perceived that the Pamet was aboard her, and rather sharply demanded,--

"Whither bound now, Kamuso? Thou didst but ask passage to Manomet."

"My white brothers have not all the corn they need, have they?" asked
the Indian, an air of humble sympathy pervading his voice and manner.

"Nay. If the famine we forebode is upon us we need twice, thrice, as
much as this, before the harvest not yet sown is ready for use."

"For that then is Kamuso here. At Nauset, Aspinet hath great store of
corn hidden from the white men, but it is not his alone, it is mine, it
is the tribe's, it is The Sword's. Let my lord come to Nauset and I will
have his canoe filled to the brim, there shall not be room to put in one
grain more--Kamuso says it."

"Hm! That would be a matter of fifty bushels or more," replied Standish
literally. "What say you, Howland? What is your mind, men?"

Various brief replies showed that the mind of the crew was to obey the
captain's orders, and after a moment's thought he muttered to Howland in
Dutch,--

"I like not this fellow's carriage. He is too smooth to be honest, and
yet what can one wretched savage do against seven men armed and on their
watch? But pass the word among the rest to be wary, and Alden, I leave
it in charge to thee, lad, in case the savage treacherously smites me as
I think he meant last night, do thou avenge me."

"He'll not breathe thrice after his blow, Master," replied Alden in his
deepest tones.

"Well said, lad; but gentle thy face and eke thy voice, or he'll
suspect. Now then, lads, put her before this western wind, and ho for
Nauset once more!"

The command was obeyed, but lo the wind, which had since sunrise blown
softly from the south of west making a fair breeze for Nauset near the
end of the Cape, now suddenly hauled round with angry gusts and
gathering mists, until it stood in the northeast right in the teeth of
the shallop's course, while every sign of sky and sea foreboded a
gathering storm.

"His totem is too strong," muttered the Pamet in his throat, and the
hand beneath his garment clinching the handle of the dagger seized with
it a handful of his own flesh and gripped it savagely, while in silence
he called upon his gods for help.

But none came, more than to the priests of Baal what time Elijah jeered
them, and after a brief consultation with his crew Standish once more
altered his course, and the pinnace with double-reefed sails flew before
the rising wind lik