rewster, a bright, sturdy boy, creeping up to Elder Brewster and
touching his father's elbow.

Thereat there was a crying to the different mothers of girls and boys
tired of being cooped up,--"Oh, mother, mother, ask that we may all go
ashore."

"For my part," said old Margery the serving-maid to Elder Brewster, "I
want to go ashore to wash and be decent, for there isn't a soul of us
hath anything fit for Christians. There be springs of water, I trow."

"Never doubt it, my woman," said Elder Brewster; "but all things in their
order. How say you, Mr. Carver? You are our governor. What order shall we
take?"

"We must have up the shallop," said Carver, "and send a picked company to
see what entertainment there may be for us on shore."

"And I counsel that all go well armed," quoth Captain Miles Standish,
"for these men of the forest are sharper than a thorn-hedge. What! what!"
he said, looking over to the eager group of girls and boys, "ye would go
ashore, would ye? Why, the lions and bears will make one mouthful of ye."

"I'm not afraid of lions," said young Wrestling Brewster in an aside to
little Love Winslow, a golden-haired, pale-cheeked child, of a tender and
spiritual beauty of face. "I'd like to meet a lion," he added, "and serve
him as Samson did. I'd get honey out of him, I promise."

"Oh, there you are, young Master Boastful!" said old Margery. "Mind the
old saying, 'Brag is a good dog, but holdfast is better.'"

"Dear husband," said Rose Standish, "wilt thou go ashore in this
company?"

"Why, aye, sweetheart, what else am I come for--and who should go if not
I?"

"Thou art so very venturesome, Miles."

"Even so, my Rose of the wilderness. Why else am I come on this quest?
Not being good enough to be in your church nor one of the saints, I come
for an arm of flesh to them, and so, here goes on my armor."

And as he spoke, he buried his frank, good-natured countenance in an iron
headpiece, and Rose hastened to help him adjust his corselet.

The clang of armor, the bustle and motion of men and children, the
barking of dogs, and the cheery Heave-o! of the sailors marked the
setting off of the party which comprised some of the gravest, and wisest,
as well as the youngest and most able-bodied of the ship's' company. The
impatient children ran in a group and clustered on the side of the ship
to see them go. Old Deb, with her two half-grown pups, barked and yelped
after her master in the boat, running up