ed speaking, and all eyes involuntarily turned toward the
door.

"Billington, the voice is that of thy wife. Go, and warn her that we
tolerate no common scolds in our midst, and that the cucking-stool and
the pillory"--

But the elder's threats and Billington's shamefaced obedience and the
wonder of all who had listened to the outbreak were cut short by a
startling apparition upon the threshold; the savages had really come at
last, or at least one of them, for here stood, tall and erect, the
splendid figure of a man, naked except for a waistband of buckskin
fringe, his skin of a bright copper color glistening in the morning sun,
and forming a rich background for the vari-colored paints with which it
was decorated; his coarse, black hair, cut square above the eyebrows,
fell upon his shoulders at the back, and was ornamented by three
eagle-feathers woven into its tresses; in his hand he carried a bow
nearly as tall as himself, and two arrows; a sharp little hatchet,
evidently of European make, was thrust into his girdle, but the keenness
of its edge was less than that of the glances with which he watched the
slightest movement of the armed men who started to their feet at his
approach.

The savage was the first to speak, and his utterance has become as
classic as Caesar's "Veni,"--for it was,--

"Welcome!"

As he pronounced it, and looked about him with kindly, if wary eyes, the
Pilgrims drew a long breath, and the tense anxiety of the moment lapsed
into aspects various as the temperaments of the men.

"What! Do these men speak English, then!" exclaimed Allerton bewildered,
while Standish muttered,--

"Look to your side-arms, men. He may mean treachery," and noble Carver,
extending his hand, said,--

"Thanks for your courtesy, friend. How know you our language?"

"I am Samoset. I am friend of Englishmen. I come to say welcome."

"Truly 't is a marvel to hear him speak in our own tongue and so glibly
too. Mark you how he chooses his words as one of some dignity himself,"
said Bradford softly, but the quick ears of the savage caught the
substance of his words, and tapping his broad chest lightly with his
fingers he proudly replied,--

"Samoset, sachem of Monhegan. Samoset do well to many Englishmen in his
own country."

"And where is Monhegan, friend Samoset?" asked Carver pleasantly. "Might
it be this place?"

"This place Patuxet. Monhegan nearer to the sunrise," replied Samoset
pointing eastward.

"And