, and the sky +lightened, whereat Miles ran the faster. A swamp, thick with juniper, +barred his course, and fearfully he turned southward to pick his way +about it. When once more he turned westward, the sky was pale as lead, +and the birds were beginning to sing. But though the coming of dawn +might well alarm him, he did not heed it now, as, through the trees +before him, he caught the pounding note of waves, and, a little later, +broke forth upon a broad expanse of meadow, beyond which rumbled the +great sea. + +Yonder, very far to west, lay Plymouth, Miles told himself, and, with +a foolish happiness springing in his heart, he stumbled briskly along +through the sparse growth at the edge of the wood. The morning light +now was sprinkling the sea on his right hand, and the sky was changing +from lead-color to clear blue. Out from the forest a brook, all awake +with the dawning, came gurgling, so Miles stopped to drink, and tarried +to empty the sand from his shoes; he guessed he must have run leagues, +for he was very tired. + +But up he got and tramped on pluckily at his stoutest pace, through the +coarse grass of a great salt marsh, where the new-risen sun struck hot +upon him. At the verge of the marsh an arm of the sea reached into the +land, so Miles had no course but to wade in, shoes and all. The water +was cold as the sun before had been hot. He clambered forth on the far +side all a-shiver and, with his head bent, began to run for warmth's +sake, across another bit of marsh and up a little wooded slope of sand. +Headlong he plunged down the opposite slope, and there, in the hollow, +by a brookside, unmoved as the pine trees themselves, stood two of the +Nauset Indians. + +He trudged back to the camp with them,--there was no other way. One of +them, when they came up to him, as he stood numb with the surprise, +uncertain whether to run or front them boldly, struck him a buffet in +the face, but the other, catching his arm, muttered something that made +him desist. So Miles stole round and walked beside the second Indian +on the trip back. They did not offer to carry him nor to slacken their +pace, and he feared to vex them with lagging behind. His shoes, where +he had waded through the salt water, were stiffening, so they hurt his +feet sorely; by the time he came into the camp he was fairly limping, +yet that was but a little pain beside what might be before him. + +Yet no one did him hurt. A throng of people gathered scowlingly about +him and talked among themselves, while he waited, with his flesh +a-quiver, but his chin thrust bravely upward. But, in the end, they +only hustled him into a wigwam, where they left him with two squaws +who were pounding corn. Miles flung himself upon the couch, in the +farthest corner, and hid his face in his arms, but rigidly he held +himself from crying. The stone pestles that ground the corn went thud, +thud, till his head so ached it seemed as if they beat upon his very +temples. + +He had come to count the rhythmic strokes in a sort of stupor, wherein +he knew only that the pestles beat, when suddenly they ceased. +Out-of-doors he heard a whooping and a scuffling of many naked feet in +the sand. He pressed himself closer against the wall of the wigwam; +they were coming to deal with him now. He shut his eyes tightly and +buried his head deeper between his arms. + +They had come into the wigwam. He ought to stand up and show them he +was not afraid, but he could not, and, when some one grasped him by the +arm, spite of himself, he cried out in nervous terror. + +"Me friend. You not know Squanto?" grumbled a voice he remembered. + +Miles sprang to his feet. The lodge was full of savages, Aspinet and a +score of other hostile faces, but he gave them no heed, for over him +stood his old Plymouth acquaintance, the interpreter Squanto. With a +great cry of relief, Miles flung his arms about him. "Oh, Squanto, take +me home, quick, quick!" he begged; and in the next breath, "Where's +Dolly? You must find Dolly." + +[Illustration: "Miles made out the figures of the men in the shallop."] + +The little squaw and the puppy dog were safe, Squanto explained +leisurely; the Captain and his warriors had come in the big canoe and +taken them, and now they waited yonder for Miles himself. "I'll go to +him straightway," cried Miles, with a laugh that caught in his throat. + +But, like it or no, he must wait yet a time, for Chief Aspinet and +his warriors would feast Squanto and the Indians who came with him, +and the savages ate long and deliberately. Miles, unable to swallow a +morsel, sat between his friend Squanto and one who came with him called +Iyanough, the Sachem of Cummaquid, a young Indian with so gentle a +bearing that the boy felt near as safe with him as with an Englishman. + +He could not help a little movement of repulsion, though, as they rose +from the feast at last, when Aspinet came up to him, but the Chief was +in a humble mood now and merely handed back the whittle, which Miles +clapped promptly into his pocket. Aspinet would have put round his neck +a chain of white beads too, but Miles shook his head disapprovingly; he +wanted no presents of the uncivil Chief. Yet when Squanto said, "Take +um," he thought well to obey the interpreter. + +They came forth at length from the wigwam, under a twilight sky, +and, in some semblance of order, the whole throng of Aspinet's warriors +took up their march across the Cape. One of them lifted Miles in his +arms, and, though the boy would have preferred some other bearer than +a Nauset man, he contented himself, since Squanto and Iyanough walked +close by. + +At a good pace they passed up into the scrub pines of the sand hills, +and turned westward, where, in the dull sky, the restful stars were +beginning to show, just as Miles had seen them come out above the piny +hills of Plymouth. The branches bent noiselessly apart, as the swift +train pressed forward through the woods. The moon was up now; Miles, +glancing back, saw it gleam amid the boughs, and at first its staring +light startled him. Then they came through the trees out on broad sand +again; the tide was far down, and out yonder, where the line of moonlit +water began, lay the English shallop, with its sails all white. + +Down the beach the naked feet of the Indians pattered; now the water +splashed noisily beneath their tread, knee high, waist high. Clearly +and more clearly Miles made out the figures of the men in the shallop, +erect and musket in hand, the gleam of the corselets and helmets, their +faces almost. + +It was Captain Standish himself, who, slipping his ready musket to one +hand, reached over the gunwale and, grasping Miles by the waistband, +dropped him down into the bottom of the shallop. As he did so he +uttered something that sounded like a fervent "Thank God!" + +Miles neither heard nor heeded that, but he did remember of a sudden +that he was a wretched, little fugitive criminal, now delivered into +the hands of English justice, and even his hero, who had been his +friend, had thought fit to take him up roughly and drop him down +against his boots. He rolled a little out of the way, and, crouching +against the side of the boat, buried his face in his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +FALLEN AMONG FRIENDS + + +AT last the shallop had put off from the Nauset shore. The babel of +clamorous Indians sank down, and, in its stead, sounded the thud of +muskets laid by and the clatter of sweeps fitting to the rowlocks. +Sharp English commands Miles heard too, but still he did not raise his +head, till some one lifted him to his feet. + +All about him gleamed the hard whiteness of moonlight, under which the +idle sail looked vast and ghostly and the faces of the men around him +seemed unfamiliar. But he heard Captain Standish's voice: "Come, Miles, +clamber forward with you. Your sister is fair sick for the sight of +you." + +He saw it was the Captain who had lifted him up, and he caught the arm +that held him. "I'm sorry, sir, oh, I'm mighty sorry; I won't fight +another duel nor run away," he whispered huskily. + +"Don't cry, my man," the Captain spoke hurriedly. "It's well over and +you're safe with us now. Here, Gilbert Winslow, help him forward; and, +Stephen Hopkins, draw you nearer; I've a word to say." + +Dumbly obedient, Miles clambered forward over the thwarts. Young +Gilbert Winslow, one of the rowers, put out a hand to steady him, and, +to the boy's thinking, grasped his arm roughly. They need not begin +punishing him at once, he reflected miserably; he was sorry for all +he had done, but when he tried to tell them so, even the Captain had +thought him whimpering because he had been afraid. + +Then for a moment he forgot his wretchedness, as he reached the forward +thwart where Alden sat, and from beside him heard Dolly's voice +pipe up. Miles slipped upon the reeling bottom of the shallop, and, +stumbling closer to his sister, put his arms about her. "You're here, +Dolly?" he asked, in a whisper, half afraid to let his voice sound out. +"You're safe, you and Trug?" + +Such a ragged, tousled Dolly as she was, half hidden in the folds of +Alden's cloak, and almost too weary even to talk. She was quite safe, +though, she found energy to tell him, and Trug was there behind her, +tied in the peak of the bow. He was sore with his bruises, but Goodman +Cooke said he would live, for all that. The Indians of Manomet had done +neither of them further hurt, but had sent them to the Sachem Iyanough, +who was a good man and had delivered them to the English that very +morning. So it was all well, but for the poppet. + +"Did they take it from you?" questioned Miles, mindful of his own +experience with the whittle. + +"N--no," answered Dolly, beginning to sniffle. "I--I did give her to +a little maid at Manomet. Because she ground the corn and fetched +wood all day, and she had no poppet. I gave it to her, and--and the +bad old Chief, he took her away from the little maid--he did tear her +up and make red cloth of her--and he tied her in his hair, my poppet +Priscilla." Dolly curled herself up against Alden's arm and wept +wearily. + +"Very like Priscilla Mullins can make you another," the young man +suggested kindly, though his face, in the moonlight, looked amused. + +"'Twould not be she," wailed Dolly, provoked at such stupidity, and +went on to cry as only a very tired little girl can cry. + +But Miles, quite tearless, leaned back against Alden's knees, and, +without daring to look at the men about him, gazed up into the shimmery +sky. All the time, though, he was conscious that yonder in the stern +sat Master Stephen Hopkins, and he thought of him and tormented himself +with wondering what punishment he would inflict till he felt it almost +a relief, when at last his guardian came striding across the rowers' +seats toward him. + +He came, indeed, but to help Alden unfurl the sail, for they were now +well out from shore, and the breeze, though of the faintest, was worth +calling to their aid. But when that task was done, Master Hopkins set +himself down on the thwart by Alden, and presently spoke to Miles, who +started guiltily, for all nothing worse was said than, "Take my cloak +here, Miles Rigdale, and wrap it about you." + +It was chilly, now they were out on the open bay, as Miles, in his +torn shirt, knew, but, without looking at the speaker, he shrank away, +muttering: "I wish it not. I am not cold, sir." + +"Take the cloak as I bid you," Master Hopkins repeated, in as stern a +voice as if it were a dose of poison he were pressing upon Miles. "Let +me have no more of this sullenness." + +He spoke so sharply and loudly that every one must hear; Miles thought +to feel the indignant eyes of the company turn toward him. "I--I want +to go up in the bow beside Trug," he whispered Alden, and, eager to put +as much space as possible between himself and Master Hopkins, clambered +over the thwart into the peak. There he crouched close to the battered +old dog, who licked his hands, and lay so covered by the cloak that he +could see only the blank moon rolling through the blue-black sky. + +But, though he did not look on his companions, he could hear their +voices distinctly. Alden it was who spoke first: "We are not heading +for home the quickest way, are we, sir? We follow the shore--" + +"'Tis that the Captain holds it best that we stand in to land and get +fresh water," Hopkins made answer. "After that we are to hasten our +shortest way unto Plymouth. For there's ill news astir at Nauset." + +"What might that be?" + +"They tell us the Narragansetts, that fierce tribe to southward, have +risen and spoiled some of Massasoit's men and taken the King himself +prisoner." + +There was an instant's silence, during which Miles listened +strainingly, then Alden spoke in a different, slow tone: "And after +they have dealt with Massasoit, should they attack Plymouth because it +is allied to him--" + +"The pick of our fighting men are here in the shallop," Hopkins +answered deliberately. + +Miles felt something press against his legs as he lay, heard a sleepy +whimper from Dolly. "Let your sister rest by you, Miles," spoke Alden, +bending over him. "I'm going to aid at the sweeps." + +"And you, Miles," added Master Hopkins, "were best give your thought to +praying unto God that your mad prank may not prove the means of drawing +the men from Plymouth at her greatest need." + +Once more there was silence, save for the steady creak, creak of the +oars against the thole-pins, and now and again the flap of the listless +sail. Miles lay quite still and stared at the round moon, yet did +not see it, for before his eyes loomed only the unguarded cottages of +Plymouth, white under the moonbeams, and, crawling toward them from the +black pine hills, the slinking forms of the Narragansett warriors. Even +when he shut his eyes and, at last, for sheer exhaustion, slumbered, +he saw in his dreams the sleepy little settlement, all unconscious of +the danger crowding close upon it, and the horror of this that his own +folly had made possible startled him into wakefulness again. + +He saw the mast sway blackly against the dull heavens, whence the moon +had dropped, and, with something of comfort in their mere presence, +heard the men grumbling inaudibly, as they tugged at the sweeps. A dead +chill was in the morning wind, so gladly he huddled the cloak more +closely about him and drowsed once more. But the same vision of leaping +savages and blazing cottages burned before his eyes, till, with a half +stifled cry, he started up, as through his dreams rang an Indian whoop. + +All about him yellow sunshine rippled on the water; English voices +sounded cheerily, and with them mingled the clatter of Indian tongues. +So much of his dream was true, yet it could be no attack upon the +shallop, for Dolly, quite unconcerned, sat gazing down at him from the +nearest thwart. + +"You are to get up," she greeted him gayly. "We are at Cummaquid to +eat breakfast with Sachem Iyanough; the Captain and some of the men +have gone ashore unto him, and they have sent us roast fish hither, and +there is clean bread from home. And you are to rise and eat with us, +Master Hopkins says." + +At that name Miles, still half dazed with sleepiness, sprang to his +feet. Near at hand, across the noisy blue water, gleamed the green +shores of Cummaquid, where he could see a swarm of dusky figures, and +in their midst the glitter of the armored Englishmen. But nothing of +the shore or even of the folk about him was quite real, save the voice +of Master Hopkins; Miles did not look at his face. + +Creeping into the stern sheets, as he was bidden, he choked down the +food that was given him, good bread and fish, that seemed to him gall +and ashes. For the men about him spoke anxiously of the need of getting +speedily to Plymouth, till Miles, heavy with the sense of guilt, +scarcely dared stir or breathe, or even think. Only when Master Hopkins +rose from beside him did he venture so much as to shift his position; +then he swung about stealthily and leaned his head upon one arm that +rested on the gunwale. He let one hand droop into the water, and, +watching the ripples slip between his fingers, thought only of their +flow and fall. + +So he was still sitting, in what looked a sullen fit, when a good +capful of wind came ruffling it along the water, and the Captain and +his squad splashed noisily from the shore. Miles heard about him the +clatter of their embarkation, the creak of the hoisted sail, the brisk +voices of the men, and he longed to slip back to his old place in +the bow, away from them, but he durst not venture it. He stared down +into the blue water, that now began to press more swiftly through his +hand, and, when he lifted his eyes, the green shore was fading in the +distance. + +With a creak of the cordage, the shallop came about on a fresh tack, +so only dazzling water that made his eyes ache now lay before Miles. +Through the rents in his shirt he felt the sun hot on his bare +shoulders, and involuntarily he made a restless movement. "What's +amiss, Miles?" spoke the Captain's quick voice. Miles did not answer, +but, feeling rebuked, sat silent, and studied the grain of the wood in +the seat on which he perched. + +But the Captain, sitting next him, began to ask him questions in a +curt, matter-of-fact tone, as to what Indian villages he had entered, +and whether he had noted signs of warlike preparation, to all of which +Miles answered hesitatingly, a little frightened, because the men about +him silenced their talk to hark to him. + +Once he glanced sidewise at Standish, but the latter's brows were +puckered and his eyes preoccupied, so Miles, not knowing whether he was +worried about the savages or angry with him, looked again at his shoes. +But when the Captain relapsed into grave silence, his fear grew greater +than his shame before rebuke; so at last he plucked the Captain's +sleeve and whispered him: "Is there any chance, sir,--maybe shall we +come to Plymouth ere the Indians kill all the people?" + +"What set such a mad fancy in your head?" Standish asked, almost +sharply. "There's not an Indian within six league of Plymouth. Don't +worry yourself for that, lad; you'll find the village as you left it, +and all the women ready to weep over you." + +At these first comforting words he had received since he boarded the +shallop, Miles plucked up heart and drew closer to Captain Standish. +But speedily he took note of the anxiety that made the Captain +forgetful of him, and, with a new sorrow, he told himself that to his +hero he was no longer "Miles, my soldier," but a foolish boy, who, +because he was little, must be spoken to gently, and not even let +know the full extent of the evil he had brought about. For, spite of +Standish's cheerful speech, he could see clearly enough that every +man in the craft was troubled and longing to reach the endangered +settlement. + +But the wind blew lightly, in veering flaws, so the shallop must make +tedious long tacks, while the hours rolled out. The heat began to go +from the air, so Miles was glad to wrap himself in a spare cloak, as +the Captain ordered; and the sun, in the west, slipped behind gray +clouds. The water darkened, and the twilight had fallen in earnest, +when at last the shallop tacked in at the outer entrance of Plymouth +Harbor. + +At first the thickly wooded beach point screened the shore, but, as the +little craft rounded it, the dim hills across the harbor were visible, +and there, on the greatest hill, too low for stars, Miles saw sparks of +light twinkle. + +It was as if the men in the shallop all drew breath again, and Miles +himself, forgetting his guilt and the punishment in store for him, +cried joyfully: "They're safe!" + +But in a moment half the joy went from him, for, when Alden, in +the bow, fired his musket thrice, with startling reëchoes, Master +Hopkins told him grimly that the signal was to let the people yonder +know he had destroyed neither himself nor his sister by his sinful +foolhardiness. Miles hung his head sorrily, and, for all Captain +Standish presently clapped him on the shoulder and bade him look how +the people flocked to the landing, did not glance up till, with a +splash of oars in the quiet water, the shallop lay to, by the dark +rock. + +In the thick twilight the faces of the people gathered thither could +not be made out, but all the colony was there, Miles guessed by the +babel of voices, and, after they had lifted him ashore, he knew it was +Priscilla Mullins who hugged him undignifiedly, and he thought it was +Mistress Brewster who cried when she spoke to him. But he had no time +to make certain, for just then Master Hopkins grasped him by the arm +and led him away up the hill to his house. + +Within the familiar living room a candle was alight, that set Miles +blinking as he was brought in from the darkness, but he made out +Mistress Hopkins, with an anxious scowl on her brows, though, for all +Miles's torn shirt, she did not scold one word, and he saw Constance, +with her eyes red, and Giles, who had tramped in after him, and Dotey +and Lister. "Then they didn't hang you?" Miles cried to the latter, too +weary to be civil. + +"Hang who?" asked Ned, pretty sheepishly, as his master's eyes were +upon him. + +"You said they were going to hang you--" + +"Not I, never," vowed Ned, with his face flushing, and, slouching off +into the bedroom, rattled the door to behind him. + +Miles followed him thither speedily,--he was not to be coddled by +two soft-hearted women, Master Hopkins said,--and Giles and Dotey +came too. They questioned him eagerly of his adventures, but Miles, +unflattered even by such attention, would not speak of Indians or of +birch canoes, just poured forth his woes in a weary voice upon the +verge of tears: he would surely be soundly whipped, and Ned had said +they would be hanged and they hadn't been, and if Ned hadn't said it, +he wouldn't 'a' run away. + +"I am right sorry, for your sake, I was not dealt with less +mercifully," Lister said bitterly, and Miles, glancing up at him, was +checked in his lamentation; truly, Ned looked miserable, with his +face white and a noticeable limp in his gait, and Dotey, too, had one +hand bandaged, but, most awe-inspiring of all, Miles noted, as Ned +unfastened his shirt, a vivid red mark about the base of his neck. +"What was it they did to you, then?" he asked, but neither of the +Edwards seemed eager to explain. + +"They just tied 'em neck and heels," Giles volunteered presently, as +he began undressing. "And before they'd kept them so an hour, they +promised amendment and--Hey, Ed Dotey, make Ned cease throwing shoes at +me." + +With a wrangling word or two peace was restored, and the young men took +themselves to rest; Miles noted that the ex-duellists drew the line at +sharing one bed, for Ned Lister lay down beside him, while Giles and +Dotey slept together. + +How quiet and clean it seemed in the little chamber, Miles thought; +and how blessed it was that the Indians had not fallen on Plymouth! +Involuntarily he sighed for very peace and happiness, then lost all +sense of comfort at the recollection of the morrow and the punishment +deferred that yet would surely come. "Ned, O Ned," he began, and shook +Lister, who was lying with his head between his arms. "Tell me, Ned, +how greatly does it hurt to be tied neck and heels?" + +"Um-m-m!" groaned the exasperated Lister. "Miley, if you say 'neck and +heels' to me again, I'll wake up and thrash you." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A SON OF PERDITION + + +MILES was not fated, however, to learn by experience how it felt to +be tied neck and heels; for all his double sin of abetting a duel and +running away from the settlement, he suffered no unusual punishment. +Instead, next day at noon, when Master Hopkins returned from the +fields, he ordered him into the closet, and there gave him as thorough +a flogging as even the boy's tormented fancy had conjured up. + +Miles came out, with his shoulders quivering, and, not staying for +dinner, slouched away through the fields to the shore, where he stood a +time blinking out to sea. He had been bidden go present himself to the +Elder and be admonished for his sins, but he did not hold it necessary +to go just yet. + +At last he had himself tolerably in hand, and, with no great heart for +what was before him, was loitering along the shingle to the village, +when a shrill voice hailed him, and, looking up, he saw Jack and Joe +and Francis running toward him. So Miles put on an unconcerned bearing, +and, making the pebbles clatter beneath his tread, swaggered to meet +them. + +Oh, yes, he could tell them brave tales of how he had lived with the +Indians, he bragged, but not now; he had to go now and be admonished by +the Elder, he explained, as if he took pride in such awful depths of +iniquity. + +"And Stephen Hopkins has admonished you ere this, I'll warrant," +chuckled Francis. "How heavily did he lam you?" + +With melancholy satisfaction, Miles pulled off his shirt and exhibited +his stripes to his admiring companions. + +"Big red weals," quoth Jack. "I'm glad 'twas not I must bear such a +banging. Here's more than one stroke has broken the skin." + +Miles twisted his neck, in a vain effort to study his smarting +shoulders, while his estimate of himself rose surprisingly. + +"And for each whang Miles cried out, I'll be bound," added Francis. + +"I did not open my lips," boasted Miles. "A' could not make me. You can +talk, if you will, Francie. We know if you'd borne the half of this, +we'd 'a' heard you roaring from the Fort Hill clear to the Rock. But I +mind not a beating, nor aught they can do to me or say. 'Twas so brave +a life I led among the Indians--" + +There something in Francis's face made Miles glance over his shoulder, +and right behind him, his step deadened by the sand, stood the Captain, +who was gazing down at him with a look between contemptuous and amused, +that made the other lads slip away, and set Miles scuttling into his +shirt. + +"Well, sir, you show a deep and edifying sense of the mischief you have +done," Standish said quietly, but the very absence of anger from his +tone made Miles's face burn the hotter. + +He was glad that his shirt was over his head at that moment, so he +could not see the speaker's look, and he dreaded to meet it. But when +he had drawn on the garment and could glance round him, he saw, with +an added pang of humiliation, that Captain Standish, not holding him +worthy of further notice, had trudged on to the landing. + +For a moment Miles stood gazing blankly after him; then he turned and, +kicking up the sand in half-hearted little spurts, plodded on up the +hill to Master Brewster's gate. Beneath the bluff, on the shore of the +brook, he came upon the Elder, laboring diligently among his green +things, and told him in a listless tone why he had come thither. Master +Brewster talked to him a long time and wisely, Miles had no doubt, but +he only heard the words vaguely, for he was feeling the piteous smart +of his irritated shoulders, and watching the flecks of light through +the green bushes that shifted across the Elder's doublet, and harking +to the loud purr of the fat cat Solomon, who was rubbing himself +against the Elder's knees. + +Yet he was dully sorry when the Elder dismissed him, for that left him +free for some heavy thoughts. It would be a little comfort to speak +with Dolly; so, rather uncertain what welcome such a rapscallion as he +might hope for, he toiled up the bluff and faltered into the Brewsters' +living room. + +The wind from the sea stirred the curtain at the window, and in the +full blast, industriously sewing at a small gown, Mistress Mullins sat +alone. "So you've come to visit me, little Indian?" she greeted Miles, +and put her hands to her brown hair that had ruffled in the draught. +"My scalp is quite safe? You are well assured you have no tomahawk +about you?" + +Miles shook his head in crestfallen fashion; he only wanted to see +Dolly, he murmured. + +"She is in bed, poor little one! till I make her some tidy clothes to +put on," Priscilla answered. "Stay and talk with me, Miles, like a +gallant lad. Come, if you'll look merry again, I'll show you something +rare. 'Tis a humbird." + +She led him to the western casement, where on the window-sill rested a +little cage of paper, in which fluttered a shimmery atom no bigger than +a bee. For a moment, because Priscilla expected it of him, Miles gazed +at the tiny whirring wings, and touched the cage gently, but in so +listless a fashion that the young girl asked abruptly: "What has gone +wrong with you, Miles?" + +"Naught." + +"Then you are an uncivil youth to wear such a glum face. Come, tell me +it all. Is it that Stephen Hopkins hath flogged you?" + +"No!" Miles answered, with an angry sniff. "A beating more or less, +'tis nothing to a man." + +Priscilla suddenly put an arm about his neck. "My poor little--man!" +she said, and, for all she laughed, her voice was tender. "I know I am +but a silly woman, yet mayhap I can help you,--an you let me. Is it +that the Elder rated you grievously?" + +Miles shook his head, then, spite of himself, blurted out: +"'Tis--Captain Standish is angry and scarce will look at me. And he has +ever been kind to me. But now he will have none of me. I had no mind to +be so wicked; I did not mean what I said; I'm sorry." + +"Why, you need not lay it to heart if the Captain has been round with +you," the girl coaxed. "He must be so troubled now with all this ill +news of the savages." + +"But he--he thinks I'm not sorry," Miles faltered, twisting the ends +of the window curtain relentlessly between his hands. "And I am, but I +can't go to him and say it, when he is angered." + +"But I can go to him and tell him you are sorry, if 'twill comfort +you," Priscilla answered coolly. "I have no fear of your Captain." + +"Will you so?" Miles cried gratefully. "Sure, you're uncommon good. +When I'm older I'll marry you,--unless Jack Alden does it ere then." + +Whereat Mistress Mullins's face flushed pink, and she pulled Miles's +ears, and, calling him a scamp, packed him into the bedroom to speak +with Dolly. + +So, when Miles ran home to supper, he was in an almost cheerful mood, +which speedily ended, for Master Hopkins made him read a sorrowful +chapter on the wrath of God against transgressors, and cuffed him +because he could not pronounce the word "Zarhites." Mistress Hopkins +scolded too, because she had labored all the afternoon to mend the +shirt which Miles had worn upon his wanderings; moreover, she would +have to make the troublesome boy a new doublet, to replace the one he +had lost, and new breeches, for those he now wore were disgracefully +ragged, so perhaps she had reason to be vexed on his account. + +"But I did not tear them wantonly," Miles lamented to Ned Lister next +morning. "Yet she says she is so busied she cannot make me new clothes +for days, and I must wear my breeches all ragged for punishment." + +"Hm!" answered Ned. "Half Plymouth seems to take its diversion in +punishing the other half." He was on his knees between two rows of the +rustling green cornstalks, where he was grubbing up those weeds that +were so tough as to resist his hoe; his doublet was off, but he had so +scrupulously turned up the collar of his shirt that no trace of the red +mark about his neck could be seen. + +It was so unusual for Ned to work that Miles was lingering to watch +him, when suddenly the young man broke out: "Look you here, Miley, you +were with me that day I made Dotey to fight me, and you heard all I +said unto him, so I ought to tell you--'twas not he bore tales of me +unto Hopkins; 'twas the mistress herself." + +Miles nodded his head. "I never had any liking for her," he said softly. + +Ned weeded scowlingly. "Well, she made Hopkins go unto the Governor +and beg that Ed Dotey and I be released after we'd been tied an hour," +he admitted, in a grudging tone. "She might be worse, and so might Ed +Dotey; he's no talebearer, though he is a self-sufficient coxcomb." + +For several days this was the only bit of private talk which Miles +had with Ned, for Master Hopkins, who said that Lister had already +corrupted the boy sufficiently, took now a new course of keeping the +two rigorously apart. While Ned was sent to work in the fields, Miles +was bidden weed in the house-garden, or fetch and carry for Mistress +Hopkins. + +Master Hopkins believed, too, that Satan found mischief for idle hands, +so he saw to it that one task followed another, till Miles, honestly +wearied, looked back with fondness to his life among the Indians as a +time of perpetual holiday. One morning, indeed, about a week after his +return to Plymouth, when he was forbidden to help Ned dig clams, and +ordered, instead, to fetch water and then weed in the garden, he voiced +his rebellious wish: "I would I were back with those good, friendly +Indians at Manomet." + +Master Hopkins, who was busy at the delicate task of repairing the lock +of his musket, looked up at the muttered words. "You wish to dwell +among those shameless idolaters?" he questioned grimly. "Verily, Miles +Rigdale, you are a son of perdition." + +A very terrible name that was, Miles thought, but it was worse than the +hard name, that Master Hopkins cuffed him till his ears tingled and his +eyes watered. + +Frightened at his own wickedness, and smarting with the blows, he +hurried off to the spring, and, halfway thither, met with Francis +Billington. Even Francis's sympathy would have been welcome just then, +and, after all he had undergone because of his confession to save the +boy, Miles thought he had some claim to it. But Francis stiffened up at +his greeting and put on a surprising new air of virtue. "I'm forbid to +have to do with you, Miles," he announced, with open delight. "Sure, +I see not why your father ever need keep you so tenderly from my +conversation. Why, you are yourself the worst lad in all the colony; +'twas Captain Standish himself said so to my father." + +"I think you are not speaking the truth," Miles answered doggedly; he +had a mind to fight Francis for such a story, but very likely if he +fought, Master Hopkins would whip him. So he drooped his head under the +other's taunt and plodded on to the spring. He didn't believe Francis, +he repeated to himself, while he swallowed and swallowed in his throat. +But there came the remembrance of the look the Captain had given him, +there on the shore, and his contemptuous words, and, with a sickening +fear that, for once, Francis had spoken the truth, he felt the lump in +his throat swell bigger. + +He did not care, though the water, as he scooped up his pailful at the +spring, slopped over his shoes, but he did care when he heard on the +pathway from the bluff the scatter of pebbles under a quick footstep; +he could not let any one see him in so sorry a mood. Catching up his +pail, he pressed into the crackling green alders at the farther side of +the spring, and, as he did so, heard some one call sharply, "Miles." + +It was Captain Standish's voice, Captain Standish who would want to +rate him as the worst lad in the colony, who would never believe he was +penitent. Miles put his head down and, crashing through the alders, +never paused till the whole dense thicket lay between him and his +pursuer. He could hear on the lifeless, hot air no sound save that of +his own fluttering breath; no one had offered to follow him, and he +felt suddenly sorry that he had escaped. + +But, without courage to go back to the spring and face the Captain, he +crouched down beneath the bushes and sat a long time staring through +the leaves at the bright water of the brook. Up in the street he heard +eager voices once, but the dread of encountering Captain Standish made +him stay quiet in his hiding place, till the street was still again. +Then he clambered painfully up the steeper part of the bluff below +Cooke's house, and, with a new terror growing on him of the mighty +scolding he could expect for his delay, scudded home. + +But no one had space to scold him. When he came to the house he found +Mistress Hopkins, quite silent, and Constance, with a scared face, +busied about dinner, and Ned and Dotey, with Giles to help, overhauling +their muskets. "What is it has happened?" Miles questioned in amazement. + +"War!" Ned answered cheerily, and Mistress Hopkins, with a grewsome +sort of satisfaction, added that she always said they'd yet be slain by +the heathen savages. + +"It happened at Namasket, five league from here," Ned ran on. "Squanto +and two other friendly copper-skins, Hobbamock and Tokamahamon, they +went thither quietly to learn how much truth was in this talk of +rebellion against Massasoit. And there was a certain Corbitant, an +under-chief of the King's, who is in league with the Narragansetts, and +he discovered them. Hobbamock broke from them and came fleeing hither, +not an hour agone, but Tokamahamon they took and Squanto they've slain. +So we are furbishing up our muskets." + +Poor Squanto, who had fetched him from Nauset, was dead. That was +Miles's first thought, and he was honestly grieved. But ere dinner was +out he learned from his elders that there was other fearful matter +to think on, for if Massasoit's men were rebelling and joining the +Narragansetts against the King and his allies, it meant a dreadful +danger for the settlement. + +Quietly, but resolutely enough, the Englishmen made their arrangements +to march against Namasket and punish the slayers of their friends. +After a night of watching and half hidden fear, next morning, in the +midst of a beating rain, a little squad of ten, with the Captain at +their head, and Hobbamock to guide them, went forth to the attack. + +From the western window Miles watched them go. He had hoped to +be allowed to slip forth from the house and see them start upon +their expedition; at least get a last glimpse of Captain Standish, +who, perhaps, in the confusion, would forget he was angry and say, +"Good-morrow, Miles," as he used. So Miles fetched Master Hopkins's +buff-coat, and helped Constance with the breakfast kettle, and mended +the fire, and quieted Damaris, and waited and hoped, till he saw the +last man of the column disappear over the bluff. + +He could run out and seek a dry stick of wood from the pile now, when +going forth profited him nothing. He slouched into the wet and the +wind, and, in the pashy dooryard, met Ned, who was in a bad temper, +because, when he asked his master to let him go on the expedition, he +had been contemptuously bidden by Hopkins to "stay home with the women +and tend the disgraceful hurts he had taken in his godless brawl." + +"If I'd not been such a Jack as to get myself slashed, I might 'a' +gone," Ned grumbled now to Miles, as he kicked his heels in the big +puddle before the doorstone. "And they'll have some good fighting, I'll +wager." + +"Do you think surely some of our men will be slain?" Miles questioned, +terror-stricken. + +"A buff-coat does not make a man immortal," Ned cast over his shoulder, +as he stamped into the house. + +But Miles, standing in the pouring rain, gazed up the path by which +the little company had gone. The sky was thick gray, and the rain, +driven by the wind from off the harbor, fell in long, livid streaks. He +took up a shiny wet stick from the ground and snapped it slowly in his +hands. "The Captain may be killed," he told himself dazedly. "And he +does not know that I be sorry." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +BETWEEN MAN AND MAN + + +ALL that night the rain fell steadily; harking to its slow patter +on the roof, Miles thought on those who were tramping the forest, +and wondered how they fared. Ned, stretched beside him, save for his +regular breathing, lay like one dead, and yonder in the living room he +could hear Trug, admitted to shelter from the rain, grumbling in his +sleep. + +A long, long night it was, and the day that followed, all blurry with +faint sunshine, was well nigh as long. Little work was to do in the wet +fields, so Miles fetched pails of water and tended the fretting babies, +while, like every other soul in the colony, he waited for news of the +Captain and his men. + +A second night, sickly with warm mist, had closed in on Plymouth, +before tidings came. Miles and Giles had gone forth together into the +moist darkness to the spring, where they drank, before drawing a last +bucketful for the house; the alders looked startlingly dense against +the lighter black of the sky, and Miles kept close to Giles. + +Even the elder boy was more alert than his wont, and jumped listening +to his feet, when far up the Namasket trail sounded ordered footsteps. +"'Tis father and the men returning," he cried next moment, and +scrambled swiftly up the bluff, with Miles, eager yet half in dread +lest ill had befallen, panting after. + +Down through the dusk of the trail men were coming--the heavily armed +Englishmen and in their midst some scantily clad savages. Giles, +forgetful of reserve for once, pressed forward boldly to meet his +father, but Miles, having no one to meet, stood back in the bushes, +that touched his face clammily, and watched the little column, noisy +now, as home approached, swing past. At its head marched a stocky +figure that he knew, and, as if the Captain could see him even in the +blackness, Miles shrank a little farther into the bushes. + +Yet he joined himself to the very end of the column, for he had no will +to stay alone in the dark. Goodman Cooke marched there, and, eager to +have some friend in the party, Miles fell into step beside him. "You +are all come back safe, sir?" he asked propitiatingly. + +"Surely, yes," the other replied. "All sound, save three Indians we +fetched hither to the Doctor. Best of all, we've Squanto here; we found +him unhurt." + +By this they had come down into the village, where all the people, it +seemed, had hurried forth, and, hearing the news of their interpreter's +return, showed no small joy thereover. Squanto, a figure of varying +light and shade beneath the lantern glow, took such expressions of +kind feeling stolidly, and profited from the good wishes of his white +friends by asking for strong water. There was some merriment thereat +among the Englishmen,--all were in good spirits, in truth, for the +expedition had fared well. + +In broken fragments Miles caught the story as he was hustled about +among the returned soldiers and, with the other lads, stood staring at +them under the lantern light: how the Englishmen, coming at midnight +to Namasket, had beset the house of Corbitant, but found that valiant +chief had fled at the mere rumor of their approach; how several of the +Indians, trying to press forth in spite of their promises that no harm +was meant them, had been hurt; how Squanto and Tokamahamon had been +found alive; and how, after leaving for Corbitant a stern warning as +to what he might expect if he continued to stir up rebellion against +Massasoit and his allies, they had returned, successful and unscathed. + +But the story was quickly told by the hungry men, and then they +scattered to their houses. The street was swiftly emptied, and even +Giles, calling to Miles to fetch home the bucket they had left at the +spring, trudged away with his father. + +Miles turned slowly up the street; he had admitted it to no one, even +to Giles and Ned, but the last week he had had a fear of the black +woods. Spite of his boasts to the boys of his merry life with the +savages, he shuddered every time he thought of Nauset, and he had a +foolish feeling that if he ventured into the forest the Indians might +swoop down on him again. In the daytime he could laugh it away, but at +night, and especially after the anxiety of the last twenty-four hours, +the fear came on him strongly, and it did not seem as if the courage +was in him to go down to the inky spring alongside the stepping-stones +that led to the woods. + +He stood a time by Cooke's gate, in the hope that he might see some one +else bound for the spring, but no one came. He went a few steps down +the street, but, if he returned to the house without the bucket, he +would be scolded, so, at a snail's gait, he trudged uphill again. + +Then it was that he noted the companionable light that shone in the +window of Standish's cottage, high up the hillside, and, though he +was afraid of the Captain, yet there seemed a kind of encouragement +in that shiny spark that made him cross the street and loiter nearer. +"Maybe John Alden'll be going to the spring," he told himself. "Or +maybe--maybe I'll go, presently." + +Just at the edge of the Captain's unfenced dooryard, he halted and +stood gazing at the light. He was not spying, to be sure; he would +go in a moment. Through the open window he could see a corner of the +living room, a table, with a rack and three guns above it, and, as +he gazed, Alden, a big, black figure, strode into the bright corner +and set down two bowls on the table. Miles drew a step or two nearer. +"Maybe the Captain will come into the light next," he told himself. +"And after I've seen him, then--" + +And then some one took him firmly by the shoulder, and right beside him +spoke the Captain's voice, "Well, Miles?" + +"Oh!" the boy gasped, and then, in a panic-stricken tone, "I'm going +home; prithee, let me go home, sir." + +"Nay, you are coming in with me," Standish answered, and, helplessly, +Miles yielded to the other's grasp and stumbled over the threshold. + +Within, the living room was bare and martial, with a rapier above the +chimneypiece that caught a gleam from the candle set below it, and the +form by the door and the rough stools standing stiffly as on parade. On +a shelf beside the fireplace there were some pots and platters; Miles +noted all very accurately, and wondered that he should note them at +such a time. + +He started when Captain Standish spoke, for all his tone was amused: +"Here, Jack, set a bowl for this gentleman I have fetched to sup with +us. And you, Miles, will you give me your parole not to attempt an +escape, if I take my hand from your collar?" + +Miles eyed the shaft of candlelight that lay at his feet and ventured +no answer. He knew the Captain had loosed his grasp on him, and then he +heard him ask, in a different, serious tone: "Are you afraid of me?" + +At that Miles tossed back his head, stiffly as if a bar of iron were +run down his neck. "No, sir," he said, boldly and untruthfully. + +He could not slip away now, whatever might be in store for him, but +stood rigid and unpretending, while Captain Standish flung off his +buff-coat, and Alden, with a ponderous movement, lifted the soup kettle +to the table. Then he sat down on a stool, as he was bidden, and ate. +It was clam broth, and he was aware of the good flavor of it, just as +he was aware, beneath all his alarm, of the honorable fact that he was +taking supper with Captain Standish. He began to hazard long looks at +the Captain and to listen to the talk of the two men, with some thought +for their words, as well as for his own concerns. + +"This is none of your cooking, Jack," said Standish, as he rose to +refill his bowl. + +"Mistress Mullins fetched us the broth," Alden replied, with a studious +lack of interest. "She thought we'd have naught to eat in the house +to-night." + +"'Twas very wisely thought. When you have eaten, Jack, best carry back +her kettle. They'll not yet be abed at the Elder's house." + +Somehow, after that, Alden made short work of his portion, and, +summarily emptying the kettle into the Captain's bowl, gave it a +perfunctory scrub and started briskly for Master Brewster's cottage. + +The Captain, with his face sober all but his eyes, swallowed his +broth in leisurely silence for a moment before he addressed his small +companion: "I had speech with Priscilla Mullins several days since. +What is this, Miles, that she tells me you had to say to me?" + +Miles crumbled the fag end of his piece of bread with one nervous hand. +"Why, 'twas--'twas--Captain Standish, is it true you think me the +worst lad in the settlement?" He looked up into the other's face, and +something he saw there made him blurt out, "I doubt if you do." + +"So that's why you ran away from me day before yesterday, is it?" + +Miles kicked his heels softly against the legs of his stool. "Because +I want to tell you I'm sorry," he murmured. "I shall never run away to +the Indians again. I--I was but talking when I said those words unto +Francis and the others." + +"A 'miles gloriosus,' eh?" said the Captain, and smiled. + +Miles saw nothing amusing in the words, but he took it as a sign the +Captain was his friend again, so he smiled back. "I won't do it again, +sir," he promised vaguely, and then, as Standish rose from the table, +he slipped off his stool. "May I wash the dishes, sir?" he volunteered +for "a girl's work" eagerly. + +"If you wish it," the Captain answered, and then, about the time Miles +had dropped the bowls and spoons into the nearest pail of water, broke +out irrelevantly, "In the name of goodness, Miles, are those the only +breeches you have to wear?" + +Miles clapped his right hand over one knee, and his left over an +ostentatious rift in the side. "She hasn't time to make me new ones; +I'm wearing these for punishment," he explained. + +"Indeed!" said Standish; he took his pipe from the chimneypiece and, +filling it, kept silent so long that Miles finished his dishes and +stole over to the hearth beside him. On the chimneypiece some books +stood up from the miscellaneous litter, and, because they were the +Captain's books, Miles raised himself on tiptoe to read their names. +A "Bariffe's Artillery Guide" pleased him most; he was wondering if he +could learn from that how to be a soldier like the Captain, when behind +him spoke a familiar voice: "Well, Miley, do you have it in mind to +sleep at home to-night?" + +Miles swung round with a start; Master Hopkins and that bucket of water +and the scolding to come,--he remembered all clearly, for there in the +doorway stood Ned Lister, with his out of temper look. "The master sent +me to find the boy," he explained more civilly to the Captain. "I've +sought him all through the village. Come, Miles, Master Hopkins--" + +Involuntarily Miles pressed close to the Captain. "Is he going to whip +me, Ned?" he asked anxiously. + +"Tell Master Hopkins I'll send the lad home straightway," Standish +dismissed Lister curtly, then puffed a moment at his pipe till the +young man's leisurely footsteps died out in the yard. "So Master +Hopkins whips you often?" he questioned abruptly. + +"He says I need the rod," Miles answered in a woful voice, wondering if +the Captain would take his part. "He says I'm a son of perdition. I see +not why 'tis right. When Ned Lister called Dotey a fool, he said he was +in danger of hell fire, and, sure, son of perdition is a worser name +than fool." + +"Hm!" muttered the Captain. "And you're still good friends with that +valiant duellist, Edward Lister?" + +"I like Ned mightily, yes. But Master Hopkins does not suffer me work +near him." + +"That's for punishment, too, I take it?" + +Miles nodded. + +"At this rate you should prove the best lad in the colony, not the +worst," the Captain said dryly; and then, "Say we walk down to Master +Hopkins's house now, and see how that wounded Indian is faring." + +A queer, vague hope that had risen in Miles vanished and left an +amazing emptiness; the blackness of the lonely spring, and the whipping +for that evening's tarrying came to his mind before he had crossed the +room, and in the doorway he halted short. + +"What's amiss?" asked Standish, with no great surprise, however. + +"I--I take it, I'm afraid," gasped Miles, hot and cold with the shame +of the terror he could not check. "I must go down to the spring, and +'tis dark, and I think I'll be whipped, and--and--" His lips were +twitching childishly. "But I wasn't afraid at Nauset, not a whit, and I +didn't cry there," he added piteously. + +"I understand," the Captain said, with amazing kindness. "I'll go to +the spring with you, Miles." + +For the second time in his life, Miles stepped out into the night +with the Captain, but there was small elation in his heart with +the knowledge of his cowardice upon him. He felt a censure in his +companion's silence, yet he dared not speak himself, only hurried +forward as fast as possible to end the walk. They left the last cottage +behind them, passed a menacing clump of bushes, and then, at the head +of the path, Miles spoke out, almost in spite of himself: "Pray you, go +back, sir. I'm not afraid. I won't be afraid. I'll go alone." + +He called back the last, halfway down the path. The pebbles rattled +with shocking loudness; there in the thicket, across the sullen +brook, something stirred, he knew. With his eyes on the black ground, +he stumbled toward the gurgle of the spring, groped for his bucket, +fearing lest his hand touch something else, and, seizing it, filled it +sparsely at the first dip, then, setting his teeth tight, made himself +fill it again, slowly and carefully. + +Behind him, as he rose, the bushes all were moving and alive, and +something, he knew, pressed close at his heels. He could not hurry with +the bucket in his hand, only clamber, step by step, with the breath +choked within him, till he came at last to the black pathway above the +bluff. Before he could cast a frightened look up the trail, the bucket +was quietly taken from him. "You waited here for me?" Miles gasped, +and then, "But I wasn't afraid." + +"You will not be next time, Soldier Rigdale," Standish answered him, +and, putting a hand on his shoulder, kept it there. + +Before they were into the thick of the settlement, he spoke again, +abruptly: "So you're not happy at Master Hopkins's?" + +"I hate it there," Miles said under his breath, and then the hope +that the Captain's former words had raised swept back once more, and +he caught the other's hand. "Will you take me away from him, sir?" he +asked hurriedly. "If I could live with Jack Cooke, anywhere else, I +know I could be good." + +"I know you could, too," Standish answered. "And I think your father +and mother would wish it. But Master Hopkins is your guardian and your +kinsman; I can do naught, only try my hand at coaxing, and I'm uncommon +ill at that. My faith, I know not why I speak it out to such a babe +as you, Miles, but you must say naught of this, remember. Only--if +'twill comfort you for your tattered breeches and the rest of your +penances,--so soon as pretext is given me, I am minded to take you from +Master Hopkins to live with me." + +"With you?" Miles asked in the blankness of joy, and then he must hush, +for the candlelight from Master Hopkins's window struck across his +face, and an instant later they came into the living room. + +Master Hopkins looked angry, of course, but his face relaxed at sight +of the Captain, and he only bade Miles pack off to bed. "But he'll +surely thrash you in the morning, Miles," Giles said, with a sober +pucker of the brows. "What made you stay so long?" + +"I was with the Captain," Miles replied light-heartedly, and to himself +he added, "And by and by 'twill be like this evening every day, for +I'll live with him all the time." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE BEARER OF TIDINGS + + +CAPTAIN STANDISH must have spoken to Master Hopkins of other matter +than wounded Indians, for, to his surprise, Miles got no whipping +next morning. "Since the Captain needed you, I cannot punish you for +your delay," Master Hopkins said curtly, a remission which would have +overwhelmed Miles, if it had not been surpassed by the joyous fact +of Mistress Hopkins's bringing out an old suit of his father's that +afternoon and starting to make him new clothes. + +In duty bound Miles went forth, and, seeking Priscilla, thanked her +awkwardly that she had spoken for him to the Captain. He wasn't seeking +Francis Billington, he would have declared, but somehow he sauntered to +the shore, where Francis was likely to be, and, true enough, there he +was, paddling in the water by the landing rock. + +Miles halted on the beach and resumed the talk where it had stopped +at their last meeting. "Hm," he sniffed at his old enemy, "I take it, +Captain Standish has other things to do than gossip about me to your +father. You lied to me, Francis Billington, when you said he called me +the worst boy in Plymouth, and I'm going to thrash you for that lie." + +"I was but jesting," vowed Francis. + +Miles, with his aggressive fists, smote the boy and rolled him in the +sand. "I'm jesting too, now," he said grimly. + +Francis fled howling home, and Miles, with his shoulders well back, +swung away to the corn-field. "I _had_ to beat Francis," he assured +himself, "but now I'll not fight nor run from labor any more, but bear +me well, because I am to go live with the Captain soon." + +But Miles's "soon" proved, after all, a long, and, in some ways, a +cheerless time. There were many days still to spend in his guardian's +house, where Mistress Hopkins scolded at his carelessness, where Master +Hopkins bade him work when he had thought to win an hour's playtime, +and where more than once, sorry to tell, Master Miles himself strayed +wantonly into mischief and was sternly but justly punished therefor. + +Nevertheless, now that he had a big, pleasant hope to live forward to, +he found it easier to bear what was not to his liking in the present. +After all, when he tried, it was not so difficult as he had thought to +do Master Hopkins's bidding, Miles told himself, and never realized +how much easier it was for him to perform his tasks, while Ned Lister, +still sulky and subdued from his public punishment, was working +fiercely and would not pause to idle with him. + +Thus in little, dull labors and the large pleasure of looking forward, +the muggy August days panted out their course and the September +twilights shortened. A long, secure time of peace it was for the +settlement, in which there fell but one incident,--an expedition which +ten of the Plymouth men undertook far up the coast to the Bay of the +Massachusetts, where they traded for skins and made a league with the +Indians. Ned, who was one of the company,--because, Giles Hopkins told +Miles, laughingly, he was held too much of a firebrand to be left +behind,--came home with something of his old braggart manner, and told +big stories that set young Rigdale wild with envy. Why could not he be +a man at once, a full-sized man with a musket, and go with the Captain +to trade or fight with the savages? + +But presently there was manly work in which Miles shared, for with the +rare October days came the time of harvesting, when, as in the weeks of +planting, every man and boy in the colony must bear a part. It was good +weather to work, though, with nothing of the sickly heat of the April +days, but a bracing air nerved every muscle, and the sky was deep and +clear. + +Miles liked the stir and freshness of trudging to the fields, one of +the whole company, in the awakening cool hours of the morning. His task +at first was to follow after the reapers in the barley field and gather +the heavy stalks of the bearded grain into sheaves. Then after the +barley, as the days grew shorter, they harvested the corn, a toilsome +labor, that soon became irksome to Miles, whose part was to sit all day +under cover, amidst the stiff stalks and rustling leaves, and husk the +ears till his arms ached and his fingers were sore. By and by, when the +corn was dried, he foresaw he should have to help shell the kernels +from all those ears, and he sighed a little, as he watched the pile +rise high. + +Yet at heart he knew that, like all the others in the settlement, he +was glad for the great heap of yellow ears. It had been a fruitful +harvest; the pease, to be sure, had withered in the blossom, but the +increase of corn and barley was so great that there was no fear lest +the colony go hungry that winter. Men's faces were soberly elate, and +even Master Hopkins relaxed his customary sternness. + +But Mistress Hopkins had a mighty grievance, for Governor Bradford, +after the harvest all was garnered, set apart a week as a time of +special rejoicing. "That means in a community of men, even of the most +godly, a week of feasting," she lamented. "And who is it shall prepare +the food but we ten poor women and maids of the colony?" + +To Miles, however, a week of feasting sounded pleasant; he only wished +he were Ned Lister, for the Governor sent him and three of the other +men fowling to get provisions for the merrymaking. In a day the four +killed near enough to last the company a week,--a great, feathery heap +of woodcocks, pigeons, quails, and plump wild turkeys. Miles shared in +the work of plucking the birds, and, for the rest, he fetched wood, +armful by armful, for the great fires that blazed out-of-doors, and +he ran dares with the other boys, who should go farthest in among the +blazing brands, till Goodwife Billington bore down upon them, and, +chancing to collar her own son, cuffed him mercilessly. + +He tugged buckets of water, too, for the endless boilings and stewings, +till his back ached, but he minded it little, for this was holiday +time. The October air was crisp; there was plenty to eat,--meat, +and bread of the fresh corn meal; and, all the time, the zest of +strangeness was added to the jubilation by the coming of hordes of +Indians to share the English cheer. + +The third day Massasoit presented himself, with ninety hungry warriors, +whereat not only Mistress Hopkins but cheerful Priscilla Mullins was +in despair. But his Majesty did his part in supplying provisions, for +next morning some of his men went into the forest and returned with +five fat deer, which he bestowed, as seemed to Miles most fitting, +on the Captain and the Governor. They were, however, roasted for the +behoof of the whole company, and on the last day of the feast, after +the Captain had drilled his little troop before the King to do him +honor, the Plymouth people and their guests ate of good venison. + +The tables were spread in the fields, and Miles held it a notable +distinction that he and Giles were bidden by the Captain wait at the +one where he sat, with Massasoit and the Governor and others of the +chiefs of the red men and white. Miles carried the platters of meat +thither, with all the decorum of which he was master, and hoped that +Standish might throw a word to him, so his happiness was final when, +on his last trip to the table, the Captain called him to his side. He +was sitting at the left hand of the Governor, where the light from the +afternoon sun struck athwart his face, and over opposite him sat King +Massasoit, greasy as ever, but now monarch-like in a great robe of +skins. + +It was to him that Standish spoke, in words of the Indian tongue of +which Miles caught only one or two. But the Captain answered his +questioning look: "His Majesty was pleased to crave a sight of you, +Miles. Truth, you put him to stir enough last July. It was he who, when +he got tidings from Manomet, despatched the order thither that no hurt +should be done you, and sent us word where to seek you." + +"Did he do so much, sir?" Miles asked, and, gazing at the stolid +Indian, made him a grateful bow. "I should like to tell him 'thank +you,'" he added. "If Squanto would say it for me,--or you." + +Then he tramped back again to the fire to take his own share of the +feast, a large turkey leg which Constance had saved for him, and, +whether it were overmuch turkey or overmuch labor, he was too tired +even to rise and witness the departure of the Indians after the +board was cleared, for all he knew the musketeers would fire them a +parting volley. 'Twas toilsome work, this merrymaking, he agreed with +Priscilla, and, going weary and cross to bed, he was glad to awake to +the Sabbath quiet of the little village, and, on the ensuing morning, +drop once more into the ordered round of duties. + +There was naught to do in the following days but to make ready against +the coming winter, by mending the cottages till every crevice was +secure, and fetching good supply of firewood from the distant hills. A +hint of wintry weather now was in the chill air and the lead-colored +sky, so, one November afternoon, Miles spent hours in hunting for his +mittens that had gone astray. + +Together he and Constance and Giles opened, in the search, the little +chest that had been Goodman Rigdale's; it gave Miles a dull pang to +turn over the clothes his father and mother had worn, but somehow all +that sorrow seemed to have fallen very long ago. "Yet 'tis not a year +since we sailed into the harbor," he said softly. + +"Just a year to-morrow since we sighted Cape Cod," answered Giles, and +Constance changed Miles's thoughts by adding: "The other ship with our +fresh supply should come now very speedily; in about a month I heard +father say we might look for her. I hope there'll be cattle come in +her; 'tis hard for the babies to have not a drop of milk." + +"And no butter," sighed Miles, thinking of himself. "And if they bring +oxen, 'twill be easier ploughing, come spring; and there'll be more men +to fight--" + +"There'll be two more next spring, in any case," Giles interrupted. +"Captain Standish says that then Bart Allerton and I shall have muskets +of our own and be enrolled in his company." + +In the days since the landing at Plymouth, Giles had grown a +responsible youth, but Miles, who had been so much with him that he +held himself near as old, was quite jealous at his last speech and +wondered if no one would offer him a musket. + +He took himself forth from the chamber into the living room, where Ned +Lister, who was cleaning his fowling piece and was in a good temper, as +he usually was when he was busied over his weapons, let him meddle in +the work till his fingers were blacked. "I'm going northward to-morrow +morning, where Squanto tells me a flock of geese are astir," Ned spoke +further. "If Master Hopkins is willing, I'll take you with me, Miley; +'tis months since we've gone about any labor together." + +Disappointingly, Master Hopkins was not willing, for, when he came to +his supper, he had to report an evil rumor, which one of Miles's old +enemies, the Nauset Indians, had just brought to the town, that a great +ship had been seen on their coast. It might be some English trader, or +it might be a French ship of war, come to dispossess the colonists, +just as the English had driven the French, at an earlier time, from +their northern settlements. + +Still, even if 'twere a Frenchman, Ned argued, men must eat, and must +kill their food ere they could eat it, so, at the last, his master said +he might go fowling, and even, if he did not roam too far, take Miles +with him. + +Early next morning the two hunters set out in lively spirits, in spite +of the fact that the woods were sombre and the sky rough with clouds +that looked, should they thrust a hand deep into them, as if they would +strike something hard and cold. Already there had been bitter frosts, +and the thick fallen leaves, on the northward trail, rustled crisply +beneath the tread of the fowlers. Ned wore his red cap, which blazed +out bravely under the dull trees, and his buff-jacket, too, which gave +him the martial look he liked. Miles had no such warlike equipments, +but Ned generously suffered him to carry the fowling piece, so he felt +quite like a soldier. "I do but wish the French would come upon us +now," he panted boastfully, as he shouldered the gun. + +"There's small danger you'll find a Frenchman, unless you cross the +water to seek him," Ned answered. "I'll do it, so soon as my time's +out. Go into Bohemia and fight--" There he turned off into discourse on +the joys of a life where a man never fetched and carried, but handled +a sword like a gentleman, which lasted them for a mile along the bare +trail. + +By then they came from among the leafless trees of the level land to a +thick piny growth at the base of a tall hill, that blocked off sight of +the ocean. Ned was for climbing it out of hand, for, on the other side, +by the shore, he thought to find the wild fowl, so up he scrambled, +quite nimbly, since he had long legs and tramped unburdened, while +Miles toiled after with the fowling piece. A mighty steep hill, where +the pine needles lay slippery, so Miles stumbled and near fell, and, +when he came at last to the little barren stretch of the summit, where +the lowering sky seemed to bend down to him, he could only drop flat +and lie panting. + +Ned cast himself down beside him, although he did not seem weary, +and, half smiling at Miles's breathlessness, let his eyes at last +turn seaward. Lying back, Miles, too, looked out upon the gray water, +beneath the hill, that far away to eastward merged into the gray sky, +and then a sudden exclamation made him glance at his companion. + +Ned was sitting erect with his hand shading his eyes, and the lines of +his face were sharpened with a sudden tenseness. "What d'ye see?" Miles +began carelessly, but the other, springing to his feet, spoke to him in +a curt tone: "Jump you up, Miles. Look yonder, if you see aught in the +offing." + +Ned's hands turned Miles's head eastward, but, though the boy yielded +himself obediently and gazed whither he was told, he saw only dull +water and brooding sky. Yet he was beginning to guess the meaning of it +all, and, with the heart fluttering into his throat, he cried, "Ned, +sure, you do not think--that French ship--" + +But Lister, wheeling about, had reached in two strides a tall pine +tree that spired from the summit of the hill, and, grasping its lower +branches, swung himself upward from bough to bough. His cap showed +very red against the green of the pine needles, and Miles watched it +go bobbing toward the tree top, with a mind so suddenly dulled that he +could think of nothing else, till at last the young man, holding fast +by one arm, swayed at the topmost point of the pine tree. + +A long minute Ned clung there, staring seaward with his face sober, +then headlong slipped and scrambled from the tree. "It's a sail, true +enough," he cried, and, as the words left his lips, came to the ground +with a crashing fall that made the branches sway. + +Before Miles could reach his side, Ned sprang to his feet, stood a +moment, took a single step, and then toppled over again across the +roots of the pine, with his face working in a manner that frightened +his companion. "Are you hurt? What is it, Ned?" he cried. + +"Naught but my ankle," groaned Lister, struggling to a sitting posture. +"I've wrenched the cursed thing. Tut, tut, tut! Don't waste time here +by me. Run to Plymouth. Tell them the ship's in sight." + +"The Frenchman?" gasped Miles. + +"How can I tell, when 'tis four league off shore?" snapped Ned. "'Tis +a ship, and that's enough. Run along with you, briskly!" Then, spite +of the pain, there came a sort of softening to his face. "You're not +afeard to go back along the trail alone, Miley?" + +[Illustration: "The breath came gripingly in his throat."] + +"I've been in woods before now," cried the boy, indignantly. "But--but +if I go, what will you do?" + +"Sit here and take tobacco," Ned answered, in his swaggering tone, and, +with his hand a little unsteady, drew his pipe from his pocket. "Give +me the fowling piece near to me, and now run your briskest, d'ye hear? +Off with you, heavy-heels, unless you be afraid!" + +The taunt more than all else sent Miles plunging headlong down the +hill. The needles slipped beneath his shoes, and his knees jarred with +the steepness of the descent. Once he tripped, and, falling, rolled +over and over, and rose up in fear lest he had hurt himself like Ned. +But he could run well enough, he found, as he stumbled into the more +level part of the trail. His briskest, and warn the Plymouth folk, Ned +bade, and suddenly Miles's heart gave a great leap that he was to do +so soldierly a part in the Captain's sight. He drew a big breath, and, +bending his head, dashed down the trail. + +The dry twigs snapped beneath his feet; a frightened quail, with a +startling whir, flew across his path; the branches, as he rushed by +them, wavered and shook. Below him the ground reeled and the sky above +was shot with black; the breath came gripingly in his throat, and a +pain like that of a piercing iron bored into his side. + +Downhill, where the ground seemed not to be beneath him, and in the +hollow splashed a brook. He felt the chill of the water over his ankle +as he thrust his foot into it, and, stopping a moment, he plunged his +head, that ached to bursting, into the icy ripples, then, gasping, +staggered up the opposite slope. + +He was running heavily now, so it scarcely could be called running, +swaying from side to side of the trail, but more than half, than three +quarters, of the way was out. The trees dwindled about him; yonder were +cleared fields; yonder the smoke rose from cottage chimneys. Now the +stubble of corn was stiff beneath his feet; now he crashed through a +little patch of brambles; and at last, thrusting his hands gropingly +before him, he pitched up against the door of Captain Standish's +cottage. "Open!" he called, but his voice came in a mere whisper. + +Within, they heard him, however. The door was flung open; he fell +against Master Winslow; and yonder by the table he had sight of the +Governor and the Elder and Master Hopkins and the Captain himself, +starting up from the conference he had interrupted. Miles reeled +forward a step or two and caught Standish's arm. "Captain Standish," he +gasped, "the ship--the French--we saw it from the hill--the French are +in the offing." + +Then his knees gave way and the room whirled round. A blackness was +about him in which he heard faintly the questions and re-questions of +the men, the clatter of the house-door, a calling in the street. Then +thunderously, subduing all other sound, he heard the crash of the great +gun upon the Fort Hill that called home from labor the men who should +defend their settlement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE CAPTAIN'S SOLDIER + + +LYING upon his own bed, whither Master Hopkins had carried him, Miles +harked to the rattle of eager drumsticks in the street, the hurried +rush of footsteps, the shrill calls of boys. Nearer, in the living +room, he could hear Mistress Hopkins's frightened tones, and the +clatter of swords as Master Hopkins and Dotey armed themselves. + +Presently heavy footsteps came toward him, and Master Hopkins, with his +buff-jacket half fastened, opened the door of the chamber to question +him further of Ned. "He's hurt, and he made me to leave him," panted +Miles. "And the Frenchmen will find him, and can you not send some one +to help him, sir?" + +"Unless Edward Lister's neck is broke, I'll trust him to shift for +himself till we have space to look to him," Master Hopkins answered +with a grim sort of chuckle, and just there the house-door banged open +and upon it Miles heard Giles's eager voice, "Father, may I not carry +Ned's musket, since he is not here? Bart Allerton has one; the Captain +himself said all who could fight should get under arms." + +Miles struggled up, with head still dizzy. "I can fight too," he +murmured, but the older folk, without heeding him, tramped forth with +their weapons and left him to Constance and her stepmother. But the +women had terrified thoughts to keep them busy, so busy they took no +note when presently Miles, quite recovered from his run, slipped off +the bed and darted from the house. + +Out-of-doors the men were rallying in haste to the shore, among them +John Alden, whom Miles hailed shrilly from the house-yard: "John Alden, +O John! May I have your fowling piece to fight with?" + +"Ay, take it," Alden called, without looking round, and Miles, +forgetting he was weary, scudded his fastest up the hill. + +He was to have a gun and fight, even if it was no more than a fowling +piece, he told himself, and, in a happy flutter that set at naught the +Frenchmen, he clambered on the table in the Captain's living room and +dragged down the fowling piece from the wall. He longed to take also +the rapier from the chimneypiece, but he had no right, so, contenting +himself with the gun, he hurried forth to do his part. + +A gray day and a strange day; high noon, yet not dinner time, for the +whole order of life was broken, and beyond lay--no one knew what. But +Miles thought on the fighting, and, with his pulses leaping, clambered +to the gun platform, where a squad was stationed, and, ready as the +best of them, gazed out upon the ocean. There, sure enough, loomed +larger and larger a speck of white. + +Captain Standish had gone down to the other men on the bluff by the +landing, so presently Miles ran after him. He carried his fowling piece +over his shoulder valiantly, and he stopped at the Elder's cottage to +call to Dolly not to be afraid, and he wondered at Mistress Brewster's +alarmed face. + +The men on the bluff, too, looked grave and anxious, and the Captain's +voice was sharp and stern. But the boys who were allowed muskets, +albeit their faces were decorously sober, looked very happy, and +handled their weapons with such pride that Miles grew ashamed of his +paltry fowling piece. + +"You might let _me_ have the musket a little time, Giles," he murmured +to young Hopkins, who stood beside him on the northern slope of the +bluff, where they were watching the horizon. "Surely, I could manage +it, and 'tis Ned's, anyway, and he is my friend." + +Giles preserved an elderly, careworn silence, and puckered his brows +upon the ominous east, when suddenly from behind them shrilled a +whistle. Miles guessed who it was before he turned, so, though Giles +and some of the others cried out in surprise, he thought it quite a +matter of course when he saw Ned Lister coming across the fields to the +bluff. + +Ned walked at a leisurely limp, with his fowling piece over his +shoulder, and his cap on one side; it was not till he came nearer that +Miles saw, too, that his clothes were muddied and stuck with briers and +leaves, and his face was white to his lips, that were set in a hard +line. "Well," he greeted his fellow-colonists civilly, "did you think I +meant to sit there in the bushes till you chose to come seek me?" + +There he staggered a little, so Dotey caught hold of him, and just then +Standish, striding through the thin ranks of his company, came up. "How +did you get hither, Lister?" he asked, with whatever surprise may have +been his well in check. + +"I walked," Ned answered, and then, as he saw the Captain's eyes upon +his muddied jacket, he began to laugh oddly. "That is, sir, sometimes +I rolled and otherwhiles I crawled. For I did not wish to be gulled of +the fight. And--Giles Hopkins, you thief! give me my musket." + +"My father said I might--" Giles began, unruly for once, but there +a sudden sound of cheering on the hilltop cut short the dispute. A +man--Gilbert Winslow, they saw--came running break-neck down the steep +street, and, so far as he could be heard, called to them, "English, an +English ship!" and then those on the bluff, too, took up the cheering. + +It was the sailor Trevor, who, from the Fort Hill, had watched the ship +grow larger till he vowed that he could make out that she was rigged +in the English fashion. Still the Captain held his force together on +the bluff till the stranger's nationality should be assured past doubt, +and, meantime, he bade Dotey and Giles help Ned Lister to the house. +"And see that he stays there," the Captain added dryly. + +So Ned, turned limp and unresisting of a sudden, staggered away between +the two, and Miles, though he would fain have watched till the ship +should loom up round the beach point, thought friendship required that +he should follow after with the musket. + +When he returned to the landing place, many minutes later, there was +no longer a doubt or a fear, for the flag of England fluttered from +the vessel's mast. The ship _Fortune_, with the reënforcements for the +colony, that was not expected for a month more, was casting anchor in +Plymouth Harbor. + +That afternoon seemed all a hazy dream. With a feeling that he must be +some one else, Miles watched the men make ready the shallop, saw it go +dipping across the gray harbor, and lie to beside the great ship. He +saw the first boatload of the newcomers pull in to the landing rock, +and he gazed shyly and yet gladly at the faces of the men and women +who were to be his townsfolk. Elder Brewster's grown up son came with +them, and there were many other young men, and a few older, and several +women, but there were very few children among them. + +At last, however, Miles and Jack found among the newcomers a boy but +little older than themselves, so at once they made up to him and found +that his name was Thomas Cushman. And because he had looked on ships +and sea till he was weary of them, they led him away from the harbor, +and showed him the spring and the Fort Hill, and laughed at him because +he was so certain he should see an Indian at each turning, and Miles +bragged to him mightily of his experiences among the savages of the +Cape. + +It was near dusk when they came down again through the village, where +the last boatload from the ship had just landed. The street seemed +fairly thronged with folk, and out to sea a light sparkled on the +quarter-deck of the _Fortune_, just as it used to shine upon the +_Mayflower_. + +Feeling secure and happy, Miles bade his new friend Thomas good night, +and walked home to his supper. "Bring firewood; we've many people to +eat with us to-night," Constance called to him from the doorway, so +he trudged on to the woodpile, where he picked out a good armful of +the piny logs, to make a brave blaze for the friends who had come from +England. + +His face, as he worked, was toward the west, where showed a smear of +red, which the sun, struggling forth just ere his setting, had left +behind. Miles gazed on the gay fleck, that yet was lonely in the wide +sky, till a step near at hand startled him, and, turning, he faced +Master Hopkins. + +"Lay aside that wood, Miles; I have to speak with you," his guardian +greeted him; and Miles dropped the wood and wondered what he had done +wrong. "Pray you, sir, John Alden told me I might take that fowling +piece," he offered his excuses. + +"Am I always so severe that you look for naught but chiding from me, +Miles?" Master Hopkins said sternly, yet with something half wistful in +his tone. "I would but say to you that Captain Standish has long urged +me to let you be one of his household, and I have as long withstood +him. For all he is a brave gentleman, he is not of the faith in which +your father lived. But he has urged me strongly this day, and you, +too, Miles, you bore yourself fairly this morning; you have tried to +bear yourself well these last weeks, I can see. 'Tis possible that you +will not suffer Miles Standish to spoil you with lax discipline, and +in matters of faith you cannot go very far astray in this colony. So I +think it safe now to leave this matter to your own decision. You may +stay in my house, or go unto the Captain." + +Miles breathed quickly and cracked a bit of bark between his fingers. +"Am I to decide now, sir?" he asked. + +"Yes, now. There is a kinsman of Mistress Hopkins's come on the +_Fortune_ who will take your place in my household if you go. But you +need not go for that. As long as I have a house, there is a place for +you therein, if you elect to stay." + +It seemed an easy thing to say, he knew what he desired, yet when +Master Hopkins stood looking gravely down at him and waiting for his +answer, Miles found it hard to give. "I--I-- You've been good to me, +after all, sir," he faltered. "I'm sorry I've vexed you so many times. +I--" + +"In short, you wish to go to the Captain," Master Hopkins interrupted. +"Very well, Miles Rigdale. Be it as you wish." + +Then he walked away, and Miles, gathering up his armful of wood for the +last time, wondered that, now he had his desire, he felt a half sorrow +that it was granted him. + +But when he entered the house, different thoughts came to him. All was +stir and bustle within, for Mistress Hopkins was cooking supper for the +men with sea-appetites, who were to eat there that night, and suddenly +Miles felt it quite a part of the day's upheaval that he should leave +his old home. All afire with the pleasure of it, he went into the +chamber, where he tied up his few clothes in his cloak. + +Ned Lister, who was stretched upon his bed, pulled himself up on his +elbow to watch him. "So you're going to live with the Captain, Miley," +he repeated the boy's news. "Well, it's far better that you should; +there'll be no one in his house to lead you into mischief." Ned's face +grew serious and he was silent a moment, then broke out, "On my soul, I +have liked you, lad, and I shall miss you." + +"I shall see you every day," Miles answered, setting himself down on +the edge of the bed. + +"Hm!" Lister retorted. "Your Captain doesn't like me, Miles. Though he +did trouble himself to see how I was faring, when he came to speak with +Hopkins this afternoon; after all, he's a good fellow, though I've no +liking for the punishments he gives. But that'll change now. There's a +pack of jolly good fellows come in the _Fortune_, they say, will keep +him busy. Plague of this ankle! I might 'a' gone out and made friends +with them, and I'm sick to have speech again with an ungodly rascal +like myself." + +Just there Constance pushed open the door and came in to bring Ned his +supper, so Miles gathered up his bundle to go forth. But Constance +had to kiss him good-bye, right before Ned, and tell him to come back +often. "I will," Miles promised soberly. "You've been good to me, +Constance, and--and if 'twill help you, I'll come tend Damaris--once in +a while." + +"No, you shan't, dear, ever again," Constance said, laughing, and +pushed him out of the room. + +He took the Bible that had been his father's from the chimneypiece, +and, while Mistress Hopkins was busy talking to her kinsman, a grave +young man who found no opportunity to answer her, thought to slip +quietly out of the house. But Elizabeth Hopkins spied him. "Where +are your manners, child, that you cannot say 'God be wi' you'?" she +assailed him. "After what I've borne from your carelessness, Miles, and +I'm sure your clothes never will be tidily mended now, and--" + +But there Miles got the door open and scampered away. Trug came leaping +at his heels, and, fast as if Mistress Hopkins were likely to pursue +him, he ran till he reached the Captain's very dooryard, and was quite +breathless when he opened the door. + +Inside, the candles were lit, the meat was on the table, and the +Captain and Alden and four of the newcomers were making their supper +and talking heartily the while. At the noise of the opening door they +all faced about, and Miles felt shy and abashed. "If it like you, +Captain Standish," he stammered, "Master Hopkins said I could come, so +I came." + +"And you are right welcome, Miles," Standish said quickly. "We looked +for you to-night. Put down your bundle and come to the table. Let your +dog come in, too." + +Miles slipped into a cranny on the form between Alden and a +black-haired young man named De la Noye. It was a roast duck they +had for supper, and the men fed Trug right at table, and they talked +a deal, of Indians and of hunting and of planting, and then, as the +Captain and Alden guided the conversation, of the Parliament and of the +Spanish influence and the war in the Palatinate, till, spite of the +excitement of the evening, Miles's head nodded, and at heart he was +glad when at length, long after the sober bedtime hour of Plymouth, the +men cleared the table hastily and went to their rest. + +The newcomers were bidden lie that night in the bedroom, since two of +them still were weak with seasickness, but Alden and the Captain were +to sleep in the living room, so Miles silently elected to stay with +them, and he was glad when the chamber door closed behind the strangers. + +"So you've a mind to share the floor with us, Miles?" the Captain +asked, as he threw off his doublet. + +"'Tis like a soldier to sleep where 'tis hard," Miles confessed shyly. + +Standish smiled a little. "We'll surely make a fighting man of you, +Miles, or you'll make one of yourself. 'Twas a pretty race you ran +alone this morning, your friend Lister told me." + +"Lister made a stout march of it, too," put in Alden, who had already +rolled himself in his blanket and settled down on the floor. + +"There's more mettle in that rapscallion than I judged," Standish +answered thoughtfully, and then: "Lie you down, Miles. Eh? No blanket? +Here, take my cloak; 'tis ample enough for you." + +Indeed, it was, and very brave and martial, too. Miles curled himself +up in it, and liked the manly hardness of the floor beneath his +shoulders. He closed his eyes and half dozed, then, hearing Alden's +voice, roused up a little. + +"Captain," the young man was speaking softly, "there's not an ounce of +extra provisions in the _Fortune_." + +From the neighboring corner where Standish had stretched himself came a +non-committal "Um." + +"And half these young fellows are equipped with nothing but the clothes +they stand in; they gambled away their very cloaks, when the ship +touched at Plymouth in Devonshire." There was silence in the living +room for a time, before Alden resumed, "We had enough to do in the +colony before, sir; now what shall we do with these?" + +"Why, some we'll set to ploughing and some we'll set to fight the +Indians," said Standish. "And those that will neither plough nor fight, +we'll pack home to England. We've no use for idlers here." + +Then again there was silence in the living room, and the embers in the +fireplace gleamed red, and once, leaping into flame, set black shadows +fluttering on the wall. "We've no use for idlers," Miles repeated to +himself. "But I'll work as mother would wish me to, now I am in the +Captain's house." + +He drew the Captain's cloak closer about him, and thought to amuse +himself with pretending he was a true soldier, like the Captain, +sleeping in his military cloak out under the stars, but the reality +pleased him better than the fancy. He lay with his eyes wide open, +smiling at the embers. "The Captain's house," he repeated. "And I shall +stay here always." + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. Author spells "rendezvous" as the +archaic "randevous". + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Soldier Rigdale, by Beulah Marie Dix + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44165 *** |