Standish of Standish | Page 4

his
short, strong teeth and made his blue eyes twinkle pleasantly; then
returning to the hatchway he called down,--
"Ho, Alden! You're wanted, man, and so is Gilbert Winslow."
"He's not here, then," responded a heavier voice, as a splendid young
giant swung himself up on deck and ran his fingers through a shock of
curling chestnut hair; a glorious youth, six feet and over in his hose of
hodden gray, with the shoulders and sinews of an athlete, and the calm,
strong face of an Egyptian god.
"What is it, John?" asked he, fixing his dark eyes upon Howland with
the affectionate gladness one reads in the eyes of a dog called to his
master's side, but of which few human natures are capable.
"Why, Jack, thou and I and Gilbert Winslow are appointed squires of
dames to some of the women who would fain go ashore to wash clothes,
and we are to pack them into yonder boat, row them ashore, and then
purvey wood, water, and such like for them."
"I'd liefer haul out the pinnace," replied Alden with a grimace. "But
your will is mine."
"Nay, the governor's will is thine and mine, and it is he set us this task.
Where is Winslow?"
"In the cabin belike, chatting with Mary Chilton. It's the work he best
loves," replied Alden grimly. "But I'll find him."
"And some of the boys, Jack," suggested Howland, as the younger man
turned away. "Bart Allerton and Love Brewster, Giles Hopkins and
Crakstone and Cooke, any of the lads that you fall foul of, except the
Billingtons,--of them I'll have none."

"And why not the Billingtons, worshipful Master Howland, lackey of
the governor, and page-boy to his wife," demanded the voice that had
interrupted Mistress Hopkins, and turning toward it, Howland
confronted a short, square woman, not without a certain vulgar
comeliness of her own, although now her buxom complexion was
florid with anger and her black eyes snapping angrily, while the arms
akimbo, the swaying figure, and raised voice betrayed Helena
Billington for precisely what she was, a common scold and shrew.
Howland was a brave man; he had already showed both strength and
prowess when, washed overboard in a "seel" of the ship, and carried
fathoms deep in mid-ocean, he caught the topsail-halyards swept over
with him and clung to them until he was rescued in spite of the raging
wind and waves that repeatedly dragged him under; nor in the face of
savage foe, or savage beast, or peril by land or sea, was John Howland
ever known less than the foremost; but now in face of this angry
woman he found naught to say, and blushing and stammering and half
laughing fairly turned and ran away, springing up the stairs to the
elevated deck cabins, in one of which Elder Brewster and his family
had their lodging.
Mistress Brewster, a pale, sweet-faced woman, already at fifty-four
dressing and behaving as the venerable mother in Israel, came forward
to meet him, and smiling indulgently asked,--
"Now what hast thou done to goodwife Billington, thou naughty lad? I
hear thy name in her complaint, and indeed all the company can hear it,
if they will."
"I did but say I would none of her boys in my party, dear Mistress
Brewster, and I hope you'll say so too," replied Howland, uncovering
his yellow head. "They are the greatest marplots and scapegraces"--
"Nay, nay, John! Say no evil, or thou 'lt make me think thou hast
'scaped grace thyself," suggested the elder's wife with her gentle smile.
"And prithee, what is thy party? Are my boys bidden, or must they e'en
bide with the Billingtons?"
"The party is your party, dear dame, for the governor sent me to ask

your commands upon it, and if Love and Wrestling will give us such
aid as their years allow, I shall be most grateful."
And then in simple phrase Howland repeated the governor's
instructions, and requested those of the dame, who at once convened an
informal council of matrons, and so well advised them that in a scant
hour the clumsy boat, rolling and bumping against the side of the brig,
was laden with bales of clothing, tubs whose hoops John Alden, a
cooper by trade, was hurriedly overlooking, and sundry great brass and
copper kettles, household necessities of that epoch, and descending as
relics to us who look upon them with respectful wonder as memorial
brasses of the "giants of those days."
A flock of women, all demurely and plainly dressed, although the most
of them were under thirty years of age, stood waiting at the head of the
ladder until the cargo was stored, and Howland, sending his assistants
back on deck, planted himself upon the gunwale of the boat, and
holding