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THE PURITAN TWINS
By Lucy Fitch Perkins
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR
[Illustration]
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO
The Riverside Press Cambridge
By Lucy Fitch Perkins
* * * * *
_Geographical Series_
THE DUTCH TWINS PRIMER. _Grade I._
THE DUTCH TWINS. _Grade III._
THE ESKIMO TWINS. _Grade II._
THE FILIPINO TWINS. _Grade IV._
THE JAPANESE TWINS. _Grade IV._
THE SWISS TWINS. _Grade IV._
THE IRISH TWINS. _Grade V._
THE ITALIAN TWINS. _Grades V and VI._
THE SCOTCH TWINS. _Grades V and VI._
THE MEXICAN TWINS. _Grade VI._
THE BELGIAN TWINS. _Grade VI._
THE FRENCH TWINS. _Grade VII._
_Historical Series_
THE CAVE TWINS. _Grade IV._
THE SPARTAN TWINS. _Grades V-VI._
THE PURITAN TWINS. _Grades VI-VII._
* * * * *
_Each volume is illustrated by the author_
* * * * *
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
I. THE PEPPERELLS AND THE CAPTAIN 3
II. TWO DAYS 39
III. ON BOARD THE LUCY ANN 63
IV. A FOREST TRAIL 87
V. THE NEW HOME 113
VI. HARVEST HOME 157
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 181
[Illustration: map]
I
THE PEPPERELLS AND THE CAPTAIN
One bright warm noonday in May of the year 1638, Goodwife Pepperell
opened the door of her little log cabin, and, screening her eyes from
the sun with a toilworn hand, looked about in every direction, as
if searching for some one. She was a tall, spare woman, with a firm
mouth, keen blue eyes, and a look of patient endurance in her face,
bred by the stern life of pioneer New England. Far away across the
pasture which sloped southward from the cabin she could see long
meadow grass waving in the breeze, and beyond a thread of blue water
where the Charles River flowed lazily to the sea. Westward there was
also pasture land where sheep were grazing, and in the distance a
glimpse of the thatched roofs of the little village of Cambridge.
Goodwife Pepperell gazed long and earnestly in this direction, and
then, making a trumpet of her hands, sent a call ringing across the
silent fields. "Nancy! Daniel!" she shouted.
She was answered only by the tinkle of sheep bells. A shade of anxiety
clouded the blue eyes as she went round to the back of the cabin and
looked toward the dense forest which bounded her vision on the north.
Stout-hearted though she was, Goodwife Pepperell could never forget
the terrors which lay concealed behind that mysterious rampart of
green. Not only were there wolves and deer and many other wild
creatures hidden in its depths, but it sheltered also the perpetual
menace of the Indians. Toward the east, at some distance from the
cabin, corn-fields stretched to salt meadows, and beyond, across the
bay, she could see the three hills of Boston town.[1]
[Footnote 1: See map.]
As no answering shout greeted her from this direction either, the
Goodwife stepped quickly toward a hollow stump which stood a short
distance from the cabin. Beside the stump a slender birch tree bent
beneath the weight of a large circular piece of wood hung to its top
by a leather thong. This was the samp-mill, where their corn was
pounded into meal. Seizing the birch tree with her hands, she brought
the wooden pestle down into the hollow stump with a resounding thump.
The birch tree sprang back lifting the block with it and again she
pulled it down and struck the stump another blow, then paused to
listen. This time there was, beside the echo, an answering shout, and
in a few moments two heads appeared above the rows of young corn just
peeping out of the ground, two pairs of lively bare feet came flying
across the garden patch, and a breathless boy and girl stood beside
their mother.
They were a sturdy pair of twelve-year-olds, the boy an inch or more
taller than his sister, and both with the blue eyes, fair skin, and
rosy cheeks which proclaimed their English blood. There was a gleam of
pride in Goodwife Pepperell's eye as she looked a her children, but
not for the world would she have let them see it; much less would she
have owned it to herself, for she was a Puritan mother, and regarded
pride of any kind as altogether sinful. "Where have you been all the
morning?" she said. "You were nowhere to be seen and the corn is not
yet high enough to hide you."
"I was hoeing beyond that clump of bushes," said Daniel, pointing to
a group of high blueberries that had been allowed to remain in the
cleared field.
"And I was keeping away the crows," said Nancy, holding out her wooden
clappers. "Only I fell asleep. It was so warm I just could n't help
it."
"So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an
armed man," quoted the mother sternly. "Night is the time for sleep.
Go now and eat the porridge I have set for you in your little
porringers, and then go down to the bay with this basket and fill it
with clams. Put a layer of seaweed in the basket first and pack the
clams in that. They will keep alive for some time if you bed them so,
and be sure to bring back the shovel."
This was a task that suited the Twins much better than either hoeing
corn or scaring crows, and they ran into the house at once, ate their
porridge with more haste than good manners, and dashed joyfully away
across the fields toward the river-mouth, a mile away. They followed a
path across the wide stretch of pasture, where wild blackberry vines
and tall blueberry bushes grew, then through a strip of meadow land,
and at last ran out on the bare stretch of sand and weed left by the
ebb tide toward the narrow channel cut by the clear water of the
Charles.
Here they set down the basket and began looking about for the little
holes which betray the hiding-places of clams.
[Illustration]
"Oh, look, Dan," cried Nancy, stopping to admire the long line of
foot-prints which they had left behind them. "Dost see what a pretty
border we have made? 'T is just like a pattern." She walked along the
edge of the stream with her toes turned well out, leaving a track in
the sand like this:
[Illustration]
Then the delightful flat surface tempted her to further exploits. She
picked up a splinter of driftwood and, making a wide flourish, began
to draw a picture. "See," she called rapturously to Dan, "this is
going to be a pig! Here 's his nose, and here 's his curly tail, and
here are his little fat legs." She clapped her hands with admiration.
"Now I shall do something else," she announced as she finished the pig
with a round red pebble stuck in for the eye. "Let me see. What shall
I draw? Oh, I know! A picture of Gran'ther Wattles! Look, Dan." She
made a careful stroke. "Here 's his nose, and here 's his chin. They are
monstrous near together because he has nothing but gums between! And
here 's his long tithing-stick with the squirrel-tail on the end!"
[Illustration]
"It doth bear a likeness to him!" admitted Dan, laughing in spite of
himself, "but, sister, thou shouldst not mock him. He is an old man,
and we should pay respect to gray hairs. Father says so."
"Truly I have as much of respect as he hath of hair," answered naughty
Nancy. "His poll is nearly as bald as an egg."
"I know the cause of thy displeasure," declared Dan. "Gran'ther
Wattles poked thee for bouncing about during the sermon last Sunday.
But it is unseemly to bounce in the meeting-house, and besides, is he
not the tithing-man? 'T is his duty to see that people behave as they
should."
"He would mayhap have bounced himself if a bee had been buzzing about
his nose as it did about mine," said Nancy, and, giving a vicious
dab at the pictured features, she drew a bee perched on the end of
Gran'ther Wattles's nose. "Here now are all the gray hairs he hath,"
she added, making three little scratches above the ear.
"Nancy Pepperell!" cried her brother, aghast, "dost thou not remember
what happened to the forty and two children that said 'Go up, thou
bald head' to Elijah? It would be no marvel if bears were to come out
of the woods this moment to eat thee up!"
[Illustration]
"'T was n't Elijah, 't was Elisha," Nancy retorted with spirit, "but it
matters little whether 't was one or t' other, for I don't believe two
bears could possibly hold so much, and besides dost thou not think it
a deal worse to cause a bear to eat up forty and two children than to
say 'Go up, thou bald head'?"
"Nancy!" exclaimed her horrified brother, glancing fearfully toward
the forest and clapping his hand on her mouth to prevent further
impiety, "thou art a wicked, wicked girl! Dost thou not know that the
eye of the Lord is in every place? Without doubt his ear is too, and
He can hear every word thy saucy tongue sayeth. Come, let us rub out
this naughty picture quickly, and mayhap God will take no notice this
time." He ran across Gran'ther Wattles's portrait from brow to chin,
covering it with foot-prints. "Besides," he went on as he trotted back
and forth, "thou hast broken a commandment! Thou hast made a likeness
of something that 's in the earth, and that 's Gran'ther Wattles! Nancy,
thou dost take fearful chances with thy soul."
Nancy began to look a little anxious as she considered her conduct.
"At any rate," she said defensively, "it is n't a graven image, and I
have neither bowed down to it nor served it! I do try to be good, Dan,
but it seemeth that the devil is ever at my elbow."
[Illustration]
"'T is because thou art idle," said Dan, shaking his head as gravely
as Gran'ther Wattles himself. "Busy thyself with the clams, and Satan
will have less chance at thy idle hands, and thy idle tongue too."
Nancy obediently took hold of the basket which Dan thrust into her
hands, and together they walked for some distance over the sandy
stretches. Suddenly a tiny stream of water spouted up beside Dan's
feet. "Here they be!" he shouted, plunging his shovel into the sand,
"and what big ones!" Nancy surveyed the clams with disfavor. They were
thrusting pale thick muscles out between the lobes of their shells.
"They look as if they were sticking out their tongues at us," said
Nancy as she picked one up gingerly and dropped it into the basket.
"But, Dan, Mother said we were to bed them in seaweed!"
"I see none here," said Dan, leaning on his shovel and looking about
him. "The tide hath swept everything as clean as a floor."
"I 'll seek for some while thou art busy with the digging," said Nancy,
glad to escape the duty of picking up the clams, and off she trotted
without another word. The flats, seamed and grooved with channels
where pools of water still lingered, sloped gently down to the lower
level of the bay, and farther out a range of rocks lifted themselves
above the sandy waste.
[Illustration]
"I 'll surely find seaweed on the rocks," thought Nancy to herself as
she sped along, and in a few moments she had reached them, had tossed
up the basket, and was climbing their rugged sides.
"There 's a mort o' seaweed here," she said, nodding her head wisely as
she picked up a long string of kelp; "I can fill my basket in no time
at all." There was no need for haste, she thought, so she sat down
beside a pool of water left in a hollow of the rocks, to explore its
contents. The first thing she found was a group of tiny barnacles, and
for a while she amused herself by washing salt water over them to see
them open their tiny cups of shell. In the pool itself a beautiful
lavender-colored jelly-fish was floating about, and just beyond lay a
star-fish clinging to a bunch of seaweed. She found other treasures
scattered about by the largess of the tide--tiny spiral shells, stones
of all colors, and a horseshoe crab, besides seaweed with pretty
little pods which popped delightfully when she squeezed them with her
fingers. Then she heard the cries of gulls overhead and watched them
as they wheeled and circled between her and the sky. When they flew
out to sea she sat with her hands clasping her knees and gazed across
the bay at the three hills of Boston town. She could see quite plainly
the tall beacon standing like a ship's mast on top of Beacon Hill, and
farther north she strained her eyes to pick out Governor Winthrop's
dwelling from the cluster of houses which straggled up the slope of
Copp's Hill and which made all there was of the city of Boston in that
early day.
[Illustration]
For some time she sat there hugging her knees and thinking long, long
thoughts, and it was not until the sound of little waves lapping
against the rocks roused her that she woke from her day dream and
realized with terror that the tide had turned. The channels and lower
levels of the bay were already brimming over, and the water was deep
about the rocks on which she perched. At almost the same moment Dan
had been surprised by a cold wave which washed over his bare feet,
and, turning about, was dismayed to find a sheet of blue water
covering the bay and to see Nancy standing on the topmost rock
shouting "Dan! Dan!" at the top of her lungs. For one astonished
instant he looked at her, then, throwing down his shovel, he plunged
unhesitatingly into the icy bath. And now Nancy, realizing that there
was not a moment to lose if she hoped to reach the shore in safety,
let herself slowly down off the rocks, leaving the basket behind her,
and started toward her brother.
The water was already so deep in the channels that their progress
toward each other was slow, but they ploughed bravely on, feeling the
bottom carefully at each step lest they sink in some sand-pocket or
hollow washed out by the tide. Some distance away toward Charlestown
a fishing schooner rocked on the deeper water of the bay, and a
fisherman in a small boat, attracted by the shouting, looked up, and,
seeing the two struggling figures, instantly bent to his oars and
started toward them. Though he rowed rapidly, it was some minutes
before he could reach the children, who were now floundering about in
water nearly up to their necks.
[Illustration]
"Hold fast to my shoulder, Nancy," he heard Dan cry. "I can float, and
I can swim a little. Keep thy nose above water and let thy feet go
where they will." Nancy, spluttering and gurgling, was trying hard to
follow Dan's directions, when the boat shot alongside, and a cheery
voice cried, "Ahoy, there! Come aboard, you young porpoises!"
To the children it was like a voice straight from heaven. Dan
immediately helped Nancy to get into the boat, and then she balanced
it while he climbed aboard.
When they were safely bestowed among the lobster-pots with which the
boat was laden, the man leaned on his oars and eyed them critically.
"Short of sense, ain't ye?" he remarked genially. "Nigh about drownded
that time or I 'm no skipper! If ye ain't bent on destruction ye 'd
better get into dry clothes. Ye 're as wet as a mess of drownded
kittens. Tell me where you live and I 'll take you home."
He flung a tarpaulin over the shivering figures and tucked it around
them as he scolded. "'T is all my fault," sobbed poor Nancy. "Dan came
in just to get me out."
"Very commendable of him, I 'm sure," said the stranger, nodding
approvingly at Dan, "and just what he 'd ought to do, and doubtless
you 're worth saving at that, though a hen-headeder young miss I never
see in all my days!"
"She went to find seaweed to bed the clams," explained Dan, coming to
his sister's defense, "and the tide caught her. Thou art kind indeed
to pick us up, sir."
"Oh," groaned remorseful Nancy, her teeth chattering, "it 's all
because I 'm such a sinner! I made a likeness of Gran'ther Wattles in
the sand and said dreadful things about the prophet Elijah, or mayhap
't was Elisha, and Dan said a bear might come to eat me up just like
the forty and two children, and instead of a bear we both were almost
swallowed by the tide!"
"Well, now," said the stranger, comfortingly, "ye see instead of
sending bears the Lord sent me along to fish ye out, just the same as
He sent the whale to swallow Jonah when he was acting contrary! Looks
like He meant to let ye off with a scare this time. Come now, my lass,
there 's salt water enough aboard and if ye cry into the boat, ye 'll
have to bail her out. Besides," he added whimsically, looking up at
the sky, "there 's another squall coming on, and two at a time is too
many for any sailor. If I 'm to cast you up on the shore same as the
whale, ye 'll have to tell me which way to go, and who ye are."
"Our father is Josiah Pepperell," answered Dan, "and our house is
almost a mile back from shore near Cambridge."
"So you 're Josiah Pepperell's children! To be sure, to be sure! Might
have known it. Ye do favor him some," said the fisherman. "Well! well!
The ways of the Lord are surely past finding out! Why, I knew your
father way back in England. He came over here for religion and I came
for fish. Not that I ain't a God-fearing man," he added hastily,
noticing a look of horror on Nancy's face, "but I ain't so pious
as some. I 'm a seafaring man, Captain Sanders of the Lucy Ann,
Marblehead. Ye can see her riding at anchor out there in the bay. I
have n't set eyes on your father since he left Boston and settled in
the back woods up yonder."
He sent the boat flying through the water with swift, sure strokes
as he talked, and brought it ashore at the first landing-place
they found. Here they drew it up on the bank and, taking out the
lobster-pots, turned it upside down so the rain would not fill it. Two
great green lobsters with goblin-like eyes were hidden away under the
pots, and when the boat was overturned they tumbled out and started at
a lively pace for the water.
"Hi, there!" shouted the Captain, seizing them by their tails, "where
are your manners? By jolly, I like to forgot ye! Come along now and
take supper with the Pepperells. I invite ye! They 're short of clams
and they 'll be pleased to see ye, or I miss my reckoning." There were
pegs stuck in the scissor-like claws, so the creatures were harmless,
and, swinging along with one kicking vigorously in each hand, the
Captain plunged into the long meadow grass, the children following
close at his heels.
The clouds grew darker and darker; there was a rumble of thunder,
and streaks of lightning tore great rents in the sky as they hurried
across the open meadow and struck into the pasture land beyond.
"Head into the wind there and keep going," shouted the Captain as the
children struggled along, impeded by their wet clothing. "It 's from
the north, and we 're pointed straight into it."
Past bushes waving distractedly in the wind, under the boughs of young
oak trees, over stones and through briars they sped, and at last they
came in sight of the cabin just as the storm broke. Goodwife Pepperell
was standing in the door gazing anxiously toward the river, when they
dashed out of the bushes and, scudding past her, stood dripping on
the hearth-stone. Her husband was just hanging his gun over the
chimney-piece, and the noise of their entrance was drowned out by a
clap of thunder; so when he turned about and saw the three drenched
figures it was no wonder that for an instant he was too surprised to
speak.
"Well, of all things!" he said at last, holding out his hand to
Captain Sanders. "What in God's providence brings thee here, Thomas?
Thou art welcome indeed. 'T is a long time since I have seen thee."
"God's providence ye may call it," answered the Captain, shaking the
Goodman's hand as if he were pumping out the hold of a sinking ship,
"and I 'll not gainsay it. The truth is I overhauled these small craft
floundering around in the tide-wash with water over their scuppers 'n'
all but wrecked, so I took 'em in tow and brought 'em ashore!"
Their mother, meanwhile, had not waited for explanations. Seeing how
chilled they were, she had hurried the children to the loft above
the one room of the cabin and was already giving them a rub-down and
getting out dry clean clothes while they told her their adventure.
"Thank God you are safe," she said, clasping them both in her arms,
when the tale was told.
"Thank Captain Sanders as well, Mother," said Daniel. "Had it not been
for him, I doubt if we could have reached the shore."
"Let this be a lesson to you, then," said the Goodwife, loosening her
clasp and picking up the wet clothing. "You know well about the tide!
Nancy, child, why art thou so wild and reckless? Thou art the cause of
much anxiety."
At her mother's reproof, gentle though it was, poor Nancy flopped over
on her stomach, and, burying her face in her hands, gave way to tears.
"It 's all because I am so wicked," she moaned. "My sins are as
scarlet! Oh, Mother, dost think God will cause the lightning to strike
us dead to punish me?" She shuddered with fear as a flash shone
through the chinks of the logs and for an instant lighted the dim
loft.
Her mother put down the wet clothes and, lifting her little daughter
tenderly in her arms, laid her on her bed. "God maketh the rain to
fall on both the just and the unjust," she said soothingly. "Rest here
while I go down and get supper."
She covered her warmly with a homespun blanket, and, accompanied by
Dan, made her way down the ladder. She found her husband putting fresh
logs on the fire and stirring the coals to a blaze, while the Captain
hung his coat on the corner of the mantel-shelf to dry. She went up to
him and held out her hand. "Captain Sanders," she said, "but for thee
this might be a desolate household indeed this night."
The Captain's red face turned a deeper shade, and he fidgeted with
embarrassment, as he took her hand in his great red paw, then dropped
it suddenly as if it were hot. "Oh, stow it, ma'am, stow it," he
begged. "That is, I mean to say--why, by jolly, ma'am, a pirate could
do no less when he see a fine bit of cargo like that going to the
bottom!"
To the Captain's great relief the lobsters at this moment created a
diversion. He had dropped them on the hearth when he came in, and they
were now clattering briskly about the room, butting into anything that
came in their way in an effort to escape. He made a sudden dash after
them and held them out toward Goodwife Pepperell.
"Here they be, ma'am," he said. "I 'd saved them for my supper, and I
'd take it kindly if ye 'd cook them for me, and help eat them, too.
It 's raining cats and dogs, and if I was to start out now, I 'd have a
hard time finding the Lucy Ann. Ye can't see a rod ahead of ye in such
a downpour."
"We shall be glad to have thee stay as long as thou wilt," said the
Goodwife heartily. "Put the lobsters in this while I set the kettle to
boil." She held out a wooden puncheon as she spoke, and the Captain
dropped them in. Then he sat down with Goodman Pepperell on the settle
beside the fireplace, and the two men talked of their boyhood in
England, while she hung the kettle on the crane over the fire and
began to prepare the evening meal.
"Daniel, sit thee down by the fire and get a good bed of coals ready
while I mix the johnny-cake," she said as she stepped briskly about
the room, and Daniel, nothing loath, drew a stool to the Captain's
side and fed the fire with chips and corn-cobs while he listened with
all his ears to the talk of the two men.
[Illustration]
"Well, Thomas, how hast thou prospered since I saw thee last?" asked
Goodman Pepperell.
"Tolerable, tolerable, Josiah," answered the Captain. "I 've been
mining for sea gold." Daniel wondered what in the world sea gold
might be. "Ye see," he went on, turning to include Daniel in the
conversation, "my father was a sea captain before me, and my gran'ther
too. Why, my gran'ther helped send the Spanish Armada to the bottom
where it belonged. Many and many 's the time I 've heard him tell
about it, and I judge from what he said he must have done most of the
job himself, though I reckon old Cap'n Drake may have helped some."
(Here the Captain chuckled.) "He never came back from his last
voyage,--overhauled by pirates more 'n likely. That was twenty years
ago, and I 've been following the sea myself ever since. I was wrecked
off the Spanish Main on my first voyage, and I 've run afoul of
pirates and come near walking the plank more times than one, I 'm
telling ye, but somehow I always had the luck to get away! And here I
be, safe and sound."
At this point the lobsters made a commotion in the wooden puncheon,
and the Captain turned his attention to them. "Jest spilin' to get
out, ain't ye?" he inquired genially. "Look here, boy," to Daniel,
"that water's bilin'. Heave 'em in."
Daniel held his squirming victims over the pot, and not without a
qualm of pity dropped them into the boiling water. Then he ventured to
ask a question. "What is sea gold, Captain Sanders?"
"Things like them," answered the Captain, jerking his thumb at the
lobsters, which were already beginning to turn a beautiful red color
as they boiled in the pot; "as good gold as any that was ever dug out
of mines ye can get for fish, and there never was such fishing in all
the seas as there is along this coast! My! my! I 've seen schools of
cod off the Cape making a solid floor of fish on the water so ye could
walk on it if ye were so minded, and as for lobsters, I 've caught 'em
that measured six and seven feet long! Farther down the coast there
are oysters so big one of 'em will make a square meal for four or five
people. It 's the truth I 'm telling ye."
Goodman Pepperell smiled. "Thomas," he said, "thou hast not lost thy
power of narration!"
Captain Sanders for an instant looked a bit dashed, then he said,
"Well, believe it or not, Josiah, it 's the truth for all that. Why,
talk about the land of Canaan flowin' with milk and honey! This here
water 's just alive with money! Any boy could go out and haul up a
shilling on his own hook any time he liked."
Daniel, his eyes shining and his lips parted, was just making up his
mind that he would rather be the captain of a fishing-smack than
anything else in the world, since he knew he could n't be a pirate,
when his mother came to the fireplace with a layer of corn-meal dough
spread on a baking-board. She placed the board in a slanting position
against an iron trivet before the glowing bed of coals, and set a pot
of beans in the ashes to warm. "Keep an eye on that johnny-cake," she
said to Daniel, "and don't let it burn." Then she turned away to set
the table.
[Illustration]
This task took but little time, for in those days there were few
things to put on it. She spread a snowy cloth of homespun linen on
the plank which served as a table, and laid a knife and spoon at each
place; there were no forks, and for plates only a square of wood with
a shallow depression in the middle. Beside each of these trenchers she
placed a napkin and a mug, and at the Captain's place, as a special
honor, she set a beautiful tankard of wrought silver. It was one of
the few valuable things she had brought with her from her English
home, and it was used only on great occasions.
When these preparations were complete, she took the lobsters from
the pot, poured the beans into a pewter dish, heaped the golden
johnny-cake high upon a trencher, and, sending Dan to fetch Nancy,
called the men to supper. The storm was over by this time, the last
rays of the setting sun were throwing long shadows over the fields,
and the robins were singing their evening song. The Goodwife stepped
to the window and threw open the wooden shutters. "See," she said.
"There 's a rainbow."
"The sign of promise," murmured Goodman Pepperell, rising and looking
over his wife's shoulder.
"Fine day to-morrow," said the Captain. "Maybe I can plant my
lobster-pots after all."
Nancy, looking pale and a little subdued, crept down the ladder and
took her place with Daniel at the foot of the board. Then they all
stood, while Goodman Pepperell asked a blessing on the food, and
thanked God for his mercy in delivering them from danger and bringing
them together in health and safety to partake of his bounty.
[Illustration]
II
TWO DAYS
The grace finished (it was a very long one and the beans were nearly
cold before he said amen), Goodman Pepperell broke open the lobsters
and piled the trenchers with johnny-cake and beans, and the whole
family fell to with a right good will. All but Nancy. She was still a
bit upset and did not feel hungry.
"Thou hast not told me, Captain, what voyage thou art about to
undertake next," said the Goodman, sucking a lobster-claw with relish.
The Captain loved to talk quite as well as he loved to eat, but his
mouth was full at this moment, and he paused before replying. "I 'm
getting too old for long voyages, Josiah," he said at last with a
sigh. "Kind o' losing my taste for adventure. Pirates is pretty
plentiful yet, and for all I 'm a sailor I 'd like to die in my bed,
so I have settled at Marblehead. They 're partial to fishermen along
this coast. The town gives 'em land for drying their fish and exempts
'em from military dooty. But I can't stay ashore a great while before
my sea legs begin to hanker for the feel of the deck rolling under
'em, so I 'm doing a coasting trade all up and down the length of
Massachusetts Bay. I keep a parcel of lobster-pots going, some here
and some Plymouth way, and sell them and fish, besides doing a
carrying trade for all the towns along-shore. It 's a tame kind o'
life. There, now," he finished, "that 's all there is to say about me,
and I 'll just take a turn at these beans and give ye a chance to tell
about yourself, Josiah."
"'T is but a short tale," answered the Goodman, "God hath prospered
me. I have an hundred acres of good farm land along this river, and I
have a cow, and a flock of sheep to keep us in wool for the Good
wife to spin. I have set out apple trees, and there is wood for the
cutting; the forest furnishes game and the sea is stored with food for
our use; but the truth is there is more to do than can be compassed
with one pair of hands. The neighbors help each other with clearing
the land, log-rolling, building walls, and such as that, but if this
country is to be developed we must do more than make a living. There
are a thousand things calling to be done if there were but the men to
do them."
The Captain skillfully balanced a mouthful of beans on his knife as he
considered the problem. Finally he said, "Well, here 's Dan'el, and,
judging by the way he waded right into the tide after his sister, I
calculate he 'd be a smart boy to have round."
"He is," said the Goodman, and Daniel blushed to his eyes, for his
father seldom praised him, "but he is not yet equal to a man's work,
and moreover I want him to get some schooling. The Reverend John
Harvard hath promised his library and quite a sum of money to found
a college for the training of ministers right here in Cambridge. The
hand of the Lord hath surely guided us to this place, where he may
receive an education, and it may even be that Daniel will be a
minister, for the Colony sorely needs such."
"There, now," said the Captain. "Farming ain't such plain sailing; is
it? Have ye thought of getting an Indian slave to help ye?"
"Truly I have thought of that," said the Goodman, "but they are a
treacherous lot and passing lazy. There was a parcel of Pequot women
and girls brought up from beyond Plymouth way last year after the
uprising. The settlers had killed off all the men and sold the boys in
the Bermudas. I might have bought one of the women but I need a man,
or at least a boy that will grow into one. The Pequots are about all
gone now, but the Narragansetts are none too friendly. They helped
fight the Pequots because they hate them worse than they hate the
English, but they are only biding their time, and some day it 's
likely we shall have trouble with them. Nay, I could never trust an
Indian slave. Roger Williams saith they are wolves with men's brains,
and he speaks the truth."
"Well, then," said the Captain, "why don't ye get a black? They are
more docile than Indians, and the woods about are not full of their
friends."
"Aye," agreed the Goodman, "the plan is a good one and well thought
out, but they are hard to come by. There are only a few, even in
Boston."
"There will soon be more, I 'm thinking," said the Captain. "A ship
was built in Marblehead last year on purpose for the trade. Captain
Pierce is a friend of mine, and he 's due at Providence any time now
with a cargo of blacks from Guinea. Ye could sail down the bay with
me, and there 's a trail across the neck of the Cape to Providence,
where the Desire will come to port. I expect to spend the Sabbath
here, but I lift anchor on Monday. Ye can tell Captain Pierce ye 're a
friend of mine, and 't will do ye no harm."
[Illustration]
"Oh, Father," breathed Dan, "may I go, too?"
The Captain chuckled. "Art struck with the sea fever, son?" he said,
looking down into the boy's eager face. "Well, there 's room aboard.
I might take ye along if so be thy parents are willing and thou art
minded to see a bit of the world."
Up to this time Goodwife Pepperell had said no word, but now she
spoke. "Are there not dangers enough on land without courting the
dangers of the sea?" she asked.
Her husband looked at her with gentle disapproval. "Hold thy peace,"
he said. "What hath a pioneer lad to do with fear? Moreover, if he
goes I shall be with him."
Nancy leaned forward and gazed imploringly at the Captain. "Dost thou
not need some one to cook on thy boat?" she gasped. "I know well how
to make johnny-cake and I--" then, seeing her father's stern look and
her mother's distress, she wilted like a flower on its stem and was
silent. The Captain smiled at her.
"Ye 're a fine cook, I make no doubt," he said genially, "but ye would
n't go and leave Mother here all alone, now, I 'll be bound!"
"Nay," said Nancy faintly, looking at her mother.
Then the Goodwife spoke. "It pains me," she said, "to think of
children torn from their parents and sold into slavery, even though
they be but Indians or blacks. I doubt not they have souls like
ourselves."
"Read thy Bible, Susanna," answered her husband. "Cursed be Canaan.
A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren--thus say the
Scriptures."
"Well, now," broke in the Captain, "if they have souls, they 've
either got to save 'em or lose 'em as I jedge it; and if they never
have a chance to hear the Plan of Salvation, they 're bound to be lost
anyway. Bringin' 'em over here gives them their only chance to escape
damnation, according to my notion."
"Hast thou ever brought over a cargo of slaves thyself?" asked the
Goodwife.
"Nay," admitted the Captain, "but I sailed once on a slaver, and I own
I liked not to see the poor critters when they were lured away. It
seemed they could n't rightly sense that 't was for their eternal
welfare, and I never felt called to set their feet in the way
of Salvation by that means myself. I reckon I 'm not more than
chicken-hearted, if ye come to that."
The meal was now over, the dusk had deepened as they lingered about
the table, and Goodwife Pepperell rose to light a bayberry candle and
set it on the chimney-piece.
"Sit ye down by the fire again, while Nancy and I wash the dishes,"
she said cordially.
"Thank ye kindly," said the Captain, "but I must budge along. It 's
near dark, and Timothy--that 's my mate--will be wondering if I 've
been et up by a shark. It 's going to be a clear night after the
storm."
The children slept so soundly after the adventures of the day that
their mother called them three times from the foot of the ladder in
the early dawn of the following morning without getting any response.
Then she mounted to the loft and shook Daniel gently. "Wake thee," she
said. "'T is long past cock-crow, and Saturday at that."
Daniel opened his eyes feebly and was off to sleep again at once.
"Daniel," she said, shaking him harder, "thy father is minded to take
thee to Plymouth."
Before the words were fairly out of her mouth Daniel had popped out of
bed as if he had been shot from a gun. "Oh, Mother," he shouted, "am
I really to go? Shall I go clear to Providence? Doth Captain Sanders
know? When do we start?"
"Thy father arranged it with the Captain last night," answered his
mother. "He will come for thee in the little boat on Monday morning
and will row thee and thy father to the sloop, which will sail at high
tide. While thy father makes the journey across the Cape thou wilt go
on to Provincetown with the Captain, or mayhap, if visitors are now
permitted in the Colony, my aunt, the Governor's lady, will keep thee
with her until thy father returns. She would like well to see my son,
I know, and I trust thou wilt be a good lad and mind thy manners.
Come, Nancy, child, I need thy help!" Then she disappeared down the
ladder to stir the hasty pudding, which was already bubbling in the
pot.
When she was gone, Nancy flung herself upon the mattress and buried
her face in the bed-clothes. "Oh, Daniel," she cried, smothering a
sob, "what if the p-p-pirates should get thee?"
Daniel was at her side in an instant. "Give thyself no concern about
pirates, sister," he said, patting her comfortingly. "I have thought
how to deal with them! I shall stand by the rail with my cutlass in
my hand, and when they seek to board her I will bring down my cutlass
so,"--here he made a terrific sweep with his arm,--"and that will be
the end of them."
"Oh," breathed Nancy, much impressed, "how brave thou art!"
"Well," said Daniel modestly, "there 'd be the Captain and father to
help, of course, and, I suppose, the mate too. There will be four of
us men anyway."
"_Nancy!_--_Daniel!_"--it was their father's voice this time, and the
two children jumped guiltily and began to dress as if the house were
on fire and they had but two minutes to escape. In a surprisingly
short time they were downstairs and attending to their morning tasks.
Nancy, looking very solemn, fed the chickens, and Dan brought water
from the spring, while their father milked the cow; and by six o'clock
their breakfast of hasty pudding and milk had been eaten, prayers were
over, and the whole family was ready for the real work of the day.
There was a great deal of it to do, for nothing but "works of
necessity and mercy" could be performed on the Sabbath, the Sabbath
began at sundown Saturday afternoon, and the travellers were to make
an early start on Monday morning. A fire was built in the brick oven
beside the fireplace, and while it was heating the Goodwife made four
pies and six loaves of brown-bread, and prepared a pot of pork and
beans for baking.
[Illustration]
When the coals had been raked out and the oven filled, she washed
clothes for Daniel and his father, while Nancy hurried to finish a
pair of stockings she was knitting for her brother. Daniel himself,
meanwhile, had gone down to the bay to see if he could find the
shovel and the basket. He came home in triumph about noon with both,
and with quite a number of clams beside, which the Goodwife cooked
for their dinner. When they were seated at the table, and the Goodman
had asked the blessing, he leaned back in his chair and surveyed the
ceiling of the cabin. From the rafters there hung long festoons of
dried pumpkin and golden ears of corn. There were also sausages, hams,
and sides of bacon.
"I doubt not you will fare well while we are gone," he said. "There
is plenty of well-cured meat, and meal enough ground to last for some
time. The planting is done and the corn well hoed; there is wood cut,
and Gran'ther Wattles will call upon you if he knows I am away. I am
leaving the fowling-piece for thee, wife. The musket I shall take with
me."
"Why must Gran'ther Wattles come?" interrupted Nancy in alarm. "I am
sure Mother and I do not need him."
"Children should be seen and not heard," said her father. "It is
Gran'ther Wattles's duty to oversee the congregation at home as well
as in the meeting-house."
Nancy looked at her trencher and said no more, but she thought there
was already enough to bear without having Gran'ther Wattles added to
her troubles. Daniel, meanwhile, had attacked his porringer of clams,
and in his excitement over the journey was gobbling at a fearful rate.
His mother looked at him despairingly.
"Daniel," she said, "thou art pitching food into thy mouth as if thou
wert shoveling coals into the oven! Take thy elbows off the table and
eat more moderately." Daniel glued his elbows to his side. "Sit up
straight," she went on, "or thou wilt grow up as crooked as a ram's
horn." Daniel immediately sat up as if he had swallowed the poker.
"I wish thee to practice proper manners at home, lest my aunt should
think thee a person of no gentility. Remember thou must not ask for
anything at the table. Wait until it is offered thee, and then do
not stuff it down as if thine eyes had not looked upon food for a
fortnight!"
"But," protested poor Dan, who was beginning to feel that the journey
might not be all his fancy had painted, "suppose they should n't offer
it?"
"I do not fear starvation for thee," his mother answered briefly; "and
oh, Daniel, I beg of thee to wash thy hands before going to the table!
The Governor is a proper man and my aunt is very particular." She
paused for breath, and to get more brown-bread for the table.
When she sat down again, Daniel said, "If you please, I think I 'd
rather go on to Provincetown with the Captain."
"That must be as we are guided at the time," said his father.
The busy day passed quickly, and before sunset a fine array of pies
and brown loaves were cooling on the table, the chores were done, and
a Sabbath quiet had settled down over the household, not to be broken
until sunset of the following day.
When Daniel opened the cabin door the next morning, he was confronted
by a wall of gray mist which shut the landscape entirely from view.
He had hoped to catch a glimpse of the Lucy Ann, in order to assure
himself that he had not merely dreamed the events of the day before,
but nothing could he see, and he began dispirited preparations for
church. They had no clock, and on account of the fog they could not
tell the time by the sun, so the whole family started early to cross
the long stretch of pasture land which lay between them and the
meeting-house in the village. They reached it just as Gran'ther
Wattles, looking very grave and important, came out on the church
steps and beat a solemn tattoo upon a drum to call the people
together. They came from different directions across the fields and
through the one street of the village, looking anxious for fear
they should be late, yet not daring to desecrate the Sabbath by any
appearance of haste. Among the rest, red-faced and short of wind, who
should appear but Captain Sanders? Sabbath decorum forbade any show of
surprise; so Goodman Pepperell and his wife merely bowed gravely, and
the Captain, looking fairly pop-eyed in his effort to keep properly
solemn, nodded in return, and they passed into the meeting-house
together.
The Captain sat down with the Goodman on the men's side of the room,
while Daniel went to his place among the boys, leaving Nancy and his
mother seated with the women on the opposite side. It is hard to
believe that a boy could sit through a sermon two hours long with his
friends all about him and such a secret buttoned up inside his jacket
without an explosion, but Daniel did it. He did n't dare do otherwise,
for Gran'ther Wattles ranged up and down the little aisle with his
tithing-rod in hand on the lookout for evil-doers. Once, indeed,
during the sermon there was a low rumbling snore, and Daniel was
horrified to see Gran'ther Wattles lean over and gently tickle the
Captain's nose with the squirrel-tail. The Captain woke with a start
and sneezed so violently that the boy next Daniel all but tittered
outright. Gran'ther Wattles immediately gave him a smart rap on the
head with the knob end of his stick, so it is no wonder that after
that Daniel sat with his eyes nearly crossed in his effort to keep
them fixed on the minister, though his thoughts were far away ranging
Massachusetts Bay with the Lucy Ann of Marblehead.
At last, however, the sermon ended, the final psalm was sung, and
after the benediction the minister passed out of the church and the
congregation dispersed to eat a bite of brown-bread in the church-yard
before assembling again for another two-hour sermon.
The sun was now shining brightly, and, once outside the door, after
the first sermon, the Captain wiped his brow as if exhausted, and a
few moments later Daniel saw him quietly disappearing in the direction
of the river. He was not of the Cambridge parish, so no discipline
could be exercised upon him, but Gran'ther Wattles set him down at
once as a dangerous character, and even Goodwife Pepperell shook her
head gently when she noted his absence.
[Illustration]
Somehow, although it was a breach of Sabbath decorum to tell it, the
great news leaked out during the intermission, and Daniel was the
center of interest to every boy in the congregation during the
afternoon. When the second long sermon was over and the exhausted
minister had trailed solemnly down the aisle, the equally exhausted
people walked sedately to their houses, discussing the sermon as they
went. All that day Daniel kept a tight clutch on his manners, but the
moment the sun went down, he heaved a great sigh of relief and turned
three somersaults and a handspring behind the cabin to limber himself
up after the fearful strain.
[Illustration]
III
ON BOARD THE LUCY ANN
The family rose at daybreak the next morning, tasks were quickly
performed, and after breakfast the Goodman read a chapter in the Bible
and prayed long and earnestly that God would bless their journey,
protect those who were left behind, and bring them all together again
in safety. Then he and Daniel started down the path to the river, with
Nancy and her mother, both looking very serious, following after. The
tide was already coming in, and the bay stretched before them a wide
sheet of blue water sparkling in the sun. In the distance they could
see the sails of the Lucy Ann being hoisted and Captain Sanders in his
small boat rowing rapidly toward the landing-place.
"Ship ahoy!" shouted Daniel, waving his cap as the boat approached.
"Ahoy, there!" answered the Captain, and in a moment the keel grated
on the sand, and the Goodman turned to his wife and daughter.
"The Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from the
other," he said reverently, and "Amen!" boomed the Captain. Then there
were kisses and good-byes, and soon Nancy and her mother were alone on
the shore, waving their hands until the boat was a mere speck on the
dancing blue waters. As it neared the Lucy Ann, they went back to the
cabin, and there they watched the white sails gleaming in the sun
until they disappeared around a headland.
"Come, Nancy," said her mother when the ship was quite out of sight,
"idleness will only make loneliness harder to bear. Here is a task for
thee." She handed her a basket of raw wool. "Take this and card it for
me to spin."
Nancy hated carding with all her heart, but she rose obediently,
brought the basket to the doorway, and, sitting down in the sunshine,
patiently carded the wool into little wisps ready to be wound on a
spindle and spun into yarn by the mother's skillful hands.
Meanwhile Daniel was standing on the deck of the Lucy Ann, drinking
in the fresh salt breeze and eagerly watching the shores as the boat
passed between Charlestown and Boston and dropped anchor in the harbor
to set the Captain's lobster-pots. All the wonderful bright day they
sailed past rocky islands and picturesque headlands, with the Captain
at the tiller skillfully keeping the vessel to the course and at the
same time spinning yarns to Daniel and his father about the adventures
which had overtaken him at various points along the coast. At
Governor's Island he had caught a giant lobster. He had been all but
wrecked in a fog off Thompson's Island.
"Ye see that point of land," he said, waving his hand toward a rocky
promontory extending far out into the bay. "That 's Squantum. Miles
Standish of Plymouth named it that after an Indian that was a good
friend of the Colony in the early days. Well, right off there I was
overhauled by a French privateer once. 'Privateer' is a polite name
for a pirate ship. She was loaded with molasses, indigo, and such from
the West Indies, and I had a cargo of beaver-skins. If it had n't been
that her sailors was mostly roarin' drunk at the time, it 's likely
that would have been the end of Thomas Sanders, skipper, sloop, and
all, but my boat was smaller and quicker than theirs, and, knowing
these waters so well, I was able to give 'em the slip and get out into
open sea; and here I be! Ah, those were the days!"