!" for an arrow well and
strongly aimed hit squarely above his heart, and rebounded from the coat
of mail Rose had insisted upon his putting on.

"For thee, wife!" murmured the captain, and fired.

Bark and splinters flew from the tree where the crown of the warrior's
head had showed for an instant, but a shriek of derisive laughter told
that no further harm was done. Standish, with a grim smile, reloaded
his snaphance, while two more arrows vigorously flew, one piercing the
right sleeve of his doublet, the other aimed at his face, which he
avoided by moving his head. Then for one instant a dusky arm was seen
reaching over the shoulder for another arrow, and in that instant the
snaphance rang cheerily out, the arm fell with a convulsive movement,
and a piercing cry rang through the wood, followed by the pattering of
many moccasoned feet, as dusky shadows slipped from tree to tree, and
were lost in the dim recesses of the forest.

"They are routed! They fly!" cried Howland firing his piece into a
rustling thicket.

"Yes, that last cry was the retreat," said Standish half regretfully
plucking the arrow from his sleeve. "The chief finds his courage cooled
by a broken elbow. I doubt me if ever he speed arrow again."

"Body o' me!" continued he examining the shaft in his hand. "See you,
John, 't is pointed with naught but a bird's talon, curiously bound on
with its own sinews. To be scratched to death by a fowl were but a poor
ending for a man that has fought Alva!"

"Pursue them, Captain, pursue and terrify, but kill not, if you can help
it," ordered Carver eagerly. "Let the heathen know that they are but
men, and that the Lord of Hosts is on our side."

"Forward then, men! At the double-quick! Run!" and, waving his sword,
Standish rushed after the flying savages, followed by all but Carver,
English, and the sailors who stayed to guard the randevous and the
pinnace. But even as he ran Myles muttered, perhaps to the sword
Gideon,--

"Beshrew me if I see how I am to hurl yon text in the heathen's teeth,
sith we have no common tongue, and they will not stop for parley! A good
man, and a gentle, but no soldier, is our governor!"

As might have been expected, the Pilgrims, in their heavy clothing and
armor, proved no match for the Indians in a foot-race, and after
pursuing them for about a quarter of a mile Standish called a halt, and
ordered his men to raise a shout of mingled triumph and defiance,
followed by a voll