King Noanett 
 
Other Books by F. J. Stimson 
 
 Guerndale 
 
 The Sentimental Calendar 
 
 The Residuary Legatee 
 
 Pirate Gold 
 
 In the Three Zones 
 
 First Harvests 
 
 The Crime of Henry Vane 
 
 Labor in its Relations to Law 
 American Statute Law 
 Handbook of the Labor Law of 
 
 the United States 
 Stimson s Law Glossary 
 
King Noanett 
 
 A Story of Old Virginia and the 
 Massachusetts Bay 
 
 By 
 
 F. J. Stimson 
 
 (J. S. of Dale) 
 
 "for when God gives to us the clearest sight 
 
 He does not touch our eyes "with Love, but Sorrow" 
 
 j. B. O REILLY 
 
 VTCRESCIT 
 
 Boston and New York 
 Lamson, Wolffe, and Company 
 
 London 
 MDCCCXCVI 
 
Copyright, 1896, 
 By Frederic Jesup Stimson. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 The Norwood Press 
 
 J. S. Cashing & Co. Berwick & Smith 
 Norwood, Mass.) U.S.A. 
 
[ 
 
 To the Memory of" 
 
 John Boyle O Reilly 
 
 This Book 
 
 So often planned together and now executed 
 Alone 
 
Preface 
 
 THE story of Bampfylde Carew, one of the earliest 
 settlers on the upper Charles, is herein for the first 
 time printed. Though first set down (as appears by the 
 context) for the edification of the writer s children, Mr. 
 Carew s views upon some subjects, notably Cromwell and 
 the later Puritans, would have rendered their publication 
 inopportune in New England at a time much before the 
 present. But if he sets forth these matters in a somewhat 
 novel light, he is severer still upon certain phases of early 
 life in Virginia. He speaks without fear or favour, and I 
 have printed it as written, altering only the spelling ; and 
 although occasionally he uses words only suited to the 
 robuster stomachs of his time, I have let them stand : 
 partly that the sweet and noble temper of his story atones 
 for them, partly that our own stomachs are a trifle over 
 queasy (as to words alone). To use his own, the fight 
 ing companies of the Old Dominion were but a "ribald 
 crew"; and the events, even the incidents, which he 
 narrates I have found curiously verified in memoirs nearly 
 contemporary, notably the diaries of his acquaintance, 
 Colonel Byrd of Westover. I have been at some pains 
 
x Preface 
 
 to identify the military uprising in Virginia in which he 
 and his hero, Miles Courtenay, took part ; it preceded 
 by a few years Bacon s rebellion, though Ingram is an 
 historical character. It was probably one of the numer 
 ous border forays which took place in those times. On 
 the other hand, his account of " Springfield parish" (now 
 Dover) I find exactly verified in the early records of 
 Medfield, Dedham, and the Indian missions in the valley 
 of the Charles. 
 
 F. J. STIMSON. 
 
 BOSTON, November, 1895. 
 
Contents 
 
 Page 
 
 I. In which I Begin Lite at Slocombslade . . I 
 
 II. In which I Meet Mistress St. Aubyn 7 
 
 III. In which I Find Myself 12 
 
 IV. In which is the Promise of my Life . . .16 
 V. In which I Find a Cross . . . ,22 
 
 VI. In which I Witness Penruddock s Rising . . 29 
 
 VII. In which I Visit Bridgewater Gaol . . -37 
 
 VIII. In which I Meet Miles Courtenay and Jennifer . 41 
 
 IX. In which Miles and I Plot Treason ... 49 
 
 X. In which I Witness a Wife-auction . . -59 
 
 XL In which I Grow Tobacco and Forget my Love . 69 
 
 XII. In which I Have a Talk with Miles ... 80 
 
 XIII. In which We Reason with Squire Smothergal . 84 
 
 XIV. In which We Join the Army of Virginia . . 89 
 XV. In which We Adopt Jennifer . . . 9 5 
 
 XVI. In which We Secede from the Commonwealth . 103 
 
 XVII. In which We Flee and Feast Right Merrily . 108 
 
xii Contents 
 
 Page 
 XVIII. In which, for Courtenay, I am a Brute . .115 
 
 XIX. In which Miles Prays the Blessed Virgin . 1 24 
 XX. In which We Fight with the Susquehannocks 
 
 against the Puritans . . . .127 
 XXI. In which We Come not Well to Boston . 131 
 XXII. In which I am Bound Prentice to a Cord- 
 
 wainer . . . . . .136 
 
 XXIII. In which I Make a Pair of Lady s Shoes . 141 
 
 XXIV. In which My Shoes do Fit too Well . .147 
 XXV. In which I Go to the Barbadoes . . .155 
 
 XXVI. In which Miles Singeth his Song . . .165 
 XXVII. In which We Make Acquaintance with the 
 
 Yeomen of Contentment . . .170 
 
 XXVIII. In which We Give a Dinner with the Men of 
 
 Dedham . . . ... .180 
 
 XXIX. In which We Meet the Apostle Eliot . .185 
 
 XXX. In which I Meet King Noanett . . .198 
 
 XXXI. In which We Build our Home . . . 208 
 
 XXXII. In which We Become Versed in Indian Lore . 221 
 
 XXXIII. In which Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunter 
 
 before the Lord . . . . .229 
 
 XXXIV. In which We See a Woman Whipt . 242 
 
Contents xiii 
 
 Page 
 XXXV. In which King Noanett doth Fight with Water 252 
 
 XXXVI. In which Miles Hath a Vision . . .265 
 
 XXXVII. In which We Find why Miles Walked Lonely 
 
 in the Wood . . . . .276 
 
 XXXVIII. In which We do Battle at Meadfield . .282 
 
 XXXIX. In which Jennifer doth Find Miles s Love . 292 
 
 XL. In which I Find Her . . . .303 
 
 XLI. In which my Lady Keeps her Promise . .311 
 
 XLII. In which I Learn to Know Miles Courtenay . 315 
 
 XLIII. Which Passeth the Love of Woman . .317 
 
 XLIV. In which is Earthly Ending . . .324 
 
The illustrations for this volume have been made by 
 Mr. Henry Sandham, R.C.A. 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 I. The Byre by the Exe .... Frontispiece 
 
 Opposite Page 
 
 II. Penruddock Unfurls Charles s Standard . . 36 
 
 III. Miles Chastises the Mate . . . . .52 
 
 IV. The Wife Auction in Virginia . 64 
 V. The Flight by the Chesapeake . . . I 1 6 
 
 VI. The Mighty Susquehannock Protects the Priest . 130 
 
 VII. The Puritans of Boston . . . . .134 
 
 VIII. Moore Makes his Last Pair of Shoes . . .146 
 
 IX. The Whipping of the Quakeress . . . .250 
 
 X. The Chapel in the Wood . . . . .280 
 
 XI. The Defence of the Farm ..... 294 
 
 XII. The Vision at the Dawn . . . . .314 
 
King Noanett 
 
 i 
 
 In which 1 Begin Life at Slocombslade 
 
 " WHAT last on earth you saw ? " thus 
 The angel to me when I died. "I saw 
 Alone, in a dark wood, at eve, her face. 
 Her face, turned half away, and from it came 
 A light that was not of the sea nor sky." 
 
 " But after : " 
 
 "After that was nothing. But 
 The brown leaves of the mountain fell around, 
 Blown o the last gale of summer ; and the storm 
 Still was above ; only, from the pale West 
 (Where since an hour the hidden sun had set) 
 Came one cold level ray and touched her face, 
 Her face, that was beside me, and her eyes." 
 
 "But after that ? " 
 
 " Was nothing." 
 
 " Forty years ! 
 
 " Forty years r I know not. But her face, 
 As it looked out, so pure, to th distant sea 
 (We were together, she and I, alone) 
 Her face, white in the night, beside me there, 
 (She knew it not) was burned into my heart." 
 
Jing Noanett 
 
 " But forty years that followed ? " 
 
 "What know I ? 
 
 They may have been ; they are not ; I have told 
 The last on earth I saw, as thou hast said." 
 
 COURTENAY S verses begin the story well 
 enough. And the first light that I saw 
 on the earth, as I remember, was the bright 
 light of a September morning on the moors. 
 And that morning and that evening have made 
 my day of life. And whereas in my earlier days 
 it was the evening that I remembered most often 
 and most bitterly, now that I am in the eve of 
 life myself, the thought of that bright morning 
 lieth in my heart like a wine to make death 
 gentle. Marriage and giving in marriage are not 
 in heaven, we are told : but we are not told, there 
 is no love ; and that is all that I have found within 
 this world eternal ; we but pretend to other things. 
 I have heard, too, all that is said by priest or 
 puritan. 
 
 I have often thought also how strange our meet 
 ing was in what troubled soil, and in what lull of 
 great world-tempests my love was sown ; and blos 
 somed there so tenderly, so hardily, like our first 
 March meadow-flowers, that are the frailest ever. 
 For it was that lull in the shock of steel coat and 
 leather jerkin, joy and thought, Honour and Con 
 science, Charles and Cromwell, that made our two 
 grandfathers thoughtless of our trifling hearts, and 
 gave my own, just born, its chance of breath. 
 
 For my grandfather, either that he was old or 
 thought the crop uncertain, had turned squire and 
 
Life at Slocombslade 
 
 let both his farms that year ; and I had no labour, 
 but was left to roam like a gentleman s son, only 
 that I had neither tutors nor horses. So fair an 
 August had I never known ; the warm rich sky lay 
 over all the West of England, softly blue, above the 
 scarlet heather and the golden gorse, and the sweet 
 soft green where on the moors the new grass grew : 
 the glory of those days stayed with me many sober 
 years, and tinged their blankness faintly. 
 
 The moors were mine, and the openness, and the 
 sweet air of life. And from the Northern seacliffs 
 to the ivy-clad valley of the Holne Chase, aye, West, 
 to wilder Dartmoor, I was king. But most I liked, 
 of all dominions, that central nest of moor and moss 
 where Barle and the Lyn-stream rise, and the fields 
 have no hedge, nor the heather any paths, save what 
 the wild moor-ponies make ; even sheep roam not 
 there, for the farmers dare not trust them in that 
 wilderness. 
 
 This year, though, they had been safe enough : 
 for, all that season, not one armed man did I see, 
 they being elsewhere engaged. And that the sheep 
 had been there in older, gentler times, the heart of 
 my domain was evidence. For, in a gentle fold of 
 the valley, on the topmost moor, where the first 
 soft crease of green showed in the stern purple high 
 lands, only just hidden, yet safe beyond all seeking 
 (as a lady s love-letter in her bosom), lay my home 
 my true home. It was an old abandoned sheep- 
 fold (bieldy we called it) built of stone ; a square rod 
 only, in extent, but yet like a little fortalice : for at 
 one corner of the thick stone wall, and that the low 
 ermost, rose a round stone tower, so that it made a 
 
King Noanett 
 
 sort of sentry-post and cover at the top ; and below 
 (which had been the shepherd s room) a room for me. 
 
 And this was my true home ; here my being was ; 
 my seeming (at mealtimes, and of nights, when I 
 could not get away) was at my grandfather s. In 
 the stone enclosure I kept a wild moor-pony, that I 
 had caught and bridled with a rope ; no longer wild 
 now, for he neighed to me at the dawn, and made 
 sleepy, comfortable noises, when I sang to him in 
 the evening. 
 
 No man (so far as I knew) came to this place. 
 It was long since sheep had been pastured there ; I 
 fancied that its owner was dead, and it forgotten by 
 his heirs. So I called it mine. And on the first of 
 those forty days that I remember, it was early of a 
 Monday morn that I started from my grandfather s ; 
 the sun-rise sunlight lay freshly on the moors, as I 
 started Northward, skirting the dangerous bogs for 
 haste to get there and see my pony : for my grand 
 father had had a sermon-fit the day before, and kept 
 me indoors all the Sunday. On such occasions poor 
 Noll, the pony, had to find new grass as best he 
 might in the courtyard, and beware lest he kick over 
 the water-trough. 
 
 All my life I have believed there was enchant 
 ment in the air that day. I was conscious of it 
 before I came to my sheep tower ; and the dread 
 Mole s Chamber, lying in the sink of the down upon 
 my left, had veiled its evil surface in a rosy cloud. 
 Noll whinnied at seeing me, though his water-trough 
 was full. I brought him grass, and he seemed not 
 hungry ; and then I sat on the little slope of grass 
 that lay sunward, above the brook, leaning on the 
 
Life at Slocombslade 5 
 
 last dense wall of heather, now full of bloom and 
 fragrant. And the water made soft murmurs, and I 
 dreamed. 
 
 Then became I conscious of the spell. There 
 was a presence there ; I felt that I was not alone. 
 So strong grew this upon me that I fancied I heard 
 a breathing, and it was not Noll s nor mine. I lay 
 just beneath the little corner tower, and it seemed to 
 come from there. At last I could resist no longer, 
 and I went back to the fold, and entered it, and 
 went to the little wall-stairway of projecting stones 
 (Noll pressing after me and snuffing at my elbow) 
 and climbed this ; and entered the little tower cell. 
 Two long slits were in the wall of this for shooting 
 culverins ; and now through one of them shot a 
 shaft of sunlight, athwart the stone chamber; and 
 beyond this, lying on a bed of heather I had made, 
 her lips just parted, softly breathing, lay a slender 
 maid asleep. 
 
 I went back to my hill-slope, and thought about 
 it. For I never had seen a young lady before, and 
 they were not in my thoughts. 
 
 Old women were plenty round about us ; and 
 there were a few farmers daughters in the neigh 
 bourhood, but not many ; for our land had been 
 but a poor place for the marrying and giving in 
 marriage, those dozen years before, harried first by 
 Prince Rupert, for his Majesty, and then by my 
 Lord Fairfax, for the Protector. But this, I had 
 seen (though I had hardly seen how old she was), 
 was- a young lady. 
 
 How had she got lost upon the moors ? or rather 
 (for the losing was no great matter to make), how 
 
King Noanett 
 
 had she gone upon the moor to lose herself? And, 
 if lost, how came it she was gently sleeping, fearing 
 not loneliness in my old stone tower ? And this 
 most of all, and last, how was I to wake her, and 
 set her back again upon her way ? 
 
 Then it occurred to me that, barring my pony 
 neighed, which he would not, unless hungry, the 
 next sweetest sound was singing. And either sound 
 would frighten her less than by direct address. So 
 I began to sing; at first, timidly (for I was a bit 
 frightened myself), then louder, and louder yet 
 old country songs, we all knew, then and after a 
 bit, I fancied, she woke, and put her head out of 
 window. Then, she saw me (though I kept my 
 head turned away), and then she came down the 
 stairway, and out the sheepfold, and along the grassy 
 path behind me. I felt her approach ; and when 
 she was nigh, I arose, and turned me to her, and 
 bowed low. And when I slowly straightened up 
 from this bow, my eyes met hers. And here I saw 
 her ; and her eyes were like the Mother Mary s 
 eyes in heaven. 
 
II 
 
 In which I Meet Mistress St. Aubyn 
 
 I HAVE great pity for all such as have gone 
 through this world untouched by love ; the 
 true, I mean, little light, little selfish, only 
 unending in eternity and bringing a soul unto 
 men on earth. For, as I muse on it now, it seemeth 
 a rare experience, even among you Puritans ; rarer 
 still, in that old time of my youth when, to the one 
 world, all that was not pleasure was food for jest, 
 and, to the other, all that was not sanctimonious 
 was sin. There was one Parson Herrick, a poet, 
 not far from us ; he wrote most sweetly of maids 
 and blossoms, and what he called love ; yet never 
 wrote he a line of love as I have known it. And 
 as for the Puritans then, they had no heart for it, 
 nor charity ; but only head, and faith in sour dogmas, 
 and getting on in this world. Truly, as I believe, 
 the most of men are not blest to have known my 
 love, which by the grace of God hath so lighted 
 my life that absence aye, and death, without doubt 
 could not darken it. Even Shakspere seemeth 
 to me hardly to divine it ; his loves are but a 
 courtier s, or at best a shepherd s, tending to pos 
 session, and ending then. Whereas, with mine, the 
 knowing her was all; the being in the world ; and 
 if so be my heart met understanding and response, 
 
 7 
 
8 King Noanett 
 
 it could die no more, and the purpose of the world 
 was full. 
 
 So is it that after three score years, my dim eyes 
 still see her brightly. Slender she was, yet lithe 
 and strong like the straight birch-tree ; her face I 
 may not so well describe to you ; for I hardly ever 
 saw her face, but only her eyes ; nor even saw I her 
 eyes to describe them well, but only herself in them. 
 I think they had the colour of the midmost of a 
 mighty wave at sea ; I only know that they were 
 brave, yet marvellous gentle ; and in them they 
 had, with pity and sweet honour, the meaning of 
 the world. For when I looked in them, even on 
 the second time that morning, I felt that all the 
 good in me was known : so the evil could no 
 longer be. 
 
 She was not lost (it seemed, she knew the moor 
 as well as I) ; only had walked too far since a cool 
 dawn, and now was resting from the drowsy heat of 
 the August mid-morn, fearing not the moor, but 
 liking the remoteness of it. By Combe Park had 
 she come, and from the Abbey ; a longish way, so 
 that (perhaps but for the putting of me at greater 
 ease) she was willing to ask if there might not be a 
 shorter, else a leveller way home. For my tower 
 was over by the Sadler s stone, snugged in twixt 
 Exehead and mighty Chapman Barrows, thrice the 
 height of these Massachusetts hills we have here ; 
 and she had had to cross, by down and up, two of 
 our deepest combes, in coming. Then I told her, 
 surely there was a shorter way, so that she might be 
 home even by noonday ; but that the byre with its 
 little watch-tower was not mine, only that I and my 
 
I Meet Mistress St. Aubyn 
 
 pony had discovered it just as she had ; and that I 
 would go away, if she wished to sleep. And at 
 this she smiled, and said No, she was done with 
 sleeping, only she liked the quiet there, coming 
 from a house full of armed men. And by her 
 manner, you would have thought she was a queen 
 grown, and I (as I was) but a child. 
 
 Then (forgetting I had said the watch-tower was 
 not mine) I wanted to tell her, she might come 
 there as often as she would ; but my tongue was 
 clumsy with it, and my cheeks burned red ; so I 
 made a show only to tell her how quiet and safe it 
 was, and how I liked it for the great hills guarding 
 it to east and west, and the deep scoop to the blue 
 northern sea, and the dim blue mountains beyond, 
 where were giants still, and they spoke even a 
 language that was not ours. " But how came your 
 house full of armed men, sithen the time is peace ? " 
 said I, too bluntly ; for her face crimsoned softly a 
 bit, like a shell that is held to the dawn. Then she 
 turned and spoke to me truly, simply, as one who 
 sees in life no other way ; only her eyes on mine as 
 she spoke (and there, I think, already began my 
 happiness ; only men, and surely Master Herrick, 
 would not call it so). 
 
 ff I have seen none but armed men about my 
 grandfather since King Charles, God bless him ! 
 was slain." And I bowed at her blessing, though 
 amazed ; for of my grandfather I heard more curses 
 than blessings ( tis true we Protestants pray not for 
 souls of the dead, and most of those we then had 
 cause to curse were main alive), and the very name 
 of God served but as handle to strong blows given 
 
io King Noanett 
 
 here on earth. And I had the breeding not to ask 
 her more ; for we, at Slocombslade, were Parliament 
 men. Only, I thanked me that the fighting now 
 was over. "And to-day," she added, simply, "my 
 uncle St. Aubyn is come over from Challacombe, 
 and even my Lord Say and Sele from Lundy. So 
 my grandfather bade me run and play " (she ended 
 with a smile), " and I am here." 
 
 Then I could not question her; and I might 
 have been hard put to it to find anything worthy 
 the saying to her, but that she seeing this began 
 to question me ; and I told her much about our 
 country, and something of the pony, and not a 
 little, as I fancy, of myself; for next to talking of 
 her life with her, it was sweet to have her talk of 
 my life with me. And she had that wonderful way 
 of seeing all the world, largely, with her wise, kind 
 eyes ; and all that there might be in a man at the 
 first looking at him. But the day was a day of 
 gossamer, fairy-spun ; and soon the spell of it took 
 us outward to the moors to the secretest dingle of 
 it, where the flowers could grow in shade by little 
 trees that were born at the birth of Farley water. 
 Here its young life made but a greenness in the 
 sod ; and here, beneath a shelter of little ancient 
 cedars, the fairies had indeed spun their web, even 
 to a mighty pavilion of the gossamer skein, a half a 
 rood in largeness, its silver roof glistening yet with 
 the frosty dew and heaped and tented into peaks 
 upon the taller stalks and flowers. 
 
 We looked over to the Countisbury hill and 
 the higher moors ; and westward the heather waves 
 rolled ever lower, into, at last, a mazy glistering of 
 
I Meet Mistress St. Aubyn n 
 
 gold ; while all before us were blue spheres of sea. 
 And then she told me of her father s battling in the 
 wars, and of her following, a little child, from keep 
 to keep, as each in turn was taken. Now it was all 
 but a dream to her, even as the knights in Arthur s 
 tale ; only that her old grandfather had grown more 
 fierce, since his son s death and the King s ; and 
 would ever talk to her of them ; and made the 
 Abbey but a camp for men at arms. And then I 
 must tell her what I knew : which was little save 
 the knowing of the hills and fields, and some old 
 country tales of Palomyd or Iseult and the older 
 Christian kingdom, that we learned in our country 
 of our nurses still. 
 
 And then she must go home ; and she rode upon 
 my pony, and let me lead him (not that he needed 
 it, but the way was new). And I led them by Para- 
 combe and Halwell castle, and so by Bonvile, where 
 her own people had lived, to the Abbey. And that 
 was all she told me on that day ; but the telling of 
 it made my life s tale. 
 
Ill 
 
 In which I Find Myself 
 
 THAT September morning lasted six weeks. 
 And then, I remember, I came home one 
 night and found my grandfather waiting 
 me. 
 
 " Where hast been," said he, " where hast been, 
 Bampfylde Moore Carew ? " (He always called 
 me Bampfylde Moore Carew, at length, because 
 he hated me. His name was Slocombe, Farmer 
 Slocombe, of Slocombslade and my father had 
 married his daughter.) " Hast been to th Abbey, 
 I ll be bound." 
 
 I nodded ; surlily, I suppose, for he went on, 
 more angrily, " Nor the first time, nuther, since 
 that old fox, Penruddock, ran to earth ? " 
 
 Now I had been there every day six weeks, since 
 that first bright morning when I found her lost near 
 the old sheepcote by Exehead Barrows ; so this time 
 I kept silence, confession leading further than the old 
 man was likely to imagine ; yet knew I only as by 
 instinct what thing it was that I would not confess. 
 
 " Humph ! " said my grandfather, " I can guess 
 the old Royalist hath brought some pretty spawn 
 of his n to bait his traitor s hook with " 
 
 At this my ire rose. " He hath brought his 
 orphan granddaughter, as I am yours " 
 
 " Some byblow from the court " 
 
I Find Myself 13 
 
 "A fairer, purer maid lives not in Devon 
 
 " Ho, ho," said my grandfather, and he peered at 
 me closely, and there was malice in his eye, " a fair 
 maid, quotha ? A maid thou callst this highborn 
 lady ? Thou wouldst marry her, thou, this gentle 
 man s daughter ? Thou, the beggar s son, whom I 
 took in for charity ! " 
 
 Now God knows I had no thought of marrying, 
 and knew that she was worlds above me, but that 
 He made her so, not man. And the thought thus 
 put in my heart, I plucked up heart to answer, " I 
 may not marry her, but I may serve her still yet 
 who knows ? My father was a gentleman, at least." 
 
 " A pretty gentleman, indeed ! A beggar, and a 
 beggarly sailor ! and worse, if all is true ; for he was 
 well hanged by the Spaniards for a thief, at Port-of- 
 Spain." 
 
 Now this I had never heard ; and my heart gave 
 a plunge within me. " A beggar ? " I faltered. 
 
 " Ay, and king of beggars was he called, until he 
 broke the gaol, at Bridgewater, and took to pirating. 
 And my only child must marry him, Bampfylde 
 Carew, because he was a gentleman, forsooth ! And 
 so she came home, and lay upon my doorstone, in 
 travail with thee ; and I took her in, before she died, 
 as I might have taken in any woman from the road. 
 So, Sir," ended my grandfather, "thou mayst go to 
 old Penruddock, and show him thy pedigree, the 
 proud fool ! and ask to quarter thy beggar s arms 
 with his. But the gibbet, thy crest, I dare say, will 
 do for both." And the old man strode into the 
 house, and I heard him settle himself for the day 
 before his leathern Bible. 
 
14 King Noanett 
 
 For it was Sunday. I know not what I felt ; but 
 I went up into the moors, by the old stone bield 
 and tower where first I found her ; and there in the 
 long grass by the bright stream I pressed my fevered 
 face and wept into the cool waters. They ran so 
 brightly by, all sparkling; never was the blue 
 heaven more deeply blue, nor the warm sunlight 
 more glorious; and all the sweet home wildflowers 
 grew about my face as it lay there, close to earth in 
 that soft green valley, and found no better thing 
 than tears. And there was one flower that they call 
 the Easter-flower I had never seen on the moors 
 before, and it was out of season ; blue with a golden 
 heart; and I remembered it until I saw it once 
 again. 
 
 In the afternoon, I rose and bathed my face in 
 the water Farley water was it called, and please 
 God, it flows there still would I go to her again? 
 Aye, though every minute with her bred a year of 
 after sorrow only to look once more into those 
 her eyes ! It seemed, if I could but carry their look 
 away with me, they might bear me through my life 
 alone. Just once more only once more, I prom 
 ised myself. 
 
 I did not then know what usury of years we pay 
 on minutes of joy so stolen. But had I known, I 
 should still have gone to her. Who loves and 
 would not barter his own life, year by year for 
 hour by hour, with hers ? 
 
 My grandfather was sitting by his doorstep, when 
 I went in to get my best doublet; and I took down 
 my father s sword boldly before him, though I had 
 never taken it before. I was ready for his anger; 
 
I Find Myself 15 
 
 but he only looked up grimly. I thought for once 
 perhaps his Bible reading had softened him. 
 
 "So," said he, "thou dst be a gentleman, too, and 
 put thy own neck in the noose ? Tell me what the 
 old fox says to thee if thou couldst but find when 
 he means to break covert, some good might come of 
 all thy fooling." 
 
 I looked at him and buckled the sword around 
 me. I was twenty, then, and well grown for my 
 years. "Tell me this, Sir," I answered, "if my 
 father was hanged for a thief if he were hanged 
 
 O O 
 
 on the Spanish Main how came his sword here 
 by you ? " 
 
 His eyes sought the floor, and he muttered some 
 thing; but all I heard was "fool of a Royalist." I 
 strode away and left him there. 
 
IV 
 
 In which is the Promise of my Life 
 
 THE sun was hanging above the western 
 sea, still three hours high. But I thought 
 only of Miss St. Aubyn ; one look of her I 
 craved, or the sun might sink forever, for 
 all me. I crossed the Mole s Chamber, and the high 
 barrows over Dean, and then strode rapidly down to 
 the fair lawn of Leigh Abbey. And there my love 
 stood, on the pleasaunce, tending flowers; flowers 
 whose blooming we should never see. And then, 
 she looked up ; and I saw far within her eyes. 
 
 My heart drank deeply ; for were not the days of 
 drought to come? And she looked at me bravely 
 she had a marvellous still look in them, a look, I 
 think, that is given by peace and pure friendliness 
 and then, 
 
 " I thought that you would come," she said. 
 
 Something in this speech made sweet within me 
 perhaps she saw it, for she said hastily, " I thought 
 that you would come to-day; for it it is for 
 to-morrow " 
 
 She hesitated, confused; but this speech I liked 
 not so well; and I broke in, and cried, "What is 
 to-morrow what is to-morrow to us to-day?" 
 
 " But my grandfather says that you must not 
 come any more." 
 
 I looked at her, and her eyes met mine once more. 
 
 16 
 
The Promise of my Life 17 
 
 The love made heaven within them, and I minded 
 not her words. One day was an eternity to me. 
 And so we walked off, over the moor ; for this day, 
 at least, was mine. 
 
 " You uphold the Lord Protector," said she, 
 "and we, the King." I thought then of the divi 
 sion that was between us, not only this, but the 
 other matter; and my steps grew heavy until that 
 day I had never thought that this could end ! But 
 now, this was, perhaps, our last day on earth. And 
 I walked beside her, like a miser, counting her steps 
 by my side. (Her walk was like the waving of the 
 barley to a gentle wind.) We went up the long 
 sweep of Exmoor, with the sinking sun behind us, 
 and I watched her light feet fall upon the heather. 
 And at the highest point of that down, a bit of grey 
 stone breaks through the turf; and she sat on this 
 enthroned, for the level sunbeam made a radiance 
 round her face. I knelt beside her ; the heather 
 curved downward from us, toward the South, and 
 far in the dip of the valley was the grey little church 
 of North Molton, nestling in the trees. 
 
 " And I too," said I, " I am forbid to see you 
 any more," and I laughed, so little then I knew. 
 Then I told her, or I tried to tell her, what my 
 grandfather had said. But I could not say it all. 
 She listened, to the end ; and then she smiled. 
 
 "Thou art a gentleman, I see, so have no fear 
 beside, what dost thou know of me ? " 
 
 ut Th four wheels of Charles s wain, 
 Grenvile, Godolphin, St. Aubyn, Slanning, slain !" 
 
 cried I, "all Devon knows of that, alas! Mv 
 
King Noanett 
 
 grandfather was at Launceston, with the Parliament 
 men, and came home with half a coat, swearing ; 
 for the two thousand Cornishmen had beat seven 
 thousand that were with him, fighting with naked 
 swords against bullets when their powder gave out 
 -and then, at Lansdowne-hill, they cried, the 
 Cornish foot, that f they might have leave to fetch 
 those cannon ! 
 
 " Twas there my father died. But my grand 
 father " she checked herself. " But let us go on 
 walking." 
 
 We went on, over the heather, ruddy or deep 
 purple in the sunset or the shadow ; and so walk 
 ing, we came by the little sheepscote where I had 
 lain that morning, and the still, sparkling stream. 
 The sweet fields and rills, the sunny hills and the 
 bright water, fresh as when the hand of their Creator 
 left them ; the fields seemed still to wear his smile, 
 the water to run his will, as on the day he left them, 
 saying, "It is good!" And I thought how I had 
 prayed the Virgin on that morning (for it was the 
 eighth of September, the day of the Nativity) that I 
 might see my lady there once more ; and now it was 
 granted me, on the very spot where I had seen the 
 world so hopeless, and had had my tears. So then I 
 made a vow, that I would trust my love and heaven, 
 and fearless take the way they showed to me. Then 
 I said to her, " Mistress St. Aubyn, may I come to 
 see you soon again ? " and the spell was broken. 
 
 " No I do not know," said she, coldly or sadly 
 ah me, the doubt of which it was ! and when I im 
 plored her, she would not say, but only looked at 
 me sadly. 
 
The Promise of my Life 19 
 
 " We must go back," said she, at last ; and we 
 turned and went in silence. Our steps lay down 
 ward ; the sun had set, and only its last radiance 
 remained to light her face. It seemed, there was 
 an autumn wind, the first of winter, upspringing 
 from the sea ; the cold light fell upon her eyes and 
 lips ; and I stumbled as I walked, looking at her, 
 for some instinct bade me stamp her portrait on my 
 heart that day. Only, it lay blurred upon my 
 memory, dazzled in the light that dwelt within her 
 eyes : I saw them once again. Alas, we were al 
 ready by the vale of rocks ! But the last turns of 
 the path were longer : bless the long moor that lies 
 twixt there and Leigh ! Her face shone pure and 
 white, against the shadowed moor. And the two 
 turns still to make before we reached the carved 
 lions of the gate, I hoarded to my heart. But ah ! 
 there we met Colonel Penruddock, his iron-grey hair 
 still long in curls, and laces showing at the collar of 
 the steel corslet he wore, standing grimly, as if he 
 waited for us. 
 
 "Present me to this gentleman," said he "but 
 first, you, Sir do you know her?" 
 
 "Miss Mistress St. Aubyn," stammered I. 
 
 " Lady Lady," he corrected me; "daughter and 
 heiress of that Lord St. Aubyn, who with his cousin 
 Bevil Grenvile, fell at Lansdowne ; and niece of Sir 
 Richard Grenvile, he who fought a fleet of Spaniards 
 in his single ship, and said, i Here die I, Richard 
 Grenvile, with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I 
 have ended rny life as a true soldier ought to do 
 
 " c Fighting for his country, queen, religion, and 
 honour! said I, taking off my hat. 
 
2O King Noanett 
 
 " So thou art a gentleman," he said ; and then 
 turning to her, " What is his name ? " 
 
 Trembling, but bravely, she pronounced it. I 
 thought he frowned ; but it may have been my 
 fear. 
 
 "And grandson of the churlish farmer here ? So ; 
 how long has this been going on ? Well, well ; 
 there may be little more. Thou art a Roundhead ; 
 if thou wouldst be a gentleman " my heart bounded 
 within me "then come no more." 
 
 I bowed ; and faced him. " At least, I may go 
 with her to the Abbey ? " She had left us while 
 we spoke ; and I ran after her. " Once more 
 only once more," I begged ; " to-morrow ? " 
 
 She looked at me, and I am sure she saw my 
 heart dying in my eyes. 
 
 " Perhaps perhaps to-morrow," she said gen 
 tly ; and then, " Oh, go away forgive me, go 
 away ! " 
 
 " I must see you once more," I cried ; for already 
 I felt her features fading from my heart, so hard it 
 is to bring to memory the features of the face you 
 love too much. " Only once more to-morrow ? 
 Promise me that I shall see you to-morrow ? " 
 
 She shook her head, and looked away far over the 
 grey sea ; and I felt a cry within me to fix this 
 moment by some vow. 
 
 " Promise me you will not believe what story my 
 grandfather or other men may tell about my father 
 or of me and promise to have faith in me," I 
 ended ; for I did not dare to say what I wished. 
 And the memory of those words unsaid haunted me 
 for many years. 
 
The Promise of my Life 21 
 
 She looked brightly at me, smiling. " That is 
 easy," she said. 
 
 " Then, to show that it is true, let me see you 
 once more to-morrow. I will ask your grandfather 
 why I may not come." 
 
 " Oh, not, not that," cried out my lady, wildly. 
 He will he will " (" He will bid you stay, " 
 I know now that she said ; but the last three words 
 were drowned in tears.) 
 
 " Then promise," I said, laying boldly my hand 
 to hers. 
 
 " I promise that you shall see me once more 
 some time," she murmured, and ran through the 
 courtyard into the house. And with this, her 
 promise, I walked home beneath the stars. 
 
V 
 
 In which I Find a Cross 
 
 I SANG while I walked ; for my heart was light 
 that night, as it had been heavy in the morn 
 ing. Though a lover have but one more 
 meeting in prospect, he looks not beyond it ; 
 but forward to that morrow, or next week, or even 
 next year, if need be, and he have but due assurance 
 of it, as to such infinity of blessedness that it needs 
 no eternity ; but that the morrow and all the days 
 that lead to it are made glorious thereby. And, as 
 I sang, I heard a plaintive cadence of melody over 
 the evening moor ; it was a man s voice, but no roist 
 ering cavalier melody, only just that sad and simple 
 little tune to which the cause of the Stuarts died : 
 
 " Her whom ye love 
 
 For him ye shall leave, 
 He is thy King, if Queen she shall ever be; 
 
 Now ye may prove 
 
 How both ye do love, 
 Dying so loyally, living so tenderly . . . 
 
 Lillibullero it was ; poor, plaintive, little tune of a 
 lost cause ; to one s ears now it hath a "dying fall " 
 indeed. Of course I had heard it often enough 
 before, but to bolder words, and resented it ; for 
 Slocombslade, our parish, had sided with the Com 
 monwealth, but somehow these new words seemed 
 
I Find a Cross 
 
 to wind themselves about my heart that night ; who 
 sang them I did not know, nor why ; it was a man s 
 strong voice tempered to sweetness either by the 
 words themselves, or by the lonely moor, or by the 
 unsafely of such singing in such times. But my ear 
 caught up the tune, as my heart the voice ; and I 
 came into our farmyard humming it softly. Mv 
 grandfather looked up sharply from his doorstone, 
 where he sat smoking his pipe. 
 
 " Bampfylde Moore Carew, what hast thou 
 learned ? " said he. I looked at him innocently 
 enough. 
 
 " What advantage hast thou of thy folly ? Will 
 the old fox break covert in the morning ? " Even 
 then the reason did not come to me ; I am not 
 slow-witted, but my mind was full of her. " Art 
 thou going back in the morn ? " 
 
 I felt again like a miser whose treasure has been 
 half uncovered by some rough step. I hung my 
 sword upon the rack, but gave no speech. 
 
 " I trow not," he grumbled. " Lad, thee must 
 ride even to Bideford the morrow, and bring back 
 the Lord Protector s soldiery." Like a blow this 
 order fell upon me, and I turned and faced him. 
 
 " I will not," I said, " and I am going back in 
 the morning." I looked to see him fire with choler ; 
 but he only laid his pipe down, and clasping his 
 knees, he rocked his long beard to and fro, and 
 chuckled softly. " Ah, ah, the bird is not yet 
 flown," he muttered. " Let them make head, let 
 them make head. The old cock will not fly till the 
 nest is clear. What dost thou call her ? " he cried 
 to me suddenly. " Penruddock, or St. Aubyn ?" 
 
24 King Noanett 
 
 Now, her name for me (so far as she needed 
 name) had been Miss St. Aubyn, and more than 
 this I did not know. And so foolish was I that I 
 would not confess this even to the old yeoman ; but 
 went upstairs to bed. And there I opened the win 
 dow to look at the upward sweep of moorland to the 
 stars. For, as some of you may know, God help 
 you, or may come to know aye, and God help 
 you soothlier if you never do I would not have 
 lost in sleep one minute of those bright hours that 
 lay between me and my darling. Hours enough for 
 sleep might come thereafter, when I could sleep no 
 more. 
 
 The night was fine till nearly dawn ; but then a 
 mist came stealing from the earth, and the stars 
 paled and, one by one, went out in the cold, slow 
 Northern wind that began the winter, and sucked 
 the warmth and sweetness from our soft uplands. 
 I shivered then, and arose and dressed me. And 
 all that day the fog enveloped me, where er I went, 
 and the sun was gone ; and the darkness of it lies 
 still about that day in memory. 
 
 For I went to Leigh Abbey long before it was 
 noon (there was no sun to the day, and how could 
 I tell the time ?) and I watched for her, but she did 
 not come. And I walked slowly on the ridge of 
 the moor, against the sky where she might see me, 
 all along by the side of the old Abbey where her 
 chamber was ; and saw no answering sign. Then 
 at last I went to the door and knocked ; and an old 
 serving-woman came to my call. 
 
 " Her bean t here/ she said. Now this I knew 
 was not true ; for she had promised me that I should 
 
I Find a Cross 25 
 
 see her ; and had I not been in sight of her dwelling 
 since the dawn ? (and no one had departed from it). 
 So I said nothing, but hung my head ; and went up 
 to the great beetling rock that hangs over against 
 Leigh Abbey by the sea ; and there I watched and 
 waited. Had she not promised to see me ? And 
 I, who had asked her to believe in me, truly I must 
 well believe in her. All day I sat there, without 
 food or drink, and saw no sign of her. But many 
 companies of mounted troopers I saw come to the 
 Abbey, and more depart. And at last, in the after 
 noon, I went back and clamoured at the door ; and 
 this time it was a soldier that appeared ; and he 
 looked at me and asked if I was an honest gentle 
 man and came from Bideford disguised ; I told him 
 that I sought to see the lady St. Aubyn ; and at this 
 he rudely laughed, and shut the door in my face. 
 And so I must fain go back half crying, not so 
 much at losing her, but that she had broken her 
 word to me one of the two poor promises she 
 gave to let me see her once more; nor in absence 
 to think ill of me. What if she broke the other too ? 
 The time for sunset came, but the mist was break 
 ing into driven rain, and clearing coldly. Yet some 
 hours more I sat there, until, about eight in the 
 evening, it seemed to me I saw two gowned figures 
 issue from the side door ; and two or three horses 
 stood there in waiting. I went down and came close 
 to them in the dark, and then I saw that they were 
 priests. Now I had been bred a good Protestant ; 
 but my father was of the older religion ; for nothing 
 worse than Papist knave had my grandfather called 
 him until that day ; besides, in those days in our 
 
26 King Noanett 
 
 country we still kept many of the feasts, and even 
 prayed to Mary, that here they think but Popish 
 idolatry. So I was about to speak to them, when, 
 seeing me, they stopped and crossed themselves ; and 
 one spoke, timidly as it seemed, the words " South 
 Molton." 
 
 "South Molton?" said I. 
 
 " Are you from Bideford ? " 
 
 " Nay," said I ; " my grandfather bade me go there." 
 
 " And who is thy grandfather, lad ? " said the 
 priest, now boldly. 
 
 "Farmer Slocombe, of Slocombslade " 
 
 Hardly had I said the words ere they were in the 
 saddle and clapped spurs to their horses. "A spy," 
 cried one ; and the other had already vanished. I 
 stood in the dark, looking after them, not noticing 
 their servant, who was mounting clumsily, turning 
 his horse about and around, and tripping over a long 
 blunderbuss he carried ; and as he got up in his 
 seat, he brought it fairly to his shoulder and fired 
 full at me. The horse had started, and the bullets 
 rattled harmlessly enough against the stone Abbey 
 wall a yard ahead of me ; and before I had come out 
 of my daze the varlet had followed his masters up 
 over the moor. The night was clearing rapidly ; 
 and as I looked after him, I saw the red glow of 
 the balefire on Dunkery beacon, fifteen miles away, 
 flushed in the clouds. And suddenly, there was a 
 light behind me, and I turned and saw a tongue of 
 flame leap from the Abbey window by my side. 
 
 I rushed to the little door, but it was fast barred 
 and would not give ; then I ran around to the great 
 Abbey entrance, but it was fast also. Then I prayed 
 
I Find a Cross 
 
 Heaven that it might be true, that she had broke her 
 promise, and had left without meaning to see me 
 again. Another window burst out in flame ; and 
 then another, and another. The fire was in the 
 back of the building ; and already little spurts and 
 jets came out and licked up the mosses on the low 
 gable. No sound came from within : but what if 
 she was still there, sleeping perhaps, while her grand 
 father and all his company were away ? For I felt sure 
 some business was going forward that night ; what, 
 I did not know. The blood was in my head; I 
 rushed wildly back to the great hall entrance, and 
 dashed my arm against the lattice of a window 7 . It 
 fell inward with a clatter on the stone floor; and I 
 made my way in, despite the cloud of smoke that 
 poured from the broken window. I found myself 
 in the great hall, already litten with a ruddy glow r ; 
 and I ran up the stairway, seeking where I thought 
 her room might be. 
 
 Door, after door, I opened, but only found breast 
 plates, boots and suchlike matters ; and I made my 
 way hardly through the blinding smoke. I cried 
 her name aloud, but vainly; and beneath me I could 
 hear the crashing of the falling timbers. At last I 
 opened the door of what seemed to be a little cham 
 ber ; a door opened from it, and groping in the 
 stifling dark, I felt a crucifix upon an altar. I ran 
 back into the hall stairway, which was already flam 
 ing, and I twisted out one of the burning balusters 
 for a torch. Back in the little room, I could have 
 cried tor joy ; for there was a couch empty, and one 
 of the robes, lying carelessly across it as if left in 
 haste, I knew for hers. I knelt down beside it one 
 
28 King Noanett 
 
 moment and kissed her gown , and there was a little 
 book of hours beside the little cross, and I took this 
 book ; then throwing wide the casement (for all the 
 central hall was furious fire now), I dropped from 
 its little balcony and fell unhurt upon the grass. 
 
 When I reached home, my grandfather was wait 
 ing up for me, though it was midnight. He looked 
 at me, and saw my sad visage, and then he smiled. 
 
 " The old earth is burning," said he. " Thou lt 
 take the mare and ride to Bideford this night. I 
 see by thy looks tis time." 
 
 " That will I not," said I ; for now I knew what 
 business might be forward. 
 
 " Then roof of mine shall shelter thee no more." 
 He made as if to strike me ; but I met his glance, 
 and once again it sought the ground. I turned 
 from him and took my father s sword (which I had 
 left behind, that day that I had thought a tryst for 
 seeing her) and I stopped in the larder for a crust 
 of bread. 
 
 And this was all I took from what had been my 
 mother s house ; and so, penniless and hungry as 
 she had entered it again, twenty years before, I 
 turned my face to the moor and left him there. 
 
 I slackened not until I came to the highest point, 
 near the Exehead ; and there I lay upon the moss 
 and ate my bread ; and my heart was cold within 
 me. For the day had gone that she had promised 
 should be mine, and yet I had not seen her. And 
 the night came on the colder as it wore to dawn ; 
 and it was now the second day since I had look of 
 her, and I pressed my face to the wet turf and wished 
 God forgive me that I might die. 
 
VI 
 
 In which I Witness Penruddock s Rising 
 
 AT dawn the mist was heavy again ; and 
 I rose and stumbled feebly (for I was 
 faint with hunger) on the road to South 
 Molton. For the priest had said South 
 Molton ; it might have been a mere password, 
 but it was my only clue. Now the little village 
 of Simonsbath lies in a hollow of the moor where 
 trees may grow, and is wont to be silent as any 
 combe in Devon ; but, as I came over the hill 
 above it, I heard great shouting, and the clash of 
 muskets grounded and being; loaded. I looked 
 
 O O 
 
 down, but the little cup-like vale was full of mist, 
 and I could see nothing, though the sound seemed 
 to come the clearer. So I went down and mingled 
 among them ; at first cautiously, then boldly, for 
 I saw it was only the neighbours armed. They said 
 they were waiting for the soldiers ; and I soon gath 
 ered that the old man Penruddock was the object 
 of their array, and that he indeed was believed to 
 be at South Molton, making head against the 
 Commonwealth, and that the Rump soldiers were 
 coming from Bideford to put him down. I waited 
 for nothing more, not even to eat, but went back 
 by the way I came, lest they should suspect my 
 errand ; and I dared not go by the straight road ; 
 
 29 
 
30 King Noanett 
 
 but when I got upon the moor alone, I circled 
 about, and made hard for South Molton town. 
 
 But I was too faint for want of food ; my run 
 came to a hobble, and the hobble to a walk, and 
 my heart was pounding against my ribs. Some 
 miles yet I struggled on, until I saw a lonely shep 
 herd s cottage ; and I made for this, and the sky 
 turned black, and I fell fainting against the door. 
 
 I got over this weakness as quickly as I could ; 
 and then I saw a crackling fire of furze, and a young 
 man was rubbing my hands, and better than half a 
 dozen children looking on with their large eyes, for 
 they had learned young the lack of food. When 
 my eyes opened, the father came to me with a 
 bowl of smoking barley broth and spoke to me 
 kindly, and the sour smoke of the furze got in my 
 eyes and brought the tears there. It was no shep 
 herd, but old Parson Berry of South Molton. I 
 knew little of him then, save that I had often heard 
 my grandfather call him fool ; but I had often seen 
 him when, in his rusty old cassock, he used to come 
 to the farmers round about, begging milk for his 
 two babies ; for the mother had died that spring. 
 
 For Mr. Daniel Berry, being a very loyal as well 
 as learned divine, fell under the ruins of the church 
 and state in the grand rebellion, in the days of King 
 Charles the First, which he vigorously, though in 
 vain, endeavoured, according to his conscience and 
 duty, to support. For which reason the very 
 zealous, tender-conscioned reformers of those times 
 thought fit to turn him out of his benefice (which 
 was his freehold), contrary to all law and justice ; 
 and not only so, but to strip him of all he had, 
 
I Witness Penruddock s Rising 31 
 
 even to the bed he lay upon. Which goods and 
 movables of his thus seized upon were sold by 
 the sequestrators at a public survey (as it is called, 
 a kind of auction long practiced in our parts), all, 
 except his books ; and those, being of good value, 
 were liberally bestowed on that famous, independent 
 preacher, Mr. Lewis Steukley, who sometime lorded 
 it at Exeter with more than prelatical rigour, for 
 which this great zealot, as he had not the conscience 
 at first to refuse them, so had he never after the 
 honesty to restore the value of one farthing for 
 them ; though there were no less than nine horse- 
 loads of them, and the family reduced to very great 
 extremities. With the grief of which barbarous 
 treatment, Mrs. Berry contracted such distempers 
 and diseases as at length brought her to her grave, 
 leaving behind her, to the Divine protection, her 
 nine small children. And here they were living in 
 this shepherd s hut, little better than a linhay for 
 the sheep ; for the chimney was but a hole in the 
 roof, and the floor was earth. And before he gave 
 me the broth, he must needs read something out of 
 an old church Bible, which, I verily believe, was the 
 only book he had ; for they would not let him read 
 services in the church there in those times. 
 
 But I made short work of this ; for I told him 
 what the men of Simonsbath were doing, and how 
 Colonel Penrudciock was at South Molton, and Noll s 
 troops marching at him from either side, and I had 
 started out to warn him, but thus had fallen by the 
 way. After this, he read but one short collect, and 
 put back his gilded book carefully on the only shelf 
 that had been fashioned in the side of that hut ; 
 
32 King Noanett 
 
 then, coming back, he said to the eldest, " John, 
 you must go " then breaking off, he looked at 
 me sharply. " Are you an honest gentleman ? " 
 
 "At least, I am no liar," said I. 
 
 "John, you will run to town and as ye may 
 not come back to me, take thy poor sword. God 
 bless thee, my boy, and mayst thou serve him only 
 * whose service is perfect freedom ! " At this, John 
 went off over the moor, and the eight smaller chil 
 dren set up a great cry, and I finished the broth 
 alone, the old vicar standing at the open door to 
 watch his son. Then I too got up to go. 
 
 " Poor boy, not yet," said the vicar, suddenly turn 
 ing some of the love that was in his face to me. I 
 cried a bit again, for it was, save hers, the first kind 
 word my life had known but I had more to make 
 me go there than had his John. So when the brother 
 had gone, I thanked this poor parson, and started too. 
 
 When I got to the town, there, by the door of 
 the inn, stood Colonel Penruddock, an old man 
 already, yet with iron-moulded features, his blue 
 eyes fixed, his thin grey hair (for he had laid aside 
 his iron headpiece and his wig) whipping in the 
 wind. Around him stood some dozen or two of 
 gentlemen, and in the village street some scores of 
 their followers ; and in the ground before them had 
 been planted the royal standard. The idle villagers 
 looked on, agape and curious ; and he finished speak 
 ing to them as I arrived. " Here set I first the royal 
 standard of King Charles," he ended ; " now let all 
 England follow it." 
 
 "King Charles!" cried out the gentry. "Long 
 live Charles the Second ! " 
 
I Witness Penruddock s Rising 33 
 
 There was some thin cheering from his followers, 
 but no one of the villagers moved. Then I saw 
 first on Penruddock s stern face that other-world 
 light that marked the fanatic. " To-night we go to 
 Bridgewater," said he. " To-morrow, Exeter will 
 
 >T 
 
 rise. 
 
 " To-night, thou lt go to Bridgewater gaol," I 
 heard a voice behind me say, and I turned and saw 
 my grandfather. But just then, there was a ringing 
 of horse, and a cavalcade of well-armed gentlemen 
 was seen, defiling down the moor-track from the 
 South. They had come from Pendennis castle, it 
 was whispered, and they all wore the white cockade. 
 So large did a few score horsemen look in that lonely 
 place that the villagers began to waver, being more 
 afraid than unwilling ; and perhaps half a hundred 
 came over and took arms, of which there was a great 
 store heaped up in the inn yard. And then there 
 was a great outcry, and all the people ran to be the 
 first. My grandfather touched my elbow. 
 
 " Wilt come back with me, once for all ? " said he. 
 
 " Nay," said I, for I was thinking how I might 
 see her, now her grandfather was here. 
 
 " Thou fool," said my grandfather again, " dost 
 know, the troops even now are closing in from 
 Taunton and from Minehead way ? And they of 
 Bideford may yet be here ere nightfall." 
 
 " More need for me to warn him, then," answered 
 I ; and I think the old man would have struck at 
 me, but that he saw it hardly safe to make a stir. 
 For, by this time, that little Devon village was 
 King Charles s, though all the rest of England were 
 Roundhead still. 
 
34 King Noanett 
 
 " Farewell, then, since thou must e en go thy 
 father s way." And he disappeared amid the press, 
 and no one offered to stop him, for it was free com 
 ing and going all that day. So I went up to the inn ; 
 but I was told the commander-in-chief (such hopes 
 did old Penruddock give himself) and the gentlemen 
 from the South were in earnest council, and he might 
 not be importuned with the visit of a stripling such 
 as I. But among the crowd I saw one that had 
 been serving-man at the Abbey ; and I asked him 
 whether his young mistress were within. " Nay, 
 God forbid she left last night," said he. " Please 
 God, she is well on her way to the North by now." 
 
 She had left the day before ! I fell back amid 
 the crowd, and knew not where in all the world to 
 turn my head, now that my heart was gone. For 
 she had deceived me knowingly, and while I left 
 her but for the few hours, she had made the promise, 
 knowing I should never see her, no, not even the 
 once, more. She was all my life, and I was none of 
 hers. 
 
 I did not know she had done this in kindness, 
 knowing that my love was beyond hope, and think 
 ing by this sooner nip of frost to cure it (as young 
 trees are saved by cold days coming quick upon the 
 warm, in winter). Alas, we should do our natures, 
 if they be kind, and leave other things to God, who 
 seeth far; nor choke down our hearts when they 
 would speak ; a gentle lady should be brave, and 
 pure let who will be discreet ; discretion needeth 
 to be taught to maids of modest station. For a true 
 man will live a lifetime on a kind word, yet never 
 trouble the speaker. And afterwards, it was for this 
 
I Witness Penruddock s Rising 35 
 
 I wandered in the wilderness, and almost lost the 
 heart to live. 
 
 So all that day I stayed about the place. The 
 gay flag flaunted still by the inn door, and I sat 
 there, on a mounting-stone, and looked on idly. By 
 twos and threes a tew rustics came in, in the after 
 noon ; but I saw by the looks of the gentlemen 
 when they came to the door, that they were griev 
 ously put about. John Berry came not, and I 
 knew afterwards that he had fallen in with a party 
 of Commonwealth men, and wisely made no sign of 
 his errand. And at last, toward nightfall, a mes 
 senger ran in breathless, and said that the soldiers 
 were coming. 
 
 Old Penruddock came out from the door and 
 drew up his men. " Tis at most a company," I 
 heard him say to another, one Hayes, that was with 
 him. 
 
 " Two companies, at the least, and what are we ? " 
 and he pointed sadly to the scanty line of gentlemen 
 and the ragged crowd of countrymen, huddled like 
 sheep behind, half-armed, undrilled, and some that 
 were plainly starting to waver and looking for a 
 chance to slink away. 
 
 " Now, Heaven forbid that any score of honest 
 gentlemen turn tail before a pair of companies ot 
 Noll s hired raffle," he answered ; but just then there 
 came a crash of musketry and a hail of bullets 
 through the street ; and from the side, we saw a 
 line of leather-jerkined troops advancing, and I saw 
 my grandfather with the officer at the head, showing 
 the way. Penruddock s recruits turned the other 
 way to fly, and were met by the two companies we had 
 
36 King Noanett 
 
 first seen, coming down from the moor to the South ; 
 the others were the Bideford men, as I have been 
 told. Some of the gentry got to horse, and these 
 escaped ; old Colonel Penruddock grasped the ban 
 ner and stood there, seeking to face both ways with 
 his sword. He made nimble play with this ; and, 
 with the dozen men he still had with him, gave 
 good account of the first rank that met him, who 
 had discharged their muskets ; but it was soon over. 
 And I stood there, and looked on, so heartless was 
 I ; only that when a soldier sought once to give the 
 old man a thrust as he faced the other way, I brought 
 my flat sword down on his arm ; but even as I did 
 this, Penruddock was seized and quickly bound. 
 And we were chained together, two by two, and my 
 grandfather s word proved true ; for so we marched 
 all night, and before the dawn came, we were lodged 
 in Bridgewater gaol. 
 
 I doubt King Charles ever more than heard of 
 this. Yet, this thing happened, and it was scarce six 
 years before he entered London, mid all England 
 decked in flowers and the fountains spouting wine. 
 
VII 
 
 In which I Visit Bridgewater Gaol 
 
 THEY did not keep us long in gaol ; so I 
 need not say what things I suffered there. 
 Only, the worst was that I had no word 
 of her. I knew her grandfather had been 
 taken, and was there with me ; I fancied she found 
 means to write him letters there. But it was scarce 
 a week, and they led us to the assize, which was 
 held in a room of the prison ; and when I entered 
 it, the unwonted light blinded me so that I could 
 see nothing, only that there was a great company ; 
 the crowd of common folk behind us, and we pris 
 oners in the centre ; and, behind the judge, a gaily 
 dressed group of lords and ladies. But I soon saw 
 that these last were no enemies, but rather felt for 
 us. And slowly my eyes became used to the light, 
 and the clerk of justice was reading something, and 
 I felt my heart was thrilling with a presence in the 
 room ; and I looked up, and there, behind the jus 
 tice of the Commonwealth, I saw my love. So it 
 was that I met her that once more. My knees gave 
 way beneath me, my lips parted ; she laid her finger 
 on her lips. 
 
 But when it came over me how she had not seen 
 me after her promise that last time, I looked into 
 her beautiful grey eyes, and tried to make mine 
 look as if they saw a stone. But at this she only 
 
 37 
 
38 King Noanett 
 
 smiled, and made at me as if she nodded slightly 
 and did not dare to more. 
 
 Her grandfather was sitting with us, but on the 
 end, so that she could bend over the bar and speak 
 to him. I saw her whisper, and he looked at me. 
 He was still richly dressed, and he wore his sword, 
 and some one had given him a red rose and a white 
 one, which he held and smelt of delicately, now and 
 then, as had he been at court. You could not see 
 that his hair was grey, for he wore a courtly wig, 
 flowing and long. And she was very pale, and did 
 not smile again, and I saw him touch her hand as 
 if to comfort her. 
 
 " Stand up," said somebody, and I became con 
 scious that we were being tried. We all stood up, 
 and the judge made a long speech, the most of which 
 I do not remember, for I was looking at Miss St. 
 Aubyn ; but the purport of it was, that we had been 
 found in arms against the Commonwealth, and were 
 like to be all taken out and shot. All except Colo 
 nel Penruddock ; his turn would come later, said the 
 judge. And at this the old man only smiled, and 
 fingered the roses in his hand. 
 
 " But no man shall henceforth in England be con 
 demned except upon fair trial and good evidence," 
 then said the judge, in closing. " Harry Champer- 
 nowne, what hast thou to say ? The rest of ye, be 
 seated. Now, what art thou ? " 
 
 " I am a Captain in the service of King Charles," 
 said my neighbour. Short work was made of him; 
 the sentence passed, the justice turned to me. 
 
 " Bampfylde Moore Carew, art thou of King or 
 Commonwealth?" 
 
I Visit Bridgewater Gaol 39 
 
 (As the judge began to speak, I saw that she had 
 now the roses in her hand. And as he ended, her 
 eyes made appeal to me, and I saw her hold the red 
 one up. And her lips made motion of the longer 
 word.) 
 
 ^ \ beg your Honour s grace he is my grand 
 son," said a voice; and lo ! it was my grandfather. 
 
 "Thy grandson, Farmer Slocombe? How came 
 he in this evil company? The man s well known 
 to me," I heard him say to a grave person that sat 
 beside him, and seemed to be some personage of 
 state. 
 
 " I sent the lad as messenger to bring the troops 
 from Bideford," said my grandfather, " and he was 
 taken by the way. He served but as my spy." 
 
 Now Heaven tame our haughty hearts, I was not 
 so touched by the old man s relenting over his own 
 flesh-and-blood, as I could have killed him for that 
 lie, and for the look that passed over my lady s face. 
 A scarlet flush swept over it; and her eyes (which 
 till then had never left me) were turned away. And 
 I saw her grandfather smile to her grimly, and her 
 glance sank to the floor; and I knew that henceforth 
 I was naught to her. Her lips no longer formed the 
 message; she cared not that I told the truth, now 
 that she believed me not. And then, resentment for 
 her leaving me, and rage that I had lost her, choked 
 my thoughts; and the justice repeated his question 
 impatiently, and they thought I was afraid. 
 
 " I am for King Charles," said I, loudly. " It is a 
 lie that I took a message to Bideford." 
 
 Oh, pale that was so red! Her lips blanched as 
 she looked at me, and I saw her eyes again ; then 
 
40 King Noanett 
 
 she turned quickly to her grandfather, and he stood 
 up and spoke. " He is no recruit of mine," said he. 
 " I never saw him under arms/ 
 
 " He was taken righting," said the justice, doubting. 
 
 "Only to save my life I had known the lad a 
 little he but struck a musket down that was aimed 
 at me, as I was being taken." 
 
 " Pish we can t waste time over the fellow let 
 him be sent to the colonies. Who s next?" 
 
 The others were rapidly disposed of. And then, 
 at last, they took up Penruddock himself; and we 
 were filed away, all chained together ; but as I passed 
 in front of where my love was sitting, I said quickly, 
 " Believe not what they say of me," and I looked 
 my last within her eyes. But she turned hers away. 
 And then, as we left the court room, I heard her cry 
 aloud, and saw her fall ; for her grandfather was sen 
 tenced for high treason, to be hanged and quartered. 
 
VIII 
 
 In which I Meet Miles Courtenay and Jennifer 
 
 MORE than a year it was before the rumour 
 came to us, through some kind under- 
 gaoler, that the ship at last was ready. 
 And in that year I heard nothing of Miss 
 St. Aubyn nor of the fate of her grandfather. It 
 was a bright June morning that we were marched, 
 still chained in threes and fours, out into the sunlit 
 streets, and to the docks at Plymouth, where we saw 
 the fair blue water. We were led into the fore part 
 of the vessel, and penned like sheep, twixt mast and 
 forecastle ; and that same afternoon the ship got under 
 way. How fair the chequered fields of Devon look, 
 to men who are leaving them in chains ! 
 
 So I left England, with my heart behind me for 
 that they could not chain a convict, with convicts 
 for the colonies. But on the next day, when that 
 dear land was already sunk behind the sea, they took 
 our chains off, from such of us as had not been male 
 factors, and I took a long breath of the free sea air, 
 and vowed to myself that I would be true to her 
 though she knew it not, and some day return, when 
 no longer a disgrace to her; as soon as I might, I 
 would go back to find her. And if I found her 
 happy, I would never more reveal myself; but go 
 back again to that new country we were sailing to, 
 and do a man s work while I lived. 
 
 41 
 
42 King Noanett 
 
 A sad ship s company we had. First, there were 
 regular convicts, old offenders, who were shipped for 
 no particular reason but to get them out of England. 
 Then ourselves, the enemies of the Commonwealth, 
 as they called us, and many servants, who had bound 
 themselves, perhaps for years, to labour for their 
 freedom in the colonies ; redemptioners, these were 
 called. And there were many women ; some going 
 out to become wives to the colonists, others, I fear, 
 because they had ruined themselves at home; but 
 the most of them belonged to neither class, Irish, 
 many of them, but seemed like gentlefolk, or at least 
 not like the others, and were crying bitterly. Among 
 these last were several young maids, some with their 
 mothers, some alone, but never a man or brother 
 with them; hardly in their teens, poor things, with 
 fresh, childlike faces; enough to make your heart 
 bleed. 
 
 At first, all of us were most miserable ; Heaven 
 forbid my describing such scenes as there we saw, 
 all penned together. I noticed one young gentle 
 man he seemed always cheery, doing all he could 
 for those poor women ; a handsome fellow with 
 dark curling hair and deep blue eyes. He was full 
 of songs and stones ; so that he even made some 
 favour with the captain, and got permission to carry 
 some of the poor things up to the poop deck, where 
 they could have some room, and rest from the foul 
 air and often fouler speech of the place where we 
 were penned. He lay by me at night, and we used 
 to talk together and keep awake ; for we had to get 
 up now and then, to get fresh water for the women, 
 or perhaps a bit of physic from the ship s doctor 
 
Miles Courtenay and Jennifer 43 
 
 for any one who might be plainly ill ; although one 
 had to be at death s door to get much comfort from 
 the crew of that ship ; ay, and beyond, twas but a 
 scant shroud, and their poor bodies were hardly cold 
 ere they were hurled into the blue waves that closed 
 so tranquilly over them. One night, I made bold 
 to ask this gentleman his name. 
 
 " Courtenay-- Miles Courtenay," he said, laugh 
 ing. " Faith, tis a better name than the man de 
 serves, or the place requires." 
 
 I remembered the name well, in Devon they 
 were people that had vast estates in Ireland and 
 had lost them, as our gentry had a way ot doing, 
 with such kings as Charles. And I told him my 
 name (with some misgiving), and how I had lost it 
 by declaring for the second Charles, whom I had 
 never seen nor cared for. But I did not tell him 
 how this came about. 
 
 " Bampfylde Carew? Why, Jack Carew, we 
 called him, was your father, then ? A brave man 
 was he, and a soldier of the King s, God rest his 
 soul." And he made as if to doff his hat, though 
 we were lying like herrings in a box, and hats had 
 none. But I my heart was in my mouth, and I 
 was glad for the night, that he could not see me 
 blush. 
 
 " Then he was not then he was nor 
 hanged " 
 
 Courtenay shouted an oath out fiercely, and I 
 was fain to pluck his sleeve, to keep him quiet. 
 " Now, what foul, crop-eared cur has slandered an 
 honest gentleman ? " 
 
 I kept silent, for shame of my grandfather. 
 
44 King Noanett 
 
 " Then he was not hanged by the Spaniards at 
 Port-of-Spain ? " 
 
 " I know not where Port-of-Spain may be, and I 
 doubt not many Spaniards had been glad to hang 
 him, there or elsewhere ! But nay, it was the Crom 
 well did it ; and he died on the block like a gentle 
 man, did Captain John Burleigh Carew. For they 
 had the King penned up in Carisbrook Castle, like 
 a rat at cheese ; and this was too much for thy 
 poor father ; so, being in command at Newport, he 
 caused a drum to be beat at quarters, for God and 
 King Charles ; and thereupon was found guilty of 
 high treason, for levying war against the King, at 
 prosecution of one Sergeant Wilde, who at the same 
 assize acquitted one Rolf, that had sought to assas 
 sinate his Majesty, of all offence ! And I have 
 heard, that for both these acts, the shedding thy 
 father s honest blood, and saving the life of the 
 other, a murderous, bloody villain, this Wilde re 
 ceived a thousand pounds for each, out of Noll s 
 privy purse at Darby-house. Han-a-mon Dhiaoul ! " 
 And Courtenay closed with, " the curse of Crom 
 well," so it sounded, gritting his teeth ; but I was 
 full of sorrow for my father, and thinking how 
 I should contrive to let her know. Meantime, 
 Courtenay hummed a tune, 
 
 " They rode till they came to a Sea Town 
 Where ships were sailing in the Downs, 
 And now sweet Betsy s upon the salt wave, 
 Sweet Betsy s gone for an arrant slave? 
 
 " How did you come to be here ? " I asked 
 suddenly. 
 
Miles Courtenay and Jennifer 45 
 
 ct c Of a Brazier s daughter you shall hear, 
 A pretty story you shall hear, 
 For she would up to London go 
 To seek a service, you shall knoiv. 
 
 " I m even a prisoner of State, like yourself," he 
 laughed. " Sure, the State takes more trouble o 
 me gone wrong than it ever did of me the pillar 
 of it." 
 
 I wondered that an officer like himself had got 
 off with his life. 
 
 "Sergeant," said he, "only sergeant the Tower 
 is not for the likes of me. Sure, I m just a poor 
 fellow taken fighting, like yourself, and they shipped 
 me out to populate his Majesty s dominions when 
 his Majesty comes by his own again." And the 
 moonlight that slanted down to his eye just then 
 showed me so merry a look, that I wondered if 
 losing his country was a thing to make a man 
 happy. " I ll tell ye all about it some day," said 
 he, and hummed under his breath, 
 
 " <-Her master had one only son, 
 
 Sweet Betsy s heart was fairly won, 
 
 For Betsy, being so very fair, 
 
 She drew his heart in a fatal snare 
 
 His mother, happening for to hear, 
 
 Contrived sweet Betsy far away 
 
 For a slave in the province of Virginia. 
 
 "What doggerel is that?" 
 
 Courtenay laughed, and drew from his pocket 
 a couple of printed songs, each one furnished forth 
 with a most villanous design. 
 
46 King Noanett 
 
 " The Trepanrid Maiden" said he, " The Betrayed 
 Maiden! I bought both for a penny as we were 
 coming down the dock and faith, I think they 
 speak truth, as they murder the King s English, 
 without malice prepense " and Courtenay jerked 
 his thumb in the direction of the poor women 
 between decks. ... I read the other ; and I re 
 member how its first verse ran like this : 
 
 " This girl was cunningly trepanned, 
 Sent to Virginny from England, 
 Where she doth hardship undergo ; 
 There is no cure, it must be so ; 
 But if she lives to see the main, 
 She vows she ll neer go there again. 
 
 (Licensed and entered according .to order .)" 
 
 And Courtenay remarked the license was well 
 needed. 
 
 "Whither are we bound?" I asked. 
 
 " Virginia," said he, and sighed. " New Eng 
 land I wished for ; but how could a poor rebel tell 
 the ship they would take him off in ? Worcester 
 is near Bristol ; and I built on the Bristol trade. 
 But I m thinkin I ll take the vessel there me 
 ownsel ! " 
 
 I rose on my elbow and looked at him. He was 
 serious if ever man was. " Are ye fit to hear a tale 
 now, Bampfylde Moore Carew ? " 
 
 I kept on looking at him. " Whisht," said he ; 
 "don t ye stare at a man like that ye ll put me 
 out o mind o me own conceit. Sure, the word s 
 been passed from one poor chained devil to another 
 this se ennight, until it struck a freeman like meself 
 
Miles Courtenay and Jennifer 47 
 
 an ye re the only soul left out of it, of cause that 
 ye were too steady-goin and farmer-like a chap to 
 be trusted. Do ye think ye can hear it now ? 
 Take a bit ot usquebaugh, the savin of a cask I 
 brought over from County Clare tis the rentroll 
 of my property, as it were " and he drew out a 
 large flask of usquebaugh, aqua-vitae, that lay con 
 cealed in the little kit he made a pillow of. " Tis 
 better physic than the ship s doctor s for the poor 
 sick women, now I tell ye; an ye re little better 
 than a woman now ye ve left your heart behind ye." 
 
 I started at this, but he only laughed softly. 
 "Aye, I can tell a man that had a heart and left 
 it behind him for safe-keepin . Ye ll not need it 
 much where we re going, I m thinkin ." And 
 Courtenay stopped to have his laugh out, as he 
 always would, at any juncture. " We mean to take 
 the ship that s all." 
 
 " You ? " 
 
 "No less and a better gentleman than the 
 captain for all his courtin those fine fat planters 
 wives on the poop. It ll be he and the mate that 
 maltreated the poor maid the other night, that we ll 
 put ashore in the sea at the first convanient spot; 
 give the others a choice of a King s ship or fol 
 lowing them, borrow a few of the Virginia ladies 
 India shawls for the women here that are starvin 
 with cold, christen the vessel the Royal Charles 
 with a raal priest I have in mind, and then, egad! 
 we ll sail the seas against the King s wanting her 
 to come to his own in!" 
 
 " Pirates ? " I cried. 
 
 He clapped his hand to my mouth. " Never a 
 
48 King Noanett 
 
 pirate more than old Noll," he whispered. " Think 
 it over, man barrin ye tell on us, an ye ll not 
 do that, I m thinkin , if I know the breed." 
 
 " Surely," I said. But not what you are, but 
 what you re thought to be, is the question in this 
 world ; and I thought of my brave father, believed 
 by all his countryside to have been hanged by the 
 Spaniards for a thief. 
 
 cc ^Give ear unto a maid, that lately was betrayed 
 
 And sent unto Virgmny O ! 
 In brief I shall declare what I have suffered there, 
 
 that I was weary, weary, weary, weary, O ! 
 
 Courtenay went on singing. cc An tak a bit of Irish 
 whiskey while ye think it over," added he, as if the 
 song had not convinced me. " Sure, tis the only 
 thing to drink if you re plotting treason." 
 
IX 
 
 In which Miles and I Plot Treason 
 
 I DO not know how to tell this part of my 
 story rightly, lest I prejudice my grand 
 children and theirs against the first of their 
 blood that " came over," as we used to say 
 in old England of the Conqueror. For the Lord 
 Protector, that had been King anointed had he 
 dared, is such a figure in men s minds about 
 here that it is petit-treason at the least to take 
 from him but one of all the virtues. . . . But 
 these poor women in this ship of ours had been 
 sent there, the best of them, by Cromwell s orders, 
 and it was Courtenay that told me how. Indeed, 
 I knew afterward of other like things that had 
 been done, in Scotland, aye, even in England. 
 After Prestonpans were brave men given away as 
 slaves, two thousand at a time, or sold like cattle, 
 at two-and-sixpence the head. And I myself, in 
 our town of Boston afterward, met numbers of 
 the two hundred Scotchmen that had been shipped 
 by no less a person than Sir Arthur Hesselrigge, 
 and were sold as slaves ; and you shall see how that 
 Miles and I bought some ourselves, to make of 
 them free men and soldiers once more. But Ire 
 land ! That was the worst. 
 
 Courtenay was often in deep converse, particu- 
 E 49 
 
50 King Noanett 
 
 larly with the men that were chained ; and we both 
 did what we could for the women ; and some of 
 these were ladies, like your wives and daughters ; 
 and others were the scum of London ; and by 
 Cromwell s orders these were shipped together. And 
 one night I asked my Irish friend about these poor 
 girls, and how they came there with no men nor 
 mothers. 
 
 " Han-a-mon Dhiaoul ! " said he. " How did they 
 come here ? Tis the curse of Cromwell brought 
 them here, and me with them. When he overran 
 Ireland, all that was with the King, God rest his 
 soul! the officers, the gentlemen (barring a few 
 like me, that was too modest), were dacently be 
 headed or shot. But even old Noll couldn t find it 
 in his Puritan conscience to execute the women and 
 young girls for high treason, seein that all they had 
 done was to bide at home and cry about their sweet 
 hearts. So he ships them off to the West Indies 
 the boys for slaves, the girls for mistresses to the 
 English sugar-planters. Tis God s truth I m tellin 
 ye," Miles broke out fiercely, " and young ladies at 
 that, the poor daughters of gentlemen that had died 
 sword in hand, or been beheaded for no worse a 
 crime than loyalty to their oath as gentlemen and 
 soldiers. Aye, and the rich merchants of Bristol 
 sent over their agents and crimps, and they hunted 
 down the wretched people in their homes. The 
 keepers of the gaols and workhouses joined in the 
 hunt. Why, man, look here," and Courtenay took 
 out a yellow paper and showed it me. I saw it with 
 my own eyes. It was a proclamation of the govern 
 ment to all governors of gaols and workhouses and 
 
Miles and I Plot Treason 
 
 recruiting agents of the army of Commonwealth in 
 Ireland; and it enjoined them to collect the daugh 
 ters, wives, and young children of " such as had been 
 taken in arms" and deliver them at Dublin, Drog- 
 heda and Bristol; particularly "boys who were of 
 an age to labour and women who were marriageable 
 and not past breeding." 
 
 I had chosen sides before, as any man might do, 
 but for the love of a woman ; but now my mind 
 went with my heart in the matter. For I could not 
 see that the habit of long prayers justified such 
 things; and kindness and humanity seem still more 
 worthy of Christian men than sour pretence, or even 
 belief in personal perfection. Still, I could not decide 
 my own part in Courtenay s proposed capture of the 
 ship. Yet the miseries and cruelties of that voyage 
 were enough to make a man try anything to better 
 it. One day, for some slight offence, six prisoners 
 were stripped to the waist, tied to the foremast, and 
 flogged. And I saw some of the gentry on the 
 poop-deck come forward and look on, while this 
 was done. Courtenay protested, and was put in 
 irons for it, and threatened with a flogging himself, 
 though he was not a convict. I know not which 
 way I should have finally decided, but for Jennifer. 
 
 For among the women on board was this poor 
 little maid of sixteen, who came from Camelford in 
 Cornwall. She had been very ill at first, and Courte 
 nay had helped her ; her name was Jennifer or Gui 
 nevere, as Courtenay told me it should properly be 
 spelled. Her pitiful little story we soon learned ; 
 she had been out to service, her father and mother 
 being dead ; and then her mistress had sent her 
 
52 King Noanett 
 
 away, for some childish offence ; and she fell among 
 some other serving-women who had been disorderly 
 and were being sent to America as servants, slaves, 
 or wives (they seemed to think it much the same 
 thing) to the colonists. And they persuaded her, 
 poor thing, that all she had to do was to come along 
 with them to be sure of a rich husband, or at least 
 (what she cared more for), honest work. And the 
 most worshipful Plymouth Company was then 
 almost as anxious to find wives for their colonists 
 as to get men to till their fields (this latter indeed 
 the Guinea slaves could do), and they took up such 
 poor creatures greedily. 
 
 Now one night, we heard a cry from this poor 
 child, and Courtenay and I sprang to the rescue and 
 went to see. The women were only separated from 
 the prisoners by a canvas sail, drawn across the hold ; 
 and there we found one of the ship s officers was 
 persecuting her. The poor child wore but a shift 
 beneath her dress which he had torn from her 
 shoulder ; and she was blushing scarlet and crying, 
 and the women near her laughing, looking on. 
 Courtenay struck the man so that he fell senseless, 
 and we picked up the child and carried her to the 
 outer deck, the women jeering at us, and Courtenay 
 vowing in his teeth he could protect the child better 
 than they. There it was bitter cold, and the poor 
 child trembled, with her arm all bare to the sea 
 wind ; but we found her a bit of shelter in the corner 
 of the bulwark, and Courtenay wrapped her up in 
 his great cloak, and she lay there the rest of the night, 
 sobbing for it ; and he and I walked up and down 
 beside her. 
 
Miles and I Plot Treason 53 
 
 This it was decided me, and I was ready to take 
 the ship though half our lives were lost in trying. 
 But Courtenay was silent ; and all next day, when 
 the story got about among the men, some of them 
 gave it as a reason for a meeting ; and we heard 
 others, the convicts, carousing and laughing among 
 the women, and saying how they would have a 
 merry time of it when all got free. I did not hear 
 Courtenay say a word, though I am sure they looked 
 to him for leader. And little Jennifer kept close to 
 him, like a dog ; and the next night cried at going back 
 away from us ; so what does Courtenay do but give 
 her a fathom or two of cord, and tie it to his wrist, 
 and bid her hold the other end, where the women 
 were, forward, and sleep in the middle of that noisome 
 hold himself, and not on the main deck, as we had 
 been wont to do. And all that time the word was 
 passing among our passengers that there was to be 
 a rising ; and one file was procured and passed up 
 secretly to the chained prisoners forward; and I, 
 who knew this, could hear the noise of their grating 
 it, softly, but as loud as they dared, on their irons, 
 all through the night. There was a stepladder went 
 down from the forecastle into the main hold, and 
 through the hatchway I heard them shouting curses 
 on the ship and singing ribald songs. Before the 
 dawn Courtenay came up this, carrying the poor 
 girl ; and again she went to sleep upon the deck, 
 covered with our coats, and he and I lay our heads 
 together what we should do. For it seems the same 
 mate prowling about, had tripped over Courtenay s 
 rope, and measured his length upon the deck ; and 
 then he had drawn a knife, and Courtenay had 
 
54 King Noanett 
 
 speedily disarmed him, and the women had only 
 laughed, and he had gone away, vowing vengeance. 
 Towards morning, still wakeful, I got up and 
 wandered about. Courtenay seemed asleep. As I 
 looked down the hatchway I heard low voices and 
 there was this same mate, confabbing with the muti 
 neers. I came back, and told what I had discovered 
 to Courtenay. He only nodded, as if twas old news 
 to him. 
 
 " We would rather see our son lie dead, 
 Than with a servant-girl to wed ; 
 His father spoke most scornfully, 
 It will bring disgrace upon our family " 
 
 and more than this nonsense could I not get out of 
 him that night. 
 
 The morning was a fair one, but twas high noon 
 before the gentlefolk came out on deck. Courtenay 
 was walking with the young girl, and I saw him 
 watching them, as they sat with their cloaks and 
 cushions, on the high place behind, until I saw his 
 design. There were two or three ladies by this time 
 on the poop, and he was looking at them, as a cat 
 might look at cream. " Moore," said he, as I passed, 
 "which one of em d ye think looks the kindest, 
 now ? " But even as he spoke one of them got 
 up to give her seat to an older lady, and in doing 
 so she turned, and we saw her face. " Sure," mut 
 tered Miles, " she hath eyes like Faith, the pretty 
 ones are always the best natured ; it spoils their 
 young faces to be cross " and as he spoke, he 
 made bold to go up among them. And there I 
 heard him make his plea for Jennifer, that they 
 
Miles and I Plot Treason 55 
 
 would take her under their protection. And among 
 the older ones that were more richly dressed and were 
 said to be planters wives, you may be sure was 
 great outcry, of prison-folk, and ship-fever, and I 
 know not what all that makes them that are clean and 
 fine look down upon the poor in their misery ; but 
 our fine lady, God bless her ! said the child should 
 sleep in her cabin, come what come would ; and, 
 despite her having given up her seat to an older one, 
 it seems she was of a rank that made them all defer 
 to her. For nothing more was said, and she gave 
 Jennifer a gown of her maid s, and so, every time 
 we went back toward the after deck, we saw little 
 Jennifer looking down on us and smiling ; and so 
 we saw her no more that voyage. But when Cour- 
 tenay walked under the poop, and that young lady 
 was there, he would fetch her so grand a bow with 
 his old salt-watered hat as the Queen at Whitehall 
 ne er had a better, in the old days ; and she would 
 bow, too, and smile at him. Jennifer did not know 
 how to bow ; but I thought the colour that came 
 in her face a salute that was prettier still. . . . 
 
 Now it happened a night or so after this that 
 things came to a head on board. It was at the 
 meeting, which was held secret in the forecastle, in 
 the middle of a great storm ; and all the crew aye ! 
 and some of us too were wanted at the masts to 
 tend the sails. Courtenay was liked by many on 
 board, and had proved himself a fine sailor, so he 
 was up aloft ; and those that were there were the 
 poorest stuff of the lot, that was none too fine in the 
 piece ; landlubbers like myself, and they that were 
 chained, and ready for anything that would bring 
 
56 King Noanett 
 
 them leg-bail. So these were all for taking the ship, 
 and killing the officers, and starting off to sell the 
 cargo at some of the Indies. Now I would have 
 liked well enough to have fair battle with one mate 
 myself, for the harm he had sought to do to little 
 Jennifer; but I only held my peace and listened. 
 And so they all agreed that in the morning watch, 
 in the first fine night after the storm should abate, 
 they would do all this ; and just as they got it all 
 squared and settled, Miles came down. Now by 
 this time we were all up to a fine pitch of fury ; 
 and Miles started off on the wrongs of Ireland, and 
 the Curse of Cromwell, and the crowd cheered as 
 loud as they dared, and were ready to cry up Miles 
 to the skies, and make him Captain-general of the 
 seas and follow him to the ends of them ; when he 
 suddenly checked himself, mopped his face, and said 
 he would have none of it. 
 
 Had a crew of Spaniards come boarding over the 
 bulwarks, you would not have seen the men more 
 stogged, and knowing not whither to turn if their 
 leader failed them. But he veered right about, and, 
 from being the leader of the mutiny, took to talking, 
 as they said, like any sea-parson. I doubt if he would 
 have prevailed, but that he told them (and this it 
 was which moved them most) that the plot was out, 
 and all their plans were known, and a double watch 
 to be put on them from that night forth, and all of 
 them well ironed. 
 
 True, they turned and called him traitor and a 
 lying Irishman ; and at this his eyes snapped a bit, 
 but his lips only smiled. Ah, twas the smile upon 
 the lips that Miles showed the world, with a bit of 
 
Miles and I Plot Treason 57 
 
 the heart behind it ! And, when we got alone, he 
 told me how it was that he had changed ; that all our 
 passengers save a bare half dozen or so were thieves 
 and cut-throats, and some of the women worse ; and 
 after they had killed the captain and all the gentle 
 men on board would do yet worse by the women, 
 and sail the ship for a regular freebooter, and prob 
 ably end on the gallows a bit the sooner themselves. 
 " And the young lady there that gave Jennifer the 
 shawl ; it would never do to bring her sweet face to 
 this ; more by token that I have a better plan," said 
 Courtenay. 
 
 Now, this was Miles all over ; he would always 
 turn up fresh and smiling " with a better plan " in 
 the morning, which was well enough when you had 
 not done some business over night on the last plan 
 but a couple or so ; but it was all Miles s Irishry. 
 For the sky looked to him blue one day and grey 
 the next, and he spoke the truth both days, only 
 that we stodgy Saxons could not keep pace with it. 
 " A better plan, to bring King Charles back in Vir 
 ginia ! faith, no less." 
 
 I laughed, but I, too, thought of little Jennifer 
 and the lady that had been so kind to her ; and thus 
 ended the mutiny on board that ship ; and they little 
 knew it, the gentry of the cabin, that perhaps that 
 one gown given to Jennifer had been the saving 
 of their lives. 
 
 But in some way, as I saw, Courtenay had be 
 come quite a hero among them, though our women 
 and the men in chains took to hating him the 
 harder ; and turncoat and Papist were the least of 
 the things they called him. For we were all 
 
58 King Noanett 
 
 good Protestants aboard the Elizabeth,, even the 
 convicts. 
 
 I asked him one day whether he hoped to get his 
 freedom when on shore. For the thought came 
 over me he had done this thing for his own liberty ; 
 it was the last time I had such thoughts about Miles. 
 "Not I," said he, "they ll think I m all the better 
 servant that I serve so well." And he blew a kiss 
 to Jennifer, who was looking at us over the poop, 
 and sang his song : 
 
 " The worst of weather can but mend, 
 
 There s a turning to the longest lane, 
 E en rascal Roundhead rule shall end, 
 
 And the king enjoy his own again ! 
 Though bear their yoke long years we must, 
 
 And see the royal martyr slain, 
 The butcher s brood shall bite the dust, 
 
 And the King come to his own again ! 
 
X 
 
 In which I Witness a Wife-auction 
 
 OF lies that, are told and believed, I know 
 none more desperately false than that 
 absence puts an end to love. The nights 
 were warm now, and Courtenay and I used 
 to lie side by side and look at the stars. What 
 he was thinking of I did not know, but the leisure, 
 and the space, and the silence left only the more 
 room in my heart for her, and thinking of that poor 
 old man, her grandfather. And I would clench my 
 hands and groan aloud that I could not have stayed 
 in England to save them. So I know the stars, and 
 loneliness, and the being far away have no spell to 
 make a man forget his love ; for they also are eter 
 nal and abide with him. And, in this new quarter 
 of the world, I liked to watch the same soft lights 
 that looked on England still. And Courtenay, 
 who jested all the day, would sing by night, and 
 softly. 
 
 In this wise we passed nigh on to fifty days, and 
 then we saw a low, poor, sandy shore, and stood into 
 a bay of turbid waters ; and that was Virginia. We 
 dropped anchor at the mouth of a great river, by 
 a little fort; and the next day we began tediously 
 warping up the river until we stopped before a small 
 town of low brick houses and log cabins. This was 
 
 59 
 
60 King Noanett 
 
 Jamestown, and we were landed after the sheep, but 
 before the other cargo. Some hundreds of persons 
 were gathered there to meet us, looking half like 
 farmers, half like idle soldiers ; and there we were 
 drawn up in two rows, the women on one side, the 
 men on the other. " I m thinkin it s a country 
 dance," said Miles to me, and tried to whisper it to 
 Jennifer, who was looking lonely opposite, so that 
 she looked across and smiled. 
 
 But our laughter came to a quick end, as the cap 
 tain of our ship strode down the middle alone and 
 mounted on a kind of butcher s block. There 
 was a rosy, well-fed gentleman stood beside him in 
 long top-boots, and cracked a drover s whip by way 
 of grace, and beside him a grand and courtly gentle 
 man they told us was Sir William Berkeley ; and so 
 the man began: 
 
 " On behalf of the owners of the good ship Eliza 
 beth, and as captain and supercargo thereof, I read 
 a letter from the Council of the most worshipful, the 
 Plymouth Company, to our good friend, Colonel 
 Byrd, the consignee." And the captain doffed his 
 hat to the gentleman beside him, who lightly nodded 
 his head by way of acknowledgment, and the crowd 
 behind him set up a sort of surly cheer. And then 
 the captain, mouthing his words as if he liked their 
 taste, read aloud to the crowd, which gaped open- 
 mouthed at this new kind of livestock: 
 
 " c LONDON, August 21, 1657. 
 
 " c We send you a shipment, one widow & eleven 
 maids, for wives of the people of Virginia : there 
 hath been especial care had in their selection, for 
 
I Witness a Wife-auction 61 
 
 upon the choice of them not one was received but 
 upon good recommendations. In case they cannot 
 be presently married, we desire that they may be 
 put with several householders that have wives until 
 they can be provided with husbands. There are 
 nearly fifty more that are shortly to come, and are 
 sent by our honourable lord and treasurer, the Earl 
 of Southampton, and certain worthy gentlemen who, 
 taking into consideration that the plantation can 
 never flourish till families be planted, and the re 
 spect of wives and children for their people on the 
 soil, therefore having given this fair beginning ; 
 reimbursing of whose charges, it is ordered that 
 every man that marries them give 140 Ibs. of the 
 best leaf tobacco for each of them. 
 
 I grasped Miles Courtenay s arm. " By Heaven ! " 
 cried I, " the women are to be sold, then, like cat 
 tle ? " But Courtenay only laughed. 
 
 " What s the matter ? Art not contented with 
 the price ? Sure, they re offered at their weight in 
 smoke ! " 
 
 c< But in a Christian country 
 
 " They might do worse than marry them and 
 better," added Miles, reflectively. " A man that 
 gives ten stone in good tobacco for its weight in 
 wife may have reason to repent of his bargain ! " 
 
 I gasped, wondering that Courtenay could take 
 the thing so lightly. But I after found this was his 
 way, while in action ; if God willed, he might think 
 of things before, but never then ; and of this auction 
 it seemed he had been forewarned by that kind lady 
 on the quarter-deck. 
 
62 King Noanett 
 
 "Hush! heed this " and I heard the captain- 
 auctioneer read on : 
 
 " We desire that the marriage be free, according 
 to nature, and we could not have those maids de 
 ceived and marry to servants, but only to such 
 freemen or tenants as have means to maintain them. 
 We pray you, therefore, to be fathers of them in 
 this business, not enforcing them to marry against 
 their wills/ 
 
 " Sure, tis kinder than many fathers are at court/ 
 quoth Miles. " Now for sport ! " 
 
 But the captain had yet a little speech to make ; 
 and in this he told us that " the young planters had 
 every guaranty for finding in their wives the respect 
 and obedience alike required by laws, human and 
 divine." 
 
 "Faith, I m thinking they ll be worth more than 
 one hundred and forty pounds tobacco, then," said 
 Miles to me. But the captain had a tongue hung 
 on both ends ; and he went on to tell us that, by an 
 order of Council passed in the late King s reign, but 
 still in force in the by-laws of the company, the 
 women were "young, handsome, and chaste so 
 had ordered the late Charles Stuart " 
 
 "God bless him," spake out Miles. 
 
 "Who speaks?" roared out the captain; and, 
 "Treason to the Commonwealth!" shouted out 
 that mate whom Miles had punished. "Put him 
 in irons !" 
 
 "Nay, nay," said Miles, "I m only thinkin if 
 King Charles s Council had so much wisdom, twas 
 
I Witness a Wife-auction 63 
 
 pity they had not used it on the field." The jest 
 saved him ; for he they called Colonel Byrd slapped 
 his thigh, and swore so merry a fellow should ne er 
 be sent back among the solemn Puritans ; and even 
 the great Sir William nodded approval. But the 
 mate glared sourly ; and I saw him speak to an 
 ill-favoured fellow that stood behind us. And the 
 captain read on : 
 
 " Handsome and chaste; for in 1632 there was an 
 order of the Council, regularly made, to send back 
 to England two women whose chastity had been 
 successfully assailed during the passage. : 
 
 "In charge of the worshipful first mate," said 
 Miles, in a hoarse whisper. "Put him in irons, 
 Sir!" This aloud to Colonel Byrd. But the mate 
 spoke to the captain, and the captain spoke to 
 Colonel Byrd. So he said: 
 
 "Silence, fellow! What s your name?" 
 
 But Miles flatly refused to tell his name; and we 
 heard the magnate ask the captain "who he mav 
 be?" 
 
 "As good a gentleman as your honour," cried 
 Miles. 
 
 "But not for the saying so," answered Byrd, 
 quietly; and Miles was silenced. 
 
 "Is he bound? A redemptioner? What was he 
 sold for some offence? He speaks up too often." 
 This from Berkeley. 
 
 But Miles flushed up at this. 
 
 "Just for a bit of Irish loyalty, your honour. I 
 spoke up for King Charles just once too often. 
 
64 King Noanett 
 
 The Byrds of Westover kept silent, then, I m 
 thinkin ." 
 
 Now it was the planter-colonel s turn to flush, 
 while Berkeley slapped his thigh. He was about to 
 speak; but a lady that was with him gripped his 
 arm. I saw that it was our kind lady of the quarter 
 deck. Perhaps it was to caution him ; for I saw 
 the crop-eared mate he had just put down look at 
 him eagerly. The captain of the ship showed some 
 disquiet, and hurried on : 
 
 " c Those that will may pay in money three shil 
 lings to the pound or twenty guineas. And it is 
 ordained by Virginia law that the price of a wife 
 shall have precedence of all other debts in recovery 
 and payment, because of all kinds of merchandise 
 this is the most desirable. 
 
 " The law is an ass," quoth Miles to Colonel 
 Byrd. 
 
 " c They shall be well used, and not married to 
 servants, but to such freemen and tenants as can 
 handsomely support them, and to the adventurers 
 upon this cargo a ratable proportion of land, accord 
 ing to the numbers of maids sent, has been laid off 
 together and formed into a town, by the name of 
 Maidstown : any maids not sold will be sent hither 
 and kept for the account of the adventurers. And 
 the captain closed by telling how a premium might 
 be paid, above the 140 pounds, by any that had a 
 special liking for a particular girl. And the bidding 
 began. 
 
I Witness a Wife-auction 65 
 
 But the men were sold first ; little preamble was 
 made of this, as the business was better understood. 
 The convicts brought the higher price, as they were 
 bound for life. I fell to a sallow planter whose 
 name I heard not, who wore high boots and a broad 
 hat woven of grass, and carried an ox-whip ; and 
 Courtenay was assigned to a similar one. But Miles 
 had bought his passage with promise of three years 
 labour only, while I was bound for ten. Ah me, 
 in ten years, what might come to Miss St. Aubyn ? 
 Yet, I vowed to find a way to freedom and to for 
 tune long ere that. But now, they came to the 
 women. 
 
 Most of these were sold for the 140 pounds. " If 
 you re buying a pig in a poke, you ll not pay more 
 than you must," said Miles to Sir William, and I 
 saw that they tolerated him already, and he had made 
 his way. But when they came to Jennifer, we saw 
 an evil-looking fellow with a horsewhip, that had 
 been colloguing with the mate, step forward. " Tis 
 a young wench for a wife, and I ll not give but a 
 hundred pound ! " 
 
 " Now, saints have mercy on us, but he s in a 
 saving mind," whispered Miles, with delight ; and I 
 saw him run over to Colonel William. And by the 
 broad smile that overspread the planter s face, I 
 judged the application had been successful. 
 
 " Shame on ye for a humoursome and tuftaffety 
 spark," cried he. "A hundred and forty; aye, and 
 two guineas more for the bright blue English eyes !" 
 
 This was more than the fellow bargained for, and 
 he and the mate laid their ugly heads together; then 
 the mate nodded, and the other bid. " The tobacco 
 
66 King Noanett 
 
 and five pounds." Byrd s face fell. He turned 
 again to Miles: 
 
 "Deuce take it, man, I can t buy the girl! It s 
 not so much the money, either, but the Madam, 
 d ye see, young fellow? I ve no good right to bid 
 at all tis no sale of Guinea slaves, but of honest 
 English wives. Why don t you marry her your 
 ownself ?" 
 
 Courtenay looked sheepish. And poor Jennifer, 
 that had looked pale through all her suffering, grew 
 now so rosy red ! 
 
 " I can t marry her. She s my sister," murmured 
 Miles at last. But at this, the others roared aloud, 
 and Courtenay hung his head. 
 
 " A likely tale, this new one," sneered the cap 
 tain, "and thou, with thy curly black bullet-head! 
 But thou rt a servant too, and canst not marry, as 
 his honour well knows. Come, come, who ll bid?" 
 
 " A shilling more while I talk to this gentle 
 man," said Colonel William, and fell apart with 
 Miles. But the planter quickly covered this sum, 
 and the captain grew impatient. Miles ran . and 
 spoke to the lady of the quarter-deck. 
 
 " Going going the Cornish maid, to be an 
 honest Virginian wife " 
 
 u Five years served I 
 Under Master Guy, 
 In the land of Virglnny Of 
 
 sang out Miles, returning. " Who buys the maid, 
 buys me Sir William hath said it." And sure 
 enough, Courtenay, as usual, had his way; for Berke 
 ley confirmed it with a nod and spoke a word to the 
 
I Witness a Wife-auction 67 
 
 skipper. And Miles went to an old woman with 
 high boots that stood there, and I saw him put some 
 money in her hand. 
 
 " I ll buy both," cried the same planter, "but the 
 old trade s off an hundred and forty pounds for 
 each !" 
 
 "That ye ll not," shouted Miles ; but the captain, 
 at a nod from the mate, had promptly knocked 
 them down. 
 
 "Why not, my pretty fellow? Ain t I your 
 master ? " 
 
 "That ye re not," cried Miles; and, as the other 
 had come over to examine his purchase, Miles 
 knocked him down. 
 
 The man lay there like a log, and there was a 
 murmur from the crowd. The blood came out 
 upon his face, where Miles had hit him. 
 
 " His jaw is broken but fore Gad, twas a fair 
 blow," said Sir William Berkeley, feeling of him. 
 And then the mate came up and carried him off; the 
 captain calling on him to pay his money ere he went, 
 the mate and the other man that helped him stopped, 
 and set him on his feet. 
 
 " Nay, I want the fellow not, nor his woman 
 either," grumbled the planter. But he made no 
 move for vengeance, and I marvelled at it, until I 
 saw the people his neighbours looking after him, and 
 then at Jennifer. The maid stood there, blushing 
 rosy red; but now, our lady passenger had turned 
 pale. 
 
 But after this taste of his quality, no one seemed 
 keen for Miles ; so at last he went back to his first 
 purchaser for his three years term, and one guinea 
 
68 King Noanett 
 
 abated by reason of his violence. The ladies that 
 were watching the sale went home, now that the 
 excitement was over, the pretty one of the voyage 
 casting a look at Miles as much as to say. Now you 
 are paid I wish you joy of her! and courtly Sir 
 William smirking over his cocked hat by their side. 
 But Jennifer was bought by this stout woman in 
 boots, who rode a horse man-fashion; and there was 
 no question of her marriage to anybody. 
 
XI 
 
 In which I Grow Tobacco and Forget my Love 
 
 WE all asked whither we were being led ; 
 and got but rough replies ; it seemed 
 they did not wish us to know the coun 
 try, lest we should conspire together. 
 But we made out to learn that Courtenay was to go 
 to an outpost far in the wilderness, separated from 
 us by twenty leagues of forest and a wide river ; 
 Jennifer and I were not so far apart. I asked her 
 to let me know if she were badly treated. Child 
 like, after her quick escape, the landing, and the 
 smell of earth and trees again, had made her forget 
 already the horrors of the voyage ; everything was 
 new to her, from the big, broad country stretching 
 up the blue river in leagues of bright green forest, 
 to the group of gaily painted savages, half-dressed 
 in furs and feathers, who stood grimly in the market 
 place, and watched us white men being sold. They 
 soon had stopped selling Indians. Negro slaves in 
 plenty were in Virginia, but, so far as I have heard, 
 never one of these. 
 
 Maddeson, my master, had his ox-team at the 
 market, so we were among the first to go. I kissed 
 Jennifer, and took a grip of Courtenay s hand. 
 " Tell thy squire, tis the fallow land that makes the 
 farmer fat," cried he. " And Jennifer ! 
 
 " c Tis dabbling in the dew makes the milkmaid fair ! 
 69 
 
70 King Noanett 
 
 And so he went off, singing, as our oxen 
 strained to break the clay in which the wheels 
 had sunk, Maddeson cracking his whip about their 
 flanks. 
 
 " What hast done in the old country ? " he asked 
 me, not unkindly. I told him I was Devon bred, 
 and not unused to farming. " Thou lt find another 
 tale of farming here," said he. " Tobacco s all we 
 grow though the law requires every farmer to 
 grow two acres of corn for himself and each man he 
 feeds, and then he may grow as much tobacco as 
 he will." So talking, we passed Bermuda Hundred, 
 and then Shirley Hundred, which lay three miles 
 further down the river, and where our Captain 
 Maddeson had thirty-five men employed only in 
 planting and curing this tobacco, with the profits 
 whereof they were to clothe themselves and all those 
 who laboured about the " general " business. For at 
 first, in the Virginia settlement, all goods were held 
 to be general; but now less and less so, for there 
 were already rich individuals whose peculiar goods 
 would make no mean showing against many an 
 esquire s at home. Such an one was the lord of 
 Varina, whose plantation we passed, so called because 
 the tobacco is like to that of Varina in Spain. And, 
 except the public works at Jamestown, almost none 
 remained in the colony but that at Dale s Gift, some 
 thirty miles below Kequoghtan, where Lieutenant 
 Cradock governed some score of men, maintained at 
 the general charge for the making of sea-salt and 
 the catching and curing fish. 
 
 "Aye," said Maddeson, catching me back, for 
 my wits had gone a-wandering, " tobacco s another 
 
I Grow Tobacco and Forget my Love 71 
 
 tale from rye or barley. Ten stone of it is worth a 
 wife, as thou hast seen." 
 
 Long since we d left the wide clay opening that 
 made the street of Jamestown, and now were in a 
 low oak-forest, barren of growth, save for long yellow 
 grass, and sandy. The heat came in upon us through 
 the scant leaves ; and no coolness did we find, save 
 now and then, as we forded muddy beds of streams, 
 "runs," Maddeson called them, though dark and 
 stagnant; and I sighed to think of the bright Lyn 
 water, and the mossy birch, and the ferns and the 
 sweet, cool heather. Then I made bold to ask 
 what I might have to do. 
 
 "Thou rt my servant, and I m but a farmer: 
 thou lt have to labour hard, as I have done before 
 thee. For know, lad, I m no gentleman: just plain 
 James Maddeson; a good yeoman and Common 
 wealth s man, as I signed the engagement of North 
 ampton, whereby I bound myself to be true and 
 faithful to the Commonwealth of England as it is 
 now established, without King or House of Lords. 
 Of gentlemen we had enough in that first settlement, 
 where they had fifty of such to only a dozen that 
 could labour with their hands, and one blacksmith, 
 but one bricklayer, a mason, a tailor, a barber, and 
 a drummer ! And most of the fifty, reprobates of 
 good family, and related to some of the company 
 who were men of quality and fortune, like that 
 young George Percy of Northumberland. Like 
 their own godless sort, these first built a tavern that 
 cost five hundred pounds, and then a church that cost 
 no more than fifty ! " 
 
 So Maddeson went rambling on ; and he told 
 
72 King Noanett 
 
 me, also, that of the Virginia people were now three 
 classes, besides the slaves : officers, farmers, and 
 labourers ; these last of two kinds, being those 
 upon the general works who were maintained out 
 of the common store, and those who worked at 
 special trades. 
 
 At nightfall, we got to Maddeson s plantation, 
 and wound across many hundred acres of untended 
 land, rudely cleared, the charred stumps of white 
 stripped tree trunks still standing in the rows of a 
 coarse green plant, he told me was the far-famed 
 tobacco. The mullein of the country was a rarer 
 looking thing. Beyond, the hills sloped to a wide, 
 muddy river, which bore some outlandish name ; 
 his house was a low cottage, half daubed over with 
 baked earth ; a broad brick chimney on the outer 
 end, with a kind of open lean-to along its face, they 
 call a verandah ; and behind, huddled amid the to 
 bacco fields, the wattled cabins of the Guinea slaves. 
 
 Then came weeks of such hard labour as I had 
 never known in England, nor such a sun, nor yet 
 such black, fat earth and such strange loneliness. 
 For we were on the edge of a great continent that 
 we knew not of, only that it did not go to China. 
 The negro people were well-disposed enough, but 
 idle ; and Maddeson cursed me that I used his ox- 
 whip on them so sparingly. And God knows, I 
 worked hard through all the days ; but at nights a 
 great yearning came over me. You know not how 
 long the evenings seem when you use no lamps ; 
 nor, with darkness indoors, how large and serious 
 the stars. People talk of how the heavens can dwarf 
 and shame to silence our selfish earthly ills; I only 
 
I Grow Tobacco and Forget my Love 73 
 
 know that the lesson the stars taught me was how, 
 in all these myriads of mighty worlds, the love of 
 her heart was all that was dear to me. The rest of 
 things and creatures might please others ; to me twas 
 all indifferent. Then, after hours of thought like 
 this, I would find my tears again upon the stubble ; 
 and would dash a blow at mine eyes, and leave some 
 heap of cornhusks for my bed indoors, and tell my 
 self how I was a planter s slave in Virginia, and she 
 a lady in England, God bless her! And, though 
 she had once upon a time been kind to me, she had 
 taken it all back, even to the breaking of a promise 
 made ; that was, to let me see her once more, after 
 she knew that I did love her. And against all this 
 I had to set only that look of her eyes the day I left 
 her in the court-room. And then, I would try to 
 see her face in the dark ; but something, or the look 
 of her eyes in it, would blind me : twas a strange 
 thing, but in all those years I never could remember 
 my love s face, as I could well enough the face of any 
 other person. And no portrait had I, nor letter, nor 
 ribbon but just the echo of four words. 
 
 What time I got free, I hunted. For in the 
 woods were wildcat, and panther, with flesh white 
 and delicious, and buffaloes, and I was told, lions ; 
 but these I saw not. Then there were wild dogs, or 
 Indian dogs; but they barked not, and could not 
 smell foxes, which were very plentiful. And ducks, 
 wild geese, and swans. Altogether, our table was 
 fit to suit the daintiest; for in the woods grew also 
 sugar-trees, whence was made spirit of sugar; and 
 spice-trees, with berries like pepper. And the 
 maize, or Virginia corn, yields five hundred for 
 
74 King Noanett 
 
 one increase ( twas set as we do garden pease, not 
 in hills as here) and makes good bread, and frumenty, 
 as you know. And it will keep seven years; and 
 there it makes good malt for beer. For in the 
 colony already were six public brewhouses ; but 
 most brewed their own beer, strong and good. So 
 you see, twas a fair and fertile colony ; and I might 
 well have stayed there, to grow rich ; for of tobacco 
 alone one man may plant two thousand weight a 
 year ; but that I was a slave, aye ! in more ways than 
 one; bound for ten years there, and bound to my 
 love to set away to England. For I never gave up 
 this hope. 
 
 And of Miles I heard once by letter, and knew 
 that he was restless too. Tis the only one I have 
 from him : so let me write it here. 
 
 " Dear Moore," it began (he always called me 
 
 Moore), "Dear Moore, 
 
 "This is hoping thou art as contented as the 
 Lord can make thee in thy present station, and with 
 hoping to get out of it. Here is a surly devil of a 
 planter, with a comely shrew of a wife, well affection d 
 enow toward Strangers, bee they Proper men like 
 me ; something over ardent, to speak the Truth : but 
 Faith ! the reciprocity of affection is all on one side. 
 And the ugly devil of a husband keeps me in the 
 fields the longer for it. Sure I hardly blame him 
 for it. Tis the laziest baking of Christians I have 
 seen outside old Ireland. The men just like the 
 Indian Savages, impose all the work upon the poor 
 women. They make their wives rise out of their 
 beds early in the morning, at the same time that they 
 
I Grow Tobacco and Forget my Love 75 
 
 lye and Snore till the Sun hath run one good third 
 of his course, & disperst all the unwholesome Damps. 
 Then, after Stretching & Yawning for half an hour, 
 they light their Pipes, and under the protection of 
 a cloud of Smoak, ventur out into the open Air; 
 though, if it happen to be never so little cold, they 
 quickly return Shivering into the chimney corner. 
 When the weather is mild, they stand leaning with 
 both their arms upon the cornfield fence, and gravely 
 consider whether they had best go and take a small 
 Heat at the hoe: but generally find reasons to put 
 it off till another time. 
 
 "Thus they loiter away their lives like Solomon s 
 Sluggard, with their arms across, and at the Winding 
 up of the day scarce have bread enough to Eat. 
 Some, who pique themselves more on their Industry 
 than their neighbours, will now and then in compli 
 ment to their cattle cut down a tree whose limbs are 
 loaden with the Moss they burn for fuel. The 
 Trouble would be too great to climb the tree in 
 order to gather this Provender, but the shortest way 
 (which in this country is always counted the best) is 
 to fell it, just like the lazy Indians who do the same 
 by such trees as bear fruit, & so make one harvest 
 for all. By this bad husbandry, Milk is so scarce 
 in the Winter season, that were a Big-Belly d woman 
 to long for it, she would lose her longing. And in 
 Truth, I believe this is often the Case, and at the 
 same time a very good reason why so many people 
 in this Province are markt with a Custard Complex 
 ion. Moreover these English natives are over fond 
 of eating swinesflesh, and so do get the Yaws. And 
 at night they drink a drink called Kill-Devil, said to 
 
j6 King Noanett 
 
 be New England Rum, made out of long Sugar, or 
 molosses, rich and ropy. They have too a thing 
 named Bombo ; tis, Rum, Water & this long Sugar 
 served in bowls; and one remembereth it ye next 
 Day. For as the water and the sugar go, they do 
 replenish this Bombo with shear Rum. But I, and 
 those of us that still do fast o Fridays, take no other 
 drink than Adam had in Paradise, by the help of 
 which we perceive our Appetites do mend, our 
 Slumbers sweeten, the Stream of Life to run cool 
 and peaceably in our veins, and if ever we dream of 
 women, they are kind. 
 
 "The Indians, too, are near by; about them our 
 Chaplain (for we even have a Church at the Cross 
 roads) hath much concern : their damsels are straight 
 and well-favour d. They do dress becomingly in 
 Rouge (like to any Court-lady, God bless em !) and 
 feathers on their heads ; and I may safely venture to 
 say, the Indian women would have made altogether 
 as honest Wives for the first Planters as the Damsels 
 they are us d to purchase from aboard the ships. It 
 is strange, therefore, that any good Christian Shou d 
 have refused a wholesome, Straight Bed-fellow, when 
 too he might have had so fair a Portion with her as 
 the Merit of saving her Soul. For our Chaplain 
 tells us, unless they are Marry d unto white men, 
 they be damn d. And he hath observed with some 
 concern that the Ruffles of some of our Fellow Trav 
 ellers were a little discolour d with pochoon, where 
 with the good Man hath been told these ladies use 
 to improve their invisible Charms. Perhaps tis still 
 their fault: they know not their own Value, like 
 those same ladies of the Court: the Price they set 
 
I Grow Tobacco and Forget my Love 77 
 
 upon their charms is not at all extortionate. A 
 Princess for a pair of Red Stockings can t surely be 
 thought buying repentance much too dear. 
 
 " But despite these diversions, I have had enough 
 of Virginia. I hear Sir Arthur Hesselrigge did send 
 two hundred of Scotch prisoners to New England ; 
 who knows? Did I tell ye, I d. a Friend I am in 
 search of? I ve e en had enough of the squire and 
 his Dame; as the song saith, 
 
 " C 7 have played my part, 
 
 Both at plow and at cart, 
 In the land of Virginny O, 
 
 Which ?nakes me pale and wan, 
 
 Do all that e 1 er I can, 
 When that I was weary, O so weary, weary O ! 
 
 " I m hearing there be tall men up above the Falls; 
 and Spaniards with iron visors a-horseback; and 
 mountains with a mine of gold by a mighty river 
 that runneth to the South Sea. Perhaps we ll take 
 a turn thither first, by way of casting a false scent: 
 some night I ll call for thee, so be prepared. But 
 first of all, send me word how the maid Jennifer is : 
 for I ll not have her ill treated though we abduct her 
 for it. Heigho ! Tis the women make the trouble 
 of this life and make life worth the trouble. 
 
 "The bearer of this, a half-tamed Savage, holdeth 
 your humble servant in high regard. He ll not bear 
 thrashing, so only knock him senseless once and give 
 him a blue bead or two (the ignorant devils think 
 blue the royal colour and will go through fire and 
 water for a bead of it as we will, for a ribbon or a 
 
7 8 King Noanett 
 
 lady s eye) that he may bring answer safely back to 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 Miles Courtenay. 
 Bampfylde Moore Carew, Esqr. 
 sometime of Devon, 
 
 now servant to one clay-booted fellow with a 
 reddish Nose/ 
 
 Miles s letter was the one pleasure of that hard 
 season and I kept it by me and would read it, laugh 
 ing to myself, yet with a tear of tenderness not far 
 off. For such was the nature of Miles; and I have 
 observed we English are slow to understand such. 
 With all his merry-making and his seeming unsteadi 
 ness, and his light way of speaking, especially of 
 women, I learned to know his careless change of 
 mind would often mask a quick resolve or a pur 
 pose well thought out; and as for lightly valuing 
 the other sex it was the only way his scorn of the 
 unworthy made terms with his own good nature. 
 For, of all that ever loved in true and knightly 
 fashion ; of all who e er had heart for only one and 
 kindliness for all, Miles Courtenay . . . but he well 
 knows he hath the love of our hearts : why should I 
 here scribble of it ? 
 
 His letter had been brought me, as it said, by a 
 savage. And this Indian had appeared like a vision 
 out of the ground, as I was taking my noonday rest 
 in the cornfield. How he knew which was I, the 
 one for whom he had the letter, I cannot tell. For 
 no other saw him come, and none other saw him go ; 
 this much I know. Yet he stayed about the house 
 the next day, and two nights : the first one I spent 
 
I Grow Tobacco and Forget my Love 79 
 
 on a moonlight journey to Jennifer s farm; and I 
 was glad to find the girl was well enough, and she 
 cried for joy at the good news from Miles. And 
 she gave me some blue beads, and a worked trinket 
 like an earl s rosette and ribbon; and when my 
 Indian saw it, he grunted like a porker and put it 
 bravely about his red-painted chest. And then he 
 strutted like a turkey in the twilight until I saw old 
 Smothergal, the overseer, coming through the dusk 
 and bethought me of Miles s admonition and so 
 knocked him down behind a cornrick, where he had 
 the grace to lie in silence. Then I saw that he was 
 very drunk ; and returning into the house I found 
 old Smothergal grumbling of a bowl of bombo they 
 had missed. 
 
 So I wrote my answer quickly and went out 
 again, misdoubting the Indian was too drunk to 
 carry it. I stood him up, and he fell all unjointed, 
 like a child s doll. But he said, " Me know me 
 carry give writing ! " And a ludicrous sight he 
 was, as he lay wallowing in the corn sheaves, the 
 broad blue ribbon around his naked breast. 
 
 " You are to carry this to Courtenay you 
 understand? " 
 
 <c Me know me know Courtenay great 
 Werrowance ! " 
 
 " Aye, a chief is Courtenay, great chief indeed," 
 said I, with what sternness I could muster. " Faugh ! 
 you re too drunk ! " 
 
 " Me not drunk great Werrowance me sober 
 mornin ." 
 
 I rolled the cornrick over him and left him there, 
 and in the morning he was gone. 
 
XII 
 In which I Have a Talk with Miles 
 
 SOME weeks went by after this ; the tobacco 
 and corn and fodder was all in ; little re 
 mained to do ; the hands stayed about the 
 house and drank all they could lay hands 
 on ; old Smothergal grew more morose ; and Mad- 
 deson went up to town to sit in the House of 
 Burgesses. And as we on the plantation saw 
 more of each other, I grew the more impatient 
 of my lot. Still did Miles not come, and I won 
 dered. For it needed not his letter to tell me we 
 had resolved to escape ; only I had been content 
 to leave the initiative to Miles. But the strange 
 bright winter came on, and the days grew longer, 
 and still I had no further word from him. On Sun 
 days, and any other day that I could get away, I 
 stole into the woods and took to verting : that is, 
 I lay harboured in the fern and thought to myself. 
 For we had no books ; nor would a bell or book 
 have kept my mind from Miss St. Aubyn. And 
 when I dared take the time, as on days when 
 Smothergal too would go to town, I would put a 
 corncake in my pocket, and tramp the twenty miles, 
 to and fro, that separated me from Jennifer s. And 
 she was a brave girl, and growing well ; for the old 
 woman that ruled the place was not half bad to her, 
 
 80 
 
I Have a Talk with Miles 81 
 
 treating her indeed much better than the husband, 
 who was a surly, sullen fellow, going about a-glower- 
 ing, and as we talked he would hunch himself up in 
 his chair and glare upon us. But Jennifer s eyes 
 at seeing me would brighten, until I told her that I 
 brought no news of Miles ; though after that she 
 would perk herself up and make a shift of being 
 glad to see me. 
 
 Yet on more of this I need not dwell ; for, one 
 smoky day in spring, I saw a canoe crossing the 
 river, and a white man in it. Now Indians were no 
 rare sight, but a whiter face than Smothergal s I had 
 not seen that season. So I left my negroes to fall 
 asleep behind the nearest stump, and made down to 
 the landing ; and the man, as I had hoped, was 
 Miles Courtenay. 
 
 " Now the saints reward the Christian heathen 
 that sent me here," said he, "for I m a bould soger 
 boy once more, and you re the very man I ve come 
 to see ; d ye think ye can keep me dark a few days 
 you and the squire ? " 
 
 Of course I was joyed to see him, and told 
 him I d do what I could, though Smothergal was 
 cross-grained enough when the whiskey was not 
 in him. 
 
 " I think the two of us can rayson with him," 
 says Courtenay. " It s me and the lord of the 
 manor has had a little misunderstanding as to which 
 of us was to do the work, so I had to crack his 
 skull a bit one day by way o hintin he was no bet 
 ter gentleman than meself; and I m thinkin the 
 army was the safest place for a man o my temper, 
 to say nothing o my health being better out of the 
 
82 King Noanett 
 
 civil jurisdiction. Ye ll come along, o course ? 
 Ingram s the man to give us a flag apiece." 
 
 Now I had heard there was a war to break out 
 shortly against the savages, who had been killing 
 and scalping our people on the rivers, and the Gov- 
 ernour had had to send to this Ingram and place 
 the colony in his hands ; and I d heard no good 
 of him. I said as much to Courtenay, but he only 
 laughed. 
 
 " Would ye fight the red devils with a parson ? " 
 said he. "Ingram s the man to lead the life. Sure, 
 tis a life we want : he never lived one, who feared 
 to end it." Yet I was not decided ; and that night 
 he stayed on the plantation, and we smoked our 
 pipes together out in the clearing where the midges 
 they call mosquitoes did not come so thick. The 
 moon rose full that night and was the only thing of 
 all that strange land that was not strange to Devon. 
 And we hardly gave each other two words in all 
 that evening, but smoked our pipes of the rich new 
 tobacco ; and at the end of it, Miles said, as we 
 turned to go back to the house : 
 
 "D ye think ye ll win her, whipping lazy niggers 
 here, ye bogtrotter ? " 
 
 I stared at him and marvelled ; then I started to 
 speak; then my sober English sense came on and 
 bade me sleep on it. And the while Courtenay was 
 looking on me with merry eyes. 
 
 " Courtenay," said I, in the sober morning, after 
 thinking on it all night, "have I been talking in my 
 sleep?" 
 
 " Nay, Carew, ye ve been too silent when awake. 
 Is she home in England?" 
 
I Have a Talk with Miles 83 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 "Then all ye ve to do is to conquer an Indian 
 province and go back as governour she loves ye 
 o course? " 
 
 I shook my head. 
 
 "Nay, nay," said he, "they always love a man 
 who loves them well enow," words that I have 
 thought of since many a time, as he spoke them. 
 "Your case is the better curing; for mine, I know 
 not where she is, save that she is in this vast and 
 lonely country, and I have come to find her here, 
 please the Virgin, by the light of her dear eyes." 
 
 So Miles then told it to me, in his frank Irish 
 way. And thus passed each other s confidence. 
 And many years went by ere we spoke so plain of 
 it again. But after this, a softness stood between 
 us, for the other s loving heart. 
 
XIII 
 
 In which we Reason with Squire Smothergal 
 
 "A ND now to persuade that squire of yours to 
 
 /\ let us go and give us horses." 
 X V "Horses?" said I, "for me to escape 
 by?" 
 
 "Aye, to be sure," says Miles; "how else shall 
 we appear as befits our rank before the Generalis 
 simo ? Do ye put yourself under my orders and do 
 what I say. And now, come into breakfast." 
 
 If Smothergal was cross the night before, he was 
 all on edge this morning. And the light way 
 Courtenay ordered him round did not tend to set 
 his stomach, as I well saw. So he began by order 
 ing me to the fields. 
 
 Now I had not had my breakfast, and all good 
 Devon men had liefer fight than eat before their 
 breakfast, though they fight best just after it. So I 
 scarce needed Courtenay s wink to bid the old 
 planter hold his peace, and pass me his cakes of 
 maize and yellow " patata-root." For potatoes were 
 new to us all in those days. 
 
 At this old Smothergal got up and took his 
 ox-whip. " Now, John," growled he, " we ll see." 
 
 "O knock him down," said Courtenay, putting 
 down a pewter of ale half-emptied. So I knocked 
 him down, and he fell into the ashes of the kitchen 
 
 84 
 
We Reason with Squire Smothergal 85 
 
 fire, and I had to pull him out myself, while Courte- 
 nay drank the other half of his flagon of beer. 
 "Dust yourself a bit," Miles suggested, and Smoth 
 ergal, confused, began to shake the cinders from his 
 clothes. Then Courtenay began : 
 
 "Imprimis, Squire Smothergal, this gentleman you 
 call John, is none other than Bampfylde Moore 
 Carew, Esquire, of his blessed Majesty s, King 
 Charles the Second s loyal shire of Devon, well 
 able to call you to account when the King comes to 
 his own again or even earlier. Secundo, Goodman 
 Smothergal, we are about to join his Majesty s loyal 
 soldiery in his colony of Virginia, to fight the heathen 
 under the leadership of one Ingram, a gentleman, as 
 I am informed, of large morals and approved valour. 
 Tertio, fellow Smothergal, we would beg the loan of 
 your two horses, as ye would not wish us to dero 
 gate from our station while we are at the wars and 
 guarding your estates." And Courtenay made as 
 if to fling the empty flagon at him, while the fellow 
 ducked for very fear ; and Courtenay s method of 
 negotiation did the business, for a fiercer face than 
 he could put on never frighted child. 
 
 " As for his lazy self," stammered Smothergal, 
 " he may go and good riddance ; but my two 
 horses cost me eight gold jacobuses at Jamestown." 
 
 " There they are," cried Courtenay, putting down 
 a roll of broad goldpieces to my great wonder, and 
 I guess as well to that of Smothergal. He looked 
 at us ruefully, but rubbed his elbows and pocketed 
 them, muttering vague words of justice and the 
 burgesses, to which we paid little heed. 
 
 "And now," said Courtenay, " vamos ! for we 
 
86 King Noanett 
 
 are for the nonce abit the shady side of the law, 
 and I ve got a fear thy late master and mine may 
 meet and lay their heads together " 
 
 " But Courtenay, the jacobuses," said I ; for I 
 was not easy in my mind. 
 
 " Plenty more where they came from a little 
 store I brought from home and saved against need." 
 
 I looked in his laughing eyes and trusted them ; 
 and so we rode away and two days after presented 
 ourselves, in the best garb we could muster, before 
 the camp where Ingram kept his motley forces. 
 We had managed to buy a couple of swords on the 
 way, but had no mail nor helmet. Indeed, King 
 James had sent out to the Virginia and Somers 
 islands company only sixty coat of mail some forty 
 years before (in return for some new tax upon 
 tobacco), and these were still in use to fight the 
 Indians. 
 
 Ingram was keeping his tent with a large com 
 pany ; two sentries paced before the door, as if he 
 were indeed a general, and demanded what might be 
 our business. 
 
 " Tell his Excellency," said Miles, " that Captain 
 Gary and Ensign Champernoun await his pleasure. 
 Whisht," said he, apart to me, "they are good Devon 
 names sure, we can t put our own at a beggarly 
 captain s rank, and a past ropedancer our command 
 ing colonel." 
 
 The sentry looked at us ; but after a moment put 
 his head within the tent. He withdrew it promptly ; 
 for an empty bottle came spinning through the flap 
 where it had been ; and shortly after, a red-faced 
 man in a gay uniform appeared, none too pleased 
 
We Reason with Squire Smothergal 87 
 
 at being called out from his dinner ; and the faces 
 of two or three gay ladies peered out after him. 
 And Miles bowed very low to these while he was 
 speaking. 
 
 " And who the devil may be Captain Gary and 
 Ensign Clapperclaw ? " said the Generalissimo, as 
 Miles was finishing his courtesy. 
 
 " Champernoun, Sir, Champernoun," said Cour- 
 tenay, turning to him blandly. " We come with 
 letters to your Excellency and would serve under 
 your Excellency ; but our servants with our papers 
 are some few hours behind, your Excellency." 
 
 " That s a d d flam," quoth a tipsy officer, 
 who, with some others, had come out from the tent. 
 
 "Damn your letters!" said Ingram; "can you 
 fight ? Are you gentlemen ? " 
 
 " Of that I must ask these ladies to be judge," 
 answers Courtenay, with another prodigious bow 
 to the painted bona-robas who stood by Ingram. 
 "And as for fighting, Godswounds ! I ll e en ask 
 your Grace for leave to try it on that masquerading 
 prentice who just spoke ! " 
 
 A peal of laughter from the women rewarded this 
 sally ; and the officer referred to made a lunge at 
 Courtenay with his sword. Miles sat still on his 
 horse and never moved a muscle. The fellow was 
 so drunk that his point pierced the air some eight 
 inches in front of Courtenay s nose, and wabbling 
 feebly for one moment, he tripped over his own 
 toes and fell rattling in a heap on the ground 
 beyond. 
 
 At this there was a general roar ; but Courtenay, 
 still restraining his gravity, dismounted, and picking 
 
88 King Noanett 
 
 up the fellow by the slack of his breeches, set him 
 on his feet, and even handed him his sword. 
 
 "En garde, Monsieur?" said Courtenay. "You re 
 sure you re quite ready ? " The fellow lunged again ; 
 and Courtenay stepped aside ; then, striking the 
 other s sword near the hilt with the flat of his own 
 blade, sent it flying far over the head of the sentry 
 who was pacing below. 
 
 " Give me a cup of sack, your Excellency I 
 am thirsty." 
 
 Such was our introduction to the army of Virginia. 
 
XIV 
 
 In which We Join the Army of Virginia 
 
 WE were actually given grades according to 
 the rank my friend had claimed ; and that 
 gentleman lamented that he had not be 
 spoken me a higher. However, he got 
 me a position as aide to his Excellency ; which was 
 light work enough, and would have been pleasanter, 
 but that it brought me into dancing attendance upon 
 the tent he called his pavilion, and taking my meals 
 with the over-gay company therein. Now, among 
 the latter was a fine-feathered person who held her 
 self out to be the Generalissimo s wife ; at which 
 vaunt Miles would but laugh a little ; and she was 
 one of our fellow-passengers upon the Glorious 
 Elizabeth, and indeed the very creature who had 
 laughed at poor Jennifer on that night we had to 
 protect her (a thing I have never known a woman 
 do, either before or since, however evil). And she 
 looked at me, and I at her, but we saw that our 
 joint account lay in silence ; and I myladied her and 
 she becaptained me ; and all went sweet as syllabub 
 until she began to make love to Courtenay (as in 
 deed she had done on shipboard, but that her 
 station was greater now), and at first, led on by 
 some of his fine speeches, fancied herself in some 
 headway to proceed. For Courtenay had an Irish 
 
90 King Noanett 
 
 way of making every woman he met believe he was 
 in love with her, and they were even prepared to 
 swear it weeks and months after he had gone away 
 without them ; yet whether an untrue man, even to 
 woman, you shall see in the sequel. 
 
 But in this case "my lady" Ingram, being a 
 woman of a generous nature and a forthputting 
 spirit, soon reached the point with Courtenay 
 whereat she perceived she was getting more com 
 pliments than kisses ; whereupon she transferred 
 her heart to me, hoping, as I think, to incite us to 
 fight, for it was only Courtenay she fancied ; and 
 failing here (for as I was about her in the tent most 
 of the time, being the General s aide, I had to repulse 
 her advances more rudely and also, perhaps, as 
 being less used to the business than was Miles) she 
 thought I might be hired by promise of an hundred 
 gold jacobuses to kill him, by assassination or 
 duello as I preferred. All of which I told him, 
 and it made him thoughtful and thoughtfuller yet 
 later, as I shall shortly show. 
 
 For pretty soon the camp put itself in motion, 
 and the column began to march, keeping the river 
 bank on one flank and the cavalry on the other, up 
 stream until we came in sight of an endless range 
 of low blue mountains. And here, notwithstanding 
 our guard, the savages would lie like snakes or " mos 
 quitoes " in hollow logs along the shore, or in canoes 
 under the bushes ; and while they made a feint of 
 attack in force on the other flank, these would rush 
 out and startle our soldiers by a score of arrows in 
 their backs. And then my Lady Ingram (not being 
 any lady) would scream, and her nymphs yell bloody 
 
We Join the Army of Virginia 91 
 
 murder, and a pair of them perhaps rush out of their 
 tent in their shifts and throw their arms about the 
 nearest officer they saw, lest they should be ravished 
 by the savages. And these delicate creatures were 
 moreover always ready to complain of the rations, 
 and the forest, and the flies, and the roughness of it 
 all, and cry out at the little worms and insects as 
 their kind are wont to do, thinking to be thought 
 more lady-like, and whereby we know they are not. 
 
 But so it happened that a half dozen troopers and 
 an officer or two would be picked off by these sav 
 ages almost every day ; nor the dead man ever be the 
 wiser whence the shot came from, nor whom he was 
 to thank for it. So, promotions were frequent ; and 
 the ladies of his Excellency s suite were almost as 
 often widowed as remarried. And they took it very 
 merrily, and likened these doings to a game of haz 
 ard ; and wagers lay among them as to which scalp 
 should be next to go. For it was the habit of his 
 Excellency to leave behind those who were shot in 
 their tracks, as a discouragement to stragglers. So 
 all the officers made outcry at the unchristian mode 
 of warfare, wherein the enemy smote and yet showed 
 neither the one nor the other cheek in turn save 
 Courtenay, who never had fear of bullets, and I who 
 had little thought for what was passing round about, 
 and felt perhaps, God pardon me, that I might as 
 well die there and be done with it ; for I should 
 never see my lady more. 
 
 Now Courtenay had approved himself in many 
 other modes of strategy than striking the flat of his 
 sword from a drunken man, since that first day ; and 
 so one day Ingram, being as I think, at his wits end, 
 
92 King Noanett 
 
 had him in to banquet with us in the grand tent ; 
 and there, after the feast and before most of them 
 were drunk, he asked him his advice as to carrying 
 on this war. " Saving your Excellency s presence," 
 said Courtenay, " I think, since the heathen rascals 
 are afraid to attack us together, we might e en make 
 bold to face them separately." 
 
 " But how to get at them ? " said Ingram, who 
 had no fault of audacity, even of the better sort. 
 
 " Faith, I would scatter our men through the for 
 est like mosquitoes ; and then when each man has 
 enough for his stomach, let him retreat backwards 
 to some central point agreed upon ; and, converging 
 there, we shall have drawn the enemy to a head and 
 can reTform and charge upon them." 
 
 But this plan found no favour with the council. 
 " Have you another r " 
 
 " That I have, your Excellency ; but I doubt ye 
 like it the better of the twain. We halt the army at 
 the base of yonder mountain ; and there we build a 
 small stockade or fort, as it were for winter quarters. 
 And there we ll leave an hundred men or so ; and 
 the rest of the army starts back for the plantations 
 only starts, I say ; for in the night it makes a 
 turn around the forest, and comes back upon the 
 enemy from the further side, just as the red devils 
 who attack the fort are thinkin they ve the best of 
 it." 
 
 " And how do you make sure they ll attack it ? " 
 
 " Sure," says Courtenay, with a bow, " we ll lave 
 the ladies in it." 
 
 At this there was a screaming for which scalping 
 in dead earnest were no more than proper cause. 
 
We Join the Army of Virginia 93 
 
 " With the aid of the saints," added Courtenay, 
 cc they ll be safe enough inside. What would ye 
 have, dear ladies ? Would ye march in the attack 
 ing column in the dark, and the woods that full of 
 snakes as a Cheddar cheese of maggots ? " Whereat 
 they screamed the more, and some of them, that were 
 Papists, crossed themselves. 
 
 " Your plans are both impracticable," answers 
 Ingram, sternly. 
 
 " Then, your Excellency," retorts Courtenay, 
 " the next time your Excellency goes to fight the 
 heathen, it must pack up its virtue and leave its 
 beauty behind. Sure, tis an old tale, that Mars 
 and Venus do not go together." With which 
 Courtenay pledges my Lady Ingram, and mollifies 
 her so that she says : 
 
 " La, Captain Courtenay if you were to com 
 mand that fortress, I do not know that we might 
 not venture, so far as the enemy are concerned." 
 And Miles sets his hand to his heart ; and " his 
 Excellency " swears with a round oath the plan is 
 worth the trying. And tried it was, to cut a tale 
 short ; and fell out quite as Miles had predicted. 
 The fort was built that same day and night ; and on 
 the next day we retreated, with trailing colours, as 
 if for reinforcements. 
 
 As Courtenay foresaw, the savages preferred the 
 smaller bait but the easier prey ; and he, with his 
 company, held them well at bay throughout the 
 next night ; and I had it from his lips that their 
 yells from the attack were less mighty than the out 
 cry of the women in the fort. And towards dawn 
 we came back and fell upon them from three sides 
 
94 King Noanett 
 
 at once. And then ensued a scene the good Lord, 
 I hope, may still, as he hath so far done, save me 
 from witnessing again. 
 
 For our Godless soldiers went mad with the car 
 nage of that long-awaited victory. No quarter was 
 shown, nor even asked. Only a few chiefs, and all 
 their women, were saved of the Indians, to lead in 
 triumph back to the plantations. And for days 
 thereafter our army lay mostly drunken, an easy 
 prey to the smallest force of the enemy, had there 
 been any remaining ; and their women, after the 
 soldiers were tired of them, were passed on to the 
 white ladies to serve as their slaves ; and these were 
 none the kinder to them that they had briefly 
 usurped the place of mistress. It was pitiful to see 
 the poor creatures, who were often gentler and 
 modester withal than their captors ; and indeed in 
 those days I have always thought those of the Ind 
 ian women that had never known the whites to be 
 like ladies, only of a different race. Some few, that 
 Miles and I assisted to escape, got loose by night 
 and took to the woods. And although both of us 
 were promised promotion and high office, we rode 
 homeward disconsolate ; for we liked neither the 
 heathen, nor the Christians, nor yet their mode of 
 killing one another. 
 
XV 
 
 In which We Adopt Jennifer 
 
 WE came back to camp near the town of 
 Henrico, and went into winter quarters. 
 At first, we had our triumph ; and no 
 one could do too much for Ingram s 
 braves. But we got no pay ; and pretty soon there 
 were rumours of dissensions between him and Gov- 
 ernour Berkeley. And then it was said that Ingram 
 had demanded too much, and some pretended that 
 he had even demanded to be made governour 
 in turn. And finally one day, we were taken by 
 forced marches towards the capital ; all the country 
 we passed through was empty of inhabitants as had 
 there been an Indian raid; and whispers passed 
 down the ranks that our leader and the Governour 
 had come to open enmity at last. So we came to 
 Greenspring, which was Sir William s seat ; and 
 there we found only some old slaves and servants, 
 but all the masters fled. Here we set ourselves 
 down for many weeks, and made merry with the 
 Governour s good cheer; and Ingram (who had 
 been a ropedancer by profession ere he took to 
 soldiering) kept high revelry in the mansion of 
 Greenspring ; balls were held there every night, 
 and other divertisements, of most of which I must 
 perforce be witness. And it was said Sir William 
 
 95 
 
96 King Noanett 
 
 lay shaking in his shoes in the House of Burgesses 
 at Jamestown, and dared not venture from its pal 
 isades. 
 
 Besides old Berkeley s Malmsey and fat bacon, 
 our regiment had brought full store of bear and elk 
 and venison on their triumphant return from the 
 mountains, and the feasting was most continuous 
 without a break for Sunday. " Faith," said Miles 
 to me, " they re a ribald crew ! tis little they mind 
 the fine of five pounds of good tobacco the law 
 requires for not going to church the Sunday ! And 
 by this bear diet will all the marry d men be joyful 
 fathers within forty weeks after they get home, and 
 most of the single men have children sworn to them 
 within the time as well! I except the chaplain," 
 added Courtenay ; " with much ado he maketh shift 
 to cast out that importunate kind of devil, by dint 
 of fasting and much prayer ! " In short, Miles 
 liked his company not, nor did I ; and we were 
 ready enough to leave it before the matter arose that 
 forced us to. And cause enough we had, before the 
 last. 
 
 For one, we had captured in the battle the Ind 
 ians great king Opechancanough, son to Powhatan 
 and brother to the far-famed Pocahontas. Now 
 Courtenay had found a little book giving the his 
 tory of this Indian princess, of which he was very 
 fond, and used to read to me from it aloud. And 
 this Opechancanough had been wounded deeply, but 
 was now fast recovering ; and on one day we saw a 
 great crowd before our general s tent, and there, tied 
 to a pole, like some chained wild thing, among a 
 press of drunken riff-raffs, and curious ladies, and 
 
We Adopt Jennifer 97 
 
 painted bona-robas, lay Opechancanough himself, 
 his deepset eyes gleaming, and not with fever alone. 
 Miles clapped his hand to his sword, to cut his 
 bonds, and after a word with the dying chief, was 
 about to do so. But just then the General Ingram 
 came out from his tent, haughty and flushed with 
 wine, and bade Miles desist. This he was over 
 loth to do ; but the aged Indian said something to 
 him in his own tongue, of which Miles had learned 
 a bit, closing with a grave bow to Courtenay and a 
 look of defiance at Ingram. 
 
 " What says the fellow ? " demanded Ingram then 
 of Miles. 
 
 " He says," said Miles, looking Ingram in the 
 eye, " had I, Opechancanough, taken General In 
 gram prisoner, I would not have exposed him dying 
 as a show before my people ! " 
 
 The fellow only winced a moment ; then ordered 
 Courtenay on guard ; and there was a little murmur 
 among the people. And yet other things there were 
 that wearied us beside this. For near by there was 
 a Puritan living with his family, that had come 
 thither from New England. We were friendly with 
 the man ; for he had helped us to eggs and milk ; 
 and he had a wife and little children. And one day 
 there was a general assembly called in camp ; and 
 there the Generalissimo read to us an Act of the 
 Assembly of Virginia, whereby it appeared that what 
 they called the General Court at the town of Boston, 
 in New England, had discharged a negro servant, or 
 slave, belonging to one William Drummond, an in 
 habitant of Virginia ; and therefore the Assembly 
 had ordered reprisal to be made on the estate of 
 
King Noanett 
 
 some person in Virginia belonging in Boston. And 
 so Ingram told us that although he and the Gov- 
 ernour might be at issue, he should always carry out 
 the lawful orders of the Assembly ! particularly in 
 such wholesome and excellent laws as concerned the 
 property and charter rights of citizens of Virginia ; 
 wherefore he had ordered satisfaction to be taken 
 of the goods of this poor Puritan. Now this was 
 mere high-handed outrage, in that Ingram had some 
 grudge against the man ; but we had hardly time to 
 warn him ere the troops descended upon the poor 
 fellow, burned his house, and pillaged what property 
 he had left ; only with his cattle and his family he 
 fled across the wilderness for the Patowmac in Mary 
 land where (he said) were other Puritans his friends. 
 We might then have gone with him, but that we 
 feared to draw pursuit upon himself; and the next 
 morning there was great alarum of an attack from 
 Berkeley, and we were called closely under arms. 
 
 Now, although we had been lying there for some 
 months, and known to be in more danger of kicks 
 than halfpence from the Governour, yet the lazy fel 
 lows had not so much as turned the sod of a single 
 entrenchment ; so we were unfortified, undisciplined, 
 and ill-prepared for fighting by the life we had led. 
 But now there was much business of digging and 
 entrenching; Ingram had sobered long enough to 
 draw some sort of plan of a fort ; and all the men 
 were set to work at the spade, even to the officers. 
 Courtenay had never much liking for that business ; 
 and he asked me now, as we stood side by side in a 
 ditch of red clay and water, if I knew what we were 
 fighting for, and why we were doing it. Against the 
 
We Adopt Jennifer 99 
 
 Indians, twas well enough, he said ; though he had 
 found them far superior to these Christians ; but as 
 between the monkey Ingram and this old Governour 
 why, Sir William was the better fellow of the two ! 
 For Miles had heard the Governour make a speech 
 complaining of these same New Englanders and of 
 the English shipping laws which forbade free trading 
 in ships with other countries than home ; and deplor 
 ing that we (Virginians) were most obedient to all 
 laws, while the New England men break through 
 and trade to any place that their interest may lead 
 them ! A doctrine which commended itself to 
 Miles ; as did that other famous one of Berkeley 
 wherein he said : " Our ministers are well paid, and 
 by my consent should be better, if they would pray 
 oftener and preach less. But as of all other com 
 modities, so of this, the worst are sent us and we 
 have had few that we could boast of since the perse 
 cution in Cromwell s tyranny drove divers men 
 hither. But I thank God there are no free schools 
 nor printing ! and I hope we shall not have these 
 hundred years ; for learning has brought disobedi 
 ence and heresy and sects into the world, and print 
 ing has divulged them and libels against the best 
 government God keep us from them both!" 
 For Miles was a consistent conservative and Cath- 
 olick, and believed that honest people should have 
 their ears open and their reading eyes shut, that they 
 might be instructed aright for this world by gentle 
 men, and for the other by priests. And I think he 
 would not have been too sorry to have been with 
 Berkeley on that day next year, when Ingram was at 
 last captured ; and the Governour, upon hearing of 
 
ioo King Noanett 
 
 his arrival immediately went to the shore and saluted 
 him with a courtly bow, and said, " Mr. Ingram, 
 you are very unwelcome ; I am more glad to see you 
 than any man in Virginia. Mr. Ingram, you shall be 
 hanged in half an hour ! " 
 
 But on this day Courtenay only wanted to escape 
 the fellow ; and I made answer that I was ready 
 enough to go. But even as we spoke, what should 
 appear but a goodly cavalcade of ladies from the 
 city, led by Ingram himself ! The meaning of which 
 we were fain to fathom ; for they were securely tied, 
 and by each one s side there walked a common sol 
 dier. But see now what manner of leader this fel 
 low Ingram was : he had been on a foray into 
 Jamestown that morn, and knowing our fortifica 
 tions were yet unmade, this was his chosen booty. 
 And coming into camp, closely pursued by Berkeley 
 and his troopers and these ladies husbands, what 
 does Ingram do but set up all these ladies, fair in 
 view upon the ramparts, both as hostages and as 
 protection to our soldiers plying shovel and spade ! 
 There was the lady of Colonel Bacon, Madam Bray, 
 Madam Page and Madam Ballard all (as I was 
 told) wives to rich planters who were high in the 
 Colony Council. And there indeed he kept them, 
 until our work, which was circumvallation of trees, 
 earth and brushwood, was finished. 
 
 I made merry with Courtenay, that his fate was 
 ever to be saved by ladies ; but he was up among 
 them, as soon as the head of our precious General 
 was turned the other way, consoling them and 
 promising they would come to no harm. And 
 pretty soon, one of them was sent back, under 
 
We Adopt Jennifer 101 
 
 Miles s escort, to parley with the Governour ; and 
 that night, when our fort was done, they were all 
 released. But this whole proceeding so disgusted 
 Miles with our General that I think he would, but 
 for changing colours under fire (which no soldier, 
 even an Irishman, will do), have then and there 
 gone over to the enemy. And we surely should 
 have deserted, but for this next trouble that hap 
 pened soon upon us. 
 
 For, one night, Courtenay called me to our tent, 
 as I was out walking by the riverside, watching the 
 stars. The Spring was beginning ; the woods were 
 sweet with nightingales and the calls of more strange 
 birds ; and my heart was calling so loud to one I 
 loved, that I could not but feel that heaven heard, 
 if she did not. I went up to the tent, and there I 
 found a fair boy, crying on Miles s shoulder. He 
 was roughly dressed, but slight in figure ; and as 
 Courtenay bade the child look up at me, I saw that 
 it was Jennifer. 
 
 Alack for the tale she told, as soon as she could 
 cease from crying. Her master had heard of our 
 escape, from Courtenay s or from mine, and how we 
 had joined the army where they could not reach us. 
 And meantime Jenney s mistress, who had alone 
 been kind to her, had fallen ill. And then the 
 master had sworn that he would have no such spy 
 on his place, unless she would promise to become 
 his wife on the death of the old woman ; and Jen 
 nifer had refused, and he had whipped her for it. 
 And the miserable fellow s wife, who had been a bit 
 masterful in her ways to him, but was now bedrid 
 den, had herself urged Jenney to escape and seek to 
 
IO2 King Noanett 
 
 find us in the camp ; and a kind negro had taken 
 her down the river by night, in a canoe, to where we 
 were. And pretty soon Miles, by way of relieving 
 his mind, called for that negro, and he came in, his 
 white teeth shining and his eyes glistening ; and we 
 gave him a piece of gold, and a great roll of tobacco ; 
 so that his eyes but glistened the more. And for 
 another goldpiece he agreed to leave us the canoe, 
 and find his own way back on foot ; for I thought 
 we might yet come to need the little craft, and we 
 hid it carefully in the rushes by the river. And 
 then we gave Jennifer some clean linen and a pair of 
 white sailors trousers that I had ; and while she was 
 putting them on, we went outside to talk of this new 
 state of things. 
 
XVI 
 
 In which We Secede from the Commonwealth 
 
 SHOULD we go over to the enemy? That 
 was dangerous for us, and worse for Jennifer, 
 as they were sure to take her for one of the 
 women of the camp. Could we give her in 
 charge to them ? I shook my head, and Miles 
 swore he never would not so much that the 
 miserable creatures might not be kind to her 
 as for the things she perforce would see and hear 
 among them. For, despite that law of the charter 
 of Virginia which made adultery punishable by 
 death without benefit of clergy (contrary to the 
 law of England and to a greater, the law of the 
 gospel, in the noted determination of our blessed 
 Saviour concerning the woman taken in offence), a 
 more evil-lived community than was our camp could 
 not be fancied, even in a savage country. For the 
 English (with the notable exception of Pocahontas) 
 would not wed the Indian maids, though they were 
 gentle and true and sightly to look upon ; and I 
 thought with Miles this had been the fairest way 
 to convert those savages to Christianity, rather than 
 by treachery and murder and despoiling of their 
 lands when they took vengeance as their teaching 
 bade them do. For, after all that can be said, a 
 sprightly Lover is the most prevailing Missionary 
 
 103 
 
IO4 King Noanett 
 
 that can be sent among these or any other Infidels. 
 However, this being not so, and there being so few 
 white women in the colony, the Governour and As 
 sembly had even found it needful to issue a procla 
 mation, forbidding women to contract themselves to 
 two several men at one time. For this offence had 
 become so common that great disquiet arose between 
 parties and no small trouble to the State. It had 
 therefore been ordered that every minister should 
 give Notice in his Church that what man or woman 
 soever should use any word or speech tending to a 
 contract of marriage, to two several persons at one 
 time, although not precise and legal, yet so as might 
 entangle or breed scruple in their consciences, should, 
 for such their offence, either undergo corporal cor 
 rection, or be punished by Fine or otherwise accord 
 ing to the Quality of the person so offending.* 
 
 If such was the condition of the Colony, it may 
 be imagined how much more free the manners were 
 within our camp; where was neither church nor 
 preaching, and the only colony laws enforced were 
 those which bade a man despoil his neighbour s 
 goods, for no offence but kindness to a poor slave. 
 And although, since that last exploit of the petticoat 
 ramparts, Berkeley had let us alone, there was talk 
 that we were definitely proclaimed traitors, and of 
 an army preparing to put us down. And at last, 
 toward the end of that winter, these rumours became 
 more definite ; and the condition of the soldiers was 
 most desperate. For we had neither money nor 
 clothes ; and our wretched women even began to 
 
 * A fact. It is to be regretted that this wise statute has not prevailed to 
 modern times. ED. 
 
We Secede from the Commonwealth 105 
 
 sell their finery, for blankets and for bed-linen ; and 
 Ingram was fain to take Lady Berkeley s fine dresses 
 from the house, and give them to them. 
 
 Now long before this had Miles and I desired to 
 escape ; and once had demanded our discharge ; at 
 which Ingram had fallen into a great rage, and 
 ordered a guard to be set over us night and day. 
 But with time this guard had been relaxed ; and so 
 it was when the question came of what we should do 
 with Jennifer. 
 
 "Miles," said I, "we must keep her here with 
 > > 
 us. 
 
 " Faith," he answered, " I suppose we must. 
 Tis pity ye are wed already in mind, I mean. 
 But the poor girl will have to bear what they dare 
 say of her " 
 
 " We will keep her in men s clothes, and pass her 
 for your body-servant." 
 
 " Carew, me boy, tis equal honour that your head 
 and heart both do ye." So we went back and told 
 her ; and the poor child blushed not that she was 
 old enough and vile enough to know what might be 
 said if it were known but at the idea of wearing 
 men s clothes still. But she sighed, and went to 
 work ; and we two slept outdoors ; and ere morn 
 ing she had made for herself what might pass for a 
 serving-boy s suit, in Virginia. 
 
 Now that once fine lady at the General s tent had 
 not forgotten Courtenay, nor his cool treatment of 
 her. And women s eyes are sharper in such things 
 than man s ; and one day when we sat at what we 
 called our dinner, she began to question us too curi 
 ously about the servant we had found. Courtenay 
 
io6 Kin Noanett 
 
 said he was but a boy that he had known on ship 
 board, and had escaped from a cruel master. " A 
 pretty boy," said she, " but I have been on ship 
 board too." Then we knew she had discovered 
 Jennifer; but we still hoped she might keep silence, 
 as she said no more then to Courtenay, but turned 
 and pledged him in a toast. Miles gladly responded; 
 but that same night, as he told me, she sought him 
 out, or rather sought out Jennifer; for he found her 
 sitting in the tent, and the heart of the poor child 
 had gone out to a woman, and she was crying on 
 her wicked bosom as he found the two together. 
 He led her back to headquarters, politely enough ; 
 but on the way she hinted at the price of her secrecy 
 to wit, that I should marry Jennifer, and he 
 should marry her. This suited neither of us, and 
 he roundly told her so ; so the next day, at table, 
 there was more laughter, and even open reference 
 to the maid in our tent by the gentlemen too 
 and Miles thrashed one of them and would have 
 run him through, had the man dared fight. " But, 
 Carew, my boy," said he, " we can t thrash every 
 man in camp; and if we could, twould hardly much 
 improve the poor child s case, I m thinkin ." 
 
 And now see what devilish snares an evil woman 
 may invent. For this "Lady" Ingram thought 
 nothing of setting the man she called her husband 
 to thinking on this poor child, if by so she could 
 have Courtenay to herself; for she was jealous of 
 him, it appeared, so evil was no evil to her. And 
 the Generalissimo saw the little maid, and bade her 
 join the women s tent; and Courtenay had to knock 
 him down, and set his foot upon .his neck ; nor 
 
We Secede from the Commonwealth 107 
 
 would he release him until he had sworn to do us 
 and her no harm. And then, after this whilom 
 ropedancer had staggered away, Courtenay looked 
 at me and I at him. 
 
 " What do you think the Generalissimo s oath is 
 worth ? " 
 
 "Rather less than naught, I m thinkin he 
 swears by contraries. Sure I took it but to damn 
 his soul a bit the more ! " 
 
 "The canoe is there," said I. 
 
 " And I m thinking we ve got about twenty min 
 utes to get away in." Then he called Jennifer, and 
 I saw him telling her what she should do. And the 
 poor child looked up at him ; and when he told her 
 that she was to come with us, so bright a smile lit 
 up her face as I had not seen since I left my lady ; 
 so perhaps I took my turn for a sob or two, while 
 Courtenay was petting her. Then we both sprang 
 up, and began carrying our goods to the riverside, 
 -Jennifer s clothes, what stuff we owned, our 
 swords and Spanish pistols, and luckily a good store 
 of tobacco. 
 
 It was evening; and a new moon lay low behind 
 us, as we pushed the little craft out from the shore 
 none too soon ; for we heard some commotion, 
 and saw men and torches and women, too come 
 crowding round our little tent. But they never 
 once looked at the river ; so we floated silently 
 down toward the Sea. 
 
XVII 
 
 In which We Flee and Feast Right Merrily 
 
 A^D now there came twelve weeks that were 
 near to happiness. For all that night we pad 
 dled down, between low and lonely shores, 
 beneath the stars. The constellations are 
 friends faithful in exile ; they are beautiful, and 
 change not. 
 
 Poor Jennifer kept very silent between us ; but 
 her silence already was rather peace than sorrow, 
 and Courtenay now and then would seek to break it 
 with a word of cheer. He paddled at the stern, the 
 girl lying amidship on our soldiers blankets, and I 
 at the bow, watching the wider waters as they opened 
 out ahead. But at last the black river ceased to 
 hold the stars, as its waters turned pale grey and 
 they faded in it ; and behold, it was dawn, and in 
 front of us stretched a smooth sea-line, and the sun 
 rose, peeping over its rim. The land to our left 
 dwindled to a long, bushy point, and we landed on 
 a sandy beach, and felt that we were safe at last. 
 
 We drew up the canoe and hid it in the bushes. 
 The sun shone bright and glorious ; and Jennifer 
 was singing with the birds as we made our little 
 camp. Then we fixed a shelter for her with a piece 
 of sailcloth, and sallied out to get our breakfast ; for 
 we had hardly anything with us but Indian meal and 
 the tobacco. The banks of a slow stream near by 
 
 108 
 
We Flee and Feast Right Merrily 109 
 
 were alive with little shore-turtles, but we saw none 
 big enough for a soup and did not know (until the 
 Indians afterwards taught us) that these were good 
 to eat. We dared not fire our guns lest we should 
 attract pursuit; though we hoped that Ingram would 
 not make any serious attempt to recapture us, being 
 himself in a state of siege ; and indeed we after 
 wards heard that this was the case, and that only 
 three days later he with his whole command had 
 fallen into the hands of the Governour s troops ; 
 when Ingram was promptly hanged, as I have said ; 
 most of the men were bound, or rebound (as we 
 should have been) to slavery ; and the women (who 
 had made prodigious lamenting pending the sur 
 render) took up with their captors, those who had 
 cried the loudest being the soonest soothed. 
 
 But on that bright morning we were well out of 
 this forever ; and it was only hard to know what we 
 might find for food. We talked of fishing, but we 
 had no hooks ; and both of us agreed that it would 
 not be safe to build a fire. Our best hope lay in 
 finding fruit or berries, and we separated to search 
 the woods, though we should have known there was 
 no chance, it being the Spring of the year; and after 
 an hour or two I returned to camp empty-handed, 
 where I found Courtenay with only a bundle of 
 sassafras twigs, then esteemed a great medicine. 
 However, Jennifer w r as up, with a bright face again, 
 and we stirred a little of the meal in some fresh 
 water and salt scraped from the warm rocks, and 
 nibbled at the sassafras for relishing. 
 
 " My son, ye have now a great opportunity to 
 purify the blood and macerate the flesh in fasting. 
 
iio King Noanett 
 
 Tis a Friday in Lent, I expect, and the Saints, 
 Heaven be praised ! are looking to it that we keep 
 it. Jennifer, tis a pity ; it s a kindly influence to 
 fill the stomach with a vernal wind and forget the 
 absence of carnal food." But Courtenay s playful 
 ness I esteemed misplaced before breakfast, or the 
 chance of one, so I went away to bathe, being 
 heated by the fruitless walk ; and there, as I waded 
 out in the shallow water, I cut my great toe upon 
 some shellfish so that, mayhap, I gave vent to an 
 oath or two ; and Miles came down to the shore to 
 chide me, in the name of some Popish saint, to 
 whom he was wont to turn when things went wrong 
 and he could do no fighting. And when I told him 
 what my just cause was, 
 
 "Thou great oaf!" said he, "to curse the pain 
 that brings thee better than locusts and wild honey 
 in the wilderness let us see an they be not good 
 to eat." So we tore up some dozen with our knives, 
 and found them very excellent meat indeed, of the 
 kind they call oysters ; and some were nearly an ell 
 in length upon the shell. So we ate a many of them 
 raw, they being well salted with the tide, before I 
 bethought myself to tell Courtenay that so good a 
 Papist might not eat meat on a Friday. " Nay," 
 said he, 
 
 " Fruit hath stones, 
 
 Meat hath bones, 
 
 Whatever hath shell 
 
 Leads not to hell ; 
 
 Thou mayst not eat 
 
 What walks with feet, 
 
 Or flies with wings ; 
 
 But fish hath fins. " 
 
We Flee and Feast Right Merrily 1 1 1 
 
 " But no fins have these," said I, ready for a bit 
 of merriment now that I was fed. 
 
 " Shells or fins, tis all the same," said he. "And 
 faith tis well the Lord did not see fit to tempt 
 us with a haunch of venison." And he lay upon 
 his back, smoking his pipe dreamily ; twas a trick 
 he had well learned in Virginia, this of smoking ; 
 and I too smoked, when I could think of Miss St. 
 Aubyn not too sadly. The broad blue bay lay soft 
 before us, its distant coastline shimmering into mist; 
 and all the Spring air quivered with the flight of 
 golden butterflies, and the earth lay fragrant to the 
 sun with yellow flowers. 
 
 " The King is far, and the Commonwealth is far," 
 said Courtenay, "and I m wondering if we ll like 
 the Puritans any better than this Virginia gentry ? " 
 
 I said a word of camp and Jenny s treatment. 
 
 " The Lord has made an earth of many pleasant 
 places," answered Miles. " Beauty is in this world, 
 as well as truth ; the Puritans forget half God s mes 
 sage, and dispute about the tother. But you Saxons 
 were always a pragmatical square-headed race tis 
 we Irish are the beauty-makers. D ye know, we 
 are the only people whose kings were poets who 
 crowned our poets, kings ! " 
 
 " You have not done much by your kings after 
 you made them," then said I. 
 
 " Ah, man, but we have dreamed ! The word 
 is greater than the deed, I d have ye know. A stu 
 pid Saxon may do the deed it takes an Irish harper 
 to think of! But in truth, tis a man s duty to be 
 happy on earth if only by way of preparing for 
 heaven." (Ah, Miles, dear Miles, how full wert thou 
 
H2 King Noanett 
 
 prepared !) " Beauty is given man, the good kind 
 of beauty to enjoy, the bad kind to tempt him and 
 teach him strength. In this way even pleasure hath 
 its place and a Puritan is but a suicide that thrusts 
 him, like a blubbering child, away from the fires that 
 are to try him ! Let monks renounce a man is 
 here to live, and touch and try the lives of others ; 
 to feel his life and use it to the full, and then to give 
 it away to the first cause, maybe ! Men to be 
 brave and true, maids to be brave and gentle and 
 both their highest duty to be kind." 
 
 " True," said I, " and here come some fellow 
 creatures ye may practice on ! " 
 
 And pointing up the river, I showed him where 
 were coming from behind the last point, low canoes, 
 and others, and then others. Then we were glad 
 that we had laid no fire ; and we betook ourselves 
 to the bushes, first carefully removing all traces of 
 our presence from the shore. " From some trials 
 it is best to flee," muttered Miles, " but I d have 
 ye know this only proves the rule." 
 
 " Think you they be Ingram s men ? " said I, as 
 we all lay watching through the boughs. 
 
 " I know not which kind of dam salvages they 
 be," answered he. " I like the copper-coloured 
 best." And such they proved to be, and in an hour 
 had passed us and scattered over the sea, or rather 
 bay (for we lay upon the shore of that they call the 
 Chesepiacke), and lay as if for fishing. 
 
 " We must rig a mast and sail," then said Miles ; 
 and we passed the day in doing this, cutting a light 
 sapling-pole in the woods and binding it to the 
 canoe thwart with green withes. Then we set flat 
 
We Flee and Feast Right Merrily 113 
 
 stones about the butt, which might also serve to 
 ballast us ; and long before sunset were ready for 
 our way once more. We dared not move upon the 
 open bay before the full darkness came ; but in the 
 twilight, as we were walking along the beach, I asked 
 Courtenay which way he meant to go. 
 
 " Northward," said he, " both as getting us away 
 from this Virginia nest of convicts and in New 
 England, I have heard they are both peaceable and 
 prospering the Swedes have come and crept into 
 a river called Delaware, and again the Dutch have 
 stolen into a river called Hudson s thus are you 
 English nosed in all places, because your wits can t 
 reach beyond the sound of Bow ! only these lean, 
 lank Puritans but we must fain try them and 
 then" 
 
 "That is not all?" I said. 
 
 " Moore," said he, " dost think thou rt the only 
 brave gentleman in the world hath given his heart 
 to a woman ? She hath gone to New England. 
 I did her some small service when she was escaping, 
 and she thanked me for it ; and so I made bold to 
 ask her whither she might be going ; and she told 
 me." 
 
 Then I sighed, for my case was yet the harder. 
 " Why did you not go with her ? " 
 
 " Man, do you ask a woman s question ? Did I 
 not tell you I did her some small service ? Well, 
 just for that trifle they said I was to be shot until 
 a lady that had some favour with old Noll got me 
 to the colonies instead." 
 
 " Do you know where she hath gone ? " 
 
 " I know she came under the name of Clerke, 
 
ii4 King Noanett 
 
 which is some kin to Cromwell ; that is all but by 
 the blessed Virgin s aid I ll find her " His eyes 
 glistened ; and just then Jennifer came out to join 
 us, and I saw her look into them. 
 
XVIII 
 
 In which, for Courtenay, I am a Brute 
 
 WHEN it was dark again, we launched our 
 canoe, put out into the bay, and turned 
 to the northward. The night was quite 
 warm and marvellous calm, so we struck 
 out boldly to the middle of the Chesapeake, which 
 may be here some twenty miles across. We had 
 a new moon it was the Easter moon and we 
 paddled northward all that night. Toward morn 
 ing a light breeze sprang up from the south, and 
 the dawn came suddenly and surprised us, many 
 miles from the land. We turned toward the right 
 shore, knowing it to be narrower and free from 
 Indians, and landed. But there we erred, in this, 
 that we could find no water. All that day we 
 tramped among the meadows, searching for a 
 stream, in vain. The marshes were full of wild 
 fowl, and we shot some duck, fearing no Indians 
 on that peninsula ; but we dared not show sail in 
 the open bay, and our mouths, too parched to eat 
 of the meat, could only swallow the salt oysters. 
 To the south of us lay the settlement of Acco- 
 macke, as we well knew ; but we dared not seek 
 water there, for were we not escaping servants 
 slaves with a price on our heads ? I fancied the 
 Indians better of the two. 
 
 So we lay on our backs, waiting for dark, and 
 
n6 King Noanett 
 
 Courtenay read from his book of Pocahontas to 
 pass the time away, and of the great Captain Smith, 
 whose life she saved, and who first discovered and 
 ruled these shores. How Pocahontas, in a very 
 dark and dismal night, came alone through the 
 woods and told Smith that great cheer would be 
 sent them soon, but that her father, King Powhatan, 
 with all the power he could make, would come after 
 to kill them all, if those who brought the victuals 
 could not effect it with their own arms while they 
 were at supper. How Smith then offered her pres 
 ents ; but she refused them, the tears running down 
 her cheeks, and begging him to be gone. And then, 
 of her saving his life at the block, and how, years 
 after that, and after Smith had gone to England, 
 she was, by one Argal, treacherously captured on 
 the Potowmacke, where she had lain concealed, to 
 withdraw herself from being a witness to the frequent 
 butcheries of the English, whose folly and rashness, 
 after Smith s departure, put it out of her power to 
 save them. And how this Argal had hired one 
 Japazams, for a copper kettle, to betray the prin 
 cess on board his ship, whither she went only out 
 of her good nature and obliging temper, because 
 Japazams wife pretended to be fain to go, and 
 would not venture alone. So this Argal brought 
 her in captivity to Jamestown. 
 
 " And then the haythens ! " ended Courtenay, 
 " they told her that Captain Smith was dead, and 
 so she married Rolfe." In fact, Miles was getting 
 to be quite an Indian-lover. And indeed, I gener 
 ally noticed, that the more he saw of either race, the 
 better he liked the other. 
 
For Courtenay, I am a Brute 117 
 
 We hardly waited for the sunset to be off again, 
 and this time we lay as close to the West as we 
 could, for water we must get. It was nigh day 
 break when we landed by a grove of the beautiful 
 green oak they have ; and there, in the very sand 
 of the shore, was as sweet a little rill as one would 
 wish to see. We had drunk nothing since the night 
 before, and I lay face downward to it, then turned 
 on one side, and let the stream run smoothly down 
 my throat without swallowing. He little knows 
 the true delights of drinking that hath not water 
 in this manner drunk. 
 
 And then we made bold to cook our birds ; 
 oysters, too, we found ; and there were terrapin, 
 had we but known how to cook them ; but twas 
 a breakfast fit for a king ! aye, and better than poor 
 Charles sometimes got, while he was wandering about 
 his failing kingdom. Of his son I say naught ; and 
 twas well, perhaps, I never saw King James, or I 
 had changed sides again. 
 
 But that it was not England, that day had been 
 quite happy ; only in England my lady was. Miles 
 sang cheerily ; for on that day his quest began. 
 And there we lay, verting, as the foresters used to 
 say, through that long day s sunlight ; and talked 
 of poetry, aye ! and philosophy. And Miles sang 
 us a song, of how " Sir Tristram came to Ire 
 land " -so light of heart were we. And Jennifer 
 was telling us tales of Cornwall. And she, too, had 
 a song of the little red fox 
 " Red fox, red fox, 
 
 For the love of two bright eyes dying," 
 very sweet it was, and sweetly sung when several 
 
1 1 8 King Noanett 
 
 canoes, filled with savages, put out from a little creek 
 that was near by, at the sunset, and gave us chase. 
 And now we saw the wisdom of the sail that we 
 had made. For we two would have been quickly 
 tired with the effort to escape ; but we put up our 
 triangular bit of tent-cloth, and rode easily ahead of 
 them before the freshening southerly breeze. All 
 that eve we rode before it, and by moonrise had 
 left them far behind, and were in waters rapidly nar 
 rowing to low, green, grassy points of land. Then 
 Jenny went to sleep, and Courtenay steered ; and at 
 dawn I took the helm again, which was one of the 
 paddles. Still all that day we sailed, and dared not 
 stop again to land. And in the afternoon, as I well 
 remember, Courtenay was lying forward, talking to 
 Jennifer, and managing the sail. They were talk 
 ing low, and I watched them sadly ; but, by the 
 way the little maid would smile and open her blue 
 eyes, I fancied he was telling her pleasant things. 
 The air had a Southern touch and languid ; and we 
 were all very sleepy when late in the second after 
 noon we passed a great river to the left, which 
 Courtenay thought must be the Potowmacke ; and 
 beating up a few miles westward, we landed in a 
 wood, near by a fresh stream of water, running 
 down from pleasant hills. We were out of Virginia 
 now, said Courtenay, and might at last breathe 
 freely; for the country bore the tender name of 
 Mary. I replied that the name was well enow ; 
 but men s heads sate more comfortably under Eliza 
 beth who named Virginia. Then Jennifer went up 
 into the wood to bind up her pretty brown hair, 
 which had been whipping about her soft cheeks all 
 
For Courtenay, I am a Brute 119 
 
 day ; and we sought more oysters for the supper. 
 After this, our little maid went off asleep ; and 
 Courtenay puffed at his pipe. Then he took to 
 telling me of Pocahontas again. 
 
 O O 
 
 " She was a lady, I tell thee, Moore, my boy. 
 And in truth all these savages may not be Chris 
 tians but the best of them at least are gentle 
 men. They have a sense of dignity, a self-respect 
 -remember that old chieftain good Mr. Ingram so 
 insulted in the camp ? Well, now, see Pocahontas 
 
 a born princess and read the tale that e en this 
 dry old parson tells. Mind you, they had told her 
 Smith was dead, and married her to this man Rolfe ; 
 and Smith had not gone near her while in Eng 
 land, but contented himself with drawing up for the 
 Queen a c Representation of her Case and Desert 
 
 in which " (added Miles scornfully) " he expresses 
 c a deep Sense of Gratitude to her, and sets forth 
 her great Affection to ... the whole English nation. 
 And now see what happened : 
 
 " c Before Captain Smith s departure, Pocahontas 
 came up to London. Being offended by the smoke 
 of the Town, she was immediately removed to Brent 
 ford ; whither Smith with several of his friends, went 
 to visit her. (He might have left his friends be 
 hind !) c After a cold and modest Salutation, she 
 turned from him in a passionate manner, hid her 
 face, and could not be brought to speak a Word 
 for two or three hours. But at last, she began to 
 talk ; and she reminded him of the many Services 
 she had done him, and of the strict promise of 
 Friendship, between him and her father. Tou y says 
 she, promised him, that what was your s^ should be his ; 
 
12O King Noanett 
 
 and that you and he would be all one. Being a Stran 
 ger in our country r , you called Powhatan Father ; and 
 I, for the same reason, will now call you so. But 
 Captain Smith, knowing the jealous humour of the 
 Court, durst not allow of that Title, as she was a 
 King s daughter ; and therefore (the brute) c he 
 endeavoured to excuse himself from it. But she, 
 with a stern and steady Countenance, said : Tou were 
 not afraid to come into my Father s Country r , and strike 
 a Fear into everybody , but myself: and are you here 
 afraid^ to let me call you Father ? I tell you then, I 
 will call you, Father, and you shall call me Child ; and 
 so I will ever be of your kindred and Country. They 
 always told us, that you were dead ; and I knew not 
 otherwise, till I came to Plimouth. But Powhatan 
 commanded Tomocomo to seek you out, and know the 
 Truth ; because your Countrymen are much given to 
 lying. Then she willingly prepared (poor girl) c to 
 return to Virginia with her husband. But it pleased 
 God, at Gravesend, to take Pocahontas to his Mercy, 
 in about the two-and-twentieth year of her Age ; for 
 there, in a few days, she died. 
 
 " Dost thou not see, she loved him ? And he, 
 the brute of a Saxon Smith ! And how sweetly 
 she turns it off, and will but call him Father ! 
 Pretty darling ! But Moore, my boy," and Courte- 
 nay s voice suddenly grew grave, " hast noticed the 
 maid there, Jennifer ? " 
 
 Used as I was to his quick changes, I gasped a 
 bit. "Jennifer?" 
 
 " Aye, who else ? Carew," said he, " I hope I 
 may be a vain man and a fool ; but I begin to think 
 the little maid is caring for me." 
 
For Courtenay, I am a Brute 121 
 
 "And like enough," I said. 
 
 " Ah, but it must not be ; now I behave like 
 Smith to Pocahontas. I have made love to more 
 than one woman in my time though never in 
 earnest, until I met the lady for whose sake, God 
 bless her, I came over here. And her I, being in 
 earnest, found not courage in my heart to tell. 
 How did you bring it about yourself?" 
 
 Miles could become personal with greater sud 
 denness than any man I ever knew. "I I we 
 found it out together," said I. 
 
 " And the best way, too. But, praise be to the 
 Virgin, this time I found it out first. Now, you 
 must tell her." 
 
 "What?" said I. 
 
 " Tell Jennifer that I am betrothed (God forgive 
 me for that sweet lie) to a lady in the Massachusetts 
 province, and we are going there to find her." 
 
 Now, I did not like my orders ; but I could not 
 say there was not right in them. And going to our 
 camp, I found the little maid just waking up ; and 
 her eyes were tender with sleep, and her voice as 
 sweet as any linnet s. So I began, like a man, 
 " Jennifer, do you like Mr. Courtenay ? " 
 
 She caught her breath a bit, and looked up 
 quickly ; and then looked away to him, where he 
 was walking lonely by the sea, and thinking of 
 another woman. 
 
 " I would die for him," she answered simply, and 
 there lay truth in her words. 
 
 "You must not grow too fond of him," said I. 
 " We are going to New England ; and there, I 
 know, some nice English lad awaits you. Remem- 
 
122 King Noanett 
 
 her, Mr. Courtenay is a soldier, nigh old enough to 
 be your father I doubt he will ever marry " 
 
 And now, indeed, the poor maid blushed. But 
 then, she looked me full in the face, as I know my 
 lady would have done or I to her, so love gives 
 gentle courage to us all. " I had rather be his slave, 
 than any governour s lady." 
 
 I wished that Courtenay had done his own job ; 
 but perhaps, on the whole, it was better he had not ; 
 for the dog had a heart (as I already knew) that was 
 cowardly tender. 
 
 " But," said I, " he may not marry " 
 
 " If he may not," said Jennifer, " he hath saved 
 my soul and body please tell him both are his, if 
 he will ask for them." Then I saw she thought I 
 meant that he was married unhappily. So I took 
 my courage by two hands. 
 
 " He hath come over here to find the lady whom 
 he loves," I said. 
 
 To my surprise but after a slight pause she 
 answered merrily, " Then shall we help him find 
 her, shall we not ? " 
 
 " That indeed," I cried, glad to get off so cheaply. 
 "And so you do not love him, after all?" As I 
 remember that speech now, I see how near a brute 
 is man. 
 
 "Nay, nay " the child looked up and smiled 
 " hast thou not said he was old enough to be my 
 father ? " Now, was it not curious this was the 
 very speech that Pocahontas made ? And I know 
 not why I did it, but I kissed her, then and there. 
 And from that moment we became great friends ; 
 greater far than even she and Courtenay. 
 
For Courtenay, I am a Brute 123 
 
 " She is a lady, is she not ? " said Jennifer, after I 
 had kissed her. 
 
 I nodded. " I suppose so." 
 
 " And he hath lost her ? " 
 
 " Yes," I said. 
 
 <c Then shall he find her, and through me ! " 
 And the maid laughed so sweetly, that Courtenay 
 came down to see what thing was forward ; and 
 frowned at me for not doing his commission. But 
 I smiled to him that it was all right. And when 
 Jennifer went then to make our supper ready, I 
 told him how I had told his secret, and the little 
 maid had laughed again. But I did not tell him 
 just the words she said. Twas too much like the 
 words the poor Indian princess had used to Smith, 
 when she found him alive that she had wept as dead. 
 
XIX 
 
 In which Miles Prays the Blessed Virgin 
 
 NOW the marshes lay too close about us 
 where we slept that night ; and next day 
 we awoke to find Jennifer in one of the 
 dread fevers that haunt those parts, and 
 the poison in the place had turned her brain. Eight 
 days she lay there ill ; and we tended her. At first 
 her face was always flushed, and she called for water, 
 water ! and coolness, and that the ship was so hot, 
 and that the people were cruel. Then she had a 
 sinking fit, and Courtenay and I went out and shot 
 a duck, and kindled a hotter fire, careless now of 
 Indians, and made a broth for her. And then the 
 fever came back, and that night she was crying that 
 they were whipping her, and that Courtenay would 
 not come. He hung his head, and cried like a child ; 
 for we knew what was now in her mind must have 
 happened to her in those months the poor child was 
 in slavery. 
 
 And the next day she was no better, and we gave 
 up hope. We had cut off her soft, bright hair in 
 the fever ; and she lay there now so pale, and looked 
 more than ever like a child. And her little hands 
 grew so cold, so cold ! And Miles began one of 
 his Popish prayers to the Virgin. And that night, 
 beyond the fire for we kept it always burning 
 
 124 
 
Miles Prays the Blessed Virgin 125 
 
 now, to drive the deadly airs away from Jennifer 
 in the edge of the forest, where the firelight hardly 
 reached, we saw a painted savage standing. 
 
 His attire was of the skins of bears and wolves, 
 so cut that the man s head went through the neck, 
 and the ears of the bear were fastened on his shoul 
 ders, while the nose and teeth hung dangling down 
 upon his breast ; and behind was another bear s 
 face, split, with a paw hanging at the nose ; and even 
 his sleeves, coming down to his elbows, were necks 
 of bears, with his arms going through the mouth, 
 and paws hanging to the noses. 
 
 I sprang up and grasped my firelock ; but Courte- 
 nay was praying still, and did not see. But the 
 Indian waved his hand gently, and spoke to me in 
 good English ; and his language was suitable to his 
 stature and appearance ; for he was a very large, 
 well-proportioned man, and his speech sounded deep 
 and solemn, like a voice in a vault. 
 
 " Child sick ? " he said gravely. " Your daugh 
 ter ? You no cry?" (This to Courtenay, who 
 was not, indeed, crying just then, but praying still; 
 and had made a sign of the cross, which the Indian 
 copied gravely. My hand was still on the firelock, 
 but I dropped it now.) 
 
 "Aye," said I, "and like to die. We mean you 
 no evil : let us rest." 
 
 " I get squaw bring medicine," the Indian said; 
 and vanished into the dark wood. Then first I saw 
 that others had been with him ; for they went away 
 openly ; and all about us were savages, painted in 
 deep red, with gleaming bears -teeth collars ; and 
 they had surrounded us, without our knowing it. 
 
126 King Noanett 
 
 But they went away silently, and showed no signs 
 of hostility. And pretty soon, the English-speak 
 ing Indian, who appeared to be the chief, came 
 back ; and with him, a woman. Poor Jennifer was 
 dying. 
 
 " You are too late," said Courtenay. The little 
 maid s face was set, already, with the last stillness. 
 
 " Me no too late," said the Indian ; and took a 
 flask of spirits (we had none) and moistened the 
 poor child s lips with the aqua vitae. She shud 
 dered just a little; and then the Indian woman, that 
 had warmed a broth of some herbs upon our fire, 
 made her drink of it. And we helped her, trusting 
 this Indian woman, though we knew not what it 
 was. And then Miles took his crucifix again ; and 
 the chieftain crossed himself; and we waited. And 
 after an hour, we heard Jennifer breathe again, and 
 slowly. And at the sunrise, she opened her lips 
 and said something, we could not hear what. So 
 our little girl got well again. 
 
XX 
 
 In which We Fight with the Susquehannocks 
 against the Puritans 
 
 NOW these savages were the greatest I had 
 ever seen ; they were called Susquehan 
 nocks, and lived in a palisaded town ; and 
 their chief, Tockwogh, a mighty man in 
 deed. For the calf of his leg measured three-quar 
 ters of a yard about, and the rest of his limbs in 
 proportion ; his arrows were five quarters long, 
 headed with splinters of white crystal, in the form 
 of a heart ; even his tobacco-pipe was a yard long 
 and carved with a bird, a deer, and a bull, at the great 
 end; and with it I saw him beat out a man s brains. 
 For we stayed with these Indians many weeks, 
 and found them in peace, very gentle ; indeed, they 
 called themselves Catholicks, and were living in great 
 amity with Lord Baltimore s settlement, that was 
 some two days paddling away. But we did not go 
 thither, fearing pursuit and demand from the Vir 
 ginians, who even then were almost at war with the 
 Maryland people that were loyal to King Charles. 
 At least, the Catholicks were so ; but there were many 
 Puritans they had kindly suffered to come among 
 them, that were Commonwealth men. For, of all 
 our English colonies, this one of Maryland alone 
 did never persecute its members for religion s sake. 
 
 127 
 
128 King Noanett 
 
 All those days the Indian women tended Jenni 
 fer, and the men brought us fish and maize and 
 even early berries, that were good for the fever. 
 For Courtenay and I took our turn at this, though 
 we were not so ill as Jennifer had been. And before 
 we were well, the little maid was nursing us, look 
 ing like a boy in her short hair. 
 
 Midsummer day came and went, and we were 
 thinking of going northward again. But on one 
 night (it was July joth, the eve of St. Ignatius, 
 the patron saint of Maryland) this thing happened. 
 Certain of Oliver s soldiers, that lived in a fort hard 
 by the Puritan settlement on the Isle of Kent, had 
 plotted with the Puritans to overthrow the Catho- 
 licks. And one Bennet and Cailborne (who had 
 always had an hunger for that land), coming back 
 from England with the Protector s authority, had 
 placed all that colony under government of ten com 
 missioners, mostly Puritans ; these allowed religious 
 freedom to all except the Papists, and summoned 
 Stone, that was my Lord Baltimore s governour, 
 to a conference ; although even Cromwell had 
 commanded these commissioners " not to busy 
 themselves about religion, but to settle the civil 
 Government." Stone had replied, refusing the con 
 ference (which indeed was but an ambush) and say 
 ing, " We, in plain terms, say we suppose you to 
 be but wolves in sheep s clothing," which was much 
 about the truth. For, with the connivance of the 
 commissioners, these soldiers, that were but soldiers 
 of fortune, and the Puritan settlers, had agreed upon 
 the salute that was fired of cannon on St. Ignatius 
 dawn, as a signal. And thereupon they rose, and 
 
Susquehannocks against Puritans 129 
 
 rushed upon the habitations of the Papists, and 
 plundered whatever there was of arms and powder ; 
 and then, placing themselves in some rough order, 
 they marched through the settlements, swearing 
 they would suffer no Catholicks ; though the Catho- 
 licks, who alone had right in that colony, for many 
 years had suffered them. And Governour Stone 
 then hastily called upon our chief, who was his 
 faithful ally, for help. And we, Miles and Jennifer 
 and I, marched with them, both because we thought 
 it safer, and that they had been our friends and 
 right seemed on their side. 
 
 But we came too late, on the evening of the 
 battle, and the poor unarmed priests already flee 
 ing, and Stone the Governour himself shot in many 
 places. And these Puritan soldiers did after boast 
 that all the place of the battle was scattered thick 
 with Papist beads. There were double the number 
 of prisoners to the victors, too, they said ; but that 
 was because the Papists could not believe in this 
 intended outrage on the part of those that had 
 called them friends, and had come to the conference 
 unarmed. Our tribe of Susquehannocks came in 
 just at the end, in time to make some stand and 
 help the Papist fathers to escape ; and it was then 
 and there, as a drunken buff-jerkin sought to toma 
 hawk a white-haired priest in his gown, with but a 
 rosary by way of armour, that I saw our chief crush 
 in his forehead with that great stone bowl of his 
 tobacco-pipe. 
 
 These Jesuit fathers, under guidance of our friendly 
 savages, escaped back into Virginia, where (as I was 
 after told) they had to live concealed in a mean, low 
 
130 King Noanett 
 
 hut, a sort of cellar, for many years, until the Puri- 
 tans had to take their turn at hiding. Four of the 
 principal prisoners, a councillor among them, were 
 executed by the Puritans upon the field of battle. 
 Three others, only Catholicks, that got themselves 
 upon a vessel that was bound for England, were 
 afterward shot to death, and the master of the ship 
 amerced for carrying them. And after the escaping 
 priests had been safely ferried across the river, that 
 same night, we took refuge in the forest with the 
 Susquehannocks. And then, on the very next day, 
 as we dared not return to Virginia, and Jennifer was 
 now quite strong again, that kind yet mighty warrior 
 lent us two braves and a canoe to guide us on our 
 way northward once more. 
 
 They led us first around the white settlement to 
 a great river that discharged in that part of the bay 
 nearest the Quaker country on the Delaware. No 
 money, only a little tobacco would they take ; so we 
 left them but our muskets and our blessing, after 
 they had taken us two days journey up the Susque- 
 hannock, where we were but a brief day s march, 
 they told us, from the Quaker farms. For on the 
 Delaware we were out of danger, and hoped to find 
 a ship to take us straight to Boston. 
 
 But first Courtenay tarried in the town to buy a 
 woman s dress for Jennifer ; which she put on, and 
 came out blushing. And I was surprised to find 
 how comely the little maid appeared. And she was 
 more like a woman than before her fever ; but they 
 say a fever makes people grow. 
 
XXI 
 
 In which We Come not Well to Boston 
 
 WE came on from Philadelphia in the Mas 
 sachusetts packet they called the Blessing 
 of the Bay. If so, it was to land-lubbers, 
 not mariners, and Courtenay (who joined 
 with me in working our passage for economy s 
 sake) renam d her as The Cursing of the Crew. But 
 Jennifer came as a passenger of quality ; and she 
 was even given a little place to herself, fenced off 
 with sailcloth ; and we felt for the first time that 
 we could treat her like a lady, as she had grown to 
 be, in her rough school. And I have often thought 
 since, tis warfare, knowledge, danger, make the true 
 nursery of noble blood and gentle manners. 
 
 After some eight days at sea, we saw before us 
 the Massachusetts bay, near to what they call Point 
 Allerton, full of wooded islands, where the cows 
 were pastured. And it was on a Sunday morning, 
 as the bells were ringing for church, that we were 
 set ashore with Jennifer s one small box of worldly 
 goods. And then we set forth on a search for 
 lodgings. 
 
 The streets were full of townspeople hurrying to 
 church or meeting, as they call it ; a meeting without 
 greeting it appeared to be, for they looked sourly at 
 each other, and sourer still at us. I was carrying 
 
 131 
 
132 King Noanett 
 
 Jennifer s box ; so Courtenay at last suggested I 
 should hire a boy to carry it. 
 
 " For I think," said he, " we make our progress 
 with somewhat less of retinue than our station war 
 rants. Didst see how that grim burgess in sable 
 and white lace looked e en askance at us ? " 
 
 " Nay," said I, " they are bent on the spirituali 
 ties. Certes, our small share of the temporalities 
 should not ill prejudice them." 
 
 " They may prejudice us, however," hinted Miles. 
 " My word on t, the best way to convince a Puritan 
 that you are another Pilgrim in progress is to let 
 him know that you had worldly goods to leave 
 behind." 
 
 Courtenay was a Papist, and his talk savoured 
 of the feminine guile of the Scarlet Woman ; 
 natheless, I thought well to beckon a small boy 
 to me, and offer him sixpence to carry my and 
 Jennifer s bundle. He had a bell-crowned hat 
 and a black doublet like his elders, and he looked 
 down on me from his four-feet-two with a preco 
 cious gravity. 
 
 "A shilling is the price on the Sabbath," he 
 drawled, nor found e en a Sir in his mouth for us. 
 " Where would ye go ? " 
 
 " To some house of entertainment, ye young 
 rogue," cried Courtenay. " Dost not see that we 
 are strangers ? " 
 
 " Thou mayst find thee a rogue and vagabond 
 thyself, within the colony statute," said the young 
 lawyer. " And what may be in that box ? " 
 
 " Swounds, thou urchin, what is that to thee ? " 
 
 " That I may not lay an information before his 
 
We Come not Well to Boston 133 
 
 worship against ye both, I must have warrant ye 
 are not like to be a charge upon the town." 
 
 " Will this be a caution to ye ? " says Courtenay ; 
 and with his one hand pulls oui a pair of gold caro- 
 luses and with the other gives the lad a sound box 
 upon the ear. 
 
 " One caution were enough, Sir," says the lad. 
 " Ye may follow me." 
 
 " The dog is not without a sense of humour," 
 grumbled Miles. "Where shall we follow thee, 
 to the stocks ? " 
 
 " One thing at a time they be not open for ye 
 on the Sabbath, Sir, now I ll take ye to the Bell 
 and Crown." And in a few minutes we came before 
 a long low wooden house, with a high, thin pair of 
 gables, and the emblem referred to hanging from 
 the lintel. Here we knocked loudly, but for long 
 got no response ; at last a prim young serving- 
 maid opened the door and looked at us doubtfully. 
 " Mistress Badcock be at the meeting," said she. 
 
 " Good," said Miles ; " we will enter and repose 
 ourselves until her return." 
 
 " That ye may not," said she ; " ye may sit upon 
 the doorstep, which is the public highway- " and 
 she slammed the door in our faces. And that evil 
 urchin laughed as loud as he dared upon the Sabbath. 
 
 Courtenay was for beating in the door, and began 
 to hammer on the same, until the neighbours col 
 lected and I and Jennifer begged him to desist. 
 And pretty soon Mistress Badcock herself appeared, 
 with a bunch of keys at her girdle and lugging a 
 large can of whale-oil she had taken to church with 
 her for fear of fires at home. 
 
134 King Noanett 
 
 gd woman," then says Courtenay (too 
 angry yet not to be a trifle condescending), "can 
 you give us lodging ? " 
 
 " Who may ye be ? " answers the woman, 
 sharply. 
 
 "This is Captain Moore Carew, and I am Major 
 Miles Courtenay, both gentlemen of Devon." 
 
 " And who may be the young woman ? " 
 
 " Not conceding the right to ask the question, 
 she is my sister." Now this had been agreed upon 
 between us ; but Jennifer had brown hair and blue 
 eyes, and Miles s eyes were blue, but his hair was 
 very black. And I saw Mistress Badcock pinch 
 her thin lips as she answered : 
 
 "A likely story and whence, then, came ye 
 last?" 
 
 " From Maryland," cried Miles, " a province 
 lately loyal to the King ! " 
 
 " Then ye be Papists and king there is none 
 but my Lord Protector. The law is on ye I can 
 not harbour Papists and vagrants." 
 
 " Nor I pay lodging to a shrew," retorted Miles, 
 unwisely. But she went into the house with man 
 ner sanctimonious, leaving Courtenay swearing. 
 
 Then the grave little boy pulled at my doublet. 
 " Profane swearing in the streets is half a crown or 
 a fathom of wampum. And I can take ye to a 
 kindlier dame of kin to me she is in truth my 
 grandam." 
 
 " Then lead us there, in God s name ! " cried 
 Miles ; and the crowd murmured, and the urchin 
 led us forth incontinently. And at Mother Ship- 
 ton s we bargained for and got two rooms, paying a 
 
We Come not Well to Boston 135 
 
 gold carolus in advance. But as we were disposing 
 our effects with what comfort we could, I saw the 
 boy still lurking in the hallway, and demanded 
 what he wanted. 
 
 "A shilling, Sir " 
 
 " You unconscionable young dog, have we not 
 paid you ? " 
 
 " I must have a shilling more, Sir, for I led you 
 to two houses, and the second is but of ill repute." 
 
 Courtenay asked him if he would belie his gran- 
 dam, and kicked him forth ; and he went away to 
 inform the magistrates of our coming. 
 
 Then Courtenay and I, scarce liking our recep 
 tion, lay our heads together what we should do. 
 
XXII 
 
 In which I am Bound Prentice to a Cordwainer 
 
 IN the morning we bade Jennifer be of good 
 cheer, and sallied forth separately to find the 
 way that led to fortune. " Remember her" 
 laughed Courtenay to me as we parted. " Try 
 to find a good place for Jennifer," I answered, but 
 blushing. Miles nodded ; and I wondered how 
 much work he would do that day. 
 
 Boston town of a Monday morning was a differ 
 ent place than Sunday made it ; and I took my 
 way down to the wharves, where the ships were 
 already discharging their cargoes. And I went 
 bravely into the first merchant s counting-room I 
 came to, and demanded work. A prim old gentle 
 man sitting behind his desk looked up at me sharply, 
 as if I had asked for alms. 
 
 " What may be your name ? " said he, at last. 
 
 " Bampfylde Moore Carew." 
 
 " And whence come ye ? " 
 
 " From Devonshire, hard by South Molton." 
 
 " What do you know ? " 
 
 This posed me ; for I had been bred on a farm, 
 yet was I not asking for farmer s work. " I would 
 like a chance to learn the business, Sir. 1 
 
 " Have you money ? " 
 
 " Not much." 
 
 136 
 
Bound Prentice to a Cordwainer 137 
 
 " How much ? " 
 
 " A few guineas." 
 
 " Humph ! Are you a member of the church ? 
 Can you keep a set of accompts ? " 
 
 " No, Sir. I could learn, if you would give me 
 a trial. I am a good Church-of-England man, I 
 hope." 
 
 The humph was more prolonged this time. " I 
 have no use for ye, young man." 
 
 I got the same sort of answer often that day, and 
 I tried all the counting-rooms in town. For dinner 
 I only had a bit of bread and a mug of beer ; and I 
 went back at night discouraged, only hoping Courte- 
 nay had had better luck. Him I found sitting with 
 Jennifer ; and I asked him ; but he seemed, for him, 
 a bit downcast, and Jennie answered for him. For 
 it seems the little maid had divined in what fruitless 
 quest he had spent his day, and had been consoling 
 him. 
 
 " Of course, he has found no trace of her, yet," 
 said Jennie, smiling. " What is one day in a new 
 country ? " 
 
 " But have you found a way to fortune, Miles ? " 
 said I. 
 
 " I have found no way to her, Moore," said he 
 to me, apart. " And faith, what need have I of 
 fortune without ? " 
 
 Now this shows the difference that lay between 
 us, an Irishman and me ; for I thought first of for 
 tune as the way to win her, and my way back to 
 England. But then, Miles did not think his lady 
 was in England. That night, Mother Shipton re 
 quired of us another guinea, under threat of turning 
 
138 King Noanett 
 
 us upon the street and delivering us to the magis 
 trates ; but this time I bargained that the coin 
 should last a week. 
 
 " To-morrow we must find a home for Jennifer," 
 said Miles to me, repentant, after the maid had 
 gone to bed ; " and you must even try the trades 
 people. Man, ye cannot hope to be a merchant- 
 adventurer all at once ? " 
 
 But the women were worse than the men. They 
 would ask us whence we came, and where we lodged ; 
 and when we spoke of Mother Shipton s, they d have 
 no more to do with us. " They re not half so nice at 
 the court of King Charlie, God bless him," com 
 plained Miles. And as we came out of the last house, 
 poor Jennifer was like to cry ; and a plump burgess 
 that was standing by, came out and spoke to us. 
 
 " What would you have ? " said he to me ; and I 
 told him that I sought a place for Jennifer, who 
 was sister to my friend ; and wanted work at any 
 thing for him and me. 
 
 " Can ye make a pair of shoes ? " said he ; and I 
 told him I could learn. For I was ready to try 
 everything by this time, and had little hope of any 
 thing. " Come along, my lad," said he, " and if ye 
 be a gentleman s son, ye ll be all the better man 
 that have the making in ye of a pair of shoes." 
 
 So we came to a decent house on the hill near 
 the water, over against Charlestown ; there was a 
 little shop in the street front, and over the door 
 was the sign, " Savil Simpson, Cordwainer." Be 
 hind the house was a larger warehouse, full of skins 
 and Cordovan leather ; and in the house was Mis 
 tress Simpson, who looked kindly on the little 
 
 I 
 
Bound Prentice to a Cordwainer 139 
 
 maid, and asked her to be seated. And then, for 
 the first time since we had left Virginia, the poor 
 little maid began to cry. 
 
 " I ve taken this young gentleman prentice," said 
 Simpson to his wife, " for a week on trial." And he 
 laughed in a merry way that did me good ; for it w r as 
 the first laughter I had heard in that sober town. 
 
 C The poor girl seemeth tired," said Mrs. Simp 
 son ; " where do ye lodge ? " 
 
 I had cause to fear this question, and I began 
 earnestly to explain how we were strangers, and had 
 not known where to go ; but the old merchant cut 
 me short. "Aye, aye, ye need not fear I ll think 
 the worse of ye for that- - tis an ill town for poor 
 adventurers, till ye be made free of it. But I m 
 thinking you and your sister had better stay for 
 supper, ye ll no be getting much at Mother Ship- 
 ton s." And then I guessed Master Simpson was 
 a kindly Scot. 
 
 We were thankful enough to accept ; and when 
 Jennifer had made herself decent and braided her 
 hair a bit, I saw the pair look at her yet more 
 kindly. " But first we go to prayers," said Mrs. 
 Simpson ; and he read us a prayer or two, and a 
 chapter from the Bible. Then we had a good sup 
 per ; but Mrs. Simpson had first to ask us of our 
 religion, seeing that we were strange to the prayers. 
 And it was with fear that I told them. 
 
 " I m thinking she may do for the Colonel s lady. 
 Twas but yesterday she told me she was courting 
 a new maid, one of old Hull s daughters ; but she 
 would not come, now her father has the mint; and 
 indeed I think that smug young Sewall is making 
 
140 King Noanett 
 
 up to her. And Colonel Jones and his lady are of 
 the old church." I paused a bit ; and then I made 
 bold to tell the honest cordwainer all about Jenni 
 fer, and how she was not Miles s sister, and how we 
 had escaped together. And the worthy old pair 
 hung upon my lips with many a word of sympathy, 
 nor seemed to think we had done wrong in anything, 
 save perhaps the fighting with the Indians against 
 their countrymen ; " though I doubt not we too 
 have much to answer for ; although we rid our 
 selves of king and bishop, the old man is in us 
 still ; and there be priests in this same colony would 
 shame the Jesuits." And their daughter Cecily, a 
 comely young girl whom I had not noticed before, 
 went over to Jennifer and put her arms about her. 
 And after supper, we went up to Colonel John 
 Jones s, who lived in a fine house up on the hill ; 
 and Goodwife Simpson s kindly words prevailed, 
 and the little maid was taken in, and promised a 
 good home at the least. 
 
 The very next morning I was set to work cutting 
 leather to fit a pair of shoes. And perhaps I sighed 
 just thrice or so, as I. thought of Miss St. Aubyn, 
 and what she might now think of me, if she knew 
 it ; then I hardened my heart and took courage. 
 For had she even kept her promise to let me 
 see her once more, when I might have told her how 
 I lived but for her ? Why, then, should I care to 
 have her hear that I had lived to be a shoemaker ? 
 She cared not. But when I had these ill thoughts 
 by day, I used to cry at night, and beg her pardon 
 in my dreams. And in three months from that 
 time, I had learned to make a pair of shoes. 
 
XXIII 
 
 In which I Make a Pair of Lady s Shoes 
 
 IN those days Boston was already quite a town, 
 consisting indeed of some twelve thousand 
 souls ; and (as Miles said) they were not 
 crowded ; though the whole place was but a 
 small island, and half of it waste land by reason of 
 the high mountain with three peaks, under the 
 northward of which lay Savil Simpson s house. 
 This hill was furnished with a beacon and great 
 guns. The town then had three churches or meet 
 ing-houses, the First, the South, and the North ; 
 and to the last, of a Sunday morning, my good 
 Master Simpson would lead us all, himself perhaps 
 the most unwillingly, and dressed in his most anx 
 ious suit of fine black silk. For, in the first place, 
 would one old minister deliver himself of a prayer 
 in the pulpit full two hours in lasting, whereupon 
 another ancient saint would follow with a sermon 
 of befitting length; and in the afternoon those min 
 isters that were younger and of more sound wind 
 would consume from three to four hours in naught 
 but prayers, and appointed a sort of watch of three 
 divines, relieving each other in the pulpit, one 
 down, another come on ! 
 
 So after, on the Monday morning, would Good 
 man Simpson come down to his breakfast with a 
 
 141 
 
142 King Noanett 
 
 haggard look and full of worriment for the future 
 of his soul, which latter gave him little trouble the 
 other five days in the week. As for me, I felt that 
 I could answer for my soul had but my heart been 
 sound ; and these sermons vexed me grievously. 
 While as for Miles, he commonly took to the wil 
 derness of a Saturday morning, whence he would 
 return with what game the Lord had sent and a 
 fresher colour early in the ensuing week. For in 
 the town, it was not until the Monday evening that 
 we got to walking again, as if nothing had hap 
 pened, with our ladies or our pipes, upon the Com 
 mon, and enjoying the soft sunset and the tranquil 
 inland waters ; and our hearts were eased, and Mr. 
 Simpson would look jovial again. This Common 
 was a sloping bit of pasture that set inward from 
 the sea to the flowing marshes that lay beneath the 
 western hills ; and here, every evening, the Gallants 
 would be walking with their Marmalet Madams, 
 till the nine o clock bell rings them home, after 
 which the constables did walk their rounds to take 
 up any loose people. Beyond this Common again 
 lay the gardens and orchards. 
 
 The houses of the town were made of thin, small 
 cedar shingles, nailed against frames, and these filled 
 in with brick and other stuff; and for this reason it 
 was most liable to fires ; thrice hath the city been 
 burnt in my memory. By the sea the houses were 
 built upon piles, close together on each side the 
 streets, which were paved with pebbles. 
 
 But meantime Courtenay found no work only 
 odd jobs to do, here and there. And I think one 
 thing made against him, for he must needs go see 
 
I Make a Pair of Lady s Shoes 143 
 
 Jennifer and bid the manservant at the Colonel 
 Jones s announce him like a person of quality 
 " Captain Miles Courtenay." " And faith," said 
 he to me, " I might in truth have made it Major, 
 for held I not that rank in General Ingram s army 
 in Virginia ? Sure, I was modest, nor did I wish 
 to tread too closely on the Colonel s toes." 
 
 I doubt if Colonel Jones thought any the worse 
 of him for this : but the townspeople looked at him 
 askance, as little like to be a penny-saving, God 
 fearing citizen. However, Courtenay spent most 
 of his time in enquiring for one Mistress Clerke 
 who had landed but the year before ; and would 
 pass weeks in making trips on foot to settlements 
 in the woods where he learned people of that name 
 had gone. 
 
 Have I not mentioned that Savil Simpson had 
 a daughter ? A comely maid enough ; and I was 
 friendly with her ; for I grew the tenderer to all young 
 maids from thinking overmuch of one of them. 
 And I never saw a gentle face, nor a sweet look, 
 nor a noble glance, that it did not make me warm 
 within with sudden memory of her I loved, as a 
 lamplight will set a linnet singing for the sun ; yet 
 neither she nor any maid, however fair, had ever the 
 gentle manners, and the voice like falling water, and 
 above all, the marvels of those eyes, deep grey, so 
 soft, you looked in them and saw the peace of 
 heaven such angel s eyes, 1 say, my lady only 
 had. And much I wondered what she was growing 
 to be. Ah me ! You see, I thought of her still as 
 but a child, and her face was growing dim to me. 
 It was she that I had loved, and not her face. I 
 
144 King Noanett 
 
 remember that I used to try to think, those days, 
 she would not grow to be handsome ; that no one 
 might think her beautiful but me. 
 
 Well, on the day that I finished this famous pair 
 of shoes, Cecily Cecily was my master s daugh 
 ter s name Cecily came early into the shop. 
 When they were kindest, her eyes had a little 
 touch of Miss St. Aubyn s, just enough to make 
 one kind to her ; and she looked at the shoes, and 
 then she looked at me ; and she had a cherry-col 
 oured ribbon round her neck. 
 
 " Dost think wilt make a good shoemaker, Mas 
 ter Carew ? " said she. 
 
 " I hope so," said I, holding up the shoes ; and I 
 think I felt a little pride in them. For they were 
 very bravely buckled, and turned up at the toe, fit 
 to go with silk stockings and a sword and periwig. 
 And just then came in Master Simpson it was 
 early in the morning, before breakfast and I held 
 them up. 
 
 "Well done, lad," said he; "I could not ha done 
 better myself when I made shoes. Thou rt a 
 shoemaker, indeed." And he clapped me on the 
 back. " And now, thou needst never make another 
 pair of shoes. This day I get thee admitted a free 
 man ; and to-night we have a bout, and I have bid 
 den the Colonel and his lady, and that rake-helly 
 friend of thine aye, and Master Jack, Mistress 
 Cecily," said he, pinching his daughter s cheek, 
 which grew very red, and not where it was pinched 
 alone. Then she pouted, and turned aside, and 
 Simpson bade me finish up and come to breakfast. 
 
 So I was putting my tools away joyfully, and yet 
 
I Make a Pair of Lady s Shoes 145 
 
 with that certain regret one must still feel who does any 
 thing for the last time; and Cecily came back to me. 
 
 " And so. Master Carew, you ll never make 
 another pair of shoes. Yet I knew it and came out 
 to tell thee, but that my father forestalled me. 
 For I have held converse with him about yourself, 
 and I know he hath resolved to take you unto the 
 business." 
 
 I thanked her, and went on putting up my tools 
 and setting apart my rolls of leather. And as I did 
 so, there was a roll of soft white kid fell off the 
 shelf; it was made for ladies satin slippers. 
 
 " You are very proud, now that you are no longer a 
 shoemaker, Master Carew ? And boast you ll never 
 make another pair of shoes for no man is t not so ? " 
 
 " True, Mistress Cecily," I said, and laughed, 
 and looked to the house as if to hint that it was 
 time for breakfast. 
 
 " Nay, then," said she, " thou shalt make another 
 pair of shoes ; and I will that thou shalt make 
 another pair for me and even out of that white 
 cloth, and with high heels, such as my Lady Bello- 
 mont wears at the balls at home." And she pointed 
 to the roll it was kid, not cloth, but I forebore to 
 correct her out of my new knowledge. 
 
 " They must be done this evening, against Mis 
 tress Jones s treat," she went on, tapping her little 
 foot against my workman s bench ; it was prettily 
 enough slippered already, to my eye. 
 
 "Then," said I, "must I take your measure now, 
 and work at them all day ? " 
 
 " That you may do, Sir art not still my father s 
 prentice and servant ? " 
 
146 King Noanett 
 
 " Nay/ said I, " for apprentice, I was never 
 bound ; and for servant, it seemeth I am not his, 
 but thine lend me thy foot." 
 
 So she put her little foot in my hand ; and half 
 an inch of white lace stocking ; and I took her meas 
 ure. And ere I had finished, her father came out 
 to see what we were at, and called us in to breakfast. 
 And Cecily told him how she wanted me to make 
 my last pair of shoes for her. 
 
 " His last, quotha ? He hath made but one. 
 Nor hath he learned here how to make a lady s 
 satin slippers : it takes an older hand for that. 
 (Master Carew," and old Simpson turned to me, 
 "I ll beg ye try no more; your hand is too unsteady 
 yet, and ye ll but spoil the pattern.) And thou, 
 Cecily, I d have thee go seldomer abroad, as I saw 
 thee with this gallant on the Common this last even 
 ing. Those Dinahs that still are gadding, though 
 on pretence to see the daughters of the land, may 
 at last meet with a son of Hamor. For all which, 
 see thy Book of Genesis." 
 
 " Tis Master Jones I d sooner call a son of 
 Hamor," spoke up Mistress Cecily; while I I 
 hammered shoes. 
 
 " Come ye in come in to prayers," said the old 
 cordwainer; and he opened the Bible, and read two 
 chapters of genealogy as if he enjoyed them every 
 word. I too liked these chapters best, because they 
 let my mind loose to think on other things, to wit, 
 my lady home in England. But when I told Miles, 
 as he called to see me that morning, what had hap 
 pened, he bade me straight go out and make the 
 shoes. 
 
XXIV 
 
 In which My Shoes do Fit too Well 
 
 NOW Miles was very vexing to me in his 
 manner about this occurrence. For he, 
 being of a disposition not to be serious 
 though it were his own funeral, but ever 
 had a smile in one eye though a tear were in the 
 other, saw fit to make much of this and magnify the 
 slightest notice of Cecily s, in a manner most dis 
 gusting, nay impudent, to one who knew himself as 
 well as I did. Cecily was now no longer young 
 (being indeed the age which they then called a 
 Thornback, that is to say, about six-and-twenty), 
 but though an old or superannuated maid in Boston 
 is thought such a curse as nothing can exceed it, 
 and looked on as a dismal Spectacle, yet by her 
 good nature, gravity, and strict virtue she convinced 
 all (so much as the fleering beaus) that it was not 
 her necessity but her choice that kept her a virgin. 
 But Miles pretended that she was a young profi 
 cient, and her love a blank, wherein to write the 
 next man tnat tendered her affection. And tho I 
 well knew he did this but to try me, it was imperti 
 nent to the matter at hand; and I was forced to 
 remind him shortly that the lady was above his 
 comment, and I beside it; for modesty appeared in 
 her in the highest elevation, and came unto shame- 
 
 147 
 
148 King Noanett 
 
 facedness. " Aye," said Miles, " her looks, her 
 speech, her whole behaviour are so very chaste, 
 that but once going to kiss her, I thought she d ha 
 blushed to death." 
 
 You may well admire, as I did, such levity upon 
 his part. 
 
 " But beware her most," he persisted, " when she 
 dejects her eyes in seeming civility: for as those 
 bullets which graze on the ground do most hurt 
 to an army, so she does most mischief with those 
 glances that are shot from a downcast eye. As 
 when thou art measuring her for shoes," he closed 
 for even at that moment was I sewing on the last 
 thread. So I bade him come to Master Simpson s 
 treat, that was to be given nominally in my honour, 
 and see what he would see there, and particularly to 
 cast his too ready eye upon young Master Jones. 
 For I knew that old Master Simpson had bidden 
 Colonel and Madam Jones thereto, and Jennifer, 
 and at Cecily s request (who liked indeed to have 
 the men go round) even this Captain Courtenay 
 as they had the grace to name him still, though 
 little enough profit he got by that honour; nor did 
 I forget to tell him of him who was, I hinted, a 
 chiefer guest than his years did warrant, namely, 
 Master John Jones the younger, sole heir to all 
 his father s silver plate and slaves, to say nothing 
 of a good town house and large grants of land in 
 the wilderness. And Courtenay made answer he 
 would see to this; the fellow was a lout; whereat 
 I chuckled in my sleeve. For John was placed by 
 Cecily, and next her even Courtenay, in what should 
 have been my place; yet this promotion brought 
 
My Shoes do Fit too Well 149 
 
 me to a place by Madam Jones, with Jennifer upon 
 my other side. 
 
 A fine dinner we had indeed; of shellfish, and a 
 goodly ham and pudding, and plenty of rum and 
 beer. But Master Jones did look at Cecily as if he 
 thought her the finest dish of all, and I liked it in 
 him as it betokened a spirituality I had not expected 
 in this youth. Yet such is the perversity of woman 
 that look at him she would not, but kept all her 
 eyes for Courtenay save, now and then, her 
 glance wandered a bit beyond him, perhaps, though 
 not often; for he was skilful in intercepting such 
 things and clever like all Irishmen in fence. And 
 he talked and laughed well and loudly, and I saw 
 the Colonel was much taken with him; and he 
 ended by asking him his trade. 
 
 " No trade have I," said Courtenay, " but at your 
 service for any befits a gentleman of my station." 
 
 " A farmer, perhaps ? " said the Colonel. " Many 
 of us gentlemen are taking up land hereabouts." 
 
 " Nay," says Miles, " my trade is killing men ; 
 I eat the pigs the farmers kill ; and, faith, this was 
 a fat one. I ll trouble ye, Simpson, for a bit more 
 of that ham. All the same, my sword s nigh rusty 
 for want of use." 
 
 " Do you know the country ? " 
 
 Courtenay looked sharp at the Colonel. " Pretty 
 well, seeing that I ve been to every settlement in 
 the colony." And indeed he had ; and every time 
 came back the more sadly. 
 
 " Are you seeking land ? " then says the Colonel. 
 
 " Nay, I m seeking friends ; but now I m ready 
 for a bit of fighting." 
 
150 King Noanett 
 
 " We may yet have use for you, Sir, but fight 
 ing savages is not like fighting Christians." 
 
 "That know I well, tis a poor trade, and the 
 pay uncertain. But damme, Sir, it keeps a man 
 from thinking. Aye, I have fought we both 
 have fought with Berkeley in Virginia ; though 
 now he ll make himself a shoemaker." 
 
 Now I was somewhat nettled at this, much as I 
 liked the man. But Cecily was nettled the more ; 
 for she turned quite red, and, springing from her 
 chair, she put one little foot upon it, and raising the 
 skirt ever so little (and she had on cramoisi-silk 
 stockings) she showed him the satin slipper I had 
 made for her that day ; for I had worked hard to 
 get the pair ready against the evening, and they 
 fitted nicely, as was proper they should indeed, for 
 I had had more than one trial. cc An ye could 
 make a pair of shoes like that, ye might be proud 
 to be a shoemaker," says she. 
 
 " Mistress Cecily, I remark, too late, that tis an 
 adorable profession, pray let me see it closer." 
 And before Cecily could object, he had taken the 
 satin slipper from her foot and filled it from a 
 flagon of white old rum that stood beside him. 
 " Lady, to make amends, I can but drink your 
 health in it and his who made it for thee," and 
 as he spoke, he drained the slipperful at a gasp. 
 It was a thing, he after told me, he had seen done 
 at banquets in the East, when he had followed in 
 the steps of that mighty and worshipful Captain 
 John Smith, in warring against the Turk ; and 
 " Faith, my boy, what lesser could I do, when the 
 pretty maid so prettily reproved me for my swag- 
 
My Shoes do Fit too Well 151 
 
 gering and making little, not of her father alone, 
 but of thee, to boot or to slipper, rather ? Twas 
 but ordinary strategy, my boy, to divert the enemy 
 with a new attack ! " 
 
 But, as he did it, twas a sight to see our eight 
 mouths, all wider open than his own. Poor Cecily 
 stood there blushing, one slender stockinged foot 
 upon the chair, too mazed even to drop her petti 
 coat ; and as for young Jones, who had been glaring 
 at me, he stared now at the slipper like one en 
 tranced, and the rest of us gaped with the horror 
 of wondering how Courtenay e er could carry the 
 liquor off with him; and perhaps the good Simpson 
 thought a little of the waste of rum. 
 
 But Miles drained it to the end, and handed it 
 back with a kiss upon it, and then he placed it back 
 upon her foot with a grand flourish, and bowed. 
 " Tis the first time I e er had wished thy foot were 
 not so small," said he. 
 
 "And by heaven, tis bravely done," said the 
 Colonel. "I ll take a glass with you nay, nay, 
 Sir, you have done enough forbear." 
 
 " But what think you of the slipper, Mistress 
 Jones ? " said Cecily bravely, with a courtesy, " is t 
 well made or no ? " 
 
 " Fairly, fairly, my girl," replied that lady. 
 Whereby I remembered that the old cordwainer 
 had a mighty fortune of his own. But the hobble 
 dehoy Jones had now transferred his glare to Miles, 
 and he sulked and would not be comforted (save 
 by Cecily, who would not try), and the party broke 
 up after hardly more than a dance or two, in the 
 Devon manner, by Miles and I and the two girls ; 
 
152 King Noanett 
 
 and perhaps twas well enough for him it was so 
 soon, for the rum of this country is like an old 
 blunderbuss that fires slow but carries wide. 
 
 The next morning old Simpson came into the 
 shop, heavy in spirit. " Sam Marion s wife hath 
 hanged herself in the Chamber, fastening a cord to 
 the rafter-joice," said he. " I and another am to 
 swear she was distracted, that she may be buried 
 in the burying-place." 
 
 I knew not the woman, and could say nothing. 
 
 " The house of the man of God, Mr. Mather, 
 and God s own house, were partly burnt with fire, 
 this last night ; even as Mr. Mather was preach 
 ing from Jeremiah 2, 21, against health-drinking, 
 drunkenness, profane swearing and feasting upon 
 the Sabbath." 
 
 Then I saw the old man was troubled about his 
 soul, and that something sure was in the wind ; 
 for he only troubled so about it when this world s 
 concernments had also gone amiss. And he groaned 
 
 UC O great Menasseh, were it not for thee, 
 In hopes of Pardon I could hardly be. 
 
 See Genesis xli." 
 
 I said something timidly about the Lord s mercy, 
 and how, after all, twas Mr. Mather s house that 
 burnt, and Mr. Marion s wife that hanged herself. 
 
 " Greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if 
 need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold 
 temptations ! By which words of Peter I do seri 
 ously consider that no Godly man hath any more 
 afflictions than what he hath need of." 
 
 Now I was awaiting some kind signification as to 
 
My Shoes do Fit too Well 153 
 
 my future duties, and the position I was now to 
 occupy ; but the old man strode into the house, 
 vouchsafing nothing of the sort. I wandered about 
 the warehouse, in the yard, and even in the shop, 
 but got no orders ; and pretty Cecily came out and 
 looked at me meaningly, but what her meaning was 
 I could not for the life of me make out. Nor saw 
 I in the shop any preparations as for any new ap 
 prentice. I began to think that my dreams of 
 promotion were vain, and at last, I saw Simpson 
 put on his black coat and fine three-cornered hat, 
 which meant that he was going for a walk upon the 
 Change. So I went up and asked him if he wanted 
 me to make another pair of shoes. 
 
 " Nay, Sir," said he, " your shoes fit over well. 
 I ll find some less handy use for thee in the busi 
 ness, though I trust, more profitable for thy time." 
 With that he claps his hat on his head and goes off 
 down the street, and Cecily came out to me crying, 
 and told me his resolve to send me out as super 
 cargo to Barbadoes. 
 
 In an hour he came back, but little better-tem 
 pered. 
 
 "The town is full of your goings-on last night 
 and your harum-scarum friends," said he. " They 
 have it that I suffered ungodly dancing in my own 
 house, and that this rake-helly Captain of yours drank 
 a bootleg full of rum, and my prentice kissed my 
 daughter, and other lewd doings, and I doubt not 
 the magistrate is after me." 
 
 (Now considering that good Master Simpson had 
 drunk at least as much sack as Courtenay, if not 
 more rum, and the full double twice of my allowance, 
 
154 King Noanett 
 
 I thought this hard.) " Colonel Jones is a worthy 
 
 man," I said, " and a magistrate, and can bear wit- 
 
 >> 
 ness. 
 
 " Colonel Jones had best look to his own case," 
 grumbled the old fellow. " He hath held a com 
 mission of the King, and is more than believed to 
 be attached to the Church of bishops ; and he will 
 have the pagan cross retained, to pollute our flag 
 with the whoredoms of Rome there are plenty 
 would be glad to catch him tripping. I met him 
 but just now upon the street, and he bore a head 
 more vexed than even I. He told me he hath 
 already sent thy companion off upon some scalping 
 expedition or other and I think the best way out 
 is to send thee off too ; so, as I am fitting a ship for 
 the Barbadoes, I am resolved to send thee thither, as 
 supercargo, which is mostly fish and shoes ; these 
 latter thou mayst fit to the ladies in Barbadoes, 
 who all are black, and have heels two inches long." 
 
 Now to this there was nothing to be said ; and I 
 went into the house to gather up my things ; and I 
 heard Master Simpson come in behind me, and then 
 high converse betwixt him and Cecily. And then, 
 as I came down with my parcel, 
 
 " Tis not to-day, thou foolish lad," said he, " nor 
 yet to-morrow ; and twill not be for long neither," 
 the old man added in a hurry. " Thou mayst 
 have a venture of thine own, if thou wilt." But 
 I was ready enough to go to Barbadoes, or else 
 where in the world, where I might meet new peo 
 ple out of England, and, failing news of her, get 
 money. 
 
XXV 
 
 In which I Go to the Barbadoes 
 
 BUT now, in the next few days, as I was get 
 ting ready for my departure, there came a 
 great yearning for her, for some word, some 
 sign ... or, in default of this (which I 
 feared was hopeless), at least some news of her, 
 though but from others. For I felt that I was 
 going to still another new continent; and I was 
 weary of wandering over the world with no knowl 
 edge of her. And a thousand times I had resolved 
 that she took no thought of me, and that she had 
 broken the one promise she ever had made to me, 
 and that I would think no more of her. And this 
 vow made, I would go about my business ; and then, 
 in another hour, or half, or whenever I next thought 
 of her, my heart would turn to water again within 
 me. 
 
 So, at last, I wrote for her a long letter! In 
 which I told her a little of this, and more of my 
 hopes of some success in fortune, and most of all 
 about her, and at last a hidden word of my own 
 love for her. And I had begun the letter with 
 vowing I would keep this out ; for I could not 
 feel sure it would not be grievous to her ; then I 
 thought I would hide it in a few words at the end. 
 But I ended by telling her she might forget me or 
 
156 King Noanett 
 
 despise me, or be true to me or false to me, and I 
 should still be her servant through this life and 
 the next, only that I might be happier or unhap- 
 pier as she did the one or the other. 
 
 I never dreamed this letter would reach her eye ; 
 and it never did. But it was writ, as it were, to the 
 universe ; and it took the burden off my mind. 
 And Master Simpson had an interest in a ship that 
 was about to sail for Bristol ; so I gave it to him 
 to give to the Captain with special adjuration of its 
 importance. And it was addressed on the outside 
 to Miss St. Aubyn at Leigh Abbey in North Devon ; 
 for I supposed that old Penruddock had been hanged 
 and quartered ; but they might at least know the 
 whereabouts of my lady, whatever people were in 
 charge of the old Abbey ; if the Protector had not 
 taken its wide acres across to himself; which was 
 the less likely, as the acres were but wild moorland, 
 now that the house was burned. So my letter went. 
 And this wise thing accomplished, I too went off to 
 sea. 
 
 Now it is no part of my history what went on in 
 the West Indies ; as for my love, I neither found 
 there ber y nor lost it. But at the Barbadoes I did 
 get some news ; it was from old Sir Henry Gibbs, 
 the Governour ; a Warwickshire man was he, and 
 loyal to the King, with all the island (for you may 
 read in history how Charles was always King in 
 Barbadoes) ; and he told me that old Penruddock 
 had neither been hanged nor beheaded, but had 
 either escaped or had some unexpected favour 
 made for him. And at this I tried to ask him 
 what had become of Miss St. Aubyn, and would 
 
I Go to the Barbadoes 157 
 
 have done so but for the choking at my throat 
 when I tried to speak her name. Twice I sought 
 in vain to say it, and then the dinner was over, and 
 I got no chance more ; and was much cast down, 
 and had myself rowed on board the ship by star 
 light, so low in mind at my cowardice that I even 
 thought of rum, which I had seen other men take 
 at such times ; but that I never gave insult to 
 my affection by vanquishing it with such low ex 
 pedients. 
 
 And as Heaven willed, the Governour did ask me 
 to visit him again (which was a rare compliment to 
 pay to one who was only a supercargo), and this 
 time did I clear my throat with his own Santa Cruz 
 and ask him, clear as may be, again of old Penrud- 
 dock, and if by chance he had heard what fate met 
 a granddaughter of his, one Mistress St. Aubyn. 
 And at this did the old courtier look at me sharply, 
 and at first made no answer ; then said he : 
 
 " Young man, wert thou concerned in that poor 
 foolish rising ? " 
 
 " No, Sir Henry," answered I. " But I was 
 convicted of it, in that I said I was." 
 
 " And Master Savil Simpson of the Massachu 
 setts Bay (whom I know to be a canny trader) finds 
 thee yet wise enough to be entrusted with his 
 ship ? " 
 
 Now at this, I could do nothing but tell him 
 how it happened. And he heard me to the end ; 
 and then he asked, with half a smile, " And for 
 which side mayst thou now be, good Mr. Moore 
 Carew ? I ve a mind to send thee back to Virginia, 
 as a slave escaped from thy chains, but that thou 
 
158 King Noanett 
 
 art not indeed escaped from them, I guess. But 
 art thou now for King or Commonwealth ? " 
 
 Now the fact was I cared not much for either, 
 being ever of the honest English opinion that so 
 be I were a freeman, it mattered little whether he 
 that sate to make laws for me, which I did not 
 want, wore a crown upon his head or half a hun 
 dred seats in the Commons to his breeches ; save 
 that the former was likely to give less trouble as 
 being but one man, and withal less capricious than 
 a changing count of noses ; and I thought the best 
 government of all, the one you heard of least ; 
 which highest merit could not be lately said of 
 Cromwell s. So, while I thus hesitate to answer, 
 says Sir Henry : 
 
 " I ll be bound thou art still of the party of 
 Mistress St. Aubyn ? " 
 
 This was true enough, in that I was for her first 
 and the common weal or my own soul afterward ; so 
 I kept silent. 
 
 "Well, lad, young blood is true blood I have 
 ways of finding what goes on in the old home, and 
 I will e en write for thee but thou hast doubtless 
 written already ? " 
 
 I told him, yes ; and he bade me wait for my an 
 swer ; and if I heard not, to let him know, and ask 
 Master Simpson to send me down another year. 
 
 I promised. But I felt sure I should hear my 
 self, if the light of my dear lady s eyes were still on 
 earth aye, and even she were wed, she would 
 answer me to tell me so. On this trip I saw the 
 Barbadoes (which is fertile, and flat, and all in tilled 
 fields, with square stone church towers, like a piece 
 
I Go to the Barbadoes 159 
 
 of Sussex), and the Martinico, and Monserrat, 
 and Nevis, and many other islands. I could tell 
 you much of them ; of the wonderful flowers that 
 grow in the forest, on ropes of vines, and of beauti 
 ful trees loftier than poplars, that are but ferns, such 
 as we grow in our gardens ; and of the fiery moun 
 tains that in some islands make the barrier between 
 sea and sea. But the thing I noticed most was the 
 misery of the slaves. For, as we know slavery in 
 New England, it is hardly noticeable that the ne 
 groes are less than kindly treated servants ; for they 
 are few in number, and the sense of property in 
 them makes even the selfishly disposed fairly ten 
 der of them. And then, they are but a few house- 
 servants, after all. But in the Indies, and particularly 
 in the sugar islands, where is more cultivation, like 
 English Barbadoes, or Martinico (which is French), 
 the thousands of black slaves are as the beasts of 
 the field. And whether it was that I bore so much 
 love that had no outlet ; or whether the true gentle 
 ness of my lady s nature had influence even from 
 afar, I could never, since I had known her, be hard 
 to suffering in others, even animals or dumb beasts. 
 And in those days, a dog or a horse, or even a bird 
 or duller animal, that made any show of suffering 
 affection, would marvellously move me. This is all 
 that I much now remember about that voyage ; save 
 that in Martinico the island was very full of poison 
 ous snakes. The people there, I thought, though, 
 seemed more content than in the other islands ; at 
 which I could not but marvel, as they w r ere gov 
 erned by the French and had not British liberty. 
 In Barbadoes, however, the Lord Protector was still 
 
160 King Noanett 
 
 sending ships full of very decent folk that had been 
 taken prisoner in the war, or came from Ireland ; 
 and I blessed myself again that Miles and I had 
 got our gaol delivery. 
 
 Five months had gone when we dropped anchor 
 again in Boston bay, and I hastened ashore to my good 
 Master Simpson s. And there I found great changes. 
 For Courtenay had gone off to the wars against the 
 Indians, and had proved himself a valiant leader ; 
 and now he was said to be returning from the West 
 ern wilderness with plenty of French and Indian 
 prisoners and rumours of victory and peace and even 
 money and booty. And pretty Mistress Cecily was 
 wedded to young John Jones, and living in a fair 
 house of their own. But there was no letter for me, 
 nor message, nor any news from England ; save that 
 the captain of the ship, who had got home a week 
 before me, told me of a rumour that Miss St. Aubyn 
 had escaped with some of the banished people, her 
 grandfather perhaps among them, mostly merely 
 courtiers of Charles ; so the captain at last had 
 given my letter to a gentleman who was going to 
 France, whom he had obliged in some way, so that 
 the gentleman had promised to deliver it safely if 
 any lady were to be found there who bore or who 
 had borne that name. But the days grew weeks, 
 and the weeks grew months, and the months grew 
 toward another year, and yet no answer came, nor 
 any sign by which I might know my love was living, 
 happy or unhappy. 
 
 Then steeled I down my heart once more, and 
 (for that her image would not go from it) I locked 
 it fast within it. And I tried to bring my mind to 
 
I Go to the Barbadoes 161 
 
 earthly gain ; but I cared not for the joys of earth, 
 nor had I the heart for my labour ; and altogether 
 I was in a bad way. I looked sour as any Puritan, 
 weary of the world ; but I was only weary of a 
 world I could not find her in. 
 
 So Miles came to me one bright morning that 
 my face was shaming, and spake to me grievously 
 of our neighbours. For he had been leading the 
 life of a gentleman of leisure in Massachusetts Bay, 
 and was heartily sick of it. Wars there were none, 
 and he had taken up no trade ; and I had heard 
 from Cecily that he was very popular among the 
 women. But I waited for him to begin, for I half 
 fancied his own trouble. 
 
 " Moore," said he at last, " tis tired I am of the 
 town, and little good we are doing in it. And what 
 betwixt the old priests and the sectaries 
 
 "Priests?" said I. 
 
 " Aye, priests, and the harder to mind, that they 
 have no canonicals but fusty wigs, and their prayin 
 is all their own and not the Lord s, and hath no 
 end to t. Will ye come out into the forest with 
 me, now ? The Colonel, who would be a gentle 
 man if he dared, hath a crown grant by one of 
 the frontier towns, Magunco they call it, of a fine 
 valley that lieth in the Nipmuck country, and 
 he would have me go up and keep it from the 
 Nipmucks." 
 
 " And how about that fortune we re to make in 
 trade ? " said I. 
 
 " Fortune ? is it fortune you re after ? In a trade 
 with these ? There is no trading for a stranger with 
 them but with Grecian faith ; that is, not to part 
 
1 62 King Noanett 
 
 with your ware without ready money. Tis not 
 their religion keeps the merchants friends, but the 
 fear of exposing one another s knavery ; and as for 
 the rabble, theirs lies in cheating all they deal 
 with. Moore, my boy, when you deal with them, 
 look upon em as at cross purposes, and read em, 
 like Hebrew, backward; for seldom they both speak 
 and mean the same thing, but look one way and row 
 another, like watermen." 
 
 " If you speak of the inhabitants of Boston, I 
 must entreat your candour in distinguishing," said I. 
 
 " O, the Colonel, and thy master, and Mr. Mav 
 erick, and a minister or two. The first that came 
 over were well enough ; but these, though their 
 fathers fled hither to enjoy liberty of conscience, 
 are very unwilling any should enjoy it but them 
 selves. Their religion consists but in not working 
 or going to the taverns on the Sunday ; so they 
 plot money schemes at home, or, if they don t, the 
 houses are worse than the taverns. There s a pen 
 alty for cursing or swearing or kissing a maid, in 
 public, but sure there s more drinking and less 
 good nature than in ould Ireland west of the law. 
 As to truth and true godliness, you must not expect 
 more of these than of others." 
 
 " Now, Miles," said I. 
 
 " For adultery, they put to death, and so for 
 witchcraft ; yet I ve seen a maid wearing a red cloth 
 Indian stitched upon her gown. And with one hand 
 they get thy money, and with the other do kill poor 
 Quakers, and say to me and thee, Stand off, for I 
 am holier than thou. Yet one thing they do : 
 Scolds they gag, and set them at their doors : a 
 
I Go to the Barbadoes 163 
 
 good remedy to cure the noise that is in their 
 women s heads." 
 
 " Hath Cecily forgot thee, Miles ? " quoth I, 
 " or is it Mistress Toy ? " 
 
 " Cecily ? She was a young proficient, but will 
 ing to learn, and would have enquired of thee the 
 school of Venus. Faith, she had little to show she 
 was a rational creature, besides speech and laughter : 
 her head is like a squirrel s cage, and her mind the 
 squirrel that whirls it round." 
 
 " Well, well, Miles," said I (with some malice), 
 " she never whirled it round thy way. But how 
 now of Mistress Toy ? " 
 
 " She is a widow : and yet so far from sourness 
 either in her countenance or conversation, that 
 nothing was ever more agreeable she doth not 
 think herself obliged to such a starch aness of car 
 nage as is usual amongst the Bostonians. Some 
 have been pleased to say, that were I in a state to 
 wed, they do believe that she would not be dis 
 pleased with my addresses ! As this is without any 
 ground but groundless conjectures, so I hope I 
 shall never be in a capacity to make a tryal of it." 
 And Miles did wink portentously. 
 
 " Well, what of Mistress Green ? " I pressed 
 him on. 
 
 " She hath the bashfulness of the damsell, the 
 fidelity of the wife, and the gentleness of the 
 widow. As the poet sings : 
 
 " Is she a Maid? What Man can answer that, 
 Or widow ? No. What then ? I know not what. 
 Saint-like she looks ; a Syren if she sing : 
 Her Eyes are stars; Her Mind is everything. 
 
164 King Noanett 
 
 Truth, tis her mind is the habitation of the Graces, 
 the residence of the Muses, and the general ren 
 dezvous of all the Vertues. And as to the question, 
 What is she ? She is party -per pale, as the lawyers 
 speak ; that is, half a wife and half a widow." 
 
 " Miles," said I, " I only wonder that you leave 
 the town." 
 
 " Moore," said Miles, with a twinkle, " ye ll not 
 wonder when ye hear the law. D ye know this 
 Colony s the first o Christian countries (unless ye 
 call the Scots one) to provide for the relief of mari 
 tal misery by divorce ? And there is one Mistress 
 Huitt do ye remember her ? " 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 " That sacrilegious General Court o theirs 
 hath but just declared that c having not heard from 
 her late husband, Thomas Huitt, for eight years 
 and better, she is at liberty to marry again, as God 
 shall grant her opportunity. 
 
 " Miles," I answered gravely, " let us e en go to 
 Magunco." Then I asked him what he had heard 
 or found of Mistress Clerke. Now would any one 
 not believe, from this last talk, to know the man ? 
 But see. He said he had found no news ; and I 
 laughed. 
 
 Then he swore he had rather doubt the Virgin in 
 heaven than the eyes of her he loved. 
 
 And suddenly he broke down ; and his long 
 cavalier s hair fell about his hands as his head 
 went upon the table ; and he cried like any little 
 child. 
 
XXVI 
 
 In which Miles Singeth his Song 
 
 I KNEW well enough that I would go with 
 Miles, whatever the outcome ; and that night 
 I saw my lady looking at me lonely from her 
 gentle eyes ; and I took it as a sign, for it 
 much delighted me ; the more that I never could see 
 her face, in my waking mind. And that morning 
 Master Savil Simpson stayed home, in an ill temper, 
 for to brew his wife s groaning beer ; and it was 
 heavy on his conscience that he had just swore Sam 
 Marion s wife (being the one who had hanged her 
 self) to have been long distracted, that she might 
 be removed in a Christian burial place. So when I 
 told the old man of my desire to go with Miles to 
 settle in the Nipmuck country : 
 
 " A pest on such folly ! " grumbled he. " Dost 
 know thou lt make the frontier village in thy fine 
 estate, and canst not after abandon it by the colony 
 law, even though thou wouldst and the savages 
 come about thee thick as flies in harvest ? " 
 
 But I wanted to be my own master, and perhaps 
 to be alone with myself in the wilderness. And I 
 had nigh a thousand pounds, given me by my kind 
 master as my share of our Barbadoes venture ; so 
 this sum, albeit against his advice, I took out and 
 placed with Colonel Jones for my half of his patent. 
 
 165 
 
1 66 King Noanett 
 
 The other half, I fancy, Miles got on better credit ; 
 for he was a man men would trust with their money, 
 and women with themselves. And Miles kept tell 
 ing me twas the quickest way to gain station and 
 a competence for a gentleman, to take up the land 
 (as all we old-country men still thought) ; and then, 
 too (thought I), I should be worthy of her when 
 found. So, though I did not sever my relations 
 with the old cordwainer, I told Miles I would go 
 with him, to break his settlement and get him ready 
 for the winter before the frost came on. 
 
 So we loaded two large canoes, made by the 
 Indians of birchen bark, with our necessaries; and 
 for passengers had one or two of Courtenay s sol 
 diers, in whom he had learned to place confidence, 
 and another was an old acquaintance I had met 
 before, and half a dozen of the Indians Miles had 
 captured or made friends of in his wars toward the 
 Canadas. And on a fine morning in October, when 
 the sunshine was mellow, and the air full of silvery 
 skeins like gossamer, we launched off below the bluff 
 where Mr. Blackstone s cottage still stood ; and little 
 Jennifer (who had grown to be as fair a woman as 
 you would care to see, and still lived with old lady 
 Jones) came down to see us depart and bid us be 
 of good cheer. 
 
 " We go to find a husband for thee, Jenny," says 
 Courtenay, gaily ; and she smiled at us, and I saw 
 the tears were in her eyes. And I fancy they stood 
 in ours, too ; for all that day we paddled silently 
 beneath the nodding rushes of the bank, where the 
 broad salt meadows were still bright with blue sedge 
 and scarlet flowers. And while we were looking at 
 
Miles Singeth his Song 167 
 
 these and thinking of the meadows by the Tamar 
 or the Exe, the clumsy Indians did run one of their 
 canoes upon a shoal of oyster shells, and the bark 
 was cut through, and our main store of powder wet ; 
 so that when we came to the wharf of Cambridge. 
 
 O 3 
 
 we must needs go up to the town to buy more ; 
 and there we saw the Colledge. And, that you 
 boys may know how small your beginnings were, 
 I will tell you all we saw there ; for it took not 
 much time. There was but one colledge building ; 
 and on entering it we found no professors, but some 
 eight or ten young fellows, and these were all the 
 students ; and they were sitting around, smoking 
 tobacco, with the smoke of which the room was so 
 full that you could hardly see ; and the whole house 
 smelt so strong of it that when I was going up stairs 
 I said, This is certainly a tavern. They could hardly 
 speak a word of Latin, as Miles told me, who tried 
 to converse with them ; but his Latin may have 
 been of the Irish variety. They took us to the 
 Library, where was nothing in particular. We 
 looked over it a little, and then, after partaking of 
 a bowl of rum and molasses, they accompanied us 
 down to the river to hail us off. But when we 
 came to the rapids by the Newtowne settlement, 
 where there was a long road or portage, as they 
 called it, to carry our canoes about the falls, we 
 observed that some of our Indians were drunk, and 
 suspected that this bombo, or what the students had 
 left of it, had been smuggled into their canoe. So 
 Miles did speak to them at length upon the evils 
 of drinking ; and it being very hot, the most of the 
 party fell asleep in the woods. 
 
1 68 King Noanett 
 
 It was twilight when we got into the river above: 
 a black, still river, flowing deeply, with fresh water, 
 through a mighty forest. I know the same thoughts 
 were in both our minds ; for Courtenay (who had 
 been something of a poet in the old court times, 
 with Sir John Suckling and others) as the sun sank 
 low, began to sing. Our paddles dipped noiselessly 
 in dark waters to the music of his deep voice, and 
 this is the song he sang, and he told me he had 
 heard the legend from a German student he had 
 known at Padua. 
 
 Once a knight, war-worn and weary, 
 Through a lonely forest, dreary, 
 
 Travelling (the legend saith), 
 Sees a shadow walk before him, 
 
 Just before beyond is Death. 
 
 So before me walks a Shadow, 
 On the mountain, in the meadow, 
 
 Day and night, in all my ways ; 
 In the Southland, in the Northland, 
 
 Just before, my Shadow stays. 
 
 Dark her hair is, deep her eyes are, 
 Gentle as the southern skies are, 
 
 And her breast is cold, like snow; 
 And she turneth, and she calleth, 
 
 And where she goes, there I go. 
 
 As a slender wand obeying, 
 Follow I her figure swaying, 
 
 And my heart goes out to her. 
 By my heart s blood in her footsteps 
 
 Thou mayst follow where we were. 
 
Miles Singeth his Song 169 
 
 She s a shadow, they have told me 
 Shadow, shadow, then enfold me, 
 
 Shadow mine, give me thy hand ; 
 I a shadow, thou a shadow. 
 
 Come with me to shadow-land. 
 
XXVII 
 
 In which We Make Acquaintance with the Yeo 
 men of Contentment 
 
 " 1% y|-OORE," said Miles to me, when he had 
 \ / 1 finished his song, " I have almost given 
 
 _V her up." 
 
 " You yvi\\ no longer keep your 
 heart for her?" said I. "That s wise." 
 
 " No, ploughboy but, though I reach to forty 
 years, I feel that I shall never find her in this world. 
 That is how I came to think of that song but I 
 will wait for her through all the worlds to tell 
 her, at least, for I never told her yet." 
 
 (Alas ! and I had told my lady, surely, yet she 
 went away for a time of years and made no sign.) 
 "Art thou not nearly forty?" then said I; but 
 Miles stooped not to notice it. 
 
 "But you must go back home lad. I ll stay 
 here and make thy fortune for thee." 
 
 " And find thy lady," suggested I, out of malice. 
 
 " And find my lady," repeated Miles, half sadly. 
 I set this talk down as I remember it; and forget it 
 shall I never. But then, at the time, in that twi 
 light, came to us a distant roaring of waters; and 
 the black stream that flowed under us ran foam- 
 flecked, like the night sky with stars. And Courte- 
 nay s canoe took the lead (before that, we had been 
 
 170 
 
The Yeomen of Contentment 171 
 
 paddling side by side), and so he went up into the 
 darkness. And the high walls of the river con 
 tracted, until they were but dark cliffs, like the Wye 
 hard by to Raglan, and the force of the tide grew 
 more strenuous, until in the end I felt our bark rise 
 rolling on a rounded rock and swing there helplessly. 
 The rock lay under my knees as I sate in the stern, 
 and the canoe swung about in the furious current 
 from side to side, as a flag in the wind, and lurching 
 so withal that I teared for our rare cargo. 
 
 I shouted out to Courtenay that we were fast. 
 In vain we pushed and pulled; we only swung there 
 helplessly; and at last Miles cried back through the 
 blackness that he would come down and drag me off 
 at a rope s end. And pretty soon I saw the black 
 mass of his boat shoot by me, and at the same 
 moment a rope fell across my lap and I quickly 
 took a turn of it about my waist. But Courtenay s 
 boat dashed by me like a race-horse, pulling us off 
 with a mighty jerk there was no moderating, so that 
 we were dragged off and over and into the river all 
 at once. And then, alas ! for our stores. We men 
 landed easily, some on one side, some on the other, 
 of the dark, swift stream; and the Indians were 
 uick to build a fire of the resinous cones; yet by 
 e time its red light was flaring down that river 
 reach, our separate parcels of goods had either 
 floated far down or sunk; but two or three were 
 still in sight, bobbing up and down in eddies, or 
 arrested by the w r eeds. So we each took torches in 
 his boat, and started down stream, and the rest of 
 that night was spent in searching; but we ended by 
 finding all our parcels save one alone that was a 
 
1 72 King Noanett 
 
 heavy demijohn of rum; and this I always believed 
 a fellow named Quatchett, one of the Indians, to 
 have found and hidden privily for future consump 
 tion; but Miles would have it that the rum, being 
 more solid than the Charles s water, and a more 
 potent liquid, had but sunk to the bottom; but I 
 kept an eye on Quatchett from that time forth. 
 
 And now, in the early morning, we passed that 
 double ledge of falls which those who have seen the 
 Connecticut or Deerfield water will tell you is no 
 great thing, but which far surpasses anything upon 
 the Wye, the noblest river I had seen at home. 
 And then the river widened, and we came to broad, 
 shining meadows, still of a fresh green in that last 
 autumn sunlight; they ran from one to three miles 
 in width, and were dotted with little rounded islands, 
 rising with tall oaks and wych elms from the waving 
 grasses, and banded at the trees edge with tall, scar 
 let flowers; and these coppices were alive with wild 
 birds, a sort of smaller grouse, and quail. So for 
 nearly ten more miles we must have gone, until we 
 came to a place where the left bank rose again, and 
 we could see that upon the plain above us was a 
 clearing and a town. And this was the settlement 
 they had called Contentment (for the Bay people 
 were fond of fine names, taken from the Bible or 
 their books of psalms), but now more simply chris 
 tened Dedham. 
 
 This town was the most considerable that we had 
 seen ; for it had been settled more than thirty years 
 before by freemen of Watertown, who had come up 
 the river in canoes as we had done, then first explor 
 ing it; and it comprised more than forty houses, all 
 
The Yeomen of Contentment 173 
 
 collected about the meeting-house in the centre of 
 the plain ; and this was stockaded and furnished 
 with loopholes for the common defence. On three 
 sides the town was girt with the river and another 
 stream that came down into it from around by the 
 south, besides wide quagmires, that were sure to 
 delay if not stop an attacking party; while only on 
 the fourth side lay high land, and this but a narrow 
 neck, leading to the westward where we were going; 
 and here they had an armed gate and a stockade ; for 
 this road led up by a defile called Ye Rockes into 
 the Nipmucks. 
 
 Here we made some tarry ; for not only was this 
 the highest settlement upon the river, save, of 
 course, Meadfield and the village of the praying 
 Indians, but there was a question whether the place 
 where we were to lay our grant of land was not 
 within the limits of this town ; and if so, we were 
 bound to consult with the headborows, not so much 
 that we looked to it for support and protection, 
 though to both we had a claim in theory, for we 
 were rather to be a kind of outpost ourselves, warn 
 ing and protecting them, as that we had by the 
 colony law to give this town security that we would 
 never become charge to it for our support. Else 
 they had not let us settle in their limits. 
 
 So were we led in procession to the town-house 
 by one Major Lusher, who seemed to be the princi 
 pal in charge of arms ; first he, with leathern belt 
 and buckle and a marvellous long gun ; then Miles 
 and I ; then Woolacote (that was a Devon man of 
 ours) and the other that was no less than John 
 Berry, the parson s son (him I had found in Bar- 
 
174 King Noanett 
 
 badoes after he had seen a marvellous shipwreck I 
 have not time to tell of now) ; * then Quatchett and 
 the other Indians. And the boys of the town did 
 look at us as had we been a show of beasts ; till 
 Miles, in winking at them, brought them some 
 humanity. And at the town-house, which was also 
 chapel, fort, and keep as well (and in its loft they 
 stored their powder), we found about all the settlers 
 assembled. For in its tower was also one new 
 bronze bell, and of this bell they were very proud, 
 having but lately received it as legacy from one 
 pirate, Captain Thomas Cromwell, who had been 
 hand-in-glove with the good people of the Ply 
 mouth colony, and had but lately died from falling 
 from his horse upon his rapier hilt, too shortly after 
 dinner. So this bell had rung most continuously 
 to let them all know of our arrival and what they 
 could make of it. About the walls of this church or 
 town-house, instead of brasses, were nailed the skins 
 of wolves, of panthers, and even bears, that came, 
 as they told me, from a very dreadful swamp that 
 lay to the south, scarce a mile from the village, and 
 extended almost impassable for many miles toward 
 the other river that came down from the Plymouth 
 colony. And here we had to sign their town-book ; 
 and after that nothing would do but they must read 
 us of their laws. 
 
 They told us that the waters were free to fish in ; 
 and that each freeman might cut down one tree, big 
 as he could find, for to make a canoe of; but that 
 else no man might cut a tree greater than six inches 
 in the carfe, save only on his freehold. Then they 
 
 *This tale will be found in the " Worthies of Devon." ED. 
 
The Yeomen of Contentment 175 
 
 read out how we were " alowed to take Pynes for 
 board vpon ye Wigwame playne or vpon ye entry 
 goeing vnto the same. And are alowed to take 
 Oakes vpon yt grownd betweene Raffe Dave s 
 Lott & the Swampe westward" (I spell as it was 
 written in their book). Now this same Raffe Daye 
 was present at this meeting, and after became a 
 friend to us, as I shall tell ; but there was also one 
 Edward Alleyn, who was himself a large proprietor, 
 and jealous, as we afterwards discovered, of our 
 Colonel Jones. So first he told us how the town 
 had granted 2000 acres to the Indians at Naticke 
 to be layed out at " the Westerly bounds of our 
 Towne on the north side of Charles River by the 
 descretion of the men heere after named," of whom 
 this Alleyn had been one. Then Miles told him 
 how our land lay all to the south of the river and 
 below the Naticke fall. Then he said, This must 
 be about the Rosemary meadow ; and all Rosemary 
 meadow was allotted to one Richard Evered. But 
 Miles told him we were higher up than that. Then 
 this Alleyn got the town-book from the clerk, and 
 went on reading, " 1640, Graunted vnto Edward 
 Alleyn gent & to his assigns forever Three hun 
 dred acres of vpland, & Fifty acres of Medowe 
 grownd All to lye in or aboute that place called 
 Bogastowe " and at this Miles laughed, and said 
 Mr. Alleyn must then march upon the Dingle 
 Hole (of which more anon) and on the other side 
 take in the fort of Metacom. And I and indeed 
 these Dedham people looked open-mouthed at 
 Miles to see he knew the country so well ; but 
 indeed he had scoured all its paths for his lost lady. 
 
176 King Noanett 
 
 Then this Alleyn was going on to say something 
 about another grant he had, " of that little Hand 
 wth ye 2 drowned Iletts" but the whole assembly 
 broke out at him and cried, That was hard by the 
 town, beyond the place where the canoes did usually 
 pass, and scarce beyond a gunshot from the Powder 
 House. And so he sat himself again, and Major 
 Lusher went on to read : 
 
 " 5. that Care be taken that the young hound 
 doggs be in time taught to hunt." " That will I 
 see to," says Miles. 
 
 " 6. that euery housholder in our Towne shall 
 forthwith prouide and mayntaine one good stronge 
 and sufficient Ladder that may be sufficient in all 
 Respects fo the speedie and safe attayning of the 
 toppe of the Chimney, wherby ye Saluages may be 
 more easilye repel d." Miles nodded. 
 
 cc 7. that lands shall only be disposed of by gen 
 eral diuident by those generl rules before ppounded 
 & agreed on, viz : the number of psons is one con 
 siderable rule in deuision yet not ye only rule 
 and yt seruants should be referred to men s Estates 
 i 2 : According to mens estates : 3 : according to 
 mens Ranke and Qualitie & desert and vsefullness 
 either in Church or Comon weale." And hereon 
 Mr. Alleyn did raise the point that he did not 
 know our quality, still less our desert, and moved 
 that Mary Morse her meadow be considered in 
 respect of his (Mr. Alleyn s) title, and our matter 
 be laid upon the table. Here up got Miles, but 
 Raffe Daye pulled him down by the collar and bade 
 the moderator (as they seemed to call the major, 
 though a less moderate buff-jerkin I have never 
 
The Yeomen of Contentment 177 
 
 met in any fight, save Miles and he was a cavalier) 
 read from that town-book again (it seemed like a 
 Bible to them) how, in 1650 " Vpon the request of 
 John Littlfield it was consented Vnto that libertie 
 should be alowed him to hyer or purchase some 
 habitacion in our Town yt to dwel therm so Ion as 
 his behauior and carriag be honest industrious and 
 peacable." 
 
 Thereupon (" They care a deal for their precious 
 old town," says Miles to me) did this Alleyn rise 
 and move that we be alotted one single husband 
 man s portion, viz. six acres of ploughland and two 
 of swamp ; forasmuch as he deemed I was but 
 Miles servant. 
 
 I said I was not, and he asked us whence we 
 came, and I told him from Virginia. " Where they 
 be but Papists, thieves, and convicts," says Mr. 
 Alleyn, " and there is even another rule in the 
 book 
 
 " Oh damn the book ! " shouts Miles. 
 
 " Hush," whispered our friend Daye, " there be 
 yet many here of the hundred and twenty-five that 
 signed the original Covenant." 
 
 " The gentleman profanes the Covenant," went 
 on old Alleyn. " Brother Lambert Generye, save 
 me, thou art the oldest here of they who signed it : 
 I call for reading of the first two articles." And 
 Generye did get up and in a quavering voice he 
 read : 
 
 THE COVENANT 
 
 " i We whose names ar here vnto subscribed, 
 doe, in the feare and Reuerence of our Allmightie 
 
1 78 King Noanett 
 
 God, Mutually : and seuerally pmise amongst our- 
 selues and each to other to pffesse and practice one 
 trueth according to tha most perfect rule, the foun 
 dation where of is Euerlasting Loue." Whereat 
 Miles looked at me and largely smiled. 
 
 " 2 That we shall by all meanes Laboure to 
 keepe off from Vs all such, as ar contrarye minded. 
 And receaue onely such Vnto vs as be such as may 
 be pbably of one harte, with vs as that we either 
 knowe or may well and truely be informed to walke 
 in a peaceable conuersation with all mekenes of 
 spirit for the edification of cache other in the knowl- 
 edg and faith of the Lord : And the mutual encour- 
 agmt vnto all Temporall comforts in all things : 
 seekeing the good of each other out of all which 
 may be deriued true peace." * 
 
 But Miles was irrepressible. He winked at Daye 
 and me when the old man had closed his reading ; 
 and then turning to old Alleyn, and with an extra 
 touch of brogue : 
 
 " In troth, they be domned fine principles," he 
 said ; " is it a long time, now, since ye adopted 
 them ? " 
 
 Surely there was nothing in the letter of this 
 speech to offend ; but it seemed to unduly irritate 
 Alleyn, and even perhaps some of the others, and 
 he cried again to Major Lusher, " I appeal that this 
 man is surely not peaceable, nor yet of approved 
 industry to come among us. Let not in among 
 you the ungodly, for remember the case of Thomas 
 Makepeace. Did we not e en have to pass a vote 
 
 * This was indeed the covenant of Dedham, and may be found in the printed 
 volumes of the town records to-day. ED. 
 
The Yeomen of Contentment 179 
 
 whereby c Mr. Thomas Makepeace, because of his 
 mobile disposition, was informed wee were weary of 
 him vnlesse he reform ? And there be to-day but 
 lately arrived in town one Mrs. Smith and Mrs. 
 Bacon, come heer from Ireland ; and howsoever their 
 housbands are not yet come, I move this land be 
 graunted to them to purchase in our towne for an 
 habitacion." 
 
 Nobody could hold down Miles at this. " I 
 can tell the gentleman," cries he, " that though he 
 be not weary of Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Bacon, I 
 be mighty weary of him ; wherefor I move that 
 we do now go to supper." Thereupon this Alleyn 
 took up his hat and went out ; but before the rest 
 of us had left the council table, returned, crying, 
 " See now how sober and industrious are this gen 
 tleman and his retainers ! " And going out, all of 
 us, we did indeed find Ouatchett sitting in the 
 town stocks, exceeding drunk. 
 
XXVIII 
 
 In which We Give a Dinner with the Men of 
 Dedham 
 
 EVEN Miles admitted now that this savage 
 must have found the demijohn from out 
 the river and concealed it ; and all doubt 
 was removed when our friend the tithing- 
 man, Raffe Day, exhibited to us as he had found it 
 and Quatchett behind a shruffie bit of wood. " I 
 think, Major," said Miles then to Lusher, "this 
 article is now deodand to the town. I should have 
 known better than intrust it to the rank and file of 
 the army, for I am a soldier myself. I have yet 
 another, and I feel we should not take them further 
 with us on this river voyage, which bids fair to be 
 dangerous. If your laws permit it, we will add it 
 to your hospitable treat." 
 
 It appeared not there was anything in the " Town- 
 book " against this ; and I am free to say they gave 
 us a very brave banquet, deer and fish and flesh of 
 moose and raccoon ; Alleyn still sulked, but the rest 
 proved themselves no mean trenchermen. They 
 were mostly men from the East of England, as the 
 town name was proof enough ; yet were there some 
 west-countrymen, Dwights, Penhallows of Cornwall, 
 and fFrenches and Gays from Devon, of a family I 
 knew of, hard by to Tavistock on Dartmoor. And 
 
 180 
 
We Give a Dinner 181 
 
 after eating, when we took to drinking only, did 
 they tell us dreadful stories of the savages that 
 lived to the westward, whither we were going ; for 
 here, on the edge of the town, began that great 
 forest that is skirted by the Hartford trail, starting 
 at a point by Ye Rockes west of the village, and 
 widening in shape like a wedge with scarce one 
 settlement twixt there and the Connecticut. Their 
 young chieftain, Philip, spoke English, and pro 
 fessed to be civilized and a friend as yet ; but he 
 had just taken that man of God, John Eliot, by his 
 coat, and told him, " That he car d for his Gospel 
 just as much as he Car d for that button." And 
 up amid the hills, somewhere to the south of where 
 the river pierced their chain, they told us he had 
 placed an older chief as his outpost. And this 
 man had never then been seen by the Dedham set 
 tlers ; but his name was Noanett, and very awsome 
 things were already told of him ; as that he was not 
 an Indian at all, but a mighty wizard, who held 
 even Philip in subjection. 
 
 Then Miles did deign to tell them, how he was 
 the Major Courtenay who had made a trade of 
 fighting and pathfmding those two years, and made 
 motion that we now proceed to finish our business ; 
 viz., that of our grants. And Edward Alleyn, that 
 had kept sober out of malice, called again for the 
 book and read (not daring to oppose Courtenay any 
 more, for that he was trained in military affairs, and 
 might prove useful) how there was yet a rule that 
 " Noe man who is in Covenant tyed vnto any other 
 pson for service for any Tyme or Tearme shalbe 
 admitted Vnto vs to receive any Lott vntill the 
 
1 82 King Noanett 
 
 sayd Terme or Tyme shalbe fvlly expired ; " and 
 how the grant was in my name, and I upon my 
 own showing was yet apprenticed to one Savil 
 Simpson. And then I made bold to tell them how 
 I was indeed bound to service, or rather slavery, and 
 that was in Virginia, whence I had escaped unto 
 New England, but by force. But at this they did 
 gravely chuckle and made light of; and nothing 
 more we heard from Alleyn from that time on. 
 
 Now much of this talk of savages we set down as 
 tales for travellers, particularly as now they urged 
 us to settle near the town and offered us two full 
 grants of sixty acres each, though unmarried men 
 commonly received but the half; and we could see 
 that they wished to have a soldier so renowned as 
 Courtenay near by. And then upspake one Jno 
 Rogers and Jno Fairbanke and said how they had 
 been appointed by vote of the town the last year 
 but one to go upon the discovery of Charles River 
 with such men as they might appoint, but the times 
 had not served for going, and now they would even 
 go with us. And then one Eben Fairbanke and 
 Thomas Wight said how they were deputed to view 
 Charles River to see whether the Indians weirs be a 
 hinderance to the waters* passage or not ; and they 
 would go too. And Miles whispered, " Let us go 
 to bed soon, lest the whole town come too, and 
 Alleyn be staking off our land ! " but we had to 
 agree that these four men come in their own* canoe. 
 
 Divers impediments presented themselves to our 
 departure on the following day, many of them be 
 sides our Indians and these Dedham men being 
 indisposed ; so that it was late in the afternoon 
 
We Give a Dinner 
 
 before we really got off, and they fired the town 
 culverin by way of salute, and rang hard upon the 
 pirate his bell. So all the people, men and boys 
 and goodwives and maidens, accompanied us to the 
 town landing, where we launched again our barks, 
 this time for unknown waters. And as we got away 
 they fired again that brave brass field-piece ; and 
 (having been well oiled by little boys) it made a 
 great report, rattling up in echoes through those 
 rocky western hills ; and I shook my head, for I 
 knew it would bring down to the river any Indians 
 that might be lurking by the trail, to see what thing 
 was forward. But Miles only laughed. 
 
 So we paddled off: first Miles and I and Ouat- 
 chett and Nehoiden ; then Woolacote and Berry 
 and the other Indians; then, in our third canoe, 
 these four brave Dedham yeomen. And they took 
 our canoe, for their town canoes were but of heavy 
 trunks of trees, nigh two feet " in the carfe," and 
 hollowed in with fire and on the outer side with 
 axes, and undue heavy. And their womankind did 
 come down to see them off, and blubbered about 
 the necks of the men from Dedham, which was a 
 thing most disgusting to Miles and me. And 
 even their goodmen seemed impatient of it, so that 
 Miles remarked to me how strange a thing man 
 was, that when he knew that he might kiss a 
 woman, he did never so desire to. 
 
 So we paddled off, by a smiling meadow with a 
 great grey rock ; the good people stood behind, on 
 a soft green slope, waving at us ; above them rose 
 the little wooden belfry and the clustered thatch 
 roofs of the hamlet. As we took our way up river, 
 
184 King Noanett 
 
 we heard the sound of a horn ; it was the town 
 herdsman, returning from the common pasture with 
 the herd of all the people s kine, one hour before 
 the sunset, as their law required. Pretty brown and 
 red cows they were, but hornless ; and they tinkled 
 along so quietly upon the grassy upland above us, 
 athwart which the low sun was casting its rays, as 
 there had been no foemen nearer than in Devon 
 shire. But the music of this horn was to warn the 
 people to leave the outer woods and bring the cows 
 together before nightfall for fear of Indians. But 
 for this we might have thought us still in some 
 pleasant English village, so finished looking lay 
 the wide peaceful meadows and the cleared upland 
 with the tall chestnuts and the elms, not forest-like, 
 but standing but for shade and grace. 
 
 Then in a moment the river took a turn ; and we 
 found ourselves paddling over a deep, dark water, 
 between black and silent woods once more. 
 
XXIX 
 
 In which We Meet the Apostle Eliot 
 
 THE woods did not last long; for we came 
 out, still before the sunset, in another 
 meadow, green with rows of willows ; and 
 beyond us lay a rugged chain of hills, 
 rough with rocks and already russet with the 
 autumn browns. Behind these the sun was sink 
 ing ; and there rose a great cloud of smoke, white 
 above and brown below, through which the sun 
 looked red. "It is the Indians," said Miles, 
 " firing the woods already." For the custom of 
 the Indians was, as I well knew, to fire all the 
 forests in November, to clear their paths of under 
 wood : that is why you may find no timber trees in 
 our country, save along the watercourses. But in 
 those days, as the greatest trees escaped, they grew 
 hither and there in clumps, as in our parks at home; 
 and even in the forest there was less tangle of wild- 
 wood or vine, so that you could see a deer through 
 the great trees nigh a gunshot away. (And on our 
 river, too, the shad and alewives ran freely up to 
 Popolatic Pond, that lies above Stop River, that is 
 above Meadfield.) Now here the river broadened 
 itself to a little lake, as you know, with Mr. Alleyn s 
 two little " drowned Iletts " ; and not knowing the 
 way, we circled vainly about it in search of the 
 
 185 
 
1 86 King Noanett 
 
 upper inlet. The gloaming came on, and the fishes 
 jumped, and the great frogs made a strange and 
 most melancholy noise ; so that it grew dark before 
 we found the stream once more, half hidden in the 
 rushes, yet flowing now more swiftly. Up this 
 Courtenay guided our canoe, paddling hastily ; but 
 the river took many turns, so that it was a burden, 
 the continual turning about ; and all the time it 
 grew narrower, and the current swifter, and yet the 
 high hills lay to westward of us, and the sombre 
 wall of the forest seemed no nearer than before, and 
 the flamelight in the sky grew ruddier above it. 
 West, east, and north we turned in that same 
 meadow, and yet progressed none, so that I, rising 
 in the boat, saw the river flowing just across a bit of 
 grass, in a place where I knew we had passed through 
 nigh an hour before. And our canoe, that was long 
 and loaded with the heaviest gear, we had a difficulty 
 in turning about the bends. 
 
 " Moore,"said Miles then to me, "the river is like 
 its master our good King Charles of sainted memory ; 
 it promises overmuch, but gets you nowhere/ 
 
 " Perhaps," said I, lightly, " if yon wood is full 
 of painted savages, as I much suspect, you may be 
 glad it gets you there no sooner. Will you camp 
 here ? " For there was a dry high bank to our 
 left ; and the midges were not so very dreadful, it 
 being in October. 
 
 " Nay/ said Miles, " yon wood that looks a few 
 hundred feet away, but may, I presume, be a league 
 or more by the river, is but the beginning of the 
 reach through the hills of which we were warned ; 
 and I had liefer take it by night than by day. Ten 
 
We Meet the Apostle Eliot 187 
 
 miles through this, they say, and we come to open 
 country." 
 
 " On be it, then," said I, " in the dark they may 
 not see to shoot." And in half an hour more we 
 came to the woods, and lo ! on the very first point 
 where they touched the river burned a small fire, 
 close to the rushing stream ; and about it were 
 three red Indians, naked as the devil made them. 
 The river ran but thirty yards across at this place ; 
 and we drew our canoe into the rushes by the shore, 
 some furlongs below and on the opposite side, and 
 waved to the others to wait back. " They are but 
 fire-fishing," said Miles. And as he even spoke, 
 one of the Indians lit a piece of dry birch-bark that 
 broke out into a bright flame, and held it over the 
 side of his canoe, which lay close to their shore. 
 Now the sturgeon or the salmon, whatever it be, 
 seeing this glaring light, mounts to the surface of 
 the water, where he is slain and taken with a fisgig, 
 which is a sort of lance made by the Indians with a 
 jagged head of bone tied to it that stayeth in the fish 
 when it is hit, and they draw back the iron staff 
 with a string. But this time no fish rose, only we 
 two ducked in the rushes opposite ; and said I to 
 Miles, " There be no sturgeon in this little stream, 
 nor has the fellow a fisgig ready : if they be fishers, 
 they be fishers of men ; and we be they. Ask our 
 Indians." But then it appeared that one of ours, 
 and one of Woolacote s crew, had vanished, Poka- 
 nokit and Ephraim by name, that we had shipped in 
 Boston for the voyage, and the latter said to be 
 a praying Indian; only Ouatchett remained and 
 Nehoiden, and Ouatchett still lay drunken in the 
 
King Noanett 
 
 bottom of our boat. Noiselessly had they gone, 
 like snakes in the grass, while we were talking. 
 " There is virtue in whiskey," whispered Miles, 
 " and fidelity. But, surely, now we ll go, ere these 
 two can join them." And dropping adown stream, 
 Miles gave orders, how the others should follow in 
 our wake, and hold closely by the nearer shore to 
 the Indians as soon as they stepped back to their 
 campfire. And only those who have lived in woods 
 at night and know how fire may blind one to the 
 outer places close about, may realize how we crept 
 silently by, beneath the sedges of the shore, close to 
 them ; while they, intent upon their lines (for they 
 had night lines, after all) or looking only at the 
 middle river, saw us not or we thought so, then. 
 And now we worked the harder, round and round, 
 and to and about, and yet no furlong could we get 
 from that red fire. " Charles, indeed," muttered 
 Courtenay under his breath ; " it hath the twists 
 and turns of a woman of all women save one," 
 he added, devoutly as were he crossing himself. 
 And the meadow was full of flying glow-worms, 
 as I thought (for it was the first time I had seen 
 our Cantharides, that are only green flies by day, 
 but at night do fly about with fire in their tails), 
 and the four Dedham men now came up close to 
 us, so that we paddled three canoes abreast. At 
 last we came to a straight piece, where the stream 
 lay off a mile or so between high, sloping forests ; 
 the campfire disappeared, and only the grey sheen 
 of the clouded moon lay behind us on the river ; 
 and we shoved our canoes into a dark nook beneath 
 some pines, to rest. 
 
We Meet the Apostle Eliot 189 
 
 " Moore, my boy," said then Miles to me, as we 
 pulled at our pipes, " I believe we are the first that 
 ever \vent through that piece of water and proved 
 it all the same river they do call it the Charles 
 above, because they see it go into this piece of 
 meadow ; and below they see a stream come out 
 of it ; so they take it up and call it Charles again ; 
 but no man ever before ourselves was the fool to 
 work his passage through and prove it so." 
 
 " Hush," said I. For in front of us was the top 
 of one black rock, rising midstream, and something 
 had just struck against it and shivered into frag 
 ments and fell back in the river ; and among them, 
 quietly floating, I could make out the feathers of an 
 Indian arrow. "They ve found us out; shall we 
 
 3 " 
 
 stay r 
 
 "Until the moon sinks perhaps twas but a 
 trial shot to find our whereabouts." So there we 
 lay an hour, and heard no more shots ; and when 
 the moon waned we put forth again. And hard we 
 worked and silently ; but into dawn ; and in an hour 
 more we came to a place where the river, running 
 swifter, broke into a bead of w^hite foam-flecks, 
 against which the dark canoes could be seen more 
 easily ; and first a single arrow came, then another, 
 then a cloud, with much noise of whooping, and we 
 could see the savages running up along the shore in 
 the twilight. " Pray God they be not poisoned," said 
 Courtenay, of the arrows, "but where go the Cove 
 nanters ? " For w r e saw the canoe that contained 
 the four men of Dedham drifting rapidly back and 
 down the stream ; and not so much as a bit of corse 
 let or buff jerkin did they show above the gunnel. 
 
190 King Noanett 
 
 " Gone home to breakfast ? " But he ducked at a 
 whizzing arrow, as he spoke ; and we could see 
 an Indian behind each tree, though they dared not 
 wade openly in the shallow stream and meet us 
 hand to hand. Yet this fierceness was a surprise 
 to us ; for we had been told they were peaceable 
 enough and trustworthy in time of peace ; and I hit 
 Quatchett over the head with a paddle to wake 
 him up and ask him what it meant. But he only 
 grunted ; and I turned to Nehoiden, who had been 
 silent through it all. 
 
 " Great sachem, Noanett," said he. " He no like 
 strangers. I go ashore parley " and he stag 
 gered to his feet and immediately fell over the side 
 of the canoe. At the same moment John Berry fell 
 headlong, pierced by an arrow, on the same side, 
 and his canoe capsized. I called to Courtenay to 
 go on, while Woolacote and I held up Berry with 
 one hand, and sought to right the bark with an 
 other ; while Quatchett, who seemed sobered by his 
 plunge, disappeared in the bushes. But in a mo 
 ment Miles s boat had swung back to us, and he 
 was lifting in poor Berry and the more important 
 parts of the cargo ; and then, "It may lead the devils 
 off," said he ; and as he spoke he was rigging up 
 a bale and a blanket or two to look as much like 
 a man as possible. Then we three bent as hard as 
 we knew to our paddles, John Berry lying low in the 
 bottom, where the arrows could not so well reach 
 him ; for a flight of them there was, falling from the 
 woods on either side ; so that we soon saw twas but 
 a running slaughter, for sooner or later we were all 
 bound to be hit ; and I was proposing a landing on 
 
We Meet the Apostle Eliot 191 
 
 the nearer shore, when we came to a little rocky 
 islet in the middle of the river. The same thought 
 came to both of us, and we made quickly for it ; 
 it consisted of a huge rock, covered with trees, 
 and cloven deep in the centre; here, in this cleft 
 of the crag, we placed Berry, drawing the canoe up 
 into it, and took station with our muskets at either 
 end. From the shores they could not now hit us ; 
 once they tried to attack us, wading through the 
 shallow stream; but for this we had gotten ready 
 our one little cannon, loaded with divers odds and 
 ends, fine loose stuff, that scattered freely at short 
 range; and after this they let us alone. 
 
 We had nothing to do but w r ait for dawn; though 
 whether in daylight lay harm or safety, it were hard 
 to say. And Woolacote, that was a recalcitrant 
 Puritan, bethought himself of all his sins, in a loud 
 voice and most inopportunely, so that Miles must 
 fain bid him hold his peace, for its effect upon the 
 morals of us others ; and poor Berry still lay with a 
 wheeze in his chest, that we knew not whether he 
 were like to die or not. The day came on slowly, 
 with a bright red sun and scarlet touches on the 
 wild-grape vines, and the birds singing so sweetly I 
 can hear them now; for we notice such things more 
 when we seem soon to leave them. And of course, 
 I thought of her, and felt half glad, half sorry, that 
 she would never know of it. And then we only 
 waited. 
 
 But the hours went by, and the sun grew high in 
 the leafage above us, and all kept still. And Miles, 
 who was of an impatient disposition, began to won 
 der if the Indians were gone. " We can t stay here 
 
192 King Noanett 
 
 forever/ he was saying ; and he put his cap upon 
 his ramrod and held it slowly up above the top of 
 the high rock. Then there was a whizzing sound, 
 and he brought it down with two fair arrow-holes. 
 " The proof of the pudding is the eating," says he ; 
 "and we must fain wait a bit." So it got on to nearly 
 noon, and I was feeling sleepy ; when suddenly 
 there was a banging of guns ; and jumping up, we 
 saw the savages running out into the river again, 
 keeping this time carefully behind the side of our 
 high rock, for respect of our little culverin, which 
 we could only shoot, as it were, fore and aft. But 
 the firing of guns continued, and we saw one big 
 Indian fall midstream, and the clear brown water 
 ran suddenly red where he fell. 
 
 " Faith," cried Miles, "there be two sides to this;" 
 and then the firing ceased, and we saw one of our 
 canoes coming up the stream again ; and in its bow 
 was Nehoiden, whom we knew at a distance by 
 his Christian hat, which was an old cocked one that 
 Mr. Simpson had given him in jest, though he wore 
 it with much gravity. And he was vigorously 
 signing at us not to shoot off the culverin, twisting 
 his painted face up like one that hath St. Vitus s 
 dance ; so that Courtenay was fain to laugh, for the 
 Indians are painted for sobriety, not a grin, and his 
 red paint broke off in scales ; and at the bow as a 
 flag of truce he held on high the lost demijohn, 
 which it turned out Quatchett had it hidden in the 
 bale of blankets ; and it was not even yet quite 
 empty, as it proved. 
 
 But, to give the man his due, it appeared he hon 
 estly feared we thought he had deserted us for cow- 
 
We Meet the Apostle Eliot 193 
 
 ardice ; and he had seen the hostile savages, and 
 made such parley with them that a truce had been 
 made, when he told them we were not bound for 
 their strongholds, but only to pass by on the way 
 to our demesne. Their great chief Noanett was 
 not with them, but a younger Indian, whose name 
 was Pomham, was with him in our canoe ; and as 
 they touched our island, the other braves came 
 crowding over from the banks ; and then what did 
 we see but our four men of Dedham peering out on 
 the water s edge, with still smoking muskets and 
 faces full of wonder. And as Nehoiden told us 
 of his truce, we called to them, and they came over 
 too. And it turned out they had done the shoot 
 ing, taking the Indians in flank ; so that we had 
 had them between two fires ; and now all was ami 
 cable, and nothing remained but to settle for the 
 Indian killed. We told Pomham it had been done 
 before our truce was known, and he took a reason 
 able view of it, especially as John Berry, too, still lay 
 there wounded. And there and then, on that island 
 you still know as Truce Island, we made a covenant ; 
 whereby we agreed not to molest them, nor seek to 
 invade their country to the south ; and they in turn 
 to withhold attacks from our new colony. And 
 Savil Simpson, who was fond of a bit of scrivening, 
 did afterwards draw a deed indented, to this effect 
 and purport, which was all duly signed and sealed, 
 with a mink as Pomham s totem, and a raven for 
 King Noanett, following Colonel Jones s splendid 
 arms (ermine, a chevron sable) and Master Simp 
 son s scroll. If you are curious, you may see it 
 yet, in the garret. 
 
194 King Noanett 
 
 Then we smoked a pipe, and Pomham sent for 
 his medicine-man, who made a broth for Berry s 
 wound, and promised him beside some witchery ; 
 but Berry preferred a bandage rigged by Miles, 
 and his assurance that the wound would be well 
 enow without. And then we embarked again ; and 
 the Indians even got us our lost canoe and some 
 of our packages, for they were honest thieves 
 enough, and all through Nehoiden s intermediation, 
 and I felt the kinder to his drunkenness from that 
 day forth. And as we set our heads up stream, 
 our new friends walked along upon the banks, 
 close by ; and after many turns and rapid waters 
 here and there, we came in the afternoon to a glori 
 ous broad valley that lay between Noanett s rocky 
 hills to the east and south (but miles enough away 
 for safety, and Courtenay winked at me, much as 
 to say, this is our place), and a fair green down 
 closed the view on the west, high and broad as 
 Quantock hills. We asked our Indian guides 
 about their chief, but they would tell us nothing, 
 only " Noanett, Noanett, he mighty chief," as if in 
 awe of him. And Fairbanke, that was sent out by 
 the Dedham selectmen to look for weirs, and see 
 if they were any obstruction to the river, now cried 
 out ; for there they stretched across the river, wat 
 tled, with sharp points, that a canoe at night might 
 well get impaled upon ; and on the river bank, to 
 the right, we saw a concourse of people, savages, 
 yet partly dressed as Christians, headed by a grave- 
 appearing man of middle age. And as we turned 
 to ask our flew friends, we saw that they had van 
 ished of a sudden ; for between them and the pray- 
 
We Meet the Apostle Eliot 195 
 
 ing Indians there lay no friendship; and here lay 
 the two thousand acres granted to the Indians at 
 Natick, " on the westerly bounds of the town of 
 Dedham." These weirs were made for alewives, 
 which is like a herring but has a bigger belly, there 
 fore called an alewife ; they come in the end of 
 April into fresh rivers and ponds ; there hath been 
 taken by two men, without any weir at all save two 
 stones to stop the passage of the river, in two hours 
 time, above ten thousand ; but since the dams at 
 Newtowne there have been none upon our river. 
 
 Then we saw him that was John Eliot waving 
 his hand to us, and going ashore he made us his 
 blessing, for news of our coming had reached him ; 
 and with him too were Ephraim and Pokanokit, 
 who had run to give him warning of our trouble ; 
 for never was an Indian false to us or to his word. 
 And he told us kindly that he was glad to have us 
 for some Christian neighbours, and I whispered to 
 Miles not to tell he was but a Papist. But at this did 
 Miles sniff scornfully and cross himself on landing; 
 nevertheless did these two afterward become great 
 friends. And so we took our way through the open 
 green forest to the village. For I have said, the woods 
 did not then grow in underbrush, as now, but park- 
 like, in little groups, as in England ; and they were 
 far greater in girth, and the forest so open one could 
 see a deer an arrowshot away. Their wigwams were 
 made of poles and covered with mats, and a fire 
 place in the middle, and doors always two, but one 
 always closed to be against the wind. And then 
 we were presented to the Indian king and queen ; 
 and Miles stepped up and did kiss her, which she 
 
196 King Noanett 
 
 returned very civilly. The sachem was tall and 
 well limbed, but had no beard and a sort of a horse 
 face. The queen was well shaped, and her features 
 might pass pretty well ; she had eyes as black as 
 jet and teeth white as ivory ; her hair was very 
 black and long, and she was considerably up in 
 years. Her dress was peculiar. She had sleeves 
 of moose-skin, very finely dressed and drawn with 
 lines of various colours, on Asiatick work, and her 
 buskins were of the same sort ; her mantle was of 
 fine blue cloth, but very short and tied about her 
 shoulders, and at her middle with a zone, curiously 
 wrought with white and blue beads into pretty fig 
 ures ; and she had a little tablet on her breast, very 
 finely decked with jewels and precious stones ; her 
 hair was combed back and tied up in a border, which 
 was neatly worked with gold and silver. The young 
 Indesses were some of them very comely, having 
 good features, their faces plump and round, and 
 generally plump of their bodies, and as soft and 
 smooth as a moleskin, of reasonable good com 
 plexions ; but that they dyed themselves tawny, 
 many pretty brownettoes and spider-fingered lasses 
 might be seen amongst them. But the vetulas, or 
 old women, are lean and ugly, only all of them of 
 a modest demeanour, considering their savage breed 
 ing. All about the village lay already little squares 
 of cornfields and garden stuff their good master had 
 taught them to grow. 
 
 These were to be our nearest neighbours; and 
 that night we lay among them. And on the follow 
 ing day good Master Eliot came back with us, some 
 four miles away, where it had seemed best to found 
 
We Meet the Apostle Eliot 197 
 
 our farm ; and there he made a prayer, and we broke 
 ground for a dwelling. Many of his Indians helped 
 us on that day; and some of the maidens brought 
 us bread and cakes ; and by nightfall, when they 
 took their leave, and the Dedham men had started 
 back some hours before, we sat alone, the six of 
 us, Berry, Woolacote, the two friendly Indians, 
 Miles and I, in a clearing of a hundred feet square 
 already made, and blankets swung across the ridge 
 pole of a little house. 
 
 So this was my home the first that I had had 
 of my own. We went to sleep at starlight, or went 
 to bed; I could not sleep; and something came 
 over me that I was like to weep ; only that, in the 
 dark, I felt Miles s hand grasp mine. 
 
 " When we ve made our harvest, you shall go 
 back for her," said he. 
 
XXX 
 
 In which I Meet King Noanett 
 
 OUR main house, or cabin, was built of poles 
 and saplings, wattled with twigs that were 
 daubed with clay, and covered with bark 
 and a thatch of long, sweet meadow grass 
 that we found growing by the river. I left this work 
 to the Indians, who did it well, and taking with me 
 Berry and Woolacote, gave my attention to find 
 ing land for ploughing, while Courtenay preferred to 
 do the clearing only, as cutting down lay more in 
 his line. But, besides the tall forest of oaks and 
 pines and chestnuts that lay at the mouth of the 
 valley, there lay behind it and around it a most 
 beautiful tract of clear swale, hundreds of acres in 
 extent, and rimmed in only by the two ranges of 
 hills where they met to the southward of us; on the 
 east the rocky ranges of Noanett s country, and on 
 the west the beautiful green down of which I spoke, 
 that you now call Piegan s. And in the fore of 
 this meadow country was the pleasant crystal spring 
 (whence they call our parish Springfield), a clear, 
 round pool in the meadow, some rods across, with 
 a bottom of white sand, through which the bright 
 bubbles boiled, and then the stream ran out, sliding 
 noiseless on the shining grasses, through our forest 
 to the river; and it was alive with trout. 
 
 198 
 
I Meet King Noanett 199 
 
 The limits of our grant were not marked out; we 
 were given a tract " a mile square, south of the 
 Charles river, in that part of Dedham town over 
 against the village of the praying Indians"; and I 
 was resolved not to claim definitely until we knew 
 better the soils and their value. But this spring, I 
 felt determined, should be ours; and alongside lay 
 as pretty a piece of black-loam meadow as was in all 
 the valley; and here first I broke the green earth 
 and piled the stones we threw up in the first stone 
 wall. And now I sent Ouatchett to Boston to tell 
 Mr. Simpson we were ready for a yoke of oxen ; 
 this Indian was a monstrous good runner through 
 the woods, and he did the distance, nigh on to forty 
 miles there and back on the trail from the Indian 
 village, between dawn and sundown. And we 
 trusted him even with a fathom of blue wampum, 
 to lay out stores, and a little something for his own 
 wages. And coming back he brought us a letter 
 from Simpson, some tobacco, powder, and a cocked 
 hat for Miles ! " He take um sachem on the war 
 path," said he; and when we asked him what he 
 had done with his own money, it turned out he had 
 bought a demijohn of rum, but, not being able to 
 carry it, had stored it with the grocer against his 
 second trip ! And Miles went off into the woods 
 to laugh all by himself; for the cocked hat had been 
 a present, and he would not hurt Ouatchett s feel 
 ings. And Mr. Simpson wrote that there were no 
 oxen to be had in the town at a fair price > none 
 less than forty fathom of wampum the yoke and 
 advised us to try the country round about, and with 
 coin money, as being there more scarce. So I 
 
2oo King Noanett 
 
 resolved on a trip to Dedham, and took Quatchett 
 with me, and one canoe ; for Courtenay preferred to 
 stay at home in the woods, and seemed loth now to 
 see any more of towns or townspeople. In the 
 evening, when our work was done, he would take 
 his gun and ramble lonely through the woods, even 
 up into the hills that bordered Noanett s country; 
 for these seemed to have a charm for him ; he rarely 
 went in the other direction, toward Eliot s village. 
 But he would often return with a brace of partridge, 
 or a hare, if not a deer; and on this food and the 
 trout we lived; having cornmeal and salt in our 
 stores, and some staves of beer. The spirits I kept 
 concealed ; and we never took the rum, save to give 
 a single glass to Nehoiden, when, as with Pokanokit, 
 he came to see us now -and then; for Nehoiden had 
 taken to the wild life again, only would visit us as 
 a friend, and we felt beholden to them for our lives. 
 We knew not whether he had fallen in with Pom- 
 ham, or gone back to his own people in the Ply 
 mouth colony; he told us nothing, and we asked 
 no questions; and so we preached him no sermons, 
 but even, wickedly (though it brought about the 
 second saving of our lives), we would treat him as 
 a gentleman, and give him tobacco and to drink, 
 and even powder for his hunting, though this was 
 forbidden by the colony law. 
 
 By this time Miles had cleared a square of some 
 two hundred yards, one side on the river where it 
 ran deep and swift. In the centre stood our house, 
 with one great outer chimney ; and the Indians had 
 plastered up the wattle with clay, and covered the 
 bases of the sides with beds of dry leaves against 
 
I Meet King Noanett 201 
 
 the winter. Beside and behind this house we had 
 lately raised a byre for the oxen and cows, w ; hen we 
 should have them ; and Miles had made a stockade 
 of the felled trees around both, which made in all a 
 square, each side half way between the house and 
 the side of the forest, with a wide gate on the river, 
 our only road for friends, and a narrow postern back 
 which opened on the narrow path that I had cut 
 through the forest to the nearest open land, which 
 lay about the great spring. And when I could get 
 oxen, I purposed driving a plough once or twice 
 through this path, as first beginning for our farm 
 road. 
 
 Now, when Ouatchett had returned from his run 
 to Boston he had brought, besides his own receipt 
 for the rum, to Courtenay a letter from little Jenny. 
 And it was since then that Miles had seemed the 
 more lonely ; and even at night, when he was not 
 out hunting, had taken more to reading and writing 
 than talking or singing as he had been wont to do. 
 For in the letter (which he showed, of course, to 
 me) Jennifer had told how an old Puritan captain 
 that she had met (and it was either Standish or 
 Daniel Gookin, I disremember ; both were great 
 men in their day) had been dining with her master 
 the night before ; and she had asked him, as having 
 been always in the colony, what people of the name 
 of Clerke he had known, with a young lady. And 
 he had answered, he had known not of any lady ; 
 but there had been one John Clerke, that had come 
 over some years before, and had made friends with 
 Wampanoag that was father to Philip, and gone 
 off in the country behind Plymouth towards the 
 
202 King Noanett 
 
 Pequots, and had never been heard of since. And 
 then at the end of the letter there was a postscript 
 wherein Jennifer had said: "Mr. Jones bids me ask 
 you, Are you not coming to town to see us before 
 the heavy snow sets in ? " And I knew that it was 
 this message, in which the dear maid had half joined, 
 that so set Miles to thinking this, or the knowl 
 edge that she he searched for might be away off in 
 the Hartford colony. Just over the range behind 
 us, through the great rocky woods, lay the only 
 Hartford trail. But I fell to hoping after all that 
 Courtenay might wed our Jennifer ; only that I 
 knew, if his lady were the peer of mine, that were 
 ne er to hope for, though even she were never 
 found. And I fell, God forgive me ! to thinking of 
 myself, and what I would do, and how I had yet 
 had no letter from Sir Henry Gibbs, nor yet from 
 her that I loved, in answer to my own. 
 
 So I started with Quatchett, one sharp November 
 morning with a purse of money (not wampum) and 
 a light canoe ; and three hours sufficed to shoot 
 down the rapid stream to Dedham. The still mar 
 gins of the river were already crinkled with ice ; and 
 it was noisy with "the call of jays and kingfishers; 
 but the big red robbins were congregating together 
 in the pine woods for their autumn migration ; 
 though I have always doubted whether they do 
 really go away, as I have often come across whole 
 colonies of them in midwinter times in the very 
 deeps of the forest. A great flight of wild geese 
 flew over our heads to southward, making their 
 noise, Coanks ! Coanks ! that gives our Indian 
 name to winter ; and in the daylight now we got 
 
I Meet King Noanett 203 
 
 sight of the two rocky bluffs that guarded Noanett s 
 valley. There came from it a curl of smoke, blue 
 in trie valley but brown against the eastern sun. 
 Not two miles were we on the river from it ; and I 
 noticed now a considerable stream that joined our 
 river and seemed to come down from that unknown 
 valley, and chips and sawdust floating on it. This 
 surprised me ; and I made note of it even then as 
 for a possible future approach, for the brook was 
 hidden deep with pines and alder thicket, while the 
 pass over the hills was guarded on either side, I had 
 been told, by Indian scouts. 
 
 In the village the work of the crops was over; 
 and I found it easy to trade with farmer Dwight for 
 a couple of oxen and a yoke and plough, offering 
 first the price in wampum and then a less one in 
 good silver shillings. The plough I put in the canoe 
 for Ouatchett to bring back; and early in the after 
 noon I started alone with the oxen yoked, over the 
 Hartford trail, thinking now I knew a \vay to lead 
 them home by our open valley that lay west of 
 Noanett s. And at all events, I could go to Mead- 
 field, and so through our meadows home. There 
 was something of a road for the first mile, which 
 lay through the colledge woods, as far as the last 
 farm ; and then the forest path began, that ran an 
 hundred miles to Hartford. 
 
 Only, after a mile or so more, I came out upon 
 a glorious upland ; and here I could but rub my 
 eyes, for I saw, looking far to the east, a purple 
 rim of sea. I had not thought we were so near ; 
 and the sight saddened me a moment, for I saw 
 one white sail which put me in mind of that one 
 
204 King Noanett 
 
 had brought me so far from home and her. But 
 the ship was homeward bound, and I too might be 
 homeward bound some day ; so I chirruped to the 
 oxen and went on again. Then we plunged into a 
 trackless forest once more, leaving a pretty little lake 
 to the left, and went up through rocky rises and 
 down through dense swamps, already chilled with 
 the night s shadow, the leaves remaining touched, 
 red with frost in the low places, as the feet are first 
 to grew cold in a dying man. But up on the 
 barren hilltops the low oak-trees still held to all 
 their leaves. For strong oaks hold their withered 
 leaves after all other trees are bare, as strongest 
 hearts still bare their sorrows to the winter wind, 
 after the frost has killed all hope, yet never losing 
 them until the spring. And I smiled a bit, as I 
 thought this notion was like to those that Courtenay 
 would put in poetry. And then the path wound 
 down a deep valley, a bold mountain opposite already 
 dark with the night shadow, though the last sun 
 beams were still falling on the rise where I stood ; 
 and far to the north and west I saw much greater 
 mountains, gleaming white with snow. In the bot 
 tom lay a stream, flowing from left to right, and 
 while I was fancying it might be the one that led 
 through Noanett s valley, an arrow came whirling 
 downward and pierced to its feather in my nigh ox s 
 shoulder. The poor beast fell forward on its knees, 
 colouring the black water crimson ; and I clapped my 
 gun to- my shoulder, and fired where I saw a flutter 
 in the leaves. Another cloud of arrows flew in 
 reply ; and the other poor brute fell, transfixed by 
 three of them ; and then I was beside myself, for the 
 
I Meet King Noanett 205 
 
 slaughter of dumb beasts is worse to a farmer than 
 that of men in battle. I plunged into the thicket to 
 load my gun again ; and then, being a rash youth 
 still, I ran hard through the tangle of vines and 
 thorns, tripping, stumbling in the dusk, but keep 
 ing the brook always on my left and bound to see 
 who might be these new enemies. 
 
 I must so have run for half an hour, but found 
 no trace of them. The stream below me widened 
 to a pool ; and opposite, across the narrow valley, rose 
 a rocky cliff; and it seemed to me that I heard a 
 strange sound, a clanking or a groaning, just before 
 me. It was now quite dark; and I caught myself 
 wondering what pixies they might breed in these 
 new regions. For we Devon men deal in things of 
 this world, and have no taste for the other one 
 before our time. And as I stood there, there came 
 a great groaning cry from the pit of the valley ; 
 and at the same moment the sky where the new 
 moon lay flushed with a yellow glare and lit up the 
 depths of the gorge and all the white birches oppo 
 site trembling. I turned, and I fear perhaps had 
 run, but that another arrow whistled down, to wound 
 me in the arm. That gave me courage again, and 
 I plucked it out and ran to see whence it came ; and 
 as I did so, the earth gave way beneath me and I 
 fell, and lost my knowledge of what things W 7 ere 
 done about me. 
 
 When I came to, I was lying in a clearing in the 
 forest, and all around me were red Indians. A 
 great fire blazed in the centre, and lit up their faces, 
 painted in vermilion rings ; and he that I knew as 
 Pomham spoke to me and asked me what I wanted. 
 
206 King Noanett 
 
 Then I told him I was but bringing working oxen 
 home for the ploughing, and would have redress for 
 their murder if any arms-bearing men remained in 
 the colony. At this he turned and spoke to an older 
 chieftain that sat beside him, and to whom, as I saw, 
 the others all paid deference. I could not hear what 
 was said in their dialect, but Pomham turned and 
 translated. "The great sachem says that we own 
 this land and what is in it, and that we need meat 
 for the winter, and it is just that you palefaces 
 should labour to bring it. But Noanett bids me 
 further tell you that you may go unharmed ; and for 
 twelve months more his people will take nothing 
 from you. And on your part, you promise you 
 come not in his country." 
 
 " That will I not," cried I, springing to my feet, 
 "and you may tell your Noanett that we will rather 
 take as many lives as there are feathers to his back." 
 For he had a long crest of feathers, starting from 
 his brow and fastened over and down the nape of 
 his neck, which only the greatest chieftains wore ; 
 and his body was all covered with panther skins. 
 
 Noanett only laughed at my vaunt, and I took up 
 my gun, and as I did so, felt the bruises of my fall ; 
 and a sense of my folly came over me, talking there 
 in that unknown fastness as if I were the lord, or 
 had a file of soldiers at command. Then the old 
 chief (for I noticed that his hair was long and white, 
 a thing I had not seen before with Indians) turned 
 and spoke to Pomham again; and the latter handed 
 me a handful of what seemed white bullets. " The 
 great sachem says you are brave, and he bids take 
 these for the oxen, and wait for the wars e er you 
 
I Meet King Noanett 207 
 
 fight him, which will come soon enough ; if not, we 
 kill you here ; if yes, we lead you to your wigwam 
 safe." 
 
 I looked at the bullets, and saw that they were 
 silver slugs; and I looked upon the Indians, who 
 glanced significantly upon the fire and at a huge 
 oak-tree that stood, stripped of bark, close by ; and 
 upon it I saw the marks of blood and human hair. 
 " That Whalley," said Pomham simply ; and I 
 shuddered, for he was one of the regicides who had 
 disappeared in this country many years before ; some 
 thought he was living concealed, and others that he 
 had been killed by the Indians. Could it be this 
 was the tribe that murdered him ? I looked at 
 Noanett, and his old lips were set in a smile of 
 exulting revenge, so intense it was, that I never for 
 got it, but would often speak to Miles about it, and he 
 would swear he should be proud to make the fellow s 
 acquaintance, as he did, at last. Then another 
 Indian came back with the deer-thongs that had 
 bound me ; and I told them that I would agree. 
 Noanett looked at me half smiling, and said a word 
 or two, which Pomham said meant " that I was a 
 brave boy and he might need me again." 
 
 Then they took me and blindfolded me, and led 
 me through the forest, up and down at least two 
 hills and in the bed of a brook. And they took 
 the bandage off my eyes ; it was early dawn, and I 
 wondered how long I had been unconscious. And 
 I was in our beautiful broad valley, close by the 
 great spring. And so I walked home, and found 
 Courtenay quiet at his breakfast. 
 
XXXI 
 
 In which we Build our Home 
 
 OW, lad, where are thy oxen?" said 
 Courtenay to me ; and I but looked at 
 him. " Couldst find none ? " I shook 
 my head. " Lifted ? " I nodded. 
 
 " By my faith," roared Miles, " but that s a good 
 one. Who did it ? Did you lose your way ? " 
 
 "Indians," said I, briefly; " Noanett." And I 
 pointed to the bandage on my arm. 
 
 Instantly Miles became all tenderness, and he 
 fed me, and bathed the wound, and made me eat 
 his own breakfast, and filled a pipe for me and a 
 glass of rum ; and then he let me speak. And 
 when I told him about it, he was for making what 
 force we had, and attacking the spalpeens that 
 night ; and he went to the door and shouted two 
 names unknown to me. And presently appeared 
 two Indians, in strange garb ; for their faces were 
 painted, and they wore little but blue beads and 
 feathers, save that one had a scarlet coat and the 
 other a periwig. 
 
 " Moore," said Miles, most gravely, "I would 
 introduce to you my special friends. Awonsamog, 
 the ruler of a hundred, and Nohkow, chief of 
 ten, Captain Bampfylde Moore Carew, of Devon. 
 Awonsamog, these devil kin of yours up the hills 
 
 208 
 
We Build our Home 209 
 
 have been wounding my friend here, and taking our 
 oxen " 
 
 "Hush!" said I. 
 
 "Oh, they re Natick Indians, and my particular 
 friends, and have been helping me in the hunting." 
 
 " Me no farm," interpolated the older ; " me 
 sachem, me hunt." 
 
 "And fight," cried Miles, in triumph. "What 
 think you of it, Awonsamog ? And Noanett, who 
 had promised peace." 
 
 " Duck, he keep duck, for all ole hen he hatchum," 
 said Awonsamog, sententiously. " But Noanett, he 
 " the old Indian stopped, and looked at me curi 
 ously. " He great sachem," said he, at last, simply. 
 
 "What say you?" cried Miles again. "With 
 you two, and Nehoiden and Ouatchett will join us, 
 and we four Englishmen, in a night attack 
 
 " You forget, Miles," said I, " I had to promise 
 a truce to get away." 
 
 " Sure, and I did. And right ye were. But how 
 
 long did ye promise it for, my boy not a whole 
 
 ^ 
 year r 
 
 " Twelve moons, they said." 
 
 " And that s not quite a year. Tis a pity, and 
 in the winter, too, when there s so little to do. A 
 bit of a war would come in elegantly. But did the 
 old man agree to it ? " 
 
 I nodded. " And it was the old man saved my 
 life." 
 
 " Noanett great sachem. We no fight Noanett," 
 said Awonsamog. 
 
 "And gave me this silver for our team," said I. 
 
 "Ah, well," sighed Miles, " tis a good price for 
 
2io King Noanett 
 
 butchers meat perhaps ye ll change your trade. 
 Ye re quite sure the treaty, made under force and 
 duress as it were, is binding ? " 
 
 I said I thought it was. 
 
 "Well, well," said Miles, "I m not a lawyer. 
 However," he added, with a brightening face, 
 " they ll be up to some deviltry yet, I ll warrant, 
 and then we can go in. But, Awonsamog, man, I d 
 a better opinion of ye." But we could get nothing 
 out of them, save that Noanett was great medicine. 
 
 " And what ll ye be doing for an ox-team, now ? " 
 said Miles. " Ah, twould be fine fighting on the 
 
 snow." 
 
 " I suppose I shall have to go to Boston again," 
 said I. But I put the words more sadly than I 
 felt. For I still hoped my letter might find Miss 
 St. Aubyn and bring an answer ; and any excuse for 
 the trip was welcome to me, for there was no way 
 they could send it to me. And my heart warmed, 
 as I thought how it might be lying for me there, at 
 Master Simpson s, even now. 
 
 " Sure, there must be some better way than trying 
 that market again," said Miles. "You, Nohkow, 
 there, faith, the name is happy to the point, 
 you understood, we have no cows indeed. Have 
 you none to sell at your village ? " 
 
 Awonsamog shook his head. "Indian no want 
 milk," said he. 
 
 " Faith, and that s true ! " cried Miles. " Were 
 it but rum, now ! Eh, Nohkow ? " 
 
 " Great father, he give gospel, not rum," said the 
 younger Indian, in all gravity. "White man have 
 cows Watertown." 
 
We Build our Home 211 
 
 " True for ye again ! " shouted Miles. " And tis 
 little more than half the distance. You know the 
 path ? You ll guide the Captain there in the morn 
 ing. And you ll have a stoup of rum. Oh, I 
 mean at Watertown," Miles added, as he saw me 
 ready to remonstrate. For in this thing alone 
 could Miles and the good apostle never agree. 
 Miles was ever for giving the poor lonely savages 
 what he called more humanity, to make up for their 
 missing of hunting and the chase. So it was agreed 
 that I was to meet Nohkow at the Indian village in 
 
 O 
 
 the morning ; and Miles was for giving them " a 
 little something against the cowld of the autumn 
 evening"; but I compounded for a piece of our 
 Virginia tobacco. And when they were gone, I 
 told Miles that I would still run to Boston, to see 
 our Jennifer once more before the winter. And 
 then we fell to talking, as we did many a time after, 
 about taking her there home to us, but always decided 
 that the time had not yet come. For in the first 
 place, it was not yet safe, nor even comfortable ; 
 and then (as Miles reminded me, for he was always 
 quick at thinking of such delicate points) we would 
 sometime have to tell the truth about the dear girl, 
 that she was not his sister, to some good man who 
 wished to marry her; and it was better she should 
 not be living with us in the wilderness. And there 
 upon I dared to hint a wish that Miles himself 
 might marry her ; and he first flushed a bit angrily, 
 and then he smiled, oh, so sadly ! 
 
 " Moore, dear, look in your heart and say if I 
 should marry her ? " And my heart told me I 
 could say nothing. Though I could see that Miles 
 
212 King Noanett 
 
 would never see his love again, which my heart 
 blinded to me in my own case. So I said nothing 
 more of this, only urged Courtenay to come to the 
 town with me ; but he would never. " Nay," said 
 he, softly, " my lady, God preserve her ! has gone 
 into the wilderness ; and in the wilderness I too will 
 stay, until I find her." 
 
 So the next morning I took my way afoot to 
 Natick, and now first I had opportunity to observe 
 the village of the praying Indians. And first I 
 noticed along the river bank, that was but a tangle 
 of the sweet wild grape, the trenches you may still 
 see that the Indians made about their fields of corn ; 
 and then I saw one of the weirs that Goodman 
 Fairbanke had come with us to extirpate ; a stone 
 wall built in the river, converging to a sort of cage 
 of hoops and bark called an eelpot, where the fish 
 were taken ; and I wondered not they stopped them 
 on their way. Then I came to a handsome large 
 fort, of a round figure, against the hill of Piegan. 
 It was evidently thrown out as an outpost against 
 the Nipmuck country that lay beyond the river, 
 and was palisaded with trees ; and there was a pretty 
 little footbridge across the river, just above the great 
 rapid, built in the form of an arch, and the founda 
 tion seamed with stone. On the other side of this 
 lay the town. It consisted of three long streets, 
 two on the north of the river and one on the south, 
 with house lots to every family. In front of the 
 missionary s house was a row of young trees, they 
 called them " trees of friendship " ; now you will 
 measure them twenty-one feet in girth, well above 
 the ground. And all, in those days, looked orderly 
 
We Build our Home 213 
 
 and industrious ; for when the Indians applied to 
 Doctor Eliot for a form of civil government, he 
 referred them to Jethro s advice to Moses, " More 
 over thou shalt provide out of all the people able 
 men such as fear God ; men of truth, hating covet- 
 ousness ; and place such over them to be rulers of 
 thousands and rulers of hundreds and rulers of fif 
 ties and rulers of tens." Accordingly, the Indians 
 did choose one ruler of an hundred, and two rulers 
 of fifties, and ten of tens ; and then these placed 
 themselves in order, and every individual ranged 
 himself under the one he chose. And that was 
 how Awonsamog and Nohkow got their titles ; and 
 a fairer title to their rank than any belted earl, as I 
 do hold. The Indian houses were built in the 
 English manner, the lower room a large hall, with 
 canopies of mats raised on poles ; in the upper 
 room the Indians hung their skins ; and in the 
 chief house Doctor Eliot had a bedroom partitioned 
 off; and here he wrote upon his Indian Bible. 
 This good man now came to meet me, with Noh 
 kow the decurion ; and I half thought he spoke 
 sadly, as if his mission could not be done. They 
 were easily enticed to military service, he told me ; 
 and this they always were, and after the French war 
 of Queen Ann brought back a putrid fever, of which 
 many died. One thing I shall ever remember that 
 the good apostle said that day : " They seem to be 
 like some plants that thrive best in the shade ; if 
 the overgrowth is cut off, they wither and decay." 
 I asked him if he had much trouble in explaining 
 to them doctrinal points ; and he told me no ; their 
 minds had a singular natural quickness, though in- 
 
Noanett 
 
 capable of prolonged application, like women. He 
 was over pleased with an Indian explanation of the 
 Trinity : " like water, ice, and snow." I was much 
 interested in the Indians rooms of skins ; for there 
 they showed me many hides and horns, both beasts 
 of chase of the stinking foot, such as roes, foxes, 
 jackals, wolves, wildcats, raccoons, porcupines, 
 skunks, musquashes, squirrels, sables, and mat- 
 trisses ; and beasts of the chase of the sweet foot, 
 buck, red deer, reindeer, elke, marouse, maccarib, 
 bear, beaver, otter, hare, and marten. 
 
 There was no road to Watertown, so we had no 
 need for horses ; nor did I see how the country 
 ever could be opened smooth enough for riding, 
 it lay so rough with rocks and swamp and thickets ; 
 and I meant to drive our cattle by the way we 
 came. " And get a cow while ye are about it," 
 Miles had called out to me when I started. 
 " The milk ll come in handy for the winter ; and 
 we ll be starting a dairy for little Jenny, against her 
 getting married." 
 
 "And how would you feed her?" said I, with a 
 touch of loftiness; for Courtenay never knew any 
 thing about a farm. 
 
 " Sure, on what ye feed the oxen," then said Miles ; 
 and laughed as if he had caught me napping. But 
 the oxen we had to have for ploughing ; and I had 
 cut a stack of the grass, natural dried in the meadow; 
 while clotted cream was a dainty lazy Irishmen could 
 do without, and so I told him. 
 
 But at Watertown I bargained for two fine oxen 
 and a heifer thrown in ; and then I went to town to 
 get my money. 
 
We Build our Home 215 
 
 Now from Watertown it was twelve miles to Boston, 
 so I slept there first, and was waited upon by an 
 elderly dame, civil but sorrowful ; and in the morn 
 ing started once more, having to go around by the 
 South Bay, and thus I passed through Roxbury. 
 And as I came up by the Neck, and passed by the 
 house of Master Hull the mintmaster, I wondered 
 if my slugs were really silver, and how many new 
 pinetree shillings they would make, and half thought 
 of stopping there to see. 
 
 But I went first to Savil Simpson s ; and I found 
 him, too, civil, but sorrowful. " Do you know, it is 
 the Lord s day ? " was all he would say; and, truth, 
 I had forgotten it. Then said he: 
 
 "Yesterday I felt myself dull and heavy, and list 
 less as to spiritual good ; carnal, lifeless ; and I 
 sighed to God that he would quicken me. And 
 sure enough, last night my house was broken into 
 in two places, and about twenty pounds worth of 
 plate stolen away, and some linen ; my spoon and 
 knife and neckcloth were all taken. I said, is not 
 this an answer to my prayer ? And now I do feel 
 helped to submit to Christ s stroke, and say, Wel 
 come, chastener ! " 
 
 I spoke of my business, but he would not hear a 
 word of it. " The sins of the people lie heavy on 
 the land. Hast heard, the cross is on the citadel 
 flag again ? And the distich that our good Judge 
 Sewall made upon the burning of the Quebeck cross 
 so soon forgotten? There be evil times ahead; and 
 from the smiles that lie on Jones s face, I fear this 
 new general, Monk, doth mean no good." 
 
 " What is the distich ? " said I. 
 
2i 6 King Noanett 
 
 Simpson rolled his eyes up to heaven. 
 
 " The bawdy, bloody Cross, at length, 
 Was forced to taste the flame : 
 The cheating Saviour, to the fire 
 Savoury food became. 
 
 "You had best not repeat your profane verse 
 to Major Miles," said I. "Where is Jennifer?" 
 For I hoped yet for my letter. 
 
 "I know not she be busied with her domestic 
 duties in the house. Why, lad, hast not been in 
 church at sermon time?" 
 
 " I tell you I but come from Watertown," cried I, 
 impatient. 
 
 " Master Cotton had hardly given out the text, 
 when a female Quaker slipt in, covered with a yard 
 of canvas, but no other covering, having her hair 
 loose and dishevelled, and powdered with ashes re 
 sembling a flaxen or white accursed periwig, her face 
 as black as ink, being led by two Quakers and fol 
 lowed by two more. It occasioned a great and 
 amazing uproar." 
 
 "I can well believe it," said I. "Where is Jen 
 nifer?" 
 
 " I was put upon the Justice s bench last week," he 
 went on, "but what, after all, is earthly preferment?" 
 
 I thought I detected some slight touch of human 
 pride in this, so I felicitated him. 
 
 "And Friday," he would continue, "I had to sen 
 tence a woman that whipt a man, to be whipt. I 
 said a woman that had lost her modesty was like 
 salt that had lost its savour ; good for nothing but 
 to be cast into the dunghill." 
 
We Build our Home 217 
 
 "You spoke very wise," said I. 
 
 "With Mistress Hutchinson, I know not what is 
 coming when women get the upper hand ! Seven 
 or eight men joined together with her, called the 
 man out of his bed, guilefully praying him to show 
 them the way ; then by help of a negro youth, tore 
 off his clothes, and whipt him with rods ; to chas 
 tise him but with carrying it harshly with his wife." 
 
 I saw no end to this ; so I took out the silver 
 slugs ; and put them in his hand without a word. 
 And he was nowise slow in asking me whence I 
 got them. 
 
 "In our country," said I, "what you and Colonel 
 Jones sold to us." And then I told him how my 
 oxen had been killed, and I had gone to Watertown 
 for more. " And I have only these to show for 
 them," said I for I did not like to borrow more 
 of him. " And just now I thought of seeing Mas 
 ter Hull, and asking if they be really silver and 
 what they may be worth." 
 
 "You really got these from the Indians?" said 
 he ; and I nodded. " Tis well you did not stop," 
 said he then, hastily. "I ll e en go with you myself. 
 That Hull is but a busybody, asking other people 
 questions ; and his son-in-law Sewall that they call 
 the judge is worse than the old man." 
 
 " Yet can write a good distich," laughed I, and I 
 ran away, for I saw Jenny coming; and I made bold 
 go up to the dear girl and give her a kiss ; for she 
 did not love me, but Miles. 
 
 Jenny was blooming ; and I found her almost as 
 glad to see me as if I had been another ; and in a 
 breath we both asked a question, she about Miles, 
 
2i 8 King Noanett 
 
 and I for a letter. And the dear girl waited not 
 even for my answer, but at first she smiled, and then 
 sighed a little ; and said she had no further news 
 for him, "or you, dear Moore," she added. And 
 I kissed her hand, and left a tear upon it ; for it 
 came on me that she knew my secret. And then 
 Simpson came up and buttonholed me again. And 
 again I saw nothing left but to do my work in the 
 world. 
 
 So we went to the mintmaster s, and he looked 
 at the slugs and weighed them ; and said they were 
 pure silver, and he gave me golden guineas and 
 some pinetree shillings new minted for the lot. 
 " Tis pure enough indeed/ said he ; " though 
 never minted, nor yet melted down from spoons. 
 I suppose ye got it in your trade ? " he asked 
 of Simpson. 
 
 "Aye," said he; "give the lad his money and let 
 him go, for he has a walk before him." 
 
 "In your trade with the West Indies ? " persisted 
 Hull. 
 
 " Where else should I trade for silver ? " cried 
 Simpson ; and was for dragging me away to talk it 
 over. But I would first go to Colonel Jones s, to 
 see Jennifer again. For I was mad to see her, now 
 that I could talk it over with her, and tell her all 
 about my lady. 
 
 " Don t ye stay to supper, lad," cried Simpson. 
 f Bring the maid home, if ye like ; and the less ye 
 say about silver, the better ; for Jones is open- 
 mouthed as well as open-handed, and I d rather 
 talk this thing with him myself." 
 
 But Colonel Jones would not hear of my going 
 
We Build our Home 219 
 
 away, but sent over for Simpson and his worthy 
 wife ; and over our rum and pipes in the evening 
 the cordwainer, too, grew open-mouthed, and I must 
 needs tell mv storv ao;ain to them both. And I 
 
 J O 
 
 was pleased that I had been paid for my slain oxen 
 as much as the new yoke had cost, with the cow 
 thrown in. " I had rather trade with these Indians 
 than with half your Boston Christians," said I. But 
 the Colonel asked me for how long I had made the 
 truce ? And I told him, a year. 
 
 " Tis a pity we ll have to see these grants of 
 ours early in the spring eh, brother Simpson?" 
 Then I saw what they were after. 
 
 " Surely you do not think these Indians have a 
 mine?" 
 
 " Maybe, maybe," said Simpson. " They have 
 silver, anyhow, and good silver too, else Master 
 Hull had never taken it. But indeed I never 
 heard that they could work it." 
 
 Here it was the Colonel s turn to purse up his 
 lips and look wise. " Perhaps some one knew 
 enough to teach them there is iron enough in 
 the bogs about, and why not silver ? " 
 
 < Well, lad," said Simpson to me, as we got up 
 to go, " ye will be coming to me soon for the win 
 ter s trade again ? " I told him that I hardly liked 
 to leave Courtenay. 
 
 "He ll do well enough alone remember, ye ve 
 land enough, but no money left to work it with 
 I ll give you a ship to take to the Indies in the 
 spring." And then again I thought of her, and 
 how the years were slipping by and I not looking 
 for her ; and I said that I would go. For I had 
 
220 King Noanett 
 
 yet one hope, that I might hear something from Sir 
 Henry. 
 
 So I slept at the good cordwainer s, and rose at 
 dawn, when I found Jenny waiting at the door to 
 say good-bye ; and she had a letter, and a book 
 of poetry of the new poet Milton to give to Miles. 
 And I took ferry to Charlestown, and so on to 
 Watertown, where I found Nohkow waiting ; and 
 we paid for the cattle and drove them home that 
 day. And when Miles learned I had no news, he 
 kissed poor Jenny s letter, and took to lonely hunt 
 ing all the more ; and I to working at the cattle 
 with the plough, and dreaming. And sometimes, 
 in the dusk those late December days, I would see 
 her figure standing at the end of the furrow, looking 
 as she had looked that day in Devon. 
 
XXXII 
 
 In which We Become Versed in Indian Lore 
 
 I GOT some ten days ploughing, and then the 
 cold set in and the river froze like a board, 
 and we took to skates, which was the easiest 
 way of travelling to either town. Long, lonely 
 trips I made to Dedham for candles and other win 
 ter stores ; and would place them on a little sledge 
 and push them up the river, on the hard ice, white 
 and rosy with the sunset. Never shall I forget 
 those long, lonely skating trips ; the ice would have 
 little slopes and facets that turned each a different 
 hue of gold or pink or faintest green, as the light 
 of the setting sun would strike it ; and I skimmed 
 alone through the wild winter land ; and in those 
 soft brown winter twilights was some look of my 
 lady s eyes. So deep I thought, it even seemed 
 that it must reach her somehow ; and thus I came 
 flying through the cold ; and one night the snow 
 came silently, like forgetfulness upon one s heart, 
 filling the woods above the heaped brown leaves ; 
 but the oak leaves only still stayed upon the trees, 
 strong but weighted with the snow ; for all the 
 winter s shroud could make no difference in them. 
 And then in the evenings we would pile up high 
 the fire with logs, and the Indians would come over 
 from Natick, and tell us stories of witches, and of 
 
222 King Noanett 
 
 hunting ; and they would fright the pretty maid 
 that John Berry had found time to court over in 
 Meadfield with stories of the place they called the 
 Dingle Hole that lay hard by that town. In the 
 summer wonderful flowers grew on high bushes in 
 that dark place, rosy and fragrant; but in fall and 
 winter it was haunted by a witch. This name of 
 the Dingle Hole came from a tinkling bell that was 
 said to be heard there o nights ; and the witch was 
 a real person, and her name was Mrs. Murkey 
 Mullen. And Awonsamog, who was fond of such 
 wild savage lore, told us how she had been well 
 known to be a witch ; and that there was also a 
 magical raccoon that haunted the Dingle Hole, but 
 could never be shot with lead. Until one day the 
 minister there loaded his gun with a witch hazel 
 wand and saw the coon and fired. It vanished ; 
 carrying away the wand fixed in its leg ; and about 
 that same time Mrs. Murkey Mullen was unac 
 countably wounded in the arm ! 
 
 Then there was a strange superstition that all the 
 Indians had about a white flame that appeared over 
 the wigwam of any of the praying Indians before he 
 was to die, always in the dead of night; the first time 
 that Awonsamog saw it, he was called out about twelve 
 of the clock, it being a very dark night, and perceived 
 it plainly mounting into the air over the little church, 
 on the North side ; look on what side of a house it 
 appears, from that coast respectively you shall hear 
 of a corpse within two or three days. All these 
 things we made light of at the time, though they 
 became serious enough in our country soon after, 
 Heaven knows ; but little Polly Leland would 
 
We Become Versed in Indian Lore 223 
 
 tremble all over, and John Berry would have to 
 kiss her many times before she dared have him 
 pull her back on a sledge to Meadfield through the 
 snow. 
 
 Then Miles would get them to tell us about their 
 religion, or at least what had been their religion 
 before the good prophet came among them ; how 
 there was a mighty God called Squantum, but wor 
 ship him they did not, for (they said) he would do 
 them no harm; while Abbamacho or Cheepie, the 
 evil God, would smite them with incurable dis 
 eases, so that they would pray to him and lived in 
 continual awe of him. And they had some notion 
 of the soul s immortality; for when Miles asked 
 them whither they would go when they came to die, 
 they would point with their ringer to a heaven be 
 yond the White mountains ; and when he asked 
 them what it was like, Awonsamog said gravely 
 that heaven was a place where the women are as 
 bright as stars, and never scold. At which Miles 
 was muchly tickled, and promised them, if he were 
 but an Indian, he would be ever good. But in 
 hell, on the other hand, they told us, were the women 
 all old and ugly, but intolerably fond, and expect a 
 vast deal of cherishing. Whereat Miles would cross 
 himself in jest. Of wives they all had two or three, 
 as they thought most conducive to a quiet life; only, 
 of course, after Eliot came, they were limited to one, 
 and she the toughest, as the others died off. And 
 they further told us, when they feared a child to be 
 gotten by another nation, they would throw him into 
 the water to see if he would swim ; and if he swam, 
 they acknowledged him for their own; which Miles 
 
224 King Noanett 
 
 said was a most valuable information and would have 
 saved much trouble at the court. 
 
 And Awonsamog would also tell us how he held 
 his court, which did also please Miles most hugely: 
 "When Indians get drunk and quarrel and fight and 
 act like devil, what do I do ? Hah ! tie um all up, 
 and whip um plaintiff, whip um fendant, and whip 
 um all witnesses ! " 
 
 And they would tell us of the properties of trees 
 and plants ; how the turpentine of the pine is excel 
 lent to heal wounds, the rosin is good as frankincense, 
 and the powder of the dried leaves generates flesh, 
 and the distilled water of the green cones takes away 
 wrinkles on the face, being laid on with cloths ; where 
 upon Miles would ask them why their squaws did 
 not use it. And then of the berry which grows 
 upon the scarlet oak, and contains little insects won 
 derful for a crimson die ; and of the tree Bucks, 
 which are little animals having only the sign of mouth 
 and eyes, but a head and horns of a gummy sub 
 stance found in the fall of the leaf upon the ground 
 amongst the withered leaves ; and if you can see one 
 walking upon the branches of an oak you are sure 
 to have good luck in hunting on that day. Now 
 hunting was Miles s dayly joy. I do well remem 
 ber a moose hunt with the Indians upon the snow ; 
 we went many miles up country, and when we lit 
 upon a moose, we ran him down with dogs, which 
 took half the day ; and the snow being full four feet 
 deep, the heavy creature sank at every step, bearing 
 down arms of trees that hung in his way with his 
 horns as big as a man s thigh ; until at last he fell, 
 and they transfixed him with their lances. But 
 
We Become Versed in Indian Lore 225 
 
 when I told Miles of all the beasts I had seen skinned 
 at the Indians village, he but laughed a little. 
 
 But one piece of work we could do in the winter, 
 and that was felling trees ; for they were easy to 
 haul with the oxen over the snow; and I but cleared 
 it away to hew at the roots of them ; and the labour 
 was a delight in the yellow frosty mornings, when 
 one s breath fell silver in the sun. And sometimes 
 the friendly Indians from Natick would come over 
 and sit on the high pile of sweet hemlock loppings 
 beside me, and smoke their pipes and take pleasure 
 in the sight of a man working. Whereupon haply 
 I would drop the tree in their direction with an ac 
 curacy at which they marvelled muchly. And one 
 day I saw some laughing between them and Miles, 
 and soon Awonsamog the centurion that was also an 
 Indian justice of the peace came to me with a much- 
 thumbed book that was a copy of the covenant and 
 bylaws of the town of Dedham, and pointed with 
 his thumb to a mark I made bold to guess that 
 Miles had made, at which place it said: 
 
 " Ordered by geanerall consent ytyf any man 
 henceforth from this day shall fell any Tree of sixe 
 Inches thicknes in the Carse or of any scantling 
 aboue sixe Inches in any place wthin our said 
 Towne, saue only wthin his own Lotte wthout 
 license of such as are or shalbe deputed thervnto 
 Contrary to an order formerly made on that behalfe. 
 Shall for euery Tree so felled wthout license forfeit 
 the sum of Twenty shillings of English money to 
 be presently paid vnto our Collector for the tyme 
 being to the vse and benefit of our wholl Towne 
 accordingly." 
 
226 King Noanett 
 
 Whereupon I did drop the tree I was at work 
 on, and told them how I owned the lot ; and Miles 
 asked me that night if I would not rather be a 
 lawyer ; but I in turning over the book (which the 
 Indians left for our further edification or because 
 they forgot it after too much punch) came further 
 on another law, and took it down to where Miles 
 was working on a mighty oak trunk by the river, 
 and bade Awonsamog make complaint of him as 
 well. But Miles opened the book at another place, 
 where it said how 
 
 " It is agreed that whosoeuer shall Really intend 
 to make a Cannooe for his pper vse shall haue one 
 Pyne assigned vnto him by twoe of ovre said Com- 
 mitties (not hauing of his owne svfficient thervntoe. 
 Provided he doth finish ye same Canooe wthin 
 thirth dayes after the same be felled vpon ye pen 
 alty of 2osl Fyne as formrly in case of Tymber 
 disordered felled." 
 
 and I asked them whether Miles had not been 
 at work more than thirty days. For the shaping a 
 canoe was long work ; only then Miles with his 
 Irish tongue turned to and got the Indians help 
 him. 
 
 Then with withes and some straight saplings I 
 made a sledge for the oxen, and took the team over 
 to Meadfield for a load of winter fodder, as the grass 
 grew soft and thick there in the richer river swales, 
 and they had enough of it and to spare ; only 
 money they would not take for it, but gladly gave 
 a load away to me, a neighbour. A pretty hamlet 
 then was Meadfield, built of little houses with high, 
 narrow gables, on the high upland, a mile nearer 
 
We Become Versed in Indian Lore 227 
 
 than the upper river ; and beyond it lay the country 
 where the young King Philip ruled alone. 
 
 Now I had promised Master Simpson to go to 
 Boston for that winter, as I have said ; but when 
 the time came, I was loth to go and leave Miles. 
 For we had many long talks by the fireside ; and it 
 seemed we both were having visions, only his were 
 more real to him than mine. He told me he had 
 seen a face in the twilight of the woods, as I had 
 mine by the furrow, and he began to talk to me 
 how it might be possible, in a world where so many 
 real things we knew were but as dreams, that dreams 
 that were so much more real than these might have 
 a being to our souls as real as they. And I was 
 troubled by his harping so on this, and took to 
 watching him as he departed mornings for those 
 long, lonely hunts of his (he never seemed to wish 
 to have me with him), and would wait anxiously for 
 his coming home at night. And the long and short 
 of it was, I could not find it in my heart to leave 
 him. 
 
 But the Christmastide came and went, and the 
 cattle were well housed, and all the fodder in for the 
 winter, and then, as he would have it so, and had 
 his gun and books and plenty of writing-paper, I 
 took leave of him, but for a few weeks, only to see 
 Simpson and get things ready for our coming vent 
 ure for the Indies. And this time I skated down 
 to Boston in two days, stopping with our good 
 friends in Dedham over night ; and so far Miles 
 went with me ; and I was glad that we had a merry 
 evening at the little tavern kept by Captain Fisher, 
 with Major Lusher and goodman Dwight ; and we 
 
228 King Noanett 
 
 found that Fairbanke had taken back so large a re 
 port of us that they were already for erecting our 
 little outpost to a new parish ; and they asked me 
 to name it, and I called it SPRINGFIELD ; for it had 
 a fair spring, and we hoped to have fairer fields 
 in time. So that is how our parish got its name. 
 They kept no Christmastide in Boston, so I 
 missed nothing there ; and I took up my abode 
 again with Simpson, and we worked hard at the 
 business, collecting goods for shipment in the spring. 
 And for two long months I heard no more from 
 Courtenay. But yet no letter came for me from 
 England. So I tried hard to think she had never 
 cared for me, and that I was glad of it. And I 
 made acquaintances in town, and went to a fine 
 party at the Governor s house ; and stood up often 
 in the dance with one young lady that had eyes a 
 little like her. 
 
XXXIII 
 
 In which Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunter before 
 the Lord 
 
 BUT alas, I only seemed to have the more 
 time for thinking in the town. The days 
 grew warmer toward March, and I got rest 
 less, for I could hear the water running in 
 the woods. And at last I told Simpson of my 
 trouble, how I had left my friend, and could not 
 sleep at ease for fear all might not be well with him. 
 I had worked hard while I was there, buying all 
 the goods for our Barbadoes venture ; and he said 
 I had done it well. This time I was resolved to 
 take down chiefly fish and potatoes and lumber ; so 
 we had to wait for the first catch of the great Cape 
 fishing banks. And my share of the winter s trad 
 ing came to more than four hundred pounds ; but 
 this I told him I would make no claim to, only of 
 the profits of the voyage ; for what use was my 
 seeking to lay up money even I might never find 
 a need for, and then to find my only friend had 
 come to trouble in my absence ? But Simpson had 
 some bowels in him, and when he saw what case I 
 was in about Miles, he swore that I should go when 
 I would, and keep my share in our partnership just 
 the same ; for he was kind enough to say twas my 
 head that had made them. So with this four hun- 
 
 229 
 
230 King Noanett 
 
 dred pounds I purchased a full half share in our 
 Barbadoes cargo (though it came to much more), 
 giving my note for the balance on my return, with 
 the goods as security. 
 
 True, old Simpson begged me stay till the snows 
 were gone, and said he would then go with me ; and 
 I saw that he was still lickerish for King Noanett s 
 store of silver. But I was resolved, while the sav 
 ages let us farm, to let them delve, if delve they did; 
 and had no fancy for silver got by war and breaking 
 truce, nor thought it likely I might live to house 
 my love upon it. And by going now, I got six 
 weeks for the ploughing and planting ; and though 
 the snow still lay a foot in depth, one warm blue 
 day in March I started, though Simpson and even 
 Colonel Jones warned me I should never get there. 
 For this time I could neither skate nor take canoe, 
 nor hardly walk ; for the snow was soft with a melt 
 ing crust and lay in the land unbroken. But I had 
 resolved to get me a small horse (partly as a present 
 to Courtenay, that he might roam our woods and 
 valleys with a freer mind), and one 1 had got me 
 from some strolling Mohican Indians, a tough little 
 beast not unlike one of our moor ponies, and called 
 him Pixie, and on him I started, that March 
 morning, with a load of trifles slung around the 
 saddle and my shoulders, which I thought that 
 Miles might like ; and little Jennifer got up to see 
 me go, and was the happier for my going back to 
 him, and gave me a longish letter for him. And I 
 said good-bye the night before to Simpson, and his 
 daughter Mrs. Jones the younger, that had been 
 my Cecily ; and she had two babies on her arm 
 
Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunte 231 
 
 that looked less like her than to that idle gentleman 
 her husband. Now God knows I had never been 
 in love with Cecily ; yet the sight was a bit heart- 
 catching to one like me ; or would have been, but 
 that I never dreamed of marriage now. Indeed I 
 had never thought of that. For my love did not 
 seem to be the love that leads to marriage ; it was 
 but a strange great worship, a loss of myself, that 
 (as I must believe) only comes to few, and to them 
 but once on earth ; but then it never goes. Her 
 voice was in the March rills in the woods, as it had 
 been in the winter twilight, or in Virginia summer 
 nights; in all that was deep and sad and sweet; and 
 herself was the same thing that was April flowers, or 
 music, or prayer; and though I were never more to 
 see her, my soul was no other thing than her or she 
 than heaven. I had no word for this ; Miles alone 
 seemed to have some such thing in his religion of 
 the Virgin ; but otherwise it surely has no peer on 
 earth. And he that is touched by it is blest, though 
 he go softly all his days ; for earthly sorrow may 
 not touch him, nor may earthly hope. 
 
 And as for the person that she was and not her 
 being merely I had now no earthly hope. For 
 one of these two things must be : either she had 
 never meant to see me more (and this proved her 
 false, and though in howsoever slight a trifle, as but 
 the seeing of a country boy, however long I stayed 
 away from her, never would it think itself in my 
 heart) or she was dead or she was gone away 
 so far that letters never reached her. But could she 
 have gone to live out of England ? Perhaps she 
 was married there, and had not gone to France at 
 
232 King Noanett 
 
 all. Nay, if so, she would not have kept such 
 silence ; she would have written ; she might know 
 that I would never trouble her, only to know that 
 she was well. For I was almost in another world, 
 and, though I never saw her more, could then live 
 out this life all reconciled, knowing that she herself 
 had being in it too. So Miles adored his holy 
 Virgin. But why had no word come, no single 
 word, no message and no sign ? 
 
 So I rode on thinking Ah Miles, who doubted 
 not, you were a better man than I ! when a furious 
 gust took my pony as I was crossing the long, low 
 beach that lies between bay and sea, and I saw that 
 I must swim my pony through the high spring tide; 
 and the cold salt waves brought me back to thinking 
 only of the day before me ; which, an a man can do 
 it, is always best. 
 
 At Dedham I found a flood, the little village in 
 the green plain was all surrounded by waters, at 
 some parts miles across ; and even over the road 
 lay an unbridged strait, full a hundred yards wide, 
 with the round stones at the bottom washed clear 
 beneath the flood, and a strong current setting across. 
 I was glad again I had the pony ; for even he had 
 to swim a bit, while I crooked my legs upon the 
 pommel and sought only to keep Miles s tobacco 
 dry. And here I did a solid noonday dinner with 
 Major Lusher, and heard from him that the Indians 
 were all quiet, and Courtenay was believed to be all 
 right; at least he had not been heard from all those 
 weeks nor had any hunters gone up there since the 
 deep snows set in. They seemed to think a man 
 must be all right, so long as he made no sign; but I 
 
Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunter 233 
 
 felt a bit disturbed, and hastened off in the middle 
 of the drinking, of which there was a terrible deal in 
 those days even at town-meetings, and getting astride 
 my little pony with a full stomach (as I like best to 
 be if there is like to be work ahead) I set his head 
 into the pine-forest on the Hartford trail. This 
 was more than a trail now, for some of the trees 
 were cut ; had they not been, I had hardly found it 
 in the winter ; for the snow lay still deeper as one 
 got farther from the sea. But the chill East wind 
 that had blown me out from Boston was already 
 tempered by the hills that lay behind me; and, while 
 I rode on it, changed to a mild air from the South 
 west, and the sun wore through and the afternoon 
 grew kindly. 
 
 At Meadfield the people were awaking with the 
 year ; and I rode through the long ranges of little 
 houses, gabling on either side the old Indian bridle 
 path. Not much noise I made on the trodden 
 snow ; yet scarce a house was where some kindly 
 neighbour did not come out to give me greeting, 
 or some merry maiden run to the door, from her 
 housework, her sleeves rolled up to her rosy elbows, 
 to ask me of the news from town. For I have 
 noticed that the farther a maiden lives from town 
 and town ways, the livelier interest she takes in all 
 its doings. And I dared not tell them I had been 
 to the Governor s ball and not even noticed the cut 
 of gowns ; so I was fain to ride on quickly, promis 
 ing them a better tale the Sunday (when I got the 
 time to make it up) and looking but for Berry s 
 young lady to give me news of Miles. But I saw 
 her not ; so I turned me North through our beau- 
 
234 King Noanett 
 
 tiful broad valley, where I found little snow, only 
 a still freshet standing in the new meadow grasses, 
 so I had to ride on the rocky mountainside to the 
 East, the meadows not bearing the weight of me 
 and a horse. Here too (except in the woods) the 
 ridges lay bare of snow ; but far to the North I 
 could see the mountains in the Hampshire grant 
 gleaming white from crown to base ; and I was so 
 curious as to ride up over one rocky summit to 
 look into Noanett s valley, and saw its depth all 
 buried still in drifts, and the black ice lying on a 
 little lake. 
 
 And now I rode down upon a little hillside past 
 ure where was soft green turf and hope of snow 
 drops ; and here to my amazement did I see a 
 heifer calf tethered to an Indian apple-tree. What 
 was it did we have new neighbours, or might she 
 be the Indians ? This last was unlikely; and then 
 I bethought me of our cow, that must have calved 
 ere this ; and I feared they might have captured 
 our little outpost and all it contained ; and I caught 
 my breath and thought of Miles. Then I rode the 
 harder, cocking my pistols ; and I kept a sharp 
 lookout for Indians. 
 
 That last mile through our pine forests was an 
 anxious one ; I struck it to the eastward of our 
 path, and rode noiselessly on the pine leaves and 
 the snow, looking hard for footprints and keeping 
 a mighty green oak that grew there for a landmark ; 
 but no footprints of Indian moccasin did I see, only 
 of raccoons and partridge, not a wolf nor bear. And 
 when I came upon our little clearing, I was glad to 
 see the house was standing, and rode around the 
 
Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunter 235 
 
 stockade and knocked hard upon the front gate, 
 which was closed and barred. Then there came 
 wild barking from a pack of hounds (which much 
 surprised me, for we had had none), and while I 
 rode about, seeking to find some chink between the 
 logs, some dozen fox or deerhounds came rushing 
 at me so that I had to keep them off with my rifle- 
 stock ; and then a gun was fired from within. I 
 shouted aloud ; and, thank goodness ! it was Miles 
 that shouted back, and I called out that it was I. 
 Then he unbarred the gate, and we fell upon each 
 other s neck. 
 
 " Devil fly away with me," were Courtenay s first 
 words, " but I thought ye were the hay then sure, 
 this time ! " 
 
 " Hast had attack from them ? " 
 
 " Nay, they ve been quiet enough I fear they re 
 sleeping through the winter like the snakes in Ire 
 land I ve been at a loss for occupyin me time 
 but that I am huntsman to the town." And 
 then he led me about and showed all that he had 
 done in those few weeks ; some acres more of wood 
 land cut and cleared to the stumps ; and the house 
 floors quite covered with skins of foxes, wolves, 
 musquash, and even panthers, and a bear or two, 
 and one great antlers of a moose that he had shot 
 on a hill far to the South, in what they now call 
 Sharon. Then besides were mink, otter, and beaver 
 skins from the brook. " I m thinkin the furs we ll 
 sell to the fine ladies at home," said he. cc Do you 
 think now, ye have done so well with all your trad 
 ing as meself just quietly sittin in me manor and 
 huntin like a gentleman ? " 
 
23 6 King Noanett 
 
 " I ve four hundred pounds/ quoth I, "against our 
 needs in England your furs may do well enough 
 as gifts to some of our fine lady friends if we had 
 any but hardly worth my four hundred pounds." 
 
 " They are not that same ? " cries Miles. " Look 
 here ! " And he shoves under my nose that old 
 book of the " Town Laws," and I saw that it looked 
 now well worn. " Read this." And I read : 
 
 "8 mo. 19. Assemb : Joh : Kingsbery Joh 
 Dwight. Tho Wight & Elea : Lusher. 
 
 " Whereas woolues are now of late becom greatly 
 noysom to our Cattell, to the great prjudice and 
 damag of the Town, it is therfor ordered, for the 
 better encouragmt of any that shall hearafter bring 
 the head of any wolf. & publikely present the same 
 at the meeting house, shal for his paynes in killing 
 that wolfe haue payed to him by the hands of the 
 Constable tenn shillings in Countrey paye. beside 
 that ten shillings due to him from the Countrey. 
 and shall also haue such assistance from the Towne 
 for the attayning of that tenn shillings from the Coun 
 trey. as the Case shall necessarilye require, allways 
 pvided that it be made apeer that the sa woolf be 
 killed wthin our towne." 
 
 I lay the book down, and Miles did wink. 
 
 " How many wolf skins do ye think I have ? 
 Faith, the finer furs will sell in England ; but when 
 I came upon this vote (besides that it was a bit out 
 of sayson for the otter and the marten) I started out 
 after wolves and by the same token I have now nine 
 dozen lacking only two or three, and at ten shillings 
 the head from the town and ten shillings more from 
 
Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunter 237 
 
 the county c for me pains in killin the same How 
 much is that, forbye the value of the skins them 
 selves, my blooming cordwainer ? " 
 
 " Countrey paye !" said I. "Til wait till I see 
 the colour of the money." 
 
 " The colour of their money ? Sure, did I not 
 look to that meself? and got to their last town- 
 meeting? Whereby they did elect me huntsman to 
 the town ! And what King s ranger hath so fine a 
 forest? I have rights of vert and venery from Dor 
 chester even to the Nipmuck country, twenty good 
 miles ; and from the Charles River here by Natick 
 southward to the town line by the Providence Plan 
 tations ! " 
 
 " Did you get your money ? " said I. For now 
 that I had been called a tradesman, I meant to make 
 him out a greenhorn. 
 
 "Nay," quoth Miles, "but I got this other vote." 
 And he turned me to the latest page of his town 
 Bible, where he had written it down: 
 
 "it is also further ordered that the Rate formerly 
 made for the raping of tenn L. for the paying the 
 hunts man in killing woolues shall be forth wth be 
 put in to the Constable s hand who is heerby required 
 speediely to gather the one half thereof, that so he 
 may haue in his hand to paye for the killing of 
 woolues according to the former order. 
 
 "And Captain Miles Courtenay, Hunts man, with 
 Antho : Fisher Ju., Eben Fayerbanke & Rich. 
 Ellice ar by the Towne deputed to attend upon the 
 worke of takeing wolues & ar apointed to receaue 
 tenn shillings for each wolfe they shall kill, aboue 
 
2j 8 King Noanett 
 
 wt the Court order doe apoint & pvide. pvided 
 that the sayde wolues may be made apeare to be 
 killed wthin 3 miles of the meetinghouse of Dor 
 chester, Roxbery, Dedham or Braintree." 
 
 " f Countrey paye ! " said I, again. 
 
 "Well, country pay what is that? Good corn, 
 or money s worth." 
 
 " I fear it be but wampum ; that is, you know, 
 shells. You can give it, as necklaces, to your fine 
 ladies, though, of course." 
 
 "Wampum," quoth Miles. "I must see to that 
 they have their spring town-meeting this next 
 week " 
 
 " But how do you prove you kill em within three 
 miles of the meeting house?" said I. 
 
 " Faith, we don t kill em till we drive them there," 
 laughed Miles, "and of that they take my word. 
 You know, I ve quite a pack of hounds already." 
 
 " I know," said I, drily. " Tis an Irish way of 
 saving money, to keep a pack of hounds." 
 
 " True for ye," says Miles, " since the town pays 
 for them. Look here," and he pointed to the 
 book, where I read again : 
 
 "19 day of 10 mo. Motion, consented to : that 
 Care be taken that ye young Hound doggs be in 
 time taught to hunt, and a Pack be mayntayned at 
 the Town Cost." 
 
 " That same care do I take. But then there be the 
 panthers : two pounds good money for a panther. 
 And the crows and the blackbirds; see here " 
 
 "Itt is therfor ordered, itt beinge found by much 
 
Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunter 239 
 
 exsperience. that much Damage is done by black 
 birds espetially in Indians Corne both in the Spring 
 time and afterward and att this time more then 
 ordinarie and no effectual course haue ben takin for 
 the subduinge of them which same other townes haue 
 done & by ther exsperience haue found it much for 
 ther advantage as also for the destroying crowes Jayes 
 Chirie birds which also doe much harme 
 
 " Itt is therfor Ordered that henceforth who 
 soeuer shall kill in our Towne any of the blackbirds 
 shall haue ninepence a dozin & for the other birds 
 a peny a bird provided thay bringe the heads of all 
 such birds as thay kill to some one of the Selectmen 
 who is to keep account of the heads so brought and 
 the persons that bringe them that so thay may haue 
 there pay out in a Towne rate which shall be levied 
 upon the arable land in the Towne. 
 
 "This order to stand in force till the Selectmen 
 see case to alter it." 
 
 "Which I only fear they will," said Miles, "for 
 I am trainin the little Indian boys to shoot for me 
 there, which they re glad enough to do, for the prac 
 tice and the free powder. Then there be the beaver 
 and the mink; and the foxes but tis a shame to 
 shoot them now, so I m even saving these for the 
 autumn sport; they go a-clicketing next month, and 
 the wolves too ; sure I must preserve a few against 
 next year ! " And Miles ended with a wink and a 
 laugh. 
 
 " Miles, I ll denounce you to the town-meeting," 
 said I, " and say they ve got no huntsman, but a 
 keeper rather! " 
 
240 King Noanett 
 
 " Not so, but rather raise the prices ; for sure the 
 wolves and the wildcat are getting scarce. True, it 
 comes week after next, the March meeting, and we ll 
 go indeed, and ye ll speak for the Springfield parish. 
 But what news have ye ? " 
 
 I knew what he meant, though he spoke so gaily. 
 " How are the oxen ? " 
 
 "Well and the cow calved all unbeknownst to 
 me twas on St. Valentine s day " 
 
 "And the calf?" 
 
 Courtenay looked out to me, a twinkle in his eye. 
 " Sure, I ve been settin her out on the hillside for 
 bait/ 
 
 " For bait ? " 
 
 "Aye divil a fight have I had all winter and 
 I thought the Indians might be hungry, in the deep 
 snows, so I placed her out there, tempting-like. 
 But take her they would not, not liking veal, as it 
 seems. And so I ve even had to kape the truce 
 ye made," Miles ended with a sigh. 
 
 Then the men came in, Quatchett, and Woola- 
 combe, and John Berry, who was like to be mar 
 ried at Whitsuntide, and they had been cutting the 
 timber for a house for him, on the edge of the for 
 est, by the great spring. And then Miles and I 
 went out, and lit our pipes, and sate upon a mossy 
 rock that lay toward the sunset, on the river; 
 and the beautiful bluebirds and the robins made a 
 pleasant noise about us. Then again Courtenay 
 asked me for my news. 
 
 It was a sad thing to say again I had none for 
 him. Nor yet of my own, I added, when he had 
 asked about my lady, after having been silent a 
 
Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunter 241 
 
 bit. But I told him, when the planning was all 
 done, I should get away for the voyage to the 
 Barbadoes ; and thence come back with money 
 enough to go to England, ere another year. And 
 Miles puffed at his pipe, with a bit of a sigh again ; 
 for he had no cause to care even to go home, as 
 had I. Then, at last, he asked after little Jennifer. 
 I pulled out her great letter, and gave it to him. 
 But I saw there was no hope that he would wed 
 with her. 
 
XXXIV 
 
 In which We See a Woman Whipt 
 
 I WAS out with the plough at once, and broke 
 the ground so well that in that year we got 
 forty acres down to seed-grass, and wheat, 
 rye, maize, potatoes for we knew not yet 
 what crops the soil would favour. And we four 
 white men did the working, while the Indians for 
 aged for us ; even Miles turned to with a will, see 
 ing that this was no hunting season ; but Miles 
 never had the patience for a farmer. Labour was 
 scarce, as may be supposed ; and we tried in vain to 
 borrow hands from our Natick Indians : they learned 
 faith, but no works, and how much their Christian 
 worthlessness was pleasing to the Lord, I, being no 
 antinomian, may not presume to judge. But I like 
 the flavour of wild Indians best. Nor would the 
 fact an Indian learned to make a good dramatick 
 dying speech reconcile me to the fact that he had 
 done no Christian work but drink the while he 
 lived. Yet the Natick records be full of these 
 dying orations, in which (for the most part) the 
 dying Ephraim or Jethro beshrews himself that he 
 hath drunk such quantities of rum (now that he 
 may drink no more), but boasts himself like any 
 Pharisee that now he must no longer die like a 
 warrior, silent, but may so flatulently caterwaul 
 
 242 
 
We See a Woman Whipt 243 
 
 about his saved soul ! However, these be preju 
 dices I may have absorbed from Miles ; certainly 
 these praying Indians (poor souls) were very faith 
 ful to us in the great wars, after we white Christians 
 had but ill requited them for warning us. Only, 
 I have never known a wild Indian either break his 
 word to those that had been true to him ; and they 
 do fight better. For it seems, the moment a savage 
 learns he hath an immortal soul, the more anxious 
 is he to put off its immortality. 
 
 I have told how good these Naticks were at spin 
 ning yarns about our fireside o nights ; but now, 
 with the winter, their stories of the Dingle Hole and 
 such like matters seemed to have gone by ; their 
 minds were bent on things of this world s kingdom; 
 ami they talked to us about the great town-meeting 
 that was at hand. True, they had no interest (save 
 in the bounty on vermin) and could neither vote 
 nor hold office ; but they had a fine natural instinct 
 for politicks, and wished only to make Miles "ruler 
 of an hundred," and were zealous to go in his tail and 
 shout for him. And Miles himself had an eye to 
 his hunting money ; moreover, we at Springfield had 
 received due notice of the meeting (brought by Eben 
 Fairbanke, with an eye still to the weirs) and that 
 
 "whosoeuer shall haue received notice of the 
 meeteing & shall absetne himselfe one halfe houre 
 after ye beateing of the armme shall forfet twelve 
 pence ; and yf anye shall wholly absente himselfe 
 shall forfet the sum of Three shillinges and Fower 
 pence, except ther be some greate occasions to the 
 contrary & ye same be alloed of accordingly in 
 eyther of ye sayd cases." 
 
244 King Noanett 
 
 Whereby we were resolved to go ; and when the 
 eventful morning came, did set off (through a sulky 
 mist of sleet) in a majestick procession of both our 
 canoes, and three of Indians from Natick. (For 
 Miles s mighty dug-out still lay by the river, fash 
 ioned to a point at but one end, like a child s shingle- 
 boat, half-whittled, and full two cords good firewood 
 had he vainly burned atop of the same in the effort 
 to hollow it out ; whereof I did get much merriment.) 
 There was Miles and I, and Quatchett and Woola- 
 cote and Berry ; and Awonsamog and Nohkow and 
 other Natick sachems, permitted by Eliot to go 
 and learn how white men practised the mystery of 
 government ; while Nehoiden (who was on a visit 
 to us) preferred freely to run along the banks. 
 
 Twas a great day, and we were all in high 
 spirits ; for soon the sleet washed the March sky 
 clear to a blueness ; and even the heavens, that had 
 so lowered upon us in the morning, as Miles said, 
 like a damsel ruffled by too bold an address, now 
 cleared up again, when they saw we took no notice 
 of their sulkiness. It was a fair Spring noon when 
 we pulled up at the little landing-place by Dedham ; 
 and we heard Ralph Daye (who was paid for it, ios. 
 the year in cedar-board at 4^. per cent.) beating the 
 drum lustily to call to meeting. 
 
 Now I had never been to these meetings before ; 
 and I asked Miles what they were like, and would 
 the good people of Dedham treat us fair ? To 
 which he gravely responded that 
 
 "In their intercourse with each other, or with 
 strangers, they exhibit as much urbanity, generally 
 speaking, as is consistent with pure republicanism." 
 
We See a Woman Whipt 245 
 
 I was so taken up with the fineness of this lan 
 guage that I said nothing more, but put on my face 
 of gravest ceremony, until we found ourselves on a 
 back bench of the little meeting-house. " In length 
 36 Foote it was; and 20 Foote in bredth, and be- 
 tweene the upp and nether sell in ye studds 12: 
 Foote, the same to be girte & thetcht." And no 
 women were allowed within the same, only dogs ; 
 and the boys in the gallery, high up, whence they 
 too might in time learn how to govern men (women 
 not needing the same). And the first thing that 
 happened in this town-meeting was that " Goodman 
 Fra. Chickerg. be fined one quart of Saick for late 
 coming this daye." So fined he was, and Miles said 
 to me, laughing, " Faith, this is human of them : now 
 whose and when is the drinking of it ? " 
 
 " Silence," cried Major Lusher, that was moder 
 ator (but with a wink to Miles), while Edward 
 Alleyii, the same that we had met before, got up 
 with a long preamble that whereas, " our weekly 
 meeting appointed for other occasions falling to be 
 at Eben Fairbanke s became altogether spent in agi 
 tation concerning the Huntsman, despite the infor 
 mation that our brethren of Meadfield have declared 
 themselves grieved that our Town have resolved to 
 call for 2ol. from thence, and that they have declared 
 a purpose not to pay till it be cleared, and despite 
 our letter to desire a loveing treaty with them on 
 this point," he moved, 
 
 " i that the vote of grant of ye 3 pt of ye meadow 
 ptly by sale & pt by gift be so altered that those yt 
 would giue their pte now cannot ; 
 
 " 2 that ther is not so much loue from Meadf 
 
246 King Noanett 
 
 as they expected apeere in refusing 20!. at this 
 time." 
 
 Then there did follow a long dispute about the 
 boundary with Meadfield ; whereon Miles was fain 
 to speak, saying that the Meadfield men were our 
 good neighbours, and he would not see them put 
 upon. But I held him down. 
 
 Then the matter of a free school was taken up ; 
 and it was with "an vnanimous consent concluded 
 that some portion of land in this entended deuision 
 should be set apart for publique use : viz. for the 
 Towne a Churche & a fre Schoole viz. 40 acres at 
 the least or 60 acres at the most." And thus was 
 established the first free school ; they tell me such 
 things are not known in England yet. But when 
 next it was asked 
 
 " to be pposed whether the sense of the Towne 
 be and require that girls should be taught in this 
 schoole or not " the debate waxed more furious. 
 For on the one hand, Alleyn was objecting that the 
 girls should not be over learned above their sphere ; 
 while Miles took sides (partly for dislike of Alleyn 
 and partly for the maids themselves) that the women, 
 as they are better than men, and now do but mislead 
 them, should surely be taught wisdom to lead us 
 aright. And that matter is not settled yet ! And 
 then Mr. John Allen Pastor and Eleazar Lusher 
 gave notice of their discovery of a mine of metal 
 or other mineral " whereunto they laid claim to them 
 their heirs executors and assigns for ever by virtue 
 of the order of the town in that case provided. And 
 the land lay betwixt Charles River on the North and 
 the high Rock near the Great Plain and in or near 
 
We See a Woman Whipt 247 
 
 about a small stony valley being encompassed on 
 the south, north and west sides with rocky hills the 
 east end of said valley opening towards a stony 
 brook thereby " 
 
 ("There s something for good Master Simpson," 
 whispered Miles to me. " Pray don t write him of 
 it, for he s over daft about it now," said I.) 
 
 Then spoke up Fairbanke, our hunting friend, at 
 last, and moved as follows, as we had due record 
 made : 
 
 " Resolued, to ppose to the Towne to know their 
 minde about the raysinge of that Tenn L. for the 
 recompence of the Hunts-man, and whether it be 
 paid in lawful money or in colony coin." 
 
 There was some debate, particularly on the last 
 clause; Mr. Alleyne thought Indian shells good 
 enough payment for Indian wildcats or other Indian 
 vermin ; Major Lusher reminded him that powder 
 and ball had to be paid for in good silver, and that 
 Captain Courtenay, " whose settlement West of the 
 town was such a protection to us all," had held the 
 King s commission and was enused to the King s 
 money ; Dwight, Wight, Day, and Fisher, all our 
 other friends took part ; Miles had the sense to 
 keep silent ; and, to cut it short, it was at last thus 
 voted (as any of you may see it yet today in the 
 Dedham records, at page the fifteenth of the second 
 part) 
 
 cc after Lectur (i.e. reading of the resolution) 
 these being pposed : all was left to the 7 men." 
 
 " The selectmen ! " whispered Miles : "now we ll 
 have them all to dinner ! " 
 
 We had a very good dinner, at Dwight s tavern ; 
 
248 King Noanett 
 
 and Miles was even particular to ask " Brother 
 Chickerg.," that he might get something back from 
 his forfeited quart of sack ; whereat he voluntarily 
 doubled his fine, and I doubled this, and Miles 
 doubled my double ; ten men we had to dinner, 
 viz., seven selectmen, Chickering, Miles, and I ; 
 and by that figuring had fifteen (or was it sixteen ?) 
 quarts of sack ; for I am getting old-witted, and 
 no longer good at arithmetick. 
 
 Only this point I do remember (and from this 
 point it seems but yesterday, for it was the begin 
 ning of the end) that we fell to singing, and made 
 so much noise inside the little tavern that it must 
 have been a mighty tumult indeed that we could 
 hear outside it. But all at once, we became con 
 scious of a vast murmuring noise, not of cheering, 
 but of jeers ; voices of men and boys ; but amid 
 them it seemed to me that I heard a woman s cry. 
 And I looked at Miles and saw that he had heard 
 it too. 
 
 " Constable Chickering ! Constable Chickering ! " 
 then we heard them crying ; and presently two or 
 three men forced through the door of our room ; 
 and one of them held a paper, which he flourished 
 before Chickering, and then at Major Lusher, and 
 I saw that it bore a fair broad seal and ribbons. 
 
 " Deborah Lyle, a Quakeress ! " he cried. And 
 now we could make what the rabble was crying 
 outside " Deborah Lyle ! to the stocks ! the 
 Quakeress to the stocks ! " And now too we 
 heard, mingled with the shouting of men and 
 boys, the shrill scolding of the women. 
 
 " By order of the worshipful, the Governour," 
 
We See a Woman Whipt 249 
 
 cried he that bore the paper ; and Miles whispered 
 me and we both recognized him for a Boston con 
 stable, even he that had arrested us that Sunday 
 we arrived, and spoke so rude to little Jennifer. 
 " Deborah Lyle, Quakeress : ordered to be whipt 
 at the cart s tail from Boston to the line of the 
 Providence Plantations I do hereby deliver to 
 the selectmen of Dedham, across their town line, 
 that by their reeves or constable the worshipful 
 orders of the Governour be carried on. Where is 
 the constable ? " 
 
 Somebody pointed out Chickering. 
 
 " For her safe keeping and delivery beyond the 
 limits of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, you are 
 now responsible." And he sought to thrust the 
 paper into Chickering s hand. But it dropped to 
 the floor ; and now we saw that Brother Francis 
 Chickering was very drunk. 
 
 " The Quakeress ! the Quakeress ! " kept howl 
 ing the mob outside. 
 
 " This is no work for me give it to the hog- 
 reeves ! " then growled Major Lusher. And going 
 to the window furthest from the street, he jumped 
 out of it; and Miles and I, going after, saw him 
 running with all haste across the fields. 
 
 " Come out of this ! " cried Miles ; and we made 
 into the street. A snowstorm had begun to gather 
 again ; and it was nipping cold. 
 
 The mob was crowded before the door of the town- 
 house. And forcing our way through, we found 
 indeed a cart with two oxen standing by it, that 
 was Christian church as well as townhouse ; and 
 there, tied fast by ropes to the cart s tail (for else 
 
250 King Noanett 
 
 she would have fallen) was a young girl, not more 
 than twenty, stripped naked to the waist. 
 
 " Ten stripes at each town-bound ! and ten stripes 
 upon each village green ! " cried the Boston con 
 stable, who followed us. "Where is your chief 
 man ? " 
 
 The crowd murmured. Some one said, " Major 
 Lusher. He has gone." And the women screeched 
 again. " Whip the Quakeress ! Whip the Quaker 
 ess ! " Only the men and boys were more silent, 
 gaping open-mouthed and shamefaced. And in the 
 hush the poor girl, that had seemed fainting or 
 asleep, as her wounds had grown numb and frozen 
 since the last whipping, opened her eyes despair 
 ingly, and cast her look about the crowd until it fell 
 upon me and Miles. And all this time the snow- 
 flakes were falling on her, scarce whiter than her 
 poor shoulders where there were not already the 
 cruel purple scars. 
 
 " Men ! " said Miles through his teeth, " ye ll 
 not carry out this thing ? " 
 
 " That will I ! " cried Alleyn ; " I am second of 
 the selectmen. Constable, yourself carry out the 
 law ! and then we ll rid the town of the pestilent 
 heretick ! " Miles looked at me ; John Berry and 
 Woolacote had gathered behind us, looking very 
 pale, and even our Indians were there, and, at a 
 glance from Miles, Quatchett and Nehoiden ran 
 towards the landing, where our boats were left. 
 
 But before we looked the heavy lash of triple- 
 knotted cords had once descended, circling the girl s 
 back. She but moaned faintly, though it left a crim 
 son weal below her breasts. Some of the women 
 
We See a Woman Whipt 251 
 
 turned and ran away, but the others screeched out 
 shrill again and crowded the closer to see. 
 
 Then I laid that constable s head open with a 
 stave of his own cart. It was poor John Berry, 
 swearing and crying at once, who cut the poor girl s 
 ropes ; and Miles, gathering her up like a child, 
 cried to us to run before, and we made a dash 
 through the crowd and got to the river. Nor did 
 they stop us much, though Alleyn and the con 
 stable ran after. They seemed to be fighting 
 among themselves. For when we had got safely 
 into our canoes, and Miles had made a sort of bed 
 for the Quaker maiden, and covered her with furs 
 and blankets, we looked about again. And I did 
 see Brother Francis Chickering, that was so drunk, 
 fall down in the way of Master Alleyn, so that he 
 pitched headlong at the steepest part of the hill ; 
 and then did Chickering get up and jump upon 
 him. 
 
 But the crowd of women ran down to the water s 
 edge, aye, and into the river, shaking their fists at 
 us ; and the officers made ready boats to follow. 
 
 Then Miles stood up in his canoe with a loaded 
 gun and swore by the Virgin the first of them that 
 stepped in a canoe should die there. cc Man or 
 woman ! " cried he, and crossed himself. And the 
 women, that were much the worst, screamed out at 
 this, but turned and ran, like a parcel of hens. 
 And suddenly Major Lusher appeared ; and we 
 heard him call to see their warrant. And it must 
 have taken him a long time to read this warrant ; 
 for when we passed around the first bend that hid 
 us from sight of the village, he was reading it still. 
 
XXXV 
 
 In which King Noanett doth Fight with Water 
 
 MILES and I had got into the same canoe, 
 the better to defend the poor Quakeress, 
 that lay between us on a pile of furs, but 
 still unconscious. We had no thought 
 to bring her out of her fainting-fit at first ; but 
 bent ourselves to our paddles ; and Miles called to 
 Berry and Woolacote, who were each commanding 
 a boat, to lag behind and engage any pursuing 
 party, with words or blows, as they should deem 
 most fitting ; and they nodded to us gaily, and bade 
 us have no fear ; for John Berry, that was to be 
 wed at Whitsuntide, was sadly cursing and crying 
 still together, and swore his Meadfield maid should 
 die unwedded rather than that flogger of women 
 should get by us. 
 
 Meantime the still snow fell more heavily ; and 
 I looked at Miles, and Miles looked at me. 
 
 "We must take her to Mr. Eliot at Natick," 
 then said I. 
 
 " Nay," answered Miles, " I don t doubt his 
 good w 7 ill ; but he cannot jeopardize his work in 
 harbouring the outlaws of the Colony She must 
 even stay with us would we had Jennifer ! " 
 
 "That would hardly better it," said I. And 
 then the Quaker girl opened her eyes, still trem- 
 
 25* 
 
King Noanett doth Fight with Water 253 
 
 bling; and seeing Miles, put her hand to her throat; 
 for we had wrapped his cloak about her. Then, as 
 she shivered, Miles made her take a swallow of raw 
 spirit ; and she seemed to fall asleep again ; and so 
 slept calmly while a faint colour stole back into her 
 cheeks until we pulled up our canoe before our 
 farmhouse door. And the other canoes had caught 
 up with us, reporting no pursuit ; so Miles sent 
 Nohkow across to Natick to get a squaw to come 
 and treat the girl s wounds ; and over our pipes 
 that evening we discussed the situation. But we 
 could think of no other w r ay than to keep her with 
 us for the present. 
 
 But whoso reckons for a woman must not leave 
 out the woman s will. All that next day she slept ; 
 while Miles and I went to the fields and began our 
 ploughing ; for the day was fair and mild, and we 
 heard nothing from the constable and selectmen of 
 Dedham. But on the third day, when the bleeding 
 of her wounds was healed, she came to us and 
 desired to be led back to Boston, where she had 
 the Lord s work (as she said) to do. 
 
 This was more than we had bargained for ; and 
 we looked at one another again, and Miles swore 
 roundly that she should not go ; whereat she re 
 proved him for his oath, and affirmed that go she 
 would, seeing that she had to announce the ven 
 geance of the Lord. And Miles and I thought 
 this was news that might very well be put off; nor 
 doubting the same, but that it scarce needed such 
 another messenger. And Miles and I could see 
 no better thing than to go to Natick and ask the 
 apostle Eliot s advice. 
 
254 King Noanett 
 
 So we got in a canoe again and paddled up the 
 river with Quatchett. But there, just below the 
 footbridge, we saw Awonsamog and Nohkow, ges 
 ticulating much as if to warn us back ; and then a 
 long discourse began twixt them and Quatchett in 
 the Indian tongue. And at last Quatchett said to us: 
 
 " They want you no land. Want me go getum ; 
 you go home ; they come to you." And I would 
 fain know why. 
 
 " Givum dinner ; smokum pipe," was all that we 
 could get out of Quatchett. I was for going on to 
 Eliot ; but Miles had a fancy he saw Awonsamog 
 give him a clumsy wink (for the Indians, like 
 Scotchmen, do for the most part have a dignity 
 above humour) and was for trusting once more to 
 the Indians good counsel. So back we went again, 
 and prepared a mighty dinner ; and at the proper 
 time appeared Quatchett, paddling down again with 
 the two Natick Indians, in their finest beads and 
 feathers, newly painted and with manners of much 
 pomp. And until the dinner was over, they would 
 say no word of business ; but then, when our pipes 
 were lighted and we had had a glass of rum apiece, 
 and sat each one bravely smoking, Awonsamog 
 pulled out a paper from his breast. 
 
 " Me Justice of Peace," said he, solemnly. " Noh 
 kow, he but tithing-man ; me Justice." 
 
 Miles bowed solemnly, and winked at me. 
 
 " Me have warrant : arrestum Captain Miles, 
 arrestum Captain Moore, arrestum Quaker squaw." 
 
 Miles bounded from his chair and snatched the 
 warrant from the Indian s hand. Then we read it 
 together, and thus it ran : 
 
King Noanett doth Fight with Water 255 
 
 " AWONSAMOG ! 
 
 " You, You, You big Constable you. Quick you 
 catchum Captain Miles ; quick you catchum Captain 
 Moore ; quick you catchum Deborah Lyle ; strong 
 you holdum ; safe you bringum ; all afore me 
 
 "THOMAS WABAN, Justice Peace." 
 
 Miles burst into a roar of laughter and thrust the 
 paper in the fire. The Indians went on smoking 
 most imperturbable. 
 
 " Well," said Miles at last, " why don t you do 
 it?" 
 
 " This Dedham ; he justice Natick ; he have no 
 law arrest Dedham," said Nohkow, gravely. 
 
 "Me have no warrant ; warrant in fire," said 
 Awonsamog, with equal solemnity. " Now me go 
 get other warrant." 
 
 Miles made bold to wink at him; but I could see 
 the old Indian looked shocked. He shook his pipe 
 in the embers of the warrant and rose up. 
 
 " Go get other warrant ; if you go Boston, me 
 arrest ; Dedham men come here to-morrow, they 
 arrest ; you go Providence, they no findum, no 
 can arrest." 
 
 So that night Miles took the reluctant damsel, 
 and with Nehoiden for a guide, started through the 
 woods for Providence ; and in three days he returned 
 with the news that there the poor Quaker maid had 
 met with friends. And I told him we had had no 
 molestation from the Dedham people ; whether the 
 Boston constable dared not venture to our strong 
 hold up the river, or whether they learned from the 
 Natick Indians that the bird had flown. But alas ! 
 
256 King Noanett 
 
 it was all of no avail ; for we learned later that 
 Deborah Lyle had returned to Boston and there 
 been cruelly executed. 
 
 Miles had met no Indians save a scout of 
 Noanett s, who, when he learned his errand, had let 
 him pass. And now we began to farm in earnest. 
 Our odd moments we would give to working on 
 John Berry s house. And we got it well roofed in 
 and walled soon after Easter ; and Miles covered 
 the floor with skins. Then we got word from 
 Simpson (through an Indian runner that we sent 
 to town for seed) that Simpson and the Colonel 
 were coming out to visit us and their estates. Our 
 seeding down was nearly done, and it was arranged 
 that on their return I was to go back with them 
 to town and take our cargo out to Barbadoes ; so we 
 awaited them contentedly enough, only laying in an 
 extra store of Spring fish from the river, trout and 
 alewives, and a heap of wildfowl, and trusting that 
 the cordwainer would bring his other stores from 
 town. And as they desired, we sent Quatchett to 
 them for a guide; nor was he loath to go, being 
 anxious to bring back from Boston that store of 
 rum that he had there invested through the winter 
 (the thought of which had many a time made his 
 mouth water for the reality), and perhaps to add to 
 it with his winter s earnings ; and now that he was 
 to go and return by canoe, he could easily bring it 
 home ; and he vowed never to lay up his treasure 
 so far from home again. For Simpson had sent 
 word that they would come out by river we mar 
 velled why, for it was a day longer, now the bridle 
 path had grown so good and had bespoken for a 
 
King Noanett doth Fight with Water 257 
 
 guide across the falls, which they seemed to deem a 
 risque most awful. Miles and I chuckled to ourselves 
 and trusted that they might get by Master Edward 
 Alleyn and the Dedham constables, from whom he 
 had heard nought for many weeks. And even if our 
 good friend Major Lusher knew that they were com 
 ing for a mine, we foresaw nice points of mete and 
 bound that would busy a town-meeting many days. 
 
 Yet on one warm night in May they got in, with 
 no signal of guns, so that Miles and I failed to wel 
 come them at the riverside, but found them on our 
 return from a little hunting trip, very hot and testy, 
 with one canoe only, all loaded down with bales of 
 truck ; and they had come through the long ditch 
 in the meadows, to avoid the town, and so had had 
 to load and unload all over again thrice that day - 
 beads, and red and blue blankets, and looking- 
 glasses, and a gross or two of knives and hatchets ; 
 and we watched them set out this cargo with amaze 
 ment, until Miles asked Simpson whether he ex 
 pected us to start a country store. 
 
 " You re not so far wrong, young man not so 
 far wrong. I ll tell you in the evening, when there 
 are not so many prying ears about." 
 
 " Eyes, Master Simpson, eyes ears don t pry - 
 
 "Nay," says Simpson, testily, "but they grow 7 ." 
 At which Miles Courtenay did roar with laughter, 
 while the Colonel and I did marvel what there was 
 to laugh at. But tell us they did that night ; and it 
 turned out, as I had half suspected, that the Indian 
 silver still had roused their greed. 
 
 " So," said I, " you would attack them, after they 
 have kept their peace this sixmonth ? " 
 
258 King Noanett 
 
 " Nay, * said Jones, " we would only make a 
 reconnoissance, as they say in the army our object 
 is but to study their position and see how they be 
 placed, and whether on our land " 
 
 " If it s righting ye want," cried Miles, delighted, 
 " ye have but to drift an hour or so athwart their 
 valley, with your pile of trinkets open. Sure, they 
 made no peace with you " 
 
 But this suggestion did not suit them, though I 
 agreed with Miles that they might prove better bait 
 than the calf. 
 
 " We come but for trade," said Simpson. " Surely, 
 there can be no harm nor breach of truce in that " 
 and he pointed to the beads and blankets and a 
 bunch of axes in the corner. 
 
 " If it s the hatchets ye mean," said Miles, "they 
 can do better than that their ownselves " and he 
 handed them an Indian hatchet he had picked up 
 in the woods ; " besides that, the handle s long 
 and inconvenientlike for scalpin . And there s no 
 woman ye may tempt with the trinkets in the whole 
 camp, seein it s out for fightin , not for courtin ; 
 barring the white fairy, and she ll not wear com 
 mon glass beads, but is all bediamonded of dew and 
 dust of violets." And Courtenay winked at me, 
 and I knew that he referred to a foolish legend the 
 people of Meadfield had of a white witch with the 
 wizard Noanett. For wizard they believed him to 
 be, as much as the Indians themselves. 
 
 " Now, Miles, none of your Dingle-Hole stories," 
 says old Simpson ; and looked at the Colonel mean 
 ingly. " Such tales are always made to keep the 
 country-folk away. Did not I tell you they could 
 
King Noanett doth Fight with Water 259 
 
 work metal ? I ll warrant they have a smelting- 
 oven up there. Good Captain Courtenay, tell us 
 how we may best get in there." 
 
 " Well," says Miles, who did not relish being 
 classed with country-folk, " they keep a scout on 
 either hill, and if ye go over the range, he ll pick 
 off perhaps a pair of ye before the others get to 
 parley, and then ye ll be so unreasonable as to be 
 fightin -mad 
 
 <c Nay," says Simpson ; " I mean to get there 
 safely." 
 
 " And if that s what ye want, ye d better follow 
 the example of the country-folk and stay away. 
 And even if ye left your trinkets in the entrance 
 of the valley, I m thinkin it might still be cause 
 enough to fight that ye went there without an invi 
 tation." 
 
 " Don t these devils understand a flag of truce ? " 
 cried Colonel Jones. 
 
 " Sometimes their understanding comes a trifle 
 late," grinned Simpson. " What we want is to get 
 close to their village and get away unseen ; or, if we 
 are caught, to go at once to Pomham, who you say 
 speaks English, and offer him samples for trade." 
 
 " In that case," said I, " I think I know a way 
 they ll not expect. The waters are high now, and 
 the stream is well hidden in the bushes and comes 
 down through the centre of their valley." 
 
 " Capital ! " says Simpson, " and we ll take a bale 
 of stuff along." 
 
 " And one of Mistress Simpson s petticoats for 
 a flag of truce," laughs Miles. But the plan was 
 agreed, and that we were to start at early dawn ; 
 
260 King Noanett 
 
 and we spent the rest of the evening in chatting 
 about the fire ; but first had a dinner that did 
 honour to Miles s hunting skill, and Woolacote s 
 knowledge of a Devon pie ; and when we came 
 back from table, we found the stores all set out 
 by the men, and our Quatchett ruefully contem 
 plating one small keg of rum. 
 
 " And is that all ye got ? " said Miles to him. 
 " Why, you did better before/ 
 
 " White trader say, he keep rum all through win 
 ter ; cost much ; cost much as keep a horse." 
 
 " And what had ye to say to that ? " asked Miles. 
 
 " Me say, Hah ! he no eat so much hay, but me 
 believe he drink as much water." Whereat Miles 
 laughed so loud that Simpson asked him petulantly 
 to still that Irish tongue of his, the while more 
 serious business was on hand. 
 
 "Manin gold and silver?" said Miles. "The 
 man s mine-mad. Do ye know the town laws 
 require a grant to work a mine ? And then must 
 ye pay one tenth of all the yearly profits to the 
 town-treasury, or, if the mine be less than a mile 
 from the town, an eighth Moore, me boy, hand 
 down the town laws " 
 
 " D n the town laws," cried Colonel Jones. 
 " What I fear is rather the law of England, whereby, 
 if the gold and silver mined do countervail the baser 
 metals, it is a Mine Royal, and all belongs to the 
 Crown, videlicet, the Commonwealth, videlicet, 
 Master Isaac Hull." 
 
 " Ye must e en get your mine before ye have to 
 share with him," quoth Miles. " I fear your first 
 accompt will be with Noanett." 
 
King Noanett doth Fight with Water 261 
 
 " I fear no salvage," says the Colonel, valiantly. 
 " Are the canoes ready ? we start at early dawn." 
 
 So we had a mug of Quatchett s watered rum, 
 and went to bed and did most valiant snoring. 
 And at four of the clock I got up, and found Mas 
 ter Simpson repenting himself a little of the advent 
 ure, and troubled, as was his wont at such junctures, 
 about the health of his soul. But after a stoup of 
 rum and water before breakfast, it liked him not to 
 show this before the Colonel, who had held the 
 King s commission ; and Miles reminded him fur 
 ther that the state of his body was the more pressing 
 concern that day. So all he found further to object 
 to, was the cross upon the flag ; but the Colonel and 
 Miles both swore they would not travel without the 
 impious emblem ; and finally we compromised on 
 Miles s suggestion, to carry it furled, and show but 
 a flag of truce, as being also less startling to the 
 Indians. And then we were soon off; and before 
 sunrise we had turned the canoe into the dark stream 
 that ran deep among the alders. Their twigs were 
 so troublesome that we bade our guests lie flat in the 
 bottom, while Miles and I, sitting each in the bow 
 of his boat, pulled the light craft along by the 
 branches ; for there was not even room to paddle. 
 
 So all went well for some time ; we came out of 
 the alder to where the stream ran still in a little open 
 meadow, between rows of willows. There was yet 
 no sign to indicate that we were seen; and the valley 
 narrowed and grew darker, the sun still behind the 
 low cliffs to the left of us ; when suddenly, without 
 word or warning, an arrow flew between Miles and 
 me, just in the place where Colonel Jones s plump 
 
262 King Noanett 
 
 body would have stopped it, had he been sitting up. 
 He instantly began to swear, and Simpson to wave 
 his white handkerchief; while Miles and I but pad 
 dled and pulled the harder, hoping to reach again 
 a part where the stream had better cover. But I 
 asked them whether they would now turn back. 
 
 Simpson only grunted. " How far is it to their 
 confounded fort ? " whispered Jones. 
 
 "We must be very near," said I. " I see a crag 
 to the right that I know hangs over it." 
 
 " Then in the Devil s name, go on," said he. 
 " Better they fire on a white flag than pink us as we 
 run away." 
 
 Miles chuckled ; and just then the stream took a 
 turn between two steep rocky banks, quite bare of 
 brush or undergrowth, and so high that no one could 
 wound us without showing himself on the bank 
 above and letting us see what enemy we had to deal 
 with. I breathed freely again ; and the Colonel sat 
 up in his canoe. 
 
 But at the moment, I saw Miles s face change ; 
 his canoe was in the lead. " Holy Mother," said 
 he but then his words were lost in a mighty roar 
 ing; and I saw his canoe leap like a horse; and then 
 felt ours rear and plunge over backward ; and the 
 stream rolled me under and shot me along, and when 
 I got my right end above the rapids, I could only 
 gasp for breath and spare no time for looking; until 
 at last, when I brought myself to, I was hanging 
 with one arm in the crook of an alder-tree and the 
 other arm swaying broken in the river. And then 
 I saw, caught upon its side a few yards above me, 
 the brown stream pouring under it, Miles s canoe, 
 
King Noanett doth Fight with Water 263 
 
 quite empty, as I could see at a glance, its top being 
 laid over toward me, bobbing and swaying on the 
 torrent. And then I looked below me and saw 
 Jones and Simpson caught on other trees, like flies 
 in a strainer; and so far as I inferred, they were not 
 hurt ; for Jones was cursing vehemently, and Simp 
 son loudly invoking the Lord s interference with the 
 circumstances of his soul. And around us, in the 
 alder swamp (which I now saw was the one we had 
 passed through some half furlong before) were also 
 caught some of the larger articles in our cargo that 
 would float, a bale of red and blue blankets, Colonel 
 Jones s cloak, and divers other trifles. 
 
 But Miles was nowhere to be seen, and I cried 
 out to know where he was. No answer came, and 
 I was about letting myself down into the flood 
 (which I could see was subsiding) when to my joy I 
 saw his black head in the water swimming down 
 toward us. 
 
 "Miles, Miles!" I cried. 
 
 "God help us!" said Simpson. 
 
 "What hell is this " shouted Jones. 
 
 But Courtenay swam quietly up to the canoe, which 
 he righted, and then, finding bottom now to stand 
 on, he shoved her under me, and I dropped into the 
 boat, exhausted. 
 
 "I see your arm is broke, my boy," said he; "lie 
 still and let me get in the traders." So he got them 
 
 O O 
 
 in, with some difficulty; and then was fortunate 
 enough to recover one paddle, and with it began 
 forcing a way through the alder swamp. 
 
 "Where the devil did you come from?" then said 
 Jones. 
 
264 King Noanett 
 
 "Well, I thought I might be more useful on the 
 bank," said Miles, "so I even jumped." 
 
 " What in the Devil s name O Lord, what was 
 it ? " cried Master Simpson. 
 
 " Water," answered Miles, laconically. 
 
 "Water ? " chorussed both. 
 
 "Aye what did you expect whiskey?" 
 
 " Nay, but where did it all come from ? " 
 
 "It came around the corner, like a brown wall, 
 only a bit noisier; and I sang out to ye, and jumped." 
 
 "Was that all you saw?" 
 
 "Faith," said Miles, "I had no laysure for look 
 ing at the scenery." 
 
 " Tis witchcraft," said Simpson, gravely; "the 
 Lord protect us ! " 
 
 "Aye, it must be the white witch s doings," said 
 I. The Colonel looked pale ; and glad enough we 
 were to come out that thicket into the sunny river. 
 And that night Simpson was for going back to town. 
 But Courtenay, who had dressed my arm, told him 
 I could not go for a fortnight. 
 
 "Then let him come later," said Simpson; "my 
 business needs attention." 
 
 "And how about your business here? and the fine 
 gross of silver slugs ye were to get for so many strings 
 of beads and buttons ? " 
 
 "Nay," said Simpson, "I ll have no more dealings 
 with the devil nor his works." 
 
 And next day he and the Colonel went. And so, 
 our mining put a stop to, Miles and I were left 
 to our farming cogitations. 
 
XXXVI 
 
 In which Miles Hath a Vision 
 
 OF course I could do no work ; but I went 
 round with Miles and showed him how to 
 harrow and watch the crops, and did a bit 
 more ploughing with my right hand and 
 Quatchett, who marvelled much that one could do 
 such tedious work to better a harvest that at best 
 could not come before the fall, and I saw things 
 mostly up before I went away. We were half 
 expecting an attack from Noanett, but none came ; 
 so we stayed quietly by the farm and got ready for 
 John Berry s wedding, which came at Whitsuntide ; 
 and after this I was to make my voyage to the 
 Indies. 
 
 And if this turned out successful, I was to go 
 home. So only one thing troubled me, and that 
 was Miles, my friend. For there was a strange 
 absent-mindedness about him in these days ; in his 
 eyes a dreaminess, as were they full of visions. 
 There was a light in them that came from nothing 
 that he saw ; but often when you looked in them, 
 you saw not Miles, nor he you, looking. And to 
 me he spoke no more of her that he was seeking, 
 and for whom he had come from England. 
 
 We asked Colonel Jones and Savil Simpson to 
 the wedding, but they contented themselves with 
 
266 King Noanett 
 
 sending fine presents to Polly Leland, the bride, 
 and wedding-cake, and cheese of Cheshire, and 
 puncheons of good beer and rum. The good Colo 
 nel wrote that the cordwainer would trust himself 
 no more in that devil s country ; and that he, the 
 Colonel, was busily engaged in making investiga 
 tions, the results of which he would communicate 
 to us in due time. But all the Meadfield people 
 came over to the wedding, albeit provided with 
 more blunderbusses than sugared cates ; for they 
 were too near to Noanett to feel in safety, and 
 troublous rumours were already rife. But we 
 danced until after midnight, and then the good 
 people marched homeward in the moonlight, cut 
 ting a wider swathe than when they came, and much 
 in peril from their own blunderbusses. Then we 
 left the bride and groom in their new house, and 
 coming home, made our own guests (who were 
 Lusher, and Fisher, and Fairbanke, and Wight 
 and Dwight, but not Master Alleyne) comfortable 
 for the night ; and then we walked out by the river, 
 down which the full Spring moon was shining, low 
 in the West, and a gossamer sense of dawn lay in 
 the valley, not yet a mist, but a lighter veil thrown 
 across the night. Then Miles saddled a pony for 
 me (as I was still a bit stiff in the upper arm), and 
 we started together, for he said it was too late for 
 sleep and he wished to walk with me. 
 
 We took the Hartford trail which still was shorter 
 at the Boston end ; and for an hour or more we 
 went on in silence, I riding, and Miles tramping 
 beside, his hand upon my pony s neck. So the 
 moon fell down behind the forest, and the sky 
 
Miles Hath a Vision 267 
 
 through the trees ahead was pale ; and then with 
 one breath all the birds began to sing. I remem 
 ber, we were crossing the brook above Noanett s 
 valley, and the rugged crag to the left had a glow 
 upon it, as w T e stopped, and Miles laid his hand 
 upon my sound arm. It was like Miles to remem 
 ber my hurt still when saying this : 
 
 " Moore, dear Moore," he whispered, " she is 
 dead." 
 
 I started, and looked at him, but his face was 
 turned away ; then I asked him how he knew. 
 Had he heard of her by her name ? Even then 
 it might be a false rumour, another person ; the 
 name of Clerke was not uncommon ; but Miles 
 only shook his head. 
 
 " Tis no white witch," said he. " I saw her." 
 
 Then he told me how that he, when he was over 
 borne by the flood of waters on that day, had seen 
 her, plain as light, standing robed in white upon 
 the hillside, and she had stretched out her arms to 
 him ; and, as nothing surprises a dying man, he 
 had merely thought that he was drowned already, 
 and with her in another world, until he woke again 
 in this. But now he felt sure that she was dead ; 
 so, life was idle to him. 
 
 It wrung my heart to leave Courtenay like this. 
 But if indeed he had seen her spirit I half envied 
 him, for the sign that she came to him and what 
 could I say to disprove it ? Death is ever likely 
 enough, the more so to her, as a delicate English 
 lady coming to this wild country nor is it always 
 worst of all things. I parted from him very sadly, 
 in the green May woods at sunrise, taking first his 
 
268 King Noanett 
 
 promise that he would yet wait my return and not 
 lose heart ; and in a way this was a comfort to me, 
 for I knew the faithfulness of the man ; and so I 
 went, and bore his sorrow on my own, through all 
 the voyage. And then I came Southward, into the 
 thoughtless light, and saw his notions were but vis 
 ions. Yet they hardly troubled me, on his account, 
 the less for that. 
 
 Now coming to Barbadoes, I went up to dinner 
 with Sir Henry Gibbs, as I found him still there 
 and living, and asked him what news he had from 
 England. And he, looking at me kindly, said he 
 had not written me, for that the thing might not be 
 grateful news ; but he had had advices, first, that 
 old Penruddock had later been attainted of high 
 treason and found guilty ; and this first was the 
 last, for what fate had come upon his granddaughter 
 thereafter there was no way of finding. 
 
 Now you may imagine what frame of mind this 
 left me in. I do guess the merchants of Barbadoes 
 made their profit of my trouble ; and that is one 
 reason why I hate trade, that therein can men of 
 stomach best men of heart so readily. But still, there 
 was profit enough in this voyage at the worst, seeing 
 the prices Simpson and I had paid for our goods ; 
 and I sold out all the cargo as quickly as I could, 
 nor would I take time in the payment, but cash or 
 Bristol bills ; and so hastened back to Boston on 
 the summer trade wind, bound thence at last for 
 England ! And just one tack we made from Bar 
 badoes to Cape Cod. 
 
 And so getting home, I was met by Jennifer the 
 first evening, at Mr. Simpson s. And she told me 
 
Miles Hath a Vision 269 
 
 she v/as on some trace, as she thought, of the Clerkes 
 that Miles had known and sought so long ; so she 
 mentioned them, and blushed a little ; but begged I 
 would say nothing of it to him until she better knew. 
 And I told her of poor Miles s visions, and his 
 doubts that the lady were dead. And at this she 
 implored me to hasten to him at once ; for she 
 seemed to think it more grave than I did, and I left 
 her crying about it, and went at once to make sure 
 of my ship for England ; and paid for my passage 
 to Bristol (the trade of the Virginias was commonly 
 with Bristol, and ours in Massachusetts with Ply 
 mouth, but this was an exception), and made sure 
 that I had some days before its sailing ; and then I 
 borrowed a horse and rode home to our plantation. 
 All was doing well ; the maize was three feet high, 
 and the barley tremendous, only the wheat a little 
 thinner than I liked to see it. I gave up wheat 
 thereafter. In the forest, hewing down great trees, 
 I found Miles Courtenay ; for now, as always, only 
 the fiercest work would suit him. The old smile 
 was in his eyes when he saw me, and he gave me 
 quiet greeting, and looked, I thought, well ; the 
 great muscles of his arm stood out as tense as ever, 
 albeit his skin was too white for a man s, and his 
 eyes over brilliant. And I found he had learned 
 a habit of working in the woods at night. He 
 \vould come back only to breakfast ; then he would 
 shut himself up and write or sleep till afternoon, see 
 ing nobody, and so start forth for the woods with 
 his gun and axe at sunset once more. I thought 
 this might be that he cared rather to live with 
 shadows than with living men ; I had a memory of 
 
270 King Noanett 
 
 the song he had said to me one night as we were 
 coming up to this country ; and I asked him whether 
 he had seen his vision any more. He told me, No; 
 not once since I had gone. And I could see that 
 he took this only as a sign of great meaning in it, 
 and not as showing that his first sight had been 
 unreal. But he preferred now not to speak of this, 
 and would talk to me only of my lady ; and cheer 
 me up by saying she would surely be found, and 
 encouragingly envy me the going to England for 
 her. But he jested no longer, since he had seen 
 his lady s soul. 
 
 Now that summer was a terrible season, never to 
 be forgotten in New England. For, first, the witch 
 craft terror began to be heard of. God knows whether 
 the poor creatures were all innocent ; but before it 
 ended, many a maiden that appeared as innocent as 
 our Jennifer, and many a man less strange in ways 
 than Miles, was accused, yea, and hanged, as 
 witches. We escaped the fear of it, living so far 
 away in the forest, where were witches enough of 
 nature without making them of honest citizens, to 
 say nothing of having a white witch of our own 
 that had once been nigh to drowning us. And then 
 there were the rumours of coming Indian troubles. 
 
 Now so far as I have ever heard, the praying 
 Indians were always true; and one of them, Sassa- 
 mon, a learned sachem, was later foully murdered by 
 the Indians for his fidelity. Yet at that time the 
 English would, as I believe, have massacred the 
 Christian Indians but for Eliot and Daniel Gookin ; 
 and the praying Indians of Marlboro indeed were 
 cruelly driven at the cart s tail one winter to Boston, 
 
Miles Hath a Vision 
 
 and kept there on a bare island in the harbour 
 through all the heavy cold, in great hardship and 
 suffering, so that many of them died. 
 
 And one night we too were warned and helped by 
 them ; for a praying Indian named Quannapaug was 
 led to us by Nehoiden and told us how he and 
 another had been sent out from Natick by the Eng 
 lish as spies ; and for forty days they had been 
 wandering even so far as Deerfield and Chebacco 
 unsuspected ; and so they had returned to Boston, 
 weary and footsore, and warned them there that in 
 twenty days all the frontier towns would be attacked 
 that is to say, Lancaster, Groton, Marlboro , 
 Sudbury, and Meadfield. And we told John Berry 
 to tell them of this at Meadfield ; and they sent 
 back word that they were well prepared. 
 
 Now I did not much like the going off to England 
 if we were to be attacked. But what decided me 
 to stay, at last, was this. I had given Courtenay 
 Jennifer s message, despite her doubt ; but he had 
 only shaken his head sadly and said nothing. I 
 could see he felt assured that no more on earth would 
 he see his lady. Alas, it was scarce to be denied. 
 New England was not yet so full a place that a 
 young Englishwoman could be lost in it, living, and 
 never found. And every settlement from Maine to 
 the Connecticut had Courtenay searched in vain. 
 Often did I thank God, when praying for my love, 
 that she was lost to me but in England. And then 
 would come the joyful feeling that I was so soon to 
 go home ! until I saw Miles s still face again, and 
 it smote me. And so, one day, I was sitting alone 
 at the sunset and dreaming ; dreaming that I was 
 
I 
 
 272 King Noanett 
 
 buying minutes of my lady s life with years of mine ; 
 it was only the fourth or fifth day before my ship was 
 to sail for home. The house was empty, and I was in 
 the room that Miles had partitioned off for himself, 
 with windows looking only on the river. The fur 
 niture was but furs and a table ; and this was littered 
 with Courtenay s books and writing. He never 
 minded my seeing these ; much of it was but his 
 journal, but some was verses ; for Miles had lived 
 in Court in those days when they did write much 
 verse ; sometimes even, in this last winter chiefly, he 
 would read his sonnets to me, and ask if they were 
 not as good as Sir John Suckling s, and I would not 
 know whether to take him for jest or serious, it 
 seemed so strange to me that a man could write 
 himself down in such light way so I was glad now 
 seeing that he was light-hearted enough to rhyme 
 still so I took up some of these, and read ; there 
 were two or three that were but beginnings ; and 
 one (I have it still) 
 
 " To MY LADY " (so it ran) 
 " Handmaiden to the Virgin, now on earth, 
 Her eyes the Virgin Mary s eyes in heaven 
 Best worshipped through tears " 
 
 I have it all, but it is very sad. And then I came 
 upon another : 
 
 "To MY LADY IN HEAVEN." 
 " Dear, I have seen thee ; and my soul returned 
 To wait for thee through all the worlds until 
 Our mother Mary lead me to thee, where 
 I still shall know thee, having Mary s eyes " 
 
 Now as I read this, it seemed as if I were reading 
 
Miles Hath a Vision 273 
 
 Miles s prayer, and had no right ; and I lay them 
 aside and looked down the river. And there I saw 
 a canoe coming round the point ; and in its prow 
 was standing Jennifer, waving her handkerchief. 
 And I ran down to the bank, and saw also Colonel 
 Jones, and there seemed to be two Indians ; and I 
 waved my hand to them, and the good Colonel 
 shouted, and they came to the shore ; and there, 
 half laughing and halt crying, Jennifer lept into 
 my arms. 
 
 " Where is Miles Courtenay ? " said she. " Where 
 is Miles ? " And when I told her that he was in 
 the woods already, and would hardly return before 
 dawn, her eyes rilled with tears. " I hope that I 
 have news for him," said she, simply. 
 
 " Is this," said I, " why you have come ? " 
 
 She bowed her head and blushed. <c Colonel 
 Jones will tell you other things," said she. " But 
 you must help me find Mr. Courtenay at once." 
 
 I told her she must rest a while and have supper ; 
 and moreover that there would be no use trying to 
 find Miles until the moon rose, and he ceased wander 
 ing about the forest, but went to work where the 
 clearing was. So she lay down to rest ; and I went 
 to help the Colonel, who was disposing his load of 
 goods about the house. I saw that he seemed 
 graver than usual, but waited for his news until he 
 had had supper. 
 
 " Carew," said he to me, after we had finished, 
 and Jennifer was lying down again, and we sat in the 
 doorway smoking our pipes, and looking out at the 
 meadows, that were gay with darting fireflies, and 
 the sky with quiet stars, " Carew, there be three 
 
274 King Noanett 
 
 things have brought me hither. First, thy partner 
 Simpson is anxious that we should have another try 
 at Pomham s men, and Noanett s silver ; for he 
 saith your truce must now be at an end, or if not, 
 the Indians are moving from the Providence Plan 
 tations to the Merrimack, and we, like other Eng 
 lish, have cause enough to drive all salvages back 
 into the wilderness ; for already have they burned 
 Deerfield and Hadley, and carried many helpless 
 women into captivity. Second, there are rumours 
 that affairs have changed in England ; and the 
 townspeople are all the more embittered for that, 
 and do begin to look askance at me for a royalist ; 
 so I deem it not unwise to retire to my country 
 estate for a while, that I may be forgotten until 
 Charles is comfortably on his throne, or at least we 
 know whether he or Monk or Richard Cromwell is 
 to be king of England. For king there shall be, 
 mark my words ; tis not in the spirit of the Eng 
 lish people to be governed by its rump alone. 
 Third, and last and worst, this damnable spirit of 
 witchcraft has got abroad, and while nobody knows 
 the real witches, the vixens and the Puritans are 
 over ready to accuse churchpeople, and newcomers, 
 and young and pretty women. And I had word 
 from Mr. Josselyn over at Charlestown that danger 
 lay that someone might name our Jenny ; though 
 God knows she hath done no harm, and given no 
 suspicion, save by going to gaol to nurse some of 
 the captive Indians or poor accused persons that 
 were lying ill there." 
 
 At this I sprang to my feet. " Charge our 
 Jenny with witchcraft ? " 
 
Miles Hath a Vision 275 
 
 " Nay, nay, my lad, you may be sure I d not 
 have given her up. But twas just as well for me, 
 a soldier and a magistrate, not to be in conflict with 
 the ceevil authority ; so I e en thought I d bring her 
 out here for the country air, and not wait for the 
 necessity ; the more so, as for some reason of hers, 
 she begged me much to come." 
 
 Just then Jenny appeared, at the door of Miles s 
 room, which we had given up to her. She had a 
 shawl drawn about her ; and looked at me, pleading 
 silently. So I told Jones that I had promised her 
 help to find her brother (for so still we often called 
 him) that night, though not sharing her anxiety 
 about him. Jones hinted that he himself was well 
 placed, his heels on the hearthstone and a pipe to 
 his lips, with no fear of a visit from Master Mather 
 or Justice Sewall, and enjoying the novelty of the 
 feeling. So we left him there alone, and Jenny and 
 I went out, as the moon was rising ; I leading the 
 way through the forest, her white figure gliding 
 silently behind, bearing the answer to Miles s prayer. 
 But when we came to a fork where the path divided, 
 Jennifer had an instinct to turn to the right ; and 
 took the lead. 
 
XXXVII 
 
 In which We Find why Miles Walked Lonely in 
 the Wood 
 
 THREE times are forever fixed within my 
 memory, and that night is the second of 
 them Jennifer leading silently through 
 the woodpath, in her white dress, with a 
 black mantle thrown like a surplice over her shoul 
 ders, and the dim light touching her face. The 
 path was like a narrow aisle in the great hemlocks, 
 and she was like an angel in a lofty church that 
 bore her message unto one that prayed there ; a 
 message (as I then thought) of life to Miles, of 
 death to her who bore it. 
 
 We came to where Miles was used to work ; but 
 his axe stood buried in the block and the clearing was 
 silent, save for the great harsh cries of the nightjars 
 and the whippoorwills. We sat down there, waiting, 
 on a log at the edge of the clearing, and the night 
 grew darker while Jennifer told me her story. 
 
 How she had vowed those three years since, in 
 the Maryland country, that she would find Courte- 
 nay s quest for him (for true love doth always take 
 no thought but for the other s happiness, beyond 
 the point of mere renouncing), and that night when 
 she had the fever she had a vision of a lady with 
 soft, proud eyes, and gracious like a reed, and it 
 
 276 
 
Why Miles Walked Lonely 277 
 
 was the face, she knew, that Courtenay had loved ; 
 and so she had never forgotten it. And since, she 
 had never seen a company of people, in the streets, 
 in the markets, in the church, without looking for 
 that face. And of late, that she had less to do at 
 home (for our friends had learned to make a lady 
 of her, as she well deserved), she had sought to do 
 some kind works, and so had taken to visiting the 
 gaol and reading or praying with the poor people 
 that were lying there. Among others she had seen 
 and comforted poor Deborah Lyle, when she had 
 returned to her death ; and Jenny s eyes glistened 
 as she told me how the poor daft Quakeress had 
 spoken of Miles and his saving her, and of his 
 brave kindness on their long journey through the 
 snow. And many Indians used to be there, too ; 
 for adjoining the gaol was a house whither they 
 used to send people that were sick, especially Ind 
 ians and such as had no friends, and others who 
 had small pox or other dreadful ailments. And 
 of the Indians she would always ask whether they 
 knew of any white lady that was living away off 
 with the tribes or in the forest. And several such 
 she had found, and made quest of, but only in 
 vain ; for they were not like the face she had seen 
 in her dream. 
 
 (Now it was this strange habit of hers, the making 
 meaningless journeys about the country ; or her 
 friendly converse with the prisoners, some of whom 
 already in those times were locked up on charge 
 of witchcraft and awaiting trial ; or still more, her 
 nursing of poor sick Indians without fear, and 
 taking no infection ; that made the people look 
 
278 King Noanett 
 
 askance upon her. Or most of all, as I believe, 
 herself, with her wondrous eyes ; for they did have 
 the strange look of seeing even into heaven ; as, 
 this year, had Courtenay s too ; and a certain lofty 
 sweetness, that made the common people afraid.) 
 
 And so it happened that one day she was tending 
 a poor captive Indian that had been wounded in 
 the wars. And he had told her that far to the 
 West, in the high hills beyond the Deerfield river, 
 they had captured a white man whose name was 
 Clerke and a maiden with him ; but that later 
 through some power of magic they had both 
 escaped, and gone, he believed, to the Westward, 
 and joined their enemies the Mohawks ; for there 
 had been rumours that a mighty Englishman was 
 leading this tribe, and they had never won a battle 
 from them since. And this Clerke, when captured, 
 had been with a party of Bay Indians that had come 
 from Wampanoag ; and they were all tortured to 
 death ; yet would not speak before they died, nor 
 tell the reason of their coming there, nor why they 
 all carried bags containing multitudes of white 
 shining stones. And so they had all died, silent, 
 before the eyes of this Clerke that was with them ; 
 and he had made strange signs and magic move 
 ments over them which had seemed to have some 
 wonderful effect. And all this time the young 
 woman had been weeping, but keeping far away in 
 her tent ; and he, the sick Indian who told Jennifer, 
 had found a squaw to tend her. And the white 
 girl had a totem with her that had magical powers, 
 for she kept kissing it ; and then she had asked 
 him, who spoke a little English, to take it to the 
 
Why Miles Walked Lonely 279 
 
 white man and the dying captives ; and so had he 
 done, and the white man gave it to the Indians that 
 were being burned, and they had kissed it too. 
 
 Then (had said this Indian) they had resolved 
 to keep the man for his great medicine powers, and 
 the young squaw that was with him ; but after some 
 months they had escaped, with his connivance. In 
 that time he had spoken much with her, and had 
 been led to serve her, in what ways he could ; and 
 in return, she had taught him of their God, that 
 was the true God. And it was curious (for they 
 were nothing but Papists) how this Indian had no 
 inkling that their God was not a different God from 
 that worshipped by the Puritans on the Bay ; but 
 it was evident, Jennifer said, that she had made him 
 believe ; though in the years since it had grown 
 half broken in his mind, and all his thought was 
 of finding her once more and completing the lessons 
 she had given him, so that he might teach his tribe. 
 But now, that the Indian knew that he was dying, 
 and would never find her, he gave to Jennifer the 
 " totem " as he called it, which the lady Clerke had 
 given him the night before they went away, in 
 gratitude for his protection and in reminder of his 
 abiding by the new faith. And from that time had 
 he never wavered, nor forgotten. Now this " totem " 
 was an ivory crucifix, very beautifully carved. 
 
 So Jennifer had stayed with this Indian until he 
 died, with a prayer to the Virgin on his lips that she 
 (his saint-lady he called her) had taught him ; while 
 Jennifer had held the crucifix for him to kiss. She 
 took it out and showed it to me, even now, as we 
 sat there, in the dark wood, waiting for Miles. 
 
280 King Noanett 
 
 But Courtenay did not come, and we were restless 
 with waiting. We got up and walked about the clear 
 ing, and as we did so, I noticed, for the first time, a 
 little well-worn path that made off toward a swampy 
 part of the wood where I had never been. I won 
 dered if Miles had made it. We went into it, but 
 so narrow it was that we had to walk in single 
 file. It led (as I knew it must) down to a great 
 pool that lay, in many bays and arms, in the lowest 
 depths of the forest ; but what I did not know was, 
 that in the narrowest part of this morass, whither 
 this path led, was a bridge, made by a huge, dead 
 hemlock trunk, over to a little island that stood in 
 this wood-lake, grown dense as men could stand 
 with cypress and red cedar. Into this island the 
 path led on, after we had crossed the bridge, over 
 netted roots ; and as we stepped on them, the tall 
 cedars, for a rod s distance around us, would quiver 
 with each tread. And I was thinking what a defence 
 this place might be against the Indians, when Jenni 
 fer, who was walking now in front of me, made a low 
 murmur of surprise. 
 
 For in that dense growth of evergreen was an open 
 place some five yards square, cut out clean and even 
 as a little chapel with its walls of stone. The cedar 
 growth about it, with tree-trunks not a foot apart, 
 must have been dense enough to shut out both sight 
 and light by day, and were furthermore thickly 
 wattled to a screen with evergreen boughs. The 
 close coppice grew but some four yards high, to 
 where in a level line the sad trees ceased growing, 
 crowned with gray moss ; so that from above the 
 starlight came down ; and we could see, at the other 
 
Why Miles Walked Lonely 281 
 
 end of that chapel in the wood, a sort of altar and a 
 great white cross, hewn of stripped wood and covered 
 with forest vines ; and before it we saw Miles upon 
 his knees and praying. And we both knew that he 
 was praying for the soul of her he loved and had 
 thought dead. For the Catholicks do pray for souls 
 in either world. 
 
 Jennifer said no word, but went up and placed the 
 ivory crucifix upon the altar, in the centre of the 
 cross of evergreen. I saw her stand there one 
 moment, in front of Miles, her slender body gleam 
 ing in her white dress. Then she came back noise 
 lessly ; and all the while had Miles not moved. 
 
 " Come home," whispered Jennifer to me ; " we 
 may leave him now." 
 
XXXVIII 
 
 In which We do Battle at Meadfield 
 
 WE came softly away ; and as we came to 
 pass over the tree-trunk above the open 
 ing of the pale water, we saw in it a red 
 reflection from the sky to the South. 
 And coming out of the wood, I saw that all the 
 horizon was reddened scarlet as by a forest fire. 
 But it was brighter, sharper light, with less smoke 
 than a June woodland should have given ; and I 
 was half anxious about it even then, before I heard 
 John Berry s voice crying over the wood. 
 
 I answered, " Here am I," and he came running 
 through the path from his house, into the new clear 
 ing, where we had sate to wait for Miles. 
 
 " God help us, Mr. Carew," cried he, " but the 
 Indian devils have fallen upon Meadfield ! " 
 
 " And they are burning it, I see," answered I, 
 calmly, as was my way, to keep authority among the 
 men. " But how did you know ? " 
 
 " A boy that is my wife s brother ran over, crying. 
 O Mr. Carew Polly is like to die, I fear, for her 
 mother and her sisters are over there, and she lieth 
 moaning by our hearthstone, and the baby not yet 
 born ! " 
 
 " Quiet, man," said I ; " I ll go with you to her. 
 Have they called no other aid ? " And I wanted to 
 
 282 
 
We do Battle at Meadfield 283 
 
 fire my gun for Miles, but that I remembered the 
 horror that womankind have of gunpowder, and 
 feared to alarm her in her illness. And Jennifer 
 ran with us. 
 
 " A runner started for Dedham at the first attack ; 
 but he hath sixteen miles to cover, there and back, 
 and no help may be hoped from thence before the 
 morning." As he spoke, we came to his house ; 
 and Jennifer went in to nurse the wife. 
 
 " Tell her that we have gone to Meadfield and 
 will save her sisters, God willing; and that I am 
 about to fire a gun to bring the others, and bid her 
 not be alarmed." So I ran to the clearing by the 
 house, and fired my musket in the air twice, and 
 then the little cannon, hoping it might reach to 
 Meadfield. " And Berry, run thou into the house 
 and get Colonel Jones, and tell him bring his 
 arms. And Woolacote and I will start at once, but 
 stay thou by thy wife and the farm saddle the 
 pony for Colonel Jones, that he may ride and over 
 take us on the trail." 
 
 As we came back by the new clearing, I loaded 
 and fired my musket twice again for Miles to hear, 
 and Woolacote and I started on the way ; for I 
 knew how much even two fresh men might mean, 
 to men that were fighting at bay for their lives. 
 But we had scarce gone two miles before Miles 
 overtook us, running lightly as a deer, his gray eyes 
 gleaming and his face all pale. " Did you hear my 
 shots ? " I asked him. 
 
 "Aye, Moore but twas the blessed Virgin 
 warned me." I looked at him, in dismay for his 
 mind. 
 
284 King Noanett 
 
 " Aye, brother dear have no fear, for it was 
 herself did come to me as I was praying to her, and 
 brought a love-token from my lady in heaven " 
 and Miles took from his breast the ivory crucifix, 
 and I saw that it was Jennifer that he had seen. 
 
 "Moore," said he, "this was my lady s. Twas 
 one I got for her, for hers that she had lost. Now 
 will ye doubt that she is dead?" He kissed it and 
 put it back ; and I did not tell him then that we 
 had brought the crucifix; for we heard now the 
 firing of musketry at Meadfield, and so we ran on, 
 and at the meeting of the ways found a company of 
 the friendly Indians from the Natick village; and 
 Courtenay naturally took command of us all, even 
 to Colonel Jones, who rode up just then loaded 
 with pistols and blunderbusses, but gave way to 
 Miles s greater influence and knowledge of Indian 
 fighting. "I left your man Berry to look after his 
 wife and Jennifer," gasped the good Colonel, with 
 out waiting for the wind to catch up that he had left 
 behind upon his gallop; "if we can t beat the Ind 
 ians without him, we ll try to keep em busy while 
 he gets the womenfolk in safety." 
 
 And after this was nothing said, for we needed 
 our breath for running. 
 
 When we came to the high upland North of the 
 village, we saw that to the Westward all the houses 
 were burning, but at the East end of the town some 
 few were standing still. " Come to the unburned 
 houses," then Miles gave order ; " that is where 
 you ll find the English, if there be any left to fight." 
 
 So we circled around, crossing the marshy meadow, 
 until we struck the Hartford trail where it came in 
 
We do Battle at Meadfield 285 
 
 from Dedham ; and it proved that Miles was right, 
 for we heard shots, and saw them firing from the 
 windows of their houses, as we ran up behind them. 
 And when we came to the wider road, that was laid 
 out straight through the little village, we saw at once 
 the whole dreadful sight. For all down this street, 
 for nearly a mile that we could see, burned the 
 houses ; those that were farthest West already em 
 bers, those near us still in flames ; while from the 
 windows of the little house there was nearest us of 
 all (which still stands there, and you may see it any 
 day, with its narrow gables and single high-pitched 
 roof, the only one not destroyed by the Indians in 
 all the town of Meadfield) we saw the frightened 
 faces of women and children, looking Eastward for 
 the hoped-for help. Then we knew that the attack 
 had come from the West, and was from the young 
 chief Metacom or Philip (he that had made the 
 speech about the button on Eliot s coat) and not by 
 Noanett s people ; for we had heard that he had 
 been making a great fortification by the river West, 
 over toward what you now call Sherborn. 
 
 The street was empty of white men, save for 
 the dead bodies that lay across it ; we might have 
 thought them all killed, only now and then we 
 heard scattered shots, that came from that nearest 
 house. But down the road a furlong in front, in 
 the crimson light that the fires made, we saw the 
 throng of dancing, scalping savages. 
 
 Then said Miles to the Colonel, " You must give 
 me your horse let me lead ; and do you form 
 regular like soldiers, and we ll charge and clear the 
 street." 
 
286 King Noanett 
 
 " Nay, Captain Courtenay," answered he, " twere 
 madness to expose a handful in close order against 
 all that band. We must seek to join them in the 
 houses. Moreover, our Indians will not fight so 
 in the open, as you know if indeed these praying 
 Indians will fight at all." 
 
 "Not so," said Miles; "we cannot hope to beat 
 the others if they fight ; our only chance is to make 
 them run away ; to make Philip s people think that 
 we are the Dedham trained band arrived, trained 
 soldiers, the vanguard of an enemy superior to them. 
 But I am in command," he cried, breaking off; "let 
 who will follow me ! " And he threw himself upon 
 the horse and charged with a shout down the street. 
 
 " Forward in line double-quick charge ! " 
 cried Jones ; and we six white men (counting Isaac 
 Chenery who had warned us and Nehoiden and the 
 other Natick scout) followed running ; I fear me 
 the Natick Indians scattered to right and left, 
 behind the houses, whence they afterward did much 
 murdering. We saw Courtenay gallop into the 
 foremost crowd of Indians, firing two of Jones s 
 blunderbusses far and wide ; and then his sabre 
 gleam above their feathers ; and we fired one vol 
 ley at command of halt; and then charged again, as 
 they turned to run. And then our Natick allies 
 must have begun to shoot, for there was firing from 
 round about, though our own guns were empty ; 
 and the Meadfield men, thinking that we were 
 indeed the trained band from Dedham, came out 
 and joined us. And so we cleared the village of 
 the cowardly heathens and saved the lives of the 
 Meadfield people that were left, a score of men and 
 
We do Battle at Meadfield 287 
 
 almost all the women and children. But all the 
 town save that one house was burned. 
 
 Courtenay did not rest, but started with me to go 
 about among the smoking ruins and succour such of 
 the wounded as remained alive. But alas ! all that 
 had not been overlooked or lost by those devils 
 were scalped, and dying if they were not already 
 dead ; and I was glad for poor John s sake to find 
 his wife s people safe in that house among the other 
 women. And many of the village, they said, had 
 taken to the forest at the first alarm. These only 
 dared come back to the burned settlement when 
 they saw the Dedham soldiers come along the road, 
 which they did about an hour before the dawn. 
 
 Then we learned from the Meadfield men, how, 
 on the day before (which was a Sunday) the Indians 
 had been seen to the South, on Noon Hill so 
 called because from the village the sun lay always 
 over it at midday and on Mount Nebo, as the 
 people were coming out of meeting. Little then 
 had been thought of it, because it was known that 
 Philip had been erecting that great palisade at the 
 place called Bogastow pond, to the West of the 
 river, a stronghold surrounded by swamps and only 
 to be approached up a little stream by one canoe at 
 a time. But, on the Monday, at dawn, two broth 
 ers, Jonathan and Eleazar Wood of Sherborn, living 
 over on the river at the place still called Death s 
 Bridge, were sent to fetch a pair of oxen ; they 
 entered the barn where the beasts were kept at 
 daybreak, and heard a noise which they mistook for 
 that of swine, and so let out the cattle ; and while 
 in the act of yoking them they were assailed by 
 
King Noanett 
 
 a party of Indians, who rushed from out the barn 
 and knocked them on the head with tomahawks ; 
 so but one survived long enough to tell the tale. 
 
 Now at Meadfield a constant watch for Indians 
 had been kept ; and the signal to seek refuge in the 
 stone garrison house and stockade was a continuous 
 beat of drum, or a beacon fire, and three shots ; and 
 there was forty shillings fine for the firing any other 
 gun after watchset. But Jonathan Wood had fired 
 one shot ; which hearing, the Indians began the 
 attack upon the town. And Samuel Morse told us 
 that he had first seen an Indian hidden in the hay 
 when he went out to feed ; he had then turned out 
 the cattle, pretending not to see him, told his family, 
 and all had fled to the garrison ; the fire breaking 
 out in their house even as they ran. 
 
 Among the killed of that attack were John Fus- 
 sell, nearly one hundred years old, burned in his own 
 house ; Mary Thurston, a little girl of seven ; Eliza 
 Smith, killed while flying to the fort with an infant 
 child who was left for dead, but recovered. The 
 great gun was fired, as a signal to Dedham ; but 
 Isaac Chenery, who had warned us, had seen the 
 Indians lurking about the belt of woodland near by, 
 so took his wife and children and hid them in the 
 hollow of a great rock ; and then came on to us 
 through the woodland, not daring to cross the open 
 to the town. 
 
 And now at dawn, the Indians retreated across 
 the bridge on Stop River, which they burned ; and 
 upon Noon Hill, in full view of us all and the 
 smoking ruins of the town, they did roast an ox 
 and hold a savage revel by those great swamp horn- 
 
We do Battle at Meadfield 289 
 
 beams you still know as the King Philip trees ; and 
 there we could even se Philip himself, riding his 
 black horse exultantly and leaping him to and fro 
 over the fences. 
 
 Then we took counsel what to do. For it was 
 clear that an Indian war had begun, and no farm 
 nor outlying settlement would be safe from that 
 time on ; and we lay between two strongholds of 
 the Indians. Most of the Dedham company were 
 for following them now to Philip s fortress behind 
 the Charles ; but Miles opposed it, for we could not 
 know they had gone back there ; nor could we cross 
 the wide Stop River marshes beneath their fire from 
 Noon Hill ; and Miles also reminded them of 
 Noanett s nest in the hills behind us ; they might 
 turn and go thither ; at all events, while it remained, 
 there was no safety for our farm, where were Berry 
 and his wife and Jennifer, nor hardly, in our ab 
 sence, for Dedham ; though it might be hoped that 
 this place, with its palisades and swamp land sur 
 rounding, might be strong enough to fight and 
 hold them off with only the old men and boys 
 that remained in it. 
 
 So it was finally agreed that the women and chil 
 dren should be taken to our farm and thence sent 
 down by river to Dedham in canoes. Many of 
 them were too weak or ill to walk over the eight 
 miles of rough trail that intervened, to say nothing 
 of an ambush from the Indians on either side ; and 
 the men, after they had rested and got new supplies, 
 were to march on to the attack of Philip s fort at 
 Bogastow ; leaving us, with the Natick men, to deal 
 with Noanett. 
 
290 King Noanett 
 
 So we marched back, through the meadow you 
 now know so sunny and peaceful, the women all in 
 front, and Miles and I with loaded muskets bring 
 ing up the rear. And though he had fought that 
 night in a mien that had put me in mind of the 
 avenging angel of whom scripture tells (yet neither 
 of us had received a scratch), I now saw that he 
 looked pale and walked heavily ; and his eyes were 
 dull, as of one who is weary with the look of this 
 world. Then I remembered what he had said as 
 we marched to the attack. And as we got into the 
 kinder forest close by home, we fell behind, and I 
 told him, that warm summer morning, every word 
 of Jennifer s story. When I had done, he gave a 
 great sigh ; and I saw the colour in his face once 
 more. Then he took out the little crucifix and 
 crossed himself. 
 
 "Moore," he said, "this Cross that Jennifer (God 
 bless her, as I took her for the blessed Virgin her 
 self!) that our Jennifer hath found and brought 
 to me, belonged to my dear lady. And she it was, 
 I know, that brought the poor savage s soul to God." 
 
 "With His aid we shall find her, then," said I. 
 And as he kissed the little crucifix she had so sent 
 to him, I had to think of my own love in England, 
 and of my ship that was to sail now only three days 
 away. Then we came by the path that led by Miles s 
 little chapel; and I saw him give one glance toward 
 it ; and he was walking now as I had not seen him 
 walk since we first had landed, for our long searching, 
 in Virginia. "Will you go at once?" I said. 
 
 I saw there was a struggle too in his mind ; for 
 he answered not at first. 
 
We do Battle at Meadfield 291 
 
 " If she is in the West, even with the Mohawks, 
 they are enemies of our Indians, being Iroquois. 
 But this war that Philip hath commenced will spread 
 through all the land. Aye we must lose no time." 
 
 I was silent. It was hard to leave him now to 
 seek her out alone; and it was hard to lose, perhaps 
 for many months, my voyage to England; for it 
 seemed my heart could hear the voice of my own 
 lady, calling me there. 
 
 " Nay," said Miles at last, as if answering a thought 
 like my own, "we cannot leave these poor people 
 here in all the danger poor Berry may not leave 
 his wife ; and Jenny, if I know her, will not leave her. 
 God is there, and here," he said. "We ll not go 
 before we can leave them all in safety, and the blessed 
 Virgin, that hath found her for me, will see no harm 
 comes to her, in these few days." And Miles bared 
 his head ; and looked longingly toward the golden 
 West, which lay already in the flush of sunset, like 
 some dreamland for a knight to ride into. 
 
 Then was my own mind made up. "And I ll 
 stay and go with you," I said. And from this 
 simple doing of our duty came both our happinesses, 
 as you shall see, though in such different ways. 
 
XXXIX 
 
 In which Jennifer doth Find Miles s Love 
 
 THEN we hurried on to the head of the 
 little column ; and Jennifer met us on the 
 doorstep. "God bless you, Jennifer," said 
 Miles ; and he bent and kissed her ; and 
 then she knew that he knew. But she only turned 
 a little pale; and then spoke to me. 
 
 "What is this?" she said. "I found it at the 
 house door when I came back in the night." 
 
 It was a snakeskin, stuffed with powder and ball ; 
 and about it was twisted a paper, on which was writ 
 ten, in fair English script, " FROM POMHAM." 
 
 "Faith," said Miles, smiling merrily, and it was 
 good to see him smile again, "he hath broken his 
 truce at last, and sent word like a gentleman, to let 
 us know." And he looked again at the writing, 
 closely. 
 
 " Who do you suppose could have done the writing 
 for them ? " said I. But Courtenay did not seem 
 to hear. And in that afternoon came a company 
 from the Plymouth colony that had followed a war 
 party of Indians up through the great swamps by 
 Rehoboth and the source of the Neponset water, 
 and thence, seeing the smoke of Meadfield, had 
 crossed over the hills to the Charles valley ; and so 
 to us, and much surprised to find a farm there. 
 
 292 
 
Jennifer doth Find Miles s Love 293 
 
 They reported that the forest was alive with Indian 
 runners, and the band they had been following had 
 surely come to join Philip s muster at the great 
 Bogastow fort. 
 
 " We may expect an attack to-night," cried Colonel 
 Jones. "We may expect Pomham s snakeskin to 
 mean as much as that." 
 
 "Unless," suggested Miles, "it meant the attack 
 on Meadfield, and was a warning to us, neighbourly- 
 fashion, to get out of the way." 
 
 But the Dedham men were all the keener to attack 
 the great fort at once, before more tribes could get 
 there ; though indeed they offered to leave a dozen 
 men with us ; but this we did not care to ask for. 
 At this the good Colonel sulked a bit, and said some 
 thing of our damned independence; but was recon 
 ciled when, at nightfall, Master Simpson and young 
 John Jones arrived from Boston, whither news of 
 the intended war was at last believed, he being anxious 
 about us and bringing along two servants with horses 
 for our escape. Thus we had four more men ; and 
 Miles and I consulted whether we should send Jen 
 nifer and the women back to the town ; but resolved 
 not to, partly that the country was not safe, even 
 between Natick and town, with all the bands of 
 savages flocking from North and South and West 
 to join King Philip s army, partly that little Jenny 
 was most determined not to go. And a dozen men 
 were as many as our house could comfortably hold, 
 and might defend the stockade as well as fifty against 
 the little band that Pomham was likely to bring 
 against us. 
 
 And there we found that the few Meadfield men 
 
294 King Noanett 
 
 surviving were in such terror that they dared not 
 even take their womenfolk down the river, as they 
 would have to pass by Noanett s valley, but pre 
 ferred to stay with us and fight ; so this brought 
 our number up to rising twenty. It was just dark 
 when the train-bands from Dedham left, meaning to 
 march up the valley of the Charles and invest the 
 fort at Bogastow by dawn ; and we passed the night 
 in setting pails of water at handy places about the 
 house and stockade ; for fire from their flaming 
 arrows was what we most feared ; and we brought 
 out the little cannon that had done such service 
 once before against Noanett s men, and set it to 
 face the main gateway. And sure enough, that 
 night the attack was made, soon after the moon set. 
 But they were not prepared to find us in any such 
 force, thinking, doubtless, that but Miles and I and 
 our household remained, for their scouts of course 
 had told them of the marching of the train-band ; 
 and, after surrounding the clearing and shooting 
 harmlessly from the woods, they dared make but 
 one attack in the open. And then we met them 
 with such a mess of iron stuff from the little can 
 non and such a volley from our twenty guns that 
 they vanished in the forest, and thereafter we heard 
 nothing more of them. Both Miles and I had 
 made out Pomham ; but Noanett I did not see ; 
 Miles had never seen him ; but I fancied I should 
 know him from his long white hair. 
 
 Now there is no time when a man is so anxious 
 for a fight as just after the enemy have run away ; 
 he is like a hunter that has had a shot and missed 
 his bird ; and so we found, when the Colonel and 
 
Jennifer doth Find Miles s Love 295 
 
 Simpson came to hold council with us, that they 
 were keen to follow it up by attacking their strong 
 hold again in the morning ; the two townsmen may 
 have been still thinking of the silver slugs, but 
 Miles and I were still fighting mad from Meadfield 
 at least I was. Miles was in a joyous mood, or 
 led by some impulse, to go on. And, lest any 
 should escape, it was planned that Miles and I, with 
 our own men, should take the canoes, with the little 
 cannon in the bow of Miles s oaken dugout (which 
 my gibes had got him to induce the Natick men 
 to finish) up Noanett s stream ; while Jones and 
 Simpson (who had no stomach for further floods 
 unchained by the white witch) led the others, with 
 Woolacote to guide them, through the trail there 
 which lay over the rocky hills to the West of the 
 valley. Four men we left to guard the farm with 
 Berry ; though it was hardly to be feared they would 
 attack it again that morning after the beating we had 
 given them in the night. 
 
 So our party started, the three canoes taking the 
 lead by an hour, about the time it would take us in 
 them to reach Noanett s stream, that the two forces 
 might reach the heart of the valley at the same 
 time, or as near as might be ; and we urged Master 
 Simpson till the last to stay behind, for he was 
 getting an old man, and his wide son was there to 
 be shot at. But he would not hear of it ; whether 
 the Colonel had put him in a fighting humour (for 
 Jones was full of fight as any younger Welshman 
 when he once smelt powder), or more likely that 
 both were sniffing on the scent of Noanett s silver 
 mine. 
 
296 King Noanett 
 
 As Miles and I drifted down side by side, he 
 drew his lighter craft to mine. " Moore/ said he, 
 " you must let me be captain of this sally will 
 you not ? " 
 
 " Surely," I answered, laughing, " Major Courte- 
 nay " thinking of the old times in Virginia. 
 
 " Then I want you to let me take this light 
 canoe, and only one man, that can swim well, and 
 we to go ahead ; and you to wait with the artillery ; 
 and not follow on up the valley until you hear a 
 shot from me ; but stay behind in the alder 
 swamp." 
 
 " Do you fear the white witch ? " said I, de 
 murring ; for it seemed we had too often been in 
 danger side by side for me to stay behind him now. 
 
 " No," said he, " but I fear some crafty man s 
 contrivance and when we so have drawn his fire 
 you can come up upon em with their outworks 
 empty." 
 
 I had an inkling what he meant ; and agreed, 
 seeing there was not much real danger, perhaps, in 
 what Miles proposed. And so, when we turned 
 into that steep valley, it was dim yet with the night 
 mist, and the sun not yet over the Eastern crag; and 
 with a whispered word to the men we turned aside 
 with the other large canoe into the recesses of the 
 alders, while Miles paddled on in the open. And 
 sure enough, only a few minutes after his canoe had 
 disappeared, we heard the roaring of loosened water; 
 and in a few seconds more came the brown flood, as 
 I had expected, here spread outward into the wide 
 alder swamp, so that it now but gently raised our 
 canoes amid the trees. And then, his canoe floating 
 
Jennifer doth Find Miles s Love 297 
 
 down stream, bottom up, himself and Nehoiden 
 swimming unharmed beside it. 
 
 o 
 
 Then we righted it, and divided our men equally 
 between all the boats once more ; and started all 
 of us up the stream, now rapidly subsiding. And 
 as we passed beyond the place where we had met 
 the flood before, we saw that the walls of the stream 
 were here laid artificially of great squared stones. 
 And in a few moments more we came to a great 
 dam of unmortared masonry, running straight across 
 the valley from hill to hill ; and behind it lay the 
 oozy bed of an emptied pond ; and meandering 
 through this was the deeper natural bed of the 
 stream. 
 
 " Does that look like Indian handiwork ? " called 
 out Miles to me, pointing ; and I saw that the dam 
 itself had been a movable timber gateway, which 
 had been drawn up and so let the whole little lake 
 go out in a sudden flood. " Faith, a very pretty 
 idea of water defences hath your Noanett," laughed 
 Miles, " for a man that hath been bred inland and 
 speaks no English. Are you sure that he be indeed 
 a savage, or doth it merely suit him to appear one?" 
 
 " He spoke no English," I began ; but even as I 
 said it, I remembered that one word which he had 
 seemed to understand and had been quick to answer 
 the sentence before Pomham had interpreted it to 
 him. " He certainly was painted," said I. 
 
 " That he learned, maybe, from the Court ladies. 
 I only hope he hath no other lake to drown us 
 with." 
 
 I looked up the valley in apprehension ; and as 
 we came up to where the stream entered the pond, 
 
King Noanett 
 
 we saw it was there too an artificial sluiceway run 
 ning between stone walls. And while we hesitated 
 whether to venture in it with our boats (for we saw, 
 scarce two hundred yards farther up, another great 
 embankment of round stones and gravel blocking 
 the narrow glen) upon the top of this came out 
 Colonel Jones and Simpson and all the others of 
 their party, and waved their caps at us with a mighty 
 shouting. 
 
 "Divil take him," grunted Miles, "old Noanett 
 has got away ; sure they never had taken him with 
 out a shot." But we paddled up without apprehen 
 sion ; and there found another huge dam making a 
 second little tarn up in those hills. And beyond 
 this, we could see, was even one more ; and we 
 marvelled that this Noanett had had the skill, or 
 his Indians the industry, to lay these great stone 
 dikes across the valley. 
 
 His camp lay at the neck of land that divided 
 these last two ponds, the houses, or wigwams, run 
 ning across the dam and up the hill on either side ; 
 but at the left there is a beautiful grassy slope, lead 
 ing down from the Eastward crag ; and here, with a 
 garden and even an orchard of English apple-trees, 
 was a house of mortared stone ; and this, it was 
 plain to see, had been the chief s. And about its 
 doorway grew a side of yellow English roses ; and 
 standing on the threshold I looked backward and 
 saw a prospect that was marvellous fair. For here 
 the three little lakes lay at my feet, the lowest one 
 now but a bed of bright greens and watercresses ; 
 and through the narrow glen I could trace the 
 stream that is still called Noanett s, winding down 
 
Jennifer doth Find Miles s Love 299 
 
 to join the Charles, where it lay hidden in the forest. 
 And far beyond this the country rose in wooded 
 waves to break in chain after chain of purple hills, 
 until they culminated in the round filmy domes of 
 the mountains in the Hampshire province. While, 
 to the South, the glen grew wilder until it vanished 
 in a maze of upland moss and moor and broken 
 crag. And in all this country not one sign of set 
 tlement could then be seen save only the Indian 
 village at Natick, and far to the Northwest a little 
 scratch in the forest that Nehoiden told me was the 
 street of Billericay. 
 
 Now, while I was looking at all this, came my 
 partner Simpson and tapped my arm. " Look 
 hither," said he; " for this is more than mere foolery 
 of war." Miles and I followed him; and we came 
 to a long, low wooden shed, the only other in the 
 glen that was more than wigwam ; and here was 
 Colonel Jones standing, looking at a run of stones 
 inside it ; and beside it was a little flume and an 
 undershot wheel. 
 
 "A mill," said I. 
 
 "Aye," said he, "but not for flour where 
 should he find more corn in this wilderness than 
 the Indian women can fill their pestles with ? This 
 he used for crushing ore. And now come hither." 
 
 We went by the upper pond through a dense 
 thicket that I recognized as being near the place 
 where I had fallen through the ground that day 
 when I had come through the valley unawares ; and 
 here, by the stream, hidden in the dense wood that 
 would hold the smoke down in the glen and scatter it 
 but slowly, we found a large oven like a lime-furnace. 
 
300 King Noanett 
 
 " Now you can see where his silver bullets came 
 from," said Jones. "Here was his smelting-pot 
 and now, where did he keep his ingots ? though I 
 fear me well he hath left none for honest Christians 
 who would make a proper use of them." A notion 
 came to me, and I led them back up the wood-path, 
 near the place where I had fallen. And here, to be 
 sure, we found a sort of cellar, that had evidently 
 been covered with leaves and earth upon a lid of 
 thatched boughs ; for this lid lay thrown backward 
 on the ground beside it. But the cellar was quite 
 empty ; not so much as a silver button could Jones 
 or Simpson find ; though some piles of iron ore, 
 rough crushed or melted into slag, were still there 
 to remind me on what hard things I had fallen ; and 
 I wondered not my senses had left me and my 
 shoulder been left ready for a sling. 
 
 Jones and Simpson could hardly bring themselves 
 to believe that all had been removed, however ; he 
 must have had other treasures, they thought ; and 
 how could Noanett and his people have escaped, 
 with both the hill path and the glen way occupied 
 by us ? For surely they never could have gone out 
 towards the town of Meadfield or the Hartford trail 
 which was now patrolled by scouts both day and 
 night. 
 
 But Miles and I grew weary of waiting ; and 
 while old Simpson was delving in the watercourse 
 and rummaging the empty wigwams, we walked up 
 to the Eastern hilltop, which we found to be even 
 higher than that across the valley, though less pre 
 cipitous. And here as we sat, one thought in both 
 our minds, we started at a gunshot, and then another 
 
Jennifer doth Find Miles s Love 301 
 
 and another ; and we saw the puffs of smoke rise 
 from the clearing of our farm, which lay almost at 
 our feet. 
 
 We sprang down the mountain, and telling the 
 others that the signal came from home, Miles joined 
 them to go back over the mountain, while I made 
 haste to get homeward with the boats. But haste 
 as I might, Miles got there before me ; and he met 
 us with the news that a runner had come from the 
 soldiers that had left that night for the great fort, 
 and told how they had been beaten off after more 
 than one attack, and were now in full retreat, and 
 feared that Philip might be bold enough to follow 
 them. 
 
 But this was not all that Miles had to tell me. 
 For, leading me apart to a place near by in the woods, 
 I found Jennifer sitting there. "Tell Moore how 
 Pomham escaped, and what you saw," said he. 
 
 Jennifer was very pale. 
 
 " You had been gone perhaps two hours," said 
 she, " when a row of large canoes came up the river. 
 We feared an attack and barred the gates. But they 
 tarried not, and I counted seven canoes as they passed. 
 In the last sat the Indian that appeared to be the 
 chief. And the canoes were all loaded with many 
 goods, and the Indians had guns. But in the one 
 before the last was an old Indian with white hair; 
 and with him sat an English lady that appeared to 
 be his captive ; for she was weeping bitterly ; and I 
 ran out through the wood by the water side to see 
 them pass. And as I came out by the river, she 
 saw me ; and her eyes met mine. . . ." Jennifer 
 paused a moment ; I was looking at Miles ; but as 
 
302 King Noanett 
 
 I turned to her, she went on. " And she was the 
 lady I saw in my dream, that gave the crucifix to 
 the Indian, that belongs to Mr. Courtenay." 
 
 Jennifer s voice had died into a whisper ; and I 
 looked at Miles s radiant face. " What do you 
 think ? " 
 
 All faith lay in his eyes. " I believe in the vision 
 Jennifer hath seen, as I do in the visions of Holy 
 Writ." 
 
 " O Moore," said Jenny then to me, " I know, I 
 know ; pray doubt me not ; for I have found her at 
 last, as my heart hath led me to her." And I looked; 
 and doubted not the sight that lay within her eyes. 
 
XL 
 
 In which I Find Her 
 
 ALL that morning the men of the attacking 
 force came in, by squads of twos and threes. 
 They did this, partly in the habit of Indian 
 warfare, and partly that they thought Philip 
 less likely to follow them so, than if they had retreated 
 in a body; and they had rendezvous at our farm. 
 For they were not beaten, as they said, but only 
 beaten off; and the notion liked them not of running 
 back at once to their own homes. Moreover, they 
 had some thought of seeing how our attack on Noan- 
 ett had fared ; and helping us, if we had not been 
 successful, and thus making up in part for their own 
 misfortune. 
 
 By the middle of that afternoon all had come ; 
 and the latest comers brought word that Philip had 
 shown no disposition to follow them, but was lying 
 in his fortress of turf, betwixt mere and river, and 
 savages still flocking to him from all directions. 
 Then Miles Courtenay stood up and told them how 
 Noanett and Pomham had escaped us ; and how he 
 purposed following up the stream at once, and 
 attacking them that evening or early on the follow 
 ing day ; and he called for volunteers. 
 
 He said nothing of his reasons for resolving this ; 
 so I stood up after him and made a little speech, and 
 
 33 
 
304 King Noanett 
 
 told them how Noanett had gone by river, and it 
 was nigh thirty miles of river to Philip s fort ; and 
 King Noanett, who doubtless knew that Philip had 
 been victorious (for their runners far exceeded ours), 
 would not hasten thither, but rather camp that night 
 as soon as they had got the Natick village well be 
 hind them ; so on the next day I promised to lead 
 them, and we should soon overtake them. And I 
 told them naught of the lady that was captive with 
 them, only hinted of the silver ingots ; but I well 
 knew, if Noanett once led her into Philip s stronghold, 
 only the issue of the war could give her back to us. 
 And Miles looked at me when I had done, with a 
 light in his dark eyes which will always gladden my 
 heart, remembering it. For on that next day, as he 
 knew, did my own ship sail for England. 
 
 But the settlers, that were still half frightened and 
 half sullen at the rough handling they had received, 
 hung back still. Indeed, it seemed strange tactics to 
 divert a portion of a retreating army to attack the rear 
 guard of a victorious enemy on its way to a junction. 
 But then the Colonel (who knew how strangely our 
 upper river winds about the country, from surveys 
 that he had made in exploring for his grant, and who 
 could not bear that Noanett should get away with 
 all his silver slugs) stood up, and said the young man 
 was right; and it would almost make up for their 
 repulse at the fort, if they could thus cut off two 
 chiefs with a considerable force, and one of them 
 known to be that great wizard Noanett, who lay 
 behind this rising against the colonists, and in whom 
 all the sachems put more faith than in their youth 
 ful king, whose arm was yet untried. 
 
T Find Her 305 
 
 " Remember Meadfield, still smouldering," he 
 cried. " And if you have doubt of your leadership 
 (though Major Courtenay hath well approved him 
 self, to my knowledge, in the Virginia wars), you 
 have here also one that holds commission from the 
 King God bless him Charles the Second, King 
 of Great Britain and Ireland, and proclaimed but five 
 weeks since at Whitehall ! " 
 
 Now this was the first that we had heard of the 
 end of the Commonwealth ; and the news, though 
 little grateful to us men of Massachusetts, I could 
 see did set them thinking, both of Colonel Jones s 
 authority and of the policy of righting themselves 
 their own affairs and giving no handle for despatch 
 of troops from England. So Major Lusher first, 
 and most of the other officers, and all the younger 
 men that had no wives and of all them that had 
 their houses burned and women or children taken 
 or killed in the sack of Meadfield, came over and 
 stood by Miles or me, until we had two score, or 
 more than our canoes would hold ; and then Colonel 
 Jones, seeing how they put their trust most natu 
 rally in Courtenay (as all men did that I had ever 
 met), gracefully made over the command to him. 
 
 Then Miles gave his orders, quietly, but in tones 
 that brooked not delay ; taking the first canoe him 
 self, he placed me in the second with the little 
 cannon ; Major Lusher and the Dedham men took 
 the third and fourth ; and Colonel Jones, with Mas 
 ter Simpson, who refused to stay behind, brought 
 up the rear. And it was agreed that Jennifer, with 
 the women that had fled from Meadfield, was to go 
 with the others down to Dedham, leaving our house 
 
306 King Noanett 
 
 empty ; for nothing now lay between it and the 
 Indian army. 
 
 But then Jennifer came to me apart, and implored 
 she might go with us. She would stay in our camp, 
 she said, or by the canoes while our attack was 
 going on ; but something bade her come, that she 
 might not leave her work unfinished ; to be with 
 her whom Courtenay loved when he had rescued 
 her. And I was about to say her nay, when I saw 
 within her eyes ; and I withstood her wish no more, 
 but went and told Miles that she must come. " For 
 surely," said she, " I may go where the English 
 lady goes." So I put her in the canoe with me. 
 
 The others came down to the river bank and 
 cheered us as we left for this last battle. The 
 summer birds and flowers gladdened the river ; and 
 again the golden West lay in front for us to voyage 
 into. The light of it fell full on Courtenay s face, 
 as I brought my bark beside his ; and I looked in 
 it and was glad to see the shadow of the other world 
 had left it now. 
 
 " God bless thee, Moore," said he, " and when I 
 have saved her now once more, we shall go home 
 to England with thee. For I have tried thee, and 
 I know thy lady would be true to thee." And 
 then I felt that my love for this man was almost 
 like my love for her, and both I knew not how to 
 better. But I made no answer ; and so we went up 
 the quiet river side by side. 
 
 We made quick work of the carry at the Indian 
 village ; and beyond the river lay through meadow 
 and the virgin forest ; in the tender grasses were 
 countless hosts of little blue and star-shaped flowers, 
 
I Find Her 307 
 
 and before us rose one great green hill that was 
 curved even like the downs on Exmoor and had the 
 beauty of a woman s breast. And I remembered 
 the boyish tears that I had wept, and left there in 
 the dell of Combe-Park water, now five years 
 agone. 
 
 Then the woods closed up about us, and we 
 progressed warily, not knowing what we might find 
 beyond each bend. But now the water widened, 
 still amid green fields beyond which rose new hills ; 
 and ahead of us there was a rocky range, so that 
 we had to wonder how the river ever came through 
 it; but the way led straight up to this, and beneath 
 a bold rocky bluff; till suddenly, as we looked, we 
 saw the river sweeping round the crag and there 
 was a rift in the hill through which the stream came, 
 swirling between two rocks. And from the crest of 
 the nearest one curled the smoke of an Indian fire. 
 
 But that they had no thought of our coming, 
 they had surely seen us ; as it was, Miles waved 
 his hand, and we all dropped noiselessly back in the 
 swift current, to where there was a hemlock shadow 
 on the Western shore. And there we landed in 
 dense woods; and Miles disposed his outposts to 
 be ready for an attack in the morning, only bade 
 us build no fire. And while he was busied in giving 
 orders, I slipped away. 
 
 The sunlight still lay in the lofty places, though 
 in the valleys and the thickets it was night ; and I 
 entered in some deep fir woods with design to come 
 in this cover to the top, whence I might look down 
 on Noanett s encampment. And first, from a clear 
 ing, I saw the country far to the North of us and 
 
308 King Noanett 
 
 already, in the dusty blue, a star ; and then I came 
 out higher still on a mossy rock that topped the 
 ridge through which the river broke ; and here, to 
 the South, I saw many miles of meadow, across 
 which the upper river lay winding, like a silver 
 ribbon, in the twilight ; for this lay Eastward of 
 that mountain, and was night, as the country to the 
 West was still the day, so that even, some miles 
 distant, as the level sunbeams struck its walls, I 
 made out the square of Philip s earthwork fort, in 
 a strong place that lay amid swamps between the 
 river and a lake. Then I followed the ridge down 
 ward until I came to the great crag that we had 
 seen just over the river ; and thence, lying down 
 and peering over, I could look through all Noanett s 
 camp which lay upon a grassy shelf scarce an hun 
 dred feet below me. Noanett s camp it was ; for 
 there I saw the white-haired chief alone, looking 
 down the river reach up which our troop had come. 
 And as I was intently looking, wondering that I 
 seemed to know his face, he went into a tent that 
 stood near by, and I heard a woman s voice, it 
 seemed, in supplication ; and suddenly my heart 
 stood still. This was like a white man s tent, and 
 the only one there was ; for the other Indians lay 
 about their fires with no such shelter. And then, 
 in a moment more, the voices ceased, and a slender 
 maiden came out of the tent alone ; and as she 
 stood erect, to look over the dim lower meadows, 
 the afterlight that was left from that Western glory 
 streamed full upon her face, half turned to me ; and 
 it was the face of her I loved and shall love always 
 till I die. 
 
I Find Her 309 
 
 Again her face was outlined to me in the twilight, 
 pale and brave and pure as I had seen it last that 
 day in Devon ; and her eyes I could see, that were 
 still as I had seen them in my dreams ; in the brown 
 air of evening she stood there, by the grace of God 
 my lady, and I thus by His mercy led to her. And 
 as I looked at her, I knew that I had never doubted 
 her ; yet was she a woman now, that I had known a 
 girl, and our two souls had grown on lives apart. 
 One moment I stood, ready to drop down the cliff 
 to her feet ; then I bethought me that I had yet to 
 save her, and I held me fast to the rock ; just as the 
 Indians clustered about her, and one of them, that 
 I could see was Pomham, led her back to the tent. 
 Then I hid me in the woods to think. For alas ! 
 and shame for me ! my head is ever slow. 
 
 But through all my frame my heart sent my life- 
 blood bounding ; and I waited till my brain came 
 cool and clear. Then I saw that it was not enough 
 to attack and defeat ; we must take them all captive ; 
 and take them quickly, ere harm had come to her. 
 And, to do this, both reaches of the river must be 
 guarded, and the camp commanded from above ; and 
 we must wait until the Indians slept deepest, before 
 the dawn. Luckily, they had no knowledge we 
 were there. 
 
 And then, when I had so made my mortal plan 
 (not thinking of that higher plan that had been 
 made so strangely to bring us together) my heart 
 would have its way again ; and I wandered, whither 
 I knew not, but far off in the silent woods that w 7 ere 
 to me in the dead night as some bright bower of 
 singing birds. And only when it came to my mind 
 
jio King Noanett 
 
 that it was midnight did I turn my steps again 
 toward our camp ; and then first, alas ! came over 
 me the thought of Miles. So she that we had 
 found was not her he sought. And I am glad to 
 remember that, even then, in my great happiness, 
 my heart was grieved for him. 
 
 But surely, as he had vowed for me, so I and he 
 would join and find his lady yet, though all this 
 Western world were searched again. And I was 
 sorry for Jennifer, even in her second-sight at fault, 
 who loved Miles so. And while I thus planned, I 
 stopped and listened ; for I heard a distant singing 
 in the wood. The tune I had heard last in Devon 
 shire ; and surely, I knew the words ? 
 
 " Her whom ye love 
 
 For him ye shall leave. 
 He is thy King, though Queen she may never be ; 
 
 Now ye may prove 
 
 How both ye do love, 
 Living so gallantly, dying so lovingly " 
 
XLI 
 
 In which my Lady Keeps her Promise 
 
 WELL I knew that old song of the Cava 
 liers, Lillibullero, to which tune others 
 wrote less tender words, though the mel 
 ody be so sad and gentle ; but never had 
 I heard Miles sing it before. For Miles it was ; 
 and he only broke off the song, as I met him, close 
 by the camp, full of my news. And I told him 
 then and there; how I had seen her my love, that 
 I had so long thought in England, there in that 
 camp, in the powder of the savages, who were mak 
 ing war. And even then, I was wondering how she 
 came thither, but that things happened so quickly 
 on that day one had no time to think. And 
 Miles, who had been silent for a moment at my 
 news, looked at me ; and then he put his arm around 
 my neck. In our camp there was no fire nor torch, 
 but I could see even by the starlight that his face was 
 pale ; and I sought to say some words of comfort 
 to him that Jennifer s vision had not proved true. 
 "Little maid!" he said, "little maid!" And I 
 knew that he was speaking of Jennifer ; for he often 
 called her so. And I told him that even on the 
 morrow, if God favoured us, we would start West 
 s 
 
3 12 King Noanett 
 
 ward for the Mohawk country, where his lady, 
 doubtless, still was. 
 
 " God bless thee, Moore," said he, " now and 
 always tis doubtless better so. Tell me, at least, 
 dost thou still love her ? " 
 
 " I am her," I said. 
 
 " And thou hast no doubt of her, at last ? " 
 
 There was a touch of his old raillery in his tone, 
 and I hung my head. " Nay," said I, " I had 
 sooner doubt the God of heaven. I have no doubt 
 of her." 
 
 " Nor have I and thanks be to the blessed 
 Virgin for it ! " he answered. And then we fell 
 to talking of our plans for the rescue : I told him 
 mine, and found that his were like to them. 
 
 Only we differed on one thing ; that was, which 
 of us should take command of the canoe that ran 
 the gauntlet, through the defile, to cut off their 
 retreat on the side towards Philip ; for this canoe 
 must be starting ahead, and before the dawn ; and 
 we both wanted it, and both agreed that Jones and 
 Simpson should stay behind with the canoes on the 
 lower river, and with them Jennifer ; for it was not 
 likely, said Miles, the old fox Noanett would run 
 down there. And at the last, Miles used his au 
 thority of command, the only time in his life with 
 me ; so for discipline s sake I let him have his way. 
 " When we seek thy lady, I shall order thee," 
 said I ; and Miles looked up with a bright smile, 
 and so it was agreed. After all, I was to have 
 the main attack, that from the ridge whence I had 
 spied their camp ; for I had described this ledge to 
 Miles, and he had listened, nodding his head as if 
 
My Lady Keeps her Promise 313 
 
 he knew the place. And then Miles grasped my 
 hand and took his leave. 
 
 " Not yet ? " said I ; "it lacks two hours of dawn." 
 
 " Nay," answered Miles, " I had rather go now. 
 Sure, ye know, I hate to dawdle with my fighting ! " 
 This he said with a low laugh ; but then added 
 gravely, that he needed more time than we to start 
 up the river and get into position. And this was 
 true, so I let him go. 
 
 He waked softly three men ; and he chose the 
 three that had lost their wives at Meadfield ; and 
 these he bade go with him ; and their canoe took 
 its silent way up the black water in the gorge. I 
 watched him go, and waved my hand at him, but 
 thinking only of my lady. Miles waved his hand 
 at me ; but he had stopped his singing ; and sud 
 denly I wondered what had led him to singing so 
 near their camp. And it seemed to me the voice 
 had not been Miles s, but the same voice I had 
 heard that night of old Penruddock s flight, on 
 Exmoor. I started up, and looked about me ; it 
 may have been half an hour after I had said good 
 bye to Miles, and I was waiting for the first ray 
 of dawn, when I felt a soft hand touch my shoulder. 
 It was Jennifer. 
 
 "Where is Miles Courtenay?" she asked. 
 
 I told her that he had gone. 
 
 " Gone ! gone already ? " the girl cried wildly. 
 
 " Hush," said I ; and I sketched to her our plan 
 of attack. And then I told her of Miss St. Aubyn, 
 and how her own vision had proved wrong, and 
 Miles and I were to seek her in the Mohawk coun 
 try afterward. 
 
314 King Noanett 
 
 cc Nay, nay," she moaned ; " Moore Carew, go 
 ye at once or it will be too late. Go ye at once 
 go ye at once." And she said nothing more than 
 this ; but I saw she had a paper folded in her hand, 
 and on it was Miles s handwriting. For just then 
 the cold grey dawnlight made a ghostly looming in 
 the place. 
 
 So I called the camp, and gave them their orders 
 briefly. And I told Jones s party, on no account 
 were they to shoot into the Indian camp, but only 
 to wait down the river and capture, without injury, 
 any that might be escaping. And then I quickly 
 took some dozen trusty men with me, and led them 
 rapidly up the hill. 
 
 But none too quickly ; for hardly had I, leading, 
 got to that crag above the camp when I heard 
 musket firing up the stream ; and in the dawn I 
 saw Miles Courtenay attacking alone, with his three 
 men. And so all the Indians ran down to meet 
 his one canoe ; while we quickly sprang down the 
 rock and had a bloodless victory. And just as I 
 came to the tent, being first, came out my lady, sad, 
 but not in fear (for she had seen long years of such 
 things), and I fell at her feet, as I had done in my 
 dreams. 
 
XLII 
 
 In which I Learn to Know Miles Courtenay 
 
 T~ AM Moore Carew, and by God s blessing 
 
 do see thee now again as thou promised," 
 
 1 was what I said. And what my lady said 
 
 I do not here set down ; only that I rose 
 
 and took her hand and stood there. For she, too, 
 
 had thought me under some dire condemnation all 
 
 that time. " I have only sought for thee here and 
 
 J O 
 
 in the Indies since that day you went from me. 
 Oh, why did not you tell me and let me join 
 you " 
 
 " And you cried out for the King, after all," she 
 said, half smiling ; then my heart leaped, as I saw 
 we had in truth not been separated all that time, 
 only in body. And even as we stood there, look 
 ing at one another, Jennifer rushed between us. 
 " Where is he ? " she cried to me. I knew who 
 she meant ; so I kissed my lady s hand but once, 
 and then I said, 
 
 " Forgive me that I must leave thee for this mo 
 ment if thou art safe ? " 
 
 For just then the great chief Noanett came out of 
 the tent and looked at us. 
 
 But the paint was off his face, and his skin was 
 white. And as I gazed upon him, I saw that he 
 was John Penruddock, my lady s grandfather. And 
 
 315 
 
1 6 King Noanett 
 
 his sight so amazed me, that I knew not whether to 
 take it for joy or evil. 
 
 " In the King s name, whoe er thou art, sur 
 render," cried I. 
 
 "In the King s?" 
 
 " Aye, in his gracious Majesty s, King Charles 
 the Second," shouted Colonel Jones, who appeared 
 just then with the third party, toiling up the cliff 
 from the river. 
 
 " No enemy am I of Charles Stewart," said Pen- 
 ruddock, " as his enemies well know, and Whalley s 
 blood may tell." And then I saw that she had 
 been no captive, save indeed of this old fanatic, her 
 grandfather, who had lived with savages to make 
 warfare on the Puritans even in this wilderness. 
 But then Jennifer touched my arm again, and I 
 turned to her, and we both ran down toward the 
 river shore, in the Southern valley, where the firing 
 now was silenced. 
 
 I did not think to caution her, but ran myself 
 with drawn sword. And there lay a dozen dead or 
 dying Indians, and Pomham alone was standing, but 
 mortally wounded, still glaring fiercely upon Miles 
 Courtenay, who lay upon his face, with a spear thrust 
 through his breast. 
 
XLIII 
 
 Which Passeth the Love of Woman 
 
 IN the old record of the town of Dedham you 
 still may read of the taking of Pomham, July 
 twenty-fifth of that year, " a few miles West of 
 Meadfield," and how " he fought till he was slain, 
 raging like a wild beast, after being mortally wounded, 
 so that hee could not stand, he did catch hold of an 
 Englishman that by accident came neare him, and had 
 done him mortal mischief if not presently rescued." 
 That Englishman was I ; for I threw myself upon 
 Pomham, flinging away my sword, and he struck at 
 me with his knife, as he had stricken Miles after the 
 spear had pierced him through and through. But 
 me they dragged from him, and so held me there, 
 and in his rage, glaring still at Miles, the Indian 
 died. 
 
 Then Jennifer flung herself upon her face beside 
 Miles and pillowed his white face, that was bloodless, 
 upon her bosom. And as she did so he turned his 
 face to her, and breathed one sigh, and in it was a 
 whisper, " Do not tell." I heard it, and she heard 
 it, and she looked at me. 
 
 < No, Miles," said she, softly. Then she turned 
 to me. 
 
 " Give me the canoe, and these two men, and I 
 will take him home." And the two men from 
 
 317 
 
3 1 8 King Noanett 
 
 Meadfield that were widowed (for the third of them 
 was lying in the stream, crimsoning its quiet water, 
 as his dead body was swaying with the current where 
 it was caught in the long weeds) stood up and lifted 
 Miles, so tenderly, so tenderly ; and I looked on 
 and felt my heart go from me. 
 
 " Nay, nay," then cried I, " I must go with him 
 - and Jennifer, my lady is here " 
 
 But Jennifer put her finger to her lips. " This 
 thing I promised him." And she showed me the 
 paper, on which was his writing : If I am killed or 
 wounded in this fight , / ask Moore to let the little maid 
 take me home and nurse me^ all alone ; and to let none 
 other see me^ even Moore. 
 
 By this time, the two men had lifted him into the 
 canoe ; and they had been filling it with great fern- 
 leaves or bracken that grew by the waterside, and 
 of these they made a couch, and placed him on it ; 
 and he smiled, with his eyes closed, and moved 
 his lips as if to thank them for it. Then they took 
 leave of me, and I watched them go down the river, 
 so quietly, his face, that I had always known so 
 bright, now deathly white in that fair morning sun ; 
 and then I saw Jennifer lean over to shade his eyes 
 from it. 
 
 So I went back alone over the crag; and there I 
 found our people hastening to return. No Indian 
 prisoners had they save Noanett, or Penruddock, as 
 I shall now call him ; for all the others had run to 
 meet Courtenay s attack, and then had fled (such of 
 them as had escaped Miles, for, they told me, he 
 was fighting like St. George) upon seeing our larger 
 band in possession of their own camp; and Pom- 
 
Which Passeth the Love of Woman 319 
 
 ham, dead, but placed in the canoe with Jones and 
 Simpson, who, I fear, were even then trying to get 
 him to disclose the secret of his silver mill and where 
 his mine might be ; and Penruddock and my dear 
 lady I took in the boat with me, with two friendly 
 Indians, and bade them make all haste, leading the 
 way, so that I fancied now and then I saw the rip 
 ples and the bubbles left by Jennifer s canoe. 
 
 Then my lady told me how her grandfather had 
 escaped, but would not after stay in England; or, 
 perhaps, he dared not ; but came to this new coun 
 try, where he had sought, she feared, to stir up strife 
 between the savages and the Puritan settlers; and 
 that it was true he had some fable of vast wealth 
 that was to be had from mining, and had scoured the 
 wilderness in search of it, to be rich against the King s 
 return. She fancied, too, he had some dream of so 
 establishing his authority among the Indians that he 
 might be a sort of king among them, as some of the 
 French noblemen had learned to be (but no Eng 
 lishman could ever accomplish, being too honest), 
 and so either lead them in a general rising or make 
 a cause that he might ask for some viceroyalty over 
 them when the King came to his own again. And 
 then she went back to that day in the court at Bridge- 
 water (to my deep delight, for it showed her heart 
 had dwelt on it, as mine had done) and asked me 
 why I had so looked on her that day, and why I 
 had risked my life in avowing falsely when there was 
 no need. And I told her that I had been sore at 
 heart, for I thought she had not kept her promise 
 in going away without letting me see her ; so then 
 all had come weary to me ; moreover, I could not 
 
J2O King Noanett 
 
 bear to have even her grandfather think, for one 
 moment, I had been the spy. 
 
 "You foolish boy ! " she cried (and it delighted my 
 heart, though I was surely now a man grown), " dost 
 thou not see, if thou hadst come again, thou wouldst 
 have joined us in that reckless cast, and it had been 
 thy death perhaps, as it would have been my grand 
 father s but for one kind friend that helped us escape, 
 and sacrificed himself to get us free ? " And I was 
 so pleased at her changing the you to thou that I did 
 not then mark her other words. 
 
 But it was true enough that in all my thinking, I 
 had never thought of this explanation before. So I 
 took her hand and kissed it ; and then I grew sad, 
 thinking now of Miles. "God forgive me, dear," 
 I said, "but in a canoe that is ahead of us lies my 
 best friend, and, I fear, is dying." And then I told 
 of him, and of all that he had done and been for 
 me ; but it seems that I never once mentioned his 
 name. And I took the paper that Jennifer had 
 given me ; it bore the verses that I wrote down at 
 the head of this my story, and with them an inscrip 
 tion to 
 
 "My lady, 
 
 Handmaiden to the Virgin, now on earth, 
 Whose eyes are as the Virgin s eyes in heaven 
 Best worshipped through tears." 
 
 For it seems that Miles had gone out before me, 
 and come back and written these, and destroyed 
 many other papers, while I was away. And as she 
 read it, the tears came into her eyes, and she said 
 that I must take her to him. For yet did neither 
 of us suspect the truth. 
 
Which Passeth the Love of Woman 321 
 
 But when we came home, Miles was asleep ; and 
 Jennifer reminded me of the promise, and what 
 Miles had written the night before, on the back of 
 this same paper. And she told me that he had 
 been in high fever ; and kept crying that his name 
 should not be known, and that he must go away for 
 forty years ; and then he had recognized Jennifer 
 and gone to sleep. 
 
 Toward evening, he woke up ; and Jennifer sent 
 for me ; and I came, fresh from my lady ; and as I 
 went in, he looked up once, and his eyes met mine, 
 and he smiled. " Tis all well with thee, Moore," 
 he said faintly ; and as I nodded, and sat down by 
 him, and began to tell him of all, Jennifer put her 
 finger to her lips ; and I saw that I must not talk 
 as yet. For soon the fever came back, and his rav 
 ing, and Jennifer bade me go away and come back 
 in the morning. She was very quiet herself, and 
 cried not at all. 
 
 Now in all that time in the canoe, old Penruddock 
 had been silent, and sat as one dazed, who does not 
 see what things are forward; and my lady had been 
 tending him like a child. But when I went back 
 to the main house about sunset, I found him talking 
 in a low voice with Colonel Jones, so that it looked 
 as if there was some intelligence between them. And 
 I dared not take my lady from our strong house, 
 even had I the heart, while Miles was lying so ; and 
 I went out to dispose some men as sentries for the 
 night, and attended to the cattle. And I stopped 
 in to see Jennifer (for Miles and she were in Berry s 
 new house) and found that Miles was calmly asleep 
 again ; so we hoped that he might live. For she 
 
3 22 King Noanett 
 
 had bandaged his wounds as well as any chirurgeon 
 could have done, and she watched every motion of 
 his heart. 
 
 I mounted guard with the sentries that night (as 
 neither joy nor sorrow let me sleep) and towards 
 morning I saw a white figure running toward me. 
 "Oh, Moore, he has gone ! " cried Jennifer. "He 
 slept so quietly and I but went to the river for 
 water and God help me, he is no longer there ! " 
 
 "Not there ? surely, he cannot have gone " 
 
 For I but thought of his quest in the Mohawk 
 country. 
 
 " All the night he hath been raving he must go 
 away for forty years for forty years! and he 
 knew me not, at the last ! " and she wrung her hands, 
 and burst into tears of sorrow for the first time 
 since that night the little maid was ill with the fever 
 in Maryland. 
 
 "He cannot walk/ I said; and we went to the 
 river, but all the canoes were there ; and into the 
 stable, but the only horse was in his stall. Then I 
 went to look through the houses ; I roused no one; 
 but my lady met me at her father s door, all dressed. 
 
 "What is it," said she; for my face must have 
 been strange, that could not smile to her. 
 
 " It is my best friend," I answered, " who has 
 gone we know not whither, wounded through the 
 breast." And my lady came with me. 
 
 But coming out, we could not find Jennifer. All 
 through the enclosure we searched, and then in the 
 clearing around the stockade ; and then, as we came 
 by Berry s door again, the right thought struck me. 
 But Jennifer had been quicker than I. 
 
Which Passeth the Love of Woman 323 
 
 For now we two walked through that narrow path 
 cut by Miles in the cedar wood, and over the bridge 
 just as the water was white with coming dawn ; and 
 there, in the little chapel in the cedar-trees, lay 
 Miles, and Jennifer bending by his side. By her 
 look, I saw that he was dead ; and we could see 
 that the bandage was torn from above his heart, 
 and the blood there streaming. But over his face, 
 Jennifer had placed her kerchief. And above him 
 was the altar with that great cross that he had made 
 from the wood, evergreen ; and leaning on it again, 
 the ivory crucifix. 
 
 I felt my lady s arm tremble in my hand that 
 held her. " What is that ? " she said. And Jenni 
 fer told her it was a crucifix that she had found and 
 given him. 
 
 " Uncover his face," said my lady, gently ; and as 
 Jennifer hesitated, herself she lifted the slight veil 
 from the face of him who died for us. For, 
 
 " Miles Courtenay." It was my lady said it. 
 
 I stood still. Only Jennifer, being quicker, cried : 
 
 C Oh, God ! Cover his face." 
 
 I stood still, and my heart thought for me. And 
 my lady, alone of all us three, broke into tears. 
 Then, while she was weeping, and Jennifer laid the 
 kerchief back, I remembered Miles s song. 
 
XLIV 
 
 In which is Earthly Ending 
 
 LOVE is all that I have found, within this 
 world, eternal ; we but pretend, in other 
 things. And I have told you my story 
 that you may see how I have learned this ; 
 but my story, now, is done. 
 
 In the weeks that followed Courtenay s death, my 
 lady told me how he had been the means of their 
 escape in England ; though he had had the fore 
 sight not to join in her grandfather s foolish rising; 
 yet she had never known his love for her. But it 
 was doubtless his singing I had heard upon the 
 moor that night ; though he had met them first 
 when they were escaping by connivance of that very 
 kindly old magistrate that had reproved me from 
 the bench, and old Penruddock had insisted in veil 
 ing their identity, even from him, under the name 
 of Clerke. And it was he had given her that cruci 
 fix (which Jennifer had found after all the years) 
 to replace the one she had lost in the abbey 
 fire. And I, who had been so blind, so dull, 
 and Jennifer, whose vision had proved so sadly 
 right we both felt that Miles had known it all, 
 that night of our attack on Pomham ; and then and 
 there his Irish heart had made its mind up what 
 
Earthly Ending 325 
 
 to do. For he must have seen our lady in the 
 camp, even as I had done ; and so had gone home 
 singing; and then I had been to him, with the story 
 of my secret, and never once, dull Saxon fool, had 
 imagined his own. So he had died for us, saving 
 us with the three Meadfield men from any chance 
 of harm ; and his last hours were given to the effort 
 that we might never know his sacrifice and sorrow 
 and thus have any cloud upon our happiness. He 
 had stayed in the wilderness until he had found her, 
 as he had said ; and then had God found for him 
 a fair path out of the wilderness of this our world. 
 Only, that the knowledge of such power in weak 
 human hearts can be no cloud upon our living here 
 on earth, but give us rather solemn faith of coming 
 heaven. 
 
 There is a happiness so great, so undeserved, that 
 he who hath won it can only pray to be worthy, 
 and hardly dare to take the gifts of God when they 
 exceed all bounds of longing. Yet may there be 
 another life, which I may lose for him as he lost this 
 for me : yet only he that loveth life shall lose it, say 
 the scriptures. 
 
 Miles was buried by his own altar in the wood ; 
 and then we all came back to the town ; my lady 
 and I not known to be lovers, save by Jennifer ; 
 but when old Penruddock went back to England, 
 to follow his rising fortunes, I went with them, 
 to care for her, for I had no faith in them ; and 
 indeed they proved all an illusion, like his silver 
 mine. For his bits of true ore had mostly been 
 brought him from afar, and only little lay with 
 
326 King Noanett 
 
 the bog iron he found so plentiful ; and Charles 
 in England had more to do diverting himself and 
 beribboning his companions than gave time to learn 
 of those he had never known struggling for him in 
 the wilderness. We went down to Devon and lived 
 in a cottage by the burned abbey ; the lands of 
 which had twice been given away, and once by 
 Charles himself, so old Penruddock was none too 
 welcome a suitor in his court. And Jennifer came 
 with us, back to her native Cornwall, and waited for 
 our wedding. 
 
 This came in the Spring, when we had laid aside 
 our mourning. And by then Penruddock s hopes 
 had already come to naught, and we gladly resolved 
 to come here, to the home that Miles and I had 
 made in this new England. And Jennifer was to 
 come back with us. 
 
 But after our wedding she grew ill, and we waited 
 to nurse her ; for she had no family left in Corn 
 wall. Nothing seemed to ail her that could be 
 named. But there, near by her old home, she 
 died ; and we left her buried there ; and sought our 
 new life, we two together, with the memory of their 
 two great loves like a solemn blessing on our hearts. 
 For this was not their world. 
 
 Why love is made to deal such ill, I know not. 
 But I know that God it is who made it, and some 
 where, somehow, I have faith that Miles and his 
 little maid are happy, even as I and my wife were 
 happy, some brief years on earth. 
 
 For it is now forty years since ; and as you know, 
 she died before that last and dreadful war that Philip 
 made But for five years, she that was thy mother s 
 
Earthly Ending 
 
 mother and I lived there, at Springfield parish, 
 together. Since then I have lived there with my 
 children and theirs. And as Miles would think 
 of us on earth, so have I always thought of her, 
 and Miles, and Jennifer, in heaven. 
 
 Only house left in Medfield, about 
 1675, after the Indian Massacre. From 
 a sketch made April, 1896. 
 
UNIVERSITY OP CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
 
 
.394430 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 LIBRARIES