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twg_000012924200 | Messire Moses who dealt all manner of ill to those who crossed him; and I marked, and so did Clarke, how yester morn when I denied Bradford the beer he craved, and answered the governor in so curst a humor, three men fell ill before night, and two, who were mending, died in torment. And Clarke said, and so it | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924201 | seemed most like to me, that 't was you had done it, and might yet do worse; and so I would fain be friends, and I come myself to bring the beer and the meat, and I'll promise to do as much again and again; nay, I'll swear it by the toe of St. Hubert, that my mother paid gold | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924202 | to kiss for me or ever I was born, yea, I'll swear it, if you masters will take off the curse, and promise to say masses, nay, nay, to say sermons and make mention of me to the Lord." "Knowest thou what the Apostle Peter said to one Simon Magus when he would have bought the grace of God for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924203 | gold?" demanded Brewster sternly. "Nay, I never knew any of thy folk before," replied Jones humbly; but Winslow consulting the pacific governor with his eyes smoothly interposed,-- "Surely we will pray for thee and for thy men, Master Jones, albeit our prayers have no more weight than those of any other sinful men, and our Elder hath neither the power | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924204 | nor the will to bring plagues upon our enemies. There is naught of art-magic in our practices, I do assure thee, master." "Well, I know not; but in all honesty I'd rather be friends than foes with men like you." "And friends we are most heartily," said Carver. "Our folk on board are still mending, are they not?" "Rigdale and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924205 | Tinker are yet in bed, and their wives wait upon them, hand and foot, though fitter to be in their own beds. And not only on them, but now and again find time to run and give a drink or some such tendance to our men lying groaning at the other side the bulkhead. You mind that knave boatswain who | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924206 | still scoffed and swore at thy prayers, Elder, and so grievously flouted the first who fell sick among you?" Brewster nodded, and Standish bringing his clenched fist down upon the table growled,-- "I mind him so well that I've promised him a skin full of broken bones the first time I catch him ashore." "Then thou 'lt be glad to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924207 | know that he lies a-dying to-night," replied Jones with horrible navt. "Dying!" "No question on 't; and this morning as he lay groaning in sore distress, and calling upon one and another to wait on him, and none had time or stomach for it, goodwife Rigdale came to the caboose for a morsel of meat after her night's watch, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924208 | hearing him she cried, 'Alack, poor soul!' and hasted to him with the very cup she was just putting to her own lips. The dog fastened to it, I promise you, and drank every drop, then gazing up at her asked a bit too late,-- "'Hast any left for thyself?' "She smiled on him with that white face she wears | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924209 | nowadays and said,-- "'Nay, but thou 'rt more than welcome.' Then says Master Boatswain, not knowing that I heard him,-- "'Oh, if I was set to get over this, as well do I know I am not, I would ask no better than to join your company and forswear all I have held dear. For now do I see how | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924210 | true Christians carry themselves to each other when they are in trouble, while we heathen let each other lie and die like dogs.' "So the poor wench, fit to drop as she was, knelt and began praying for him, and I stole away." "But do not those men care one for another in their sickness?" asked Brewster indignantly. "As yonder | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924211 | wolf tended upon the dying buck," replied Jones with a careless laugh. "To drink his blood while it was warm was his chief care, and my men part the gear of their dying messmates before their eyes. Why, one of the quartermasters, Williams, thou knowest, would fain have hired Bowman, the other quartermaster, to befriend him to the last, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924212 | promised him all his goods if he should die, and money if he got well; but the knave did but make him two messes of broth, and some kind of posset to drink o' nights, and then left him, swearing all over the ship that Williams was cozening him by living so long, and he would do no more for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924213 | him though he starved, and yet the poor soul lay a-dying then." "And Bowman had his goods?" demanded Howland sternly. "Ay had he, or ever the breath was out of the body. Then there was Cooper, who died cursing and swearing at his wife, and her spendthrift ways, that wasted all his wage and still sent him to gather more. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924214 | And there was the gunner whose whole thought was that he must quit his gear, and would have his chest stand where he could see it, and the key under his pillow to the last; and when one of your men asked would he listen to a bit of a prayer he bawled out with a curse, 'Nay, what profit | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924215 | was there in prayers, or who would pay him for hearkening.' "I tell you, masters, 't is the worst port ever I made, and albeit I'm not a man of dainty or queasy stomach, it turns me sick to see and hear such things, and know that I'm master of a crew bound for hell though we called it Virginia." | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924216 | "Mayhap if the Mayflower's crew had used more diligence in seeking to land us in Virginia they had not themselves made the port thou speakest of," said Standish bitterly, while Carver, sighing profoundly, pushed back from the table in sign that the conference was ended, but said in a voice of unfeigned friendliness,-- "Truly, Master Jones, thou needest and shall | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924217 | have our kindliest sympathy, and our prayers, for this that you tell of is a fearful condition, and a fatal for both body and soul, and well may you call upon Almighty God for pardon and for mercy. If any of your men are fain to come on shore we will receive them and give such tendance as we do | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924218 | to our own, and right certain am I that those of our company yet on board will do all that they are able for you. Forgetting the past, about which we might justly murmur if we would, we are ready in your necessity to reckon you as brothers, and to spend and to be spent in your service, as God | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924219 | giveth ability. "Will it please thee to tarry while we hold our evening devotions, and join thy prayers to ours, that the Lord will have mercy upon all of us?" "Yes, I'll tarry, though 't is not greatly in my way. Haply He might take it amiss if I went," muttered Jones looking about him uneasily, while Carver regarded his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924220 | hopeless neophyte with divine compassion, and Elder Brewster prayed long and fervently that not only the children should be fed, but that the dogs might eat of the crumbs that fell from the table, and that in the end even the sons of Belial might be forgiven their blindness and hardness of heart, and receive even though undeservingly the uncovenanted | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924221 | mercies of God. Fortunately for his good intentions the object of many of these petitions quite failed to comprehend them, and when the devotion was over rose and went away far more gently than he had come. . THE HEADLESS ARROW. "Where is the governor? Hast seen him of late, Mistress Priscilla?" "Nay, Peter Browne, not since breakfast; but what | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924222 | is thy great haste? Have the skies fallen, or our friends the lions eaten up Nero?" "Nay, then, 't is worse than lions; ay, here is Master Carver." "Here am I, Peter, and what wouldst thou with me in such haste?" "Why, sir, I have ill news. This morning I went a-fowling to a pond beyond that where we cut | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924223 | thatch and fell into such mishap, and as I lay quiet at my stand waiting till the ducks might swim my way, I saw, for I heard naught, twelve stout salvages all painted and trimmed up, carrying bows and arrows and every man his little axe at his girdle. Each glided after each like shadows upon the water, so still | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924224 | and smooth, and they seemed making for the town. Then as I bent my ear to the quarter whence they came I caught the far-off echo of that same fiendish cry that saluted us at the First Encounter, and would seem to be their war-cry or slogan." "And then?" "I waited till all were past and all sound died away, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924225 | and then I fetched a compass, and ran home as fast as I might to warn the company and the captain." "And thou didst well, Peter," replied Carver musingly, while Priscilla standing in the doorway behind him, with Mary Chilton at her side, nodded mockingly, and clapped her hands in silent applause. Turning suddenly, the governor surprised her antics, but | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924226 | smiling, asked,-- "Dost know, Priscilla, whither Captain Standish went this morning?" "He and Francis Cooke went a-field so soon as they had done breakfast, sir, and as they carried axes and wedges in hand, it would seem they had gone to rive timber," replied Priscilla demurely. "Ay, like enough; but as 't is near noon, when they will be home | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924227 | for dinner, we will e'en wait till we have the captain's counsel, and meantime I'll see that all have their arms in readiness." "And I will go help to make the dinner ready," said Priscilla. "Thou canst lay the table, Mary." "Ay," replied the girl listlessly, and turning suddenly to hide the tears that filled her blue eyes. Priscilla looked | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924228 | after her, and the forced gayety faded from her own face as she put her arm about her friend's waist and led her away. "Nay, then, nay, then," whispered she; "no more crying, poppet! Didst thou not cry half the night in spite of all I could say?" "But how can I be gay, and father and mother both dead, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924229 | and I so weak and ailing, and alone." "But, Mary, I have lost more than that," said Priscilla in a low voice, and with that hard constraint of manner common to those who seldom speak of their emotions. "I know thou hast lost father, mother, brother"-- "And even the faithful servant whom I remember in the dear old home when | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924230 | I was a toddling child," said Priscilla gloomily. "Ay, but some have tenderer hearts than others and feel these things more cruelly," persisted Mary weeping unrestrainedly. Priscilla removed her arm from the others waist and stood for a moment looking out at the open door with a mirthless smile upon her lips. Then, with one long sigh, she turned, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924231 | patting Mary's heaving shoulder said gently enough,-- "I'm more grieved for thee than I can tell, dear Mary; but still I find that to busy one's self in many ways, and to put on as light-hearted a look as one can muster, is a help to grief. See now poor Elizabeth Tilley. She hath cried herself ill, and must tarry | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924232 | in bed where is naught to divert her grief. Is it not better to keep afoot and be of use to others, at least?" "Ay, I suppose so," replied Mary disconsolately. "Well, then, lay the table, while I try if the meat is boiled. Oh, if we had but some turnips, or a cabbage, or aught beside beans to eat | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924233 | with it." "Canst not make a sauce of biscuit crumbs and butter and an onion, as thou didst for the birds?" asked Mary drying her eyes. "Sauce for birds is not sauce for boiled beef," replied Priscilla, her artistic taste shocked not a little; "but if thou 'lt be good, I'll toss thee up a dainty bit for thyself." "And | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924234 | me, too!" exclaimed Desire Minter, who had just come in at the door. "And thee, too," echoed Priscilla. "But, Desire, dost know the Indians are upon us, and they'll no doubt eat thee first of all, for thou 'rt both fat and tender, and will prove a dainty bit thyself, I doubt not." "Well, dear maids, is the noon-meat ready?" | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924235 | asked Mistress Brewster's gentle voice at the door. "Dame Carver would fain have some porridge, and if thou 'lt move thy kettle a bit, Priscilla, I will make it myself." "Now, dear mother, why should you do aught but rest, with three great girls standing idle before you?" cried Priscilla gently seating the weary woman in her husband's arm-chair. "I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924236 | will make the porridge while Desire lifts the beef from the pot, and Mary lays the table. Our mother is more than tired with last night's watching beside Mistress Carver." "Nay, then, child, I'll rest a minute, since I have such willing hands to wait on me, and well I know thou art the most delicate cook among us. Dame | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924237 | Carver will be the gainer." And leaning her head against the back of the chair, poor, weary Mistress Brewster closed her eyes, and even dozed, while the three girls busily carried on their tasks, with low-voiced murmurs of talk that rather soothed than disturbed the sleeper. The first plan, of dividing the settlers into nineteen families and building a house | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924238 | for each, had been abandoned before more than two or three of the houses were begun, and now that the prostrating sickness interrupting their plans was past, and the survivors counted, it was found that sadly few dwellings were needed to contain them, so that at present all were divided among four or five houses, although as the men gained | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924239 | strength for labor each wrought upon his future home in all the time to be spared from the common needs. The house where we have found Priscilla was that of Elder Brewster, situated on the corner of The Street and the King's Highway, as the Pilgrims called the path crossing The Street at right angles, and leading down to the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924240 | brook, although to-day we should say that the elder's house stood on the corner of Leyden and Market streets; like all others built at this time, it was a low structure covered in with planks hewn from the forest trees, and roofed with thatch. At each side of the entrance door lay a tolerably large room, that on the right | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924241 | hand, nearest to the brook, used as kitchen, dining, and general living room, while the other was the family sleeping room, and also used as a withdrawing room, where the elder held counsel with the governor, or other friends, and studied his exhortation for the coming Sunday; here, also, Mistress Brewster led her boys, or the maidens she guided, for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924242 | reproof, counsel, or tender comforting. At the back of this room, partitioned by a curtain, was a nook, where Wrestling, a delicate child of six, and Love, his sturdier brother, two years older, nestled like kittens in a little cot. Above in the loft, reached by a ladder-like staircase, was a comfortable room appropriated to Mary Chilton, Priscilla Molines, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924243 | Elizabeth Tilley, all orphaned within three months, and at once adopted by the Elder's wife as her especial charge. In the next house, on a lot of land appropriated at first to John Goodman and some others, the governor had taken up his abode with his delicate wife, her maid Lois, Desire Minter their ward, and several children whom she | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924244 | cared for. John Howland, the governor's secretary and right-hand man, also lived here, and, like the manly man he was, hesitated not to give help wherever it was needed. Owing to Mrs. Carver's very delicate health, it had been arranged that this family should share the table at Elder Brewster's, where the young girls just mentioned were ready and glad | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924245 | to take charge of the household labors, leaving their elders free for other matters. In another house, placed in charge of Stephen Hopkins and his bustling wife, nearly all the unmarried men were gathered, and made a hearty and soberly jocund family. The third house, headed by Isaac Allerton and his daughters, was the home of Bradford, Winslow, Mistress Susannah | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924246 | White, with her children, Resolved and Peregrine, and her brother, Doctor Fuller, with their little nephew, Samuel Fuller, whose father and mother both lay on Cole's Hill. In the Common house, under charge of Master Warren, with the Billingtons as officials, were gathered the rest of the company except Standish, who slept in his own house on the hill, but | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924247 | had his place at Elder Brewster's table when he chose to take it. Hither he now came, silent and grave as was his wont since Rose died, but ever ready to give his aid and sympathy, whether in handicraft or counsel, to the governor, the elder, or the women struggling with unwonted labors. Of lamentation there was none, and since | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924248 | the day the soldier stood beside that open grave and watched the mould piled upon the coffin his own hands had fashioned no man, not even the elder, had heard his wife's name, or any allusion to his loss, pass his lips; yet those who knew him best marked well the line that had deepened between his brows, the still | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924249 | endurance of his eyes, and the sadness underlying every intonation of his voice; and those who knew him not, and had in their shallower natures no chord to vibrate in sympathy with this grand patience, comprehended it not, and seeing him thus ready and helpful, not evading such pleasant talk as lightened the toil of his comrades, not preoccupied or | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924250 | gloomy, these thought the light wound was already healed, and more than one beside Desire Minter speculated upon his second choice. Listening to the governor's report of Browne's discovery, Standish nodded, as not surprised, and said,-- "Ay, 't is sure to come, soon or late, and a peace won by arms is stronger than one framed of words. When the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924251 | salvages have made their onset and we have chastised them roundly, we shall be right good friends. Meantime, Francis Cooke and I left our adzes and wedges where we were hewing plank, and so soon as I have taken bite and sup I'll forth to look for them with my snaphance." "We've heard of locking the stable door when the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924252 | steed was stolen," murmured Priscilla to Mary, and the captain, whose ear was quick as a hare's, half turned toward her with a glint of laughter in his eyes. But the jibe was prophetic, for when, half an hour later, Standish and Cooke returned to the tree they had felled, the tools were all gone, and a headless arrow was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924253 | left standing derisively in the cleft of a log. "Hm! A cartel of defiance," said the captain drawing it out and grimly examining it. "Well, 't is like our savage forefathers of Britain challenging Julius Csar and the Roman power. But come, Cooke, 't is certain we cannot rive plank with our naked hands, and since our tools are gone, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924254 | we had best go home and work at the housen. To-morrow we'll take some order with these masters." . THE CAPTAIN'S PROMOTION. The afternoon and evening were devoted to a thorough review and furbishing of weapons, many of which had suffered from exposure and neglect during the press of building and of sickness. And surely never could artist find better | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924255 | subject for his painting than the scene at Elder Brewster's fireside that night where upon the hearth Standish and Alden moulded a heap of silvery bullets, while Priscilla and Mary and Elizabeth Tilley twirled their spinning-wheels, or knitted the long woolen hose worn both by men and women in those days, looking demurely from time to time toward the hearth, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924256 | where Alden occasionally dropped a little boiling lead into a skillet of hot water, and nodded to one or other of the girls as he drew out the emblems thus formed. At the back of the room gathered Brewster and Winslow and Carver and Bradford, discussing plans of defense in low and eager tones, while over all fell the broad | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924257 | and ruddy light of the floods of flame that rushed weltering up the chimney and out upon the night, carrying tidings to the wild woods and wilder men crouching in their depths that here were encamped a little band of invaders stronger than the primeval forest, stronger than the primeval man, stronger than Nature, stronger than Tradition. "Then it is | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924258 | well resolved," said Carver rising at last and coming toward the fire, "that to-morrow, so soon as we have committed ourselves to God's protection, and broken our fast, we will assemble with all the men of our company in the Common house, and take counsel for the safety and guidance of the colony. Does this movement suit you, Captain Standish?" | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924259 | "Ay, Governor. A council of war is ever fitting prelude to action," replied Standish laying down his bullet-mould and standing up. "And this is a council _coram populo_," said Winslow smiling. "A congress of the whole people." "Our first town-meeting, if indeed we be a town," said Bradford, answering Winslow's smile. "Alden, we name you sheriff _pro tempore_, to warn | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924260 | the brethren of this convention. All the men, mind you," said the governor quietly. "But none of the women, mark you!" whispered Priscilla to John as Carver turned aside. "Nay, who ever heard of women clamoring to be heard among men in council," suggested Mary Chilton, while Alden, with a side glance and smile at the merry maids, followed the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924261 | governor a step and said,-- "Ay, sir, and I will moreover warn goodwife Billington to-night, that she may have the Common house redded betimes." "Well thought on, John," replied Carver smiling, for goodwife Billington's untidiness was but too notorious among her associates. "Thou 'lt have to lay a hand to 't thyself, John," murmured Priscilla as the young man returned | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924262 | to the fire to gather up the bullets and moulds, and if it must be confessed to seize the chance of one more word with Priscilla; "best bring up two or three buckets of sand from the beach, and when yon slattern hath done her best, spill you the sand over all, and so hide her shortcomings." "'T is good | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924263 | advice, as thine ever is," returned the lover, and so energetic did Goody Billington find both his reminders and his help that evening and the next morning, that the Common house was set in order at a good hour, and by nine o'clock the Council, consisting of nineteen men, all that were left of the forty-one who signed the original | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924264 | compact on board the Mayflower, gathered around the table, where beside the governor sat Howland, ready to take minutes of the proceedings of the meeting, and, as it were, to open the Town Records of Plymouth. The governor in a short address set forth the danger which evidently menaced the little colony, and invited the opinion of the freemen assembled | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924265 | as to the means of meeting it. One and another offered his brief remarks, and at last Bradford in a few strong and sensible words proposed that the whole company there present should be resolved into a military body, and properly exercised in the use of arms and tactics of defense. "That is my own thought, Master Bradford," replied Carver | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924266 | eagerly; "and this course is the more feasible that we have among us a man so skilled in warfare, and so judicious in counsel as our brother Standish, who hath already the rank of Captain in the armies of our sovereign King James, and hath for love of liberty and the truth given up the sure prospect of advancement in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924267 | the king's armies, now that the hordes of Spain are again let loose upon our Dutch allies, and every British soldier is called to their defense. I therefore propose that we appoint Captain Standish our military commander-in-chief, with full power to organize, order, and enforce his authority as he shall see best for the interests of the community, and I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924268 | for one place myself in all such matters under his command, and promise to answer to his summons, and yield to his counsel in all things appertaining to warfare, offensive or defensive." "And I say as doth the governor," added Winslow, turning his astute and thoughtful face to Standish, with a smile of brotherly confidence. "And I," added Bradford heartily, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924269 | and the word of assent went round the table, until each man had given his personal adherence to the new commander-in-chief, and Brewster closed the list by saying with a benevolent smile,-- "And I, although a man of peace, and too well stricken in years to become an active soldier, will in time of need refuse not to strike a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924270 | blow under our captain's command for the defense of those God hath entrusted to our care." "And shall we call Master Standish General, or how shall we mark his new dignity?" asked Hopkins a little pompously. "Nay, I'll be naught but Captain," replied Standish hastily. "So runneth my commission from good Queen Bess, heaven rest her soul, and here have | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924271 | we neither parchment nor seals, no, nor authority for making out new commissions. I have that I tell of, and 't is enough: 'Our well beloved Captain, Myles Standish,' it runneth, and by that name I'll live and die. But aside from that, I would say, friends, that I am well pleased at the trust you place in me, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924272 | that so long as God giveth me life and strength I will heartily place them at the service of this"-- But a shriek, followed by a hubbub of voices, and the pattering of many light feet, broke off the captain's sentence, and brought several of the Council to their feet, and to the door, just as it was burst open | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924273 | by a crowd of women and children all clamoring,-- "The Indians! They are upon us! They are coming into the housen! Haste! Haste if ye be men!" Not waiting to question farther, Standish seized his snaphance which in these days seldom was out of reach, and briefly shouting, "Follow me!" rushed out, looked about him, and seeing nothing seized young | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924274 | John Billington by the arm and demanded, "Where are these Indians, thou yelping cur! Didst rouse that hubbub for naught?" "Nay, Bart Allerton and Johnny Cooke and I all saw them"-- "Well, lead on, and show them to me too," demanded the captain sternly, and preceded by the half-frightened, half-delighted boys, and followed in more or less order by his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924275 | new army, he marched up Leyden and down Market streets, until across the brook on the crest of a little hill two savages in full panoply of war suddenly appeared, and gazed defiantly upon the white men. "Governor, the advance guard of the enemy is in sight, and I propose that I with another, cross the brook and parley with | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924276 | him," said Standish turning to Carver and unconsciously resuming the stiff military manner and habit of a trained soldier in actual service. "Your powers are discretionary, Captain Standish," replied Carver with gentle dignity. "All is left in your own hands, always remembering that we desire peace rather than war, if so be we may have it in honor." "Hopkins, wilt | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924277 | volunteer to come with me?" asked the captain briefly, and as briefly the veteran answered, "Ay, Captain," and followed. But as the party of parley approached, the Indian scouts withdrew, and before Standish could reach the spot where they had stood no creature was in sight, although the stir and murmur of a multitude not seeking to conceal itself were | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924278 | heard from the woods densely clothing Watson's Hill and the valley between. Returning with this report to the town, the captain gave it as his opinion that so long as the enemy held off he should be left undisturbed while the colony devoted itself to works of defense, especially finishing and arming the Fort upon the hill, and making it | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924279 | ready for immediate use. "It were well that you and I, Governor, went aboard this morning and stirred up Master Jones to get out our ordnance and help fetch it ashore," concluded he. "Shall we go at once?" "So soon as the tide makes, Captain; for when the water is out, our harbor is somewhat wet for walking, yet by | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924280 | no means suited for navigation," replied Carver casting a whimsical glance at the verdant flats, then as now replacing the tides of Plymouth Harbor. "A wise provision of Nature whereby the clams are twice a day left within our reach," replied Standish in the same tone. "After noon-meat then, we will go." But when the governor and the captain arrived | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924281 | on board the Mayflower they found Jones too stupid with liquor to listen to any plans, and too short-handed when he had been made to understand to carry them out with half the dispatch the ardent spirit of Standish prompted, so that all they effected was to have two of the larger pieces hoisted out of the hold, and one | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924282 | landed and left upon the sand. The next day was devoted to finishing the preparations on shore, and finally on Wednesday, the third day of March, Captain Jones with all of his men fit for service came on shore with the rest of the ordnance, and, aided by the Pilgrims, dragged the clumsy pieces to the top of the eminence | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924283 | now called Burying Hill, and mounted them in the positions carefully marked out beforehand by Standish. The two minions, each eight feet long, a thousand pounds in weight, and carrying a three-pound ball, were planted, the one to command the landing at the rock, and the other the crest of Watson's Hill, where the savages had twice appeared. The saker, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924284 | a still heavier piece, commanded the north, where the dense coverts of an evergreen forest hid what was soon to be known as the Massachusetts trail, and a very menacing quarter. The two other pieces called bases, and of much lighter calibre, were set at the western face of the Fort, where they would do good service should an enemy | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924285 | attempt to skirt the hill and approach at that side. The pieces were heavy, the appliances crude and clumsy, a shrewd east wind was driving in a sea-fog of the chillest description, and Standish, although he toiled and tugged with the best, proved himself a martinet in his requirements, not sparing in the heat of the struggle some of those | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924286 | curious oaths for which "our army in Flanders" gained a name. But the elder turned a deaf ear at these moments, and neither the truly devout Carver, nor the elegant Winslow, nor formal Allerton, nor self-restrained Bradford, chose to notice these lapses on the part of him who was giving all his energies and all his experience to their defense. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924287 | As the sun set, Master Jones straightened his back, and setting his hands upon his hips exclaimed,-- "There, then, my little generalissimo, thy guns are set, and by thine own ordering, not mine. And let me tell thee now, 't is lucky thou and I do not often train in company, for I'd sooner serve in an Algerian galley than | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924288 | under thee, and if thou wast under me, I'd shoot thee in the first half day." Standish, who was on his knees sighting his saker, did not hurry himself to rise, but when he did so turned and eyed his ally with a grim smile. "Thou 'rt right, Jones. Two game-cocks seldom agree until they have fought a main or | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924289 | two. Yet methinks I could train thee to something after a while." Jones's red face grew redder yet, but before his slow wit had compassed a retort, Carver interposed,-- "And now that our good day's work is done, it is seemly that we should soberly rejoice and exult. Master Jones, wilt thou and thy men sup with us?" The sailor's | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924290 | face cleared directly, and with a roar of jovial merriment he replied,-- "Marry will we, Master Governor, an' if you had not bidden us, I had bidden you to the feast, for I brought more than cold iron ashore, I promise you." "What, then? Some beer and strong waters?" demanded Hopkins eagerly. "Ay, man, and a fat goose ten pound | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924291 | weight, and some wild fowl beside, and a whole runlet of beer and a pottle of Hollands. I brought them that we should all make merry for once, and forget all that's come and gone, and that you should wish me a fair passage home, and good luck on getting there." "Thou 'rt a good fellow, after all, Jones, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924292 | I for one will meet thee half way, and pledge thee in mine own liquor, and change a bit of my tender crane shot yesterday for a leg of thy goose." So saying, Standish smote the sailor upon his shoulder, and took his great paw into the grasp of a hand small and shapely, but of such iron grip that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924293 | the burly fellow winced, and wringing away his fingers cried,-- "Nay, then, thou 'rt more cruel as a friend than thou 'rt maddening as a master. I'll none of thee." "And where are thy generous gifts now bestowed?" asked Bradford practically. "In the Common house. I bade Clarke go down the hill after our snack at noon, and take them | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924294 | all out of the boat's cuddy and carry them up to goodwife Billington, who is a famous cook, of wild fowl in particular"-- "She hath had practice while her goodman was poach--nay, then, I mean gamekeeper on my Lord the Marquis of Carrabas's estates," put in Standish gravely, and Billington, who stood by, started, tried to look fierce, but ended | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924295 | with a craven laugh. "Then Alden," suggested the Governor, "thou hadst best tell the women at the elder's house to send over their own vivers, or a portion of them, to the Common house, and we will all sup together. We have the captain's crane and a brace of mallards, and a salted neat's tongue, with some other matters, Master | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924296 | Jones, and can methinks well forget for one night that hunger and cold and danger are lying at the door. 'T is wise to be merry at times that we may better bear trouble at others." "Ay, 't is a poor heart that never rejoices," replied the Master, in what for him was a pleasant voice, although with a suspicious | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924297 | look around, lest anybody should be jeering at his unwonted amenity. But Standish was casting a comprehensive look about his little fortalice to see if all was ready to be left for the night, and the younger men were already going down the hill, and Carver and Bradford stood awaiting their guest with cheerful and open countenance, devoid of mischief | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924298 | or guile. So the old sea-dog sheathed his fangs, restrained his growl, and assumed the bearing of coarse good humor which was his rare concession to the claims of good society. And now Alden hasting upon his errand found that Priscilla had already been warned by Helen Billington of the proposed feast, and with Mistress Brewster's consent had arranged the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012924299 | tables in the Common house, and added to the heavier viands some delicate dishes of her own composition, finishing by making a kettle of plum-porridge whereon the women were to regale themselves in the Brewster kitchen while their lords feasted in the Common house. And thus with sober mirth and honest friendliness closed a day so important in the annals | 60 | gutenberg |
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