CHAPTER XXXVII.
"AND TO BE WROTH WITH ONE WE LOVE."
"Barbara, hath Master Allerton asked thee to be his wife?" inquiredMyles, as he and his cousin sat together upon the bench in front of hisown house some few evenings after the weddings.
"He spoke to the governor, and he to me," replied Barbara, a littlespark of mirth glinting in her blue eyes.
"And thou saidst?"--
"I said that I hardly knew Master Allerton by sight as yet, and was inno haste to wed."
"What sort of yea-nay answer was that, thou silly wench? Why didst notsay No, round and full?"
"Because No, wrapped in gentle words, served my turn as well, cousin."
"Come now, I do remember that tone of old, soft as snow and unbendableas ice. So 't is the same Barbara I quarreled with so oft, is it? Everquite sure that her own way is the best, and ever watchful lest anyshould lay a finger on her free will."
"Methinks, Myles, you give your kinswoman a somewhat unlovely temper ofher own. How is it about Captain Standish in these days? Hath he grownmeek and mild, and afraid to carry himself after his own mind?"
"Why so tart, Barbara? Because I chid thee for trifling with Allerton?"
"Nay Myles, I made not yon weary voyage for the sake of quarreling withthee. Well dost thou know, cousin, I would not trifle with any man, andI begged the governor to enforce out of his own mouth the no-say that Iworded gently, for truly there is no reason for me to flout thegentleman. How could he honor me more than to ask me to wife?"
"Well, well, so long as thou hast said No and will stick to No, all iswell; but I like not this man Allerton; he is too shrewd a trader for asimple gentleman to cope with. He sold me corn and gave scant measure,and I told him of it too. He likes me not better than I like him."
"Rest easy, Myles, I'll never make him thy cousin. I care not if I neverwed."
"Nay, that's too far on t' other side the hedge. A comely and a winsomelass like thee is sure to wed, but what runs in my head, Barbara, isthat there is none left here fit for thee. I would that Bradford had notbeen so constant to his old-time sweetheart. I would have given thee tohim, for though his folk were but yeomen of the better sort there athome, here he is the Governor and playeth his part as well as any Howardor Percy of them all. Winslow cometh of good lineage and carrieth hiscoat-armor; but he and now his brother John are wed, and Gilbert willleave us anon, so that verily I see no man left with whom a Standishmight fitly wed."
A peal of merry laughter broke in upon the captain's meditative pause,and his indignant and astonished regard only seemed to aggravate thematter, until at last Barbara breathlessly exclaimed,--
"Nay Myles, for sweet pity's sake look not so glum, nor devour me allat one mouthful. Dost remember how I used to tell thee to beware, for 'alittle pot is soon hot,' and thine own wrath will choke thee some day?"
"Glad am I to amuse you so pleasantly Mistress Standish, but may I askthe exact provocation to mirth I have just now offered?"
"Oh Myles, I meant not to chafe thy temper so sorely, and I pray theehold me excused for untimely laughter; but in good sooth it so tickledmy fancy to hear thee airing thine old world quips and quiddities aboutcoat-armor, and one with whom a Standish might fitly wed, and yeomensnatched from oblivion by the saving grace of a governor's title! Andlook upon these rocks and wild woods and swart savages and thine ownrude labors--nay then, but I must laugh or burst!"
And giving way to her humor the girl trolled out peal after peal ofdelicious laughter, while her cousin folding his arms sat regarding herwith an iron visage, which whenever she caught sight of it set her offagain. At last, however, she wiped her eyes and penitently cried,--
"I did not think myself so rude, Myles. Pr'ythee forgive me, cousin.Nay, look not so ungently upon me! Here's my hand on 't I am sorry."
But the captain took not the offered hand nor unbent his angry brow.Rising from the bench he paced up and down for a moment, then stoppingin front of Barbara calmly said,--
"Nay, I'm not angry. At first I was astonied that a gentlewoman could soforget herself; but I do remember that Thomas Standish, your father,married beneath his station, and so imported a strain into the blood ofhis noble house that will crop out now and again in his children. Ishould not therefore too much admire at such derelictions from courtesyand gentlehood as I but now have seen."
As he slowly spoke his bitter words the lingering gleams of laughter andthe softening lines of penitence faded from Barbara's face. Rising toher height, nearly equal with that of her cousin, she gazed full intohis angry eyes with the blue splendor of her own all ablaze withindignation and contempt.
"You dare to make light of my mother, do you, Captain Standish! My dearand dearly honored mother, who in her brave love endured the poverty andthe labors that my father had no skill to save her from. My mother, whocarried her noble husband upon her shoulders as it were, and would noteven die till he was dead. Myles Standish, I take shame to myself that Iam kin to you, and if ever I do wed, it shall be to lose my name andforget my lineage."
She passed him going down the hill, but with a long step he overtookher, saying almost timidly,--
"Nay, nay, thou 'rt over sharp with me, Barbara! I said, and I meant, noword against thy mother, of whom I ever heard report as one of thesweetest and faithfullest of wives"--
"There, that will do, sir. My mother needs no praise of yours, and,thanks be to God, hath gone where she may rest from the burden of herhigh marriage. Let me pass an 't please you, Master Captain."
"But Barbara, nay Barbara, stay but to hear a word"--
"There have been words enow and to spare. I go now to tell the governorthat I am minded to take passage in the Anne once more. My mother's folkin Bedfordshire, yeomen all of them, Captain Standish, will make me gayand welcome, and with them and such as them will I live and die."
"And fill thy leisure with fashioning silk purses out of fabric thou 'ltfind to hand," cried the captain, his temper flashing up again; butBarbara neither turned nor replied as she fled down the hill to hide thetears she could no longer restrain.
Howbeit she said no word to Bradford of the return passage, a fact whichStandish easily discovered when early next morning he met the governorand stopped to say to him,--
"Well met, Will; I was on my road to seek thee, man."
"Ay, and for what, brother?"
"Why, Will, I'm moped with naught to do, and all these strange faces atevery turn. I liked it better when we were to ourselves and it was onlyto fight the Neponsets now and again. I fain would find some workfurther agate than yon palisado."
"Why, then, thy wish and my desire fit together as cup and ball, forhere is the Little James unladen and idle. She is to stay with us, thouknowest, for use in trading and fishing, but Bridges, her master, saithsome of his men are grumbling already at prospect of such peacefulemprises. They fain would go buccaneering in the Spanish Seas, ordiscover some such road to hasty fortune, albeit bloody and violent.Master Bridges and I agreed that it was best to find work for theseuneasy souls withouten too much delay, and I told him we had beenthinking to send a party to look after the fishing-stage we built lastyear at Cape Ann. Gloucester, they say Roger Conant hath named the placealready. Now what say you, Myles? Will take some men and join them toBridges' buccaneers, and hold all in hand and start them on fishing?"
"'T will suit me woundy well, governor. Howbeit, 't is not the time forcod, is it?"
"No, but mackerel and bluefish are in season, and at all odds 't is wellto be on hand to claim the staging, for Conant hath sent word by anIndian that some English ships were harrying our fishermen at Monhegan,and we had best look to our properties in those regions."
"Ay, ay, 't is as thou sayest, Will, like cup and ball, thy need and mydesire. How soon can we sail?"
"Why, to-night, an' it pleaseth thee. Bridges is in haste to get off,and the sooner the Little James is afloat the more content he will findhimself. And as to thy company. Here is a minute of the men I hadthoug
ht on."
"H--m, h--m," muttered the captain glancing over the list handed him byBradford. "Yes, these are sound good fellows all, and none of themburthened with wives. And by that same token, Will, thou and thy damewill care for my kinswoman, and bar Master Allerton from persecuting herwith his most mawkish suit while I am gone?"
"Surely, Myles, we'll care for Mistress Barbara, who is to my wife asone of her own sisters."
"Yes, the Carpenters are gentlefolk, if not a county family like ours,"said Standish simply. Bradford stared a little, but only replied,--
"Then I put the command in your hands, Captain, and you will ordermatters as suits your own convenience and pleasure. Master Bridges willwelcome you right gladly."
And before the sun, just risen over Manomet, sank behind Captain's Hill,the Little James had rounded the Gurnet, and was standing on for CapeAnn, with Myles Standish leaning against her mainmast, and smoking thepipe Hobomok had bestowed upon him with the assurance that he who usedit carried a charmed life so long as it remained unbroken. The captain'sarms were folded and his eyes fixed upon the fort-crowned hill where layhis home, but it was not of fort or home that he mused as at the last hemuttered,--
"And yet I glory in thy spirit, thou proud peat!"
Early the next morning Standish was somewhat roughly roused from hisslumbers by Master Bridges, who, shaking his shoulder, cried,--
"Here, Captain, here's gear for thee. Rouse thee, Master!"
"What is 't, Bridges? What's to do, man? Are the savages upon us?"
"Nay, but pirates, or as good."
"Ha! That's well. Send all your small arms on deck, Master Bridges, pipeto quarters, train your falcon--I'll be on deck anon"--
"Nay, but you do somewhat mistake, Captain. I said indeed pirates, butthat's not sure. There is a little ship anchored within a cable's lengthof the James, and her men are busy on shore with the fishing-stage whichLister saith is yours"--
"And so it is, every sliver of it."
"Mayhap, then, you'll come on deck and tell these merry men as much, forthey do only jeer at me."
"They'll not jeer long when my snaphance joins in the debate," saidStandish grimly as he followed the master up the companion way.
"Hail me yon craft, and ask for her commandant," ordered he, glancingrapidly over the scene. Bridges obeyed, and got reply that Master Hewes,captain of the Fisherman out of Southampton, was on shore with all hismen except the ship-keeper, who, however, spared the jibes with which hehad seasoned his reply to Bridges' first informal hail.
"The wind is fair, the tide flood. Carry your craft further in-shore,Master Bridges, that we may parley with these pirates from the vantageground of our own deck," ordered the captain, and was obeyed so fairlythat the Little James presently lay hove-to within a biscuit-toss of thestaging, where some fifteen or twenty men were diligently employed incuring a take of fish.
A short sharp colloquy ensued, Standish claiming the erection and itsprecincts as the property of Plymouth, and ordering the interlopers toat once release it, and to carry away their fish and their utensils,leaving room for the lawful owners' occupancy.
To this demand Hewes impudently replied that when he had done with thefish-flakes he cared not who used them, and that he would abandon theplace when it suited his own convenience, and not before.
"Well and good; then we shall come and take it," shouted the captain inconclusion, and turning his attention in-board, he rapidly divided hismen and Bridges' into two storming parties, while a watch left on boardwas to take charge of the light falcon mounted on deck, and at a signalfrom shore to begin the dance by firing upon the staging which Hewes wasalready barricading with a row of barrels, behind which he rapidlyposted his men, musket in hand, and matches alight.
"Now by St. Lawrence!" cried Standish, watching these preparations. "Butthe fellow hath a pretty notion of a barricado! I could not have done sovery much better in his place. 'T is fairer fortune than we could lookfor, to meet so ready a fellow, and you shall see some pretty sportanon, Master Bridges."
But at this moment a little group of men hastening from the fishing hutsmarking the present site of Gloucester, appeared upon the scene, and intheir leader both Standish and Bridges recognized Roger Conant, a friendand sometime visitor of Plymouth, who immediately upon arrival of theAnne had gone to join some friends fishing at Monhegan, and now, withthem, was establishing a sister station at Gloucester. Warned by theIndians that Hewes had seized the Plymouth fishing-stage, and seeing theLittle James entering the bay, Conant hastened to collect his friendsand present himself upon the scene of action to act as mediator, or allyof Plymouth, as circumstances might direct.
"We have come none too soon, men!" exclaimed Conant breathlessly as at arun he rounded the headland closing in the cove, and saw upon thebarricaded staging Hewes and his men blowing at their matches, whileStandish, his eyes aflame and an angry smile upon his lips, sprangashore and hurried his men out of the boat.
"Now glad am I to see you, Master Conant," cried Bridges, alreadywaiting upon the beach, and hastening toward him he said in a lowervoice. "Our captain hath got on his fighting cap, and thrown discretionto the winds. 'T will be an ill day for Plymouth if her men are led onto kill Englishmen fishing with the king's license."
"Ay indeed will it. Bide a bit till I can parley with both thy captainand Hewes, who is not an ill fellow if one handleth him gingerly."
"Gingerly goeth not smoothly with peppery, and 't is but half the truthto call our captain that," said Bridges with a dry smile, as Conantpassed him to reach Standish who was marshaling his men upon the sands.
Too long it were to detail the arguments of the man of peace, thedelicate manipulation of the tempers of both parties, the concessionswrung from the one side and the other, until after several hours' debateStandish moodily said,--
"Well Conant, sith you put it so, sith you make it out that by enforcingthe colony's right I do but attack the colony's life, I yield, for I amsworn defender and champion of Plymouth and her prosperity, and nevershall it be said that Myles Standish preferred his own quarrel to thewell-being of those he had sworn to protect. To leave yon fellowunscathed for his insolence, sits like a blister on a raw wound, but goand make what terms you can with him. I suppose you require not that Iabandon the colony's property altogether to him."
"Nay, nay, Captain, but I am thinking that my comrades and I, with someof the Little James' men and Master Hewes' company, should clap to andrun up another staging in a few hours either for the new-comers or thePlymouth men"--
"For Plymouth if you would pleasure me. I would not my men should takethe leavings of yon rabble at any price," interrupted Standishhaughtily.
"So be it, and if Hewes with his men will do their best, and MasterBridges and you will send your crew to help, we also will labor in thecommon cause until each party shall have a staging of its own, and thebond of Christian charity need not be broken."
"That same bond will be all the safer if I may get away from here withas small delay as may be," retorted Standish.
"And that too shall be," replied Conant cheerfully. "For I fain wouldspeak with the Master of the Anne before she sails, and I'll e'en takeour own pinnace and set you across the bay, and be back again before mymates have well missed me."
"So wilt thou save me from some such explosion as befalls when a littlepot is tightly closed and its contents overheated," replied Myles with agrim smile, and although Conant stared at the odd simile, he paused notto ask its solution, but so hastened the building of the stage and theother business of the day that when sunset fell, the two men, leavingthe rest at an amicable supper eaten in common, spread the wide sails oftheir pinnace to a fitful western wind, and skimmed southward under thesoothing and chastening light of the new-risen moon.
The western wind though often sighing in capricious languor never quitedeserted those who trusted to it, and at a good hour next morning thepinnace dropped her anchor beside the Anne, and her dory carried the twomew ashore jus
t as Plymouth woke to a new day.
Standish of Standish: A Story of the Pilgrims Page 38