st
have been very thirsty, for the children who followed them saw them
pause at the town-pump and drink again.

There was at this time in Boston a very respectable inn, at which
Bradford the governor of New Plymouth had been entertained by the elder
governor Winthrop. The man and child proceeded to this inn, the best in
the town, and entered the broad piazza which was on a level with the
street. All the ovens were heated, and the host, who was also chief
cook, was preparing supper. The savory smell of cooked meats and
vegetables filled the air with an odor which seemed to increase the
child's hunger. The man and child without a word sank down upon the
wooden benches and listened to the conversation of some men who were
drinking in the tap-room. The peals of laughter and loud talk certainly
were very unlike the staid Puritans of New England. Anon, one of them
struck up a cavalier song very popular among that sect at the period,
and ended with:

"God save the King!"

No war-horse ever heard the blast of a trumpet with more fire in his
soul than did the stranger sitting on the porch holding his child by one
hand, and his knotted stick in the other, hear that cry. His hand
involuntarily clutched the stick as if it were a sword, and his breath
came hard and quick, as if he were eager to rush into battle. The child
seemed instinctively to catch the idea of her father and clutched his
arm with both her hands, while her soft brown eyes were fixed on his in
mute appeal, and he sat enduring the insult without a murmur.

The kitchen was not so far away but that the partridges, grouse and
trout on spits and in the oven gave forth their fumes as they browned
to tempting perfection. The little girl had not yet spoken since they
had entered the town; but now she fixed her eyes on her parent and
whispered:

"I am very hungry."

He turned his great brown eyes on her tenderly, and made no answer. At
this moment a tow-headed son of the host espied the strangers on the
porch and went to his father to report. The landlord, with flushed face
and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked:

"What do you want?"

"Supper and bed," was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to
the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.

The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and
then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his
accommodations, asked:

"Have you money to pay for that which you ask?