tice for thee
against some of these lasses grow up, and thou wouldst fain go a-wooing
on thine own account. Nay, then, can it be that a young fellow who would
gayly go forth against Goliath of Gath were he in these parts is craven
before the bright eyes and nimble tongue of a little maid? Dost think
Priscilla will box thine ears?"

"Nay, but"--

"Nay me no buts and but me no nays, for the scheme tickles my fancy
hugely, and so it shall be. Thou seest, Jack, it were more than a little
awkward for me to show reason why I have not spoken sooner, and the fair
lady's angry dignity will be appeased by seeing that I stand in awe of
her, and woo her as princesses are wooed, by proxy. Thou shalt be my
proxy, Jack, and see thou serve me not so scurvy a trick as--ha, here
cometh the governor."

And, in effect, Bradford striding up the hill with all the vigor of his
one-and-thirty years was already so close at hand as to save John Alden
the pain of a reply.

"Good e'en, Governor," cried Standish going a step or two to meet his
guest.

"Good e'en, Captain,--Alden. There's more trouble toward about the
Billingtons."

"What now?" demanded the captain with a stern brevity auguring ill for
the frequent offender.

"Nay, 't is no willful offense this time, nor is the father to blame
except for not training his boys better; but the son John hath run away
to go to the salvages his brother says, and the mother saith he is
stolen, and whichever way it may be, he has been missing since yester
even at bedtime, and now we have to go and look him up."

"'Ill bird of an ill egg,'" growled Standish. "Mayhap 't were better not
to find him."

"And yet we must," replied Bradford gently. "And as Squanto reports that
the boy shaped his course for Manomet, my idea is that it were well for
us to take our boat and coast along the headland and so on in the course
we came at first, observing the shore, and noting such points as may be
of use in the future. Mayhap we shall come as far as the First
Encounter, and make out whether those salvages whom Squanto calls the
Nausets are still so dangerously disposed toward us. At any rate we will
try to discover our creditors for the seed-corn springing so greenly
over yonder."

"Pity that Winslow hath gone to Sowams to visit Massasoit," remarked the
captain dryly. "We shall miss his subtle wit in these delicate affairs
of state."

"Yes, and if it comes to blows we shall miss no less Stephen Hopkins's