44. The Pilgrims' Voyage across the Stormy Atlantic.—Crowded upon their little craft, this devoted company of men, women, and children had a dreary and anxious voyage of nine weeks. During severe weather the seas sometimes ran so high that for days the Mayflower was driven at the mercy of wind and waves, while all of the company, except the sailors, were compelled to remain, shivering and seasick, below the deck. In the foul air were bred the germs of quick consumption, the disease which carried off so many of this "Pilgrim band" during their first winter on the wild New England shore.
45. An Incident of the Voyage.—During one of these storms a lively young man named Howland fell overboard and would have been lost had he not seized a rope which was trailing in the sea. Bradford quaintly says in his journal that the young fellow "was sundry fathoms under water," but that he held on until "he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water," and with the aid of a boat-hook was at last safely landed on deck. Howland was none the worse for his cold bath. He lived to sign the compact at Cape Cod, and became a most useful citizen of the new commonwealth, and the ancestor of many families.
46. Arrival on the Bleak New England Coast.—How often, in the last days of that dismal voyage, did the Pilgrims gaze far into the west, always hopeful, but no doubt sometimes dreading the future! As the weeks passed by, the weather became very cold, and they had scanty means for warming their cabin. When they neared the coast a driving storm compelled them to change their course, so that instead of going up the Hudson River as they had intended, they were forced into Massachusetts Bay, as it is now called, and along the icy shores of Cape Cod.
All the coast was white with snow, and the future looked cheerless and dark. There were no light-houses to warn them of dangerous shoals, no life-saving men patrolling the beach to help shipwrecked mariners. No one stood on the barren sandy shore to welcome them; they felt that they were indeed strangers in a strange land.
47. They sign a Compact in the Mayflower's Cabin.—Inside the curved point of Cape Cod, in a small bay which is now the harbor of Provincetown, the Mayflower first dropped anchor. While there, John Carver and William Bradford wrote a formal agreement for the government of the company, and all of the forty-one men signed it.
This compact was drawn up and signed on a chest belonging to Elder Brewster, which afterwards served as a table in his family. During the first winter, when food was very scarce and the Pilgrims were obliged to live almost entirely upon clams, the good Elder never failed to ask a blessing upon their scanty meals, and to thank God, "who had yet given them of the treasures hid in the sand."
By the compact it was agreed that all were to have equal rights. They pledged themselves to help and to defend each other, and to obey such laws as they might make for the good of the colony. They then chose John Carver for their first governor.
48. They explore the Cape Cod Shore under the Lead of Captain Miles Standish.—A small party soon landed and tramped along for miles looking for a suitable place to make a home. They could nowhere find good drinking water. For three or four weeks the Mayflower with its precious cargo sailed along the inner coast, trying to find a safe and inviting harbor. Small parties often went ashore to explore the country.
One day a company of sixteen, led by Captain Standish, went ashore to spend a number of days exploring a little way inland. This Captain Standish, although one of the company, was not really a Pilgrim in his way of living, nor in his religious views. His business was that of a soldier, an employment more common then than now. He had met some of the Pilgrims in Holland and was much pleased with their simple habits and honest ways. When they were preparing to sail to the New World, he thought it likely that they would need a soldier to show them how to fight. So he came with them, and they soon were glad to have just such a man. It was indeed well he did come, for he was often the most useful member of the whole colony.
While the Mayflower lay at anchor in Provincetown harbor, and the explorers were searching for a landing-place, a baby boy—the first New England child of English parentage—was born on board of the vessel. They gave him the quaint name of Peregrine. At Plymouth you may still see the cradle in which little Peregrine White was rocked.
49. Their Travels along the Shore of Cape Cod Bay, and what they find.—They discovered the remains of a hut which seemed to have been recently occupied. So they surmised that Indians were living somewhere in the vicinity. They came upon some piles of roasted acorns, and the next day they caught a glimpse of a few savages and a deer. Soon afterwards they saw a dog and more Indians. "The wild men ran away and whistled the doggie after them." One day they discovered two or three mounds of earth. One of these contained rude mats and an earthen dish. They dug into other mounds and unearthed the skeletons of a grown person and a child, a box containing Indian bows and arrows and spears with flint points.
50. They find Baskets of Indian Corn.—In another place they noticed heaps of sand freshly smoothed over. On scraping away the earth, what should they find but Indian baskets full of corn! They had never seen any such grain. They were delighted with the sight of the bright-colored kernels, some red, some yellow, and others blue. The baskets were round, narrow at the top, and contained about three bushels each. They carried to the vessel all the corn they found, for they were in sore need of food; but they were careful to save enough for seed in the spring. They were honest men, and when long afterwards they found the Indians who had buried the corn, they paid them a fair price for it.
One day these Pilgrim wanderers shot three fat geese and six ducks. These they ate with wonderful relish, or "with soldier stomachs," as their story says. At another time, as they were tramping through the woods, William Bradford, not very careful, perhaps, as to where he was stepping, suddenly found his foot entangled in a queer way. When his companions came to help him out, they found he had been caught in a deer trap set by the Indians!
51. First Attack by Indians.—One morning, just after their night's sleep by a camp fire, and while engaged in their prayers, the weary men were startled by a wild cry, very different from anything they had ever heard. For a moment even Captain Standish was alarmed. It was an Indian war-whoop; and the cry was followed by Indian arrows. Standish and his men now fired their guns at the Indians. The firing caused the savages to run away in great astonishment. They had never known of guns, and were greatly afraid of these strangers who could instantly make thunder and lightning. The Pilgrims had never before been targets for arrows, so they kept these strange weapons, which were pointed with eagles' claws or sharp pieces of deer's horn, as curiosities.
52. The Search for a Home.—The Pilgrims were very anxious to get settled as soon as possible; yet when Sunday came they stopped all work and spent the day in reading the Bible, in singing their hymns, and in prayer. For nearly a month they sought, with much weariness and in bitter cold, a place suitable for settlement. It must have been a cruel and pitiful work for those poor men. They waded knee-deep in the snow; slept unprotected under the wintry sky; often suffered from hunger; and, for fear of Indians, were always compelled to keep anxious watch.