explosions," persisted the governor.

"There was a keg of gunpowder under the bed," confessed the boy
reluctantly, "and--and--some of it flew out upon the floor."

"Flew out without hands!" exclaimed Hopkins, but Carver raised his
finger and asked mildly,--

"And what didst thou with the powder on the floor, John?"

"I made some squibs as father did last Guy Fawkes Day," muttered the
boy.

"And dropped the fire among the loose powder on the floor, and so sent
all off together!" broke in Hopkins again. "And if the keg had caught,
thou wouldst have blown the ship to pieces! Thou unwhipt rascal,
thou 'rt enough to corrupt a whole colony of boys. If my Bartholomew
ever speaks to thee again I'll break every bone in his body, as I'd well
like to thine, and will"--

"Nay, nay, Master Hopkins!" interposed the governor sternly. "It is
never well to threaten what we cannot perform. We break not bones nor
put to the torture in our new community; but, John Billington, I shall
counsel thy father to take thee ashore and whip thee so soundly as shall
make thee long remember that gunpowder is for thee forbidden fruit. Go,
now, to thy cabin, and remain there till he comes, while I go to see
what harm thou hast wrought."

"Mistress Carver would fain see the governor without delay," announced
Lois, Mistress Carver's maid, in a quavering voice. "Jasper More was so
frighted by the noise that he is in convulsions, and we know not but he
is dying."

"Is Doctor Fuller here?" demanded another voice. "Mistress White would
see him presently."

"And this is thy work, boy!" exclaimed Carver solemnly. "Go!"

And the boy crept miserably away, foreboding the whipping of which he
was not disappointed.

CHAPTER VI.

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER.

So thoroughly were the bolder spirits among the Pilgrims impressed with
the necessity of haste in finding an abiding place that by afternoon of
the next day the pinnace was victualed and fitted for a voyage of ten
days or more, and the adventurers ready to embark. To the twelve men
previously named, all of whom were signers of the Constitution already
drawn up to quell symptoms of insubordination on the part of Hopkins and
others, were added Clarke and Coppin, acting as pilots, with the rank of
master's mate, three sailors, and the master gunner, who, uninvited,
thrust himself into the company in hopes of making something by traffic,
or, as he phrased it, _trucking_ with the Indians.

But ha