Cornelia Meigs

“ Andrew followed Drusilla into the house to set down her basket on the table, and there discovered Granny Fletcher huddled in the big chair by the fireplace, for she had refused to stay in bed. She was alternately muttering to herself and babbling aloud.
"So we are to perish after all," she was saying. "A blight lies heavy upon us. Some wrong we must have done. Was it because we took food that was not ours and never repaid? We thought we were starving, but to die in this way is worse than to starve. God has forgotten us. He has hidden his face from us because of our sins." ”

“ Drusilla declared. "You cannot think how strange it looks among the white ones!"
"A black sheep?" cried Granny Fletcher, in shrill consternation. "There is a sign of bad luck, indeed! It is enough to send us all to the bottom. A black cat's crossing our path could not be a worse omen."
"We are scarcely in danger from the passing of any black cats," William Bradford observed, with twinkling eyes. "As for the black lamb, it shall be your very own, Mistress Drusilla, since it was you who brought us tidings of it. ”

“ Peter Perkins returned, wagging his head.
Through the long days of the voyage that followed, those two seemed like watchful, sharp-tongued ghosts that haunted Andrew's footsteps. Whatever went amiss, they laid the blame upon him, whatever he did was bound, in their eyes, to be wrong.
"There are always scolds in every company," Bradford told him one day, when the reproaches of his two enemies seemed past bearing. "Whether such persons wear breeches or petticoats, they are just the same, and real men must learn to close their ears to them." ”

“ The Indians thought that the courage of those who were gone must pass into the hearts of those who still lived, and even though so many should perish that there was but one left, they would still fear him, since he would have the strength of all.
Very slowly Andrew turned this strange idea over and over in his mind.
"And we wonder at you, in our turn," the boy replied at last; "how you can find food and live in plenty in what seems to us a cruel and barren wilderness. If we could learn to be friends, white men and red men, how we could help each other in many things!" ”

“ Soon in every family there was some one dead, some one dying; while fewer and fewer were left to go from house to house to care for the sufferers. William Bradford labored like ten men, and taught Andrew to be nearly as useful as himself. Drusilla Kritchell, although she had her mother and Granny Fletcher sick in her own house, still managed to go forth every day, with all the gravity and earnestness of a grown woman, to nurse and scrub and care for motherless children. ”

“ A hasty council had been held in the Mayflower's cabin as to who should go on and who should be carried back to England, at which gathering Andrew, in spite of his uncle's protests, had pushed into the front rank of those who wished to go forward.
"We are already overcrowded, and it is the able-bodied men that we need," John Carver had said.
"And those who will make solid and worthy citizens," Peter Perkins had added at his elbow, with an unfriendly glance at Andrew's shabby coat. William Bradford was the only one who had looked at him kindly, and even he had shaken his head. ”

“ Andrew went over his story, repeating every word of his talk in the forest with the Indian.
"They know more about us than we dreamed possible," he said, "but we need no longer fear them. And they think, poor blind savages, that, as we grow fewer, the spirit of those who have passed still dwells in those who remain." ”

“ Andrew heard in a shrill whisper from the old woman, who had evidently not yet learned the news; "do you call that wicked lad 'sir,' and take off your hat to him?"
"We may have been mistaken in him after all," Peter Perkins returned, in a whisper just as audible; "and it is as well to show respect to one who is now a citizen of our colony and who wears a good coat upon his back. It is little one can tell of what the future holds!" ”

“ Even this errand of yours, without youth it would never have been accomplished; we should have gone on wasting our days in doubt and dread, fearing to turn our hands to the real conquering of the wilderness. ”

“ I am going into the forest to find some one whom I may pay for the grain we have taken."
"Into the forest, alone, to find the Indians?" she exclaimed. "Oh, you must not. It is certain death!"
She looked him up and down in the light of her candle and added bluntly: "You are not even properly clad; your coat is so worn and thin that you will perish with the cold. The sickness will fall upon you all alone in the wilderness." ”

“ Andrew felt, as he crossed the cabin to his supporter's side, that he would die for this young elder who stood among his gray-haired seniors and gave the boy the only friendly smile in all that hostile company.
"He will bring us ill luck," he heard Granny Fletcher whisper to her neighbor. "Is not one black sheep enough for our voyage?" ”

“ They found the company gathered in a circle on that spot where, later, the meeting-house was to be.
"Let us look to God in prayer," said John Carver, simply, and every head was bowed. The service was a short one, but at the end of it the anxious faces had relaxed, the women smiled again, and even Granny Fletcher dried her eyes. William Bradford, feeling a tug at his coat, turned about quickly.
"It is not true that there is naught for us to eat," Andrew told him in an excited whisper. ”

“ The door opened in the twilight and several men came in, John Carver and three of the elders. Bradford raised his voice that they might hear.
"This lad has succeeded in that madcap expedition from which we have all been saying that he would never come back. He has made good our debt to the Indians and has brought back good tidings and such an understanding of the red men as we could never have gained for ourselves. After this service he shall no longer be my bound servant, but a citizen of this community. Andrew Newell, whom we were calling a foolhardy boy, has shown himself to be a man." ”

“ Andrew sniffed wistfully at the delicious odor of its cooking, but when the red man silently offered it to him, he shook his head, so firm was his determination that no Indian should know how near the white men were to starvation. ”

“ Yet, to the everlasting honor of the Pilgrims let it be said, no other face betrayed hesitation or fear. Whatever was in their hearts, men, women, and children all took up their burdens and set forth up the hill. ”

“ Winter drew in, food supplies ran low, and the settlers dipped deeper and deeper into the Indians' corn.
"We will pay the red men for it, as soon as we are given opportunity," the elders all agreed; but no one came to claim possession, and no Indians showed their faces where the white men could see.
"I would it were so that we could make payment to somebody," Bradford said more than once to Andrew, yet could offer no solution of the problem of how it was to be done. None of the men approved of taking what was not theirs ”

“ Thereafter it was necessary for Andrew to sit down upon the straw again and tell the whole story once more, that John Carver and the elders might marvel anew at his tale. It was not until an hour later that he was suffered at last to pass out of the building and go down the little street to carry his news and his thanks to Drusilla Kritchell. ”