many of these
petitions quite failed to comprehend them, and when the devotion was
over rose and went away far more gently than he had come.

CHAPTER XII.

THE HEADLESS ARROW.

"Where is the governor? Hast seen him of late, Mistress Priscilla?"

"Nay, Peter Browne, not since breakfast; but what is thy great haste?
Have the skies fallen, or our friends the lions eaten up Nero?"

"Nay, then, 't is worse than lions; ay, here is Master Carver."

"Here am I, Peter, and what wouldst thou with me in such haste?"

"Why, sir, I have ill news. This morning I went a-fowling to a pond
beyond that where we cut thatch and fell into such mishap, and as I lay
quiet at my stand waiting till the ducks might swim my way, I saw, for I
heard naught, twelve stout salvages all painted and trimmed up, carrying
bows and arrows and every man his little axe at his girdle. Each glided
after each like shadows upon the water, so still and smooth, and they
seemed making for the town. Then as I bent my ear to the quarter whence
they came I caught the far-off echo of that same fiendish cry that
saluted us at the First Encounter, and would seem to be their war-cry or
slogan."

"And then?"

"I waited till all were past and all sound died away, and then I fetched
a compass, and ran home as fast as I might to warn the company and the
captain."

"And thou didst well, Peter," replied Carver musingly, while Priscilla
standing in the doorway behind him, with Mary Chilton at her side,
nodded mockingly, and clapped her hands in silent applause.

Turning suddenly, the governor surprised her antics, but smiling,
asked,--

"Dost know, Priscilla, whither Captain Standish went this morning?"

"He and Francis Cooke went a-field so soon as they had done breakfast,
sir, and as they carried axes and wedges in hand, it would seem they had
gone to rive timber," replied Priscilla demurely.

"Ay, like enough; but as 't is near noon, when they will be home for
dinner, we will e'en wait till we have the captain's counsel, and
meantime I'll see that all have their arms in readiness."

"And I will go help to make the dinner ready," said Priscilla. "Thou
canst lay the table, Mary."

"Ay," replied the girl listlessly, and turning suddenly to hide the
tears that filled her blue eyes. Priscilla looked after her, and the
forced gayety faded from her own face as she put her arm about her
friend's waist and led her away.

"Nay, then, nay, then," whispered