All the old friendship came back with its tender and grateful

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emotions; But his pride overmastered the nobler nature within him,— Pride, and the sense of his wrong, and the burning fire of the insult.

So he beheld his friend departing in anger, but spake not, Saw him go forth to danger, perhaps to death, and he spake not! Then he arose from his bed, and heard what the people were

saying,

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Joined in the talk at the door, with Stephen and Richard and Gilbert,1

Joined in the morning prayer, and in the reading of Scripture,

And, with the others, in haste went hurrying down to the seashore,

Down to the Plymouth Rock, that had been to their feet as a doorstep

Into a world unknown, the corner-stone of a nation!

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There with his boat was the Master, already a little impatient

Lest he should lose the tide, or the wind might shift to the eastward,

Square-built, hearty, and strong, with an odor of ocean about him,

Speaking with this one and that, and cramming letters and parcels

Into his pockets capacious, and messages mingled together 75 Into his narrow brain, till at last he was wholly bewildered. Nearer the boat stood Alden, with one foot placed on the gunwale,

One still firm on the rock, and talking at times with the sailors,

Seated erect on the thwarts, all ready and eager for starting.

He too was eager to go, and thus put an end to his anguish, 80 Thinking to fly from despair, that swifter than keel is or

canvas,

Thinking to drown in the sea the ghost that would rise and pursue him.

But as he gazed on the crowd, he beheld the form of Priscilla Standing dejected among them, unconscious of all that was

passing.

Fixed were her eyes upon his, as if she divined his intention, 85 Fixed with a look so sad, so reproachful, imploring, and patient,

That with a sudden revulsion his heart recoiled from its purpose,

As from the verge of a crag, where one step more is destruction.

Strange is the heart of man, with its quick, mysterious instincts!

Strange is the life of man, and fatal or fated are moments, 90 Whereupon turn, as on hinges, the gates of the wall adaman

tine!

"Here I remain!" he exclaimed, as he looked at the heavens above him,

Thanking the Lord whose breath had scattered the mist and the madness,

Wherein, blind and lost, to death he was staggering headlong.

"Yonder snow-white cloud, that floats in the ether above me, 95

Seems like a hand that is pointing and beckoning over the There is another hand, that is not so spectral and ghost-like, Holding me, drawing me back, and clasping mine for protec

tion.

Float, O hand of cloud, and vanish away in the ether!
Roll thyself up like a fist, to threaten and daunt me; I heed

not

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Either your warning or menace, or any omen of evil!
There is no land so sacred, no air so pure and so wholesome,
As is the air she breathes, and the soil that is pressed by her

footsteps.

Here for her sake will I stay, and like an invisible pres

ence

Hover around her forever, protecting, supporting her weak

ness;

105 Yes! as my foot was the first that stepped on this rock at the landing,

So, with the blessing of God, shall it be the last at the leaving!"

Meanwhile the Master alert, but with dignified air and important,

Scanning with watchful eye the tide and the wind and the

weather,

Walked about on the sands, and the people crowded around him 110

Saying a few last words, and enforcing his careful remembrance.

Then, taking each by the hand, as if he were grasping a tiller,
Into the boat he sprang, and in haste shoved off to his vessel,
Glad in his heart to get rid of all this worry and flurry,
Glad to be gone from a land of sand and sickness and
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sorrow,

Short allowance of victual, and plenty of nothing but Gospel! Lost in the sound of the oars was the last farewell of the

Pilgrims.

O strong hearts and true! not one went back in the "Mayflower"!

No, not one looked back, who had set his hand to this ploughing!

Soon were heard on board the shouts and songs of the sailors

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Heaving the windlass round, and hoisting the ponderous anchor.

Then the yards were braced, and all sails set to the west wind, Blowing steady and strong; and the "Mayflower" sailed

from the harbor,

Rounded the point of the Gurnet,' and leaving far to the southward

2

Island and cape of sand, and the Field of the First Encounter, 125 Took the wind on her quarter, and stood for the open Atlantic,

Borne on the send of the sea, and the swelling hearts of the Pilgrims.

Long in silence they watched the receding sail of the vessel, Much endeared to them all, as something living and hu

man;

Then, as if filled with the spirit, and wrapt in a vision pro

phetic,

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Baring his hoary head, the excellent Elder of Plymouth
Said, "Let us pray!" and they prayed, and thanked the

Lord and took courage.*

Mournfully sobbed the waves at the base of the rock, and above them